Major Arcana and the Thelemic Holy Season

Always Wondering

More pearls

I'm still on Peh.

In the excitement of the storm yesterday I almost missed something. But once the thick layer of hail melted I found trail to follow. :laugh:

This morning I dusted off my Raja-Yoga book and reread the first couple chapters. I was struck by the tale of the minister who’s king locked him up in a tower. How he and his wife used a beetle and silk thread, followed by twine and then a rope to reach freedom. It reminded me of both Peh and Tzaddi.

Liber Tzaddi, 1:23
Only if ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis.

The chapter on prana got me thinking on a more quite form of Active Intelligence, spirit and motion, and power of vibration.
If you can create in yourself that subtle vibration, you can and feel that the whole universe is composed of subtle vibration.
I don't know all the ends and outs of pranayama but I think it is safe enough to draw an attribute to mouth. And silence.

I wanted to add this to my correspondences of Peh before I move on to Ayin.

AW
 

Always Wondering

Ayin
70
Path 26 Tiphareth(Beauty) to Hod(Splender)
Renewing Intelligence
Eye
Capicorn
The Devil

The twenty sixth path is called Renewing Intelligence because the Holy God renews by it all the changing things which are renewed by the creation of the world.
Ugh. This is awkward. I'll continue to try to get my head around it. There is a feeling of a lower tier or veil as if some things are not renewed by creation of the world. I hadn't considered that. Creation implies reproduction, recreation and rejuvenation. Crowley calls it creative energy in its most material forum. Okay, now it makes more sense.

Ayin means eye. Now I am starting to understand the cut off eyelids from yesterday. Eye refers to both outer and inner vision. One pointedness or concentration powers of yoga.

The GD key phrase for Capricorn is I Use; key word, ambition. My daughter's sun is in Capricorn so I feel pretty familiar with it's energies. I get the sensual appreciation of all things, lowest to highest. But a list of Capricorn attributes pale in comparison to the ultimate meaning of The Devil. Saturn rules Capricorn, so that might have something to do with it. I tried to look up what Crowley meant that Capricorn occupies the Zenith and Capricorn being the most exulted, but haven't had any luck yet. And perhaps the qualities of Ayin add to this too?

Liber A'ash seems nothing but all these attributes. I especially see the high and remote places Crowley writes about ATU XV.
36. And in all shalt thou create the Infinite Bliss and the next link of the Infinite Chain.
37. This chain reaches from Eternity to Eternity, ever in triangles --- is not my symbol a triangle? --- ever in circles --- is not the symbol of the Beloved a circle? Therein is all progress base illusion, for every circle is alike and every triangle alike!
38. But the progress is progress, and progress is rapture, constant, dazzling, showers of light, waves of dew, flames of the hair of the Great Goddess, flowers of the roses that are about her neck, Amen!
39.Therefore lift up thyself as I am lifted up.

I think this is stunning.

Ken(70) honest, just so, such.

I will have to come back and concentrate on Aiyn again. I have learned so much about ATU XV here at AT, but today I realize there is a lot more to learn. The Aleph, Yod, Ayin connection is over my head at the moment.

Edited to add: Capricorn's mysteriously exalted state, high places, greater hills, waves of dew, great goddess, Nuit, and lifted seem like ojas to me. The live snake, Kundalini. The dead snake, shoot forth venom?

I could make myrth at all the sexual connotation. })

AW
 

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
There is a feeling of a lower tier or veil as if some things are not renewed by creation of the world.
Some experiences are so Eye opening that they can make the old seem new again. In another sense every moment, every event, every action is new. But how often do we see that? We may have done a particular thing hundreds of times, and sigh with resignation as we get on with the same old stuff. But each time it is a new experience. It is our restricted perception (Saturn) that makes us think nothing changes.

Renew in Hebrew is MChVDSh - Mechudash. (358)

This is the same value as the words:

MShICh - Messiah, and NChSh - Serpent.
Traditionally we are supposed to like the Messiah but not the Serpent, the tempter of Eve in Genenis. But it depends on how you look at it. They are both doing the same job, but their angle is different. You just need the Eye to see it.
It seems pretty obvious that the Devil is just God as misunderstood by the ignorant and wicked. ~ Lon Milo DuQuette
There's one area where this is very true for a lot of people. Sex! })
Western religion has conditioned many of us, to varying degrees, to view this side of ourselves as sinful, wicked, and un-spiritual. But it is merely a manifestation of "creative energy in it's most material form." Creative energy is a another name for God. The Devil is merely God in Matter.

