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Page 1 of 21944 · PDF PAGE 80
IX. THE HERMIT This card is attributed to the letter Yod, which means the Hand. Hence, the hand, which is the tool or instrument par excellence, is in the centre of the picture. The letter Yod is the foundation of all the other letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are merely combinations of it in various ways. The letter Yod is the first letter of the name Tetragrammaton, and this symbolizes the Father, who is Wisdom; he is the highest form of Mercury, and the Logos, the Creator of all worlds. Accordingly, his representative in physical life i…
1944 · PDF PAGE 110
…ous characteristic of this card is that it comes at the end of all, and is therefore the complement of the Fool. It is attributed to the letter Tau. The two cards together accordingly spell the word Ath, which means Essence. Mi reality is consequently compromised in the series of which these two letters form the beginning and the end. This beginning was Nothing; the end must therefore be also Nothing, but Nothing in its complete expansion, as previously explained. The number 4, rather than the number 2, was chosen as the basis of this expansion…
1944 · PDF PAGE 52
…or Dagon, the fish god. The fish as a symbol of fatherhood, of motherhood, of the perpetuation of life generally, constantly recurs. The letter N. (Nun, N, in Hebrew means Fish) is one of the original hieroglyphs stand‐ ing for this idea, apparently because of the mental reactions excited in the mind by the con‐ tinual repetition of this letter. There are thus a number of gods, goddesses, and eponymous heroes, whose legends are functions of the letter N. (With regard to this letter, see Atu XIII.) It is connected with the North, and so with the…
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 104
XVIII. THE MOON The Eighteenth Trump is attributed to the letter Qoph, which represents Pisces in the Zodiac. It is called the Moon. Pisces is the last of the Signs; it represents the last stage of winter. It might be called the Gateway of Resurrection (the letter Qoph means the back of the head, and is connected with the potencies of the cerebellum). In the system of the old Aeon, the resurrection of the Sun was not only from winter, but from night; and this card represents midnight. “There is a budding morrow in midnight”, wrote Keats. For th…
1944 · PDF PAGE 37
THE ATU OF TAHUTI1 Or: The Twentytwo Houses of Wisdom, Or: The Twentytwo Trumps of the Tarot. Twenty‐two is the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the number of the Paths of the Sepher Yetzirah. These paths are the paths which join the ten numbers on the figure called the Tree of Life. Why are there twenty‐two of them? Because that is the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and one letter goes to each path. Why should this be so? Why should these paths be arranged on the Tree in the way that the diagram shows? Why s…
1944 · PDF PAGE 140
III GENERAL REMARKS These cards constitute a pictorial analysis of the powers of the four letters of the Name and the four Elements. They are also referred to the Zodiac; but instead of assigning the three decans of each sign to one card, the influence begins with the last decan of one Sign and con‐ tinues to the second decan of the next. There is a further difficulty. It might well be expected that the elemental attribution would harmonize with the Zodiacal attribution; but it is not so. For instance, one might anticipate that the fiery part o…
1944 · PDF PAGE 111
…the material world, does not appear except as a pendant to the Tree of Life. In the same way, the element of Spirit is attributed to the letter Shin, as an additional ornament, somewhat in the same way as Kether is said to be symbolized by the topmost point of the Yod of Tetragrammaton. It is constantly necessary to distinguish between the symbols of philosophical theory and those more elaborate symbols based upon them which are neces‐ sary in practical work. Saturn and Earth have certain qualities in common‐heaviness, coldness, dryness, im‐ mo…
1944 · PDF PAGE 40
…ce of the exchange is evident when one considers Etymology. It is natural that the Great Mother should be attributed to Hé, which is her letter in the Tetragrammaton, while the letter Tzaddi is the natural letter of the Emperor in the original phonetic system, as shown in the words Tsar, Czar, Kaiser, Cæsar, Senior, Seigueur, Señor, Signor, Sir. THE TAROT AND MAGICK Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will. In other words, it is Science, Pure and Applied. This thesis has been worked out at great lengt…
1944 · PDF PAGE 22
…hap‐ pen. Without this change and sequence, nothing can be the object of sense. (It is to be noticed that this No.5 is the number of the letter Hé in the Hebrew alphabet. This is the letter tradi‐ tionally consecrated to the Great Mother. It is the womb in which the Great Father, who is rep‐ resented by the letter Yod which is pictorially the representation of an ultimate Point, moves and begets active existence). There is now possible a concrete idea of the Point; and, at last it is a point which can be self‐conscious, because it can have a Pa…
