The

Truth About Tarot Cards

Introduction

"The Truth About Tarot Cards."

The title is scandalous. It should not, many people will think, even be written.

Why, then, a writing called "The Truth About Tarot Cards?" Shouldn't Christians run as far away from the Tarot as
possible? Shouldn't they stay away from it, just as they'd stay away from Ouija boards and séances? Almost all
Christians have. They have, understandably, linked the Tarot with all other forms of occult practices.

While understandable, this is most unfortunate.

Tarot cards are actually a revealing of God's holy will, of God's limitless
power, of God's unfolding plan of redemption for the universe, and of each
individual's personal pathway toward God.

Obviously, this is going to need much explanation.

How do I make such a claim? As a student of the world's religions and the language of symbolism, I have studied
the Tarot for several years. During this course of study, I have become aware of things in the Tarot cards which
frankly astounded me since I had thought that the cards were simply silly little fortune telling tools. Imagine my
shock, and imagine your shock, when we find God's holy, perfect name, written on the Tarot cards--not with any
attempt to profane Him or disgrace God's name, but to honor and reveal it.

This is not a book about fortune telling.

There are countless books of the Tarot available. Unfortunately, while they start from many different
perspectives, most of them try to tell people how to read their fortunes. This, however, is not the only means
used to interpret the cards. There are those who see them as psychological pictures to the brain. This is the
Jungian frame of mind--that the Tarot cards give us a glimpse into the inner subconscious, the great unknown, the
collective unconsciousness of humanity.
This writing is different. Its purpose is to redeem the Tarot from past and
present abuses, and explain its rich symbolism, unveiling the Divine, Biblically
consonant revelation they transmit.

HISTORY OF THE CARDS

These cards were originally written by Jewish people in the middle ages for purposes of transmitting to the human
race the results of their investigations, and the results of the revelations which they had received from God. This,
too, is controversial.

There is no agreement among scholars as to the origin of Tarot cards. As astounding as it is, we do not know
where they came from nor when they were first used. Some authorities say that they go all the way back to the
days of Egypt, before Moses; others say that they were created in the 1600's, because we have no actual written
Tarot cards from before that time. My investigation reveals that they came into being in approximately 1200 A.D.

In the 13th century, the Moslem and the Christian oppression had become immense. The Jews were confined to
small areas or ghettos of towns from which they were not allowed to move. It became apparent to the Jewish
leaders that the Christians and Moslems were threatening the destruction of their entire culture--all of the
knowledge and wisdom that had been gleaned through the centuries by their holy men.

So what to do? If they wrote their teachings/knowledge/thoughts/stories in a holy book, that holy book might well
be destroyed. If they simply kept it by word of mouth, when the last Jew is dead, there would be no one left to tell
the story. So, throughout the years the holy men of Israel devised a remarkable, inspired scheme. They would
take their knowledge, their wisdom, and their personal relationship with God and draw it in picture form, kind of
like a symbol or a mystery--exactly in the same manner that God talks to us in the Bible through the book of
Revelation. The book of Revelation is a series of pictures, symbols, and images which reflect a higher truth.

The Jews and Christians of that day were under immense persecution from the government, and Rome was
threatening to destroy all of known Christianity. Rome was threatening to destroy the entire temple and raise
Jerusalem to the ground. So, when God wanted to talk to the churches, He couldn't write down a document that
said, “Rome is oppressing you. Rome is evil. Rome is Satan. The Government is Satan. Fight it and you will be
rewarded.” Anybody caught with such a document would be subject to immense persecution. Thus, God placed
His revelation into pictures, images, and symbols--The Dragon, The Whore of Babylon, the beast that sits on seven
hills. These are images which the people could understand, but which the Romans thought of as silly little fairy
tales.

The Tarot cards contain a holy and divine God-inspired revelation from which all human beings can learn, just as
the book of Revelation will open itself and reveal great secrets to those who will open their eyes and hearts to
study and learn.

THE KABBALAH - TO KNOW GOD

The Kabbalah is a branch of Judaism. It seeks to go beyond what we are told about God; beyond what we read
about God, what we believe about God, and what we think about God, It seeks to actually know God
Himself. The essence of the Kabbalah, then, is to directly, immediately, enter into a personal relationship and to
know the absolute reality of God. Many, many different ideas, texts, pathways, exercises, and rituals are devoted
to this idea.

Some would say, we cannot know God, but the essence of religion is to take us beyond what we think or what we
feel or what we've heard, and get us to the point that we might know. The book of 1 John, for example, talks
about the disciples having seen, heard, felt and touched the Living Word, and that the purpose of their writings
was so that we too might know the truth--not merely believe it because someone else tells it to us.

Throughout the Bible, God appears to people. Isaiah sees Him. Ezekiel hears His voice. John, in the apocalypse, is
taken up to Heaven and is granted a vision of the divine presence upon the infinite throne in the sea of
crystal. Moses walked with God and talked with God. It is foolish of us to feel that just because we are centuries
removed from these experiences, we cannot have them. The Holy Word says that "God is the same yesterday,
today and forever."

We are capable of having the same relationships with Him that others have. If God lives, doesn’t He want us to see
Him, hear Him, touch Him, know Him, rather than merely believe in Him or listen to other people's stories about
Him? That is the purpose of the Kabbalah. That is the purpose the Jewish seers had dedicated their lives to--to
being able to see God, as Isaiah did. It is to that end that they collected their writings, knowledge and experiences,
and they passed them down from generation to generation.

THE TAROT CAN HELP US SEE GOD

Why then do I write this? First, for the aforementioned reasons, I am convinced that there is great beauty and
truth in these cards. Second, I seek to, in some small measure, try to rescue these cards and the revelation
contained therein from the blasphemy which has been done to them over the years. I wish to strip away the
silliness and drop what is worthless, so that we might see more clearly what is true and good. Simply because the
Tarot is under great misuse today is no reason not to pursue it.

This leads us to a very important point regarding the creative abilities of evil and darkness. Evil does not
create. Only God and goodness create. Evil merely transforms what is good, and in so transforming, it can pollute
good and corrupt it into something evil. An example might be the Bible. The Bible has been used to justify the
slaughter of tens of thousands of people, millions of people--Dead--in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
but that does not mean that the Bible should be thrown away.

Science is being used to explore a world and universe in which there is no room for a belief in God, yet science is
being used to do many profane and horrid things. That does not mean that science should be thrown
away. Science is a good and wonderful pursuit of knowledge. Sexuality is being used by forces of darkness,
pollution and evil. All sorts of perversions and darkness exist in the realm of human sexuality, but that does not
mean that it is evil. It merely means that the good gift that God has given us is being polluted for dark
purposes. This is true for the Bible; this is true for the pursuit of knowledge through science; and this is true for
human sexuality.
What we must do, then, is separate the good from the evil, separate what the
Bible calls the wheat from the chaff, and hold onto the good. In exactly the
same way, we must separate the foolishness from the truth of the Tarot and
see its value.

NOT FOR BABES IN THE WORD

This document is definitely a "beginner's document" in terms of the knowledge of the Tarot, but it is not for
“beginners on the spiritual path.” The Bible refers to the milk of the word which is for the new born babes, and it
also refers to the more weighty, or meatier subjects, which are for the more mature Christian and seeker for truth.

No one can deny that there are different types of instruction in the Bible. There is a series of levels of
revelation. Some things are available to everyone, and some are reserved for those who have been trained. Jesus
talks in parables to the multitude because they are not ready for certain other truths. Jesus explains some parts of
the plan of salvation to His disciples, and then waits several years to explain the rest. As He goes away, He says, “I
have many more things to tell you, but you can not bear them now, but the holy spirit will come to lead you into all
truth."
So I advise you, if you are new to the spiritual path, do not begin to study this
document. Put it down and come to it later in your life. This is not a joke.


