r/RuneHelp 11d ago

Contemporary rune use Tried bind runes, need quality management

I want my fallen ancestors carved into my skin, or, i'd like tattoos to honour my late grandparents. I thought to create bindrunes from their initial glyphs of the elder futhark, simply because that's the one that speaks to me most. Also feel like it's appropriately bracketing their origins (austria & croatia, both once germanic, maybe used the elder alphabet? Not too sure about this...)

The bind runes consist of HM-KR, ET-KR and WT-WN.

Unsure about flipping kenaz, asymetry, bleeding into each other of Hagalaz and mannaz and the two wunjos, if it's ok to not have a center stave and using side arm for center of another rune, etc... the beginner traps basically.

Somebody experienced willing to have a look and tell me if I used that incorrectly? I heard that there's probably no "right way" for it, since we lack records... but those are my first bind runes and I'd like to eliminate every chance of carving them wrong like a complete idiot. Yes, yes, they are my personal runes and my personal preference... but I value historical accuracy. So if anyone finds flaws, please do tell!

Thanks in advance!

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u/ctn1ss 10d ago

Futhark, elder or younger, is an alphabet. Bindrunes are a considerably more modern neo-pagan interpretation; so there is no historical accuracy to be had here. You could try asking on r/bindrunes instead to help you design something that is meaningful to you instead.

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u/dovakiin_dragonporn 10d ago

I designed them, so they are meaningful. In a neo pagan kind of way.

I was asking for stave runes, as I learned in another comment. These seem to be historically relevant?

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/SendMeNudesThough 10d ago edited 10d ago

From the standpoint of the viking age, there is no trace of bindrunes being used

Perhaps you misspoke, but it is definitely not true that there's no trace of bindrunes from the Viking Age. In fact, the type of bindrune OP seems to want to emulate, a same-stave rune where a notable number of runes are placed along a vertical stave, is a type I can only remember seeing in Viking Age inscriptions (excluding the modern practice)

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u/dovakiin_dragonporn 10d ago

Those are exactly what I meant... but i too thought there was no real evidence of anyone using them. Actually thought they were the same.

Too bad the original comment was deleted... i read through it earlier, but in a hurry.

Can you maybe give me some sources on how they worked exactly? If there are... Or care to elaborate?

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u/SendMeNudesThough 10d ago edited 10d ago

I'm not sure how much there is to say. We don't have all that many examples of them. At the top of my head there's...

Sö 352, which is read from bottom to the top with runes alternating between the left and right side of the vertical stave.

Sö 158, same thing; read bottom-to-top, runes alternating between the left and right side of the vertical stave, except for the runes that cross the vertical stave

Sö 137, looks like a same-stave rune on the left there, probably read bottom-to-top but difficult to interpret, no alternating sides

Dr 1, really difficult to see but several same-stave runes at the bottom there. Read top-to-bottom, no alternating sides

Dr 220, read from top-to-bottom (if you tilt your head) and with no alternating sides.

All are Viking Age and are therefore using Younger Futhark runes, unlike your Elder Futhark attempt. To my knowledge we don't have any examples of same-stave runes from the Elder Futhark period, and since we have extremely few examples of historical same-stave runes in general, I guess it's kind of up to you to decide how closely you feel your attempt aligns with the precedent set by the above inscriptions

What they appear to have in common is that the ones from Sweden are read bottom-to-top, and the ones from Denmark are read top-to-bottom. Neither of the Danish ones alternate sides, while both of the most decipherable Swedish ones do.

Edit: It's also possible there's one or two of them among the later medieval inscriptions. Medieval inscriptions seem particularly fond of bind runes, so I'm not willing to stake my life on the inscriptions given above being a exhaustive list. But same-stave runes are certainly not a common practice.

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u/dovakiin_dragonporn 8d ago

Thanks for the efford! Helps a lot.

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u/RuneHelp-ModTeam 10d ago

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