February 9-11, 2014: XI. Lust
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XI
LUST
(Leo)“Thou art the Rose to my cross – find new life in my heart! Thou art the Moon to my Sun, and I the wine to thy cup – I pour the whole of me into Thee.”
MEDITATION COLOR: Yellow (possibly golden).
HEBREW LETTER: Teth, serpent; more literally, that which is coiled and resembles a serpent (“serpent power”). The alchemical “lion.”
CARD NAME: “Lust,” especially meant here in the sense of “intense eagerness or enthusiasm; pleasure, relish,” comes from the Indo-European root las-, “to be eager, wanton, unruly.”
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Consciousness of the Secret of All Spiritual Activities. It is so called because of the influence disseminated by it from the Highest Blessing and the supernal Glory.
TREE of LIFE: Geburah to Chesed. (Links ‘Strength’ and ‘Mercy’; or Volition and Memory. Mercy weds Severity. The sanctification of one’s strength and volition in the RECOLLECTION that the HGA is the One Strength and One Will reflected in each manifest expression of strength and will. Kingship. NOTE: The intersection with Gimel is one of the most important features in the card.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Daughter of the Flaming Sword
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The marriage as it occurs in Nature (that is, the real marriage, rather than the ceremonial formality of Zayin. The Serpent that unites the opposites in ecstasy. BABALON and THE BEAST (Moon and Sun) conjoined.
DIVINATION: Courage, strength, fortitude, energy, action, une grande passion, joy in desire. Employment of magick; use of magick power. Manifestation and control of the life-power.
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First impression; the Lion body has seven heads. The energy of the Nefesh flows into everyone and everything. I express it in thought, word, and deed.
A spontaneous image arises. I am riding the Lion surrounded in a yellow gold light. At the same time; I feel its energy run through my veins and into the center of my being. Feels like a morning erection in my heart. -
Day one:
Vulnerability, trust, enjoying the ride, giving all of one's self, losing one's self in the rapture of the moment, dancing with what's so, being free to be, flaunting what you got, being courageous in the face of danger, passionate embrace of the joys of life
Day two:
The pure joy of existence. BEING married with EXISTENCE.
At the top of the card we have something outpouring from Nothing. 10 little sun rays jet out from and invisible point of nothingness. Creating from NOTHING.
In this moment, in my imagination, I see myself as the woman in the card, riding the beast of life. Unleashed, uninhibited, ready for whatever and wherever the Beast takes me. I feel alive, I feel trilled, I feel a sense of being up on the edge. I love the Beast and it loves me. We have a connection. I own it. It owns me.
Now, I see myself as the Beast, aroused and welled up with sexual pleasure, fully turned on. Invigorated, excited, wanting to give the object of my affection the ride of her life.
There is a sharing a pleasure in this card. There is also a demand to be pleased and a drive to please.
Day three:
At the top of the card lies the source of utmost pleasure and ecstasy.The woman on the card is tugging on something that looks like a piece of fruit is going to fall out of whatever it is that she is tugging on.
The Beast has many heads but one body. Pleasure comes in many forms but it is still pleasure that is being experienced.
This card reminds me of the feeling I get when I am listening to music that completely moves my soul . In that moment life becomes a stage and all there is for me to do is perform. Music is only one of those things that gives me that experience in life.
I think the flavor of this card captures that complete euphoric, ecstatic, intoxicating experience of being in the presence of something that completely takes us over and moves the deepest parts of our Being.
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- All the snakes above go into one direction (or from it?, from one point…), there are ten of them.
- Below, there are ten wheels, like stars, scattered all around, and where the woman’s belt holds the seven-fold head of the beast, there is eleventh star/wheel!
- I feel vibrant strength that goes into rapture, looking at this woman.
- Her cup resembles a womb, with egg fertilized in it – an embryo of a new star.
- Creative way of “using” sexual energy; conscious management of own sexuality.
- She gives over her ecstasy to Supernals, and has the lower (7 planets/Spheres below the Abyss) under control; the beast here = body itself, with its drives and row power; the Cup = Gimel; and the woman = the pure soul of an Adept. This individual is Yin in its relation to Supernals, s/he yields her/himself, does not strive (this Path is a perfect balance of Magick and Mysticism!).
- Redemption – in this transformation of the Lower into Higher, that she represents (she is this process of transformation).
- Color (golden): warmth, splendor, royalty, dignity, power…
- these wheels/chakras are Stars or Suns, or cores of stars.
- Marriage of not only couple of polarities on a same level, but uniting the sequential levels, which are polarized among each other. Enthusiasm and ecstasy emanates from this harmonious union of polarity of animal and god; this Card is the representation of Human being in it’s most noble sense.
- O, thou human who creates: surrender thyself and all that you create to the Highest,
Without any lust for result!
Thus you’ll beget wondrous children!
- The Snake: transformation, continual change, primal Consciousness, spiral force, “ I am the snake that giveth knowledge and delight…”.
- The will (Geburah) is empowered and refined by its conscious relationship to memory (Chesed), which unites the many into One-flow.
