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The Thoth Tarot-6 of Cups-Pleasure
The number 6, is Tiphareth on the Tree of Life, and the number of the Sun/Son (also all of the tarot Princes) which is known as the "Christ or Buddha" consciousness. As the number for the Sun (Son), which is in the Sign of Scorpio on this card, places the whole influence of the Sun in the suit of Water.
Therefore this cups card represents the basis for fertility of all life. In the Thoth Deck 6 of Cups, we have the Lotus stems in a type of sensual dance, gushing water from their Golden blossoms into Sun-gold cups; However, the cups are not yet overflowing, as 9 is the number of completion.
As most of us know, pleasure is often relative to the individual perspective, but in this case pleasure is seen as of the Highest Sense; often called "the Rapture". Here a Spiritual Fire is bright and warm in the body, leaving sparks in the eyes. In the 6 of Cups- Pleasure, implies, well-being, and harmony of natural forces without effort or strain. There is only ease and satisfaction, a deep inner warmth. Yet foreign to the card's definition, is the gratification of animal desires.
However to some, there may seem to be some contradiction to the gratification of animal desires statement, because this card is the emphatic fulfillment of the Sexual Will, as shown by Scorpio, the Sun and the Water sign. However, the Sexual Will-is the Law of Attraction, where the Sun (Fiery creative Conscious) is in communion with the Watery- Unconscious. The image of which could be a Very fertile and Warm Tropical Sea or a union of binary stars.
The idea of Pleasure (purification) as a Sacrament may seem an outlandish idea to the mundane who have been taught that pleasure is tantamount to sin; However, the 6 of Cups-Pleasure is one of the master- keys to the Qabalistic Gate of Initiation. To know and understand this is to experience the ecstasy of the Christ-conscious that is Tiphareth,#6 Sephira on the Tree of Life.
In an inadequate attempt to explain this Pleasure, I call it the "orgasm that never stops"......it is a harmonic generated by the complete balancing of imagination, and/or the Anima, the womb of idea and the masculine-Animus- conscious creative self; of the "As above, so below". This Pleasure is of Cosmic proportions, such as the uninhibited union of "Soul Mates" or Tantric Unions of Divine Beings, or that of the "Secret Lover" within, that is often shown as the "Dancing God and Goddess". This dance implies moving in rhythm together, where force and form are married as one Movement. Normally, the higher states of this card are not experienced by the "normal" and/or "mundane" people of society, who fear the sensuality of the body; a fear generated by "fear of Pain". Therefore, they are unable to unconditionally experience spiritual pleasure. So to many, I am speaking a language they refuse to hear.
The Sixes of Tarot, 6 of wands, 6 of cups,6 of swords, 6 of disks, are all attributed to the 6th Sephiroth on the Qabalah's Tree of Life- Tiphareth (Beauty), which is arguably, at least for humans, the most important Sephira of all 10 Sephiroth.
Beauty (Tiphareth) is a synchronization of the entire Tree of Life, focused in the Center of the whole System of Force and Form intelligence, often shown as the Hexagram.
Tiphareth, is the only Sephiroth below the Abyss that communicates directly with Kether (Crown) while being fed directly from the Union of Chokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding) and also from the Union of Chesed (Mercy) and Geburah (Severity). Thus, being a balanced Center of both the above and below, it astrologically represents the Sun; in the system of Tetragrammaton, it represents the Son. Making, Tiphareth, the Sephira that represents consciousness in its ..most harmonized Force and balanced Form; a dance of Will to Force and Will to Form that creates the "Divine Child", the Buddha or Christ Consciousness. You may say, the Son is an interpretation of the Father in terms of the Mind of the Mother. Knowing this, the educated reader knows that the Sixes represent the practical best of their respective elements.
As stated: The zodiacal sign governing the 6 of Cups is Scorpio; Scorpio, a water sign, tends to be exalted in the Sun and this kind of Pleasure is completely harmonized. Fire is balanced in Water here, as He is balanced in She. Scorpio is also the sign associated with the "glands of the Pelvis'', so pleasure in the Six of Cups, is rooted in its "most convenience soil", making this a most fertile card.
