The Rune Series: EHWAZ (Horse)
The Rune of Sleipnir, Odin’s trusted companion.
The Runes of this series belong to the Elder Futhark, one of the oldest alphabets in recorded history. Each Rune has endless interpretations and deep meanings; while their origin and/or intent is lost to history, most interpretations come from the ‘Rune Poems’, possibly written around the 8th century. This series will explore the Runes through a personal journey and intuitive interpretation of them, alongside knowledge collected from written works, such as ‘The Book of Runes’ (R.Blum, 1982), and the intricately crafted website ‘Runesecrets.com’ by Tyrael.
Greetings Dear Reader,
Welcome back to the Rune Series where we explore the ancient Runes through a psychological, practical, spiritual and philosophical lens.
You can check out the rest of this series below:
EHWAZ
Despite the shape of this Rune being a clear indication of our Latin/Greek letter ‘M’, Ehwaz stands actually for the letter ‘E’ and apparently means ‘horse’. Its name may be a little easy to confuse with the Rune of Yggdrassil, EIHWAZ, but the ‘I’ makes all the difference. As it usually does.
Ehwaz speaks of companionship, union and stability across a journey/through time. Some online sources (such as this) links this Rune to the fascinating concept of the ‘Fylgja’, which I will explore a little.
I think this Rune works well in combination with RAIDHO, as they share the theme of travel and companionship.
Rune Series 19/24
Third Aett: Ehwaz
Meaning: ‘Horse’
Associated English letter: E
A Trusted Steed
The Eddas tell us that Odin had many animal companions, usually pairs: two wolves at his side, Geri and Freki, his two famous ravens Huginn and Muninn (mind and memory), and he rode a horse called ‘Sleipnir’.
Sleipnir, despite being a single entity, has eight legs which implies again the idea of pair/double/duality. Myth also tells us that his eight legs not only give him greater speed, but allow Odin to travel across all nine realms, including the realm of death (Hel). His backstory is also really interesting: he’s a child of Loki, who had previously transformed into a mare in order to mate with a god-like stallion called Svaðilfari (‘unlucky traveller’). And there’s just so much to unpack here already.
The Birth of Sleipnir
We have to go back in time a little in order to make sense of this story. As the myth goes, when the gods decided to build the walls of Asgard, their realm of order, they employed the services of an architect who was, against all odds, a Giant/Jotunn. This Giant says that he could build their walls, but in exchange he demands the goddess Freyja, as well as the sun and moon — not exactly cheap!
The Aesir are, understandably, not thoroughly excited about it, but Loki convinces them to accept his deal; however, the builder would receive his payment only if he completed the job in three seasons and without any help. The Giant agrees, but asks permission to use his trusted horse Svaðilfari as his only aid, to which the gods agree. They don’t know however, that Svaðilfari is no ordinary horse but a powerful entity in his own right.
The Giant is close to finishing his work three days before the deadline, meaning that the gods would have to honour their agreement and give him their queen-goddess, the sun and moon. They turn to Loki for a devious solution to this problem. Loki (a dual being of chaos and order because he is descended from a Giant but is also an Aesir) decides to shapeshift into a mare and have intercourse with Svaðilfari. This ‘distraction’ so to speak, prevents the builder from finishing his work in time and, just to cap it all off, the Aesir inform Thor of his identity as a Giant. Thor kills the builder and the gods get what they want through deceit and subterfuge. Meanwhile, Loki (still transformed) gives birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir.
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The Meaning of the Myth
If we try to take this story literally we end up with a lot of things that either don’t make any sense to our modern minds, or portray the gods in very unfavourable ways. From a Christian perspective (which is the one that determines our modern sense of morality and ethics), the gods seem power-hungry monsters both in this and Fenrir’s story.
So we have to dig a little deeper. Not because the gods can’t or are not supposed to be evil, but because that framework, aside from being inherently Christian, isn’t helpful to our goal of working with the invisible.
First off, the gods employ a Giant to build their walls which are technically supposed to keep Giants out. The walls of order are built by chaos, in some sense. The Giant, in turn, demands Freyja, the sun and moon. In Norse cosmology, the sun and moon are guided across the sky by Sol and Mani, two siblings forced into this task by the gods (they are continuously chased by wolves and destined to be devoured during Ragnarök).
Could this Giant be trying to free the siblings from their endless torment? This would imply a return to the original world of chaos, freed from the forced cycle of order imposed by the gods. This may appear cruel to us, but if things weren’t set this way, we can assume that chaos and disorder would prevail. It doesn’t seem to me that a world of endless uncertainty and instability is preferable — but let me know what you think!
The Giant has a trusted companion: Svadilfari, the horse. Or at least something that is portrayed as a ‘horse’, since this creature lifts immense stones to build the walls of Asgard. Without his help, the Giant cannot complete the work. Similarly, without the Giant the gods wouldn’t have their walls, and without Sleipnir, Odin wouldn’t travel across his ordered cosmos. This is a theme of mutual balance that is reflected in the practical connection of a traveller and his horse. The traveller is human, a being of order and intellect, while the horse is an animal - a creature that, while domesticated, remains mostly in the realm of instinct and therefore needs to be guided towards a goal.
In Scandinavian tradition the horse was believed to possess supernatural abilities that placed them in a closer relationship to the world of the gods. Odin rides Sleipnir across the cosmos and will also fight alongside him in the final battle, where both perish. We could say that Odin is able to ‘ride’ chaos/instinct or use it properly in order to ‘see’ inside all the realms of existence, including death.
This fits the narrative of Odin who needs to keep an eye (heh, get it?) on everything everywhere. Another interpretation could be that wisdom, to ensure survival, needs to keep constant watch over all aspects of life and properly balance the conscious and unconscious elements according to the demands of each situation.
The Invisible Companion
The horse may be the physical companion, but the ‘Fylgja’ is the invisible, non-physical helper that sometimes takes the shape of animals. This entity can be linked to the concept of a spirit guide, spirit animal (also present in many other cultures), or the Greek Daemon. In modern English, the ‘fylgja’ can be translated as ‘fetch’ which is, interestingly, a common command for a dog.
“Besides gods and goddesses, medieval writers frequently allude to female guardian spirits called dísir and fylgjur. The conceptions underlying these two certainly differed originally, although some of the later writers used the words interchangeably.”
(Excerpt from article on Guardian Spirits, Britannica.com available Here)
Conceptions about guardian spirits are so old at this point that they inevitably became intermingled with popular world-folklore and fantasy (such as wraiths, elves, dwarves, ghosts, etc.). Making distinctions and exploring each in turn could (and do!) fill up entire books, but the main theme worth pointing out here is that ancient people were more accustomed to working with and living alongside the invisible.
Conclusion
A concept I really like is the idea of the ‘Landvættir’, or land spirits. Practically, this idea meant that one would offer sacrifice and respect to the land in return for a bountiful harvest. We can infer that the land wasn’t just physical matter fit to be manipulated by human hands, but a living, breathing entity that one had to build a connection with.
This, I believe, is the right attitude to have towards your own psyche and unconscious landscape. You’re in for a lot of trouble if you expect it to always collaborate and be submissive to the endless whims of the ego. If treated properly, like you would another person, it will become what it was always supposed to be in the first place: a companion for life.
Blessings,
