FILM ANALYSIS: Frozen I & II ("Initiations in Ice ~ Part 1")

In this essay I explain how the story world and characters of Disney's Frozen I & II serve to allegorize an esoteric path to enlightenment, illustrated by the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

INTRODUCTION

Disney’s award-winning adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen sits at the pinnacle of the animation studio’s century of storytelling.  Not only because of the exceptional artistry, nor because the characters are relatable to all ages… but because the story is in fact a profound allegory illustrating fundamental spiritual lessons that today’s awakening souls desperately need to hear. 

Before I begin, allow me to provide a few important disclaimers:  First, I do not claim the creators of Frozen were necessarily aware of the connections made in this essay.  I argue that the story follows a timeless archetypal structure that reflects the spiritual advancement of the human soul.  The very nature of archetypes is that they reside as powerful forces within the subconscious of every individual and within the collective consciousness, and they naturally reveal themselves in diverse ways throughout human history, but most pronouncedly in the art of storytelling. 

In line with this point, I occasionally speak of Frozen as entity with its own agency and will, because as any creator knows, there is a point when a strong story will come to life and begin to write itself.  Then, the writer's task is to listen faithfully and allow the story to acquire its most natural shape.  This is where archetypal forces often take control, and communicate their immortal wisdom through artistic inspiration.  For the purpose of this essay, I will distinguish between the fictional world of Frozen, the film Frozen (2013), the sequel Frozen II (2019), and the resulting diptych—which I shall refer to as Frozen I & II.  This extraordinary double-feature is one of Disney’s most esoterically layered animated masterpieces. 

The distinct parallels between Frozen I & II and the Kabbalistic symbol called the Tree of Life, are a clear manifestation of archetypal wisdom working through some of the most skilled storytellers of our time, in order to reflect the current interests and needs of the collective mind. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a glyph whose meaning is infinitely complex.  My intellectual understanding of the Tree of Life has been heavily informed by Dr. Theresa Bullard, and supported by various interpretive texts including The Rabbi’s Tarot by Daphna Moore.  My intuitive understanding of the Tree of Life and relevant spiritual concepts covered in this essay arise from a lifelong pursuit of gnosis, as an old soul travelling the Path of the Sage.  I hope to offer the reader both intellectual stimulation, as well as intuitive resonance.  To paraphrase Alan Watts, I am not trying to tell you what is definitively true and what is untrue, but to offer you a unique perspective, the way a musician presents a piece of music… as a playful composition of ideas, not only serving to entertain you, but offered for you to entertain.  To hold up to the light of your own knowing, and curiously delight in the colorful refractions that result. 

STORIES IN TODAY’S SPIRITUAL CONTEXT

If you’ve noticed the growing trendiness of contemporary tarot decks, crystal-embedded candles, literature on astrology, goddess worship, neodruidry, herbal medicine, energy work, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, quantum consciousness, manifestation, and self-mastery…  Then you’re catching on to the market demands of a mystic generation, on a soul mission to transcend and transform the material world, to intimately connect with their higher selves, to bring spiritual accountability to the Exponential Age, to restore balance to our species’ relationship with Nature, and to lead humanity's revolution of self-liberation through conscious unity.  As more individuals ascend into higher dimensions of consciousness (including the archetypal plane), specific spiritual guides or teachers present themselves to initiate the next lesson, always materializing in their most effective form.  As we shall see, Frozen’s main characters Elsa and Anna are such archetypal teachers, creatively birthed at this moment in time to guide the present generation of spiritual seekers through the murky Age of Information. 

Esotericism continues to be gradually destigmatized in the United States.  Spreading interest in divinatory, energetic, creative, intuitive and meditative practices reveals a growing desire to reconnect with Spirit on a deeply personal level, in order to heal the many layers of trauma that result in self-destructive behavior.  With misinformation so readily available in the 2020's, it is more important than ever to provide young souls with proper guideposts on their spiritual quest for Truth.  Historically, storytelling has always been the most effective method of transmitting this type of precious wisdom.  Sadly, due to centuries of widespread colonial displacement, cultural genocide, and ecological destruction, many modern-day mystics cannot rely on oral traditions passed down from their elders and homeland-caretakers.

