For a few years now I have been looking for a way to connect with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life in meditation. I was hoping to connect with these spheres of light in a psychic meditation, like we used to do in class at The College of Psychic Studies.
But I wasn't sure how to go about it - who will take you there? It wasn't until recently that I stumbled upon a technique known as Kabbalistic Pathworking and I realized I already knew my guides: the Archangels, the planets and even the Major Arcana from my favorite tarot deck.
But first, what is the Tree of Life?
The symbol below is known as the Tree of Life; it was first described in a book called the Sefer Yetzirah. It represents the Kabbalisic theory of creation. It starts with the Big Bang, telling us that before the Universe was created, all we had was nothingness and pure light. Just above the glyph you'll find three lines with the words Infinite Light.
In Hebrew, these three layers of light are known as Ain, Ain Sof, and Ain Sof Aur, which essentially translate as exponential sources of limitless light. It’s God before God existed if that makes sense. And before that spiritual light exploded in a Big Bang style, creating 10 dimensions - the first of which corresponds to what we understand as God (Keter) and the last is our physical universe (Malchut).
The remaining eight spheres represent intermediate levels of divinity and spiritual substance, with increasing density as you approach our physical universe. It was all said to happen in a fraction of a second, with Keter creating the second sphere, that one creating the third and so on until we get to number 10.
Each of these 10 spheres corresponds to what you might call an aspect of God: Light, Wisdom, Understanding, Mercy, Power, Beauty, Victory, Glory, Healing, and Physicality. Each sphere is seen to be an individual dimension of light, though they do transcend each other's space.
In the lower-most 10th sphere, we can only see the physical universe with our five senses. The energy of the upper 9 are hidden. Meditation gives us access to those spheres on cosmic and personal levels. Self-healing involves bringing your personal tree & its faculties into balance.
Today I will share a summary of the 10 Spheres of Light, looking at the themes for each, as well as the correspondences that I have found to be useful. Each of the 10 spheres has a planet and an archangel that relates to its energy. Tarot cards can also be mapped out on the Tree as visual prompts; modern tarot was designed with the Tree of Life in mind. I won't go into that here but there are plenty of books on the topic.
On a personal level, we connect with the spheres to get a glimpse of their energy and bring those qualities into our lives.
The Divine Archetypes
These three Spheres of Light, together with the Limitless Light, represent what most of us traditionally call God, whether you believe in One Supreme God, a Divine Feminine and a Divine Masculine or even a pantheon of deities that add up to one Supreme God, as is the case with Hinduism today. The Tree of Life is quite interesting that way, it can account for all belief systems, even Atheism.
1) Keter: This is the Crown of the Tree of Life, in Elizabethan times Keter was referred to as Prima Mobile, the Divine Cause or the First Cause. Keter's light is the fuel that keeps the rest of the Tree of Life going. Archangel Metatron is the Archangel of Keter, and it would make sense that he sits at the very source as Metatron is also the scribe of the universe, making note of our shared and individual histories in the Akashic Records.
2) Chokmah is where that Divine Light starts to take shape as Wisdom. It is linked with the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, and with Archangel Raziel, the Keeper of Secrets and the angel that guides mystics. Funny enough, it was in one of my angel channeling classes where we connected with Raziel, that the Tree of Life and astral travel started coming to me as messages.
3) Binah is Understanding. Representative of the Divine Feminine, she takes the wisdom from Chokmah and puts it in terms that we can understand. If you're struggling to find your path in life, connect with Binah to get a glimpse of your big picture. Archangel Tzaphkiel is associated with Binah, helping us understand our struggles from compassionate and spiritual perspective. Binah also corresponds to Saturn energy, the planet of earthly limitations, reality checks and growth spurts.
The Creative Spheres
This is where the abstract energy of Keter starts to take shape in a more defined way. We're introduced to the notion of Right and Wrong, as opposed to pure love and light. This is where it starts to get real: how do you react when things go wrong? With anger and judgment, or with mercy and forgiveness (or both)?
4) Chesed is synonymous with compassion and mercy. Archangel Zadkiel is one of the sweetest angels we can connect with when we want to work with the energy of forgiveness and love, also associated with Chesed. The planet associated with Chesed is Jupiter. In traditional astrology, Jupiter is known as the Greater Fortune, blessing us with luck, abundance and also spiritual growth and expansion. When we pray for a miracle, it is Chesed's energy that we are appealing to as its forgiving and non-judgmental.
