Netsach
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I have a basic question on the Tree of Life. The right pillar is Mercy and masculine as we know. Why is it that Netsach which is associated with Venus and a symbol of the Rose and naked female form on this pillar. I always associate Venus with the feminine, but according to the tree, that is incorrect.
Why was Netsach attributed to the Masculine pillar of Mercy?
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@DavidH said
"I have a basic question on the Tree of Life. The right pillar is Mercy and masculine as we know. Why is it that Netsach which is associated with Venus and a symbol of the Rose and naked female form on this pillar. I always associate Venus with the feminine, but according to the tree, that is incorrect.
Why was Netsach attributed to the Masculine pillar of Mercy?"
It's more complicated than that... and, since I think you have the book, I'm ging to mention that Dion Fortune actually has a pretty good discussion of this IIRC in The Mystical Qabalah. (Crowley touched on it here and there, but no one clear place I can refer you.)
You might as well ask why the Sephirah of Mars is in the midst of the feminine pillar, yes?
And this gives us one level of approach. (Fortune's discussion IIRC is a somewhat complex and nuanced mythological discussion - the following, by comparison, is very simplistic.) The main idea called "masculine" and "feminine" (because of the roots in Chokmah and Biynah, respectively) is really force and form. Gevurah is "feminine" because it is really a form or containing Sephirah - the key in Gevurah (when one is in its grade, particularly) isn't the martial force per se so much as the fact that one is a channel of that force, something that it flows through. Similarly, that which we know as Netzach is the force aspect itself.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The main idea called "masculine" and "feminine" (because of the roots in Chokmah and Biynah, respectively) is really force and form. Gevurah is "feminine" because it is really a form or containing Sephirah - the key in Gevurah (when one is in its grade, particularly) isn't the martial force per se so much as the fact that one is a channel of that force, something that it flows through. Similarly, that which we know as Netzach is the force aspect itself."
An excellent explanation of "force" and "form" as the defining qualities of the two pillars is given in Colin Low's online "Notes on Kabbalah:"
www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/nok/index.htmIt pays to think about Gevurah not so much as an "attacking" martial force, but as "standing on guard" to defend things like truth, justice, and the Thelemic Way.
Very much an upholder of form (of which Binah is the mother). In contrast, the Venusian Netzach has a much more expansive and impulsive flavor, flowing down from Chokmah.Steve
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Aren't they all both projective and receptive? Plus, the initial movements of the supernals would probably count quite a bit in the overall picture, no? I think of it like this: the all-supportive mother Binah supports the illusion of separation, which is severity (Geburah) and in so doing creates division among unity ("severity" comes from the root "sever"). This could be perceived as "evil," since the delusion causes suffering (yet also joy), but this all-supportive Lady Space acts out of the "nurturing love of a mother" by providing her children with all they need to be as naughty or nice as they want to be. She is like either the dark energy or dark matter that holds up the Universe, right? Hadit is the point within Her circle?
Viewing it this way helps me see the sephiroth blend and conceptualize how they interrelate. In the above example, Binah, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth and Netzach are all blended together in a total experience, yet distinct in their relative aspects.