PATHS
PAEAN TO THE GODS Iona Miller, c1983
0.
Ancient Uranus, Heaven's Titan of old,
Gelded by Cronos with one stroke so bold.
I.
Hermes the Messenger, electrical charge!
Conveys hidden meanings, otherwise barred.
II.
I am Artemis, Queen of Night;
Silver my bow, swift my flight.
III.
Aphrodite, the Beauteous, born of sea-foam at dawn;
By her ardent persuasion, the hearts are all won.
IV.
Sophisticated Athena sprang forth steel-eyed and tall;
Concerning cultural awareness, she wisely counsels all.
V.
All homage to Hera, stately equal of Zeus.
Her power and position are put to great use.
VI.
Eros and Psyche: their love knows no measure.
Through trials, love leads them to immortal Pleasure.
VII.
Demure Hesia, help me to focus;
The hearth of the home is your eternal locus.
VIII.
Mighty Demeter, the seed's cycle you know;
From your tears of deep mourning, spring's flowers grow.
IX.
Hail Hephaistos, preeminent craftsman;
Artful his style, bold his creation.
X.
All powerful Zeus, with his lightning bolts,
Dispenses his favors in enlightening jolts.
XI.
Themis, let justice be tempered with mercy.
Condemn none without evidence, never on hearsay.
XII.
Poseidon, the Mighty, with Trident in hand,
Rules fathomless oceans, and earthquakes on land.
XIII.
Fearsome Thanatos, harbinger of death,
With Hypnos, his brother, conveys man to rest.
XIV.
Artemis/Apollo, moon and sun team;
They roam o'er the heavens, through forest, and stream.
XV.
Uncivilized Pan, the outlands his lair,
Betrays bestial origins with his cloven-foot hair.
XVI.
Ares, the Courageous, of muscular mein;
His consort provokes his rivalrous strain.
XVII.
O Rhea, starry mother of the Olympian Gods,
Preserve us from Cronos, who would make us dry clods.
XVIII.
Hail Hekate, tripartate goddess.
Crossroads her altar; there's virtue in garbage.
XIX.
Blessed Apollo, radiant charioteer,
Give the clear light of logic to your spiritual heir!
XX.
Hades-Dionysus, intoxication's high!
Beware of his pitfalls, or you, too, shall die.
XXI.
Cronos, the Ancient, spacetime in one.
It is he who chronically devours all suns.
THE TREE OF LIFE
The TREE OF LIFE has 10 Spheres connected by 32 Paths of Wisdom. We can use the Tree as a technology for connecting with Higher Power, however, we comprehend that notion or force. Using the modern language of psychology (language of the soul) as a level of communication, we can elucidate each sphere in terms of Jungian archetypes, and the various myths associated with that sphere. Briefly, we can make the following associations:
#10 MALKUTH: The Seeker. Can be associated with the initation of the process of individuation or coming-to-wholeness. It is not the process itself, but the starting point. This sphere is also associated with the central nervous system and brain as the physical plane seat of consciousness. It is an aspect of personal consciousness as well as the personal unconscious. Jung speaks of psychosomatic disorders, ideomotor responses, and the archetype of the Persona or social mask; the archetype of the Shadow is our potential both for evil and unlived good; the archetype of the Double is our immortal counterpart. Mythic correspondences of the earthy sphere include Demeter/Persephone, earth mother and maiden bride; Gaia, primal matter; Pan, the nature god; and Hestia, goddess of the hearth, the center. Simple counseling and supportive therapy are appropriate at this phase. It means the end of denial and acknowledgement of the problem.
#9 YESOD: The Dreamer. Corresponds with the moon and 'lunar' consciousness. Also known as the Astral Plane, the realm of waking and sleeping dreams, hypnosis, and twilight imagery. The level of metaphorical perception as contrasted with literal interpretation or "acting out" of Malkuth. Psychosexual, linked to the ego, or emotional concept of self-identity as personal and unique. Lunar archetypes include the Great Mother, White Goddess, and Virgin Goddesses. Jungian archetype is the Syzygy, or anima/animus (contrasexual aspects of self) as it relates to our love interests.
