GEBURAH: The Sphere Of Severity
Identified by Kaballah as "the Sephirah Geburah," this Sphere of energy encompasses the Left Shoulder, Breast, Left-Upper Back, Arm and Hand; any or all of which can become 'sore' or traumatized by a crisis over JUSTICE and HOW TO BE PROPERLY "SEVERE" WITH "TROUBLE-MAKERS." That the trouble-maker CAN at times be one's own out-dated or mis-applied moral or religious JUDGEMENTS towards others may not occur to the individual (at first,) but most of the time such proves to be at least PARTLY "TO BLAME."
Matters of "RIGHT and WRONG" are virtually always religiously-ingrained; and crises over 'wrong behavior' or 'bad people' must be viewed as a part of the individual's own "religious or cultural programming."
When a strong need to deal with ANGER, PUNISHMENT or REVENGE is identified in one's life, the real and most pressing need is for DROPPING THE MORAL JUDGEMENTS against others; a realistic and non-self-righteous attitude is the beginning of healing for all Geburah-related crises.
That one may get over all such judgements and yet STILL need to cope with a genuine 'wrong-doer' in one's life is clearly also possible! Close attention, therefore, to both the excessive Anger AND the proper control of any actual Wrong-doers are both called-for.
Like all Branches of The Tree Of Life, Geburah connects us with FOUR LEVELS of the Spiritual Hierarchy or "chain of command." Anytime your search for Holistic Synthesis or Wholeness points to this Sephirah, there is a strong probability that YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT THIS CHAIN OF COMMAND IN SOME WAY before your crisis or problem will resolve itself completely. The Four Levels of this Branch Of Life are:
The Physical Level of Hierarchy in all Sephiroth is the same; ASTROLOGICAL INFLUENCES and/or THE "I CHING" LIFE-CALENDAR. For any event involving this Sephirah that began suddenly and has not diminished since then, the Life-Calendar is probably the source of the influence; you should be able to see the pattern clearly (including when to expect it to end) by reading the Year-Hexagram from that Calendar. Any PROCESS that seems to be EVOLVING into ever-changing forms over a long period of time is probably due to ASTROLOGICAL CHANGES affecting one's place in the world around you, as reflected by Planetary Changes. Note that you will need both a Natal (Birth) Horoscope AND a Transit Chart for the current year, in order to understand these Planetary Cycles. The Planet MARS directly governs this Sephirah in Astrology.
The Science of Geburah is BURNING THE RUBBISH; or Fire Ceremony. All cultures practice this Science in one way or another; bonfires, candle-burning and even the Yule Log are part of this tradition. You have probably practiced this Science already, without giving it enough thought, but when you really NEED to defend yourself from something that is literally 'attacking' your happiness, you will eventually find SOMETHING to ceremonially BURN as part of the purification and protection of your life. Let us suggest that doing this as a regular Ritual (say every month or two) in which you light candles around you while mentioning the problems and conflicts in your life, can help keep your life properly Enlightened AND safe from the kinds of problems that tend to pile-up like the rubbish unless we remember to burn them away. Passing one's hands through the warmth of the flame while thinking of the end of old problems really CAN leave us cleaner, stronger and LIGHTER.
But WHY did you allow such problems to attach themselves to you in the first place? Metaphysics answers that YOUR BELIEFS made that happen; for Geburah rules not only Burning the Rubbish but "DEFENDING THE FAITH." In short; it is our Dogmatic Opinions (the root of 'religious belief') that gets us into the Rubbish Heap of problems in the first place! And it is mostly THOSE DOGMATIC OPINIONS that need burning.
Try performing a Candle Ceremony passing your hands through the warm light while declaring yourself 'burned clean of dogmatic opinions and judgements toward others.' THAT is Fire Science at it highest! In the end, we can turn our Geburic "Defense Mechanisms" into a genuine method of Spiritual Self-Defense.. once we learn to defend ONLY freedom from judgementalism and Lightness Of Spirit.
