Lesson Three Yesod
The ninth sphere on the Tree of Life is a realm familiar to most witches and magicians. It’s called Yesod, though most don’t know it by such an esoteric name. Most of us know it by its more familiar name, the astral plane. Yesod translates to “foundation,” as the astral plane is the energetic or spiritual foundation of the material world. Early on, occultists learn that everything physical has a counterpart on the astral plane, but not everything astral has a physical counterpart. To be created, an object, situation, or magickal effect must first occur on the astral plane. Without this astral foundation, nothing can occur.
Yesod is the plane of magick, for it is reactive to the imagination, thoughts, and will of a magick worker. Here, we can shape the foundation of reality, and if we empower our creations with enough energy, they can pass through the veil into manifestation in the material realm of Malkuth. Our imagination, through our words, images, ideas, and symbols, shapes the proto-matter of Yesod, the astral light, and through our creative efforts we make our magick. Ritual is simply the language of creation, using symbolic actions and words to shape this realm and infuse our creations with energy.
The Moon, Yesod’s ruling planet, is associated with both magick and psychic ability. It opens the inner visions. Through this ability, we visualize and create, but we also receive intuitions and impressions. The Moon resonates with both the belly, our gut-level consciousness, and the brow, the third eye of psychic vision, where we see the past, present, and future.
In psychological terms, Yesod is described as the collective consciousness. It’s the collective unconsciousness for most of humanity, while magicians seek to make this realm conscious and aware, not unconscious and unknown, diving deep into this Moon-ruled ocean of consciousness to explore all secrets lurking below the surface. Yesod is not just the plane of creation and magickal imagination but also the lens through which we see the other realms. Witches look past the physical reality to the energetic patterns that support reality, and with this vision, we see things not as they appear but as they really are. This realm of consciousness, of collective archetypal imagery, gives us a vast library of symbols to interface with it and with the higher levels of creation. The higher we climb on the Tree, the more abstract our experience becomes, yet our consciousness, anchored in Malkuth, looks through the filter of Yesod to “translate” the energies into images and feelings we can understand. Some images will be part of the collective human consciousness, archetypal in nature, while others will be part of the personal consciousness, our own little grotto within Yesod, and will be meaningful only to ourselves. Because of its ability to give shape and form to abstract energies, Yesod also is considered the realm of dreams, the “place” we travel to when we sleep and experience both global and personal symbolism, and it often reveals something about our inner nature. Yesod is the magick mirror on the Tree of Life. On one hand, it’s reflective, and gazing into it reveals things previously unknown. On the other, it’s the reflective surface from which the magician and witch conjure forth their new reality, and the gateway to enter and leave the nonphysical worlds.
Yesod
Meanings: Foundation, Treasure House of Images, House of Illusions
Level of Reality: Astral World, Collective Consciousness
Parts of the Self: Nephesch, Astral Body, Automatic Consciousness, Subconsciousness, Unconsciousness, Intuition, Genitals
Experience: Vision of the Machinery of the Universe
Obligation: Trust
Illusion: Security
Virtue: Independence
Vices: Dependence, Idleness
Name of God: Shaddai El Chai (Almighty Living God or Living Mother God)
King Scale Color: Indigo
Queen Scale Color: Purple or Violet
Prince Scale Color: Dark Purple
Princess Scale Color: Citrine flecked with Azure
Element: Water
Planet: Moon
Image: Beautiful, Erect Naked Man
Archetypes: Moon Goddess and Fertility Gods
Greek/Roman Deities: Selene, Artemis, Diana, Endymion
Egyptian Deities: Bast, Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Nepthys, Thoth, Khonshu
Middle Eastern Deities: Adonis, Tammuz
Celtic Deity: Arianrhod
Norse Deities: Frey, Freya, Mani
Hindu Deity: Ganesha
Archangel: Gabriel (Archangel of Truth, Angel of Water/West, Messenger)
Angelic Order: Cherubim (Strong Ones)
Choir: Angels
Grade of Initiation: 2 = 9 Theoricus
Animals: Elephant, Turtle, Toad
Planetary Vowel Sound: A (ah)
Resonant Letter: l
Musical Mode: Aeolian (Natural Minor)
Muscial Note: C
Tools: Sandals, Perfumes
Incense: Jasmine
Tarot: Nine of Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles
World/Universe—to Malkuth
Sun—to Hod
Star—to Netzach
Temperance/Art—to Tiphereth
Metal: Silver
Stones: Quartz, Moonstone, Pearl
Plant: Comfrey
For this month’s lesson on Yesod, set up a Yesodic altar, using the colors of purple and silver and the appropriate tarot cards: the nine of each suit, as well as the major arcana—the World/Universe, the Sun, the Star, and Temperance/Art—leading to and from Yesod in their appropriate places on the altar (figure 29). No court cards are associated with Yesod. When doing a Yesod working, burn jasmine to align with this sphere. If jasmine is unavailable, mugwort makes a fine and more affordable lunar incense. Wearing silver and carrying moonstone, quartz, or pearl also aid in the alignment with Yesod.
Entities of Yesod
As Yesod is the lunar realm, the being most strongly resonating with it is the lunar goddess, crescent crowned and shining in her silver light. She is the Goddess of the Witches, identified with Artemis and Selene, Diana and Luna, Hecate, Isis, Bast, and Hathor, Inanna, Astarte, and Ishtar, Arianrhod, Ceridwen, and Morrighan. In Greek gemetria, Hecate’s name adds to 334, what Michael S. Schneider, author of A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, calls “a permissible single unit from 333,” which connects her to Yesod (3 + 3 + 3 = 9) and Binah. As the figure of the Moon, the lunar goddess has many faces, as does the Moon, yet a part of her is always hidden, just as a part of Yesod is always hidden, veiled and unclear. There is always something new to be discovered within its depths.
