THE EQUINOX
“ Regarding these five Paths, I will now ask you to observe that the Tarot Keys
attached to four of them, viz., The Wheel of Fortune, Death, the Devil, and the Hanged
Man, are of more or less sinister and terrible import, and that only the symbol of
Temperance appears to promise aid. ‘Therefore by this straight and narrow Path of D
let the Philosophus advance like the arrow from the centre of wp (Qsheth) the Bow
of Promise; for by this hieroglyphic of the arrow hath Sagittarius ever been represented.
And as this sign of Sagittarius lieth between the signs Scorpio (Death) and Capricornus
(the Devil) so hath Jesus to pass through the wilderness tempted by Satan. But
Sagittarius the Archer is a Bi-corporate sign, the Centaur, the Man and the Horse
combined. Recall what was said unto thee in the passage of the 31st Path of Fire
leading into the 3° = 8° of Practicus. ‘Also there is the vision of the Fire-flashing
Courser of Light, or also a child borne aloft on the shoulders of the Celestial Steed,
fiery and clothed with Gold, or naked, and shooting from the Bow shafts of Light, and
standing on the shoulders of the horse. But if thy meditation prolongeth itself thou
shalt unite all these symbols into the form of the Lion.’* For thus wilt thou cleave
upwards by the Path of D, through the sixth Sephira unto the Path of 0 answering unto
Leo, the Lion, the Reconciling Path between Mercy and Severity, Chesed and Geburah ;
beneath whose centre hangs the Glorious Sun of Tiphereth.
“V.H. Associate Adept, will you explain to the Philosophus the 1 3th Key of the Tarot.”
Associate Adept: The 13th Key of the Tarot represents the figure of a skeleton.
The five extremities of the Body, delineated by head, hands and feet, allude to the
powers of the Number five, the letter 4, the Pentagram comprehending the concealed
Spirit of Life and the four Elements, the originators of all living forms.
The sign Scorpio especially alludes to stagnant and fetid water ; and to that property
of the moist nature which initiates putrefaction and corruption.
The eternal change from Life to Death, and through Death to Life, is symbolised in
the grass which springs from and is nourished by putrefying and corrupting carcasses. The
top of the scythe forms the T, Tau-Cross of Life, showing that what destroys also renews.
The Scorpion, Serpent and Eagle delineated before the figure of Death in the more
ancient form of the Key, refer to the mixed transforming (therefore deceptive) nature of
this emblem.
The Scorpion is the emblem of ruthless destruction, the Snake is the mixed and
deceptive nature, serving alike for good and evil, and the Eagle is the Higher and Divine
nature yet to be found herein, the alchemical Eagle of Distillation, the Renewer of Life.
As it is said: “Thy youth shall be renewed like the Eagle’s.” Great indeed and many
are the Mysteries of this Terrible Key!
After explaining a symbol of Typhon the Associate Adept turns to the 15th Key of
the Tarot.
The 15th Key of the Tarot represents a goat-headed Satyr-like demon standing upon
* See Preface.
286