The Paradise Tree

 Many ancient people celebrated the winter solstice - the shortest day and longest night of the year - because they believed that during the winter the Sun god became sick and weak. At the solstice, however, the Sun god would begin to get well, and the fertility of life would be assured once again. The tradition of bringing evergreen boughs into their homes reminded them that all the green plants would grow again when the Sun god was strong, and summer returned.  Ancient Egyptians also worshipped a god called Ra, who was depicted with the head of a hawk and wearing the Sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palms and papyrus reeds, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death. The pagan Europeans were also big nature worshippers and traditionally decorated their houses and barns with evergreens, or a Yule tree during midwinter holidays. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness, whilst in Celtic tradition trees were cherished for their spiritual connections to family, ancestors and deities.

 We also see the highlighting of nature within Christianity.  The story of the Book of Genesis places the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, where they were permitted to eat the fruit of many trees, but forbidden by God to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Popular medieval plays about Adam and Eve had at centre stage a “paradise tree,” a fir tree hung with apples, that represented the two important trees of the Garden of Eden - the Tree of the Knowledge and the Tree of Life.    Eating from the former gave individuals moral knowledge; eating from the latter conferred eternal life. The tree of life represents the afterlife, and connection between the earth and heaven.  God placed man in the Garden to tend to the plants but the knowledge of moral behaviour that would be attained by eating from the Tree of Knowledge was too much of a step towards becoming a godhead, which flew in the face of the basic theological concept that there was and could be only one God.

In Christianity, the tree represented Jesus Christ's birth and resurrection - the tree's branches and bushes a sign of immortality because they looked like Christ's crown of thorns on the cross. In German tradition they hung wafers on the tree, symbolizing the eucharist, the Christian sign of redemption.  In later traditions came the “Christmas pyramid,” a triangular construction of wood that had shelves to hold Christmas figurines and was decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star. By the 16th century the Christmas pyramid and the paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree.

 As people gradually converted to Christianity, it wasn’t much of a stretch from the solstice celebration for December 25th to become the date to celebrate Christmas, in part to coincide with existing pagan festivals honouring Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture - Saturnalia) and Mithra (the Persian god of light). That way, it became easier to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion.  During the Middle Ages, the church used mystery plays to dramatize biblical stories for the largely illiterate masses to illustrate the stories of the bible from creation to damnation to redemption – the latter-day equivalent of the propaganda machine.  The story of Adam and Eve begins with their disobedience, but the play cycle ends with the promise of the coming Saviour.   Before the actual performance the whole theatrical company went in procession through the village with the ‘Tree-singer’ at the head, carrying a small ‘Paradise Tree’ symbolising the Tree of Life.

 In the small homes of lower-class and poorer families it was common right into the 1800s to hang their trees from the rafters as a way of saving space. The earliest known decorations were nuts, and fruit hung from branches to represent fertility and abundance. These were later replaced by candles and stars made from paper and eventually tinsel, which eventually evolved into glass balls filled with water that could be illuminated by candlelight.  It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. According to a common version of the story, walking home one winter evening, Luther was awed by the stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

 And here we are almost at the end of 2024 witnessing an even more eventful rise in increasing tensions in the Middle East as yet another leader is toppled, this time Syria - seemingly with a US/Israel/Turkey alliance seeking regime change/a Greater Israel/Ottoman Empire Version 2.  This blog will encompass the upcoming Full Moon in Gemini on the 15th December and the second New Moon of the month, in Capricorn, on the 30th December.   The Full Moon on December 15th is in the sign of Gemini, with the Sun/Moon axis forming a T-square with Neptune in his own sign of Pisces.  And what do we see everywhere around us?   Neptune’s love for chaos, lack of truths, deception, outright lies, undermining, propaganda; the chaos and sorrow of war which always always afflicts the ordinary people – the masses.   It’s hard for us to even imagine the Syrian people’s suffering, loss and displacement over many years.   This round of uprising eventually led to Bashar al Assad’s flight from the country in between the New Moon of December 2nd and this upcoming Full Moon without even a farewell speech of gratitude to his people, some of whom have paid the ultimate price in blood for their support.  And what do we appear to have instead – a deposed leader whose reputation is in tatters replaced by a leader from ISIS/Al Qaeda roots whose reputation and past is being cleansed of its brutality so that it becomes acceptable to Western snowflakery.  Neptune also reflects soft money such as credit and the debt which currently threatens to engulf the world – so many leaders are looking for ways to cancel out this debt, which probably means a war of some kind is on their wish lists.

