TIPHARETH
Title: Tiphareth, Beauty
Magical Image: Majestic King, A Child, Sacrificed God
Position on the Tree: Center of the Middle Pillar
Yetziratic Text: The Sixth Sephira is called the Mediating Intelligence because in it are multiplied the influxes of the Emanations; for it causes that influence to flow into all the reservoirs of the blessings with which they themselves are united.
God Name: Tetragrammaton Aloah Va Daath
Archangel: Raphael
Order of Angels: Malachim, the Kings
Planetary Correspondence: The Sun, Shemesh
Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Harmony of Things, Mysteries of the Crucifixion
Virtue: Devotion to the Great Work
Vice: Pride
Physical Correspondence: The Breast
Symbols: Lamen, Rose Cross, Calvary Cross, Cube, truncated Pyramid, Diamond
Tarot Cards: The four Sixes
Color: Golden Yellow
TIPHARETH, Sphere of the Sun
"1043.02 The sixness phenomenon tantalizingly suggests its being the same transformative sixness as that which is manifest in the cosmically constant sixfoldness of vectors of all the topological accountings; and in the sixness of the equieconomical alternative degrees of freedom inherent in every event; as well as in the minimum of the six unique interrelationships always extant between the minimum of four "star events" requisite to the definitive differentiation of a conceptual and thinkable system from out of the nonunitarily conceptual but inherently finite Universe, because of the latter's being the aggregate of locally finite, conceptually differentiable, minimum-system events."
--Buckminster Fuller, Synergetics 2Beauty -- art, is largely a matter of the unification of contrasts. Variety is essential to the concept of beauty. The supreme beauty, the height of finite art, is the drama of the unification of the vastness of the cosmic extremes of Creator and creature.
Tiphareth is the Sphere of Beauty, and Perfect Equilibrium. It is the gateway to the Causal Plane of Universal Mind, or the Self. The translation from the Astral to the Causal Plane is as dramatic as that between Physical and Astral. It requires the development of a more subtle aspect of the Body of Light, so the soul may experience that level of awareness. The Causal Body is called a Diamond Body, or the Ruach -- the moral soul.
Tiphareth represents a comparatively high initiation for religious, or mystical man. Here the entire life is dedicated to spiritual devotion, in a 24 hour-a-day ritual. This initiation to a Way of Life is experienced as a death for the ego. It leads to spiritual rebirth and ascension to higher imaginal realms in mystic ecstasy. The Great Work becomes the priority of one's existence.
The spiritual bud formed in Yesod, flowers in Tiphareth in Enlightenment. Many systems describe this grade through various images; Self, Holy Guardian Angel, Philosopher's Stone, Universal Mind, Brahm.
Tiphareth represents the halfway point on the continuum of spiritual development. It indicates the ability to withdraw the attention from outside to inside and hold it there. One contemplates the "radiant form" internally. Self-Realization opens the beginning of the path to God-Realization through Grace, along Path 13.1. Physical Plane: Tiphareth represents the Vision of the Harmony of Things, and is the point on the Tree of Life of maximum equilibration. This same formula is represented in mathematics as the Vector Equilibrium Matrix. The Cube is a magickal symbol for Tiphareth. The VEM is an octahedron-within-a-cube, which is also the atomic structure of the diamond.
2. Astral Plane: A contemplative life in harmony with spiritual principles becomes the primary ritual. The magical images for Tiphareth include a magickal or divine child; a resplendent king, and a sacrificed God. These represent stages in the Mystery of Death and Rebirth. Tiphareth also corresponds with the Egyptian god, Osiris. Initiation on the path to God-Realization turns one's attitudes upside-down. Devotion to the Great Work; Pride.
3. Causal Plane: In the Causal, the Vision of Harmony indicates that all spiritual progress comes through the principle of Love. It implies the highest ethical standards in both behavior and thought. The Syntaxic Mode means one has a precise cognitive awareness concerning the relative value of mystical experiences, and has the verbal creativity for expression. Thus psychology can express in words what mystics experience through intuition. Syntaxic Mode includes Tantric sex, creativity, alpha states, etc. It verges of knowledge Ecstasy, but is mainly inspirational in quality.
4. Archetypal Plane: Tiphareth is the Royal Marriage of the Soul and the Lord. The projections of anima or animus have been returned to their proper level in the unconscious. The King and Queen are united: Spirit and Soul, distinct but conjoined. The aspirant enters a period of exploration of soul by spirit for psychic fecundation. This union with the Self, uniting all opposites is an illumined lunacy.
