Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 2. Connections 23
A third tree rose higher and higher; its roots reached far out into the
Utlands with one reaching the Well in Niflheim, Hvergelmir, another to the
Well of Mímir in Jötunheim, and a third out as far as the Well of Urð in
Ásgard, the newly made city/ home of the three brother/ Gods. The top of
the growing tree reached to the furthest point in the heavens, the Nail (which
is now called the Pole Star). This tree encompassed all and became known to
the three brother/ Gods as Yggdrasil, to men as Læraþ, and to the giants as
Mímameið.
The Tree which enfolded all things was not safe from the ravages of its inhabitants,
however. Below the root which extended out over Hvergelmir lay the serpent,
Níðhögg and her brood which eats and poisons the Tree from below, and
“there is an eagle which sits in the branches of the Ash, and it has knowledge
of many things, and between its eyes sits a hawk called Vedrfolnir. A
squirrel named Ratatoskr runs up and down through the Ash and carries
malicious messages between the eagle and Níðhögg. Four stags run in the
branches of the Ash and feed on the foliage. Their names are Dáin, Dvalinn,
Duneyr, and Duraþror. And there are so many snakes in Hvergelmir with
Níðhögg that no tongue can enumerate them. As it says here: The Ash,
Yggdrasil, suffers hardships more than people realize. Stags bite above, and
at the sides it rots, Níðhögg eats away at it below.” 6
From above the hart, Eikþryrnir, ate away at the foliage, and from his antlers fell
the dew (honeydew) back through Midgard, eventually, back down into the Well of
Hvergelmir. At the Well of Urð, the three strange women from the Utlands to the
East, the Norns, determined the fate of all things and besprinkled the Tree with the
healing Waters from the Well which served to stave off indefinitely the inevitable
destruction of the Tree. This was the outward appearance of the World Tree (aka
Yggdrasil or Læraþ)/ Sacred Spring.
The Tree both supported and was supported by the force of dynamic tension,
a balance between opposing dynamic forces. The ever changing flow of ice out of
Niflheim and the fire which flew out of Muspell kept the Tree and the supporting
Ginnungagap always in a state of flux much the same as a river that keeps changing
its course through the forces of the relentless sameness of the currents.
6 Snorri Sturluson The Edda translated by Antony Faulkes (Everyman’s Library, London)
1987, pp. 18-19. All quotes coming from Sturluson’s Edda, sometimes known as The Prose Edda
orThe Younger Edda, are take from this translation unless otherwise noted. The translation is
somewhat difficult to read because the complex Germanic metaphor known as a kenning is left
intact. There are other translations available. The one by Jean Young is very readable in modern
translation.