Doorways to a tree climb - 32nd path

Agape

Firstly let me point out that western magick and hermetics owes a great debt to the jewish people. The following practice draws heavily on kabbalah but is in no way representative of traditional jewish mysticism. Using the tarot as doorways is not a traditional kabbalistic practice, indeed the order of the trumps on the tree often varies between different hermetic schools of thought as well. The order in which I propose the trumps to be employed is based on my personal experience and the corroborating experience of friends, it is on this basis that I offer it. Whatever sequence is employed they must be done in that order with none missed, consistency is vital.
This whole practice involves an initial guided (scripted) experience, at the centre of which is a rather intense spontaneous (unscripted) experience.

Apart from what follows below you will need to be able to visualise the hebrew letter tau in white light.

The first part of the practice from before:

1
Sit in a posture that is firm but relaxed with an upright back or alternately lie on your back with your arms slightly away from your sides.

2
Do a basic breathing exercise e.g. fill your lungs for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, empty lungs for a count of 4, leave empty for a count of 4. After a while you may feel a gentle rippling in the diaphragm.

3
Do the kabbalistic cross if you know it, or visualise the following:

Above your head but not touching it, a football sized sphere of blinding white brilliance, feel the 'pressure' of this centre's energy on the top of your skull. A beam of pure light travels from this sphere through your body to your feet where the earth sphere forms (the colour being whatever is appropriate for the earth for you). Return to the posture you were in if need be.

4
Now see the 4 archangels surrounding you, speak the name of each as you visualize the following:

In the east Raphael. He stands about 8ft tall, his robe is yellow but his face is too blindingly bright to see clearly. There are flashes of purple light around his form and his robes move in a light breeze.

In the south Michael, also 8ft tall, blinding bright countenance, in red robes holding a red hot (not flaming) sword. There are flashes of green light around him sometimes.

In the west Gabriel, 8ft, face and head again blinding bright, blue robe, holding a cup. Now and then an orange glow about him.

In the north Uriel, also at least 8ft, with a blinding countenance, robes of citrine, olive, russet and black, holding a sheaf of corn.

***

5
In a comfortable position see your physical body as being completely empty, a void, with only a thin skin to denote its shape. See coating you another body, a body of light. Now you must transfer your consciousness, your sense of where you are to this body of white light. However minimal this may seem at the beginning, with practice this will become a total sensory experience, so persist with this and with the following.

6
Rise up in your body of light, above your home, see all the buildings dwindle below you, rise above the earth and see the earth itself recede into the distance.

7
(The Temple of Malkuth; this is a place that has been visited so often that it now has a permanency in the collective unconscious/inner planes.)

You should find yourself in a white mist. Through this mist see some large wooden double doors to a temple like structure. As you approach the doors open and you enter the temple of malkuth. The floor on which you walk is a checkerboard of black and white marble squares. Before you stands a black altar in the shape of two cubes stacked one on top of the other. A small bright flame burns in bowl on the altar. On the far wall you see two pillars. On the left a black pillar and on the right a white one, both have a bunch of grapes at the top and stretch almost to the roof. Between the pillars are 3 tarot trump doorways, you approach, the central one is the the tarot card - world/universe. Standing before this trump/doorway you visualise the hebrew letter tau in brilliant white light. This will activate the doorway and now you can step through it.

8

This is where you see and experience things which are spontaneous and often very personal to you. You will now progress along the 32nd path. You must regularly check, (for illusion) everything you see. So when you encounter something you visualise the hebrew letter tau, if things stay the same or intensify then you are on the right track, if they change you were wandering off the path and you have now corrected this. By visualising this letter the guardian entities relating to this path will help you and watch over you. When you are ready you should return through the tarot doorway to the temple of malkuth. Be sure to deliberately return to malkuth by passing by the experiences and events you have journeyed past. Once in the temple of malkuth turn and face the world/universe card and see if the figure gestures or speaks to you. Exit the temple of malkuth.

9

Descend through the mist back towards the earth, see the earth, see your home, approach your physical form from behind. Deliberately see yourself entering your physical form which is now solid through and through. On doing this feel yourself in your physical body and tense various muscles to help with being solidly back in physical consciousness.

10

write down you experience.

11

Thank the archangels for helping you, say that they should depart now but you would always appreciate their guidance.

12

Have something to eat, go to the pub, generally do something 'grounding'.

Please do post here or email me about your experiences.

Love

Agape
 

Agape

Thanks for the emails

so far so good

Love

Agape
 

Jewel-ry

I have only tried this once this week Agape, and I found it really hard. I guess I'm having trouble with the concept of transferring my consciousness out of my physical body and into a body of white light.

