The Tarot of Eli-Major Arcana: Thoth- ATU 18-The Moon & Gothic Tarot- Key 18- The Moon

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The ruler of flux and reflux;The child of the Sons of the Mighty.

THE MOON, which is the 18th Key of the Major Arcana or Trump, is called the Path of Qoph; Qoph is a Hebrew letter--meaning, back of head or ear. Connecting Netzach (Victory) with Malkuth (Kingdom) the Path of Qoph is described as the "Victory of the Material World" and/or the "deceptive effect of the apparent power of the Material World". This path, is also known as the "Threshold to life”: a spiritual birth that may be considered on two levels. On one level, it is the course of incarnation where the soul organizes the physical body of which it will inhabit. It is a kind of sleep (physical consciousness not yet formed), a kind of pre-consciousness, that differentiates into mater from the collective unconscious of 8th Sephiroth-Netzach. On another level, where the student is advancing spiritual awareness up the Tree of Life, it is a path of conquest of the phantoms of their "man-made" personality which are creations of the created.

The path is a probationary path, where the student must face the emotional phantoms hid in the dark recesses of their own mind, as well as those of the race. The moon symbolizes the “Self –reflection” that goes on with the inner Solar Logos and our subconsciousness. Our subconsciousness is the Moon of “self-reflection”. Therefore, the Moon shows a path beyond the "poisoned darkness" of deep instinctual fears. However, this is not an easy path as the myth of the "hero's journey", a journey of ancient wisdom, shows disturbing trials and tribulations in the "poisoned darkness" where monsters and phantoms are met and conquered with often great effort.

Therefore this path can be disturbing to those of weak moral fiber, and can pose real dangers to one's emotional stability. On the other hand, those strong enough to tread this Path and slay the monsters "within" our sleep-consciousness and understand their mechanisms, gain the capacity to manipulate those qualities in ourselves and those of others. Hence, Mastery of Illusion is a product of this path.

As previously stated: the meaning of Qoph is also the back of the head, behind the head itself, is the Sun -Resh. The Moon symbolizes the anterior to the bright intellect of the Sun. The Moon, the Path of Qoph, only reflects the light of the Sun. Thus the central path of the card goes from the dark side of the Moon, towards the light side that reflects direct Sunlight. This rising act of direct Sunlight is show as what some call the Egyptian Scarab symbol of the God Kephera (kheprera), pushing the Sun towards the Moon. More traditional Tarot Cards show a crayfish or lobster crawling out of a dark pool of water.However, Lady Frieda Harris, has artfully portrayed a Water Strider, not a dung beetle. This Water Strider is carrying the Sun off of the surface of the Dark Water (subconscious) implying that the dark night will soon be over. Basically, the Moon -Key-18, symbolizes the rebirth of light out of hideous darkness; bright intellect overcoming the dark denizens of our subconscious, i.e. the illusions of emotional and/or survival fears and terrors of what the unseen sounds of the dark denzines may harold.

Crowley warns us of the path as he states: " This path is guarded by Tabu. She is uncleanliness and sorcery. Upon the hills are black towers of nameless mystery, of horror and of fear. All prejudice, all superstition, dead tradition and ancestral loathing, all combine to darken her face before the eyes of men. It needs unconquerable courage to tread this path." [The Book of Thoth, Pg., 112)

ta•boo

(təˈbu, tæ-)

1. proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable: taboo words.

2. set apart as sacred; forbidden for general use; placed under a prohibition or bar.

n.

3. a prohibition or interdiction of something; exclusion from use or practice.

4. the system or practice of setting things apart as sacred or forbidden for general use.

5. exclusion from social relations; ostracism.

v.t.

6. to put under a taboo; prohibit or forbid.

7. to ostracize.

[1770–80; < Tongan tapu or Fijian tabu]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Crowley's use of the word Tabu, for Luna, is interesting. For woman has become a misogynist nightmare of Patriarchy indoctrination. This began as the interpretation of the first book of Genesis by the Patriarchy sponsored religions, became the damning of woman for the downfall of mankind as the temptress whose seductive mechanisms got mankind banished from the garden of Eden.
All of which is a convenient misinterpretation of the book and of the "god" that created man to toil in the garden. {see-The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin] .

Before the Patriarchy of Rome , The Matriarchies of Europe owned all agriculture and therefore, the Land; the Patriarchy of Rome, in order to conquer and hold the peoples of Europe under their "sandal heels" found this misinterpretation of the Creation Myth as a proof to destroy the matriarchies of the Celts, Germanic Tribes, and Franks etc. Later on, all Patriarchies found this interpretation of this Creation Myth, as a good excuse to steal the land and banish woman from politics of all conquered lands. Making women a "2nd class" citizen whose rights were not those of men and often tortured them if they dared to seek knowledge. Using the word for "Wise Woman" as a blasphemy or even heresy against god and Patriarch,. That word is the Anglo Saxon "Witch". This is the Witch of Fear and superstition, all supplied to keep "woman in her place" and not the true Wise Woman of Wicca or "the craft". Superstition is just a Profaned Imagination. Rather than the Bright Imagination of Creative life, the Imagination of the people was profaned by fear mongering religions to keep the "slave mentality" so necessary for tyrants and polygarcs to rule. A subconsciousness ruled by profaned imagination is the "Dark Luna".

In Thoth Deck Tarot, THE PRIESTESS, is a source of pure, crystal clear waters (consciousness) emerging from the Godhead-The Father, to God the Son and is the Highest state of Luna (Imagination). The Same waters of consciousness are seen here on The Moon card, but they are polluted and/or profaned with the dark subconscious fears of mortality and torture, that fear of physical pain and death bestows on the subconsciousness and therefore, the lowest state of Luna (Dark Imagination). However, as I have stated before, the traveling up the Path of Qoph, towards the "Son/Sun Consciousness” of the Soul (Tiphareth) notably changes the body physiology, as the Bright Beautiful Light Intellect of the Sun (Tiphareth) descends into it. When traveling up the Path of Qoph, the Personality becomes increasingly aware of the Higher Self and less control by the dark fears of the body..

