Building the Tree of Life Part 1: Planting a tree

 

The Calvary Garden – act two

The fact that the Calvary Garden overlapped with Saunière’s model came as something of a surprise. It revealed that Saunière, during the construction of his estate, was not designing his estate along purely esthetical bases, but did so within a certain framework that was esoteric in nature.
When overlapping the model with the garden, we were also intrigued by the presence of a triangle in this garden, centred on the Calvary statue, which is often photographed, but seldom made part of the mystery. With the knowledge that Saunière liked his inversions, we wondered whether we had to see a mirrored triangle lying on top of this… thus transforming the triangle into a hexagram – the Seal of Solomon.

Seal of Solomon?

The Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon, which variously gave him the power to command demons (or jinni), or to speak with animals. A few years ago, this would not have seen relevant to the Saunière mystery, but today, due to the research of Isaac ben Jacob and the material released by Graham Simmans and Patrice Chaplin, it has become central. Let us note that Chaplin speaks of a specific ring linked with Saunière and trust into the fire during a magical ceremony – distant echoes of the “Seal of Solomon”.
In alchemy, the combination of the fire and water symbols (up and down triangles) is known as the Seal of Solomon. The symbol is representative of the combination of opposites and transmutation – “North and South”, to use the parlance of Chaplin?

But let us not forget that other use: the power to command demons… such as Asmodeus, a demon specifically linked with Solomon and his temple; and Saunière, who depicted this demon at the entrance of the village church of Rennes-le-Château, yards away from the bizarre triangular construction in the garden. In this setting, Asmodeus is indeed controlled by water: the stoup above him is weighing him down… whereas on the other side of the church, we find Jesus Christ kneeling in the same position, thus time weighed down by the “weight” of the baptismal water that John the Baptist is pouring over Jesus.

From Seals to Trees

Unfortunately, there is no good reason to argue why this triangle should have been inversed, to be made into a “Seal of Solomon”. And in the absence of such clues, we prefer not to draw such conclusions.
So why mention it? Because at the time of the initial observation of the triangle, we noticed that it corresponded with something else: the lower section of the “Tree of Life”.
This observation requires some initial explanation. Various cultures have “trees of life”. The one of interest here is the Tree of Life of the biblical and Kabbalistic tradition.
First of all, the Tree of Life is mentioned in both the Books of Genesis, in which it grants immortality to Adam and Eve, and Revelation, in which it is referred to as the Wood of Life. It is thus central to the beginning… and the end.

“Live wood”

The Tree of Life sometimes refers to Jesus, as he died on a cross (sometimes symbolically referred to as a tree in Christian imagery, if only because it was a wooden cross) and is understood to bring new life through the Resurrection. Researchers of the Rennes-le-Château mystery have hence noted that in a few rare occurrences, people are depicted as praying in front of a wooden cross. But rather than the traditional wood, this cross is made out of “live wood”: with branches, sometimes even leaves. Of course, one such depiction can be found on the altar of the church of Rennes-le-Château: an image which many have seen as “key” in the oeuvre of Saunière.

The Kabbalah

Within the Kabbalah, the Tree of Life takes the form of ten interconnected nodes. The Kabbalah is perhaps most easily explained as a Hebrew form of yoga: a system in which the initiate is trained, develops along the steps/nodes as his training progresses, on a path that will bring his awareness, his mind, closer if not in direct contact with God.
The American pop singer Madonna is probably its most high profile adept; equally, should be stressed that this discipline does not seem to date back to biblical times: at least not in any written format. We find its earliest traces around 1050 AD, in Spain, amongst Jewish philosophers. As with yoga, there are several traditions and manuals, the best known of which is the Zohar, whose authorship is traditionally ascribed to Moses de Leon.

11-22

The Tree of Life is made up out of ten spheres, with an 11th invisible sphere – Daath. 22 paths connect them.
22 is an important number within the framework of Rennes-le-Château, where it is traditionally seen as a “code” that refers to Mary Magdalene – whose feast day is July 22. However, if anything, Mary Magdalene would have been code for 22/7, an approximation of Pi… a sacred number linked with the gods, Mary Magdalene herself seen as a Christian veneer for the pagan worship of Isis – whose sanctuaries in France were largely converted into sites related to the newly created Christian myth of Mary Magdalene.
In Rennes-le-Château, the number 22 instead seems to be more logically linked with the Kabbalah: there are twenty-two steps – steps – in the Tour Magdala and twice eleven steps – steps – on the path that leads up to the Belvedere. In short, Saunière linked the number 22 with “ascending stairways” – climbing up the Tree of Life?