PREPARATION FOR STUDY

What do I consider the prerequisites for this study?

· First, a thorough knowledge of the Bible is essential. Biblical ideals, principles, and images are encased
within the Tarot. It is challenging enough to unravel the symbolism, but if the student has little or no
comprehension of the underlying spiritual world, learning becomes exponentially harder.
· Next, a personal relationship with God is indispensable. No amount of simple book learning will ultimately
help the soul, if that book learning is not applied to life.
· A knowledge of the world's religions, including human psychology, is also very helpful.
· Finally, the student should have a general familiarity with the language of symbolism.

THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLISM

Signs versus symbols. The Tarot is a symbolic system. It is not a system of signs or words. Before one can delve
deeply into the understanding of the Tarot, one absolutely must become at least generically familiar with the
language of symbolism and its power.

When I see a word, for example the word "cat,” that word is a sign. It points, on a one-to-one relationship, with
what it indicates. It only represents one thing. A stop sign means only one thing; a speed limit sign has only one
purpose. In this way, words and signs are able to relate important meanings to us. They are the rock bed of our
communications. They enable us to transfer information clearly and unambiguously between different people.

A symbol is different. A symbol does not have a one-to-one relationship with anything. Instead of having one
exact meaning; it usually has a multitude of meanings. A symbol seldom stands alone. A sign or a word like "cat"
derives all of its meaning simply by itself. The word "cat" or a "stop sign" is a completely unambiguous indication
of whatever is meant.

However, a symbol seldom reveals its full meaning until it is placed in conjunction with and in relationship to other
symbols. The ancient philosophers and scientists of several millennia ago saw the world as consisting of four
primary elements, with a fifth being later added. Those four elements are: earth, water, air and fire. It was felt
that every single thing in the world consisted of one of those four elements, and that they were arranged bottom
to top in that order. How did they know that?
· If you put a rock (which is of the element earth) into a pond, the earth sinks to the bottom.
· If you stroll by a brook, you will often see water bubbling out of the earth.
· Water placed in the air will fall down to the earth, but will not fall under the earth. Air held underneath the
water will bubble up and be above the water.
· And, when you burn a fire, it rises up, into and above the air.

These four elements have been incredibly influential in the history of human thought because those four elements
became symbols for four aspects within the human being. The earth symbolizes our physical bodies, which are
essentially matter. They are very little different from earth matter, and are made of: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen,
and oxygen. The water came to symbolize the world of desire and emotion. Just as emotions can change from
one moment to the next, so too, water is very fluid, very adaptable, very moldable. It will automatically adapt
itself to whatever container it finds itself in. Air represents the spiritual side of man--invisible and yet consisting of
the essence of our life. Fire represents the spark of life. It represents the warmth of the body; the power that
transforms the physical body into a living being; and, the intellect, the mind, the power of the mind.

These four elements, then, have become the basis of great symbols. The Bible is full of symbolic language. The
Bible is not a series of signs alone. Yes, there are many words, and yes, there are many indications of direct
commands and direct communications. The Bible contains many simple commands from God. It contains many
explanations of simple history, i.e., this person did that or that, but it also contains many symbols. Symbols are
often used to communicate power beyond what we normally see and think and hear.

If what the symbol was trying to communicate was a simple, earthly, normal relationship, then the symbol would
use a sign. It would communicate directly with the reader or the listener and tell them exactly what is meant. And
what this writing tries to do is in some sense transform the symbols into "sign language” to unravel some of the
symbolism and give you some direct pointers toward the underlying realities that the symbol is indicating. The
difference is between presentational and discursive language. A symbol presents itself all at once. Discursive
language is linear, first this word and then the next word. You see the symbol in its entirety in a flash. In this
respect, it stands outside of time and space; however, you can only perceive a sign on a linear basis. This is
embodied in the old saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words." The picture is the symbol. It is the
presentational language, and that must be transformed into the thousand words which is discursive linear signs.

One example of a symbol in the Bible is where Jesus talks about himself being the bread of life. A simple way that
you could look at that symbol is that Jesus enables us to live, because without bread we die. A deeper way to look
at it is through the mystery of holy communion, wherein we actually partake in His presence. Yet another way of
looking at the symbol of the bread of life is through these four symbolic domains: earth, water, air and fire. First
we have the wheat which is born out of the earth. We grind the wheat and mix it with some water and some
yeast. It then rises into the air as the bread expands, and finally it is placed into the fire for finishing.

Symbolically then to say that Jesus is the bread of life would mean on a deeper level that He is fulfilling all aspects
of our being; that as we enter into a relationship with God, our bodies will be healed and transformed and made
pure; that our emotional life and desired life will be free from the fetters of compulsion and ugliness; that our
minds will become clean and full of inspiration; and, that our spirits will begin to resonate with the very presence
of God.

So we see that the power of symbolism is immense. It enables a person to perceive the symbol and discover the
deeper meanings, the likes of which are often difficult to put into words.

There is a final aspect of symbols that I wish to discuss at this moment: symbols in some respect bring us in touch
with what is symbolized. If we gaze at a painting of a farm house, many things happen in our minds. Is this one
particular farm house? Does it remind us of one we’ve visited or seen before? Does it bring up childhood
memories? For a moment, our whole being is filled with this symbol. The symbol brings us in touch with a non-
corporeal reality. The farm house is not physically present with us, but through concentrating on this painting, it is
as though we were in or by the farm house; so too, the symbolism of holy communion.

Sometimes religious people, Christians especially, are guilty of saying, "Oh, it's only a symbol." I am not here
debating whether or not Jesus is physically present in holy communion. That is the point. The power of the
symbol, as we meditate on the symbol, as we eat and drink of the symbol, actually brings us in touch with the
power of Christ. Therefore, even if communion is "only a symbol," that symbol still brings us literally and actually
into the presence of Christ. The nature of the bread and the wine as physical conduits are not important. The
importance lies in the relationship that the bread and wine bring us into with Christ.
As we study the Tarot cards, all of these elements come together and are combined. The Tarot cards are very
definitely structured around the language of symbolism. Different symbols have very specific meanings and some
have very vague meanings. Some have meaning only as they relate to other symbols. The Tarot cards are
structured around the four symbols of earth, water, air and fire, and without understanding that symbolism, much
of the Tarot cards will be completely meaningless. The Tarot cards also help to focus on those images which are
the symbols, and in so doing, actually bring us into contact with higher realities--things which are so very, very
difficult to discuss.

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS

You could spend tens of thousands of words discussing many of these images because they are so rich and
powerful. and rich. They symbolize realities far beyond our normal realm of thinking. This is another reason why
fortune telling with Tarot cards is so silly and wrong. To have someone else tell you what the cards say is to miss
the point entirely. What’s important is what do they say to you--not in terms of, "Should you buy that new car?"
or "Should you take the new job?" or "Should you divorce your spouse?" but, in terms of your relationship with the
higher spiritual reality which these cards represent. Only you have dominion over your life. You are a free
spirit. You have been given dominion. You have been filled with free will. To sacrifice that in any capacity, by
letting someone else tell you what you should do is completely wrong.

In exactly the same way having someone else tell you what these particular symbols mean is not good. Therefore,
I advise you to take everything in this writing or any other writing on the Tarot cards or on any religious matter as
merely one more piece of evidence, one more opinion, one more clue. It would not be good for you to wholly
absorb and agree with everything I say in this document. The purpose of this writing is not to convince you that
this is how things are, but rather to get you started down the road to seeing the immense power in these symbols
and to get you to focus on the transcendent spiritual reality embodied in these symbols.

