From thelema93-l-owner@bitsy.hollyfeld.org Sat Feb 17 20:24:28 1996 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with ESMTP id UAA23324 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 20:24:27 -0800 Received: from bitsy.hollyfeld.org ([198.70.189.30]) by nova.unix.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with ESMTP id UAA12934 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 20:24:23 -0800 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.6.12/8.6.9) id XAA03902 for thelema93-l-outgoing; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 23:19:00 -0500 Received: from pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (root@pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us [199.227.192.35]) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.6.12/8.6.9) with ESMTP id XAA03898 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 23:18:55 -0500 Received: from bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (f901030k@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us [199.227.192.20]) by pbfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id XAA26856 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 23:16:37 -0500 Received: (from f901030k@localhost) by bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (8.6.12/8.6.12) id XAA20835; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 23:16:28 -0500 Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 23:16:27 -0500 (EST) From: Jeffrey Smith Subject: Re: Tzaddi is not the Star To: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-thelema93-l@HOLLYFELD.ORG Precedence: bulk reply-to: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org Status: RO Varying Formats of the Tree of Life (as requested by Fr. Also) Column 2 is the arrangement of Isaac Luria, the Ari; Column 3 that of Elijah, the Vilan Gaon. Letter Sefirot/Ari Sefirot/Gra Atu Aleph Chesed/Gevurah same Fool Bet Chakhmah/Chesed Keter/Tiferet Magus Gimel Binah/Gevurah Chakhmah/Chesed Priestess Dalet Keter/Tiferet Binah/Gevurah Empress Heh Keter/Chakhmah same Emperor Vav Keter/Binah same High Priest Zayin Chakhmah/Gevurah Chakhmah/Tiferet Lovers Chet Chesed/Tiferet Binah/Tiferet Chariot Tet Tiferet/Hod Tiferet/Chesed Strength Yod Tiferet/Netzach Tiferet/Gevurah Hermit Koph Chesed/Netzach same Fortune Lamed Hod/Yesod Chesed/Yesod Justice Mem Netzach/Hod same Hanged Man Nun Netzach/Yesod Gevurah/Yesod Death Samekh Chakhmah/Tiferet Yesod/Netzach Temperance Ayin Binah/Tiferet Yesod/Hod Devil Peh Gevurah/Hod same Tower Tzaddi Gevurah/Tiferet Netzach/Malkhut Star Qoph Binah/Chesed Hod/Malkhut Moon Resh Tiferet/Yesod same Sun Shin Chakhmah/Binah same Judgment Tav Yesod/Malkhut same World To better understand this, bear the following in mind: The Ari (Isaac Luria) depicted paths from Tiferet to Chakhmah and Binah which are not in the G/D version; contrawise, he did not depict paths from either Netzach or Hod to Malkhut. The Gra (Elijah, the Vilna Gaon) used a version of the Tree which has a different spatial arrangement of the Sefirot, not only of the paths. 1 3 2 4(Tiferet) 6(Gevurah) 5(Chesed) 9 8 7 10 Both follow the attributions of the Sefer Yetzirah tradition: the three Mothers (Aleph, Mem, Shin) are the horizontals, the double letters are the verticals, and the single letters are on the diagonals. The Sefer Yetzirah specifically places the Mothers in the positions both Ari and Gra give, and by inference, the doubles. Hence they only disagree with each other over the singles.(The placement derives from configuring the ToL as Adam Kadmon, the Supernal Man.) These are the main two configurations of Rabbinic Tradition; as can be seen, they have different implications from the standard Crowley/Golden Dawn configuration. For one thing, there is no Abyss... Correlation of the Atus is based on the standard Golden Dawn/Letter attributions: the Ari and the Gra were interested only in which Letter went on which path. Thus, Atu placement is, to put it mildly, highly speculative. Each path also has a verse of Genesis Chapter I assigned to it. Information on all this may be found in Kaplan's edition of the Sefer Yetzirah. I will leave it to Fr. Also to post his version of the Tree. May the Divine Compassion be upon you and upon us all. Chaver Nu Jeffrey Smith f901030k@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us It is proper for man to emulate his Creator, for then he will attain the secret of the Supernal Form in both image and likeness. .... What good is it for a person to reflect the Supernal Form in physical form only, if his deeds do not imitate those of his Creator? --Ramak [Moses Cordovero],Tomer Devorah [The Palm Tree of Deborah]