Book of Thoth Study Group #11: Tarot and the formula of the Tetragrammaton

Zephyros

Tarot and the formula of the Tetragrammaton

THE TAROT AND THE FORMULA OF TETRAGRAMMATON הוהי What, then, are the Court Cards? This question involves another aspect of the system of development. What was the first mental process? Obliged to describe Nothing, the only way to do so without destroying its integrity was to represent it as the union of a Plus Something with an equivalent Minus Something. One may call these two ideas, the Active and Passive, the Father and Mother. But although the Father and Mother can make a perfect union, thereby returning to Zero, which is a retrogression, they can also go forward into Matter, so that their union produces a Son and a Daughter. The idea works out in practice as a method of describing how the union of any two things produces a third thing which is neither of them.

The simplest illustration is in Chemistry. If we take hydrogen gas and chlorine gas, and pass an electric spark through them, an explosion takes place, and hydrochloric acid is produced. Here we have a positive substance, which may be called the Son of the marriage of these elements, and is an advance into Matter. But also, in the ecstasy of the union, Light and Heat are disengaged; these phenomena are not material in the same sense as the hydrochloric acid is material; this product of the union is therefore of a spiritual nature, and corresponds to the Daughter.

In the language of the alchemists, these phenomena were classified for convenience under the figure of four “elements”.

Fire, the purest and most active, corresponds to the Father Water, still pure but passive, is the Mother their union results in an element partaking of both natures, yet distinct from either, and this they called Air

One must constantly remember that the terms used by ancient and medieval philosophers do not mean at all what they mean nowadays. “Water” does not mean to them the chemical compound H20; it is an intensely abstract idea, and exists everywhere. The ductability of iron is a watery quality. [Its magnetic virtue (similarly) is fiery, its conductivity airy, and its weight and hardness earthy. Yet, weight is but a function of the curvature of the “space-time Continuum” [“Earth is the Throne of Spirit.”] The word “element” does not mean a chemical element; it means a set of ideas; it summarizes certain qualities or properties.

It seems hardly possible to define these terms in such a way as to make their meaning clear to the student. He must discover for himself by constant practice what they mean to him. It does not even follow that he will arrive at the same ideas. This will not mean ~ that one mind is right and the other wrong, because each one of us has his own universe all to himself, and it is not the same as anybody else’s universe. The moon that A. sees is not the moon that B., standing by him, sees. In this case, the difference is so infinitesimal that it does not exist in practice; yet there is a difference. But if A. and B look at a picture in a gallery, it is very much not the same picture to both, because A’s mind has been trained to observe it by his experience of thousands of other pictures; B. has probably seen an entirely different set of pictures. Their experience will coincide only in the matter of a few well-known pictures. Besides this, their minds are essentially different in many other ways. So, if A. dislikes Van Gogh, B. pities him; if C. admires Bougereau, D. shrugs his shoulders. There is no right or wrong about any matter whatsoever.

This is true, even in matters of the strictest science. The scientific description of an object is universally true; and yet it is not completely true for any single observer. The phenomenon called the Daughter is ambiguous. It has been explained above as the spiritual ingredient in the result of the marriage of the Father and the Mother; but this is only one interpretation.
 

Michael Sternbach

This is an interesting explanation of universal principles. Yes, a positive and a negative force may either cancel each other out, or give birth to something new. Married couples are good examples for either possibility. LOL!

A classical example for the former case would be matter and antimatter annihilating each other, turning into pure energy in the process. Now, in Crowley's example of hydrogen and chlorine combining, although a new substance is the result, there is still a release of energy as well. This illustrates the '3+1 principle' for which there are many examples in science and esoterics. In this case, we are dealing with three kinds of matter and one kind of energy.

Another startling statement here is that there is ultimately no right and wrong even in the most scientifically objective matters. This coincides with the view that each individual is seeing the world from its own unique perspective, and while no two perspectives are exactly the same, the Universal Mind needs this multitude of perspectives in order to understand itself.
 

Zephyros

This is an interesting explanation of universal principles. Yes, a positive and a negative force may either cancel each other out, or give birth to something new. Married couples are good examples for either possibility. LOL!

Yeah, finally we're getting on to the "good parts," after that long and arduous chapter on Qabalah. :D

A classical example for the former case would be matter and antimatter annihilating each other, turning into pure energy in the process. Now, in Crowley's example of hydrogen and chlorine combining, although a new substance is the result, there is still a release of energy as well. This illustrates the '3+1 principle' for which there are many examples in science and esoterics. In this case, we are dealing with three kinds of matter and one kind of energy.

The scheme works out to show how the Princesses are a "form" of Zero in themselves. Receivers of all that comes from above but being at Malkuth, the end product, the endless possibilities manifested there continue to interact, thus becoming the Keter of a new set of Trees.

