Friday, December 22, 2017

Yggdrasil: Worlds in Norse mythology (video)

Norse-mythology.net; Arcane Engine; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly


Yggdrasil in Icelandic prose Edda (Oluf Olufsen Bagge/1847)
In the middle of Asgard, where the gods and goddesses [devas and devis] live, is Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil is the Tree of Life. It is an evergreen ash tree. The branches stretch out over all of the nine worlds in Norse mythology and extend up above to the heavens.

Yggdrasil has three enormous roots. The first root from Yggdrasil is in Asgard, the home of the gods. Next to this root is Urd’s well [or river, font]. This is where the gods have their daily meetings.
 
The second root from Yggdrasil goes all the way down to Jotunheim, the "land of the giants." Next to this root is Mimir’s well.

The third root from Yggdrasil goes down to Niflheim, close to the well Hvergelmir. It is here that the dragon [naga] Nidhug is chewing on one of Yggdrasil’s roots. The dragon Nidhug is also known to suck the blood out of dead bodies that arrive in Hel [Helheim, the "world of the dead."]

At the very top of Yggdrasil lives an eagle [garuda]. The eagle and the dragon Nidhug are bitter enemies. They despise each other.

There is a squirrel named Ratatosk, who spends almost the entire day running up and down the ash tree. Ratatosk does whatever he can to keep the hatred between the eagle and the dragon alive.

Every time Nidhug says a curse or an insult about the eagle, Ratatosk runs up to the top of the tree and tells the eagle what Nidhug just said.

The eagle is equally rude in his comments about Nidhug. Ratatosk loves to gossip, which is why the eagle and dragon remain constant foes.

DETAILS: Journey through Norse mythology: Yggdrasil and the Nine Realms
 
Let's look at Norse cosmology and take a deeper look into the nature of the cosmos by examining the force that holds it together, the World Tree, Yggdrasil. (Ygg = Odin).  (Facebook.com/Arcane-Engine).

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