the Tree of Death and the Qliphoth

The contraction between Idea and Formation, which separated the created from the Creator, occurred between Din, the Judgment, and Binah, the Understanding. In the Book of Creation, Understanding, the supernal of the feminine water, symbolised by the Mother letter mem, is considered the Elixer Vitae, while the contraction beneath this separated the World of Formation, considered the “lesser water.” So it is written (Ps. 124:13) “thou hast broken the heads of the dragons upon the waters,” and this idea refers to the contraction rather than to the primordial “deep” preceding Creation (Gen 1:1). Because this contraction separated the three supernal elements from the lesser worlds, it is said that, like the qliphoth, the adverse attributes to them are formed of Fire and Air, and dwell in the distance between the earth and the moon.

Therefore, the “dragons upon the waters” refer to the Qliphoth themselves, which, when they “broke” caused the geometrical symmetry of the Tree of Life diagram to slip down into its current Christian version.

Now, this contraction between the “queen” and the Judgment occurs in what has since come to be known among the Christian qabalists as the Veil of the Abyss, and this, we see, is the realm of the non-sefirot Daath, or Knowledge. This sefirot, rightly attributed to the Gnosis of the queen Sophia, that is, the female aspect of wisdom, reveals to us that Knowledge is the fruit on the tree of Knowledge over Good and Evil.

However, in its adverse attribute, as Daath, which has no place on the symmetric geometry of the original Hebrew Tree of Life diagram, it is affiliated with the Tree of Death and the adverse qliphotic attributes, for to eat of the Tree of Life after having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge is to “surely die” (Gen. 2:17). The act of Creation is a contraction downward and inward by the Creator, while the diminished emanation of the Lowest Sefirah, which is said to abut the adverse world of the manifest shards of the shells, causes the desire in men to return to the Godhead, and thus ascend the sefirot. Thus, in the Hebrew conception, Daath is associated only with adverse attributes, while in the Christian concept, Gnosis is necessary to return to the maternal Sophia. In one sense, the seven lower emanations may be thought of as synonymous with the Hindu concept of the seven chakras, while the “serpent that runs and returns” may be thought of as the Kundalini. In ha qabala, however, only the Messiah can return His Fallen Bride to the Creator.

The dragons, though referring to the shells of the sefirot between the Judgment and the Kingdom, are only two in number, for there are only the shards of the shattered shells, which are subtended as the adverse attributes of the Tree of Death inferior to Malkuth, and the Qliphah of Malkuth, which is, itself, the fallen Shekinah. These dragons are the same as the types of emanation which preceded their fall, that is, of air and of fire. Here we see the meaning of fire is to emanate outward “circularly” and that that of air is to propagate “linearly.” The linear aspect of the qliphoth, which are the shards connecting the seven slipped sefirot, is the serpent that “runs and returns.” Of the circular aspect of the qliphoth, which is the remaining cracked container of the kingdom that calls upon man to ascend the sefirot to return to the Godhead, it is written in Qabala Unveiled that “his tail is in his head (that is, he holdeth his tail in his mouth, in order that he may form a circle).” This coiled serpent is referred to in the Book of Creation as the Teli, and associated with the constellation of Draco. Thus it is said (Isa. 27:1), “And on that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword will punish the Slant Serpent and the Torturous Serpent.” Here, the slant serpent refers to the shards of the shells, and the Torturous Serpent to the Qliphah (harlot) Shekinah. Thus, the Slant Serpent is associated with the Gnostic Samael, who governs over the ascent of the “running and returning,” and the Teli to Lilith, the Sumerian Goddess of Midwives. Together, these attributes are known as “the Blind Dragon.”