Ahzriel wrote:@leonardo,
ive been reading your blog, good stuff! you ever consider writing an article concerning the geometric symbols related to the sephiroth, and the symbols created by planets orbits, and how they relate? i would also be really interested in your take on the differences between the western and eastern heart centers. they're both considered the balance point, respectively, and they are kind of similar (i have done the middle pillar quite a bit in the past and lately ive been working with the chakras (i dont consider them to be the same things, although a lot of people do)) but the heart chakra lacks the "fire" that is so central to the western system.from reading your blog it seems you have decent amount of experience with both, and i would like to hear your view on it.
Thank you Ahzriel
To be perfectly honest, my path took a huge deviation a few years back to a more witchcraft/shamanic and spirit based practice (focusing on the PGM). My interest in the highly intellectualized Kabbalistic models and such has thus waned significantly.
Regarding the sefirot and chakras, I agree with you. I don’t think they are the same thing, though there are undoubtedly many similarities primarily when used to identify subtle energy centers in the human body.The Macroanthropos ritual was my personal attempt at creating a unified system building from the Middle Pillar rite and incorporating the Ari and Gra trees which I found to be far more cohesive than the tree models popularized in the Western Lodge traditions. It worked quite well given geometry of the trees in relation to the proportions of the human body. When the horizontal (mother) paths are taken into consideration with the sefirot the tree produces a very clear vertical system of 7 subtle centers along the central channel of the body.
The heart chakra and Fire element is an interesting and I suspect rather polarizing topic. In traditional Tantra it is more commonly attributed to the element of Air (or rather Breath), Fire being in the Solar-Plexus. This is due the concept of purifying the elements and the directionality of the kundalini from base up (verses the Western directionality of top-down). Thus the four elements are purified from the most dense in the Muladhara-chakra to the least dense in the Anahata-chakra in the order of Earth-Water-Fire-Air/Breath.
This is why I developed my version of the Middle pillar that incorporates the horizontal paths. Doing so, enabled me to keep the tantric attribution of the chakras mapped onto the body while also incorporating the sefirot AND the mother letters. If you look at how I mapped the trees (based on the proportions of the human body), you will find that Tiferet actually corresponds to the Solar-Plexus and it is the horizontal Aleph path (Ruach/Air/Spirit/Breath) that aligns with the heart.