Introductory

Rune Lots of the American Futharch

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The American Futharch Runes aren’t just for writing. Among other things, they’re also for divination. I made several sets of varying sizes and shapes for myself, and have been casting with them regularly. But I also want to encourage others to cast with them as well.

To that end, I made four sets of American Futharch Rune lots out of birch rounds, to sell to others. This was a couple of months ago, and I put them on my Etsy store. It probably would have helped if I’d told anyone about them. 😀 Nonetheless, I sold two of the sets so far, and both in the same way—they were people who had heard about the American Futharch, and asked me if any rune lot sets were available. Naturally, I sent them the happy answer with my Etsy store link.

But it’s time I got around to telling everyone else, and in this case, that means this here blog. So here’s my Etsy store where, at the time of this writing, the remaining two sets are still listed. I carved and painted them by hand—yes, painted! In a world where just about every rune set in wood is made by wood burning, I insist on carving and painting in wood. And you can see the results, they are way more beautiful that way. I’ve never made a set by wood burning! 😀

I’ll eventually make more American Futharch sets for putting on my Etsy store, but that’s unlikely to happen before the start of 2025. So for now, these remaining two sets are the last ones currently available that have been made by the hand of the creator of the America Futharch—me! 😌

It is one of the two remaining sets that is above as the featured image for this post. Enjoy!

[Edit: As of mid-February 2025, the sets in this post are all sold out. Much thanks to those joining the American Futharch revolution!]

My Runes/Poetry Course Starts Tomorrow!

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If you’re the sort who likes waiting until the last minute, then now’s the time, because the last minute has arrived!

Tomorrow morning (that is, Wednesday at 800am), my online course in rune-writing and simple alliterative poetry starts. It’s called “Sacred English,” and with the combined powers of runes and poetry, you can make your English magical.

Join the American Futharch Revolution, and learn to write runes the way the ancient runemasters wrote them, and with the traditional poetic key.

In Hávamál 144, Odin challenges us to know how to write and read the runes. Are you ready to answer that challenge in the most authentic way possible in over a thousand years?

Not sure if you’ve got the time? After all, it is a cohort-course with a schedule to it. But as part of that, you’ll get plenty of my time—I’ll review the exercises, answer your questions, and prepare the four review lessons based on how the students are doing with the material. That could even include me creating additional teaching materials to address specific needs. It’s a unique opportunity to pick my brain on all this.

And everything will be pre-recorded, so you can fit it in your schedule however you like. Not to mention that you’ll also get to keep a large amount of videos, slides, audio, and guidebooks from the course.

For more details, see the page on my American Futharch website:
https://americanfutharch.com/sacred-english

or just jump straight to the course page and enroll at my new Skaldic Eagle Flight School:
https://skaldiceagle.thinkific.com/courses/sacred-english

Enjoy!

My first online course is here!

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I’ve finally entered the world of independent online teaching with my first course on Runes and Poetry!

This course is my big epiphany in its most significant manifestation so far! Over three years ago, I had the lightning-strike idea that the rune names and futhark order for the Elder Futhark runes preceded the existence of rune-staves and runic writing. How could that be? Only one possible way: as tool to codify, teach, and promote the nascent system of early Germanic alliterative poetry, which certainly originated before the Proto-Germanics had writing. Having developed a poetry built on matching stressed sounds, it would be natural for the Proto-Germanics to name the sounds of their language in order to talk about them. (E.g., “This line alliterates on Hagalaz with a final stress on Tīwaz.”) The poetry itself would be the natural method for handing these names down the generations, in the form of the first “rune” poem. And when the early Germanics finally chose to adopt writing at some later time, these names for the sounds—and a canonical order for them in their “rune” poem—were already on hand to be applied to the rune-staves. (I’ve got an academic article eventually coming out that discusses this in more detail.)

I immediately recognized that all this was a great idea for modern alliterative poetry. Indeed, the sounds of modern English also had be named so that today’s alliterative poetry could become all that it could be, and the runes were equally an ideal vehicle for this. And so by reforming the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, I created the American Futharch, the first full-fledged runic system in centuries, fully integrated with alliterative poetry, just as I envisioned it for the Elder Futhark and its oral precursor.

And now you can join me in my new course and learn runes integrated with the traditional poetic key. It’s called “Sacred English: American Runes and Alliterative Poetry,” and it’s a great way to turbo-charge your rune-writing knowledge of authentic rune writing with the American Futharch, while simultaneously learning to write simple alliterative poetry.

