Gollinkambi Kindred

There are three major sets of RUnes commonly used by Heathns today:  The Elder Futhark, the Younger Futhark and the Futhork

The Elder Futhark are a set of twenty four characters used for writing, and divination.  The Elder Futhark were in use in Continental Europe from around 250 B.C.E and would have been in use by the Germanic tribes at the time that Tacitus.  The Elder Futhark are made entirely of straight lines, making them easier to carve or engrave onto hard surfaces.  They are, however, more unwieldy than other forms of writing which can be written as a continuous, flowing script. 
 

The Elder Futhark are usually divided into three groups of eight, known as Aetts.  Each character of the Elder Futhark stands for a distinctive sound and has a name which aids in recalling the sound a particular rune makes.  These names also serve as the basis of the divinatory meaning of each rune and provide a method of transmitting secondary information using a limited number of runes which are interpreted by their name meanings, rather than by the sounds they stand for.  Runes have long had magical uses, as described in the Eddas as well as in the Sagas. 
 

Several runes can be combined this way, either overlapping or in contact with one another.  Such a grouping is known as a bindrune and is not read phonetically, but rather is an interaction of the meanings of the rune names from which it is composed.  Over time as the spoken languages for which the were used changed, the Elder Futhark simplified into the sixteen character Younger Futhark in areas which spoke Northern Germanic Languages and expanded into the thirty three character Futhork in areas which spoke Western Germanic dialects, most notably Anglo-Saxon. 

Finally, it should be noted that the Elder Futhark are commonly used by Heathens today to make bind runes, for decoration and as writing.  They thus serve also as a mark of a distinctive Heathen sub-culture.

The Elder Futhark

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