Welcome to Wyrd Webs

A site dedicated to the Runes, Runecasting and to Odin, the first Runemaster

In both Old Norse and Old Celt the word rún, from which rune derives, translates as ‘secret’, ‘hidden’ or ‘mysterious’. Many inscriptions still survive to show how they were used and the order of the runes themselves. The secret, hidden meanings would only have been known to the runemasters of old. Runemaster does not mean that they were all men however. It was a title used to denote rank, not gender. A Runecutter was qualified to do inscriptions, being able to read and carve the runes, whereas a Runemaster would know the secret, hidden lore and be a competent runic magician. The runemaster, or Vitki, was as likely to have been female as male, with many regarding the work of a female Vitki as especially powerful, due to her connection with the Goddesses, particularly Freyja who was known as the Seidhr Queen (Seidhr is the Old Norse art of prophetic trancework, which Freyja taught to Odin).

The meanings ascribed to the runes are based in the main upon the Norwegian, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon rune poems, although it should be noted that none of these match the age of the runes themselves, being later transcriptions of the oral traditions. Although there is some distortion evident in them, the system as a whole is still valid.