We provide here a complete picture of our
compiled plant notes taxonomically by cladistics, providing an
easy-to-navigate index of my summary of plant materials and a clear roadmap of
the scope of this work.
For those interested in the broad-strokes of plant symbolism and
iconography, we direct you to the first three articles of the
Prestigious Plants series:
There are two broad categories this research
falls into:
Moss, Lichen, and Fungi
Tracheophytes (All vascular plants)
MOSS, LICHEN, AND FUNGI
We have no desire to attempt the confusing
world of moss, lichen, and fungi taxonomy, so here is the limited set of
fungi we have opted to include in our research. The world of plants demands
too much of our attention already for us to justify branching out into the
topic of these reagents with any great depth.
Moss is regarded in its entirety in a single
article (not including vascular plants with “moss” in their name, like
clubmosses and spikemosses), which it shares with lichen by habit.
There are two lichen genera we are willing
to investigate:
Lobaria
Usnea
For convenience, these two lichen genera
will be lumped together in a single article with mosses.
The fungi genera we set aside for our
already stretched attention are:
Amanita
Claviceps (Ergot)
Exidia (Fairy Butter)
Ganoderma (Shelf Mushroom/Bracket Fugus)
Hericum (Lion’s Mane)
Inonotus (Chaga)
Trametes (Turkey Tail)
Truffle (Not a genus, but too influential not to include)
VASCULAR PLANTS
All vascular plants (or “higher plants”)
fall into the division Tracheophytes, which covers the overwhelming
majority of our plant research. These fall into two classes:
Lycopodiopsida
Euphyllophytes
LYCOPODIOPSIDA
The class of Lycopodiopsida are called
clubmosses, firmosses, quillworts, and spikemosses. We regard four
genera within this class as worth our time and attention:
Lycopodiales
Lycopodiaceae
Huperzia (Firmoss/Fir Clubmoss/Gemma Firmoss)
Lycopodium (Clubmoss/Firmoss)
Isoetales
Isoetaceae
Isoetes (Quillwort)
Selaginellales
Selaginellaceae
Selaginella (Spikemoss)
EUPHYLLOPHYTES
Euphyllophytes are an unranked clade of
vascular plants characterized by possessing true leaves. They fall into
two lineages:
Ferns are a distinct group of primitive
vascular plants characterized by their coiling growths that unfurl into
fronds and their spore-based reproduction. Ferns, as a class, warrant their own article, as well as articles for:
Spermatophytes encompass all
seed-bearing plants and are by far the most extensive and most
culturally consequential lineage of plants. These fall into two clades:
Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Gymnosperms (Conifers, Cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetophytes)
ANGIOSPERMS
Angiosperms are plants that bear flowers
and fruit; their name is derived from the Greek for “vessel seed.” They
are the most diverse group of land plants.
This lineage has been cladistically
divided into:
Basal angiosperms are a small lineage
and can be quickly summarized into three relevant genera:
Nymphaeales
Nymphaeaceae
Euryale (Gorgon Plant)
Nuphar (Water Lily)
Nymphaea (Water Lily)
Three clades define core Angiosperms:
Eudicots
Magnoliids
Monocots
Eudicots fall into two clades:
Basal Eudicots
Core Eudicots
Relevant to this project, basal eudicots
have three orders, six families, and 24 genera:
Buxaceae
Buxus (Box Wood)
Nelumbonaceae
Nelumbo (Lotus)
Platanaceae
Platanus (Plane Tree)
Ranunculales
Berberidaceae
Berberis (Barberry)
Lardizabalaceae
Akebia (Akebi)
Decaisnea (Dead Man’s Fingers)
Papaveraceae
Chelidonium (Celandine)
Fumaria (Fumitory)
Glaucium (Horned Poppy)
Lamprocapnos (Bleeding Heart)
Meconopsis (Welsh Poppy)
Papaver (Poppy)
Ranunculaceae
Aconitum (Wolfsbane)
Adonis
Anemone
Aquilegia (Columbine)
Clematis
Consolida (Larkspur)
Coptis (Goldthread)
Delphinium (Larkspur)
Ficaria (Fig Buttercup)
Helleborus (Hellebore)
Hepatica (Liverwort)
Nigella (Love-in-a-Mist)
Pulsatilla (Pasque Flower)
Ranunculus (Buttercup)
Core Eudicots fall into two lineages:
Superasterids
Superrosids
The superasterid lineage contains three
heterogeneous orders (only two of which are of interest, and the monophyletic clade the Asterids:
Asterid taxa include:
Apiaceae/Umbelliferae
Aegopodium (Bishop’s Weed)
Ammi (False Bishop’s Weed)
Anethum (Dill)
Angelica
Anthriscus (Chervil)
Apium (Celery)
Cicuta (Water Hemlock)
Conium (Hemlock)
Coriandrum (Coriander)
Cryptotaenia (Honeywort)
Cuminum (Cumin)
Daucus
Eryngium (Seal Holly)
Ferula (Fennel)
Foeniculum (Fennel)
Heracleum (Cow Parsnip/Hogweed)
Levisticum (Lovage)
Ligusticum (Liqourice Root)
Oenanthe (Water Dropwort)
Opoponax
Pastinaca (Parsnip)
Petroselinum (Parsely)
Pimpinella (Burnet-Saxifrage)
Sanicula (Sanicle/Black Snakeroot)
Araliaceae
Hedera (Ivy)
Panax (Ginseng)
Aquifoliaceae
Ilex (Holly)
Asteraceae/Compositae
Achillea (Yarrow)
Amberboa (Sweet Sultan)
Anacyclus (Pellitory)
Arctanthemum
Arctium (Burdock)
Arnica (Leopard’s Bane)
Artemisia
Aster
Atractylodes
Bellis (Daisy)
Buphthalmum (Ox Eye)
Calendula (Marigold)
Carduus (Plumeless Thistle)
Carlina (Carline Thistle)
Carthamus (Distaff Thistle)
Centaurea (Cornflower)
Chamaeleon (Distaff Thistle)
Chamaemelum (Chamomile)
Chicorum (Chicory)
Chrysanthemum
Cirsium (Plume Thistle)
Cnicus (St. Benedict’s Thistle)
Crepis (Hawksbeard)
Cynara (Artichoke)
Doronicum (Leopard's Bane)
Echinops (Globe Thistle)
Eupatorium (Snakeroot)
Glebionis (Daisy)
Gnaphalium (Cudweed)
Helichrysum (Cudweed)
Hieracium (Hawkweed)
Inula (Fleabane)
Ismelia (Tricolor Daisy)
Jacobaea (Ragwort)
Lactuca (Lettuce)
Leontopodium (Edelweiss)
Leucanthemum (Daisy)
Matricaria (Chamomile)
Notobasis (Syrian Thistle)
Omalotheca (Arctic Cudweed)
Onopordum (Cottonthistle)
Osteospermum (African Daisy)
Pluchea (Fleabane)
Pulicaria (Fleabane)
Scolymus (Oyster Thistle)
Senecio (Ragwort)
Silybum (Milk Thistle)
