Symbolism Dictionary: Tree
Apple: Apples
are significant in our culture, from sayings like, “The apple of my eye,” “An apple for the teacher,” to
folk legends about Johnny Appleseed, and American apple pie. The apple
in Christian dogma comes from the tree of knowledge in paradise. It is
the key to original sin, the fall of grace from God. From Symbols
Of Church Seasons And Days (1997), by John Bradner, “By tradition
the apple is the fruit of the Paradise Tree. It is used sometimes as
a symbol of Christ, the new (or second) Adam.” However the apple’s
five-petalled blossoms, like the rose and pentagram, comes from the older
Indo-European tradition representing the “knowledge” of sacred
femininity, sexuality, and immortality. The Goddesses magical paradise
took the form of apple groves in many traditions such as the Celtic “Apple-land” of
Avalon, the Norse Goddess Idun’s magical apples kept the gods immortal,
and the Greek Goddess Hera’s magical apple garden contained the
Tree of Life and the sacred serpent. A significant aspect of the apple
to witches and gypsies is the five-pointed “star” of apple
seeds in the core of the apple when cut transversely, and relates to
mythology about the Virgin Kore (Core) within her Earth Mother Demeter.
Walker in The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983)
explains, “The five-pointed star in a circle was the Egyptian hieroglyph
for the underworld womb, where resurrection was brought about by the
mother-heart of ‘transformations.’” Thus, among gypsies
and pagans, the apple symbolized sacred union.
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Christmas Tree: This symbol is one of many symbols that stem from the tree (such as the Tree of Life or Tree of Knowledge). The custom of cutting a evergreen and bringing it indoors during the short, dark, days of winter goes back to Norse Yule celebrations of the darkest days of winter, but was co-opted by Christian Missionaries in an attempt to easily convert the local pagans, and the modern Christmas Tree was created according to Symbols Of Church Seasons And |
Days (1997), by John Bradner. Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983) explains, “On the night before a holy day, Roman priests called dendrophori or ‘tree-bearers’ cut one of the sacred pines, decorated it, and carried it into the [Great Mother’s] temple to receive the effigy to Attis. Figures and fetishes attached to such trees in later centuries seem to have represented a whole pantheon of pagan deities on the World Tree.”
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Tree of Life: Also called World Tree. Man, Myth And Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Mythology, Religion And The Unknown (1995), edited by Richard Cavendish, explains, “An infinity of symbolic detail accompanies the different parts of the world-tree… The cosmic tree often bore fruits which the gods ate to ensure their immortality: and so it became a tree of life.” The idea of tree as the universe dates back to Scandinavia where the Oden Ash (Yggdrasil) was given this quality; in India it was the fig (Asvattha); in Hindu it is the Banyan; in Christianity it is the apple tree and many other religions have similar ideas, including China and Russia. The Celts and Druids represented it as the sacred oak tree, connecting the three worlds of the Upperworld, Middle-Earth, and Underworld through its branches and roots. The concept of the axis mundi also is visualized as a world tree, in the Mayan culture as Wacah Chan. Wikipedia (2005) encyclopedia states, “It is a common shamanic concept, the healer traversing the axis mundi to bring back knowledge from the other world. The axis mundi both connects heaven and earth as well as provided a path between the two.” The Druidic World Tree is top left, the Kabalistic Tree of Life is to the bottom left. |
Holly: This
bush of thorny leaves and red berries is green year round and is used
in many winter celebrations. It was also the Burning Bush of Moses’ vision.
This plant was important to the druids as well and represented death
and regeneration. It was the plant of Mother Holle (or Hel) the Norse
underworld Goddess. In Germany, witches used Holly for making wands.
In her book The Woman’s
Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), Barbara Walker
states, “Red holly berries showed the female blood-of-life color,
corresponding to white mistletoe berries associated with male elements
of semen and death.” At Yule, the winter festival of the Divine
Marriage, these two plants were displayed together. The Dionysian cult
of Roman times displayed the holly with ivy, as the symbol of feminine
and masculine balance during times of the solstitial festival. Because
of its connection with sex it was renounced by Tertullian and the Council
of Bracara as not fit for Christians, although the practice of adorning
doorways with it continued. Kissing under the mistletoe originally
represented a union between the man and mistress of a house. However,
according Symbols Of Church Seasons And Days (1997), by John
Bradner, the holly is “symbolic of the crown of thorns and drops
of blood on the Savior’s head.”
Pear Tree: All throughout the ancient world the pear
tree was significant. Vishnu-Narayana was recognized as Lord of Pear
Trees in the Himalayas; in Eurasia it was recognized to have feminine
significance; Russians used it as a protection charm for cows; peasants
of Europe believed it to be a “life-tree” for girls; Christians
translated the partridge as Christ. The Partridge in a Pear Tree is
an analogy for the myth of Athene’s sacred king Perdix’s
journey from earth to heaven as a bird, with the help of the Goddess.
Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of
Myths And Secrets (1983), states, “He was the partridge,
she the pear tree.”
Laurel: Man, Myth And Magic:
The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Mythology, Religion And The Unknown (1995),
edited by Richard Cavendish says, “Poets, military heroes and
Olympic victors all sought the crown of laurel as the highest honour.
Sacred to Apollo, the laurel or bay was also associated with oracular
powers.” The nymph Daphne, of Greek myth was turned into a Laurel
tree in order to escape the lecherous arms of the god Apollo, who consequently
wore a wreath of Laurel leaves and declared the tree sacred to him.
Meriah: Like the ancient Israelites, the people of
northern India also made sacrificial offerings to their gods by hanging
the victims on crosses or trees, called Meriah. Barbara Walker, author
of The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983),
states that the Meriah is a “Sacrificial victim ‘bought
for a price’ and hung on a tree or cross ‘between heaven
and earth’ in northern India, as an offering to the Earth-goddess
Tara, or her spouse, Father Heaven.” In the Old Testament, Abraham
goes to sacrifice his son Isaac to his god Yahweh on the sacrificial
mound, “Moriah;” similarly, the Polynesians called their
sacrificial place morai.
Mistletoe: Mistletoe is a parasite that lives on Oak
trees and means “all heal” (Shepherd, 2002). The mistletoe
symbolically represents the mythical union between the god and goddess
through yearly castration and death of the savior-god, necessary to
insure the peace and fertility of the land and people for the druids
and pagans of Europe. It was connected with the death of Baldur in
Scandinavian lore. The oak tree was viewed as the living god, called
Zeus, Jupiter, Balder or Dianus of Dodona, and the mistletoe, with
its white semen-colored berries was considered the plants genitalia.
In the same fashion as ancient sacrifices of human savior-king, the
genitals (mistletoe) of the god were castrated (cut off) in ceremonial
fashion, before the sacrifice was performed. According to Barbara Walker,
in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “At
the season of sacrifice, druidic priests ceremonially castrated the
oak god by cutting off his mistletoe with a golden moon-sickle, catching
it in a white cloth before it could touch the ground, so it remained
like every sacrificial deity ‘between heaven and earth’… The
phallic meaning of the mistletoe made it the ‘key’ that
opened the underworld womb, key and phallus being interchangeable in
mystical writings.” The female counterpart to the mistletoe was
the holly, with its red menstrual-colored berries, representing the
goddess and consort to the god, Lady of the Grove and Moon-mother Diana
Nemetona. Through the Renaissance, mistletoe was still being placed
on altars in English churches on Christmas Eve. From Symbols Of
Church Seasons And Days (1997), by John Bradner, “mistletoe
in the Christian world becomes a symbol of joy and good will.” The
tradition of kissing under the mistletoe may have come from the religious
ceremony of the kiss of peace (Bradner, 1997). See Horns and Holly.
Palm Tree: Like the Apple Tree of the Biblical Garden
of Eden, the Palm Tree was the sacred Tree of Life in the Babylonian
Primal Garden, sacred to the Goddess Astarte (in Hebrew known as Tamar,
which translated to “Palm Tree”). Barbara Walker, in her
book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983),
explains, “The Goddess was often embodied in a Mother-palm, giving
the food of life in the form of coconut milk or dates.” The Goddess’s
partner was Baal-Peor, also known as Phoenix, deity of Phoenicia, which
translates to “Land of the Palm.”
Sala: The Sala is the sacred cherry tree under which
the Virgin Maya gave birth to Buddha. Representing virginity, the cherry
is commonly associated with the Goddess, along with other red fruits
such as the apple and pomegranate, according to Barbara Walker, in
her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983).
Thistle: According to Symbols Of Church Seasons
And Days (1997), by John Bradner, “The thistle as a thorny
plant and a symbol of sorrow is a symbol of the Passion and in particular
the crowning with thorns.”
Willow: Along with water, the willow
represented the Goddess Helice, the virginal form of Hecate. Willow
also represents melancholy and sorrow as its association with queen
of the underworld Persephone and Orpheus; Chinese coffins were coverd
with willow boughs. Man, Myth And Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia
Of Mythology, Religion And The Unknown (1995), edited by Richard
Cavendish, explains, “A traditional emblem of grief and melancholy,
the willow is also a symbol of forsaken love, and it was once customary
for the jilted to wear a willow garland.” However, according
to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia
Of Myths And Secrets (1983), Willow wands were believed to give
protection in the underworld, invoke the Muses, and sacred to the Moon-Goddess.
Xikum: Representing Ishtar, this sacred Babylonian Tree of Heaven, spread “her branches into the celestial and nether worlds, holding the Savior Tammuz in her midst,” according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). This same tree later appeared in the Moslem Koran as Zakkum, the Tree of Hell.