Aries on the Qabalistic Tree of Life

The Qabalah’s Tree of Life is a glyph that represents, simultaneously, two directions: the flow of the Divine from Above to Below, and the Path of Return to Source, from Below to Above, for those on spiritual journeys of enlightenment. It is a glyph that represents all of creation and all the energies of creation.

The Tree of Life is comprised of ten circles called Sephiroth and the 22 paths that connect them. The Paths are subjective, and allocated to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet as well as the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot. The 10 Spheres are objective and are considered emmanations of the Divine. They are allocated to the First Swirlings, the Zodiac, the six visible planets, the Moon and the Earth.

Aries is represented on the Tree of Life through its associated Tarot Card, which is Key 4, The Emperor. The 15th Path connects Chokmah (Wisdom) to Tiphareth (Beauty) on the Tree of Life. The Sefer Yetzirah tells us that “the Fifteenth Path is the Constituting Intelligence, so called because it constitutes the substance of creation in pure darkness, and men have spoken of these contemplations; it is that darkness spoken of in Scripture, Job xxxviii.9. “a thick darkness a swaddling band for it.””

The Emperor card is attributed to the zodiac sign of Aries, a cardinal fire sign that is aligned with concepts of leadership and action, traits that are shared with the idea of an Emperor.

The Age of Taurus is generally considered to have lasted from approximately 4300 BC to 2150 BC. This period, spanning the Early Bronze Age, was defined by the Sun rising in the constellation Taurus during the spring equinox, with a focus on agriculture, fertility, wealth accumulation, and massive monument building. The biblical story of the golden calf is often associated with this era, representing the end of the Taurus age and the shift to the Aries age. The Minotaur legengs also arose during the Age of Taurus, reflecting the era’s widespread bull worship in Mediterranean cultures.

Crowley states that the child (seen in the Thoth deck and others) is representative of the transition into the Age of Horus, which has supplanted the Age of the Dying God. He states rather cryptically that “the rhythm of the Hierophant is such that he moves only at intervals of 2000 years.” This is a direct reference to the Procession of the Equinoxes that divide the Great Year into its 12 Ages. This could be interpreted that the religious or spiritual teachings of each Age is reflective of that Age, and as the Hierophant moves with the rhythmic changes from Age to Age, the spiritual lessons are adjusted as necessary. In many depictions of the Heirophant, he is holding a scroll, which is considered the “Word” that through Vau’s gift of “Hearing” is heard. Seen simply, it is possible that our interpretations of this Word and the symbolism and mode of the Hierophant’s teachings adapts according to the Age we are in.

Presently, we are entering the Age of Aquarius, and by all indications, the Age of AI. Our interpretation of the Word, via “the Magus of the Eternal” may be changing once again.

Sources:
Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Chang
Kabbalah by Charles Ponce
Qabalistic Tarot by Rober Wang
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kynes
Hermetic Qabalah by Oliver St. John
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

The Secret Alchemy of Aries

The Mystery of ALCHEMY

Alchemy is an enigmatic subject. It can feel super esoteric, ancient, obscure and can be off-putting, with its strange imagery and odd terms. However, once it is hoisted into the 21st century, and its terms are brought into a psychological light,  it can be recognized as a powerful system for spiritual development and manifestation. To provide this clarification is one of the goals of Sacred Circuit.

There are two basic types of Alchemy, spiritual and physical. Spiritual alchemy comprises the bulk of what you find when you search the term online, or browse books on the subject. Spiritual alchemy involves a system of personal refinement and growth; it is highly psychological in this way. Physical alchemy is actual lab work and experiments. Both of these systems include seven “operations” which are loosely based on the planetary and chakra systems. True Alchemists of old advised that integrating both spiritual and physical alchemy was necessary if substantial personal transformation was desired.

There is another more rarely used system of twelve operations, which correspond to the Zodiac. The twelve steps can be seen as a more detailed version of the seven steps. Some of them have been split or divided into sub categories, but most are added in. For Hermetic purposes, which integrate Qabalah, Tarot and Astrology with Alchemy, and for use with work with the Astrological signs of the Zodiac, the twelve-operation system is highly effective, and it is what we have embraced here at Sacred Circuit. It can be seen as a roadmap of spiritual transmutation via astrology.

