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Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/247401dc-8ad7-481b-a2c9-4312dbc5f17d/Screen+Shot+2022-01-12+at+6.26.23+PM.png Books - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/66828235-e9a2-4e33-bb54-371cb8fea958/Mother-Tree-BIBA.jpeg Books - Make it stand out BIBA Winner 2022 https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/interviews-2 daily 0.75 2026-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/1654863090990-A6A9E9ESGW9UU4RJ164N/IMG_1176.jpg Interviews https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/about daily 1.0 2026-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/1630629678241-M9LEO5KFPEJ9ZGKAQTBM/IMG_1269.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/fa1479e5-f84b-472d-aece-7008e1f1afe3/Kathryn+Knight+Sonntag+-+Crop+copy.jpeg About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/contact-1 daily 0.75 2022-06-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/1630694892769-33FNLRPMRCNQ5F9LKIHV/IMG_1161.jpg Contact https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life daily 0.75 2022-10-24 https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/rushnyky monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/03c37cf6-cd58-4023-a2e1-d68c8fc26b44/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.53.32+PM.png Tree of Life - Rushnyky Rushnyky are ornately embroidered woven textiles that function at the core of many life-cycle ceremonies and rituals of the Ukrainian people. A rushnyk is a long rectangular cloth, typically hand-woven in one solid piece from white linen or hemp, measuring six to eight feet long by one to two feet wide. Often adorned with brightly colored patterns, the symbolic decoration preserves archaic magical signs, symbolic colors and motifs, as well as Slavic artistic folk styles. Steeped in tradition and faith, the shape of the rushnyk represents life's journey, and the cloths are believed to be a median between the secular and the divine. The process of spinning thread and weaving linen embodies spiritual power reflecting the ancient deity Mokosh, often represented in embroidery. The needle has its own energy (similar to the chi of acupuncture), and the color of the thread has sacred meaning. Red represents life and is the main color used. Rushnyk have distinctive regional characteristics. For example, in central Ukraine, cloths typically feature the tree of life surrounded by animal, bird, and floral motifs. The tree of life symbol is found in national art where the universe contains three components: the underworld, the earthly world and the heavenly kingdom. The tree depicts roots (the past), the trunk (the present), and the crown (the future). In Ukrainian embroidery the symbol can be recognized not only in the branches (they can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical), but also in wheat stocks, sheafs, twigs or vines. The tree of life holds the truth and unity of the three worlds and reflects the image of life and the family. There are more intricate compositions where the tree motif is replaced by a female image – a woman with raised arms. This is the Great Goddess or Original Mother, the embodiment of life itself. Image: Rushnyky cloth on display in The Museum of Russian Icons https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/tree-of-life-azerbaijan monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/68c2d8db-de1f-48a6-a192-30d3c38cb93f/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.51.23+PM.png Tree of Life - Tree of Life: Azerbaijan - Make it stand out 17th-century depiction of the tree of life in Palace of Shaki Khans, Azerbaijan https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/ogham-alphabet monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/1244aead-c92b-44aa-9f23-8405e367bc4d/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.48.19+PM.png Tree of Life - Ogham Alphabet "In ancient times, the Druids carved messages into the sides of large rectangular stones using the alphabet created by a young Celtic man named Ogma. The Ogham alphabet comprises twenty characters and most are named after trees." The base of each letter is a vertical line and characters are lines branching to the right and the left from it, like a tree. Because of this, letters were named after trees: Ailm is pine, Beith is birch, Coll is hazel, and so on. The whole alphabet is therefore considered a forest. "Individual trees held high symbolic significance, so the forest alphabet was deemed a repository of wisdom. The word for 'knowledge' also means 'wood'." Inscriptions are read from the bottom up, the way a tree grows. Source: The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts, by Rodney Castleden https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/celtic-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/3ae02906-4cf9-4ee5-8e65-76743b70ae28/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.45.43+PM.png Tree of Life - Celtic Tree of Life For the Celts, the Tree of Life is a symbol of an entity which connects the upper and lower worlds. The Druids, or the priestly class of the Celts, believed gods in heaven used to communicate with humans through trees of life. Celts worshipped the oak tree for the different qualities it possessed. Its towering height and expanse associated it with endurance, nobility, longevity, wisdom, power, and honor. It was an integral part of their rituals and was also used as a meeting place. Major Oak, pictured here, lives deep in the 450-acre Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. The English oak is estimated to be up to 1,000 years old and said to weigh up to 23 tons with a massive girth of 10m, making it the biggest oak in the UK. Its immense weight now requires it to be held up by poles. Image credit: Shutterstock https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/yews-symbol-of-immortality-death-and-rebirth monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/76403ee7-0c2d-4b27-b5d5-9ee34b573450/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-24T164208.106.png Tree of Life - Yews: Symbol of Immortality, Death and Rebirth "The forested landscape described by the courts of the High King of Tara as being iurach, or abounding in evergreen yew trees, was raised to the ground. Cut down the forest. Cut all the forest down--and you destroy the spiritual life of a woodland culture. This is called genocide, the systematic destruction of a cultural group, blow-by-blow." - Diana Beresford-Kroeger The yews were a symbol of immortality, of death and rebirth, guardians of the place between the worlds. Two of the secrets of the yew's longevity are slowness of growth and the ability to regenerate from within. As the tree ages and some of the heartwood decays, aerial roots grow down through this rich humus, take root in the ground, and eventually create whole new trunks. A circle of new trunks may grow around the original bole, which itself may collapse and decay. Thus there are very old, hollow yew trees, impossible to date by growth rings, but believed (some of them) to be upwards of two thousand years old. