====== Working With Ödddrasil ======
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Semimagical insights into the Discordian tree

At first glance Ödddrasil, the tree of the Discordians, may not seem to offer as much magical potential (or any potential at all) as one might have hoped. But this is a misconception, for Ödddrasil is in itself a special medium, an aid to knowledge and perhaps even a primitive form of map on the path to illumination.

===== The trunk =====


or the stable center

The trunk of Oeddrasil lies at the center of the map, and indeed it acts as the stable center of the spheres that surround it and the seat of what the Discordian calls the “Realm of Chaos” or the “harmonic Hodge Podge”. In it lie the origins of both the branches that support the spheres and - although this may seem unconventional - the origin of the crown and the root.
The realm or the harmonic itself is more or less formless. It is merely the origin and carrier of the concepts and ideas that spring from it and in this function also the supporting center of the tree, around which everything stands still, because the harmonic Hodge Podge of the Realm of Chaos is itself constantly in motion.
The trunk therefore corresponds to the source of all concepts, all ideas and objects. Everything in this world, whether eristic or aneristic, springs from this rotating center of harmony and branches off from it or forms a crown and root at the end of the main axis.
And in the function of the trunk, it is the task of the realm to carry the branches that spring from it, i.e. from itself, and on which the spheres condense.
For the Discordian, the trunk thus has the function of the origin and the beating heart of Ödddrasil, which carries and sustains it as long as there is a healthy harmony of Hodge and Podge.

===== The branches =====


or the condensed fruit

Starting from the trunk to the left and right in the 2nd dimension and along further axes in the 3rd dimension, the branches of Oeddrasil are formed from the realm, at the ends of which there is a condensed fruit of the tree. These are called the spheres.
To get an idea of the function of the spheres, you need to understand how they can form on Ödddrasil's branches and, ultimately, how and from what the branches that grow out of the trunk result.
The branches of Ödddrasil are formed from vague concepts that slowly mature in the realm and then, when they reach a certain level of consistency, break through the realm and begin to form branches. These branches are initially massive structures - a rough outline of an idea, so to speak, or an approximate idea of a concept. The further the branches reach, the more they branch out, symbolizing the splintering of an approximate idea into more tangible concepts.
In a way, this is a bit of a paradox, as the concept on the trunk turns out to be similar to the later, defined concept. The branch itself is perhaps a little stronger, but the concept within it is unpolished, nebulous and spongy, which makes this branch quite stable, as it can carry more conceptual mass, but it is not fully defined and only corresponds to the basic outlines of an idea without a concrete elaboration of it.
The branches that now branch off from this branch reflect the manifold elaborations of this idea. All the variants of a basic idea branch out into ever smaller concepts and ideas, which are all based on the original concept.
If it now happens that among these developed ideas or concepts some are regarded as universally valid, desirable or particularly practicable, a kind of sphere slowly condenses at their end, which - like the fruit of a tree - contains part of the seed of the realm.
The spheres or fruits of Ödddrasil play a symbolic role here, as they roughly correspond to what could be described as a “subjective sphere of perception”.
This means nothing other than that the concept of the branch within the fruit has developed into a relatively rigid and solidified aspect of the concept and forms the basis of life for those people who reside within this sphere. Symbolically, one could also speak of “eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge”.

==== An example ====


Within the Realm, the idea, the concept of religion and faith is formed. A rather diffuse concept that is not yet subject to any restrictions or even dogmatism. It is merely the vague idea of faith itself and, as a shoot on the trunk, is not subject to any further restrictions. Now the branch begins to branch out. Currents of faith are forming that are still quite undefined and, at best, nebulous. Individual currents turn out to be stronger and more interesting, and these in turn form small branches that branch off from the central branch.
When the point is finally reached at which the idea of faith has manifested itself to such an extent that it has been elaborated, institutionalized and accepted, the sphere begins to condense around the mass of branches that symbolize and have produced this concept.
The sphere corresponds not only to a particular concept in itself, but to the particular manifestation of all similar concepts in this branch.
Which sphere of Ödddrasil corresponds to the sphere of religion is up to you.

===== The crown and the root =====


or the home of the Illuminated

Ödddrasil's crown and root are probably the strongest regions within the concept of the tree. As with a tree in a forest, both ensure that the realm, i.e. the trunk, is nourished. On the one hand via the nutrients from the soil that the roots absorb and on the other via the foliage in the crown which, to put it simply, breaks down sunlight, CO2 and water into sugar and oxygen. In the symbol of the tree Ödddrasil, this means nothing other than that those in the crown and roots also nourish the tree and provide it with the energy it needs to live. Crown and root are essential for the harmony of the vibration of the Hodge Podge in the trunk of Ödddrasil and in their own way provide the vibrations that keep the Sacred Chao in the Realm in rotation. It would be foolish to limit oneself to simple concepts such as eristic and aneristic vibrations. In the best case, both equally emit a constant stream of energetic impulses that keep the chao beating in the trunk as the heart of Oeddrasil. As with the model of the tree in nature, the crown and root form a densely branched network of small and tiny branches, which in their own way absorb the tiniest particles, impressions or impulses from their environment and send them into the trunk. And this may be one of the great insights that Ödddrasil can provide.
That network of the crown and the root essentially corresponds to the realization that everything that exists is the sum of what we call chaos. It is, if you like, the purest form of accepting the effect of chaos and in this context there are therefore two opposite poles for perceiving and processing this effect of chaos, namely the aforementioned crown in which the wise reside and the root which is the home of the simple. Put simply, this means nothing other than that those who surrender and submit to the Hodge and Podge of the world but cannot or do not want to do anything with it find themselves in the root, in the home of the simple, and those who have recognized the principle of Ödddrasil and know how to use it to their and everyone's advantage reside in the crown. 
The actual difference between crown and root is rather minimal and in the end it doesn't even really matter where you are. To put it simply, in the crown, the home of the wise, are all the gurus and the illuminated, all those who on their path to knowledge have attained the wisdom that what happens around them results together with themselves from the eternally turning heart of the realm, the Sacred Chao, while those who reside in the root are comparable to the fools and fools and all those who more or less simply do not care what results and who celebrate and worship life for its own sake. Within these two groups, then, the essence of the Sacred Chao's energy is formed as a result of their action or inaction, realized from the impulses that both groups perceive independently of each other in the deepest emptiness of the space surrounding Oeddrasil. The Sacred Chao absorbs this energy, transforms and refines it and returns most of it to the world via branches, twigs and fruit. 

===== In conclusion =====


So we can say that the main power of Ödddrasil comes from the crown and root. It is transformed by the heart in the trunk and then forms branches at the ends of which the spikes hang like overripe fruit. However, Ödddrasil's depiction also allows the conclusion to be drawn that bundled impressions from the spheres also flow back into Ödddrasil's heart and are absorbed there into the eternally rotating Sacred Chao, where they are then presumably used as transformed energy to be passed on to the root and the crown. Of course, this also means that those spheres or fruits that could perhaps be described as tainted also give off impulses to the Sacred Chao, just as the other spheres do. For the heart of Oeddrasil, those impulses often seem to be like poison that can cause the Sacred Chao to falter, but which in its own right as the heart of chaos itself only stops beating when the human being himself has long since crumbled to dust and the end of all time is approaching.