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Above all things know thyself!
The Thoth Tarot: ACE OF WANDS
Now we venture into understanding the minor arcana of the tarot deck. The Major Arcane, Atu or Trump, were the Keys and the Court Cards are the Archetype personalities and now the Four elements of Alchemy, the minor cards, which are objective and therefore, personal, now and "in your face".
The Minor Arcana consists of 40 cards each of the 4 suites is numbered 1-10; wands, cups, swords, and discs. These 4 suites show us the 4 ways that we perceive anything. All human awareness is filtered either through our:
(1) Wands: Motion/Energy/Will.
(2) Cups: Intuition, emotions/consciousness/subconscious.
(3) Swords: Thoughts/Mind/idea.
(4) Disks: The mundane five physical senses (and the 28 more subtle) . Without a stimulus being received through one or more of these 4 perceptive mechanisms, then we remain unaware of its presence.
The Tarot Ace of Wands is the essence of the Spirit World of Creativity; the time of Spring and the space of South. The Ace of Wands represents Spiritual self-realization, awakening and is known as the symbol of the uncontainable flow of life-force that's is with-in and all around us; electric and yet is shaped and formed by the Abysmal Womb who is magnetism.
The Thoth Torch of Life is accompanied by lightning bolts that represent the awakening to spiritual truth and authenticity to who you are; for you are the microwave- electricity that flows through brain and body. In spirit, Truth is made manifest and who you are physically, is the simulation of the Divine Fire/Water/Earth and Air coagulated into a spiral form of Life: A "solar logos" and/or a Soul.
The 4 Aces and the 1st Sephiroth-Kether: THE CROWN, OF THE HERMETIC QABALAH.
buddhist symbol for (Kether)-the First Swirling of Energy.
As with all the Sephiroth, Kether must be approached intellectually just to form a intuitive concept of the Source. For instance, we say that Kether is the point and as a symbol that is true, but the Point is not Kether. Just as the Divine Creative built us in It's own image, is true, but the Image is not the Divine Creative, for that is the Universal Collective Unconscious (C. Jung), in which all image exists and is linked to. So likened to the Ocean, who builds fish entirely out of Ocean and energy, as a simulation of Ocean self-identity, yet the fish is not the Ocean; However, the Ocean can be the fish! This we have found out, that when we denude the Living Ocean of fish, the Ocean then will no longer support the Alive on land or in the water.
Before you get all hot an bothered, while eating your sardines, I am not on an "apple box", in the park, expounding upon the dangers of over fishing, that subject is well covered by oceanographers, instead I am just establishing some principles with symbols; as does the Qabalistic Tarot.
- The first principle symbol is the crown (preferably diamond). We may think because of our anthropomorphic perspective that this Force of Motion lies somewhere in our head, as a spacial as yet un-awakened part of our brain; However, this is not the case. The Crown represents the Holy Guiding Spirit of Eheieh- "I Will BE", the crowning glory that we all aspire to, even though it is a Force our brain is subordinate to. Because of George Lucas and his marvelous creation of modern myth, known as the Star Wars series of movies and books; The Force has been described as the personal Aspiration of all Jhedi, an Arabic word which seems to be a word cross of Magi and Djinn. The symbols for the Holy Guiding Spirit, go far and wide. The ancient Egyptians called the Three Magi, the Three Stars in Orion's belt that pointed to Osiris's star Sothis (Sirius) , which "rose in the East". These belt stars were still called the Magi in the middle ages (See The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets- by Barbara G. Walker. (page 565) .
All movie fun and cultural myth aside, Kether is understood as the Crown from which all creation springs. Each of us has a "seed" of Kether in our brains, as by our observation in our mundane world, we change the action of things (Simulation Hypothesis of Quantum Physics). Observation, begins creation and transformation. Therefore we have, the second principle- the Point. The Point is complete unto itself with neither dimensions nor external definition. This could be called a "Singularity" in Astrophysics. The Seed from which the Universe has grown. The Big Bang, the outward expression of this Seed that has been caused by a Force called Will (Eheieh-"I Will Be"), that becomes, 0=2, "Will to Force" -Electric (Chokmah) that impregnates "Will to Form" (Binah)and/or Magnetism, that is shown as the Divine Feminine-Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Each Sephira, is a crystallization of the latent aspects of Kether . In Physics, a point, is an entity. In engineering, a point is where 2 lines cross.
