| The nineteenth rune and third of the Third Aett of the Elder Futhark is called "Ehwaz". It's sound is "E" as in "every". Its shape is an ideogram of the horse. Horses were the most sacred animals of pagan Europe, being the steeds of several goddesses and gods. In the Baltic and Slavic countries, they were used in divination, and holy horses graced the temples of Pomerania (on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea), Saxony, and England. The Anglo-Saxon rune poem tells proudly of the horse as "the joy of peers, stepping out with pride when talked about by wealthy riders everywhere, and to the restless, always a comfort." The horse rune symbolizes the forging of an unbreakable bond, like that between horse and rider. True partnerships require absolute trust and loyalty, so faithfulness is an absolute necessity for those who use this rune. Ehwaz demands a serious intention to carry a matter right through to completion. The horse is also a means of getting from one place to another, linking the connection between the starting point and the destination. Ehwaz enables us to create the impetus that we need to carry any task through from beginning to ending. |