The Serpent's Path: Kundalini Rising Through the Tree

BY NICOLE LAU

If the Lightning Flash represents the descent of spirit into matter—creation flowing from Keter to Malkuth—then the Serpent's Path represents the reverse journey: the ascent of consciousness from matter back to spirit, the awakening of the soul, the return to the divine source.

This is the path of initiation, the path of spiritual evolution, the path of the Kundalini serpent rising from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. It is the Great Work of alchemy, the journey from lead to gold, from sleep to awakening, from separation to union.

The Serpent as Sacred Symbol

The serpent is one of the oldest and most universal symbols of spiritual transformation. It appears in traditions around the world:

• Kundalini (Hindu/Tantric): The coiled serpent power sleeping at the base of the spine, which rises through the chakras to bring enlightenment
• Ouroboros (Alchemy): The serpent eating its own tail, representing the eternal cycle of death and rebirth
• Nehushtan (Hebrew Bible): The bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness, which brought healing to those who looked upon it
• Serpent of Eden (Genesis): The serpent who offered knowledge of good and evil—often reinterpreted in Gnostic and Kabbalistic traditions as the bringer of gnosis, the awakener of consciousness

In Kabbalah, the serpent represents the path of return—the winding, gradual ascent through the twenty-two paths and ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.

The Serpent's Path vs. The Lightning Flash

The Lightning Flash and the Serpent's Path are complementary movements:

• Lightning Flash: Instantaneous descent, spirit → matter, creation, the straight zigzag path through the Sephiroth
• Serpent's Path: Gradual ascent, matter → spirit, evolution, the winding path through the twenty-two connecting paths

The Lightning Flash is the way down. The Serpent's Path is the way back up. The Lightning Flash is involution—spirit descending into form. The Serpent's Path is evolution—form awakening to its spiritual nature.

The Winding Ascent: Path by Path

Unlike the Lightning Flash, which moves directly from Sephirah to Sephirah, the Serpent's Path follows the connecting paths—the twenty-two channels that link the spheres. This makes the journey longer, more complex, more initiatory.

There are different traditional sequences for the Serpent's Path, but one common route begins in Malkuth and winds upward, touching each Sephirah and traveling each path in a specific order. The journey is not linear—it spirals, doubles back, integrates polarities.

This reflects the reality of spiritual development: it is not a straight line. You don't simply move from ignorance to enlightenment in ten easy steps. You spiral upward, revisiting themes at deeper levels, integrating shadow and light, balancing masculine and feminine, learning the same lessons again and again until they are fully embodied.

Kundalini and the Tree of Life

The concept of Kundalini—the serpent power coiled at the base of the spine—has a direct parallel in Kabbalistic practice. The Kundalini rising through the seven chakras corresponds to consciousness ascending the Tree of Life:

• Muladhara (Root) ↔ Malkuth: The sleeping serpent, grounded in matter
• Svadhisthana (Sacral) ↔ Yesod: The serpent begins to stir, awakening desire and imagination
• Manipura (Solar Plexus) ↔ Hod/Netzach: The serpent rises into personal power, will, and creativity
• Anahata (Heart) ↔ Tiphareth: The serpent reaches the heart, the center, the place of transformation
• Vishuddha (Throat) ↔ Geburah/Chesed: The serpent opens the throat, the power of the word, truth-speaking
• Ajna (Third Eye) ↔ Binah/Chokmah: The serpent opens the inner eye, the vision of unity
• Sahasrara (Crown) ↔ Keter: The serpent reaches the crown, union with the divine, enlightenment

The Kundalini awakening is the Serpent's Path in the body—the ascent of consciousness from the root to the crown, from earth to heaven, from the personal to the transpersonal.

The Stages of Ascent

The Serpent's Path can be understood as a series of initiatory stages, each requiring integration and transformation:

Stage 1: Awakening in Malkuth

The journey begins with the recognition that there is more to life than the material world. You wake up from the sleep of ordinary consciousness and begin to seek.

Stage 2: Entering Yesod

You discover the astral realm, the world of dreams and imagination. You begin to work with visualization, meditation, and the subtle energies. The serpent stirs.

Stage 3: Balancing Hod and Netzach

You learn to balance intellect and emotion, thought and feeling, structure and flow. You integrate the masculine and feminine within yourself.

