The Symbol of the Almond Tree

Ecclesiastes 12

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,a and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Teacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The Almond Tree is a symbol for the messengers of the God the Father, for Almond Trees are known for being the first deciduous tree to wake up again in spring just as the messengers of God are the first to awaken and teach others the divine truths which were stolen from the people who have also forgotten themselves and their Creator.

In Jeremiah 1 we also see the Almond Tree symbol pertaining to Jeremiah who is a messenger of God in “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:11-12

God also tells Jeremiah that he was destined to be a prophet since before He placed him in the womb of his mother.

We see this "awakening of messengers" also mentioned in the Hermetic Texts

“Not so. "This race," that is to say, he who is born in this natural way, "is never taught, but when the time is ripe, its memory is restored by God." It is not therefore some new thing; it is not the becoming of something or other; it is a return to the same, we become what we have ever been. The dream is ended and we wake to life. The gnosis of the mind' - Fragments of the Trismegistic Literature, Translated by G.R.S Mead (1906)

The first time the Almond Tree is mentioned is in Genesis 30 where the creation mythology of the Tribes of Israel from the seed of Jacob is being relayed, Jacob uses a branch from the Almond Tree to sort out the flock that will then descend from his 6 divine sons: Dan, Nephtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun.

Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink - Genesis 30: 37-38

In Exodus 25:33-34, 37:19-20, the blossoms of the Almond Tree are connected to the Tabernacle where Moses was instructed by God to make a lamp stand with 6 branches of Almond blossoms and buds and 3 cups shaped like Almond blossoms. The Book of Exodus is a story (mythology) symbolically related to the cycle of the Great Year in where God's Divine Children otherwise symbolized as the gods of Ancient mythologies, the Tribes of Israel, the Four Creatures, The Four Evangelists, the Twelve Apostles etc move from the Higher Ages (Golden/Silver Ages also known as the Satya/Treta Yugas) to the Lower Ages (Bronze/Iron Ages also known as the Dwapara/ Kali Yugas). In the mythology of Exodus the Lower Ages are symbolically related to them being captives of Egypt, Moses freeing them from captivity relates to the returning Light of God the Father which illuminated His children and releases them from their material bonds returning them to their rightful positions.

50. Jesus said, "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light, from the place where the light came into being by itself, established [itself], and appeared in their image.'

If they say to you, 'Is it you?' say, 'We are its children, and we are the chosen of the living Father.'

If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'" - The Gospel of Thomas

Aaron, the Brother of Moses was another messenger of God and he had a budded staff made from an Almond branch and it was placed in the Ark of the Covenant: "having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail." - Hebrews 9: 4-5

God the Father uses the Almond branch as a testimony to the other divine souls who are still not aware of their identity by causing the Almond branch belonging to Aaron to sprout first. This is another symbolic representation that shows the sequence of awakening in the divine souls which is dependent on the order of their creation. Numbers 17 also relates that the first to awaken is neither believed by his divine brethren or mortal man.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. - Numbers 17: 8

Roman emperor Julian, nephew of Constantine the Great wrote of the god Attis who had been born of an Almond Tree in the "Hymn to the Mother of Gods". "Of him [Attis] the myth relates that, after being exposed at birth near the eddying stream of the river Gallus, he grew up like a flower, and when he had grown to be fair and tall, he was beloved by the Mother of the Gods. And she entrusted all things to him, and moreover set on his head the starry cap."

In another Ancient Greek myth the Almond Tree is connected to the mythology of Demophon (or Demophoon and Phyllis. According to myth, Demophon, son of the legendary hero Theseus, took part in the Trojan War together with his brother Acamas. On his way back home to Athens, he made a stop in Thrace where he met Phyllis, daughter of the Thracian king Sithon. They fell deeply in love and got married, but soon Demophon had to resume his journey to Athens, where his father Theseus was awaiting. Phyllis agreed to let him leave, making him however promise to soon return for her.

Demophon made it to Athens, but was held there longer than he expected. The gods took pity on forlorn Phyllis, who faded from grief, transforming her into a tree. Yet the tree remained dry and barren of blossoms and leaves, as Phyllis’s soul was in mourning. At long last, her beloved made his way back to Thrace, only to find a dead Almond Tree in her place. Filled with sorrow and regret, he wrapped his arms around the dry trunk, and cried hopelessly. Warmed by his embrace and watered by his tears, the tree immediately blossomed and was filled with small white flowers.

The Almond Tree is a very important symbol connected to the cycle of the divine souls and their awakening at the end of the Iron Age as the Christ Light returns and begins to illuminiate their hearts and minds one by one.

Phyllis and Demophoon, 1897 by John William Waterhouse