The Tree of Life

"The Tree of Life"

My Grandma Crowley was a big traveler in her earlier years. She had been all over the world, including Egypt, Russia,China and parts of south America. Her house was full of amazing things that she had collected over her many travels. I loved going to her house and asking her where she got all her wonderful souvenirs.

She's passed on now, and when she died she left two pieces of art like this one to my cousin Brent. Brent knowing how much i loved this particular one and being the amazingly nice and awesome cousin that he is; he gave it to me.

This is a piece of art my grandma got in Egypt. It is on papyrus and is so beautiful. The Egyptians really had many beliefs and parts of their religion that are similar to ours today.

It is called "The Tree of Life" because each bird represents a stage of life. It starts with the light green bird in the lower right hand corner than continues counter-clockwise.

• the light green bird symbolizes infancy
• the red bird symbolizes childhood
• the gray bird represents youth
• the black/yellow bird represents adulthood
• and the last bird represents old age

In ancient Egypt, the direction east was considered the direction of life because the sun rose in the east. West was thought to be the direction of death, of entering the under world because the sun set in the west. They believed that during the night, the sun traveled through the under world to make it's way back to the east so it could rise again on the next day.

Notice that on the tree of life, the four birds of life are all facing east, but the last bird that represents old age is facing west, in anticipation of death

Good thing i have my strong husbad to help me hang pictures!! :)