The lunar goddess is the keeper of the mysteries. As the first realm beyond Earth, she is the gatekeeper to the more expanded states of consciousness. Though the High Priestess card of the tarot is associated with another path, and spheres that connect it. Astrologically, the card is ruled by the Moon and depicts the Moon goddess, often more in alignment with a virginal Mother Mary figure, yet as the third card in the major arcana sequence after the Fool and Magician, she sits at the gates, between the two pillars of consciousness, guarding the sacred fruit of pomegranates beyond her. Hers is the secret knowledge she shares with initiates. Only those who pass through her moongate move on to the mysteries. If you cannot navigate the oceans of her astral plane, and thereby a level of your own emotional mastery, then you cannot pass.
Strangely enough, the common archetypal image of Yesod is not feminine at all, but usually a young male figure. Usually described as a beautiful naked and erect man, and sometimes described as being in an eternal slumber, this image confuses most of us at first. Shouldn’t the Moon’s sphere be solely a Moon goddess? Yes and no. It’s the Moon goddess and a fertility god. The generative organs, both male and female, are associated with Yesod and the belly chakra that corresponds with it. Yesod is the generative, creative force that is both goddess and god.
The fertility god is the link between Malkuth, the Earth, and Yesod, the Moon. The cyclical life drive, such as that found in the harvest, the vegetation, embodied in many traditions as the God force, is the connective tissue between Moon goddess and Earth goddess. The Moon has a direct and magickal link to fertility, from the better known Moon cycles in the bodies of women to the growth and success of the harvest. The Moon pulls on emotions and affects the sex drive in both men and women. The erect phallus is the power of the physical realm reaching upward for the higher realms, and is emulated in sacred art, from the lingam stones to obelisks, towers, and temples reaching for the heavens. Even the fluid that issues forth from it is pearlescent white, and lunar in nature.
In mythology, the Goddess’s consort often is the fertility god of vegetation, powerful yet temporary, and often is put into stasis or the land of the dead. The one that best embodies the common image of Yesod is Selene’s lover Endymion. He was cursed by Zeus to sleep forever, dreaming of his lovely goddess Selene. She visited him regularly, and her lack of diligence to the chariot of the Moon caused the cycle of darkness from the sky. Their connection created the cycle of the Moon and fertility upon Earth. Other cultures relate the Moon to masculine deities. To the Egyptians, both Thoth and Khonshu have lunar associations. The Sumerian Sin and Norse Mani are also Moon deities. Though many pagans fail to see lunar attributes in male energies, the Moon was the most precise and exact timekeeper known in the ancient world, even if its cycles were not as readily visible as the Sun’s.
The divine god name associated with Yesod is Shaddai El Chai, usually translated as “Almighty Living God” or “Almighty God Living Forever.” The words almighty and forever reflect the sense of power and permanence implied in the name of Yesod as a foundation, since a foundation must be solid. Yesod also is known as the Treasure House of Images, as the astral plane is our collective consciousness and all its images, as well as the House of Illusions, for the Moon illuminates but doesn’t reveal the truth. Shaddai El Chai can hide other images within its name. Another translation of the term relates it to the mother goddess, seeing Shaddai’s association with breasts or mountains. Those looking through a feminine prism translate Shaddai El Chai as “Living Mother God,” showing us again that there is both male and female in Yesod and nothing is quite what it seems.
The archangel of Yesod is Gabriel, who is also the classic angel of the western quarter and the element of water. Gabriel’s name usually translates to “God is my strength,” and he is known primarily as God’s messenger. While classic Wiccan symbolism automatically puts water associations with Yesod, and I usually maintain that correspondence, some Golden Dawn associations assign Yesod to the element of air, giving it more in common with the messenger principle of Gabriel, and assign Hod to the element of water, to keep the elemental order of the Tetragrammaton—fire, water, air, and earth for Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. As each sphere has associations with all the elements, contemplation on the relationship of both water and air with Yesod can be quite illuminating.
In one system of angelic magick, the order known as the Cherubim or Kerubim, the Strong Ones, are the angels of this realm. The Strong Ones are laborers of the universe, helping lay the foundation of the material universe. Some Theosophical theories relate the devas to this realm, giving Yesod a further connection to nature and fertility. Modern lore refers to the devas as nature spirits, but they are more like the oversouls of nature spirits, the divine architects, directors, and pattern keepers of the material world. They hold the shapes or blueprints of everything in the material world, while the spirits of Malkuth actually manifest them. In other angelic systems, the choir associated with this sphere is known simply as the angels, the lowest-ranking choir and the one closest to humans. These are the companion angels to humanity, acting as guides, friends, teachers, healers, and guardians. This would match the New Age concept that our “spirit guides” reside on the astral plane, working with us in dreams and awaiting our conscious attention during meditation.
The Vision of Yesod
The experience of Yesod is the Vision of the Machinery of the Universe. This is such a strange term, popularized by our European alchemical mandalas, illustrated by images of clockwork machines guided by the hand of the god, moving the planets, stars, elements, and people all in their place. Though some witches find this imagery to be too cold and mechanical, the vision refers to an understanding of the mechanisms of the universe. Through it, you both understand and, on a deep wisdom level, know how the universe works. Everything has a purpose. Everything has a place. There is a pattern to the design of creation. Nothing happens randomly.
As Yesod is the sphere of magick, this vision is perfect for it. The key to attaining this vision on the path of witchcraft is to do magick. The Vision of the Machinery of the Universe is really a true integration of magickal theory. Be it through the Hermetic principles or any other magickal system that seeks to explain the universe and how one can participate consciously in the universe, once the knowledge is grounded into consciousness, you are never the same. Through this pivotal experience, brought on through both magick and intuition, you know there is no such thing as random chance or accident. Synchronicity becomes your teacher. Through the application of lunar forces, you soon grow to know that you are connected to all things, and all things are connected to you. We all become like cogs in the machine of the universe, and if even one was missing, then the machine would not run as smoothly. Everything is necessary and has a function to fulfill. Perhaps a better image for witches is that we all are cells within the body of the universe, and each cell is necessary for the full functioning of the body of the universe.
