Ohhh … here we go then ... have you read my astro tarot post in GD forum?
If not, anyway, lets get wacky (and adopt Wang's wong view about Aces and Princesses and Poles - another wrong Wang, which I like as his mistake supports my musings ) ... this thread has gone wacky anyway;
The phrase, "quite above and distinct from" invites me to look at the Aces as more than the pips, sort of the way Majors are set into a different category,
Yes ; there is the Trumps (three types - elemental, planetary and astro ) , the courts ( two types - the Princesses and the others { astro } courts), 2 - 10 each suit (decans) and the Aces ( 'roots' )
"...symbolized only by the topmost point of the Yod of Tetragrammaton": reminds me that the "top" of the tertragammaton is the bottom of the Tree of Life, where downward movement shows growth from our spiritual center from above as well as the human growth cycle
Which already reminded me of : the 'bottom' of the Tree of Life placed in the Celestial Sphere ( as above so below ) and also on the Terrestrial Sphere, the downward movement is through the 'middle pillar / axis / but actually MAGNETIC axis ( the planet's 'spiritual centre' ) flows OUT at the SMP (south magnetic pole) from 'above' ( in through the NMP ) ... the planetray growth cycle.
but looking at the world upside down.
No, there is no upside down world as it is a sphere, no upside down for a sphere in space ... what's the reference point ? ('You guys' 'up there' did that by drawing maps with N at top ... many old maps have S or E at the top ... this is modern hemispheristism
)
It is Ha-adama, the primordial man, or Purusa have to look at the tree the same way
Not 'down here' one doesn't.
I do the the skyview in astronomy: laying on the ground looking upside down with my feet pointed at the north pole.
Not down here it isn't
That's the way we look at the sky / ecliptic ... YOU now 'rightside up'
It is the same concept with The Tree and the Tetragrammaton.
Yep.
The problem was ; IMO Tree of Life in the Celestial Sphere puts Princesses around the North Pole ... and the Aces too in some vague 'sits on the throne in space above the pole' idea
Whereas if the Princesses sit around the NMP THROUGH the, and via the, axis of Earth on the Thrones of the SMP (Aces and roots of elemental magnetic field) then everything ties in together with the Earth's 'planetary growth cycle' ...looping through itself and the cosmos (where the decans and signs 'reside') in a feed back loop through the NCP(celestial) and SCP .... with the courts around the globe representing the human types 'reflected' from the celestial signs, all forming giant intersecting cycles or 'wheels' rotating inside each other regulating energy and generating combinations of it.
Which might help to explain that strange quote at the end of the GD paper ( a source for the info on Aces and Princesses function in the intro of Book of Thoth) on 'The Tree of Life on the Celestial Sphere.' and make it a bit clearer ;
" 4: And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5: Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
6: And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
…
9: Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10: As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11: Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12: And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13: As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14: And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15: Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16: The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17: When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18: As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19: And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20: Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. “
{ Ezekiel. - The King James Bible }
P. S. ‘ Wang’s wong’; “‘The Qabalistic Tarot’ by Robert Wang. ( He is describing the G.D. astro diagrams with the cards laid out on them. The diagram is a view from ‘above’ or a plan view. On page 50 Wang is clarifying the point that the diagram is a 2-D representation of a 3-D spherical model.) “ … this scheme is a simplistic attempt to show relationships which are actually three dimensional, and refer to the Earth and its two Magnetic Poles.” (‘Qabalistic Tarot’ by Robert Wang. P.50.)
BUT the source document says;
“It (their placement map and system) represents the Heavens polarized on the plane of the Ecliptic, not on the plane of the Equator of the Earth, so that its North Pole is the veritable North Pole of our Heavens and not merely that part of them to which the North Pole of our Earth now points.” Note by S.R.M.D. ‘The Tree of Life Projected in a Solid Sphere’ – G.D. Paper, supplement to Liber – T. First paragraph. – Their emphasis.]
}