The Tarot of Eli, LLC-Major Arcana: Thoth Tarot-ATU 6-The Lovers & Santa Muerte Tarot- Key 6-The Lovers

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The Oracle of the Gods is the Child-Voice of Love in Thine Own Soul; hear thou it. Heed not the Siren-Voice of Sense, or the Phantom-Voice of Reason: rest in Simplicity, and listen to the Silence.

-Crowley

The Thoth -ATU 6- THE LOVERS astrological sign is Gemini and is about the joining together of the female yin and the male yang. The magnetic-female and electric male forces joining together to create a greater Self. This card represents the universal principle of the art and craft of relationship; the union of opposites that creates everything. The Lovers is about the Duality of the Divine Creative---0=2-Goddess/God and everything about this card is dual. Thus the journey of the twins, a universal motif found in all cultures. Hansel and Gretel, Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann; all the famous couples throughout history reflect this archetype of the Lovers.

The Lovers card is about love and relationships and reminds us that we are to be joyful and innocent in love (the two children) while exhibiting curiosity and playfulness; the royal adult couple facing each other remind us of loyalty and commitment. The Hermit, whose hands are raised in blessing above them, reminds us of the need to be alone and granting the gift of spaciousness for the purpose of individual contemplation, introspection and inner self meditation. All parts of balanced and flowing Love. The Iron gates in the background of the Thoth card symbolize the Lovers' need not to be limited, bared or restrained in their relationship. When this card is drawn it often symbolizes a loving relationship, soon to be or even a marriage and/or the inner balance of the female and male forces in an individual, known as the anima and animus (Carl Jung).

In the Text, THIRTY-TWO PATHS OF WISDOM, Dr.Paul Foster Case called THE LOVERS, the Disposing Intelligence. The complexity of this card can barely be presented by the image on the card, and is even difficult to understand as a *disposing intelligence. Let us just say, it is a union that causes the disposition of traits so that they blend as One.

*disposition

[ˌdispəˈziSH(ə)n]

NOUN

1. a person's inherent qualities of mind and character.

   "your sunny disposition has a way of rubbing off on those around you"

   synonyms:

   temperament · nature · character · constitution · makeup · grain · humor · temper · mentality · turn of mind · kidney

2. the way in which something is placed or arranged, especially in relation to other things.

   "the plan need not be accurate so long as it shows the disposition of the rooms"

   synonyms:

   arrangement · arranging · disposal · ordering · positioning · placement · 

   [more]

3. law

   the action of distributing or transferring property or money to someone, in particular by bequest.

   "this is a tax that affects the disposition of assets on death"

   synonyms:

   distribution · disposal · allocation · transfer · transference · conveyance · making over · bestowal · bequest · sale · auction

4. the power to deal with something as one pleases.

   "if Napoleon had had railroads at his disposition, he would have been invincible"

   synonyms:

   at the disposal of · for use by · in reserve for · in the hands of · in the possession of · within the reach of · within easy reach of · at someone's fingertips

THE LOVERS, is represented by the Hebrew letter Zain (meaning Sword): The Path of Zain, runs between Binah (understanding) and Tiphareth (Beauty) and connects the Pure Conscious, from which all form emerged (Binah) with the central point of Manifestation (Tiphareth). The Term Lovers, seems simple enough, yet it is a complex and profound card, as it is not just about the love of two humans, but rather the Twins or duality of the individual united in pursuit of Divine Love. Therefore, the true meaning of Key 6, is embedded in the Astrological sign Gemini, The Twins. The Dual Intelligent Forces of Male and Female, (electric animus and magnetic anima), are what THE LOVERS proposes to unite. These are equal and opposite aspects of Divine Creative Intelligence that must be united as a major step towards the Godhead/Adam Khadmon- on the Tree of Life. The surging of the Divine One Energy, across the Abyss into manifestation, formed stable dualities and/or 0=2. The Lovers card is also representative of the loving relationship a Magi must make of the Cain and Abel inside each of us, i.e. the animal and spirit or subconscious and consciousness.

In the Qabalah, The Great Work, is a return to the primeval state (As above so below) by the communion or "marriage" of these dualities of manifestation and/or 2=0.

As Robert Wang wrote about the Path of Zain (meaning; sword or armor) in his book: THE QABALISTIC TAROT," Thus this path may be considered the aspect of the Garden of Eden, from which mankind was expelled, but to which it may earn re-entry by conscious dealing with what has been called the inner Sun and Moon. The whole key to the Great Work is uniting of the Sun and the Moon under Mercury (the planet ruling Gemini)."

