The Symbolist Brotherhood That Believed Art Had Divine Powers by Thackara

In 1892, on the corner of the grand, tree-rimmed avenue of Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, a peculiar new art salon opened to considerable fanfare at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.

Paintings of damsels, sirens, and monstrous femmes fatales, as well as religious visionaries, mythical figures, and fantastical temples hung salon-style from the walls. Wafts of burning incense and the sound of the prelude to Wagner’s Parsifal, which was played on an organ throughout the opening night, filled the space.

The event’s master of ceremonies, the eccentric poet and novelist Joséphin Péladan, greeted the city’s cultural elite (including the French author Émile Zola) in a long robe and pointed beard and, one imagines, with a gravely serious air. A year earlier, in 1891, Péladan had initiated an offshoot of the Rosicrucian order—a religious brotherhood (symbolized by a rose on a cross) that combined elements of Christianity, Jewish mysticism, and occult practices with the belief that its practitioners were the recipients of ancient wisdom.

more...

Kabbalah: A Neurocognitive Approach to Mystical Experiences by Arzy Shahar and Moshe Idel (PDF)

In this original study, Moshe Idel, an eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism and thought, and the cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist Shahar Arzy combine their considerable expertise to explore the mysteries of the Kabbalah from an entirely new perspective: that of the human brain. In lieu of the theological, sociological, and psychoanalytic approaches that have generally dominated the study of ecstatic mystical experiences, the authors endeavor to decode the brain mechanisms underlying these phenomena. Arzy and Idel analyze first-person descriptions to explore the Kabbalistic techniques employed by most prominent Jewish mystics to effect bodily reduplications, dissociations, and other phenomena, and compare them with recent neurological observations and modern-day laboratory experiments. The resultant study offers readers a scientific, more brain-based understanding of how ecstatic Kabbalists achieved their most precious mystical experiences. The study further demonstrates how these Kabbalists have long functioned as pioneering investigators of the human self.

Download:
http://viid.me/qrRHcA

Julius Evola on the Virtues of the Grail by Manon Welles

In The Mystery of the Grail: Initiation and Magic in the Quest for the Spirit, Julius Evola examines the Grail Legend from a spiritual perspective, particularly in terms of a pre-Christian initiatory tradition. As such, the Grail is not a physical object, but is seen as a transcendent element or state of spiritual enlightenment.

Evola outlined six main virtues of the Grail that allude to its transcendental nature, as follows:

Read more...

Allan Bennett: An Initiated Life

Allan Bennett (1872–1923) was an English occultist and a principal member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He was regarded by his peers as having exceptional magical skill, and he was an early teacher of Aleister Crowley.

Bennett’s father died when he was young, and he was raised in the Catholic faith by his widowed mother. A severe asthmatic, professionally he trained as an analytical chemist and worked as an electrical engineer. Bennett was attracted to occultism and magic and joined the Golden Dawn, rising to the rank of Adeptus Minor by the age of 23.

Charismatic, he was renowned for his skill in ceremonial magic, notably the evocation of the spirit Taphthartharath to visible form, a ritual that involved used of a pickled snake’s head in a “hell broth” of ingredients.

He possessed a blasting rod, a glass rod taken from a chandelier and consecrated with magical power. The rod was mounted in a wooden handle painted with words of power. Bennett changed the words in accordance with the purpose of his magical operations.

A Theosophist acquaintance once ridiculed the idea of a blasting rod and found himself paralyzed for 14 hours - an apparent lesson from Bennett. Bennett helped Samuel Liddell Macgregor Mathers, one of the founding chiefs, to organize the order’s materials, some of which were published later by Crowley as Liber 777.

In spring 1899, Bennett met Crowley when the latter was brought to a Golden Dawn meeting by C. G. Jones. The friendship with Crowley led to Bennett moving in with Crowley in his London flat on Chancery Lane. While there, Bennett taught Crowley magical skills and shared with him Golden Dawn material — a violation of his initiation oath, for Crowley had not yet reached Adeptus Minor.

Toward the end of 1899, Crowley said that Bennett would die of Asthma unless he moved to a

warmer climate. Crowley had ample funds to pay for such a move, but Bennett declined to do so, believing that magical knowledge should be a gift and not purchased. Instead, Crowley invoked the demon Buer whose powers reputedly included healing “all distempers in man”. Crowley was assisted in the ritual by Jones. Buer made an appearance but was visible only as a helmeted head and a leg.

The ritual failed to aid Bennet’s health so Crowley then persuaded one of his former mistresses to give Bennett the money he needed. Bennett turned to Buddhism and left England for Burma. There he gave up all his possessions and joined a sangha, taking the names of Swami Maitrananda and then Ananda Metlaya.

Years later, he returned to England, founding a Buddhist lodge. Bennett eventually tired of Buddhism and returned to Western occultism. He retired to a small room that was unfurnished save for a table, his blasting rod, a few books, and machinery with which he hoped to establish communication with the astral plane.

