When studying Tarot, of which 78 cards compose the structure, it is critical to contemplate the placement of these cards on or within the Hermetic Tree of Life and to see them as a pictorial representation of the tree in what could be considered book form; hence the Tarot often being called the Book of Life. Understanding the structure of the Tree of Life will aid greatly in understanding the cards and also the Signs of astrology. Each circle or sphere on the Tree of Life is called a Sephirah, which means emanation, and each of these spheres contain within them the Four Worlds of Kabbalah, which you can also see as the four elements of Tarot. The Sephiroth are 10 in number. 10 x 4 = 40, the number of Minor Arcana in Tarot. There are 22 paths connecting these spheres. These are the 22 Major Arcana of Tarot.
The Tree of Life presents a complicated interplay of spiritual concepts, geometries, numerological relations, astrological correspondences, planetary correspondences, psychological implications, and much more. The figure here doesn't illustrate all of what exists, or what is possible, within this canon of knowledge. There are other highly detailed diagrams and fractaline depictions of the Tree of Life that include even more correspondences, but that still fall short of representing everything. For that you need books with entire chapters solely dedicated to individual parts, paths, areas, worlds, etc. A Tree of Life picture, no matter how intricate and detailed, is incapable of relaying all the information. But, it can certainly be a joy to look at when you know what you're seeing in a certain "multidimensional" way after superimposing the different astrological, mythological, tarotic, symbolic and numerological layers. As with the Tarot, the Tree of Life is effectively a map of the soul, a pictorial representation of the forces of Nature, Consciousness and the Universe. They effectively embody a map of the processes of generative dynamism as it is observed in the Universe and also as it is observed within ourselves. As stated on the home page, the map is not the territory, and being able to accept and embrace contradiction or overlapping is fundamental to understanding the system. This passage from Crowley's Book of Thoth may help elucidate the matter:
Learn now that Impressions of Sense have Opposites readily conceived, as long to short, or light to dark; and so with Emotions and Perceptions, as Love to Hate, or False to True; but the more Violent the Antagonism, the more is it bound in Illusion, determined by Relation. Thus the Word "Long" hath no Meaning save it be referred to a Standard; but Love is not thus obscure, because Hate is its twin, partaking bountifully of a Common Nature therewith. Now, hear this: it was given unto me in my Visions of the Aethyrs, when I was in the Wilderness of Sahara, by Tolga, upon the Brink of the Great Eastern Erg, that above the Abyss, Contradiction is Unity, and that nothing could be true save by Virtue of the Contradiction that is contained in itself. Behold, therefore, in this Method thou shalt come presently to Ideas of this Order that include in themselves their own Contradiction, and have no Antithesis.
It is both elastic and static, with each part being both independent and co-dependent and with plenty of room for free association. There is much overlapping of concepts within the system, even in ways that on the surface might seem counterintuitive. But, this is perfectly alright since there is always more to the story than what meets the eye.
The different "modes of being" as expressed within the Tree of Life and Tarot are closely tied to philosopher Hegel's dialectic, with there being the thesis, antithesis, and then an eventual synthesis between the two forming a kind of trinity (see the Court Cards page for more on the Hegelian dialectic as applied to Kabbalah and Tarot). These trinities within the Tree of Life are illustrated in what's called the Supernal Triad (sephiroth 1, 2 and 3), the Moral Triad (sephiroth 4, 5 and 6) and then what we may call the Triad of Action or Form (sephiroth 7, 8 and 9). The balance and synthesis points of these triads are found within the spheres of the Middle Pillar being Kether (1), Tipareth (6) and Yesod (9). (Kether is actually considered an "illusion" of sorts as it does not factor into the Zodiac. It operates more as the template or "original image" of the Four Worlds before coming into form. This is covered more fully on the Cross of Elements and Minor Arcana pages. The "illusory nature" of Kether makes the true "balance point" of the Supernal Triad the 3rd Sephiroth, Binah, and the "crown" of this Triad is Malkuth, The Kingdom, as discussed on the Court Cards page. One may think of Malkuth, the last and 10th sphere, as the "crowning achievement" of this process of generation where the highest Divine Light (Kether-1) is identified as being precisely the physical world (Malkuth-10). This will make much more sense the further you study the Astrological and Tarotic connectiona to the Kabbalistic system. Also see the Babylon and the Beast section of the Movie Room, especially the area concerning involution and evolution).
As an exercise, especially if you are relatively new to this subject, take a piece of paper and write the numbers 1 through 10 along the left side of the page, leaving space for you to jot in your impressions and feelings about each number. If a number, like 5 for example, had a personality, what would it's personality be? How does it relate to the other numbers? After completing this, consult the general meanings below and see if your impressions of these numbers line up in any way with their Kabbalistic and Tarotic significance. You may be surprised to find that you "already know all this" subconsciously, and if this is the case you might say that the purpose of this site is to align you more correctly to what you already know!
Essential reading to help understand the following pages would be Crowley's Liber ABA (Book 4), particularly Chapter 0 of Magick in Theory and Practice.
General Meanings of the 10 Sephiroth
To be taken with the Minor Arcana page
Kether - 1 ~ The Crown (All Aces in Tarot)
Chokma - 2 ~ Wisdom (also known as the second crown) (All 2s in Tarot)
Binah - 3 ~ Understanding (All 3s in Tarot)
Chesed - 4 ~ Mercy (All 4s...)
Geburah - 5 ~ Strength (All 5s...)
Tipareth - 6 ~ Beauty (All 6s...)
Netzach - 7 ~ Victory (All 7s...)
Hod - 8 ~ Splendor (All 8s...)
Yesod - 9 ~ The Foundation (All 9s...)
Malkuth - 10 ~ The Kingdom (All 10s...)
The above video, created and narrated by Steven Ashe, is a great introduction to the subject of Qabalah & the Tree of Life, and will also help somewhat in understanding the Tarot. Steven has also written a book called The Golden Dawn Qabalah Codex.
