Imagination, potential and reality.

[Azvanna]

My experiences and learnings over the last few months have taken some pretty empowering turns. There's some ideas I want to open up to give over to the floor. If anyone has a good understanding of the Sephirots of the Tree of Life, please I'd love to hear your contributions.

I have been turning over the idea 'the shadows prove the sunshine.' I won't even pretend to understand the Tree of Life, but what I did see in it completely revolutionised my understanding of the Trinity.

I cannot find this picture online, but I saw an inspiring portrait of a Hindu god.. firey orange on one side and cool blue on the other. I believe it was Shiva. Whenever I am in prayer pose, I am reminded of the union of left and right, male and female, dark and light. The balance of these is a thing to be cherished, sought after, highly prized.

In the Tree of Life, I see a similar formula. Down the left hand side are the feminine qualities (sephirot) of the supernatural divine. I was surprised to note how masculine these sounded at first. For example the feminine attribute Gevurah - Power: Discernment, Ethics, Restraints, Justice. Its male counterpart on the right is Chesed- Grace: Unconditional love, Generosity, Expansion. This ran counter to my first responses when asked 'describe the divine feminine!'

After further reading, I'm beginning to think of the male-ness of God as imagination or the possibility of what could be. The feminine is the environment or the setting of what can be brought forth. The product is the Christ. So when we are asked to put away the constraints of the flesh, we are striving to live beyond our 'setting' and to move into bringing forth the divine potential. We are striving to live to our full divinely inspired potential.

In my experiences lately, I'm being forced to embrace what I would have previously denied and commanded simply to leave. Instead, I am forced to continue to strive and hope and see how Christ manifests in my life and within me. It's stupendously empowering.

If anyone has further insights into the Tree of Life, please share.

[anunitu]

On the hindu gods,this google pics might help you find the one you described

Here.
(https://www.google.com/search?q=krishna&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNi8-8zPTTAhXCKCYKHb_rD3YQ_AUIBigB&biw=1360&bih=612#tbm=isch&q=hindu+gods&chips=q:hindu%20gods)

[Azvanna]

On the hindu gods,this google pics might help you find the one you described

Here.
(https://www.google.com/search?q=krishna&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNi8-8zPTTAhXCKCYKHb_rD3YQ_AUIBigB&biw=1360&bih=612#tbm=isch&q=hindu+gods&chips=q:hindu%20gods)
Well those are better than what I found but no, not there .

[anunitu]

Might this be the image you saw.
http://reckontalk-6814.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Mystic-Fascinating-Less-Known-Stories-About-Lord-Shiva-9.jpg

Found by searching "Shiva the destroyer"

[Azvanna]

Might this be the image you saw.
http://reckontalk-6814.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Mystic-Fascinating-Less-Known-Stories-About-Lord-Shiva-9.jpg

Found by searching "Shiva the destroyer"

Hm it's not loading for me. If I find the pic, I'll post it myself. Thanks for your help all the same!

[anunitu]

I managed to download the pic if you want it,let me know.

- - - Updated - - -

5228

You may be able to save this one.

[Azvanna]

Very similar but not it! Same concept. Thank you 😁 I think it was on a poster.

[anunitu]

Found this site (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/444941638163056564/)

https://img0.etsystatic.com/052/1/8627354/il_570xN.738412430_rg14.jpg

They sell posters and art.

[Azvanna]

Okay, you can probably stop with the pictures now :p Or just pm them to me direct. I'd like that.

So yea, maybe this will be a conversation with myself but let's see.

The depiction of Shiva melded with Shakti and right hand and left hand paths.. they're all so relevant as I what I'm exploring is how dark and light energies work together to manifest divinity. As I am made in the image of divinity, it is my destiny to reach that divine potential.

A little bit about the power of the word. Here is why I believe words to be so powerful.. they are a mimicry of creation. To speak, we have thought/language and then sound. You have to have imagined what to say. Then you give it a setting in sound wave. When these two are working properly, then you have a powerfully creative word. A true or meaningful word spoken at the right time at the right place.

[anunitu]

Interesting concept..Is it the idea that without dark,there can be no true light. Contrast creates the whole picture?

