The Book of The Law Study Group 3.45
RLG
Dwtw
To tie this verse in with the tarot, I will note that in the Triform Energy Tarot arrangement, the four Princesses are 'raised to pinnacles of power' i.e., they are given the status of Major Arcana. This accomplishes a number of things, including making 26 trumps and 2 x 26 minor cards.
The Scarlet Woman/women are related to the suits quite easily.
The Princess of Disks, the suit of the Earth element, is she who breeds 'a child mightier than all the kings of earth' - for this princess is pregnant with meaning
The Princess of Cups, the suit of the Water element, is she who will be 'filled with joy' - for the cups are the suit of the emotions
The Princess of Swords, the suit of the Air element, is she who shall 'see & strike at the worship of Nu' - for we see by the light and strike with the sword
The Princess of Wands, the suit of the Fire element, 'shall achieve Hadit' - for Hadit is 'the flame that burns in every heart of man (and woman), and in the core of every star'.
Litlluw
RLG
To tie this verse in with the tarot, I will note that in the Triform Energy Tarot arrangement, the four Princesses are 'raised to pinnacles of power' i.e., they are given the status of Major Arcana. This accomplishes a number of things, including making 26 trumps and 2 x 26 minor cards.
The Scarlet Woman/women are related to the suits quite easily.
The Princess of Disks, the suit of the Earth element, is she who breeds 'a child mightier than all the kings of earth' - for this princess is pregnant with meaning
The Princess of Cups, the suit of the Water element, is she who will be 'filled with joy' - for the cups are the suit of the emotions
The Princess of Swords, the suit of the Air element, is she who shall 'see & strike at the worship of Nu' - for we see by the light and strike with the sword
The Princess of Wands, the suit of the Fire element, 'shall achieve Hadit' - for Hadit is 'the flame that burns in every heart of man (and woman), and in the core of every star'.
Litlluw
RLG
Aeon418
Verse 190 - the mystic number of the 19th path - Teth - XI Lust.
The Book of Thoth - Atu XI Lust (p.94)
45 is ADM, Adam - Humanity and a title of Tiphareth. According to the Genesis fable the original Adam was created by the Elohim - Gods, plural - in their image. This Adam was neither male nor female, but both in one. He/she is the original divine androgyne. Latter on in the story Adam has a rib removed from him to create Eve. Only at this point, after his/her female aspect has been separated out and turned into Eve, does Adam become male. In this context it's interesting to note that 190 is Hebrew for TzLO - Rib. The reunion of Adam and the Rib echoes the union of the Sun and the Moon. Interpreted as an event in consciousness this is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The HGA-ized Adept is a complete individual with their masculine and feminine sides united in one body. In essence they are representatives of the Two-in-One Lord of the Aeon, Heru Ra Ha, incarnate in human form. They are a Star.
There are 48 words in this verse (including the ampersand). 48 is KVKB - a Star. But it is also Mercury, another symbol of the divine androgyne.
Also of interest is that this verse would correspond to the element of Spirit - Shin in the elemental scheme mentioned previously. Looking at the Lust card there is the letter Shin between the paws of the Beast.
In this verse I see the raised Nephesh(Heh final) of the previous verse fully illuminated by the Neshamah(Heh prime). The raw fiery sexual power and energy of verse 44 (Tzaddi - Emperor - Aries) has been transmuted through the process of Art into free flowing Kundalini Force - 8. With this Teth-Serpent activated she shall strike at the worship of Nu and achieve Hadit. This may be a reference to the 15th path, Atu XVII The Star and the sephiroth from which it emanates, Chokmah - the Supernal Will. Oddly enough Aquarius on this path fits rather nicely with the overall theme established so far, for Aquarius is the sign of Humanity - Adam.
The Book of Thoth - Atu XI Lust (p.94)
In the previous two verses it was possible to see a waning and waxing moon theme. But here the Moon(Yoni) is fully illuminated by the Sun(Phallus), producing a Child. But who is this child? The verse number might be a clue.
45 is ADM, Adam - Humanity and a title of Tiphareth. According to the Genesis fable the original Adam was created by the Elohim - Gods, plural - in their image. This Adam was neither male nor female, but both in one. He/she is the original divine androgyne. Latter on in the story Adam has a rib removed from him to create Eve. Only at this point, after his/her female aspect has been separated out and turned into Eve, does Adam become male. In this context it's interesting to note that 190 is Hebrew for TzLO - Rib. The reunion of Adam and the Rib echoes the union of the Sun and the Moon. Interpreted as an event in consciousness this is the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. The HGA-ized Adept is a complete individual with their masculine and feminine sides united in one body. In essence they are representatives of the Two-in-One Lord of the Aeon, Heru Ra Ha, incarnate in human form. They are a Star.
