James you could write little books like the one I have now by
Deepak. It is only 100 pages, but what is inside it is unbuyable.

Knowledge to enjoy by a wonderful author and spiritual guru.

I intend to John. I'm only just learning right now.

I originally bought the first three books of Penczak's Temple series simultaneously. That might have seemed over-ambitious since they are each a 'year-and-a-day' course. However, I personally found that study of all of them simultaneously in parallel was quite advantageous.

This Temple of High Witchcraft book simply takes all of the previous studies and just places them in deeper perspective. In fact, as I'm reading this book, it just makes me want to go back and re-focus on some previous concepts from a new perspective.

I am in no way finished studying the lessons in the first three books. I will continue to go back and forth between them as they only serve to complement each other. The lessons of Malkuth and Yesod are quite profound. I'm currently reading up on the Vision of Hod as we speak. Hod has always been where I spent most of my life. Hod is truly associated with the logical and the manifest. Although it has other aspects as well.

This is just getting better and better. The more I read the more I love it!

It's truly becoming magickal for me. Almost to the point where I feel like these books should have been written on old parchment paper in some type of caligraphy font.

~~~

I can't watch those video chants, but I did find this web page some time ago that is filled with witch's chants:

http://www.witchscauldron.net/cauldron/chants.htm

I've used that site before and the chants are very good.

I'm thinking I may go back and start over with a refresher course from the first 2 books before moving on. I should be able to move through them fairly quickly and I think I will set up a designated study time every week as if I was in school.

What does this mean?

What does this mean?

A spiritual 'archetype' is simply a mythological pantheon.

Like the Faery Teachings is one spiritual archetype. Greek mythology is another. The whole Abrahamic thing, is yet another.

A belief in 'angels, or faeries, or elves, or whatever, are all 'archetypes'.

Also, when he says "of our ancestors" he doesn't necessarily mean of our blood ancestors. He suggests that in a past life we may have actually come from an ancestral background that may be quite different from our current incarnation.

So, he's basically saying to embrace whatever calls to you.

I've been called to both the Faery Teachings and the Celtic Moon Goddess archetypes. Of course, my physical bloodline also goes back to the Welsh and German. (Did you hear that John? I have a touch of German in me from way back. ).

I think I'm pretty much a mutt though ultimately.

In any case, I've done shamanic journeys on this. I feel a calling to the Welsh and Celtic thing, and even beyond that to Mongolia and potentially India. This could be assocaited with DNA lineage, or it could be just spiritual karma. I don't know how that works.

Penczak himself is drawn to the Celtic and the Greek Mythology, with of course, the whole Mediterranean thing tossed too in which includes Egypt as well.

I've been reading this High Witchcraft book all day here and I came to some fascinating realizations. Owl post that momentarily.

Just tonight I ordered the last two books of this series. The Living Temple of Witchcraft Vol: One and Two.

Volumn One is all about the Goddess and the seven gates of the UnderWorld. Volumn Two is all about the God and 12 facets of the Zodiac in the UpperWorld.

Both of these books take the reader on a series of shamanic journeys into these domains.

I've been praying to the Goddess and the God all along, it's about time I met them head-on.

Owl post the ephiphany that I had today in my next post. But it most likely won't make much sense to anyone who is not familar with the spiritual realms of the Qabalah.

Even though I was never aware of this "Reality Map", now that I understand it, I see what it represent. So this is helping me. A bit belated in this life, but it's still better than never knowing.

True Confessions of a Fallen Witch

I've been reading more details about the sephiroth of the Qabalah in Penczak's Temple of High Witchcraft today. I've discovered some truly profound personal insights.

Looking back over my life I see precisely what has been happening to me. I made it to the realm of Tiphereth and spent my entire life in the domain of Tiphereth. Geburah was totally within my reach but I never reached out to grasp it firmly. I was toying with the domain of Geburah but never committing to it. The opportunities were abound. I can't say that I had no opportunities. I was literally showered with opportunities as if in a torrential downpour.

I see the reason why I never made the commitment.

I moved up from Malkuth into the world of Yesod very quickly and naturally. But then I focused entirely on Hod. I spent my life in Hod ignoring Netzach almost entirely. Not that I didn't want to experience Netzach. I did. I just didn't know how.

