Lesson Eleven Chokmah
As Binah is the supernal Mother, the Goddess, the divine feminine, God as a woman, Chokmah is her partner, the supernal Father, the God, the divine masculine, God as a man. Together, they are the primal powers, the first yin and yang, the pagan’s true Lord and Lady. Many make the mistake of thinking they are lesser powers, being labeled sephiroth two and three, but they are, along with Kether, the Divine Creator. The Divine Creator simply has three faces—female, male, and one beyond shape and form.
Many look to the supreme father and expect to see the face we explored in Chesed—the sky father, the paternal figure of benevolence. We find that image most popularly pursued in the Yahweh or Jehovah image of biblical lore. Yet magicians, witches, and other mystics know that the God is more than this one face of the Father. The God is the universal father, of all life. Chokmah is the life force, the divine power of all of creation. Witches see the father god in many “octaves” in our mythos, yet he always expresses life force, and all his forms emanate from the Qabalist’s Chokmah.
Chokmah is the solar light in the sky, from newborn child to redeeming king. It is the green man, the light flowing within the vegetation, giving it life. The solar light and its interaction with the Goddess of the Earth through the green world is the basis of all cellular life, plant and animal, upon the Earth. Life feeds life. Plants feed off the soil and light. Animals feeds off the plants, and then other animals feed off of animals. Chokmah is the life force sacrificed to feed others, projected to the Underworld, the land of the dead, to be reborn as light once again. In each case, it is the life force, the secret seed of creation.
Chokmah is the life force spurting out into the cosmos. It is the seed of the divine that then will fertilize Binah. Chokmah is the outpouring of vital energy and power, all things male in their utmost ideal, that then must be given shape and form by femininity, by Binah, to make anything useful.
Chokmah is wisdom. Wisdom is the application of all the other virtues and visions. Wisdom must come forth. Wisdom that is not expressed, in word, in writing, in vision, is simply understanding and knowledge that has not been put into action. Wisdom must gush forth. Sometimes it is asked for, and sometimes it wells and rises, and must be released.
Such wisdom is equated with the power of the “Word,” the divine Logos, or manifestation of the divine in terms of vibration. The Logos is the word of God that sets forth creation. The concept of the Logos was originally Greek, and relating to the concept of guiding universal logic, for it is the pattern of creation, the guiding force and principle, that brings form, order, creation into being. The Logos has been mingled with many esoteric concepts and most often is associated with Christianity, but ultimately it is much more than any one religion can contain. It is like a spoken blueprint. It is the Om, or Aum, of the Hindus, the sound of creation. In this regard, with spoken sound, Chokmah has the higher-octave associations of Hod, the sphere of Mercury, just as Binah has a special relationship with Netzach.
Traditionally, no planet is assigned to Chokmah, as the ancients used only seven magickal planets. The stars, specifically the zodiac, correspond with Chokmah. As the light first issues forth from the void of creation, Chokmah is the foundation of stars, the light illuminating the sky. Chokmah is the first light, turned on in the universe, which is also a metaphor for self-awareness, the “I” or “I Am” of the universe. It is the projection of the god force into the cosmos. With the discovery of the outer planets, occultists most often have equated Neptune with Chokmah, as the sea father’s planet corresponds nicely with the image of fluids flowing to infuse life in the womb of the Great Mother. The sea contains a bit of every naturally occurring periodic element. It is a pattern for creation, as life first began in the sea. Uranus, as the first father principle in Greek cosmology, is also an appropriate correspondence.
