THE MYSTIC PATH - PATH 8: HOD
12:22 PM
Me, my beloved, and a collection of crazy souls are currently engaged in an initiatory Pathworking with
the Qabalah Tree of Life. You can read what that is 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. Further research on your own is highly recommended.
It is important to know these are brief notes. Further research on your own is highly recommended.
The last ten paths are actually not Paths per se, but represent the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life consists primarily of ten spheres (with an invisible 11th sphere) called Sephiroth. Gareth Knight defines the Sephiroth as the "stages in the emanations of the Spirit of God or man in its progress from noumenal existence to its building of a physical vehicle in the phenomenal world." (A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. 1, p. 24) Imagine the Tree of Life as a process chart, each Sephirah a phase which establishes itself as its own sphere of intelligence, but then precedes the force of movement to the next phase. It starts from the top with from the Unmanifest and ends at the bottom, where Matter has manifested fully to the end result of evolution. We are starting at the bottom and following the path of Creation back to its Source.
As stated many times before, to understand one Sephirah is to understand its relationship with the Paths and Sephiroth around it. Hod is a part of of the Astral Triad, of which Netzach is its opposite. Yesod is the true center of this Triad, representing the astral plane of existence; Hod and Netzach are the representations of Force and Form that comprise the emanation of Yesod.
Hod is realm of intellect, its planet Mercury, thus it is associated with the Greek Hermes. "Hermes has given his name to a complete occult tradition," states Gareth Knight. "The Hermetic Ray, which is the way of enlightenment through mind. Hod then is very much the sphere of esoteric philosophy and magic." (A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. I, p.168) Hod is the Sephirah of the magician. It is in Hod where the forms of the Universe are built, such as language and mathematics, so is in Hod where these forms are retrieved for magical work . . . for if magic is the modification of reality, is language and math not the building-blocks of reality itself?
Dion Fortune explains how the the emotive inhibitions of Netzach and human nature are tempered by Hod: "It is in the Sphere of Hod that the rational mind imposes these inhibitions on the dynamic animal nature of soul; condensing them; formulating them; directing them by limiting them and preventing diffusion. This is the operation of the magic that works with symbols. By its means the free-moving natural forces are constrained and directed to ends that are willed and designed. [...] The meaning of the Hebrew word of Hod is Glory, and this suggests at once to the mind that in this, the first Sphere in which forms are definitely organized, the radiance of the Primordial is shown forth to human consciousness." (The Mystical Qabalah, p. 230) It is through the mental plane of Hod in which we can direct the astral energies of Yesod.
It will be noted that the symbol of Hod is the Masonic Apron, which is used as a blacksmith forging his weapon, or as God as the architect forming reality. When worn, the apron conceals the area of the body in which Yesod is located; so Hod's forms are best worked when the astral realm is still veiled. That being said, with the place of mind and intellect are the center of Hod's attributes, and Truthfulness its highest virtue, it is something to meditate upon regarding the concealment of Truth's expression.
Below are the various attributions of Hod:
GOD NAME: Elohim Tseva'oth
ARCHANGEL: Michael
ORDER OF ANGELS: Bene Elohim
COLOR: Orange, yellowish-black
SYMBOL: Apron
VIRTUE: Truthfulness
TAROT ATTRIBUTION: The four Eights
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