This is why “New Age” spirituality has appealed to awakening Americans since the 1960’s, as a way to ground the exponential expansion of consciousness, by pulling frames of reference from various ancient traditions and indigenous teachings.  In this inclusive amalgam of borrowed cultural wisdom-teachings, the “correspondences” that arise from overlapping separate religious systems begin to reveal underlying constants or “universal” concepts.  Synthesizing all spiritual teachings into the purely essential “Divine Wisdom,” based on the universal Law of Correspondence, forms the basis for Theosophy, a movement which began in 1875 and continues to influence alternative education (Rudolf Steiner’s Waldorf schools) and contemporary mystic discourse.  The holistic health movement in Western countries has further emphasized the importance of studying and synthesizing traditional wisdom from disparate cultures, in order to most effectively heal the mind, body, species, and planet.  Holistic health focuses on finding the root of an ailment or imbalance, just as Theosophy focuses on the universal roots of religious worship.  Mentalism (the Hermetic principle that All is Mind, that thoughts create reality) is also a fundamental component of modern-day mysticism, as the key to all manifestation and self-mastery schemes.  Mentalism conveniently gives one’s mind permission to entertain all ideas, in the pursuit of authoring one’s own life story.  

All these intersecting and overlapping ideas can make it extremely difficult for a spiritual seeker to find their way without proper guidance.  It takes a great deal of patience, discernment, and studious effort to understand the complex interweaving threads of diverse spiritual lineages, and not everyone is willing or ready to simply download undistorted Truth from higher planes through divine inspiration.  That is why stories which illustrate abstract spiritual concepts are in such high demand—they cut through barriers of cultural context to teach universally true lessons.  I believe this is the primary reason why Disney’s Frozen and Frozen II became the highest grossing animated features of all time. 

While I can’t speak to the religious identifications of the team members who crafted the story, I believe Frozen is a clear example that esoteric teachings for spiritual self-liberation are infiltrating the American family with increasing clarity and finesse.  As one of many foreboding Christian reviews warns, “If a family doesn’t teach its children what to believe, films like Frozen II will be happy to teach their kids for them”.  Call it the Aquarian Age, Post-New-Age Paganism, a subversive facet of spiritual consumerism, or what you will… Based on the income and awards generated by both films, it is safe to say that the American public is hungry for precisely this kind of wisdom-transmission, even if only subconsciously.  Disney is well aware that the thousands of toddlers singing Frozen songs today, will most certainly be molded by the film’s allegorical messaging…  And as a result, those youngsters will be subconsciously equipped with the most powerful tools for changing the world from a position of spiritual integrity and inner coherence. 

DISNEY’S MAGIC(K) REVIVAL

Written by Jennifer Lee (the first woman to direct a Disney feature film) and co-directed with Chris Buck, Frozen (2013) was the highest grossing film of Disney’s ninety-year history.  That is, until it was surpassed by its sequel Frozen II (2019) with a box office of $1.45 billion.  Such a wildly successful franchise can only be backed by powerful storytelling that speaks to millions of people on multiple levels.  But what makes Frozen I & II so much more successful than other Disney movies of this time?

Disney’s “Revival Era” (2010-Present) is characterized by a realignment with one of the company’s original thematic cornerstones: magic, and revising it to encompass the esoteric definition, distinguished as magick.  Magic as portrayed in Disney’s early fairytale adaptations (Snow White, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins) is synonymous with fantasy, hope, and escapism—with happy endings for well-behaved children who wish upon a star.  Magick, on the other hand, refers to the skillful manipulation of reality, by working with (rather than against) Nature’s laws, and stepping into the full extent of one’s personal power to make the world a better place for all. 

Here are some examples of the latter theme shining through Disney’s Revival Era animated features.  In Princess and the Frog (2009), a “dark” voodoo priest preys on the city folk’s base desires, while a benevolent voodoo witch in a tree reminds us that wishful thinking is not the same as working for your dreams, and that hard work is empty without love.  Tangled (2010) builds its story-world around the healing power of the sun.  Moana (2016) interweaves indigenous Polynesian mythology with the ocean’s quest to heal Mother Earth from a poison of heartlessness.  Soul (2020)—an overly-ambitious cartoon that attempts to convey the liminal space souls inhabit before incarnating, without daring to discuss what happens after death—explores the philosophical “spark” that bonds body and soul, as well as the trance-like states that either weaken or reinforce this bond.  Onward (2020) teaches that real magick takes diligent work to master, and that in a world of quick fixes, one must consciously choose to take the scenic route, in order to awaken their inner magician. 