Chokmah
Meaning: Wisdom
Level of Reality: Seed of Creation, Logos, Flow, Expansion
Parts of the Self: Life Force, Creative Self, Right Side of Head
Experience: Vision of the Source
Obligation: None
Illusion: Independence
Virtue: Devotion
Vice: None
Names of God: YHVH, Tetragrammaton Gods
King Scale Color: Pure Soft Blue
Queen Scale Color: Gray
Prince Scale Color: Iridescent Pearl Gray
Princess Scale Color: White flecked with Red, Blue, and Yellow
Element: Fire
Planets: Zodiac; some now say Neptune or perhaps Uranus
Image: Bearded Man
Archetypes: Universal Father, Ancient One, Cosmic Seed, Utterer
Greek/Roman Deities: Uranus, Chronos, Pan, Zeus, Jupiter, Poseidon, Neptune, Janus
Egyptian Deities: Thoth, Osiris, Ra
Middle Eastern Deity: Anu
Celtic Deities: Dagda, Cernunnos
Norse Deities: Ymir, Odin
Hindu Deity: Shiva
Archangels: Raziel (Angel of Hidden Knowledge), Jophiel
Angelic Order: Auphanim (Wheels)
Choir: Cherubim
Grade of Initiation: 9 = 2 Magus
Animal: Man
Planetary Vowel Sound: None
Resonant Letters: None
Musical Mode: None
Musical Note: A#
Tools: Phallus, Wand, Standing Stone, Inner Robe, Tower
Incense: Musk, Amaranth
Tarot: All Kings/Knights
Hierophant—to Chesed
Emperor—to Tiphereth
Empress—to Binah
Fool—to Kether
Metal: Platinum
Stones: Star Ruby, Turquoise, Jade, Tourmaline
Plant: Amaranth
Build your Chokmah altar in the color gray and in pairs, working with twos of everything, to signify the dual qualities of this sphere. Corresponding tools are difficult to find as we climb the Tree, particularly with no clear planetary attribute. Chokmah is the highest male vibration, so it can share correspondences with Jupiter/Chesed and the Sun/Tiphereth.
Entities of Chokmah
Chokmah is the masculine side of God. Traditional images are of the old patriarch, the wise king, as the elder or higher octave of Chesed, but Chokmah is much more than that. Chokmah is the first father, first principle, that gives rise to all things. As the universal father, we can look to many images of God. Some would see Chokmah as the ancient one. As this sphere is the first conscious separation from Kether, mythologies would represent Chokmah as the first separated being, the first god that takes a role in the creation of the entire cosmos. In Greek mythology, the sky father Uranus can be seen as the first god, separating from Gaia. Others look to Chronos, or Saturn, as the ancient one and primal father, as Uranus did little in the way of actual fathering, but as the cosmic principle, perhaps Uranus is the most correct manifestation. Chokmah is not the doting and protective father, but simply the seed and pattern. In terms of planetary attributes, Poseidon, as the Greek godform attributed to Neptune, would be appropriate, though the pre-Olympian deities work better in terms of Qabalistic qualities.
In Sumerian mythos, Anu is the great sky father and great father to all the gods. Anu is the cosmic sky father, not the terrestrial sky father. He created the stars as great soldiers to destroy the wicked. He is the ruler of the heavens and is equated with the heavens themselves. Anu the Sumerian god should not be confused with Anu, another name for the Celtic goddess Danu or an aspect of the Morrighan.
In Norse myth, though Odin takes part in the creation cycle with his brothers, the first two beings are the frost giant Ymir and the great cow Audumla. These two were the first father and Earth Mother figures of Norse mythology, though Ymir also was androgynous and created a race of frost giants alone. Audumla licked Ymir’s ice and, through her action, created the first god, Buri, who later fathered the gods.
In Egyptian mythology, at least three figures can be associated with Chokmah, as the Egyptians had many creation stories. Ra often is depicted as the great progenitor of the universe, through an act of masturbation. The masturbation imagery fits well with the seed and spurting symbolism of Chokmah. If Isis is equated with Binah, then her brother and mate, Osiris, is an obvious Chokmah choice. Many see Isis and Osiris as the primal figures, and the flooding of the Nile is seen as Osiris’s life-giving seed, impregnating the land to bring the harvest. In essence, the Nile is the microcosmic manifestation of the life-giving flood for which Osiris is responsible, bringing awareness to others, as symbolized in his development of culture in ancient, primitive Egypt. Lastly, Thoth is attributed to Chokmah, as the wisest figure of the Egyptians, beyond the daily concerns of the gods, keeper of secret wisdom. Some myths have him hatching the universe from an egg, as he manifests as the Ibis bird.
Though he’s also seen as a Jupiter figure, the Dagda plays the role of the cosmic father in some Celtic neopagan traditions. Danu is seen as the Great Mother, or Binah principle, with the Dagda as her complement and the entity known as the Dryghten as the Great Spirit or androgynous Kether principle.
