INSANE IS THE NEW NORMAL: POST THIRTY-THREE

Tiger Lilies in  a High Meadow

THE TIGER LILY AND THE GLORY

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!” (Luke 12:27-28)

“It is no great measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” (Krishna Murti)

     Sometimes when I am hiking in the mountains, I find a tree or a flower that makes me want to question everything. Encountering a tiger lily in a high mountain meadow, for instance, I have felt the energies of the sun and the Sun behind the sun within the petals and leaves and in the surrounding plants and trees. I had once, long ago, believed that God was in some far away heaven. Then for many years I believed that God does not exist. Over the years, however, I have kept finding myself before a majestic tree or a flower such as a tiger lily, feeling divinity in all things. Inevitably among the trees and wildflowers, in fresh air and sunshine, I sense light radiating through my solar plexus and feel, as I breathe, the magnificence, harmony, and abundance of spirit. After numerous encounters with ravishing flowers and awesome trees, after visions of spiritual symbols during meditation, I ended up finding a belief system that reveals the magnificence, harmony, and abundance of the spiritual and natural worlds.

Larkspur and Arrow Leaf Tansy

     Not enough is made these days of the benefits of fresh air and sunshine. Recently, at seven thousand feet in elevation, after escaping the pollution and the negative mental atmosphere of human society, I felt a surge of well-being so powerful that I couldn't help but entertain a horrible thought: Humans have created societies so polluted and so cut off from the energies of the life-force that many people think that the Source does not permeate the Earth, the plants and animals, ourselves.

     I had another uneasy feeling: I have formed false beliefs that for most of my life have made me feel less magnificent than the tiger lily, less full of the love, harmony, and abundance that, in the fresh air and sunshine at seven thousand feet, I suddenly knew all humans are meant to experience.

Tree of Life

     I did not know that the natural world is full of splendor until I explored every trail through the forest that I could find. My wife told me at the beginning of our relationship almost thirty years ago that you must have flowers and trees and birds in your heart to truly see them. I have come to realize the truth in that statement: You have to open your heart in order to truly see anyone or anything. I did not know about the paths through spiritual dimensions until I opened my heart and mind during meditation and experienced visions of magnificent symbols: a golden, equal-armed cross with angels at each end; a golden plate and chalice on a white tablecloth; a gray lemniscate over my head; a brilliant thousand-petaled lotus with a diamond in the center; a golden crown; a golden Celtic Cross. Then I found these symbols on the glyph known as the mystical Tree of Life.

Columbine

     Fresh air and sunshine, I have discovered, give me a much clearer perspective. I realized that to be well-adjusted to a sick society I have had to be sick. And, because the Valley is so full of pollution and negativity, I must struggle continuously with my chronic illness on all levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Unfortunately, in my current condition I cannot continue that way and hope to survive to a ripe old age.

     Recently I spent a few days enjoying fresh air and sunshine at the beach and realized that I have a perspective on the central coast that few people have. Forty-five years ago, when I was eleven, my family visited the beach at San Simeon. Starfish, crabs, sea anemones, barnacles, mussels, and kelp tapestried the rocks. A few sea anemones seemed larger than my head, and I was tempted to stick my fingers in their mouths, but I was afraid that they would bite off my hand. I returned years later, only to discover barren rocks: Instead of starfish and anemones and barnacles I found patches of black tar stuck to denuded sandstone. At first I had the nagging feeling that something was missing. After awhile, I realized that the marine life along the shore had been wiped out, most probably, given the prevalence of tar, by oil spills. No one else with me that day had experienced the abundance of life that had once flourished there. To them, the sea shore appeared to be as it had always been. They had no notion of how the life-force had once manifested within countless creatures along the shore.

     It took a short time to wipe out the marine life along the central coast, yet only now, decades later, is the ecosystem showing a few signs of recovery—a few small anemones in the tide pools, for instance. After reading that half of the world's wildlife has disappeared in the past forty years, I'm beginning to think that as a species we are amazingly good at ignoring our impact on the planet. Or perhaps it's even more basic than that: Out of sight out of mind. If we can't perceive something, we have great difficulty believing that it exists or once existed, just as I didn't believe in the significance of spiritual symbols until I experienced them in vision, just as I did not believe that nature is full of splendor until I experienced amazing wildflowers and trees.

Tiger Lilies and Arrow Leaf Tansy

     The losses, of course, are due mainly to cultivation and urbanization and pollution and the need for food in an increasingly overpopulated world, but how easily we forget the threads in the divine tapestry when they are gone. And those threads, I've discovered, are just as important as any spiritual symbol in helping me know the Source. Over the past half century, I have noticed a correlation: The more I experience the divinity of the life-force within other creatures, the more I experience the divinity of the life-force within me. Conversely, the more I forget how the life-force manifests in other creatures, the more I forget the divinity of the life-force as it manifests within me. 

