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Alchemy

THE ALCHEMICAL STORY OF THE RED AND THE WHITE ROSES (Dennings and Phillips)

THE STORY OF THE RED AND THE WHITE ROSES

Black Dragon was of the lower Earth. Among the harsh rocks which were his dwelling he had gathered great treasures of precious metals and of gems: jasper and turquoise. emerald and chalcedony, amethyst, sapphire, opal, citrine and many others. There were no pearls, however. Those gleaming sea-jewels are the very token and symbol of water, and water, except as it might be found mixed into mire, was a thing which Black Dragon feared and hated greatly. The land in which he dwelt was hot, stony and barren, so that any water which was not hidden was quickly scorched away by the sun; usually, therefore, Black Dragon could live as if water did not exist. He delighted in adding to his hoard of gems and loved to range them in heaps upon the sill of his lair so that the fierce light danced and leaped among their myriad colors, but he had another ambition, too, an ambition which increased with his store.


What he truly wanted was to deck himself in those rich jewels and to be seen by the people of the surrounding country, so that they should be amazed and should revere him as their god or at least as their king. He knew himself to be hideous to look upon, however, and perceived that, decked with jewels, he would provoke only disgust or derision, not admiration or worship. He therefore formed another plan and resolved to bide his time. He lay in wait, and in due course took captive the maiden known as Soul of the Earth, whom he carried off to the wilderness where he dwelt. Trapped and terrified, she speedily learned that help was not at hand and that no course was now open to her, save submission.

Then Black Dragon caused her to be clothed in gorgeous raiment. A jeweled crown was set upon her head, jewels were placed upon her brow and her neck and her bosom, her arms, hands, waist, ankles and feet. She was enthroned upon a throne of gold on a high dais, and heralds were sent forth to sound their trumpets and to cry aloud: COME, BEHOLD AND WORSHIP THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD! Travelers from all regions came and marveled at the great beauty of Soul of the Earth, and at the richness of her attire, and at the high golden throne whereon she was seated. Then when they were assembled, another herald cried: BEHOLD THE BEAUTY AND RICHES OF THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD, AND BOW DOWN BEFORE BLACK DRAGON, WHOM THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD OWNS TO BE HER LORD! Many there were who worshiped, but many also there were who bowed down only in fear of Black Dragon; and a murmur began to go forth against Soul of the Earth, so that she was called harlot and traitress for the part she played.


Now it happened that the King’s Son was journeying through that land. He was a valiant young man, whose badge and ensign was a red rose; so he himself had come to be known among the people b= the name of Red Rose. As he rode, he heard the trumpets of the heralds and the words which followed: “Come, behold and worship the Queen of the World!”—”I shall not worship, but I will behold,” declared Red Rose, and he joined in the troop which was going to gaze at Soul of the Earth.


The riches with which she was surrounded did not dazzle him, for he had seen such things before, but her beauty of face and form moved him to wonder, and to more than wonder. He beheld, too, the hideous bulk of Black Dragon upon the dais, and he became the more perplexed .
Then, looking more attentively at Soul of the Earth, he perceived that the golden chains upon her wrists and ankles were not harmless adornments, but were fetters indeed.


Likewise the thin veil which covered the lower part of her face was not intended merely to give mystery to the luster of her eyes, although with deep mystery they shone, but it served to disguise the seal which had been set upon her lips.


And then he saw that there were no pearls among her jewels. As he moved away through the crowd, he asked a bystander, “Why does your Queen wear no pearls?” “Black Dragon forbids even the name of the oceanstones,” muttered the inhabitant, and Red Rose understood what was to be done. He went to the jewelers of the place and sought to buy a pearl, but they had none to offer him. “I am the King’s Son, and I am called Red Rose,” he said: “_ ask not the price, but I would buy one single pearl.” “Sir, you need not to tell us your name, since its high fame is well known to us. We are yours to command, but there is not one pearl in all these lands, for fear of Black Dragon.” Then Red Rose left their company and went out into the wilderness, and under the heavens he cried aloud, “By the Splendor of the Sun I swear, I would give all I possess for one pearl, that with it _ might win Soul of the Earth from bondage!” And 10, a Shining One stood in the sunlight with a glorious smile, replying to Red Rose, “Will you give all that you have? The time is not yet: but come, I will show you the pearl.” He led Red Rose to a fair garden, where no water was to be seen, but it was led cunningly through channels in the rocks underground so that the roots of the plants were fed thereby; and in the midst of the garden was a bush upon which grew one white rose. Red Rose put out his hand to the blossom, and with a further word of encouragement the Shining One left him. In the center of the flower, sheltered by the petals, gleamed a single drop of dew.


The Prince gathered the rose and carried t carefully back to where Soul of the Earth sat enthroned. “I bring a gift to your Queen, richer than anything she yet has,” he told the crowd: and as they made way for him they murmured, “He brings a rose of alabaster, he brings a rose of ivory, he brings a rose of whitest jade!” So he approached the dais; and when he had come near, he threw the rose so that the drop of dew fell upon Soul of the Earth. Instantly the seal was gone from her lips, and the fetters shriveled like burnt grass away from her wrists and ankles. “ give you freedom, and a new name, O White Rose!” cried Red Rose: “now begone, begone to safety!” So she flung the gems and adornments from her, and fled. When Black Dragon saw what had happened, and knew himself powerless to prevent it, he called out to her, “Soul of the Earth, do not go from me! Is it not enough that I have given you jewels and gold, a crown and a seat of honor?” “It is not enough,” she replied, “for because of these things I am scorned and miscalled before the world.” And ever since that time, let no man intending evil put his trust in any woman whatsoever, for in an instant she mXy clothe herself in the strong innocence of Soul of the Earth, and spurn him.

THE STORY OF THE RED AND THE WHITE ROSES

Black Dragon was of the lower Earth. Among the harsh rocks which were his dwelling he had gathered great treasures of precious metals and of gems: jasper and turquoise. emerald and chalcedony, amethyst, sapphire, opal, citrine and many others. There were no pearls, however. Those gleaming sea-jewels are the very token and symbol of water, and water, except as it might be found mixed into mire, was a thing which Black Dragon feared and hated greatly. The land in which he dwelt was hot, stony and barren, so that any water which was not hidden was quickly scorched away by the sun; usually, therefore, Black Dragon could live as if water did not exist. He delighted in adding to his hoard of gems and loved to range them in heaps upon the sill of his lair so that the fierce light danced and leaped among their myriad colors, but he had another ambition, too, an ambition which increased with his store.

What he truly wanted was to deck himself in those rich jewels and to be seen by the people of the surrounding country, so that they should be amazed and should revere him as their god or at least as their king. He knew himself to be hideous to look upon, however, and perceived that, decked with jewels, he would provoke only disgust or derision, not admiration or worship. He therefore formed another plan and resolved to bide his time. He lay in wait, and in due course took captive the maiden known as Soul of the Earth, whom he carried off to the wilderness where he dwelt. Trapped and terrified, she speedily learned that help was not at hand and that no course was now open to her, save submission.

Then Black Dragon caused her to be clothed in gorgeous raiment. A jeweled crown was set upon her head, jewels were placed upon her brow and her neck and her bosom, her arms, hands, waist, ankles and feet. She was enthroned  upon a throne of gold on a high dais, and heralds were sent forth to sound their trumpets and to cry aloud: COME, BEHOLD AND WORSHIP THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD! Travelers from all regions came and marveled at the great beauty of Soul of the Earth, and at the richness of her attire, and at the high golden throne whereon she was seated. Then when they were assembled, another herald cried: BEHOLD THE BEAUTY AND RICHES OF THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD, AND BOW DOWN BEFORE BLACK DRAGON, WHOM THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD OWNS TO BE HER LORD! Many there were who worshiped, but many also there were who bowed down only in fear of Black Dragon; and a murmur began to go forth against Soul of the Earth, so that she was called harlot and traitress for the part she played.

Now it happened that the King’s Son was journeying through that land. He was a valiant young man, whose badge and ensign was a red rose; so he himself had come to be known among the people b= the name of Red Rose. As he rode, he heard the trumpets of the heralds and the words which followed: “Come, behold and worship the Queen of the World!”—”I shall not worship, but I will behold,” declared Red Rose, and he joined in the troop which was going to gaze at Soul of the Earth.

The riches with which she was surrounded did not dazzle him, for he had seen such things before, but her beauty of face and form moved him to wonder, and to more than wonder. He beheld, too, the hideous bulk of Black Dragon upon the dais, and he became the more perplexed.

Then, looking more attentively at Soul of the Earth, he perceived that the golden chains upon her wrists and ankles were not harmless adornments, but were fetters indeed.

Likewise the thin veil which covered the lower part of her face was not intended merely to give mystery to the luster of her eyes, although with deep mystery they shone, but it served to disguise the seal which had been set upon her lips.

And then he saw that there were no pearls among her jewels. As he moved away through the crowd, he asked a bystander, “Why does your Queen wear no pearls?” “Black Dragon forbids even the name of the oceanstones,” muttered the inhabitant, and Red Rose understood what was to be done. He went to the jewelers of the place and sought to buy a pearl, but they had none to offer him. “I am the King’s Son, and I am called Red Rose,” he said: “_ ask not the price, but I would buy one single pearl.” “Sir, you need not to tell us your name, since its high fame is well known to us. We are yours to command, but there is not one pearl in all these lands, for fear of Black Dragon.” Then Red Rose left their company and went out into the wilderness, and under the heavens he cried aloud, “By the Splendor of the Sun I swear, I would give all I possess for one pearl, that with it _ might win Soul of the Earth from bondage!” And 10, a Shining One stood in the sunlight with a glorious smile, replying to Red Rose, “Will you give all that you have? The time is not yet: but come, I will show you the pearl.” He led Red Rose to a fair garden, where no water was to be seen, but it was led cunningly through channels in the rocks underground so that the roots of the plants were fed thereby; and in the midst of the garden was a bush upon which grew one white rose. Red Rose put out his hand to the blossom, and with a further word of encouragement the Shining One left him. In the center of the flower, sheltered by the petals, gleamed a single drop of dew.

The Prince gathered the rose and carried _t carefully back to where Soul of the Earth sat enthroned. “I bring a gift to your Queen, richer than anything she yet has,” he told the crowd: and as they made way for him they murmured, “He brings a rose of alabaster, he brings a rose of ivory, he brings a rose of whitest jade!” So he approached the dais; and when he had come near, he threw the rose so that the drop of dew fell upon Soul of the Earth. Instantly the seal was gone from her lips, and the fetters shriveled like burnt grass away from her wrists and ankles. “_ give you freedom, and a new name, O White Rose!” cried Red Rose: “now begone, begone to safety!” So she flung the gems and adornments from her, and fled. When Black Dragon saw what had happened, and knew himself powerless to prevent it, he called out to her, “Soul of the Earth, do not go from me! Is it not enough that I have given you jewels and gold, a crown and a seat of honor?” “It is not enough,” she replied, “for because of these things I am scorned and miscalled before the world.” And ever since that time, let no man intending evil put his trust in any woman whatsoever, for in an instant she mXy clothe herself in the strong innocence of Soul of the Earth, and spurn him.

