Why I love the Runes

I first started learning the runes in 2015 as I began exploring the spiritual practices of my ancestors. At the time I used a lot of oracle decks, but the runes felt different. The first thing was how they existed beyond text on a page. I could look up their meanings, but was always left with the feeling that there was more I couldn't see.

I soon learned to meditate with each one, to sing with them, and to see how they showed up in my life. And this is why we say that the runes are vast doorways. To the self and to the world beyond the self, both seen and unseen.

When Brit and I began talking about making this deck, we kept circling back to psychedelics. How when you're sitting with plant medicine, there's always a shifting quality to the experience. Where you can see the fractal nature of our essence, life and the universe. How everything truly is perception. The runes feel like that too. There is always more to be seen and discover if you're able to look inward. There is an expansion within them that isn't found in most divination tools.

How I use them

The traditional method of using runes is through runecasting, which involves throwing a set of runes and reading them both in meaning and their placement. Using cards, you can use them in whatever way you wish. I tend to use them pretty simply, every day I will pull a card and ask "what do I need to be sitting with today?" And at night, I will reflect on the ways the rune was woven through my day. This allows me the ability to continue to learn more and more, but it also creates a container for my day which I really enjoy. It is also something I have done with Nash and Brit, and that shared reflection can be so fun.

Would love to know how you use them and if you try my practice, let me know how it goes for you! You can find our runic deck, Sunstone, here.