The Tree of Life Page 7

The Tree Of Life (Fig. 5) was used by the Qabbalists to illustrate certain relationships that they believed existed between the Ten Spheerote of the Book Of Formation. The later qabbalistic names of the spheerote are given in the figure.12 The Ten Spheerote are arranged on the Tree Of Life so that they form three vertical columns, the outer two of which have three spheerote while the middle has four. What is more, the first nine spheerote are arranged into three triads, the highest of which is called the World of Emanation, the middle called the World of Creation, and the lowest called the World of Formation.13 These three worlds are said to be united in the last spheerah, which is itself called the World of Action.14 In addition to this first version of the Tree of Life (as well as of the Four Worlds), a second version exists which connects the Qabbalah to a universal archetypic symbol of creation. For there is an ancient tradition that the universe was created in the form of a man, and this common cosmogonic theme is embodied in the second form of the Tree of Life. In this version, the tree-like structure is called the Archetypic Man, Adam Qadmon. This most ancient of beings is the Macrocosm, the Universal Man (akin to the "Old Man in the Sky"), as opposed to the microcosms, we individual humans. In this anthropomorphic version of the spheerote, the top spheerah is the head of Adam Qadmon, the next two spheerah are the brains and heart, the following two the arms, and so on.15

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The Seyfer Yetzirah