The Tree of Life - Saadia, The Three Elements and Cellular Consciousness

The structure of our body can be divided into 3 sections - the blood which supplies the cellular tissue, the cytoplasm of those cells and finally the DNA which is housed inside the nucleus of each. This threefold division can be associated with our 3 elements as follows - Air with the Blood, Water with the Cytoplasm and Fire with the DNA.

AIR (ALEF)

Our cells are supplied with nutrition and oxygen via the blood but since the blood is predominately made up of red blood cells* I have associated this with Air.  However Air (Blood) is ''Mother of the Mothers'', in that all components of respiration are dissolved into it.

The formula for respiration is:

Oxygen (air) + Sugar (energy/fire) = Water (water) + carbon dioxide (earth*)

• Air - Oxygen
• Water - Water
• Fire - Sugar

Looking at our Tree of Life diagram at the top of the page - the path of Air mediates between the depths of Good and Evil - like we have the notion of faire winds and foul, evil winds, so our blood brings to our cells a payload of merit and liability, or mercy and severity.

Good and Evil are strong terms and it may behoove us to simplify this to the notion of Advantage and Disadvantage, or nutrition and poison to describe the axis of the observer.  The blood brings us the vital ingredients of our life, essential proteins we cannot synthesize, sugar, oxygen, hormones, etc but it also brings us a cargo of death and disease in the form of toxins, pathogenic microbes, etc.

WATER (MEM)

THE CYTOPLASM AND ITS ''PLANETS''

Our second element Water rules over the cytoplasm, the bubble of mostly water that makes up the prime constituent of every cell.  This cytoplasm has various ''organelles'' within it that look like little globes, or planets.  These organelles can be grouped into 7 functions that match with the 7 planets.  Water then is said to be Mother of the Doubles, or Mother of the Planets.

• Saturn - cell membrane, cytoskeleton (the structural integrity)
• Jupiter - endosomes (the transport/trade system)
• Mars - lysosomes (the defence system)
• Sol - mitochondria (the powerplants)
• Venus - golgi apparatus (the ''lips and mouth'' of the nucleus)**
• Mercury - endoplasmic reticuluum (the face around the nucleus)
• Luna - nucleolus (contains the ''mark'' or ''destiny'' of DNA) 

Water as an element mediates between the depths of north and south, cold and hot or expansion and contraction respectively.  Simplistically we can think of the cell swelling and shrinking with supplies of nutrition, the membrane ''pulsing'' if you like.

From a more advanced perspective we can also see the positions of Mars and Jupiter on vertical paths leading from the horizontal of air, to the horizontal of water - here our astrology tells us about contraction and expansion with the planets.  Mars and Jupiter as lysosomes and endosomes form the defence/surveillance system of the cell and its internal transport and external trade system.  These paths then form the link between what passes through the membrane and survives in the interior of the cell and also what is exported back to the body as a whole.

Our Saturnian path leads straight from the membrane to the mitochondria, and shows how nutrients diffuse from the blood into the cell and reach the mitochondria where they allow us to complete our metabolism without which we would die.  Our Luna path, associated with the nucleus, leads us from the depths of the past (our birth, and our cell-line stretching back to the origin of the first cell on Earth) to the depths of the west (the passing of a given day) and reminds us of the cell cycle whereby our cells split and divide into two ''daughter'' cells.

FIRE (SHIN)

THE THREE TONGUES OF SHIN - DNA + RNA

Our third element Fire rules over the DNA itself which operates according to 12 basic genetic rhythms and is therefore Mother of the 12 simples/zodiac signs.  As we see from our Tree of Life, the path of Fire, mediates between the paths of up and down or as I prefer in and out.  The nucleus of the cell, which contains our genetic material is the very core of our being - as such there is an information flow ''out'' from the nucleus and ''into'' the nucleus.

This material is very advanced from a genetic perspective but think about it like this - our Mercurial path ''down/in'' represents the path of information flowing down to the nucleus and being *interpreted by the DNA*.  This ''path'' of interpretation is very Mercurial as it seeks to break things down into parts in order to understand them so it can produce the correct answer/response.  Our Venutian path which mediates between ''out/up/rise'' and ''south/expand'' represents the way in which the nucleus ''replies'' to the questions posed by the Mercurial path - if our Mercury ''in'' path is questions our Venutian ''out'' path are the answers.  Science (Mercury) breaks things down in order to understand, Art (Venus) builds things up and offers them back out.

Even more challenging is to fully understand the link between the 12 basic genetic rhythms and the 12 zodiacal signs.  These genetic rhythms/operations can be very clearly visually associated with the 12 zodiacal signs. I will provide a few examples of these in the notes and leave a full exposition until later on in the Blogos.  

