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Tarot Major:	Path on Tree:	Hebrew letter:
Fool	11, Keter to Chokmah	Aleph,
Magician	12, Keter to Binah	Bet,
High Priestess	13, Keter to Tipheret	Gimmel,
Empress	14, Chokmah to Binah	Dalet,
Emperor (alt: Star)	15, Chokmah to Tipheret	Heh,
Hierophant	16, Chokmah to Chesed	Vau,
Lovers	17, Binah to Tipheret	Zain,
Chariot	18, Binah to Geburah	Chet,
Strength	19, Chesed to Geburah	Tet,
Hermit	20, Chesed to Tipheret	Yod,
Wheel of Fortune	21, Chesed to Netzach	Koph,
Justice	22, Geburah to Tipheret	Lamed,
Hanged Man	23, Geburah to Hod	Mem,
Death	24, Tipheret to Netzach	Nun,
Temperance	25, Tipheret to Yesod	Samekh,
Devil	26, Tipheret to Hod	Ayin,
Tower	27, Netzach to Hod	Peh,
Star (alt: Emperor)	28, Netzach to Yesod	Tzaddi,
Moon	29, Netzach to Malkut	Qof,
Sun	30, Hod to Yesod	Resh,
Judgment	31, Hod to Malkut	Shin,
World	32, Yesod to Malkut	Taw, .

CORRESPONDENCES TO THE THIRTY-TWO PATHS OF THE TREE OF LIFE.

Comprising the Ten (Eleven) Sephiroth and the Twenty-Two lesser Paths:

The Sephiroth:

Number on diagram:	Hebrew name:	English translation:	Astrology correspondence:
One	Keter	Crown	The beginning of whirlings.
Two	Chokmah	Wisdom	The Zodiac
Three	Binah	Understanding	Saturn.
---	Da'at	Knowledge	Asteroids or Transuranics
Four	Chesed	Mercy	Jupiter
Five	Geburah	Severity	Mars
Six	Tipheret	Beauty	Sun
Seven	Netzach	Victory by Endurance	Venus
Eight	Hod	Glory	Mercury.
Nine	Yesod	Foundation	Moon
Ten	Malkut	Kingdom	Earth

The Paths:

Number on diagram:	Corresponding Hebrew Letter:	Alchemical- Astrological:	Corresponding Tarot Card title in BOTA Deck:
Eleven	Aleph,	Air (Uranus)	The Fool.
Twelve	Bet,	Mercury	The Magician.
Thirteen	Gimel,	Moon	The High Priestess.
Fourteen	Dalet,	Venus	The Empress.
Fifteen	Heh,	Aries	The Emperor.1
Sixteen	Vau,	Taurus	The Hierophant.
Seventeen	Zain,	Gemini	The Lovers.
Eighteen	Chet,	Cancer	The Chariot.
Ninteen	Tet,	Leo	Strength.
Twenty	Yod,	Virgo	The Hermit.
Twenty-One	Koph,	Jupiter	The Wheel of Fortune.
Twenty-Two	Lamed,	Libra	Justice.
Twenty-Three	Mem,	Water (Neptune)	The Hanged Man.
Twenty-Four	Nun,	Scorpio	Death.
Twenty-Five	Samekh,	Sagittarius	Temperance.
Twenty-Six	Ayin,	Capricorn	The Devil.
Twenty-Seven	Peh,	Mars	The Tower.
Twenty-Eight	Tzaddi,	Aquarius	The Star.2
Twenty-Nine	Qof,	Pisces	The Moon.
Thirty	Resh,	Sun	The Sun.
Thirty-One	Shin,	Fire (Pluto)	Judgment.
Thirty-Two	Taw,	Saturn (Earth)	The World.

            1. Crowley sometimes used the Star in this place in the Thoth Deck

            2. Crowley sometimes used the Emperor in this place in the Thoth Deck

These correspondences are used by the Order of the Golden Dawn, BOTA and many other groups. Paul Foster Case and Aleister Crowley use this system, although Crowley made a modification on paths fifteen and twenty-eight after publishing Liber 777. Other systems exist and are useful. This system is used to render the book consistent with itself and with the writings of those mentioned. The attribution of the Hebrew letters in this fashion to the twenty-two paths was published by Athanasius Kircher in the middle of the seventeenth century in Oedipus Aegyptiacus, Tom II, folding plate between pages 288 and 289. Kircher's astrological correspondences are at variance with these.