Chinese idom- yin-yang-0=2
As stated: The Qabalistic God name of Kether is "I Will Be" or Eheieh in Hebrew, is likened to the sound of breath. Because all Work begins and ends with Kether, all ritualistic, or meditative work must begin with the invocation of the Highest; such invocations begin with breath. In yoga, these expanded breath exercises are call Prana Yama's (Life-Death). Spirit is an English word that comes from the Greek Word, Spiro, which means "breath". All that is of Spirit-Breathes. This idea alone, causes subtle changes and activity on the Inner Planes of our Psyche. For when, the Unconscious guides and directs us toward our Higher Self, we begin to imagine the "Breath above" and the "Breath below" are one and the same.
To the Qabalist, Consciousness guides, motivates, transforms and even translates the Energy of the Divine Unconscious but does not create that energy, nor can it destroy it. Again Imagination is the Womb, but Kether is before Imagination. The "Will to Force" that is Chokmah, the 2nd Sephiroth, is not the same as the 1st Sephiroth of "I Will Be", for the latter one is individual and idealize, while the former is without idea; the ideas of being came latter in the conception of Time, and therefore, as another latent aspect of Kether. The Will becomes three crystallized aspects. The I Will Be, 1st entity/point, becomes Will to Force-2nd entity/wisdom and Will to Form, 3rd entity-Understanding , undivided and united becomes, Will to be, which is the Wholly Spirit; or better yet, I AM ME. a plane/trinity of Self!
Every thing I see, is another way to be Me.
The Number One is attributed to Kether, as 1 is the seed of all numbers, and as shown on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, by simple addition, 1+1=2 and 2+1=3, etc.. Then we have the 3 returning to the 1 as male (2) and female (3) become one, thus, 3-2=1, which is the "Technology of Sex". All seeming very simple until we begin to meditate on simple numbers and simple geometry. The symbol 1 could be pure 1 which is indivisible, so what do we really know? Symbols such as numbers, are themselves not what they represent. Thus Kether is .......but we really don't know What it is; for it is just as "Dark Energy". We know it is here and there, pushing along the Universal expansion, but not of what it is composed of. I Am is existence, but what I AM is an assumption.
However, we do know that Kether is not static, for the "First Swirlings" of manifestation are also in Assiah , the Qabalistic Material World. That is why the symbol of the Swirling Swastika, which rotates around a point, is another symbol for Kether. It seemed the Nazi's had high ideas for their perversions and have taken a ancient Buddhist symbol for the "First Swirlings" that cause manifestation and as in all propaganda, changed the meaning of the symbol to suit their vision of self importance: but that profaning doesn't change the original meaning of the symbol.
"As above, so Below", in essence states that the 10th Sephiroth of Malkuth, the visible color spectrum of the Physical world, is equally as Holy/Sacred as the Source. Creator and its Images, are undivided and inseparable. Therefore, our cultural concepts of separation are just basically denial of our wholeness a Humans and errant belief that separateness makes us special; yet like all the fish in the Ocean, we are all connected by the Ocean Collective of I AM.
We all belong to each other!
Thinking we are separate from the whole and some how better than others, is much like the city person who insists that farmers are "red neck" hicks, a form of lower life than themselves; even though their whole life is dependent on the good, intelligent and diligent work of the farmer. Such ignorant people are indeed in denial. Much like a parasite, thinking it is more important than the host, such is the ignorance of believing that we are separate from each other. In truth, the city man depends on the rural man and vise verse. It is indeed time to expand our perspectives and "above all things, know thyself".
Finally, we must come to understand that Kether as Source of All is a quality unknown to us, but one which we can symbolize to some extent. Thus when an Ace appears in a reading, it implies great power that is beyond our perceptions. The Essence of a Thing; the Idea of Seed.
THE THOTH ACE OF WANDS, of the Qabalistic Tarot, shows a flaming club/Wand with flaming Yods (meaning-hands) going in the directions of the individual Sephira on the Tree of Life . The All Powerful name of Father God/First Expression of Energy in the Qabalah is Tetragrammaton and the Yod is the first Hebrew letter, of the Hebrew spelling of that name.....(you get to look all this up in Crowley's book-777)! Thus Yod, is associated with the English word, "Father".
