The Universe

Parzival

.... Why bother about the fourth dimension, chemical elements, Qabalistic numbers and such? Could it have been for nought that Crowley and Harris put so much effort into the extremely complex design of this card? ;) (Rhetorical questions. Don't answer.)

Finding one's place may mean finding one's places.
 

Richard

The Universe "is the Celebration of the Great Work accomplished." [A. Crowley] I suppose that such a spiritual state could be construed as one's "place" in life, but usually it is created (by means of Alchemy/Art) rather than found, and it is dynamic rather than static. ETA: The process of creating ("finding") The Universe is depicted in Trump XIV (Art).
 

Parzival

Yes, it's an accomplishing that comes to accomplishment yet still ventures into the One, a journey that unendingly ends. I agree with you that too much about aspects and levels muddies the simple reality. But it's dynamic and not static, this I know as you do, too. The end of Goethe's Faust ends with "upward and on." The Great Work keeps working. The final Tarot ends in the Work of your own Mind. Endings never end.
 

Zephyros

I agree, and this can also be found in several correlations between the Fool and this card. The Eye, for example, is behind the Fool's head, suggesting perhaps that is closed. The snake mirrors the whirls leaving and returning from the Fool's heart. The Eye here shoots off the ten rays of the ten Sephiroths, one illuminating the snake's first coil, the other (I can't see it myself, maybe others with larger decks will be able to, but this is according to Thelemapedia) illuminating a starry Orphic Egg in the snake's second coil ("in my coiling there is joy"). The Fool has the zodiac packed in his bag, but here it is properly unfolded and manifest. The moebius strip is made of three half twists, not one, recalling the triune nature of the supreme monad. The grid is composed of 216 boxes, which is 72*3 and 6*6*6. 216 also adds up to טארו, Taro, while 72 sums up as גלגול, revolving. Three revolutions of the 72 names in the Shemhamforash (sp?) which was mentioned earlier.

The Eye is especially of interest here, as it does not seem to be a destroying eye like in the Tower (although they look the same) but one of illumination. This suggests to me even further the cyclical nature of this card; I.e., the destruction we saw in the Tower was only due to our incomplete understanding. In a way, after one has completed the Great Work, one comprehends at that stage fully the doctrine of 0=2, becomes the Fool once more and so the universe is perpetuated in the cyclical Silence of the Fool's Harpocrates. The eye is also Ain, perhaps suggesting the creative forces of the Devil.

The letters of the two cards form the feminine "thou" while, if the beginning and end are interchangeable, the also spell "cell," the building block of everything.

The scythe of Saturn makes an appearance, although I couldn't figure out why it is upside down. Any thoughts?
 

Parzival

Interesting stuff! Your phrase "The Fool Once More" says a lot about where we are at the end. That Moebius strip has no outside or inside-- no more this versus that, no more opposition. Lady-Spirit dances with Snake-Matter and "All's well that ends well." So we have come to a very different place, with Eye open like never before. But there must be more in store, paradoxically. The End of all endings brings new beginnings. Great Work with nothing ahead? That would mean Great Work dead. A complete, newborn Fool,yes. Another shuffle of all the cards.

Crowley: "The Universe is the complement of the Fool.... The two cards together...spell the word Ath, which means essence...."
 

Aeon418

Lady-Spirit dances with Snake-Matter

Or Lady-Earth/Matter dancing with Snake-Spirit.

The woman represents the Heh-final of IHVH. Her dancing partner is the radiant spiral force or kundalini serpent.
 

Zephyros

I read the essence part, and quoted the feminine thou, but I didn't really understand where he was coming from there. Maybe Aleph Tau as in the feminine thou is the essence, as in Nuit, but as far as I can tell, the other meaning for the letters is "the" as in "he ate -the- ice cream." It also mean shovel.
 

Parzival

Or Lady-Earth/Matter dancing with Snake-Spirit.

The woman represents the Heh-final of IHVH. Her dancing partner is the radiant spiral force or kundalini serpent.
That will work as well. But Spirit and Matter are no longer separates, nor is the Eye separate from the Yin-Yang of It. It's that Moebius strip of no outside and inside, only luminous oneness.
 

ravenest

So we agree it is a dance?
... nor is the Eye separate from the Yin-Yang of It ....
Now Lao Tzu agrees too ;)
Being a dance, being Tao, it is non-resistance. It is also willful creation but it does not conlict.
It is created ... but it must be found. It is a dance of give and take, of gentle pressure to sense the 'others' movements.
Being of the essince of Dao it is like 'sticky hands' practice in martial arts
But more than the above, it's when I pick up a large Diamond Python (as I am a bit of a local 'snake man' and often have to ensure a snakes saftey by removal of them from nervous neighbous). One cant just let the snake wrap itself around you or bite you as it will, trying to force, grab or stuggle with it cretes agreesion and resistance. Both need to go into the contact with a special movement, it is like a dance, gentle pressure and firm giving, when appropriate, and good psychic rapport, also respect and yes ... love ... are needed between both.

I've had this experiance many times, observers ssemed confused as to how I can 'control' the snake ... :)

I find it interesting that this image is used on the card, (and considering my experiences), the snake even has the diamond python markings, not particularly like a diamond python ... but they look like diamonds.

Its in the midst of the dance, in psychic (or hormono-chemical) rapture that matter and spirt become one, whether its creation of 'matter', the 'accomplishment' of the Great Work, ecstatic union or even relationship, it is hard to feel or be this 'Universe' energy if the dance is not performed in the right 'spirit'.

This is the way nature 'works'. It is 'man', when removed from the natural world, that keeps trying to force it. Even to the point of declaring 'matter' is bad or fallen, that creation is flawed because it wont conform to his 'will'. Some people insist on duality and seperation but then try to force union.

I think that any system, philosophy, magick, etc, we learn, believe, or follow must refelct a similar system in nature (including sub-atomic and astropohysical parts of nature), otherwise, for me, its just another crazy human mind trip.
 

earthair

After meditating on this card, I got hooked on the stars in the outlining circle. Does anyone know if they spell a word or have some astrological formation that means something, they are even visible through the snake. Knowing the Thoth creators, they surely represent something, nothing is there for nothing......
Diwha

Getting thus thread back on track again... :angel:

It looks like music to me, you can read it in treble clef (the serpent shaped clef?!) starting where the maiden points to. The fifth and top line of the stave is there- the wobbley outer edge one. The colour divisions are every 6, so bars of 6/8? Written for/by violinist Leila Waddell? Looks modal.

I might try to transcribe this for fun :cool2: