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The Irminenschaft Insignia / The Irminsul

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Heilazunga!

I've been away for a while, which has made me incapable of being online much of the time. This includes reading much of the list to my great disappointment. I did read a question about the Irminsul image found on the Irminenschaft website a while back (I am not too sure anymore by whom). As I am the creator of said image, I felt compelled to reply, my apologies for the extreme lateness of this reply. (It concerns this image:
http://www.geocities.com/cnuosles/images/irminsul.jpg )

To start off, let's look at the shaft of the Irminsul, the actual "Sul"
if you will. The shaft of the Irminsul, as I have decided to create it,
consists of three main parts, divided by the arrow-shaped decorations.

These three parts can be seen as the three "main" worlds;

- Ensigart (Scandinavian: Asgardh)

- Mittigart (Sc: Midhgardh)

- Hellaheim (Sc: Helheim)

If one looks close you can see that the top part (Ensigart) is larger than Hellaheim (being the second in size) and Mittigart being smallest in size, this mainly for the spiritual size I felt it should contain. Ensigart being the home of the Gods, Hellaheim being the home of the dead and Hella, Mittigart being the home of the humans. Also, the worlds are in order of placement, Hellaheim being low, Mittigart (well the name says it all) being in the Middle and Ensigart being at the top.

The decorative dividers are not just decoration and one will quickly note they all point upwards. This is no coincidence, this is meant to indicate the journey of the true warrior; from Death to Life (resurrection) to Ensigart. The two dividers, separating the three worlds are two decorations, whereas the most top one is one of three. I did this mainly to symbolize the creation of the whole. The shaft, to me, represents the worlds, thus created from the two basic elements, represented in the Scandinavian lore as Fire and Ice. The top, however, represents Ensigart as it became when Irmin came to it and the race of Gods took their place on their seats, thus three; Fire, Ice and the Gods.

The root of the Irminsul is clearly divided in three roots. As I believe
the Irminsul is a representation of the World-tree Yggdrasil, found in the Scandinavian lore, this clearly represents the three roots this tree
has. The lines running from the root up through the shaft all the way to
the top, I feel, are the waters drafted from the primal wells that are
to be found at the roots of the World-Tree.

The top, to me, represents the wings of the eagle that sits on top of Yggdrasil and also represents the God Irmin as he looks down from the tree and sees all. The two wings could be seen as one being the Ases, the other the Wanes. They are the wings of the birds that dwell in the skies, the place of heavens, the place of knowledge, where one could look down on Mittigart and see all. The two smaller wings below the bigger wings (I hope this makes sense) I feel are the wings of the hawk that sits between the eyes of the eagle. To me this represents Wodan and Fruwa, the two that pick the dead from the
battle-fields and thus look down from the sky on the battlefield.

Well, that's my explanation on the design and all, I tried to follow
other artists on their interpretations as well and of course the actual
images we have about the Irminsul. I hope this gave a small insight into the creation of the image, if not, feel free to ask any questions, although I can't be too sure of a quick reply ;)

Please note, the above interpretation of the Irminsul is a personal one and is not THE interpretation or even much based on historical work. It is simply an insight into my mind and the conclusions I came to watching the images of the Irminsul and my own work in creating an image of it.

Also, I'd like to thank Hjuka for his many kind words and I am truly honored the image is being used so profoundly on the works of the Irminenschaft! Much appreciated, my friend!

Heidensche Gru¦Â,
Hrodger Fr¨¦jawin