Eihwaz (ᛇ) — Yew, Endurance, Death-and-Life

Eihwaz (ᛇ), thirteenth rune and fifth of Heimdall's ætt, is the rune of the íw — the yew tree, whose wood furnished both bows and coffins in the Germanic world. The Old English Rune Poem says: 'Ēoh byþ útan unsméþe tréow, heard hrúsan fæst' — the yew is an unsmooth tree outwardly, hard and fast in the earth, a guardian of fire. The yew is the tree that endures by dying inward: its heartwood rots while new growth spirals from the outer bark, making it effectively immortal. Within the Futhark, Eihwaz is the axis mundi — related to Yggdrasill itself, the world-tree connecting the nine realms — and governs the mysteries of simultaneous death and regeneration.

Cross-Tradition Resonances