Product Description

The runes are a pan-European magical language. Its roots lie in the ancient pagan beliefs of our ancestors, who built many thousands of stones circles, long barrows and dolmens throughout ancient Europe. These same symbols and techniques were used by the pagan Celts and Germans. This book is a complete manual of magick based upon arcane symbolism and secret techniques. Contents: Meaning /Urda /Origins /Futhorc /Magical inscriptions / Memorial stones /Fascism / Titles / Cosmology / Nature / Qabala / Vision / Werdandi / Rune stance / Breathing/ Vowel song / Problems / Tune in / Health? / Divination / Alignments / Sigil sorcery / Seiethr and Seething / Energy /lda / Rune companion / Sources Jan Fries lives in Frankfurt near the Taunus Mountains. He is a musician, artist and magician. '...eminently practical and certainly breaks new ground.' - Ronald Hutton (author Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles) Recommended by The Cauldron 'a very meaty read...' PJ in Gippeswic Preface to the new edition When I went to school, my history teacher told us about the old Germani. In her opinion, the Taunus mountains were populated by a bunch of brawny brawlers who wore horned helmets and small pieces of pelt. They lived in hilltop settlements which were fortified by ringwalls. Barely able to manage agriculture, they had to rely on hunting to fill their stomachs. They lived in shabby huts with mud-plastered walls and when the Romans came, they fought the invaders with crude swords, pointy sticks and by hurling rocks at them...Nowadays, the ringwalls of the Taunus are known as the work of La Tene Celts, who lived on the heights in well organised cities. For this new edition much of the text has been rewritten and updated. A large section on the bronze ages, the Celts, Germani and the later Vikings added. The theme of Wodan and Helja has been elaborated with more detail on pagan Scandinavia. The chapter on magical rune inscriptions has been extended, on Seiethr/seething trances rewritten, the bibliography updated and twelve pages of new illustrations added.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137450 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 450 pages

Review
"...eminently practical and certainly breaks new ground." -- Ronald Hutton, author. Recommended by The Cauldron. "a very meaty read..." -- PJ in Gippeswic.

Customer Reviews

Essential text of modern rune-lore
I read this book around a year ago and I haven't looked back. Although I knew very little about runes, I bought 'Helrunar', largely because the cover was so attractive. I went on to read 'Seidways' and 'Visual Magick', many other books on runes, Norse culture and mythology, and ultimately the Icelandic sagas and Eddas. I'm now a practicing heathen and have given two talks on rune-lore myself.

Fries writes lucidly and entertainingly - unlike many authors on esoteric subjects, he has a sense of humour. Helrunar is packed with practical advice for acquiring hands-on experience of the northern tradition.

If I have one criticism, it's that there is almost too much information given - I wouldn't really recommend this book for absolute beginners (as I was). I had to do some internet research to supplement my reading of this book in order to get a handle on the basic order of the various Futharks and so on. But having said that, this remains the best single book on the runes that I have read. Thank you Mr Fries for revealing this fascinating world to me! Too bad the book seems to be out of print at the moment.

The only book on the runes you will ever need
At long last a well written and comprehensive manual on rune magic.
There is a veritable plethora of bady written `new age` books on runes on the market today but this is not one of them.
Both scholarly and yet deeply esoteric.I recommend this book to anyone who is searching for something deeper than the usual nonsense that one finds written on the subject by people with very little knowledge.
It was nice to see subjects such as runic postures and meditation being covered with simple to follow explanations and directions and clear diagrams.
I look forward to reading his other books in due time.

A very good book
I read this book a few years back eventhou I've read it many time it still gives me new insight. Jan Fries has an refreshing down-to-earth angle to magick and it's very clear that he has tried all the methods mentioned himself. I recomment this book to all down-to-earth people who wants facts and well tested methods.