lukedra
has anyone seen it or has anyone heard of someone else seeing it..... if you do see how would you know your 100% correct and not just seeing something thats not there?
the universe card and the hidden tree of life
Aeon418
I can't say that I've seen it. I suspect that the entire Tree of Life is represented on this card though.
If you look at the groin area of the dancing goddess you can see the wheel of Light that Crowley mentions. That might be Kether.
The wheel of the Zodiac corresponds to the sephira Chokmah.
The strange black Lunar crescent / Sickle could be a symbol of both Binah / Saturn and Yesod / Luna.
The Moebius strip is coloured in shades characteristic of the sephira Chesed and Netzach.
The Eye could relate to the destructive Eye of Shiva and Geburah.
The colour gold relates to Tiphareth and the figure 8 created by the goddess and the serpent is that of the sephira Hod.
Finally the four Kerubim are the four elements of the Sephira Malkuth.
Grigori
I have not seen it, but I am not pure so did not expect to or even try 
I like your thoughts Aeon418. Thanks for sharing them. I had considered that perhaps the front pyramid may be Malkuth, and pondered if the kerubim fit in anywhere previously.
I dont think its possible to be 100% correct about anything (I also don't think you're 100% pure...) but if you can see something that others can't it doesn't make you wrong. Especially not if it is supposed to be there.
What I really want to know, is if only the pure can see it;
1) How did Harris paint it? and most importantly
2) How did Crowley know it was what he wanted?
I like your thoughts Aeon418. Thanks for sharing them. I had considered that perhaps the front pyramid may be Malkuth, and pondered if the kerubim fit in anywhere previously. lukEdrA said:
I dont think its possible to be 100% correct about anything (I also don't think you're 100% pure...) but if you can see something that others can't it doesn't make you wrong. Especially not if it is supposed to be there.
What I really want to know, is if only the pure can see it;
1) How did Harris paint it? and most importantly
2) How did Crowley know it was what he wanted?
Ross G Caldwell
I had a thought on this not too long ago, as it has always puzzled me, this Crowleyan riddle.
I think when Crowley writes something like "pure of heart", he means someone who doesn't think sex is either disgusting, or who snicker about it and obsess over it. For him and his teaching, it is *the* sacrament, and both attitudes, both extremes, either turning away or obsessing over it, make it *impure*. The only pure way for sex is to treat it like an appetite that gets fulfilled, without either shame or addiction. That way, its purpose is fulfilled, and natural balance remains in nature and the person.
Sex magick is different, it is a technique, but in order to do it one must be first "pure of heart" in the way described above.
So reading "pure of heart" in this way, we look for the sex in the picture of Atu XXI. It is a nude woman dancing with a snake.
The first thing that comes to mind is Eve and the serpent - "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel", says God to the serpent at Genesis 3:15. She is certainly "bruising" the serpent's head.
Eve had been tempted by the Serpent to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then got Adam to do the same. Afterwards they felt shame. Most commentators understand that this episode refers to their having sex, attaining the age of reason and discernment, and also reproducing and working to support a family, which is part of Adam and Eve's curse. This is among many other things and old legends.
Note that they have *shame* now. Their heart is not pure. God then does something more extreme - "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever..." God banishes them from the garden - they must die.
They feel shame, they are banished from the Garden of Eden, and most importantly, they are barred from eating also of the Tree of Life, and living forever.
So in this picture on Atu XXI, we have Eve, the temptress, and the Serpent who seduced her, and the claim that only the pure of heart can see the Tree of Life in the picture.
I think the answer is this - the Serpent with which the Woman dances, comes from a ray which comes from an Eye - this Serpent is the Phallus, and I think this phallus, which is a ray of light and life, which is a Serpent, is in fact the "tree" to which Crowley refers. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life are the same tree, and the only thing that separates them is shame and fear. The Woman and the Serpent, the knowledge of sex and death, are together themselves the eating of the Tree of Life, for those who can enter into their mystery without fear and without shame, with a pure heart, and share in their eternal dance.
The eternal dance of life and death - the symbol of infinity (8) in the card, their dance. A Crowley quote - "Truth comes bubbling to my brim - Life and Death are one to Him!"
I guess to state it more clearly, the Tree of Life here is their Union, but only for those who are pure of heart, can this union be the Tree of Life. Pure of heart means without shame of sex, and without fear of death. Then this union becomes an eternal dance, where life can be seen as one part, death another, then life, then dissolution again, only to be taken back up into life...
Ross
I think when Crowley writes something like "pure of heart", he means someone who doesn't think sex is either disgusting, or who snicker about it and obsess over it. For him and his teaching, it is *the* sacrament, and both attitudes, both extremes, either turning away or obsessing over it, make it *impure*. The only pure way for sex is to treat it like an appetite that gets fulfilled, without either shame or addiction. That way, its purpose is fulfilled, and natural balance remains in nature and the person.