     The more we forget, the more we are likely to see the world only in human terms. The San Joaquin Valley, where I have lived for forty-five years, over the past hundred years has changed dramatically from an ecosystem with an abundance of wildlife to a patchwork of farms and ranches and cities. John Muir, upon entering the San Joaquin Valley in 1868, noted in a letter, “The valley of the San Joaquin is the floweriest piece of world I ever walked, one vast...sheet of flowers.” I was startled to read Muir's letter because I had traveled numerous times across the Valley before I encountered any wildflowers at all—a few baby blues and poppies on a stretch of ranch land. We forget that before the Valley was cultivated and the dams were built, the San Joaquin River

Snow Flower Plant

would flood periodically, refreshing the wetlands and aquifers, creating a flyway where birds would blot out the sun, where herds of deer and tule elk and prong-horned antelope would roam. Since the 1940s, the San Joaquin River, due to water diversions, has died at a sinkhole most years instead of flowing out through the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. Wetlands now are down to four percent of their historic levels, and the wildlife population, found primarily now on a few small refuges, has dwindled to almost nothing. The loss of what little is left is continuously couched in human terms: jobs and homes and people versus species of wildlife. Industry and business continue to win. Because fewer and fewer people have experienced the magnificence, harmony and abundance of nature, the political will to protect what's left in places like the San Joaquin Valley has nearly evaporated. The splendor of the life-force continues to vanish.

     Forgetting creates a disconnect, a moral chasm. During droughts farmers keep demanding more dams in the foothills, ignoring the fact that farming and ranching and a few cities have already destroyed a vast, once-thriving ecosystem in the Central Valley. They ignore the fact that dams in the mountains would destroy more ecosystems so that the public would have even less access to the life-force in all of its stunning manifestations. I would not have known the sacredness of rivers and forests had I not dedicated myself to experiencing wildness on a regular basis, often in places where farmers want to build dams. So many nowadays do not experience wildness at all. So many people, rarely experiencing the interrelationship of life in wild places, have not come to know and revere the life-force in plants and animals and the ecosystems where they live—or in other people. Ecocide, another example of the sickness of our society, threatens the very fabric of nature, yet once again the hydraulic brotherhood is planning to commit ecocide for its own benefit, angling for public funds to dam public lands in the foothills near Fresno.

Tiger Lilies by Rivulet

     Please don't think that I am romanticizing nature. Humans are struggling like every species to survive in a predatory universe. After many excursions into the wild, however, I no longer consider horrible either predation for survival or death. All creatures end up sacrificing themselves for other beings, even if only for worms and ants and flies, which are essential for the health of the world. The transition from the physical to other dimensions occurs as regularly as birth into the physical realm. Since I have experienced divinity within life, I know that divinity exists within death. Since I am open to death, I am open also to the magnificence, harmony, and abundance of life.

     Ecocide, which occurred in the Central Valley not long before I was born and along the central coast during my lifetime, has made it ever so much harder to know the magnificence, harmony, and abundance of spirit because in those places the magnificence, harmony, and abundance of the natural world has vanished. Dion Fortune states in The Mystical Qabalah, “matter is crystallized spirit, and spirit is volatilized matter” (214). Through a uniquely human activity, spiritual ritual, one can get in touch with subtle natural forces, but one can also experience the subtle forces manifested in nature. The remaining ecosystems in the mountains could very well save this society if enough people open their hearts and recognize the Source in all things and get in touch with the divinity in nature and themselves and other people.

     The inability to perceive divinity within nature stems in large part from fear: the fear of otherness, the fear of shattering the ego, the fear that if we stop controlling nature we will never have enough—for survival or to impress other people. During my recent trips to the mountains and the ocean, I realized that my entire life I have been fed a lie: I will be special and respected if I fulfill certain conditions, such as making a lot of money, buying a big house and/or a hot car, or achieving exemplary status in some career. Due to my worsening chronic illness I touched the hem of eternity over a year ago, and I have realized since then that, like the vast majority of other people, I have just kept doing pretty much the same things over and over in the same places for most of my life and that I will never, no matter my circumstances, be more or less significant than any other creature or person on this earth. I realized that every living thing is magnificent, not for what it does, but as a divine, transitory expression of the life-force within the web of life.

Tiger Lilies in Sunshine

     After hiking through the mountains regularly, I have also come to believe that a typical city street is far more dangerous than a trail through a forest. I have encountered bears and mountain lions and coyotes and bobcats and rattlesnakes and tarantulas and scorpions but have never once been threatened by any of them. I cannot say the same about people, especially people in cars.

