Hips and Thighs

The hips and thighs are the paired structures that form the pelvic girdle and the upper segments of the lower limbs, serving as the primary weight-bearing and locomotive foundations of the human body. In classical Greek, the region is often indicated by κατόχη (katoche, “the seat”) or μηρόι (mēroi, “thighs”); the Latin coxa and femora carry the same dual sense of structural support and generative power. The Hebrew Bible uses יָרך (yarek) for thigh, a word that also signifies the side of the body and, by extension, the place from which progeny issue (Gen. 24:2).

Position on the Tree of Life

Hips and Thighs occupy Path 25, the twenty-fifth emanative pathway linking Hod to Netzach. This path, attributed to the Hebrew letter Samekh (ס), is associated with the zodiacal sign Sagittarius and the tarot trump of Art (or Temperance). In the microcosmic mapping of the soul-body system, the hips and thighs stand at the point where the upper, intellectual-ethical spheres (the arms, chest, and head) are anchored to the lower centres of instinct, generation, and movement. The pelvic basin thus becomes a vessel of transmutation: the raw forces of Netzach (Venusian desire and natural abundance) are refined through Hod’s analytic structure, and the thighs provide the actual leverage for that work to be carried forward.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

The ruling planet of Path 25 is Earth (in the sense of the element dragged up into the zodiacal sign Sagittarius), but the specific correspondence for Hips and Thighs falls under the general attribution of the Human Body column. Nonetheless, in the astrological physiology of the Renaissance (e.g., Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia), the thighs are governed by Sagittarius itself—the upward-shooting centaur whose lower half is equine. The hips, as the fulcrum of the pelvis, carry the influence of Saturn in its materialising aspect, forming the “seat” of the bones that hold the body upright. In 777, the column associates this step with the number 25, the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6 and the square of 5, reinforcing the idea of the physical foundation as a fivefold pillar (legs, feet, pelvis).

Historical Context

The earliest systematic treatment of the hips and thighs in a magical or theological context appears in the Hebrew Bible, where the yarek is the location of the sacred oath and the place Jacob’s hip was touched by the angel, after which he limped (Genesis 32:25–32). This passage established the thigh as a site of both covenant and wound, a paradox later echoed in the Qabalistic interpretation of the Sefirah Yesod: the foundation that is both generative and fragile. In the Zohar, the thighs are linked to the two pillars of the Tabernacle, Jachin and Boaz, which themselves correspond to the legs of the throne of mercy.

The Renaissance Hermetists, particularly Cornelius Agrippa and John Dee, adopted the thigh as a symbol of stability in ritual posture: the seated magician plants his feet on the ground and rests his hands on his thighs to ground the current. Athanasius Kircher, in Oedipus Aegyptiacus, connects the Egyptian “throne” (the seat of Isis) to the pelvic basin as the receptacle of the sun’s generative light. In the 777 system, Aleister Crowley took this traditional material and placed Hips and Thighs at Path 25, aligning it with the card of Art (Temperance in the Thoth deck), which depicts a hermaphroditic figure pouring fluid between two cups—a direct allusion to the blending of forces that the pelvic region mediates: blood, semen, and the downward power of the earth.

The Cell in 777

In the 777 table, the cell “Hips and Thighs” sits at the intersection of the row “The Human Body” (CLXXXII) and the source column of the same name, at Scale Step 25 (Path 25). It is flanked on the Tree by the Intestines (Path 24) above and the Genital System (Path 26) below. The thighs thus occupy a hinge position between elimination and generation, while the hips themselves provide the osseous cradle for the reproductive organs. In practice, this correspondence is used in invocations that require grounding, stamina, or the physicalisation of will: the magician may vibrate the divine name associated with Samekh (אל / El) while visualising the energy pooling in the pelvic basin and descending through the legs into the earth.