Compared to the themes explored in these films, the magick of Frozen I & II reaches yet another level of complexity, essentially providing a methodically detailed alchemical system for spiritual ascension and self-realization, based on universal laws of Nature and ancient esoteric teachings.  Specifically, Frozen I & II explores the magickal theme of polarity, and its multidimensional expression as the four elements.  At first glance, one might think that Disney’s subsequent feature film Elemental (2023) elaborates on this mystical concept even further.  On the contrary, while it also centers on the four natural elements (air, fire, water, earth), the Elemental story-world disregards the fifth element (spirit), as well as the fact that every human being is a unique and dynamic combination of all five elements, in body and psyche.  In fact, I would argue that Elemental verges on the kind of personality-typing that amateur astrologers fall into.  (For instance, when someone identifies as a “water sign” or “fire sign” based on the solar placement in their birth chart, essentially ignoring all the other planetary placements that make up their multidimensional blueprint.)  This is a dangerous practice because over-identification with one element creates internal imbalance.  Frozen is much more sophisticated in its metaphorical world-building. 

To briefly compare Frozen to an animation outside of Disney’s empire, the spiritual system of four elements is similarly prevalent in the story-world of Nickelodeon’s critically acclaimed series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) and its sequel The Legend of Korra (2012-2014).  This fantasy world, inspired by various East Asian cultures, is comprised of four nations (each corresponding with a natural element), whose warrior class is capable of manipulating their respective element—except for one reincarnated individual who is destined to master all four elements, in order to link the Spirit World with the physical world.  In this way, the Avatar and Frozen franchises cover very similar wisdom teachings (through different cultural lenses), with one crucial difference: the sequential order of initiations.  Frozen I lays the groundwork of understanding the Hermetic principle of polarity, before delving into the complexity of integrating the four elements in Frozen II.  In the Avatar franchise, the principle of polarity (yin and yang; dark and light), though beautifully animated as abstract primordial spirits, is not fully explored until the sequel’s finale.  As we explore the story structure of Frozen I & II, it will become quite apparent why the particular sequence of sacred initiations is so important. 

When one looks deeper into the sacred wisdom that Frozen I & II conveys, no other mainstream movie comes close to its thoroughness and subtle genius.  The story provides young souls with an comprehensive understanding of alchemical magick and a step-by-step guide for spiritual initiation toward supreme enlightenment.  On that note, let us delve into the detailed analysis of Frozen’s allegorical message.

THESIS

Frozen is written for modern-day mystics, witches, healers, and creators in a post-colonial world, re-learning the essential laws of spiritual alchemy and natural balance.  Through archetypal characters and an allegorical fantasy world, this two-part story demonstrates how to work with the laws of Nature, to look within for the power to positively impact one’s surroundings, to heal the unacknowledged shadow, and to find one’s place in the world as a sovereign multidimensional being.  As a guide for blossoming witches, the story of Frozen follows an ancient roadmap for spiritual ascension, wherein one may be free to pursue their truly infinite power, while remaining firmly grounded in reality.  This story goes beyond the classical Hero’s Journey, of descending into the Underworld of his shadow and ascending into new power;  Frozen follows the Mystic’s Journey, of ascending into the Infinite to know oneself and returning to express this divine understanding in the physical realm.  This is the journey of becoming the Bridge between Heaven and Earth. 

SEQUENCE ~ FROZEN I & II

These two films, whether or not they were originally conceived as such, represent two distinct stages of spiritual initiation.  The spiritual concepts of the second film require greater maturity, as well as an integrated understanding of the first film’s lessons.  In writing Frozen II, screenwriter and co-director Jennifer Lee says, “We wanted the characters to mature with our viewers” (Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II, Episode 1).  With five years between the films’ release dates, this was a wise decision, not just from a marketing angle, but also because it allowed the audience to fully absorb the lessons of the first film before embarking on the next level of initiatory teachings. 