To simply adopt one person's viewpoint is wrong. This writing is my viewpoint. You cannot find this particular
writing anywhere else. Other authors on the Tarot would absolutely agree and will disagree on many of my
conclusions. This is the result of my personal encounter with the symbols in the cards and the spiritual truth which
lies behind them.

WHICH TAROT DECK?

You cannot really study the Tarot cards as a Christian without being personally involved; therefore, you need to
acquire your own deck of cards. There are scores of different decks available--some are simply silly, i.e. Alice in
Wonderland goes to Tarot cards. Some are astrological; some come from witchcraft; some come from Satanism,
etc. The only deck that I can recommend is called the “Rider Tarot deck.” It was created by Arthur Edward Waite,
and the drawings are by Pamela Coleman Smith. This deck contains the best version of the symbols I have ever
seen, and it is available in most bookstores. All of my discussions will be based on these symbols and no
others. Most other decks, in my opinion, are so polluted they are unusable.

THE HEBREW ALPHABET

You need to spend some preparation time understanding the Hebrew alphabet. You do not have to read and write
Hebrew in order to study the Tarot cards, but in order to fully appreciate them, you really must be familiar with
the letters and certain rudimentary aspects of the language. For example, there are 22 letters in their alphabet,
and those 22 letters form the basis of the cards. The Tarot cards are divided into two sections. There are 22 major
symbols or images called the Major Arcana, and 56 cards called the Minor Arcana--a total of 78 cards. The Major
Arcana take us beyond our normal earth bound life and focus us on the eternal spiritual truths. These 22 cards
relate to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Minor Arcana deal with all aspects of life, from your body to
your money, to family life, personal relationships, intellectual struggle, etc.

GOD'S HOLY NAME

The entire Tarot system is also based upon God's holy name. God's name is not God. God's name, as revealed in
the Bible, is a series of four Hebrew letters: YOD HEH VAU HEH. If you are unfamiliar with this, I highly
recommend that you read my document, "God is not God's Name." It will explain to you the nature of this name
and why it is so important. God's name is used throughout the Tarot cards, and it physically appears on many of
the cards. Unless you are familiar with this holy name, its symbolism, and how it is written in the original Hebrew
letters, you simply will not be able to gain much information of lasting value from the Tarot cards.

TWO GUIDING PRINCIPLES

There are two principles with which you must be completely familiar in order to understand the power and
symbolism of the Tarot.

The first is “As above, so below.” Everything that happens on this physical world is merely a image of the spiritual
higher reality. A Biblical example is when God first shows Moses the temple which exists in Heaven. Moses then
moves to create a copy of that on the earth. As above, so below is one of the most powerful, symbolic keys to
open up the meanings, not only of the Tarot cards, but also of the Bible. In a previous example when we
mentioned Jesus as being the bread of life, we see that the physical loaf of bread (the below part) actually
symbolizes some very high and powerful nonphysical entities. The earth symbolizes human bodies. Fire
symbolizes human intellect. Water symbolizes human emotion. As above, so below.

The second principle is the relationship between individuals and community. What happens to you individually
also affects the entire community. Just as individuals are born, learn, grow and die, so too do communities,
businesses, and other kinds of human group activities. They have a beginning, they have a purpose, they have a
learning period, they have a development, and eventually they have a death. So the symbols that we see in the
Tarot will apply to three domains:
1. The spiritual reality, the archetype if you will--the image of the temple in the heavens before it has been built.
2. Your personal life. That is what happens with you as you grow and develop and learn all that it means to be a
child of God.
3. How you relate to the larger community of people.

All of this is, of course, embodied in the two great commandments: to love God, with our entire being and to love
our fellow men and women as ourselves. This places the three domains: the spiritual domain, God's domain, our
world and the world of all our fellow human beings into a harmonious oneness. That is the story that the Tarot
cards wish to reveal to us.

 TRUMP 0 - THE FOOL

We will begin our investigation of the symbolism of the Tarot with the Major Arcana. If you take out your deck,
you will see the first 22 cards are strikingly different from the rest of the cards. They each have different words at
the bottom describing what they are, and different numbers at the top--0 through 21.

As I said previously, they relate to each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. We will start with #0, the
Fool. This symbol is the most complex and difficult to interpret in the entire deck. Why? Because the reality and
the power which it symbolizes is the farthest removed from our day to day consciousness. The Tarot cards
symbolize realities and experiences which transcend their physical images.

What is symbolized in the Fool? When you begin to examine each Tarot card, clear your mind and observe very
carefully. What do we see on the card? Obviously we see a man or a young boy dressed in a remarkable gown
with a backpack in his right hand over his right shoulder, with a white rose in his left hand. He is standing on the
very edge of a cliff which is beginning to crumble. At his heels is a white dog. In the background we see a huge, ice
covered mountain. It is apparent from where he stands that he is quite high into the air, because the Sun is
beating down behind his head.
How can such a seemingly silly picture mean anything? How can it have any spiritual power? It has spiritual power
because this card is full of symbolism--symbolism which points to a reality far beyond your imagination, far beyond
your experience. It is impossible for me to describe to you what the Fool symbolizes. I will attempt to do so, but
all the words that I use will be very feeble compared to the ultimate reality that is symbolized in the Fool.

The first thing we notice in terms of the symbolism are the four primal elements. We have the earth in the cliff
that he stands on. We have the water, frozen in the snowy, icy mountains behind him. We have the air, which he
stands so high within, and we have the fire in the form of the Sun, shining and illuminating the entire scene.

From the symbolism, it is then apparent that the sum total of all creation is embodied in this card. In other cards
we have different parts of these items, but in their natural form, this is the only card where we see all four
elements so clearly displayed.

Next, look at the man. The man is given the number zero. This indicates that this card stands outside of the
domain of the rest of the cards. Many people do not know that the #0 was the last number to have been invented
by the human mind. The numbers 1, 2, 3 etc.. were selected relatively early, but the idea of zero being a number
with properties of its own is a relatively new development in mankind’s brain. What are its principles?

Zero plus anything equals anything. Zero times anything equals zero. Zero then has a split personality. If zero is
added to something, that something remains completely unchanged. In that respect, zero is the least obtrusive of
all numbers. It is completely invisible and has no effect whatsoever in the domain of addition. If, however, you
are going to multiply a number by zero, then the result is zero.

Addition and multiplication, you see, also symbolize things. If we put it into human terms, I think you could say
that addition is friendship. You and I can stand shoulder to shoulder, become added together and thus form a
bond. Neither of us loses our identity. But, if we become married, at least in theory, we are no longer two people,
but only one person. Our individual lives have become merged into the greater union. When we simply add the
Fool to our lives, our lives remain exactly as they were. If we attempt to retain any part of ourselves, then we will
remain completely unaffected by the Fool, whatever it turns out to be. If we marry ourselves to the Fool, then we
will discover that we no longer exist, and the only reality is the Fool. This gives you a very great clue as to what the
Fool is.

The number zero has been associated also with a letter. This Tarot card relates to the letter Aleph which is the
Hebrew equivalent of our letter (A), but not quite. You see our letter (A) has a sound of “ah” or “ay.” In Hebrew,
the Aleph is completely silent. They have other vowels for the sound “ah.” The Aleph is the silence before the
storm. The Aleph is that moment of hesitation before one actually speaks.

