Intellect and Intellect

[sdi]

 

One of the things that's long confused me about Geomancy is that it attributes intellect to Albus (pure water), while Rubeus (pure air) is confusion, pollution, passion. In astrological symbolism, though, air is associated with the precise and sharp intellect, while water is treated as the confused and fickle emotions. Reconciling these has been a challenge.

I am presently reading Robert Wang's The Qabalistic Tarot—a lucky used bookstore find—and I find the following:

The Qabalah describes the universe as divided into four separate "Worlds," [...]. The first is Atziluth, the Archetypal World, the world of Pure Spirit which activates all of the other worlds which evolve from it. Attributed here [is ...] Primal Fire. The second world is Briah, the Creative World, the level of pure intellect [... and ...] Primal Water. The third is Yetzirah, called the Formative World, because here are found the subtle and fleeting patterns behind matter. It is the realm of [...] Primal Air, [...]. The final World is Assiah, the Active World containing both the physical world of sensation and the unseen energies of matter. It is the realm of [...] Primal Earth.

It is notable that these four associations accord quite readily with the four elements as Geomancy considers them (albeit in a different order than the usual fire-air-water-earth). I wonder if this is related to the difference of symbolism between Geomancy and Astrology.

Comments

[tunesmyth]

Fascinating! Have you ever spent time meditating on the Kabala or doing Kabalistic pathworking or the like? I never have but it seems like there may indeed be some useful links to be made with Geomancy there (on top of unlocking all of the other secrets of the universe :-) )

[sdi]

No, this book is my introduction to the Tree of Life, so it's all very new to me!