Stranger Every Day

My Own Website

I recently started my own website, called ninemilestofreedom.com.

The site's name comes from the name of my book Nine Miles To Freedom: The paths of the human psyche, available from amazon.com (either in print or as a Kindle edition) and at Eastwind Healing Center.

 

On the site, there is a blog devoted purely to spiritual and esoteric topics, a short bio, some articles that I have written, a mailing list sign-up (including free stuff!), and some of my favorite links. Please bookmark the site, as it will be changing frequently, with something new several times a week.

Plans for the future include CD audio series, videos, and another book in the offing. I'll still be blogging here from time to time, but my main emphasis will be at my own site.

I hope to see you there.

Is It Too Oily, Or Too Late?

Aren't we all going a little more than a little crazy over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? It seems like nothing can stop the flow of the oil, as all efforts have either failed or have been able to recapture only a portion of the leaking goo. Meanwhile, sections of our coast have been fouled, ecosystems have been badly compromised or destroyed, and the our economy will take a hit of unknown magnitude as a result.

There has been no shortage of posturing; that's for sure. Everyone wants to know who's responsible for what, looking to make a few heads roll. But really it's our eyes that should be rolling, because there's no push for substantive change - just more of the same, only cosmetically different.

I just saw a "poll" online. One could vote on whether or not President Obama is to blame for all this. Well, sure he is - for not overturning some of the policies crafted by Bush/Cheney that condoned the unsafe practices that allowed this disaster to happen.

(Here is an article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about those practices that will raise a few eyebrows.)

But it's not so much a question of who is in the White House. It's more about who really runs the country (corporations) and what can be done to change it. The corporate world does not have the interests of the common people at heart. Period. If we want things to change, we have to wake up and change them ourselves. But voting out the incumbents is an overly simplistic approach. The system has to be changed, not only the people who have been seduced by it.

Alternative energy is one key. Getting informed is another, but listening to talking heads of whatever stripe does not help us to get informed. All it does is soothe us via voices that tell us what we want to hear so that we can continue to sleep.

This is the latest opportunity to wake up and make necessary changes. Not only to the government and to corporations, but to ourselves. We need to get off our ample behinds, turn off the corporate media, and take some positive steps. Eat better, get informed, think for ourselves, connect with each other in meaningful ways, and stand up for what will benefit all of us - not just the guys in the suits whose short-sighted strategies care only for the bottom line.

While I mean every word I've just written, I'm going to get off the soap box for now. I'm getting a nose bleed. But I will leave you with this link. It was prescient (1976), to say the least.

Walking the Paths

When looking at the Tree of Life (TOL), one sees the 10 spheres, which represent the ten aspects of God as translated into human personality, and the 22 paths that connect the spheres. I've posted about the TOL before (here) and have even looked at some of the paths (for example, here). However, the idea of pathworking, or pathwalking, is not often talked about, except in books especially written on the subject (for example, books by Will Parfitt and - my personal favorite - Gareth Knight). 

[An interesting graphic novel series, the Promethea series has a couple of volumes that deal with the TOL and other, relevant magical topics. It's a vividly depicted, entertaining read if you're into that artform]

I prefer the term pathwalking to pathworking, since pathwork is often used to describe the work of John and Eve Pierrakos (which is also known as Core Energetics). Besides, pathwalking implies a pilgrimage of some sort, which is what this form of inner exploration is akin to. In this practice, we take a pilgrimage into our own personalities - and even reach out to that boundary between god and human.

Depending on the path to be walked, particular symbols, colors, and aspects of personality are used to awaken the relevant forces in the subconscious. Each path also has a Tarot card of the Major Arcana associated with it. This card provides the key that unlocks the path to be walked.

The journey begins in one of the two spheres connected by the path (the paths are two-way streets, so either sphere can be the starting point). By carefully envisioning the appropriate symbols, the pilgrim walks the path to the other sphere, gaining insight, wisdom, and sometimes surprising experiences.

