Rune

A rune (/ruːn/) is one of the letters of the eponymous runic alphabets used by several Scandinavian and ancient Germanic languages. Although a defunct alphabet, runes have still seen modern usage by neopagan and mysticism practitioners, as well as in fantasy works (such as J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings).

The scope of this article will cover the use of runes in psionic qi and in magic. For more information please see the Wikipedia article on runes.

Runic alphabet
Depending on the language, region, and time period, there were between 16 and 34 letters that are considered "runes" in a runic alphabet. The table below gives five of the runic alphabets used between the 2nd and 15th centuries AD.
 * The number columns indicate the order of letters in that alphabet, or the approximate order if it is now known.
 * "IPA" refers to the symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet that indicates the sound associated with each rune.
 * "Native" is the name of the rune written in the appropriate runes. "Long" and "Short" in the Younger Futhark are the same as "Native," but represent two different regional ways of writing the same runes during the same time period.



Bind runes
A bind rune is a ligature of two or more runes. Normal bind runes are formed of adjacent runes which are joined together to form a single conjoined glyph, typically by sharing common strokes between runes or by following the line of one rune to begin another (see example here using author's initials TTAP).

A variant called a same-stave rune is formed by writing several runic letters sequentially along a long common stem-line (see example here using author's initials TTAP).

Usage of runes
Each rune traditionally has a number of meanings, some of which are purely literary and some of which are for "magical" or energy-based use. By empowering single runes or bind runes, mystics, pagans, and psionii can affect their immediate surroundings in precise ways.

Psionic qi
In the system of psionic qi, runes are not thought to have any power of their own. Rather, drawing runes provides direction for the flow and change of both energy and qi. Sometimes a bind rune can be used as a focal point to gather, collect, or retrieve energy or qi. A skilled practitioner can use ink markings, but the easiest use of runes in directing qi is by having them carved or formed of tubes, thus providing a precise conduit for qi flow.

Psionic qi practitioners always treat single runes as words instead of letters, and treat bind runes as sentences (compound rune meanings) or conditional expressions similar to those found in computer programming (if one rune's meaning, then another rune's action).