Above all things, know thyself.
Thoth-7 of Cups-Debauch
Lord of Illusionary success.
Triple Goddess Tarot- 7 of Cups
#7-Living from that Will, supported by its unfailing Wisdom and Understanding, mine is the Victorious life.
It may seem such a large step into the negative, after the 6 of Cups-Pleasure, to go right into Debauch, a form of intoxication. However, both are astrologically Scorpio, but instead of Scorpio exalted in the Sun as in the 6, the 7 of Cups places Scorpio with the planet Venus and Venus is ill dignified in the sign but not for incompatible reasons. The fact is that Venus is a "Party Girl" that is deliriously happy in both Netzach, the 7th Sephiroth assigned to Venus, and also being her beautiful sexy self, in Scorpio's beautiful sexy House, makes her so happy that she over indulges and slides easily into excess; the party has lasted too long. Here, one double of single-malt Scotch gets her high, 2 doubles keeps the high, 3 doubles is an abundance of high, 4 doubles is just the luxury of showing off while 5 doubles, is disappointment because the high is over and now she is just getting blasted and sloppy, but after the 7th dram, well it is intoxication to the point of debauch. Here, the disappointment that is felt, is like Venus running to the toilet to barf, just after meeting an attractive stranger!
Venus is the planet that is associated with the metal Copper; she is all “external splendor and internal corruption". Such superficiality in a martial and watery sign as Scorpio destroys any altruistic tenancies, turning the amiability of Venus into a grosser sensuality that can be called "Party on Dudes!" When it comes to past emotions, one just keeps adding to the dregs of "emotional past". Thus in the 7 of Cups, the influence of Venus is violent, aggressive, emotional intoxication, and becomes uncontrolled intense, almost hysterical physical passion which unless gratified, will become hatred. This passion is so unbalanced that even when such intense physical passion is reciprocated, it will be stormy to the extreme. It may also end in tragedies and treacheries. Such extreme violence of intoxicated feelings, may also end in poor health, since no matter the physical strength of the person, the emotional strength of greedy desires is even stronger and may eventually lead to dangerous excess. Therefore, debauch (drunk and disorderly) is an appropriate title for the 7 of Cups.
Venus is the Goddess of Love, redoubling the influence of the number 7, Netzach who is instinctual mind. As most of us know by experience, when loving desire goes into physical overload, excessive passion becomes dangerous excess, from which some never recover. Passion must be directed by the Higher States of Conscious/The Greater Ego rather than physical body's ill equipped lesser- ego. When one is initiated in the Mysteries of the "Other Side of the Mirror", and reaches these higher states of mind, they begin to feel the intoxicating flow of more vigorous life force (sexual/Spiral energy) and if the ego is the one in charge of the body, one becomes enamored/intoxicated with the teacher/mentor/guide that opened the gateways to these high levels to the student. This can cause a myriad of problems especially if the teacher responds in kind to the student. It's okay to let Venus twirl in an intoxicating dance within your heart, but know it is the Goddess of Love that you feel , an inner intoxicating beauty and not an outer person's beauty that intoxicates you. Let the inner beauty of the Soul/Sun of the Divine Creative burn away the lowly desires of the animal/instinctual body. This momentary expansion of mundane senses beyond the emotional discernment of the individual, is temporary unless the flesh is trained in the tempering heat of Tantric, Taoist, Qabalistic or Gnostic rituals that marry the inner anima (feminine) an animus (masculine) creating a consummation of inner desire as the "One Love" is fulfilled . The Passion that Created a Universe of Self, is often too much intensity for the self-absorbed brain, whose universe is all about "my feelings" rather than the reality of 0=2.
To carry forth this idea of excess, the Thoth Deck 7 of Cups displays poisoned lotuses that have become tiger lilies. The cups are iridescent, (dissolving in the intoxication), and are arranged into two descending triangles, interlaced with the larger lower cup-showing a greater lower influence on the emotions, as it floats in a slime covered morass of putrefaction. Crowley described this unfortunate 7 of cups in his Book of Thoth, pg. 184;
"This is one of the worst ideas that one can have, its mode is poison, its goal madness. It represents the delusion Delirium Tremens and drug addiction; it represents the sinking into the mire of false pleasure. There is something almost suicidal in this card."
Therefore, the 7 of Cups, is a wholesome reminder of the fatal ease with which a Sacrament, such as Love, may be profaned and prostituted simply by losing one’s balance with Kether (Higher Mind), and straying ever so slightly from the middle pillar (Balance of Masculine and Feminine), thereby making the holiest mysteries of Nature become the obscene and shameful secrets of a guilt ridden consciousness. Netzach, is that green Sephiroth on the lower illustrated Tree of Life.
Green is the color attributed to Venus, and it is the patina of profaned copper and therefore, seen as the dominant color of the Thoth Card. Venus is also represents the planet of the symbolic intelligence of Netzach, the Sephiroth that is associated with Love, feelings and instinct, the Group Mind, Nature, and the Arts. The 3 Symbols (Trinity Goddess) for Netzach are;
The Girdle,
The Rose,
And the Lamp
The Triple Goddess Tarot, 7 of Cups, doesn't concentrate on this excess of emotion, rather it displays a female figure contemplating excessive wealth, through a display window. However, this is a type of indulgence in desires and dreams and therefore, seems to a mean that of one must make a choice and not seek all at once. This could also be a test to pick one of many choices while giving thought to the matter at hand.
