Orphism and the Tree of Life:

 

Orphism and the Tree of Life:

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

As for the valuations of the sephirah on the tree of life according to the Orphic theology, these are as follow. Malkuth is attributed to Zagreus (Dionysus) and not Persephone, in fact Persephone is not placed upon the tree of life at all in this rendering that symbolizes the union of the spheres. She is however loosely associated with the 32nd path as united with her mother Demeter, and before this union, she is associated with the uninitiated's aspiration. Hence, for clarity's sake, the path of Tau corresponds in particular to Demeter and the Probationer with Persephone. Next: Hades is attributed to Yesod, this may seem confused, although I assure you it isn't, when guided by common sense and that Artemis is in fact a guardian of this abode and is more accurately placed corresponding to the path of Gimel--connecting Tiphareth to the highest. Hermes is obviously associated with Hod and Aphrodite with Netzach, and a rather interesting result of these correspondences is Hephaestus' association with the Emperor Atu symbolizing his creative toil as being inspired by the force of Netzach. Anyway, I think Tiphareth's corresponding deity is self-explanatory and since this sephiroth is at the centre of the Ruach, Apollo finds his place among the muses there. The last three sephirah Geburah, Chesed and Binah are attributed to Athena, Dionysus and Rhea, and lastly Chokmah to Uranus and Kether can only really be attributed to a later idea and that would be the One or the Good. I wish I could tell you about Da-ath, but unfortunately, Da-ath doesn't exist. As for Zeus, Zeus in this scheme corresponds to Chesed obviously, however, it must be kept in mind that Zeus is the Demiurge and has no value unless complemented by Dionysus, and so, Zeus as far as the qabalah is concerned must rather be attributed to the Adam Qadmon as that from which Being unfolds and represents the Great Work.

