“Cogitatio in vero exquirendo maxime versatur. Appetitus impellit ad agendum.
The Intellect engages us in the pursuit of Truth. The Passions impel us to Action.”

... Marcus Tullius Cicero ...

                                                      Keywords

Mind

Thought

Invention

Science

Logic

 The Energy of the Sphere 

Hod is the sphere of Pure reason that has not received the cross flow and balance of heart and emotion (Netzach). Its function is to make Order of the Universe through objective reasoning and higher thought. Hod is known as the "Absolute Intelligence". By definition:

Absolute-  the one ultimate reality that does not depend on anything, and is not relative to anything else.

Intelligence- an entity capable of rational thought, especially one that does not have a physical form

This form of Intelligence is Absolute because it originates in the upper spheres of Binah and Chokmah, receiving the Mercy and Grace of Chesed in downward emanation. Its mind is not quantifiable by any set of standards and it  has not yet reached into the denser realms that have been filtered through the lens of Yesod. Just as matter itself resides in Malkuth,  the focus and energy which make it “living matter” is contained within the essence of Yesod. As we ascend towards Hod, we reach the place where the first "idea" of that matter is born. The drafting board that goes through each step carefully and objectively in the planning stages before it receives the energizing at the level of Yesod. Hod decodes and analyzes but, it also reveals deceptions and untruths. 

Sphere of Communication

The Planetary ruler of Hod is Mercury, so it is fitting that this sphere is considered the sphere of communication.  Within its rationale and reasoning are the tools that may be used in discovering the deeper mystery contained within information. It is through the crystal clarity of pristine thinking, that enables  better and more efficient means of communicating what knowledge has been extracted. It is also this modality that makes Hod the ideal energetic support for  ritual work. Effective ritual and devotional practice are honed from clear, purposeful intent. If that intent is not objectively informed the resulting product of that ritual will not be as strong, nor as durable in form and focus. If, however, objective thought and clear Higher Mind is working in accord with focused intent, the results become the inroads and precursors to future successful magick, devotional or spiritual practice.

“magickal work is of no value if there is no Understanding (BINAH) of its logical order, structure and Form ( HOD) gained through  dissection, sacrifice,  and  excision (GEBURAH) all  that is extraneous and illusory (YESOD)”… rcf

The Water Temple

" The incarnation in man of all the necessities or functional orders

of world harmony is the Temple, where the original creative

energy connects the intelligence-of-the-heart's innate

consciousness with the universe.  This comes about through objective

observation of fact, in order to arrive at a cosmic consciousness

independent of destructible or moral components."

Esoterism and Symbol... R.A. Schwaller deLubicz

Hod  is also known as The Water Temple. This refers to the connection of the lower triad spheres of Hod- Netzach and Yesod. It is within this Temple that the emotional and the intellect combine to become something greater than the totality of each. It is the quality of mind and reason reflecting back to itself  the clarity of pure thought is generated. This is also the place of  reflecting the truth of the Higher Mind. In truth, one could think of this as the Temple of birthing waters that carry the breath of mind having been catalyzed by the transformative Gates of Yesod.

Numerical Value

Hod is the 8th Sphere.  Within the energy of the  # 8 is  great power and the sacrifice of contraction and expansion. The holding and funneling of what wishes to expand and then the ultimate release into a great circle of expansive formlessness. It is also the doubling of the stability and foundation of  4. It is the mirroring of two bases of four sides that reflect back to one another in perfect symmetry. The union of Higher and Lower Mind, the duality and polarity of pairs.  

Hod is thus the  Sphere of Transmutation

The essence and spark of potential for creative thought lay within its depths and what emerges is the mind touch of the Higher transmuted for downpour into manifest form.  

Definition:

Transmutation  1. change: a change, or the process of changing, from one form, substance, nature, or state to another

2. physics change of one element into another: the transformation of the atom of one chemical element into the atom of another by disintegration or nuclear bombardment (the work of Geburah in moving down the Pillar of Severity into Hod)

Location on the Tree

Base of Pillar of Severity

Hod enjoys the auspicious location of sitting at the base of the Pillar of Severity (Form). It receives the downpour from Geburah (Might through transformative excision) and Binah (The Great Mother of Understanding). It is the Ending place of Divine Thought which has been finely honed and created through emanation from the Higher Spheres.  Hod is the Seat of Consciousness of Form. The place of all manner of inspiration inclusive of science, the  written word, music, art, and language. Thus, in the continued descent from Hod into Yesod the illusions of Yesod are the filtered forms of Divine Inspiration. At the level of Yesod, this may take the form of difficulty with interpretation of the symbols and images that are presented.

Awareness- Higher Intuition  Binah		Vision of Sorrow
Consciousness- Will  Geburah		Vision of Power
Linear Thought- Reason  Hod		Vision of Splendor

Awareness and Higher Intuition, when brought down to the place of Consciousness, join to stimulate the will to create at the level of the Mind. As this will moves into the waters of Hod, the Fire of Will directed through a Divine All-knowingness moves through those currents of mind activity and generate a circuit of electrical charge that becomes the ohm or watt of energy that moves along the circuit board of linear thought and reason.