The first example shall set the method of this brief inquiry with an examination of the "Traditional" Tree of Life diagram as used by the Order of the Golden Dawn. This treatment employs the pictures on the Tarot Major Trumps for the twenty-two paths. Hebrew Letter correspondence is better, but it is not so easily understood at first. The Treatment will begin at the bottom and work toward the top.

The Traditional Tree of Life Diagram:

10 ........ Malkut (Kingdom). this is the physical world and all things that are perceived by the physical senses. This is the Earth. Consciousness here is direct and limited. No thoughts about the things experienced are proper to Malkut, only the experiences of the physical events and material objects.

32 ........ The Path of Taw (The World in Tarot). This is the transitional state of consciousness whereby the physical, direct consciousness of the Sephira Malkut is elevated to the half-awake dream consciousness of the Sephira Yesod. The world is found to be filled with endless forms in endless change. On the Tarot card of this path, a figure dances out the steps of existence within a womb- shaped wreath. The perceptions of the senses in the World are like those of an observer at a ballet. This is the first drawing of meaning from the Physical World and from the sensual experience of all created things.

9 ......... Yesod (Foundation). This is the place of beginning thought. Yesod is both the foundation of higher thought and the foundation of the forms that manifest downward in Malkut. Yesod is the level of dream and fantasy. The perceptions of the senses are woven into a loose pattern that is but a single step from direct perception of the Physical World. When the mind descends from Yesod to Malkut, the path of Taw imprints the pattern of Yesod on the Physical World. When the mind ascends from Malkut to Yesod, a pattern is formed from sense perceptions.

31 ........ The path of Shin (Judgment in Tarot). This path elevates a selected part of the physical, direct consciousness of Malkut to the rational consciousness of the Sephira Hod. The card of Judgment shows an angel (the higher will) drawing forth human beings from graves. Rational will seeks for order among such perceptions. When cause- effect relationships are found and associations are discovered, this rational will acts to construct a world view. This world view is a hit-or-miss thing. Anything in the physical world of Malkut that does not fit the evolving world view of Hod is rejected by the rational will of the path of Shin. When a failure occurs in rationalizing out the Hod world view, new sense perceptions are selected to permit reconstruction. When the world view of Hod is perfected, the lower rational mind is resurrected from the grave of matter.

30 ........ The path of Resh (The Sun in Tarot). This path elevates a selected part of the dream consciousness of Yesod to the rational consciousness of Hod. The card of the Sun shows children dancing beneath the face of the day star. The Sun of Reason sheds light upon mysteries of the playful mind. This play is dream and fantasy. From the study of such things, the world view of Hod is tempered from the starkness produced by the hard path of Shin to a softer and more flexible awareness. Shin does little more than organize perceptions. Resh adds the tricks of symbolism to further compound and develop these perceptions. Resh introduces allegory and metaphor into Hod just as Shin introduced analysis and synthesis. The path of Resh completes the tools of mundane reason.

8 ......... Hod (Glory). This is the place of the first flowering of thought into order. Hod is the glory of the world of the senses and the compacted will of the higher Sephiroth. Hod is built up by rational inquiry along the path of Shin and by analogy along the path of Resh. The end product is the development in Hod of a rational, self- consistent consciousness of material things and of imaginings. When this is reversed, and the influence of Hod descends along the paths of Resh and Shin, fantasies are designed to embody ideas in Yesod, and the physical world is controlled in Malkut.

29 ........ The path of Qof (The Moon in Tarot). This path elevates a selected part of the physical, direct consciousness of Malkut to the emotional consciousness of the Sephira Netzach. The card of the Moon shows a strange scene of animals, crayfish, water, towers, a path and the Moon. This complex of images suggests slow evolution of feeling and emotional reaction. The physical world gives many experiences. These experiences may be rationally examined (to lead toward Hod) or they may be emotionally accepted (to draw toward Netzach). The path of Qof is emotional acceptance of experience. By Qof the senses develop strange echoes in the soul. Preferences and desires awaken without explanation. Some things effect the mind to produce pleasure, others to produce pain. Some experiences seem to be meaningless in terms of emotion. Such unemotional experiences are ignored in the path of Qof. Only those things that quicken or slow the heart are taken up by this road to build the emotional mind that dwells in Netzach.

