The Mystical Qabalah - Dion Fortune 2000

Tiphareth, The Sixth Sephirah

TITLE: Tiphareth, Beauty.

(Hebrew—T au, Pe, Aleph, Resh, T au.)

MAGICAL IMAGE: A majestic king. A child. A sacrificed god.

SITUATION ON THE TREE: In the centre of the Pillar of Equilibrium.

Yetziratic Text: The Sixth Path is called the Mediating Intelligence, because in it are multiplied the influxes of the Emanations; for it causes that influence to flow into all the reservoirs of the blessings with which they themselves are united.

Titles Given To Tiphareth: Zoar Anpin, the Lesser Countenance. Melekh, the King. Adam. The Son. The Man.

GOD-NAME: Tetragrammaton Aloah Va Daath.

Archangel: Raphael.

Order Of Angels: Malachim, Kings.

MUNDANE CHAKRA: Shemesh, the Sun.

Spiritual Experience: Vision of the

harmony of things. Mysteries of the Crucifixion.

VIRTUE: Devotion to the Great Work.

VICE: Pride.

CORRESPONDENCE IN MICROCOSM: The breast.

SYMBOLS: The Lamen. The Rosy Cross. The Calvary Cross. The truncated pyramid. The cube.

TAROT CARDS: The four Sixes.

SIX Of WANDS: Victory.

Six Of CUPS: Joy.

SIX Of SWORDS: Earned success.

Six Of Pentacles: Material success.

Colour In Atziluth: Clear rose-pink. BRIAH: Y ellow.

YETZIRAH: Rich salmon-pink.

ASSIAH: Golden amber.

1. There are three important keys to the nature of Tiphareth. Firstly, it is the centre of equilibrium of the whole Tree, being in the middle of the Central Pillar; secondly, it is Kether on a lower arc and Yesod on a higher arc; thirdly, it is the point of transmutation between the planes of force and the planes of form. The titles that are bestowed on it in Qabalistic nomenclature bear this out. From the point of view of Kether it is a child; from the point of view of Malkuth it is a king; and from the point of view of the transmutation of force it is a sacrificed god.

2. Macrocosmically, that is to say from the Kether standpoint, Tiphareth is the equilibrium of Chesed and Geburah; microcosmically, that is to say from the point of view of transcendental

psychology, it is the point where the types of consciousness characteristic of Kether and Yesod are brought to a focus. Hod and Netzach equally find their synthesis in Tiphareth.

3. The six Sephiroth, of which Tiphareth is the centre, are sometimes called Adam Kadmon, the archetypal man; in fact, Tiphareth cannot rightly be understood save as the central point of these six, wherein it rules as a king in his kingdom. It is these six which, for all practical purposes, constitute the archetypal kingdom which lies behind the kingdom of form in Malkuth and completely dominates and determines the passivities of matter.

4. When we have to consider a Sephirah in relation to its neighbours in order to interpret in the light of its position on the Tree, it is not possible to proceed with an entirely systematic and orderly exposition of the Qabalistic system, for we must of necessity forestall with partial explanations if our argument is to be comprehensible. We must therefore give some explanation of the three lower Sephiroth grouped around Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod.

5. Netzach is concerned with the Nature forces and elemental contacts; Hod with ceremonial magic and occult knowledge; and Yesod with psychism and the etheric double. Tiphareth itself, supported by Geburah and Gedulah, represents seership, or the higher psychism of the individuality. Each Sephirah, of course, has its subjective and objective aspects—its factor in psychology and its plane in the universe,

6. The four Sephiroth below Tiphareth represent the personality or lower self; the four Sephiroth above Tiphareth are the Individuality, or higher self, and Kether is the Divine Spark, or nucleus of manifestation.

7. Tiphareth, therefore, must never be regarded as an isolated factor, but as a link, a focussing-point, a centre of transition or transmutation. The Central Pillar is always concerned with consciousness. The two side Pillars with the different modes of the operation of force on the different levels.

8. In Tiphareth we find the archetypal ideals brought to a focus and transmuted into archetypal ideas. It is, in fact, the Place of Incarnation. For this reason it is called the Child. And because incarnation of the god-ideal also implies the sacrificial disincarnation, to Tiphareth are assigned the Mysteries of the Crucifixion, and all the Sacrificed Gods are placed here when the Tree is applied to the pantheons. God the Father is assigned to Kether; but God the Son is assigned to Tiphareth for the reasons given above.

9. Exoteric religion goes no farther up the Tree than Tiphareth. It has no understanding of the mysteries of creation as represented by the symbolism of Kether, Chokmah, and Binah; nor of the modes of operation of the Dark and Bright Archangels as represented in the symbolism of Geburah and Gedulah; nor of the mysteries of consciousness and the transmutation of force as represented in the invisible Sephirah Daath, which has no symbolism.

10. In Tiphareth God is made manifest in form and dwells among us; i.e. comes within range of human consciousness. Tiphareth, the Son, “shows us” Kether, the Father.

11. In order that form may be stabilised, the component forces out of which it is built must be brought into equilibrium. Therefore do we find the idea of the Mediator, or Redeemer, inherent in this Sephirah. When the Godhead in its very Self manifests in form, that form must be perfectly equilibrated. One might with equal truth reverse the proposition and say that when the forces building a form are perfectly equilibrated, the Godhead its very Self is manifesting in that form according to its type. God is made manifest among us when the conditions permit of manifestation.

12. Having come through into manifestation on the planes of form in the Child aspect of Tiphareth, the incarnated god grows to manhood and becomes the Redeemer. In other words, having obtained incarnation by means of matter in a virgin state, i.e. Mary, Marah, the Sea, the Great Mother, Binah, a Supernal, as distinguished from the Inferior Mother, Malkuth, the developing God-manifestation, is for ever striving to bring the Kingdom of the six central Sephiroth into a state of equilibrium.

