Giraffes. What on earth happened there? Humans go about making mythical creatures
like a unicorn, which is just a horse with a horn, or hybrid creatures like manticores
and griffins that just look like regular animals but on cocaine. And then nature goes like “hold my beer,
bro”, and there’s a giraffe. They are so strange and magnificent at the same time, that
they just look suspiciously unreal. But that’s not what this video is all about. Hello my dear friends, I’m Arith Härger
and today I’m going to give my two cents concerning the runes, in response to Jackson
Crawford, concerning one of his latest videos about the runes where he states the runes
are just letters and not symbols, and Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen from Nordic Animism YouTube
Channel, who, in turn made a video in response to Crawford’s video stating that the runes
are not just letters but also symbols. I agree with Rune and I add that the runes
are not just letters and symbols but also magic-symbols or at the very least we can
perceive several contexts in which the runes have had a magico-religious function. And for those of you who may think I’m here
to create some sort of online feud, that’s not the case. I don’t have that kind of time. I’m subscribed to both Crawford and Rune
and to me they are very reliable sources of information, two of the very few around here
concerning these themes. And as much as I appreciate Crawford’s work, well,
I do not totally agree that the runes are just letters, and like Rune, I agree they
are also symbols and there’s also a strong magical intention in some findings where the
runes are present, which are not just as a written form and not just as symbols, but
the presence of the runes themselves show us more than just a written expression. Of course, there can be many interpretations
and a long discussion of what magic is. I’m not talking about Harry Potter, or the
Wizard of bloody Oz, obviously not. “Magic” in the sense of intention towards
more than just the mundane; a wish, a behavioural pattern towards belief, towards the desire
to express and build a line of communication between human and Other-than-human. As I said here several times, as an archaeologist,
when we deal with pre-Christian cultures, especially still with a strong animistic mind-set
and especially indigenous, it is quite hard to understand- to perceive- in the material culture, and
the context in which the materials are inserted, a separation, a clear separation, between magic and religion. In fact, most of such contexts do not show
such a separation, and we clearly see that there are several pragmatic behaviours towards
the spiritual, not simply an attempt to establish communication with the divine and the supernatural,
but a clear active behaviour, and many materials serve as the conduit between human and divine
(or supernatural) seeking to obtain something or show appreciation. Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen in his video has shown
some pretty interesting examples such is the case of the Kragehul spear, which actually bears parallels
with the Undley bracteate of Anglo-Saxon context, which we shall get to it in a moment, don't worry. A little bit further head. And I do understand what Crawford says when he
states that the runes are just letters. You see, when it comes to the study of ancient forms
of writing and the corresponding letter and sound values, there’s often the lack of
an interdisciplinary work to help place things in context. Certainly, in order to understand the message
that someone expressed through a language and a written form that is no longer in use of even familiar
to us, we very much need to perceive the written form just like that, as it is – as a written form
to express speech and a clear message. And, for instance, I’ve said here a couple
of times, if we look into the rune poems, we understand that these were created with
a didactic purpose, to teach how to read and write, creating poems associated with each
runic symbol and the sound value, creating an easy association through oral tradition,
with elements that can easily be remembered through association of context and image. Just the same thing we do today with children, or anyone,
when teaching the alphabet: sometimes using song, rhythm, rhyme, sometimes using images, elements that
people can associate with the symbol that represents a letter and a sound value and from there constructing
a meaning. Each rune poem has a series of elements associated
to each rune, for instance the rune Fehu or Fé, most commonly associated with Wealth,
and thus a symbol is associated with meaning, with letter value to be placed as a written
form, and a sound value to go along with it. And right here, right there, for a didactic purpose, they aren’t
just letters, in themselves they are already symbols that convey an idea which then is
associated with speech by putting symbols together to form words and vocal expressions. But there are several contexts where we clearly
see runes as symbols, and yet, at the same time, they also represent an idea or even
word. Such is the case of the rune Dagaz [day], or Ár (year), and if
I’m not mistake Rune presented this example as well. The rune alone can represent Day, or year, dawn, or time
in a calendar. There may be an entire phrase written in runes
but then a Dagaz rune, or Ár rune alone, and the rune itself representing an idea. You don’ need to use other runes to write
“Day”, or "year", but the simple use of a single rune, in this case Dagaz, or Ár, it is implicit the
idea of “Day” or "Year" within a sentence, therefore the rune in itself is a symbol representing
an idea. This is important to be aware of because in
runic sentences sometimes there are single runes and the sentence doesn’t quite make
sense if read from start to finish translating each runic symbol into their specific letter
values. However, perhaps mostly to save space, a single
rune appears already as a symbol that represents a word or idea. If you remember the video I’ve done concerning
the magic runic formula Alu, we see many examples like this. You see, Alu means “Ale”, so three runes
clearly together to form a word, and that’s a written form. Literally translating we are in the presence
of runes as letters, and not symbols. However, as I said earlier, there’s often
the lack of an interdisciplinary work. It’s not just linguistics, but we also have
