The Tree of Life is a map of the higher and lower dimensions of the universe, used in the study of Kabbalah.
The Tree of Life shows a macrocosm and microcosm within the human being. The Tree shows us the path to discover God within ourselves, and the many facets of God.
The roots of the Tree of Life are in the Ain, the Limitless, the Absolute, from where all manifestation emanates.
Divine energy descends into creation and at the same time creates and forms each sephirah, “jewel” or “womb”. Like water overflowing from a fountain, each world becomes denser than the last, heavier and with more laws.
The diagram of the Tree of Life is arranged as follows:
Ten Sephiroth
Ten sephirah arranged in a cascading pattern from the highest heaven to earth. Kether, Chokmah, Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netsach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. Also the mysterious hidden sephirah Daath.
Twenty-two Pathways
The pathways connect the sephiroth, each corresponding with one of the 22 major arcana of the Tarot. The sephiroth themselves are pathways making thirty-two paths in total.
Three Triads
The three triads consist of nine of the ten sephiroth.
Three Columns
The three column represent Mercy, Justice, and Equilibrium.
Thirteen Dimensions
The different dimensions of the universe ascending in levels of increasing rarity, descending in levels of increasing density.
The Absolute
The unmanifested reality from where the Tree descends, and which has three components: the Ain, the Ain Soph, and the Ain Soph Aur.
The Shadow
The shadow of the Tree of Life called the Klipoth, which means shells. The Klipoth is the same Tree but the shadow aspect of each sephiroth, the hell realms corresponding to the heavenly realms.
The Fourfold Worlds
The entire Tree of Life is replicated as four worlds that interpenetrate and superimpose within each other. The worlds are called Assiah, Briah, Yetzirah and Atziluth.
Creation
In the very first sephirah called Kether, there is one law, the law of Love. In Malkuth, the physical world that we know, there are forty-eight laws. God has never left us, but there is much more density and complication in Malkuth, we often do not feel the direct effect of God.
God descends down into creation, first through the three primary forces, the creative Law of Three in the first triad. Then fractioning like white light through the prism via the Law of Seven, into the next seven sephiroth, with the corresponding seven Archangels, seven planets, metals, colors, musical notes etc.
God descends from the Absolute into creation because He wanted to know Himself, to gain knowledge to understand the happiness of perfection.
From the sayings of Prophet Mohammad:
“I was a hidden treasure and I longed to be known. So I created the Creation so that I may be known…”
The Tree of Life can be a source of infinite study, but its most important role is as a source of inspiration to discover and integrate these facets within ourselves.
References and further reading
Kabbalah from Gnostic Muse
Dion Fortune, The Mystical Kabbalah
Samael Aun Weor, The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah