TREE OF LIFE

The Tree of Life is an important symbol in nearly every culture. With its branches reaching into the sky, and roots deep in the earth.  I have been drawn to and drawing trees my whole life, so my fascination with the Tree of Life and creating mandala drawings 

featuring the symbol is not new.

This Full Moon Winter Solstice Tree of Life is the first mandala I have drawn featuring the tree of life.   It symbolizes life itself, with it's branches joining "Father Sky" in the heavens and it's roots with "Mother Earth".

As a child I drew tree after tree, turning them into Tree Houses, with room in the roots, where little people lived.  The branches were their porches, with little lanterns and stairways lighting the way.  I drew serial tree stories, and the little people that lived in these Tree Villages.  

They were my childhood companions.

~This mandala ~ Full Moon Tree of Life ~ was done on the Spring Equinox

The Full moon also seems to come up again and again in my drawings, along with the deep roots and the extending branches.  When I was a  young woman, living in Southern California, I felt bereft of trees.  I used to go on walks to visit trees, making pilgrimages to them, since they were so rare, in the area that I lived. I think the fact there were so few trees in LA, was a factor in my moving to Northern California, where they are abundant.

~Summer Time Tree of Life - Balance~

When I taught Creative Process classes,  at Santa Rosa Junior College, I would give the exercise of drawing a Seed a Star and a Tree.  Then we would put the drawings up on the wall, and brainstorm our associations with each symbol and make up stories, reflecting each drawing.  The symbolic meaning of the tree of life, was so inherent to each person, and everyone loved how the drawings revealed something about their lives.

~New Years Tree of Life~

it dwells in three worlds- a link between heaven, the earth, and the underworld, uniting above and below.

I just finished this mandala of the tree of life, and it is my most favorite.  I began it at the last mandala workshop I taught.  I worked on it over New Years, completing it New Years Day.  I always love drawing on New Years, it is my perfect way to bring in another year.

As I prepare, to teach yet another mandala workshop, I decided to share these four images here.

Have a balanced and deep New Year.  Sinking your roots deep into the fertile ground of your life, and extending your dreams out into the skies of your evolving imagination.

Best To All.

Caterina