The Mystical Qabalah - Dion Fortune 2000
Malkuth
TITLE: Malkuth, the Kingdom.
(Hebrew—Mem, Lamed, Kaph, V au, T au.)
MAGICAL IMAGE: A young woman, crowned and throned.
SITUATION ON THE TREE: At the base of the Pillar of Equilibrium.
YETZIRATIC Text: The Tenth Path is called the Resplendent Intelligence because it is exalted above every head and sits upon the Throne of Binah. It illuminates the splendours of all the Lights, and causes an influence to emanate from the Prince of Countenances, the Angel of Kether.
Titles Given To Malkuth: The Gate. The Gate of Death. The Gate of the Shadow of Death. The Gate of Tears. The Gate of Justice. The Gate of Prayer. The Gate of the Daughter of the Mighty Ones. The Gate of the Garden of Eden. The Inferior Mother. Malkah, the Queen. Kallah, the Bride. The Virgin.
GOD-NAME: Adonai Malekh or Adonai ha Aretz.
Archangel: Sandalphon.
CHOIR OF ANGELS: Ashim, Souls of Fire.
MUNDANE CHAKRA: Cholem ha Yesodoth, Sphere of the Elements.
Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel.
VIRTUE: Discrimination.
VICE: Avarice. Inertia.
CORRESPONDENCE IN MICROCOSM: The feet. The anus.
SYMBOLS: Altar of the double cube. The Equal-armed cross. The magic circle. The triangle of art.
TAROT CARDS: The four Tens.
TEN OF WANDS: Oppression.
TEN OF CUPS: Perfected Success.
TEN OF SWORDS: Ruin.
TEN OF PENTACLES: Wealth.
Colour In Atziluth: Yellow.
BRIAH: Citrine, olive, russet, and black.
YETZIRAH: Citrine, olive, russet, and black, flecked with gold.
ASSIAH: Black, rayed with yellow.
1. It will be observed that the conformation of the Tree falls naturally into three functional triangles, but that Malkuth participates in no such triangle, but stands apart, and it is said by the Qabalists that it receives the influences or emanations of all the other Sephiroth. But although Malkuth is the only Sephirah that does not participate in a triangle, it is also the only Sephirah that is represented as parti-coloured instead of a unit, for it is divided into four quarters, which are assigned to the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. And although it is not functional in any triangle, it represents the end results of all the activities of the Tree. It is the nadir of evolution,
the outermost point on the outgoing arc, through which all life must pass before returning whence it came.
2. Malkuth is said to be the Sphere of Earth; but we must not make the mistake of thinking that the Qabalists meant by Malkuth only the terrestrial sphere. They meant also the Earth-soul— that is to say, the subtle, psychic aspect of matter; the underlying noumenon of the physical plane which gives rise to all physical phenomena. Likewise with the four elements. These are not earth, air, fire, and water as known to the physicists, but are the four conditions in which energy can exist. The esotericist distinguishes these from their mundane counterparts by referring to them as the Air of the Wise, or the Earth of the Wise, as the case may be. That is to say, the Element of Air or of Earth as it is known to the initiate.
3. The physicist recognises the existence of matter in three states. Firstly, as solid, wherein the particles of which it is composed adhere firmly to each other; secondly, liquid, in which the particles move freely over each other; thirdly—gaseous, in which the particles all try to get as far away from each other as possible, or in other words to diffuse. These three modes of matter correspond to the three elements of Earth, Water, and Air, and electrical phenomena corresponds to the element of Fire. Esoteric Science classifies all phenomena manifesting upon the physical plane under these four headings, as giving the best clue to the real understanding of their nature; and it recognises that any given force can pass from one stage to another under certain conditions, just as water can exist in a state of ice and steam as well as its normal fluidity.
4. The esotericist sees in Malkuth the end-result of all operations; not until the Pairs of Opposites have achieved the settled equilibrium which gives the state of Earth, or coherence, can they be said to have completed any given cycle of experience. When this is achieved, they build a permanent vehicle of manifestation and stereotype its reactions; the machinery of expression thus evolved becomes self-regulating, and will continue to function with the minimum of attention, just as the human heart opens and shuts its valves with perfect regularity in response to a stereotyped cycle of nervous impulses and the pressure of the blood.
5. The great point to remember in connection with Malkuth is that herein is achieved stability. It is in the inertia of Malkuth that its virtue lies. All the other Sephiroth are in varying degrees mobile; even the Central Pillar only achieving equilibrium in function, just as a tight-rope walker achieves it.
6. Like all the other Sephiroth, Malkuth can only be understood when considered in relation to its neighbours. But in this case there is only one neighbour—Yesod. No understanding of Malkuth can be arrived at save through an understanding of Yesod.
7. For while Malkuth is essentially the sphere of form, all coherence of parts, save simple mechanical stresses and electromagnetic attractions and repulsions, depend upon the functions of Yesod. And Yesod, though it is essentially a form-giving Sephirah, depends for the manifestation of its activities upon the substance provided by Malkuth. The forms of Yesod are such stuff as dreams are made of till they have picked up the material particles of Malkuth to body forth their forms. They are systems of stresses into whose framework the physical particles are built.
8. And equally with Malkuth, it is inanimate matter until the powers of Yesod ensoul it.
9. We should conceive of the material plane as the outward and visible sign of invisible etheric activity. Malkuth, in its prime essence, is only known to the instruments of the physicist. It goes without saying that where there is life, there is Yesod, because Yesod is the vehicle of life; but it should also be realised that where there is any kind of electrical activity or conductivity, whether of crystals, metals, or chemicals, there is Yesodic force in function. It is this fact which makes certain substances suitable for use as talismans, because they will take a charge of astral force.
10. It is not possible in these pages to go into a detailed study of esoteric physics; enough must be said, however, to give the student an understanding of the principles underlying this concept of the material world, which sees it as visible drapery upon an invisible framework.
11. The exact nature of the relationship between Yesod and Malkuth must be clearly understood, because it is all-important for practical occult work. Yesod is, of course, the form-giving principle, and whatever form is built up in its Sphere will be bodied forth in the Sphere of Malkuth unless it contains incompatibles, for it will tend to draw to itself the conditions of material expression. Material particles, however, are extremely resistant and unresponsive in their nature, and it is only by working upon the most tenuous aspect of matter, to which initiates give the name of the Element of Fire, that Yesodic forces can produce any effects. Once a response can be obtained from this Elemental Fire, the other Elements can in their turn be influenced.
