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The yew is an evergreen tree with bright red berries and a very durable, elastic wood. It was used to make bows, and one of the translations of Eoh is bow made of yew. Yew bows were greatly prized for their strength.  It also seems to have been related to burning. The Norwegian Rune
Poem reads:

Yew is the greenest of trees in winter; when it burns, it sputters. In the Old English Rune Poem, Eoh is called a keeper of flame. Fire
was sacred to the Teutons. The evergreen color of the yew may have
endowed its wood with revitalizing powers. In early times it was customary
to burn the bodies of the dead before interring them. Yew rune wands
may have been burned on funeral pyres to help the dead attain eternal
life.

Yew trees were also planted in cemeteries where they can still be seen today; or perhaps the dead were buried in groves of yew. The yew is thought to draw in supernatural influences. Ancient yews are looked upon with dread, They are thought to absorb and trap the spirits of the dead and keep them from wandering.

A wood that sputters when it burns is not the most desirable for utilitarian use, but in magic the sputter may have been looked upon as a favorable omen, There is a classical form of divination wherein the crackle of laurel boughs cast on a fire is regarded as a good sign.  The wand-shaped amulets found by archaeologists are made of yew wood, attesting that the yew was considered to have magical power of a vitalizing and protective nature. The Eoh rune may be said to signify dependability, strength and vitality. The term yeoman, which originally meant the follower of a chief-a bowman-carries connotations of all these virtues in the phrase "yeoman service."

 

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MEANINGS:

UPRIGHT:

Strength, tenacity, trustworthiness, faithfulness, reliability, toughness, protector, guardian, dependable servant, keeping of vows, fulfillment of responsibility, an instrument that will not fail, fidelity, honor, truth, An honest man who may be relied upon.

 

REVERSED:

Lack of imagination, dullness, inertia, subservience, blind faith in a leader, no initiative, bonds of duty, lower class mentality, acceptance of fate, unquestioned following of orders, the universal foot soldier.

 

KEY: DUTY