Articles > Spirit > The Tree of Life - towards a living model for healing and wholing

I share with you some of the things I discovered while undertaking a personal development project

1 - World Faith & Tree of Life Around the World

2 - Kabbalah & Diversity of Use

3 - My Model & References.

Part 1 World Faith & Tree of Life Around the World

Mystical and Mythical Origins - World Faith

No one can say at present whether there was once a single world faith or religion that grew and developed and changed as early peoples spread throughout the globe. Nor can we be sure whether the thread of similarity that lies at the heart of all spiritual traditions and practices (it is there but sometimes buried deep in all that I have found) reflects this pagan root that we share or is due to the nature of our spiritual selves. That nature could indeed define the shape of our communion with other entities, energies and deities, and that nature must almost certainly direct our own development as individuals, as a species and as energetic beings of this universe.

The followers of the Mystery Traditions over the centuries have developed a theory, that in times of great change there is an inner process that is triggered within us that activates a link back to ancient deities and truths. At the heart of their beliefs is the concept that the ego learns through cognition, but the soul remembers through re-cognition.

But whatever we suspect or believe of the nature of our spirits or souls or energetic selves, the facts remain. At the heart of almost every tradition and faith that I have studied, there is as element of reverence for trees, usually a specific tree; varying from vine to mighty oak. Often, it is a tree whose fruit and wealth are at the centre of the culture, e.g. apple, date, olive. Whatever the species, this tree represents the link between the physical world and the sky or heavens and down into the earth or underworld. Whilst used as a picture to describe the physical link between earth and sky, the true essence of this link is soul link, holiness, spiritual development and the gaining of wisdom. This concept, the axis mundi, is so powerful and pervasive, and so ancient that I believe that the Kabalistic Tree of Life must be rooted there.

The tree embodies reference to both feminine and masculine aspects. The feminine symbol bearing sustenance and nurture, and the masculine the phallic symbol. The fruits of trees can bring wisdom, knowledge (apple in Eden, apple of the Celts symbolised knowledge, magic and prophecy), and immortality (Jewish creation, Taoist divine peach, Persian fruit of haoma).

Tree of Life Around the World

Aborigines Commonality

Like so many ancient cultures, the Aborigines’ diversity of belief is due to the clan or tribal lifestyle. Totems were used in daily worship and could be almost anything made or natural. These totems represented an individual, part of a tribe, whole family. Many had very localised meanings. Their mythical tradition is full of ancient heros, the sky god being and its spirit helpers.

In their creation myths, giant serpents created the land. The structure of the universe was on three planes, earth, sky and underworld. The sky was the place of supernatural beings and ancestors. The souls of people went to the sky realm after death. Certain Shamen were able to pass between the earth and sky planes by using trees between heaven and earth. One of these ‘trees’ was seen in the Milky Way, which is interesting because the Mayans also saw the Milky Way as the Tree of Life.

Babylonia The Babylonian Moon Tree & Tree of Life

There was a strong link between the image of the tree and the figure of the woman. Both were linked with the moon, and mysterious power. No doubt this reflects the matriarchal religions of very ancient times. Pyramids and temples were made to represent mountains. Poles, paintings and sculptures were created to represent the tree - these representations often included crescent shapes to depict the moon, circles to represent woman and magic, and a representation of a leaf for growth.

The creation myth of the Babylonians says that the tree of life was to be found at the heart of a garden paradise. They believed that the first Babylonian Dynasty dates from the year that the gods made the garden. The tree of life is always associated with the primordial waters the Apsu.

In this ancient Near East religion the king is closely associated with the Tree of Life, and bears a branch from the tree of life as his sceptre. This tie between the king and the tree allows the king power over life and death.

Buddhism

Buddha is said to have been born under a tree, attained enlightenment under a tree and entered Nirvana whilst under another tree.

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Celtic Ireland

When an area of forest was cleared to make a space for settlement, one tree was always left at its centre. This huge tree was known as the "crann bethadh", the tree of life and also as the mother tree. This sacred tree with its roots in the earth and limbs in the sky was thought to embody the security and integrity of the people. And each was regarded as a living magical being who bestowed blessings from the Otherworld.

