Fundamentalist Christians and its Wrong Approach to Spiritual Teachings (08):

Flat Earth; Enclosed Creationism; Conspiracy (Theory) and Intuition – Part Three:

The Tree of life: For most groups, the Tree of Life is nothing but a metaphorical (or symbolic) set of images in regards to the relationship between human states of consciousness and external experience of reality in the natural world. For Flat Earthers however, the Tree of Life is something that used to be literal or tangible before it turned into myth, and perhaps that’s why the symbol is ageless and ubiquitous among creation mythology. This gives new meaning for the Tree alongside its representation for a universal state of eternal aliveness or fulfillment, rather than the immortality of the body or soul. Within the awareness of states of eternal aliveness, one can interpret death as a direct experience of the perfect divine reality and is not only possible but ever present.

In Sumerian history, they called their Tree the ‘Persian trees of life’ represented by a series of nodes and crisscrossing lines. This was a significant symbol often adorned with eagle headed gods and priests or the immortality of the king himself. The film title ‘The Fountain;’ [which I talked about in the previous post], if one was to finish it would be ‘The Fountain of Youth’ which is about the search for immortality and so happens the Epic of Gilgamesh has a similar quest for immortality. In Mesopotamian mythology Etana searches for a “plant of birth” to provide him with a son, these origin stories have links to antiquity found in cylinder seals from Akkad around 2390 BCE.

Isis and Osiris are represented as the original couple in Egyptian mythology from the Ennead system of Heliopolis. It is said they emerged from the acacia tree of Saosis, which according to Egyptians is the Tree of Life, and referred to as the “tree in which life and death are enclosed.” The Egyptians Holy sycamore also stood on the threshold of life and death, connecting the two worlds.

The Tree of Life can be depicted as a phoenix and a dragon in Far East mythology with the Chinese dragon representing immortality, and the Phoenix depicting life after oblivion. There is a story about a tree that produces a peach every three thousand sand years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality. In Japan, the Lotus flower carries aspects of the Tree of Life. The flower is regarded sacred in many cultures, but more so in eastern religions as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration, and rebirth. The flower grows from deep within the mud, far away from the sun. Though it finds a way to reach the light and become one of the most beautiful and cherished flowers. These characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition.

In Norse mythology, the Tree of life is Yggdrasil, the world tree, and there is extensive lore surrounding it. It’s in the golden apples from Iounn’s tree that provides immortality for the gods. Pagan rituals and sacrifices took place under ancient trees.
Pre-Colombia cultures in the Americas, the Tree of life are a prevalent motif in Mesoamerican mythical cosmologies and iconography. Cultures like the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others all depict universal trees within their art and mythological traditions. The world trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which also represent the fourfold nature of the central world tree, including the four elements of air, earth, fire, and water. This is a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.

Within the Christian motif, the Tree of Life is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, which has the potential to grant immortality to Adam and Eve. The biblical Garden of Eden and its variations parallel the Tree of Life mythology; these themes are common as well among other ancient cultures. Man’s striving for equilibrium in a perfect world where man and nature are united until man is corrupted. The Tree of Life appears in the Book of Mormon in revelation to Lehi. It is symbolic of the love of God and sometimes understood as salvation toward a post-mortal existence. Kabbalists use the Tree of Life symbolism as a kind of road map, which allows them information to communicate with powerful spirits.

The Tree of Life is a represented as a symbolic Tree, but it’s also known as the Ten Sefirot (Sephiroth). Kabbalah teaches that the Ten Sefirot certain aspects of God’s nature and plan, detailing how His power emanates into the world below:

Gershom Scholem defines the Sefirot as, “spheres, whole realms of divinity, which underlie the world of our sense data and which are present and active in all that exists.” The Sefirot are equally divided into feminine aspects of God and male aspects of God. According to Kabbalah, there are some qualities of God that can be known (the Ten Sefirot) and some that cannot be known (the Ein Sof—infinite qualities). The Ten Sefirot correspond to the known characteristics of God or the Godhead, and through these emanations, God radiates to the world. These vessels are connected to the universe in ways that God cannot be connected, with the result that every action in the lower world vibrates through the Ten Sefirot and in some way affects the universe, the upper world, and God.

The last sentence makes God seem impersonal. It’s a contention fundamentalist-Christians have noted, but that’s not what it really means. God’s love is absolute and permeates within worlds (the light is always there). The disconnection or misunderstanding is to assume God functions like how human functions in a material way, which is not the way it works. This is what it means when God cannot be connected to the universe in ways that vessels can. Another way of looking at the disconnection is through time that time is God’s invitation to heaven; God is asking are you ready? And people are replying no not just yet. The creator is interacting with its self-alongside its creation, therefore, we should optimize our expression and expression of it, the disconnection, however, comes from a God that’s always at a distance, but somehow eventually it makes itself known subtly.

