January 8-10, 2014: II. The Priestess
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Pluck a string, and the whole web vibrates with the music.
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Day one notes:
The ego as the bearer of the word, impregnated with the word, language and the capacity to speak.
Watery-ness. First glance at the background feels like mental submersion into water.
Exalted receptivity, receptivity exalted, mystery, wonder of a majestic kind
Sitting between two pillars - reconciliation
Bow - a weapon for shooting arrows - speeding aspiration
The fruit are like a mirage
The lunar fluctuations create a web and net.
She's naked, pure.
Day two:
Waves of light casting a reflection
The movement of the lunar crown casts waves of light, the fluctuation, the cycles of this lunar nature.
Exalted receptivity, giving oneself over to something
Subtle influence, gentle influence
She sits between the pillars her hands resting at the top of both
as I type this I think of the position of her hands as in chokmah and binah, serving as a conduit to combine and channel their energies
She casts a net outward
The motion of her casting this net stirs her energy, the energy travels along the net culminating in fruit and riches
Something present and palpable yet almost unknowable.
You must be open to receiving when you come to see the priestess for she will give you what you want but on her terms.
There are almost no words that really capture the priestess. She's too pure to be defined. She will offer you a reflection of SOMETHING but that reflection is what you put up in front of her mirror. She will take whatever form she may chose but she is not the form.
Day three:
The priestess- seductress
II Duality, polarity, attraction, repulsion
Pregnant with the light of the Sun of Life, a full moon, shining forth, giving itself whole-ly fully, in-most intoxication, learning to be receptive as a way of beingEntangled and enmeshed in ones own imagination, attached to things as we see them, not as they are
Pure being dancing with egoic entanglements of the mind
Weaving a net to cast thy fruit out into the world
Appreciation and exaltation of the feminine
Targets - she has a bow and arrow because she has an intention to hunt, she has a target
Emerging from the primal waters, a figure of pure being enters our mind. Crowned with a crown of the moon, this is no ordinary woman. This is the divine feminine. The seductress, she who gives all of herself to the sun of life.
Armed with a bow and arrows she approaches her throne, her rightful place, ready to speed the arrow of truth.
Poised between the pillars of force and form, she outstretches both of her arms causing the light emanating from her to echo outward.
Gazing intently at her target she casts her web and casts her bounty toward her beloved
Rich fruits and precious stones stream forth as tokens of her generosity and epicurious nature.
She embodies and represents the innate jewel of light, life, liberty and love of our being, which when we are in the presence of it, carries us ever forward into the dark , cold desert night.
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I just want to acknowledge everyone who's been participating so far. It's been pretty awesome and we're just getting started.
I love not coming on the board for 3 days and then coming on here, posting my meditation outcomes and then seeing all the similar things show up for other people.
I'm going to make a request that we post all of our meditation outcomes on day three of whatever card we're working with and then if we want to have a discussion about what came up for us we do it on the rest day.
Let me know if you accept, decline or have a counter offer.
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I suggest the opposite: Post as thou wilt. Encourage productive activity on the forum rather than discourage it.
If people don't want to be influenced by others' posts, don't read them
Let the consumer control consumption.Also, if everyone waits until the last day, then any back and forth discussion will occur over the days following when the mind is rightly saturated with the next card.
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Thanks again Jim. I'm aligned with your suggestion.
Post as thou wilt people!
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Onward, to the knees of the Empress!
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@Al-Shariyf said
"Thanks again Jim. I'm aligned with your suggestion.
Post as thou wilt people!"
See man, I really like the idea in terms of an experiment. If I had the discipline, I think I might really enjoy it and be able to say I learned from it. And I bet there would be some cool things to see.
But I know me, and for me this is only able to be fueled and given time for in the inspiration of the devoted moment. If I squeeze it to hard, it goes away.
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I hope you won't be angry, I, like you, have a lot of shit going on.
Right now, this is the work I can do.
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It's all good dude.
You don't HAVE to post everyday. You can post whenever the spirit moves you to.
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I like to read people's accounts after I've done my meditations. I might start reading them on the third day, though. The differences and connections are all so interesting. I can't say I have noticed a great influence from these cards playing out in my life, but the whole exercise is certainly building/revealing a narrative in my mind and that way the themes do stay with me. A very enjoyable experience!
