Seeds and Shoots

Any realization, embodiment, or manifestation, whether in the macrocosm or in the Psychocosmos, occurs according to the tetragrammatical law.

An active desire, fertilizing a receptive medium, creates an embryo that, in turn, requires a field to grow and manifest.

The sun and water awaken the seed, which uses the earth’s resources to realize its potential.

From the Psychocosmos standpoint, one can note that desire, backed by understanding, produces an intention, which can be realized if there is an anchor point.

The Spirit, acting on the body, generates the soul, which, when rooted in matter, helps to manifest the potencies of the Monad.

In any case, the condition for manifestation is the neutralization of the primary creative binary, the birth of an androgynous being, which then manifests by using external resources.

At the same time, the crucial point is the emergence of the neutral element, because its subsequent development — and therefore the success and direction of realization — depends on how that androgynous being was created.

Although largely the birth of this element occurs automatically, it depends on how the binary poles are set and how their interaction is established.

For a proper intention to form, first desire must be clear and strong, and on the other must be balanced by equally complete understanding. A strong desire with weak understanding, as well as good understanding but insufficient desire, will not produce a viable intention. A strong Spirit, relying on a weak body, will not create a creative soul, just as a weak Spirit cannot make good use of a strong body.

It is completely unproductive to try to change an already formed androgynous being — to redirect an existing intention or to restrain a desire that is trying to realize itself. Control must occur precisely at the level of the seed’s birth, because the character of realization depends on what is sown. Rather than attempting to graft a sunflower onto a potato shoot, it is far better either to sow a sunflower from the start or to let the potato grow into a potato plant.

Thus there are two points at which one can attempt to control the seed of realization: the process of the binary’s origination and the process of its neutralization.

It is clear that to achieve control one must monitor and regulate the manifestation of the poles of the creative binary. And while the passive pole is usually easy to influence, tracking and steering the active component into the desired channel is often difficult.

As mentioned, any desire is always the fruit of preceding events: the outcome of any event (Malkuth) gives rise to the idea (Keter) of the next sequence. Since Malkuth itself cannot be restructured (it is the result of its own Tree), one must intervene in the process in the birth of Keter. For this, there is the method of «unraveling» the chain of events — a suspension of causal continuity, usually ritualized as an alchemical work. Nevertheless, the «unraveling» process can also occur instantly or intuitively, with sufficient talent or experience. The only requirement is to suspend the flow of energy that sustains the integrity of existence, without rupturing existence itself.

A less effective, more limited, but in some circumstances also useful control method involves intervening in the binary’s neutralization; however this can be achieved only by influencing the passive pole: an excessively strong desire can be balanced by correct understanding, not by suppressing desire but harmonizing it — we cannot make the sun shine less, but we can water the garden more.

In any case, the Magus must understand that control implies influence over the impulse’s emergence, and effective magical practice is not possible merely by redirecting existing currents; the Magus must create his own directions, initiate his own currents, and only then can he realize his creative potential and manifest his individuality.