Oddly enough the Hebrew word for Shame, GShNH, is also 358. This makes me think of a verse from Liber LXVI Stellae Rubeae:
36. Now the Veil of this operation is called Shame, and the Glory abideth within.
Shame is a Veil that many people struggle to pass when coming to terms with their own sexual feelings. But once their Eye is opened they begin to see that the coiling of the Serpent is the stirring of the Spirit.
Always Wondering said:
I tried to look up what Crowley meant that Capricorn occupies the Zenith and Capricorn being the most exulted, but haven't had any luck yet.
Try finding Capricorn on the Sun card. ;)
Always Wondering said:
I could make myrth at all the sexual connotation. })
I think there's a lot of mirth in this chapter too. This might make you laugh.
0. Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk.
1. Thou art blasted and black! Supremely solitary in that heath of scrub.
2. Up! The Ruddy clouds hang over thee! It is the storm.
3. There is a flaming gash in the sky.
4. Up.
5. Thou art tossed about in the grip of the storm for an æon and an æon and an æon. But thou givest not thy sap; thou fallest not.
6. Only in the end shalt thou give up thy sap when the great God F.I.A.T. is enthroned on the day of Be-With-Us.
The sexual sense of these verses is pretty obvious. The Gnarled Oak is the penis. The heath of scrub is the pubic hair. The storm and ruddy clouds are someone else's pubic hair. The flaming gash in the sky is the vagina. Up and tossed about in the grip of the storm needs no explanation. Yee haa! Ride 'em cow girl! :laugh:

But another way to understand this symbolism is that the Gnarled Oak is the aspirant. The flaming gash in the sky is the HGA. Up in Hebrew is 86. This the value of KVS, a Cup. This can be seen as the longing of the aspirant for his/her Angel, and the intense desire to be united with the Cup - Briah. The storm is the trial and testing of the aspirant on the paths of Samekh and Peh. The final giving up of the sap is the K&C of HGA.

Isn't sexual symbolism fun? :laugh:
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
Some experiences are so Eye opening that they can make the old seem new again. In another sense every moment, every event, every action is new. But how often do we see that? We may have done a particular thing hundreds of times, and sigh with resignation as we get on with the same old stuff. But each time it is a new experience. It is our restricted perception (Saturn) that makes us think nothing changes.
Mean heavy old Saturn again. But I guess that's the same energy that keeps me reasonably sane. :laugh: It seems a fine balance with a heavy ball though. I haven't seen this newness often of late.

Aeon418 said:
Renew in Hebrew is MChVDSh - Mechudash. (358)

This is the same value as the words:

MShICh - Messiah, and NChSh - Serpent.
Traditionally we are supposed to like the Messiah but not the Serpent, the tempter of Eve in Genenis. But it depends on how you look at it. They are both doing the same job, but their angle is different. You just need the Eye to see it.
There's one area where this is very true for a lot of people. Sex! })
Western religion has conditioned many of us, to varying degrees, to view this side of ourselves as sinful, wicked, and un-spiritual. But it is merely a manifestation of "creative energy in it's most material form." Creative energy is a another name for God. The Devil is merely God in Matter.

Oddly enough the Hebrew word for Shame, GShNH, is also 358. This makes me think of a verse from Liber LXVI Stellae Rubeae:
Shame is a Veil that many people struggle to pass when coming to terms with their own sexual feelings. But once their Eye is opened they begin to see that the coiling of the Serpent is the stirring of the Spirit.

It's so cool to see Shame in the value of 358. I took pretty firm stance against shame as a mom to try and break a family cycle. But now I can see shame as kind of a indicator of something worth exploring.
Aeon418 said:
Try finding Capricorn on the Sun card. ;)
This was a fun little excercise and it led to a duh moment. I have so much related Capicorn to ATU XV that I forgot about the fish tail. But seeing Capricornus represented fully on the Sun and reading about the constellation itself brought it all back. Now I get the trident and the sea references in Liber A'ash.


