The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle

Introduction

Three things drew me to The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle: I wanted to learn more about runes, I liked the concept of combining animal familiars with runes, and I liked working with The Unfolding Path Tarot which is also by Athene Noctua. These three things combined led to me pre-ordering the mass market edition as soon as I saw it listed. Unfortunately it arrived a week before my daughter’s wedding. So with all the last minute rushing around associated with that, I put The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle on the shelf and largely forgot about it until recently.

Don’t get me wrong, I had flicked through it and on and off I had had a bit of a “play” but I hadn’t really spent time with it until last week. Hard to believe that I managed to overlook it for so long, especially considering some of the things it has brought to light, but that’s just what happens sometimes.

The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle Cards

Since it is based on the oldest form of the Runic alphabet, the Elder Futhark, The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle is only a 24 card deck. It combines a runic symbol with an animal companion that the creator believes aligns with the rune’s message. This is a great way to establish an intuitive connection with the rune.

In the book Athene Noctua suggests that both the rune and the animal companion should be considered when reading with these cards. She writes, “Each reader has their own association and symbolism that they attach to different animals.” Then she adds, “The Universe / the Divine / Spirit … will communicate with you in your language, using your symbols and it is important to be receptive to this.” I wholeheartedly agree.

We attach meaning based on our knowledge and experiences and I believe these meanings are always relevant. For me they are what brings our readings to life. However, I also believe that we should be willing to consider other approaches and to integrate new knowledge wherever possible. Below as I discuss some individual cards you’ll see first hand my experience of this.

Discussions on some individual cards

Dagaz

Some cards, such as those of Dagaz and Ansuz pictured above, I find align easily with my impression of what the animals represent. The butterfly pictured with Dagaz speaks to me of transformation. The chrysalis is also present suggesting the butterfly has just emerged. This is an amazing moment in the life of the caterpillar come butterfly that to me is hard to comprehend. One minute you’re munching your way through whatever it is that is edible for you until you’re full. Then you go and have a nap for between 5 and 21 days in a chrysalis made for one. Then you emerge transformed into a butterfly and now suddenly you can fly. This isn’t your run of the mill, professional hair and make-up type transformation; this is truly remarkable.

So, it is no surprise to read “breakthrough, awakening, enlightenment, balance point, transformation” as the keywords offered in the book. Without any previous knowledge of the rune, I found it pretty easy to decipher its meaning. However there are others that I see quite differently.

Ehwaz

Ehwaz and Hagalaz are perfect examples but I’m going to focus on Ehwaz. When I see the white horse on Ehwaz, I see personal power and freedom. That is a meaning I learned early on in my practice when I studied animal symbology and it has stuck. Yet, Ehwaz means teamwork, trust, harmony, marriage and loyalty. These are quite different energies. However, while I doubt I will see horses differently overall, through personal experience I am able to make a connection that aligns with the meaning of the rune.

My first horse came to be mine because he wouldn’t let anyone else near him when he arrived at the riding school where I worked. His owner dumped him at the stables to be sold. I never met the owner but I learned that they couldn’t get near him either. I hate to think why. Opie and I clicked instantly. He used to break out of his yard to follow me around the stables. He trusted me and he was my loyal companion and confidante when I was a fifteen year old girl living alone in a caravan at the stables. So tick to trust, harmony and loyalty. Also, I met my husband back then too so I can make the marriage connection as well.

However, as I have already said, while I’m reasonably confident that I will remember those meanings because I have equated this particular card with an aspect of my past, the horse here serves as a trigger rather than as a reflection of what horses mean to me. Here generally, albeit possibly a little strangely, knowledge trumps experience. Even though I am unlikely to change my overall thoughts I suddenly can’t ignore the fact that horses are pack animals.

This has made me consider how I see the horses in my tarot decks. For example, The Animal Totem Tarot features a free running horse on the 8 of Wands and The Ark Animal Tarot uses a horse to represent VII The Chariot. Another example is The Wild Unknown Tarot. A white horse has its head bowed on the Five of Cups which has always had a powerful impact. Now these horses are taking on a deeper meaning. If horses are pack animals, who else is influencing the actions the cards represent and what influence are we having on them? I definitely didn’t expect this when I sat down to write this.

Uruz & Kenaz

So far I have talked about these cards individually. This is because I am getting to know them on that basis. One of my intentions when buying this deck was to learn more about the runes. Some of my tarot decks include runes in their artwork so I wanted to be able to instinctively integrate their message into my interpretations. I felt that the combination of animal and rune would help expedite the process and that has been the case.

That is not to say that these cards can’t be used and read in their own right. They are more than just a means to an end. The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle serves its intended purpose as an oracle very well.

When I saw Uruz and Kenaz next to each other, the message was so clear. I connected with the imagery and the message on a deep level. So much so I felt compelled to integrate the runes into a piece of artwork to remind me of their message. When I conducted readings utilising the spreads in the book I found these cards really do have a lot to say, and the way I felt about these two cards together was just the beginning. Now I relate to these cards in a way I never expected.

