Ok. I have an altar plate that I bought from a Pagan trader in Canada. It's made from a wooden plate with the Runes burnt in round the outside, and a representation of Yggdrasill in the middle. I bought it for the family last Yule and it has been on my altar ever since.

Anyway a funny thing has happened. In the long, dark watches of Saturday night I had been awake feeding my boy and was trying to drift off back to sleep. I began to go through the Runes and their meanings in my mind to help me nod off. When I got as far as Perthro I began to doubt myself - like "does it really go there ?" and made a mental note to check the following day. As a quick check I looked at the altar plate and it's all wrong !! There are 2 Laguz Runes !! One in its rightful place and one where Perthro should be !! I'd never noticed before although I've obviously looked at it every day !! Bizarre !

My question is - what now ? Returning the plate to the vendor isn't an option as it was so long ago and they are in Canada. We don't have the skills or the equipment to burn the Rune in like the rest of them. We could do a carve and blacken job to approximate it - you could make Perthro from Laguz quite easily. Or should I discard the plate all together ? Also we've had dreadful luck since Yule - could the Gods have been trying to let me know ? Would you do some kind of risting ceremony to officially put things right ?

Any thoughts welcome

I don't know that the gods are that worried by whether runes are right or not, they don't seem to mind the different futharks or anything. The other half is the rune person of the family though, I really wouldn't know. I do make rune sets though (elder futhark) and am pretty careful not to leave any out or duplicate them and have only had good reports from those who've bought them so perhaps it does matter.

If you want to fix the plate, pyrography tools aren't expensive or difficult to use, just practice first. I don't do it myself, but I know a couple of people who do. Try it and see.

Perthro is about hidden things - in this case you could view it that the rune has hidden itself behind the second laguz.

Just turn the laguz into a perthro. Like you said, it's pretty easy. The gods really won't mind. The divine attitude will probably be something along the lines of "About bloody time you noticed and did something about it". Remember, it was Odin who discovered the runes, and he's very much a "get it done by any means necessary" type god.

So the best thing to do would be to follow his example and sort it out by any means necessary (and that doesn't mean binning the plate - that would be wasteful, and wastefulness is not exactly encouraged in the wisdom poems).

T

Thank you all !

Mr S has now done a fine repair job with a scoring tool and black ink. You really can't tell it's any different. We didn't do a risting ceremony but did gather at the altar to put the plate back where it belongs and made an offering with flowers.

I'd also like to add that the craftsman who made it saw my post and offered to pay to return the plate all the way to Canada to be put right - so you can't say fairer than that !!