According to a Kabbalistic model, Uranus rules the fixed Stars (Zodiac / Chokmah); there is a conflict of truths within the study of fixed stars whether it might also be the Firmament. The Kabbalah system suggests it is. So it’s either beneath or among the Firmament it depends on which study you wish to follow. There are 88 fixed constellations but originally were only 48. All stars are transfixed; however, there are some that are exceptions such as Sirius, Ursa Major, Pleiades, (possibly) Orion, and Canis Major. The Zodiac plane moves in precession, but Stars are fixed onto them except for handful of constellations, the Stars plane are out of synch with the Sun ecliptic cycle [must be viewed through ancient cosmology to understand], so on the 21st of March on the equinox points to Aquarius instead of Aries because of the precession (people call it the Age of Aquarius). Tropical system astrology is based on the Ecliptic (sine wave) and Hermetic principles. Above the Zodiac-plane (Firmament) there is the Crystalline Sea, which is ruled by Neptune, and above the Crystalline-Sea (Firmament) is Water (Psychic Water) the same waters existing below the Earth. Above the Crystalline Sea is the red rose (indicating or symbolizing silence and secrecy towards the secret group Rosicrucian), the Rose once represented purity, passion, heavenly perfection, and earthly passion; virginity and fertility; death and life. The rose is the flower of the Goddess Venus but also the blood of Adonis and of Christ. The rose is encased in a yellow pyramid pointing towards the Supernal Emporium. The unconditioned abode, this abode creates the first movement on Terra-firma or Earth, and from the first movement creates other spiritual systems (other abodes), hyperreal-space believers (or heliocentric believers) call it the solar system, but it’s really a universe onto itself.

These systems are unapproachable in a physical or material way it’s a realm for the spirit. In other words, these dimensions are not physical worlds, but internal worlds (the kingdom of heaven). Scientists describe types of matter through physical atoms, but in the universe of heaven, which is composed of many different dimensions is composed of a different kind of matter – that which we call matter, in itself, or matter without form, is something unknowable for the intellect.

The lower planes (the hellish planets) below the Earth is said to have its own waters much like Earth and equally large. Life graduates from there and incarnates into our realm, and from Earth, we take on the heroic nature. In the Kabbalistic system we become a Hebrew or a Jew; in the Greek system we become a Hero; in the Vedic system we become a Demigod, people are striving or more precisely reaching for the divine. It is said among conspiracy theorist and gnostic researchers that entities (Aliens, Archons, Annunaki, Demons, and so on) that reside in the lower planes are influencing or actually in control of our world through various means.

To the Dismay of the fundamentalist-Christians and Jewish scholars there was a time where Christianity adopted the notion of Cabala in a new interpretation called Christian-Cabala. Thought to have originated in Europe where the migration of Jewish converts to Christianity. These converts reinterpreted Kabbalistic doctrines from a distinctly Christian perspective, linking Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection to the Ten Sefirot. Cabalist taught that Jesus Christ, by His atonement and resurrection, replace the Ten Sefirot as a means of reaching the Ein Sof. The three upper Sefirot is now: Keter (Crown) – represents the Father; Hokma (Wisdom) – represents the Son; and Binah (Intuition) – represents the Holy Spirit of God. The Ten Sefirot is open to reinterpretation; therefore medieval rabbis eventually forbade any instruction in it until the age of forty.

Christian-Cabala did them a favor by diminishing intuition and denying the ascendance of enlightenment by replacing it with Jesus’s atonement and resurrection. Why does the fundamentalist think this action is a misnomer? It’s because fundamentalist-Christians and its Churches follow a certain path of exclusivity (secret societies) and movements of the political kind.

