TAROT II\TERPRETATION

LessonTwenty-five

The Tarot tableaufor this lessonis:

4 l4 15 I

1a
9 7 6 IL

5 l1 10 8

t6 z j l3

For the specialpurposeof theselessons,we are using the four horizontalrows of thesemagic
squares,readingthem from right to left. In formulatingthe meditations,the samereadingis
followed for the first four days. The meditation for the fifth day follows the diagonal upward
from left lov,'erto right upper corner,and the meditationfor the sixth dav follorvs the
descendingdiagonalfrom the left upperto the right lower corner.

Rememberthat this is by no meansthe only way to read the square. Every row may be read
in either direction,andjust as their additionis alwaysthe same,so is the meaning. Yet that
meaningcomesforth from a different sequenceof ideasaccordingto the direction of the
movementalong the line. The sequences not usedin theselessonsshouldbe studiedas well
as thosewhich arethe basisfor this presentverbal presentationof the teaching.

For example,the outcomeof the sequence4, 14, 15, 1 is preciselythe sameas that of the
sequence1, 15, 14,4, andthat outcomeis representedby 7, consideredas the expressionof 4
through the agencyof 3. Or in Tarot, the constantmeaningof all additionsof theserows of
I(eys is summarizedby the Chariot,consideredas beingthe representationof the power of the
Emperorworking throughthe agencypicturedas the Empress.

Rememberthat there are many rvaysby which this result may be reached.There are four
horizontal,four vertical, and two diagonalrows . . . ten in all . . . all addingto 34. Since
each of thesemay be read in two directions, the squareshows twenty different ways of
arriving at the samefinal result. All twenty shouldbe consideredbecauseno two ways are
preciselyalike. The progressof ideasin eachinstancefollows a different order. It is valuable
to work out every sequenceeven though one arrives always at the sameresult. Variety and
repetition emphasizethe fundamentalidea by meansof thesetwenty different approaches.
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This week we begin with the Magician and end with the Tower, so that the whole squareis in
somemeasureconcernedwith the secondstageof spiritualunfoldment,symbolizedby the
latter I(ey. Notice also that the constantsummationof the variousrows is esotericallyrelated
to the number of Key 16. sincethe reductionof 16 is the sameas the reductionof 34. namelv
7.

There can be no awakening for an inattentive man. He who is content with superficialities
neverreachesthe secondstageof unfoldment. This doesnot meanthat somepersonsare
doomedto eternalbondage,merely that all awakeningis a consequence of arousedattention.
Nobody remainsforevercontentwith superficialities.But someawakengently while others
are rudely rousedby painful experienceswhich force them to considermore attentivelythe
natureof their surroundings.

Perhapsour earlierawakeningsare all more or lessof the sort picturedby Key i6. The time
comes,however,when our housesof delusionmay be overthrownwithout the
accompanimentsof terror suggestedby the symbolismof that Key. In a measurewe are
preparedfor the event.Experiencehas taughtus that no problem is solveduntil some structure
of ignorance,someTower of Babel, hasbeenknockeddown. Even then it often happensthat
we are astoundedwhen the eventdoescometo pass. For years,perhaps,we have cherished
somepet delusion.Then, all at once,we have anotherglimpseof reality and over goesone
more strongholdof error. Somethingwe alwayssupposedto be true turns out to be just the
opposite.

Our power comesfrom aboveand so do the higher forms of knowledge,but it is at the

self-consciouslevel of our waking life that the transformationsoccur. Everything constituting
our environmentis subjectto our self-consciousthought,and is a reflectionof that thought.
Self-consciousness is the Magician, is the Transformer. We do not haveto make it so, nor is
occult training directedto this end. On the contrary,occult training is concernedsolely with
the riglrt applicationof our inherentmagicalpower (Key 1).

Thus the first lessonto learn, wheneverwe are confronted by any appearanceof restriction, by
any semblanceof bondage,is that this appearance is itself a form conjuredup by our own
magic power. Difficult as it is to accept,the occult doctrineis unequivocal. Every
appea"rance of adversity is built up by the mental power working through the personto whom
the appearanceis presented(Key 15).

