Tree of Life Models
The Tree of Life was originally explained in the Kabbalistic work: The Sepher Yetzirah or Book of Formation. The problem with this was that is was a word-based formulation of what the Tree of Life was. The people of the time, and even today, have difficulty in imagining what this may look like. When it comes to two Kabbalists discussing what the Tree of Life is, it's important for them to have a concrete grounding on what either one of them is explaining when they say "the Tree of Life".
So, throughout the ages of Kabbalistic thought, may models of the Tree have been developed, using the blueprint outlined in the Sepher Yetzirah, and then formed though insights gained by themselves and other like-minded Kabbalists. This of course has managed to produce a great amount of models, each as correct as the last, because they explain the Tree in terms of only one aspect of the Kabbalah.
Here are just some of the models produced through Kabbalists and Kabbalistic Groups:
The most common model is the one shown here. This model has the Ten Spheres linked by 22 paths, and can sometimes be seen with an extra sphere dotted in between the 8th and 9th sephira. The existence of this sphere is debatable, since the Sepher Yetzirah is clear in stating that there is 10 spheres and ten spheres only, "Ten is the number of the ineffable Sephiroth, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven." Based on the fact that man (as a reflection of God) has ten fingers and ten toes. These models show the geometric shapes used to create the proportions of the tree. The format of the 22 paths varies, since the paths are given less importance than the spheres, but generally, either of the two formats shown here is acceptable and legible without disrupting the flow of the tree. It should be noted here that the paths, although less important, are still extremely important, since they are the mid-points between two spheres, and carry the attributes of each. The path names and tarot correspondences can be found here. Please note that there are 32 paths listed- the first 10 are the ten sephiroth.
[Click on image for larger image with more detail]
The Tree of Life of the Later Kabbalists, taken from Athanasius Kircher's 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus' (1653). Kircher wrote a large amount on the 32 paths of wisdom (the 22 paths and 10 Sephiroth of the Tree of Life) which is often added to the Sepher Yetzirah. The tree that he created shows in great detail correspondences such as the names and meanings of the Sephiroth, the names and meanings of the 22 paths, and their Hebrew letters. Also included are symbols from Judaism and their place on the tree.
A reformatting of the tree occurs when the tree is used to explain the four worlds- Atziluth (Will), Beriah (Creation), Yetzirah (Formation), and Asiah (Action). This formation is referred to as Jacob's Ladder, from In this model, the trees are overlapped, and the 11th Sephiroth (Da'ath) is included. Here, the spheres below and including Tipareth (Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth) become the upper 5 Sephiroth (Kether, Hockmah, Binah, Da'ath and Tipareth) of the lower world's tree. Also, the paths that join these sephira overlap, to form the requisite paths, joining the newly formed sephira. Also note here that the central column (when the tree is aligned as the others are) consists of 10 sephiroth- forming a new tree of life within it, only this time, it is a linear model. An understanding of this form of the tree will give the Kabbalist a better understanding of how the universe was formed, and how it continues to exist. Generally though, much of the worlds above the first tree- Asiah- are considered to be either too complex or not worth considering. It is a Kabbalists job to exist here in the lower trees now, and when we reach the upper trees, to trouble ourselves with their constitutions then.
This four-worldliness of the tree can also be represented with a grouping of the sephira of the single tree as shown here:
This model comes from a story of the creation of the tree of life, as a reflection of certain principles, starting with the top, Kether, and ending with the bottom, Malkuth. The First World- Atziluth consists of the first two sephira- Kether and Hockmah, the Second World- Beriah is solely the third Sephiroth, Binah, the Third World- Yetzirah consits of the middle five sephira- Hesed, Geburah, Tipareth, Netzach, Hod and Yesod, and the final, fourth, World- Assiah, is the 10th sephiroth, Malkuth.
Another aspect of the Tree of Life is the Qliphoth, the "Shells" of the Sephiroth, or the evil aspect of them. In early Kabbalistic writings, there is very little said about them, so much of the work is new, and probably not exactly as they were originally meant. This tree has them behind the original spheres as the place where the devils of the spheres reside. In this instance (to the best of my memory) the 11th Sephiroth- Da'ath is a bridge between the two trees. This is not to say that they are separated from each other except for at this point. In fact the Qliphoth are linked to each corresponding sphere by its inverted relationship. Other theories on the Qliphoth have them one step below the original Sephiroth; or intertwined within the original spheres, being the place where the evil side of the sphere exists, or the negative consequences to actions made using that sphere. The uniting theory is that the Qliphoth are the negative aspects of the original Sephiroth- i.e. the loser to your victory- since every positive action to one thing is a negative action to another, keeping the universe as a whole in perfect balance.
An early Tree of Life Diagram showing the relationship of all of the Spheres. This is possibly an early attempt at the structure that is currently in common use. If the scale of the top 3 Sephiroth is enlarged, the geometry of the current model is arrived at. The only difference is that there are only 17 paths on this diagram, and 32 in the current. The 32 paths are referred to in the Sepher Yetzirah in the very first line. These trees were based on an organic model of a real tree, and hence were given this shape.
The Tree of life has also been thought of as a directional and elemental emanation. This comes again from the Sepher Yetzirah (Chapt. 1, 9-11). It includes firstly the Spirit of God, who made Air, then Water, then Fire, and their mother letters (aleph, mem, shin) then, in turn, height, depth, East, West, South and North, and their seals (permutations of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, I, H, and V). The paths have been named by the letters, as with the Sepher Yetzirah. But again, the number of paths has not been observed, having 24, with the two paths from fire on the circle, and the two paths from Water on the circle being named the same.