For the modern pagan, the best god to embody Chokmah is Pan. Modern ceremonialists and witches look to Pan as the “All,” as his name is translated, though we can’t be sure that ancient pagans viewed the god of Arcadia, the Land Before the Moon, in this way. Pan is the life force of not only nature in the land of our planet, but all of nature in the universe. Pan manifests in many octaves, from the lustful god of fear and inspiration to the uncrowned king of the nature spirits, faeries, and elemental forces. His highest manifestation is the cosmically lustful principle, desiring creation. The phallic imagery, both literally and through the horn symbolism and cosmic connotations as the “All,” is woven together in his mythology. Pan’s desire for sexual release is the principle of Chokmah put into microcosmic terms.
Pan is the Lord of the Witches, complementing the many faces of the Lady in Binah. He is the life force of everything and everyone, from the tiniest quark to the light of the brightest stars. The Celtic correspondent of Pan—Cernunnos or Herne, to modern pagans—also is associated with Chokmah. Though, like the Dagda, he has some very fatherly attributes, Cernunnos is a lord of life and death, creation and destruction. Some witchcraft traditions, looking at the complementary powers of the Lady and Lord, of the Qabalists’ Binah and Chokmah, say we are born through the gates of the Goddess, through her womb, and we return in death through the horns of the Hunter, through the gates of God.
Lastly, Chokmah is the Utterer. The Utterer is the one, the being, who utters the divine Logos, to manifest creation. The god name of Chokmah is YHVH, often looked at as Yahweh or Jehovah in the penultimate sphere, reserving the true power of the Tetragrammaton for the entire Tree and four worlds. This is the Lord. In biblical mythology, the Logos, the utterance of the Word of God, is the power of creation. “God” speaks, whether you think of the God of Genesis as YHVH, Yahweh, or the Elohim, and through that use of words, creation occurs. Chokmah is the Utterer of creation, and Binah then takes the utterance and uses it as the seed to grow creation.
Traditionally, the archangel of Chokmah is considered to be Raziel, Ratziel, or Ratzkiel. Raziel is known as the archangel who guides the creative force and is the keeper of mysterious lore. His name is said to be the “Secret of God,” and he is the author of the mysterious tome called Sefer Raziel, given to Adam and Eve after their expulsion from the Garden. Copies of it were passed to Enoch and Noah.
Other systems place Jophiel, the “Beauty of God,” as the archangel of Chokmah. Jophiel is the companion to Archangel Metatron and, like Raziel, is associated with the expulsion of the first couple from Eden, as in some versions of the tale, Jophiel was one of the angels to actually do the expulsion.
The Qabalistic order of angels beneath Raziel is the Auphanim, or the Wheels. They are the whirling forces of creation, wheels within wheels, with many eyes. They are difficult for humans to comprehend. They are a cosmic order of beings, guiding the creative forces of Chokmah. When looked at symbolically, the wheel is the human device that moves things. We have this image symbolically in the wheel of life and the Wheel of the Year. We observe it in the Wheel of the Zodiac. When we use it as a tool, it moves things along, making creation and development easier. In the secondary angelic system, the second choir is the Cherubim, the angels of wisdom, contemplating the divine essence and form. They are the angels of light and the guides to the stars. Though we now think of cherubs as childlike angels, traditionally they are described as fearsome four-winged beings, guarding sacred places with flaming swords.
Vision of Chokmah
In the sphere of Chokmah, the spiritual experience is the Vision of the Source. One is not yet united with Kether, but from Chokmah, the Vision of the Source is at its clearest. Sometimes known as the Vision of the Gods, or Vision of God, it is the closest one comes to understanding the ultimate reality without being one with that reality. One truly sees God.
As with Binah, there is no vice or obligation for Chokmah, for the supernals are above such things. The illusion of Chokmah, independence, was the virtue of Yesod. Here, we know that independence is an illusion, for all things are connected. All nature is dependent upon itself. Chokmah is nothing without Binah, and vice versa. Without the other, there is no creation, so there is no true and absolute independence. This is a necessary lesson before attaining oneness with Kether. The virtue of Chokmah is devotion, as one will be devoted to the divine life force expressed in the Tree and devoted to union with that life force when integrating the lessons of Kether.
