Yggdrasil

The Yggdrasil is the mighty tree

That is at the centre of the spiritual cosmos in Norse Mythology and holds everything together with it’s roots and branches.

This tree is thought to be so high that it’s branches reach above the clouds.

The roots reached down to the Norse Underworld. The Norse god met daily at the Yggdrasil.

Animals are said to live in the Yggdrasil tree. At it’s base there is a dragon and snakes gnaw away at the roots of the tree. Four stags, Dainn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Durathror  also graze on the tree. And there is an unnamed Eagle who perches in the heights of the tree. He and the dragon exchange insults via a squirrel messenger known as Ratatoskr.

The very survival of the world and Cosmos

Depended on the well being of the Yggdrasil Tree. It is interesting that many of it’s residents are nibbling away at it, and thus their own survival.

This powerful metaphor bears relation to our current stewardship of the Earth as we continue to gnaw away at it, without considering our own well being and that of the planet.

The Yggdrasil myth told of a day when the tree would not be well and tremble and that would signal the arrival of Ragnarok and the destruction of the universe.

Maybe there is a lesson from this myth that we can learn from.