12. Elemental Fire, however, is a kind of over-state of matter with which only the most advanced physics has any acquaintance. It might best be called a state of relationship rather than a thing in itself. Elemental Air might be described as a capacity to achieve these relationships, and as such, is the vital principle of physical life; for it is only in so far as matter has a capacity for organisation that organic substance is possible. Elemental Water, the Water of the Wise, is just plain protoplasm; and Elemental Earth is inorganic matter.
13. Now each of these types of organised force and reaction-capacity has its own very definite nature, from which it will depart no hair’s-breadth for any force in the manifested cosmos. But as there are definite interrelations of influence and expression between these four elemental states, it is possible, by using their influence one over the other, to achieve results which for want of understanding are called magical. It is, of course, the method of magic to manipulate these tenuous elemental forms; but it is also the method of life to do the same thing, and if magic is to be anything more than auto-suggestion, it must use the methods of life—that is to say, it must work through the intermediation of protoplasm, for protoplasm, in its curious web-like structure, carries the subtle magnetic force of the Fire of the Wise, transmitted through elemental air. In other words, the operator has to use his own body as a self-starter; for it is the magnetism of his own protoplasm that supplies the basis of manifestation of any force that is being brought through into the Sphere of Malkuth. Carried to its logical conclusion, this is the principle of generation, whether of protozoa or spermatozoa.
14. The modern concept of matter approximates very closely to that which has been held by esoteric science from time immemorial. What our senses perceive are the phenomena attributable to activities of different types of force, usually in organisation and combination. Only through an understanding of the nature of these forces is the nature of matter to be understood. Exoteric science is dealing with the problem by refining its concept of matter till there is no substance left in it. What the physicist now knows as matter is very far removed from the obvious.
15. The esotericist, approaching the problem from the opposite direction, points out that matter and mind are two sides of the same coin, but that there comes a point in one’s investigation when it is profitable to change over terminology, and talk of forces and forms in terms of psychology, as if they were conscious and purposive. This, he says, enables us to deal with the phenomena we encounter much better than we can do if we limit ourselves to terms only applicable to inanimate matter and blind, undirected force. We must always, by the nature of our intellect, use analogy as a help to understanding; if the analogies we use on this level of the investigation are the analogies of inanimate matter, we shall find them so inadequate as to be very limiting and misleading, and darkeners of counsel in general.
16. If, however, we use the terminologies of life and intelligence and purposive will, duly diluted to the requirements of the very rudimentary state of development of that with which we have to deal, we shall find we have an analogy which is illuminating instead of limiting, and which will lead on to advancement in understanding.
17. It is for this reason that the esotericist personifies the subtler forces and calls them Intelligences. He then proceeds to deal with them as if they were intelligent, and he finds that there is a subtle side of his own nature and consciousness which responds to them, and to which, he fondly believes, they respond. At any rate, whether the response is mutual or not, his powers of dealing with them are, by this means, greatly extended beyond those which he possesses when he regards them as “a fortuitous concourse of uncorrelated incidents.”
18. Malkuth is the nadir of evolution, but it should be looked upon, not as the ultimate depth of unspirituality, but as the marking-buoy in a yacht race. Any yacht that puts about on to the homeward course before it has rounded the marking-buoy is disqualified. And so it is with the soul. If we try to escape from the discipline of matter before we have mastered the lessons of matter, we are not advancing heavenwards, but suffering from arrested development. It is these spiritual defectives who flock from one to another of the innumerable wildcat uplift organisations that come to us from the Far East and the Far West. They find in cheap idealism an escape from the rigorous demands of life. But this is not a way of advancement, but a way of retreat. Sooner or later they have to face the fence and clear it. Life brings them up to it again and again, and presently begins to use the whip and spur of psychological sickness; for those who will not face life, dissociate; and dissociation is the prime cause of most of the ills that mind is heir to.
19. If we study the lessons of history we shall get much light on moral and spiritual problems from an unexpected angle. We see that all civilisation and inspiration arose in the East; a point to which those who are of Eastern race or follow an Eastern tradition point proudly, saying that the West must sit at the feet of the East if it is to learn the secrets of life.
20. Now it cannot be denied that there are many things, especially the more recondite aspects of psychology, concerning which the East knows a great deal more than the West, and which we should be wise to learn; but it also cannot be denied that, having originated in the East, the growing-point of evolution is now to be found in the West, and that for every advance in the art of living on this terrestrial planet, the East must look to the West unless it is content to go back to the spinning-wheel standard of life. But let it not be forgotten that with the primitive standard of life goes also the primitive standard of death. A primitive culture can only support a sparse population. A great many people have got to die, mostly the old and the young. When we return to Nature, she deals with us after her own manner with her red tooth and claw. The unsoftened impact of Nature is not a pleasant thing. When human beings get too thick on the ground, she wipes them out with disease and starvation. With the white man’s civilisation goes the white man’s sanitation. By refraining from all action one may achieve release from the bondage of the body more quickly and effectually than one bargains for, if among the actions refrained from are those connected with communal cleanliness in a densely populated land.
21. The Greeks understood the principle of Malkuth better than did anybody else, and they were the founders of the European culture. They taught us to see beauty in perfect proportion and function, and nowhere else. The frieze of figures upon the Grecian urn turned the mind of Keats to the contemplation of ideal Truth and Beauty. There can be no higher ideal than this for the finite mind to contemplate, for in it the Law and the prophets are lifted far above the grim forbiddings of the Mosaic code into the inspiration of an ideal to be pursued.
22. It is in the Sphere of Malkuth that civilisation has wrought for the last thousand years. It does not need any astrologer to tell us that the Great War marked the end of an epoch, and that we are now in the dawn of a new phase. According to Qabalistic doctrine, the Lightning Flash, having come down the Tree till it ends in Malkuth, is now replaced by the symbolism of the Serpent of Wisdom, whose coils loop upwards on the Paths till its head rests beside Kether. The Lightning Flash represents the unconscious descent of force, building the planes of manifestation, passing from active to passive and back again in order that equilibrium may be maintained. The Serpent coiling upon the Paths represents the dawn of objective consciousness and is the symbol of initiation; by the Path whereon the initiates have gone, ahead of their time, evolution is beginning to go, taking with it the race as a whole. It is now becoming normal for the average man to do what only the initiates used to do.
23. We see the growing-point of evolution, then, beginning to rise out of Malkuth and reach out towards Yesod. This means that science, both pure and applied, is passing beyond the study of inanimate matter and is beginning to take account of the etheric and psychic side of things. This changing phase is visible all around us for those who can read the signs of the times. We see it in medicine, in international relationships in industrial organisation. Last, and most reluctantly, we see it making itself felt in the sciences of physiology and psychology, which cling tenaciously to a materialistic explanation of all things, and especially the life-processes, even after physics, which avowedly deals with inanimate matter, has abandoned the materialistic position and talks in terms of mathematics.
