Qabalah - The four functions

[WildWoman71]

Kabala teaches that in order to access our Higher Selves we must develop four major functions; thinking (Emperor), Sensation (Empress), Essential Values/Invisible Knowledge- Intuition (Hierophant), Subconscious Feelings/Tuning in to the subtle (High Priestess).

 

The male left-brain dominant energy - Emperor/Hierophant

The female right-brain receptive energy - Empress/Priestess

 

Master of the material world - Emperor/Empress

Masters of the spiritual world - Hierophant/Priestess

 

These functions are experienced early on in our journey - but as we learn and integrate the lessons they can be seen as we near the end of each journey with the Wheel and the World

Emperor - Thinking - Air - Man

Empress - Sensation - Earth - Bull

Hieorphant - Intuition*  - Fire - Lion

Priestess - Feeling - Water - Eagle

 

Magician - Individuation - Spirit - 

 

*The Hierophant learns from life lessons - integrates these lessons as he moves forward - and therefore becomes his own "inner teacher" - and must listen to his intuition along the journey

[gregory]

Curious why you changed the spelling of your thread title in your first post. I mean - I know it can be spelt every which way, but...

[TheLoracular]

 I can easily mindmap it all together, using those four cards to represent the four elemental model.  In fact, you've inspired me to try an experiment with a suitable deck later.  I will tackle more QBL posts beyond this one tomorrow.  I'm so happy to have people to chatter with all of this about!

The episode of Tarot Esoterica podcast that I'm putting up later today is about the Jungian functions but just in regards to the Court Cards & MBTI personality traits, nothing with the Major Arcana.  This was wonderful synchronicity; I pay attention to that in my life.  

In my personal practices:
"male left-brain dominant energy" gets called Yang.  Fire is Yangyang, the dominant/extroverted flavor of Yang.  Air is Yangyin, repressed/introverted flavor of Yang.  So if I was using just those four cards as my quadratic elemental model,  Emperor would be the Yangyang Fire/Atziluth/Yod-In-The-Tetragrammaton and the Jungian function of Intuitive  and Hierophant would be the Yangyin  Air/Yetzirah/Vau-In-The-Tetragrammaton and the Jungian function of Thinking

"female right-brain receptive energy" gets called Yin.  Water is Yinyin,  Earth is  Yinyang.  So High Priestess would be Yinyin Water/Briah/First Heh-in-the-Tetragrammaton and the Jungian function of Feeling and Empress would be Yinyang Earth/Assiah/Final Heh-In-the-Tetragrammaton and the Jungian function of Sensing/Observation.  

If I was going to pick for myself four of the early Major Arcana to put into this kind of foursome?  I might do  Magician-High Priestess & Empress-Emperor vs. the Hierophant but that's the beauty of esoteric tarot;  there's no One True Way.  Personal insights > someone else's insights, every single time 🙂  

Edited January 31, 2021 by TheLoracular

[WildWoman71]

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Curious why you changed the spelling of your thread title in your first post. I mean - I know it can be spelt every which way, but...

@gregoryLOL - no reason - I typically spell it Kabala but prior topics used the Q - and it just doesn't matter to me enough to be consistent on that matter 

 

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This was wonderful synchronicity; I pay attention to that in my life.  
 

The most wonderful messages and understanding come to me thru synchronicity...and you're right - all we need to do....is pay attention.

 

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If I was going to pick for myself four of the early Major Arcana to put into this kind of foursome?  I might do  Magician-High Priestess & Empress-Emperor vs. the Hierophant but that's the beauty of esoteric tarot;  there's no One True Way.

I agree, I may have picked someone other than the Hierophant as well - and absolutely the beauty is there's no One Way...I understand the Hierophant in this fouresome more when he is referred to as the POPE - I can grasp the Pope being more Spiritually aware and intuitive regarding this realm than the Hierophant.