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Page 1 of 31944 · PDF PAGE 176
IV THE FOUR ACES The Aces represent the roots of the four elements. They are quite above, and distinct from, the other small cards in the same way as Kether is said to be symbolized only by the topmost point of the Yod of Tetragrammaton. In these cards is no real manifestation of the element in its material form. They form a link between the small cards and the Princesses, who rule the Heavens around the North Pole. The Meridian is the Great Pyramid, and the Ele‐ ments rule, going Eastward, in the order of Tetragrammaton, Fire, Water, Air, Eart…
1944 · PDF PAGE 27
…e Star, the Moon, the Sun, the Aeon, the Universe. Obviously these are not plain, straightforward symbolic representations of the signs, elements and planets concerned. They are rather hieroglyphs of peculiar mysteries connected with each. One may begin to suspect that the Tarot is not a mere straightforward representation of the Universe in the impersonal way of the system of the Yî King. The Tarot is beginning to look like Propaganda. It is as if the Secret Chiefs of the Great Order, which is the guardian of the destinies of the human race, h…
1944 · PDF PAGE 268
… to the i1limitable Light. DIAGRAM 7. THE ELEMENTAL WEAPONS This diagram shows the attribution of the four Suits of the pack to the four Elements. The fifth Element of Spirit is represented by a lamp, and this in the Tarot refers to the Twenty‐ two Trumps. The interplay of the symbols should be noticed, for the whole of the planetary, zodiacal, and elemental symbols are themselves all contained in the rays of the Lamp. Note that this and the following diagrams represent new discoveries by the Master Therion: com‐ pletion of the Tradition. DIAGR…
1944 · PDF PAGE 112
…lower part of the card is represented the skeleton plan of the build‐ ing of the house of Matter. It shews the ninety‐two known chemical elements, arranged ac‐ cording to their rank in the hierarchy. (The design is due to the genius of the late J. W. N. Sulli‐ van: see The Bases of Modern Science.) In the centre, a wheel of Light initiates the form of the Tree of Life, shewing the ten principal bodies of the solar system. But this Tree is not visible except to those of wholly pure heart. 1. The primum mobile, represented by Pluto. (Compare the …
1944 · PDF PAGE 24
… spiritual ingredient in the result of the marriage of the Father and the Mother; but this is only one interpretation. THE TAROT AND THE ELEMENTS The Ancients conceived of Fire; Water and Air as pure elements. They were connected with the three qualities of Being, Knowledge and Bliss, previously mentioned. They also cor‐ respond with what the Hindus called the Three Gunas—Sattvas, Rajas and Tamas, which may be translated roughly as “Calm”, “Activity”, and “Slothful Darkness”. The alchemists had three similar principles of energy, of which all e…
1944 · PDF PAGE 76
…ion. This chariot is drawn by four sphinxes composed of the four Kerubs, the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Man. In each sphinx these elements are counter‐changed; thus the whole represents the sixteen sub‐elements. The Charioteer is clothed in the amber‐coloured armour appropriate to the sign. He is throned in the chariot rather than con ducting it, because the whole system of progression is perfectly balanced. His only function is to bear the Holy Grail. Upon his armour are ten Stars of Assiah, the inheritance of celestial dew from his mot…
1944 · PDF PAGE 37
…at least there is no doubt that this is so. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are twenty‐two. There are three “ Mother” Letters for the Elements, seven “Double Letters” for the Planets, and twelve “Single” Letters for the Signs of the Zodiac. But there are four Elements, not three. Or, including the element of Spirit (an impor‐ tant matter to initiates), there are five. There are therefore two letters of the alphabet which have to do double duty. The ele‐ ment of Fire is very close kin to the idea of Spirit; so the letter Shin, belonging to Fi…
1944 · PDF PAGE 8
…Correspondences; The Key Scale; The General Attributions of the Tarot; The Chinese Cosmos; The Caduceus; The Numbers of the Planets; The Elements and their Symbols; The Sphinx; Ta‐ bles of Correspondence; The Four Scales of Colour; Attributions of the Court Cards; Attribu‐ tions of the Small Cards; The Essential Dignities of the Planets; The Triple Trinity of the Plan‐ ets; The Triplicities of the Zodiac; The Vital Triads.
1944 · PDF PAGE 232
WORRY FIVE OF DISKS The Number Five, Geburah, in the suit of Earth, shows the disruption of the Elements, just as in the other suits. This is emphasized by the rule of Mercury in Taurus, types of energy which are opposed. It needs a very powerful Mercury to upset Taurus; so the natural meaning is Intelligence applied to Labour. The symbol represents five disks in the form of the inverted Pentagram, instability in the very foundations of Matter. The effect is that of an earthquake. They are, however, repre‐ sentative of the five Tatvas; these ho…
1944 · PDF PAGE 151
…ence 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 mismanage all his affairs; and unless sheer good fortune attend him, his whole career will be an unbroken record of failure and disaster. Often his mental “civil war” ends in schizophrenia or melan‐ choly madness. The abuse of stimulants and narcotics may precipitate the catastrophe.