Each of the twelve operations — Calcination, Congelation, Fixation, Dissolution, Digestion, Distillation, Sublimation, Separation, Incineration, Fermentation, Multiplication and Projection — corresponds to an Astrological sign, and mirrors a stage in the initiate’s inner work   — dissolving attachments, purifying desires, and reuniting fragmented aspects of the psyche, all in alignment with the zodiac.

This Alchemical-Zodiacal journey is not only about personal growth and spiritual enlightenment, it is also about manifestation. As the soul undergoes inner purification, it evolves to become a more receptive vessel for the Divine to enter into the realm of forms. Through these operations, the practitioner does not only manifest desires — they come to embody them. Alchemy, Qabalah, Tarot and Astrology together teach that manifestation is not control over reality, but harmony with the Great Work —the Magnum Opus of the Soul.

THE ALCHEMY of the sign of ARIES

The Alchemical Operation assigned to Aries is Calcination. Calcination, to burn, is one of the 7 Operations that are more commonly known, and many find the term confusing, as it is fairly close in meaning to Incineration, which also means burning. However after much research, the distinction we have come to settle on is that Calcination is a psychological burning away of unwanted parts, to physically create powders or burn with acids, or to dehydrate, and can also indicate the initial flame of the Alchemical journey. Incineration, on the other hand, is burning with the intent to completely reduce to ash, like the physical process of cremation. The fire of Calcination is not an obliterating fire, bur rather burns away unwanted, unnecessary, contaminated or otherwise un-useful parts, either by transforming the material into powders or other useful types of calcine or oxides, or burning away everything except what is essential. It is considered the first step in spiritual journeys, as societal programming, self-lies, facades, hardened psyches and hardened dominant Egos must all be burned away for any genuine growth to begin.

The Ego is usually where we speak from when we say “I am,” which is also the astrological phrase for Aries. It has been targeted for elimination in most spiritual modalities, as it can block our access to our higher selves. To remove or soften the Ego is the main focus of personal Calcination. Spiritual/religious paths including Buddhism, Sufism, as well Christian mysticism all explicitly aim at dissolving or transcending the ego as well, because they see it causes the illusion of separation, creating a self vs. other mode of operation that gives rise to fear, attachment, manipulation and control-seeking.

In alchemy, the Ego is often represented as the King, as the King is symbolic of Consciousness, the Will, fixed dominant Ego, or ruling structure. The King has direct ties to the Emperor in the Tarot, which is the Major Arcana associated with Aries and therefore Calcination; the Emperor Card symbolizes rulership and government, along with paternity, Will, structure and Selfhood. Dennis Hauck, in his book “The Complete Idiots Guide to Alchemy”, states the following: ”The sacrifice of the King was an important motif in alchemy. In the middle Ages, there were many festivals in which an effigy of the King was burnt, so his spirit could be reborn and multiply for the good of the whole community.”

This tradition would seem to continue today with the Burning Man festivals that occur in Nevada’s Black Rock desert every year, whose culmination involves participants burning a huge wooden effigy of a man. The symbolism of the Burning Man gathering could be regarded as a large-scale enactment of Calcination and its correspondence with the King (or Emperor) as the fiery principle of Will and Ego. Participants construct and ultimately burn “the Man” as a ritualized destruction of form that mirrors Calcination’s purpose, to reduce the Ego and false self to ash so that its essential core may be revealed, often at the same time as consciousness-expanding drugs are consumed.

In both the laboratory and the psyche, Calcination initiates the Great Work by stripping away excess and exposing truth. It represents the humbling of the King, or the freeing of his spirit, so that a higher consciousness can reveal the path forward of one’s spiritual journey. Spiritual Calcination is the beginning point of real transformation. It is not the destruction of the Self, but the refinement of it into something enduring, grounded and genuine. The Spring, Vernal Equinox or during the time of Aries (March 20 to April 20) is a perfect time to begin the process.

---

Spiritual Calcination Meditations

Meditations from Spiritual Alchemy, Metamorphosis of Body, Mind and Sou, by Dennis William Hauck

1. The Mantra of Self

The principle of this meditation is to keeping the computer mind that generates thought silent by keeping it busy processing a looped or endless program. In Eastern alchemy, this name or phrase is called a “mantra.” Whether spoken or not, words and sounds have vibrations which can be conducive to meditation. Saying your name over and over is one of these looping mantras that eventually silences the ego and its habitual creation of thoughts. Just say your name over and over and try to find understand what it means. This technique was a favorite of the spiritual alchemist Alfred Lord Tennyson, who discovered it while still a child.

