image of the tree of life

Ironically I am going backward in this post so what I want my readers to learn is first. Ironic because everything in Dark Magick is done backward.

Although some people might disagree, the fountain or basis of most Western Magic is in Qabalah — not a religion, but a permanently evolving, philosophical system explaining the Universe and the Self. Unique and sophisticated, this system immortalizes its wisdom by encapsulating it in its central schema: The Tree of Life. Having multiple ways to be looked at and numerous layers of understanding, the Tree of Life is one of the first things to get acquainted with when studying methods like Golden Dawn and Thelema. Reading the Kabbalistic Tree of Life will be understood after reading this post.

There is a demonic hierarchy within the chart then branching off to be the dark tree of life or the inversion of the tree. This was explored by Aleister Crowley to use the tree invertedly through Freemasonry until the early 1900s when it was decided that Masonry was not evolving the same. Freemasonry is the masculine side represented by a square through Osiris or Solomon whereas the new OTO (Crowley’s organization) was the feminine side represented by a circle and unspoken spiral symbol (in terms that magick has to evolve to make it through to the end). Crowley was said to be charged with infringing the rights of orthodox masonry at that time.

Notice Lilith on the tree below this is the name given to women who head a coven

image of the inverted tree of life showing demonic hierarchy

There is a dark side to this symbol and is represented in the lines connecting the Sefirah (colored circles) which are called Qliphoth or Tunnels of Set named after the Egyptian God of war. The tunnels can be used by some to gain self-gratification to obtain the power of god themselves rather than gaining a connection with God.

Tree of Death: The averse Tree of Life with its tunnels of
Set to which Daath is the Gateway.

tree of life
crowley's chart
Crowley Addition to the Tunnels of Set with Symbols from Enochian Magick

The Tree of Life has an even darker side. It has been mentioned enough times by authors, victims, and professionals in medicine to substantiate claims that many people who have undergone Monarch Programming state that the foundation of their system is based on this Tree of Life. It is used as a base or platform for their programming. A mention of the Tree of Life in programming comes from the Greenbaum Speech. Transcripts here audio speech here. Another source of this tree mentioned in programming is in a book called ‘Project Monarch‘ by Ron Patton

Specifically, an artist named Kim Noble who is a victim of satanic ritual abuse paints images of what she suffered. A complete gallery of her works here. The one below depicts the Tree of Life:

image of artwork by kim noble showing the tree of life

The right side of the tree is the masculine side and represents the principles of unity and harmony. The left side of the sefirot structure is the side of power and strict justice and is the female side where unrestrained has the power to raise evil. This is why the female plays an important role in Jewish culture. Associated with Hermetic Occultism the tree relates to astrology, numerology, sacred Geometry, and the reading of Tarot cards, and is the most important symbol in Western alchemy.

There are the ten colored circles of the tree called Sepherothics which stand for creative forces that intervene between the infinite unknowable god and our created world. Through these circles, god can send compassion or severe judgment. Each Sephirah represents a particular aspect of God’s essence, and the paths represent the relationships between the Sephirah. Just as the inverted version of the tree has a demon hierarchy the regular one holds a hierarchy of angels. As 11 sefirot are listed across the various schemes, two ( Keter and Da’at) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the same principle. Occultists see 11 sefirot, the 11th is a gateway to the back of the tree and to the gods. Eleven is the number beyond the tree.

The basis of traditional Jewish Kabbalah the non-inverted symbol of the Tree of Life from the top down:

colorful tree of life

This Kabbalistic Tree of Life fits inside the Flower of Life. This mystical flower symbol can be found in almost all major religions in the entire world. The Flower of Life is said to be over 6,000 years old and is composed of several concentric, equal, overlapping circles. It is said to contain vital information on the secrets of the universe and all living things. The earliest record of this symbol was said to be found on the alabaster steps that were once parts of the palace of King Ashurbanipal and has been dated to 645 BC.

