The second triad on the Tree of Life is termed the Ethical Triad. Between the Supernal Triad and the Ethical Triad is a gulf that is termed "The Abyss". That is the separation of the ideal and the actual. In Plato's philosophy, there are forms (archetypes) and shadows (actual). See the image where the puppeteers hold up shapes which cast their shadows on the wall of the cave. In this analogy, the Abyss and the quasi-Sephirah placed in it's center called Da'ath (Knowledge) would be the cave itself, or in other words the empty space of the cave.
Let me clarify something about Da'ath. It behaves similarly to an actual Sephirah, but it is not a Sephirah in it's own right. It is considered the conjunction between Chokmah and Binah, or alternatively the embodiment of the Abyss. It is also not too far from truth to say that it may be an expression of the Thirteenth Path of Gimel leading from Kether to Tiphareth, which it stratles.
The Sephiroth in the Ethical Triad are Chesed (Hebrew for "mercy"; also sometimes called Gedulah, which means "greatness, magnificence, glory"), Geburah (which means "power"; sometimes also called Pachad, which means "fear"), and Tiphareth (which means "beauty"). All these definitions are taken from the glossary found in The Tree of Life by Israel Regardie.
Beginning with Chesed, this is a collecting or organizing principal. It is assigned the planet of Jupiter which is the planet of expansion. One of it's symbols is the tetrahetron because it's number is four (points or sides of a tetrahedron). This would imply a solid in its first manifestation. The two dimentional shape of Binah (that is the triangle) receives another dimention and becomes something tangable with three dimentions. "In Binah is the idea of form, and in Daath the process of transmutation into form, but these forces actually cohere into forms in Chesed." (Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, p. 114) However, Chesed is not without its own sinister aspect. It may be best to explain this side of the Sephirah after giving a description of Geburah.
The converse of Chesed is Geburah which is a much misunderstood principal in the same way that Binah is misunderstood. Geburah on the one hand is a destructive force which breaks down the forms created in Chesed. Why is this? Because all forms are mortal and must necessarily disintegrate. Its assigned planet in astrology is the firey, energetic, sometimes destructive planet of Mars. Of course anyone familiar with mythology will recognise Mars and his Greek persona Eros as the God of War, and of course war, especially in spiritual or New-Age circles, is thought of to be a four letter word!
Although Chesed has a better reputation, without the balance of Geburah, it is every bit as foul as Geburah without the counterbalance of Chesed. "Too much charity is the handiwork of a fool; too much patience is the hallmark of a coward." (Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah, p. 163)
I am reminded of the Neville Chamberlain's speech, "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." This was just after returning from the Munich Conferance of 1938 which gave the Sudetenland of Czechslovakia to Nazi Germany. March of the next year, Hitler took the rest by force. He could not have done so without first obtaining the Sudetenland! This was Chesed at the helm when the better pilot would have been Geburah.
So important is this that it is informed to the candidate at the Neophyte Initiation ceremony by the Hierophant and by the Hiereus at one of the more dramatic moments of the ceremony. The Hiereus demands that the aspirant give his name. The Hegemone, who speaks for the aspirant, says, "Darkness is thy name, thou Great One of the Paths of the Shades." The Hiereus replies, "Thou hast known me now, so pass thou on. Fear is failure, so be thou without fear. For he who trembles at the Flame and at the Flood and at the Shadows of the Air, hath no part in God."
A similar exchange takes place at the station of the Hierophant. He demands the aspirant give his name. Again, the Hegemone speaks for the candidate, "Light dawning in darkness is thy name, the Light of a Golden Day!" The Hierophant then informes the aspirant, "Unbalanced Power is the ebbing away of Life. Unbalanced Mercy is weakness and the fading out of the Will. Unbalanced Severity is cruelty and the barrenness of Mind." (Israel Regardie, The Golden Dawn, pp. 124-125)
There is another aspect of Geburah that should be addressed. That is the aspect of Karma. Usually when one thinks of Karma, ideas of punishment or reward come to mind. This is really a somewhat unenlightened perception of Karma. Karma is simply Reality. Karma is Truth stripped of illusion. "Here the soul stands stripped naked of every shred of excuse or possibility of evasion while the piercing shadowless light penetrates to every part of its being... The soul is in such and such a state and is revealed to be so. In this revelation everything is taken into account, automatically, inevitably, pitilessly." (Knight, p. 127)
I am reminded once again of episode 20 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (this series is saturated in Qabalistic philosophy and is highly recommended) where the main character swore that he would never Pilot his Eva again. Yet in a time of great danger, he did pilot his Eva again and became swallowed up into it in the process. The following is an excerpt of the psychological experience he had while his mind was lost inside Eva. "Shinji-kun, you are here because you got into Eva. Because you got into Eva, you became what you are. You can't deny that, the fact that you got into Eva, nor what you were, in your past life." Shinji is tortured by this fact that such and such happens, in this case that he did in fact pilot Eva. Yet this fact is layed out mercilessly before him. He cannot close his eyes from it, he cannot avoid it or ignor it. His entire consciousness is focused on this cold torturous fact that he did pilot his Eva. This entire episode, along with episode 25 and 26 I believe are an adiquate description of what may happen when a soul enters into Geburah consciousness.
