runecasting

English

Etymology

From rune +‎ casting.

Noun

runecasting (countable and uncountable, plural runecastings)

1. (uncountable) The act of scattering stones, tablets, etc., each marked with a rune on one side, for the purposes of foretelling the future, determining a course of action, etc.
   • 1989, Edred Thorsson, Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology, York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, page 77:

     It is another odd fact that there is no direct, nonmythological reference to the act of runecasting in Old Norse literature. Despite all of this, which is chiefly based on indirect linguistic evidence and parallel accounts in historical texts, we can be fairly certain that the practice was known.

2. (countable) An instance of this; a runecast.
   • 1982, Ralph Blum, The Book of Runes, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 50:

     One of my friends, whose wife had recently left him, was still in primary shock when he came to me for a Rune casting. He was experiencing a lot of pain, realizing, after the fact, the value of this relationship and agonizing over his loss. The issue, then, was "What am I to learn from this separation?"

   • 1989, Edred Thorsson, Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology, York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, page 77:

     Linguistic evidence is of two kinds: words for the tools of runecasting and terms that originally must have been characterizations of the results of runecastings.