Qabalah and the Law of One.

[Matt1]

The Qabalah and the Law of One.

I have decided to write up a very basic and brief introduction to the Qabalah and how it might in my own views and or opinion relate to the archetypal mind as taught by Ra in the Law of One series. I will attempt to cover such details as what the Qabalah is, Its history, the meaning of the 32 paths of wisdom, its relation to the Law of One series and the practical application of the Qabalah. The knowledge I will share is and always my own distorted view of the archetypal mind and is by no means a prefect or complete representation of something so deeply provocative and elegant as the Qabalah. I will draw upon many different teachers from the western mystery tradition and I will not go as far to quote or list every name, however it is far to say that most of the information I will provide is accessible through the big names of the western mystery tradition.

76.9 Questioner: Is there, in Ra’s opinion, any present-day value for the reuse of the tarot as an aid in the evolutionary process?

Ra: I am Ra. We shall repeat information. It is appropriate to study one form of constructed and organized distortion of the archetypical mind in depth in order to arrive at the position of being able to become and to experience archetypes at will. You have three basic choices. You may choose astrology, the twelve signs, as you call these portions of your planet’s energy web, and what has been called the ten planets. You may choose the tarot with its twenty-two so-called Major Arcana. You may choose the study of the so-called Tree of Life with its ten Sephiroth and the twenty-two relationships between the stations.

It is well to investigate each discipline, not as a dilettante, but as one who seeks the touchstone, one who wishes to feel the pull of the magnet. One of these studies will be more attractive to the seeker. Let the seeker then investigate the archetypical mind using, basically, one of these three disciplines. After a period of study, the discipline mastered sufficiently, the seeker may then complete the more important step: that is, the moving beyond the written in order to express in an unique fashion its understanding, if you may again pardon the noun, of the archetypical mind.

As we can see above, Ra states that there is 3 different ways to learn the archetypal mind, those are the Tarot which Ra taught in the Law of One Series and the other being the Qabalah and Astrology. Ra gives some small references to the Qabalah through the channelling such as in the below quotes;

44.14 Questioner: I was looking at the diagram of the advancement of magical practices starting from Malkuth and ending at Kether. I was wondering if these corresponded to the colors or the densities, with Malkuth as one, Yesod as two, Hod and Netzach being three, Tiphareth four, and so on. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is basically incorrect although you are upon the correct track of thinking. Each of these stations has a complex number and shading of energy centers as well as some part in various balances; the lower, the middle, the high, and the total balance. Thus there are complex colors or rays and complex charges, if you will, in each station.

However little other information is given other than some of the generalities of white magical practices. I believe this is basically because Carla, Don and Jim went down the root of the Tarot and the fact that Ra states that the original method used by them was taught to the initiated in Ancient Egypt.

The word Qabalah means tradition which in turn comes from the root word Qibel which in turn means to reveal or to receive. The Qabalah in itself is a glyph or map of consciousness of the macro cosmic universe and the microcosmic consciousness of an individual entity. The Qabalah can also be seen to be a meta-system, or a system that contains other systems of knowledge or information through an infinite list of correspondences. The Qabalah symbolically shows how consciousness came into being from nothingness, into one infinite point which we could call universal consciousness or the creator, then through a series of emanations manifested into the duality we love and know today as 3[sup]rd[/sup] density, 2 density and 1[sup]st[/sup] density.

The history of the Qabalah is a difficult one due to many different theories, some factual and some less so, concerning the system of knowledge. So in order to keep this short and not to bore you, I will give the mythological history and the factual history of the Qabalah.

The mythological history goes something like this, the angels after the fall from Eden taught humans the Qabalah as a means to return to the paradise that they once came from. However very few entities or humans had the wisdom or ability to put this knowledge into practice. Then one guy came along by the name of Abraham who was able to understand this knowledge who in turn taught it to Isaac and Jacbo from there it went to Joseph. Now Joseph died before telling anyone the the understandings of the mystical Qabalah but luckily Abraham had written the teachings down into a book called the Sepher Yetzirah or the book of formation which was hidden in a cave.

God then decided it was only to be revealed once someone had the wisdom to understand the Qabalah and that person was good old Moses who received the written law and the unwritten law of the Qabalah. From there different schools have kept this knowledge.

The factual history goes alone the lines of a group of different Rabbi's writing teachings into different books based on older mysticism. These were written mostly during the middle ages in Europe (Spain, France, Germany) but the earlist book the Septher Yetzirah dates to about 100 Ad. The main traditional books of Qabalah are the Sepher Yetrizah, the Sepher Bihar and the Sepher Zohar.

