Kabbalah & The Tree of Life cont.

The cosmology of Kabbalah tells us that there are four worlds or main levels of existence and that each contains or is represented by a complete Tree of Life. These four worlds are called Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah  respectively, with the latter relating to the physical universe in all its aspects. Atziluth on the other hand is called “The World of Heavens” and each of the Sephiroth of its Tree has a different name of God associated with it. Briah is then the world that the Archangels are associated with and Yetzirah the realm of the angels.

From a human perspective Assiah relates to our physical being, Yetzirah to our psyche or psychological self, Briah to the soul and Atziluth to our eternal spiritual self.

Within an individual Tree each Sephirah (singular of Sephiroth) has a range of similar attributes associated with it. Thus for example, the red circle (Sephirah) on the previous diagram, called Geburah, is associated with the planet Mars and the astrological signs of Aries and Scorpio, which are both ruled by Mars. The qualities of strength, discipline & direct action are placed here, but also frustration,anger, cruelty and destructiveness in a negative sense. Here too we would place any sharp edged objects, like swords, scalpels, ploughshares and so forth. Each Sephirah then has many different and yet related attributes associated with it.

A knowledge of these enables one to look at the world and events from a rather different perspective. Had an accident involving a sharp object or a red car? Was suppressed frustration/anger being released ?. In this way we begin to see the world in a much more connected sense and also how personal external events that have an impact upon us, both positive and negative, can be related to inner mental and emotional states.

We can also relate the Tree to ourselves in a physical sense. The upper three Sephiroth represent the head, Daath is the throat and ‘Hesed and Geburah the left and right shoulder areas respectively. Tiphareth is the heart and solar plexus, while Netzach and Hod are the left and right hip area and also the lower forearm and hands. Yesod relates to the genital area and Malkuth to the feet and lower extremities.  An understanding of these relationships can be helpful in determining the inner causes of health conditions.

The spelling here and elsewhere in the site of the English versions of Hebrew names is that in most common use within the Western tradition.

Atziluth:  The World of Emanations

Briah:      The World of Creations

Yetzirah:  The World of Formations

Assiah:    The World of Manifestation