The Fool is actually standing approximately in the form of an Aleph. This is the starting point. This is the moment
of silence before the dawn of creation. The first letter in the Bible is a Beth, which is our letter (B). This is meant
to indicate, the Kabbalists say, that before God created the world, He still existed and still had activities and
life. The first moment of physical creation is embodied in the (B). The eternal realities of God, before the physical
creation began, are embodied in the Aleph. This is bringing us much closer to the meaning of the Fool.

As the Fool stands in the position of the Aleph, the significance becomes quite profound. As I indicated to you
before, you must have some familiarity with the holy name of God. I will summarize a little bit of this for you
because it is essential to the understanding of what the Fool is all about.

Most people think that God's name is God. God is not God's name. Those who know that God has a name think
that it is Jehovah or see it as being Yahweh. These are better and worse names for God and are based upon
biblical statements. In the Bible, we have a YHWH, which is sometimes pronounced Yahweh and/or
Jehovah. Throughout the Bible, that is the name that is used the most, but it is not the original name that God
gave to His people.

If you read Exodus, chapter 3 in Hebrew, you will see that when God tells Moses His name for the first time He
says, “AHYH, Aleph Heh Yod Heh.” This is an absolutely essential revelation. Exodus 3 gives God's official name as
AHYH ASR AHYH, Aleph Heh Yod Heh - Aleph Shin Resh - Aleph Heh Yod Heh. In English, that translates into a
sentence meaning “I will be what I will be.”

As Moses came down the mountain and the people said what is God's name, Moses said, “I will be what I will
be.” The people (we learn this from the Jewish oral tradition) said “you can't say that!” Moses said, “Well that's
what His name is.” And the people said, “Well O.K. fine, but you can't say, ‘I will be what I will be.’ All you can say
is ‘He will be what He will be’.” He will be is YHWH, and when the Christian Bible translates Exodus, chapter 3 as “I
am that I am,” they completely miss both statements. They do not translate His name as it should be, “I will be
what I will be.” They do not even translate it as, “He will be what He will be,” but rather “I am that I am.” There is
so much ignorance and darkness in this matter.

This is the single most important religious matter that a human being can know, and it truly is desperately sad to
see the human condition having fallen into a state of such total ignorance about this holy and sacred matter.

We see inside of the Tarot cards the Aleph Heh Yod Heh and the Yod Heh Vav Heh. The Yod Heh Vav Heh is what
you might call the exoteric name of God. Aleph Heh Yod Heh is the esoteric or hidden name of God. That is
another clue to the nature of the Fool. As you continue to look at this card, concentrate on his robe or gown. This
is a remarkable creation. It symbolizes two things. All those little miniature wheels and dials and bursts, symbolize
the galaxies which God will soon create. Secondly, if you look carefully and count them, you will in fact find that
there are 12 such wheels or centers or sparkles on the robe, exactly 12.

The symbolism is very powerful. The number 12 is one of the most powerful symbols in the human race. The
number 12 symbolizes the twelve months of the year, to which are attached twelve signs of the zodiac. I'm not
talking about astrology; I'm talking about the zodiac. Just as the Tarot cards have fallen and their pure
transcendent divine revelation has been profaned for purposes of fortune telling, so has the divine revelation of
the zodiac, which is the pathway that Earth travels through as it goes around the Sun.

As we gaze into the stars, the Bible tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows His
handiwork. The stars tell a story--the story of God's redeeming plan. For more information you should seek out,
"Bullinger's The Witness of the Stars." It will explain it all to you in great detail.

As it pertains to the Fool, the 12 starbursts represent the galaxies which God will create; the 12 signs of the zodiac;
the 12 months of the year; the 12 hours in the day; the 12 tribes of Israel; the 12 apostles of Christ; and, the 12
gates on the holy city of Heaven. The number 12 symbolizes the totality of the manifest creation. All of the stars
and all of the people and all of the hours in creation are embodied in this number 12. That is the cloak that the
Fool is wearing. The Fool is covered and clothed inside of the physical universe.

He is carrying a backpack on which you will see the image of an eagle. Also, in his left hand he is carrying a
rose. What do these symbolize? The starbursts on his robe symbolize fire animated--fire come to life. The
potentialities of all that is symbolized by the fire, which we see physically in the Sun, are transformed and
animated through the stars, seasons and human experience. The air around him becomes infused with life in the
symbol of the eagle. The rose is animated water. The rose is often a symbol of love, devotion, romance, and the
heart felt experiences. We take physical reality, and we water that rose. That water becomes alive, just as we
have to water our romances.
At the feet of the Fool, we see the dog. The dog represents the animus, from which we get the words “animal”
and “animation”--something that is alive. The dog standing on the ground symbolizes life--taking physical reality
and infusing it with animation. We see that the dog is nipping at the heels of the Fool. Although the Fool stands
on the crumbling precipice, he has no concern about falling. The dog is barking at him, not so much as a warning,
but as a playful celebration.

So, using these symbols, what is this card telling us? The Fool is what is known as the vast countenance of
God. The Kabbalists call this the Arik Anpin, the vast countenance of God. What was God doing before He created
the universe? The first thing that the Bible tells us is that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. But, that is in the beginning of the existence of the heaven and the earth. That is not the beginning of God,
because the non-physical transcendence spiritual reality, which is God, has always existed and will always
exist. That is one of the ineffable mysteries, the eternal non-temporal essence of God.

In the Bible, Moses asks to see God. God shows Him His backside because God says no one can see my front side
and live. This is God without attributes. This is God before He has spoken to say, “Let there be light." He has the
potential for all within Him, and He is clothed in that robe of infinite manifestation. He stands on the precipice; the
precipice of creation. Every creation is, in fact, somewhat of a fall. If I sit at an easel with my oil paints, as long as I
do not paint, the blank easel has infinite potential. But, as soon as the first drop of paint touches that canvass, the
painting begins to fall from its infinite potential into a state of manifest reality. As I sit at a piano without playing, I
have the potential of infinite expression, but the first note that I play drops from these lofty heights and begins to
enter manifest reality.

That is what this card is all about--God, at that moment just before He created the world, flying so close to the Sun
in the highest lofts of Heaven, symbolizing God transcendent beyond all physical manner, unlimited, uncaring. The
precipice is about to collapse because in the next card we will see God with attributes. We will see God in His first
moment of creation, as He begins to pour out all energies to create the universe. But, we are not there yet.

Here we see God just before He takes His fall from pure infinite potential into commitment, because creation is a
commitment, whether it is a writing or a painting or a piece of music. It is a commitment to a particular action. It
is a voluntary limiting of ourselves. In that respect, as God creates and delves into the creation, He voluntarily
limits Himself.

Notice His expression as one of being carefree. This also contains a great revelation, because ultimately God's
reality as pure infinite being remains unaffected by his "fall" into creation. What is there to harm Him? If the sum
total of the universe were to disappear and to evaporate, the eternal transcendent reality of God would
remain. This is one of the difficult lessons we must learn.

From our perspective, every single human action is of ultimate importance. We see great tragedy, great human
suffering and much wrong as well as much joy, and much ecstasy, great human accomplishments and triumphs of
the will. What we must learn, and what this card reminds us of, is non-attachment. Because ultimately, whether
we succeed or fail, whether we are born or we die, it is all just part of the play.

The Fool as number zero stands outside of the rest of the game. This is God in His purest form. This is ourselves in
our purest form inside of God. The Bible tells us that before the worlds were made, God knew us. That is
astounding! That means that we partake in the reality of the Fool. That means that we are there with Him, and
that whatever happens in our physical lives pales in insignificance to the true spiritual reality.

