Tree of Sephirot: planets, sephirot and aspects in one diagram

What the Tree of Sephirot is

The Tree of Life (Tree of Sephirot) is the central diagram of kabbalah: ten sephirot — spheres, or stages of manifestation — joined by paths into a single vertical running from the source down to material embodiment. Astrology has long used this structure as an alternative framework for reading a natal chart: instead of a circle of houses and signs you get a ladder of levels down which planetary energy descends from idea to action.

In AstroTarget the Tree is built automatically from your natal chart data — all planets, their positions in signs and houses and the calculated aspects between them are already taken into account. If you have not built a chart yet, start with what is a natal chart.

Correspondences of planets and sephirot

The ten classical and modern planets are distributed across the ten sephirot so that the function of the planet matches the meaning of the sephira. The diagram divides into three vertical pillars: idea (top), will (centre) and embodiment (bottom).

Note that this arrangement does not follow classical planetary rulership of the signs — what matters here is not the strength of a planet but its function in the chain through which energy manifests.

The three pillars of the Tree

Upper pillar — the idea

Pluto (Kether), Neptune (Chokmah) and Saturn (Binah) form the top of the Tree. Pluto gives the initial impulse, Neptune brings inspiration and a sense of direction, and Saturn gives that impulse form and boundary. Uranus (Daath) stands between the upper and middle pillars as a "lift" — the point where an abstract idea turns into a concrete insight and descends further.

Middle pillar — the will

Jupiter (Chesed) is responsible for expansion and resources, Mars (Geburah) for concentrated action and discipline, and the Sun (Tiphareth) stands at the very centre of the Tree — the node of integration, the "why" axis of the whole chart. This is why the position of the Sun often becomes the key to understanding how a person joins the opposing impulses of the upper pillar with the practice of the lower one.

Lower pillar — embodiment

Mercury (Hod) translates ideas into words and schemes, Venus (Netzach) into desires and values, and the Moon ☽ (Yesod) closes the Tree at the level of psyche and body: here the energy is either allowed to manifest or gets stuck in habitual reactions.

How to read aspects within the Tree

On the diagram a line between two sephirot appears only when the corresponding planets really do form an aspect in your natal chart — conjunction, sextile, square, trine or opposition. Aspects are calculated with the same orbs as in the main chart; more on the principles in how to read a natal chart.

• Trines and sextiles are usually shown in a calm tone — easy, supportive links between the levels of the Tree.
• Squares and oppositions are marked in a more alerting colour — tension that requires conscious work.
• A conjunction is the most direct link: the energies of two sephirot effectively merge into one task.
• The arrow on a line points from the planet placed higher on the Tree to the one below — showing the direction in which the energy descends most naturally.

Hover over (or tap on mobile) a line or a node and the tooltip will show the exact aspect, its orb and the sign and house of the planet. Missing lines are meaningful too: the link between those levels of the Tree is not expressed in the chart, and energy flows there without pronounced tension or support.

Why look at the chart through the Tree of Sephirot

The circular natal chart shows planets side by side by zodiac sign, but it does not always convey hierarchy: what comes first and what follows from it. The Tree arranges the same data vertically, making it easier to see how the impulse of the upper pillar (Pluto, Neptune, Saturn) passes through the centre of will (Jupiter, Mars, Sun) and finds its outlet in everyday life (Mercury, Venus, Moon ☽).

This view is especially useful when the circular chart shows many scattered aspects and it is hard to know where to begin. On the Tree it is immediately visible if, say, the upper pillar is overloaded with tense aspects while the lower one is barely connected to it — which can indicate a gap between the idea and its embodiment.

You can also compare this picture with the Star of the Magi, which takes the same planetary aspects and shows them as nodes of inner conflict rather than as a vertical of levels.

How to get your own Tree of Sephirot

The Tree diagram is available as an additional block in the natal chart analysis — calculate the chart from your date, time and place of birth and the Tree is built automatically from the same planetary data. You can zoom the diagram, toggle individual aspect types and save it to PDF together with the full analysis.

Frequently asked questions