Book 4 (Part II)

flections; while the tendencies alter the refractive index, and break up the light. Even consciousness itself is that which distinguishes between the lower and the higher, the waters which are below the firmament from the waters which are above the firmament, that appalling stage in the great curse of creation. Since at the best this water ' is but a reflection, how tremendously important it becomes that it should be still ! If the cup is shaken the light will be broken up. Therefore the Cup is placed upon the Altar, which is foursquare, will multiplied by will, the confirmation of the will in the Magical Oath, its fi.xation in Law. ' The water in this Cup (the latter is also a heart, as shown by the transition from the ancient to the modern Tarot ; the suit " Hearts" in old packs of cards, and even in modern Spanish and Italian cards, is called " Cups ") is the letter Mem (the Hebrew word for water), which has for its Tarot trump the Hanged Man. This Hanged Man represents the Adept hanging by one heel from a gallows, which is in the shape of the letter Daleth — the letter of the Empress, the heavenly Venus in the Tarot. His legs form a cross, his arms a triangle, as if by his equilibrium and self-sacritice he were bringing the light down and establishing it even in the abyss. Elementary as this is, it is a very satisfactory hieroglyph of the Great Work, though the student is warned that the obvious sentimental interpretation will have to be dis- carded as soon as it has been understood. It is a very noble illusion, and therefore a very dangerous one, to figure one's self as the Redeemer. For, of all the illusions in this Cup —the subtler and purer they are, the more difficult they are to detect.