5) Geburah is about strength, power and judgement calls. Things are black and white when we connect with Geburah's energy and every action has a consequence. If we rely too heavily on Geburah's strength we may be too hard on ourselves and others. Ironically, Archangel Chamuel (Camael) is the angel of Geburah, and as the Angel of Love he can give us tough love, but he can also infuse us with softer, healing love to soften hard edges. The planet associated with Geburah is Mars (war, ambition and conflict).6) Tipheret is the first Sephira on what's known as the Middle Pillar, the balance between the left-handed Sephira that tend to be more karmic (corrections), and the right handed Sephira that lean towards blessings. Tipharet takes the qualities of wisdom, understanding, power and mercy and combines them all in one beautiful sphere of life that I see as the "Heart of God". Tipheret is sometimes seen as the child Chokmah and Binah, from a Christian point of view, you could say this is where Christ Consciousness is, as its halfway between the Physical and the Divine, and capable of reaching both of them. It's planet, the Sun, and the Archangel associated with Tipheret is Raphael.
The Foundation Spheres
Though still in the spiritual realms, here we start to see the blue print for our physical universe. I also believe this is where we find our angels, our spirit guides and our visualizations before they take shape physically.
7) Netzach follows on nicely from Tiferet. This sphere of light is about Victory: the triumph of light over dark, health over sickness, joy over sadness. We can connect with Netzach for healing and also to work with Venus, known as the lesser benefic of the plants. Venus is the planet of love, material comforts, victory in wars and friendship. Archangel Haniel is linked to Netzach, and we can also work with her for healing and intuition..
8) Hod represents Glory, but in all honesty I haven't connected with this energy so much so I am not sure how else to describe it. Ironically, Hod's planet is Mercury (which rules my birth chart) so I should be familiar with it. And its Archangel is Michael, one of my favorites. I can understand Hod's energy if I think of Archangel Michael: courage, forceful movements and a sword that triumphs. But the concept blends in with the previous sphere of Victory, so I am still figuring this out. Mercury rules words and communication so that could be another theme to look at.
9) Yesod is the last Sphere of Light before we cross the veil that separates the Spiritual World from the physical universe. It is associated with the Moon's intuitive, magical and healing energy. When we talk about the Law of Attraction its also Yesod's energy that we are drawing on, as our creations take shape in this dimension before manifesting here. Archangel Gabriel is the angel of Yesod, which makes total sense as he is the angel of speech and communication (we create with words) and also the angel of pregnancies, creativity and giving birth to new life.
The Physical Universe
10) Malchut is the final stop on our tour: known as the Kingdom. All of God's creative work in the upper realms comes to rest in the Physical Universe, where we live. We could call it the Kingdom of God, but I think we also need to accept our own role in the Earth's state of affairs. If we connect with the Tree of Life, we start to see its creative power in each of us, manifesting through the currents of energy that we tap into. The angel associated with Malchut is Archangel Sandalphon, and he is also said to be the angel of prayers, music and nature. He listens to our prayers and the desires that are in our hearts, though he also have visibility of the big picture and our Highest Good. We can ask Sandalphon for guidance on what to pray for. Follow this link for a post on: How to Connect with Archangel Sandalphon, including one of my favorite meditations!
The Tree of Life is usually depicted as shown above, with 22 pathways that connect the different spheres. Kabbalistic Pathworking involves meditating on the individual spheres, the pathways, and using those pathways to journey from one to the next. What's the point, you may ask? The more we work with our intuition and with the Tree of Life, the more magical and mystical secrets will be revealed to us. These could be concrete self-healing techniques, or even a greater understanding of how consciousness shapes our surroundings. We can also work with the planets if we have a basic understanding of our natal charts, and that will help us integrate energies that could be deficient (for example, I hardly have any planets in fire signs, and connecting with Tipharet, Chesed and Geburah can help me integrate that energy into my personality).
Let's begin by connecting with the Archangels and accessing our intuition. The energy of the Sefirot is strong and it helps to have solid grounding. I have grounding meditations on YouTube HERE.
One Last Thought ...
I am studying Renaissance Astrology and this theory of connecting with the spiritual worlds through the planets resonates. Renaissance Astrologers believed that between our Physical World and the Divine World of Archetypes, was an intermediate Celestial World where the Archetypes are expressed by planetary and zodiacal energies, which then cascaded those Archetypes down to us. The two systems have a lot in common if we think of planets as conduits for energy.
Reiki hugs,
Regina
ps ... I updated the diagram in 2023 to reflect the version used by Lurianic Kabbalists, with one path to Malchut.
> Suggested Reading: Finding Unity in the Tree of Life
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Regina Chouza is an Energy Healer, Angel Medium and author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. She studied angel intuition and astrology at The College of Psychic Studies in London, and qualified as a healer at the School of Intuition & Healing UK. Her passion is bringing the qualities of self-love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to heal yourself.
Image: canva.com (added 2021)
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