Stav means simply 'knowledge of the rune staves'

It is a system for training the mind to see reality. It is a system that has been traced back to the 9th century.

With the arival of christianity, it made the teaching of systems that required years of formal study difficult to maintain, so a simplified version was put togher in about 800 CE on an island in the river Gotta. A meeting of rune masters representing the centers of runic lore in Norway, Denmark and Sweden took place and a 16 rune Futhork was agreed on. This was passed down through the Hafskjold family and is still tought now.

It was made as a comprehensive and complete body, mind and spirit system. The core of it is the 16 rune stances performed with deep breathing and slow controlled body movements, these lend to the streaching of the body and the flow of energy (megin) around the body, focusing and clearing the mind.

The underlying concept of realiy is the web, which is in essence very simple and can be shown by nine lines locked togther to form the web, the building blocks of the universe i you like. These simple concepts are easly described but can take forever to explain and a huge amont of work to compehend and make use of. In Stav, we have tools to help us with this.

The first is the runes which are taken from the web, they bring with them 16 different aspects of reality, they don't have fixed meanings, but rather associations. By leaning and doing the stances, the runes become part of you and begin to let you feel the web flow though you. Next is the mythology of Northern Euroupe, these storys and the characters in them show how the limits of reality have to be accepted and used. Then there is the way i came to Stav, the martial aspect.

One of the places that you have to have a true and immediete grasp of reality is combat, plain and simple, if the reality is not seen and correctly delt with, the end result is not good. A Zen saying that my instructor is fond of, "The quickest route to enlightenment is at the point of a sword." Stav in a martial aspect isn't running screaming at each other with swords and horned helmets on. It is the use of various stances, weapons and unarmed ways tought as simple techniques, but it is never forgotten that they all tools or routes to seeing the the lines of reality. The weapons when used correctly move along the lines of the web, either for attack or for defence, seeing what is illusion and what is reality. There is alot more to it than that but this is just an out line.

The martial aspect is the most effective way to teach and test the application and nature of the web. But there is much more to life then fighting.

In Stav there is healing for Mott and Megin (the body and energy) , herb lore, magic (seid), bow makeing, many other crafts, Galdre, the chanting of the runes, the list goes on.

But the beuity of Stav it that you can take as much or as little as you want from it, it is a set of 5 principles that can be a way of life or just used to enhance your own path.

I have been involved in Stav for around 8 years now and it has taken me a long way along my warriors path and still there is more to lean while allowing me to do my own thing as well.

The best way to describe it is,
"Stav is a means of learning to see reality, the reality about ourselves, our bodies, the world around us, our community, our past, present and the future and the underlying reality ot the universe."

I hope this has made sense, it's my first artical.
If you would like to know more, just ask.
May the spirits walk with you.

Fox

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Scholars disagree as to where and when runic writing first made an appearance in Western Europe. But before the Germanic peoples had any form of script, they used picture symbols that were etched into rocks. Common in Sweden, these rock carvings are dated from as early as the second Bronze Age (ca. 1300 B.C.). Symbols common were for men and animals, parts of the human body, weapons, sun symbols, the swastika and different variations of squares and circles. The early carvings were called runes from the Gothic runa, meaning "a secret thing, a mystery."

From the very beginning, Runes had a ritual function. Casting of lots, divination and to evoke higher powers that could influence the lives and fortunes of people. The craft of runemal was highly respected and touched every aspect of life. There were Runes and spells to influence the weather, the tides, crops, love, healing. Runes of fertility, cursing and removing curses, birth and death. Runes were carved onto amulets, drinking cups, battle spears, over the threasholds of dwellings and onto the prows of Viking Ships.

The rune casters were honored, welcomed, and feared. They were also easily recognizable by their eye catching clothing. Many of these runic practitioners were women. A vivid description is provided in "Saga of Erik the Red, " a thirteenth-century novel by an unknown author:

She wore a cloak set with stones along the hem. Around her neck and covering her head she wore a hood lined with white catskins. In one hand, she carried a staff with a knob on the end and at her belt, holding together her long dress, hung a charm pouch.

To pre-Christians, the earth and all creted things were alive. Twigs and stones served for Runecasting since, as natural objects, they were believed to embody the divine. Rune symbols were carved into pieces of wood, incised on metal or cut into leather. The most common runes were made with smooth flat pebbles with symbols or glyphs painted on one side. Ordinarily runemal practitioners would shake their pouch and scatter the pebbles on the ground; those landing face side up were interpreted

The most detailed description of reading the runes comes from the Roman historian Tacitus. Written in A.D. 98, he reports:

To divination and casting of lots they pay attention beyond any other people. Their method of casting lots is a simple one; they cut a branch from a fruit-bearing tree and divide it into small pieces which they mark with certain distinctive signs (notae) and scatter at random onto a white cloth. Then, the priest of the community, if the lots are consulted publicly, or the father of the family, if it is done privately, after invoking the gods and with eyes raised to heaven, picks up three pieces, one at a time, and interprest them according to the signs previously marked upon them.