Ansuz
Mouth, Estuary, God
The Elder Futhark rune of Odin, representing divine inspiration, eloquent speech, wisdom, and truthful communication.
The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is ansuz, a god, the word behind the Aesir. The medieval glosses go three separate ways. The Old English poem reads os as the Latin os, mouth: the source of all language, a pillar of wisdom, a comfort to the wise and a joy to every man, which is a Christian scribe's substitution for a heathen name. The Norwegian poem takes óss as an estuary, the way of most journeys. Only the Icelandic, the latest of the three, keeps the god and names him: aged Gautr, prince of Asgard, lord of Valhalla. The common claim that both Norse poems name Odin is wrong. One of them is about river mouths.
Light
Speech that carries: eloquence, counsel, the pillar of wisdom the Old English poem describes, and the estuary of the Norwegian, the opening through which most journeys begin.
Shadow
The mouth is also where harm is done. Persuasion without substance, counsel that serves the counsellor, and words treated as authority because of who has spoken them.
