A labyrinth is not a maze.
This is one of the simple key phrases that is used to define labyrinths.
A labyrinth is intended to embrace you and lead you easily, as you follow the unicursal path that winds faithfully to your spiritual centre.
The Kabbalah’s Tree of Life has everything needed to make a perfect Labyrinth.
A spiritual source and a series of sequential paths that lead you on an outward and inward journey.
The labyrinth’s concepts of release, receive and return easily relate to the Tree of Life.
The dynamic energy of the Tree of Life is released through the soul which travels to earth, experiencing the receiving of life and then returning to the spiritual source.
Another pleasing aspect of the Tree of Life are the 22 paths.
This sits very well with the Chartres Labyrinth which has 11 concentric circles.
Walk the paths through the 11 circles in and then walk the 11 circles out again and you have 22.
I know it is claimed that the Knights Templar had nothing to do with the design and construction of the Chartres Labyrinth but it is reasonable that the architects were versed in Kabbalah and had knowledge of the Tree of Life.
With all of these favourable aspects, you would think it would be easy to just lay the Tree of Life structure on the ground, follow the paths and walk the Tree of Life.
Not so, it is just not an easy walk in the park.
The elaborate diagram below shows the complicated structure that the Tree of Life has been developed into.
This is one of the simple key phrases that is used to define labyrinths.
A labyrinth is intended to embrace you and lead you easily, as you follow the unicursal path that winds faithfully to your spiritual centre.
The Kabbalah’s Tree of Life has everything needed to make a perfect Labyrinth.
A spiritual source and a series of sequential paths that lead you on an outward and inward journey.
The labyrinth’s concepts of release, receive and return easily relate to the Tree of Life.
The dynamic energy of the Tree of Life is released through the soul which travels to earth, experiencing the receiving of life and then returning to the spiritual source.
Another pleasing aspect of the Tree of Life are the 22 paths.
This sits very well with the Chartres Labyrinth which has 11 concentric circles.
Walk the paths through the 11 circles in and then walk the 11 circles out again and you have 22.
I know it is claimed that the Knights Templar had nothing to do with the design and construction of the Chartres Labyrinth but it is reasonable that the architects were versed in Kabbalah and had knowledge of the Tree of Life.
With all of these favourable aspects, you would think it would be easy to just lay the Tree of Life structure on the ground, follow the paths and walk the Tree of Life.
Not so, it is just not an easy walk in the park.
The elaborate diagram below shows the complicated structure that the Tree of Life has been developed into.
The serpent on the Tree winds around the paths showing the ascent, back up the Tree, in order to return to the spiritual source.
But you cannot follow the actual paths.
They do not follow each other in sequence.
Perhaps you could walk the path of the serpent.
This would return you to your spiritual centre, or would it?
I understand that it was a serpent that got Adam and Eve into trouble in the first place.
In the diagram above, the path numbers and the associated Hebrew letters are shown.
The first path has the letter Aleph with the number 11 and it connects from Kether to Chokhmah.
The second path Beth with the number 12 connects from Kether to Binah.
The third path Gimel with the number 13 connects from Kether to Tiphareth.
The fourth path Daleth with the number 14 connects between Chokhmah and Binah.
If you continue to follow the progression of the paths, you will find there is no connected path structure that can be used as a labyrinth type walk that actually follows the paths in sequential order.
The spiritual centre or source on the Tree of Life is generally designated by three curved lines or arcs that sit above the Tree, separate and distinct.
In the model shown below, the three curved lines are called the “negative veils” and below them the Hebrew words “Ain Soph Aur” which may be generally translated as the “absolute limitless light”.
The 22 paths on this Tree of Life (i.e., the straight lines connecting between the circles) are numbered 11 to 32. It is these that the convoluted serpent winds around to return back up the Tree.
But you cannot follow the actual paths.
They do not follow each other in sequence.
Perhaps you could walk the path of the serpent.
This would return you to your spiritual centre, or would it?
I understand that it was a serpent that got Adam and Eve into trouble in the first place.
In the diagram above, the path numbers and the associated Hebrew letters are shown.
The first path has the letter Aleph with the number 11 and it connects from Kether to Chokhmah.
The second path Beth with the number 12 connects from Kether to Binah.
The third path Gimel with the number 13 connects from Kether to Tiphareth.
