Lesson Ten Binah
The third sphere of the Tree of Life is the one that most Qabalistic witches relate to the best. Binah is the sphere of the Great Mother, the cosmic goddess. Here is where true life begins, and where life ends. The Great Mother is both the source of life, and the reunion with the cosmos.
Binah means “understanding,” for this sphere is the truest understanding of all that has come before. It moves beyond the intellectual knowledge of Da’ath, for knowledge without understanding is useless. Binah is the understanding of the universe, of the cosmos, of the powers of creation, for creation first takes hold in Binah. Binah is the understanding of how to use all that we have learned before this. What does it all mean? Why are we on the path? How do we best serve? Binah is the understanding of the great mysteries of life. Understanding differs from knowledge and wisdom, for knowledge is what we seek; we must initiate the process and go out to find it. Knowledge is seen as something beyond us. Wisdom is something that issues forth from us, sometimes bidden and other times unbidden. It’s an alchemical result of the knowledge applied. Understanding simply happens, in that deep dark place within us, like the womb of the Great Mother. Understanding suddenly occurs, as if things suddenly come into focus.
The primal Godhead of Kether projects the seed of life in Chokmah, but it is Binah that provides the fertile cosmic “ground” to receive the seed. In Binah, the idea grows into form. Binah is the womb, the cosmic ocean, the vast darkness where spiritual procreation takes place to manifest the universe. The interaction between Binah as Goddess and Chokmah as God creates, sustains, and ultimately destroys the universe. The planet Saturn is the correspondent to Binah in the solar system. It is the only one of the seven traditional planets to be placed across the Abyss. Saturn holds a special place among the seven planets, as the oldest, wisest, and furthest out, setting barriers to and limits on the others. It is the planet of endings, boundaries, and gates. Saturn is the planet of death, but also of manifestation, which suits the function of Binah quite well. In the past, when life expectancy was much shorter, Saturn’s thirty-year cycle signaled the end of life, but now the Saturn return signals the start of “cosmic adulthood.” Working with Saturnine energy requires a certain degree of maturity, for it is so powerful.
Though Saturn and his Greek counterpart, Chronos, are masculine in classical mythology, Qabalists see Saturn as a feminine force, the top of the Pillar of Severity. As the polarities shift beneath the veil, the goddess force of Netzach, of love and nature, represents the lower octave of this force, just as Hod has a correspondence with Chokmah. Some also see Saturn as a higher octave of the Moon. While in astrology the placement of the Moon represents the emotions and karma you are manifesting in this life, Saturn represents the past, and the karma from previous actions manifesting in the world. For this reason, Saturn is said to be the taskmaster, the teacher of discipline, and its lessons sometimes are seen as punishment. In this case, Saturn has much in common with Geburah, as its higher note on the Pillar of Severity. Yet at the same time, Binah and Saturn teach the lessons beyond life, death, and attachment to the material world.
Binah
Meaning: Understanding
Level of Reality: Highest Form of Manifest Creation, Divine Mother Love, Eros
Parts of the Self: Divine Soul, Intuitive Self, Right Side of the Head
Experience: Vision of Sorrow, Vision of Compassion
Obligation: None
Illusion: Death
Virtue: Silence
Vice: None
Name of God: YHVH Elohim, Tetragrammaton Gods
King Scale Color: Crimson
Queen Scale Color: Black
Prince Scale Color: Dark Brown
Princess Scale Color: Gray flecked with Pink
Elements: Water, Earth
Planet: Saturn
Image: Mature Queen
Archetypes: Dark Mother, Underworld Goddess, Universal Star Goddess, Sea Mother, Fertile Mother
Greek/Roman Deities: Hecate, Persephone, Demeter, Hera, Rhea
Egyptian Deities: Isis, Nepthys, Maat, Nuit
Middle Eastern Deities: Inanna, Erishkigal, Tiamat
Celtic Deities: Danu, Morrighan
Norse Deities: Hel, Frigga
Hindu Deity: Shakti
Archangel: Tzafkiel (Angel of Protection against Strife and Evil)
Angelic Order: Aralim, Thrones
Choir: Thrones
Grade of Initiation: 8 = 3 Master
Animal: Woman
Planetary Vowel Sound: O (oo)
Resonant Letter: m
Musical Mode: Dorian
Musical Note: A
Tools: Cup, Wine, Outer Robe of Concealment, the Veil, Yoni, Vesica Pisces, the Cup or Chalice
Incense: Myrrh
Tarot: All Queens
Chariot—to Geburah
Lovers—to Tiphereth
Empress—to Chokmah
Magician—to Kether
Metal: Lead
Stones: Pearl, Star Sapphire, Jet, Onyx
Plant: Cypress
For this month’s journey in Binah, decorate your altar in black and in threes. The threes of all the tarot suits, as well as all the queens of the deck, are designated for Binah. The Chariot, Lovers, Empress, and Magician are the gateway cards in and out of the realm. Myrrh is the classic scent, and while the lead tools can be difficult to obtain for ritual use, anything dark and dull will correspond to Saturn. Dark black stones, as well as the star sapphire and pearl, resonate with Binah.
