THE MANTIC ARTS | TAROT
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MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT

Part I / II / III / IV

The Star

Lady Temperance naked and wingless, pouring out the contents of her jugs into a stream that is light Blue like the body of the Devil, our Arcanum The Star is one of the richest in symbolic details. In the sky, a great star of 16 branches is surrounded by 7 smaller stars of 8 branches each. At a distance, on a green hillock a black bird lands on a tree. The name of this Arcanum underwent in this specific deck through the game of phonetical cabbalah (from Caballus, horse), and can be read as The Canvas or The Web, the last option being physically quite meaningful in our case.

On a general sense, The Star represents the archetypal world of dreams, which is the virtual world of beginnings and therefore a still immaterial sphere. After the Tower's destruction a new formative influx will be necessary for our projects, and this influx originates in this stellar world ruled by the Empress.

This Arcanum indirectly refers to the adoration of the three Magi kings, who were guided by a Star to the manger where the Messiah slept. Indeed, the canonical obtainment of our Philosophical Mercury precedes the Royal Work and is done through crystallization.

Our naked Lady esoterically represents the Virgo constellation, for Astrea (which means starry goddess) was the daughter of a Titan. Our Devil, being equivalent to Prometheus, symbolically represents Astrea's father, and is equally in this figurative sense the father of the Tower.

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The Moon

On a Radiant Moon night there ascends a multicoloured dew from a field where there are two towers at a distance, two howling dogs or wolves and a pool on the foreground inside of which lies submerged a huge red crustacean (the latter being a reference to the sign of Cancer, ruled by the Moon). Everything seems to converge to the Moon, which absorbs and is nourished by the energy coming from the various parts of the Arcanum. The dogs can be seen as exhaling part of this dew by their mouths, or simply licking or eating it. The field is endowed with vegetation.

The Arcanum of the Moon exoterically represents all that is humanly nocturnal and dark, our fears hidden inside those towers, black magic, Lunar, vegetative or mental diseases, hidden enemies. Its cypher corresponds through Kabbalistical addition to the Arcanum of the Hermit, and The Moon indeed reflects the melancholy of the latter. As it immediately precedes the Arcanum of the Sun, it indicates the necessity of treating and solving these issues in order to be able to proceed on the Path and arrive at the integrative level of the Sun and of the final Arcana.

On the Initiatic level, this Arcanum symbolizes the regimen of the Moon and its Lunar Stone, the latter being a panacea for all types of Lunar diseases. The vegetation indicates the appropriate thermal regimen for this period, a period which is according to the classical authors the last one where such a type of heat applies.

The solid towers and their respective dogs represent the two principles of the Work that nourish our White Stone, for the Rebis becomes solid and crystalline at this phase. This is also one of the meanings of the crustacean, its hard carapace symbolizing the crystallization that occurs in this regimen. The second meaning of the crustacean is indicated by its Red colour, showing that the Lunar Stone, in this case symbolized by the Blue pool, contains in potency in its interior the Solar Stone which is our Ruby.

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The Sun

Under a Sun of 16 branches towards which ascends a tricolour dew, two twin children play on a Blue soil. They are adorned with a Blue belt on the waist and a Red ribbon on the neck. Behind them stands a red and yellow brick wall on top of a green base.

This is without a doubt the most positive Arcanum of the Tarot, as it represents the Universal Love that is true Christic Love and the Source of the Solar Logos' action on Creation. In this sense these twins are the Empress' children and represent the pure love and friendship of the Superior Eros. This is the Energy of universal sympathy that holds Creation united as a Whole, it is the agglutinant principle that prevents the Cosmos from fragmenting into an alienating Chaos.

On the Initiatic level the Arcanum of the Sun represents the Solar regimen and its Stone, the latter being at this stage or wheel our False Prophet which has to be multiplied in the Judgement Arcanum in order to become the glorified Philosophical Stone in the Arcanum of the World.

The twins are the two principles of the Work in a state of perfect equilibrium that is indicated by their belts and ribbons. The Arcanum's soil is light Blue, indicating the source of these two principles. The dew nourishes the Sun in the same manner as it nourished the Moon in the previous Arcanum, and its symbolism is the same.

The base of the brick wall is green, indicating that Our Stone has the capacity of being afterwards exalted, and indeed this must be done. As to the thermal regimen, the symbolism of a high noon Sun and of half naked children at play is self evident. The wall represents both the Work and its Stone, and symbolizes the duty of keeping them away from profane eyes as it evokes canonical circumspection and secrecy.

