venicebard
Kris Hadar has some Kabbalah wrong, unfortunately. I sought out his website in response to a post by Mythos from the thread Tarot: W x D x H = Earth. The Kabbalah bit at http://www.krishadar.com/A/Index1A.asp is very straightforward and correct till it comes to the four worlds, where it breaks down completely.
First of all, the worlds can be shown to correspond to fire-air-water-earth (he has water-air-fire-earth, which would make an alchemist laugh), that is, elements in their natural order (as Atzilut-B’riah-Yetzirah-Asiah), though occultists reverse air and water, based evidently on misunderstanding the correlation with the letters of the Name. By the way, the method of assigning worlds to the Tree by triads is a bit simplistic, as there is also the method of the Name, in Lurianic Kabbalah (Atzilut 1-2, Briah 3, Yetzirah 4-9, Asiah 10), and ultimately there is a distinct Tree for each world (why does he think there are four suits?).
Then as to the four ‘living creatures’, his assignment of them does not agree with anything I know. Taken in the order he gives, angel-eagle-lion-bull makes some sense symbolically (do lions swim?) when applied to the worlds. But is he not aware that they represent aquarius-scorpio-leo-taurus, which exist in all four worlds? (Does not each wheel or world have all four likenesses, in Ezekiel’s vision?) In astrology, this would make them air-water-fire-earth, which reverses the first two from how Hadar has them. Primordially, they would be water-earth-fire-air, indicating the proper order is perhaps lion-bull-angel-eagle (since it is the eagle that bears us to heaven). The eagle, after all, is not air, rather it is earth’s sublimation, ‘its’ desire-to-uplift-or-upraise-itself-from-the-low-or-base... but this is a subject on a more profound level than that on which Hadar is speaking, obviously. The eagle is one aspect of scorpio, its other two aspects being serpent and scorpion. (Relations between eagle and serpent are depicted on the Mexican flag, by the way.)
Now if he had said the worlds represented (in order) water-fire-air-earth, I would have suggested he might be privy to something, since this taken with Sefer Yetzirah would correctly place the three mothers in their respective worlds at least. The solution to the problem of ‘only three elements’, by the way, is mem’s final form: to some, I am sure the latter appears to be earth, yet this would be mistaken, as mem-sofit is the closed ark and represents the Monad or archetypal world (Atzilut) and thus fire. But the reason shin is ‘fire’ and mem ‘water’ (in SY) has to do with their placement: shin is the center of the 2nd wheel (see note below) and thus the head or aries (S's bardic-calendar [ogham] position) of the 3rd wheel (torso's zodiac) therefore fire (flame rises), mem is the sound remaining at libra (M's bardic-calendar [ogham] position) when R deserts this station (guttural R) to become rolled on the tongue (a long story), hence ‘belly’ (loins) and thus water (water, like Torah, descends), alef being the center between them (center of 3rd wheel). But it is intermediate mem that remains at libra (M being omnipresent, being ‘silence’) to represent the 4th wheel or earth, while mem-sofit is at M’s original and eternal station, the center of the 1st wheel or fire (it is the sound power lines make), shin the center of the 2nd wheel or air (adding its 'tinge' to the above sound), and alef ("ah") the center of the 3rd or water (us standing open-mouthed listening to the above). Then, to ‘complicate’ (dynamicize) things further, alef stands for the fire triad (the one pointing up) and shin obliquely for that of water, when seen in the context of the Logos... but that’s another story.
By the way, the intimate relationship between the three and the four is immortalized in the oldest quote in alchemy, attributed to one Maria the Jewess or Prophetess, who was practically alchemy's 'founder'... but I leave it to the reader to track down (a little effort adds to its value).
Note: the four wheels are 1st, the one centered atop Adam Qadmon's head when standing erect, 2nd, that centered atop Adam's head when seated ('Throne world'), 3rd, that centered at the heart of the torso (its zodiac), and 4th, the round of the womb. Each is half the height of the preceding one, all four sharing the same libra.
First of all, the worlds can be shown to correspond to fire-air-water-earth (he has water-air-fire-earth, which would make an alchemist laugh), that is, elements in their natural order (as Atzilut-B’riah-Yetzirah-Asiah), though occultists reverse air and water, based evidently on misunderstanding the correlation with the letters of the Name. By the way, the method of assigning worlds to the Tree by triads is a bit simplistic, as there is also the method of the Name, in Lurianic Kabbalah (Atzilut 1-2, Briah 3, Yetzirah 4-9, Asiah 10), and ultimately there is a distinct Tree for each world (why does he think there are four suits?).
Then as to the four ‘living creatures’, his assignment of them does not agree with anything I know. Taken in the order he gives, angel-eagle-lion-bull makes some sense symbolically (do lions swim?) when applied to the worlds. But is he not aware that they represent aquarius-scorpio-leo-taurus, which exist in all four worlds? (Does not each wheel or world have all four likenesses, in Ezekiel’s vision?) In astrology, this would make them air-water-fire-earth, which reverses the first two from how Hadar has them. Primordially, they would be water-earth-fire-air, indicating the proper order is perhaps lion-bull-angel-eagle (since it is the eagle that bears us to heaven). The eagle, after all, is not air, rather it is earth’s sublimation, ‘its’ desire-to-uplift-or-upraise-itself-from-the-low-or-base... but this is a subject on a more profound level than that on which Hadar is speaking, obviously. The eagle is one aspect of scorpio, its other two aspects being serpent and scorpion. (Relations between eagle and serpent are depicted on the Mexican flag, by the way.)
Now if he had said the worlds represented (in order) water-fire-air-earth, I would have suggested he might be privy to something, since this taken with Sefer Yetzirah would correctly place the three mothers in their respective worlds at least. The solution to the problem of ‘only three elements’, by the way, is mem’s final form: to some, I am sure the latter appears to be earth, yet this would be mistaken, as mem-sofit is the closed ark and represents the Monad or archetypal world (Atzilut) and thus fire. But the reason shin is ‘fire’ and mem ‘water’ (in SY) has to do with their placement: shin is the center of the 2nd wheel (see note below) and thus the head or aries (S's bardic-calendar [ogham] position) of the 3rd wheel (torso's zodiac) therefore fire (flame rises), mem is the sound remaining at libra (M's bardic-calendar [ogham] position) when R deserts this station (guttural R) to become rolled on the tongue (a long story), hence ‘belly’ (loins) and thus water (water, like Torah, descends), alef being the center between them (center of 3rd wheel). But it is intermediate mem that remains at libra (M being omnipresent, being ‘silence’) to represent the 4th wheel or earth, while mem-sofit is at M’s original and eternal station, the center of the 1st wheel or fire (it is the sound power lines make), shin the center of the 2nd wheel or air (adding its 'tinge' to the above sound), and alef ("ah") the center of the 3rd or water (us standing open-mouthed listening to the above). Then, to ‘complicate’ (dynamicize) things further, alef stands for the fire triad (the one pointing up) and shin obliquely for that of water, when seen in the context of the Logos... but that’s another story.
By the way, the intimate relationship between the three and the four is immortalized in the oldest quote in alchemy, attributed to one Maria the Jewess or Prophetess, who was practically alchemy's 'founder'... but I leave it to the reader to track down (a little effort adds to its value).
Note: the four wheels are 1st, the one centered atop Adam Qadmon's head when standing erect, 2nd, that centered atop Adam's head when seated ('Throne world'), 3rd, that centered at the heart of the torso (its zodiac), and 4th, the round of the womb. Each is half the height of the preceding one, all four sharing the same libra.