A Beginner's Guide to Reading Runes

By Carole Somerville and Lorna C Webb

Runes are a tool for divination and spiritual insight. Like other forms of divination, learning how to read Runes takes time and practice. It also takes trust … trust in your intuition and trust in your Higher Self to help bring the right messages at the time of the reading. In this book we will teach you how to read Runes for yourself, your family and friends through drawing on the traditional meanings of the Runes and connecting with your intuition. 

This book is devoted entirely to giving guidance on how to read Runes, giving the traditional meanings of the Runes and using images, example readings and fun exercises to help you link intuitively with the symbols. 

We are very excited to share this unique way of learning Runes that will help you quickly develop and heighten your Rune-reading skills. If you have always been fascinated by these magical divination stones but have struggled with understanding their meanings or if you want to deepen your Rune-reading skills, this is the book for you. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carole Somerville
• Release date: Jul 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535321129

Carole Somerville

Carole is a qualified astrologer and has a degree in Psychology, Education and English Literature. She is also a Certified Reiki Master. Astrology is Carole's main subject. Psychology, the tarot, dream interpretation, history and spiritual realms fascinate her too. Carole has been addicted to writing from the moment she could hold a pen and counts her blessings to have been able to make a career out of something she loves.In the 1980s Carole was the leading writer for key astrology magazines in the UK including Destiny, Your Stars, Exploring the Supernatural and Your Future. In the 1990's Carole's print media clients extended to include The Daily Mirror, The People and Destiny. Carole's work began to incorporate problem pages, dream analysis and information booklets. Between 1994 and 1996 she was astrologer for the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post. This led to Carole becoming astrologer for a number of other regional newspapers.Carole has also worked as a consultant for the Psychic Friends Network and helped them establish and then write their quarterly magazine Destiny. In recent years along with Carole's astrological work, she has been studying complementary therapies and Reiki. Her books include fiction as well as non-fiction.

Book preview

Dedication

This book is dedicated to our

Psychic Development Groups

(Thank you for all your encouragement, help and

support while we were writing this)

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Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Benjamin Franklin

Contents:

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Author’s Preface ... page 4

Introduction ... page 13

Part 1 – Meaning of the Runes

... page 15

Traditional Meaning of the Runes

... page 20

Part 2 Meaning of the Images – Trust your Intuition

... page 140

Part 3 Example Rune Readings using Rune-Cards

... page 207

Part 4 Tips and Exercises to Help you Read Runes Intuitively

... page 226

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Runes are a tool for divination and spiritual insight. Like other forms of divination, learning how to read Runes takes time and practice. It also takes trust ... trust in your intuition and trust in your Higher Self to help bring the right messages at the time of the reading. In this book we will teach you how to read Runes for yourself, your family and friends through drawing on the traditional meanings of the Runes and connecting with your intuition.

Images in this book are from Rune-cards designed by Carole Anne. The book can be read without owning these cards but if you would like to order the Rune-cards used in this book, please email us at: [e-mail]

Authors’ Preface

From Carole Anne ...

To everything there is a season and I wasn’t surprised when I asked the Runes if it was time to finish this book and Jera was the reply. Because I already intuitively knew what I had to do. – Trusting your intuition is something you’ll read a lot about in the following pages, as we trust ours.

I started designing my Rune-cards some years ago after searching for cards to help people understand the meaning of the Runes. The few that were available did not ‘speak to me’ and therefore I could not recommend them to others. I suddenly felt inspired to design my own to include in a book on reading Runes.

I loved this project and spent a lot of time choosing images to relate to each Rune. I had the cards printed and began writing the book (this book) to go with the cards but other things got in the way. Now this is unusual for me. Usually when I’m passionate about a project I finish it. So why was this one pushed onto the back burner?

I’m a member and one of the Founders of a Facebook Group of over 13,000 members that provides free psychic readings. We also train psychic readers and support each other in our spiritual development. Our groups were established almost five years ago and earlier this summer some of our readers (trainees and mentors) met for real at a special place on the English/Scottish Border. This meeting had taken a year to arrange. We came from all over – England, Scotland and as far away as Canada. We squeezed so much into that amazing weekend to return to our Facebook Groups knowing spiritual bonds that were already strong had been strengthened even further.

I had taken my Rune-cards to our get-together and a few people showed interest in them. Afterwards, another mentor, Sharon, and myself began putting up exercises in our Development Group asking members to interpret the Rune alongside the image on my card. Lorna shone during this exercise and I felt she had ‘got into my head’, interpreting the cards as I had been hoping they’d be read. Lorna had wanted to try reading without knowing anything about the Runes. She wanted to trust her intuition and I was thrilled to see how the cards connected seamlessly with each traditional Rune meaning. I could not have asked for better evidence that the images I had chosen allied with each Rune.