24. The occult division of Malkuth into the Four Elements gives us a very valuable key. We should regard matter as we know it as Earth of Malkuth. The different types of physical activity, whether in molecules or masses, can be classified under the two headings of anabolism and catabolism, that is to say the building-up and the breaking-down processes; these can he classified in esoteric terminology as the Water or Air of Malkuth, and whatever is said by esoteric philosophy or pagan mythology in relation to these elements will be applicable to these two metabolic processes and functions. The Fire of Malkuth is that subtle electro-magnetic aspect of matter which is the link with the processes of consciousness and life, and to it all life-myths apply.
25. When this principle of classification is understood, the terminology of the alchemists becomes less recondite and absurd, for it is seen that the classification into Four Elements really refers to four modes of manifestation on the physical plane. This method of classification is of very great value, because it enables the relationship and correspondence between the physical plane and the life-processes behind it to be readily seen. It is especially important in the study of physiology and pathology, and in its practical application it is a most important key to therapeutics. The more advanced physicians are beginning to feel their way towards this position, and the classifications of Paracelsus are being quoted to-day by more than one leader of medical thought. The concept of diathesis or constitutional predisposition is receiving attention. Psychotherapy, again, is beginning to see that the old classification into the four temperaments affords a useful guide to treatment, and that it does not do to handle everyone in the same way; nor yet that similar results always spring from similar causes in the realms of mind, because temperament intervenes and falsifies the results. For instance, apathy in the phlegmatic type may simply mean boredom; whereas the same degree of apathy in the sanguine type may mean a complete breakdown of the whole personality. The analogies between material and mental things can be very misleading; whereas the analogies between mental and material things can be very enlightening.
26. The four elements correspond to the four temperaments as described by Hippocrates, the four Tarot suits, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the seven planets. If the implications of these statements are worked out, it will he seen that herein are contained some very important keys.
27. The Element of Earth corresponds to the Phlegmatic Temperament; the suit of Pentacles; the signs of Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn; and the planets Venus and Luna.
28. The Element of Water corresponds to the Bilious Temperament; the Suit of Cups; the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces; and the planet Mars.
29. The Element of Air corresponds to the Choleric Temperament; the suit of Swords; the signs of Libra, Gemini, and Aquarius; and the planets Saturn and Mercury.
30. The Element of Fire corresponds to the Sanguine Temperament; the suit of Wands; the signs of Aries, Sagittarius and Leo; and the planets Sol and Jupiter.
31. It will be seen, then, that if we classify mundane affairs and phenomena in terms of the Four Elements, we shall immediately see their relationship to astrology and the Tarot. Now classification is the stage that immediately follows observation in scientific method. A very great deal of scientific work simply consists in these two processes; in fact, for the rank and file of science these represent the total range of their activities. If science is limited to these two activities, as it would be if we listened to our more pedestrian scientists, it would be no more than a compiling of lists of natural phenomena, as if the brokers were in on the universe. But the imaginative scientist, who alone is worthy of the name of research worker, uses classification not so much as a means of putting things away tidily, but to enable him to recognise relationships.
32. From the imaginative scientist who perceives to the philosophic scientist who interprets is but a step; and from the philosophical scientist who interprets in terms of causation to the esoteric scientist who interprets in terms of purpose, and so links science to ethics, is but another step. It is the tragedy of Esoteric Science that its exponents have nearly always been inadequately equipped upon the plane of Malkuth, and consequently unable to co-ordinate their results with those obtained by workers in other fields. As long as we rest content with this state of affairs we shall continue to have muddle-headed thinking and credulous assumptions as our inalienable lot. Esoteric Science needs to observe the rule of the yacht race, and make each magical operation round the marking buoy of Malkuth before it is reckoned to have achieved completion.
33. Let us now interpret this simile from the point of view of technical occultism. Every magical operation is designed to bring power down the planes into the reach of the operator, who then applies it to whatever ends he may design. Many operators are content if they can obtain purely subjective results—that is to say, a sense of exaltation; others aim at the production of psychic phenomena. It should be recognised, however, that no operation is completed until the process has been expressed in terms of Malkuth, or, in other words, has issued forth in action on the physical plane. If this is not done, the force that has been generated is not properly “earthed,” and it is this loose force left lying around that causes the trouble in magical experiments. It may not cause trouble in a single experiment, as few operators generate enough power to cause anything, let alone trouble; but in a series of experiments the effect may be cumulative, and result in the general psychic upheaval and run of bad luck and queer happenings so often reported by experimenters. It is these sort of things that give experimental magic a bad name, and lead to its being regarded as dangerous and compared to drug addiction. The true analogy, however, would be with the dangers of X-ray research in its early days. It is faulty technique that gives rise to trouble, as it always must when active potencies are being handled. Perfect your technique and you get rid of your troubles and have a very potent force available for use.
34. The only means of transition from Yesod to Malkuth is through the mediumship of living substances. Now there are various degrees of livingness. The esotericist recognizes life wherever there is organised form, for he says that life alone is the organiser of form, though in what are popularly called inorganic substances the proportion of life is very small, and in some cases infinitesimal. In some forms of inorganic matter, however, there is a by no means negligible proportion of life, just as in plants there is a by no means negligible proportion of intelligence. It is only recent advances in experimental work, notably those of Sir Jagindranath Bhose, that have demonstrated this fact, but it has long been known empirically to the practical occultist. He has always made use of crystalline and metallic substances as storage batteries of subtle forces. He has always regarded silk as an insulator. He has, in fact, availed himself of the properties of the same substances that the electrician employs to-day. The best talismans are considered to be disks of pure metal engraven with suitable devices and kept wrapped in silk of a colour appropriate to the force with which the talisman is charged. A precious stone, which is of course a coloured crystal, is a very important part of certain operations, because it is held to act as a focus for the force. It is also a very important part of certain types of wireless receivers. The influence of colours on mental states is now well recognised. No worker is allowed to work for a lengthy period in the red light rooms of the manufacturers of photographic supplies, because it is recognised that such workers are liable to emotional disturbance and even temporary mental unbalance. All these things we are rediscovering by means of modern scientific method and its instruments, but they were well known to the ancients, and their practical applications were worked out to an extent that is not dreamed of today, save among the few who are popularly known as “cranky.”