13. When the glyph of the Fall is represented upon the Tree it is interesting to note that the heads of the Great Serpent that rises out of Chaos only come as far as Tiphareth and do not overpass it.

14. The Redeemer, then, manifests in Tiphareth, and is for ever striving to redeem His Kingdom by re-uniting it to the Supernals across the gulf made by the Fall, which separated the lower Sephiroth from the higher, and by bringing the diverse forces of the six-fold kingdom into equilibrium.

15. To this end are the incarnated gods sacrificed, dying for the people, in order that the tremendous emotional force set free by this act may compensate the unbalanced force of the Kingdom and thus redeem it or bring it into equilibrium.

16. It is this Sphere on the Tree that is called the Christ-centre, and it is here that the Christian religion has its focussing-point. The pantheistic faiths, such as the Greek and Egyptian, centre in Yesod; and the metaphysical faiths, such as the Buddhist and Confucian, aim at Kether. But as all religions worthy of the name have both an esoteric, or mystical, and an exoteric, or pantheistic, aspect, Christianity, although it is essentially a Tiphareth faith, has its mystical aspect centering in Kether, and its magical aspect, as seen in popular continental Catholicism, centering in Yesod. Its evangelical aspect aims at a concentration on Tiphareth as Child and Sacrificed God, and ignores the aspect of the King in the centre of his Kingdom, surrounded by the five Holy Sephiroth of manifestation.

17. Hitherto we have considered the Tree from the macrocosmic point of view, seeing the different archetypes of manifesting force come into action and build the universe, and have but remotely approached them from the microcosmic point of view in their psychological aspect as factors in consciousness. But with Tiphareth our mode of approach changes, for from henceforward the archetypal forces are locked up in forms, and can only be approached from the point of view of their effect upon consciousness; in other words, our mode of approach must now be through the direct experience of the senses, though these senses are not of the physical plane only, but function in both Tiphareth and Yesod, each according to type. While we were on the higher levels we had to rely on metaphysical analogy and reasoning by deduction from first principles; now we are within the legitimate field of inductive science, and must submit ourselves to its discipline and express our findings in its terms; but at the same time we must maintain our link with the transcendentals through Tiphareth; this is achieved by expressing the symbolism of Tiphareth in terms of mystical experience. All mystical experiences of the type in which the vision ends in blinding light are assigned to Tiphareth; for the fading out of form in the overwhelming influx of force characterises the transitional mode of consciousness of this Sphere on the Tree. Visions which maintain clearly outlined form throughout are characteristic of Yesod. Illuminations which have no form, such as those described by Plotinus, are rising towards Kether.

18. In Tiphareth also are gathered up and interpreted the operations of the nature magic of Netzach and the Hermetic magic of Hod. Both these operations are in terms of form, though form predominates in the operation of Hod to a, greater degree than in those of Netzach. All the astral visions of Yesod also must be translated into terms of metaphysics via the mystical experiences of Tiphareth. If this translation is not made, we become hallucinated; for we think the reflections cast into the mirror of the subconscious mind and translated there into terms of brain-consciousness are the actual things of which they are really only the symbolic representations.

19. Kether is metaphysical; Yesod is psychic; and Tiphareth is essentially mystical; mystical being understood as a mode of mentation in which consciousness ceases to work in symbolic subconscious representations but apprehends by means of emotional reactions.

20. The different additional titles and symbolism assigned to the various Sephiroth, and especially the God-names thereof, give us a very important key for the unlocking of the mysteries of the Bible, which is essentially a Qabalistic book. According to the manner in which Deity is referred to, we know to what Sphere on the Tree the particular mode of manifestation should be assigned. All references to the Son always refer to Tiphareth; all references to the Father refer to Kether; all references to the Holy Ghost refer to Yesod; and very deep mysteries are concealed here, for the Holy Ghost is the aspect of the Godhead that is worshipped in the occult lodges; the worship of pantheistic nature-forces and elemental operations take place under the presidency of God the Father; and the regenerative ethical aspect of religion, which is the exoteric aspect for this epoch, is under the presidency of God the Son in Tiphareth.

21. The initiate, however, transcends his epoch, and aims at uniting all three modes of adoration in his worship of Deity as a trinity in unity; the Son redeeming the pantheistic nature worship from debasement and making the transcendental Father comprehensible to human consciousness, for “whoso hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”

22. Tiphareth, however, is not only the centre of the Sacrificed God, but also the centre of the Inebriating God, the Giver of Illumination. Dionysos is assigned to this centre as well as Osiris, for, as we have already seen, the Central Pillar is concerned with the modes of consciousness; and human consciousness, rising from Yesod by the Path of the Arrow, receives illumination in Tiphareth; therefore all the givers of illumination in the Pantheons are assigned to Tiphareth.

23. Illumination consists in the introduction of the mind to a higher mode of consciousness than that which is built up out of sensory experience. In illumination the mind changes gear, as it were. Unless, however, the new mode of consciousness is connected up with the old and translated into terms of finite thought, it remains as a flash of light so brilliant that it blinds. We do not see by means of the ray of light that shines upon us, but by means of the amount of that ray which is reflected from objects of our own dimension upon which it lights. Unless there are ideas in our minds which are illuminated by this higher mode of consciousness, our minds are merely overwhelmed, and the darkness is more intense to our eyes after that blinding experience of a high mode of consciousness than it was before. In fact, we do not so much change gear as throw the engine of our mind out of gear altogether. This, for the most part, is what so-called illumination amounts to. There is enough of a flash to convince us of the reality of super-physical existence, but not enough to teach us anything of its nature.

