Editing World tree (section)

===Relation to shamanism===
Romanian historian of religion, [[Mircea Eliade]], in his monumental work ''[[Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy]]'', suggested that the world tree was an important element in [[shamanism|shamanistic]] worldview.<ref name=Fournet2020>{{cite journal|last1=Fournet|first1=Arnaud|title=Shamanism in Indo-European Mythologies|journal=Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies|date=2020|volume=8|issue=1|pages=12–29|url=https://aaatec.org/documents/article/fournetar2.pdf}}</ref> Also, according to him, "the giant bird ... hatches shamans in the branches of the World Tree".<ref name=Fournet2020/> Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates the presence of the motif in [[Altaic shamanism]].<ref name="Knutsen Cultic Symbols">{{cite book|doi=10.1163/9789004218024_007|chapter=Cultic Symbols|title=Tengu|year=2011|pages=43–50|isbn=978-1-906876-22-7|first1=Roald|last1=Knutsen}}</ref> Representations of the world tree are reported to be portrayed in [[drum]]s used in Siberian shamanistic practices.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hultkrantz|first1=Åke|title=The drum in Shamanism: some reflections|journal=[[Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis]]|date=1991|volume=14|doi=10.30674/scripta.67194|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Some species of birds ([[eagle]], [[raven]], [[Crane (bird)|crane]], [[loon]], and [[lark]]) are revered as mediators between worlds and also connected to the imagery of the world tree.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Balzer|first1=Marjorie Mandelstam|title=Flights of the Sacred: Symbolism and Theory in Siberian Shamanism|journal=American Anthropologist|date=1996|volume=98|issue=2|pages=305–318|doi=10.1525/aa.1996.98.2.02a00070|jstor=682889}}</ref> Another line of scholarship points to a "recurring theme" of the [[owl]] as the mediator to the upper realm, and its counterpart, the snake, as the mediator to the lower regions of the cosmos.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eastham|first1=Anne|title=Magdalenians and Snowy Owls ; bones recovered at the grotte de Bourrouilla (Arancou, Pyrénées Atlantiques)/Les Magdaléniens et la chouette harfang : la Grotte de Bourrouilla, Arancou (Pyrénées Atlantiques)|journal=Paléo|date=1998|volume=10|issue=1|pages=95–107|doi=10.3406/pal.1998.1131|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/pal_1145-3370_1998_num_10_1_1131.pdf}}</ref>

Researcher Kristen Pearson mentions Northern Eurasian and Central Asian traditions wherein the World Tree is also associated with the [[horse]] and with [[deer antlers]] (which might resemble tree branches).<ref>Pearson, Kristen. ''[http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp269_horse_myths.pdf Chasing the Shaman's Steed: The Horse in Myth from Central Asia to Scandinavia]''. Sino-Platonic Papers nr. 269. May, 2017.</ref>