What lies invisible beyond the wall and therefore closer to the Spiritual Sun is the Mystery, the Kingdom where the Adept is invited to enter and of which we are not qualified to write about. In this sense the dew has yet another meaning, symbolizing the Reintegration of the Monads in the Absolute.

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Judgement

At the centre of a radiant light Blue cloud and adorned with a Solar aureole whose centre is Red and which coincides with the top of his head, the Angel of the Apocalypse sounds the trumpet that announces the Ressurrection of the Dead in the Day of Judgement. His trumpet has a flag whose design is a Cross. Below, a Yellow tomb opens on a Red pavement, having at the background Green, light Blue and flesh coloured hills. On the foreground, a couple is reborn along with their son, the latter being light Blue and having his back turned.

In its exoteric sense, this Arcanum symbolizes the return of past things, of old and even forgotten Karmic issues that come back and that must be solved before the final integration represented by the Arcanum of the World. The arrival at the last Arcanum represents the completion of a Cycle and therefore presupposes that the scattered threads of this and previous cycles be warped into a consistent weft. This is the profound meaning and necessity of the present Arcanum, as it alludes to the mystery of reincarnation.

In the Initiatic sense, the Angel summons our Stone to pass yet again through the process of the Work, to repass or reincarnate through the Crucible represented in the flag of his trumpet in order that its virtues and powers be multiplied and potentialized. He summons therefore our Stone to the so-called Multiplication process, a procedure that is done through successive Wheels.

Enveloped in the Mercurial mist of his cloud, this Solar Angel of multicouloured wings symbolizes the Work of each Wheel in miniature, its colours and phases progressing from the outside inwards, from the Mercurial cloud to the Red final Sun of the aureole's centre and passing through the various detailed colours of his wings, arms and hair. Indeed, the successive Wheels are the miniature of the original Work, as they are concluded in ever increasing speed.

The three human figures at the base of the Arcanum indicate the minimal number of Wheels that are advised, besides representing the two principles of the Work and their son. This son is also the couple's father, for these three figures symbolize the Solve et Coagula that each Wheel perfects.

The Green hills indicate the enormous multiplicative potential that our Stone possesses, the latter being symbolized by the light Blue hills and son. The Red pavement and the Yellow tomb represent the Work, its heat, Nest and Egg.

The World

At the centre of a light Blue vegetal Mandorla, a blond and naked hermaphrodite (or woman) dances. His body is adorned with a Red and Blue scarf, and he holds in his left hand the wand used by the Magician in the first Arcanum. At the four corners of the Arcanum, an Angel, an Eagle, a Bull and a Lion frame the Mandorla. Of these four only the Bull is devoid of aureole, and both it and the Lion have partially vegetal bodies.

This is the final Arcanum of the Tarot and represents the end of the Cycle that began with The Magician, The Fool being the connecting Arcanum between succeeding cycles. If the Magician was beginning to manipulate the four elements (and humours), now these elements have been fully developed, balanced and glorified. They are represented by the astrological signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. These symbols also refer to the Vision of Ezekiel and to the four Evangelists and indicate the glorious hermaphrodite's connection with the Christos Pantocrator of the Apocalypse.

The resemblance of this dancing figure with classical representations of Shiva is not fortuitous. In this sense this final Arcanum represents the Cosmos, and in its centre resides its King and Source of Power. Alchemy is the Art and Science that manipulates Universal Life, hence the vegetal character of the Mandorla which represents among other things the Celestial Ecliptic. The moral responsibility of the Adept is therefore enormous.

In the Initiatic sense, the exalted Philosopher's Stone is symbolized by the hermaphrodite who is the sumum bonum and Messiah of our World. In our Stone are gloriously balanced the two principles of the Work depicted in the scarf and the four elements indicated by the astrological symbols. It is the Hermetic Triumph, crowned by the laurels of the Mandorla whose colour is very meaningful. The base of the Arcanum indicates that the basis of the Work consists of a vegetative fire (Lion) that excites the vegetative life present in our Matter (Bull).

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Conclusion

By way of conclusion, let us dwell on these fair words of Madame Blavatsky:

There is a road, steep and thorny, beset with perils of every kind, but yet a road, and it leads to the very heart of the Universe: I can tell you how to find those who will show you the secret gateway that opens inward only, and closes fast behind the neophyte for evermore. There is no danger that dauntless courage cannot conquer; there is no trial that spotless purity cannot pass through; there is no difficulty that strong intellect cannot surmount. For those who win onwards there is reward past all telling - the power to bless and save humanity; for those who fail, there are other lives in which success may come.

HPB, CW, Vol. XIII, p. 219.

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