Welcome To Laerad Norwegian Forest Cats

I have always had cats in my life, the first one being Algy a Siamese/ British Blue cross who joined the family the year I was born and died in my eighteenth year. He was a wonderful cat and I have seldom been without a cat since, but I never considered going into  breeding until my four daughters grew older. When I started to look at possible breeds I discovered  the Norwegian Forest Cat which I loved for its  beauty, agility,  gentle  temperament, wild look and the fact that it is a 'natural breed' - not the product of human intervention.

After much thought I chose Laerad as my prefix- it means the World Tree, and below is an extract from Kevin Crossley-Holland's excellent book on Norse mythology

'Laerad, also known as Yggdrasil is the Old Norse word for the world tree at the heart of the universe – a powerful conception which recurs in many mythologies

The Norsemen visualised the universe as a tricentric structure with Asgard at the top, realm of the warrier gods, Midgard the middle world inhabited by men, and Nifllheim, the third level, the world of the dead. The axis of the three levels and the nine worlds that lay within them was the mighty ash tree Yggdrasil, or Laerad.

‘Usually known as a Guardian Tree, Yggdrasil nourishes, and suffers from, the animals that inhabit it, feed on it and attack it. While the dragon Nidhogg gnaws its roots, deer and goats leap along the branches and tear off new shoots: and a squirrel runs up and down the trunk, carrying insults from Nidhogg to an eagle who sits in its topmost branches, with a hawk perched between its eyes. The Tree moreover drips dew so sweet that bees use it for the making of honey”

[Kevin Crossley-Holland: The Norse Myths, 1980]