The Tree of Life is a tool used to categorize and organize various mystical concepts, and is central to the teachings of Aleister Crowley and the Qabalah. At its most simple level, it is composed of ten spheres, or emanations, called sephiroth (sing. “sephira”) which are connected by twenty two paths. The sephiroth are represented by the planets and the paths by the characters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are subdivided by the five elements, the seven classical planets, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
Within the western magical tradition, the Tree is used as a kind of conceptual filing cabinet. Each sephira and path is assigned various ideas, such as gods, cards of the Tarot, astrological planets and signs, elements, etc. Within Thelema, the seminal book which defines all these correspondences is Liber 777 by Aleister Crowley, although there have been other influential writers on the topic, including Israel Regardie and Eliphas Levi.
Lon Milo DuQuette is the author of Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Milleniumand well-known student of the A. ·. A. ·., a school for magicians co-founded by Aleister Crowley. His explanation of the Tree of Life is given here in the public interest to show how the Qabalastic Tree of Life is taught and understood in that discipline.
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DuQuette, L. M. (1997). Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millenium. York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc.
The ten cosmic power-zones and the twenty-two paths constitute the Tree of Life. (See diagram.)