Sex magick is different, it is a technique, but in order to do it one must be first "pure of heart" in the way described above.
So reading "pure of heart" in this way, we look for the sex in the picture of Atu XXI. It is a nude woman dancing with a snake.
The first thing that comes to mind is Eve and the serpent - "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel", says God to the serpent at Genesis 3:15. She is certainly "bruising" the serpent's head.
Eve had been tempted by the Serpent to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then got Adam to do the same. Afterwards they felt shame. Most commentators understand that this episode refers to their having sex, attaining the age of reason and discernment, and also reproducing and working to support a family, which is part of Adam and Eve's curse. This is among many other things and old legends.
Note that they have *shame* now. Their heart is not pure. God then does something more extreme - "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever..." God banishes them from the garden - they must die.
They feel shame, they are banished from the Garden of Eden, and most importantly, they are barred from eating also of the Tree of Life, and living forever.
So in this picture on Atu XXI, we have Eve, the temptress, and the Serpent who seduced her, and the claim that only the pure of heart can see the Tree of Life in the picture.
I think the answer is this - the Serpent with which the Woman dances, comes from a ray which comes from an Eye - this Serpent is the Phallus, and I think this phallus, which is a ray of light and life, which is a Serpent, is in fact the "tree" to which Crowley refers. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life are the same tree, and the only thing that separates them is shame and fear. The Woman and the Serpent, the knowledge of sex and death, are together themselves the eating of the Tree of Life, for those who can enter into their mystery without fear and without shame, with a pure heart, and share in their eternal dance.
The eternal dance of life and death - the symbol of infinity (8) in the card, their dance. A Crowley quote - "Truth comes bubbling to my brim - Life and Death are one to Him!"
I guess to state it more clearly, the Tree of Life here is their Union, but only for those who are pure of heart, can this union be the Tree of Life. Pure of heart means without shame of sex, and without fear of death. Then this union becomes an eternal dance, where life can be seen as one part, death another, then life, then dissolution again, only to be taken back up into life...
Ross
lukedra
Ross G Caldwell said:
now that description of pure i like and can live with. Similia your right i am not 100% pure in the type of pure you would think of, I'm abit naughty and proud of it
. But thanks, i'm going to have to study the symbolism in this card abit more befor i'll feel confident to post what i think the tree of life is represented in this card but your posts have been helpful already.Aeon418
It's also worth noting that the four Kerubim create a Vesica Piscis, symbol of the Yoni of the Great Mother.
Ross G Caldwell
Aeon418 said:
I agree... what's going on *inside* the Yoni is the creation of the Universe.
This card is a depiction of the moment of completion of the Great Work.
I also think your other comments were just - the square behind the Lady's head suggests Chesed as well, while the crescent suggests Binah... perhaps this Tree is to be viewed in reverse, as if behind it (i.e. Hokhmah is the moment of transition between light-ray and serpent, the moment of conscious awakening (eating of the Tree of Knowledge), and Binah is to the right).
Aeon418
In a way The Universe symbolises the creation of The Fool who bursts forth into manifestation and starts the cycle all over again.Ross G Caldwell said:
Grigori
I re-read the BOT on the Universe card and am seeing this idea in a slightly new light.
I'm interpreting this to say that the Shemhamphorasch shows us the signs of the solar system, and in the centre we should see the Tree of Life, not as a traditional tree/sephiroth diagram, but instead we should see the planets that are attributed to the tree. Namely Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, The Sun, Venus, Mercury, The Moon and Earth (no mention of Uranus).
There does seem to be a number of "stars" detached from the Shemhamphorasch mostly on the body of the snake, but unfortunately not 10 in number. I also just noticed for the first time a black five pointed star like pattern in the snakes skin, in the loop that forms a circle around the point of the sickle/hook. Is that item something I should recognise?
Crowley said:
I'm interpreting this to say that the Shemhamphorasch shows us the signs of the solar system, and in the centre we should see the Tree of Life, not as a traditional tree/sephiroth diagram, but instead we should see the planets that are attributed to the tree. Namely Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, The Sun, Venus, Mercury, The Moon and Earth (no mention of Uranus).
There does seem to be a number of "stars" detached from the Shemhamphorasch mostly on the body of the snake, but unfortunately not 10 in number. I also just noticed for the first time a black five pointed star like pattern in the snakes skin, in the loop that forms a circle around the point of the sickle/hook. Is that item something I should recognise?
Ross G Caldwell
similia said:
"Herschel" was an early, alternative name for Uranus, named after its discoverer, William Herschel (1781); Crowley loved to use recondite archaisms such as this.