Bennett as street beggar in Burma following his vow of poverty

Living again in England proved disastrous to Bennett’s health, and his asthma worsened, aggravated by his austere and poor lifestyle. He traveled to Liverpool and sought passage on a ship bound for a warmer climate, but the captain refused him because of the severity of his poor health. Bennett was sent into a fatal tailspin of asthmatic spasms and convulsions. He died in 1923, leaving the location of his manuscripts and other writings known only to a few close friends and associates.

I believe that Bennett's influence on Crowley cannot be overstated as is evident in A.C.'s respect for the man.

The Equinox

Equinox I (01).pdf
http://sh.st/2OzUU

Equinox I (02).pdf
http://sh.st/2OzWe

Equinox I (03).pdf
http://sh.st/2Ozvd

Equinox I (04).pdf
http://sh.st/2Ozdi

Equinox I (05).pdf
http://sh.st/2OzrT

Equinox I (06).pdf
http://sh.st/2Ol7R

Equinox I (07).pdf
http://sh.st/2Ol2z

Equinox I (08).pdf
http://sh.st/2OlXV

Equinox I (09).pdf
http://sh.st/2OlGm

Equinox I (10).pdf
http://sh.st/2OlUj

Blue Equinox.pdf
http://sh.st/2Oljo

Equinox Vol III Number 4 Eight Lectures on Yoga.pdf
http://sh.st/2Ok2E

Initiations and Initiates in Tibet by Alexandra David Neel (ePUB, MOBI, AZW Reader)

Nestled amid the high peaks and eternal snows of the Himalayas and other mountain ranges, Tibet is home to a centuries-old Buddhist tradition, rich in mystic rites and rituals aimed at helping adherents achieve spiritual bliss. In this fascinating volume, a noted authority delves into the nature and sources of Tibetan mysticism, providing readers with a wealth of information regarding Lamaic rites of initiation and the teachings given to initiates, both during and after the initiation ceremonies.

The author first defines Tibetan mysticism and examines the role of the spiritual guide and the choice of a master. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of the esoteric doctrines and traditional oral instruction. Madame David-Neel then recounts in detail the various kinds of initiations and their aims, including initiations with and without “activity,” the “Mani” initiation, and the different meanings of Aum mani padme hum! Also covered are the magic rites known as dubthabs, the “gymnastics” of respiration, daily spiritual exercises, the contemplation of sun and sky, the dalai lamas, different kinds of morality, and many other topics.

Alexandra David-Neel was a historian of religion and a resident of Tibet for 14 years. As a practicing Buddhist, she participated in many of the spiritual rites and practices described in this book, which gives her account a special immediacy and authenticity. Lucid, objective, and highly readable, Initiations and Initiates in Tibet is a treasury of fact and lore offering valuable insights and information to students of religion and Tibetan Buddhism in particular.

Download:
http://sh.st/NAdzb

Magic and Mystery in Tibet by Alexandra David Neel (ePUB, MOBI, AZW Reader)

For centuries Tibet has been known as the last home of mystery, the hidden, sealed land, where ancient mysteries still survive that have perished in the rest of the Orient. Many men have written about Tibet and its secret lore, but few have actually penetrated it to learn its ancient wisdom. Among those few was Madame Alexandra David-Neel, a French orientalist. A practicing Buddhist, a profound historian of religion, and linguist, she actually lived in Tibet for more than 14 years. She had the great honor of being received by the Dalai Lama; she studied philosophical Buddhism and Tibetan Tantra at the great centers; she meditated in lonely caves and on wind-swept winter mountains with yogi hermits; and she even witnessed forbidden corpse-magic in the forests. Her experiences have been unique.

Download:
http://sh.st/NApZo

ROSA MUNDI by Aleister Crowley

1. ROSE of the World!
Red glory of the secret heart of Love!

Red flame, rose-red, most subtly curled

Into its own infinite flower, all flowers above!

Its flower in its own perfumed passion,

Its faint sweet passion, folded and furled

In flower fashion;

And my deep spirit taking its pure part

Of that voluptuous heart

Of hidden happiness!

2. Arise, strong bow of the young child Eros!

(While the maddening moonlight, the memoried caress

Stolen of the scented rose

Stirs me and bids each racing pulse ache, ache!)

Bend into an agony of art

Whose cry is ever rapture, and whose tears

For their own purity's undivided sake

Are molten dew, as, on the lotus leaves

Sliver-coiled in the Sun

Into green girdled spheres

Purer than all a maiden's dream enweaves,

Lies the unutterable beauty of

The Waters. Yea, arise, divinest dove

Of the Idalian, on your crimson wings

And soft grey plumes, bear me to yon cool shrine

Of that most softly-spoken one,

Mine Aphrodite! Touch the imperfect strings,

Oh thou, immortal, throned above the moon!

Inspire a holy tune

Lighter and lovelier than flowers and wine

Offered in gracious gardens unto Pan

By any soul of man!