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/yew-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/e2e4153d-618e-44c4-b199-009c5bff1af7/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-24T163948.432.png Tree of Life - Yew Tree The yew tree in this song stands near the village of Ormiston, in East Lothian. The song speaks of Scotland's turbulent history and of this great tree that stands as a lone silent witness. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/sand-painting monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/20f964e2-0252-4901-9039-32e47cd9536d/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.35.24+PM.png Tree of Life - Sand Painting The "wholly other" power that men and women have perennially experienced as the sacred, radiates throughout the cosmos from its source at the center, which as midpoint of the cosmos, ensures communication between the different cosmic levels of heaven, earth and underworld. Navajo sand painting showing the eight sacred plants growing from the center. Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Life, Santa Fe, New Mexico. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/pollen-path monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/ac032f6f-8b30-4c82-b8f4-2777d449aaa2/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.32.57+PM.png Tree of Life - Pollen Path Up the giant corn plant, between female spirit guardians, goes the "pollen path" of the Navajo (Diné), of the Southwestern United States. Such paintings composed of colored sand, strewn upon a Hogan's dirt floor are used in healing and initiation ceremonies, wherein an assemblage of friends and neighbors chant and encourage an initiate, physically entering the painting to re-embark upon and relive a mythic adventure. Starting at the bottom, "the footprints represent a spiritual ascent along the mystic way known to the Navajo as the pollen path. The two colors of the female and the male, lunar and solar powers ... become one on passing between the guardian Spirit Bringers at the entrance to the sanctuary; the path, which is now of the singular color of pollen, runs to the base of the World Tree, where three roots or ways of entrance are confronted. The bounded area is equivalent to the interior of a temple, an Earthly Paradise, where all forms are to be experienced, not in terms of practical relationships, threatening or desirable, evil or good, but as the manifestations of powers supporting the visible and which, though not recognized in practical living, are everywhere immediately at hand and of one's own nature." On one side of the plant, the masculine zig-zag of lightening; on the other, the feminine curve of the rainbow; above, the bird of happiness, signifying ultimate freedom, transcendence, flight. "The ordeal is an act of sacrifice. The mind is to abandon forever the whole way of relating to life which is of the knowledge of the two powers of the path only as distinct from each other, red and blue. Beyond the exit gate, returning to the world, the path is to be no longer red and blue but of the one color of pollen. The neighbors and friends who have gathered to witness the occasion will experience an exaltation, but then return to the world along the path by which they came ... whereas the initiate, nearly naked and decorated as a god, will have become identified with the adventure." - quoted text by Joseph Campbell, from The Inner Reaches of Outer Space. Tree of Life, Navajo sand painting, New Mexico. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/creation-a-revelation-of-the-hidden-world-of-god monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/2538cf67-9557-4479-bdb0-2dff1e6fcfa7/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.27.34+PM.png Tree of Life - Creation a Revelation of the Hidden World of God The mysterious relationship between the invisible, transcendent God and visible world of creation haunted medieval Jewish mysticism and most especially that form of it known as the Kabbalah. The Kabbalalists understood creation to be the outward manifestation of the inner world of God and they used the image of the inverted tree to exemplify this idea. For just as the seed contains the tree and the tree the seed, so the hidden world of God contains all creation, and creation is in turn a revelation of the hidden world of God. And so we find, in the book of Bahir, the oldest known Kabbalistic text, written around 1180 in southern France: "All the divine powers form a succession of layers and are like a tree." And in the most influential Kabbalistic text of all, the 13th century Book of Zohar (by Moses of Leon) one finds: "How the Tree of Life extends from above downwards, and is the sun which illuminates all. To describe God's latency the Kabbalists use the combined images of the seed (hidden seed), the root (root of all roots), and the mathematical point (primordial or smooth point). This is how the Book of Zohar describes the beginning of creation: "When the Concealed of the Concealed wished to reveal himself, he first made a single point: the infinite was entirely unknown, and diffused no light before this luminous point broke through into vision." Sephirotic Tree, engraving from Robert Fludd, Philosophia sacra, 1626. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/sephirotic-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/369a44a4-c77f-476e-b545-bb75b95af561/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.24.31+PM.png Tree of Life - Sephirotic Tree of Life In the Kabbalah (the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible, first transmitted orally and using esoteric methods (including ciphers)), it is down through the ten spheres or Sephiroth, which represent the creative emanations of God's innermost being, that the Divine Light is refracted and reflected. These make up the Sephirotic Tree of Life, which unfolds the hidden structure of God, humanity, and the universe, which in the En Sof (God), the Infinite, are inseparably one. The Divine Light which is reflected in the Sephirotic is like the light of the sun which is reflected in the heavenly spheres, and so each of the seven lower spheres in the trees is associated with one of the heavenly bodies. In the diagram, each has its astrological sign according to the system used by Athanasius Kircher (German Jesuit scholar): Tifereth-Beauty-Sun, in the center, and beneath, Hod-Splendor-Venus, Netsah-Firmness-Mars, Yesod-Foundation-Mercury, Malkuth-Kingdom-Moon, and above, on the left, Din or Gevurah-Judgement-Saturn, and on the right, Hesed-Love-Jupiter. This astrological symbolism is also found in the Menorah (previous post), which is shown in a traditional Kabbalistic diagram with the Hebrew letters for the Sephiroth on its stem and branches. The Sephiroth related to the Menorah. (Bibliotheque de l'Alliance Israelite Universelle.) https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/24/judaism-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/2f6e21dd-91af-4308-83a5-bc94acb86632/Screen+Shot+2022-10-24+at+4.21.50+PM.png Tree of Life - Judaism: Tree of Life In Judaism, the Tree of Life is most often represented by the flowering almond tree, the tree which, in the Near East, heralds and hastens the spring, its radiant white blossoms appearing long before its leaves. It was from the pattern of the almond that Moses was instructed to make the cups, capitals, and flowers of the seven-branched candlestick, the Menorah. In this and in the Sephirotic Tree of Jewish Kabbalalists, the cosmic symbolism of the Divine Light and the cosmic symbolism of the Tree of Life are combined. Engraving from Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus aegyptiacus, 1652. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/aboriginal-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/17ce0af0-ca62-42bc-ae1e-dc2e07cc0309/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.43.39+PM.png Tree of Life - Aboriginal Tree of Life - Make it stand out Tree of Life by Terry Johnstone https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/birthing-trees monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/eb22efee-adf9-4cc6-bd84-12ece816ab66/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.41.48+PM.png Tree of Life - Birthing Trees More than 260 Djab Wurrung trees that are 800 years old are slated to be bulldozed to make way for a highway between Buangor and Ararat in western Victoria. Some are "birthing trees", used by local Aboriginal women to give birth for an estimated 50 generations. In 2020, a tree lovingly referred to as a 'directions tree' was cut down. The tree was a result of an ancient Djab Wurrung indigenous practice where a child's placenta is planted along with a seed to create a spiritual link to ancestors. "[Settlers] can't understand what it means to be able to connect the blood coursing through your body to ancestors' blood soaked in ancient soil and ancient trees. To sit in a tree that saw your people birthed, your people massacred, and now your people's resistance is a feeling that the English language will never be able to capture ... this connection may be ... poetic but this connection is a threat. It is a feeling that reinforces our rights to this land. This connection must therefore, by the logic of the settler state, be destroyed." Nayuka Gorrie Image credit: Sean Paris https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/gamilaroi-and-wiradjuri-carved-trees monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/52d283be-dc43-4fc1-bef6-4e73329a56bd/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.39.01+PM.png Tree of Life - Gamilaroi and Wiradjuri Carved Trees Carved trees are created as a kind of artistic and spiritual expression by some Aboriginal peoples, to mark significant places like burial sites. Carved trees of some Aboriginal Australians are mainly found in New South Wales, and are the work of Gamilaroi and Wiradjuri artists. They were created to mark sites of ceremonial significance, such as initiation or burial sites. They are known as arborglyphs, dendroglyphs, and teleglyphs. During the 19th century, sections of these trees were removed and put in museums. There's a movement now to return these trees to their land of origin and to revive the practice of carved trees. Scarred trees are found among mature native trees, especially box gum and red gum, along rivers and lakes and at sacred sites. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/the-cosmic-tree-par-excellence monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/edbb829a-2049-471b-8adc-ca5942882dd9/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T142418.586.png Tree of Life - The Cosmic Tree Par Excellence - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/yggdrasil-is-mortal monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/3d601315-880b-4f48-84f5-4b43f9cac5a1/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.31.34+PM.png Tree of Life - Yggdrasil Is Mortal In Norse cosmology, there is no more important entity than Yggdrasil. When it dies, the myths tell us, the whole world of the gods dies with it. Nearly every Norse text that mentions Yggdrasil emphasizes that the tree is not only sacred, it is mortal, and sorely in need of compassion and protection. Odin, in the Poetic Edda, says Yggdrasil "suffers agony / more than men know, a stag nibbles it above, but at its side it's decaying, and Niohoggr [a malicious serpent or dragon] rends it beneath". Elsewhere in the Eddas, we're told that countless dangerous serpents slither below Yggdrasil; a squirrel is constantly scurrying up and down its trunk, bringing news and Gullinkambi, one of the three roosters whose crowing will will signal Ragnarok (the Twilight of the Gods), nests in Yggdrasil's upper canopy like a sentry. "The Ash Yggdrasil", illustration in Carla Wenckebach's A Christmas Book: Origin of the Christmas Tree, the Mistletoe, the Yule Log, & St. Nicholas (1898). https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/north-eurasian-shamanic-traditions monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/df2ae65a-e052-4dcc-b997-b0fe3d5fdc26/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T142356.307.png