Introduction to the Qabalah Part 2
This article titled ‘Introduction to the Qabalah Part 2’ formed part of the teachings on the Tree of Life by the Lifewave Light & Sound Meditation Group in the 1980s. The original document can be viewed as a PDF Below.
Much of the original wisdom of the Qabbalah has been lost, the keys to its use shrouded in time. The tree of life was a means of symbolically classifying all creation from top to bottom. Its use was as a backbone to the various sciences such as tarot, numerology and astrology quite apart from its metaphysical usage. It is conceived as a ‘blueprint”, a map of creation which shows the correspondences between every part of creation and especially how man fits into creation. The connotations are many and we will look at a very few here.
The tree is to be considered as a man, the Adam Kadmon (or heavenly man), since man is the crown of creation and himself the blueprint. The tree has three main parts other than the sphere or sephiroth; these are the pillars, the uprights which divide the tree. The right hand pillar is the pillar of mercy, the left the pillar of severity reconciled by the central pillar of mildness. Respectively these are male, female and neuter and also correspond microcosmically to the three nadis in man’s chakra system.
The ten sephiroth are as follows and in this order constitute the ‘lightning flash’ of creation from fine to gross, Kether to Malkuth. (in the list the first title denotes the Jewish name)
- Kether the crown
- Chokmah is wisdom
- Binah is Intelligence,
- Chesed is Mercy
- Geburah is Justice
- Tiphareth is Beauty
- Netzach is Finesse.
- Hod is Splendour.
- Yesod is Foundation
- Malkuth is the Kingdom
God emanates through Crown into progressively denser aspects of form, swinging from male to female power. Kingdom is thus the receptacle for all the higher energies, each sephira receives from above and delivers into what lies below.
When looking at the tree we see three sephirothic triads.
1. Crown, Wisdom and Intelligence,
2. Mercy, Justice and Beauty,
3. Firmness, Splendour and Foundation.
The triads are of significance because triangles are the first shapes, their stability is of importance. These are respectively causative, deliberative and formative. To pursue an action one requires a cause a direction for that cause and a receptacle for it. The totality of this is Malkuth, the Kingdom. The ten sephiroth then fall into three categories of three plus Kingdom. They represent all aspects of creation so that all keywords possess attributes which will fit any situation.
Looking at the sephiroth in each triad we see:
1. Kether is the Crown and as such has origin as its attribute. In action it is wisdom since this is the highest quality that can be conceived of. Wisdom is a male potency in that it is the energy that intelligence, its polar opposite contains. All the sephira which are opposite one another on the tree are two halves of one thing. Whilst wisdom and intelligence are necessary for an intention to occur, they must have a field in which to work and this is provided by the deliberative triad which works into the matter of the formative triad.
2. Mercy arises from intelligence. Another word for it is love and this can be seen because intelligence must adhere to an object in order that it can function. As far as the pillars are concerned, mercy is a ‘wisdom’ ‘ quality whereas its pole is justice, an ‘intelligence” quality. So intelligence is brought down to justice in which the discriminative ability is actually used in a practical sense. As far as the materialisation of an intention is concerned the subjective aspect culminates in beauty. That is the desire to strike a match involves the previous stages in order that an idea can be formulated as to what to do and how Beauty is seen in any object when one perceives glimpses of its higher qualities, it is like the lever between the higher subjectivity and the lower objective aspects.
3. Firmness is necessary in order that an intention has a material to work into. It can be likened to a root matter whilst its pole is splend symbolising the radiance that comes from self existence. Thus the intention takes place as an idea in the sephiroth of foundation and this finally manifests in the kingdom of Malkuth.
Obviously the distinctions are fine but nevertheless real. Observation of the laws embodied in the tree of life shows much about creation.
Many concepts surround Qabbalistic cosmogony. Often it is to be found today used primarily as a vehicle for contemplating metaphysical subjects. The symbolism can be very involved… One system is that there are five worlds, one spiritual and four material, namely causal, mental, astral and physical. A tree is then placed in each world so that the Crown of physical equals the kingdom of astral. Another method places the four worlds upon the tree itself showing the adaptability of the symbolism.
As mentioned earlier, many other qualities are placed upon the tree. Sephirah correspond to planets, chakras, numbers and letters, Connecting the sephirah are pathways, twenty two in all upon which the minor cards of the tarot are placed. The implications are thus vast although the keys to its higher usage today are only held by ISHVARA.
The tree of life is part of Qabbalism, nowadays it is generally regarded as all of it, Jewish Qabbalism made use of many complex symbolisms by which means much of their wisdom was hidden in the old testament. Gematria, Notarikon and Femurah are the three methods by which the Hebrew alphabet was codified. This is a very good reason for why so much of the old testament appears now as a very pale shadow of what it should be.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT
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