Letter: Aleph - an ox
Sephirotic Path: 11, Kether to Chokhmah, the Crown to Wisdom
Astrology: N/A
Element: Air
Atu 0 primarily depicts the idea of Ain (Nothingness) above the Tree of Life, but mainly as it influences the original point of consciousness - Kether. Kether is the first mover of Aristotelian philosophy because nothing comes before it, and it itself is also non-being. Thus, it is the purest, most innocent being imaginable. Depicting the influence of Kether upon Chokhmah, we see that the Wisdom of God is pure, innocent, and illogical. It is also inexhaustible. This Wisdom is grounded in the will to exist and experience.
The Fool's green clothing associates him with spring and fertility. He is the impulse of life that is contained even in seemingly lifeless material. Despite winter's harshness, life continues, lying dormant in roots and underground. The allegory is the same regarding the Universe. Nothingness, or vacuous space may seem infertility, but the fact that it is "sterile" makes it the most fertile. Crowley uses mythology to allegorically explain this.
We may note that he bears the Lance (in the form of a torch) and Grail of the Passion. These are the instruments of Life, and not of death; though ultimately life and death are both two sides of the same Life. Because these represent the masculine and feminine principles, positive and negative respectively, the card also represents the equation 0=2, which Crowley invented to explain how something can come from nothing.
The dove, vulture, butterfly, and caduceus all represent the inherent relationship between Nothingness in its highest sense with spirit, whose virtue is "to go." The life force, or magical power, comes from existence's basis in unmanifested Being, which is God, the sum total of all potential existence. This force in and of itself is ambivalent, and so it must be directed towards Creation. Thus we can see how the Fool is not a card that represents any logical standards of morality. He is wholly innocent of any "crimes" he commits. The whole business of life and "going" also serves as the explanation for the Fool's golden shoes, gold being the color of the Sun, the Sun being the giver and sustainer of life in motion. This is echoed in the solar disk covering the Fool's genitals.
The vine and grapes which surround him represent the Fool's connection to Dionysus and Bacchus. These are both half-human, half-divine gods of wine and ecstasy. Consciousness at this level remains in perpetual bliss. All acts are seen as play, and there is no preference for "good" or "bad" because both are seen simply as results of Creation and its self-perpetuating movement. All events are moments of ecstasy when seen from this lofty perspective. The semi-human nature of these gods alludes to the fact that the point, Kether, will eventually manifest itself in Tiphareth as a true Being. Thus, "every man and every woman is a star."
Lastly, the tiger reinforces the Dionysian mythology, and warns the Fool of the dangers of existence. But he pays no heed because "danger" is an irrelevance to him, as he cannot conceivably "die." He can only exist. The crocodile symbolizes Malkuth on the Tree of Life, and again reinforces the idea of "danger" in manifestation. The crocodile threatens to devour the Fool, but again he does not seem to care. Instead, his eyes are full of wonder and excitement.
Divinatory Meanings: Unexpected happenings; courage but it can be nonsensical; irreverence; bliss; walking the path of happiness; folly; mania; sometimes stupidity; ambivalence; newness and a fresh start.
Letter: Beth - a house
Sephirotic Path: 12, Kether to Binah, the Crown to Understanding
Astrology: Mercury
Element: Air
The immediately striking quality of the Magus card is its emphasis on the colors blue and gold. Blue is a color associated often with Mercury and communication, whereas gold is associated with the sun. In this card we are presented with the doctrine that Mercury is a Solar planet, and vice versa. Therefore, it again reiterates the concept that Life is based on motion. The positioning of the Magus's arms creates a swastika, or hooked cross, which is a symbol of solar creation and destruction occurring in cycles. This posture also ties him to his traditional title, "the juggler." The image is of repetitive cycles, but also great ability and facility, balance and skill.
The Magus represents the influence of the Ain Soph, the second veil of nothing, the original concept of a masculine Logos. The Ain Soph is also associated with cycles of creation and destruction. The lemniscate, or symbol for infinity, is above the Magus's head to remind us of this connection. If Ain is conceived as a circle, then Ain Soph is seen as that same circle twisted upon itself, thereby creating a point of intersection. This is the point that symbolizes Kether.