It is important to remember that everything one experiences during this process is already within the psyche. There's nothing there that isn't ultimately under the pilgrim's control. I say that because along the way, the pilgrim may experience the negative side of the path, as well as the positive. Remember, the TOL is made of polar opposites as well as complementary forces. Therefore, there can be the occasional Qliphothic encounter. It's nothing to be afraid of, but it can be challenging when it happens.

BTW, I'm considering doing a guided visualization series based on the paths. This format is a nice way to go when pathwalking, as the symbols can be laid out in the visualization. This makes memorization less of a chore. Stay tuned, though, because right now it's one of many things bouncing around in my tortured brain.

See you on the paths.

In the Beginning Was the Word

I know I talk a lot about Qabalistic (or Kabbalistic) things, like the Tree of Life. I also blather on and on about numerology and the relationship between numbers and words. Now, while this stuff can sound pretty esoteric, there is a common, everyday board game that approaches these highly arcane subjects in a relatively simple way.  

I speak, of course, of Scrabble.

Each tile has a letter, and each letter has a numeric value (from 10 points for the Z and the Q, to 1 point for vowels and common letters like T and N). Players stare at their rack of seven tiles, anagramming like fiends, trying to find the big play, given the current board situation. It's alternately maddening and rewarding, like a love affair with a deeply disturbed human.

There have been about 150 million Scrabble sets sold world-wide. It is estimated that one in three American households owns a set. What is the appeal? Sure, it's harmless fun, builds word power, etc., but there's more. There's a Scrabble cult, since it touches something in the human psyche so deeply that its pull cannot be denied.

There are people, like some of the Qabalistic scholars of old, who become so obsessed with the game that they go over the edge, shall we say. Consider the documentary Word Wars, for instance. Nobody is more taken with the game than characters like "G.I. Joel" Sherman (the G.I. stands for gastrointestinal), tai-chi word machine Joe Edly, brain supplement freak Matt Graham, and spliff-tokin' Marlon Hill. These guys are as fascinating as a traffic accident (but not nearly so gross - though you may not agree once you get a look at G.I. Joel's apartment in the film), and they're all going for the national championship. All in all, a very interesting portrayal. But don't take my word for it, judge for yourself. Here's the trailer:

A flash animation, entitled Craziest, by Liz Dubelman (of VidLit), takes the mystical aspects of Scrabble a little further. In this funny and clever work, she pursues the game as oracle. It's a position that any Scrabble player can relate to. Even non-players can get a message from this. After all, the human mind is driven to make sense and patterns from the seeming chaos known as reality.

In this pattern-making, we feel power and control, and maybe it's true. Like the guy in the Word Wars trailer says, "See, in this game, you can beat God if you got the right tiles."

My Scrabble prayer to you: May you have many multi-bingo Scrabble games, and may you hit the triple-triple before you die.

The Holy Family of the Central Pillar

As I promised last time, I want to blab at you a little bit about the central pillar of the Tree of Life (TOL, which stands for Tree of Life, not "tooting out loud," or some other texting shorthand - oh, how I weep for our language).

 The central pillar of the TOL is composed of four spheres: Kether (Crown, white), Tiphareth (Beauty, golden yellow), Yesod (Foundation, violet) and Malkuth (Kingdom, multi-colored). A brief explanation of them can be found in my blog on the Tree itself. The relationship among these spheres is fascinating, and is worth many hours of meditation.

[For the rest of this entry, I may be coming off as a little sexist, or at least a little genderish. Please don't get all upset with me. I'm talking gender polarities here. I'm not trying to be either misogynistic or misanthropic. Sorry for the interruption, but I had to say that. These days, people can get so sensitive.]

First, Kether is the outpouring of the Divine, and is like God the Father in Christianity. Next comes Tiphareth, seat of Christ Consciousness; God the Son, if you will. It is also the seat of the ideal, primal human or Adam Kadmon. At the base is Malkuth, God the Holy Spirit. However, Malkuth is also the seat of the Shekinah, the Female aspect of the godhead in ancient Hebrew mysticism. At times, Qabalists will refer to Malkuth as "the bride" of Kether. I didn't forget Yesod, but it is the odd one out. This sphere is where little ol' us come into the picture. Yesod is the residence of the human collective unconscious, and the individual soul. This is the place where we get messages from the Divine.