It should be noted that many different types of Qabalah have come about over the years these are often noted by the different spellings of the name. Kabbalah normally means the lurianic system which is the traditional Jewish teachings based on the for-mentioned books. The Cabalah normally is related to the Christian system which was originally about proving the divinity of Christ and finally the Heremtic Qabalah, which is the system I am teaching/learning here, which is based on a collection of many different schools of thought, such as Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Western Astrology, Tarot and Ceremonial Magic.

Now to get to the good part. The ten sephiroth (singular Sephira, which in turn means number and numbers retrospectively) but before we can do that we have the issue of what happened before creation! This is the Ain, Ain soph and Ain Soph Aur, which means Nothing, Limitless or infinity and Limitless or infinity light. This is a highly esoteric wisdom that goes beyond the scope of this discussion, so to keep things simple lets just call it the creator becoming aware of itself out of nothingness before manifesting itself into one infinite point as we know it through Ra's teachings.

Ra sums this up rather nicely in the following quotes;

13.5 Questioner: Thank you. Can you tell me of the earliest, first known thing in the creation?

Ra: I am Ra. The first known thing in the creation is infinity. The infinity is creation.
13.6 Questioner: From this infinity then must have come what we experience as creation. What was the next step or the next evolvement?
Ra: I am Ra. Infinity became aware. This was the next step.
13.7 Questioner: After this, what happened?
Ra: Awareness led to the focus of infinity into infinite energy. You have called this by various vibrational sound complexes, the most common to your ears being “Logos” or “Love.” The Creator is the focusing of infinity as an aware or conscious principle called by us as closely as we can create understanding/learning in your language, intelligent infinity.

The first point in the Tree of life is Kether, which means Crown. It corresponds to the the deity, the monotheistic god or the creator which in turn manifested itself through growing awareness of infinity. Now everything is fine and well at this point but in order to understand what the creator is, it has to create a reflection of itself. This reflection is called Chockmah or Wisdom. It was at this point that the creator looked at itself for the first time basically speaking and said, I am that!

Now at this wonderful moment in the history of creation, a 3[sup]rd[/sup] point was created because of the wisdom gained from knowing what the creation was. This is Binah and means understanding. The understanding being what the Creator is, Kether and what the Creator is not, Chockmah or its reflection. Now we have 3 points points on a paper its still 2 dimensional symbolically speaking. This is until we create another reflection! The whole trinity of Kether, Chockmah and Binah is relfected once more , although this time its inverted.

Now we have the Sephira Chesed which means Mercy and is related to loving kindness or compassion. With these 4 points we can now create a 3 Dimensional space which in turn leads to the creation of another Sephira called Geburah which means severity or will. These then come down into the point of the individual soul called Tiphareth which means beauty. If Kether became the I am That, then Tiphareth becomes the I am me or the individual ego. This trinity of Chesed, Geburah and Tiphareth is reflected once more into Netzach which means victory and is related to our emotions, Hod which means Splendour and is related to our thoughts and Yesod which means foundation and is related to our subconsciousness. After all of that intensity, we have the final point of Malkuth which means kingdom and is related to the physical world.

This process is called the lighting flashing, which I will picture at the end of the article.

Now it is important to note that the Qabalah is a map of your own consciousness as well, not just the Creators! So we can see the Qabalah being a map of the human body, with Kether Being the Head or Crown Chakra, I would relate this to 7[sup]th[/sup] density. Chockmah and Binah being related to the top of the head being the indigo ray or 6[sup]th[/sup] density, the hidden Sephiroth called Daath (more on that another time) being related to throat or 5[sup]th[/sup] density, Chesed, Geburah and Tiphareth the Heart or Green Ray, 4[sup]th[/sup] density, Netzach and Hod as 3[sup]rd[/sup] density with the Yellow Ray, Yesod as Orange ray and 2[sup]nd[/sup] density and Malkuth as first density or red ray.

Its important to note that the above placements of the densities on the Tree of life isn't full proof as such, but I simply relate to the already accessible information on Eastern Chakras on the tree and make the logically assumption that they will relate to the different densities. This gives a fairly easy path into the Qabalah for a Law of One Student, but I believe will be less distorted by individual research.

