Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki's The Shining Paths relates a very clear message after Path 27, the path of The Tower. She says:
"In terms of training, we come now to an interim period. The paths between the four lower sephiroth constitute an entire level of training, and in a Mystery School would have already taken up some two or three years of a student's life. [...] it is a point where a reader would be well advised to take time off from the programme of pathworking to revise the work done so far. This is a worth while procedure, for it sifts, files, and cross indexes the information and knowledge received up to this time. This is a point of self-discipline, obviously some will do it and some will go straight on, that is the difference between a genuine student and an armchair dabbler. The end results will be very obvious to the trained eye.
"Assuming you have taken the advice and 'rested' for at least two weeks, a lunar month is even better, you should be ready to start on the next phase. By the time you have worked your way through the eight paths that form the next phase you will understand the need for that month off. Ahead of us lie some of the hardest journeys on the Tree of Life." (p.73)
So, we are taking some time off of the pathworking for a while. Ashcroft-Nowicki is not the only adept that recommends this after Path 27, the completion of the Astral Triad. We will be pretty much taking the rest of the summer off for reflection and deeper meditation upon the paths we have tread so far.
Below are some thoughts from my journal the other night, with a graphic:
Based upon a statement by Israel Regardie in A Garden of Pomegranates: "The Supernals are separated by a great gulf, the Abyss, from that which lies below them. The Supernals are ideal; the other Sephiroth are actual; the Abyss is the metaphysical gap between. In one sense they have no connection or relation with the Inferiors, the lower seven Sephiroth, reflected by them--just as space itself is independent of, and unaffected by, whether there is or is not anything manifested within its emptiness." (p.44)
In essence, Da'ath, the Abyss (Knowledge), is the eternal separator between God and Matter. The levels of separation, in terms of Creation and Death, are prevalent in the Triads. Matter, the Material World, True/Pure Form, is based solely on the Astral Realm, the Astral Triad, which is nothing but an imitation on a denser level of the Ethical Triad . . . which itself is nothing but, through the separation of the Abyss, an inverted reflection of the Godhead, the True Reality. Basically, we are nothing but the output of an imitation of an inverted reflection of the only thing that truly exists; of which, we can never have a true conception of because of the Great Divide created by the Abyss.
Malkuth is truly the ultimate manifestation of Kether; it is Kether in its densest form; it is the Truest Form . . . Pure Form. Thus, being the ultimate manifestation, a culmination of output of all Sephiroth together--just as Kether contains all of the receding Sephiroth after it--Malkuth is the only place in which all that is can be experienced. "Kether is the Malkuth of the Umanifest," as the Qabalistic axiom goes. Taking this phrase in its inversion suggests Malkuth is the Ultimate Reality, there is no other place to be to experience it All. This is it. All potential for anything that CAN be, is tapped through Malkuth--as well as through Kether--one and the same, the eternal loop, the ouroboros of existence.
So, we are taking some time off of the pathworking for a while. Ashcroft-Nowicki is not the only adept that recommends this after Path 27, the completion of the Astral Triad. We will be pretty much taking the rest of the summer off for reflection and deeper meditation upon the paths we have tread so far.
Below are some thoughts from my journal the other night, with a graphic:
Based upon a statement by Israel Regardie in A Garden of Pomegranates: "The Supernals are separated by a great gulf, the Abyss, from that which lies below them. The Supernals are ideal; the other Sephiroth are actual; the Abyss is the metaphysical gap between. In one sense they have no connection or relation with the Inferiors, the lower seven Sephiroth, reflected by them--just as space itself is independent of, and unaffected by, whether there is or is not anything manifested within its emptiness." (p.44)
In essence, Da'ath, the Abyss (Knowledge), is the eternal separator between God and Matter. The levels of separation, in terms of Creation and Death, are prevalent in the Triads. Matter, the Material World, True/Pure Form, is based solely on the Astral Realm, the Astral Triad, which is nothing but an imitation on a denser level of the Ethical Triad . . . which itself is nothing but, through the separation of the Abyss, an inverted reflection of the Godhead, the True Reality. Basically, we are nothing but the output of an imitation of an inverted reflection of the only thing that truly exists; of which, we can never have a true conception of because of the Great Divide created by the Abyss.
Malkuth is truly the ultimate manifestation of Kether; it is Kether in its densest form; it is the Truest Form . . . Pure Form. Thus, being the ultimate manifestation, a culmination of output of all Sephiroth together--just as Kether contains all of the receding Sephiroth after it--Malkuth is the only place in which all that is can be experienced. "Kether is the Malkuth of the Umanifest," as the Qabalistic axiom goes. Taking this phrase in its inversion suggests Malkuth is the Ultimate Reality, there is no other place to be to experience it All. This is it. All potential for anything that CAN be, is tapped through Malkuth--as well as through Kether--one and the same, the eternal loop, the ouroboros of existence.