But White Rose, as she was now named, when she had left Black Dragon, fled away with the swiftness of fleeing Atalanta. She sped through the air over the Mountains of the Moon, until she came to the ocean of silvery water. Into that ocean she plunged; she washed away the last stains of her sojourn with Black Dragon, and then she swam on through the sea until she came to the shore of a most green land. The people of that country were amazed as she came from the sea, for she shone like the stars, and the queen of that country welcomed her as a sister. That region abounded in every kind of herb, and there were gentle lone giving m*lk and curd; there was also music and rejoicing continually. There. secretly, White Rose abode for a while.

Black Dragon, when his captive fled, pursued her for a short distance, but being of the lower earth he could not follow when she sped through the air. He therefore returned full of fury to seek for Red Rose, but the King’s Son, having made sure that White Rose had escaped in truth, had withdrawn to his own place. And both Red Rose and Black Dragon, each in his own way, sent forth for tidings of White Rose, but none could tell what had become of her.

Then Black Dragon cared no longer for his treasures and his lair in the wilderness, but began to roam through the land, breaking and destroying, and saying again all the evil that had been said of White Rose in the time of her captivity.

At last, therefore, Red Rose saw that an end must be made to this, so he took a strong lance and rode forth to do battle to the death with Black Dragon.

When they met, Black Dragon roared and snorted and lowered his head to charge, but he was heavy and at first moved slowly. Red Rose had leveled his lance, and upon his swift horse dashed in as thinking to slX= his adversary with a single blow, but Black Dragon’s hide was tough as leather and hard as iron. The lance was stopped as if Red Rose had charged against a granite cliff, and he was flung from the saddle by the shock. He sprang to his feet and drew his sword, barely in time before Black Dragon was upon him.

Now followed a long, close and deadly contest between the two. Those who had gathered to watch perceived that Red Rose was by far the more nimble but, being unable to pierce Black Dragon’s hide, could do no more than defend himself. This he did bravely with sword and shield, but not always successfully, since Black Dragon could attack with his claws and with his terrible fangs at the same time. Thus Red Rose had several great wounds, so that the blood flowed. and the bystanders for pity called out to him to flee.

“NXb, now I have earned my ensign and my name,” he said, “now am I Red Rose in truth.” But just then the monster swerved in upon him again, and with great fangs ripped his thigh, and so departed, leaving Red Rose lying in his own blood upon the rocky ground.

Although nobody had news of White Rose, however, she had continual tidings of the land which she had left. She had heard of Red Rose’s setting forth against Black Dragon, and at once, full of fear for the outcome, with two ladies of the green land, she took ship across the ocean and arrived at the place of conflict with what speed she might. There she was told that Red Rose was slain, and Black Dragon was for the time being departed into the wilderness. You may think how she and her companions lamented over Red Rose, but she would not linger there to be retaken by Black Dragon; so they carried Red Rose gently on to the ship, uncertain as they were whether he was in fact quite dead, and thus White Rose brought him with her to the green country.

They bathed and tended him, and knew that they could do nU more, yet still White Rose would not give up hope; so they set up four posts, and a canopy over them, and in this shelter they covered him with sweet herbs and left him.

As he lay there, his spirit hovering uncertain whether to tarry or to depart, there came to him suddenly that Shining One who had shown him how to save White Rose.

“Remember now your oath,” said the Shining One, “when you sware by Sol’s Splendor to g\ve all you possessed if a certain thing were done, and that th*ng was done. Now therefore in the name of my master the All-victorious Sun, I am come to claim your pledge. You challenged Black Dragon to combat, and if you were your own man he has slain you, you must confess it. By your oath however, your limbs and your body, your flesh and your blood belong to the Sun, and I say Black Dragon shall not rob him of what is his. Up, then; be whole and stand!” With these words, the Shining One took Red Rose’s hand and drew him to his feet, and, marvel of marvels, he was all whole, and stood firmly.

When he had thanked the other for his healing, Red Rose asked, “What should I do?” “Go against Black Dragon again if that is your will, but know that cold steel shall never prevail against him. What has gone before has been all child’s play, and women’s work, for women’s work is done by water, all washing and cleansing and scouring as this has been. Now, that white work is done. The red work is commenced, which you began by shedding yUur blood, but this is man’s work, and only by fire can it be completed. You have pledged yourself to the Sun, and to the Sun entirely you now belong; by the fire of the Sun therefore shall come the victory.” Thus saying, the Shining One departed.

Red Rose remained alone, pondering these words until their meaning was all clear to him. Then, his meditations at an end, he went to the queen of the country, and to White Rose and the other ladies. and thanked them for their care of him. Also he had them make for him a little pennant, with the sign of the Sun upon it. This done, he made ready to do battle again with Black Dragon. White Rose would have set out with him, but he forbade her, remembering the words of the Shining One, and bade her remain in that land to await his return. All being in readiness, he crossed again to the region which Black Dragon had laid waste.

Now, the shield which Red Rose carried was of bright steel, polished so that it shone like glass. When he had come close to Black Dragon’s lair, therefore, he gathered some dead leaves and twigs in an open place which was hidden from the cavern. Then he set his shield in such a way that, as the sun rose hot and bright, the shield gathered the fierce rays and flung them again upon the leaves and twigs.

Presently a little smoke coiled up from the heap, then more smoke, and at last a pallid wisp of flame. Red Rose brought more wood, and carefully fed it to the fire. When the fire which he had thus drawn from the sun’s rays was built great and strong, he brought his lance that was of hard ash-wood and began to heat the lance-head in the fire. All being ready at last. he mounted his horse, beat loudly upon his shield, and called Black Dragon forth to battle. Black Dragon came out with a loud roar; Red Rose took the lance, which was now a shaft of the sun’s fire, and leveled it for the charge. This time, the conflict was indeed settled at one blow: the sun-fire lance pierced clean through Black Dragon’s hard, tough hide, so that with one last roar he rolled over dead. The people who had stood to watch, and more who had been in hiding, gave a great cheer, for they had lived in dread of Black Dragon. Then they banked up the sun-fire into a large mound of burning logs. and dragged the unwieldy body onto this pyre that it might be destroyed utterly. And now a marvel occurred, for the sunfire had so penetrated and transmuted that bulk, that at once, released from the shape of Black Dragon, the elements thereof returned to their place in nature; and, with a sweet fiery odor as of frankincense and cinnamon they vanished.

Now, matters stood that Red Rose had saved White Rose from Black Dragon, and White Rose had saved Red Rose, and there was great love between them. So he was resolved to marry her, and declared their betrothal, and there was much rejoicing. Yet not everyone was content.

Some there were who said that the marriage would not be fitting, since he was the King’s Son and she was but Soul of the Earth; and others recalled the evil things that had been spoken of her, and said Red Rose ought not to marry one who had been so accused, albeit falsely. There was much debate therefore, until all parties agreed to refer the question for decision to the King’s Mother.

The King’s Mother was a gray woman who dwelt apart and in silence, but high dignity was hers and great honor.

Her father had been a powerful king in the elder times; much of sorrow she had known, and much of wisdom. She listened to the history of White Rose, and looked upon her; then she drew the young betrothed bride to her and set her at her side upon the huge, dark throne. Then there was nothing more at all for anyone to say upon this matter, and the marriage of Red Rose and White Rose was solemnized forthwith.

Nevertheless, it is not chiefly because of them that this story is told, but because of their son. For they had a son, who so much resembled his father, and so much his mother, that none could tell which he was more like. So people came to call him the Androgyne, although his true name was Splendor Solis. You may sometimes see a symbolic picture of him, showing him half in the likeness of his father and half of his mother; and he has wings, because he and they are of the spiritual world; and he bears crowns of peaceful dominion, but also a mighty sword and upon it a crown which is the prize of victory. Beneath his feet lie the misshapen and chaotic clan of Black Dragon, whose lawless remnants it was his task to quell. And another of his names is Lapis Ph*losophorum, the Philosophers’ Stone; for know you that that Stone is not an inert thing, but living.

Yet some say that this picture does not represent a son of Red Rose, but Red Rose himself after the Shining One raised him from the bier; and they say White Rose was in truth, as Red Rose often called her, his other self. These are mysteries, yet they make no difference to our story or to its telling. With many variations it is told, and must be so, since it is the inner story of each one who wins through to Adepthood.

Let the new adept beware, however, when he is released from his tomb, how he acts towards those around him.

When the Philosophers’ Stone is “projected” upon any material, a ferment occurs (we are told), after which the new material must be submitted to the furnace and will emerge transmuted into gold, or into whatever may be the highest development of its own kind. This is truly a wonderful power, but not all are ready for the furnace.

Certa*nly this is infallibly true, and the alchemists deserve all honor for perceiving it—that which has been transformed will itself cause transformation. The man or woman who has passed through the philosophical alchemy and has emerged with integrated personality bears ambiguous gifts to the world of which he or she is no longer fully native: in one hand a crown of peace, in the other a sword.


