The Tree of Life is a diagram for studying the relationships between ten sephiroth, or spheres. In the common Hermetic form used with tarot, twenty-two lines connect those spheres. The circles represent named qualities or conditions; the lines represent relationships between them.
Begin by recognising those two parts. You can understand the basic diagram before adding a planet, Hebrew letter or tarot card to every position. If Kabbalah itself is unfamiliar, read the introductory lesson first.
Read the diagram as a map of relationships
The diagram shown here is the common Hermetic arrangement discussed by Dion Fortune and Robert Wang. There are other arrangements and interpretations in Jewish and Hermetic literature. Naming the version helps you compare diagrams without assuming a different layout is an error.
Kether, the Crown, is at the top. Malkuth, the Kingdom, is at the bottom. The other eight spheres form a pattern between them. In a study of manifestation, this order describes spiritual expression becoming more definite and concrete.
The positions are symbolic. The spheres are not physical planets arranged above the Earth, and a lower position is not a judgement that a person or experience is worth less. Malkuth, the material expression, belongs to the complete Tree.
In the labelled diagram, select a sphere to reach its explanation below. The lines show the twenty-two connections; no Major Arcana or Hebrew-letter assignments have been added yet.
The labelled Tree of Life
Ten named spheres are joined by twenty-two connections in this common Hermetic arrangement. Select a circle or label to reach its explanation.
Circles and paths have different roles
The circles identify the ten sephiroth. The connecting lines identify relationships between them. The three columns are called pillars and let you compare severity, mercy and equilibrium across the diagram.
The diagram leaves out planetary symbols, Hebrew letters and tarot path assignments so you can learn its structure first. Each named sphere has a plain-language explanation below.
The ten spheres in ordinary language
These brief descriptions explain how the spheres are approached in the Hermetic teaching used here. Their names and translations are the beginnings of a larger study. They are not universal tarot keywords or complete definitions of Jewish Kabbalistic doctrine.
1. Kether: Crown
Kether is the first sphere, the root of the Tree’s manifested pattern. Hermetic writers discuss it as the first expression from the unmanifest source. For a beginning study, distinguish that root potential from something already given a definite form. The Aces belong to One in the numbered tarot arrangement.
2. Chokmah: Wisdom
Chokmah concerns dynamic force or an initial outpouring. It is often studied together with Binah: force needs a form through which it can become definite. The tarot Twos share this sphere, with each suit expressing the number differently.
3. Binah: Understanding
Binah gives form, definition and limitation. A limit can make something possible: a vessel holds water because it has a boundary. Hermetic writers compare Chokmah and Binah as force and form, while each has a wider range of symbolism. The tarot Threes belong here.
4. Chesed: Mercy
Chesed concerns expansion, support and an established order. Generosity and the structure that sustains a situation are useful starting ideas. Compare the four tarot Fours to see how stability can support celebration, rest, material security or an emotional state.
5. Geburah: Severity or strength
Geburah concerns restraint, discipline and the force that limits or cuts away. Its relationship with Chesed is especially useful: support without limits can become excessive, while limits without support can become harsh. The tarot Fives let you study different expressions of pressure and disturbance.
6. Tiphareth: Beauty
Tiphareth occupies the centre of the diagram and is associated with balance and harmony between different forces. Its position helps you see why relationships matter across the Tree. The tarot Sixes belong here, including both the recognition of the Six of Wands and the passage away from trouble in the Six of Swords.
7. Netzach: Victory
Netzach concerns desire, feeling and the force that carries an undertaking forward. Its translation does not make every associated card a prediction of victory. The Sevens include testing, attraction and difficult choices as well as persistence.
8. Hod: Splendour
Hod concerns intellect, analysis and the organisation of experience into forms that can be understood. It is often studied alongside Netzach, comparing feeling and thought. The tarot Eights share Hod, while their individual scenes can show skilled work, restriction, movement or departure.