to understand the objects and monuments in historical and in magico-religious contexts. We need archaeology, we need history, we need
anthropology of religions, and, of course, such other scientific studies of human nature and human
societies. The runic formula Alu appears on several contexts,
many of which are bracteates, golden medallions, some of them serving as charms. Literally translating Alu into “Ale”,
it seems a little bit out of context, a little bit odd, why would someone write “ale” on an object, especially taking
into consideration that these objects also bear clear iconographic elements that report
to mythology and also to some religious elements that were clearly important within a culture
and to express the identity of that culture. Were they so drunk that Ale was the only
thing they could think of? Of course not. Placing in context, as I’ve talked about
on that other video, the previous video I've mentioned, we understand Ale to be an element used in religious expressions
of a sacred nature. It is a blessing. It is the association between material and
the sacred, forming a magico-religious meaning. Therefore, Ale, Alu, isn’t solely a word for
Ale, but the runes themselves become an incantation, a charm, a magico-religious element that reports
to what it represents, a blessing, an offering, a conduit between human and other humans, and human and divine on important
magico-religious moments and activities, making the runic formula itself not just a symbol
or with a clearly iconographic symbology, but also to evoke the implicit magico-religious
meaning that it has, becoming a charm, becoming a symbol that isn’t particularly meant to
be inserted in a written context to convey a message but instead the runic formula Alu
alone is already a symbol that expresses a variety of ideas that are known and important
in a culture. Not just a word, not just a letter, or a couple of letters, but a
symbol, a symbol that in turn expresses magico-religious intentions. It is this complexity of human cognitive perception
that we must be attentive to, otherwise we will fail to understand many contexts in which
runes have been used to express a message. Certainly, in many contexts they are letters,
but on occasion they are inserted as symbols, either alone or within sentences. And just has I have talked about Alu in that
video, in truth, if you remember of course, if you have seen it, I also took the opportunity to speak of the other very
famous formula Lauka(R)z, which actually often comes together with Alu. “Alu” means Ale, Lauka(R)z means “Leeks”. Ale and Leeks? What’s that all about? You see, therein lies the problem if we take
it literally, as letters and not as symbols. I’m not going to repeat what I said on that
video, don't worry, however, “leeks” here represent a type of plant that was important in some
magic works, and we have evidences of such. Mostly fertility magic, or for fertility magic, magic related to sexual
activities and potency and functions. This isn’t a question if you believe in
magic or not, right now in your society; this is about the anthropology of religion and what people within a culture
believed and their pragmatic behaviours towards belief. Interdisciplinary work between archaeology,
anthropology and history, and so on and so forth, which gives us a meaning for things. And in the case of Lauka(R)z sometimes the
word wasn’t written with all the runes corresponding to each letter value and thus together form
the word Lauka(R)z, but in several contexts we see simply the rune Laukaz, just one rune
used as a symbol to represent “Leeks”. Sometimes the three runes for Alu are present
followed by a single L rune to represent Lauka(R)z, clearly as a symbol that not only represents
an entire word but also the magico-religious conceptions and intentions and meanings for
the thing. The runic formulas alu and lauka(R)z were by
far the favourite protective words of the Roman Iron age in Germanic context, becoming
iconographic symbology to represent a magico-religious intention. Of course, when speaking of magical intentions,
sometimes there may be a certain confusion when it comes to runic inscriptions as curses. I’ve already talked about that on another
video. On such cases, runes aren’t used to curse
anyone, there isn’t the use of a symbol or a specific word as a magico-religious intention
as the previous examples. Curses in rune stones, for instance, are more of a warning
and not directly cursing any one, but just stating what may happen. In such cases runes are used as a written
form, to express intention, express outcome, express warning, etc. So there’s this difference here. Whilst in some contexts runes were indeed
used to express a magico-religious intention, not every wish, action or any expression towards
an outcome that can be considered magical or supernatural was communicated through the
use of runes as magical symbols. Curses or curse-warnings in Old Norse context
come written down by the use of the runes, literally a text and not the runes themselves that serve
as a conduit for the intention or possible outcome. Same thing happens to wishes of fertility,
blessings, protection/protective charms etc. as I’ve talked about in another video. There are indeed certain objects, artefacts, that evoke
a particular deity and ask for a particular blessing, action, some manifestation through
evocation, but it is not the runes that hold magical intention or potency in these cases but rather
the runes are literally used as letters, to write down the intention, write down the magical
or magical-religious intention. I’ve given a couple of examples in the video
concerning talismans and charms in Old Norse witchcraft. Now, you may say, of course “Hey Arith! What about Bindrunes?! Are you forgetting those?!” Hey, calm down. I was just getting to it. In the very wise words of Treebeard, and probably
also Sting (the musician) “don’t be hasty”. Bindrunes in the great majority of cases are
used as letters, for the construction of a text and have little to do with symbology
or iconographic representations of a particular magical or religious purpose. Most bindrunes we find they are the junction of
letters to save space, to write the message or text on the surface. Usually this is noticeable on surfaces that
can not be changed, like stone or specific metal objects, or utensils, weapons, etc.
