Tag: Tree of Life

19th July 2015
The story of my Drum, Yggdrasil.

I birthed my Medicine Drum for the first time on a weekend workshop lead by a beautiful lady with a glorious voice.  There were 5 of us making our drums and we had a blast.  Choosing our skins and hoops, cutting to size, punching holes, threading them.  then we left them to dry overnight.  The photo is of my wet drum – I was so proud of it and knew immediately that it was special.

That night I dreamed.  the spirit of my drum came to me and told me her name was Yggdrasil.  That’s not a name you hear everyday.  Certainly I’d never heard of it before.  And when I woke up I found I had been auto-writing.  This is what I wrote:

In the dim and distant past, almost at the time before History began there was a Goddess (I can’t remember her name) and her consort Cernunnos. Cernunnos was the God of all wild things. Of the trees and forest. Of the creatures that lived there. Of all things that are wild and free.
Over time Cernunnos has been known by many names. In the time of the Druids he was Herne the Horned Hunter. The Celts knew him as The Green Man. For the Norse people he is represented as Odin.
The Norse gods reside in Asgard. In the centre of Asgard is a very large ash tree. This tree is so tall that its branches reach through the clouds and touch the sky. Its roots are buried deep into the earth. It has three main roots: one into Asgard, one into the land of the Giants and the third one is where the dragon lives.
This tree has contact with all the nine worlds of Norse mythology. At the base of this tree lives Dragon. At the top is Eagle. Squirrel runs between the two stirring up mischief! Stag lives within the protection of the tree.
The tree’s name is Yggdrasil.
It is the Tree of Life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Animal Totems are Stag and Possum.
I have flown with Eagle and Dragon.
Possum could be considered the Australian equivalent of a squirrel.
The animals connected with Cernunnos and Yggdrasil are all close to me.

Of course, one of the first things I did after reading my auto-writing, was check Google – that fount of all knowledge!  And there was the name Yggdrasil – with the exact story I had written.  I was gob-smacked!

As she was being made, with her skin wet, she showed a beautiful central tree. Tiger (one of my spirit messengers) was there as was Stag (my spirit guide). A Tipi was also visible – an acknowledgement of the Native American Shamic heritage of this particular drum.
As she dried, a whole forest seemed to surround the central tree and many more animals could be seen.
I also made three decorative hide plaits which hang from the bottom of the drum. I now know that these represent the three roots.
The central tree is, of course, Yggdrasil.

Now that the skin is fully dried, there is little to see. But I know the secrets in the skin. And as Yggdrasil ages these secrets will return for all to see.

I have had several past lives. One is from the time of Cernunnos where I was a Healer. I used Wild Stones to scry the future and the past. I understood the Moon, the movement of the Sun and honoured Mother Earth.