Hello   !

I've been thinking runes are such a very very very nice mystical thing aren't they but where did they came from (druids I suppose.. duh?) but is there any mythological or simbolistic or something about ther creation?
Was it any religious use and what were they most of the times used to be used when predicting?
There are alot of rune symbols but what are they? does they have a meaning? Is there any specifical person who created runes and there meanins? Was runes always the same?
Just fooling around looking for answers ! And letting MoonGoddess happy that someone is interested on the topic   ! Love ya all!

Lights and Tea!
MarcoAZS

Thanks MarcoAZS, got to keep the insanity a bay...lol.

Runes came from Odin after his nine day stint on the Yggdrasil (Tree of life).

I know that I hung on the windswept tree,
For nine days and nine nights,
I was pierced with a spear, and given to Odin,
Myself given to myself,
On the tree, which no man knows,
From which roots it arises.
They helped me neither with bread,
Nor with drinking horn.
I took the runes.
Screaming, I took them,
Then I fell back from that place.

That is how the legend goes, in Norse mythology.
The work 'Rune' translates to secret or 'to whisper.

I will start you off with that little tid bit, to make you thirsty for more, as I could go on all day about it and probably wouldn't be able to fit it into one post.  So have a read, ask me questions and I will try to answer them.

Well but how does that connect with the druids wish are famous for runes... aren't druid celts? and odin from the north mitology?
Still than runes aren't still explained there existance, how do we know that they are an whisper? Who knew what they mean? Who got the menssages from odin and gave it to us? And what about the Yggdrasil... can you tell more about it?

Lights and Knowledge!
MarcoAZS

Yes the druids are Celts but they have a totally different runic system called tree runes better known as Ogham.  Unlike the Elder Futhark which has 24 original runes the Ogham has 20 runes plus an extra five created later on.  If you want to have a looke at Ogham I have a photograph of mine on my blog, you will probably have to look into the bit that shows you all or my blogs to find it as I think there is only five blogs up to view at once. (view all entries)

Yggdrasil, the universal world tree, the cosmic axis linking the worlds, the Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior).  This is the tree that Odin had his ordeal upon and yes Odin is a God of the Northern traditions, he is the master of shamans amongst other things.  The rune that goes along with this tree is the rune As, Asa, Ansuz and in a variant form, Os.  This is the divine breath, Ond (.. above the o) which powers existence, the divine source within the human being.  Other wise known simply as life to us but much more.

As a phonetic alphabet, most runic letters come from theNorth Italic script.  This was the system used by the Etruscans.  Before it was destroyed by the Roman militarism, the Etruscan culture was very influential, and its magic lies at the roots of later European magic.  Etruscan artistic influence can be seen in continental Celtic and Germanic metalwork of the firs millenniu BCE.  The link between the Etruscan alphabet and the runes is known from 26 bronze helmets, dug up in 1812 at Negau in the Austrian Empire, and dating from the fourth century BCE.  Engraved on the helmets were Germanic words, including and invocation of the war-god Harigast (Harigasti teiva) in Etruscan script.  Also, around this period, seers in the Tyrol began to use thes letters for divination, possibly following Etruscan practice.  Sof the earliest runic divination-sticks were found at Ktzbuhel (.. above u).  All this could prove that runes originated from Etruscans but it is not that simple as the many of the characters that became runestaves already existed elsewhere.
(extra from Nigel Pennick Rune Magic)

There is heaps of literature on this and as you have read no one really knows where the runes came from.  I like the story of Odin, which also goes into another story.

Freyja practiced her own magic womens magic called Seior, as she is the patron goddess of shamanry amongst other things.  She taught Odin this magic which enabled him to have his ordeal upon the Yggdrasil, in turn when he came down he shared his knowledge of the Runes with her.

Mmm don't want to give you to much information to digest, maybe when Earl comes back we can organise the Rune forum into different sections.  Say one for history, one for Rune reading, one for Rune magic ect.

Each culture that learned the runes had there own language so this is why there are so many different names for each rune.