So onto my first day of meditation on the Priestess. I see the web of Indra before. I see the mind, the web that thoughts are hung on. The web is the veil of the goddess. The goddess is naked behind this veil, but seeing her takes unique vision. On her lap the goddess holds the bow that must be held and cocked to ascend the upward path. Meditation is the path. This exercise is the path. This is gimel or the path of the camel. The goddess is Artemis. At the bottom of the card, there are sacrifices: jewels, fruits, etc. They are worldly things which are sacrificed in order to begin the journey. This card is about astral activity. The scene is atrium-like, like a temple, a house.
On the second day, I note that gimel looks like a candle. Candles, of course, burn with light. They are a sacrifice which turns itself into light by the act of sacrifice. The sacrifices at the feet of the goddess are not just sacrifices to the goddess, but gifts from the goddess to us. Using them reaffirms our relationship to her, so this card is actually a two way street. I'm struck by an odd similarity between that idea and the burning of a sacrificial candle. I find it very difficult to convey this realization in text. The act of devotion is the aim of devotion. We are Light! I am the candle.
On the third day, I see chaos and order in the card. Chaos is power and order is shape. Even the material things at the bottom are just power packaged in forms. Eating a grape, breaking its form, fuels us. This card is about peeling back the layers, but as we do so the truth changes at each stage. Though truth is mutable in this way, all is ultimately Light! Oneness! The world is not there to distract us (though it often does), it is there to feed and empower us. In meditation, all the distracting thoughts that may arise are Light too! Just unpackage them and recycle!
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She lays down her weapons and parts the veil allowing worship of her, laying gifts at her feet. She expects the worshipper to give all.
She is Isis-Nuit. All is within her-She is the path to Godhood. The virgin waiting to become mother.
She is beauty purity and infinity. Her face contains a peaceful bliss- she is the keeper of knowledge and attainment of her is true initiation.
"To love me is better than all things".
She has the means to destory but chooses love instead. Maiden of the triple goddess.
Diamond-purity of kether, grapes-ecstacy of bacchus. She guides and carrys the adept across the abyss. Give everything to Babalon (there is a conflict between goddesses in my mind)
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As my mundane conditions do not permit of me to access the internet regularly I will be posting "ad hoc:"
Verbatim from my Magical Diary:
II. The Priestess
1.11.14
10:05-10:36
Rhythmic breathing established, sphere of blue/white light and white light over head. Devoted concentration to the card: difficult meditation surroundings. Struggled with thoughts of ill worth and plumbed certain subconscious depths as regards mother symbolism, etc. The card interacted with my subconscious in a strange way until I was able to subdue the mental/subconscious flow and concentrate on the card itself, allowing the energy of the Priestess to interact with my mind without any linguistic interplay. A pure and exalted influence permeated my being, and I became engrossed in rapture, contemplating Luna in Her many forms. The blue/white light passed into nothingness and in my meditation I was given a vision of dark blue, purple, and gold color, and I realized that the darkness I disregard as mere mind is actually the brilliant night sky of the Goddess.
Terrible meditation conditions (busy house, etc.), but good concentration.
1.12.14 9:00-9:20 A.M.
Rhythmic breathing established; good breathing without. Not much to say about this meditation: I simply allowed the card to interact with my mind in whatever way it chose fit. Contemplation of Kether and Tiphareth, the Divine Light and the Son made manifest by the Virgin Mother; ideas of purity, exalted, radiant, and somewhat stern and cold. Barren, like the desert through which the camel travels. And like the desert, a beautiful barrenness it is, as She weaves Her web of enchantment over the course of Things. I saved these meditations for these days because Luna is in Taurus, and so I am more fitted to be saturated with the ideas inherent in the card.
Meditation conditions fair.
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"See man, I really like the idea in terms of an experiment. If I had the discipline, I think I might really enjoy it and be able to say I learned from it. And I bet there would be some cool things to see.
But I know me, and for me this is only able to be fueled and given time for in the inspiration of the devoted moment. If I squeeze it to hard, it goes away.
[...]I hope you won't be angry, I, like you, have a lot of (****) going on.
