The Fig Tree – Shamanic Initiation
Shamanic initiation, like initiation in general, has lost much of its significance in our modern world. And yet, it still exists. As we experience it in the shamanic training at “Licht aus der Jurte Shamanic Centre Vienna”, it continues to hold profound meaning within the traditional shamanic path.
Participants in the training program “Spiritual Healing – Healing Shamanism” prepare carefully for the journey of becoming a shaman. They work diligently in the seminars, acquiring healing knowledge and healing practices, opening themselves to the fields of mythology, strengthening their connection with the networks of nature, and gradually opening the gateways of the soul within themselves.
One of these connections between mythology and nature can be found in Homer’s Odyssey.
The fig tree appears in the Odyssey as a mythical image of the principles of initiation. The hero has lost his ship, his companions, and every form of security – and yet he finds support in a tree. The fig tree thus becomes a sign of survival, but also an image of inner trial and purification.
Odysseus hangs between destruction and rescue, between the depths of the sea and his return to life. The fig tree stands at the threshold – at the very place where the forces of dissolution and engulfment are strongest.
The principles of initiation are expressed in the image of the fig tree. The Eleusinian-Dionysian mysteries used the fig tree as a symbol of initiation – ancient mystery traditions in which death, rebirth, transformation, and spiritual maturation played a central role.
Here, the fig tree belongs not merely to the landscape but to the language of symbols. It represents a stage of knowledge reached through danger, loss, and encounters with the limits of existence.
That Odysseus clings to it may therefore also be understood as an image: in moments of greatest trial, human beings are sustained by a hidden order.
Sacred Trees and Hidden Signs in Initiation
In the Odyssey, trees do not merely form part of the scenery; they carry deeper meanings.
They point toward origin, destiny, transformation, and recognition. The garden is not simply a possession or a natural space, but a place of ancestral beginnings. Life reveals itself through birth, maturation, experiences of death, loss, and homecoming.
The pear trees suggest emergence from the “father-ground” of the world. They stand for origin and becoming, while already bearing within them the awareness of impermanence. Birth and death are not separate but belong to the same great cycle of life.
The apple trees are connected with the mystery of human destiny. The apple becomes a symbol of fate entering human life, reminding us that becoming, knowledge, and suffering are often intertwined.
The vines, in turn, point toward wine, transformation, and divine vitality.
They carry within them the motif of change: from plant to fruit, from fruit to wine, from wine to a sign of ecstasy, insight, sacrifice, and community.
Within the story of Odysseus, the vines also recall the long trials of his life, from which a new form of wisdom ultimately emerges.
Together, these plants create a mythical image of the human journey. They speak of birth and destiny, fertility and maturation, divine guidance and human trial. The garden thus becomes a place where past and present, earth and destiny, are reunited.
The Fig Tree – Shamanic Initiation – When the Gateways of the Soul Open
In a time when initiation is often confused with quick promises and spiritual consumerism, the ancient myths remind us that transformation requires time, devotion, and the willingness to pass through trials.
As we experience shamanic initiation in the shamanic training at “Licht aus der Jurte Shamanic Centre Vienna”, it still holds a central place within traditional shamanism.
Participants in the “Spiritual Healing – Healing Shamanism” training prepare themselves carefully for this path. They dedicate themselves to learning healing knowledge and healing practices, opening the fields of mythology, deepening their relationship with the living networks of nature, and allowing the gateways of the soul within themselves to open ever wider.
Being Held on the Shamanic Path
Learning to trust that human beings are held when they can no longer continue by their own strength is one of the essential experiences of the shamanic path.
They are carried until a new stage of the journey becomes visible and possible.
Perhaps this is one of the deepest meanings of the fig tree: not that it spares us from trials, but that it allows us to discover that even in the darkest transitions, a hidden order is at work – accompanying us through loss, transformation, and homecoming.