Kabbalah TREE OF LIFE as a MAP
Part 2
The 3 Veils

In this issue, we will talk about how we move from pure Spirit into our physical body via the 3 Veils.

Each circle, or branch in the Tree of Life diagram to the left, is called a Sephira. Each has a name and specific qualities. We will discuss those in the next issue coming in the Winter 2014. But first let's talk in depth about the 3 VEILS:

AIN
AIN SOPH
AIN SOPH AUR

They are usually illustrated as three arcs above the sephirah Kether, as shown in the diagram to the left. They are often referred to as the steps up and down through which living energy moves from or to the realms of Spirit or Source. When we stepdown from Spirit, we move first through these 3 veils, first into AIN, then AIN SOPH and finally AIN SOPH AUR.

Then from Ain Soph Aur we move into the first sephira on the tree, Kether. Then we follow a specific path from Kether into Chokmah, then Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and finally Malkut, where we come into physical form. We enter Kether on the Tree of Life at CONCEPTION, when the egg is fertilized and the physical body begins to form.

This path is called the Lightening Flash. See the  diagram to the right showing this path as a golden flash of light.

AIN is Nothingness. AIN, which is Nothingness, moves into Ain Soph, which is Everything.

Ain Soph, which is Everything moves into Ain Soph Aur, which is Radiant Darkness and Limitless Light.

AIN - Veil of NOTHINGNESS. This is the Veil of literally "no-thing", the Nothingness of Infinity. It is the Emptiness of life, the potential source of energy from which Divine Consciousness is constructed. Some refer to it as the Great Unmanifested Universe.

AIN SOPH - Veil of EVERYTHING. The opposite of AIN, this is the Veil of literally "every-thing", where the Limitless seeds of life exist forming a sort of cosmic soup of dust and particles. It is Infinite Light Without End. And from the Darkness, God created Light. Also spelled En-Sof meaning "Without End".

AIN SOPH AUR - Veil of RADIANT DARKNESS & LIMITLESS LIGHT. This is where the seeds of life form the seemingly opposing forces of Radiant Darkness and Limitless Light. At this point, both exist together. Here is where duality is born, which then threads its way through the Tree of Life creating the Polarity of all Divine Life.

Here is a quote by Ann Williams-Heller from her book Kabbalah: Your Path to Inner Freedom:

"Above the Tree of Life, three veils in the Great Beyond act as filters to safeguard the absolute purity of the three Tree roots. Named No-Thing (Ain, in Hebrew), the first veil signifies absolute nothingness. The second veil, called Every-Thing (Ain Soph, in Hebrew), indicates the opposite: limitless, undifferentiated expansion of all things with description, in neverending abundance. The third veil, (named Ain Soph Aur, in Hebrew), points to ambivalent, if not altogether opposing, forces that exist side by side... with darkness as the absence of all colors and light as their presence.

Thus we find that polarity exists in the unmanifest veils. There everything evolves out of nothing and in its turn gives birth to some other, and again and again to some other thing that stands in opposition. Duality (the indispensable cosmic polarity) is the golden thread woven through all the branches of the Tree of Life. As one of the distinct Laws of Life, it emphasizes the perennial twin aspects of life which make our terrestrial existence so complicated, so challenging, so mysterious, and yet so rewarding."

After passing through the unmanifest 3 Veils, our Divine Energy of Duality enters the Tree of Life in neutral Kether, where Radiant Darkness, devoid of Color and Limitless Light, which is ALL color, creates our template via the Chakras. We journey down to become manifest into a physical body in Malkuth. Vice versa the Divine Human made manifest in Malkut moves up the tree, through the 3 VEILS back into Nothingness at the time of death. Between conception and death, we move up and down through the Tree of Life, learning how to be with polarity and duality on the physical plane, while re-membering and embracing our true spiritual nature from whence we came.

The Veils are a diagrammatic representation of the stepdown process (involution) of cosmic particles forming into a Divine Human, and the stepup process (evolution) of the Divine Human returning to become cosmic dust. The journey through the 10 sephirah of the Tree is an exquisite birth and death process on all levels of being.

The dual energies enter the Tree of Life at neutral Kether and then move down the 3 Pillars of Polarity: positive (+), negative (-) and neutral (0) finally reaching manifestation in Malkut. These dual, yet complimentary forces exist side by side in order to contain each other's energy so that they are kept in check and do not soar out of control. One cannot exist without the other and the middle Pillar of Neutrality is the balance point between them.

A soul's journey through the Tree of Life touches all 3 Pillars and all Sephirah at various times. As you study the Sephirah and the paths between them, you will begin to see where you are on the Tree of Life at any given moment. We will talk more about that in our next newsletter.

There are many wonderful books about Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. You can find our list of recommended books here.