by Marcus Katz
On the map, we see how this crosses (literally) Temperance, reminding us of the constant alchemy and balance required as we destroy ourselves.
The initiate here can often experience highs and lows, as they oscillate on the tightrope path with Yesod below and Tiphareth below, yet no direct connection to either Sephirah. This is the worst of all times for most on the path, alternate dry periods, struggles, petty gains and losses. The questions they will ask all boil down to “What is this worth?”
4. Netzach
In Netzach, we have respite from the Blasted Tower whose path, whilst still active in our life, we have passed across to a resting place. We have learnt the limits of thought and logic, and consolidated (for now) our philosophy of life, to simply begin living it.
We find ourselves being able to look down the paths of the Star and Moon, perhaps even allowing ourselves a moment to wryly grin at the ignorance of our fears when we first started this journey, and the stupidity of our former hopes and wishes.
We experience here stability in motion; the Star and Moon have their orbits, the rumbles of the Blasted Tower are in the past, and now we look to see the Wheel reaching through the veil. Our life becomes part of a larger cycle; we integrate ourselves to nature in its fullest sense, and begin the process of surrendering to life. It is with no irony that the Death card illustrates our portal here to Tiphareth.
When the initiate has traversed and exhausted all the strategies of the lower paths, and experienced the Sephirah to Netzach, they ask the same question in a thousand ways; “What else is there?”
5. Tiphareth
Tiphareth is the grand central station of the Tree and as such, the meeting place for many journeys and often their final destination – or simply the commencement of a whole new journey. In the four worlds model of the Tree of Life, where four trees are overlapped to form “Jacob’s Ladder”, Tiphareth is from where each subsequent Tree “grows”. So it becomes the point of resonance and a wormhole between the dimensions of each Tree. This is beyond our current work here, but described in more detail in The Magister. The Four Worlds model is a very detailed refinement of the general model, allowing us to specifically predict nuances of state in the journey, such as boredom, desperation, excitement, obsession, and any other state of human existence. It also allows us to map increasingly rarefied and abstract states of mystical experience.
In just one Tree, we see on our map that Tiphareth is a major landmark. In the Order of the Golden Dawn and many other Orders, it is the grade in which we enter an “Inner Order” of a very different nature to the Outer Order of the lower Sephiroth.
It is no surprise then to see that it is Death that leads us into Tiphareth; it is the death and transformation of all previous states and senses of self-identity. These are presented on the pyre of sacrifice in Tiphareth and utterly undone. In fact, once the Adept grade is taken here, we must return to all previous states of our being and “redeem” them. This is included in the instruction manual of the WEIS by the word “recapitulation”; we have to go back through our life and contextualise it again in the light of our new state of disattachment. All those experiences were preparation – we have to revisit them and utterly understand for what we were being prepared.
In Tiphareth, as we see, the High Priestess illustrates the path that leads directly to the most highest of Sephirah; Kether, the Crown, the point of divinity and total illumination. The Adept recognises some of this in their experience, but the Abyss that is shown on the map is suddenly experienced; there is some critical and profound division or distance between ourselves and the divine, no matter what we do.
As it becomes obvious that we cannot simply walk into enlightenment, for now, we look around and see that we have the paths of Justice and the Hermit streaming down to us, and the Lovers and the Emperor reaching down to us from higher up the Tree.
Yet we cannot move on until we have released ourselves from the Death and Devil paths below us. They support us, for sure, yet they are also chains that hold us back. In a sense too is the Temperance path that once served us so well.
In this state, so powerful yet so lost, once our previous life has been utterly gathered up and we have no need of it – or anything – there is only one possible route. We must call upon high for an Angel to guide us. Nothing else will serve us, as everything else is below the veil to us now. If we returned to it, we would soon be lost again and dissatisfied. We have tasted a brief moment of transcendence, and now we fear that we may always have to live with what life is like without it.
The Abramelin Operation of the WEIS is the means and method by which we remove ourselves from life and our self, and gain the knowledge and conversation of our Holy Guardian Angel. This incorporates and utilises the paths of Death and the Devil in a six-month spiritual-magical practice of intense devotion and self-destruction. If the work has not been done properly of the previous journey, it is futile and the Adept risks everything in its attempt. To fail is to completely undo any chance of future progress through this system.
The Adept will face the challenges of temptation (Lovers) and power (Emperor) in this work, both of which arise from attachment. When freed from attachment, they become divine intuition and open channelling of energy. Similarly, the High Priestess is the challenge of the illusion of light, when what we must come to see is the source of the light, not be blinded by it.
The only question that matters to the Adept is “What is Death?”
6. Geburah
This first of the higher grades beyond Adeptus Minor in Tiphareth is one of construction and structure, discipline and management. It brings about the responsibilities of creating a structure in which teaching can take place. The Work moves from learning to teaching-as-learning.
