jmd said:
It is of course worth pointing out that though GD-oriented views have a full Tree in each of the four worlds,
Actually, the GD view is a little more complex than that. It actually consists of 4 worlds with a full tree in each, and then each of the sephiroth in those have their own tree (adding another 10 each), for a total of 11 trees in each world (including the main world tree) or 44 trees total.
Kabalists have various views as to how the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds relate.
The GD version is actually taken from one of the Kabbalist versions as well.
The four sprit worlds ideas all stem from the same root ideas behind the concepts of the tetragrammatron and how they relate to the sephiroth. The idea of how divine energy filters down to be processed before actualization and formation on this plane.
One common view amongst many Kabalists is that the
single Tree of Life is itself divided into four parts (in different ways by different Kabalists), each denoting one of the worlds (for example, the Four World divisions on the Tree may be viewed on my
Four Hares site).
I'm not sure that version is any more common than any of the others. It appears the various methods of complexity are geared towards the depths of understanding and pathworking required. The version you have also exists in another version, with each of the sephiroth in the four worlds single tree containing their own tree as well (which is related to the GD version mentioned above). And even then, some divide the four worlds differently among the single tree (such as Kether alone being Atzilut).
And even then, you have to take in to account which version of organization of the tree you're using. Yours is using the Safed school version, there's also the Gra version which uses the natural array. Likewise there's the ideas of the two pillar (mascular, feminine) arrangement for movement of spiritual forces, and the polarized version that also signifies tension and activity.
As to the original question of what colors of the sephiroth are in the 4 worlds, that once again depends on whose tree, etc. The Gra version of the Sefir Yetzirah uses 7 sephiroth when defining color (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Yesod, Malkuth, Netzah, and Hod) because they're associated with the 7 days of the week (there are other importances attributed to 7 as well).
The colors in order are White, Red, Yellow, Black, Blue, Upper eyelid (as in the tone of the eyelid) and lower eyelid (etc.). Atzilut is the level of nothingness, it would have no color. You'll notice the top three (Kether, Binah, Chakhmah) are not included (which in the version JMD is using, consists of the Atzilut level). This is because its related to this level of nothingness and divine energy, which doesn't begin to really manifest or take shape until it crosses the "abyss" to the Beriyah (Creation, or "something from nothing") level. This is the reason for some versions of the trees (including the one most commonly used by modern occultists) to lower Tefert, Yesod, and Malkuth to create this gap (often refered to as the "hidden" sepherot named Daath).
The idea of Daath comes from Binah and Chokmah (Wisdom, and Understanding), whereby they come together to form Daath (knowledge). The Sefier Yetzirah states that from Knowledge (Daath) came the rest of the sephiroth allowing creation, formation, and finally action. So that the bottom three collections of sephiroth are more closely related to "us" and the final existance of Malkuth.
Moredcai Shia