Now I will look at the 22 paths on the tree of life and how they relate to the Greek mysteries and the tragic story of Dionysus. The twenty-second path is associated with Demeter and symbolizes the Shekinah or what in Hebrew is called Malkah and as per the name, her association with the first sephirah is made clear. Malkah is our ideal vision of the divine feminine, thus she relates to Binah, which is the sphere of the mother, Demeter and Persephony are Rhea’s daughters along with Hestia. At first an aspirant has a distorted image of the mother, she is in a sense broken and this broken image is true for everyone--not just aspirants of the western mysteries, but all of us. She is the Anima and the Animus of Jungian psychology, and the reason men and women seek out partners that unconsciously represent our mothers in the case of men and fathers in the case of women. Thus, bound up by complexes--one has to work to unite Persephony with her mother, so that this image is raised to clarity and perfection. The next path, number 21 is dedicated to Prometheus, and the path relates to fire and symbolizes the will as the passion of the magician, a passionate nature that before his encounter with this path, he was not as acutely aware of. Although, this passion may be in conflict with the magician and so, it is his work to align himself with the will in order to move forward. It is this passionate will that when fully harmonized results in union with the Shekinah and leads to the magician's projection of the Great Work, which is the Adam Qadmon and the magician's own personal god--sometimes referred to as the vision of the Holy Guardian Angel. The next path is the Sun, followed by the Moon, the latter corresponds to Hecate as the goddess of the underworld and symbolizes the unconscious and the Shadow of Jungian psychology. Resh is Helios who drives his chariot across the sky, Helios’ nature being elusive, one hardly ever gets a glimpse at him, although for one who has taken up the journey through the four worlds, there is a very good chance that him and this god will meet and may even become allies. Hephaestus corresponds to the eighteenth path and the Emperor Atu, it connects Yesod to Netzach and together with the nineteenth and fifteenth paths accounts for the zeal generated by one who has made the journey thus far. The way to Tiphareth is made clear and one is transformed and moved to action by the rays of the sun, even though the action required is to venture deeply into the underworld and confront that which has not yet been resolved. The seventeenth path is allocated to Aries and the planet mars, it is symbolic of violent and unexpected change that demands vigilance in order to overcome the circumstances one’s faced with. Pan is associated with the Ego and the Devil Atu of the sixteenth path and Eros is Art and Death is Cerberus, together these cards depict the magician being raised from the astral to the ethical triad, piercing the veil of Paroketh, and the death of Zagreus. The path of Sagittarius symbolized by the Art Atu is the path that connects the Sun and the Moon, and it is along this path where we meet the climax of our hero’s journey. Zagreus was the son of Zeus and Persephony, and he is sometimes referred to as Dionysus Zagreus, it is told that he was so handsome and perfect that he fell in love with himself, and one day while musing at his own reflection--a few Titans saw him and immediately realized that he must be a god. Hence the Titans snatched up the young Zagreus and tore him to pieces, and after tearing the limbs off of his body they started cooking the dismembered god in a big cauldron with the intention of eating him. Zeus found out about what had happened and sent Apollo to rescue his son, but by then it was already too late, the god was already dead and on his way to Hades. The thirteenth path is attributed to the Hanged Man and Charon. Thus, the card is associated with putrefaction, the will as if restrained and unable to help the paralyzing condition, which in this instance is depicted as the soul of Zagreus being ferried across the river Styx. It is a situation that can only be positively affected by what some call grace and demands very little if any action from the subject. Once in his father's arms--Zagreus is resurrected to live life among the gods of Olympus, and he is given a collection of tutors to make sure he's raised properly, and nobody tries to eat him again. The two most memorable of these are Priapus and Selenus, these two helped Dionysus grow up and they are attributed as follows, Priapus belongs to the Lust Atu and Selenus corresponds to the Hermit and the Wheel, before I forget, is the tenth path and corresponds to the Fates and Selenus is path number nine and Priapus corresponds to number eleven. Both Priapus and Selenus were responsible for the young god’s tutelage and marks the beginning of the divine comedy. Priapus for example, once wrote a poem detailing, among other things, his many escapades alongside Dionysus, Pan and the Satyrs. Priapus was a god of fertility and although he was cursed so that he couldn’t perform his man duties, he is a figure of lust and pride--who had a burning enthusiasm for life that he imparted to the young Dionysus, he is a figure of pure joy. But nobody loved the little god more than Selenus, who was known for his wisdom and imparted to Dionysus all that he knew about philosophy and existence and how he should behave and live life as a god. Dike according to these attributions is associated to the eighth path and is symbolized in the Tarot by the Adjustment Atu. She is the Greek version of Maat--the Egyptian goddess who sits in judgement of the dead and decides by weighing a heart against one of her feathers, whether or not the person is allowed to go to the afterlife. Along this path Dionysus is all grown up and now has the responsibility to find balance between his external and internal worlds and establish a reality for himself wherein which he may fulfil his potential as the god of inspiration. Path number seven or Cheth is represented by Nike, the goddess of victory and a companion of Athena, a number corresponding to this path is 418 and is the number of the Great Work and Nike is the Greek goddess of victory. Number six is the path of Hestia, Rhea’s oldest daughter and corresponds to the Lovers Atu, it symbolizes the consummation of the Royal Wedding, where the Adept’s consciousness is flooded with inspiration from the Shekinah in its most direct relation, and it is in the light of this Grace that the daughter is placed upon the throne of the mother. In fact, according to this mythology, upon meeting Dionysus--Hestia relinquished her throne to him, thus giving him authority to rule over the people of Greece. She was most beloved by the Greeks but sought a quieter life and chose Dionysus as her successor, thus giving us a perfect allegory representing the idea of the daughter's place within Thelemic theology--now being the consort of the king of the gods, and inextricably connected to human life on earth and establishes a new perspective about the true nature of divinity. A sense of divinity that stands as the fulfilment of a divine promise; that has at last been realized and is called the Aeon of Horus. The fifth path is Vau and symbolic of initiation, and attributed to Zeus, who is the Demiurge and his connection to the Earth is established at the bottom with the figure of Malkah, who as mentioned represents the Shekinah in Malkuth. The union between Dionysus and Hestia awakens the eld of the King--her father, which is symbolized by the Star and the god Poseidon, the path indicates ecstasy as the passionate inspiration received by aligning all of one’s faculties with the divine will of Chokmah. The Priestess corresponds to Artemis and is the fourth path on the tree, the symbolism indicates the birth of a child, meaning the Magickal Child which is the Holy Guardian Angel, that will guide the magician further along the path. The last paths are as follow, Aleph is Nyx and the Fool, Beth is Aether and the Magus, and Daleth is Phanes. Phanes is the god who gestates in the World Egg, the god of light--who is androgenous and symbolizes the potential for creation, as well as being consciousness itself. He is created as a result of the union between Chokmah and Binah, thus the paths above the Abyss can only be understood within the context of sexual magick, and according to the Tarot this path is that of the Empress.

For anyone who noticed that I have contradicted most of Crowley's correspondences in 777. There is a very simple explanation for this, and that is, Crowley was wrong. His apparent grasping is evidenced by how many of the gods are scattered throughout the tree in more than one place. There is very little, if any, coherence found with these attributions as presented in 777.

“Love is the law, love under will.”