Malkuht

I have been meditating and researching the concept of Malkuht. If you look at the picture, you will see an interpretation of the tree of life. The lamp, at the bottom of the picture, represents Malkuht. Malkuht (Malkut) represents "the Bride" or "the Kingdom". that is "earth". It is composed of five letters.מ (Mem)-  ל (Lamed)-  כּ(Kaph) - ו (Vav or waw) - and ת  (Tav). keep in mind that in Hebrew these are read right to left like so: מלכות. Each letter in Hebrew carries with it a esoteric meaning. The letters themselves are thought to be the a product of the divine fire of G_d.

The tree of life begins and ends with Malkuht (the tenth sephirah on the tree of life). The Sephir Yetzirah (Hebrew for 'the Book of Creation') implies in numerous passages that the Tree of Life is a symbol of Humanity and the Universe, the Microcosm and the Macrocosm. The Bible states that "God made man in his own image." By extension, according to this system, whatever is relevant to the structure of the soul and the body of a person is thereby relevant to the soul and body of G_d/Universe. This is the epitome of, and yields new insight into, the commonly heard epithet "As above, so Below" uttered by many modern day practitioners of Wicca and other forms of witchcraft (please not that I do NOT use this descriptor as a pejorative).

Think of a body, ANY body, THIS body is a microcosm of the universe. A model of sorts. A, to use a fancy term, a Synechdoche. This tree is a tool of philosophic, of psychological, of spiritual discovery, and of occult and alchemical experimentation. It is a sign on the road that signifies the approach to the unapproachable, a book of knowledge that leads to knowledge of, understanding of, and wisdom of the unknowable. It is a means of coming close to the indwelling/outdwelling G_d. And it all begins and ends in Malkuht.

The structure of the tree smacks of the Hegelian triads, thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The sphere of the sephirot are the 'emanations of G_d' or the means by which a human soul, in it's progress from a noumenal existence to it's manifesting a physical vehicle in the phenomenal world. Malkuht, in this is the end point of these emanations.

I wish to go through the letters but will break up our discussion and exploration of them into two parts. The first letter that I will address is:

 מ (Mem)

Mem represents the Substance of Mother-earth. It is מָ֫יִם, water, 'Mayim'.  According to Anaximander, water was believed to be the original substance that all things were made from. And the Hebrews would have agreed,  "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."Genesis 1:2 -   In Jeremiah 2:13, for example, God refers to Himself as a “spring of living water”. It is the primordial, that from which all things came, and it is the medium over which the power of the divine flows. A conduit, a cleanser, a sustainer. It is a keeper of secrets, and it hides beasts, it is also a wilderness. The latter, in description, becomes even more  interesting when one thinks of it not merely as water but 'void'. This is actually hinted at in the Sephir Yetizirah. 
 

 מִדְבָּר the wilderness, 'Midbar', through which we wander. The ‘wilderness’ is a place of tempering. It is a wild place, a place of threat, of chaos and of alienation. The Wilderness is a place or state of withdrawal from the world to face the reality of God, oneself and one’s neighbor. It is the transition that moves us from Slavery toward Liberation. It also signifies “that which is beyond.” It strikes me as the starting point, or a sign post, from which we move toward a divine understanding. It is a place where things are revealed. Revelation is the most prominent theme within the wilderness motif in the Old Testament. Take for instance the Meidanite exile and the burning bush experience of Moses; The Medianite exile put Moses squarely into a place where he may learn of God, to come to love God. He is stripped of who he was and is recreated as the Prophet. He later returns to Egypt where he frees his people and leads them into the wilderness. This culminates on  Mount Sinai, which occupies the central place in the wilderness revelation. It is here that Moses is tempered into the tool of G_d, signified by his physical change. Almost all Prophets wandered in the wilderness to be “tested” and in the New Testament, the wilderness and related locations are the settings for revelatory events in the ministry of Jesus. Later Christian Mystics, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, sought clarity in their knowledge of G_d through withdrawing to the wilderness. It is the place where we are humbled, where we are cast afloat without distraction, where we are stripped of our egos and secrets are revealed and we can hear that still quiet voice.