Looked at another way, the central pillar represents the Holy Family of Joseph (Kether), Jesus (Tiphareth), and Mary (Malkuth) - or as my mother used to swear at us kids, "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! If you kids don't quiet down, I'm going to . . . (insert here the scariest thing you can imagine a Sicilian mother doing with some unnamed cooking utensil)

The Holy Trinity, the Holy Family; sometimes I miss Catholicism, but only sometimes. At any rate, the way these spheres, and all spheres, connect on the Tree is via paths. Each of these paths has a Tarot trump associated with it. From Kether to Tiphareth, the High Priestess is the path. From Tiphareth to Yesod, it's Temperance, and from Yesod to Malkuth, it's The World.

This gets complicated quickly, so I will try to be brief. The High Priestess (see the last post) is the holder of memory and guards the entrance into the Holy of Holies. Temperance is represented by an angel (Michael, angel of the heart and Tiphareth). When we communicate with our highest nature, the Christ Consciousness, we are having what Qabalists call the "conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel." This is how high consciousness speaks to us meat puppets. Making our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs into 3D reality is accomplished by the force symbolized by The World, a card associated with limitation and restraint. How else could the chaos of our minds become reality without a little restraint?

It is said that the Tree is embodied in us, and that the Malkuth of any Tree is the Kether of the next. Like Ezekiel's wheels within wheels, perhaps. Nevertheless, it is possible for us to commune with the primal forces of the Masculine, the Feminine, and their union, the Child. This is done through the powers of our imagination and our intuition which, not so coincidentally, are said to reside in Yesod.

If you aren't completely confused by now, congratulations. Now do you see why some people say we made our first mistake as a species when we came down out of the trees?

The Way of Compassion and Wisdom

Of all the flavors of Reiki, I think I like Reiki Jin Kei Do (JKD) the best. Reiki is a Japanese healing system that is used for relaxation, channeling healing energy, and personal development. There are plenty of stories about Reiki's origins, mostly bogus from what I can tell. Feel free to Google Reiki and see what I'm talking about. Aside from its formulation by Mikao Usui, much of the rest of it is pure, if sometimes educated, conjecture. The biggest problem is that the information is a century old, with not much of it in writing.

However, the case for JKD is a bit different. It came to the West about twenty years ago in the person of Seiji Takamori, a Japanese monk who chose a grad student at the University of Wisconsin (Dr. Ranga Premaratna) to give the teaching to. Ranga has passed the lineage to only a few people, and currently lives in Australia. (That's the Kanji for Reiki Jin Kei Do at left)

Iowa is a curious, wonderful place, and Iowa City is even curiouser, to borrow from Alice in Wonderland. This town I live in is filthy with Reiki Master/Teachers (if filthy is a word that can be used with something as marvelous as Reiki). I like to say that you can't swing a dead cat in this town without hitting a Reiki Master (don't know why I find that image so amusing, but I do -- sorry. Oh, yeah, now I remember why. See my post about cats.).

However, even with all those Reiki Masters, there are only four Masters in the JKD lineage here, and only a few others in the entire state. JKD is something pretty special. It is a way of life, and a path to enlightenment. The word Jin means Compassion, while Kei means Wisdom. These are considered the essential qualities to cultivate. So, not only is it a path of healing and helping, but also a path of accelerated personal development. An outrageously good deal, all in all, though it is not without its discipline. Once embarking upon this path, it is necessary to devote oneself to spiritual work and pursue both meditation and an energy cultivation practice like qigong, taiji, or yoga.

Thinking about these things brought me to the Tree of Life (what a surprise!!). On the Tree, the sphere Chokmah is concerned with Wisdom, while Chesed (Mercy) is the sphere of Compassion. My post on the Tree of Life can be found here.

