"When I was a child I had a recurring dream of a tree on whose branches were perched ten birds, each of a different species, each with the ability to talk and offer advice and sage words of wisdom. Considering I was, and continue to be, a self-identified bird nerd, this was not an unsurprising dream. Many years later, during a deep dive into the occult — what else are you going to do on a Friday night when you’re in college — I came across the Tree of Life, a symbol with origins in centuries-old mystical Judaism. Since that time, the Tree has become one of the foundations of magickal practice, utilized by Middle Age mystics, Renaissance occultists, and more recently, in the 20th century by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and their modern-day descendants.
The tree itself is composed of ten spheres, or sefiroth, which are said to emanate from, and represent a different aspect of the Divine, as well as the connected aspects of human consciousness and existence. Each of the ten spheres are connected to each other via 22 paths. The Golden Dawn, as part of their all-encompassing, syncretic approach to the occult, attributed dozens of correspondences to each sphere, from colors, to plants, to the gods of multiple religions, to Arcana and suits of the Tarot, and more. This approach enables a student to meditate on and form an understanding of each sephirah’s characteristics. Through that study, the student explores the nature of divinity and their own connection to it.
In this series of paintings, I make my own connections of a particular bird to each of the ten sephiroth. Through this work I hope to continue my own study into this tradition, coupling my lifelong obsession with birds with my ongoing dive into the occult and esoteric." - Karl Cossio
Featured Prints