35. Plants also we find credited with a varying degree of “psychic activity.” This is especially attributed to aromatic plants. The ancients had an elaborate system of attribution of plants to the different forms of subtle force. Some of these, of course, are fantastic, but there are certain broad principles which give guidance. Wherever we find a plant traditionally associated with any deity we may be fairly certain that that plant has been proven to have affinities with the type of force that that deity represents. It may be that the association appears to our modern eyes to be superficial and irrational, such associations as Freud has shown us that the dreaming mind employs; but the worshippers of the deity, if the association is hallowed by tradition, will have built up the psychic connection between the plant and the force, and as in all such traditional associations, once established, the link is easily recoverable by those who know how to make use of the constructive imagination. Whether there is any intrinsic relationship between the nature of the plant and the nature of the force to which it is assigned, as in the case of the rose to Venus and the lily to the Virgin Mary, such a relationship is speedily established by the worshippers of a cult and equally speedily recoverable by those who follow in their footsteps, even after a lapse of centuries. Therefore for all practical purposes there is such a relationship, not only in relation to the plants assigned to a particular deity, but in relation to animals as well.
36. An attribution which has especial practical importance is that of perfumes and colours. The colour attributions have already been given in the tables at the head of each chapter. Concerning the perfumes, it is less easy to lay down hard and fast rules, as the available perfumes are almost countless, and the forces in practical working often tend to run one into the other. For instance, it is difficult, and in fact undesirable, to keep the forces of Netzach separated from those of Tiphareth, or those of Hod from Yesod, or Yesod from Malkuth; and anyone who tries working Geburah without Gedulah would burn his fingers.
37. Perfumes are used not only to enable the deity to manifest, but to tune the imagination of the operator. To this latter end they are most efficacious, as anyone will discover for themselves if they try to work a ceremony without the appropriate perfume. With inexperienced operators it is advisable to dispense with the use of perfumes in case the psychic effect is too drastic for comfort or convenience.
38. Broadly speaking, we can divide perfumes into those which exalt consciousness and those which stir the subconscious to activity. Of those which exalt consciousness the aromatic gums stand by themselves, and these are employed exclusively in the manufacture of ecclesiastical incense. In addition to these, certain essential oils possess similar properties, especially those which are aromatic and astringent rather than sweet and spicy. These substances are of value in all operations in which the aim is increased intellectual clarity or exaltation of the mystical type.
39. The perfumes that awaken the subconscious mind are of two types, the Dionysiac and the Venusian. The Dionysiac odours are of the aromatic, spicy type, such as smouldering cedar or sandal-wood or pine-cones. The Venusian odours are of a sweet, cloying nature, such as vanilla. In actual practice these two types of odours shade one into the other, and characteristic flower odours are to be found in both divisions. In the practical work of compounding the perfumes a blend of ingredients is almost always employed, as they enhance each other. Many perfumes which by themselves are crude and acrid, or cloying and sickly, become admirable when blended.
40. It has been said that synthetic perfumes are useless for magical work. In my experience this is not the case, provided the essence is of good quality. Good synthetic essences are indistinguishable from the natural products save by chemical tests. As the value of perfumes is psychological, their action being upon the operator, not upon the power invoked, the chemical nature of the substance is immaterial provided one gets the appropriate effect.
41. The same applies to precious stones, rank heresy though it be to say so. All one needs is a crystal of the appropriate colour, and whether it is a Burmese ruby or a Burma one makes no difference to anything except one’s bank balance. That the ancients knew this is witnessed by the fact that in the lists of precious stones sacred to various deities alternative gems are always given. For instance, Crowley, in “777’ gives pearls, moonstones, crystal, and quartz as all being sacred to the moon-forces, and the ruby or any red stone as sacred to Mars.
42. It is believed by the occultist that the mental concentration of a current of will, backed by the imagination, has an effect upon certain crystals, metals, and oils. He makes a use of this property in order to conserve in them forces of a particular type so that these forces can be readily re-awakened at will, or even exercise their influence all the time by means of a steady emanation. Most ceremonial depends in some degree at least upon the principle of the consecrated magical weapons. It is noteworthy that all the more important equipment of a church is always consecrated before it is taken into use. Whether this consecration is effective is not a matter of opinion. Any good psychic will readily distinguish between consecrated and unconsecrated objects, provided, of course, that the consecration has been effectual. It is a matter of experience with any practical occultist that a very definite change takes place in him when he takes his accustomed magical instruments in hand or purse on his accustomed robes. He can do with these what he cannot do without them. He also knows that it takes rime to “break in” a new magical instrument. It is interesting to note in this respect that I am quite unable to write anything about the “Mystical Qabalah” without my ancient and battered “Tree of Life” beside me. It is also interesting to note that when this Tree of Life, which was originally prepared for me by someone else, became so dingy as to be almost undecipherable, I repainted it myself, and found thereafter that it immediately took on a marked increase in magnetism: thus bearing out the old tradition that one should always prepare one’s magical weapons as far as possible with one’s own hands.
43. The great problem in the practical working is to bring things through to the Sphere of Malkuth. Many methods are described by the ancients—with how much truth one has no means of knowing. How far were actual materialisations obtained by the method of blood-sacrifice described by Virgil, and how far did the exalted imagination of the participants in these aweinspiring rites supply the basis of manifestation?
44. But whatever may be the facts, the holocausts of the ancients are not a practicable method for the modern experimenter to follow. The basis of the idea, however, lies in the fact that freshly shed blood gives off ectoplasm. There are, of course, materializing mediums who also give off ectoplasm without the shedding of blood. But those who give off an appreciable quantity are few and far between. When a number of psychically developed people are gathered together in a circle for the purpose of evocation they may, between them, give off sufficient ectoplasm to form the necessary basis for physical phenomena. Such a method is not without its difficulties, not to say risks, and the esotericist, who is a philosopher rather than an experimenter, seldom makes use of it.
It is sufficient for him if he gets manifestations in the Sphere of Yesod and perceives them with the inner vision.
45. The only satisfactory channel of evocation is the operator himself. In the Egyptian method of evocation, known as the assumption of the god-forms, the operator identifies himself with the god and offers himself as the channel of manifestation. It is his own magnetism that bridges the gulf between Malkuth and Yesod. There is no other method so satisfactory, for the amount of magnetism in a living being is far greater than in any metal or crystal, however precious.
46. This ancient method is also known to us under another name; it is called by moderns, mediumship. When the spirit speaks through the entranced medium, precisely the same thing is happening as happened in ancient Egypt when the priest with the mask of Horus spake with the voice of Horus.
