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Description
Acrylic on canvas board.

I was doing a lot of thinking about the Norse God Odin. There is a tale of how He sacrificed Himself upon the World Tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, with no food and no drink, wounded by His own spear. At the end of this ordeal (which some scholars say may have been a shamanic rite) Odin gained the knowledge of the runes, the Old High German/Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian alphabet(s) that is also thought to have magical properties (each rune has a name, a meaning, and a magical application, according to rune poems of various cultures).

I painted this with Odin's ordeal in mind. It is the World Tree, standing amidst the other trees of a forest, the "Well of Fate" (Urthabrunnr), and the silver, broken rope from which Odin hung, still affixed to the limb of the Tree.

(Note: the tale never mentions a rope or anything; I added it because Odin told me to )
(Note: This is, unfortunately, a picture of the painting, as my scanner decided it hates me.)

Description
Acrylic on canvas board.

I was doing a lot of thinking about the Norse God Odin. There is a tale of how He sacrificed Himself upon the World Tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, with no food and no drink, wounded by His own spear. At the end of this ordeal (which some scholars say may have been a shamanic rite) Odin gained the knowledge of the runes, the Old High German/Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian alphabet(s) that is also thought to have magical properties (each rune has a name, a meaning, and a magical application, according to rune poems of various cultures).

I painted this with Odin's ordeal in mind. It is the World Tree, standing amidst the other trees of a forest, the "Well of Fate" (Urthabrunnr), and the silver, broken rope from which Odin hung, still affixed to the limb of the Tree.

(Note: the tale never mentions a rope or anything; I added it because Odin told me to )
(Note: This is, unfortunately, a picture of the painting, as my scanner decided it hates me.)