The World Tree, and its counterpart
the Holy Mountain in mountainous regions such as India, forms the axis of
existence around which all worlds are fixed. It is the source of life and
death, the source of wisdom and prophecy and the indelible record of all things
that have ever been. Shamans, deities and seers commonly acquire their gifts
from the World Tree after great sacrifice. The Scandinavian God Odin spent nine
days hanging on Yggdrasil and sacrificed an eye in return for his prophetic
gifts. The God Tir endured similar sacrifice. According to esoteric legend, the
cross on which Jesus was sacrificed was made from the trunk of the Tree of Life
in Eden.
The celestial counterpart of the World
Tree is the Milky Way, which flows across the night sky from the stars
of Scorpio to the stars of Cygnus, now portrayed as a swan but once a vulture,
and the former Pole Star Deneb. It is no accident that the original T-shaped ‘Tau’
Cross of Middle Eastern mysticism mirrors the four stars of the Sky Vulture.
The Tiwaz (Tir) rune, representing
the God Tir who was hanged on the World Tree.
A Methodist stained glass window.
Chris Light, Wikicommons.
Just like the Milky Way, the World Tree
is commonly topped by a bird: an eagle in Norse myth; the zu-bird in ancient
Sumer (modern Iraq); a macaw in Mayan myth. Around its base is coiled a serpent
or dragon, occasionally a scorpion. Representations include the Norse Nidhogg, the
serpent coiled around the Biblical Tree of Knowledge, and the Vedic Naga-serpent
Vasuki who was coiled around Mount Mandara. Scorpio was once depicted as
a serpent in many cosmologies.
A replica of a totem pole, itself a
representation of the World Tree, in Ketchikan, Alaska. W. Knight, Wikicommons.
The World Tree has been linked to
many different species. Yggdrasil in Scandinavian lore is commonly described as
an ash, known for its longevity and its ability to reshoot even when it is
felled or toppled. It has been suggested that Yggdrasil was originally a yew, an
evergreen and near-immortal tree whose boughs, leaves and berries are deadly poisonous.
In Middle Eastern countries, the
cedar was likely the sacred tree, as seen in the 4000-year-old Epic of
Gilgamesh. The cedar grows to immense heights, is evergreen – universally seen
as a symbol of eternal life – and the prolific resin found in its cones has
long been used for healing, purifying and magical purposes. It also has mild psychoactive
effects, as I have described in Broken Skies. Cedar forests were
probably once common across the Middle East although by the recorded historical
period they were largely limited only to Lebanon, whose flag depicts a cedar.
In Broken Skies, the cedar
represents the earthly counterpart of the celestial axis and is used in all
shamanic rites, and it is also where the dead are left for the vultures to
devour and guide their spirits back to the All.
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