Most western societies know of the great "Spiritual Intermediaries" who caretake our relationship with the Great Spirit, and refer to them as "Archangels." Asian societies normally call them "Boddhisattvas" and will need to turn to their own cultural traditions for guidance in contacting the right Bodhisattva for their Binah-related problems.. though ANYONE can call upon ANY Spiritual Authority and get useful results. The Archangel of Binah is named "Khamael," and he connects us with our Creator in the form called "Elohim Gibor" which is Hebrew for 'Heavenly Warrior' or THE GOD OF BATTLES.
The Angelic Order (or lineage of Devic Spirit-Workers, if you prefer) who serve this Sephirah are called the "SERAPHIM" or Fiery Ones; and they are the 'Burners' whose job it is to burn-away all of the unwanted 'rubbish' of our lives. We all collect "extra baggage" and obsolete patterns that we still carry around with us; and the Seraphim are there to help us "lighten our load" whenever we need. Whatever brought you to Geburah is EXTRA BAGGAGE!.. and you need the help of the Archangel and God-Aspect who govern the Seraphim, to command them to burn-away your burdens.
To contact the Archangel of Justice in the most direct way possible, jot-down the names just mentioned and then click-on KABALLAH-CIRCLE RITES where a reliable, long-used Ritual Meditation is listed.. and simply perform it as shown, inserting the proper names where prompted. This will trigger as much immediate Spiritual HELP for your problem or crisis as possible right now.
Repeated contact with this Archangel (asking each time for yet MORE clarity of Understanding and more help with solving the specific details of your crisis or condition) over a period of days or weeks may prove extremely useful.. though there may still be TIME and LOCATIONS that you will have to wait-for or bring-about in order to finally end your Geburah-related problem.
The "Aspect" or FORM of the Creator contacted here at Geburah is Elohim Gibor, usually written in the FEMININE tense.. making her name literally translate as "Mother-Warrior" though 'Lord Of Battles' is most often how it is worded in English (Eloh Geburah, in Hebrew.) It is the task of this God-Aspect to DEFEND INNOCENCE AND TRUTH from any attack. The symbols of a Sword and Flame denote this function, symbolically.
The only problem with all of that is that it is SO difficult to define exactly what Innocence and Truth really ARE! To most of us (MOST of the time) Innocence means ONESELF!.. for we all know that down inside we are "good" and "pure." Likewise, we tend to define Truth as "whatever I happen to BELIEVE;" even though we may know perfectly well that there are millions of other possible 'opinions' out there too.
Contacting this mighty Defender through his/her Archangel actually sets in motion the Purification of our Lives.. for THAT is in the end the only way of finding-out what part of us really IS Innocent and True. It is wise to view all Geburah-related crises and problems as Purification Lessons, intended to clarify one's Innocence and strip-away all 'opinions'.. leaving behind only NATURAL, GOD-GIVEN SIMPLICITY where once there were value-judgements, opinions and religiously-programmed beliefs.
Called HATHOR in the ancient Egyptian "paut Neteru" or Great Company of the Gods.. and considered the goddess of "mystical power" and it's benefits.. the God-Aspect of Geburah has always been associated with the SURVIVAL OF THE SINCERE, though one must PROVE that sincerity before it is rewarded. Hathor was the Golden Cow Goddess of Egypt whose mystical-science Temple at Medenet-Habu was visited by the ancient Hebrew Kaballists on their way our of Egypt (though Moses called her 'the golden calf' and forbade her to be honored by those of his religion.) You may think of Hathor/Elohim Gibor as MYSTICAL ACTIVISM, requiring both non-dogmatic thinking AND true self-knowledge to fully perfect.
If you can view this Sephirah as BOTH reality's "Religious Deprogramming Department" AND the "Divine Police Department" here to defend ALL of the children of Heaven from danger, you will have balanced this Sephirah's energy.. and solved your Geburah-related problems all at once. You will ALSO find yourself MUCH the wiser for the lesson!