The Tree of Life
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, or Etz Chayim, is a symbolic representation of the ways Awareness expresses from the higher (vibrational) aspects to manifest as the physical world. It diagrams the steps through which Consciousness or Energy moves from the subtle to the low, denser vibrational levels to finally manifest in the physical forms we are familiar with. This "map of consciousness" provides a model for understanding the nature of all Being as well as the nature of our
own particular being. The map guides us in understanding, appreciating, and utilizing all the available levels of existence, and serves as a foundation for our meditative journey. The path downward on the
Tree is called the Path of Creation, or Emanation, and the path upward describes the Path of Spiritual Awakening, or Return.
The Tree teaches that the nature of "reality" depends upon the place from which that "reality" is viewed. From spaces of "higher" consciousness, Oneness is clear. From spaces of "lower" consciousness, there is clearly separation. It's the same "reality," perceived from different points of view.
It consists of ten sefirot, or levels of expression. Although early Kabbalistic writers visualised them as circles within circles, which was a perhaps clearer depiction of the multi-dimensional reality in which we exist. By the Middle Ages they had taken the more familiar form of the Tree. This basic image suggests the human form, reflecting the notion that each human being expresses the entire Universe in microcosm
Each sefirah has a specific energy, a characteristic aspect of the One Energy, and represents a necessary stage in the process through which the Absolute One moves toward manifestation.
By analogy, one might imagine that the Tree reflects the flow of electrical energy from the power plant to your home. If the power was directly connected to your house, it would immediately destroy not only all the wiring but even the house itself. So electricity flows from the power plant through a series of transforming stations in which its force is stepped down, so that it enters the home in a usable way.
Energy flows downward through each sefirah, reflecting in aspects of spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical (sensory) reality as appropriate. Each is also represented as an area of the human body, as a colour and as a sound. Each has associated with it one of the appellations of G-d, one of the aspects of Reality.
The Basics of The Ten Sefirot
The Tree of Life diagram represents a cosmic Divine map describing how energy maps from its least physical state to its most physical. The sefirah, Keter, is the formless kernel of Consciousness. The journey from unmanifest to manifest[1] passes from Keter, the Crown, through Chochmah, the vibration of Awareness, then through Binah, the form of an awareness (an idea), and then across the Abyss, the final gap between essentially unmanifest and essentially manifest, to Chesed, the vibration of Emotion, and to Gevurah, the form of emotion (or feeling)[2], and then Tiferet, the place of balance on the Tree, the Individuated, Inclusive Awareness[3]. From there, the flow, gathering at each level the essential nature of that level, moves to Netzach, sensory vibration, and to Hod, sensory form (sensation), to meet again at Yesod, the Foundation of individual identity. Each sefirah below Keter receives from above and transmits below, until the final sefirah, Malchut, receives from them all. Malchut, the Kingdom, is the space in which the energies coalesce as the reality we experience[4].
In this model of the Tree, the seven lower sefirot, hold energies for which we are responsible[5]. Our meditations during this Omer process are focussed on balancing these lower sefirot. The upper three sefirot are prepared for us and are available according to our readiness to receive that greater awareness which is beyond our direct experience.
The colours and sounds are taken mainly from the teachings of 13th and 16th century mystics in Spain and in Safed, represented by Rabbis Abulafia, Moses de Leon, Joseph Gikitilla and Isaac Luria. Each sefirah can be imagined as a sphere of light, within which are visualised the four letters of the unpronounceable Divine Name (Yod-Khay-Vav-Khay):
יהוה
These letters appear in the specific colour of the sefirah. Remember that Hebrew is read from right to left as you learn the shapes of these letter. This four-letter Name is not pronounced, lest we think it represents that which can be limited to word, concept, image or feelings.
Vowel sounds in Hebrew have long been associated with specific sefirot and utilised as ways to meditate on the energies of the each sefirah. The sounds can be vocalised as extended chants, as the specific vowel signs are paired with the four letter Name of G!d.
Learning the Ten Sefirot
The meditations in this book focus on the lower seven sefirot,
following the traditional order applied by the sixteenth century
kabbalists to the 49-day journey toward awakening. These are the levels for which we humans have greater responsibility. The upper three sefirot become available to us as we balance the lower seven.
One of the lower seven sefirot is assigned to each of the seven
weeks of our journey. Within each week, each day is also assigned a sefirah. Thus every day of the process includes the major focus on the sefirah of the week, and an additional focus on the sefirah of the day. This will become clearer as you proceed to the actual meditations.
The goal is to balance the energies of these seven lower sefirot during these seven weeks, but it is helpful to understand how all ten sefirot function on the Tree.
The teachers of Kabbalah associated colors and sounds to the sefirot to provide additional depth to the meditative experience. As a visualization practice, each sefirah can be seen as a sphere of light (although the words "sphere" and "sefirah" sound similar, they are not related). The light at each sefirah can be imagined according to its color.
The Names of God traditionally assigned to each week are meant as sounds and visualizations for hitbod'dut, or contemplation. Associating the particular Name of God at each sefirah adds auditory dimensions to the image of the Hebrew letters spelling that name.
The Hebrew vowel sounds associated with specific can be vocalized or sensed in the silence of meditation as extended tones, and the specific vowels can be associated with the letters of the four-letter Name of God. For example, the chant at Keter would be "Yee-Hee-Vee-Hee." The four letters can be chanted on a single breath, or each letter can take up a breath, allowing a greater focus on letter and sound.
Footnotes
Footnotes
It is interesting to note that this is how it would be described from the point of view of a mainfest consciousness. For as the only manifest that we are aware of, it would seem that the journey is from the unmanifest to the manifest. However, the journey could possibly be far different, and the manifest only a stage on the path. ↩︎
Actually the form of the vibration of Emotion. Remembering that form is in essence trapped energy. ↩︎
It is the place of balance – between the emotions, the physical being and the intellectual. ↩︎
This is essentially where our place is, and our purpose is to transmit above, so as to complete the journey of the emergence of each Sefirah. ↩︎
These are the energies with which the manifested is imbued. Our responsibility is to use them to attain a place of higher awareness. To balance and harmonise these energies at play in our beings, just like the conductor of an orchestra must balance all the different instruments to make harmonic sounds that uplift us all to the heavens. ↩︎