The pine cone symbol is one of the most mysterious emblems found in ancient and modern art and architecture. Few scholars realize it, but the pine cone alludes to the highest degree of spiritual illumination possible.

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This was recognized by various ancient cultures, and the symbol can be found in the ruins of the,

Indonesians

Babylonians

Egyptians

Greeks

Romans

Christians,

...to name a few.



It also appears in the drawings of esoteric traditions like,

Freemasonry

Theosophy

Gnosticism

esoteric Christianity

The pine cone held the same meaning for all:

It symbolized a secret vestigial organ, the "pineal gland" or "Third Eye", that we all possess.


Left: The magnificent ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia,

one of the most magical and spiritual places on earth,

are filled with pine cone symbolism.

Right: Antithetical animals flank an enlightened bodhisattva at Angkor Wat.

The majestic stone ruins of Angkor Wat are a marvelous sight to behold. Immense towers shaped like pine cones silhouetted against the sky rise out of the lush green jungle in a way that defies the imagination.


The pine cone shaped towers are often cited by scholars:

"The individual spires at Angkor have a…pine-cone profile…"
Benjamin Rowland, The Art and Architecture of India

The question, however, is the significance of the pine cones: it seems unlikely such a distinctive feature would appear with no rhyme or reason.


What is the significance of these pine cones to Angkor's ancient buildings?

Also never explained is another Angkor Wat phenomenon called "antithetic animals." In the example shown in the image above we see a pair of twin, symmetrical elephants facing each other, an image that is often glossed over or unexplained.

Interestingly, similar antithetical animal art appears on other famous ancient archaeological "pine cone" relics.


For example, at the ancient Roman pigna (Italian for pine cone) sculpture shown below, a massive bronze pine cone is flanked by twin antithetical peacocks.

Above: Built by the Romans, this 1st century Roman bronze sculpture,

called the "Pigna" ("pine cone"), was once an ancient fountain.

The Pigna sculpture sits in a Vatican courtyard called the Court of the Pine Cone, and is today considered the largest pine cone statue in the world.

The parallels do not end there, however: the Egyptian staff of Osiris (c. 1224 BC) not only depicts antithetical cobras but has them rising up to meet at a pinecone:



Above: The pine cone staff of Osiris.

Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, 1224 BC.


What is the symbolic meaning of these pine cones, and how do the antithetical animals factor into their overall meaning?

What is the deeper secret these apparently inscrutable images hide?





Third Eye / Pineal Gland

The answer to this is that pine cones, throughout history, have symbolized the "pineal gland", or "Third Eye", and by association the esoteric act of awakening it.



This gland is said to lie at the geometric center of the brain, and considered by some as the biological Third Eye; the French philosopher Descartes famously referred to the pineal gland as the Seat of the Soul.

The pineal gland is given the following definition in Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary:

"A small usu. conical appendage of the brain of all craniate vertebrates that in a few reptiles has the essential structure of an eye, that functions in some birds as part of a time-measuring system, and that is variously postulated to be a vestigial third eye, an endocrine organ, or the seat of the soul…"


Above: The pineal gland is shaped like a tiny pine cone, hence its name.

The pine cone symbolism is not lost on ancient cultures; in India, Hindu tradition teaches followers to awaken the Third Eye by activating their "seven chakras".


It is an ancient exercise, still practiced today, called Kundalini Yoga; it is claimed to directly affect human consciousness, develop intuition, increase self-knowledge, and unleash one's creative potential.

Interestingly, the esoteric symbol of kundalini yoga is the caduceus- a symbol that features two antithetical serpents.


Left: The caduceus staff, carried by Hermes in Greek mythology.
In ancient Rome it was depicted in the left hand of Mercury.
Right: A visual representation of the practice of Kundalini yoga,
the ultimate goal of which is to awaken the Third Eye hidden in the human forehead.

Kundalini is the spiritual energy or life force present in every human being, located at the base of the spine.


To awaken the Third Eye, the kundalini energy must be summoned to the forehead, where it expands and thus awakens the Third Eye. The energy is said to travel along the ida (left) and pingala (right), up the central pole or sushumna.


This is the process esoterically depicted by the caduceus symbol of two antithetical snakes spiraling up a central staff.

"…the caduceus, the rod of power…In India it is a stick of bamboo with seven knots… which represents the spinal column with its seven centers or chakras…



It also indicated the spinal cord…while the serpents were symbolical of the two channels called in Eastern terminology Ida and Pinagala; and the fire enclosed within it was the serpent-fire which in Sanskrit is called kundalini."
C.W. Leadbeater, Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites

Thus, antithetical animal art associated with the pine cone,

twin elephants in Indonesia

twin peacocks in Rome

twin serpents in Egypt,

...is really an allusion to the ida and pingala channels (the antithetical twin serpents on the caduceus).


The central sushumna is, in turn, symbolized by the third, centered drawing (often a pine cone) which on the caduceus is the main rod running north south. Many ancient cultures incorporated images of the pine cone into their spiritual art and architecture, and they all also created antithetical animal art.


Pagan gods of Babylon, Egypt, Mexico and Greece were associated with the pine cone, and the staffs of these gods were often adorned with the pine cone.


Left: Sumerian God Marduk with pine cone in hand.
Right: Dionysus, the Romans Bacchus, carried a "Thyrsus" topped with a pine cone.


Even the natural behaviors of the pine cone have an esoteric meaning:

as it ripens, the pine cone slowly opens to release its mature seeds.

This process is symbolic of the expansion of consciousness that accompanies the opening of the pineal gland and the awakening of the Third Eye.


The metaphor is a valuable and stimulating mental lesson of an esoteric phenomenon that cannot otherwise be seen or explained since it occurs inside the brain:

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