So I was out of balance. I was totally absorbed with Hod. Even so, I was able to make it to Tiphereth. And I did very well in Tiphereth. I could have very easily moved on to Geburah. But never to Chesed. I could never have moved on to Chesed because I had never truly known Netzach.

I knew that Netzach was missing in my life. I truly did. What I didn't know was how to bring it all into balance. I needed a mentor (like this book by Penczak), or an equivalent guru. But I never met such a mentor. I remained out of balance until I finally burned myself out in Tiphereth and fell back down into the realm of Malkuth again.

Disillusioned and disheartened, I gave up on everything, I even gave up on Malkuth.

However, I never divorced Hod. I continued to hobble along in Hod, ignoring both Malkuth and Yesod. Not to mention Netzach which was the Goddess I needed most. However Malkuth and Yesod were always with me, they never gave up on me. They also knew that Hod would lead me to Netzach eventually. And in fact, that's precisely what happened. It was Hod that brought me to Netzach through Ruth and Penczak.

Now I know what needs to be done. A bit belated, but at least now I understand.

I still need to embrace Netzach, but I can quickly return to the realm of Tiphereth and from there to the world of Geburah and finally to Chesed. If I make it that far in this lifetime I will be thrilled. I could have been there years ago if I had only had a mentor who understood this stuff.

All I was taught was that I was a sinner in need of repentance which didn't provide any insight whatsoever. My problem had nothing to do with sin.

Wow James has some German. Very interesting

Welsh is a great country to visit. A proud country with its own language. I love it.

Okay as I read your last post, I felt I was introduced to one of my fantasy writings. The only thing missing are the dwarves and elves in the story.

So please for us readers trying to figure out what you are saying define the meaning of the names so (I) can understand what you are writing. For perhaps I am the only one not understanding. I feel like Joey from friends who understands everything last in the group. You have watched Friends before right?

Well here is the list

Hod = ?
Chesed = ?
Netzach = ?
Geburah = ? - I must admit this one sounds German to me.
Tiphereth = ?
Malkuth = ?
Yesod = ?

I'm sorry John. These names are all new to me too, but the concepts are not. These are the names of the gods or spirits associated with the consciousness of various sephiroth of the Qabalah.

If you go from the bottom up on this Qabalah you can see these sephiroth named for the God/desses associated with each one.



It's best to start from the bottom up.

Malkuth:

Malkuth is the realm of physical manifestation. (Note to Ruth: In some previous posts I misspelled Malkuth as Mulkuth) It's a spelling error, not an additional god. )

In terms consciousness Malkuth could be thought of as the mastery of physical discipline. If you can take good care of your body, health, and mind, and you are responsible toward your family and career, and you are environmentally conscious, then you are in alignment with Malkuth. The more responsible your are, the more in alignment you are with Malkuth. The obligation of Malkuth is discipline. The vices are sloth and gluttony.

You must be in alignment with Malkuth to move upward on the Qabalah. Of course, you don't need to be in perfect alignment to move up, but the more aligned you are with Malkuth the easier it will be to climb the tree of consciousness (the Qabalah).

There are three pathways leaving Malkuth. They go to Hod, Yesod, and Netzach. You can take any one of these paths, or take them all. In fact, ideal you want to take all three paths simultaneously and equally in balance. Of course, when I say 'simultaneously' I'm not speaking in terms of linear time. You can only focus on one consciousness at a time, but with respect to your life in general you can spend equal time in all three consciousnesses.

Let's take them one at a time.

Yesod

For a witch Yesod is the Moon Goddess. Or better stated (the consciousness of the Moon Goddess). Yesod means 'foundation'. Yedod is also known as the Astral Plane of consciousness. This is where creativity becomes manifest. Everything that becomes manifest in Malkuth (the physical world), must first become manifest in Yesod (the consciousness). Nothing comes into the physical world but through Yesod.

Yesod is creativity, intuition, knowingness, psychic communication. Yesod is the realm of the psyche or the mind. To master Yesod is to master your mind. You consciousness as well as your subconscious. Meditation is the tool that is often used to master Yesod. Of course you don't "master" Yesod in the sense of conquering Yesod, you master Yesod by aligning you psyche to the consciousness of Yesod. It's a merging in harmony, not a conquering.

The more you become one with Yesod, the more you will be able to manifest in Malkuth.

