Today, my friend was organizing a crafting session of leathery stuff, so i made myself a nice bracer for my right wrist, since i already have one for the left. I want to draw something on it maybe some runes. but im a little affraid of carving something that would take a magical sens w/o my knowledge.. so i was wondering is there a special way to write runes to avoid the unknown effects (to me) they can have? or vice versa...
I sense another long Tyra post coming...
This is my opinion on the matter:
Runes and symbols such as bindrunes and hammers do you no good or no harm unless you invoke them. That means that a rune is not going to do anything but sit there on your bracer until you read over it or say or do something to give it power.
Everyday items worn as a pendants, like or a locket with your loved one's picture, have power of their own in the sense that they may remind the wearer, or those that see them on the wearer, of something, such as a persons heritage or whatever. I have hammers that I wear because they remind me of who I am and where I come from, or the event I was at when I got the hammer or the person that bought it for me. Those hammers have not been read over or dedicated in any way. Wearing them can be a powerful thing in and of itself, because it can cause you to feel proud or happy or sad or angry just seing the item, the same way a scenario like a jew seing a person wearing a swasitka will invoke a strong emotion on both the wearer and the jew. I also have
The Hammer, the one that Johan gave me, that has been invoked, that I never take off (unless I am having surgery). That's a different story altogether from wearing the ones that have not been invoked.
The aspect that you are thinking of, for lack of a better word, seid (since I refuse to use misspelled wicca terms like "majik" cuz I'm such a stuck up cow and all), does not come into play until an item has been read over or someone has invoked it with power, either. Seid should always be done by someone who knows what they're doing, because if you fuck up, you can really do damage (see for example Egil's saga, where a "love-spell gone wrong", causes a lady to almost die, before Egil figures out the mistake and corrects it). This is where that thing about inverting a rune comes into play. Many people think that by inverting a rune, you "invert its power" too (you meant to get health, but by inverting it, you got sick, for example).
Now, valknots and such imply that you feel close to Odin, a hammer generally means that you are either close to Thor, or that you follow the Old Tradition. If you then have such an item invoked, it can imply that you are dedicated to one god. That means that you do what he/she wills at any given point in time in return for his protection right here and now. As you said, that has certain implications for certain gods.
Runes work somewhat differently. Some runes symbolise wealth, some health, some love and some active protection, some passive protection and so on. The deal is, that by invoking them, you've requested that particular "trait" applied to the wearer. You cannot say
in which way it will get to that point, though. The given example is often the one about wealth: You can become wealthy by winning the lottery, which most people think is great. You can, however, also become wealthy by your mother being brutally murdered tomorrow and you inheriting her estate. Most people would rather have their mom safe and be broke, than have the money but no mom, so that may not be such a great way to come into money. You do not get to choose which option will happen to you when you invoke that rune. So, runes can be just as fickle as Odin. I have a bindrune tattoo on my shield arm that has been invoked. I put it there knowing full well what the implications are, just as I know full well what it means to call myself an Odinswoman. I am willing to pay the price for what I have recieved. I am also old enough to have spent the time thinking on it for a long time. These are not rash decisions that I just made one day at the spur of the moment.
Some people choose to use this kind of power to do nasty things to others, which generally rebounds with just as much "bad" landing on the person that cast the spell or nidh or whatever, so again, it has implications to invoke things with power. That, in plain English, is referred to as "What goes around, comes around", and they, too, should never be made at the spur of the moment.
In short, you can choose a rune for your bracer because it reminds you of something or makes you feel something. Knock yourself right out. It will do you no good or no bad unless you invoke it with power.