Approaching Tiphareth there is a quiet period of deep reflection and assimilation in which you incorporate or build in the knowledge and realization developed in the other spheres. Until this maturing of knowledge into automatic responses has taken place the work is not finished; there is a gestation period which precedes the birth of the higher consciousness upon the level of personal awareness.
That birth establishes the domain of Spirit over all the activities of personality. There is a gradual incorporation of superconscious energies into your vehicles of personality which prepares the way for the dominion of the Higher Self over the lower nature. Accomplishment is brought about by conscious transparency. . .conscious mediatorship for a higher power. It is the result of willingly and deliberately acting as a quiet channel through which superconscious energies can be transmitted to levels below.
We act as such a channel by learning how to give some form to our spiritual insights. The influence and multiplication of such forms in the collective human consciousness strengthens its higher impulses an eventually will set it free from slavery and delusion. We need to help one another. We need to use the personal level faculties -- reason, analysis and discrimination, compassion -- as far as they go. There must be a base of stabilized positive personality attributes to function as a channel for the Self. One example of this is in regard to sex. A highly developed love nature holds it in great reverence, since the capacity for deep compassion and selfless love has been cultivated. This purifies our responses.
What we learn about on the three paths leading to Tiphareth is crucial to stabilizing contact with the Self. The purification and transformation of personality must be reflected in the habitual behavior, that is, established in Yesod. Yesod is the plane of mobile forces and changing patterns. It is here that transformations -- changes in for -- are to be effected. Tiphareth, then, is the most advanced level of personality unfoldment. The three paths challenging the aspirant for Tiphareth are those of ARt, the Devil and Death. The personality finds itself confronted with the Angel of the Self, the Devil, and the ever-looming specter of mortality, Death.
The Devil has to do with liberation from the delusion of outer appearances. It connects Hod with Tiphareth. The Angel of Art is a symbol of the Self and this path links Yesod with Tiphareth. Its tests concern destroying the false sense of personal separateness and it consequent selfishness. It means exposing the vestiges of spiritual and personal pride and prejudice that keep us from union with the Self.
Death represents the utter destruction of the personal sense of will which distorts the Divine Will -- ego death. These personality hindrances must be transmuted and equilibrated. Basically these tests are concerned with intensifying your ability to discriminate in a higher, finer sense. By applying them to all aspects of your personality you should begin to detect where you are still acting in ignorance and self-delusion (psychological blind-spots).
You should further be able to acknowledge any such shortcomings without regret but with an eager willingness for change. Our eagerness enables the Higher Self to reveal those deep-rooted patterns of error that the personal level cannot detect in itself. When the underlying cause is perceived then w must act and continue to act. The method is given to rid ourselves of unwanted tendencies and habits -- whether they are mental, emotional or physical -- by repeatedly thought-stopping an introducing an opposite corrective pattern until the required balance is achieved. This is the work of the Self when it appears as the Angel, the Devil of enslavement and the skeleton of Death. These tests refine the personality to act as a receiver and transmitter of superconscious energy to the physical plane. Personal expression gets refined and separated from ignorance and delusion.
The emotional-desire nature of Netzach is purified; the intellectual reason and discriminating faculties, likewise. Correct habits are established in the astral body -- such as preparedness for meditation at a regular time -- and the physical body reaps the rewards of inner harmony.
Ayin, the Path of Renewal, is concerned with helping us develop a more penetrating vision so that we see behind surface appearances. Samekh is concerned with liberating ourselves from the many errors that keep us acting as if we were really separate beings. Even spiritual aspiration can be trained by separation. It will express as a desire to be appreciated and considered highly evolved by others. Advanced aspirants are particularly susceptible to this spiritual pride which stands as a major hindrance unless realized and cleared away. The Path of Nun is the test applied to Netzach to help you realize that control of desire means control of imagination.
In Hod, our goal was to begin using the faculties of reason, analysis and discrimination in ways that aid spiritual enlightenment instead of warring against it. The test of Ayin tells us to look for that proof-seeking skepticism that binds us to earth. Samekh is the higher use of discrimination that keeps intellect from obstructing the conscious realization of the Unity of Being (holistic perspective). The test of Nun applied to Hod should help alert you to ideas you express that betray a fear of death and a consequent disbelief in immortality. Repeatedly counteract unwanted habits of mind by an opposing idea. Recall to mind the abundant evidence that the Real Self cannot die. Unworthy responses, such as prejudice, criticisms, power trips, and impatience with others are certainly divisive in nature.
