Madame Blavatsky on Irish Talismans

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky · Blavatsky Speaks Series · 8 pages

A short reply to a correspondent signing himself A Junior Student of Trevandrum, who in April 1883 asked The Theosophist for the meaning and history of two names: Runic, and Arne Saknussemm — guessing the first to be a language and the second a great alchemist of the sixteenth century whose regular history he wanted.

On the first he guessed well, and she gives him the answer: rune, from the Anglo-Saxon run, stood in days of old for mystery and related to magical letters; runic describes both the language and the sixteen-character alphabet of the ancient Norsemen; those few who could read the inscribed stones were held to be great enchanters, until writing vulgarised the script and its sacred character was lost. She adds that occult books hold the letters to have acquired a later significance quite distinct from the original, which the initiated descendants of the Norsemen have not parted with — and that the talismans used by so-called wizards and witches in Ireland are generally covered with runic marks. The second name proves harder to satisfy him about, for reasons the reply goes on to explain. The headnote states the position the whole piece serves: that the best talisman is harmlessness and unconditional brotherhood, and that real protection comes from merit and virtue, not from stones.

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