9. Yesod: Foundation
Yesod concerns the formative pattern or image through which an influence can become manifest. Hermetic writers connect it with the Moon and the astral level. The tarot Nines can be compared through a condition approaching its full result, without treating every Nine as the same outcome.
10. Malkuth: Kingdom
Malkuth concerns manifestation in the material world. It includes the concrete result, the body and the circumstances of lived experience. The tarot Tens belong here, including both fulfilled relationships and difficult accumulated burdens. Ten stays Ten in this system; reducing it to One belongs to another numerical method.
The three pillars
As you face this diagram, the left column is the Pillar of Severity: Binah, Geburah and Hod. The right column is the Pillar of Mercy: Chokmah, Chesed and Netzach. The middle is the Pillar of Equilibrium: Kether, Tiphareth, Yesod and Malkuth.
The names describe relationships between form and force, restriction and expansion, and their balance. Severity and Mercy are not simply a bad side and a good side. Both are needed within the complete pattern.
For a concrete comparison, think about generous support and a clear boundary. An undertaking may need resources and encouragement, but also a limit on what it can spend or promise. Chesed and Geburah help you study those related functions. This is an analogy for understanding the pair, not a replacement for their spiritual meaning.
A sphere and a path are different
A sphere is one of the ten circles. A connecting path is one of the twenty-two lines. In Golden Dawn tarot, Aces through Tens correspond to the spheres, while the twenty-two Majors correspond to the connecting paths.
The Magician’s printed I therefore does not make him Kether, sphere One. His card number belongs to the Major Arcana sequence. His path assignment belongs to a different numbering and correspondence system.
You may see the expression thirty-two paths of wisdom. In that use, the ten spheres and twenty-two connections are counted together. A book using “path” in this wider sense can sound as though it has thirty-two connecting lines, but the familiar Hermetic diagram has twenty-two.
Why Daath appears in some diagrams
Daath means Knowledge. Some diagrams show it as a dotted or hidden point between the upper spheres and the rest of the Tree. The Hermetic arrangement used here does not number it as an eleventh sphere in the Ace-to-Ten sequence.
Jewish teachings also differ in how Keter and Daat are counted in a ten-sefirah account. Chabad’s explanation of the two systems discusses that distinction. A dotted Daath in a Hermetic diagram and a different Jewish enumeration should not be combined as though both were one extra tarot number.
For this first lesson, use the ten numbered circles shown in the diagram. You can study the different accounts of Daath later without adding an Eleven to every tarot suit.
From the diagram to a tarot reading
The Tree supplies relationships; it does not replace the individual card meaning. The Four of Swords belongs to Chesed in the Air suit. Its established message concerns a pause and recovery. Comparing the sphere’s support and stability with that picture can help you understand the protected rest the card offers.
If the card describes the near future in a reading about a demanding period, it can forecast a pause or withdrawal for recovery. If it appears as advice, it can recommend taking that pause. The position changes the card’s role while its place on the Tree remains the same.
Use tarot and the Tree of Life for the full numbered-card table. Study the four worlds to understand how a complete tenfold pattern can be expressed through each suit.
A first study exercise
Draw ten circles in the arrangement shown and label them with their names and numbers. Leave the planetary symbols and letters aside for this exercise. Locate Chesed and Geburah, then Tiphareth between and below them.
Write one sentence explaining the relationship you have just studied. Next, lay out the four Fours from your tarot deck and compare their scenes. Keep their differences visible as you connect them with the same sphere. That small exercise gives you a place to begin using the diagram without trying to memorise every correspondence at once.
Sources and further reading
Dion Fortune’s The Mystical Qabalah, especially the chapters on the Tree’s pattern and ten sephiroth, explains the Hermetic relationships used here. Robert Wang’s The Qabalistic Tarot discusses the diagram, pillars, spheres and tarot assignments. Israel Regardie’s A Garden of Pomegranates provides further Hermetic study.
For a Jewish explanation of the divine attributes, read Chabad’s introduction to the sefirot. Its context and some enumerations differ from the Hermetic tarot diagram above. The short descriptions here are an introductory guide to the named Hermetic arrangement.