To summarize then, the Fool is infinite God before He creates. The Fool contains infinite potential. The Fool, as
number zero, will add himself to us completely and unobtrusively. If we simply ask God to come along with us, He
will do so and allow us to retain our own free will. But if we seek to become married to the divine Godhead, then
we will find that our individual personality becomes lost and all that remains is God.
Paul says in the book of Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Paul, having spent so
much time merging his life with God, seeking God, serving God, knowing God, found that he, Paul, as a separate
being, had no reality at all. The only life he lived, he lived by the faith and the power of the son of God. This is the
mystery and power of the number zero. If we just seek to add God to our already full lives, then our already full
lives will remain completely unaffected by adding the number zero. If, however, we multiply ourselves and marry
ourselves with God, then we will seek to exist. The idea of a court jester is also very important here. Throughout
literature, the idea of the court Fool or the court jester has developed. Half of the time he spends being
completely silly, stupid and absurd, and the other half of the time he’s telling the truth.

In Shakespeare's "King Lear", the only one who will tell the king what is really going on is the Fool. The Bible itself
tells us that the wisdom of God is foolishness to this world, and we see that the story is complete. Within each of
us, the Fool lives. The Fool is that spark, the highest reality of God before he was manifested into the universe,
before he created the universe. And, that wisdom abides within us all. The pathways of the Fool are those stages
we go through as we move from our normal mortal life into the marriage with God.

TRUMP 1 - THE MAGICIAN

The differences between the Fool and the Magician are very subtle, but they are in fact very profound. The Fool is
infinite potential; it is God without attributes; the sum totality of the universe before anything was created. The
Fool is the Arik Anpin. As we turn to the Magician, we see the first moment of God with attributes: God as
Creator, God as He, God as the Word. In the beginning, God created.

As we us look at the card, I want to remind you that we are dealing with symbols. We are talking about realities
which go far beyond human comprehension--realities which cannot really be spoken of in simple human language-
-realities which are the basis and power and essence of our ability to speak or think. Therefore, the pictures are
cryptic and strange, and require a bit of analysis before we understand them.

As we look at the Magician, we see the number one at the top of the card. We see the figure of a young man with
a sign of infinity over his head, holding in his right hand a Magician's staff or wand. His left hand is pointing down
to the earth. Around his waist is a belt in the form of a snake whose mouth is swallowing his tail. In front of him,
there is a table on which there are four items: a disk with a star on it, a cup, a sword, and a staff.

How in the world can this mean anything, and even if it does mean something, isn't it a rather dark
symbol? Doesn't the Bible forbid magicians? The first thing we must deal with then is the idea of the Magician.

What is a magician? A magician is one who, with the strength of his word, manifests and manipulates the physical
world. That has come into ill repute, because the power of the magician has been used for very dark, evil
purposes. However, it was not always so, and in its purest form, magic is religion.

Let me give you some examples. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth with His word. God
said, “Let there be light." And there was light. God said, “Let there be earth." And there was earth. God said, “Let
there humanity." And there was humanity. The power of the word is integrally related to the Magician. The #1
card of the Magician does, in fact, represent the Logos, the Word. In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God and the Word was God. Jesus says if you have faith like the mustard seed, you will say to the
mountain be gone, and the mountain will be gone. That is the power of magic in its purest sense--not in an evil
satanic sense, but in its purest sense. Jesus looked into the grave and said, “Lazarus, come forward." And His
words are life and power and truth.

I will tell you another story. Even young school children learn the words “hocus-pocus.” Do you know where those
words come from? Hocus pocus are the wonderful words used in cartoons and other things to represent
magic. The magician simply says, “Hocus-Pocus," and wonderful or evil things happen. What is its origin? It
comes from the Christian practice of holy communion. The priest holds the wafers or the bread above his head
and pronounces the words of institution. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when He had
given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, “This is My body, do this in remembrance of Me." At
the moment the priest says, “This is My body," he makes the sign of the cross. In fact, when he uses the word
"this," he begins his downward motion for the vertical staff of the cross. When he says the word "body," he
finishes the horizontal bar of the cross. At that exact moment, according to Christian, especially Catholic, doctrine,
that bread ceases to be bread and physically becomes the body of Christ himself.

Through the magician’s words, the bread has become transformed into the living, actual presence of God. I use
the word "magician" advisedly, because at that point the priest is performing an act of magic. The difference
between magic and prayer is that prayer requests something of the divine; magic demands it. Through the words
that the magician speaks, the bread turns into the body of Christ. The term “hocus-pocus” comes from words
spoken in the Catholic mass. Until recently, the Catholic mass was said in Latin. At the moment the priest
pronounces the words of institution when he says, “This is my body," he is actually saying in Latin, “Hoc est corpus
meus." To the ears of the uneducated who may not understand what words the priest is saying but do understand
that something holy, sacred and magical is going on, those words can sound like, “Hocus-Pocus.”

I am not, in any sense, saying that this makes all "magic" okay. Most of it is wrong. It will lead you far astray and
will lead you down various pathways of great darkness and danger. But in its purest form, magic is the essence of
creation. Magic is the word of God. As God said, “Let there be light," so too has He placed within us the ability to
speak. Our words do contain power. As the Bible says, “The tongue is a mighty flame and an incredible
power." Through your very words, you have the ability to create, and you have the ability to destroy. This is so
essential. There is no way to over emphasize it.

To return to the card then, the Magician as number one is related to the letter “Beth” or “B” in the Hebrew
alphabet. The very first word of the Bible is "Bereshith."

“Bereshith” means in the beginning. It obviously begins with the letter "B," and for the Hebrews, the letter "B" has
always had a very sacred, special meaning. Notice, the symbolism. This all may be chance, but the symbolism fits
so well that it does indeed communicate a very profound truth. The first letter of the alphabet for the Hebrews is
the Aleph, but it is not the first letter of the Bible. Aleph stands outside and before the moment of creation. The
"B" is the beginning of manifest creation. That is the power of the Magician.

The Magician is holding in his right hand the Magician’s staff. Just as the priest carries the cross and the cross is
the vehicle through which God's power is relayed, the Magician’s staff is a transformer. It is an antenna. It is used
to pickup the power and energy from beyond. What power and energy is the Magician picking up? If the Magician
is God and his creative energies, what does he need to transmit? I hope the answer is obvious. The Magician is
transmitting the power of the Fool. God the creator is transmitting those positive aspects of his being into the
creation. This is a key point. As God creates everything he says this is good, this is good, this is good, this is very
good, everything in the universe which has been made by God is perfectly and absolutely good.

That is the power of the Magician's wand that he is holding. He is to transmit only the good. The left hand
pointing down shows that the energy is going to move from the Fool through the Magician into the rest of the
universe. This is a card of manifestation. This is a card of power; a card of creation and all the energies embodied
therein. This is a card of activity. The symbol above the Magician’s head is the infinity symbol. It is one of the
most obvious symbols in the entire deck. It stands for never ending, ever going, limitless, total power. We have no
way of knowing how large this created universe is, and even if we were able to find its limits, we would have no
way of conceptualizing how vast that truly is.

Light travels 186,000 miles per second. It takes light 8 minutes to travel from the earth to the Sun because it has
to travel 93 million miles.

That means that the Sun could explode right now, and you wouldn't know it for another 8 minutes. To get to the
nearest star to the Sun, Alpha-Centauri, light has to travel for 4 1/2 years. That's 27 trillion miles. In our little
teeny, tiny cluster of stars called the Milky Way, there are well over a billion stars, and for light to travel from one
end of this teeny, tiny, little bubble to the next would take well over 100 thousand years.

Scientists have counted well over a billion galaxies and have no way of knowing how many there really are. Infinity
is vast beyond our comprehension--100's of trillions of stars and galaxies and power and light, the likes of which go
far beyond our ability to imagine. The Bible tells us God holds all of that power and all of that universe in the palm
of His hand. That is the Magician’s left hand--the hand pointing down toward the physical world.

Around the Magician’s waist, we see a snake, and the snake is swallowing its tail. This an ancient symbol, and
there is no way that I could possibly convey to you the power and importance of this symbol, but I can give you a
few examples.

During the last 20 years, mathematicians have discovered a mathematical structure called a fractal. Many books
are being written now on fractals, and the science and mathematics of fractals are being applied to many different
fields of human study. The sciences of biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, sociology, electronics, and
computer engineering are all being affected by this mathematical idea. The essence of a fractal is very, very
simple. You take any system--be it a equation, a structure, or a music piece--and place something into
it. Something comes out. You take what comes out, and you place it back in. The simplest mathematical fractal I
could give you would be x = x + 1. Start off with x as being any number, 0. x = x + 1, so you add one to x and you
wind up with 1. You then take that result, and run the equation again. x now equals 1, x = x + 1, now x = 2. That
simple little equation as we take its output and put it back into the input becomes a fractal, and that fractal
generates every whole number there is. It generates an infinite number of numbers.

There are many books you can get to read up on this, and the field will yield immense results. The importance of
fractals has not yet hit the religious community, but the universe is a fractal equation, based upon God's
name! God's name, as I hope you remember from the Fool, is, “I will be what I will be.” That is a fractal
equation. “I will be” is your “x”, “What” is your “=”, I will be is the resultant function.

X = X + 1……..+1……….+1…

I will be, what I will be, what I will be, what I will be….

We live our lives and do certain actions, make certain decisions. I will be what I will to be. As a result of those
actions and decisions, we wind up being a certain type of person living in a certain type of environment. The
person we are and the environment we live in then act back upon us, and we must again be who we will
be. Everyday we have new decisions. Every moment is another creation and another manifestation of the fractal
relationship, I will be what I will be.

My past decisions help in a large degree to decide what I will do today, and what I will do today, helps determine
to a large degree what I will do tomorrow. As the Bible says, the sins of the Fathers are passed down to the
children and then to the grandchildren and then to the great-grandchildren. We live in a fractal universe. This is
the very essence of the Tarot principle that we talked about in the introduction regarding “as above-so below.” I
will be what I will be. My body reflects what goes on in my heart. My heart reflects what goes on in my mind. My
mind reflects what goes on in my body. The input for our bodies and our souls passes through our lives and
becomes the input for the next cycles round of becoming. That is what is alluded to with the snake whose tail is
being eaten by the snake.

Infinity is never ending and yet is completely enclosed within itself, because all things reside inside of God. The
only reality is the Fool and God said, “Let there be light" and there was light. The Bible tells us that God is light and
that in Him there is no darkness. I find it remarkable that at the first moment of creation God says, “Let there be
light," and the Bible is so clear to always refer to God as light. We could go very far afield here, but I will indicate
to you that if you study the books on physics regarding the nature of light, including Einstein's theory of relativity,
you will find that every single mathematical equation that we have regarding light tells us something about the
nature of God himself. I believe it is entirely possible that when the Bible tells us that God is light, it actually
means what it says.

Back to the #1 card. Notice that the Magician’s face has deliberately been drawn young. This indicates that God is
the same yesterday and today and forever--forever young, forever creating, forever new. The table in front of him
has four elements on it. Hopefully at this point you can determine for yourself which elements those are. The
coin, the cup, the sword and the staff all relate to one of the four primal elements: earth, water, air and fire. The
coin is often called the pentacle, penta meaning five. When the pentacle is inverted so that the one point is down,
this is a symbol of evil. When the two points are at the bottom and the one point is moving upward, this is a
symbol of goodness. The pentacle represents the earth. The coin is very connected obviously to the idea of
money. Love of money, as the Bible tell us, is the root of all evil. What is money? Again this is an issue that we
could discuss at some great length, but suffice it to say that money is the potential to manifest the physical
universe. If I have 25¢ in my pocket, I do not have as much ability to manifest this physical universe as you have if
you have $100. In shortest form, money is the ability to manipulate the physical world and is therefore a symbol
for all of matter.
The cup obviously holds fluid. It holds water and is a symbol for our heart, our emotions, our desires.

The two edged sword is capable of separating good from evil. The sword of the spirit which is able to discern truth
from falsehood is a symbol of the mind. In all aspects of our intellect, this is the symbol of the air.

And finally, the staff is a symbol of life. Because the staff is a tree and is therefore unlike the coin or the cup or the
sword, the staff is actually alive. This represents the fire, the spark of life that keeps our bodies warm and actually
gives us the miracle of life itself. That is the symbol of fire.

This is the only card in the Major Arcana where you see these symbols. The symbolism is almost too obvious to
need comment; however, for the record, the card symbolizes that within God, within the Magician, all levels of
reality are created--the physical universe, the emotional desire universe, the realm of thought and mind
(mathematics and science), consciousness itself and the highest mystery of all, life.

Jesus says, “Even when you have an abundance, your life does not consist in your possessions." Well what do you
possess? Not only do you possess physical objects you've acquired, like a car or a couch or a book, but you also
possess a body. Your soul is housed inside of your body, and your body is much more of a possession than
anything else. You possess feelings. Those do not consist of your life. You possess thoughts, ideas, and
memories. Those do not embody your life. Your life is beyond all of those. Your life is a spark of God. It cannot be
created; it cannot be destroyed. It can only change form.

The Bible is clear that God knelt down, took his air, and exhaled it into Adam and Eve--the life giving air. This is an
incredibly powerful symbol. The thing which beats in your heart, that which gives you life, is none other than God
himself. I know that for some of you this must be an incredibly radical and almost threatening idea, but I told you
at the beginning, this study is not for neophytes.

One last observation on the Magician. This is a card of maleness. The Fool is androgynous, neither male nor
female, neither positive nor negative, but the entire sum totality of all there is. If you will, the Fool is a bunch of
electrons floating in free space without any structure or flow. As we enter the realm of creation, a battery, in
order to work, has to have a positive pole and a negative pole--a plus and a minus, a giver and a receiver, a male
and a female. This is the nature of the universe. The Magician is God the Father, the giver, the sender. In this
respect, the Magician’s staff is also the symbol of the phallus--the giver, the sender, the transmitter of the
seed. But, there must also be a receiver.

Western culture is very comfortable with the idea of God the Father, but if you even say the phrase, “God the
Mother”, people become very nervous. It starts to sound like a cult. It starts to sound like some weird eastern
religion. But ask yourself simply and clearly, without any fear, if there is a God the Father, how can the universe
exist without God the Mother. And, if there is a God the Mother, where is She, who is She, what is She like? Why
don't we talk about Her?

The power of the Fool, the free flowing electrons, enter the realm of action. In order to act, the electrons must
leave some pole and enter another. There must be a flowing direction. If you lay the cards out on a table in front
of you, put the Fool at the top. On the left hand side below the Fool, put the Magician. On the right hand side
below the Fool, put the High Priestess card #2. The oneness of the Fool becomes separated into the two poles of
the Magician and the High Priestess, i.e., God the Father and God the Mother, infinite maleness and infinite
femaleness. We hear a lot of talk about women's liberation, and we are so far beyond the essence of social order
here, that it’s almost laughable. Suffice it to say that pure maleness and pure femaleness are each absolutely
essential and are completely wholly 100% equal.

 TRUMP 2 - THE HIGH PRIESTESS

Every single card in the Major Arcana is full of incredibly powerful symbolism and imagery. It does no good to try
to compare one to the other or to say one is more or less powerful. They are equally significant. However, the
imagery in the High Priestess is so foreign to our usual ways of thinking that it will, in all probability, take us a bit
longer to unravel the mysteries which she can reveal to us.

