All of the racial ideas contained in Ariosophy can be traced to Theosophy ... We recommend H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine ....

Only after all of this has been said does it become possible to render as conceivable the incomparably magnificent symbol of the Aryo-Germanic world-tree, Yggdrasil. Yet here too the name itself in its three-leveled reading should be made the basis of the interpretation. The conceptual and proper name "Yggdrasil" is broken up into three Ur-words: ig, dra and sil, which have the following meanings according to the three levels governing the ordering of words:

I. Level of Arising: ig = "I" as creator, generator, provider (uig, wig =) sacrality [Weihe] -- dra (thri, dri) = turning, generation ^. -- sil (sal) = salvation (drasil = spinning, flickering fire, Ur-fire).

II. Level of Being: ig (uig, wig) = viking -- dra = drag, carry -- sil = law, column [Saule] -- drasil = bearer, horse.

III. Level of Passing Away: ig = terror, death -- dra = destiny (dragon) -- sil = target [Ziel], end. (Drasil = wood).

From this are derived the three conceptual interpretations of the word and name Yggdrasil (ig-dra-sil):

I. "I, the creator, generating salvation."

II. "Bearer of the fight of the spirit," "War-tree" and "War-horse."

III. "The aim of the terror of destruction." "Wood of terror."

The world-ash Yggdrasil is the tree of life of the Aryan people (the Fifth Root Race), it describes their purpose in coming into being, their sacral fire. However, this tree lives or evolves as something tantamount to the entirety of humanity, as we think of its existence and power, and thus it is the bearer of the struggle -- iconically as the warhorse -- of humanity. And finally it will become the "wood of terror" by which humanity shall pass away. It is also the wind-cold tree sung about in Wuotan's runic song. And in this way the designation as "world-ash" is meaningful -- for ash is the Ur-word ask, and in the three levels this means: 1. arising, 2. the ash [tree], and 3. ashes (remnants of fire). Thus the Ur-father of humanity is called Ask (arising) and man-ask, "the arisen man" or the "moon arisen" (he who has his origins on the moon) and is the origin of our conceptual term for mankind [Mensch].  (This world-tree will also lose all of its branches at the time of the destruction of the Aryan world -- the Fifth Root Race -- and only the trunk -- in the form of a cross! -- will remain standing. And only when a new world blooms forth (the Sixth Root Race) will it once more turn green in renewed greatness and glory.)

The main sanctuary [Halgadom] of the gods, and their most holy stead, is near the world-ash, Yggdrasil, the best and greatest of all trees because its branches spread out over the whole world and reach up over the top of heaven. The tree has three roots: the first reaches up to the Ases, the second to the rime-thurses or frost-giants where ginnungagap once was, and the third root sinks down to Niflheim to the smoking kettle (Hvergelmir), i.e. to the ancient well of the primeval world where Nidhoggr (the one that crouches low, who foments envy), the giant serpent, gnaws on the root from below. At the second root, which reaches to the frost-giants, there exists the well of Mimir (memory), who each morning drinks from the Gjallarhorn (gi =give; all = all; ar = ; horen = to bring forth -- i.e. "giving everything to the all which is produced by the divine sun") and thereby takes in wisdom, or cosmic knowledge, from this horn. At the first root is Urda's well, where the gods hold court. From this spring emerged the Norns, fate, which is also decided there. Every day the Norns take water out of Urda's well and sprinkle it -- along with the loamy soil (loamy soil = living matter), from down below -- on the ash tree so that its branches do not wither (rebirth). The water from this well is so holy that everything that goes into the well becomes white as an eggshell. The dew that falls from the ash is called hunangsfall, honey dew, and is the nourishment of bees. Two birds are fed in Urda's well and they are called swans (suan = solar ancestors, ascent of the spirit) and from these are descended all of the swans on the earth. In the branches of the ash there sits an eagle who knows many things and between its eyes sits a hawk called Vedfolnir (the one which flies highest). The squirrel Ratatoskr (the one who scurries around) runs continuously up and down between the eagle and Nidhoggr carrying words of contention back and forth between the two in order to foment conflict between them. Four hinds [walk] around among the branches of the ash grazing on its buds. In Hvergelmir under the third root in Niflheim, there are so many serpents (more worms than foolish ninnys can imagine) that no tongue can name them, so says the Gylfaginning.

-- The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk: Esoteric and Exoteric, by Guido von List