T H E T R E E O F L I F E THE VICTORIOUS LIFE (4)

Lesson T hirty -one

The f i r s t path proceeding from Netzach is that of the le tte r Peh, joining Netzach to the eighth Sephirah, Hod. To th is path, as you have learned , a re attribu ted the power of the planet M ars, and the p a ir of opposites, G race and Sin (o r Beauty and U gliness).The p a rticu la r mode of consciousness associated with th is path is the Exciting, o r Ac­tive Intelligence.

This tw enty-seventh path of Peh is the th ird of the " rec ip rocal" paths on the T ree , of which the f i r s t is the fourteenth path of Daleth, and the second the nineteenth path of T eth . Notice that the path of Daleth c a r r ie s a Venusian influence, inasm uch as the planet Venus is attribu ted to Daleth w hile the path of Teth c a r r ie s a so la r influence, because the sign Leo, a ttribu ted to Teth , is ru led by the Sun.

F u rth e rm o re , the fourteenth path and the tw enty-seventh m ust be in some sense com plem entary to one another, because both alchemy and astro logy teach that Venus and M ars a re com plem ents. Venus has an in tegrating , form -build ing pow er. M ars has a d isin tegrating , fo rm -destroy ing pow er. Com pare T aro t Keys 3 and 16, and you will s e e that the fo rm er em phasizes the development of fo rm (pregnant woman, and g ra in growing in a fe r tile garden), while the la tte r p ic tu res destruction by lightning and f ir e .

In Key 8, which p ic tu res the so la r influence of the path of the le tte r Teth , we see a woman who corresponds to the V enusian sym bolism of the E m press tam ing a red lion, symbol of the f ie ry , destructive M artian pow er. Thus Key 8 sym bolizes the equ ilib ra ­tion of the in tegrative and d isin tegrative opposites, Venus and M ars, as a hint that the nineteenth path c a r r ie s an influence which balances the powers of the fourteenth and twenty - seventh p a th s .

Integration and d isin tegration a re like light and shadow, positive and negative. The one leads always to the o th e r. Paint a p ic tu re , and you destroy the w hiteness of the can­vas, and you also reduce the amount of paint in the tubes. E rec t a house of stone, and you enlarge the hole in the quarry whence the stone is taken . E x ternal appearances of destruction do but conceal new fo rm s of in tegration . The M ississipp i, in flood, te a r s at its banks, only to deposit them finally in the rich alluvial so il of its de lta . W ars tu rn c ities into rubble-heaps and put an end to ancient institu tions, but g re a te r c itie s r is e to rep lace those destroyed, and b e tte r economic and po litical system s supplant the old- tim e custom s.

Thus it is appropria te that the f i r s t path proceeding from N etzach, the sphere of d esire , should be re la ted to M ars, and to the sixteenth T aro t Key, which c a r r ie s every surface appearance of destruction . F o r d esire has in it always th is d isin tegra tive pow er. W hatever we want m ust be som ething different from existing conditions. Even if we de­s ire to hold onto things as they a re , th is d esire w ill line us up im m ediately with o thers of like mind and we shall find ourse lves active in efforts to defeat and destroy w hatever seem s to us to th rea ten our conservative purposes.

This tw enty-seventh path, m oreover, is a continuation of the activity of the path

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of Nun, which c a r r ie s the influence from the sixth Sephirah to the seventh. This path of Nun is also re la ted to M ars, because M ars is the planet ruling Scorpio.

The second path proceeding from Netzach is that of the le tte r Tzaddi, joining Net- zach to Y esod. In th is path a re combined the powers of Saturn and U ranus, c o -ru le rs of the sign A q uariu s. T h is is the tw enty-eighth path, corresponding to the mode of con­sciousness te rm ed the N atural In telligence. Review what is said of th is path in the le s ­sons of TAROT FUNDAMENTALS and TAROT INTERPRETATION dealing with Key 17.

