Tag: Garden of Eden

A Tale of 2 Trees

EleanorLeave a comment

In the Garden of Eden, there stood two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil.

The Tree of Life is that of direct experience, life as we perceive it through the five senses. It is felt through the body, and the center of its intelligence is the heart.

The second tree perceived solely through the mind, and through the tool of language & logic.

Language is a tool which divides. Each word cuts through the real, splitting it into binaries. Hot & cold, men & women, light & dark, and of course, good & evil.

Another name for this tree could well be the Tree of Death. We need look no further than the fruits it often bears.

When we begin to label one element of binary as “good” and it’s opposite as “evil”, we know we are dealing with the fruit of this tree. In reality, nothing is wholly good or wholly evil. Humanity, and the universe of which we are a part, is a complex, multi-dimensional reality impossible to encapsulate in one word or phrase.

Too often, when we crown ourselves or our egos the arbiter of all that is Good, we dissociate from the messy reality of being a human being in interconnected web of relationships and roles. This often leads to the violence we see in the world around us. Convinced of our essential goodness, we turn a blind eye to the evil we can do.

It is for eating from this Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil that we were cast from the garden.

To return is not as difficult as we may have been told. We can always return to the Tree of Life. It has never stopped bearing fruit; all we need to do is look towards the sky and reach for it.

Centered in our hearts, with our eyes toward heaven and our feet on the ground, we can begin to live again. We can live with love, with connection, beyond the mind and into the beautiful, messy complexity of what it means to be a human in this vast, infinite universe.

The Tree of Knowledge is not our enemy. When we are in right relationship to it, it can often lead us in the direction of truth. But the final step is often to reach and jumó into the void, that space between thoughts and beyond words.

It is in this space that we can feel the divinity of spirit and the force of life. It is a choice we can make, every second of every day.

When in doubt, you can ask choose to step outside of yourself and ask your mind what it believe to be true.

You can then repeat this process, and ask yourself, “What does my heart know is true? What are the sensations in my body telling me? How do my five senses contribute to this?”

There’s no need to commit to any outcome ahead of time. Just practice switching between centers of awareness. Experiment with it, and see what happens. Move towards life, and watch as your experience begins to shift. You might be amazed at what you see.

Lilith: The Original Feminist Icon

EleanorLeave a comment

I recently acquired this pendant showing the Seal of Lilith on the front.

I’m still not sure if I’m ready to begin working with Lilith in ritual, but I do know that I’ve been somewhat obsessed with her since I’ve learned of her story.

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For those of you who don’t know, Lilith was Adam’s first wife in the Garden of Eden.
She was made at the same time Adam was, of the same material (not of his rib like her successor Eve), and believed herself to be equal to her male counterpart.

When Adam forced himself on her sexually, she chose to leave the Garden of Eden and pursue an independent life on her own.

This is where the story gets controversial. What did Lilith do after she left the Garden of Eden?

According to many sources (especially traditional Jewish texts), Lilith became a demonic goddess, who consorted with demons out in the wild territories far from God, bearing their devilish children and stealing the children of other women shortly after they were born.

Although this is what the majority of “tradition” has to say about Lilith, I’m not convinced. I personally count myself among those who would see Lilith as the original independent woman, the godmother of all feminists who choose to respect themselves and their power to choose their own path.

I think it’s likely that the majority of negative press Lilith has received has been constructed as the instrument of a patriarchal system, who would have other women who are starting to get certain independent ideas in their heads to think twice about disobeying the male-dominated social order.

I, for one, have a lot of respect for this mythical woman, who shows us that women were created in equality with men, and who deserve to have their rights respected, and refuse to tolerate any less.

Although I’m still unprepared to follow some of the more traditional uses of Lilith’s seal, I will still choose to honor her and let her seal represent the values of independence, self-respect, and fiercely expressed femininity.

Lilith reminds me that taking the path of conviction and honoring your full self as a woman can be difficult (if not seemingly impossible at times). Although she never recovered in the eyes of her society of origin, she was true to herself and lived a life of brave authenticity, which is something I will always admire.