Book Review No. 23 - Runes for Beginners: Simple Divination and Interpretation by Alexandra Chauran

Howdy Everyone! This week, between breaks from watching the Olympics in Rio, I've finished a great in-depth book on runes called "Runes for Beginners: Simple Divination and Interpretation" by Alexandra Chauran.   

  Runes are an ancient form of divination and language. Often they are inscribed on stones, shells or beads. They are gently thrown and then interpreted. Its sort of like "throwing the bones", and indeed you can inscribe runes onto bones. There are different types of runes, but the most common or popular are the Elder Futhark Runes.    Anyway, I do have a set of runes that I am a little ashamed to admit I've never used. When I got the opportunity to read this book I got my runes out and  kept them by my side. I actually recommend doing this, it really makes Chauran's book more interactive. She goes through a brief history of the runes and the different types available. She chose to use the Elder Futhark in her book, which makes sense as it is readily accessible to most people. Then there is a section going over each rune, how to pronounce them, and an overview of the runes meanings. Chauran also goes into more specifics, like different rune "spreads" so you can get a more meaningful readings. I really liked how she provides several different popular question topics and how the runes can be interpreted for example in a love reading as opposed to a financial reading.  When learning new things, I like to get real-life examples of how this is applicable and how I can approach the new topic. Chauran offers many everyday uses for the runes and how she has worked with them through different stages of her life. I do like when an author does this, especially on these sorts of books. Makes the content more relatable to me.    Although this book is for said to be for beginners, there is a lot of really good information in it that I think would be great for beginners to intermediates. Now if you are an expert runecaster, well then this may not be new information for you.    So if you want to try a new from of divination or you are looking to actually use those runes you have (or make your own set). I recommend taking a look at this book. Until next time, Jenny