     Ritual, I have realized, is especially important as a way to keep in touch with the life-forces because we are losing nature more and more every day. After my recent trips to the mountains and to the coast, I understood that I needed to perform a ritual as potent as fresh air and sunshine to help me overcome my chronic illness and keep me in touch with the glory of the life-forces, so I chose to invoke the energies of the Sephira on the Tree of Life associated with Jupiter and the magnificence, harmony and abundance of the spirit: the Fourth Sephira known as Chesed, referenced as “The Glory” at the end of the Lord's Prayer.

Path 21

RITUAL OF THE GLORY

     On the Tree of Life, the Tarot card The Wheel of Fortune is associated with Jupiter. At one point the Greeks associated the Egyptian God Amun with Zeus (Zeus Ammon); the God Jupiter is the Roman analogue of Zeus. As a self-created, transcendental God of creation, Amun over time became fused with other Egyptian Gods such as the Sun God Ra and the fertility God Min. Coalesced with Ra, the source of all life on the physical plane, Amun is the “hidden” Sun behind the sun. Amun, combined with Min, represents the potent life-forces of the Source manifesting on the physical plane.

Four of Pentacles
Sun in Capricorn
Jupiter in Chesed

     The Tarot Pentagram Spread works through association chains of spiritual principle. For instance, the decan correspondence of The Four of Pentacles is The Sun in Capricorn. All the Fours on the Tree of Life correspond to Jupiter in Chesed, the fourth Sephira. The Pentacles are associated with the Earth element. Invoking the Wheel of Fortune using the Egyptian pantheon, with Amun as Jupiter, the meaning of the Four of Pentacles is powerfully clear: The Source, Amun, combines with the sun, Ra, and with the potent life-forces symbolized by Min to permeate the element of Earth, in other words, physical manifestation.

     The association of Amun with other Egyptian Gods represented by the Fours creates powerful association chains.

Four of Cups
Moon in Cancer
Jupiter in Chesed

• In the Four of Cups, The Moon in Cancer, Amun combines with Nephthys, associated with The Moon, and with Khepera, associated with the morning sun and Cancer, creating a state for clear psychic vision, for seeing deep into the soul and connecting with the divine spark and the Source.

Four of Swords
Jupiter in Libra
Jupiter in Chesed

• In the Four of Swords, Jupiter in Libra, Amun joins with Ma'at, maintaining inner balance through connection with the Source even though conflict and false beliefs might threaten to disrupt the mind.

Four of Wands
Venus in Aries
Jupiter in Chesed

• In the Four of Wands, Venus in Aries, Amun joins with Hathor, Goddess of love and the harmony of proportion, and Horus, God of power, courage, strength and discipline, to perfect the inner work of understanding the harmony, magnificence, and abundance of the spirit and the physical world.

Fourth Sephira, Chesed (Mercy)

Jupiter

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Wheel of Fortune

Modifiers: The Fours

Decan Associations:

Four of Pentacles, Lord of Earthly Power: Sun in Capricorn

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Devil (Capricorn)

Egyptian Gods: Ra (The Sun), Min (Capricorn)

Four of Cups, Lord of Blended Pleasure: Moon in Cancer

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The High Priestess (The Moon), The Chariot (Cancer)

Egyptian Gods: Nepthys (The Moon), Khepera (Cancer)

Four of Swords, Lord of Rest from Strife: Jupiter in Libra

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter), Justice (Libra)

Egyptian Gods: Amun (Jupiter), Ma'at (Libra)

Four of Wands, Lord of Perfected Work: Venus in Aries

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), The Emperor (Aries) 

Egyptian Gods: Hathor (Venus), Horus or Montu (Aries)

INSANE IS THE NEW NORMAL: POST THIRTY-TWO

Bobcat Skull

ACCEPTING THE WORLD

     I often hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just to encounter stones. Some rocks, though resembling magnificent spires or edifices, confront the soul with a sublimely nonhuman order. Other stones covered with moss and humus seem as alive in their niches as anything else in their ecosystem. Though forever silent about human and natural history, some stones contain traces of a Native American presence that in the Sierra Nevada Mountains has all but disappeared within the last century or so, the mortars filled with grass, humus, water, sometimes even pestles. A vibration from eon's ago, perhaps from the beginning of time, permeates stones: Occasionally in the mountains I am so impressed by stones that I feel a crazy desire to worship them.