Hod

Hod is the god of rational thought and understanding though logos. To be in alignment with Hod is to seek knowledge through learning and academia. Although any experience is learning process. Anytime you are learning anything you are in alignment with the consciousness of Hod. This include the technical aspects of the arts as well. Learning to physically play an instrument is in the realm of Hod. Although the resulting music may sound technical rather than artistic. Hod has nothing to do with emotion. Hod is just the knowledge of how things work, and how to them, or how to understand them. The sciences are in the domain of Hod. Many career skills are in the domain of Hod. Even to study history (or mythology) would be in the realm of Hod.

Hod is the god the rational thought. Hod is the consciousness of rational thought. When you are in a state of rational consciousness you are in alignment with Hod.

For witches Hod may be thought of as the Horned God (no relation to Satan by the way). The Horned God simply knows the secrets of Malkuth and Hod is all about learning the technical secrets of Malkuth (the physical world). The Emperor of tarot could also be associated with Hod. The Emperor of tarot is the "Fatherly Image" and be associated with both knowledge (Hod) and discipline (Malkuth)

Netzach

On the other side of Yesod is Netzach. Netzach is the opposite of Hod. Netzach represent the wisdom of intuition and emotion. Netzach is all about learning and understanding the world through emotions, feelings, and the psychic power of intuition. Because Netzach is associated with emotions Netzach is also associated with love and compassion. But also with anger and frustration. All emotions fall under the domain of Netzach, not just the compassionate ones. Of course, the goal is learn to be in control of our emotions. And since anger and frustration are undesirable emotions then when we have those emotions we are out of control. To be in alignment with Netzach we must learn to be in harmony with our emotions. Therefore if one is in perfect alignment with Netzach one will emanate love and compassion and not anger and frustration.

I personally had not problem with controlling my emotions. So in that respect I've always been in alignment with Netzach. The facet of Netzach that I was never able to truly align with was the psychic aspect of Netzach. The intuitive side of Netzach. This is extremely important if a person expect to have a healthy intimate relations with another person, especially in matters of romantic love. If a person cannot make that intuitive communication and connection, all the logic of Hod is useless. Netzach represent the Yin. Hod the Yang.

Tiphereth

The next sephirah up is the first sephirah of the soul. It is ruled by the Sun God Tiphereth. Tiphereth is the consciousness of Harmony and Beauty. Although 'beauty' here not physical beauty. It's the beauty of harmony.

When everything is in synchronization all moves in harmony and the resulting dance therefore flows beautifully.

The ideal situation is to be in harmony with Hod, Yesod and Netzach before moving on to Tiphereth. Of course this isn't required. If you look at the pathways connecting all the sephiroth on the Qabalah you can see that you can move from one sephirah to another in any direction or manner you choose. I had gotten to Tiphereth via Hod almost exclusively. I could have easily gong on to Geburah either from Tiphereth or even directly from Hod. It was my own choice not to move forward. It wasn't that I couldn't. I just chose not to. I was probably a lack of courage on my part. But I also knew that I was missing major parts of Yesod and Netzach (even though I had no clue about this Qabalah map, I still knew that these elements were grossly missing from my life). I knew that I was climbing around on limbs of the tree of life without sufficient grounding. And so that's why I jumped back down to Malkuth without going forward.

In any case, just to complete this picture:

Geburah

Geburah is the god (or consciousness) of success. Strength and power are the domain of Geburah. Many people fear success, because of the strength it requires and the power it gives. Other lust after Geburah and often run straight to it from Hod or possibly from Netzach or Chesed. Many people don't bother with Tiphereth (Balance and Harmony) and that gets them into trouble. You can go straight to Geburah and be totally out of balance and abuse your power, strength and success. You'll eventually fall to the pits of Malkuth again and find yourself in a gutter. It's not a one-way trip by far. You can move up or down on this tree of life.

I wasn't read for Geburah. Especially to take it on alone. I needed to go back to Yesod and even more so to Netzach and potentially find a companion. I have no real interest in power for my own sake. I would make a horrible King without a Queen by my side. Although, I suppose if I were a King of a people I could do it for their sake. But I have no interest in power for my own sake and that's why I never moved forward from Tiphereth to Geburah. What I truly wanted in this life I needed to find through Yesod and Netzach and even Chesed. But I had not followed those paths.

