Tree of the Soul
Engraving by Matthieu Merian (1593-1650),
from Philosophia Reformata (1622)
''This engraving shows a mandala centered upon the Tree of the Soul, beneath which an old philosopher is instructing a young knight. They raise their left hands in greeting, indicating the esoteric purpose of their meeting (the left being the 'sinister' side of mystical and hidden things). This philosopher is the Wise Old within us all, while the Young Man is the explorative, investigative aspect of the soul that seeks enlightenment and quests after the wisdom of the spirit. The Old Man leans upon a staff, representing his long experience, while the Young Man, as if a knight on the quest, bears a sword, a weapon of the intellect, to arm him on his exploration. Between these two figures stands the Soul Tree, bearing the Sun, Moon and the five planets [shown as 6-pointed stars]. This is the realm which the being of the alchemist must penetrate, the seven spheres of the planetary forces in the soul which he must traverse and integrate. He must also bring together the King and the Queen archetypes of the male and female forces in the soul, as well as the Four Elements: Earth, and the Fire breathing salamander, on the left; and Water, and Air represented by the bird, on the right.
Around the Tree we see the most important aspect of this mandala, a representation of the inner process which takes place in seven stages:
The 1st stage is a death/nigredo where the soul bird [dove] is seen perched upon a skull. Thus a death/nigredo stands at the beginning of the work, and a separation occurs between the soul and the body in the process.
At the 2nd stage the soul bird gazes at its reflection in the dead earth realm. Through the nigredo, those facets of the husk of the old soul forces that have died are transformed and mirror back to the soul an essence of its being.
In the 3rd stage, two soul birds descend and begin to raise the dead essence of the soul in the form of the bird corpse. They raise the essence of the soul that is anchored in the earth realm towards the higher spiritual realm.
At the 4th stage a turning point is reached when the dead corpse of the soul element, anchored in the earth realm, is spiritualized into a crown. The soul birds which can soar within the alchemist's being to the highest spiritual sphere are useless to his consciousness unless they can incarnate this spirit in a material form. Here they have transformed the dead skull of the first stage, through the bird-corpse, into a crown. This crown is brought into the lower regions of the soul by the polarized forces of the two soul birds that have been operating through this central part of the process.
During the 5th stage it is planted in the earth of the soul and begins to grow. Here the spiritual poetentialities in the crown begin to reveal themselves as a living presence in the soul.
The 6th stage sees the formation of the two Soul Tinctures, the Red (Solar) Tincture represented by the rose blossoms, and the White (Lunar) Tincture represented by the Unicorn. These tinctures or Stones are the permanent incarnation within the soul of the archetypal spiritual energies.
Finally, the 7th stage is reached with the resurrection of the body, here seen as a female figure. The alchemist returns to full consciousness in the body, bearing within the essence of the process. As this passive weaving of these tinctures into the being of the alchemist reflects a feminine aspect of the process, the alchemist is represented in female form.''
Engraving by Matthieu Merian (1593-1650),
from Philosophia Reformata (1622)
''This engraving shows a mandala centered upon the Tree of the Soul, beneath which an old philosopher is instructing a young knight. They raise their left hands in greeting, indicating the esoteric purpose of their meeting (the left being the 'sinister' side of mystical and hidden things). This philosopher is the Wise Old within us all, while the Young Man is the explorative, investigative aspect of the soul that seeks enlightenment and quests after the wisdom of the spirit. The Old Man leans upon a staff, representing his long experience, while the Young Man, as if a knight on the quest, bears a sword, a weapon of the intellect, to arm him on his exploration. Between these two figures stands the Soul Tree, bearing the Sun, Moon and the five planets [shown as 6-pointed stars]. This is the realm which the being of the alchemist must penetrate, the seven spheres of the planetary forces in the soul which he must traverse and integrate. He must also bring together the King and the Queen archetypes of the male and female forces in the soul, as well as the Four Elements: Earth, and the Fire breathing salamander, on the left; and Water, and Air represented by the bird, on the right.
Around the Tree we see the most important aspect of this mandala, a representation of the inner process which takes place in seven stages:
The 1st stage is a death/nigredo where the soul bird [dove] is seen perched upon a skull. Thus a death/nigredo stands at the beginning of the work, and a separation occurs between the soul and the body in the process.
At the 2nd stage the soul bird gazes at its reflection in the dead earth realm. Through the nigredo, those facets of the husk of the old soul forces that have died are transformed and mirror back to the soul an essence of its being.
In the 3rd stage, two soul birds descend and begin to raise the dead essence of the soul in the form of the bird corpse. They raise the essence of the soul that is anchored in the earth realm towards the higher spiritual realm.
At the 4th stage a turning point is reached when the dead corpse of the soul element, anchored in the earth realm, is spiritualized into a crown. The soul birds which can soar within the alchemist's being to the highest spiritual sphere are useless to his consciousness unless they can incarnate this spirit in a material form. Here they have transformed the dead skull of the first stage, through the bird-corpse, into a crown. This crown is brought into the lower regions of the soul by the polarized forces of the two soul birds that have been operating through this central part of the process.
During the 5th stage it is planted in the earth of the soul and begins to grow. Here the spiritual poetentialities in the crown begin to reveal themselves as a living presence in the soul.
The 6th stage sees the formation of the two Soul Tinctures, the Red (Solar) Tincture represented by the rose blossoms, and the White (Lunar) Tincture represented by the Unicorn. These tinctures or Stones are the permanent incarnation within the soul of the archetypal spiritual energies.
Finally, the 7th stage is reached with the resurrection of the body, here seen as a female figure. The alchemist returns to full consciousness in the body, bearing within the essence of the process. As this passive weaving of these tinctures into the being of the alchemist reflects a feminine aspect of the process, the alchemist is represented in female form.''
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Tree of Knowledge
'' When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge
in the Garden of Eden: "And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons."
(Genesis 3.7)
This awakening symbolizes man's development of the intellect,
"knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3.5),
for homo sapiens are
no longer running around like animals. But the Tree of Life is even
more potent— "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become
as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out
the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way,
to keep the way of the tree of life."
(Genesis 3.22-24)
What is this Tree of Life that makes us immortal like God?
It is Cosmic Consciousness, Christ Consciousness, Buddha Mind— our true infinite eternal spiritual self
which the human ego is ignorant. The Tree of Life may be represented by the
Sephiroth Tree
in Cabala. The Sephiroth are the ten, primal numbers which, in combination with the 22 letters of the
Hebrew alphabet, represent the plan of creation of all upper and lower things. They are the ten names,
attributes of powers of God, and form a pulsating organism called the "mystical face of God" or the
"body of the universe". The central pillar forms the spine through which the divine dew flows down from
#1 Kether (Crown) to #10 Malkuth (Kingdom)— bringing blessings of heaven to the material world.
Image: This depiction of the Sephiroth tree is indebted to the Opus Magnum.
The dissolving and binding powers sit opposite one another on the branches:
on the bottom left is volatile Mercury with the winged shoes, and to his
right is the firre-spitting Sulphur. Above them, diagonally reversed, are
their forms in a sublimated and crowned state. On the top level, the third
Work, the two unite as the lunar tincture. From this there finally emerges
the solid sulphur, son of the sun. He wears the crowns of three
realms, vegetable, animal, and mineral.''(J.D. Mylius, Anatomia auri, Frankfurt, 1628). Alexander Roob, Alchemy & Mysticism, Taschen, Köln, 1997, pp. 304, 310
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textos de http://www.wisdomportal.com
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