Admit it … you’ve wondered.
You’re studying and studying and studying, and most authors you’ve read have told you the Tree-Of-Life provides profound insights into the Universe, Tarot and Everything. They explain how the Tree-Of-Life is Real, True and most certainly a complete explanation for the way things are … but deep down, you just aren’t getting it!
But that hasn’t put you off. You’ve committed all the bizarre and outright weird attributes to memory. You try and apply Gematria to almost everything you see, and yet … you’ve wondered.
And you can’t help wondering …
Is it all a lie? What exactly is the point of this Tree.
And here in lies the problem. No one can tell you if it’s a workable framework for you, but how can it be a workable framework if it’s not real? And how will I ever know if it’s for me if I don’t work with it?
The Secret of the Tree-Of-Life
The real secret to understanding the Tree-Of-Life is to accept, straight away, that it’s completely and utterly false!
Yes, that’s right. It is a lie.
If you can accept that the Tree-Of-Life is not real, does not provide any truth about how the Universe was created, then, and only then, will you be free enough to work with it. The minute you start thinking the Tree-Of-Life is real — you’re lost.
You’re lost because you’ll start thinking that there really is a Keter, or a Malkuth, or that the Universe was really created from the Hebrew Alphabet — and at that point, how much more powerful has your rational mind become?
Keter does not exist and Malkuth is not real. They’re nowhere to be found within the Universe. What they are, in fact, are allegorical ways of understanding the Universe — not scientific realities.
In Why using Rationality to Access Intuition Works I discuss an aspect of this basic concept; that the logical part of the brain, when asked to occupy its time with irrational ideas, will eventually break allowing intuition to flow. This Idea is the corner stone of the Tree-Of-Life.
I should mention that I’m discussing the modern day version of the Tree-Of-Life (Golden Dawn onwards — or at least the point in history when Magickal practices became associated with it fully). The Kabbalah has a long history, characterized by changing (and sometimes contradictory) definitions and paradigms.
It isn’t a framework of the TRUE Universe — whatever that might be. It isn’t trying to be accurate. It doesn’t even try and be precise. Why would it do that? Science does that, not the Tree. If you want to know what reality is, look around you. Reality is all around you. The Tree-Of-Life is just a symbol, it’s not real. They say the Greater Mystery is that of the Body. Why? Because it represents what’s real, what’s actual; and what’s actual is the most mysterious thing of all.
What is the point in the Tree-Of-Life then?
There are several good reasons for learning the Tree-Of-Life. The first, it reminds people that the world of logical thought is irrelevant to meaningful encounters with divinity. Second, it’s a great memory palace. Third, it does exactly what is says on the tin — train your mind to think this way (brain wash it really) and you will begin to interpret events in this way. The real decision, the only decision, is whether or not you want your mind to be Kabbalised!
Overall, I think of the Tree-Of-Life as an allegory, an irrational framework thats sole purpose is to get that logical part of the brain out the way.
So, it’s a lie!
But what a beautiful lie!
The Swords in the Tarot represents the Logical and the Rational. The reason it’s a Sword is because, well, logic hurts. It removes us from a direct experience with Reality (that place that is all around us, not that place that is nothing more than a symbol). It hurts us, because we are thrown into a world with thousands of years worth of thoughts that hurt our ability to experience, and it hurts others when we try and convince people that our thoughts are somehow truer representations of reality than theirs.
Doug, that’s all very well and good, but what does this have to do with anything?
I occasionally get emails from people asking me whether or not I think it’s a good idea for them to learn the Tree-Of-Life. The one thing that a lot of these emails have in common is a big fear that learning the Tree-Of-Life will be a complete waste of time. Usually, most of these emails describe a point in their study where they devoted a large amount of their time and energy into learning the Tree. Rather that leaving them feeling closer to divinity and clearer about Tarot, it left them physically drained and repulsed with anything Tree-Of-Life related. This post is my attempt at helping them, and people who find themselves in a similar position.
It’s my feeling that the major cause for so many people’s unhappiness with the Tree is their lack of philosophical clarity as to what it is, and what it actually does. Knowing that it is completely false can often and does have a liberating effect where the person then feels free to either engage in further study and application or, having considered the matter, abandon their studies.
I think that if people understood that the Tree is not telling them anything about reality, nothing scientifically true anyway; then perhaps, knowing how it is completely false, a new question will emerge.
What is this question?
Do I want to brainwash my mind to the point where my experiences are related to the Tree-Of-Life effortlessly and quite beyond my conscious control, and to reflect Kabbalalistic principles and Ideas?
