2. eve & the apple
While I was looking at apartments in Los Angeles, throughout the fall, I had a 10 day stay at a Yurt in Topanga Canyon. This was my third time staying in Topanga and the first time I was alone. The first time I came here I was with my mother at the end of our cross-country roadtrip. Enjoying an oasis a short drive away from Malibu and a straight shot to LAX for my mother to fly home from. The second time I was with both my parents at the end of a hospital stay. Recovering in a calm and peaceful atmosphere hidden beneath the canopy of trees.
The Yurt was a gorgeous structure off the mainhouse which it’s said, was a vibrant speakeasy in the 1920’s. I never got to see the inside but I chatted with the owners about the history of the house. I told them the suite felt very presidential. It was very high up the mountain and would’ve required a respectable vehicle to make your way to the top. You couldn’t just stumble upon this speakeasy, it’s far off the streets. And I’ll be honest, every day I had to drive to it I felt scared. Not because I was unprotected but precisely because of the depth of protection this place offered me. No one could touch me here.
The coordinates are right outside Kerry Lane. A dirt street trail that’s exactly one mile, isn’t that cool, Geoff told me. It’s a street trail that leads to smaller walking trails that wind up the mountain, through the trees, even further.
Now, by the time I got to Topanga, I was tired. I wanted to keep up with my newly acquired skill of running but the truth is I didn’t know where to run. I looked up trails but when I would arrive, they were not suitable for running. So I walked. I asked Geoff and Sarah, Geoff’s wife where I may be able to run and Sarah encouraged me to just walk and so I did. I started waking up and walking Kerry Lane and up into the mountain each morning and sometimes for a second time in the evening.
It was that walk, that I found the apple tree. Way up high on the mountain with one baby apple.
Now, I haven’t read the whole bible, I’ll admit. But I have read the first 14 verses so I know the story about Eve and Adam. I know what an apple can symbolize. And it did, it felt like I had reached a magical hidden garden where the fruits of my life would blossom. So I took it.
And I made sure not to eat. Because fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Right? Instead I brought it back to the Yurt and I let it sit on top the outdoor table for a few days. Soaking in nutrients from its sunscape wooden bed in the clouds.
And maybe finding an apple isn’t all that compelling to you. But as the tale goes, it is the serpent who urged Eve to eat it. A night sky hadn’t even passed before the gremlin materialized to finish out my plot. It was on my second walk of the day, my evening walk when I came across this -
A slayed snakes head. In what appears to be chopped off, the rest of its body was not in sight. Who killed the snake? I don’t know it was just this. Now, I’m no snake expert so do let me know if there is heightened significance in knowing what type of serpent this is. To my knowledge we’ll consider it a garden snake. Nevertheless, what the fuck?!
First, I find the apple tree hidden at the highest of vantage points. I conciously and jokingly tell myself “Oh I know how this one goes, you’re not fooling us twice, God. Let’s see what happens when she doesn’t eat the apple?” And then I am given this visual metaphor of the serpent slain.
And this is what I’m up to when I’m not online and I’m not hanging with others. I’m being bombarded with religious symbolism and in constant communication with the sky above. I know these sorts of things aren’t random because I’ve thought so many times... what would the bible look like if Eve hadn’t eaten the apple? Because we’ve never heard that version and it happens so early on. It causes so much darkness. The world and woman are punished because Adam didn’t tell Eve to not eat the apple. Eve didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to. The serpent tricked her. And God told Adam the apples were poison, not Eve!!!!
It begs an entirely new meaning of partnership and I only know this because in 2023 I started reading the bible and have grown intimately refamiliar with its narratives. I also frequently attended church throughout the summer months because I find its content interesting and compelling. Plus, it’s great people watching and a beautiful opportunity to put on a dress.
As for the apple in my possession, I let it begin to decay. Eventually, when I left the Yurt, I placed it in the large seashell below the radio in my car and I let the imagery symbolism travel with me but I never ate it. I would’ve kept it forever but I did eventually clean out my car.
Images from that evening walk in order:
