College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

@Al-Shariyf said

" I hated this arrangement."

Me too...

edited

edited

I've made the connection between the work we are doing and my dreams, the ways in which the effects are reflected in dreaming are simply amazing!

@Jim Eshelman said

"
Will needs to be singular. And will is sacred when pure (unpolluted). Therefore, just about the only severity or conflict in will that can exist is in the case of true division or conflict of will - a "will divided."

And this requires Strength as the solution - in this case, the Strength that forges singularity of purpose and that responds to singular will from within - the Volition characteristic of Geburah.

Additionally, this is one of only two cards having both Mars and Saturn characterizing it. The other is the 3 of Disks. In that case, though, (1) we're dealing with a 3, i.e., a Supernal idea, and (2) it is the Mars decanate of Capricorn, and both Saturn and Mars are dignified in Capricorn. We would tend to expect the most positive outcome of their combkined "struggle" nature possible. OTOH, this card is the Saturn decanate of Leo, a sign in which Saturn is debilited. Therefore, we would usually expect the worst form of the energy. The comparison of those two cards is quite revealing."

These words are golden... Thank you Jim. I re-read this post numerous times and the words kept coming back to my mind as i observed the two female figures (of Atu XXI and XI ) mirroring each other, with the 5oW above them... Once again, thank you so much!

@Al-Shariyf said

"I feel like I got more in touch with myself and more firmly rooted in myself. It's kinda crazy. There's a physical feeling of "being solid". Like a rock. There still some soft spots but I don't think I've ever really felt this comfortable in my own skin."

That's plain awesome! I feel quite similar

What i felt from this card is... strong arousal, plain and simple...

@Jim Eshelman said

"

There are also alchemical (by which I primarily mean yogic / chakra) patterns evident which give hints to subconsciousness about how to release the more subtle forces of this card into your system. The Tower corresponds to the Mars chakra (Svadisthana). The Emperor combines the power of Mars and the Sun (Svadisthana and Anahatta), and has a whole doctrine behind it of the Mars force being brought from its "night" expression (Scorpio) to its "day" expression (Aries). These ideas don't necessarily have to be known - subconsciousness will read them directly from the cards and will set to work making subtle changes in the physical and astral "wiring" to amplify the effect, if you let yourself be imprinted by them.
"

I do feel the effect i must say, and that's i believe the major advantage of working by your method, Jim - which i hadn't realized fully before.
Al-Shariyf and i have been communicating quite a lot since we've started this project, i've initiated this correspondence as i wanted to verify in a way my experiences, i wanted to make sure i wasn't imagining it... most interestingly, not only Al-Shariyf's and mine experiences were in sync, but they (for the lack of better wording) coincided in time too - nevertheless the time difference and all.
I have gained clarity of thought in this process that i don't think i had ever experienced before; certain character traits i needed to work on - improved, my personal boundaries are far firmer than they were - and that was one of the major issues with me... and that's just the highlights.
Great method - and it does work, even if done like this - online and without having passed the initial steps that people who belong to the very school/order do.
Thank you for making it possible for us, Jim.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Can any of you (from this card's meditation tableau) see why Waite might possibly have designed this card as a king standing atop a tower? "

Hmm, not really - apart from the obvious astrological associations... But then, we can't really know why he choose most of the designs that he did, given that his was about keeping the oaths not revealing...
Anyway, i pulled a card from RWS itself on the question and got the 7 of Swords, the "thief" card, so Waite was up to something quite cunning here i guess.

nota bene: "thanks" Jim for the question that made my brain feel as if its going to explode

@Iaomai said

"I kept wanting more from this arrangment.

I just kept getting "the power of the Emperor to rule," or "the power which the Emperor holds," which, the name of the card, Dominion, already gives. "

Yep, quite similar here - as i am looking at the 2 Wands at the top of the Tower and the Emperor - i get its his (Emperor's ) power to seize the control, that's about it.

@Jim Eshelman said

"I just wanna check... are people using the recommended layout? That is, of Aeon and Lust on either side of the Ace of Wands for meditation purposes? If so, what are you getting from that in particular?"

(from right to left)

The woman riding the beast raises the offering contained in the grail up, to the sky; the grail content - the blood of saints - rushes up , into the opening in the sky and turns into the wand (Ace of Wands), thus becoming the desire that, at the end of things, will give birth to the new Aeon.

Oy! Can't believe i missed this!!! Anyway, catching up!

@Iaomai said

"Maybe this will sound like fluff, but it seems difficult to comment on something so completely perfect except to regard its perfection.

"

Yes, indeed. Once again, wish there was a LIKE button.

@Jim Eshelman said

"
And... we now move into a whole different level of things. Should be interesting."

That's why we are here, Jim...

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@magictortoise said
"What's that scythe coming out of the eye? "

It's not coming out of the eye. It's in the main figure's right hand. (The perspective makes it seem to overlap the eye.) And (though a scythe would be appropriate for Saturn), I think it's a pair of calipers. (The second arm is harder to see until you look for it.)"

