1.3.2 The Trees of Consciousness

“The Sephiroth are the Ten Sacred Numbers of the universe, through which creation manifests.”

The Tree Of Life provides a sophisticated map for understanding how consciousness manifests from its most subtle to its densest forms. This chapter explores consciousness as a layered phenomenon, examining how awareness develops from singular moments of perception into complex spiritual and psychological structures. Through understanding these layers, we gain insight into both the nature of mind and the path of transformation. The Tree model reveals how consciousness evolves through innocent, fallen, and perfected states, offering practical insights for the aspiring alchemist.

Understanding Consciousness

Consciousness, we have learned, is represented on the atomic level by the citta, a point-awareness of a single object. On the organism level there are thousands of cittas experienced sequentially, that seem to occur in a single moment. This gives the illusion that awareness is more like a cloud, rather than many individual occurrences.

A good analogy is the flame of a candle. The flame appears relatively stable, yet in truth, it is simply thousands of tiny chemical reactions liberating light. The mind constructs a unified concept of “flame” based on these patterns. Similarly, what we take to be stable self-awareness is composed of many fleeting moments of citta.

The Layering of Consciousness

Awareness evolves through layers, where consciousness takes itself as object. Each layer splits into subjective and objective aspects, recursively producing new levels of being. These layers form the basis of the Tree of Life (Sephirot), each representing a level of consciousness with its own function.

Alan Watts once suggested that perhaps we are eternal beings who deliberately forget our origin to experience challenge and novelty. The creation of layers of awareness mirrors this playful forgetting and rediscovery within the mind.

The Ten Sephirot

The Tree of Consciousness is mapped into ten Sephirot:

The Innocent, Fallen, and Perfected Trees

The Tree of Life exists in multiple forms: the Innocent Tree (original pure awareness), the Fallen Tree (dual consciousness), and the Perfected Tree (enlightened integration). Each reflects the evolving structure of mind through innocence, delusion, and liberation.

The First Layer (Primal Awareness)

Primal awareness arises as pure knowing without content. It does not recognise itself. The first point of consciousness arises through the forgetting of its origin—a radiant but deluded self-knowing light. This awareness is known as the Demiurge in Gnostic tradition.

The Second Layer (Pattern Recognition)

This layer represents love and attraction to emerging patterns, as the first awareness becomes absorbed in the delightful phenomena created by its own light. This layer is sometimes called the Pleroma, the field of mental potentiality.

The Third Layer (Object Formation and Self)

Through subject-object separation, beings and objects are formed. The eye of awareness cannot see its own light and projects its attention outward, generating structures of experience. Here, the sense of self begins to crystallize as an observer separate from its objects.

The Fourth Layer (Harmonious Love)

This layer manifests as pure, forgiving, parental love for other beings and objects of its creation, reflecting unity and harmony, much like Christ-like compassion.

The Fifth Layer (Discrimination)

Here, awareness becomes analytical, separating and dividing experience into categories. With this division, the seeds of selfishness and evil appear as self begins to distinguish itself from others more rigidly.

The Sixth Layer (Central Self)

The fully established self arises as the central subjective viewpoint. The balance between selfishness and selflessness becomes central to further development.

The Seventh Layer (Drives and Emotions)

This layer includes raw instincts, karmic tendencies, and emotional drives that move the being toward either selfish or altruistic goals.

The Eighth Layer (Rationalisation)

Here, rationalisation emerges to justify emotional impulses. This mental control layer retrospectively narrates actions and reinforces self-identity.

The Ninth Layer (Dream Consciousness)

The world of fantasy and play arises here. For children, this dream consciousness dominates before full incarnation. As responsibility develops, this layer recedes beneath adult waking consciousness but remains active in dreams and imagination.

The Tenth Layer (Material Awareness)

With incarnation comes full identification with material reality. The dream world merges with physical experience, resulting in our familiar adult waking consciousness.

The Fall: The Dual Tree of Consciousness

As selfishness arises, the Tree develops dual aspects — the Qlippoth, or shells of consciousness. Each sephirah splits into outer and inner aspects, reflecting temptation and deviation from unity. This dual Tree reflects the ordinary fallen state of adult consciousness — marked by fear, desire, and existential anxiety.

Alchemy and The Restoration of the Perfected Tree

The alchemist learns to recognise this structure of mind as illusory, transforming selfish duality into selflessness through wisdom. Progress along the Great Work restores balance to the Tree, dissolves inner conflict, and leads toward liberation from suffering. At the peak of Nigredo, the first faint light of Albedo appears, signaling a shift toward the dissolution of self-attachment.

Ultimately, the perfected Tree represents the harmonious balance of all ten sephirot, free from duality, as the alchemist transcends selfhood entirely.

This text is excerpted from the book Nigredo: A Course in Modern Alchemy. The complete book includes additional study guides, resources, and appendices. View the full book here.