Capacity of the Mind

“ I saw in my mind that the light consisted of innumerable powers and had come to be an ordered world, but a world without the bounds of material existence.  This, I perceived in thought, seeing it by reason of the words which the Divine Mind had spoken to me; “You have seen in your mind the archetypal form, which is prior to the beginning of things and is limitless.”

Hod is the first sphere on the ascent of the Tree that has multiple paths of connection including the place of sitting at the base of the Pillar of Severity.  It is also connected via a Path to Tiphareth (the central sphere of the Tree) - to the left of Netzach ( the base sphere of the Pillar of Mercy) and reaching upwards out of the moon sphere of Yesod.  Just as the mind and brain have many chambers corridors and paths contained within, Hod offers many routes of emanation from its core to be opened and awakened. As the place where structure- order-categorization-analysis-  and  making sense of it all – Hod also serves as the distributor of  what work has been accomplished in Malkuth and Yesod upwards towards its more refined spheres.

The Spiritual Experience

Vision of Splendor

In the sphere of Hod the vision of splendor is one of splendor of the workings and order within the Universe.  Intuitive thought has been brought to the place of  intellectual understanding of these inner workings. Knowledge of how and why things proceed the way in which they do and how the energies and ebb and flow of the natural rhythms and cycles of the Universe intellectually make sense.

By definition: Splendor is ...Something that is impressive, magnificent or brilliant. It is this exact vision that opens the greater mind to a truth of the place of each being and energy in the vastness of an organized, unified whole.

The Illusion of the Sphere

Falsehood, Dishonesty

The Illusion of Hod is false ego based on faulty knowledge. It is the allowance of what is subjective, personality filtered information to fill the coffers of our minds as being the stuff of unbiased thought. Furthermore, claiming credit for those brilliant seeds of inspiration when they are nothing more than the over inflated toutings of one craving acknowledgement for being wise, breeds the dishonesty of validation that is not merit based, nor is it sound in it reasoning.

As the time honored thought on this matter goes- true wisdom cannot be found within the knowledge of book learning and course study. True wisdom is what is the result of experiencing at the level of connection to a Higher Consciousness what has been learned through books and study and transforming it into an enlivened part of oneself that can not be disputed, argued, reasoned away or often even explained to others who have not also had similar experience on the path towards Wisdom.

The Briatic Color

Orange

 Magickal Image

A Hermaphrodite

The Hermaphrodite as magickal symbol for Hod contains the potential for self-creation and is at once both and separate. It is from this view point that the mechanism of reason and thought manifest. To "be" there is the necessary condition of union between what is like itself and what is the complimentary pair, yet different from  itself.

The mythic tale of Hermaphroditus gives metaphoric insight to the combined energies of Netzach (Aphrodite) and Hod (Hermes) - Heart and Mind. The progeny of this union is that which is most desired (Will). The Naiads are female water nymphs and here we have the vehicle of water that will serve as the transformative agent. It is the flow of the feminine- fired with the desire for the product of unified heart and mind- that with awareness of the Divine merges and blends to produce that which is self-creating and self-illuminating.

"Hermaphroditus' name is derived from those of his parents Hermes and Aphrodite. He was raised by nymphs on Mount Ida, a sacred mountain in Phrygia (present day Turkey). At the age of fifteen, he grew bored of his surroundings and traveled the cities of Lycia and Caria. It was in the woods of Caria, near Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum, Turkey) that he encountered Salmacis the Naiad in her pool. She was overcome by lust for the boy, and tried to seduce him, but was rejected. When he thought her to be gone, Hermaphroditus undressed and entered the waters of the empty pool. Salmacis sprang out from behind a tree and jumped into the pool. She wrapped herself around the boy, forcibly kissing him and touching his breast. While he struggled, she called out to the gods that they should never part. Her wish was granted, and their bodies blended into one hermaphrodite form."... Hellenica

   “ look for the woman in man and the man in woman and you will find the Truth of both”

This idea of containing both yet being one is also found in the need to think in pairs. Another fitting symbol for Hod would be the Caduseus – basili or serpents  entwined on staff (the Middle Pillar). Each serpent crossing, intersecting and drawing upwards with it the information contained and germinated at each intersecting point. Until, finally reaching the uppermost point (Kether) the two become the one of Divine Inspiration- Imminent Thought and the Singular Mind. 

"Here we see his full power of transcendence, whereby the lower transcendence from underworld snake-consciousness, passing through the medium of earthly reality, finally attains transcendence to superhuman or transpersonal reality in its winged flight."

-- Joseph L. Henderson, "Ancient Myths and Modern Man" in Carl Jung's Man and his Symbols