# Ehwaz

Traditional meaning: horse

Meanings when upright:

- journeying between worlds
- possession (in the exorcism sense)
- rapid change
- presence of the divine
- extension of strength through union (no loss of individuality)

Meanings when inverted:

- blockage of energy
- loss of a relationship
- being subsumed into one's partner
- paralysis from anxiety disorder / executive dysfunction

Ehwaz can be useful for:

- opening doors/opportunities
- going to a better place/situation
- communicating/travelling on the temporal plane

Anglo-Saxon rune poem:

> Eh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn,
> hors hofum wlanc, ðær him hæleþ ymb[e]
> welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce
> and biþ unstyllum æfre frofur.

> The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
> A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
> when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
> and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.

There is not a Norwegian rune poem for Ehwaz.

A modern poem:

> A full belly, bonfire blazing
> just a little bit away,
> saved a place
> for me in the circle of friends
> as the sun dips below and day comes to an end.

> Your arms are the only chariot I trust,
> whether half-asleep in drowsy lust
> or the fateful day my vessel decides
> it's time to return to dust.
> How gently
> you will exhume me from my body,
> whisk me so swiftly away
> to a hospital in a place I cannot here name
> to evade
> the Second Death.
> You promised you'd never leave me behind,
> and as long as in your embrace I am
> I am assured of your vow I am not bereft.

> Psychopomp and Rainbow Bridge,
> the two of us whose entire fates hinge
> on being able to pass between worlds.
> The first colors to breach the metaclysma:
> speckled red and shiny merle.