Pomegranate Tree

Pomegranate Tree

 

This piece was originally produced for an exhibition entitled Godspeed: A Blessing on your Journey. To the Greeks the pomegranate means abundance and fertility, so the pomegranate tree is an apt symbol of blessings experienced in the midst of the labyrinthine journey of life. However, the pomegranate is a versatile fruit, and because of its part in the Persephone myth can itself symbolize the journey of life, death and rebirth.  The butterfly is symbolic of the cycle of life and also transformation.

Although pomegranate trees do feature in the Bible (and some have even suggested that the Tree of Life was a pomegranate tree) this image was not inspired by a particular scriptural tree.  Instead it draws on the Christian tradition of walking labyrinths as a means of meditation and a form of pilgrimage.