Solidago (Goldenrod)
Sonchus (Sow Thistle)
Tanacetum (Tansy)
Taraxacum (Dandelion)
Tephroseris (Field Fleawort)
Tussilago (Coltsfoot)
Xanthium (Clotbur)
Calycanthaceae
Calycanthus (Chinese Sweetshrub)
Chimonanthus (Wintersweet)
Campanulaceae
Campanula (Bellflower)
Favratia (Crimped Bellflower)
Legousia (Venus’s Looking Glass)
Lobelia
Menyanthaceae
Mentyanthes (Buckbean)
Nymphoides (Floating Heart)
Adoxaceae
Adoxa (Moschatel)
Sambucus (Elder)
Viburnum
Caprifoliaceae
Dipsacus (Teasel)
Lonicera (Honeysuckle)
Nardostachys (Nard)
Scabiosa (Scabious)
Succisia (Devil’s Bit Scabious)
Valerian
Valerianella (Corn Salad)
Lamiids
Boraginaceae
Alkanna (Alkanet)
Anchusa (Bugloss)
Borago (Borage)
Cerinthe (Honeywort)
Cordia (Manjack)
Cynoglossum (Hound’s Tongue)
Echium
Glandora
Lappula (Stickseed)
Lithodora (Stone Gift)
Myosotis (Forget-Me-Not)
Nonea (Monkswort)
Omphalodes (Navelwort)
Pentaglottis (Five Tongues)
Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
Symphytum (Comfrey)
Helioptropiaceae
Heliotropium (Heliotrope)
Apocynaceae
Apocynum (Dogbane)
Calotropis (Apple of Sodom)
Cionura (Dogbane)
Hoya (Waxflower)
Nerium (Oleander)
Tabernanthe (Iboga)
Vinca (Periwinkle)
Gentianaceae
Gentiana (Gentian)
Rubiaceae
Asperula (Woodruff)
Coffea (Coffee)
Coryanthe (Yohimbe)
Galium (Bedstraw)
Gardenia
Rubia (Madder)
Acanthaceae
Acanthus (Spikeflower)
Justicia
Thunbergia
Bignoniaceae
Campsis (Trumpet Vine)
Dolichandrone (Mangrove Trumpet Tree)
Incarvillea (Chinese Trumpet Flower)
Oroxylum (Indian Trumpet Flower)
Lamiaceae/Labiatae
Ajuga (Bugleweed)
Ballota (Horehound)
Betonica (Betony)
Glechoma (Ground-Ivy)
Hyssopus (Hyssop)
Lamium (Dead-Nettle)
Lavandula (Lavender)
Leonurus (Motherwort)
Lycopus (Bugleweed)
Marrubium (Horehound)
Melissa (Balm)
Mentha (Mint)
Ocimum (Basil)
Origanum (Oregano)
Pogostemon (Patchouli)
Pseudodictamnus (Horehound)
Salvia (Sage)
Satureja (Savory)
Scutellaria (Skullcap)
Stachys (Betony)
Teucrium (Germander)
Thymus (Thyme)
Volkameria
Olaceae
Chrysojasminum (Yellow Jasmine)
Forsythia (Easter Tree)
Jasminum (Jasmine)
Fraxinus (Ash)
Ligustrum (Privet)
Olea (Olive)
Syringa (Lilac)
Orobanchaceae
Euphrasia (Eyebright)
Rehmannia (Chinese Foxglove)
Paulowniaceae
Paulownia (Dragoon Tree)
Pedaliaceae
Sesamum (Sesame)
Plantaginaceae
Antirrhinum (Snapdragon)
Cymbalaria (Toadflax)
Digitalis (Foxglove)
Globularia (Globe Daisy)
Plantago (Plantain)
Veronica (Speedwell)
Scrophulariaceae
Scrophularia (Figwort)
Verbascum (Mullein)
Verbenaceae
Vebena (Vervain)
Colvulvulaceae
Convulvulus (Morning Glory)
Cuscuta (Dodder)
Ipomoea (Sweet Potato)
Solanaceae
Atropa (Belladonna)
Datura
Hyoscyamus (Henbane)
Lycium (Wolfberry)
Mandragora (Mandrake)
Solanum (Eggplant/Woody Nightshade)
Withania
Cornaceae
Cornus (Dogwood)
Hydraneaceae
Hydrangea
Philadelphus (Mock Orange)
Balsaminaceae
Impatiens (Balsam)
Ebenaceae
Diospyros (Ebony/Persimmon)
Ericaceae
Arbutus
Arctostaphylos (Bearberry)
Calluna (Heather/Heath)
Cassiope (Heather/Heath)
Empetrum (Crowberry)
Erica (Heather/Heath)
Phyllodoce (Mountain Heath)
Rhododendron
Vaccinium (Bilberry)
Polemoniaceae
Polemonium (Jacob’s Ladder)
Primulaceae
Anagallis (Pimpernell)
Cyclamen
Lysimachia (Loosestrife)
Primula (Primrose)
Styracaceae
Styrax
Theaceae
Camellia (Tea)
Amaranthaceae
Achyranthes (Chaff Flower)
Amaranthus (Amaranth)
Bassia (Ragweed)
Beta (Beet)
Blitum (Goosefoot)
Celosia (Cockscomb)
Chenopodium (Goosefoot)
Kali (Tumbleweed)
Oxybasis (Goosefoot)
Salicornia (Glasswort)
Caryophyllaceae
Arnearia (Sandwort)
Dianthus (Carnation)
Gypsophilia (Baby’s Breath)
Rabelera (Greater Stitchwort)
Silene (Campion/Catchfly)
Spergula (Spurrey)
Spergularia (Sand-Spurrey/Sea-Spurrey)
Stellaria (Stitchwort)
Viscaria
Plumbaginaceae
Acantholimon (Prickly Thrift)
Armeria (Lady’s Cushion)
Ceratostigma (Leadwort)
Goniolimon (Statice)
Limoniastrum
Limonium (Caspia)
Plumbago (Leadwort)
Polygonaceae
Bistorta (Bistort)
Persicaria (Smartweed)
Rheum (Rhubarb)
Rumex (Sorrel/Dock)
Portulacaceae
Portulaca (Purslane)
Tamaricaceae
Tamarix (Tamarisk)
Santalaceae
Osyris (African Sandalwood)
Santalum (Sandalwood)
Viscum (Mistletoe)
Relevant to our research, Superrosids
contain the order Saxifragales, and the Rosid clade, which is divided
between the Vitales order and the Eurosid lineage:
Orchids are so sumerous that they require their own drop-down menu
Cypripedioideae
Cypripedium (Slipper Orchid)
Paphiopedilum (Venus’s Slipper)
Epipendroideae
Arethuseae
Bletilla (Urn Orchid)
Coelogyne (Hollow-Woman Orchid)
Pleione (Peacock Orchid)
Collabieae
Acanthophippium (Spiny-Saddle Orchid)
Ancistrochilus (Hooklip Orchid)
Calanthe (Christmas Orchid)
Phaius (Swamp Orchid)
Cymbidieae
Cymbidiinae
Cymbidium (Boat Orchid)
Grammatophyllum (Queen of the Orchids)
Eulophiinae
Ansellia (Leopard Orchid)
Eulophia (Corduroy Orchid)
Dendrobiinae
Bulbophyllum (Bulbleaf Orchid)
Dendrobium (Tree of Life Orchid)
Epidendreae
Calypso (Calypso Orchid)
Malaxideae
Liparis (Widelip Orchid)
Neottieae
Epipactis (Helleborine)
Vandeae
Aeridinae
Aerides (Cattail Orchid)
Arachnis (Spider/Scorpion Orchid)
Chiloschista (Starfish Orchid)
Cleisostoma (Closed-Mouth Orchid)
Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid)
Pomatocalpa (Bladder Orchid)
Thrixspermum (Hairseed)
Trichoglottis (Cherub Orchid)
Vanda
Angraecinae
Aerangis (Air-Urn Orchid)
Angraecum (Angrec Orchid)
Orchidoideae
Cranichideae
Spiranthes (Lady’s Tress)
Zeuxine (Verdant Jewel Orchid)
Orchidinae
Anacamptis (Ant Orchid)
Bartholina (Spider Orchid)
Dactylorhiza (Marsh Orchid)
Gymnadenia (Fragrant Orchid)
Himantoglossum (Lizard Orchid)
Ophrys (Bee Orchid)
Orchis (Orchid)
Platanthera (Butterfly Orchid)
Serapias (Tongue Orchid)
GYMNOSPERMS “Gymnosperm” comes from the composite Greek for
“naked seed,” in contrast to the ovule-enclosed angiosperms. These seeds
form in scales on leaves, cones, or singularly (in the case of yew).
