Blood in Runework

Made in Líkr, powerful in Megin...

Blood in Runework and as an offering is probably one of the more controversial practices I regularly engage in. Because it is a practice I have done for most of the time I have been a Heathen, and its importance in my relationship with the Runes, I feel it is worth exploring. Some of the points I make here I first made in my WordPress post On Blood Offerings, and they have not changed since.

Let us get some of the obvious questions out of the way first.

General Overview Questions

Is it a universal requirement that in order to engage in relationship with the Runevættir you need to offer the Runes blood?

No. Blood offerings, whether through autosacrifice or the sacrifice of an animal, are controversial for a reason in modern Heathen religions. Further, I know plenty of good Runeworkers who do not offer blood at all. However, it is part of my relationship with the Runes, and an expectation from both Rúnatýr (Óðinn, whose Name translates to God of the Runes), and the Runevættir.

If you use blood in Runework does that make it automatically better than those without?

No. Generally, I do not use blood in my Runework unless I, or a close loved one are going to be using the item. When I do, my intent is for that blood to feed the Runework and empower it further than other methods. While it does not make it better, per se, it can make a given working more powerful, or powerful in a more direct way tied to you than feeding the Runes alcohol, ochre, or another offering.

Is the use of blood inherently more powerful or holy than other forms of sacrifice?

Not universally. Our relationships are unique to us, and the giving of blood sacrifice can be an intimate thing, it can be more emotionally powerful, carry an element of sacred intimacy, or the act itself can be an intiatory one. I find that blood is a powerful addition, one that adds in a lot of layers that are not there with other offerings because it is part of our Líkr soul, necessary for us to live, and the pain needed to make it is a unique offering unto itself. However, if someone has a history of self-harm, or simply has a very hard time using a lancet kit on themselves, it is far better to work with methods that honor and respect those needs. After all, this is your relationship with the Runes. Likewise, the act of offering the blood of an animal besides ourselves is an entire practice needing respect, training, and care to do well so that the life taken is honored and the gift of life and blood is done right.

What are some substitutes for blood?

Elder tree sap if you can get your hands on it. Red ochre, rust, and other physical materia that has blood associations works fine so long as you take the right precautions with them. If the point is not the blood, but that what is being used in Runework or offered to the Runes is part of you, then using breath, saliva, hair, or the like can work well.

History for the use of blood in Runework

Sacrificial sites containing both human and animal remains are part of most sacred spaces where the ancient Scandinavians are concerned. As noted in Children of Ash and Elm by Dr. Neil Price, bones and blood have been found among the sites, indoor and outdoor (211-218). Uppåkra’s temple (211), Götavi (213-214) and Hofstaðir (216) are just three notable examples. Bog and forest sacrifices show that not only were weapons and boats offered, so too were animals and people.

Given how much blood is found at offering sites, and the notion of the hlaut-twig sprinkling blood at blot mentioned in Heimskringla and Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, it is safe to say that it was well-known offering. In short, blood hallows and is a worthy offering, so there is no reason I have to believe that it is lacking in sacrality.

What are some ways blood is directly referred to with Rune magic? Volsunga Saga (34) refers to a potion to forget. The cup in which this drink is served has been carved “with all manner of runes, reddened with blood”. The Hávamál directly references the use of blood to redden Runes, namely in 142 and 144, which can be found here. The word fáa, for tint or color, sticks out to me.

There is this in the Guðrúnarkviða 22 trans. by Henry Adam Bellows:

“22. In the cup were runes of every kind,
Written and reddened, I could not read them;
A heather-fish from the Haddings’ land,
An ear uncut, and the entrails of beasts.”