• Aries - DNA replication fork***
• Taurus - DNA polymerase
• Gemini - DNA topoisomerase****
• Cancer - DNA topoisomerase II
• Leo - histone bodies
• Virgo - chromosomes
• Libra - mRNA splicing*****
• Scorpio - mRNA
• Sagitarius - tRNA - ribosome complex
• Capricorn - post-translational folding
• Aquarius - DNA repair
• Pisces - DNA recombination

THOTH SPLICING ANKHS

EARTH (LAND/SOIL)

Whilst water is used in the body, carbon dioxide is exported via the blood and ultimately breathing out.  Carbon dioxide is subsequently used by plants to grow thus the association of this with Earth/land/soil.  Therefore Earth is not one of the three elements in this sense.  Earth does not appear in the Sefer Yetzirah as an element.  It is not one of the Mother Letters.  Earth (Aretz - land) is said to derive from Water, one assumes that as water retreats, floods, sea level decrease land is left. To me Earth in the idea of both planet and ''element'' is the concertation of all 22 celestial forces, a compound - as land on the one hand and as soil on the other - it is the central focus of the 231 gates- the ''one name'' that the 22 letters form.

SPIRIT (MIND)

All of these associations can be used with the Cellular Consciousness model discussed throughout the Blogos - if you are the animated Helix in the centre of the nucleus (your physical reach) the room surrounding you is your ''cell'' (your perceptual reach, typically delineated by the walls). Structures within the room maintain its integrity, the walls etc, various tools allow it to fulfill its function, doors, windows allow access, normally some sort of heating/lighting is provided by a room's ''mitochondria'' etc.  The buildings with these rooms containing them are like tissue lining capillaries, veins, arteries etc - the streets, roads along which these tissues emerge - etc.

Deeper than this we see that we are always in the ''room of our Mind'', which never moves... our Cellular Consciousness.  Therefore the '''walls'''of the ''room'' of our mind, once penetrated lead into the bloodstream of time... Enjoy your free-scaling...

*Alef is said to contain the mystery of YHVH in its structure.  If you break down Alef you get one Vav and two Yods.  This has a total value  of 26 which is the same value as YHVH.  26 is the proton number of Iron.  Iron is the essential element in the construction of haemoglobin which allows the blood to carry oxygen.  ADM means Adam, but DM means ''red earth'' (i.e. rich in iron oxide) and A means Air.  Thus ADM can be read as oyxgenated blood.

**

Associated with Venus via Hebrew letter Pe (mouth).

*** Compare and contrast

****Compare and contrast

*****Compare and contrast.

The Saadia Tree of Life

Ten Sefirot out of Nothing, according to the number of the ten digits, which are five against five and a single convenant to be determined in the centre.  In word and tongue and mouth, they are ten extending beyond limit: depth of Beginning, depth of End, depth of Good, depth of Evil, depth Above and depth Below, depth of East, and depth of West, depth of North and depth of South, and the Sole Master and Lofty King faithfully governs them all from his Holy Dwelling in Eternity, Forever.

Sefer Yetzirah, Ch.1 v. 2, Saadia Version 

THE SAADIA TREE OF LIFE

The 10 sefirot are occupied by the 10 depths - (good-evil, future-past, north-south*, west-east, up-down**) - these ten depths are the axial endpoints of the 5D hypercontinuum that we exist ''within''.  The diagram is 2D what it represents is 5D.  Remember this always.

The 3 horizontal paths are occupied by the 3 elements.  The elements are arranged in their rational order - Air, Water, Fire - the order of creation of these elements in the Sefer Yetzirah***.

The 7 vertical paths are occupied by the 7 planets.  These planets are arranged in the Chaldean order - Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury and Luna - descending the Vertical paths, with the topmost middle path being ''first'', the topmost right hand pillar path being second, the topmost left hand pillar post being third and so on down the Tree.

The 12 diagonal paths are occupied by the 12 zodiac signs.  These are arranged from Aries to Pisces in the traditional order of the Zodiac from the top to the bottom.

The purpose of this diagram is to *educate* the WMT on the absurdity of the erroneous Kircher Tree which violates this basic rule of construction.  I have taken every step possible to show the rule of 3, 7 and 12 - the paths are colour coded, the depths are colour coded, etc.

I do accept the possibility of manipulating the position of the letters (permuting them) within the rule of 3, 7 and 12.  For example, from the source text (the Sefer Yetzirah) you can make arguments for positioning Fire in the topmost horizontal (as does the Ari) or making ''Keter and Malkuth'' the depths of Good and Evil, and Hokmah and Binah the depths of Future and Past and several other variations.

