Secret: 13,3 / Values / Needs

My Life - My Tree

ca. 3000 BC

In Egyptian mythology – the “tree of life” symbolizes the boundary between life and death, and the cycle of eternal rebirth. The tree also represents the creation process of the universe.

ca. 900 BC

The tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden, had fruits that could give man eternal life, reproduced in the story of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament / Genesis 2:19

ca. 900 AD

Yggdrasil is the world tree in Norse mythology, an ash with branches that reach across the world and up into the sky. Yggdrasil is depicted in Norse literature in Snorri’s Gylvaginning.

ca. 1600 AD

The Christmas tree has roots back to  southern Germany and Switzerland. Originally, it was a Christian and symbolic custom where green trees represented “eternal life” and were decorated with apples.

The history of the tree of life stretches from ancient Egypt, via Norse mythology
and biblical tales, to today’s modern Christmas tree.
The symbol represents eternal life, the cosmos and fertility

LESSON 13,3

spiritual

visualization

  • sees the soul as the living energy between our outer and inner relationships.
 
  • Like tension within a field, it is influenced by everything that changes around us.
 
  • In this way, even seemingly small experiences gain depth and clarity when we dare to remain present long enough for the hidden to reveal itself.
The “tree of knowledge” in modern design ( IKEA )
Entering a spiritual visualization can be compared to shaking a bottle of sparkling water without removing the cap. Pressure builds toward its highest point — yet the bottle holds.
Slowly, the turbulence settles by itself, as part of a natural process of growth.
Many experience teamwork in the same way within a spiritual context.
It may begin with a simple circle exercise where everyone commits to complete silence.
Soon, unrest and hidden tensions begin to rise to the surface — both within individuals and between people.
The longing for rapid change appears.
The situation demands deep listening, true presence, and tolerance for diversity. –
It can be a moment for the intuitive opening, the cognitive leap, and the beginning of new life:

ONE EXAMPLE

Meditation Guide:
In this moment –
imagine that you are walking.
You are on a path in a forest.
 You have been here before.
You hear the birds chirping.
You know the path and the flowers.
Notice a special tree.
Stop taking in all the impressions.  
Avoid judgment.
Do not escape.
Remain present within the tension.
Stay open to the unknown.
Be patient.
Trust the process.
Remain together until 
you remember everything.
My Experience
I sit in a circle with people I barely know.
My feet rest quietly on the floor.
My body is calm.
I feel like a small bubble in a vast universe.
Then I hear a voice say:
“You are walking along a familiar path.
You see trees.”
I see myself as a boy.
I walk the road where I grew up.
I see the enormous oak trees before our house.
I sense the roots drinking from the stream.
I see the mighty trunk and the great crown.
I see my secret place, where the trunk was cut
and new branches burst forth
like fountains of life.
I see my tree.

The Meditation Guide asked us then to open our eyes and take one of the large white sheets on the floor, and draw, color, and describe our own tree with a HAIKU poem, which consisted of the following order: ( 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 ) words, of which the first and last word should be the name of the tree.We experience directly how the energy that arises becomes visible through our relationships of trust and openess — here and now.

THE DRAWING

 

OLD
oak, filled
of new history
 and power and wisdom
OLD

After finishing the drawings, The Meditations Guide asked us to sit together in groups of three, where we would take turns introducing ourselves by using the drawing by beginning each sentence with: I am….
One example:
I am my oak.
My roots go back in age to the union with Sweden from 1814 
The thick trunk is my Swedish family, which I neither can embrace nor climb. 
The crown is my Swedish grandparents who become norwegian in 1905, 
The branches in all directions are my family in Norway..
I sit in the middle of the tree.
I am the oldest living, visible to all.
I have four children and seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and many relatives that I do not know.
The acorns that sprinkle the garden in autumn, – can be the marked symbols by generations history.

 

I am “PETRUS”
I am “my oak”
I am “visible to all”
I am “marked by generations history”
I am “PETRUS”

SGL Interpretation

The tree, as an archetypal symbol of the deeper spiritual life, is as old as our culture itself.
The long line of images of the Tree of Life — from Egyptian mythology nearly 3000 years before Christ to our own decorated plastic Christmas trees — tells the story of an unbroken tradition: from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden to Yggdrasil in Norse mythology.
It seems that all of us carry an image of a tree within us.
That is why certain trees can touch us so deeply.
It is as if an echo arises between the tree I see outside myself and the tree I carry within my own soul.
The tree I choose will always reveal something about me.
Sometimes it reflects things I already know.
Other times it offers surprising hints of something hidden, covered over, or almost forgotten.
Yet the tree will always tell me something good.
The tree, both as a metaphor and as an “icebreaker,” can be used during team gatherings or workshops where people wish to know each other on a deeper level than everyday conversation allows.
To draw a tree — and to read the drawings — is like opening a book.
The point is not to interpret too much, but simply to notice what is already visible. – For example:
The roots
may reveal whether you are connected to your origins and inner sources, or whether you are hiding or covering something.
The trunk
and its growth may reflect your childhood, your physical or emotional wounds, or your need for protection — perhaps to hide what is obvious.
The branches
with their diversity may tell the story of your feminine and masculine energies, reaching toward the light and searching for the best conditions for growth.
The leaves
with their gentle softness express both beauty and vulnerability, together with endless possibilities for growth and flowering.
The fruits
tell the story of the journey of life and the richness that life has given us.

Home Lesson 13,3

Workshop in miniature.

Design your own tree, Invite afterwards 2–3 people you feel safe with. Sit in a circle. You show them the picture of your own tree, and ask them to point out the obvious, about what jeg hear, or get fantasies about og have a gut feeling to.
Everyone listens when one of you speaks. no questions, no interruptions, no comments. – Afterwards: What did you discover about your own tendency to interrupt, explain or defend?

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