Each of these Sephiroth are connected by different paths. We have 22 Paths in total, which show the possible connections between the different emanations of the sephiroth on the Tree. Which I will include at the end of the article for reference. If we take for example the path of Peh which is the 27 path, we can see how a connection between our thoughts and emotions might accord through walking down this pathway in our own consciousness.

Now we can see that we have 3 pillars one staring with Binah, one with Kether and one with Chockmah. These are know as the pillars of Severity, Equilibrium and Mercy. They can also relate to the 3 main energy pathways in the body as found in the hindu traditions.

Chockmah is wisdom and can be related there for to Spiritual Wisdom or Light, and Binah is understanding and can be releated to Universal love. Thus we the top trinity of the Supernals of the Creator and Light/Love, Love/light. This also creates a Yin/Yang effect through Chockmah and Binah. Chockmah being the female pillar and Binah being the Male pillar, with balance found between the polarities in the middle pillar.

We can see through emanations that our Thoughts are really a reflection of Will on a soul level and this will is a reflection of spiritual love. The same can be said about the pillar of Mercy with our emotions being a reflection of loving kindness which in turn is a reflection of Spiritual light or wisdom. The middle pillar we can see the physical reality being a reflection of the subconsciousness which in turn is a reflection of the self, which in turn is a reflection of the true self in kether. Hence the old saying, Kether is Malkuth and Malkuth is in kether but in another manner.

The bottom trinity I would relate to the personality, the middle to the self at a soul level and the top at the level of the higher self or in unity. One great example of the middle pillar is that our True self in Kether, brings the knowledge down into our Soul level at Tiphareth which in turn we receive hints via malkuth through yesod or the subconsciousness such as synchronicity and dreams.

Everything in the physical Universe has a correspondence in the Qabalah, we can see this for example on Malkuth with its Divine name as Adonai Ha- Arets, its archangle of Sandelphon, its order of angels being the ashim and its mudane energy being the [font=Arial, sans-serif]cholem Yesodoth or the earth and the elements. By meditating on these different correspondences we can understand that level of creations and by moving along the path ways connecting the sephiroth we can raise our consciousness to a higher emantion, which is called the serpents ascent. Which interestingly enough if you count Daath as a Sephiroth, we have 33 which is related to the vertebrae in the spine and kundalini. [/font]

Each of the 22 path ways connecting the Sephiorth are related to different Tarot cards which I will list at the end of this article. These are the symbolic keys to the Qabalah, on the practice of pathworking one will use the symbolism and visualize the tarot as a means to understand and experience the connection between two different sephiroth. Rather than list all of the Tarot cards here, which has already been done, I though it better to simply give a basic example of how they are related to the Qabalah rather than to given in depth details of the archetypes.

The practical Qabalah can be used in many different ways, such as what I have mentioned above through completion as a means to understand and experience, then move to different emanations on the tree. We can also look at the example of the Ritual exercise of the middle pillar, where each of the sephiroth in the middle pillar of the tree are visualized on the entity and the divine name in atziluth is vibrated. As a means to open chakras and to connect the conscious and unconsciousness via Mulkuth and Kether.

So there you have it! A rather messy and to the point introduction to the Qabalah in relation to the Law of One. I haven't went over many important aspect such as the tetragrammaton, the 4 world process of the name YHWH, nor have I given much detail to any of the Sephiroth or the pathways, but my hopes are that I gave even insight and knowledge to allow those who might try a different path to the archetypes than the tarot as taught by Ra. Although the Tarot does play a major part in the hermetic Qabalah, it does however give a different view on the same universal knowledge.

I will list a website with more information and Correspondence to each of the 32 emanations and a couple of diagrams here for you to look at. This article was quickly written up from memory at the request of a couple of different users in chat. I hope this service works for you! At one point in the future if time permits i will make a post for each sephiroth and pathway in the Law of One context.  However such a work would be massive. Anyway, make way for some pictures.

PICTURES!

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The lighting flashing,

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List of correspondences.

A link to a list of correspondences in a book by Crowley. Liber 777

[Sabou]

Thanks Matt!

[VanAlioSaldo]

So whats your opinion on the hidden sephira?

Also are you familir with the 12 Chakra System? You overlaid the chakras over the Tree of Life perfectly for me but I was told you can't really sync up the Chakras and Tree of Life, any thoughts?

[Matt1]

So whats your opinion on the hidden sephira?

Also are you familir with the 12 Chakra System?  You overlaid the chakras over the Tree of Life perfectly for me but I was told you can't really sync up the Chakras and Tree of Life, any thoughts?

