Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

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 .

Often times new students to the Qabalah are surprised when they find that sexual symbolism plays a key role in describing the various processes of emanation, etc. For example, Chokmah (the Supernal Father), as the second Sephirah, has a geometrical symbol of a line (made of two points), which can represent the phallus, or, since the line has no defineable end ("how long is a line?"), it can represent the rushing forth of force indicative of the sperm. Binah (the Supernal Mother), as the third Sephirah, has a geometrical symbol of a triangle (made of three points), which contains the force of the line in form, and represents the womb or vagina of the woman (particularly when the point of the triangle is pointing down). While some people may find this symbolism uncomfortable, it is intrinsic to a proper understanding of the Qabalah, and thus the student should not shy away from it. The above diagram explores one more aspect of the sexual symbolism on the Tree of Life, exploring...