The Mystic Path - Path 26
10:53 PM
Me and some others are currently engaged in an almost two-year initiatory 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 27, now for Path 26 .....
We have taken a sufficient break for the summer and ready to enter the next phase of Pathworking which, according to Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki: "The next three paths are all a version of that spiritual experience known as 'The Dark Night of the Soul.'" (The Shining Paths, p.74) We begin our test for moving from the lower Sephiroth (the Personality) to the higher Sephiroth centered around Tiphareth (the Individuality). Thus, begins our process of the alchemical marriage between the conscious and subconscious mind. Various aspects of the human soul are tested throughout these three paths, "the 24th Path tests the driving emotions, the 25th Path the devotional aspirations, and the 26th Path the intellect . . ." (Gareth Knight, Practical Guide to Qabalastic Symbolism, Volume II, p. 78).
Moving further into this Pathworking, our notions of what God is are likely to change, turn completely upside down. "To the mind, spiritual reality seems topsy-turvy--and the closer the mind gets to truth, the more it is led into paradox [...] the rationale of a religion is to be irrational." (Knight, p.79-80) This takes an intuitive leap past the logical framework of Hod, in order to reach new frontiers of understanding that will often seem downright scary because of their illogical nature. We must be constantly aware of everything around us as illusion. "The Hebrew letter ayin, the eye, fits in with the theme of illusion very well, for the eye is easily confused, optical illusion is another trick of the stage magician." (Ashcroft-Nowicki, p.74) The eye is a reminder of the paradox between the outer physical eye and the inner third eye. "On this path, one must be careful not to confuse the outer corporeal form for the inward reality. Reproduction of physical form is attributed here, so it is on this path that the student can be deluded by the illusion of the material." (Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates, p. 320)
As the Yetziractic text calls this Path the "Renewing Intelligence" we are being provided here an opportunity to face these aspects of our selves and renew them, let them go; which the two people in the Tarot Trump could do if they allowed themselves. We rarely allow ourselves that opportunity, so here is our chance. In order to experience the higher levels of the Tree, our current notions of "God," of a spiritual life, must be challenged. We can meet this challenge on a material level, as this Path calls us to "the complete appreciation of all existing things." (Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth, p.106) With that, here are two more quotes to close as guidance for this Path:
"This path, then, is a way of darkness, but not in the sense that is usually meant in occult work. Here it means that you have to set out on an unknown path, with only faith as a star." (Ashcroft-Nowicki, p. 75)
"We form ideas, if one observes oneself, when there is inattention. When you are completely active, which demands total attention--which is action--in that there is no idea; you are acting." (Krishnamurti, p.34)
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