Many spiritual and mystical geometric figures have been drawn from the pattern of the Flower of Life. The sacred Tree of Life in Kabbalah teachings, for instance, may be taken from the concentric patterns within the Flower of Life. Leonardo da Vinci, himself, was able to derive platonic solids and the golden ratio of phi from the Flower of Life.

image showing how the tree of life fits into the flower of life

This topic is often explained differently depending on what you read and is a very intricate symbol that stems from more than one ideology and is depicted with many ways of spelling. The main religion now is Cabala, Qabbalah, or Kabbalah. This is where the term referring to a shadow government the “Cabal” comes from. The tree’s circles/eminations have different spellings as well sephirot/sephiroth, and singular sefirah/sephirah. Qlippoth is a word which means “shell”. When military wife Kay Griggs spilled the beans in a tell all 8 hour interview she referred to the hazing done in the military and Skull and Bones as “Shelling”.

Coming from a manuscript titled ‘Book of Clear Light’ Kabbalah is Jewish Mysticism and the Tree of Life represents the whole person from the very basic to the divine soul. The Tree of Life is a diagram for transformation. Jewish Mysticism is a way to become like the prophets of the Old Testament but not to be confused with the tree from the Garden of Eden. In numerous mystical and esoteric traditions, the Sephirothic Tree is a potent symbol. It is a map of the universe, both visible and invisible, and a guide to spiritual development and comprehension. It is a diagram of the flow from creator to man. Kabbalah is built on seven Hermetic principles consisting of

Mentalism
Correspondence
Vibration
Polarity
Rhythm
Cause and Effect
Gender

image showing the seven glyphs of hermetic principles

The tree is built of three pillars: Studied much by Masons they even named their largest website after these stone columns. All of the spheres belong to one of these three pillars and share particular characteristics with the other pillars which belong to that Pillar. The three pillars are called: The Pillar of Severity, The Pillar of Mercy, and The Pillar of Balance.

The Pillar of Mercy

Found on the right-hand side of diagrams of the Tree of Life, and is associated with the left-hand side of the body and right-brain functions. It is composed of the following spheres Chokmah, Chesed, and Netzache

The Pillar of Severity


The Pillar of Severity lies on the left-hand side of the Tree of Life as you look at it as a diagram drawn on a piece of paper but on the right-hand side of the body. It is associated with ‘left brain’ functions. It is composed of the following Sephira: Binah, Geburah, Hod

The Pillar of Balance


This is the ‘middle pillar’ which runs up the center of the Tree. It is associated with balance, holism, and integration. It is composed of the following spheres: Kether, Tipareth, Yesod, and
Malkuth

image of just the pillars from tree

It is taught that the whole tree is contained in each of the four worlds, and in this manner, they are described one on top of another, and in symbolic form, by a diagram called Jacob’s Ladder. It is taught that the Tree of Life can be subdivided into four horizontal sections, each representing one of the four worlds.

image of the four worlds when dividing the tree

The Tree and Jacob’s Ladder

The Sefirot tree may be a unique reference to Jacob’s Ladder mentioned in the Bible. The ten names of God form the tree; under the tree is written “May your name be blessed from the West to the ends of the earth.

“God and the Mystical tree join earth and heaven. Man and God are one Jesus Christ. The symbolic expression of union is “Christ is the Tree of Life” (KJV, Rev. 2:7, 22:14). As far as we have explored the sermons and other expressions of piety, Christ is called the Tree; some preachers say that “Christ is our Ladder.
In contrast to eating the bitter fruit of sin is partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). This Tree of Life is salvation and regeneration after the fall of eating the forbidden fruit. It is of great interest to note that sometimes one tree turns into the other. When a symbol of virtue, it is the tree of life, but vice turns it into the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So wrote Philo.2> But in Augustine “Christ [is] the tree of the knowledge of good and evi1.” –Cambridge University ‘Jacob’s Ladder and the Tree of Life: Concepts of Hierarchy and the Great Chain of Being’.

image of jacobs ladder imposed over tree

Until the internet Kabbalah was lowkey and passed down from Father to Son, teacher to disciple, or oral lectures. There are several different systems or traditions that all refer to themselves as “Kabbalah.” There is Jewish Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, and Hermetic Kabbalah. Christian and Hermetic Kabbalah borrow concepts, terms, and techniques from Jewish Kabbalah, but they may use them differently, and they incorporate elements from other traditions. Even within traditional Jewish Kabbalah, because it has existed over many centuries and in different parts of the world, there have developed a variety of different systems, schools, and methods.

