Book Review: Runes: Your Personal Guide

Jan Budkowsky, Runes: Your Personal Guide. New York: Wellfleet Press, 2021. ISBN: 9781577152606.

 

Genre: short reference

Subgenre: divination, runes, Norse mythology

Format: e-book galley

Source: NetGalley

 

This is another volume in Quarto's In Focus series. From this series, I've read and reviewed Divination: Your Personal Guide (link to the review). 

 

 

This volume is a basic guide to learn about runes and how to use them. The book is organized into ten chapters that go from origins and lore of runes to how to read runes and even do some magic with them. The book starts with some general background and history of runes. It goes over the structure in very basic terms. This is just enough to get you started on where runes come from. After that, we get some Norse mythology. This is also basic, but it is enough to provide context. Next the author covers the 24 runes in sets of 8 per chapter with meanings and interpretations. The book goes on to provide lessons on how to read small and large rune spreads. The book concludes with rune casting and rune magic. The last chapter is a good overview of some basic magic rituals. A strength here is that nothing is too complicated nor requires overly elaborate materials. 

This is an accessible and easy to read book. It is a good book  for beginners. I recently bought a simple set of runes to start learning and studying the runes, and this book can be a good companion source to start learning. It gives you just enough to get started without being overwhelming. In additional features it has an appendix of quick rune meanings and a glossary of terms. I do wish it had a suggested reading list for those who may want to read further or find more advanced material.

This book is a good selection for public libraries that may have pagan and esoteric materials. I would consider it optional for academic libraries, though if you have a pagan group on campus, this may be of interest. 

Overall, I really liked this book, and I suggest it for beginners. Advanced readers, however, may find it a bit basic. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

This book qualifies for the following 2022 Reading Challenge: