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Should You Buy or Make Your Runes?

The traditional, and still in some ways the best, answer is that you should make your runes. This will give your set of runes and individuality and a intimacy to you that cannot be achieved with most other forms of divination and you will find attuning to your runes easier. Since you have put something of yourself into their manufacture, they will inevitably serve you better than runes from a shop ever could.

Yet, we live now in a consumer society very different from the warrior culture which first gave rise to the runes. The majority of people have limited practical skills and having to make their runes could act as a major disincentive to their trying them. The average person using the runes for the first time is curious, perhaps even a little nervous, but not at this stage particularly committed to them as a means of divination or self-discovery. It is important then to avoid elitist attitudes which, no matter how strongly we may hold them, do not reflect everyday reality. The truth is there are authors on the runes who have purchased every set they have ever used. The validity of their experience with the runes should not be dismissed.

If you have the appropriate abilities, then making your own set of runes will enable you to take your experience with them to new levels. It is not however an essential particularly for those who are just starting out with the runes. If you have purchased a book which included a set of runes with it then don't be afraid to use them. They will serve you well.