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2020-09-20

The Crown of Creation

But when the artichoke flowers, and the chirping grasshopper sits in a tree and pours down his shrill song continually from under his wings in the season of wearisome heat, then goats are plumpest and wine sweetest; women are most wanton, but men are feeblest, because Sirius parches head and knees and the skin is dry through heat. ~ Hesiod

According to Valentin Tomberg, the Minor Arcana represent an extension to the final Major Arcanum, The World. As such, they represent an ascent, known as Jacob’s Ladder.

The Minor Arcana of the Tarot represent the way of ascent from consciousness belonging to the world of action (the phenomenal world) through the world of formation and the world of creation to the world of emanation.

The suit of Pentacles corresponds to Assiah, or the World of Action. This is the mixed, or dualistic world. Not fully God’s creation, it is the result of Adam’s fall. It is ruled by Satan, the Prince of the World. Tomberg explains:
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2020-09-132020-09-13

The French Hermetic Tradition

Valentin Tomberg explains why he wrote his meditations on the major arcana of the Tarot in French:

These letters were written in French, which is not the mother tongue of the author, because it is in France, and in France only, that a living literature on the Tarot has been perpetuated since the 18th century. Furthermore, there exists as well a continuous tradition of Hermetism, which unites a spirit of free research with respect for the Tradition. These letters, by virtue of their contents, will therefore be able to become an integral part of the Tradition while enriching it. [my translation]

Some of the key figures in this tradition are mentioned here.

I also have some Known Friends, but most of them are found in the spiritual world. That is the main reason that I address myself to them in these letters. And how many times, while writing them, have I felt the fraternal embrace of these friends which include Papus, Guaita, Peladan, Eliphas Levi, and Claude de Saint-Martin! [my translation]

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2020-09-112020-09-11

The Lamp of Trismegistus

According to Eliphas Levi in Transcendental Magic the initiate possesses

the lamp of Hermes Trismegistus, or reason illuminated by science.
the mantle of Apollonius, full and complete self-possession, which isolates the sage from blind tendencies
the staff of the patriarchs, which is the help of the secret and everlasting forces of Nature

The lamp of Trismegistus:

enlightens present, past, and future
lays bare the conscience of men
manifests the inmost recesses of the female heart

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2020-09-042020-09-05

The Holy Ghost Movement

The repercussions of the Holy Ghost movement spread, in the years that followed, to four minds of immense significance for the future. These were Albertus Magnus (1193-1280); his pupil Thomas Aquinas, the philosopher of the Church and an adept in alchemy (as also was Albertus); Roger Bacon (c. 1214-c.1294), the English forerunner of inductive science; and finally Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327), the independent religious thinker, now enjoying a real revival after six hundred years of obscurity. ~ Carl Jung, Aion

Joachim of Fiore announced the coming of the new Age of the Spirit, following the preceding Age of the Son and the Age of the Father. This third age, he claimed, began with Saint Benedict. Although his theology was ambiguous, his life was pious. Dante even recognized him in Paradise. Nevertheless, the effects were real, as described by Jung. The Age of the Spirit is upon us, as well as the seductions of the Antichrist. Deep discernment is necessary to tell the difference.
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2020-09-032020-09-13

Before You Think and Choose

Avant que tu penses et que tu choisisses, la société s’empare de ton entité et la façonne, selon son droit. Des que tu penses et choisis, efface les plis reçus, c’est-a-dire libère-toi des habitudes contemporaines, selon ton devoir.

Pour choisir, sache que tu as trois destins : tu peux être un animal comme ce décadent que les superficiels nomment sauvage; un animique comme tout le monde, un spirituel comme saint Thomas, ou Dante. Animal, sois beau; animique, sois bon; spirituel, cherche le Graal.

Pour embellir, animise tes instincts ; pour t’adoucir, spiritualise tes sentiments ; pour tendre à l’absolu, développe en toi l’abstraction. ~ Joséphin Péladan, Comment on devient Mage, II, La Société)

Joséphin Péladan was a key figure in the 19th century French occult revival. Along with Papus and De Guaita, he recreated the Rosicrucian order. Material that used to be secret — for reasons that will be obvious — were openly revealed. For the initiate, it doesn’t much matter, because the unitiated will not understand it. However, the misunderstanding can have consequences, especially in an open society that knows nothing of self-regulation.
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