Entities of Binah
Binah is the Great Mother, the matron queen. She sometimes is described as the sterile mother, for when we return to her again, she is the receiver, the principle of ending, not the giver of life, though she also is the cosmic void from which creation flows. Binah is the feminine aspect of all of creation. She is the Greater Goddess, with a capital G, of the neopagan movement, and we see her reflection in all of the other goddesses and gods. The divine name of Binah is also the name used for Da’ath in the Middle Pillar exercise—YHVH Elohim, Lord of Gods. She rules over the rest of the gods of the Tree, yet rules from a distance, simply creating and receiving them, and all things.
Binah has a special relationship with goddesses of Malkuth, as the Mature Queen has a special relationship with her daughter, the Young Queen enthroned. Malkuth is the world of matter, but Binah is the root of all matter, the root of all form and formation. Without the power of Binah, none of the other spheres would take shape and lead to the formation of matter. Mother Gaia, as our planet, is like the reflection of the Supernal Mother in the microcosm. That is why the Earth is such a link and connecting force to the transcendent forces of the cosmos. They sing the same “note,” the same “songs,” in a different octave.
Binah consecrates and makes holy all things, for it brings all things into formation. Binah, as the third sphere, has three names and aspects, known as the Sanctifying Intelligence of the Tree. The first is Marah, the great sea, but she is not the sea of the world, but the sea of the cosmos. The second is Aimah, the fertile mother, the life-giving force that rises from the sea. The single-celled organisms of our ocean that developed into multicellular life, crawling out of Earth’s primordial sea, are a reflection of what occurred on a cosmic level, as creation crawled out of Binah, across Da’ath, and onto the “land” of the four directions, Chesed. Lastly, Binah manifests as Ama, the dark mother.
Influenced by Thelemic mythos, Alan Moore’s comic-book teaching of Binah looks at the three aspects of this sphere as Marie, Revelation, and Babylon. Marie is the virginal Queen of Heaven, the uncorrupt and endless sea of compassion. Revelation is she who reveals herself to us. She is wanton and shows her mysteries, inviting those who seek them. The Goddess is revealed all around us, in the life force, in the unions all around—human, animal, and plant, and in the stars and sky. You simply need to be paying attention to experience Revelation. She reveals the vision of Binah. And she is Babylon. Babylon is a Thelemic reinterpretation of the Whore of Babylon. She is the goddess of the Lust card of the Thoth deck, with her roots in the original image of Strength. She rides the great beast. She is the lust for the divine, for revelation, but also the destruction of all things. With a neopagan background, it is easy to see in this triple sphere the triple goddess, as the Goddess manifests as maiden, mother, and crone, or the creating, sustaining, and destroying principles of the universe.
All the primordial goddesses of creation fall in the sphere of Binah, as each culture tried to express this goddess in myth and art. Binah is the Dark Mother and the Underworld Queen. In this form, she is Hecate and Persephone. She is Erishkigal. She is the Morrighan and Hel. She is Dark Isis. She is Nepthys. She is the Earth Mother as the material cosmos, not just our planet, but all land and matter everywhere. She is the mother of the gods, Danu, and the greater form of Gaia. She is the Queen of Heaven and Earth, Inanna. She is the universal Star Goddess quoted in The Charge of the Goddess. She is Nuit.
The archangel associated with Binah and Saturn is Tzafkiel, or Tzaphkiel, the angel who protects against strife and evil. This being often is confused with Tzadkiel, the archangel of Jupiter, but Tzafkiel is the one to invoke when you feel overwhelmed by the forces of Saturn in your life and the karmic darkness becomes too much to bear. Tzafkiel mediates these forces, so you actually have the opportunity to learn from them and not be destroyed by them. Tzafkiel is an angel of endings and, with Saturn, is sometimes seen as an archangel of death, but he can be called upon to initiate change by ending situations, relationships, and patterns in life, much like the image of the Death card in the tarot. His being is said to be so cosmically vast that one cannot see him in his entirety in spirit vision, but only a limb or an eye at a time.
The angelic order of Binah in both angelic systems of magick covered in this text actually matches. The Aralim (the Mighty Ones) or Thrones of the angelic world reside here. Interestingly enough, the throne of the queen is a symbol of Binah and the daughter sphere of Malkuth. These are the angels of understanding, ministers to the Great Mother in the process of creation issuing forth from the womb of creation. Despite the receptivity of Binah, they are known as angels of action and often divine justice. They also are known as the Many-Eyed Ones, and often are linked to the Living Creatures of Ezekiel’s vision as he ascended to the Throne of God. The path linking Geburah and Binah is the Chariot, a metaphor for the merkaba whirlwind that brought Ezekiel upward to the throne.
