Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Plant a Seed of Light and Watch it Grow

I'm still in the beginning of the book on Kabbalah I've been reading. I'm not moving along very quickly for two reasons. The first reason is that when I come to instructions in the book for a meditation, I stop reading until I am able to do the meditation. Secondly, I find myself wanting even more detail, so I stop reading and go to the Internet to explore some of the topics even further. One such topic is that of the tenth Sephirah, Malkuth. It is at the bottom of the Tree of Life, and is quartered into four segments. Basically it is a circle with a cross inside. The book calls it the "Elemental Mandala", because it represents four elements, earth, air, water and fire. (It can represent other things, like the seasons or the four cardinal directions, or more.) These four segments have their own symbolic colors. I won't get into the colors here. As an aside, I experienced an eerie synchronicity yesterday with this circle. Not long after reading about it in the book, I was watching a video online about Meher Baba. One of the symbols they used in the video was the circle with four segments. It happened so soon after seeing it in the book that I couldn't help but feel stimulated by it.

One of the exercises dealing with Malkuth - named "The Cross of the Elements" - is a meditation that involves imagining four rays of light emanating from a small seed in my heart. From the furthest point on the horizon, the eastern (front) ray begins to sweep around me in a clockwise fashion, all the way around, forming the circle.

The circle looks like the image below. I could not find a simple image like this doing a Google image search, so I used software to draw it. I doubt the circle is perfect and I'm sure the lines aren't exactly centered, but I think it at least gets the point across (a cross).



"We’ll leave the Light on for you."
~Motel 6 commercial

23 comments:

Unknown said...

It also means that you're surrounded by crazy people.

Sophia said...

I guess that depends on what your definition of crazy is. Maybe "crazy" means "marching to the beat of a different drum". Doesn't seem so bad to me. What do you think?

Sophia said...

To a materialist I guess all of us here seem crazy!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Here is a picture of it.

http://originsnet.org/mpsigns/pages/e)%20tata100bordes39rb7.htm

Alexander M Zoltai said...

Well...

If you're studying the Tree of Life, you may be soon studying the Tarot.

If so, I recommend the Tarot of Dreams:
http://www.ciromarchetti.com/Tarot&Zodiac-ToD.html

Sophia said...

Mossy,

Wow! This symbol really is ancient, then.

You know, I didn't know what B.P. meant, so I did a Google search. Seems it means "Before Present", and that "Present" means "1950".

I think it's neat how they hypothesized the crossing of the natural crack could symbolize a reparation of a wrong.

Thanks so much for finding this. I categorize this in my brain as "something really neat learned today".

Sophia said...

Alex,

Yes, indeed! I do plan on studying the Tarot. In fact, the book I'm reading incorporates the Tarot. There is a companion book - which I don't have - called _The Watkins Tarot Handbook_ by the same author of the book I'm reading now.

I'm too poor to spend $85 on a deck of Tarot cards. I own a deck of Tarot called "Tarot of the Cat People", that I've had since high school, but I never used them. They're very attractive but I don't know how useful they'd be for the study of the Tree of Life. There is a simple deck I wanted at one time which I think is affordable, called Rider-Waite.

A year and a half ago a mentor and good friend gave me a link to read about Tarot that discusses the history - http://www.tarothermit.com/infosheet.htm

Alexander M Zoltai said...

Rider-Waite isn't a bad deck...

The web site you referenced seems somewhat respectable...

The very first thing I'd recommend is to not read any books until you've "related" to the deck for quite a bit of time.

You can read books after you let the symbolism of the deck permeate your unconscious--attain "resonance".

A simple but effective exercise to learn Tarot without books is to use the cards to depict your dreams.

Choose whichever cards seem to portray the dream and meditate on them. You'll be stimulating your unconscious and more than likely will have related dreams...

~ Alex from Our Evolution

V said...

Don't worry, be happy.
-- God

V said...

I AM
--God

V said...

Mental clutter. I am omnipotent.
-- God

Sophia said...

Alex,

Thank you for your advice regarding Tarot.

I have a question or two regarding relating to the deck. I am not very good, YET, at interpreting symbolism. I am getting better, though. Are the symbolisms of the cards subjective or objective?

I am just wondering if understanding the Tarot is as personal a journey as understanding one's own dreams.

Do I depict my dreams using the cards before or after the dream? I am just wondering if using the cards is some way of preprogramming dreams. For instance, I'd have no idea how to depict my most recent dream, of the stitches coming out of my finger.