     The energies within stone and earth form the physical ground of being, which has existed far longer than the human race, far longer than any organic life on the planet. These energies establish the basic reality around which countless forms of life have surged forth only to pass away, enabling other forms to fill their niche. These energies are the bedrock of creation itself, but they also usher in the King of Terrors, for whatever tabernacles in physical form must perish. Because all form eventually breaks down, even the tallest mountains, the Gods of creation also force us to face the inescapable realities of suffering and death. The life-force is in a field of constant change, of creation and destruction, which allows the new to supplant the old in a never-ending cycle.

Pounding Stone with Pestle in Mortar (Foreground)

     The Gods of creation have birthed forms beyond the human race's ability to conquer or control, live volcanoes from the ocean's floor and vast mountain ranges and endless deserts. Tiny humans huddle on firm, flat ground as much as possible, often ignoring or forgetting the intimidating forms of nature, yet something within us longs for places with sublime natural forms that tower above us—for contact with another order of being, primordial and majestic, that humbles and amazes and reminds us of the inexplicable vastness of space and time.

     The soul needs to be fed as much as the body. As revealed by the Tree of Life, there are nine energetic states, or chambers, of the soul, each of which requires a constant influx of the corresponding energy of its vibrational state. The type of the energy of the womb of creation is very high, associated with the supernal sephira on the Tree of Life known as Binah. Since this state is on the other side of what the Qabalists call the Abyss, far beyond brain consciousness, the soul must be very still and calm to tune to this primal energy, as still and calm as rocks.

Pestle in Mortar

     The ancients fashioned Gods that represent the basic forms and energies of creation, from Ptah in Egypt, to Cronus in Greece, to Saturn in Rome. My soul opened to the energies of the physical ground of being after I had hiked many miles through the mountains, so impressed by rocks, large and small, that I recently invoked the ancient God Ptah. (More on that later.) Saturn is perhaps the symbolic form of the primordial Gods of Creation most recognized by modern human beings. Saturn's Greek name is Cronus, Father Time. Associated with the Grim Reaper, Saturn rules our subjective sense of time, including the sense of mortality. In a human being's short span of life, Saturn is the crucible that burns away trivial or artificial characteristics. Saturn's pressure keeps you focused on your own path even if you find that some goals force you to plod through great difficulties in order to establish inner wisdom and discipline—even though all the while fear and regret may accompany you. Known as the “greater malific,” Saturn, the most feared planet in astrology, demands that you accept your true nature, your higher self, and take control of your life, finding what must be done to avoid or solve problems. Tests and trials occur so that you know and accept your higher self and face obstacles with wisdom and courage. Saturn never promises success, but through discipline and perseverance, and by avoiding distractions and overcoming doubts and gaining knowledge and skill, you can earn mastery regardless of the outcome.

     Similar in many ways to Saturn, the ancient Egyptian God Ptah is the fashioner of the egg, who dreamed creation in his heart and called the world into being, his name meaning “the opener,” in the sense of opening the mouth to speak the Word. From chaos he fashioned the universe through harmonics and thought and established the harsh discipline of form. As the creator of form, like Saturn, Ptah is a God of restriction and stability and obedience to structures that serve individual or collective purposes. On the personal level also, Ptah is a God of planning and determination, of boundaries and limitations.

Ancient Pounding Stone with Rainwater in Mortars

     These days I appreciate the more frightful aspects of Saturn because as a teenager I experienced a great deal of confusion and fear about death. My grandmother passed away a year after my grandfather died, and soon after that my cousin and his girlfriend, both in their early twenties, were killed in a car accident. I was fourteen. The entire family was devastated. A few years later, my father died, three days before his fifty-sixth birthday, about a month after I turned seventeen. I remember seeing him laid out on a single bed in his best suit the day my mother picked out his coffin. His face was waxy and unnatural; I could tell that the embalmers had attempted to make it seem like he was just sleeping. That same day my mother opted to purchase a concrete vault for the casket that would purportedly survive fifty years instead of twenty-five—for twice the money.

     All my other deceased relatives, placed on display during visitation, seemed pasty and slightly misshapen, as if someone had replaced the real body with a poorly rendered, life-sized doll. Shocked by their almost real-life appearance, I thought that my relatives might want me to pretend that they weren't dead. Whatever the reason for their appearance, I found that I couldn't grieve openly; my formal clothes, the limousines, the hasty ceremonies, the flowery grave sites all felt unreal. The only time I experienced true grief was during my cousin's funeral when my uncle lifted from the coffin his son's hand and wouldn't let go. He and my aunt wept uncontrollably, which caused me to bolt, sobbing, out of the funeral chapel. After my father died, my surviving family never talked about death, and my friends avoided me, as if I might somehow bring death into their world.

