The Mystic Path - Path 13
5:49 PM
We
are currently engaged in a two-year 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. 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, as an esoteric lodge, had to take a break after Path 14, a hiatus to regroup our energies, scheduling, and overall alignment with our original purpose and intent of this Pathworking. This makes sense, as Path 13 is now the first contact to be made with Kether, the Fount of All Being and Manifestation. It made sense to get our shit in order before continuing on to this direct connection to the Crown, the highest form of Godhood. Because the Crown is the doorway into the Unmanifest, it is important to note the advice given by mystic Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki: " . . . this path will be highly abstract, and difficult to absorb on the first attempt. It might happen that very little effect is felt for months, it may take that amount of time for it to rise from the depths of the mind. But it will come sooner or later. No one can take this path and remain untouched by it. I recommend that some time is taken just to read the path through several times and perhaps to contemplate its symbols before actually taking it." (The Shining Paths, p.156) We will certainly take some time during the path as well, as our Pathworking has now moved to a monthly schedule--rather than a bi-weekly one--in order to better assimilate the information of these higher paths.
That being said, the 13th Path is rife with symbolism. It is, according to Chic & Sandra Cicero, "a direct pipeline that unites the Higher Self (Tiphareth) to the Divine Self (Kether). It is a direct route of the soul. The Thirteenth Path, more than any other, is the path that connects the lesser universe of man to the greater universe of the godhead--the god-spark within to the source beyond." (A Garden of Pomegranates, p. 412) The Sepher Yeztirah calls it the "Uniting Intelligence," because the unity of the Higher and Divine Selves equals the essence of Glory, thus Truth, which is the basis of The Great Work. It is on the Middle Pillar of the Tree (along with Paths 32 and 25) which is collectively known as the Path of the Arrow, or the Way of the Mystic. In Gareth Knight's view, "the 13th Path ranks above all others, for it is on the direct line of contact between Spirit and Individuality. It is part of what might be called the backbone of the Tree of Life, the long Path between Spirit and Earth, Kether and Malkuth." (A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. II, p. 145) Knowing this connection, we are reminded that one cannot traverse the higher realms of mysticism without first being rooted in this world, the here and now.
One of the primary symbols of this Path is, of course, The High Priestess. Crowley claims this "represents the most spiritual form of Isis the Eternal Virgin," and points out that (especially in his Thoth deck) her veil is the Light from Kether. "It is important for high initiation to regard Light not as the perfect manifestation of the Eternal Spirit, but rather as the veil which hides that Spirit." (The Book of Thoth, p.73) Crowley highlights the connection to Isis, because another name for The High Priestess in the mystery schools is the Priestess of the Silver Star, "a reference to the star Sirius as much a symbol of Isis as the Moon." (Ashcroft-Nowicki, p. 156)
The Hebrew letter is Gimel, the "camel," and is indicative of two Yods connecting the top and bottom of a shaft, "the one meaning life in Heaven and the other, life in Earth. It is, indeed, a simple form of the Caduceus." (Knight, p.154) The camel, "is an animal known for its stamina and ability to store water for long trips across the desert. The Path of Gimel is the longest path on the Tree . . ." (Cicero, p. 412) Here is another desert we must cross, across the Invisible Sephira Daath, and thus we encounter another (though final) Dark Night of the Soul.
Understanding Daath is essential to understanding this Path. In Alan Moore's Promethea series, Daath is very much portrayed as a desert landscape, where Crowley is found in an androgynous form (a representation of the unity of the Middle Pillar, as well as the Higher and Divine Selves) astride a camel. Daath sits upon the Abyss, that infinite gulf between the Manifest and Unmanifest, between the Supernal and Ethical Triads. Daath means "Knowledge" and it is "the highest point of awareness of the human soul regarded as a soul." (Knight, Vol. I, p. 102) It is often called the "Condemned Cell" or the "Empty Room," because it does not contain any true forms, and is where the last remnants of the Individual soul is stripped away to absolute nothingness so that true union with God can be achieved. It is where the Divine Wisdom comes to purify the soul so that the soul can continue its course to Kether, to God. In fact, it is the final purification: "This Divine Wisdom is not only night and darkness for the soul, but also pain and torment. The first by reason of the altitude of the Divine Wisdom, which exceeds the comprehension of the soul, and is therefore dark as night to her [the soul]. The second, because of her own baseness and impurity, and therefore it is to her noisome and grievous, and also dark." (Knight, Vol. II, p. 147)
Although there is a dark side to Daath, there is also a divine purpose to its machinations. One of the greatest mystics in the past few centuries, Dion Fortune states that "Daath is the secret of both generation and regeneraion, the key to the manifestation of all things through the differentiation into pairs of Opposites and their union in a Third." (The Mystical Qabalah, p. 43) It is often thought that Daath (Knowledge) is the true conjunction of Chokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding). "A good symbol for Daath is the cloud-hidden peak of the Sacred Mountain of any race. It was Daath-consciousness that Moses contacted when he received the Tables of the Law from the top of Sanai, the Moon Mountain." (Fortune, p.334)
With all this, Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki leaves us with a final prescription of guidance for walking this Path: "The only thing that can help you is what you have learned on these paths. Yet that knowledge will be stripped from you. So you must fall back on the only thing you have left, your need to go forward and experience Kether." (p.157)
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