Chokmah Magick
The correspondences of Chokmah are even more diffuse than those of Binah, as there is no absolute planetary correspondence for this sephira. Traditional incense, herbs, colors, and scents are not readily available, though some use Neptunian associations. The traditional scent is musk, for the virile sexual aspect of the scent, as well as its being filled with life force, as an animal product. Because musk is not as politically correct or eco-friendly, many witches opt to not use it, but instead use combinations of certain herbs to produce a musklike smell. Amaranth and olive are traditionally associated with Chokmah. Fennel, hops, lotus, wood aloe, and ylang-ylang have Neptunian influences and can be used in incense and potions for Chokmah.
No metal is attributed to Chokmah, though platinum, pewter, or electrum are potential correspondences. The stone of the star ruby, as well as turquoise, jade, and all forms of tourmaline (for tourmaline grows in a straight-line formation), fit the geometry of Chokmah.
All the maleness of Chokmah shows us its primary tool. As the yoni is to Binah, the phallus is to Chokmah. Ceremonially, Chokmah’s tool is the wand, the directing tool of creative energy and life force. Another variation of the theme is the thyrsus, the Greek wand or staff used by the followers of Dionysus, a fennel stick topped with a pine cone. All phallus-oriented gods, from Dionysus to Kokopelli, could be found in this sphere. Though Dionysus is a younger god in the Greek pantheon, his most primal cosmic Neptunian associations, as the life force entering the dark, entering the world, could give him rulership here. In the world, the phallus is associated ritually with the erect standing stone, and the Tower. The standing stone is associated with both healing and fertility mysteries. By sleeping next to certain standing stones in the United Kingdom and Europe, infertile women or couples were said to increase their fertility and conceive easily afterward. The Tower, as the wizard’s sanctum, the magickal place of refuge and study, is part of the male magician’s imagery. The magician’s inner robe, the white robe beneath the red in the tarot, is assigned to Chokmah as well, for it is the seed within the flesh, rather than the manifestation of the seed.
The geometry of Chokmah is the line. In terms of numerology, one is a point and three is a triangle, so two is the line, two points connected. Here we have the phallic imagery of a straight line. It is also the geometry of the Logos. First we have one divine being, indivisible and indistinct. That being is everything, yet is not necessarily aware that it is everything. When that being utters the word of creation, an aspect of the Creator is speaking while another aspect is listening. In effect, the act of utterance divides the Divine Creator into two—speaker and listener. To be able to say “I” or “I am” on any level is to differentiate the speaker from whoever is listening. There we have the manifestation, the point of self-awareness in the creation process that separates Kether from Chokmah.
The process of dividing into two parts, or uniting two parts, is the magick of Chokmah. Kether is like the Great Spirit, the creative force known as the Logos, the Word. But for the Word of creation to be relevant, something must hear it. Kether emanates to Chokmah, so there is both the speaker and the listener, ushering creation onward. Chokmah follows suit, being a male, projective energy. It wants to reach out to Binah, to create the universe as God and Goddess, or reach back to Kether, to be reunited with the source. Both paths imply a form of spiritual ecstasy or bliss when uniting with another.
One of the most important ways to discover this mystery is through the use of actual sexual energies through sexual action. As with the Great Mysteries, no amount of talking, fantasizing, or intellectualizing about sex is a substitute for actually experiencing it. Sexual energy is hard-wired into us. Sex is one of the eight gates of witchcraft to raise power, and ultimately, all of those gates, when used with deep intention, open the ways to the mysteries. Each is a path up the mountain of spirituality. The desire to direct our sexual energy, what is really our creative impulse, is the power of Chokmah.
Historically, sexual magick has been a powerful part of both Western and Eastern traditions of magick and spirituality. When referring to the Eastern traditions, the word tantra is used. Tantra does not exclusively concern sexuality, since it refers to a wide number of ritualistic practices and customs. Western investigators of the Eastern mysteries often focus on the sacred-sexuality aspects of tantra. A practitioner may visualize having sex with a particular deity, or, when having sex with another, visualize himself/herself and/or a partner as a deity, as a method of uniting strongly with the divine.
