by Marcus Katz
M: Allocated to Chesed and Geburah.
H: Attributed to Geburah, force and power, the numeration being Pachad (Peh + Cheth + Daleth), fear and judgement.
The divine name of Chockmah (or embodiment of Chockmah in the world of Atziluth, emanation) is YAH, spelt Yod + Heh, relating to Sapentia, or wisdom. This name formulates the first duality of divinity into active (Yod) force and passive (Heh) form. The extension is completed by Binah as the Lightning Flash of the creative process continues its expansion.
Through the Auphanim (Chockmah in the world of Yetzirah, formation), Chockmah influences the forms of all circular movements, and lays the "astral" template of swirling movements, evident in everything from the shape of shells, the physical structure of the brain and to the grand dance of planets in orbit, and the vast sprawls of spiral star-dense galaxies.
Chockmah is the first order, and that order is spiral. As Crowley drew upon the Star Atu spiral lines, quoting Zoroaster, "God is he, having the head of a hawk; having a spiral force,"[62] and as the mathematics of dynamic, non-linear systems show, "the straight line is no more than the limit of any curve."
It can be noted that the letter Yod is often particularly applied to Chockmah by many authors. Yod can be seen to represent the "principle" of things, and hence is suitable for Chockmah as representing the supreme potentiality inherent in the singularity of Kether but now manifesting as a swirling force.
Yod is also seen as the seed or germ, which fits with the title of Chockmah, AB, meaning ‘father’. As Yod means ‘hand’ or ‘finger’, we can see in the glyph the symbol of action, direction, movement and inherently, will.
Papus describes Yod as the "unity-principle", and Kabbalah postulates that this principle is the source of all letters, and all worlds. For example, the letter Aleph is seen as being composed as four Yods, with appropriate explanation.
The Kabbala Denudata refers to the manipulation of Yod in a variety of ways, mainly in conjunction with the permutations of the divine name YHVH, but specifically states that "Yod irradiateth two", which is the numeration of Chockmah.
Yod has the value of ten, which is 10, and hence represents as a glyph in Chockmah the two proceeding stages of 1 (Kether) and 0 (the Ain). Further, it shows Chockmah as a source of the ten gates, and as a singularity in itself (1+0=1, which refers to the formula of 2=1, rather than that of 2=0 which Kether represents).
A final note can be made that the grey Hermit of the tarot can be associated with Chockmah as the personification of Wisdom or Moses, who spoke with God directly, and that card has the Yod attributed to it. The link will be further discussed in the chapter on Chesed. Crowley also tells of this in his esoteric fairy tale, The Wake World, where he says that the Hermit has "belonged to the First House from the very beginning".[63]
CHKMH totals to 73, the value of MBVKH, meaning ‘Chaos’, and demonstrates the stage of Chockmah in the cosmogenesis. The first swirlings, like the turbulent patterns in wind, water, wood and rock, are chaotic, but yet can be replicated by simple formula. The workings of Chockmah reveal a stochastic process, that is to say, an apparently chaotic process built on some unseen pattern and guided towards some determined goal.
The value 73 reduces to 7+3=10, again repeating the value of Yod, and the connection between Kether and Malkuth.
The cards to which the letters Cheth, Kaph, Mem and Heh are attributed are as follows:
Chariot
The vision of the Chariot [Ezekiel 1.1-28] deems that the "spirit of the living creature was in the wheels", and these wheels are the Auphanim, attributed to Chockmah. One of the symbols depicted on the Waite-Smith Tarot deck is that of a spinning-top, which is an appropriate demonstration of Chockmah (the wheel) rotating about Kether (the axis). The Chariot runs between Binah and Geburah, and is primarily a symbol of Binah, not Chockmah, although it bears meanings in both.
Wheel of Fortune
The Wheel of Fortune is set in motion by the extension of Kether into manifestation through the Sephirah of Chockmah. One meaning of this card is that of Time, but another is synchronicity, the non-causal connectiveness of things postulated by Jung in a psychoanalytical context, but a mainstay of occult teachings throughout the ages. The nature of Chockmah is the essence of this aspect of manifestation, in that there is no differentiation of events at this stage of the creative process.