Aeon418 said:
I think there's a lot of mirth in this chapter too. This might make you laughThe sexual sense of these verses is pretty obvious. The Gnarled Oak is the penis. The heath of scrub is the pubic hair. The storm and ruddy clouds are someone else's pubic hair. The flaming gash in the sky is the vagina. Up and tossed about in the grip of the storm needs no explanation. Yee haa! Ride 'em cow girl! :laugh:
I missed the heath scrub and the ruddy clouds. :laugh: Thanks for pointing that out.


aeon418 said:
But another way to understand this symbolism is that the Gnarled Oak is the aspirant. The flaming gash in the sky is the HGA. Up in Hebrew is 86. This the value of KVS, a Cup. This can be seen as the longing of the aspirant for his/her Angel, and the intense desire to be united with the Cup - Briah. The storm is the trial and testing of the aspirant on the paths of Samekh and Peh. The final giving up of the sap is the K&C of HGA.

Isn't sexual symbolism fun? :laugh:

Yeah, I just couldn't get there yesterday. I guess my eye was 86ed. :laugh: Or I was tired.
Talk about a new perspective, I will never look at a heath the same again. :laugh:

AW
 

Always Wondering

Samekh
60
path 25 joining Tiphareth(moon) and Yesod(sun)
Tentative Intelligence
Prop
Sagittarius
Art

The twenty-fifth Path is the Intelligence of Probation or Temptation, and is it is so called because it is the primary temptation, by which the Creator trieth all righteous persons.
More awkwardness. How does one get from tentative to temptation? From now one I will look these up directly in the Sepher Yetzirah.

The Twenty-fifth Path is the Intelligence of Probation, or is Tentative, and is so called because it is the primary temptation, by which the Creator (blessed be He) trieth all righteous persons.

Okay, I am still feeling resistance to righteous, but Right use is better for me. Right use is necessarily experimental. Testing aims, which brings in the archer, which I identify heavily with. Testing makes me think of attention to results which was a whole new concept to me when I first starting reading Crowley.

Results lead into the meaning of Samekh which is Prop or support. Results are the new base for further improvement, transmutation or transformation.
The Archer;s GD key phase is I Understand, which ties in with results. Sagittarius is mutable fire. Wrath has come up in recent BoL studies and I notice that Case lists wrath under Sagittarius in the Wisdom Alphabet lesson. So we come to trial by fire.

ATU XIV is one of my favorites and in it I see the visualization attributed to Sagittarius. I am so not a alchemist, yet, but I can see that how a balanced combination of of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt would require much testing. There is a lot of formula on this card. I will simply note the Marriage of fire and water. Also V.I.T.R.O.I.L as the Universal Solvent. And Rectificando, right leading,(better than righteousness) of the new living substance of the path of the True Will. I sense the path of Nun nearby and know the ATU XIII is next. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter (Kaph) which is nearby too. But I could not see shooting a straight arrow to either of them.

Liber ARARITA, Cap. 7.
Qadosh is an Old Testament word meaning Holy, set apart, or distinct.
Shin, Daleth, Peh. Hmmm. The Holy Fire, Venus and Mars?
I can certainly see why this is related to mutable fire, rather than fixed or cardinal.

I had never read Liber ARARITA before. I had a strange, physical/emotional reaction to it that left me useless :| I did try to come back to it. I don't know. It's hard to explain. It's beautiful though, powerful, reverent.

AW
 

Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
More awkwardness. How does one get from tentative to temptation?
It might help if you bear in mind the fiery nature of this path. It is the Holy Fire that you are trying to rouse within yourself through your practices. The process is naturally tentative because it involves a lot of trial and error, experimentation, and testing. Just like an Alchemist trying to make gold in a laboratory. But here the gold is of a different kind, and the laboratory is yourself.

But where does temptation come into it? This will click instantly when I say that the fire you are raising is the Sex Force. This same force is represented on the Art card by the flames beneath cauldron. Most people when they feel the fire they get horny and seek to release the tension. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you're trying to raise this fire to higher levels of intensity for a different purpose, it kind of defeats that purpose if everytime the fire gets hot you impulsively act out the urge to extinguish it. Note that I'm not suggesting any kind of sexual repression here. It's more about gaining the ability to operate at higher and higher levels.