24. The importance of the Tiphareth stage in mystical experience lies in the fact that the incarnation of the Child takes place here; in other words, mystical experience gradually builds up a body of images and ideas that are lit up and made visible when illuminations take place.

25. This Child aspect of Tiphareth is also a very important one to us in such practical work of the Mysteries as is concerned with illumination. For we must accept the fact that the Child-Christ does not spring like Minerva, full-armed from the head of God the Father, but starts as a small thing, humbly laid among the beasts and not even housed in the inn with the humans. The first glimpses of mystical experience must perforce be very limited because we have not had time to build up through experience a body of images and ideas that shall serve to represent them. These can only be got together with time, each transcendental experience adding its quota and subsequent rational meditation organising them.

26. Mystics are very apt to make the mistake of thinking that they are following the Star to the place of the Sermon on the Mount, not to the Manger at Bethlehem, the birth-place. It is here that the method of the Tree is so valuable, enabling the transcendent to be expressed in terms of symbolism, and symbolism to be translated into terms of metaphysics; thus linking the psychic with the spiritual via the intellect, and bringing all three aspects of our trinitarian consciousness into focus.

27. It is in Tiphareth that this translation is made, for in Tiphareth are received the mystical experiences of direct consciousness which illuminate the psychic symbols.

28. The Central Pillar of the Tree is essentially the Pillar of Consciousness, just as the two side Pillars are the Pillars of the active and passive powers. When considered microcosmically, that is to say from the point of view of psychology instead of cosmology, Kether, the Divine Spark round which the individualised being builds up, must be regarded as the nucleus of consciousness rather than consciousness itself. Daath, the invisible Sephirah, is also on the Central Pillar, though, strictly speaking, it always belongs to another plane to that on which the Tree is being considered. For instance, as we are considering the Tree microcosmically at the moment, Daath would be the point of contact with the macrocosm. It is not until we come to Tiphareth that we get clear-cut, individualised consciousness.

29. Tiphareth is the functional apex of the Second Triad on the Tree, whose two basal angles consist of Geburah and Gedulah (Chesed). This Second Triad, emanating from the First Triad of the Three Supernals, forms the evolving individuality, or spiritual soul. It is this which endures and builds up throughout an evolution; it is from this that the successive personalities, the units of incarnation, are emanated; it is into this that the active essence of experience is absorbed at the end of each incarnation when the incarnating unit dissolves into dust and ether.

30. It is this Second Triad which forms the Oversoul, the Higher Self, the Holy Guardian Angel, the First Initiator. It is the voice of this higher self which is so often heard with the inner ear, and not the voice of discarnate entities, or of God Himself, as is thought by those who have had no training in tradition.

31. Overshadowed and directed by the Second Triad, the Third Triad builds up through the experience of incarnation, with Malkuth as its physical vehicle. Brain consciousness is of Malkuth, and as long as we are imprisoned in Malkuth, that is all we have. But the doors of Malkuth are not closely shut nowadays, and many there are who can peer through the crack at the phantasmagoria of the astral plane and experience the psychic consciousness of Yesod. When this has been achieved the way opens for the higher psychism, the true seership, which is characteristic of the consciousness of Tiphareth.

32. Our first experience of the higher psychism, therefore, is usually in terms of the lower psychism to commence with; for we have only just risen clear of Malkuth, and are looking up at the Sun of Tiphareth from the Moon-sphere of Yesod. Therefore we hear voices with the inner ear and see visions with the inner eye, but they differ from ordinary psychic consciousness because they are not the direct representations of astral forms, but symbolic presentations of spiritual things in terms of astral consciousness. This is a normal function of the subconscious mind, and it is very important that it should be thoroughly understood, for misconceptions on this point give rise to very serious problems and may even lead to mental unbalance.

33. Those who are familiar with Qabalistic terminology know that the first of the greater initiations is said to consist of the power to enjoy the knowledge and conversation of our Holy Guardian Angel; this Holy Guardian Angel, be it remembered, is really our own higher self. It is the prime characteristic of this higher mode of mentation that it consists neither in voices nor visions, but is pure consciousness; it is an intensification of awareness, and from this quickening of the mind comes a peculiar power of insight and penetration which is of the nature of hyperdeveloped intuition. The higher consciousness is never psychic, but always intuitive, containing no sensory imagery. It is this absence of sensory imagery which tells the experienced initiate that he is on the level of the higher consciousness.

34. The ancients recognised this, and they differentiated between the mantic methods which induced the chthonic, or underworld contacts, and the divine inebriation of the Mysteries. The Maenads rushing in the train of Dionysos were of an entirely different order of initiation to the pythonesses; the pythonesses were psychics and mediums, but the Maenads, the initiates of the Dionysiac Mysteries, enjoyed exaltation of consciousness and a quickening of life that enabled them to perform amazing prodigies of strength.

35. All the dynamic religions have this Dionysiac aspect; even in the Christian religion many saints have left record of the Crucified Christ of their devotion coming to them at last as the Divine Bridegroom; and when they speak of this divine inebriation that comes to them, their language uses the metaphors of human love as its appropriate expression—“How lovely art thou, my sister, my spouse.”—“Faint from the kisses of the lips of God...” These things tell a great deal to those who have understanding.

36. The Dionysiac aspect of religion represents an essential factor in human psychology, and it is the misunderstanding of this factor which upon the one hand prevents the manifestation of the higher spiritual experiences in our modern civilisation, and upon the other permits of the strange aberrations of religious feeling that from time to time give rise to scandal and tragedy in the high places of the more dynamic religious movements.

