Linda Mastrangelo*
Medium: Pastels, Paper, Charcoal and Ink.
Date Created: March, 2009
The central image of Germanic-Nordic Religion is the World Tree, Yggdrasil or Axis Mundi. For my Ancestral Consciousness class taught by Kimmy Johnson, we were asked to research our ancestors and locate the indigenous practices that correspond to our own. My original medicine is dream work, a gift that was passed down to me by my great Aunts in Italy and the women before them whose tribes I later learned descended from the Germanic/Nordic Peoples who migrated and/or conquered there centuries ago. This is how I discovered my deep connection with Yggdrasil and the cosmology of the World Tree. The shamans of this period ascend this tree which contains nine worlds to find esoteric knowledge in order to heal the community. I was struck by these nine worlds or gates that represented other worlds or universes that seemed to correspond not only with my ancestral practices but my current dreaming experiences.
This process inspired me to create my own World Tree using pastels, paper, charcoal and ink to create a map of my dream experiences as it pertains to these Nine Worlds; titling this art piece Yggdrasil of My Ancestors: Ascending the World Tree. I rendered Odin on the tree as a representation of my journey as Oneironaut who is the god of shamans, poets and warriors, and was said to have hung on this tree for nine days as self-sacrifice in order to obtain this secret knowledge and receive the runes. According to Germanic Nordic cosmology and ancient poetic texts like the Elfer Edda, Yggdrasil has three sections: Lower, Middle and Upper worlds where giants, gods, dwarves, elves and humans dwell in the Nine Realms which are represented by the illustrations on different points/sections of the tree. Odin was said to have the power to travel to these different worlds and have conversations with the beings that resided there whether it be gods and goddesses, giants, dwarves, elves and humans.
I linked my own experiences through dream travel, visions, poetry and shamanic drumming sessions using this art piece. For example, I have received many messages in the hypnagogic state in the form of tones. One particular experience that stands out is one morning I awoke to the most beautiful, almost ethereal music and realized the vibrations and tones were coming from the redwood trees in the forest right outside my window. How I ‘knew’ this I could only explain as purely from a deeper sense of knowing. I have also seen brilliant colors and patterns in this state as well which reminds me of the Light Elves Realm of Ljosalfheim. I have also had extraordinary visual experiences in the hypnagogic state. One of my favorite experiences was with two little men standing by my bed. They had red hair, were dressed in green and clearly checking me out. My husband and I had just moved into our new cottage in the mountains and I sensed these were some kind of ‘Nature Spirits’ inspecting the new tenants and were simply curious. What realm resonates with me is that of the Dwarves and subterranean realm.
One example of a lucid dream I experienced was when I literally passed through an opaquely white membrane substance and into lucidity. I was in an open field, almost like a runway, and I had the sudden urge to fly. I ran quickly and then felt myself take off into the sky; a feeling of blissful accomplishment and wonder came over me as I looked down at the spectators below me. I was in Asgard! The realm of the sky gods perhaps? I have also seen ‘ghosts’ or people that have passed on but were still very close to the earthly realm. My sense was they needed help or healing or and by focusing on them with love and not fear made them whole again. I have also met with a goddess there who showed me how she/we could help the dead. This certainly reminds me of the Underworld or the Helheim realm and where Hel herself resides with the ancestors.
Working with my indigenous Nordic roots has certainly created a context by significantly shifted my belief systems and brought me closer to trusting my own inner processes. Reading about other people’s similar experiences has also been a wonderful conformation that perhaps there is something more going on that we cannot even imagine in our current state of consciousness: That by looking at dreaming as practice we are more in touch with who we truly are and our highest potential. Whether or not these experiences are true is not the issue here. Or as Rudolph Steiner explains, “As we evolve further, this new dream-born world not only becomes equal of outer sensory reality with regard to inner truth, but also reveals facts depicting, in the full sense of the word, a higher reality.”
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