Golden Dawn Tree of Life

MikeTheAltarboy

I think the Demise article tree-of-life chart displays the Continental/Levi version of Kircher's tree so I'm unclear as to what you mean when you say he switched it around. I agree that it's really just a matter of preference

Yes, you're right. I was clearly mistaken the way I wrote it. :) I meant partly that I disagree with that tree - and partly with the author's justification of it. So far I've been unable to find a hebrew source for assigning planets to sephiroth, though I'm sure there is one, but the GD system simply makes more sense.

In regards to the french version, is there much of a precedant for actually assigning the cards to the *paths between the sephiroth*? Or just to the letters themselves? I confess that I haven't read hardly any Levi; my main exposure to the french side is through Papus (who I found boring and ridiculous) and I don't believe he talked about that at all. He did, it seems, give two different sets of attributions to the letters in terms of sign and planet, based on the Sepher Yetzirah.

Today I experimented with paths on the Luria tree. http://www.kheper.net/topics/Kabbalah/Ari-tree.html
Using the GD assignments, I was fairly content with what came out. At least it's something I'll look at further and see what I discover. Using the french assignments, it didn't seem to come out nearly as balanced or yeild up anything superficially edifying.
I also mean to look at the tree of Frater Achad, and see what that looks like.
 

jmd

Kircher's version of the Tree has the letters assigned thereon, so Levi's Tarot Atouts attributions are 'naturally' assigned to the so-called 'paths' if one also uses either that or a similarly lettered tree.

The image can be seen on Tarotpedia at:

Kircher.jpg


Kircher version of the Tree of Life​

As I also wrote on Tarotpedia, Kircher's version is itself partly based on Philippe d'Aquin's Tree of the Kabbalah, appearing in 1625 (d'Aquin's version of the Tree does not include letters). d'Aquin was apparently a Jew who converted to Christianity and used Kabalistic sources to assist in the conversion of other Jews - though that is a side issue.

One of the other sources Kircher is likely to have used is Moses Cordovero's Pardes Rimmonim. Though his own brand of Kabalism may be criticised, it is based very much on a syncretic or 'overlaying' (not sure which describes it in his case) methodology also similarly adopted by both many French esotericists and English ones, such as the founders of the Golden Dawn.
 

kwaw

MikeTheAltarboy said:
So far I've been unable to find a hebrew source for assigning planets to sephiroth, though I'm sure there is one, but the GD system simply makes more sense.

Variations of Planet to sefiroth attributions can be found from at least 13th century. The sefer ha'peliyah and Joseph Ashkenazi's [both 13th cent.] commentary on the SY both follow the same attributions of the Golden Dawn, these attributions and particular the association of Binah with Saturn possibly influenced Sabbatai Tzevi's messianic ideation and behaviour [see for example, 'Messianic Mystics' by Moshe Idel]. They can also be found in christian/hermetic texts from the 17th century.

Kwaw
 

Fulgour

Any opinions? ...and/or facts?

northsea said:
...the Golden Dawn version of the tree of life (aka, Kircher version 2) looks fairly problematic to me, partly because it forgoes the balance of the Continental version (the Magician and High Priestess atop the pillars of mercy and severity, the Emperor and Empress meeting at Knowledge, etc.)
If one wishes to be spared going down oft trodden paths,
that usually only make sense to the traveller ~ it helps to
view Aleph, Mem, Shin, as One, Thirteen, Twenty-One...

Then place the 3 Mothers on the 3 Crossing pathways:

Fire: Shin (21. The World) Chokhmah to Binah
Air: Aleph (1. The Magician) Chesed to Gevurah
Water: Mem (13. "Death") Netzach to Hod

By allowing the Tree of Life to reveal itself, you gain
the advantage of following your own given lights. :)
 

kwaw

According to Lurianic tradition the outer circle in the 'onion' concentric ring model* represents kether, the inner malkuth. We may note the resemblance to the greek geocentric model of the cosmos, and the relationship between the judaic-gnostic sephiroth/logoi of the SY and the greek gnostic planetary archons.

The first, outer circle that encompasses and contains the rest represents within the terminology of later kabbalistic redactions Kether, and is analagous to the outer circle of the cosmological model which represents the first cause. The second is Chokmah, the circle of stars. Third Binah, Saturn; fourth Chesed, Jupiter, fifth Gevurah, Mars, sixth Tiphareth, Sun; Seventh Netzach, Venus; Eighth Hod, Mercury; Ninth Yesod, Moon and tenth and last inner circle Malkuth, Earth.

If we transcribe the 'onion' cosmological model to the model of the ToL we find then the attributions fit those of the GD. As I mentioned before, this is not unique to the GD, but is referenced in Luria, in the 13th century Sefer HaPeliyah and the pseudo-epigraphcal redaction of the SY attributed to Joseph Ashkenazi. The possible influence of the Saturn/Binah correspondence on the messianic ideation of Sabbatai Tzevi and the use of this model among the Sabbateans may have contributed to its virtual disappearance in later Jewish sources. Followers of the Sabbatean Jacob Frank [see links below] were involved with several masonic and occult organisations and fraternities which conversly may have sustained this model within certain Christian/Hermetic schools of Kabbalah [interesting too to note that both Frank's wife and his daughter Eva [who took over leadership following his death] are reported to have used cards for divination].