You learn of both personal will and higher will, and the merger of the two for the win-win fulfillment of both yourself and the universe, by enacting your functions to their highest potential. You reach this highest potential through taking action—doing magick and following it up with real-world work, and listening to intuition, inner guidance, and inspiration.
The obligation to fulfill in order to receive this vision or experience is trust. When we start in magick, we trust the system, the teacher or tradition. On an intellectual and rational level, our first impression will be that this is nonsense and cannot work. How can we affect something else through the power of subtle magickal energy? But we have a calling to magick, and if we trust even for a moment that magick has been done before, then we know we can do it too. We also must trust in the universe, and see the larger pattern and understand there is a purpose for everything. Those who don’t perform ritual magick still can experience this vision. They might see it as divine will or God’s plan, and have to have trust that there is a purpose, and that everyone and everything has a place.
The illusion partnered with trust is security. Just because we trust that magick is possible, and that everything does fit in the machine, it doesn’t mean that our place within the machine will conform to what our ego desires. We might not get what we want, but learn that we get what we need. Trust doesn’t bring security. Life still can be difficult, especially so when we live from a need to satisfy our personal insecurity. A very good student of mine studied with a traditional Kabbalistic teacher who told her that once you know the machinery of the universe, you will never have sadness again. When earthquakes and disasters hit, you will never question why. You will know it’s a part of God’s plan and have unending peace. From a Qabalistic witch’s perspective, that is only partially right. We believe that we are still on the wheel of life, with ups and downs in emotions while we strive to identify with the center. We know a part of us experiences joy when there is a blessing or sadness when there is tragedy.. A knowledge of the Machinery of the Universe doesn’t necessarily grant eternal peace, but does provide the tools to find peace in the midst of difficult situations. We are always on the line of paradox, reconciling the personal and divine, and that is a healthy part of the human experience. The security of eternal peace is an illusion.
The virtue of Yesod is independence. Knowing that everything has a place within the greater pattern is very liberating. You then are encouraged to follow your bliss to find your optimum place in the machine, knowing that your search is part of the pattern. The vices of Yesod are dependence and idleness. In magick and in life, you cannot wait for something to happen. You have to follow up your intentions with action.
Yesod Magick
Yesod magick is magick itself, though certain forms of magick are more complementary to this realm. Magick that shapes and forms the astral plane, through visionary work in trance or subtle affirmations and magick words, corresponds the most with this power. Any ritual to call down the waxing or waning power of the Moon is Yesod magick. Magick that brings out the hidden, invisible virtues of herbs and stones through the light of the Moon falls under this sphere. Sea magick—working with the literal tides rather than the psychic ones—is also a part of Yesod. Opening the gates of intuition, or the gates of the astral plane, to confer with spirits, gods, and angels through a reflective pool, mirror, or the inner vision is also Yesodic. In fact, one might say all of traditional witchcraft falls under this sephira.
All water magick can be related to the Moon and Yesod, including physical and emotional healing, psychic development, dream work, and divination. Water magick is appropriate, as two of the totems of Yesod, the frog and the turtle, are related to water, yet both show an ability to adapt, and come onto land, showing the power of Yesod to move things from the astral ocean into the physical world of manifestation. The nonwater totem is the elephant. Elephants have long been associated in magick with bringing luck and good fortune, though the elephant-headed god Ganesh might be more appropriately a Hod godform. Though not classically associated with Yesod, animals such as wolves, dogs, shellfish, moths, and cats also could be associated with this realm.
Liquids—perfumes or scented oils, in particular—are tools of Yesod. The modern availability of essential oils makes working with Yesod much easier for the magician. An essential oil is the volatile fluid, the potent magick, of a plant substance. Scent is a method of harnessing our automatic consciousness tied to Yesod, and the right scent or combination of scents can release deep power within us. Scent is found throughout the Qabalah, but the art of perfumery, which is very intuitive, resonates particularly with Yesod. A great book on Qabalistic correspondences and blending techniques is The Magical and Ritual Use of Perfumes by Richard Alan Miller and Iona Miller.
One of the most popular oils used in ceremonial magick traditions and favored by Thelemites is Abramelin Oil. This recipe is mentioned in the Abramelin Operation for communing with your Holy Guardian Angel. The oil also is said to be in resonance with the Aeon of Horus, the next age.
Abramelin Oil
8 parts cinnamon oil
4 parts myrrh
2 parts galangal oil
7 parts olive oil (or other base oil)
A medicinal aromatherapist would caution you about the use of cinnamon oil and its potential to severely irritate the skin, though a magician might say that’s half the magick, as the irritation brings a fiery energy to where the oil has been applied. If irritation is a concern, then add more base oil, or dilute the cinnamon oil with base oil before adding it to the mixture. In one variation of the recipe, instead of using essential oils, you macerate the dry herbs in a base of olive oil in a sealed jar in a warm room (such as near a water heater) for at least a month. Strain out the plant matter and bottle the oil. It won’t have as strong a scent, but magickally it will be potent.
Sandals are another ritual tool associated with Yesod. At first this appears to be another nod to the water-air connection between Yesod and Hod, as sandals seem to be the tool of Mercurial figures, like Hermes and his winged sandals. Sandals are a symbol of travel and are demonstrative of the travel through the upper planes to which Yesod opens the magician. Rising on the planes can be considered a form of Yesod magick.
