and the Tree of Life - Joy Vernon Tarot and Reiki, Inc. · the Tarot—rather this concept gives us...

Tarot and the

Tree of Life

Part 1: The Process of Emanation

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 (c) 2010 by Joy Vernon. All rights reserved. 3

The Creation Process

The Tsimsum

The contraction of

G-d when he desires to create something

The line is the ray of light from G-d into the darkness that resulted from his contraction

Beam of Sunlight Shines on a Rock Pedestal in a Cave

by Stephen Alvarez


First Emanation: The Ray


The First Circle


The Overlapping Circles


Second Emanation: The Worlds


The Smaller Circles


Intersections


Third Emanation: The Sephiroth


The 32 Paths of the Tree of Life

Illustration from Paths of Wisdom (1st Edition)

by John Michael Greer


The Esoteric Fool

Each of these developments (line to

worlds to sephiroth to paths) has to do

with the Divine and

his desire to interact with the material

world of his creation and

how he steps his energy down into

forms that no longer are him but only,

often inaccurately, reflect him, but that

we can more easily understand and

work with

Has qualities of the esoteric Fool, but

not necessarily associated directly with

the Tarot—rather this concept gives us

the why behind the how—learning to

use the tarot for our personal process of

manifestation


Kabbalah is a Process;

Tarot is a Tool The kabbalah defines a

process of

manifestation

(stepping down) or

connecting with the

Divine (climbing up)

The Tarot gives us a

tool for working with

that system

Part 2: The

Correspondences


The Four Worlds

The four tarot suits

(wands, cups, swords,

pentacles) correspond to

the four worlds

YHVH

Fire, Water, Air, Earth

Yod: Atziluth: Fire: Wands

Heh: Briah: Water: Cups

Vav: Yetzirah: Air: Swords

Heh: Assiah: Earth: Pentacles


The Ten Sephiroth The tarot pips, or numbered

cards, correspond to the 10 Sephiroth

1. Kether: Crown. The four Aces.

2. Chokmah: Wisdom. The four twos.

3. Binah: Understanding. The four threes.

4. Chesed: Mercy. The four fours.

5. Geburah: Severity. The four fives.

6. Tiphareth: Beauty, Harmony. The four sixes.

7. Netzach: Victory, Perseverance. The four sevens.

8. Hod: Splendor, Yielding. The four eights.

9. Yesod: Foundation. The four nines.

10. Malkuth: Kingdom. The four tens.


Other Correspondences


Example - Hod •8 of Wands: Swiftness

•Shows eight flying staffs angled towards the ground, representing swiftness and coming in

for a landing in the world of manifestation inspired by the spiritual fire of emanation

•the real power behind Hod (compare Mercury bringing messages from the gods to the

world of man).

•8 of Cups: Abandoned Success

•Shows the figure walking away from the emotional cups of Netzach, perhaps staying in

the intellect (Hod, also World of Yetzirah) without allowing the motivating force of

emotion (Netzach, also World of Briah) to help us manifest success.

•8 of Swords: Foreshortened Force

•Shows a bound figure surrounded by swords, representing too many ideas, or being stuck

on the World of Yetzirah level and unable to manifest due to not making decisions or not

being able to cut away or eliminate the unnecessary, perhaps even an overactive intellect

not able to ground itself into practicality.

•8 of Pentacles: Prudence

•Shows a man methodically and studiously repeating the steps of etching pentacles--

manifestation, but without the spiritual fire to kick us to a higher level.


The Tetragrammaton

and the Court Cards

The tarot court

cards correspond to

YHVH as placed

over the Sephiroth Yod: Chokmah: Kings

Heh: Binah: Queens

Vav: Tiphareth: Knights

Final Heh: Malkuth: Pages

Yod Heh

Vav

Final Heh


Example – Kings and Knights

•Use kabbalistic correspondences to demonstrate

why the Kings are associated with Chokmah and

why the Knights are associated with Tiphareth

•Now demonstrate the converse

•Discuss the relevance of the permutation of the

court cards

•


The 22 Paths

The 22 Major Arcana

of the tarot

correspond to the 22

paths of the Tree of

Life

Paths are a

negotiation between

the two Sephiroth

that they link


Example – The Path of Tav

The Path of Tav negotiates between Yesod/Foundation

and Malkuth/Kingdom

Between the Moon and the four Elements

Between the etheric body (nephesh) and the material

body (guph)

The World card could mean: the transition from the

world of illusion (moon) into the world of reality

(elements)

Or, the manifest world (Kingdom/elements/material

body) is based on/derived from (Foundation) the world of

imagination (moon/etheric)—we create our own reality

Other ideas?


The Three Pillars

3 Pillars

– Define relationships

between the Paths/Majors

– Left pillar is the Pillar of

Severity or Pillar of Form

– Right pillar is the Pillar of

Mercy or Pillar of Force

– Middle Pillar is the Pillar of

Consciousness or Pillar of

Balance (Equilibrium,

Balance)

Illustration from Paths of Wisdom (2nd Edition)



Path of Creation

Lightning Flash Path

– Follows the 10 Sephiroth –

process of enlightenment

– Divine coming down to us

– Path of emanation or

manifestation

– Also called “The Flaming

Sword”




Path of Redemption

The Serpent Path

– Follows the 22 Paths –

process of study

– Working up towards the

Divine

– Path of connecting with the

Divine



Part 3: Practical Application


Triangles/Synthesis Tarot Spread

Synthesis

Card

Path Card

Path Card

Path Card


Reading List

Case, Paul Foster. The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages. Richmond: Macoy, 1975.

Fortune, Dion. The Mystical Qabalah. York Beach, ME: Weiser, 1935, 1984.

Greer, John Michael. Circles of Power: Ritual Magic in the Western Tradition. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1997.

---. Paths of Wisdom: Principles and Practice of the Magical Cabala in the Western Tradition. St. Paul:

Llewellyn, 1996.

---. Paths of Wisdom: A Guide to the Magical Cabala. 2nd Ed. Loughborough, Leicestershire: Thoth, 2007.

Knight, Gareth. A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism. Boston: Weiser, 1965, 2001.

Levi, Eliphas. Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual. Trans. A. E. Waite. York Beach, ME: Samuel

Weiser, 1970.

Regardie, Israel. A Garden of Pomegranates. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1932, 1970.

---, Israel. A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life. Ed. Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha

Cicero. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 1932, 1999.

---. The Golden Dawn. Vol. 4. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1971.

Waite, Arthur Edward. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Blauvelt, NY: Steiner, 1971.

---. The Rider Tarot Deck. NY: U.S. Games Systems, 1971.

Wirth, Oswald. The Tarot of the Magicians: A Guide to the Symbolism and Application of the Wirth Tarot

Deck by its Designer. York Beach, ME: Weiser, 1990.

and the Tree of Life - Joy Vernon Tarot and Reiki, Inc. · the Tarot—rather this concept gives us...

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