“A kind of trance I have frequently had,” he wrote, “quite up from my boyhood, when I have been all alone. This has generally come upon me through repeating my own name to myself silently, until all at once, as it were out of the intensity of the consciousness of individuality, the individuality itself seemed to dissolve and fade away into boundless being; and this is not a confused state but the clearest of the clearest, the surest of the surest, the weirdest of the weirdest, utterly beyond words, where death was an almost laughable impossibility,

the loss of personality seeming no extinction, but the only true life.”

Or simply relax and concentrate on the breath, while periodically asking yourself the question “Who is aware?” In the silence of the response, you can feel your own consciousness at the ground of your being. Alternatively, sit in a silent, dark room and repeat your name to yourself over and over, trying to determine what it really means. Not merely repeating but to be alchemical must be a living thought. The ego cannot survive that kind of intense scrutiny. By observing yourself observing yourself, you enter an infinite progression or mental loop — until finally there is no difference between the observer and the observed, between you and your consciousness. The steps in this procedure are as follows:

1) Close your eyes and breathe deeply and regularly. Focus on saying your own name as if calling someone. Repeat your name in your mind with each exhalation. When your mind wanders, gently return it to your name as it repeats automatically as you breathe out. Repeat it like a mantra to make your ego show itself or surface. You are calling the ego forth because you know its name.

2) Let feelings rise but not thoughts. Replace any extraneous thoughts with mantra of your name.

3) In this state of objectivity, your hidden faults come to light. You many be disappointed when see our yourself as a social animal, lustful, devious, materialistic, striving, and trapped in the prison of your own thoughts.

4) Now stop saying your name, and rest in the silence of your mind. Hidden in the darkness and silence is something wonderful. From this emptiness will come your true essence, an infinitely wise presence that is your unborn Self.

2: Crushing The Ego

Let's begin our work in the Inner Laboratory by trying to crush ego. This is not an easy task. Most people have built their entire lives around the desires and demands of their ego, although, for each of us, there have been moments of utter humiliation in which ego has been at least momentarily pulverized. Think back to one of these experiences in your own life and use that energy to try to free yourself from the control of ego. Think back. Did someone ever really embarrass you? Did you ever make a wrong decision that caused pain or havoc for others? Were you ever caught performing some act you were not supposed to be doing? Did anyone ever blame you for something bad happening? How did you feel at these moments when your ego was deflated or defeated? Be careful not to rationalize or try to blame others! Remember ego is constantly rewriting history to portray itself in a better light. Bring back those embarrassing events and hurt feelings as vividly and completely as you can. They have great power to put your ego in its place and expose the falsity of the world it supports.

Another way to crush ego is soliciting honest input from friends and loved ones. Unfortunately, most of us have built up a support system of people around us who only respond to our ego and have little feeling for our true essence. However, if you have friends you trust to be truthful, ask them for an honest appraisal of your personality or even invite them to play a “truth or dare” game in which you illicit and exchange honest opinions of each other. This of course can be a dangerous game to play, since ego will do anything in its power to protect itself, including showing anger and using insights vengefully to get back at someone for a perceived attack. Whatever method you use, after awhile you should be able to just remember what it felt like to have a crushed ego and perpetuate that attitude for use in the next phases of your work. Conquering the false identity is more important than you think. Personal ego and the superego of society (nationalism and cultural bias) are the greatest threats to personal freedom and intentional transformation. You have to find a way to get beyond them to really change yourself, to reveal your spiritual essence and live your life in truth. The following steps are part of this simple meditation:

1) Slowly put on your meditative “lab coat” (relax each part of the body in turn.) In the meditative state, you are temporarily divorced from ego and can clearly see the follies and injustices of ego-centered existence.

2) In this relaxed state, try to be as brutally honest about your behavior towards others, your illusions, your projected self, and other false components of your social personality. Think back on your most denigrating experiences, the times when you “got burned.” Realize how much you never wanted to let those things happen again. Your ego has gone to extreme lengths to get even or to never allow the opportunity for such things to take place again. Understand how your ego has turned you into a reactive robot through its power of controlling your thoughts, judgments, and emotions.

