A. Merkabah, Chariot, Cube of Space
There is much said about Ezekiel’s Merkabah, a piece of geometry, transcendence, kundalini and so on. I am not going to enter any of that debate, I am just going to explore the Chariot and how we can practically apply the idea to find an upliftment of consciousness from the mundane.
Merkabah is a kabbalistic tradition based upon the prophet Ezekiel’s vision. It travels through 7 heavenly halls to arrive at the throne of God. Upon the Kabbalistic Tree of life this tells of a journey from the lowest sphere Malkuth, the Kingdom, to Binah, Understanding, within the supernal triad. There are 7 spheres from Malkuth to Binah and there are 7 chakras upon the subtle body.
The Chariot card of the Tarot shows Merkabah as a cube, the cube of space, around the charioteer is a belt with heavenly symbols of the stars etc., as well as stars on the veil of the chariot.
The first letter of the first word of Genesis is Byth, Bereshith = in the beginning. Byth 2 is given the totem of a house or habitation, which is not lost in the creation story of Earth. God’s kingdom is a habitation for life as we know it. The letter Byth 2 is the card of the Magician, having the elemental weapons upon the table suggesting he builds things in an occult manner.
The Chariot is the letter Chayt 8. Above the Magician’s head is a figure 8 – a coincidence? A cube has 4 sides, above and below, 6 with the space in the centre 7.
In architecture plans are drawn in the perspective of a cube thus on a 2-dimensional drawing we get a multidimensional view. This allows us to inhabit the architect’s drawing with our mind. Not only that, it gives us a picture of what we are building.
Let us consider the story of Noah and his ark; after 40 days and nights of rain there was a rainbow of 7 colors suggesting hope of a new life. 40 is the Hebrew letter 
Mem and if you say MMM your mouth is closed, silence/meditation. This tells us how to approach the 7 colors, sacred planets etc. from a meditative mind, still, yet aware. Each of the 7 sacred planets has a quality, governing things in our lives, we have 7 days of the week for a reason. The day or planet one is occultly working with is in the center.
Let me turn this about: each of the planets correspond to one of the 7 deadly sins and the one that is in possession of the charioteer is in the center with him, one could say. Malkuth, the Kingdom, is ruled by the King or if it helps put you in the picture, a Queen. The crown is Kether upon the tree where the energy enters the tree as a glow, a crown.
This energy animates all life, the bible speaks of it as a flaming sword that turned every which way guarding the tree of life, with the Cherubim in the east, the Cherubim also appear in Ezekiel’s vision.
The story of King Arthur and the grail has the riteful king removing a sword infused into a rock thus proving he is King. Let us view it this way, the rock or stone represents Malkuth the 4 elements:
I am fired up, fire.
I am moody, water.
I have an opinion, air.
I am depressed, earth.
I am, is the energy, Kether, and it is not an element, it is trapped in the elements, the magical quintessence of the alchemist.
The path from Malkuth (10), the kingdom to Yesod (9), the foundation, is the letter 
Tau and the card of the World showing a portal, a mandorla or yoni. Tau is given the quality of mastering the 7 sacred planets.
So in short, let us say, mastering the 7 deadly sins, transmuting them into the 7 holy virtues. You can google them. Each virtue is a heavenly hall. The mastery of this journey places one in the throne of God, Binah, the understanding of God or enlightenment, the transmutation of your being. The old dies, crucified upon a cross between 2 thieves.
Tau is a cross and is in the centre pillar of the Tree, between the 2 outer pillars. Binah’s totem is a cave. Binah is the 3rd sphere upon the Tree. He lay in a cave for 3 days and transcended death.
See it? The sage/yogi enters the cave and stays in meditation until enlightenment, then re-enters the world.
If you develop a still mind, you will have the space to see if you are possessed by one of the sins, mastering it, you will by nature develop the virtue from the transmutation – it takes patience, devotion and labour.
Enter the 7 days of creation, the house of God.
Paul Tisdell (11/01/2025)