Vision of Binah
Binah’s spiritual experience is the first above the Abyss, and relates to a deep and profound mystical event that is quite difficult to experience, let alone explain. Known as the Vision of Sorrow, it is the realization of the state of the world, the state of creation. We live in a paradox of wholeness and separation. We are born only to live and die again. We are in a cycle of creation, and the process of transition always brings sorrow on some level. The Divine Mother here has many natures, and the understanding and reconciliation of her vast nature is what can create the Vision of Sorrow, but also the complementary Vision of Compassion.
The Dark Goddess—triple in nature as the sea, the fertile mother, and the sterile mother—has many other names. She is the sacred priestess of ancient times, known as the temple prostitute, a role that has been downcast and degraded in our world. As all women are goddesses, the way those of us in the world (both male and female) treat women is the way we treat the Goddess, our true and cosmic mother. The Great Mother is the wanton harlot, the sacred whore or scarlet woman, for in truth, she shuns and refuses no one. Though none can fully embrace her, she embraces all of us, for she must receive us at the hour of our death. Eventually she will receive the world, the cosmos, as the cycle of life ends to begin anew in a different form. Think of how we treat the Great Mother as reflected in how we treat our blood mothers, our sisters, daughters, and all women. Think of how we treat the woman who explores the power of sexuality. Think of how we treat the planet Earth. Though our cultural attitudes are slowly changing, women have not held a place of value, esteem, and holiness for a very long time. Think of how our myths have changed to reflect our beliefs, as the ancient myths became more patriarchal and less goddess reverent. This mistreatment is the source of sorrow. The Mother walks our world all around us, yet we have ignored her. Now we see her in all things at Binah. We remember how we have acted, individually and collectively, and we feel the sorrow.
Those who seek out the Great Mother, seek out the taboo. They seek out magick and spirit through the feminine, through the body and through sex. They seek her intentionally and unintentionally, through the Underworld, through karma, through their pains and addictions and vices. These people are seen as dark and corrupt, and eventually are rejected by much of society, yet they are purified and cleansed, more so than anyone who walks the straight and narrow, never giving in to temptation or sorrow. When they enter the womb of the Goddess, when they taste the nectar of her royal blood, they know that it is truly ambrosia that flows from her gates, as she has been implanted with the seed of wisdom, the seed of Chokmah, and they may taste of true wisdom. The Aztecs have a goddess named Tlazolteotl who is known as the eater of shit or eater of filth. She takes the impure and devours their sin, the karmic lead, as we might call it, and transforms it into pure, incorruptible gold. Those who have been touched by her can never be touched, corrupted, or made unclean again, regardless of what happens to their bodies in the world. Tlazolteotl is a goddess of Binah.
When we understand this sorrow, when we understand the state of creation and realize our involvement in it, we can move into compassion for ourselves and for those who follow, for we have been there. We move beyond the mercy of Chesed, which is fatherly and protective yet can be bigoted and judgmental of those who do not overcome their problems in a manner we find acceptable. There is no judgment in Binah. There is no protection or desire to save. There is simply the holiness of the Goddess, witnessing, accepting, and loving.
When we move through the sorrow, we see her again, as the sacred mother, the divine and virginal queen of heaven. She has not changed in the slightest, for the whore is the virgin and the virgin is the whore. She is both Isis Veiled and Isis Unveiled. A true virgin is one who is in control of her sexuality, not one who abstains from it. Yet we see the queen of heaven with a royalty, a grace. She is the understanding of the cosmos, through the sorrow and compassion. She is endless compassion, like the ocean. She is the Shekinah, the goddess of wisdom and understanding, the great bride and queen of the world. She is the Gnostic wisdom goddess Sophia. She is the royalty that she has always been, but now we understand it, and understand it for all women, for the planet, for the cosmos, for she is the Star Goddess whose feet hold the hosts of heaven. She is all that we have ever known. The understanding that comes with sorrow is like an old wine that is left open, degraded by time and the world, made bitter, yet it opens the gates to higher power. The understanding that comes from compassion after sorrow is like a second flow of wine blood, straight from the Mother, untainted by the lower worlds, pure and full of wisdom. This is the true sang real, the royal blood.
There is no obligation beyond the Abyss. There is nothing you have to do once you have reached the Mother. She accepts all unconditionally, giving her the image of both whore and divine mother, depending on how you go to her, yet she is both and neither. There is no vice. All vices have been stripped away, forgiven, and culled for their understanding and later wisdom.
The virtue of the sphere is silence, for nothing more can be said here. What is, is. You are here. You are loved. You are given the drink of understanding. These things are felt and experienced, not spoken of. A non-initiate can talk about the mysteries until he or she is blue in the face, but two who have experienced them can silently nod in understanding, as no words are needed.
The ultimate illusion of this sphere is death, for death is an illusion once you move beyond the sorrow. Things are born, live, and die only to be born again. There is no end, but only change. Those who fear death have an attachment to the individual self, while those who cross the Abyss no longer have that personal attachment. They see the paradox of individuality and union. They then can become the devoted adepts of understanding, enflamed in their love, drunk upon the honey blood wine of the Great Mother, and seek no more than to be of benevolent service to her and thereby to all of creation.