Sephiroth

These ten, or eleven, nodes are also referred to as spheres, or Sephiroth (singular: sephirah). They are stages in the emanations of the Spirit of God or man in its progress from noumenal existence to its building of a physical vehicle in the phenomenal world. Each sphere is a stage along the way.
The only form of unity is said to be found in the “Unmanifest”, a pure state of non-existence, symbolised by three veils behind Kether, the first sphere. They are also known as the “Veils of Negative Existence” and should be seen as the origin, and destiny, of the soul, throughout its spiritual development.

When we look at the completion of this Tree of Life, we speak of spheres 7, 8, 9 and 10:
7, Netzach, Victory
8, Hod, Splendour
9, Yesod, The Foundation
10, Malkuth, The Kingdom
These are the spheres that are depicted in the triangle in front of Saunière’s parish church.

The Tree of Life is seen as consisting of three pillars. The two extreme pillars are comparable to “Yin and Yang”, negative and positive, two forms of “energy” that need to be combined and neutralised within a person – visualised by the third, central pillar. At each step of development, these two aspects need to be combined, whereupon one can move to the next stage. In the Tree of Life, the “final” spheres of the left and right hand path are Netzach and Hod, followed by two “central states”, Yesod, which culminates in the “root” or destination of the voyage: Malkuth.

Planting a tree

What better way to depict the Tree of Life – or at least a portion of it – then in a garden? And it is precisely Saunière’s triangular design in the Calvary garden that overlaps precisely with a portion of the Tree of Life – spheres 7 through to 10. The Calvary itself is Yesod, the Foundation. How “coincidental” to have the central aspect of Christianity, Christ Dying on the Cross, being depicted on the location of sphere 9, the foundation. It seems to confirm that which is widely reported: that Saunière had a very developed sense of humour, which we have elsewhere witnessed in his model, where he used a model – in French “maquette” – to convey the destination of his quest – “ma quête” in French, pronounced identical to “maquette”.

Drawing a tree

We offered this insight to Corjan de Raaf, asking him whether he could perfect and verify our overlay of the Tree of Life on Saunière’s estate. Instead, he did better. Rather than erring on the side of prudence and merely argue that Saunière depicted the bottom section of the Tree of Life in his garden, de Raaf straightforwardly accomplished a total overlap: Saunière had not merely depicted part of the Tree of Life: he had drawn all of the Tree of Life.

First, it is clear that Saunière could play with some, but not play with other dimensions. For example, the presbytery and the church were what they were and though they were totally refurbished, their dimensions were not altered; this would have required a complete rebuilding, which was outside of Saunière’s remit. The cemetery is where it was and though Saunière made alterations, he could of course not simply relocate it somewhere else. Amongst those items he could play with, were the design of the Calvary garden, as well as a wall around the cemetery.
Building this wall around the cemetery is assumed to have been done so that Saunière had privacy, allowing him to do inside the cemetery whatever it was that he was doing. As we have mentioned elsewhere, the exact nature of this remains unclear, with speculation that he was digging for a treasure, removing certain clues left behind by his predecessor Bigou, and even that Saunière as dabbling in black magic.

What became evident was that what for a century has only been seen as a normal wall around the cemetery… was actually built in such a position that it would overlap with the outline of the Tree of Life. Indeed, we see that several more elements of the Tree of Life fall on the design, specifically, on those aspects Saunière could manipulate.

Overlap

Having projected spheres 7 to 10 on the Calvary Garden, we see that the line from sphere 4 to 5 runs along the northern wall of the Church. There is no direct overlap on the left hand of the Tree, to “anchor” sphere 5, as he could not control anything there: the position of the presbytery and church were where they were.
For information:
Sphere 4, Chesed, Mercy
Sphere 5, Geburah, Strength
Sphere 6, Tiphareth, or Beauty, falls in, if not defines, the church.

