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Page 1 of 41944 · PDF PAGE 278
THE TRIPLICITIES OF THE ZODIAC { Fire Fire of Fire Lightning—swift violence of onset. Air of Fire Sun—steady force of energy. Water of Fire Rainbow—fading spiritualized reflection of the Image. { Water Fire of Water Rain, Springs, etc.—swift passionate attack. Air of Water Sea—steady force of putrefaction. Water of Water Pool—stagnant spiritualized reflection of Images. { Air Fire of Air Wind—swift onset (note idea of balance as in trade winds.) Air of Air Clouds—steady conveyors of water. Water of Air Vibrations—bulk unmoved, spiritualized to …
1944 · PDF PAGE 208
HAPPINESS NINE OF CUPS The Number Nine, Yesod, in the suit of Water, restores the stability lost by the excur‐ sions of Netzach and Hod from the Middle Pillar. It is also the number of the Moon, thus strengthening the idea of Water. In this card is the pageant of the culmination and perfection of the original force of Wa‐ ter. The Ruler is Jupiter in Pisces. This influence is more than sym pathetic; it is a definite benediction, for Jupiter is the planet of Chesed which represents Water in its highest material manifestation, and Pisces brings o…
1944 · PDF PAGE 150
KNIGHT OF CUPS The Knight of Cups represents the fiery part of Water, the swift passionate attack of rain and springs; more intimately, Water’s power of solution. He rules the Heavens from the 21st degree of Aquarius to the 20th degree of Pisces. He is clothed in black armour furnished with bright wings which, together with the leaping attitude of his white charger, indicates that he represents the most active aspect of Water. In his right hand he bears a cup from which is‐ sues a crab, the cardinal sign of Water, for aggressiveness. His totem …
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 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 151
In the Yî King, the fiery part of Water is represented by the 54th Hexagram, Kwei Mei. The commentary is singularly obscure, and somewhat sinister. It deals with the difficulties of rightly mating such opposites as fire and water (compare the Queen of Wands; but in that case Water is the calming and modulating influence, while here it is Fire which creates trouble.) Swiftness and violence ill suit a character naturally placid; it is rare indeed to meet with a per‐ son who has succeeded in harmonizing these conflicting elements. He tends to mism…
1944 · PDF PAGE 27
…ement divided into four sub‐elements. For convenience, here follows a list of these cards: Knight of Wands, Fire of Fire Queen of Wands, Water of Fire Prince of Wands, Air of Fire Princess of Wands, Earth of Fire Knight of Cups, Fire of Water Queen of Cups, Water of Water Prince of Cups, Air of Water Princess of Cups, Earth of Water Knight of Swords, Fire of Air Queen of Swords, Water of Air Prince of Swords, Air of Air Princess of Swords, Earth of Air Knight of Disks, Fire of Earth
1944 · PDF PAGE 89
…begins to stir. In the former Aeon, that of Osiris, the element of Air, which is the nature of that Aeon, is not unsympathetic either to Water or to Fire; compromise was a mark of that period. But now, under a Fiery lord of the Aeon, the watery element, so far as water is below the Abyss, is definitely hostile, unless the opposition is the right opposition implied in marriage. But in this card the only question is of the “redemption” of the submerged element, and therefore every‐ thing is reversed. This idea of sacrifice is, in the final analys…
1944 · PDF PAGE 203
DISAPPOINTMENT FIVE OF CUPS This card is ruled by Geburah in the suit of Water. Geburah being fiery, there is a natu‐ ral antipathy. Hence arises the idea of disturbance, just when least expected, in a time of ease. The attribution is also to Mars in Scorpio, which is his own house; and Mars is the manifestation on the lowest plane of Geburah, while Scorpio, in its worst aspect, suggests the putrefying power of Water. Yet the powerful male influences do not show actual decay, only the beginning of destruction; hence, the anticipated pleasure is…
1944 · PDF PAGE 210
…rangement of the cups is that of the Tree of Life. But, on the other hand, they are themselves unstable. They are tilted; they spill the water from the great Lotus which overhangs the whole system from one into the other. The work proper to water is complete: and disturbance is due. This comes from the 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 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 154
