Tree of life in the context of "Tree worship"

The tree of life (Hebrew: עֵץ חַיִּים, romanized: ʿēṣ ḥayyim or no: אִילָן‎, romanized: ʾilān, lit. 'tree') is a diagram used in Rabbinical Judaism in kabbalah and other mystical traditions derived from it. It is usually referred to as the "kabbalistic tree of life" to distinguish it from the tree of life that appears alongside the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Genesis creation narrative as well as the archetypal tree of life found in many cultures.

Simo Parpola asserted that the concept of a tree of life with different spheres encompassing aspects of reality traces its origins back to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the ninth century BCE. The Assyrians assigned moral values and specific numbers to Mesopotamian deities similar to those used in Kabbalah and claims that the state tied these to sacred tree images as a model of the king parallel to the idea of Adam Kadmon. However, J. H. Chajes states that the ilan should be regarded as primarily indebted to the Porphyrian tree and maps of the celestial spheres rather than to any speculative ancient sources, Assyrian or otherwise.

Hungarian Neopaganism, or the Hungarian Native Faith (Hungarian: Ősmagyar vallás), is a modern Pagan new religious movement aimed at representing an ethnic religion of the Hungarians, inspired by taltosism (Hungarian shamanism), ancient mythology and later folklore. The Hungarian Neopaganism movement has roots in 18th- and 19th-century Enlightenment and Romantic elaborations, and early-20th-century ethnology. The construction of a national Hungarian religion was endorsed in interwar Turanist circles (1930s–1940s), and, eventually, Hungarian Neopagan movements blossomed in Hungary after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The boundaries between Hungarian Neopagan groups often relate to differing beliefs relating to the ethnogenesis of the Hungarians, generally believed to have originated on the Asian Steppe. Some Hungarian Neopaganistic groups sought to reconstruct their native faith based upon contemporary ideas about Scythian, Persian, and Sumerian religions and cultivate Turanist links with Turkic cultures.

The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man or The Earthly Paradise with the Fall of Adam and Eve (ca. 1615) is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens (figures) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (flora and fauna). It is housed in the Mauritshuis art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The painting depicts the moment just before the consumption of forbidden fruit and the fall of man.

Adam and Eve are depicted beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where various fruits grow. On the opposite side the tree of life is depicted, also laden with fruits.

Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth. Evergreen trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered symbols of the eternal, immortality or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or world tree occurs in many mythologies.

Examples include the banyan and the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil of Judaism and Christianity. In folk religion and folklore, trees are often said to be the homes of tree spirits. Germanic mythology as well as Celtic polytheism both appear to have involved cultic practice in sacred groves, especially grove of oak. The term druid itself possibly derives from the Celtic word for oak. The Egyptian Book of the Dead mentions sycamores as part of the scenery where the soul of the deceased finds blissful repose.

The Gosforth Cross is a large stone monument in St Mary's churchyard at Gosforth in the English county of Cumbria, dating to the first half of the 10th century AD. Formerly part of the kingdom of Northumbria, the area was settled by Scandinavians some time in either the 9th or 10th century. It has gained reputation for its combination of Christian symbols with Nordic symbols, being a tangible piece of evidence of the impact of the Christianization of Scandinavia.

The deities depicted on the monument have been identified with Sigyn attempting to protect her bound husband Loki, a horn-wielding Heimdallr, Víðarr in the process of defeating Fenrir, and Thor in a failed attempt to capture Jörmungandr. The images likely adapt scenes from the Poetic Edda. Also depicted on the monument is the crucifixion of Jesus. The tree-like design of the base of the cross may represent Yggdrasil or a mythical tree of life.

The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life, but it is the source of wisdom of the ages.

Specific world trees include Égig érő fa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Kenac' Car in Armenian mythology, Modun in Mongol mythology, Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, Irminsul in Germanic mythology, the oak in Slavic, Finnish and Baltic, Jianmu (Chinese: 建木; pinyin: jiànmù) in Chinese mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Ficus religiosa).