My beloved and I have been on a 15 month long Pathworking with The Qabalah Tree of Life. You can read what that's all about here. In the meantime, I have been documenting our work as we explore the Paths.
It is important to know these are brief notes. A true understanding of each Path begs a vital understanding of the Sephiroth connecting them. Further research on your own is highly recommended.
It is important to know these are brief notes. A true understanding of each Path begs a vital understanding of the Sephiroth connecting them. Further research on your own is highly recommended.
We have done Path 28, now for Path 27 .....
The Tower. I had a lot of trepidation working up toward this Path. Was this anxiety well-deserved or over-kill? Maybe a little of both. There is something to be said for this Path being the first lateral Path directly connecting the two Pillars of Manifestation. It is the first of only three Paths that do this, so the energies are extremely powerful, potent, and can be jarring for the unprepared. "These lateral paths can be more difficult to deal with in terms of effects on the physical, this is because the side spheres are polarized pairs of reciprocal energy, and you are liable to be bounced between them if you are not careful." (Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, The Shining Paths, p. 65)
This Path completes our Pathworking within the Astral Triad before moving onto the Ethical Triad of the Tree of Life. Again, it is important to understand the distinctions between these two Triads in terms of the Self and Universe: the Ethical Triad being the place where the Individuality resides and the Astral Triad home to the Personality. As I quoted before from the posting on the last Path, from our lineage High Priestess Dion Fortune: "The four Sephiroth below Tiphareth represent the personality or lower self; the four Sephiroth above Tiphareth are the Individuality , or higher self; and Kether is the Divine Spark, or nucleus of manifestation." (The Mystical Qabalah, p. 176) That being said, this Path "brings to life circumstances that offer the chance to survey our entire personality." (Ted Andrews, Pathworking, p. 153)
Thus The Tower card is the gateway for Path 27. It is easy to associate this Trump with the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. However, Gareth Knight has much written on this subject...it is not the traditional fundamental notions that causes man's Tower (Personality) to collapse and shatter from the lightening (the Lightening Flash/Flaming Sword/Initiation), which is that man seeks to become god-like. To become the gods we are is our birthright; that is Creator's design. In truth it is man's Personality retaining its separation, building the Tower prematurely, or wrongly, that causes its collapse (its rise denoting our rise from the Astral Triad to the Ethical, and then Supernal). "The story of Babel in connection with this Path and Tarot Trump then is a reminder to build one's foundations true--(on the rock of Faith, to quote another parable)--and true Faith at that, certainly not the prideful Faith of the Pharisee which sets one up supposedly as better than other men." (Gareth Knight, Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol II, p. 62)
What is experienced throughout the Astral Triad, if the Pathworking is authentic and true, is an alchemical change which transmutes the Personality in preparation for the Individuality (Higher Self) to become the driving force in one's life. "The aim is," again clarified by Gareth Knight, "a higher synthesis, so the Personality is sacrificed , that is, its interests are no longer paramount and its forces are turned in upon itself in a kind of 'distillation' representing the early initiatory process which results in an egg, the germ of contact with the Individuality. This egg is hatched out, that is, the Individuality takes over, at first crudely and in an unbalanced way, but eventually in harmonious control of its lower vehicles." (p.65) This is alchemy in its purest form. Prime examples to more deeply understand this 'distillation' process can be read in the 15th Century text The Chymical Wedding of Chistian Rosenkreutz or Alejandro Jodorwsky's surrealist film The Holy Mountain.
Here we can then begin to understand the Hebrew letter for this Path, Peh, the Mouth. For the mouth both gives and receives, a perfect gateway between the Astral and Ethical Triads. The mouth takes in nourishment and utters speech. In terms of the Personality, and its rightful utilization in the Great Work, the Mouth teaches that "the purpose of incarnation is the seeking of the food of experience in Form for the benefit of the Individuality and the Spirit [as well as denoting the Creative Word of God that] has reverberated down to the astro-mental levels of being and formed a vehicle for itself--the Personality. It is through this Personality that the Word is uttered in the densest level of existence, Malkuth, the physical world." (Knight, p.60-61)
Ted Andrews relays that this Path will "stimulate a stronger desire to succeed." (p.154) Our desire to receive the Lightening Flash of Initiation will surely knock us on our asses, but will our Individuality (Higher Self) reign supreme and continue onward?
"The lightening is not meant to kill or maim, but to scour out the non workable parts of ourselves, a cleansing process that can be painful if we resist it. This is what makes the path a tricky, but vitally important one on the Tree. To resist is painful, but if we accept the lesson of the lightening flash we may end up bruised, but better off in many ways. Two clues to help you further in your study: any building needs a strong foundation, and the title Daughter of the Reconcilers for the tarot card has a lot to do with a balanced Personality. (Ashrcoft-Nowicki, p. 66-67)