3) After continuing this ruthless and intense introspection for some time, you will discover that your ego is entirely a reactive device designed to perpetuate the illusion of itself. The alchemists saw the ego’s hardened thoughts as “Salt” that forms the structure of our personalities. Sometime they spoke of them as “metals” within us and believed they made up our “temperament.” It is the job of the Black Phase of alchemy (Calcination and Dissolution) to dissolve this Salt or melt the inner metals to enable us to begin the work of personal transmutation. Or as alchemist Gerhardt Dorn instructed: “Transmute yourselves from dead stones into living philosophical stones.”

3: Bodily Calcination

As with all the operations in alchemy, Calcination takes place not only on the psychological and spiritual levels but also within the body itself. Furthermore, you can get a good idea of the intensity required in working with Fire on the mental and spiritual levels by experiencing it on the physical level. Bodily Calcination uses aerobic exercises to fan the fires of metabolism. Jogging, biking, swimming, or just rapid breathing in a sitting position all fan the Fire of metabolism.

Aside from releasing knots of trapped energy along the spine, the Bellows Breath has health benefits such as oxygenating the blood and cleansing toxins, and regular practice quickly expands lung capacity. The Bellows Breath combines the elements of Fire and Air, which is a powerful spiritizing combination of alchemical forces. To perform the consciousness-altering Breath of Fire or “Bellows Breath,” follow the following steps:

1) Sit on the floor cross-legged or resting on the knees with the legs bent underneath. Focus on the energy field just below the navel at the birth point of the life force.

2) The breath is very rapid, continuous and powerful with no pause between inhaling and exhaling. The rate is about two exhalations per second.

3) As you exhale, push out the air like a bellows by pulling the navel point in toward the spine. When you inhale, use a forward thrust of the navel to bring air into the lungs.

4) Try to keep a smooth, balanced breath with no emphasis on the either the taking or expulsion of air.

5) After a few minutes of “fanning the fire,” you will start to feel a warmth rise from the stomach and accumulate in the head. Sometimes practitioners report being able to see a shining Quintessence of activated life force within, if they close their eyes after about five minutes of performing this strenuous exercise.

6) After about ten minutes, most people experience a “blunting of the ego” which is the final goal for many yogis. If you try to stop abruptly at this point, there is sometimes a bouncing or spilling sensation as the energy returns to the psychospiritual cauldron at the base of the spine.

7) If you continue, a fluid warmth rises from that area to the head and then spreads slowly to other locations in the body. Use this opportunity to experience the rising energy without making any assumptions or judgments about what is going on. Simply feel the pure energy and how it seems to follow thought to different areas of the body.

The result of such calcining exercises on the body is a purification of bodily systems, elimination of toxins, and a concentration of life force. Mindful physical exercise is a powerful tool in personal transformation if performed with the right attitude. The body is not only the temple of the soul, it can become a sacred talisman to remind us that alchemy is real and works on levels. If you are able, perform some type of intense aerobic exercise and focus the Fire generated by the physical effort on your own personality, ego illusions, and spiritual purity. The clarity generated by the light of this internal Fire will reveal many true things about your current state of transformation.

Sources:
Mytho-Hermetic Dictionary by Dom Antoin-Josef Pernety
The Alchemy of Tarot by Juno Lucino
Hermetic Alchemy - The Golden Dawn Alchemy by Paul Foster Case
Qabalistic Tarot by Rober Wang
Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kynes
The Idiot’s Complete Guide to Alchemy by Dennis William Hauck
Spiritual Alchemy, Metamorphosis of the Body, Mind and Spirit, by Dennis William Hauck
Hermetic Qabalah by Oliver St. John
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

---

The Tarot Cards of Aries

The Major Arcana Tarot Card allocated to the sign of Aries is The Emperor card. The general meaning of this card is leadership, dominion, structure, government, Paternity, Sight & Vision, competition, being first and military might.
The Minor Arcana Cards of the Two, Three and Four of Wands have less obvious connections to the sign of Aries. However Aries is a fire sign, which aligns it with the Suit of Wands, the Fire suit. When a Decan Wheel is consulted (see image below), the first Decan of Aries is found to correspond to the Two of Wands, (Mastery, or the Lord of Dominion.) The second Decan corresponds to the Three (Virility, Quickening of Creative Projects, or the Lord of Established Strength) and the third Decan to the Four (Creative Checkpoint, or the Lord of Perfected Work). If your Sun sign is Aries, you can determine which minor card is “your” card, and it can be used as an alternate Identifier, or you may contemplate how the card is thematic in your life. Additionally, using the Decan Wheel allows for time to be introduced into readings.

