Path 25

The twenty-fifth path runs down the central Pillar of Equilibrium from Tiphareth, Beauty, to Yesod, Foundation, the middle segment of the great vertical axis of the Tree. It carries the letter Samekh, whose name means "prop" or "support", and whose closed circular form suggests completeness, enclosure and the supporting ring, an apt sign for a path that upholds the descent of the higher light toward the foundation.

In the Sefer Yetzirah Samekh is one of the twelve simple letters assigned to the twelve zodiac signs, and it is given to Sagittarius, the mutable fire sign of the archer, aspiration, the far-reaching aim and the arrow of the higher self. The attribution of the letter to Sagittarius belongs to the ancient Jewish scheme in which the twelve single letters correspond to the signs and months; the archer's upward-aiming arrow and the supporting prop of Samekh together suit a path that steadies the soul in its aspiration toward the centre above.

This path is assigned the tarot trump Temperance, and the pairing is fitting: Temperance, the card of the angel blending and balancing, of moderation, tempering and the flowing exchange between vessels, answers to its zodiacal sign Sagittarius, the archer whose arrow this path is often said to represent, and to the letter Samekh, the support and the enclosing round. The Golden Dawn read Temperance as the alchemical mingling that steadies the aspirant on the path toward Tiphareth.

The mapping of letters to trumps descends from Eliphas Levi and the Golden Dawn of 1888, as recorded in Liber 777. The provenance must be kept clear. The path from Tiphareth to Yesod, the letter Samekh, and its attribution to Sagittarius are Jewish in origin, from the Sefer Yetzirah, whereas the correspondence to Temperance is Hermetic Qabalah, the modern Western esoteric adaptation, a magical overlay of 1888 distinct from Jewish Kabbalah.