When he had thanked the other for his healing, Red Rose asked, “What should I do?” “Go against Black Dragon again if that is your will, but know that cold steel shall never prevail against him. What has gone before has been all child’s play, and women’s work, for women’s work is done by water, all washing and cleansing and scouring as this has been. Now, that white work is done. The red work is commenced, which you began by shedding yUur blood, but this is man’s work, and only by fire can it be completed. You have pledged yourself to the Sun, and to the Sun entirely you now belong; by the fire of the Sun therefore shall come the victory.” Thus saying, the Shining One departed .
Red Rose remained alone, pondering these words until their meaning was all clear to him. Then, his meditations at an end, he went to the queen of the country, and to White Rose and the other ladies. and thanked them for their care of him. Also he had them make for him a little pennant, with the sign of the Sun upon it. This done, he made ready to do battle again with Black Dragon. White Rose would have set out with him, but he forbade her, remembering the words of the Shining One, and bade her remain in that land to await his return. All being in readiness, he crossed again to the region which Black Dragon had laid waste .
Now, the shield which Red Rose carried was of bright steel, polished so that it shone like glass. When he had come close to Black Dragon’s lair, therefore, he gathered some dead leaves and twigs in an open place which was hidden from the cavern. Then he set his shield in such a way that, as the sun rose hot and bright, the shield gathered the fierce rays and flung them again upon the leaves and twigs .
Presently a little smoke coiled up from the heap, then more smoke, and at last a pallid wisp of flame. Red Rose brought more wood, and carefully fed it to the fire. When the fire which he had thus drawn from the sun’s rays was built great and strong, he brought his lance that was of hard ash-wood and began to heat the lance-head in the fire. All being ready at last. he mounted his horse, beat loudly upon his shield, and called Black Dragon forth to battle. Black Dragon came out with a loud roar; Red Rose took the lance, which was now a shaft of the sun’s fire, and leveled it for the charge. This time, the conflict was indeed settled at one blow: the sun-fire lance pierced clean through Black Dragon’s hard, tough hide, so that with one last roar he rolled over dead. The people who had stood to watch, and more who had been in hiding, gave a great cheer, for they had lived in dread of Black Dragon. Then they banked up the sun-fire into a large mound of burning logs. and dragged the unwieldy body onto this pyre that it might be destroyed utterly. And now a marvel occurred, for the sunfire had so penetrated and transmuted that bulk, that at once, released from the shape of Black Dragon, the elements thereof returned to their place in nature; and, with a sweet fiery odor as of frankincense and cinnamon they vanished .
Now, matters stood that Red Rose had saved White Rose from Black Dragon, and White Rose had saved Red Rose, and there was great love between them. So he was resolved to marry her, and declared their betrothal, and there was much rejoicing. Yet not everyone was content .
Some there were who said that the marriage would not be fitting, since he was the King’s Son and she was but Soul of the Earth; and others recalled the evil things that had been spoken of her, and said Red Rose ought not to marry one who had been so accused, albeit falsely. There was much debate therefore, until all parties agreed to refer the question for decision to the King’s Mother .
The King’s Mother was a gray woman who dwelt apart and in silence, but high dignity was hers and great honor .
Her father had been a powerful king in the elder times; much of sorrow she had known, and much of wisdom. She listened to the history of White Rose, and looked upon her; then she drew the young betrothed bride to her and set her at her side upon the huge, dark throne. Then there was nothing more at all for anyone to say upon this matter, and the marriage of Red Rose and White Rose was solemnized forthwith .
Nevertheless, it is not chiefly because of them that this story is told, but because of their son. For they had a son, who so much resembled his father, and so much his mother, that none could tell which he was more like. So people came to call him the Androgyne, although his true name was Splendor Solis. You may sometimes see a symbolic picture of him, showing him half in the likeness of his father and half of his mother; and he has wings, because he and they are of the spiritual world; and he bears crowns of peaceful dominion, but also a mighty sword and upon it a crown which is the prize of victory. Beneath his feet lie the misshapen and chaotic clan of Black Dragon, whose lawless remnants it was his task to quell. And another of his names is Lapis Phlosophorum, the Philosophers’ Stone; for know you that that Stone is not an inert thing, but living . Yet some say that this picture does not represent a son of Red Rose, but Red Rose himself after the Shining One raised him from the bier; and they say White Rose was in truth, as Red Rose often called her, his other self. These are mysteries, yet they make no difference to our story or to its telling. With many variations it is told, and must be so, since it is the inner story of each one who wins through to Adepthood . Let the new adept beware, however, when he is released from his tomb, how he acts towards those around him . When the Philosophers’ Stone is “projected” upon any material, a ferment occurs (we are told), after which the new material must be submitted to the furnace and will emerge transmuted into gold, or into whatever may be the highest development of its own kind. This is truly a wonderful power, but not all are ready for the furnace . Certanly this is infallibly true, and the alchemists deserve all honor for perceiving it—that which has been transformed will itself cause transformation. The man or woman who has passed through the philosophical alchemy and has emerged with integrated personality bears ambiguous gifts to the world of which he or she is no longer fully native: in one hand a crown of peace, in the other a sword .

Esoteric, Philosophy

Leo’s Other Principles

  • Be Mentality and Physically Healthy As You Will Be Of More Help To Others
  • Be Conscious In All Thoughts, Actions and Words
  • We Are All One and Separation is an Illusion and a self-imposed limitation
  • Contribute To Peace and Love Everyday Through Consciousness and Action
  • Respect and Treat People, Animals and Environment As We Would Have Them Do To Us
  • Fear Is The Opposite of Love…Release Fear…Embrace All
  • Make a choice, own it and learn from it…this will decrease stress and help you grow
  • You create your future and reality
  • Peace profound is when you are always at peace; within and your relation with the Divine Cosmic;+ and whatever happens
  • Love and Live every minute to it’s fullest and be ready to die every day with no regrets
  • It’s not what happens in life, but how you act or re-act or no-act
  • Meditation and Harmonization are Key
  • Universal Consciousness-Subconscious Consciousness-Subjective Consciousness-Objective Consciousness…BE CONSCIOUS
Esoteric, Philosophy

Principles of The Secret

Principles of The Secret

  • Love Yourself and Know That You Are Deserving
  • Know What You Want…Ask For What You Want…Release It…Live It Everyday…It Will Come
  • Law of Attraction…You Will Bring To You What You Are Inside and Out
  • There Are No Limits Except The Ones You Create
  • You Cannot Change How Others Are Only What You Are
Philosophy

Principles of The Four Agreements

Principles of The Four Agreements

  • Be Impeccable With Your Word
  • Don’t Take Anything Personal
  • Don’t Make Assumptions
  • Always Do Your Best
  • Re-evaluate Old Agreements and Establish New Agreements with God, Self, Family, Friends and Society
  • You Create Your Own Reality, So Start Creating Your Perfect Heaven On Earth
Hermetica

The Kybalion Summary

Seven Principles of the Kybalion

  • Mentalism: All is Mind
    • We are of One Whole and All is possible
  • Correspondence: As Above So Below
    • There is correspondence between the laws of phenomena of the various “planes” of being and life.
    • There is harmony, agreement and correspondence between the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Planes.
  • Vibration: Everything is Vibrating
    • Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe, that nothing rests, and everything moves, vibrates, and circles.
    • You can change vibration through Intent, Will and Focus.
  • Polarity: Everything is Dual, Everything has Two Extremes, and Everything has an Opposite.
    • All manifested things have two sides, two aspects, or two poles.
    • Everything “is” and “isn’t” at the same time, all truths are but half truths and every truth is half false, there are two sides to everything, opposites are identical in nature, yet different in degree, extremes meet, and all paradoxes may be reconciled.
  • Rhythm: Everything has Rhythm
    • Everything there is manifested a measured motion, a to and fro, a flow and inflow, a swing backward and forward, a pendulum-like movement.
    • There is rhythm between every pair of opposites, or poles, and is closely related to the Principle of Polarity.
  • Cause and Effect: Nothing is by Chance and Everything is subject to the Law of Compensation
    • There is a cause for every effect, and an effect for every cause.
    • There is no such thing as chance, that chance is merely a term indicating that the causes not recognized or perceived possibly because of the complexity of the contributing variables.
  • Gender: Positive-Negative, Masculine-Feminine
    • Gender aspect is necessary for generating, creating or manifestation and manifests itself on all planes.
    • Mastering or balancing of gender polarities within manifests as creative energies, balance and harmony.

HERMETIC AXIOMS

“The possession of Knowledge, unless accompanied by a manifestation and expression in Action, is like the hoarding of precious metals–a vain and foolish thing. Knowledge, like Wealth, is intended for Use. The Law of Use is Universal, and he who violates it suffers by reason of his conflict with natural forces.“ –The Kybalion

“To change your mood or mental state–change your vibration.” –The Kybalion

“To destroy an undesirable rate of mental vibration, put into operation the Principle of Polarity and concentrate upon tile opposite pole to that which you desire to suppress. Kill out the undesirable by changing its polarity.” –The Kybalion

“Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration.”–The Kybalion“Rhythm may be neutralized by an application of the Art of Polarization.” –The Kybalion

“Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect, but there are many Planes of Causation, and one may use the laws of the higher to overcome the laws of the lower.“ –The Kybalion

“The wise ones serve on the higher, but rule on the lower. They obey the laws coming from above them, but en their own plane, and those below them, they rule and give orders. And, yet, in so doing, they form a part of the Principle, instead of opposing it. The wise man falls in with the Law, and by understanding its movements he operates it instead of being its blind slave. Just as does the skilled swimmer turn this way and that way, going and coming as he will, instead of being as the log which is carried here and there–so is the wise man as compared to the ordinary man–and yet both swimmer and log; wise man and fool, are subject to Law. He who understands this is well on the road to Mastery.“ –The Kybalion

“True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” –The Kybalion.

THE KYBALION

“THE LIPS OF WISDOM ARE CLOSED, EXCEPT TO THE EARS OF UNDERSTANDING”

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS KNOWN BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AS “THE GREAT GREAT” AND “MASTER OF MASTERS”

There is no portion of the occult teachings possessed by the world which have been so closely guarded as the fragments of the Hermetic Teachings which have come down to us over the tens of centuries which have elapsed since the lifetime of its great founder, Hermes Trismegistus, the “scribe of the gods,” who dwelt in old Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in its infancy.

THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY.

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding.” –The Kybalion

“Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide.” –The Kybalion

“When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with Wisdom.” –The Kybalion

THE SEVEN HERMETIC PRINCIPLES.

“The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” –The Kybalion

“As above, so below; as below, so above.” –The Kybalion

“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” –The Kybalion

“Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half‐truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.” –The Kybalion

“Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum‐swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” –The Kybalion

“Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.” –The Kybalion

“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.” –The Kybalion

MENTAL TRANSMUTATION.

“Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.” –The Kybalion

“The Universe is Mental” –The Kybalion

THE ALL.

“Under, and back of, the Universe of Time, Space and Change, is ever to be found The Substantial Reality–the Fundamental Truth.” –The Kybalion

“THAT which is the Fundamental Truth–the Substantial Reality–is beyond true naming, but the Wise Men call it THE ALL. “ –The Kybalion

“In its Essence, THE ALL is UNKNOWABLE.”–The Kybalion

“But, the report of Reason must be hospitably received, and treated with respect.” –The Kybalion

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE.

“The Universe is Mental–held in the Mind of THE ALL.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL creates in its Infinite Mind countless Universes, which exist for aeons of Time–and yet, to THE ALL, the creation, development, decline and death of a million Universes is as the time of the twinkling of an eye.” –The Kybalion

“The Infinite Mind ‐of THE ALL is the womb of Universes.” –The Kybalion

“Within the Father‐Mother Mind, mortal children are at home.” –The Kybalion

“There is not one who is Fatherless, nor Motherless in the Universe” –The Kybalion

THE DIVINE PARADOX.

“The half‐wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its Laws–such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements by reason of their folly. The truly wise, knowing the nature of the Universe, use Law against laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph. Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower–escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher. Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL” IN ALL.

“While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All. To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge.” –The Kybalion

THE PLANES OF CORRESPONDENCE.

“As above, so below; as below, so above” –The Kybalion

VIBRATION.

“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” –The Kybalion

POLARITY.

“Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half‐truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.“ –The Kybalion

RHYTHM.

“Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum‐swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.” –The Kybalion

CAUSATION.

“Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.” –The Kybalion

GENDER.