Memory becomes ecstatic by its manifestation through particular expression of will-power.
- Follow your bliss!
Enthusiasm points to what is Right Work. - The beast has a snake-tail: the same divine energy, the principle that Raises and Transforms, is hidden in the Lowest as it is in the Highest.
- These heads – the mind, Ruach – Adept holds on leash by her/his being centered in Tipheret, and s/he “communicates” with the snake, i.e. is able to recognize, accept, understand and consciously interact with the power of the Snake inside own being.
- The Adept is a Womb for God to be born, i.e. Divinity manifested in the phenomenal Universe; a perfected Womb!
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Playing catch-up here.
Crowley and I were raised in very similar religions. The Whore of Babylon from the book of Revelation is a recurring theme in both of them, and the rehabilitated image is central to his later work.
In the book of Revelation, she is described riding on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and drinking from a cup that contains the blood of all the saints... I remember seeing paintings of her, which depicted her as a wanton, sensuous woman, and over time I've realized that the subtext is fear of death. Fear of losing oneself. Fear of the divine feminine.
Deep down, lust is a desire for death. But when we fear death, we hold back. We don't let ourselves be given over to it fully. We must learn to perfect ourselves, so that we can give over every last drop into Babalon's cup without reservation.
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"Playing catch-up here."
Likewise.
Tarot Meditation "Lust, XI."
"Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven."
12:11-12:21 (too many distractions)
She lifts the Grail of blood and wine to the Supernals: rapture, ecstasy, the divine madness that accompanies the drunken exaltations of Lust. Artistic abandon, the primal urge satisfied; existence vindicated in the joy of union. [My black cat always asks to be let in the door or window to join my meditations.
]Chesed to Geburah: the King, exemplified by the qualities of Leo rules by virtue of Severity balanced with Mercy, each in proper measure. The secret of rulership is to maintain a balance between Love and Fear, for Mercy without Strength is weakness, and Severity unmitigated is mere brutality. Witness the Roman emperors: those unable to rule with this balance were quickly destroyed: the debauch and weakness of Commodus; the brutality of Nero; the mad hedonism of Caligula and the hermaphroditic pedophilia of Heliogabalus. Those very few who united force of Will and regal dignity to Passion were cherished emperors: Marcus Aurelius is one of these philosopher kings who ruled in righteous affirmation of the nobility necessary to kingship and exemplified by Leo.
Unlike Aries, the Leonian is not so bloodthirsty: though there is enough bloodlust and thrill of battle there is a nobility of temperament that tempers rage in the well-aspected types: witness the magnanimity of Alexander the Great in certain circumstances.
The Scarlet Woman: I look forward to a deeper contemplation of this card as it represents a transitional phase between Aeon currents. The Blood of the Saints fermented into wine made to reawaken the Eld of the All-Father: one must give oneself completely to Babalon--the lower (but not lesser) manifestation of Nuit--a complete reversal of the virgin goddess which was the paradigm of the Old Aeon.
--The Chaos of the Abyss: She transmutes Chaos into the Elixer of Life and offers this to the Supernals.
[cursory notes; many distractions]
4.24.14-4.25.14 "XI. Lust" 11:45 P.M.-1:16 A.M.
[Synchronicity abides. Prior to this meditation as I was making notes my girlfriend walked into the room suggestively clad and a love-making session promptly ensued. I withheld orgasm so as to reserve Magical Force for the ensuing meditations; I lengthened the meditation to a half-hour so as to penetrate deeply (haha) into the meaning of the card.]
The antithesis of the Old Aeon concepts of morality: Babalon--wanton abandon of whoredom. Yet does she offer all to the Supernals above, receiving their influence in return. The lifting and drooping down of the head of the Snake mentioned in the Book of the Law.
The Saints have given their all to Babalon and are united to the ecstasy of the Supernals, the All: "My joy is in your joy." All may partake of Her. I notice that She holds the reins of Passion: uncontrolled lust is a destructive force: "All unto me," "Love under Will." Rapture without adherence to one's True Will is distraction and dissipation.
Wanton abandon, debauch, intoxication, lust, divine madness: all is permitted; these are means by which Truth can manifest if the rapture is that of the Blood of the Grail--that is, sacramental. The relinquishing of the self (little "s") for the attainment of the infinite--this is the Mystery I see reflected in this card. It is easily intellectually grasped but like all things of value difficult of true comprehension.
Strong determination furthers the absolute. (Note: highly unsatisfactory meditation. Tired/intoxicated.)
Coyotes howl outside the window.
4.25.14 "XI. Lust"
"In this card, therefore, appears the legend of the woman and the lion, or rather lion-serpent."
"...the Woman in the card may be regarded as a form of the Moon, very fully illuminated by the Sun, and intimately united with him in such wise as to produce, incarnate in human form, the representative or representation of the Lord of the Aeon."--The Master Therion
Babalon: the name of seven letters. "...and by a secret name when at last he knoweth me."
Mercy & Strength
Meditation: 8:20-8:41 A.M.