In recent years, there has also appeared a kind of “New Age Kabbalah,” which takes elements of traditional Jewish Kabbalah out of their religious context and presents them as a collection of practical techniques for finding happiness, fulfillment, prosperity, relationships, etc.

Portae Lucis is a Kabbalistic method using the tree along with the Method laid out by Jean Dubuis. Jean had determined that sea salt, having a cubic crystalline structure, could serve as a salt body for plant stones regardless of the planetary ruler of the plant used. A simple vessel could be used to contain the salt, and to allow one to add purified essential oil to the warmed salt, and to stir it, without exposing the mixture to possible contamination. The description of Portae Lucis involves three key components: astrological timing, passivity on the part of the aspirant, and the use of psychically loaded, or charged, talismans to assist in filling our energetic requirements for the experiment. The fourth, or final component, is one which we can have no control over – Divine Grace, or a Cosmic response to our inner desire, preparations, and readiness to experience a “Contact with Eternity”. Jean Dubuis was a renowned 20th-century French esotericist, qabalist, and alchemist. He authored a book called The Fundamentals Of Esoteric Knowledge.

picture of jean dubuis practicing kabbalah

The seven chakras of the human body are in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life

image showing the tree of life in relation to the seven chakras

The metaphor of the tree is similar to Homer’s chain allegory. Hang me a golden chain from heaven, and lay hold of it all of you, gods and goddesses together – tug as you will, you will not drag Zeus the supreme counselor from heaven to earth; but were I to pull at it myself I should draw you up with earth and sea into the bargain, then would I bind the chain about some pinnacle of Olympus and leave you all dangling in the mid firmament. So far am I above all others either of gods or men.”

