Serving the ideals of the Rosicrucian Movement

Kabala Library

Greek Kabala Series

Greek Kabala Part 10

by Jack Courtis

The masculine journey should be much easier because it is very clearly defined on the Tree of Life. By contrast, the feminine journey appears disjointed on the Tree, but this is appearance only. Whereas the feminine journey is non-linear and has to be lived and experienced to be understood, the masculine journey is very left brain in its structure and grasping it intellectually, is part of the experience. Let us see it on the Tree:

The Masculine Journey

The way in which the path twists and turns reminds us of the mystical labyrinth, the maze of Chartres, the alchemical rose garden and the serpentine path of the activation of the chakras. In typical masculine, linear fashion, we have the description of the experiences of the journey already given to us. They exist in the Apocalypse of John as the 7 Letters to the 7 churches. Let us begin by seeing 7 steps of the masculine journey in the table below:

Name Greek English Number Attribute Meaning
Alfa Α , α A, a 1 Moon 1st chakra
Epsilon Ε , ε E, e 5 Mercury 2nd chakra
Eta Η , η H, h 8 Venus 3rd chakra
Iota Ι , ι I, i 10 Sun 4th chakra
Omicron Ο , ο O, o 70 Mars 5th chakra
Ipsilon Υ , υ I, i 400 Jupiter 6th chakra
Omega Ω , ω O, o 800 Saturn 7th chakra

How do we get the connection between the masculine journey and the Apocalypse of John? In the Apocalypse 1:17 Christ says:

Egw   eimi   o    prwtoV   kai   o   esctoV
I    am    the   first    and  the  last

How many words do you see? There are 7. How many Letters to how many churches? There are 7. How many vowels in the Greek alphabet? There are 7. How many planets and chakras are there? There are 7. Which is the first letter and first vowel in the Greek alphabet? Alfa. Which is the last letter and the last vowel in the Greek alphabet? Omega. Christ, the "I am", is the entirety of the 3 journeys, but especially the whole of the masculine journey of 7 steps.

The numerical value of the first and last letters/vowels A W (alfa + omega) is 1 + 800 = 801, which is the numerical value of Peristera , the Greek word for "dove". The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism. Hence the masculine path of 7 steps is the path of the Holy Spirit in the sort of way in which the feminine path of 5 steps is the path of Sofia. One more thing before we begin. The 7 steps of the masculine journey are the outer aspect of an inner reality, the 7 stages of the ascent of the soul described in the Gnostic Books of Ieou. More on that later.

One further thing. We shall have to consider the identity of "He" that speaks to John and dictates the 7 Letters. He is described in the Apocalypse 1:13-16 as:

  1. the Son of man
  2. clothed with a garment down to the foot
  3. girt with a golden girdle
  4. his head & hairs white like wool/snow
  5. his eyes as a flame of fire
  6. his feet like fine brass
  7. his voice as the sound of many waters
  8. in his right hand 7 stars
  9. out of his mouth a sharp two edged sword
  10. his countenance as the sun.

He is described in 10 statements because there are 10 spheres on the Tree of Life. "He" is not a member of humanity, as we might believe, just because he is said to be the Son of man. There are 3 different Greek words for "man" used at the time of Christ. Two of them refer to ordinary men but the third, anqrwpoV (anthropos), refers to a higher principle and is the word used to describe Christ. Anthropos is used in 61 different ways in the New Testament and all those meanings derive from the same word. Remember the elephant we are trying to squash into a phone booth? We understand the expression "Son of man" to be an emanation of the First Principle. That is, Anthropos is the personification of the First Principle, while the Son of man, as Christ, is the personified emanation of the First Principle.

Let us begin the masculine journey.

Step 1 – Moon

On the Greek Tree of Life the paths begin from the bottom and go up to the top. This is the first path on the Tree as well as the first letter and vowel in the Greek alphabet. It is attributed to the Moon and connects Kingdom to Foundation. We already know that the principal pagan deity of Ephesos at the time of Christ was Artemis, the goddess of the Moon. She is a virgin and it is a significant that the first masculine step is analogous to the Virgin of the first feminine step.

Directly important to the masculine view of the world is that we already know what to expect from this path because we have the description of the experience in the Apocalypse of John 2:1-7, as the first Letter to the church in Ephesos. Before we proceed it is important to note that in the present series of articles, it is impossible to do justice to the 7 Letters to the 7 churches. The full treatment of the entire Apocalypse has been given elsewhere by this writer. Here we shall only look at summaries of the relevant passages of scripture. In each case, John is told to write not to the church, but to the angel of that church; that is he is addressing a higher level of consciousness. Let us look at the summary:

  1. To Ephesos
  2. says the holder of the 7 stars
  3. I know your works
  4. I have something against you
  5. repent
  6. hear what the spirit says
  7. he who overcomes shall eat of the Tree of Life.

The person dictating the letter to John is the kosmic Christ. He addresses each of us at Ephesos as the metaphysical place from where our journey begins. Of course he holds the 7 stars, they are the 7 chakras. He knows what each of us has done or failed to do, he knows our works. The central issue is that we are to "repent". The Greek word is metanohson (metanoison). Our society believes that we have to do little more than to beg for forgiveness and then all will be well. Not true. The word for "repent" comes from a word we have already seen: NoesiV (Noesis) Understanding. It is the name of the third sphere of the Tree of Life. We are commanded to undergo metanoesis, that is, to go beyond understanding and turn our fundamental nature around. It is a very deep change of our inner nature.

This point is so important, that it deserves a whole book. A great deal of mischief has been caused by our failure to properly understand Greek. (The elephant and the phone booth again.) We are commanded to undergo a change in our nature that is so fundamental, that we literally cannot understand it. The first step in the male journey demands that we stop thinking like men. It requires us to discard the very basis of our whole way of life. Merely saying "I’m sorry" as repentance, is clearly not enough. There must be a turning around of our fundamental nature. You thought the female journey was tough, didn’t you?

So how do we change our fundamental nature? Have you tried the 12 spiritual disciplines, or like men, merely read about them and think you understand them? The 12 disciplines are the minimum standard of behaviour on the inner journey. What is the point of all this? "He who overcomes shall eat of the Tree of Life". He who undergoes metanoesis, shall absorb the fruit of the Tree. Is the result worth the effort? Unless we do the 12 disciplines we shall not understand that we have to go beyond understanding.

And this is only the first step.

grail12