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Cf. rhe three volumes of the collective work Imroduzionc alia tnagia
Part One
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Introduction to Part One
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One of the symbols that we encounter in diverse, traditions remote in both time and space is that of the tree. Meta­physically, the tree expresses the universal force that spreads out in manifestation the same way that the plant energy spreads out from its invisible roots to the trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit. Consistently associated with the tree are on the one hand, ideas of immortality and supernatural consciousness, and on the other, symbols of mortal, destructive forces and frightening natures such as dragons, serpents, or demons. There also exists a whole cycle of mythological references to dramatic events in which the tree plays a central part and in whose allegory profound meanings are hidden. The biblical myth of the fall of Adam, among others, is well known. Let us highlight some of its variants, but not without first pointing out the universality of the symbolical elements of which it is composed. In the Vedas and Upanishads we find the "world tree,” inverted sometimes to suggest the origin of its power in "the heights,” in the "heavens. Here we discover a ready convergence of many elements and ideas: from this tree drips the nectar ²⁷ oi immortality (soma or amrica) and whoever sips it is inspired with a vision reyond the reaches of time, a vision that awakens the memory of all the infinite :orms of existence. In the foliage of the tree hides Yama, the god of beyond the grave, whom we also know as the king of the primordial state.²
In Iran we also find the tradition of a double tree, one of which comprises, according to the Bundahesh, all seeds, while the other is capable of furnishing the drink of immortality (haoma) and spiritual knowledge;³ which leads us immedi­ately to think again of the two biblical trees of Paradise, the one of Life, and the other of Knowledge. The first, then, is equivalent (Matt. 13:31-32) to the repre­sentation of the kingdom of heaven that sprouts from the seed irrigated by the man :n the symbolical ’’field’’; we encounter it again in the Apocalypse of John (22:2), and especially in the Qabalah as that "great and powerful Tree of Life’’ by which Life is raised on high” and with which is connected a "sprinkling" by virtue of which is produced the resurrection of the "dead”: a patent equivalence to the power of immortality in the Vedic amrica and Iranian haoma.⁴
Assyro-Babylonian mythology also recognizes a "cosmic tree” rooted in Eridu, the "House of Profundity” or "House of Wisdom.” But what is important to recognize in these traditions—because this element will be useful in what follows— o another association of symbols: the tree also represents for us the personification of the Divine Mother, of that same general type as those great Asiatic goddesses of Nature: Ishtar, Anat, Tammuz [sic], Cybele, and so forth. We find, then, the :3ea of the feminine nature of the universal force represented by the tree. This idea :s not only confirmed by the goddess consecrated to the Dodona oak-which, besides being a place of oracles, is also a fountain of spritual knowledge -but also bv the Hesperides who are charged with guarding the tree, whose fruit has the same svmbolic value as the Golden Fleece and the same immortalizing power as that tree ot the Irish legend of Mag Mell, also guarded by a feminine entity. In the Edda it :s the goddess Idhunn who is charged with guarding the apples of immortality while in the cosmic tree, Yggdrasil, we again encounter the central symbol, rising Wore the fountain of Mimir (guarding it and reintroducing the symbol of the dragon at the root of the tree), which contains the principle of all wisdomb Finally, according to a Slavic saga, on the island of Bajun there is an oak guarded by a dragon (which we must associate with the biblical serpent, with the monsters of jason’s adventures, and with the garden of the Hesperides), that simultaneously is the residence of a feminine principle called "The Virgin of the Dawn.”
Also rather interesting is the variation according to which the tree appears to _s as the tree of dominion and of universal empire, such as we find in legends like