What is Yggdrasil

2010-01-01

What is Yggdrasil?

An introduction to the tree of worlds of the old Germanic people.

The structure of Yggdrasil in the online course is an interpretation.

The horse of Yggr

The literal translation of Yggdrasil or yggr's drasill would be 'The horse of Yggr'. Zoega translates Yggr as 'anxious'. But often Yggr is translated as 'the terrible one'. You can see Yggr as the symbol of your lower self, which is often terrible. In the mythology Yggr hung himself (or was hung) on the tree of worlds. After nine days he was initiated and transformed into Óðinn. See Óðinn as Hangatýr So Yggdrasil is a tool to transform your lower self into a divine being.

The origin of Yggdrasil

Wikipedia about Yggdrasil

The old Germanic people had a notion of a tree of worlds. This is a common notion among shamanic people throughout the world. Siberian shamans believe they can travel across a tree, which connects the spirit worlds. See: Siberian shamanism and worldtree. In the QaBaLah, a heathen-Jewish tradition, there is the tree of life, with four divisions and worlds in each division. Ancient people in the region of Mexico also had a tree of worlds with ten worlds.

See Mesoamerican world tree and World tree.

I use the phrase "heathen-Jewish tradition" because orthodox Jews can not believe in the QaBaLaH as it is known by non-Jewish people. See: Christian D. Ginsburg: The Kabbalah, its Doctrines, Development and Literature. In the QaBaLah there is an image of the creator, with a head, a beard, etc. This image is heathen. Jews are not allowed to make images of the creator. Orthodox Jews often believe, that a mental image is also forbidden.

Ginsburg wrote about the Kabbalah as it is known to western people:

12. That Moses de Leon, who first published and sold the Sohar, as the production of R. Simon b. Jochai, was himself the author of it, was admitted by his own wife and daughter, as will be seen from the following account in the Book Juchassin, (p.p. 88, 89, 95, ed. Filipowski, London, 1857), which we give in an abridged form.32 When Isaac of Akko, who escaped the massacre after the capture of this city (A.D. 1291), came to Spain and there saw the Sohar, he was anxious to ascertain whether it was genuine, since it pretended to be a Palestine production, and he, though born and brought up in the Holy Land, in constant intercourse with the disciples of the celebrated Kabbalist, Nachmanides, had never heard a syllable about this marvellous work. Now, Moses de Leon, whom he met in Valladolid, declared to him on a most solemn oath that he had at Avila an ancient exemplar, which was the very autograph of R. Simon ben Jochai, and offered to submit it to him to be tested. In the meantime, however, Moses de Leon was taken ill on his journey home, and died at Arevolo, A.D. 1305. But two [173]distinguished men of Avila, David Rafen and Joseph de Avila, who were determined to sift the matter, ascertained the falsehood of this story from the widow and daughter of Moses de Leon. Being a rich man and knowing that Moses de Leon left his family without means, Joseph de Avila promised, that if she would give him the original MS. of the Sohar from which her husband made the copies, his son should marry her daughter, and that he would give them a handsome dowry. Whereupon the widow and daughter declared, that they did not possess any such MS., that Moses de Leon never had it, but that he composed the Sohar from his own head, and wrote it with his own hand. Moreover, the widow candidly confessed that she had frequently asked her husband why he published the production of his own intellect under another man’s name, and that he told her that if he were to publish it under his own name nobody would buy it, whereas under the name of R. Simon b. Jochai it yielded him a large revenue. This account is confirmed in a most remarkable manner by the fact that

See The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Kabbalah, by Christian David Ginsburg

Why an interpretation?

In ancient Icelandic texts there are fragments of information about a tree of worlds. There is no complete system in these texts. Some texts contradict each other. It is more or less like the bible: you can find anything if you look hard enough.

If you want to read more on this subject go to Truth about the Germanic people.

Was there ever a complete system of teachings about Yggdrasil?

Probably there were shamans and shamanic traditions, with a more or less complete system. Not 'complete' in the meaning that the system was finite, but in the meaning of comprehensive.

There never was an official doctrine for all tribes and all sibbes. Each sibbe had it's own system of philosophical, mythological and spiritual ideas. There were no heretics, because there was no church with a doctrine. From this we can conclude, that there was room for multiple complete systems about Yggdrasil or Irminsul.

Wikipedia about Irminsul

The knowledge about Yggdrasil was kept by the Úlfheðnár. An Úlfheðnár was a shaman with the wolf as spirit animal. They were the original were-wolves. (See Shamanism: Werewolves and Werebears.) An Úlfheðnár was initiated by hanging her/him in a leather sack in a large tree for nine days and nights. See Óðinn as Hangatýr. This tree symbolized Yggdrasil. During these nine days and nights the initiate traveled through all the worlds of Yggdrasil.

Interpretation of Yggdrasil

In order to make sense of Yggdrasil, you have to interpret. Without interpretation you have only fragments of information. And as soon as you interpret, there is room for debate, differences of opinion, etc.