Both Crowley and I deem this to be one of the best cards in the pack. Of course, my bias may be apparent here, as I have Scorpio natal and rising, with a Cancer Moon, in my own Astrological Chart. Never the less, this is one moment of harmonized pleasure that is most satisfying. I have personal experience in that regard as a practicing Dhaka with a Dakini, when in Tantric studies.
To the Hermetic Qabalist this Tarot card is Tiphareth ( Beauty) in Briah (the mental world) Briah is considered a "watery world" of the Unconscious, which means it's intelligence acts as water with currents, eddies and flow so Tiphareth in the Watery World of Briah, means the beginning of pleasure, as the Sun instigates the molecular dance that creates.
Scorpio is a sign of hidden qualities, it is magnetic (female) and discriminatory [many Scorpio's can become harshly judgmental] and the scorpion may sting where the Will directs. The Sun activates Scorpio as it does the Oceans on earth, eddies,and currents swirl and dance because of the Focused Force of the Sun and Pleasure/Creation commences. The Goddess ( Binah-Will to Form) and The God (Chokma-Will to Force) Dance in Pleasurable Union. At least, that is the Esoteric explanation.
In our daily reality, this card is considered one of the best cards in the pack and it stands for well-being, harmony of natural forces, without effort or strain, just ease and satisfaction. This is not vulgar pleasure, brought on by artificial stimulants, such as alcohol or drugs, but the deep inner pleasure understood in the highest sense of Being. I have reached this state many times in my Tantra Yoga work, and I call it the inner orgasm that never stops. It is the Joyful Communion of Creation Itself, where the personality meets the "Secret Lover" within! That "secret lover" is also often called the "Holy Guardian Angel", who really is the Soul/Psyche, that built the Real Personality, that mankind has corrupted. That nagging "hole in your heart", dug by indoctrinated self-rejection, is filled here, and never again is there "emptiness within" nor rejection feared.
Some people believe that pleasure is a fleeting thing, "It won't last", says the fearful of discomfort, implying why bother. But this is the "Inner Pleasure" that Drives Creation in this Universe. It is the underlying foundation of ALL! It does indeed last, here comes the caveat, but only when one's mental, emotional, spiritual and physical states of conscious energy are in harmony.
Therefore, this is a Pleasure that is likened to the Rapture of St. Theresa, which she achieved by pure devotional union to the Son of the Divine Creative (the Qabalistic 6th Sephirothic Intelligence of Beauty-Tiphareth) and/or The Christ. She experienced a "kunalini rising" and/or Sun rising-orgasm, with the "Secret Lover" within. This is also the pleasure I have felt while dying. Here, the Soul comes to me, the personality, as a Creatrix of amazing beauty and she takes me into her arms and releases me from the body. There is a great surge of Spiritual force in that embrace, and the body feels great joy. To experience death as a great pleasure may seem rather odd to the fearful, but to those who "know themselves", this is another great transformation of Life.
Since the mundane are devoted mostly to their indoctrination and "slave jobs", this pleasure is perverted by "pleasure-pain training" and can be like stormy atmosphere of Earth, where the Sun heats the Ocean into soggy clouds (when our emotions become overcast by survival thinking) and we feel less joy and more worry until our fears rain from our "I's" (our identities). We then rain, (cry over our troubles) expressing turbulent emotion, which temporarily releases the unconscious waters and then the Sun may temporarily come out again; a cycle that repeats in the fear based self-conscious. As we all know, the Sun/Reason never left us, but we left it by forgetting to be the Spirit who owes its own senses of pleasure to the human body. All of us are "born of Suns" and are made of Light. We seek not light, for that would be like a fish, swimming in the Ocean, looking for Water. As Intelligent light, "Suns of God", there is no pleasure without a sensual body, for even "mental pleasure" (satisfaction) can't be felt without the senses supplied by the body! However, change must happen if Life is to continue, and often we must change perspectives to keep the inner sun on the horizon. Knowing that inner Sun/Son of Pleasure, called Beauty, is always with us whether we see it or not, helps us to remember that we are the Beauty who came to be human and Human is a Spiritual experiment in Pleasure! For I AM ME, is pleasure, where I AM is merely existence! Therefore, as Living Light, we don't merely exist, we are "alive"!
