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THE POMEGRANATE Fruit of the Tree of Life THE POMEGRANATE the Life Fruit Tree Medical research is now supporting the rich history, mythology and symbolism of the pomegranate with discoveries about the fruit’s abundant antioxidants and nutrients and their benefits in health and healing. s a boy, my first experience with a pomegranate was with a neighbour's tree. We used to wait in anticipation for the pomegranates to ripen because then they made excellent hand grenades to throw at other boys from the other side of town. And "grenade" is literally right: this is the French name for a pomegranate. They would explode if you got a lucky shot, and hundreds of purple-red seeds would splatter the opponent with a near-indelible dye guaranteed to get the other boy into huge trouble at home. Apart from this lowly pursuit, there was little use for the pomegranate in Australia in those days, and this ignorance continues pretty much to this day. What we didn't know then was that the rich reddish-purple juice of the pomegranate would later be found to carry much more than its indelible colour. It is now known to carry valuable natural phytophenols in the form of super-antioxidants—much more, in fact, than in red wine and green tea combined. A look at the history, symbolism and recent medical discoveries relating to this mysterious fruit puts the pomegranate in a totally new light, particularly in terms of health. Just the other day, as I was browsing in my local second-hand bookstore, I came across a rare book by Dr Israel Regardie called A Garden of Pomegranates.' Regardie, who died in 1985, is highly regarded as a modern occultist and historian of Western hermetic philosophies, and was responsible last century for a series of books revealing occult lore, particularly as it relates to the Qabbalah. The central motif or symbolic structure in this ancient system of philosophical enquiry is the Tree of Life—in Regardie's words, "that most precious jewel of human thought, that geometrical arrangement of Names, Numbers, Symbols and Ideas..." There are of course many symbolic links to the original Tree of Knowledge as described in so many myths, particularly in the Old Testament. Regardie was making a connection that has been made over and over again through the centuries—a connection between the fruit of the pomegranate tree and the oldest myths and symbols of philosophy and esoteric religion. In this case, he was referring to a book called Pardes Rimonim in the old language, or An Orchard of Pomegranates, which was written by Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero in the 16th century. The good rabbi took this title from a versicle in the Song of Songs: "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates". Regardie is considered by some as one of the greatest interpreters of the Qabalah, and he wrote that "...a veritable garden of the soul may be builded; ...wherein may be discovered by each one of us all manner and kind of exotic fruit and gracious flower of exquisite colour. The pomegranate, I may add, has always been for mystics everywhere a favourable subject for recondite symbolism." Much of this symbolism, as we'll see below, refers to the deep respect given to this plant by many cultures at many times, including our own as more studies reveal the health-giving effects provided by this fruit that seems to be full of seed, full of life and full of potential. A brief history of the pomegranate Moving way back in time, we find the pomegranate celebrated in Egyptian papyri, cited in the Old Testament as rimmon, and appearing in Greek mythology, in Roman history and in the Koran. Well before the Christian era, pomegranates were introduced into China from Samarkhand. The pomegranate has appeared throughout history in some of APRIL — MAY 2007 NEXUS +19 A garden of pomegranates by Tom Storey © 2007 Email: tstorey1@gmail.com www.nexusmagazine.com