 Hello there. In this episode, we're going to cover a range of topics that have come up since the previous episodes in order to establish a deeper level of understanding around the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. To do this, we're going to cover the origins of this ancient system, how it has developed over time, and the significance Kabbalah has in the modern world. Firstly, we'd like to thank everyone for such positive and supportive comments along the development of this series. In every new video, there is more and more information that is revealing itself about the nature of this topic, and so this is a huge journey that we are all embarking on together, and all of us behind the scenes are thrilled to be learning along with you. To start, it was pointed out that after we talked about the Sefirot, that Hebrew is actually written right to left, and that the Hebrew letters on our Tree of Life were actually written backwards, and so this is what the written characters should properly look like. The Hebrew language is a very deep discussion, and we're going to be getting into it very soon along with the idea of the creative forces. According to the ancient teachings, this alphabet is based on the fundamental vibrations of creation, the waveforms that brought about the manifestation of reality. But this brings us to the central discussion of what we're actually going to be exploring in this episode. I acknowledge that so far, we've been treating the Tree of Life and Kabbalah as synonymous things, and so it's time that we make a distinction here. You see, Kabbalah is actually a word which translates to received tradition, or simply to receive, and actually is an ancient esoteric interpretation of the Torah, which is what most of us would know as the first five books of the Old Testament. These received teachings have a mysterious origin, with some claiming that they were originally received by Moses when he was up on Mount Sinai. Others suggest that it was Abraham who was the first to describe the Kabbalah, and some even believe that it was given to Adam and Eve before they left the Garden of Eden. Regardless of all of that, the first actual text on Kabbalah, the Zohar, was written in 13th century Spain around the time that the Christian rule from the Dark Ages began to subside. With all of that said, Kabbalah is not Jewish mysticism, and does not actually even relate with religion at all. Kabbalah is actually an ancient science, even called the Hidden Science, which focuses on the root forces and causal structure behind the workings of the cosmos. The title, Hidden Science, was given for two main reasons. The first was that up until recently, if you were to attempt to understand Kabbalah without a trained instructor, you would become lost in the depths of the ancient texts, as all of the Kabbalistic writings are very difficult to understand. There are layers of meaning upon meaning which render it incomprehensible without deeper instruction. This has changed in recent years, however, as many Kabbalistic adepts have come forward with modern and simplified explanations of their knowledge. Traditionally, in Judaism, if you wanted to learn Kabbalah, you would need to study the traditional holy books until you were about 40 years of age, and only then would you be allowed to study Kabbalah. Today, many still believe this, but there are also many rabbis who are expressing that if someone feels compelled to learn, they should be able to do so freely. The second and even more predominant reason for the title of Hidden Science was that the nature of Kabbalah deals with the structure of all of creation, which is entirely hidden from our five physical senses. It personally asks and answers the question, what is the meaning of my life, which is a very deep and intense question for anyone to ask themselves. It is said that Kabbalah reveals itself to be understood by those who are ready to receive it, speaking to those who are ready and willing to look at their life beyond the five physical senses. Generally, for those who are not ready for this information, it will simply be uninterested in the subject. You see, Kabbalah describes the physical world we live in as being a world of outcomes, but not necessarily a world of causes. This physical plane we live in is the result of the invisible forces of nature, which create the projection of tangibility, a hologram that we have come to believe is solid. They call this concept the language of roots and branches. The roots are the root forces that bring about all things and the branches are the results of these forces. Understanding this allows us to see that anyone attempting to solve their problems by addressing it solely on the physical dimension will yield little tangible results. To truly solve a problem, we have to go within and connect with the divine forces which are working to help us create these resolutions. One such way that this is significant is that when we observe the traditional Kabbalah, it is described that all of the scriptures that are written about in ancient times are actually allegories for what is happening within us actively at every moment. For example, the story of Adam and Eve would be related not to something that may have happened in ancient times, but our own personal story of disconnection with spirit in our everyday lives. We learn from the story about our own innocence and the difference between the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life, which brings us to this. This symbol, which we know in English as the tree of life, has been passed down through many generations and is the key glyph in understanding Kabbalah as well as many other ancient traditions. In Hebrew, tree of life translates to etz haim, and in other traditions it has been called egresil, the eternal banyan tree, the geokarena world tree, the bodhi tree, and was also known to a number of ancient traditions such as those of the Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Christians, and even in ancient Chinese mythology there is a concept of a world tree called the tree of life. The tree of life geometry that we are observing most commonly appears to derive from Jewish Kabbalah, and synonymous with many of the other traditions, its meaning is largely to represent the hierarchical chain of events that brought and is actively bringing everything into existence in every moment, even as you watch this video. It describes the soul of humanity, providing a blueprint for us to follow in order to reconnect with the