The ripe pineapple fruit has a solid inner core, suggesting the fortitude that comes from knowing oneself. The fruit then radiates outward around this inner core, hinting that the strength comes from within.
Pineapple has an intense sweetness that we can smell at the base when it’s ripe. It’s sweetly appealing. Yet it has such a powerful digestive enzyme that it can be irritating to the tongue, already beginning the digestion work in the mouth before it is swallowed. So we can assume that Pineapple people don’t waste time — their projects are sweetly pleasant, and they get right down to business.
Pineapple is famous for containing bromelain, an anti-inflammatory constituent, suggesting that this plant is calming to whatever has been aggravated — perhaps arthritic joints, perhaps tempers. One of my entrepreneurial massage teachers, someone I consider to be very expansively Pineapple, is also skilled at helping agitated people see the blessings in every situation.
The upward, optimistic crown on the fruit resembles the crowns we see on human royalty. The pineapple has a fancy, almost decorative skin, like a fruit all dressed up and ready for the party.
I was reading that pineapple trees can be started with the crown off a fruit — any supermarket pineapple will do. You can simply cut off the top, let it dry for a day or two, then place it in soil and wait for it to sprout. This suggests that the lofty, upward ideals of Pineapple are strong enough to take root with very little outside assistance.
Banana (humility): The banana fruit grows in a cluster, perhaps indicating that the group is more important than the individual.The fruits look a bit shy, lined up in rows with their backs to the outside world. The banana has a subtle softness to its energy. When the fruit is over-ripe, the intense sweetness is dearly loved by butterflies.
The fruits have a soft color, a soft flavor, a soft skin. Yet bananas provides a huge dose of potassium, which is crucial for muscle health, the ability to be strong. This symbolizes a strength hidden in the softness. Also, there is a contrast between the yang shape of the banana and the yin quality of the fruit’s flesh. So we have balance.
Even the seeds of a banana are subtle, barely noticeable. They are not viable, and the plant has to be propagated by root cuttings. Banana trees are happiest growing within the shelter of other bananas (a banana tree dislikes being a lone wolf). This need to grow among other banana plants is considered “the most overlooked aspect by home growers.” These plants do not want to live by themselves. It’s all about the group energy.