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Click here to
download a pdf version of our distance learning kabbalah brochure (includes
application form)
Click here to download
a pdf version of our distance learning psychosynthesis brochure (includes
application form)
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah is a way of understanding all aspects of ourselves and is a rewarding
guide for personal and spiritual development.
Based on a map of consciousness called the Tree of Life, Kabbalah, or Qabalah
(an alternative spelling), is relevant to modern everyday life, offering
greater freedom and fulfillment through including the experience of both
our spirit and shadow sides.
Want to know more about Kabbalah, Qabalah and the
Tree of Life?
What is the difference between Kabbalah
and Qabalah?
Is non-Jewish Kabbalah authentic
or not?
What group courses do you offer?
What books can I read about Kabbalah?
Do you have any articles I can read
about Kabbalistic topics?
What does Kabbalah say about sex
and parenting?
Is Kabbalah a kind of therapy?
What is the link between Kabbalah
and Christianity?
What are energy bodies and how
does Kabbalah describe them?
What does Kabbalah say mediumistic
or channeled material?
What links do you have to Kabbalah,
Qabalah and related topics?
Anything we haven't covered, please let us know .
Available Now!
Kabbalah for Life
How to use
the power and wisdom
of this ancient tradition
There are many different kinds of therapies, and different aspects of
all their practices may be related to the Tree of Life. Whatever the school
or type of therapy, whether a talk-only type or one using hand-on techniques,
there are three basic aspects to their practices. These are the principles
behind the work (The Supernal Triad), the relationship between the therapist
and patient or client (the soul triangle) and the methods and techniques
used (the bottom triangle.)
To take psychotherapy as an example, through relating psychotherapeutic
practice to the Tree of Life we can better understand the processes involved.
Of course, there are many different schools of therapy but, generally, psychotherapists
do not judge, although they may interpret (Hod); they do not lead, although
they may challenge (Yesod); they do not touch, although they do offer support
(Malkuth); and they work alongside the unfolding process of their clients,
trusting in what manifests as being right for that person at that time (Netzach).
Psychotherapists also generally work within the container of the therapeutic
space, using the time of the session to be in deep relationship with their
client (Tiphareth), involved and witnessing at the same time.
Using the Tree of Life, a therapist can truly work in an integrative way,
and not just offer a hotchpotch of borrowed techniques. The Kabbalah is
the perfect model or map for this work for, through its simplicity and clarity,
it can act as a central synthesising agent for methods and techniques, other
systems, maps and models of consciousness development. Whatever methods
are used, however, the principles behind the therapy remain basically the
same. There is an attempt to share in an experiential understanding of the
relationship between the therapist and client. The use of the Kabbalah as
a tool in psychotherapy allows the practitioner to develop his or her own
style in accord with universal principles, develop relationship in line
with these principles, and apply techniques where and as appropriate to
each relationship.
Different methods of psychotherapy concentrate on different aspects of the
process. For example, Jungian therapists usually work up to Daath, concentrating
on the dynamic between Chesed and Geburah (love and will archetypes) through
the medium of dream analysis (Hod and Yesod). Traditional psychoanalysis
works with the lower Tree, attempting to normalise the personality (and
at its worse denying the deeper or higher aspects of the psyche). This is
the opposite pole from the worst forms of transpersonal therapies which
work up to Daath or above but not down into Yesod or Malkuth, potentially
leaving their clients spiritually connected but totally ungrounded. The
differences between approaches become clearer when related to the Tree of
Life, which then offers us the possibility of integrating them so the common
purpose becomes more apparent.
To use the Kabbalah as a tool in therapeutic work, whether counselling,
psychotherapy or other forms of one-to-one or group healing, it is vital
the therapist has someone who can work with them in a supervisory capacity,
to help them see what is going on in the work in terms of the model being
used. If no such person is available then you can supervise yourself, but
the work will lack the holding and challenging functions that are possible
when working with the help of another.
Of most importance is the awareness of where and how you and your client
are relating or not in terms of the different planes of the Tree which represent
different aspects of the psyche. For therapy to work it is important to
be working on creating relationship at all times; to be establishing 'mindfulness'
or focus; to make space for the individual experience of the client and
the unfolding experience of his or her relationship with the practitioner.
The diagram helps show how some of the major issues in such work correspond
to the Tree of Life. Through study of the Kabbalah, a therapist could apply
the understanding gained for working with groups and individuals.
© Will Parfitt 2006 (v7.1)