Tree of Life - North Eurasian Shamanic Traditions The tradition of holy trees has found an enduring role in Scandinavian culture. Warden trees, known as tuntre in Norwegian and vardtrad in Swedish, are still planted in central places on many farms today. These trees, if well taken care of, are thought to bring good luck to the farm and the people who live there. It's a belief not so far removed from ancient lore – which held that the court of the gods was "kept beneath the great ash and it was there they meted out justice". https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/woman-made-from-an-elm-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/b3b49c17-b1ee-432b-92b3-c1b8d430b862/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.26.05+PM.png Tree of Life - Woman Made from an Elm Tree The nature and significance of Yggdrasil is recorded in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier sources, and in the Prose Edda written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Both record Yggdrasil to be a great and holy ash tree--the entire world, located at the center of the universe. The Tree is living, with branches extending above the heavens and a trunk firmly latched to the ground by three great roots. From its center span the nine realms of existence, including Asgard, the home of the gods and the hall of Valhalla, and Midgard, the land of the human mortals. An eagle sits in the top of its branches in constant conflict with an evil serpent, Nidhogg, who tries to unbalance the tree by chewing through one of its roots. Trees are prominent in Norse lore elsewhere too. Both men and women were created from a tree. Man, Ask, was named from a derivation of the word askr, which is literally translated as ash tree. Woman, Embla, was said to have been made from an elm tree. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/yggdrasil monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/8a6e61b4-76d6-4330-bba2-8a6cf22e82c4/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T142334.798.png Tree of Life - Yggdrasil - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/norse-cosmology monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/6b03fd85-89a2-484e-9bb7-e9dc2eb544d5/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.21.21+PM.png Tree of Life - Norse Cosmology This illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript shows Yggdrasil with the assorted animals that live in it. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the World Tree, a great ash tree located at the center of the universe and joining the nine worlds of Norse cosmology together. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/wisdom-driven-from-the-temple monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/fe4843cc-6cac-4071-ad43-5b7962f245b2/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T141617.190.png Tree of Life - Wisdom Driven from the First Temple "The undivided Adam-and-Eve were the original high priesthood, driven from the temple where they had enjoyed angel status and walked with the Lord." - Margaret Barker, "Wisdom and the Other Tree: A Temple Theology Reading of the Genesis Eden Story" If the power of godliness is complete only in a priesthood equally balanced in the masculine and feminine principles and embodiment, how will we arrive at a complete or whole restoration of creative, godly powers? How do we reunite the masculine and feminine in the Wisdom of God? How do the lesser law (Mosaic) and higher law (Wisdom) become reconciled? As remembered and described as a great high priest, how did Jesus embody a balance of masculine and feminine qualities? https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/the-fruit-of-the-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/50c15777-e4a7-4cea-a9dd-03b1c0012153/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T141558.785.png Tree of Life - The Fruit of the Tree of Life - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/eden-and-asherah monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/58f91847-8d6d-429a-9519-f03a70449ed2/Screen+Shot+2022-10-22+at+2.12.22+PM.png Tree of Life - Eden and Asherah It has been fascinating to reanimate the Eden story at this point in my life. As I write my book on the feminine ascension path, I continue to feel a stirring of voices, a presence in my heart, telling me to look again. There are so many versions of the tale. So many in which Eve is blamed, seen as having grossly errored, and in many recountings, initiated the original sin against God which places a curse on each of us. Very few engage the story from a feminine vantage. Because of the overlay of temple space onto Eden (and visa versa) the story of Asherah from the first Jerusalem temple leads us to the story of the Two Trees of the Garden. Each serves to enlighten the other. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/priests-driven-from-the-first-temple monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/00ed4f8d-f4c7-446f-9d86-39991cbf54a7/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T140937.226.png Tree of Life - Priests Driven from the First Temple The first Jerusalem temple, Solomon's temple, was considered the Garden of Eden. "Adam was created to be the high priest, but he ate from the forbidden tree and so lost access to the Wisdom of the Tree of Life. Adam returning to Eden and to the Tree of Life meant the original priesthood returning to the true temple." - "Restoring Solomon's Temple" by Margaret Barker When Asherah was removed from the first temple, the priests went into exile. The Tree of Life and Her attendant priests and priesthood were removed. It's fascinating to me that the fall from the Garden meant leaving the Tree of Life, and therefore forfeiting access to the highest priesthood power. Wisdom, the Tree of Life, stayed in the garden temple but humankind was forced to leave. Here on Earth however, we have the reversal: we create Eden/temple spaces, but because of our continued refusal/ignorance of Wisdom, our Mother Tree is missing from the Holy of Holies of our Eden/temple space. Jesus promised His faithful followers that they would once again have access to the Tree of Life (Revelation 2:7; 22:14). https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/22/overseeing-all monthly 0.5 2022-10-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/c9644f27-4b9a-446d-94bb-9486ac21ec77/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-22T140748.125.png