Rune of the Month

[Munin-Hugin]

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Rune of the Month

Okay, here goes. The first big problem we have is that the Elder Futhark (which is what most people mean when they talk about runes and rune reading) contains runes that cannot be found in three of the rune poems, but only in the Old English Rune Poem (aka The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem and I'll refer to it henceforth as the OERP)
So basically we are playing pick'n'mix a bit here. Using meanings from Norse and Icelandic Rune Poems (which have a rather different background and culture) when possible and the OERP when it isn't.
Why does this matter? Well, because the OERP has a very different way of doing things. Because it's background is different (really, really different I promise) and because it needs to build up stage by stage to our understanding. This particular rune is number 19 meaning we are already well over half way.

Now, by the time we reach this stage in our reading, we realise that the OERP works on several levels. You can read it for what it seems to be. And I think this was intentional. If we want to go no further, then here is a meaning. Not 'the' meaning, but 'a' meaning. If we want to go further of course then we should. And if we do, we find that the nobles/earls etc referred to in the poem are not 'nobles' as such, but an elite. And not a warrior elite (unless we want to go that way with the meaning) but a spiritual elite, and the horse is the vehicle of their journey. The Rad rune has a lot to say about this, too. And this is what I mean, that it is starting to build up an entire set of meanings, rune on rune.

That's a start, anyway!

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Rune of the Month

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

[MoonRaven]

Re: Rune of the Month

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:

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]

Re: Rune of the Month

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!

[Odahviing]

Re: Rune of the Month

(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.

[MoonRaven]

Re: Rune of the Month

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]

Re: Rune of the Month

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...)

[Rae'ya]

Re: Rune of the Month

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.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Rune of the Month

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]

Re: Rune of the Month

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

[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!

[MaskedOne]

Re: Rune of the Month

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

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: Rune of the Month

I've always found that this is a good rune for movement, like Raido, and when combined with such makes great bindrunes for travelling. Going along with the concept of the horse, we have a level of control added in there, as well. Thoughts of a horse lead to Sleipnir, which leads to how he came to be, which in turn leads to Loki, and lastly can be seen as a rune of transformation at times.

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.

[Odahviing]

Re: Rune of the Month

Correspondences I have listed include: momentum, horse, speed, motion, progress, a controlled charge, journey, loyalty, faithfulness.

Other than what was mentioned before I also like to think of it as a rune for a bond/partnership, especially when working together towards a (common) goal.
These bonds I personally believe can be found in any kind of relationship where there is loyalty - human/animal, human/god, human/human, human/you-name-it, animal/animal etc.