“
An image which frequently appears among the archetypal configurations of the unconscious is that of the tree or the wonder-working plant.”
Carl Jung
The Golden Bough, the Burning Bush, the Tree of Life, the Forbidden Fruit, Golden Flower, Ambrosia… The healing plant has a long history, and appears to be ‘rooted’ in our very subconscious as a potent symbol of life and transformation.
So how does the Cross fit in? It is clearly part of the ‘healing plant’ archeype, but perhaps with some essential differences. For the tree that Christ hangs on on this Good Friday has been ripped from the ground. It has no roots anymore. It has been ‘manufactured’ by humankind. Given shape and form by technologies. This healing tree is therefore in touch with death.
As God hangs dying, the two poles of creation and death meet, and within their potential difference lies our healing, our re-rooting, our re-grafting. Separated from the earth, hung above it, God is then thrust in death into the earth’s dirty bowels. It is here, in these places where the two poles are forced together that our ressurection begins.