Long before the invention of psychology, even before the existence of the natural sciences as academic disciplines, the Kabbalistic tradition already had a method of analysing and explaining human consciousness, the natural world and the cosmos - indeed the whole of human experience. This was the diagram known as the Tree of Life. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a kind of map, an arrangement of ten circles or spheres, connected by 22 lines or paths. The beauty of this map is that it can represent the forces involved in virtually any natural process or structure. In its most all-embracing form it is a map of the cosmos, a map of reality, as well as a map of psyche, and it can represent the dynamics of any organisation or human relationship, or even a biological organism such as the human body. As with a geographical map, there's something like a north and south on the Tree of Life: the magnetic compass would point upwards to the highest sphere, towards the purest spirit, the Source of the involutionary process and the ultimate destination of the evolutionary drive. There's also an east and a west: the three spheres on the right pillar represent active, dynamic forces, whilst those on the left are receptive, reflecting, containing, holding. The remaining four of the ten spheres are on the central pillar, a kind of central meridian, where the polarities are in balance. The contrast between force on the right pillar and form on the left is similar to that between yang and yin, but not identical. Some of the yang-yin contrasts are manifested between the upper and lower parts of the Tree - north-south, as well as east-west in our map analogy. One thing that makes this map difficult to appreciate for those coming to the Tree for the first time is that each territory, each sphere, is given a Hebrew name, whose meaning - even when translated - seems fairly impenetrable. Each sphere in the diagram represents a principle which often cannot be defined by a single English word. For this reason it is often mistakenly assumed that if you want to know the Tree you have to start by putting in a considerable amount of intellectual study. However, each sphere or path is also associated with a specific astrological planet, a card of the Tarot, related figures in mythology, archangels, archetypes and aspects of the human psyche. These so-called correspondences even cover colours, gemstones, animals (both real and fabulous), and letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In spite of all this information, through meditation one can experience the 10 spheres and 22 paths for oneself without prior mental preparation. Reading afterwards often reveals the similarity between personal experiences in meditation and the various ways in which those spheres and paths are described in the tradition. Later intellectual study can thus lend even greater validity to one's own inner work. The Tree is divided into three Pillars Passive (left), Active (right), and Middle. To seek the 'Middle Way' is to seek progress by uniting extremes without surrendering to them. So the purely intellectual life of the sephirah Hod (Mercury) is as poorly balanced if pursued in an end in itself as is the sensual life of Netzach (Venus): both are better served by marriage of the faculties involved at the level of Tiphareth at the very center of the Middle Pillar. The sephiroth or spheres are: 01 Kether, the Crown, fount of creation, the universal point where vital energy pours in from the unmanifest. The Limitless Light/cosmic egg/zero (symbol of the absence of qualities, sign of infinite and eternal conscious energy). The Void. These energies activate in: 02 Chokmah, Wisdom, powerhouse of force, symbolizd by phallus, straight line, tower. Initiating action, Chokmah stands under Kether at the head of the Pillar of Merch (Right). Duality. Through it the energy flashes to: 03 Binah, Understanding, Great Mother, primal ocean at the head of the Pillar of Severity (Left). Fertilised by and taking in the pure energy of Kether and Chokmah, Binah manifests the idea of form. This supernal trinity stands above the Abyss separating Idea from Form. Straddling the Abyss (Middle Pillar) is the hidden, numberless sephirah, Daath, associated with Sirius and with confidence in the future. Triangle, created by three points. From Binah through Daath the energy powers: 04 Chesed, Mercy, the four-square principle of organization and worldly rule (Jupiter). The Square (four points). Here it forms subtle material blueprints, then crosses to: 05 Geburah, Severity, Mars, (pentagram) where Chesed's forms are destroyed, assessed and refracted down to: 06 Tiphareth, Beauty, Christ-consciousness (Cube/hexagon). This, the Tree's central sephirah, mediates what is above with what is below. From it, the energy pours on to: 07 Netzach, Venus, its symbol a beautiful naked woman. Here Tiphareth's coherent love rays out into nature in all her forms, creating natural forces perceived by human imagination as gods and goddesses. From Netzach the lightning flashes over to: 08 Hod, Glory, Mercury, hermaphroditic Intellect (octave). Here, formless truths descend from the higher sephiroth into the mind. From Hod the energy plunges transversely to the Middle Pillar, to: 09 Yesod, Moon, etheric foundation of physical being, its forces coordinating the emergence of physical form, source of psychic, unconscious and reproductive energies. And so on down to: 10 Malkuth, the kingdom of earth, the nadir of creation. This is no damnation. Qabalah, unlike some other philosophies, holds that spirit must descend into deepest matter, that our destiny must be realized in Malkuth, or further progress is impossible. In this, Qabalah agrees with Christianity, though reaching its conclusions not through faith but gnosis (knowledge). Between the ten Sephiroth are 22 inter-connecting Paths numbered 11 to 32. The Tree is also divided into three Triangles (1-2-3), (4-5-6) and (7-8-9). Its purpose is to vivify your mind. |
