Elder Futhark · Tyr's Aett
Ehwaz
Rune 19 - ᛖ
Upright
A trusted partnership is carrying real, steady forward movement.
Ehwaz. A trusted partnership is carrying real, steady forward movement. The horse, and the partnership between horse and rider. Trust, movement made possible by cooperation, and progress that neither party could manage alone. It is third of Tyr's Aett, the final eight - the aett of the human sphere at full stretch: will, honour, kinship and the self coming into its own. Upright, the stave stands in its clear aspect and can be worked with directly. Its keyword range runs through partnership, trust, forward movement together, and loyal cooperation.
Merkstave
Trust in a partnership has been strained or progress has stalled together.
Ehwaz merkstave. Trust in a partnership has been strained or progress has stalled together. The horse, and the partnership between horse and rider. It is third of Tyr's Aett, the final eight - the aett of the human sphere at full stretch: will, honour, kinship and the self coming into its own. Fallen merkstave, the timing is wrong rather than the substance. Right thing, wrong hour - early, late, or frozen short of where it was going. In merkstave, read these as strain, blockage, or the caution the rune is raising: broken trust, a mismatched partnership, stalled progress, and disloyalty.
About the Elder Futhark
The oldest runic alphabet, used across Germanic Europe from roughly 150 to 800 CE.
No rune names or meanings are directly recorded for the Elder Futhark. The meanings used here are reconstructed from three later medieval sources - the Old English, Norwegian and Icelandic Rune Poems - which give a verse for each rune. 'Merkstave' (a reversed or ill-dignified rune) is a modern reading convention; runes with no natural upside-down form are read only for merkstave when the surrounding runes are adverse.
Full history →Meanings are a guide to a symbolic tradition, offered for reflection and entertainment. They do not predict the future or describe real people or events. See the Terms.