Tzaddi is not the Star
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Remember that, before Book of Thoth, Crowley was highly ambivalent about giving out the correct attribution."
Sometimes when I read the Book of Thoth I think that Crowley was still a little ambivalent about giving out the correct attribution. All those mix ups and errors in the Book of Thoth look so contrived. I can't believe that a guy of Crowley's intelligence, despite his age, could have made so many glaring blunders. Unless he was throwing a little sand in the air just for fun.
Crowley's "apparent" confusion on this subject and the opinions of other authorities have always held me back on this whole business of the swap. Most books that touch on the subject dismiss the swap as a complete mistake, like Robert Wang in his The Qabalistic Tarot. And even the rare exception that does place the Emperor on the 28th Path, i.e. Gareth Knight in his A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, still does not accept that Aries could possibly fit on the 28th path.
But what you have said above is making everything much clearer.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Therefore, before that time, he'd primarily write with the old symbolism and occasionally let some of the Heh = Star stuff sneak out (see Liber Aleph, for example; and places where he was being subtle in MT&P)."
Liber Aleph is a good example, even though it wasn't published in Crowley's life time. But there is a minor problem there too. Although all the current print versions of Liber Aleph say this in chp.167:
"Next, from the Father floweth the Virtue of the Star in the Path of the Water-bearer, for Initiative, and Energy, and Determination. "
I've been told that older versions say this:
"Next, from the Father floweth the Power of the Emperor in the Path of the Ram, for Initiative, and Energy, and Determination."
This is from the version hosted at <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hermetic.com">www.hermetic.com</a><!-- w -->
I've been led to believe that the change in the text was only made in the last 10 or 15 years. I suppose if someone owns an older copy of Aleph we could verify this claim.@Jim Eshelman said
"FWIW, I don't think of The Star as dreamy either - it's Aquarian, Uranian, electrical, stunning, awakening, revelation, naked truth, bullshit dropped, incongruous "getting it," serene streaming of unbuffered understanding, etc."
I pretty much agree with you. But I would also add that the Star represents aspirations, hope, and even dreams concerning the future. Where I see dreaminess is in the negative aspect of the Star. Too much focus on the future while the present moment is slipping away.
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So, does this mean we swap the positions on the Cube of Space, too? The reason I ask is because The Emperor is pretty well cemented in it's rightful place on the Cube of Space. it's not as easy as just switching a couple paths. The Emperor and The Star both have meaninful relationships all over the place on the Cube of Space.
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@Her said
"Liber Aleph is a good example, even though it wasn't published in Crowley's life time. But there is a minor problem there too. Although all the current print versions of Liber Aleph say this in chp.167:
"Next, from the Father floweth the Virtue of the Star in the Path of the Water-bearer, for Initiative, and Energy, and Determination. "
I've been told that older versions say this:
"Next, from the Father floweth the Power of the Emperor in the Path of the Ram, for Initiative, and Energy, and Determination."
This is from the version hosted at <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hermetic.com">www.hermetic.com</a><!-- w -->
I've been led to believe that the change in the text was only made in the last 10 or 15 years. I suppose if someone owns an older copy of Aleph we could verify this claim. "I have the first edition in my hand at the moment - It says, "Next, from the Father flowesth the Virtue of the Star in the Path of the Water-bearer," &c. - But I agree it seems as if the passage were originally written with Aries in mind.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I have the first edition in my hand at the moment - It says, "Next, from the Father flowesth the Virtue of the Star in the Path of the Water-bearer," &c. - But I agree it seems as if the passage were originally written with Aries in mind."
Thanks for taking a look Jim and setting the matter straight. I guess the Hermetic.com version must be taken from an early draft or something.
I think there is one piece of evidence that is encoded in the actual design of the cards themselves. If you spread out the Thoth Major's in the pattern of the Tree of Life (including Daath) you find that there are some quite uncanny symmetries between the card pairings in each sephirah.
The most obvious is the Lovers and the Devil in Tiphareth and the same horizontal division near the top of the cards Fortune and Lust in Malkuth. But in order to keep the pattern consistent throughout you have to swap the Emperor with the Star. The Empress and the Emperor are a perfect symbolic match in Chesed. And the The Moon and the Star in Daath both share a similar horizontal division at the lower end.
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@Her said
"The most obvious is the Lovers and the Devil in Tiphareth and the same horizontal division near the top of the cards Fortune and Lust in Malkuth. But in order to keep the pattern consistent throughout you have to swap the Emperor with the Star. The Empress and the Emperor are a perfect symbolic match in Chesed. And the The Moon and the Star in Daath both share a similar horizontal division at the lower end."
