The Ten Sefirot
of the Kabbalah is often called the 'Tree of Life'.
This 'Tree' is usually presented visually as ten abstract
circles connected by lines.
While meditating one day on the Three Mother letters
from Sefer Yetzirah - Mem (Water), Shin
(Fire) and Aleph (Air) - I got an idea to draw
the Ten Sefirot as a flowering tree with branches
and roots. I saw the lower part of this 'Tree of Life'
as a Mem, and the upper part of this 'Tree' as a Shin.
Life is a dynamic process of balancing between extremes
- between hot and cold, between activity and rest, between
expanding outward and contracting inward. When it's
cold outside, we seek fire to warm ourselves. When it's
hot out, we look for water to cool ourselves. The lower
half of this painting shows the root system of a tree,
resting in the cool, wet earth. The upper half shows
the flowering branches of this tree, which reach out
into the warm air, gathering energy from the sun.
The 'Tree of Life' in this painting has nine flowers
at the end of its nine branches. The three flowers on
the right are blue. The right side of the 'Tree of Life'
is the side of Chesed (Love), which is associated
in Kabbalah with Water. In my paintings, blue stands
for Mem. This right side has blue squares that
provide the pattern on these flowers. The shape of the
letter Mem can be abstracted to a square, and
its simple gematria (single-digit number value) is four
- the number of sides in a square.
The left side of the 'Tree of Life' is the side of Din
(Judgment), which is traditionally related to Fire.
Red is the color that I use for Shin. Thus, the
three flowers on the left are red. These flowers are
patterned with red triangles. The shape of Shin
can be abstracted to a triangle and its simple gematria
is three - the number of sides in a triangle.
The three flowers in the middle are yellow and are patterned
with circles. The middle column of the 'Tree' represents
Rahamim (Compassion). This is understood traditionally
as the balance between Chesed (Love) and Din
(Judgment) and associated with Air.
In Sefer Yetzirah, the letter Aleph stands
for Air, which is not hot like fire and not cold like
water, but temperate - balanced between them. Yellow
is the color I use for Aleph because yellow is
in the middle of the rainbow, balanced between the red
and blue which are at the two extremes. I also abstract
the Aleph and draw it as a circle because the
gematria of Aleph is one and a circle is the
universal symbol of oneness.
The number of squares, triangles and circles used for
pattern here is arbitrary. But the number of little
dots inside the solid blue, red and yellow of the flowers
is intentional. The top yellow flower has one dot, as
this represents the first Sefirah - Crown. The
top blue flower has two dots - the second Sefirah,
Wisdom. The top red one has three dots - the third Sefirah,
Understanding. The flower with four dots represents
Kindness, five dots Strength, six dots Beauty, seven
dots Victory, eight dots Majesty and nine dots Foundation.
The whole root system of this 'Tree of Life' corresponds
to the tenth Sefirah, Kingship. It contains an
entire array of Ten Sefirot but as ten concentric
circles. These Ten Sefirot are called Igulim
(round) in Kabbalah and represent the Feminine forces
of Nature. The Ten Sefirot which are seen as
three columns, as in the upper half of this painting,
are called Yosher (straight) and represent the
Masculine forces of Divine Providence.
The Yosher enters into the Igulim. A straight
line enters the first and largest circle, branches to
both left and right and produces circular yellow Alephs
on both sides. This circle represents Crown. In the
next circle, it branches to the right and makes blue
Mems - Wisdom. The third circle goes to the left
and produces red Shins - Understanding. In the
fourth, the line branches to the right - Kindness; the
fifth, to the left - Strength; the sixth, to both sides
- Beauty. The seventh circle goes to the right - Victory;
the eighth, to the left - Splendor; the ninth, to both
sides - Foundation. And the green seed in the very center
of the circles represents the tenth Sefirah -
Kingship.