PRINCE OF CUPS The Prince of Cups represents the airy part of Water. On the one hand, elasticity, vola‐ tility, hydrostatic equilibrium; on the other hand, the catalytic faculty and the energy of steam. He rules from the 21st degree of Libra to the 20th degree of Scorpio. He is a warrior partly clad in armour, which seems, however, rather a growth than a covering. His helmet is surmounted by an eagle, and his chariot, which resembles a shell, is also drawn by an eagle. His wings are tenuous, almost of gas.. This is a reference to his power of v…
1944 · PDF PAGE 152
QUEEN OF CUPS The Queen of Cups represents the watery part of Water, its power of reception and re‐ flection. In the Zodiac it rules from the 21st degree of Gemini to the 20th degree of Cancer Her image is of extreme purity and beauty, with infinite subtlety; to see the Truth of her is hardly possible, for she reflects the nature of the observer in great perfection. She is represented as enthroned upon still water. In her hand she bears a shell‐like cup, from which issues a crayfish, and she bears also the Lotus of Isis, of the Great Mother. Sh…
1944 · PDF PAGE 88
XII. THE HANGED MAN This card, attributed to the letter Mem, represents the element of Water. It would per‐ haps be better to say that it represents the spiritual function of water in the economy of initia‐ tion; it is a baptism which is also a death. In the Aeon of Osiris, this card represented the su‐ preme formula of adeptship; for the figure of the drowned or hanged man has its own special meaning. The legs are crossed so that the right leg forms a right angle with the left leg, and the arms are stretched out at an angle of 60° so as to for…
1944 · PDF PAGE 206
DEBAUCH SEVEN OF CUPS This card refers to the Seven, Netzach, in the suit of Water. Here recurs the invariable weakness arising from lack of balance; also, the card is governed by Venus in Scorpio. Her dignity is not good in this Sign; one is reminded that Venus is the planet of Copper, “external splendour and internal corruption”. The Lotuses have become poisonous, looking like tiger‐ lilies; and, instead of water, green slime issues from them and overflows, making the Sea a ma‐ larious morass. Venus redoubles the influence of the number Seven…
1944 · PDF PAGE 198
LOVE TWO OF CUPS The Two always represents the Word and the Will. It is the first manifestation. There‐ fore, in the suit of Water, it must refer to Love, which recovers unity from dividuality by mu‐ tual annihilation. The card also refers to Venus in Cancer. Cancer is, more than any other, the receptive Sign; it is the House of the Moon, and in that Sign Jupiter is exalted. These are, superficially, the three most friendly of the planets. The hieroglyph of the card represents two cups in the foreground, overflowing upon a calm sea. They are fe…
1944 · PDF PAGE 156
PRINCESS OF CUPS The Princess of Cups represents the earthy part of Water; in particular, the faculty of crystallization. She represents the power of Water to give substance to idea, to support life, and to form the basis of chemical combination. She is represented as a dancing figure, robed in a flowing garment on whose edges crystals are seen to form. For her crest she wears a swan with open wings. The symbolism of this swan reminds one of the swan in oriental philosophy which is the word AUM or AUMGN, which is the symbol of the entire proces…
1944 · PDF PAGE 201
LUXURY FOUR OF CUPS This card refers to Chesed in the sphere of Water. Here, below the Abyss, the energy of this element, although ordered, balanced and (for the moment) stabilized, has lost the original purity of the conception. The card refers to the Moon in Cancer, which is her own house; but Cancer itself is so placed that this implies a certain weakness, an abandonment to desire. This tends to intro‐ duce the seeds of decay into the fruit of pleasure. The sea is still shown, but its surface is ruffled, and the four Cups which stand upon it…
1944 · PDF PAGE 90
…d 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 is 40, the might of Tetragrammaton fully developed by Malkuth, the symbol of the Universe under the Demiourgos. Moreover, Water is peculiarly the Mother Letter, for both Shin and Aleph (the other two) represent masculine ideas; and, in Nature, Homo Sapiens is a marine mammal, and our intra‐uterine existence is passed in the Amniotic Fluid. The …
1944 · PDF PAGE 157
In the Yî King, the earthy part of Water is represented by the 41st Hexagram, Sun. This means diminution, the dissolution of all solidity. People described by this card are very de‐ pendent on others, but at the same time helpful to them. Rarely, at the best, are they of indi‐ vidual importance. As helpmeets, they are unsurpassed. 1See, for a full analysis and explanation of this Word, Magick, pp. 45‐9.