Together, the films form a complete allegory for spiritual maturation, with the princess-sisters Anna and Elsa representing dual aspects of the Divine within each of us.  Through this lens, we can see their contrasting functions as blossoming queens of their respective realms, and their pursuit of a harmonious relationship with each other, that extends to the world around them.  In this sense, the story of Frozen I & II is about finding inner harmony, by reconciling opposites within oneself. 

SETTING ~ The MAGICK of FROZEN

The tale of Frozen is set in a fantasy kingdom at the foot of the Norwegian fjords, a diverse trading port, with a Scandinavian-inspired design and an understated Christian-colonial presence.  To the north of the kingdom, towering over the fjord, looms the icy North Mountain, where Elsa escapes to build her “fortress of solitude.”  Beyond the snowy peak, stretches a vast enchanted forest, inhabited by the indigenous Northuldra people and enshrouded in an impenetrable fog by the Nature Spirits.  To the far North lies the perilous Dark Sea and the distant glacier Ahtohallan.

The “magick” of this fantasy world is inspired by the animism and shamanism of the Sámi people, native to Scandinavia.  There also seems to be some allusion to Old Norse pagan influence in the use of runes, as well as the strong undercurrent of alchemical concepts, which have traversed many cultures since ancient times through a lineage of mystery schools.  These concepts include the principle of polarity, the human body as the “bridge” between spirit and matter, as well as the harmonization of the four elements (or alchemical states) of Nature.  In esotericism, the four elements (fire, water, air, earth) are often systemically aligned to correspond with the four directions (north, east, south, west) to create a stable orientation (with the self-conscious at the center).  Out of this central cross grows many fractals of geometric roadmaps for navigating the inner and outer cosmos (including the Tree of Life).  Such sacred geometries have been utilized since ancient times as a symbolic map for accessing higher states of consciousness. 

As a lifelong student of visual storytelling and sacred geometry, I believe every story has an underlying geometric “sigil” that is the ultimate distillation of the idea.  This implicit geometry often shines through in the story structure, character relationships, character design, world design, musical score, and overall art direction.  I will demonstrate that the multifaceted symbol of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is the implicit geometry underlying the world design and narrative structure of Frozen I & II. 

If Frozen’s magick is meant to be rooted in Sámi spirituality and Scandinavian culture, why does the story seem painted with the colors of Kabbalah and European esoteric symbolism for spiritual alchemy?  Personally, I am not familiar enough with the Sámi people’s spiritual teachings to say how many of the concepts illustrated by the Tree of Life are shared by their cultural traditions.  Disney did make an effort to collaborate directly with the Sámi people in developing the Northuldran magick of Frozen II ; however, they also visibly took artistic liberty in designing their own fantasy runes to represent each of the four elements.  Håkan Håkansson writes about the potential connection between Kabbalistic alchemy and Scandinavian culture: 

 “Swedish polymath Johannes Bureus (1568-1652). . . was an avid reader of alchemical literature, as well as a practicing alchemist.  Influenced by the Neoplatonic revival of the Renaissance, he viewed alchemy as part of a prisca theologia stemming from the ancient Goths, arguing that the Scandinavian runes constituted a ‘Gothic Cabala,’ in which the secrets of all sciences—including alchemy—had been hidden for posterity.” (Alchemy of the Ancient Goths: Johannes Bureus’ Search for the Lost Wisdom of Scandinavia, Lund University Library)

Ultimately, whatever inspiration was drawn from Sámi and Scandinavian cultures, Arendelle remains a fantasy kingdom in a story designed primarily for a North American audience, so a certain degree of Western neopaganism can be expected to taint this narrative exploration of timeless pagan themes. 

Throughout this exposé, I will refer extensively to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, as the Frozen sisters follow this ancient map for spiritual ascension (see diagram below).  This symbol is related to but distinguished from the toroidal Tree of Life, a universal symbol with many cultural variations, usually divided into the roots (Underworld), trunk (Middle World), and branches (Heaven).  Both symbols are used to depict the nature or structure of the cosmos, the intersecting planes of reality, and dimensional aspects of human consciousness.  Compared with the worldview of the toroidal Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a complex diagram that demands extensive study.  Dr. Theresa Bullard, Ph. D. offers an in-depth interpretation of this symbol in the Gaia series Mystery Teachings, through the lens of quantum metaphysics, esoteric traditions, and modern-day spiritual synthesis.  

