Yggdrasil, the world tree or tree of life in Norse mythology, is an eternal, evergreen ash tree which stretches out over all of the nine worlds and connects all things. The tree represents the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth.

In the poem Grímnismál, Odin says that the sacred ash, “suffers agony more than men know,” because of the animals that chew the roots and branches of the sacred tree. An (unnamed) eagle lives at the top, and Nidhog, a terrible dragon, lives at the bottom, at the gate of Hel, where he constantly chews on one of the three huge roots. No love is lost between the eagle and the dragon and their enmity is stirred by Ratatosk – a tell-tale squirrel – who runs up and down the tree carrying insulting messages between them. As well as numerous snakes four stags, Dvalinn, Duraþrór, Duneyrr, and Dáinn, live in the tree’s branches and eat the buds.

This depiction of Yggdrasil was produced for me by the super-talented Kate Bowen.