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Binah: The Holy Spirit and the Cosmic Mother
Binah is the third sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It is the third member of the Logoic Triangle, which also consists of Kether, the Father, and Chokmah, the Cosmic Christ. The sephiroth of the Logoic Triangle have been given various names by diffoerent religions and philosophies throughout the world. Kether, Chokmah, and Binah are known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Christianity; Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva in Hinduism; and Osiris, Isis, and Horus in the ancient Egyptian religion. They are also known as the First Logos, Second Logos, and Third Logos, and as the Affirming, Denying, and Reconciling forces of nature. This Trinity is the Crown of Life, the Resplendent Dragon of Wisdom, the esoteric core of our Inner Being.
The word "Binah" means "Intelligence" in Hebrew. This meaning does not refer to the intelligence of our subjective intellect, but rather to the authentic intelligence, intuition, and enlightenment of consciousness. Binah, the Third Logos, is part of the left column of the Tree of Life, known as the Column of Severity, which also includes the sephiroth Geburah and Hod. In Christianity Binah is the third aspect of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
It has often been portrayed as a white dove, and every person has his or her own ineffable Dove. The Holy Spirit has also been symbolized in other religious systems as a sacred swan, as the phoenix bird, and as the Ibis. The arcane of the Tarot that corresponds to Binah is Arcane Three, "The Empress".
Binah manifests Himself as sexual potency within everything which is, has been, and will be. The creative energy of the Third Logos flows throughout the entire universe. Every galaxy, planet, human being, etc., has been created by the sexual energy of the Third Logos. This energy is found not only within humans, animals, and plants, but within all of creation. It is found within planets and solar systems, and it elaborates the chemical elements of the earth. When this creative energy abandons a planet, it becomes a lifeless moon. This is the process by which entire worlds eventually die.
The sephiroth of Jesod is intimately related with Binah. Jesod is the basic sexual principle of life. Everything revolves around sex, and through sex comes Birth, Death, and Regeneration. Jesod means "Foundation", and is the foundation of the Holy Spirit within us. Therefore the Third Logos has Jesod as its center of gravity. Since it is the sephiroth where the sexual force of the Third Logos gravitates, Jesod is the center of gravity of the Magical Triangle (which also includes the sephiroth of Hod and Netzach).
Although Binah is not a feminine sephiroth, from it unfolds that force known as the Cosmic Mother, or the Eternal Feminine Principle. One of the forms of the Cosmic Mother is our own particular Divine Mother, without whose help we can never attain self-realization. In Hinduism the Holy Spirit is known as Shiva, the heavenly spouse of Shakti, the Divine Mother. The force of the Third Logos is responsible for healing. When we perform special healing exercises, such as certain Runes or the Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation, in order to heal ourselves or others, it is the Holy Spirit that cures the individual who is ill. It is through the Divine Mother that we ask the Holy Spirit to heal any ailment. She intercedes before the Third Logos so that our pleas may be heard.
The sexual organs and the creative larynx are the two instruments through which the powerful energy of the Holy Spirit flows and is expressed within us. When sexual alchemy is practiced between husband and wife, the creative sexual energy of the Third Logos is transformed into a torrent of liquid fire which ascends inwards and upwards. In this manner the Sacred Serpent, or Kundalini, is awakened within us. The sexual energies, along with the Kundalini, comprise the creative energies of the Third Logos in our interior. Master Samael Aun Weor states that "the ascending flow of the energies of the Third Logos is living fire. That Pentecostal Fire rises along the medullar canal, opening centers and awakening miraculous powers."
Gnosis teaches that we may pay for nearly all our karmic debts through performing the Third Factor for the Revolution of Consciousness: Sacrifice for Humanity. There is, however, one major exception. The only transgression that cannot be negotiated and paid for through sacrifice for humanity is the act of fornication. Fornication is defined in Gnosis as the waste of the sexual energies in any shape or form, within marriage or outside of it. The act of fornication constitutes a transgression against the Holy Spirit. Any sin against the Third Logos cannot be forgiven, nor can it be negotiated with the Lords of Karma in the internal worlds. Karma resulting from fornication, whether from this life or past lives, can only be paid for through pain and suffering. Rather than waste the sexual secretions in orgasm, we must transmute them inwards and upwards through the practice of sexual alchemy and other exercises of transmutation.
Since Binah is a very elevated sephiroth, far beyond the mind and the senses, we cannot understand it intellectually. To truly see and experience the splendor of the Third Logos, we must perceive Him during moments of profound inner meditation, when the faculties of intuition and clairvoyance arise spontaneously within us. In this way we will be able to converse with Him directly, and ask for his help and blessing so that we may progress steadfastly in our inner work.
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