I along with Crowley, believe this to be one of the, if not the, best cup card in the deck when it comes to a deep personal life changing experience. This is the psychosomatic Ecstasy of the Dancing God and Goddess (Shiva and Shakti in Eastern theology) within. According to astrology, this makes a Scorpio Sun sign makes one a very deeply psychic, spiritual and emotional person who loves pleasure; my inner self is a bight pleasure to my Watery/emotional World. Within, Bacchus revels in my halls of hearth and heart I live this card, in a daily Glow of Bright Pleasure, undisturbed by catastrophe, all because my brain became the "honeymoon suite" of the Anima-Animus. Thus I have no need to seek pleasure, for as a Qabalist, I am it; as pleasure is state of daily being. In other words, Pleasure is the Fulfillment of the Divine Creative's "Will to Be" that wears me as its carnival mask. I find that I rise as the Sun, and warm my consciousness, in the glow of Self-Knowledge. Since, I have become a "honeymoon suite" of the Divine Creative, I have a nonstop inner dance with the "Secret Lover". Therefore, my deepest Pleasure, is the ecstasy of the Anima (Feminine-Spirit) and Animus (masculine-Soul), in Yab Yum (Tibetan for :face to face). The harmony represented by this card, is an actual song that vibrates within.
The Thoth 6 of cups implies PLEASURE, on a deeply spiritual -emotional way. A pleasure that is healing ( gold reflecting copper cups), revitalizing ( orange blossoms) renewing and regenerating ( the coiled serpents in the cups). This is the underlining pleasure that is the foundation of creation itself--an Ecstasy that never stops as it vibrates the waves of pleasure that builds all things, as well as, the pineal gland in the brain. This vibration floods the body with a core of pleasure and excites magic abilities.
" Where there is Ecstasy, there is Creation. Where there is no Ecstasy, there is no Creation"
-Tao
As stated: Tiphareth, the 6th Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, is the Son/Sun of God (Beauty) and the number 6 also represents the Sun, star of our solar system. Contrary to the Patriarchal Christian doctrine, "The Son of God", is in reference to an "expressive/excited Creative State of Energetic Psyche" and not a sex. Therefore, there is Golden Beauty in arising in the Unconsciousness, that influences the beautiful reason of the self-conscious. Thus, the whole image of the Thoth Card is that of the influence of Sun on Water; the Sun is in the sign of Scorpio which is the basis of fertility in life.
Again, and not to be overstated: In this Qabalistic Thoth Tarot card, the depiction of dancing lotus stems, with blossoms gushing forth water into each golden cup, without overflowing implies well-being, harmony of natural forces without strain or effort; the gushing Sun- Semen/Gluten (White light) that fills the magnetic vessel of Earth. It is ease and satisfaction in harmony. Pleasure, in this sense, is not gratification of natural or artificial desires. Rather, it is Pleasure in the highest sense of the Divine Creative and thereby it does emphatically represent the fulfillment of the Sexual Will (Will-to-Be) as shown by the ruling Sephiroth, sign, planet and element.
If the student of Tarot vigorously studies the 6 of Cups-Pleasure, by investigation of the Sephira-Tiphareth, the Sign of Scorpio, The Sun, and the Pythagorean Element of Water (as an Alchemical element), they will find that this card is the actually the highest sensual/spiritual card in the Suit of Cups. For it is the Pleasure of Union, that is the God (Fire/creative conscious) and Goddess (Water-emotive Unconscious) in Communion, that builds this entire Universe of Force and Form. In other words, the Big Bang is an orgasm of Energy that spreads forever outward in a joyous flow like a living water. Now I know that most people will not seek to understand this Passionate flow of creation, but if you do, you'll be greatly rewarded with a Sun of Rapture glowing in your Navel Chakra and warming the Heart Chakra, as if in a summer sunrise.
From the Sepher Yetzirah and the text of the Thirty Two Paths of Wisdom of Dr. Paul Foster Case:
In Kether is the Radix of a Golden Glory and thence is there a pure, primitive and sparkling, gleaming golden yellow which is reflected into Tiphareth. This is the first reflected Triad complete. And the sphere of its operation is that of Shemesh, the Solar Light, and bestoweth Life, Light and Brilliancy in metallic matter, and it rideth the sphere of action and of the Sun. And YHVH .