There is also this reference in Egil’s Saga to the Runes being reddened with blood:

‘Write we runes around the horn,
Redden all the spell with blood;
Wise words choose I for the cup
Wrought from branching horn of beast.
Drink we then, as drink we will,
Draught that cheerful bearer brings,
Learn that health abides in ale,
Holy ale that Bard hath bless’d.’
Egil’s Saga ch 44, trans W.C. Green

Ideas Around Blood and Sacrifice

We have to harvest the life force of others for any other sacrifice, whether the yeast needs to die for the mead to brew, the chicken dies for its sacrifice of blood and meat, or the herb needs to be harvested. Our entire existence is bound up in ties of Gebo, of gipt fá gipt (gift for gift). Gifts made of our body, including but not limited to our blood, sweat, and tears, are one of the few things that belong to us that we are not taking from someone or somewhere else. We are a living embodiment of the hamingja of our Ancestors and the connections we hold when we make that offering. We are a living embodiment of the megin we have built, the hugr we have. It is a beautiful offering that we can give, though few of us may have cause to give it.

Blótar, plural for sacrifice (often meaning both blood and non-blood sacrifice) and ritual in Old Norse, are part of how we maintain right relationship with the Ginnreginn. Whether clean water, bread or other food, herbs, incense, blood, time, or effort, blót is fairly central to Heathen practice. What I find uniquely Western Protestant is the disgust and unease with blood offerings. It is likely latent racism raising its head, eg the attitude of “those people practice it but we do not -look how enlightened we are!”

Whether pushback against blood sacrifice comes through a vegan current, a Christian one, or a materialist one, it tends to be supremacy dressed in different clothes. As a polytheist and animist I do not hold humanity, or even animal life, as higher or lower than others. Given I eat meat and have engaged in sacrifice of animals, it would be incredibly disingenuous of me to act as though or give credence to the idea that sacrifice is less painful or respectful than factory farming methods.

Rather, I see sacrifice as far better than the common ways we kill for our meat. Generally, the sacrifices I have made become food. I have only had one occasion to give a whole animal to the Runes. A sacrificial animal is treated far more humanely, both during the course of its life and in its end, than any animal in our CAFO system or even most of the adjacent ones.

When it comes to blood sacrifice we can approach from a few different ways. If we are taking a historical lens as our jumping off point, we have several examples of the Runes being offered and/or activated with blood as noted above. From a vættir-based perspective, some vættir are going to ask for offerings we may find hard to give, and it is on us to determine whether or not we want to engage with Them through those requested offerings. I will say that I understand, through personal experience, that there are initiatory pathways with the Runevættir that require one’s blood as an offering. Blood is a powerful physical tie directly to our Líkr, Hamingja, and other souls. If you are going to offer it, I would think hard on the meaning of it, why you would do it, why you might not, and what doors may open or close to you as a result.

Safely Offering Blood

If you are not called, requested, or feel a need to blood your Runes, to offer blood regularly to Rúnatýr and the Runevættir, or otherwise engage with Them and blood at all, then that is fine. However, for those who are there is a responsibilty to do so in a safe way. An ideal way to learn how to offer blood would to be learn from a health care professional, such as how to take blood for a blood glucose test. Absent that, this is a basic guide from the Mayo Clinic. Note: what is here should not be construed as medical advice. I am not qualified to give you medical advice, nor would I here.

Do this at your own risk.

Some additional precautions to take if you are going to offer blood:

First and foremost, engage in both physical and spiritual hygiene. You want to offer at your best, so be at your best physically and spiritually. Make this as formal a ritual as you wish and the Runes call for. It is no small thing to offer blood.

Be sure the surface you are putting blood on is clean and sterile if you are putting the wound onto the surface of an offering vessel or the subject of your Runework. If you are putting the wound onto a surface, be sure it is not a wood like yew, which is poisonous. If you feel strongly that your blood needs to be on such a surface, wipe the blood onto it with a tissue or another material so you do not directly contact it. Metals that are blooded may rust over time where they are marked, so it is ideal to seal them first with a material like beeswax if you do not want them rusting.