As I shall now explain in greater detail, Frozen I establishes the two pillars on either side of the Tree of Life, representing the Hermetic Law of Polarity, the dancing duality of yin and yang that is foundational to inner balance—symbolized by the (sometimes invisible) “middle pillar.”  Then, Frozen II introduces a multidimensional elaboration of this concept, through the four alchemical elements, which literally expands the two-dimensional Tree of Life into a three-dimensional helical ladder, which can be used to reach higher states of consciousness… climbing up toward the One Mind, the Source of All Creation, while remaining rooted in physical reality (the human body), where you can actually put what you learn into action. 

Dual Pillars of Divinity

THE SISTERS ~ ELSA AND ANNA

Sisterhood is a mirror.  The writers’ choice to make Elsa and Anna sisters reflects a breaking down of the centuries-old patriarchal premise that the “evil” nature of a powerful witch threatens the “goodness” of a virginal princess, by revealing these two female stereotypes to be interrelated on a deep archetypal level. 

As the Frozen writers first began working with Hans Christian Anderson’s fable The Snow Queen, according to Lee, “Elsa was going to be the complete antagonist.  They kept calling her the ‘villain.’  But there came a point where we said, ‘We can’t use that word anymore. . . Elsa’s not a villain, she just makes some bad choices because she’s in a very difficult situation.” (The Art of Frozen, Jennifer Lee).  This act of humanizing of the traditional “villain” as a simply misunderstood antihero—a common motif in Disney’s Revival Age (Maleficent, Cruella, Disenchanted)—reflects the Aquarian-Age attitude of empathy, inclusivity, unity-consciousness and opening oneself to see all perspectives at once. 

However, Frozen goes a step further than merely humanizing this antagonist’s motives.  In the early conception of Frozen, Elsa and Anna were not even going to be sisters.  Making the Snow Queen and Princess Anna sisters reveals an even deeper bond between them as archetypal energies.  Elsa and Anna have much more than humanity in common.  In an allegorical sense, they represent two sides of the same coin, opposite poles on a spectrum… and more precisely, dual emanations of the Divine Feminine aspect of Creation. 

THE TWO PILLARS ~ WISDOM AND LOVE

When I refer to the Divine Feminine, I refer specifically to the Hermetic understanding of gender as abstract poles on the universal spectrum of vibration, with the universe being generated (“engendered”) by an infinite dance of vibrations in harmonic relationship.  The Divine Feminine aspect of the universe manifests as two primordial Powers of Creation: Wisdom and Love.  The Divine Masculine manifests as the creative powers of Will and Consciousness.  All these aspects are emanations of the Divine One, Pure Spirit, God, or the All.  Elsa and Anna, sister-princesses of Arendelle, respectively embody the feminine emanations: Wisdom and Love.

The best way to visualize these two universal principles is as two pillars, holding up a holographic veil which we experience as reality.  The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is illustrated as a geometric structure supported by two pillars named Boaz and Jachin, often translated to “Mercy” and “Severity.”  Other times, the two pillars are distinguished as the principles of Form and Force.  These dual pillars represent the Law of Polarity that makes all of creation possible: the yin and yang in dancing opposition, allowing for all manner of in-between’s to arise.  This is the underlying concept illustrated by Frozen I, through the allegorical characters of Elsa and Anna, in order to teach spiritual balance, or “the Way of the Middle Pillar.”

THE DIVINE FEMININE

Elsa—introvert with platinum-blonde hair, ice-crystallizing powers, and a cold demeanour—represents the pillar of Severity, the principle of Form.  She embodies the creative power of Wisdom.  Anna—extravert with strawberry-blonde hair, warm optimism, and open heart—represents the pillar of Mercy, the principle of Force, and her creative power is Love. 

Let me elaborate on these creative powers of Wisdom and Love.  Hermetically speaking, Love is the more “masculine" (solar, positive) force, and Wisdom is the more “feminine” (lunar, negative) energy.  In the Theosophic discourse around the Divine Feminine, Wisdom is known as Sophianic consciousness, while Love is understood as Christ (“anointed”) consciousness.  Wisdom (personified by the Goddess “Sophia”) is the great womb-tomb of Creation, the Dark (veiled) Mother, the Central (etheric) Sun, the pure potentiality of cold empty space, the crystalline structure of possibility that courses through the quantum sea of Destiny.  Love (the Christ frequency) is embodied by the Mother Earth goddess—the warm heart, the living home, the cosmic egg, the protective and nurturing energy of vitality, gravity, and magnetism.

