College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

93 All,

Every time, I look at this Atu, I see the Hebrew letter Teth and the number nine which is Yesod on the Tree of life. It is the home of the Nephesh.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephe The animal soul. Using the Tarot Atu's to spell Nephesh, you get Death Atu-13, The Tower Atu-16, and The Aeon Atu-20.

"Will you still need me,
Will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?"

It is easier to act from a place of stability
Chop down a tree when it is still a sprout, or
Prevent a villain's journey ere the first step is taken

So long as one is neither sluggish nor hasty.
So hurry up and wait.

My carapace, chariot, and car
My carrion shell

Defines who's who
Protects the precious cargo
Carries us god-knows-where

Adamant
In it's refusal to be moved
Stalwart
In the face of any threat

Every wayward bit
Of my universe
Needs to find it's
Equal and opposite force.

When a perfect match
Has been found
The two particles shall be drawn together
By an invisible hand

At the marriage ceremony
All the guests will
Shout "hallelujah!" and "mazel tov!"
When we achieve nuclear fusion.

This is my real dad.
Not behind the mask--
The dark eyes turn human
Once the play is over.
But the mask
And the human
Together
When time stops.

You're my link
To the past
You hold up the veil
Over my eyes
And tear down the wall
When it is time.

From the day of my birth
Until the day that I don the mask
And await my birth.

Concentrated attention. The fishhook of meditation. The ability to direct focus, with passion and intensity, the path toward realization of desire. The conceptualizing function. Rendering and ordering things into meaning and form. Linking passionate intention with images. Envisioning. Suggesting. The imposition of language and structure. The selection of signal from noise.

In divination can be all things paternal, including resistance around growing up and other daddy issues. Reflects a strength of character, a willingness to commit and follow through. The identification of vocation. Also the beginning and implementation (Aries) of systems leading toward victory.

She is ready,
All the provisions are here at hand,
She's offering a seat at her table
A place in her bed
For someone who'll follow
The rules of the role
And when the order comes
From a voice so honey sweet
What fool could fail
To fall to his feet?
Who could be so mean
As to refuse the
Sweetness of her cup?

This Key can be summed up in one word with two expressions - REFLECTION. If the Fool represents inspiration, the Magus clothed it in language giving it direction, the Priestess is substance and the medium for the word to be received and cast forth. By her very nature, she is duplicitous: she is dark yet brilliant in the light of the sun, rhythmic and cyclical yet stable. She securely rests on her throne, poised between pure being and the matrix of the human personality, reflecting what is cast before her.

We find her highest expression in those moments when the light of the Sun of one's Soul is most clearly reflected outward, through the personality and into the world in the same way the Moon reflects the most of the Sun's light during a "Full Moon" (which, even then, is an illusion, since we are not necessarily seeing the moon in its ENTIRETY but rather the a face of the moon).

We find her lowest expression in those times when we are enmeshed in the matrix of the personality and our view of ourselves and the situations we find ourselves in is skewed.

Interestingly enough, the act of reflection can loosen the grip of that which we got ensnared by, giving us a chance to discern the illusions as such and return to that state between pure being and the personality. It should be noted that what is said in the prior sentence is crude and general statement summarizing the mystical journey.

Juggling and holding lots of things in the Air. Competence and adroitness. The regal headdress. He brings elegance and prestige to all functions. Houses the complete self, the capable self, the unencumbered self. Evolving the animal self, objectivity toward the monkey mind. Taking flight. Emerging from nothing. The Word as act. Ad hoc. Sua sponte. Fiat.

Thanks David!

Further insights on The Fool - The active nature of Air is demonstrated in the following manner: The Green Man's arms are raised up above him, his feet are in the air protruding out of the frame of the card. He is suspended in the center of the card, in the center of everything else that is going on around him. It as if he is withdrawn from time, activity, circumstance. You can literally see it on his face. He's THERE but not there. Here but not HERE. So we can tack on suspension, withdrawal but not the type found in the Hermit and not the type of suspension that we find in Hanged Man neither. It's the instinctual inhalation and suspension of breathing when in the presence of something that takes your breath away. Baited breath. The Eureka Moment.

That type of withdrawal (the type we find in the Hermit) is much more directed and myopic. It's specific. This is a general type of withdrawal and depending on the circumstances it can be intentional though Not in response to circumstances like the Hanged Man. This is "CAUSED SUSPENSION" for the sake of "Caused Suspension" and thus, Inspiration.

Yet it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to draw a correlation of the Mercurial nature of Alchemical Air to its psychopomp-ish manifestation in the Hermit (which, by the way, also retains the Air-As- Mercury + Fire connection by way of it's attribution to the Hebrew letter Yod). Lots and lots going on here.

Loving the responses everyone.

Who else?

Thank you.

It occurs for me....