Goddesses include Isis, Artemis, Athena, and Psyche; they relate either directly to the moon or the woman's mysteries of cyclic death and rebirth, or transformation of consciousness in the crucible of the emotions. This is the level of the subconscious mind and instinctual nature; passions (gland central station). Dreamwork is appropriate therapy for this sphere; psychologies which address this level include psychoanalysis, psychodrama, transactional analysis, reality therapy, ego psychology, and dreamhealing.
#8 HOD: The Thinker. Cultivation of this sphere brings about a rational approach to the world. Mental concepts. We learn to approach our problems in a rational manner, and so make effective decisions based on a true understanding of the issues involved, critical thinking. Corresponds with Jung's synchronicity concept of acausal yet meaningful coincidence. Analogous to Mercury, plane of intellect.
Archetypes include Hermes, the alchemical Mercurius, the Trickster, and 'spirit,' as well as certain aspects of Eros as son/lover. Also the Puer Aeternus ("eternal youth"); those who remain too long in adolescent psychology; adult child syndrome; associated with strong unconscious attachment to the Mother (actual or symbolic), much like Eros held for his mother, Aphrodite.
Positive traits are spontaneity and openness to change. Hermes is a god of prudence, cunning, shrewdness and sagacity; invented alphabet, mathematics, astronomy, weights and measure. A study of the psychological types of personality is effective for a rational approach to the diversity of the human race. Hermeneutics and analytical psychologies correspond.
#7 NETZACH: The Lover. A higher aspect of the emotions which includes aesthetics and the establishment of a personal set of values and ideals based on your own personal experience and inner meaning. Must be balanced with the previous sphere for perfect equilibrium and further access. The realm of divination and oracles; the reflective mirror of the creative imagination. Associated with the planet and goddess Aphrodite.
The archetype of the puella or "eternal girl" is a negative or faulty relationship to the father-world. Cinderella complex. A depth understanding of the feeling function as described in Jungian psychology is useful here to move from an overly dependent (codependent) attitude. Love and victory are its qualities. Mythemes relating to this level include those of Aphrodite, Circe; Orpheus; Tristan and Iseult; Guinevere and Lancelot; Heloise and Abelard.
Therapies for the HOD/NETZACH level connect us with our feelings as well as thoughts and process, release, or transform. This is the level of inner child world which comes prior to spiritual rebirth; known as "original pain" work. Polarity Therapy, Bioenergetics, Rogerian Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Existential Analysis, Logotherapy and Humanistic Psychology.
#6 TIPHARETH: The Initiate. The central sphere of the Tree allows a harmonizing of the reasoning faculty with the feelings. It permits a rational evaluation of the worth of relationships and situations, not the emotions which are due to the activation of a complex. The abstract level of the higher mind can be developed through symbolism based on the power of the imaginative function.
This is the sphere of the superconscious, and it forms the link between the spiritual nature of man and his lower self. It is the principle of integration. It is the goal of the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel in Magick; the Jungian Self. Known as Beauty, this is the sphere of self-realization. It comes spontaneously and uncontrollably in its emergent stages, then stabilizes over time, punctuated by peak experiences (as defined by Maslow).
This is the level of Transpersonal Psychology. There is a shift from therapy toward spiritual discipline--notably meditation. The beginning phases are marked by alpha bliss and inspiration. Its spiritual experience is the sense of rebirth. Its psychological models include "self-actualization" and the concept of high well-being. Among its archetypal expressions we find hero/heroine; the divine or magickal child; the dynamics of the puer/senex (or puella/wise old woman) whose positive manifestations appear in the well-balanced personality; and the mana personality or wounded healer.
