Below you will find part 2 of my article on hidden symbols. If you haven’t read part one yet, I would recommend going to HERE first so the information below will make more sense to you.

In part one, we looked at the sacred triangle, the inverted triangle, and the Star of David. Specifically, I discussed how these symbols represent the descent of consciousness and its ascent again as it pertains to Jesus and his genealogy. We will continue this discussion today by beginning with the symbol of a cross inside a circle. Then I will discuss a little more about the Star of David and the two trees in the Garden of Eden.

When we look at the descent and ascent of consciousness as a circle with a cross inside, we see two levels of descent and ascension at the same time.

Even though this symbol is not obviously present in the Bible, it is important to Christianity, especially in medieval times, as it was carved on many churches. The cross of the crucifixion is associated with Jesus whereas the cross inside a circle was associated with Christ’s disciples (called the Consecration or Rounded Cross). Even though this cross is associated with the disciples, we must remember that the 12 disciples represent 12 qualities of the soul. It is the same with the 12 tribes of Israel. Thus we have the same story in both the Old and New Testament.

Let’s break down the two levels of descent and ascension at the same time within this symbol.

1)      First, the circle: This represents a gradual descent, the one of the ordinary human being, who slowly descends along the line of the circle and who becomes enslaved at the bottom (180 degrees); after their delivery from slavery (symbolized by Egypt) they follow under guidance (Moses, the moral nature) the ascending curve of the circle, slowly getting more control over their ego and emotions. After 40 years in the desert they still have to continue the process in the Promised Land until after the reign of David, another 40 years. Solomon finally concludes the process. He is said to belong to the eighth generation after the Exodus.

2)      Second, the cross within the circle: notice the two lines are already totally in balance. Within this symbol (Jesus) the Christ Consciousness that has just been born follows its process by proceeding downwards in a straight line, conquering ego and emotions almost right away and arriving at the bottom in full command, having produced the oil for the anointment during the last and bitter phase of the descent.

The Christ Consciousness can ascend along the same line instantly, but remains with the people another 40 phases, like Moses, who guides them during the time in the desert. Moses ascends from the Nebo (’50-bo’) because the higher awareness was long since in him, while the people of Israel had to continue their journey through the Promised Land.

If you remember, according to Acts, Jesus stayed with his disciples for another 40 days before ascending from the Mountain of Olives (his consciousness having risen by producing the oil, by being put through the wringer in Gethsemane, so to speak).

Both Moses and Jesus ascend from a mountain as climbing a mountain is a symbol of raising one’s awareness. The names of the mountains describe the way of ascending (Jesus) to the fact that ascension had taken place (Moses).

Thus, the cross with arms of equal length is a symbol that describes the process of balancing on a higher level.

The cross of the crucifixion, as ‘tselav’ = ‘tsel-2’, is the world of duality, which as we saw in The Exodus and Crucifixion and How it Applies to You!, ended as ’90-lev’, the birth of the heart. It symbolizes the process of growth on a lower level.

The result of this lower process enables the one who has brought it to a successful end to engage in the process on the higher level. As such he/she can be a great help to his or her fellow man who got stuck at the bottom of their cycle by giving them the push they need in order to be able to continue ascending (even guiding them through the first upward phase).

This is not something for Jesus or Moses alone! Look at Nelson Mandela or Gandhi. And this can apply to you and me too!

*****

The Star of David also makes me think of the story of the birth of Jesus according to Matthew again. In the birth register Jesus is portrayed as the son of David and he is born in Bethlehem, the city of David. The three wise men who come to visit him after he is born were alerted to the fact of his birth by a star. Why should this then not be the Star of David?

The name Star of David emphasizes the meaning and importance of the process this symbol stands for. By mentioning the star these three wise men share that they know what the birth of this child means and by the presents they bring him they inform his parents what his task will be and what his life will bring him.

The three gifts they brought, gold, frankincense and myrrh, are called: ‘zahav’, ‘levonah’ and ‘mor’ in Hebrew.

• As gold ( ‘zahav’, 7-5-2), the first gift symbolizes the first and most precious of the metals and as such the spirit, the essence of man; when you look at the numbers, you see that the numerical value is fourteen (again). As such it is the symbol of action, as it is the number of the integrating and balancing principle of David, 4-6-4.
• As ‘levonah’, 30-2-6-50-5, the frankincense symbolizes the heart (‘lev’) and love; this is connected by the hook of the 6 to the number fifty (which symbolizes higher awareness and which is the fourteenth character of the Hebrew alphabet) and the final five symbolizes the longing for reunion and integration of the counterparts.
• ‘Mor’(40-200), the myrrh, is exactly the same word as ‘mar’, bitter. It symbolizes the bitterness that has to be eaten/digested before the growth can take place that can be considered sweet (‘tamar’, ‘400-mar’, date).

These gifts collectively symbolize the totality that Jesus will have to go through during his life before his resurrection and ascension. On another level they also symbolize the process we have to go through before the Christ can be born in us.

*****

I now want to look at some of the symbols in the Garden of Eden.

“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis: 2:9).

The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil are well-known symbols, which have already been discussed on the blog in Joshua’s article called The Kabbalistic Tree of Life and the Tree in the Book of Revelations Compared, but trees themselves are important symbols as well. They are mentioned first in the Bible verse above.

