Madonna should love this map, having both gone all British and jewish-mystical. This map, in the style of the London Underground(*), depicts the Kaballah Tree of Life.
Sephiroth (Hebrew for ‘Enumerations’) is the name for the ten attributes of God in the Kabbalah (a form of jewish esotericism). Ten in itself is of course also a significant number, as it is divinely perfect. The attributes are:
* The Crown (’Keter’ in Hebrew): the Creator Himself.
* Wisdom (’Hokhmah’): Divine reality/revelation; the power of Wisdom.
* Understanding (’Binah’): repentance/reason; the power of Love.
* Mercy (’Hesed’): grace/intention to emulate God; the power of Vision.
* Strength (’Gevurah’): judgment/determination; the power of Intention.
* Beauty (’Tif’eret’): symmetry/compassion; the power of Creativity.
* Victory (’Netzah’): contemplation/initiative/persistence; the power of the Eternal Now.
* Splendour (’Hod’): surrender/sincerity/steadfastness; the power of Observation.
* Yesod (’Foundation’): remembering/knowing; the power of Manifesting.
* Kingdom (’Malkuth’): physical presence/vision and illusion; the power of Healing.
As befits esoteric systems, the aforementioned terms are anything but elucidating, and furthermore they’re only one of many interpretations of the 10 sephiroth (rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero’s, to be precise).
These 10 sephiroth are arranged in 3 columns, the middle of which is headed by the Crown and is known as the ‘Pillar of Mildness’, the right one topped by Wisdom is called the ‘Pillar of Mercy’, and the left one overseen by Understanding and known as the ‘Pillar of Severity’.
The 22 lines connecting the 10 sephiroth correspond with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Twenty-two plus ten equals 32, which (of course) refers to the number of Masonic degrees, the number of Kabbalistic paths to wisdom and the number of teeth in an adult’s mouth!
If all this sounds like mumbo-jumbo not unlike the sort you would hear from Madame Soleil-type soothsayers, that’s no coincidence. Occultists have connected the hermetism of the Kabbalah with the Tarot. The sephirothic tree of life has even been thought to symbolize the prototypical ‘Heavenly Man’.
I don’t know enough about esoteric card tricks to state beyond the shadow of a doubt that the stations in between the 10 main ones correspond with categories from Tarot, but I’m pretty sure they do.
This map was sent to me by Jamie M.A. Smith, who first saw it in Alan Moore’s comic book series Promethea.
(*) Not, as Kevin Kline’s character presumes in ‘A Fish Called Wanda’, some sort of resistance movement.
Hi, I’m not an expert about tarot, but I know something and I can tell you those stations in between the sephiroths are indeed the Major Arcane Cards of any tarot set.
Comment by Kazz — December 19, 2007 @ 3:26 pm
The map is actually the work of artist and designer John Coulthart, who talks a bit about its genesis on his blog.
Comment by Chris Roberson — December 19, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
This reminds me Umberto Eco’s masterpiece,”The Foucault’s Pendulum”: one of the characters, almost driving himself mad with Kabbalah, esotericism, Templars and all sorts, says that the Sephirot Tree resembles the drivetrain of a car, with esoteric digressions about the engine, the axle, the wheels, the differential…
It should be noted that “The Foucault’s Pendulum” has its 120 chapters divided in 9 groups, each one named after a Sephirah.
Comment by Lopo — December 19, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
I’m sure this map will be a hit with Final Fantasy fans, too.
Comment by El Santo — December 19, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
Hey strangemaps. Love your site. Here’s a link to an interesting map of Manhattan:
http://www.thepompomist.com/search/label/Graphic%20Design
Comment by Alan — December 19, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Too much Tube south of the River;-)
Comment by lordhutton — December 19, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
According to at least one esoteric system, each of the 22 paths corresponds to one of the major arcana; and each of the spheres corresponds to the four ‘pip’ cards of all four suits for a number – for example, the ‘crown’ corresponds to all four aces. The face cards are a bit trickier, probably, in this case, referring to various passengers /riding/ the lines…
Comment by DataPacRat — December 19, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
That would be just one of the several maps of the tree of life in Promethea, an instructional on magic in the guise of a superhero comic from a writer who understands magic and storytelling are the same thing.
Great book.
Comment by amplifier — December 20, 2007 @ 1:22 am
Lopo, that’s exactly what I thought of when I saw this. If I had more time I’d try and figure out if I could get it to correspond with anything – I bet you could match this up with the Washington, DC metro system, what with all the Freemason-conspiracy nuts and their relating the city’s layout to mystical symbolism. For example, the first Google hit has the National Mall mashed up with the Sephiroth. And Eco certainly liked insinuating that there was something sinister about subterranean tunnels, so what could be more sinister than mass transit?
Comment by jeff n. — December 20, 2007 @ 6:00 am
A couple points. First, Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism, not esotericism per se. I’m not sure how you could make an entire post on Kabbalah without using the word (other than in passing, in the caption). It’d be a bit like writing about the Civil War without mentioning Lincoln. Second, the association between this topic and faux-mystics and soothsayers is entirely after the fact. The teachings of the Kabbalah are thousands of years old, and do not at all derive from Tarot cards or Madame Soleil.
Also, it’s “hermeticism,” not “hermetism.”
