Tree of Life I

Tree of Life I is a roundel about connection. Its branches open towards light, while the roots descend into a dense weave of lines and knots. At the centre, a small heart-shaped knot joins the upward and downward movement of the tree.

The tree is held by a continuous Celtic border that gives the composition a sense of enclosure without making it feel closed. Leaves and curling branches bring movement into the circle; the roots answer them below, suggesting that growth above the ground depends upon an unseen foundation.

The wider symbolism of trees in Celtic landscapes, stories, sacred groves, kingship, memory, and the Otherworld is explored in The Tree — Between Earth and Sky. The article also considers the limits of treating the world tree as a single, fixed ancient doctrine. This roundel is a contemporary interpretation shaped by those older images and by the physical character of carved wood.

A meeting place between worlds

The tree does not leave the earth in order to reach the sky. Its height is made possible by its roots, and its crown remains connected to the trunk that carries the weight of both. In this sense, the roundel becomes an image of balance: ancestry and possibility, darkness and light, stillness and continual growth.

Ash gives the relief a living surface. The grain moves beneath the carving, while the lighter raised forms catch the light against the darker ground. Small variations in the wood and the marks of the tools keep the image connected to the making process.

Tree of Life I is a symbolic work rather than a reconstruction of a historical object. It can be read as a sign of continuity, a reminder of belonging, or a quiet image of renewal. Its meaning also changes with the place where it is displayed: beside an entrance, it may speak of rooted protection; in a room of reflection, of memory and inner growth.

The roundel belongs to a private collection.

May this tree remind those who meet it that every new branch is carried by older roots, and that reaching towards the sky begins with remaining present in the earth.