Magical Golden Dawn |
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THE TREE OF LIFE Once we descend through the Veil of Illusion, also known as Paroketh, we enter the World of Fire, the Astral World. In this world we build the foundation for our physical body. In this world the Universe builds the foundation for the suns and planets of the universe. This is the astral world which is the foundation for the physical. According to the Spiritual Order of Alchemy and The Magical Golden Dawn, this is the World of Ego. It's the world of our ego. The first sphere in this world and the seventh sphere on the Tree of Life is called Desire. It's Hebrew name is Netzatch which is usually translated as Victory. A better translation is probably "Firmness," meaning the firmness of our intentions and dreams. Hence, the name of "Desire." Other names like Passion, Drive, Devotion, Intention and Ambition are also appropriate names as is Intuition. Our Desire center is the root of our intuition. Desire is the manifestation of Fire in the Astral World. Desire is based in our original intentions before we started the final stage leading to our incarnation (incarceration) here on Earth. It's the closest thing we have in the Astral World to our Soul which resides in the World of Water. It's our spiritual center in the Astral World. In our opinion, the Element of Fire is the most difficult of the four Elements to interpret in the Tarot. Astrologically we understand the drive, passion, desire and energy of Fire fairly well. But in the Tarot we attribute it to things like a person's career, their intuition or their spirit. Our Passion is more than just our career, it's all of our consuming interests and all of the energy we have in our life. Yes, Fire is intuitive. Yes, Fire is closer to Spirit than the other three Elements but it's really not the Element of Spirit in my opinion. Our Fire is a place we can go in meditation to learn about our life's purpose, our mission in this lifetime. When we made the decision to incarnate, we determined what we really wanted to accomplish in this lifetime. That's our purpose, our reason for incarnating. We can find that reason in the World of Fire. We've descended the Tree of Life from the World of Air, through the World of Water, through the Second Veil and now find ourselves in the World of Fire. We've passed from the World of Reality into the World of Illusion. We've received our "Baptism by Fire" as we crossed through the Curtain of Fire. This is our third baptism by the way. We received a Baptism by Air into the World of Air when we became manifest in our Spirit. We received a Baptism by Water into the World of Water when we descended into our Soul. Now we receive a Baptism by Fire as we descend into our Ego. Our Ego is clothed in the World of Fire by the Elements of Fire, Air and Water. Fire is sphere seven, which we discussed last week and in the question above. Water is the ninth sphere to be discussed next. Air is assigned to sphere eight, which in Hebrew is called Hod, and that's our subject here. before we get there though, it's interesting to note that our Spirit, Soul and Ego are each composed of denser and denser Air, Fire and Water as we descend from the Unmanifest down the Tree of Life to physical manifestation. Sphere eight is the Air Element expressed in the World of Fire. It's our thoughts, ideas and attitudes filtered through our emotions. These are not the Archetypes we find in the World of Air (sphere one) nor the intentionally balanced emotions we find in the World of Water (sphere six). These are the raw, vibrant, energy-filled thoughts we have in our every-day mind. That's why we call sphere eight Intellect or Mind and it refers to our day-to-day intelligence. Our Mind operates on three distinct levels: 1) Memory (Past), 2) Cognition (Present), and 3) Imagination (Future). Our complete memory contains both our subconscious and unconscious minds. Our subconscious mind is where we store memories we can normally access. Our unconscious mind stores all other memories. Our Cognitive Mind is our rational mind also known as our thinking mind. This is our logical and deductive mind with which we think and deduce. Our Imagination is our Imaginative Mind and this is where we plan our future and imagine the possibilities for our life. Our Intellect is connected to our Emotional World at both Harmony and Power. This gives us the ability to draw upon our Inner Strength and our Inner Harmony (also called our Soul). Our Intellect is also connected to our Desire Center and this gives us some direction in focusing our thoughts. What we desire colors what we think. Lest you haven't figured it out already, both our Desire and our Intellect are masculine qualities. The first two worlds, the side spheres, which lie on the right and left pillars of the Tree, were balanced in that one was feminine and one was masculine. Now, in this second reflection of the Divine, we see an imbalance right-to-left. This imbalance will become important as we complete our study of the Tree of Life. For now, it's fun to think about these things. The Tree of Life is a three-phase descent from the Unmanifest through the Three Worlds of Air, Fire and Water resulting in Manifestation in the World of Earth. The first world is the World of Air. It's composed of the three Elements Air in sphere one, Fire in sphere two and Water in sphere three. These are the Creator, Masculine and Female Archetypes. The Creator is the center of balance between the Masculine and Feminine. The second world is the World of Water. It's composed of the same three elements. Sphere four is Water. Sphere five is Fire and sphere six is Air. Remember, the Abyss separates the Second World from the First World and that the Second World is a reflection of the First. Notice also that the masculine has moved from the right-side of the Tree of Life to the left as you move down from the World of Air to the World of Water as you face the Tree. The feminine moves from the left side of the Tree to the right as you move down the Tree from the First World to the Second. The third world is the World of Fire. It's also composed of the same three elements of Fire in sphere seven, Air in sphere eight and Water in sphere nine. All of this leads to the fact that sphere seven is the Element of Fire in the World of Fire. Our intentions and beliefs in the World of Air have been energized with emotional power in the World of Water. The result is our intentions have become emotionally charged when we reach sphere seven. Emotionally charged intentions are our passion, our drive and our desires. Harmony, Desire and Intellect all send energy to the third sphere in the third triangle, in the Third World of the Tree of Life. This third sphere is the ninth sphere on the Tree of Life. Its Hebrew name is Yesod and this means "Foundation." This is the foundation of the physical universe. Physical matter is built upon a Matrix of Energy. Physical matter is itself spinning energy. Modern physics has proven what Einstein postulated half a century ago, that energy = mass times the speed of light squared. Matter is energy. Our ancient brothers and sisters who understood the Qaballah centuries and millennia ago knew this. Modern science has only proven this fact in the last twenty-five years. The Matrix of Energy upon which the physical universe is built is the Element Water. This element flows into all the forms that exist on Earth. So there you have it. In the World of Fire we have the same three elements of Air, Water and Fire that we've seen in the World of Water and the World of Air. The masculine and the feminine have switched polarities as we move down the Tree of Life from world to world. In the last world, the World of Fire, the feminine has moved from the Left Pillar to the Middle Pillar. Balance is maintained by the third sphere representing the third element in each world. Thus in the World of Fire, Water is the balancing point. As our consciousness crosses the Abyss we experience a change in polarity and the right side of our body changes from feminine to masculine as we cross the Abyss. When our consciousness passes through the Veil of Illusion we experience another change in polarity. This time, however, our polarity is scrambled. Feminine Water changes to Masculine Fire, but Masculine Fire changes to Neutral Air and Neutral Air becomes Feminine Water. Thus it is in the World of Illusion, the Astral World. [ Part Seven ] |
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