The following description was prepared by William Gross:
Kabbalistic diagrams resembling Porphyrian trees have been known at least since the sixteenth century as “Ilanot” [Heb. pl. Arborae; sing. "Ilan"]. [First such reference known to me is in the work of Guillaume Postel, who refers to "Ilanoth" as a genre of rabbinic literature.] Ilanot constitute visual representations of kabbalistic cosmologies from the relatively simpler forms of the thirteenth century to the far more complex and ramified systems in Lurianic Kabbalah from the sixteenth century onward. The increasing complexity of cosmic trees between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries directly reflects the exponential ramification of kabbalistic theosophy that took place over those centuries. Given the overwhelmingly visio-spacial conceptions of the divine in its evolutionary “becoming” in these mystical traditions, Ilanot could serve as cosmic maps. This divine cartography aspired to capture the syncronic interrelations between the various facets of the godhead and creation as well as their diachronic, evolving emergence.
What’s an Ilan? Any synoptic diagrammatic presentation of kabbalistic cosmology. The basic graphical forms could range from the arboreal to the boldly anthropomorphic. Lurianic Ilanot, in their lengthy and complex presentations, often feature both, as well as spreadsheet-like tables. The iconic decadal tree is an Ilan, as is the intricately Baroque Hammerschlag Ilan. Diagrams expressing particular concepts within a larger framework, such as the illustrations that frequently accompany certain cosmogonic discussions in the Lurianic corpus, would doubtfully have been called ilanot by anyone. However simple or complex the pictorial-diagrammatic features of an Ilan, extensive textual material is frequently embedded in and around the geometrical forms. The texts may be paraphrastic chapter headings, original compositions, or the study notes of a student. Their connection to the pictorial features alongside which they appear is usually clear, with the text providing a verbal key to the quality or process depicted graphically. That said, in complex Ilanot, simple keying gives way to more complex and even inscrutable connections. Indeed, these manuscripts demand to be treated as “integrated systems of communication” that raise “questions about how verbal and visual patterns of meaning were constructed, combined, and modified.”
An unusual Ilan of rare proportions, very long for such a thin scroll. It is finely written and quite beautifully decorated. It is written on sheep skin in five sections, probably around the middle of the 19th century.
Scroll # 13 23 frames (028.012.016) very beautiful 1875ca? Israel parchment ink written 56X262cm [prt.9] [Perhaps Ilan closest to RH"Vital rendition -like 11, 15 [although significant differences [Shoresh Rachel/Leah - befi A"K (# 15) o biGrono [13] ve'od ve'od]
1. Head of A"K TNT"A and primordial root mind attributes
2. Duplic of 1, then HG"T [Hesed Gevurah Tiferet grace power harmony] of A"K
3. 2 spheres depicting engarmenting of Atika into Arikh
4. Tikkunim of Arikh and how the upper Sefirot of Tetrg. 45 and 52 are divided; then Abba vImma
5. Engarmenting of Arikh to Its Tiferet, from A"K to Abba vImma
6. Same, cont'd to Yesod
7. Same, until Zelem of Zeir
8. Abba vImma into top of Zeir
9. Same, down to Nezah vHod [everlasting endurance, thankfulness reverberation]
10. Same, to Malkhut
11. Zeir, katnut and gadlut, down to Hasadim of Daat [graces of awareness]
12. Cont'd to Gevurot
13. Leah and Rachel
14. Detailed engarmenting of Arikh to Rachel
15. Recapitulating; from Atika to Hesed and Gevurah of Zeir
16. Cont'd to NH"Y [Netzah Hod Yesod]
17. Cont'd to Malkhut
18. Another recapit from Atika to Leah and Zeir
19. Cont'd to Yaakov and Rachel
20. 13 attributes [same as scroll 7 fr. 13]
21. Olam haBeriah w 50 gates of Understanding, 32 paths and Sekhel-names, archangels and vowel-angels
22. Olam haYetzirah, angelic types, differentiating between RM"K and ARI re Hechalot Names; then Olam haAssiah w 10 galgalim, planets, angels and hechalot
23. cont'd