MythicYggdrasil, the World Tree sustaining all realms (Norse)
UBTree of Life, the Edentia shrub at the center of the Father's temple
Tree of Life, the Edentia shrub at the center of the Father's temple = Yggdrasil, the World Tree sustaining all realms (Norse)
The Connection
Yggdrasil is the cosmic tree at the center of Norse cosmology whose roots span all worlds and whose life-giving waters sustain the gods. The Tree of Life is a real shrub from Edentia, placed in the central courtyard of the Father's temple in Dalamatia, whose fruit conferred immortality on the Prince's staff. Both trees are sacred, cosmologically central, life-sustaining, and located at the meeting point of the divine and mortal worlds. The image of a world tree whose fruit or sap confers immortality on those with access to it is the same image across both traditions.
UB Citation
UB 66:4.13, 73:6.1, 73:6.5
Academic Source
Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 15-16 (Sturluson, c. 1220 CE); Völuspá 19-20 (Poetic Edda)
Historical Evidence(Moderate evidence)
Prose Edda Gylfaginning 15 describes Yggdrasil as the tree whose branches "extend across the sky" and whose three roots reach the realms of the gods, the frost-giants, and the underworld. Völuspá 19 adds that the tree stands "ever green" beside the well of fate. UB 66:4.13 places the Tree of Life in "the central and circular courtyard of the Father's temple" and specifies that its fruit provided "the antidotal complements of the Satania life currents" that conferred immortality. Jesse Byock (UCLA) notes Yggdrasil's role as the cosmological structure that "holds together the nine worlds," the exact function the Tree of Life serves as the physical link between divine provision and mortal existence.
Related Mappings
Andite military commander (~5000 BC)
= Thor, Norse god of thunder and warfare
Van, sustained by the Tree of Life for 150,000 years
= Odin, self-hung on Yggdrasil, the World Tree (Norse)
The staff split: loyal vs. rebel members of the Prince's corps
= The Aesir-Vanir War, the first conflict among the gods (Norse)