The philosophical tree usually grows alone and, according to Abu'l Qasim, “on the sea” in the Western Land, which presumably means on an island:
THE SECRET MOON-PLANT OF THE ADEPTS
The secret moon-plant of the adepts is “like a tree planted in the sea.” In a parable in Mylius the sun-and-moon tree stands on an island in the sea and grows out of the wonderful water that is extracted by the power of the magnet from the rays of the sun and moon. Khunrath says: “From this little salty fountain grows also the tree of the sun and moon, the red and white coral tree of our sea.” Salt and sea-water signify in Khunrath among other things the maternal Sophia from whose breasts the filii Sapientiae, the Philosophers, drink
CW13 ¶ 406TREE'S HABITAT ON THE MOUNTAINS
The tree (or wonderful plant) also has its habitat on the mountains. Since the imagery of the Book of Enoch was often taken as a model, it should be mentioned that there the tree in the Western Land stood on a mountain. In the “Practica Mariae Prophetissae” the wonderful plant is described as “growing on hills.” The Arabic treatise of Ostanes in the “Kitâb el Focul” says: “It is a tree that grows on the tops of mountains.” The relation of tree to mountain is not accidental, but is due to the original and widespread identity between them: both are used by the shaman for the purpose of his heavenly journey
CW13 ¶ 407THE MOUNTAIN AND TREE AS SYMBOLS OF
THE PERSONALITY AND THE SELF
Mountain and tree are symbols of the personality and of the Self, as I have shown elsewhere; Christ, for instance, is symbolized by the mountain as well as by the tree. Often the tree stands in a garden, as an obvious reminder of Genesis. Thus the trees of the seven planets grow in the “private garden” of the blessed isles. In Nicolas Flamel (1330?-?1418) the “most highly praised tree” grows in the garden of the Philosophers
CW13 ¶ 407A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH THE
AQUA PERMANENS, THE TRUE ARCANUM
As we have seen, the tree has a special connection with water, salt, and sea-water, and thus with the aqua permanens, the true arcanum of the adepts. This as we know is Mercurius, who is not to be confused with Hg, the mercurius crudus sive vulgaris. Mercurius is the tree of the metals. He is the prima materia, or else its source
CW13 ¶ 408THE TREE SYMBOLIZES THE WHOLE OPUS
It is clear from this description that the tree symbolizes the whole opus. Accordingly Dorn says: “Let therefore the tree [of the planets or metals] be planted and its root be ascribed to Saturn, and let that inconstant Mercurius and Venus, arising in the trunk and branches, offer to Mars the leaves and fruit-bearing flowers.” The relation to the world-tree is also apparent when Dorn says that “nature has planted the root of the [metallic] tree in the midst of her womb”
CW13 ¶ 409