It is difficult to resist what the taste of the apple offers!

Eve blamed herself for everything that happened. You know, she is considered the first witch? It isn't really true, for that was Lilith of course. Eve was simply vulnerable to the advice of the orange snake that told her to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (which was actually a pomegranate and not an apple).

When she tasted the fruit, she was overwhelmed with guilt and felt separated from her creator for the first time. She was filled with fear and thought God would punish her. Oh, the mistakes we make when fearful. God didn't care about the fruit tree! In fact, the snake was actually one of the many manifestations of God.

Eve told Adam what she had done and they fled the Garden of Eden, never to return. They will eventually realize that the garden lives within them and is around them always and they will be welcomed back when they forgive themselves.

Watercolor and gold on paper. Copyright 2010 by Kelley Vandiver