The Apprentice Pillar
At the base of the Apprentice pillar you will find eight dragons and from their mouths emerges the vine that winds itself around the pillar.
There may be a link here to Scandinavian Mythology, in which the eight dragons of Neilfelheim were said to lie at the base of Yddrasil, the great ash tree which bound together heaven, earth and hell. The founder's connection with Orkney perhaps provided the inspiration for this symbolism.
Throughout various cultures we find the linking strands of sacrifice and renewal. Within the Chapel the Norse and Celtic influences are very clear. The Apprentice Pillar is very obviously a representation of the Norse Tree of Knowledge, Yggdrasil, which held up the heavens from the earth and the dragons of time who gnawed at the roots of the Tree.
In Christian terms it is a representation of the Tree of Life. However, according to Norse mythology Odin sacrificed himself on the Tree of Knowledge in order to gain the secrets of wisdom and creation from the severed head of Mimir, a nature God who was forever kept alive on herbs and spring water - the Green Man!
