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The Tarot & Kabbalah: Tools For Explaining the Spiritual Mysteries
On the tree, the first ten numbers are arranged in a meaningful pattern which explains the relationship of one number to another. Each number, or emanation, has a certain quality (the basis of numerology) that corresponds with different states of existence. For example, on the tree the number three falls in sequence after the number two, but it is located so that it is physically just as close to the one and the five, and is closer to these numbers than it is to the four, which numerically follows.

This placement tells us certain things about the properties of the three, and the study of this makes the number seem to come alive with a personality that transcends simple arithmetic. It's proximity to the one shows that the three attempts to rectify the duality of the two by creating a new unity. On the layout of the tree, the first three numbers form a triangle, our simplest shape in plane geometry, which means that one thing has been created out of three.

This suggests the birth process and gives the number a feminine quality. This would seem to verify the ancient Pagan belief in the triple aspect of the Goddess, the three phases of a woman's life and other feminine triplicities. This would also explain the Kabbalistic attribution of the number three with the planet Saturn, which creates form. There is much more that we could learn from this number by studying this placement, just as we can learn about the spiritual properties of the other nine numbers by studying their placement. Indeed, we will have to do this as we delve into the study of the Tarot.

Many magicians create "astral" temples to each of these ten worlds, to use the energy in a Magickal working or as platforms to gain mystical entrance to the twenty-two paths that connect the ten sephiroth. These paths are attributed to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and entrance to the mystical worlds they represent comes about by meditating on the specific letters, visualizing them in flaming form, hanging in the air. Each of the twenty-two letters represents a different Magickal experience.

These paths, or letters, are the energy exchange between the spheres they connect. In this regard, the ten sephiroth are static energies, akin to psychic spaces. The twenty-two paths are more fluid and can be seen as psychic experiences. Vincent Bridges, an expert on both the Kabbalah and the Tarot, puts it best when he says, "The sephiroth are states of being and the paths are states of becoming."

A priestess of the mysteries uses the Kabbalah as her starting point. Learning to understand this tool allows her to study many spiritual and magickal systems without getting lost along the way. For example, by using Kabbalistic correspondences it becomes easy to see that the Egyptian Isis and the Greek Aphrodite are both appropriate to the seventh sphere, which is called Netzach and corresponds to Venus. Although these goddesses are very different, we can see by this that they are also somewhat interchangeable, or that they are different aspects of the same divine principle.

Since the Tarot is one and the same with the Kabbalah, one of the most effective ways to learn the esoteric Kabbalah is by studying the Tarot. Learning how the Tarot deck is put together and how the cards relate to one another opens the secrets of the Kabbalah. Because both the Tarot and the Kabbalah are spiritual systems, the study of either is a mystical, life-enriching experience.

The Pattern of the Tarot

As evidenced by the Kabbalah, the study of higher consciousness is the study of patterns. Anybody who practices yoga, delves into the study of Magick or drops into the Shamanic underworld to visit with Don Juan, soon realizes that patterns, or vibrations, are the basic building block of all existence. The quartz crystal follows a pattern that compels it to grow into a hexagonal shape. Hydrogen and oxygen, patterns in their own right, follow another pattern to combine in such a way as to create water. Music is a pattern of sound vibrations with vibrations within vibrations. The color of a flower is a vibration, as is the flower itself.

The discovery of the self is the discovery of our own unique patterns. There are the patterns of our likes and dislikes, our loves, and the basic pattern of our journey through life. Some patterns are warning signs of things that need to be healed, like when we continually pick lovers who are bad for us or when we develop harmful habits like drug addiction or eating disorders. Finding the patterns that lead towards health and happiness is necessary, but that's only half of the job of self-improvement. It's also essential that we find what needs to be healed, to identify those areas in our life that are disharmonious, so that we can bring those aspects of ourselves into harmony.
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