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Page 1 of 81944 · PDF PAGE 71
VI. THE LOVERS [OR: THE BROTHERS] This card and its twin, XIV, Art, are the most obscure and difficult of the Atu. Each of these symbols is in itself double, so that the meanings form a divergent series, and the inte‐ gration of the Card can only be regained by repeated marriages, identifications, and some form of Hermaphroditism. Yet the attribution is the essence of simplicity. Atu VI refers to Gemini, ruled by Mer‐ cury. It means The Twins. The Hebrew letter corresponding is Zain, which means a Sword, and the framework of the card is therefo…
1944 · PDF PAGE 47
II 0. THE FOOL1. This card is attributed to the letter Aleph, which means an Ox, but by its shape the He‐ brew letter (so it is said) represents a plough‐ share; thus the significance is primarily Phallic. It is the first of the three Mother letters, Aleph, Mem, and Shin, which correspond in various interwoven fashions with all the triads that occur in these cards, notably Fire, Water, Air; Fa‐ ther, Mother, Son; Sulphur, Salt, Mercury; Rajas, Sattvas and Tamas. The really important feature of this card is that its number should be 0. It repres…
1944 · PDF PAGE 207
INDOLENCE EIGHT OF CUPS The Eight, Hod, in the suit of Water, governs this card. It shows the influence of Mer‐ cury, but this is overpowered by the reference of the card to Saturn in Pisces. Pisces is calm but stagnant water; and Saturn deadens it completely. Water appears no longer as the Sea but as pools; and there is no florescence in this card as there was in the last. The Lotuses droop for lack of sun and rain, and the soil is poison to them; only two of the stems show blossoms at all. The cups are shallow, old and broken. They are arrang…
1944 · PDF PAGE 194
SWIFTNESS EIGHT OF WANDS The remaining three cards of the suit belong to Sagittarius, which represents the sub‐ tilizing of the Fiery energy; and Mercury rules the card, thus bringing down from Chokmah the message of the original Will. The card also refers to Hod, splendour, in the suit of Fire, whence it refers to the phe‐ nomena of speech, light, electricity. The pictorial representation of the card shows the Light‐wands turned into electrical rays, sustaining or even constituting Matter by their vibrating energy. Above this restored uni‐ ver…
1944 · PDF PAGE 59
I. THE JUGGLER This card is referred to the letter Beth, which means a house, and is attributed to the planet Mercury. The ideas connected with this symbol are so complex and so multifarious that it seems better to attach to this general description certain documents which bear upon dif‐ ferent aspects of this card. The whole will then form an adequate basis for the full interpreta‐ tion of the card through study, meditation, and use. The French title of this card in the medieval pack is “Le Bâteleur”, the Bearer of the Bâton.1 Mercury is pre‐e…
1944 · PDF PAGE 228
…ws the type of Energy appropriate to Two, in its most fixed form. According to the doctrine that Change is the support of stability, the card is called Change. Its celestial rulers are Jupiter and Capricornus; and these symbols are most inharmo‐ nious, so that in practical matters the good fortune of Jupiter is very limited. Their influence on the card is not great. Yet, Jupiter being himself the Wheel (Atu X), he emphasizes that idea. The card represents two Pantacles, one above the other; they are the Chinese symbols of the Yang and Yin dupli…
1944 · PDF PAGE 108
XX. THE AEON In this card it has been necessary to depart completely from the tradition of the cards, in order to carry on that tradition. The old card was called The Angel: or, The Last Judgment. It represented an Angel or Messenger blowing a trumpet, attached to which was a flag, bearing the symbol of the Aeon of Osiris. Below him the graves were opening, the dead rising up. There were three of them. The central one had his hands raised with right angles at the elbows and shoulders, so as to form the letter Shin, which refers to Fire. The car…
1944 · PDF PAGE 39
…at mathematicians begin the decimal scale with Zero. To make it quite clear to initiates that they did not understand the meaning of the card called The Fool, they put him down between the cards XX and XXI, for what reason .it baffles the human imagination to conceive. They then attributed the card number I, the Juggler, to the letter Aleph. In this simple yet ingenious manner they the attribution of every card, except The Universe, XXI, wrong. Meanwhile, the true attribution was well guarded in the Sanctuary; it only became public when the sec…
1944 · PDF PAGE 200
ABUNDANCE THREE OF CUPS This card refers to Binah in the suit of Water. This is the card of Demeter or Perseph‐ one. The Cups are pomegranates: they are filled bountifully to overflowing from a single lotus, arising from the dark calm sea characteristic of Binah. There is here the fulifilment of the Will of Love in abounding joy. It is the spiritual basis of fertility. The card is referred to the influence of Mercury in Cancer; this carries further the above thesis. Mercury is the Will or Word of the All‐Father; here its influence descends upon…
1944 · PDF PAGE 204
PLEASURE SIX OF CUPS This card shows the influence of the number Six, Tiphareth, in the suit of Water. This influence is fortified by that of the Sun, who also represents the Six. The whole image is that of the influence of the Sun on Water. His fierce, but balanced power operates that type of putre‐ faction‐he is in the Sign of Scorpio‐which is the basis of all fertility, all life. The lotus stems are grouped in an elaborate dancing movement. From their blossoms water gushes into the Cups, but they are not yet full to overflowing, as they are …
1944 · PDF PAGE 183
… establishes a Library, Rockefeller endows Research, sim‐ ply because there is nothing else to do. But all this doctrine lies behind the card; it is the inner meaning of the card. There is another view to consider, that this is the last of all the cards, and therefore represents the sum total of all the work that has been done from the beginning. Therefore, in it is drawn the very figure of the Tree of Life itself. This card, to the other thirty‐five small cards, is what the twenty‐first Trump, The Universe, is to the rest of the Trumps.
