Excerpts from
“The Tree of Life”
by Ari
And when upon His simple will, came the desire to create the world and emanate the emanations,
To bring to light the perfection of His deeds, His names, His appellations,
Which was the cause of the creation of the worlds,
He then restricted Himself, in the middle,
Precisely in the center,
He restricted the light.
And the light drew far off to the sides around that middle point.
And there remained an empty space, a vacuum
Circling the middle point.
And the restriction had been in uniform
Around the empty point,
So that the space
Was evenly circled around it.
There, after the restriction,
Having formed a vacuum and a space
Precisely in the middle of the endless light,
A place was formed,
Where the emanated and the created might reside.
Then from Endless Light a single line hung down,
Lowered down into that space.
And through that line, He emanated, formed,
Created all the worlds.
Astrology in the Tree of Life
In consideration of the astrological aspects, I wanted to keep a throughline with the ten ideal numbers, which I began this work with, in order to maintain a thread of continuity that could connect all the different components used in this Tree of Life construct. To do this I first looked for parallel patterns of similarity and symmetry between the geometrical, astrological, rhetorical and numerical components of this Tree of Life system. It was very important to tie all the parts of this Tree of Life together in an interconnected manner in order to create a coherent metaphysical system.
In order to maintain consistency with the ideal numbers in this system, the sun would have to correspond with the zero point, and the planets would have to be associated with the numbers that corresponded with their orbital order out from the sun. Much to my initial surprise this direct association between the ideal numbers and the planets orbital order proved to be very relevant and allowed for more significant interconnectivity between all the components.
The Sun is the not a planet yet without it the planets would not exist, however, the Sun can exist without planets. Hence, we call it the Solar System, not the planet system; for the planets revolve around the Sun and are subject to its’ gravitational influence and not the other way around. Similarly, the number Zero is not a number of a material quantity, however, it qualifies all the other numbers representing a quantity by means of their relative relationship to the determined position of zero. Zero is the ultimate reference point or qualifier of all the other numbers with quantitative value. It is the empty space that surrounds a set of quantities thereby making them distinguishable from other sets and ultimately defines their containment by contrast. Similarly, the Sun defines the spacetime set of conditions and invisible forces that contain the planets and by which their orbits are defined.
This approach to the astrological associations in this Tree of Life construct are also based on a geocentric perspective of our life in the universe, as opposed to a solar centric perspective; i.e. the Earth is in the central position of the model and not the Sun. The reason for this is because we don’t live on the Sun but on the Earth and as such, from our relative point of view living here on Earth, we are in the middle of all existence, and the Sun is above us with Mercury and Venus close by its’ side. Furthermore, the fundamental direction that plant life grows is upwards towards the Sun and the roots grow downward through the dirt as they reach for the water, minerals, and other nutrients below them.
The Moon in this Tree of Life is not attributed to a Sephorah because it is a satellite revolving around the Earth and doesn’t orbit around the sun by itself, since it is subject to the Earths’ orbit around the Sun. Our moon, however, does primarily influence the condition of life on this planet by way of its’ push and pull effect on the ocean tides, weather patterns, and the overall rhythms and behavior of all the life that exists on Earth. The knowledge of the waxing and waning effects of the moon on planting and hunting was crucial to the survivability of our earliest civilizations and is still very relevant today.
Similarly, the ebb and flow of our collective knowledge also profoundly influence our living conditions, rhythms, behavior and cultural growth as a species. Hence the correlation between the Moon and the sphere of Knowledge on this Tree of Life model: For like the Moon, knowledge can also influence our emotional, physical, and mental growth, for better or worse. How we are able to understand the information we gather, and whether or not we use it wisely determines how human culture grows. In all the different Tree of Life models that are currently out there, the sphere of Knowledge is not considered a Sephirah like the other spheres; non the less it has still played a very important role in all the different Tree of Life systems. Similarly, the Moon is not considered a planet in the solar system, yet it still plays a vital role for all the life that exists on Earth.
One of the major reconsiderations I am making in these new models of the Tree of Life is the manner in which the Moon and the outer planets are organized. Previous attempts by scholars of the western and eastern esoteric traditions to include the outer planets into their new Tree of Life models was to simply plop the three outer planets onto the three supernal Sephiroth of the Tree of Life since they had not been associated with any planets in the models predating the discoveries of the outer planets. They failed however to consider how this would impact the overall balance and harmony of the Tree of Life as a whole. I believe that the addition of the three outer planets changes all the interrelationships within Tree of Life, which requires a total reevaluation of the whole system in order to find out what the most harmonious arrangement would be once these new factors are added to the equation.
In this construct of Tree of Life, Pluto is associated with the eighth number, and position, not the ninth number as one might first deduce if you were only to consider the distance the planet travels away from the Sun. However, I’ve done this because when you look at the order of the orbits around the sun, and not just which planet travels further away from the sun in linear distance, the oblong orbit of Pluto passes between the orbit of Uranus and Neptune as it makes its’ journey around the sun. The puzzle of why Pluto has such an eccentric orbit may have been solved, however whether its’ classification as a planet or planetoid changes things astrologically is still being debated. Either way, since it is a dynamic object that has an effect on the other bodies in our solar system, and whose patterns have been observed, analyzed, and included by astrologers in the pantheon of planets and asteroids in our solar system for quite some time now still makes it relevant.
Once the outer planets were included into the Tree of Life construct a complete reconsideration of all the relationships between the sephiroth was necessary in order to comply with the basic Kabbalistic requirement to find the most harmonious arrangement of all the components of the Tree of Life. To find the most harmonious arrangement of only seven factors is bound to be very different than an arrangement using ten or eleven factors. The observation of the three outer planets in our solar system added new perspectives on our place in the universe and on how we view life on earth. Just as the addition of these three new objects in our solar system forced us to change our perspective of our place in the universe, it also demands that we change our perspective on how we would need to arrange them in a new universal Tree of Life.
Every moment holds a lifetime of meaning:
Seize your moment and Know Thyself.
Arcane Astrological Advisors