Chesed

To make this short, and even a better picture all over. Let me just say that Chesed is the same as Netzach only an 'octave' higher on the Qabalah. Take the love and compassion and psychic intuition of Netzach, crank it up an octave in frequency and power, and you have Chesed.

If you think about this in terms of Hod and Geburah it's the same thing. Hod representd knowledge. Geburah represents taking that knowledge and putting it to use to be successful. Geburah is Hod on Speed. Just an octave higher.

Tiphereth is Yesod an octave higher.

But then it all changes when moving up to the Spiritual sephiroth. And this is what the abyss of Da'ath is all about.

Hod, Yesod, and Netzach are all on the level of persona.

Geburah, Tiphereth, and Chesed, on are a deeper level of soul

Although, everything I've just said here is only one aspect of this. There are many veils and layers of meaning here. For example, these things can be associated with career (which is along the lines of what I've described above), but they can also be associated with relationships, personal growth, and many other aspects of life. It's an abstract "Reality Map".

Penczak covers many other aspects in his book, of course. What I've covered here is but a single post. His book is over 500 pages with many meditations and exercises. It's a "year-and-a-day" course. And trust me, you could spend that kind of time on it easily and benefit from it with every passing day.

As soon as I read this I pictured the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy comes to the fork in the Yellow Brick Road and meets the scarecrow.

She's been following the one road this whole time but suddenly she comes to the fork and the scarecrow tells her, "Well, some people go this way and some people go that way!"

James is Dorothy and I'm the scarecrow.

James, can I go with you to the Wizard so I can ask him for a brain?

We're off to see the Wizard,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is, a whiz of a Wiz!
If ever a Wiz there was.
If ever, oh ever, a Wiz there was!
The Wizard of Oz is one because,
Because, because,
because, because,
because,.......
Because of the wonderful things he does.

We're off to see the Wizard.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Follow, oh follow, oh follow, oh follow,...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Actually I think James is more like the tin man. Tall and logical. And he got stuck in one spot for a long time.

John is like Glenda the Good Witch of the North. Spreading love and happiness wherever he goes.

Wow I am finally understanding the Qabbalah tree. In the end we have all these emotions and skills, but we are reminded to hone them all equally to reach the top. Of course there are different ways of getting there, but as James says it is ideal to go simutaneously upwards. This is a well thought out tree and it is a good guidance on how to keep a inner balance to achieve all aspects of our emotions, skills, and desires.

Thank you James for putting in so much effort in explaining this in your words. It is very interesting.

Now would this be the complete tree or is this just part of a tree and the author actually has additional leaves to offer on that tree. I say this because I can think of other main emotions and skills that can go on it.

Actually when I think about it now, we can go back to the Egyptians or Greek and just see the many gods and goddess they had with each their own domain and specific speciality. Now I don't want to compare the Egyptians with this Qabbalah tree for they are both different civilizations and idealogies, but they too had many different gods for each specific idea.

Even the Romans and Hinduism has their many gods each used for a different emotions, skills, and desires . I don't think they used a tree though, but just loosely used each god or goddess at will. I would have to research on that.

Yet in the end if we think about it, it is a way to focus on our different emotions, desires, and skills independently, which makes us better people in the end. There are a great many people who focus only on one emotion, one skill, one desire and forget the rest of it. This happens when we believe in only one creator perhaps. This is just a thought by the way.

Now I will have a butter tea and just sit back and reflect on this for a moment. It seems you have untapped a new perspective for me. I am also waiting for that book I ordered that you suggested.

I think I am very strongly aligned with "Netzach", which defines alot of who I am.

Just like Ruth says I am that Good Witch of the North. I like the idea of carrying a wand.

Here is an interesting site to visit.

http://www.spirituallivingnetwork.com/

Yes the Qabalah is supposed to be a reality map for all humans, not just particular individuals.



Well, from what I can see, when you make it to the top of the tree and become in alignment with Kether, that represents a brand new Malkuth in yet another level of consciouness and it just keeps going upward indefinitely.

When represented this way the trees upon trees are called "Jacob's Ladder"





Well, a lot of historians believe that the Jews actually got the Qabalah (or Kabbalah as they spell it) from the Egyptians originally. So its origins are unclear.

Some Jews still use a version of the Kabbalah today. I think they view the gods and goddesses as "archangels" of God. That's one way of making it into a monothestic religion.

