World Tree (Tree) of the Slavs, World Tree among the Slavs

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The World Tree (lat. Arbor mundi) is a mythological archetype, a universal tree that unites all spheres of the universe. As a rule, its branches correspond with the sky, the trunk - with the earthly world, the roots - with the underworld.

In science, there are different views on the universality of this archetype. VN Toporov and his followers interpret the World Tree broadly, identifying it with the World Axis in all its variants. With this approach, any image of a tree in culture (including the Tree of Life) is considered as a reference to the World Tree. With the help of this image, according to Toporov, “general binary semantic oppositions that serve to describe the main parameters of the world are brought together.” A number of prominent researchers (I. M. Dyakonov, Yu. E. Berezkin, V. V. Napolskikh) oppose such an expansive interpretation and note that this archetype does not occur at all among some peoples.

In the view of the Slavs

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree (World Tree, World Tree). It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underworld. The crown of the tree reaches the World of the Gods in heaven - Iriy, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of the Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the world of the Dead, ruled by Chernobog, Marena. Somewhere in the sky, behind the clouds (heavenly abysses; over the seventh sky), the crown of a sprawling tree forms an island, here is Iriy (Slavic paradise), where not only Gods and human ancestors live, but also the ancestors of all birds and animals . Thus, the Tree of the World was fundamental in the worldview of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road through which you can get to any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the Tree of the World is called differently. It can be oak, sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple or pine.

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on Buyan Island on Alatyr-stone, which is also the center of the universe (the center of the Earth). Judging by some legends, light gods live on its branches, and dark gods live in its roots. The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the number of various fairy tales, legends, epics, incantations, songs, riddles, and in the form of ritual embroidery on clothes, patterns, ceramic decorations, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the Tree of the World is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Rus' and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero-hero: forehead red sun ... ". This horse is a mythological symbol of the entire universe, which is still attached to the center-pillar or tree.

In traditions and rituals

The image of the world tree is typical for Slavic carols, Russian riddles and conspiracies. Wed a riddle about the road: “When the light was born, then the oak fell down, and now it lies”; this image combines different - vertical (tree from earth to heaven) and horizontal (road) coordinates of the world. The motif of cutting down a tree in Slavic carols is also characteristic in connection with the paving of bridges for the passage of Ovsen, New Year, Christ; in the Bulgarian carol there is a "self-description" of the world tree:

In wedding folklore and “vine” songs (performed for the young - “vines”), the image of the world tree embodied the fertility of wildlife, the tree of life:

• a nightingale nests in the crown
• in the trunk - bees "bringing honey
• at the roots - an ermine, bringing out small children, or the young themselves, a marital bed;
• near the “three-year-old” tree there is a tower, where a feast takes place and “honey dishes” are prepared (honey is the food of immortality in many traditions).

In Belarusian folklore, the image of the world tree is directly related to the wedding ceremony: the groom should not put his horses at the “unlucky tree” of viburnum, but should put them at the happy sycamore, where bees bring honey flowing down to the roots so that the horses get drunk, beavers live at the roots, krone - falcon, etc.

In traditional culture, the success of any rite was made dependent on how the performed ritual corresponded to the general picture of the world: hence the importance of the image of the world tree embodying this picture, both in folklore (whether it be a charm or a wedding song), and in the rite itself. Among the Serbs, the sacred tree “record” was considered a symbol of the well-being of the entire village - with a cross carved on it; in the old days, sacrifices were made near this tree (see Sacrifice). The roots, the trunk and the carved cross were sprinkled with blood.

The influence of the image on the life of the Slavs



It is well known that for the ancient Slavs, trees were not just a building material. Our pagan ancestors saw in them the same as themselves, children of earth and heaven, moreover, having no less right to life. From a tree, according to some legends, the very first people were created - which means that the trees are older and wiser than people. Cutting down a tree is like killing a person. But after all, a hut must be built!

Russian peasants preferred to cut huts from pine, spruce, larch. These trees with long, even trunks fit well into the frame, tightly adjoining each other, retained the internal heat well, and did not rot for a long time. However, the choice of trees in the forest was regulated by many rules, the violation of which could lead to the transformation of a built house from a house for people into a house against people, bringing misfortune.

Of course, there could not even be a question of raising a hand on a tree that was revered, “sacred”. There were entire sacred groves in which all trees were considered divine, and it was a sin to pluck even a branch from them.

Individual trees could also be considered sacred if they attracted attention by their unusual size, age, or developmental features. As a rule, local legends were associated with such trees. Legends have come down to us about righteous old men, at the end of their days turned into trees by the gods.

An ancient man would never have dared to cut down a tree that had grown on a grave. Even at the end of the XIX century. the peasants showed the ethnographers a large pine tree, supposedly grown from the braid of a ruined girl; But what if a human soul settled in a tree? In Belarus, a creak emitted by a tree was considered a sure sign of this: according to beliefs, the souls of tortured people wept in creaky trees. Whoever deprives them of their shelter will surely be punished: they will pay with their health, and even with their lives.

In some places in Russia, a strict ban on cutting down all old trees in general was kept for a very long time. According to the peasants, it was a sin to deprive the forest patriarchs of the right to natural, “spontaneous” death from a windfall or simply from old age. Whoever encroached on such a tree would inevitably go mad, be injured or die. The felling of the "young" - a young, immature forest - was also revered as a sin. In this case, the mythological view was based on a completely natural desire to preserve young trees that have not reached the best conditions. In relation to the “forest elders”, the law of mythological thinking acted: the elder means the main, revered, sacred.

Trees with developmental anomalies - a large hollow, a stone or some other object grown into the trunk, with an unusual shape of the trunk, with an amazing interlacing of roots - were also not subject to cutting: “not like everyone else” - you never know what power could lurk in them !

In different areas, there were also bans on felling certain species. First of all, of course, this applied to the "cursed" trees, such as aspen and spruce. These rocks are energetically unfavorable for a person, “pump out” vital energy from him, and even objects made from their wood retain this property. So the reluctance of our ancestors to live in a spruce or aspen house was, again, not without reason. On the other hand, a person who cut down a completely “benevolent” linden was bound to get lost in the forest. Apparently, the gods sternly stood up for the tree, which for centuries has been shoeing, and even dressing the people ...

Dead, dry trees were not suitable for construction. It is understandable: such trees do not have vitality in themselves, they bear the seal of death - which is good, they will bring it into the house. And even if no one dies in the house, the “dry coat” will definitely become attached. In a number of places, for this reason, they avoided cutting down trees in winter, when they are devoid of juices and "temporarily dead."

The notion of death and the afterlife is also associated with the prohibition imposed on trees that fell during cutting with their tops to the north side, “at midnight”: our ancestors associated this side of the world with eternal darkness, winter, lifeless cold - in a word, the other world. Insert such a tree into a log house, and people in the house will not live long!

A special and very dangerous variety of forbidden trees are “violent”, “evil”, “sucky”. Such a tree seems to seek revenge on a person for its death: it can crush a lumberjack, and they will knock out a log for a hut from it - just look, it will bring down the whole house on the head of the residents. Even a chip from such a tree, deliberately planted by an evil carpenter, was capable, according to Russian peasants, of destroying a new house or a mill. If the "violent" forest was cut down for firewood, one should have been wary of a fire!

There was also a ban on the use of trees planted by man in construction. First of all - garden trees, moreover, located inside the fence of the estate. Scientists believe that the point here is in the mythological understanding of such opposites as "ours" - "foreign", "natural" - "cultural", "wild" - "home". A tree taken from the forest and used for the construction of human habitation, certainly had to undergo a "change of quality": from "alien" to become "one's own". Such a transformation certainly could not have happened with a garden tree, and besides, garden apple trees and cherries were almost family members for our pagan ancestors ... If the first three trees scheduled for felling turned out to be unsuitable for any reason, then on this day it is better not to get down to business at all - there will be no good.

World tree in different cultures



The world tree, the tree of life - in Slavic mythology, the world axis and a symbol of the universe as a whole. The crown of the world tree reaches the heavens, the roots (from which the sacred spring flows) reach the underworld, the trunk and branches organize the earthly space. The sacred tree was a mighty oak.