Binah Magick
Binah magick is all goddess magick—creation, life, and death. Binah’s color is black, and its incense is all dark and earthy things, reminding us of the root of the material world and creation. Myrrh is the traditional scent, though older texts also include the animal scent civet. Most modern witches no longer use the animal products civet, musk, or ambergris, due to both ethical and practical considerations, though some natural and synthetic substitutes have been used. Likewise, the metal lead, the earthly manifestation of the virtues of Saturn, is not always easily accessible to modern witches, but it is the best metallic correspondence. Dark stones such as jet, onyx, and obsidian can be used, as well as brighter luminescent stones, particularly star sapphire and pearl. The hexagonal shine of the star sapphire alludes to the geometry of Binah by doubling it. Through such stones, we can see the triad.
It takes a minimum of three points to form a shape. The first shape formed is the triangle, the symbol of Binah. The downward-facing triangle is the alchemical symbol of water, the element of the ocean mother, as well as a symbol for the yoni, the feminine organs that epitomize this sphere. The three legs of a stool or tripod are the minimum number needed to stand upright. In sacred geometry, three represents the first step in creation, as nothing can take form without a minimum of three points. The triad becomes the fundamental shape that gives birth to many others. The principle of three in creation is essential, be it the three faces of the goddess of the Fates, or the scientist’s electron, proton, and neutron. Three shows up in our visible spectrum, the red, green, and blue violet that make things visible to us, or the pigment spectrum of red, blue, and yellow. Both of these triads, when mixed, create the rest of the rainbow, all of visible creation. The ability of the three to balance the two, and generate something new, is the power of this sphere. When a binding element is introduced into something that is polarized, a new whole is created, rather that just two complementary points. Negative and positive points come together through a field and make a magnet. Reactant and reagent chemicals come together with a catalyst and make a new chemical process. The proton and electron come together with a neutron to make an atom. The third part grants the powers of creation.
The working of all feminine magick is the province of Binah. It is here that the magician, regardless of gender, becomes one with the feminine mysteries, that which must be experienced, not intellectualized. Binah’s correspondences show us the intimate feminine connection of this sphere. All the queens of the tarot are aligned with Binah, and the animal of Binah is woman. People often are insulted to hear that, but above the Abyss, the actual and mythical animals are not the manifestations of the sphere’s power. Above the Abyss, the human body, the human vehicle, is the “animal,” for we all have an animal nature and animal structure in our bodies. Woman is the expression of our physicality that relates to Binah, as man is the expression of Chokmah. Here we explore that physical archetypal nature of woman.
Binah’s ritual tools are the expression of woman. The first tool is the outer robe of concealment, as in the tarot’s Magician, with the outer garment of red protecting the inner robe of white. The veil, symbolizing the covering of the holiest of holies, and the unveiling, the mystery and experience, play a similar role. The veil is power and purity rolled into one. We begin to plumb the mysteries of how something like sex can be both sacred and profane at the same time. Something can be primal and animalistic but also holy and divine. Something can be wanton and lustful yet saintly. It’s the paradox of spirit that we find in these feminine mysteries. These mysteries have been suppressed because they are so powerful and so easy to misunderstand. Many of the orthodox religions fear feminine mysteries, and fear the role of the Goddess, of all women, in the initiation process, so we have suppressed our sexuality and have been encouraged to be as unconscious as possible when actually engaging in it. If we were truly present and conscious in all acts of sexuality, then the gates would open and we’d climb the Tree and pick the fruit for ourselves. That is the true secret of the Garden of Eden. The serpent power, the kundalini, is what informed us, our inner Eve, to pick the apple, the witch’s fruit, and have a Gnostic experience, a direct knowledge of the divine. With such simple instructions to experience divinity, we’d have little need for organized religion and its institutions.
Beyond the robe and veil, all yoni figures, art, and tools that emulate the divine feminine, the vagina, the vulva, are symbols of Binah energy. Yoni is the Sanskrit term for the feminine reproductive organs, and in that tradition, the word contains a host of sacred associations with the Goddess and with feminine powers, including rites of passage, death, and agricultural fertility. Yoni statues, or goddess images with enlarged yonis, were used in rituals. This imagery bears a striking similarity to the Sheela-na-gig figure found in the United Kingdom. Like the qualities of Binah, the Sheela-na-gig is not a young and fertile figure, but often is associated with crones, comical images, or fairly monstrous-looking women rather than voluptuous and beautiful young maidens (Figure 73). I know many witches who work with Sheela-na-gig as a primal goddess, and her yoni is a gateway to the Otherworld.