Netzach is the first Sephiroth of the astral triangle (Netzach, Hod, Yesod) and is the first part of your energy intelligence/subconscious to make up the personality of the individual self. You may remember that I stated that the Personality is made up of the Four Alchemical Elements, each of which are represented by the lower Sephira, in the familiar sequence of Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Netzach is Fire, Hod is Water, Yesod is Air and Malkuth is Earth. Netzach is the lower form of the fiery Yod of Chokmah that is reflected from Geburah through Tiphareth. This is the formula for Yod Heh Vau Heh (YHVH), Malkuth being the final Heh, because of the "fall" which is really a condensing or "downsizing" of self. In Netzach, normal waking consciousness of the student, must deal with the intoxicating illusions of the Astral Triangle and the component parts of the Personality, after all, we are not of the Personality, it is the Soul's "mask" that it must wear to be seen, like the bandages wrapped around the invisible man so he could be seen, except here the bandages are a wrapping of words and therefore, a tangle of propaganda. Personalities are software programs that are created to operate the wetware, and are supplanted in the brain to manipulate the physical body properly. However, if your personality was made for you out of the illusions, delusions, and ambitions of another outside "Authority" (indoctrination and dogma) then you haven't a clue who is operating the body, as you don't know the code- language and authority that went into making the software your body is operating from! The Soul/Psyche than losses sight of the body. The inevitable failure of such errant propaganda and pleasure/pain programing can cause a delirium of worthlessness. Yet again the axiom of Qaballah: "Above all things, know thyself!" rings true! You are the I AM, the body is a Me, which is all assumption.
The most important part of Qabalistic Initiation is to observe the layers of lies, that your personality is constructed from, removing layer after layer of false you, until the real you is shining true. This "Garbage in" is called man-made persona and the "Garbage out" is the dysfunctional action of "seeking yourself" in the eyes of your peers, words, or of some outside authority. Hence, your ego is an imposter. You are already Spiritually approved----you exist, and your Software/Personality for operating the wetware, in the name of I AM was already created by the Higher Self, often called the "the Soul". However, this is not a statement of disgrace, for as children you had to reject your true self, or get punished, so the subconscious-your survival mind that builds the ego, responds by compliance and you become a "man made" personality rather than one that represents the Divine Sun/ Soul.
Let me explain what few wish you to know: Besides the Bible book of Genesis stating that you are made in "the image of God", you have both the intelligence of the Creator-Rationale and the Creatrix's mind of Imagination; the Complete Divine Creative.
Now we all know a god is a dominate Consciousness on its Plane of Dominion. Every one of the Ten Sephiroth, is a demi-god (aspect of Energy Intelligence) and the True You is composed of the United Cooperation of these energy intelligences we call "gods", condensed into an intimacy with form. Hence, you are concentrated intimacy with Dominion. To achieve intimacy with form, you have a I AM composed body of the "intimate god", Top Mammal Predator", ruler of its domain, the Human body! So, you, are a Great Group of Ten -states of Energy Intelligence, who should be working as One Composite Group Soul of your individual Tree of Life; a One Divine Creative who is a trinity of Spirit-Mind-Body. The fact that you are not, is because you've been mentally separated from the reality of your divinity! This was done by the manipulation of your imagination, (auto-suggestion) by "The few who wish to rule the many", who control definition and in your dreams of what that definition is! From I AM, of the Divine Creative, you have been trained in "I lack" and/or "I Ain't" and have a personality that has become an impoverished lie of separation from the original authority that created it. You are now an assumption of lack that must be controlled by the "few who wish to rule the many", or as stated in the Zohar, "Those who wish to receive for themselves alone", something we call "greed". An assumption of lack, creates slaves to those who state they "have what you assume to lack". Therefore, greed is also an emotional intoxication.
The Astral domains are the beginning of formation, on earth. And by giving you "nightmare" stories of how bad your natural body is , you forgot it is a "god" of its domain and that you are the Sun/Son of the Divine Creative (All Souls are Suns/Sons) who declares the body as its House/Temple on Earth ! This is not your fault, as a child, none of us have a defense against the profaned graffiti that is painted over our identity by cultural indoctrination and dogma. Therefore, many of us are locked into the emotional victimization of a thoroughly pleasure/pain trained 9 year old child. We have become intoxicated on lies making our self-reflection fuzzy and therefore, chaotic and/ out of phase with our Soul. We all must return consciously to the Subconscious Astral in a Lucid Dream (meditation) of our Divinity and clean up our personality software! Rather than being a Drunken Sailor, dreaming they are off ship and looking for lacked sexual gratification, as a crazed Netzach of lack, our identity is a Wealthy Soul, (Tiphareth) who is really comparable to a Buddha under the Bodhi Tree of Life dreaming we are a human being.
So as you may see, when we are dealing with Netzach, we are dealing with understanding a particularly difficult State of energy conscious called the instinctual or racial mind. Netzach is where both the Macrocosm and Microcosm meet. Thus we are dealing with the understanding of the entire race patterns of human kind, and patterns of individual persona. But if that isn't enough, we must understand that this dichotomy is in itself an illusion! "I AM" is a declaration of existence, but as "what I AM" exists as a "Me", which is assumed and therefore, freely imagined by the Original Author, the individual Soul.
Above all things, know thyself!.
When the 7 of Cups- is thrown it implies:
- The querent is being cautioned about the apparent Victory of Denial.
- There is a suggestion of deceit, promises unfulfilled, illusion, and error.
- Slight success may be experienced, a minor victory so to speak, but not enough energy to retain it.
- The querent may be experiencing drunkenness, wrath, vanity, lust and promiscuity or even violence against women; a violence which is not limited to the male sex.
- A warning against illusionary hopes and false promises.
- Beware of arrogance and complacency.
- Release past intoxication with emotional self-absorption.
If ill defined by the surrounding cards, it implies:
- This card bespeaks of selfish dissipation.
- Deception in love and friendship.
- Lust.
- Addiction.
- Lapsing into the swamp of false pleasures.
- Hidden problems emerging.
