The Fusion Tree

The original Tree of Life was developed as far as we can determine, in Moslem Spain by Jewish and Moslem scholars probably in the city of Cordova during the 13th or 14th century CE. It is heavily influenced by neoplatonic philosophy and Judeo/Christian monotheism but also draws on many older mystical traditions.  All versions to date are primarily based on the astronomical knowledge of the 14th century and reflect the neoplatonic notion of concentric crystal spheres for the orbits of the planets.  The latest modern versions date from the late 19th century when this system was adopted by the Golden Dawn in England.  It is now the dawn of the 21st century CE, and the arrangement remains largely as it appeared some 700 years ago.  In that time we have learned much about the physical nature of the planets, the stars, and the nature of the universe.  We have also discovered additional invisible (to the naked eye) planets and much more about the natures of comets and the physics of stellar evolution.  Our material understanding of chemistry, quantum mechanics and relativity give us a very different view of the universe than that held in the 14th century.  This advance in material understanding has implications for  metaphysical  understanding which have not been applied to any great extent.  Thus, while we live in the 21st century physically, our religion, magick, and philosophy remain largely a product of our 14th century worldview.  This has led to many difficulties, including the development of 'scientific materialism' and the alienation common to 21st century humanity.  We now see disturbing trends of spiritual confusion which more often than not lead either to the rejection of spirituality altogether, or to the other extremes of fanaticism and faddism.   Many causes have been advanced for these difficulties and trends.  A clear attempt to update the system for contemporary use appears to be in order.  In the words of the Christ 'You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.'   It is possible that these symptoms stem from a failure to update our spiritual thinking to match our material thinking.  This presentation is an attempt to contribute to the Great Work of healing that dissonance between the spiritual and the material.  An effort to restore an integration and understanding across the visible and invisible worlds.  The place to start is with an accurate model and an exploration of its implications.   

Before we begin, the existing versions of this model deserve mention.  There exists the largely Hebrew based Tree of Life with correspondences based largely on the Torah. There is also a Greek version based on the New Testament and Plato's Republic - a Christian and a Hermetic version, an Arab version based on the Quran, and two English versions - one based on The King James Bible and Shakespeare for a Christian and a Literary view and one based on Liber Al - Aleister Crowley's revelation of the New Aeon, The Trees of Eternity - decidedly magickal.  There are also some interesting gnostic and enochian  models, but they tend not to exhibit the same detailed structure as the others - much more mystical in their style.  There are also some Norse/Teutonic, Egyptian, and Sumerian views which are equivalent but not, to my knowledge, given similar structural articulation or directly linked to a comprehensive view of celestial phenomena.      Undoubtedly there are other  equivalent models of which I am unaware.   Regardless of one's choice of language, culture, or religious preference; all these models describe, from their own viewpoints, the visible or material or manifest world and the invisible or metaphysical or spiritual world.  They do so with varying degrees of accuracy and completeness and they are usually language based.  That is the letters of their alphabets are also considered to have a magical significance and usually attributed some numerical value as well as a celestial correspondence.  Two things that they do have in common are the universal  reference to the same celestial backdrop of sky, stars, and planets; and to the practical usefulness and mystical significance of numbers.  

Astronomical and astrological knowledge can be tested against manifest phenomena.  If one has a theory in either area, it can be tested.  Sometimes only by observation or prediction and sometimes only by ingenious experiments.  The power of a model, as shown by these disciplines, is its ability to make useful inferences and predictions. If these hold in practice, then the implications become an important part of theory and application.   Assuming that the doctrine of correspondence holds, that is 'as above, so below' and 'the visible reflects the invisible', it should be possible to at least lay out the physical levels of a model and then, by exploring the implications from the astrological and astronomical perspectives,  to extend accumulated knowledge and reformulate a model which includes the current view of the physical universe and by implication, clarifies and updates the spiritual.  This is exactly the approach taken here.  

It is likely that not all of my personal biases have been overcome, but whose have.  As objectively as I can, I present the Fusion model of the Tree of Life.      

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The model presented below probably reached its final form in 1987, though it has been in development since the early 1970s.  