Fundamentalists are generalizing all aspects of Kabbalah and within the rule of polarization – everything has its shadow side. Can one call themselves a Christian without the acknowledgment of Satan? The indoctrination of fear is by the over-focus on the light, but more precisely a materialistic notion of light. The idea of God as Logos, equated to the Sun may have influenced this, therefore, the moon, or the dark being opposed, must be anti-God. The Sun representing the Son of God is a fascinating notion made famous by the documentary “Zeitgeist”, this documentary and its notions are something fundamentalist-Christians cannot fathom. The logos are also the creator of worlds, which creates worlds through light and sound. When God said let there be light, it’s the supernal light, but what came first is the word and the word is the sound. A scientific understanding would coincide with cymatic research. The sound is in relation to atomic vibrations inherent to a thought wave universe. This is where the Practical side Kabballah has made its influence, but it’s less about manipulating matter for nefarious means through Magick, but through the understanding of a universe that reacts to intentions symbolically. The adoption of this process by secret societal elites has been a long-standing conspiracy fact; they adhere to the dark side of Kabbalah by practicing the dark arts and worshipping the Tree of Death. Kabbalah is versed in its understanding of the dark side and has been interpreted into its philosophy; this dark side is known as the “Tree of Death.”

The Tree of Death is symbolic to the abode of demons, shells and destructive, chaotic forces – the flip side of the acceptable qualities of the bright side of the tree. The (Astral) Shells is also known as Qliphoth, which means empty bodily forms, as opposed to bodily forms that once had souls – an empty shell that once had the divine spark or consciousness. Some Parapsychologists link ghosts to Astral Shells, figments or imprints left behind in the (a)ether after the original occupant has moved on. These shells can be taken over by wandering souls since they are floating around on the dark side. The spirits that take them over are, of course, low-grade entities and demons that can magically persuade to the bidding of Black Magicians.

The “shells,” Qlipoth, are the demons, in whom again is a form of the Sephiroth, distorted and averse. This great dragon as described is evidently identical with the leviathan of Job. He is the executor of judgment, the centripetal force, the old serpent ever seeking to penetrate into Paradise; finally, in a more exoteric sense he is Satan and the devil, the accusing one. – Kabbala Denudata: The Kabbala Unveiled

The Serpent aka Dragon, and Phoenix, is a dominant symbol in esoterica more than just an adopted symbol for medical practice (the caduceus). The Serpent as medical aspect is closer in association with the Kundalini the “serpent power,” is electricity-like spiraling energy. It has been universally equated with goddess divinities or Shaktis. The force of Kundalini matches Astro-theology’s concept of raising the Oil (Christos) to reach illumination. The serpent or fire lying coiled at the base of the spine; through means of living spiritually, they can magnetize the Kundalini serpent upwards through the channel of the spine. To which it finally reaches the masculine-feminine principles of the brain and fires them into coordination, the effect results in becoming inspired and attuned to the inner world of wisdom. This can only be achieved with “kundalini serpent.” Jesus Christ gave a hint of this when he said: “Be ye wise as serpents.”

The Serpent represents two things knowledge and sex, and the secret aspect is the “creative force” that is within each of us is, but that force is really one single force. The choice is about where we direct this force, upwards or downwards (good vs. evil). A.E. Waite’s “The Secret Doctrine in Israel” a book about Kabbalah, the Tree of life and its association with the Zohar states: “It should be noted further that the Sephiroth are represented as good and evil equally, which seems reasonable in respect of that world of dimensions wherein both principles manifest.” In all esoteric systems, Eastern and Western, the serpent is the agent symbol of wisdom, also called Sophia. The ripple symbolism of the cosmic serpent, our DNA activation and Earth’s kundalini awakening stand out in the mythos of creation throughout the ages.

So for every sphere in the Sefirot, there is a shadow side, Chesed, ruled by Jupiter and all the Gods of beneficence, mercy, abundance, and expansion can flip over into excess, greed, compulsion, and cancerous growth. Think of the good and bad sides of Sagittarius: jovial, fun- loving, active, philosophical, but they can also be dogmatic bullying and crude. It’s like that for all of the Sephiroth, whether Netzach (Venus), Hod (Mercury) Geburah (Mars) Binah (Saturn), etc. The Dark Tree houses chaos, disintegration, unbalanced power, or forces out of conscious control — for what is in the dark is unconscious, instinctual, reacting without thought. Furies live on the dark side of the tree, and all those beings that we, or society as a whole, reject. Death lives on the dark side, waiting in the shadows.

Latest Netflix show Sabrina showcases the Tree of Life and Tree of Death with its duality; we have a Tree underneath a dome as Sabrina enters the maze. Then we see the full tree in all its glory, which is symbolically reminiscent of a Jewish candle holder – then Sabrina picks the fruit and has a vision. The tree becomes darkened as Satan comes out of the Tree of Death and approaches Sabrina. The show ticks all the boxes on how fundamentalists see witchcraft – that it’s all Satanic. The reaction between Pagans and Neopaganism would undoubtedly see through the glamourized satanic aesthetic and many of its misconceptions of witchcraft.

