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The Irminsul found echoes in other traditions. The Norse Yggdrasil—the World Tree connecting nine realms—may have developed from earlier Germanic concepts of the cosmic pillar. The Christian adoption of the cross as central symbol perhaps absorbed some of the pillar’s symbolic function, transforming vertical axis from Germanic to Christian context.
But the original understanding was specific, particular to the Germanic peoples who stood before the physical pillar and recognized it as something more than wood, more than symbol, something that actually performed the work of holding the cosmos together. Their relationship to the Irminsul was not metaphorical but practical—they needed the pillar as they needed earth beneath feet and sky above head.
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