How are you laying these out? I thought you said you were laying them out as they fall on the Tree, but that wouldn't put either Teth or Kaph anywhere near Malkuth, so I'm sure I'm missing something.
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Sorry Jim. I should have explained it in more detail.
You start off by placing the Fool in Kether and then work your way down the Tree following the regular sequence of the Sephiroth and Tarot cards. But you must place the Emperor in Daath. (Don't worry he's not staying there.
)Working down the Tree you should end up with Fortune in Malkuth. Then you work your way back up the Tree by placing Lust next to Fortune and then following the natural sequence back up the Tree until you end up placing the Universe in Kether next to the Fool.
Now after you have done all that swap the Emperor with the Star.There are some similarities between the cards that are next to each other.
For example:In Malkuth: Lust and Fortune both share a dividing line across the top fifth of the card.
In Yesod: The Hermit and the Hanged Man share the same triangular shape in the lower half of the card.
The Lovers and the Devil in Tiphareth are pretty obvious.
In Daath the Moon and the Star both share a horizontal dividing line in the lower quarter of the card. Possibly symbolic of the Veil of the Abyss?
I know I may be reading too much into what may just be coincidences. But the more I have looked at this pattern in the cards the more I am convinced that they were designed to layed out in this fashion. But the scheme is only complete when you swap the Emperor and the Star.
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(A friend asked me to post this... which will conveniently bring my post count back up to 333.)
Meditating on Key 17 The Star... I saw The Star in my mind's eye and it began to come to life.
The colors became very vibrant and the scene started to change in various ways. I realized I
could not see the woman and began to look, expecting her to pop up, but what happened
instead was a stream of thought that went like this:Where is the woman? Who is she? The Star? No. The Goddess? No. Eve?
Maybe she is Eve, the Subconscious. Yes, she pours the water into the pool
(recording impressions of Self-Conscious into the Universal Memory)
and the pool pops out of the other vase creating the physical
reality of our 5 senses (note 5 streams pouring from vessel).
The red and white bands must represent desire and reason. The reversal of the
band colors must represent on the one hand reason feeding desire and
on the other hand desire feeding reason. This woman is in both worlds
and stands on water as well as earth. Yes she must be the subconscious.But, the subconscious is not the Star... there is more to it... Tzaddi
means "fish hook" ... bait the hook to catch a fish... vav = hook,
listening to the interior Voice; nun = fish, the completion of a
goal... The advice for Tzaddi meditation is to picture a problem and
let the solution arise naturally by use of the "universal solvent"
which is the Mind... Tzaddi... Star... A Star is more than the
Subconscious! The Star would be the Superconscious or something.
The Star represents the POWER to Solve Problems or one who has the power.
This person would be a STAR! A King, master of the kingdom...
Star... Tzaddi... Tz... Tzar... Tsar... Czar... King... Emperor!FLASH!
My eyes pop open to the realization that Crowley's Aiwaz said, "Tzaddi
is not the Star," which is what caused him to switch the Star and the
Emperor. Also note that in Paul Foster Case's "Book of Tokens"
the entry on Tzaddi says to compare paragraph 3 with the entire
meditation of Heh, The Emperor.If you haven't already done as the Book of Tokens instructs, I highly
recommend it. It's nothing incredibly new or earth-shaking but for
me it has helped me to solidify the Tarot up to this point.I now also understand what compelled Frater Achad to "reverse" the
entire Tree of Life. If you reverse the order of the BOTA or Golden Dawn paths
on the Tree of life, you will see that the Emperor and the Star switch places.
I guess Waite did something similar with 8 and 11. Then,
Crowley switched The Emperor and The Star.
Achad probably said, "Hey, the opposite paths must have some sort of relationship"
and just did the whole tree upside down. Although I'm not sure what he did with the reversed Tree,
I suspect he compared the upright to the reversed tree and looked for similar relationships as the Star and the Emperor have.So, I'm not saying Crowley is correct or that "Aiwaz" is correct. I
think Aiwaz made the suggestion that "Tzaddi is not the Star" which makes perfect sense in the context I've presented.
Crowley took the suggestion too far. I think Tzaddi makes perfect sense on The Star key as it explains the type of meditation (fish hook), but the real "star" of the Star key is the active force being utilized: the Universal Solvent, the King of the Kingdom, The Emperor. Hadit. In the midst of all the water symbolism of the same key... (but, didn't you already Nuit?) Impressing the Will on the Waters. That is the message here. The switch is unnecessary and wrong, in my opinion. -
Is it possible that Crowley considered both the Star and the Emperor's old and new attributions to be both correct but in different ways? There is a footnote in chapter 4 of Magick in Theory and Practice where Crowley refers to the Emperor/Heh attribution as "exoteric". Although he doesn't say so himself I assume that Crowley thought the Star/Heh attribution was the "esoteric" correspondence. Could this possibly be the reason why Crowley seems to mix these two cards up in The Book of Thoth?
