Major Arcana and the Thelemic Holy Season

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
Natural Intelligence means to sink, dive, or to impress.
The Twenty-eighth Path is called the Natural Intelligence, and it is so-called because through it is consummated and perfected the Nature of every existing thing beneath the Sun.

Below Tiphareth, the Sun, we've got Netzach-Fire, Hod-Water, Yesod-Air, and Malkuth-Earth. The Emperor himself sits on a cubic stone. And the card number, IV(4), suggests law, order, and government.
Always Wondering said:
Fishhook is that which pulls the fish(Nun) out of the water(Mem).
Looking at the Death-Nun card we see the three phases of the sex force. The Scorpion, the Serpent, and the Eagle. The Scorpion is the natural state of this force. If you can hook it and reel it up it may be transformed into the Eagle and used for other purposes. Raja Yoga (Royal Yoga) is one way. Quite fitting for an Emperor. ;)
The 28th path is one of great energy. It sits between Yesod and Netzach. Yesod, the sex centre. Netzach, the fiery sphere of passions, desires, and aspiration. The Kundalini flows where the Eye of focus is fixed.
Always Wondering said:
Initiating is an Aries attribute and Liber Tzaddi is written in the name of the Lord of Initiation.
You might like to read try reading the first 22 verses along with your Tarot cards. There are some very interesting correspondences there to the 22 Majors.
Always Wondering said:
The whole liber seems to be a hook to pull the Nun out of Mem
Also it might be a baited hook for the the Hanged man. Lift him out of the water and he becomes the Emperor. The Cross and Triangle are present on both cards. But their orientation is different.

If the Hanged Man corresponds to verse 12 it is interesting that he is being lured up. "Come with me". But will he take the bait?
Always Wondering said:
I like Liber Tzaddi, as I can get my brain around some whole sentences. :laugh:
Well it is the Book of the Hermetic Fish-Hook. It's purpose to catch and reel you in. Somewhere Crowley describes this Liber as a summons to the Great Work. Maybe it's working it's magic on you. ;)
 

Aeon418

Verse 30 catches my eye.
30. I offer it at once, on earth; before an hour hath struck upon the bell, ye shall be with Me in the Abodes that are beyond Decay.
Notice the odd capitalization? MAD = 45. The number 44 is sometimes used to symbolise the corruption of the created world. 45 is a step beyond the world of 44.

Thinking out loud...

The numbering of Liber Tzaddi begins with 0, so the total number of verses is 45. That number is of course half of 90-Tzaddi. For some reason it makes me think that only half of something has been dipped in the water for bait (Horus as initiating Hierophant pulls you as far as Tiphareth.) Verse 0 is like the surface of the water. And beyond that the actual Fisherman, or maybe Fisherwoman - Nuit.

Liber VII. chp. 5, verse 5.
5. Only one fish-hook can draw me out; it is a woman kneeling by the bank of the stream. It is she that pours the bright dew over herself, and into the sand so that the river gushes forth.
 

Aeon418

More thinking out loud....

The water my be related to the two veils. The Veil of Paroketh and the Veil of the Abyss. Horus is the bait that pulls the fish through the first veil. While Nuit is the bait for the second.
 

Always Wondering

I suspected there was something about the zero. It seems like there is much to it.

There is so much here. I will be comming back to it for a long time.

Most of all I am struck with the depth of this simple excercise. Way more than will fit into one holy season. A feast for every day.

My thinking is still being reorginzed.
Aeon418 said:
The water my be related to the two veils. The Veil of Paroketh and the Veil of the Abyss. Horus is the bait that pulls the fish through the first veil. While Nuit is the bait for the second.
This was very helpful. I do like it when you think out loud. :laugh:
A lot of my attention, has been on the left, middle, and right pillars of the tree, but now I am beginning to get a sense of paths and the veils. It's very exciting.

Aeon418 said:
The Twenty-eighth Path is called the Natural Intelligence, and it is so-called because through it is consummated and perfected the Nature of every existing thing beneath the Sun.

Below Tiphareth, the Sun, we've got Netzach-Fire, Hod-Water, Yesod-Air, and Malkuth-Earth. The Emperor himself sits on a cubic stone. And the card number, IV(4), suggests law, order, and government.

I did struggle with this yesterday, so left it out. :laugh: It was very helpful to see the elements brought into it.