Hanged Man
The drowned man or sacrificed God aspect of this card links with the nature of Chockmah as showing the sacrifice of the point of singularity by extending its essence towards manifestation. The card is also symbolic of Initiation, and hence mirrors the initiation of the creative process through Chockmah. In symbolic form, showing the reversal of the man, it refers to the mystic state of the Magus (the grade assigned to Chockmah) which is utterly opposite to the uninitiated state in that it is connected directly to the divine (Wise One of Chockmah) rather than the normal state of being connected to Malkuth (Ego state of Yesod).
Emperor
The Emperor has Aries assigned to it in the Zodiacal attributions, and this fits neatly with the burst of red energy of the spring equinox as a lower manifestation of the cosmic burst of creation in Chockmah. The Emperor is the Law and the Logos as is the Magus, who gives the "Word of the Aeon".
The tarot cards in the lesser Arcana are related to each of the Sephiroth based on the simple principle of equal numerations. Thus, the Aces are attributed to Kether, the Twos to Chockmah, and so forth, down to the Tens which are attributed to Malkuth.[64] The Court Cards are attributed to the Elements, and the Major Arcana are attributed to the Paths and through them to the Zodiacal, Astrological and Elemental Systems. The suits of the cards are said to represent the worlds, or levels, at which each of the Sephiroth are acting. Thus, for Chockmah we have:
Two Wands: Dominion = Fire/Atziluth
Two Cups: Love = Water/Briah
Two Swords: Peace= Air/Yetzirah
Two Pentacles: Change = Earth/Assiah
The Two of Wands represents the energy of Fire, which is in its highest aspect as "that invisible fire that darts and flashes throughout the hidden depths of this universe" (Zoroaster). The implied dominion is that of the "pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result." (Liber Al vel Legis, I.44). The Magus has surrendered his Will by merging and recognising his ultimate identity as identical to that of the Universal Process.
The Two of Cups is the highest emotion of Love, that is to say, the unity of all dualities in one nature, Chockmah. In the world of Briah, Creation, Two, or duality, is the essence of that Creation.
The Two of Swords is Peace, but also it is also, according to Crowley, "silence and chastity as being the ideal purity of thought". Duality in the world of Formation signifies itself as choice, even at the level of sub-atomic particles, where choices may take place that split an infinite number of Universes out from each point.
The Two of Pentacles is "harmonious change", which is the Tao. Crowley states that this card is a "picture of the complete manifested Universe, in respect of its dynamics". The dynamic of the Universe is Tao or Ma'at, and can be seen working at different levels through the two other Sephiroth of this pillar of force, Chesed and Netzach.
The colours attributed to each of the Sephiroth also follow a similar pattern, being divided up across the four worlds. These are known as the scales of colour, and link colour to a theory similar to sound, where notes vibrate across octaves to achieve different levels of sound. The maxim of colour, sound and number systems is that they all relate to frequencies of vibration, and the Universe is seen as a constantly active system which may be reduced to ranges of energy arrayed in levels of frequency.
King Scale: Blue - The Sky (Masloth).
Empress Scale: White, flecked red, blue, yellow - The robe of the justified Osiris is of these colours, which are those of the creative energy fulfilled as white.
Emperor Scale: Blue pearl grey - derived from the King and Queen scale by simple admixture.
Queen Scale: Grey - Refers to the cloudy appearance of the human seed, and the transmission of the white of Kether to the black of Binah. The colour grey is traditionally associated with age and wisdom, i.e. depictions of the Druids, Merlin, and even Gandalf "greybeard" in the fictional world of The Lord of the Rings.
Binah: The Angel of the Tides
A useful analogy of the creative process represented by the uppermost three Sephiroth of the Tree, the Supernal Triad, is that of water flowing from a tap. The source of the water is the Kether, whilst the pouring stream is the Chockmah aspect of the system. If you cup your hands into a hollow and place them in the path of the water, this represents Binah, the formative aspect of the creative process. The water is then formulated into tides and eddies, and moves within a defined area. The bubbles formed in this process - turbulent, chaotic and transient - are the Da'ath, the non-Sephiroth formed of the interaction between Chockmah and Binah. The water fills the well of the hands and then bursts forth between the gap of the wrists, the Abyss, and into the sink or bath as the manifestation of the lower Sephiroth. Thus Binah shapes manifestation and contains the influx of Chockmah and Kether, before transmitting the influence into manifest existence. In essence, Binah is manifestation itself, and thus wedded to Malkuth, who is sometimes seen as her daughter or a lower aspect.
