by Joumana Medlej
Yesod's name means The Foundation, and an excellent word to understand it is "matrix." The natural laws behind manifest phenomena (such as the falling of an apple), the grammatical rules behind the sentences we speak- these are at the Yesodic level. They are microcosmic versions of the Divine Plan behind the world we know (Malkuth). Yesod is the 9th Sphere, and a look at the Tree gives the impression of Yesod as a lens focusing the influences of all the previous spheres and shooting them down into Malkuth like a laser beam. That is exactly what it does.
In this position, Yesod has a delicate role both ways - up or down. This is why I represented its magical image ("A naked man, very strong") in an ambiguous position: is he carrying the world on his shoulders, breaking free, or lifting his arms in hard-won victory? All of the above have something to do with the passage through this Sphere. Yesod quite literally carries the world, and when heading down towards Malkuth, it brings the burden of physical flesh to our hitherto unmanifest spirits. When Ascending the Tree, we are once again free of our self-imposed bonds. We are also free of the illusion of a physical reality, as Yesod offers a vision of the true Machinery of the Universe, of which we only see isolated and often paradoxical manifestations. Because in Yesod we are born again into spirit, the Sphere is likened to the Sacrament of Baptism.
The four scales of color are here indigo (dominant), violet, very dark purple and citrine flecked azure. Yesod's element is Air, represented in the background texture. The color scheme is lunar in itself, and indeed Yesod's astrological correspondence is the Moon, the symbol for which is visible in the aureole behind the figure. The presence of the moon draws a link with the image in Malkuth: in the Bible (see Revelation 12:1-6), the young woman is not only crowned with stars - she has the moon at her feet.
Four paths leave from Yesod: Tau to Malkuth, Resh to Hod, Tzaddi to Netzach, and Samekh to Tiphareth.
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