37. There is a certain emotional concentration and exaltation which makes the higher phases of consciousness available, and without which it is impossible to attain them. The images of the astral plane pass over into an intensity of emotion that is like a burning fire, and when all the dross of the nature has gone up in flame the smoke clears, and we are left with the white heat of pure consciousness. By the very nature of the human mind, with the brain as its instrument, this white heat cannot endure for long; but in the brief space of its lasting, changes occur in the temperament, and the mind itself receives new concepts and undergoes an expansion that never wholly retracts. The tremendous exaltation of the experience dies away, but we are left with a permanent expansion of personality, an enhanced capacity for life in general, and a power of realisation of spiritual realities which could never have been ours if we had not been swung forcibly across the great gulf of consciousness by the momentum of ecstasy.

38. Modern spiritual leaders have no knowledge of the technique of the deliberate production of ecstasy and no idea how to direct it when it occurs spontaneously. Revivalists succeed in producing a mild form of it among unsophisticated people by means of personal magnetism, and the worth of a revivalist is judged by his power to inebriate his hearers. But the consequences of this inebriation are apt to be like the consequences of any other inebriation, and life seems exceedingly stale, flat, and unprofitable when the revivalist moves on to other fields of activity. Because the inebriation dies away, the convert thinks he has lost God; no one seems to realise that ecstasy is a magnesium flash in consciousness, and if it were prolonged, would burn up the brain and nervous system. But although it cannot be, and is not meant to be, prolonged, by means of it we swing over the dead centre of consciousness and awake to a higher life.

39. The technique of the Tree gives accurate definition to these spiritual experiences, and those who are trained in that technique do not mistake the stirring of their own higher consciousness for the voice of God. From the sensory consciousness of Malkuth, through the astral psychism of Yesod, to the formless intuitions and quickened consciousness of Tiphareth they rise and descend smoothly and skilfully; never confusing the planes or suffering them to leak one into another, but bringing them all into focus in a centralized consciousness.

40. Tiphareth is called by the Qabalists Shemesh, or the Sphere of the Sun; and it is interesting to note that all sun-gods are healing gods, and all healing gods are sun-gods, a fact which affords us food for thought.

41. The sun is the central point of our existence. Without the sun there would be no solar system. Sunlight plays a very important part in the metabolism, the life-process, of living creatures, and the whole of the nutrition of green plants depends upon it. Its influence is closely allied to that of vitamins, as is proved by the fact that certain vitamins can be used to supplement its activities.

We see, therefore, that sunlight is a very important factor in our well-being; we might go even further and say that it is essential to our very existence and that our association with the sun is far more intimate than we realise.

42. The symbol of the sun in the mineral kingdom is gold, pure and precious, which all nations have agreed in calling the metal of the sun and recognising as the most precious metal and the basic unit of exchange. The part played by gold in the polity of nations far exceeds its intrinsic utility as a metal. It is, moreover, the one substance on earth which is incorruptible and untarnishable. It may be dulled by the accumulation of dirt upon its surface, but the metal itself, unlike silver or iron, undergoes no chemical change or decomposition. Neither does water corrode it.

43. The sun is to us truly the Giver of Life and source of all being; it is the only adequate symbol of God the Father, who may aptly be called the Sun behind the Sun; Tiphareth, in fact, being the immediate reflection of Kether. It is through the mediation of the sun that life comes to the earth, and it is by means of the Tipharic consciousness that we contact the sources of vitality and draw upon them, both consciously and unconsciously.

44. The sun is, above all things, the symbol of manifesting energy; it is sudden, unaccustomed gushes of solar-spiritual energy that cause the divine inebriation of ecstasy; it is gold, as the basis of money, which is the objective representative of externalised life-force; for verily, money is life and life is money, for without money we can have no fullness of life. Life-force, manifesting on the physical plane as energy and on the mental plane as intelligence and knowledge, can be transmuted by the appropriate alchemy into money, which is a token of the capacity or energy of someone. Money is the symbol of human energy, by means of which we can store up our output of work hour by hour, receiving it back as wages at the end of the week, and spending it on necessities or saving it for future use as we think fit. The gold which backs the notes is a symbol of human energy, and is only earned by an expenditure of that energy; though it may be the energy of a father or a husband, transmitted through an heiress, yet nevertheless it is the symbol of some human being’s activity in some sphere, even if it be only the sphere of company-promoting or burglary.

45. The secret, underground movements of gold act in the polity of nations as hormones act in the human body, and there are cosmic laws governing their tidal and epochal movements which economists do not suspect.

46. Kether, Space, the source of all existence, reflects into Tiphareth, which acts as a transformer and distributor of the primal, spiritual energy. We receive this energy directly by means of sunlight, and indirectly by means of the chlorophyll in green plants, which enables them to utilise sunlight, and which we eat at first hand in vegetable foods, and at second hand in the tissues of herbivorous creatures.

47. But the Sun-god is more than the source of life. He is also the healer when life goes wrong. For it is life, plus, minus, or misdirected, which is the activity in disease processes; disease has no energy save what it borrows from the life of the organism. It is therefore by adjustments in the life-force that healing must be brought about, and the sun gods are the natural gods to invoke in this connection, for life and the sun are so intimately connected.

48. It is by means of their knowledge of the manipulation of the solar influence that the ancient initiate-priests performed their healings, and sun-worship lay at the root of the Aesculapian cult of ancient Greece.

49. We moderns have learnt the value of sunlight and vitamins in our physiological economy, but we have not realised the very important part played by the spiritual aspect of the solar influences in our psychic economy, using that word in its dictionary sense. There is a Tipharic factor in the soul of man which, according to ancient tradition, has its physical correspondence in the solar plexus, not in the head or the heart, which is able to pick up the subtle aspect of the solar energy in the same way that the chlorophyll in the leaf of a plant picks up its more tangible aspect. If we are cut off from this energy and prevented from assimilating it, we become as sickly and feeble in mind and body as plants growing in a cellar cut off from its more tangible aspect.