The fourth path Daleth with the number 14 connects between Chokhmah and Binah.
If you continue to follow the progression of the paths, you will find there is no connected path structure that can be used as a labyrinth type walk that actually follows the paths in sequential order.
The spiritual centre or source on the Tree of Life is generally designated by three curved lines or arcs that sit above the Tree, separate and distinct.
In the model shown below, the three curved lines are called the “negative veils” and below them the Hebrew words “Ain Soph Aur” which may be generally translated as the “absolute limitless light”.
The 22 paths on this Tree of Life (i.e., the straight lines connecting between the circles) are numbered 11 to 32. It is these that the convoluted serpent winds around to return back up the Tree.
The ten circles on the Tree of Life are collectively called Sephiroth.
Singularly they are referred to as a Sephira.
It is interesting that this Hebrew word is the root of our name for the gemstone sapphire.
The Sephiroth are described as shining, shards of light that have broken away from the main source of light.
It is generally accepted that one of the meanings of the word Sephiroth is “emanations”.
According to the seminal document, the Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation, that describes their birth, the Sephiroth formed sequentially, one from the other to the other and so on… following the paths of a Lightning Flash.
They are further described as “running and returning like a whirlwind” and “their ending is as their beginning”.
Singularly they are referred to as a Sephira.
It is interesting that this Hebrew word is the root of our name for the gemstone sapphire.
The Sephiroth are described as shining, shards of light that have broken away from the main source of light.
It is generally accepted that one of the meanings of the word Sephiroth is “emanations”.
According to the seminal document, the Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation, that describes their birth, the Sephiroth formed sequentially, one from the other to the other and so on… following the paths of a Lightning Flash.
They are further described as “running and returning like a whirlwind” and “their ending is as their beginning”.
It is notable that all of the traditional images of the Tree of Life do not have a path or line connecting directly from or to the spiritual source, the three curved lines that seem to just float above the Tree.
In the stories that tell of how the Tree of Life was formed, there is an image that shows energy or light emanating from the spiritual centre and being transmitted into the first circle or Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, Kether the Crown.
Enigmatically, I struggle to see any of these definitive statements being incorporated in the traditional Tree of Life structure.
The diagram below makes it easier to follow the numbering of the paths.
In the stories that tell of how the Tree of Life was formed, there is an image that shows energy or light emanating from the spiritual centre and being transmitted into the first circle or Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, Kether the Crown.
Enigmatically, I struggle to see any of these definitive statements being incorporated in the traditional Tree of Life structure.
The diagram below makes it easier to follow the numbering of the paths.
The ten Sephiroth which are said to relate to the 10 decimal numbers (which are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are shown as the first ten paths and given the order 1 to 10 and then the 22 connecting paths are numbered 11 to 32.
The sequential order of the paths is completely shattered.
There is no clear line of sequential formation of the Sephiroth.
Considering that the fabled story has them forming as in a Lightning Flash, it seems that some other interpretation has prevailed over truth and reality.
On our 300-acre property, Earth & Soul, located near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of Queensland, Australia, I have developed a Tree of Life Spiritual Walk that follows the design of what I call my “Rectified” Tree of Life.
I call it “Rectified” because as I see it, the traditional Tree of Life is broken and in need of repair.
Over the centuries the traditional Tree of Life has changed like the proverbial Chinese whisper.
It has lost connection with the essential truth from which it is formed.
The traditions of the Kabbalah inform us that sometime after the Tree of Life was formed, an event occurred that is known as “The Fall”.
The Fall caused the creation of an abyss below the top three Sephiroth of Kether, Chokhmah and Binah.
The lower three Sephiroth on the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life, Tiphareth, Yesod and Malkuth, actually fell.
Where Tiphareth was originally located, a black hole known as Daath (meaning knowledge) appeared.
Look at the structure of the Tree of Life and you can see that the paths from Binah and Chokhmah to Tiphareth are elongated, and the paths from Hod and Netzach to Malkuth are also elongated.
The original Tree looked more like the image on the left below.
The sequential order of the paths is completely shattered.
There is no clear line of sequential formation of the Sephiroth.
Considering that the fabled story has them forming as in a Lightning Flash, it seems that some other interpretation has prevailed over truth and reality.
