February 23-25, 2014; XV. The Devil
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XV
THE DEVIL
(Capricorn)“Think not to hide from me, O belovéd One, in thy grotesqueries. I see Thee behind thy mask. It is thy lovely body, which I love beneath these motley veils, this midnight comedy; for there is none other than Thee to my eyes, my taste, my touch.”
MEDITATION COLOR: Indigo (very dark).
HEBREW LETTER: A’ayin, eye, the organ of sight. Also means “appearances,” especially surface appearances; “to flow out,” as tears; “fountain” or “spring,” from resemblance to eye; and “sparkling of wine,” the delightful allure of an inebriant’s entertainment. Pan = “all.”
CARD NAME: “Devil” comes from the Greek diaballein, “to slander”; therefore, its meaning is related to speech, and especially the disparaging or defaming naming of something as other than what it actually is. Interestingly, its oldest root, gwel-, “to throw,” also gives us a Greek word meaning “will.”
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Renewing Consciousness. Through it God – blessed be He! - renews all things which are newly begun in the creation of the world.
TREE of LIFE: Hod to Tifereth. (Links ‘Glory’ and ‘Beauty’; or Intellect with the Ego-center. The Trickster or Deceiver revealed as the Redeemer. Acknowledgement of intellect’s role in shrouding Light in Form.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Lord of the Gates of Matter, the Child of the Forces of Time
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Material creative energy; phallus, Set, Pan.
DIVINATION: Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous; obsession. Materiality, material (creative) force, temptation, bondage. Ordeal, trouble, struggle. Secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.
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The Devil is assigned to the Astrological sign of Capricorn the "goat". It is ruled by Saturn and Mars is exalted in that sign.
In Tarot, the symbol for Saturn is the Universe and the symbol for Mars is the Tower. I can see the Tower in the Devil card, it is the phallus. Also, the serpent power is said to reside in the Saturn center at the base of the spine. I think what it is saying to me, is that the form building power and the destructive power are one and the same. They both find expression in the Devil ATU.On the bright side; the 26th path connects Hod to Tiphareth which are both brightly colored sphere (Orange is assigned to Hod and Yellow is assigned to Tiphareth in the queen scale). This can be modeled by placing The Devil between The Magus and The Sun. When I do this, my attention is drawn to the Wand in the Devil card. It appears it is a combination of the powers of Mercury and Sol. Or,self-consciousness and solar consciousness.
Questions for the group; What is the name of this wand? Who uses or used this wand and for what reason?
I hope theses don’t sound like lazy questions. My books are all in boxes.
Thank you -
Historically, it's substantially the wand of the Chief Adept (a 7=4 function) in the G.D. second order.
Initiates of Temple of Thelema will recognize it as something else...
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Oh, the small wand in the foreground... not the big one...
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(Version 1)
The big one is also used by the Chief Adept.
(Version 2)
You call that big? -
"Quote JAE: Historically, it's substantially the wand of the Chief Adept (a 7=4 function) in the G.D. second order."
Thank you Jim, now that’s something to meditate on.
"Quote JAE: Initiates of Temple of Thelema will recognize it as something else..."
Interesting.
"Quote ASB: Oh, the small wand in the foreground... not the big one..."
Nice, I wonder if it has similarity to the two of wands? -
@Jim Eshelman said
"
You call that big?"Either that, or it's a really small goat...
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I placed the devil beside the wheel of fortune and added the priestess afterwards this morning for contemplation. By placing the wheel of fortune beside the devil I was (and still am) hoping to gain insight into why the Chief Adept in the old G.D. would carry the wand depicted in the devil card?
Interesting coincident, by placing the wheel of fortune and the devil side by side, I realized; I am modeling the Two of Disks; which key words are (Harmonious Change). I think this fits well within the Devil Atu. Because, the ruling planet of the Devil card is Saturn (the form giver) and the planet of exaltation for Capricorn is Mars (the destroyer).
