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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?
Want to know more
about Psychosynthesis?
Psychosynthesis brings together the two traditions of psychology and mysticism.
Psychology is then infused with a sense of soul and meaning, whilst the
mystery traditions benefit from the grounding and reflective qualities of
psychology.
Psychosynthesis is a practical system which is not about the application
of techniques, but learning to live with a vision that comes from deep within
oneself.
What is Psychosynthesis?
(a longer answer)
What group based courses do you offer?
What books can I read about Psychosynthesis?
Do you have any articles I can read
about Psychosynthesis topics?
Can I have Psychosynthesis counselling
or therapy?
Do you have links to other Psychosynthesis
sites?
Anything we haven't covered, please let us know
Available Now!
The Something and Nothing
of Death
a source of inspiration,
enabling you to face
the prospect of death
with a new spirit
of inquiry
Available Now!
Psychosynthesis:
The Elements and Beyond
everything ypu need
to understand and use
the visions and technques
of psychosynthesis
The whole journey of life can be seen as a journey of cycles within cycles,
each cycle in life having within it smaller cycles, each of these having
within them even smaller cycles. Issues from one cycle reverberate through
and affect issues throughout all the other cycles. The whole process starts
happening from when we move from undifferentiated unity (the secure, safe
womb) towards differentiated union. The emergence of ego is an important
stage in this process, as is the importance of both having an ego and being
able to let go of it. Transpersonal psychological theory suggests we come
into incarnation so we can learn lessons useful to our larger soulís journey.
This is the purpose for our being here. Within this over-riding life purpose
we take many smaller steps towards this unfoldment. So then each small step,
each next step is vitally important for is. We cannot take each step with
an awareness of the bigger picture, but we can hold this as an underlying
intent. Our birth memories, and memories and experiences from the early
stages of our life, act as models for the rest of our lives. We can shift
from a victim position into a holistic vision where each cycle contains
the pattern of the whole.
Two primary polarities to consider in this life journey are differentiation
and integration. Life is a search for and discovery of self, experienced
through a constant polarity between moving forwards into life and/or backwards
towards the womb. At all stages we become identified or attached to our
experiences, and it is necessary for us to engage with these experiences
and learn to differentiate. We forget; so, conversely, we are offered the
opportunity to remember. To re-member is to put ourselves back together
through an act of disidentification which enables us to move towards union
with consciousness and choice.
The major arcana (or trumps) from a pack of tarot cards, if designed well,
can be used as a model for the journey of life, a journey from differentiation
to integration. The first card, depicting the onset of this journey, is
called The Fool. Life is sometimes referred to as the fool's journey. The
divine spirit (the Fool) is imprisoned in a physical body, ignorant of its
divinity. The journey of life leads us to become more differentiated, chiefly
through identifying with objects or things that are encountered on this
journey. Sometimes we are blindly moving on, sometimes very consciously,
but our journey is always affected by what has already happened. Moments
of crisis force an awakening in the journey, or sometimes we have moments
of spontaneous awakening. We realise at these times of awakening that we
are on a journey back home, towards differentiation. We may hold an awareness
of self as both separate and together at the same time. The fools journey
is a heroic adventure, an age-old (as old as humanity) quest for determination
and courage. The challenge of knowing oneself is the challenge of life.
Whether they originated in Egypt or not, there is an interesting connection
between the word tarot and the Egyptian goddess Ta-urt. This goddess, often
represented by a hippopotamus, is called ëthe mother of revolutions and
cycles of time.í The seventy-eight cards of a typical tarot pack constitute
a cycle divided into three groups: twenty-two ëtrumpsí or ëmajor arcanaí,
sixteen ëcourt cardsí, and forty suit cards (or ëminor arcana.í) The twenty-two
major arcana can take you into, out of and even beyond the wheel of nature,
offering a perspective on life that enables you to function better. They
also show connections between different states of awareness, for instance
the card called ëthe towerí represents how a person may experience the relationship
between thinking and feeling within their psyche. The major arcana are said
to be under the direction of Ta-urtís son who is named Thoth. He corresponds
to the Greek and Roman god Mercury, all gods of communication. Sometimes
the whole tarot is called ëthe book of Thothí, emphasising how the value
of the cards is in what they communicate to us and how they teach us to
communicate with others.
The sixteen court cards show how different types of people interact with
the wheel of life. We have all the different types represented by the court
cards within us, but certain ones will predominate for different people
at different times. The forty minor cards represent the energy of the wheel
of life itself, analysed into forty component parts, ten in each of four
suits. These suits correspond to the four elements of fire, water, air and
earth, and to the suits in an ordinary deck of cards. The ten cards in each
suit are numbered from one to ten; the one or ace represents the purest
form of the element, through to the ten which represents the element its
most material manifestation.