I suppose what I really need to know is 'If this is safe?' Also, I think that time-wise I am only likely to get to do this once or twice a week, will that be sufficient?

~
 

kwaw

Agape said:
Firstly let me point out that western magick and hermetics owes a great debt to the jewish people. The following practice draws heavily on kabbalah but is in no way representative of traditional jewish mysticism. Using the tarot as doorways is not a traditional kabbalistic practice, indeed the order of the trumps on the tree often varies between different hermetic schools of thought as well.

Thanks for your time in preparing these exercises Agape:)

May I just add to the above that while the use of tarot images as doorways per se is not a traditional Judaic exercise, the use of angelic and letter forms as gateways to the paths of the heavenly palaces goes back to pre-christian times, and in medieval times was incorporated as gateways to the paths of the ToL. So although the use of tarot images is not traditional to Jewish Kabala, there are comparitive exercises to be found within it to which the use of tarot images in the western Hermetic Qabala corresponds.

Coincidentally the root of one of the hebrew words meaning 'form' [among other things] is TAR, and it is a root particularly to be found in BH to be associated with witchcraft, divination, ghosts and idolotrous figures. For example when the Witch of Endor is asked to describe the likeness of the ghost of Samuel, the word TAR is used [TARV, 'his form'].

Kwaw
 

Agape

Hello Jewel-ry

Its best to do this about once a week because once the results start to unfold you need a little time to digest and integrate what has occured. By employing the hebrew letter for each path you remain on the sephirotic tree so you should visualise Tau regularly once you have entered the 32nd path. Sometimes these paths are called the tunnels of Horus and by employing the correct call signs you stay in these regions. The so called tunnels of set which could be regarded as qliphotic unbalanced paths need different call signs to contact, I do not recommend exploring these unbalanced paths until you have done a great deal of work with the sephirotic paths. The tau letter keeps you in the sephirotic 32nd path. You can add other call signs to help for example:

The title of the tarot trump is "the great one of the night of time" if you say this whilst in the path (kind of mentally speak aloud) you will cause the environment to activate more.

If you have an affinity for a particular pantheon of dieties eg :Celtic, egyptian, Norse/germanic, santeria etc then you can invoke the help of the diety relating to the path as well. This information is available in many books (most people use liber 777), if you say which pantheon I give you the info.

I know it is difficult sometimes we have so many committments in life that often we are tired and then results are difficult to achieve. Try this when you are rested and have not eaten in the last 2 hours and not had fluids within the last 15 minutes. Even if you do not feel very 'out there' persist and you will find that the sense of disassociation will deepen without you realising it.

Use the call signs and you will be perfectly safe and 'watched over' on the paths.

Love

Agape
 

Agape

Thanks for the support kwaw

The stuff on TOL is most interesting, any material online?

Before coming back to Tarot the last stuff of this type I did was to explore the elder futhark. It was fascinating that forces and spiritual principles that in a few instances should be analogous to particular paths and trumps seemed to have an entirely different feel.

Love

Agape
 

Agape

Some progress

I feel it would be good to give a few pointers now that some contact had been made.

The initial task on the 32nd path is to cross a kind of threshold, often people encounter a chasm or a river or some kind of guardian figure. 'Negotiation' occurs and the landscape changes. In psychological terms (microcosm) you have moved in the psyche from the conscious, through initial resistance into the pre-conscious from which more direct access to the unconcious is now possible. On the inner planes (macrocosm) you have crossed what is sometimes called the veil between the worlds and will now progress along the 32nd path towards Yesod (the treasure-house of images).

Continue to email or post if you prefer.

Yours in the great work

Love

Agape
 

Agape

Exerpt from magickal diary

A question that I have had a couple of times goes something like this:

How do I know that I am progressing up the path towards Yesod? how do I know when I have completed the 32nd path?

To progress along the 32nd path test regularly with the call signs and after this ask any figures/entities you meet(goddesses, archangel,angels etc) for guidance and help.

Yesod contact is very distinct and definate, you can always doublecheck with me as well.

I feel that enough progress has been made that relating my experiences with the 32nd path will not bias work in progress. So I will dig out the appropriate magickal diary and post the relevant parts in a few days.


Love

Agape
 

Utuku

I have a few questions...

1. Is tau the same as tav?
2. In any case, is tau the one with or without the dot in the middle?

3. I guess that once you are on the 32nd path, you'll know it, but if you haven't been there yet and you just dream that you've been there, how do you know that the dream is just a dream?
 

jmd

'Tau' and 'Tav' are two transliterations of the name of the same letter, which is a double letter - and hence has two forms: one with a dagesh (the 'dot') and one without.