“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on planes.” –The Kybalion

Tarot

Tarot Major Arcana Summary

The Major Arcana is a set of cards in a Tarot deck that represents significant life events, spiritual insights, and overarching themes that influence an individual’s journey. These cards make up 22 of the 78 cards in a standard Tarot deck. Each Major Arcana card stands alone with its own deep meanings and implications.

The Major Arcana starts with the Fool card and ends with the World card. The 22 cards and their basic interpretations are as follows:

  1. The Fool (0 or sometimes placed at 22): New beginnings, spontaneous action, leaps of faith, innocence, and potential.
  2. The Magician (1): Skill, creativity, determination, and the power to achieve goals.
  3. The High Priestess (2): Intuition, the subconscious, mystery, and inner wisdom.
  4. The Empress (3): Fertility, abundance, nature, femininity, and nurturing.
  5. The Emperor (4): Authority, structure, control, leadership, and paternal influence.
  6. The Hierophant (5): Tradition, conformity, morality, ethics, and belief systems.
  7. The Lovers (6): Love, harmony, relationships, choices, and alignment of values.
  8. The Chariot (7): Determination, control, overcoming obstacles, and moving forward.
  9. Strength (8): Courage, inner strength, compassion, and patience.
  10. The Hermit (9): Solitude, introspection, guidance, and wisdom from within.
  11. Wheel of Fortune (10): Cycles, destiny, unexpected change, and turning points.
  12. Justice (11): Fairness, truth, cause and effect, and law.
  13. The Hanged Man (12): Suspension, sacrifice, letting go, and new perspectives.
  14. Death (13): Transformation, endings, beginnings, and change.
  15. Temperance (14): Balance, moderation, patience, and purpose.
  16. The Devil (15): Bondage, addiction, materialism, and negativity.
  17. The Tower (16): Unexpected change, upheaval, chaos, and revelation.
  18. The Star (17): Hope, spirituality, renewal, inspiration, and serenity.
  19. The Moon (18): Illusion, fear, anxiety, insecurity, and the subconscious.
  20. The Sun (19): Joy, success, celebration, positivity, and a sense of self.
  21. Judgment (20): Rebirth, inner calling, absolution, and a fresh start.
  22. The World (21): Completion, accomplishment, integration, and fulfillment.

The order of the cards (called a journey or path) can be seen as a narrative – starting from the Fool (beginning of a journey) and ending with The World (end of a cycle, achievement of enlightenment).

In a Tarot reading, when a Major Arcana card appears, it’s often taken as a signal to pay special attention to that area of life or aspect of the self. These cards indicate major forces at work and can provide insights into the deeper layers of a situation.

Source: “Explain Tarot Major Arcana”,  ChatGPT

 

Ancient Egypt

Hieroglyphs: Letters, Sounds, Physical and Symbolic

Hieroglyphs are visual representations of real or imaginary elements.  Hieroglyphs can function in a variety of ways:

  • phonogram – the symbol is read as it sounds or phonetically
  • logogram – the symbol or “picture” is what it represents
  • determinative – placed at the end of a word, offers clarification

(more info to come)

Enochian

The Thirty Aires or Aethyrs

The Thirty Aires or Aethyrs

The very brief descriptive passages against each of the Aethyrs are mostly abstracted from
‘The Vision and the Voice’ by Aleister Crowley.

30.  TEX tah-eh-atz
A vast crystal cube surrounded by a sphere; about are four archangels robed in black, with wings and armour outined in white.
29.  RII rah-ee-ee
Sky with stars of gold, background green; a vast eagle-angel whose wings seem to hide all the heaven.
28.  BAG beh-ah-geh
An angel with opalescent garments like wheels of fire holding a flail of scarlet lightning, face black, eyes white without pupil or iris.
27.  ZAA zod-ah-ah
An angel in female form with rainbow wings; dress green with silver, flames of many-coloured fire surrounding; crest is a moon, sandals of curved silver.
26.  DES deh-eh-ess
A very bright pentagram, the heavens filled with the blackness of a mighty angel; spears, vials of poison, sharp swords and whirling thunderbolts about the corners of the earth.
25.  VTI voh-tah-ee
The pale gold of the Rosy Cross; the aire is the dark olive of alexandrite; an angel on a white horse and another upon a black bull are devoured by a lion.
24.  NIA en-ee-ah
An angel like a warrior in chain armour, upon his head plumes of grey; about his feet are scorpions, dogs, lions, elephants and other wild beasts; crackling of lightning, rolling thunder and sounds of battle.
23.  TOR tah-oh-rah
Three revolving lights; a spiders web with a star of twelve rays; a black bull pawing the ground, flames from his mouth, transforming into an Assyrian bull-man.
22.  LIN el-ee-en
A tablet of 49 squares surrounded by a company of angels, some brilliant and flashing as gods, some elemental creatures; the squares of the tablet filled with changing letters in magical script. An angel proud and beautiful with pan-pipes.
21.  ASP ah-ess-peh
A mighty wind and a sense of emptiness; shadows of great angels sweeping by with no sound; a glimpse of an avenue of pillars and a black marble throne supported by sphinxes.
20.  CHR kah-hoh-rah
A pool of clear golden water and the stars of the night sky; a peacock dissolving into clouds of white angels and archangels with trumpets; all gathering into a multi-coloured whirling wheel.
19.  POP peh-oh-peh
A black web pierced with a ray of light, then a black cross spanned with an arch bearing letters in an alphabet made of symbols like daggers; an old man like the Hermit of the Tarot.
18.  ZEN zod-eh-en
A crucifixion scene, the central figure an enormous bat; an angel offers entry to the mountain of caverns and tears down the vision with the sign of ‘Rending the Veil’; a mountain of pure crystal is revealed.
17.  TAN tah-ah-en
The head of a dragon, and a pair of balances with a luminous azure plume behind; a filament of quartz suspended above an abyss; the angel like black diamonds transforming into a sphere of liquid gold then green then blue.
16.  LEA el-eh-ah
Flickering images in a misty landscape; the moonrise at midnight and a crowned virgin riding on a bull; the angel a mighty king with crown, orb and sceptre. He tears off the crown and casts the orb and sceptre to the ground.
15.  OXO oh-atz-oh
A column of whirling scarlet fire with columns about it of green, blue, gold and silver inscribed with letters of the dagger alphabet; a fire playing about the columns transforms into the skirts of a dancer who weaves a crimson rose of 49 petals.
14.  VTA voh-tah-ah
A white goat, a green dragon and a tawny bull are clouded by a veil of darkness; a voice announces ‘The Great One of the Night of Time’; the veils of darkness are torn and fly away in a whirling wind to reveal the angel standing in the sign of ‘Apophis and Typhon’.
13.  ZIM zod-ee-em
An image of shining waters glistening in the sun; an angel walking on the water a rainbow about his head; a golden veil parts to reveal two terrible black giants wrestling in mortal combat.
12.  LOE el-oh-eh
Two pillars of flame and a chariot of white fire like the Tarot trump; the charioteer in golden armour speak with a voice like a bell.
11.  ICH ee-kah-hoh
A sigil of the moon rolls up to reveal a host of angels in battle attire. The whole defended by a fortress of nine towers of iron, the bastion of the outermost abyss.
10.  ZAX zod-ah-atz
This Aethyr is said to be accursed. The Call of the 10th Aethyr may be employed to invoke Choronzon, the Demon of the Abyss. This is potentially hazardous and appropriate precautions should be observed. One such exercise was recorded and is included on the ‘Liber Bootleg’ tape released by the London Temple of ‘Illuminates of Thanateros’ in 1990.
9.  ZIP zod-ee-peh
The veil is rent with a clap of thunder and the vision is of traversing the abyss on a razor-edge of light with armies ranged above and in front; in the palace beyond is a proud and delicate woman lying naked: the Virgin of Eternity.
8.  ZID zod-ee-deh
A pyramid of light fills the Aethyr, and in the pyramid is the child of the union of light and darkness. Instructions are given by which may be attained the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
7.  DEO deh-eh-oh
The stone of vision is divided with the left half dark, the right half light; a door like a keyhole in the shape of a Venus symbol opens and flames of blue, green and violet issue forth. A question concerns the key to open the lock.
6.  MAZ em-ah-zod
A great angel comprising magical symbols striving for mastery; illusions conjured by the Ape of Thoth; the more one struggles to devise methods of piercing the veil the further one seems from success. A vision of the God of Lies.
5.  LIT el-ee-tah
A shining pylon set with the sigil of the eye; then an avenue of pylons, in each seated a god, leads to the top of a mountain; weapons are offered, and a mysterious password.
4.  PAZ peh-ah-zod
In the midst of the Aethyr a terrible god with a thousand arms, and clinging to him a young girl in throes of passion; the elixir of life distilled.
3.  ZOM zod-oh-em
An angry light and a great snake feeding upon the plumes of truth as upon itself; the veil of the Aethyr sundered to reveal the Magus of the Tarot.
2.  ARN ah-rah-en
The woman riding on the bull; a vision of the legend of Eve and the Serpent, and Adam and Cain bearing the Hammer of Thor; above all a vision of the Great Sigil of the Arrow.
1.  LIL el-ee-el
The veil of the aethyr dark azure full of countless stars; a vibration of the great word IAIDA; a little child covered with lilies and roses; the formula of the Aeon revealed.

 

SOURCE: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~cgb143/misc/aethyrs.html

Tarot

B.O.T.A. Tarot and Paul Foster Case Review by BeneBell

The B.O.T.A. Tarot and Paul Foster Case

ON  BY BENEBELLIN DECK REVIEW, TAROT

Let’s conclude Golden Dawn Tarot week with an offshoot-GD deck, the B.O.T.A. Tarot by Paul Foster Case, illustrated by Jessie Burns Parke. In this blog post, the fully colored Majors are from the 2009 Ishtar Publishing reprint of Paul Foster Case’s Learning Tarot Essentials: Tarot Cards for Beginners (1932), via the Internet Archive.

You can buy the black and white deck for coloring direct from the Builders of the Adytum here for just $8.50. It’s an incredible deal! I’ll share more photos of the physical deck later in this review, but it’s matte, unrounded corners though, and lovely quality.

The digital images of the Major Arcana for download can be purchased for $5.00, linked here and digital the Minor Arcana digital files for $5.00, linked here. B.O.T.A. also has a couple of other deck purchasing options at their online store, so be sure to check it out, and nothing over $20– great prices. (fyi this is not an advertisement or promo; no one paid me to say any of this.)

 

In Learning Tarot Essentials, Case traces the connection of the tarot to the occult to a revival that happened in 1854, credited to Eliphas Levi’s Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic. Levi took his inspiration from the French occultist Dr. Gerare Encausse, or Papus. I have a free two-part video lecture that was part of Sightsee the Tarot on Tarot of the Bohemians.

This deck review will also cover Case’s discourse on tarot card meanings as found in his Introduction to Tarot published in 1922.

