THE MYSTIC PATH - PATH 4: CHESED
4:03 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. 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 last ten paths are actually not Paths per se, but represent the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life consists primarily of ten spheres (with an invisible 11th sphere) called Sephiroth. Gareth Knight defines the Sephiroth as the "stages in the emanations of the Spirit of God or man in its progress from noumenal existence to its building of a physical vehicle in the phenomenal world." (A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol. 1, p. 24) Imagine the Tree of Life as a process chart, each Sephirah a phase which establishes itself as its own sphere of intelligence, but then precedes the force of movement to the next phase. It starts from the top with from the Unmanifest and ends at the bottom, where Matter has manifested fully to the end result of evolution. We are starting at the bottom and following the path of Creation back to its Source.
Another name for Chesed is Gedulah, the opposing force on the Qabalistic Cross from Geburah. To understand Chesed is to understand Geburah, just as we need to understand Geburah in order to understand Chesed. Whereas Geburah is the center of the Pillar of Severity (and thus its meaning and title) so Chesed is the center of the Pillar of Mercy. According to Dion Fortune, Chesed "is the loving father, the protector and preserver [...]. It balances with mercy the severity of Geburah. It is anabolic, or upbuilding, in contradistinction to katabolism, the down-breaking of Geburah. These two aspects are very well expressed in the Magical Images assigned to these two Sephiroth. These Magical Images are both kings; that of Chesed a king on his throne, and that of Geburah a king in his chariot; in other words, the rulers of the kingdom in peace and in war; the one a lawgiver and the other a warrior." (The Mystical Qabalah, p.151)
In Geburah we understand when to use the sword when it is called for.In Chesed, however, we understand when to use compassion.
As the Tree of Life is a symbol representing the creation of the Universe, Chesed is the first place in which true manifestation begins. When descending from the first three Sephiroth, the gulf created by the Abyss (Da-at) separates the Supernal Triad from the rest of the Tree. Chesed is "the first sphere of our physical universe, because in Chesed can be found the structural support of all that is manifested. Chesed receives the neutral current of the divine light, which has been modified and disciplined by Binah's feminine energy (negative form), and gives it another influx of masculine energy (positive force). This begins the process of materializing the abstract energies of the Supernals. Chesed is the matrix on which the archetypal ideas will later be built into tangible form." (Chic & Sandra Cicero, A Garden of Pomegranates, p.403)
Because of its placement directly beneath the Abyss, Chesed is the place where the highest entities of known consciousness reside (as anything above the Abyss is truly unknowable). These highest entities, otherwise known as the Masters or Inner Plane Adepti, are the human souls who have evolved beyond the cycle of life and death (karma) and choose to interact with and guide humanity. They do not interact directly with humanity, but by proxy via Tiphareth and then Yesod: "When one pictures an inner plane entity in astral consciousness one is operating in the sphere of Yesod--the Treasure House of Images--but one is contacting a being who is really a potent centre of abstract force in the case of a Master." (Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide to Qabalsitic Symbolism, Vol. I, p. 115)
We gain much from Aleister Crowley in the case of Chesed, for he coined the phrases "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "Love is the Law, Love under Will." These statements are often misinterpreted as being a spiritual justification for doing what you want, but they are certainly not that. They actually promote Chesed's highest virtue: obedience. According to Gareth Knight (a frequent critique of Crowley, actually, but gives him credit where it's due), these phrases "apply well to Chesed, for at the level of this Sephirah the will of the individual is completely in harmony with the will of God. Thus Obedience [...] does not mean the willingness to take orders. What is implied is that the soul who has achieved the grade of the Chesed initiation is so aligned with the Will of God that his own will is the same as the Will of God and so he can do no evil--it is completely foreign to his nature." (Knight, p.119)
This is the Sephirah where the Individuality (as described by Dion Fortune) is in full play and the Personality is no more. We can learn much from Chesed and Geburah's relationship and interplay with each other in how to achieve this full-on Individuality. "If we watch life we shall see that rhythm, not stability, is its vital principle. Such a stability as manifesting existence achieves is the stability of a man on a bicycle, balanced between two opposing pulls; he can fall over to the right, or he can fall over to the left, and he keeps his balance by means of his own momentum." (Fortune, p.165)
GOD NAME: El. Aleph (beginning) and Lamed (wing).
ARCHANGEL: Tzadkiel. Benevolence of God.
COLOR:
Blue, or deep purple.
SYMBOL:
Tetrahedron, wand, or scepter.
VIRTUE:
Obedience
TAROT ATTRIBUTION: The four Fours.
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