A 6th century Norse bracteate; a decorative, ceremonial coin stamped on on one side. It bears a head with braided hair, probably a Suebian knot, a bird and a horse. The coin bears magical/esoteric runes in the Elder Fuþark;
ᚺᛟᚢᚨᛉ = houaz, meaning the high one, a title for Wotan according to the medieval Icelandic sources
ᛚᚨᚦᚢ = laþu, meaning 'I invite'/'I call upon'
ᚨᚨᛞᚢᚫᚫᚫᛚᛁᛁᚨ = aaduaaaliia, an encrypted or magical string on runes
ᚨᛚᚢ = alu, literally meaning ale. The exact significance of this phrase is unknown, but it has some magical or religious significance as it was quite common during the Germanic Iron Age, whether consecrating an object, bringing good fortune, or something else.
This image is the most common one found on the Germanic bracteates, appearing on more that 400 currently discovered examples. It has often been interpreted as depicting Odin with a raven from a scene recorded in the "Merseburg Charms", written down in the 9th century, where Wotan heals Baldur's horse after it breaks it's leg, by recanting to it a spell.
We should be careful about making direct analogies between these early religions images and later records written after Christianization though, perhaps it's Wotan riding his horse between the worlds, or perhaps it's not even Wotan at all, as six centuries separate this image from the 13th Icelandic records about Norse paganism.