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I think the line to pursue is to understand what the wand itself represents. This will branch to separate (I think only peripherally related) reasons as to (1) why it is the wand of the Chief Adept and (2) why it is on this card.
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"Quote JAE: I think the line to pursue is to understand what the wand itself represents. This will branch to separate (I think only peripherally related) reasons as to (1) why it is the wand of the Chief Adept and (2) why it is on this card."
All of the wands represent the world of Atziluth or the world of fire. They also suggest authority. The insight that I was trying to convey was this wand, wielded by the chief adapt might ("might" because this is all theoretical for me) give them dominion over creation.
I understand that I could be wrong about this. It is just my first impressions with only one cup of coffee in me.
Thanks for the insight Jim.
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"Historically, it's substantially the wand of the Chief Adept (a 7=4 function) in the G.D. second order.
Initiates of Temple of Thelema will recognize it as something else..."
"You know the old detective's curse? Solution was right under my nose but I was paying attention to the wrong clues..." - Marty Hart, True Detective
Day One
As I sit in the Indigo sphere I feel a wave of melancholy fall over me. A song loops itself in my mind called "The Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." I am welled up with frustration & tension. There is a guilty pleasure in it.The overtly sexual imagery of the card is both repulsive and attractive at the same time. The more I want to turn away from it, the more I want to stare at it. The contrast of the pink background of the card with the large brown phallus induce feelings of brutish beauty.
The figures in the left testicle play & dance in harmony, playfully enjoying each other, giving one another space. The ones in the right testicle are in a frantic scruffle with one another, with the one in the middle dominating the space and pushing the others down.
The goat sitting poised in between the the winged globe and the phallus seems indifferently content with himself yet his horns jetting up into the heights of the card keep him completely tuned into everything else happening.
Day Two
Dark clouds descending - a storm is brewing - the mood of the card tonight is sinister.The phallus in the background combined with the rings of Saturn around it reminds me of a the stem of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion -
The winged disk screams Halt! - stop - almost as if to establish the might of the Capricornian Will - Pan stares daringly at us, into us, through us.
I see a progression of phallic energy, starting with the winged globe, followed by the goat, followed by the enormous cock in the background - a movement of energy from the depths to the heights
Day Three
Lies & deceit, things appearing to be one way when in fact they are not how they seem - think, watching the sun "come up" and "go down". The sun isn't moving, the earth is but the eyes tell us otherwise.Tonight the Winged Globe is like a no fucking around sign
Uncanny psychic ability - having the EXPERIENCE of that one is not separate from their surroundings but is a small piece of a greater whole - Pan - the ALL - experientially, not conceptually.
We are the Phallus - and everything around us "out there" is the Yoni - and we plant our seed through our speaking - the words we choose to describe what is happening "out there" define our reality
But this ability to experience being connected to everything allows us to see past surface appearance, exposing bullshit & having zero tolerance for it
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- Spiral horns and his face expression insinuate Rapture, drunkenness, ecstasy, dance, swiftness… Also, unpredictability, force which can not be tamed, and which is moved by the delight of the motion in the physical body itself.
- Down beneath him, in the bubbles: one group seems to be in ecstasy of pleasure, the other in that of pain; they are all in the same “trouble” – those are the same people, oscillating between the two extremes of these sensual experiences, trapped inside their bubble because obsessed with these impressions…
- Above them Pan: master of illusions, the one who creates them by playing with various Forms of the mind. He is in rapture, utterly enjoying this game.
- This is ATU I on a lower arch (there is a parallel same as for ATU 0 & ATU XIII)
- “Go thou unto the outermost places and subdue all things. Subdue thy fear and thy disgust. Then – yield!”
- There is so much Fun in this Devil, it’s hilarious!
- I look at his Eye: the point in the circle, OM – this is the only adequate approach in order not to stray away, get caught up in his play of many-forms.
