The Tree of Life for the Free Spirit

There is no single Kabbalah among the Jews. There is a body of

knowledge that is composed of traditions arising during more than

5,000 years of growth. For most of these years, the Kabbalah belonged exclusively to the Jews. In the 12th century, the Kabbalah emerged from secrecy in Spain. It was here that the diagram known

as the Tree of Life first appeared. This diagram is the missing link
between the two traditions of Jewish and Western Kabbalism. Almost all of Western Kabbalism is built upon this Tree. Jewish Kabbalism places much less emphasis upon it. It first appearance in

a book was in Portae Lucis in 1516. This was a Latin translation of

Shaarei Orab (Gates of Light) written by Rabbi Joseph Gikatalia (1248-1323) around the year 1290. - Eric Yudelove, p. 12

Here is the Tetragrammaton (four letters or Y-H-V-H) or Door of Light through which shall enter the just (righteous) person

See Frances Yates on Renaissance Melancholia

The Gifts of Esoteric Teachers

Rabbi Joseph Gikatalia (1290) publishes a diagram of the Tree of Life from the Kabbalah of the Jews, mining it from Middle Eastern traditions and giving it to the Hermetic readers of the Western Renaissance Mantak Chia (1980) gives the gift of Taoist Yoga, mining it from China and giving it to students in the United States. Chia was raised a Christian and educated by Buddhists in Thailand. Both found an audience for treasures that were largely ignored by their religious traditions Both describe practices for spiritual development that are taken up by individuals interested in esoteric (nonreligious) spirituality (Hermetic)

Rachel Pollack Tarot author works with artist to deepen the understanding of the Tree of Life One of Pollacks many writing projects

Scholarly Studies Daniel Matt describes the history of the Tree of Life, the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar On the radical nature of the Ein Soph or Infinite Source in Jewish theology Why should anyone care about a book written 700 years ago?

Scholarly Studies History of Jewish Mysticism Not the Hermetic use of the Tree of Life, not the way the Tree was used by, for example, the Golden Dawn (1890s England)

Spiritual Meta-Language
Assembly Language Golden Dawn
The Order of the Golden Dawn was a 1890s renewal of Renaissance Hermetic groups. The O.G.D. used the Tree of Life as an table of correspondences to collate all of Western (European) spirituality The Tree organized all correspondences: colors, fragrances, elements, tone pitches, sounds of words, spatial directions, seasons of the year, the zodiac, images (Tarot cards), religious icons, theological concepts Everything was related back to the single infinite Source, the One, the Ein Soph (without limits)
If we think of religions as software programs designed for and embedded in specific cultural machines, then the Hermetic quest (originating prior to religious wars of 16th century Europe) was to find an underlying Assembly language for a spiritual quest that would function on a variety of cultural machines without engaging the proprietary mutually destructive code (the attack virus) The perennial philosophy is something like a spiritual Unix, a language closer to machine binary code and non-proprietary

SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS

spiritual but not religious

Meditation for Being (Tolle, Chopra) Symbols for personal Insight (Freke, Pollack) Cosmic Images (Place, Duquette) Yoga, Tai Chi

Meditation assigned by minister, priest, or rabbi Symbols in context of church teaching & sacred texts Cosmic images as vehicles of dogma Practice in Hinduism, Taoism

Spirit as freedom for personal journey

A journey that was forbidden except in all but the most tolerant cultures

Journey has dangers

Return to the Source (One)

Lose ones footing or grounding

Loss of self, ego, loss of clear direction Spacey, adrift, anchorless, no steady self

Experience of the Source is a powerful experience of Ein Soph, the Infinite, that which dissolves the human ego and its properties
Wu Chi = Emptiness Brahman Godhead Divinity Nothingness (when contrasted with human concerns)

Contain the journey: Methods

Religion offers containment

With moral obligations and everyday duties With physical exercises and bodily grounding

With communal life or counselling (spiritual direction) With esoteric initiation and degrees of attainment

The Hermetic and Esoteric Orders said: You are your own master, a spark of divinity

You can become a Magus

Here are the methods.

The path is long and you must pass several tests over the years

But the Order can help you attain higher levels of spirit
You do not need us absolutely but you can get some useful knowledge from us

Occult Esoteric Groups

Order of the Golden Dawn (1890s)

Occult Sciences (1700s), Freemasons

Rosicrucians (1600s) Hermeticists (1500s, Renaissance)

Occult Esoteric Groups

Experimental, searching for underlying unity behind

religions, the perennial philosophy Alchemy, Magic, Hermeticism, Astrology, Cabala eclectic rather than dogmatic blending all religious desires, trans-ethnic aspiring to be older than Christianity or older than any religion based on philanthropy rather than moral discipline practical science (medicine, healing) rather than hardened metaphysics or worldview

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment

Frances Yates, historian, The Rosicrucian

Enlightenment and Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age Rosicrucians = 17th century, "invisible philanthropic society for healing, non-monarchical and nonsectarian search for more balanced, less fanatical, nondogmatic path, a more useful and human-friendly religion prior to 1620 (Thirty Years War) a non-religious religion

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment

Counter-Culture, against monarchy / patriarchy,

experimental rather than fanatical, reform-minded rather than dogmatic inquisition, against Hapsburg and Holy Roman Empire consolidation Based in England, Germany, Bohemia, Scandinavia Historically prior to Reformation, building strong up until 1620 (Battle of White Mountain in Prague) but crushed in Thirty Years War (1620-50) Christian Cabalists (contradicting the Imperial Catholic Church of the Counter-Reformation or Inquisition) and the Bohemian Church (possibly allies of Anglican England)

Links for applied Tree of Life http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=9h9XB ayyBUw

http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=7eaGV xvZPrQ

Spread for this afternoon. The Tree of Life Locate the stages of your creativity in the Tree of Life card spread. See your final project in the cards.

Heros Journey Warm up this morning by following the Heros Journey as it flows through the 12-card spread

No One Dies in Lilydale