Whereas 0 The Fool connects Kether to the Father in Chokhmah, I The Magus links Kether to the Mother in Binah. I believe in this case it is best to turn to the Christian philosophy of Anselm of Canterbury, who writes in is Monologion that the Logos, or thought of God, has two parts that spring up simultaneously - the word and the image of the word. This is how we may explain the coequality of the Father and the Mother, the Father being the word and the Mother being the image, and also how we can explain the reason for assigning the trump that describes the Logos par excellence to the path connecting to the Mother and not the Father. Note that below the Magus is the darkness of Binah, with the caduceus descending into its depths.
But what Word does the Magus say to create and destroy the worlds? The answer is silence. What he creates is an extension of nothing, and thereby the "word" with which these things are formed is equally nothing. The Logos is the definition and image of the point, Kether, which in and of itself is an equal extension of the Ain above. If we remember the symbol of the lemniscate, we see that there are now two circles joined together where there was originally only one. The Magus therefore also represents the first notion of dualityThis restates the doctrine 0=2, and not 1=2 (even though the Magus is the number one), because the point of unity, Kether, itself is an extension of nothing.
He wears a sandal strap and his feet bear the wings of Mercury the messenger god. The strap is a symbol of spirit, and in particular its virtue "to go." Again we are shown the relationship between nothingness, motion, and creation. The magical instruments he juggles each represent one of the four elements, while the winged egg represents spirit. We are shown spirit governing the four elements and endowing them with life and motion. Since the card connects to Binah, we are shown the forms and images of these elements and their commonality in origin. We are not really given information on the ideas behind each element, only the symbols in which they manifest. This is important, because Mercury is also a trickster god. The Magus is a weaver of illusion. The allegory then would seem to be that the form of reality is only a convenient vehicle for bringing about the will of its Maker. At its heart, there is no differentiation between things even if they bear different forms, for they all derive their existence from the same source of Life. This is the reason for the angry ape of Thoth in the corner; he represents the Magus's curse, that all he says shall be misunderstood, and his lies shall be taken for truths.
Divinatory Meanings: Skill; cleverness; genius; trickery; flash of insight; creation; power used for either good or ill; communications; rapidity and energy.
Letter: Gimel - a camel
Sephirotic Path: 13, Kether to Tiphareth, the Crown to Beauty
Astrology: Luna
Element: Water
The Priestess is traditionally the card of Initiation into the Mysteries. She represents the revelation of Truth. She is also a representation of the goddess Isis, virgin mother of Horus and wife of Osiris. Being lunar, she also has connections to Artemis and Diana, the virgin hunter and sometimes the "many-breasted." Lastly, she is the representation of the Ain Soph Aur, the Limitless Light which is the vision of the Body of God (Nuit in Crowley's Thelemic system).
The card is essentially an image of how the divine manifests itself in reality. In it we see the Monad of Kether veiled behind a curtain of light. Various forms, flowers, and grapes lay in the foreground, and we are led to assume that these represent the beauty and ecstasy of Tiphareth (grapes being associated again with Dionysus and wine). I believe this is also an allusion to the famous Crowley statement, "Every man and woman is a star" from the Book of the Law. The multiplicity of the flowers and forms is an illusion; they constitute the figurative solar system of the individual personality. This is primarily forged by the gathering and accumulation of various experiences, which in turn lead to likes, dislikes, etc.
The goddess is seated upon a throne, and this is meant to connect her to the Mother Binah, the Soul of the individual. Furthermore, beneath her feet is etched the waning crescent moon, similar to depictions of the Virgin Mary. She does not represent the moon of deception and the unknown - she instead reveals what is hidden in a benign way. Note that there are seven crescents emanating from her head. Seven is the number of Venus, the goddess of love and gentleness.
She is a virgin because her fertility as the Body of God is inexhaustible. No matter how many times the insight may penetrate behind her veil, she remains uncorrupted. The individual Self is not changeable; it is an eternal constant, and all changes made to it are but illusions. This is the real Initiation - not initiation into the mysteries of particular groups and sects, but Initiation in the Knowledge of the Pure and True Identity of Selfhood. It is the ability to grasp and understand the reason for all experiences.
The bow and arrow she bears are curious symbols that connect her again to Diana the Huntress. But the arrow is always a symbol of the willpower, and I find it interesting that it is at rest here. Perhaps we are meant to see her as the ultimate goal of our will. We must desire to know ourselves before all things. Deviation from our True Selfhood is what causes corruption and sin, though the Monadic True Self is never afflicted by these things. Christian mystics would argue that God allows these sinful things and their negative results to happen because He wants us to return to Him and cling to Him better than before. A similar idea is certainly applicable here.
