If someone is planning to get a rune tattoo, they should answer a few questions: do I understand what runes are, do I know their meaning, are they legible and understandable for me so that I can use them as a map of the inner and outer world?
First of all, it is necessary to remember the mythological origin of the runes. The runes were taken by Odin when he sacrificed himself to himself by hanging himself on the World Tree for 9 nights. Odin is primarily the god of magic, self-awareness, wisdom, he is the god of sovereignity. If you ask someone to compose you a magic stamp to, for example, improve your life situation, I personally see a glitch here that cannot be overlooked. Learn the runes, sacrifice the lower aspects of your personality (which have probably put you in a pitiful situation that you want to get out of by “magically” placing the runes on your body) for something higher within you. Improve in self-awareness. Most errors come from automatic routines in complete unconsciousness. Get in the rush of hunger for knowledge, get to know yourself! Seek the Mystery! You will never fully discover it, it would not be a Mystery, but it is the process of journey and following it that changes you.
Runes themselves as signs do not have magical power that can change your life. As wonderful as the effects of doing this without first engaging in rune internalization may be, it probably only shows how easily you are susceptible to the power of suggestion, or how susceptible you are to the placebo effect. There’s nothing wrong with that if they’re accompanied by success, but that’s not the point here. Studying the runes and their meanings can influence your life the most. Once you start working with them, chances are you won’t even be interested in putting them on your body. It is us who, by working with runes, give them our own subjective, personal meaning based on the available data linking them to tradition, such as Runic Poems. Through the process of learning the runes, we build a map of the soul, if not even the soul itself. Then questions like; which runes, how to combine them etc. don’t come up at all because you just know.
Do not tattoo runes that are supposed to attract temporary cravings, heal you or attract love. Constantly providing yourself with chocolate does not bode well and any medicine in excess can turn into poison. Suppose, however, that you hanged yourself a little on the Tree and took up the runes screaming, and you still want to get some tattoos. I have two suggestions on how to use runes and tattoos as a magical tool.
The first proposal is to make a tattoo without ink, where the runes are carved into the skin, naturally colored with blood and, after healing and disappearing, sent to do their destiny. There is no need for a tattooartist here. Tattoo equipment is available everywhere. Even a needle alone is enough… Do you know how to carve?
The second way to tattoo runes in a way that corresponds to runes by definition, i.e. with the aim of hiding them, encoding, is to use visual, symbolic representations of given runes. For example, for fehu, you can use images of fire, a snake, or any symbols of prosperity, for sovilo, it can simply be the sun, for uruz, a horn or any horned beast, for thurisaz, thorns or even a goat, etc. In this way, the meaning will be hidden to the unfamiliar with the subject of the recipient, and for you it will work effectively, resonating with the unconscious, because its language is images. Do you know how to read?
Ask yourself if you want to wear something you don’t fully understand. If it’s supposed to be a no-brainer because it looks cool, then maybe you’d be better off buying rune jewelry or a t-shirt, it’ll be cheaper than a tattoo, but it’ll be real, consistent with you. When fashion passes, you take off your shirt, change your jewelry. Valuable things require Work.
I know stories from the world of tattoos like: could you tell me what I have written in runes on my tattoo? Or man with the runes embedded in his “Viking” tattoo, when asked if he knows what is written on his body replies: I don’t know. After reading him the nonsense that was present there, he replies ignorantly: maybe. Another perfect example of ignorance is the circle in which the runes are inscribed, but it is the mirrored half of it. The current world is full of fake, shallow treatment of tradition or any craft, in short, the death of the spirit is ubiquitous. Think about which army you will join. Automatism or Self-awareness, Subordination or Sovereignity, Psychotropics or Journey in your Depths, Ignorance or Truth, self or Self?
P.S. People often say: the body is my temple and I decorate it as I wish. Have you ever seen a temple decorated with frescoes on the outer walls? Do you hang paintings outside your apartment window? The process of decorating/creating the temple is an internal one.