Coloring instructions for the deck can be found in Tarot Fundamentals (1936). The background for the Fool card, for instance, should be yellow, the garment green, violet mountains, the eagle pictured on his knapsack is brown, a white sun, the Fool is flesh-toned, with blond hair, etc.

Major Arcana, The First Septenary

Key 2: The High Priestess is memory and record-keeping of the past. Key 2 endows us with the power of recollection. The tarot High Priestess is a personification of Prakriti, a feminine primordial aspect of all life forms. The binary dark and light stone cubes forming the base of the pillars is also symbolically important– any time you see stone cubes, pay attention. “STONE is an esoteric word representing Union, Life, and Wisdom,” writes Case.

The Empress, significantly, features a string of seven pearls and a crown of twelve stars for her connection to Urania, Muse of Astronomy.

Key 5: The Hierophant, for another example of Case’s texts on the cards, is assigned the function of Hearing, or more particularly, Interior Hearing–clairaudience.

From Highlights of the Tarot (1931)

As we do this look-through of the card images, I’ll also be referencing “Highlights of the Tarot” (1931) a pamphlet published by Paul Foster Case and a B.O.T.A. study guide. That text also includes all coloring instructions for the deck, and esoteric card meanings for the Majors.

Little snippets here and there do date Case’s texts, such as the explanation for why The Emperor follows The Empress: “A man cannot be master of his household until his mate has had children.” (On Key 4: The Emperor, Lesson Three, An Introduction to Tarot) Or making reference to Asians as Orientals, which hey, I’m no mad at all. Context is everything.

His tarot school of thought runs contrary to much of what you see of contemporary tarot as it’s gone mainstream (or what I call “fast food tarot”). For instance, he notes:

“The tarot is a textbook of occult teachings. It is intended for the use of serious aspirants who are in search of spiritual enlightenment . . .

“Those who seek to find in the Tarot an easy method of spiritual development will be disappointed. . . . The Tarot is not a plaything, nor is it only a pack of cards designed for the purposes of fortune telling.”

From “The Great Adventure” booklet published by B.O.T.A.

Case makes reference to the Inner School, where and how occult wisdom is kept alive and passed on through the tarot cards. Don’t quote me here, but I think this is the same reference Robert Wang makes in An Introduction to the Golden Dawn Tarot when he describes his Mathers-based deck as being based on the Inner Tradition. These references are in contrast to an exoteric approach to religion or here, divination. The Inner School or Inner Tradition thus refers to an esoteric approach to the cards.

Of Key 6, Case writes: “The principal lesson of this Key [The Lovers] is of importance to all who wish to make best use of their powers. In very simple terms it is this: Superconsciousness (the angel) sheds its influence impartially upon both self-consciousness (the man) and subconsciousness (the woman). The most important meaning to understand about Key 6 (per Case’s writings): this is the key of discernment, and how to harness the alchemical powers of harmonizing opposites.

I’ve often heard modern-day tarot readers express confusion over the astrological correspondence of Cancer, a Water sign, with Key 7: The Chariot, especially in light of the classical card meaning attributed to The Chariot– that of kinetic energy, progressive movement, achievement, the vehicle of the mind in full motion, etc. It doesn’t quite seem to align with the watery Cancer sign of introversion.

“The ignorant, when they hear us name water, think it is water of the clouds; but if they understood our [occultists’] books, they would know it to be a permanent or fixed water . . . our water is a heavenly water, which wets not the hand . . . water is the root of all minerals. . . . In short, the occult ‘water’ is the Astral Fluid, the electromagnetic energy which is the substance of all things.”

Major Arcana, The Second Septenary

Case’s order of the Majors follows Waite’s switch between Keys 8 and 11. Of Strength, there are two principal symbols in the force behind this Key: the snake and the lion, The Adversary and The Redeemer. Exoteric theology would have you believe the two are irreconcilable antagonists, but it is in esotericism and occult wisdom that you understand that they are not only necessarily reconciled, but one never appears without the other.

From Learning Tarot Essentials (1932, Ishtar Publishing edition, 2009)

Key 10 features at its outer corners “the four mystic animals mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, and appearing again in the Apocalypse.” The four mystic animals designate the four fixed stars, four elements, which “occult tradition associates” with the Divine Name IHVH. Therefore IHVH is inscribed within the Wheel, alternating with ROTA, meaning wheel, and also the Latin sentence: Rota Tarot Orat Tora Ator– “The Wheel of Tarot speaks the Law of Ator (Hathor).”

Case describes Key 12: The Hanged Man as the “most important emblem in Tarot.” The Hanged Man represents the Law of Reversal, and the Law of Reversal “is one of the great secrets of occultism.”

Here is the secret of the Law of Reversal, quoting Case:

“To reverse the conditions of misery, disease, and failure, and substitute for them their opposites of health, happiness, and success, it is necessary to think, speak, and act in ways which are the reverse of those in which most persons think, speak and act.” (An Introduction to Tarot, Lesson Seven, Key 12: The Hanged Man)

And “right use of Key 12 is such a method” for fully understanding and actualizing the Law of Reversal.

The red pants of the Hanged Man and his legs forming the figure 4 connects Key 12 to Key 4: The Emperor, both by the red color and the figure 4. Both teach the seeker Use of Power. Meanwhile, the Hanged Man’s jacket is blue, connecting this Key to the High Priestess and the element of Water, with silver trimmings invoking a lunar presence.

“Verification is the basic meaning of Key 14,” Temperance. This is having arrived at the Truth after undergoing a Trial. The Great Work necessarily “combines and harmonizes all the various elements which enter into the constitution of human personality, blending them together in one whole.”

Temperance is the alchemical process of combining and harmonizing that leads to achievement of your Great Work. Case identifies the angel in Key 14 as Archangel Michael, Angel of the Sun. IHVH is written on his robe, meaning One Reality and all aspects coming together as One Life.

Major Arcana, The Third Septenary

The last seven Keys of Tarot, beginning with Key 15, illustrate seven steps in the spiritual unfoldment of man, writes Case. And that first stage begins with The Devil card: confronting fear, ignorance, and misery. There is no path to spiritual ascent open to you without first confronting The Devil.

As for Key 16: The Tower, “use this Key as a means to overcome your superstitions. Use it to free your mind. . . . Use it also whenever you are confronted by what seems to be a problem. You have a problem because you are ignorant. You are ignorant because hitherto you have accepted some appearance at face value. You are in trouble because your words express faulty reasoning.” Thus, Key 16 is the occultist’s tool for overcoming problems, ignorance, and faulty reasoning.

Describing The Moon card, there should be eighteen falling Hebrew Yods, colored red and yellow to represent the life force. Red is the exoteric vision of raining blood, while yellow is the esoteric vision of Light. Key 18 is a gateway, as formed by the two battlemented towers. There should be a suggestion here that beyond the edges of the card, the towers connect to a fortified wall, and so the only opening for access forward is this gateway revealed in The Moon card. The two facets of canines represent the two facets of man: the wolf is natural evolution and the dog is human adaptation.

The Sun card is used to harness conscious energy as power to move terrestrial activities. The sunflowers “represent the manifestation of the solar force in the organic world below man.” Depictions of human youth in the tarot Sun card is about representing “the unfolding of regenerated human consciousness.”

In the Judgement card, writes Case, the angel is Gabriel. Here, though, he makes a distinction between the Biblical doctrine of the Last Judgment and Key 20 in the tarot. Key 20 Judgement is about completion of the Great Work. Key 20 also gives access to the Fourth Dimension. This card is the magus’s tool for “personal realization of immortality” and “realizing that, even now, you are living in the Fourth Dimension.”

In this card image, note a man, woman, and child rising from the three coffins in the waters. The man and woman are again two aspects of the consciousness paired, and the child “stands giving the traditional sign of Typhon, or Apophis the Destroyer. This is because he represents the rebirth which comes as the result of mastering the destructive principle.” The three figures together “represent an ancient mystery formula– Isis, Apophis, and Osiris… I A O, or Yaho, one of the most potent words of power.” (Lesson Eleven in An Introduction to Tarot).

By the way if you’re interested in a discussion on Invoking HRU and commentary on the references to I A O, check out an old Sightsee the Tarot video, “Invoking HRU and the Riddle of the Sphinx” in which we talk about M. M. Meleen’s Book M: Liber Mundi (2015).

The Tarot Tableau, arranged as you see above, while most likely older than Case, was popularized by Case, so he tends to get the credit for it. He talks about pathworking and meditation with the Tarot Tableau. (Thomas of Hermit’s Mirror published a great modern take on working with a Tarot Tableau. My book review of it here.)

(halfsheet size booklet that comes with the B.O.T.A. tarot from the Builders of the Adytum)

B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum), like the Golden Dawn, emphasize using the tarot in meditation rather than fortune-telling. Case himself elevated the definition for “divination” as distinct and separate from “fortune-telling.” Case goes so far as to call fortune-telling with the tarot “vulgar.” (in The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, 1947)

In many of his texts, Case espouses an astral concept called the Cube of Space where 3 axes (up-down, left-right, front-back, and also symbolic of the Tria Prima, Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt), plus its 1 center converging point, connect 6 sides of an astral cube and 12 edges: 3 + 1 + 6 + 12 = 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The card backs of the B.O.T.A. Tarot published by B.O.T.A. (2007 edition)

I’m speculating that the Cube of Space is inspired, at least in part, by the Platonian concept of all earthly matter being made up of cubes. I went to town on this concept of the Cube of Space, but through my own lens.

In the above hand-drawn diagram, each of those units are supposed to be perfect cubes. It’s not to scale. I did it by hand so by the time I got to the front/bottom half of that diagram, I was running out of space and my “cubes” started looking very un-cube-like…

Anyway, in my approach, I perceived each of the 22 Majors to be an astral cube (one astral realm or gate of light), tiered as an astral ladder up to Knowing by Way of Unknown, hence Key 0, which can also be represented by a Holy Trinity, hence three Key 0s in my SKT deck.

Then each numerological realm (as in all the Fours, all the Fives, etc.) are four elemental cubes (one cube is the Four of Fire, one cube is the four of Water, four of Air, Four of Earth) that combine to form a bigger cube of four cubes, thus forming the elemental worlds. The court cards then represent the concept of a fifth element, Spirit, and they are the Light that traverse across all cube-realm-gate-things in this…thing. 🙂 Also, hence we get this concept of angels as messengers.

From Book of Maps (2018 and 2019 Editions)

Here is where I start thinking about how an equilateral triangle can be inscribed in a square forming three right triangles in addition to that equilateral triangle that unites the three right triangles that, superimposing the multiple dimensions in the Cube, forms the Merkahabah star, relating to the Chariot and Ezekiel’s vision, then somehow connect that to Ezekiel’s Wheel on Key 10: Wheel of Fortune and Postel’s Key, Key to the Wisdom of the Ages they keep saying… and the unit circle within the square, sine, cosine wavelengths forming that unit circle, cycle of life, God, Squaring the Circle, and around this moment is where my brain melts and I need to go eat cake.