The proof that the entire Tree of Life is depicted here, can be seen because the wall of the cemetery defines both the right-hand path of the Tree, whereby the line between spheres 2 to 3 coincides with the northern wall of the cemetery. There is no room for doubt: Saunière used the Tree of Life design to build this wall, as each part of the wall perfectly overlaps with the outline of the Tree of Life. This cannot be a coincidence.

For information:
Sphere 2, Chokmah, Wisdom
Sphere 3, Binah, Understanding
These two spheres are seen as the first “duality”, created out of the unity – the monad – that is sphere 1, Kether, The Crown. That region, as well as the “Unmanifest”, lies beyond the cemetery. It seems, indeed, that Saunière left it “unmanifest”: he did not anchor that other reality inside our earthly realm.

A Master of Symbolism

It is therefore right to conclude that Saunière was a master of symbolism, expertly using the Kabbalistic Tree of Life in this architectural plan of the religious heart of the village. This requires intelligence, knowledge, insight, as well as understanding of architecture. To this, we can add wit, for the area inside spheres 2-3-4-5 contains a hidden part, Daath, the Abyss. We note that this “Veil of the Abyss” runs through the middle of the cemetery.

Daath is the location where all ten sephiroth in the Tree of Life are united as one. It is sometimes controversially described as an eleventh sephira.
In Daath, all sephiroth exist in their perfected state of infinite sharing. The three spheres of the left column that would receive and conceal the Divine Light, instead share and reveal it. With this 11th sphere active, all spheres radiate infinite self-giving Divine Light, and it is thus no longer possible to distinguish one sphere from another. Thus they are one.

In Kabbalistic doctrine, the Divine Light is always shining, but not all humans can see it. Humans who become self-giving – like the Light – become able to see it, and for them the benefits of Daath's Light are "revealed". However, humans who remain selfish cannot see it, and for them its benefits seem "hidden".
How remarkable therefore to see this “Divine Light” as present in the cemetery, the realm of the souls! Though in the Kabbalah, it was considered Man’s mission to achieve this state during life, in death, Daath was of course omni-present. Surely, if there was the slightest of doubt left that Saunière played with the Tree of Life desin, this should not be gone.

The Missing Crown

People casually aware of the Tree of Life will know that sometimes, Daath is depicted and sometimes, it is not. Such apparent haphazard does not lead to deeper knowledge – and seems to underline the fact that true wisdom (sphere 2) requires study, before understanding (sphere 3) is achieved.
Generally, Daath is only placed among the spheres when Kether – sphere 1, The Crown, is not depicted. Of course, that is precisely what Saunière has done: he has not depicted Kether. Though we could see this as a symbolic illustration of the “Unmanifest” (not making the Unmanifest manifest), at its most basic level, we should simply conclude Kether is not present.
To give the Kabbalistic background: Daath is only manifest when Kether is absent, as Daath presents the inner dimension (reflection) of Kether itself. It is the reason why Daath appears along the middle axis, directly beneath Kether.

As this is likely not to bring total understanding, let us note that Kether and Daath are seen as two different aspects of the same sphere, and one can only be “manifest” at a time. As to Kether, “the crown”, it is "the most hidden of all hidden things", and is completely incomprehensible to man. According to the Bahir: "The first sephirah is called the Crown, since a crown is worn above the head. The Crown therefore refers to things that are above the mind's abilities of comprehension."

Studying the Kabbalah

In this design, we are again confronted with the presence of “sacred geometry” in Rennes-le-Château. But unlike as is proposed in some books, it is clear that this geometry is hard, scientifically falsifiable – and proven –, of human design, and with a clear, specific purpose in mind.
The conclusion reveals an unknown dimension to Saunière, that of a man well-versed in Kabbalistic lore. As the Kabbalah is not part of the normal curriculum of a person studying for the priesthood, the question needs to be asked: where did he acquire this knowledge? And if he did not achieve this knowledge purely through self-study, who taught him?
Finally, we can only ask whether we are truly the first to realise this insight, or whether some have gone before us. The answer may be not 666, but 777.

continued >>

Filip Coppens