In the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 study of the esoteric

Esotericism

Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...

 meaning of runes, the Uthark theory originated in the 1930s with the work of philologist Sigurd Agrell

Sigurd Agrell

Sigurd Agrell was a Swedish poet, translator, runologist and professor of Slavic languages at Lund University.-Biography:...

 (1881–1937), a professor at Lund University

Lund University

Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...

, Sweden.

He theorised that the rune row is a cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

, and that one can understand its meaning by placing the first rune, "F", last, resulting in an ”Uthark” instead of the traditional "Futhark"

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

 order. He articulated the bulk of his theory in his book of 1932, Die spätantike Alphabet-Mystik und die Runenreihe [The Alphabet-mysticism of late antiquity and the sequence of the runes].

The suggestion has not been accepted in mainstream runic studies

Runology

Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets, Runic inscriptions and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.-History:...

, due to lack of historical sources, but has found proponents in occult circles and in popular culture.

Kenneth Meadows promoted the Uthark theory in his 1995 book Rune Power. Thomas Karlsson

Thomas Karlsson

Thomas Karlsson is a Swedish occultist and an esoteric author. In the summer of 2007, he has held the first Swedish course ever in Western Esotericism.. He is an occultist with many years of experience. Founder and head of magical order of Dragon Rouge, a Left-Hand Path initiatory organization and...

, founder of the magical Order Dragon Rouge and Therion

Therion (band)

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...

lyricist, then published the first monograph dedicated to the subject after Agrell's work of 1932: Uthark: Nightside of the Runes
in 2002.