 Syria is symbolically important, having been part of the cradle of our civilisation; it once formed, along with what is now Iraq, the country then known as Mesopotamia.  Mesopotamia was one of the first places to develop agriculture, but it was also strategically important lying at the crossroads of the Egyptian and the Indus Valley civilizations. This made it a melting pot of languages and cultures that stimulated a lasting impact on writing, technology, language, trade, religion, and law.  Syria’s capital Damascus is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the Middle East, founded in the 3rd millennium BCE.     Damascus and Syria, by their very geographical position at the crossroads of the East and the West and between Africa and Asia occupy a position of huge strategic geopolitical importance.  This is not something we in the West should ignore.

 The New moon of 2nd December was particularly foreboding for Syria, laying opposite Mars/Uranus (sudden aggressive action) in the 8th house of crisis in their chart.  The upcoming Full Moon sits with Syria’s Saturn, ruler of its Sun – the restrictions and limitations placed on the country as well as the responsibilities that lie with leaders of any country.  The Mars/Pluto opposition – that intense need and fight for survival - was positioned (and still is) across Syria’s nodal axis and Syria’s natal Pluto; Mars turned retrograde just before this coup.   There will be a huge transformation ahead for Syria which will be ongoing at the New Moon on 30th December.  The New Moon sits right on Syria’s Sun, which was afflicted by the Solar Eclipse of October 2nd.  Harsh times ahead for the poor people of Syria destined to be at the heart of so many power struggles mainly because of their geopolitical position.  But how are Syria and the United Kingdom actually linked?   The Syrian Sun is at 9 Capricorn and the UK Sun at 10 Capricorn – both afflicted by that October eclipse and both will be triggered by the New Moon on December 30th.  We have different troubles to Syria, but do we?  We may think Syria’s problems are not ours, but is our money all over these latest events?  We are linked by the actions of our leaders.

 In 2011 Syria became part of the wider Arab Spring movement with uprisings and protests at Bashar Al Assad’s rule, leading to war and destruction.   The UK was indirectly affected by these uprisings via a huge surge in migration into Europe, with the UK as seemingly the most desired destination.   And March 2011 (the beginning of the uprisings) saw the first of seven exact squares between Pluto and Uranus across the Cardinal signs of Capricorn and Aries; Aries symbolises war and Capricorn structures – Cardinal takes action; and a square is conflict of some kind.   

 The sheer number of times this aspect occurred would likely be one that would change the course of history.   But when this instability began Uranus was on the Aries point, which symbolises events that had the capacity to affect the whole world – so in effect a double whammy reinforcement; and this will be the point where Saturn and Neptune will meet exactly in February 2026.  Both planets, however, will dance around that point from April of next year – they just don’t meet exactly till February 2026.  What will that mean for the world by then?   And rather than the square of Pluto and Uranus that we saw from 2011, we see a trine/harmonious aspect between the two planets.  It would be nice to think that this would reflect peace around the world.  However, I suspect that the turmoil and destabilisation that was instigated in 2011 will now slip very easily into our collective psyche.

 Mercury stations direct at the Full Moon – very close to the position of the last New Moon – so perhaps we will see some improvement in communications.   Mercury makes a harmonious aspect, however, to Mars who still opposes Pluto at this point, so I doubt we can trust the news we receive any more than usual.

 In Europe we can witness Neptune’s chaos –the German and French governments find themselves in dire financial states.   There were issues within Romania’s recent elections and in the UK a petition to remove Starmer from office went viral but ended up being ignored.   Also in the UK, Storm Darragh took out power lines as well as some solar and wind farms which we are told are to be the basis of our future energy sources. 