3. In vain the solemn stars pour their pale dews

Upon my trembling spirit; their caress

Leaves me moon-rapt in waves of loveliness

All thine, O rose, O wrought of many a muse

In Music, O thou strength of ecstasy

Incarnate in a woman-form, create

Of her own rapture, infinite, ultimate,

Not to be seen, not grasped, not even imaginable,

But known of one, by virtue of that spell

Of thy sweet will toward him: thou, unknown,

Untouched, grave mistress of the sunlight throne

Of thine own nature; known not even of me,

But of some spark of woven eternity

Immortal in this bosom. Phosphor paled

And in the grey upstarted the dread veiled

Rose light of dawn. Sun-shapen shone thy spears

Of love forth darting into myriad spheres,

Which I the poet called this light, that flower,

This knowledge, that illumination, power

This and love that, in vain, in vain, until

Thy beauty dawned, all beauty to distil

Into one drop of utmost dew, one name

Choral as floral, one thin, subtle flame

Fitted to a shaft of love, to pierce, to endue

My trance-rapt spirit with the avenue

Of perfect pleasures, radiating far

Up and up yet to where thy sacred star

Burned in its brilliance: thence the storm was shed

A passion of great calm about this head,

This head no more a poet's; since the dream

Of beauty gathered close into a stream

Of tingling light, and, gathering ever force

From thine own love, its unextended source,

Became the magic utterance that makes Me,

Dissolving self into the starless sea

That makes one lake of molten joy, one pond

Steady as light and hard as diamond;

One drop, one atom of constraint intense,

Of elemental passion scorning sense,

All the concentred music that is I.

O! hear me not! I die;

I am borne away in misery of dumb life

That would in words flash forth the holiest heaven

That to the immortal God of Gods is given,

And, tongue-tied, stammers forth -- my wife!

4. I am dumb with rapture of thy loveliness.

All metres match and mingle; all words tire;

All lights, all sounds, all perfumes, all gold stress

Of the honey-palate, all soft strokes expire

In abject agony of broken sense

To hymn the emotion tense

Of somewhat higher -- O! how highest! -- than all

Their mystery: fall, O fall,

Ye unavailing eagle-flights of song!

O wife! these do thee wrong.

5. Thou knowest how I was blind;

How for mere minutes thy pure presence

Was nought; was ill-defined;

A smudge across the mind,

Drivelling in its brutal essence,

Hog-wallowing in poetry,

Incapable of thee.

6. Ah! when the minutes grew to hours,

And yet the beast, the fool, saw flowers

And loved them, watched the moon rise, took delight

In perfumes of the summer night,

Caught in the glamour of the sun,

Thought all the woe well won.

How hours were days, and all the misery

Abode, all mine: O thou! didst thou regret?

Wast thou asleep as I?

Didst thou not love me yet?

For, know! the moon is not the moon until

She hath the knowledge to fulfil

Her music, till she know herself the moon.

So thou, so I! The stone unhewn,

Foursquare, the sphere, of human hands immune,

Was not yet chosen for the corner-piece

And key-stone of the Royal Arch of Sex;

Unsolved the ultimate "x";

The virginal breeding breeze

Was yet of either unstirred;

Unspoken the Great Word.

7. Then on a sudden, we knew. From deep to deep

Reverberating, lightning unto lightning

Across the sundering brightening

Abyss of sorrow's sleep,

There shone the sword of love, and stuck, and clove

The intolerable veil,

The woven chain of mail

Prudence self-called, and folly known to who

May know. Then, O sweet drop of dew,

Thy limpid light rolled over and was lost

In mine, and mine in thine.

Peace, ye who praise! ye but disturb the shrine!

This voice is evil over against the peace

Here in the West, the holiest. Shaken and crossed

The threads Lachesis wove fell from her hands.

The pale divided strands

Where taken by thy master-hand, Eros!

Her evil thinkings cease,

Thy miracles begin.

Eros! Eros! -- Be silent! It is sin

Thus to invoke the oracles of orde.

Their iron gates to unclose.

The gross, inhospitable warder

Of Love's green garden of spice is well awake.

Hell hath enough of Her three-headed hound;

But Love's severer bound

Knows for His watcher a more feaful shape,

A formidable ape

Skilled by black art to mock the Gods profound

In their abyss of under ground.

Beware! Who hath entered hath no boast to make,

And conscious Eden surelier breeds the snake.

Be silent! O! for silence' sake!

8. That asks the impossible. Smite! Smite!

Profaned adytum of pure light.

Smite! but I must sing on.

Nay! can the orison

Of myriad fools provoke the Crowned-with-Night

Hidden beyond sound and sight

In the mystery of his own high essence?

Lo, Rose of all the gardens of the world,

Did thy most sacred presence

Not fill the Real, then this voice were whirled

Away in the wind of its own folly, thrown

Into forgotten places and unknown.So I sing on!

Sister and wife, dear wife,

Light of my love and lady of my life,

Answer if thou canst from the unsullied place,

Unveiling for one star-wink thy bright face!

Did we leave then, once cognisant,

Time for some Fear to implant

His poison? Did we hesitate?

Leave but one little chance to Fate?

For one swift second did we wait?

There is no need to answer: God is God,

A jealous God and evil; with His rod

He smiteth fair and foul, and with His sword

Divideth tiniest atoms of intangible time,

That men may know he is the Lord.

Then, with that sharp division,

Did He divide our wit sublime?

Our knowledge bring to nought?

We had no need of thought.

We brought His malice in derision.