In the Gnostic cosmogony, Sophia (a primordial emanation from the Source or singularity) “falls” from her infinite goddess state into the dense physical realm as Gaia (Mother Earth), whose essence is Love. This means that Love can be considered the physical expression of Wisdom.  The characters of Elsa and Anna represent these intertwined emanations of the Divine Feminine. 

THE DIVINE MASCULINE

With two Divine Feminine protagonists, you might ask, where is the Divine Masculine counterpart represented?  Well, aside from Disney’s social obligation to compensate for decades of diminishing the importance of the feminine perspective… Let us consider this: The majority of ancient religions and mystery schools revere the feminine as primordial to all Creation (in the greater cosmos and in each of our psyches—“as above, so below”).  The Divine Feminine is the dark, watery womb that births the Divine Masculine spark of energy and self-awareness.  The Divine Masculine has also been called “the Witness.”  In the context of Frozen, I would argue that the Divine Masculine is represented by the film’s viewer who, like Anna’s noble love-interest Kristoff, must serve both these queens (these personifications of Nature’s unbreakable laws) with true reverence and devotion.  Unlike the antagonist Prince Hans, who instead attempts to play them against each other, illustrating the futility of working against Nature, rather than with it. 

ELSA ~ Thought Crystallizes

The Great Void, where all is peaceful and all is possible…  this is the birthplace of Sophia, Wisdom herself, whose crystalline order is undisturbed in the perfect darkness of  potential, waiting to be activated by Will.  This is the realm Elsa represents, the dimension from which she draws her unlimited power.  You can see this in the way Elsa craves solitude.  She is a primordial creator… she can telekinetically pull water molecules from the atmosphere or the sea into orderly crystalline form.  At times, this crystallization occurs against her own will in moments of emotional eruption, as if the severity of the void creeps at the edges of her conscious agency, resulting in a paralyzing fear of losing control… the fear to act, to create or destroy, for fear of being consumed by the infinite abyss her own Power.  Creative expression, bringing a sea of potential into beautiful form, is her natural tendency and birthright.  But for that, she needs someone to create for… She needs Love. 

ANNA ~ Love Thaws

Her little sister Anna represents the divine emanation of Love.  Passionate, generous, unconditional Love, which can only arise from the dynamic magnetism between different things and separate beings, generating energy that has the Power to dissolve boundaries, to melt down existing structures (snow—systems, beliefs) and remold them with effortless fluidity.  In other words, Anna represents the spirit of Mother Earth: of interconnection, inclusivity, unconditional love, fertility, abundance through reciprocity, constant evolution, dynamic harmony, and gratitude… in a word, Love.

You can see this in the way Anna desperately craves relationship with a suitor and with her sister.  Her strong love and radiant openness attracts everyone (including those with ill intentions).  With the Power of Love, she overcomes obstacles with a smile, and effortlessly alchemizes fear and tragedy into deeper connection.  Even after the evil Prince Hans attempts to murder her and her queen sister, Anna fiercely face-punches and banishes him, but she does not execute the criminal.  Instead, she exhibits the Gaian approach of teaching boundaries through firm consequences, while still respecting the existence of all beings and doing no harm.  Anna’s nature is fundamentally merciful.  That is why she symbolizes the Kabbalistic pillar of Mercy. 

ALCHEMICAL ARCHETYPES

As pillars on the Tree of Life, Elsa’s essence of Wisdom and Anna’s essence of Love, each have a vertical spectrum of existence—a “higher” state and a “lower” state—just as every archetype has a pure, positive, harmonious aspect and a distorted, imbalanced, destructive aspect. Elsa’s character is drawn to solitude: first out of fear (lower vibration), then out of curiosity for self-discovery (higher vibration).  As an archetype, she embodies the sage, shaman, priestess, ascetic, or hermit.  Anna’s character is drawn to connection: first out of the trauma of rejection and craving of intimacy (lower vibration), then out of selfless devotion and self-reliance (higher vibration).  Her archetype is the lover, mother, fertility queen, matriarch, and patroness.  Through their symmetrical duality, these sister pillars create a central pillar of equilibrium… the “bridge” to the Spirit world, which is sought by the characters in Frozen II to restore balance. 