A metaphor that might help here is the sexual response of the typical inexperienced male. He starts off being easily over excited, and his pistol has a hair trigger. :laugh: But as he gains more experience he steadily learns the Art of control. Now if you cast your mind back to the Liber A'ash quote you should see the connection. If you're the Phallic Oak being tried and tested as you're being tossed around in the stormy grip of the HGA, you won't be able to achieve K&C if you fire your arrow of aspiration prematurely. ;)
Always Wondering said:
Okay, I am still feeling resistance to righteous, but Right use is better for me.
Righteous here has nothing to do with morals or anything like that. It's more about being upright :thumbsup:, upstanding :thumbsup:, like an Oak :thumbsup:. Only the Righteous person is hard enough to be tested in the grip of the storm. ;)
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
It might help if you bear in mind the fiery nature of this path. It is the Holy Fire that you are trying to rouse within yourself through your practices. The process is naturally tentative because it involves a lot of trial and error, experimentation, and testing. Just like an Alchemist trying to make gold in a laboratory. But here the gold is of a different kind, and the laboratory is yourself.

But where does temptation come into it? This will click instantly when I say that the fire you are raising is the Sex Force. This same force is represented on the Art card by the flames beneath cauldron. Most people when they feel the fire they get horny and seek to release the tension. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you're trying to raise this fire to higher levels of intensity for a different purpose, it kind of defeats that purpose if everytime the fire gets hot you impulsively act out the urge to extinguish it. Note that I'm not suggesting any kind of sexual repression here. It's more about gaining the ability to operate at higher and higher levels.
This does help. Bring to boil and then let simmer. :laugh:

Aeon418 said:
But as he gains more experience he steadily learns the Art of control.
Very helpful.

Aeon418 said:
Righteous here has nothing to do with morals or anything like that. It's more about being upright :thumbsup:, upstanding :thumbsup:, like an Oak :thumbsup:. Only the Righteous person is hard enough to be tested in the grip of the storm. ;)
Okay, for now on, emphasis on UP. :laugh:

AW
 

Always Wondering

Nun
50
Path 24 Tiphareth(Beauty) to Netzach(Victory).
Imaginative Intelligence
Fish
Scorpio
Death

The Twenty-fourth Path is the Imaginative Intelligence, and it is so called because it gives a likeness to all the similitudes, which are created in like manner similar to its harmonious elegancies. As above so below, I'm thinking. When phrased like this the word Imaginative widens for me. Image brings to mind mirrors and transference and the like. I guess that is what imagination is. I hadn't thought it out that way.

Fish seems to tie into this because we have the fish hook, Tzaddi and now the fish, Nun. This is a helpful correlation, as I've never been able to relate fish to Scorpio.

I have been trying to understand Scorpio and it's significance of regeneration to occult work for about a month now. Crowley says ATU XIII must be considered more important than it's Zodiacal attribution. So perhaps this is the issue I've had. I have thought of the GD key phase, I desire, in connection to logos, that is the only attribute I can meld together, as Crowley's paragraph on the importance of the fish in The Book of Thoth is difficult for me to process. Mars, as the ruler of Scorpio, and I do see more fire than water in Scorpio attributes.

In the card Death there are three forums of purification, Scorpion, serpent, and eagle. Crowley draw a connection between to Lust(Teth) and The Hanged Man(Mem). I will have to pay more attention to this. Putrification and V.I.T.R.O.I.L seem have a likeness as well.

Whenever I see ATU XIII, I think “die daily”. But as I look at the General Characters of the Trumps as They Appear in Use, I see that I have gotten lazy.
The Universe is Change; every Change is the effect of an Act of Love: all Acts of Love contains Pure Joy. Die daily.
Death is the apex of on curve of the snake of Life: behold all opposites as necessary complements, and rejoice.
This seems the perfect summation of the the elements of Nun. Much better than I can do. :laugh:

It was fun to see the Major Arcana in Liber Arcanorum. It really brought home the harmonious elegancies of Qabalah and Tarot. It also had the effect of helping me see cycles and change do occur on a daily basis. I haven't paid much attention to sigils but that was interesting. I don't know what Genii are, but just seeing the phrase “the 22 scales of the serpent” had an effect of seeing the harmonious elegancies in all.

And in the heart of the Sphinx danced the Lord Adonai, in His garlands of roses and pearls making glad the concourse of things; yea, making glad the concourse of things.