Connecting these two spheres is the so-called 16th Path, associated with the Tarot trump The Heirophant. My post on that card can be found here. So it would seem that an excellent way to reach that place of integration would be to engage our inner Heirophant, paying close attention to the inner voice of the Higher Self.

The 16th Path is also associated with the Hebrew letter Vav, which is a tent peg, that which anchors things. Our wisdom is anchored and applied in the world by our compassion, for in that interaction with others, the way is shown most clearly. Vav is also a generative letter, that which provides the activity of the Male principle. Therefore, we are called upon to apply ourselves to the world, making things happen. We aren't only to feel the pain of the world. We are required to remedy it as best we can. JKD asks this of its practitioners as well.

This practice can take many directions, from day-to-day interactions to an actual healing practice. While JKD practitioners are not required to have a healing practice, many do. In a brief paper I wrote entitled The Roles of Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding in Health (you can read it here and it can also be gotten to through the Archives of Eastwind Healing Center's website), I explore the interactions of these three concepts -- Compassion can be looked at as the fuel that powers all this.

If you have the opportunity to be attuned to the JKD lineage, do it if you are interested in healing and personal growth. You won't be disappointed.

Chakras and the Planets of the Ancients

Man, how often does this happen?? A bit after 12:30 p.m. today the exact time will be: 12:34:56, 7/8/09 (of course, that already happened once today, shortly after midnight). I suppose 1:23:45, 6/7/08 came close.

Fun with numbers, eh?

Recently, while giving a Reiki treatment, I was struck with the profound energies surrounding the chakras, and some of the associations that have been formed over time. Specifically in the Western mystery tradition, planets and metals have been associated with these seven, prime energy centers of the human body. They are located at (common name and planet in parentheses):

• the perineum (Root chakra; Saturn)
• just below the navel (Sacral chakra; Mars)
• at the solar plexus (Solar Plexus chakra; Jupiter)
• at the heart (Heart chakra; Sun)
• at the throat (Throat chakra; Venus)
• at the brow (Third Eye chakra; Moon)
• at the crown of the head (Crown chakra; Mercury)

Notice that these assignments were made before the discovery of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (and I still think Pluto is a planet, dadgumit!)

These associations weren't made will-nilly. For instance, Saturn (associated with Binah on the Tree of Life -- see my post on the Tree of Life here. It's the one dated 4/11/09.) is seen as a limiting force, but it also allows things to come into concrete existence. The Root chakra is our connection with the Earth, so that correspondence makes sense. Mars, the action-driven force that pushes us to create is linked to our Sacral, generative chakra. Jupiter, with its expansiveness is link with the chakra of Will, which pushes us forward in the world. The Sun is linked with the Heart center, which aligns with the Tree of Life sphere of Tiphareth, our connection to the Son (trust me on this, as it's a long dissertation involving Qabalistic ramblings and mystical traditions). Venus, the expresser of beauty is linked to our expressive Throat center. The Moon, that mystical, feminine, intuitive planetary body is set into the Third Eye, our intuitive center. Finally, Mercury is at the crown. Mercury, messenger of the gods, linked to the point where we receive messages from the gods. Good fit.

Try this exercise: Visualize the planets or their mythological human representations at each of the seven centers. If you have a problem with visualizing more than one at a time, that's no biggie; do one at a time. Concentrating on each center, feel the energy of it. Just let it come, don't force it. See how the center feels to you. See if it makes sense to place that planet there. How does it fit? How does it not? Let it rumble around in your consciousness for a while. Nestle into it and let it flow. See where it takes you.

There are colors associated with the chakras too. I don't want to get into that now, since there are several systems, and the one I favor doesn't match the most popular one.  Sigh, always the outlier, this guy.

Take time to have fun with your chakras, because they have fun with you.

Live H2O concert

Go to www.liveh2o.org today (6/21/09) or whenever you read this to learn about and maybe even participate in an amazing global event. I'll write a bit more about the "love" tone later. For now, go to the site. Read about the project. Participate if you see this in time enough (by 7 p.m. CDT today) to do so.