It is worth noting that these two pillars, Boaz and Jachin, are also present on the High Priestess tarot card, between which a veil is drawn. In the archetypal procession of the major arcana, the High Priestess (symbolizing the pure, cosmic, Sophianic aspect of the Divine Feminine) is directly followed by the Empress (the motherly ruler of fertility, loving relationships, and earthly abundance—the physical manifestation of the Divine Feminine).  Both crowned and enthroned, yet distinct in nature, these primordial inner goddesses govern their respective realms of Creation with complementary functions. By the end of the Frozen II, firstborn queen Elsa rules the natural world (the forest) alongside the indigenous people of her maternal line, while her younger sister Anna rules their father’s diverse kingdom of Arendelle, each sister using her gifts to cultivate balance throughout the land.  As the student of tarot knows, every archetype reflects an facet of a whole multidimensional person.  In the same way, Elsa and Anna represent dual aspects of you—the viewer—and their story provides an allegorical guide to inner harmony.

Story Structure: Ascending The Tree of Life

NORTH-SOUTH ~ THE SPIRITUAL AXIS

In Kabbalah, the Tree of Life is a multilayered sacred geometry, which contains a hierarchical diagram of the planes of existence, or psychological states of consciousness.  The Tree is comprised of ten spherical nodes or sephiroth connected by twenty-two lines.  A lightning-bolt shaped pathway may be drawn over this ladder-like geometry, connecting the sephiroth in the order in which they were created;  this “Path of the Flaming Sword” zig-zags between the three pillars (Mercy, Severity, and Balance) from the uppermost sephirah to the lowest.  Each sephirah represents an emanation (or “generation”) of Divine Creation, from the infinite Source of All, through various planes of Spirit and Mind, into physical expression (the Body).  Following the path from the lowest sphere to the highest, on the other hand, describes the journey from the Lower Mind (simply responding to physical stimuli) through various levels of consciousness to the Higher Mind, and finally to Unity Consciousness, where the One is reunited with the infinite Source (the Mind of God).  This journey is like retracing the path of Creation, to find one’s way home, like following the river of consciousness upstream to the original Source, where lies ultimate self-understanding and reunion. 

On the Tree of Life, the lowermost sephirah is known as Malchut, the “Kingdom,” which symbolizes the physical plane of manifestation.  The uppermost sephirah is known as Keter, the “Crown.”  In the Northern Hemisphere, where Disney’s Frozen takes place, and where European esotericism originates, North is the direction of increasing cold, solitude, and death; while South is the direction of increasing life, vitality, fertility and abundance.  Therefore, it is common in Northern Hemisphere folklore that the direction of North represents spiritual introspection, while the South represents outward connection and expression.  With Frozen’s “North Mountain” being both higher in altitude, further “upstream,” and further North than the kingdom of Arendelle, it clearly symbolizes a higher state of consciousness or spiritual attunement.  The Kingdom of Arendelle, situated as a trading port, represents the physical realm where external relationship and exchange between independent bodies are possible. 

In Frozen I, Elsa escapes the expectations and traumas of society by running northward, to the extreme isolation of the North Mountain.  Like Superman’s “Fortress of Solitude” on the North Pole - there is an archetypal undercurrent of seeking solitude in the cold and barren, in order to reconnect with one’s innate power.  Similar to the wild North “beyond the Wall” in Game of Thrones, the North Mountain in Frozen I symbolizes death and the unconscious realm…  Elsa flees to this isolation so that she may embrace the death of her old self (belting “That perfect girl is gone!”) and step into her authentic expression, rebirthing herself as the Snow Queen.  She telekinetically creates her own ice palace and crystal gown, symbolically crowning herself with the powers that society rejected, and in turn rejecting the “false” crown society had given her. 