The lesson learnt is that of the Hanged Man, the Adeptus Major here has learnt about sacrifice and transcended the necessity of such sacrifice. Above them is the Chariot card, which in the Thoth Tarot is an empty suit of armour; someone who has entirely emptied themselves (like the Grail) to the divine influence. The second path leading out below Geburah is illustrated by the Justice card, showing how the adept must come to balance their life as a whole, whilst remaining in a state of non-attachment.
Whereas the first journey across the Tree of Life between the two pillars was marked by the Blasted Tower card, this second transition out of Geburah is marked by Strength. The Adept must create a dynamic union between their own life and the life of their Angel.
At this point there are few outward questions, other than “How do I communicate” but perhaps the internalised question is “How do I remain alive?”
7. Chesed
Whilst all are equal, perhaps we can see this way-station as one of the most unique and critical on the Tree of Life. It is here that we come to the edge of the Abyss that marks the division between human awareness in totality and divine annihilation. There is no “separate” being above the Abyss, so there is little that can be said of the three primary states that reside above it.
The Hierophant illustrates the path now open to this stage of the journey, who reveals at last the sacred union that awaits the Adept. Below us in only time, streaming forth and cycling in the Wheel card and all things are one in that unceasing rotation. The Hermit is our image for the connection we now make back to what once passed as “self”. We are no longer following the way; we have become the way, the light and the truth of the moment in pure experience.
It is here for the first time that our map appears to fail us, for there is no direct path from our position in Chesed to the next numerical Sephirah, Binah, which awaits us on the other side of the Abyss. However, this is a fundamental representation of the journey at this higher stage; there is no direct path, there is only the leap of faith, the letting go of all accomplishment that opens the world of the final three Sephiroth.
8. Binah
On the other side of the Abyss, where the three Sephiroth function as one unified triad, we can only guess as to what
is illustrated by the cards. In the WEIS, the title of the grade here in Binah is Master of the Temple, that Temple being the universe.
The Empress connects the position of Binah to Chockmah, and in the Golden Dawn this card was seen as significant to the concept of “unity” and “love” through its correspondence to Venus, the only planetary symbol which when drawn on the Tree of Life connected all the Sephiroth.
So we can presume that an understanding (the literal translation of Binah) of unity is paramount to the work of this space.
Our path here down back to selfhood is that of the Lovers, showing that we still have a choice to leave this garden, and fall back down to a separate sense of self. This is something that Crowley warns about in his tract about the “black brothers”, when the initiate “secretes his elements about his ego” as if he could remain separate to the Universe.
Above us is the final path to unity, the crown of Kether, the end of our journey, marked as we might expect by the Magician card – the supreme attainment of magick, then, is this state. We still exist, in a sense, but there is only the channelling of what is above to that which is below, and all the elements are placed before us for our service.
The final path leading below from Binah is that of the Chariot. Now we see the emptiness that was first glimpsed in the fearful position of Geburah – yet we cannot be afraid, for we are no longer.
9. Chockmah
Having attained the grade of Magus, according to Crowley the task now is to create the Universe to Will – a will now aligned with every aspect of existence. There is no separation here, but to attain the final state, the Magus must destroy all duality of act, word and thought.
This is clearly illustrated in the three paths that lead from Chockmah below:
Empress: Duality of Action
Emperor: Duality of Word
Hierophant: Duality of Thought
These three cards of temporal, worldly and spiritual power illustrate the three final temptations that might keep the Magus from voluntarily surrendering everything.
10. Kether
Finally, the crown is attained and we enter into true enlightenment. The final path of the Fool that connects Kether to Chockmah illustrates this final leap into spiritual bliss and freedom.
We are now both Magician and High Priestess, the channel of the divine and its light. There is nothing now for us to do, for we have become the doing, the Zero, the Fool.
We have now concluded our commentary on the Tree of Life and tarot correspondences according to the Golden Dawn system. However, we now turn our attention to an alternate model published here in for the first time and provide accompanying commentary. Whilst the Tree of Life was seen as above in the “natural order” of the paths, there was a sketch model within the original Golden Dawn documents that provided a variant system of correspondences. This was based on a different way of arranging the paths on the Tree and the inclusion of Da’ath. It may well have been this alternate model that provided A. E. Waite an inspiration for his own system as we will come to examine shortly.
Whilst there is no commentary on this variant to the “natural” arrangement, we may assume that with the inclusion of Da’ath that it represents the unnatural or native state of the Tree of Life after the Fall – and ourselves likewise. In several other diagrams within the Order and as presented within the rituals we see this two-state model presented; the Garden of Eden before the Fall (to which we aspire to return) and the Garden after the Fall, in which state the candidate is within as they commence their journey.
So let us briefly look at this unnatural arrangement of the Tree and point out several illustrations within it that show us our unredeemed nature.
Illus. Tarot Cards on Tree of Life (Golden Dawn System with Da’ath).
