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Page 1 of 51944 · 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 190
…re at its strongest and most balanced. Saturn tends to weigh it down and to embitter it. There is no limit to the scope of this volcanic energy. The symbol represents the wand of the Chief Adept, showing that the authority is de‐ rived from the superiors; were it not so, this card would be thoroughly disastrous. Moreover, there are also two wands of the Second, or Major Adept. They have the head of the Phoenix, which gives the idea of destruction (or rather purgation) through fire, and the resurrection of the energy from its ashes. There is als…
1944 · PDF PAGE 67
…fers to the sign of Aries in the Zo‐ diac. This sign is ruled by Mars, and therein the Sun is exalted. The sign is thus a combination of energy in its most material form with the idea of authority. The sign TZ or TS implies this in the original, onomatopoetic form of language. It is derived from Sanskrit roots meaning Head and Age, and is found to‐day in words like Cæsar, Tsar, Sirdar, Senate, Senior, Signor, Señor, Seigneur. The card represents a crowned male figure, with imperial vestments and regalia. He is seated upon the throne whose capit…
1944 · PDF PAGE 192
VICTORY SIX OF WANDS This card represents Tiphareth of the suit of Fire. This shows Energy in completely balanced manifestation. The Five has broken up the closed forces of the Four with revolution‐ ary ardour, but a marriage has taken place between them; and the result is the Son, and the Sun. The reference is also to Jupiter and Leo, which seems to imply a benediction on the harmony and beauty of this arrangement. It Will be seen that the Three Wands of the Three Adepts are now orderly arranged; and the flames themselves, instead of shooting …
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 237
…gical pattern as in earlier cards; but the others, since the descent into matter implies the gradual exhaustion of the original whirling energy, now take on the form of coins. These may be marked with the magical images of the appropriate planets. As a general remark, one may say that the multiplication of a symbol of Energy always tends to degrade its essential meaning, as well as to complicate it.
1944 · PDF PAGE 213
…crystallization. But the purity and exaltation of Chokmah are such that this card manifests the very best idea possible to the suit. The energy abides above the onslaught of disruption. This comparative calm is emphasized by the celestial attribution: the Moon in Libra. The Moon is change, but Nature is peaceful; moreover, Libra represents balance; be‐ tween them, they regulate the energy of the Swords. In the card appear two swords crossed; they are united by a blue rose with five petals. This rose represents the influence of the Mother, whose…
1944 · PDF PAGE 193
…ill the Sun in his full strength, but the marks of decadence are already to be seen. It is as if the wavering fire sum‐ moned the brutal energy of Mars to its support. But this is not enough to counter‐ act fully the degeneration of the initial energy, and the departure from equilibrium. The army has been thrown into disorder; if victory is to be won, it will be by dint of in‐ dividual valour‐a “soldiers’ battle”. The pictorial representation shows the fixed and balanced wands of the last card rele‐ gated to the background, diminished, and beco…
1944 · PDF PAGE 179
… Sixes are thus representative of their respective elements at their practical best. The Six of Wands is called Victory. The outburst of energy in the Five of Wands, which was so sudden and violent that it even gave the idea of strife, has now completely won suc‐ cess. The rule, or lordship, in the suit of Wands is not quite as stable as it might have been if there had been less energy displayed. So, from this point, as soon as the current leaves the middle pillar, the inherent weakness in the element of Fire (which is this: that, for all its p…
1944 · PDF PAGE 68
… represents sud‐ den, violent, but impermanent activity. If it persists too long, it burns and destroys. Distin‐ guish from the Creative Energy of Aleph and Beth: this card is below the Abyss. The Emperor bears a sceptre (surmounted by a ram’s head for the reasons given above) and an orb surmounted by a Maltese cross, which signifies that his energy has reached a successful issue, that his government has been established. There is one further symbol of importance. His shield represents the two‐headed eagle crowned with a crimson disk. This repr…
1944 · PDF PAGE 254
…ay spring free from the ruins. Quarrel, combat, danger, ruin, destruction of plans, sudden death, escape from prison. XVII Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn up thy thought as the Phnix. Hope, unexpected help, clearness of vision, realization of possibilities, spiritual insight, with bad aspects, error of judgment, dreaminess, disappointment. XVIII Let the Illusion of the World pass over thee, un heeded, as thou goest from the Midnight to the Morning. Illusion, deception, bewilderment, hysteria, even madness, dreaminess, falsehood…
1944 · PDF PAGE 223
RUIN TEN OF SWORDS The number Ten, Malkuth, as always, represents the culmination of the unmitigated energy of the idea. It shows reason run mad, ramshackle riot of soulless mechanism; it repre‐ sents the logic of lunatics and (for the most part) of philosophers. It is reason divorced from reality. The card is also ruled by the Sun in Gemini, but the mercurial airy quality of the Sign serves to disperse his rays; this card shows the disruption and disorder of harmonious and stable energy. The hilts of the Swords occupy the positions of the Seph…
1944 · PDF PAGE 79
… the magician. She holds the blade be‐ tween her thighs. This is again a hieroglyph of “Love is the law, love under will”. Every form of energy must be directed, must be applied with integrity, to the full satisfaction of its destiny.
