Sigurd Agrell
Sami Drums and Rune Magic is the continuation of Swedish runologist and poet Sigurd Agrell’s earlier work Late Antique Mystery Religion and Nordic Rune Magic. The present work reveals how the Eddic rune songs were composed according to a system of runic number mysticism, referred to by Agrell as the Uthark, which formed an esoteric counterpart to the exoteric Futhark script. According to Agrell, the runes were originally used solely for magical purposes, and when they were later repurposed for mundane writing, the last rune (F) was moved to the beginning of the alphabet in order to hide its magical origins and use. The occult meaning of the runes in this magical context is found to be directly correlated with the runic designs painted by Sami shamans on their ritual drums, which is cited as evidence for the Uthark theory. This is an unfinished advance copy.