divine. This symbol is the principal diagram for use with Kabbalah, however Kabbalah in its nature is more of a concept than an image. As we've been making this series, there have also been several comments suggesting that Kabbalah is actually the esoteric or spiritual use of magic. So let's clear this idea up a bit too. Kabbalah is often misunderstood as the manipulation of the cosmos to get what you want, but this is actually a very egotistical way of looking at things. The true spirit of Kabbalah is actually about developing and evolving your inner moral nature, what we often describe as evolving your consciousness and connecting with your higher self, allowing the higher will of your soul to inspire your actions. Doing so facilitates a direct connection with the ability to interact with the forces of nature as we've mentioned before. To many, this might be called magic, but it is done from an evolved state of consciousness and in alignment with the divine, rather than the purely physical desire to make things happen. We can also realize a deeper understanding of magic in general by observing this in relationship to Norse mythology, in which magic is viewed as being the spiritual process of gaining a greater degree of control over our destiny. Your ancestors called it magic and you call it science. Well, I come from a place where they're one and the same thing. Okay, so moving on, let's get clear now about the translation and spelling in English of the word Kabbalah. There are several different versions that you might be familiar with. There is Kabbalah with a Q, the one that we've been using. There is also Kabbalah with a K and Kabbalah with a C. So why is that? Well, it's interesting. In the traditional Hebrew spelling, Kabbalah is translated to the letters Kuf, Bet, Lamed and He. In English, this sort of translates to QBLH, as there are no vowel letters in the Hebrew alphabet. These four letters together are pronounced Kabbalah. However, the most common traditional Hebrew translation of Kabbalah is the version with a K. Generally, all of the spellings of Kabbalah have represented the same thing, but observed through different lenses, still relating to the creation of everything, the soul of mankind, pathways to ascension, spiritual transcendence, and so on. However, over time, Kabbalah has been adopted by a wide array of different traditions and practices, which have led to three predominant spellings to correlate each tradition's specific understanding of the practice. The original version, of course, being the Hebrew tradition, is spelled with a K. This is a very in-depth teaching and is also a very closed system unto itself. The Hebrew Kabbalah is set in its traditional scriptures and does not deviate or expand beyond the borders of the faith. After Kabbalah was publicly established and began to be a little bit more known in the world, it was soon adopted by Christianity. Understandable, considering many of the Christian doctrines came about as a result of the fusion between the Greek mysteries, later called paganism, with the Jewish faith, but this is a story for another time. Anyways, the Christian Kabbalah was spelled with a C to distinguish it from the Hebrew version and related the tradition to Christian theology, which further developed the understanding of the tree and supported the development of a more mystical Christianity. Christian Kabbalah was also largely used as a tool to attempt to convert Jews to Christianity. While still a little bit obscure in the faith, in smaller circles the Christian Kabbalah is still practiced in the world today. Finally, after the rediscovery of the ancient writings attributed to the being known as Thoth or Hermes during the Renaissance, yet another new Kabbalah was developed. This time, it was spelled with a Q, which today is called Hermetic Kabbalah. This modern version of Kabbalah explores the same esoteric Hebrew practice but correlated with the wisdom and writings attributed to Thoth Hermes, and over time has also been related to a great deal of other world spiritualities as well. Each of these three different versions of Kabbalah could be explored in a whole video, or even a great video series on their own. But for now, we are just covering this brief overview so that you have an idea of what's really involved here. Further, the reason that we've decided to use Kabbalah with a Q is quite simple, and this has to do with its openness as a practice. In Hermetic Kabbalah, you are ultimately free to practice and explore all of the variations of Kabbalah openly, exploring the symbolism, ideas, and even the relationship between systems, such as the correlation between the Tree of Life with Taro or Eastern spirituality. You might have noticed that the tree has seven rows and links quite seamlessly with the seven chakra system. You may have also noticed that there are two distinct versions of the Tree of Life that exist. The principle one we have been using is this, which is more traditionally associated with Hermetic Kabbalah, however it does hold a great deal of significance to the Hebrew Kabbalah as well. The other version is normally called the Lurian Tree of Life, because it was developed by Rabbi Isaac Luria and became associated more commonly to the traditional Hebrew practice. The variations between these will be explored in greater detail soon once we begin looking at the Hebrew letters. With all of this said, there is value in all of the paths of Kabbalah. The information that you can gather from studying any particular branch, especially when you apply these learnings to your own meditations and spiritual practices, is truly infinite in nature. Even we cannot possibly put everything about the Kabbalah into these videos, but it is our goal that for those of you who wish to learn it, these videos can be a jumping off point for anybody who wants to really jump down that rabbit hole. Go with what resonates and leave the rest behind. Remember that everything you are hearing from us today is simply a reflection of our consciousness at the time of making these videos, and our understanding along with yours will only continue to grow as we keep learning together. As a final note, for anybody who wants to learn about the fundamentals of the Hebrew Kabbalah, we highly recommend the series on YouTube called Kabbalah Revealed with Tony Kosenek. This series is rich with deep and ancient insights, not something that you'll want to miss. Well, that about wraps it up for today. So thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.