On the day I decided to return to this book I had already had a message from my Higher Self, the Universe (whatever you might believe in) ... through a dream. I’d mentioned the dream in our Facebook Group thinking it was for Eva, one of our mentors. Eva suggested it was for me and it was referring to a ‘missing ingredient’. It can often take some time for the meaning of a dream to click. Not this day. By the end of the day, when earlier I had not even thought of this book, after a few exercises and conversations, Lorna agreed that she would help me finish it by NOT reading up on Rune meanings. She would continue to read the cards intuitively so I could include her interpretations in the book as an example of how the cards relate to each Rune.

I had found my ‘missing ingredient’. My book had been waiting for this moment. It needed Eva (who had been in my dream) to interpret the dream as a reminder to trust my intuition. It needed Lorna’s input to help YOU, the reader, understand how to read Runes intuitively by reading the images in the cards and how to trust your Higher Self. And, of course, you need to know too, how the cards can relate to traditional meanings of the Runes which is my part to describe. So now, it’s not ‘my’ book, but ‘our’ book as we work together to bring you a whole new way to read Runes. We also have our Psychic Development Group to thank as some of their interpretations of the cards have also been included in this book, again, as an example of how to read images intuitively.

We hope you enjoy and hope that through this book, you start using Runes for yourself, your family and friends. ... Anyone can read Runes. You can too!

Carole Anne

As we teach you how to read the Runes, we will be encouraging you to trust your intuition. How does this work? Lorna explains:

My Introduction to Learning about my own Intuition

I knew as a child I was ‘different’ for lack of a more suitable word. As a child I had a ‘feeling and knowing’ about situations and people. I only had to be in the same room as someone to know if they were happy or sad, a nice person or not so nice person. If I looked into someone’s eyes I knew instantly if they had felt pain and if they carried pain with them. I don’t mean a physical pain, it was always about their state of mind and their psychological welfare. I just knew. What I didn’t realise was there was a name for this ability. I was ‘empathic.’ – We all have it, some of us are more aware of it than others.

I remember on one occasion, when I was young, my maternal grandmother telling me that I was special and that one day my words would be used to comfort others. She told me I had a gift that I could not yet understand or see. She advised that I should always trust that ‘feeling’ I would get in my tummy. She told me this was called ‘intuition’ and that it would never let me down. This advice would serve me well in life under many different situations and difficulties.

My grandmother was intuitive. As was her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother. You get the picture? My grandmother had four daughters and all had inherited her abilities. All four sisters were encouraged to embrace and share their intuitive experiences. They did! All except one. – My mother. So I grew up not knowing about the psychic gift my family shared until I was 15. My mother I believe knew I had these abilities but she discouraged me from using them or exploring them and, to my detriment, she instilled such fear into me about all that was paranormal and spiritual. I was too scared to experiment with my intuitive side, but was always aware and curious.

Around the age of 15, my grandmother and my aunt (my mother’s younger sister), would fascinate me by talking about their own experiences of seeing, smelling, knowing and all the other senses that come to the fore when we start to develop these abilities. I was so inspired with it all and remember asking my grandmother and aunt why my mother would not entertain this ability. Quite simply: she was frightened and chose to block it.

I also found out later in life that my paternal grandmother was, and her daughter is also, spiritually intuitive. My aunt provides various holistic therapies for work purposes.

I had a difficult childhood. I had red hair and was bullied at school. I was teased relentlessly. Life at home wasn’t much better and when I turned 16, I lost my dearly loved grandmother: the one person who could see right through to my very soul. She’d taught me some valuable lessons. The biggest one was to not to fear the dead, they would never hurt us. What I didn’t realise until her death was that she and my aunt were preparing me for my spiritual journey in life.

My first personal experience with the other side happened after my grandmother’s passing. I returned home after her funeral and as soon as I entered my house there was an overwhelming smell of lavender. I knew instantly it was my grandmother. I was so distraught, I felt an overwhelming urge to go upstairs and pick up my bass guitar. My grandmother had been very proud of my musical abilities, and I began to play. As I played I felt a chill like someone had literally passed right through me. I knew instantly this was my grandmother.

The following year in 1988 exactly seven days before Christmas, we had a house fire. My father was at work; night shift. It was myself, younger sister and brother and my mother who were in bed that night. During the night I heard my grandmother say: Lorna, you need to get up. I was in a deep sleep. Again: Lorna you need to get up; you need to get up now pet. – There was now a sense of urgency about her plea. I got out of bed, confused, and immediately began to choke. I turned my bedroom light on and was even more confused by the fact I could not see a thing. I turned my light back off again and waited for my sleepy eyes to adjust. They didn’t. I opened my bedroom door sensing something was very wrong, and was thrown backwards onto my bed by a wind of smoke. I closed my bedroom door in a panic. What on earth was happening? I shouted for my mother. I thought about my brother and sister next door. I had to wake my mother up but how? I need to scream I thought. That’s exactly what I did: one single scream. I heard two thuds as her feet hit her own bedroom floor. I knew she had heard me.