In tarot, all the nines are associated with Yesod. In each of the four suits, the nine represents the penultimate step toward completion. The nines manifest favorably in the suits of earth and water, with titles such as Gain and Happiness in many deck systems, while the more masculine elements manifest less favorably in Yesod, with fire and air manifesting as Strength and Cruelty. The title Strength, not to be confused with the major arcana card, doesn’t sound so bad, but some decks depict a battered and bruised wand holder gathering strength and anticipating the final conflict. Cruelty is the card depicting what happens when our emotions of Yesod get mixed in with our mind in adverse ways, creating worry and obsessive thinking about forces we have no control over, events in the past or worries of the future.
The geometry of the ninth sphere is the nine-pointed star, or enneagram (Figure 38). A variant enneagram, also pictured in figure 38, was used by the esoteric philosopher G. I. Gurdjieff to describe the basic geometry of the universe, and later was used as a symbol of a nine-point personality system. Nine was an important number in Egyptian mythology, as the group of nine primary gods was known as the Ennead. Though there were many groupings, or enneads, the Heliopolis Ennead is one of the most important to modern pagans, depicting a series of gods in one version of the creation mythos of Egypt.
As Yesod is on the middle pillar and resonates with the creative energy, an appropriate ritual for learning the lessons of Yesod is the standard exercise known as the Middle Pillar. In this exercise, you circulate life force from the heavens through your own middle pillar, what others see as the central column of the chakra system, and then through the aura, or body of light.
In the Middle Pillar exercise, you move energy by visualizing it moving through each sephira rooted in your body and energizing each center by chanting the Hebrew divine name for each of the five centers on the pillar—Kether, Da’ath, Tiphereth, Yesod, and Malkuth. This exercise, with its five points, is similar to the Fivefold Kiss found in some initiation traditions of witchcraft. Each opens the energy centers, though the kiss has different locations and uses the aid of another person to open these points. One can think of the Fivefold Kiss as a modified Middle Pillar done by a couple for initiatory purposes.
Middle Pillar
1. Prepare yourself and the space with the LBRP (Exercise 5). Remain standing if possible, aligning the middle pillar physically within your body with straight body posture.
2. Bring your attention to the top of your head. Imagine a sphere of brilliant light above it—Kether in your own personal Tree of Life. Contemplate this light as your own indivisible divine self. Vibrate the divine name of Kether, Eh-heh-yeh (Eheieh), three to four times as you feel the energy align with the crown of your head.
3. Visualize a beam of light from the sphere at the crown of your head descend into your neck, forming a second sphere of light at your throat, in the Da’ath position in your own personal Tree of Life. Vibrate the divine name of Da’ath, Yud-Heh-Vahv-Heh El-oh-heem (YHVH Elohim), three to four times, feeling the two spheres and the connecting path and awakening the power of creation.
4. Visualize a beam of light from your throat descending into the space between your heart and solar plexus. For some magicians it will be slightly higher or lower. Feel a sphere form in the Tiphereth position in your own personal Tree of Life. Vibrate the divine name of Tiphereth, Yud-Heh-Vahv-Heh El-oh-ah V-dah-aht (YHVH Eloah va-Da’ath), three to four times, while feeling all three spheres and the connecting lines, as well as the warmth of the internal Sun with your chest radiating outward.
5. Visualize a beam of light descending from the third sphere into the lower body or genital region, forming a fourth sphere, the Yesod position in your own personal Tree of Life. Feel the generative and creative power in this position. Vibrate the divine name of Yesod, Sha-dai El Chai (Shaddai El Chai), three to four times, and while keeping all four spheres and their connecting lines in mind, focus on the mastery of your lower creative self.
6. Visualize a beam of light from your belly area down to your feet, forming a sphere of light half above the floor and half below the floor. Focus on your connection to the world, as it fills the space of Malkuth in your own personal Tree of Life. Vibrate the divine name of Malkuth, Ah-doh-nye ha-ah-retz (Adonai ha-Aretz), three to four times.
7. Feel the energy flow from your crown down to your feet along your middle pillar. Remain in this meditative state for as long as you’d like.
8. When done, close with the LBRP.
Variations of the Middle Pillar have you intone the divine names a different number of times. Three to four times usually is deemed sufficient to flow with the appropriate divine energy through the body. Some try to align the names numerologically, vibrating Kether’s name one or ten times, Da’ath’s name eleven times, Tiphereth’s six times, Yesod’s nine times, and Malkuth’s ten times.
You can continue the exercise by moving the energy through your aura or subtle bodies, for your own healing, clearing, and energizing. This is known as the Circulation of the Body of Light and helps build a strong, clear aura. To do it, skip the last step (the repetition of the LBRP) and move directly from the Middle Pillar to the Circulation.
Circulation of the Body of Light
1. Start with the Middle Pillar (Exercise 9).
2. Imagine the light of Kether descending into your crown and overflowing, like a cup filled with too much wine, but the overflowing white-light energy moves down the left side of your body. It moves down your head to your left shoulder. It moves down your left side and beneath your feet. It moves up your right leg and right side, up your right shoulder, and back up to your crown.
3. The flow of energy continues like this, down your left side and up your right side. Notice that with your will, you can make it flow tightly to your body, invigorating your physical self with primal energy.
4. You could feel the energy move down your left shoulder and your outside left arm and then upward, toward your left armpit. The energy then moves down your trunk, left hip, and the outside of your left leg. The energy moves beneath your left foot and up your inner left leg, touching the base of your spine. Then it moves down your inner right leg, under your right foot, and up the outside of your right leg. Then the power flows from your right hip and trunk up to your right armpit, down your inner arm, and around your right hand and fingers, moving up the outside of your right arm. Finally, it moves up your right shoulder, neck, the right side of your head, and to your crown.
5. You also can make the energy flow in wider loops, with much broader strokes, to fill your entire aura. Feel the flow widen, and notice how it feels in your aura.