47. When we consider the microcosmic Tree, the physical body is Malkuth; the etheric double is Yesod; the astra-mental body is Hod and Netzach; and the higher mind is Tiphareth. Whatever the higher mind can conceive can readily be brought through into manifestation in the subjective Malkuth. We do better to rely upon this method of evocation rather than the extraneous devices of extruded ectoplasm or the outpouring of vital fluids, even if this latter device were practicable in our modern civilisation.
48. The best magical weapon is the magus himself, and all other contrivances are but a means to an end, the end being that exaltation and concentration of consciousness which makes a magus of an ordinary man. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the living God?” said a Great One. If we know how to use the symbolic furniture of this living temple, we have the keys of heaven in our hands.
49. The key to this use is given in the microcosmic attributions of the Tree. Interpreting these in terms of function, and function in terms of spiritual principles, we can unlock the door of the Storehouse of Force. The best and most complete manifestation of the power of God is through the energised enthusiasm of the trained and dedicated man. We would be wiser if we looked for the end-result of a magical operation to come about through natural channels rather than to expect an interference with the course of Nature—an expectation that in the very nature of things is doomed to disappointment.
50. Let us make this clear by illustration. Supposing we desire to heal sickness, we should, working by the method of the Tree, employ a rite or meditation of Tiphareth. But are we, for this reason, to limit our operations to the Sphere of Tiphareth and require the healing to be a purely Spiritual healing, as do the Christian Scientists? Or shall we modify our method sufficiently to allow of the laying on of hands and the anointing with oil, which are operations of the Sphere of Yesod, designed to conduct magnetic force? Or shall we, which appears to me the wiser method, make use of an operation of Malkuth also, thus bringing the power steadily down the planes into manifestation without break or gap in the transmutation and conduction?
51. And what is an operation of the Sphere of Malkuth? It is simply action on the physical plane. In an invocation of healing, therefore, I think we do better to invoke the Great Physician to manifest His power to us through the human physician, for that is the natural channel, than to rely upon a spiritual force for which the only channel of evocation is the spiritual nature of the patient, who may or may not be able to rise to the occasion.
52. That great spiritual forces can be brought to bear effectually upon the healing of our diseases is beyond question, but they must have a channel of manifestation; and why be at great pains to build a psychic one when there is a natural one ready to hand? God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform when natural law is a sealed book to us; but when we understand the ways of Nature’s working, we see that God moves in a perfectly natural way, through the regularly established channels; the difference between the supernatural and the natural does not lie in the channels of manifestation that are used, but in the amount of power that comes through them. Not in quality but in quantity does the flow of power alter when spiritual forces are successfully invoked.
53. The whole problem of Malkuth is a problem of channels and connecting links. The rest of the work is done by the mind on the subtler planes; the real difficulty lies in the transition from the subtle to the dense, for the subtle is so ill-equipped to work on the dense. This transition is effected by means of the magnetism of living things, whether organic or inorganic. Ce n est que le dernier pas qui conCe in magical operations.
54. Three ideas issue from a contemplation of the Yetziratic Text related to Malkuth—the concept of the Resplendent Intelligence which illuminates the splendour of all the Lights; the relationship between Malkuth and Binah; and the function of Malkuth in causing an influence to emanate from the Angel of Kether.
55. It may seem a curious idea that Malkuth, which is the material world, should be the illuminator of the Lights; we can understand this, however, if we refer to the analogy of physics, which tells us that the sky only appears blue and luminous owing to the reflection of light from the innumerable dust particles floating in the atmosphere; absolutely dustless air is unilluminated, and our sky would have the darkness of interstellar space if it were not for these dust particles. We also learn from the study of physics that we see objects solely by means of the rays of light they reflect from their surfaces. When there is little or no reflection, as with black cloth, it is almost invisible in a dim light, a property made much use of by conjurers and illusionists.
56. It is the formative, concreting function of Malkuth which finally renders tangible and definite what was, upon the higher planes, intangible and indefinite, and this is its great service to manifestation and its characteristic power. All the Lights, that is to say the emanations of all the other Sephiroth, become illuminated, visible, when reflected from the concrete aspects of Malkuth.
57. Every magical operation must come through to Malkuth before it can be reckoned to have attained completion, for only in Malkuth is the force finally locked home into form. Therefore all magical work is better carried out in the form of a ritual performed on the physical plane, even if the operator is working alone, than simply as a form of meditation operating upon the astral plane only. There must be something upon the physical plane, even if it be no more than lines drawn on a talisman, or the writing of signs upon the air, which brings the action through to the plane of Malkuth. Experience proves that an operation so terminated is a very different matter to an operation which begins and ends on the astral.
58. The relationship between Malkuth and Binah is very clearly indicated in the titles assigned to both these Sephiroth. Binah is the Superior Mother and Malkuth the Inferior Mother. As we have already seen, Binah is the primordial Giver of Form. Malkuth being the Sphere of Form, the relationship is obvious. That which had its inception in Binah has its culmination in Malkuth. This point gives us an important clue by means of which to guide our researches among the ramifications of the polytheistic pantheons. The Qabalistic system is explicit concerning the doctrine of Emanations, whereby the One unfolds into the Many, and the Many are reabsorbed into the One. No other system is specific upon this point, though in all of them it is hinted under the guise of genealogies. The begettings and matings of the gods and goddesses, by no means always in holy wedlock, give definite indication of the implicit doctrines of emanation and polarity, and are not merely ribald phantasies of primitive man, creating the gods in his own image and likeness.
59. A careful comparison of the information that has come down to us concerning the rites by which the ancients worshipped their many gods soon reveals that the clear-cut myths so delightfully retold for children have little bearing on the actual religion of the folk who used them as the means of expression for spiritual teachings. The gods and goddesses melt one into the other in the most perplexing fashion, so that we get the Bearded Venus, and Hercules, of all persons, arrayed in female clothes.
60. It is clear from a study of ancient art that the persons and characteristics of the various gods and goddesses were used as a form of picture-writing to indicate definite abstract ideas, of which the convention was well understood by the priesthood. Having to deal with an illiterate population for the most part, for learning was limited to a very few in those days, they wisely said, Look on this symbol and think about this story; you may not know what it means, if you are looking in the right direction, the direction whence light arises; and in proportion as you are able to receive it, light will flow into your soul if you contemplate these ideas. It is probable to the point of certainty that the illumination given in the Mysteries included the elucidation of the metaphysics of these myths.