Tree of Life - Overseeing All - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/wisdom-the-fashioner-of-all-things monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/11d9317a-c725-41bb-aab8-d3b8929dc3c0/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T194944.108.png Tree of Life - Wisdom, the Fashioner of All Things The Book of Wisdom, also known as the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Jewish work from the Latin Bible tradition. It is an exhortation to pursue Wisdom, not so much a collection of wise teachings. It is dated to the mid-1st century BCE. The framing of wisdom in these verses, complements other descriptions of Wisdom (capital W) I've found in other texts. Seeing Wisdom as the Tree of Life, as the Book of Proverbs illustrates, points me to seeing Asherah, The Tree (known also as Lady Wisdom), as embodying these traits as well. Perhaps the very archetype of all it means to be wise. Emphasis on be! Wisdom is a state of being, deep in our hearts, marrow, and spirits, not intellectual knowledge alone. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/godlessly-forsook-wisdom monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/76bde032-4cd9-4f89-a87b-494da825a854/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T194101.514.png Tree of Life - Godlessly Forsook Wisdom There are two stories. Two versions of why Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586BCE. The story recorded most clearly in canonized scripture is that the ten commandments were no longer observed. But Isaiah teaches us, if we look carefully, that is was because of their rejection of the Queen of Heaven. According to Bible scholar Margaret Barker, "the sins of Jerusalem that Isaiah condemned were not those of the ten commandments, but those of the Enoch tradition: pride (Isa. 2:11, 17), rebellion (Isa. 1:23, 1:28, 5:24) and loss of Wisdom (Isa. 2:6, 3:12, 5:12)." The first chapter of the Book of Proverbs gives voice to rejected Lady Wisdom: "How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof and I will pour out my spirit on ... you because I called and you refused to listen ... and you have ignored all my counsel ... I will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when panic strikes you ... when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me but I will not answer, they will seek me diligently but they will not find me." https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/lady-wisdoms-exile monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/2bd051c4-d08e-46bd-bb3f-724b95ff53a0/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T193711.022.png Tree of Life - Lady Wisdom's Exile We know about the presence and symbolism of the Mother Goddess of the first Jerusalem temple largely from the documentation of what the Deuteronomists took from it and destroyed. During the purges of King Josiah, She, known by many names, including Asherah, was removed from the temple in symbol, script, and power. She had been worshipped with wine and incense, and the bread of the temple represented Her. She was the menorah, the oil, the manna, the high priest's staff that bore blossoms, the ark, the fire and the Spirit. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/i-grew-tall monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/42d6ecbb-f106-4864-a8b3-5c7c1a0531f1/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T193155.182.png Tree of Life - I Grew Tall In describing The Great Mother (Asherah, the Queen of Heaven, Wisdom, the Tree of Life), Ben Sira reveals Her transmutability, Her ability to become the symbolic form needed by a certain people at a certain time. What faces of the Mother God have been revealed to you? How has She manifest Herself to your heart and mind? How have you learned to recognize Her? Margaret Barker quote from her essay, "Where Shall Wisdom be Found?" https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/woman-and-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/72887dac-7438-44af-bf3e-340aaf4e4ab5/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T192824.203.png Tree of Life - Woman and Tree https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/asherah monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/d5fea5dd-eefc-4cc4-adbc-dd844e7ee0aa/Screen+Shot+2022-10-19+at+7.26.07+PM.png Tree of Life - Asherah Kuntillet 'Ajrud is an archaeological site on the Sinai Peninsula in present-day Egypt. The site was likely an Israelite trading post or oasis. Excavations undertaken in the 1970s revealed two large pithos jars (used to store water and other liquids) with intriguing drawings and text. The line drawings shown here from pithos A depicts the Tree of Life, representing the goddess Asherah. Two caprids (goat-antelopes) flank the tree and eat from its leaves. Asherah rests atop a majestic lion. The textual inscriptions found on the jars are, in large part, written in early Hebrew script. These inscriptions repeatedly mention Yahweh and are mostly religious in content. Pithos A from Kuntillet 'Ajrud, late ninth-early eighth century BCE. Text from: http://bibleodyssey.com/en/tools/image-gallery/k/kuntillet-ajrud https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/the-great-mother-goddess monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/d00914d4-3089-478c-933e-8d607ea06e6e/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-19T192352.847.png Tree of Life - The Great Mother Goddess Text adapted from The Tree of Life: Image for the Cosmos, by Roger Cook https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/athirat monthly 0.5 2022-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/8f1179ca-719f-4f0d-9958-e29d933717b3/Screen+Shot+2022-10-19+at+5.07.22+PM.png Tree of Life - Athirat Athirat is considered the Ugaritic counterpart to Asherah, the Israelite mother Goddess. Called "Creator of the Gods", she was often represented as a palm tree or pillar with a snake coiled around it. The name Athirat derives from a root meaning "straight". Pictured: Ivory box-lid found at Ugarit (1300 BCE) depicts Athirat representing the Tree of Life feeding a pair of goats. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/yaxche-mayan-world-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/70347beb-0a20-4cd4-a5be-11e18991d741/Screen+Shot+2022-10-19+at+5.01.28+PM.png Tree of Life - Yaxche: Mayan World Tree The Maya considered the ceiba tree to be Yaxche, the "world tree", the first tree in existence. Yaxche was axis mundi, the navel of the world uniting the underworld (represented by the crocodile coming out of the water), the earth and the sky (heavens). The ceiba tree is crowned with foliage spreading in all four directions. During its growth and ascent, it gave birth to life on earth and later set stars and heavenly bodies in motion. Mayans believed in a connection between humans and the ceiba tree. Like a mother, the bearer of children, humankind can only continue as long as the ceiba tree is alive. Painting by Anna Katharina Muench https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/19/aztec-sacred-center monthly 0.5 2022-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/ea89978a-7b40-423b-9a38-3fa86920fed2/Screen+Shot+2022-10-19+at+4.56.17+PM.png Tree of Life - Aztec Sacred Center "Birth, Life, Death, and Regeneration are embodied in these trees of the cardinal directions. At the top (east), the tree of the rising sun standing between the god of that name and the god of sharp-cutting-stone. To the right, the tree of sacrifice, between the maize god and the lord of the dead. At the foot of the picture, a tree surmounted by a hummingbird between the goddess of flowers and the goddess of drunkenness. Finally, split in the middle, the tree of regeneration between the god of rain and the god of the underworld." - Roger Cook The four directions connect to a sacred center, shown here as Xiuhtecuhlti. In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtecuhlti was the God of fire, day, and heat. Codex Fejervary-Mayer depicts aspects of the tonalpohualli, the sacred 260-day Mesoamerican augural cycle. (The five regions of the world, from Codex Fejervary-Mayer, between the fourteen and sixteenth centuries. Late Postclassic Mesoamerican.) https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/11/kadamba-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/a84b8e92-eafb-46cf-9d44-e0e23b865b34/Screen+Shot+2022-10-11+at+1.24.47+PM.png Tree of Life - Kadamba Tree "Standing under the Kadamba Tree, sacred to him, upon the lotus throne, center of divine manifestation, at the center of the world, the Hindu god Krishna sustains the life of the universe by the power if his music, drawing the hearts of all beings towards the center, where the sacred manifests itself." Roger Cook Rajasthan School, Jodhpur Style, c. 1820. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/11/hindu-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/8e6b2770-24d7-479f-9ad7-1caa0387e34d/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-11T132242.979.png Tree of Life - Hindu Tree of Life Rig Veda samhita (the famous "riddle" of the birds) says: 1.164.20-22 "Two birds intimate companions, clasp the same tree; one of them eats the sweet fig; the other watches without eating. Where birds unblinkingly shriek for a share of the ambrosia, here the mighty guardian of the whole world, the inspired one, has entered me, the ignorant. In that very tree on which all the honey-eating birds settled down and breed, at the top, they say, is the sweet fig. One who does not knows not the Father will not attain it." https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/11/indian-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/d91110dd-1ce8-486c-ba5e-a648cafd75ac/Screen+Shot+2022-10-11+at+1.15.56+PM.png Tree of Life - Indian Tree of Life This bronze tree is a unique example of a Tree of Life representing all the life-giving forces of the universe. The tree's overall shape is that of the banyan tree, a symbol of male, spiritual, ethereal elements of life. The stem, with its rhizomes, is that of a lotus, representing the female, fertile, earthly, watery aspects. The two combined thus betoken the whole of creation. 'Indian Tree of Life', ca. 1575-1625. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/11/mary-the-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/a1cc13ff-3436-4ce3-b0ed-73ae4813c95e/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-11T131042.914.png Tree of Life - Mary, the Tree of Life In the Akathist Hymn, from the Orthodox tradition, Mary is described as "the Queen and Mother, the fiery throne, the dwelling place of the light, the lampstand, the fiery chariot of the Word, the food that replaced the manna, the tree of glorious fruit from which believers are nourished, the scent of Christ's fragrance, and the unburned bush. The roots of all this imagery lie in the first temple (Jerusalem), which had been the house of Wisdom, the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of the Lord." - Margaret Barker We will talk in depth later on about the Divine Mother as Wisdom and Her place in the ancient temples of the Israelites. I point us to the iconography and language from the Orthodox tradition as they have better preserved the memory and importance of the Holy Mother. It's not surprising that the great churches were dedicated to the Holy Wisdom. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/11/liturgy monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/a7ce1788-6fb1-4f0d-8e88-ac8b55651967/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-10-11T112027.209.png Tree of Life - Liturgy The daily bread of the eucharistic sacrament was also referred to as signifying "the body of God the Word, wherein was blood also, and they are the fruits of the tree of life." George of Arabs, from Two Commentaries on the Jacobite Liturgy, 1913. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/9/cross-as-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/a0bf8446-54ab-4e9b-bcb8-8f3ea19d98ca/Screen+Shot+2022-10-09+at+8.31.14+AM.png Tree of Life - Cross as Tree of Life Tree of the Cross, refectory fresco by Taddeo Gaddi, Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy, ca. 1330. The cross here becomes a tree of life whose twelve branches represent the twelve apostles, laden with the fruit of the Gospels. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/8/jesus-as-the-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/be01c59a-a2c7-4eed-bc36-eac0a09f714d/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T224245.074.png Tree of Life - Jesus as the Tree More than thinking of the tree of life as eternal life itself, early Christians identified Jesus as that tree. This identification begins with this poignant saying of Jesus on his way to Golgotha. On his way to the Place of the Skull, he is followed by a large group of mourners, made up mostly of women. What he says to them reveals his centrality to salvation, and the resistance of those (chief priests) who refuse eternal life embodied before their eyes. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/7/the-cosmic-cross monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/b82296a4-17cf-461d-83ac-433b78aa8177/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+10.36.09+PM.png Tree of Life - The Cosmic Cross I will be focusing the next few posts on the tree of life in relation to Christ for Holy Week. The imagery is so illuminating! The symbolism so profound. I hope these explorations can be a rich layer to your experience of this sacred convergence of temporal and eternal time in the marking of the week's events. "The apse mosaic in San Giovanni Laterano in Rome depicts the cross as tree of life and cosmic tree in the center of the world. The cross is golden, jeweled, and set against a field of intertwining vines. It is set in the Garden of Eden, from which flow the named four rivers of Paradise (Genesis 2:10) ... A cherub is seen guarding the walled Garden with Adam and Eve inside. With heaven above and the spirit of God descending, the cross links the world to the waters below. Mary and John the Baptist face the cosmic cross. This world cross is more than the tree of life, for the tree if life is here below, with the archangel guarding the entrance and the way to the tree of life behind the walls of the garden. The cross has become a cosmic tree." - John W. Welch, "The Tree of Life in the New Testament and Christian Tradition". World cross with tree of life below, apse mosaic, Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano, Rome, Italy, 4th-6th century. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/6/embodiment-of-divine-motherhood monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/81c38d9b-051c-4917-9c67-17e9218f9d1e/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T222726.210.png Tree of Life - Embodiment of Divine Motherhood - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/5/thoutmosis-iii-and-the-sycamore-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/9a5af843-4fce-4e13-b830-08f30e2a310f/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+9.18.53+PM.png Tree of Life - Thoutmosis III and the Sycamore Tree - Make it stand out Thoutmosis III suckled by Isis in the guise of a sycamore tree, wall painting, tomb of Thoutmosis III, Thebes, 15th century, BCE. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/8/the-sycamore-fig-and-isis monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/0667159e-9624-4b69-851a-1577de06df95/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T203438.835.png Tree of Life - The Sycamore Fig and Isis - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/7/9fvd7w61ws1ifsnkr41sook4i1sytl monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/5cad6386-1daf-4aa4-a185-9df4d0737752/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+3.22.32+PM.png Tree of Life - Assyrian Tree of Life Image from Historic Ornament: Treatise on Decorative Art and Architectural Ornament, Pottery, Enamels, Ivories, Metalwork, Furniture, Textile, Fabrics, Mosaics, Glass and Book Decoration. Published in 1897, by James Ward. Digital copy available in the digital collections of The New York Public Library. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/6/the-cosmic-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/6004c9f7-573f-4827-b07c-dc3709ddb15d/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+2.58.01+PM.png Tree of Life - The Cosmic Tree In the ancient world the tree is not worshipped for itself only, but because it manifests the workings of a wholly other sacred power or force, which is both feared and venerated. This power reveals itself at the cosmic center and radiates throughout the whole. "As a living embodiment of both the centre and the whole, the sacred tree becomes the Cosmic Tree, which by its natural laws of development (its annual 'death' and 'rebirth') embodies the perpetual regeneration of the Cosmos from the Source." The Assyrian king appears twice, raises his right hand and points his right index finger in a gesture of worship toward a god in a winged disc. He holds a mace, the symbol of authority. The Sacred Tree (which is probably a palm tree) lies in the middle of the relief. The relief was originally positioned behind the king's throne. Image: King Ashurnasirpal II and a winged god worshipping the sacred tree, alabaster relief from Nimrud, Neo-Assyrian, 9th C. BC. Quote and image from The Tree of Life: Image for the Cosmos, by Roger Cook. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/5/good-fruit monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/cae8df37-19f0-4e13-b93c-f6ba64d1d244/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T144053.197.png Tree of Life - Good Fruit - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/4/persian-carpet-garden monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/297343b6-4519-4f95-b615-c03cc8d39980/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+2.41.16+PM.png Tree of Life - Persian Carpet Garden "Modern depth psychology has established that [we] long to realize [ourselves], to actualize [our] potential for wholeness and freedom. [We] are goaded on in this endeavour by unconscious projections of that wholeness; images and symbols that are ciphers for the unity and plentitude of being. This innate longing is reflected in the nostalgia for Paradise which is present in one form or another at all levels of culture. It is evoked here in an image from Islam: the centre of a Persian 'carpet garden', which represents the heavenly gardens with the four rivers of Paradise radiating from their centre." Garden carpet, Persian, 17th-18th c. Text and image from The Tree of Life: Image for the Cosmos, by Roger Cook https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/3/the-garden-of-abode monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/dbd24874-f39f-4544-8202-a2c123bd3cdf/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T144033.588.png Tree of Life - The Garden of Abode The Qur'an speaks of a tree it calls the "lotus tree" or "lote-tree of the uttermost boundary," the sidrat al-muntaha. The reference to what Muhammad saw, quoted here, traditionally refers to the Prophet's mi'raj, or ascent to heaven. During this ascent he saw "the Heavens and the Lote Tree, the Divine Throne and [the] Divine Court." To some classical commentators, "It is called 'Sidratul Muntaha' (the lotus tree of the extreme limit) because it is the end of all that is knowable, and nobody can know what is beyond it." From Hajjah Amina Adil, Muhammad, the Messenger of Islam: His Life and Prophecy, 155, 219. