Ehwaz (ᛖ)
Pronunciation: EH-wahz · Latin equivalent: E · Týr’s ætt, third rune
Name and meaning
Proto-Germanic ehwaz, “horse” — and in the old world the horse was the partnership: sacred to Freyr, bearer of kings, the animal a person trusted with their life at speed. Think of the bond, not the beast alone; the lore’s greatest horse, Sleipnir, carries his rider between worlds.
In the rune poems
Attested only in the Anglo-Saxon poem (eh), which calls the horse the joy of princes and a comfort to the restless. Dropped from the Younger Futhark, so the Norse poems are silent.
Upright
Partnership that moves: trust between two who travel as one — marriages, alliances, the loyal team. Steady progress, the journey undertaken together, adjustment matched to adjustment. At its edge, the shaman’s horse: movement between states.
Merkstave
The team out of step: mistrust, betrayal by a partner, restlessness, a vehicle — literal or figurative — that fails. Haste that breaks the pairing. Check the harness before blaming the road.
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