28 ........ The path of Tzaddi (The Star in Tarot --- var., Emperor) elevates a selected part of the dream consciousness of Yesod to the emotional consciousness of Netzach. The card of the Star shows an allegorical figure pouring water upon the earth and into a pool. This image represents the emotional qualities of fantasies and stories as they are enjoyed by the empathic mind. A story or legend in Yesod would be analyzed along the path of Resh to discover its hidden meanings. The path of Tzaddi seeks emotional content from such a story or legend. To Hod go the theories. To Netzach go the feelings. The path of Tzaddi makes less demanding and less immediate the emotional pattern of the soul in Netzach. A dreaminess is added from the Sephira of dreams to help emotions trust each other. (On the variation: Crowley switched the Emperor and Star cards in an effort to explain a passage in Liber AL vel Legis. If we view the woman of the Star as Mother and the man of the Emperor as Grandfather, it is possible to see the Emperor as emotion striving to assess life. The Star then becomes an ordering influence.)

27 ........ The path of Peh (The Tower in Tarot). This path elevates the rational consciousness of Hod until it can mingle with developing emotional consciousness in Netzach. The path of Peh beings order to the emotions so that no emotion runs contrary to another emotion. The emotions are guided and ruled by what is best for all the mind. Emotions are not suppressed; rather they are liberated from disorder. Instead of breaks and crises in the feelings, there are waves of greater feeling and of lesser feeling. These waves are synchronized and compose a sort of tide of the soul. Before the influence of Hod is added by Peh to Netzach, storms and madness wreck the emotions. After this path has been taken, the emotions are in concert. At no time does the rational mind at Hod dominate the emotions; guidance is necessary only to make them healthy. The emotions are more important and more holy than empty and lifeless reason. The card of the Tower shows a phallic building crowned with fire and lightning. This represents both pain along the way and the orgasmic joy that accompanies marriage of reason and emotion. After this marriage is consummated, emotion rules the mind while seated on a throne of reason.

7 ......... Netzach (Victory through Endurance). This is the place in which the lower worlds are perfected through elevation of emotion to the queenship of the mind. Netzach is the victory of mind in the senses, and the embodied passion of the higher Sephiroth. The path of Qof draws sympathies from sense impressions in Malkut and builds from them a loose mesh of emotional reaction in Netzach. The path of Tzaddi adds melodramatic touches by drawing upon the dreams of Yesod. The path of Peh coordinates the whole by drawing upon rational conceptions from Hod. Netzach is then complete, and fervor links with reason to rule the lower worlds.

26 ........ The path of Ayin (The Devil in Tarot). This path elevates the rational world view of Hod to begin the formation of consciousness of life in the Sephira Tipheret. The Devil card represents a monstrous beast upon a half- cube. At this "Devil's" feet are chained womanly reason and manly emotion. These must be liberated from the undue restraint of the chains forged unfeelingly in Hod. Strong is the rational mind of Hod, too strong to permit free use of its strength. The path of Ayin sets before the reasoning mind an image of its excesses. Earth-bound reason must give way at times so that higher and more comprehensive plans may be accomplished. Before this path is traveled, the mind in Hod is like a well-meaning police officer who is too much concerned with the letter of the law and not enough with the spirit. The path of Ayin opens the eye of reason to let it see purpose behind method. Hod then becomes a true servant of the safety of the mind, applying its rules for thought in some cases and not applying them in others. When the purpose of life is threatened by a particular way of living, Hod learns to make a new way more in keeping with the whole life. This path to Tipheret gives a basis of reason to the totality of living that is consciousness in Tipheret.

25 ........ The path of Samekh (Temperance in Tarot). This path elevates the dream of Yesod to a consciousness of personal life and purpose in Tipheret. The card depicts an angel mixing fire with a water nature (The Eagle of Scorpio) and water with a fiery nature (The Lion of Leo). In this way, by taking a little from one thing that has too much and by adding it to that which lacks, all thoughts are given balance. This is a blending of the elements of consciousness until each contains a little of each. The net result is a single, cohesive mentality. This is the substance from which the Tipheret life consciousness develops. Reason comes from Hod to order it. Emotion comes from Netzach to enliven it. The substance of life is drawn up along the path of Samekh from Yesod.

