Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

"I am the Knowledge of my Name."  — Thunder, Perfect Mind In the Golden Dawn the magical motto is not just a fancy name or title, but a representation of the spiritual and magical goals of the magician. It is, in many ways, the first magical act performed by the Candidate, consecrating themselves towards a given purpose, redirecting their life as they see fit. The motto therefore carries a lot of power, particularly when employed regularly in ritual work, where it becomes the very embodiment of the magical persona of the initiate. On entering the temple, Bob is no longer Bob, but Frater Whatever, and if he really chose that as his motto we would expect to see disinterest and apathy become a central focus and defining factor in his life. So, with so much wrapped up in our magical name, should we keep it secret or let the whole world know? There are varying schools of thought on this, none of which are right or wrong, and ultimately the choice to share you...

After my previous post on sexual symbolism on the Tree of Life I came to a new realisation about Yesod, a new insight, and a new title. The title is: The Secret of Fire And why is it the Secret of Fire? Firstly because it is the lower counterpart of Chokmah, as stated in my previous post; it is the "physical" reflection of the latent male sexuality of Chokmah, which is represented by Fire (and the Yod of the Tetragrammaton, which is sperm-shaped). Secondly because it is linked with the Root Chakra and the force of Kundalini, which is both sexual and fiery in nature. It is the coiled serpent ready to spring, the hidden (thereby secret) fiery nature of the watery lunar sphere. Thirdly, and this is where the realisation sprung from, because the Hebrew spelling of Yesod is YSVD, and the Hebrew word for "secret" is Sod (SVD). Thus, Yesod is Y-SVD, the Secret of Yod , the Secret of Fire .