Michael Sternbach
I'm presently reading "Synchronicity" by C.G. Jung, and I am constantly reminded of the Fool as that "subjectless simulacra" that is described therein. The Fool comes and goes on the Path and is everywhere at once. How is it that it gets pasted onto a certain spot on the Tree and given a "specific" letter? Could it be that "no thing" means just that.... no number, no letter, no address, no gender..... no thing. The Fool appears as a "synchronous event" throughout the entire path as in a meaningful coincidence. It takes on the quality and experiences of each of the arcana. So much hypothetical analysis only reminds me of the "elusive quality" of the Fool. I can't say anything about the Tree of Life because I do not know enough to speak of it but I am aware that Jewish priests deny the alphabet has anything to do with the Tree of Life. Does anyone pay attention to that? I mean, in the end, how can one simply ignore them and the entire Jewish history? And instead put all their eggs into the GD basket? I ask, "is that prudent?"
The connection of the Hebrew alphabet with the Tree of Life is based on the oldest extant book of Jewish esotericism, the Sepher Yetzirah.
Further, Kabbalah was removed from a strictly Jewish context and merged with Hermeticism already in the Renaissance, and it was in that epoch that Athanasius Kircher developed his version of the Tree which became the foundation of the GD's take on it.
In my view, the GD and other esoteric schools are legitimate heirs of this Kabbalo-Hermetic tradition, extrapolating it in various directions, such as we are discussing here.