Tree

The tree is the Self rooted below and branching above. Norse cosmology gives us Yggdrasil, the world-tree; Vedic tradition the inverted Ashvattha, whose roots are in heaven. Kabbalistic tradition maps the whole of divine emanation onto the Tree of Life. Jung returned again and again to the tree as the symbol of individuation — a life that grows in both directions from a single center. The tree’s condition matters. A flourishing tree suggests a well-rooted Self; a withered tree, a vitality under threat; a tree cut down, a loss that has taken something central. Notice what kind of tree it is, the season, and whether it bears fruit or flower.