Meanings of the Tree of Life in an Esoteric fashion

esoteric version of the tree of life

Reading the Kabbalistic Tree of life occult style

Sephira: Malkuth
Meaning: Kingdom
Planet: Cholem Yesodeth (the Breaker of the Foundations, sphere of the elements, the Earth)
Element: earth
Briatic Colour: brown (citrine, russet-red, olive green, black)
Number: 10
Magical Image: a young woman crowned and throned
Briatic Correspondence: stability
Illusion: materialism
Obligation: discipline
Virtue: discrimination
Vice: avarice & inertia
Qlippoth: stasis
Command: keep silent
Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel
Titles: The Gate; Gate of Death; Gate of Tears; Gate of Justice; The Inferior Mother; Malkah, the Queen; Kallah, the Bride; the Virgin.
God Name: Adonai ha Aretz, Adonai Malekh
Archangel: Sandalphon
Angel Order: Ishim
Keywords: the real world, physical matter, the Earth, Mother Earth, the physical elements, the natural world, sticks & stones, possessions, faeces, practicality, solidity, stability, inertia, heaviness, bodily death, incarnation.
Sephira: Yesod
Meaning: Foundation
Planet: Levanah (the Moon)
Element: Aethyr
Briatic Colour: purple
Number: 9
Magical Image: a beautiful man, very strong (e.g. Atlas)
Briatic Correspondence: receptivity, perception
Illusion: security
Obligation: trust
Virtue: independence
Vice: idleness
Qlippoth: zombieism, robotism
Command: go!
Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Machinery of the Universe
Titles: The Treasure House of Images
God Name: Shaddai el Chai
Archangel: Gabriel
Angel Order: Cherubim
Keywords: perception, interface, imagination, image, appearance, glamour, the Moon, the unconscious, instinct, tides, illusion, hidden infrastructure, dreams, divination, anything as it seems to be and not as it is, mirrors and crystals, the “Astral Plane”, Aethyr, glue, tunnels, sex & reproduction, the genitals, cosmetics, instinctive magic (psychism), secret doors, shamanic tunnel.
Sephira: Hod
Meaning: Glory, Splendour
Planet: Kokab (Mercury)
Element: air
Briatic Colour: orange
Number: 8
Magical Image: an hermaphrodite
Briatic Correspondence: abstraction
Illusion: order
Obligation: learn
Virtue: honesty, truthfulness
Vice: dishonesty
Qlippoth: rigidity
Command: will
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Splendour
Titles: –
God Name: Elohim Tzabaoth
Archangel: Raphael
Angel Order: Beni Elohim
Keywords: reason, abstraction, communication, conceptualisation, logic, the sciences, language, speech, money (as a concept), mathematics, medicine & healing, trickery, writing, media (as communication), pedantry, philosophy, Kabbalah (as an abstract system), protocol, the Law, ownership, territory, theft, “Rights”, ritual magic.
Sephira: Netzach
Meaning: Victory, Firmness
Planet: Nogah (Venus)
Element: water
Briatic Colour: green
Number: 7
Magical Image: a beautiful naked woman
Briatic Correspondence: nurture
Illusion: projection
Obligation: responsibility
Virtue: unselfishness
Vice: selfishness
Qlippoth: habit, routine
Command: know
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Beauty Triumphant
Titles: –
God Name: Jehovah Tzabaoth
Archangel: Haniel
Angel Order: Elohim
Keywords: passion, pleasure, luxury, sensual beauty, feelings, drives, emotions – love, hate, anger, joy, depression, misery, excitement, desire, lust; nurture, libido, empathy, sympathy, ecstatic magic.
Sephira: Tipheret
Meaning: Beauty
Planet: Shemesh (the Sun)
Element: fire
Briatic Colour: yellow
Number: 6
Magical Image: a king, a child, a sacrificed god
Briatic Correspondence: centrality, wholeness
Illusion: identification
Obligation: integrity
Virtue: devotion to the Great Work Vice: pride, self-importance
Qlippoth: hollowness
Command: dare
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Harmony
Titles: Melekh, the King; Zoar Anpin, the lesser countenance, the Microprosopus; the Son; Rachamin, charity.
God Name: Aloah va Daath
Archangel: Michael
Angel Order: Malachim
Keywords: harmony, integrity, balance, wholeness, the Self, self-importance, self-sacrifice, the Son of God, centrality, the Philospher’s Stone, identity, the solar plexus, a King, the Great Work.
Sephira: Gevurah
Meaning: Strength
Planet: Madim (Mars)
Briatic Colour: red
Number: 5
Magical Image: a mighty warrior
Briatic Correspondence: power
Illusion: invincibility
Obligation: courage & loyalty
Virtue: courage & energy
Vice: cruelty
Qlippoth: bureaucracy
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Power
Titles: Pachad, fear; Din, justice.
God Name: Elohim Gevor
Archangel: Kamael
Angel Order: Seraphim
Keywords: power, justice, retribution (eaten cold), the Law (in execution), cruelty, oppression, domination & the Power Myth, severity, necessary destruction, catabolism, martial arts.
Sephira: Chesed
Meaning: Mercy
Planet: Tzadekh (Jupiter)
Briatic Colour: blue
Number: 4
Magical Image: a mighty king
Briatic Correspondence: authority
Illusion: being right (self-righteousness)
Obligation: humility
Virtue: humility & obedience
Vice: tyranny, hypocrisy, bigotry, gluttony
Qlippoth: ideology
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Love
Titles: Gedulah, magnificence, love, majesty
God Name: El
Archangel: Tzadkiel
Angel Order: Chasmalim
Keywords: authority, creativity, inspiration, vision, leadership, excess, waste, secular and spiritual power, submission and the Annihilation Myth, the atom bomb, obliteration, birth, service.
Non-Sephira: Daath
Meaning: Knowledge
Daath has no manifest qualities and cannot be invoked directly.
Keywords: hole, tunnel, gateway, doorway, black hole, vortex.
Sephira: Binah
Meaning: Understanding
Planet: Shabbathai (Saturn)
Briatic Colour: black
Number: 3
Magical Image: an old woman on a throne
Briatic Correspondence: comprehension
Illusion: death
Virtue: silence
Vice: inertia
Qlippoth: fatalism
Spiritual Experience: Vision of Sorrow
Titles: Aima, the Mother; Ama, the Crone; Marah, the bitter sea; Khorsia, the Throne; the Fifty Gates of Understanding; Intelligence; the Mother of Form; the Superior Mother.
God Name: Elohim
Archangel: Cassiel
Angel Order: Aralim
Keywords: limitation, form, constraint, heaviness, slowness, old-age, infertility, incarnation, karma, fate, time, space, natural law, the womb and gestation, darkness, boundedness, enclosure, containment, fertility, mother, weaving and spinning, death (annihilation).
Sephira: Chokhmah
Meaning: Wisdom
Planet: Mazlot (the Zodiac, the fixed stars)
Briatic Colour: silver/white, grey
Number: 2
Magical Image: a bearded man
Briatic Correspondence: revolution
Illusion: independence
Virtue: good
Vice: evil
Qlippoth: arbitrariness
Spiritual Experience: Vision of God face-to-face
Titles: Abba, the Father. The Supernal Father.
God Name: Jah
Archangel: Ratziel
Angel Order: Auphanim
Keywords: pure creative energy, lifeforce, the wellspring.
Sephira: Kether
Meaning: Crown
Planet: Rashith ha Gilgalim (first swirlings, the Big Bang)
Briatic Colour: pure white
Number: 1
Magical Image: a bearded man seen in profile
Briatic Correspondence: unity
Illusion: attainment
Virtue: attainment
Vice: –
Qlippoth: futility
Spiritual Experience: Union with God
Titles: Ancient of Days, the Greater Countenance (Macroprosopus), the White Head, Concealed of the Concealed, Existence of Existences, the Smooth Point, Rum Maalah, the Highest Point.
God Name: Eheieh
Archangel: Metatron
Angel Order: Chaioth ha Qadesh
Keywords: unity, union, all, pure consciousness, God, the Godhead, manifestation, beginning, source, emanation.