They do not have significant enough
features to warrant a clade article, but their divisions are of great
note, down to the genera:
Over all other plants one icon
reigns supreme: the Tree. Recalling dynamic growth, seasonal death,
regeneration, and immortality, our ancestors once dwelt in them, relying on
them for shelter from the predators of the earth and sky and from the
ravages of storm. They provide fruit for our sustenance, wood for our tools
and buildings, and fuel for our fires. Their appearance in numbers marked a
boundary between the civilized world and the wilds. The greatest of their
boughs appeared to hold up the firmament itself and were regarded as the
homes of spirits and gods.
Botanically (and pedantically), a tree
is a perennial plant with an elongated stem called a trunk, often supporting
branches and leaves. This excludes a number of plants colloquially understood
as trees, so we expand our definition to include taller palms, tree ferns,
bananas, and bamboo (technically grasses).
Practically speaking, trees grow
out of the ground, with branches reaching up or out into the air. Their
roots, which dig into the earth, hold them firmly in place against the wind
and their own weight.
Trees are distinct from shrubs,
smaller perennial woody plants with multiple stems. While smaller than trees
as a general rule, some such organisms can reach up to 10m (33ft.) in height
and still receive the botanical classification of “shrub.” Typically, though,
this is a synonym for “bush.”
Material Culture Trees are foundational to human
culture and civilization. We rely upon their wood for the structure of our
homes, tools, and furnishings and have since bound the first celt to a split
stick with cord.
We have used their leaves and boughs,
fruit, bark and sap and resin, roots, wood, and after we have cut them down,
even their stumps. They are structure, they are fuel, they are food, and they
are medicine. They are protection from the elements, living or dead or chopped
to bits. Their bark is the medium of our most profound religious and
philosophical musings, private struggles, and grocery lists. Trees have left
no part of human civilization untouched.
Iconography and Symbolism The ubiquity of trees makes them a
foundational feature of the symbolic landscape of nearly every world
culture. We have observed that the symbolism of trees is expressed along
three axes:
Tree as the supreme plant;
The structure of the tree; and,
By peculiarity of species.
The third axis of expression is for
future articles.
The Tree as Supreme Plant The tree bears all generic plant
associations discussed in our article
here but to the maximum. The tree symbolizes evolutionary creation, with
branches and roots dividing and spreading from a single unified source. In
Indian iconography, this perception is identified in the image of a tree
sprouting from the cosmic egg, expressing Brahma's creation of the manifest
world.
Many trees, especially large trees,
can live for centuries, giving the impression that they are immortal. The
Great Basin bristlecone pine “Methuselah” in California is believed to be
4,853 years old! Such great trees act as consistent features of the landscape,
landmarks that generations of humans have used to navigate the world. This
trait of trees lends them to use as an emblem of immortality in the universal
and to varying degrees when subject to the particulars of species.
The seemingly deathless longevity
of trees works backward and forwards, their life in the deep past of
previous generations being a mystery to the present observer who rests
beneath its boughs. One can easily imagine such great plants took root at
the beginning of days.
Supreme Fertility Trees are symbols of fertility
across the board. Meanwhile, deciduous trees are regularly associated with
the cyclical fecundity of earth and lunar goddesses. Trees in this primitive
context are distinctly feminine emblems as embodiments of
goddess-as-mother.
Evergreen trees appear to take on a
more masculine context, as male virility is easily observed as non-cyclical.
The Greek figure Attis was transformed into an evergreen pine tree. His
story and its related cultic practices highlight the phallic qualities of
the tree trunk, as the designated ritual pine was stripped of its branches
and bark and wound round with woolen bands, around which the ritual
participants would dance to celebrate and impart vitality to Attis’s
resurrection.
This tradition was adapted into the
Roman festival of Hilaria, where it syncretized with other extant spring
rites across the empire and into the Celtic world.
English maypoles place a golden
disk atop their maypoles, which is both an emblem of solar power and
feminine by virtue of its round shape, highlighting the phallic qualities of
the pole. This creative union of the masculine and feminine is
contextualized with dances unwinding the ribbons wrapped about the
shaft.
The maypole acts as an axis mundi,
a world-navel or cosmic center. From that center, the sun’s creative and
life-giving energies spread out and spring further to the edges of the world
with each unwinding of the intricately interwoven ribbons.
As a practical note, these spring
festivals did manifest fertility, as they served as a place of
courtship for youths seeking out lovers and future spouses in the spring of
their lives. The very things that made May Day an affront to the Puritans in
England were the manifest purpose of the rite!
Immortality Both deciduous and evergreen trees
have strong associations of immortality, with differing characteristics. The
deciduous tree represents the immortality of the undying. We mean
this literally, as they appear to un-die in cyclical, regenerative
immortality every spring.
Evergreens are the immortality of
the never-dying, seemingly immune to the die-off of winter. They do
not regenerate or renew so much as persist without acknowledging death.
Many mythological and legendary
figures are granted immortality or are otherwise recognized as immortal
through transformation into trees. Greek mythology is lousy with them,
including Attis, Baucis and Philemon, Carya, Cyparissus, Daphne, Dryope,
Phaeton’s sisters, and many more.
Sometimes, the trees are not the
persons themselves transforming but are expressive of something more
abstract. In the popular medieval romance of Tristan and Isolde, the trees
grow from the graves of the two lovers, but instead, Tristan and Isolde’s
eternal love for each other.
Compiler’s Note: For the storyteller developing magical systems,
distinguishing between deciduous and evergreen sourcewoods could be magically
consequential. An evergreen wood might be better for a continual effect, such
as a passive apotropaic. Deciduous wood may be preferable for use-activated
magic, the virtues of the material coming to temporary life the way spring
brings the source plant out of the dormancy of winter.
Additionally, if your setting has
transformation narratives (be they diegetically metaphorical or literal),
the wood itself references such narratives and can be employed as a manifest
feature of the narrative. Say the narrative of Cyparissus or a close analog
is part of the magician's cultural background. Cypress wood might be
employed in a curse to inflict sorrow upon a victim like that experienced by
Cyparissus or to precipitate a parallel loss (death of an animal companion
at the hands of the cursed target).
More benignly, the magician may use
the cypress to bridge a grieving patient to Cyparissus’s eternal mourning
and relieve the patient’s burden.
Death Trees have strong funerary
associations in one part, as a consequence of their association with
immortality, and in another, from their role as the bridge of words (see
next section). The symbol of life has strong dualistic death associations,
especially in some trees, such as the yew and the cypress.
There are less than positive death
associations with the tree as well, in that the tree was the first hangman’s
scaffold and a post to bind people to leave them to die of exposure. This
sort of tree was formalized in the cross employed by the Romans and others
worldwide.
Cosmic trees feature widely in myth
for reasons we hope are obvious. They come in several significant
permutations, such as World Trees, which constitute cosmic superstructures;
Trees of Life, from which flow springs of vital energy and fruits of
immortality; to All-Seed trees, which serve as the source of all plants, or
trees whose fruits are otherwise strange matter such as fish or
metals.
Each of these could warrant an
entry itself (and we have a few below), but the features and functions of
such trees are more important than particular instances. Here are the most
important features of the cosmic trees.
Pillar and Vault Cosmic trees are fixtures of the
cosmic structure. They are axis mundi, marking the essential center of the
cosmos, as twin trees in the center of the Garden of Eden, the
Irminsul of the Germanics, or the Maypole in the spring rite. All
action revolves around them, whether they sit atop a great mountain, the
spring of life and its four rivers, or they pierce the universe from top to
bottom. Their branches hold up the sky, and their roots reach down into the
underworld. They separate the earth from the sky like a pillar that keeps
the temple’s floor and ceiling apart, but they also join the divided layers
of the universe and fix them in their place.
The greatest of these branches form the
vault of heaven, as the Gypsy’s conception of the sky, whose fruits are the
stars, or they define the entirety of the cosmic superstructure, as
Yggdrasil, whose branches and roots contain all nine realms. As such, the
trees become a synonym for the whole of creation, a cosmogram, an emblem of
totality.
