Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Enfys J. Book, author of the new Queer Qabala.
My identity journey as a nonbinary, bisexual person is intertwined with my spiritual journey with Hermetic Qabala. In my book, Queer Qabala: Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Omnisexual Mysticism & Magick, I show several ways Qabala is inherently queer, and how to use the Tree of Life as an authentic, queer lens and spiritual tool for queer experiences and rites of passage.
Here are five ways the Qabala has helped me personally, in affirming my nonbinary, bisexual identity.
1. Qabala shows that you can’t assume someone’s gender identity or gender expression from their name alone.
Each sphere (or Sephiroth) in the Tree of Life has a masculine or feminine Hebrew name. But the gender of the name of each sphere doesn’t always match up with whether it’s on the masculine or feminine pillar, what magickal image is associated with it, or what mythological or astrological correspondences it has. For example, Netzach is a masculine name, and it’s on the masculine pillar, but it’s associated with Venus and its magickal image is that of a beautiful, naked woman. As I struggled with names and labels, it was comforting to realize that the Tree of Life is sometimes inconsistent with identity and expression, too.
2. The Middle Pillar shows the power of the nonbinary.
Qabala has a masculine pillar and a feminine pillar (also known as the pillars of force and form, or mercy and severity), but then there’s a third pillar between them, the pillar of balance. Rather than identify the middle pillar as a sort of “third gender” with a defined expression, the pillar of balance instead harmonizes and creates new things from the energies of the other two pillars. Since I don’t experience my nonbinary gender as being in the middle of a masculine-feminine continuum, but rather as something on a separate axis entirely, I love how the pillar of balance is portrayed on the Tree of Life.
3. In the Tree of Life, every sphere is genderfluid.
Assuming that so-called “masculine” energy is projective and “feminine” energy is receptive, each sphere acts as both masculine and feminine when we look at how energy flows down the Tree of Life. For example, Kether projects energy to be received by Chokmah, which in turn projects that energy to be received by Binah, and so on. My gender identity can be fluid at times, so this is very affirming for me.
4. Every sphere is also bisexual.
Continuing the thread of the previous point on energy flows on the Tree of Life, each sphere interacts with one neighboring sphere behaving in a masculine/projective way, and with the other neighboring sphere behaving in a feminine/receptive way. In other words, it’s always connecting energetically with a masculine-acting and feminine-acting sphere. Again, I feel very affirmed by this!
5. In Qabala, queerness is divine.
The entirety of the Tree of Life is born of the divine spark originating in Kether, the sphere of absolute unity with the source of all, the blueprint of potential. Nothing exists in Malkuth that didn’t start its journey in the divine source, and therefore everything is divine, including all queer people.
Have you had any experiences connecting queer identities and experiences with Qabala? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
If you dig this post, please check out my blog at MajorArqueerna.com.
BONUS: Want to learn more about queer magick? I highly recommend my friend Misha Magdalene’s book Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in Magical Practice. It was foundational in the writing of Queer Qabala!
Our thanks to Enfys for their guest post! For more from Enfys J. Book, read their article “Why Qabala Is an Inherently Queer Spiritual Tool.”
Bull shit!