NERTHUS - MOTHER EARTH
 
How do you imagine the Mother of All Being? Among ancient north Germanic tribes, this earth and fertility goddess was called Nerthus. The Roman historian Tacitus already called her "Mother Earth".
She symbolises the primordial ground and thus the innermost part of our world.
 
One tradition says that a fertility ritual was held in her honour with the help of a cult chariot to celebrate the awakening of life. The wheel cross held by Nerthus in this representation is supposed to refer to the wheels of that very chariot and at the same time symbolises the change from the dark to the light season.
 
Nerthus may have many shapes - here she is depicted as the embodiment of a blooming ash tree which, with the help of her divine power, brings life back into the world.