Compiler’s Note: We point out here that based on our
understanding of these matters, this makes the tree a kind of pentagram.
Bridge Great Yggdrasil joined the nine
realms of Norse cosmology and has served as a nexus of cosmic travel in many
narratives influenced by Norse myth, such as the Darksiders video
game series.
However, that’s getting ahead of
ourselves. The self-same tree, through the figures of the eagle, the snake,
and the squirrel, provides a more straightforward understanding of this
“bridge of worlds” concept.
In Yggdrasil’s branches (heaven)
perches a great and mighty eagle, and at its roots (underworld) gnaws a
terrible serpent named Nidhoggr. Between the eagle and the serpent lives a
squirrel named Ratatoskr. Ratatoskr serves as a messenger between the
eagle and the snake, passing the insults of one to the other and back
again.
The above illustrates the tree as a
two-way bridge, carrying persons (the squirrel) between the heavens and the
underworld and also transmitting ideas (the insults).
The circumambulatory rites of the
Plains Indians of North America reveal another dimension of this traffic.
Parallel to the Maypole dances of Europe but harsher, the Plains Indians
perform exhausting and painful circular dances around central poles, which
link the earth with supernatural celestial forces. They invoke the vital
power of the Sun through dance (and the occasional sacrifice of the
breastmeat of a warrior) and channel it through the ritual pole down into
the earth. Like the rite of the Maypole, this is a transfer of
animatistic
(impersonal) supernatural force.
The World Tree thus moves cargo and
communication (concrete and abstract anima) and supernatural energy
(animata).
This bridge quality, which allows
the traversal of the earth, heavens, and underworlds, is shared with all
trees in microcosm by category, and it explains why the tree is a common
framework for the trance journey of shamans the world over.
Compiler’s Note: Besides using the tree as a path to other
worlds, as Yggdrasil is used in the Darksiders video games, one might
also use them as energy conductors. In the face of an overwhelming
supernatural cold besetting the land, a magus or shaman might transform one of
the land’s great trees into a medium for the heat of the deep earth. This
might go wrong, with the fires of hell conquering the great tree and trapping
the denizens between a demon-occupied Muspelheim and an unrelenting
Fimbulwinter.
Less dramatically, the behaviors of
circumambulation and ritual dancing about an axial tree could provide a
gamedev with environmentally appropriate behaviors for NPCs and enemies in
open-world games. In a Souls-like, plague-ravaged and delirious peasants may
driven by mad priests around rotting sacred trees. This doesn’t just give
them a narratively relevant behavior, but it can also be
mechanically consequential. The more such figures ambulate about the
tree, the more potent the hostile effects the tree manifests against the
player when the player is in proximity!
A tree may have a willful
malevolence residing within it. Having convinced some individuals to serve
as mouthpieces, it calls on them to bring devotees to dance. The malevolent
spirit feeds off of the vigor of their dancing and can exert more influence
until it has compelled the surrounding communities into an unwilling and
delirious tarantella. Finally, having enough vital animation transferred to
it through dance, the malevolence opens the tree as a gateway to its realm,
allowing demons to traverse it into the world of mortals.
Fruit The fruit of cosmic trees come in
many forms, from apples to figs and many recognizable shapes. Some of them
are golden and offer immortality or bring chaos.
The sky tree of Gypsy folklore has
already been discussed, which bears the stars, but other cosmic trees bear
the sun, moon, planets, and other astrological phenomena as fruits. The Tree
of Alchemy bears the seven classical metals in its boughs.
Compiler’s Note: Whatever is characterized as fruit from a
cosmic tree is in some way ingestible, even if it is an immortal and essential
abstract. This means that the fruit can be manifest and eaten. If you’re
wondering how someone might acquire power over lightning, a possible answer is
that they ate Jupiter.
Tree and Dragon A common feature of the cosmic tree
is a serpent or other earth/water monster coiled at the roots. In the case
of Yggdrasil, this is the serpent Nidhoggr. This may be a literal dragon,
but it may also be emblematic of the danger posed by accessing the
supernatural and reaching beyond the world of the mundane.
In Mesoamerica, the World Tree is
the grand ceiba, often depicted with a caiman or centipede at its base (in
this cultural context, centipedes are bone-snakes that reside in the
underworld). In the case of the lid of K’inich Jinaab Pakal’s
sarcophagus from Palenque, we can see the World Tree emerging from the jaws
of a centipede.
Image taken from
here. Contrary to popular belief, this does not depict a
rocket ship.
Compiler’s Note: Another curious feature of Mesoamerican cosmic
tree imagery is that occasionally, such trees are depicted as upright caimans
(as identified by Miller and Taube), thanks in part to the homologous nature
of their skin and bark.
It is not our place here to explain
the iconography of [dragons], [serpents], and other earth/water monsters; they
warrant their own articles. However, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out
that these have highly contradictory qualities. The serpent-dragon in such
contexts is often a destructive figure, representing dangerous and chaotic
potentiality. World Trees are emblems of cosmic stability. The synthesis of
these contradictory elements may indicate an expression of the supreme divine
through a realized paradox. Still, they could just as quickly be used to
express a fundamental instability in the universe.
For storytellers interested in
iterative worlds, the fusion of the stabilizing tree and the serpent-dragon
could indicate the previous order (tree) stagnating into malignancy, needing
to be slain by the hero of the next era as a dragon and from its body create
the next world.
Oh geez, I wonder what these Erdtree Spirits are about
Divine Inversion The cosmic tree is occasionally
presented upside-down, especially in Kabbalistic and Hindu contexts. I am
not referring to underworld inversion via the roots, such as the Kabbalistic
Tree of Life’s mirror, the Sitra Achra. I am referring instead to
cases where the tree’s roots are in heaven, and its branches reach
down to earth.
This follows a different occultic
model than the Earth-Underworld inversion. From this perspective, the trees of
the manifest, material world are the dark mirror of the cosmic tree, parallel
with the occult notion of Man (in particular, the Magus) as the inverted
reflection of God on the dark waters of material creation.
From Levi's Dogma et Rituel de la Haute Magie
This sort of tree has its roots in the
immortal, fixed abstract of the celestial, nourishing the transitory material
world with the fruits of the divine idea. This conveys that
enlightenment/wisdom has its foundation in the world of the divine rather than
base matter.
Folklore is littered with trees
with magical and mystical properties below the level of cosmic trees. Not
every tree employed magically as a reagent or iconographic referent needs to
be a cosmic tree.
Magic trees may radiate a magical
virtue or hazard passively or impersonally. They may also be active agents,
granting wishes, protecting individuals from harm, or behaving in
frightening, obstructive, or demonic ways.
Sometimes cases, all trees were
once agents in this manner, as in Gypsy folklore. Once, as the story goes,
all trees walked the earth as men do. A miser compelled an oak tree to
follow his commands. In a sequence of demands (which reminds this compiler
of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree), the tree was made to carry
the miser, kill a bull for meat, and fetch him a cask of wine. When the
miser realized he had no stove to cook his meat, he ordered the oak tree to
steal the bell from a church as they passed it. When the oak complied, the
oak, the miser, the bull, and the wine cask were all struck by lightning.
Since that day, every tree has rooted itself to its spot and refused to
walk.
Compiler’s Note: If trees can be compelled as their persons
(independent of inhabiting sprites or spirits of), a tree walking might
be regarded as a magical perversion akin to undeath. Trees by category from
creation or by custom (as in the Gypsy folktale above) ought not to walk. The
reaction to such may not just be terror but revulsion.
Gebbrey the Tree-taur, Centaurworld (2021)
Division and Unity Paired trees or trees with divided
trunks are a common emblem of dualism. Forked trees can indicate a division
via separation, while separate trees growing together show unity. This unity
was the case in the romance of Tristan and Isolde, whose grave tress twined
together.
Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge The most significant pair of
mythological trees in Abrahamic civilization, the two trees are
characterized as the axis mundi of the garden of Paradise.
The principles of Man and Woman
dine first on knowledge of Good and Evil and, as a result, learn of their
nakedness (vulnerability), and God (Reality) reveals mortality to them. This
follows from the logic that “evil” is recognizing that you are not only
vulnerable, but everyone else is as vulnerable as you are. You use that
knowledge to your advantage.
They are denied the fruit of the Tree
of Life, which would make them immortal. Suppose immortality is as oblique in
this context as knowledge of Good and Evil. In that case, immortality is
probably in reference to knowledge of the Will of God/Reality, the basis of
wisdom literature.
The two forms of knowledge
(consequential information and wisdom/what to properly do with consequential
information) create a tension between the two trees.
In Christianity, this tension is addressed in the crucifixion of Jesus
of Nazareth, where the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life are reconciled.
The forest or the woods were
recognized in Jungian psychology as a symbol of the unconscious mind and its
threats. Without needing to break out into a debate over Jung’s validity or
lack thereof (not a conversation we are interested in), this observation is
entirely naturalistic. The emblems of our dreams and waking narratives
reference the world in which our species evolved, and consequently, we may
find meaning removed from our natural world, but we cannot remove the
natural world from our meaning. That is the root of analogy and
metaphor.
The woods are an expanse of trees
beyond numbering. They are uncontrolled, a place made opaque by the bodies
of its resident trees and the shadows they cast. The woods are fertile, in
their generative darkness, an ancient emblem of the chaotic dimension of the
feminine principle.
The internal woods of our
subconscious are identical to the woods of the material world. They are an
opaque expanse that holds resources, food, and hazardous animals like the
wolf, the stag, the bear, and the boar. Even when mapped, the occupants
remain hidden from sight, oppressing anyone who ventures within with the
danger of the unknown and unseen.
In our myths, legends, and fairy
tales, mysteries are heightened by supernatural personae, such as deities,
demons, and sprites, who subject those who enter danger and trial.
Because what is in the wood is
hidden from sight, the only way to know what lies between those timbers is
to venture in yourself, where you will be subject to transformative
initiatory experience. This can be as dramatic as any of the many cultic
rites of passage found in rural and tribal communities worldwide or as
mundane as a child going hunting with their father for the first time.
Knowledge of the woods and its ways is fundamentally arcane, and those who
could navigate and negotiate its hazards and gifts a kind of occult
practitioner.
For those who don’t leave, the
woods are a place of isolation from the world of men, shielded from
civilization and industry by the volume and density of countless trunks and
branches.
The Desert In places where forests are scarce,
such as the Middle East, the desert fills this same role, substituting
emptiness for opacity and claustrophobia for agoraphobia. There, the shaman
and the hermit find a different kind of initiatory isolation and
solitude.
Uncluttered by tree density, the
desert allows the thicket and grove to stand out and heighten the
significance of the member trees, separated from the noise and opacity of
the denser forest. Further, the singular tree is elevated, where the stray
cypress or juniper that shades the hermit stands as tall in virtue as the
mightiest pine or larch of the green-covered hills.
Branch The branch is the tree in
microcosm, serving as a stand-in for the whole plant. The human holding the
branch expresses the tree in novel contexts, passing its branches over
persons, animals, and artifacts in ritual contexts.
The branch is also possessive. As a
badge of office, the golden bough the Priest of Diana used at Lake Nemi to
ritually cudgel his predecessor to death was held in hand, indicating the
high cultic initiate’s acquisition and possession of the
immortal knowledge of the divine. The branch is the tree
seized!
While the branches of many plants
carry their particular symbolism, such as the olive for peace and the laurel
for victory, branches in the generic can have their own permutations (to be
discussed in the relevant botanical entries). In medieval European
iconography, the flowering branch was an emblem of logic. This compiler
believes this stems from the flower’s reproductive quality, indicating that
the logical mind is receptive to information and produces sound responses
(the insinuated seed). This also mirrors Aaron’s rod, which sprouted
blossoms and almonds.
Compiler’s Note: The generic permutation of the branch has
sparse articulation in our sources beyond the flowering branch and more
obvious emblems such as the bare branch, the green branch, and the thorn
branch.
The paucity of these particulars is
an opportunity and invitation for the enterprising storyteller to develop
their organic iconographic language in the straight, bent, twisted, and
weeping branches, etc.
Broom The branch transitions into the
broom, employed in domestic and ritual contexts to sweep away dust, filth,
and supernatural influence. In the besom, the broom transitions from
a discovered tool to a manufactured tool, the artificial branch. It
possesses all the virtues of the mother-wood with the dimension of
domesticity.
Nature provides another analog in
plant pathology: “witches’ broom,” which disrupts the bark and produces
numerous shoots from the drunk. The folk name given this pathology indicates
a backward causal reading that the witch imposes a perverse domestic demand
on the spirit of the tree, compelling it to produce tools for her
convenience. The fact that these aberrant clusters of twigs serve as popular
nesting sites for birds (manifestations of spirit) does little to dissuade
this reading of the phenomenon as supernatural to the superstitious.
Our article on [wands] and their
permutations will discuss the broom as a tool in greater detail.
Compiler’s Note: It is more relevant here than in the wand
article to discuss the fertility symbolism of the besom. As noted in Raven
Pendergrass’s
article, some magical practitioners regard the besom as a union of masculine and
feminine expression and, thus, an emblem of fertility, identifying the handle
as the phallus and the bundle of shoots as yonic. This compiler recognizes
this as the perception of these practitioners. Still, we point out that they
need not be so focused on the coital analogy to access the besom’s fertility
symbolism.
As observed, the branch is the tree
in microcosm, and the besom is the man-made branch. The tree is already a
fertility emblem, being already phallic in structure by virtue of its trunk
and providing feminine nourishment through the production of fruit, shelter,
etc. The besom is already an expression of realized and integrated masculine
and feminine just by being made of wood. One does not need to torture
oneself looking for coital analogies when the virtue is already expressed
unless that’s how the device is actually being used (as in, employed as a
ritual phallus or yoni).
Perhaps reifying the fertility
symbolism after the manufacturing process is necessary in some people's
real-world ritual contexts. For the creative storyteller, though, retaining
occult meaning for two steps of removal or more from the source improves
creative versatility.
Wand and Staff Wands and staves are manufactured
branches, trees in microcosm, much like the broom. Following the broom
tradition, they may be more colored by their form than by their mother wood.
The crozier staff is pastoral, and the crown’s authority characterizes the
royal scepter.
The rustic besom imitates the
brush-like qualities of many a natural bough, but the wand and staff strip
all such attributes from the branch, leaving only artifice and suborning the
tree’s virtues completely to human will.
As stated above, our article on
[wands] and their permutations will cover these devices in greater
detail.
A wand, accurate to figure 69 of
The Key of Solomon the King, taken from the now defunct omega-magick.blogspot.
Leaves are emblems of life, the
green of the plant. Alive, they are symbols of happiness; in death, they are
sorrow. In deciduous trees, these leaves represent human lives in multitude
and brevity. Autumn is an ancient metaphor for mortality, exploited to the
point of cliche in 20th-century cinema.
Compiler’s Note: Poisoning an important tree in a community,
which results in prematurely losing its leaves, could kill the whole community
via magical sympathy.
Protection Wood’s protection symbolism seems
to first stem from the universal association of the fruit-bearing tree’s
relationship to maternal nourishment and the precipitation of life force and
then from ancient cultic belief in beneficial tree spirits.
As civilization marched onward, the
protection became more literal and explicit, as we depended on wood for
constructed shelters, our tools, and our instruments of war. Many a man has
relied on the boards of his shield to shelter him from his enemies' arrows,
bullets, and javelins.