6. While the energy flow from left to right continues, be aware of a second flow of energy. Again starting at your crown, feel the energy flow down the front of your body, beneath your feet, and up the back of your legs and back, toward your crown again. As with the first loop, notice that you can make the flow cling tightly to your physical body, or move in wide loops to fill your entire aura.
7. Keeping both the left-to-right flow and the front-to-back flow in mind, feel the light of your crown move down the middle pillar. When it reaches the final sphere of Malkuth at your feet, two trails of energy spiral up like DNA around you. Like the first two flows of energy, the DNA-like spirals can be tight to your body, but eventually they feel like they are surrounding your aura, spiraling back up to your crown area, to descend again through the middle pillar.
8. Your entire energy body is filled with circulating light, which is healing, reconstructing, and reinforcing your aura. Like exercise, this helps build energetic “muscles” to increase your capacity to both direct and hold more magickal energy.
9. When this feels complete, you can stop the energy circulation, or simply let your awareness of it fade. Let your body naturally absorb any remaining energy that does not flow back up to your crown.
10. Perform the LBRP. If you need to ground yourself, do so now, though most people do not need to ground, but simply need to adjust to the new level of energy.
The Middle Pillar and Circulation of the Body of Light can be used in ritual to generate the energy and raise the power for the working of the ritual, be it an inner working of transformation and enlightenment, clearing the pathways, or a working in which you fill the ritual space to empower an object, talisman, or spell to manifest in the outer world. See appendix III for variations of the Middle Pillar exercise.
Empowered energy can shape the astral plane in many ways. One of the most effective ritual methods for working with both individuals and groups is through the use of magickal storytelling. Language shapes the energy we raise, and through language and the images it evokes, we create new patterns on the astral plane.
The storytelling tradition goes back as far as we’ve had language and stories to share. The first magickal and mythical stories were most likely the shaman’s adventures in the Otherworld, related around the fire to those in the tribe. The tradition grew to the philosopher-teachers in the ancient world using parable and drama both to express their intellectual points of view and to shift consciousness to open the student or initiate to new levels of awareness where such points could be made and absorbed. We see similar workings in the bards of the Druidic tradition, and the poets and myth keepers who later inherited their tradition, detailing the deeds of heroes and the magick, history, and genealogy of the culture, all through song and story. Galdr (Old Norse) and Galdor (Old English) are both terms used in Teutonic magick for spoken magickal charms. Rune Galdr, specifically, involves the chanting of the runes, while other forms of Galdr consist of charms that are spoken or sung, told like stories, describing what the magician wants to achieve through magick. Anglo-Saxon Galdor charms for protection, healing, blessings, and cursing were common. Spirits and even inanimate objects were addressed in the story, instructed by the magician. This spoken-word magick is the basis for our idea of a “spell.” Older versions used alliteration and poetic repetition with slight variations, while a more modern trend is rhyming in verse. Today, we might see the same tools used in hypnotherapy and ritual induction, as well as modern revivals of storytelling, to keep folk tales alive. Storytelling has always been a form of hypnosis, creating change in both the speaker and the listener.
From a Yesod perspective, stories are not just tools and teaching methods, but living entities. Once created on the astral plane, potentially they are in existence forever. They become thoughtforms, which grow in power as more energy is put into them. Clever storytellers can tweak and change a thoughtform, transforming it into whatever serves them best. Stories shape our society, culture, and values, our interface with the higher realms, just as Yesod is an interface with the worlds beyond. Such thoughtforms may never actually leave the astral realm and manifest in the physical, but they shape the ideas of the physical world, and how people relate to the supernal, through imagination.
Though seen by trained magicians as folk magick at best, the arts of the Druids or the Greek philosophers, including their myths and songs, were certainly forms of high magick. The same dangers inherent in all magick also exist in storytelling. The entity created from story and image can take on a life of its own and go in directions in which the story creator, and reteller, doesn’t want it to go, yet its hold on popular consciousness gives it a life of its own.
Stories come in many forms. They can be of daily life, the actions of the world and culture, detailing and organizing the information of the society of the storyteller. Teaching stories are those told specifically to pass on information, be it religious or secular, mundane or philosophical. Teaching stories pass on history, codes, values, folklore, medicine, and ritual. These stories and songs are mnemonic devices to keep the information in living memory and easily pass it on to others. The last kind of story is the true magickal story, the stories of wonder working. The very telling of the story is a charm. The words create a shift in energy, in consciousness, and ultimately in reality, both inner and outer reality.
Working stories and songs can be used to invoke either a specific entity (by reciting its name and qualities to manifest it in the consciousness of the listeners and/or speaker) or particular qualities in the listener. Certain stories might be told on the eve of battle, to invoke and inspire victory. Others are used during rituals of fertility, of both the land and humans, to make sure there is health and abundance. Magickal stories can alter the mood of the listener and invoke a particular emotion. The Irish tales, particularly the Song of Amergin, involve shapeshifting. The poet is comparing himself, his consciousness, with a variety of animals and natural phenomena, not just for poetry’s sake but also to shift his shape like a god and become one with these things.
Stories can be told to bless anything from food to homes. They can be told in ritual to bless people, such as a tale of true love told to bless a newlywed couple. Stories also can be told to cure or to reveal things that need to come to the surface, yet listeners of such stories might not want their past actions to come to light. Some teaching stories are really wonder workings, for they are not passing on information but are forcing the listeners to change their perspective and thereby change their consciousness and grow spiritually. The most popular wonder-working stories are healing stories.
