Almond
Virginity; the self-productive;
conjugal happiness. Yonic. As the first flower of the year the blossom is the
Awakener, hence it depicts watchfulness; it also represents sweetness, charm,
delicacy. For the Chinese, it is feminine beauty, fortitude in sorrow, watchfulness.
In the Christian tradition, the almond signifies divine favour and approval, and
the purity of the Virgin. The nut is concealed within an outer skin, bringing
the idea of the essence hidden within things of little apparent importance: for
example, the divinity of Christ hidden within the mortal human form. It is often
connected with sex, across cultures and eras; in India, the almond is the vulva,
and eating the almond signifies the sexual act. In mythology, it is attributed
to Atys, who was conceived by a virgin from an almond. A Jewish myth places the
entrance to the underworld at the base of an almond tree. A dream of almonds might
represent a difficult problem about "something essentially precious, very often
connected with sex" (Julien, 13). Most often associated in its TREE
form.
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