     In the physical world, things fall apart. People suffer from defects and illness and pain. As someone who has experienced a chronic illness for forty-five years, I know that even people close to you often remain in denial about your illness or blame you for not overcoming your condition. They sometimes act like they would rather just avoid dealing with it and would prefer that you would just function normally in the social arena and in their presence. Like death, illness triggers the self-preservation instinct.

     Unfortunately I could not remain in the career that I had chosen because illness interfered at every turn, so I have suffered regret, partially because I could not live up to other people's expectations. Since people often avoid you when they learn that you have an illness, even one that isn't contagious, as I have grown older, I have grown more and more solitary and misanthropic. After a recent trip to the mountains, I realized that I needed to honor the basic energies of existence, which include suffering and death, and I needed, as a person with a chronic disease, to let go of regret in order to live a more abundant life.

     I have often wondered if people can truly experience all the

Pounding Stone In Shade

vibrations of the life-force if they are in denial about suffering and death. If we cannot grieve or suffer openly, if all hint of death and illness must be hidden from sight so we can pretend that they don't exist, aren't we shutting out the life-force? If we glorify youth and strength and ignore aging and illness, aren't we also ignoring the life force in all its manifestations? If we shut down emotionally when faced with suffering and death, can we truly live?

     We contact the subtle forces with both the intellect and the emotions. We cannot experience the life-force with the intellect alone. If we shut down the emotions, we cut ourselves off from the life-force on all levels. The soul starves.

     I invoked the God Ptah as a way to experience basic energies of the life-force and to accept the world and all it suffering. I also invoked Ptah to release my regrets. With regret also comes anger at the people who have stood in your way. I needed to release that anger as well.
     Afterwards, I realized that I have ended up doing what I have always wanted to do anyway—though with greater financial limitations than I had expected. I had once believed that a career would have enabled me to do the things I wanted—without recognizing that a career would have eaten up most, if not all, of the time that I needed in order to be a creative, politically active, spiritual person. I have discovered, however, that lingering regret can end up being worse than illness itself, but the emotional pain can also become a catalyst to grow into the person that you are compelled to be. 

     Since my ritual, I have felt free of anger and regret. In a moment of reflection, I understood that suffering and sorrow and limitation

Pounding Stone on Ridge

have helped me to grow as a person. Despite my illness, or perhaps because of it, I have developed the discipline to overcome obstacles and focus on what I need to do to accomplish my goals. With the help of Mars (Saturn on a lower arc), I have finally made a clean break. Why should I have regrets? Despite what others might have thought, I have fought to experience my true nature—and I have accomplished what my higher self intended me to do.

     I no longer feel any denial. I accept the world as it is.

     I also realized something else: My attempts to heal myself through spiritual practices has led to another important application of the Tarot Pentagram Spread—it can be employed as a way to experience the life-force on all levels of being, a way of self-transformation and self-initiation.

Tree of Life

THE BASICS OF THE TAROT PENTAGRAM SPREAD

     The ritual is simple. First, I choose a Sephira on the Tree of Life whose energies I wish to invoke and determine which cards are associated with it. Then, I lay down the central card representing the planet (and symbolizing the God) associated with the Sephira (except for Malkuth, the tenth Sephira representing the four elements, and Chokmah, representing the zodiac). Then I lay down the foundation cards (the Aces), using either the active or passive invoking pentagram. Next, using the decan correspondences of the related number cards (see below), I lay down the Major Arcana cards associated with the Sephira as modifiers on the points of the pentagram, first the Major Arcana card associated with the zodiac sign, then the Major Arcana card associated with the planet. Then I lay down the number cards that correspond to the Major Arcana cards.

     In other words, to invoke the energies of the third Sephira, Binah, I lay down the Major Arcana card associated with Saturn, The World, in the center of the pentagram, followed by the Aces and Judgement, the foundation cards, at the associated points of the pentagram: Pentacles with Earth, Cups with Water, Swords with Air, Wands with Fire, and Judgement with Spirit. Since I am invoking Saturn, which is associated with a passive, “feminine” Sephira, I use the passive invoking pentagram, moving from Earth, to Water, to Air, to Fire, to Aether (spirit), and back to Earth. Then, invoking the Gods associated with the astrological signs, I lay down the Major Arcana cards corresponding with the decanate (see below), first the zodiac card, then the planetary card, then the associated number card.

     The Tarot card The World, while associated with Binah, also represents the “terrible” 32^nd path between Malkuth (The Kingdom) and Yesod (The Foundation): On this path I face suffering and death and embrace the reality of spirit in order to proceed farther in the Great Work.