1944 · PDF PAGE 140
…OUR DIGNITARIES The Knights represent the powers of the letter Yodh in the Name. They are the most sublime, original, active part of the Energy of the Element; for this reason they are repre‐ sented on horseback and clad in complete armour. Their action is swift and violent, but tran‐ sient. In the Element of Fire, for instance, the Knight corresponds to the Lightning flash; in the Element of Water, to Rain and Springs; in that of Air, to Wind; in that of Earth, to Mountains. It is very important as a mental exercise to work out for oneself the…
1944 · PDF PAGE 96
…e three cards may therefore be summed up as a hieroglyph of the processes by which idea manifests as form. This card represents creative energy in its most material form; in the Zodiac, Capricor‐ nus occupies the Zenith. It is the most exalted of the signs; it is the goat leaping with lust upon the summits of earth. The sign is ruled by Saturn, who makes for selfhood and perpetuity. In this sign, Mars is exalted, showing in its best form the fiery, material energy of creation. The card represents Pan Pangenetor, the All‐Begetter. It is the Tree…
1944 · PDF PAGE 24
…nd Tamas, which may be translated roughly as “Calm”, “Activity”, and “Slothful Darkness”. The alchemists had three similar principles of energy, of which all existing phenomena are composed: Sulphur, Mercury and Salt. This Sulphur is Activity, Energy, Desire; Mercury is Fluidity, Intelligence, the power of Transmission; Salt is the vehicle of these two forms of energy, but itself possesses qualities which react on them. The student must keep in his mind all these tripartite classifications. In some cases, one set will be more useful than others…
1944 · PDF PAGE 188
VIRTUE THREE OF WANDS This card refers to Binah in the suit of Fire, and so represents the establishment of primeval Energy. The Will has been trans mitted to the Mother, who conceives, prepares, and gives birth to, its manifestation. It refers to the Sun in Aries, the Sign in which he is exalted. The meaning is harmonious, for this is the beginning of Spring. For this reason one sees the wand taking the form of the Lotus in blossom. The Sun has enkindled the Great Mother. In the Yî King, Sol in Aries is represented by the 11th hexagram, Thai; …
1944 · PDF PAGE 210
…e influence of Mars in Pisces. Mars is the gross, violent and disrup‐ tive force which inevitably attacks every supposed perfection. His energy displays the greatest possible contrast with that of Pisces, which is both peaceful and spiritualized.
1944 · PDF PAGE 265
… 4. THE CADUCEUS This diagram illustrates the Tree of Life, the Cosmos as the Wand or creative force of Mercury, that is of the balanced energy which has created the illusion of existence. It will be noted that the shape of the symbol shows the three Mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Shin, Aleph and Mem, in its three sections. The importance of this symbol is mainly that the Tarot is primarily the Book of Thoth or Tahuti, the Egyptian Mercury. For the understanding of this book it is necessary to learn how to transmute instinctively and au…
1944 · PDF PAGE 98
…he allusion to the highest things and most remote. Even the horns of the goat are spiral, to represent the movement of the all‐pervading energy. Zoroaster defines God as “having a spiral force”. Compare the more recent, if less profound, writings of Einstein1. 1Compare Saturn, at one end of the Seven Sacred Wanderers, with the Moon at the other: the aged man and the young girl—see “The Formula of Tetragrammaton”. They are linked as no other two planets, since 32=9, and each contains in itself the extremes of its own idea. (See also Appendix: At…