Trees in Mythology

Trees in Mythology


by Janine Donnellan



Trees have played an important role in many of the world's mythologies and religions, and they have been given profound spiritual and mystical meanings throughout the ages. Trees offer a sense of mystery, and our association of known myths with particular trees fuels this. This association takes place not only on a species level but also in geographical terms and with individual trees. In mythology, trees take on magical powers and become the centre of our fascination.



Trees in mythology offer us a mystical reminder of states of being so wondrous as to be beyond our comprehension. There is an uncanny inquisitiveness about such a concept that it leads us to hold up the image of some trees as worthy of reverence. The tree has become the witness to and often the centre of profound spiritual happenings. The most ancient cross-cultural symbolic representation of the mystery of the universe's construction is the world tree.



World Tree

The World Tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions. In many myths, the tree is a vital part of the structure of the universe. Gods and their messengers travel from world to world by climbing up or down the tree.



The image of a tree provides an axis symbol that unites three planes. This is known as the axis mundi (also cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar and centre of the world) and is an omnipresent symbol that crosses human cultures. The spot functions as a focal point from which everything else revolves.



The World Tree therefore expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four compass directions meet: its branches reach for the sky, its trunk meets the earth, and it roots reach down into the underworld. The tree therefore serves as a symbolic living link between this world and those of the three worlds. Its roots are in the Lower World, also known as the underworld or world of the dead, where one goes to talk with ancestors, to find lost information, or to find information about diseases and other things to do with the physical body. The trunk of the tree is known as the Middle World and the trunk encompasses the physical world, four directions and their corresponding season. It is the magical version of our reality and we can visit it to solve everyday problems. The branches of the tree are in the Upper World. It is a place of the future, creativity and flight.



Yggdrasil Tree

The Norse believed that a tree runs like an axis, or pole, through this world and the realms above and below it. They called their World Tree Yggdrasill. It was a great ash tree that nourished gods, humans, and animals, connecting all living things and all phases of existence.



The Yggdrasil tree had three large roots, each one of which dipped into three different wells. The first root dipped into the waters of Mimir's spring. These waters were filled with wisdom. The second root lay in the Well of Urd, where mythical creatures weaved the fates of mankind and tended to the needs of the tree. The third root fell into the dark waters where a dragon tore gnawed unceasingly at the tree. Four stags nibbled hungrily at the tree's green buds, while goats tore at the bark. High in the branches an eagle sat with a hawk perched upon his brow. a squirrel scurried up and down the Ash all day carrying insults between the eagle above to the dragon below.



Tree of Life - Sacred Geometry

The Tree of Life is one of the most familiar of the Sacred Geometry Symbols. The structure of the Tree of Life is connected to the sacred teachings of the Jewish Kabbalah but can be seen 3,000 years earlier in Egypt. The Tree of Life structure can be seen in many places around the conscious universe. The Tree of Life is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to the Divine and the manner in which the Divine created the world out of nothing. The Kabbalists developed this concept into a full model of reality, using the tree to depict a map of creation. The tree of life has been called the "cosmology" of the Kabbalah.



The Kabbalah Tree of Life is a representation of the thirty-two paths comprised of the ten sefirot and the twenty-two paths through which they run. The Tree of Life describes the descent of the divine into the manifest world, and methods by which the divine union may be attained in this life. It can be viewed as a map of the human psyche, and of the workings of creation, both manifest and not. It is based on the assumption that the pure nature of divinity is unity, and that the seemingly separate aspects or emanations exist only in view of the emanated, living in a state of illusory separation.



Pagan Origins of the Christmas Tree

Here in Australia, at the height of our Midsummer, millions of people are erecting and decorating plastic Christmas trees and the occasional weedy looking pine tree in anticipation of the Christmas day celebrations. I am quite certain that very few people actually give due consideration as to why we continue with this strange tradition, especially one that originated in the Northern Hemisphere where this time of year coincides with their winter solstice.



A Christmas tree, also known as a Yule tree, is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas throughout the world. It is normally an evergreen coniferous tree (or plastic copy) that is brought into a home or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas.



Did you know that many of the modern Christmas traditions began hundreds of years before Christ was born. Some of these traditions date back more than 4000 years. The addition of Christ to the celebration of the Winter Solstice did not occur until 300 years after Christ died and as late as 1800, in fact some devout Christian sects, like the Puritans, forbade their members from celebrating Christmas because it was considered a pagan holiday, which is absolutely correct, historically it was a pagan holiday. So what is the history behind these traditions?



The Christmas tree is derived from several solstice traditions. The symbolic meaning of Christmas trees originates in pagan culture where the evergreen represents life, rebirth, and stamina needed to endure the cold and hash winter months.



The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and placed candles in live trees to decorate for the celebration of Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. The Saturnalia was a special time of peace and equality when wars could not be declared, when slaves and masters could eat at the same table, and when gifts were exchanged as a symbol of affection and brotherhood.



In Scandinavia, they hung apples from evergreen trees at the winter solstice to remind themselves that spring and summer will come again. The evergreen tree was the special plant of their sun god, Baldor. At this time fir trees were also burned to commemorate the life that stirs even in the most frigid grips of winter. These traditions also marked the end of the old year and the beginning of a new year.



The ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods, their Sun God was called Ra, and he had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disc in his crown. At the winter solstice, they would prepare for the coming of the Sun God by filling their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.



In ancient Britain the Druids used to celebrate the Winter Solstice by keeping the Festival of Nolagh. It needs to be said at this point however, that there is little contemporary evidence for their practices as it was an oral tradition, and thus little can be said of them with assurance. It is believed that they observed this season in their great ringed temples at Stonehenge and Avebury. Many of our Christmas customs such as the Yule log, and the use of mistletoe and holly originated there.



There is one tree that was especially sacred to the Druids this was the mighty oak. During their winter festivals, they would decorated oak trees with apples and burning candles as a way of offering thanks to the gods who gave them sunlight and food.



Among plants that were sacred to the Druids were mistletoe and holly. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant which is found high in the branches of certain oak trees. To harvest it, the Arch Druid had to reach up and remove it, careful to make sure that it didn't touch the ground and lose its magic properties. They believed that the plant could cure illness, produce fertility and help to make peace with one's enemies. A kiss beneath the mistletoe symbolized the end of grievances. The holly plant was believed to have special magical powers to ward off evil spirits.



So if you are like me erecting a Yule Tree over the summer holidays, bear in mind that it doesn't have to be just a representation of a Christ - mass, it can be a representation of what the tree was originally intended for: a symbol of life, rebirth, a time of peace and of giving thanks for our good fortune.



References:

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Trees-in-Mythology.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_mundi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_%28mythology%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life_%28Kabbalah%29

http://www.ancient-yew.org

http://www.christmas-treasures.com/duncan_royale/Collection/SantaIII/Druid.htm

http://www.zenzibar.com/articles/christmas.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree

http://www.christmastrees.on.ca/ednet/lesson1.html