1944 · PDF PAGE 33
fect balance, the Sun and the Moon in imperfect balance, and the Four Elements in unbalanced form. (See diagram: The Chinese Cosmos.) This Chinese arrangement is thus tenfold, and has been shown to be admirably equivalent to the System which has been here examined. 6. The ancient scheme of the Elements, Planets and Zodiacal Signs, was summarised by the Qabalists in their Tree of Life. This identity between the two systems was masked, until quite recently1, by the fact that the Chinese continued with their doubling‐up system, and so turned their…
1944 · PDF PAGE 55
…t Zeus was peculiarly the Lord of Air.2 Men who sought the origin of Nature in the earliest days tried to find this origin in one of the Elements. (The history of philosophy describes the controversy between Anaximander and Zenocrates; later, Empedocles.) It may be that the original authors of the Tarot were trying to promulgate 1It was a tribal necessity of the savage wanderers to have an uncivilized and simple Demiurge for god; the complexities and refinements of settled nations were to them mere weakness. Observe that the moment they got a P…
1944 · PDF PAGE 23
… to that theory is that God has to create things which are all parts of himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural.” These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss constitute the minimum possible qualities which a Point must possess if it is to have a real sensible experience of itself. These corre‐ spond to the numbers 9, 8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive developments from Zero. Here th…
1944 · PDF PAGE 32
… complete idea of the arbitrary, or mostly arbi‐ trary, presentation of the Cosmos by the Ancients. First of all, the division into Four Elements. These Elements pervade everything. They would argue something like this about the Sun. They would say that he was principally Fire, for obvious reasons; but he would have also in him the Airy quality of Mobility. The Watery part would be shown by his power to create Im‐ ages; and the Earthy part, his immense Stability. Similarly, of a Serpent, they would call his power of Death fiery; his Swiftness, …
1944 · PDF PAGE 267
… if one wishes that there were no Ten of Swords in the pack, or that the Five of Wands did not follow and upset the Four. DIAGRAM 6. THE ELEMENTS AND THEIR SYMBOLS This diagram is at first sight very disturbing, for it cannot be attributed in any straight‐ forward way to the Tree of Life. It will be best to state the problems, ab ovo. The Elements are four in number; although they are harmonized and balanced and made to revolve, there is an irreconcilable difficulty in their perfection. It is impossible to arrange four numbers in a ‘magic squar…
1944 · PDF PAGE 13
…to Discussed. II. The Tarot and the Holy Qabalah; The Naples Arrangement; The Tarot and the Formula of Tetragrammaton; The Tarot and the Elements; The Twentytwo Keys, Atu, or Trumps of the Tarot. III. The Tarot and the Universe; Theories of the Ancients; The Tree of Life; The Naples Arrangement; The Tarot and the Tree of Life; The Atu of Tahuti; The Roman Numbers of the Trumps; The Tarot and Magick; The Shemhamphorasch and the Tarot; The Tarot and Ceremonial Magick; The Tarot and Animism; The Cards of the Tarot as Living Beings.
1944 · PDF PAGE 159
balistic idea of violent energy applied to the least stable of the elements. But the trigram of Air also indicates wood; and the hexagram may have Suggested the irresistible flow of the sap, and its effect in strengthening the tree. This conjecture is supported by the warning in line 6: “The topmost line, divided, shows its subject exciting himself to long continuance. There will be evil.” Allowing this, the image of “the extended flame of mind”, as Zoroaster calls it, may well be subjoined to the former description. It is the True Will explodi…
1944 · PDF PAGE 228
…uplicated as in the Hsiang. One wheel is dextro‐ and the other laevo‐ rotatory. They thus represent the harmonious interplay of the Four Elements in constant movement. One may in fact consider the card as the picture of the complete manifested Uni‐ verse, in respect of its dynamics. About them is entwined a green Serpent (see Liber 65, chapter iii, verses 17‐20). His tail is in his mouth. He forms the figure Eight, the symbol of the Infinite, the equation 0=2.
1944 · PDF PAGE 184
… with their Sephirotic origin, they are not identical; nor are they Divine Persons. These (and the Court Cards also) are pri‐ marily sub‐Elements, parts of the “Blind Forces” under the Demiourgos, Tetragrammaton. Their rulers are the Intelligences, in the Yetziratic world, who go to form the Schemham‐ phorasch. Nor is even this Name, “Lord of the Universe” though it be, truly Divine, as are the Lords of the Atu in the Element of Spirit. Each Atu possesses its own private, personal and particular Universe, with Demiourgos (and all the rest) comp…
1944 · PDF PAGE 230
…uthority and vigilance. The disks themselves are square; revolution is very opposite to the card; and they contain the signs of the Four Elements. For all that, they revolve; defence is valid only when violently active. So far as it appears stationary, it is the “dead centre” of the engineer; and Capricornus is the point at which the Sun “turns again Northward”. The back‐ ground is of deep azure, flecked yellow, suggesting a moat; but beyond this is a pattern of green and indigo to represent the guarded fields whose security is assured by the f…