Stories can be a form of healing therapy on all levels. They can be told to inspire convalescence and recovery in the face of grave illness, to distract from physical or mental pain, or even to get us in touch with the more unconscious and disconnected parts of ourselves. Stories can be used to diagnose, making the story more participatory, like the popular Choose Your Own Adventure novels of the 1980s. The listener guides the story through choices, which provide the healer with greater insight. More can be revealed in such stories than in a direct counseling session in which one is forced to confront life directly. Those who are confused can find solutions to their problems by stepping out of their personal self and into the character of the story. Open-ended stories where the listener has to figure out the answer or “moral,” rather than having it be told, can be amazingly helpful in healing counsel.
Like magick, storytelling is both an art and a science, and both inspiration and technique are needed to effectively evoke a change in consciousness. Stories are like rituals, and those who have good ritual skills as a priestess or priest are often good storytellers as well.
Determining the setting of the story is the first step in the technique. Like a ritual setting, it sets the tone. What is the lighting, the time of day, the space of the participants, scents, and temperature? All of these things contribute to the experience. Teaching and initiation stories can be told most effectively in dark isolation, helping to induce trance in the listeners, rather than having participants passively look at pictures in the story. Who is your audience? The telling of the story often is adjusted for those who will be listening, to be most effective for the group.
The more ritualized a story is, the more capable it is of working wonders. Ritualized telling is important. When involved in ritual, we all recognize certain actions that signal the start of ritual and begin to induce an altered perception. For witches, the casting of the circle and the calling of the quarters become the bookends for the ritual. The ritual starts and ends with symmetry, but what occurs in the middle might be different each time. When you begin a story with a familiar phrase such as “Once upon a time” or even “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” listeners know that a tale is coming next and prepare themselves for it. You can use your voice to mimic the emotions you want to evoke—loud and excited to induce energy, or soft and subtle to take the listener deeper. As in hypnotherapy, the style of vocal induction, including rhythms, repetitions, pauses, and strong images, can make all the difference.
The language of the story itself can be artfully undefined. When you use words such as freedom or love, each listener has to determine what these concepts mean, personally or culturally, and possibly redefine them in the context of the story. Magickal tales with the theme of “be careful what you wish for, for you just might get it” teach us how to be precise in our use of words. Think of the stories of a genie granting three wishes. The genie gives you exactly what you ask for, not what you thought you asked for or what you really wanted. It follows only your words. Stories about magick wishes and genies are really teaching stories for a magician.
In your own magickal stories, you can use hidden analogies to get a point across, such as using themes similar to current events, but in a different setting. With the new setting, people can detach from their usual perspective and entertain new possibilities, not realizing the lesson of the story actually applies to them. With this storytelling technique, you can comment on current political or religious debates without overtly referring to current events, and the different setting can get people to see the situation in a new way.
Although the next exercise is written in a format in which one person tells a story to a live audience, as that is the oldest tradition of magickal storytelling, all of the ideas can be adapted for small groups as well as modern forms of media. Some of the most magickal storytelling today can be found in comic books, novels, television, movies, and popular music. If you keep in mind, when telling a story, that you are creating a living creature on the astral plane and investing it with energy, then you will recognize that all acts of creation are magickal, even those we don’t necessarily intend to be magickal. All stories get their start in this realm of dreams and imagination, and that is the essence of magick.
Magickal Storytelling
For those going through this course with me in person, the next assignment is to tell a magickal story to the class. This can be the retelling of an old myth, as you’ve heard it or with a new twist based on your intention, or an entirely new story. But there must be a magickal intention behind the story. Some students retell a popular Greek or Celtic myth, but often tell it from the perspective of one of the characters. Others make up a new story or song. Some students read their story word for word, while others are inspired in the moment. Some even memorize their story line by line. Some students tell their story in dramatic fashion, while others find the purpose was the great act of magickal courage to get up in front of a group of people and tell a story.
If you are studying this material with a partner or small group, or have any magickal group you work with, then the assignment is to tell a magickal story to the group, just as my in-person students do. If you don’t have a group, you can look for an opportunity, however informal as you’d like, to tell a magickal story. If you are camping outdoors, do it around the campfire. Find a way to work it into a social party. Grab a friend for a trusted audience of one and tell him or her you need to complete a homework assignment. If this is not possible for you, then I want you to write, illustrate, or compose a magickal story for future use. The idea of this fourth level of training is to synchronize your words, or vocalizations, with the image of the world you wish to manifest, and truly discover the power of the word in everything you do. Ideally, you will share this story with others at some point, but if that’s not possible at this juncture, then do what you can.
To get guidance and inspiration for your story, I suggest that you visit the gateway of creativity (ITOW, Chapter 14) in your inner temple.
Yesod Pathworkings
You already have learned that the main pathway into Yesod is from Malkuth, the path ruled by the World/Universe tarot card. It is through the middle path of Malkuth that we get to Yesod, following the magician’s orderly path from ten to nine up the Tree. Yesod has three more paths, leading higher up the Tree. Though you won’t be climbing them in this lesson, understanding the relationship between Yesod and the higher spheres can help illuminate your understanding of Yesod itself.
From Yesod we can take a step higher through the path of Temperance/Art, undergoing the alchemical transformation to ascend to Tiphereth and find the first stage of enlightenment. The path of Temperance is the magickal conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, leading to expanded consciousness. The path of the Star card links Yesod to Netzach. Through exploring the True Will of this Aquarius-ruled card, the Star helps us ignite our true passions and talents, where we shine, leading to the fire elemental grade of Netzach. Its opposite path, linking to Hod, is ruled by the solar light of the Sun card. Through the individual awareness presented in the Sun card, we discover the mysteries of intellect found in Hod.
Yesod Pathworking
1. Perform the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (Exercise 5) to clear your energy field and the space where you are doing this working. You also can do the Middle Pillar and the Circulation of the Body of Light (Exercise 10), if you so choose, to open the middle path within you and energize you for the work.
