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Floorplan as Tree of Life |
by David Bowman
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Floor plan of St. Paul's Cathedral London interpreted as kabbalistic Tree of Life
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| Christopher Wren: St. Paul's Cathedral London - floor plan |
We can safely presume that, a cathedral important like St. Paul's in London is the most complete encyclopedia of representations of the universe known to the times when the cathedral was built. The crossing of two lines, the nave and the aisle, bears so fundamental symbolism of 'the unification of subject and object' that it is useless to further interpret this subject in any depth. But the next, more complex, 'intentional' level of abstraction of the universe is the reflected composition of the most sacred kabbalistic glyph that represents the universe in all it's aspects. Kabbalist can learn with help of the scheme of the Tree of Life a minute explanation about any aspect of the universe. They postulate that the Tree of Life (or Sephiroth, Numbers) is the best hieroglyph of the known and unknown universe. The analysis of the floor plan of St. Paul's cathedral suggests that the main idea behind the composition of the floor plan is the encoded image of the kabbalistic Tree of Life. There are ten domes aligned with both main axis representing the ten spheres of Sephiroth or Tree of Life. These Spheres are also corresponding to the heavenly bodies, a concept that could be familiar to Christopher Wren who was a brilliant astronomer. Sephiroth is an ancient glyph with it's origins unknown, or at least uncertain. An interesting reference to the Ten Spheres is also their description in a well-known mystical tractate from the beginnings of christian era called Sepher Yetzirah later attributed to Rabbi Akiba, a text fundamental for the kabbalistic corpus:
Section Three: Ten are the Sephiroth out of nothing, and not the number nine, ten and not eleven. Comprehend this great wisdom, understand his knowledge, inquire into it and ponder on it, render it evident and lead the Creator back to His throne again.
Section Four: The Ten Sephiroth out of nothing are infinite in ten ways: The beginning infinite {Kether}; The end infinite {Chokmah}; The good infinite {Binah}; The evil infinite {Chesed}; The height infinite {Geburah}; The depth infinite {Tiphareth}; The East infinite {Netzach}; The West infinite {Hod}; The North infinite {Yesod}; The South infinite {Malkuth}, and the only Lord God, the faithful King, rules over all from His holy habitation for ever and ever. - Sepher Yetzirah, online edition with commentary
Ten domes along the two main axes as indicated on the cathedral's floor-plan, correspond to ten spheres of the Tree of Life, in this case a most convenient symbol of a journey through various modulations of existence, ten in number according to the kabbalists. It is not unusual that Wren incorporated kabbalistic dogma in the foundation of the composition for the christian church, since the Tree of Life is a rare example of a geometrical, structural representation of the universe, easily 'encodable' into the measures of architectural composition.
The kabbalistic Tree of Life is divided into three pillars: left (Binah - Geburah - Hod), called the Pillar of Severity; right (Chokmah - Chesed - Netzach), called the Pillar of Mercy and the Middle Pillar (Kether - Tiphareth - Yesod - Malkuth), which is also called the Pillar of Mildness or the Path of Messiah. The paths that connect spheres of the Middle Pillar are ת-Thau, ס-Samek and, ג-Gimel. The value of these three paths is 400, 60, and 3, together 463:
Thau + Samek + Gimel = 400+60+3 = 463 = the inner length of the Cathedral.
A visitor enters the cathedral through a vestibule which represents the tenth sphere called Malkuth, Kingdom, and along the main axis of the cathedral transverses the journey along the paths of the Tree of Life, a journey through the symbolic universe. The first path that leads into this symbolic wonderland is called Thau, Th and in Tarot it is also called The Universe. At the crossing of two lines of the main axes a visitor meets the Gnostic Christ, and this union is monumentally signified by the main dome of the cathedral. Standing beneath the dome, facing east, a passenger has the Pillar of Mercy and the Pillar of Severity on his left and right side. If the path is continued further towards the east along the middle axis the 'unimaginable' realm of the primal triad - the most simple concept of being - is represented by three domes above the choir.
The three paths of the Middle Pillar, ת-ס-ג, have the same value as the Biblical word for Aaron's Rod of Almond, used in Exodus, that became the serpent devouring serpents of other magicians: HB: MTH HShQR = 463. The number 463 directly expresses this elevation: the material plane of 4 basic elements is expanded through Tiphareth = 6, the sphere of Redeemer, into the Divine Triad, the uppermost 3 Sephiroth, which is perceived as one.
According to kabbalistic dogma the Middle Pillar also includes the invisible or false Sephira דעת, Daath = Knowledge, which is placed in the Abyss, between the Supernal Triad and the lower seven Sephiroth:
דעת = 4+70+400 = 474 = 474'-0", the inner length with the apse wall.
The dimension 474'-0" conceals also the sum of four names of God pertaining to spheres that constitute the Middle Pillar: Kether (אהיה, Ehyeh), Tiphareth (הוהא לוהו דעתל, Jahve Eloah va-Daath), Yesod (שדי, Shaddai), and Malkuth (אדני, Adonai):
אהיה + הוהא לוהו דעתל + שדי + אדני = 948 = 2 x 474.
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 "Floorplan as Tree of Life")