This arrangement places a stylized representation the solar system from the viewpoint of planet Earth in the center surrounded by the circle of the zodiac with the main forces and building blocks of the cosmos making up the exterior six pointed star which is superimposed on the yin-yang design.  This arrangement articulates the traditional veils of Hebrew Kabbalah and adds correspondences at the intersection points.  The three main sections of the Tree are the body, or the tree proper; the aura, or the circle of the zodiac and fixed stars; and the star, or outer forces.  These are also referred to as Corpus, Aura, and Astra, respectively.  Note the orientation with Pisces at the top which shows the degree of precession and implies the use of the circle as a dial for tracking celestial time and the second set of astrological symbols inside the circle which show the double twist of the zodiac discovered by Crowley and have implications for the attribution of the astrological signs to the paths and their tarot trumps.   The Trees of Eternity, if folded in half, to give a manifest and an unmanifest side corresponds to the body of the tree.  Note the correspondence in the double sided point in the center of the Star for 17 : the stars and 21 : the universe showing the manifest source of the chemical elements and the universe as a whole which they form.  This also suggested the idea of folding the Trees of Eternity.  Correspondences are  dealt with in more detail below in the   Correspondence Notes.  This is the fusion tree.       

I. Philosophy and Implications

The dominant philosophy of Hermeticism and of Western Europe until sometime in the late 16th century was neoplatonism with a healthy dose of Aristotle.  The theories of Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler along with the observations of the latter two seriously challenged this dominant view in astronomy. By 1700 with the advent of Newton and the conclusion of the Wars of Religion in Europe, hermetic neoplatonism along with Aristotle and Plato were replaced by scientific materialism which has reigned to the present day. A key difference in the two philosophies is the attitude toward empiricism and the use of zero in mathematics. A second and later important difference between both the Newtonian view and the neoplatonic with the Quantum/Relativistic view that has become dominant in the second half of the 20th century is the attitude toward chance and the origin and fate of the universe. Metaphysical theory and models have remained rooted in neoplatonism and failed to incorporate important discoveries about the nature of the universe and the metaphysical implications of those discoveries. Since the Hermetic model was based on a view of the universe, it's foundations are in astronomy and astrology.  This is fortunate. There is no need for revision in the placement of the visible planets and the principles to which they refer save one and the original model, with a little tweaking accommodates the outer planets and the other material discoveries of astronomy. The greatest challenge lies in shifting the frame of reference or underlying philosophy so that the implications of  the physical model can be explored in the current context of a 21st century understanding of what composes the universe and what rules govern it. The greatest obstacle here is the notion that there are eternal ideas and archetypes which do not change over time and the correspondent notion that there are certainties. These ideas were useful at one time and mark a stage of human development and even now have their uses, but as philosophical principles of general application they are no longer adequate or applicable. We live in a stochastic relativistic quantum universe, not in the realm of eternal hermetic ideas. The implication is that the only eternal constant is change and that there are no sure things, even in the metaphysical realms. Yet, this also implies a great potential for the advance of metaphysical knowledge, its application, and the reunion of the long estranged branches of natural philosophy - namely magick and science.  And potentially a reconciliation of the religions of the West : Paganism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in all their myriad flavors;haps a reconciliation of all religions.  And finally the potential for greater understanding, intercourse, and reconciliation between the dwellers in the visible world with those who inhabit the invisible worlds.

