| |
The Tree of Life is a map, a flow pattern, that all the spiritual traditions are based on. Originating in the times of the Great Goddess, the seasonal cycle of the tree is a metaphor of how life force consciousness emerges from the collective (Mother Goddess), differentiates, and then merges again into oneness.
In the trunk of the tree we see the maiden, mother and crone goddesses. On the horizon line, if you look carefully, you can see the pregnant earth mother goddess opening herself to the womb pool below. In the water we see a manifestation of the primordial ocean goddess. The seasonal cycle begins with the apple deep within the ocean near the bottom of the painting.
The Great Mother's underworld oceanic womb was symbolized as an apple in both the Celtic and Egyptian traditions. The second stage, the season of Candlemas, Feb 2, is represented by the tadpole. At Spring Equinox her son was borne, emerging from the underworld. Osiris was the first green man, rising up at spring, who later becomes the horned god, the stag of May Day. At Summer Solstice we have the divine marriage, masculine and feminine consciousness coming together in the crown chakra, as described in the Hindu tradition. The apex is always followed by the fall, the sacrifice, as seen in the Christian tradition. In Buddhism it is the ego that dies so that oneness can be realized. The fall, the decent, leads one back into the underworld womb heart of the Goddess.
|
|
