The scourge, the chain, the spear and the sword are all symbols of Geburah. As weapons it is rather easy to explore these associations, and I invite you to do so!
But let us take a bit of a different road with the available correspondences into the realm of Geburah.
Basilisk
We look here at the classical basilisk, not the one of Harry Potter familiarity. It was considered to be small (12 finger widths in length), with a mark on the head like a diadem (crown). It’s breath, vision and venom were all deadly. There was essentially nothing about it that wouldn’t kill you. The venom was so strong that a man on horse who killed it with a spear would be killed by the venom traveling back up the spear to him.
Most likely the basilisk was inspired by the king cobra (see the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi for the king cobra versus the mongoose).
The point I invite you to consider is how intense the basilisk is. It is deadly. At a distance at a touch. It is a small (supposedly) creature with a sense of royalty that has multiple destructive forces.
Geburah lies in opposition to Chesed. It is a little unfair to visit Geburah first, but we will manage. Chesed is love. It’s spiritual experience is the Vision of Love. Can you, just for a moment, imagine being embraced in the purity of love? No reservations?
Now imagine the opposite of that.
That is Geburah. The opposite of pure love. Which is NOT in this case pure hate. It is the opposite of unity. It is destruction, breaking down, aggression, and thus its animal is the basilisk, a creature exuding death. (The creature for Chesed is the Unicorn).
Oak
The nettle as the plant of Geburah is an easy placement. Just think of how we use “nettled” in relation to interacting with people. The oak on the other hand, is a familiar and strong tree. Yet lacking that destructive quality associated with, say, the nettle or the basilisk.
Yet Geburah translates as Might, not as Destruction. While destruction is inherent in its nature, it is not the point of it. It is power to a purpose, power that serves, power that brings us to our strength, our courage, our loyalty.
The oak tree has a long history in lore. Oaks courted the lightening strike, pulling in the power of the destruction and empowerment of lightening (just like Geburah).
They stand on the edge of the wild, embracing that side of nature, yet still standing strong and protective over the people. Consider how this could relate back to Geburah, its wildness and yet it also protects? If so, how?
They are sacred and honoured. The basilisk bears the mark of the diadem, implying a sense of royalty; oaks are a royal tree, a sacred tree. There is nothing ‘low’ about Geburah. It is a powerful place, and its transformations are not the petty transformations and unveilings of Yesod. This is a deeper place, a more fundamental and more intensely spiritual revealing of our true nature. The work at this level is sacred and not to be taken lightly. And its impact spreads out over the people around us.