The correspondences to the tree are below given by the Hermetic Library:

  1. The Meaning is a translation of the Hebrew name of the sephira.
  2. The Planet in most cases is the planet associated with the sephira. In some cases it is not a planet at all (e.g. the fixed stars). The planets are ordered by decreasing apparent motion
  3. The Element is the physical element (earth, water, air, fire, aether) that has most in common with the nature of the Sephira. The Golden Dawn applied an excess of logic to these attributions and made a mess of them, to the confusion of many. Only the five Lower Face sephiroth have been attributed an element.
  4. Briatic colour. This is the colour of the sephira as seen in the world of Creation, Briah. There are colour scales for the other three worlds but I haven’t found them to be useful in practical work.
  5. Magical Image. Useful in meditiations; some are astute.
  6. The Briatic Correspondence is an abstract quality which says something about the essence of the way the sephira expresses itself.
  7. The Illusion characterises the way in which the energy of the sephira clouds one’s judgement; it is something which is obviously true. Most people suffer from one or more of these according to their temperament.
  8. The Obligation is a personal quality which is demanded of an initiate at this level.
  9. The Virtue and Vice are the energy of the sephiroth as it manifests in a positive and negative sense in the personality.
  10. Qlippoth is a word which means “shell”. In medieval Kabbalah each sephira was “seen” to be adding form to the sephira which preceded it in the Lightning Flash (see Chapter 3.). Form was seen to an accretion, a shell around the pure divine energy of the Godhead, and each layer or shell hid the divine radiance a little bit more, until God was buried in form and exiled in matter, the end-point of the process. At the time attitudes to matter were tainted with the Manichean notion that matter was evil, a snare for the spirit, and consequently the Qlippoth or shells were “demonised” and actually turned into demons. The correspondence I have given here restores the original notion of a shell of form without the corresponding force to activate it; it is the lifeless, empty husk of a sephira devoid of force, and while it isn’t a literal demon, it is hardly a bundle of laughs when you come across it.
  11. The Command refers to the Four Powers of the Sphinx, with an extra one added for good measure.
  12. The Spiritual Experience is just that.
  13. The Titles are a collection of alternative names for the sephira; most are very old.
  14. The God Name is a key to invoking the power of the sephira in the world of emanation, Atziluth.
  15. The Archangel mediates the energy of the sephira in the world of creation, Briah.
  16. The Angel Order administers the energy of the sephira in the world of formation, Yetzirah.
  17. The Keywords are a collection of phrases which summarise key aspects of the sephira.