Odin's rune symbolizes the masculine power of unconditional faith. In the epic poem Hávamál by the Elder Edda Havamali, the great shaman Odin pins himself to a tree with his spear and voluntarily hangs there upside down for nine days, without eating or drinking. During this ordeal, which is a search for vision, Odin loses his eye, but in return gains runes that appear to him in visions. He enters the changed state of consciousness of the shamanic journey.