Thus a true alchemist-magicianlooks upon no condition whateveras being really adverse.He

has adoptedtoward his surroundingswhat Rudolf Steinersomewherecalls the "confident
attitude." He has no fear of circumstance.Thus anythingwhich seemsto be evil he regards
with specialinterest. Like the shepherdin the New Testamentparable,he is interestedin the
lost sheepof the Houseof Israel. To set in order what seemsto be an exampleof disorderis
to treat evil as raw material for transmutationinto the very forms of expressionwhich will
best suit his purpose. This is the greatsecretof his work (Key 14),

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Occult practice,then, doesnot confer magic power nor enableone to attainit. What it doesis
to make us aware,through experienceand reason,that we have magic power; and then such
training is concernedwitli the orderly exerciseof the power we have,to the end that by such
exercisewe shall seearoundus, objectively,a set of circumstanceswhich agreeswith our
rnentally conceivedpatterns(Itey 4).

This doesnot mean,of course,that a true theurgist,or "Godworker," haspower to impose on

the world surrounding him a pattern which representsonly his personalnotions of the way he
would like things to appear. Rather doesit mean that he formulates pattems in accordance
with the way things really are. He knows, in short,that he lives in a universeon which he
may dependfor every good and perfectgift and the beginningof all his projectsis the
recognitionof the absolutedependabilityof the laws and forcesof the universe(Key 12).

IIis practiceleadsalso to perfectreciprocalactivity betweenself-consciousand subconscious

modesof his personalmentality,and to the harmoniousrelation of both to the superconscious
Self (I(ey 6). Thus he becomesa consciousvehicle of the Life-power, and his magic
succeeds,becausein every instancehis "personal"volition is but the expressionof the true
cosmic order (Key 7). "My will is to do the will of him that sentme," is an accurate
expressionof the genuinetheurgic stateof rnind (Key 9).

A theurgistis saiti to tarnewild bcasisbeoausehe tirinks oiail the forcesin his environmenras
being essentiallyfriendly to him. For him, natureis neveran enemy,but always an ally
(I(ey 8). The play of forcesround him is seento be the manifestationof the samelaws which
are at work in his own being; and,more than this, he recognizesthe highestand dominant
power in the cosmic mechanismas being identicalwith the Principle of individuality at the
heart of his own life (Key 10).

I{e understandshimself to be the incarnateLaw, and restoresthe Law-giver to His rightful

place on the throne of the palaceof humanpersonality(Key 11). This understandingis his,
not as a consequence of sterilespeculation,not as the outcomeof mere reasoning,but rather
as the result of a vivid interior perceptionwhich hasbeendescribedin thesepagesas hearing
the Inner Voice (Key 5).

In every ritual of initiation, the candidatepassesthrough a mystical death,and this dissolution

refersto the passingaway of the old conceptof separatepersonality. The mortal, separate
man must die. He must be rebornas the immortal man, one with the Father,beforehe may
exercisehis magicalpowers(Key 13). New mental imagerymust take the place of the old
race-thought.The very idea indicatedby the word "man" must be reconceived,and thus we
find in the Apocalypsethe statement:"To him that overcomethl will give to eat of the hidden
manna,and will give hirn a white stone,and in the stonea new namewritten, which no man
knoweth savinghe that receivethit." (Rev. 2:17).

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Similarly, in various occult schoolsthe initiate adoptsa new namerepresentinghis highest

aspiration,or the mental conceptionof himself which his work is intendedto build into his
personality(Key 3). Yet this new nameis not really new. Ratheris it a reconstitutionor
restorationof somethingwhich hasbeenforgotten. Thus a ChaldeanOracleadmonishesus:
"Explore the river of the soul, when, and in what orderyou have come; so that although you
have becomea servantto the body, you may rise againto the Order from which you
descended,.ioining works to sacredreason."

Of like import is the parableof the ProdigalSon,wherewe readthat "he cameto himself." At
the basisof all magical work is recollectionof the true meaningand power of the Self
(Key 2). The lightning-flashof inspirationwhich awakensus, and at the sametime
overthrowsour prison of delusion,is alwaysa flash of this self-recollection.When we
remember what we really are, we escapefrom the bondageof the senseof separateness
(I(ey 16).

Nearly always our errors have their roots in fear; and generally thesefears are part of the race
inheritance. The occult point of view is just the reverseof what common sense,so-called,
dictates. The fourfold occult maxim runs: Know, Will, Dare,Be Silent; but the race-mind
has little courage. Popularproverbsdisguisecowardiceas prudence,and we are all more or
less infectedby this poison (Key 16). Absolutefaith is indispensableto a practicaloccultist
. . . faith which is establishedby most carefulweighing of evidence,faith arrived at by careful
discrimination(Key 11 ).

