Some people occasionally ask me why I read the Runes, and whether they are the only form of divination I've ever used.

Actually, when I was young I started off by reading palms. Hands fascinate me, they still do, but I think there's a feeling of inevitability about them that you don't get with Runes. After all, the lines on your hand do not change from year to year, so basically whatever you read at say, age 21 is likely to be pretty much the same at age 40.

Besides, I feel that the power of a rune reading is that it holds a mirror up to the questioner. This means that really all a reading can do is reflect what is going on in someone's life, and help suggest ways of dealing with it. Personally I prefer doing that sort of reading rather than saying 'You are going to marry twice and have seven children.'

Tea leaves are great fun, especially with children, who are often surprisingly good at tasseography (reading tea leaves!). I think this is because their minds are less fettered about what others think so they just look at a picture and come out with what they think it could be.

Unfortunately modern methods of making the tea have put the mokkers on that one - you simply cannot read the tea leaves using a couple of Tesco's tea bags, not even if you break them open first. So at least one benefit of using old fashioned tea leaves if that you get a decent cuppa first and then do the reading!

I also used to read the Tarot - and sometimes still do. But I keep on coming back to the Runes because they seem to be the system that suits me the best. All that symbolism seems to release something in my subconscious that makes them surprisingly easy to read.

Nobody can agree exactly how old the Runes are, and there are several different Runic alphabets: I use the Elder Futhark which is the oldest known one, and has 24 runes. Other systems may have more or less, and some (including the 'Witches Runes') have some symbols that I wouldn't describe as Runes at all.

I should be back in Hay doing Rune Readings at Spellbound during the Hay Christmas Market on Saturday December 13th, so if you can drop by then please call in and have a chat! If you can't make it then but would like a reading, call the shop and you can even arrange a reading by post or phone! The shop number is 01497 820170 (you will probably get through to the Nepal Bazaar - also well worth a visit if you're in Hay - but ask for Adele and you will be put through.)