The Allegory of the Seasons

My idea for this post probably first hit me last year around this time. I was walking around campus and it was snowing. I'd never really noticed exactly how beautiful snow can be, and how winter is such a sublime season (minus the shoveling and all that). After doing some thinking, it seemed so obvious how the hermetic formula of Tetragrammaton applies to the seasons.

Tetragrammaton is the ineffable name of God, otherwise known as LORD in the Torah, Yaweh, or Jehovah. It is the first four-letter word, consisting of the Hebrew characters Yod, Heh, Vau, and another Heh (we refer to the first Heh as "Heh primal," and the second as "Heh final"). It is considered to be the name that resounds throughout the manifested universe, and provides it with structure and law. Tetragrammaton and the number four are associated with the demiurge, from the Greek demiurgos. This aspect of God is the one responsible for maintaining the order of the universe - perhaps one could even liken it to the source of kosmos (order). A lot of things seem to come in fours, don't they? The four elements, the four Evangelists, four compass directions, and of course, the four seasons!

Also important to remember is that in the hermetic teachings, Tetragrammaton is a revolving formula by which psycho-spiritual/micro-macrocosmic integration occurs. The yod represents the Father, the original unbegotten, active, self-generating, fiery masculine principle. Heh primal is the Mother, or the element of water, which receives the seed of the Father and becomes pregnant with twins. These twins are the vau and heh final, the first one being a male, the second being female. The "princess" is therefore the lowest lifeform in this scheme, but remember that the formula "revolves." The princess marries her twin brother, and because she is of the same substance as her Mother, she replaces the Mother on her throne, and her husband becomes the new Father, and thereby sparks the cycle of creation all over again.

Now, there are people who may disagree with my attributions, but for me, these make the most sense when trying to pair the seasons with the letters/elements of Tetragrammaton. Spring is most obviously fire and the yod. Spring is primarily associated with Aries the ram, the cardinal sign of fire, who is definitively masculine. In fact, the cardinal signs of each element begin a certain season. Cardinal signs represent the initial onset of that element, as opposed to the life of the element as expressed by the fixed signs, and the waning of the element, as expressed by the mutable ones. (Therefore, Cancer is associated with summer, Libra with Autumn, and Capricorn with Winter.) Spring is the season of blooming, when life finally begins anew, after having suffered a not-so-finite death. Things that have died and suffered a non-cyclical death have been recycled into new forms and energies, thereby helping the diversity of life.

Summer is a bit tougher to figure out in all honesty, but I'll do my best to make it work. Perhaps it helps to remember the purpose of the sign of Cancer in the tarot - the Chariot. The Charioteer is the grail bearer, the grail ultimately being a vehicle for the blood of the sun - the primary point of singular consciousness which acts as the main motivation for all motion and energy. (Hence the meaning of the Chariot, in addition to the fact that its path connects Binah, the universal Holy Grail and throne of the Mother Goddess, to Geburah, the seat of all manifested energy and motion.) Is it no wonder then that the days seem to last forever in the summer? The sun is at the pinnacle of its glory, having been reborn in the springtime, and now infusing the earth with light and warmth. Also, it's amusing to think that the slowness of summer, between the long days and the heat, is connected to the Feminine being associated with salt, the alchemical element of slowness, inertia, immobility. (Remember, the hermetic Feminine is all about receptivity. These things are not necessarily negative qualities in and of themselves, but they are negative when taken to excess. They, like all things, must be balanced by their complement, in this case, the Masculine.)

Fall then is connected with air and the suit of swords. Swords tend to represent suffering and anguish, and let's face it - who isn't sad when summer's over??? But air is also associated with the letter vau, the Son, the Dying Man God formula and all that, the Messiah, the Christ, the True Sun, etc. Therefore, should it not make sense that autumn focuses on the "dying" of the sun, which in turn causes the vegetation to undergo putrefaction? In alchemy, putrefaction and sacrifice is associated with the rainbow, the "coat of many colors" of Jesus and Joseph. The leaves on the trees also go through a similar transformation, shifting gradually from their standard green to yellows, oranges, and reds. We know that this season marks a clear separation from the warmth and splendor of spring and summer, an attribute which is also associated with swords - separation from godhead.

Finally, Winter is the element of earth, that ever mysterious yet simple element. The lowest of the low, earth is equipped to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, and in some ways, is the Kingdom of Heaven (this is a standard Kabbalistic doctrine). Earth is not remotely abstract, nor is it remotely intelligent, yet, it is still the throne of spirit, as it contains it within itself. The heh final with which it is associated though is of course also very similar to the heh primal, so much so that the heh final (the Daughter) is able to rise to the level of the heh primal (the Mother). In order to do this though, the Daughter must first attain Silence: perfect innocence and fertility, and knowledge of the Jungian Self/Kabbalistic Higher Self. Earth in its best form is therefore simple and humble, while also industrious and durable. During the winter, the earth is stripped of all its pretenses and is shown in its most barren form, or rather, we see it as barren, but this infertility actually bears the seeds for new life waiting to blossom in the spring. This "death" is required for newness and creation. The whiteness and silence of snow is enough to explain the purity and innocence inherent in the earth - perhaps it's even more profound to remember that snow is simply frozen water. The cold of winter also forces people indoors, where they have no choice but to contemplate. So next time you complain about winter, remember that it's pretty, and is an allegory staring you in the face. All that shoveling you have to do is similar to the amount of Work one has to do in order to bring the Great Work to completion. (The Great Work refers to the merging of the microcosm and the macrocosm, the integration of the separate selves with the whole self.)

(Picture: Allegory of the Four Seasons by Bartolomeo Manfredi)