The Tarot of Eli, LLC-Major Arcana: Thoth Tarot- ATU 1-The Magus & - Dark Santa Muerte Tarot-Key 1-The Magician

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Above all things, know thyself!

The Thoth Magus and/or the Dark Santa Muerte Magician, is the 1st Trump or ATU is associated with the Hebrew Letter-Beth, meaning House, and is called The Path of Beth, which is between Kether (Crown) and Binah (Understanding) on the Qabalistic Tree of Life making it the transition-Phallic path of the One Undefined Energy to the Great Organizer- Mother Binah. This relationship establishes the meaning of house, (Beth) as that of the dwelling place (Womb) where Spirit resides before "falling" into manifestation. In this case, it is appropriate to call the Magus that which builds the House. In other words, the Magus forms the Primal will into an idea that directs and sends the catalytic "Will to Be" that causes the 3rd Sephira -Mother Binah to enclose the Idea of being with One Spirit-Magnetic (Spiral Energy-Vital Life Force) which is symbolized by THE FOOL tarot card. The idea of being is now in a "Magnetic Bottle" where it is "Understood".

The Supernal Triangle of the Upper Trinity (Azilluth), is represented by Tarot Cards whose activities are only separated by a degree or less. Therefore, the Aspects of the Magus/Magician and the Fool are closely linked. For those who wish a glaring example of this degree of Separation it is about as much as the Testes and Phallus are separated in a human male, albeit the One Great Being (Note* to a Qabalist a "Being" is an Immortal Intelligent Energy"/Sephiroth) is not sex as we know it. In the Upper Tree of Life, there isn't a species sexuality of any kind. Rather "sexual expression" here is of energy, as in Expressed Electric Energy/Male or Receptive Magnetic Energy/Female.

Scholars of the first 5 books of the Bible (the Pentateuch), point out that the letter Beth, seen on the Thoth Magus, is the First letter, as the book of Genesis begins with Bereshith --commonly translated as "in the beginning". Interestingly, Fabre d'Olivet translated Bereshith as meaning "At First, in principle", knowing that Beth symbolizes the "Beginning of the Beginning"; The Primal Will of the One. Hence, it is called the First Matter of the Alchemist, the Philosophic Mercury and or "First Principle". Because to create a beginning one must create an end, the Magus also represents the key polarities of creation, Life and Death, Male and Female, Positive and Negative, etc..

This process of 0=2 is indicated by the horizonal figure eight (lemniscus) and/ or Oroboros, the serpent that eats its own tale, as both represent the closed circle of One Energy,(0=2) begun by the number One -Beth, acting on the Zero-Aleph, THE FOOL. The Lemniscus symbolizes the Act of Turning upon oneself as a Twisting or Spiraling- creating Male and Female infinite circles of Force in the ONE Energy and is also referred to as the Sexual Dance of God/Goddess; the Divine Creative. Therefore, the Magus can be symbolized by the Infinity symbol that is the Lemniscus. Because there is no Action in the Crown or Mind of God, until Will disturbs it. That Will is the Magus and the magical chant of," I am the will. I am the way. I am the wealth; I own the Day." is most apropos to this card. The beads forming a figure eight behind the Dark Santa Muerte Magician, carry forth this idea of 0=2. [For an entertaining story of the first relationship between the letters Aleph and Beth, I would suggest one reads the Zohar, a Qabalistic text.]

However, even though the Magus is associated with Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, it is not all active. In fact, it is both active and passive, as it is both that which Transmits and that which is transmitted (A phallus-Wand)! The Magus represents both the One Life Energy which when transmitted to Binah (Understanding) becomes the Prima Materia (First Matter or Semen of Will which is commonly known as Thought). Here an understanding of the fact that the Magus (Mercury) is the "message bearer" of the Immortal Beings, meaning he is not Himself the Creator, only the bearer of his Will much as the semen is the bearer of the genes of the Father. Therefore, the Magus is the ejaculator of will.(The whole Supernal Triangle is the action/Will of the Divine Phallus and Womb.). The Wand, Traditionally seen in The Magician's hand (Golden Dawn Deck and Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck) but not shown in hand of the Thoth Card or the Dark Santa Muerte card, symbolizes this phallic action. That phallic action is shown in the art of the Dark Santa Muerte as the weaving of a pentagram by the Magician. The usage of the wand/hand implies that the Magic is merely the Transmitted will of the Greater Being that is the Supernal Triangle or Trinity. The Thoth Magus is the Wand on the Thoth Card, just as the human body is the magic wand of the Soul. In the Thoth ATU-1-the magical tools of the Magus float around him; the sword, the cup, the fire, and the winged orphic egg (the Universal Egg)and even a goose quill pen (upper left) and scroll (upper right) implying a secret knowledge floats in the swirling energy he is suspended in.

The Roman, Mercury, is the Greek Hermes (shown with erect phallus) and the Egyptian- Thoth, all represent the same deity, the amalgamation of their qualities having become inseparable in modern esoteric literature. Hermes, as was Thoth, was always associated with words. This makes sense as a messenger must simply state the cause of the one who has sent him. Then there is the Egyptian- Thoth, who reportedly created the hieroglyphs, which developed the necessary means by which a message could be transmitted and recorded.