When you look upon the Ace of Wands, you are viewing the Fire (Father) aspect of the One Energy that is in all things, and formed into all things (as a catalysis of motion), as well as, in all Sephira on the Tree of Life. The Fire, also represents Spirit (Frequency) which "Knows Itself through Form", and thus is loosely explained as the underlying Fire in all things, and/or Serpent force, but in no way is this a complete understanding of the Spiral Energy {Spirit} that is all around you, in you, below you and above you, and as you, but unseen by your avatar/body, whose job is to view the reflections of Self.
the Dark Santa Muerte tarot-ace of Candles
The Ace of Wands/Flames is the "movement within all Motion", which is about as clear a understanding as we can get. The Qabalah, calls it, "....the primordial Energy of the Divine manifesting in and as Matter", yet it is at so early a stage that it is not definitely formulated as Willed form (Conscious Spirit). The Dark Santa Muerte-Ace of Candles depicts what looks to be an well decorated Skull Candle Holder, in front of a Skrying mirror. Scrying, also known by the names of hydromancy, crystal gazing and occlumency, which is the ancient art of revelation. Traditionally, scrying has been portrayed through the popular image of the psychic gazing over her crystal ball, but long before that image became popular, skrying was done in a "Dark Mirror" or a dark bowl of water. Truth be told, skrying the Tarot is highly recommended for one to go beyond mundane understanding of these cards.
A skrying mirror is easily produced. Just find a small "make-up" mirror, and remove it from its frame. Then paint the back of it black and replace it in its frame. Place two candles, one left, one right beside the mirror and a small tarot card support in front; a business card stand works well. Lighting the candles and facing the Tarot card towards the mirror, so that you can sit back and view its mirrored reflection. Now you are viewing the "other side" of the Tarot, the Magic side, that is unseen by the mundane. You may find different images generated in the mirror that are not of your individual imagination. This skrying is done, because of the Universal Unconsciousness's way of communicating in image rather than "words".
Please note: that small cards, known as Minor Arcana are not Divine Persons as are the Atu (Major Arcana). Rather, they are sub-elements and/or "blind forces" under the Demiourgos (Divine Creative Intelligence), Tetragrammaton. These "blind forces" are ruled by the Intelligence, in the Yetziratic World, who go forth from the Sechemhamphorach (Lord of the Universe). Lord being Husbandry, he is "keeper of Her Forms/Shepard". As it is quoted as saying in the Gnostic Texts of the Nag Hammadi Library, "...There was no Father 'till she Named Him Father", which means this is a subjective he rather than an objective he.
Now the Element of Spirit (Fire) has its own Lords of the Atu (Magus, Emperor, Hermit etc.) and each Atu possesses it's own private, personal and particular Universe, with all Demiourgos completed, just as EVERY MAN AND WOMAN is complete as a Divine Hermaphrodite (0=2)!
Now all of you that are taught that you are built "incomplete" and must seek Goodness (God-ness and/or Demiourgos-ness) in order to "make it to heaven"; Therefore, you are taught a lie . Most people actually believe, they are in the image of God, and/or made by a Divine Creative , with the Divine Creative mind of Imagination (making you a Demiurge); However, this Divine All Knowing, All building, All Creating Power has somehow failed you; It's precious and Divine image, by not completing you.... OH COME ON! You are made in a completeness of a Collective Self Awareness, a Wholeness, that must always identify Itself, by "being". Therefore, you are granted "freedom of choice"( You decide your own fate)by inheritance of the image-making mind, i.e., imagination; that alone, says you are a completed mechanism for continual change! Hence, you are the Universal Constant of Transformation! Be thankful that because you belittle your own identity, doesn't mean the Divine Creative does! "ABOVE ALL THINGS, KNOW THYSELF".....YOU ARE A Demiourgos OF YOUR OWN UNIVERSE; a I AM- universe of the manifested "Me", that never ends! However, being "complete" doesn't mean you've reached an end of any kind. For the infinite, cannot know itself, being endless it has nothing to examine; therefore, unless it simulates self as "being", there is no self-awareness and the I AM exists but knows not what that existence is. Therefore, we will never end, but only transform Self through constant experimentation and always converting information into in-form-action. Thereby, turning information into experienced knowledge.