On the Thoth Tarot Card, THE LOVERS, the Sun is the man, the Moon is the Woman, and the Divine Fire that is above the Abyss (The Vital Force or Serpent Force), is represented as Cupid. Dr.Paul Foster Case has stated that, the Sun is self-consciousness and that the Moon is sub consciousness. Dr.Paul Foster Case, considered these are both aspects of the One Life Breath, each working half of the body. Today we know them as the Male half and the Female half of the human brain. As Dr. Case has stated, “When the Solar and Lunar currents of the Life-Power are rightly perceived, rightly discriminated, and when their operation is kept in proper order, the personality of the man engaged in this practice becomes a free, unobstructed channel for the outpouring of the cosmic life force." Dr.Case considered THE LOVERS card to represent one of the dualities created by the Spiritual Self. Just as most Tantric, and Gnostic practitioner's do. To the Qabalist, The Lovers, represents the union of manifested opposites under the Divine Love of the Supernal (Upper triangle of the Tree of Life) through Binah---The Great Mother. Thus, the Crowley/Harris Thoth Card depicts the theme of union as and Alchemical "Hermetic Marriage" of the component parts of the seeker.

The Path of Zain is an active path, for the self-control and will attributed to Mercury which directs the movement and integration of opposites. Hence, Mercury is not passive in this cards function; in fact, it is displayed as the fiery force or the Serpent Force known as the Kundalini which is masculine fiery force, united with the Feminine Watery force (flowing in waves as "serpentine:), both in equal measure and full of fiery dynamic and inspirational qualities.

The inner hermetic marriage is a red-hot marriage, complete with Honey Moon and resulting "little death". For sure there is a type of death here, as the process of crossing the Abyss means the death of one's own concepts of self. This devastating passage is a willful and total self-destruction and immersion into the Divine. It is as if red and blue merged, creating purple, the seeming death of the individuals of red and blue.

This process of disposition is well known among the Gnostics, as shown by this quote from the Gnostic Text, The Gospel of Didymos Judas Thomas where it is written that Jesus answered his disciples with:: (22) " When you make the Two One, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female, female; and when you fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then you will enter the kingdom." Jesus obviously knew of the Principles attributed to THE LOVERS card, but then he was a Nazarene Gnostic Master which is a Qabalist...the Word Christos is Greek and refers to the Sun/ Son of Zeus, which is the 6th Sephiroth-Tiphareth to the Qabalist. Again, Son/Sun is not a sex here, it is the action of both Forming energy and expressing energy as a "solar self" and/or Soul.

Eve and Lilith are shown flanking Eros/Love/cupid, symbols of light and shadow, which must be integrated by the individual through the power of love. Due to the Patriarchy taking over religion, Lilith has gotten a "bad rap" for being independant. According to tradition and the Hebrew Genesis, Lilith was Adam's first wife (Genesis 1.27). where Lilith refuse to "lie beneath" Adam during sexual intercourse, she wished to be on top. Hence, she informed the indignant Adam that she was his equal, having been created at the same time as he. Adam's lack of understanding , infuriated her and she left him ( It was said that She was banished to the land of demons by Yahweh because of Adam's complaint-justifying misogyny) . According to Hebrew tradition she is now considered a night demoness who threatens newborns and is responsible for male nocturnal emissions of those she appears to in dreams. The Patriarchal tradition has branded her the dark side of the female in contrast to the compliant Eve, who was created "from Adam" in the second story of creation. Funny thing, I must have been visited by Lilith a lot when I was a teenager, for I had plenty of "wet dreams" or was it the more plausible image of the Anima, the "Perfect image of Female" that resides in every male's unconscious, as Carl Jung pointed out? Well nothing demonic happened, so I'll go with Carl Jung on this one. I find that fear based thought, belongs only to the ignorant. As well as "fear based sexuality" causes only violence.

Date: April 11, 2020 Author: Mr. Purrington

Carl Jung Lexicon

Anima

The inner feminine side of a man. (See also animus, Eros, Logos and soul-image.)
The anima is both a personal complex and an archetypal image of woman in the male psyche. It is an unconscious factor incarnated anew in every male child, and is responsible for the mechanism of projection. Initially identified with the personal mother, the anima is later experienced not only in other women but as a pervasive influence in a man’s life.

The anima is the archetype of life itself.[“Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious,” CW 9i, par. 66.]