The superstition of touching or
knocking on wood seems to stem from superstitions regarding the protective
properties or spirits of specific wood species such as ash, hawthorn, hazel,
oak, or willow.
The repetition association of life
and regeneration has a little more particularity in Chinese symbolism, where
wood is an emblem of spring and the East. This compiler’s sources aren’t
exactly clear on why, but the obvious seems to be that new wood grows in the
spring, and the east is where the sun rises. This ties wood with the
transition out of winter and makes it a solar emblem, further compounding
its association with fire.
Sunrise over Huangshan Mountains (could not find source)
Taking Shape
In India, the universal first
substance from which all things are derived, the Brahman, is often
characterized as wood. This characterization parallels Aristotle’s doctrine
of hylomorphism, where beings are described as being constituted of
physical matter and immaterial action.
The ancient Greek language had no
discreet word for physical matter in the generic, so Aristotle employed the
word hyle (“wood”) in the context of “that which accepts shaping.”
The
primordial chaos-stuff
of later Hermetic and Alchemical thinking takes its name from this
hyle.
Robert Fludd's [1574-1637] diagram of the universe, being the
intersection of God and the Hyle.
Boxes, Caskets, and other Receptacles
Wooden receptacles are feminine
emblems of mystery and hazardous drama, housing surprises that are
delightful, devastating, and even disappointing. The now-standard reframing
of Pandora’s jar into a box is indicative of the strength of this meaning,
as does the characterization of esoteric knowledge as arcane (from
Latin arcanus, “hidden, secret,” cognate with arca “a
chest”).
While the materials of boxes,
caskets, chests, and other storage articles may change, the devices are
classically characterized by wood, especially from the boxwood tree (genus
Buxus), whose etymology we believe so evident as to warrant no
further comment.
Further, the funerary quality of
boxes, coffins, and caskets is characterized by the immortality symbolism of
the wood. Resilient, aromatic woods drive off vermin (such as cedar closets
protect clothes from moths) and attempt to preserve the body (and its former
occupant) from degradation by shielding them from the elements with immortal
stuff.
Compiler’s Note: The merging of the yonic quality of the box,
the element of Pandoric surprise, and the immortal emblem of the wood renders
the casket a device of transformation and metamorphosis. A necromancer might
employ a magical casket in his apotheosis into a lich.
The coffin-as-cocoon clashes with
the wood's anti-vermin properties. Still, if the lich is a creature of
undeath and the vermin is taken as emblematic of life, the lich's insectoid
qualities could follow the same path.
This invites our protagonists to be
associated with vermin as a positive inversion, be they ants beneath the
dark lord’s notice, the persistent rats surviving in a hostile world,
annoying flies drawing his attention, etc.
Separation Ash is foremost an emblem of
separation. Trees and their wood are the bridge of worlds; thus, ash marks
the burning of that connection. The loss of a loved one is a permanent
separation, and therefore, ash is bereavement or grief, as in
Hebrew and Arab tradition. One may choose to end a relationship with a
person, place, substance, or idea, making ash an emblem of renunciation, and
if what is renounced is sinful penitence. The ashes of civilization mark the
extinction of man.
Compiler’s Note: A simple application of this for a fantasy
writer is as a reagent of abjuration. By throwing ash into the face of a
spirit, you mark that the bridge between the spirit and the exorcist is
burned, and therefore the twain cannot meet.
For players of
Dungeons & Dragons, one might use such a methodology to apply the
spell protection from evil/good as a curse-like debuff on a target creature
rather than as a protective ward on a target character, Dungeon Master
willing. In Pathfinder 1st edition, this might best be applied through use
of the combat maneuver "dirty trick."
Rebirth However, ash can revitalize soil,
as in slash-and-burn agriculture, which has lent it connotations of rebirth,
as in phoenix symbolism. This is found in parts of Africa, where some tribal
rites involve smearing oneself in ash to signify personal transformation.
This is, in fact, the other side of the Christian symbolism, when the
penitent renunciation of sin also marks rebirth into the sinless immortality
of communion with Christ.
Compiler’s Note: It might be used in the context of rebirth like
essential salts.
Conjuration Counter to the separation
symbolism, voodoo practice employs powdered ash often mixed with corn flour
(called farine guinee) to produce the veves on the ground
which invite the loa to manifest.
Compiler’s Note: Not being a voodoo practitioner, this compiler
is left to speculate if this application of the ash ignores the
destructive nature of the ash production process in order to characterize the
ash as “tree/bridge in the pouch,” or if this is simply out of convenience as
a graphic medium.
Purity and Cleanliness Ash is what is left after a
material has been subject to cleansing flame. This purified and inert
stuff is reactive, turning to lye when mixed with water. For much of
human history, the ash of the hearth was used to wash our hands and protect
us from disease, as the partially saponified lye burned away and broke up
dirt on the hands. Before the development of germ theory, this crude
observation of cleanliness served as one of our best measures of domestic
hygiene, which had both mundane and spiritual dimensions. This dovetails
with the separation from and renunciation of sin, simply another layer of
ash’s symbolic relationship with purity.
As the saying goes: “cleanliness is
next to godliness.”
Salt Due to the analogous qualities
shared by the two materials, Paracelsus substituted ash for philosophical
salt in his treatises. As such, many symbolic and occult qualities of ash
and
salt
(including essential salt) are interchangeable.
Compiler’s Note: Perhaps the most dramatically useful for the
modern fantasy writer is the use of ash/salt as a reagent for the contractive
force, as fire has exhausted the expansive force out of the material fuel.
This contractive force could be generic or very particular to the ash. For
example, the ashes of a man burned to death might be employed to pull the life
force out of another, as the ashes pull life from the victim as the ash seeks
to restore itself to equilibrium.
Magical Glass Production Skinner identifies “that fern
called aspidium filix mas” (now Dryopteris felix-mas, the male
fern or worm fern) as producing a magical ash. This ash reveals its magical
virtues when used as an additive in glass production. This glass supposedly
was the active element of the magical ring that protected Genghis
Khan.
Compiler’s Note: This is obviously a tall tale, but it
introduces the idea that the ash of particular plants can be employed in
industrial processes to produce magical effects. Ash was used historically in
soap production and infamously with human ashes in Chuck Palahniuk’s
Fight Club. Magical glasses, soaps, and other ash-dependent products
could employ novel ashes as the basis for their peculiar effects.
Life Fruit is an emblem of the mythical
state of paradise or the Golden Age of pastoral life. It is the nourishment
of the earth mother and other agricultural deities, the gift of immortality
given by the Tree of Life. It is the joy of summer at the height of solar
influence. It is abundance, comfort, and delight. Fruit is a sweet luxury
food, and the proliferation of fruit of all sorts is an indicator of good
times, where one does not need to worry about one's next meal.
This lends fruit, in the generic,
as an attribute of the goddess Ceres, the allegorical figure of Summer. In
Egyptian iconography, the mother goddess Hathor manifests as a tree,
providing food and drink via the sacred fig.
Charity Food for a starving man is as sweet
as fruit, and sharing one’s abundance is a blessing to the world. As such,
the fruit is an emblem of charity, both as itself and as an attribute of the
allegorical figure Charity.
Decadence The sweetness of fruit and their
luxurious quality lends them also as emblematic of earthly pleasure and
desire, of decadence. Fruit is, consequently, also an attribute of the
allegorical figures of Taste and Gluttony.
Egg Various fruits share some of the
creative symbolism of the egg, housing and nourishing the seed of life. In
this context, the egg and the fruit are synonyms across their animal and
vegetable contexts.
Compiler’s Note: The conflation of the egg and fruit allows for
the conflation of the animal and vegetable. What might grow if one plants the
egg of a crow? If a cockatrice by a toad or snake roosts a chicken’s egg, what
animal might roost a peach until it hatches, and what would emerge?