On our 300-acre property, Earth & Soul, located near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of Queensland, Australia, I have developed a Tree of Life Spiritual Walk that follows the design of what I call my “Rectified” Tree of Life.
I call it “Rectified” because as I see it, the traditional Tree of Life is broken and in need of repair.
Over the centuries the traditional Tree of Life has changed like the proverbial Chinese whisper.
It has lost connection with the essential truth from which it is formed.
The traditions of the Kabbalah inform us that sometime after the Tree of Life was formed, an event occurred that is known as “The Fall”.
The Fall caused the creation of an abyss below the top three Sephiroth of Kether, Chokhmah and Binah.
The lower three Sephiroth on the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life, Tiphareth, Yesod and Malkuth, actually fell.
Where Tiphareth was originally located, a black hole known as Daath (meaning knowledge) appeared.
Look at the structure of the Tree of Life and you can see that the paths from Binah and Chokhmah to Tiphareth are elongated, and the paths from Hod and Netzach to Malkuth are also elongated.
The original Tree looked more like the image on the left below.
If we take some of the fabled stories of the Garden of Eden, a little more literally, then it must be acknowledged that before the Fall, God had declared that everything was “Good”.
In a simple way this implies that the above image of the Tree of Life, before the fall, was good and this is the structure of the Sephiroth that we should be using.
If we then return to basics and draw the Tree of Life in a purer form then we have the first path to Kether emanating from the Ain Soph Aur and the final path from Kether returning to the Ain Soph Aur.
This completes the phrase from the Sepher Yetzirah that “their ending is as their beginning”.
My final diagram of the Tree of Life is shown below.
In a simple way this implies that the above image of the Tree of Life, before the fall, was good and this is the structure of the Sephiroth that we should be using.
If we then return to basics and draw the Tree of Life in a purer form then we have the first path to Kether emanating from the Ain Soph Aur and the final path from Kether returning to the Ain Soph Aur.
This completes the phrase from the Sepher Yetzirah that “their ending is as their beginning”.
My final diagram of the Tree of Life is shown below.
This rectified structure allows the Tree of Life to be seen as a labyrinth and walked as a spiritual walk.
The paths follow the form of the Lightning Flash and connect as a continuous circuit between Earth and the Spiritual Source and return.
On my diagram, the paths are identified with numbers in Roman Numerals, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the cards of the Tarot Major Arcana.
The entire structure is identified with the 22nd card of the Tarot Major Arcana which is the World and is numbered XXI or 21.
The World represents Everything which suitably forms a dual opposite with the Spiritual Source which represents Nothingness.
The World is associated with the final, or 22nd, Hebrew letter Tau.
The meaning of Tau is “mark, sign, omen, or seal. It is the symbol of truth, perfection, and completion.
It represents the restoration of all of existence. It is a return to the essence and purpose of one’s life. It represents completion, before beginning again with the original Oneness of the Aleph.
(This definition is derived from the explanation given at https://gabrielelevy.com/pages/the-letter-tav).
My Tree of Life Spiritual Walk is shown in the following photo as it is laid out on the ground.
The paths follow the form of the Lightning Flash and connect as a continuous circuit between Earth and the Spiritual Source and return.
On my diagram, the paths are identified with numbers in Roman Numerals, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the cards of the Tarot Major Arcana.
The entire structure is identified with the 22nd card of the Tarot Major Arcana which is the World and is numbered XXI or 21.
The World represents Everything which suitably forms a dual opposite with the Spiritual Source which represents Nothingness.
The World is associated with the final, or 22nd, Hebrew letter Tau.
The meaning of Tau is “mark, sign, omen, or seal. It is the symbol of truth, perfection, and completion.
It represents the restoration of all of existence. It is a return to the essence and purpose of one’s life. It represents completion, before beginning again with the original Oneness of the Aleph.
(This definition is derived from the explanation given at https://gabrielelevy.com/pages/the-letter-tav).
My Tree of Life Spiritual Walk is shown in the following photo as it is laid out on the ground.
The natural surrounding tree-line provides the elliptical wreath shown on the World tarot card.
Following are some images of the Tree of Life Spiritual Walk.
The natural surrounding tree-line provides the elliptical wreath shown on the World tarot card.
Following are some images of the Tree of Life Spiritual Walk.