Instruction starts September 25, and last day to enroll this semester is September 27.

For more details, see the page on my American Futharch website:

https://americanfutharch.com/sacred-english

or just jump straight to the course page and enroll at my new Skaldic Eagle Flight School:

https://skaldiceagle.thinkific.com/courses/sacred-english

Enjoy!

Poetry Posting Vacation

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For a while now, it’s been the routine here to make a poetry post on the 3rd Sunday of each month. But for at least July and August, this blog will be on “poetry vacation” from those posts as I prepare for the launch of an online course in the near future. (And there’s a poetry book I need to publish also!) News posts, such as the recent one about my appearance on the Plant Cunning Podcast will continue to run as needed, and there will definitely be some of those coming in the two months ahead. 😉

The Plant Cunning Podcast, featuring the American Futharch

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My third podcast appearance with the American Futharch recently debuted, last Wednesday, July 10. I’d been enjoying a vacation in Iceland (follow me on social media for the pics), hence the delay in my post here, but now I’m back in the ‘States, and thrilled to share this news with you all.

It’s on the Plant Cunning Podcast, by hosts AC Stauble and Isaac Hill:
Ep. 159: Eirik Westcoat on the American Futharch and Heathen Esotericism.

The audio edition is here directly on the Podcast Follow website, which also contains links for it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The video edition of the podcast is here on Youtube.

Enjoy! 😊

American Futharch on Random Heathen Ramblings

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I’ve recently made my first podcast appearance with the American Futharch, and it’s on Random Heathen Ramblings, by Midgard Musings. It’s S5, EP18 – Introducing the American Futharch Runes.

The audio-only form of the podcast is free, and available on many platforms, including:

The video-version of the podcast is available to his subscribers at Patreon. 

Enjoy!

Presentation at East Coast Thing 2024

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In just a few weeks, the American Futharch will come to a public heathen event for the first time. That will be the annual East Coast Thing, which is one of the longest-running heathen events in the country. I’ll be presenting a one-hour workshop on the American Futharch there, at some point during the four days of the festival, May 16–19.  (The exact time slot has yet to be determined.)

The deadline for registration and payments is May 10, so you still have some days to register. https://eastcoastthing.org/

Since last year, it’s been in Maryland, not too far from Deep Creek Lake. I’ve been attending the event since the mid 00’s, and it’s always been great.

Here’s the title and abstract for my presentation:

The American Futharch: Runes That Speak Your Language!

Write exactly like an ancient runemaster! The original Elder Futhark was perfectly fit to its language, Proto-Germanic, enabling PG speakers to write anything they said as a precise, phonetic transcription—the magic of concertizing their speech directly into material forms. By reforming the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, I have created the American Futharch, a new system of 33 runes with that same perfect fit to American English, and the rune names are all from today’s English.

In this workshop, you’ll learn the American Futharch, the path to mastering the mysteries of your speech, and the three-step process to use with it so that you, too, can write exactly like an ancient runemaster. But writing with them is only the beginning: they are built for magic, divination, esotericism, poetry, and more, and some of these topics will be touched on. These Runes can truly Do All The Things! This is the debut public heathen event for the American Futharch, where it will be the “œpandi nam” heard ‘round the world!

Introducing the American Futharch and its Website

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Want to write exactly like an ancient runemaster? It hasn’t been possible, until now. 

I’ve got some things to say about that, so read on if you like, or you can jump ahead and see the website at https://americanfutharch.com if you prefer. But also read on nonetheless for the what, why, and how.

Ever try writing modern English with runes? Clunky, isn’t it? And that’s regardless of whether you’re using the Elder Futhark or the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. Inevitably, most such writing attempts inevitably cheat at some point by treating the runes as an alphabet, doing a “what rune can stand for such-and-such letter” kind of approach.

That’s not how the first ancient runemasters wrote in runes. Around the start of the Common Era (or somewhat before), writing in runes meant the Proto-Germanic language with Elder Futhark runes. And these three steps:

Continue reading →

The Skaldic Eagle on the Nordic Mythology Podcast

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On April 4, I made an appearance on the Nordic Mythology Podcast, where I talked about kraftaskalds, the subject of my PhD dissertation. It runs for about 73 minutes. Now, the recording is available as episode #156 on all podcast platforms for everyone to join. Ones that I have links for in this post are:

Apple Podcasts
Youtube

Note, of course, that with the Youtube version, you also get the video! It’s also available on Google Podcasts, Spotify, and various other major podcast directories. Enjoy!