So thine eternal petals shall enclose

Me, O most wonderful lady of delight,

Immaculate, indivisible circle of night,

Inviolate, invulnerable Rose!

9. The sound of my own voice carries me on.

I am as a ship whose anchors are all gone.

Whose rudder is held by Love the indomitable --

Purposeful helmsman! Were his port high Hell,

Who should be fool enough to care? Suppose

Hell's waters wash the memory of this rose

Out of my mind, what misery matters then?

Or, if they leave it, all the woes of men

Are as pale shadows in the glory of

That passionate splendour of Love.

10. Ay! my own voice, my own thoughts. These, then, must be

The mutiny of some worm's misery,

Some chained despair knotted into my flesh,

Some chance companion, some soul damned afresh

Since my redemption, that is vocal at all,

For I am wrapt away from light and call

In the sweet heart of the red rose.

My spirit only knows

This woman and no more; who would know more?I, I am concentrate

In the unshakable state

Of constant rapture. Who should pour

His ravings in the air for winds to whirl,

Far from the central pearl

Of all the diadem of the universe?

Let God take pen, rehearse

Dull nursery tales; then, not before, O rose,

Red rose! shall the beloved of thee,

Infinite rose! pen puerile poetry

That turns in writing to vile prose.

11. Were this the quintessential plume of Keats

And Shelley and Swinburne and Verlaine,

Could I outsoar them, all their lyric feats,

Excel their utterance vain

With one convincing rapture, beat them hollow

As an ass's skin; wert thou, Apollo,

Mere slave to me, not Lord -- thy fieriest flight

And stateliest shaft of light

Thyself thyself surpassing: all were dull,

And thou, O rose, sole, sacred, wonderful,

Single in love and aim,

Double in form and name,

Triple in energy of radiant flame,

Informing all, in all most beautiful,

Circle and sphere, perfect in every part,

High above hope of Art:

Though, be it said! thou art nowhere now,

Save in the secret chamber of my heart.

Behind the brass of my anonymous brow.

12. Ay! let the coward and slave who writes write on!

He is no more harm to Love than the grey snake

Who lurks in the dusk brake

For the bare-legged village-boy, is to the Sun,

The Sire of Life.

The Lover and the Wife,

Immune, intact, ignore. The people hear;

Then, be the people smitten of grey Fear,

It is no odds!

13. I have seen the eternal Gods

Sit, star-wed, in old Egypt by the Nile;

The same calm pose, the inscrutable, wan smile,

On every lip alike.

Time hath not had his will to strike

At them; they abide, they pass through all.

Though their most ancient names may fall,

They stir not nor are weary of

Life, for with them, even as with us, Life is but Love.

They know, we know; let, then, the writing go!

That, in the very deed, we do not know.

14. It may be in the centuries of our life

Since we were man and wife

There stirs some incarnation of that love.

Some rosebud in the garden of spices blows,

Some offshoot from the Rose

Of the World, the Rose of all Delight,

The Rose of Dew, the Rose of Love and Night,

The Rose of Silence, covering as with a vesture

The solemn unity of things

Beheld in the mirror of truth,

The Rose indifferent to God's gesture,

The Rose on moonlight wings

That flies to the House of Fire,

The Rose of Honey-in-Youth!

Ah! No dim mystery of desire

Fathoms this gulf! No light invades

The mystical musical shades

"Of a faith in the future, a dream of the day"

"When athwart the dim glades"

"Of the forest a ray"

"Of sunlight shall flash and the dew die away!"

15. Let there then be obscurity in this!

There is an after rapture in the kiss.

The fire, flesh, perfume, music, that outpaced

All time, fly off; they are subtle: there abides

A secret and most maiden taste;

Salt, as of the invisible tides

Of the molten sea of gold

Men may at times behold

In the rayless scarab of the sinking sun;

And out of that is won

Hardly, with labour and pain that are as pleasure,

The first flower of the garden the stored treasureThat lies at the heart's heart of eternity.

This treasure is for thee.

16. O! but shall hope arise in happiness?

That may not be.

My love is like a golden grape, the veins

Peep through the ecstasy

Of the essence of ivory and silk,

Pearl, moonlight, mother-milk

That is her skin;

Its swift caress

Flits like an angel's kiss in a dream; remains

The healing virtue; from all sin,

All ill, one touch sets free.

My love is like a star -- oh fool! oh fool!

Is not thy back yet tender from the rod?

Is there no learning in the poet's school?

Wilt thou achieve what were too hard for God?

I call Him to the battle; ask of me

When the hinds calve? What of eternity

When he built chaos? Shall Leviathan

Be drawn out with a hook? Enough; I see

This I can answer -- or Ernst Haeckel can!

Now, God Almighty, rede this mystery!

What of the love that is the heart of man?

Take stars and airs, and write it down!

Fill all the interstices of space

With myriad verse -- own Thy disgrace!

Diminish Thy renown!

Approve my riddle! This Thou canst not do.

17. O living Rose! O dowered with subtle dew

Of love, the tiny eternities of time,

Caught between flying seconds, are well filled

With these futilities of fragrant rhyme:

In Love's retort distilled,

In sunrays of fierce loathing purified,

In moonrays of pure longing tried,

And gathered after many moons of labour

Into the compass of a single day,

And wrought into continuous tune,

One laughter with one langour for its neightbour.