Important solar myths include those of Ra, Osiris, Apollo, Mithras, Christ, Attis and Dionysus. Other myths associated here are the divine marriage of Eros (Hod) and Psyche (younger Aphrodite, Netzach), and the story of Ulysses (Odysseus) with its quest to return to his original home (the theme of wounding, scaring, and healing).
This sphere forms the heart of the Collective Unconscious or transpersonal bands of the psyche. The therapies which address this depth level include Jung's Analytical Psychology, Personal Mythology, Psychosynthesis, and the works of Abraham Maslow and Progoff's Process Meditation. To integrate this level is to transcend the realm of traditional psychology and enter that of esoteric religion or mysticism.
In Tiphareth, you contact the archetype of the Self, or Holy Guardian Angel through an I-Thou relationship--a personalized dialogical relationship. It is an inner guiding principle. We are still within the realm of the divine Imagination, not the Clear Light. It is experienced as a transpersonal power which transcends the ego, expanding your sense of "self" beyond that of mere ego personality. This is the level of knowing the nature of your own awareness. The transcendent function is a reconciling "third" which emerges from the unconscious after the conflicting opposites have been consciously differentiated and the tension between them held.
The Self is our inherent guiding principle, if we but listen to it. It is the central archetype of the psyche. The Self is the integrative and transformative center within the psyche from which dreams, visions, and other inspirations originate. It is characterized by the union of opposites such as light and dark, male and female, good and bad. Symbols of the Self express the psychological process of coming to wholeness, and it is the essence of most spiritual experience. The Self represents the fullest extension and potential of an individual, and provides transcendent experiences which come from beyond one's own personal powers by divine grace.
Symbols of the Self include the God-man, or "son of God," the Royal Marriage or divine union; the Philosopher's Stone of alchemy, the Divine Child, the snake eating its tail, the butterfly, the ring, and the tapestry. The self also manifests as synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence, sexual and spiritual ecstasy and absolute clarity. Other symbols include the mandala or magic circle, the temple, treasure, book, gift, bridge, star, seeds, eggs, rainbow, lit candle, and weddings.
The glyph of the Tree of Life gives a firm basis for a study of the nature of man. It is a very ancient mystical symbol which represents the ten Archetypal Ideas or Energies that are the manifestation of the Unknowable Mysteries. By developing in ourselves the psychological counterparts of these energies, we can become re-integrated with our Real Self, and know our true destiny.
Each sphere has ascribed to it a different aspect of the Self which is most closely related to the functioning of the energy in that sphere. They are closely linked and this means that a development of one characteristic will produce an effect in the other. The overall emphasis is that of balance. By identifying the different aspects of our psychological nature in this way, it is also possible to see how existing forms of psychotherapy and other growth experiences can be aligned to various paths on the Tree, according to the functions they utilize, and the spheres which are being developed.
Within each of us are the essentials for the maximization of our psychological and spiritual potential. Yet even those of us who recognize the potentials within ourselves and aspire to realize them, still need an effective means of transformation. One requirement is a form of training which enables the aspirant to recognize, select and direct the will effectively to life's underlying archetypal realities.
To be able to identify these underlying archetypes, in action, we must have a means for classifying them, and dis-identifying from them. We cannot identify an archetype when we are in unconscious identification with it. If we can detach from it--disidentify--we can identify it as a sub- or superpersonality, rather than our personal self. This is the way to combat archetypal invasion.
The archetypes we are concerned with in Qabala are by no means all the possible archetypes which may subsist either in the collective unconscious or Universal Mind. But they are the essential seven which pertain to magical or mystical evolution, indeed all that pertains to human life. Adding to these another three, we have all that pertains to the universe both outer and inner, both cosmic and microcosmic, as seen by humankind. Speaking both physically and metaphysically, we can perceive only those phenomena which we have the faculties to perceive.