Karma is Truth. Geburah is Truth. "You may say 'these things are deplorable, is there anything that can be done?' But you cannot say they are not so, and that is why we train you; because the tendency of the spiritually-minded is to be nice-minded; we want you to be true-minded. There is a disctinction." (Master of Compassion, quoted by Gareth Knight, Dion Fortune and the Three Fold Way, p. 51)
The next Sephirah in the Ethical Triad is Tiphareth, meaning "beauty". You will notice when you look at the entire diagram of the Tree of Life that Tiphareth occupies the central position on the diagram. This is important because it not only reconciles the conflict between Chesed and Geburah, between the Pillar of Mercy and the Pillar of Severity, but it also mediates between the upper realms and the lower realms, between Kether and Malkuth. This can be seen by meditation on the number six, because it is the sixth Sephirah on the Tree. It may be represented by the cube which is composed of six squares forming its faces. Analysis on this leads to some Christian Mysic symbolism, as the cube may be unfolded to form a Calvary Cross of six squares.
To further illuminate this, I quote from my own article, "The Arius Controversy" from Hermetic Virtues Online Magazine. "The God of the Jews, Yahweh, to whom the Christians attribute the Father aspect of the Trinity, is well known for his wrath and seemingly irrational behavior. He is so far removed from humanity as result of his omnipotence and power that the fates of these
creations of him seem of little worth unless they cease to worship. The story of Job illustrates
this phenomenon. Job, the faithful servant of Yahweh, finds himself the object of a divine bet made between God and the Devil. His possessions, friends, and even family are taken away from him through all manner of calamities inflicted to demonstrate Job’s faithfulness to Yahweh. When Job comes to God to beg for justice, rather than having mercy on his prophet, he comes down in a whirlwind to demonstrate his greatness and demands, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up
now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.” (Job 38:1-4). A Christ of the same nature and substance as Yahweh would only compound this issue.
"In many cases, Jesus as the Christ is also called the Mediator (Greek: Lεσίτης mĕsitēs). This suggests the idea of a go-between representing Divinity to man and man to Divinity. This idea is also demonstrated in Qabalistic philosophy. “In Tiphareth God is made manifest in form and dwells among us; i.e. comes within range of human consciousness. Tiphareth, the Son, ‘shows us Kether’ the Father… The Redeemer, then, manifests in Tiphareth and is forever striving to redeem His Kingdom by re-uniting it to the Supernals across the gulf made by the Fall, which separated the lower Sephiroth from the higher…” (Fortune, 1935). Also, “The Spiritual Experiences of [Tiphareth] are two in number instead of the usual one. This signifies that there are two sides to Tiphareth and indeed it is par excellence a linking Sephirah, reconciling the upper part of the Tree to the lower.” (Knight, 1965).
"In other words, because of the separation of consciousness between Yahweh and mortal men, a reconciling principal needed to be created. In Arius’ Christianity, Jesus embodies this principal when he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). In Qabalistic tradition, the Spiritual experience of Kether, the Father Principle, is called the “Vision of Annihilation” because, “It is said that never while in incarnation can we rise to the consciousness of Kether in Atziluth and retain the physical vehicle intact against our return. Even as Enoch walked with God and was not, so the man that has the vision of Kether is disrupted
so far as the vehicle of incarnation is concerned… If therefore we reproduce in ourselves the mode of being of that which has neither form nor activities, it follows that we must free ourselves from form and activity.” (Fortune, 1935)." (Moore, 2008)
It would do well to review my earlier post on the Seven Bodies of Man. Notice the particular significance of the Fifth Body or Spiritual Body. This actually encompases the entire Ethical Triad but in particular, Tiphareth defines it. This is the seat of incarnation, self-awareness, free will, and purpose.
The divine name of Tiphareth is YHVH Aloah va-Da'ath which loosely translates to "God Made Manivest in the Sphere of the Mind". When a prophet or mystic believes that they have come into contact with God, they have actually rather come into contact with their own Tiphareth centers. Of course, this is as good as contacting God for all intents and purposes. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)Some more symbols which will illuminate Tiphareth are the Hexagram and the Cadeuceus, as seen here on the Magician Tarot card.
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