I have often spoken to you about the Sephirotic Tree of Life, and in particular about Yesod, the Sephirah which is nearest to the earth and which is the region of the moon.  Yesod is a mysterious region which contains great riches and also many dangers, for its lower layers are formed by the vapours, emanations and mists rising from the earth and from human beings. If you manage to get through this shadowy region of illusion, aberrations and falsehood, through this fearful twilight world of deceit, and reach the higher levels of Yesod, then you will discover purity, transparency, life, clairvoyance and true poetry.

Beware the quicksands of Yesod
Many mediums, clairvoyants, mystics, and, above all, poets, have been caught in the treacherous quicksands of the lower regions of Yesod. They did not have the knowledge that would have enabled them to rise above this zone and reach daylight, which is why so many of them ended their lives in insanity or alcoholism, or committed suicide. They did not know that they should have risen far higher, to Tiphareth, the region of the sun, where all is crystal-clear and luminous.

Tiphareth means beauty or splendour. It is the fifth Sephirah on the Tree of Life, counting from the bottom, and the sixth, counting from the top. It is at the centre of the Tree, which represents the universe, just as the sun is at the centre of the solar system. In a human body the region of the heart and solar plexus corresponds to this Sephirah.

The solar spirit, the spirit of Christ, manifests in Chokmah and Tiphareth
The Cabbalah says that the Deity manifests himself in Tiphareth under the name of Eloha ve Daath, and that the Archangel Michael is in command of the angelic order of Melachim or Kings (known as the Virtues in the Christian tradition). The visible, material dimension of Tiphareth is, as you know, represented by the sun (Chemesh in Hebrew).

If you have read the Book of Genesis you will know that the very first thing created by God was light: `God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.’ Everything begins therefore with light. And light is Christ, the solar spirit. The spirit of Christ manifests himself first of all in the Sephirah Chokmah, as primeval glory, the Word, of which St John said, `Without him was made nothing that was made.’

But he also manifests a different aspect of himself in the sun. The roots of Tiphareth are in Chokmah, region of Videlinata, the divine light which is invisible to our eyes. For me and for all initiates, the solar spirit is the spirit of Christ, for, as I have already told you, the sun is far, far more than the heavenly body we can see with our physical eyes. It is a highly organized world with an innumerable population and an extraordinarily rich culture. We are still very far from understanding what the sun is.

 

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Complete Works Volume 10. The Splendour of Tiphareth – The Yoga of the Sun