Right now, this is the work I can do."
Likewise, I have an extremely hectic lifestyle occurring at the moment (this is not an excuse, simply a statement of intent) and without going into mundane details I will only say that I am doing the best I can (which is better than nothing). Now that I am all "caught up" I will do my best to keep on track.
I will mention that the inherent discipline involved with these meditations has done much to center my Self.
Edit: I may also mention that my meditations almost always go beyond the prescribed 15 minute segment. I allow the card to soak itself into my being until I am thoroughly saturated. I then contemplate the card throughout the day. I might do two meditations a day or I might do none as conditions permit. I am now aligned with the rest of the group and I will strive to keep up. (My mundane conditions are rather severe at present.)
I also read through almost every other post, as it is very educational and intriguing to me how we each respond as individuals concerning each card.
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@Mephis said
"
"See man, I really like the idea in terms of an experiment. If I had the discipline, I think I might really enjoy it and be able to say I learned from it. And I bet there would be some cool things to see.But I know me, and for me this is only able to be fueled and given time for in the inspiration of the devoted moment. If I squeeze it to hard, it goes away.
[...]I hope you won't be angry, I, like you, have a lot of (****) going on.
Right now, this is the work I can do."
Likewise, I have an extremely hectic lifestyle occurring at the moment (this is not an excuse, simply a statement of intent) and without going into mundane details I will only say that I am doing the best I can (which is better than nothing). Now that I am all "caught up" I will do my best to keep on track.
I will mention that the inherent discipline involved with these meditations has done much to center my Self.
Edit: I may also mention that my meditations almost always go beyond the prescribed 15 minute segment. I allow the card to soak itself into my being until I am thoroughly saturated. I then contemplate the card throughout the day. I might do two meditations a day or I might do none as conditions permit. I am now aligned with the rest of the group and I will strive to keep up. (My mundane conditions are rather severe at present.)
I also read through almost every other post, as it is very educational and intriguing to me how we each respond as individuals concerning each card."
It's a commonplace phenomena: start something up, a project that requires disciplined & rhythmic work, and all kind of barriers and/or distractions appear (usually "out of nowhere")
I had a particularly hard time with the last two days of ATU I, all three days of ATU II and the first day of ATU III - distracting noise from the environment while doing the meditation (and I deliberately choose morning in order to avoid this,at the beginning of the project!), tense family relations, my own health strained (a cold, followed with days of annoying coughing in the morning...)... all of this while on a vacation (with additional short-term traveling during it), away from home and my established Temple-space... not to mention the very limited internet access during these days...
During the meditation on the Priestess, Day 1, something "clicked" inside me, I experienced an instant shift of personal emotional tides (not at all "dramatic" in any way, very peaceful and gentle), and instead of being annoyed with various distractions, I just accepted them as part of the process and approached them with a sort of joyfulness! The outside conditions remained more or less the same during the next three days, but it was much easier for me to focus while meditating, and to approach the practice without-expectations, to just sit and enter the "conversation" with the current Arcana open and calmly-minded.
I'm writing all of this in order to say: I'm very glad you are keeping up (all of us)!
The meditation practice has shown as a worth experience so far, and I enjoy reading all of your notes, it's stimulative and refreshing. I feel that we are, as a group, creating (or better: focusing, directing) some subtle & powerful energy waves; although we all meditate individually, and there are no strict rules for the practice itself (besides the basic instructions in Liber Theta), we are doing it together following the appointed time-framework, collectively focusing on the same Arcana-principle at a time, and this is beautiful - it emanates Beauty!
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@danica said
"I had a particularly hard time with the last two days of ATU I, all three days of ATU II and the first day of ATU III - distracting noise from the environment while doing the meditation (and I deliberately choose morning in order to avoid this,at the beginning of the project!), tense family relations, my own health strained (a cold, followed with days of annoying coughing in the morning...)... all of this while on a vacation (with additional short-term traveling during it), away from home and my established Temple-space... not to mention the very limited internet access during these days..."
