Thoth, Tree of Life, and The Star

Dulcimer

Geburah

I've been away for a few weeks, but now I'm back and I'm kicking bottom!:D

GEBURAH

The Sephirah is called Severity, Justice, and Fear.
So how can The Hierophant and The Tower belong in the martial Geburah? Well, it isn't hard to see the connection with The Tower, but The Hierophant?
Another problem I had at first was to understand how it is that The Hierophant finds HIMself on the Femanine Pillar. The original name of the card was, of course, The Pope. It took some time for the shekkel to drop: the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and the Church is the BRIDE of Christ.
Recalling that when the Tarot first appeared was at a time in Spain and Italy when the Catholic Church reigned supreme it is not beyond the realms of possibility to find the Church being given the sphere of Severity and Fear!
Mind you, the emphasis began to differ when the Tarot became esoteric. The Pope, specific interpreter of the Catholic God's Will for the masses, became The Hierophant, pagan teacher and interpreter. Dictionary.com gives the following translation of the word "hierophant":
1. An ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the Eleusinian mysteries.
2. An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge.
3. One who explains or makes a commentary.
He was much more than that though. The high point in the Eleusinian mysteries was the enactment of the coupling of Demeter and Zeus. The actors in that drama were the High Priestess of Demeter and the High Priest of Zeus, i.e. the hierophant himself [Larouse and others].
Crowley alludes to this in BoT "...the main reference [of the Kerubs] is to the particular arcanum which is the principle business, the essential, of all magical work; the uniting of the microcosm with the macrocosm."

The ascending, spirituallising energy, is represented by The Tower.
[I got quite excited for awhile with the discovery that French and Italian titles for this card was La Maison Dieu, The House of God! The Pope and The House of God side by side. Hurrah! My bubble of joy was popped however by Paul Hudson, in The Devil's Picture Book, who pointed out it was a corruption of La Maison Diefel, The Devil's House. Boooo! Ah well, it does make more sense I guess].
This is one of the less demanding cards to interpret at what ever level we are studying. The sudden and cataclismic destruction of the currupt and false. The violent overthrow of an outmoded model which refuses to die. The Logos piercing the darkness. The Great Challenger, the instrument used in Chesed to test the the King's (or Hero's or the Self's) worthiness. An unexpected, unforeseen 'bolt out of the blue', eradicating the old order. The purifying fire which Crowley saw as ridding the world of the old Aeon to make way for the new Age of Horus. Heaven save us - Goddess have mercy!

There is more to it of couse. The Thunderbolt is God's wrath for sure. But if you see God as Zeus and the Tower as matter (in Catholism the devil is matter) which, by definition, is Demeter, then a different slant can be put on it. Crowley was, I believe, hinting at something along these lines with his references to Tantric yoga (a method of channeling Kundalini energy through certain sexual rigours), and the "there are love and love/serpent and dove" lines in the BoL, which are common to the Hierophant as well. Freud also found that in the analysis of many of his patients death and sex were, at the moment of orgasm, synonymous - the "little death". Is this another definition of The Tower I wonder? Is it the card of orgasm? :)
 

Aeon418

Dulcimer said:
Is this another definition of The Tower I wonder? Is it the card of orgasm? :)
It's not called the Blasted Tower for nothing. ;) Think about it. :D lol
 

Aeon418

Dulcimer said:
The Sephirah is called Severity, Justice, and Fear.
So how can The Hierophant and The Tower belong in the martial Geburah? Well, it isn't hard to see the connection with The Tower, but The Hierophant?
The Hierophant is a perfect match. He represents the macrocosmic Holy Guardian Angel. The one who leads us through the trials and tribulations of life in order that we may grow beyond the confines of our ego centred self. But sometimes the lessons can be harsh, but only when viewed from the perspective of the little ego self.
Offer thyself Virgin to the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel. All else is a snare.
Be thou athlete with the eight limbs of Yoga: for without these thou are not disciplined for any fight.
The Tower represents the destruction of the confines of the microcosmic ego and it's restricted point of view in an explosive spiritual orgasm and union with the macrocosmic Angel. But you can't get there without work, discipline, and ordeals.
 

Dulcimer

That's great! Thanks Aeon ;)
 

Aeon418

Raving nutcase!!!

Just a few random notes that may, or may not, make sense to anyone else. :D

On page 287 of The Book of Thoth, The Vital Triads, Crowley lists The Hierophant as "The Son (Priest)" and The Tower as "The Crowned and Conquering Child emerging from Womb as in ALP"
111 - ALP, Aleph, an ox, a thousand. The redeeming Bull. By shape the Swastika, and so the Lightning. "As the lightning lighteneth out of the East even unto the West, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man." An allusion to the descent of Shiva upon Shakti in Samadhi. The Roman A shows the same through the shape of the Pentagram, which it imitates.

777
Here we have some Solar symbolism "6", the symbol of the Redeemer, the God-Man linked with the 5 of Geburah. 5 = 6 ;)
Horus as Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the current archetype of the God-Man in the New Aeon, replacing the old archetype based on the dying/resurrected Sun, Osiris/Jesus. Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the magical spirit of the ever-living Sun, represents the Holy Guardian Angel.

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The two pentagrams inside the hexagram on the Hierophant card may represent the two pentagram rituals created by Crowley, The Star Ruby and Liber V vel Reguli.
The influence of the elemental formula does not end at the borders of the microcosm. Indeed, it continues to be infused into all levels of consciousness. The most striking example of this elemental influence upon the macrocosm can be found in the Enochian magical records of Dr John Dee.

In the Enochian view of the universe, each of the thirty Aethyrs, or macrocosmic heavens, is ruled by three Governors. Curiously, the names of these celestial Governors are derived from the four microcosmic elemental tablets of the system, demonstrating a continuing and fundamental influence of the elemantal formulae throughout the macrocosm.

Clearly there exists an untapped form of universal Pentagram which operates simultaneously upon both the microcosmic and macrocosmic planes, and that the newly released energies of the new aeon make magical access to these formulae now possible. To activate this vastly higher order of elemental power, Crowley created two rituals: (1) Liber XXV, The Star Ruby, and (2) Liber V vel Reguli. As Thelemic hybrids of the Lesser and Greater Pentagram Rituals, they function as ceremonial exercises to invoke the energies of the Aeon of Horus.


The Magick of Aleister Crowley ~ Lon Milo DuQuette
With this in mind the following lines from the Book of the Law make metaphorical sense. Lines 6 and 7 most of all. The Pentagram of Horus. ;)
3. Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with them.
4. Choose ye an island!
5. Fortify it!
6. Dung it about with enginery of war!
7. I will give you a war-engine.
8. With it ye shall smite the peoples; and none shall stand before you.
9. Lurk! Withdraw! Upon them! this is the Law of the Battle of Conquest: thus shall my worship be about my secret house.