Although the Supernal Triad can be seen as a cosmological model detailing the birth of the universe, it is important also to recall that the Tree is an imminent model of the current, on-going process of manifestation, and hence Binah is shaping reality always now, as the source of Archetypes.
Binah is the indivisible template of all things, and hence is the source of all forms, of which names are a symbolic key, and thus it is no surprise that the Sephirah is accorded many titles, amongst them the ultimate Mother, the primal ocean of birth, the Queen of Heaven, the bitter sea, and the city of Pyramids.
Binah is spelt in Hebrew Beth-Yod-Nun-Heh (BYNH), and is translated as ‘understanding’. The word begins with Beth, which is taken to be the archetype of all containers, appropriate to the position of Binah as head of the passive pillar of form. The letters of Binah signify the process as follows:
Beth: The Universal Will is contained
Yod: and creates the principles of existence
Nun: passing through the fifty Gates of Understanding
Heh: into manifestation
The numbers of Binah are:
BYNH = 67
YHVH ALHIM = 672
TzPQIAL = 311
ShBThAI = 713
The numeration of Binah itself is 67, which reduces to 13, the number of Unity (Achad) and Love (Abava), the binding elements of manifestation, and further to 4, the number of manifestation. Binah contains 4 letters which also corresponds to its function as manifestor.
The number of the Archangel Tzaphkiel, relating to Binah in Briah, the world of creation, is 311, which by Gematria equates to certain relevant words:
QVRH: A beam, shelter, house (Binah as container)
GBVSh: Crystallisation (Binah as the formative process)
ShIA: Loftiness, summit, height (Binah as eternal rest)
Also, ShIA, ‘height’, can be compared with Mary, ‘exalted’, one of the key biblical aspects of Binah.
Binah interacts with Chockmah through the fourteenth path, to which is attributed (in the standard Golden Dawn model) to the tarot card of the Empress. The number of the card is 3, which is also the number of Binah, and the first of the numbers to enclose a space:
0: No space/Nought = Ain Soph Aur
1: Point/Point = Kether
2: Vector/Line = Chockmah
3: Space/Triangle = Binah
The Empress is a fitting personification of Binah as Mother of Life, and Nature as the formation of living things.
The tarot cards to which the letters of Binah are attributed are the Magician, Hermit, Death and the Emperor. These show the action of the process of Binah.
The Magician is the Logos, the Creative Word issued from Chockmah as the Universal Will, given direction and the light enclosed in a container (the light in the lamp of the Hermit). It is then transformed or translated across the Abyss (symbolised by the Death card) and the energy structured into manifestation (the Emperor bearing the "red ray" of Creation, or Aries in the Zodiacal system).
Binah, as the top of the passive pillar of Form, symbolises the ultimate feminine archetype, that of the Great Mother. The feminine can be broken down into a two-fold division, and a three-fold one:
Two-Fold System
AMA: The dark, sterile, Mother. Light Isis
AIMA: The Bright, fertile, Mother. Dark Isis
Three-Fold System
Sattva: Goodness; Maiden (First Quarter) - Mary, Isis, Nephthys
Rajas: Passion; Mother (Full Moon) - Venus, Aphrodite, Nike
Tamas: Darkness; Crone (Third Quarter) - Kalli, Lilith
Other forms of the feminine associated with Binah range from the Shekinah, the "indwelling presence of God" (also associated with Malkuth as the unwedded soul), to Babalon, the Great Whore or Scarlet Woman, deified by Crowley in his elaborate symbolism as the Lady Babalon, nursing the Babe of the Abyss in the City of Pyramids under the Night of Pan.
