Kabbalah pt 1

[random417]

So, I guess we'll put this here, as it seems to be the best place for it. It's part of a 3 part series, I'll put up the rest in a bit. Also, I'm on my phone, but it might be easier to follow if everyone would find a pic of the Tree.

Ok, so... First, the Kabbalah can have different approaches and different takes on it. I plan to present the one that I use. I realize that people may take things differently in a few cases, especially when it comes to color. There's also the point of where to put The Star card. I'll present what I know.

For those of you that want the technical stuff... I'm using the Golden Dawn color scheme, with the King scale for the sephera, and the Queen scale for the paths. I don't buy Crowley and moving the Star card, although I'm sure it works fine for those that use it. I'm only going to teach the 4 worlds on one Tree for simplicities sake, although if the discussion of multiple Trees comes up, we'll deal with that then. The 3 Negative veils are also overcomplecating things for now I think.

As I'm sure you can tell already, I plan on this being a simple outline of Kabbalah, not a complete course. Also, we can cover history of Kabbalah in a different post, as there will be quite a few who are interested in Kabbalah, but not so much a history lesson.

First, the photo below (or wherever it ends up on here) is the Tree of Life, I bet everyone has seen it at least once. It's got spheres, or sephera (sigular sepheroth btw) and paths on it. We'll deal with them in another post. Now, the Tree is organized in 3 vertical columns or pillars. from left to right, it's the Pillar of Severity, the Pillar of Mildness, and the Pillar of Mercy. The interesting thing to note is that the pillar of Severity has a feminine attribute, of course Mildness is gender-neutral, and the pillar of Mercy is masculine. A bit opposite of what you'd think, right? It does fit, and quite well actually, but it took me several years of study to really understand why. We'll see if we can't clear it up a bit later.

Now, as far as what you do with this pretty picture here, and the concepts behind them. Well, the Tree is a map of the cosmos in a way, so pretty much anything. I think the most powerful thing about the Kabballah is that everything fits there somewhere, so you can look at anything and everything through the lens of Kabballah. The spheres have angels that are traditionally attributed to them, although you could find a God or Goddess for each of them and that's appropriate as well. Actually, myth cycles provide a way to understand deeper levels of things, so that works out great. The other thing that can lead to some very powerful experiences is pathworking. Kabballah gives us a framework for the spiritual or "Astral" plane, so you can travel to and learn about different paths and spheres.

In my next post, we'll talk about the spheres themselves, what they mean, and the symbols, spirits, Names and Deities attached to them, and how to work with them.

[-Dark-Moon-]

Thank you for taking the time to post this. I'm on my phone too, so completely understand!

Really appreciate your time.

Blessings
Dark Moon

[loona wynd]

Now is the Kabbalah a tree of life or map of the universe or just a map of the self? I've seen it as both relating to chakras in the body for spiritual work as well as relating to a spiritual realm consisting of the energies of those Sephirotrth. What are your thoughts on this?

[random417]

The tree is both a map of the universe, with the physical realm being at the bottom, and God being at the top, and a map of energy systems within the human body. The sephera that links to the astral for example, also links to both the moon, with all the traditional links that would carry, and the physical place on the body, in this case the generative organs. I'll haul my pc out later and do each sphere, both in the body and in the cosmos.

[loona wynd]

The tree is both a map of the universe, with the physical realm being at the bottom, and God being at the top, and a map of energy systems within the human body. The sephera that links to the astral for example, also links to both the moon, with all the traditional links that would carry, and the physical place on the body, in this case the generative organs. I'll haul my pc out later and do each sphere, both in the body and in the cosmos.

Interesting. I mean one of the central concepts of my practice is the use of a world tree or Axis Mundi in which you can use it to navigate the various realms from the underworld to the heavens to the elemental realms and to realms of specific types of spirits. In many traditions this is shaped as a tree (the norse have Yggdrasil for example) while in others it can be a mountain of sorts (Greek/Roman have Olympus and Hades set up with the mountain being the bridge between the heaven, physical world, and underworld.

I look forward to the basic map outline and then more information on each sphere and their associations.

[random417]

In some ways, it's much the same idea. Kabbalah is great about teaching not only how to travel in the other worlds, but also how to call entities from there to you.

I'm at the in-laws, but when I get home, I'll start on the spheres. It'll be interesting to see how it matches up with some of the other world tree systems

[loona wynd]

In some ways, it's much the same idea. Kabbalah is great about teaching not only how to travel in the other worlds, but also how to call entities from there to you.

My own worldview system is a bit more complex honestly. I believe in a very complex multiverse where there are many different undworlds (all in the general area known as the Underworld) and heavens. I've experienced too many different underworlds to not hold this view. Underworld work is scary at times but well worth it as you face your deepest fears and your darkest self and any lies you have about yourself. Is there any realm in the Kabbalah world tree where you face your lies and the underworld or the afterlife/realm of the dead?

[random417]

One of the paths corresponds to underworld work, but you also have the quippiloth that is underworld work some times.

[loona wynd]

One of the paths corresponds to underworld work, but you also have the quippiloth that is underworld work some times.

I look forward to learning more about them then. I am probably going to crack open the High Temple of Witchcraft as we have this discussion. That book is about how the Kabblah is used within the Temple tradition. It's the fourth degree material. You go from psychic work- wicca/style rituals -shamanic practices- kabblah- deity direct mysteries in the Temple tradition. I've done work on the first and third degrees. So I may use that text as my personal reference in this discussion. I've been looking for a good excuse to read it and you've given it to me

[Firebird]

Hi random
will you be continuing this thread? I really look forward to the pics and more info. I was always kind at a loss with this especially the color associations, perhaps there is an explanation behind that as well?
Thanks, always enjoy your posts.
bb, Firebird

[Vesca]

Kabbalah always hurt my brain.. and I'm not too proud to admit it publicly.