24 ........ The path of Nun (Death in Tarot). This path elevates the emotional complex of Netzach to the living totality of Tipheret. The card of Death shows a skeleton harvesting and nurturing a field of human parts and green plants. This shows how proper care and attention, through successive generations of feelings, produces a perfect growth of emotion. Emotional consciousness comes in ebbs and flows. At its high points, it ripens. At its low points, it fades. Consciousness of this cycling of emotional intensity enables a careful mind to nurture its garden of passions in the high times and to weed it in the low times. When emotions are ripe and full, they freed into Tipheret and make a joy of life. When emotions are low and weak, the painful emotions can be rooted out. This is a slow process requiring many cycles of emotion, but it succeeds in time. The Netzach mind becomes a wondrous garden filled with delights and loves. These are then chosen so that no matter what the season (the state of the physical world) some emotions are to be found in full bloom. The emotional cycles then change from intermittent elation and depression to successive blossoming in the garden of the soul. When the beauty of Netzach is a continuous and orderly dance of many hued and strong sentiments, it adds the seed of life to Tipheret and wakens the consciousness of life.

6 ......... Tipheret (Beauty). This is the place of consciousness of the whole of life. Tipheret is the seat of the healthy soul. when Tipheret is fully attained, love runs smoothly. The details of existence in the World come to Tipheret by the path of Samekh from the dreaming world. Tipheret has no direct contact with Malkut; the physical world must be a little removed from the inner world. The path of Ayin aids Tipheret to structure the details of life. The path of Nun gives meaning to the changes of life. In Tipheret is built up the full conception of what it is to live and to be among the living. Order is seen in all things. Delight is taken in all things. All things are seen in their ever-changing interrelationships. From Tipheret descends the control that brings life to fruition in the physical world. Netzach alone can do no more than look for pleasure. Hod alone can do no more than look for structure. Yesod alone can do no more than link one experience with others. When Tipheret rules these three; Netzach, Hod and Yesod act together to enrich physical existence in Malkut.

23 ........ The path of Mem (The Hanged Man in Tarot) elevates the lower reason of Hod to the higher rationality of Geburah. Hod reasons with the things of the Earth, of Malkut. Hod is an examining consciousness, a mentality that sets things into order only through observation of their manifestations. Geburah is a state of mind that plans without concern for details. Hod knows the detailed workings of the physical world. Geburah knows the purpose of the World. The path of Mem connects the precise but fundamentally purposeless organizing activities of Hod with the purposeful but indefinite organizing will of Geburah. The Tarot card shows a man hung upside down by one foot. This is the symbolic state of one who has possessed all but understood nothing. Such a person, gifted with the powers of Hod, soon comes to boredom. His worldly consciousness gives no purpose to his world. To control is not to understand. Such a person comes finally to be hung upon the gibbet of his worldly power. Nothing has meaning. All things obey, but to no purpose. Perfect skill without a perfect purpose is maddening. In that inversion of consciousness an openness occurs. The mind yearns for another mind, an inward guidance. When this yearning is crowned with success, Geburah has been touched along the path of Men. Down this path floods inspiration and purpose in life. Tipheret can view all of life and know its course; but Geburah directs life and is the immediate source of its purpose. Tipheret responds to Geburah's plan. Hod is the working out of that plan in detail.

