THE TREE OF LIFE Paroketh 0=0

The Abyss separates the World of Air from the World of Water. It is the third veil on the Tree of Life. It is the third veil we must rend as we return to our Source from the World of Manifestation which is our physical universe. As we come down the Tree of Life we now reach the Second Veil. The Second Veil is called Paroketh which means Portal and it's the Portal through which we must travel to reach our Soul. It's also the Portal through which the first order member of the Golden Dawn must pass in order to become an Adept.

Paroketh is called the Veil of Illusion because what we see below this veil is an illusion. Reality is on the other side. Our soul resides in the true reality. Our ego and persona reside in the illusion of reality. Paroketh is also called the Curtain of Fire which refers to the fact that the World of Fire is located beneath the World of Water on the Tree of Life. As we descend into matter we must cross this Curtain of Fire.

Additionally, Paroketh is called the Curtain of Water because as we ascend the Tree of Life from the World of Fire we're confronted by a Curtain of Water which we must part (like Moses and the Red Sea) to ascend further.

As we incarnate into this physical world, we move down the Tree of Life from our beginning in Awareness at the top of the Tree. We build our intentions and focus ourselves down to one primary purpose for incarnation in the World of Air - the first three spheres. In the teachings of Magical Golden Dawn the body we inhabit here in the World of Air, the World of Archetypes is our Spirit. Our Spirit is our Higher Self, our own Holy Guardian Angel. It's our Spirit that decides to incarnate and it's our Spirit that decides upon our purpose for incarnation. It's our Spirit which our Unmanifest Self builds in the World of Archetypes as the first step in our physical incarnation.

Since we cannot move across the Abyss in our Spirit, Magical Golden Dawn teaches that our Spirit creates our second body, our Soul. Our Soul lives in the World of Water, the Creative World where we create the essence of what we will become in the physical reality. Our Soul is in constant communication with our Spirit. Our Spirit knows everything our Soul knows and experiences, just as our Unmanifest Self above the Tree of Life knows everything our Spirit knows and experiences. And, since our Unmanifest Self is a "Spark of Light in the Consciousness of the Unmanifest Creator," the One Source of All-That-Is knows everything our Unmanifest Self knows.

Our Soul decides how we'll express Unconditional Love and all our other emotions in our lives so we can reach the goal of achieving our purpose in the physical reality. It's in the World of Water where the blueprint for our emotional reactions to life are created. It's here we plan the relationships of our life. It's in this world where we attune our emotions to our life's purpose. We build an Emotional Body and that Emotional Body is our Soul. In various paradigms our Soul is also called our Etheric, Christ Body, Christ Consciousness, Conscience, Krishna Center, Krishna Consciousness and our True Self.

The next step in our descent down the Tree of Life is to cross the Veil of Illusion, the Curtain of Fire. Just as our Spirit builds a body to exist in the World of Water, so our Soul builds a body to exist in the World of Fire. This body is called our Astral Body or our Ego Body and it is our Ego and our Astral essence. Our Ego is the complex building block upon which our physical body, persona and personality are built. Our Ego resides in the World of Fire and it's in constant communication with our Soul.

It's important to realize not all Souls create an Ego and descend into the World of Fire. Not all Egos create a body and a persona and descend into the World of Matter, the World of Earth. Likewise, not all Spirits create a Soul and descend into the World of Water and not all Unmanifest Selves descend into the World of Air. Those who remain in the World of Fire we call Ghosts. Those in the World of Water we refer to as Astral Beings, Spirit Guides or Animal Guides and we consider many to be Masters. Those who remain in the World of Air are Ascended Masters, Adepts and Great Souls.

The fact that you and I inhabit a physical vehicle means we decided to manifest for some purpose and we entered the World of Archetypes, World of Emotion, World of Desire and the World of Matter in that order. Our job is now to discover our original purpose and then accomplish those goals. That process is called "climbing or ascending the Tree of Life." It's also called evolution, alchemy path-working and magic. This is just the opposite of our descent into matter which is called involution.