The Perfected Tree of Life

[by zero]

I like to tell you something, I found out.
And discuss it.
It will be in the book, I am writing, but I can't wait those four or whatever-it-takes years.
It gets me so excited altogether, that I'd rather switch to a slightly bored attitude now...

The not too interesting subject ist the Perfected Tree of Life as indicated by the Crowley Tarot also known as Thoth Tarot or The Book of Thoth.
I knocked together this somewhat lame introduction, and hope, it is at least of some use.

Just to get it over with, first of all - blatz - here's the big picture:

- Whatzizz?
- Tree of life.

- Yet another one. There are some of those ...
- Uh-huh, loads of. This one is called a Perfected Tree of Life.

- So, what gives?
- ??

- For example, what about that 10?
- Oh, that. Malkut in the position of Da'at.

- Really.
- Hmmm.

- Isn't it supposed to dangle down there, at the bottom of the tree?
- Malkut?

- Yeah.
- You know, after the creation the tree has this form, with Malkut at the very bottom.

- Right.
- Ok then. And in the beginnig you are in Malkut. Not only you particularly, anybody. But you can climb up the tree. ... You know these pictures of the tree of life with a serpent winding up the tree?

- Think so, yes.
- Hmm, that's what I'm talking about.

- Climbing up the tree? Like the snake?
- Yep. And you drag Malkut along. It's your body.

- Malkut is my body?
- Sort of, not exactly but for our purposes now, yes.

- ...
- And if you've pulled up Malkut high enough, it happens.

- It happens ... is what?
- Well, you know the Crowley Tarot?

- A little?
- Good. The 2 of Disks, Change, know that card?

- Yes?
- That's it.

- Is what?
- The snake is taking its own tail in the mouth, see?

- Hm ...
- The crown of the snake clearly indicates Keter, the upmost sefira of the tree of life.

- Hmm ... maybe ...
- Yes, Keter = crown, see?

- Hmm ... ok, but you really think ...
- That's the way the Perfected Tree of Life is formed!

- By Change?
- By climbing up the tree!!

- Ok, maybe ... have to let it sink in a little ...
- Ok, take your time. There are couple of other hints. Spread throughout the cards and Crowley's book about them.

- The "Book of Thoth"?
- That's what it's called. It's the book about The Book of Thoth to be more precise.

- ??
- We better leave it like that.

- ...
- ...

- Have to think it through a little and check something out ...
- Ok, later ...

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[AJ]

just bumping your post. I've never used the deck, but there are many fans here, I hope they will comment

 

[by zero]

(Several days later ...)

- Hey, I found out something regarding this Tree of Life issue.
- ... Really ...

- You know, I checked the Tree of Life drawings by Crowley, looking for the snake and stuff. And there I saw it.
- ... ?

- Do you know the Tree having these Chinese trigrams on it ...
- Oh yeah, in the appendix of the "Book of Thoth", I guess. ... Think I know where this is heading ...

- ... anyway, it has the position of Da'at marked. With a trigram attributed to the Lingam.
- Thought it would be that.

- Then you probably know, that Malkut wears the trigram attributed to the Yoni.
- Uh-hm. "Let Malkut sit on the throne of the mother".

- ...
-

- Crowley at his best.
- I'm a bad, bad, bad, mother, mother, mother, ...

- ??
- LL Cool J or Kool Moe Dee, 's I remember.

- Be it as it may. The combination of Yoni and Lingam as they are joined when Malkut moves to the Da'at position convinced me absolutely. Feels extremely Crowleyan right.
- Sorry, I know, it was me who showed you the Perfected Tree, but this little Chinese affair convinced you of what?

- That Crowley really wanted to communicate the Perfected Tree structure.
- Guess so, yes. By the way, do you know, what the serpent swallowing its own tail is called?

- Ouroboros, right?
- Yup. And do you know, how it usually is shown?

- It is not always a pure snake ...
- It isn't, but I was aiming for something else. The geometric form.

- Circle.
- Uh- huh, very often circling around the seven planets. Like on which card of the Thoth Tarot?

- ??
- Wait a second, I have my Thoth on me, I'll show you.

- ...
- Look here, the 6 of Disks.

- See no snake at all.
- No, but you can see a hexagon of the planets plus the sun suggested in the center. There are some ancient images that show the Ouroboros wound just around these.

- ... quoting by leaving out ...
- Kind of. The planets are on their positions according to the Golden Dawn Tree of Life attributions. Except for Saturn which sits on the position of Da'at.

- Grown up daughter.
- At least it stresses Da'at as the joint point again. Now have a look at the 10 of Disks.

- (looks) ... Ok?
- Back to the 6 of Disks. Of these pictures where the Ouroboros circles around the planets I know basically two variants: One having the sun as its center, the other one with Mercury in the middle. Compare this with the 10 of Disks: You have mercurian symbols all over the place, except for Hod where you find a solar six pointed star.

