Questions & Answers
These are the questions and answers from the live Praxis Event on Saturday 6th January 2007.
Drawing the Tree
Tree and Circuits
— omikron's metamap
Omikron23 posted this 'metamap', combining the Chakras, Leary's Circuits and the Sephiroth. I don't think the Tree and the Circuits correlate as neatly as this. However I think it's a good effort and recognises that the Trre of Life and the 8 Circuits are different maps of the same territory..
The two Pillars in Masonic tradition.
— Solomon's Temple had two pillars and a lintel arch. Like Stonehenge — the lintel arch represents stability — something supported from below. Egypt also had ttwin pillar symbolism representing Upper and Lower Egypt. MAsons call the two pillars Jachin (right when facing Tree,Pillar of mercy Jachin measn "He will establish") and Boaz (left, pillar of severity. Boaz measn "in it is strength"). The idea is two pillars of power bringing order. worldly, kingly power and spiritual, priestly power.
Superimposing the Tree on the human body.
Reversal of left brain/right brain and right arm/left arm. The top of the Pillar of Severity is Geburah. The top of the Pillar of mercy is Chesed. The supernal Triad sits on top of the twin pillars. Geburah — Mars seem more 'male' and Chesed — Jupiter more 'female'. However above Geburah is Binah, which is more 'female' than Chokmah which is above Chesed. This seems the wrong way round — it would seem Chokmah would make more more sense above Geburah. However the brain is reversed in a similiar way — the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the body.
What is the origin of Qabalah ?
— QBL to meet or embrace instruction, admit or allow a law, receive or obtain. Qabalah is the Hebrew oral tradition, the Torah is the written tradition. Spoken Hebrew — 4000 BCE, written Hebrew — 1000 BCE. Gurdjieff said "all roads lead to Bakh". Bakh is a mysterious near Eastern city. What Gurdjieff meant was that all systems have their root in sufism.
Does Qabalah come from Egypt ?
— I don't think directly. However the Egyptians had the concept of Qabalah. heiroglyphics means sacred writing from greek ἱερός (hierós 'sacred') and γλύφειν (glúphein 'to carve' or 'to write'). This is a similiar concept to Qabalah where letters and numbers have a deeper significance. Language has a profound effect on us and our lives. e.g. you could get a letter from a lawyer that tells you you are going to jail :) It's only a piece of paper, but it could have a huge effect on your life. Qabalah and heiroglyphics in some way recognise the profound importance of language.thought I'd get this down while I remembered. will expand further