Stage 4: Opening Tiphareth

You reach the heart center, the place of the Higher Self. This is a major initiation—the death of the ego and the birth of the soul. You experience unity, love, and the recognition of your divine nature.

Stage 5: Integrating Geburah and Chesed

You learn to wield spiritual power with wisdom—to be both strong and compassionate, to say both "no" and "yes" with love. You become a spiritual warrior and a spiritual king/queen.

Stage 6: Crossing the Abyss (Daath)

This is the most difficult stage—the crossing of the Abyss, the gap between the personal and the transpersonal, between the lower and upper triads. Here you face the dissolution of all you thought you were. This is the dark night of the soul, the ego death, the void.

Stage 7: Entering the Supernal Triad

Having crossed the Abyss, you enter Binah and Chokmah—the realm of pure archetypal consciousness, the divine masculine and feminine. You are no longer a separate self—you are a vessel for divine forces.

Stage 8: Union in Keter

Finally, you reach Keter, the Crown—union with the divine, the dissolution of all separation, the recognition that you and God are one. This is enlightenment, liberation, the goal of the Great Work.

The Serpent as Healer and Transformer

In the biblical story, Moses raises a bronze serpent on a pole, and all who look upon it are healed from the bites of venomous serpents. This is a profound symbol: the serpent is both the poison and the cure, both the wound and the healing.

The Kundalini serpent is the same. When it rises prematurely or chaotically, it can cause psychological and physical disturbances—the "serpent bite" of spiritual crisis. But when it rises in a balanced, integrated way, it brings healing, transformation, and awakening.

The Serpent's Path is not without danger. This is why traditional teachings emphasize preparation, purification, and guidance from a teacher. The serpent power is immense—it can illuminate or it can burn.

The Serpent and the Feminine

In many traditions, the serpent is associated with the divine feminine—the Goddess, the Shakti, the Shekhinah. The Kundalini is often described as the Goddess sleeping at the base of the spine, waiting to be awakened by her consort, Shiva, at the crown.

In Kabbalah, the Shekhinah (the feminine presence of God) dwells in Malkuth, in exile, separated from her beloved in Tiphareth and beyond. The Serpent's Path is the journey of the Shekhinah returning to union with the divine masculine, the sacred marriage, the hieros gamos.

To walk the Serpent's Path is to honor the feminine principle—the receptive, the intuitive, the embodied, the dark womb of transformation.

Practices for Walking the Serpent's Path

The Serpent's Path is not a metaphor—it is a lived experience, a practice, a discipline. Here are ways to engage with it:

1. Kundalini Yoga and Breathwork

Practices specifically designed to awaken and raise the Kundalini energy safely—asana, pranayama, mantra, meditation.

2. Pathworking the Tree

Systematically journey through each of the twenty-two paths in meditation, using Tarot cards, Hebrew letters, and guided visualization.

3. Shadow Work and Integration

The serpent cannot rise if there are blockages. Work with your shadow, heal your wounds, integrate your disowned parts.

4. Initiation and Study

Seek out teachers, join esoteric schools, undergo formal initiations. The Serpent's Path is traditionally walked with guidance.

5. Service and Embodiment

The goal is not to escape the body or the world, but to bring the light of Keter into Malkuth. Serve, create, love, live fully.

The Serpent's Wisdom

The serpent sheds its skin—a perfect symbol of transformation, of death and rebirth, of letting go of the old to make way for the new. As you walk the Serpent's Path, you will shed many skins: old identities, old beliefs, old ways of being.

Each Sephirah you reach requires a death and a rebirth. Each path you walk is an initiation. The serpent teaches you to trust the process, to surrender to the transformation, to know that what dies is only the false self, and what is born is your true nature.

The Return Journey

The ultimate paradox of the Serpent's Path is this: when you finally reach Keter, when you achieve union with the divine, you realize that you never left. The Kingdom and the Crown are one. Malkuth is Keter seen from below.

The true master is not the one who escapes Malkuth for Keter, but the one who brings Keter into Malkuth—who lives in the world as a fully awakened being, who sees the divine in every leaf, every stone, every face.

The Serpent's Path is the path of return, but the return is not to somewhere else—it is to here, now, this body, this earth, this moment, seen with new eyes, known with a new heart, lived with the full radiance of your divine nature.

The serpent rises. The crown opens. Heaven and earth are one. And you are the bridge, the ladder, the living Tree of Life.