- But isn't it just because Hod itself is already attributed to Mercury and the sun simply lets the "mercurian self" shine?
- Partially yes. But in my mind the sun/mercury coupling connects this card again with the Ourobos/Perfected Tree story. A little far-fetched maybe .... Anyway, see the caduceus on this card?

- ... I do. Malkut. It starts to repeat a little ...
- The last one for now. You know the caduceus?

- As I recognized it ... So what?
- Look at the caduceus on the card. Isn't there missing something?

- I see. ... The wings.
- You see ... the wings?

- ... ?? ... Wow! Looks as if the two coins on the sides of the Malkut coin are the wings!
- Don't they? And Malkut wants to fly up to ... ?

- I seem to know that already: Da'at.
- And if you look at the Da'at position, you can imagine this small coin in the background is right now flying up there. And the dark big coin in the background is somehow split between Malkut and Da'at to connect them.

- Flabbergasted
- And Crowley's comment in the "Book of Thoth" support that Chinese marriage idea again, when he uses the layout of the geomantic figures Conjunctio and Carcer to demonstrate the interweaving of the male ٨ and the female ٧ for this card. There you have this hexagon circle again. In the Perfected Tree you have two of these rings intertwined. Like wedding rings.

- Or like the rings that form the vesica piscis ...
- Now, isn't that something.

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[by zero]

- We're not really finished yet, are we?
- How you mean?

- Well, I'm really into this Malkut in Da'at part of the Perfected Tree right now. So the sephirot are rearranged by whatever.
- Yes.

- But what happens to the paths? I can see they are smooth and slick and symmetric and all in the Perfected Tree, but you got me confused with the Roman numerals in your picture. So, which path is which?
- Ignore the numerals for now. The paths are basically those of the Golden Dawn Tree, Crowley's tzaddi-twist added, and after that transformed quite naturally.

- Meaning?
- As Malkut moves up, it drags the three paths with it, which are directly connected to it.

- This would be ... XVIII, XX, and XXI - qoph, shin, and tav.
- Does that ring a bell?

- ... Indeed ... it does ... there was something kabbalistic ... let's see ... q = 100, sh = 300, and t = 400 ... adds up to 800 ...
- It is a lot easier than this. Qoph-shin-tav is a Hebrew word ...

- Do I have to look it up?
- I will tell you. It's "rainbow".

- And?
- (yawns) Are there rainbows on any Thoth cards?

- Plenny ...
- Trumps only.

- Still ... 0 has something rainbow-ish, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII not, XIV has a rainbow, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII not, XIX yes, XX, XXI not. ... So we have 0, XIV, and XIX.
- Now, imagine Malkut moving to Da'at ... which card?

- ... in a way it could be any of these three ...
- ??? Really? I thought it would be obvious ... Ok, to enhance the picture: Qoph, shin, tav stay connected to Malkut as it is moving up, the three paths flipping over as Malkut is passing the Hod-Netzach-line. Doesn't it look like ... (pauses)

- Like?
- An error?

- An error?
- ... an error ... like eee ... like unlikely ... Osiris is a black god ... the apex, also known as sagitta, the keystone ...

- You're raving.
- "I got the poison, I got the" ... just fooling around, son.

- ... get back to your senses, please?
- ... anyway ... you got me?

- Some of it. ... I take it then, that qoph, shin, and tav join elevated Malkut from below, disconnecting from 7, 8, 9, reconnecting to 4, 5, 6, respectively. Is that correct?
- Lordy. ... Just to clarify, if we denote the moved Malkut as 10*, then qoph connects ... ?

- 4 with 10*.
- Shin?

- 5 with 10*
- And tav?

- 6 with 10*.
- Message sunk in. And from above?

- As from below?
- How would that work? No, the paths from 1, 2, 3 to 6 simply change their destination to 10*.

- ... Compelling. ... I really like this structure of the Perfected Tree ... Though, really now, how do those numerals fit in?
- Well, this is most mysterious, indeed. ... And unfortunately no story at all ...

(to be continued...)


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[by zero]

- No story at all then, eh? ;-)
- I'm not kidding you. Reordering the trumps was a tedious, almost mechanical process. I more or less lost track of it. I can't reproduce it. I tried to, but I can't ...

- Y' don't wanna tell me.
- I can't. ... Imagine this: I knew I was on something with the Perfected Tree and the Thoth, and had the feeling that the trumps needed a little rearrangement on the new tree. I searched for hints in the "Book of Thoth", mulled over what I found, tried different things, followed many, many traces, never knowing where they would lead me or whether there was a solution at all. Ultimately I had a sequence of trumps, mapping to another sequence, mapping again to another sequence. My mind was already in a kind of autopilot mode, while that emerged. I only hoped, if I had the solution, I would recognize it.

