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The Tree of Life is a bit like a road-map, it has paths that lead from one area of life into another. It helps us identify 'dreams' and turn them into something real but it also helps with life's challenges; wherever we may find ourselves in life - we can 'map' it on the Tree of Life and find different ways of overcoming difficulties.

The Tree of Life is a tool that can be used in our everyday life. There are no judgements only 'right' ways of living in line with our individual needs.

To look at a picture of the Tree of Life we can see there are 10 circles and a lot of lines.

The circles are called sephirah (singular) and sephiroth (plural).

Each of the sephiroth has a planetary link as shown below and each of the lines relate to a major karmic tarot card and are known as 'paths'.

1.  Neptune
2.  Uranus
3.  Saturn
4.  Jupiter
5.  Mars
6. Sun (star at the centre of our solar system)
7.  Venus
8.  Mercury
9.  Moon (Earth's natural satellite)
10. Earth

There is also another sephiroth on the Tree of Life which is quite often hidden or shown only as a dotted circle. This sephiroth relates to Pluto and is situated vertically between the Sun and Neptune.

Each of the planets affect us in different ways.

Everything in the Universe is energy in one form or another.

As the planets rotate so the waves of their energy, like a ripple effect, eventually reach us and we react and respond to that energy accordingly.

For example, the Moon governs our emotional reactions and responses and the cycles of behaviour we find ourselves repeating, whereas Mars challenges our courage and daring and brings out the warrior within us in order to survive.

As well as having planetary information linked to each of them, the sephiroth relate to different aspects of our lives.

The Sephiroth

Earth (Malkuth): this sephiroth deals with the physical body and the physical plane (the world we live in). It represents the 'end result' and gets us looking at the way we behave and take 'action' in our everyday lives.

Moon (Yesod): this sephiroth helps us to recognise the way we emotionally react and respond to people and situations. This area holds within it the memories of all that has gone before and gets us looking at why we find ourselves caught in cycles of behaviour and habit patterns.

Mercury (Hod): this sephiroth represents our personal will. It deals with our attitude and the way we build images in our mind.

Venus (Netzach): the planet of love and desire. This sephiroth tests our ability to love unconditionally and gets us looking at our self-worth and feelings.

The Sun (Tiphareth): this sephiroth is our point of balance and this is where we learn how to 'tune into' our intuition and walk hand in hand with the will of our soul.

Mars (Geburah): the focus of this sephiroth is to prevent us from continuing along a path that is not intended for us. It deals with eliminating all that has out-lived its usefulness and holding us back.

Jupiter (Chesed): this benevolent planet rules the area that encourages us to explore the bigger picture and to see where each of us fits into this jigsaw of life.

Saturn (Binah): this sephiroth represents structure and discipline, and teaches us the importance of contemplation and silencing the conscious mind in order to hear.

Uranus (Chokmah): this sephiroth brings us in touch with spiritual truths. Here we experience the force of the universal energy and learn how to bring this energy down and through us in a controlled manner.

Neptune (Kether): the essence here is to just BE. This sephiroth is the source of all energy. This area represents the beginning and the end - when we return to the source as pure Beings.

The Paths

The Lines on the Tree of Life are representative of the different paths we walk in life. Each of the lines (or paths) relates to a different major arcana tarot card. The major arcana cards are known as 'karmic cards' or Trump cards. Through understanding what each of these paths mean and the teachings behind the major cards, we can help ourselves and find more effective ways of dealing with the challenges we are faced with in our daily lives. The first path we walk takes us from the Earth sephiroth (otherwise known in Hebrew as Malkuth) to The Moon sephiroth (Yesod). This path is called the 'Universe Path'. The Universe path looks at how we are bound to the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, and helps us to understand the bigger picture. The way we break free from this restriction is through recognising the cycles we get caught in, breaking negative habit patterns and taking control.

The tarot trump card (major karmic card) this path aligns with is the Universe card. This card works with the energy of the planet Saturn. If this tarot card appears in a 'lay' it can indicate a refusal to learn the lessons of life. It is this refusal to learn from our life experiences that ties us to our karmic debts and the endless cycle of birth/death/rebirth. It is only when we learn from the lesson does the karma drop away. The teachings of the Tree of Life help us to recognise the cycles we get caught in and thus break the negative habit patterns of the way we handle and react and respond to situations, events and people. It is the way we deal with things that determines whether the karma falls away or traps us further.

The Journey

The ancient teachings of Qabalah (Kabbalah) take us on a journey up the Tree of Life. The journey begins in Malkuth (Earth) - the physical plane. This is where we examine the material world and the way we play this Game of Life. Malkuth looks at the world we have created for ourselves. From the physical plane the journey takes us up into the realms of the personality where we explore our emotional reactions and responses. We look at the way we think and our attitude; the way we interact with others and the sort of relationships we enter into, as well as the relationship we have with ourselves.

The next part of the journey moves us into the realms of the soul. The soul is objective and detached and interested only in reaching out and aligning the Soul Will to the Will of the personality. Each of us have a karmic destiny to fulfil and through acting on our intuition we can walk the path intended for us in harmony and in tune with the natural order of the universe.

The last part of the journey takes us up into the spiritual worlds. Here we create our own Heaven on Earth, we walk unaided, alone, as Magicians able to juggle all the elements of life and receptive to the endless possibilities the universe has to offer. The aim is to return to the source as pure beings and to align ourselves to spiritual truths and the Will of the Spirit.

The journey is truly exciting and once begun, we never turn back because we find better ways of living that work for us.

Qabalah Workbooks: Malkuth - The Kingdom / Yesod - The Foundation (coming soon)

© Lorraine Morgan Qabalistic Teacher (Order of the White Lion)

Inspirational Journeys

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