Trees produce fruit, ‘pri’ in Hebrew, which became a symbol for fertility and growth, for multiplicity and descent into matter. This fruit was meant to be ‘eaten’ which is another of the hidden symbols in the Bible. These trees were good for food, which is yet another hidden symbol.

• A tree is ‘ets’, 70-90. Seventy is a symbol of multiplicity and ninety symbolizes birth after a long process (Sara was 90 when she gave birth to Isaac). So a tree produces multiplicity, symbolized by the fruit, which has to be eaten and digested by man in order to finally give birth to the Christ Consciousness.

• To eat is ‘achal’, 1-20-30, ‘1-kol’. To eat means literally to absorb food and secondly to digest it. Symbolically the second phase means to digest and come to terms with whatever happened in your life and with your emotions. It means to reconnect with the oneness of love by bringing ‘kol’, everything, back to it and to look at it from the perspective of love. This is what enables growth. It is not an easy process though and that is why the word good is brought into it.
• Good is ‘tov’, 9-6-2, total numerical value 17. Seventeen is the symbol for the last bitter phase of this process, which however will lead to a bright new world. That is why it is written that Joseph was seventeen when he was sold into slavery by his brothers because Joseph went through the difficult process of crucifying his ego in order not to become a real slave and because of that he got the position of co-ruler of Mitsrajim, the realm of ego and matter.

So trees are an important symbol in themselves, but the word ‘ets’ is also an element of many other words.

• When God has created a woman out of the rib/side of Adam, separating the male and the female sides, Adam says: “… This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…” (Genesis 2:23). Bone is ‘etsem’ in Hebrew; it also means essence. You can read this as ‘ets-40’, tree of ego and emotions. It is a tree that man will have to eat from and the fruit of which he will have to digest. This process is the essence.

• When man eats from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God tells both Adam and Eve that they will experience sorrow (Genesis 3, verses 16-18). In the Hebrew text two words are used for the word sorrow: ‘etsev’ and ‘itsavon’, ‘ets-2’ and ‘ets-2 and 50’.

• So what does this mean? The Tree of the Knowledge can also be interpreted as the Tree of Duality. Now that man has eaten from the tree of duality, the consequence is that they will have to continue eating from it; however, in the second word for sorrow we see that a 50 has been added to it. So this is not a punishment but a promise! God says: “You will be eating from this tree of duality for a long time but in the end, when you have digested all its fruits, you will have gained higher awareness because of it.”

This is the second creation story but in the first creation story, with hindsight, it is possible to discover a similar pattern. In Genesis 1:27 it says: So God created man in his own image…

Image is ‘tselem’, in Hebrew, ‘tsel-40’. So here man is created in the shadow of the world of ego and emotions, which is also the world of the shadow of duality. The process is the same as mentioned above. The shadow of duality is ‘tsel-2’, or ‘tselav’, the cross.

Summarizing we can put this in the following formula:

• The way of the first creation story is the way of the shadow of the forty and the two, of the image (‘tselem’ = ‘tsel-40’) and the cross (‘tselav’ = ‘tsel-2) and results in ’90-lev’, the birth of the heart.
• The way of the second creation story is the way of the tree of the forty and the two, of the essence (‘etsem’ = ‘ets-40’) and of the tree (of the knowledge) of the duality (‘etsev’ = ‘ets-2’) and results through ‘itsavon’ = ‘ets-2 and 50’ in gaining the higher awareness of the 50.

Both creation stories lead to the same result but mention or imply different aspects.

Both examples of the formula above can be seen as the result of going through the process of eating from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: the birth of the heart of unconditional love and the knowledge of higher awareness.

The result of eating from the Tree of Life can be seen beautifully in the accompanying picture, which was called Tree of Realization by the person who made it.

• We see all the colors of the seven chakras, which means they have all been opened, like in the coat of many colors that Joseph as symbol of the physical body received.
• The kingdom of the world of matter is no more. The sephira Malkhut (meaning Kingdom) that normally symbolizes it at the bottom of the tree is no longer there. But the essence of it (growth of conscious awareness) has been absorbed in this light body, as the color red is still there.
• In the place of the heart we see a large Star of David, which signifies that the triangles of the male and the female side of man have come into total balance.
• Inside this Star of David we see the word Da’at, which means Knowledge. The knowledge, which was the result of the process of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, appears here in the place of honor on the Tree of Life.
• On top we see what is called the ‘sefira Kether’. ‘Kether’ means crown. When we superimpose the image of Jesus on the cross, with on his head a crown of thorns, we see here that far from being another instrument of torture, this crown of thorns is his (man’s) crown of honour. When we look at Genesis again, at chapter 3:18, we see that God tells Adam and Eve that the earth will bring forth thorns and thistles, now that they have eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge. Thorn is ‘kots’ in Hebrew; it can also be read as the root of the verb ‘hakets’, to wake (someone) up.
• The thorns and the thistles in Jesus’ life have woken him up and because he took on the process of the crucifixion of his ego, these thorns have become his crown of honour. And when we allow the thorns and thistles in our life to wake us up from our dream, instead of becoming bitter about them, and when we complete the crucifixion of our ego, they will become our crown of honour as well.

When we finally look at the culmination of both of these trees, we see with our own eyes the conclusion which also Joshua already reached in his article What does the Garden of Eden Represent? They are not two trees, but two sides of one and the same tree.