Saturday, 23 May 2020

The Cedar and the World Tree



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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