Eloah va-Daath is a God of Knowledge and Wisdom, ruling over the Light of the Universe; and its Archangel is Raphael, the Prince of Brightness, Beauty and Life. And the Name of the Order of Angels is Melechim, that is Kings or Angelic Kings, who are also called the Order of Virtues, Angels and Rulers.
Therefore, the 6 of cups is also called the:
Lord of Pleasure. The Angels of the Decan are Nelokhiel and Yeyayel.
The influence of the Solar Logos-Tiphareth, in the Mental World known to Qabalist as Briah.
Already we know that Tiphareth in Atziluth (Beauty in Pure Spirit) means Victory after effort, shown as the 6 of Wands. Now we see the 6 of Cups as Tiphareth in the Watery World, (Mental/Creative World) as the beginnings of Pleasure.
Of course, Scorpio may sting where the Will directs, however, when the Will resides in Beauty-Tiphareth, Love is the Willful view of Life; the I Am Will rather than I have will. Therefore, the scorpion's sting is reserved for those who would demean life with vial actions of desecration. (Such as J. Christ whipping the money changers out of the Temple).
So as the Sun activates the Forces of Scorpio (Sun sign on -upper center and Scorpio sign on bottom center), gain or pleasure commences. Implied, without need of assurance, is that pleasure and gain will build, as shown by the, flow of bright water from above. Hence, the Solar glow has permeated the darkness of fearful unconscious emotions, and is stimulating internal growth.
When the 6 of Cups- is thrown during a reading, the querent is experiencing:
- Emotional pleasure, in a period of 6 weeks or 6 months of giving to and receiving pleasure form others.
- A period of innocence and taking great pleasure in one's childlike qualities.
- They maybe experiencing an orgasmic rush of feelings, a wave of ecstasy that even sad feelings being actively expressed, feel good in release.
- The querent may also be experiencing sweet memories of the past, as past efforts bring present rewards.
- In the period of six weeks or six months, the beginning of a wish, happiness, success, enjoyment.
- Commencement of gain in a steady increase of pleasure, But a commencement only.
- Sexual pleasure is also depicted here as in a higher state of harmonious union of the Dual Creative. Such as a Tantric would experience.
- Amiable and patient emotions will also be experienced.
- This pleasure could be experienced with the Scorpio people in your life (October 21 to November 21) or you could be experiencing a time of deep emotional pleasure that is spiritually and emotionally powerful and energizing.
- This is not pleasure from a great glass of wine, or a wonderful meal, this is an overall pleasure that bonds both the Pleasure of the Spirit with the sensual pleasure of the body.
- Something the successful Tantra practitioners understand; the pleasure of Spiritual Being created the Sensual Pleasure of the five senses---creating ten senses of magical being. When all 10 flow in balance there is Ecstasy! Why else would a immortal Spirit create a body of time/space that can radiate pleasure---if being physical doesn't please you?
- The deep understanding of Spirit----Shows us that physical being is not a curse but a magical gift that makes us intimate with creation and the joy of being.
- Creation Loves being into manifestation---this card indicates that such deep pleasurable love is felt.
- Joy, deep pleasure of memories, of happiness like that of very young children who are the Happiness that Came to be in communion with all of creation.
- Inside all of us is the Original Joy of Being and such is this card.
- It is not about goals, achievements, or getting what one wants,its about the United Orgasmic Flow of Self Awareness that has created the All.
- Experiencing the Spirit's Joyful Love that drives Force and Form into united expression.
- The Inner Son/Child of the Divine Creative united with its Parents.
- When one feels the Sun Rise over the Ocean of Self-----one will know such joy! Great Card!
- If ill dignified:
- Affront, defective knowledge (perverted sexual knowledge) contention and strife arising from unwarranted self- assertion and vanity.
- Sometimes thankless and presumptuous. This usually happens when the card is surrounded in Swords of a negative vein.
Thank you for your interest, comments and donations. May you live long and prosper.