II. The Basis of Revision and Continuity

The original models from approximately the 14th century and the ancient ideas that were incorporated into those models were grounded in  astronomical information. The state of the heavens and human knowledge of it composes the bedrock of all such systems. This information may not always be recognized as such, as for example when it involves mystic visions and insights or conversations with spirits, but if it occurs in the Solar System then it is so grounded. The Hermeticists were right about the principle of reflection : 'as above, so below'. In fact we have found that every atom of our world and of our own bodies was forged in the heart of a star. There is a direct link.  There also appears to be a direct link for every incarnate being to some particular star and likewise for each spirit. In the words of the latest revelation (1904) 'Every Man and Every Woman is a Star.' We might add that this also applies to every intelligent Spirit, though their 'orbits' appear to be somewhat more constrained than ours. This is the first point of agreement in the principle of reflection, and of difference, in the principle that all intelligent beings are stars and thus subject to limitation and evolution.  Most of what the hermeticists and kabbalists have to say about the seven visible planets is about right. The only change here is in how we look at it.  In terms of astronomy and metaphysics, they made some errors. The planets do not ride crystal spheres, nor do the fixed stars, nor is there as far as can be determined a clear first cause of creation. The planets orbit the Sun (not the Earth) in elliptical orbits and the fixed stars are scattered across the Milky Way and other galaxies at great distances from us and from each other. As for a clear first cause, we have determined that about 15 billion years ago, there was the Big Bang. What caused this is uncertain both physically and metaphysically. It is possible that some Greater Being created the universe in this manner. It is possible that this is a natural event in a cycle of the creation and destruction of universes, that is an artefact of a completely and unmoderated process which we do not understand and may never. It is also possible that the Spirits both now incarnate and now discarnate collectively Willed this uiniverse to be for their own reasons. We do not now and may never know the answer to this question. When we say 'God created the Heavens and the Earth' we could be referring to any or all of these agencies or to something of which we cannot conceive or have not yet conceived. Whatever or whoever god
is, is not clear, but the picture of a benevolent father figure isn't it. The universe is a violent place and as supportive of good as of evil. The two positive spiritual principles that emerge are evolution and dynamic balance.
To further evolution, to right the balance, are always goods. Nearly everything else depends on circumstance and your personal philosophy. This clearly emerges from the nature of the universe and it's origin and history.  No other moral guides appear to present themselves. Of course, these principles have rather wide application. Of the natural forces we experience, gravity and light appear the most universal. Gravity is a lot like Love and Light is a lot like Gnosis which includes reason and other ways of knowing.  Love is the Law and none can escape it. Light including its absence is an illuminator, it reveals the world to our senses and furnishes the energy needed for all life. Light is Life but Life can exist without the light that is sensible to us. Let us think of it as radiation and then we realize that  it can also kill. We can also then appreciate that it has the qualities of both a wave and a particle and that the changes it causes are statistical and
governed by quantum thresholds. There are also subtler forces at work, especially in the hearts of stars. The strong and weak nuclear forces are also players but less often visible to us. We see their effects every day
in the chemical bonding and radioactive decay in the vast array of substances we use on a daily basis and sometimes in the catastrophes of nuclear and chemical accidents or the use of such weapons. And of course, every time we witness a nova.  Much of this was known in other terms by the ancients but due to their desire for and notion of stability they could not form an accurate interpretation.  New stars were an act of god, how else to explain them. There could be no natural change beyond the sublunary realm - that is within the sphere of the Moon. The explicit recognition that the universe is vast and ordered by subtle but not necessarily obvious forces is a great departure from the old view. Their world was full of certainties and eternities and did not contain the infinite or the null. In our world there are governing principles, rules that can usually be relied upon, and infinities - there are no certainties nor any eternities. Calculus has allowed us to work with infinities and the working hypothesis, the theory that best accounts for the facts as we now know them has replaced certainty. The problem with the modern view is that it seems to have lost the art of seeing the big picture and following the implications of what it knows back to what it experiences. Empiricism is a good thing but it needs a foundation and a link back to the invisible world of the spirit. More than ever there is a need for a clear presentation of our relationship to the greater whole and what that implies about spiritual principles and our options. Chance, Fate, and Will all play a role as has been shown even by the materialist picture of the manifest world.

Much in our experience remains as it was in the days of the ancients, and much of the model they formed of the universe remains valid. What has changed, other than the addition of the invisible planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), is our philosophy of how the universe works and the tools available to us to explore it. These considerations make the fusion model both a continuation of earlier views and a radical revision.

We begin the reformulation with a view of the heavens.

II. The reformed cosmological model: The planets

In a stochastic universe, the Lord of the Unexpected is the seed of it all. In our solar system, this is the planet Uranus. He has a very regular orbit but rotates on his side. Connected with revolution, unexpected events, and travel by air and rail, he represents the catalyst that brought our system to be when it coalesced into the Sun and His retinue of planets. Uranus also has the curious property of being visible now and then under optimum  conditions. This planet is attributed to the 1st sephira of the Tree, in the old version this was Kether and attributed by many to the face of god, the prime mover standing just outside creation. If the term were to apply, this would be the 9th sphere in the neoplatonic/hermetic model.

The second sphere is the Lord of Illusion and the Sea, Neptune. The All-Father and in the old scheme of things, the 8th sphere of the fixed stars. This attribution is fairly widely agreed upon by modern students though many object to attributing the outer planets to the Tree at all. This is the sphere of Chokhmah, the place of Wisdom. By conection to the ideas of the All-Father and the fixed stars this sphere is associated with Will.

