The tree of life as several meanings. In one of them it is the tree that stands at the center of paradise, which sits at the center of the world. Its fruits are magic. In their Christian tradition, they are fruits of knowledge, of good and evil, and of eternal life. In another of its meanings, it's a metaphor with the inter-connectedness of all living things. Each of its leaves stands for one kind of living thing. Together, they are all rooted in the earth. They live and die as one. It is the metaphor of oneness in diversity. In another of its meanings, it is the center of the world, the AXIS MUNDI of medieval philosophy. That, in turn, is a metaphor for the center of each.