The Dignities of the Four Quadrants Arranged as Kabbalistic Trees

Metaphysical Chart

The twelvefold circle in the center with the dignities listed in four concentric rings is the metaphysical chart. The circle is also divided into four quadrants, whose lines extend out past the circle.

In each quadrant, the dignities of that quadrant are arranged in a variety of Kabbalistic trees (although sometimes they may also include dignities from a different quadrant).

In the first quadrant, there are five trees. The tree labeled “a,” which has the text “[The One] in being” below it, arranges the ten dignities of the first quadrant (houses 1-3) as follows: rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls. (Note: unless indicated otherwise, all Kabbalistic trees will be described from top to bottom.)

The tree labeled “b,” which has the text “[The One] above being” below it, arranges the ten dignities of the first quadrant as follows: the four dignities of house 1 are at the top, the dignities of house 2 are on the left, and the dignities of house 3 are on the right.

Below it is a tree arranged in almost an identical manner, except the dignities of house 1 form a row, the dignities of house 2 form a row, and the dignities of house 3 form two rows.

The tree labeled “c,” which has the text “[The One] as being” below it, arranges the ten dignities of the first quadrant as follows: rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls. Below it is a tree arranged in an identical manner. The difference between them is that in the first, the diagram indicates that each row is associated with a different quadrant (e.g., the three rulerships are associated with houses 1-3, the three exaltations are associated with houses 4-6, etc.), whereas in the second, each column is associated with a different quadrant (e.g., the first three dignities of Aries are associated with houses 1-3, the three dignities of Taurus are associated with houses 4-6, etc.).

In the second quadrant, there are four trees. They will be described moving from left to right. The first tree, labeled “Being monad,” lists the dignities of the second quadrant as follows: falls, detriments, rulerships, and exaltations, with a line separating the exaltations from the dignities above them.

The ordering of the next two trees is almost the same as the first tree, but the positions of some planets in the tree have been changed.

The rightmost tree is arranged very differently. At the top is Saturn in Aries (fall), and at the bottom is Saturn in Libra (exaltation). In between, the ten dignities of the second quadrant are ordered as follows: rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls.

In the third quadrant, there are two trees. The one labeled “Unity,” which per the text written above it refers to the unity of soul, lists the dignities in the detriment ring designated as “soul,” starting with Jupiter in Gemini, and they are arranged in rows corresponding to the quadrant they belong to. The last planet, below the line, is Venus in Pisces (exaltation in the fourth quadrant).

The second tree is labeled “Monad (Intellect).” Above the line at the bottom of the tree are the dignities of the third quadrant ordered as follows: rulerships, exaltations, detriments, and falls. Below the line, once again, is Venus in Pisces (exaltation in the fourth quadrant).

In the fourth quadrant, the ten dignities of the fourth quadrant are arranged into two trees. The leftmost tree lists the dignities in six rows: rulerships (Being), rulerships (Life), exaltations (Intellect) detriments (Soul), detriments (Nature), and falls (Body).

The rightmost tree lists the dignities of house 12 on the left, the dignities of house 11 in the middle, and the dignities of house 10 on the right.

If monads refer to the quadrant view and unities refer to the ring view, as they do in the third-quadrant trees, then this diagram doesn’t depict the unity views in the second and fourth quadrants.