At The Well Of Wyrd * Edred Thorsson (1988 samuel weisser isbn 0877286787 / 1999 samuel weisser isbn 157863136X)
This is the third part of a ‘runic divination’ trilogy with the titles Runelore: a handbook of esoteric runology and Futhark: a handbook of rune magic. I just happened to be able to buy this book cheap, second hand and in my own country. My first printing is called At the well of wyrd: a handbook of runic divination, so the title was changed for the reprint it seems. Stephen Edred Thorsson/Flowers is the founder of the Rune Gild, “a school of esoteric knowledge based on the Odian system of the Runes”. He is a sholar (PhD) and esotericist, making him an authority in the eyes of some. Of course I haven’t read a whole lot of Rune Gild literature, but their website has some (nice) writings, the Finland header has a blog (PYHÄ) and I am currently reading Thorsson’s 1986 dissertation Runes and Magic. However it is all interesting in a way, I am still not convinced of the historical justification of some of the systems and ideas of Thorsson. In At The Well Of Wyrd Thorsson says several times that there are only hints about the historical systems of runic divination, yet he builds a complete system and sometimes even refers to Tacitus’ Gemania as source, while Tacitus only gives a very loose remark of “lots” and “signs”. In all my ignorance, I cannot see in this booklet much difference from all too wanting, modern interpretations of possible functions of the runes in the past. Nice is that Thorsson names every rune in the elder Futhark with quotes from the famous rune-poems, but when it comes to casting systems and the like, I am off. No worries of course, I will just stack this booklet with my other runebooks, continue to read the disseration and probably come to the conclusion that these texts of Thorsson are not meant for me.