Just Add Blood: Runelore - Understanding and Using the Anglo-Saxon Runes

This is a very helpful book but also significantly flawed. The heart of the book is Taylor's exposition of the meanings of the Anglo-Saxon runes. He goes much deeper than the surface associations based on the Old English Rune Poem by comparing it to the Icelandic and Norse Rune Poems where possible, and by delving into the deeper into the magical and shamanic implications of each symbol.This section is worth the price of the book, and there is also an informative history of the runes, explaining when and why the Elder Futhark evolved into the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc in England and into the Younger Futhark, with fewer staves, later in Scandinavia.Unfortunately, other segments of the book are treated superficially. For example, the sole reference to the book's title comes in in the very brief section (two paragraphs) on making one's own rune set; Taylor writes that blood is a "powerful medium" for coloring the engraved rune staves, then advises the reader to find a "friendly shamanistic practitioner" for help. This section has no actual guidance into making runes. He tells us that using blood "involves a ritual," but no hint as to what that ritual should be; just the helpful advice to find a friendly neighborhood shaman, as if everybody knows one.It also could have benefited from one more round of editing to remove unnecessary quotation marks and tidy up some of the writing.Essentially, the book feels like a thoughtful and useful essay on the rune meanings with some ancillary material hastily tacked on to make it long enough to publish as a short book. It is a surprising lapse from Moon Books, an imprint I've come to really respect.

I found interesting that he use the Anglo Saxon Futharc and only a few authors use it, unfortunately he talks a lot about the Christianize process and I in my personal opinion the ones that are interested in this theme are looking for information on reconstruction of the old ways and the majority of us try very hard to dechristianize the eddas, poems, sagas and translations in order to find the purest source possible, for this reason I do not like what the author does in this book.

Just Add Blood initially provides a depth and cultural context for the Anglo-Saxon runes. It provides some much needed intellectual rigour. This brave approach distinguishes the book from other similar ones in the market and gives these runes an identity in the British tradition. Then there is a shift of gears with a more personal and intuitive appreciation of how the runes should be used. The comparative material that follows is an added extra and useful guide to rune lore for any student of the field.Probably the most daring and significant insight is that the extension to the runes, as encapsulated in this book, connects them both back to the Celtic culture that preceded the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain, but also provides a symbolic foreshadowing of the Grail legends of mystical Christianity. Yet there is a feeling in the writing that this is relevant to the present, and not simply history.The author has left a lot unsaid, but this is because works such as this should guide us, stimulate and be tools for personal exploration, and not simply provide ready-made answers. My impression is there is more to come from this pen regarding these themes, as well as providing a focus for this period of history and its spirituality, and its relevance to modern times, which has not been explored to date in this manner.I look forward to more reviews of this stimulating work.

I recently completed my first reading of this book. I was a little disappointed with the slimness of the volume, the lack of detailed analysis of the Runes and the dearth of recommended reading matter at the end of the book.However I was pleased by the very spiritual and psychological approach of the author and any book that focuses on the Anglo-Saxon/Northumbrian Runes is to be welcomed. So by all means buy the book but do not expect an in-depth analysis!

Unnützes 08/15 Runenbuch. Bei den meisten Runen bezieht sich der Verfasser eins zu eins auf die in esoterischen Kreisen geläufigen Deutungen und, schlimmer noch, verdreht den Rest bis zur Unkenntlichkeit. Vielerorts mischt er dann bei diversen Runen noch irgendeinen sexualmagischen Aspekt mit hinein, oder dichtet sich haltlose Bedeutungen zusammen.Mit der angelsächsischen Runenüberlieferung hat das jedenfalls nichts zu tun und mein Exemplar wird postwendend zurückgeschickt!Wer sich für das 33er Futhorc interessiert, dem rate ich eher zu "Anglo-Saxon Rune Lore" von Herne Wyldwood.