Keep the materials you blood with and that you offer blood onto in a place away from pets and children. I advise having a dedicated sharps container for used lancets that can be labeled and disposed of properly. Make sure that when you are done offering or staining that the blood can dry, that it will not stain anything else you do not want to, and that is only accessible to those you want to access it.

Veistu, hvé fáa skal?

Knowing what you are doing is an oft-repeated wisdom in the sagas and poems left to us. Egil warns the young man in his saga against wrongly applying the Runes, as it makes to woman he wrote them for even worse off. Egil scrapes the Runes the young man off the whalebone and into the fire, and then to fix things, writes more Runes that helps the woman recover.

From Hávamál 144-145 in the Bellows translation:

“144. Knowest how one shall write, | knowest how one shall rede?
Knowest how one shall tint, | knowest how one makes trial?
Knowest how one shall ask, | knowest how one shall offer?
Knowest how one shall send, | knowest how one shall sacrifice?

145. Better no prayer | than too big an offering,
By thy getting measure thy gift;
Better is none | than too big a sacrifice,
. . . . . . . . . .
So Thund of old wrote | ere man’s race began,
Where he rose on high | when home he came”

Let us say you feel the call to offer blood to the Runes or involve blood in a Runeworking. Before the call for blood offering is answered or you use it for Runework, you need to know the Runes well. You need to know the Runes well enough that there is no question when you call on each one. You need to have a living relationship with Them so that when you offer or stain, there is reason, purpose, and a sharing of Megin there. You are sharing from many of your souls in this act of offering and/or magic. Among the souls sharing in the offering or use of blood are your Líkr (body), Megin (power), Önd (breath), Lítr, Hamingja, and Urðr. You do not need to perfect or some other unnatainable regarding your knowledge and experience with the Runes. You do need to know what you are doing when you offer or use your blood for the Runes.

Is the offering worth it? Is the working you would do with it worth it? Do you know what you are doing to be safe? Will this offering and/or working improve your relationship with the Runevættir? Will it be a good use of your souls? If you are using blood to empower Runework, is that Runework going to be both well done and effective?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself before offering blood to the Runes or working with blood to empower your Runework. Those questions in Hávamál 144 are not idle -they are a key on how you need to approach the Runes, whether you are offering or working with Them. The warning in Hávamál 145 is likewise not an idle one. You need to be clear on what you will offer, and not make too big an offering. I have seen Heathens quote this section with regards to the Gods, but that assurance makes no sense, as it comes at the end of the Rúnatál portion of the Hávamál in context of working with the Runes. It is far better to figure this out and negotiate it out ahead of time. If you do not pay upfront then the Runes They will take what is owed to Them, and you will have to deal with that consequence.

The Offering and Use of Blood as a Possible Invitation to Initiation

In my experience the offering of blood and/or the use of it in Runework can open up the person doing it to the possibility of initiation with Rúnatýr and the Runevættir in ways unique to that offering and working. While it is not automatic, it is worth considering this possibility as a result. What can this initiation look like?

My initiation looked a lot like how Óðinn took up the Runes in Hávamál 138-139. It was an initiation of self-sacrifice that followed how Óðinn took up the Runes. When I went through it, mine was over the course of 9 Days in which I did not speak except at certain times, and ate and drank very little. I also went through a time where I felt myself die and come back, and I did so screaming much like He did in the Hávamál.

Being a person with diabetes I could not abstain from food or liquid for that long and live without a deep amount of risk to my ongoing health. If He and the Runevættir wanted me to have a chance at coming out the other side of the initiation able to do any of the ongoing Work that They wanted me to do, we had to work out a compromise. So, I negotiated. The compromises that Óðinn and the Runevættir agreed to were made so that I would have a shot at surviving the initiation. However, from Their perspective, because of the nature of that initiation if all risk was taken out of it that would remove the point of this initiation.

Part of that compromise was the liquid diet I went on with advice from my doctor for the duration of the initiation. Another compromise was, instead of having a noose around my neck during the duration, it would be around my leg. A compromise that was demanded of me as was that I would be doing intiation spiritwork alongside this one, bringing me into alignment, relationship, and Work with several vættir in the Nine Worlds.