Sophia said...

Siegfried,

"Don't worry, be happy." That was Meher Baba, wasn't it?

Maybe he was channeling God. I guess we all are, but I don't know. I feel like I'm channeling something when I create my art.

Regarding the "I AM" statement, you may appreciate a discussion that is currently going on in a forum I belong in. Click HERE

Alexander M Zoltai said...

Well, the images are obviously "objective" since they're rendered on pasteboard ;-)

Yet, trying to interpret them "objectively" is quite dangerous; Tarot, Astrology, I Ching, you name it, none of them are able to "predict" the future! People convince themselves they can but it's delusion...

So, rather than say they are "subjective" it's more realistic to say the are "Archetypical"--related to humanity's collective unconscious.

"I am just wondering if understanding the Tarot is as personal a journey as understanding one's own dreams."

This is absolutely true.

As far as using them to "induce" dreams, I often advise my clients that the reading they've received will likely bring them dreams that can expand their understanding of the issue they're contemplating...

"I'd have no idea how to depict my most recent dream, of the stitches coming out of my finger."

Here's where "objectivity" fails and Archetypicality shines: find the Meaning of "stitches coming out of a finger" then find the card(s) to represent it.

I didn't mention this before but there are thousands of different designs of Tarot and one should endeavor to find a deck that they resonate with !!!

~ Alex from Our Evolution

Anonymous said...

I don't know anything about the Tarrot, but it occurs to me that it might be one way to realize that your mind is not you.

Alex said to connect to the cards on an unconscious level and you responded "I am not very good, YET, at interpreting symbolism."

Wouldn't it be better to not interpret, or at least make some room for something else?


"Ah, whom can we ever turn to in our need?
Not angels, not humans, and already the knowing animals are aware
that we are not really at home in our interpreted world.
Perhaps there remains for us some tree on a hillside, which every day we can take into our vision;"

The first Elegy of R.M. Rilke

Sophia said...

Moss,

This is probably something I should empty the mind with, and wait for a vision or flash of imagery or intuition to tell me what the cards mean.

I am not very skilled at receiving visions. They only happen very rarely. But I hope that with spiritual growth I will be more aware of them. They whisper quietly, but my mind speaks over them.

Anonymous said...

It would be nice if the cards brought no meaning; only the awareness of what is, (the obvious) right now.

You do not need cards for this, but any kind of effort helps to focus ones attention on the aim behind the effort.

Anonymous said...

I would reccomend Alexander's reccomendations...

If you seriously want to get into tarot there are two types of tarot users

1. those who rely on their innate inner abilities

2. those that are included in 1, but also have "spoken" to the cards.

To speak to the cards there are numerous methods....

Make stories up, draw 3 or 4 cards, make up a story, verbally and/or through writing on the cards you draw..... like reading to a child.

Talk to the cards, pick a card at random,and literally have a conversationg with it, like a child does with a toy.

Finally, the hardest is meditation.
Meditate on all the cards, on ea t at a time, or at least every major trump card....
Do this by doing techniques such as

1. Pick a card at random, or have a set pattern of order, your choice
2. Sit relaxed in a meditative posture you find comfortable...and hold the card before you, close to your eyes for a few minutes, upto 5 to 10 minutes....
Feel your eyes drift into the card and fill your vision.
3. Do this daily, progressing so that you are within the card with your conciousness, so that you can close your eyes until you are inside the card.

This meditation should be done for upto 1 to 3 weeks per card...
so this is a LONG commitment

If you are interested in good long term practical kabbalistic exrecises,,,that are from a western tradition (ie hermetic) but free of candles, funny hats, pentagrams and rubber chickens...

I wourld reccomend the miracle tree by r j stewart, I dont like a lot of his stuff anymore, but this is an excellent book.

You have my email, I am no expert, but I am always ready to share...

Alexander M Zoltai said...

Benjamin !

Wonderful advice !!

~ Alex from Our Evolution

Sophia said...

Ben,

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a wealth of information on the tarot meditations.

Thanks to you and Alex, both.

I don't know if my deck is a good beginner's deck or not, but I'll see.

The next stepping stone is coming up with a good excuse when my husband catches me talking to the cards. :) I already have "conversations" with my pets, so this shouldn't be too difficult!

V said...

M. Baba is dead. Long live God!

V said...

Materialism is the love of matter. Diamonds are forever. Happiness is fleeting. Time flies.