Paul Foster Case

In contrast, as I understand Case’s Cube of Space, this diagram on its own is symbolic of Creation, both how the universe was created by the divine and also a blueprint for how the magus creates, transmuting what was in the mind into what is now matter. The numerical sequence of the 22 Keys, because they correspond with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, are the whole “in the beginning there was the Word” idea. And you extrapolate that into an ordered series of steps to turn Word (mind) into reality (matter).

The sets of Minors from the B.O.T.A. Tarot are grouped by their numerological ranking. One of the “blinds” that Case purportedly removed from Waite’s deck so that more of occult wisdom could be revealed to the lay is in the depiction of the Wands. The Wands in this deck are drawn per the instructions of Eliphas Levi, on the magician’s wand.

Unlike the Rider-Waite-Smith, which was one of several inspirational sources, or at least sources of references to Case and his illustrator, the pips in the B.O.T.A. Tarot are simple, though the formations of the elemental relics are significant. The active Fours (Wands and Swords) form a square, while the passive Fours (Cups and Pentacles) mark the four corners.

The formations in the active elements (Fire and Air) convey materials arranged by human intelligence and willpower while the passive elements (Water and Earth) convey materials arranged by nature, and organic evolution– Mother Nature’s architecture and an expression of the building blocks of life.

Something I’ve noticed about Golden Dawn based texts on tarot fundamentals is the great amount of pages within these books that are devoted to the Major Arcana, but the Minor Arcana cards pretty much get summed up in a couple of pages, mainly rooted in numerological and elemental theories. If you’d like to learn more about Case’s perspective of the four suit correspondences, I wrote about it in a 2013 blog post on Oracle of the Tarot (1333) here.

Case talks about the “Occult Meaning of Numbers” and its through plotting elements and numbers on an astral Cartesian coordinate system that you derive a significance for each element-number coordinate. The 36 coordinates that make up the pip cards Twos through Tens correspond with the 36 decans (also, 9 x 4) in the astrological zodiac wheel, demonstrating an interplay between mathematics and space, where a continuum is thus created, giving rise to the Fourth Dimension that Case likes to talk about. One layman’s approach to conceptualizing that Fourth Dimension is as Time. (See An Introduction to Tarot.)

In fortune-telling, you’ll reduce each of these element-number coordinates to keywords revealing different formulas of universally experienced life events or emotions. Divination is reaching up to grasp at the astral, intangible Divine and, through the works of the magus, bringing it down to the earthly plane and transforming or translating it into a physical, tangible Mundane for the lay to comprehend.

But in occult approaches to the tarot, you want to keep your studies and meditations on the abstract and conceptual. So here in decks like the B.O.T.A. Tarot, or as applied to any deck where the pips are presented in an abstract, diagram-ornamental form rather than humanistic and scenic, the occultist can just focus on the raw blueprints.

By that rationale, these types of pips, like what you see here and in all of the Golden Dawn based decks we reviewed this week, are “better” for meditation. Even if I don’t personally agree with that point of view, I can certainly appreciate it, and see its merits.

This theoretical concept is most pronounced in the Tens. The active cards (Wands and Swords) show intelligent design from human willpower and ingenuity. So you get the whole as above so below motif with the square symbolic of harnessing the cube of space between the two triangles. This is union of opposites in alchemy. Meanwhile the passive cards (Cups and Pentacles) show the relics in a Tree of Life arrangement, which is the natural order of design.

For all the talk about how Case removed the “blinds” from the RWS deck to offer a more accurate deck of occult wisdom, it’s interesting to consider how here, he keeps Waite’s court rankings, i.e., Page, Knight, Queen, and King.

I’m trying to remember exactly which occult author said this was one of the blinds that Waite put into his deck to conceal the true identities of the courts… argh… yeah I’m blanking out, but I swear I read that somewhere. Flowing from that, the perspective forwarded by some occultists (predominantly from the Thoth schools) is that this is a blind, and the “true” ranking of the courts is Princess, Prince, Queen, and then Knight.

Revisiting the Golden Dawn decks we covered this past week on the blog, Robert Wang’s Golden Dawn Tarot, created with the guidance of Israel Regardie, uses the court titles Princess, Prince, Queen, and King, where the imagery on the King cards would, to an RWS reader, look like Knights, and the Prince cards ride chariots, like in Crowley’s Thoth.

In the New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot by Chic and Tabatha Cicero, also done under the guidance of Israel Regardie, use the same designates as Wang’s deck– Princess, Prince (on chariots), Queen, and King (with horses). Lon Milo DuQuette’s Tarot of Ceremonial Magick follows Crowley’s titles: Princess, Prince, Queen, and Knight.

One of the hallmarks of Golden Dawn decks, writes the Ciceros (in The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot), is that the four Kings are shown to be on horseback, representing “swift and ecstatic but not lasting” energy, which RWS readers are going to scratch their chins and think, hmm, that sounds a lot like Knight cards.

Case’s deck departs from that stated Golden Dawn tradition and instead, look like spitting image clones of Waite’s Kings.

“There is nothing you know that is not made of Light. There is no force or power you employ which is not a transformation of that same illimitable radiance.” (from the Key 3: The Empress entry in An Introduction to Tarot)

Paul Foster Case advocated for every serious tarot student to, at some point, color in your own tarot deck, and he produced a set of black and white images for just that purpose. Coloring your own set of tarot Keys is a form of spiritual integration– it is you putting your psychic and magical imprint on an external, preexisting collective value of magian powers, and also, you giving yourself access to that external, preexisting collective of powers and abilities. It is “one of the most practical secrets of all occultism” and “the necessary foundation for all advanced tarot practice.” (Case, from Highlights of the Tarot, 1931)

The practice reenacts the metaphor of you as a triangular prism, embodying the trinity. The esoteric concept of Light represented by the white space on the cards pre-coloring encompasses the full spectrum of colors, but in its divine form in union to appear as white light. You refract that white light into a full scale of different colors and color patterns to reveal, for yourself, your own theology for how the Divine appears in all aspects of the Mundane.

This practice of coloring in your own deck, or at least coloring in a full set of Majors, was most likely inspired by the Golden Dawn initiatory practice of having their members each creating their own tarot deck from scratch, though per particular Order instructions.

You may find it productive to follow the Golden Dawn color scales for coloring instructions, but it most certainly isn’t necessary for an enriching, spiritual experience. In fact, if you find yourself not resonating intuitively with the GD approach, you’ll want to (and I’d strongly recommend that you) go your own path. Let your thoughts and feelings guide you in the coloring process.

Heck, that’s how I did it myself. I started with the intention of following the Golden Dawn scales, and then realized it just wasn’t working for me, so diverged from that path to chart my own route. None of this is about wrong or right. It’s about what works for you.

SOURCE: https://benebellwen.com/2021/07/16/botatarot/

Alchemy, Tarot

The Seven Stages of Spiritual Unfoldment by Damian Sebouhian

The Seven Stages of Spiritual Unfoldment

The map to Cosmic Consciousness can be found in this Major Arcana spread

A Note on My Sources

The following information comes primarily from the teachings of my first occult teacher J. Owen Swift who was largely informed by Paul Foster Case and Ann Davies. Case founded the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) and Davies took over where Case left off as an extraordinary adept in the school of Ageless Wisdom.

This essay is far from comprehensive and is closer to a summary of the Seven Stages. I am currently writing a more detailed series of essays dedicated to each one of the stages. Stay tuned for the first installment to be posted in the near future.

How to Navigate the Tableau

The Fool is placed atop the three-tiered rows because the Fool is the Zero Key and does not represent a single number or step along the path. Rather, the Fool represents the Life-Power, or the “Spiritus” (in Latin), the “Ruach” (in Hebrew), the “Pneuma” (in Greek), the “Prana” (in Sanskrit), the “Qi” (in Mandarin/Chinese).

In other words, the Fool is unformed, raw, energy that is given specific expression within the archetypal avatars of the other twenty-one Major Arcana figures. In this regard, the Fool is like Christ Consciousness or Buddhahood: The alpha and the omega. The first and the last. God awakened to the Truth of the Self.

Moreover, the Fool is what we are striving to realize when we embark upon the Seven Stages of Spiritual Unfoldment — consciousness free from all the limitations of delusion.

The rest of the Tableau represents the map or grid or matrix that our conscious selves must navigate through in order to realize, among other wonderous things, our soul’s purpose.

The first (top) row represents what Paul Foster Case calls the “seven dominant mental states or principles.”

The second (middle) row represents the “intermediary activities, laws, or agencies” that the conscious states act through.

And the third (bottom) row represents the “conditions or phenomena resulting from the expression of the principles of the upper row through the agencies of the second row.”

Don’t get too hung up on the erudite language here, for I shall explain it in more practical terms, I promise.

So, those are what the rows indicate. What about the columns? There are seven columns and these seven columns represent the Seven Stages. We begin with Stage One, which Case titles: Bondage.

Stage One: Bondage

The Keys (cards) involved: The far left column of Key 1 (the Magician); Key 8 (Strength); and Key 15 (the Devil).

The Goal: To mentally free ourselves from the illusion of separateness and dualism which is created and perpetuated when we limit our perspective to the realm of the five senses.

Once mentally/intellectually freed from this fundamental lie of separateness, we begin the journey to awakening with the first truth of stage one: Our mind (the Magician) creates our reality. So, pay attention to your mind and use it wisely!

As the Magician, you must master the use of your tools as symbolized by the staff, cup, sword, and coin and the fundamental principles of creation described in this context by Case as representing the “Four Admonitions: To Will; To Know; To Dare; To Be Silent.

The last “admonition” he explains as being “the most important. Occult means ‘hidden’, and one of the first duties of a practical occultist is the practice of silence.”

The extent that you create a reality of free soul expression and healthy enjoyment of the material world (the Devil card in its upright position) versus bondage to the material world (The Devil card in its inverted, reversed position) is based on the purity of your creative capacities (as symbolized by the Strength card).

If you create solely from selfish, egotistical intentions (Strength reversed), you risk bondage to the material world.

If we create from a place of pure intentions and for the benefit of the highest good (as symbolized by the Lady in White in the Strength card) then we have achieved the appropriate yin/yang relationship between our creative force (the red lion) and our higher self, or soul-self (the Lady).

You’ve most likely heard the phrase: Be in the world, not of it. Or, “I’m not a human having a spiritual experience; I’m a spiritual being having a human experience.” That is the truth we are learning to embody in the First Stage.

Example of Bondage: “I don’t have any artistic talent and I only have a high school diploma, so I guess I’ll just work retail my whole life or marry someone rich so I don’t have to work.”

Example of Freedom from Bondage: “I will discover what it is I love to do that makes my heart sing and I will create (from my imagination) the circumstances that allow optimum expression of that love.”

