This is the definitive reference for all twenty-two paths on the Kabbalah Tree of Life. Each path is mapped to its Hebrew letter, Tarot Major Arcana card, letter classification, and astrological or elemental attribution. Whether you are studying pathworking, deepening your Tarot practice, or building a personal correspondence system, this page is designed to be bookmarked and returned to often.
The twenty-two paths connect the ten Sephirot on the Tree of Life, forming the experiential bridges between states of consciousness. They are numbered 11 through 32 (the Sephirot occupy numbers 1 through 10). The system of correspondences presented here follows the Golden Dawn tradition, which is the framework used in most modern Tarot decks and the basis for the Kabbalah-Tarot connection as it is taught today.
Free Printable Chart
All 22 paths on one page · each Hebrew letter, its Tarot card, the two Sephirot it joins, and its meaning · free to read here or print and keep beside the Tree. See the complete 22 Paths chart & PDF →
For the letters themselves · meanings, gematria values, and Sefer Yetzirah classes · see the 22 Hebrew Letters reference.
Explore the 22 paths with Evelynne Joffe · guided pathworking, Hebrew letters, Tarot imagery, and Sefer Yetzirah texts across twenty recorded classes.
The Hebrew Letter Classification System
The twenty-two Hebrew letters are divided into three groups according to the Sefer Yetzirah, one of the oldest Kabbalistic texts. This classification determines each letter's elemental or astrological attribution and reveals a deeper structure beneath the apparent sequence of the alphabet. Each path corresponds to one of the twenty-two Major Arcana cards.
3 Mother Letters
Aleph, Mem, Shin · The three elements: Air, Water, Fire. The most fundamental paths, representing the primary forces of creation.
7 Double Letters
Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, Tav · The seven planets. Called "double" because each has two pronunciations, reflecting paired qualities (life/death, peace/war).
12 Simple Letters
Heh through Qoph · The twelve zodiac signs. Each produces a single sound and corresponds to one sign, one month, and one human faculty.
Understanding which type a letter belongs to tells you immediately whether its path carries elemental, planetary, or zodiacal energy. The Mother Letters create the broadest categories of experience. The Double Letters govern the rhythms of inner life. The Simple Letters colour experience with the particular qualities of each zodiacal sign.
Complete Path Correspondence Table
The table below lists all twenty-two paths. Mother Letter rows are highlighted with a gold background. Use the "Connects" column to locate each path on the Tree, and the "Type" column to identify whether it carries elemental, planetary, or zodiacal energy.
Reading the Table
Each row in the table above encodes a complete unit of Kabbalistic information. Here is how to use it in practice.
The Path Number tells you where to look on the Tree of Life diagram. Paths 11, 12 and 14 lie in the Supernal Triangle above the Abyss, and Path 13 crosses the Abyss. Paths 15 through 21 span the Ethical Triad and its connections. Paths 22 through 32 weave through the lower Tree. Our detailed guides to the lower paths, moral triangle paths, and supernal triangle paths explore each group in depth.
The "Connects" column names the two Sephirot the path bridges. The path's nature is shaped by both Sephirot. For example, Path 26 (the Devil) connects Tiferet (Beauty, the heart) to Hod (Splendour, the intellect), creating a path about the tension between what the heart knows and what the mind constructs.
The Hebrew Letter is the path itself in Kabbalistic teaching. The letter's name, shape, and numerical value are all doors into the path's meaning. Aleph (Ox) on Path 11 carries the silent breath of creation. Shin (Tooth) on Path 31 carries the consuming flame of spiritual awakening. The letter is not a label. It is the experience.
The Type column reveals the letter's classification. Mother Letters carry elemental force (Air, Water, Fire). Double Letters carry planetary influence and express paired opposites. Simple Letters carry zodiacal energy and describe specific human faculties. When you know the type, you immediately know the quality of energy flowing through that path.
The Tarot Card gives you the visual and symbolic language of the path. In pathworking meditation, the card's imagery becomes the landscape you enter. In divination, the card's position on the Tree adds a layer of meaning that transcends its conventional interpretation.
The Three Mother Letters
The Mother Letters are the most fundamental classification. They represent the three elements from which all else is derived, and they occupy three structurally significant positions on the Tree.
Aleph (Air) · Path 11 · The Fool connects Kether to Chokmah, entirely above the Abyss. It is the breath before the first word, the element that mediates between fire and water. The Fool carries nothing because Aleph is the silent letter, the aspiration that precedes all sound.
Mem (Water) · Path 23 · The Hanged Man connects Geburah to Hod along the Pillar of Severity. It is surrender, the willingness to be suspended, to see the world from an inverted perspective. Water flows downward and fills every space. The Hanged Man does not resist. He allows.
Shin (Fire) · Path 31 · Judgement connects Hod to Malkuth, reaching from the intellectual sphere down to physical reality. The consuming fire of spiritual awakening, the trumpet call that raises the dead. Shin has three prongs, representing the three columns of the Tree united in a single flame.
