Runestaves

Rune staves are sticks or horn pieces or bits of bone with an image of a rune (rún, "mystery") carved (rístr) into the surface. The rune itself is darkened or reddened with the caster's (vitki) blood to make the rune stand out.

These tools are used in divination, and the vitki will rune-cast to help decode events witnessed in dreams (draumar) or from visions in meditation (uitseta, "outside-sitting"). A skilled vitki then interprets the casting with attention to urðr (past, what has been), verðandi (present, what is), and skuld (future, what becomes, the becoming). This can guide right action, but the process is perilous, because of the vague nature of the process.

Typically three staves are drawn, but other methods bring more insight. Each rune has a unique meaning both phonetically (as these are the letters of an alphabet; specifically phonemic representations) and pragmatically. For example, the rune that looks like an R is raiðo, which means travel or journey, and is associated with a wagon.