There are other examples of this ancient belief in another old English source. In the Land Remedy charm it makes mention that the earth is embraced by the Sky Father one part goes something like this: All hail, Earth, mother of men! Be fruitful in God's embracing arm, filled with food for the needs of men. This one passage keeps in perfect harmony with Gears rune poem. Even though the name God is used and most people associate it with the Christian God is it none the less a very generic term and can be taken to mean any god in general. We can also see that the earth is personified by being capitalized meaning that she was seen as a living entity. But this one little passage from the Land remedy charm takes us even further back in time. It says that the earth is the mother of men or the human race. When we look at Tacitus' Germania 2 he states that the Germans in one of their traditional songs sang of an earth born god by the name Tuisto and that from him all of the races in the Germanic lands can to being. So he was the divine ancestor of the all the different tribes. If we look closer at Tacitus' explanation of this song we can see clearly that Tuisto was born from the Mother Earth and hence all people, since Tuisto is the divine ancestor of the Germans, are descended from her. I find it absolutely amazing that this belief continued well into the Christian era. So this proves to me that our ancestors believed in the worship of Sky Father and Earth Mother and that the rune Gear holds that awesome mystery within its secrets. If we look at the shape of the Gear rune we can see that it is shaped like a vagina with a phallus running through it but of course it can be viewed anyway the reader would like to interpret it.

In being a time marker of the seasons of sowing and reaping we can find Gears connection to the moon. We know that most ancient people used the moon symbol and marker of time. It's waxing and waning determined festivals and marked important changes in the cycle of time. We know that the ancient Germans reckoned time by nights not days and that important meetings were held at the new moon or the full moon. Every important meeting was made using this system and they also saw night ushering in day. This brings us to the conclusion that Gear must be connected with the lunar cycle of time and hence with the Goddess. Since it was the Goddess who was seen as being connected with the moon and all the feminine mysteries attached to its waxing and waning i.e. menstruation.

This brings us to another important story that might tie the cycle of time, our ancestors, Sky Father and Earth mother and night being the cycle of time all together. There is a story in Snorri Sturlusons Prose Edda that just might tie everything into place and possibly give us a complete picture of what our ancestors believed in at one time. In Chapter 10 there is a story, which is about creation but it, is different from the standard one in Norse mythology. It goes something like this: There was a woman called Night and a man called Twilight impregnated her, their son was called Space. She married another man and he was called The Second, their daughter was Earth. She was married a third time to Dawn; their son was called Day. This story appears to be connected to other very old Indo-European stories. This story gives us an explanation of time as well as a creation story all in one. We can see that creation started with twilight hence the beginning of another day. Their first son space can be seen as a big bang theory, Night being a void i.e. non-matter, and their son filled this void with matter, meaning all the stars, planets, etc. Day was their third offspring and was fathered by Dawn and Father, Mother and sons circled around Earth to form a measure of time. This is further reinforced in the Poetic Edda in the Lay of Vafthruthnir stanza 25. It states that Night was born to Nor and that the waxing and waning of the moon was made by the Gods to tell the time for men. This then ties in with Tuisto being born of the earth. When all creation and time was set into place the earth gave birth to the first god who engendered a son called Mannas, meaning man or mankind, who then gave birth to the three tribes which were to encompass all the Germanic races in Northern Europe.

The profound mysteries associated with Gear are only one example of many that surround the runes as a composite whole, from exoteric to esoteric. Gear can be seen as a compass pointing north, south, east and west. Also it represents all the seasons in the year but focusing on spring and autumn the most.

Eoh byth utan unsmethe treow,

Heard, hrusan faest, hyrde fyres,

Wyrtrumun underwrethyd, wyn on ethel.

Yew is outside a rough tree,

Hard, earth-fast, fires keeper,

Roots to support it, a joy on the estate.

Eohs' fundamental meaning is Yew tree. To the people of the northlands Yew trees were very valuable in that they furnished excellent hard wood to make bows, arrows and even skies. The Yew produced berries and when burned they would produce a noxious fume that would cause hallucinations. The ancient shamans of the northlands must have used them as a catalyst to travel to the underworld. This could be one reason the Yew is associated with death. The fumes of the Yew berries are deadly and I would advise the reader not to try inhaling the fumes as they can cause death. Eoh is connected to the Gods Wuldor and Woden. We will delve more on the reason these gods are connected with this rune later in this section.