Some major contentions about the Tree of Life (traditional Christian) fundamentalists can’t get over, [students can probably write dissertations on each of these contentions] some of these are:

A black and white approach when mysticism is involved is never in good stead, mystical over evidential leaves no room for the grey area. This assumes the evidential aspect is absolute, but questions can come up that stems from reason and logic, where did those evidential notions come from? In other words, some aspects of historical interpretation had to come from symbolic interpretation in order for it to be tangible. It assumes the evidential aspect or historical aspect without referent or reference, and that you should only rely on the label or word of God. This is not to be confused with faith. Fundamentalist views the occult only through means of delegitimizing it through points of references in Scripture, and forgo the understanding of it. Divination is bad because it’s known as “curious arts” in Acts 19:19 because this is the word of God, it’s an abstraction of the highest order, and never mind if it’s missing the acquired state of consciousness, memory, thought files, function and experience. Therefore, one can assume that it’s merely a warning sign, much like a warning sign in a cigarette pack, but free will is an established aspect of humanity and therefore people will still have that freedom to smoke.

Kabbalist relies on innumerable commentaries of men and the tools of Kabbalah (Notarikon, Temura, Gematria) to interpret the Hebrew Bible, but not just the Bible, but how reality works, in general. You can equate this to spiritual researchers of the past to modern researchers of today such as parapsychology (Psi research). This can’t happen without accepting the notion of magic. You can probably define them as modern-day gnostic researchers as well. Fundamentalist-Christians are aware of the three distinct differences in Psi study between Normal ESP, Occult ESP, and Occult Psychokinesis. To them, Normal ESP is scripture friendly and has nothing to do with the occult and can be referred to as a sixth sense or intuition. However, for the others, it deliberately tries to trespass willingly into the world of the occult. However, it’s not simple.

The diagram above indicates a classification of Psi phenomena, although I feel this is a semantic simplification. How can fundamentalist distinguish ‘dreams’? Because both go under the category of Normal ESP and Occult ESP these are anomalies that can’t be categorized. Fundamentalist cleverly identifies telepathy to be more intuitive (although a materialistic view of intuition rather than a broader version of intuition); this is an attempt to redefine its meaning so it matches their fundamentalist view.

Telepathy is under the heading Normal ESP and fundamentalist can’t accept this anomaly. If Psi researchers wanted to use the word Intuition rather than telepathy they would have because they know intuition as a whole is far more complex than animal intuition/telepathy. As for dreams and the images manifested in them, they’re known as archetypal symbols. What if these symbols are dark or in the realm of the shadow, does that mean it’s demonic? According to dream alchemy … no, but for fundamentalist, I’m not so sure because they like to generalize and reclassify. Under the heading Occult ESP; Psi researchers acknowledge Human to Demons communication, but dismisses Human Angels and fallen Angels communication. Why? Because they know both are coming from the same realm; Mercury the heaven of Mind where Archangels reside and according to Vedic system Mercury is also the realm of 33 million Demigods and Demons. I thought these were heavenly planes and demons only resided beneath the earth among abode of demons.

It is said fallen angels (bodhisattvas) reside in Mercury along with Cain the first son of Adam and Eve and apparently human souls that practice black magick. Perhaps these Demons are fallen angels mentioned in the Vedic system. Cain is represented as the first Intellectual Animal Mind. Abel represents the Human Soul, the consciousness that obeys Spirit. Cain, the animal mind, has to be dissolved to build the real human (Manas). Both Cain and Abel worship God, but apparently, God is displeased with Cain’s type of worship because Cain being of a mystical mind extracts the treasures of the earth from his body, meaning sexual energy. This is how Cain (the animal mind) kills Abel (the Consciousness) – so to be born again and to enter into the Kingdom of heaven means the parable/literal activities of Mercury. This means living in Chastity, this is a conflict to one of the steps in reaching true enlightenment and that of the notion of Love of a partner and Karma. Perhaps it’s more about the right way to expel the sexual energy. Many ancient Egyptian people sublimate the sexual energy with the vibrations of an Ankh to live longer healthier and stronger.

Maybe Demons residing in Mercury is more in tune with the metaphorical and metaphysical parable found in the film “A Dark Song” which coincides with the Gnostic notion of the Father being within us, as the inner eternal mind [at least that’s how I saw it as]. ‘A Dark Song’ is a film about a woman named “Sophia Howard who rents a house in the countryside of Wales and hires the occultist Joseph Solomon to contact her son that was kidnapped and murdered by teenagers practicing black magic. Along the days, Sophia follows the guidance of Solomon in rituals to purify her soul. However, Sophia has a hidden agenda that jeopardizes their lives.” – IMDB. Once she passes her magical initiations; the film showcases her being in the underworld and depicts her striving to get through all the death, the film depicts the human side of the shadow or Qilpoth (Klipoth).

