Witch's Runes

by Susan A. Sheppard

The modern witch is a gentle spirit who isn't afraid to follow her own path. A creative who fashions her own runes instead of buying them off the rack possesses a special divinatory tool that contains her own spiritual magick. Because they are more personal than the usual stones available in stores, homemade runes allow a witch to be truly creative and intuitive in her readings and castings. A Witch's Runes teaches you how to make your own runes by finding just the right 13 stones, purifying them in the moonlight, and carefully painting them with beautiful symbols whose ancient meanings are rich and varied. This book teaches you how to do readings that are infused with personal meaning and how to cast spells and blessings. Witch's runes are a gift you give to yourself.

Genres: Divination, Occult, Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft, Wicca

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Susan Sheppard of Parkersburg, West Virginia, has poetry published in over 100 magazines and has been writing poetry for more than 30 years. She is descended from the Blackfoot-Saponi and Lenape-Shawnee tribes of her region. In 1998, she was awarded a Poetry Fellowship from West Virginia Arts & Humanities. Sheppard is the author of a number of books, including four non-fiction and one novel. Her poetry chapbook, Balefire, was published in 2015 by Crisis Chronicles Press. Susan teaches poetry every Thursday at Sacred Way Arts in downtown Parkersburg. Her seasonal ghost tour, the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours, is rated the #8 most popular ghost tour in the nation.

Reviews

[Raechel Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my wandering and varied research for my book, I kept coming across the witch's runes.  You can find a plethora of them on Etsy.  I was really curious as to what they were, where they came from, their provenance really.  A little digging produced the book A Witch's Runes by Susan Sheppard.  The subtitle How to Make and Use Your Own Magick Stones was right up my research alley.  I put in my request for a copy via Inter Library Loan along with the half a bajillion other books and waited.

I want to point out from the offset that I admire what Sheppard set out to do with the book.  With certain modern pagan paths' penchants for making up traditions out of whole cloth there a real risk to viewing anything not steeped in hundreds of years of history as somehow lesser or illegitimate when it comes to the pagan faith.  I've read a lot of pagan books over the last year, and there is a trend of constantly looking back.  What Sheppard does in this book is create a new divination system, somewhere between runes and Tarot cards.  It's an ambitious objective and it has certainly paid off: her book was first published in 1998 and the idea of witch's runes has spread.

But (and you knew there was a but coming, right?) reading through the book was an uncomfortable stroll through cultural appropriation, slurs and handfuls of generalizations thrown in for good measure.  Sheppard's approach is summed up on page 22: "But the witch honors all of the spiritual traditions that have preceded her.  She takes what works for her and makes use of its meanings."  This set the tone for the book.

The thing is, it didn't have to be this way.  Late in the book, on page 96, Sheppard mentions that her "...area of discipline is astrology."  She talks about using the runes she has created "in the place of signs and planets and it works out fine."  Knowing this, and seeing the table at the back of the book with planet, sign and element correspondences, I could see the potential for a divination tool made incorporating the zodiac and astrology.  I don't understand why this isn't what she did.

The only reasoning I can come up with is that urge I pointed out earlier, to try and tie any new Pagan ideas to the past.  For each rune, Sheppard tries to tie the symbolism to various older cultures: Egyptian, Pict, Anglo-Saxon, Akkadians, Mesopotamians, and of course the ubiquitous "gypsies".  Occasionally she touches back on her astrological background, tying the Scythe to Scorpio and the planet Pluto.  But for the most part all the runes are presented as an amalgamation of symbols drawn from mostly western cultures.

I am writing Sew Craft with an eye to avoid appropriation, generalization, and giving Western traditions more importance than the rest of the world.  It is a fine line to travel, as I am aware that I can't see all the pitfalls I might fall in while meaning well. As I work, reading books like A Witch's Runes keeps me mindful of respecting the history of my sources.

--Originally posted at http://idiorhythmic.com/book-review-a...

[Edric Unsane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking to learn how to read the Witch’s Runes? This book helps you do just that as well as making your own set and some of the history and inspiration behind this divination method. I thought the book was fairly straightforward and written well. It was a good book on a useful divination method.

[Dafna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book mostly as a resource as I learn to read Pictish runes. I wasn't expecting too much from this book, as I've seen books on divination before and at best they have partial information and I have to go around hunting for the rest of the information elsewhere.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Not only does Susan Sheppard write clearly and extensively on the runes themselves, she also discusses their meanings overall, and then again when it comes to interpreting their meaning. Her history on the witch was written with passion and love for the craft, which is something that I highly appreciate. Too many books like these come off as condescending and others even seem more like charlatanry than an honest book about what it means to work within the craft.

As it is a resource book, I'll be discovering new things every time that I open and read it.

[Kelsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had an idea to find out what I can do with pistachio shells, and found I could slap runes on them and I discovered this book! It helped me get Xmas gifts to the witches in my life and I'm still learning but man this is super in depth and just awesome. Highly recommend!

[Alexandra Chauran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book long ago when it first came out and it had a lasting effect on me. I decided to re-read it for research while I'm writing a book about runes for beginners. The author's voice is so simple and yet mythic. I enjoyed the spells she had listed at the end that I didn't remember. The author is very creative.

[Tracy Deziel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to learn the Runes very informative. Use it all the time to study meanings of each Rune and there correspondances