Daath is the sephiroth that is not a sephiroth, it means knowledge and is located on the abyss before the supernals. It has an alternative name as the rainbow bridge, which in turn is related to the back of the tree or the qliphoth , sometimes called the tree of death! Qliphoth means shells or husks, it's the adverse or vices of the sephiroth. I relate it to the shadow self and the archetypes in the self service light. It has its place for the positive path as a tool of forgiving and healing those aspects of the psyche.

The chakras on the other hand, i mostly used my method from Will Partiff's work, it seems to make logical sense to me. The tree is a meta-system, so it can continue other philosophies as correspondences. Many Buddhist, Hindu terms can be related to the Sephiroth. I then make the assumption that the densities would some what relate in terms then to the hindu chakra's, but your right, in the traditional system you wouldn't have eastern Chakra's. However modern occultists since the 20th century have added to the tree over the years, so its really a living system. Its always adapting to new knowledge, its also said that the tree continues all knowledge, so based on this it should include the chakra's and densities. If it works for you great!

The 12 Chakra system, i have heard a little about it. I have heard they're 6 chakra's or perhaps 7 above the crown and 6 or 7 below the feet. However i tend to find that the normal system of 7 works just fine and that's without including any of the secondary chakras.

Here's an image of the tree and chakra's, as a kinda of east meets west thing going on.

[Nicholas]

I find that image above quite insightful where the invisible sephira intersects with the pineal gland. Amber Jayanti, who acquainted me with this practise here also affirms your position Matt in that it is a "living and growing system".

She asserts that this hidden, or 10th sephirah is what separates the traditional "Kabbalah" (jewish) from the hermetic, or progressive "Qabalah".

Spelt this way (with a Q) infers a more inclusive system, is non denominational or eclectic in direction. Apparently (according to Amber) this came from a mid 19th century culmination of eastern/western philosophy.

Perhaps this invisible sephira pertains to the "gateway", thus explaining our historical reluctance to recognise its inherent existence?

[Aion]

Y'all might find this interesting to peruse to see some of the different 'types' of Kabbalah.

http://www.jwmt.org/v1n3/32paths.html

[Minyatur]

Thank you for the thread! I had a hard time approaching the Sephiroth and so I took my time before going fully into your post to have the right mindset.

It did help a lot! Though now I have yet more on my list of things to study *sigh*

[Matt1]

I find that image above quite insightful where the invisible sephira intersects with the pineal gland. Amber Jayanti, who acquainted me with this practise here also affirms your position Matt in that it is a "living and growing system".

She asserts that this hidden, or 10th sephirah is what separates the traditional "Kabbalah" (jewish) from the hermetic, or progressive "Qabalah".

Spelt this way (with a Q) infers a more inclusive system, is non denominational or eclectic in direction. Apparently (according to Amber) this came from a mid 19th century culmination of eastern/western philosophy.

Perhaps this invisible sephira pertains to the "gateway", thus explaining our historical reluctance to recognise its inherent existence?

Yeah. You have a dialectic triad with Geburah and Chesed finding synthesis in Daath or knowledge. Originally it from comments in the Sepher Yetzirah which basically said that the Sephiroth are 10 and not 9, 9 and not 11 or something along those lines. It was from this hint that Daath came out of. The middle pillar is of great interests if you take the numbers 10 9 6 and 1, you get 26 which is the Gematria value of the tetragrammon or Yahweh. Yod heh Vah Heh. The idea being that physical reality is reflected from the subconsciousness of Yesod, which in turn is reflected by the self in tiphareth which in turn is reflected through the true self in kether.

However if we take Daath in to this picture what does it represent? If the Physical is the Conscious mind that is Malkuth, the Subconscious is then Yesod, perhaps Daath can be seen as the Unconscious mind which has the repressed shadow material before the unveiling happens across the abyss as one moves into the supernals and kether.

In short you could make these correspondences to the tree.

Malkuth : Conscious Mind.

Yesod: Subconscious mind.

Tiphreth: Persona ?

Daath: Unconsciousness/repressed shadow

Kether: Fully conscious mind.

[VanAlioSaldo]

http://www.llresearch.org/transcripts/is..._1218.aspx

I have no idea what system you are referring to with so much above and below the head and feet.  While those systems may not be wrong, I was referring to how Q'uo described the 7/8 point Chakra System in the Eastern Manner of 12 Chakra Focuses.  With the 8th being the gateway to Infinity (I call it for simplistic reasoning the White Ray) and the 12th is the Gateway with the 11th being the Violet Ray I believe.  It's been a while since I read it but I found it much more helpful, it's a shame so little information on the un-covered chakra regarding the Spiritual Family is present.  I wonder if there's more information pertaining to such.

