The Shield - A Meditation
-
Heuristic Value:
Through the use of the Archetypes presented in the provided hexagram, one may connect the deep symbols of psychoanalysis to the process of differentiation as described in Bowen Family System Theory.
The theory is based on the processes of emotional triangling in order to manage the anxiety produced in a relationship.
I believe this presentation has to potential of adding an abstract, symbolic level to attempting to understand the psychological role one is playing in the functioning of an emotional triangle.
-
To be valued or devalued as you wish...
In this presentation, the Hebrew letters associated with the trumps of the presented hexagram as read clockwise and counter-clockwise yield the following:
Clockwise: AGDOHV <tansmogrified> "A God I have." - As the human personality in relationship to its Angel.
Counter-clockwise: AVHODG <transmogrified> "I've a dog." - As the Fool of the tarot.
The association I make is to one's frame of mind. In one frame of mind, I generate the experience of having a God; In another frame of mind, I generate the experience of identity/unity with God.
With a further twist, and some imagination, one may consider one's associations with the following:
AV - Hebrew "Father" - Chockmah
HO - English slang "Whore" - Binah
DG - English "Dog" - MalkuthChockmah (AV), expressed through Binah (HO), ultimately yielding the lower human personality (DG) through their interactions.
I have no similar associations for AG, DO, and HV, but I invite you to consider your own.
-
Combining AGDOHV and AVHODG, using the Aleph as the central connection yields the following:
"God I have. I've a dog."
GDOHVAVHODG = 177
177 - from Sepher Sephiroth (revised):
Lord of Lords
The Garden of Eden
To cry out for help
Plentitude of Plentitudes -
The whole Love/Love:Tamas/Tamas - active/passive conundrum has been on my mind.
At some point, you have to make a choice between two ways of expressing something. As best as I can figure it, you make your choice based on your own purpose, your own Will, your own dharma. Where you make that choice, you try to point it out and explain why. There always seems to be two ways of considering a thing at some point in the process.
Some people will call this choice a mistake, or even a lie. Others will relate to it and appreciate it.
But... hehehe... it's tricky...
It's Alive, afterall.
I can only say that I've been reconsidering the application to the zodiac. If you're going to go that far with it, I think you really need to work with understanding the qualities Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas for continuity with all the thought that has gone before. Perhaps my choice of the Empress to express Love/Love:Tamas/Tamas works only for the part that applies to my own dharma; perhaps it prevents further application to the zodiac. I can accept this.
I will tell you this, however - It's been fascinating....
Good night.
-
Yes. That's the divide.
If one wishes to use the tarot symbols to understand the processes of manifestation as well as the zodiac:
Tamas/Tamas: The High Priestess
Sattva/Tamas: The Empress
If one wishes to use the tarot symbols to understand one's psychological resistance or acceptance of the Life Force and apply it to how religious myths instruct us to live regarding our Life Force:
Love/Love: The Empress
Wisdom/Love: The High Priestess
They both have their uses, but one is limited from presenting them as the same thing.
Regarding the use of these symbols in terms of the qualities of the Life Force and its manifestation (Tamas/Tamas: The High Priestess), I do still feel like I've discovered a very simple method of explaining occult theory - at least one with which I was previously unfamiliar. Indeed, I feel I have been given a new glimpse of the inner-workings of the universe and may use this system for meditation and instruction. (has been mind-blowing to me)
Regarding the use of these symbols in terms of one's psychological resistance or acceptance of the Life Force in terms of their psychosexual development (Love/Love: The Empress), I do still feel like I've developed a spectrum of projection/reception and activity/passivity that works well for the purposes of exploring one's psychosexual archetypes. But this specific application of the tarot symbolism deviates from their standard occult use, which does seem to be to describe the manifestation of the Life Force in terms of* Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas*. (has been simultaneously mind-blowing to me)
I do still think that this second, psychosexual interpretation has a lot of merit and usefulness for application to understanding the role one is playing in their emotional triangles and for analysis of that role in the therapeutic setting. In the end, these archetypes as I wish to use them may have to be de-occultified or de-taroted to prevent confusion.
Here's to geeky fun and having both hemispheres blown...!
I am content.
93
-
Final attempt at clarification until later...
It seems my attempts to understand the difference between Wisdom, Power, and Love (considered as prinicples) and Sattva, Rajas, and* Tamas* (considered as qualities) has led to the discovery of two practical methods of meditation:
Where **Wisdom, Power, and Love *are considered as prinicples for guiding one's personal choices and behaviors, the virginity/inertia of the High Priestess best represents a stance of resistance * (Wisdom/Love) to the Life Force while the fertility/creativity of the Empress best represents a stance of receptivity (Love/Love) to the Life Force.
Where Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas** are considered as*** qualities ***of the naturally manifesting Life Force, the virginity/inertia of the High Priestess best represents the *latent conglomerative abilities * (Tamas/Tamas) of the Life Force while the fertility/creativity of the Empress best represents the *active conglomerative abilities *(Sattva/Tamas) of the Life Force.
Thus, the two different applications would require a swapping of the positions of the keys in the hexagram presented above. But the rest is the same.
This is my best expression of this at the moment. I'll try to make a formal re-presentation later this week for those here who are interested. I'd like to make it really precise and clear, so it may take longer.
Until then... completing a lit-review assignment. WOOOOH...!
-
Opposing forces come together to create each other.
I will need to re-read this but on this first glance through I must say I am impressed. Isnt the behaviour of time interesting once you get on a good train of thought? I started down the hermetic path just over a year and a half ago and recently it was like I woke up and realised that over the last year there were maybe a handfull of days that I didnt spend atleast a couple hours reading or making notes. It was like the year was just one busy week lol. What I hadnt realized was just how much i had lost interest in almost every other aspect of intellectual pursuit. It was seriously like stepping out of a dream.
I really appreciate your approach regarding the focus on psyc.. I am a sociology major (currently) and I really enjoy fighting through the "causes" to really get down to what makes certain pepole make cetain decisions. I will curtail my response until I have further familiarized myself with this pattern youre offering. I too have a tendency to think out loud. Thanks for all the work you did, this should prove helpful.
93 W
L -
I don't know what to say, really.
Pondering these things has produced the seed of what could become maps and maps of relatedness based on geometry and method of analysis, and it does all seem to match up with existing hermetic wisdom. To explain all of it would require a book, probably based on the archetypes of numbers, but it seems to be what we're all already studying anyway.
It makes me question the benefit of clarity versus the wisdom of laying it all out in one book for public consumption, and that produces questions about my own particular Will.
All that to say, it's still unfolding in my mind. Several of the maps are already constructed but much of the work of particular analysis and association has yet to be done. However, the intuited potential for it all to be completely formed and rationally interrelated rings loudly in my mind. I have the feeling of "Aha! This is the key of it all!" But I've experienced that feeling before, and it the work of putting it all together has yet to be done.