Thank you, Jim!

@Jim Eshelman said

"Regrettably, I don't see anybody really working with the actual posted meditation material - instead, people are tending to focus on the pictures in this one particular deck. That's kinda disappointing (and is actually why I teach Tarot with blank white cards that just have a few key attributions on them - until you can get the meaning with no pictures, you probably don't have a clue what the card is about). My concern is that when this meditation moes into the next phase, nobody will have the core elements necessary to actually understand WTF the Minors are all about. "

Hmm. Its not how i see it, Jim. I do* really * work with the actual material. The part that was most amazing to me re. Universe was the etymology connecting the title of the Trump to make-up and female garments;
i had AHA moment connecting in my head "God wears lipstick" material (1st Kabbalah book written especially for women, who traditionally, as you know, were not encouraged to study Torah) to the Arcanum and hearing in meditation sth like *manifested word is - out of space, out of time - nothing but the cosmetics... *

...from there i made the connection to I Ching's 22nd hexagram, the Grace and had *yet another * AHA moment.

So, that's the way i gain understanding - but i don't post these insights here so not to get another 'over intellectualizing', 'over -analyzing' or whatever critique once again.

Jim, i am deeply grateful to you for everything - i really am, beyond words; i am sure you are familiar with Gadamer and all hermenautics thing; we all have our own interpretations and the only thing i can say is that i am happy with the results of the serious work i am doing with your book - if its not the exact effect that's meant to be achieved with it... what shall i say? I am indeed happy within my own discourse and i can't possibly align it to someone else, whose perception, experience etc. has nothing to do with mine... I am deeply sorry if that causes you any kind of dis-pleasure, but i really don't know what else could i add to the topic.

I have hard time connecting to the Universe... can't really feel neither the snake nor the maiden... the "glass city" in the bottom of the card is the only part i can connect to, i felt it like "New Jerusalem" - that's what came to my mind in meditation.
What's that scythe coming out of the eye?
The four cardinal signs/kerubs in the corners reminded me of amulets warding off evil eye that i received from a friend whose ancestors were Shamans in Mongolia (btw, i do have a past life there for what i came to with regression.)
That's it so far; while working with the Aeon was a discovery of a whole brave new world for me - Universe leaves me...* meh.*
WIll keep trying...

@Iaomai said

"Lately, I am simply silenced and the beauty and completeness of this card.

At my old BOTA meetings, I would always be asked what my main impression of the Judgement card (the older version). Over and over again, I would say that it disturbed me a little that you couldn't see the child's face. "What would I become?"

After much thought, I finally came to an answer that was more of a question: "What expression should the child have? He represents so much!"

I find my answer in the Thoth deck's image, where the double image of Hoor-par-kraat and Ra-Hoor-Khuit are presented as different aspects of the one child - Heru-ra-ha.

Amen, and amen."

Amazing insights, thank you for sharing them, Iaomai!

My most profound experience so far - i connected to each and every Sign and having done that felt the light of the Sun burning what had been written in the stars, what was pre-set and preconditioned...

@Jim Eshelman said

"

FWIW you can read some of my meditations on the verses (from the mid-1990s) here:
aumha.org/arcane/ccxx.htm
"

These are priceless, thank you Jim!

@Al-Shariyf said

"

One of the things I found myself doing while I was working with this card was staring off into the space before me, and watching the events around me. Sometimes it would still my mind and I'd realize that in that very moment, I can do anything I want. There's no one stopping me. There's nothing physically in my way that would interfere with me. I can do as I please. To me, being in that particular state of mind is represented by the horny goat, looking out in front of it and realize that it can leap on a ravish anything it set out to do."

Loved reading your notes, Shariyf!

My lap top is still not repaired, so i am not posting as much as i used to - but i am keeping up with the schedule.

Hey Shadonee... i wanted to pm you to ask you how are you getting on with the Devil lol...
But when i got to Moscow, my pc broke and...
Anyway, hope to discuss it more in detail when i am back to comfort of my place and my lap top and NOT typing at an internet cafe...
These are my previous impressions of the Devil, before Liber T
(Its the title poem from my new book: )
The Devil

(An autobiography)

Do you not know me?

I am your adversary in this tale:

that arrogant voice born of doubt

and fostered by fear.

I dwell in the constant storm

of your uncertainty,

sprouting in darkness,

fed by your fury

and drinking up your pain

until you stumble and fall.

Still you dismiss me with a smile,

denying my existence

as I bury you alive.

copyright 2011L.R.S.

With Liber T my perception changed - for some reason, the Devil stopped being scaring, full fear and doubt... and became simply a horny (and stinky?!) ram... I connected the most to the eye on his forehead and i think that's what turned the image upside down for me... Hmm, its as if he was far more dignified in my eyes before...
Mind you, i spent hell of a time with him, my whole new book is in fact about the Devil... so i must say this change in perception does come as a surprise!
I shall expand when i have the possibility to do so.