More or less the same for me. I have no established Temple area at the moment, so I am conducting these meditations "on the run." During a very high and exalted meditation on the Priestess my girlfriend's brother stormed in the room asking for a cigarette; other times I'll need to conduct the meditations in the car (parked, of course
) or in the city library, etc. Sometimes I get some interesting looks--like, why is this guy staring at a strange looking card so intently? I've had Christians interfere with Tarot readings before, and other such Interference, so I take it all as part of the training. Jupiter is Retrograde in Gemini at the moment: the very image of Interference, so I am impressed at all who have had the discipline to participate in whatever capacity. I'm sure many of our lives are very hectic right now.The main thing for me is to remain as faithful as possible to the format; it is a good discipline and I likewise enjoy our communal responses. I find it best to unearth my old college instincts and simply treat the project as a class, the meditations being homework assignments.
I also might add that I am undergoing self-imposed cessation of various doctor-prescribed medications (I incurred a cracked rib and a number of different injuries during a drunken brawl on New Years) as well as cessation of my normal cannabis and cigarette use, for the reason that I will be undergoing a Vipassana meditation retreat for 10 days (from the 22nd to the 1st of February.) So I will be unable to participate between those dates. I had planned to simply memorize the card attributes and so forth and continue the mediations in the Astral or whatever, but the monks insist that no outside meditations be used and no writing materials are allowed. So I will speed up my meditations or catch up later. 'Tis no odds.
I will mention that meditation, exercise, and contined discipline have made the cessation of substance-habituation much easier than is per usual.
93's.
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Makes me so happy to see people are getting so much out of this project
While we were working with The Priestess I discovered a new way of working with the cards. I used to look at each symbol on the cards, analyze it and them attempt to piece them all together when I wrapped up the meditation and then I'd make an attempt come up with what the card means.
Since working with the priestess, I tune into the vision of the card my subconscious shows me, kinda like watching the movie. And then I let the story show itself to me and write it down as it comes out. It's been working really well for me.
The funny thing is, when I read the story I get an overall sense of the meaning of the card. It's so cool.
And, I haven't missed a card or a day of meditation which is a huge breakthrough. I love it.
Seeing everyone's posts has been super inspiring as well. This is all coming together so fabulously. Let's keep it up!
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Today's news documents something of interest because it may, at some point, affect how we understand the worked "camel." (Or, then again, it may not.)
The most basic attributions of Hebrew letters date back into Biblical times, including those ideograms (often mistaken as literal meanings of the letters) whereby, for example, Gimel "means" camel.
But a whole lot of camels in the Old Testament weren't really there. Best current information is that there were no camels in Palestine until a few decades after the reign of King David.
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Not so much that camels didn't exist (as if they popped out of the blue one Davidian day), but that they weren't domesticated by the Hebrews yet.
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Ehh,.. That evidence only suggests that there was no widespread domestication of camels, as in being used instead of donkeys in mines. "Decades after David" means Solomon, and I think that's telling. He was reportedly a kingdom and trade expander.
However, one could make the case that camels were rare but in use. Abraham came from Ur (Iraq) where camels seem to have already been widely domesticated. That's a long trip. I doubt he took donkeys, but probably camels like the Hebrew Scriptures say - a foreigner in a foreign land with foreign practices. I think it's a pretty big scholarly leap to say "no domesticated camels" instead of perhaps few and not used widespread. Textual evidence is evidence too, and the archaeological evidence seems limited specifically to use in mines. I think they're being somewhat broad in applying their findings.
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@Legis said
"Textual evidence is evidence too"
Yes, but of a very weak kind IMHO. (E.g., I don't take the Gospels as evidence - even weak evidence - that a person named Jesus ever existed.)
"the archaeological evidence seems limited specifically to use in mines. I think they're being somewhat broad in applying their findings."
Perhaps. Thus my post was phrased conjecturally.
Mostly I wanted to use this to stir awareness that when we use 21st Century western thinking to assess what a given Hebrew letter or word means, we need to consider not so much what it means to us today, or even to Hebrew-speaking people today, but what and when and how the idea arose in its original context. I've long been a stand for etymology as a key to understanding these ideas; I am now suggesting that what we might term cultural etymology, the emergence of word-linked meaning in a particular time-and-place context, is also a factor.
And, in this case, it's reinforcement of something already known: That these texts were almost certainly written (or at least significantly rewritten) centuries or millennia after the times they allegedly report.