The Power of Ascension: Kabbalah and the TREE OF LIFE
This weekend I made my third ascension up the Tree of Life . For years I’ve been told “your energy is Kabbalistic” and that it would be “great for my mind”, and I didn’t know what it meant. I’ll continue to write about the Universal Hermetic Ray Kabbalah program, and my realisations studying the Tree of Life, but today I share my understanding from some of the many nuggets at the level of Geburah and Chesed. This part of the Tree is where you unlock your true authority in life, where your true freedom and highest responsibilities reside.
Do you want to be free?
In an era where everyone wants to be free, here are some counterintuitive truths that the Tree of Life unlocks for you to experience true freedom:
1. Putting limits and restrictions on your life will get you to a place of true freedom.
2. Total liberty to ‘do whatever you want’ won’t.
Wait, to be free I must have restrictions? Yes!
Let’s consider two children as an example.
One child is given a set of rules: They must play one sport, one musical instrument, and every day after a snack and a brief play time, they must spend two hours working on enrichment, be that through homework, learning to read, or painting.
At first, this child often gets frustrated at the restriction. The structure feels harsh, overly strict, and unnecessary. Where is the fun in reading for two hours when all your friends are outside playing in the park?
Over time, this child develops into a teenager and adult who has skills, not just in homework, reading, or painting, but in life. They grow into an adult who can create. They set long-term goals and work toward them daily until they are achieved. They can apply their will to create, but not just in the short term! They could decide “I want to become a millionaire”, develop a plan, and then apply the necessary discipline, time, energy, and effort toward creating this kind of life.
Ultimately, the restriction that their parents place on them serves them, greatly.
Let us next consider a child who is raised without rules. They usually go to school, but academic achievement isn’t stressed in the household. When they get home, they have complete free reign to play and explore. They aren’t closely monitored. And do you know what? This child has SO much fun as a result. They laugh, they play, they explore trees and creeks, become really good at their favorite video game, and life is a dream.
But over time, this child grows up. They still haven’t been taught to place boundaries and limitations on what they ‘can’ or ‘should’ do, and so rather than taking ten steps down a Path in life, they take one step down ten Paths. They dabble in photography, marketing, sales, and being a Pilates instructor, but never see much success for themselves because they never stick around long enough to enjoy the fruits of consistent labour over time.
These are extreme examples, and you may be thinking, “But Jackie, the kid doing homework needs to have fun” and “But Jackie, the kid playing needs to be taught not to run out into the street and get hit by a car” and you would be right!
The child with extreme discipline and the child without rules would sit on opposite Pillars of the Tree of Life: one is raised strongly by the qualities of Geburah on the Pillar of Severity and one by the qualities of Chesed on the Pillar of Mercy. But to obtain true balance in life, you cannot have just one. These are lessons that are not just taught, but digested and lived through Universal Hermetic Ray Kabbalah study.
You must strike true balance between the two Pillars to “walk the Path of the Magician”, and to truly manifest wonderful things for your life!
I’m a young adult and was raised with many qualities of Geburah in my life. I was taught that restriction, limitations and hard work would take me places. As a result, I now enjoy certain fruits of my labour: postgraduate degrees and stability in career, yes. But there is one lesson in this that is greater to me. I know that I can, from the power of my Mind, create something that I desire in my life. I can create ‘rules’ for myself, just as my parents did for me, and achieve great things.
In this way, I have to remind myself as I progress and grow into the person I want to be of some of the qualities of Chesed. I ask myself, “Am I giving myself enough freedom to flow? Am I being kind enough to myself?” For in the balance between restriction and the grace I achieve my greatest goals.
Now, I would encourage you to ask yourself:
Which ‘dose’ of energies would serve you most (long term) in your life?
Do you need more Geburah with discipline, restriction, and boundaries? Or do you need more Chesed, with flow, compassion, love, and grace toward yourself or others?
Consider these qualities as being like ‘doses’ in your potion of life! You really do need ‘a little bit of this’ and ‘a little bit of that’. It’s magickal after all, this life.
