Before we delve further, it should be noted that reading for other people can be far more dangerous than it would first appear. It is quite easy for you to look in the runes, and see something, which may not be very good for the other person. At this point the reader has the choice to speak the truth, and hope that the other person will accept the fact that it is the runes speaking and not the reader, or to become a "Dear Miss Pretty", telling them what they want to hear. Either way, it spells trouble. The other person could take affront and you could lose them as a friend, or they could simply think less of you because you told them that everything was going to be fine- when you know it wasn't- and it all ended up in disaster. Either way, be watchful or possibly explain the system before you jump in. Or an even worse scenario could be if you are really quite good, and you are being bothered to read for other people all of the time, which would affect your own personal life!

First of all, take time to compose your question in a concise and exact manner. It is quite easy to give an open-ended question of mammoth proportions, which will give a reading of the same magnitude, which would be far too difficult to understand! For example "Will there be world peace?" Also, avoid compounding your questions. Keep to one question at a time, for example don't ask, "Will there be world peace, and when?" Phrase your questions like, "The issue is my new job". Although seemingly broad, you are sure about what you are asking, and the runes may be able to provide you with a facet of the problem you may yet to have thought of! As for other people's readings, don't ask the question, this will take away the internal bias. If you are familiar enough with the layouts and meanings of the runes, it will become pretty clear, pretty quickly, as to what the question may be.

A simple ritual for a reading is aid out below, as adapted from Lisa Peschel's A Practical Guide to The Runes.

Lay out your rune cloth (a white cloth- the colour of purity- made of natural fibres) with the four corners of it facing the four directions of North, South, East and West (or as best as can be ascertained). Stand near the southern edge, and concentrate on your question. Let the runes tumble out of the pouch, and as they hit the cloth, say "Urdhr, Verthandi, Skuld," the names of the three Norns. Turn them so that they all face rune symbol downwards.

Using your right hand, shuffle and swirl them in a clock-wise direction, until they are sufficiently mixed up so that you don't know where any single one is. Hold your hands with the palm facing downwards, about three or four inches above the runes, and empty all thoughts from your mind so that the decision of which rune to choose is clear. The rune should then "speak" to you, in the form of a tingling sensation in the palms of your hands. Moving your right hand across the runes, some should seem more energetic than others. The most energetic is the rune that you should choose. This should then be laid in the correct spot in the runic layout, still face down. When all of the runes have been chosen, and laid out, they should be turned over for the reading. This is done in the same way as you turn the page in a book. This means that the rune symbol will be the same way up as it was when it face down, whether that be right way up, or upside-down.

For a novice, it may be an idea to turn the runes over one at a time and read them, before jumping in to the whole reading. Ideally, all of the runes should be turned over and read at the same time, as you would read a sentence, rather than a series of unconnected words. Again, this is a skill that requires much insight and practice, so keeping with the reading of runes as much as possible is a very good idea. But it is often shown that pairs of runes have meanings when they are together in a reading that may differ quite significantly from the individual runes.

The 1 Rune Method- Good for questions like "What will today be like?" or "What do I need to know at this time in my life?" Simply pull one rune from the pouch if you have no time for a full ritual, and read it. It can give you helpful insights into what a day will be like or what blockages may come into your life.

The 3 Rune Method- This is the most widely used layout, it is good for insights into the moment at hand, not for long forecasts into the future. The fastest way of using this layout is a "yes/no" question. With this, turn all three runes over at once, and if all three are positive runes, the answer is unequivocally yes, and the opposite with negative runes. If there is a mixture, i.e. 2&1, the answer goes with the majority, but there is some doubt or deeper problem. The problem- for 2 positive runes- lies in the one negative, and the good part- for two negative runes- lies in the positive.

Another way of reading this layout is that the first rune indicates the problem at hand, the second indicates the course you should take regarding the problem (rune 1), and the third rune shows the outcome if you follow the course outlined by the second rune. In this method, each rune should be turned over individually, and read before moving on to the next. Then, at the end, all three should be looked over as a whole to look for any deeper relationships between pairs or even triples, which you would have messed reading them individually.

The 5 Rune Method- This method is useful for short-term futures, and should be limited to 3 months. The first three runes in this layout represent the past, present, and future. Unlike the other spreads, the rune in position 2 is actually turned over first, then position 1. Position 4 is the next rune to turn over and read, and represents the help that you can expect to get in the matter at hand. Then position 5 is turned over and read. This indicates the part of the problem that must be accepted and can't be changed. Finally, position 3 is turned over and read. This is the outcome rune, with all of the other runes considered.

The 7 Rune Method- This layout gives more detail and a better insight into how to deal with your problem. It shows about 3 months into the future and past from when you are reading. It is useful for questions like "How will my job progress if I take this business course?" or "If I started seeing other people, how would my current lover accept it?" In this method two runes are read at the same time, so be sure to have a firm grasp of both the meanings and relationships of the runes before jumping into this reading. Runes 1 and 2 are the problem, runes 2 and 3 are the factors in the past, and runes 5 and 6 are the advice that the runes are giving. These last two are the most important, and so, special care must be given to them. The final position is the outcome rune.

Finally, it should be noted that a reading for one problem should only be done once. If you don't like the reading that you got, another reading will not provide you with an answer that you need, even if it does give you one you like! Things should be accepted and dealt with in the first shot. The only time when another reading is applicable is when clarity is needed on part of the reading, but never to ask the same question. It is said of the Tarot that this will result in an "Occult Hangover" which does the reader no real good.