61. Persephone, Diana, Aphrodite, Hera, all exchange their symbols, functions, characteristics, and even subordinate titles in a bewildering manner in Greek myths and art. Likewise do Priapos, Pan, Apollo, and Zeus. The best we can say of them is that all the goddesses are Great Mothers and all the gods are Givers of Life; the difference between them lying not in function but in the level upon which they function. A distinction is drawn between the Celestial Venus and the goddess of earthly love of the same name; the discerning can see an equal distinction, and an equal underlying identity, between Zeus the All-Father, and Priapos, equally addicted to fatherhood, but after another manner, the one being earthly where the other is celestial. Nevertheless, they are not two gods, but one god: just as Binah and Malkuth are not two distinct types of force, but the same force functioning on different levels. This is the key to the understanding of the significance of phallic worship, which plays so important a part in all ancient and primitive faiths, a part so little understood by their scholastic interpreters. Its real meaning is the bringing down of the godhead into manhood in the hope of taking manhood up into godhead. A process which is also the basis of the Freudian therapy.
62. The statement that Malkuth causes an influence to emanate from the Angel of Kether further bears out this idea. We see that the Great Mother, which is Malkuth, polarizes with the All-Father, which is Kether.
63. This classification, however, is too simple to serve us adequately, whether we are reducing a pagan pantheon to its simplest terms or dealing with the chances and changes of personal life. But in the four quarters, or elements, into which Malkuth is divided we find the key that we need.
64. These four elements are said to be the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water of the Wise—that is to say, four types of activity. They are represented in the notation of esoteric science by four different types of triangle. Fire is represented by a triangle point upwards; Air by a similar triangle with a bar across it, thus indicating that Air may be esteemed as akin in nature to Fire, but denser. In fact, we should not go far wrong if we called Air, Negative Fire, or Fire, Positive Air. Water is represented by a triangle point downwards, and Earth by the same triangle with a bar across it; and to these two symbols the same principles apply as to their predecessors.
65. Supposing, then, we consider the Fire triangle as representing unconditioned force and the Air triangle as representing conditioned force, the Earth triangle as representing totally inert form and the Water triangle as representing an active type of form, we have another mode of classification available. In the most ancient myths, the air, or space-god, is the parent of the sun, celestial fire, and water is the matrix of earth. This comes out clearly on the Central Pillar of the Tree of Life, where Kether, space, overshadows Tiphareth, the sun-centre, and the watery Yesod, the moon-centre, overshadows the earthy Malkuth.
66. Or supposing we arrange the symbols composing the glyph after another manner, which it is the glory of the Tree that it enables us to do, and place them as the four Elements, citrine, olive, russet, and black, in the sphere of Malkuth, and consider the life-force descending from Kether as operating after the manner of an alternating current of electricity, which the doctrine of alternating polarity teaches us to do, we find that force will sometimes be flowing from Malkuth to Kether, and sometimes from Kether to Malkuth.
67. Now this is an all-important point when applied to the microcosm, for it teaches us that we need to be in circuit with the Earth-soul just as much as with the God of Heaven; there is an inspiration that rises up from the unconscious quite as much as there is an inspiration that flows down from the superconscious.
68. This comes out clearly in the Greek myths, wherein we find such positive earth forces as Pan, who, by virtue of his goat-symbolism, cannot be assigned otherwise than to the Sphere of Earth, for Capricorn is the most earthy of the earthy triplicity. Pan represents the positive magnetism of the earth up-rushing in its return to the All-Father. Ceres, on the other hand, or many-breasted Diana, who are both very earthly Venuses and far from virgin, represent the final earthing of the heavenly force in dense matter. Hera, who has been called the Celestial Venus or heavenly Aphrodite, represents the return of the up-rushing earth-force to heaven, and is earth-positive on a celestial level.
69. These are things difficult to elucidate to those who have not seen the sun at midnight. They yield much to meditation, but little to disputation.
70. In the Sphere of Malkuth are worked all divinations. Now the object of any method of divination is to find a set of things on the physical plane which correspond accurately and comprehensively to the invisible forces in the same way that the movements of the hands of a clock correspond to the passage of time.
71. For revealing general trends and conditions it is agreed by universal experience of those who have studied such matters that astrology is the best system of correspondences. But for obtaining an answer to a single question it is not sufficiently specific, for too many factors may come in to modify the result. The initiated diviner, therefore, makes use of the more specific systems, such as divination by the Tarot or geomancy, when he wants to obtain an answer to a specific question.
72. But it is of little use to go into a shop and buy a pack of Tarot cards unless there is the knowledge necessary to build up the astral correspondences to each card. This takes time, as there are seventy-two cards to work with. Once it is done, however, the operator can take the cards into his hands with a considerable degree of confidence that his subconscious mind, whatever that may be, will all unwittingly deal the cards that refer to the matter in question. Exactly how the shuffle and deal is affected we do not know, but one thing is certain, when the Great Angel of the Tarot has been contacted, the cards are remarkably revealing.
73. Having considered the general principles of the Sphere of Malkuth, we are now in a position to study its special symbolism with profit.
74. It is called the Kingdom—in other words, the sphere ruled by the King—and the King is the title of Microprosopos, who consists of the six central Sephiroth, excluding the Three Supernals. We may regard Malkuth, or the material Sphere, as the sphere of manifestation of these six central Sephiroth, which themselves are emanated by the Three Supernals. Everything then, ends in Malkuth, even as everything begins in Kether.
75. The Magical Image of Malkuth is a young woman, crowned and veiled; this is the Isis of Nature, her face veiled to show that the spiritual forces are hidden within the outer form. This idea is also present in the symbolism of Binah, which is summed up in the concept of “the outer robe of concealment.” Malkuth, as is clearly set forth in the Yetziratic Text, is Binah upon a lower arc.
76. Now Binah is called the Dark Sterile Mother, and Malkuth is called the Bride of Microprosopos, or the Bright Fertile Mother, and these correspond to the dual aspects of the Egyptian moon-goddess as Isis and Hathor, Isis being the positive aspect of the goddess, and Hathor the negative aspect. In Greek symbolism these would correspond to Aphrodite and Ceres. Now Aphrodite is the positive aspect of the female potency, for be it remembered that under the law of alternating polarity that which is negative on the outer planes is positive on the inner, and vice versa. Aphrodite, the Celestial Venus, is the giver of magnetic stimulus to the spiritually negative male; it is because her function is not understood in modern life that so much is wrong with modern life. Binah, the higher aspect of Isis, is, however, barren, because the positive pole is always the giver of the stimulus, but never the producer of the result. The Malkuth aspect of Isis is the Bright Fertile Mother, the goddess of fecundity, thus indicating the end-result of the operation of Isis on the physical plane.