These ten archetypal sources of power correspond to the 10 spheres of the Tree. Since we cannot apprehend them directly, happily there is another way of proceeding. This is the Way which magical and mystical practices have ever followed.
Each of the spheres has its counterpart within each one of us; and that counterpart is also a focal point for the power of the sphere in question. We can, therefore, work with these counterparts within ourselves--and for the greatest effectiveness this working involves the body as well as psyche--to gain a living relationship with the powers of these archetypes.
The main qabalistic exercise for awakening and balancing the powers of the Spheres is known as the Middle Pillar Exercise. It is a means of imaginally "bringing in light." It harmonizes our being on the four levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. The exercise is first enacted with the body, like a ritual, to engrain it firmly in visceral and kinesthetic consciusness. Later, you need only visualize your astral body going through the motions, since it will be "second nature."
This exercise is totally safe from the psychological perspective, since it aims toward balanced growth. To work thus, by image and enactment, by calling forth within the self the effect which is to be produced in the outer world--this, from the earliest times has been the method of priest and magician, and most recently experiential psychologies.
The Middle Pillar Exercise associates the spheres of the Tree with the human body. Kether is visualized as radiant white light above the head. Chokmah is the Third Eye; Binah is at the throat; Tiphareth glows brilliant yellow like the sun in the heart; Chesed and Geburah are left and right shoulders, respectively; Yesod is a violet sphere at the genitals; and Malkuth centers where the feet meet the earth.
#10 MALKUTH: The Seeker. Can be associated with the initation of the process of individuation or coming-to-wholeness. It is not the process itself, but the starting point. This sphere is also associated with the central nervous system and brain as the physical plane seat of consciousness. It is an aspect of personal consciousness as well as the personal unconscious. Jung speaks of psychosomatic disorders, ideomotor responses, and the archetype of the Persona or social mask; the archetype of the Shadow is our potential both for evil and unlived good; the archetype of the Double is our immortal counterpart. Mythic correspondences of the earthy sphere include Demeter/Persephone, earth mother and maiden bride; Gaia, primal matter; Pan, the nature god; and Hestia, goddess of the hearth, the center. Simple counseling and supportive therapy are appropriate at this phase. It means the end of denial and acknowledgement of the problem.
#9 YESOD: The Dreamer. Corresponds with the moon and 'lunar' consciousness. Also known as the Astral Plane, the realm of waking and sleeping dreams, hypnosis, and twilight imagery. The level of metaphorical perception as contrasted with literal interpretation or "acting out" of Malkuth. Psychosexual, linked to the ego, or emotional concept of self-identity as personal and unique. Lunar archetypes include the Great Mother, White Goddess, and Virgin Goddesses. Jungian archetype is the Syzygy, or anima/animus (contrasexual aspects of self) as it relates to our love interests.
Goddesses include Isis, Artemis, Athena, and Psyche; they relate either directly to the moon or the woman's mysteries of cyclic death and rebirth, or transformation of consciousness in the crucible of the emotions. This is the level of the subconscious mind and instinctual nature; passions (gland central station). Dreamwork is appropriate therapy for this sphere; psychologies which address this level include psychoanalysis, psychodrama, transactional analysis, reality therapy, ego psychology, and dreamhealing.
#8 HOD: The Thinker. Cultivation of this sphere brings about a rational approach to the world. Mental concepts. We learn to approach our problems in a rational manner, and so make effective decisions based on a true understanding of the issues involved, critical thinking. Corresponds with Jung's synchronicity concept of acausal yet meaningful coincidence. Analogous to Mercury, plane of intellect.
Archetypes include Hermes, the alchemical Mercurius, the Trickster, and 'spirit,' as well as certain aspects of Eros as son/lover. Also the Puer Aeternus ("eternal youth"); those who remain too long in adolescent psychology; adult child syndrome; associated with strong unconscious attachment to the Mother (actual or symbolic), much like Eros held for his mother, Aphrodite.