22 ........ The path of Lamed (Justice in Tarot) elevates the life view of Tipheret to the life purpose of Geburah. The card of Justice depicts a woman with scales and sword. This is the mediatrix of mind, weighing out the proper measure of all things and fending off excess. The mentality of Tipheret is examined along the path of Lamed to produce the guiding will of Geburah. This is a rational process much like that which occurred between Yesod and Hod and between Malkut and Hod. The difference is found in the object. To build Hod, the chief concern is in how and why things work mechanically. In the reaching of Geburah, the concern is in how and why things work morally. Hod seeks and develops skill in the doing of things. Geburah seeks and develops skill in discerning and directing the purpose of life. Along the path of Lamed, the mind rises by examination of its motives until such motives are justified with each other. This justification gives a personal morality to the soul. All older, fragmentary moralities are forgotten in the one, consuming morality of Geburah. This is not necessarily a good thing. The morality so evolved may be a hateful and a repressive one. In that case, mind will not progress beyond Geburah. Only when mind is ready to love and to bestow all good things on all who need, will evolution continue. Once Geburah is reached in this way, the path of Lamed becomes a channel for change in all aspects of life. Before reaching Geburah, life is locked in by many vague restrictions. Once Geburah has been fully attained, all the shackles are dropped away; and life is free to follow its willed course. The attainment of Geburah is marked by a freedom from all sense of guilt and unhappy restraint, but not abandonment of duty to others. When this state is reached before the mind is ready for such responsibility and freedom, great physical danger results. This can happen when people take drugs that are beyond their strength. Such powerful drugs act to release the moral bonds that restrain the mind. This is a very good thing when the mind is fundamentally healthy, or at least not violent or self- destructive. If the mind that is so prematurely released is filled with self hate or with a poor understanding of people and things, this release may lead to irrational and harmful actions. To a calm, loving and knowing mind there is no harm in moderate use of legal consciousness altering drugs. To a violent, hateful and ignorant mind, such drugs are an extreme danger. To a mind that is partly calm and partly violent, partly loving and partly hateful, partly knowing and partly ignorant, such drugs may teach a way to the higher state of the mind. To such a person, consciousness altering drugs are religious sacramentals, at the same time helpful and dangerous. When peace, love and knowledge dominate the soul, drugs are often a good thing. When anger, hate and ignorance are in charge, drugs may help; but professional restraint is necessary.

5 ......... Geburah (Severity). This is the place of consciousness of the proper course of life. This is the guiding will that sets all limits and releases all restrictions. When Geburah is fully attained, conscience ceases to plague, for the dictates of the conscience become consistent and welcome. Geburah is the master of the house of life that is situated in Tipheret. Geburah is obedience to the Will of God in all ways understood. Geburah, once attained, means an end to hesitations. When this Sephira is fully active, the mind is rendered capable of immediate response and proper action in any situation no matter how complex. The working of the body depends on the lower Sephiroth. When all the Sephiroth up to and including Geburah are perfectly developed in a person, that person is capable of anything in mental and in physical action. Nothing can oppose such an one. Such a major adept is perfectly a demigod to rule the world of his life. In practice, the Sephiroth are fully developed for some things and lacking where others are concerned. Repeated passage over the Tree of Life increases the development of the Sephiroth and bestows more power on each attainment of Geburah. At some times, great development is accomplished in the Sephiroth and great freedom to change is obtained. Such a time may be considered a mark of initiation, but not mastery of Geburah. Total attainment and mastery of the Sephiroth is never found in a mortal man. It is man's purpose to increase his attainments toward an ever advancing ideal. To reach perfection is to become one with God and therefore to become useless to one's brothers and sisters in the world. Touch union with God, but return quickly to the place of the crying children. Union with God is not the sole purpose of Being, it is a pleasantness that gives strength in time of need. The purpose of Being is found in being in all ways. Geburah is the master who selects the ways. Tipheret is the place of the mustering of the ways. Netzach is the place of the brightening of the ways. Hod is the place of the ordering of the ways. Yesod is the staging place from which the ways reach the physical. Malkut is the place of the action of the ways.

21 ........ The path of Koph (The Wheel of Fortune in Tarot) elevates the emotional complex of Netzach to the emotional idealism of Chesed. The card depicts a wheel surrounded by symbolic creatures. This is a representation of the many cycles of the emotions that are experienced in Netzach. When one emotion is found to underlay all others and to pass without change through all the cycles that change all other emotions, the Sephira of Chesed is touched. The one underlying emotion serves to build a basis for the emotional perfection of Chesed.

20 ........ The path of Yod (The Hermit in Tarot) elevates the emotional part of the life summation of Tipheret to the emotional union of Chesed. The card shows an old man with staff and lantern on the summit of a snow capped mountain. This is an image of the purified mind searching for vitality and love in the life experience. The emotional aspects of Tipheret are received along the path of Yod to build the emotional perfection of Chesed. When Chesed is reached, the path of Yod becomes a channel for a vitalizing flow of purified feeling from Chesed into Tipheret.