The bliss of union consummated; the Woman Satisfied: with abandon She gives Herself over to the miracle of the moment. Her drunken ecstasies cause Her to arch Her back, pulling the reigns of the Beast, who howls. No longer the prudish behind-closed-doors sexuality of the Old Aeon but a complete fulfillment of Womanhood, the Feminine current now vindicated in a shameless attitude of rapture. The bondage is broken, the veil torn away, and Woman brought out from under the shadow of oppression and servile obedience to Man to be set again on the throne of the Matriarch in glory, the Queen again at rule and balancing the Patriarchal dominion of the last Aeon. Now is the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child. There is no formula of war or enmity between the sexes but a childlike rapture of shameless desire gratified without shame. "Lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture..."
I see the Scarlet Woman as the manifest function of the Feminine whose role in the last Aeon was that of Mary, the mother of Christ. The Feminine Archetype or Paradigm is now one of liberation,--see what strides have been made since 1904! But still women are everywhere oppressed, in some places brutally and in some places in more subtle ways. It is one of the tasks of the Adepts of this Aeon to assist in restoring balance between the sexes now that we've done away (in theory, at least) with all that apple-munching Eve crap which to many ignorant minds predicated in women an innate disposition to Evil. In many countries women are still treated like cattle.
In this the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child let the Woman be armed with the Sword of Will and Volition to win back Her rightful throne, and let Man assist Her to regain Her rightful place in positions of rulership, for the Scarlet Woman tempers the wanton fury of the Beast, and the Beast inflames Her with lust and glory.
I found it interesting to read about the Beast & Scarlet Woman in the Book of Revelations.
Crowley says of this card: "Every Aeon requires a new system of classification."
--The Scarlet Woman takes the Blood of the Saints, the Essence of Life, and gathers and sublimates it in Her "Cup of Fornication." She transmutes this life-force as fermented wine/blood into a sacrament to re-awaken the "Eld of the All-Father." I see this Mystery represented in the cards images as a Function or Formula that takes place simultaneously in the Mundane and Spiritual realms.
--All desire is to be directed to the highest image of aspiration; "To me...","..but always unto me." The Scarlet Woman and the Beast are in a way intercessors between the Supernal Realm and the Mundane. "This card represents the Mystery of Incarnation."
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Meditation 1
First thing I saw when I beheld the card was the purple background which I never noticed before. I immediately thought that it looks like she is inside of something – like a womb of a sort. The way her cup (yoni symbol) is dropping into the space around her – with a round seed-like formation inside – further reinforced the idea of the feminine body and sex organs.
There is a recurring repetition of the number 10 – there are 10 little glowing spheres around her (w what seems like a sun inside of them); then there are 10 more of those spheres on horizon arranged in a circular shape – signifying sun and from its center pours the blood into her cup – and the “seed” along with it; there are 10 weird swirly things (Danica identified them as snakes which makes sense!) pointing toward the “Sun” at horizon. 10 might represent here that part of Malkuth which refers to the physical body and/or physical manifestation, as lust is a thing which involves carnal quality.
Babalon is in the prime of sexual excitation it seems – her nipples pronounced, she is arching her back and her neck. Her belly is pronounced indicating fertility and ripeness.
Lion with multiple faces – are those the faces of the saints whose blood is in her cup? Also below lion’s paws are bodies of saints as well – one of the bodies has hands in prayer position
Purple – royal color indicating luxury, wealth, indulgence;
She is riding the beast – using the spiritual potency of the “saints” and employing it for spiritual purposes; offering of the sacred energy, using herself to induce the union of the opposites for the highest purposes. Sex magic.
She is pulling on the red “rope” directing the beast – the untamed pure power/potencyMeditation 2
The Sun (Beast) at horizon is the source of blood and seed inside the cup/Yoni – signifying union of the opposites, indirect sexual connotation; however there is another way to look at the “horizon sun” which consists of 10 little suns and the one in the center – which is totaling 11 – the number of Nuit (the blue green area is also divided into 11 parts – again Nuit) from its center pours blood into the cup, and due to numbers pointing to Nuit it not only signifies the essence of the feminine, but of divine feminine. I am trying to understand if there is any more to the little round suns all throughout the card – what else might those represent?
Babalon holding the cup endowed with divine feminine essence is also representing that very divine feminine but on the lower plane/final manifestation plane which is why also there might be so much reference to number 10
Lion with serpent body ~ Teth – serpent – the potency “O Lion and O Serpent that destroy the destroyer be mighty among us”Meditation 3
It’s like I’m looking at the image of myself at the moment – desire to be free, to express myself sexually – or rather dance with my sexual desire, play with it, be playful with others.
The beast is wild and follows its impulse in an animalistic fashion – it can represent her sexual urges; but interesting thing is the reigns are in her hands, and even though she is relaxed in her current state which is sexual she is directing the energy not merely wasting it for the sake of sensation or urge; and her cup is the offering.
She and her beast are golden – there is something exalted, precious, valuable about them – divine blessing