Looking at this model we see that from Malkuth as Earth we have a representation of the geo-centric model based upon the Chaldean order of planets. We have also the Sun at Tiphareth in the centre, with the inner planets and moon between Earth [Malkuth] and the Sun [at Tiphareth], with the outer planets above; so also we have a heliocentric model. There is also of course the relationship to the magic squares of the planets as described by Agrippa [Occult Philosophy] and their basis in the cosmological model. The Saturn square has nine cells being a square of three, Saturn being the third sphere [counting from the outer to the inner]; and so on for the rest.

Transcribed to the GD planetary hexagram we have in Chaldean order Saturn at the top point, Jupiter TR, Mars TL, Sun Center, Venus BR, Mercury BL and Moon Bottom. We see here the several pairs relating to planetary rulerships, Saturn opposite Lights, whose signs are opposite in the zodiac, Jupiter opposite Mercury, whose signs are opposite in the zodiac, Mars opposite Venus, whose signs are opposite in the zodiac. If we take the numbers of the planets then the numbers in opposite wings add up to 12, Saturn [3] and Moon [9]; Jupiter [4] and Mercury [8]; Mars [5] and Venus [7]. All together the three pairs add to 36, the square of the Sun[6] in the center.

Placed around a septagram in Chaldean order we have the same correspondence of pairings as in the Hexagram. Draw a horizontal line connecting the wings we have a bottom pairing of Saturn/Moon, then Jupiter/Mercury, Mars/Venus and Sun at the top
. Following the lines of the septagram we get the orders of the days of the week. This is because the names of the days are based upon the Chaldean ordering of the planetary hours, tables of which are common among kabbalistic based medieval grimoires and which are of prime importance in Jewish astrology. The majority of the oldest versions of the SY attribute the double letters according to the Chaldean order.

Most occult Tarot attributions however bear a closer parallel with the Gra redaction of the SY, circa 1800 c.e. If there are links in older historically 'non' occult decks such as the Marseille then any correspondence that may have been made would more likely to have followed the correspondence of the Chaldean order rather than that attributed to modern occult decks [IMHO].

We may attribute the letters to the vertical paths of the 'natural array' version of the tree based upon the planetary hexagram. Place the hexagram over the natural array version of the ToL [like two hexagrams with the bottom of the top resting in Yesod and the top of th bottom in Tiphareth] and line up the points of the planetary hexagram with the vertical paths [ie, in between the two hexagram of which the ToL is constructed], we then get:

Kether/Tiphareth = Saturn - Beit
Chokmah/Chesed = Jupiter - Gimel
Binah/Gevurah = Mars - Daleth
Tiphareth/Yesod = Sun - Kaph
Chesed/Netzach = Venus - Pe
Gevurah/Hod = Mercury - Resh
Yesod/Malkuth = Moon - Tav

Kwaw
*For non-GD references to attributions that follow the same planetary/sefiroth correspondences see for example 'Qabalah' by Papus [1892] in Chapter III on divine names in which the same attributions as GD are made. For Christian cabala see also the table in Papus from R.Esprit Sabbathier, 'Ombre ideale de la sargessa universelle', 1679, which also gives the same attributions. For example of the connection between Binah, Saturn and the Messiah in Jewish Kabbalah see for example 'Messianic Mystics' by Moshe Idel, under the section subtitled 'Messiah, Binah, Saturn' from p187 on. For example of the relation of Saturn to the Sabbath, the two Hei of the divine name JHVH and to Binah and Malkuth see for example 'The Book of Creation and its commentaries' by Leonard Glotzer. For example of concentric ring model of sephiroth and its correspondence to the geocentric model see for example reproduction of Italian manuscript c.1400 on page 321 of 'Alchemy and Mysticism' by Alexander Roob. There is also has an engraving from the 'hermetischer philosophus oder hauptaschlussel' vienna 1709 on page 350 which shows the planetary hexagram, similar to GD except Jupiter/Venus are on the left points and Mars/Mercury on the right, top and bottom respectively. Some links on -
Jacob Frank:
http://www.mindspring.com/~hellfire/bishop/frankist/
Sabbatai Zevi:
http://www.fact-index.com/s/sa/sabbatai_zevi.html
 

Fulgour

My "Golden Dawn" Correspondences

Moon (Beth) The High Priestess
Venus (Gimmel) The Empress
Mars (Daleth) The Emperor
Mercury (Kaph) Strength
Sun (Pe) The Star
Jupiter (Resh) Judgement
Saturn (Taw) The Fool

:) And there's no "secret" handshake!
 

MikeTheAltarboy

Thanks for the extra info, Kwaw! I hope to pursue some of those sources you mentioned now.
 

wgungfu

bradford said:
Hi Mike-
This is what I'd call a superior alphabet. It covers the range of human speech instead of just one mid-eastern tribe. Apparently God doesn't know this one yet though. But with a little tuning it actually plots better onto the Tree than the Phoenecian-Hebrew-Greek alphabets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet


Except that Kabbalisticaly the hebrew alphabet is not related to "the range of human speech", nor human speech at all. Hence the relationship it has on the tree of life, rather than laying a "human speech" on to the tree. Kabbalistically, one came before the other. Whether or not you agree with that is another matter. ;)


Mordecai Shia
 

Ross G Caldwell

bradford said:
This is what I'd call a superior alphabet. It covers the range of human speech instead of just one mid-eastern tribe. Apparently God doesn't know this one yet though. But with a little tuning it actually plots better onto the Tree than the Phoenecian-Hebrew-Greek alphabets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

I'd be very interested to see your plotting - I've tried similar things with the IPA in the past. Nasals, plosives, fricatives, "clicks" etc., plus the holy vowels.

BTW, I'm sure God knows about it - God knows everything!