Divinatory Meanings: Benign influence; deep yearnings and feelings; the subconscious Self; fluctuation, though this can be difficult to use in an actual reading; purity of thought; wisdom; intuition; secrecy and mystery; revelation.
Letter: Daleth - a door
Sephirotic Path: 14, Chokhmah to Binah, Wisdom to Understanding
Astrology: Venus
Element: Earth
This is the path on the Tree which connects the Father to the Mother, and is the first of the so-called "reciprocal" paths, meaning that the influence between each sephira is equal. Chokhmah exerts as much influence on Binah as Binah exerts on Chokhmah. Being the planet Venus, the Empress represents Love in its highest, most philosophical aspect. Love, as represented by the Empress, is the relationship between two polar opposites, the idea that because they are opposites they may eventually unify and dissolve each other back into the original nothingness of the Ain. In 19th-century esotericism, it was very important that the symbol for the planet Venus (♀) was the only symbol that could also represent the entire Tree of Life (if you notice, you can connect all the individual sephira of the Sephiroth using this symbol). The doctrine therefore is that "the Universe is Love."
The fact that the letter of this card is Daleth (door) is particularly significant given the card's position. First of all, it is the first trump to represent something other than an Ain principle, so it is logical for this card to represent the manifested Universe in its most original concept. It is therefore the door to and from existence; it is life and death simultaneously. But because she is Love, these two concepts are contained within her womb and kept in delicate harmony. Neither is given preference over the other. This is most likely the explanation for the waxing and waning moons depicted on the card. Besides being the planet best representing the Sacred Feminine, flux and benevolence, luna also is connected to the path of the Priestess, which descends from Kether and intersects the path of the Empress. The idea of equal fluctuation is then present here. The idea conveyed then is one of equilibrium. The Universe is a living system that continually dissolves and reassembles itself in order to maintain its equilibrium. This is why the Empress is associated with the alchemical principle of salt, which represents stagnation, death, and stillness (note that her arms are held in a posture imitating the symbol of salt).
There is another important idea conveyed in this card - the notion of "royalty." At the Empresses's feet is a flower from which flows a sort of stream with fish and a Fleur de Lis. Next to it sits a pelican feeding its young with the blood of its own breast. In Christian symbolism, the pelican is a metaphor for the Passion of Christ, who sheds His own blood for the salvation of humanity. The fish as well is an early Christian symbol representing the Savior. In Crowley's cosmology, both of these symbols must be entirely reappropriated. I have read somewhere that, since the waning moon is above the head of the pelican, we must see this as a hint that the symbol of the pelican is dying out, along with Christian morality. To this author I would suggest that they know a little bit more about Crowley's methodology. He almost never discarded old symbols, and usually always redefined them so as to better fit his purposes. This is the case here. The pelican represents the Universe (or Nuit in the Thelemic system), which divides itself up into separate beings. All these beings are made of her but also exist through her. It is the ultimate concept of self-sacrifice, but not in a way that forces anyone to feel inherently guilty and in need of redemption. The Universe does this out of Love, not in order to trap anyone morally. Because her children are of the same substance as she, they each bear the "genetics" of royalty, for she is truly Imperetrix Mundi.
The presence of the fish, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. In his symbolism, fish often represent the male seed swimming into the womb during conception. Each one as a potential creation bears the mark of royalty as inherited from the Universe. But we must remember that even at this stage, there is competition. Only the best possible sperm cell out of the entire sample will eventually be born - the others are left to be discarded. So we must not mistake the Love of the Universe as something that is "touchy-feely" as it were, or sympathetic. It is still fair, even though to us it seems not to be. It loves all of its creations equally by holding them to the same standards of life and death, waxing and waning, etc. But it is by the masculine Logos principle contained in each being that we are differentiated. By upholding this law, the Universe follows the Will of God who is Life, and brings out its greatest potential; Life is allowed to assert its strength, vivacity, and triumph.
Divinatory Meanings: Love; tranquility; pregnancy; nature; events moving slowly; fertilization of a plan; growth; care and concern.
Letter: Tzaddi - a fish hook
Sephirotic Path: 28, Netzach to Yesod, Victory to Foundation
Astrology: Aries (ruled by Mars, Sol is exalted therein)
Element: Fire
The Emperor serves as the masculine complement of the Empress. He is therefore the alchemical principle of sulfur, which is explosive, sudden, rash, and hot. His physical posture (triangular upper body, crossed legs) imitates sulfur's symbol. Being an Aries, the Emperor represents individuality - the ego. So while the Empress represents the macrocosm, the Emperor better represents the complementary microcosm.
