Atu VII inherent energy?

Aleister Crowley said:

The canopy of the Chariot is the night-sky-blue of Binah. The pillars are the four pillars of the Universe, the regimen of Tetragrammaton. The scarlet wheels represent the original energy of Geburah which causes the revolving motion.

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I was pondering this yesterday, as I was trying to reconcile the Chariot with the Chayot Ha-Kodesh and was attempting to find the concept of motion within the attributions. While I understand that the Chayot Ha-Kodesh (Which I think this card references more than any physical chariot) is a vehicle to maneuver through the high heavens, and a vehicle in and of itself does not move without the conscious will of the individual involved in piloting the vehicle, the Chayot Ha-Kodesh has always implied an inherent energy motion of its own to me. It seems to contain an amount of energy-motion of its own. Crowley seems to know this, and this particular quote is paramount, I think, to understanding what he saw in path cheth, and what I'm subsequently attempting to reconcile. My question is then: What is the "Original energy of Gevurah"? As far as I can reconcile, Gevurah does not seem to imply any energy of its own, only what it receives from Chesed. Path cheth connecting 3:5 also does not seem to imply any original energy, as both of these are on the pillar of form. The only energy here is the potential of form and the strength of restriction. What "Original energy" is he referencing?

Chesed could be thought of as the matter of the universe, the material out of which all things are made. It is what the "shell" of Binah is filled with. But matter alone won't help you much, as Chesed literally is everything but it is raw matter. Geburah takes that and sets it in motion, it causes it to spin, thus forcing Chesed to mix and merge with itself to create things. For this reason, Geburah is also linked with desire but also discipline; anything that limits the "loving kindness" of Chesed.

Chesed and Geburah often cause confusion, as it seems their roles are reversed; Chesed seems immobile while Geburah is the "male" Sephirah of moving. In its own way, Geburah accepts Chesed and limits it in the same way Binah does with Chochma (on a lower level). Geburah limits the monolithic immobility of Chesed by causing it to move, despite being on the pillar of severity. Chesed is like winning the lottery, but the money is just sitting there in your account. Geburah is the desire to do something with it.

Now we come to the Chariot. Part of its role is to convey the power of Binah downward, and so it is attributed to the "enclosure" of Chet. It brings downward the idea of the shell of the universe down to Geburah, transforming it into the warlike restriction of Geburah, attributed to Mars, also known as the wrath of God. But Geburah is also spinning motion, as we said, and so the wheels are what sets Geburah spinning and moving. The Chariot can be thought of as Binah in motion. Crowley also mentions the Holy Grail, the supreme feminine symbol, being drawn by the Chariot.

And also, of course, "TRINK!"

Ah, yes yes! Makes sense now. I've been thinking "Restriction" and "Form" and less about the energy required to impose such things on the globular mass which is Chesed! Thank you Closrapexa The spinning makes a lot of sense, the whirling ad twirling and coalescence. I would be interested to hear Ravenest's opinion on this, because the spinning sounds rooted partially in Alchemy, perhaps as a separation of thesis into antithesis? Does this require such motion?

Spinning? Perhaps, but I would say any motion 'rooted in Alchemy' is better described as 'circulation'.

In regard to 'spinning' or rotation (as opposed to circulation) I relate Chayot HaKodesh primarily to Ezekiel chs. 1 and 10 and in relation to tarot see

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=124078 mostly post#2

Actually some wheels are spinning but the movement through the Earths Axis and in and out the Terrestrial Magnetic Poles and in and out the Celestial Magnetic Poles is probably better seen as a type of Alchemical Circulation movement* (and might be the primary causal or 'spiritual' motion - for the 'Evolution of the Universe'. )

[* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sphere-like_degenerate_torus.gif

- see the circle in the diagram as rotating, in towards the centre and out towards the edge ; i.e. if you cut the ring and laid it out straight it would be rolling. }

i.e. as the whole revolutions of tarot / rota … in that aspect I suppose the idea of inherent motion (of the Celestial Sphere) could be encapsulated by the Chariot … in taht aspect our ‘going’ seems to relate to the True Will of the individual being in line with (or even inherent in) the True Will of the Cosmos.

So that, in turn relates to another basic concept of Geburah – motion. I this I am sort of extending ideal concepts to below the abyss (as even the whole ToL is an ideal concept) into Geburah brining the idea of motion as a universal concept. You cant have that concept with out establishing the previous concepts or Sephiroth (as ... what moves and in relation to what ?) . But really it might be a subjective concept … like time … and both concepts ; movement and time might be inter-related in Geburah. Can we have one without the other? Or perhaps movement is the extension of Saturnian time from above Geburah ?

I've thought about that concept, which is one of the reasons I've always had a soft spot for Geburah. Looking at the Tree, one can see diagonal connections that are quite fascinating. I read about this somewhere, but don't remember where. Chochma, Geburah and Netzach are one such triad while Binah, Chesed and Hod are another. Geburah exerts the same type of force as Chochma, but here it is used to restrict rather than expand. Netzach takes that to a lower level and seems to be more like force for its own sake, through perhaps suffering, mirroring the endlessness of Chochma but translating that into something like "valour." By extension, Chesed shares a kinship with Binah in its tendency for structure and solidity. Hod is that same receptive force but, like Netzach, on a lower level and is related to inward pleasure, showing a lower reflection of Binah. I'm on uncertain ground here, and it's fuzzy logic in any case, but I hope you get my drift.

One can also find diagonal connections with the paths, as in Chariot, Fortune, Sun or Hierophant, Hanged Man, Moon.

One can play with the Tree in many ways, and it always amazes...