Value 50
Dagh Gadhol- Great fish, the Great is interesting.
Adamah- Earth
Kal- every
Kol- all

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Aeon418

Always Wondering said:
Path 24 Geburah(Severity) to Hod(Slendor)
Tiphareth(Beauty) to Netzach(Victory)
Always Wondering said:
The Twenty-fourth Path is the Imaginative Intelligence, and it is so called because it gives a likeness to all the similitudes, which are created in like manner similar to its harmonious elegancies. As above so below, I'm thinking. When phrased like this the word Imaginative widens for me. Image brings to mind mirrors and transference and the like. I guess that is what imagination is. I hadn't thought it out that way.
This mirroring occurs in the spelling of the letter itself. Nun, spelt NVN. Notice how the letter N is reflected on each side of the Vav.

Now consider the two sephiroth this path lies between. Tiphareth and Netzach. It is one of the transition points between the Higer Self and the personality. Netzach is the sephirah of Desire. Quite often there's a mis-match between the Will and personal desires (Wants). In this situation the two N's in NVN don't reflect each other. To correct this the personality must go through a Transformation. This can be a painful process because our desires are one of the things that help us define who we are. Even though many desires are not true reflections of the True Self, we still cling to them tightly. Because of this attachment the process of transforming or letting them go can feel like Death.
Always Wondering said:
I've never been able to relate fish to Scorpio.
It's all big bundle of ideas around sex, death, and prutrefaction being the never ending chain of life.
Scorpio rules the generative processes. Fish breed like crazy, but they also stink when they rot. Putrefaction occurs best in warm, wet, dark places. This suggests the Womb (Vesica Piscis ;)) There's the fish connection. And I'm going to leave it there, rather than say something crude. :laugh:

The Scorpion, according to legend, will commit suicide if ringed by fire. This is meant to symbolise the preasure of the environment leading to a forced change in state. The scorpion kills itself to escape the fire. Now consider how people regularly "kill themselves" to escape a different kind of fire. Scorpio is ruled by Mars - Sex Force. Think about the effect sexual tension has on people, and how they go about escaping that tension. It's natures way of getting us to propagate the species. Now buddle that lot together and you should be able to jump from Scorpion to Fish. I hope. :laugh:

The Emperor. Now there's a fisherman(Tzaddi) who looks like he can take a lot of heat(Aries). ;)
 

Always Wondering

Aeon418 said:
Tiphareth(Beauty) to Netzach(Victory)

Thanks, I fixed it.

Aeon418 said:
This mirroring occurs in the spelling of the letter itself. Nun, spelt NVN. Notice how the letter N is reflected on each side of the Vav.

Now consider the two sephiroth this path lies between. Tiphareth and Netzach. It is one of the transition points between the Higer Self and the personality. Netzach is the sephirah of Desire. Quite often there's a mis-match between the Will and personal desires (Wants). In this situation the two N's in NVN don't reflect each other. To correct this the personality must go through a Transformation. This can be a painful process because our desires are one of the things that help us define who we are. Even though many desires are not true reflections of the True Self, we still cling to them tightly. Because of this attachment the process of transforming or letting them go can feel like Death.

The N's not reflecting each other in NVN. This is what I couldn't process. I can't even explain how this helps, but it does. I spent too long focusing on the Hanged Man today. :laugh:

Aeon418 said:
It's all big bundle of ideas around sex, death, and prutrefaction being the never ending chain of life.
Scorpio rules the generative processes. Fish breed like crazy, but they also stink when they rot. Putrefaction occurs best in warm, wet, dark places. This suggests the Womb (Vesica Piscis ;)) There's the fish connection. And I'm going to leave it there, rather than say something crude. :laugh:

The Scorpion, according to legend, will commit suicide if ringed by fire. This is meant to symbolise the preasure of the environment leading to a forced change in state. The scorpion kills itself to escape the fire. Now consider how people regularly "kill themselves" to escape a different kind of fire. Scorpio is ruled by Mars - Sex Force. Think about the effect sexual tension has on people, and how they go about escaping that tension. It's natures way of getting us to propagate the species. Now buddle that lot together and you should be able to jump from Scorpion to Fish. I hope. :laugh:[
You are a true gentleman. I was able to fill in the unsaid. It makes sense now.

Aeon418 said:
The Emperor. Now there's a fisherman(Tzaddi) who looks like he can take a lot of heat(Aries). ;)
Next time I contemplate The Hanged Man I will turn the Emperor up as well. In fact, I think I will go focus on him right now.

AW