In sacred geometry, the Vesica Pisces is the yoni figure (Figure 74). Though made of two circles, seemingly relating it to the second sphere of Chokmah, it is the union of the two that creates the third, new shape that is the gateway to all of creation, like the Goddess and God coming together. Both are needed for creation, but ultimately it is this yoni shape that generates the universe. When you look at the lines and relationships extrapolated from the Vesica Pisces, many of the other figures of sacred geometry are “born.”
Called the Eye of God and the Gate of Creation, the term Vesica Pisces actually refers to a fish bladder, as the symbol has been associated with fish and, in particular, Christianity. Jesus is known both for performing the miracle of the fishes and loaves and for being the “fisher of souls.” Yet the fish is born out of the primal ocean of the Mother. This is why many pagan mythologies start with the birth of the universe through the Goddess, the void, the Great Mother. It is the first act of creation we can really understand, appearing to be a self-generating, bisexual mother goddess.
The yoni and Vesica Pisces both are receptive feminine symbols, which, to the magician, are best embodied by the cauldron or cup. The chalice represents the Holy Grail, the San Greal but also as the sang real, the sacred royal blood, for the blood is a sacred mystery. The true royalty comes in recognizing our own sovereignty, our own divinity and right to rule ourselves as spiritual beings. The power of Binah is both of vessel and of blood, for the two are linked. When we start to learn about the powers of the chalice, as we did together through the lessons of Yesod, we look to water as love, as compassion and healing. It is all the best, the brightest, and the most gentle of the feminine mysteries. In Binah, water is the cup of blood, the cup of ancestry, of the Underworld and life through death. It is the lineages of the priestesses and the sexual relationships of body and spirit mating, such as the legendary unions with the fey, angels, gods, and demons found in our mythology. Through such matings we have an intermingling of the supernal and the material, the mythical and the mundane. It is all the things we know to be true, yet we cannot express them in our sciences and languages. We must experience them, for they are a mystery. It is because of that mystery, that secret union of flesh, spirit, and all the elements coming together in perfect proportion, in this space and time, that we are here—as individuals, as a race, as a planet. It is the divine mystery we seek to know as we climb the Tree. No amount of talking about it is a substitute for the experience.
Wine is a powerful ritual tool for Binah, for the true royal wine, the royal blood, is hers to share, flowing from her yoni, and stilled into purified and corrupt currents that ultimately give the same gift. Bitter or soured wines often are used as an offering to the dark goddesses, such as Hecate, while untainted wines are used in many traditional Wiccan rituals. Honey wines, or meads, are very appropriate, as the bee, a creature of solar light and the Upper World, distills the light and Venusian flower power into honey, feeding both body and soul. That is further transformed into a fluid to open the gates of perception. Bees have a strong esoteric connection with the Goddess, as the Queen Bee, and with sexual reproduction. Honey is used as a description of sexual fluids. The chalice filled with wine or honey wine is the ritual vagina of the Goddess in the Great Rite.
The art of winemaking and the use of honey in magick and medicine are the province of both the witch and the alchemist. Distillation of fluids to open the gates and transform the soul is part of the alchemist’s work. The practical application of alchemy is one of the best forms of magick to help one understand the powers of creation. Its physical nature balances the cerebral focus of Hermetic magick and helps ground the magician. Alchemy and herbalism are strongly connected to witchcraft and the Goddess-oriented traditions. Binah is an excellent sphere to learn to work with nature in a hands-on creative process. A basic knowledge of alchemy was expected from those in the lower ranks of the Golden Dawn.
Alchemy is the art, science, and spiritual tradition of finding enlightenment through the study of the natural world. An alchemist seeks to understand the self through studying the natural world. By learning how the divine manifests in nature, there comes a greater understanding of how the divine manifests in humanity. The Principle of Correspondence—as above, so below—is the guiding theme. The use of metals, gems, and plants is part of the alchemist’s repertoire, as each is said to contain an interior star, a light, that corresponds to the stars in the heavens. To study things on Earth is to study the patterns of the heavens.
An alchemist seeks the refinement of the self through the refinement of natural materials. By studying the breakdown of natural materials, and then their purification and recombination, the alchemist learns how to break down, purify, and recombine the self. The guiding principle of this later form of alchemy is embodied in the maxim solve et coagula, meaning “dissolve and coagulate” or “dissolve the body and coagulate the spirit.” Dew is probably one of the holiest of fluids used in alchemy, because by its very nature, it demonstrates the properties of something that has gone through the circulation process of solve et coagula. Water evaporates through the action of the Sun, of light, rising to the heavens. But dew cools through the action of the night, of dark, and descends back to the Earth, yet doesn’t really touch the ground, existing in some heavenly liminal state, purified. Dew is a physical manifestation of life force, a condensation of spirit, collected and used in alchemical workings.