• In the Erzya traditional religion, on the Echke Tumo world tree, there is a nest of the sacred duck bird Ine Narmun, and from which the Ine al egg laid by her falls out, from which our world subsequently arises: the shell - the Men' Ele sky with stars, the yolk - the earth - the land of Moda-Mastor, the squirrel - the endless ocean of Ineved.
• In ancient Iran, they believed that the sacred tree grows near the springs of Ardvisuri. The king of birds, Senmurv, allegedly lived on it, who scattered the seeds on the ground. Another bird took the seeds to the source from which the star drank, which showered the earth with rain. With the rain, the seeds returned to the ground.
• In Scandinavian myths, we see the evergreen tree of life Yggdrasil, soaked in life-giving sacred honey. This is a huge ash tree, which is the structural basis of all things and connects nine worlds. An eagle sits at the top of the tree, snakes and the dragon Nidhogg gnaw at the root.
• “Roots up, branches down, stands the eternal Ashwattha tree. It is called “immortal”, all worlds rest in it, and no one can overcome it ”(Indian Vedas, Bhagavad Gita). Roots up, branches down, the ashwattha is said to be permanent; hymns (Powers of Sattva, rajas and tamas - what keeps in the illusory world) - its leaves, whoever knows him, that expert in the Vedas. Up and down stretch its branches, which have arisen from the gunas; objects (of the senses) are (his) shoots; its roots also stretch down, binding by karma in the human world.
• In Turkic mythology and later in Kazakh fairy tales, the image of Baiterek appeared. Baiterek, with its location and compositional structure, expresses the cosmogonic ideas of the ancient nomads, according to whose legends the World River flows at the junction of the worlds. On its shore rises the Tree of Life - Baiterek, holding the earth with its roots, and propping up the sky with its crown. The roots of this tree, respectively, are in the underworld, the tree itself, its trunk is earthly, and the crown is in heaven. Every year, in the crown of the Tree, the sacred bird Samruk lays an egg - the Sun, which is swallowed by the dragon Aidakhar, who lives at the foot of the tree of life, which symbolically means the change of summer and winter, day and night, the struggle between Good and Evil.

Each ancient people had their own legends describing the structure of the world. Many of them are radically different, but the worldviews of neighboring cultures tend to be similar in many ways. The legends of the Slavic and Scandinavian peoples coincide especially strongly. For both of them, the axis that supports all existing worlds is the World Tree.

The pagan Slavs believed that the world was like an egg. According to the legends of the same tribe

peoples, this egg was laid by a certain “cosmic” bird, and in the legends of the Slavs, Zhiva, the Great Mother, who gave birth to the earth and sky, is mentioned. The earth in this giant egg takes the place of the yolk, on the upper half of which is the world of people, and on the lower half is the Night Country or the World of the Dead. The earth is surrounded by a "squirrel" - the Ocean-Sea. The shell of the "world egg" consists of nine layers corresponding to the Nine Heavens. Each sky has its own purpose. One at a time, the Sun and stars “walk” around the Earth, the Moon lives on the other, the next sky is reserved for winds and clouds. The Slavs considered the seventh celestial layer to be the solid bottom of the Ocean, an inexhaustible source of living and rain water.

The World Tree of the Slavs connects all parts of the "egg". The Tree resembles a huge oak tree, the roots of which go to the World of the Dead, and the crown reaches the Seventh Heaven. Ancestors believed that you can climb to heaven along the Oak. The echoes of these beliefs have reached us in the form of fairy tales. On the branches of the Tree

seeds and fruits of all plants of the Earth ripen. Where the Seventh Heaven touches, there is the island of Irey or Buyan, on which the ancestors of all earthly birds and animals live. But even the Oak did not reach the Eighth and Ninth Heaven. This final heaven remained a mystery to

In Old Norse legends, the world is arranged a little differently. The Scandinavian World Tree - Yggdrasil - was an ash tree. This Great Ash Tree, which grew in the center of the universe, had three roots. One descended directly into the underworld of Hel, the second reached the kingdom of the wise frost giants of Jotunheim, and the third root sprouted into Midgard, the world of people. This world order seems somewhat strange, since the World Ash tree of Scandinavian myths grows crown down. This is how the Old Norse peoples used logs, propping up the walls and ceilings of their dwellings with them. Ash was cared for by the sisters of the Norns, goddesses of the present past and future. Every day the Norns watered the World Tree alive

and the water of the spring of Urd, gushing at the roots of the Tree. The crown of the Ash gave shelter to the wise eagle, endowed with the gift of omniscience. The trunk of the Tree united all the worlds described in and its crown reaches Valhalla, the palace of Odin. The ash-tree of the Scandinavians united not only the worlds. He tied together the times.

Appears not only in the legends of the northern peoples. This image is also present in the Seven Roots of Kisi-Mutozhe, the Chinese are fed from seven sources hidden in the bowels of the earth. Its seven branches touch the seven heavens where the gods live. The Chinese tree not only connects heaven and earth, but also serves as a ladder along which the Sun and the Moon "walk" up and down, as well as heroes and sages - mediators between the world of people and heaven.

As the wind plays with foliage, so do feelings shimmer, rising from leaf to leaf, from branch to branch - burning with fire, shining, sounding an indescribable sensual song, the Song of God! Plunging deeper into the endless well of feelings! The guards of the Animal Nature do not sleep, trying to steal the attention of a HUMAN, but if you are consistent and have made your choice, you will certainly be Rewarded with DIVINE HAPPINESS, which means LIFE.

WORLD TREE

Each nation had its own sacred tree, with its characteristics and properties based on natural and sometimes occult qualities, as outlined in the esoteric teachings. Thus, Ashvattha, or the sacred tree of India, the abode of Pitris, became the Bo tree (or ficus religiosa) of Buddhists all over the world, since Gautama Buddha achieved the highest knowledge and Nirvana under this tree. Ash, Yggdrasil, serves as the world tree among the Scandinavians. Banyan is a symbol of spirit and matter, descending to the earth, taking root, and then again rushing to the sky. Palasa, with triple leaves, is a symbol of the triple essence in the Universe - Spirit, Soul, Matter. The black cypress was the world tree of Mexico, and now among Christians and Mohammedans it is a symbol of death, peace and tranquility. Fir was considered sacred in Egypt, and its cones were carried in religious processions, although now it has almost disappeared from the land of mummies; the sycamore, tamarisk, palm and vine were also sacred. Sycamore was the Tree of Life in Egypt, and also in Assyria. It was dedicated to Hathor (Hathor) at Heliopolis; now, in the same place, it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its juice was precious due to the quality of its occult powers, just like Soma among the Brahmins, and Haoma among the Parsees. " The fruit and sap of the Tree of Life bestows immortality." In Erzya beliefs, the tree is called Echke Tumo, where the nest of the sacred duck Ine Narmun is located, which gives birth to the very egg from which the whole world is born. In Turkic mythology, the tree is called Baiterek - with its roots it holds the earth in place, and supports the sky with its branches to he did not fall down. In Kabala, this is the Mekabtziel Tree. In the Koran, this is Sidrat al-muntaha. In China, this is Kien-Mu, along which the Sun and Moon descend and descend, lords, sages, Gods, spirits, and so on. these sacred trees of antiquity, some of which are revered to this day, one could write a large volume, and still this question would not be exhausted.

According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the axis of the earth is a giant golden tree, its top resting on the sky. Gemstones grow on its upper branches and the heavenly goddess Nut lives. The rain that irrigates the earth and penetrates into the underworld in the form of soil water comes from the fact that the wonderful phoenix bird beats its wings on the branches of this sacred tree, and it splashes its life-giving moisture. Worship of the world tree was closely associated with the cult of Osiris, the god of fertility and the eternal renewal of nature. A tree grew near his tomb, on which, as it was believed, the soul of the god sat in the form of a bird. On ancient Egyptian images, you can see how this mythical tree grows through the entire tomb of Osiris, braiding it with its roots and branches. Moreover, Osiris himself was often identified with the tree.

Like the ancient Indians and other peoples, the Egyptians believed that the earthly tree they revered was a copy of the heavenly tree growing in the upper world. Another ancient people of the Middle East - the Phoenicians, who inhabited the coast of Palestine - the universe was drawn in the form of a giant tent, supported by a huge tree standing in its center, propping up the sky.

The ancient Chinese were also convinced of the existence of the cosmic tree. Myths placed it far to the east, in the Valley of Light. It was there that a colossal mulberry of immense thickness rose up from the seething sea. At the very top of her head sat a wonderful rooster, with its cry announcing the coming of the day, which is why all the evil spirits that roamed the earth at night were in a hurry to go home. On the branches of the mulberry lived ten suns, which had the appearance of golden three-legged ravens. Another world tree was located in the extreme west of the universe, its leaves were like stars and illuminated the world at night. For many centuries of its existence, mythology has been constantly evolving: some plots and images have been forgotten, others have arisen and superimposed on the old ones. Therefore, in addition to the two named space trees in Chinese myths, there are many references to others like them. Thus, they speak of a huge Xun tree, a thousand li high, as well as a wonderful breadfruit tree, five girths thick, that grows on the world mountain Kunlun; miraculous springs flow there and all the gods of the Celestial Empire live. It is also reported about the trees through which you can climb to heaven and descend to the underworld, this is the road of the gods and shamans.

The Maya in Central America also placed in the center of the universe the fantastic First Tree of the World, depicted with a barrel-shaped trunk dotted with prickly thorns. It was believed that it was it that supported the universe. In addition to it, however, there were four more sacred trees located at the four corners of the world. They were supposed to serve as additional supports. But nevertheless, the central tree remained the main one, because, first of all, the gods gathered around it, there, in the center of the universe, they resolved the most important issues relating to the fate of people and the universe. The cult of the great world tree permeated many areas of Mayan religious life, many of its images are found in their manuscripts and on stone reliefs. Its paramount importance is at least indicated by the fact that the altar on which human sacrifices were made was given the shape of a stump of this sacred tree. It was believed that since it connects all the worlds of the universe, the victim easily gets to heaven through it and will be more pleasing to the gods.