The tarot of Marsielles
This last concept may take some meditation of thought, which is the "purpose" of the Tarot and the Qabalah. You are blinded by "man-made" definitions of yourself. From ancient time to now, the Picture Language of the Tarot and the Qabalah, help you to "see again". Your incompleteness, is an illusion created by the Military Industrial Complex of Rulers, who know the art of "divide and conquer" in order to get you to deny your divinity and become man-made. The purpose of conquering your will to define yourself, so you maybe ruled, is to become divided, spirit from body, mind from energy, Soul from purpose. Weakness, requires confusion, division, separation and "above all things, to not know thyself". Strength requires Union and/or a "wholeness" and "Above all things, Know thyself". In the world made of seekers (Wanna-be's), there aren't I AM's, there are Rulers and Slaves; there are "I Ain't s", whose identity is supplied by Rules, enforced by Rulers. Therefore, the mundane are those who must seek or pursue happiness, love, value, etc., all of which is supplied by "somebody else" (Saviors) , because," God/The Divine Creative must have had a "bad day" when God created you as It's own Image! How silly! The Divine Creative wouldn't create what it doesn't want or identify as "itself"! The Whole of the Universe is but a "self awareness" of One Energy!
Sorry people, but to seek value is to be thoughtless, God has day's only when God has Form, and human form is the most "sensual" of days! Remember, "Days" come from Time/Space and not from the Infinite and Endless! "I AM God's Day" is a far more intelligent way to understand this! I Am the Love of You, is a far greater understanding of the simulation that is Me, for all that I see is another way to be Me.
As Stated: Kether, the First Sephira on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, is the, Point, the Crown, the Observer, the Dark Energy, that is. It is the Unknowable Collective- Divine Creative or intelligent Energy that is many forms. Religions, are supposed to be explanations of this One and yet as many of us know, religion is not God, but the interpretation of Rule by those who enforce rule to build their "Vision" of god like authority, by the sweat and blood labor of "others". It is well known, that if you enforce and rule identity, you control the mind of the mass. Let me be a sphinx here, and ask you " How many minds are there in this Universe?" The proper answer is "ONE"! All is of One Mind, and most of us call it "god".
To reiterate: The 4 Aces are related to Kether, thus they are representative of the Pure Forms of Energy that are elaborated by the other cards of the Tarot Deck and/or Sephiroth on the Hermetic Qabalah's Tree of Life. The consecutive elaboration of the Numbers, are Forces being woven together to Form the Harmonic that is the World of I Am Me. A World that is 99.6% invisible to us. However, by combining the colors/vibrations of the invisible spectrum of electromagnetic light, we see that different objective combinations are created, making visible color and different color changes, such as blue combined with red makes purple, etc. These combinations are the necessary diversity of creation and can be called harmonies and/or the Veils of light. We the Psyche, know them personally, as material bodies that are called soma. Therefore, our world perspective is psychosomatic!
To a Qabalist, the numbered Sephiroth are either Force or Form and sometimes even both depending on the Masculine expressive and Female receptive aspects of a particular Sephira. And since we are both "Force" (Will) and "Form", we are called the "Children of The Divine Creative" and can set the rules for our own form, by individual identification of forces, that we call, emotions (energy-in-motion).
Each Ace is unique and is distinct in its degree of density and in its ability to do work as a specific function in the One Energy. Thus, each Ace is the Seed of an Alchemical Element. We think we know what seeds are, but when we look at one, we don't see the Tree it represents, just as we look at one another and see not the Tree of Life, that we represent. We just "kind of" know from past experience which we may call "hind sight", that a certain seed makes a certain tree. That is also our conceptions of Kether, we just "kind of Know" that it is infinite, but then infinite is a human concept and Kether can't be objectively known, so this "knowing" gets a bit tricky. Obviously, open mindedness is required and the courage to keep asking questions until answers emerge as "self".
Hence, the Influence of Kether is all around us, we just have to trust it Knows us even if we know it or not. Obviously we exist, and we are a combination of many factors, some unknown to us, so it is easy to trust the subtle. Knowledge built us, and that knowledge is ours to understand and experiment with as self-identity.