1944 · PDF PAGE 109
…series of illus‐ trations to the Book of the Law; the doctrine of that Book is everywhere implicit. At the bottom of the card we see the letter Shin itself in a form suggestive of a flower; the three Yods are occupied by three human figures arising to partake in the Essence of the new Aeon. Behind this letter is a symbolic representation of the Sign of Libra; this is the forth‐ shadowing of the Aeon which is to follow this present one, presumably in about 2,000 years‐ ”the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the double‐wan…
1944 · PDF PAGE 82
X. FORTUNE This card is attributed to the planet Jupiter, “the Greater Fortune” in astrology. It corre‐ sponds to the letter Kaph1, which means 1Kaph 20 Pé 80=100, Qoph, Pisces. The initials K Ph are those of ?τεις and Φαλλος the palm of the hand, in whose lines, according to another tradition, the fortune of the owner may be read. It would be narrow to think of Jupiter as good fortune; he represents the element of luck. The incalculable factor. This card thus represents the Universe in its aspect as a continual change of state. Above, the firm…
1944 · PDF PAGE 71
…hroditism. 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 therefore the Arch of Swords, beneath which the Royal Marriage takes place. The Sword is primarily an engine of division. In the intellectual world‐which is the world of the Sword suit‐it represents analysis. This card and Atu XIV together compose the comprehensive alchemical maxim: Solve et coagula. This card is consequently o…
1944 · PDF PAGE 99
XVI. THE TOWER (OR: WAR) This card is attributed to the letter Pé, which means a mouth; it refers to the planet Mars. In its simplest interpretation it refers to the manifestation of cosmic energy in its grossest form. The picture shows the destruction of existing material by fire. It may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment, i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon. This be‐ ing so, it seems to indicate the quintessential quality of the Lord of the Aeon1. At the bottom part of the card, therefore, is shown the destruction of the old‐ est…
1944 · PDF PAGE 90
…an Ankh, an equivalent of the Rosy Cross; in some early cards the gallows is a Pylon, or the branch of a Tree, by shape sug‐ gesting the letter Daleth (d) Venus, Love. His background is an unbounded grill of small squares; these are the Elemental Tablets which exhibit the names and sigilla of all the energies of Nature. Through his Work a Child is begotten, as shewn by the Serpent stirring in the Darkness of the Abyss below him. Yet the card in itself is essentially a glyph of Water; Mem is one of the three great Mother Letters, and its value i…
1944 · PDF PAGE 176
… ruling the four elements, and is thus a symbol of the Triumph of Man. The idea of the element of Spirit is very difficult to grasp. The letter Shin, which is the letter of Fire, has to do double duty by representing Spirit as well. Generally speaking, the at‐ tributions of Spirit are not clear and simple like those of the other elements. It is very remark‐ able that the Tablet of Spirit in the Enochian system is the key to all mischief; as, in the Hindu system, Akasha is the Egg of Darkness. On the other hand, Spirit represents Kether. Perhaps…
1944 · PDF PAGE 39
…s 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 secret lection issued to members of the Grade of Practicus of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was published as a result of the catastrophe attending the English branch of the Order in 1899 a…
1944 · PDF PAGE 148
…th its partner. She bears a wand crowned with the disk of the Sun; and she is leaping in a surging flame which re‐calls by its shape the letter Yodh. This card may be said to represent the dance of the virgin priestess of the Lords of Fire, for she is in attendance upon the golden altar ornamented with rams’ heads) symbolizing the fires of Spring. The character of the Princess is extremely individual. She is brilliant and daring. She creates her own beauty by her essential vigour and energy. The force of her character imposes the impression of …
1944 · PDF PAGE 65
III. THE EMPRESS This card is attributed to the letter Daleth, which means a door, and it refers to the planet Venus. This card is. on the face of it, the complement of The Emperor; but her attribu‐ tions are much more universal. On the Tree of Life, Daleth is the path leading from Chokmah to Binah, uniting the Fa‐ ther with the Mother. Daleth is one of the three paths which are altogether above the Abyss. There is further more the alchemical symbol of Venus, the only one of the planetary symbols which comprises all the Sephiroth of the Tree of…
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…