Celtic Otherworld

In Celtic lore the world tree stood at the centre of the Otherworld, and was not one, but nine magical hazel trees that border a well. The gushing waters from the well flow into five rivers that take the primordial waters to earth. Life is thought to arise from the interplay between the hazels and the waters. Their fruit, the nuts and the salmon, are said to bring the knowledge of the upper and lower worlds to seekers of our middle world.

This link between tree and water can be seen at many ancient 'holy' wells. Scraps of material tied to trees can still be seen at some of these outdoor temples, showing that there are still seekers of healing, vision and blessing.

Although the Celts revered many trees and referred to the Oak as the King of Trees, it was the Cedar that they called the Tree of Life. They lay their hands against the leaves to draw earth energy into themselves.

Central, North and South America Soul Cycle

Many peoples of the Americas have a fundamental belief in reincarnation. They see the human soul as many faceted, some believe that all kingdoms of life exist and evolve in a multilevel solar universe, others that several souls are responsible for the various manifestations of life in our bodies, though most agree that the soul or pure spirit at a person's centre comprises all spirit aspects.

The Tree of Life is at the heart of the soul’s journey. Among many peoples, the movement of the soul and all life is down through the roots then through the branches to the earth. In the Quiche-Mayan language the verbs “to descend" and "to be born" are the same. This conception of the cycle of lives through the cosmic tree of life is implicit in native American art and spiritual thought.

Some Peoples have developed their view of the soul journey much further. The Hopis have seven universes each with its successive worlds comprising a total of 49 stages of man's development along his "road of Life". The Seneca believe in seven worlds of being, and the Cuarani peoples have seven planes or heavens above earth.

Cheyenne Renewal of the Earth Ceremony

Every year on the summer solstice, a cottonwood tree is sought for the ritual of renewal-of-the-earth. The tree must have at least forty growth rings, it must be straight and tall and have a fork with both branches of equal length. When such a tree if found it is cut and used as the central pole of a lodge, where it is the axis mundi. During the ritual the tree pole is struck four times.

Chile Mapuche Tribe

The Shamaness of the tribe uses a ladder topped with leafy branches and a head to represent the world tree. From the top, her spirit flies free to take her peoples' prayer to the Mother-Father of all things.

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Druidic Culture

The Druids are believed to have taken their name from the Oak, its Gaelic name came from the Sanskrit for door, indicative of the fact that the Celts believed that the sacred Oak with its roots in the spirit world was a doorway into other realms. Hence the Druids became the Wise ones of the Oakwood, and gave shape and scholarship to the earlier Celtic faith.

Egypt Djed Pillar, the Backbone of Osiris

In the Egyptian creation myth there was first a primordial ocean that was egg shaped, Nun. From this arose the primeval hill called Nu. And from this mound grew the Tree of Life - its branches reaching out to support the stars and planets in the heavens and its roots reaching down into the watery abyss of the Netherworld. The trunk of the tree of life was the axis of the mound, the centre of the universe around which the heavens revolved.

Hebrew Tradition Pillar of Yahweh & Tree of Life Origins

The pillar of Yahweh can be seen as a symbol of sacred space, that created order and inspiration in times of hardship in the wilderness. This pillar of smoke in the day and fire in the dark can easily be recognised as one of the many influences of the Tree of Life in KabaI.

Hindi

There are many trees sacred to Hindus, but none that I could find that is considered the Tree of Life. The only reference I have found is in yogic tradition: "the mustard seed is none other than the dormant Kundalini energy that when sprouted grows in to the Tree of Life - the subtle system with the seven chakras and three channels of energy."

In India, the Asvattha or world tree is depicted with its roots in the heavens and its branches extending down into the earth.

Indo-European traditions

At the heart of the Otherworld stands the World Tree, the axis mundi. This is the sacred tree. From it heros and kings must take a branch as token of their power, their office and their sanity.

Islam Tree of All

The Koran refers to the cosmos as a tree.