- And that's how you found it.
- I guess so, yes.

- And how did you recognize it?
- I didn't at once, I couldn't be sure, but some features of the new arrangement immediately caught my attention.

- For instance?
- The pairings of the crossing paths on the middle pillar, the most obvious being V and XXI.

- The two cards with the Kerubic Emblems in the corners.
- Yes, on V they look absolutely like masks, whereas on XXI they are flowing over with life. I take the as the two aspects of the number 777 according to Crowley: the world of the shells and the spirit of the living god(s). A natural match.

- Sort of fits ...
- Then the upper pair, XVIII and VI, more subtle, but seems to stress a union/separation-theme, somewhat echoed in the Two and the Ten of Wands. ... More than that, if you're looking for symmetries in the Tree, you would expect the upper and the lower pair to go together well. And there you have the not too bad combination of XVIII and V plus that of VI XXI.

- ... well ... yeah? ... hmmm ...
- But then, at the very heart of it, in the center of the tree, the ultimate couple of all ages. ...

- ???
- The Emperor and Death. As the last path closes in to complete the Perfected Tree, "Death is the crown of all". "In the king's palace his daughter awaits thee".

- ...
- Of course, the silhouette of Death makes her a good Saturn, too, which likes to pair with the Jupiteresque Emperor. And then there is also the allusion of XIII to the Empress. But finally ...

- Yes?
- ... you should realize, that IV is positioned on the path of tet. Tet, the lion-serpent, the Emperor as the lion - look at him - whereas XIII without any doubt depicts the eagle. This makes this central pair representing the wedding of the Lovers, the lion and the eagle!

- You look heated ...
- Do I, now? ... I think, it's so brilliant ...

- Well, maybe ... you're talking yourself just into something ...
- "The will to live, and the will to die".

- ... hmmm ...
- And the picture of Shu holding up Nuit is nicely set up as II and XX at the edges. And VII and XX, the top two cards, add up to 718 as 418 + 300.

- Kind of autopilot mode again? Stop it, please.
- Ok, I will. ... Anyway, all these cards I just mentioned already had their positions. They made me feel like being on the right track. Other cards switched places in the process, moving around for different reasons.

- So you do remember parts of the process?
- Actually most of it, but still ... can't reproduce it ...

- ...
- To just give you an idea, I will list bits and pieces I remember going into it.

- Ok ...
- One thing was the sequence given in the presentation of the "vital triads" of the trumps given by Crowley, another on the natural order of the trumps according to their numbers, either forward or backward. Then I had the "0 = 2"- and the "0 just before XXI"-scheme, and the reverse motive, so stick any of the first/last cards in either the second or the next to last position.

- You already lost me here ...
- ... One sequence indicates, what to do with the other: For trump 0 put the current card of the other sequence in first or last position, or move it up or down one position, for trump I put the card in second or next to last position or move it up or down two positions, and so on.

- I like the "or" ...
- ... I did that once for the whole pack. With the resulting sequence I did it once more with one of the schemes. ... I really don't remember the details here, working in a semi-trance due to the dull activity. But then I placed the cards on the paths of the Perfected Tree. That's when I saw the pairs on the middle pillar.

- You saw some meaning.
- Right. ... And then I worked with the result. I swapped some cards.

- But why?
- You know, there was that XVII/IV-switch and the VIII/IX-switch, and somehow that made me sensitive ...

- Sensitive?
- Well, I just happened to notice IX and XI had to be swapped. Any idea why? ... Come here, look at the numerals on my cards.

(...t.b.c....)

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[by zero]

- Before I look at the IX and XI let me set one thing straight: You don't think, that that card shifting instruction you just gave is good for anybody, do you?
- Well, it's just for the record. ... And it goes on a little. IX and XI were switched, for obvious reasons. Then XIV and XVI followed, for no obvious reason, it was just 'as below, so above' to counter the first movement, and I liked the resulting symmetry of the wheel working - X - and the wheel falling apart - XVI. But the last switch that lead me to the final state of the Perfected Tree was the strangest of all ...

- What was it?
- III and XI - the cards seemed to have moved by themselves!

- ???
- No, honestly. ... Sometimes I think, my subconcious took over, and I switched the cards without noticing it ... It fitted well, the symmetries were completed ... When I lay back and think about it, I totally fail to understand, why it worked. And even more than that, how Mr Crowley might have set it up like that, to be worked out. Or Mrs Harris.

- ... bizarre ... still you propagate this scheme ...
- 'Cause I know the result is valid, and I sense its absolute beauty.

- Valid? Against what?
- It matches the attributions given in 777, Columns II, III 'The Hebrew Names of Numbers and Letters".

- Ok, like?
- For instance aleph, the fool is the ox or the plough, that was firmly planted in my mind, since my first intro to the kabbala by "The Book of Thoth".