THE RITUAL OF THE OPENER

Third Sephira, Binah (Understanding)

Planet: Saturn

Egyptian God: Ptah

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The World, Path 32

Number Cards: The Threes

Three of Pentacles, Lord of Material Works:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Capricorn

Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Devil (Capricorn)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Min (Capricorn)

Three of Cups, Lord of Abundance:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Cancer

Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), The Chariot (Cancer)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Khepera (Cancer)

Three of Swords, Lord of Sorrow:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Libra

Major Arcana Card: Justice (Libra),

Egyptian Gods: Ma'at (Libra)

Three of Wands, Lord of Established Strength:

Decan Correspondence: The Sun in Aries

Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Emperor (Aries)

Egyptian Gods: Hathor (Venus), Horus or Montu (Aries)

     Since I identify most with the Egyptian pantheon, as I lay down each modifying Major Arcana card, I invoke the associated Egyptian God. (Any other pantheon, of course, can be used, but to avoid confusion I do not mix pantheons). I have included many examples of invocations in previous posts, so I am only presenting an example here of the invocation of the central deity.

PTAH (The World)

Path 32

Great Ptah, opener of the way,

God of Creation and discipline,

let me accept change, let me accept the world

with its suffering and horror and death,

for I have grown from grief and illness,

for I have died and been reborn many times,

and I shall die and be reborn again.

Great Ptah, release me from regrets,

for I have grown from limitations

and illness and sorrow, for I have overcome

many obstacles to stand before you now

as the person my soul intended me to be.

In the name of Yeheshua I invoke thee.

Amen.

     In order to establish balance at the beginning, it is best to to proceed up the middle pillar first, from Malkuth, the tenth Siphira, to Yesod, the ninth Sephira, to Tiphareth, the sixth Sephira. Tiphareth, or Beauty, is the sphere of equilibrium for the whole Tree of Life.

     Since in the Tenth Sephira the Tree of Life correspondence is “the four elements in Malkuth,” not a planet, I believe the main invocation card should be either the King or Queen of Pentacles, both of which contain symbolic references to all four elements. The Planets and Major Arcana cards associated with the next seven Sephiroth are as follows, in order:

• YESOD, the Ninth Sephira: The Moon (TheHigh Priestess)
• HOD, the Eighth Sephira: Mercury (TheMagician)
• NETZACH, the Seventh Sephira: Venus (The Empress)
• TIPHARETH, the Sixth Sephira: The Sun (The Sun)
• GEBURAH, the Fifth Sephira: Mars (TheTower)
• CHESED, the Fourth Sephira: Jupiter (The Wheel of Fortune)
• BINAH, the Third Sephira: Saturn (TheWorld)

Tree of Life, from The Mystical Qabalah

     The Tree of Life correspondence for the second Sephira, Chokmah, is The Zodiac. Since no one card symbolically represents the zodiac, and since the Kings are associated with the second Sephira, I have presented two possible options for the central invocation card: The Fool, Path Eleven, or the King of Wands, which of the four Kings contains the highest spiritual energy.

     Since the Foundation Cards of the Tarot Pentagram Spread, the Aces, are associated with Kether, the Crown of Creation, and the experience of Union with the Divine shall always remain a mystery, I have chosen not to include an invocation of the energies of The Crown, the first Sephira.

     In previous posts I have presented examples revealing the invocation of the energies of two of the Sephiroth: Tipareth, the Sixth Sephira (The Ritual of the Sun) and Chokmah, the Second Sephira (The Ritual of Divine Madness).

Tree of Life with Different Levels

     It is important to remember that the Tarot represents all of the archeypal energies that manifest in the material plane, which means that some of the cards symbolize adverse circumstances such as oppression, ruin, despair and cruelty, bondage, and poverty. In each case, however, the decan correspondences reveal the archetypal energies behind the adverse circumstances which can lead to growth. This is especially true in the fifth, seventh, ninth and tenth Sepiroth. As I have learned by invoking The World, in order to proceed in the Great Work, we need to honor the difficulties of life as much or more as the more positive experiences because adverse circumstances often help us to grow.

     As I have mentioned often before, opening to the spiritual dimension can lead to contact with malicious spirits. You must protect yourself by performing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram at least once a day. Also, invoking powerful subtle forces can lead to a lack of balance. After moving up the middle pillar from Malkuth to Tiphareth, the best way to avoid becoming unbalanced is by invoking, within a week's time, the energies of the Sephiroth opposite each other on the Tree of Life:

• Hod, the eighth Sephira – Netzach, the seventh Sphira
• Geburah, the fifth Sephira – Chesed, the fourth Sphira
• Binah, the third Sephira – Chokmah, the second Sphira

     If you ever find that you need to re-establish balance in your life, invoke Tiphareth again.

