Learning the Runes: Four-week Intensive Course January 11, 2010

This course introduces you to working with the runes for magic and divinatory purposes in a focused group setting with an experienced teacher. The runes are a complex, archaic symbol system of early Northern Europe. Focusing on the Elder Futhark, Katie Gerrard will guide you into the runes in an experiential way, so you will be gaining knowledge of them not only through teaching but through chanting, casting, and making your own set. Katie Gerrard has been working with Runic and Norse traditions since the late 1990s and has given workshops and lectures to pagan audiences at national and international events. She is the author of the new release, Odin’s Gateways: A Practical Guide to the Wisdom of the Runes through Galdr, Sigils, and Divination (Avalonia, 2009). Price includes four two-hour sessions complete with course notes and any provided materials that you use to make your runes.

Course Content:
Session One introduces the runes and their history. We will discuss the known uses of the Elder Futhark in Scandinavian and Germanic literature, discussing suggested uses. We will also look at the popularisation of runes in recent history and their uses for divination and galdra today.

Session Two: work experientially with the runes, intoning and chanting, how each rune makes us feel and what clues this can give us to their meaning and use. Focusing on several specific runes, we will look at the symbolism and mythology associated with them and look at what steps we can take to get to know that rune better. We will also look at many of the runes that can be used within galdra and spellcraft and how we can use them.

Session Three: This week we will be making our own set of runes using materials gathered by you or provided on the day. We will discuss what decisions to make when selecting materials as well as how to charge your set with your own energy and with the energy of the rune.

Session Four: In the final session we will look at using your set of runes for divinat ion. We will also explore how runes can be used as talismans or as sigils within spellcraft. This session will also give us time to discuss the things we have learnt and experienced throughout the course.

Dates: Monday 11th January 2010, plus following three Mondays 18 Jan, 25 Jan, 1 Feb

Reserve your place via Treadwell's by email (info@treadwells-london.com), or by phone, 020 7240 8906. Payment confirms booking. Treadwell's hosts courses and workshops taught by most experienced and gifted practitioners we know -- tutors who are not only advanced in their subjects but are also able to consider their practices thoughtfully and critically. Our aim is to make the study of esoteric disciplines available to thinking, well-read enquirers. You can get details on current events at http://treadwells-london.com/page.php?id=5. We also do tarot readings (http://treadwells-london.com/page.php?id=6), and you can subscribe to our mailing list (http://treadwells-london.com/page.php?id=12).

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