There is [in man] an imago not only of the mother but of the daughter, the sister, the beloved, the heavenly goddess, and the chthonic Baubo. Every mother and every beloved is forced to become the carrier and embodiment of this omnipresent and ageless image, which corresponds to the deepest reality in a man. It belongs to him, this perilous image of Woman; she stands for the loyalty which in the interests of life he must sometimes forego; she is the much needed compensation for the risks, struggles, sacrifices that all end in disappointment; she is the solace for all the bitterness of life. And, at the same time, she is the great illusionist, the seductress, who draws him into life with her Maya-and not only into life’s reasonable and useful aspects, but into its frightful paradoxes and ambivalences where good and evil, success and ruin, hope and despair, counterbalance one another. Because she is his greatest danger she demands from a man his greatest, and if he has it in him she will receive it.[“The Syzygy: Anima and Animus,” CW 9ii, par. 24]

For more information about anima/animus from Mr. Purrington's excellent blog click on this link:

http://www.nyaap.org/jung-lexicon/a/

THE LOVERS and THE ART card of the Thoth Tarot are amongst the most difficult to understand. The Path of the Art Card is Samekh (Meaning Prop) and requires a complete integration of the Personality in its subordination to the Ego (whole-self) in Tiphareth and the Path of THE LOVERS is Zain (Sword of Armor) requires a complete integration of the total self, manifest in the Microcosm, returning the soul to the aspect of the "Garden" or Macrocosm, from which it emerged.

Thus, we can say that Art is the equilibrium of the Lower Self and THE LOVERS, is the balance of the Higher Self.

In the Crowley-Harris card, we have the Royal Marriage of opposites, presided over by the hooded figure that is both the Hermit and Mercury. Eve and Lilith are shown above the couple, with cupid aiming an arrow, symbolizing will. On the Thoth Card the Black King wears a crown of gold, bears a lance, and is attended by the Red Lion, while the Kings black child holds the lance in one hand and a club in the other. The White Queen, crown in silver, is attended by the White Eagle and her white child, that is interchanged with the black child, holds flowers in one hand and the bottom of the Grail in the other. The Product of this union, is the Orphic Egg that is the very essence of Life itself.

The symbolism of the two children, has been noted by Crowley as Cain and Abel, which may seem out of place in a card called THE LOVERS.; However, the process of The Marriage is both reciprocal and repeated over and over again as it is defined by the infinity sign of Mercury-Magus, since the Sun and the Moon unite under Mercury. First one "Brother" dies, being absorbed into the other than there is a return to a balance of opposites after which the second "Brother" is killed and absorbed into the first. Theoretically, return to the Godhead requires that we incarnate repeatedly, in the twelve signs of the Zodiac, reaching perfection in each of the types of incarnation. The Christos incarnation is the perfection reached in Tiphareth which means Beauty in English and is the result of cyclic synchronicity.

THE LOVERS card also relates to the Hermetic Marriage, or "Chemical Wedding", as written in the 17th century in a text called: The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenceutz which is one of the key documents of Hermetic-Qabalist. I've found this alchemical text very readable, much like a fairy tale, and yet one of the most profound pieces of esoteric or Gnostic symbolism ever written. The fact that the word Sword or Armor (Zain) is the word meaning of this path and that blood is spilled on this path, are all reconciled and/ or reinforced in this text .

The Santa Muerte Tarot- Key 6-The Lovers, is also about the inner relationship of anima and animus. This was all explained in the definitions of the Thoth Card, and need not be repeated here. However the art work is excellent and uniquely Central American. The Soul/Sacred heart is shown adorned with swords (Path of Zain) and skulls ("little death") the fire of Will and a keyhole, the key of which is the union of the lovers, shines golden above their heads.

To open one's heart, requires empathy, love and communication and/or union. We all go through a period of learning, including doubts, crossroads and ambiguities before we finally are ready to apply what we like and love to what we do. Hence, the Path of Zain. Here " the key of choice shines actively and our heart is ready to accept it " (Fabio Listrani). Therefore, this card represents a new project, a new union, or even a new friendship.

When THE LOVERS is thrown during a reading, it is stating a principle of:

• Art and Craft of Relationship.
• What is also suggested is the magical image of the power of surrender in which one form is given up in order to attain another.
• Being involve in a process of cooperation. ---combining energies for a common goal.
• Yin Yang attraction of polarities, or universal forces for one another.
• The power of sexual surrender to the Divine Feminine within.
• This card can also mean a love affair with some sort of trial or choice involved... be it marriage or profane love.
• There is the Tantric Philosophy here also, only through physical union with a female can either a man or god, achieve true reality and the power to deal with it; A Spiritual/ sexual union, is required for shamans, priests, and holy men with the female is required before they gain full possession of their powers.
• In other words, the union of rational male right brain with imaginative female left brain must be a thing of beauty.

If ill defined by surrounding cards:

• Unattainable ideal of love.
• Repressive neurosis. 
• Self-sacrifice.
• Indecisiveness.
• Inconsistency in one's self. 

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