There’s sadly some creators in this space who will sell you lies about runes to get your money. Quite honestly, some of them have blatantly copied and pasted their knowledge from a Pinterest page and tried to pass it off as ancient wisdom.

Telling you this isn’t going to make me any friends, but watching this trickery and fraud happening every day is eating at my soul. I’ve never been one to back down from saying something controversial when it’s the right thing to do (Scottish women rarely do 😂). So despite the backlash I’m going to face, here’s the cold hard truth about some creators who work with runes – because you deserve to know it.

The intention of writing this post is to help you make an informed decision when you choose to work with someone in the rune space. And no, it doesn’t have to be me! There are plenty of other creators in this niche who are also filled with honesty and integrity, I’ve even included a wee list at the end of this post so you know what to look for when choosing.

Let me start by saying that I’m not here to criticize anyone’s hustle. We all need to pay our rent, keep the lights on or feed our kids. What I am here to criticise, is the lack of integrity.

When the surge in “Viking aesthetic” came around, half a step behind it was an influx of people who wanted to use this suddenly romanticised period in history for profit (the curse of capitalism, right?). Usually those who flocked to the Viking aesthetic like flies to shit, were those who held no interest in learning the facts.

(People study this at University for years, but yeah, Dan knows it all because he created a course after watching the Vikings TV show 😂)

Instead of taking the time to humble themselves with a period of research, learning and knowledge – many promoted themselves straight to teacher.

This can be put down to one of two reasons.

One, being the student and taking time to learn the facts doesn’t pay the bills. Two, ego wins and people believe they already know everything.

Perhaps I am the exception to the rule here. Before I started charging for my personal bindrunes, I’d already been working with the runes for years. I didn’t have to undergo this period of basic training because I already had a foundation to work off.

However, you should never stop learning. Placing ones ego aside and accepting that we’ll never know it all is incredibly important. Accepting that we’re always on a learning journey, in every aspect of our lives is paramount to being a good, decent human.

Sadly, a lot of these people are not good, decent humans. Let me give you an example…

This is actually a bit of a horror story that happened to a client of mine (I hate to think what would’ve happened if this was tattooed!)

They went to a creator and got a phrase translated into what they believed to be Old Norse. Just to be sure before it was tattooed, they asked me to double check it.

Cutting to the chase, it wasn’t Old Norse, it was Old English that had been translated in to Younger Futhark runes and it was complete gibberish. Not one coherent sentence.

Sadly, these folks don’t care if you end up with a tattoo across your forehead that reads “soup“. All they care about is that you paid them. It’s actually quite a sad state of affairs, I can’t imagine running my business this way – with so little morality and integrity.

Keen to avoid getting the word “soup” tattooed on your forehead in runes? Here’s what to look out for…

Look deeper than the follower count. It’s really easy to get sucked in by the number of followers someone has. Follower number does not mean that someone knows what they’re talking about. Instead, explore how well they’re actually known. Have they written books? Have they written articles? Have they been referred to positively by other creators? Are they on podcasts? Do they speak about history? Can they show you genuine artefacts with runes? Can they tell you the differences between rune languages? Can they provide references? Etc..

The word Viking is a red flag (yes, seriously!). A lot of these folks who are out for pure profit with 0 integrity will throw the word Viking around to sound trendy. It’s a buzz word, it evokes cool images of Norsemen raiding shores with axes and honour. It plays off your emotions. The truth is, many of the things that are labelled and sold as “Viking“…. have no ties to the Viking-Age at all.

If they claim to know it all, they’re lying. Make no mistake. Every minute of every day, we are all students (yes, even me😋)

Someone who gets triggered. If you ask someone for their sources, are they getting triggered? If you ask them for more information about something, are they getting triggered? Chances are, if they’re retaliating with emotion, they don’t want you asking those questions – likely because they don’t know the answer without Googling it.

Look for creators who have consistency. Have they been posting about runes for years, or are they hopping on a bandwagon because it looks cool?

Are they creating their own content? If someone is constantly posting other people’s content, it’s likely that they’re (again) hopping on a bandwagon for likes, views and/or followers.

Honestly, this list could go on and on but the most important point that should be highlighted time and time again.. is when it comes to runes, please question everything.

The misinformation will continue to grow, so please, take everything that you read about runes online with a pinch of salt.

Don’t be afraid to ask creators for their references. If they have time, they should help you out. If they refuse to provide references and you can’t find any information elsewhere to back up what they’re telling you, chances are – it’s made up crap.

Was this helpful? Got another tip that others might find helpful? Let me know in the comments below 🥰

Yours,

Blair