One thought of winter with one word of June,

Muddled and mixed in mere dismay,Chiselled with the cunning chisel of despair,

Found wanting, well aware

Of its own fault, even insistent

Thereon: some fragrance rare

Stolen from my lady's hair

Perchance redeeming now and then the distant

Fugitive tunes.

18. Ah! Love! the hour is over!

The moon is up, the vigil overpast.

Call me to thee at last,

O Rose, O perfect miracle lover,

Call me! I hear thee though it be across

The abyss of the whole universe,

Though not a sign escape, delicious loss!

Though hardly a wish rehearse

The imperfection underlying ever

The perfect happiness.

Thou knowest that not in flesh

Lies the fair fresh

Delight of Love; not in mere lips and eyes

The secret of these bridal ecstasies,

Since thou art everywhere,

Rose of the World, Rose of the Uttermost

Abode of glory, Rose of the High Host

Of heaven, mystic, rapturous Rose!

The extreme passion glows

Deep in this breast; thou knowest (and love knows)

How every word awakes its own reward

In a thought akin to thee, a shadow of thee;

And every tune evokes its musical Lord;

And every rhyme tingles and shakes in me

The filaments of the great web of Love.

19. O Rose all roses far above

In the garden of God's roses,

Sorrowless, thornless, passionate Rose, that lies

Full in the flood of its own sympathies

And makes my life one tune that curls and closes

On its own self delight;

A circle, never a line! Safe from all wind,

Secure in its own pleasure-house confined,

Mistress of all its moods,Matchless, serene, in sacred amplitudes

Of its own royal rapture, deaf and blind

To aught but its own mastery of song

And light, shown ever as silence and deep night

Secret as death and final. Let me long

Never again for aught! This great delight

Involves me, weaves me in its pattern of bliss,

Seals me with its own kiss,

Draws me to thee with every dream that glows,

Poet, each word! Maiden, each burden of snows

Extending beyond sunset, beyond dawn!

O Rose, inviolate, utterly withdrawn

In the truth: -- for this is truth: Love knows!

Ah! Rose of the World! Rose! Rose!

Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft by Dale Pendell (PDF)

This is the first volume of North Atlantic Books updated paperback edition of Dale Pendell s "Pharmako" trilogy, an encyclopedic study of the history and uses of psychoactive plants and related synthetics first published between 1995 and 2005. The books form an interrelated suite of works that provide the reader with a unique, reliable, and often personal immersion in this medically, culturally, and spiritually fascinating subject. All three books are beautifully designed and illustrated, and are written with unparalleled authority, erudition, playfulness, and range.

"Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft "includes a new introduction by the author and as in previous editions focuses on familiar psychoactive plant-derived substances and related synthetics, ranging from the licit (tobacco, alcohol) to the illicit (cannabis, opium) and the exotic (absinthe, salvia divinorum, nitrous oxide). Each substance is explored in detail, not only with information on its history, pharmacology, preparation, and cultural and esoteric correspondences, but also the subtleties of each plant s effect on consciousness in a way that only poets can do. The whole concoction is sprinkled with abundant quotations from famous writers, creating a literary brew as intoxicating as its subject.

The "Pharmako" series is continued in "Pharmako/Dynamis" (focusing on stimulants and empathogens) and "Pharmako/Gnosis "(which addresses psychedelics and shamanic plants)."

Download:
http://sh.st/XAvZ9

The Penguin U.G. Krishnamurti Reader Edited by Mukunda Rao (ePUB & mobi)

My teaching, if that is the word you want to use, has no copyright. You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody.' Thus spoke U.G. Krishnamurti in his uniquely iconoclastic and subversive way, distancing himself from gurus, spiritual 'advisers', mystics, sages, 'enlightened' philosophers et al. UG's only advice was that people should throw away their crutches and free themselves from the 'stranglehold' of cultural conditioning. Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti was born on 9 July 1918 in Masulipatnam, a coastal town in Andhra Pradesh. He died on 22 March 2007 at the age of eighty-nine in Vallecrosia, Italy, at the villa of a friend. The effect that he had, and will continue to have, on legions of his admirers is difficult to put into words. With his flowing silvery hair, deep-set eyes and elongated Buddha-like ears, he was an explosive yet cleansing presence and has been variously described as 'a wild flower of the earth', 'a bird in constant flight', an 'anti-guru' and a 'cosmic Naxalite'. UG gave no lectures or discourses and had no organization or fixed address, but he travelled all over the world to meet people who flocked to listen to his 'anti-teaching'.

Download:
https://yadi.sk/d/yweNiYRjtQ3ec

Kether : The Crown

Ain becomes Ain Soph, and even further becomes Ain Soph Aur ; which then by contraction (Which is known as Tizimtzum according the the Zohar) concentrated itself into the central formless point-Kether translates as Crown, which is the first sephirah on the tree of life. In Luranic Kabbalah, the explanation of Tizimtzum is a process of creation by God “contracting” his Ain Soph Aur in order to allow a “conceptual space” in which finite and independent realms could exist.