50. This cutting-off from the spiritual aspect of Nature is due to mental attitudes. When we refuse to acknowledge our part in Nature, and Nature’s part in us, we inhibit this free flow of life-giving magnetism between the part and the whole; and lacking certain elements essential to spiritual function, psychic health is impossible.

51. Psychoanalysts attach great importance to repression as a cause of psychic disease; they learnt to recognise repression because in its extreme form of sex-repression its ill effects are conspicuous. They did not realise, however, that sex-repression, unless it is caused by circumstances, in which case it does not give rise to dissociation, is but the result of a cause which lies far deeper than sex, and has its roots in a false spirituality, a spurious refinement and idealism, which has led to the cutting-off of the sympathies, of the recognition, of the gratitude of a living creature from the Giver of Life, the higher aspect of Nature. This is caused by a spiritual vanity which considers the more primitive aspects of nature as beneath its dignity.

52. It is because of our spurious ideals with their false values that we have so much neurotic ill-health in our midst. It is because Priapus and Cloacina are not given their due as deities that we are cursed by the Sun-god and cut off from His benign influence, for an insult to His subsidiary aspects is an insult to Him.

53. When a creature is not in a fit state for reproduction, sexual advances are repellent to it; this is the natural basis of modesty and protects the organism from waste and exhaustion. Because an accumulation of decomposing excreta gives rise to disease, the odour of their excreta is repulsive to living creatures of even the lowliest development, so that they avoid its neighbourhood. Out of these two repulsions, so rational and valuable under natural conditions, under our artificial conditions of civilised life all manner of irrational taboos have grown up. The repulsion is overdone, and no longer serves its biological purpose.

54. Our attitude towards two important sections of natural life implies that they are unnatural, debased, poisonous. Consequently we cut ourselves off from the earth contacts; then the circuit is broken and the heavenly contacts also fail us. The cosmic current comes down from Kether, through Tiphareth and Yesod, into Malkuth; if the circuit be broken anywhere, it cannot function. True, it is impossible totally to break the circuit during life, for the life-processes are so deeply rooted in nature that we cannot altogether suppress them; but a mental attitude can cause such a kinking of the tube, as it were, can so insulate and inhibit, that only a scanty flow can be sucked through against resistance by the desperate organism.

55. In Tiphareth, the Sun Centre, we have the spiritual manifesting in the natural, and we should give reverence to the Sun-god as representing the naturalisation of spiritual processes; the spiritualisation of natural processes has had a good deal to answer for in the history of human suffering.

56. The symbols assigned to the Sixth Sephirah become a very illuminating study when we examine them in the light of what we now know about the significance of Tiphareth, for we have here a very clear example of the way in which the symbols assigned to a given Sephirah lace in and out, in and out, in long chains of interrelated associations.

57. The meaning of the Hebrew word Tiphareth is Beauty; and of the many definitions of beauty that have been proposed, the most satisfying is that which finds beauty to lie in a due and just proportion, whatever the beautiful thing may be, whether moral or material. It is interesting, therefore, to find the Sephirah of Beauty as the central point of equilibrium of the whole Tree, and that one of the two Spiritual Experiences assigned to Tiphareth is the Vision of the Harmony of Things.

58. It is curious that two separate and, at first sight, unrelated Spiritual Experiences should be assigned to Tiphareth; it is, in fact, the only Sphere on the Tree where this occurs. It is also unique in having several Magical Images assigned to it. We must therefore ask ourselves why it is that the central Sephirah has these multiple aspects. The answer is to be found in the Yetziratic Text assigned to Tiphareth, which declares that “The Sixth Path is called the Mediating Intelligence.” A mediator is essentially a connecting link, an intermediary; consequently Tiphareth, in its central position, must be looked upon as a two-way switch, and we must consider it both as receiving the “influxes of the Emanations” and as “causing that influence to flow into all the reservoirs of the blessings.” We may therefore look upon it as the out-ward manifestation of the five subtler Sephiroth, and also as the spiritual principle behind the four denser Sephiroth. If looked at from the side of form, it is force; if looked at from the side of force, it is form. It is, in fact, the archetypal Sephirah in which the great principles represented by the five higher Sephiroth are formulated into concepts; “In it are multiplied the influxes of the Emanations,” as the Sepher Yetzirah declares.

59. The name Zoar Anpin, Lesser Countenance, as distinguished from Arik Anpin, the Vast Countenance, one of the titles of Kether, further bears out this idea. For the formless formulations of Kether take shape in this, the sphere of the higher mind. As previously noted, Kether is reflected into Tiphareth. The Ancient of Days sees Himself reflected as in a glass, and the reflected image of the Vast Countenance is called the Lesser Countenance and the Son.

60. But although a lesser manifestation and a younger generation as viewed from above, Tiphareth is also Adam Kadmon, the Archetypal Man, when viewed from beneath—from the side, that is to say, of Yesod and Malkuth. Tiphareth is Malek, the King, the husband of Malkah, the Bride, which is one of the titles of Malkuth.

61. It is in Tiphareth that we find the archetypal ideas which form the invisible framework of the whole of manifested creation formulating and expressing the primary principles emanating from the subtler Sephiroth. It is, as it were, a Treasure-house of Images on a higher arc; but whereas the astral plane is peopled by images reflected from forms, the images of the Sphere of Tiphareth are those formulating, and as it were crystallising out, from the spiritual emanations of the higher potencies.

62. Tiphareth mediates between the microcosm and the macrocosm; “As above, so below,” is the keynote of the Sphere of Shemesh, wherein the Sun that is behind the sun focusses into manifestation.

63. In the anatomy of the Divine Man is the interpretation of all organisation and evolution; in fact, the material universe is literally the organs and members of this Divine Man; and it is through an understanding of the soul of Adam Kadmon, which consists of the “influxes of the Emanations,” that we can interpret His anatomy in terms of function, which is the only way in which anatomy can be intelligently appreciated. It is because science is content largely to be descriptive, and shrinks from purposive explanations, that it is so barren of all philosophical import.