If you are offered such an initiation, you can absolutely refuse. I actually recommend most folks not engage with it should it be offered. It is hard on the body, mind, and souls, and it changes you in profound ways. If you can negotiate out of it, or just outright refuse, I would. As I mentioned before, for all of its blessings, it is a painful and powerful process to go through. It is dangerous. Whether you accept or deny an initiation request that comes your way, certain doors open and others close with regards to Rúnatýr and the Runevættir as a result. Be willing and able to negotiate if you do choose this initiation. Having a vættirverkr to advise, advocate, and guide you through this is indispensible.

The Runes Are Vættir

The Runes are living Beings. As such, it is useful to ask what Their general nature is. The Rune Poems are excellent ways to get to know Them starting off. I highly recommend having multiple translations, as certain translations will emphasize different qualities or hit you different on reading them. I recommend these sources, The Rune Poems from Wikisource and The Swedish Rune Poem with Rune Prophecies from Nordic Animism as translated by Georg Stiernhielm.

I tend to find Them more mercenary than other vættir -there should be no shock there, since one of Them, Fehu, has a Name means Wealth and another is Gebo, whose Name is Gift. I find Gebo to be more than just gift-giving as a concept; I also understand Gebo to include everything from transactions and exchanges, settlements and offerings. Likewise, Fehu is more than just Wealth and all that entails -Fehu is resources, gathering, herding together (as its name translates to cattle or livestock), mobile wealth, and interdependence. Both Runes contain the positive and negative of Their meanings, such as manipulation in gift-giving in Gebo or greed in Fehu.

The Runevættir’ Megin impacts our everyday lives. They interweave/carve with the cosmos that I find nothing is untouched by Them. They are cosmically powerful and Their physical forms, Their Likr, compress so much information, magic, and Megin, among a great many things, into Them. Galdr and other forms our magic can take with Them brings that Megin forth in a multitude of ways. They are letters, words, sounds, culture concepts, magic, and vættir. They are incredibly powerful while we can also develop deep, personal relationships with Them. These the vættir you are sharing your offerings with, that you are doing magic with.

They are more mercenary than other vættir in part because of all They touch, and the ripple effects working with Them can have on the weaving/carving of Urðr/Wyrd. That is what also makes working with Them so damn dangerous, and why knowing what you are doing is so key to doing good work with Them. They can heal and harm, hallow and protect, break enchantments and shore up fortifications. Every Being in Yggdrasil may have access to Them, per Hávamál 143 but not all vættir will work with Them, and not all vættir will do so well.

Galdr, ljóð, kvæði, and/or frœði, among other magical techniques, can be used with the Runes to bring Their power to bear in magical workings. These can be done on their own or as part of a larger ritual, including seiðr and spá. Runework can be done every day or only on occasion, as you and the Runes deem useful and necessary. Some folks may go months without doing Runework, whereas I do Runework of some kind every day.

All of this to remind you that these are the Beings that, should you choose to, you are sharing blood with. These are the Beings whose physical forms may be empowered by the act of being brought into Miðgarðr by the offering or use of blood. The act of offering blood or making use of it to empower Runes works with the blood as a bridge. That is no small offering, no matter how small the drop of blood may be. That is no small use, no matter how small the drop of blood may be.

If you choose to take this step, I would hope it would be in well-considered wisdom after a period of knowing the Runes well, and accepting the weight of what it means to work with Them with your blood. I highly recommend having negotiations around what an offering and/or the use of your blood means well before you do it. Hammering out the obligations and responsibilities you hold with one another as a result well before it is done will allow you peace of mind and a clear understanding in your relationship with one another. The offering of blood and the use of blood in Runework is a powerful practice that can have an intense impact on all of your other spiritual relationships. While it carries risks, it can also empower and enliven your journey with the Runes in depth, understanding, knowing, and power.