The Tree of Life of the Kabbalah

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life serves as a millennia-old mystical map that teaches us to unfold the divine potential within us through its 32 paths of wisdom. The Tree of Life of the Kabbalah reflects the microcosmic and macrocosmic realities that give us insight into creation and its laws.

The Tree of Life can be structurally divided into 10 Sephiroth and 22 Channels or Paths. The individual spheres in the Tree of Life are called Sephiroth. The 22 connecting channels are characterised by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The columns and triads of the diagram are also significant. The right and left columns are polar to each other, the middle column between them has a mediating and balancing effect.

The right pillar, the Pillar of Grace, represents the element of fire, the masculine and self-confidence. The left pillar, the Pillar of Strength, represents the element of Water, the feminine and the subconscious. The central pillar balances the two poles and represents the superconscious.

The primordial Tree of Life is free of any polarity and represents Oneness. It also holds the key to creation. The Hermetic Academy teaches according to the initiatory Tree of Life. The Hermetic Academy preserves unique Kabbalistic courses that support the experience of conscious oneness with the Creator and enlightenment.

Symbolically, the Tree of Life stands beside the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. At a certain stage of evolution, man ate from the Tree of Knowledge and thus fell from the Garden of Eden into the realisation of polarity, where he experienced the state of suffering and separation.

The Tree of Life was guarded so that the undeveloped human could not attain the immortality of the gods. For it is through the consciousness of the Tree of Life that man becomes immortal. That is why it is also called the Tree of Life.

The diagram of the Tree of Life shows us the path to immortality.This is a process of maturation and development that guides the aspirant. It demands much of him but rewards him richly.

The aspirant begins in Malkuth, the lowest sephirah, which stands for the physical, for manifestation. Together with the sephiroth Yesod, Hod and Netzach, these four represent the Lower Mysteries, where the different parts of the personality (body, behaviour, thoughts, feelings and desires) are harmonised.

In the middle sphere, Tiphareth, the true guide of the personality is then consciously experienced. Contact with the Higher Self becomes more consolidated.

From Tiphareth begins the Magnum Opus, the great work of personality development, which leads via the Sephiroth Geburah and Chesed to the mastery of the Sephiroth Binah, Chokmah and Kether.

“The sole purpose of Kabbalistic education is to lead man from the deluded profane existence of the material world to the radiant reality, away from mortality and towards eternal life, which can be experienced here and now.” (Elias Rubenstein)

What does Kabbalah mean?

For thousands of years, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life has served as a mystical map that teaches us to unfold the divine potential within us through its 32 Paths of Wisdom. The Tree of Life reflects the microcosmic and macrocosmic realities that give us insight into creation and its laws.

What does Kabbalah do?

“The sole purpose of Kabbalistic education is to lead man from the dazzled profane existence of the material world to the radiant reality, away from mortality – towards eternal life that can be experienced here and now. (Elias Rubenstein)