Moving on the Tree
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@craigp said
"what does one mean when they talk about "being" in certain sephirah or moving on the Tree of Life?"
Various things, but essentially that one's consciousness is essentially tuned to, or aligned with, the consciousness characterized by that part of the Tree.
There are a couple of common variants of this.
One is when it is used to describe a level of attainment. In that case, it means that one's life-state is more or less stabilized in alignment with that part of the Tree as a result of having successfully attuned to (and stabilized, equilibrated, and integrated) each level of the Tree from Malkuth upward to that point.
Another is used to describe readiness for a specific (isolated) magical working. For example, one might be doing a Netzach working for which one would have used various methods to temporarily tune one's consciousness to the idea of Netzach to the level of one's capacity.
"i really don't exactly know what i'm talking about here so forgive me, i've been reading through Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah book and she does a great job of listing all of the symbolic correspondences of each part of the Tree but doesn't write much on how to actually apply this knowledge."
True - it was a theoretical book. The practical application is learned primarily from one's participation in a structured course of successive initiations and practices which "walk one up the Tree."
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Greetings All!
This is my first post - I am a new member to this community. I have recently begun to study the Kaballah as well and needless to say am totally lost.
There is plenty out there to read - no shortage of material. And it is all quite interesting - but it is time for me to move on from reading to applying. I need some guidance here - what concrete steps can I take to make my study of Kaballah "real" - in a nutshell "applied"?
I enjoy reading the posts - they have been helpful.
Have a great evening all
Bob"
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Welcome to the forum.
I'd like to turn your question away from Means to End. What's your actual goal? What's the immediate next step for you?
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The following was typed after a lengthy session of Rising on the Planes. I have been working the Path of Tav for about Two Months now, and I do consider this information to be channeled to me. I know that technically some of it is wrong, and I'm sure those things will be pointed out (in fact I'm counting on it), as I am not at the level where I am to understand all of these things. I feel this understanding will come when it's supposed to come as I progress my consciousness up the Tree, but for now, I wanted to share it with you, in hopes that it helps in your understanding.
I believe that we are nothing more than etheric stardust, perhaps not even that, just more like an essence, that moves through space & time, which is actually a cirlce by the way. The Christians call it a soul, the Hindus, Atman, so on, so forth, but, this True Self, is consistent of, or part of, what Aldous Huxley called The Divine Ground, or, Bhrama, the 10000 things actually, but IT exists outside of this oroboros. At any given time, this true self is existant within the Tree of Life. It's called The Heavenly Man, with the Middle Pillar extended through us (or the Chakras if you prefer).
This divine self is trapped within the oroboros, called Samsara, but maybe trapped is the wrong word. Maybe it's Divine Will as the 10000 things seeks Experience OR perhaps at Atman came of its own accord. I haven't quite come to understand this Why yet. But, to learn, to experience, or to complete the Divine Will (the last one is what I'm leaning towards obviously), the Atman creates a physical projection of itself because remember, the Atman simultaneously exists within Four Planes, and the fourth plane, Assiah is the physical realm (the first plan, Atziluth is outside of the oroboros, in the Divine Ground, the Supernal Realms, or Supernal Sephiroth). Within this physical projection the Atman is housed within the subconscious.
Everything this physical projection interprets is given form and image from the totality of what the subconscious has experienced in it's journies, that's why two people may perceive the same thing in different ways, even if those ways are minescule. The problem with creating a representation on the plane of Assiah of itself is that instead of just being the True Self, a duality occurs, creating an ego which is perhaps used to move about Assiah, but this Ego, seperates itself from the subconscious True Self, and soon even either forgets what it truly is, or maybe blocks that out, either way it sucks and takes lifetimes to realize the truth, but, as Christopher Hyatt said, it only takes that ONE THING to happen. Even if the person forgets when this ONE THING occurs and goes back to the Ego, with materialism being it's driving goal, it is enough to set into motion the events that will lead it out of Assiah, with the knowledge it sought, or the REASON for coming fulfilled, and eventually out of Samsara.
Karma seems to be one of the only things that can affect the True Divine Self that I've found (I believe Love can as well somehow, still puzzling that out). It seems to be to be part of Assiah, but clings to the Atman, somehow necessitating its continued exisistances withing Assiah.