Note that th is tw enty-eighth path links the d e s ire -n a tu re in Netzach with the v ital soul in Y esod. The d e s ire -n a tu re corresponds closely to what Theosophists ca ll Kama M anas. The autom atic consciousness of the v ita l soul active in Yesod has to do with the fo rm ation of a s tr a l p a tte rn s which a re ultim ately p rec ip ita ted as physical fo rm s . Hence the path of Tzaddi has to do with activity which c a r r ie s the fo rce of d e s ire down to the field of consciousness in which the a s tra l prototypes of physical fo rm s a re developed.

This activity is m editation. When we "hold the thought," when we bring our m ental p a tte rn s repeatedly before us, concentrating on th e ir d e ta ils , as explained in SEVEN STEPS; we a re rea lly m editating. This is not the only, no r even the h ighest, kind of m editation; but m editation it is , and even at the re la tive ly low level which is concerned with the m ateria liza tion of d esired conditions, when rightly perform ed , m editation tends always tow ard the unveiling of tru th depicted in Key 17.

On the o ther hand, even the highest fo rm s of m editation, d irec ted tow ard sp iritu a l illum ination, m ust be backed by ea rn es t d esire and a sp ira tio n . F u rth e rm o re , success in such fo rm s of m editation affects the autom atic consciousness in Yesod, and re su lts in the production of definite a lte ra tions in the physical body and environm ent of the person who devotes h im self to th is kind of m ental p rac tice .

Even m ore d irec t is the effect of strong d esire , form ulated into definite m ental im ages, upon the physical body. The m ental s ta tes which take fo rm in Netzach m ake them selves m anifest on the physical plane through the activ ities associated w ith the tw enty-ninth path, joining Netzach to Malkuth.

T ry to re a liz e that your d e s ire s have re a l substance and re a l pow er. A c lea r-cu t image of som ething d esired is a re a l thing. It is form ed of m ental substance, somewhat fin e r than the a s tr a l substance which is the mode of "m a tte r” corresponding to Y esod-- fin e r, and because m ore subtle, m ore powerful.

T his m ental substance w orks d irec tly on our bodies and th e ir environm ent through the twenty-ninth path of the C orporeal In telligence. It w orks while we sleep, as you have learned from your T a ro t s tu d ies. It m odifies the functions of the en tire body, and has its m easu re of influence also on o ther bodies, both organic and inorganic, in ou r environm ent

Nothing in the un iverse is sep ara te from the re s t of c rea tio n . Lines of actual fo rce link together all the bodies whose sum -to ta l constitu tes the physical un iverse . Subtle rad iations from a single human b ra in trav e l in concentric c irc le s like rad io-w aves, and m ake them selves fe lt w herever th e re is a body, anim ate o r inanim ate, attuned to th e ir ra te of v ib ra tion . Thus a strong d es ire may, and does, se t up m ental and physical r e s ­

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ponses at points fa r d istant in physical space from the person in whose m ental field the d esire -im ag e takes fo rm . T ry to re a liz e the full meaning of th is , because it is the p rin ­cip le underlying many occult p rac tices .

GEMATRIA

The name of the seventh Sephirah, N etzach, riXl, V ictory , adds to 148, with the following num eral correspondences:

D'rfrK n i n ' i)' ii 'HR, Eheyeh Yah Jehovah Elohim, a Divine Namewhich com bines the nam es of God a sc rib ed to K ether, Chokmah and Binah. Thus it stands fo r the Supernal T riad of Sephiroth, and by its correspondence to FIX3. in ­tim ates that in some sense the seventh Sephirah is a synthesis of the powers of the Super­nal T riad .

RTt/’K, Eloha Ely ah, the Most High God (Daniel 3:26). Note that the f i r s t of these two w ords adds to 37, the num ber of m '!" ! ', Yekhidah, the Supreme Self, while the second adds to 111, the num ber of the le tte r-n am e Aleph. H ere is a sug­gestion that the seventh Sephirah partakes of the combined pow ers of K ether, focussed in Yekhidah, and of the path of Aleph, which links K ether to Chokmah.

D'rt7K '33 , beniy Elohim , lite ra lly "sons of the E loh im ," o r "sons of God." This is the name of a choir of angels attribu ted to Hod, the eighth Sephirah, in A ssiah, the m ate ria l w orld . The sam e cho ir is attribu ted also to Hod in Briah, the c rea tiv e w orld .