77. The situation of Malkuth at the foot of the Pillar of Equilibrium places it in the direct line of the descent of power from Kether, transmuted in Daath, the Invisible Sephirah, and passing on to the planes of form via Tiphareth. This is the Path of Consciousness, whereas the two Side Pillars are Paths of Function; but the two Side Pillars also converge on Malkuth via the Thirty-first and T wenty-ninth Paths. Consequently everything ends in Malkuth.
78. We who are incarnated in physical bodies are standing in Malkuth, and when we set out upon the Way of Initiation our route lies up the Thirty-second Path to Yesod. This Path, straight up the Central Pillar, is called the Path of the Arrow, which is shot from Qesheth, the Bow of Promise; it is by this route that the mystic rises upon the planes; the initiate, however, adds to his experience the powers of the Side Pillars as well as the realisations of the Middle Pillar.
79. This aspect of the Central Pillar is expressed in the Yetziratic Text wherein it states that Malkuth causes an influence to emanate from the Prince of Countenances, the Angel of Kether.
80. The additional titles assigned to Malkuth bring out its attributes clearly. It is regarded as the Gate and the Mate. These two ideas are in essence one idea, for the womb of the Mother is the Gate of Life. It is also the Gate of Death, for birth into the plane of form is death to higher things.
81. Malkuth is also said to be Kallah, the Bride of Microprosopos, and Malkah, the Queen of Melekh, the King. This clearly indicates the function in polarity that prevails between the planes of form and the planes of force; the planes of form being the female aspect, polarised and made fertile by the influences of the planes of force.
82. The God-name in Malkuth is Adonai Melekh, or Adonai ha Aretz, which titles mean, the Lord who is King, and the Lord of Earth. Herein we clearly see the assertion of the supremacy of the One God in the Kingdoms of Earth, and every magical operation, wherein the operator takes power into his own hands, should commence with the invocation of Adonai to indwell his temple of earth and rule therein, that no force may break from its allegiance to the One.
83. These who call upon the Name of Adonai call upon God made manifest in Nature, which is the aspect of God adored by initiates of the Nature Mysteries, whether Dionysian or Isiac—which concern the different ways of opening super-consciousness via subconsciousness.
84. The archangel is the great angel Sandalphon, who is sometimes called by Qabalists the Dark Angel; whereas Metatron, the Angel of the Countenance, is the Bright Angel. These two angels are held to stand behind the right and left shoulders of the soul in its hours of crisis. They might be taken to represent good and bad karma. It is in reference to the function of Sandalphon as the Dark Angel presiding over the Karmic Debt that Malkuth is called the Gate of Justice and the Gate of Tears. It has been said by a wit, with more truth than he knew, that this planet was actually some other planet’s hell. It is in very fact the sphere in which karma is normally worked out. Where there is sufficient knowledge, however, karma can be worked out deliberately on the subtler planes, and this method is one of the forms of spiritual healing.
85. The Order of Angels assigned to Malkuth are the Ashim, the Souls of Fire, or Fiery Particles, of which Mme. Blavatsky says some very interesting things. A Soul of Fire is in actual fact the consciousness of an atom; the Ashim therefore represent the natural consciousness of dense matter; it is these which bestow on it its characteristics. It is these Fiery Lives, these infinitesimal electrical charges, which are for ever weaving backwards and forwards with tremendous activity in the background of matter and form its basis. Everything that we know as matter builds up on this groundwork. It is with the help of these Fiery Lives that certain types of magic are worked. There are but few who can work such magic, for the denser the plane to be manipulated, the greater must be the power of the Magus who commands it.
86. The Mundane Chakra of Malkuth is the Sphere of the Elements. These we have already considered in such detail as is possible in these pages.
87. The Spiritual Experience of Malkuth is the Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel. Now this angel, which according to the Qabalists is assigned to each soul at birth and companions him till death, when it takes him into its keeping and presents him before the face of God for judgment, is in actuality the Higher Self of each one of us, which builds up around the Divine Spark that is the nucleus of the soul and endures for an evolution, sending down a process into matter at each incarnation to form the basis of the new personality.
88. When the Higher Self and the Lower Self become united through the complete absorption of the lower by the higher, true adepthood is gained; this is the Great Initiation, the Lesser Divine Union. It is the supreme experience of the incarnate soul, and when this takes place, it is freed from any compulsion to rebirth into the prison-house of flesh. Thenceforth it is free to go on up the planes and enter into its rest, or, if it so elects, to remain within the earth-sphere and function as a Master.
89. This, then, is the spiritual experience which is assigned to Malkuth—the bringing down of the Godhead into manhood, just as the spiritual experience of Tiphareth is the taking up of manhood into the Godhead.
90. The especial virtue of Malkuth is said to be Discrimination. This idea is further carried out in the curious symbolism of the ancients which declared the correspondence in the microcosm to be with the anus. Whatever in life is effete has to be excreted, and the macrocosmic excretion is into the Qliphothic spheres which depend below Malkuth, whence the cosmic excreta cannot return to the planes of organised form until they find balance in equilibrium. There is, therefore, in the Qliphothic world, a sphere which is not Hell, but Purgatory; it is a reservoir of disorganised force emanated from broken-up forms, cast out from evolution; it is Chaos upon a lower arc. It is from this reservoir of force that is accustomed to form, and therefore organises readily, that the Shells, or imperfect entities, build up their vehicles. It is also said to be drawn upon for the lower types of magic of an evil kind. The tendency of such forces as are available in the Qliphothic sphere must always be to assume once more such forms as they were accustomed to before they were disintegrated and reduced to their primal state; as these forms were at least out of date, if not actively evil, it naturally follows that this matter of chaos is not a desirable substance to work in; and had best be left there till its purification is complete and it has filtered back through the Sphere of Earth by the natural channels, and been drawn once again into the stream of evolution. It is for this reason that all the underworld cults and the evocation of the departed are undesirable, for the forms the manifesting entities assume must be built in part at least of this substance of Chaos.
91. It is the especial virtue of Malkuth, then, to act as a kind of cosmic filter, casting out the effete and preserving that which still retains its usefulness.
92. The characteristic vices of the functioning of Malkuth are said to be avarice and inertia. It is easy to see how the stability of Malkuth can be overdone, and so give rise to sluggishness and inertia. The concept of avarice, though not so obvious upon the surface, soon yields its significance to investigation; for the over-retentiveness of avarice is a kind of spiritual costiveness, the exact opposite of the discrimination which rejects the excreta of life through the cosmic anus into the cosmic cesspool of the Qliphoth. It is interesting to note that Freud declares that the miser is invariably constipated, and associates the dream of money with faeces.
