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Personal Bindrunes

Designing Bindrunes
I design a lot of bindrunes for people based on their initials. I find the rune equivalents for the letters and arrange them in the most attractive way I can. Sometimes the rune symbols are mirror-imaged for symmetry, and sometimes I combine two or more runes on a single stave (i.e. the perpendicular stroke). 

There are many examples of  ancient bindrunes designed in just this way, so it is perfectly in keeping with rune tradition. In fact the ancients were fairly arbitrary about writing runes left-to-right, right-to-left, images mirrored, and sometimes even whole sentences appeared upside down. But I do not as a rule reverse runes (i.e. draw them upside-down) because it is generally accepted that this also reverses the rune's meaning.

constructing a bindrune

English Letter Equivalents
Runes are phonetic - in other words, they represent sounds rather than letters. So Kauno is equivalent to K like it appears in the word "king", or a hard C as in the word "cat". So if your name was Colin or Catherine, your first runic initial would be Kauno, the rune that corresponds to K. But if your name was Cyril or Cecilia then you would choose S representing Sowilo because that's the rune that makes the soft C sound.

Names like Thora and Theodore and others starting with the TH sound can be a bit confusing, too. In English you would say your first initial was T, but in runes it is Thurisaz., because that rune represents the th sound all on it's own.

The ancients did not distinguish between W and V. They used the same soft V sound for both, so both V and W initials are represented by Wunjo.

J and Y are the most difficult letters to represent in runes. Strictly speaking the J in John or Joanne should be represented by Dagaz because the ancients pronounced Dagaz like a DG or DZ diphthong. But in modern usage it is common to represent J as Jera even though its real sound is like the Y in the word "year". There is another rune that makes the Y sound and that is Ihwaz. It sounds like the Y in "young". 

There are no rune equivalents for X or Q. The ancients did not use those sounds. I usually represent X with Kauno and Sowilo to make a "ks" sound, and Q as Kauno and Wunjo to make a "kw" sound. 

Names of German or Scandinavian origin that start with ING are represented by Ingwaz. Inge and Ingomar are good examples. Don't be fooled into using Isa because it represents the letter I. Ingwaz is much more attractive!

I usually follow these rules when compiling bindrunes for people:

K and hard C are represented by Kauno
S and soft C are represented by the Sowilo
T is represented by Tiwaz
TH is represented by Thurisaz
V and W are both represented by Wunjo
J as in John is represented by Jera
J as in Juan is represented by Hagalaz
J as in Jorge and Y as in Yolanda are represented by Ihwaz

There is a table of all the English letter equivalents on the Bindrune Introduction Page.

Are your initials in the Bindrune Gallery?
You can use the search engine to check whether I have designed a bindrune based on your own initials.

Use the buttons in the price grid to make a purchase now, or visit the Personal Bindrune page on the Runemaker site for more information.

Personal Bindrune Amulets

Amulet and Keyring

Bindrune & Presentation Certificate

Choose a personal bindrune amulet pendant or key fob at US$12.45 or the Bindrune Presentation pack at US$29.95.

The amulets are made of natural wood from windfall branches. The pendant is fitted with a leather thong necklace and the fittings are nickel plate. The key fob has a chrome steel split ring for your keys. The amulets are about 30-35mm diameter and made of windfall wild woods. the Rune is branded by hand in the traditional way. The wood is highly polished and finished with a non-toxic varnish.

The Presentation Pack consists of a Personal Bindrune Amulet together with a Certificate of Authenticity. The certificate is printed on A4 cream-laid 100gsm card in full color. It gives the meaning and interpretation of each rune in the bind. The associations with trees, herbs, gemstones and many more items are listed. It includes some tips on using the bindrune to greater effect, such as the best times of the day and month for your rune work and a simple procedure for invoking the power of the runes. 

Rune Icon Pack
All these rune icons:

plus 10 icons of your own personal bindrune in these colors:

You will receive a self-installing program that includes a beginner's guide to using icons. The package is delivered by email, usually within 48 hours. Use the "Order Now" button below.

Personal Bindrune Art Pack
Four large images of your personal bindrune in these styles:

:

You will receive a self-installing program featuring four 750x750 pixel high-resolution images of your personal bindrune suitable for printing on A4 or letter size paper. Delivered by email, usually within 48 hours. Use the "Order Now" button below.