Miscarriage and Difficult Labor Nuts are often toxic or contain
harmful chemicals that are offensive to pregnant women’s constitutions. The
pear also shares this quality, and as such, both pears and nuts generally
have occult associations with miscarriage and difficult labor. According to
related superstitions, neither should be present in the vicinity of the
pregnant or birthing woman.
The previous covers the
iconographic meanings of the tree and its constituent parts, but we cannot
neglect the function of the tree’s icon as an icon.
The representation of a tree in
paint, stone, mosaic, textile, metal engraving, or any other such
representative media serves as the tree by proxy. We hope this is obvious to
our readers by now, but the fact must be highlighted so we can discuss
another important feature: medium of proxy.
Above is a Leyndell soldier from the
video game Elden Ring. He is a sword defender of the holy city built
around the base of the Erdtree, a massive glowing tree that the imperial
religion of Leyndell, the Golden Order, worships as the cosmic tree.
“Armor worn by soldiers sworn to defend the royal capital of Leyndell.
The surcoat bears a majestic likeness of the Erdtree. Its golden backing
is an honor bestowed on no other soldiers.”
The surface-level reading is that
the surcoat bears the city’s heraldic device (which it does) and that the
Leyndell soldiers are honored with the color gold in recognition of their
holy service.
That reading is functional but
shallow. We must remember that these are religious people in a world where
faith-based magic is very real. Even were it not, peoples past and present
have employed such devices apotropaically even without objectively
verifiable protective function.
First, it has the practical
function of identifying group membership, allegiance, honors, etc. That’s
the mundane aspect. The magical elements run deeper.
The people of Leyndell are
adherents of the Golden Order, which worships the Erdtree. They have faith
in the Erdtree. Faith is as protective (if not more so) than physical armor
in the minds of these people. The surplice, an essential part of their
military kit that protects their armor from the elements, is armor. Their
armor is the image of the Erdtree. The golden background confirms for the
Church that this is indeed the case.
The sacral/magical logic works
something like this:
My armor protects me
-VVV-
The tree is on my armor
-VVV-
I have faith the tree protects me
-VVV-
My faith is my armor
-VVV-
The tree is my armor
In the case of this particular
armor, there’s even an added layer:
The Church has bestowed this protection and honor upon me.
The above sequence is not the only
possible read of the described sequence. Any permutation of the above is
possible, and different characters within the same cultural context may
prioritize different elements due to temperament or learning. A character
who prioritizes the physical fact of armor first differs from one who
prioritizes the faith in the tree, and one who prioritizes the sanctioning
by the Church is just as distinct. The relationships your characters have
with the icons of their world are revelatory!
It’s not even limited to a linear
reading. One could rearrange the rationalizations into a circular logic
chain!
In any case, the point remains the
same: the armor and what the icon stands for are rendered synonymous via a
proxy medium, transforming the icon into a marker of the described thing’s
immanence! This outlook serves as excellent grounding for visual
foreshadowing and contextualizing sacral/magical action in visual
storytelling.
The Function of Tree Spirits For eons well into prehistory,
humans have populated our wilderness with all manner of deities, dryads, and
sprites. While many today might cynically poo-poo these beliefs as primitive
expressions of anthropocentric narcissism, we think it best to put the
spirits and gods of the trees in their appropriate context.
For nearly the entire life of our
species and the lives of all of our ancestors, we have been at the
productive mercy of harsh wilderness, subject to famine, drought, disease,
and a host of other threats.
Humans have distinct advantages
over other more physiologically adapted animals: we transmit practical and
imaginative knowledge through speech, narrative, and instruction.
To survive, we had to negotiate the
resources of the wilderness. As we developed the ability to negotiate with
each other, we compounded that methodology, adapting it to our numerous
other skills. Adapting the social skills of inter-group negotiation from the
peoples across the river to the grove of trees requires that the identity be
dramatically recast to transform the wood from stationary vegetables into
active agents, so consequently, the trees must house or themselves be
persons like us.
The factual grounding of such a
belief is evolutionarily immaterial if it promotes successful survival
strategies, such as respecting the spirits by taking only what game is
necessary for survival (not hunting food to extinction), tending to the
needs of the elder spirits (forest management), etc.
Forest animism’s evolutionary
advantage is successful enough that it persists well into the modern day as
a viable way to live against the dramatic advances of industrial
civilization.
Dryads, Nats, and Yakshas The names of tree spirits from
across the world are too numerous to list here, but their function is
universal: to transform the passive plant into an active
dramatis persona. The latitude writers have to explore trees and
woods as persons is as broad as the technology of fiction itself, ranging
from the classical elf-like figures of Greek myth to Dr. Seuss’s
Lorax.
Some more outlandish examples
include the decapitated Erdtree Avatars and the serpentine Tree Spirits in
Elden Ring.
Categorically the same thing
Compilers Note: What is true of the tree spirits is true of all
sprites and spirits that act as persons of animals, plants, stones, or other,
more novel things. This anthropomorphization occurs in character if not form,
and to varying degrees in all dimensions of consideration.
Once you decide to reframe a
thing as a person (and decide what that even means
relevant to your story), your creative options and opportunities expand
dramatically, especially when taken with care and consideration.
Your hero’s spear may be made with
the last dryad of a magic grove chopped down by the evil army chopped down
for timber. That spear is now a person with their own motivating force (to
greater or lesser degrees of agency). They may be vengeful, assisting the
hero in the slaughter of orcs or hobgoblins or whatever took axe to her and
her sisters. She could be a pacifist, and the hero, indifferent to her
desire to rest and mourn, pushes on, forcing her to participate in slaughter
until she finally breaks, forcing him to confront his participation in the
ruination of the world at a time most inopportune. Maybe the dryad of the
spear is transdermally poisoning the hero with a slow-acting poison because
she hates all creatures of flesh and is well past the point of caring who is
responsible for what transgression.
If you get any ideas like this,
don’t be afraid to follow them as far as they will take you!
We’ve mentioned several cosmic
trees throughout this article, but only in the context of dissecting their
constituents. Here we hope to remedy this by describing a few in full: the
Norse Yggdrasil, the Gypsy Tree of All Seeds, the Philosophical Tree of
Alchemy, and the Cross of Christianity.
(Absent this list in the
Kabbalistic Tree of Life and its mirror, the Sitra Achra, as that’s
primarily a model of the structure of knowledge and sufficiently complex to
warrant its own article [pending].)
Yggdrasil is a mighty tree,
variously identified as ash or yew, which forms the superstructure of the
Norse cosmos, joining together Midgard with the eight supernatural
realms, variably Alfheim (home of the elves), Asgard (home of
the Aesir), Hel (home of Hel and her familiars),
Jotunheim (home of the frost giants), Muspelheim (land of
fire), Nidavellir (home of dwarves), Niflheim (land of ice),
and Vanaheim (home of the Vanir).
Its branches reach into the heavens,
where a great eagle resides in its crown. At its roots, the serpent Nidhoggr
coils.
Yggdrasil has three great roots.
One reaches into the celestial well of Urðarbrunnr, the “Wellspring
of Fate,” from which sprang the three Norns. The second draws from
Hvergelmir, the “Bubbling Boiling Spring,” which the
Poetic Edda identifies as the source of all rivers and where many
snakes, including the bitter Nidhoggr, slither and bite. The third root
passes through Jotunheim and drinks from Mímisbrunnr, the wellspring
of the giant Mimir. At Mímisbrunnr, Odin sacrificed his eye to drink
from its waters and see the future before hanging himself from the tree for
nine days to learn the runes.
Yggdrasil is also known as
Mímameiðr, or “Mimir’s Tree,” whose branches stretch over every land
and who is foretold to shelter the last man and woman in the end-times of
Ragnarok. As Hléradr, it is a “place of protection/shelter,” and as
Læraðr, it is the “arranger of betrayal,” possibly in recognition of
its dualistic role as giver of life and place of death (where the condemned
and Odin hang).