Another startling statement here is that there is ultimately no right and wrong even in the most scientifically objective matters. This coincides with the view that each individual is seeing the world from its own unique perspective, and while no two perspectives are exactly the same, the Universal Mind needs this multitude of perspectives in order to understand itself.

Observation also changes the results of an experiment and some things exist in different forms simultaneously (electrons). And every perspective has the same weight, because they really are all different aspects of the Universal Mind. When you're a Star, your perspective is the life-force of your own private universe, that's different from anybody else's.
 

Michael Sternbach

Yeah, finally we're getting on to the "good parts," after that long and arduous chapter on Qabalah. :D



The scheme works out to show how the Princesses are a "form" of Zero in themselves. Receivers of all that comes from above but being at Malkuth, the end product, the endless possibilities manifested there continue to interact, thus becoming the Keter of a new set of Trees.

Good observation there. :)

If the original polarities - Chokmah/Binah and Knights/Queens, respectively - would cancel each other out, that would be a regression to Kether and the state of pure energy. But instead, we see the progression into manifestation, resulting in the Princes or Tiphareth - a reflection of Kether halfway down the Tree - and the Princesses representing Malkuth or the new Kether - hence energy again.

Observation also changes the results of an experiment and some things exist in different forms simultaneously (electrons). And every perspective has the same weight, because they really are all different aspects of the Universal Mind. When you're a Star, your perspective is the life-force of your own private universe, that's different from anybody else's.

Well said. Let's also bear in mind that, every so often, today's truth turns out to be tomorrow's error - in science and elsewhere. Yet we can't do without our beliefs, even though they may actually be mere working hypotheses. In other words, every truth is a relative truth.

This again has got to do with the Universal Mind exploring itself through humankind, progressing (or so we hope) from one level to the next. Where will this end? In the full awareness of the whole of its identity with the Divine, or the Infinite. But can what is Infinite "ever" be reached? These are deep questions.
 

smw

The simplest illustration is in Chemistry. If we take hydrogen gas and chlorine gas, and pass an electric spark through them, an explosion takes place, and hydrochloric acid is produced. Here we have a positive substance, which may be called the Son of the marriage of these elements, and is an advance into Matter. But also, in the ecstasy of the union, Light and Heat are disengaged; these phenomena are not material in the same sense as the hydrochloric acid is material; this product of the union is therefore of a spiritual nature, and corresponds to the Daughter.

I am not very scientific or maths minded, so I am probably being really dense. What I don't really understand is how this example relates to a minus something cancelling out a plus. There is an outside element here, an electric spark that is working on the two gases. What is that then in the concept?

Also, I am confused as to why the positive substance , the production of hydrochloric acid referred to as the Son? this seems to be relating to manifestation of matter, Malkuth as the earth and physical universe. However, isn't it the Daughter that corresponds to Malkuth and the Son to Tipareth, the sphere of spirituality and beauty.... :confused:
 

Babalon Jones

Yeah, finally we're getting on to the "good parts," after that long and arduous chapter on Qabalah. :D



The scheme works out to show how the Princesses are a "form" of Zero in themselves. Receivers of all that comes from above but being at Malkuth, the end product, the endless possibilities manifested there continue to interact, thus becoming the Keter of a new set of Trees.



Observation also changes the results of an experiment and some things exist in different forms simultaneously (electrons). And every perspective has the same weight, because they really are all different aspects of the Universal Mind. When you're a Star, your perspective is the life-force of your own private universe, that's different from anybody else's.

Ever wonder why Uncle Al chose these elements (Hydrogen, Chroline, and their union as Hydrogen Chloride)for his example? Apparently AC does everything for a reason. His genius manifests in his choices, at least it did for me upon reflection. It was really fun to think about and led me down the wormhole once again.

(I’m not a scientist nor do I play one on TV, and I’m more of a mystic than a mathematician though there are overlaps. So this is just my rambling…)

Hydrogen, element number 1 on the periodic table, the first and lightest element, I see as Hadit.

If you look up a picture of a Hydrogen atom, it shows a Proton at the center (+) being encircled by the traveling path of an orbiting electron (-). Which looks almost just like the glyph of the Sun. ʘ
“In the sphere I am everywhere the center, as she, the circumference is nowhere found.”

Hydrogen is the only neutral atom for which the Schrodinger equation, which describes changes with time, can be solved.

Interestingly, the Sun, and other stars, are mainly made up of hydrogen, some of which is converted to other elements via nuclear fusion. It is the most abundant element in the Universe, the “flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star. I am Life and the giver of Life and yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.” Hydrogen in Greek means “water former” as it produces water when burned. Hydrogen is mostly found on earth in the form of water and all life on earth is said to have come from water. H2 was produced at the Big Bang (the spark?) (and water with a certain form of hydrogen is how “heavy water” is created.)

