The Sacred Geometry of the Tree of Life, Part Two
Figure 1: Tree of Life, rendered by Obsidian Blade.
Sephira VI: Tiphereth
Carrying forth the theme of symbolic geometry of the Tree of Life (Figure 1) begun with Part One of this series, the sephira of Tiphereth, being the manifestation of the “idea” of the number 6, is symbolized by the simplest six-sided volume, the cube. The cube is thus the second iteration of the square (the first was with the base of the quadrangular pyramid representing Geburah). In addition to the cube, two traditional symbolic correspondences with Tiphereth are the heart and the sun—the combination of these two symbols should hearken back to last week’s column on the “Mystique of Blood and Light.”
The cube is the first geometric figure in this series possessed of symmetry along all three spatial axes of length, breadth and depth (or x, y and z in the Cartesian coordinate system). Thus, a 3-dimensional cross is implied by its shape, as is the point at which all three axes converge—the center of the figure. Kether—the point—is thereby implied, as it was in the sephira immediately preceding, the pyramid (Geburah). In fact, given the square comprising each of the six faces of the cube, its volume can be seen as being composed of the volumes of six pyramids, the topmost point of each converging on the center point of the cube, and their square bases forming the faces of the cube.
Additionally, just as the Sun and the human heart are both totemic for the center, Tiphereth is itself positioned exactly at the center of the Tree of Life. And its centrality implies a privileged perspective, one from where “up” can just as easily become “down”—the disposition of perspective is, for example, why we see a setting sun rather than sense the rotation of the Earth, or why, removed from the orientation provided by the gravity of a planetary body, it makes no sense to speak of an “up” and “down” while floating in space. The center is a fulcrum point, a leverage whereby the lower may come to know the higher, and the higher may most effectively influence the lower. The cube thus begins to reveal some of the mysteries of the symbolism of the cross, that geometric figure specifically situating a center point between the four cardinal directions of the compass, and the six irreducible perspective-based orientations of “front,” “back,” “left,” “right,” “up” and “down.”
Figure 2: Opened Cube, courtesy of Wikipedia.com.
To further the cubical resonance with the cross, if one were to “unfold” the faces of the cube, one of the shapes thus produced would be a cross (Figure 2), one in a shape familiar to all Christians as the lower arm is longer that the others. It is no accident, therefore, that in the Christianized “Cabala” used by Western Hermetic mystics and magicians, the primary association of this sephira is with Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father (which is represented on the Tree of Life by Kether, the first and topmost sephira). Salvador Dali, to name one example, was clearly aware at some level of his consciousness of the confluence of associations of cube, cross and Christ (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Salvador Dali, "Hypercubic Christ," 1954. Courtesy of Artchive.com.
Christ as the logos (creative Word or Image of God) manifest in flesh is perhaps the most potent symbol of the intersection of blood and light. No other religious or mythical figure could be said to have so forcefully and poetically manifested this most primal polarity as He did. The visual resonance again lands home when we consider the iconography of the “Sacred Heart,” a stylized heart depicted as either flaming or sending out beams of light as though it were the Sun itself. Echoing the curious property of the center to take leave of regular notions of up and down, the inverted heart used in the symbolism of the Christian mystic Jacob Boehme shows the normally downward-aimed bottom point of the heart aimed upward like the head of an arrow, toward Heaven rather than toward Earth (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Jacob Boehme's Inverted Sacred Heart, from "Libri Apologetici." Courtesy of Sacred-Texts.com.
One of the traditional meanings in the Kabbalah for Tiphereth is “Beauty.” Beauty is based largely upon proportion and symmetry, both of which depend on a center point in some form or fashion. And yet this correspondence with “Beauty” is here matched with the grisliest of religious icons: a man nailed, arms outstretched, to two planks of wood (or often simply a tree, reflecting the Tree of Life itself), often depicted as bleeding profusely. It is a convulsive, visceral beauty which demands to be apprehended on a deeper level than what we’re accustomed to when we “appreciate” beauty. Indeed, much mysticism speaks of a specific type of understanding localized to the “heart”:
… let us remember that in ancient Egypt the heart was indicated as the organ of intelligence, which is an exclusively spiritual faculty. The heart is the most perfect and immediate manifestation of the spirit, and it is inviolable in its character of absolute harmonious spontaneity. In hieroglyphics, the heart is portrayed as a vase (h’tj) with two handles or ears. This precision of meaning, gradually subverted over the course of the past twenty centuries until the organic function of ordinary thinking and also of intelligere came to be attributed to the brain, as accurately been conveyed in Dante’s intellect of love [in La Vita Nuova]. [1]
This is not to be understood in a vague or abstract way, but by a method whereby the sense of identity normally associated with the head and face is actually transferred to the region of the heart:
Lying down, after achieving the perfect rhythm of breathing in the abovementioned phases, so that this organic function may continue with absolute spontaneity and without requiring any particular attention, one descends to the roots of being through “concentration” and “silence.” When one reaches the supreme phase and frees the spirit, this is realized as a small flame burning in one’s heart. The body must be experienced as pervaded by a wave of subtle warmth, flowing through the veins and the nerves. The flame burns, stating: “I AM!” The heart will feel as if it is burning and will be dissolved in the element of the magical Fire.
In this process, the greatest difficulty (if “difficulty” is the most adequate term in relation to such an act of the spirit) consists in the consciousness’s, the spirit’s, or the Self’s descent into the heart. In fact, we are very accustomed to feel and to experience ourselves in the brain. Someone may even feel himself in a sense organ, when the perception is of such an intensity and violence that it attracts every attention toward a given point of the body. Thus, one momentarily feels like sinking, wherever the sensation of pain or pleasure has arisen. The process of descent into the heart is analogous to this … the habit of the consciousness tied to an organ like the brain is such that the spirit is almost automatically attracted wherever it finds its habitual dwelling place. It is therefore necessary, in this case, to realize and to feel oneself as a mass of light consistency that descends from the brain, through the centers of the larynx and pharynx, down to the heart, slowly, following an ideal rather than a physical line, gently and effortlessly. [2]
“Beauty” is here also understood as meaning “Harmony,” as in the harmonizing of the lower with the higher; and as the midway point between the top of the Tree of Life and its bottom, Tiphereth is the harmonic “fifth” to the octave formed by Kether and Malkuth (the nethermost sephira, which will be covered in a future installment).
Notes
1. Julius Evola et al, Introduction to Magic, Inner Traditions, p. 41.
2. Ibid, pp. 42-43.
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