Positive traits are spontaneity and openness to change. Hermes is a god of prudence, cunning, shrewdness and sagacity; invented alphabet, mathematics, astronomy, weights and measure. A study of the psychological types of personality is effective for a rational approach to the diversity of the human race. Hermeneutics and analytical psychologies correspond.
#7 NETZACH: The Lover. A higher aspect of the emotions which includes aesthetics and the establishment of a personal set of values and ideals based on your own personal experience and inner meaning. Must be balanced with the previous sphere for perfect equilibrium and further access. The realm of divination and oracles; the reflective mirror of the creative imagination. Associated with the planet and goddess Aphrodite.
The archetype of the puella or "eternal girl" is a negative or faulty relationship to the father-world. Cinderella complex. A depth understanding of the feeling function as described in Jungian psychology is useful here to move from an overly dependent (codependent) attitude. Love and victory are its qualities. Mythemes relating to this level include those of Aphrodite, Circe; Orpheus; Tristan and Iseult; Guinevere and Lancelot; Heloise and Abelard.
Therapies for the HOD/NETZACH level connect us with our feelings as well as thoughts and process, release, or transform. This is the level of inner child world which comes prior to spiritual rebirth; known as "original pain" work. Polarity Therapy, Bioenergetics, Rogerian Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Existential Analysis, Logotherapy and Humanistic Psychology.
#6 TIPHARETH: The Initiate. The central sphere of the Tree allows a harmonizing of the reasoning faculty with the feelings. It permits a rational evaluation of the worth of relationships and situations, not the emotions which are due to the activation of a complex. The abstract level of the higher mind can be developed through symbolism based on the power of the imaginative function.
This is the sphere of the superconscious, and it forms the link between the spiritual nature of man and his lower self. It is the principle of integration. It is the goal of the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel in Magick; the Jungian Self. Known as Beauty, this is the sphere of self-realization. It comes spontaneously and uncontrollably in its emergent stages, then stabilizes over time, punctuated by peak experiences (as defined by Maslow).
This is the level of Transpersonal Psychology. There is a shift from therapy toward spiritual discipline--notably meditation. The beginning phases are marked by alpha bliss and inspiration. Its spiritual experience is the sense of rebirth. Its psychological models include "self-actualization" and the concept of high well-being. Among its archetypal expressions we find hero/heroine; the divine or magickal child; the dynamics of the puer/senex (or puella/wise old woman) whose positive manifestations appear in the well-balanced personality; and the mana personality or wounded healer.
Important solar myths include those of Ra, Osiris, Apollo, Mithras, Christ, Attis and Dionysus. Other myths associated here are the divine marriage of Eros (Hod) and Psyche (younger Aphrodite, Netzach), and the story of Ulysses (Odysseus) with its quest to return to his original home (the theme of wounding, scaring, and healing).
This sphere forms the heart of the Collective Unconscious or transpersonal bands of the psyche. The therapies which address this depth level include Jung's Analytical Psychology, Personal Mythology, Psychosynthesis, and the works of Abraham Maslow and Progoff's Process Meditation. To integrate this level is to transcend the realm of traditional psychology and enter that of esoteric religion or mysticism.
In Tiphareth, you contact the archetype of the Self, or Holy Guardian Angel through an I-Thou relationship--a personalized dialogical relationship. It is an inner guiding principle. We are still within the realm of the divine Imagination, not the Clear Light. It is experienced as a transpersonal power which transcends the ego, expanding your sense of "self" beyond that of mere ego personality. This is the level of knowing the nature of your own awareness. The transcendent function is a reconciling "third" which emerges from the unconscious after the conflicting opposites have been consciously differentiated and the tension between them held.