     If you are manifesting the vice of a sphere more than its virtue, you are probably losing balance and need to invoke the opposite sphere, or Tiphareth—or both.

Malkuth

Virtue: Descrimination

Vice: Avarice, Inertia

Yesod

Virtue: Independence

Vice: Idleness, Spaciness

Hod

Virtue: Truthfulness

Vice: Falsehood, Dishonesty

Netzach

Virtue: Unselfishness

Vice: Lust, Lack of Chastity

Tiphareth

Virtue: Devotion to the Great Work

Vice: Pride

Geburah

Virtues: Energy, Courage, Disipline, Strength

Vices: Cruelty, Destructiveness

Chesed

Virtue: Obedience

Vices: Gluttony, Bigotry, Hypocrisy, Tyranny

Binah

Virtue: Silence

Vice: Avarice

Chokmah

Virtue: Devotion

Vice: –

Kether

Virtue: Attainment, Completion of the Great Work

Vice: –

SELF-EXPLORATION 

AND SELF-TRANSFORMATION

WITH THE TAROT PENTAGRAM SPREAD

Tenth Sephira: Malkuth (The Kingdom)

The four elements: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: King or Queen of Pentacles

Number Card Modifiers: The Tens

Ten of Pentacles, Lord of Wealth:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Virgo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), The Hermit (Virgo)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Atum (Virgo)

Ten of Cups, Lord of Perfected Success:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Pisces

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Moon (Pisces)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Anubis (Pisces)

Ten of Swords, Lord of Ruin:

Decan Correspondence: Sun in Gemini

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Lovers (Gemini)

Egyptian Gods: Ra (The Sun), Isis and Osiris (Gemini)

Ten of Wands, Lord of Oppression:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Sagittarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The World (Saturn), Temperance (Sagittarius)

Egyptian Gods: Ptah (Saturn), Neith (Sagittarius)

Ninth Sephira: Yesod (The Foundation)

Planet: The Moon

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The High Priestess

Number Card Modifiers: The Nines

Nine of Pentacles, Lord of Material Gain:

Decan Correspondence: Venus in Virgo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), The Hermit (Virgo)

Egyptian Goddess: Isis, or Hathor (Venus), Atum (Virgo)

Nine of Cups, Lord of Material Happiness:

Decan Correspondence: Jupiter in Pisces

Associated Major Arcana Cards:The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter), The High Priestess (The Moon)

Egyptian Gods: Amun (Jupiter), Nephthys (The Moon)

Nine of Swords, Lord of Despair and Cruelty:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Gemini

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Lovers (Gemini)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Isis and Osiris (as Lovers), or The Merti (Gemini)

Nine of Wands, Lord of Great Strength:

Decan Correspondence: Moon in Sagittarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: Temperance (Sagittarius)

Egyptian God: Neith (Sagittarius)

Eighth Sephira, Hod (Splendor)

Planet: Mercury

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Magician

Number Card Modifiers: The Eights

Eight of Pentacles, Lord of Prudence:

Decan Correspondence: The Sun in Virgo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Hermit (Virgo)

Egyptian Gods: Ra (The Sun), Atum (Virgo)

Eight of Cups, Lord of Abandoned Success:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Pisces

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The World (Saturn), The High Priestess (The Moon)

Egyptian Gods: Ptah (Saturn), Nephthys (The Moon)

Eight of Swords, Lord of Shortened Force:

Decan Correspondence: Jupiter in Gemini

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Lovers (Gemini)

Egyptian Gods: Amun (Jupiter), Isis and Osiris , or The Merti (Gemini)

Eight of Wands, Lord of Swiftness:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Sagittarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), Temperance (Sagittarius)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Neith (Sagittarius)

Seventh Sephira, Netzach (Victory)

Planet: Venus

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Empress

Number Card Modifiers: The Sevens

Seven of Pentacles, Lord of Success Unfulfilled:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Taurus

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The World (Saturn), The Hierophant (Taurus)

Egyptian Gods: Ptah (Saturn), Osiris (Taurus)

Seven of Cups, Lord of Illusionary Success:

Decan Correspondence: Venus in Scorpio

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), Death (Scorpio)

Egyptian Gods: Isis or Hathor (Venus), Anubis (Scorpio)

Seven of Swords, Lord of Unstable Effort:

Decan Correspondence: The Moon in Aquarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The High Priestess (The Moon), The Star (Aquarius)

Egyptian Gods: Nepthys (The Moon), Sothis (Aquarius)

Seven of Wands, Lord of Valor:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Leo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), Strength (Leo)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Sekhet (Leo)

Sixth Sephira, Tiphareth (Beauty)

