Ear, the Rune of Decay

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Meaning: hanging tree or grave.     Phonetic Equivalent: 'ea'

Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem

The grave is horrible to every knight,

when the corpse quickly begins to cool

and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth.

Prosperity declines, happiness passes away

and covenants are broken.

There are no Icelandic or Norwegian rune poems.

Ear

Cala Gobraith, 2013

Ear, elemental essence of entropy,

elegantly ensuring the balance of existence,

engulfing all in the slow passage of time.

Ear erodes away in slow decay

everything whose time has passed,

extinguishing ego and enfolding all in the

essential eventuality from which there is no escape.

Krasskova sees this rune as one of transitions, passage from one state to another, dissolution, decay, learning to let go and move on, and spiritual challenge. She associates Ear with the goddess Hella.

Raven Kaldera considers Ear to be a rune that teaches that death is a natural part of life. He, too, associates this rune with Hella, the Norse goddess of the death. He sees Ear as a rune showcasing the inevitability of impermanence in all things and the necessity of accepting that all things change.

For me, this rune, like Hagalaz, is summed up by the phrase 'Auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth'.  Death leads to life. It is the slow gentle decay and wearing away of that which needs to change, for sometimes slow change is preferred over rapid change.

Meditation associations: dead flowers in a chalice, lush grave growth, caskets, images of the body farm, stacks of bones in an ossuary.

*Kaldera, R. The Futhork Runes (webpage) http://www.churchofasphodel.org/articles/Futhork_Runes.html

*Krasskova, G. Runes: Theory and Practice. New Page, 2010.