Deck of the week: The Rune Cards by Ralph Blum

 

The Rune Cards

By Ralph Blum

Illustration Jane Walmsley

25 cards and hard back guidebook in box set 

First Published 1988 by Rune Card Meditations

Edition shown and reviewed 1995 by Edison Sadd Editions and Headline Publications.

ISBN 13: 9780312034238

The Rune Cards by Ralph Blum are one of the most influential rune-based oracle decks of the late twentieth century was also  reissued as The Rune Cards: Ancient Wisdom for the New Millennium in 1997, the deck was created as a visual companion to Blum’s bestselling rune system presented in The Book of Runes.  

What Makes the Deck Unique?

Traditional rune divination normally uses carved stones, wood pieces, or tiles marked with runic symbols. Blum took a different approach by transforming the runes into an illustrated oracle deck. Working with artist Jane Walmsley, he created symbolic scenes that embody the essence of each rune’s meaning. Hidden within each illustration is the shape of the rune itself.  

The deck contains 25 cards:

• The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark
• One additional card called The Unknowable (often associated with Blum’s famous “Blank Rune”)  

Each card bears a keyword such as:

• Self
• Partnership
• Strength
• Protection
• Joy
• Harvest
• Warrior
• Journey
• Breakthrough
• Wholeness
• The Unknowable

These keywords make the deck accessible even for complete beginners.  

How the Cards Are Used

The Rune Cards can be read much like tarot or oracle cards. Common methods include:

• Drawing a single card for daily guidance
• Three-card past–present–future readings
• Question-and-answer readings
• Meditation on a specific rune image
• Dream work and spiritual reflection

Blum viewed the runes primarily as tools for self-counselling and personal insight rather than fortune-telling. His interpretations emphasise psychological growth, intuition, and spiritual development.  

The Artwork and Symbolism

Unlike many modern rune decks that focus on Norse mythology, Walmsley’s artwork is highly symbolic and archetypal. The images often resemble dreamscapes or spiritual allegories rather than historical Viking scenes. Hidden runic forms encourage the reader to contemplate both the picture and the rune simultaneously.  

For many readers, the visual imagery makes the meanings easier to access than traditional rune stones, which can appear abstract and cryptic.

Influence and Controversy

Blum’s work had an enormous impact on modern rune divination. For many English-speaking practitioners in the 1980s and 1990s, his books and cards were their first introduction to runes.  

However, scholars and many modern rune practitioners have criticised his system because It draws heavily on concepts from the Chinese I Ching and modern divination methods. The “Blank Rune” also has no historical basis in ancient runic traditions. His interpretations are largely modern spiritual teachings rather than reconstructions of historical Norse beliefs.  

Even many critics acknowledge that Blum’s work helped popularise interest in runes and inspired countless people to explore runic symbolism and divination.  

A Pagan and Magical Perspective

Within contemporary Pagan, Wiccan, and New Age circles, the Rune Cards are often valued less as historical artifacts and more as a spiritual oracle. Their strengths lie in:

• Intuitive readings
• Shadow work
• Meditation
• Personal transformation
• Dream interpretation
• Guidance during life transitions

Readers who enjoy oracle decks such as the I Ching or tarot often find Blum’s Rune Cards approachable and reflective.

In many ways, the Rune Cards sit at the crossroads of Norse symbolism, Jungian psychology, and New Age spirituality. Whether one views them as an authentic runic system or a modern oracle inspired by runes, they remain one of the most influential rune decks ever published.  

Copies are still available  used

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/title/the-book-of-rune-cards-sacred-play-for-self-discovery/author/blum-ralph/

About Ralph Blum

 Ralph H. Blum (1932–2016) was an American writer, cultural anthropologist, journalist, and one of the most influential figures in the modern revival of rune divination. He is best known for the book The Book of Runes, which introduced millions of readers to runic oracle practices and helped popularise rune reading throughout the English-speaking world. 

His Work with the Runes

Blum encountered runes in the 1970s and began using them as a tool for personal reflection and self-counselling. His breakthrough came with the publication of The Book of Runes in 1982. Unlike scholarly works on runic history, Blum presented the runes as a practical oracle for modern spiritual seekers.  

