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.
"It's . . . it's almost as if there used to be a path here [...] But, I mean, Tarot paths aren't just roadways. They're the connections of our souls. 'The Beggar.' The statue looks like it used to be a beggar. But there's no such Tarot card. Barbara, we're right off the map here."
"I thought you said this Kaballah business was a map of everything?"
"It is . . . but here, the Abyss, there's just sort of a gap. 'The Beggar.' I thas to mean something. Or . . . I duno. Maybe it meant something once, but doesn't anymore."
"All I can remembers with beggars is those old stories where kings and gods and stuff disguise themselves."
"Yeah, when they want to enter the ordinary human world or something. I guess this Abyss is where God's energy enters the universe from . . ."
"So . . . lemme see, there's just Sphere Four, then this Abyss thing, then Sphere Three on the other side? There's nothing in-between?"
"Well . . . some books mentioned something called the false Sephirah, or the invisible Sephirah. [...] I--I don't think it is a place. Not any more. It's like whatever was here was just . . . I dunno. Collapsed or something."
"But . . . these Spheres are whole states of being, right? How could one collapse?"
"I don't know. I think that says, 'Daath,' over the arch."
"'Daath?' What, like Daath Vader?"
"I think it's a Hebrew word that means 'Knowledge' [...] This place is sort of colored like black light. Maybe 'invisible' Sephira means ultra-violet?"
"Hey, look at this carving of the planets. There's an extra one, between Mars and Jupiter. That'd be where the asteroid belt is now. Do you think it's the planet that once represented this Sphere? That they both got destroyed?"
"What about over there? Is that this place's number?"
"I--I guess so. Sephira means number, so even if this place is a false Sephira, it should have a number. This looks like an Eleven . . . and I think some people call Daath the Eleventh Sephira."
"What, Eleven comes between Three and Four?"
"Yeah, that seems wrong doesn't it? Sphere Three one side of the Abyss, Sphere Four on the other, and Eleven between them. But then, there isn't a number between Thee and Four."
"What about Pi?"
"Pi? But, like, Pi can't ever be calculated exactly, so it's not even a real number."
"Well, then, that makes it a false number, right? A false Sephira. Plus, it's between Three and Four. Ain't it Three point One Seven something?"
"God, you're right. And if you knocked the top crossbar off the Pi symbol, it's that "Eleven" we saw. And because calculating Pi goes on forever, I guess that like the Abyss, it's sort of bottomless . . ."
"I--I think it's a hole through the entire Tree."
"But . . . that's like a hole through existence. I-It feels like a hole through me."
"A black tower."
"Looks like a regular person waiting outside to welcome us."
WE ARE NOT IN NON-EXISTENCE, NEITHER ARE WE IN THAT EXISTENCE WHICH IS GOD, NEITHER THAT WHICH IS NOT GOD. THIS IS THE TOWER OF THE ADEPTS, THE BLACK BROTHERS, AND IT IS DAATH. NO LIGHT IS PERMITTED HERE.
"I--I think that if Daath means Knowledge, it's a kind of Knowledge that's beyond sense. How did it get like this?"
DAATH, IN THE GREAT BEGINNING, WAS A TRUE SEPHIRA AS TRUE AS ANY. PATHS LED TO AND FROM IT, BOTH THE BEGGAR AND THE FOUNTAIN. THEN, THE TREE WAS OF A WHOLE. GOD WAS NOT SEPARATED FROM GOD'S UNIVERSE. NOW CAME THE FALL. NOW CAME THE CATACLYSM. THE LIGHTENING ENERGIES OF GOD, DESCENDING, OVER-WHELMING THE STRUCTURE OF EXISTENCE. ITS LOWER SPHERES WERE BROKEN FROM THE THREE DIVINE SUPERNALS.WHERE DAATH HAD BEEN WAS NOW A DREADFUL ABSENCE. WAS A MARVELOUS CRACK IN EVERYTHING.
"Oh Jesus. You mean . . . the whole universe, all of existence . . . it broke in half? We're living in a broken cosmos because of this . . . this fall. This disastrous accident . . ."
THE THREE HEADS OF GOD WERE SUNDERED FROM EXISTENCE. WHO SHALL SAY THAT THIS WAS ACCIDENT? AND LIKEWISE, WHO SHALL SAY THAT ACCIDENTS BE NOT BUT ARABESQUES WITHIN SOME WIDER FIGURE? OF THIS, NOTHING IS KNOWN.
"But, Daath means Knowledge, doesn't it? How can Knowledge be symbolized by a barren place like this?"
LIKE ITS SHATTERED PLANET OR ITS UNSEEN COLOR, DAATH IS THAT KNOWLEDGE KNOWABLE ONLY BY ITS ABSENCE. IT IS THE NEITHER-NEITHER. IT IS THAT KNOWLEDGE HERE PURSUED BY THE BLACK BROTHERS IN THE TOWER OF THE ADEPTS. NO LIGHT HERE IS PERMITTED. FARE YOU WELL, SISTERS.
(Written by Alan Moore, excerpted from Promethea, Book Four)