The world tree plays a very special role in archaic shamanic religions. It was there that his image was developed in the most detailed way. In Yakut mythology, great attention was paid to the wonderful tree Aal Luuk Mas, as if growing in the middle of the “Siberian land”. The legends say that it exudes the life-giving moisture "ilge", which gives vigor and new strength to those who have tasted it. Once this tree planned to grow into the heavenly country of the upper spirits in order to destroy them, but in the end it abandoned this blasphemous thought and, having reached the sky, became a hitching post for the celestials. Deciding to get the underworld and destroy the lower spirits, it again then changed its mind, and its roots began to serve as a hanger for the creatures of the lower world. Stretching high up and deep down, Aal Luuk Mas forms the unshakable core of the universe.

According to Altai beliefs, in a fertile place where seventy rivers merge, there rises a hundred-trunk seven-knee eternal poplar with golden and silver leaves. Under just one branch of this fantastic tree, a whole herd of horses can hide. Two golden cuckoos sit on its top, foreshadowing fate, from their singing wonderful flowers bloom all over the earth. Two black golden eagles with diamond claws are placed on the middle branches, sensitively guarding the depths of the blue sky. Two terrible dogs with bloodshot eyes are chained to the base of the poplar with iron chains. In the same place, a magical horse grazes peacefully, which only a great hero can possess.

The world tree is an indispensable attribute of the shamanic picture of the world and the shamanic cult. Many supernatural abilities were attributed to shamans, one of the most important was that they could travel to other worlds to gods and spirits. This was done for various purposes, but most often in order to return the soul of the sick person, which, it was believed, was kidnapped by spirits, or to find out from the spirits why they sent this or that disaster to people. In preparation for such a journey, the shaman brought himself into a state of sacred ecstasy. To achieve this state, he beat the tambourine and danced, circling in one place. As a result, his helper spirits come to him. With them, he set off on the road. And here the world tree came to the fore, because it was along it that the path to heaven or to the underworld lay. With the help of spirits friendly to him, the shaman climbed up or, conversely, went down to the very roots and, finally, got into other worlds.

World tree (Evenki)

This helps to understand why the world tree is often called shamanic. For shamans, it not only served as a sacred road, but was also considered their cradle. Legends say that on the knots of this tree nests are located one above the other, like bird nests, the souls of all future shamans are brought up there. The higher the nest, the stronger the shaman will be born. The "spirit casters" themselves said about themselves: "I am the fourth bitch shaman", "he is the seventh bitch shaman", etc. Ritual substitutes for the universal tree played a big role in shamanic rituals. A special tree was often planted in front of the shamans' yurts. During initiation into shamans, the subject climbed a tree, which symbolically denoted his ascent to heaven. A special sacred tree was also chosen as a place for the burial of a shaman, so he could more easily get to heaven, so that later he could reincarnate again in one of the people.

In addition to linking the worlds into one whole, the most important function of the world tree was that it embodied the idea of ​​fertility in a concentrated form. It is the prayer for fertility that is the main content of a huge number of religious rites and beliefs: a man prayed to the gods to send him more food, game, cereals, moisture necessary for the harvest. The above data shows that all of this was in abundance under the magic tree of the world. Life-giving springs beat there, giving strength and immortality, all kinds of plants and fruits grow magnificently there, various animals peacefully graze there. Moreover, the cosmic tree not only represents an excess of food, but also sends down children. There are a large number of myths, according to which the souls of people grow on it in the form of flowers or fruits. Falling down into the mother's womb, they cause the birth of a child. In fairy tales, such ideas were reworked: a magic wand appeared, originally representing a branch of a wonderful tree. With one touch of it, you can perform various miracles - extract water in the desert, turn a stone into gold, revive the dead.

It is quite natural that under the world tree, in the center of the universe, gods, heroes and great kings are born. According to ancient Greek myth, the baby Zeus was suckled by the goat Amalthea at the foot of a sacred tree. Another great god of ancient Greece, Apollo, was born under a tree. Legends say that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar was found under a tree as a baby. Maya, the mother of the Buddha, walking in the garden, felt the approach of contractions and gave birth to the "deliverer of all living beings", clutching a branch of one of the trees with her hand. The legendary adviser of one of the great kings of ancient China Yi Yin, according to legend, was found in the hollow of a mulberry tree, which, as we know, was revered by the Chinese as a world tree. Genghis Khan, as the legend tells, was found in the steppe sucking the leaves of a lonely standing wonderful tree. Finally, apocryphal Christian traditions report almost the same thing about Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew says that the archangel Gabriel brought the news of the immaculate conception to Mary at the moment when she was drawing water from a spring at the foot of a tree.

The tree of knowledge that appears in the book of Genesis, apparently, is already familiar to us from the myths of many peoples of the world tree. In the Old Testament, this is shown quite prominently. A number of details are added by later Talmudic and Apocryphal legends. According to some legends, the tree from which Adam and Eve ate was grape, since nothing brings more evil than wine. According to others, it was a fig tree, from the leaves of which the ancestors allegedly sewed clothes for themselves, according to others - wheat or breadfruit: after all, as the Babylonian Talmud explains, not a single child can name either father or mother before he eats bread, - That is why the Old Testament speaks of the tree of knowledge. In the book of Genesis, another paradise tree is mentioned - the tree of life (it, apparently, is simply a duplicate of the tree of knowledge). In the Talmud, truly cosmic dimensions are attributed to it: it takes 500 years just to bypass it.

World Tree in Zoroastrianism

The Tree of Life and Being, the destruction of which alone leads to immortality, according to the Bhagavad Gita, grows with roots up and branches down. The roots represent the Supreme Being or First Cause, the Logos; but one should aspire beyond these roots in order to merge with Krishna, who, says Arjuna, “Above Brahman, and the First Cause ... Imperishable! You are both Existence and Not Existence, Inexpressibly That which is beyond them. Its branches are Hiranya-garbha, the highest Dhyan Chohans or Devas. The Vedas are its leaves. Only he who has risen above the roots will never return, i.e., will not incarnate again during this Age of Brahma.

The most famous World Tree is undoubtedly Yggdrasil - a giant ash tree of Scandinavian mythology, which is the axis, the structural basis of the world, the tree of life and destiny. Descriptions of Yggdrasil, "the tree of the best", are contained in numerous ancient Scandinavian texts, primarily in the Elder and Younger Eddas. Sometimes they differ from each other, but in the end they actually add up to a mythological description of the entire universe, as the Scandinavians understood it.

Ash I know
named Yggdrasil,
tree, washed
muddy moisture;
dew from it
down to the valleys;
over the source of Urd
it stays green forever.
(Elder Edda, Völva Divination)

Yggdrasil connects all the worlds: the world of the gods (Asgard); the world of people and giants; underworld, realm of the dead. At its three roots, which are constantly gnawed by snakes and the dragon Nidhogg, there are three sources: the source of Mimir, Urd and the Boiling Cauldron (Hvergelmir). The copper source of the giant Mimir, "in which knowledge and wisdom are hidden," feeds the World Tree with honey. All Yggdrasil is saturated with sacred life-giving honey. At the source of Urd - his name meant "Fate", "Rock". Three virgins live in this spring: the first bears the same name of Fate, Urd, the second is called Verdandi, which means "Becoming", the third is Skuld, "Duty, Duty." At the same time, their names mean the inevitability of the passage of time: the name Urd means the past, Verdandi - the present, Skuld - the inevitable future. These are the maidens of fate or norns, like the Greek moirae. Similar to them, numerous female deities or spirits, which are also called norns or diss, come to each newborn baby and endow him with a fate - good or evil, depending on the nature of the deity itself. They come from various mythological creatures - some from gods, others from dwarfs (dwarfs, tsvergs), others from elves, nature spirits, whose name is reminiscent of the elves of European fairy tales and legends. But the main norns determine the fate of the whole world, embody its past, present and future. Their origin is mysterious, as much is mysterious that goes back to the beginning of time. The world tree, growing at the source of the norns, not only connects all the worlds in the mythological space, it connects the past and the future. This mythical time - the time measured by the alternation of day and night, by the luminaries moving across the sky in their chariots - seems indifferent to the fate of the world and man. This is the time of cosmic cycles, the time of eternal repetition.

In the beliefs of many peoples, the souls of unborn babies live in the branches of the world tree. The tree of fate was also a family tree. The Icelandic skald Egil Skallagrimson in his song "The Loss of Sons" compares the deceased son with an ash tree that grew out of his family and his wife's family, and was taken by Gaut-Odin to the world of the gods - to kindred souls. The dead returned to the world of their ancestors, to the world tree. The fate of all beings is decided at the world tree, and the incarnations of all worlds converge at its trunk, in the crown and at the roots. A huge wise eagle lives in its branches, between whose eyes a hawk sits; The rodent squirrel scurries up and down its trunk - it bears the swear words exchanged between the dragon Nidhogg and the eagle. Four deer devour its foliage, and in the Elder Edda many more snakes are mentioned, gnawing its roots along with Nidhogg, and the trunk of an ash tree is subject to rot. Therefore, the norns must daily water the ash from the spring of Urd and even fertilize it - they draw water along with the mud that covers the banks. The water of this spring is sacred - whatever falls into it becomes white. It is so invigorating that the ash remains evergreen. “The tree of life is forever green,” wrote Goethe in Faust, continuing this ancient Germanic tradition.