Ravenest: I can certainly relate to the connection of Gevurah's motion being a natural extension of time emerging within Binah. Definitely makes an immense amount of sense, and without form, motion in any real sense is impossible as I've begun to realize. I don't have adequate time at the moment to really look into your linked post currently, but I will certainly do so soon.

Closrapexa: In relation to Gevurah seeming to utilize Chokmah energy to restrict: I've always seen Chokmah as far more initiatory energy. It could be said that all of the tree operates on the same energy, but the aspect of energy which Chokmah has consistently seemed to illustrate is that of the spark which lights the flame. It's a spark to me, but a spark that ignites the great ocean of Binah. The fire starts with Chesed and Gevurah places restrictions for the flame to be utilized, sort of like a generator plant. A lot of the time this is a mental image I see when visualizing these aspects of the tree. These really are poor analogies I think, but I can't think of a better way to explain this at the current moment. The rest of your post I haven't explored adequately to comment on

Yay, procrastination in both my responses! Perhaps I should just wait until later to post this, but I'm impulsive

Also we can see the 'force' : "scarlet wheels represent the original energy of Geburah" as Ezekial's wheels (and the dynamics of tarot rotating IN space), the " pillars are the four pillars of the Universe, the regimen of Tetragrammaton" as the four paths of Geburah and above the Chariot / Geburah Binah; "The canopy of the Chariot is the night-sky-blue of Binah" above, it is a neat little map of that part of the Tree.

Satyatarot said:

In relation to Gevurah seeming to utilize Chokmah energy to restrict: I've always seen Chokmah as far more initiatory energy. It could be said that all of the tree operates on the same energy, but the aspect of energy which Chokmah has consistently seemed to illustrate is that of the spark which lights the flame. It's a spark to me, but a spark that ignites the great ocean of Binah. The fire starts with Chesed and Gevurah places restrictions for the flame to be utilized, sort of like a generator plant. A lot of the time this is a mental image I see when visualizing these aspects of the tree. These really are poor analogies I think, but I can't think of a better way to explain this at the current moment. The rest of your post I haven't explored adequately to comment on

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This is all true, and I wouldn't want it to be inferred that I'm not giving Chochma the respect it deserves. But although I like your analogies, they kind of seem like coming from outside sources, rather than showing a self-contained Tree. One of the symbols of Binah is an ocean, true, and it acts like one, but it doesn't come from nothing. Binah is wholly a product of Keter and Chochma. Put another way, imagine your head to be Keter, and your arm Chochma. Punch the air with your fist, and at the same time Chochma is created by reason of the force your brain conceived of and your fist carries out, Binah is also created as the space (which includes the entire universe) around your fist. For the straight line of Chochma to go anywhere, it needs somewhere to go to, and Binah is that space, created simultaneously with Chochma. Chesed, in turn, is the "finished product," a vessel filled with "stuff" out of which the universe will eventually be created, but looking at it from Geburah, you don't see it is a composite, you see it as one unified universe. Geburah then introduces the idea of motion in a "real" way, rather than the abstract way the Supernals deal with it, forcing Chesed to interact with itself, as a natural consequence of tumbling down the Tree (and so we have Fortune descending from Chesed). Geburah is also created simultaneously with Chesed, as its "fourness" (which are the four elements of the four worlds, in a sense) inherently holds the seeds of the demise of its perfection.

While the role of Geburah is very different from that of Chochma, my idea is that it does so with the same kind of force. The analogy is pushing against something to start it moving, or pushing against something to stop it moving. As far as you're concerned your pushing, but with different ends in mind. The analogy is limited, though.

But that's what I'm saying, is that the whole tree is using the same energy as Chokmah but in very different ways. I didnt assume you weren't giving it the respect it deserves, I think we just have a difference of opinion in how we look at these aspects. It's fairly impossible for me to communicate everything I see in these in one analogy, but I try to come to them so that they relate to the immediate concern at hand. It is most definite that Binah's Ocean does not come from nowhere (That's En Sof's job ) But I see it as having separated from Kether due to the fact that without something upon which to act, the concept of action cannot exist. The ocean will always be an analogy indicating the pure receptivity of Binah, the womb to Chokmah's Phallus. However, while Chokmah sees the separation of Kether's unity into actor and acted upon, this is a natural extension of Chokmah's existence, not necessarily more than that. Chokmah starts the whole process, and so yes, it does separate, but it also is the raw FORCE behind the rest of the tree. It begins the toppling which you see, and sustains it the whole way. I don't see Gevurah as having that same effect. It utilizes it, most assuredly, but its entire job is to make the energy of Chesed usable so that the rest of the tree can even exist. It doesn't transmit its own initiatory energy to any other aspect of the tree that I can see. It utilizes what has already existed, and coalesces it all into usable forms, and it transmits the FORMS to Tiphareth from what I can see. All analogies will be limited, and I'm writing this primarily to show that I agree with your thesis, but I disagree with your conclusion. I don't think that Gevurah utilizes the energy of Chokmah in any way more than the rest of the tree has up until this point. I don't see the reflection very well. I've always seen Chesed as an extremely explosive force (The "Big Bang" tends to come to mind) which indicates more of a connection to Chokmah than Binah. The reflection makes little sense to me in this sense, as Chesed is FILLING the space of Binah, and Gevurah utilizing the now filled space. While yes, the tree is interconnected in all its parts, I don't think the triangle analogy, or perhaps the way it was explained, really fits well enough to not be an arbitrary connection. I could just as easily say that Chesed is the force of Chokmah on a lower level, and through Tiphareth, Chesed is reflected in both Hod and Netzach. Both are accurate in my understanding, but the triangular reflection doesn't fit to me in any meaningful way.

All the parts connect, and they all work off of every part that came before them. Isolating the connections in a purely conceptual sense seems to almost always result in arbitrarily placing more importance on certain connections while ignoring others.