So I'll Q'uote it.

The subtleties of the twelve-chakra system can be very helpful to students of metaphysics. It begins the same way as does the Western system, the first chakra being connected with issues of sexuality and survival.

The second chakra, however, is divided in the Eastern system into two energy centers, one of which deals strictly with the self relating to the self. The second of these so-called orange-ray energy centers deals with the self in relation to other selves.

The solar plexus chakra remains unified in the Eastern system. However, after the solar plexus is left, and before one reaches what in the Western system is the heart chakra, there is a chakra which this instrument has often spoken of as the outer court of the heart.

[...]Another difference between what we would call the Western and Eastern chakra system is that immediately after the heart chakra and before the [throat or blue-ray] chakra of open communication there is an added energy center in the Eastern system.

[...]The chakras above the level of the heart are also energy centers from which energy exchanges can be made. The reason that this information is helpful in discussing the chakras that come after the heart chakra in the Eastern system is that there is this [additional] energy center [which] captures a structure that is missing completely from the Western system. There is a subtlety here that can only be appreciated by those who {have] done quite a bit of work in consciousness. It involves what this instrument has termed a 90-degree phase shift.

It is an energy center that is focused upon right relationship with the extended family that one has in the unseen realms. The greatest part of this family for seekers is that portion that is connected with guidance. Each entity has a guidance system and access to this guidance system is extremely helpful. If one focuses upon this particular energy center, one can do very precise work in opening oneself to the guidance that lies within.

The other differences between Eastern and Western chakra systems has to do with subtleties within work in consciousness in communication, which is the blue-ray energy center. There is a division in the Eastern system between the communication of self with self and the communication of self with other selves.

[...]Further, there is a third division which deals with the communication of the self with the extended family of guides, presences, essences and entities that are connected with the self.

The other added chakra in this Eastern system is very difficult for us to express to you. Once the readout of violet ray has been cleared, there is an additional chakra in the Eastern system which is dedicated to that point where the energy of self spirals from the now into the possibilities of the future. It is the point which this instrument would call the gateway to intelligent infinity.

It's interesting also to note how Q'uo regards Will and Desire at the very end.  I might make a thread about it.  (Just my OT remark.)

Any thoughts about this system?  It could be interesting to note how the hidden Chakra kind of aligns with the hidden Sephiroth, it having to do with dealings with the whole of your reality you've created through the connections made across your existence in this octave (if not further) versus handling your shadow self through traversing the abyss of your self.

I feel like this information is bordering dangerously close to a fully integrated system of Archetype with the Tree of Life, Tarot, Chakras, and Metaphyisical nature of our understanding of the Law of One.

I almost feel like putting this all together would be a tool far more advanced than what I need, and yet I desire it still...

For personal reason...

[Matt1]

I consider the Heremetic Qabalah to be the most useful system for Archetypes as you have put it, it brings everything together. It also has practical methods as well. Tarot, the Law of One, everything occult or esoteric. Its the prefect symbol to have all knowledge. If one masters this system, they would truly be an adept.

[Henosis]

I would relate Tiferet to 4th density, Gevurah and Chesed to the 5th, Daath to 6th, with Binah and Chokmah related to the 7th.

Kether I would equate with the 8th, the Logos or the Divine Will.

If Kether represents the Great Central Sun, than Ohr Ein Sof would be the subtle energy at the heart of that Sun. So while Kether or the Logos appears to be the true Self, it still would not be a substantial Self as Kether or the Logos is nullified to the Infinite Light, which would be nullified to the Infinite itself, which within some philosophies would be nullified to Nothing or pure Unity.

Nothing (PERFECT UNITY) - Ayin
Intelligent Infinity - Ayin Soph
Infinite Awareness - Ohr Ayin Soph
Logos - Kether

[anagogy]

I would relate Tiferet to 4th density, Gevurah and Chesed to the 5th,  Daath to 6th, with Binah and Chokmah related to the 7th.

Kether I would equate with the 8th, the Logos or the Divine Will.

What about for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd density?

[Aion]

There are already terms contained within Kabbalah which pertain to these concepts.

