I had an interesting dream last night. There was the Qabalistic Tree of Life, but it was slightly modified: inside each sephira there was an alchemical heart emblem, one per each sephira. The hearts all looked very similar, if not identical. The only one which was different was that of Daat, which had an alchemical, flaming heart inside it (now that I'm typing this; "the only one which was different" - how's that for a description for Daat!).
I guess it makes sense - "The heart is the engine of fire", Fire/Sephirot connection. "Tree of Hearts", "Tree of Life", heart as a symbol of life; love/life symbolism. In the dream I was also thinking about the human being, the human body in particular, how we have two sides: front and back (anterior/posterior). There was this idea that the Qliphotic Tree (of Shadow) was the posterior, as it's something we can't see, in the same way we can't see our back side.
Daat would correspond to the heart, if/when Kether is seen not just as top of the head but the entire head (and Tipheret/Solar Plexus) - one way of looking at it, anyway.
So, how might we interpret the double symbolism? Here's some suggestions, which came to mind when I was looking at the image:
See and understand the Tree of Life through your heart, not your head
Each and every sephira (and the paths connecting them) needs to be lived and experienced through the heart
"Put your heart" into the Tree of Life: make it yours by internalising it
The Tree of Life, and everything in it, is a living, breathing, pulsating Being
All the 10 sephiroth - including the 11th, "invisible" Daat - are ultimately One Heart
Through Daat, through working through and with our Shadow, we light up the Tree
The "knowledge of Daat" is meaningless and empty, unless it's understood through the heart
The Tree of Life lives and loves (that was first a typo, a Jungian slip) inside our heart
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about the symbolism, so please feel free to comment on this.
Finally, it brought to mind a Finnish expression "sydänpuu", literally "Heart-tree", which happens to be a song by Don Huonot, a Finnish band. The refrain in the song goes:
"Show me the fury of a rapid current, dammed before, now flowing free. Forge blind faith into my heart Give me the strength of a wounded bear,
O' spirit-bird of mine. Teach me the humility of an old maple tree, and glow light into my eyes Give me something pure,
something to believe in."
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