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/2/the-bodhi-tree monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/309104c3-9c3b-4a1e-bf32-274e3ecfcdd7/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+2.37.07+PM.png Tree of Life - The Bodhi Tree Because it is the tree in which Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment, the Bodhi tree has become a symbol of wisdom, enlightenment, and freedom. Pictured here is also the lotus flower, symbol of ultimate purity and spiritual awakening. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/10/1/locus-of-revelation monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/21c26a31-4dd6-46d2-b91e-d49140cbfe71/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T143255.755.png Tree of Life - Locus of Revelation - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/30/japanese-temple-pagoda-as-image-of-sacred-center-of-world monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/6da0bf70-1792-4851-ab02-77d306c81418/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+2.25.09+PM.png Tree of Life - Japanese Temple Pagoda as Image of Sacred Center of World We see the sacred tree represented in architecture as well as art. As mentioned in the previous post, the tree functions as the axis of the universe. The Buddhist stupa, represented here by a Japanese temple pagoda, is an image of the sacred center of the world - the point from which all creation originates. The Axis Mundi, the linear extension of this cosmological point, extends through the planes of being (shown here as stacked roofs). It was at the center, beneath the Cosmic Tree, that the future Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, attained enlightenment. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/sr5oyuvxj76aw3fddd6wqhyixlodha monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/93921e7d-57b5-4df4-a777-7f7c9ee36111/Where+to+Next+Instagram+Post+-+2022-09-28T143105.940.png Tree of Life - The Tree of Life in Asian Art and Religion "The tree of life, synonymous with all existence, all the worlds, all life, springs up, out, or down into space from its root in the navel centre of the Supreme Being. . . . The World-tree then, equally in and apart from its Buddhist application, is the procession of incessant life. Standing erect and midmost in the garden of life, extending from Earth to Heaven, branching throughout Space . . . is the one Wish-tree . . . that yields the fruits of life, all that every creature calls 'good.'" - Amanda Coomaraswamy While the specifics of spiritual and cultural significance, layered on the tree image over the millennia, are unique to the time and space from which they arise, we see that the underlying essence of the tree—as a connection between heaven and earth—remains as its archetypal identity, rooting all of its iterations to a powerful commonality. The expression of divine feminine power is seen in this basic and universal understanding of the tree symbol: like the tree, women connect heaven and earth by bringing souls from heavenly realms to this mortal sphere. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/71wk3uy95r877pafip923rdntndh9h monthly 0.5 2022-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/9b14fe4b-fb77-4f7a-a989-619b0e02c389/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+1.19.02+PM.png Tree of Life - The Oldest Known Depictions of 'Tree of Life' Motifs The oldest known depictions of 'tree of life' motifs are found on vessels from Turkey's Domuztepe Mound in the southern province of Kahramanmaras, dating back to about 7,000 BCE. Archeologists believe the symbol spread from there in various ways. The culture or belief system surrounding the tree (related to a faith system and a burial tradition) expanded to the south and then became the most important factor in Sumerian civilization. There is also a similar tree in the Acadians, which is known a the 'eya tree' in Hittite documents in the 3000s BCE. According to Dr. Halil Tekin who led the excavations, "the pine tree symbolizes life because it is a tree that never dies. The one we have found here is a tree with thorny leaves. This is why we believe it is a symbol of life." https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/wisdom-is-a-tree-of-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/6e343835-4617-4aa7-8c97-20b4f81a6d17/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+1.14.24+PM.png Tree of Life - Wisdom is a Tree of Life - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/the-tree-represents-cosmic-life monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/f000372b-7672-4f02-88cc-4ec7a2224225/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+1.12.39+PM.png Tree of Life - The Tree Represents Cosmic Life - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/a-mystical-primordial-linkage-between-heaven-and-earth monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/49f64621-7341-4757-92a4-625aaad1eb7c/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+1.06.26+PM.png Tree of Life - A Mystical, Primordial Linkage Between Heaven and Earth - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/embodiment-of-the-life-principle monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/a4e3fbb6-07ae-4c79-929c-6b0592908dde/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+12.59.12+PM.jpg Tree of Life - Embodiment of the Life Principle - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/blue-tree-by-piet-mondrian monthly 0.5 2022-09-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/ee233485-851c-48e9-82a2-f0588d5674cf/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+12.56.28+PM.png Tree of Life - Blue Tree by Piet Mondrian - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.kathrynknightsonntag.com/tree-of-life/2022/9/28/tree-of-oneness monthly 0.5 2022-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bf22c6f70e802dcb7f7bc04/f2687d55-6476-489b-8fbe-8b2a30329faf/Screen+Shot+2022-09-28+at+12.50.16+PM.png Tree of Life - Tree of Oneness - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.