From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Re: Runes (was Re: Odinism Help for Newbie)
Date: 24 Jul 92 16:19:52 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

In article <UeOoXze00WBNM6Bqwt@andrew.cmu.edu> "Stephen P. Marting" <sm6h+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Excerpts from alt.magick: 19-Jul-92 Re: Odinism Help for Newbie by
>"Carolyn Stollen"@meltdown.chi.il.us 
>> The most common book i know of is the "book of runes" by
>> Frank Blum.
>
>No, no, NO!!!
>
>First, it's Ralph Blum.  Second, it's very poorly researched and quite
>inaccurate to boot.

	Well, as a "new-age" book, it could be worse - but you are right,
it's laughable as a piece of serious scholarship.  But I always liked the
little tables of runes, and their names, and his associations with
"pre-runic" symbols.

>A very good introduction to Runes is _Runes_ by Ralph Warren Elliott. 
>It is available at our (CMU) library; your milage may vary.  It's much
>more complete, and it will correct many of the errors in Blum's book, as
>well as admitting where there is not enough information to interpret
>something for sure (Blum just makes up his own world at these points,
>and while he does state this, it's very difficult to tell WHERE without
>another source like Elliott), or where there are wildly different
>schools of thought on a subject (Blum merrily pretends there is only ONE
>way).

	R.W. Elliot's little _Runes_ book is IMHO the best introduction to
runology I have ever seen in English (Elliott has another earlier, larger,
book, the title of which I forget, which deals largely with Anglo-Saxon
runic inscriptions).  
	It is very good at explaining the evolution of runic characters,
futharks, and rune-names, as well as the various writing conventions
employed.  I wish it was referenced a little better, for I would love to
look at his sources, but Elliot is a highly resepcted scholar in the field.
	He also makes it clear that _very_ little is known about divinatory
uses of runes - something to keep in mind when you are divining.

>However, Elliott doesn't do very much in the area of runic divination. 
>A good source for this (although the great difference in names may be
>confusing) is _The Runic Workbook_ by Tony Willis (thanks Ann!).  It's
>put out by "The Aquarian Press" in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
>(Elliott's book is published by Manchester University Press, as well as
>St. Martin's Press in New York).  I can't comment too much on this, as I
>haven't had time to do any *serious* studying with it, but it appears
>sound.

	I have a friend who owns this book, who has asked me to take a look
at it to go over it for accuaracy, etc.  Unfortunately, I haven't had time
to do so, but personally I have my suspicions about it.  Perhaps I will
post a brief review after I've looked at it.

>Please, if you do buy (or already own) Blum's book, take it with a grain
>of salt (or perhaps an entire salt-lick) at best.
>Willis' "workbook" seems to be an excellent
>intro to divination (but reading Elliott first will help you understand
>better).

	Actually, if anyone has a serious interest in runes, they should
probably read Elliot's book before reading _anything_ on divination.  It
will cut through a lot of the chaff.

Cheers,
Carl

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Carl Edlund Anderson	            	"Hefi ek ok aldri sva reitt vapn
canders@isr.harvard.edu			at manni at eigi hafi vidh kommit."
OR
anderso2@husc.harvard.edu			- Skarphedhinn Njalsson 
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