CHAKRAS & THE TREE OF LIFE

For better understanding, let us consider the sephiroth as they might correspond to the chakra system… One can imagine the Kingdom (Malchut) as the root chakra (the energy center at the base of the spine, associated with the physical plane), and the Crown (Keter) as the crown chakra (corresponding to the spiritual plane, focalized at the crown of the head).  Assuming the kingdom of Arendelle represents Malchut, then Elsa’s ice palace on the North Mountain would sit at the second sephirah, Yesod, the “Foundation,” which would correspond with the second chakra, the sacral center of creativity.  Elsa’s unleashed creative expression at this site represents the first step of ascending the Tree of Life. 

In Frozen II, the mystical glacier Ahtohallan represents the Crown (Keter), the spiritual Source at the top of the Tree of Life, the Singularity which contains everything there ever was and ever will be.  Not only is Ahtohallan the Northernmost point in the Frozen world; as Elsa calls it a “river of ice,” Ahtohallan can be considered even more “upstream” than the sea, as melting polar icecaps feed the world’s oceans.  Elsa is drawn to this “highest” point of consciousness by an inner voice, while Anna’s sisterly love anchors Elsa to the Kingdom (Malchut) in the South, just as love helps to ground someone in the present reality of their Body while the Mind journeys into the unknown.  Paralleling the vertical axis on the Tree of Life geometry, the underlying North-South axis of the Frozen story-world symbolizes the primordial tension between Spirit and Matter, strong as the planet’s magnetic polarity, indeed alluding to  greater forces than a mere tussle between two sisters.  

When we align the Tree of Life with the chakra system, therefore aligning the middle pillar with the spinal column, then the sisters’ journey from root to crown also symbolizes the yogic phenomenon known as Kundalini rising, an energetic awakening usually visualized as twin snakes twisting up the spine, intersecting at each energy center.  Identical twisting snakes wrapping around a central pillar are also found on the caduceus, the universal symbol of Hermes, medicine, and healing.  As I shall discuss in more detail, healing is at the root of Elsa and Anna’s journey, and their dynamic dance mirrors each other like two snakes or primordial forces of Life. 

THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL TREE

Branching out from the Tree of Life’s vertical axis (the Middle Pillar), six sephiroth sit on the outer two pillars.  However, this geometry can actually been understood as a two-dimensional depiction of a three-dimensional structure.  Between the Foundation and the Crown, the Tree of Life geometry extends out from the vertical Middle Pillar in four directions, with the outer sephiroth connected by a helical structure. This is why some consider the Tree of Life to be the supreme symbolic key to activating one’s genetic expression, as DNA is simply a code made up of four nucleotides —corresponding to the four elements).  This is also why Elsa and Anna’s combined journey through the Tree of Life structure can be seen as an analogy for personal enlightenment as well as embodiment, the dual journey that every individual soul must make in order to bring their divine blueprint into physical expression.  

ANTAGONIST ~ THE INVERTED TREE

In some diagrams, the Tree of Life is mirrored at the Kingdom by an upside-down equivalent, resembling the tree’s roots. This inverted Tree of Life (Qlippoth, or “Tree of Death”) represents evil or distorted consciousness, where demonic forces are said to originate.  In Frozen I, the antagonist-disguised-as-savior, Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, seduces princess Anna with his warm charm, although his true motive is conquest at any cost.  His deceitful nature aligns him with the inverted Tree of Life, even further “South” than the Kingdom of Arendelle.  One could say Hans symbolizes the ego, the “mask” we wear in public, to hide our selfish and evil intention, the “demons” arising from the dark subconscious.  Villainous prince Hans represents the Lower Mind in us all: the temptations of the baser realms, seducing us into manipulative, power-greedy, deceitful, self-serving behavior that only ever serves to backfire in the long run.

When Queen Elsa accidentally sets off an eternal winter in the middle of summer, the Kingdom is sent into a state of hardship and survival mode.  When Anna decides to pursue her distressed sister, she naively puts Hans in charge of the Kingdom.  This shows that when we experience internal conflict, we are at risk of putting our self-destructive subconscious-ego in charge of our day-to-day decisions.  And the ego does not relinquish control easily.

Now that I have introduced the basic structure of the Tree of Life, let us follow the plot of Frozen I & II in more depth, and analyze the detailed sequence of spiritual initiations described by this allegorical tale.

How do your favourite Frozen songs reflect the different stages of spiritual growth? Find out in Part Two: Frozen I and Part Three: Frozen II, available to paid subscribers.