Japan Shinto

The salaki tree, Cleyera japonica, a medium sized evergreen tree of the tea family, is important to the faith and culture of Japan, it is associated with their creation myths. It is said to harbour good spirits of protection and that if there is a hedge of salaki growing around a space, then a priest may safely study his mind and soul.

Maasai Parent tree

The central creation myth of the Maasai people says that they descend from a single parent tree.

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Maori Sacred trees

Some pohutukawa and Rata trees are considered “tapu”, sacred, to the Maoris. One such Pohutukawa tree stands at the edge of Muriwhenua (Cape Reinga), where it stands guard at the entrance of a secret cave. This cave is the place through which spirits of the dead pass on their way to the next world. To say that someone has ‘slid down the pohutuwaka root’ is an expression meaning that someone has died and gone to join their ancestors.

The mythical origins of the Rata tree can be seen I the name itself, ‘ra’ for sun and ‘ta’ for wind. The story goes that the sun breathed the Rata’s seed down to earth. So the tree is said to have grown down from the heavens before taking root in the earth and growing upwards

Mayan Qeiba tree

A great celestial silk-cotton tree is the pole at the centre of the earth and serves to support the heavens. This tree represents the Milky Way, which the Mayans referred to as the World Tree. They saw the Milky Way as the place where all life originated.

Norse Yggdrasill

Yggdrasil stands at the centre of the universe. The giant Ash links the three realms, Asgard realm of the gods where Odin lives at the top of the tree, Midgard the realm of humanity and her roots in Hel the realm of the dead. Amongst the roots of the Yggdrasil is the spring of Urd where the cave of the Norns can be found; they are the spirits who decide a man's fate.

The three great roots have their source in the primeval source of matter, a fountain in the abyss (Hvergelmir), the depths of the raw material forces (Jotunheim) where Mimir's well of wisdom or knowledge lies concealed and from the celestial source of the AEsir source of the spiritual world-life. The tree houses many creatures and upon it is played out the struggles of life.

0lmec

Scholars suggest that the Olmecs, a shamanic people, believed that the human body, and particularly that of their leader, represented the three cosmic levels. Thus the ruler or king is considered to be the axis mundi.

We have little left to base our understanding on, however they left a wealth of stone figures and carvings, and from these and the little writing left behind on tablets, we have a glimpse at their world view. The head represented the celestial realm, thus partly explaining the amazing huge heads that might represent revered ancestors. The figures of bodies standing, sitting and kneeling represent our environment in different aspects. And the limbs and feet penetrate into the netherworld and contact its forces.

One striking sculpture portrays a tall serpentine figure of a young man wearing an eagle mask. He hold two sceptres against his body, and his legs are incised with markings that refer to his power and his rule.

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Pantheanic Greece Ancient gods

Several deities we worshipped as trees - Athena was symbolised by an eternally growing olive tree.

Shamanic Cultures General

The world tree forms an integral part of the shamanic cosmos, linking the three zones, Upper, Middle and Lower world, or heaven, earth and the underworld. The world tree or axis mundi forms the bridge between the three realms. It is via the tree that spirits may pass from one world to another.

Whilst the world tree is the centre of the world, also the centre of the world is everywhere. It is the power of this truth that allows the Shaman to ‘magically’ make a representation of a tree or a living tree into the World Tree. By making a village's tree the world tree the shaman strengthens the villagers' tie to the spirit world.

The tree is used by the shaman and his spirit helpers to travel from realm to realm. In many cultures, the shamans ascend a tree for initiation and for instruction by the ancestors. As well as being the centre of the world, in many shamanic cultures the tree is a world itself. Often the tree is home to many denizens, both physical and spiritual.

Siberia Tungus Shaman

All the shamans of the culture are reared upon the branches of the tree, Tuuru, before they attain their powers and come to earth. Also the boughs of the tree hold nests in which souls lie and are attended.

Yakut People of Russia

Like many shamanic groups the Yakut's holy tree links the three realms of space - upper, middle (earth) and lower. They believe that the Queen of the middle world (of people) lives in the branching tree (birch or larch) in the middle of the widest glen, so they consider all branching trees to be potentially holy and do not allow their children to play near them.