The High Priestess is robed in blue. She has a rather strange looking crown on her head, a cross on her chest, and
she holds a Torah scroll. At her foot is a crescent moon. She sits between two pillars of the temple labeled (B) and
(J), and she sits in front of a rather strange looking curtain. Remarkable as it may seem, this is a symbol of almost
overwhelming power, glory and beauty. We will look at each of the elements in turn.

We cannot understand the High Priestess unless we, of course, first understand the Magician. The High Priestess
gives form to all of the impulses of the Magician. Once we leave the non-manifest infinite potential unity of the
Arik Anpin in the Fool and enter into reality, we immediately enter duality. That is the purpose of the #2 on the
High Priestess. We are now entering the realm of opposites. That is one of the reasons that there are two pillars to
the temple.

Every single thing in the universe exists in a dual form. Absolutely, positively every inanimate object, every
relationship, every animate object, has a dual nature. And, that dual nature consists of a spirit and a body--a
impulse and a form; a seed and a soil. There are an infinite number of illustrations. You have thoughts, feelings
and desires which become your spiritual impulse. That impulse expresses itself and gains form through your
body. Words themselves have a spiritual underlying meaning which get clothed in the words. If I say the word
"power" the individual letters are a sign to point to the non-physical reality behind them.

Love is an emotion. Love is a relationship. Love is a reality which gets expressed in actions--a kiss, a gift, a
touch. The Magician is then the spark, the impulse, the seed, the soul. The High Priestess is the form giver, the
body, the soil. The Magician is the positive pole on the battery sending the energy out. The High Priestess is the
negative pole on the battery taking the energy in. For every giver, there must be a recipient or there can be no
gift. For every speaker, there must be a listener or there can be no speech. This is a deep and profound mystery
understood by far too few people on this earth. This is the essence of the Christian revelation of the Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Spirit--subject, object relationship. The Father is the subject; the object of his love is the Son; and,
they have a relationship between them which is the Spirit.

This tri-unal relationship is every single thing we have experienced. The Trinity is the only reality. The hearer is the
Son, the speaker is the Father, and the speech or the word is the Spirit. We have here the Magician which is the
speaker. We have the High Priestess who is the listener. The relationship between them and what they are
sending between themselves is, of course, the energy of the Fool. Yet notice how they are all one. The Magician
plus the High Priestess create no less of God then the Fool alone does.

Every living organism requires certain things. The vast majority of organisms on this planet reproduce sexually, but
even those organisms that are able to reproduce asexually perform by themselves both the act of father and
mother. The sender of the seed and the recipient of the seed are essential. The father delivers the power to
which the mother gives form. In as few words as possible, the Magician is God the Father, the High Priestess is
God the Mother.

As I stated when I was discussing the Magician, we in western civilization have almost completely ignored God the
Mother, or at least we've tried to. It turns out that in Christianity, we have God the Mother for us. For Catholics,
God the Mother is the Virgin Mary, and all of those warm, loving, nurturing things which we associate with mother
are done for us by the Virgin Mary. Within Protestantism, the Virgin Mary was renounced and is not a figure. Who
then is God the Mother for a Christian? Shocking as it may seem, God the Mother is Jesus. God the Father is seen
as being the stern, harsh judge. God the Mother is Jesus, who is there as gentle Jesus, meek and mild, to take care
of us and to wash away our tears. I am sure you have seen paintings of Jesus which are very soft and almost
feminine. This is in direct contradiction, of course, to the Biblical record of Jesus, the man who was not afraid to
whip the money changers in the temple, was not afraid to go to the cross, and was anything other than a soft,
meek and mild wimp.

God the Father and God the Mother combine to give birth to the universe. That is the next card, the
Empress. God the Father, number one, plus God the Mother, number 2, equals three. The Empress is Mother
Nature, all of nature, mountains, skies, trees, etc. We will discuss her later.

The notion of God the Mother is somewhat strange or foreign to most of us. Everything that there is takes form
through God the Mother. We likened in the previous chapter God the Father to the word, the power of creation,
but that word has a dual reality, each of which is important. If I think of the word "cat," there is the reality of the
word unspoken in my brain--clothing my mind with this word. But, that word must also take a form into the world
of vibrations or letters, otherwise the thought cannot be communicated. So even a word, we see, has a spiritual
and a material aspect to it. God the Mother gives form to all beings.

She carries out what God the Father initiates. What the Magician conceives, She ultimately gives birth to. And, the
two of them are eternally embraced, eternally begetting, eternally one. The Magician points from the Fool straight
to his beloved, the High Priestess. There is, in fact, a profound wonder here. Christianity is clear to talk about
what is referred to as the mystery of the ages--the body of Christ. We tend to think of the body of Christ
symbolically, not really believing what the Word says. The body of Christ is being prepared to be the body and
bride of Christ. We have talked about the principle of as above, so below. Father God takes to himself a wife,
Mother God. They beget nature. Into nature is placed humanity, and humanity then has Father God and Mother
God placed within each of us to take us and transform us from our sinful state into being the bride of Christ. We
see then that the divine play of Father God and Mother God takes upon itself ever lower and denser forms of
energy in order to continually recycle the divine play.

As God without attributes turns Himself/Herself into the Magician and High Priestess, God the Father and God the
Mother, so too this spiritual God as He/She creates the physical world, seeks to marry that physical world and have
that physical world become the new bride of God that they then might be one and continue to beget more and
more children. This is indeed a very deep and profound mystery and often it is difficult to discuss such things in
language.

But I want us to focus a little longer on this idea of God's energy becoming evermore dense. The first moment of
creation, God said, “Let there be light." The saying was the impulse. That impulse played itself out within the
universe of God's mind and energy and light came about. God's spiritual impulse was given form through God the
Mother and became light. As a result, God the Mother is also represented with light. The crescent moon at the
feet of the High Priestess has many symbols, but one of them is to indicate the power and the presence of
light. All that we have ever encountered in the universe is light. One of the things that Einstein has taught us is
that if you take light in its purest form and simply slow it down, light begins to thicken. As it thickens, it becomes
what we call matter. It takes on different shapes and forms.

Energy and matter are simply different parts of the same reality--the pure limitless energy of light. As God slows it
down, and it condenses into matter, we can, through the power of atomic energy, take that matter and reconvert
it into pure energy.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God cannot be created or destroyed. He is eternal and beyond all
effects. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; matter cannot be created or destroyed. They simply change form,
one from the other.

Everything then in the physical universe, we now know, is actually nothing more than light--light condensed and
slowed down. Every living thing lives by one, and one power only--the power of light. The magical miracle of
photosynthesis transforms light into what we can take as food. Our bodies are nothing more then transformed
light. The light from the Sun hits the plants, the plants from the miracle of photosynthesis transform that into
plant material, which eventually either directly or indirectly, through the food chain, becomes our bodies. This is
astounding. At the first moment of God's creation when He said, “Let there be light," God created light. That light,
as Mother God the physical form of the spiritual impulse, has given shape and form to all other things.

The last comment about light is that light is the only thing that you can ever see. You have never seen a plant. You
have never seen a dog. You have never seen a rock. The only thing you have ever seen is the light as it bounces off
of the plant, the dog, and the rock. As the light hits the plant, the dog, or the rock, the light immediately adapts
itself to the shape of that item. That light is then reflected into your eye. It is impossible for you to see a dog. All
you can see is the light as it comes off of the dog. So from the first moment of creation, that spiritual impulse of
the Arik Anpin to manifest Him/Herself into reality, created God the Father, who is the spirit to say I will be what I
will be and I will that there be light--immediately creating the light as God the Mother who will give form to God
the Father’s impulses. That light is the source of all physical matter for all matter is simply light slowed down. That
light is the essence of our lives, because without it no living organism could exist. That light, from the day you are
born until the day you die, is the one and only thing that could ever, have ever or will ever see. That is God the
Mother. That is the shaper of all existence.