 In recent blogs I have spoken about the December 2020 Jupiter/Saturn conjunction that heralded a pivotal point of history and change and began a new 200-year dance in Air signs.  This kicked off with their conjunction at 0 Aquarius, now triggered by Pluto’s entry into Aquarius where he will remain for 20 years.  I posed the question back in 2020 – was the world on the verge of more than just ‘a change’ and instead one that would more resemble some kind of civilisation change?  Pluto last entered Aquarius at the time of the French Revolution – a time when the people made their feelings known about their government; and that was not long after the American War of Independence.  They were revolutionary times where the masses were unhappy, and we are now seeing an echo of this time and the rebellious qualities of Aquarius.

 Now we are coming up to the second opening square of this important aspect, which will be exact on December 24th, with the final square exact in June next year.  Mars, currently retrograde, makes two more exact oppositions to Pluto in early January and late April of 2025.   Why are Jupiter/Saturn aspects so important?  Because they are markers of socio-economic changes and from the beginning of this new cycle it was becoming very obvious that our old normal was very much dead and buried.  In fact the new cycle is always heralded 40 years before it begins fully.  But when that cycle began in 1980 at the degree and sign of this year’s October eclipse, and then fully began at 0 Aquarius – a degree triggered by the arrival of Pluto, we absolutely know we have a new normal coming – in fact it is here.   Aquarius is an air sign, it is innovative, futuristic and scientific.  It absolutely has to reflect AI and future innovations that involve our minds, because 1980 symbolised the beginning of the internet. 

A friend pointed out to me the symbolism of ‘the road to Damascus’ within recent events.   The Bible speaks of St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity whilst travelling to Damascus in order, as he was expecting, to continue his persecution of Christians.[1]  The expression ‘Road to Damascus’ has come to symbolise a sudden and unexpected turning point in one’s life.  Humanity is either at, or rapidly approaching, this ‘road to Damascus’ moment – how will we deal with it?   This huge socio-economic marker point is happening, and it is meant to happen; we cannot look back in the hope of retrieving our old normal.  With Aquarius we have to go forward and embrace the new.   We can’t stop it – but how we deal with it is our choice.  The Nodal axis (our destiny) will change signs in January, Trump will be inaugurated in January aided by Musk and Kennedy bringing a very different feel to American politics, Pluto has already moved into Aquarius, Uranus will begin to move into Gemini next year; Saturn and Neptune will leave the chaos of Pisces and embrace a life in Aries.  And we have already begun the new Jupiter/Saturn era of Air beginning in Aquarius.  That’s a fair amount of Air and Fire – so we have to break out of the lethargy and really think outside the box with the imagination of Fire and the innovative attitude of the cool detachment of Aquarius. 

 Historic changes will be upon us at great speed.  Air will give us the opportunity to really see where we are and start to think properly and critically, able to analyse how much we have been lied to (Pisces).  Our minds need to awaken to a new normal in a way that benefits us and not those who think they are the Pied Piper, leading the masses who view with utter disdains.   But this will require effort – Saturn.   As Saturn prepares to leave Pisces where he can find no stability, he will need to put effort into Fiery Aries where he can go straight to the point with imagination and resilience without always being dragged back emotionally (Pisces).

 We always have choices.   In a world that is trying to convince us not only that nature as we know it does not exist, but also that we can outrun nature’s rules and replace them with our own – all for the benefit of money - we must choose.  We can choose to be exiled from nature, or we can choose to become involved in the cycles of nature in ways that end our current destructive, and self-destructive, practices.   In the Bible, God placed man in the paradise of the Garden of Eden.  However, apparently man was forbidden from eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in case he rose ‘above himself’.   However, it’s time that man realised that he must indeed eat from that tree of paradise so that he can gain the knowledge he so badly needs to ascertain the truth.   No longer can man take ‘the easy route’ and just assume that his leaders know best.  With Pluto trine Uranus and each in sextile aspect to Saturn/Neptune we must grab the opportunity and awaken ourselves.

I hope you have enjoyed my blogs through 2024 and that they have been in some way thought provoking, because that is my intention for writing.  To those who have helped me along the way (you know who you are) I thank you.   I look forward to more in 2025.  Have a great break over Christmas and the New Year – but let’s think how our attitudes to the new year and its opportunities must move forward and transform.

[1] Acts, Chapter 9