This article is part 2 of previously published  introduction to Kabbalah: Heart of Kabbalah for Knight Templars: Part 1, which offered a basic introduction and explored several Kabbalah questions.

So, we continue with an examination of the diagram of the Tree of Life.

What is the Sephirot?

The Sephirot is a diagram of the Tree of Life. Although its esoteric oral tradition is ancient, its first written version appeared in Moorish Spain during the early Middle Ages. At this time, both Arabs and Hebrews studied side by side in flourishing centers of higher learning scattered across Europe. There was even a Kabbalah school in Troyes supported by St. Bernard of Clairveaux’s family. So, the inner circle of early Templars also probably studied Kabbalah.

The Sephirot is a soul map.

 At first glance, this ‘soul map’ appears to be nothing more than a geometric maze, but it contains every story of every human who has ever walked the earth. It has claimed the fascination of great thinkers and artists such as Goethe, Paul Klee, Samuel Coleridge, Carl Jung and William Blake, just to name a few.

The image associated with this article is a Sephirot Diagram.

It shows many things, and with contemplation it can explain different aspects of our psyches, life lessons, virtues and pitfalls of the Great Experiment we call life on earth.

If we stand at the bottom of the Tree of Life, looking up, we see pathways which lead to knowledge and understanding of higher spheres. When we look at the tree from the top down, we see pathways which transmit spiritual energy downward through the whole system.

The spheres of the Sephirot contain various energies generated by spirit. Each Sephira contains its own attributes. They interact with one another, blend with one another like the colors of the rainbow.

The Hebrew word, ‘Kabbalah’ means both ‘to receive’ and ‘to reveal.’  So, the sender and receiver are the same. All creation is made of energy, which can be sent and received. Therefore each Sephira contains both male and female qualities. They both send and receive energies.

Zones:

Each Sphere, alone, is a zone containing particular energies. The Sephirot is like a kindergarten class room with different areas to explore in one’s psyche. In the lower zones, the child discovers how the natural world works.

Climbing up to the next level of branches, the student learns social skills and how to function in the groups through thoughts and feelings.

The next branch upward, the soul explores the ethics of compassion and justice. It is at this level of awareness that heart activates and the soul connects with higher energies.

Sitting in the top branches are Holy Wisdom, Understanding and the Source of all creation.

Each Sephira:
     1. functions as an energy zone
     2. functions as receptacles of emanations from higher realms
     3. contains the consciousness of certain functions
     4. manifests particular qualities of energies

Pathways:

The line between energy zones is a pathway. The 22 pathways of the Sephirot correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each path can be seen as a dynamic connection between the Sephirot and spheres that it connects.

Kabbalah is:

• A map of levels of awareness
• A way to show a relationship between inner and outer experiences
• A way to connect inner awareness to outer awareness
• A way to embrace diversity beyond constraints of culture and religion
• A way of understanding symbols that have been forgotten – by bridging the essence of form to their spiritual counterparts
• A way of communicating & connecting with entities in higher realms.

In conclusion, by consciously experiencing  the spheres, striving to balance and clarify within oneself the attributes of spiritual manifestations at lower frequencies, a person gradually gathers the energy back into the self which was scattered or dissipated upon entering material form. With every lesson learned, energy accumulates and is released into the Universe, which in turn attracts more energy of the same resonance. The ascent is accomplished one experience at a time; one devoted thought, one meditation; one manifested dream at a time.

Diximus!

For further explorations we have included a reading list: Bruno, Giordano, The Cabala of Pegasus, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2002.

Comte de St. Germain, The Most Holy Trinosophia, Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, CA, 1983.

Cook, Roger, The Tree of Life, Image of the Cosmos, Avon Books, New York, NY, 1974.

Frawley, David, From the River of Heaven, Passage Press, Salt Lake City UT, 1990.

Hoffman, Edward, The Kabbalah Deck, Pathway to the Soul , Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA, 2000.

Halevi, Z'en ben Shimon, Kabbalah, Tradition of Hidden Knowledge, Thames and Hudson, London, 1979.

Hall, Manly P., The Light of the Vedas, Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles, CA, 1952.

Smithsonian Institute, Hopps, Walter, Visions, Volume I, Pomegranate Publications, London, UK, 1977.

Parfitt, Will, The Complete Guide to the Kabbalah, Rider Books, Random House, Sydney, Australia 1988.

Parfitt, Will, The New Living Qabalah, A Practical and Experiential Guide to Understanding the Tree of Life, Element Books, Shaftsbury, Dorset, 1995.

Scholem, Gershom, Kabbalah, Meridian, the Penguin Group, New York 1978.