Alchemical processes are really rituals of sympathetic magick. When an alchemist puts material through a dissolution and coagulation pattern, the results are not based on controlled scientific conditions; rather, more in the spirit of our modern quantum physicists, alchemists believe the alchemist directly affects the result of the experiment. An alchemist who has refined his or her body and spirit to a certain extent will have better results, seemingly defying our normal laws of physics, than the alchemist who is not spiritually refined. The chemical experiments are like tests. As you refine yourself, you refine the materials, and vice versa. Repeated experimentation brings the understanding of the true nature of the materials, of creation and ultimately the self. This is epitomized as the transmutation of lead into gold. Known as the Philosopher’s Stone, this ultimate transmutation of matter was said to transmute the elements, prolong life, and cure any illness. The Philosopher’s Stone is really the alchemist’s own body, united fully with the spirit, and enlightened, capable of healing all illness and transforming matter, much like the concept we have of divine and ascended beings bending the laws of physics to reveal their connection to the divine by performing miracles.
Like high and low magick, alchemy can be divided into outer alchemy and inner alchemy. One is focused on the refinement of substances and the use of medicines, while the second is focused on inner change. Like high and low magick, knowledge of both is needed to be a truly successful practicing alchemist. The alchemist’s pictorial texts and mandalas form some of the most sophisticated modern reality maps we have.
Alchemy follows many of the same fundamental concepts of all occult traditions. Its theories of the cosmos eventually evolved into a triune understanding of creation, using the symbols of sulfur, mercury, and salt. Like the four elements, which were also a critical part of the alchemist’s cosmology, these three chemicals stood for greater principles rather than the substances they represent.
Sulfur is the energetic and volatile principle. It has strong associations with fire, the Sun, yang, and the cardinal triplicity. Mercury is the fluid and interactive principle. It corresponds with water, the Moon, yin, and the mutable triplicity. Salt is the stable and grounded principle, the material component. It is associated with earth, planet Earth, and the fixed triplicity.
Modern witches and magicians can apply the intellectual knowledge of Hermeticism in the making of planetary herbal tinctures. Known as plant alchemy, it is the lesser working of the alchemist, for the greater working is with metals. The lesser working is known as the Way of the Vegetable Stone, rather than the Philosopher’s Stone. Many alchemists consider this working a prerequisite to the fabled Philosopher’s Stone. Though plant tinctures cannot turn lead into gold, they do produce marvelous results. Such medicines work very similarly to both magickal herbal preparations and medicinal herbal preparations, but the purification and coagulation process intensifies the properties, so only drops are needed for profound physical and spiritual healings. The Way of the Vegetable Stone is to separate the sulfur, mercury, and salt of a plant, purifying them and recombining them. The process of making planetary tinctures transforms the alchemist, aiding his or her own enlightenment and healing process and ability to help heal others.
Planetary Tinctures
Materials needed:
2 glass canning jars with lids
Plastic wrap
Funnel
Cheesecloth
Metal spoon
Heatproof glass baking dish with lid
Mortar and pestle
Airtight jar
High-quality alcohol
Decide what kind of planetary tincture you desire to make. What planet will serve you best in the current stage of your enlightenment process? Traditionally, alchemists will choose lemon balm, an herb ruled by Jupiter, as the first herb, though lemon balm also has lunar associations. Others might start with a tincture of a Saturnine herb, and move through all seven stages of the alchemist’s planetary view—Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and Sun. Once you have selected a planet, choose an appropriate herb ruled by that planet. Use a nontoxic plant, as planetary tinctures are typically consumed in ritual. Traditionally, the dose of tincture is a few drops. Tinctures also can be used to anoint ritual objects and charms.
1. Begin making your planetary tincture on the first day ruled by that planet, after the New Moon. If you are using the Jupiter/lemon balm tincture, start on the first Thursday after the New Moon. Ideally, start in the hour of the planet on the day of the planet (OTOW, Chapter 12). Try to time major operations in the process using the appropriate planetary day or planetary hour whenever possible, to keep the energy as focused as possible. Traditional alchemists purified themselves and prayed before doing any work on their experiments.
2. If possible, begin the process by harvesting the herb and drying it naturally. If you cannot harvest the herb yourself, you can purchase it. Grind the dried herb into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. As you do, meditate on the powers of the planet and herb. Spending time with the herb physically attunes your energy field to it. Your attitude will directly determine the effect the experiment has. I’ve been very focused while making tinctures and had marvelous results, and I’ve made them while distracted, not giving them my full attention, and they did not turn out as powerful. Once you have ground the herb, add the herbal powder to a canning jar until it is one-third full.