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The Magician (as the principal mode of consciousness): Mental concentration. Single-pointed consciousness. What you plant so shall you harvest. As above, so below; as within so without — and vice-versa.

Strength (as the mediator): Creative force guided and influenced by pure intentions, the soul.

The Devil (as the conditioned phenomena): The material world as it is experienced through the five senses. The result of the creative process as it is conducted by the Magician via Strength. Upright: fertility and mirth, the God Pan; Inverted: fear and bondage, the Devil as described by Christianity.

Affirmations:

“My mind is focused on creating what my soul most needs and desires.”

“I am a center of expression for the Primal Will-To-Good which eternally creates and sustains the universe.”

Quote:

“You must mentally identify yourself with the Magician. Every day you must take time to remember who and what you really are.” Paul Foster Case, Occult Fundamentals and Spiritual Unfoldment

Stage Two: Awakening

The Keys (cards) involved: High Priestess (Key 2); The Hermit (Key 9); The Tower (Key 16).

Goal: Once we have mentally freed ourselves from bondage and accepted our roles as the Magicians of our own lives, we have essentially created fertile spiritual ground conducive to increased “samadhi” experiences, or flashes of insights into the true nature of reality.

Stage one and two, as with all the stages, are not separate from each other; nor must they necessarily be experienced in a strictly linear fashion indicated by the spread. For example, one could have an awakening experience long before one has realized the illusion of separateness. Nevertheless…

The High Priestess is the yin to the yang of the Magician. The Magician is concentrated aware consciousness. The High Priestess is our subconscious, or, as Case liked to call it, the “transliminal consciousness” (transliminal means “across the threshold”).

To revisit the garden analogy, the Magician represents the gardener planting his seeds. The High Priestess represents the soil. As such, she is designed to grow whatever the Magician plants.

But this analogy is limited because the High Priestess isn’t just there to carry out the directives of the Magician. She represents the memory of everything that’s ever been planted within her “soil”.

This is why it’s so challenging at first to manifest and to create like a practiced, adept Magician. Most of us have so much programming to unplug from because we hadn’t realized that our thoughts were creating our reality. And so much of what we think about ourselves and about reality doesn’t come from us. It comes from our culture, other people, social media, etc.

This is where the Hermit enters the picture.

The Hermit takes over where the Magician left off. He tends the garden. He weeds out the unhealthy thoughts, ideas, and emotions, and monitors the light (as symbolized by his lantern), and waters and fertilizes the soil. (Note: The astrological correspondence to The Hermit is Virgo).

Another analogy for the Hermit as it relates to Virgo energy: The Hermit digests the thoughts, ideas, and emotions produced by the Magician and grown by the High Priestess, and he absorbs the healthy, nutritious ones and eliminates the waste (Virgo rules the digestive organs in case you were wondering).

All this “gardening” results ultimately in creating the circumstances for samadhi flashes, symbolized by The Tower card. The Tower looks like it’s depicting a catastrophe, but if you think of the Tower of Babble from the Bible, you’ll know that its destruction is positive and necessary for enlightenment.

The tower in The Tower card represents everything that was created when we believed in the world of illusion. The flash of lightning is coming from the sun in the card and that sun is the same as the lantern light wielded by the Hermit.

To put it another way: When we shed light on our past and evaluate it honestly and with the intention of creating a beautiful and healthy “garden” (or mind), our insights into who we are and the nature of reality deepens and we become more efficient at deciphering lies from truth, illusion from reality, healthy from unhealthy, etc.

Essentially, we become better Magicians, better at manifesting our soul’s deepest desires.

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The High Priestess (as the principle): Universal Consciousness, Subconsciousness, Transliminal Consciousness, Memory; the soil that grows the seeds planted by the Magician.

The Hermit (as the mediator): The knowing light within; the watcher; discernment; wisdom that comes from experience.

The Tower (as the conditioned phenomena): Samadhi flashes; insight; destroyer of lies and illusions.

Affirmations:

“I gently release all toxic, unhealthy thoughts, emotions, and ideas.”

“I easily and effortlessly realize the truth of every situation.”

Quote:

“…Suddenly to see that one is immortal, suddenly to perceive that all other human beings and all the conditions of personal existence are working together to bring about the perfect realization of a cosmic plan which, in essence, is the outworking of the inmost reality of one’s own being is a reversal of personal and human consciousness which temporarily knocks one flat.” P.F.C., Occult Fundamentals, and Spiritual Unfoldment

Stage Three: Revelation

The Keys (cards) involved: The Empress (Key 3); The Wheel of Fortune (Key 10); The Star (Key 17)

Goal: After freeing ourselves from bondage (stage one) and after the lightning flash of awareness (stage two), there comes a period of calm and gradual growth.

As described by Case, “In the second stage, there is an uncomfortable overthrow of the false belief of the world, a momentary, but a never-to-be-forgotten glimpse of reality, of the absolute unity of life.

“In the third stage, this new conception of the Oneness of All begins gradually to unfold.”

Essentially the Seven Stages are about the process of enlightenment, which results in an ultimate shift of consciousness from separation/materialism perception to unity and oneness perception. From that fundamental base, we can supercharge our consciousness into higher, wider, deeper capacities.

When this happens we begin forming a brand new body, both at the physical level (all the way down to the trillions of cells in our body) and at the energetic level (which includes our chakras, our aura, and our torus field).

This rebirth and reforming of our body happen naturally, organically, and over time, and requires from us the unconditional love and nurturing symbolized by The Empress.

Through self-love and through showing appreciation and acceptance of others (no matter their stage of development), we open a portal to the karmic realms via the Wheel of Fortune.

The more self-care, nurturing, peace, and calm we cultivate at this stage, the more negative karma we purify, the more opportunity for awakening insights we create.

This brings us to cosmic consciousness awareness as symbolized by the Star card. As such, the most profound activities we can conduct to further our ripening process are all the traditional ones: yoga, meditation, qigong, massage, acupuncture, therapy, right diet, exercise, moderate (or no) use of drugs and alcohol.

The growth we want will happen very naturally at this stage as long as we help foster an atmosphere where growth can happen at all. If we are not moved to change any of our negative toxic behaviors, then we are unlikely to continue to have awakenings or progress along the path.

An example of this from my life: I had a powerful spiritual awakening in 2004 as described in the first two stages. However, soon after this awakening, my wife took our two daughters and left me for another life. This triggered in me a decade’s long depressive slump and I became an alcoholic, turning away from my spiritual path altogether.

But I never forgot that flash of awakening wherein my personality completely dissolved and I became one with Soul Consciousness.

Today, I’m back on the path and although I have yet to have an awakening as powerful as that first one in 2004, I’m much more mature in my process of taking it easy and letting things come to me as they will. In the meantime, I meditate, listen to binaural beats, and practice qigong and yoga every day.

I also eat well, exercise, and I completely removed alcohol from my diet.

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The Empress: Nurture & Nature, Gestation, Beauty & Love, Lushness & Fecundity.

Wheel of Fortune: Opportunity, What goes around comes around, karmic laws, rotation, cyclic nature, fate, destiny, chance, probability, the cycle of cosmic expression.

The Star: Cosmic Consciousness, Meditation, Insights from above and beyond, towards a human utopia.

Affirmations:

“I love and nurture myself for the benefit of all.”

“The universe provides me with opportunities for love and mature evolution.”

“I am receptive to cosmic consciousness.”

Quote:

“When you can see that all your mental states are phases in the manifestation of the One Consciousness which directs the growth of trees and grasses, the flight of birds and insects, the flow of streams and the sweep of ocean currents; when you begin to feel that through your mind and body flows the power that holds the stars in their courses, the power that flames in countless suns, you are beginning to exchange mere intellectual assent for that true knowledge which has been called the doctrine of the heart.” — P.F.C.

Stage Four: Organization

The Keys (cards) involved: The Emperor (Key 4); Justice (Key11); The Moon (Key 18)

Goal: Stage four is remarkably similar to stage three in that it involves a further ripening of our receptive faculties, but instead of an overall meditation meant to nurture our energetic and physical bodies, in stage four we are actively focusing on two specific aspects of our consciousness: clear sight and right action.

The Emperor as the guiding principle rules the head (like Aries in the Zodiac), and, more specifically the brain. More specifically still, the Emperor is all about Clear Sight/Vision. In order to “rule”, the Emperor must see clearly.

As such, Case suggests that we direct our meditation practice towards the part of our brain that governs sight, esoterically (and physiologically) speaking. The Hindus call it the “Cave of Brahma” in the center of the brain. Case identifies that area as the section from the medulla up to the pituitary gland.

Moreover, Case says that the meditation practices we employ should act as directives to the cells in our brain — our literal cells — which he insists are “living beings” and “centers of consciousness” that are “always amenable to the control of your objective mind.”

He suggests the type of meditation one should use here is auto-suggestion and is most optimally practiced right before one falls asleep at night (or during a nap) during what is called the hypnogogic state. To increase your receptivity here, I suggest finding a binaural beats track on YouTube or (what I use) an app called Sacred Acoustics.

This type of yogic meditation is practiced widely now and it’s called Yoga Nidra.

Along with focusing on increasing one’s Clear Sight faculties, this stage is about cultivating what the Buddhists call “Right Action”.

Case describes it this way: “The riper we become, the better we understand that the secret of right action is the giving up of all attachment to results. Attachment is the desire to see a particular manifestation of name and form. It is a phase of the delusion of separateness.

“Do whatever comes to hand with no thought but that the doing shall be your very best. That is the secret of right action.”

To sum up Stage Four, we direct our meditations (The Emperor) by carefully and intuitively weighing what processes work best for us (Justice), and in doing so we will create a state of consciousness that taps into ancestral and past-life knowledge that makes our physical and energetic bodies conducive to “obeying” our directives (The Moon).

After we finish this organization meditation, we “let it go” by releasing all attachments to results. (Think of the phrase: “Let go, and let God”)

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The Emperor: Clear Sight/Vision, motivated towards a bright future, Directives, Orders, Organizing principle, Inspired, Leading the way.

Justice: Balance, Weighing the options judiciously, mental clarity.

The Moon: Psychic phenomena, past lives, the house of the soul.

Affirmations:

“My vision is pure and true and reaches far and wide.”

“I am able to recall all of my past lives as easily as I can recall the events and lessons of my current life.”

“Thank you beautiful brain cells for all that you do! I send you love and light and ask that you help support optimum sight/vision health and function.”

Quote: “[Through meditation, the Life-Power] shows us, step by step, what lies ahead of us on the journey along the path which leads upwards from the plain of sense-life and third-dimensional consciousness to the height beyond.

“On those heights, as one who looks down from a mountain-peak sees in one glance a hundred separate forms of life below him on the plain, we shall see as a whole what now we see only in part.” — P.F.C

Stage Five: Regeneration

The Keys (cards) involved: Hierophant (Key 5); Hanged Man (Key 12); The Sun (Key 19)

Goal: Like with all the stages, your goal here is to embody the energies of the first Key of the stage, in this case, the Hierophant.

