Although our culture tends to view life, consciousness, mind, or spirit as something that arises out of inaminate matter through the processes of the physical world, many cultures have made use of a complementary point of view: that the material world is derived from consciousness or spirit. The world is produced from thoughts in the Mind of God, as it were. The apparently large gap between mind and matter is bridged by a series of intermediaries, stages through which the the spirit becomes more material.
One system that describes this process with special elegance is the Tree of Life, which comes from Jewish mysticism (qabala) and has been adapted by many different groups in recent centuries. In this system, there are ten stages from spirit to matter, called sephiroth. Most tarot decks that show scenes on the number cards make use of the ten sephiroth to establish the connotations of the numbers. My own interpretations follow. They should not be construed as an attempt to teach the intricacies of traditional qabala. I readily admit that my own use of that tradition is opportunistic, not scholarly or deep. To get a feel for how I've adapted the Tree, see my essay on The Tree of Life and the Evolution of Consciousness.
Note first that the sephiroth are arranged not in a line, but in three pillars. On the right is the Pillar of Mercy (sephiroth 2, 4, and 7), which represents exuberant, willful force. On the left is the Pillar of Severity (sephiroth 3, 5, and 8), which represents constraint, structure, and form. In the center is the Pillar of Balance (sephiroth 1, 6, 9, and 10), where consciousness can come to rest and form a view of itself.
I
divide the Tree into four levels. The top one, Atziluth, the Divine
World, is the first principle of creation itself. It contains the
single sephira, Kether. It is the destination of the mystic's quest.
In my view, we do not experience this level directly as human beings,
although we can appreciate its presence and effects through a variety
of channels.
1 - Kether - The Aces: Kether is the crown of the Tree, the first emanation from the Mind of God. It is pure being--uncomplicated, sublime, and without structure. It represents pure potential, pure beginning, pure oportunity. The aces in The Hermit's Tarot Luminary Edition show the colors of each suited rendered as abstract forms against a background of pure white. They are intended to direct the mind toward the highest mysteries. My keyword is "potential".
The next level is Briah, the Spiritual World. Here the simplicity is sacrificed as creation begins to unfold in time. Cause and effect emerge, although things are still very abstract. There are as yet no individual souls or personalities, just thoughts interacting with each other. There are two sephiroth in Briah, Chokmah and Binah. The cards show the emblems of the suits, floating as isolated symbols against a background of gray (twos) or black (threes).
2 and 3 - Chokmah and Binah - The Twos and Threes: Chokmah is force, impulse, energy, the great bursting forth as time comes into existence and there is the possibility of propelling intention into the future. My keyword is "impulse". In a world ruled by time, everything has consequences. The uninhibited force of Chokmah is made specific, irreversible, and functional in Binah. Three is the instant of birth, but it is also a constriction, a limiting of potential. From this point on, everything will have form, and form always restricts. My keyword is "expression".
The third and largest level is Yetzirah, the Human World. The sephiroth here all represent states of human consciousness, from the highest transpersonal or cultural levels down to the most basic subconscious patterns. This is where we live. We know the other three worlds only by inference. The cards all depict human figures acting out scenes of life or story.
4 and 5 - Chesed and Gevurah - The Fours and Fives: Towering over human existence are great patterns that represent forces beyond our control, stories we are fated to live. They are part of our culture, perhaps part of our biological heritage. Although they are part of the human world, shaped by millenia of human perception and invention, they are nevertheless beyond the power of an individual human to completely control or alter. On the one side is the "success story", Chesed, the gifts of the gods. We receive, we acchieve, we prosper. Some of this we can attribute to our own actions, but much of it simply seems to descend upon because it must. On the other side is the "failure story", Gevurah, the punishments of the gods. Here lie death, loss, and suffering. Again, much of it seems beyond our control. The best we can do is perceive that both of these complementary stories are in action at all times; the cosmos itself seems to depend on countless cycles of creation and destruction. The cards of the Luminary edition depict tiny human figures eerily imitating the motions of the gods, who tower above them. The fours are tinted blue, the fives tinted red. my keywords are "success" and "failure".
6 - Tiphareth - The Sixes: This is the highest level of consciousness the individual self can attain. It is located at the center of the tree, connected to more sephiroth than any other. From this vantage point, one can "look down" on one's own thoughts, emotions, and images of life, seeing them as incidental to one's true identity. With this understanding comes a sense of liberation and mastery: many of the forces of life seem from Tiphareth to become choices. The cards show a hero or heroine, who has undertaken a quest for understanding and found a mature, illuminated perspective. Having attained this understanding, the hero or heroine is in a position to share the victory with others. The cards are tinted yellow to indicate bright sunlight that dispels illusions. The keyword is "mastery".
7 and 8 - Netzach and Hod - The Sevens and Eights: We are now in the realm of the personality, the tools the mind uses to relate to the world. Netzach represents the emotions, Hod the intellect. This is a classic dichotomy familiar to most of us. Neither is complete in itself. Many of us hope to use one to escape the demands of the other. But this is a futile struggle. Only by ascending to Tiphareth can the two be brought into perspective and thus harmony. These sephiroth can also be thought of as reflections in the personality of the transpersonal forces in Chesed and Gevurah. Netzach answers Gevurah with anxiety, apprehension, and other forms of emotional reactivity. Hod answers Chesed by using explanation and thought to give structure to experience. My keywords are "turmoil" (Netzach) and "structure" (Hod). The sevens show figures at the mercy of their moods, against a green-tinted background. The eights show figures taking charge and imposing their concepts onto experience, against an orange-tinted background.
9 - Yesod - The Nines: There are two levels of personal identity in Yetzirah. The higher one is Tiphareth, the mature "I" that is above one's thoughts and emotions. The lower one is Yesod, the naive "I" that lives at the mercy of psychological habits. Thoughts and emotions are pumped into Yesod from the two sephiroth above, and it responds by creating an image of the world (and oneself in relation to the world) that is simply a projection of those thoughts and emotions. Yesod is thus the seat of the subconscious, the images, patterns, and stories we take for granted, even as they control our lives. The situation is analogous to the subordination of Tiphareth under Chesed and Gevurah, but here the self is at the mercy, not of the gods, but of its own individual personality. In Yesod, every theory produced in Hod, and every emotion spawned in Netzach, assumes a life of its own and is unquestioningly taken up as part of the world. The models of life that live in Yesod are not always realistic, and they are often childish, but most of our daily life is under their control, and they must be acknowledged. The cards show people facing mythological creatures in the moonlight, against a violet-tinted background. The keyword is "myth".
The lowest level of the Tree is Assiah, the Material World. It includes the single sephirah Malkuth. In our materialistic age, this may seem to us the most straightforward, most obvious place on the Tree. It is worth considering, though, that we know the world only by means of our conscious perception and action. Ultimately, we know "physical reality" only as it affects the workings of our mind.
10 - Malkuth - The Tens: This is things as they really are, considered separate from human values. The cards depict scenes without human figures, inanimate matter that reflects the end result of the energy of each suit, after it passes out of ourselves and becomes manifest. The cards are tinted brown, and the keyword is "result".
You may find it advantageous to review these associations in reverse order. Most of us have an intuitive grasp of the workings of the lower sephiroth, but conceive of the higher ones mostly through analogy and abstraction.
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Copyright © 1998 Tom Tadfor Little