72 Names of God

I decided not to put this under the "Religion" category, because this topic not strictly religious per se. It comes close, though.

The practice of the 72 names of God is a curious phenomenon. It is a practice based in Qabalah (a.k.a. Kabbalah), a Jewish mystical system that has also been appropriated to some extent by the Western Mystery tradition.

The names are not really actual names. They come from the book of Exodus (Ex. 14:19 - 21). That's the bit where Moses parts the waters of the Red (Reed?) Sea. Don't know why they picked those three verses, but they did. In Hebrew, each of these three verse contains 72 letters (maybe that's why they were picked).

Anyway, here's how the names are formed: Take the first letter from the first verse, the last letter from the second verse, and the first letter from the third verse. This gives you the first name. Similarly, the second name is formed by the second letter of the first verse, the second to last letter of the second verse, and the second letter of the third verse. Do the same with each combination and there you have it -- the 72 "names of God."

Now, this is more than an arcane little exercise, though I grant you that it is one. Over time, various associations have been made between the combinations and magickal purposes. In essence, the combinations have been used as charms, talismans, and incantations for or against certain outcomes.

My personal favorite is: מהש or "mem heh shin" (pronounced maym hay sheen). Remember that Hebrew is read right to left, so mem is the letter on the right, followed (preceded?) by heh and shin. This particular combination is associated with healing, and there are numerous anecdotes of its effectiveness in the healing realm. It has other uses, such as "helps live in peace with all; dominates magic, the occult, and theology; influences learning and healing." This last bit is from the work of Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 1652). -- An interesting aside: these three letters, when rearranged, form Moshe, the name of Moses in Hebrew. When used, the 72 names are typically either pronounced, or chanted letter by letter. Alternatively, they can be inscribed on something and worn or hidden.

Some other nice ones are אלד "aleph lamed dalet" for protection against the evil eye (maybe not such a big deal to you, but to us Sicilians, it matters); אכא "aleph kaph aleph" to restore meaning and purpose to life; ללה "lamed lamed heh" for peaceful, safe sleep; and פהל "peh heh lamed" to banish addictions and change destructive behavior. Oh, and one more. To build self-esteem, use: ההה "heh heh heh" -- that's right, it's "hey, hey, hey" for self-esteem. No lie.

Cool! Combos for every occasion. A modern book on these names has been written by Yehuda Berg, entitled The 72 Names of God, Technology for the Soul. The Bergs and their Kabbalah Centers are a bit controversial (but, hey, Madonna likes them). Be that as it may, the scholarship behind this book is good and builds on the work of Kircher and Cornelius Agrippa.

Potentially powerful, as well as fun to use, fun to write, and fun to inscribe on your forehead (Well, maybe not that last one -- besides right to left and backwards from looking in a mirror? My eyes are glazing over.). In any event, the 72 names of God present the chance for magickal, meditative possibilities and tense, talismanic titillation.

Now, which name is it that wards off alliteration???

1.6180339887, etc.

The title of this post is the beginning sequence of numbers comprising the unending mathematical ratio known as φ (Phi - pronounced "fie" by most people; or "fee," as mathematicians pronounce it -- to avoid confusion with π, Pi). It is also known commonly as the Golden Ratio or Golden Mean. It can be visualized as the ratio between the sides of a rectangle, constructed as shown at right. The number itself is what you get when you solve (1 + √5)/2. You can see the result worked out to its first 20,000 places here.

Interestingly, it's also approximated by a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 . . . where any given term is obtained by adding the two previous terms. The Fibonacci series is an infinite series, and as the numbers get larger, dividing any term by the previous term results in a closer estimate of φ. This ratio also has the truly weird mathematical property of its inverse (1/φ) being equal to itself minus one (φ - 1).

Curiously, a regular pentagon is filled with this ratio. Is this why we have five appendages (head, arms, legs) sticking out of our trunks?  (Hmmm, I'll have to talk about the number 5 sometime, like I did recently with the number 4.)

