Luna is the Latin name for the Moon, personified as a goddess in Roman religion and later adopted into Western esotericism as the embodiment of the lunar principle. Her name derives from the Proto-Indo-European *leuksnā, meaning “the shining one,” and she is the direct counterpart of the Greek Selene. In the Qabalistic framework of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Luna is not merely a celestial body but a distinct spiritual force governing the path of Gimel (the 13th path) on the Tree of Life.

Position on the Tree of Life

Luna occupies Path 13, the third path of the Middle Pillar, which connects Kether (the Crown) to Tiphareth (Beauty). This path is assigned to the Hebrew letter Gimel (ג), meaning “camel,” and symbolizes the lunar current that carries the divine light from the supernal realm into the heart of the microcosm. As the only planetary path on the Middle Pillar, Luna mediates between the formless unity of Kether and the balanced self of Tiphareth, representing the subconscious, receptivity, and the reflective nature of consciousness.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Astrologically, Luna rules the Moon, the fastest-moving celestial body, and governs emotions, habits, memory, and the instinctual mind. In the planetary hierarchy of the Sephiroth, Yesod (the ninth sephirah) is the Sphere of Luna, serving as the foundation that receives and transmits the energies of the higher spheres. However, on Path 13, Luna acts as a direct channel, bypassing the sephirothic structure to link the highest and the central spheres. This dual role—both a sephirah’s sphere and a path’s planetary attribution—underscores her function as a bridge between the abstract and the concrete.

Historical context

Luna’s worship in ancient Rome was closely tied to the calendar and agricultural cycles; she was often invoked alongside Sol (the Sun) in rituals of timekeeping and harvest. The Greek Selene, depicted driving a silver chariot across the night sky, influenced later Neoplatonic and Hermetic writings, where the Moon became a symbol of the soul’s descent into matter. In medieval alchemy, Luna represented the feminine, silver, and the “white queen” of the alchemical marriage, associated with the phase of albedo (whitening). The Renaissance magus Agrippa von Nettesheim, in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, detailed the lunar correspondences of animals, stones, and plants, many of which were later codified in the tables of Liber 777. The Golden Dawn further systematized these attributions, placing Luna on Path 13 as the “Gimel” path, with the tarot trump The High Priestess (Atu II) as its symbolic image—a veiled figure holding a scroll, seated between the pillars of the Temple, embodying the hidden wisdom of the lunar sphere.

In the table of Liber 777, Luna appears at step 13 (Path 13) under column VI (English of Col. VI), representing the planetary attribution of the Moon for that path. Her presence here aligns with the broader correspondences of the 32 paths, where each planetary force is assigned to a specific step on the Tree of Life, and Luna’s placement emphasizes her role as the mediator of reflected light and the guardian of the threshold between the conscious and the unconscious.