beanu
I'd like to bandy about a little heresy of mine regarding male/female attributions on the tree of life.
Traditionally, the tree of life spheres did not have male/female attributions, or even clear English one-word translations.They were just hebrew words that take books worth of text to explain.
Then, it picked up english translations, as appear in the Kircher diagram.
Eventually, male/female attributions were added, with Briah and the Boaz black pillar being female, and Chokmah and the Joachim white pillar being male.
Does anyone know who provided this addition?
Some of the reasons for this attribution I have heard are as follows:
The male phallus is external, hence in the light, hence white (unless its a black one )
The female vagina is internal, hence dark.
Also, the old-world assumption that wisdom is an attribute of kings and rulers, and rulers are men.
Binah is translated "understanding" which is taken as meaning "compassion - a female virtue.
My heresy is that this is back-to-front. I believe that Chokmah should be female, and Binah male. I also consider the possibility of Crowleys advice that the Pillars are not pillars, but rather snakes that wind about the tree like on a caduceus. This would facilitate a left-to-right swap of the male/female attributions of Geburah and Chesed. (not sure about this yet)
Reasoning:-
==========
1. Wisdom and Testosterone.
---------------------
With modern science, we realise that Testosterone plays a major part in maleness, and Estrogen in femaleness.
Furthermore, the effect of testosterone is to increase a tendency towards both aggressiveness and rash behavior. The aggression is generally understood, and I will not belabor that point. However the rash, or risk-taking behavior is relevant here. The behaviour of males in early maturity is well known to include risky feats of bravado. In the long-term, this is "wise" in that it enables males to go out and risk their lives in defense of family/tribe etc.
If they were wise, they would probably refuse to fight. i.e willingess to fight is a result of body chemistry, not wisdom.
On the other hand, the Female role can be seen as the desire to protect here babies, the future of her genetic line. Hence her choices are made on the basis of an overriding goal, and are rarely as risky as male behavior. Thus we can see the female correspondence to wisdom.
This is all summarised in the adage that "girls mature faster than boys"
In later life, as their testosterone levels drop, men may become wise, but this is not the fundamental, essental nature of male-ness.
Hence Chokmah/Wisdom should be female not male.
2. YHVH
--------
If we follow the lightning strike, and draw parallel to the tetragrammaton then
Kether = yod = Male
Chokmah = heh = female
Binah = Vau = son - male
and the others are the second heh - the "body" of the creation - daughter - female.
4. Geburah and Chesed
-----------------------
Kircher labels these Saturn and Jupiter respectively,
so no Male/Female clues there.
My personal belief tied to the concepts of the English translations of Severity and Mercy, especially when considered in the view of the "wisdom" of propagation of the bloodline, as before.
A Male may well fight until victory, while respecting the courage and prowess of his adversary, and so grant mercy rather than fighting to the death. The strategic problem with this is that the vanquished foe may return as a threat on another day. Complex codes of behaviour are needed around this to try to make it workable.
On the otner hand, a mother will tolerate no threat to her children. She will kill a defeated enemy to ensure it cannot return as a threat in the future, and may even insist on a program of eradication of similar threats.
e.g. snakes, spiders, rats, lions, tigers, sharks etc. Many species suffer systematic assualts, usually based on the nesting-instinct of the human female.
I believe this approach qualifies for the title of Severity.
This attribution also implies Crowleys Serpent/caduceus model, rather than the pillars model. ( See diagram later)
3. Netzach and Hod
-------------------
In Kercher's diagram, he attributes Netzach to Mars, and Hod to Venus.
However, some pathworkings I have done (Denning and Phillips) have Hod as fire, and netzach as water, which seems a reversal. Who has it right?
I have my own correspondences which seem to map the Art of Alchemy onto each. ( I won't go into these here unless asked or it becomes more relevant later).
The answer? I don't know. My latest theories would imply Hod as male/fire, but that's a prediction from my pattern, no an input into the analysis.
4. Pagan gods.
--------------
In the pagan celtic traditions (or at least the modern revivals) the
Goddess is the triple goddess of Maiden, Mother and Crone,
and the God has a duality of goodness and harshness - symbolised by black and white. Hence it is the male deity who carries the black, not the female. Thus the black pillar or snake would be male.
The resulting M/F attributions on the tree look like:
......X
M-------F
|...........|
F-------M
|....X.....|
M-------F
......X
......|
......X
Which corresponds to Crowleys serpent/caduceus model.
In a Later post, I will explain the path that led me to this conclusion, which is the Tarot. But first I would like to get some feedback on the basic Kabalah.
