DIVINATION · LESSON 3 OF 16 · 15 MIN
The Elder Futhark Runes
Twenty-four runes in three families, and how to cast them.
The Elder Futhark is the oldest runic alphabet, used by Germanic peoples from roughly the 2nd to 8th centuries CE. It is named after its first six letters: F-U-Th-A-R-K. In the Hávamál, Odin wins the runes by hanging nine nights on the world-tree — a story that has made them a focus of magic and divination ever since.
A note on history: the rune names are reconstructed from later rune poems, and there is little direct evidence for how runes were used in divination. Modern rune-reading is a creative tradition built on these sources.