My understanding is that the blank rune was invented by Ralph Blum in 1980 (think that was the year) for his popular book/rune set.  As such, it has no place in authentic rune usage.  Consider this:

■ The runes were symbols of power and knowledge.  Emphasis on the word symbol.  The medium (such as wood or bone) was important, sure, but the power came from the engraved symbol.  A wood piece without a symbol can hardly be called a rune.  To be a rune mandates that a symbol be etched, engraved or whatever on the media.

■ Just so we are clear, if the ancient Norse people wanted a blank symbol, they would have engraved it.  Look at this sentence and how their are spaces between the words.  We use the lack of a symbol (by hitting the space bar) to impose a blank symbol between words.  This may seem obvious but let us not impose our practices on people who lived a millenia ago.  Why you ask?  Because the Germanic people did not use spaces to separate words.  They had a symbol to represent a space.  (It was what we would call the colon).  Here is a great example from an ancient stone carving in Sweden:


Photograph from Simone at http://hem.bredband.net/sim1/swe/mal/sigurd/sigurd_01.html (a great site on the Sigurd Carving in Sweden, Sigurd Fafnirsbane is one of the greatest heroes from the Viking era, the Norse equivalent of King Arthur).

So, it the Norse wanted a blank image, they had a symbol for it.  The notion of the blank rune, I suspect, would be an alien concept to them.

Thank you all for your thinking on this.  I am very new to the study of Runes and have been wondering what to think about the blank one.  I see I have a great deal to learn.

Hi Whisper.  There are plenty of people here with extensive rune knowledge so just ask if you have questions!

Odin be praised!

I am very glad to see this thread it will help newbies out so much. Historical evidence means little to some people but it is what I usually base my debate on when discussing the blank rune. Runes were used as an Omen at a Yulthing in 2006 at the Grove I am part of and the Seer drew a Blank rune. I nearly died. I could not believe she used it.  When I make my runes, and I have made every set I have had, I never include a blank. If I need a new one I make a new one.

Yep hard not to laugh when things happen like that, but some people do believe in its use so poker faces are need in such situations.  I am so glad I wasn't there as I find it hard to hold back laughter.  My tact is getting better with age but some times my sense of humor gets the better of me some times.  Commercialisum has a lot to answer for.