Trees are a familiar occurrence in world mythology. Everyone has heard of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden of Eden. Jupiter was venerated in an ancient oak, the Scandinavians worshipped the ash Yggdrasil, and the ancient goddess Ishtar was believed to dwell in the date palm. Throughout the world gods and ancestors are born of trees, reside in hollow trees, die by being suspended from trees, climb to heaven by means of trees, or are transformed into trees after their deaths. But what exactly is it about trees that has attracted the ancients' interest in these plants?

The central motifs of myth and religion were based upon visual templates. Celestial disasters precipitating augmented auroras were perceived by late Palaeolithic people around the world and remembered in terms of symbolic language. Trees were eminently suitable symbols to convey the images observed in the sky due to the versatile morphology of their roots, trunks and canopies. Mythological trees symbolise the unique development of the axis mundi, the connecting line between the poles of the earth and the sky, during times of great atmospheric upheaval. The following is a presentation of tree morphologies I encountered during my travels, which aptly illustrate some of the most enduring themes of myth.

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Andong, South-Korea 9^th. April 2003	Botanical Gardens, Bogor, West-Java, Indonesia 19^th. May 2003


the segmented world axis The world axis was divided in seven to nine layers typically identified with the strata of heaven.
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Gunung Leuser National Park, Bukit Lawang, North-Sumatra, Indonesia, 27^th. May 2003	Gunung Leuser National Park, Bukit Lawang, North-Sumatra, Indonesia, 27^th. May 2003


the spiralling world axis A helical spiral wound itself seven to nine times round the world axis.
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Deoksugung Palace, Seoul, South-Korea 1^st. May 2003	Namsan Provincial Park, Seoul, South-Korea 1^st. May 2003


the triple world axis Although rooted in one place the world axis split into two or three trunks.	the self-entwining world axis The world axis appeared as a double interlaced spiral.
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Pangandaran, Central Java, Indonesia 14^th. May 2003	Pangandaran National Park, Central Java, Indonesia 15^th. May 2003


the world axis ascended The deity or hero ascends to the sky by means of the world axis.	the quartered world axis The world axis stands at the intersection of the four cardinal directions, which converge in its summit.
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Acropolis, Athens, Attica, Greece 5^th. July 2003	Nak'wa-am, Busosanseong, Buyeo, South-Korea 21^st. April 2003


the forked world axis The trunk of the world axis splits into two branches at the top.
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Palatine Hill, Rome, Italy 10^th. September 2003	Richmond Park, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom 4^th. August 2001


the world-axis on the mound The world-axis was formed like an hourglass with conical extensions at its top and its bottom and an attenuated line in the centre. This was often symbolised as a single tree placed on the summit of a mountain.	the split world-axis The mythical hero cleft the world-axis vertically.
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