We managed to get out, thankfully, and as we all sat in our next door neighbour’s house in shock, autopilot kicked in for me. I became the spokesperson with the Police and Fire Departments that evening until my father was notified at work and promptly retuned home.

I will never forget the moment the police sergeant said to me that the fire officer in charge would ‘like a word with me.’ I was terrified! I didn’t have a morsel of confidence at this time in my life. I was intimidated by everyone in authority and by my own shadow at the best of times. I walked outside, my face blackened with smoke, and he told me he was curious about what it was that had made me wake up. He explained that at that time of night we are usually in our deepest sleep. He also told me that if we had remained in the house for another few minutes, we would never have made it due to the toxic chemicals in the smoke. I had saved my family’s lives. Then he asked: Do you mind if I ask what woke you up? Well I panicked and had to think quickly. I could hear noises and stuff falling onto the floor, I said. How could I possibly tell a man of science that my late grandmother had insisted I get up and get out?!

The fire was never discussed. I had my confirmation that there were indeed dimensions on the other side. Our souls live on. This is when I realised that our loved ones can travel through these different dimensions but we can’t. This makes sense to me, as time as we know, is man-made. On the other side, I believe there is no concept of time.

For the first three or four years I continued to ‘smell’ my grandmother. I stopped discussing it with my mother as all it did was upset her. I remember her asking me one night when I was around 19: Lorna why does gran come to you and not me? I’m her daughter, you were only her grand-daughter. What could I say other than: I don’t know mum? I did know though: she was so lost in her own grief and had chosen to block. Why would my grandmother not get my attention when I was so open and grateful to receive it?

I had a baby when I was 22; my partner and I got married when I was 24 and had another baby the following year. My whole world was focused on working to pay the bills and raising my two beautiful daughters. My interests would take a long back seat for many years.

I lived for my visits to my aunt and we would exchange stories and experiences. I loved it. It was the only time I got to ask copious amounts of questions which she would try her best to answer for me. She had encouraged her daughter to embrace her gifts. My younger cousin has been on her development course her whole life. – That is the difference between us: she was encouraged and I wasn’t.

My dear aunt passed suddenly and unexpectedly (although not for my aunt who had predicted the week before her death to her daughter that ‘someone up there was calling for her’. She proved us right but her loss hurt like nothing had hurt before). This is when I bought my first pack of Tarot cards. I then bought a set of Angel cards. These were the only two packs of cards I had. I felt that was all I needed. I spent hour after hour, writing up my own reference book on each Tarot card. It took me many months. I enjoyed reading my cards but felt I needed to read something more uplifting. That’s when I decided to focus more on my Angel cards. I always enjoy reading with these cards. They are beautifully decorated and so busy with detail in the artwork. I found these provided the same guidance but in a much more compassionate way. I continued to self-educate myself on the cards. However I felt I would always need to refer to my notes when I read with these.

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I joined a group of like-minded people as my cousin and I threw ourselves into working out where we wanted to go with this. We were developing at different levels and I still felt very new to it all. Now a part of a group, I found a great mentor in Carole Anne. Carole Anne and some other beautiful like-minded people helped to guide me in my development at my own pace. After learning so much and still feeling like a beginner, I did wonder if it was my intuitive abilities at work or I just had a way with words. I got my clarification shortly after this when our group decided after five years of building relationships with each other, to finally get together for a weekend in the Borders. This weekend was to be my turning point.

I think we were all as nervous and painfully shy as each other. This is where I got to meet Carole Anne and where some close friendships were cemented. There was a great mix of everything. Love, happiness, laughter, tears and lots and lots of energy!

What I didn’t realise at the time was that Carole Anne had a well-established career in Astrology and had written for multiple publishers. She is very humble this way and I was so inspired by how humble she truly is. I learned that it’s okay to be frightened and sometimes this can be a healthy thing. We don’t want to open ourselves up to any old one do we? We certainly wouldn’t invite random people into our homes and for good reason.

I get an enormous amount of pleasure when reading for recipients and I was taught by Carole Anne and some other great mentors that there are moral ways of reading. We must deliver our messages with integrity, compassion and words of comfort. I learned all about the code of ethics in this work and for this I will be eternally grateful. I did get to a point where I thought am I being intuitive? This is where my journey had brought me to and as you will read in Part 2 of our book, how I can help you read the Runes intuitively.

Regards,

Lorna

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Runes are a tool for divination and like other forms of divination including Tarot, Angel and Oracle cards, Crystal Balls, Dice and even reading Doodles, the meaning of the card, Rune or symbol is personal to the person giving the reading. Runes, like other forms of divination, require you to tune in to your intuition and Higher Self to deliver messages to the person you are reading for.

Each Rune symbol has a traditional meaning but the deeper meaning of the symbol takes more interpretation. Tarot, Angel and Oracle