Firstly, let's unravel the meanings of this elusive and powerful rune. The Anglo-Saxon rune poem seems to hint to something deeper. When we read this poem as a composite whole its meanings are lost fast. The rune poems have to be read one word to one sentence at a time to fully understand what they truly mean. So let's start with the first sentence in the poem. It says that the Yew is outside a rough tree. That appears to be describing the tree but as the Anglo-Saxons were experts at kennings (a kenning is a system of writing using other words to describe an object. Such as sea horse is a kenning for a ship) and word play so I believe that there is more to this line then meets the eye. So this line could be describing course hair, wrinkled skin or a wise person usually of some considerably old age. Now for the second line in the poem we are going to have to decipher word for word. Heard in Anglo-Saxon means 1) hard, harsh, cruel 2) strong, intense and violent. These words describe our waking consciousness and our ego. We are very hard on ourselves as well as others. We are fully aware. We as humans in our consciousness are very harsh beings, meaning that we judge others as well as ourselves. Most of us are naturally very analytical beings. Earth-fast is our sub-conscious that kind of middle ground, Middangeard (Middle earth). It is half way between consciousness and unconsciousness. Much like the earth is in the middle between the upper and the lower worlds, whereas fires keeper describes an enlightened mind. It is only through the altered consciousness or a fiery mind that enlightenment can take place and with enlightenment wisdom. Roots to support it is a metaphor for our lower animal brain, this is where our instincts reside. A joy on the estate simply means on earth. An enlightened mind is truly a joy to have in Middangeard. If we look at our consciousness in a different light it describes the upper world, our world and the underworld. So Eoh is our consciousness.

After understanding Eoh a bit better we can begin to see what an awesome rune it really is. But as with most of the runes there are always more mysteries to unearth and unravel within them. Now let's turn our attention towards the Gods associated with Eoh and why I believe this rune to be connected with the art of Shamanism.

The god most associated with the Yew rune is Wuldor. His name means glory, splendor and honor. It is interesting that other Sky Gods have similar meaning when their names are translated. He is a very ancient Germanic god and is believed to have been Sky Father to certain tribes. There was a sword found in Denmark with the name Wulthuthliwaz engraved on it and it is thought that this was the old European name for Wuldor and dates from around 300 C.E. This would be in keeping with the other names of gods such as Wodanaz for Woden and Thurisaz for Thunor. There is evidence that Wuldor may have been Sky Father at one time. Firstly there is a myth from Saxo's Nine Books of Danish History that mentions a certain god named Oller. In Saxo's Book Three there is a myth about how Oller (Norse Uller, Anglo-Saxon Wuldor) drove Woden out of Asgard and remained there for 10 years until Woden took back control of his kingdom. This is very interesting because it backs up the ancient belief of Wuldor being a Sky God. Unfortunately he is an obscure god in the Norse myths, but we can almost be certain that at one time he was a very important god. It is curious that even in Anglo-Saxon times they used the word Wuldorfaeder, meaning Glorious Father, to describe their Christian god. Could this be a continuation of the ancient belief in Wuldor? There is also an Old English charm called The Nine Herbs Charm that tells of how Woden threw the Wuldortanas, meaning Glory twigs, to cause a snake to fly into nine pieces. This is interesting because it adds a new question about this puzzling god and that being was he once associated with divination? Tacitus tells us how the ancient Germans practiced divination and that was by cutting strips of a fruit-bearing tree, carving symbols on them and then throwing them onto a white cloth. Could Wuldor have been the god to which the people called upon when they were divining? This we will never know but we can almost be certain that he must have held an important place among the ancient Germans.

In the Norse Eddas they make mention of a certain hall that Uller resided in and it was called Ydal, meaning Yew Dales. This proves Wuldors ancient connection with the Yew tree still existed in the late Norse period. Uller was also connected with being an excellent Bowman, swift on skies and a very accomplished warrior. It was said that people called upon him when engaged in single combat. This is very interesting in that it seems to point to the original function of this elusive god. Most of the sky gods of the ancient Germans are associated with a spear or a sword, but Wuldor is associated with a Yew made bow and arrow. I believe that this points to the truly ancient function of Wuldor as Sky Father. While Woden has a spear and Tiws' symbol was the sword we can deduce that they were most likely made of metal. This is interesting in that Wuldors weapon is still made of wood and hence it points to a time before the Iron Age. This is of course speculation but it seems to put him in a prominent position. If we look at the way other gods have surpassed each other this would fit perfectly into the scheme of things. For we know that Woden surpassed Tiw as Sky father and later took the aspects of both gods in order to become the Norse Odin. I am almost positive that the same thing happened to Wuldor. Since his weapon was a Yew bow he also has some connection with the dead. We can deduce that he was a warrior and a wander and has many of the same characteristics as Woden. Wuldor I believe is associated with the dead, the underworld and justice. I believe him to be a very ancient god and a precursor to Woden who later surpassed him taking some of Wuldors attributes with him.

This all ties in with the belief in that Eoh is the rune of the practice of shamanism with its connection to the upper, middle and lower worlds. Also with its association to the dead and hence the Yew tree. If you are to wonder around the old cemeteries in Europe one will find that the Yew is a very common tree in the graveyards. I believe this is a continuation of the ancient belief in the Yew being connected to the dead.