The Inverted Tree of Samsara is a metaphor for reality in which the material world emerges top-down from the divine. The tree is positioned upside-down, with its roots originating in the sky to represent Brahman, the supreme spirit and the source of all Being. The trunk represents the eternal, unchanging forms that exist beyond time and causality. The branches and leaves represent Maya—the physical world as a mere illusory reflection of divine principles.
The Slavic World Tree is a metaphor for reality as a struggle between two oppositional Gods. The roots, representing the domain of the Earth God Veles, hold the powers of fertility, nourishment, chaos, and death -- the source of material life. The trunk represents the realm of human endeavor, such as war, labor, kinship, and civilization. The branches and leaves represent the heavenly realm of the Sky God Perun, who embodies abstract thought, law, and order. Perun and Veles are perpetually at war, but equal in power.