Runic Amulets and Magic Objects

Here follows some of the most up to date, comprehensive and the latest academic Old Norse Mythology books covering the subjects of Old Norse Magic, the gods and goddesses as well as the Eddaic Sagas both old and new. As the archaeology improves with the latest innovations for discerning older secondary sources with the latest technological advances to bridge the gaps in our understanding, it is hoped to gain a better grasp of the Old Ways during a time when very little was known about that lost world which relied on the oral tradition storytellers rather than the later day literary written records of medieval scribes.  

Runic Amulets and Magic Objects [CuPpY].pdf
Title: Runic Amulets and Magic Objects Hardback edition by Mindy Macleod Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Online publication date: September 2012 Print publication year: 2006 Online ISBN: 9781846155048

The runic alphabet, in use for well over a thousand years, was employed by various Germanic groups in a variety of ways, including, inevitably, for superstitious and magical rites. Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto small items that could be carried for good luck; runic charms were carved on metal or wooden amulets to ensure peace or prosperity. There are invocations and allusions to pagan and Christian gods and heroes, to spirits of disease, and even to potential lovers. Few such texts are completely unique to Germanic society, and in fact, most of the runic amulets considered in this book show wide-ranging parallels from a variety of European cultures. The question of whether runes were magical or not has divided scholarship in the area. Early criticism embraced fantastic notions of runic magic - leading not just to a healthy scepticism, but in some cases to a complete denial of any magical element whatsoever in the runic inscriptions. This book seeks to revaluate the whole question of runic sorcery, attested to not only in the medieval Norse literature dealing with runes but primarily in the fascinating magical texts of the runic inscriptions themselves. Dr Mindy McLeod teaches in the Department of Linguistics, Deakin University, Melbourne; Dr BERNARD MEES teaches in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne. Runic Amulets and Magic Objects.