Western sex magick customs can be just as spiritually focused, though much of the modern literature tends to use sex—solo, coupled, or group—as a method of generating energy for outward manifestation through the use of spells and charms rather than personal enlightenment. Masturbation is the typical method of charging personal sigils in the traditions of Chaos magick. The mix of Western and Eastern teachings in modern sex magick, balancing spirituality and practicality, is bringing a healthier view of sexual power. The greater availability of texts makes this process easier, but the roots of such mixing date far back. Many believe the Knights Templar and other esotericists brought back sexual magick lore along with many other treasures from their journeys in the East.
In the ancient pagan world, we have the custom of the Hieros Gamos. The Hieros Gamos, or hierogamy, directly translates from the Greek to “holy wedding” or “holy coupling,” and refers to the sexual union and sometimes marriage of a deity and a human. As a ritual, this was done in ancient days as an act of fertility magick, where the ruler would mate with a priestess to ensure the fertility of the land. Members of the community also would also have sex at this time, further adding to the fertility of the land through sympathetic magick, but also ensuring that their children would be born in the winter, after the growing season, so there would be more time to care for the children and fewer distractions for those working the land.
Examples of the Hieros Gamos can be found in Sumerian history when the king of a city-state would unite with a high priestess of Inanna. Celtic witches also observed the traditions of the sacred land, with the king being wed to the land through the queen as a remnant of this tradition. We see this mystery played out, rather confusingly for most, in the myths of King Arthur and Camelot.
The concepts remain in our traditions of Beltane. Most witches look to the Great Rite (in act or in token) and the fertility rites of Beltane as our experience of the Hieros Gamos. The Great Rite is a blend of both Western and Eastern ideas, which, at their core, lead to the same place. The Great Rite, done in ritual and initiations, can be profoundly moving. Though it can be the “fuel” for a spell, bringing lunar or solar energies into the circle through the rituals of drawing down, it is much more than that. The Great Rite is a profound experience of the union of the Goddess and God to create, as they are united in the circle, between us and in us. We hold that divine power of union, each and every one of us. It is through that union that we do our truest magick, in alignment with the highest will. That is the key to the witch’s theurgy.
We find similar ideas, but just as veiled, in the Hermetic traditions of alchemy and Qabalah. Many of the instructive drawings of alchemy, which leave the uninitiated perplexed, depict this process. Through a series of operations, the divine King and Queen, what the psychologist might see as the animus and anima, are brought out, crowned and sovereign. They are brought together in a hermaphroditic figure of king and queen mixed, the rebis, looking more like an otherworldly wizard. The rebis is the mixture of the feminine lunar quicksilver principle with the masculine golden sulfur principle. It is the conjunction of the soul and the spirit. This is the figure of enlightened humanity, balanced in all things, incorruptible, like gold, the alchemical metal of enlightenment. Within the hermaphrodite, all paradoxes are resolved.
Like the Great Rite, the birth of the rebis shows that while this act can occur on the physical plane, as sexual union between king and queen, male and female, it also must occur on the inner planes, with the magician. In fact, that is where it must occur. Physical sex infrequently results in enlightenment. Yet sexual union, the act on the physical plane, can lead us to inner union if we are aware when engaging in it. It is the overall relationship you have with another that informs you about your inner relationship, your inner king and queen. One of my favorite alchemists is Nicholas Flamel. He found the secrets to the Philosopher’s Stone, to riches of matter and spirit, not by sequestering himself away like a monk, toiling away alone, but along with his wife, who was an alchemist herself. Everybody forgets about Perenelle Flamel, but she was a critical partner, in all ways, to Nicholas’s successes. Their relationship was as much the root of their enlightenment as were their alchemical experiments.
The use of sex magick in the Craft and ceremonial magick is a powerful way to work your magick. Sex magick is not restricted to just fertility magick, nor is it restricted to heterosexual pairs. Sexual energy can be used in homosexual and polyamorous situations, as well as solo experiences. In fact, many sexual rites don’t actually involve physical sex. The Great Rite, done in token, is not just symbolic. Energy is moved, be it in a solitary Great Rite with the blade and chalice, or with a priestess and priest wielding the blade and chalice.