Remember, the Kabbalah is not real. What you’re doing is forcing your mind to process experiences as if it where real. That is the big distinction that I hope people reading this understand.
What do you think of what I’ve written? Do you agree or disagree with it? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I’ll see you in the comments 
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16 comments… Let's discuss
Thought-provoking post – and it actually opens a door for me to explore a bit more about the T-o-L. I imagine this would be heresy in some quarters – - but in my extremely limited knowledge about the Tree (next to nothing), I tend to see the positions within it simply as positions in a Tarot spread. Yes, I know there is so much more beyond that – but neither do I see it as the end-all or be-all of existence. I actually equate people and situations with Tarot cards far more than I ever would with the Tree of Life – - but that’s probably my ignorance shining through. Thanks for the thoughts – and forcing me to read more about it!
Hi Nancy,
Thank you for dropping by
It’s interesting how you connected the positions of the Tree-Of-Life to positions in a Tarot Spread. I don’t know if you have ever tried or read about the Opening of the Key, but Operation 5 of this spread is based on the positions of the Tree-Of-Life
. I’ll be writing about that as part of a series of posts on Kabbalah, starting next week.
I hope you’ll drop by and check them out
Dear Doug,
I am literally laughing out loud right now. I’ve never heard anyone refer to the “Tree of Life” in fundamentalist terms. Great contrast to the spiritual reality of utilizing such a powerful medium. It goes back to a previous quote I shared from Diane Toland in her book “Inner Pathways to the Divine.” I paraphrase and reinterpret here as such…while some may use Tarot as an everyday tool to cut bread and feed their basic needs, it is in reality a prized Samurai sword designed for much higher purposes. (by higher, think Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.)
Fundamentalism tends to lean toward simplified, easily tangible concepts, while metaphysical and spiritual tools, such as the Sacred Tree in many traditions, invite us to experience the Divine, not just worship it from afar.
In Spirit,
Katrina
Hi Katrina,
I do think that fundamentalism is a big danger with any Spiritual pursuit. In fact, any belief system that holds power over a person, to the effect that that person then excludes all other possibilities as “possibilities” becomes detrimental to that person’s Spirituality or Spiritual life. The danger is elitism, snobbery, arrogance, and a lack of compassion for another’s beliefs.
But more than that, the damage it does to their own Spirituality is devastating. The very component that needs to be removed to experience the divine, (logic, belief etc) is the one thing that is strengthened.
I wanted to write this post as my way of reminding people the the T-o-L is simply an allegorical way of categorising those Spiritual experiences – and perhaps a way for them to solve some Spiritual conflicts that occur along the way
The T-o-L is a workable system, but that is all it is – a system, not a belief.
Thanks for the great comment
Great post Doug. A lot of people seem to think that somehow the ToL validates tarot; gives it an intellectual or philosophical framework. If you want to be taken seriously as a tarot reader, then you have to study the ToL, but believe me, you do not have to take the ToL seriously.
It is time to turn things on their head – Tarot does not need the ToL, but maybe the ToL needs the Tarot – a way to liberation.
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for dropping by, and I’m glad you liked the post
hi again Doug
I have been looking at a book that I picked up from a book store and the book was by Ly De Angelis she works a lot on the tree of life and incorporates the tree of life, the lightning flash apart of a reading that she does and the things that she sees from the tree of life is amazing, yet I have been looking at it and I can’t see exactly what she does I suppose that will all come within time as I am still new and learning masses, I find the subect amazing….
Hi Colin,
I’m glad you’re exploring different avenues with the Tarot – any explorations outside of the normal resources will always have a profound affect.
I’m personally not familiar with her work, but from what you’ve described, it certainly sounds interesting. I’ll check it out
the book that I got was called Tarot therory, by Ly De Angelis she from Australia and works in Britain some parts of the year in Devon stumbled on the book in waterstones the books authors are llewelyn..
Hi Colin,
Thanks for getting back to me on the name of the book. I’ll be sure to check that and the rest of her work out
Douglas -
It was such freedom to laugh all the way through this post! Laugh with it, min you, not at it. The TOL is allegorical – and that makes it real for me. There are alternate realities, and the TOL represents one of them. To not take it too seriously is when we really begin to experience what it is all about.
Blessings,
Bonnie
Hi Bonnie,
I couldn’t agree more. I’m glad you enjoyed the post
Mr. Gibb-First, let me say that I’ve only recently discovered your site and I must say that it has been a real joy. Even when I don’t necessarily agree with your position, I certainly enjoy reading it. Also, you seem to have created a wonderful forum for people who truly take this art form seriously to communicate intelligently and effectively. Congrats.