The Self is our inherent guiding principle, if we but listen to it. It is the central archetype of the psyche. The Self is the integrative and transformative center within the psyche from which dreams, visions, and other inspirations originate. It is characterized by the union of opposites such as light and dark, male and female, good and bad. Symbols of the Self express the psychological process of coming to wholeness, and it is the essence of most spiritual experience. The Self represents the fullest extension and potential of an individual, and provides transcendent experiences which come from beyond one's own personal powers by divine grace.
Symbols of the Self include the God-man, or "son of God," the Royal Marriage or divine union; the Philosopher's Stone of alchemy, the Divine Child, the snake eating its tail, the butterfly, the ring, and the tapestry. The self also manifests as synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence, sexual and spiritual ecstasy and absolute clarity. Other symbols include the mandala or magic circle, the temple, treasure, book, gift, bridge, star, seeds, eggs, rainbow, lit candle, and weddings.
The glyph of the Tree of Life gives a firm basis for a study of the nature of man. It is a very ancient mystical symbol which represents the ten Archetypal Ideas or Energies that are the manifestation of the Unknowable Mysteries. By developing in ourselves the psychological counterparts of these energies, we can become re-integrated with our Real Self, and know our true destiny.
Each sphere has ascribed to it a different aspect of the Self which is most closely related to the functioning of the energy in that sphere. They are closely linked and this means that a development of one characteristic will produce an effect in the other. The overall emphasis is that of balance. By identifying the different aspects of our psychological nature in this way, it is also possible to see how existing forms of psychotherapy and other growth experiences can be aligned to various paths on the Tree, according to the functions they utilize, and the spheres which are being developed.
Within each of us are the essentials for the maximization of our psychological and spiritual potential. Yet even those of us who recognize the potentials within ourselves and aspire to realize them, still need an effective means of transformation. One requirement is a form of training which enables the aspirant to recognize, select and direct the will effectively to life's underlying archetypal realities.
To be able to identify these underlying archetypes, in action, we must have a means for classifying them, and dis-identifying from them. We cannot identify an archetype when we are in unconscious identification with it. If we can detach from it--disidentify--we can identify it as a sub- or superpersonality, rather than our personal self. This is the way to combat archetypal invasion.
The archetypes we are concerned with in Qabala are by no means all the possible archetypes which may subsist either in the collective unconscious or Universal Mind. But they are the essential seven which pertain to magical or mystical evolution, indeed all that pertains to human life. Adding to these another three, we have all that pertains to the universe both outer and inner, both cosmic and microcosmic, as seen by humankind. Speaking both physically and metaphysically, we can perceive only those phenomena which we have the faculties to perceive.
These ten archetypal sources of power correspond to the 10 spheres of the Tree. Since we cannot apprehend them directly, happily there is another way of proceeding. This is the Way which magical and mystical practices have ever followed.
Each of the spheres has its counterpart within each one of us; and that counterpart is also a focal point for the power of the sphere in question. We can, therefore, work with these counterparts within ourselves--and for the greatest effectiveness this working involves the body as well as psyche--to gain a living relationship with the powers of these archetypes.
The main qabalistic exercise for awakening and balancing the powers of the Spheres is known as the Middle Pillar Exercise. It is a means of imaginally "bringing in light." It harmonizes our being on the four levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. The exercise is first enacted with the body, like a ritual, to engrain it firmly in visceral and kinesthetic consciusness. Later, you need only visualize your astral body going through the motions, since it will be "second nature."
This exercise is totally safe from the psychological perspective, since it aims toward balanced growth. To work thus, by image and enactment, by calling forth within the self the effect which is to be produced in the outer world--this, from the earliest times has been the method of priest and magician, and most recently experiential psychologies.
The Middle Pillar Exercise associates the spheres of the Tree with the human body. Kether is visualized as radiant white light above the head. Chokmah is the Third Eye; Binah is at the throat; Tiphareth glows brilliant yellow like the sun in the heart; Chesed and Geburah are left and right shoulders, respectively; Yesod is a violet sphere at the genitals; and Malkuth centers where the feet meet the earth.