Because we grew up in a society that is programmed to think in terms of an official doctrine, the ultimate truth, etc., we are inclined to consider people with different opinions to be heretics. This is not only true for religion. In (medical) science there is no room for alternative healing, for example.

In a heathen culture there is no official doctrine and there are no heretics. There is room for your own interpretation. You have to interpret the world to make sense of it. And it is your own interpretation. You live in your own reality.

I have attended workshops of Native American shamans. One of them stated: "Only half of the knowledge of an apprentice comes from his teachers. The other half has to come from himself."

The only way to learn about Yggdrasil is by traveling it yourself. By reading of travelers books, you can prepare yourself for a travel. But whatever you read, it doesn't come close to the real experience of traveling.

Who wrote the ancient texts? Are ancient texts reliable?

Christian writers

People tend to believe, that ancient writers knew what they were writing about. If we consider the writers today, one can see, that most writers write things, that differ from the beliefs and paradigms of most people. The writers today try to be opinion-makers and they have there own agenda. Do you believe that it would be different in Iceland a thousand years ago?

The old Germanic people did not write. They had runes, but they were not characters of an alphabet. The Runes were magical signs and secrets and were used by shamans and sorcerers. Attempts to write with runes start with Roman influences. The Icelandic people who learned to write, learned it from Christian priests. So we should consider the fact, that they are at least influenced by Christian culture, if they were not Christian priests themselves.

In ancient Iceland around 1.200 AD it must have been hard or even impossible to follow the shamanic path and in the same live study with Christian priests. So one should question the dept of the shamanic knowledge of writers like Snorri Sturluson and others. And you should not believe everything you read on this website. I try to describe Yggdrasil as truthful as possible. But a written description is vastly different from the real thing. At best, the written description is in structure identical of the real thing. I do not believe it is possible to make a description of Yggdrasil that is in structure exactly identical to the real tree.

Sources of Yggdrasil

Shamanic and heathen interpretation of Yggdrasil

In 1988 I started in the Netherlands a correspondence course with the name 'Yggdrasil'. It was at that time a course with 48 lessons and 24 TRANCE-FORMATION sound-cassettes, with two TRANCE-FORMATIONS on every tape. Each lesson was about a world on the tree-of-worlds Yggdrasil.

One objective of this course was to give 'searchers-for-knowledge' information to develop their own mind and soul.

I combined many sources: Germanic writings, yoga from India, Persian-yoga, Persian magy (teachings of the priests of magoi from ancient Persia), alchemy and shamanism with Jungian psychology, alpha-training & mind-control and my own experiences. When you study the course Yggdrasil, you get expert knowledge about your own mind and soul, to the deepest levels.

Another objective was to help people heal themselves and to spread Light (in the meaning of insight, clarity, consciousness, knowledge) and Love (the universal kind) throughout the world, starting in the country I was born (the Netherlands). All TRANCE-FORMATIONS of Yggdrasil are about ancient Germanic deities and contain knowledge to transform oneself and the archetypes in our mind. With these TRANCE-FORMATIONS you can restructure your mind and soul to the deepest levels.

My own experiences

I come from a dysfunctional family. My father and his father were free-masons. I was abused in free-mason rituals and spiritistical seances from my birth to the age of four. Then my parents divorced. At seven I was placed in a home for children. At eleven I was placed by my psychotic mother. When I was twelve, I started with a Mazdaznan course, which was my salvation. I became familiar with breath-exercises and Persian-yoga to heal myself and to stabilize my mind. I also became vegetarian.

One of the participants of the Mazdaznan course was member of an ancient order, that claims to be derived from the order of Melchizedek. In that order I learned magic, alchemy and several forms of yoga. I also learned old Germanic shamanism and shamanic healing. When I was 18 I followed a course Silva Mind Control and a year later I did the Graduate Seminar and the Ultra Seminar. During my teenage-years I started to read books about the brain, endocrinology, many forms of psychology (Freud, Jung, Behaviorism, Transformational psychology). When I was 18 I gave a lecture about endocrinology in English to Mazdaznan-youth. Two of them were German medical students. They were very much impressed about my knowledge about the subject.

As a teenager I was quite different from my peers. My study of psychology made it clear to me, that something had gone wrong in my upbringing. I had some talks with a psychiatrist specialized in the treatments of juveniles, but he could not help me. Once he said: 'You have read much more about any subject than me'. Then I went to the psycho-analytical institute of Amsterdam and asked for complete analysis. They studied the papers of child-care about me, had a talk with me and concluded: 'We can not treat you. Your traumas are to severe, you lack a firm psychological foundation, but you can cope with the world. Analysis can bring up the old trauma's and destabilize you.'

Of course I did not accept this. Yes, I could cope with society. But I was not happy. Thus I decided to analyze and transform myself, using meditation, alpha-training, yoga, shamanism, Jungian psychology, etc. I created a brain-machine: a flip-flop circuit with LEDS in diving goggles, combined with electric-stimulation (TENS) in the same rhythm. I also created cassettes with guided meditations for myself. Step by step I went deeper in my mind, my knowledge increased.