The different categories of tarot cards make divination simpler and more
accurate. The analysis of the energy or wheel of life into its component
parts helps us understand these energies and recognise our unique part in
the play of life. Using the tarot for divination offers us more choice about
how we want our life to be, so we may be in control of our own fate rather
than feeling like a victim to the blind whim of fate The best way to understand
the tarot cards is to treat them as living beings. You can imagine them
as seventy-eight people with whom you are acquainted, some you know well,
some a little and some hardly if at all. As you work with the cards you
build your relationship to each of these ëliving beingsí and observe their
changing relationships with one another. Seventy eight people is quite a
large group, so you donít have to feel it is necessary to get to know them
well all at once. It might take a lifetime to build a relationship with
a particular card, and some cards you might never really like. You are almost
certainly bound to have favourites, ones you prefer to hang out with and
enjoy the company of. In this way, the different cards really are just like
people. You can get to know these ëpeopleí better through different card
awareness techniques such as visualisations, through grounding the insights
they bring, and through the process of divination itself. As with ërealí
people, though, the best way is through spending time with them and getting
to know their nature and how you interact with them.
If you want to tell someone about a group of people you know, you are likely
to tell stories about them that communicate their nature and how they behave.
It is the same with divination using the tarot. The diviner ëtells a storyí
to the querant which enables the querant to understand more about the cards
and why the particular ones that have emerged in the spread are relevant
at this particular time. We all like hearing stories and the better you
become as a story teller, the better you will be able to communicate the
insights from a tarot reading to your subject.
Tarot Divination Layouts.
There are numerous different ways for laying tarot cards out so you can
read them. Here I focus on three, from a simple one card reading, through
a three card divination technique that is very powerful and revealing, to
spread that uses the wisdom of the ancient Kabbalists to bring more insight
to what the cards are telling you.
1 Divination using one card.
You simply take one card for yourself or the querant. This single card gives
you an immediate input into where you are on your life journey and what
is the next step for you to take. It is important to read the card actively
rather than passively. For example, read ëpassivelyí the 2 of Pentacles
which is called ëChangeí would be taken to indicate that something is going
to change in your life. Read actively, it would indicate that something
needs to be changed ‚ by you!
2 Divination using three cards.
You or the querant chooses three cards from anywhere in the pack. The cards
are laid out side by side and read in a linear fashion:
- the first card represents what the querant wants to do or where they want
to go ( in other words, what is currently manifesting in their life)
- the second card indicates what is holding the querant back (or what the
querant is holding back (in other words, what is blocking the process from
moving on)
- the third card indicates what is the next step in dealing with and moving
beyond whatever it is that is blocking the energy, and the next step towards
manifesting whatever it is.
3 Tarot Divination with the Tree of Life.
Use the diagram of the tree of life with its usual attributions as a layout
for the cards. This is most suited to divination and can be very revealing.
If you look at the Tree of Life diagram you will see how the twenty-two
Major Arcana (or Trumps) fit onto the twenty-two paths connecting the spheres
on the Tree; how the Aces through Tens of the four suits fit onto the ten
spheres, and how the court are placed so they correspond to the Four Worlds.
The twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life exactly correspond with the twenty-two
Trumps , and the ten spheres are also ideally suited for the attribution
of the Minor Arcana, the 1s relating to Sphere 1 (Kether) through to the
10s relating to Malkuth (Sphere 10). The four suits (wands, cups, swords,
discs) then relate to the Four Kabbalistic Worlds. The court cards of the
Tarot also relate to the Four Worlds and represent how different people
relate to the Tree of Life. For example if you are basically a creative
person but you tend to be a bit up in the air , the Prince of Wands may
be the court card that most represents you. (Princes relate to air, Wands
to fire/creativity).
Connecting Tarot to the Journey of Life
FOOL trust/ self-care/vulnerability/openness
MAGUS/MAGICIAN self as one/ symbolism/ metaphor/ vision/ imagination
PRIESTESS emerging/ becoming/ self knowledge
EMPRESS principles/ both dark and light
EMPEROR catharsis/ meditation
PRIEST/HIEROPHANT invoking meaning/ truth/ inner guidance
LOVERS reparation/ relationship/ contact/attention
CHARIOT non-interference/ skill
LUST/STRENGTH transference/counter transference/ remembering
HERMIT holding/ patience/ learning/ intuition
FORTUNE/WHEEL supporting/ challenging/ opening/ mysteries
ADJUSTMENT/JUSTICE encouragement/ decision/ limitation
HANGED MAN non-action/power-with/ willing/ humility
DEATH others and self/ being held/ containing
DEVIL self and others/ being seen/ evoking
ART/TEMPERANCE equality/ non-judgement/ healing/ insight/ alchemy
TOWER dynamic tension/ re-framing
STAR recollection/ nourishment/ respect/ honour/ identity
MOON being with/ mirroring/ dreaming/ reflecting/ receptive
SUN awareness/ expression/ rhythm
AEON/JUDGEMENT structure/ interpretation
UNIVERSE/WORLD embodying/uncovering/ inclusion/ the child
kings - archetypal
queens - imaginal
princes - developmental
princesses- systemic
wands - fire/creative
cups - water/receptive
swords - air/formative
pentacles - earth/grounding
Will Parfitt is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and an experienced
and innovative group leader. Trained in Psychosynthesis, he has more than
thirty years experience of working with psychospiritual development, and
he travels internationally to run courses on a variety of subjects including
kabbalah and psychosynthesis. Will is author of several books
including 'Kabbalah for Life' and 'Psychosynthesis: the Elements and Beyond'.
© Will Parfitt 2008 (v8.1)