3. Add a high-quality, high-proof alcohol or, better yet, an ethanol or grain alcohol until the jar is full. The Everclear brand, at 151 or 190 proof, is ideal. Lower-proof alcohol can be consecrated by freezing it for a few hours, to separate the water, which freezes, from the alcohol. Pour the alcohol out of the container after putting it in the freezer for a few hours, to remove some water. Next, put a piece of plastic wrap over the jar to prevent any contact with a metal lid, and then place the lid over the plastic, sealing it. Put the jar in a warm place, such as a boiler room. I’ve kept mine in a cabinet under my altar. Traditionally, it takes a minimum of two or three weeks, and ideally six weeks, to draw out the plant properties into the liquid. This is the incubation process. The length of time is up to you, but six weeks is a good medium. Others time it as they would with a planetary fluid condenser (see page 280). I suggest shaking the jar daily and thinking about the planetary properties of the tincture. The tincture must be treated with respect, as it is the birth of the “higher self” of the plant in material form. It is considered the alchemist’s child. If the tincture is solar-oriented, you can put the jar out in the sunlight. Warm days are ideal to help the tincturing process. If the tincture is lunar-oriented, you can put the jar under the moonlight. Lunar tinctures should be brought inside before sunrise. The alcohol and water component is the mercury separating the volatile sulfur, or essential oils, of the plant from the dross matter, or salt, of the plant.
4. Pour out the mixture through cheesecloth and a funnel into a second jar. Now the liquid is in the second jar, with the herb strained out. Seal the jar with plastic wrap and the lid. Label “Tincture of (Herb Name/Planet).” The tincture alone, being the sulfur and mercury components of the plant, heals the spiritual and soul levels of the individual.
5. Take the herb out of the cheesecloth filter, and place it in a non-aluminum baking pan. Glass baking dishes work well too. Take the pan outside on a non-windy day, and set it on a fireproof surface. Drop a match on the alcohol-soaked herb, setting it on fire. Let the herb burn to ash. Stir it with a metal spoon, to make sure it all burns. Be careful, and use oven mitts if necessary. Do not lose the ash. If the herb does not burn, particularly if you used a lower-grade alcohol, splash it with a higher-grade alcohol or ethanol to ignite it more easily.
6. Bake the ash at 500° F or more for over an hour. Calcinate the herb, making the ash turn gray or white. This is the salt of the herb. This process can create smoke, so be prepared to temporarily disconnect or cover your fire alarms and reconnect them when the experiment is done. Let the ash cool after it has turned color, and when cool, grind it up using a mortar and pestle. Place the dry ash in a separate jar and label as “Salt of (Herb Name/Planet).” You can take a few grains of the salt in a glass of distilled water for healing, particularly for physical healing, as it contains the alchemical salt principle of the herb. Look up the physical healing properties of the herb in a reputable medicinal herbal book. The salt of the herb should aid in healing that body part or system. You also can add appropriately corresponding planetary salts to planetary fluid condensers, to make them more powerful. Ideally, the condensers should contain the same herb from which the salt is made, but this is not absolutely necessary, as long as the planetary attribute is the same.
7. If you want to make a planetary tincture, add the salt of the herb to the tincture of the herb, creating a true planetary tincture, what is also known as a spagyric tincture. This heals the body, soul, and spirit simultaneously, unlocking the secret powers of the herb, its true divine nature. Label it appropriately and put a date on it. Take no more than ten drops in a glass of water or wine daily. You can take it to attune to a specific planet or herb for a ritual, or have a regimen of taking the tincture daily, starting on the day of the planet, to attune yourself to the spiritual forces of the planet for a long period of time. Alchemists might go through a regimen of the seven planets, from densest Saturn up to the gold of the Sun, to refine their vibration, making seven tinctures and completely consuming them all, only a few drops at a time.
Binah Pathworkings
As Binah is the first sphere above the Abyss, working with it directly in vision is very intense. Though many would say that we are incapable of reaching Binah directly, we can touch the Binah aspect of any sphere to which we can ascend.
Only two paths from Binah remain to be discussed, the path of the Empress across to Chokmah and the path of the Magician up to Kether. The bridge between Binah and Chokmah is the mystery of the Empress. Viewed as the Venusian Mother Nature, the Empress embodies the formation of nature as a force of creation. The path of the Empress is the fertility path, connecting the seed of Chokmah to the womb of Binah. The path from Binah to Kether is ruled by the Magician, the divine androgyne who is the keeper of cosmic knowledge and the ability to manifest will in the world.
Binah Pathworking
1. Perform the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (exercise 5) and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (Exercise 20). Do any other ritual you feel is appropriate.
2. While in this space, call upon the divine forces of Binah. Burn your three black candles and myrrh incense. Knock on your altar three times. Vibrate the divine name of Binah, YHVH Elohim, three times. Call upon any of the Saturn goddesses or Archangel Tzafkiel.
3. To count down into a meditative state, do exercise 1 through step 7 (page 76).
4. Let the familiar world around you fall away, as if the material reality you know is only a façade and beneath it lies the beautiful garden of the Goddess, a veritable paradise surrounding you. The land around you becomes a vast primordial garden, the garden of Malkuth, the familiar garden of the four paths.
5. Go to the heart of Malkuth, to the Temple of Malkuth. Decide to follow the paths up to and from Tiphereth to the realm of Binah. Walk the path of the World/Universe up to Yesod. Experience the consciousness of Yesod for a time. Walk the path of Temperance/Art to Tiphereth. Bask in the golden light of your HGA. Then, from the temple of Tiphereth, use your will to ascend the path of the Lovers.
