January 8-10, 2014: II. The Priestess
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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.
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All good thoughts.
Here's something that touches on the root GML. It's really about GMR, considered a "cognate root," but the first paragraph has some interesting information. (For those who don't know it, for a really long time, Hebrew didn't include any symbols for the vowels used, so you just had to use context. Vowel-points came much later to preserve the pronunciation.)
www.ts.mu.edu/readers/content/pdf/14/14.4/14.4.4.pdf
Makes for an interesting link between gimel, gamal (camel), and completion, fulfillment, or even perseverance.
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@Legis said
"Here's something that touches on the root GML. It's really about GMR, considered a "cognate root," but the first paragraph has some interesting information. "
That wouldn't open for me, but responding to the rest of your content...
I don't think that's likely true. The triliteral root GML (root of words like gimel, the letter nanme, and gamal, "camel") means "to bear, i.e., carry." This is so straightforward, and the maternal pregnancy / bearing elements are so lucid, and it is so literal a fit, that it seems unlikely it rests on a differently spelled root.
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Hmmm.. Well, I'll check their sources at some point to see if I can't figure out where the diversity comes in. I don't intend to post nonsense anyway...
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Since the most compelling archeological evidence I've seen thus far places the compiling/writing of the Jewish bible during the Babylonian captivity, I don't find this very shocking (this is reflected in the NYTimes article but is in no way a new concept). The epochal difference between the legendary reign of David (c. 1000 BCE) and the compilation of the Torah and Histories by Ezra (c. 580 BCE) is roughly equal to that of the legendary Trojan War (c. 1200 BCE) and its telling by Homer (c. 850 BCE) and should be given about as much historical credence.
Camels were common throughout the Middle East by the time the 12 tribes coalesced into a singular "people" so there was no reason, as they backdated their legendary history, for the newly united Israelites to assume that hadn't been true since the creation. If modern day creationists can still convince themselves that two Camels stepped off of Noah's ark and repopulated the world in the exact shape and distribution that we see today, why should we expect any better from their ancient forebears?
As to the occult underpinnings of this, my understanding of the unbroken chain bridges from the Babylonians to the Hebrews at this exact juncture. Prior to the Babylonian captivity, there were many tribes of Canaanite religious diversity, several of which, the Habiru, the Bnai Yisra'el, and the Yehuda, ultimately lent their names to the conglomerate which, led by the educated/ruling/guiding priests, were sent to the Levant to get them out of the Persians' hair. These priests had trained under the Babylonian Magi (some of them likely were Babylonians with a desire to lead rather than living out their lives as mid-level temple priests [personal conjecture]) and brought that knowledge with them as they molded the new religion which combined and syncretized all the various beliefs and legends of their diverse flock. 300 years of relative peace later (along with regular contact with the Hellenistic Mysteries on their western border), the Israelite Magi surpassed their Babylonian forebears who were crushed under the war-machines of the East thus providing the next link in the chain which ultimately carried the hidden truth down to the present day.
If Gimel does map to Camel (which it does seem to do), it was this period and locale of camel-saturation, and this exodus across the Arabian "Abyss" on camel-back from Babylon to the Promised Land in which that happened. IMHO.
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The more I look around at the etymology (not the definition) the more I see that GML originated as "complete," which evolved into both "gawmawl" complete -> ripen, requite, recompense and "gawmal," complete -> labor, carry.
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Priestess holds bow and arrows in her lap – makes me think of direct path from Tiphareth to Kether; also association to Diana and Artemis which just sort of came automatically - and upon reflecting I realized both are lunar Goddesses, both use bow and arrow. I also get a strong association with Isis - who is also a lunar goddess and is associated with fertility, just like the Priestess. Her crown is featuring full moon potentially. She is sitting on isosceles trapezoid which is often used in ancient architecture (the white color of her seat is white and reminds of stone slab). For instance Temple of Dendur – Egyptian temple dedicated to Isis – is a isosceles trapezoid - the very form upon which Priestess is sitting. Her lower body also holds the posture of typical Egyptian deities.
