Tag Archives: Hod

ONE TO TEN – from the Lords Prayer to the Chinese Heavenly Stems.

Most of the old cultures used a decimal numeral system, based on 10 as we use today. There are a few exceptions based on 12, 20 (maya) or 60 (babylonians), but having 10 fingers it is quite natural that 10 has become the mostly used system of counting.

One thing which many of the old cultures share is the understanding of a ladder or sequence from the highest to the lowest in 10 stages. A hierarchy from God to Man in ten steps.


Jacob’s Dream by William Blake (c. 1805, British Museum, London)

The Chinese described it through the 10 heavenly stems and in the Buddhist tradition we have The Ox Herding Pictures. In Egypt we have the Creation Myth of Heliopolis (On in Egyptian). There are many more examples.

Of all these traditions the Kabbalah explains and describes these stages into an elaborate degree of detail and precision. Here we see the sequence in the Tree of Life.

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The Tree of Life also describes this sequence as going through 4 worlds. These correspond from above downwards to the 4 elements.

In the Kabbalah these worlds describe creation as a process of condensation of moving from pure energy into matter. The upper triangle is the triangle of fire and points upwards, it is regarded as separated from the rest of the Tree by an abyss. A symbol of how this upper world of God belongs to a higher order, a level above the rest of creation. The abyss is to explain the huge spiritual distance.

The next two triangles are pointing downwards, the upper is of air and the lower of water. The uppermost triangle of fire is the source of creation, constantly emitting into the others in sequence.

The air triangle represents the world where the creative power becomes organized into archetypical principals then these condense even more in the next stage and start the formation of shapes in the triangle of water.
At the bottom we have the worldly kingdom the material earth. Here the archetypical principles that got form in the water world becomes materialized.

In the Kabbalah each of the ten Sephiroth represents and aspect of God with a hierarchy of different angelic beings in each. Angels (Cherubim) are the kind closest to us and take part in many aspects of our life, most important is the gathering of people into a higher degree of coherence a higher holonity. The next level, the archangels (Bnei Elohim) give us light and guidance on the path. Principalities (Elohim) are above the archangels they work with us on a even more energetic level and drive our development and evolution. They make us grow in their garden of human souls. In this garden we grow towards the spiritual aspect of the sun, where we have the malachim or kings, they cultivate virtues in us. And the sequence follows all the way to God where the seraphim eternally prays the creator in his holiness with singing “holy, holy holy”.

If we look at the Lords prayer it shows the same understanding. We will take it from Sephira to Sephira from the top to the bottom of the Tree of Life.

It starts with the upper triangle of God with:

Kether: Our Father
Chochmah: who art in heaven
Binah: hallowed be thy name.

Then it moves to the connection of God or Heaven and Earth

Chesed: Thy kingdom come.
Geburah: Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Tiphereth: Give us this day our daily bread

Then it moves to the water triangle and interhuman realm:

Netzach: and forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us,
Hod: and lead us not into temptation,
Yesod: but deliver us from evil.

Then we have the doxology, that is added later:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen

Malkuth is the kingdom
Yesod gives power – Gabriel = Powerful God
Hod is glory
Netzach means eternity
And then
Amen would be Tiphereth.

The symbol of joining both hands is also a nice way to say 1 = 10 and 10 = 1
Or God is all and mans union with God returns him to oneness.

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If we compare this with the commandments.

The upper trigon:

I am the Lord thy God,
Kether: Thou shalt have no other gods before me

Chochmah: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

Binah: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

The upper air trigon:

Chesed: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
Geburah: Honor thy father and thy mother

Tiphereth: Thou shalt not murder
The water trigon:
Netzach: Thou shalt not commit adultery
Hod: Thou shalt not steal
Yesod: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
Malkuth: Thou shalt not covet (Neighbors house, wife, servants, animals or anything else)

This same structure we find in many of the old traditions.
In the creational myth of Heliopolis in Egypt Atum (Amun) created from within himself Shu and Tefnut.
The three together represent the highest triangle.

Then Shu and Tefnut got Nut and Geb. The upper part of the air triangle, representing the gods of heaven and earth.

They got Osiris, Isis, Nephtys and Set.
Representing Tiphereth, Yesod, Netzach and Hod.

Finally Osiris and Isis got Horus (Malkuth).

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There are many more examples to illustrate how all this cultures discovered the same path and stages from man to God. One day I will share more of them with you.