The commonly recognized name
“Yggdrasil” literally means “Odin’s Horse,” with Ygg(r) being one of
that deity’s many names, and drasill, which means “horse.” A kenning
or poetic description of the gallows is “horse of the hanged,” likely due to
the braced gallows arm resembling a horse’s head. Given that Odin hanged
himself from a tree for three days (presumably Yggdrasil), it takes on the
meaning of “Odin’s Gallows.”
Compiler’s Note: This compiler conjectures, based on our
research described earlier in this article, that the dual meaning of “horse”
as both “gallows” and “mount” is at play here. Mimir’s tree’s branches and
roots bridge all the realms. Between Odin’s acquired foresight from Mimir’s
spring and hanging himself for nine days (one day for each realm) to learn the
runes (to describe all in the nine realms), the tree becomes Odin’s occult
mount, the horse of his knowledge and will, (unlike Odin’s physical mount, the
eight-legged horse Sleipnir.)
This reframes Yggdrasil from a
static physical (if cosmic) object into an active abstract, a fixed thing
that offers supreme mobility of consciousness. This paradoxical expression
of divinity is analogous to the Chariot-Throne of the Abrahamic God, whose
positions of action and rest are simultaneous and synonymous. Both figures
are active at rest and effortlessly enact their respective wills in the
context of their narratives.
The save sumbreskro kašt, or
“Tree of All Seeds,” is a cosmic tree that stands atop the highest mountain
on Earth. Lecouteux relays that the tree was created when King Sun lifted
the skirt of Mother Earth, Pçuv (his mother), and thus, this source
of life was revealed to the world. Its summit pierces the highest heaven (baro cero). Its branches blossom in the sky and bear the seeds of all plants in the
world.
Nine black dogs guard it in every
direction, and a gigantic serpent bites at its roots.
Lightning bolts dart through its
branches, snatching leaves to give to the spirits of water (niváshá).
The water spirits give these as gifts to the women who spend time with them,
teaching them to use them and turning them into sorceresses
(covalyi). These leaves retain their magical virtues for nine
years.
So potent is this tree that the
mere sight of it rejuvenates the viewer. To see the tree (presumably
avoiding any of the nine black hounds), one must perform the “marriage of
the trees.” When one plants a willow tree and a fir tree next to each other,
they may tie a red thread around the trees in a circuit. By leaning over the
loop of thread held open by the trees and looking down at the ground, one
can see the Tree of All Seeds and be renewed.
Compiler’s Note: Claude Lecouteux notes the similarity between
the serpent’s description and that of Nidhoggr and Yggdrasil, but this
compiler does not think he goes far enough. Gypsy folklore is highly
syncretic. Lecouteux notes it incorporates features of the Zoroastrian Tree of
All Seeds, Goakerena, as described in chapter 18 of the
Bundahishn:
“The tree of all seeds sprouted up in the middle of the Vourukasha Sea; it
carries the seeds of all plants.”
While there is much to be said of
the shared Indo-European roots of many of these narrative traditions, Gypsy
folklore is the product of much more recent migration and, therefore, more
recent cross-pollination. While the coiling serpent at the roots of the tree
is much older than Gypsy contact with Germanic peoples, the number nine
appears more significant, referencing the nine realms (the nine-year limit
on magical virtues being a development of convenience). This could speak to
an older tradition of nine relevant domains to the World Tree. It could also
identify a weaker, recent influence from regional host cultures being added
into the narrative of the tree ad-hoc.
This is relevant to storytellers
writing worlds with elaborate histories and mythologies, as it outlines the
ambiguities of ancestral and contemporary influence in folk narrative.
Motifs that thematically and visually bind your narrative together are
subject to infinite permutation and variable relationship to character.
Identifying ways these relationships can be set or shifted across culture
and creed is vital to the verisimilitude of your world and characters.
The Philosophical Tree of Alchemy
is a symbolic descriptor of the opus alchymicum, the alchemical
process.
There are many trees as models of the
opus, but relevant to this entry is the presentation of the seven classical
metals as fruits of the work (and therefore of the knowledge). Read
left-to-right here, they are: [gold], [iron], [copper], mercury, [lead],
[tin], and [silver]. Notice the roots and trunk from which the metals spring
are the
Prima Materia:
sulfur,
salt, and
mercury.
It’s worth pointing out that the
bottom-most root and the topmost fruit are both mercury, which expresses the
occult notion of the union of opposites and the monad. By
placing one’s foundation of knowledge in the immortal, one produces the
fruit of the immortal and achieves transcendent fixedness (immortality)
expressed in universal fluidity.
Compiler’s Note 1: Just as the etymology of Yggdrasil and the
throne-chariot of God, the stability-in-fluidity (also, naturally, a feature
of the philosopher’s stone) expresses divinity in simultaneous, synonymous
contradiction.
Compiler’s Note 2: This device allows the classical metals (or
even all metals) to be reinterpreted as fruit. This most easily syncretizes
with the golden apple of Greek mythology. Further, this reclassification as a
consumable means that the qualities of metals can be consumed and
incorporated. This also extends to the qualities of the classical planets, as
mentioned earlier.
This provides opportunities for
botanical alchemist characters to actively pursue a literal tree of
alchemy, which grows them a philosopher’s stone in the form of a golden
apple. Alternately, the philosopher’s stone is the pit of the fruit.
Also, consider syncretizing with
the Japanese/Korean seven-branched sword or Chiljido.
The cross is a punitive torture
device employed by the Roman Empire against various criminals, on which
Jesus of Nazareth, the revealed Christ, was crucified for the sins of
Man.
The layers of symbolism in the
crucifixion scene are too numerous and seemingly endless, and we cannot
reasonably articulate them here. Instead, we will try to limit this entry to
the tree-features of the religious scene:
Christ, the Realized-Man (New Adam)
and God-substitution for Abraham’s son Isaac is nailed to a man-made tree by
foreigners (Romans, identified with the descendants of Cain) in a perverse
echo of
Deuteronomy 21:22-23. In the Old Testament punishment, the guilty are killed and then hung upon a
tree or pole for all to see, though they must not be allowed to hang overnight
and must be buried the same day, for they are accursed by God.
In this, Christ was hoisted alive
and died prematurely, correcting to the prescribed method, for the Romans
would have left him alive to die slowly.
The innocent man (Abel) being
executed as a capital offender by the Romans (Cain) and the Israelites
(Abraham) upon a tree with the knowledge of human vulnerability and
suffering (fruit of the Tree of Knowledge) reconciles Hebrew and Heathen in
a great and terrible crime, going through the motions to impose the curse of
God on Christ.
Christ, having already identified
his flesh with bread and blood with wine at the Last Supper, reconciled Abel
and Cain with one synonymous sacrifice: himself as the paschal lamb.
Nailed to a tree, the crucified
lamb hangs as the fruit of Cain and Abel’s reconciliation, revealed by the
application of the knowledge of good and evil and the choice of the
latter.
Thus, the man-made torture device
that binds all as co-conspirators in a murder plot of the
Adam-Abel-Isaac-God bears the fruit of reconciliation, the forgiveness of
God, and the immortality that comes with it.
The Cross may not be as grand in
stature as Yggdrasil or the Tree of All Seeds or as esoterically extravagant
as the trees of Alchemy or Kabbalah. Still, for the past two millennia,
nearly the entire Western world and much beyond have danced around it in
horror, exultation, and jubilation.
Compiler’s Note: This only scratches the surface. There’s much
more to be explored, even within what we’ve already listed. However, this
isn’t a treatise on the depth of Christ. We’ll have to explore that narrative
fractal in a future article.
The Cross is an emblem well worth
further dissecting in the Crucifixion’s many referential layers (internal to
the Old Testament and the religious scripture of the religions and cultures
of surrounding regions) and its relationship to geometric cruciform emblems
and motifs.
CONCLUSION
Trees. They’re everywhere and have
a lot going on. Think more about how you’re using them.
*******
Edit: Corrected to include a section on the death associations,
08/31/2024.
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