Healing and Kabbalah: aligning body, soul and spirit

As a Transpersonal Counselor, I have spent the the last 25 years helping my clients to “feel better”. Most people come to see me because something in their life is out of sorts; their relationships are broken, they feel stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, anxious or spiritually dry. Many of my western clients have turned to eastern methods of healing such as Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Hindu devotional chanting or eastern meditation. Most of them do not realize that there is a comprehensive western metaphysical system that can address their issues and concerns.

My clients are usually very surprised when I offer them a western alternative that provides psychological and spiritual techniques for healing – the tradition of Kabbalah with its teaching tool called the Tree of Life. Kabbalah offers the mystical teachings from Judaism and Christianity that address the particular afflictions that plague the western mind and heart. I have observed in my practice that western clients suffer more deeply than their eastern brothers and sisters from substance abuse, addictions, mental and emotional stress and lack of communal and familial support. It is crucial therefore, to utilize western metaphysical techniques to solve particular western psycho-spiritual dilemmas.

The Tree of Life model from Kabbalah offers a holistic Spiritual Psychology designed to heal the western mind and heart. In our workshop on the 7 Stages of Healing, students will be guided step-by-step through the 7 Stages of Initiation. This healing path integrates wisdom from Kabbalah, Jungian Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Family Systems Theory, Western Alchemy and Western Mythology. It also provides various meditation techniques and practicle tools for transformation.

In summary, the Tree of Life is a simple, organic, non-religious image that the average person can relate to. It consists of three basic systems of roots, trunk and branches, which correspond to the human body, soul and spirit. In order to develop our inner Tree and thrive with optimum health, we must be like a loving gardener, providing healthy soil for our roots, building a strong trunk and branching out to a wider, spiritual perspective of life as we grow and develop. But so often, one or more of the systems of the Tree are out of alignment, our Tree does not grow and thrive and the energy flow gets blocked. For most western seekers, their roots, trunk and branches are not working together as a healthy, holistic system.

In metaphysical language, the roots of the Tree represent our ego-consciousness. This is formed during our early childhood experiences, often filled with various traumas and ego-wounding. Early trauma creates negative vibrational patterns in the subconscious mind and keeps people stuck in negative karmic situations. It causes people to play negative tapes in their mind and hear negative self-talk, which attracts negative experiences into their life and the cycle continues.

The trunk represents our soul or individual identity and when developed, reflects our mature adult self-concept. If the soul or individual will has been damaged, a person may have great difficulty valuing their God-given gifts and difficulty giving themselves love and compassion. This weakens the trunk and causes people to fail to take full responsibility for their lives.

The branches represent our spiritual self, our divine nature. Without access to our most essential nature, we may be blocked from our wisdom and creativity. Our branches may feel stunted and our Tree may not be growing abundant fruit. When our branches are bearing healthy fruit, we can feed the collective with healthy spiritual food and revitalize our culture.

As westerners, it is crucial that we learn practical ways to align all three systems of our Tree so that we heal the roots, strengthen our trunk and gain access to the branches and realize our essential Divine nature. 

I have seen dramatic shifts in my clients over the years as I guide them through the 7 Stage Initiation process, healing their roots, helping them gain access to their trunk (their soul, gifts and their sense of free will) and helping them climb to the branches of their Tree, accessing God and the spiritual gifts of wisdom, understanding and knowledge. We look forward to sharing this wisdom with all of you. 

Rev. Dr. Megan Wagner