1) I was pondering the name and symbolism of the Octagon Society. The number eight refers to the sphere of Hod, meaning its methods are primarily intellectual. However the goal of the OSA training is to reach Tiferet, open and activate the heart center, however you wish to phrase it. Which means we're getting to Tiferet by means of Hod. Let's assume our journey starts in Malkuth. This means we're going to need to travel through paths 31 (Judgement) and 26 (Devil) to get to our goal. These paths/cards correspond to, err, judgement & karma and bad habits & self-imposed burdens respectively. This corresponds really well to these exercises.
2) "You are a product of your environment and your heredity, of the family and society in which you grew up, and of your own good and bad choices and experiences. Your choices and your mistakes were all products of who you were at the time." So I can propose an adverse exercise already. If your mistakes and failures are at least in part a product of your environment, then so are you victories and triumphs. That's something to contemplate too. If you fail the failure is not entirely yours, if you succeed the victory is not entirely yours either. Overall such thoughts make me feel rather insignificant, I'm only human.
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branchandroot
Paths to wisdom
Date: 2021-08-05 06:59 pm (UTC)2) "You are a product of your environment and your heredity, of the family and society in which you grew up, and of your own good and bad choices and experiences. Your choices and your mistakes were all products of who you were at the time." So I can propose an adverse exercise already. If your mistakes and failures are at least in part a product of your environment, then so are you victories and triumphs. That's something to contemplate too. If you fail the failure is not entirely yours, if you succeed the victory is not entirely yours either. Overall such thoughts make me feel rather insignificant, I'm only human.