THE ESSENE TREE OF LIFE - by Julianne Norton

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE ESSENE TREE OF LIFE - by Julianne Norton

From the dawn of time man has recognized certain unseen forces in his world/universe. These forces possessed energy and power. Each performed a certain function in a particular aspect of either a earthly or a heavenly nature. Many ancient civilizations, such as the Zoroastrian one in Persia, or the Pre-Colombian Toltecs as well as many ancient pagan cultures such as the Germanic or Norse tribes had acknowledged these forces; some of which were life-producing/life-sustaining, and therefore good forces, the others being destructive and detrimental to life, thus evil. The Essenes, although recognizing there were evil forces in existence, refused to give them any acknowledgment. Instead, they believed that by communing with only the good forces, they would increase the good forces' power, expanding and overcoming the dwindling evil ones, until the evil would but disappear completely.

These good forces, seven of them earthly in nature, and seven of them being cosmic or heavenly in nature, were called angels. The Essene Tree of life was made up of roots and branches of these 14 forces with Man in the meditative position, in the center of the Tree, thus showing the importance of Man's relationship to these forces. This also demonstrated that Man had to maintain a balance of himself with all these forces. The seven roots of the Tree were the seven earthly forces, the Earthly Mother, and Her angels: Angel of the Earth, Angel of Life, Angel of Joy, Angel of the Sun, Angel of Water, and Angel of Air. The seven branches of the Tree were the Heavenly Father and His Angels: Angel of Eternal Life, Angel of Creative Work, Angel of Peace, Angel of Power, Angel of Love, and Angel of Wisdom. The upper part of Man's body is located above the earth, the lower part of his body being below, in the earth. Thus Man's lower body organs of the gastrointestinal system and the sexual reproductive organs connected Man to the earthly forces, and his higher body organs, such as the brain and the lungs, connected Man to the cosmic or heavenly forces.

The Essenes knew that in order to be in harmony with these forces, they had to contact them on a daily basis. Their connection with each individual force taught them how to utilize the force, absorbing it's power, and putting it to work in their daily lives. Thus, the most important daily activity to an Essene was the communing with the selected, individual angels of the Heavenly Father-Earthly Mother. Each of the earthly forces corresponded with a cosmic force as follows:

The Earthly Mother and the Heavenly Father
The Angel of Earth and the Angel of Eternal Life
The Angel of Life and the Angel of Creative Work
The Angel of Joy and the Angel of Peace
The Angel of the Sun and the Angel of Power
The Angel of Water and the Angel of Love
The Angel of Air and the Angel of Wisdom

Each of these earthly forces held a place as a root of the Tree, while the corresponding cosmic force was placed diagonally across from it as a branch, thus each force, one below him on the earth, and the complimenting one above him/her in the heavens, would intersect through man diagonally at the center of the Tree. Thus when one communed with the earthly force, he/she would also be relating to the correlated cosmic force as well.. As long as man kept attuned to these individual forces of nature and the cosmos, he would remain in a perfect balance, in harmony with his world and the universal laws which govern all, seen and unseen. This development of man's relationship to these forces, and utilization of their energy and individual power in his/her daily life, was thus vital to the soul's ability to be centered spiritually--just like he/she is depicted in the center of the Tree of Life. The Essence communions with the Tree of Life was truly a necessary path to follow for one's soul, on it's way towards that ultimate goal of perfection.