Words behind the 'Art' Card?

9th degree!

Vincent said:

It seems like it is another case of Lon Duquette not telling everything he knows, possibly in an attempt to make Crowley more palatable to the masses.

V.I.T.R.I.O.L is indeed a Latin acronym taken from the alchemists, but it also means something quite specific to members of the O.T.O.

As Crowley says;

"There is a particular interpretation of this card which is only to be understood by Initiates of the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O; for it contains a practical magical formula of such importance as to make it impossible to communicate it openly."

So when Duquette calls his book "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot", he is not being entirely honest.


Vincent

Click to expand...

Not that I am a ninth degree OTO but...
There is a lot written about this in reference and symbolism by Order intitiates (see Waratah No1. issued by Oceania Lodge OTO Australia,) also the 'secrets'' of OTO are all given in symbolic form in the OTO Gnostic Mass.
Also the ninth degree and its secret is not 'given' to you, it is áwarded' after you can demonstrate that you know what it is (as well as fulfilling other pre-requisits). There are many other hints in published materials.
It does seem to suggest that the process relates to a type of sex magick, and relates to the Universal Medicine, Philosophers Stone, etc. Crowley also stated that in the near future, people (scientists in particular) would understand these secrets perfectly and utalise them in their research and laboratories.
I think the words on the Art card do refer to this being an internal prosess (the interior of yourself) as Frank Hall suggests. The pictorial symbolism confirms same.

Put out your Art, Lovers, Empress and Emperor cards and observe the interplay and counterchange of the animal symbols and their positions and colours.

In light of the above I suggest you look into modern stem cell research for the scientific perspective.
Enjoy your Thoth deck Tarenranevfrost .

"In light of the above I suggest you look into modern stem cell research for the scientific perspective."

I love it!
There's one way of looking at all this I had never clicked onto.... cheers Ravenest!!!

Along these lines, I saw a diagram recently somewhere that had the 4 successive trees-of-life placed one after the other (ie, malkuth in higher realm is kether of the following, etc), and for a moment, I thought I was looking at a DNA double-helix.

The connection would have to be obvious wouldn't it? Makes me wonder what knowledge the ancients did actually have.....

(insert eerie twilight zone music here)

LOL

Windhorse said:

"In light of the above I suggest you look into modern stem cell research for the scientific perspective."

I love it!
There's one way of looking at all this I had never clicked onto.... cheers Ravenest!!!

Along these lines, I saw a diagram recently somewhere that had the 4 successive trees-of-life placed one after the other (ie, malkuth in higher realm is kether of the following, etc), and for a moment, I thought I was looking at a DNA double-helix.

The connection would have to be obvious wouldn't it? Makes me wonder what knowledge the ancients did actually have.....

(insert eerie twilight zone music here)

LOL

Click to expand...

The Knowledge of the Initiates - and we still have it!

(Insert eerie twilight zone music here too.

Vista Interiora

"Visit the Interior parts of the Earth
by Rectification
Thou shalt find the hidden Stone"

A

I was on vacation last week and gave studying the Book of Thoth the old college try. I was having some trouble understanding what "by rectification" could mean. When I got to work today, this was in my inbox (from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter August 16, 2006):

"The alchemists said the magic formula for enlightenment was Visita
Inferiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, or "Seek out the
lower reaches of the earth, perfect them, and you will find the hidden
stone" (the treasured Philosopher's Stone). Jungian psychologists might
describe the process this way: Find the ignorant, wounded parts of your
psyche, perfect them, and you will awaken your hidden divinity."

Any other ideas on "by rectification"?

Well, a couple of other things come to mind. Rectify...from medieval Latin rectificare , literally “to make right,” from rectus “right” (source of English rectangle and rectum).]

Also right as in the opposite of left (sinistre/which even then had the connotation of evil)... which reminds me of the Qliphoth as the shattered Sephiroth, so that ascending the Tree brings you closer to Limitless abundance/absence. Perspective again, right and left being directions that change in context. So too Morality/Immorality and Beauty/Horror.

Thence Crowley's wacky behavior. And the insistent retitling of this card: Art and Temperance are two very different things. With all due respect, I don't see this card as a New Agey urging towards "Balance" although that's mixed into the options available to the Artist. Harmony is a part of Art, but then disonnance is as well. IMO, I don't see Crowley psychologizing his behavior or looking for "Middle Path" wisdom. I'd say that Art (as a title and a concept) is more active and demanding of personal intent and responsibility. Temperance has an intemperate judgment built into it that is at odds with the new Aeon. Titling this Atu ART is such a bold, hopeful command to the rest of us. I hope he was right. People looking and leaping simultaneously, taking charge of creation.

