Kabbalah and Tarot: The Tree of Life
A very quick tour!
Kabbalah is a form of mystical Judaism, and like the Tarot, it has a very strong visual aspect — summed up in a diagram known as the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The structure is organized around a set of numbered circles known as sefiroth (“glowing sapphires”), each of which represents an aspect of God.
There are several discrete substructures within the Tree.
- The righthand column is called the Pillar of Mercy, and it is the male/active/positive side
- The lefthand column is called the Pillar of Judgment, and it is the feminine/passive/negative side
- These “opposites” are reconciled in the Middle Pillar or Pillar of Mildness
Nine of the ten sephiroth are arranged on the tree to form three triangles, and in each triangle, two opposing factors are balanced by a third.
At the base of the Tree is a single sphere, Malkuth, which represents the material world. The meaning of the entire Tree pours through Yesod, the “spout,” into Malkuth, where it is made manifest.
Lines running between the sephiroth represent twenty-two paths. They form a kind of spiral staircase of spiritual ascent, leading from the Kingdom, or world of man, at the bottom, to the Crown of God at the top. Each path is…