This article is published in 2 parts. It is taken from Knight Berthelsen's presentation at September Kapitel in Austria, 2008. Look for part two in the near future!

Welcome to an exploration of Kabbalah, one of civilization's most deeply rooted esoteric traditions!

The Torah says that there were two trees in the Garden of Eden - the tree of Knowledge and the tree of Life. We know the story of the Tree of Knowledge with Adam and Eve. But we do not know as much about the Tree of Life.

Many spiritual traditions have called the Tree of Life by other names, such as the Tree of History, the tree of Ascent, the tree of Inner Necessity, the tree of Sacrifice, and the tree of the Cosmos.

It is an archetypal symbol of the soul’s journey to into material form and its quest for wholeness. The Tree is a bridge between heaven and earth and also an intermediary place in the mind where we humans, and all life, find spiritual nourishment.

This short article can only introduce the subject to you. But you may continue your explorations with the reading list provided at the end of the second article.

What is Kabbalah? Kabbalah is the foundation stone of Western Esoteric tradition, as compared to the ancient Vedic “Yoga Sutras, Upanishads, the Bagavad Gita” which are the foundation of the Eastern Esoteric Traditions. Kabbalah has its roots in the Vedic traditions of the Aryan races which lived long before the Hebrews came upon the scene in history.

Kabbalah is the Inner Way of the Hebrews. It was historically used to teach and direct the priesthood. But more importantly, it was and still is a tool for navigating the landscape of the psyche, which mirrors the soul. It shows a way of learning how to connect directly with Divine energies.

It was the way communicated orally and intuitively to initiates of the Hebraic priesthood. This spiritual lineage traces all the way back to Adam, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus, James and others.

Today, this tradition is open to anyone who earnestly devotes time and energy to study. More and more people are ‘ready’ to know themselves in deeper terms than ever before. Collective consciousness of the human race is reaching a tipping point where understanding the nature of the mind is coming into alignment with science and technology.

Kabbalah is personal, universal and practical. It may be applied to daily living and is designed to be used in many creative ways.

Why study Kabbalah? Kabbalah is not a path of transcendence or escape of practical life. It is a recipe for mixing spiritual experience into daily life. It works by using heart energy to manifest spirit into material form.

It will be interesting to map out (on the Sephirot diagram in the next article) the soul’s round trip journey between two destinations, Heaven and Earth. It describes both the soul's journey into the density of matter and the soul's  brave quest back up the tree as it returns home to heaven.

Both journeys are fueled by love, both universal and personal. The reason for the trip is the desire to grow and mature as a citizen of the earth and the Cosmos. Somewhere along the way, the soul chooses to leave the comforts of its home in distant stars and bravely decides to descend toward earth and the mundane world.

The journey toward Earth has traditionally been described as a lightning flash, but the climb back up the tree is more in the nature of an epic Quest for the Holy Grail.  It is a direct experience, highly personal, and communion with Deity which cannot be communicated to another being who has not had the same experience.

How does Kabbalah work? Active imagination is central to discussion of Kabbalah, because imagination is the vital bridge between the senses and the intellect, mind and body, spirit and matter. Like the Tree, imagination unites heaven and earth and is a source of endless regeneration.

The Key to Kabbalah is heart energy. The goal is the sacred marriage between heaven and earth.  The symbol of the self realized human is the Seal of Solomon, the 6-pointed star.

Incidentally, the image associated with this article shows the sun in the shape of the sacred marriage, as a coincidental light refraction in a photo taken by the author. What a pleasant surprise to be reminded that the Light shares natural beauty in most unusual ways!

The central Sephira on the Tree is Tiphareth, which is the heart of the tree. This energy zone  is located midway up the tree. It connects heaven and earth and is considered the gateway to higher realms.

The way the Sephirot works is simply through degrees of energy. By that I mean, spectrums of energy, just as light breaks into spectrums of color.

If one thinks of the speed of sound and light, which travels through time and space at different speeds, it is conceivable to think outside the box just a bit that it is possible that Spirit travels much faster than even the speed of light! 

Spiritual energy is much more intense and at the same time, more subtle. Spirit resonates at much higher frequency than stone, yet spirit permeates even stone. Spiritual energy animates life.

Just as white sunlight contains all color frequencies in the spectrum, so spirit also contains lower spectrums of energy reflected in all creation.

So…What is the point of trying to understand energy in this way? The message of Kabbalah is that there is a way for humans to directly communicate with the Divine. And, according to Kabbalah, the function of religion is to facilitate growth in that direction. But it is NOT easy! One must be devoted to this study as a way of life. 

Tune in for part 2: To be continued coming soon!