The Tree of Life considered as a Memory Theatre.

The "memory theatre" was an aspect of a science of the imagination which was practiced from Classical times up to the Renaissance. It was used for the development of memory, and also as a "mind-map" - a connected symbolic space, often represented as a building, which spanned the imaginative or conceptual faculty.

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, along with its associated correspondences, is an excellent example of this latter idea.

I like to think of the Tree correspondences as "memory theatre", as there is great utility in this idea, and it is a beautiful and accessible entry-point for a modern person to enter into an archiac aspect of right-brain science: a world of images, associations, symbols, inarticulate connections, and qualitative thinking.

The definitive text is The Art of Memory by Francis Yates.


http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/theatre/theatre.htm