Normally, I read. But I must say that the title of this article definitely got my attention. Having studied the Tarot off-and-on (mostly on) for about two decades now, I have studied the ToL quite a bit. Most recently and perhaps most effectively, I read Robert Wang’s book The Qabalistic Tarot. For anyone interested in Golden Dawn Tarot attributions, this is an informative and beautifully prosed presentation of a potentially difficult system. I was introduced to the ToL as a novice plowing through Crowley’s Book of Thoth. By about the fourth time through that “essay,” you’re convinced that you either know everything or nothing . . .
Fortunately or unfortunately, I have not met enough people who even know what the ToL is to have met anyone with a “fundamentalist” view of it. And, believe me, in my part of Mississippi, I know what Fundamentalism, capital F, is.
One of the things that strikes me about the argument presented above concerns any kind of fundamentalism or traditionalism applied to something that a quick history lesson will quickly admit has changed tremendously since its inception. Please don’t get me wrong: I adore the ToL. This deceptively simple diagram has done more to bring me closer to the Tarot than any other system or rote memorization ever has. I appreciate it for it mnemonic value. And really, for me, that’s enough. I love Tarot. I am fascinated with religion and have studied it for years from a safe distance, claiming none. So, again, I am frightened by and intriqued with the idea of someone dogmatizing a traditionally European Jewish invention which was then glossed and amended with various elements of a forced combination of Victorian Christian and even pseudo-Egyptian elements. I am none of those things, so I have to connect to it in a directly Tarot-related fashion, as I am, for all intents and purposes, a Mississippi boy trying to guess the will of the gods with an Italian card game.
The ToL certainly serves its mnemonic purpose. It delights me no end that The Empress is attributed to Daleth and everything that the doorway imagery entails. I find it admirable that if one reads the “Three of Swords” using the simplest of ToL correspondences as the “Understanding of Air (Mental),” or the “Ten of Disks” as the “Kingdom of Earth,” then there are multiple meanings and mental triggers in those quick expressions. It fascinates me that after these few centuries, the Devil card joins the spheres of Beauty and Splendor in a seemingly intriguing contradiction. At the same time, when those spheres are laid to rule the body of “Adam Kadmon,” the Devil then joins the Heart (Tiphareth) and Genitals (Hod), respectively. The apparent contradiction weakens as my smile broadens.
I love the DEVICE of the ToL, but I am acutely aware that it is a device. The ToL is a fascinating and workable way to organize your mental processes if you so choose. It is logical and connected and useful. But many religious folk think that rainbows are a promise from God that he will not flood the earth again without giving a second thought to the fact that light rays refracting through droplets of moisture in the atmosphere creating a prism of unnecessary but captivating beauty is perhaps even more impressive. In other days past, the gods spoke to us through a goat’s entrails or the flights of birds. There have always been ways to organize your thought processes. Maybe we should just remember what these things are.
I love the Tarot and my wife would be happy to tell you how much time and money has been devoted to this study. The Tarot is the closest thing to a religion that I have, mostly because they are pretty pictures; but, as for me and mine right now, I truly feel that the Tarot, the Runes, dice, tea leaves, the Bible, the Koran, the various dogmas of the Classical religions or the Thunder God of any native land, and the Tree of Life . . . they are all one thing at heart: impressive artificial constructs imposed upon a scary and often chaotic universe to help us understand our world and our part in it. We, as a species, have always done so, but, if those constructs can be used by Humanity to reflect inward and then shine outward for the betterment of ourselves and our Community, then they have served their purpose.
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go on so. Thank you and, please, continue to share with us as we continue to read.
Sincerely — Robby
Hi Robby,
Wow, let me say what a pleasure it was to read your comment. It was well thought out, articulately put, and completely valid
Thank you, I appreciate your kind words
I agree. It’s a great book!
LOL, well said!
I find it a beautiful system for this purpose.
LOL
That was beautifully put – brilliant way to explain it!
I have really enjoyed reading your comment. You have articulate your position well, and I agree with it completely.
It was a pleasure, and I hope you continue to drop by and share your thoughts with us. I certainly enjoyed it and I’m sure others will find it useful also
This is priceless! It’s like being able to “run along and play”, while others choose to remain and write 100 times “I must study Kabalah”. I see the Universe as more of a companion and one who shares my love of exploration. I believe that this Universe doesn’t have all the answers, and in finding “us” has a new and wonderful friend to explore with. It is as simple as that, and your article is brilliant and supportive of what I choose to experience. Thank you!
Hi ISuzi,
Thanks for stopping by
LOL great way to put it!
I’m glad you liked the article!
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