Big trees that grow near houses become favourite of the earth spirit Doidu Ichite. Whilst this spirit would not harm them, he would weep if they damaged his favourite trees, so they revere theses large trees. They adorn them with pieces of cloth and horse hair, and ask permission of the tree to pass by.

Part 2 Kabbalah & how The Tree of Life is Now Used

I am under no illusion that I have studied the body of work sufficiently to be any sort of authority on Kabbalah. But because each of us brings our own higher self to its study, my reflections, insights and delights are worth sharing in themselves - or at least I wish to capture them for myself, so that if and when I return to this study I shall have a point to begin.

My starting point was the Tree of Life as presented in Kabbalistic tradition, and the fascinating correlations between the tree of life with the major arcana of Tarot ,

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Diversity of application

I am sure that I have only explored the least tip of the iceberg of the myriad collection of ways that people have come to use the Tree of Life. And I shall only be noting those uses that I found most relevant and interesting.

Perhaps obviously, many of the businesses or groups that use the symbol of the tree of life to describe themselves or their activities appear to have little or no knowledge of the true roots of it. Rather they seem to have a vague sort of recollection or a simplistic image based on a romantic or child’s tale tree of life. In this category you find dozens of Christian and quasi-Christian and biblical hell stormers pushing everything from home cooking to book shops

But the vast majority of groups and individuals who use the Tree of Life symbol have some idea of the origins and the traditional uses and meanings. Many of these tend towards “New Age” approaches to spiritual and metaphysical topics. And it is amongst this latter group where I found all the sites that interested and informed me most in regards to my development throughout the process of completing this project.

The following are in no particular order, they just happen to have found their way into my research notebook this way. They are simply the applications that leapt out at me, that drew me in and which I explored at some length. Some of the subjects are found on a single website, others are on dozens. I include them because they have informed me, challenged me to think in a different direction, guided me down unfamiliar paths:-

Psychic, Social and Brain Mapping - Several Views

1 - Brain Circuits
2 - A World View
3 - Guide to Spirit or Mind
Tarot Path Working
Pathworking
Magic
Dowsing
Essene
Healing Chakras
Elven Fun

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Part 3 My personal model

This has been the hardest and the easiest bit of all. Primarily what made it hard were the expectations I had along the way of what form my Model for Living should take. In a sense my imagination let me down, because for many months I worked on the assumption that the actual physical attributes of the Tree of Life would need to be contained in my model.

This idea caused me much heart and head searching and no little concern because I wished to have my model be less static, less physically static.

My next step was the idea of a three dimensional model, that soon evolved into the idea of a mobile so that the model could be dynamic. I am still attracted to this concept, and will no doubt incorporate this need of mine to create a mobile into the path, but as an end in itself, I could not see this mobile as my Life Model.

I wanted more. I wanted the Model to grow with me. To be every bit as dynamic as the magical approach to working with the Tree of Life. To be every bit as mystical and mythical as the Essene way, and as practical as they are said to have been. I so am attracted to people who fully integrate their spiritual practices with their daily lives so that in truth there is no separation, that the one grows from the other. My spirituality is not something to be picked up and dusted off only on Sabbath and holy days. The living spirit is like breathing - no IS breathing. Surely that is the total synthesis that we ideally strive for, where our souls self and ego/physical self are simply one. Always functioning together as was meant in this life. And that if we can do this, when we get to this place, then there is no question of whether we have found the path, the way, no fear that we might stumble or lose the way. Because we are the path.

And of course fun, joy, and laughter must be at the heart of it. Love. Loving what we are doing at every moment, delighting in this now so fully that we move out of time - that was where I wanted to be, that was where I wanted the Living, Breathing Model to take me.

So I put it down. The intension was clear enough, even if I might not have found these words several months ago. I let go, so that my subconscious and my supraconscious could break through the barriers of earlier conscious expectations and pictures, and overcome the fears and frets that I had accumulated during my research and the time of pushing myself too quickly to process all that I had to process.