Kether is the one, whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Kether is the Monad which is a term used by Neo-Platonists to signify the One. Kether’s Egyptian equivalent is Ptah, the creator of the cosmic egg or Amun-Ra the king of the gods. The Greek equivalent is Zeus and Roman Jupiter, the lord of heaven. In Hinduism Kether is Brahma the creator aspect, from whom sprung the seven Prajapati that correlate with the last 7 Sephirot. It is the root of all things and the ultimate unit of consciousness, as a metaphysical point and centre of spiritual phenomena. This seperah is unextended and indivisible and is the prototype of everything spiritual and everything else in the cosmos. In a simple sense, It is the essence of being, the essence of Spirit coming into Matter, and the highest attribute of God.

Chokmah : Wisdom

Chokmah means wisdom and it is the second seperah on the tree of life. In Taoism, the active\positive Yang would correspond to this sphere. Chokmah is considered to be known as the “Abba”, the great father, because it is the emanation of expansive masculine energy. The masculine virile force of Chokmah is the impulse of manifestion and thus is prior to manifesting itself. Kether is the essence of being and Chokmah is the emanating influence of pure being rather than a thing in itself. Chokmah is concerned with the inflow of cosmic energy. It is formless and the pure impulse of dynamic creation; and being formless the creation it gives is the emanation of every form. In Genesis 1:1 it states: In the beginning(Be'Reshit in Hebrew) Elohim created.. The word Be'Reshit is the primitive nature of creativity that establishes Ain Soph as the unifying guidance of Kether in unity with its radiant wisdom nature that is Chokmah.

The archangel attributed to Chokmah is Raziel(the secret of God), its angelic host is Auphanium (Wheels). Microcosmically, Chokmah corresponds with the left logical male side of the brain. In Jungain psychology, it can be the sphere of the Animus which is the masculine archetype of ones personality. The consious thinking mind is analytical thus making Chokmah a correspondence of the conscious mind. The Qabalistic part of the soul is the Chiah. The Chiah is pure awareness and It is raw consciousness. The Chiah’s function is the spiritual will as the true Will uncorrupted by addictive habits, attachments, and base desires. The true Will is independent from ordinary material cares. The lower will comprises of ordinary mundane cares, the will and fulfillment that never lasts. The lower will is the will of your personality tastes. The true Will is what you incarnated here to do and you keep coming back to earth till you get it right. Chokmah’s astrological correspondence is the Zodiac itself. Your natal chart is an excellent tool to know yourself.

Binah : Understanding

Chokmah is a reflection of Kether and with Chokmah’s dynamic nature came Binah, the third seperah simultaneously. The Sephiroth are states not places, These two sates of being where born at the same time, because Chokmah is the impulse prior to manifestion and Binah is the manifestion. Chokmah represents the male\active and Binah is the feminine\passive. This is dealing with the positive and negative, force(Chokmah) and form (Binah). Chokmah is the bringer of form and Binah is the giver of form. In the Tao, Binah can represent the Ying energy. A Hindu could look at Binah as Shakti and her consort Shiva as Chokmah. This seperah is considered the great Imma which is mother in Hebrew. The gods Kronos, Saturn, and goddess Kali are very similar and this ties with the Saturnian archetype. One can understand the tree of life well with the archetypes of various gods, Greek in particular, and that’s what the Hermetic Qabalist does.

The energy of Binah is linked with Saturn. After all Binah’s planet in Assiah(material world) is Saturn. Astrologicallly Saturn is the planet of time, space, limitations, stability, responsibility, etc and with Saturn brings much understanding, but only with time and patience. There is much more on Saturn, but if Saturn spoke, it would say “what you sow, you reap”. With polarity, you grow and understand after going through some bad times as well. The Anima in Jungian terms is the feminine archetype of ones personality. In psychology, this seperah has to do with the subconsious and right side of the brain. Staying quiet and listening to your neshamah(intuition) with meditation is one way to keep your conscious mind quiet. With wisdom(Chokmah), one prays and to attain understanding(Binah) is to meditate and get the answer. Binah and Chokmah correspond with the third eye chakra. With an active third eye, both hemispheres of the brain function in unison.

The Supernal triad is complete; the triangle is a symbol of manifestion to which creation manifests. Genesis 1:2 metaphorically sums up Binah and Chokmah: the Ruach Elohim is the summation of the Supernal triad. The 6 days of creation have to do with the rest of the Sephiroth.

Da'at : Knowledge

Da'at or Daath is not considered a seperah. Some have called it the shadowy seperah or the false seperah. Daath is important to the tree though. It is rather a state of Gnosis or knowing. Da'at means knowledge in Hebrew. Chokmah is the masculine father and Binah is the feminine mother(see Chokmah and Binah). Daath is like the son, the end result, so the other realms can appear. Daath is the bridge to the real world and it is located in the abyss.

What lies after the Supernal triad between the next triad(Briah) is the abyss. The Supernal triad is the real and pure triad. The next triad of Briah or etheric triad is the mere reflection of the Supernal and then the third triad (astral triad) is a dense reflection of the etheric:eventually the physical state of matter is manifested. The abyss works kind of like a mirror. Think of it like this, in your bathroom the mirror is the abyss and you are looking through the mirror and you see the illusionary reflection of the real you.

