The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of the

Tarot and Kabala

Samael Aun Weor

CHAPTER 54

THE TREE OF LIFE

If we look at the Tree of Life as written by the Hebrew Kabalists, we see ten Sephiroth.  The tree begins with the Ancient of Days, Kether, who is in the highest place.  After this comes Chokmah, the second Sephira, or Second Logos, which is really the Cosmic Christ or Vishnu.  Then comes Binah, the Third Logos, Lord Shiva.  Kether, Chokmah and Binah are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as drawn in the Tree of Life of the Hebraic Mysteries; this is how the Rabbis taught it.

Kether, Chokmah and Binah are the Trimurti of Perfection, they are the divine triangle, the much-beloved Father, the much-adored Son, and the very wise Holy Spirit.

After the divine triangle there is an abyss and after this abyss comes a second triangle formed by Chesed, the fourth Sephira that corresponds to the Innermost, or speaking in Sanskrit, Atman the Ineffable.  This triangle continues with Geburah, the rigor of the Law, the fifth Sephira; Buddhi, the Divine Soul, which is feminine.  Then comes Tiphereth, the sixth Sephira, the Human Soul, which is masculine.

A third triangle unfolds, and this is represented by Netzach, the mind, the seventh Sephira; then Hod, the eighth Sephira, the Astral Body; further below is Yesod, the ninth Sephira, the principal foundation of sex, the vital base of the physical organism, the Vital Body or etheric vehicle, the linga sarira of the Theosophists.

Finally, at the lowest part of the Tree of Life, we find Malchuth, the tenth Sephira, the Physical  world or Physical body, the body of flesh and bone.

The first triangle, Kether, Chokmah and Binah, is Logoic.  The second triangle, Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth, is Ethical. The third triangle, Netzach, Hod and Yesod, is Magical.  Malchuth, the physical world, is a fallen Sephira.

The first triangle, that is, the Logoic triangle, obviously has its center of gravity, and anyone can see that it is the Divine Father, the Ancient of Days, Kether.  Kether is a mathematical point in infinite, immense and unalterable space. This triangle is the triangle of the Father.

If we analyze the second triangle, we find that it is Ethical.  Why do we call it ethical?  Simply because ethics, right conduct, takes priority there.  There we become acquainted with the rigor of the Law, there we come to know good and evil; what good is and what evil is.  This triangle is the world of pure Spirit, the Hindustani Trimurti of Atman, Buddhi, and Manas.  Obviously, the center of gravity of this triangle stands out right away: it is the Human Soul.  That Soul—Tiphereth, that is, which correspond to the Causal body—suffers, and the very human part of it remains in us.  This triangle is also called the triangle of the Son; we find there that the Cosmic Christ, Chokmah, usually manifests through the Human Soul, which is the Tiphereth of the Hebraic Kabalah.

The third triangle is very interesting because this is the Magical Triangle, formed by the Mind, or Netzach; the Astral Body, or Hod; and the Etheric Body, Yesod or the basic sexual principle of the universal life.  Why is it called the Magical Triangle?  Because it is undoubtedly in the kingdom of the Mind, the Astral and even the Kliphoth or infernal worlds, that one uses High Magic.

There is no doubt that it is in Netzach that we can find Hermetic Magic and Natural Magic in Hod.  Other authors think differently, they believe that it is in Netzach, the Mental World, that Natural Magic is found.  I have to disagree with them in this matter because strictly speaking the mind is Mercurial.  There are authors who disagree with my concepts, supposing that the mind is Venusian.  I regret to disagree with that kind of concept because anyone can see that the mind is Mercurial.  Therefore, Hermetic Magic has to be identified with Mercury, in the mind, and as far as Natural, Ceremonial or Ritualistic Magic is concerned, we can find it in the Astral world, in the Astral Body.

Where will we find the Magical Triangle’s center of gravity?  Obviously it’s found in sex, because it is from sex that birth, death and regeneration come.  Everything revolves around the sex.  In other words, the third triangle has sex, or Yesod, as its center of gravity; Yesod is the force of the Third Logos, the sexual potency.

And so we’ve learned that there are three basic centers of gravity in this whole Tree of Life.  In the first triangle Kether, the Ancient of centuries, the First Logos, is the center of gravity.  In the second triangle Chokmah, the Cosmic Christ, the Second Logos, has its center of gravity in the Human Soul, Tiphereth.  In the third triangle Yesod becomes the center of gravity of the Holy Spirit, the Third Logos.  Life, the physical body, and all organisms that have life, come forth from the sexual force  Malchuth itself, which is the physical world [and physical body], could not exist without the presence of sex, since we are children of a man and a woman.  Therefore, Yesod is the foundation of the Third Logos, the center of gravity of the sexual force of the Third Logos.

There are two Trees of Eden:  the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life.  The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is sex, and is represented by the sexual organs.  The Tree of Life is the Being and is represented in our physical body by the spinal column. 

Every true cultural doctrine has to study these two Trees in detail, because the study of one tree without the study of the other gives knowledge that is incomplete and useless. 

What is the purpose of studying the Being if we don’t know about sex?  Both Trees are from Eden and they even share the same roots.  These Trees are the two great main columns of the White Lodge:  Wisdom and Love.  Wisdom is the Tree of the Science of Good and Evil and Love is the Tree of Life. 

In ancient Egypt the doctrine of the two Trees was studied in depth.

The fatal shadow of the Tree of Life is the ego.  The fatal shadow of the Tree of Knowledge is fornication.  People usually mistake the shadows for reality. 

Those who put an end to the process of the ego realize the Being in themselves.

Those who put an end to fornication become Christs.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”   (Genesis 2:16-17)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.   (Genesis 3:6)

And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever… 

So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.  (Genesis 3:22, 24)

If man could eat of the delicious fruits of the Tree of Life, we would then have “fornicating gods”.  That would be the curse of curses, the most terrible of sacrifices; the impossible.

The Flaming Sword of Cosmic Justice turns every way, blazing, threatening and terrible, guarding the way of the Tree of Life.

From the Sephirothic Crown—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the Innermost was born.  The Innermost is enveloped in six lower vehicles that co-penetrate each other and form the human being.  All of the faculties and powers of the Innermost are the fruits of the Tree of Life.  When human beings return to Eden (by the same path by which they left) they will be able to eat of the fruits of the Tree of Life.  Then they will see God face to face without dying, and lightning will serve as their scepter and tempests as their footstool.

There are ten waves of life that penetrate and co-penetrate each other without becoming confused.  Those ten eternal emanations are the ten Sephiroth of Kabala, the ten branches of the Tree of Life.  Now we can begin to understand why God put ten fingers on our hands.

The twelve senses of the human being (seven chakras or churches + five physical senses = tewelve) are related with our spinal column.  The spinal column is the physical exponent of the Tree of Life.  The twelve senses are the twelve fruits of the Tree of Life.