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a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
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a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
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To: alt.magick From: [M] Subject: Re: A question about the Tree of Life Date: 6 Oct 2003 17:22:51 -0700 The Tree of Life can be used in an endless number of ways, don't believe anyone who tells you "this is the correct and only way it must be done". However, how you use the Tree must be *consistent* with it's underlying philosophy. Now this could get complicated because different people/systems may use different philosophical and/or symbolic starting points. But the point is, develop an understanding of what the Tree of Life is all about (according to the system of your choice), and then consider the different options for how to use it and use what makes sense to you. The system I use takes this approach: Creation, either creation of the universe or of a human being (which you eventually understand to be the same thing), occurs as a lightning flash "down" the tree. That is, from one-kether to ten-malkuth. It is a lightning flash because it essentially occurs at the same 'time', so to speak, where in a sense the whole tree is created at once even though each sephira is layered over the one before it. So, the progression from one to ten is a story of creation, it explains the underlying creation philosophy or mystery that is the foundation of the Tree. Now then, here we are in Malkuth, we the created, looking "up" at divine unity, Kether. Our path, as qabalists or mystics or what have you, is to work our way up the tree, for various reasons that I won't get into right now (the purpose will vary from person to person). This path back up the tree is often depicted as a snake that winds itself around the tree, touching each path as it goes. This symbolizes the idea that in order to consciously reconnect with that divine unity in Kether, we need to explore each path between the sephirot and harmonize and balance each sephira within us. It's basically like, now that we've been created, let's look at each stage of our creation in order to heal the imbalances and reach a state of harmony. We examine the stages of creation from the "bottom up" because we start from where we are, from what we have direct experience of, but also because where we are is our foundation. If we jump ahead before we are ready, any imbalances that we haven't addressed will make the foundation faulty and prevent us from reaching a healthy harmony further up the tree. Now a comment on the various rediculous gender biases in your post (including that horrid poem) - all the sephirot are part of every person of every gender. We all need to balance all of them, and they each have masculine and feminine aspects (or neither, as with Kether - there is no duality in Kether). And actually, as far as I'm concerned, Malkuth is the only sephira where there is physical manifestation thus it is the only sephira where a physical attribute such as genetalia has any significance. Now there's lots of 'advanced' theories about differences in qabalistic work that spring from this idea, so I'm not saying it's insignificant, I'm just saying that if you're studying the basics gender should not affect what part of the tree you choose to work on. EOF
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