Törö Mod- Mongolian LocationLocation · Landmark"Pillar of the Three Worlds"
Also known as: Turge and Төрө Мод
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Symbols
Description
An immense tree whose roots grip the underworld of Erlik Khan and whose branches touch the heavens of Tengri. Shamans climb the Törö Mod during trance, notch by notch up a birch pole, describing the bark beneath their hands and the spirits waiting on each branch.
Mythology & Lore
Three Worlds
The roots of Törö Mod grip the underworld of Erlik Khan, where the dead go. Its branches touch Tengri's sky. Between them, the trunk rises through the world of humans. The Mongols called it the "Order Tree" because it held the three realms in place. Without it, sky would collapse into earth, and earth into the cold below.
Mongolian shamanic tradition holds that before a shaman is born, the soul rests in a nest among the tree's highest branches. The higher the nest, the stronger the shaman. Törö Mod is the original tree, the source from which all others descend. Every birch on the steppe is a distant echo of it.
The Climb
During trance, shamans climbed the Törö Mod. Up meant the sky spirits, blessings, celestial negotiations. Down the roots meant Erlik Khan's domain, where stolen souls could be found and secrets of the dead could be learned.
In ritual, shamans erected birch poles and cut notches into the wood. Each notch marked a threshold between spiritual realms. They climbed the poles while their souls climbed the cosmic tree, and they described what they passed: the texture of the bark beneath their hands, the beings perched on each branch. Some shamans never returned. Lost between worlds, or held by spirits who refused to let them go.