6. The path of the Lovers is the path of the Gemini Twins and of Zayin, the sword point of the intellect, cleaving away all that does not serve. Move through the Lovers card, and feel yourself coalesce and polarize, dividing into your inner king and inner queen as your higher self witnesses all from a third point of view. Feel yourself separate. Look at all that is feminine within you. Take in the beauty of the Goddess within. Look at all that is masculine within you. Take in all the power of the God within. Through the power of love, divine love, feel these two selves coming together. Through a psychic alchemical process, feel your awareness merge, king and queen becoming one, and overshadowed by the higher self. Feel yourself become the rebis, balanced in view and energy. Move toward the blackness of Binah.
7. Feel the call of the black sphere, the dark waters lapping at your feet as you tread the cosmic ocean. You might be tested to enter the realm of the sacred mother, though as silence is its virtue, you might not be required to say anything as part of the test. Enter the dark womb realm that is holy, like a temple or church. Binah is like all the sacred ground of every religion coming together in one place. It is the cathedral, the labyrinth, and the stone circle, come together. It is the cave of the shaman’s initiation and the classical temple all in one. Everything here is holy. This is the realm of the Sacred Mother, both virgin and whore.
8. Make your way to the sacred Temple of Binah, three-sided and filled with triangular geometry. Some of the triangles manifest with hard, straight lines, and others are soft and rounded. This is the temple of lead, of pearl, sapphire, and jet. This is the temple of the Mother. Feel the essence of her holiness, the beginning and ending of all that was, is, and ever shall be. Notice the gateways in and out of the temple, for the Chariot, the Empress, and the Magician, as well as the entrance you came through for the Lovers. Experience the paradox and simple beauty of one force, embodying fertility, sterility, and endless compassion. Experience the paradox of wanton sexuality, virginity, and destruction. When the paradox is resolved, you will have understanding.
9. The entities of Binah are residing in the temple, all surrounding the Great Mother. The illuminated adepts, the benevolent masters who find understanding through the love of the Goddess, are here, making it across the void. They are inflamed by their prayer and love. The holy inner-plane priestesses are present, mediating the forces of the Mother and her three faces. From the angelic realms, Tzafkiel and the Thrones are available. All of these beings attend the Great Goddess in her aspects of the fertile mother, the dark sterile mother, and the lady of the cosmic sea. Commune with the Mother and her children. This may be silent communion, in feelings rather than words. Through this silent communion, ask to find understanding and learn compassion through the Vision of Sorrow. Ask to learn the virtue of this sphere and how to avoid the illusion.
10. When done, thank all the beings who have communicated with you. They might offer you a gift, a token of their goodwill. If you accept, it is polite to reach within your being and offer them a gift of your goodwill. Be sure that what you give reflects the energy and intention you plan to put into the sphere’s lessons.
11. Once you have said your farewells, leave the shrine and follow the path back. Return the way you came unless you feel guided to return via a different pathway and know the pathway back well. Return to the garden of Malkuth. Focus on the waking world you know, and feel it return around the garden.
12. To return to normal waking consciousness and end your journey, perform steps 15–17 from exercise 1 (page 78). You can close the temple by repeating the LBRP.
Initiation of Binah
The initiation of Binah is that of the True Master, the master of the temple, which is the cosmic temple, where one is moving toward a point beyond the shape and form of the human world into something we on the lower paths cannot truly comprehend. The 8 = 3 ranking is conferred cosmically on one who is the master of Samadhi. This Sanskrit term has been borrowed by and incorporated into Western magickal traditions. Though it is difficult to describe, Samadhi is said to indicate a state of nondualistic consciousness in which you become one with whatever you are experiencing, yet you still remain conscious. The broader meaning is to gain a sense of wholeness and integration, not only with the individual self but with the universe. Samadhi literally means to “make firm.” A master of Samadhi is in a continual and effortless state of perfection with the universe. This is ultimately the master of the ascension traditions, who can move effortlessly throughout the Tree of Life, being in harmony and union with Binah and all spheres below it. The master then is responsible for “tending” or guiding the disciples on the path. Here we have the Secret Chiefs, guiding the lodge traditions, or the Theosophical masters, guiding the world. Magicians, witches, and shamans all ultimately aspire to be of service to the divine as the inner-plane priestesses and priests.
Homework
• Do Exercises 26–27 and record your experiences in your Book of Shadows.
• Continue to practice the LBRP, LBRH, Middle Pillar, and Circulation of the Body of Light rituals, the traditional or personal versions.
Tips
• Fill in the Binah correspondences and colors on your own Tree of Life drawing. Contemplate them as you add them to the image. Start memorizing these correspondences.
• Review and reflect on all you have learned in this lesson.
• Integrate the tools of the four elements into your magickal and daily life.
• Continue to work on designs for your own reality map. What correspondences, images, and geometries are important to your own worldview?