Trees, as is well known, have played a large part in religion and in mythology from the remotest times:
Typical of the trees found in myth is the tree of paradise, or tree of life; most people know of the pine-tree of Attis, the tree or trees of Mithras, and the word-ash Yggdrasill of Nordic mythology, and so on
CW5 ¶ 349The hanging of Attis, in effigy, on a pine-tree (fig. 042) , the hanging of Marsyas, which became a popular theme for art, the hanging of Odin, the Germanic hanging sacrifices and the whole series of hanged godsall teach us that the hanging of Christ on the Cross is nothing unique in religious mythology, but belongs to the same circle of ideas
CW5 ¶ 349174 CW5 Ser: 5 Par 349 (a) FigNo 042
In this world of images the Cross is the Tree of Life and at the same time a Tree of Deatha coffin (fig. 258.36) . Just as the myths tell us that human beings were descended from trees, so there were burial customs where people were buried in hollow tree-trunks, whence the German Totenbaum, `tree of death,' for coffin, which is still in use today
CW5 ¶ 349173 CW5 Ser: 3 Par 349 (c) FigNo 258.36
If we remember that the tree is predominantly a mother-symbol, then the meaning of this mode of burial becomes clear. The dead are delivered back to the mother for rebirth
CW5 ¶ 349