The Paths of the Tree of Life

Snaut

The real understanding came when I actually started to go card by card and look at its Kabbalistic attributes.

That is, what I lack. The majors are mostly clear, but the minors are difficult. May I ask which deck you would recommend for this practice?
 

Zephyros

That is, what I lack. The majors are mostly clear, but the minors are difficult. May I ask which deck you would recommend for this practice?

Good thing the Majors are clear, I've been studying the damn things for years and they still aren't even remotely clear. ;)

But anyway, I don't know of any book that deals with the Minors, I just learned the basics and then rolled with it.

You ultimately create your own Tree of Life because your perspective on each element is uniquely your own. If you've worked out one thing then the rest tumbles out, because it is all interconnected.

I myself use the Thoth but it is mixed in with lots of other stuff, so it may not be the best choice. One interesting one is the Tarot of the Sephiroth. It depends on what your goals and method are, in essence what do you want to study and why?
 

Snaut

Good thing the Majors are clear, I've been studying the damn things for years and they still aren't even remotely clear. ;)

At least in symbology. For example look at the Thoth Devil. We have a Capricorn in the middle and he has a third eye (ayin). It could not be clearer, if you know what you are searching for.

I myself use the Thoth but it is mixed in with lots of other stuff, so it may not be the best choice. One interesting one is the Tarot of the Sephiroth. It depends on what your goals and method are, in essence what do you want to study and why?

My goal is to be a better tarot-reader.
Look again at the Devil. He connects Hod with Tiphereth. I have no idea, what that means. Tiphereth means beauty and is associated to Sol, whereas Hod means splendour and is associated to Mercury. I know the associations. Or I know where I can look them up. But I cannot connect the dots.
 

JackofWands

Look again at the Devil. He connects Hod with Tiphereth. I have no idea, what that means. Tiphereth means beauty and is associated to Sol, whereas Hod means splendour and is associated to Mercury. I know the associations. Or I know where I can look them up. But I cannot connect the dots.

*cough, cough* That's because that version of the Tree of Life is silly and nonsensical *cough*

I personally have issues with that Tree (known as the Kircher Tree) and instead work with a modified version based on my own research and understanding of the cards and paths. There's no rule that says you can't do so, if it's what works for you.

However, as many experienced readers such as Zephyros would be quick to point out, before abandoning the Kircher system altogether, you should really make the effort to understand it. I'm inclined to agree (but don't tell Zephyros...). For a lot of people, the system is beautifully balanced and can lead to a nuanced, delicate understanding of the cards themselves. For many Qabalistic Tarot readers, they actually start with the Tree of Life and then determine each card's meaning based on its placement on the Tree and its astrological associations. Really, it's all a question of methodology.

From Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot:

Robert Wang said:
The path of Ayin, THE DEVIL, connects Tiphareth, the center of the Sun consciousness, with Hod, the sphere of Mercury and the intellect. The twenty-sixth path is formative and, in terms of the structure of the self, is an intellectual bridge between Personality and Individuality.

Of all the paths, this may be the most difficult for those rooted in Western cultures to understand, for its interpretation flies in the face of the meaning which most people have come to attach to the Devil. In Qabalistic terms, the Devil is not viewed as an evil entity having its own separate existence. Rather, it represents a special mystery which must be penetrated before one can directly know the Higher Principle of the Self. The Devil, which is the adversary, is the Master of manifest form which we must face and conquer.

There's more, but you get the idea. So rather than just the simple RWS interpretation of selfishness, materialism, and addiction, a Qabalistic look at the Devil is more nuanced. This is an initiatory path between the raw individualism of Hod and the perfected self of Tiphereth. It's about gaining higher wisdom through knowledge of the (material) self--as opposed to Temperance/Art, which, coming through communal Netzach rather than individualistic Hod, is about abandoning the individual rather than immersing oneself in it.

At the end of the day, if you want to explore the Qabalistic attributes of Tarot, books can be a good starting point, and I really do recommend Wang. He's quite readable. But the best way to do it is exactly what Zephyros said: learn the very basics (which it looks like you may have already done) and then abandon your preconceived notions of what the cards "should" mean and do an in-depth analysis of each one's position on the Tree.
 

delinfrey

One of the approaches I appreciate is taking two sephira and using the Key (major arcana) to move between them. So the Key is something which attributes you could use on the path. So the absolute creative power of the Magician, the Everything, is revealed to us on the path from Kether to Binah etc

If you want to study the Hebrew letters, my suggestion is actually to start with the Phoenician alphabet and its meaning. Hebrew grew out of the Phoenician and it offers so much deep understanding on where and how the letters came from and what their underlying meanings were.
 

Zephyros

The main advantage the Kircher Tree has is its huge base of resources. Almost all modern Tarot decks are based on it, it has extensive supporting literature (both "authentic" GD and others) is probably structured in such a way as to be easy to learn.