We have down at the very bottom of creation, in Malkuth, the Guph which pertains to the physical mechanical body itself. Along with the Guph and what runs/generates it is the Nephesh which is the 'animal soul' which pertains to the lower desires and self. These reside in the sphere of Malkuth and the world of Assiah, that of action. This is the lowest part of the soul.

The next level up starts at Yesod (which also pertains to the astral) and goes all the way to Chesed. This is the Ruach and is considered the middle part of the soul, this pertains to the 'lower mind' and responds to the reasoning and intellectual powers. It is structural and formative and as such refers to the world of Yetzirah, of Formation. This area also corresponds with the Zodiac and solar creativity, hence with Tiphareth in its middle. Tiphareth is the Microprosopus, the 'Lesser Countenance' which corresponds with the Higher Self. The first and major objective of the magician is to unite with Tiphareth.

Above this is the Veil, the Abyss which separates the higher spiritual faculties, the deeper, higher mind from the lower mind. This higher mind is collectively called Neschamah and this all corresponds with the intuition and understanding, so the proper sphere of Neschamah is Binah, understanding. The other element of of Neschamah is with Chokhmah and is called Chiah, this represents the vital dynamic energy of life, it is electric. The last element and the core of the Neschamah is the Yechidah, this corresponds with Kether, the Crown and is the "I Am", it is the One as the Self, and is the pure soul.

Thus, the journey of climbing the Tree of Life to transcend beyond one's lower mind to make contact with that divinity beyond where the personality cannot go.

So I would say that First Density/Second Density = Guph and Nephesh, Third/Fourth/Fifth Density = Ruach, Sixth Density = Neschamah and Seventh Density = Yechidah. Although I think these would more pertain to sub-densities in the densities rather than the densities themselves which I would correlate more with the worlds.

In that case I would say First/Second/Third Densities would be Assiah. Fourth/Fifth would be Yetzirah. Sixth would be Briah and Seventh would be Atziluth.

Also, relating to Chakras...

http://www.thewayofmeditation.com.au/blo...s-chakras/

[Nau7ik]

I thought Tiphareth was the sphere of the higher self? It's the sun, it's the center of the tree of life. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not sure. It's probably in Liber 777 though.

[Aion]

I thought Tiphareth was the sphere of the higher self? It's the sun, it's the center of the tree of life. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not sure. It's probably in Liber 777 though.

Yes precisely and why it resides in the center of the solar system part. I just didn't say that directly, more implied. Also I would note that Liber 777 is mostly copied, and also Crowley and Thelema is quite different from both Golden Dawn where he started and traditional Kabbalah and I personally do not use him as a reference often. Although being not really all his work 777 has a lot of useful info either way. His system is more of a spin-off. I'll admit I am cautious regarding his works.

Oh wait, actually I did say it is the Higher Self, after mentioning it is the Microprosopus.

You could maybe in Ra terms equate the Neschamah of the upper supernals as being like the 'Totality' of the entity which is above the Higher Self.

[Henosis]

I would relate Tiferet to 4th density, Gevurah and Chesed to the 5th,  Daath to 6th, with Binah and Chokmah related to the 7th.

Kether I would equate with the 8th, the Logos or the Divine Will.

What about for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd density?

I agree with OP interpretation of 1st being Malkuth, 2nd being Yesod, and 3rd being Hod/Netzach.

If you look at the picture in the OP with the lightning flash... if you follow the flash, I see the densities being basically equivalent with each angle change of the lightning, with the exception of the line of 8th density. I think this line would best represent the completion aspect of 7th density and the merging with the Logos/Creator.

Just FYI anagogy....I wrote you a MASSIVE reply yesterday that I pondered for about 15 hours about how it would appear at first glance based on Ra concepts that understanding/wisdom (binah/chokmah) would represent 6th density and the blending of love/wisdom....but upon further analysis this is likely incorrect...but then I re-read everything and said nah forget it haha. I'm kinda mad at myself.

Love and Light

[anagogy]

I agree with OP interpretation of 1st being Malkuth, 2nd being Yesod, and 3rd being Hod/Netzach.

If you look at the picture in the OP with the lightning flash... if you follow the flash, I see the densities being basically equivalent with each angle change of the lightning, with the exception of the line of 8th density. I think this line would best represent the completion aspect of 7th density and the merging with the Logos/Creator.

Very astute observation about the angles of the lightening flash and its correspondence to the density transformations. I largely concur. What are your thoughts on this section of the Ra material?