Here are some ideas for incorporating sexual magick into your workings. As with all other rituals, they are most effective when done in a ceremonial setting. Candles, incense, oils, purifications, and incantations all add to the atmosphere to turn an ordinary sexual experience into a sexual ritual.
Divine Celebration
Sexual touch is a powerful and moving way to celebrate the life force within you and can be an appropriate addition to any ritual. By viscerally feeling the life force in your blood and body, you are in touch with it in a manner that is far more primal and powerful than simple visualization and intention. Such union can be a culmination of dance, play, or ritual drama as a part of the rite. Through this, we remember the words of the Goddess in the Charge: “All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.”
Worship Through Sexual Union
We can worship the divine, physically, through a sexual partner. On one level, our modern pagan theology says “thou art god” and “thou art goddess” from the teaching of the Church of All Worlds. When we stare into the eyes of anyone, we are staring into the eyes of the divine. Through ritual sex, we honor the divine by giving pleasure to another. Through the act of giving love and pleasure to the divine being that is our partner, we connect to the divine source. In more formal rites, one or more of the participants can do a traditional invocation of a godform, in effect becoming a manifestation of a goddess or god. The union is then a form of the traditional ritualized Hieros Gamos, in which the deity is physically in union, through a priest/ess, with the worshipper. The energy of the act can be put forward for a multitude of magickal intentions or simply as an act of worshipping and honoring the divine.
Energy Working
Through sexual acts, energy can be moved through an individual’s body, or between and through partners, awakening the chakra energy centers and meridian pathways. Through sex, energy is always exchanged. Magicians can focus and direct the exchange to where they want it to go. For most, the exchange occurs only through the lower chakras. For some, the exchange also goes through the heart center. In tantric magick, energy can be used to rise through the chakras, cycling from one partner to the other, to awaken the crown chakra in a manner that can be much more intense and profound than when simply visualized alone in a meditation. The additional component of physical sexual energy, beyond the visualized intent, makes it a powerful way to awaken. Also, an experienced partner can guide a less-experienced one to a deeper awakening than could be achieved alone without sexual energy, though the less-experienced partner ideally should have a foundation of knowledge to know what he or she is getting in to with the ritual. The energy raised also can be used in direct magickal working and the empowerment of tools.
Magickal Empowerment
Sexual energy, raised alone or with others, can be used to manifest magick. A traditional method of solo sex magick, drawn from the work of Austin Spare and forming a foundation of Chaos magick, is to make a sigil (OTOW, Chapter 13) and to stare at that sigil while masturbating. Most important is to be completely focused on the sigil upon orgasm and then release the spell by throwing out the sigil paper, burning it or tearing it up. All your energy generated by the sexual act is now focused on the intention of the sigil. You need not focus on the intention itself, just the sigil that represents it. This method can be adapted with partners, and sigils can be used with body paint so you can focus on the sigil while pleasuring your partner. Sex is not the only method of charging sigils, but it is by far the most enjoyable one. Some methods use the sexual body fluids produced by these rituals, supercharged with intention, in both spellcraft and alchemical elixirs for enlightenment and awareness. They are used to anoint charms and ritual tools. One should always be very cautious about consuming the sexual fluids of another and follow safer sex guidelines.
Inner Planes Hieros Gamos
One doesn’t need a physical partner to experience sexual magick with another. Much of our shamanic lore relates to the concept of spirit marriages. A shaman will mate with a spirit guide, to be a spouse. Faery seers often enter into a marriage arrangement with a fey king or queen, who acts as an indwelling presence. Voodou practitioners sometimes experience rituals of marriage to a particular lwa spirit that confers them certain rights and obligations. Witches can experience shamanic journeys and visions, particularly at the seasonal holidays of Beltane and Samhain, mating with the Goddess and God. Their relationship with their deities and patrons, and other guides, can take on a sexual note, as they experience a Hieros Gamos between the worlds, on the inner planes. For those unprepared for such contact, it can be startling and difficult to talk about, lacking cultural context. In reality, it is a natural part of the enlightenment process for many priestesses and priests who embrace sexuality as a part of spirituality.