Sr-rchfaith is establishedwhen persistenteffort has madesubconsciousness a clearmirror,

reflecting superconscious knowledgeinto the field of self-consciousness (l(ey 6). The
beginningof suchdiscriminationis the mental attitudethe Magician typifies---continual
endeavorto keep in touch with the power sourceabovethe consciouslevel, combinedwith
habitual alertness.This is the fruit of long practicein concentration,directedsteadilyto
watchful considerationof every detail of self-consciousexperience(Key 1).

Magic effectsno changewhateverin the essentialnatureof things. Neither doesit modify in

the leastthe orderly sequences of cosmicmanifestation.A magicianawakenshimself from a
dreamof delusion,that is all. He changeshis point of view. He stopsthinking of the world as
being his adversary,stopsseeingit as somethingopposedto his will. Instead,he seesit as his
domain, as the instrumentfor his self-expression,
as somethingsubordinateto the Spirit
within him which is his true and only Self.

Seeingit thus, he so experiencesit (I{ey 4), For suchaperson,all needfor artificial meansof
self-protectionceases.For him, all the counselsof cowardicewhich the world calls prudence
have no meaning. He restssecurein the consciousness that even at this moment his
personalityis a vehicle for the power of the ever-victoriousLord of Creation(Key 7). He has
transferredhis consciousness from the outerrim of the Wheel of Foftune,with its succession
of ups and downs,to the spiritual centerwherethere areno fluctuations(Key 10).

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INTERPRET'ATION: 25

Not even deathcan frighten him, for when he has arrived at this stateof consciousness he has
madecontactwith that which is unaffectedby any externalchangewhatever. In that contact
he flnds that even deathis an aspectof the activity of the One Self. For the skeleto' reaperof
I(ey I 3 is, in fact, a representationof the transfbrmingpower of that Self, even as the other
I(eys of the seriesare representations of other aspectsof the samepower (Key l3).

Suchare someof the meaningsof this tableau,but they do not exhaustthe sigpificanceof the
I(eys. You will do well to makeentriesin your occultnotebookconcerningany point which
occllrs to yotl as yoll look at the I(eys. In your daily practice,and during the last five minutes
tll'the practiceperi<ld,it may be well to useonly the four Keys concernedwith the clay's
meditatiou.At the beginningof eachpracticeperiod,the entiremagic squareshouldbe laid
out and not lessthan five minutesshouldbe devotedto careful inspectionof the Keys and
observationof their relationsto one another.

Another hint. In every row of Keys notice what Key links any particularI(ey to the one
which fbllows it in the row. For example,in the top row, the first card is I(ey l, ancltlre
seconclis I(ey 15. The link betweenthesetwo is I(ey 14. Again, the link betweenKeys l4
ancl4 is l(ey 10.Follow out this hint with the otherrows.
MEDITATIONS

FIRST DAY: I(eys 1, 15, 14,4. I am a directagentof the LimitlessLife. The world I seeis
the pro.iectionof my own mental patterns. My true Self transmutesevery semblanceof
adversityinto a meansfor the perfbctmanifestationof my heart'sdesire. I rule my clomain.

SECONDDAY: I(eys 12,6,7 ,9. Because I am essentially

onewith the Sourceof all
'fhe
existence,all thingsworlctogetherfor rny good. elementsof my personalconsciousness
at'ein harmonywith themselvesandwith the superconscious Life which is their Source. My
pcrsonalvolition is not of myself,but is a calm expressionof tlie universalorder. The light
that lighteth every man shineson my path today,

'|HIRD
DAY: I(eys 8, 10, 11, 5. All natureand all her forcesaremy allies. The rnotive
power of the cosmic mechanismis seatedin rny heart. I am the incarnateLaw. Tl-reword of
PoweruttersItself within the sanctuaryof mv innerlife.

ITOURTFIDAY: I(eys I 3,3,2, 16. TodayI die to all the delusionsof the past. The New
Imagecorles to life in my heartof hearts.I recollectmy true placein the universalorder. I
waken{iorn delusion.

FIFTII DAY: I(eys 16, I l, 6, l. I dareto be what I tmly am. My faith is immovable. For I
Itnow what must appearas the inevitableconsequence of wliat I have alreadydiscovered. It is
my prerogativeto be an administratorof the Cosmic Will.
SIX'flI DAY: Keys 4, 7, 10, 13. The Spirit of Life which I am, rulesall things. It is ever
victorious. It is, evennow, masterof everycondition. This day I dissolveillusion.
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