The dew that flows from Yggdrasil to the ground is honey, it feeds bees and collects nectar. Two wonderful swans swim in the spring. Swans are magical birds in which the divine maidens and companions of Odin the Valkyries liked to turn into. The whole bestiary - the animal world, which is connected with the world tree, embodies all spheres of the universe and their interconnection: the eagle (and the hawk) live in the skies, but are looking for prey on the earth, the dragon is a monster of the underworld, but thanks to the wings it can reach heaven, swans - waterfowl; the four deer also embody the four cardinal directions, as do the dwarfs sitting on the edge of the earth.

The "Tree of the Limit", growing in the center of the world and connecting all the worlds of Scandinavian mythology, reaches with its crown Valhalla, the hall of Odin, located in the divine city of Asgard. Here we begin to understand why Asgard is both in the sky and in the center of the world at the same time: after all, it is pierced by the world tree. In Valhalla, it is called Lerad - "Shelter". On the roof of Valhalla, the goat Heidrun stands and nibbles ash leaves, so intoxicating honey flows from her udder and fills a large jug every day, so that it is enough to get drunk drunk feasting in the hall of Odin. Yggdrasil is indeed a honey Tree of Life that nourishes the magical drink. A whole grove of magical trees grows in Asgard at the gates of Valhalla, It is called Glasir - "Brilliant", because all the leaves there are of red gold. In addition to the goat, on the roof of Valhalla there is also a deer Eiktyurnir - “With oak tips of horns”; he also eats leaves, and so much moisture drips from his horns that, flowing down, it fills the stream of the Boiling Cauldron, from which twelve earthly rivers originate. The deer is a sacred animal associated with the world tree in a wide variety of mythologies around the world; this connection was striking to the creators of ancient myths, not only because deer feed on tree branches, but also because their horns themselves resemble a tree. It was no coincidence that “oak tips” were attributed to the horns of Eiktyurnir - we can suspect that the deer itself in the German myth that has not come down to us acted as a world tree - after all, all the world's waters began from its horns. In the late Icelandic "Song of the Sun", written already in the Christian era, but in the traditions of the pagan poetry of the skalds, it is said about the solar deer, whose feet were on the ground, and the horns touched the sky. Gods (aces) gather at Yggdrasil to administer justice, the supreme god Odin ties his eight-legged horse Sleiper to its trunk.

The world serpent Jörmungandr - was born into the world when the creation was already completed. The evil ace Loki became the father of this and other monsters who will attack Asgard at the end of time and destroy the ancient enemies. This serpent has grown so much that it could only fit in the world's oceans, where it surrounds the earth in a ring, biting its own tail. Therefore, it is called Midgardsorm - the Midgard Serpent, or the Belt of the World. But he has another name, Jörmungandr, which means "great staff."

Helena Blavatsky in the book - "Isis Unveiled" vol. 1 ch. 5 - considers the Egyptian pyramids also symbolically represent this idea of ​​an earthly tree. Its top is the mystical link between heaven and earth and expresses the idea of ​​the root, while the base represents the diverging branches extending to the four cardinal points of the material universe. The pyramid conveys the idea that everything that exists had a beginning in the spirit

The Tree of Life, according to the ideas of the ancients, was closely connected with the front essence of a person, for example, the Assyrians often depicted a unicorn (a symbol of the front essence) next to the Tree of Life.

Symbol in the form of unicorns on the seal of the proto-Indian peoples.

Here is a quote from Anastasia Novykh's AllatRA book:

Rigden: Since ancient times, the Unicorn has been one of the symbols of the Front Essence, which helps a spiritually pure person to connect with his Soul, exit from the circle of rebirths. He personified the desire in only one direction - the spiritual, and therefore he was endowed with those qualities that are characteristic of a person during his spiritual work on himself: purity, nobility, wisdom, strength, courage, perfect goodness, and also associated with the forces of Allat - the divine purity of the feminine beginning (myths about the Virgin and the unicorn). If we trace the history of symbols, then, for example, the Sumerians put the image of a unicorn as a symbol associated with the circle (Soul), which researchers interpret as a “lunar symbol”, and also as an attribute of goddesses in the concept of spiritual purity. The Assyrians depicted a unicorn in bas-reliefs next to the Tree of Life, the Egyptians put the best moral qualities into his image. The Persians, according to their sacred knowledge, considered the unicorn perfection, the representative of the “pure world” among animals (originally four animals), and his horn was the only force capable of defeating Ahriman. Or take the ancient Slavic legends and epics recorded in the old Russian collection of spiritual songs “The Pigeon Book” (a book that became banned by the religious priests of that time in the 13th century), where the unicorn is referred to as Indrik the Beast (Indra). There are lines like this:

“We have an Indrik-beast, a beast to all animals, And he walks, a beast, through the dungeon, He passes all the white-stone mountains, Clears streams and ravines. When this beast rejoices, The whole universe will shake. All the animals worship him, the beast, He does not offend anyone.

Rigden: In addition, it is believed that Indra is the Guardian of one of the four cardinal directions. There is also a mention that has to do with Knowledge about the arrangement of the world. In particular, that Indra rules Svarga (Heaven) - according to the ideas of the Hindus, a paradise located on the top of Mount Meru. And now remember that in Slavic-Russian mythology there was also the god Svarog - the god of Heaven, heavenly fire, the father of Dazhbog and Svarozhich. In the all-Russian annalistic code of the beginning of the 12th century, “The Tale of Bygone Years”, included in the Ipatiev Chronicle, such references to him were preserved: “... for this reason, the god Svarog was also called ... and his son reigned by the name of the Sun, he is called Dazhbog .. The sun is the king, the son of Svarogov, the hedgehog is Dazhbog ... ".

Anastasia: That's right, it all has the same root! After all, although it is allegorical, it speaks of seven dimensions, the spiritual work of a person on himself. The same Svarog, as the personification of the sky, according to the epics, "in the darkness of the clouds kindled the flame of heavenly fire (lightning)." And then, "breaking the clouds with thunderous arrows, kindled the lamp of the sun, extinguished by the demons of darkness." If we take into account that Svarog plays the role of the Front Essence here, the clouds are thoughts from the Animal nature, and the lamp is the Soul, “extinguished by the darkness” of subpersonalities, then ancient Russian mythology comes out quite amusing.

Rigden: Still... By the way, in the same “Pigeon Book”, which explains the origin of the world, Alatyr-stone is also mentioned. According to legend, it is believed that signs are engraved on it that “talk” about the laws of the sky god Svarog. According to ancient Russian beliefs, it is from under the Alatyr-stone that springs of living water originate, which bring food and healing (creation) to the whole world, it is under it that the power is hidden, which has no end, and it is on the Alatyr-stone that the red maiden Zarya sits, who constantly awakens the world from its nightly sleep. Now compare all this with the knowledge about the AllatRa sign, about the power of the divine creative feminine Allat and its important role both in the development of the Universe and in the spiritual awakening of the Personality and its merging with the Soul. By the way, Alatyr - this is how the ancestors of the Slavs from ancient times called in spiritual legends the power of Allat, coming from God, and the person who accumulated this power and multiplied it in himself through spiritual labor. “

In the views of the ancient Slavs, the World Tree is located on the island of Buyan on Alatyr-stone, which is also the center of the universe. From under the stone Alatyr, magical rivers spread all over the world - Alatyr is guarded by the wise snake Garafen and the bird Gagan.

In my opinion, it is easy to determine the etymology of the word Alatyr - tyr, steal, steal, accumulate - Alatyr means Allat who has accumulated (accumulated)! The same etymology has the words BogaTyr - tyryshchy - hoarding (accumulating) God, acquiring (accumulating) the Holy Spirit - it's amazing how modern philologists interpret this word as Rich and Governor - or even violent, considering this word to be Turkic or Mongolian in origin, although its clear meaning lies on the surface!!

The image of this tree has come down to us, both in the form of various fairy tales, legends, epics, incantations, songs, riddles, and in the form of ritual embroidery on clothes, patterns, ceramic decorations, painting dishes, chests, etc. Here is an example of how the Tree of the World is described in one of the Slavic folk tales that existed in Rus' and tells about the extraction of a horse by a hero-hero: "... a copper pillar stands, and a horse is tied to it, on the sides there are clear stars, a moon shines on the tail , in the forehead a red sun ... ". This horse is a mythological symbol of the entire universe, which is still attached to the center-pillar or tree.

Here is another excerpt from Anastasia Novykh's book "AllatRa":

“Rigden: So it is. The icon of the Theotokos "The Burning Bush" has nothing to do with all these affairs of the priesthood. And in Rus' they began to call it that not from the word “kupina” - “thorn, bush”, but from the Old Slavonic word “kupa”, which means “connection”, “elevation”, “a set of something”. And the fact that she was associated with the belief of protection from fires, but now, as you rightly noted, she stands in every house, having become famous for her miracles. But it is even more important that through it knowledge reached the majority, albeit in such an “unopened form”. And they are now, and this is important!