B
Traditionally, the tree of life spheres did not have male/female attributions, or even clear English one-word translations.They were just hebrew words that take books worth of text to explain.
Then, it picked up english translations, as appear in the Kircher diagram.
Eventually, male/female attributions were added, with Briah and the Boaz black pillar being female, and Chokmah and the Joachim white pillar being male.
Does anyone know who provided this addition?
Some of the reasons for this attribution I have heard are as follows:
The male phallus is external, hence in the light, hence white (unless its a black one )
The female vagina is internal, hence dark.
Also, the old-world assumption that wisdom is an attribute of kings and rulers, and rulers are men.
Binah is translated "understanding" which is taken as meaning "compassion - a female virtue.
My heresy is that this is back-to-front. I believe that Chokmah should be female, and Binah male. I also consider the possibility of Crowleys advice that the Pillars are not pillars, but rather snakes that wind about the tree like on a caduceus. This would facilitate a left-to-right swap of the male/female attributions of Geburah and Chesed. (not sure about this yet)
Reasoning:-
==========
1. Wisdom and Testosterone.
---------------------
With modern science, we realise that Testosterone plays a major part in maleness, and Estrogen in femaleness.
Furthermore, the effect of testosterone is to increase a tendency towards both aggressiveness and rash behavior. The aggression is generally understood, and I will not belabor that point. However the rash, or risk-taking behavior is relevant here. The behaviour of males in early maturity is well known to include risky feats of bravado. In the long-term, this is "wise" in that it enables males to go out and risk their lives in defense of family/tribe etc.
If they were wise, they would probably refuse to fight. i.e willingess to fight is a result of body chemistry, not wisdom.
On the other hand, the Female role can be seen as the desire to protect here babies, the future of her genetic line. Hence her choices are made on the basis of an overriding goal, and are rarely as risky as male behavior. Thus we can see the female correspondence to wisdom.
This is all summarised in the adage that "girls mature faster than boys"
In later life, as their testosterone levels drop, men may become wise, but this is not the fundamental, essental nature of male-ness.
Hence Chokmah/Wisdom should be female not male.
2. YHVH
--------
If we follow the lightning strike, and draw parallel to the tetragrammaton then
Kether = yod = Male
Chokmah = heh = female
Binah = Vau = son - male
and the others are the second heh - the "body" of the creation - daughter - female.
4. Geburah and Chesed
-----------------------
Kircher labels these Saturn and Jupiter respectively,
so no Male/Female clues there.
My personal belief tied to the concepts of the English translations of Severity and Mercy, especially when considered in the view of the "wisdom" of propagation of the bloodline, as before.
A Male may well fight until victory, while respecting the courage and prowess of his adversary, and so grant mercy rather than fighting to the death. The strategic problem with this is that the vanquished foe may return as a threat on another day. Complex codes of behaviour are needed around this to try to make it workable.
On the otner hand, a mother will tolerate no threat to her children. She will kill a defeated enemy to ensure it cannot return as a threat in the future, and may even insist on a program of eradication of similar threats.
e.g. snakes, spiders, rats, lions, tigers, sharks etc. Many species suffer systematic assualts, usually based on the nesting-instinct of the human female.
I believe this approach qualifies for the title of Severity.
This attribution also implies Crowleys Serpent/caduceus model, rather than the pillars model. ( See diagram later)
3. Netzach and Hod
-------------------
In Kercher's diagram, he attributes Netzach to Mars, and Hod to Venus.
However, some pathworkings I have done (Denning and Phillips) have Hod as fire, and netzach as water, which seems a reversal. Who has it right?
I have my own correspondences which seem to map the Art of Alchemy onto each. ( I won't go into these here unless asked or it becomes more relevant later).
The answer? I don't know. My latest theories would imply Hod as male/fire, but that's a prediction from my pattern, no an input into the analysis.
4. Pagan gods.
--------------
In the pagan celtic traditions (or at least the modern revivals) the
Goddess is the triple goddess of Maiden, Mother and Crone,
and the God has a duality of goodness and harshness - symbolised by black and white. Hence it is the male deity who carries the black, not the female. Thus the black pillar or snake would be male.
The resulting M/F attributions on the tree look like:
......X
M-------F
|...........|
F-------M
|....X.....|
M-------F
......X
......|
......X
Which corresponds to Crowleys serpent/caduceus model.
In a Later post, I will explain the path that led me to this conclusion, which is the Tarot. But first I would like to get some feedback on the basic Kabalah.
B