Daath is shadowy and hidden. According to the Hebrew kabbalists, people who remain selfish cannot see it and for them Daath seems “hidden”. So then, egotism is like a blockage to the source and higher consciousness. Daath’s virtue is detachment. Dion Fortune writes “Perfection of Justice and the application of the Virtues untainted by considerations of the personality.” The virtue of Detachment indicates what is required to unify our mundane selves with our spiritual selves. Daath operates in two levels: the lower is the Daath(knowledge) you’ve attained with the lower seperoit which are the emotional and intellectual ones(Chesed to Yesod) used in the right action. The higher level is the Daath of Kether the Gnosis\enlightenment you’ve attained from Kether.

Chesed : Mercy

Chesed is the fourth sephirah of the tree of life. It is directly below Chokmah and as we see the yellow shadow line connects to Daath. Chesed is the expansive tendency of energy and creative force of the tree. This Sephirah is the symbolic first day of creation in the Bible, when light came into being. Its attributes are limitless love and energetic expansion. Chesed is the first of the emotive attributes within creation and it is associated in the soul with the desire to embrace all creation and bestow upon its goodness. As the expansive force which impels the soul to connect with outer reality, chesed inspires, and thus implicitly accompanies, all the other expressions of the emotive force which succeed it in the soul(Gal Einai, 2014). The alternate name of this Sephirah is Gedulah, which means greatness and magnificence. Chesed means mercy and love. Its correspondence in the microcosm is our memory in the intellectual Ruach. Chesed’s virtue is obedience, but not obedience to slavery of course. It has to do with obedience to your kindness: we sacrifice much of our independence and egotism for sharing in the service of our social life. With egotism in general how are you going to cross the abyss, enter into higher awareness, and access the God within you? Chesed’s vices are bigotry, hypocrisy, gluttony, and tyranny. Its planet in the physical is Jupiter, astrologically it is the planet of prosperity, optimism, luck, generosity, spirituality, high thinking, philosophy, faith, and more. Thus Jupiter belongs to Chesed, another key for crossing the abyss is faith and belief you are going to succeed its going through risks that are hard to take.

Geburah : Severity

Geburah or Gevurah is the 5th Sephirah on the tree of life and Geburah means severity, harsh, or judgement. Geburah is the 2nd day of creation with the constructive tendency of energy. The fourth sphere of Chesed is the expansive tendency of energy and Geburah is contractive. Gevurah is associated with the soul with the power to restrain ones innate urge to bestow goodness upon others, when the recipient of that good is judged to be unworthy and liable to misuse it. As the force which measures and assesses the worthiness of creation, gevurah is also referred to in the Kabbalah as midat hadin (“the attribute of judgment ”). It is the restraining might of gevurah which allows one to overcome his enemies, be they from without or from within (his evil inclination). Chesed and Gevurah act together to create an inner balance in the souls approach to the outside world(Gal Einai, 2014). Just like having to balance your masculine and feminine energy of Chokmah and Binah, you have to balance Chesed and Geburah. Geburah alone would create no peace and no kindness and Chesed alone would create pacifism ready to be walked on all the time. Geburah has to do with justice and its harsh masculine force has to be balanced with the feminine kindness. Someone balancing these attributes would defend themselves and their family from unjustified harm, for example. Within ones own self Geburah is the discipline, control, breaking habit, and standing up for ones self. Geburah virtue is justice and courage and its vice is cruelty and destruction. With the psyche, Geburah is the Will in Ruach. Its planet in the physical realm is Mars, the planet of energy, action, desire and more.

Tiphareth : Beauty

Tipareth is the 6th Sephirah and is associated with the 3rd day of creation. Tipareth’s attributes are beauty and harmonic equilibrium. This Sephirah expresses the cohesive energy: causation of unification. Tipareth is the continuous spectrum reconciling the expansive energy of Chesed and the contractive Geburah. Tipareth is the sun of the entire tree and it is right on the middle of it. It circulates the energy of the higher and lower Sephiroth as indicated as the Hexagram. Tipareth is where the Divine (Kether)sacrifices itself though Geburah the destroyer in order to enter into incarnation, thus the even more dense plane known as the Astral is manifested. The ethical or etheric triangle is complete and has no choice but to reflect itself in a slower vibration bringing the Astral triangle. Briah(ethical) needs a plane for formation of its creative tendencies which is Yetzirah(Astral). So then all the incarnated Gods that are sacrificed for the greater, the solar deities, and illuminating gods are placed in this spehere such as the solar logos of Jesus Christ, the solar deity Ra, Apollo, Adonis, Iaccus, Dionysus, Orpheus, and Hare Krishna, because Hare is a divine incarnation of whom spirit and matter were in complete equilibrium.

