Reddit reviews Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic

Note that you'll have to pick up (or download) a copy of Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magick to see the full version of The Hammer Rite.

For a good academic/historical text https://www.amazon.com/Rudiments-Runelore-Stephen-Pollington/dp/1898281491

For divination and the like this is a good starter text https://www.amazon.com/Futhark-Handbook-Magic-Edred-Thorsson/dp/0877285489

Just a couple of good ones that are out there:

Wyrdworking: The Path of a Saxon Sorcerer - Alaric Albertsson

[Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic - Edred Thorsson]
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0877285489/)

[Rune Mysteries: Companion to the Witches Runes - Silver RavenWolf]
(http://www.amazon.com/Rune-Mysteries-Companion-Witches-Runes/dp/B004M5RZ8Y/)

Just searching amazing on "Rune Magic" brings up a lot of options for you, but those are the ones that I recommend just off the top of my head.

I disagree with the other reply - a fantastic book on Enochian is Enochian Vision Magick by DuQuette. For the runes, if you're taking a traditional approach, I recommend Thorsson's Futhark though it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea.

As for learning to write in another language - practice, practice, practice! The biggest help will probably be concentrating on learning one language, don't try to confuse yourself with too many at once. Once you've chosen one, just write out anything you can think of in that language. For me, just an hour a day of sitting down and writing things out, not even trying to translate it back to english, is the best way of learning. After two weeks or so, you'll be great at writing and re-translating, just because the letters are so ingrained in your head. My friends and I used to use Tolkien's Elvish alphabet as a secret code in high school, and I can still write in it to this day, seven or eight years later!

I personally use Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic by Edred Thorsson ( https://www.amazon.com/Futhark-Handbook-Magic-Edred-Thorsson/dp/0877285489 ) as my rune guide. It is a basic rundown of the lore and use for the runes, including the tools you would need and even goes into the numerology (which for me still makes my head spin but I enjoy the challenge of theorycrafting powerful rune charms via numerology) and color meanings.

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In my opinion, it is really easy to understand as far as how the runes are, and if you just sit down and read it, it goes over how you can do coded notation and how to read that code as well, and it's really useful.

Firstly, runes. The thing is, runes are usually thrown by shaking them up in a bag and then choosing, and a square shape isn't that great for this - most runes don't have sharp edges or corners. Could you round them off?
There are loads of books about runes. Because I'm old-fashioned I'd recommend Thorsson, but there's plenty of other options around.
I have absolutely no idea whether anything I deal with on the spirit plane is 'real', I don't even know what the term 'real' means. What matters to me is whether it works for me. If it does (and in many cases it does) I'll leave it to the philosophers to decide what it means. It looks like a duck. It quacks like a duck. If it's just a duck impersonator, I'll handle that when the time comes.