Queering the Runes

Book excerpt: Queering the Runes is a contemporary, inclusive, and forward-thinking approach to the runes that focuses on finding queer experience, life, and joy in the Elder Futhark. Siri comes to the runes as a queer, nonbinary reader, and presents a path for reclaiming the ancestral wisdom and mystery of the runes in a way that can provide insight and understanding of their sacred nature for masculine, feminine, and nongendered aspects of self. Written as a love letter to the runes, the gods, and the people who follow the Nordic path, Queering the Runes presents an alternative approach to the runes—one that creates a gentle container for those who want to follow this heathen path. Based on the author’s personal gnosis, as well as deep academic research on runes and Nordic culture, this book explores the root culture of the runes, both in terms of myth and of lived, real folkloric experience, and paves the way for understanding how to work with runes disencumbered from patriarchy and white supremacy. Siri Vincent Plouff presents the traditional meanings of the runes, then helps the reader to queer the runes in their own way. Included are the lore associated with each rune, exercises to apply them to modern life, activities to engage with the runes (layouts, castings, and galdr), and advice on how to use the runes for divination. Throughout, the author provides journal prompts meant to help the reader channel the energy of specific runes, to get to know their energy, as well as to use the runes to help them move forward in a journey of self-discovery. Queering the Runes seeks to blow open perceptions of the runes, exploring them as active, living symbols available to all, as well as the inherent connection with ancestral magic that comes with rune work.