Rune casting is the most traditional method of runic divination — scattering rune stones or staves onto a cloth and reading the ones that land face-up, based on their positions and relationships to each other.
How to Cast
- Hold your rune set (stones, wooden staves, or tiles) in both hands
- Focus on your question or intention
- Scatter the runes onto a reading cloth — traditionally white linen
- Read only the runes that land face-up (showing their symbol)
- Interpret based on: which runes appeared, where they landed, and their proximity to each other
Positional Reading
Some practitioners use a marked cloth with zones — center for the core issue, edges for periphery. Others read spatially: runes that land close together are related; runes that land far apart are separate influences. Runes touching or overlapping have amplified or conflicting energies.
Historical Basis
Tacitus described a similar practice in Germania (98 CE): strips of wood marked with signs, scattered on a white cloth, and interpreted by a priest. The practice is at least 1,900 years old — making it one of the oldest documented divination methods. Whether you cast physical runes or use Chaos Tarot's digital cast, the interpretive framework is the same.