All great religious systems of the world demonstrate a marked degree of commonality. A good many of the practitioners of western occultism are familiar with the Hebraic glyph of the Tree of LIfe as it has been filtered through the Golden Dawn.
The Tree of Life as it is commonly pictured in esoteric circles was first published in Kircher's Oedipus Aegypticus in 1652. The development of the design has a lengthy history and its historical roots appear buried in the secret past of Mystery religions. The tree is deeply associated with Hebraic mysticism or Kabala, a word which can be translated "to recieve" as in recption of knowledge from the divine. Two works that fromulated and gave life to the Tree are the Sepher Yetzira (the book of formation), dating from between the third and sixth centuries AD by an unknown author; and the Zohar (the book of splendor), committed to writing about 1280 AD by Moses de Leon (or as stated in the Zohar itself, by Rabbi Shimon ben Yohi and his son Rabbi El'azar while the spent thirteen years in a cave to escape Roman persicusion around the second century AD) The dates and the names are important but, like the blyph and doctrine may reach immeasurable farther back in time.
As a representation of the eternal, the Tree of Life has such a potency that the occultist Frater Achad described it as the anatomy of the body of God. Aleister Crowley's book, 777, uses the Tree of Life as a basic grid in comparing numerous mystical and religious systems. The esoteric and practical perfection of the Tree makes it a valuble tool in the unfolding of Voodoo to the western mind. The graphic nature of the vessels and paths of the Tree point to connections between the loa that otherwise go unnoticed. Community is all important in Voodoo, and the Tree of LIfe shows the living spirit of community that exists between the Loa, the rites and the congregation.
Af first glance the Tree of Life looks very complex, but with a few hours of study and meditation, the Tree will begin to show a divine and forthright simplicity.
The correlation between the Tree of Life and Voodoo is as follows;
1 Kether - Damballah and Ayida Wedo
2 Chokmah - Nan Nan Bouclou
3 Binah - Guede
Daath the nonexistant vessel - Barrons
4 Chesed - Agwe
5 Geburah - Ogoun
6 Tiphereth - Legba
7 Netzach - Erzulie
8 Hod - Simbi
9 Yesod - Masa
10 Malkuth - Azaka
Here is a image for further study of the tree of life
Subject: The Tree of Life 
Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:13 am
