The Fifth Week
נצח
ִHod
Humility; Reverberation
Transformation through Sensation
The struggle to rid ourselves of ego and self-consciousness is fraught with challenge and contradiction.
If endurance is the engine of life, humility is its fuel. As Gevurah (discipline) gives Chesed (love) focus, Hod gives Netzach direction.
Humility is the silent partner of endurance. Its strength is in its silence. Its splendour in its repose. Humility leads to yielding, which is an essential element of humility - and the resulting yielding - should not be confused with weakness and lack of self-esteem.
Humility is modesty; it is acknowledgement (from the root "hoda'ah"). It is saying "thank you" to G-d. It is clearly recognizing your qualities and strengths and acknowledging that they are not your own; they were given to you by G-d for a higher purpose than just satisfying your own needs. Humility is modesty; it is recognizing how small you are which allows you to realize how large you can become. And that makes humility so formidable.
Endurance draws its energy from the acknowledgement of humility. Human endurance goes only as far as your tolerance level.Acknowledging that your strengths come from a higher place gives you the power to endure far beyond your own perceived capacity. It gives you part of G-d's enduring strength.
A full cup cannot be filled. When you're filled with yourself and your needs, "I and nothing else", there is no room for more. When you "empty" yourself before something which is greater than yourself, you allow in much more than your limited capacity. Humility is the key to transcendence; to reach beyond yourself. Only true humility gives you the power of total objectivity.
Humility is sensitivity; it is healthy shame out of recognition that you can be better than you are and that you expect more of yourself. Although humility is silent it is not a void. It is a dynamic expression of life that includes all seven qualities of love, discipline, compassion, endurance, humility, bonding and sovereignty. Humility is active not passive. Not a state of being but an interaction even in its calm and inaction.
The Glory of Sensation
This week I allow myself to relax into my experience and to release myself to explore the containers in which my perceptions present themselves. I am able to appreciate more fully how each sensation allows sensory vibration to manifest. I meet the wonders of physical sensation tor their own sake now.
The Sefirah on the Tree of Life
Hod represents the form of sensations – the images, touches, sounds, tastes and smells that we perceive. Hod is on the left side of the Tree of Life, the side reflecting forms which contain the energies offered from the right side of the Tree. Each sensory perception can be understood to be a particular container in which we experience the greater formless sensational energies.
Physical sensation and perception allow us to know our world, and to discover ourselves within it. Hod brings sensory information already containing mental and emotional form. Through Hod we begin to truly know ourselves in the world.
Hod provides the container for Netzach without which Netzach cannot manifest. Hod is the sensational perception that is enlivened by Netzach. Hod is the shape of each and every perception. It is the capturing of the vibration through the senses. At this level, the vibration takes shape as that which we know sensually. Each sefirah receives from all above it and transmits to all below, except for the first and the last. The shapes that Hod contains are not sensory vibration alone, but also feeling and emotional energy. Since the energies flowing to Hod already contain colourations from the higher sefirot, the forms that Hod provides already include these influences.
There are sensations we appreciate as well as those we do not, just as there are feelings we are more comfortable with than others. Our task is to become aware of our own sensations, our own perceptions. Such awareness enables the shifts in perception through which we more directly learn the “secrets” these sensations contain.
We can become more aware of the intensity of energy, the “juice” of Netzach which is carried by a particular sensation. We can begin to honour and explore that energy when we do not get caught up in the container. It is the acceptance of the container that allows us to move beyond it.
at Hod is Elohim Tzeva’ot,
אֱלֺוהִים צְבָאוֺת
The Name of G-d at Hod is Elohim Tzeva’ot, which means “G-d of Hosts”. Elohim, generally, reflects the aspect of the One we meet as an “Indwelling Presence” within a world of multiplicity. Elohim helps us understand the truth of the One manifesting as the many. Tzeva’ot, translated “hosts”, has the connotation of an “army”, a group of great force. Here, the “force” is contained in each particular perception. The Elohim is the Unity hidden within the apparent multiplicity of perceived forms. Our perceptions have the strength to convince us of the reality of our world. From our perceptions we learn about ourselves in relationship to that world.
Meditation for the Fifth Week at HOD.
אֱלֹהִ֥ים הֲשִׁיבֵ֑נוּ וְהָאֵ֥ר פָּ֝נֶ֗יךָ וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעָה׃Elohim Tzeva’ot restore us, shine Your Presence and we shall be saved.
-- (Psalm 80:4)
We move into higher energies of being becoming more aware ֹֹour current experience. In Hod we meet the particular forms in which our perceptions present themselves. Thus Hod informs our current experience of the world
Focus on the letters of the Name at this level, and let the sound and the image of that Name provide a path for your moments of meditation. Discover the awareness supported through the vibrations of Elohim Tzeva’ot.
Reflections
The expansion of the left side of the tree will happen within its constraints, but will occur in many directions at once, unless channelled.
The female “mate” provides the receptacle for this energy, but also must “draw” the energy towards it.
That is “active” feminine energy – her power: the ability to draw things towards herself.