Trees of Life

This is a list of various trees of life around the world. If you know of more, please email me to let me know. I also welcome links, books, and permission-granted or copyright-free images.

Definitions of a tree of life get a little muddy. We get into trees of knowledge, sacred individual trees, sacred varieties and well, all kinds of things. I don't nitpick about these distinctions but mostly this is a list of when a tree is somehow at the centre of everything or the major way that a large chunk of understanding is unified. These are examples of the ways of viewing the world, and how much trees mean to people, and how these things can converge.

This is not an attempt to explain each example, but just to give a list, so that if you want to know more, you can begin your own research.

What I am most attracted to about the term "Tree Of Life" is how it isn't something that is necessarily religious, but can be found in religions because of it's great power as a symbol and because of the great affect that trees have on us as human beings. Trees are archetypes and metaphors for the universe, world, humanity, and individual human beings.


The Trees Of Life

Aztec / Zapotec:

Árbol del Tule (The Tule Tree). "The largest diameter of any tree in the world...Its age is unknown, with estimates ranging between 1200-3000 years. Local Zapotec legend holds that it was planted about 1400 years ago by Pechocha, a priest of Ehecatl, the Aztec storm-god; its position on a sacred site (later taken over by the Roman Catholic church) would tend to support this."

From: Wikipedia Information

For Beautiful Pictures


Ancient Mesopotamia:

The oldest found example of a tree of life in the form of rockcarving.


Babylonian:

The tree of life was at the center of a garden paradise. There was a strong connection between the shape of a tree and the shape of a woman, and this likely has something to do with matriarchial religions of ancient times. Also, there was a strong connection between the tree of life and the kings and dynasties.


Buddhist (India, originally):

The Buddha is said to have been born in a grove of trees, with his mother standing up and leaning up against the tree to give birth. The Buddha obtained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. He also died in meditation in another grove of trees.

India:

Buddhists, Hindus, and others regard the Ashwatha, the Peepal tree, or (as mentioned above) the Bodhi tree with importance. It is a very large tree that grows down as well as up, as the branches become roots. It has many practical, nutritional, and medicinal uses. "There was a time in India when a Peepal tree was planted in the premises of every temple, and was regarded as the Tree of Life." Also more info here.


Ancient Norse:

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil, also called the World Tree, is the giant ash tree that links and shelters all the worlds. The top is where the gods live, the trunk is the realm of humanity and the roots are where live the dead.

Interestingly, a similar design was found in China recently.


Japanese:

Bonsai: It's difficult to characterize in words why this would be a tree of life, because it's not a belief system but a practice (of cultivating miniature trees in pots). Perhaps we can say that it is the quest for the perfect tree, yet it is very much understood that there is no such thing -- and that every tree is perfect.

Shinto: trees are apparently associated with creation stories.


Native North Americans:

These are some images of the paintings of Norval Morrisseau, Copper Thunderbird, the well-known incredible Anishnabe painter.

Tree Of Life

Fruit of Life

Tree Of Life, maybe.


Myan:

Yaxche: Traditionally a Cebia tree, is the axis at the centre of the world. Pre-colombian villages often featured one at the centre of town. It unites the underworld, the earth, and the heavens. Also, the milky way, it seems, was seen as the tree of life.


Celtic:

When a tribe cleared land for settlement, a single tree would be left standing in the middle. In Ireland it was called "crann bethadh" or tree of life. The names of the letters of the written language were all derived from tree names, and there is much that has to do with the sacredness of trees and of forests. The oak is the king of trees but the cedar is the tree of life.

The tree of life of illuminated manuscripts is a vine growing from a pot. There are pictures in India which are very similar.


Western/Pagan/Christian:

Originally part of a pagan traditions in parts of Europe, it was abrsorbed into the Christian tradition of the Christmas tree. The meaning likely had something to do with rebirth, fertility, the hope for spring during the winter, and now has more to do with family. The practice is even maintained by those who are not Christians.


Massai:

The creation story of the people is that they descend from a single parent tree.


Judeo-Christian:

In Genesis the Tree of Life stands in the garden of Eden (the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is a different tree). Access is restored in the end. (Christian)


Jewish:

Kabbalistic (Quabalistic): From mystical (not mainstream) Judaism, a map of cosmology and personal thoughts and energies, a way to correlate archetypes. It has been adapted into other religions.


Islam:

The Koran refers to the cosmos as a tree.


Ancient Egyptian:

There are also alot of complicated stories that have to do with trees. The creation story is about an egg-shaped ocean out of which arose a mound of earth out of which grew the Tree of Life or the world tree. It reached it's roots into the watery underworld, held up the stars and was the axis around which the world revolved.


African:

Baobab Tree: This is an incredible-looking species of tree with a very thick trunk and leafless for most of the year and can live for a thousand years (or maybe 3,000). When God first planted them, they kept walking around, so God replanted them upside-down which is why they look like they have their roots in the air. The baobab is also called "Mother".



Tree Houses:

In some parts of the world tree houses are real family dwellings that are built up in trees. In other places, they are shacks up in trees for children to play in. In such parts of the world, there are also sometimes artistic and real, livable houses in trees. I once heard of a university student in Canada who had built himself a treehouse to live in because he couldn't afford rent, and I'm sure he's not the only one.

A site with tree house links

Cladograms:

A claogram is a stylized "tree" used to depict things according to what they have in common. It can be used to show relationships, decision-making steps, timelines, electric and electronic binary switches. Not always exactly trees of life but they're often use to describe such large categories as to have something in common.

Scientific (& Alchemical):

This has been going on long enough now that it's a tradition in itself. Starting with alchemy and continuing into our present day high-school texts, stylized trees have been a way of showing relationships between earthly things: metals, species, languages. Tree of Life is a term that was used by Darwin to describe evolutionary relationships.

Tree of Life web project is the epitome of this.


Family Trees:

Stylized representation of family ancestoral relationships. I have no idea if this way of representing liniage is peculiar to the western world.

Places with Stones Instead of Trees

Maybe a strange thing to talk add, but I thought it would be nice to mention some of the giants of the earth that would be something of an equivallent to trees. I know of two, and they are completely opposite in their meaning.


Easter Island:

A strange case where ancestor worship led to the building of stone sculptures. Trees were used in the construction of these (they were very large), until finally all the trees were used up. Then, no one could build boats to leave the island or to fish. It's a strange and sad case of belief in an idea leading to environmental destruction. Remember, says Ronald Wright, they would have known when they were cutting the last tree. (A Short History of Progress, 2004, House of Anansi Press)


Inuit:

Inuksuk (pl. inuksuit): A completely opposite case from above. These are the human-built rock sculptures of the Inuit people of the Arctic. They are apparently more in variety and meaning than alot of us are aware of. The ones that we are most familiar with are shaped like people and have cropped up in miniature form everywhere I've been.



A little note from me: Don't tell anyone, but I have a wee little dream of making my way to some of the living trees (and stones) of the earth that have great significance, so that I can find out their significance directly from the people, and so that, of course, I can draw them. It could be years, I'll let you know when I get there.