The problem in not with the ToL but with the fact that it is misinterpreted as a physical model indicating spatial relationships rather than a diagram of dynamic interrelationships between emanations. People think that the Aces cannot "sit" on the Princesses because the Aces are in the Kether circle at the top of the diagram, and the Princesses are in the Malkuth circle at the bottom. So they compound the matter by considering the chain of ToLs in which the Malkuth of one is the Kether of another. So now it is supposedly easy for the Aces from the lower ToL to sit on the Princesses of the upper Tol. (Actually this makes it seem more like the Princesses are sitting on the Aces.
)
This gets at some of my discontent with the existing models. I've been looking at Regardie's and Wang's "Tree of Life in Three Dimensions" for a long time now, as well as Eden Gray's seemingly hare-brained one, but they don't really work for me in any astrodynamic sense. I just haven't found the key, I guess; maybe I need one sitting on my desk.
My main problem is that the 2D models seem to show the Princesses and Aces, sitting at the celestial pole, as being superior to the Knights, Queens and Princes. About the only way I can get my head around this is to realize that the Princesses and Aces are mainly acting upon the
inferior material world of Malkuth (the Princesses as the "Earth" of their respective elements and the Aces as the "root" of those elements in manifestation. Symbolically, the Knights, Queens and Princes don't descend below Tiphareth in their operation, so they are really more principles of the
superior regions. I don't really have difficulty with "who is sitting on whom," since the Aces seem to be more a function of the polar axis (the "handle of the parasol," if you will) while the Princesses revolve around it. Or how about, more graphically, the Ace as the "nipple" on the teat that dispenses its nourishment into the phenomenal world? (I think I need more sleep, that last notion has got me thinking more of the "Napper Crapper" of the John Ritter movie
Stay Tuned than any kind of exalted royal perch
)
Anyway, I have a vision of what would work for me as a 3D model and will be drawing it up today. I have the distinct impression that I've seen something like what I'm after somewhere before, but just can't put my finger on it.