Getting very deep here,and an interesting thought interaction. Having done acid in my younger years,I went through some deep vision work when I did a sweat lodge In Montana with a friend who was Sioux(Black foot). I might say not for everyone,(Not the lodge,but the acid) I was young,and VERY adventurous at that time in my life,and was exploring the nature of belief.

[Azvanna]

Interesting concept..Is it the idea that without dark,there can be no true light. Contrast creates the whole picture?

Getting very deep here,and an interesting thought interaction. Having done acid in my younger years,I went through some deep vision work when I did a sweat lodge In Montana with a friend who was Sioux(Black foot). I might say not for everyone,(Not the lodge,but the acid) I was young,and VERY adventurous at that time in my life,and was exploring the nature of belief.

I can totally see you doing acid in your young days. lol

Was there a particular trip you wanted to share about contrasts?

[anunitu]

They are now considering using acid and other hallucinogens in therapy. This had been suggested in Tim Leary's time as a psychiatrist by him,but it was rejected. They have found also that acid and its other hallucinogens,can actually help people with addictions like Opioids and Coke.

Here. (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-psychedelic-drugs-psilocybin-lsd-could-help-treat-addiction)

I know that might seem counter intuitive,but they have had some very impressive success.

- - - Updated - - -

One reason I tell people not to do acid or other things is,it is NOT for the faint of heart. One must prepare for seeing your own personal demons. You tend to step away from your self,and see your self from outside your reality. Seeing your self in this way can truly be frightening,you are stripped bare and you see yourself warts and all.

- - - Updated - - -

You know that picture where the woman is sitting,looking in the mirror.

This one.
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/museum/mirrors/vanity.jpg

Imagine this a reality vision.

- - - Updated - - -

I very much like this:
http://ask-angels.swellpress.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/authentictruth.jpg

[anunitu]

It is very hard to describe an acid trip to someone who has never been on one. The attempts to show it in movies is not what being there is like. You can connect to inanimate objects in what one might describe as an energy field. See why it is hard to explain? I have read a story that said your brain structure actually changes. This I have also read is how PTSD effects the brain,creating physical changes to brain structure. This is one of the reasons it is so hard to treat.

See here. (http://brainblogger.com/2016/05/23/how-lsd-changes-the-way-our-brains-work/)

[monsno_leedra]

Extreme deprivation situations do some similar type things as acid trips. Many people in shamanic circles substitute deprivation for various narcotic usages. Sleep deprivation I know can cause some interesting mental shifts, sensory deprivation can also bring about some interesting mental mind screws. Never had it work for me but pain was said to be potentially as stimulating as an acid trip for mental shifting. I'm not good with pain in that regard.

Sleep deprivation though, now all sorts of stuff can come to life when you've been awake and in part sensory deprived at the same time.

[Torey]

I have always thought it interesting that the Kabbalah attributes "traditionally masculine" concepts such as "severity" and "power" to passive emanations which are aligned on the left side of the Tree of Life. However, an even more interesting view of the qualities of the feminine Sephiroth comes about when one observes the alignment of Boaz (the "left" feminine Pillar of Severity) as superimposed upon the human person - the Pillar of Severity exists, on a personal level, at the right hand side of the body, not the left. Here we have the Pillars reversed - feminine and formerly passive emanations become active emanations associated with the right hemisphere of the brain.

The Sephiroth are also arranged in a trinity of the triads - the Supernal Triad (Kether, Binah and Chokmah), the Ethical Triad (Geburah, Chesed and Tiphareth) and the Astral Triad (Hod, Netzach and Yesod).

Represented within these Triads, from a Christian perspective, are the Trinity:

"The Father" - "Kether", who emanates all Sephiroth below It, namely Binah and Chokmah.

"The Son (i.e., Christ)" - "Tiphareth".

"The Holy Spirit" - "Yesod".

I think you would enjoy exploring the connections presented here. :)

I would also recommend that you read the book, "A Garden of Pomegranates" by Israel Regardie, for a deeper look at the Sephiroth.

[anunitu]

So I detect an interest in the Kabbalah. Very interesting about the Tree of life. I have lightly at times followed that,but not dived deep into it.

- - - Updated - - -

In checking about A "Garden of Pomegranates",it seems the Golden Dawn recommends it.

Here. (http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/regardie-gardenofpomegranates.html)