None of this means it is the correct one or even the best, of course. But, like the RWS, its ubiquity solves much of the guesswork that would go into study of different Trees with far more obscure literature. For me, it's just good enough, I'm not a trailblazer. What matters more to me is the kabbalistic method, of looking at a card and constructing it from the bottom up, thus affording a bird's eye view of the whole process, its connection with other cards, how the cogs spin together. This has done amazing things for me personally as well as for my readings, but everyone has their own personal Kabbalah.
 

smw

*cough, cough* That's because that version of the Tree of Life is silly and nonsensical *cough*

Oh. I guess that is the tree I am working with. :(

However, as many experienced readers such as Zephyros would be quick to point out, before abandoning the Kircher system altogether, you should really make the effort to understand it. I'm inclined to agree (but don't tell Zephyros...). For a lot of people, the system is beautifully balanced and can lead to a nuanced, delicate understanding of the cards themselves.

I find this confusing, tbh, if the Kircher system is silly nonsense that seems irreconcilable with making an effort to understand it.
 

JackofWands

I find this confusing, tbh, if the Kircher system is silly nonsense that seems irreconcilable with making an effort to understand it.

First off, you must realize that I am crotchety and curmudgeonly and I really don't mean half the things I say. I don't really find the Kircher Tree to be utterly nonsensical. A bit annoying at times, perhaps, but not without value.

I disagree with some of the fundamental principles involved in the construction of the Kircher Tree of Life, and because of that, I've elected to use an alternate version of the Tree in my own personal practice. However, that's a personal choice on my part, and does not in any way reflect on the external value of the Kircher Tree.

Indeed, while I disagree with the starting point of the Kircher Tree, the interior logic of that system is actually quite sound. It holds up on its own, as a complete, self-contained esoteric system. And while it might look silly or confusing when analyzed from an outside perspective, studying the Kircher Tree from within encourages the use of a strong, rigorously applied methodology. It can never be said of the Kircher Tree that "association X doesn't make sense", because every association on the Tree does make sense within the interior logic of that system. (Ask Zephyros sometime why the Chariot has to be placed where it is on the Tree of Life, and you'll see what I mean.)

The system is not for me, because my view of the world is different enough from the world it represents that the glyph stops being useful. But that does not ever mean that the system itself is flawed. As a matter of fact, the system is cohesive and rather beautifully designed, and as a self-contained unit, it makes perfect sense. It just doesn't overlap with my worldview or my understanding of the Tarot.

In a way, this is like talking about religions. I am not Christian. And every now and then, I get my butt in hot water when I let slip an insensitive comment about Christianity being silly and nonsensical. But I don't actually mean that. Christianity as a religion is not for me, because it is built on fundamental principles of belief that differ radically from my own. But as a religious system in and of itself, Christianity is actually quite consistent. The interior logic of the religion is sound, and anyone who claims that Christianity is nonsense hasn't spent nearly enough time looking at the structure of the faith and understanding the way Christian doctrine would answer the questions they pose.

So while Christianity and I don't necessarily get along, I still think there's value to be had in studying it. And if I met someone who had been working in a Christian theological paradigm but who was having difficulties with the faith, I would encourage them to study the religion in depth and try to really understand it before rejecting that faith altogether.

The same goes for the Kircher Tree of Life. The ontology captured by the Kircher Tree is vastly different from the way I understand the world--so much so that I'm often tempted to label it nonsensical. But I don't actually mean that, and to be frank, the Kircher Tree is a beautifully structured system that makes sense when you meet it on its own territory. For anyone who is having difficulties with the Kircher Tree or who is tempted to abandon it altogether, they certainly have the right to do so, but I would encourage them to study the Tree in depth and do everything they could to understand it before writing it off as valueless.

Ultimately, Qabalistic study is a deeply personal process. No individual can tell any other that they should or should not work with a particular version of the Tree of Life. But at the same time, it's a process based on disciplined, methodological study. And I think that dismissing the Kircher Tree before attempting to understand it on its own merit would be an abandonment of that discipline.
 

smw

First off, you must realize that I am crotchety and curmudgeonly and I really don't mean half the things I say. I don't really find the Kircher Tree to be utterly nonsensical. A bit annoying at times, perhaps, but not without value

That's a crochety curmundgeonly flavoured raspberry then;)

I think I kind of get what you mean about being able to appreciate a system that is internally consistent, while at the same time unsuitable because of very different world views.
 

Aeon418

Ultimately, Qabalistic study is a deeply personal process. No individual can tell any other that they should or should not work with a particular version of the Tree of Life.
If you're studying alone then I agree, up to a point. (It could potentially make learning a lot more time consuming than has to be though. Why reinvent the wheel?) But if one is working within the confines of a specific teaching structure or initiatory school then you really should conform yourself to their approach, or leave.

One of the valuable features of a common Qabalistic model is that it facilitates the sharing of information and understanding between diverse people. In a way it's like a shared language. But this process is made all the more difficult if you're having to "translate" concepts between various idiosyncratic, personal models. And that's assuming the 'other party' is willing to learn your personal 'language' in the first place.

A 'one-size-fits-all' model may not be perfect in all respects, but there are some big benefits if you intend to learn from and communicate with anyone beyond yourself.