The Mystic Path - Path 15
6:11 PM
We
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.
In many Mystery Schools, the Tarot Trump for this path is normally attributed to The Star, whereas The Emperor is attributed to Path 28. Our Lodge is choosing to keep to the sequential order of the Tarot corresponded to the sequential ordering of the paths on the Tree of Life, so for this path The Emperor is the suitable symbol.
Of the available sources, Aleister Crowley provides the only account of The Emperor's symbology. He states that the Emperor represents "the male fiery energy of the Universe [...] the swift creative energy, the initiative of all Being. The power of the Emperor is a generalization of the paternal power." (The Book of Thoth, p. 77-78) This Trump deals with the governance of such power, as represented by the rams on the throne, as well as the sceptre. " . . . the ram, by nature, is a wild and courageous animal, lonely in lonely places, whereas when tamed and made to lie down in green pastures, nothing is left but the docile, cowardly, gregarious, succulent beast. This is the theory of government. [The] sceptre [...] signifies that his energy has reached a successful issue, that his government has been established." (The Book of Thoth, p. 77-78)
This path leads from Chokmah, the "Giver of Life," to Tiphareth. The Sepher Yetzirah calls this Path the "Constituting Intelligence," and we can understand that through the governance of The Emperor. This Intelligence "is that which establishes, sets up, arranges, and orders the world of light--the divine life-force--that is born out of the dark womb with darkness itself as its swaddling clothes." (Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates, p. 436). Therefore, just as the force of creation brought order into the darkness through the spark of divine light, so our relationship to the stabilization and ordering of power and energy, in accordance to the Self, can be explored.
The Yeztiratic text also refers to the darkness as a sea. "This sea, swaddled in cloud and thick darkness, is no ordinary sea, but the Waters of the Unmanifest pouring into manifestation. This occurs under the presidency of God and all that 'becomes' from the sea of Not-being is ordained its rightful place in the scheme of things that makes a Universe." (Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. II, p. 165)
The Hebrew Letter Heh means "window," so it is an opening for light to pass through. More importantly, it appears twice in the Tetragrammaton, the Name of God: yod, heh, vav, heh. It is the symbol of incoming life and best represented through the story of Abraham: "Something to think about here is the fact that when he set out with his family from Ur of the Chaldees, the ancestor of the Jews was named Abram, and his wife Sarai, and they were childless until the creative he[h] was added to their respective names." (Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, The Shining Paths, p. 146)
Heh has to do with perception, the perception of consciousness on a cosmic scale. "We cannot expect to perceive let alone comprehend, the whole of the Majesty of God--our vision is limited by the narrow aperture of The Window of our own consciousness or area of realization. It should be our goal though to perceive what we should never have shut our eyes to in the beginning--that single star in the spangled heavens of God's existence that is our own particular vision of Divinity." (Knight, p.170) One of many esoteric references to the star, thus the case for The Star being the primary Trump for this Path, but it can also fit well within the auspices of The Emperor as well.
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