Ash generally refers
to the Rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia)—which is the tallest
of all flowering plants—or the North American tree of the genus Fraxinus
in the olive family.
The letter “Æ”
is called ash and means “tree” in Old English.
Volcanic ash is low-density
solidified rock material ejected from a volcanic vent into the air.
Yggdrasil in Norse
Mythology is the "World Tree" —a gigantic ash. It holds
all of the different worlds: Asgard, Midgard, Utgard and Hel. Its three
roots dig to Hel, the sacred Well of Urd, and the spring of Mimir.
Ash (Shin Aleph) is
the Hebrew word for fire.
Ash is another name
for the Philosopher's Stone or the Stone of the Wise—an alchemical
symbol of the transmutation of humanity's lower nature into a higher, more
purified spiritual state.
Ash, or As, in Egyptian
mythology was the hawk-god of the Sahara Desert.
Ash is a reminder
of our mortality—on Ash Wednesday, when the priest uses his thumb
to sign with the ashes on one's forehead, he says, “Remember, that
thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.”
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