The Catholic Litany of the Blessed Virgin lists titles which could be transposed onto the Tree of Life with appropriate relevance:
Mary i.e., exalted, also "bitterness of the sea", "Myrrh of the Sea", or "Lady/Mistress of the Sea" = Binah
Mother of Christ = Binah connecting to Tiphareth
Mother of divine grace = Binah connecting to Chesed
Mother inviolate etc = Binah above the Abyss of manifestation
Mirror of Justice = Binah connecting to Geburah
Seat of Wisdom = Binah connecting to Chockmah
Gate of Heaven = Binah as the first of the Supernals above the Abyss and connected to Malkuth
Refuge of Sinners = Binah as the place of rest
Queen of Angels= Binah as the Sephirah corresponding to the world Briah
The fifteen Mysteries of Mary are divided into three groups, the number of Binah, being the "Joyful", "Sorrowful" and "Glorious" Mysteries. The first set of five relate to the Creative and Formative (descending) aspects of Binah, the second set relate to the manifest aspects of Binah, and the third set relate to the Mystical aspects (ascending) of Binah.
An example is the Annunciation, which is the first "Joyful Mystery", and depicts the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she is to be the Mother of God. In Kabbalistic terms it can be seen that the Archangel Gabriel, attributed to Yesod, the "formative" aspect on a lower plane, and acts as the bearer of the "Word" or Creative Spark of Chockmah, the Father, into Binah, the Mother. Thus Yesod and Binah are linked by the attribution of Gabriel, "ruler of the waters", the waters being creation (Binah) and the unconscious (Yesod), their interface being the archetypes.
An example of the Kabbalistic interpretation of the Glorious Mysteries is that of the Assumption, where the Blessed Mother is united with her Divine Son in Heaven, which can be taken as the Mystics raising of his Awareness (Tiphareth, Vau, the Son) to transcendent universal understanding (Binah). Indeed, the five Glorious Mysteries can be taken as a symbolic representation of the Mystical ascent from Tiphareth (the first mystery of Resurrection) through the upper Sephiroth to Kether (the fifth mystery of coronation).
If Kether is taken to be a point, static, and Chockmah a line, the primary dynamic state, then Binah is the triangle, the first steady state of equilibrium. Indeed, Binah is the "Primary Definition", the original matrix of space, from which dimensions themselves spring. Thus, the quality of Binah in the human psyche is not the wisdom of Chockmah, the height of linear thinking where all implications are seen and dealt with from vast experience, but is understanding, the synthetic, connective, holistic thinking, in the form of a matrix or lattice, rather than a straight line process, which is often more direct.
In Crowley’s initiatory system, the
Master of the Temple (the title of the grade attributed to Binah) takes an oath which concludes with the intent to “interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with my soul”. The understanding that all events are arising in one field of awareness is a significant attainment, although the Magus (Chockmah) has the further knowledge (Da’ath) of what the cause of that dealing is – a comprehension of the Logos.
Appropriate symbols of this state of understanding are the lattice, or net, or any object representing the concepts of linking, organisation, symmetry, and complexity.
Binah is also the Sephirah from which Maya could be seen to issue, the net of manifestation that is ultimately illusion. In the psyche, this relates to the archetypes that are hard-wired into our brain so that we perceive the universe as we do. The transcending of this biological programming is part of the Crossing of the Abyss, in a sense. We may wonder if it is indeed possible for a system to transcend itself.
Another of the concepts associated with Binah is faith. The idea of faith is often taken to be merely a strong belief, but true faith is more than that. As defined by Paul, faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" [Hebrews 11.1]. Faith is that aspect of our psyche that understands aspects of the universe that cannot be translated into rational thought (i.e. Hod), and remain above the Abyss.
Thus, faith rests on transcendent experience, not upon belief or hope - substance and evidence must be experienced first and hence with faith "we understand [Binah] that the worlds were framed by the word of God [Chockmah], so that things which are seen were made of things which do not appear" [Hebrews 11.3].
EXERCISES
1. The Goddess is often represented as a triad of personifications; Maiden, Mother and Crone. Make a list of the characteristics of each of these three forms, and observe how closely these three categories describe the activities and behaviour of the Goddess, or Nature, or women, or the feminine aspect of men.
