Apple
Apple Tree Symbolism and Lore
The apple tree seems to have been regarded as holy or magickal from very early times, and in almost every country in which it grows.
In ancient Ireland, it was one of the three things that could only be paid for by living objects, the others being a hazel bush and a sacred grove.
For Celtic people, the apple tree symbolized the World Tree, the axis of the Universe. They considered the apple the most magickal of fruits, a fruit of immortality and prophecy.
It grew in the Celtic Paradise, where the hills were clothed with trees that bore fruit and blossom together. The mysterious land to which King Arthur was taken for the healing of his wounds was the Vale of Avalon, the Apple Vale. The mythical Isle of Avalon, meaning orchard (from afal, the old Welsh word for apple) is the resting place of Celtic kings and heroes, and one of the places where King Arthur is meant to wait until he is needed to rise once more to protect his people.
The apple tree is a tree of the Underworld, a tree of immortality, and sacred to Apollo. At Samhain or Halloween, the time of the apple harvest, the fruit has a large part to play in the rituals and celebrations, including divinatory practices.
Old laborers in Herefordshire regarded the destruction of an apple orchard as an almost sacrilegious act. It was commonly said there that if an orchard was destroyed to plant a hop yard in its place, the latter would never pay the cost of cultivation.
At that time there was also a custom whereby, if a man wanted to enclose a piece of common land, he had to plant an apple tree on it. The lord of the manor preserved his rights over the enclosed land by extracting an annual tribute of the fruit.
Many omens and charms are, or were, associated with apple trees. Here are some of them:
- If the sun shines through the trees on Christmas morning (or in some districts on Easter morning) is is a sign of a good crop to come and a prosperous year for the owner of the orchard.
- The fruit must be blessed by rain on St. Peter’s or St. Swithin’s Day, and in some districts it is said to be unfit to eat until after this has happened.
- Blossoms appearing in autumn is a death omen for someone in the owner’s family, and especially so if the flowers come while there is still fruit on the branches.
- A well known couplet says:
A bloom on the tree when the apples are ripe
Is a sure termination of somebody’s life.
If, when the fruit is picked, an apple is left behind and hangs there until Spring comes round again, a death is foretold.
There was, however, a Yorkshire variant of this belief. In his Folk-Lore of East Yorkshire (1890) John Nicholson tells us that it was sometimes thought unlucky to strip the tree completely. An apple or two, even if only the deformed or inaccessible fruit, should be left for the birds. This was the explanation given in his time but, as he points out, the gift may originally have been intended for the fairies, and some even older spirits.
Collected from various sources.
Adams Apple
The Adam’s apple is actually a protruding piece of thyroid cartilage that develops at puberty, but only in the male. It is so-called because it is said to symbolize the piece of the apple of knowledge that got stuck in Adam’s throat after Eve, encouraged by the serpent, coaxed him into eating the fruit.
The Adam’s apple can be a bit of a pain in the neck for transsexuals, cross-dressers, and female impersonators, since it can be the one giveaway sign that the apparently well-dressed lady is in fact a gentleman. The offending lump can, however, be removed by surgery.
From: The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols
Apple Symbolism and Lore
The apple, that infamous fruit said to have been given by Eve to Adam, is a symbol of sexual awakening, and has deep associations with magick.
If an apple is cut in half across its “equator” then the pattern of the seeds is revealed, a perfect five-pointed star or pentagram. The repercussions of this hidden magickal symbol are far-reaching. Five, comprised of the feminine number 2 and the masculine number 3, is the number of harmony, of the union of opposites (for example in sexual congress), and of marriage. It is also the number of humankind because of the five points of extremity of the human body.
When Eve gave Adam the Apple of knowledge in the Garden of Eden, therefore, it was not just a piece of fruit she was offering him, but a potent symbol of wisdom. Eating the fruit that contains the pentagram resulted in a profound awakening for Adam and Eve. They became not only aware of their own sexual natures, but they realized that they could make their own choices.
Here the pentagram stands for the spiritual nature of man, and eating it awakens Adam to new possibilities; the flesh combines with the spirit, and immediately Adam and Eve cover their genitals, signifying sexual awakening.
Note: The Bible does not actually identify the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve. Eve took “the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden” ~Genesis 3:3. This fruit is more likely to have been a fig than an apple, as Adam and Eve both covered themselves with fig leaves after tasting the fruit.
In Gypsy wedding ceremonies it is customary to cut the apple in the way described above, the bride and groom each eating half of the fruit.
According to Greek legend, Dionysus, the god of the fertility of nature, created the apple as a gift for Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. This is the opposite of the Bible story, as in this case the man gave the apple to a woman.
When Zeus and Hera got married, Gaia, Mother Earth, gave the bride golden apples to symbolize fertility. These apples of fertility later became Hercules’ eleventh labor, when he had to steal them and bring them back home. These apples provided immortality to anyone who tasted them.
These stories and others, gave the apple its erotic connotations. Consequently, it’s not surprising that Christians considered the apple tree a tree of sin. The phrase “apple of one’s eye,” which indicates a favorite, well-loved person, may have come from this.
The 19th century proverb, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” may have had its beginnings in Norse legend, because the gods retained their vitality and health by eating apples from the gardens of Asgard.
In mythology and folklore, apples have power in addition to taste:
- a means to immortality
- an emblem of fruitfulness
- an offering
- a distraction in suitor contests
- a means of divination
- a test of chastity
- a love charm
- a magic object
- a cure
Magickal apples that confer immortality can be plucked from mythological trees all over the world, In Scandinavian stories, perpetual youth apples were kept by Idun in Asgard, and guarded by the Goddess. Their purpose was to keep the Gods youthful until the end of the Universe.
The Hesperides, in Greek myth, were nymphs that tend a beautiful garden in which grows an apple tree (or trees) whose golden fruit also confer immortality. These apples were understandably highly sought after.
An apple tossed to Conie, son of Conn, by the woman from the Land of the Living provided sustenance to him for a month, but made him long for her and her land, as was her plan.
Gna, messenger of the Scandinavian Frigga, dropped an apple to King Rerir who ate it with his wife, who then bore a child. Frey sent eleven golden apples to Gerda as a marriage offer.
The Greek goddess Atalanta was won by a suitor who threw down golden apples to distract her from their race, which he then won.
In Latin, the word for apple, malam also means “evil,” and reflects the paradox of the apple as a symbol of both good and evil. Although in the Tales of the Arabian Nights, the apple of Prince Ahmed cures all ills, in the fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the heroine is poisoned by a shiny red apple, and falls into the sleep of oblivion.
The Apple of Discord, inscribed For the Fairest, was given by Paris to Aphrodite, causing a quarrel among the goddesses and helping to bring about the Trojan War.
Collected from various sources
Sign of the Apple Tree
Birth dates:
- Dec 23 thru Jan 1st
- Jun 25 to Jul 04
Key word: Love.
Persons born under the sign of the Apple Tree tend to be slight of build, with lots of charm, appeal, and attraction, pleasant aura, flirtatious, adventurous, sensitive, always in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, scientific talents, lives for today, a carefree philosopher with imagination.
Source: Wicca Chat
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