something whose form is fixed and cannot be altered, so there is a limited space for the
runic text, as such bindrunes save up space and the entire text is written because it
is shortened by the junction of runes, thus creating bindrunes. But, not all bindrunes are for a written purpose
only, they are not just letters, but as Rune pointed out, the wonderful example of the
Kragehul Spear, we have bind runes in there that represent symbols, I would say even more,
they represent a visual representation of intention towards the divine. There have been several interpretations for
the written text in runes, in this particular context, and we get a general idea that we are in the presence of a sacrificial
context; the spear serves as the offering, the sacrificial object to the divine. The triple bind-rune, of Gebo and Ansuz, has
been interpreted as a shout, or chant, a vocal expression, which I think it is a rather simple
and not-well-thought-through explanation. Anyway, Gebo we know to be a rune of gift, to gift. Whilst Ansuz, and later in Old Norse Óss,
means "god", the divine entity, a powerful divine entity of early Germanic pantheon. We know the spear to be one of the famous
iconographic symbols of the god Odin, for instance. Thus triple bindrune is either a metrical
charm, or it is "effective magic", as we see in the cases of words such as Leeks, Ale,
the cuckoo bird "gakaR" or "gauka", and such other words that don't make much sense literally
translated in sentence, in the context, but rather a clear evocation of a charm or cultural elements
that have a considerable weight on the magico-religious panorama, according to the collective cognitive
perceptions towards the divine and the supernatural within that particular culture. These bindrunes can very well be an expression
of "Gift to the god"; "gift to the divine". Perhaps in this case to a god with Odin-like
characteristics. Three times, an important number we often
see in the Old Norse and Icelandic myths, reinforcing this wish, this expression towards
the divine. Writing down the intention, the identity of
the offerer, and towards the deity, marking with a clear iconographic representation of
a magico-religious intention towards whom the gift, the ex-votos, something, is to go in exchange for something. This example has close parallels with the
Undley bracteate, as I said, in which the bind runes are a little bit more specific and we get
the idea of repetition of a magic formula, so again, either case, there is a magical
or a religious (or both) intentions, right?! So not just letters, but also symbols and
also of a magico-religious character. And furthermore, to finalize this video, the magical
potency of the runes can be found in several literary sources of the early Scandinavian
and Icelandic middle ages. As an example, in the poem Sigrdrífumál,
it gives us a hint of runic spells connected to making the dead speak. And in the poem called Solarljód, which informs
us that the dead cannot speak, runes are used again to make them speak. There are several accounts where runes are
required to loosen the tongue of a dead person allowing it to speak. The god of the runes is Odin, and in some
accounts he carves speech-runes so that a corpse comes to life again and speaks with him. Saxo Grammaticus, in his History of the Danes,
there is an account where a person named Hardgrep, places a piece of wood carved with runes under
the tongue of a dead man. And the corpse recovers consciousness and the
power of speech, and oops- and sings a terrible song. There are several accounts of these speech-runes
given to the dead so they may speak again. These runes are called Malrunar. The tongues of the dead are sealed by death,
unless they possess such speech-runes. These runes are also given to the dead who
enter Hel, so they are allowed to speak. We are talking about runic-spells, words of power, and what
is this if not a notion of magic? These are not the only type of runes and runic
spells we find in the literary sources. Malrunar are runes specifically related to
necromancy. In other accounts there are also Ølrunar,
"Ale-runes", usually as protective runes, carving them on a drinking vessel to protect
against poison and such; There are biargrunar, "birth-runes";
Brimrunar, "wave-runes"; Limrunar, "branch-runes";
Malrunar, "speech-runes"; Hugrunar, "thought-runes". And so on and so forth. We clearly get the perception of runes specifically
used for a magic intention. And still, if there is any doubt that the
runes were also perceived to be magical in nature, or at the very least also used to
express magical intention and for religious purposes, have we not the famous source Hávamál? “The sayings of the High one”? The High One (the god Odin, Woden, and many
other names he calls himself), reveals the means by which he obtained the knowledge of
the runes along with the powerful spells (words of power), incantations and the magical potency