It is no coincidence that the "Burning Bush" is associated with the symbolism of the Immaculate Conception from the Holy Spirit. This is just a symbol of what I told you about. The Mother of God is the Conductor of the power of God for every person walking along the spiritual path, this is with the help of which the Soul of a person is freed from earthly reincarnations. Jesus, as a Spiritual Essence from the world, renewed the true Knowledge lost over the centuries and gave people spiritual tools for spiritual salvation. So, in other words, he left the keys. Working on himself with the help of these tools, a person acquired, figuratively speaking, the key to the sign. And to the Mother of God as the Conductor of the power of God, as a spiritually liberated Being, who is between the worlds for the sake of the spiritual liberation of human souls, He gave signs. And only with the combination of zeal, work on oneself spiritually seeking and the power of the Mother of God (Allat), did the Personality merge with the Soul, that is, a person achieved the liberation of his Soul, the seventh dimension or, as they say in Christianity, “paradise”, “the kingdom of the Father and the Son ". And it depended only on the choice of a person whether the sign would be active, whether the person would be Worthy to receive this divine power that would lead him to God. The key is given to be used. And in order to use the key, you need to put your efforts into it. This is the path of a spiritual person - the path of spiritual dispassion, which only (together) with the creative power of God leads to liberation.

And this is known not only in Christianity, but also in other religions. This was known in ancient times, when people called God, and His Son, and the Mother of God (Great Mother) in a different way. After all, the point is not in priestly concepts from the mind and in their epithets, but in the same spiritual grains on which all their religions are based. I will give a simple example.

As I already mentioned, not so long ago, the cult of the goddess Isis, which originated in ancient Egypt, was widely popular among various eastern and western peoples. By the way, it is enough to pay attention to the art of Ancient Egypt, to those examples of it that have survived to this day in buildings, paintings of ancient temples, and sculptural images. And you can see the same symbols of the transmission of the fundamentals of spiritual Knowledge as everywhere in the world: the AllatRa working sign, a lotus, a circle, a cube, a rhombus, a pyramid, a cross, a square, a symbolic image of the four Essences. So, the cult of the goddess Isis lasted for more than one millennium, including the era of the Roman Empire. And what is the real reason for such popularity? In active signs - "AllatRa", which was distributed in those days with the help of the cult of the goddess Isis in the same way as it is distributed today with the help of the cult of the Mother of God. The Primordial Knowledge has long been lost for the most part, but the symbols and signs have remained!

Anastasia: Yes, Isis as the “Great Mother” was often portrayed with the AllatRa sign on her head, as we have already said, in the form of horns up, above which, like the convex side of a pearl, she is.

Rigden: This sign indicates that this force belongs to the One, which created everything in the Universe. I have already said that once upon a time people denoted the concept of “The One Highest” (the One Eternal) with the sound Ra. From where later, with the birth of the priesthood, the god Ra appeared, who, according to legend, arose from a lotus flower that rose from the world's oceans. The great goddess (who was called by various epithets, later transformed into names) initially acted as the conducting force of Ra (the One Eternal). The bearers of such a sign in ancient Egypt, in addition to Isis at different times, were the goddess Hathor (daughter of the sun Ra; her name meant "house of Heaven"), the goddess ISat (her name meant "the creative hand of God", "the greatest among those who come") . It was believed, for example, that if a person tastes the spiritual gifts of the goddess Hathor, then this will give him additional spiritual strength, she will help this person move from the earthly world to the (spiritual) one. Because of this, she was awarded the epithets of the Great Mother, the goddess of Love, spiritual joy, "Shining in the rays of Ra", the Great Woman, the Creator of all living things. Among the additional associative designations symbolizing her were the sycamore as the "Tree of Life", as well as the symbols of life - the colors green and blue, which, as the legends said, she commanded. The latter is associated with encrypted knowledge and the moment of spiritual transformation. “

The center of the world for the ancient Slavs was the World Tree. It is the central axis of the entire universe, including the Earth, and connects the World of people with the World of Gods and the Underworld. The crown of the tree reaches the World of the Gods in heaven - Iriy or Svarga, the roots of the tree go underground and connect the World of the Gods and the World of people with the underworld or the world of the Dead, ruled by Chernobog, Marena and other "dark" Gods. Somewhere in the sky, behind the clouds (heavenly abysses; over the seventh sky), the crown of a sprawling tree forms an island, here is Iriy (Slavic paradise), where not only Gods and human ancestors live, but also the ancestors of all birds and animals . Thus, the Tree of the World was fundamental in the worldview of the Slavs, its main component. At the same time, it is also a staircase, a road through which you can get to any of the worlds. In Slavic folklore, the Tree of the World is called differently. It can be oak, sycamore, willow, linden, viburnum, cherry, apple or pine.

In ritual songs and in general traditional folklore, such descriptions of the World Tree have come down to us: a nightingale (as well as other sacred birds - Gamayun, Sirin, Alkonost, Duck, Firebird, etc.) makes a nest in its crown, bees live in the trunk, which they bring honey, an ermine lives at the roots, a snake (Shkurupeya) is in a hole (nest), a demon is chained on a chain (the last, apparently, later layering), the fruits of the World Tree are the seeds of all existing herbs, flowers, trees. Traditional in folklore are the squabbles of the very snake that lives in the roots, and the bird that lives in the crown. At the same time, the serpent constantly threatens to burn the tree, and the bird each time defends itself or goes to the trick.

The crown of the World Tree often contains the Sun and the Moon. In Belarusian folklore, beavers live at the roots of a tree, and a falcon lives in the crown, the leaves are covered with beads, the flowers are like silver, the fruits are pure gold. Since this is the World Tree, the Slavic tradition in its folklore placed here all the most amazing creatures, from mythological birds to half-humans, half-horses, half-bulls, half-dogs, as well as all possible Deities and creatures. Here their place is near the center of the world.

The World Tree was so revered by the Slavs that it participated in many celebrations. The ritual tree was installed just before the construction of a new house in the very center of the planned construction, thus attracting power to this place and making it sacred, with a powerful energy base. The builder of a new dwelling makes his house, as it were, a projection of the center of the universe, the same mystical modeling of the center occurs when a tree is brought into the house, placed in the middle of it, or in a red corner. Another rite can be a round dance on sunny holidays around a tree, which often chooses a birch or oak. In ancient times, there were entire sacred groves, sacred forests, where it was strictly forbidden to cut down or damage trees. This directly applies to the very figure of the World Tree, since, by analogy with it, the sacred trees were the habitat of spirits, creatures. In such groves, holidays, rituals, rituals for curing diseases were held.

Scythian cross from the excavations of Olbia

As we know, the ancient cross is a symbol of a person, also a symbol of the World Tree. And the grave cross was placed as a symbol of the Tree of Life, rebirth. As a pointer and helper to the soul of the deceased. The world tree is inextricably linked with man

The connection of the cross with the tree of paradise is reflected in the Ethiopian work known as the Thirteen Sufferings of the Cross. “There is a forest country called Litostera. There they cut down eight trees and made of them a cross seven cubits and one span long, three cubits and one span wide. The first four trees were fig trees, the fifth was an olive, the sixth was a wild olive, the seventh was wheat, and the eighth was a reed. Further, it is told that the fig tree was brought by an eagle from paradise, and then thrown into the Jordan, where it swam against the current, thereby revealing its miraculous properties.

A characteristic detail attracts attention: the cross tree here is composed of many plants of different species. This can only be understood in the sense that it represents the embodiment of fertility, and therefore is considered as a symbol of inexhaustible vital energy, eternal renewal and rebirth. And fertility is one of the important mythological features of the world tree. Its other characteristic, as we remember, is that it connects different worlds. This is also reflected in Christian mythology. For example, in the apocryphal "Acts of the Apostle Andrew" in the doxology to the cross it is said: "You stretch up to heaven and speak about the Highest Word. You have spread yourself to the right and to the left and cast out the dark forces and collect the scattered. You are fortified in the earth and unite the earthly with the heavenly ... O cross, planted in the earth and bearing fruit in heaven

To the above, it should be added that the images of the cross in the form of a flowering, evergreen tree were very popular in the Middle Ages. An ancient and universal mythological image, which has already changed its appearance several times, has become one of the favorite symbols of the world religion - Christianity.

Cross tree (medieval Europe)

The image of the World Tree was imitated during funeral rites. In ancient times, people were buried in the branches of trees. Later, this rite was modified and now, after cremation, the ashes of people were left on the so-called Bdyny - pillars with huts, which are also a prototype of the World Tree and help the deceased both ascend to the World of the Gods and descend this tree to the World of People to visit their descendants . It is known that the Christmas tree was a symbol of death, which connected with the "other world", the transition to it and a necessary element of the funeral ritual.

Since our ancestors burned their dead, i.e. they were sent to the genus, then spruce, as a resinous tree that burns well at any time of the year, and was used in kroding. The deceased Slavic prince or princess was densely surrounded with branches of spruce and cones, at the end of the funeral prayers of the Magi, when shedding cereals of oats, rye and “voicing” of many mourners, a mournful fire or kroda was set on fire. The burning flame rushed to the sky. It was believed that with the help of fire, which shoots up to a great height (and cremation fires were often very large), the soul fell directly into the realm of the dead. A boat was also an important attribute at the funeral. This is connected with the beliefs and mythology of the Slavs, which says that in another world, in Navi (the World of the Dead, where dead people go and where our ancestors live.)

