The Sycamore Fig

THE SYCAMORE FIG

The tree’s sap, milk, and resins, like water and blood,
milk and semen, are life-giving liquids. Each is essence,
each carries the full sign of life, each gives of its
very self.

When the fruit of the fig tree is snapped from the branch,
the milk flows quickly, startlingly white. This natural
imagery is enshrined in Hathor, the Egyptian sky goddess,
the patroness of joy and exuberant life, who protected the
dead in her aspect as “lady of the sycamore.” She was
the soul of the sycamore fig and lived in its branches.
From her breasts flowed the elixir of life that nourished
and strengthened the souls of the dead on their journey
westward.

Page 104 Sign of the Tree
Meinrad Craighead
1970s; Stanbrook Abbey; Ink on Scratchboard; 10×12; Mat is signed.

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