Course Seven: Lore 305
instead of at the bottom. All these are held like flets
(tree-platforms) in the roots and branches of the vast
cosmic world-ash-tree, Yggdrasil (IG-dra-sil), which
is aligned with the Earth’s axis of rotation so that the
tree’s crown points to the North Star.
Asgard (home of the Aesir gods) is at the top,
and Ljosalfheim (home of the bright elves) is usually
placed below it. Then comes Midgard. Niflheim (Mist-
home) is to the north, slightly below Midgard, and
Muspelheim (land of fire giants) is in the south. Most
modern writers place Jotunheim (home of the frost
giants) in the east and Vanaheim (home of the Vanir)
in the west. Below them is Svartalfheim (home of the
dark elves or dwarves) and then Helheim (realm of
the dead). A rainbow bridge, called Bifrost, spans the
sky from Asgard to the judgement seats of the gods by
the Well of Wyrd, which is below one of the roots of
the Tree. Surrounding the land of Midgard was the
great outer ocean, which reached to the edge of the
disc. There it washed against the scales of Jormungand,
the vast Midgard serpent, who circled ceaselessly,
holding his tail in his mouth to prevent the sea from
spilling off into space. Beyond the serpent were the
realms of fire and ice.Turtle Worlds
Although the Norse imagined the worlds being
supported by a great tree, many tribes thought of the
land as being carried on the back of a giant turtle
swimming through an infinite sea. This is why North
America is sometimes referred to as “Great Turtle
Island.” In India, the disc of the Earth was thought to
be supported on the backs of four colossal elephants,
and they, in turn, stood on the shell of a mighty turtle,
swimming eternally through space. Terry Pratchett has
written dozens of delightful satirical novels set on such
a world, called the “Discworld.” These books are
favorites among magickal people (they feature some
memorable Wizards and Witches), and a couple have
been made into animated films.Lesson 5: Realms of the Gods
I am not aware of any peoples in the history of the world
who did not acknowledge the existence of a spirit realm
populated by entities we call “gods.” Each of these heav-
enly abodes is like a separate country, inhabited by its
own pantheon (“all gods”) or family of gods.Manjet and Mesektet
The gods of Egypt dwell both in the heavens and
in the natural world. In the beginning, or “First Time,”
they lived on Earth among humans. That was a Golden
Age in which justice reigned over the land. Their houses
were the great temples, each dedicated to a single host
deity. However, every Egyptian temple honored and
served all the Gods with subsidiary chapels and altars.
Departing each morning from Manu, the hill of
sunrise, the gods also ride through the daytime sky
high above the Earth on the great solar barge Manjet,
identical (though, of course, on a larger scale) to those
which plied the Nile River from the delta to the first
cataract (falls). During the night, they sail the
waterways of the Underworld on the boat Mesektet,
the “Barque of a Million Years.” So the realm of the
Egyptian gods is like a luxurious cosmic cruise!Mt. Olympus
In Greece, the main abode of the gods is Mt.
Olympus, a real 10,000-foot-high mountain in Thessaly.
However, like Faerie, the actual divine realm exists in
a kind of parallel dimension and cannot be reached
merely by climbing the mountain. Entrance to Olympus
is barred by a gate of clouds, guarded by the Horae
(“Hours” or “Seasons”). Each of the gods lives in his
or her own palace, built of their corresponding metals.
For relaxation, the gods listen to the lovely music of
Apollo and the Muses—the official Olympian band.
They are intensely interested in the affairs of mortal
humans, which for them comprise a great ongoing
game—sort of “sim-humanity.” The gods feast on
ambrosia (honey and poppies) and the golden apples
of immortality (oranges) brought each day from the
Garden of the Hesperides on the shore of the ocean in
the far West. Although they enjoy the wine of Dionysos,
their particular sacred beverage is nectar (honey wine).The
Discworld
by Oberon- Lore.p65 305 1/15/2004, 9:37 AM