Taboo Power
Let’s face it, in our culture, mixing sex and spirituality is taboo. People see them as completely distinct. Actual intercourse raises a lot of energy just because of the taboo factor alone. Things that excite us, titillate us, or make us afraid on some level have power. A modern witchcraft wisdom is “Where there is fear, there is power.” As we become desensitized to sex in general, other taboo areas in the use of sexuality in ritual can produce a similar rise in energy. They continue to be effective, if not overdone or used too often outside of a ritualized context. Role play, fetishes, BDSM practices, gender role reversal, and fantasy fulfillment release a lot of suppressed energy in the psyche and body that can be put forth for magickal purposes, and the added side benefit is that the practice is very healing, removing the energy that is blocked, and helps us integrate our shadow self better in the areas of sexuality.
Polarity Rites
Working magick in a polarized union of priestess and priest is the manner in which many ceremonial magick groups and British Traditional branches of witchcraft always work, using a combination of techniques. One generates the power and the other guides and directs it. In many traditions of magick, the polarities are seen to reverse beneath the veil, and the priestess wields the active blade while the priest holds the receptive cup in ritual, revealing further mysteries of the gods. The two are not locked into one role or form. The energy of the polarity working is used to fill the circle, bless objects, cast spells, and move energy within the consciousness of the priest and priestess as well as those in attendance. The polarity working can be enhanced by directly invoking the Goddess into the priestess and the God into the priest, either the generalized Great Goddess and God or specific and compatible godforms. The officiants then mediate the energies of the deities, often through channeling and prophecy, for the rest of the group. One can look to the novels of Dion Fortune, in particular The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, for valuable information on how the sexual energies of dynamic individuals can be harnessed for grand magickal operations without actual physical consummation. In fact, for some forms of sex magick, consummation actually grounds the connection and ends the dynamic tension of the magickal working.
Because sexual energy is so powerful, in any context, a witch must be very cautious when using it. Make sure that your intentions and motivations are clear before entering into sexual rites. The power of the experience can lead to a lot of difficulties and reveal hang-ups. Many feel that in sex magick with another, they are in a “performance” and have to produce a good act. Magick has much ritual drama, and that can be a part of sex magick, but not to the point that it is debilitating for the participants. There is pressure to perform sexually, to keep a state of arousal while simultaneously holding on to other magickal factors and details. The intensity of workings can make them all the more powerful, but when they go awry, they can feel even more personally defeating and affect self-image and self-esteem. Use sex magick with care, but don’t be afraid to explore your sexuality as a part of your spirituality. Such exploration will help you better understand the energies of Chokmah, and the relationship between Chokmah and Binah.
The power of uniting ritually is done by witches through the Great Rite, the mysteries of the chalice and the blade. In ceremonial magick, the ritual can be done with the chalice and the wand, uniting Binah and Chokmah. Modern Qabalists also have the rite known as the Mystic Repast. Similar to the Wiccan Cakes and Ale, or Christian Eucharist, it is a ritual of recognizing and consuming the sacred in the material world, to unite with it and make it one within you. The Ceremonial Repast also is an invitation to align and commune with the beings of the elemental realms.
Mystic Repast
The traditional Mystic Repast uses the Golden Dawn elemental associations. Upon the altar, place a rose in the east, a red candle in the south, a cup of wine in the west, and a platter of bread and salt in the north. This version has been adapted from the ritual presented in The Essential Golden Dawn by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero.
1. Perform the Qabalistic Cross (Exercise 2).
2. Still facing east, raise both hands in the air and say:
I invite all you beings of elemental air, archangels, angels, kings, rulers, and elementals, to partake with me of the mystic repast of the four elements.
3. Pick up the rose and say:
I invite you to inhale with me the perfume of this rose, as a symbol of air.
Smell the rose.
4. Pick up the candle and say:
To feel with me the warmth of this sacred lamp, as a symbol of fire.
Hold your hand over the flame.
5. Pick up the platter and say:
To eat with me this bread and salt, as types of earth.
Dip a piece of bread into the salt and eat it.
6. Pick up the cup and say:
And finally, to drink with me this wine, the consecrated emblem of elemental water.