However, I have not placed the Hebrew letters on this Tree or used the traditional Kabbalistic titles. This is not because I don't believe in the value of traditional Kabbalistic analysis of the letters of the Alefbeit, or letter meditations. Throughout my Blogos you will see reference to Tzeruf, Gematria and various other traditional kabbalistic approaches. I asked my artist to make this diagram to educate people involved in the WMT on how important the rule of 3, 7 and 12 is in maintaining the integrity of the Tree of Life and the severe lack of knowledge of Hebrew and the Sefer Yetzirah (*the* core Kabbalistic text) in our community only impedes this understanding.   So in the spirit of transmitting this rule I have excluded the Alefbeit for the moment as I feel the general understanding of astrology in the community outweighs it.  I will produce a sequence of diagrams as above with all relevant information including both Kabbalah *and* Genetics.

The Saadia Tree does not conflate the Sefirot with planets, etc****.  Conflation of this kind within the Kircher related systems (777) leads to a very messy mangling of the core principles, you end up with things like 32=34, people get confused and the Tree begins to lose its sense.  It is also unnecessary. WMT adherents would argue that ''Yesod'' is associated with the Moon but you will see in the diagram that the ''path of the Moon'' leads to Yesod (which is the Depth of the West, or the passing of the day).

Anyone with a basic grasp of the WMT will see very interesting patterns within this rendering of the Tree of Life.  For example our middle pillar now becomes a ''temporal axis'' with Future and Past as the ''macrocosmic'' ends (Death and Birth) and with East and West (mediated by the ''path of the Sun'') as the ''microcosmic ends''.  Time passes within the limits of our birth (associated with the path of the Moon) and death (associated with the path of Saturn) and with the rising and setting of the Sun in the East and West.

One could also compare and contrast the positions of Mars and Jupiter.  The path of Jupiter mediates between the Depths of Good and South (Warmth/Expansion), the path of Mars between the Depths of Evil and North (Cold/Contraction).  These associations should resonate for anyone with an ounce of astrological knowledge.  The zodiac signs in their proper places now simulate the Zodiac Man***** in our ''aura'' while staying within the rule of 3, 7 and 12.

I will provide more detailed exegesis of this system as time passes (and answer any questions) but I want you to note that I am not saying that this is the ''one way'', I accept the rule of 3, 7 and 12 has some useful variants, but I do think this is the most rational way and that Kircher in its deviation from this is a severe error.  I also agree that whilst we should accept that ours is an individual and private path that selfsame individualism occurs within the space-time-observer continuum which is what our Tree of Life is intended to show.  I am not trying to ''fence you in'', or limit your possibilities just demonstrate the field within which those possibilities can happen. I am trying to show you the basic principles of the Tree of Life which the WMT has misinterpreted for an embarassing length of time.

Remember that when other writers mock such maps they generally have been working with the wrong one for their entire occult career (or at least during that part of their career that they were exploring ''Qabalah'').  Most of them never properly studied the Jewish Kabbalah  but only Golden Dawn, Crowley, et al, ad nauseaum, derived commentaries on the Kircher Tree. They were right to mock and abandon the Kircher Tree but the Kircher Tree never was the Tree of Life and its barely a Tree at all. Its really embarassing because the rule of 3, 7 and 12 is so obvious as to be glaring at us, as I hope the diagram shows, and we, collectively were really very stupid to miss it.  That goes to show what dogma can do.  I understand the colossal implications of accepting this error but the truth will out.  With sources such as we have today maintaining this ignorance is utterly idiotic.

If you don't already own a copy of Sefer Yetzirah in Theory and Practice by Aryeh Kaplan and you are serious about understanding the WMT then purchase one now.  This is definitely not your ''101'' spellbook, this is your access to ''the mystical experience par excellence'' and will teach you, as Kaplan suggests, ''a special form of telekinesis''.




*North-south could also be understood as the axis of cold/warm and contract/expand.
**Up-down are fairly relative on an Earth spinning in space.  I would prefer in/out or rise/fall.
***The order in which they appear in the *storm*, our lightning flash.
****One of the reasons such conflation occured is because people identified ''Sefirot'' with Spheres.  The word Sefirot is not related to Spheres but means counting, text, etc.  It could be related to cypher and sapphire (sappirot).  As such the Sefirot are best represnted by points, and the paths as the lines on the cut stone, Sefirot being the point where those lines meet.  Sefirot in this sense are better understood as confluxes.  I am not saying spheres aren't useful in meditation, they are, but lets remember that they are 3D and we are discussing a system in 5D.
*****