In response to Chesed's post above: I don't feel like Jean's getting in touch w/ anyone's Tiphereth - certainly not in this issue. I'd say she's behaving a hell of a lot more along the lines of Geburah, and that it seems to me that's more where the Phoenix is coming from - I'm drawn to remembering the lines about Qlippoths in the Geburah issue of Promethea: About stern judgement without the judgement being simply rage. Actually, that issue brings a lot of other ideas to the fore about the Phoenix that click with me:
Geburah is the Fifth Sphere, Strength - Judgement. Mars, War, Strategy - Cold Decisions, Cold Judgement.
"Fire means will. Not human will, but the will that moves the suns and planets. Universal will."
"The energy of god crackles down into material existence through these spheres, these numbered stages. Here in Geburah, it's purged of any impurities. Anything flawed. Anything weak."
But beyond the Qlippothic entanglements and the harsh nature of the ideas behind it, if I'm reading into it right, Geburah is a testing ground - were worthiness to continue is assessed.
To paraphrase from Promethea again - The harshness of the judgement isn't meant to be cruel or unkind, it just can't afford to get sentimental. It must be stern. The energies at work in everything below must be pure. "Nothin' unworthy. No crap' Geburah is where the world gets the @#*& beaten out of it."
There's also a weird sexual connotation assigned to Geburah (at least in Promethea, which is just Magic 100/101 for fresh-starters like myself).
I think in past X-Men/Qaballah discussions there's been a tendency to put Jean and the Phoenix near the top of the Tree because of the obvious power-level. But Geburah seems a perfect fit to me, and strikes all sorts of chords with what's come before. And particularly in this issue - Emma's comment about Jean's purity, hating Scott for his weakness. The Phoenix's supposed goal of 'disinfection'. Jean's comments about the fire of the Phoenix burning through lies.
We've seen Jean as the mother-figure in X-Men already, giving (re)birth to Charles at the end of the Imperial arc - So I wonder, did she change roles, or did she simply find Charles worthy enough to be sent down the Tree again to Malkuth? And who exactly is going to be judged unworthy/disinfected from the planet (if anyone) - Mutant or mankind? Or maybe something more localized... Emma's certainly a possibility, but that strikes me as more Qlippothic rage than stern judgement.
I'm just meandering, really... Either way I'm convinced that the current incarnation of the Phoenix is Geburah, through and through, unless it/Jean HAS been changing roles, moving up or down the Tree of Life to some specific purpose. |
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