Now all you curious and bright people out there already know much of this, or at least have heard of it. You know, how the Golden Mean is the most pleasing ratio to the human eye, how much of classical architecture is based on it, and even how it appears over and over again in nature, the chambered nautilus being one of the most famous examples. However, it's also used by some to track stock market movement, plants grow according to its ratio, and φ is the basis for our perception of beauty in a human face. Oddly, it is also the approximate shape of credit cards and driver's licenses (less than a millimeter off). Yeah, I know. Bizarre.

It gets even more curious. This ratio appears in the most unexpected places. The one I find most interesting is in the structure of DNA. The double helix of DNA is arranged such that each full cycle of the spiral measures 34 angstroms long by 21 angstroms wide. Look at the Fibonacci series above. See those two numbers? Spooky.

What's the Universe trying to tell us here? What makes this ratio so golden, so sacred? And why couldn't the Golden Ratio have been something simple, like one-half? You know, easy to work out. What's with all the irrationality, like with π?

Maybe we're being told that the universe isn't simple, but it is elegant. Also, perhaps that rationality isn't all it's cracked up to be -- that true beauty lies in the mysterious, irrational side of things. Things we can approximate with the rational, but can never truly grasp.

Gotta love the mystery.

Number Four

Tomorrow (5/18/09) is a 4 Deer (Manik) day in the Mayan calendar. Yeah, I know, I haven't done much with the Mayan calendar lately, so I figured, "Why not?"

Anyway, the interesting thing about this the whole "4" thing. Most people think of a square when they think about the number four, and that's important, because four is associated with stability and manifestation. Think of the four elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) of the ancients and how those elements are responsible for all that exists. The Mayans associated 4 with stability as well, seeing it as the number that establishes boundaries within which creation can take place.

Interestingly enough, Deer energy is also associated with stability in the sense that the Deer traditionally is seen as the anumal that supports the pillars of the four directions. This allows Deer to see evil coming from any direction and to dispel it. However, this is always in service to the community, the Deer being a selfless energy. So, a 4 Deer day is a good one for taking stock and looking around, for being truly present, and for manifesting that which is desired for the greater good. It is a day of service.

Yet there's more to the number four. Chesed, the fourth sphere on the Tree of Life, is known for the qualities of Mercy and Compassion. A sphere of expansive service, it assists by bringing order to chaos. It is known also as the sphere of the Masters of Compassion, the highest place on the Tree that we, as mortals, can embody. Those who attain this level are persons of service and sacrifice, looking to the good of all. Kind of Deer-like, wouldn't you say?

Another association is that of the Quaternity. No, it's not the smallest Greek organization on campus (having only four members). Rather, it's a term from Jungian psychology denoting a high level of personal integration. It shows up in dreams as a group of four persons, two male and two female. Ideally there is a wise, old couple, and a younger, questing couple. Not that every dream with four people in it is a sign of high development, mind you, but it's typically a good sign when it happens

Watch for fours in your life. While it is a number of limitation, it can also signal a change for the good. Think four-leaf clovers. Limits are necessary, since without them, nothing can take form. And, as a reminder, Chesed is the sphere of Jupiter, the planet of good fortune. Or is that fourtune?

Tree of Life

Since it's Easter weekend, I got to thinking about the Tree of Life (TOL). The Christ story is mixed up with trees, beginning and end. We got Christmas trees, and Christ nailed to a tree, as the cross. Today, I won't get into all the stuff about savior/god figures and trees. The link runs long and deep -- as Casey Stengel is reported to have said, "You could look it up."

The TOL has become quite a symbol in Western esotericism. Arising from Qabalistic (aka Kabbalistic, etc.) thought, the TOL signifies many things, from our journey back to the Source, to the structure of the human psyche, to the path taken by the mind of God from the unmanifest to the fully material. Just an intro today, since TOL study is mind-bendingly deep. What I'm giving you here is true, but there's so very much more.