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93,
One thing maybe worth looking at is that in the new Aeon, human consciousness is undergoing a shift. That is, our perspective(s) are moving to a different point of view.
Accordingly, what once seemed right and natural - the Star being Tzaddi as an example - ceases to be wholly appropriate any more. Which is not the same as it being 'wrong', any more than someone whose visible object of worship is Jesus Christ is 'worshiping wrong' per se.
If we're caught up in a right-wrong dichotomy, we're ignoring one of the primary tenets of Thelema anyway (making no difference between any one thing and any other thing, for thereby there cometh hurt). It's not a matter of settling on one side or other of divisive conceptions, but settling into the new perspective allowed and bestowed by the shift.
In this instance, the concepts around the Star are today seen less from a purely terrestrial or human viewpoint, and take on a galactic or cosmic aspect, wherein, to quote the 32 Paths for Path 15, the substance of creation is constitituted in pure darkness. At the same time, the powers of Aries are taking on a <i>functional </i> job of consummating and perfecting the nature of every existent being (to quote the text for path 28) That is, the concentrated fiery power of Aries is brought to bear earlier to bring about a shift in how we approach the work that's to come after the attainment of Netzach.
93 93/93,
Edward
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@Edward Mason said
"Accordingly, what once seemed right and natural - the Star being Tzaddi as an example - ceases to be wholly appropriate any more. Which is not the same as it being 'wrong', any more than someone whose visible object of worship is Jesus Christ is 'worshiping wrong' per se."
I think that hits the nail on the head, Edward.
Although the Book of the Law declares the New Aeon correction to the attributions, it doesn't mean that the old ways have no value any more. The old attribution just takes on a new meaning, "exoteric", when viewed from a new aeon perspective.If this is correct it clears up all the apparent confusion in the Book of Thoth. A New Aeon dispensation doesn't abolish the concepts of the Old Aeon, it simply places them in a new and wider perspective.
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"Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs."
SYLLABICATION: ab·ro·gate
TRANSITIVE VERB:Inflected forms: ab·ro·gat·ed, ab·ro·gat·ing, ab·ro·gatesTo abolish, do away with, or annul, especially by authority.
ETYMOLOGY:Latin abrogre, abrogt- : ab-, away; see ab–1 + rogre, to ask; see reg- in Appendix I.
And Abolish:
- To do away with; annul.
- To destroy completely.
So, if it was destroyed completely or annuled, what is left to interpret? If a law for example is abrogated, it is gone and can't be interpreted in any way, no?
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@Her said
"Is it possible that Crowley considered both the Star and the Emperor's old and new attributions to be both correct but in different ways? There is a footnote in chapter 4 of Magick in Theory and Practice where Crowley refers to the Emperor/Heh attribution as "exoteric". Although he doesn't say so himself I assume that Crowley thought the Star/Heh attribution was the "esoteric" correspondence. Could this possibly be the reason why Crowley seems to mix these two cards up in The Book of Thoth?"
Anything is possible, of course.
But this one isn't likely. Crowley's writings need to be understood in terms of the time when they were written.
There's one era when he's clearly confused in the sense of "still working it out."
There's another era when he appears to have it very clearly worked out but, by his understanding of Liber L., he wasn't revealing it. (It says he was to reveal it to "the wise," which he took as meaning not to disclose it to just anyone.)
By the time of The Book of Thoth - at the end of his life - he had decided that the unwise wouldn't understand what he was saying anyway, so he might as well go ahead and say it. However, there are still some stumbles in the delivery.
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I'm still at the stage of trying to learn why the cards are where they are on the ToL. Given this, does full appreciation of the Emperor/Star switch hinge upon a good understanding of the original Golden Dawn scheme?
If you make even a small change to a fixed system without a full understanding of that system you won't be able to fully grasp the implications of any change made.
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@Her said
"I'm still at the stage of trying to learn why the cards are where they are on the ToL. Given this, does full appreciation of the Emperor/Star switch hinge upon a good understanding of the original Golden Dawn scheme?"
No.
Though the more depth of understanding you have, the better."If you make even a small change to a fixed system without a full understanding of that system you won't be able to fully grasp the implications of any change made."
I never regarded this as a change. I don't think it was an evolution or a cosmic switch. I think it was an error that went undetected until it was set aright.
It might be easier for your to proceed by coming to understanding how Heh is The Star. That one is soooooooooo easy and self-evident from every possible angle, that it may be the place to start.