- Same with me.
- But then I read in 777: "Aleph means an Ox principally because the shape of the letter suggests the shape of a yoke". 'Yoke?' I wondered. ... Now ... Look at the card on aleph in the Perfected Tree: XX.

- Ooops. ... Nuit as the yoke ...
- And in my mind I can easily lay it upon the original ox, 0 - The Fool.

- He looks really eager to wear it. Funny, I certainly never made that combination before ...
- You know what? Strange enough, the given Perfected Tree attributions match each of those given there in 777 ...

- Really? ... Well, maybe, but ...Don't go through them now. ... This all is too lengthy already, I guess. Sorry, but I'm not really interested.
- What am I, a lousy telemarketer? ... Yeah, ok. Maybe you're interested in some details why it is obvious for IX and XI to be switched?

- I don't know ... it's really too much right now ...
- I really hate to say that, but there is still a major part missing ...

- Besides the switching and the 777 correspondences?
- Uh-huh.

- More interesting?
- Depends on you, I guess.

- Make it short.
- You have to choose the right Magician, of course.

- Oh, no! ... not that one, please ... Crowley didn't intend the two other Magicians to be part of ...
- You remember the section in "The Book of Thoth", where it says something about the tarot like being like a crossword puzzle?

- No, does it say something like that?
- Somewhere in the beginning ... Anyway, here comes the puzzle: To result in the turning of the wheel X, joining IV, III and I, which is the right I?

- ???
- I thought: X is kind of golden and violet, the violet is the mixture of the red of IV and the blue of III, now we are lacking gold, I go for the Magician that has to offer some.

- ...
- This choice is confirmed by the father-mother-son-daughter-like sequence IV-III-I-II: Look at these four cards as one person, opening his/her arms.

- ...
- And of course by its position on the Perfected Tree where it represents lamed - Adjustment/Libra in the Thoth Tarot. See the high wire artist kneeling down, keeping his balance? Or combine the needle of the original VIII with the scale of I to have a letter balance.

- ... ... great stuff ... that whetted my appetite ... now I like to hear the rest
- I for my part need something to wet my throat right now. Let's get something to drink.

- Ok.
- ... terribly hot ...


(both wandering off)

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[by zero]

Zig-Zag

What first alerted me to the idea,
that I was onto something with my Perfected Tree of Life attributions,
were the - in lack of a better name - zig-zag lines between the pillars.
Almost immediately my eye was caught by the combination of XV below IX, phallos and sperm.
And on the other end, where does that caduceus lead to?
To the sun, XIX, together with XV solar-phallic indeed.
The sun, here the anus/prostate gland, somewhat confirmed by the scarab, the dung beetle, holding the sun disc in XVIII.
Now, above IX, the sperm, was at that time III, kteis, it went on with 0, the foetus/newborn,
and it finished with XX, the crowned child conquering the world.

Then there was this XI/III-switch, which didn't actually take much away from the zig-zag thingy, it even intensified it a little,
XI now being a combination of kteis/egg/uterus.

This is the sequence on the right side between the middle pillar and the right pillar, from bottom to top:
XIX - XV - IX - XI - 0 - XX, immaculate.


And on the left side?
I expected some symmetry, so what does II - XVII - I - XIV - VIII - VII give us?
I saw the arrow flying in XIV. And we have the bow in II.
Which makes VII maybe the ... target? Made sense to me.

I wrapped it up in the following description of II:
I can see it now, and it is absolutely clear.
The arrow is always already shot, is flying hearing the target's call,
and is simultaneously hitting it in the ever-moving, ever-still-standing center.

I really don't know about the other cards:
XVII - drawing the bow?
I (His attitude suggests the shape of the Swastika or thunderbolt, the message of God) - releasing the string?
VIII - arrowhead?


What do you think?

 

[7Nica7nor7]

LOL, well it's funny, and interesting, I really like people who
gives new approaches and ideas, this one is pretty interesting,
and also some how very graphical. I am just a newbie on
cabala but sure i understood everything you wrote, I'm trilled
to take a look to that books of yours 4 years you say? mmm
hope you can trow some pictures on that book that illustrates
better that movement and how the images on the card really
connects, well be nice.

Tnx these really interesting ideas and the best of the lucks
w/that book. cheers

also I'm hoked up to see what others members have to add to your ideas.
sure that can be fun.

 

[by zero]

The cards sitting at the four corners of the Perfected Tree

8-9: II
7-9: XIX
1-3: VII
1-2: XX
​

correspond to the verses 3.64 - 3. 67 of Liber AL

64. Let him come through the first ordeal, & it will be to him as silver.

-> II​

65. Through the second, gold.

-> XIX​

66. Through the third, stones of precious water.

-> VII​

67. Through the fourth, ultimate sparks of the intimate fire.

-> XX​

 

[jujustar]

thankyou Z

looking forward to more