The TOL has 10 spheres, or sephiroth, on it, connected by 22 paths. There is also an 11th sphere, which is hidden, but I don't want to get into that now. At the top is Kether (the Crown). It is the first burst of manifestation from the unmanifest. It is virtually unknowable. It's like the Big Bang, but continuously on-going, and is associated with something called "the whirlings" (as I've mentioned before). Next comes Chokmah (Wisdom). It's at the top of right side of the diagram. It is the primal male/father principle, the Divine seed. It is associated with the entire zodiac. But Wisdom is nothing without Understanding, which is the name of the next sphere, Binah. This is the Divine Mother, the one that assures that things become manifest by limiting their vibrations to those that resonate with out reality. The planet Saturn is associated with Binah. These first three are considered a triad that work as a unit.

The next triad is composed of the 4th, 5th, and 6th spheres of the tree. The fourth is Chesed (Mercy), the sphere of compassion. It is at the middle right. It is said that this is the highest sphere at which an incarnate human can resonate. This is where the great mystics, saviors, etc. reside. It is associated with the planet Jupiter. Next comes Geburah (Severity), which is opposite Chesed and balances it. This sphere allows us to temper our mercy with judgment. These two spheres are rather interdependent. Too much of one or the other leads to an unbalanced approach to life. Geburah is associated with the planet Mars. The sixth sphere is Tiphareth (Beauty). This is the heart centered sphere which is the balancing point of the tree. It has more paths connected to it than any other sphere. When we are at our most balanced, this is where we are centered. It is associated with the Sun. (Notice its direct communication with God via Kether). In fact, it connects with all of the first three spheres - no other point on the tree does that directly.

The next triad is the 7th, 8th, and 9th spheres. Number seven is Netzach (Victory). It's the one on the lower right of the tree. It is associated with the desire nature of the human psyche. All that we wish for and covet find homes here. Out of control Netzach energy leads to several of the seven deadly sins, like Lust, Gluttony, Covetousness, and Envy. Hmmm, four out of seven - not bad. (The other three, for the record, are Pride, Anger, and Sloth). Anyway, this is the sphere of Venus - not surprisingly. The eighth is Hod (Splendor), the sphere of the human intellect. In the ideal case, reason balances desire. Interestingly, this is also traditionally seen as the sphere where our ideas of God reside; that is to say, this is where the godforms arise. Everything from the bearded old guy, to Thor with his hammer, to Diana with her bow. (Strange story: Once, while meditating on this sphere, I was indeed confronted by Thor. The dude has a temper. -- Details maybe at another time). Hod is associated with the planet Mercury. The ninth sphere is Yesod (Foundation). This is our intuitive sphere, the place of the collective unconscious. It is associated with the Moon. This is a good place to go for insight and clarvoyance.

The final, tenth sphere, is Malkuth (the Kingdom). It is physical reality and, while it has no astrological association, it is the sphere of the Earth. It anchors the tree and is the culmination of all that came before, receiving direct input from the realms of desire, intellect, and intuition.

So, there you go. A little bit about the TOL, at a time when a tree figures prominently in our culture's dominant religious view. For meditation, the tree is a strong object. In some ways, it's not for beginners, since its symbology runs very deep. My favorite book on the symbolism of the tree is A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by English mystic Gareth Knight. It may be out of print - but it's a masterpiece and hits virtually every nail on the head (pardon the poor Good Friday pun).

Wishing you lots of marshmallow chicks and chocolate rabbits . . .

The Season of Swords

I thought I'd write about the beginning of Spring a few days early to allow you to think about some of the concepts presented here. Being mindful as the seasons change really does help set the intention for that period of time.

It is central to realize that the cycle of the seasons is important in human existence. Physically, we are products of the Earth, so we change and cycle just like our mother planet. In traditional medicine, in fact, these cycles are honored directly, and accommodations are made for the seasons in diagnosis and treatment.

[Technical aside: The statements made here regarding seasons ring true for the Northern Hemisphere of the globe. I suppose that in the Southern Hemisphere things are switched, and at the Equator, well, thinking about that just makes my head hurt, so I won't even talk about it.]

