Today's nature post features the Papaya!

Papaya is associated with the element water and seen as a feminine plant with connections to the moon. It is said that by placing Papaya twigs above the door of your home that it will keep evil from stepping within. Seen as a plant of love and protection, eating it's fruit is thought to increase feelings of love. One of the metaphysical uses is to simply think about what you desire while tying a rag around the limb of a papaya tree. When Papaya shows in a dream, it can often be a sign of good health. However, eating an overly ripened papaya in your dream can sometimes indicate potential health problems. Often, this can simply be a reminder to be watchful about your habits concerning diet and health in the coming time.

Native to Mexico and northern areas of South America, the Papaya was seen as a strange beauty that caused it to be cultivated near villages and dwellings. This enabled it to grow and proliferate with many names becoming attributed to it's fruit such as Kwar-Kwat from Panama, Wati-oje in Colombia, Sarumaxi in the Rebona language, Melon Sapote in Mexico, and Lechosa in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus gave the fruit it's scientific name Carica Papaya. The Papaya has a fast growth rate which begins with a single seed sprouting into two leaves within just a few weeks of planting. As it grows, the leaves will fall and leave knots behind. Each week, two new leaves will fall until four months after sprouting when flowers will bloom on every leaf. A single fruit will grow from each flower and a single tree can grow over 100 fruit in a year. The Papaya tree dangles these large, smooth skinned fruit high up under it's swooping branches. The fruit will begin as a green color that changes to yellow and orange hues as it matures. Papaya is known as an incredible fruit with amazing properties. The milk produces by the fruit when it's skin is scratched was found to contain a strong enzyme able to dissolve foods in a similar, or even better, fashion than gastric juices, saliva, or pancreatic fluids. It is strong enough to dissolve blood, coagulates instantly when mixed with milk, tenderizes and dissolves meat within hours, and even wear away at metal. It turns out that the Papaya fruit is one of the most beneficial substances we can ingest. Papaya contain three times more Vitamin C than oranges as well as large amounts of Vitamins A and E. These three natural antioxidants work together to help prevent oxidation in the blood vessels which helps to prevent strokes and heart attacks. It was called the Fruit of the Angels by Christopher Columbus and is cultivated in plantations in multiple countries. From there, the Papaya has been used in a wide variety of ways including skin lotions, treatments for gastric problems, powders to tenderize meat, and for many types of medicines. This plant is a well-loved symbol of health, light, and beauty with multiple representations throughout various cultures. The Nazca and Chimu cultures created mud vessels with images of the Papaya drawn on them. In the Church of San Francisco in the city of Quito, there are two Retablos, or devotional paintings, featuring carved gold-leaf platters of fruit bearing massive papaya fruits. By doing so, it was the hope that the health, sustenance, and taste of Papaya would be handed down through the generations and continue to aid all.