There will come three successive winters of corruption upon the earth. Brothers, fathers, and sons will slaughter one another out of greed and brothers and sisters will lay together in sin. Next shall come three more successive winters of terrible cold with no warm summers in between them. The two wolves will finally catch and devour the sun and the moon while the earth trembles. Breaking his bonds, the Fenris wolf will advance upon the earth with a gaping mouth as the Midgard Serpent leaves the depths of the sea to blow venom upon the waters and upon the earth. Heimdallr will blow into the Gjallar-Horn to sound the alarm calling the gods to hold council together. Then, Odin will consult Mimir at Mimir's Well and the World Tree, Yggdrasill, shall tremble spreading fear through heaven and earth. The gods will do battle and perish. So too will the earth perish as it is ravaged by fire then it will sink into the sea taking humanity with it. Only Yggdrasill will survive the ordeal sheltering several of the gods' sons, awaiting the resurrection and regeneration of the earth.
Sturluson derives much of his information from the ancient Norse account of the Voluspa:
High blows Heimdallr, the horn is aloft;
Odin communes with Mimir's head;
Trembles Yggdrasill's towering Ash;
The old tree wails when the Ettin is loosed.
This great Ash is a potent symbol for the Norsemen. It is believed to be the pillar of the universe. Three roots support the majestic tree: one spreads into the realm of the gods (Asgard); one rests in the realm of the Frost Giants (Rime-Thursar), and another reaches into the realm of the dead (Niflheim). Beside each root lays a well. In the Well Vergelmir next to the root in Niflheim, lives a horrible serpent, Nidhoggr, who continuously gnaws at the root of Yggdrasill trying to destroy it. Urd's Well is in Asgard. The Norns dwell next to this well and they constantly water the Tree to prevent it from dying because of the deterioration caused by Nidhoggr. The third well, Mimir's Well, rests in Rime-Thursar and this well provides wisdom. Dripping honey-dew upon the earth, the branches of Yggdrasill also shelter several animals, including an eagle, a hawk, four stags, and a squirrel named Ratatoskr who runs up and down the Tree delivering evil messages between Nidhoggr and the eagle.
The World Tree connects the realms together which make
The copyright of the article The Symbol of the World Tree - Part One in Mythology is owned by Linda Casselman. Permission to republish The Symbol of the World Tree - Part One in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
Latest Articles