Writing, magic and modern revival

The historical evidence shows runes used chiefly as writing, with some inscriptions suggesting magical or commemorative use; the elaborate divinatory systems familiar today are largely a twentieth-century development, drawing on the rune-poems' meanings and on modern esoteric writing. The atlas keeps the historical script distinct from the modern practice of rune-casting.

The invented eighteen-rune Armanen row of Guido von List, though rune-shaped, is not a historical futhark and is treated separately under the modern revivals. The entries give each historical rune its name, sound, rune-poem meaning and attested use.