There are 48 words in this verse (including the ampersand). 48 is KVKB - a Star. But it is also Mercury, another symbol of the divine androgyne.
Also of interest is that this verse would correspond to the element of Spirit - Shin in the elemental scheme mentioned previously. Looking at the Lust card there is the letter Shin between the paws of the Beast.
In this verse I see the raised Nephesh(Heh final) of the previous verse fully illuminated by the Neshamah(Heh prime). The raw fiery sexual power and energy of verse 44 (Tzaddi - Emperor - Aries) has been transmuted through the process of Art into free flowing Kundalini Force - 8. With this Teth-Serpent activated she shall strike at the worship of Nu and achieve Hadit. This may be a reference to the 15th path, Atu XVII The Star and the sephiroth from which it emanates, Chokmah - the Supernal Will. Oddly enough Aquarius on this path fits rather nicely with the overall theme established so far, for Aquarius is the sign of Humanity - Adam.
Grigori
The more I read these verses, the less sense they make to me with literal gender based interpretations. It's increasingly sensible to me to read these as a HGA metaphor in which "she" is the aspirant, and "he" the angel.
Aeon418
Or it may be that "she" is a particular part of the aspirant? Throughout most of the third chapter we have been repeatedly seeing pre-Adept themes. At this stage of the work the contact with the Angel is primarily subconscious. The Sun shines on the Moon first. The subconscious is the Womb containing the Child that has been mentioned in the last couple of verses.
If you look at page 287 of the Book of Thoth you will see that A.C. called Atu XIV Art, "The Pregnant Womb preserving life". In a certain sense the cauldron is your subconscious. The flames under the cauldron are the fires of your aspiration and the intensity of your devotion. If you keep the heat on for long enough Gold will eventually be "born".
The grim warning in verse 43 is what happens when you allow the flames to die. So whatever it takes get fired up! Enflame thyself. Or in other words, get hot.
Aeon418
I've been having a bit of a think about literal interpretations and I guess you could see verses 43, 44, and 45 as the way in which, not just women, but the entire feminine side of humanity re-emerges in this Aeon after it's distortion and supression during the Piscean era. As Crowley says in his comment on Atu V The Hierophant, the woman is girt with a sword in this Aeon. She is not the mere passive vehicle (Water - verse 43) of her male counterpart. No, she is armed and militant this time. In verse 44 we see a fiery, self-assertive, vitalistic, and life affirming feminine image. Perhaps the emergence of this kind of femininity is what is required to "birth", if only subconsciously, Thelemic change within society. If you ask me it's already happening.
RLG
Why princesses? I'm really going to have to break down and get the Duquette tarot book, just for the whole YHVH thing. But why not the queens?
Aren't they hot?
AW
Dwtw
in the YHVH formula, the Princesses are the Heh final, with a value of 5; the first three letters have a value of 21. The Princess is supposed to 'awaken the eld of the all father' (the Yod), and unite with him to continue the cycle.
In base three mathematics, if you put the 5 trigram - 012, over the 21 trigram - 210, you have this hexagram - 012210; this is not only a palindromic numeral, but it represents what we call the number 156 in decimal.
So by raising the Princesses to the top, the 'pinnacles of power', we not only continue the cycle of the tetragrammaton, but we make the 156 hexagram in the process. Since 156 is the gematria of the name Babalon, this process can represent the Princesses manifesting the goddess-form of Babalon, the apotheosis of the Scarlet Woman.
Interestingly, in Trigramaton Qabalah, the 5 trigram is Virgo and the 21 trigram is Aquarius; these would be the Hermit and the Star in the Thoth deck, or the Yod and the Heh, (if you buy into that whole Heh/Tzaddi switch). Thus the 156 hexagram secretly encodes the essential Yang/Yin dichotomy of the two-letter Hebrew name of God, YH.
One could just as well raise the Queens to the positions of Major Arcana, and potentially get the same mathematical result, since their letter is also Heh. But the Queen is already connected to the King/Yod. Crowley teaches that it is the Heh final which must reunite with the Yod to keep the YHVH cycle going. And it was the page/princess card that was added to the common playing card deck to make the tarot pack. Remove it, and you have 13 cards in a suit, like a normal poker deck. Also, the Princesses are the earthy parts of the 4 elements, representing material manifestation. Hebrew qabalah has no 'earth' element strictly speaking; and of the four elements, Earth is considered the 'passive' one while the others are active. Earth is also the summation of the other three elements in a certain sense. And the Princesses have no zodiacal rulership like the other court cards do. So given all that, they are the prime candidates for 'elevation' so to speak.
Litlluw
RLG