He went on to publish several related works, including:

• The Book of Runes
• Rune Play
• The Rune Cards
• The Healing Runes
• Ralph H. Blum’s Little Book of Runic Wisdom  

The Blank Rune

Perhaps Blum’s most famous—and controversial—innovation was the introduction of the Blank Rune, which he called “Odin’s Rune” or the rune of the unknowable. Historically, there is no evidence that ancient rune sets included a blank rune, but the concept became enormously popular and is still found in many commercial rune sets today.  For Blum, the Blank Rune represented fate, mystery, and the action of powers beyond human control.

Influence and Criticism

Blum’s influence on modern Paganism, New Age spirituality, and rune divination is difficult to overstate. Many people who began studying runes in the 1980s and 1990s did so through his books.  

However, rune scholars and many reconstructionist Heathens have criticised his work because:

• His rune meanings were heavily influenced by the Chinese I Ching.
• He adapted modern oracle techniques rather than reconstructing historical Norse practices.
• The Blank Rune has no known historical basis.
• His rune interpretations often differ from those derived from the surviving rune poems.  

Among modern practitioners, opinions remain divided. Some view his system as a valuable and effective oracle for personal growth, while others regard it as a modern spiritual creation rather than an authentic historical runic tradition.  

Legacy

Ralph Blum died in 2016. His books remain in print, and his interpretation of the runes continues to influence oracle decks, rune sets, and divination practices around the world. Whether one approaches his work as modern spirituality or as a reinterpretation of ancient symbols, he played a major role in bringing rune divination into contemporary Western esoteric practice.  

For many witches, Pagans, and spiritual seekers, Ralph Blum occupies a role similar to that of Rachel Pollack in tarot: not necessarily a historian, but a populariser whose work introduced a generation of readers to a symbolic and divinatory tradition.

Information about Jane Walmsley, the illustrator of Ralph Blum’s Rune Cards, is surprisingly scarce. Unlike many tarot and oracle artists who maintain a public profile, Walmsley appears to have left very little biographical information in the public record. Most references to her are found only in connection with Blum’s Rune Cards and a handful of other illustration projects.  

Her Work on the Rune Cards

Jane Walmsley is best known as the artist who collaborated with Blum on the original editions of The Rune Cards. Blum wanted to expand beyond the simple runic glyphs used in traditional rune divination, and Walmsley created richly symbolic images that embodied the meaning of each rune. Hidden within each illustration is the shape of the corresponding rune, encouraging both intuitive and symbolic interpretation.  

Artistic Style

The Rune Cards reveal several characteristics of Walmsley’s style

• Symbolic rather than literal imagery.
• Soft, painterly compositions.
• Use of visual metaphors to express psychological and spiritual themes.
• Integration of the rune shape directly into the artwork.
• A focus on personal transformation and inner growth rather than prediction.  

Many readers feel the images bridge the gap between rune divination and oracle-card reading, making the runes more accessible to people who find traditional rune stones abstract.

Other Known Work

A few sources identify Jane Walmsley as an illustrator whose artwork also appeared in the British fantasy-gaming magazine Warlock during the 1980s, although detailed information about her broader career remains limited. 

Hail Odin and power of runes!

 The Saga of the Runes: Whispers 

from the World Tree

Hail, sons and daughters of the North! 

Gather ‘round the roaring hearthfire, where the winds howl like Fenrir’s kin and the stars gleam as Odin’s watchful eye. I, a skald of the ancient ways, shall weave for you a tale of the Runes – those sacred scratches upon wood and stone, born of blood and mystery, holding the secrets of fate itself. In the tongue of Vikings, we speak not of mere letters, but of powers forged in the crucible of the gods, etched into the very bones of Yggdrasil, the World Tree that binds the Nine Realms. 

Behold the origins of these mighty symbols, and heed their meanings, for they are the threads of wyrd that guide the axe and the oar!

In the dim mists of time, ere the longships cleaved the foaming seas, the Runes were gifted to us by the Allfather himself. Odin, the one-eyed wanderer, hung upon the ash of Yggdrasil for nine nights, pierced by his own spear, neither bread nor mead to sustain him. “I hung on that wind-swept tree,” he roared in the Hávamál, “wounded with a spear, given to Odin, myself to myself!” 

In his torment, the veils of the cosmos parted, and the Runes revealed themselves – eighteen at first, swelling to twenty-four in the Elder Futhark, the eldest rune-row.  