The third sphere is The Great Mother or Binah, Understanding. It is connected with the idea of Fate and was given to Saturn as the 7th sphere traditionally.  In the fusion system this sphere is attributed to Pluto. Force majeure and mass phenomena and the radioactive elements that made us aware of the four forces in physics and the quantum nature of the atom.

So the first three or archetypal or Ideal spheres above the abyss are attributed to the three great defining principles of our universe and the outer planets that represent those principles. Chance : Uranus : 1, Will : Neptune : 2, and Fate : Pluto : 3.

The great divide between the ideal and the actual or the visible and the invisible is the abyss at point number 11. This sphere is named Daath and is also symbolic of the whole mind which is that which perceives. Traditionally
no planet is attributed here. Some attribute Uranus, others Pluto but this point is a doorway that is visible. The last visible planet is Saturn and his characteristics are in accord with this placement for Daath is sometimes
translated as Knowledge.

The other sephira are in accord with tradition and astronomy though in some cases heir positions are counterchanged from what would be expected in a purely astronomical order. 

Jupiter : Chesed : 4 : sphere of Jupiter 6th

Mars : Geburah : 5 : sphere of Mars 5th

Sun : Tipareth : 6 : sphere of Sun 4th

Venus : Netzach : 7 : sphere of Venus 3rd

Mercury : Hod : 8 : sphere of Mercury 2nd

Moon : Yesod : 9 : sphere of the Moon 1st

Earth : Malkuth : 10 : home

* Note : explain the Hermetic sphere numbering & import

III. The reformed cosmological model: The interstices

The Tree model contains three intersection points or interstices. These places can't refer to manifest planets but the principles represented deserve inclusion. The intersection between 2 and 3 on the path usually attributed to
III, the Empress at the crossing of the path usually attributed to the Priestess is attributed to Persephone (13). Persephone is not really a planet as far as we know although some psychics and astrologer Charles Jayne have given information to track the point. It represents the limit at which Sol can hold planets and therefore the boundary between our System and the outer Dark.  Appropriate to this point are the myths connected with Persephone and the Sumerian hymn/poem The descent of Inanna. As a boundary marker, this point also symbolizes the boundary between the civilized and the wild or the edge of the city. The point itself does appear to be linked with long term (it's period is about 1500 years) karma/cultural regimes. For the last 125 years ending sometime in the early 1990s, the point was in Virgo corresponding to the peak of the industrialized era and specialization.

The second and third intersection points are linked as the nodes of the Moon or the Head and Tail of the Dragon (12 and 14). The point between 4 and 5 is attributed to the North Node or Dragon's Head and shows associative or evolutionary tendencies. The point between 7 and 8 is the South Node or Dragon's Tail and shows separative and hereditary tendencies. The nodes lie on interstices near the Sun and Moon on the Tree and also mark eclipses thus the Tower on path 7 to 8 and the reference to the Serpent and the Dove which are by the way counterchanged by tarotic attribution here. This attribution to the interstices completes the astrological factor correspondence giving 14 points when the interstice points are included. This forms a bridge to The Trees of Eternity whose 28 points can be folded in half and attributed to the fusion Tree. It also can be used with the 28 lunar mansions in a similar manner.

IV. The reformed cosmological model: the ZEROs

In the traditional model there are three veils of the negative usually shown above the Tree. Some have corresponded them to mathematical figures as the ellipse for 0, the parabola for 00, and the hyperbola for 000. In the Hebrew they are Ain : the unformed or nothing, Ain Soph : the limitless and Ain Soph Aur : the limitless light.

In the fusion model the veils are articulated. 0 becomes the zodiac centered on the Sun so that the 6th sephira is the center of the Tree. The tropical zodiac is defined by the Sun-Earth relationship and forms the arena or stage
of manifestation for life on earth. This is the neighborhood of the Sun in which we live.  It is also the background which defines the cycles of planetary strength and influence known as the essential dignities.  The astrological considerations of sign and house can be brought into the model if desired and the precessions of the Equinox in the Heavens and on Earth can be explicitly considered if desired.

00 is the lower part of a supernal hexagram formed by 8 points. The center point is double giving the hexagram a third dimension. The bottom points and 0 suggest a parabola. Point 15 is attributed to meteors and point 16 to comets.  These bodies are not regular members of the system originating in the Kuiper Belt out around Neptune, in the vicinity of Jupiter, and far beyond Pluto in the Oort Cloud. Depending on their visibility and period they tend to stir (comets) or depress (meteors) terrestrial affairs. That's not all they do but those are their salient characteristics for this purpose.