Dr.Paul Foster Case, Qabalistic Founder of B.O.T.A., called The Moon, the "Corporeal Intelligence" which means the "body consciousness". Also in Hebrew the word "corporeal" means "to rain upon", which is why we see the symbols of Yods raining down from the central orb of the card. Since this is a Watery Card, some of a more poetic bent, say that these Yod symbols are "tears of the Moon- Goddess" raining down and filling the Nile. What we all agree on is that something descends from the Moon to the Earth on the Path of Qoph, which is represented as raining Yods.

The path of Qoph is that of primitive instincts, of nature red in "both tooth and claw" which emerges uncontrolled by moral or ethical reasoning. The traveler of this Path will face aspects of themselves that our culture forces them to repress but are indeed integral and undeniable parts of our predatory human form. This is the Survival Mind, where the "law of the jungle" resides in the dark pools of violence and conquest. This can be a very cruel path to endure, especially after centuries of culture profanity, until the student is able to fear not these internal demons and thereby, removes the veils of darkness, allowing in the Bright Intellect of the Son/Sun who applies beautiful reason to our consciousness.

The simple Hebrew letter of Qoph, also translates into the English word, sleep .Thus we have a conscious relationship with the Moon, The bright Sun reflecting side, our waking consciousness and the dark sunless side of the " profaned imagination of the sleeping" sub consciousness. As the Moon has cycles, so does our consciousness, as during the cyclic phase of conscious withdrawal from the physical (Sleep) many of us still act upon the fantasies and information closely related to the body’s survival based experiences. Their dreaming is filled with phantoms produced by the body’s fear of pain and/or death which once consciously transcended, is the successful completion of the Path of The Moon.

The initiate, finds that birth, death, and resurrection are pivotal concepts on the Path of the Moon. These biological processes occur in the light and dark of our sensual perceptions. The 2 figures of Anubis, the jackal -headed gatekeepers, symbolize this cyclic process (Spiral energy) as the god Anubis was the Egyptian god of light and darkness, death and resurrection. The "As above, so below" is shown as a pattern on this card also reinforces this meaning.

The Moon, symbolizes the process that consciousness goes through, when energy proceeds from order to disorder (2nd law of Thermodynamics), from organized flesh to death. To understand the Path of Qoph--The Moon, is to understand the partnership of our personality-consciousness to the physical vehicle, which the Soul Personality builds for each manifestation. Since most people perceive themselves as having existence only through their bodies, this is often a most difficult undertaking.

The Moon was often seen as a Goddess of Life (White Goddess of Light and a Goddess of Death (Dark Goddess/Crone) at once praised and then feared. It is the physical vehicles fear of dying that hounds our subconsciousness in many subtle ways, producing phantoms who manifest as phobias, obsessions, and mental - emotional disorders. Our consciousness comes from the immortal Soul, and is unused to such thoughts of fear filled ending. We recycle, our consciousness, which is a "reflection" of the Soul Conscious-Personality. Bodies forget, that they are a recycled part of the Whole Organic Organism that we know as "Organic matter". Like I have often said, to my own body," You came from cranberries and to cranberries you shall return..." which is a slightly dark humor that I use to give the brain pause from its attempts at survival thinking.

We are not a physical brain (Wet-ware). We are Spiritual Souls, who are supposed to program the brain-wet-ware with the golden sun's/son's own software, for the purpose of experiencing the discernment of being a "living thing". Thoughts can no longer be indiscriminate mental ramblings of an uncontrolled or profaned imagination. They now must support life, and expand and liberate the "living" from fear of death- based thoughts.

The Immortal Being that Souls are, must redesign the "survival mind" of the animal body. We are the Suns of Living Creative Conscious Energy, the Lover of Entity not the Profaner of Entity, who must mentally reflect upon a world of Matter, which for generations was symbolized by the Moon. For as we all know, this is the realm of "Reflected light" which is less than one percent of the total electromagnetic spectrum that is the medium of our “personality-consciousness. One could say, that on the Path of the Moon, the Souls learns to run the physical vehicle by expanding the brain's perspectives beyond that of life and death, into the knowledge of personality-resurrection, liberation and expansion.

On halcyon shores its reflection is cast.

The Gothic Tarot-Key 18- The Moon, although gothic art, concentrates on the modern civilizations banishment of old superstitions and trepidations of the profaned subconscious ruled by ignorance, as shown by the dark ruined castle on the black shadowed hills. Here the wisdom of a clear and pure imagination is touted as a white Unicorn whose reflection is being cast upon the dark waters of the subconscious by Moonlight. According to Anne Stokes, the Moon now inspires and enchants and is no longer the soothsayer of the lunatic.

When the Moon card is thrown during a reading:

• The querent is experiencing dissatisfaction and voluntary change is on the horizon.
• The querent is experiencing choice and authenticity over old illusions and delusions.
• A call to enter into the darkness of the unconscious and to come to grips with one's fantasy made demons.
• Within 18 weeks or 18 months the querent must take control of the survival mind and expand it beyond its fear based perspectives.
• They must remember, that they are a Spirit who owns a body, not a body who owns a spirit; an Immortal Conscious that owns a mortal consciousness.
• Devotion to intuitive knowledge.
• Mirror of the Soul and/or the bridge between the inner and outer world. 

·If ill defined by the surrounding cards of the layout:

• Hysterical illusion.
• Persecution complex.
• Hallucinations. 
• Fear.
• Drug abuse.
• Flights from reality.

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