Now, more appropriately for Parsons and Thelema, I shall do my best to explain the Dark Side of the Tree of Life. Think of it as the same as the Dark Side of the Moon, where a crater has been named for Jack Parsons, where everything is reversed like a reflection in a mirror.
The mirror can be front to back as with a coin, but also up and down as when a tree is reflected in a lake. (See the image at the top of this post.) This essay is about the front/back dichotomy. The up/down has to do with the Underworld of Faery.
Most things that live in the dark, or on the dark side, have developed fearful shapes in the minds of the members of the Big Three religions that have been indoctrinated to to seek, exclusively, the Light. In Christianity, I think the idea that God is Logos, equated to the Sun, may have something to do with this. Therefore, the moon, or the dark being opposed, must be anti-God.
Exploring the reverse side of the Tree of Life was forbidden, for it was said to be the abode of demons, shells, and destructive, chaotic forces — the flip side of the acceptable qualities of the bright side of the tree. An example of this would be:
Chesed, ruled by Jupiter and all the Gods of beneficence, mercy, abundance, and expansion can flip over into excess, greed, compulsion, and cancerous growth. Think of the good and bad sides of Sagittarius: jovial, fun- loving, active, philosophical, but wow, can they be dogmatic, bullying, crude, and its my way or the highway!
Its like that for all of the Sephiroth, whether Netzach (Venus), Hod (Mercury) Geburah (Mars) Binah (Saturn), etc.. (See the charts) The Dark Tree houses chaos, disintegration, unbalanced power, or forces out of conscious control — for what is in the dark is unconscious, instinctual, reacting without thought. Furies live on the dark side of tree, and all those beings that we, or society as a whole, reject. Death lives on the dark side, waiting in the shadows.
Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):
Tobias Johansson - The Crucible And The Reasons For The Salem Witch HuntBasil Crouch - The Darkside Of The Moon A Complete Course In Magic And Witchcraft
Hilda Roderick Ellis - Road To Hel A Study Of The Conception Of The Dead
Stephen Flowers - The Secret Of The Gothick God Of Darkness
Johann Georg Faust - The Black Raven Or The Threefold Coercion Of Hell