The practical applications of the Tree must start at Malkuth,
because Malkuth is all that is manifested on Earth.
We know Malkuth better than any other Sephiroth just because we
are the embodiment of Malkuth. We know the physical world by living it.
Malkuth sits at the base of the Pillar of Equilibrium and corresponds to
our feet. It is represented by the tens of the tarot, oppression, perfected
success, ruin, and wealth. It is not part of any of the triangles, but stands
apart from the rest while receiving all the emanations from the rest and is
the end result of all the activities of the Tree. It is divided into the four
elements, Water, Fire, Earth, Air, the four conditions of which energy exists
and it recognizes that any given force can pass from one stage to another
under certain conditions, like ice to water, to steam, back to fluidity. This
is the sphere of permanent vehicles of manifestation, and herein is achieved
stability. The virtue assigned to Malkuth is Discrimination, the vice is
advarice and inertia.
The spherioth directly above is Yesod, the astral body, the akasha, the
ether. All the rest of the Sepherioth are understood in accordance to their
neighbors, but in Malkuths case, Yesod is the only neighbor, and to
understand Malkuth fully, one must understand Yesod. It is represented by the
nines of great strength, material happiness, despair and cruelty, and
material gain. It's virtue is Independence and the vice is idleness. The
ninth path purifies the emanations before they get to Malkuth. Under the
lunar influences, Yesod is where the fluidic waters of chaos are finally
gathered up and organized and partakes of both the nature of mind and matter.
As Fortune puts it, "the four elements of the ancients find their explanation
in a fifth. For it is a doctrine of esoteric philosophy that any four visible
states always have their root in a fifth, an invisible state." So we find
Yesod as the unmanifested fifth element of the four of Malkuth. While Malkuth
is essentially the sphere of form, all coherence of parts depend on the
functions of Yesod and the manifestations of Yesod depend on the substance
provided by Malkuth.
Along with serving as the receptacle of the other emanations from the
rest of the sephiroth, it is the immediate and only transmitter of these
emanations to Malkuth, the physical plane. Yesod, then, is the all important
sphere for any magic which is designed to take effect in the physical world.
We do note that all spheres operate according to their own natures, and we
really can not change nature per se, but we can change the design of the
representations of nature. In other words, spirit doesn't work directly upon
matter, it works through the mind, the mind works through the ether, and the
ether which is the framework of matter and the vehicle of the life forces,
can be manipulated within the limits of its nature.
There are two properties that are all important to the work of the
practical occultist. The first is the capacity of the astral ether to be
molded into forms by the mind; the second is the capacity of the astral ether
to hold the molecules of dense matter in mesh like lines of tension. The
existence of these properties is the only explanation of the properties of
living matter and conscious mind. From the point of view of magic, Yesod is
an all important Sephiroth, it is also the first sphere with which the
occultist lifts consciousness above Malkuth. However one does not want to
function as a magician in Yesod because, known as the house of illusions. One
can access the psychic images, but doesn't have any words of power to command
the images, and those words of power are accessed through the next Sephiroth
"Hod, the sphere of magic".
One very important attribute of Malkuth is that we achieve stability
here. Power is always supported and purported by a stable base, as is working
in any of the many forms of martial arts, where it is stressed that one must
work from a stable and balanced stance to be able to master the moves and use
them effectively.
As Fortune puts it, "It is the method of magic to manipulate the tenuous
elemental forms, but it is also the method of life to do the same thing, and
if magic is to be anything more than autosuggestion, it must use the methods
of life - that is to say, it must work through the intermediation of
protoplasm, for protoplasm, in its curious web-like structure, carries the
subtle magnetic force of the Fire of the Wise, transmitted through elemental
air." It is here that we need to get to know ourselves, our own make up,
because we use our own make up, or the magnetism of our own protoplasm to
supply the basis of manifestation of any force.If we try to escape from the
discipline of matter before we have mastered the lessons of matter, we are
not advancing heavenward, but suffering from arrested development".
So it is here in Malkuth that we learn the lessons of matter and life.
Maybe this is why the Jewish suggest that a person be at least 40 years old
before embarking on learning the Kabalah. By the time you've reach 40, you've
had numerous rites of passage, both good and bad, and probably have a pretty
good idea of what life is all about, or a pretty decent working knowledge of
the Sephiroth of the physical world Malkuth.
Per Fortune, "The occult division of Malkuth into the four elements give
us a valuble key. We should regard matter as we know it as Earth of Malkuth.
The different types of physical activity, whether in molecules or masses, can
be classifed under anabolism and katabolism. These can be classified in
esoteric terminology as the Water or Air of Malkuth, and what ever is said by
esoteric philosophy or pagan mythology in relation to these elements will be
applicable to these two metabolic processes. The Fire of Malkuth is that
subtle electro-magnetic aspect of matter which is the link with the processes
of consciousness and life, and to it all life-myths apply".
Every magical operation is designed to bring power down the planes into
the reach of the operator, who then applies it to whatever ends she or he may
design. Many operators are content if they can obtain purely subjective
results-that is to say, a sense of exaltation; others aim at the production
of psychic phenomena. It should be recognized that no operation is completed
until the process has been express in terms of Malkuth, or has issued forth
in action on the physical plane. If this is not done, the force that has
been generated is not properly "earthed", and it is this loose force left
lying around that causes the trouble in magical experiments."
Maybe not in a single magical working, but over time through a series of
workings, the effect may be cumulative and result in general psychic
upheaval, bad luck and weird happenings.