THE ACE OF WANDS:
The Ace of Wands represents the Force of Spirit as the Element of Fire. It is the Radical or Root Force of the Fiery Motion that Moves all things that are formed of it by the Divine Feminine. To those of us who need a pattern, the Four Aces are said to be placed at the North Pole of the Universe, where they revolve and govern the revolution of the Universe. To a Qabalist the Four Aces are the connecting link between Yetzirah (Formative World) and the Material plane.
Therefore, the Ace of Wands represents the outpouring of energy in the Universe. It is the root of the Powers of Fire and is the influence of Kether (Dark energy) on the level of pure Spirit. It is represented as the Hebrew letter Yod-meaning Hand, and is often depicted has the "hands of god". Yod is related to Kether, not only is it isolated and self contained but it is also the formative graphic root for all other letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. Moreover, the Yod is Phallic, just as are hands; for they project into the world, the images of invisible mental creation. It is the Male-Fire (electric) that rushes out toward the Female-Water (Magnetic), pushing the Universe of Galaxies along. Yet each of us is a Yodic force as well, for we too wield the material hands of a "god mind",i.e., Imagination(Hu- is the ancient Mandarin word for god and Man comes from the Hindu-Manas, meaning mind. Together, Hu-Man, means god-mind, all before Latin became the official propaganda of the Patriarchy).
The Thoth Tarot Ace of Wands shows Ten Yods emanating from a primitive burning club. The yod represents the Primal force behind the entire Tree of Life, that is composed of 10 Sephiroth and their connecting paths of psychic energy transference. The entire Tree is a glyph of the Power of Fire, i.e. of Spirit. The scholarly student of Qabalah will find that the letter, Shin (Maternal Fire) and Yod are often used interchangeably when referring to the Tree of Life.
Since Crowley worked in magic, this card symbolizes the solar-phallic wand with electric-lightning spiking out in all directions. For those of us who practice the Gnosis of metaphysics, know the Solar semen as electricity and the Earth itself as Female womb/ magnetic vessel, for electricity cannot flow without polarity, which is formed by magnetism. So to say that this seed of Electricity is totally male, is not exactly correct---as all seed have both properties of male and female.
However, to fully understand a concept, we often must separate one from the other, such as separating electric from magnetic, in order to better understand both as well as, the power of their union that builds an "electromagnetic" force, creating all living form.
Hence, The Ace of Wands/Flames represents the primordial energy of the Divine, manifesting in matter at an early stage and therefore not as of yet formulated into will; Will being the Magus Card ( Key-1), which is the Spirit (fiery will). In other words, energy before it became Conscious Energy.
When the Ace of Wands/Candles card is drawn during a tarot divination:
- It promotes the concept of seed---of beginning accumulation of Fiery energy for the purpose of willful creation such as strength, force, and vigor.
- It is raw natural energy that is not invoked but occurs naturally all around us.
- This Seed of Fire is in all of us as well, as is the seed of electricity.
- Force and Form, is what the Tree of Life and its Sephira are all about. The seed of force, is the Ace of Wands.
- It also helps to remember that Electricity is seen as Male and Magnetism is seen as Female. For it is the magnetic that encloses the electric to make form possible. Womb is a magnetic vessel, while phallus is an electric wand.
- It signifies a deep burning spiritual desire for self discovery and realization.
- Trans-formative High Energy for new beginnings
- the first impulse and passion to begin.
- Creative energy and initiative, to begin new business ventures, new understandings, new foundations, where creative energy is flowing with plenty of potential and ambition to succeed.
- The burning flame of Dragon Power, A balancing and increasing in Potency of Inner Fire . The Souring of Kundalini energy, "the Dragon within".
- The dawning of desire, passion, enthusiasm and creativity.
- The Power of Masculine fire, with its connotations of heat, vigor, contest, aspirations, enlightenment, and avidity to consume.
- The overwhelming power of Lust to Be that vibrates at the core of all manifestation. Pure Power to create.
When ill defined by the surrounding negative cards in a reading (Thoth) or Reversed (Dark Santa Muerte), it implies:
- Destruction through exaggeration.
- Failure through arrogance.
Thank you for your interest, comments and supportive donations. May you live long and prosper!
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