In the center are the two defining points of 17 : The fixed stars which are the source of all chemical elements except possibly hydrogen and the conceptual point of the universe as a whole which is of course made up of the fixed stars and their after effects. This point representing the universe as a whole is 21 and gives the third dimension to the supernal hexagram as well as suggesting the possible existence of other universes and the invisible side of this one.  The outer three points of the supernal hexagram suggest the hyperbola with a focus at infinity as represented by the top point 20 which represents deep space phenomena such as quasars. The other two points 18 and 19 are not actually manifest bodies so much as they are phenomena. 19 represents novas or the birth and death of stars, that is their life cycle, while 18 represents other galaxies and mysteries such as apparitions and ufos.  Infinities and zeroes can be contemplated and included paving the way for the inclusion of modern mathematical concepts such as calculus. The old practices approached from a new perspective, remain along with the spiritual dimension. Both the visible and invisible worlds are given their due and extended.

With the explicit inclusion of the principle of chance, the tools of statistics and quantum mechanics become available. Continuing to include the principles of Fate and Will not only retains much of past knowledge but opens the possibility of exploring the relationship of these principles to each other and their relationship to Chance. The old gematrias of the Greeks, Hebrews and Arabs can be viewed in a clearer light and English can be brought into its own. Not only is tradition available for interpretation but also the tools of modern mathematics and the verification by results in astrology and ritual operations.

This is probably not the only valid revision. It is grounded in the facts, as we know them in the 21st century, of astronomy and physics. It is also consistent with traditional astrology and offers extensions of that thinking to encompass modern empirical astrology as well.  It may not be a bridge between Materialist Science and the Spiritual Artes but it goes a long way toward building one and it offers a clearer model for metaphysical applications and research.

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The foundations of astrology are dignity and signature.  In more modern terms this can perhaps be more easily understood as strength and correspondence.  The dignities are based on the signs rather than the constellations due to the power of the Sun as the central star of the system.  The Earth Sun relationship defines the strengths of the planets from the viewpoint of the Earth.  If we were on  a different planet the arrangement might vary but would still be based on the relation between the star and the planet of residence.  This way of viewing planetary influence is included in traditional Qaballa with the notion that each sephira or point contains the whole - from it's own perspective.   

In the Tree another guide to the placement of the planets ar the notions of polarity, alchemical nature, and dignity.

The rationale for the inclusion of the nodes needs some explanation.    

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The philosophy and symbolism of numbers was systematized first by the Pythagoreans.  Since then many discoveries have been made in mathematics.     

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Discussions of the realm of the Spirit are clouded these days by New Age fuzziness and parapsychology.  The basis of exploring the invisible world here is correspondence to the visible.  The picture is further complicated by incomplete traditional correspondence systems and a failure to integrate more recent discoveries.  

The Tree has often been viewed as a map of the soul's progress, of creation, and as a map of the human body.  As applied to the fusion model these analogues appear as follows. 

Some applied work using the fusion tree is discussed in connection with the great dragon here :  Behold The Dragon

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The Trees of Eternity is a relatively new way of looking at a model of the universe.  It is derived from the passage : ' 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L. .... There cometh one to follow thee : he shall expound it. ... '  (II.76 Liber AL).  This verse and various textual hints in the book combined with gematria using EQ-11, suggest a model with two trees and a connecting link.  Each tree, the manifest and the unmanifest has 10 points while the connecting link has 8 points.  These 28 points are corresponded to the 28 entries of the above verse and the 28 arabic lunar mansions.  This is one approach to making sense of the verse as a magickal key.   Other methods have also been used.

If the Trees are folded exactly in half, there are then two sets of 14 points which can be viewed as a visible and an invisible or reverse side correspondence on the fusion tree.  In regard to the lunar mansions, the attribution can be viewed as a waxing and waning lunar cycle oriented with the precessionsl solar axis given by the use of the zodiac circle in the fusion model.         

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Much traditional correspondence can be directly transferred from traditional sources. 

EQ, mathematical, and traditional correspondence here with some gematria examples.  

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This presentation of the fusion tree is the merest overview.   

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