In truth, the higher Self does all the work of integration, but from the level of personality it takes seemingly persistent and continuous effort. Entrance to Tiphareth means, at first, sporadic contact with the Self. We become aware of the discrepancies between the Beauty we glimpse during union and the routine acts and attributes of our personalities. This may be painful, since we identify with those acts and our liberations is not yet complete. We have been preparing the personality for conscious union. Now further transmutation continues, intensified by regenerated power. You know what personal acts you need to change to reveal the influence of the higher Self, so personal expression shows its impress. Your capacity for love, service, and unselfishness will increase, even though the lower personal self would rather stay in its delusion of separateness.
Once we see personal error, we can free ourselves from perpetuating them by repeatedly refusing to respond in ways that keep them alive. These include anger, greed, vanity, envy and attachment as well as criticism of others. When we deny them expression we clear the karmic obstructions that keep us from enjoying conscious linkage with the higher Self.
That Self, which is One in all humanity, cannot get through until our treatment of others shows we understand. Our new image represents the unobstructed expression of the higher Self through our personalities. It is first established in the emotional-desire nature of Netzach. The goal is the complete dominion of the higher Self over the lower nature. In Netzach this goal or will-idea is formulated into our philosophy of life and becomes the main object of desire. This is the core nature of Bhakti. It appropriates the energy of the many conflicting subpersonalities of our lower nature. It purges the meanderings and idle wishes of the undirected imagination.
We may be faced with the truth that much of what you considered loving and brotherly in ourselves was quite tainted with a desire to be admired and looked up to by others. It is through such realizations that true humility becomes possible. When we can face the truth that some of our beneficent acts wee bound up with a secret satisfaction in appearing highly evolved, we realize how far we still have to go. Our ideal needs to be elaborated and given fuller shape through the practice of meditation, plus the actual ways and means for expressing the Self in daily life need to be stabilized, grounded. We must still the mind so the Voice of the Silence -- the higher Self, can be heard. Patience is most important; hastiness is a form of lust -- "lusting for results."
"Lesser Adept" means the 'I' consciousness centered in Tiphareth is the link through which superconscious forces are transmitted to subconscious levels. The transformation is hinted at in the word Tiphareth. It is from a root 'par' which means to gleam, to explain, to make clear -- purity free of distortions. It forms a sure foundation for the reception and right interpretation of intuitions. Otherwise superconscious light is experienced as bliss, ecstasy or joy.
Once union with the Self is experienced, the orderly unfoldment of the potentials attributed to the sphere above Tiphareth is essentially assured. A state of continuous contact and expanded awareness, of freedom and inner harmony may take a very long time to perfect, however. The ancient alchemists used to say they had to make the Philosopher's Stone, over and over. That is what daily practice is for -- to keep that flame alive. The higher mind which enables us to think, to will, to decide anything at all -- is not personal. Every seemingly self-originated thought or volition or decision is actually derived from this higher impersonal source. So we need to connect with it, in constant remembrance, drawing on the nourishment of the Audible Life Stream.
In the early stages the impact of this truth requires some rather difficult adjustments. There is a period when the enormity of the task facing yo appears impossible to complete -- in fact, it never is completed. To actually reverse our moment by moment thinking and feeling and stand up for the values of the Self seems at first an impossible job. Consistency is all-important -- it creates a new groove in the mind. It stabilizes a pattern of attention turned inward and eventually brings illumination through grace. Its radiance refers to a supernal realization, experienced in the whole psychophysical system. This is why it also healing in nature.
There is no short cut, besides meditation. It takes discipline, great endurance and daily, hourly effort to reverse the seeming reality of personal isolated will. If we are lukewarm or irregular in our efforts, then the time of our higher awakening is forestalled. Through the Saturnian influence of the Neshamah, the Divine Soul in Binah, discipline is applied to the entire area of the mind. Concentration and meditation gradually prepare us to receive true intuitional guidance from the Radiant Form. Actually it is this unfolding contact with Neshamah -- at first, so subtle -- that is responsible for every expansion of consciousness, every illumination on the Path of Return.
Remember, it is not individual awareness that is being renounced. That is the gift of long eons of existence in the manifest worlds. It is separative goals that are being renounced. "Not my will but Thy Will be done." What we want to do is dedicate individualized awareness to the purpose of the Unified Whole. Then we come to know ourselves individual cells in the body of humanity. As awakened fragments, we turn our every effort toward bringing our whole self to the perfection of its goal. We, as humans, are the fruit of the Tree of Life.