This is connected with the beliefs and mythology of the Slavs, which says that in another world, in Navi, the soul of the deceased must cross the Smorodina River in order to get directly to the place where it should be. In some legends, we can find that the soul crosses the river along the Kalinov bridge, but still the dead were burned in the boat. By the way, it is worth saying that a modern coffin for burial is precisely a modified, simplified boat, the tradition of burying in which came to us from time immemorial. Stealing with the dead is set on fire by a priest or a sorcerer at sunset. The fact that cremation takes place at sunset is also very symbolic. First, the sunset of the day, like the sunset of life. Secondly, according to the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, the sun goes to the afterlife Nav at night and takes the soul of a deceased person with it. Thirdly, it is believed that at sunset the soul can see the light of the setting sun and, in principle, understand where it should go. Along the perimeter of the fire, a fence with sheaves of hay was laid out, which was also set on fire. The burning fence was also a fence in a sacred sense, which demarcated the world of the dead and the world of the living, and was an analogue of the legendary burning river in another world. It is also noted that, along with the human body, the bodies of domestic and wild animals were burned - a bird, a bear, a hare, etc. – sacrificing the Animal nature of a person.

During the burning, special ritual prayers and chants were read. Stravas were held - a feast for the deceased, and Trizny - funeral rituals and fighting games. The fire rising to the sky itself means that the soul of a person rose to Svarga and left only its remains on earth. After the fire burns out (or in the morning), people collect the bones and ashes (although, for example, the northerners did not collect the remains, but poured a hill on top of which they arranged a feast) into an earthenware pot (pot for food or into a special urn) and put in a special "hut on a pillar", an impromptu small house on a high stick. Some descriptions of this action omit the mention of the huts and say that the vessel with the ashes was simply placed on a pole near the road. Such huts with remains were placed on the way from the village to sunset right along the road. In some regions of Russia, the custom of putting houses right on the graves persisted right up to the 20th century.

The pillar can also take us back to the archaic past of our ancestors. Even before corpses were burned, people were buried in trees. Such trees were the prototype of the "world tree", which not only connected the world of the living and the world of the dead, the Gods, but also performed many other functions, such as maintaining the vault of heaven, the functions of the main axis of the universe, etc. Later, instead of a tree, a pillar was used, which, apparently, continued the role of the World Tree. With the help of the World Tree (pillar), the soul of the deceased could rise up into the world of the dead and descend back. It is also worth noting that one of the places, according to the assumptions of the ancient Slavs, where souls went after death, was the Moon. In general, planets, stars, cosmic bodies seemed to the ancient Slavs as Gods and souls of ancestors. So the Milky Way was called none other than "The path of the dead, going to eternal life"

Remember what beliefs the ancient Egyptians had - here is an excerpt from Anastasia Novykh's book, Sensei 4:

Well, since there is such an interest in this issue, then please... The ancient Egyptians called one of the elements, as you already know, Ba - the soul that forms the basis of the Spiritual nature. Ba was often depicted as a falcon, with a human head and a burning lamp placed in front of him, as a symbol of Ba's belonging to heaven. There was a belief among the people that the stars are a cluster of small lamps of the blessed Ba - the souls of the mother of the stars Nut. - Sensei paused and repeated clearly. - Mother of the stars! Remember this, in the future you will understand why this is necessary. In addition, the ancient Egyptians endowed their gods with Ba. For example, the constellation Orion was called none other than the soul of the god Osiris. Sothis, or Sirius in our opinion, was the soul of the goddess Isis, the faithful wife of Osiris ... Note this too.

Sensei was silent for a while, apparently giving us the opportunity to better comprehend what we heard, and then continued:

The second element that makes up a human being, according to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, is "Ah", or as it is also called "Ab". Ah means “spirit”, “blessed”, “enlightened”, that is, from the Egyptian lexical base “ah” - “shine, radiate”. Ah was seen as the link between man and the radiant life force. It was believed that after death Ah left the body in order to join the stars. Even the expression used to be "Ah - to heaven, the body - to the ground."

Ah was depicted as a bird with bright plumage - an ibis, which the Egyptians actually called "ahu", that is, "luminous". In addition, in ancient Egypt, Thoth was revered - the god of knowledge (as well as the bearer of divine power and soul), who was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or completely like an ibis. It was believed that his wife Seshat recorded the details of each person's life on the leaves of the Tree of Heaven.

It is also worth mentioning that the ancient tribes built huts and temples in such a way that there was a living tree inside, that is, they built a dwelling around a tree - oak, ash, birch and others. Like the idols representing the Gods on earth, the tree inside the house was the embodiment of the World Tree, which could also connect all three worlds and be the main place for some kind of home rituals. This tradition was alive until the beginning of the 20th century practically throughout Russia, and beyond, but in a simplified form. Before the construction of the house, a young tree was dug out and planted in the center or the red corner of the future log house of the building, while saying: “Here you are, my dear friend, a warm house and a shaggy cedar!” There it grew until the very end of construction. Then he was taken out and planted in another place. In ancient times, it grew together with people and towered with its crown above the roof, as if above the firmament.

Most clearly, the presence among the Slavs of developed views related to the world tree is illustrated by the "Word of Igor's Campaign" (XII century), in which pagan motifs and traditions have not yet given way to the traditions of the Orthodox world description. The songwriter Boyan in the Tale of Igor's Campaign, like the Scandinavian Odin, who tasted the honey of poetry, makes a shamanic journey through the world tree:

“For fear of things, if anyone wants to create a song, then he will spread his thoughts on the tree, gray wail on the ground,

Shizym eagle under the clouds ... "-

"... galloping, glory, along the mental tree, flying with the mind under the clouds, weaving both floors of glory this time ...".
"... the divine calls to the vrahu of the tree ...".

It is easy to see that the World Tree was present in all ancient cultures – on all continents there was this knowledge – knowledge about the inseparable connection of the Human Soul with the One Creator - and the inseparable connection of Allat with the concepts of the World Tree! Thus, a person who acquires the Holy Spirit, staying in the creator every second, acquires Immortality, climbing up along the ropes of the World Tree to its roots - to a bottomless well, at the bottom of which a reward awaits him!

Prepared by: Arbat

World tree - since ancient times, a giant ash tree has connected all nine worlds of Scandinavian mythology with its branches and roots.

Hello friend, nice to see you here. My name is Gavrilov Kirill and this is mine. Now I will tell you everything about the world tree Yggdrasil.

World Tree Yggdrasil

The world tree is the core of all Scandinavian mythology. Long ago, when there were no worlds or gods, the ash tree Yggdrasil or Lerad grew. This tree holds all the worlds on itself and connects them with each other.

Yggdrasil is the basis around which all the events of the myths and legends of the ancient Scandinavians take place. Like a ring in a bunch of keys, it connects all the myths together.

9 worlds of Yggdrasil

Ash divides the universe into three vertical levels: underground, middle and heavenly. There are three worlds on each level. There are nine worlds in total. It is always better to see once - so get acquainted with the famous drawing that shows all the worlds, main events and characters of Norse mythology.

Overworlds:

1. Asgard is the country of the Scandinavian gods-aces (Odin, Thor, Balder, Frigg, etc.). A large protected world in which the halls of the gods are located and the legendary one is the palace of the fallen warriors.
2. Vanaheim is the abode of the Scandinavian Vanir gods (the twins Freyr and Freya, their father Njord and the sorceress Gullveig), a bright, peaceful and calm place.
3. Alfheim or Ljesalfheim is the world of light elves or elves. A world of extraordinary beauty and fun.

Middle worlds:

1. Midgard is the middle world. The world of mortals in which people live consists of lands, seas and oceans. And the world serpent encircles it -.
2. Jotunheim or Utgard - the world of the Scandinavian giants - the main opponents of the gods.
3. Muspelheim - one of the first two worlds (also Nilfheim) - the kingdom of eternal fire, the abode of fire giants and their ruler Surt - a fiery giant who will burn all life during Ragnarok.

Gloomy and foggy Helheim - Alessio Sordini

Underworlds:

1. Nilfheim - one of the first two worlds (also Muspelheim) - the kingdom of darkness and cold. From his cold and Muspel's fire, Ymir was born - the first living being that gave rise to all living things.
2. Svartalfheim is an underground country of dark elves or zwerg or gnomes or dwarves. Skilled zwerg masters live there and they have no equal in crafts. It was the dark elves who forged artifacts for the gods.
3. Helheim is the kingdom of the dead, all those who die from the disease of hunger and old age fall here. It is ruled by the goddess of death.

World Ash Creatures

Deep underground among the roots of Yggdrasil lives many snakes. The dragon Nidhogg is the largest among them, every day he gnaws the roots of the tree, tries to kill the ash tree. Nidhogg lives in the realm of death - Helheim. The tree-gnawing dragon symbolizes the eternal struggle of life (Yggdrasil) and death (Nidhogg).

At the top of the world tree sits a giant eagle - the symbol of the god Odin. (The supreme god often turns into an eagle during his adventures. But also Odin's birds are two ravens -). A hawk sits on the head of a giant eagle (or between its eyes) - Vedrfelnir, watching everything that happens from above.