1944 · PDF PAGE 195
STRENGTH NINE OF WANDS This card is referred to Yesod, the Foundation; this brings the Energy back into bal‐ ance. The Nine represents always the fullest development of the Force in its relation with the Forces above it. The Nine may be considered as the best that can be obtained from the type involved, regarded from a practical and material standpoint. This card is also governed by the Moon in Sagittarius; so here is a double influence of the Moon on the Tree of Life. Hence the aphorism “Change is Stability”. The Wands have now become arrows. …
1944 · PDF PAGE 62
II. THE HIGH PRIESTESS This card is referred to the letter Gimel, which means a Camel. (The symbolism of the Camel is explained later.) The card refers to the Moon. The Moon (being the general feminine symbol, the symbol of the second order corresponding to the Sun as the Yoni does to the Lingam) is universal, and goes from the highest to the lowest. It is a symbol which will recur frequently in these hiero‐ glyphs. But in the earlier Trumps the concern is with Nature above the Abyss; the High Priest‐ ess is the first card which connects the Su…
1944 · PDF PAGE 93
XIV. ART This card is the complement and the fulfilment of Atu VI, Gemini. It pertains to Sagitta‐ rius, the opposite to Gemini in the Zodiac, and therefore, “after another manner,” one with it. Sagittarius means the Archer; and the card is (in its simplest and most primitive form) a pic‐ ture of Diana the Huntress. Diana is primarily one of the lunar goddesses, though the Romans rather degraded her from the Greek “virgin Artemis”, who is also the Great Mother of Fertility, Diana of the Ephesians, Many‐Breasted. (A form of Isis‐see Atu II and I…
1944 · PDF PAGE 81
The highest symbolism of this card is, therefore, Fertility in its most exalted sense, and this is reflected in the attribution of the card to the sign of Virgo, which is another aspect of the same quality. Virgo is an earthy sign, and is referred especially to Corn, so that the back‐ ground of the card is a field of wheat. Virgo represents the lowest, most receptive, most feminine form of earth, and forms the crust over Hades. Yet not only is Virgo ruled by Mercury, but Mercury is exalted therein. Compare the Ten of Disks, and the general doct…
1944 · PDF PAGE 220
…refore, a modifying influ‐ ence; and this is accentuated by the celestial rule of the Moon in Aquarius. The intellectual wreckage of the card is thus not so vehement as in the Five. There is vacillation, a wish to compromise, a certain toleration. But, in certain circumstances, the re‐ sults may be more disastrous than ever. This naturally depends upon the success of the policy. This is always in doubt as long as there exist violent, uncompromising forces which take it as a natural prey. This card, like the Four, suggests the policy of appeasem…
1944 · PDF PAGE 69
V. THE HIEROPHANT This card is referred to the letter Vau, which means a Nail; of this instrument nine ap‐ pear at the top of the card; they serve to fix the oriel behind the main figure of the picture. The card is referred to Taurus; therefore the Throne of the Hierophant is surrounded by elephants, which are of the nature of Taurus; and he is actually seated upon a bull. Around him are the four beasts or Kerubs, one in each corner of the card; for these are the guardians of every shrine. But the main reference is to the particular arcanum whi…
1944 · PDF PAGE 197
THE ROOT OF THE POWERS OF WATER ACE OF CUPS This card represents the element of Water in its most secret and original form. It is the feminine complement of the Ace of Wands, and is derived from the Yoni and the Moon exactly as that is from the Lingam and the Sun. The third in the Hierarchy. This accordingly represents the essential form of the Holy Grail. Upon the dark sea of Binah, the Great Mother, are Lotuses, two in one, which fill the cup with the Life‐fluid, symbolically represented either as Water, as Blood, or as Wine, according to the…
1944 · PDF PAGE 96
XV. THE DEVIL This card is attributed to the letter ‘Ayin, which means an Eye, and it refers to Capri‐ cornus in the Zodiac. In the Dark Ages of Christianity, it was completely misunderstood. Eliphaz Levi studied it very deeply because of its connection with ceremonial magic, his fa‐ vourite subject; and he re‐drew it, identifying it with Baphomet, the ass‐headed idol of the Knights of the Temple.1 But at this time archaeological research had not gone very far; the na‐ ture of Baphomet was not fully understood. (See Atu 0, above.) At least he s…
1944 · PDF PAGE 181
The Eight of Disks is called Prudence. This card is a great deal better than the last two, because, in purely material matters, especially those relating to actual money, there is a sort of strength in doing nothing at all. The problem of every financier is, first of all, to gain time; if his resources are sufficient, he always beats the market. This is the card of “putting something away for a rainy day”. Its attribution is Sol in Virgo; it is the card of the husbandman; he can do little more than sow the seed, sit back, and wait for the harve…