Rectification and blending... so that it isn't just lightening your dark, it might also be darkening your light. Solve et coagulo. The full palette is made available because this card may be indicating that Artistry behind every choice that we make. And the desire to distinguish between them is transformed as well. Doesn't Gaugin say: the ugly may be beautiful, but the pretty never? The real miracle is the internal transformation, the ability to see the omnipresence of Magick. Believing is seeing

And don't forget that that first word "Visit" (also form Latin by way of French) means to "go and see." This isn't a question of a literal Indiana Jones excursion into subterranean Lairs. It's about vision (and wit and solvents etc.). Literalism is going to be the death of all of us.

An interesting aside; VITRIOL is a wildly loaded acronym. According to my OED, the word comes to us from medieval Latin vitriolum, from Latin vitrum “glass.” Acid and glass and wit and fury and the Philosopher's Solution all conveyed in 7 letters. In fact, glass is actually a liquid... a liquid that moves so slowly that it is hard to the touch, but so inexorably that windows in old houses are thicker at the bottom. And glass is a strange thing to see, because in looking at it, we are actually looking at what is beyond it. Its fundamental nature is transparency, like the Tree of Life.We "visit" through it. It is a sight which contains nothing of itself: Ain. Ain Soph. Ain Soph Aur.

No idea if any of that made sense... but maybe something will resonate? Or else I need to be on medication.

Scion

It made fine sense to me.

And I think the Art card is about the art of doing and achieving the things you mention - there is deffinatly an 'art' to it all.

Hi, Scion and Ravenest:

I don't have time to work on a proper reply to your lovely detailed posts. I'm just adding this for now and hope to put something rational together this afternoon:

Main Entry: rec·ti·fy
Pronunciation: 'rek-t&-"fI
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fy·ing
Etymology: Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-French rectifier, from Medieval Latin rectificare, from Latin rectus right -- more at RIGHT
1 : to set right : REMEDY
2 : to purify (as alcohol) especially by repeated or fractional distillation
3 : to correct by removing errors : ADJUST <rectify the calendar>
4 : to make (an alternating current) unidirectional
synonym see CORRECT
- rec·ti·fi·ca·tion /"rek-t&-f&-'kA-sh&n/ noun

Interesting to see the chemical (alchemical?) meaning . . .

Words behind Art

I still think this must have something to do with interblending of opposites, and not just amending or improving. Possibly finding dynamic unity within oneself by mixing the polar opposites that pull apart the soul. Not superficial New-Age jargon, but awareness of and combination of one's own private polarity/struggle. The truth is in the picture with the words.

rachelcat said:

Hi, Scion and Ravenest:

I don't have time to work on a proper reply to your lovely detailed posts. I'm just adding this for now and hope to put something rational together this afternoon:

Main Entry: rec·ti·fy
Pronunciation: 'rek-t&-"fI
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fy·ing
Etymology: Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-French rectifier, from Medieval Latin rectificare, from Latin rectus right -- more at RIGHT
1 : to set right : REMEDY
2 : to purify (as alcohol) especially by repeated or fractional distillation
3 : to correct by removing errors : ADJUST <rectify the calendar>
4 : to make (an alternating current) unidirectional
synonym see CORRECT
- rec·ti·fi·ca·tion /"rek-t&-f&-'kA-sh&n/ noun

Interesting to see the chemical (alchemical?) meaning . . .

Click to expand...

Words behind the Art Card?

Also, "To adjust for accurate calculations," as with rectifying a globe. All in All, it's about amending or improving. But to what is this done? Fractional distillation of what? The alchemy behind this is difficult to understand. Behind the words and the picture is an important truth about Self-transformation. Can someone articulate this? Thanks for all the prior posts.

rachelcat said:

Hi, Scion and Ravenest:

I don't have time to work on a proper reply to your lovely detailed posts. I'm just adding this for now and hope to put something rational together this afternoon:

Main Entry: rec·ti·fy
Pronunciation: 'rek-t&-"fI
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fy·ing
Etymology: Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-French rectifier, from Medieval Latin rectificare, from Latin rectus right -- more at RIGHT
1 : to set right : REMEDY
2 : to purify (as alcohol) especially by repeated or fractional distillation
3 : to correct by removing errors : ADJUST <rectify the calendar>
4 : to make (an alternating current) unidirectional
synonym see CORRECT
- rec·ti·fi·ca·tion /"rek-t&-f&-'kA-sh&n/ noun

Interesting to see the chemical (alchemical?) meaning . . .

Click to expand...