With the cup, trace a cross in the air—up, down, left, right. Drink the wine, and place the empty cup back upon the altar.
7. Then say:
It is finished.
Chokmah Pathworkings
There remains only one path to explore on the Tree of Life—the last path, which in many ways is the first path, that of the Fool. It leads from Chokmah to Kether. In the study of the tarot, it is said to be the “first” card, preceding the Magician. In the tarot, the trumps represent the stages of the magickal journey and evolution. And it’s true, for they descend from the top of the Tree into manifestation. The path to enlightenment and back up to the source is the reverse of the trumps. Instead of starting with the “birth” of the cosmic Fool, we rise through the lower cards—the Moon, Judgment/Aeon, and the World/Universe. The path of the Fool is ruled by Uranus, the divine rebel or cosmic light bringer, kicking off the possibility of manifestation by choosing to descend from Kether.
Chokmah 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 Chokmah. Burn your two gray candles. Musk incense is a difficult scent to use, though there are some herbal formulas that attempt to replicate the smell and quality of musk that are appropriate. Burning fennel seeds on charcoal or wearing ylang-ylang oil also can attune you to Chokmah, even though they both smell very different from musk. Knock on your altar two times. Vibrate the divine name of Chokmah, YHVH, twice. Call upon any of the ancient ones or Archangel Raziel.
3. To count down into a meditative state, do exercise 1 through step 7 (Figure 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 path up to and from Tiphereth to the realm of Chokmah. 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 Emperor.
6. The path of the Emperor is one of cosmic strength. One who travels this path must find the Divine King within. We must find our ability to rule ourselves and our lives, and through that we discover that we are generating force, the Chokmah force, in our own lives. We must find that inner king, the force that connects our HGA to the generative principle of Chokmah.
7. Feel the call of the gray sphere, the origin of light, or the stars in our creation. You might be tested to enter the realm of the divine father, though if you have made it this far, there might be no need for any intellectual testing. Enter the starry gray light of the realm of Chokmah. Enter the realm of the primal life force. The stars are within a vast garden, like the highest pattern that eventually becomes the garden of Malkuth in the material realm.
8. Make your way to the sacred Temple of Chokmah. Unlike the other temples, this is not a temple or room, but a hallway, a line, moving from one point to another. This is the Temple of the Father, the movement from one place to the next, constant movement and change. You see the gateways for the Hierophant, Empress, and Fool, as well as the path of the Emperor, through which you arrived.
9. The entities of Chokmah are residing in the temple and surrounding areas, yet the place is very peaceful. You feel the presence of the Great Father all around you. You are breathing in this life force. Ask to know the Vision of the Source in a manner that is correct and for your highest good.
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.
Chokmah Initiation
The Chokmah initiation is the penultimate step toward true enlightenment in the Qabalistic model. It is the ninth initiation, known as the 9 = 2 . Here one becomes a true Mage, a Magus, the master of all forms of high magick, or the ability to relate to the divine higher self. Chokmah is the highest level of consciousness at which we still have some level of individualization, for Kether is the complete merger with the divine. In Chokmah, the mage unites with the Logos and is able to declare the “Law” of the Aeon. In other words, the mage become one with the Logos of this creation. Not only does the mage declare it, but the declaration is in his or her entire being; the mage vibrates or resonates with the Law. Here the initiate becomes completely attuned to the power of the Aeon in which he or she resides, and discovers how best to bring the fulfillment of that Aeon’s forces.
The mage’s mundane or worldly declaration of the Law is made through his or her teachings. In The Book of the Law, Aleister Crowley declared the “Law” of the Aeon of Horus, outlining the formative principles of the next age of the world. Crowley was the prophet of the Aeon, the true Mage, and was able to see and shape the coming of the Aeon and its manifestation. Ultimately, we all are called to not simply follow the Law as it is presented to us, but to become one with the Law of the Aeon, and our material expression of it might differ substantially from Crowley’s. We must seek to be our own magickal genius, like Crowley himself, rather than simply following a prophet blindly.
Homework
• Do Exercises 28–29 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 Chokmah 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.
• Seriously think about your own reality map. When you reflect, what ideas come to mind, based on both your understanding of the universe and your experiences? Begin taking notes for constructing a map.