The Gnostic Handbook

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The Tree starts with nothing, the great void or emptiness behind all
things, this is known as Ain (1st C) Ain at various cycles moves through
transformative stages and manifests three principles (2nd C)
Kether The Divine Will
Chokmah The Logos
Binah Sophia (Saturn)
We have deliberately chosen Gnostic names here to prepare you for there use in our Gnostic
model of the universe as presented in the next chapter. Chokmah and Binah also form the polar-
ity of male and female principles which give birth to the rest of the Tree of Life. (They could
also be easily related to the Fire and Ice of Yggdrasil).
Geburah Mars
Chesed Jupiter
Tiphareth Sun
Hod Mercury
Netzach Venus
Yesod Moon
Malkuth Earth
These planes or world, which can be related to planets and realities bring together the remaining
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characteristics with the Astral plane at the Moon and the Earth at the base.
There are many attributions related to the Kabbalah and as a system of classification it is ex-
tremely useful. Again we must avoid the tendency towards reductionism and see the centres
more as a landscape in which townships meld into each other rather than an a classification
scheme from a biology textbook !
Yggdrasil:The World Tree
Nine world I can count, nine roots of the Tree
Volupsa
Nine lays of power I learned from Bolthorn, Bestla's father
Odin in the Havamal
Yggdrasil is a prime example of the organic model of the Great Chain of Being. In the Elder
Edda Yggdrasil is identified as a sacred Ash Tree, it becomes obvious that this is no ordinary
tree but a tree which glyphs the worlds and which encompasses many strata's of reality. In the
Grimnismal Yggddrasil is described as having three great roots, one lies under Hel, the realm of
the dead, under another dwell the giants and under the third live human beings. A squirrel runs
along its branches, an eagle nets in its crown, four deer browse on its branches and a dragon
gnaws at its roots. In the Volupsa the sacred Ash is described as very tall, always green and
moist, the source of dew and as having the Well of Destiny (Urd) as its roots. At Ragnorak, the "
towering ash trembles, and the world tree howls".
" The Ash is of all the trees the biggest and the best. Its branches spread out over
all the world and extend across the sky. Three of the tree's roots support it and ex-
tend very, very far. One is among the Aesir, the second among the frost giants,
where Ginnungagap once was. The third extends over Niflheim and under that
root is Hvergelmir, and Nidhogg gnaws the bottom of the root".
Gylfaginning, Younger Edda
Snorri Sturluson,
Trans. Antony Faulkes.
Yggdrasil is one of the more poetic and expressive images of the Great Chain of Being. In some
forms of Northern worship it was celebrated with a "gigantic pillar", one of which, Irminsul was
renowned for its size, but was destroyed by Charlemagne in his attempted conversion of the Sax-
ons in the eighth century. From the world tree extends nine worlds or realms, five of which are
on the central axis and four in the directions. Pathways link all the worlds with the central Axis.
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(The system of nine rather than seven duplicates the principles of fire and ice as distinct worlds,
this is not found in later models of the universe such as the Anglo Saxon)
The world in the center is called Midgard. The word Gard means dwelling, it is obviously related
to the word Garden. Midgard is Middle Earth, the garden in which ex live our lives. It includes
the physical world as it is perceived by our senses. Encircling Midgard is the world serpent. (4th
C)
Niflheim is the realm of ice and darkness, while Muspellsheim is the world of fire and heat. The
interaction between fire and ice, Niflheim and Muspellsheim (2nd C) is a major dynamic within
the activity of the world tree. This interaction occurs in Ginnungagap (1st C), an empty abyss,
where the fire of Muspellsheim mets of the icy rivers of Niflheim and from this dynamic the gi-
ant Ymir is born. Odin and his brother, born from giants, carve up the body of Ymir to create
Midgard. Ymirs bones become the moutains, his teeth the rocks, his blood the rivers, his skull the
vault of the sky, his hair the forests and grasses. Like the Titans, Ymir's death creates mankind.
Hence Midgard is a checkerboard on which fire and ice battle against each other until the game is
completed.
From the interaction of Fire and Ice within the Great Gap, the planes or worlds are formed. This [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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