Greetings!
Most blogs pertaining to esotericism  and Occult studies assume, in many if not most cases, the mantel of a master. I am wary of these. Perhaps the air of authority is what most folks look for when they are seeking after truths. I am not an authority. This blog is about my journey, not my arrival. It is about my experimentation with, and my search through various systems. If you're looking for a Guru you're in the wrong place. If you a journeying your self? Then share!

I'm one of those people who believe that there is a creative force in the Universe... call it what you will. But I believe it is awe inspiring and that it can be touched by looking within oneself, as well as other people... in as much as we may. Mysticism has always fascinated me, from the desert mystics of Christianity, to the Sufis of Islam, from the Shamans and holy people of the Native American traditions to the Occult masters of the Western Traditions. I cannot say specifically why I am pulled to study these things... I just am. It's not a call to power in the sense of manipulating the world around me, it is the power born of service and understanding. A service to the Universe, via the vehicle of 'the Great Work', or 'the Craft'.

A lot of people ask me, upon finding out that I am interested in these things, "Is it real?" My answer is, "Does it matter". The effects of this line of study ARE real and that is what matters. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that, aside from whatever beliefs on brings to the table, I have found it to be an excellent mode for psychological exploration and analysis. Let me put it this way, what we have is a brain, a accompanying nervous system, and a body. These are comprised of, taken each on there own, relatively simple cells, which are comprised of relatively simple molecules, which are comprised of relatively simple atoms, which are comprised of relatively simple particles. Now put them all together and you get an incredibly complex, modularly integrated system, from which emerges our consciousness. What we call a "mind". The "mind" is an emergent quality, an emergent effect of the complexity of our bodies. This emergent quality seems to be downwardly causal. what I mean is that the emergent quality changes the sum total of all its parts that make it up, when it emerges. I'll write more about that in other posts, but I think you get the drift. What matters is the 'mind' is an effect of the body, the matter, and the environment in which it is steeped. By employing esoteric work in one's life we change our thought patterns, our positions on life and the world, and come to understand ourselves a little better.

First let me explain what I mean when when I use the term Esoteric.The term derives from the Greek, ἐσωτερικός or esôterikos. The root, esô means 'within'  thus "pertaining to the more inward". From a more academic perspective, Antonin Faivre proposed that among the competing understandings of what unites the various currents designated by "Esotericism" they agree that are four essential characteristics:

1. that there exists a theory of correspondence between all parts of the invisible and the visible cosmos, 
2. the belief that nature is a living entity owing to a divine presence or life-force, 
3. the need for mediating elements (such as symbols, rituals, angels, visions, mantras, etc.) in order to access spiritual knowledge, 
4. an experience of personal and spiritual transmutation occurs when arriving at this knowledge(think of satori in Zen Buddhism or a persisten enlightenment in Hinduism) . 
5. Esotericists frequently suggest that there is a concordance between different religious traditions: best example is the belief in prisca theologia (ancient theology) or in philosophia perennis . 
6. Finally, esotericism sometimes suggests the idea of a secret transmission of spiritual teachings, through initiation from master to disciple.It should, however, be emphasized that Faivre's definition is one of several divergent understandings of the most appropriate use of the term. 

The first step in my investigations begins with the Qabalah, namely the tree of life. Qabalah, or Kabbalah, is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought. Kabbalah aims to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal and mysterious ayin Sof (no end) and the mortal and finite universe (his creation). Inside Judaism, it forms the foundations of mystical religious interpretation. By meditating on the Kabbalah one  seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence, and various other ontological questions. The fundamenta idea is simple, God (the Universe, the Eternal, the One) created Nature, so it, at the same time, can hide and reveal God. For those of you versed in the American transcendentalist philosophers  H.D. Thoreau and Emerson the connections of ideas here should be blatant.

Thus all manifestation in the material world is an effect of causes operating from a higher plane, and these causes can be deduced from the effects produced, right back . to the Primal Cause, God·· Himself.

As this blog unfolds i will begin with my thoughts about the qabalistic Tree of Life, beginning in Malkuth. Essentially this is a Magicakal journal about my experiments and my experiences regarding this path that I have chosen to explore. "There are many paths to the same peak" , the trick is to pick a path and walk it.