of the runes, in the poem Hávamál. Of course, largely, the poem is mainly advice
about social etiquette and wisdom. Interestingly enough, of all the vast content
of this poem it is precisely the very few stanzas dealing with Odin’s self-sacrifice to gain
the runes and the magical wisdom of the runes that are better know. By far the moust famous. But what I find most curious about this poem
is that it is precisely these stanzas about the runes and their magical potency that gives
us a religious understanding, perhaps one of the very few sources that actually gives
us a direct evidence to a religious mind in the Old Norse society. Because, one thing were the celebrations,
the votive offerings, sacrifices, feasts to honour guests and honouring hosts, the myths,
pragmatic behaviour towards belief, but all of this are actions concerning the everyday
life, the mundane, whilst the stanzas within the Hávamál that deal with the power of
the runes show us a kind of reward or temptation to seek out and obtain an other-wordly power,
a reward, to obtain the mysteries of the beyond. This, right there, is a- more of a religious
thinking; the formulation of an idea beyond the mundane, offering something supernatural,
to obtain something from an Otherworldly existence. It’s a religious aim. All religions, one way or another, are rooted
in a regular behaviour to call, obtain, seek or benefit from transcendent matters to improve
everyday life. This part of seeking out the runes and their
magical power, the words of power and spells and runic charms, show us this aim towards
seeking to transcend to obtain otherworldly power to be applied in everyday living and
improve life and mitigate the more negative aspects of life by using this mystical knowledge
of the runes. The Hávamál follows a clear step by step
progress of becoming a wiser person, or perhaps a better person, as in a personal development towards one’s self
and others, until much later it reaches this aspect of transcendence to seek out the mystical
wisdom, from day-to-day wisdom and applied in ones life, to finally reach mantic and
arcane wisdom, and that’s when the runes enter the poem and how to obtain their power
and knowledge of words of power, and then the poem continues from then on concerning
the knowledge with whatever might be gained from runes and word-craft, for further self-knowledge. The Hávamál is a religious poem and it is
quite clear the runes are inserted here, in this poem, not only with an understanding of them to be magical,
in the sense of otherworldly power, but also in the religious sense, connected to the divine
but also rooted in obtaining something mystical, arcane and mantic through transcendence after
a long possess of self-improvement through the path of wisdom. If there was any doubt, still, the Hávamál shows
us that the runes were not just letters, and not just letters and symbols, but also a clear
magico-religious understanding of them was part of the collective cognitive processes
within this cultural reality. The Hávamál shows us experimental engagement
and hard work to obtain transcendence, to finally gain a reward by which self-knowledge
and improvement continues, achieving great wisdom and ultimately becoming the embodiment
of the divine. After all, the Hávamál is “The sayings
of the High One”, the god Odin “himself” explaining his own process of self-improvement
into godhood, that one can reach or achieve by following such steps. I think there is no doubt that this is a religious
text. So if there was any doubt, still, that the runes were
also understood as magical symbols and for magico-religious purposes, the Hávamál gives
us a more direct and clear understanding of this. Anyway, I do hope this video was useful. And, please, do not mistake this video as a negative
criticism towards Crawford and/or Rune. This video is simply to further elaborate
on the collective cognitive perception towards the runes by Old Germanic and Old Norse and
Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon cultural and religious conceptions and belief systems. The runes were not just letters, and they
were not just letters and symbols. The runes were also understood to be magic
and for magio-religious purposes. Jackson Crawford and Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen
are still, to me, reliable sources of information, and I think it is important to have these
discussions, these conversations, from time to time and share perceptions. We all benefit from it, I think. As a matter of fact, I’m friends with Rune,
and he is one of the very few people that appreciated my work long before I even thought
about creating a YouTube channel. Thank you Rune. And thank you, all of you, thank you so much for watching, see you
on the next video, and as always, tack för idag! Thanks for today! Obrigado por hoje! Until we meet again, my dear friends.
