THE MYSTIC PATH - PATH 12
6:01 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. 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.
Our journey on Path 13 was perhaps the longest time on any given path so far. It was an arduous journey, as Path 13 is known most for its medicine of the Dark Night of the Soul (as recorded most accurately by St. John) and it was a Dark Night indeed. For myself, I think it was the best transformation yet received on the Pathworking, the Temple of the High Priestess. Now, in Path 12, we are two more paths away from completing the paths proper, and will then move onto the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.
In the Yetziratic Text Path 12 is referred to as "the Intelligence of Transparency," which means this path brings about it a clarity of vision that goes beyond lower psychic powers, it "implies the ability to see things as they really are. The form no longer conceals the luminous image of the Creator but reveals it." (Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. II, p. 194) This is a higher spiritual vision, and that vision can sometimes reveal a reality most people do not, or are not able to see. Bottom line, it is the Truth, with a capital "T."
"The student exploring this path should remember that the 'seership' alluded to on this path is spiritual knowledge in its highest form. Although there is nothing wrong with exploring visionary gifts (cclairvoyance, etc.), it is important not to become an 'astral junky'--one who wanders aimlessly and carelessly on the astral planes. The key is to develop focused concentration, which allows the divine energy to be clearly seen." (Chic & Sandra Cicero, A Garden of Pomegranates, p. 461)
Interestingly, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki calls this "the penultimate path of the tree," which, she says, "connects the Supernal Mother [Binah] to the Crown of the Tree [Kether], it is the path of the realization of one's abilities. Not, please note, a confirmation that those abilities are fully trained, just the knowledge that they are there, and can be honed to perfection with hard work and discipline." (The Shining Paths, p. 161)
The Tarot card is of course The Magician, or Magus. "A magician or magus is one who brings down higher forces to a lower level," says Gareth Knight, onto a "Table of Manifestation." (p.197) The Table of Manifestation holds upon it the objects of magical working: a pentacle, a chalice, a sword, and in his hand a wand. These, of course, correspond to the elements of existence: respectively earth, water, air, and fire. Anyone who works with magical altars (most especially mesa carriers) understand the significance of these elements represented as the channels of manifestation into material form. The magician is master over the elements, though the Source of his power is indicated by his wand pointing upward, to Creator.
"It looks glamourous, this idea of being a magician," Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki states, " in point of fact it is a tough, sometimes heart breaking discipline that lasts for the rest of your life. [...] The hardest thing for the aspiring magician to accept is the fact that the Path of the Hearth Fire is as important as the more glamourous studies. The earth side of yourself must be very stable and well realized before it is safe to go off on to other paths. The best magicians are those that give the Hearth Fire its just dues." (p.163)
What is Dolores referring to by the "Path of the Hearth Fire"? This is not so much a reference to Path 31, but a walk of life as outlined by the great mystic and Master Teacher of this Pathworking lineage, Dion Fortune. Dion describes the Path of the Hearth Fire as a way of life in which "karma has to be worked out before that soul is ready for the Path [of Initiation], and the bonds of obligations are laid upon it order that they may be its discipline." (The Training and Work of an Initiate, p.44) Basically, the duties of real-life come first, and are often the very lessons one has to live through in order to achieve any amount of evolution.
The Hebrew letter for this Path is Beth, and literally means "house." Chic and Sandra Cicero elude, "This indicates that the Twelfth Path is one of containment, sanctuary, or a place of 'being within.' It is the dwelling place of the divine." (p. 461) This is represented of our bodies being the house, or the temple in which spirit can form itself. So, honoring our house, our bodies, is essential to becoming the Magician as depicted on Path 12. " . . .the aim of initiation or evolution, for their aims are the same, is the building of a House fit for the Spirit to dwell in, and when this is achieved in physical reality in Earth, then do we have, with all the Houses of all the Spirits built foursquare on sure foundations and finely furbished, the city of New Jerusalem descended from Heaven to Earth" (Knight, p. 198)
"By wisdom is an house builded: and by understanding it is established." (Holy Bible, Proverbs 24:3)
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