Together, the three Mother Letters establish the elemental framework within which all other paths operate. If you study nothing else on this page, understanding these three paths will anchor your practice.
The Seven Double Letters
The Double Letters are called "double" because each can be pronounced in two ways (hard and soft), reflecting the paired qualities they govern: life and death, peace and war, wisdom and folly, wealth and poverty, grace and ugliness, fertility and desolation, dominance and subjugation. Each is attributed to one of the seven classical planets.
Beth (Mercury) · The Magician · Gimel (Moon) · The High Priestess · Daleth (Venus) · The Empress · Kaph (Jupiter) · Wheel of Fortune · Peh (Mars) · The Tower · Resh (Sun) · The Sun · Tav (Saturn) · The World
The planetary paths create the rhythmic pulse of the Tree. Where the Mother Letters establish the elemental ground, the Double Letters set the cycles in motion: the waxing and waning of fortune (Kaph/Jupiter), the creative destruction that precedes renewal (Peh/Mars), the steady discipline that brings completion (Tav/Saturn). These paths carry the dynamic tension of opposites that drives all manifestation. The planetary attributions above are the Golden Dawn's; Sefer Yetzirah itself, in Isidor Kalisch's 1877 translation, hands the doubles an earlier and quite different order · Beth to the Moon, Gimel to Mars, Daleth to the Sun · which we set beside the Golden Dawn order in the three mothers, seven doubles and twelve simples of Sefer Yetzirah.
The Twelve Simple Letters
The Twelve Simple Letters each produce a single sound and correspond to one sign of the zodiac, one month of the year, and one human faculty or sense. They colour the remaining paths with the specific qualities of zodiacal energy.
Heh (Aries) · The Emperor · Vav (Taurus) · The Hierophant · Zayin (Gemini) · The Lovers · Cheth (Cancer) · The Chariot · Teth (Leo) · Strength · Yod (Virgo) · The Hermit · Lamed (Libra) · Justice · Nun (Scorpio) · Death · Samekh (Sagittarius) · Temperance · Ayin (Capricorn) · The Devil · Tzaddi (Aquarius) · The Star · Qoph (Pisces) · The Moon
The zodiacal paths distribute the twelve fundamental modes of experience across the Tree. They are the most numerous and the most varied, accounting for twelve of the twenty-two paths. For students who also work with astrology, these correspondences create a powerful bridge between natal chart interpretation and Kabbalistic pathworking.
How to Begin Pathworking
Pathworking is the meditative practice of inwardly travelling a path on the Tree of Life. You visualise the starting Sephirah, enter the path through its Tarot card imagery, and journey toward the destination Sephirah. The practice is part guided meditation, part active imagination, and part prayer. Our step-by-step guide to pathworking walks through the full method.
Begin at the bottom of the Tree. Path 32 (the World, connecting Yesod to Malkuth) is the traditional starting point. It is the most grounded path, the gentlest transition, and it teaches you the basic mechanics of the practice before the terrain becomes more demanding.
Before each pathworking session, study the correspondences. Know the Hebrew letter, its meaning and shape. Know the Tarot card and its imagery. Know the Sephirot the path connects and what they represent. This preparation is not merely academic. It furnishes the inner landscape with the symbols your imagination will use during the journey.
Work slowly. The traditional advice is to spend at least a week with each path before moving to the next. Some paths will take much longer. There is no timeline. The paths reveal themselves according to your readiness, not your ambition.
To go further with the paths: the planetary and zodiac correspondences give the astrological attribution of every path, Liber 777 supplies the King and Queen colour scales used in pathworking, and the Lightning Flash and Serpent of Wisdom trace the ascent through the paths from Malkuth to Kether.
Evelynne Joffe's Living the Tree of Life: The Paths course provides guided pathworking for all twenty-two paths, drawing on the Sefer Yetzirah texts, Jungian psychology, and decades of practical experience. It is the most thorough resource we know for this practice.
Twenty recorded classes exploring every path on the Tree. Hebrew letters, Tarot imagery, Sefer Yetzirah texts, and practical pathworking guidance in one comprehensive course.
Explore the Paths CourseRecommended Courses
Twenty classes covering all twenty-two paths. Hebrew letters, Tarot correspondences, Sefer Yetzirah texts, and practical pathworking guidance for each path.
A single master class presenting the Major Arcana as the soul's ascent from the World to the Fool. The definitive introduction to reading Tarot through a Kabbalistic lens.
Eight classes exploring all ten Sephirot. Essential foundation for understanding the paths, since every path is defined by the two Sephirot it connects.
Three traditions woven together by the former head of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. A unique perspective on how the Tree of Life intersects with Celtic wisdom.
A focused exploration of Path 26 (the Devil, Hod to Tiferet) through Kabbalistic, Jungian, and mythological lenses. Why the tradition says the devil does not exist, and what the card actually represents.