Planet (in Classical Astrology): The Sun

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Sun

Number Card Modifiers: The Sixes

Six of Pentacles, Lord of Material Success:

Decan Correspondence: Moon in Taurus

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The High Priestess (The Moon), The Hierophant (Taurus)

Egyptian Gods: Nephthys (The Moon), Osiris (Taurus)

Six of Cups, Lord of Pleasure:

Decan Correspondence: The Sun in Scorpio

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), Death (Scorpio)

Egyptian Gods: Ra (The Sun), Anubis (Scorpio)

Six of Swords, Lord of Earned Success:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Aquarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), The Star (Aquarius)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Sothis (Aquarius)

Six of Wands, Lord of Victory:

Decan Correspondence: Jupiter in Leo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter), Strength (Leo)

Egyptian Gods: Amoun (Jupiter), Ma'at or Sekhmet (Strength)

Fifth Sephira, Geburah (Severity)

Planet: Mars

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Tower

Number Card Modifiers: The Fives

Five of Pentacles, Lord of Material Trouble:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Taurus

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), The Hierophant (Taurus)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Osiris (Taurus)

Five of Cups, Lord of Loss in Pleasure:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Scorpio

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), Death (Scorpio)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Anubis (Scorpio)

Five of Swords, Lord of Defeat:

Decan Correspondence: Venus in Aquarius

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), The Star (Aquarius)

Egyptian Gods: Isis or Hathor (Venus), Sothis (Aquarius)

Five of Wands, Lord of Strife:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Leo

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The World (Saturn), Strength (Leo)

Egyptian Gods: Ptah (Saturn), Ma'at or Sekhmet (Leo)

Fourth Sephira, Chesed (Mercy)

Planet: Jupiter

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The Wheel of Fortune

Number Card Modifiers: The Fours

Four of Pentacles, Lord of Earthly Power:

Decan Correspondence: Sun in Capricorn

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Devil (Capricorn)

Egyptian Gods: Ra (The Sun), Min (Capricorn)

Four of Cups, Lord of Blended Pleasure:

Decan Correspondence: Moon in Cancer

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The High Priestess (The Moon), The Chariot (Cancer)

Egyptian Gods: Nepthys (The Moon), Khepera (Cancer)

Four of Swords, Lord of Rest from Strife:

Decan Correspondence: Jupiter in Libra

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter), Justice (Libra)

Egyptian Gods: Amun (Jupiter), Ma'at (Libra)

Four of Wands, Lord of Perfected Work:

Decan Correspondence: Venus in Aries

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), The Emperor (Aries)

Egyptian Gods: Hathor (Venus), Horus or Montu (Aries)

Third Sephira, Binah (Understanding)

Planet: Saturn

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The World

Number Card Modifiers: The Threes

Three of Pentacles, Lord of Material Works:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Capricorn

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Devil (Capricorn)

Egyptian Gods: Horus (Mars), Min (Capricorn)

Three of Cups, Lord of Abundance:

Decan Correspondence: Mercury in Cancer

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Magician (Mercury), The Chariot (Cancer)

Egyptian Gods: Thoth (Mercury), Khepera (Cancer)

Three of Swords, Lord of Sorrow:

Decan Correspondence: Saturn in Libra

Associated Major Arcana Cards: Justice (Libra),

Egyptian Gods: Ma'at (Libra)

Three of Wands, Lord of Established Strength:

Decan Correspondence: The Sun in Aries

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Sun (The Sun), The Emperor (Aries)

Egyptian Gods: Hathor (Venus), Horus or Montu (Aries)

Second Sephira, Chokmah (Wisdom)

Astrological Association: The Zodiac

Central Card of Pentagram Spread: The King of Wands

Number Card Modifiers: The Twos

Two of Pentacles, Lord of Harmonious Change:

Decan Correspondence: Jupiter in Capricorn

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Wheel of Fortune (Jupiter), The Devil (Capricorn)

Egyptian Gods: Amun (Jupiter), Min (Capricorn)

Two of Cups, Lord of Love:

Decan Correspondence: Venus in Cancer

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Empress (Venus), The Chariot (Cancer)

Egyptian Gods: Isis or Hathor (Venus), Khepera (Cancer)

Two of Swords, Lord of Peace Restored:

Decan Correspondence: Moon in Libra

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The High Priestess (The Moon), Justice (Libra),

Egyptian Gods: Nephthys (The Moon), Ma'at (Libra)

Two of Wands, Lord of Dominion:

Decan Correspondence: Mars in Aries

Associated Major Arcana Cards: The Tower (Mars), The Emperor (Aries)

Egyptian Gods: Horus or Montu (The Tower)