Rune of the Month

[Heka]

I've started using multiple Ehwaz runes (eight, actually, for the legs of Sleipnir), overlapping to form a ring, around staves that I've made to help send the energy to it's destination.

I like this idea!

[Rae'ya]

link added to index, what's the distinction between Ehwaz and Eihwaz because this almost got linked to the latter based on Eoh.

We can blame Old English and my laziness in not added accents to the index for that one. Sorry, MO. The Old English rune cognate with Ehwaz is Eoh (which has been shorted to Eh by many to avoid confusion). The one cognate with Eihwaz is Éoh (which means yew).

[MaskedOne]

Long as they are distinct runes and I've got the right one linked, it isn't really a worry. Just caught my attention when I went to edit the index.

[Rae'ya]

I have to go in a different direction to the norm here and agree with Odaviing in that for me, Ehwaz is primarily about the relationship between two beings or things. For me, it's about the horse as a form of partnership, a partnership which complements and extends your own abilities, and which allows you to achieve things that you wouldn't be able to achieve alone. The travel and motion aspect is definitely secondary for me, and is represented more fully by Raido, to the point that I don't use Ehwaz for that end pretty much at all. Ehwaz is the horse, Raido is the act of riding or driving it. They complement each other, but the primary focus for me is different.

I use Ehwaz where I want to strengthen the idea of partnership, working together and symbiosis. To me it's about loyalty, working together, complementing one another, extending the abilities of either partner, moving in tandem, harnessing two things together (not quite a binding, but a bringing together out of desire to be more efficient), and that sort of trust between two beings that is achieved when you work seamlessly as one.

Ehwaz features in a bindrune (along with Raido and Algiz) for my car, in that my car is my 'horse' (and has a spirit of it's own). I'm also tossing up the idea of it being part of a bindrune or bindrunes for my journey drum, as a representation of the partnership between myself and the drum spirit, who helps carry me into the Otherworlds.

[Odahviing]

I have to go in a different direction to the norm here and agree with Odaviing in that for me, Ehwaz is primarily about the relationship between two beings or things. For me, it's about the horse as a form of partnership, a partnership which complements and extends your own abilities, and which allows you to achieve things that you wouldn't be able to achieve alone. The travel and motion aspect is definitely secondary for me, and is represented more fully by Raido, to the point that I don't use Ehwaz for that end pretty much at all. Ehwaz is the horse, Raido is the act of riding or driving it. They complement each other, but the primary focus for me is different.

I use Ehwaz where I want to strengthen the idea of partnership, working together and symbiosis. To me it's about loyalty, working together, complementing one another, extending the abilities of either partner, moving in tandem, harnessing two things together (not quite a binding, but a bringing together out of desire to be more efficient), and that sort of trust between two beings that is achieved when you work seamlessly as one.

Exactly! (I wish I were this good at putting my thoughts into words haha...)

[MoonRaven]

I also see it in part as a symbol of partnership/working relationship, but more than that to me this rune means prestige and doing well socially. While social prestige can be in part connected to wealth, physical wealth is to me more closely connected with Fehur

[Odahviing]

(Okay, first of all, I figured out the multi-quote thing. Yaaay!)

I also see it in part as a symbol of partnership/working relationship, but more than that to me this rune means prestige and doing well socially. While social prestige can be in part connected to wealth, physical wealth is to me more closely connected with Fehur

I see what you mean Moonraven. I kindof see Ehwaz as a relationship rune, but I've always mostly thought of it as in relationships to/with non-humans.
Although I'll have to agree with the horse rune as a symbol for social wealth - especially when reading the rune poems. They imply not just physical wealth but also social status (which might not *always* be connected but, of course, often are).

My poem (from Stephen Grundys 'rhinegold) goes thus:

Ehwaz, horse, the highborns joy,
Heroes speak from the warsteeds back,
Sleipnir is fleetest of beasts.

The OE or AS rune poems gives:
Ride is for rulers • aristocrats’ joy;
horse standing proud • while him spearmen surround,
moneyed ones mounted • commune by speaking;
for the uneasy • always comfort.

I should point out here that the Bosworth-Toller and Hall dictionaries give 'eh' as a war horse or charger, not just any old nag. As with all the Anglo-Saxon verses, there is a sense of empirical mystery in the lines, and this was intended originally to shift the listener's attention away from the mundane meanings towards more mysterious ones. It's a rune that offers a great deal when we start to explore it.

Both of these poems speak of rulers, heroes and leaders of war. All with great social status.

[Tylluan Penry]

I think it's really important where we can to see not only what is included but also why, where and even where else it can be found. Is the OE rune poem really about the horse? Or is it about status? Or something else? And are we reading in the right order? I meant, in the example I gave for the poem, what if we read it in columns rather than in lines? This would be quite in keeping with the riddling nature of the OE rune poem. It's worth looking for more information on the other poems too. On how and when they were first written and published... and of course on the various editions we are using.

I think there is a tendency nowadays to look down on the OE Rune poem as being somehow newer (it isn't - in fact there's a very good argument that could well make it the oldest of the four rune poems.) While it's very important to work with our own personal response to the runs (whichever system we are using) I feel it's also very important to work within the rune poems (and of course within the other sources for the runes too) and see where they take us.

Just my two penn'orth!

[MoonRaven]

Problem is that there are no other rune poems for Ehwaz than that of the Anglo Saxon Futhark as far as I know - it was eliminated from the Younger Futhark - so we can go nowhere else to look for information. The original wording of the poem is as follows:
Eh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn,
hors hofum wlanc, ðær him hæleþ ymb[e]
welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce
and biþ unstyllum æfre frofur.
Since I don't speak Anglo-Saxon I shall refrain from trying to make my own translation. But anyone else wants a go, go right ahead.

[Tylluan Penry]

I'll try and help out there in the next day or so!