Venus Rising

Food for SoulIssue: Aquarius 07

Enhance the Sensuality of Valentine’s Day with Figs

 “Every fruit has its secret.
The fig is a very secretive fruit.
As you see it standing growing, you feel at once it is symbolic:
And it seems male.
But when you come to know it better, you agree with the Romans, it is
female.”  D.H. Lawrence, Figs.

Mixed Media by Philip GaligaWhile people often purchase chocolates for their Valentine (and by all means don’t deny him or her chocolate) they should also consider the most sensual food that exists…the fig. No other fruit has been so adored throughout the ages, and no other food so completely identifies with a gender. Its shape, its design, its color and its texture all lead to its common comparison to the female body or the womb. Arguably, a fig could also be symbolic of the complex and remarkable feelings that come from the heart.

Considered a fruit, the fig is technically a flower that is folded in on itself. Usually small and oval with a lightly protruding stem not unlike a falling teardrop, the fig is non-descript from the outside. Delicate with a thin easily broken skin, the interior of a fig is an exquisite revelation of soft pink flesh and an abundance of tiny edible, crunchy seeds, which are actually the flowers of this fruit. Because they are fragile and do not continue to ripen once they are picked, they are a relatively pricey delicacy. The saying, timing is everything, is a fitting phrase for the fig.

Figs were historically sacred in all parts of Southeast Asia, Egypt, Greece and Italy. The prophet Mohammed was thought to have said “If I should wish a fruit brought to paradise it would certainly be the fig.”  In ancient Athens, philosykos was a name used for people who were “friends of the fig.” Figs were the ceremonial award adorning the winners in the first Olympics. The fig tree references in the Bible are very well known. From the beginning, it played a prominent role in God’s kingdom…Eve used fig leaves to cover herself and Adam. 

“…She got the fact in her mind, and quickly sewed fig-leaves. 
And women have been sewing ever since.
But now they stitch to adorn the bursten fig, not to cover it.
They have their nakedness more than ever on their mind,
And they won’t let us forget it…”  D.H. Lawrence, Figs.

The Old Testament talks of Solomon’s reign as a time when all people rested under one’s own vine, or fig tree, and represents in scripture a time of happiness and prosperity, safety and security. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus curses the fig tree, and it withers because it had many leaves but no fruit because it was not yet the fig season. The meaning taken from the passage is that when one has the outward impression of good character, without having fruit, they are a hypocrite and of no value to God.