64. In transcendental psychology, which is the anatomy of the microcosm, the breast is the correspondence assigned to Tiphareth. In the breast are the lungs and the heart, and immediately below these organs, and intimately connected with them and controlling them, is the greatest network of nerves in the body, known as the solar plexus, aptly so named by the ancient anatomists. The lungs maintain a singularly intimate relationship between the microcosm and the macrocosm by determining the ceaseless tidal motion of the atmosphere, in and out, in and out, that never ceases day or night, until the golden bowl is broken and the silver cord is loosed and we cease to breathe. The heart determines the circulation of the blood, and the blood, as Paracelsus truly said, is a “singular fluid.” Modern medicine knows well what sunlight means to the blood. It has also discovered that chlorophyll, which is the green substance in the leaves of plants which enables them to utilise the sunlight as their source of energy, has a very potent influence upon the blood-pressure.

65. The three Magical Images of Tiphareth are curious, for at first sight they are so utterly unrelated that each one appears to cancel out the others. But in the light of what we now know concerning Tiphareth, their significance and relationship appears clearly, speaking through the language of symbolism, especially when studied in the light of the life of Jesus Christ the Son.

66. Tiphareth, being the first coagulation of the Supernals, is aptly represented as the new-born Child in the manger at Bethlehem; as the Sacrificed God he becomes the Mediator between God and man; and when He has risen from the dead He is as a king come to his kingdom. Tiphareth is the child of Kether and the king of Malkuth, and in His own sphere lie is sacrificed.

67. We shall not understand Tiphareth aright unless we have some concept of the real meaning of sacrifice, which is very different to the popular one, which conceives of it as the voluntary loss of something dear. Sacrifice is the translation of force from one form to another. There is no such thing as the total destruction of force; however completely it disappears from our ken, it maintains itself in some other form according to the great natural law of the conservation of energy, which is the law that maintains our universe in existence. Energy may be locked up in form, and therefore static; or it may be free from its bondage to form and in circulation. When we make a sacrifice of any sort, we take a static form of energy, and by breaking up the form that imprisons it, put it into free circulation in the cosmos. That which we sacrifice in one form turns up again in due course in another form. Apply this concept to the religious and ethical ideas of sacrifice and some very valuable clues are obtained.

68. The God-name of this sphere is Aloah Va Daath, which associates it intimately with the Invisible Sephirah that comes between it and Kether. This Sephirah, as we have already seen, may best be understood as apprehension, the dawning of consciousness; and we may interpret the phrase “T etragrammaton Aloah V a Daath” as “God made manifest in the sphere of mind.”

69. In the microcosm Tiphareth represents the higher psychism, the mode of consciousness of the individuality, or higher self. It is essentially the sphere of religious mysticism as distinguished from the magic and psychism of Yesod; for be it remembered, the Sephiroth of the Central Pillar of the Tree represent levels of consciousness, and the Sephiroth on the side pillars represent powers and modes of functioning. Tiphareth is also said to be the Sphere of the Greater Masters; it is the Temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens and the Great White Lodge. It is here that the initiated adept functions when in the higher consciousness; here that he hopes to meet the Masters, and it is by means of the Name, and by an understanding of the significance of the Name of Aloah Va Daath that he opens up the higher consciousness.

70. For be it noted that it is only in proportion to the significance a word has for us that it becomes a Word of Power. The name of his victim is a word of power to a murderer; and such is its recognised potency that in some countries an instrument to register the changes of blood-pressure is attached to the arm of a suspect while he is being questioned by the police, and the name of the dead man, and other words connected with the crime, are suddenly whispered in his ear, and if these are “words of power” for him, the instrument registers it beyond all question.

71. It is popularly believed that Names of Power exercise direct influence over spirits, angels, demons and such-like, but this is not so. The Name of Power exercises its influence upon the magician, and by exalting and directing consciousness enables him to get into touch with the chosen type of spiritual influence; if he has had experience of that particular type of influence, the Word of Power will stir potent subconscious memories; if he has not, and approaches the matter in the unimaginative and incredulous spirit of the scholar, the “barbarous Names of Evocation” will be just hocus-pocus for him. But be it noted that to the believing Catholic, “hocus-pocus,” which is the Protestant’s name for deception and superstition and from which is derived the word hoax, means “Hoc est Corpus,” which is an altogether different story. So much lies in the viewpoint in these matters.

72. Therefore it is that a definite spiritual experience is assigned to each Sephirah, and until a person has had that experience he is not an initiate of that Sephirah, and cannot make use of its Names of Power even if he knows them. As tradition has it, it is not enough to know a Name of Power, one must also know how to vibrate it. It is generally believed that the vibration of a Name of Power is the right note on which to chant it; but magical vibration is something much more than that. When one is deeply moved, and at the same time devotionally exalted, the voice drops several tones below its normal pitch and becomes resonant and vibrant; it is this tremor of emotion combined with the resonance of devotion which constitutes the vibration of a Name, and this cannot be learnt or taught; it can only be spontaneous. It is like the wind, it bloweth where it listeth. When it comes, it shakes one from head to heel with a wave of fiery heat, and all who hear it involuntarily come to attention. It is an extraordinary experience to hear a Word of Power vibrated. It is an even more extraordinary experience to vibrate it.

