1The Runes are an alphabet used among Germanic and Scandinavian peoples in ancient Europe before Christianization imposed the Latin alphabet. Besides possessing a basic sound and function as a building block of words, each rune embodied an idea, a power, and a divinatory meaning, which mystics could access for telling the future or drawing magical power. The book details the work of Swedish esotericist Sigurd Agrell, who brought the rune system into the modern era and greatly expanded its potentials of use.