Think about what happens in the Spring. It's as if Nature awakens fully from the slumber of Winter. For hibernating animals, this is literally true. Regardless, all things enliven in the Spring. Green things get green again; that which was frozen loosens up; new cycles of life emerge as birds lay eggs; etc. For most people, there is a surge of energy as we feel ourselves break free from the pulling inward that Winter had demanded of us.

In the Western magical/mystical tradition, this season is associated with the East, the color yellow, the archangel Raphael, the element of Air, and the Tarot suit of Swords.

A few words about Raphael first. This being is one of three archangels mentioned by name in the Bible (the others are Gabriel and Michael). I should say in the Catholic bible, as the book of Tobit, where Raphael makes his (I use the masculine here for convenience, OK, my convenience) sole appearance, didn't make the cut for the King James version.

Anyway, Raphael shows up to help Tobiah, son of Tobit, with a couple of problems; namely, to keep Tobiah from getting killed on his wedding night by the demon Asmodeus (those were tough times for the Israelites while in captivity in Nineveh); and to allow Tobiah to cure his father of blindness. The healing part of the story is the thing for which Raphael is most well known. As such he has become a patron of healers (my wife and I have a statue of Raphael in our office -- in the East, of course). Renderings of him usually have him holding a fish (the means through which the above tasks were accomplished), and a walking staff, as he walked with Tobiah to the place of his wedding. If you're so inclined, find a Catholic bible and read the story.

In Tarot, the suit of Swords is associated with the world of Yetzirah, which is the place where creation in our lives is effected via mental processing and belief management. This suit is also associated with the element of Air, with the astrological Air signs of Libra, Aquarius, and Gemini noted for their mental activity. We are called upon through the suit of Swords, therefore, to exercise mental discrimination. By this it is meant that we need to take care in what we think, for what we think (believe) is what becomes manifest in our daily lives. The Swords also allow us to cut away that which is not functional, or that which is harmful to our ability to become ourselves most fully.

What better time than Spring to assess our habitual ways of belief? Nature assists by giving us a burst of new growth energy. How we manipulate that energy depends on our beliefs and the habitual patterns of behavior based on those beliefs. Approach the coming of Spring with a desire to rumage through the closet of our beliefs, being prepared to discard or alter those which no longer serve our highest good. Raphael will be so proud of you.

Seeds and Snakes

Today (2/24/09) is a 6 Seed (Kan) day in the Mayan calendar, while tomorrow is a 7 Serpent (Chicchan) day. Besides being alliterative, what does this mean? What is the Universe telling us about how best to fit into its energies?

Seed days are days for networking and reaffirming our connections to others, from family to nations. Through this connection, old patterns can be changed as we unite with our communities more closely. Gratitude is a watchword, as even those things in need of change can teach us lessons. The 6 energy modifier talks of how to go about doing this. The energy of 6 is all about flow, negotiation, and responsiveness.

The President is delivering a speech to a joint session of Congress tonight regarding the economy. The Universe is giving us a clue about how to receive this information. Remember that the true connections are with those we love and with our communities. Solutions to this crisis may be more local than one might first think. A sense of working smoothly together at the local level may be the key to getting through this.

Given the above, how do we take the first steps in this regard? Well, Serpent energy is about flexibility with an emphasis on service. It also calls on us to be sure that we are in integrity whenever we exercise authority; that is, to be in our own truth. Be nimble and careful not to be backed into a corner -- that is serpent energy. When left without options, serpents strike for self-preservation. The result is chaos and danger, things to be avoided. The 7 energy modifier gives a sense of how this Serpent power is best applied. Ethics is a key word for 7 energy in the Mayan system. We are called upon to reflect on the impact of our actions on others. We are to hold a mirror up to our actions and examine them for their rightness. This will keep us from striking, as consideration will minimize the chance of being put into a corner.

Be fluid, like the snake and see new opportunities for growth, like the Seed. Remember our communities and be in integrity when dealing with others. This builds stronger communities and increases the chance for survival.