World Tree

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

The World Tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the earth, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life.

Specific World Trees include Yggdrasil (or Irminsul)the ash tree in Norse mythology, the Oak in Slavic and Finnish mythology, and in Hinduism, a banyan tree.

The World Tree In Witchcraft

Many witches of Norse heritage have accepted, or inherited, the World Tree as part of their mythos. Yggdrasil is the cosmic axis of the earth and was considered to be neither an large ash or oak tree, containing nine worlds within three layers of the world, uniting all worlds and giving access to them.

Some modern traditional witches place Tubal-Cain or a generic Horned God as ruler in the upper realm, which some call Chimeri or Nevek(heaven); they also idiosyncratically believe it to be the place where the souls await to be reborn.

At the centre of worlds is the trunk of the tree, about which lies middle-earth, home of the cyclic phenomena that some call the ever-turning mill or wheel of life. Others still identify the Tree with the centre of the crossroads, thus identifying it also with Woden & the gallows; some identify these four roads with the four powers they believe to be associated with the airts of the modern traditional witch's compass.

Its roots anchor in the deepest parts of the Underworld, called by some Elfhame, which unlike the Christian Hell is believed by some to be the source of all life , especially by those who identify it with the womb of a generic Earth Mother. It is also known as the place where the physical body is interred, thus it is also a place of death. Some believe that on the otherside of Elfhame lies a so-called Meadow of Elfhame, which is supposed as a place where the ancestors and recently departed souls dwell, and as the meeting place of the witches Sabbat.

Norse mythology

Norse Mythology's Yggdrasill also shows the tree as a tree on the Earth, a giant taproot in the under world, and boughs in the heavens. The taproot is said to be the shaft of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. The Nidhogg, who lives at the centre of the Earth, is a giant serpent. The serpent is always bickering with the eagle that houses in the top of the tree. Nidhogg lies on Nastrond in Niflheim and eats the souls of those who is troubled or troblesome, to sustain itself and all to relase it again, for the sou's renewal. It is not the only serpent whose task it is to obtain the World Tree; other serpents include Graback, Grafvolluth, Goin and Moin,which eat the trees roots, while telling bad words to a little red squirrel Ratatosk, who in turn tells them to mankind.

Siberian culture

The World Tree is also represented in the mythologies and folklore of Northern Asia and Siberia. In the mythology of the Samoyeds, the 'world tree' connects different realities (underworld, this world, upper world) together. In their mythology 'world tree' is also the symbol of Mother Earth who is said to give the Samoyed shaman his drum and also help him travel from one world to another.