Week 35: Yesod in Yetzirah and the 9 of Swords

General Symbolic:

Yesod:

(The foundation) receives the emanations of the other sephiroth. It is the privileged receptacle that transmits them to the physical world (Malkuth). A form in Yesod is similar to a child in the womb of its mother in the ninth month of pregnancy: it is fully formed but awaits its entry into a new world of existence in which it can grow and flourish.

Yesod is the astral, the intermediate world that stands beyond the world of forms, beyond this physical world that we perceive. To act on the forms, we must situate ourselves in Yesod and not in Malkuth. It is an illusion to want to transform the material world by being in the same world. The only way to achieve a lasting effect in Malkuth is to rise to Yesod, the vessel of Tiphereth's power, and act there. Procedures have been developed for this purpose, ranging from simple visualization techniques to sophisticated rites. The purpose of all these techniques is to elevate the mind to a certain plane so that it generates forms, planes, images that will incarnate in Malkuth.

Yesod is the kingdom of images. It is a distorting mirror of illusion that reflects images of the human mind or the higher spheres. It is also the sphere of the subjective mind, in all its strata: conscious, subconscious, unconscious, where many emotionally charged images have accumulated since the dawn of time. It constitutes the ancestral lineage of which we are the result. In the practice of Magic, it is wrong to think that the magician is only dealing with powers that are external to him. An evocation is a shock therapy. The "entities" mentioned are above all the personification of the materials of the unconscious, some of which inhibited the development of the person concerned. During the evocation, a dialogue continues between this entity and the operator. Both having tamed each other; this entity is reabsorbed. It reintegrates the unconscious, in a form that is no longer disabling. When the magician evokes powers that are external to him, these will only manifest themselves through him. The Platonic maxim "Know yourself and you will know the universe and the gods" confirms that the superior worlds are contacted at the end of a journey that passes through the interior of us. They are beyond the deepest part of ourselves. Thus, the psychological and hermetic explanations of the magical experience are reconciled.

Yesod in Yetzirah: KERUBIM

The name KERUBIM comes from Keroud - like a child - that's why these angels are represented with children's faces.

In the beginning, the KERUB was the lord of the air, linked to lightning and serving as a mount for YAHVE. Thereafter, he kept things holy and absorbed the winged geniuses in semi-animal form from the Babylonian, Egyptian and Syro-Hittite mythologies. The first KERUBIM of the bible, which stood at the doors of the Assyrian palaces and temples, these gigantic animal-geniuses carved in stone, were only protective pentacles, impassable bounds, which the priests raised in the consecrated places.

In the Bible, they were guardians posted in front of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24); with the flame of the flaming sword, they guard the way to the tree of life.

When the ark was built for the tabernacle, two golden KERUBIM were placed face to face at the two ends of the tabernacle. They symbolized the Presence of the LORD and the distance which separates them from us. Many passages allude to the Presence of the LORD between the KERUBIM.

In the temple of Solomon, there were two five-metre high KERUBIM. In the vision of Ezekiel, the KERUBIM carry the divine throne. They are the "watchman", "guardian" aspect of the holy animals.

It should be noted that the etymology of the word "cherubim" leads us to the trilateral root: Kaf, Rech, Beth, and can be related to the Greek Gripes trilateral root: Gamma, ro, pi, the griffins. In Greek mythology, the griffins guard the treasures in the land of the Hyperboreans, they also watch over the crater of Dionysus, filled with wine. Finally, they oppose the gold diggers in the mountains. They are the obstacle to be overcome to reach the treasure. The kinship between griffins and cherubs is obvious.

Their function seems to be that of guardian of the threshold, the Scripture entrusts to the KERUBIM the defence of the holiness of God, in front of the unconsciousness of the fallen man who would like to extend his hand and take the tree of life.

The 9 of Swords: Cruelty

The number Nine, Yesod, brings back the Energy to the central pillar of the Tree of Life. The previous disorder is now rectified.

But the general idea of the suit has been constantly degenerating. The Swords no longer represent pure intellect so much as the automatic stirring of heartless passions. Consciousness has fallen into a realm unenlightened by reason. This is the world of the unconscious primitive instincts, of the psychopath, of the fanatic.

The celestial ruler is Mars in Gemini, crude rage of hunger operating without restraint; although its form is intellectual, it is the temper of the inquisitor.

The symbol shows nine swords of varying lengths, all striking downwards to a point. They are jagged and rusty. Poison and blood drip from their blades.

There is, however, a way of dealing with this card: the way of passive resistance, resignation, the acceptance of martyrdom.

Nor is an alien formula that of implacable revenge."
(The Book of Thoth)

Picture of the card:
http://www.esotericmeanings.com/wp-c...ds_cruelty.jpg