44.14 Questioner: I was looking at the diagram of the advancement of magical practices starting from Malkuth and ending at Kether. I was wondering if these corresponded to the colors or the densities, with Malkuth as one, Yesod as two, Hod and Netzach being three, Tiphareth four, and so on. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is basically incorrect although you are upon the correct track of thinking. Each of these stations has a complex number and shading of energy centers as well as some part in various balances; the lower, the middle, the high, and the total balance. Thus there are complex colors or rays and complex charges, if you will, in each station.

My understanding is that the lateral/horizontal relationships represent the *rays*, but not the densities. A density connotes a mind/body/spirit relationship, whereas a ray connotes a relatively simple energy dynamic. I also am not partial to the tree depicted in this thread (not a fan of the hermetic/golden dawn/Crowley tree -- after considerable meditation and self introspection I have come to believe the lurianic tree is the correct and true map of the densities -- the reasons for this is a long story which I want to make a post on someday when I feel like really sousing it out, but suffice it to say, I was given what I feel to be a few true albeit minor magickal keys a long while back which I saw reflected in that tree once I learned how to read and interpret some rudimentary Hebrew). Isaac Luria was highly psychically intuitive. I have no doubt about that. Ironically, he was also strongly against magick (though my interest in magick is largely more academic than practical -- I just have an insatiable desire to know things, not necessarily to use them for any particular purpose). Understanding Kabbalah is life long pursuit -- as is any thorough grasping of the archetypal consciousness.

But the key to understanding Kabbalah, in my opinion, is keeping in mind that it is all about relationships.

Just FYI anagogy....I wrote you a MASSIVE reply yesterday that I pondered for about 15 hours about how it would appear at first glance based on Ra concepts that understanding/wisdom (binah/chokmah) would represent 6th density and the blending of love/wisdom....but upon further analysis this is likely incorrect...but then I re-read everything and said nah forget it haha. I'm kinda mad at myself.

Love and Light

Haha, I had this feeling that there was going to be this massive response, for no particular reason, and came back and just imagine my disappointment when there was relatively nothing (except the few posts which were already here (which were still interesting but I didn't feel I had anything to really contribute towards or add to)).

I was like, 'man, my intuition is crap today'. So this information is weirdly gratifying to hear (as well as amusing -- thanks for sharing).

[Aion]

Well, some GD temples do use Lurianic Kabbalah but not necessarily all of them.

I would have liked to have heard Ra's take on the Tree of Life. Sometimes I'm a little disappointed they chose the Tarot rather than the Tree of Life to learn from them, although the Tarot archetypes are illuminating.

[Henosis]

Anagogy.... lol!

Can someone do me a favor... I know I can figure it out and I'm just being lazy...also I've asked once before and someone replied but I can't find the thread...

How do I reply to just part of a post and not the whole thing?

[Nau7ik]

Aion, I have a question for you! Anyone is welcome to answer and add on to this as well. Have you done any pathworking on the Tree of Life? Do you know anything about this area of work? I recently came across a very good book on magical states of consciousness, pathworking on the Tree of Life. But I was hesitant to get it because, to me, this would be 6th chakra work, and it would be best to do it with a group, of which I am not apart of any.

I skimmed through the book and it was guided meditations up to a certain point, and there were optical patterns. The book is by Dennings and Philips, Magical States of Consciousness.

Anyway, I'm interested to see what others know, their experiences and insight. Thank you all

[Aion]

Aion, I have a question for you! Anyone is welcome to answer and add on to this as well. Have you done any pathworking on the Tree of Life? Do you know anything about this area of work? I recently came across a very good book on magical states of consciousness, pathworking on the Tree of Life. But I was hesitant to get it because, to me, this would be 6th chakra work, and it would be best to do it with a group, of which I am not apart of any.

I skimmed through the book and it was guided meditations up to a certain point, and there were optical patterns. The book is by Dennings and Philips, Magical States of Consciousness.

Anyway, I'm interested to see what others know, their experiences and insight. Thank you all

I've found this is a good 'in a nutshell' article that explains some of the ideas inherent in pathworking/sphereworking.

http://www.jwmt.org/v1n3/32paths.html

For me I have leaned towards the Golden Dawn tradition which uses Lurianic Kabbalah and basically the grades of the order correspond with the Spheres of the Sephiroth. The paths that lead between the Sephiroth must be traversed as you make your way up the order of spheres, each corresponding with different levels of consciousness and the layers of the self.

So a Neophyte is working on the sphere of Malkuth. A Zelator is working on the sphere of Yesod, and so on and so forth.

