[ YGGDRASIL ]
Yggdrasil (Old Norse Yggdrasill or Askr Yggdrasils) is the mighty tree whose trunk rises at the geographical center of the Norse spiritual cosmos. The rest of that cosmos, including the Nine Worlds, is arrayed around it and held together by its branches and roots, which connect the various parts of the cosmos to one another. Because of this, the well-being of the cosmos depends on the well-being of Yggdrasil. When the tree trembles, it signals the arrival of Ragnarok, the destruction of the universe. The first element in Yggdrasil’s name, Yggr (“Terrible”), is one of the countless names of the god Odin, and indicates how powerful and fearsome the Vikings perceived him to be. The second element, drasill, means “horse.” So Yggdrasil’s name means “Horse of Odin,” a reference to the time when the Terrible One sacrificed himself to discover the runes. The tree was his gallows and bore his limp body, which the Norse poetic imagination described metaphorically as a horse and a rider. In...