The companion of Thoth/Hermes, was shown as a dog-headed Ape (Cynocephalus), representing words themselves, and their potential for deception and misunderstanding. Hence, we have Cynocephalus, included in the Thoth Deck card, laying at the feet of the Magus. People use words in the same way that the Magus transmits the Willed idea of Self-Creation of the One -Kether and/or The I AM. The Transmitted idea of I AM (I Will Be), from The Magus, Fertilizes the ONE Womb, (Understanding) that is the Great Mother Binah (The Creatrix of Consciousness) just as words fertilize Consciousness! Thus the power of Words, is about stimulating the birthing of imagined ideas into conscious images of Understanding, by the Power of Expression, but not necessarily the Truth of Creation. The Truth is "I AM" what that "I AM" is produces only assumptions; Therefore Truth Must Be Made Manifest (THE PRIESTESS) as Knowledge. Before knowledge there is data/information, but information does not become knowledge before it can be intimately experienced as in-form-action. Hence, "Truth is made manifest", implies one must have a body on Malkuth, the goal of the "I AM", before information can become knowledge. Okay, this concept may be so subjective, that it may be difficult to understand, but try skrying the card. Your meditative observation will open your consciousness to the flow of the Universal Collective Unconscious were greater knowledge is stored. For when an idea is Understood, it becomes information. Information, received, expressed and then experienced, becomes knowledge. Therefore, what is to become knowledge must be proven by in-form-action.

To reiterate: THE MAGUS is the Path of Beth (house or temple), and it transmits the idea of Self-Creation of the One from above-known as Kether (Crown). A spoken word is a sound that carries an idea, so the Magus is associated with the First Vibration or Word of God which is described by the Hebrew as Eheieh-"I Will BE". This First Vibration encloses Spirit, the Will that holds all things together, beginning the process of creation, allowing Understanding, thus encompassing All That Is. In the Golden Dawn papers, this idea was conveyed by relating the Mercury symbol (planetary sign) to all the Sephiroth, with the exception of Kether. You may note that the Horns spring from Daath, often called the invisible Sephiroth but really, it is the conjunction of Chokmah (Great Father and Binah (Great Mother), a face to face union, that creates what is called "The Priestess" who in turn is the Sephiroth Daath from which emerges The Divine Child (The Soul). This is understandable, since Wisdom (Chokmah) and Understanding (Binah) conjoin in the birthing of information (Daath), the Womb of the Supernal Triangle, and knowledge becomes in-form-ation after the 6th Sephiroth-Tiphareth-Beauty, establishes form. Before Tiphareth, there are no forms, below Tiphareth, forms begin as I AM ME.

Consequentially the showing of Mercury on the Caduceus, properly places the Four Worlds, [Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah], that are transitions of the Wand of the Magus, Kether is the Winged Orb at the top. By deeper delving into the Golden Dawn tests, the student will find that the Primum Mobile, Latin for "first motion”, is acting through Philosophic Mercury (Magus) on Saturn-Binah, who is Will to Form or as I like to call her, "Time/Space". As before stated, she is the Mother of Form and the Magus is the Idea of Being and/or Will. The association with writing and words, is shown on the Thoth Magus card , by the goose feather pen on the right and the parchment scroll on the left of this "head dress" wand that is intertwined with the twin serpents of "life and death". The activity of first motion acting on Saturn-Binah, is words or Vibration and whoever can willfully direct the Vibration of the First Motion, (often referred to as to "Pronounce the word-YHVH") shall command the Universal Force. This Mastery of the Universal motion, is called the "Moves-Moves" among certain Native American nations, and/or the "motion within the movement" of the Mysteries. Quantum physicists would call it the "Dark energy that pushes the Universe", while Qabalists call it the Magus, the motion of Will that begins analysis and Understanding of what is to be.

Dr. Paul Foster Case, the best known American Qabalist, in his Book of Tokens, stated that, "all created wills are but reflections" …of the Will that is the Magus. This is an essential ideal of the Mysteries and acknowledges the fact that our Superior Nature (Divine I AM) acts through the aspect of Higher Self called the Magus. In the Crowley card, unlike the Golden Dawn card, or Rider-Waite-Smith card or any of the Traditional Tarot Cards, THE MAGUS is not holding a Wand, the primary instrument of the MAGICIAN cards; Rather, THE MAGUS is the Wand, He is the Phallus of Expressed Will, which Crowley understood. This Subjective Phallus, is not an object. All Objects are begun as the idea/potential of form by Binah, who is the Will to Form but do not manifest until after Tiphareth, the Soul, builds them as "Self-Images". Due to Victorian peccadilloes, Lady Frieda Harris didn't illustrate an erect phallus on the Thoth Magus, although the ancient statues of Hermes show him as a bust with an erect phallus, known as Herms. Hence, the Whole Body of the Magus, is the erect phallic agent that begins the process of fetus.

