Page 2 is under construction. Its basis will be focused on methods for pratical us of the Tree of Life glyph. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are many myths that exist about the Tree imagery from our ancestors, based on their using nature for relativity. Some cultures prefer the oak tree, or ash. Others have made note using the heath tree, even an omumborumbonga tree. But this is an outer image. Science has evolved us as well. Our knowledge of a literal tree and how it grows, and the way it looks inside can advance us in thinking. We now know about dendrites in the brain which look like trees. We know more about the mind's sectors. We know about the human nervous system. We know how oxygen is made by a tree and what it does in the body. We know more about trees, which may or may not matter in this study. William Gray, author of Concepts of Qabalah helps explain the difference between dilution and growth. He knows that the understanding and insights of the Tree of Life grows through time with the minds of humanity, while he also states this: "To get inner truths from outside, layer after layer of covering concealments have to be stripped away until eventually the irreducible core of spiritual solidity begins to emerge." To assist us toward this end we have the lifted imaginative bridge that makes the tree a metaphor. Associations are such as the tree as a Center of all Life, the Axis Mundi, Hidden Seed, or Root of Roots. In a Scandinavian Edda, the seeress Voluspa, when awoken from a deep sleep by Odin, recites:

I remember the giants born at the dawn of time, And those who first gave birth to me. I know of nine worlds, nine spheres covered by the tree of the world, That tree set up in wisdom which grows down to the bosom of the earth.

Upon my first path walk, years ago, I met a Centaur who handed me a Gold Leaf. Nothing had been clear until I looked at a Neo-Assyrian, 9th century B.C. plate of King Ashurnasirpal II, one day. The image is of the winged god and the Sacred Tree, a tree that reveals the workings of a ‘wholly other’ power or sacred force, that is both venerated and feared, a power that manifests itself at the cosmic center and radiates throughout the whole, whose natural laws of development are an annual life and death perpetual regeneration. The TOL is a symbol and symbols also present themselves with paradox and riddles that have to be solved to make use of the heights, depths and breadth of a symbolic system. The first step in the process would then be to get beyond this image of an earth-like tree by employing the mind and imagination that is said to get in the way of this goal. One might wish to imagine walking into a giant banyan tree. One could embrace the tree as the Mother of Life. However the imagination might use itself to prosper inward movement could potentially be utilized. What are we walking into? The following image is from "The Tree of Life, Roger Cook, 1974, Avon Books.

Although this article cannot contain the depths of meaning that the symbols within this image represent, I will name its parts for those who wish to pursue further study. Within this image is the circling of the square, the flat spiral in a way depicting a labyrinth, the double helix, the seven discs, and stairs or ladders of ascent. This is under the book’s chapter, the Tree at the Center and the topic of the Axis Mundi, a symbolism at the center of the Cosmic Mountain. Roger Cook also covers the following subject matter on the Tree: the Tree of Fertility, the Tree of Ascent, the Inverted Tree, the Tree of Sacrifice, the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of History and the Tree of Inner Necessity. This presents any Tree of Life work with an initial blockage, which requires getting through the layers of nonsensical to find its true symbolic applications. The Tree of Life applications do advance, but some perceptions dilute the value of the tree glyph rather than enhance it.

With this set in place, we can move on to the Tree of Life and some of the associated symbolism.>>>>>

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