19 ........ The path of Tet (Strength in Tarot) elevates the purposeful will of Geburah to the motivating emotional state of Chesed. The Tarot card shows a Woman opening the jaws of a Lion. This is a representation of purified emotion (Chesed and the Woman) uniting with forceful will (Geburah and the Lion) to invigorate the World. Geburah is filled with purpose, but lacks consistent desire. Without powerful motivation, the highest purpose may go unrealized. The mentality of Geburah knows what to do in life, has the power to do it, but lacks the desire to consistently labor. The path of Tet draws forth from Geburah its systematic, purposeful action and compares it with the desire that supports existence, through Chesed. If the Geburah purpose is unworthy of the Chesed desire, attainment of Chesed is not complete. Only when Geburah's purpose is a perfect match to Chesed's desire will the path of Tet be fully opened. When that happens, the life of the person experiencing this consciousness of Chesed will become totally active. Geburah supplies the direction of life, but Chesed supplies the motivation to live. Geburah is the master and Chesed is the mistress of the house of life in Tipheret.

4 ......... Chesed (Mercy). This is the place of consciousness of motivation in life. Chesed is the consciousness of all- encompassing desire for being. All the Sephiroth below Chesed lack the vigor to fulfill their promise until they are joined to Chesed. When Chesed is fully developed and the lower seven Sephiroth are functioning with force and power, the time has come to face the Great Abyss that divides the lower seven from the higher three. Chesed reverses its vitalizing force and the whole lower Tree is filled with yearning to pass up toward the infinite. This is only desirable in that it compliments the attachment to the physical world. Above Chesed are levels of thought too distant to easily effect the physical world. They must be explored and drawn toward the union of consciousness that occurs in Tipheret. It is pointless to climb the Tree of Life just to attain union with pure spirit in Keter. That results in rebirth back into the same course. It is best to develop the whole Tree in such a manner that the tendency to fall down into the darkness of matter is exactly balanced by the tendency to ascend into the light of spirit. As was said before, the middle place is the best place for human consciousness. Neither the physical nor the spiritual should be ignored. Both must be united in a dynamic union.

18 ........ The path of Chet (The Chariot in Tarot) elevates the rationality of purpose in Geburah to the level of pure abstraction in Binah. The Tarot card depicts a crowned figure in a Chariot (the Merkabah of Qabalah and the Royal Arch of Freemasonry) drawn by two sphinxes. This image represents contained force, in the sense of thought contained in the body. The rational elements of Geburah are themselves subjected to reason and the methods of thinking are discovered. These methods of rational thought are preserved as laws of reason in the consciousness level called Binah. After they have been isolated from particular applications by passage along the path of Chet, these archetypal patterns of thought descend at need to furnish tools for individual reasonings in Geburah and Hod. Binah is the crown of the left hand pillar of the Tree. This left hand pillar is called the pillar of severity, owing to the purgative nature of reason.

17 ........ The path of Zain (The Lovers in Tarot) elevates the rational part of Tipheret to the level of pure reason in Binah. All the passage and complexity of life is examined by the mind to abstract from it the application of reason in the course of living. This set of perfected techniques is added to Binah to round out the tools of the mind. The card corresponding to this path shows two lovers under two trees being united by an angel. The meaning is that the mind (the angel) differentiates between aspects of creation (man and woman) to learn the means of uniting and dividing them. When this path is complete, Binah is attained.

3 ......... Binah (Understanding). This is the place of consciousness of the methods and laws of thought. Binah is a state of mind that has little direct touch with the physical. In Binah only abstract thought exists. That thought is solely devoted to the rational techniques. Mathematics in its purest sense belongs to Binah, also logic and mathematical physics. It might be thought that the last mentioned is too mundane to belong to the level of pure thought, but the reverse is true. Mathematical physics is concerned with evolution of models and theories that fit experimental discoveries; but it is not so much a mode of understanding the physical world as it is a way of abstractly developing a thing having the same general properties as the physical world. There is a thin line between the physical and the abstract. Speculation is on one side of that line while observation is on the other. Things like mathematical physics are not organized experiences of sensation (proper to Hod), but they are idealized abstractions of the physical. They are attempt to produce patterns that could be followed in the creation of a physical universe, but not necessarily this particular Physical Universe. Binah is the storehouse of archetypal patterns for the lower Sephiroth. Binah is a library for Geburah and a pantry for Chesed.

16 ........ The path of Vau (The Hierophant in Tarot) elevates the unified emotional consciousness of Chesed to the level of pure emotional force. All the consciousness of Chesed is involved in a single drive toward some particular fulfillment. This drive is separated from its particular goal in the rise from Chesed to Chokmah along the path of Vau. In Chokmah there is only force: drive and desire without object. This is like a vague but intense unrest that animates a person who knows that something is needed, but who does not know what that thing is. Chokmah is pure force, the source of all energies. The Tarot card of the Hierophant shows a teacher of wisdom ministering to two priests. The meaning of this image is found in the nature of the force that binds and creates. All things must be desired and willed. Before anything can be, there must be the blessing that is the desire force, the energy toward manifestation. The real essence behind all things is desire for existence.