This acknowledgment of "First Motion" is also shown in the symbolic Lingam worship of the Hindus and or the Phallus- God Priapus of the Romans. Without the Transmitted/Expressed Will of the One, understanding of an idea, cannot become a Form of Understanding (Thought Form). This is a complex idea, and requires deep meditations on THE MAGUS card, and also a release of Victorian sensibilities, as we are describing the First SEX Action in the Universal Duality of 0=2. That Action, produced our Higher Self called I AM, who is the form of knowledge expressed by the Abyssal Womb as the Divine Child of the union of Will and Understanding; the Self Concept of I AM ME as a Soul (Tiphareth) and/or Sun of the Divine Creative has produced the establishment of form as "ME". Here, the -I is the Will and the Am is the form of that Will and the Me is the manifestation of the Union. Caution: This concept could make your forehead itch! So let us just say that the Will of Kether, called "Eheieh", meaning "I Will Be" is the first Exhaled-Breath of Spirit in the Universe and carried with it the fertile idea of "Being", establishing the "Will to Form", Magnetic- Grail-enclosure, that is Mother of Understanding, Binah.

The illustration of the Tree of Life upper Triangle, that shows a path of Aleph-the Fool- to the 2nd Sephiroth-Chokmah and the Path of Beth of the Magus to Mother Binah, the 3rd Sephiroth of Understanding, connecting both "First Feminine"-Understanding and "First Masculine" expressions of the Will To Force and/or Wisdom can mislead one to think there was some kind of linear "first and last created" as Sephiroth in the Upper Trinity. However, this is not so, the whole trinity is a simultaneous creation of I AM. 0=2. O being I and 2 being I AM. I Am is the name of the Divine Creative and it is our inherited name of the Soul. I Am/Establishment of Existence, begins all ideas of Self. ( I Am healthy, I Am Sick, I Am wealthy, I Am impoverished, I Am Joy, I Am Sadness, I AM Life, I Am human......etc. ). This ability to define yourself, is pure magic and decides fate! So beware how you use your power of "I AM", for here be Dragons as well as, Saints.

The Dark Santa Muerte Tarot-Key 1-The Magician, looks to me more like a Voodoos image of the Baron. The Baron Samedi and his Voodoo powers over death continues to be a powerful force in the US as practiced in New Orleans, and the Caribbean region, especially in Haiti. Death is an inevitability that every person must face, if the wish to Master Time-Space and/or reach enlightenment. It is the fate of all humans. However, to make death easier, each religion provides a guide that assists the transition from the human world to the afterlife.

The Magician knows he is of light, not of matter, and knows the power of his light/Auric field and the energy he brings into the material world. In his hands, he presents a pentagram/pentacle, as if it is a portal into another world; in this multiverse it is often a symbol of a window into many worlds. The intent of the seeker depends on which world one arrives. As quartz is known to magnify, store and transmit energy (in this case his beads and bones), so does the material body- a Temple/Beth of the Soul-serve as a bioelectric unit of consciousness through which magic is made manifest. Through this aspect of our Soul, we glean an understanding how to use our trinity of mind (Sub-conscious, Awake Consciousness, Unconsciousness) as a pure viewing/skrying crystal lens, creating a template from which we fashion the the "Alive" portion of Life; the Pentagram is also the symbol of Mankind for it is a symbol of the 5 elements- Fire, Air, Water, Earth, toped by the Spirit. "I Am the master of illusion", states this Voodoo Magician, for he knows that I AM is the only truth, while "what I AM" is pure assumption. All that is called Me is the product of I AM, and therefore assumed information, that must be proven by the Abrahadabra of Manifested action. For only when information is sensual experience and enacted as motion (Life) can it become useful knowledge.

The Magician knows that the power of creativity channeled to the hands ( Hebrew-Yod-"Hand of God") by the Imagination (I-Magi-Nation), one can move to a qualitive level of being, wiping the ego's running nose of fear based thoughts, mastering new spheres of life, and achieve high results in diversified and different areas. You have the right and will to dispose the past, to protect yourself, to change time-space to your will (observation changes what is observed) and absolutely direct your own Fate. Therefore, the Magician's advice is simple: you must use your internal strength of will and not be afraid to take risks. If you consciously prepare yourself for success, you will only achieve excellent results.

When THE MAGUS is thrown during a reading, it implies:

• Communication and timing and that all things are possible, with applied Will and understanding.
• There is an implication of the magic of Universal Vital Force traveling through the human body making one in-tune with the most creative and powerful aspects of your-Self; As above, so below.
• Changing the structure of your living situation by focused action.
•   Will and focused consciousness.  
•  An awareness of Power, and possession and communication of the Powers (Focused will that fertilizes creativity in one’s self and others) and Gifts of Spirit (Divine senses).
• Power.
• Strength.
• Being in control of one's life.
• Transforming old situations, bringing in new ones. 
• A burst of energy. 
• Focused Will. 
• Study and control. 
• Manifesting the Masculine divine.
• Auspicious card for beginning something new.

If ill defined by the surrounding cards (Thoth) or Reversed-(Dark Santa Muerte):

• Blocked natural expression of energy.
• Inner resistance.
• Arrogance.
• Misuse of personal power. 
• Lack confidence in your own abilities.

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