The Hierophant is the ultimate Knower of Truth and Spiritual Teacher. He has expanded his vision as the Emperor-consciousness in stage four. Now, in Stage Five, he has ripened his understanding.

But before he can Know and Speak the Truth, he must go through another test. The essence of this test has been described in many religious and mythological traditions, from the tale of Osiris and Horus, Jesus in the desert, Buddha under the bodhi tree, and Odin hanging from Yggdrasil (the World Tree).

A sacrifice must be made, and it’s the ultimate sacrifice known today as Ego Death. All your needs, fears, ideas, assumptions that come from years of personality formation, must be surrendered and replaced with the pure knowledge of the Life-Force energy.

Jesus went to the desert for forty days and forty nights, fasted and endured temptations; Buddha (as Siddhartha Gautama) sat beneath a bodhi tree for 49 days (seven weeks); Horus and Odin both lost an eye in their respective sacrifices, the symbology being that in order to gain inner wisdom, they had to sacrifice their attachment to outer sight.

This sacrifice is symbolized by the Hanged Man in the fifth stage. Now, am I suggesting that you have to go to the desert or sit under a tree for an extended period of time? Certainly not.

It really comes down to creating your own ritual and being clear with your intentions.

When I had my awakening experience in 2004, the ritual I participated in was a combination five-day liquid fast, followed by a “seven door” sweat lodge, followed by a breathing meditation that triggered an intensely amazing kundalini rising experience. My ego was sucked from the top of my head, replaced by my soul or higher self.

I knew the Truth of reality in a way I never had before. It was more than conceptual knowing. It was experienced knowing.

However, since I hadn’t properly prepared myself with the prior four steps, my awakening didn’t fully “take”. A week after my awakening, some minor conflict occurred that triggered me out of soul awareness and back into my ego perspective.

Today, I have more patience and therefore I interact with the stages, including stage five, in a plodding, day-to-day manner. My ego is strong and does not like to surrender power so easily. So my way is to slowly integrate my ego into my higher self, such that now, my ego rather enjoys it when he gets to sit back and let my higher self “take the wheel”.

Whatever methods you employ, the goal is to surrender the ego for the wisdom of the higher self (whether at an ultimate level or at a measured step-by-step level).

Once this is accomplished, the Sun (as the card of the same name) of enlightenment will shine through you from deep within your soul and you will, as Jesus said, “receive the kingdom of God like a child…”

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

Hierophant: Channeler of the Life-Force; Teacher; Knower; Higher Self.

Hanged Man: Sacrifice; New Perspective; Ego-Death; Reflection; Contemplation.

The Sun: Illumination; Innocence Reborn; the Soul shining from within.

Affirmations:

“I let go of my personal desires and listen to the Teacher Within.”

“My Inner Child is healed of all its wounds and awakens within me refreshed and renewed.”

“I am an unobstructed channel for my higher self’s expression.”

Quote: “Submit yourself wholly to the guidance which comes, not from above and without, but from within, at the very center of your being. The law you must obey is not that of an alien sovereign, usurping the direction of your life. It is your own law, the perfect method of the Eternal One expressing itself through you. Know it, open yourself to it, live it moment by moment and day by day. This is to begin the life of conscious liberation.” — P.F.C.

Stage Six: Realization

The Keys (cards) involved: The Lovers (Key 6); Death (Key 13); Judgement (Key 20)

Goal: The sacrifice we made of our constructed personality/ego in Stage Five leads to a new re-integration between our subconscious mind and conscious mind (The Lovers); this results in a Realization that death is not an end, but a new beginning (Judgement), a true transformation of our mind such that it may escape the confines of the third dimension (the material world) and fully access the fourth dimension known as the Astral Realm.

In essence, Stage Six is about dying without dying and being reborn with an expanded consciousness that can now perceive and interact with the fourth dimension of time and space!

We’ve all experienced the astral realm, most often in our dreams.

Dreams are a perfect representation of what the fourth dimension is like. The boundaries in a dream of time and space don’t really exist. Phenomena occur that could never take place in “real life”. Yet, often, we don’t realize we are dreaming, so we still perceive ourselves as being limited, and sometimes even as victims in a nightmare.

Unless, of course, we are lucid dreaming.

In Stage Six of Spiritual Unfoldment, a person has gone from being a dreamer in a dream she didn’t know she was in, to a dreamer who realizes that all this firm “reality” is no more than a dream.

From this place of awareness, all your affirmation and manifestation practices are highly accelerated, often at an instantaneous clip.

This is an actual theory that’s been tossed around in certain scientific circles. You might know it as “Simulation Theory”.

One of my favorite comedians Bill Hicks sums up what this stage is like in one of his brilliant “jokes” about what it would look like if a newscaster reported on a positive “drug” story :

“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively; there is no such thing as death; life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the Weather.”

As a child, I had multiple “astral” experiences (including being able to see the faces of my past lives in the mirror when I’d wake up in the middle of the night), so I was fascinated to read that this is common among children, according to Case.

“The spinal cord is a tube. In young children, it is open at the lower end, so that the serpent-power coiled in the sacral plexus can rise through it. That is why little children [frequently] have astral vision, and why they sometimes have animal and human invisible playmates.

“As they grow older this tube is closed at the lower end, in order that the greatly increased activity of the Mars-force in the sacral plexus at the time of puberty may not cause the serpent force to rise prematurely and destroy the brain.

“When the practical occultist seeks to gain astral vision again, he must apply the Marse-force to the destruction of the cells that close the lower end of the tube. But opening it again, he becomes ‘as a little child.’”

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The Lovers: Integration of the masculine & feminine principles (or consciousness and subconsciousness); communication from the higher self, duality transformed into trinity consciousness.

Death: The forces of change; Transformation; the last “enemy” to be overcome by “overcoming evil with good” and “Love your enemies”; physical dissolution.

Judgment: Rebirth; entering the astral realm; the fourth dimension.

Affirmations:

“I transcend the boundaries of time and space with love and understanding.”

Practice chanting using words syllables like “OM, or AUM”. Here are some more suggestions.

Quote:

“All practice of this kind has just one object, and that is to get the inadequate personality out of the way, so that the true Self, which knows just what to do and how to do it, may find no resistance to the free expression of its perfect mastery of mind and body.” — P.F.C.

Stage Seven: Cosmic Consciousness

The Keys (cards) involved: The Chariot (Key 7); Temperance (Key 14); The World (Key 21)

Goal: Through successful integration of all the dualities of our existence — primarily the energetic and the physical, the subconscious and the conscious, the yin and the yang (as indicated in the symbology of the Temperance card) — we “build” our body anew (The Chariot) and enter the “Kingdom of Heaven” (The World).

And what is the “Kingdom of Heaven”? It is the ultimate reality of the physical world of existence stripped of all illusion embodied in our flesh.

A famous quote by the Sufi mystic Rumi sums it up perfectly: “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop”.

It is one thing to grasp this fractal nature of reality intellectually — the entire ocean in a drop, just as we have the entire human in a single cell — it is another thing altogether to live this truth as a real conscious experience.

Cosmic Consciousness (the title of this stage) is the ultimate goal and as the ultimate goal, it far surpasses anything we can compare it to.

In Stage Six we can move our consciousness like a lucid dreamer in a dream, navigating the fourth dimension of the Astral realm at will. While this is amazing in and of itself, it’s describable; it is something we can visualize and conceptualize and communicate to others.

With Cosmic Consciousness, there are no words to describe it, because it is a place beyond words, beyond thought. As a matter of fact, it is the mind devoid of all thought, all concepts, all ideas. It is the I Am at blissful oneness with all existence.

Many Near-death experiencers have claimed that they entered a realm that sounds a lot like Cosmic Consciousness, and they all expressed how impossible it is to put that experience into words. One such person is Dr. Eben Alexander.

There has been a lot of talk in New Age circles lately about the Cosmic or Galactic Federation of Light beings. Supposedly, these are beings who have realized and exist in Cosmic Consciousness and have been aiding humanity during these times in our collective evolution towards reaching that same destination.

I like to think that this is the case and that we are nearly there, but we still have to “do the work” as individuals. It’s not about waiting to be saved, and it certainly is NOT about transcending the physical world and escaping the third dimension.

This idea of “escape” and transcendence has long been misunderstood. There is nothing to transcend except for our misconceptions, there is nothing to escape except our own prison of delusions.

The emphasis, therefore, should not be on transcendence, but rather on realizing the power of our own mind and integrating our consciousness with the consciousness of the One Power — that which is the creator of all reality and IS all of reality, which ultimately is…drum roll, please…us.

You are the One Power. You are God manifested in a body.

And here’s the real kicker. Your body has the entire body of the universe — all of time and space and everything else — inside of it.

It only seems like you are separate. Once you realize — experientially — that you are not separate from the One, the mind becomes empty of all defilements and you experience the universe as you really are.

Your body becomes like the Chariot, a perfect vehicle of light and consciousness, a Merkaba field of pure awareness capable of traveling anywhere in time and space, to interact with all the vast beings of light and love that fill the universe.

Key Words/Phrases for the Three Cards:

The Chariot: The Merkaba; Vehicle of light embodied in the flesh; Vehicle that “carries us from thought to the consciousness beyond it.” NOTE: here is some more information about the Merkaba

Temperance: Alchemy’s conclusion; IHVH (Yod He Vau He), the syllables of creation; The Builder; The transmutation of the corruptible body into one that is incorruptible.

The World: Consciousness beyond thought; the Plan of Creation Revealed and Experienced; the Kingdom of the Life-Power. Freedom from delusion.

Affirmations:

“The Kingdom of Spirit is embodied in my flesh.”

“In thought and word and deed, I rest my life from day to day upon the sure Foundation of Eternal Being.”

“I am that I Am.”

Quote: “No one who has eaten of the fruit of this tree may describe it as it really is. [She] will understand the meaning of all descriptions of this experience. [She] will know how hopeless are all attempts to define it. [She] will know, too, that the vagueness of the various accounts arises from no vagueness in the experience.

“The consciousness beyond thought is crystal-clear, sharply defined, free from the least suspicion of haziness. Its very clearness is what makes it ineffable. We have no words to convey such a fullness of meaning. our language is built to describe piece-meal no experience. How can it express what one has recorded as ‘being everywhere, and all at once.’?” — P.F.C.

SOURCE: https://medium.com/mystic-minds/the-seven-stages-of-spiritual-unfoldment-61c17927f4b

NOTES:

1. Bondage, free yourself from limitation, restriction and illusion
2. Awakening, awareness of what is important, making choices
3. Revelation, understanding of Oneness and the All
4. Organization, establishing clear sight and right action
5. Regeneration, release and moving to the next level of your personal work and unfoldment
6. Realization, a new re-integration between our subconscious mind and conscious mind
7. Cosmic Consciousness, integration of all dualities to a state of mind, of Oneness