What is the meaning of the extra card?

mosaica

The large Swiss deck has an extra card in it. I was hoping to find an explanation of the symbolism in this card in DuQuette's book, but I just finished it and don't remember seeing anything. What is the meaning of the extra black card with the five-petaled flower that has rainbow colored rays coming out of it?

Thanks.
Mosaica
 

Aeon418

The meaning of the Unicursal Hexagram is similar to the meaning of the Rosy Cross. If you look in DuQuette's book at figure 8 on page 43 you will see the Rose of the Microcosm on the 6 squared Coss of the Macrocosm. The Uni Hex is just a different form expressing the same doctrine.

Concerning the colours. If you were to overlay the Uni Hex on the Tree of Life, with the rose on Tiphareth, the 6 points of the hexagram would touch the surrounding sephiroth. The colours match those of the respective sephiroth.
 

AmberV

All of the above; and I consider the card to be a bit of a signature card, not part of the deck. But some people use it to represent the unmanifested sephira, Daat.
 

Lillie

I use it.

But not for Daat
 

ravenest

I do too .... it's always 'fun' when it comes up in a reading ... seems (and not just to me, also the client) ominous ... but then I have the red and black one not the 'rainbow' one.
 

fyreflye

One of the significant features of the UH, at least according to Crowley, is that it could be drawn with a series of strokes without ever lifting the pen/pencil/brush from the paper. Does anyone know why he considered that important?
 

Aeon418

The usual method of drawing a hexagram is with two interlaced triangles. It represents the union of opposites. The Uni Hex goes a step further. Not only are the polar opposites united, they are inseparable from each other.

It's also a visual glyph of the Thelemic pantheon in The Book of the Law. The principle of infinite expansion, Nuit, joined with the principle of infinite contraction, Hadit, creates the microcosmic child, Heru Ra Ha, who is symbolised by the rose at the centre.

The rose can point up or down to reflect the dual, active/passive nature of Heru Ra Ha. Another way of symbolising this dual nature is to join an upright and an inverted pentagram together. It creates a traditional hexagram with a unicursal hexagram within.

A bit of trivia....

In Crowley's own copy of The Book of Thoth he wrote an expletive and a note of complaint next to the Uni Hex on page 11. The printers had printed it upside down.
Now look at your Uni Hex card. :laugh:
 

mosaica

I was wondering whether it was printed upside down. Then I started reading into it, figuring nothing is ever done by accident when it comes to Crowley.... ("Is the empty space between the two top petals supposed to represent Da'ath, and the petal on the bottom Malkuth?" LOL.)

Lillie, what do you use the extra card for, if you don't mind sharing?
 

Bernice

If you were to overlay the Uni Hex on the Tree of Life, with the rose on Tiphareth, the 6 points of the hexagram would touch the surrounding sephiroth. The colours match those of the respective sephiroth.

This overlay shows the manner in which a person may ascend the Tree.

Bee