Printable Reference
For a downloadable version of the path correspondences, Sephirot overview, and study notes, visit our Kabbalah Tree of Life PDF guide. It is designed to be printed and kept beside your study materials.
Twenty-two letters. Twenty-two paths. Twenty-two bridges between one state of being and the next. The Tree of Life is a map, and these correspondences are its legend. Study them not to memorise but to recognise. When you meet the Fool in a reading or in a dream, you will know where you are standing on the Tree.
For more from this tradition, our Kabbalah course collection covers foundations through advanced pathwork programs.
Everything in this guide · and the ten Sephirot besides. Evelynne Joffe walks every path and every Sephirah on the Tree of Life across twenty-nine recorded classes, with sixty-seven downloadable PDFs (transcripts, study guides, workbooks, reference cards, glossaries, and self-assessment quizzes), three private course-group forums, three certificates of completion, and lifetime access. This is the complete curriculum that these guides are drawn from.
Explore The Complete Tree of Life →Sources & Tradition
The twenty-two paths and their division into three Mother, seven Double, and twelve Simple letters descend from the Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), the earliest text of the Kabbalistic tradition. The Tarot and astrological correspondences given here follow the system of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as set out in its foundational papers and in Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah (1935). The path meanings are presented as taught at Global Spiritual Studies in Evelynne Joffe's Living the Tree of Life courses. For more on the primary texts, see our guide to the sacred texts of Kabbalah.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are the paths numbered 11 through 32 instead of 1 through 22?
The ten Sephirot occupy numbers 1 through 10 on the Tree of Life. The paths are numbered sequentially after them, beginning with Path 11. This numbering convention was established by the Golden Dawn and has become standard in the Western Qabalah tradition. It reflects the principle that the Sephirot (states of being) come first, and the paths (transitions between states) come second.
The 22 Paths in 22 Days
The Tree of Life holds 22 paths · each one a doorway between two aspects of the soul. This free email journey walks you through one path each morning · a quiet few minutes to sit with an ancient map of who you’re becoming.
What Arrives Each Day
- One path each day
- A Hebrew letter, a tarot card, a doorway between two spheres
- A mirror: how this journey shows up in your own life
- Free, gentle, and takes just a few minutes to read
We respect your privacy.
What is the difference between Mother, Double, and Simple letters?
The three Mother Letters (Aleph, Mem, Shin) correspond to the three elements (Air, Water, Fire) and represent the most fundamental creative forces. The seven Double Letters each have two pronunciations and correspond to the seven classical planets, expressing paired qualities like life/death and peace/war. The twelve Simple Letters each have one sound and correspond to the twelve zodiac signs. This classification system comes from the Sefer Yetzirah and determines the type of energy each path carries.
Do all Tarot traditions use the same path correspondences?
No. The correspondences presented here follow the Golden Dawn system, which is used in the Rider-Waite-Smith, Thoth, and most modern decks. However, alternative systems exist. Aleister Crowley swapped the attributions of the Emperor and the Star (Paths 15 and 28). Some French traditions follow a different letter-to-card mapping entirely. When studying, it is important to know which system your source material uses. The courses at Global Spiritual Studies follow the Golden Dawn attributions.
What is pathworking in Kabbalah?
Pathworking is a meditative practice in which you visualise yourself travelling along one of the twenty-two paths between two Sephirot on the Tree of Life. During the journey, you engage with the Hebrew letter, tarot image, and elemental or astrological energy associated with that path. The practice is used for self-discovery, spiritual development, and integrating the qualities that each path represents. It originated in the Golden Dawn tradition and remains one of the most widely taught Kabbalistic meditation techniques.
How are the Kabbalah paths connected to astrology?
Seven paths correspond to the seven classical planets (through the Double Letters), and twelve paths correspond to the twelve zodiac signs (through the Simple Letters). The remaining three paths carry elemental attributions (Air, Water, Fire) through the Mother Letters. This means that when you work with a particular path, you are also engaging with its planetary or zodiacal energy. For example, Path 19 (Teth, Strength) carries the energy of Leo, while Path 21 (Kaph, Wheel of Fortune) carries Jupiter.
What is the best order to study the Kabbalah paths?
Most teachers recommend starting with the lowest paths on the Tree and working upward. Begin with Path 32 (Tav, The World), which connects Malkuth to Yesod and represents the first step from material awareness into subtle perception. Then move to Paths 31 and 30, continuing upward as your understanding deepens. This approach ensures you build a stable foundation before engaging with the more abstract energies of the upper paths. Some traditions alternatively recommend starting with the three Mother Letters as foundational archetypes.
Can you practise Kabbalah pathworking without a Jewish background?
Yes. The pathworking tradition taught at Global Spiritual Studies comes from the Western Qabalah, a contemplative and esoteric system that emerged from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the nineteenth century. While it draws on Hebrew letters and the Tree of Life structure from Jewish Kabbalah, Western Qabalah is a distinct tradition that has been practised by people of diverse backgrounds for over a century. It is a universal system of self-knowledge rather than a religious practice.