Dragon Nidhogg and squirrel Ratatoskr in action Kahito Slydeft

A squirrel runs along the trunk of the world tree - Ratatosk or Vostrozubka. She sends messages from the eagle to the dragon and back, who have never seen each other. He deliberately turns their words into insulting curses, and then rejoices at the quarrel between the two giants.

Among the branches of Yggdrasil, four deer live: Dain and Dvalin, Duneyr and Duratror. They eat the leaves of the tree of life.

Norns - goddesses of fate - Alexander Smolyakov

Three Norns are also associated with Yggdrasil, three women - younger goddesses. Old and decrepit Urd is a norn of fate and the past. Mature and Verdani are the norna of becoming, present and maturity. Young and beautiful Skuld is a norn of duty, a norn of the future. They live at the roots of the world ash Yggdrasil, watering its roots from the source of Urd prolonging the life of the tree. Weave the threads of fate of everyone and everyone.

If you are interested, in my diary, you can get acquainted with everyone and Scandinavian mythology.

Yggdrasil in Norse mythology

Mentions of the world tree are found throughout the events of Scandinavian mythology. Now I will introduce you to them:

Elder Edda, Speeches of Grimnir Translation by A. I. Korsun:

1. Three roots grow on three sides of the Yggdrasil ash tree: Hel under one, giants under the other, and people under the third.
2. The ratatoskr of the squirrel darts briskly through the ash tree Yggdrasil; all the words of the eagle
   she hurries to carry Nidhogg down.
3. And four deer, throwing back their antlers, gnaw at the shoots: Dain and Dwalin,
   Dunair and Duratror.
4. A fool cannot understand how many snakes crawl under the ash tree Yggdrasil:
   Goin and Moin - Gravvitnir's children - Grabak and Gravvellud, Ofnir and Svafnir - they constantly gnaw on ash.
5. People do not know what hardships the Yggdrasil ash tree has: Nidhogg eats the roots, the deer eats the crown, the trunk dies from rot.

Codex depiction of Yggdrasil XVII Iceland

Younger Edda, Vision of Gyulvi Translation by O. A. Smirnitskaya:

1. Then Gangleri asked: "Where do the gods gather or where is their main sanctuary?" The tall one answered: “It is near the ash tree Yggdrasil, where every day the gods make their judgment.”
2. I know the ash tree by the name of Yggdrasil, a tree washed with muddy moisture, dew from it descends to the valleys; over the source of Urd it is green forever.
3. The tree is the best ash Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil performed by the artist haru aki

World tree in other cultures

In addition to Scandinavian mythology, the image of the world tree or the tree of life is found among the Slavs (an almost complete copy of Yggdrasil). A similar image is found among the Mordovians in the form of the Echke Tumo tree. In Turkic and Iranian legends, as well as in Islam, Kabbalah and Buddhism.

In most of these cultures, the tree is represented by the world axis - the connection of different levels and dimensions.

Ichor tree of life Caelan Stokkermans

Yggdrasil symbol

In 1910, near the Swedish village of Överhogdal, several well-preserved tapestries X - XI were found. One of them depicted Yggdrasil.

Whether the Vikings used this symbol elsewhere, no one knows. There are suggestions that the ancient Scandinavians depicted the world tree in this way, decorating ritual objects and jewelry with it.

Yggdrasil and Scandinavian tattoos

Yggdrasil in modern culture

The world tree is an important symbol of Norse mythology. It can be found in the works of contemporary artists who paint on Scandinavian themes. Yggdrasil is most often considered a symbol of unity. The tree of life is found on jewelry: rings, amulets, amulets, etc.

It is used in souvenir and thematic Slavic and Scandinavian goods. Printed on t-shirts, sweatshirts, leather accessories and decorative items, as an ancient symbol of Viking mythology. Often decorated with symbols and patterns such as the runic circle and similar runic inscriptions.

And that's all I have. Thank you very much for reading the post to the end. I hope I was able to tell you something new and interesting - it is important for me. If you liked it - look into the section and make yourself comfortable.

The record is decorated with the works of artists:

1. Jeff Brown
2. Unknown - The nine worlds
3. Alessio Sordini— Helheim
4. Kahito Slydeft— Nidhogg
5. Alexander Smolyakov— Norns
6. haru aki— Yggdrasil
7. Caelan Stokkermans— Ichor

Speaking of artists, I love beautiful and high-quality art drawings and sketches. If you are too, then in the section I will introduce you to many interesting and talented artists and their works on the theme of the medieval north.

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The world tree is an important symbol of the worldview of different peoples in antiquity. But his image can also be considered as an element of non-pagan religions. In this article, we will try to trace the stages and features of the formation of this important cultural symbol and the significance of the image in the formation of ideas about the world at each historical stage of its existence.

The world tree of different peoples as the foundation of cultures

The conditional nature of art already from the very era of primitiveness implies the reflection of ideas about the universe and the organization of the world order in the works of folklore and literature, painting and sculpture, architecture, dance and theatrical art, etc. The key image that combines these ideas is the world tree.

It expresses the idea of ​​the organization of the Cosmos as a culturological concept of Chaos as a symbol of irregularity, disorganization, unstructuredness. Almost all the mythologies of the ancient peoples are united by the presence of the world tree as a central, cementing symbol. In many ways, the ideas about it among different ethnic groups were similar, but also clearly differed from each other, which, undoubtedly, was due to the peculiarities of their habitat and development. It is the world tree that symbolizes the harmony of the Universe, being its central axis, the core that united the underground, earthly and heavenly worlds.

Structure and symbolism

Like an ordinary tree, the world tree in mythology has three main parts: crown, trunk and roots. The crown symbolizes the Kingdom of Heaven, the trunk - the Kingdom of the Earth, the roots - the Underground Kingdom of the souls of the dead.

You can also consider parts of the world tree through associations with the time of day: the crown is night, the trunk is day, the roots are morning. From the position of the past (roots), present (trunk) and future (crown). With natural elements: earth (roots), water (trunk), fire (crown). With generations of people: ancestors (roots), living now (trunk), descendants (crown). The structure of the human body (legs, torso, head) and the structure of the temple (foundation, "body", dome).

The trinity of the universe, having received its foundations in paganism, found a continuation in fairy tales (one of the fabulous numbers is 3: three brothers, three attempts, three trials, etc.) and even in the Christian religion (the triune essence of God - God the Father, God son, God the Holy Spirit).

Often, different living creatures inhabiting the Earth are associated with each of the parts of the World Tree:

In the mythology of the ancient Egyptians

One of the most common variants of the mythological representation of the world of the ancient Egyptians is the model described in the myth of Nut and Hebe. The essence of the myth boils down to the fact that the brother and husband Geb is the god of the Earth, and his sister and wife Nut is the goddess of the Sky, both are the children of another heavenly couple - Shu (the god of the Wind) and Tefnut (the goddess of Moisture), having given birth to the first children-stars , gave rise to a problem that is still one of the main ones in family relationships - how to raise children? However, in this case, it was not about education: every morning, Nut swallowed the stars, "like a pig swallows her piglets," and at night she again released them into the sky.

Quarrels between the spouses threatened the collapse of the entire Universe, and Nut turned to her father, Shu, for help. He stood between Geb and Nut and parted them, dividing them. By the will of the gods, Geb and Nut could no longer have children. That was the punishment. It was this part of the ideas about the world that formed the basis of the ideas about his Model, which, in essence, is the image of the world tree, where Nut is depicted as a woman standing on the bridge with stars on her side, leaning her toes and hands on the edges of the Earth. The God of the Earth - Geb is depicted in the guise of a man lying on the Earth. Between them stands Shu, who leans on Geb with his feet, and supports Nut with his hands. In this version, Nut is symbolized with a crown, Shu with a trunk, and Geb with the roots of the world tree.

Model of the world of the ancient Egyptians

The second version of the ancient Egyptian model of the world can be considered the trinity of the Nile, the main Egyptian deity. According to the mythology of the Egyptians, the Nile was Heavenly, Earthly and Underground. Here we turn to the ideas about the change of parts of the day in ancient Egyptian mythology. So, during a bright day, the daytime boat of Amon-Ra, Mandzhet, sails along the Heavenly Nile, in which his daytime retinue sits, among the gods there is Isis, the goddess of fertility and the wife of Osiris. Farmers live and work on the banks of the Earth Nile. But the territory of the Underground Nile is the territory of the Underground kingdom of the souls of the dead Duat. It has an entrance through the Gate of the Sunset Horizon. The night retinue of Amon-Ra swims here on the night boat Masektet. On the way to the exit from the last Gate at dawn, the barge must overcome many traps and open ten more gates. It is for this that Amon-Ra has the key of life ankh.