The Christians actually embraced this Reality Map but they replaced Tiphereth with Jesus and instead of thinking of him as the Sun God, they thought of him as the Son God.

The Christains spelled "Cabalah" with a "C" for Christ's sake. They actually used this Reality Map up until the 1600's when it was finally discarded as being the 'magick' of witches. That was the time when King James constructed his version of the "Bible". And modern Christianity as we know it today was born.

By the way the very name of "Yehweh" or "Jehova" was actually a transliteration of a set of letters that represent Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit. So in that sense "Yehweh" was originally a reference to the five elemental powers of magick and the Qabalah.



Yes most religions actually reduce to nothing more than a pychological evaluation of humanity. We create God in our image, not the other way around.



Well that's the idea with this. The Qabalah that Peczak and Stewart describe is one that has been slanted toward the Celtic witchcraft traditions. Although the basic idea is the same.



I haven't yet read the Blue Shaman. I just ran across it when I was searching for information on the "Stone of Sovereignty". But it looks like it's going to be along these same lines as the Qabalah folklore (and potentially Celtic traditions). I think the "Stone of Sovereignty" itself is a Celtic ideology from the UnderWorld. But owl have to read the book myself to see.



I think you're more aligned with Chesed, or Chokmah. Maybe you're standing on the top rung of Jacob's latter looking down on all of creation saying, "Come up on people! Check out this view!"

Maybe you're the Wizard of Oz pulling all the levers.

By the way John, if you think Penczak's presentation of the Qabalah is complicated look at some of these, people get totally carried away with this idea.

This is another version of 'Jacob's Ladder' which is Qabalahs upon Qabalahs. (this is way more than I'm interested in getting into) This is like an idea that's been warmed-over to death.



Below is yet another example of Qabalahs upon Qabalahs. Every Kether becomes a new Malkuth of the Qabalah above it.



These just represent higher and higher levels of consciousness.

I see no reason to view them as an infinitely tall tree. Instead I would just imagine exploring the single Qabalah over and over again for deeper and deeper insights.

Penczak doesn't go here (although he does mention "Jacob's Ladder"), but he only mentions it in passing.

Penczak is ultimately going in a different direction altogether. At the beginning of the journey he asks the "student" to select a second "Reality Map" that is not based on the Qabalah. He offers about a dozen others others to choose from in an appendix.

Here's one that I personally created some time ago from the Celtic Wheel of the Year:



This one has nothing to do with the Qabalah and is based entirely on the cycles of nature and the Zodiac.

Of course my "Labyrinth Garden Path" is yet another Reality Map.

At the end of Penczak's book in the last lesson he charges the witch to create her or his own reality map based on their own intuition and needs.

I've already done that before I even bought this book. Mine is the Labyrinth Way. So I'm already on the path that Penczak is pointing out. But I'm still glad to have learned about this Qabalah picture. It's enlightening in its own way. Plus I'm getting used to these names of the Gods. They sound like good material for writing faerytales. (self-help introspective faerytales)

I think that's what the Blue Shaman is all about. It's a self-help book made into a fantasy novel. I'm looking forward to reading it but at $18 I think I'll try to find it at the library!

John,

When you read the Blue Shaman, you'll have to give us a Chapter-by-Chapter book report.

I found this site that gives quite a large peek preview.

http://books.google.com/books?id=oj_WTLKxO28C&pg=PP12&lpg=PP1&vq=blue+shaman&output=html

The Labrinyth Garden Path is remarkable James.

Yes that is the least I can do is to give a page by page book report of the Blue Shaman. I am a fast typer by the way, so giving you a chapter by chapter report is what I shall do. Besides I like to see different views on this book.

It will be a fun read if it is in a art of fantasy writing. This makes it all the more mystical.

It would be interesting to know if we have forgotten an ancient knowledge that we once possessed. If that is the case then just perhaps there are a few who know the answers to those hard questions that have been asked since mankind evolved here, yet only very few care to share it with us. Could this book be one of them? Whatever the case is the Blue Shaman will be revealed to this special spiritual thread.

Woooahhh! Hold on a minute! You mean to tell me I ordered this book and it is free online by google anyway? I just went through 20 pages and it didn't stop. The whole book is free?

I wish I would have done my research before just blindly going to barnesandnobles to order it.

Well it will just be another book to my library and yes I really ahve a library over here.