2. While in this space, call upon the divine forces of Yesod. Burn your purple and/or silver candles and Moon incense. Try knocking on your altar nine times. Vibrate the divine name of Yesod, Shaddai El Chai, nine times. Call upon any of the Moon and fertility deities of the sphere, or Archangel Gabriel.
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. Some feel the call of Yesod from above, the shining universe all around us, pulling upward toward the lunar sphere, while others feel the pull of the Earth, and find that within the land is the silvery light of the lunar sphere. Both the goddess of the Earth, the World, and the goddess of the material Universe lead to the same place. You might have to go to the heart of Malkuth, to the Temple of Malkuth, to find your path to Yesod. But when you are ready, focusing your thoughts upon the World/Universe card as your key, you will find either an opening within the earth, where a spiraling staircase appears, or the silvery light of a Moon path that descends from the heavens. Follow the path that appears to you.
6. While on the path, you are flooded with images of life and of the world—images from a biological, chemical, and physics perspective to images of the four esoteric elements that are the underpinnings of the universe. You feel the presence of the Goddess of life leading you to the next world, and contemplate if you are in the right place and at the right time doing the work of your True Will in the world. If not, how can you be?
7. The path leads you to a sphere of purple and silver light, magnetically drawing you into it. To enter the Moon gates of Yesod, you might have to draw the crescent moon glyph or give a key word or symbol, such as the divine name of the sephira, Shaddai El Chai. But once you align yourself with Yesod, the gate opens and you enter the Moon realm.
8. Everything appears as it does on the night of the full Moon, bathed in a silvery white light, a luminal twilight in which things are not as they seem. Everything appears to have a truly visible aura to it, or at least an energetic outline of the etheric body. The place is primal and wild, somewhat like Malkuth, but peaceful and cool in the realm of perpetual night. You hear, and might even see, the flow of water, the churning of the tides, and the movement of rivers. Creatures of the night roam Yesod, in particular frogs, turtles, and, yes, even elephants. The creatures of Diana’s wild hunt also abound in the silver land. Be aware of the messengers of Yesod.
9. You make your way to the temple of Yesod. The lunar temple is white, silver, and purple. Like Malkuth, it may be an outdoor shrine of stones and statues or an indoor temple. In either case, nine sides will set its boundary.
10. Within the temple are the powers of Yesod. You might gaze upon the slumbering and erect man of fertility, his lover the generative Moon goddess or Archangel Gabriel. Commune with one or all of the beings of Yesod. Ask to learn the mysteries of Yesod in a manner that is correct for your highest good at this time. Perhaps they will teach you the sphere’s virtue, vices, and obligation and even give you a glimpse into the vision, the Machinery of the Universe, to better consciously understand your place within the universe.
11. 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 in return. Be sure that what you give reflects the energy and intention you plan to put into the sphere’s lessons.
12. Once you have said your farewells, leave the shrine and follow the path back. Return through Yesod and the World/Universe, back to Malkuth where you began. Focus on the waking world you know, and feel it return around the garden.
13. 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 Yesod
The grade of Yesod is alternately thought of as the elemental grade of water or air, depending on the tradition, with the rank known as either the Theoricus or Zealot, again depending on the tradition. But the work is clear. The initiate must keep a regular meditation and ritual practice.
For witches following the Temple of Witchcraft system, in this lesson we follow the classic Wiccan symbolism of relating the Moon to water. The quest for Yesod and the water element is the legendary quest for the grail.
Water
Spiritual Lesson: Compassion
Spiritual Tool: Cup of Compassion, Undry, Holy Grail
Fears and Challenges: Fear of Loneliness, Rejection, or Commitment; Projection
Virtue: Generosity
Psychological Function: Feeling
Stage of Learning: Opinion
State of Matter: Liquid
Environmental Sphere: Hydrosphere
Scientific Force: Weak Force
Periodic Element: Hydrogen
Humor: Phlegm—Phlegmatic
Body System: Circulatory
Sacred River: Wine/Blood
Sacred Geometry: Icosahedron
Celtic City: Murias
Qabalistic World: Briah
Classical Age: Bronze
Caste: Merchant/Craftsman
Sufi Breath: In Nose/Out Mouth
Mudra: Thumb and Index Finger
Planets: Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune
Fixed Sign and Animal: Scorpio—Eagle
Egyptian Animal: Crocodile
Metal: Silver
Chakras: Belly, Heart, Brow
Time of Day: Sunset
Season: Fall
Vowel Sound: O
Egyptian Syllable: Nu
Hindi Syllable: Vam
Tibetan Syllable: Va
Modern Syllable: Om
Obstruent Sounds: z, zh, s, sh
Time Signature: 6/8
Hebrew God Name: Elohim of Eheieh
Archangel: Gabriel
Angel: Taliahad
Ruler: Tharsis
Elemental King and Queen: King Niksa and Queen Mara
Goetic Ruler: Corson
Enochian King: MPHARSLGAIOL
Stones: Moonstone, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Pearl
Herbs: Camphor, Jasmine, Lemon Balm, Lotus, Mugwort
Grail legends abound, mixing pagan and Christian symbolism. It’s hard to know exactly what the grail is, with its rise in popular media, linking it to the Knights Templar and a variety of conspiracy theories. Here, we are talking about the regenerative force of elemental water in its purest state—perfect love and compassion. Many traces of the grail can be seen in pagan history.
In the stories of the Irish treasures, the grail is the Cauldron of the Dagda, the Undry. As it’s seen as a cauldron of abundance, no one goes away hungry from it, though some tellings of the tale state that you got what you deserved from the cauldron, be it meager morsels for those unworthy or feasts for greater heroes and sages. At first it appears to be an earth symbol, but it’s not just the food of the body, but also spiritual sustenance.
