Rune casting isn’t your typical way to communicate with ghosts and spirits. Ouija and Tarot cards are far more popular, but runes have one advantage over them–your brain.

Background Information about Runes

The Germanic tribes of northern Europe developed and used the runes between 100 BCE and 1600 CE. Over time, the number of runes shifted between 16 to 33. Eventually, 24 remained in standard practice.

The runes themselves are an alphabet. Each rune corresponds to a Norse god. They also tend to correlate with a card within the Major Arcana of Tarot cards. Some people say they are the Tarot’s foundation.

Rune divination, or rune casting, isn’t really divination. It’s a form of psychology. It lets the rune caster see their conscience and mental state.

Unlike Tarot cards, runes accept that your fate isn’t predetermined. The runes allow you to change your fate. The Norse believed you can change your future.

How Rune Casting Works

We’ll use the Elder Futhark for this exercise. It has 24 runes. In some cases, you get a blank rune. Don’t use it for rune casting. It has no meaning, but it’s good to mark with a missing rune if you lose one.

Remember, rune casting is not divination. The purpose is to evaluate your past and present actions. You look at cause and effect to find a future outcome. There’s nothing magical about rune casting.

Now, this is how you do a rune casting:

1. Place a cloth on a table

2. Mix the runes in their bag

3. Form a question and solely focus on the question (this will be modified for asking ghostly questions – see below)

4a. Pick a handful of runes when you feel comfortable your question has been answered

Note: You may feel comfortable, warm or peaceful when you have the right runes.

4b. Pick each rune one-by-one

Note: You’ll know it’s the right rune because your fingers will feel drawn to it.

5. Gently place the runes in the order of your spread

Note: We use the 3-5 card Tarot card spread from our earlier post.

Interpreting A Rune Casting

In general, you want to use the literal translation of the rune from a good source (we link to a great website at the bottom of this post). If a rune is reversed, or upside down, you want to use the opposite translation. If you pick a rune and it’s the backside (no rune marking visible), you ignore it. In time, your intuition will develop and you will get more insight into your casting.

How to Use the Runes to Communicate with Ghosts & Spirits

You will make some adjustments to your rune casting when you speak to ghosts and spirits. Some things stay the same:

• Set up your protection like you did in the Ouija boards and Tarot cards
• Set the mood before you begin
• Have your research about the site and suspected spirit

Now, you can begin your rune casting with ghosts.

First, you will ask a single question and pick a single rune from the bag. If you’re new to runes, it’s okay to use a book to help translate it. We do recommend a book over an Internet source during a live Q&A through runes. The ghost may drain your computer battery.

Write down each question, the rune drawn and any feelings or insights you receive.

We mention this because the ghost may use psychic energy to implant a rune in your mind. It will cause your hand, through your brain, to pick the right rune. Saleen says not to worry about possession in this case. You’re not channeling a spirit or ghost. If you used protection techniques, you won’t have to worry about it. She tends to wear hematite, tiger’s eye and/or obsidian bracelets to ground herself.

Go through your questions as you would a normal EVP session. Record all the data you can using a digital voice recorder, infrared cameras and video equipment–if you have it.

Most sessions will only last 30 minutes. Prioritize your questions. Remember, you want to confirm the ghost’s identity.

We used this rune casting website to help us with the background on runes. We also used this book about runes to help us with interpretation.