Background on the Tree of Life

Embodied Kabbalah

Falling Through the Tree of Life: Embodied Kabbalah © 2022 by Jane Meredith. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

first edition

First Printing, 2022

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown Illustrations by Llewellyn Art Department Interior book design by Rebecca Zins

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Land Acknowledgment

This manuscript was researched, written, and lived on sacred lands, including those of the Parisi, a Celtic tribe who first settled on a few small islands in the middle of a river that came to be called the Seine in a city named after that tribe, and those of the Bundjalung and Arakwal people, also known as Northern New South Wales in Australia.

All land is sacred land. Living and working on it, breathing its airs, drinking its waters, and eating its food, it becomes part of us as we are part of it. We recognize it as the source and sustainer of life.

I offer my respect to the Indigenous guardians and custodians of these lands and their elders past, present, and emerging.

Kabbalist Acknowledgment

So many came before me. I am one speck, one fleck—and you another—in the great river of Kabbalists, mystics, alchemists, scientists, dreamers, visionaries, creators, and those in service to the divine, whatever names or titles they have held. So many libraries of wisdom, so many lifetimes of experience and learning, and all of it from the stars, from the original point of singularity, however far we’ve come, journeying through dark vast waves of space to this point of time and place.

Still we remember.

The Kabbalists. Those who received. They who sought knowledge to understand the world and their part in it, to define and glory in the Tree of Life. Those who dared, who studied and taught, who experimented, who argued with God, who risked their lives for it. Those whose lives were given to it or taken by it; those who were celebrated, wellloved, whose names were lost; those who were too radical or too obscure. To those whose words or thoughts have survived and those whose haven’t, I offer honor and respect and gratitude. May my words find a way to describe what you also knew as sacred.

Sitting or walking by a river in afternoon sunlight, the light dances off the drops of water, sparkling briefly but meeting and changing the eye that sees it. Let this book be one of those dancing flecks of light on the great river that feeds the roots of the Tree of Life.

To the Jewish lineage I claim through one side of my ancestry: to the survivors, to the slain, to the mixing of race, religion, and heritage, I offer blood, acknowledgment, and gratitude.

contents

Invitation to the Reader 1 Background on the Tree of Life 9 How to Use This Book: Practical Guidelines 17

What You Will Find in This Book 18

How to Approach This Book 19

Essential Skills 20

Learning as You Go 20

How to Inhabit a Sephira 21

Two Paths Through the Tree 22

Working Solo or with Others 24

Timelines 26

Kabbalah Warning 27

1 Sephirot in the Tree 33 Kether: In the Beginning 35 The Ten Sephirot of the Tree of Life 45 process | Setting Your Intention 51 trance | Meeting the Ten Sephirot 54 Memoir: Alone 59 practice | Journey with a Sephira 65 activity | Creating the First Disk 69

2 Pairs in the Tree 73

Hokmah: Lover and Beloved 75 Pairs in the Tree of Life 85 practice | Traveling the Lightning Flash 95 trance | The Orchard of Ten Trees 98 Memoir: The Beloved 102 ritual | Mirror of the Gods 109 activity | Creating the Second Disk 110

3 Triads in the Tree 113

Binah: The Dark Womb 115 Triads in the Tree of Life 125 trance | The Cave 132 process | Unseen Parts of Self 134 Memoir: The Source of Love 137 activity | The River of Life 143 activity | Creating the Third Disk 145

THE ABYSS

4 Pillars in the Tree 151

Chesed: Flow and Force 153 Pillars in the Tree of Life 162 process | Left-Hand Pillar: Resolving a Problem 172 ritual | Right-Hand Pillar: Altar of Compassion 175 Memoir: The River and the Ring 178 trance | Middle Pillar: Journey of the Initiate 185 activity | Creating the Fourth Disk 189

5 Polarities in the Tree 193

Gevurah: Boundaries and Justice 195 Polarities in the Tree of Life 205 practice | Boundaries and Consent 213 process | Life Priorities 218 Memoir: The Red Thread 220 ritual | Divided Self 227 activity | Creating the Fifth Disk 230

6 Paths in the Tree 233 Tiferet: Heart of the Tree 235 Paths in the Tree of Life 245 process | Creating Path Sentences 257 trance | Path Journey 260 Memoir: The Open Heart 263 ritual | The Inner Column of Fire 269 activity | Creating the Sixth Disk 272

7 Embodied in the Tree 275

Netzach: The Garden 277 Embodiment in the Tree of Life 287 ritual | This Body Is Sacred 295 trance | Healing Ancestral Lines 298 Memoir: Art and Life 302 ritual | Playing in the Garden of Eden 308 activity | Creating the Seventh Disk 311

8 Magical Systems in the Tree 313 Hod: Complex Systems 315 Other Magical Systems and the Tree of Life 325 exercise | Tarot Reading 331 process | Drawing Other Systems onto the Tree 334 Memoir: Multiplicity 335 trance | Journeying Through Layers 342 activity | Creating the Eighth Disk 345

9 Magic in the Tree 349 Yesod: Imaginal Realms 352 Magic in the Tree of Life 360 activity | Magic in the Tree 367 practice | The Magical Body 371 Memoir: Courted by the Universe 374 trance | Powers of the Tree 381 activity | Creating the Ninth Disk 384