In the Welsh tales of Ceridwen, we have her sacred cauldron dedicated to brewing greal, a potion to give her ugly son all the knowledge and wisdom of the world. Modern pagans think of greal as the root of the word grail in later myths. Ceridwen’s servant, Gwion Bach, burns himself while stirring the cauldron and accidentally imbibes a drop of the potion, getting all the magick. In this initiatory tale, he eventually is transformed into the great bard Taliesin. The cauldron of knowledge and inspiration again seems to lack the water symbolism, being more air, yet Gwion Bach learns to shift his shape fluidly through magick, which is as much an intuitive process as an intellectual one. The inspiration of the bard must come from the head through the heart to be effective.
In Arthurian myths, the Holy Grail is linked with the Christian concept of the cup of Jesus, but it still retains Goddess associations as the power that will restore the wasteland from its ailment and bring the fertility of the land, and thereby the Goddess, back to the people. The Holy Grail’s power restores balance to the relationship between the sacred king and the goddess of the land. Only those who are pure of heart can find the Holy Grail, so the king must send his noblest knights on the quest. Some myths link it to an emerald, which is a strong stone ally for heart healing. Some occultists who use the mixed Christian and pagan imagery in the Arthurian legend hope to bring together Christians and pagans peacefully under one mythos that accommodates both worldviews.
I think of the grail as the Cup of Compassion. We each seek the compassionate well of the inner worlds, and of our inner heart, that can heal all wounds, redeem all who have fallen, and elevate all relationships. It is this living stream of compassion that truly connects our hearts to the Goddess of the Heart. With the grail, we have the gifts of abundance from the Undry of the Dagda, the inspiration of Ceridwen’s cauldron, and the sacred drink of the Arthurian Grail that makes the wasteland bloom with roses.
To find our inner compassion, we must seek the grail on the elemental plane of water. If we already embody compassion, then the guardians of the element of water—the undines, the elemental rulers, Gabriel, and the sea gods and goddesses—will release our grail and unlock its powers to flow from our heart. If we are not ready to receive the Cup of Compassion, then they will point us in the direction of more heart learning.
Elemental Water Journey Seeking the Cup of Compassion
1. This exercise is an expansion of the experiences in Exercise 17: Journeying to the Realm of Water from The Outer Temple of Witchcraft. You can start by performing the LBRP before this journey to prepare yourself. Then perform Exercise 1, steps 1–11, to go to your inner temple.
2. Orient yourself in the center of your inner temple. Look for the four doorways to the elemental planes. You might find that your guides bring you to the garden of Malkuth, with its four paths to the four elemental planes. In either case, orient yourself to the direction of elemental water. Hold your intention to journey to the realm of water and seek out the Cup of Compassion. You know you might not receive it, but the journey will give you teachings to better master the element in your life so you can come back and claim it. Open the doorway of water, perhaps using the invoking pentagram of water as a magickal “key” (OTOW, Chapter 6). Enter the path or tunnel that leads to the elemental plane of water.
3. When you are fully in the realm of water, seek out the primal powers of the plane. Hold the intention to go to the heart of the realm, to seek out the elemental ruler, king, queen, archangel, or a deity of elemental water. Perhaps a guide will take you there directly, or you will have to search, and the searching will be part of your lesson.
4. When you reach the heart of the elemental plane, state your request to receive the Cup of Compassion. The keepers of the cup might ask you why you think you are worthy, and you might have to convince them that you are ready to do so. You could be challenged. Meet the challenges to the best of your ability. If you are ready to receive the cup, the elemental teachers will give it to you, often embedding it in your heart, or in your nondominant, or receptive, hand. If not, they will instruct you in what you have to accomplish to be able to receive the cup in the future. They may offer to tutor you in the ways of the water element, giving you an assignment to complete before you return.
5. Travel back from the realm of elemental water, back the way you came unless guided by the teachers to take another route. Go back to the inner temple. Close the gateway of elemental water in a manner similar to the way you opened it. If you used an invoking pentagram, then use the banishing pentagram now.
6. To return to normal waking consciousness and end your journey, perform steps 15–17 from exercise 1 (page 78). Close with the LBRP if you opened with it.
This is the second of four journeys that will help you gain greater mastery of the elements for deeper workings.
The ritual tool of the cup anchors your Cup of Compassion in the world. Ritual magicians sometimes etch on the bottom of the chalice the numerological value of their “true” name, converting the letters to digits and adding them in the style of modern or Qabalistic numerology.
Homework
• Do Exercises 9–13 and record your experiences in your Book of Shadows.
• Learn and practice the Middle Pillar and Circulation of the Body of Light rituals, either the traditional versions or your own personally reconstructed versions.
• Continue to practice the LBRP.
Tips
• Fill in the Yesod correspondences and colors on your own Tree of Life drawing. Contemplate them as you add them to the image. Start memorizing these correspondences.
• To gain greater mastery over the realm of Yesod and the element of water, be keenly aware of the energetic and spiritual aspects of all your relationships and interactions with people. Also be aware of the power of your thoughts and images to shape your reality. Practice neutralization (ITOW, Chapter 8) to prevent unwanted daydreams and thoughts from manifesting.
• Study appendix III to deconstruct and reconstruct the Middle Pillar exercise to your liking and worldview, if you so choose.
• Pick one other reality map from appendix I to contemplate. Understanding a variety of worldviews will help you when you construct your own reality map.
• Don’t feel as though you need to master your Cup of Compassion before going on to the next lessons. These are tools you can be using throughout the entire year-and-a-day course and beyond. Keep visiting the realm of water, and integrate these lessons into your daily life.
• When you do feel that you have received the Cup of Compassion from the inner-world teacher of the water element, be sure to reconsecrate the chalice that you have on your altar. If you work with several different sets of tools, you might find your inner Cup of Compassion extending out from your hands to empower a chalice and then retracting back within you when the rite is concluded.