Abundant foliage on high
Is fed by roots that hidden lie
The Tree card is one of the most difficult to read, steeped in multiple different associations. This is only natural, however. Eve plucked the apple from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The Kabbala celebrated it. The Buddha sat beneath a Bo Tree and the ancients hung sacrifices from the bough to appease their gods.
The Tree card is about balance. It is about growth, but growth that is rooted in the ground: it is only from a solid foundation that we can reach for the heavens.
It is also about balance, then. Between left and right, top and bottom, unconscious and conscious.
It is about responsiveness. By pruning our own trees, we can encourage growth in particular directions at the expense of others. But: our control is limited.
It is about shelter and protection. The tree shields us from wind in the same way that our families might provide for us a safety net. Indeed, the tree can stand for the systems in which we find ourselvses: the family, our local community, our broader society. It reminds us that we are part of something bigger; it stands for our entire ecosystem.