Chlorine is number 17 on the periodic table; Nuit. “For I am divided for love’s sake for the chance of union.” Chlorine is most commonly found on earth as common salt in the earth’s crust. (Are then the oceans a union of Hadit and Nuit, H20 and salt?)

So AC references a form of the combination of hydrogen and chroline, hydrogen chloride. In Alchemy, this is called “Spirit of Salt”. In this, the hydrogen atom combines with the chlorine atom. The hydrogen atom has a partial positive polarity and the chlorine atom has a partial negative polity. Together they create a molecular “dipole moment” where the total charge is 0. (+1-1) This is not the same as but similar to, the electric “dipole moment” of the earth’s magnetic field.

When I think of the +1 -1, I also think of the Princesses and Malkuth. +1, the positive polarity, I think of as the vertical line: | -1, the negative I think of as the horizontal line -

Combine them within the circle and get ⊕ the symbol of Malkuth. So the Princesses are both matter and spirit. Thus Hydrogen Chloride, the “Spirit of Salt”. Earth, the Throne of Spirit.

The cross arms in the circle if you dissect it, can also be four letter L’s for Life, Light, Love and Liberty symbolic of the four powers of the Sphinx. And if you look closely, the symbol for hydrogen is enclosed therein if the arms of the cross are shrunken to the point at the center. But that is a digression, or maybe this all is!

My Hydrogen/Hadit theory seems to be recently somewhat corroborated, at least in my mind, by the intersection of math and science. Pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to diameter, was actually recently discovered encoded within the Hydrogen atom. And since it involves the circle and maths, Nuit has to be in there somewhere. “Divide, multiply, add and understand.”

http://www.sciencealert.com/a-classic-formula-for-pi-has-been-discovered-hidden-in-hydrogen-atoms
 

Michael Sternbach

I am not very scientific or maths minded, so I am probably being really dense. What I don't really understand is how this example relates to a minus something cancelling out a plus. There is an outside element here, an electric spark that is working on the two gases. What is that then in the concept?

Also, I am confused as to why the positive substance , the production of hydrochloric acid referred to as the Son? this seems to be relating to manifestation of matter, Malkuth as the earth and physical universe. However, isn't it the Daughter that corresponds to Malkuth and the Son to Tipareth, the sphere of spirituality and beauty.... :confused:

While the redox potentials of chemical elements allow a distinction into negative and positive ones (only relatively, that is, to each other!), you are absolutely correct that elements don't cancel each other out - unless they happen to be matter and anti-matter. That's why I extended uncle Al's example accordingly. :)

Regarding your second objection, well yes, what you are saying certainly makes sense. It's a matter of perspective; remember, we are not necessarily talking rocket science here. We started with two volatile gasses representing Binah and Chokmah, then got a liquid for Tiphareth. I suggest that, in order to get down to Malkuth simply as Earth, we now mix the hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide, thus we end up with sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt...
 

Zephyros

Ever wonder why Uncle Al chose these elements (Hydrogen, Chroline, and their union as Hydrogen Chloride)for his example? Apparently AC does everything for a reason. His genius manifests in his choices, at least it did for me upon reflection. It was really fun to think about and led me down the wormhole once again.

(I’m not a scientist nor do I play one on TV, and I’m more of a mystic than a mathematician though there are overlaps. So this is just my rambling…)

Hydrogen, element number 1 on the periodic table, the first and lightest element, I see as Hadit.

If you look up a picture of a Hydrogen atom, it shows a Proton at the center (+) being encircled by the traveling path of an orbiting electron (-). Which looks almost just like the glyph of the Sun. ʘ
“In the sphere I am everywhere the center, as she, the circumference is nowhere found.”

Hydrogen is the only neutral atom for which the Schrodinger equation, which describes changes with time, can be solved.

Interestingly, the Sun, and other stars, are mainly made up of hydrogen, some of which is converted to other elements via nuclear fusion. It is the most abundant element in the Universe, the “flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star. I am Life and the giver of Life and yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death.” Hydrogen in Greek means “water former” as it produces water when burned. Hydrogen is mostly found on earth in the form of water and all life on earth is said to have come from water. H2 was produced at the Big Bang (the spark?) (and water with a certain form of hydrogen is how “heavy water” is created.)

Chlorine is number 17 on the periodic table; Nuit. “For I am divided for love’s sake for the chance of union.” Chlorine is most commonly found on earth as common salt in the earth’s crust. (Are then the oceans a union of Hadit and Nuit, H20 and salt?)