73. The archangel of Tiphareth is Raphael, the “spirit that standeth in the sun,” who is also the angel of healing.

74. When the initiate is “working on the T ree,” that is to say is building up in his imagination a diagram of the Tree of Life in his aura, he formulates Tiphareth in his solar plexus between the abdomen and the breast; if he intends to work in the sphere of the Sixth Sephirah, and concentrates the power in this centre, he will find that he himself has suddenly become a spirit standing in the sun, with the blazing photosphere all round him. It is one thing to formulate a Sephirah in one’s aura; but it is quite another to find oneself right inside the Sephirah. Although one can receive the influence of a Sephirah by means of the former operation, and it is a good routine method for daily meditation, it is not until one has everted—as it were, turned clean inside out, so that the position is reversed, and instead of the Sphere being inside one, one is inside the Sphere—that one can work with the power of a Sephirah. It is this experience which is the culmination of the initiation of a Sephirah.

75. The Order of Angels of Tiphareth are the Malachim, or Kings. These are the spiritual principles of natural forces—and no one can control, or even safely make contact with elemental principles unless he holds the initiation of Tiphareth, which is that of a minor adept. For he must have been accepted by the Elemental Kings, that is to say he must have realised the ultimate spiritual nature of natural forces before he can handle them in their elemental form. In their subjective elemental form they appear in the microcosm as powerful instincts of combat, of reproduction, of self-abasement, of self-aggrandisement, and all those emotional factors known to the psychologist. It is obvious, therefore, that if we stir and stimulate these emotions in our natures it must be in order that we may use them as servants of the higher self, directed by reason and spiritual principle. It is necessary, therefore, that when we operate the elemental forces we do so through the Kings, under the presidency of the Archangel and by the invocation of the Holy Name of God appropriate to the sphere. Microcosmically, this means that the powerful elemental driving-forces of our nature are correlated with the higher self, instead of being dissociated into the Qliphothic underworld of the Freudian unconscious.

76. Elemental operations are not, of course, performed in the Sphere of Tiphareth, but it is essential that they should be controlled from the Sphere of Tiphareth if they are to remain White Magic. If there is no such higher control, they will soon slide off into Black Magic. It is said that at the Fall the four lower Sephiroth became detached from Tiphareth and assimilated to the Qliphoth. When the elemental forces become detached from their spiritual principles in our concepts so that they become ends in themselves, even if no evil but merely experimentation is intended, a Fall takes place and degeneration soon follows. But when we clearly realise the spiritual principle behind all natural things, they are then in a state of innocence, to use a theological term with a definite connotation; they are unfallen, and we can safely work with them and advantageously develop them in our own natures; thus bringing about the unrepression and equilibrium so necessary to mental health. This correlation of the natural with the spiritual, thus maintaining it unfallen and in a state of innocency, is a very important point in all practical workings in any form of magic.

77. As has already been seen, two spiritual experiences go to make up the initiation of Tiphareth, the Vision of the Harmony of Things and the Vision of the Mysteries of the Crucifixion. We have already seen in another connection that there are two aspects to Tiphareth, and therefore must be two Spiritual experiences in its initiation.

78. In the Vision of the Harmony of Things we see deep into the spiritual side of Nature; in other words, we meet the Angelic Kings, the Malachim. Through this experience we understand that the natural is but the dense aspect of the spiritual, the “Outer Robe of Concealment” covering the “Inner Robe of Glory.” It is this understanding of the spiritual significance of the natural which is so lamentably lacking in our religious life to-day, and which is responsible for so much neurotic ill-health and so much married unhappiness.

79. It is through this Vision of the Harmony of Things that we are made one with Nature, not by means of elemental contacts. Human beings who are in any wise raised by culture above the primitive cannot become one with Nature upon the elemental level, for to do so is degeneration, and they become beastly in both senses of the word. The nature contacts are made through the Angelic Kings of the Elements in the Sphere of Tiphareth—in other words, through the realisation of the spiritual principles behind natural things—and the initiate then comes to the elemental beings in the name of their presiding King. He descends into the elemental kingdoms from above, as it were, bringing with him his manhood; thus he is an initiator to the elementals; but if he meets them on their own level, he abrogates his manhood and returns to an earlier phase of evolution. Elemental force, not limited and kept in check by the limitations of an animal brain, is bound to be unbalanced force when it flows through the wide channels of a human intellect, and the result is chaos, which is one of the Kingdoms of the Qliphoth.

80. The Mysteries of the Crucifixion are both macrocosmic and microcosmic. In their macrocosmic aspect we find them in the myths of the Great Redeemers of mankind, who are always born of God and a Virgin mother, thus again emphasising the dual nature of Tiphareth, wherein form and force meet together. But let us not forget their microcosmic aspect, as an experience of mystical consciousness. It is by means of an understanding of the Mysteries of the Crucifixion, which concern the magical power of sacrifice, that we are able to transcend the limitations of brain consciousness, limited to sensation and habituated to form, and enter into the wider consciousness of the higher psychism. We thus become able to transcend form and thereby release the latent force, changing it from static to kinetic and rendering it available for the Great Work, which is regeneration.

81. The characteristic virtue of the Sphere of Tiphareth is Devotion to this Great Work. Devotion is a very important factor in the Way of Initiation that leads to the higher consciousness, and we must therefore examine it carefully and analyse it into the factors of which it consists. Devotion might be defined as love for something higher than ourselves; something that evokes our idealism; which, while we despair of becoming equal to it, yet makes us aspire to become like it; “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.” When a stronger emotional content is infused into devotion and it becomes adoration, it carries us across the great gulf fixed between the tangible and the intangible, and enables us to apprehend things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. It is this Devotion, rising to Adoration, in the Great Work, which initiates us into the Mysteries of the Crucifixion.

82. The Vice assigned to Tiphareth is Pride, and in this attribution we have some very true psychology. Pride has its roots in egoism, and as long as we are self-centred we cannot be made one with all things. In the true selflessness of the Path the soul overflows its boundaries and enters into all things through limitless sympathy and perfect love; but in pride the soul tries to extend its boundaries till it possesses all things, and it is a very different matter to possess a thing to being made one with it, wherein it equally possesses us in Perfect reciprocity. It is this one-sided arrangement which is the vice of the adept. He must give as well as receive, and he must give himself unreservedly if he would participate in mystical union, which is the fruit of the sacrifice of crucifixion. “Let him who would be the greatest among you be the servant of all,” said Our Lord.