Aye, this is the mythic birth, where divine agony birthed wisdom! But mark ye well, for the sagas whisper that the Runes drew breath from earthly roots too. In the first centuries of our era, amid the iron-clad tribes of Germania, these marks arose from the Old Italic scripts of the Mediterranean folk – echoes of Etruscan and Latin tongues, carried north on trade winds and warrior paths.    

From the second century onward, they adorned amulets, blades, and bracteates, a secret script for kings and shamans, warding off trolls and summoning fortune.

Now, let us carve deeper into the heartwood: the Elder Futhark, named for its first six runes – Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz. Twenty-four symbols strong, each a stave of power, not just sounds for the skald’s verse, but vessels of meaning, harbingers of magic and divination. 

Cast them upon the cloth, and they speak of what was, what is, and what shall be! Hear their voices, as I recount them in the order of the ancients, grouped in aettir – the three families of eight, like clans bound in blood-oath.

First, the Aett of Freyr, god of plenty and peace:

•  Fehu (F), the cattle-rune, roars of wealth and abundance, the lowing herds that fill the hall with mead and gold. It means prosperity earned, but beware – like fire, it consumes the greedy! 

•  Uruz (U), the aurochs’ might, embodies raw strength and vitality, the untamed bull charging through the wilds, healing the body and forging the spirit.

•  Thurisaz (Th), thorn and giant, a rune of defense and chaos, Thor’s hammer striking foes, yet a prick to the unwary hand.

•  Ansuz (A), Odin’s breath, whispers wisdom and divine inspiration, the gift of eloquence for the jarl in the thing-assembly.

•  Raidho (R), the wagon’s wheel, journeys far and wide, rhythm of the road, justice in motion.

•  Kenaz (K), the torch aflame, illuminates knowledge and craft, the forge’s fire shaping sword and shield.

•  Gebo (G), the gift exchanged, binds oaths and partnerships, love’s embrace without chains.

•  Wunjo (W), joy’s banner, harmony and bliss, the feast after battle’s end.

Next, the Aett of Hagalaz, hail and hardship:

•  Hagalaz (H), the storm’s fury, destruction that clears for rebirth, like winter’s bite yielding to spring.

•  Nauthiz (N), need’s fire, constraint and endurance, the friction that sparks innovation in dire straits.

•  Isa (I), ice’s grip, stillness and focus, the frozen river holding secrets beneath.

•  Jera (J), the year’s harvest, cycles of reward, patience reaping the sown seeds.

•  Eihwaz (Ei), the yew bow, resilience and transformation, the tree that bends but does not break.

•  Perthro (P), the lot-cup cast, fate’s mystery, chance and the unknown depths.

•  Algiz (Z), the elk’s antler, protection and higher connection, warding the warrior from harm.

•  Sowilo (S), the sun’s victory, success and guidance, the light piercing the gloom.

Lastly, the Aett of Tyr, justice and war:

•  Tiwaz (T), Tyr’s spear, honor and sacrifice, the one-handed god’s courage in the face of the wolf.

•  Berkano (B), birch’s growth, fertility and nurturing, the mother’s hearth and new beginnings.

•  Ehwaz (E), the horse’s bond, trust and movement, loyal steed carrying the rider to glory.

•  Mannaz (M), mankind’s rune, self and community, the web of kin and intellect.

•  Laguz (L), water’s flow, intuition and dreams, the sea’s depths hiding treasures and perils.

•  Ingwaz (Ng), Ing-Freyr’s seed, potential and completion, the earth’s fertility bursting forth.

•  Dagaz (D), day’s breakthrough, clarity and hope, the dawn after endless night.

•  Othala (O), ancestral estate, inheritance and home, the legacy of blood and soil.

These are the Runes’ essences, drawn from saga and stone!      Not mere scratches, but spells woven into reality – used by seiðr-women to divine the future, by berserkers to invoke fury, and by shipwrights to bless the keel against Kraken’s grasp. From the bracteates of Denmark to the stave churches of Norway, they endured, evolving into the Younger Futhark for Viking raids, simpler yet no less potent.

Yet beware, kin of the fjords! The Runes are no toy for the faint-hearted; they demand respect, for misuse invites the Norns’ wrath. In our age, they linger in tattoos and talismans, echoes of a time when men spoke with gods. So raise your horn to Odin, master of Runes, and let their wisdom guide your path through storm and strife. Skål! May your fate be etched in victory’s gold!