Comment by Paulski — December 20, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
“I played poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”
–Stephen Wright
Comment by Pat J — December 20, 2007 @ 5:10 pm
“I don’t know enough about esoteric card tricks to state beyond the shadow of a doubt that the stations in between the 10 main ones correspond with categories from Tarot, but I’m pretty sure they do.”
The first to make a correspondence between the Tree of Life and the Tarot Trumps was Levi. His system was embellished dramatically to make further correspondences to astrology, geomancy, Indian Tatwas, and the Enochian magic of John Dee by the Golden Dawn (primarily by Mathers). Crowley made a few changes to the correspondences and added more. Most modern Tarotists use either the GD system or Crowley. The presence of “Art” and “Aeon” on the map would indicate that Moore follows Crowley. A good site on the topic is http://www.villarevak.org/misc/history.html .
Comment by Mertseger — December 21, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
Inspired, using the Tube map design by Underground employee Harry Beck. His map design, realising actual relative location was irrelevant underground, was destined to become a design classic, instantly synonymous with London.
Comment by kevmoore — December 23, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Another map for the London tube loverrs.
Comment by cyclepromo — December 24, 2007 @ 5:40 am
Hi! I’ve started a somewhat different map site, more related to psychological aspects of mapping. Your blog was definitely an inspiration and I thank you. I’m definitely going in a different direction, but I love your site. And the kabbalah “tube” map is just wonderful, as maps of the body and spirit are my main focus. Aren’t maps great?
Comment by the individual voice — December 24, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
[...] historical linguistics, there can be found a French Satirical Cartoon Map from 1870, a map of the Kaballah Tree of Life depicted in the style of the London Underground, and a Blonde Map of Europe, featuring percentages [...]
Pingback by Strange Maps « New Risks’ Weblog — January 8, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
Not to be nit-picky, but…I will. This would’ve looked cooler if the 45-degree angles Harry Beck popularized in the London tube diagram was used.
Comment by Ben — January 8, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
[...] gratitude and apology to the fine folks at the Strange Maps blog, who brought to my attention the Kabbalah system map and Mark Ovenden’s Transit Maps of the World [...]
Pingback by limeduck » Next stop, wonder where — January 28, 2008 @ 12:37 am
Hi there, I wondered if you were interested in another map.
http://www.mapofthetarot.com – the item is available here http://www.auctionsworldwide.net/tmh/storeitem.php?item=94
Comment by Katherine — February 9, 2008 @ 11:25 am
I’ve just discovered this blog and as I have always liked maps as well I’ve had a great hour or so perusing the site. This map immediately brought to mind “The Great Bear” by Simon Patterson. I saw the original in Tate Modern, and being a Londoner (whose dad worked for London Transport) I had to get a copy which now hangs proudly on my wall. The best copy I could find online is here:
http://www.artland.co.uk/Patterson_Great_Bear85.jpg
He took the standard Underground map, but instead of the lines being Picadilly, Central, District and so on they are instead Musicians, Philosophers, Explorers, Film Actors etc, with the East London Line becoming Sinologues!
Comment by allblue — February 17, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
[...] Strange Maps. Check out the site for more distortions or improvements of reality. Such as this one from Alan Moore’s [...]
Pingback by Strange Maps: Kabbalah and the Tube « In the Meantime — March 26, 2008 @ 9:42 am
[...] Strange Maps. Check out the site for more distortions or improvements of reality such as this one from Alan Moore’s comic [...]
Pingback by Strange Maps: Kabbalah and the Tube | 8ZU — March 28, 2008 @ 1:17 am
SHALOM, Let us remember that the most important question for everyone is: What is the meaning of my life?..Why am I here? When these are truly pondered, true answers come forth..spirituality. We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, no..we are spiritual beings having a physical experience! Religion does not and can not entertain nor answer these questions. However, Kabbalah does entertain and even answers them simply because Kabbalah is not religion.
Comment by Yochanan EzeNdubuisi — May 15, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
This has been so popular it has actually been part of our MBA course at Cass Business School in London. For my take on this read this post here:
http://lifeatcass.blogspot.com/2008/06/so-why-would-madonna-live-by-this-map.html
Comment by Pranay — June 8, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
[...] todos os cursos que o Rio Mississippi já teve, e um monte de outras coisas curiosas, como a esta Árvore da Vida (que representa as sephiroths da cabala) ilustrada como o mapa do metrô de Londres. Quem gosta de [...]
Pingback by Estranhas cartografias. | Lápis Raro — September 2, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
Thank you Pulaski, I’m begining to understand why the Rabis kept the secrets of the Kabblah from the masses. Just look at what Hollywood, the snakeoil salesmen and “get rich quick” New Age groups (including some MOT’s)are doing to destroy the holyness of this tradition. It’s become a mass marketing scheam aimed at selling you red thread and dubious/warped commentary usually polluted with other New Age systems. Oi!!! Only in America!!! Shalom.
Comment by Paul Jonas — September 5, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
[...] the current tube map, on the Transport for London website, and here is the original map. Here and here are maps inspired by it, published earlier on this [...]
Pingback by 368 - The World As Seen From Chang’an Street « Strange Maps — March 23, 2009 @ 1:27 am
thank you
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 3:15 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 6:24 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 4:57 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:21 am