Garnet – 1 First holonistic gemstone exploration

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Garnet was the most commonly used gemstone in the Late Antique Roman world. Its name comes from the middel english word “gernet” meaning dark red. Which comes from the Latin word granatus (Seed, grain) most likely referring to pomegranate (Punica granatum) with its shiny red seeds.

Even if it is mainly associated with red as seen above, today we know the chemical compositions has variations with a few different colors.

640px-GarnetCrystalUSGOV

Gemstones are rare, precious, beautiful, valuable flowers from the deep dark earth. People believed them to have healing abilities, to be able to confer spiritual powers and connect us to a more subtle reality.

Thursday 15-01-15 the holonity group met to open our selves to Garnet. Based on a holonistic approach to knowledge we decided to explore the realm of gemstones.

This was a weeks after the terror attacks on the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. There was a lot of focus in the media on freedom of speech. Any person trying to voice concern for offending or hurting others, raising a voice for respect or the least empathy on fellow men, was quickly questioned or attacked. The mantra was “Freedom of speech, regardless!”

We live in a time where words, and exchange of fragmented information through media and mobile devices takes a big part of our day. It is an activity of communication, information and restless back and forth, repeating and changing with little higher perspective.

The www has opened up a possibility were all can be expressed and all can be accessed. But we humans are still using this tool in an immature way, we easily get lost in fragments and details. Some people even take the misuse to an extreme where any disagreement is ridiculed or harassed. But both these aspects, the one of being lost in the woods and the one of using words indiscreetly are just steps on the way. What is the next step in the evolution of human society and culture?

According to the Kabbalah the first step is dominated by the third sephira Hod or the qualities of the planet Mercury or the archetype Young boy, the next step will then be Netzach, Venus or young girl. We will come back to this.

This is interesting in the perspective of gemstones. Garnets as many other gems contain Silica. What is common to the different variations of Garnet is a orthosilicate ion. A small triangle faced pyramide (tetrahedron), with Silica in the centre and Oxygen at the angles. As seen here:

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A pyramid with Silica as the core, centre or heart.

Diamonds have the same triangularpyramid (tetrahedron), but it only consist of carbons. Place carbon where you have silica and oxygen above and you have the structure of diamonds.

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This common factor in the most common Garnet variations can be seen in the last part of the formula, where we see that they all have 3 such pyramids.

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From this we see that silica takes a central place in Garnet, as it does in many other gemstones.

So what can we say about silica?
From homeopathy we have some interesting knowledge of silica. It is an element in period 3 and group 14. Silica is connected to other elements in period 3 with a common quality of exchange and communication a youthful quality.

Elements in group 14 have a quality that can be symbolized with a door. They are standing at the threshold, should I stay or should I go? Do I have the guts, the energy, the confidence to step out of the door and meet the next level in life? From a kabbalistic perspective group 14 corresponds to Daleth, the door. The door between life and death (carbon and silica), between light and darkness or white and black. As we will explore the gems we will see how this manifest in different ways.

From Garnet we learned that communication was a central point, it was a question of feeling connected or not. There was a focus around the throat chakra with symptoms from neck and throat. The connection issues also came forth in symptoms from the joints – joining or connecting body parts.

A clear polarity with strong separation issues between to opposed part came forward in the experiment. Disagreements with deep conflicts, separation from death, both solved by reaching a level of deep eternal connection with realization that any separation is delusional.

A deep state of peace and confidence where any challenge are already solved. Garnet solves this polarity of dispute, separation, unclear statements, misunderstandings and disagreement with dissolving the veil of illusions and making us realize that at a deeper level we are, were and will always be one. A unity in a profound peaceful way, where there is a deep silence and quietness, almost like being in a crystal.
Garnet opens the heart to a state of deeper connections, the unity that is the truth, with a purity and clarity that only truth is capable of.

In Kabbalah Adam Kadmon is the great man, the archetype of man, the picture we were created after. Higher than Kether, the Crown or top of the Tree of Life we have the Lamb of God, ruled by the sign of Aries, the first sign in the zodiac and also said to be red. Garnet is red and it gives you a sense of coherence with Adam Kadmon. Adam is A-dam or Aleph in the blood (dam). The Aleph in the red blood.
Adamah is the earth or ground, or red clay. There is an etymological connection between adam and adamah and the words: Earth, man and red.

We can conclude that where humankind feels strong dispute, conflict or separation, based on the illusion of being in two different places, Garnet reconnects us in Adam Kadmon where we always have been connected in deep unity.

 

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