Rune Meanings
Your Guide to the Secrets of the Runes
The Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest known runic alphabet from Scandinavia, in use from around 150 to 800 CE. The Elder Futhark was a writing system, where its 24 symbols were carved into wood, bone, and stone for everything from daily communication and also magical work.
Its name comes from the first six runes in the sequence (F, U, Þ, A, R, and K) similar to how “alphabet” stems from the Greek alpha and beta.
Archaeological discoveries show these runes marked ownership, honored the dead, and appeared in legal or ceremonial contexts. But many inscriptions hint that these also had magical intent. Protective spells etched onto weapons, rows of runes on things like amulets, and intentional layouts suggest they were used for magic such as the shaping of outcomes, offering spiritual protection, or acting as tools for divination and connection to unseen forces.
Each rune carried both a phonetic value and a deeper symbolic meaning (ex: wealth, protection, journey, strength) making them excellent tools for both language and ritual.
The runes are often grouped into three sets of eight, known as ættir (an Old Norse word meaning clan or lineage). While this structure isn’t attested in historical sources, it’s a modern teaching aid that helps organize the runes for study and interpretation.
Even though this system pre-dates the Viking age, the Elder Futhark remains the most widely recognized and referenced runic system, forming the foundation for most rune sets, books, and modern divinatory practices.
Click on a rune below to explore its meanings, historical interpretations, and how you might work with it in your own magical or spiritual practice.
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark emerged around 800 CE and became the script of the Viking Age, used for several centuries across Scandinavia. While it descended from the Elder Futhark, this newer runic alphabet condensed the system from 24 to just 16 characters. This was shaped by changes in spoken language rather than just for the sake of simplicity.
These runes were carved into stone monuments, weapons, jewelry, and everyday objects. You’ll find them on memorial runestones, trade goods, and even graffiti – used to mark territory, tell stories, and inscribe names. But just like earlier runes, they weren’t purely practical. Many inscriptions hint at magical use: charms, protective phrases, and symbols meant to hold influence and connection with the spiritual realm.
With fewer characters doing more linguistic work, meanings could shift depending on context. But each rune still held symbolic weight – connected to larger ideas like protection, conflict, fate, or victory.
There are two main versions of the Younger Futhark: long-branch (used for more formal inscriptions, like stone carvings) and short-twig (found in everyday or faster writing, like wood carvings and graffiti). Some regions also developed their own variants, adapting the system even further.
Although less commonly used in modern rune sets, the Younger Futhark gives us a direct window into the Viking worldview. It reflects a time of expansion, movement, myth, and magic, where writing was just as much about recording as it was about spiritual uses.
Meanings coming soon.
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was the runic system used in early medieval England, evolving from the Elder Futhark as it spread with Germanic tribes. In use from around the 5th to the 11th century, this expanded alphabet adapted to the sounds of Old English – growing from the 24 runes in the Elder Futhark, to as many as 33 characters over time.
These runes were carved into stone crosses, weapons, coins, and personal items. They appear in everything from royal inscriptions to charms and riddles. They were used for commemoration, ownership, and often with clear magical or poetic intent. The line between language and spellwork was thin.
Unlike the more streamlined Younger Futhark, the Futhorc became increasingly elaborate, adding new runes to match a shifting language and regional dialects. Some runes were borrowed, others invented. The result was a flexible, evolving system uniquely suited to the Anglo-Saxon world.
Rune poems from this period (especially the Old English Rune Poem) offer clues to each symbol’s layered meanings, tying letters to myth, nature, and morality. Runes here were letters as well as teachings, omens, and tools of power.
Though less familiar than the Elder Futhark today, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc opens a door to the worldview of early English magic and literacy, one shaped by lore, landscape, and language.