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 key to Pathworking in the Qabalah is understanding (ahem...Binah) the Tree of Life as not just a map of consciousness, but a sort of guiding post for the process of Creation itself. In Pathworking we are essentially tracing the path of Creation in reverse, backwards through time as it were, to the very beginning of all Manifestation. So, in order to understand Chokmah, as with all Sephiroth, we must understand the Sephiroth surrounding it.
Kether (Path 1) the first Sephirah, is the originating point of Creation. I use the term "point" deliberately, as it can be best understood as a singularity, a one-dimensional point represented by a single dot.
Think of it almost like the cosmic egg before the Big Bang. All that ever was or will be has not been made manifest, or yet imagined. However, all of its potential contained within this one-dimensional emanation, a blip of "Light" from the Unmanifest. This is God in pure Unity, there is no "Other" as of yet. But then, God moved. An idea was was brought into being, the idea of imagining something Other than Itself. That idea, that movement formed a line: from one dimension of existence, to two dimensions.
When Chokmah was formed, it is considered that it was merely a reflection of the original Sephirah: a mirror. It is Kether in a lesser emanation, though it is recognized as the purest idea of Force, as represented by being the first force of movement: a line. "It therefore reflects upon itself," says mystic Gareth Knight, "and this reflection causes an image of itself to be formed, and as the Mind of god is so powerful, this image takes on an objective existence--anything that God thinks, is. Thus the whole of manifestation could be conceived of as the thought process of God. 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on.' It is this first projection of an idea of itself that is what we call the Sephirah Chokmah." (A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol.I, p.77-78)
It is from here that we then beget Force being contained within its limitations, establishing the venerable rhythm of the Universe, via Form: in Binah. "If we try for a moment to think what is the ultimate differentiation of existence, we shall find that so far as we can grasp it, it is a plus and minus, positive and negative, male and female, and so we should expect on the Tree of Life to find that the two emanations succeeding Kether partake of these characteristics." (Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates, p. 41-42)
And thus we have the Supernal Triad: the cadence of universal manifestation is set: Force and Form in an infinite tango like the tides of the ocean. "Chokmah is not an organising Sephirah, but it is the Great Stimulator of the Universe," says the great Dion Fortune. "It is from Chokmah that Binah, the Third Sephirah, receives its influx of emanation, and Binah is the first of the organsing, stablising Sephiroth." (Dion Fortune, Mystical Qabalah, p. 115)
Chokmah means "Wisdom," it is the ultimate All-Father, the primal male expression of the universe. Of the two poles of manifestation, it is the head of the Pillar of Mercy, whereas the feminine principle is the head of the Pillar of Severity. As can be obvious so far in this description, it is near impossible to discuss Chokmah without Binah and Binah without Chokmah. It is apparent that through this sexual interchange, the Universe is thus known.
" . . when it is realised that the dynamic male type of force is the stimulator of upbuilding and evolution, and that the female type of force is the builder of forms, it will be seen that the nomenclature is apt; for form, although it is the builder and organiser, is also the limiter; each form that is built must in turn be outgrown, lose its usefulness, and so become a hindrance to evolving life, and therefore the bringer in of dissolution and decay, which lead on to death. The Father is the Giver of life; but the Mother is the Giver of death, because her womb is the gate of ingress to matter, and through her life is ensouled in form, and no form can be either infinite or eternal. Death is implicit in birth. [...] The Rite of Chokmah, if such it can be called, is concerned with the influx of cosmic energy. It is formless, being the pure impulse of dynamic creation; and being formless, the creation it gives rise to can assume any and every form; hence the possibility of sublimating creative force from its purely Priapic aspect." (Dion Fortune, Mystical Qabalah, p. 115, 119)
GOD NAME: Jehovah (Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh) “To Be”
ARCHANGEL: Ratziel. Secret, or Herald, of God.
COLOR:
Grey, sometimes soft blue.
SYMBOL:
Phallus, tower, straight line.
VIRTUE:
Devotion
TAROT ATTRIBUTION: The four Twos; the four Kings.