15 ........ The path of Heh (The Emperor in Tarot. var. Star --- see above on # 28) elevates the life consciousness of Tipheret, in its emotional part, to the level of pure energy in Chokmah. The Tarot card depicts an Emperor in marital armor sitting upon a stone cube by a river. This is the absolute master of mind sitting on a symbol of the universe and ruling over the flow of consciousness. The path of Vau draws up desire elements from the living consciousness of Tipheret to bring them into union with the absolute and undirected force that resides in Chokmah. This desire force is the true master of all that exists; for, without it, nothing has meaning.

14 ........ The path of Dalet (The Empress in Tarot) elevates the absolute reason of Binah to the absolute desire of Chokmah. Binah contains all the tools that go into the making of the universe. These tools are worthless without an energy to make them work. All the power to make plans and carry them out is implicit in Binah. This power is separated from such abstract works and drawn up to complete the formation of Chokmah. Chokmah is the force that underlies all else. After Chokmah is reached, the paths from it supply unconditional vitality to all that is below. The Tarot card of the Empress shows an Empress on a bench in a garden. This is a depiction of the process whereby the desire force in Chokmah is joined with the capacity to multiply and embody that force in Binah. The Empress is the mother (Binah) who receives the seed of passion from the father (Chokmah) and who gives birth to all that exists (the things in the garden).

2 ......... Chokmah (Wisdom). This is the place of consciousness of absolute desire. Chokmah is desire without object, desire strong enough to create a world. Chokmah is the summit of emotion, a vast whirling of energy. This Sephira is the crown of the right hand pillar of the Tree of Life. The right hand pillar is called that of mercy, owing to the clement nature of uncomplicated emotion.

13 ........ The path of Gimel (The High Priestess in Tarot) elevates the totality of living consciousness at Tipheret to ultimate dissolution in the Absolute consciousness of Being that is found in Keter. The card depicts a pythoness between two pillars and before a veil. This veil is the last concealment of the Absolute. The pythoness is the last voice before the silence that is the ultimate voice of God. This path is the connection between pure Existence without modification in Keter and living existence with all its various forms in Tipheret.

Da'at ..... Midway on the path of Gimel it is the fashion of Qabalists to depict an eleventh Sephiroth called Da'at (Knowledge). This is a symbolic filling of the Great Abyss with the lost knowledge that makes one thing of all creation. It is said that when Da'at is restored, all of the Tree of Life will be one thing and that the Tree will bloom and bear fruit. This means that there is a way to join the abstract Sephiroth above the Great Abyss with the seven Sephiroth below it. When this joining is complete, the Tree is made symmetrical and perfect. Until this joining is made there can be no true mastery of the Tree of Life, or full living in all ways of the mind. The examples which follow this traditional exposition suggest a general way in which this joining may be represented. From the representation, the experience may in time be found. A few more details remain in the traditional example.

12 ........ The path of Bet (The Magician in Tarot) elevates pure, abstract reasoning processes to dissolution in the Absolute unity of Keter. The card depicts a Magician in a garden with his ritual tools upon a table. The meaning of this image is found in the relationship that exists between pure Being (The force that passes through the Magician to work wonders) and the tools whereby that state of Being is incorporated into particular forms (the tools and actions of the Magician).

11 ........ The path of Aleph (The Fool in Tarot) elevates desire force in Chokmah to dissolution in the Absolute Being of Keter. The card depicts a carefree person walking toward the edge of a cliff. This image represents total absence of anything to limit or condition. This is the path of Aleph. To the Fool, there is no restriction. The Fool is free.

1 ......... Keter (Crown). This is the place of unconditional existence which may be identified with the highest state of consciousness. In Keter, all is one. Keter is the highest of the four Sephiroth that form the middle pillar of the Tree of Life. This middle pillar is a series of graduated levels of balanced consciousness reaching from the purely physical to the purely spiritual. The two pillars to the right and left contain unbalanced states of consciousness which display either too much emotion or too much rationality. Only the middle pillar is a comfortable place to reside.