83. The symbols associated with Tiphareth are the lamen; the Rosy Cross; the Calvary Cross; the truncated pyramid; and the cube.

84. The lamen is the symbol upon the breast of the adept and indicates the force he represents. An adept performing work in the Sphere of Shemesh, for instance, would wear upon his breast an image of the sun in splendour. A lamen is the magical weapon of Tiphareth; and it therefore becomes necessary to say something concerning the nature of magical weapons in general in order that the function of a lamen can be understood.

85. A magical weapon is some object which is found to be suitable as a vehicle for force of a particular type. For instance, the magical weapon of the Element of Water is a cup or chalice; the magical weapon of the Element of Fire is a lighted lamp. These objects are chosen because their nature is congenial to that of the force to be invoked; or in modern language, because their form suggests the force to the imagination by association of ideas.

86. Tiphareth is traditionally associated with the breast, both by virtue of the network of nerves which is called the solar plexus, and by its position when the Tree is built up in the aura. Consequently the breast jewel of the adept is held to be the focus of the Tipharic force, whatever operation may be performed. The actual force, operating in its own sphere, is represented by the magical weapon assigned to it. For instance, an adept performing an operation of the Element of Water would have as his magical weapon the Cup, and with the Cup would make all signs, and upon the Cup would concentrate the force called down by invocation. But upon his breast would be the sigil of the Element of Water, and this would be recognised as representing the spiritual factor in the operation, and as referring to the archangel over that particular kingdom. Unless the adept understands the significance of his lamen, as distinguished from his magical weapon, he is no adept, but a wizard.

87. The Rosy Cross and the Calvary Cross are both given as symbols of the Sphere of Tiphareth. In order to understand their significance, it is necessary to say something concerning crosses in general, and how they are used in systems of symbolism. Although the cross with which we are most generally familiar is the Calvary Cross, owing to its association with Christianity, there are many other forms of cross, and each has its own significance. The Equal-armed Cross, such as the Red Cross of the army medical service, is called by initiates the Cross of Nature, and represents power in equilibrium. It is to be found at the top of some Keltic crosses, often enclosed in a circle, so that a Keltic cross actually consists of a tapering shaft ending in a nature cross, and has no relationship whatever to the Calvary Cross, which is the Cross of Christianity. The tapering shaft of the Keltic cross is, in actual fact, a truncated pyramid, and examples of this type of Keltic cross exist which leave no doubt upon this point whatsoever. Some archaic forms suggest the imposition of the cross and circle upon the conical phallic stone which is so universal an object in primitive worship.

88. The Swastika is also a nature cross, and is sometimes called the Cross of Thor, or the Hammer of Thor, its form being supposed to indicate the whirling action of his thunderbolts.

89. The Calvary Cross is the Cross of Sacrifice, and should properly be coloured black. Its shaft should be three times the length of its arms, and the length of each arm three times its width. Meditation on this cross brings initiation through suffering, sacrifice, and self-abnegation. The Crucifix is, of course, an elaboration of the Calvary Cross.

90. The circle upon the cross is an initiatory symbol, especially when the cross is raised upon three steps, as it should be in this form. The circle indicates eternal life; also wisdom; and we see a form of it in the emblem of the Theosophical Society, which has for its badge the “serpent that holdeth his tail in his mouth.” A Calvary Cross with the circle superimposed means initiation by the Way of the Cross, and the three steps are the three degrees of illumination. It is this which is the so-called Rosy Cross. The fanciful object with brambles growing over it is not an initiatory symbol at all. The Rose associated with the Cross in Western symbolism is the Rosa Mundi, and is a key to the interpretation of the nature forces. On its petals are marked the thirty-two signs of the natural forces; these correspond to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the Ten Holy Sephiroth; these in their turn are assigned to the Thirty-two Paths of the Tree of Life, and this is the key to the understanding of the Rosa Mundi. The curious scribbles that are called the sigils of the elementary spirits are made by drawing lines from one to another of the letters of their names on the Rose.

91. In the light of this explanation we are at no loss to understand the value of the claims of those organisations which sport a floral emblem as their symbol. They are on a par with those of the gentleman who demanded of his haberdasher a Public School tie with a bit of red in it.

92. The cube is usually said to be assigned to Tiphareth because it is a six-sided figure, and six is the number of Tiphareth. But there is more than this in the symbolism of the cube. The cube is the simplest form of solid, and as such is the appropriate symbol of Tiphareth, in whose sphere is found the first foreshadowing of form. The symbol of Malkuth is the double cube, which symbolises “As above, so below.”

93. The pyramid symbolises the perfected man, broad-based on earth and tapering to unity in the heavens; in other words, the Ipsissimus. The truncated pyramid symbolizes the initiated adept, or Adeptus Minor, who has passed within the Veil but has not yet completed his grades. This pyramid, to whose six sides correspond the six central Sephiroth which constitute Adam Kadmon, or the Archetypal Man, is completed by the addition of the Three Supernals which terminate in the unity of Kether.

94. The Sixes of the Tarot suits are also assigned to Tiphareth, and in them the harmonious and balanced nature of this Sephirah shows clearly. The Six of Wands is the Lord of Victory. The Six of Cups, the Lord of Joy. Even the maleficent Suit of Swords is tuned to harmony in this sphere, and the Six of Swords is known as the Lord of Earned Success—that is to say, success achieved after struggle. The Six of Pentacles is Material Success; in other words, power in equilibrium.