The Ethical Triad:

 The Ethical Triad:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

Chesed:

The Ethical Triad is the second triad on the Tree of Life and is composed of Chesed, Geburah and Tiphareth and is represented in Thelema by the God Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Chesed is the first Sephirot on the Pillar of Mercy and is also called Mercy, its planetary attribution is Jupiter. This Sephira is a reflection of Binah and is the first Sephira below the Abyss and also the last Sephira that we may form a real conception and understanding of. The Kings of the Gods such as Indra and Zeus are attributed to this Sephira. This is the world of the Devas, Indra is the Lord of the Devas, and what this means is that when the ascended masters incarnate, they incarnate into this world and not the world of Malkuth, like the rest of us. The Master Therion stated that after he completed the Path of Return, he was plunged into the sphere of Chesed, this is the home of the Boddhisatvas, who continue the work of their chosen incarnation. The masculine energy of Chokmah as the phallic force of creation sits right above Chesed and therefore the whole Pillar of Mercy carries the influence of this masculine energy, however, when we take a look at the tree, we notice that the only real balance is found upon the Middle Pillar as even Chesed is a direct reflection of Binah that brings balance to the Pillar of Mercy. This is the sphere that is closest to the Divine world of the Supernals and is where all the anagogic manifestations, such as prose, music, poetry and even certain works of art are received. All six Sephirot from Chesed all the way to Yesod in the Astral Triad correspond to the letter Vau of Tetragrammaton, but to the Ethical Triad is ascribed the letter He of the Ineffable Name and the element of Water, thus the Tarot attributions of this Sephira are the Fours and Wands. Wands correspond to all the Sephirot associated with the third letter of Tetragrammaton, which as stated are the first six Sephirot below the Abyss from Chesed which is the fourth Sephira and ending with Yesod the sphere of the Moon which is the ninth Sephira. The apparent contradiction regarding the elements, stems from the fact that the six Sephirot we are discussing make up the third suit in the Tarot and is not dealing with each individual Sephira but has grouped six together to form the Ruach or second part of the Soul, attributed to the Intellect. The Triads and the Tarot suits are two ways of looking at the Tree of Life, but do not share the same utility. I will focus more on the Parts of the Soul in a later essay but for our purpose the attributions given here should be sufficient. Chesed is the sphere where an Adept has realized his full potential and has accomplished the Great Work, the color associated with Chesed is Blue and its element is Water.

 

Geburah:

Geburah is called Severity or Strength, it is on the left-hand side of the Tree of Life, opposite Chesed. Its planetary attribution is Mars. Associated with this Sephira, is the Goddess Athena, Athena is the Greek goddess of War and politics, she was the patron Goddess of Athens and as such she's also a symbol of the Great Work. Note that Geburah is the sphere of Mars a planet whose energy is masculine, this is the result of it being a direct reflection of both Binah and Chokmah the first female and male principles. We find the same contradiction in Chesed which again is the first Sephirah on the Pillar of Mercy, but is imbued with a receptive, feminine quality. These ideas have not yet fully crystalized into matter, therefore these Sephirot share an androgynous character as to symbolize this world of Ideas, which has not yet been brought into material manifestation. The color of this Sephira is Red and some people attribute the God of War, Aries to this sphere, I feel this is however inaccurate and that the correspondence should be Athena. Athena being a goddess and Jupiter a God, restores perfect balance to our schematic, something which I feel Aries didn’t adequately accomplish in Geburah. Geburah and Chesed are elemental opposites but balance is brought back by the reflections mentioned from the Supernal Triad, Chesed is as mentioned associated with water and Geburah with fire. The sphere of Geburah represents the striving of an Adept who is doing his True Will, it is the battle fought to accomplish the Great Work and so two attributions of Geburah, are energy and courage, listed as virtues. These virtues entail the pioneering effort necessary to bring the Great Work to completion. The virtues are an indication of what may be the Ordeal for achieving success in this monumental task, and so would the vices associated with Geburah, these vices are cruelty and destruction. The Tarot cards associated with Geburah are again the Wands and all the number Fives of the suit cards. These also correspond to the letter Vau of Tetragrammaton and represents the intellect or Ruach, although the Ethical Triad is ascribed to water and is called Briah. These attributions will start making more sense in the next treatise on Tiphareth and when I deal with the Parts of the Soul.

Tiphareth:

Tiphareth is the sixth Sephiroth on the Tree of Life and the sphere of the Sun, which is called Beauty. This sphere is associated with the attainment of Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel. The god associated with Tiphareth is Dionysus, this is on account of his nature being a fertility god as well as the son of Semele and Zeus. His wine is symbolic of Tiphareth as it intoxicates either with madness or ecstasy, his characteristics place him right in the center between the celestial and the temporal realms. It is the last sphere on the Ethical Triad and reflects the light of the Supernals into the Astral Triad. The Cross is a symbol of Tiphareth and this is indicative of the attainment of the grade as another symbol associated with Tiphareth is the Rosy Cross. It is upon the attainment that the Rose starts to bud and the Adam Kadmon is conceived, under the formula of “Love under Will”. The Rosy Cross is a rose with 22 petals wherein is written the Hebrew alphabet as corresponding to the Tarot growing in the center of the Cross of the Elements, which is a remarkably appropriate symbol for the Great Work. This is the point in the aspirant’s journey where the Six Pointed Star is forged and united with the Pentagram, thereby uniting Heaven and Earth, or the Microcosm and the Macrocosm. The Adept then becomes a conduit for inspiring the lower as he is now directed by his Angel and has established a direct link with the Divine as illustrated by the paths that lead down from the Supernals towards Tiphareth. This makes it the only Sephira on the tree, that is connected to all the planetary spheres, whereby its office is fulfilled, thus drawing influence from above, reflecting the light to those Sephirot beneath it. In Plotinus’ metaphysics this is when the mystic experiences the Vision of Beauty and it is in this vision that Plotinus says one gets the first glimpse of the Unity, this indicates the nature of the attainment so far mentioned, as becoming cognitive of the aim by linking one’s consciousness to the direct inspiration from the Divine Light of the Supernal Triad. Being the sixth Sephira on the tree in the middle of ten Sephirot, means that the Supernal and Ethical Triads together are made up of six Sephirot and the Astral Triad is constituted by five, thus giving us the number 65 and the symbols of the Hexagram and the Pentagram. The Hexagram has six points and the Pentagram has five, it is the fusion of these symbols that awakens the aspirant to adepthood. The Pentagram is the Soul of an aspirant that is created in the grades leading up to Tiphareth, and the Hexagram represents the macrocosm in the same way, once union between the Lower and the Higher has been achieved, one becomes an Adept and realizes his True Will, then the next stage of the journey begins and he starts doing his True Will. The Tarot cards connected to Tiphareth are the Princes of Swords and the Sixes, these correspond to the letter Vau, Air and its color is Yellow. In summation, the Ethical Triad is where the Great Work is brought to completion and it is what all magicians aspire to. 

As always, I hope you enjoyed reading.

“Love is the law, love under will.”