What exactly is a Decan Wheel? A “Decan Wheel” divides a circle, which has 360 degrees, into 36 10-degree segments (“dec” means 10.) Each of these 36 segments correspond to one of the Minor Arcana cards in the Tarot, excluding the Aces and the Court Cards. The 36 segments are grouped into 12 groups of 3. The 12 groups are the Zodiac signs, and the 3 within those groups are the Cardinal (1st decan), Fixed (second decan) and Mutable (third decan) sub-aspects of each sign. So for example if your birthday is October 6, your birthday falls within the approximate 10- day segment of the 2nd decan of Libra. This indicates your birthday is a Fixed sub-aspect (the 2nd decan) of a Cardinal sign (Libra), and corresponds to the 3 of Swords. Reflecting on your particular set of aspect & correspondence will undoubtedly inspire insights about yourself and your life.

Sources:
Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Change
Tarot Deciphered by T. Susan Chang & MM Maleen
Qabalistic Tarot by Rober Wang

The Zodiac Sign of Aries

The Zodiac Year begins with Aries in March, which is considered the first sign. Those who are born from approximately March 20 to April 20 (depending upon the year) are born under the sign of Aries. Aries is a Fire sign. It is also a Cardinal sign, meaning that people born under this sign excel at innovating change, and adapting to changes in time and space.

The element associated with Pisces is Fire, and alongside Leo and Sagittarius, it forms the Fire triplicity. (The Fire Triplicity is one of four elemental triplicities in the zodiac, with the other three being Water, Earth, and Air.)
The symbol of Aries is a Ram. In general, Aries energetic and full of action, have a good sense of self and are optimistic. When thwarted they can succumb to sarcasm or become harsh.

Note: Today is also the first day of Spring, or the Vernal Equinox! The vernal equinox marks the moment when day and night are nearly equal in length, as the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving northward. Technically, the moment when day and night are mathematically most equal is called the EquiLux, which happens 2-3 days before or after the Equinoxs - this year it occurred on March 17, St. Patrick’s day. However the Equinox is usually more regarded for its astrological alignments as the first day of Spring. It has long been associated with renewal, balance, and the reawakening of life. Symbolically, it represents a point of equilibrium between light and darkness, and as a gateway of transformation and emergence.

ELEMENT: Fire, active
KEY PHRASE: “I Am”
NEED: The need to be independent and deveop self-awareness
PLANETS: Ruler: Marse, Detriment: Venus, Exaltation: Sun, Fall: Saturn
MODALITY: Cardinal
POLARITY: Active
OPPOSITE SIGN: Libra
HOUSE: 1st House of how others see you, appearance and outer personality
SYMBOL: The Ram
CRYSTAL: Carnelian (boosting) and Amethyst (balancing)
BIRTHSTONE: Diamond (April) and Aquamarine (March)
ESSENTIAL OILS: Rosemary (boosting) and Patchouli (balancing)
PATH ON THE TREE OF LIFE: Path 15, Son of the Morning, Chief Among the Mighty
The fifteen Path is the Constituting Intelligence, so called because it constitutes the substance of creation in pure darkness, and men have spoken of contemplations; it is that darkness spoken of in Scripture, Job xxxvii.9. “and thick darkness a swaddling band for it.”
TAROT: Key 4 - The Emperor
HEBREW LETTER: Heh, window, sight
RELATED SOUND: C Natural
ALCHEMICAL OPERATION: Calcination
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
Desirable: Enterprising, action, ambition, courage, ardor, industry, generousity, pioneering, practicality, constructive, leadership
Undesirable: belligerence, headstrong, excitability, audaciousness, impatience, irresolution, imprudence, insubordination, quarrelsomeness, foolhardiness, selfishness, disregard, jealousy

Sources:

Astrological Keywords by Manly P. Hall
The New A to Z Horiscope Maker and Delineator by Llewellyn George
Qabalistic Tarot by Rober Wang
Astrology for Yourself by Douglass Bloch & Demetra George
A Beginners Guide to Astrology by Lisa Butterworth
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

Follow Us at: https://linktr.ee/sacredcircuit