DUTHD, m oznaim , balances, scales; nam e of the seventh sign, Libra; in la te r Hebrew, h o rizon ta ls . The la te r meaning is a clue to the significance of the te rm "h o r i­zontals” in Masonic sym bolism . Note that it is derived from the horizontal position of the beam of a balance when the weights in the pans a re equ ilib ra ted .

]jri3, n akhatz ,to p re s s , to urge; to be urgent, to req u ire h a s te . This word, which is a rearrangem en t of the le tte rs of nX3, is re la ted also to the seventh Sephirah as the seat of d e s ire and passion .

«in». sakhaph, to sweep, o r scrap e , away; to bear down, to cas t down. Com pare with the sym bolism of Key 16 which rep re sen ts the p rim ary projection of d e s ire -fo rce from the seventh Sephirah.

nCB, pesakh, lite ra lly , a skipping over, the technical te rm tran s la ted Passover in the English Bible.

riDp, qem akh,flour, m eal. The re la tion of th is w ord to Netzach, the sea t of de­s ire , is an im portant clue to the inner meaning of Jesus’ parable of the leaven, which a woman took and hid in th ree m easu res of m eal. The th ree m easu res may be understood to be the th ree Sephiroth im m ediately below T iphareth on the T re e . T hese th ree a re the sea ts of the p rincip les of personal consciousness, and it is they which m ust receive the "leaven" which com es from above.

S p iriti dam nati, reprobate s p ir i ts . T his Latin te rm is found in SECRET SYM­BOLS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS, page 30. It does not mean " sp ir i ts of the dam ned,” but ra th e r, " sp ir i ts under condem nation." It re fe rs to the uncontrolled activ ities of the de­

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s ire n a tu re . Yet th ese , brought under righ t d irection from above, a re re leased from "condem nation," that is , from autom atic response to deluded self-consciousness and its negative suggestions.

Netzach is also the Sphere of Venus, and in Hebrew th is is HJ1J, Nogah. The value of th is word is 64, and its G em atria includes a g rea t many te rm s , the m ore im por tan t being lis ted in Lesson 23 .

The Divine Name a ttribu ted to Netzach is fllfOX m i l ' , Jehovah Tzabaoth, tra n s la ted "L o rd of H o sts ," in English B ibles. In some degree th is nam e corresponds to the c en tra l figu re of T a ro t Key 7, a w a rr io r rid ing in a ch a rio t. Its num ber, 525, co r responds to:

□iTDK STIT, z e rah A braham , seed of Abraham (11 C hron. 20:7). Read the passage cited , and you will see that A braham appears th e re in as the frien d of God. T his is a link with one basic meaning of the seventh Sephirah.

KB3on ncDn, chokmath ha-m eb ita , rh e to ric , one of the seven lib e ra l a r ts Note that it is an a r t of speech. T his connects with Key 7 in T a ro t as well as with the fact that the f i r s t path proceeding from Netzach is that of Peh, the mouth as organ of speech.

N etzach, the seventh Path of Wisdom, is nam ed the Occult, Concealed, o r Hidden Intelligence. The Hebrew adjective is TTWi, n e se th e r . Its num ber, 710, c o r r e s ­ponds to:

"H'» y a ra k , lite ra lly , the thigh, but used as a euphem ism fo r the phallus. In the Apocalypse (19:16), the G reek noun m h r o s (418) has the sam e eso te ric m eaning. This is linked closely to Q abalistic ideas which a re associated with the seventh Path hav­ing to do with the activity of the generative and reproductive pow ers of the One L ife . It is an open sec re t in these days that the fo rces at work in those p a rts of the hum an body which a re the seat of m an 's s trongest d e s ire s a re the ones which m ust be con tro lled in o rd e r to win the v ic to ry of which the rew ard is libera tion .

N .B . *|V is reckoned as 710 by computing the final Kaph as 500. Its o ther num eration is , of cou rse , 230.

p i s t o n , a common New T estam ent fo rm of the G reek word m eaning "faithful, tru e , tru s tw o rth y ."

p n e u m a a g i o n , Holy Spirit (John 20:22). In the passage cited , the G reek text uses these w ords without the a r tic le , ju st as they a re w ritten h e r e .