Tree of Life - Da'at(h)

tiffany

for me i agree that da'at is the hidden sephiroth.so imagin the high priestess, who's path passes thru this sephiroth to kether or crown. keeping in mind what the high priestess represents, holding the keys to knowledge and wisdom veiled and virginal whoes purity none can defile. crossing her right above tipheret is leo or strength (path 8). path 8 to me is conquering the inner self or ego. so da'at would be located about where her third eye would be so that kether would crown her. so i believe that it's beyond knowledge and wisdom and understanding. going up the middle pillar, it's the last step before the first filter of god's emmination. so that is huge on the macro-micro scale. so what is caos to some is the macrocosm to me. so in our world of matter our third eye is a reflection of da'at. thus we as humans are but reflections refracted from a very large unseen lens. but in all reality as we know it, who really knows???
 

jmd

The posts above reminded me of a paper I wrote over ten years ago, and which has a number of comments pertinent to Da'at. Thought I'd extract a small section:
Extract from a lecture on the number eleven I gave at an SRIA College in Melbourne in October 1992:

[...] Using the Tree of Life, evil can be described as that which prevents us from walking the path of return - the path which leads to Kether. Any hindrance to that goal can thus be described as evil.

If we take No 11 to refer to Da'at, and evil to refer to this hindrance, then: 'No 11 is called the evil number' can be understood to mean that Knowledge may hinder one on the path of return. How? the Abyss is ever present for the unwary. Da'at is forever the tempting trap.

To partake of knowledge, one risks madness if one assumes that one can or one already has reached God - reached the Elohim - crossed the Abyss - without Da'at being sufficiently formed such that it will not crumble under our feet. Da'at must be sufficiently formed to enable the crossing, and our focus ever upwards to prevent the trappings.

Yet, how are we to make sure that this bridge will hold? Furthermore, if Da'at really is not a sephirah, as the Sepher Yezirah clearly states, how can Da'at be used as a bridge?

Here lies a sacred mystery - for Da'at is created anew by each full emanation, by each created being, each potential Adept, by each of us.

Da'at is not a sephirah, an emanation, of the Divine, it is an emanation of the creation, of us.

To live is to partake of the Tree of Life. To live is to be an emanation of the Divine. Yet to live, to be, and hence have a questing mind, one cannot but also taste of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and hence generate the swirlings which may, in time, become Da'at.

[...]

To cross the Abyss is to die.

'Death is the gate of life; fear not to enter therein, for in dust are sown the seeds of immortality'

[...]

After Eve and Adam had partaken of the tree of knowledge 'The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and live forever' God drove Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, 'and he placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life' [Genesis]

Although Adam and Eve were cast out, the way of the Tree of Life was kept by the flaming sword, and guarded at the east by the Cherubim. We are not told that they are forbidden to re-enter!

No - with No 11, with knowledge - with Da'at - the Cherubim will let pass those who escape the confines of Da'at, who escape the trappings of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

As long as one follows the way which the flaming sword keeps, one may reach, put forth one's hand, and partake, of the Tree of Life - of Life eternal.

[...]

Number eleven is called the Evil number. It is an omen of defeat or death
It is evil, for knowledge may lead away from truth. It is evil, for those who have partaken of the tree of knowledge need to be weariless, as the path is fraught with perils. Hence, it portends either defeat, if one succumbs to the perils, or death - the gate of life.
If Da'at is not a Sefirah, yet exists, this Knowledge must be connected to an incarnated individual, hence my comments. Da'at can only truly be crossed as one heeds the Delphic portal's message: Gnothi Seauton: Know Thy Self!

Of course, thought the GD may place the High Priestess on the so-called 'path' which connects Keter to Tifaret on some versions of the Tree (and thus crosses over the Abyss), such allocation is not universally accepted - but certainly worthy of investigation.

Personally, I prefer to place both X the Wheel of Fortune and XX Judgement upon Da'at.
 

jmd

Welcome to Aeclectic, tiffany. You posted your post as I was writing the above!
 

tiffany

thank you for your reply. i guess why i associate the high priestess with the path between kether and tipheret is because i believe that the tree of life is a beautiful system to understand the divine. i admit i'm young and not perfectly or traditionally schooled. what i do accept is that the tree of life is a perfect system with checks and balences. everything must make sense when correspondances are made.such as planets, zodiac,and tarot all fit. if the checks and balences are off which is a common occurence in modern occult writtings usually they are intentional blinds. so the modern adept must research and seek out the blinds. i'm currently painting the high priestess. ironically i painted the mirror image of it. so now it's being repainted to represent what it "should" look like. parden my grammer and spelling, i'm 99%visual and writting iis not my strong point.

are you familliar with the garden of pomegranits?
 

jmd

Regardie's books (if that is what you are referring to), and that one in particular, I find excellent!

Highly recommend it!
 

lupo138

Daath

thank you, Laurel. I agree with your view concerning Adam and Eve. Regarding "Da'ath remains the "make or break" crossroads" I am not too sure about that. If I remember Dion Fortune correctly, then Daath is somehow behind the Tree (and if you see the Qliphoth behind the Sephiroth it could be an explanation, why Daath is sometimes seen as gate to them) - hm - and now I got your thought. Thank you for a new insight, although it will take ma many more time to understand that as a whole. But I got a glimpse :)
 

Laurel

Welcome Tiffany!

_Garden of Pommegranates_ was one of the first Qabalistic books I read and I still re-read it every few years. I never tire of Regardie or Scholem, and can go over their material over and over again.

JMD: thank you so much for posting that excerpt!!! It helped me internally re-affirm that I'm not a complete wacko, just a heretic :)


Laurel
 

lupo138

hi Laurel !

thank you for mentioning this book - I haven´t heard about it yet, but would be very intersted. Unfortunately I was not able to find it for order; could you please be so kind to name the author ? Thank you in advance,

L.
 

AmounrA

I also have this excellent little book.

Its -A garden of pomegranates, by Israel Regardie.
The version I have is published by Llewellyn, with the ISBN code- 0-87542-690-5
 

lupo138

thank you very much, now I found it :)