My experiences with alpha-training, guided meditations, etc. helped me to create the course Yggdrasil.

Acid (LSD)

In the early eighties I read a lot of books about the brain, mind-control and experiments with the brain. After reading books of John C. Lilly M.D., like "Center of the Cyclone", I became interested in LSD. John Lilly and many others wrote about breakthroughs they experienced after 'dropping some acid'. In the Netherlands we had a psychiatrist, professor Jan Bastiaans M.D., who was licensed by the Dutch authorities to treat patients with PTSD with LSD. This patients, who had survived the death-camps of Hitler, were very enthusiastic about the treatment with LSD. Living with my psychopathic father and his gang of free-masons had been more or less like living in a death-camp for seven years. So I decided around 1985 to 'drop some acid'.

In general, I am against drugs, specially against taking drugs for fun. marihuana (pot, grass) seems innocent to many people and just fun to use. But it increases the chance of developing schizophrenia, becoming depressed, throat-cancer and a lot more. When you use it a teenager, your achievements at school will diminish and you can seriously decrease your chances of achieving a good life. So you should stay away from drugs until your mid-twenties. Then, when your brain is matured, you should be extremely careful. Don't use drugs if you have any doubts. Don't use it, because your friends do. Do it only, when your heart or inner voice tells you so.

Most drugs I consider useless for shamanic purposes and exploring your inner self. Drugs I found useful are XTC (MDMA), LSD, Mescaline (peyote, san pedro) and psilocybin mushrooms. Marihuana combined with a small glass of wine can get you very relaxed. When you combine this with self-help CDs or TRANCE-FORMATIONS, you can gain insight. But Marihuana has a very serious drawback: It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and decreases the sympathetic nervous system. In other words: it makes you lazy. If you use it often, you get a lazy personality. You become an under-achiever. That is not desirable!

XTC (MDMA) relaxes the solar plexus. The defense-mechanisms of your ego are located in the solar plexus. So MDMA causes you to drop your guards and temporarily loose your ego. It helps you to become honest and loving and it helps you to open up to other people. In this respect it can be useful if you use it occasionally. If you use it every week as a party-drug, it will be very destructive.

Mescaline and psilocybin can help you explore different parts of your mind, get visions and get you started on a shamanic journey.

In my experience, it is difficult to combine MDMA, mescaline or psilocybin with TRANCE-FORMATIONS. But LSD combined with TRANCE-FORMATIONS are a powerful team to transform yourself to the deepest levels. Between 1985 and 1987 I used LSD together with home-made TRANCE-FORMATION sound-cassettes. They were quite primitive compared with current TRANCE-FORMATIONS. But they helped me to break through the barriers I build during my childhood against physical, sexual and spiritual abuse. After that, I went deeper and deeper in the unconscious levels of my mind. I tore aside the veils of society and civilization and became one with my primitive self. Then I moved on, to even more primitive levels. I used the knowledge that I gained from these trips to develop the TRANCE-FORMATIONS of Yggdrasil. In the TRANCE-FORMATION about the eagle Hrae-svelgr, in the world of Angst (or fear), you first climb the wall of fear. Then the eagle Hrae-svelgr (Devourer of corpses) devours you. You fall through her stomach and her guts and then in the Great abyss, an almost bottomless pit. Then you are in the stomach of the unborn great-grandmother. In her stomach you are torn apart and completely destroyed. Only your pure consciousness remains and your consciousness starts a chain-reaction in the great-grandmother. You become one with the great-grandmother and she becomes conscious. Then you/she rises up from the bottomless pit as a roaring flame, as a pillar of fire. You rise up, up, up until you tower above the universe as a pillar of love and light.

When you do this TRANCE-FORMATION often without LSD it will transform you. I have done this TRANCE-FORMATION with LSD and then everything becomes real. You become different. Not only a different person, it goes far beyond that. You develop certain powers.

Legal issue: I do NOT recommend you to use LSD (or other drugs). Drugs do harm most people. And LSD should be considered as 'TNT for the mind'. People who are trained to handle explosives can make tunnels through mountains with explosives. If they make a mistake, people die. In the hands of a shaman LSD can be used to make gateways through 'the collective unconscious'. Make a mistake and you destroy your mind. If you have any doubt, don't use it. But in the end, it is your own responsibility. You do it at your own risk. And it is your mind to risk. The government has no right to tell you what you can do with your own mind. But the government (and we shamans) have a responsibility towards people that are unaware of the dangers. LSD should not be used by people with mental instability or known psychological diseases. LSD should not be used by immature people or people who are not properly prepared. LSD should not be used as a party-drug. LSD should only be used by people that have trained their mind for many years with meditation, yoga and pranayama exercises.

Wikipedia about Entheogen drugs.

Page 2 of What is Yggdrasil

With Light and Love, Andreas Firewolf

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