Here is my attempt to read the trumps as a circle, given their esoteric meanings. I hope it's relatively clear! I tried to keep it simple.
0 The Fool
The Universe as complete Nothing. The sum potential of existence before it has manifested itself as something.
I The Magus
The Masculine Will of the Universe. Presents the doctrine that the unmanifested Being is a unity, or God. This Will is capable of organizing the original chaos of Nothing into categories, though at this stage it is difficult to say that there is concrete differentiation between these categories. There is only the potential for these categories to exist.
II The Priestess
The Feminine counterpart to the Will, or the image of that Will. She is the body of light the Universal Will will shape its creations from. She is therefore the Truth of form - all form is an illusion of the Divine Light.
III The Empress
The result of the affinity between the Will and the Light - impregnation. Because the Will has moved within the Divine Light, there is a concrete something waiting to be born.
IV The Emperor
The sovereign individual point who is Lord of his own Universe. This is a point of perspective and consciousness that may conceivably distinguish itself from the macrocosmic Universe. It itself is a Unity, and therefore a God.
V The Hierophant
The individual learning through experience. Alternatively, this individual point is master of its own knowledge and truth.
VI The Lovers
The doctrine of duality. There is a firm distinction between microcosm and macrocosm. But the two could be considered twins, as they bear the same attributes. Because of this separation, the individual point is capable of drawing insight from the Whole and vice versa.
VII The Chariot
The point endowed with a soul for a vessel. This allows the point to move within the body of the Universe as is its will. Because of duality, the illusion of space and time is now possible. The idea of indestructibility is also implied.
VIII Adjustment
Now that the point is capable of motion and experience, it must now learn the virtue of Free Will, and the karmic repercussions of that. For every action there is a reaction.
IX The Hermit
Now we finally have the concept of the physical body, which, perhaps because of Free Will, has fallen into a less desirable state. But the Godhead (the point), which dwells secretly within the body, is the initiator of the True Will - the path of Rectitude and Virtue for that given point of consciousness. It has inherited this from the Will of the Universe. In secret the Godhead of the individual works to "redeem" the physical body from its state of disobedience, and guides it towards maturity and self-understanding.
X Fortune
The resulting combination of all these forces. The various parts of the human being vie for supremacy, and thereby create various events in the individual's life. The point remains the axle of the wheel, and therefore does not move. It is perpetually the center of its own universe.
XI Lust
A particularly interesting response to Fortune. One reading shows that it is the fusion of all the individual's components through the act of "love under will." The energy contained in each part can be guided toward the realization of a desired outcome - i.e. a magickal act. Another reading reveals this to be the Red Tincture, or lion, of the alchemists. It is the masculine, solar, creative energy bound up in the individual. At its most basic level, this stage represents the sexual act in general.
XII The Hanged Man
From the perspective of ritual magick, this represents the sacrifice of the potential life in the male semen as a result of orgasm. It may also appear as the illusion of the creative urge being stifled as a result of the orgasm. If the sexual act is used for procreation, however, the card can represent the infusion of the spirit in a new life form. Being associated with water, both acts are seen as a kind of baptism; the former is a baptism for the magician, the latter is a baptism for the newly conceived physical being.
XIII Death
The mystery of Resurrection on several levels. Firstly, it represents the recovery of the male after the "death" of orgasm. Despite the supposed "death" of the libido after its release, it eventually returns. The libido is immortal, and can only be transformed into various guises. Secondly, it represents the reincarnation that took place in Atu XII, in which a baby was conceived. The idea is that this infant is at its core is an indestructible point itself, and that whatever form it decides to take in this life is a result of its experiences and choices in previous lives. Lastly, the card represents the White Tincture, or the eagle, of the alchemists. It is the feminine, lunar creative impulse, which is passive and destructive, as opposed to the masculine, which is active and creative. One must remember that both Creation and Destruction are polarities that makeup the general idea of Life.
XIV Art
Having undergone the process of Creation and Destruction, the individual is prepared for the actual moment of Resurrection. This is the culmination of the INRI formula (which I encourage you to look up). It is the representation of the doctrine of evolution; the positive plus the negative equals a third thing which is different from the original two, but bears some of their traits. This card is also the fulfillment of VI The Lovers and IX The Hermit. The individual has been able to fuse the masculine and feminine parts of his/her identity and has thus become androgynous. They have disintegrated the boundary between higher self and lower self, and has become whole, as well as an entirely new Being. By doing this, they are set on the path of the True Will. Lastly, the card speaks of the alchemical command to "find the hidden stone." This is none other than the original point of consciousness concealed in the physical being.
XV The Devil
The god Pan and the above-mentioned "hidden stone." In this stage, Pan is Pangenitor, All-Begetter. This is the newly created individual after having undergone the formula of Resurrection. They are complete, and have ascertained their original godhead. They also have discovered the nature of their True Will, and they set out to manifest it with utmost ambition and enjoyment, despite the response from other people. This person now may be misconstrued as "a devil" because they have attained autonomy, and therefore are not dependent upon the consent of others. They are unapologetic for fulfilling their purpose, and by doing so they infuse the material universe with prosperity. The union of the highest and the lowest has been complete, and the individual has begun his/her work to redeem the material universe.
XVI The Tower
This is Pan as Panphage, All-Devourer. Because of the individual's reformation process, their perspective on the material world has been entirely eradicated. They have learned that the material plane is one of illusion. The distinction between Self and Other has been destroyed, and all material events and things are seen as an extension of Self.
XVII The Star
At this point, the veils covering the Divine Self are removed. One realizes they are a unique conduit for the Divine Will of the Universe, and are allowed to be because they are a royal child of the Universe. Perhaps we could say that as much as the material universe is the full extension of the individual, so is the individual the full extension of the unmanifested Universe. This is the optimistic revelation that, through one's existence, the limitless potential of the Universe comes to be. Internal change results in external change. What seems impossible is possible with God.
XVIII The Moon
The revelation of the Universe as stagnant without the intercession of the individual's action on the path of True Will. The True Will is creative, and is culmination of the Divine Will. The Universe as a metaphorical womb is left stagnant and infertile as long as this Will is left unfulfilled. Sin is the result of inaction, or action taken in a direction away from that of the True Will.
XIX The Sun
Fertility reasserted. Triumph and victory over darkness. Light is brought to the darkness by the virtue of the individual. The realization of the True Will resulting in Love, Liberty, Light, and Life.
XX The Aeon/Judgment
As a result, stagnation is purged from the world, and the world is redeemed. The proper order of things is established. The beginning of a new era because of the work done by the individual.
XXI The Universe
The individual point of consciousness, having completed the Great Work, finally returning to the Origin of All, the Nothingness of unmanifested Being. But there is the implication that the sum total of All was always Nothing all along, and that the whole experience was but a game, or a play. As Goethe writes, "Alles vergängliche," "all is allegory." The process is now ready to repeat itself, not for any purpose, but for the sake of Universal evolution and enjoyment.
No comments:
Post a Comment