Considering this microcosmically, with the psyche it is the imagination of Ruach. In Transcendental Psychology, the mystic sacrifices his personality for attaining contact with his Soul in Tipareth. It is the heart center or higher self\higher genius center also known by some as The Holy Guardian Angel. Kether is the Divine Spark, the monad of consciousness rather than consciousness itself, Daath is the bridge to higher awareness, and Tipareth is the individual pure consciousness itself. The four lower Sephiroth below Tipareth are the personality and the lower self. Tipareth and those above it are the individuality or higher self and lastly with Kether being the Divine Spark and the God incarnation.
This Sephirah corresponds with the Anahata chakra. We also see symbolism of this chakra with the Hexagram. The chakra where the spiritual and material meet and like Tipareth it is usually the highest the average Joe has attained.

Netzach : Victory

Netzach is the seventh Sephirah corresponding to the forth day of creation. Netzach is a Sephirah of polarity like Chokmah, Binah, Chesed, and Geburah. This is force on a lower arch and this stage is where the light of Tipareth is broken up as a prism into many rayed manifestations ,but not fully individualized. So then, we really have forces not just force. The two Sephiroth Netzach and Hod are two levels of concrete force into form. In this level we are in a more illusionary projection of the higher states. This is the world of Yetzirah: Netzach is the male dynamic impulse, the bringer of formation; Yetzirah in its whole is the blueprint formation of what we see in the physical. The Astral is Spirit on a lower arch as with Matter being Astral on a lower arch. In the kabbalistic world of Yetzirah everything is thought forms.

In the microcosm, Netzach is our instincts and the emotions that give rise too. It represents the instinctive, emotional side of human nature. This is the lower Ruach, the basic functions of the psyche. It is also the desire in Ruach. The basic desires we would have and the emotional motivations of it. It is also about being attracted towards others and identifying with others: relationships in all forms.

Netzach’s virtues are unselfishness and vices are selfish love and lust. Its planet in the physical is Venus and it makes sense, because astrologically Venus is the planet of love, art, desire, emotion, friendships, and more. In mythology Venus is the Roman Goddess of love with the Greek name of Aphrodite. Your Venus describes what you love, how you love, and whom you love.

Hod : Glory

Hod is the eighth Sephirah corresponding to the fifth day of creation. As was said in the Netzach post, both Netzach and Hod are concrete force into form. Netzach being the male dynamic impulse and giver of concrete formation and Hod the female bringer of concrete form. The force of Netzach are free moving with fluidity and ever changing shapes. Hod is the stage of concentration where the energy is temporarily controlled and molded into forms. These two Sephiroth on the macrocosm are the force and form of the Astral.

Hod is associated with the soul in the power to continually advance, with the determination and perseverance born of deep inner commitment toward the realization of ones life goals. The acknowledgement of a supreme purpose in life, and the total submission of self which it inspires, serve to endow the source of one’s inspiration with an aura of splendor and majesty. Hence the word Hod connotes both “acknowledgement” and “splendor,” in the sense of an aura like “reverberation” (hed) of light (Gal Einai, 2014). With the soul or psyche, it is the intellect or reason in Ruach. It is the intellectual side of human nature as with Netzach being the instinctive and emotional nature in Ruach. You have to balance these two Sephiroth to be aligned with your inner scientist, inner artist, and the attributes of Hod and Netzach. Its planet is Mercury, therefore the gods Mercury, Hermes, Thoth, and many others can be placed here. Astrologically Mercury is the communication, intellect, language, etc planetary intelligence. In your natal chart your mercury determines how you use these. Hod’s virtues are truthfulness and vices are falsehood, dishonesty, and mental rigidity.

Hod and Netzach correspond to the solar plexus chakra. Even though the heart center of Tipareth plays a role in the solar plexus. Hod and Netzach are more in correspondence with this chakra due to the energies of this chakra of willpower, emotional drives, motivation, personality, self esteem, learning, and ego.

Yesod : Foundation

Yesod is the ninth Sephirah of the tree of life completing the triad of Yetzirah corresponding to the sixth day of creation. This stage is the integration point of energy and its contexts. The ninth stage of Yesod is where the emanations of the entire tree of life are adopted through the cosmic life force energy. The Sephiroth of the tree are charged with the life force of Yesod and with this, the tree has the power to influence Malkuth, the sensual and physical world that we experience. The life energy of Yesod linking the nature of mind and matter is known as the Akasha in the East, or the Astral Light in western esotericism. Everything that has form in the physical is evolved out of the Astral Light.

Yesod is associated with the Soul with the power to contact, and communicate with the outer reality (represented by the Sephirah of malkuth). The foundation (Yesod in Hebrew) of a building is its “grounding,” its Union with the earth (Malkuth)(Gal Einai, 2014). This Sephirah corresponds to the reproductive organ in the symbolism of the human body. The Nephesh: Animal Soul is placed on this seperah. The Nephesh is the part of the soul\mind that deals with sex drives, apatite, and survival. Its the animal nature of man that we share with the animal kingdom. Its planet in the physical world is the Moon: all Lunar deities can identify with Yesod. The lunar cycles and fazes play an important role on earth with tides and physiological functions of plants and animals. Yesod’s virtue is independence and vice is idleness.

Yesod equates with the sacral chakra, the chakra of sexual energy and creativity. The Astral Light is built from the same electro-magnetic current that runs through each person’s Etheric body. Its magnetisism is the dynamo of sexual energy also known as the Kundalini.