This is different from a lot of other systems which I have found are not as comprehensive of each sphere and are more similar to westernized 'chakra' meditation (and maybe actually part of the source of the westernized chakra system and its concepts). Even the page I linked to is more in this vein. However, that isn't to say it isn't without its merits.

It's true that a group is preferable but there are things you can accomplish on your own to start, such as a more meditation based approach.

[Nau7ik]

I forgot I had this! It's from the cover of Israel Regardie's book "The Middle Pillar".

[Aion]

The Middle Pillar was actually a creation of Israel Regardie more or less, and he was never in any original GD temple, he was only part of the off-shoot Stella Matutina. Most of his original magical training was actually just what Crowley taught him when he was his secretary.

[Matt1]

The middle pillar i believe was taught in the inner order of the Golden Dawn, the Rosicrucian order once someone has reached the grade of adeptus minor which corresponds to Tiphareth. The outer order or the Golden Dawn were only taught the banishing ritual of the lesser pentagram. The middle pillar seems to correspond mostly with the idea of Kundalini yoga in the east or sometimes called Kyria Yoga. Interestingly to note too that Regardie in his book Garden of Pomegranates corresponded various psychological terminology as well with the Sephiroth of the tree of life. An example of this would be the trans-personal experience, Crown Chakra and Kether being related. One of the main obstacle i have discovered with the Hermetic Qabalah is getting experiences out of it! Perhaps it was due to being a solitary practitioner rather than being an initiate but i personally found the Qabalah to be a filing system of meta-physical data.

[Nau7ik]

The Middle Pillar was actually a creation of Israel Regardie more or less, and he was never in any original GD temple, he was only part of the off-shoot Stella Matutina. Most of his original magical training was actually just what Crowley taught him when he was his secretary.

I think you're right. Crowley did correspondence for the chakras and the Tree of Life, but he used the Indian system. (Of which I don't know much about at all.) I think this information is in one of the Crowley's Equinox publications. That seems to be what Regardie did as well.

Anyway I just thought it was an interesting drawing. There's definitely a mixing of systems here.

[777]

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[Nau7ik]

22 is also the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew letters correspond to the archetypes, which make up the pathways on the Tree of Life.

The Hebrew alphabet has a cosmic resonance. This may be the linkage. I don't remember what Q'uo said and I can't find it.

[Cobrien]

One of the main obstacle i have discovered with the Hermetic Qabalah is getting experiences out of it! Perhaps it was due to being a solitary practitioner rather than being an initiate but i personally found the Qabalah to be a filing system of meta-physical data.

Agree. Of Tarot, Qabalah and Astrology, tarot is the easiest to work with IMHO. Qabalah is word-based. Tarot is visual. When the 'forms' of the tarot make sense, QBL is easier to approach.

Discovering correspondence for myself is more helpful then having it ready-made

[Aion]

To discover these connections you have to look at the Golden Dawn since they were the ones that first correlated the 22 Major Arcana with the 22 Paths of the Tree of Life. There are actually considered to be 32 Paths total on the Tree of Life since each Sephiroth is also considered its own path. This is where you see the common "32 Paths of Wisdom" documents. The Hebrew Letters were corresponded with the Paths before the Tarot ever was. Astrology is also very old but to note that most ancient systems utilized only 7 planets.

[JustLikeYou]

This comment is relevant to the thread, but it is not a direct response to any particular post. I just wanted to introduce a way of imagining our natural limitations in attempting to harmonize the three different conceptual systems with each other.

Imagine that you are watching a play in a theatre. From where you are sitting, you can see that this play has a specific dynamic, that the characters have particular relationships with each other and occupy distinct roles: perhaps from your view it is a love story and some are lovers, some are enemies, some rivals, some friends, and so on. The drama plays out according to the interactions between these characters and their relationships to each other.

This is true of all plays, of course, but the play you're imagining is unique in one important way. There are three different sections of audiences in the play you are watching, and each has a particular view of the play as it is acted out. Imagine this as a circular theater in which the three audiences are located at the three points where an enscribed equilateral triangle would intersect with the circle. And, somehow, what the audience you are a part of sees is actually a different set of character dynamics from what the other audiences see. In other words, somehow one and the same play appears as a different set of relationships between characters depending on where you are sitting.

This is the situation with the Tarot, the Tree of Life, and astrology. They cannot be smoothly mapped upon each other because to do so would require an additional dimension of imagination to which we lack access, just as we lack access to imagining a fourth spatial dimension.