General Information About the Cards

The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle features many of the animals you’d expect. – raven, wolf, owl, bat, stag and eagle. But it’s nice to see the squirrel, the meerkat and the hermit crab make an appearance. Plus I like the deep bottle green backgrounds. While softer than black, they still make the images pop, and add an additional element of originality.

The cards are grouped into three sets of eight runes. These sets are called aetts or aettir (aett is the singular). Each aett is dedicated to a Norse god or goddess. They are divided as follows:

Aett	God / Goddess	Cards
1st Aett	Freya – Goddess of love and battle	Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, Wunjo
2nd Aett	Heimdall – God of Foresight	Hagalaz, Naudhiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Perthro, Algiz, Sowilo
3rd Aett	Tyr – God of War and Justice	Tiwaz, Herkano, Ehwaz, Mannaz, Laguz, Ingwaz, Dagaz, Othala

Note: Athene Noctua ascribes Othala as the 24th Rune but others consider it to be Dagaz. Further, the names given are based on the creator’s personal preference. She admits multiple possible spellings exist and that some runes are known by other names as well.

The cards are on matt cardstock and are approximately 6.5cm x 9 cm. Unfortunately I find the cards easy to bend out of shape, so they do not hold up to any rough handling. Also, since they are small and few in number, I can only comfortably overhand shuffle them. That’s a good thing because I don’t think they’d hold up to much more.

Further, even though reversed meanings are given in the book, as can be seen above, the backs are not reversible. Although, it isn’t as obvious as most non-reversible backs.

The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle Guidebook

The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle comes with a 51-paged, perfect bound, guidebook. It has a full colour cover, but inside is black and white with no card images.

Preamble

The book has a contents page that provides individual page numbers for each of the cards. This is essential since the cards are divided into aetts and presented in the rune-sequence. So, if you were unfamiliar with this order you would have to flick through the whole book each time. It may only be fifty odd pages but that would get pretty annoying pretty quickly.

The “Welcome” introduces you to the idea behind the deck and encourages you to trust your own symbolic knowledge. I always appreciate reading this advice. Athene Noctua also explains what an animal familiar is in this section. She then explains what runes are and how to use the cards. It is only brief but it serves its purpose well.

Card Meanings

Each card contains information on the animal familiar, the runic symbols, five keywords, and suggestions on how the rune can be used as part of a magickal practice. There isn’t a lot of information but there is definitely enough to introduce you to the runes and get you comfortable using the cards. If you’d like to learn more about the runes I found a list of books that might help you. You can access the list by clicking here.

To show you what you can expect, below is the entry for Othala. You can see the card pictured above.

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Wrapping it all up

I have been drawn to runes for a long time but I have never owned a set because my focus is tarot. That’s why I was so excited when I discovered there was going to be a Runic Tarot. From memory I think that was the first deck I ever pre-ordered, back in 2021 when it was released as a kit.

What does all this have to do with The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle. In one sense not a lot but in another it does. The Runic Tarot has to utilise various runic alphabets to cover the seventy-eight cards but as an oracle The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle could simply reduce the number of cards and focus purely on the Elder Futhark. This allowed me to focus on one system.

Combining runes with animal familiars makes this an easy way to learn the “language” of the runes as well. As I mentioned in the opening one, of the reasons I bought this deck was as a learning aid. But having done all the spreads in the book, something I do as part of every review process, I am now reconsidering the role it The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle will play in my collection.

If you are interested in runes, looking for something different, or you liked Athene Noctua’s artwork on the Unfolding Path Tarot you might really like this deck. It features the radiating lines that each of Athene’s decks incorporate although this feels very different. That’s a good thing because, as I have discovered, this is a great deck that deserves to stand alone on its own merits.

Summaries

The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle Cards

Artist	Athene Noctua
Card Size	Just under 6.5 cm x 9 cm
Card Stock	Matt card stock
Shuffle	Overhand due to size and card stock
Fan & Flip Through	Easy to flip through and handle, bit clumpy to fan
Miscellaneous	Two part box, cards easy to bend out of shape

The The Witch’s Familiar Runic Oracle Guidebook

Written by	Athene Noctua
Pages	51 pages
Appearance	Perfect bound, card sized, B & W, no card images
Contents	– Welcome – What are Runes? – Casting your Rune Cards – Navigating the Guidebook – The Cards (each are listed individually below their grouping) — Aett 1 (Freja) — Aett 2 (Heimdall) — Aett 3 (Tyr) – About the Author
Spreads	The 3 Sisters Spread (3 cards) 3 to the Power of 3 Spread (9 cards) Fork in the Road Spread (7 cards) Full Picture Spread (4 cards)

Publishing Details

Deck Creator:

Athene Noctua

Pictured Version:

Published by Hay House Inc. 2023

Website/Socials:

Athene Noctua Instagram