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This is a threadspore from NXM139, which I think deserves its own thread as it's been touched on by many people before.
I had a glance through Claremont's original Phoenix storyline - and it's clear Morrison is taking Jean down a path that Chris was exploring but probably got diverted from by Byrne and his editors.
Like Morrison Claremont (IMO) was drawing on the Qabala in his portrayal of Phoenix. In All New X-Men 108 when Jean enters the M'Kraan crystal and repairs it, he refers to her as "Tiphareth, child of the sun, child of life, the vision of the harmony of things." The energy lattice she forms to contain the neutron galaxy is "shaped like the mystic tree of life - with Xavier at its lofty crown and Colossus at its base. Each X-man has a place, each a purpose greater than himself or herself."
Tiphereth is the sixth principal of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, encompassing beauty and harmony. Tiphereth mediates between Kether (the crown, the pure spirit), and Malkuth (kingdom, earth), Tiphereth also reflects Kether (the first sephiroth of the tree of life). "That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below, is like that which is above". Kether is also linked with the grade of Ipssissimus, the highest possible attainment of the consciousness. "I recognize every phenomenon as God, that is, as my soul."
The definition of Ipssissimus is that which is, "Wholly free from all limitations soever, existing in the nature of all things without discriminations of quantity or quality between them, she has identified being and not being, and becoming, action and non-action, and tendency to action, with all other triplicities, not distinguishing between them in respect of any conditions, or between any one thing and any other thing as to whether it is with or without conditions."
Now from the Invisibles' website The Bomb: "In the Mystical Qabalah, there is a model for existence called the "Tree of Life" (TOL). It has 10 spheres, leading from the world to the divine and back down again. Mysticism is to rise into the oneness of everything. Magick is to bring the connection with the divine intent back down into the world and manifest it. To do it, one ( an individual, a collective, etc.) must cross the Abyss.
The Abyss is represented on the TOL as an 'invisible' sphere just below the last three spheres, which are called the supernals. The supernals possess no duality. Communication with them does not come from knowledge of opposties. It comes from oneness. I digress. To reach the supernals, you must cross the Abyss. The Abyss is 'invisible' because, although it has a representation on the tree with proximity to the supernals, it is neither here nor there. It is everywhere and no where. Just as the supernals are. The thing about the Abyss is that it is the gateway to the unconscious. It is the gateway to the reverse side of the TOL. What is sometimes called Universe 'B'. The front of the TOL being Universe 'A'. The reverse side of the TOL represents the demonology (archons), what quabalistically is called the Quilpoth . It represents all of our supressed, unrefined, unacknowledged apsects of unconscious awareness. To successfully cross the Abyss, we must first resolve all that is unresolved within the Abyss.
Another attribution of the invisible sphere is the sphere of 'knowledge'. But it is knowledege without understanding. The understanding comes from communion with the Supernals. Without the 'divine' understanding of the knowledge, one has only 'false' knowledge. Magick without understanding is Colonel Friday. Knowledge as the godhead is a false god. It is communion with life that is the intent of our existnece. That is what we are programmed for.
Notice the Tree of Life contains the Tree of Knowledge. This is no accident. We must first have knowledge of who we are not, before we may become who we are. "It all follows a plan.."
There, in The Abyss, resides the gatekeeper, Choronzon. Choronzon is frequently referred to as the dispersion of false knowledge. The eater of the Ego. The Trickster. "Surprise! That wasn't you!" Until we integrate all that exists in both the Universes of A and B in a way that resolves our intentions into that which allows us to pass encumbered into the divine, we will never truly cross the Abyss. Hence, we will never truly realize the manifestation of what we truly are. "
Now in the origninal Claremont Phoenix storyline Matermind is Chorozon, Jean doesn't see through his lies until it is too late by then she has looked into the Abyss too long and becomes Dark Phoenix. In NXM Chorozon is Phantomex, only this time Jean sees through his deception early on. (Notice how she is attracted to both of these men - but how much more in control of the situation she is in NXM.) John Byrne recently revealed that Phoenix turning evil was the idea of the editors, so it's even possible that Claremont originally intended her to become a 'goddess'.
According to Morrison to achieve the 'grade' of ipssissimus (becoming Phoenix the goddess) you must undergo "an ordeal, the nature of which amounts to a personality-shattering meditation upon and encounter with the incoherent forces of 'the Dark Side' of the so-called Tree of Life, that is, all the negative states of consciousness available to us as human beings - fear, guilt, shame, hatred, loneliness, sickness, pain etc."
So perhaps we can see the breakdown of Jean's relationship with Scott and her possible disillusionment with Xavier's dream as the trials that lead her to realise that she is no longer Scott's wife or just an X-Man, which in turn leads her to realise her true self - as the Phoenix. |
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