Her face seems to me to be that of an oracle (Oracle of Delphi?). Her eyes are covered and she wears Lunar headdress: she is somewhat hidden, she can see past what eyes can see and past external appearances, she uses her intuition as a means to knowing. Her face holds meditative expression or that of trance - again connecting to Delphi Oracle.
Lunar presence refers to the subconscious mind; strong watery presence in the card which connects to the idea that Moon affects the waters (tides) - both waters in a literal sense and psychologically - tides within one's psyche. Then there is also influence of Moon on a woman and her menstrual cycle.
Kether – which is light that can’t be beheld in an embodied state is translated into its closest counterpart on a lower/physical plane – that of Sun - by the virtue of the Priestess - which is kindness and protection of her nurturing energy: she provides an opportunity to behold the spirit of God while preserving the embodied state. Since Tiphereth is the Son - male - it makes sense that the path Gibel is of the feminine attribution - bearing forth the son.
The bow (on her lap) with her legs forms the shape of the female reproductive system - her bow curling on each side resembles woman’s Fallopian tubes; her feet labias potentially.
Her body is white and shiny like Luna - cooling and healing - reflecting the light of the Sun/Tiphereth; but also reflecting the light of Kether - of the ultimate.
Camel – secure transportation through the dessert of one’s spiritual path; camel embodies qualities of resilience and endurance.
Indra's net - holding the thread of all the parts that compose the whole – net of interconnectedness. Indicating to me the following - just like mother (one aspect of the Priestess) is connected to the child with invisible thread/bond – so are we all connected to one another - Priestess might be a reminder of this – there is no nourishment/fruit/productivity without cultivation and nurturing. Growth comes from care, application of loving action – which is metaphorically portrayed by the image of fruits and flowers which only come forth when all that is necessary is present – all material causes and especially intention to nourish and cultivate. In this net of interconnectedness all becomes One and the foundation for this understanding is rooted in Love, openness and connection.
The net could also in a way be strings of the instrument, something harp-like I imagine. Over the net there are patterns that could also indicate vibrations of the strings (especially how they manifest in water), forming beautiful, geometric patterns - the interference pattern of the waves. Geometry which is the basis of the physical universe is evident in the card also by spotting the pentagram at the center of the flower on the left; furthermore geometric crystal forms, acorn which is a reflection of the Fibonacci's sequence, etc.
If the net may also represent space and time - then here she can be seen bending space and time – by her blessing can a practitioner find a spiritual shortcut or a more swift path from one point to the next - spiritually speaking - Gibel presenting a direct path from Tiphereth to Kether can be one way to interpret this -
symbolizing that one may pave shortcut to the highest through development of the quality of uninhibited and indiscriminate Love.Shape of the upper part of the “net” forms the bottom and sides of a vessel – indicates receptivity, and inside are the blues and greens of a liquid with subtle patterns that indicate interference pattern of the waves.
She is quite stunning and sublime in her representation. She is graceful, elegant, fluid like water, yielding, not blocking; skillful as she is not blocked by any obstacle – like water – and still continuing to “flow” without interruption. She is cooling and radiant. She nurtures and overlooks/cares for all things. Her gardens are abundant and beautiful. All under her wing prospers and is headed toward ripening. She is surrounded with riches as she takes care, hence growth causes more growth and she never lacks. She is generous. She contains things in herself – she bears and holds all life – supporting it – yet gives it space to expand.There is something else - she doesn’t feel like a mother in a regular sense to mem. She embodies qualities of a mother yet there is a sense of purity within her as if she is a Virgin in some sense – untouched, unstained… Her title is Priestess and aren’t priestesses supposed to be virgins?
I sense the connection with Sirius – the blue star (also connected to Isis)
She feels like an intermediary between the cosmos and the earth realm - somehow. She reminds me of a Bird of Paradise - a mythical woman-bird.