Carving Runes

Guidance on Crafting Your Own.

In my book, Heathenry for the Solitary Practitioner, I point out that one of the many ways to a deeper more nuanced Heathen practice, is to connect with the Runes in all their forms, and believe me, they have many. From a writing system originating in the Germanic areas of Northern Europe, to a modern, widely used form of divination, used within many pagan paths; Runes are a tangible link to the people who came before, following a belief system that would be likely recognisable to modern followers of the Northern Tradition.

When looking to obtain Runes, I would recommend only purchasing from someone whose ethos and beliefs are complementary to your own. the Runes you find on the front of magazines, or are readily available on well-known websites, are likely cheaply produced by machine, or worse possibly by children working long hours for little money and are definitely not crafted with any insight or understanding.

Simply: Choose wisely.

One aspect of working with Runes that I highly recommend is to craft your own set:

“I have crafted many sets of Runes myself, even before I read the Hávamál or the Eddas. The first set I crafted when I was a teenager, I used sea washed stones from my local beach, and painted each Runic Sigel with acrylic paint. These Runes served me well into my adulthood, however I found that the gradually wore down and chipped off. This set I still have, but as I went through life, and my spirituality changed and grew, this set’s energies only seemed to speak of the past, of my youth and not the present. A few years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Orkney Islands, decided to craft a new set from stones collected at various beaches on the coast, places I connected with spiritually on my journey around the islands. Before I began picking the stones, I centred myself and sitting on the beach, placed my hands into the sands, the sea and stones. I stilled myself, slowed my breathing and listened, my hands communicating physically with the land. In this way, I asked the land, and the Landvaettir if I may take some pebbles, and what they would be used for. If I had felt they didn’t want me to do this, I would not have taken any. Luckily for me, I was given permission from them. The Runes After I returned home, I placed the stones on my altar, and there they stayed until it was the right time to carve them. I then created a sacred space, mediated with each stone to discover which Runic sigil would merge suitably with each stone’s energies and marked them with a pencil accordingly. I then carved them with a Drimel (a mini drill that will mark stone) whilst using galdr – chanting the individual names over them. They were then replaced on my altar….”

Recently, if you remember, in celebration of the release of Heathenry for the Solitary Practitioner, I ran a competition on here for my wonderful Substack subscribers, (You!) The prize was to win not only a copy of my book, but a hand crafted set of Runes created by myself.

With permission from the winner, I wanted to share with you the process of this creation, which in actual fact began at the beginning of 2025 and my visit to Iceland.

One of the most remarkable places I visited was the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, which, most of you will know, has recently vanished almost overnight.

As I walked on the beach last year, I collected enough stones to create a Rune set, I knew then they were not for myself but another, although at that time, I did not know what form this would take. Since then, the stones have been kept in a small bag, safely with my other Rune sets and other stones.

The competition winner was given the choice of which Rune set they would like, and chose the 24 character Elder Futhark. This system dates from between the 2nd and 8th centuries CE and all other Runic systems originate from this one. It is the one that most closely resembles our alphabet in number of symbols, so this makes it a good set for the beginner.

I selected the stones and placed them on my personal altar under Odin’s eye, for nine days and nights before anything further was done to them, I wanted to awaken them from their slumber and make them ready for their transformation.

Due to the nature of the geology of Icelandic stone, it was not possible to carve them, so instead I painted then in red, symbolic of blood, the sacrifice by Odin to receive them, and the usual offering given when they are hallowed in the Heathen tradition. As I painted each, I sang their name over them, to infuse them with the power of each Rune.

I crafted a container, a bag, for them with a red felt lining, and outer recycled material, this was hand-sown as I sat in circle.

When these aspects were complete, as requested by the winner, I did not dedicate them to any deity, but instead hallowed them with ice and Fire on my altar.

They were then ready to be sent to the winner.

If you would like to learn more about Runes and other aspects of Heathenry, my book is available from all good booksellers, both online and in-person.