APPLE
Being almost spherical in shape, the apple signifies totality.
It is symbolic of earthly desires,
or of indulgence in such desires.
The warning not to eat the forbidden apple came,
therefore, from the mouth
of the supreme being, as a warning against the exaltation of materialistic desire.
The intellect, the thirst for knowledge— as Nietszche realized—
is only an intermediate zone between earthly desire and pure
spirituality.
— J.E. Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols
Philosophical Library, New York, 1962, p. 14
************************************************************************APPLE Fertility; love; joyousness; knowledge; wisdom; divination; luxury; but also deceitfulness and death. The apple was the forbidden fruit of the Golden Age. As round it represents totality and unity, as opposed to the multiplicity of the pomegranate, and as the fruit of the Tree of Life given by Iduma to the gods. Eris threw the golden apple of discord among the Gods. As the apples of the Hesperides and the fruit of Freya's garden, it symbolizes immortality. Offering an apple is a declaration of love. Like the orange, as fertility, the apple blossom is used for brides. Celtic: The Silver Bough. It has magic and chthonic powers; the fruit of the Other-world; fertility; marriage. Halloween, an apple festival, is associated with the death of the old year. Chinese: Peace and concord. Christian: Ambivalent as evil (Latin: malum and the fruit of temptation and sin of the Fall, but depicted with Christ or the Virgin Mary it is the New Adam and salvation. An ape with an apple in its mouth depicts the Fall. Greek: Sacred to Venus as love and desire; a bridal symbol and offering; the 'apple of discord' was given to Venus by Paris. Apple branches are an attribute of Nemesis and Artemis and used in the rites of Diana; also awarded as a prize in the Sun-bridegroom race as was the olive branch at the Moon-virgin race. The apple of Dionysos was the quince. The apple tree was associated with health and immortality; sacred to Apollo. Apple blossom: A Chinese symbol of peace and beauty.— J.C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols Thames and Hudson, London, 1978, p. 14 ******************************************************************* APPLE: ping-guo  The best apples used to come from Korea and Japan; the Chinese apple was not so tasty. Even today,m apples are relatively dear, and therefore an acceptable gift, escpecially since the apple (ping) can stand as a symbol for 'peace' (ping). On the other hand, one should not give apples to an invalid, since the Chinese word for 'illness'— bing— is very similar in sound to the word for apple. Apple blossom, however, symbolises female beauty. In North China, the wild apple blossoms in spring, and is therefore a symbol for this season of the year. The wild apple (hai-tang) may also symbolise the hall of a house (tang): a picture showing wild apple blossom and magnolias (yu-lan) in such a room can be interpreted as meaning 'May (yu) your house be rich and honoured!' The celebrated beauty Yang Gui-fei, the concubine of one of the Tang emperors, was known as 'Paradise-apple Girl' (hai-tang nü). — Wolfram Eberhard, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1986, p. 21 ******************************************************************* APPLE, APPLE TREE: the guarantee of immortality • In Irish tradition, the apple is a fruit that guarantees immortality: cut in half, crossways, it reveals a five-pointed star, the pentagram, a symbol of the 'five stations from birth to death and rebirth.' • Apples were part of the Orphic cult and also symbolized the goddess Venus (to whom they were sacred), who, according to Robert Graves, 'was worshipped as the evening star, Hesper, on one half of the apple, and as Lucifer, son of morning, on the other. • Jung interpreted the apple eaten by Adam and Eve as a symbol of life. In dreams, a red and green apple is the expression of a harmonious organic life. A maggoty apple reveals an apparently healthy relationship which has been eaten away on the inside. — Nadia Julien (Ed.), The Mammoth Dictionary of Symbols translated by Elfreda Powell (from 1989 Belgian edition) Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 1996, p. 23 ********************************************************************************* APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES A symbol of the buddhis emotions and faculties, the "fruit of the Spirit". "The golden apples which Ge (Earth) gave to Hera at her marriage with Zeus" — Smith's Classical Dictionary The "marriage" is the union of Wisdom (Hera) and Love (Zeus). Love struggles upward from below to meet Wisdom above; and Matter (Ge) yields up the results of experience and effort, on to the Wisdom plane. |
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