The eternal mind sees in every direction, the all-seeing that sees within and sees the eternal realm, making the intellectual animal mind the dualistic universe. The idea is to get our soul through the father, through all the death, corruption and dead Aeons (our father protects the spirit within the mind and soul). Then, you will be able to get through to the Holy Spirit, which is said to be the real Baptism, the water within. Gnostic scripture says: “there is a light within the light, water within water.” There is the inner mind within the outer mind and there is inner spirit water within the outer spirit water. There are many ways to enlightenment perhaps this one way around it. The film ‘A Dark Song’ portrays this metaphysical concept (or narrative) in the material world.

The quest for immortality is like the quest for truth. Jung describes the idea of immortality:

The idea that the Ten Sefirot is used as a tool is an inaccurate summary, the Ten Sefirot is just a symbol. This is an attempt to classify the Ten Sefirot with the incorrect label the label of magic. The magic aspect is solely in the practical aspect of Kabbalah. The Ten Sefirot symbol comes out of the Seed of Life symbol. Terence McKenna has described our reality is built upon language system; through his many psychedelic interactions with entities, he calls Elfs concluded thoughts manifest images. Therefore, if the universe is structured linguistically it can be engaged linguistically. Kabballah uses a combination of words and images or symbols to engage in a world that is inherently language based. The response entails a feedback loop. Often these results are subjective; ordinarily, the details are missed because magic can be indistinguishable to coincidence. Language being symbolic suggests words can be spells as well, and can be more potent with the power of intent behind it, so, prayers are spells also.

Astronomers interpret symbols in the same way through Star symbols, but constellations don’t exist; they’re entirely imaginary. However, they are used by astronomers and astrologists to mean something. Language and Mathematics are symbols as well. Are people to interpret these practical uses of symbols in a nefarious way or is there a distinction? Sheldrake’s notion that our thought comes from somewhere else other than the brain, but from the […], this place is known to be many things.

Occultism is really a symbol system, it’s about interpreting events or reality through symbolic systems whether it’s a Zodiac, Terra, Grimoire, Amulets, Talisman all of these things are highly sophisticated symbolic systems that have been refined over centuries and some cases millennia. Technically there is no such thing as occult; the term came about through the Middle Ages where information from the Middle East was seeping into the western society. The church frowned upon it, and so it was hidden. They only discussed it in secret societies. What the occult is known for now is different. People only understand it as divination coupled with the use of magical symbols.

Fundamentalist-Christians and most of the general populace view occultism only in a generalized way by only understanding one aspect of occultism, and that aspect is divination. Even in this referent, there is no experienced established thereby invalidating its reference (excluding magicians or the awakened), and therefore the label prescribed to occultism would mostly be incorrect. For most Christians a spiritual understanding is in the realm of materialists similar to that of the (new)-Atheists, both exist on different sides of the same coin. Valentinus distinguished three classes of man; Pneumatics, Hyletics, and Psychics, which can be equated to; materialists, true believers, and spiritual people. Within the coin analogy; Atheists are materialists, fundamentalists are true believers, and both can revert from one another, but both are missing intuitive aspect leaving an incomplete trinity. As a result words and notions are built up, in other words, they end up putting an artificial referent to the label. True believers and Psychics often mistake the Demiurge for the True-God this fallacy must always be met with a never-ending discernment.

It safe to say the old Rabbis of old who were interpreting the Kabballah to book form noticed this fallacy in men. [The Old Testament was not enough to satisfy learned Rabbis and so they supplemented them by two parallel series of works of literature; the one, Talmudic, based on the Thirteen Rules of Argument delivered by Moses to illustrate the Old Testament for teaching the populace; the other is designed to illustrate their Secret Doctrines and Esoteric views, which resulted in the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar or Book splendor, which they describe as “The Secret Knowledge” which God gave to Moses for the use of the priests themselves.

It cannot be denied that those ancient volumes, Sepher Yetzirah and Zohar, contain a system of spiritual philosophy of clear design, deep intuition and far-reaching cosmologic suggestions; that are well worthy of the honour of receiving a special name and of founding a theological body of doctrine,–The Kabalah. – An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah, William Wynn Westcott]

Michael Keefe.

… End of part eight… to be continued