And out of the ground made יהוה אלוהים Jehovah Elohim to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. ―Genesis 2:9

​The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. ―​Proverbs 11:30

The Ten Spheres or Sephiroth (emanations) of this diagram represent varying levels of matter, energy, and consciousness, which emerge and descend from the Unknowable Divine, the Absolute. This is in order for the soul to gain necessary experiences. Upon reaching physical materiality, Malkuth, the soul or consciousness must now return towards the higher realms or planes through specific works, thereby developing cognizance, understanding, virtue, and self-knowledge.

Gnostic Kabbalah 1:
​The Tree of Life

A Map of Consciousness and the Universe

​ It [the Tree of Life] is a glyph, that is to say a composite symbol, which is intended to represent the cosmos in its entirety and the soul of man as related thereto; and the more we study it, the more we see that it is an amazingly adequate representation; we use it as the engineer or the mathematician uses his sliding-rule, to scan and calculate the intricacies of existence, visible and invisible, in external nature or the hidden depth of the soul...
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...The Qabalistic cosmology is the Christian Gnosis. Without it we have an incomplete system in our religion, and it is this incomplete system which has been the weakness of Christianity.  ―Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah 

The objective of studying the Kabbalah is to be skilled for work in the Internal Worlds... One who does not comprehend remains confused in the Internal Worlds. Kabbalah is the basis in order to understand the language of these worlds. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

The Tree of Life or the Hebraic Kabbalah קבלה is a map of consciousness, from the highest regions of spiritual abstraction, forces, and principles to the most dense, material forms of nature. This map is essential for knowing and understanding one's conscious experiences in meditation and dream yoga, since all of the universe and every aspect of the psyche is diagrammed here. It is therefore an essential tool for knowing oneself and divinity completely, for just as a person traveling to another country would learn its language and maps, so too does the Gnostic study Kabbalah in order not to get lost or confused within the superior dimensions.

​This glyph is also not the sole patrimony of mystical Judaism, but has been present in every pantheon, religion, and cosmogony, albeit in different symbols, languages, and forms. The Western tradition and the Judeo-Christian Bible are founded upon the study of the Tree of Life; therefore, if one does not know the map of Kabbalah, one cannot properly understand Judaism or Christianity.

Lectures are forthcoming!

Related Books: Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot, Secret Teachings of Moses, Tarot and Kabbalah