AW
 

Always Wondering

From the lightening falls pearls :laugh:

Peh
80
path 27 Netzach(Splendor) to Hod(Victory)
Exciting/Active Intelligence
Mouth
Mars
The Tower

Tower day and thunder is rolling across the sky and the electrical is fluttering and threatening to go out. I may have to finish this by hand. :laugh: It's perfect.

I am just starting to get a sense why the 27th path sits between splendor and victory. It is taken a while for me to get my head around dis solve. The will to live and the will to die are not incompatible.

Exciting Intelligence is so called because every existent being receives its spirit and motion. It stirs up activity, sets things going, produces changes, effects transformations."


Peh means mouth, which includes speech words and sounds, (out of the mouth); and the process which dissolves food for nourishment, transformation,(into the mouth). Crowley says the power of Peh is vibration and I suddenly understand the vibration of ritual better.

Peh, Active Intelligence, and Mars seem very closely related where as yesterday I could see some difference between Creative Wisdom and Aries.

At this moment as I listen to this very active storm, hail bigger than I've ever seen, stirring excitement which turns to fear for a moment as I look up into my fragile skylight. I can easily see how The Tower strikes fear into people. I may soon be the lightening struck fool. :laugh:

Reading about Mars named after the Roman god of war and Chapter 1 of Liber VII with the centaur explains much about the Romans and horses of Chapter 6. I am guessing that Pan is the all-being receiver of Exciting Intelligence?

Liber VII:I Correlations
Speak not, cry of pain, tempered steel, daggers, spears, lightening, tongue and flame, destruction, vehement parallel light, fractured haze, hiding, dying, fear, destruction, unbinding the bound, reek of Thy mouth, phoenix, hooded sun, open eye.

Peh = 80 as does Kalal (to make perfect.)
Also 'I (ruins)
Also Yesod (foundation)

1. O how I love Thee, O my God! Especially is there a vehement parallel light from infinity, vilely diffracted in the haze of this mind.
My favorite verse. I absolutely love it when a sentence stands out stark and beautiful above text.

AW
 

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
Most of all I am struck with the depth of this simple excercise. Way more than will fit into one holy season. A feast for every day.
Yes, there is way too much to cover in such a brief time. But it does provide a good opportunity to connect with the core Thelemic texts and allow them to reveal something meaningful. Amid the obscurity there's often a verse or a bit of imagery that jumps out and draws attention to itself. In way it's like bibliomancy.
Always Wondering said:
I do like it when you think out loud.
Don't forget to keep a big pinch of salt handy. :laugh:
 

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
I am guessing that Pan is the all-being receiver of Exciting Intelligence?
Mars is exalted in Capricorn - The Devil/Pan. This is why Pan plays such a big role in a chapter attributed to Mars. (This same theme occurs in the other chapters of Liber VII. Often the symbolism doesn't just reflect the planet in question, but also the zodiac signs in which the planet rules or is exalted.)

In the Book of Thoth Crowley says that Pan rejoices in the rugged and the barren no less than in the smooth and fertile. All things equally exalt him. And being All there are naturally lots of polarities to vibrate between.
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
Don't forget to keep a big pinch of salt handy.

I have some of that in my pocket too, and I am not afraid to use it. :laugh:

Aeon418 said:
Mars is exalted in Capricorn - The Devil/Pan. This is why Pan plays such a big role in a chapter attributed to Mars. (This same theme occurs in the other chapters of Liber VII. Often the symbolism doesn't just reflect the planet in question, but also the zodiac signs in which the planet rules or is exalted.)

Good to know. I will start looking for this too.

AW
 

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
Good to know. I will start looking for this too.
Here's another example of different kind.
36. Thou art a beautiful thing whiter than a woman in the column of this vibration.
37. I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.
Verse 36 looks to me like a reference to the path of Gimel and the High Priestess. Verse 37 is the path of Samekh. But what has any of this got to do with Mars? The path of Peh/Mars crosses Samekh and that means they are related to each other. No arrows can be shot up the path of Samekh until the Tower is struck by lightning.
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
Here's another example of different kind.

Verse 36 looks to me like a reference to the path of Gimel and the High Priestess. Verse 37 is the path of Samekh. But what has any of this got to do with Mars?

Yes, that's what I was wondering.


Aeon418 said:
The path of Peh/Mars crosses Samekh and that means they are related to each other. No arrows can be shot up the path of Samekh until the Tower is struck by lightning.
This is a very helpful visual. I will start looking for this also.

AW