The Tree of Night Before the Dawn
In this Tree, we immediately see that the placing of Da’ath upon the map has broken several paths and created new paths, particularly those two now connecting it with Geburah and Chesed. The paths connecting Tiphareth to Binah and Chockmah are removed, as is the path between Hod and Netzach. This gives the Tree a more lattice arrangement – particularly in the original diagram where the paths between Da’ath and Binah and Chockmah are drawn at a downward angle. I have here preserved the more common diagram for ease of comparison to the other Trees, indicating where the paths have been added or removed.
In this state, our apparent knowledge has risen up to take the position of our crown, replacing divine unity with a state of wilful separation. As Da’ath is now triumphant, the path between it and Kether is governed here by the Moon, the card illustrating fear, separation, the unconscious, and the illusion of reality. Our highest aspiration and true station has been replaced with a mere shadow, a reflection of our divinity. Through the beauty of correspondence, we see that this path – without the interruption of Da’ath – is that of the High Priestess in the “natural” Tree, who corresponds to the Moon. She is the light being reflected by our self-awareness, not by our unconsciousness and base principles.
If we look to the bottom of the Tree, we can also see further illustration of our perilous state. We exist in Malkuth, the kingdom and world of action, now under the paths of the Star and the Blasted Tower, with the World before us. We aspire, we hope, we plan and project (Star), yet all comes tumbling down, time and time again (Tower). The World seems a place of some abstract and unseen Judgement – as we see from the position of that card connecting Yesod and Tiphareth.
Our ego-process in Yesod is governed by the Devil and Temperance, the Devil and the Angel on our shoulders, pulling us one way or another, in a constant battle. Our only escape is through the paths of Death and the Hanged Man; transformation and sacrifice, leading to Tiphareth.
Once in Tiphareth, we have to our two sides the paths of Justice and the Wheel of Fortune; law and luck. We can begin to redeem our arrangement by working with the Hermit and with Strength, attempting to reconcile the dual aspects of our nature through introspection.
In effect, this work, this map, if pursued, leads at this stage of the journey to the initiatory experience of the Neophyte – a breakthrough moment that the world may not be how it appears, that we have some sense of self-direction and responsibility for our own state, and that we must follow that light of our nature. The Tree then becomes better mapped by the “natural” model, which is thus brought into our focus.
To conclude our brief observations on this “night before” model, we can see that the Chariot is under the direct influence of Da’ath, which connects it to Geburah, severity. This is the worst possible approach to self-control and direction. It is the “life coach” that believes everything they say, whilst their life is a mess, it is the cult leader, or the presentation of a glossy life that only exists on social media by someone who is trying to hold together mental health issues. Or it is at best simply the person who is sure about their life and is getting on with making it a success, with no regard to any other considerations beyond that success.
On the other side of the Tree in this state, we have the Lovers, which connects Da’ath to Chesed, meaning ‘loving kindness’. It is again the worst sort of love – manipulative and directing, self-loathing, co-dependent, a travesty of relationship. The wrong type of self-assurance has elevated Da’ath and it eats up all that should come from Chesed and flow below.
The Sun is at midnight in this map, sat between Tiphareth, to which it corresponds, and its counterpart, Da’ath. It is upon a path no longer directly connected to Kether as it is in the redeemed model. All light is swallowed up in knowledge, but this knowledge is born of the state of separation, and it maintains this separation, even as we try and learn that it could be otherwise.
As a black hole, Da’ath also swallows Binah and Chockmah, through the paths now bent to it and illustrated by the Empress and the High Priestess. All nature, all our intuition, even divine inspiration, becomes drawn into our absolute knowledge of our own apparent state. In that moment, all i
s lost.
To either side of us in this higher level of the Tree are the Hierophant and Emperor, the masculine counterparts to the High Priestess and the Empress. They preside in the worst possible places, with the Emperor bringing the unbounded energy of Chockmah into the expansiveness of Chesed. This is power for its own sake, expansionist policies and scorched earth scenarios. There are no reins on the power-mad and compassion is perverted to dictatorship. On the side of the Hierophant, he is now placed between Binah, the Sephirah of structure, and Geburah, that of severity. He is the religious regime, the tradition that will suffer no change, persecution and the inquisition.
Finally, in this abhorrent and fallen Tree, the Magician and the Fool keep to their places, as being close to Kether they cannot be subverted as easily as the other archetypes. They remain the Spirit and the Will, given to us to escape this broken world and to return the fruit of the Tree to the original garden from whence it was stolen.
Aleister Crowley’s Variation to the GD System
In 1904, the magician Aleister Crowley experienced a powerful spiritual encounter with an entity whom he claimed had dictated to him a prophetic text over the course of three days. This text became known as Liber AL vel Legis, the Book of the Law. Whilst a short piece of text, it is dense and abstract, full of fire and fury, and infused with the high poetry of spiritual vision. It is also replete with riddles and kabbalistic allusions, which were later to form the backdrop of Crowley’s tarot deck designed with Frieda Harris, the Thoth Tarot.