93. One of the most important things we have to do before we can rise out of the limitations of life in Malkuth and breathe a wider air, is to learn how to let go; how to sacrifice the lesser to the greater and so buy the pearl of great price. It is discrimination which enables us to know which is the lesser value that has to be given up in order to obtain the greater, for there is no gain without sacrifice. What we do not realise is that every sacrifice should yield a substantial profit in treasure laid up in heaven where neither moth nor rust do corrupt; otherwise it is mere useless waste.
94. We have already noted one of the correspondences assigned to Malkuth in the microcosm. It is also said, however, that Malkuth corresponds to the feet of the Divine Man. Here again we have an important concept; for unless the feet are firmly planted on Mother Earth, no stability is possible. There are altogether too many top-heavy mystics who like to think that the Divine Man ends at the neck like a cherub, and give no place to the generative organs of Yesod, or the anus of Malkuth. They need to learn the lesson that the heavenly dream taught to St. Peter, that nothing which God made is unclean unless we allow it to become so. We should recognise the Divine Life in all its functions, and so bring the manhood up into Godhead and sanctify it. Cleanliness is next to godliness, especially internal cleanliness. If we evade and avoid a thing, how are we to keep it clean and wholesome? The taboos of a primitive people have been altogether overdone in our civilised life, with disastrous consequences to the health and wholesomeness of humanity.
95. The symbols of Malkuth are the altar of the double cube and the equal-armed cross, or cross of the elements.
96. The altar of the double cube is symbolic of the Hermetic maxim, “As above, so below,” and teaches that what is visible is the reflection of what is invisible, and corresponds with it exactly. This cubical altar is the altar of the Mysteries, in contradistinction to the table-altar, which is the altar of the Church. For the table-altar stands in the east, but the cubical altar stands in the centre. It is said to be in proper proportion when it is the height of the navel of a six-foot man, and its breadth and depth are half its height.
97. The equal-armed cross, or cross of the elements, represents the four elements in balanced equilibrium, which is the perfection of Malkuth. It is represented on the Tree by the division of Malkuth into four quarters, coloured citrine, olive, russet, and black, with the citrine towards Yesod and the black towards the Qliphoth; the olive towards Netzach and the russet towards Hod. These are the reflections of the Three Pillars and the Qliphothic sphere, dulled and tempered by the veil of earth.
98. Thus are all things summed up in Malkuth, though seen in a glass darkly, by reflection, and not face to face.
99. The four Tarot cards yield curious results when subjected to meditation in the light of what we know about Malkuth. The Ten of Wands is called the Lord of Oppression; the Ten of Cups, the Lord of Perfected Success; the Ten of Swords, the Lord of Ruin; and the Ten of Pentacles, the Lord of Wealth.
100. As we have already seen, it is in Malkuth that spiritual forces come to their fulfilment on the plane of form, and by taking these completed forms, and “sacrificing” them, we can translate them back into spiritual potencies.
101. These four Tarot cards, it will be observed, are alternately good and bad in their significance; in fact, the Ten of Swords is said to be the worst card in the pack to divination. There is a curious alchemical doctrine which has a bearing on this point. It is taught that the signs of the planets are compounded out of three symbols—the solar disk, the lunar crescent, and the cross of corrosion or sacrifice; and these symbols, rightly interpreted, give the key to the alchemical nature of the planet and its practical use in the Great Work of transmutation. For instance, Mars, in whose symbol the cross surmounts the circle, is said to be outwardly corrosive, but inwardly solar; Venus, in which the circle surmounts the cross, is said to be outwardly solar, but inwardly corrosive, or in the words of Scripture, sweet in the mouth, but in the belly bitter.
102. In these four Tarot tens the same principle is seen to prevail. Each card represents the working of a certain type of spiritual force on the plane of dense matter. The most spiritual of these cards, the ten of the suit whose ace is said to be the Root of the Powers of Fire, is called the Lord of Oppression. This reaches us that the higher spiritual forces are apt to be outwardly corrosive when operating upon the plane of matter. The powers of Fire, at their highest potency in the ten of Wands, are a refining fire. “As gold is tried in the furnace, so the heart must be tried by pain.”
103. On the other hand, all the symbolism of the suit of Cups, or Chalices, shows the Venusian influence very clearly; it is in this suit we find the Lords of Pleasure, Material Happiness, and Abundance. But we also find the Lords of Illusory Success, Abandoned Success, and Loss in Pleasure, which shows clearly that this suit, though outwardly solar, is inwardly corrosive.
104. Swords, again, are under the Martian influence, and the Lord of Ruin shows the total sacrifice of all material things.
105. But in Pentacles, earth of earth, the position is again reversed, and we find that the ten of Pentacles is the Lord of Wealth.
106. It will be seen, therefore, that those cards which are of suits primarily spiritual in nature are outwardly corrosive on the physical plane; and those cards of suits that are primarily material in nature are outwardly solar, or beneficient on the material plane. This teaches a very useful lesson, and gives a very important key when used in those systems of divination which are designed to give discernment of the spiritual influences operating in a case.
107. All mundane affairs rise and fall like the waves of the sea, crest following trough, and trough following crest in rhythmical progression; therefore, when any mundane condition is at either its zenith or nadir we know that a change of tide is to be expected in the near future. This knowledge is embodied in many popular sayings, such as “It’s a long lane that has no turning,” and “The darkest hour is before the dawn.” Harriman, the great American millionaire, said that he made his fortune by always buying on a falling market and selling on a rising one—which is the exact opposite to what everyone else tries to do. Nevertheless, it is a farsighted proceeding, for a boom always topples over into a depression, and a depression issues forth into a boom. This has happened so often even within living memory that one would have thought speculators would have learnt the lessons of history, but they never do. It was a knowledge of this fact that enabled the Fraternity of the Inner Light to be piloted steadily amidst the post-war difficulties, and come through without having to curtail any of its activities. There are times when it is necessary to be modest in order to be solvent; but there are times when one can launch out boldly, despite all outward seeming, because one knows that the tide is rising under one.
108. These four cards, then, give a very true insight into the nature of the operation of forces in Malkuth, and when they turn up in a divination, one always prepares for the outward gold to turn to corrosion, and the outward corrosion to turn to gold sooner or later, and one takes in or spreads one’s sails accordingly.
109. This is the true use of divination—to enable one to discern the spiritual forces concerned in any happening, and act accordingly. Of what use, then, is the divination performed by one who has not spiritual discernment? And can one expect to find spiritual discernment in the hack occultist who gives so much for half-a-crown, and so much more for ten shillings? Spiritual things are not done in this way. Among the ancients, divination was a religious rite, and so it should be among us, if it is not to bring a trail of bad luck in its wake.