I waited until I was on holiday, and then I waited until I had had my four days of sleep and deep rest, and a couple more days of just playing around with my pastels. Then I asked myself if I was ready to look at this project, and it was as if I was Dorothy and I had clicked my Ruby Slippers.

First I tried to capture just what I meant by a Model for Living:-

A picture or another physical representation containing symbols and diagram reflecting a dynamic set of rules that are useful on my life path.

Purpose - to offer inspiration and guidance that is flexible enough to be of value in all new situations. To be clear, and to be true to underlying principles and ideals towards spiritual attainment and synthesis.

Goal - the creation of a model based on and informed by a diversity of thought and spirituality from ancient and recent times. Synthesising the shining threads that connect soul growth and journey.

Having found the process of capturing in words what I meant rather less than helpful, and being aware of a wave of certainty that I KNEW where I was going, I meditated on the model.

It was like I was thrust through a barrier, like psychically being rammed through brittle glass to the place where my model simply existed.

And it was immediately clear to me that creating a simple physical representation of the model was not what I was supposed to do. The true model is in my own soul and heart. And the barrier through which I had been thrusts was like a representation of the last of the preconceptions and expectations that I had been carrying along with me - and that had stopped me from the last leap into synthesis.

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So What is this Model?

Simple, it is the absolute certainty that my connection with my higher self is in full working order. That I have in my synthesized self the knowledge of the path that I am following in this life. That I need no external (limited) model for this, although this does not mean that I cannot gain from learning and re-cognition that is available to me. It simply means that I do not need to create some model or gylph or form of guidance outside myself.

Instead, what I shall work at is to intensify and broaden the interconnection (to continue to work on the process of synthesis) of my selves.

I need to ensure that everything I do makes my heart sing. This applies to everything. Every aspect of my work , my leisure, my pleasure, my learning. Everything needs to feel exactly right - or it isn’t. Too simple for words really.

The strongest affirmation that came through to me in those first moments was that I need to shift the focus of my energy into more artistic pursuits, and that my writing needs to be woven into the art, that the two are one in the same impulse. And that through this process of expression - whatever combination of means used at any one time (poetry, story, instruction, sharing, pastel, oils, sculpture...) it is this process of creation and exploration that is the central core of my path. That the healing, the design and workshops that I offer through Ashwhin arise from this core creativity and not the other way around. The creating is most ME.

And so I Have Begun to Live my Model

The little room that I had used for workshops and reiki training and just an extra space is my ME room. I draw and paint and live there.

I have begun to create my own universe. Starting with a creation story, and including the first few sketches and paintings that illustrate it.

I have a rack for displaying my work that is for sale in the hallway of the clinic.

All that I do through Ashwhin has been reviewed and reshaped based on the degree of joy it brings me.

And, of course, the universe is answering - guiding me or perhaps I simply recognise the messages more readily. It IS good.

Reference

The following list of sites are those where I found an extensive amount of information that was useful for the Tree of Life project, and I thought would be interesting to visit again. There were another 36 or so that gave me useful information, but have since moved, or otherwise disappeared from sight.

And, inevitably, I visited many other web sites in the course of my researching that I only gleaned small snippets of helpful information, or which were largely or completely repeating the information I found on the following.

Astro resources on the web http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/resources.html

Ancient Astronomical Cosmology and Interactive Atlas of World Astronomy http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/archeo/index.html

Graphics, research and essays on a weird and wonderful variety of topics http://www.borndigital.com/guide.htm

One of the most important living botanical collections in the US http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/bg-home.htm

Enter the world of Celtic Spirituality with Mara Freeman http://www.celticspirit.org

Journal of the Western Mystery tradition http://www.jwmt.org

Northvegr Foundation - Pre-Christian history, Culture and Spiritual values http://www.northvegr.org

Shamanic Circles is dedicated to fostering the global Shamanic Community http://www.shamaniccircles.org

The Celtic Collection - one of the largest sites of Wicca, Pagan and Witchcraft on the web. Bringing open discussion of the beliefs, morals, values and practices. http://www.wicca.com

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