As for the animal world associated with parts of the world tree, it is in this version of it that they are used: Amon-Ra is depicted with the head of a Falcon, the ruler of the Duat - Anubis has the head of a carrion-eating jackal, and the main guardian of the entire kingdom of the Duat is the serpent Apop. It is with him that Amon-Ra in the guise of a Cat fights in front of the last gate to start a new day.

golden tree of the ancient egyptians

There is also a third version of the image of the ancient Egyptian world tree - a huge golden tree of Sykimore or Sycamore (according to different versions of plane trees or fig trees), which rests with its crown on the Sky, where the goddess Nut lives and enjoys the contemplation of precious stones growing in its crown. The Phoenix bird also lives there, which knocks life-giving dew from the crown and gives life to everything earthly. But the roots of this tree is the tomb with the body of Osiris killed by Seth resting in it. The tree seemed to have grown through it.

World tree in Mesopotamian mythology

One of the variants of the image of the world tree in mythology is presented in the ancient Sumerian epic about Gilgamesh. It is here that we meet its traditional tree-like image and encounter the creatures that inhabited the parts: in the crown - the Anzud bird, on the trunk - the maiden Lily, in the roots - a snake.

The world tree from the mythology of Ancient Mesopotamia is identified with the mythological Mount Kur, with a clay base and a tin top. It stands on the earth goddess Ki, and on its top is the sky god An. And the underworld is ruled by Nergal.

World tree in Scandinavia

In the culture of the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, the world tree is also used in its usual form - a tree. Its crown is overshadowed by solar signs, and its roots are guarded by a boat and a monster. We can see such an image of the Scandinavian world tree on an ancient Germanic stone.

But in the ancient Scandinavian sagas and epic works "Elder Edda" and "Greater Edda", there is another image of him - also of a tree order. Ash Yggdrasil. He sprouted through ten worlds into which the Universe is divided from the Underworld, guarded by a terrible Dragon that gnaws corpses, and up to the Kingdom of Heaven. At the trunk of the roots beats the source of Wisdom. It, like the trunk of a tree, is guarded by three goddesses of fate - the Norns.

But there is a completely different idea: the giant Ymir, the first creature that arose in the Abyss, may well be considered a world tree. When the gods killed him, his head became Heaven, his bones became Mountains, and his body became Earth.

Slavic mythology

The Scandinavians chose ash as the axis of the world order, but the Slavs chose the mighty oak. And this is quite understandable. In addition to the similarity with the image of the ancient Russian hero-hero, the oak was also an object that was important for our ancestors from a sacred point of view: executions, sacrifices, and court were performed near it. Oak was also a folk healer. Until now, in the Russian bath, an oak broom is a symbol of health.

This is how the world tree is represented in Slavic mythology: the fruit-bearing golden crown of the oak embraces with its branches "paradise" - the heavenly world, and fragrant, exuding a divine aroma. At the very beginning of the trunk, 12 sources of honey and milk flow as the life-giving force of Nature, perhaps an analogue of "living water" in folklore. It is from them that Man draws strength as a creature, consonant with the trunk of an oak.

There is a version that this oak is located on the inaccessible island of Buyan in the ocean. Gods live in its crown, a demon is chained to the trunk, and demons and the snake Shkurupeya live in the pit at the roots.

In another version of the world tree among the Slavs, a nightingale nests in oak branches, bees live in a hollow in a trunk, and an ermine near the roots in a mink.

Fairy tales

The image of the world tree as the axis of the universe is also reflected in the fairy tales of different peoples. Most often, their plot was associated with the growth of a planted miracle tree or a leguminous plant, which, with its top, went to heaven, to booms, and the hero who reached its top received gifts and fulfillment of desires. Let us recall, for example, the English fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk", where the poor boy Jack, having exchanged five bean seeds for a cow from an old man, climbed the stalk that grew overnight to heaven, where the ogre lived, and stole from him a bag of gold, a golden hen and a golden harp. As a result, Jack's family began to live in abundance. This is the whole essence of fairy tales about the world tree - the triumph of good over evil.

In the epic of the Sakha people (Yakutia), the world tree is represented as Aak Luul Mas - a tree with high branches. Look at the photo of the world tree below.

It holds three worlds: Upper, Middle and Lower. In the Upper world live light gods - aiyy, and in the Lower world - dark, abaasy. In the uppermost sky sits the chief god Yuung Aar Toyon. The mistress of the tree is the goddess of the earth Aan Alakhchin Khotun, who gives the Middle Bogatyr milk from the trunk of the tree to drink.

The World Tree in the Culture of the Ancient Civilizations of Central America

Of particular interest is what the world tree looks like in Native American cultures. So, the Maya imagined it growing in the very center of the world: the trunk is like a barrel, sharp thorns grow densely on the trunk and branches. Often the Mayan altar was made in the shape of such a tree.

But the Aztecs imagined the universe consisting of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds. All parts were connected by five vertical axes. The most important was considered the central axis - the median tree. But four more trees grow on the cardinal points: red (east), black (west), white (north), yellow (south). The gods-spirits of Nature live in their crowns: chaks (rain), pavahuns (wind), bakabs (holders of the sky). They rule alternately for one year.

Various peoples

Below we will talk about the representation of the world tree in the culture of different peoples. The Phoenicians imagined the world tree in the form of a giant tent, the vault of which is supported by a huge tree. And the top of the Tabernacle rests on the Sky itself.

The ancient Chinese imagined the world tree as a mulberry tree. In its crown lived a Rooster and ten golden three-toed ravens-Suns. Stars shone in the crown instead of fruits. This tree grew on the very edge of the Middle Kingdom. But another tree - Xun, mentioned in their myths, does not have an exact description. The Chinese represent such a tree as the Breadfruit, which grows on Mount Kunlun. Life-giving springs flow from its roots. Along the trunk you can get to Heaven, where the gods live, or you can go down to the Underworld.

And in the Hindu religion, it is possible to turn to such an image, reflecting the essence of the world tree, as the goddess Ganga, who used to live in the divine halls in the sky, but at the request of the king Bhatarakhya, who was pure from sins, who stood up like a rock, merged into a waterfall on the ground, breaking on his head on parts. Having filled the oceans drained by the hermit Agastya for the sake of the victory of the gods over the evil demons of the asuras, she gave life to everything on Earth and penetrated into the underworld. Thus, it is possible to consider a mountain with a waterfall as a world tree. Moreover, in other cultures, a tree often grows on a mountain.

In the myths of ancient India, a version is proposed that after the victory of the Asuras over the gods in their last battle, the gods descended underground to plow the "original" ocean in search of the source of eternal life, but found the axis of the universe - the Parijat tree, which later the god Indra would dig up and plant in his paradise garden. This tree had a golden bark and copper-colored young leaves, fragrant flowers and fruits.

Chthonic beings as a model of the world tree

First you need to understand the concept itself, which is related to ancient pagan mythology. Terrible monsters were chthonic in it - the offspring of the deities of the first, primordial generations (Gaia and her evil offspring - among the Greeks, Tiamat - among the Akkadians and Babylonians, etc.) But first of all, such creatures are a feature of ancient Greek myth-making.

The main characteristic of these characters is the synthesis in the external appearance of the body parts of several animals. And the personification is Evil, as a world manifestation and revenge, and rigidity, as its tool.

So, the well-known Echidna is a synthesis of a woman and a snake. In this case, its serpentine part symbolizes the Underworld, the female body and head - the Earthly world, and the divine origin - Heavenly.

Echidna was the mother of no less colorful characters - the guardians of Hades, the many-headed fire-breathing dogs Orff and Cerberus. So, Cerberus was a three-headed dog, on the necks of which snakes wriggled instead of wool, and at the end of the tail was the head of a dragon. In this synthesis, the snake and dragon elements represent Hades, the dog's body and heads - the Earthly world, the divine principle - the Heavenly world. However, since neither Uranus-Sky nor the gods living in the heavenly world had any relation to the creation of such creatures, the interpretation of the last component is debatable.

And another Greek character, also a product of Echidna and Typhon, is Chimera. Her appearance combines the body of a goat - the personification of the Earthly world, the tail of a snake - the Underground world, the neck and head of a lion - a solar symbol associated with the worship of the Sun, and therefore can be correlated with the Heavenly world.

In Egyptian mythology, the image of the terrible monster Amamat comes to mind, to which, on the eve of the chamber of Osiris in the Duat, during the rite of weighing, the heart of a lied sinner was thrown to be eaten. This character combined elements of a crocodile (Underworld), a hippopotamus (Earthworld) and a lion (Skyworld). He is the personification of retribution for sins.

Temples and burial structures

It seems possible to consider temples as a model for the world tree. The development of the internal space of the temple (both pagan and Orthodox) occurs from the west (Underworld) to the east (Divine world), and from bottom to top. Examples of the former are the ground temple complexes of Luxor and Karnak, the half-rock temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the rocky Abu Simbel, Orthodox and Catholic churches. As examples of the second - the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the pyramids of the Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, Orthodox churches.

Similarly, from the bottom up, the development of burials takes place - pagan mounds and ancient Egyptian pyramids. So, the underground part of the Scandinavian barrow - a container of everything that the deceased may need in the kingdom of the Dead, the top of the barrow - the place where the burial boat was placed with the deceased and still alive concubine, beloved dog, wife, etc., still personifies the Earthly world, and the smoke that goes into the Sky when the boat is burned is the connecting part with the world of the gods, where the deceased goes. True, it should be noted that such a ritual concerned only noble representatives of a tribe or people.