The back of the head—called Okeanis in Greek (ὠκεανίς, ‘of the ocean’) and occiput in Latin—refers to the posterior region of the cranium, opposite the face and above the nape. In esoteric anatomy it denotes the hidden, receptive, and involuntary pole of consciousness: that which is not directly ‘faced’ in waking life, yet which cradles the cerebellum and the brainstem, seat of autonomic rhythms and the gateway between the spinal column and the higher brain.

Position on the Tree of Life

This correspondence occupies Path 29, the 29th step on the Tree of Life, linking Netzach (Victory, sephira 7) to Malkuth (Kingdom, sephira 10). The path is known by the Hebrew letter Qoph (meaning ‘back of the head’ or ‘occiput’ in its original pictograph—a needle’s eye; later, the nape or skull base). Its numerical value is 100, and it is associated with the Moon (as the least illumined of the classical planets) and with the 29th Tarot trump, The Moon. The back of the head thus marks the twilight, receptive interface where the energies of Netzach (emotion, instinct, nature) descend into material form in Malkuth.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

The Moon rules Path 29, and the back of the head is its bodily symbol. In astrological medicine and magic, the Moon governs the pia mater, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the posterior fontanelle—the ‘soft spot’ of infancy that slowly closes. This is the fissure through which pre-verbal, oceanic impressions flow before the conscious veils close. The Moon’s dream-sea corresponds to the okeanis (ocean) etymology: a dark, tidal reservoir behind the waking eye.

Historical Context

Hebrew Qabalistic tradition – The letter Qoph is described in the Sepher Yetzirah (3:1) as ‘the root of water’ and the ‘sleep of the soul.’ In the Zohar (I:15a), the back of the head is the ‘place of the skull’ that receives the dew of the Ancient of Days. The Bahir connects Qoph to the occiput as the ‘eye of the needle’ through which the coarse world threads into the subtle.

Renaissance magic and the microcosm – Cornelius Agrippa (Three Books of Occult Philosophy, II.xvii) assigns the occiput to the Moon, noting it ‘receives the images that come by night’ and is the seat of passive imagination. In the Liber de imaginibus of Thebit ben Corat, incised images on lead placed against the occiput are used to calm storms or induce prophetic sleep—a direct echo of the lunar-naval symbolism.

Egyptian and Greek parallels – The Mysteries of Mithras and the Corpus Hermeticum both locate the autophuēs (self-born faculty) behind the skull, where the ‘foreign god’ or daimōn enters. The Greek term okeanis occurs in Orphic hymns describing the seat of the ‘all-receiving intellect’ that faces the underworld, not the sun.

Modern esoteric reception – Aleister Crowley, in 777 itself, lists the ‘back of the head’ at Path 29, collating it with the Moon, the dog-and-wolf of the Atu, and the physical nape. In The Vision and the Voice, Aethyr 29 (RII) expands this: the back of the head is the ‘window’ through which the abyss of the subconscious whispers into waking flesh.

Conclusion

In the table of Liber 777, the back of the head at Path 29 appears under Col. II (English of Col. II) precisely as ‘Back of head’—representing the neocortical underside of the lunar path. It points to the hidden aperture of memory, dreams, and autonomic life: the part of the skull that has no eyes, yet ‘sees’ the darkness behind the sun.