- Those who can not see the truth of the Paradox, that can not escape from the webs of “either-or” thinking – they are the slaves of this Devil. Indeed, how horrifying He is for them! Throwing them here and there, a blind and merciless force that pulls the strings of their lives…. they are crying, screaming, deforming in spasms; if they could only recognize in these cries and body motions a Hymn and dance to His honor! - oh, what Beauty would open up before their eyes!
- Eye = facing-up something (not hiding from it, but looking at it directly)
- Madness, broken psyche – this is the end result of staying stuck in either-or Duality
- Adoration of Pan, on the other hand, leads to another kind of madness – ecstatic, devotional rapture (Dionysus, maenads)
- I am reminded of one Tagore’s poem that I learned by heart in my youth, a sort of hymn to this enraptured state and drunkenness, “O, you mad you superbly drunk…” (here it is on the net www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/1891)
- Speak without fear, and do not be afraid of lies! Use words as your tool, freely; the Truth is indestructible, unbend-able. Play!
- Focusing on Ajna awakens this principle and these abilities in everyday life.
- Color: power, the deep, Time that turns into Eternity
- “Thou spiritual Sun! Satan, Thou Eye, Thou Lust!...”
- I look at his face: my face automatically takes over the same expression, the exact facial lines, and I feel ashamed and scared of that! A part of me (hidden, below the threshold of awareness) seems to reject this Goat-Devil – his conscious manipulation of mental forms, as “dishonesty”…
- He looks at me and his eyes are telling me “accept your fears, weaknesses, your shortcomings, everything you reject as “low”; all of that are parts of yourself, all of it are steps toward the Sun”
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Meditation 1
Subtle asymmetrical balance in the image – just like in the human body
Large horns on the goat – fertility, potency
He has a third eye opened – representative of divine perception, awakened mind
Phallus with testicles prominent – phallus pierces the veil – perhaps veil of Daath – indicating at the very top of this archetype is the highest masculine principle/polarity; testicles contain some interesting graphical markings which look familiar but I can’t discern what they are. Inside are various potentialities ready to unfold (appear to be watery in quality); the strongest of all will emerge – in the right hand side there is Pan – a superior masculine symbol pushing back other generic-type entities, indicating the idea of the survival of the fittest – in the area of mind this could be a thought that’s most potent and most powerful overpowering all other thoughts and beliefs and manifesting itself in material world with force.
Hadit – the winged disc w serpents – wisdom and power as a primary defining point in space – qualities that are at the forefront in the archetype represented by this card.
On the goat’s head – grape and vine leaf – connects him to Bacchus/Dionysus and the celebration of sexuality, indulgence in all fine things, excess and abundance. He also represents freedom from oppression and limitation.Meditation 2
Testicles shaped like golden solar discs – still reinforcing the idea of male, of the Beast, the Father. The forms in the background almost look like spilled semen which ads to the idea of potency, fertility.
The overall feeling of the card is dynamic, overly masculine with sexual connotations. It gives an impression of producing a result, being effective, potency, confidence, proactivity, taking charge. It feels very primal and dominant, but there is equally a sense of intellect and calculating precision. The animal nature of man, but also his divine nature – the two aspects of sexual force – in Malkuth (material) and in Chokmah (force of masculine polarity). The celebratory appearance marks the idea of new beginning, a metaphorical Spring.Meditation 3
Intellectually strong, with powerful will and powerful drive. Growth and motion, vibrant energy, vitality.
The entire phallic symbol with the winged staff resembles an altar or a throne whereas Pan archetype resides, imbued with connotations of fertility, natural grace of sexual proclivity and abundant manifestations that come from that; that which contributes to Life, the logical and abstract expression of Love as indivisible from the Nature.
Qualities of sexual, intellectual, daring, independent, bold, intractable, persistent nature. -
93,
Any thoughts on the letter Aayin looking a bit like a Nun merged with a Zayin?
93s -
Well, if it's really badly written LOL.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Well, if it's really badly written LOL."
Lol ok Ill take that as a no... Hmmm....
93s