November 18-20, 2011: XIX - The Sun
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http://www.mayimhayim.org/Poetry/Graphics/letter20.gif
XIX
THE SUN
(Sol)MEDITATION COLOR: Orange.
HEBREW LETTER: Resh, head (especially the front of the head, or face). The Divine Countenance anthropomorphized onto the Sun. The head as seat of consciousness, intelligence, and illumination. Also means source, origin, and that which “heads” or directs, guides, rules.
CARD NAME: “Sun” comes from Old English sunne, which, like the Latin sol and the Greek helios, comes from the Indo-European root sawel- (which simply means “the sun”). All of the well-developed astrological, alchemical, Qabalistic, and otherwise occult associates with the Sun should be considered in attempting to understanding the meaning of this Trump name.
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Universal Consciousness. Through it, astrologers derive their judgments of the stars and (zodiacal) constellations, and perfect their knowledge of the celestial cycles.
TREE of LIFE: Yesod to Hod. (Links ‘the Foundation’ and ‘Glory’; or Intellect with Subconsciousness. Illuminating clarity penetrates the clouds of illusion; mastery of emotion and transcendence of instincts admits a blazing lucidity.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Lord of the Fire of the World
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Regenerated male and female as children before the Sun.
DIVINATION: Light, Life, Love, and Liberty. Glory, gain, riches, triumph, liberation, pleasure, frankness, candor, truth, shamelessness, self-disclosure, self-knowledge. Health. With very adverse cards, it means arrogance, self-aggrandizement, display, vanity.
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When I try to think of the Sun as a center of awareness in our solar system, or THE center of awareness in our solar system, two mental images come to mind.
The first is the Heavenly City, all organized around the Central Presence. White buildings, white-robed inhabitants, I guess like a big, white, spherical, solar abbey in the sky.
The second image simply involves trails of light from the center of the Sun to the tops of everyone's head. I guess this is how I imagine The Head - like all our heads are connected to it - experiencing for it.
I just love both those images. Wanted to share them.
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To set this up for the Liber Tav arrangement mentioned earlier (and mentioned in the book)...
The next column is the letter sequence Vav - Mem - Resh, or Hierophant, Hanged Man, The Sun.
The basic interpretation is that our connection to the Inner Teacher, working the media of suspended mind and turning perception inside-out, has the consequences displayed in The Sun.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The basic interpretation is that our connection to the Inner Teacher, working the media of suspended mind and turning perception inside-out, has the consequences displayed in The Sun."
Or as the Taoists say, "Congeal the spirit [vav] ... and you'll suddenly see ... the sun [resh] blazing in the water [mem] ..."
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I had a surprisingly challenging time making sense of my experience with this trump.
When I look at the center of the card I don't just see the Sun. I see the blazing white light of Kether shining behind the Sun. It is as if the Sun is the concentrated extension of the Light of Kether. It's activity is like a blossoming flower that eternally sprouts seeds of life everywhere.
The grassy meadow is where we lay out to soak up the rays of the sun i.e. turn inward toward the warmth, light and guidance of our Inner Teacher. It's our private place to come and play. A place where we can see ourselves as we truly are, therefore, we're allowed to be our REAL selves.
Consequently, our inner journey benefits every thing and everyone that surrounds us. This nakedness, freedom and SELF-expression is a gift and it's our duty to share it.
Couple sticking points: what's the purpose of the brick wall toward the top of the hill and the two little "coins" at the bottom of the hill? I couldn't wrap my mind around those.
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@Al-Shariyf said
"Couple sticking points: what's the purpose of the brick wall toward the top of the hill and the two little "coins" at the bottom of the hill? I couldn't wrap my mind around those."
The "coins" or disks are symbols of the Rose Cross. Although that symbol is still enormously important in the New Aeon, these are drawn looking rustic or archaic to hint that it is distinctly the energies of the Old Aeon from which the metamorphosis and liberty of these transformed children arises.
The wall (common to most forms of this card over time) means especially that freedom does not exist without boundaries, discipline, circumscription etc. (See Book of Thoth remarks on this, as on the above.) Also there is some interesting gematria linking this idea specifically linked to the idea of the Sun: Look up words totally 53 to research this.
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"The wall (common to most forms of this card over time) means especially that freedom does not exist without boundaries, discipline, circumscription etc."
As I was meditating on this, I saw the children playing within the confines of the wall. It was as if they did not know anything existed beyond the wall but somehow discovered there was an entire world to play in beyond the wall.
Conversely, those who wanted to be closest to the sun would have to play within the confines of the wall, placing them directly beneath the sun. In this case, the enclosed section was very special. Only certain people can play there. The ones that knew how to get over the wall.
I just looked up a few words that added up to 53. A few notables are: Stone (Ab - Father, Bn - Son!), enclosure, garden, orchard, park...
I feel a little silly missing the stone reference. The idea of "Father & Son" kept coming to my mind but I never put the two together. Not even when I picked up on the White light behind the Sun in the card.
Another interesting experience I had while working with this card was an increase in "faith". A certain quality of trust and knowingness came about me. I've always been a "believer" but this is beyond belief. It's a certainty. I don't really have many more words for it.
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"enclosure, garden, orchard, park"
(and the word here-- גן (gimel-nun)--is the same one used in the phrase "garden of Eden"...)
And don't forget חמה (cheth-mem-heh), another word for "sun", with the connotation of fiery summer heat...
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Thanks Av. How did you get the Hebrew characters in there?
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Copied/pasted
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My most profound experience so far - i connected to each and every Sign and having done that felt the light of the Sun burning what had been written in the stars, what was pre-set and preconditioned...
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@Al-Shariyf said
"what's the purpose of the brick wall toward the top of the hill."
The first thing that came to mind about the hill and brick wall is a phallic symbol piercing a circle.
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I worked with this card recently and here are a few of the ways it took shape in my world of experience:
Personality: Esoteric concepts were externalized. For example, whenever I saw a straight line, played a competitive game with someone, formed an argument, engaged in exercise- I actually felt like I was "talking" to Mars. Concepts became personified, symbolically yes, but still very real. And always providing insight into how I actually relate to these forces internally by clearly seeing how I project these forces in my environment. Instead of being cold impersonal concepts they became very personal, relevant to my precise situation, hot, directly accessible, laid bare.
Fertility/ Sterility: This realization picked up from the previous theme of projection that I explored with personality. First of all, once I owned my projections as a part of myself, skillfull means burst forth. I intuitively felt this is what Collective Intelligence was referring to. But, that was only the beginning- I felt also that this caused me to grow- this owning of my projections. A very important point is that this related to growth in how I expressed myself to others- especially through my artwork. I noticed my style evolve. The Zodiac. Twelve styles of consciousness. I noticed that I often associate Jupiter with evolution but The Sun was more focused, getting my whole being to work in concert, collectively, to express itself in the piece that I was working on in a particular , distinct style/ angle. They say that the defining attribute of any good artist is a steady "hand"- a fan will know that this particular artist created a piece even if they weren't told before hand- this is like writers writing with a strong voice: a style. You can tell Anne Rice is Anne Rice whether she is writing about vampires or witches or Yeshua. Basquiat's work at first glance seems it could be drawn by a child; but it could only have been drawn by Basquiat's inner child. This is The Sun at work...
Creativity was abound during this time- and made me feel as if my previous hard work was worth it- it sterilized my past setbacks and made them OK. (Mental Flash: Jesus Christ???) My work, the fruits of my labor took on a strong redemptive quality and made me forgive and forget... but perhaps forget something important? Hubris. Vanity. Pride.