These meditations on the Sefiroth are intended
to be taken in a logical sequence.
If you have not already done so,
please begin with Malkut.
Netzakh: Prepare yourself in the usual way.
Place yourself in the Temple of Yesod, from where you started your last meditation. If you wish, you may start from your own special place and proceed via Malkut and the path of the World, or you may enter the Temple of Yesod directly.
The Temple, you will recall, is located underneath the tower of the central keep of the Castle of Yesod, which is the castle of your fundamental inner self, where you keep yourself safe and protected from the daily trials of the physical world. Here, below the tower, is a beautiful, brightly lit cavern, lined with crystals of pure amethyst.
Sit quietly for a moment and contemplate. All worldly needs drop away; all tiredness, all hunger, is gone. Feel good in your body; rejoice in the foundation of your body, be relaxed and at peace.
In front of you, three points of light appear. These grow larger, until you can see them clearly as three doorways.
Ahead and to your right is a violet door, lit by the tiny points of brilliant stars. A beautiful woman stands here, pouring water into a starlit pool.
Directly ahead of you is a bright blue door. You see an angelic figure, carefully pouring water from one jar to another, while an archer stands near, ready to fire his golden arrow clear over the rainbow in the sky.
While, ahead and to your left is a doorway of golden, glowing yellow. A bright sun shines above it; sunflowers grow around. A young boy plays with a horse.
Approach the yellow door, which you now know to be the pathway to Hod. The boy greets you cheerily; the horse gently nuzzles your hand, perhaps hoping for some sugar.
Go through the yellow door and follow the path, which runs between low stone walls, with brilliantly coloured flowers on either side. The sun shines down brightly from the clear blue sky above. Quite quickly, you come to the end of the path and step forward into an open space before the University of Hod.
Approach the main door and go through into the vast entrance hall of the University. The fiery red, winged figure of the Archangel Michael, the guardian of Hod, is standing there. He recognises you from your last visit, and lets you pass, deeper into the heart of the University.
As you pass through another door into the main courtyard. You now know your way to the small chapel of Khesed in Hod: you enter the large building immediately ahead of you, which is the main lecture block, and then pass through a door on your right into the small, round chapel.
On the left hand wall of the chapel is a blue stained glass window. A man is suspended upside down over a pool of water. However, he does not appear distressed. He is sacrificing himself, but his sacrifice is for his dream of a brighter future, which he looks forward to with satisfaction.
To your right and slightly in front of you is a vivid red window, depicting raging, all-devouring flames. Below the window is the entrance to a tiny cave, inside which you made the journey back to Malkut on your last visit.
But on this occasion, turn your attention to the bright red stained glass window immediately in front of you. Its image is the Tower of Babel: monument to the ambition of mankind, but also to mankind's overreaching itself when it fails to recognise its own limitations. You can approach the window and step into the scene.
You are on a wide bridge, made of iron girders, spanning a deep valley. A red glow comes from beneath you. On the valley floor far below, men are making more of the iron girders in gigantic forges. You can see other men who appear to be fighting, but from this distance you cannot tell whether it is a battle, or a game.
The bridge is well made and stable, and you set out confidently across it, towards the tower that you can see in the distance.
But gradually, as you progress, the workmanship becomes shoddy; it bears all the signs of hasty construction with little care. The nearer you get to the tower, the more rickety the bridge becomes. The nearer you get to the tower, the louder the hubbub and confusion of voices that comes to your ear from the workmen who are busy on the tower. None of them is speaking in any language that you can recognise.
You are having to tread very carefully now, because your path is very precarious. Then, suddenly, just as you are about to step off the end of the bridge onto the tower, there is a tremendous, thundering crash and the whole edifice, tower, bridge, workers and all, are tumbling to the ground.
You are falling through space: falling, falling, falling. But, just as it seems inevitable that you must hit the ground, a strong wind whisks you up and away, and deposits you gently on a quiet hillside, far from the tumult of the valley you have just left.
Look around you. You are on bare rock, but it is smooth and firm. Walk forward. After a while, you come to a patch of rich, dark, freshly tilled soil. Feel the texture with your fingers Smell its rich aroma.
Walk forward again. You are now on a path passing through a cultivated area, a vegetable plot on your left, a flower garden on your right.
Follow the path until you emerge in a beautiful formal garden, with low hedges dividing beds of shrubs and herbs. You pass a small summerhouse, then go to the centre of the garden where there is a small, ornamental fountain, with a figure standing next to it, waiting for you.
As you will have guessed, this is the Archangel of Netzakh. His name is Haniel. He has the serene and contented aspect of a successful gardener, who has just completed his work for the day. Like the other Archangels, he expects a token. Give him the one you received from Michael on your first visit to Hod, and receive another from him in return.
Walk on through the garden and out of its far end. You are in open fields now. On your left, men are weeding stands of established crops. On your right, other men are planting new crops for the season to come.
At the far side of the field you come to the edge of a cliff. There is a spectacular view over a broad landscape of beautiful, well-tended countryside; but there is no way that you can go further, at least for the present. Walk back through the fields and into the formal garden.
Now you notice a pattern to the herb beds - they are laid out like the sefirot of the Tree of Life.
Starting near the summerhouse is a bed of marjoram*; look at it, touch it, smell it.
Next, working towards the centre of the garden is lavender. Again examine it, touch it, inhale the fragrance.
Visit each of the other bed in turn and examine each likewise. Ahead and to your left is mint; to your right, parsley.
In the very centre of the garden, around the fountain, there is rosemary.
Pass by the fountain to more beds: on your left, tarragon; on your right, lemon balm.
A little further on, and you find thyme to your left, sage to your right.
And finally, at the very end of the garden, is a beautiful bed of bright green basil.
Having taken your fill of the garden, return to the little summerhouse, and go inside. It is pleasantly cool here.
Apart from the door through which you entered, there are three others, but they do not lead outside.
Directly your right is a red door, with the same picture of the Tower of Babel that you have already seen today.
Half ahead and half to your right is a luminous violet door, dotted with brilliant stars.
While more directly ahead, but still slightly to your right, is a deep, purplish crimson door, partly concealed by a tattered curtain.
You choose the violet door, and you step through, quite literally out into space. You are floating serenely among a myriad stars, planets and galaxies, the bright blue Earth far below you. Enjoy the sensation.
Although you seem to be drifting so gently as not to be moving, you gradually become aware that you are approaching another opening. You pass gently through it, and find yourself in the amethyst-lined crystal cavern of the castle of Yesod, where you started your journey earlier.
Sit here for a few moments in the midst of the healing purple crystals, then, at last, return to objective reality, in the place and the time where you started your meditation. Put your consciousness in the centre of your head, just behind your eyes; and when you are ready, open your eyes.
Take a few hours, or a few days, to absorb the significance of this meditation. Then proceed with Paroketh.