Now, my friend asked me how I thought Clairvoyance worked. Just to end this thesis and answer that question. One night, we were playing a card game which involved guessing what the next card in the deck would be, or even sometimes the next series of cards would be. This was during our High Magick time in our life, about 10 years ago, and he was able to guess this card or sequence every single time, through the entire deck. Since receiving this understanding, I have told him that I don't believe that he was guessing anything, but listening to his True Self in the form of intuition, an inner voice. And that IT wasn't guessing, but because it dwells in all Planes at once, one of which being Yetzirah, it could simply see the other side of the card. So I told him what was amazing wasn't that he could go through the whole deck and never be wrong , but that he could hear is inner Self that well for that extended a period of time.
Things like this and many others happened to us during those High Magick times, but my Door of Perception have clouded over at this point (quote taken from Shane, but I am in agreeance.) Perhaps it's not meant to be in this particular life to leave this place, or in my case, perhaps never, as I, in my visions and divinations have always understood that I will come back to Teach others as a Master Templi, Boddishatva (spelling?), or whatever you wish to call it, but I am determined to take this thesis, and work it to completetion.
To end, this "Thesis" was fed to me during a moment of lucidity that occured just after practicing entering the Astral (Yetzirah, Rising on the Planes to Yesod) as I have been working on the Path of Tav for about two months now, and I do feel that it was given to me by my True Self. I am putting it out there to help others understand where there is only confusion, and to gain understanding where I have confusion.
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Hello Jim -
I assume that I should begin the process of working up the tree of life toward Kether. I have read quite a bit and it is all quite interesting - I have learned much about what I didn;t know. But I have a need for "evidence" that my knowledge will not just remain knowledge.
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@rwidner said
"I assume that I should begin the process of working up the tree of life toward Kether. I have read quite a bit and it is all quite interesting - I have learned much about what I didn;t know. But I have a need for "evidence" that my knowledge will not just remain knowledge."
Worthy goals. You likely will use your knowledge of the framework of the Tree of Life at all stages of that Path.
My question, though, was concerning your actual goals. In other words, working with the Tree is a means, not an end (right?). It throws us off track when we place our attention on the means rather than the end or target or goal. There are a dozen ways I could answer your question depending on who you are and what your goals are.
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Hello Jim -
Thank you for your response. I have come to where I am at (spiritually) from a very long path that started when I was in high school. The story of "how I cam to be" is one for another time.
My goal: interesting enough it is not tied at all to anything material (I have seen what can happen to one's material possessions). It is spiritual but it is less of my spiritual development, though of course this is important to me, but I have a realtively recent interest or desire to help others with their spiritual development. I have always had this spiritual bent toward helping others.
More recently, in reading material tied to Kabbalah I cam across the "Realm of Shadows". In this realm there are beings that exist, astral "shells". As with all beings there is a natural tendency to move toward "God". I would like to be in a position to help these souls, as well as the souls of those who are still with us.
Not sure if any of this makes sense. If it doesn't I know you are good about letting people know that they need to clarify things. I have read your comments in response to others - I have learned much from your responses. Thank you.
Bob
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OK - I also have been reading through the "Mystical Qabala" - what is it that one should meditate on for each of the Sephirah? I have some knowledge of the Kabbala but I don't know what I am suppose to do next. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
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@rwidner said
"Thank you for your response. Are these images available so that I have a starting place for medtation or do I start from scratch with whatever comes to mind? I truly appreciate your help."
The core images are given many readily available places - 777 column on magical images, Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah at each sephirothic chapter head, etc. Some people have developed them in very distinctive ways, and these ways don't always agree, so the better approach is probably to start with the core image and develop it yourself.
Here are the basic traditional definitions of the Magical Images of the Sephiroth from 776 1/2. They vary just slightly from others you can find:
- White brilliance
- Elder patriarch (frequently enthroned)
- Elder matriarch, enthroned
- A mighty crowned & enthroned king
- A mighty warrior in his chariot, armed & crowned
- A majestic king, a child, a crucified god
- A beautiful naked Amazon
- An Hermaphrodite
- A beautiful naked man, very Strong (ithyphallic)
- A young woman, veiled and crowned
The Magical Images of the remaining 22 Paths (those attributed to the Hebrew letters) are the images which form the Major Arcana of the Tarot.