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Is the text of Liber Arcanorum and it's attribution to the seals of the Mercurial and Qlipphotic geniis effected by the Star/Emperor switch? Lines 4 and 17 contain elements that seem to be suggestive of both cards.
"4. Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.
17.Transformed, the holy virgin appeared as a fluidic fire, making her beauty into a thunderbolt."
In his Tarot of Ceremonial Magick, Lon Milo DuQuette places the Mercurial and Qlipphotic seals of the letter Heh on the Star and those of the letter Tzaddi on the Emperor card. I assume from this that he considers line 4 of the text of Arcanorum to relate to the Star and line 17 to the Emperor. But isn't the mention of Ra-Hoor-Khuit in line 4 a little out of place with the Star? And vice versa the "holy virgin" and the "thunderbolt" with the Emperor?
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@Her said
"Is the text of Liber Arcanorum and it's attribution to the seals of the Mercurial and Qlipphotic geniis effected by the Star/Emperor switch? Lines 4 and 17 contain elements that seem to be suggestive of both cards."
That was received before Crowley made the switch - I've always questioned the Class A status of that particular work because it is clearly his intellectual assessment expressed in verse.
Remember what I said about evaluating his writings in terms of the time they were written and his point of view at the time.
Or, another p.o.v. which protects the Class A status: Notice that Liber Arcanorum is nly valid up to 7=4, that is, within the bounds of the Ruach. It is an intellectual, philosophical formulation that is explicitly said not to be valid within Supernal consciousness. (That's probably why it feels more like a Class B Document to me.) And, since the secret of Heh being The Star was only to be revealed to The Wise (Chokmah?)...
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Wow-zers. After reading Lon Milo DuQuette's explanation of the switch in "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot" today, I see that this really, really makes a lot of sense.
(( I'm not sure what "the original arrangement" of the trumps was, though. DuQuette mentions that the Golden Dawn swapped Strength and Adjustment's trump order (8 and 11) in order to get the zodiac and hebrew letters to line up properly... but, where did they get this original arrangement from? I thought there were many various orders of these cards with no real known "original" order. I presume based on this that the "original" order gave Strength #11 and Adjustment #8, but where did this original order come from? ))
Having swapped the correspondences, but keeping the original order puts a funny little twist in the zodiac belt... but, this twist is duplicated on the opposite side with the Tzaddi and Hé swap. Looking at the strip, it looks very, very correct to me. There are lots of reasons why I feel this way and many of them are spelled out in the book. But, some that are not: just looking at Hé, the window and the breath of life, leading from Chokmah to Tiphareth across from Zain, the will exerted over the opposites, leading from Binah to Tiphareth--and Lust overlapping that general area-- looks so right! Hé is a female letter coming from a male sephiroth and Zain is a male letter coming from a female sephiroth-- combine this with the dual sexual nature of Gemini, the phallic sword and the sex of Lust around the balanced center of the Tree-- the universal essence begetting and harmonizing.
Makes sense!
Also, this puts a hidden star behind the sun (Sirius?)-- the star that the "old aeon" used for meditation relating to the subconscious process of "the moon" and here then down at the bottom is the Emperor connecting the moon and Venus with his male energy of Aries... this makes a lot of sense considering the ruler impregnates his lunar subconscious with his desires.
It also seems pretty obvious why it took a while to figure it out and why it took a genius such as Crowley to do so!
I like it, I like it. What did I miss/screw up?
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@Redd Fezz said
"Wow-zers. After reading Lon Milo DuQuette's explanation of the switch in "Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot" today, I see that this really, really makes a lot of sense."
Welcome to the real world
"I'm not sure what "the original arrangement" of the trumps was, though. DuQuette mentions that the Golden Dawn swapped Strength and Adjustment's trump order (8 and 11) in order to get the zodiac and hebrew letters to line up properly... but, where did they get this original arrangement from?"
From all Tarot decks of the preceeding few hundred years. (Not all Tarot decks ever because it took a century or so for it to shake out - but definitely from every deck from the immediately preceeding few centuries. That is, all pre-Waite.)
"I thought there were many various orders of these cards with no real known "original" order."
Not for several hundred years pre-GD.
"I presume based on this that the "original" order gave Strength #11 and Adjustment #8, but where did this original order come from?"
Yes. As to where... long story, but I think Case's report on the creation of Tarot is probably either the truth or something very representative of the truth.
"Also, this puts a hidden star behind the sun (Sirius?)"
Well, Kether and the Gimel = Isis correspondences already did that. But, then, the Sirius symbolism is actually in all three Paths connecting Tifereth to the Supernals.