His position on the Tree of Life is also highly curious, since Crowley switched the traditional letter for the Emperor (Hé) with that of the Star (Tzaddi) due to reasons found in the Liber AL. This resulted in an equivalent path shift, so originally the Emperor occupied the path between Chokhmah and Tiphareth, which perhaps makes more sense frankly. Additionally, Crowley's explanation of the card's image includes the statement that the light shining upon the Emperor comes from Chokhmah, the root of his authority. This is, needless to say, problematic.
But if we note that Netzach is a sephira dealing with the passions of the individual, and that Yesod is a sephira that is sometimes associated with sexuality and procreation, then we can gain some valuable insight into the role of the Emperor. His number, four, is also worth noting, since four is the most stable number out of all the rest in the Pythagorean numerology system. It is like the four corners of a building, or the four compass directions, or the four seasons, etc. It is a number that confers a sense of structure and government on the card. It is true that the human ego likes to see itself as lord of its surroundings. Indeed, the human ego is ultimately the dictator of the individual's morality, sense of identity, behaviors, beliefs, etc.
But he is also sulfur and related to the planet Mars - both of which are highly destructive elements. Perhaps Aries's relationship with Sol reminds us, however, that destruction always begets creation. So as a personality, the Emperor can be hasty, uncalculating, harsh, and ruthless. But he can also be generous and principled. Based on the above information, however, we can infer that the Emperor represents the rulership of the passions over the sex organs, and presumably the orgasm. This is very similar to what astrologers say about the sign of Aries, who is eager to explode into action, but then burns out quickly, becoming lethargic.
If we synthesize all of these together - the idea of government, the idea of force, and the idea of desire - we finally arrive at the famous Thelemic statement, "Love is the law, love under will," from Liber AL. As with the Empress, another standard Christian symbol, the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), lies at the Emperor's feet. This is a symbol that represents several things. For one, it represents sacrifice for the greater good, but in another light it represents peace. The traditional doctrine seems to be, therefore, that self-sacrifice leads to peace. Of course Crowley didn't believe this one bit, so he has clearly again changed the definition of the symbol. In this case it could be seen as submission of the will of the ego to the True Will of God, which is True Selfhood, this resulting in peace for the individual. Or it could be a symbol showing that the closest thing to "peace" we can attain is the ardent love for all existence we can feel by following the command to "love under will." Lastly, it could also be an allusion to Crowley's vision of the Wheel of Fortune from Liber 418: The Vision and the Voice. In it, the Lamb of God describes itself as the principle of salt, and the deceptive idea of peace. "Peace" as men fantasize about it is a destructive thing in the scope of the universe. Destruction is inevitable and necessary if creation is to take place. Destruction is as much an act of universal Love as creation is. The Emperor then is the antithesis to the Lamb of God, as he is willing to destroy in order to achieve his will. Aries is the sign of spring as well, and this in conjunction with the signs affinity for the sun is an aspect of the Emperor not to be overlooked.
But let us return to the fact that he is the complement of the Empress. The Empress, being salt, must be "energized" by the Emperor, who is sulfur. If the Empress represents the potential of the Universe in suspension, the Emperor is the force of the individual being used to manifest reality. All events then are seen as the interplay between the potential-to-exist and the personal desire-for-something-to-exist. This is how the individual may really be seen as lord of their own corner of the Universe. Thus, we see a correlation between the orgasm, by which a being is conceived, and the will to love, by which a potential reality is conceived. We can now see another way in which the Emperor functions well between Netzach (desire) and Yesod (the foundation of creation).
It
also explains the correlation between the card and the letter Tzaddi, which
means “a fish hook.” A fish itself is an interesting symbol because its bladder
often represents the vagina or womb in esotericism, whereas the fish alone is a
phallic symbol. (In Plutarch’s version of the myth surrounding the Egyptian god
Osiris’s death, the god is dismembered by his brother Seth. According to
Plutarch, Osiris’s wife Isis manages to collect all the parts except his penis,
which is swallowed by a fish.
Additionally, the fish is sometimes likened to the male semen during the
process of conception.) A fish hook then is something that both penetrates a
fish and captures it. I prefer to interpret the fish hook correlation then in a
dual manner, where it can represent the act of “love under will,” but also the
act of the individual laying claim to their inner divine will power – their “royal
inheritance” if you will.
Divinatory Meanings: Leadership; egotism; authority; force; organization; government; masculinity; command.