So AC references a form of the combination of hydrogen and chroline, hydrogen chloride. In Alchemy, this is called “Spirit of Salt”. In this, the hydrogen atom combines with the chlorine atom. The hydrogen atom has a partial positive polarity and the chlorine atom has a partial negative polity. Together they create a molecular “dipole moment” where the total charge is 0. (+1-1) This is not the same as but similar to, the electric “dipole moment” of the earth’s magnetic field.

When I think of the +1 -1, I also think of the Princesses and Malkuth. +1, the positive polarity, I think of as the vertical line: | -1, the negative I think of as the horizontal line -

Combine them within the circle and get ⊕ the symbol of Malkuth. So the Princesses are both matter and spirit. Thus Hydrogen Chloride, the “Spirit of Salt”. Earth, the Throne of Spirit.

The cross arms in the circle if you dissect it, can also be four letter L’s for Life, Light, Love and Liberty symbolic of the four powers of the Sphinx. And if you look closely, the symbol for hydrogen is enclosed therein if the arms of the cross are shrunken to the point at the center. But that is a digression, or maybe this all is!

My Hydrogen/Hadit theory seems to be recently somewhat corroborated, at least in my mind, by the intersection of math and science. Pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to diameter, was actually recently discovered encoded within the Hydrogen atom. And since it involves the circle and maths, Nuit has to be in there somewhere. “Divide, multiply, add and understand.”

http://www.sciencealert.com/a-classic-formula-for-pi-has-been-discovered-hidden-in-hydrogen-atoms

That's all really fascinating. I never though to look up those examples, seeing as I know nothing about chemistry. I should have known he didn't choose those chemicals for nothing.
 

smw

While the redox potentials of chemical elements allow a distinction into negative and positive ones (only relatively, that is, to each other!), you are absolutely correct that elements don't cancel each other out - unless they happen to be matter and anti-matter. That's why I extended uncle Al's example accordingly. :)

Thanks for the reply :) it's good to know that I haven't completely embarrassed myself...though there is still time

Regarding your second objection,

I didn't mean to raise objections from the back Milord...;)

well yes, what you are saying certainly makes sense. It's a matter of perspective; remember, we are not necessarily talking rocket science here.

I guess not though (liquid) hydrogen apparently is used as a signature fuel for NASA and other space programmes.

We started with two volatile gasses representing Binah and Chokmah, then got a liquid for Tiphareth. I suggest that, in order to get down to Malkuth simply as Earth, we now mix the hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide, thus we end up with sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt...

I think I am following you there...

So AC references a form of the combination of hydrogen and chroline, hydrogen chloride. In Alchemy, this is called “Spirit of Salt”. In this, the hydrogen atom combines with the chlorine atom..........Combine them within the circle and get ⊕ the symbol of Malkuth. So the Princesses are both matter and spirit

Your post was really interesting (from what I could understand) especially with these references to salt. I found this quote attributed to Levi on the importance of the Salt principle in Alchemy and it's dual nature from synthesis of the other two. Maybe this is also the duality reflected for the Daughter as spirit and matter. (in the ecstasy of heat and light and representative of Malkuth).

levi said:
Philosophical Mercury is the Salt or Sulphurated Mercury which is extracted from the First Matter by the successful application of the SECRET FIRE. Eliphas Levi wrote: "To know how to extract from all matter the pure Salt which is concealed in it is to possess the secret of the Stone." In this may you consider that the Salt to be extracted from the First Matter is dual in nature; it is a synthesis of Mercury and Sulphur. The Greek letter Upsilon represents this dual nature of Salt. It is divided into two branches which spring from one root. The two branches are symbols for Sulphur and Mercury, whereas the root symbolizes Salt.

http://davidcherubim.net/alchemy.htm

Crowley said:
The phenomenon called the Daughter is ambiguous. It has been explained above as the spiritual ingredient in the result of the marriage of the Father and the Mother; but this is only one interpretation.

such a tease....
 

Zephyros

The simplest illustration is in Chemistry. If we take hydrogen gas and chlorine gas, and pass an electric spark through them, an explosion takes place, and hydrochloric acid is produced. Here we have a positive substance, which may be called the Son of the marriage of these elements, and is an advance into Matter. But also, in the ecstasy of the union, Light and Heat are disengaged; these phenomena are not material in the same sense as the hydrochloric acid is material; this product of the union is therefore of a spiritual nature, and corresponds to the Daughter.

Going back to this section, I feel he is hinting that that which is above us on the Tree, that's the true reality. Because of those more primitive building blocks our own reality exists but as a spiritual product of the utter reality. So cause and effect is at work here for everything we know. Initiation, then, is learning to go beyond that ("30. If Will stops and cries Why, invoking Because, then Will stops & does nought.") and becoming a force that acts, rather than reacts.