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The Apple of the Flamboyant Star or apple of the gnosis: The symbol is originally a DATTE or a BLUE FIGUE (the Figa of Compostela) and it is therefore the center of the VESICA (the rings of the Zodiac). Then it will become the APPLE (or pinecone) in the West. The RED APPLE represents the divine knowledge (gnosis) and the secret initiation (the red pill) of the PENTACLE, because when you cut an apple in two horizontally, two PENTACLES appear revealing the yellow, the GOLD! It's magical (he's happy!)
At the very top of the tree, a large raven with a white head sits plucking transparent, white pearls from the branches, while a flock of other birds fly in all directions.The three generations are robed in the principal colours of alchemy. The boy is dressed in black, the colour used to designate the beginning; white, which symbolises the intermediary stage, the opus parvum, is the dominant colour in the coat of his father, Aeneas; and the shawl of the family elder, Anchises, is red, signifying perfection or the opus magnum. Soaring birds are frequently used in alchemy to symbolise sublimation, which could also be symbolised in this instance by the white-hooded raven, its black body equating to the sublimate that remains behind in the retort. In the alchemical process this would designate the transition from the nigredo to the albedo phase, from black to white.
82-A46
Natul tortuosa
Guatemala
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Natul
Species: tortuosa
Synonyms: Mirabilis lindheimeri, M. dichotoma
The branching pattern and soil moisture adaptability, from wet to dry, gives it a spot in the landscape for those interested in oddities. Note that the contortion levels increase with more vigourous growth...so if it is planted for drought tolerance, it will not grow as well. This is probably best sited as a single specimen or accent plant.
The County Theater
20 E. State Street in Doylestown, PA
July 4, 2011
Image © Michael Raso
Polaroid 100 Automatic Land Camera
Fujifilm FP-100c (negative bleached and scanned)
I have been playing around with the Tree of Life database, trying to make a good layout of it. Given the huge number of species normal graph layout does not work, since it would leave too much empty space. One idea I had was to layout the tree along a Hilbert curve, which forces a measure of locality.
This is an early result, showing the vertebrates laid out this way. The node areas are proportional to the number of species below them, and I used an edge/node adjustment routine after layout to reduce crossings and overlap due to large nodes. The result was this curious figure. Mammals and birds make up the left square, the middle square contains amphibians and the right rectangle fishes.
TREE OF LIFE BLOCK - RANDOM SAMPLER
I made a misjudgement in trying to cut this entire design from one eighth yard fabric...so used the blend with the pink for the base of the tree.
Please find free pattern and instructions here:
bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/random-sampler-quilt-along/
Thank you Anita for hosting this QAL.
BLOCK FOR UFO NUMBER
4...FOR MY "RANDOM SAMPLER" QUILT ALONG???
Taken at the end of my first session (about 3 hours). The tree tattoo took close to 6 total to finish.
The hills are done with improvised piecing. The tree with raw edge applique. Used only scraps from my stash. My quilting has improved since I made this quilt, so it's not perfect
I designed this wall hanging.
The Symbol of the Bodhi-Tree
The Bodhi-Tree meditation is based on the symbol of a tree, a banyan tree, which provides a multi-layered, rich, and complex symbol of the self and its journey towards enlightenment. Here we describe the symbol and its various levels of meaning:
The Bodhi-Tree or wisdom-tree is the world tree, and its roots drink deep of the waters of infinity. Its branches and leaves blow in the winds of the Void, and it is lit by the clear light. It is a tree of refuge, a place of safety from the raging tigers and dragons of desire.
Each leaf has the bright green of spring, and its bark has the darkness and fragrance of the forest. It has fruits of knowledge but these are not fruits forbidden to mankind by a jealous god. These fruits of knowledge are intended for all beings. While the fruits on the lower limbs give knowledge of good and evil, and awareness of many lives, those on the upper limbs give knowledge of unity and immortality.
In Western myth, only the lower fruits have been tasted - mankind was expelled from the garden before eating the fruit of immortality or gaining the knowledge of unity.
Because certain kinds of knowledge are not easily accessible, many people have given up and assume that they know all that is worth knowing. This is not the case. They have partial knowledge which cannot get them any further than the garden from which they were expelled. There they may have innocence, but also ignorance. There, the value of wisdom is unknown, as is indeed its existence.
This world tree, the Bodhi-Tree, unites all worlds, and it has no guardians to protect it. All sentient beings are welcome to gain as much wisdom as their minds can hold. But it is a long journey to that state, for the traveler must unravel the current life and many other past lives to see the components that have been woven together into the patterns of life. Then the strands must be woven again, to create a mind capable and worthy of returning to the source.
The image of the Bodhi-Tree at this site has two components - the tree itself and its reflection. The tree represents life which is outwardly full of desire, sorrow, and ignorance. Its reflected image represents life's perfection. It is life as reflected by pure, clean, awareness. It is what life can be in its ideal form and when understood in its true nature. Here, life is a set of changing reflections with no permanent anchor in physical form. The tree reflected in the water is like the self reflected in awareness. From a distance and without close examination, the tree like both the person and physical world appear to be whole and consistent things. Without meditation, physical forms appear solid and enduring. Their changing and fluctuating nature is not visible. The only direction of change is from one physical form to another. With meditation on the stages of the wisdom-tree or four watches of the night, multiple levels and directions of change appear. Both physical forms and individual personalities can be broken down into their component parts and the person can study the origin of these parts. There are components within components and reflections within reflections. As the physical tree becomes the reflected tree, it becomes shadows dancing on waves and its solidity disappears. So it is with the self and the world. Each must be recognized as parts of a larger whole, and waves upon the ocean of change.
While the mind of the individual starts out as a closed and tight center of awareness, as it relaxes and opens, it starts to look like a water-lily in a lake, and then begins to resemble the lake itself. One is no longer an observer watching the mind from a distance. One becomes awareness immersed in awareness, like a water droplet in the depths of a lake. There is no distance in thought, there is only immersion. All minds are united and all minds are ultimately free. The droplet bursts to engulf the lake, and the ocean, and infinity.
The Bodhi-Tree is a symbolic representation of the individual's journey to infinity. As the seed which begins tiny and hard grows open and free, so should the mind and heart. The tree is rooted in the ground as the self is rooted in matter. But the seed grows beyond the ground, as it perceives its environment, cares about it, and ultimately leaves the limitations of the body and matter behind. The branches reach towards the heaven yet the vines of the banyan reach towards the earth. Such is the state of mankind - always being pulled in two directions. One direction is freedom, ultimate liberation, and the transcendence of boundaries. The other direction is security, rootedness, comfort, and tradition - the self that will not turn away from the earth. The traditionalist may justify behavior by Buddhist or other ethics and ritual, but will ultimately seek comfort rather than freedom. Such people should rest peacefully at the roots of the tree and never climb it.
For the others, the spiritual explorers, comfort and security are left behind. There will ultimately come a question: Which world do you choose? Only those who seek the upper branches of the tree and liberation can progress and follow the stages of the watches of the night.
There were many reasons for the historical Buddha's incarnation. One was to provide a model for those that seek freedom.
Source: www.wisdom-tree.com/wisdom/symbolism.html
Original Tree of Life Image: baksheesh.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/the-tree-of-life/
More on this subject on Humanity Healing :
humanityhealing.net/2011/10/occult-anatomy-the-trees-of-l...
tags:
treeoflife, sacredspacestudio, omtimesmagazine, humanityhealing, deZengoDESIGNS, yoga, wellness healing
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