TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

the vehicle of initiation and immortality, and both depend on the worker as much as on the process
worked. The yew shows its power of life equally with its power of death. It is an evergreen, which lives
when every other tree seems to have died, yet its poison seems to forbid its power of immortality to
humankind. In this one sees the melding of life and death, which is the might of the rune eihwaz.
Odhinn’s initiation on this tree is the initiation of death in which he gains power over both death and life,
returning from the dead as the mightiest of the gods.
The stave-shape of the Elder eihwaz does not appear in the Younger Futhark, and it does not seem to
have been used for writing at all except as a magical sign, in contrast to the other runes which were used
phonetically as well as magically. By thinking on the nature of this rune it may be suggested as a
refutation of von List’s assertion that the final secret of the Havamal was shown in either the fyrfos
(swastika) or its substitute, gebo.[1] There are sixteen runes in the Younger Futhark; the Havamal lists
eighteen spells, implying either that two of the runes of the Elder Futhark survived as magical signs (but
not letters) or that other signs were added to the list. Of the last, Odhinn says, “I know an eighteenth that
none know, I neither maid nor man’s wife. I It is always better kept secret, I except to the one who lies in
my arms, I or my sister.”[2] First Odinn states that he will not tell it, especially to any woman; then he
says that he will tell it to a mysterious feminine principle-as he has said, “neither maid nor man’s wife.”
There is a certain hint of sororal incest here, even though Odhinn has no sister. The answer to this riddle is
that the god is affirming within himself the synthesis of eihwaz: the lover/sister is Odhinn’s own feminine
side who, not being brought forth into being as independently female, can be “neither maid nor man’s
wife” and yet holds Odhinn in her arms and is also his sister. This is also, perhaps, the mystery which
Odhinn whispers into the ear of the dead Baldr, the rune which “no dweller on earth knows.”[3] It is the
power of immortality, not as an escape from death, but as an acceptance of it and the melding of life with
death which the yew tree shows forth in all ways. This is the rune of the will which survives death and
rebirth again and again, life hidden within death as the fire is hidden within the rough, cold bark of the
yew. This is the rune by which Lif (life) and Lifthrasir (the stubborn will to live) hide themselves within
shoots of Yggdrasill through Ragnarok, after which they can step forth and breed the human race again on
the new earth. It is a literal description of the rebirth of power and memory which survives the death of
the body. By this rune Baldr, hidden for a time in Hel’s protecting kingdom, is able to bring himself and
Hodhr forth alive again after Ragnarok.
Eihwaz shows the trunk of Yggdrasill which unites Hel and Asgardhr, the dragon Nidhoggr at the
bottom of the tree and the eagle at the top. The true vitki draws his/her powers from the roots and the
crown of the World-Tree alike, melding, like Odhinn, the mights of light and of darkness into a single
power.
This rune is also associated with Ullr, god of the winter sky who dwells in Ydal, “Yew-dales.” Ullr’s
weapon is the yew bow. He is called upon to shield the fighter in duels.
Eihwaz is used for making wands and staves, both because of its nature as the all-holding tree of the
runic initiation and, perhaps, because of the implication that spells cast through a yew focus will be shot
as strongly and truly as an arrow shot from a yew bow.
Eihwaz can be used to send messages along the trunk of the World-Tree or to fare up and down it
yourself The name Yggdrasil means “steed of Ygg” (Odhinn); the gallows is called “the horse of the
hanged.” Through this rune, you can speak to the dead and learn wisdom from them as Odhinn does, or
call them up if your need should be so great that nothing more will suffice. The Poetic Edda writes how
Odhinn has to ride down to the seeress’ mound at the eastern gate of Hel to chant her up, and even then
she complains of the “fear-fraught ways” he makes her fare.[4] Both the riding and the calling forth are
ruled by eihwaz. It is also a rune of warding when you must fare past the bounds of the gardh, as shown
when the movable shield which is associated with eihwaz is compared to the unmovable circle (othala).
Making the dead fare to Midgardhr is a sure way to rouse their wrath, as described in the Hadding’s Saga,
where the angry spirits rend the witch who has called them forth to shreds in spite of her wardings.The
woe-working powers of eihwaz as a rune of death and power over the dead should be obvious.
Eihwaz strengthens the will. It is the might which holds memory and purpose through death and
rebirth, and it may be used to call upon wisdom and might from earlier existences. You can learn from
both other dead and the dead whose knowledge and power have been passed on and hidden in your own
soul.
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