Elder Futhark Rune Set.

Morning, a quiet table, a hand in a linen pouch. You draw one stave and turn it over: the day's counsel, in the old alphabet of the north.

This is a complete set of the twenty-four Elder Futhark runes. Each disc is cut from pale birch, its stave burned in rather than painted, then rubbed with a little dark oil so the mark stands out clearly against the grain. A twenty-fifth disc is left blank. They come in a drawstring pouch of undyed linen, with a folded guide naming each rune and its traditional meaning.

The runes served the early Germanic and Norse peoples as both a writing system and a set of lots for divination, two uses never fully separate in practice. The Havamal tells of Odin winning knowledge of the runes only after hanging nine nights on the world-tree Yggdrasil, wounded and without food, a myth that has shaped how seriously the runes have been regarded ever since.

How to use

Draw a single stave for a day's counsel, or cast the full set onto a cloth and read the ones that land face up. The blank stave, a modern addition rather than an ancient one, is generally read as the unknowable, or the not-yet-decided.

Details

• 24 Elder Futhark runes and 1 blank, on birch discs
• Undyed linen drawstring pouch and folded guide
• Sold as a curiosity; no medical or scientific claims are made

An old alphabet of counsel, ready for your table.