This mystery of light is seen in the High Priestess card in the crescent moon. Reflecting the light, the moon itself is
dead. This is a very important issue which we will see many chapters from now when we see a card #18 which is
devoted entirely to the moon. For right now, we have some observations to make of a more general nature about
the moon.

The moon reflects the light of the Sun--that one light the true light, the light of God. The crescent moon shows
another very important aspect of light--the nature of oscillation and change. Nothing is static. Nothing is
fixed. Nothing is flat. Everything moves and everything changes. Even that rock that appears to be doing nothing
is vibrating. Every single atom inside of it is moving with such intensity and such power that if that rock had all of
its energy released, it would create an explosion, the likes of which we have never seen since the beginning of
time. Atoms move. They vibrate. Strings move left to right. The Sun rises and sets. We get up; we get
down. Everything is a cycle. Everything is a flow. This is indicated to us in the crescent moon. The moon goes
through its phases to wax and wane. It goes from a thin sliver to a full moon, disappears gradually until it's
another sliver, and finally disappears entirely, which we call the new moon. This cycle occurs approximately every
29 1/2 days. That cycle becomes a symbol for many aspects of our lives, as the light of God reflects through us
brighter and dimmer. None of us are constant; none of us are fixed. All of our desires and thoughts and energies
are changing. We see the faces of the moon in the crown the High Priestess is wearing. We see the full moon in
the center, the growing moon--the waxing moon--on the left, and the waning or disappearing moon on the right.

The moon is related to another item which is also very closely associated with the High Priestess and with that of
the mother--water. Just as light immediately adapts itself to whatever it strikes, so too water immediately adapts
itself to whatever shape of container it is poured into. It does not matter if it is a huge ocean or a tiny
thimble. Water will immediately adopt that shape. This is part of the fluid nature of water. Our bodies, just as
they are animated light, so too they are animated water. They are animated, air because in exactly the same way
that light and water will immediately adapt to whatever container they are in, so also will air adopt itself to
whatever container it is in, though we do not see it as clearly. Our bodies consist of a tiny bit of earth combined
with a lot of animated water. We are about 85% water sustained by the power of air and light. Those are the four
primal elements: the earth, the water, the air and the fire.

The Magician holds the four elements on the table. He is the impulse for these, and God the Mother actually gives
form to them. The phases of the moon are also related to womanhood and motherhood. The idea of cycling is in
the female of almost all species, and especially in the human race. The woman's menstrual cycle very, very, closely
matches the cycle of the moon. Approximately every 28 or 29 days, most women complete there menstrual
cycle. The office of mother in an earthly sense is as sacred and holy an office as there is, but it is no more nor less
holy than the office of father. They all work in conjunction with each other. So we see the images of light, of
water, of fluidity, of the moon, of cycles, of change, of motherhood--all of these are embodied in the High
Priestess.

All creation, all manifestation is a cycle. This cannot be overemphasized enough.

Let's examine her robe now. Notice that the robe is blue, obviously a reference to life giving water. Notice how
the robe, as it cascades down to the ground, seems to turn into a river. This is a beautiful image on this card. The
High Priestess has a cross in her center. This image is so familiar to most people that it needs very little
comment. She is also holding a scroll with which we are much less familiar. The scroll is a Torah scroll. The word
“Torah” holy and sacred. It officially refers to the five first books of the Bible, otherwise known as the books of
Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are for Judaism the highest holiest books
ever written. All the other books of the Bible, and all the other books that have ever been written are simply
commentaries one way or the other on these five books. You can make a very clear case that all of Christianity,
and in fact Islam, are expansions and commentaries on the groundwork that is laid in these first five books.

The fact that the High Priestess is holding that scroll tells us that only through properly understanding God the
Mother can we come to a true comprehension of the Torah. It also shows that, as it has been said throughout the
ages, the Torah is the Bride of Yahweh.
The God of the Universe married to himself the Hebrew letters, married to himself his holy word and through the
power of that word has created the universe and established all relationships with human beings. The Torah is a
divine revelation which gives shape to God and enables us to see, touch and feel his non-physical reality. Once
again, we see the idea of the spirit of God the Father being given form, shape, substance, and a body through the
Torah--God the Father and God the Mother this time seen through the Torah.

However, there is more to it then that. Remember, the document you are reading is entitled Tarot for
Christians. Have you ever wondered where the word "Tarot" came from? Take the letters TORA and arrange them
in a circle like this:
T
A O
R

If you read clockwise, it reads TORA. If you read counter clockwise it reads TAROT. Tarot is in fact a revelation of
the Torah. As I said to you in the introduction, you will be shocked at some of these images. This is not a card of
evil or Satan. This is not a card of darkness. This is a card indicating the strange mystical images of the very
essence of God Herself, and the card is in part about the Torah. The Torah will help us to understand the Tarot,
and the Tarot will help us to understand the Torah. As we cycle the wheel one way, we have Tarot. As we cycle
the wheel the other way, we have Torah.

Those four letters can also start with the "R." If we do so, we have the word "Rota", Latin for wheel. In fact, Tarot
card #10 is the wheel of fortune upon which we will see the words Tarot, Tora and Rota.

The sentence “Tarot Rota Tora” means that the Tarot reveals the wheel of truth which is the Torah. Once again we
see remarkably the Torah as the "father", the Tarot as the "mother" or "son", and the Rota as the wheel turning
left and right, forward and back. Retaining the same essence is the relationship between them, again the Trinity,
the tri-unity.

The High Priestess sits elevated above the crescent moon with the cross on her chest holding the partially
concealed Torah. We now must discuss the final two elements.

She sits between two pillars--a black "B" and a white "J." These represent duality which we have already
discussed. For every positive there is a negative. For every up there is a down. For every left there is a right. This
is the world of the pairs of opposites. This is the dynamic tension that creates all that exists. What do the "B" and
the "J" stand for? Blessing and judgment. These are the two pillars of the temple. As God the Mother reaches out
to us, she grants us both blessings and judgments. Some people have seen God the Father as being the judge, and
God the Mother or God the Son as being the blessor. However, that is not strictly true. God the Father, the
Magician, gives his energies, God the Mother gives form to them, and we must have the blessing and the
judgment. Blessing is the loving, outpouring, grace of God, for all is grace and all is a gift. Judgments are those
forms of correction and discipline. Both blessing and judgment are equal forms of love and equal gifts, for without
one or the other, our lives would be meaningless.

The judgment is not that of God's hatred and wanting us to burn forever in hell or some such idea. The judgment
is the discernment of God to say this is better for you, this is worse. As you enter into areas which are worse for
you, I will guide you and try to give you as much correction as I can to bring you back to where you belong. These
are the two holy pillars of the temple. In Christianity, they are discussed in terms of law and gospel. Often we
misunderstand both terms because the gospel and the law are not as they are commonly conceived. The gospel is
not an unthinking, forgetting on God's part of all that you are and ignoring you and forgetting about your sin nor
thinking that you are a saint anyway. And, judgment is not a plan on the part of God to eternally punish you for
the slightest error. The blessing, the gospel, is the unfailing, undying love. The judgment is a part of that love to
help guide you and correct you that you might become the fullness of God--that you might become the bride of
Christ.

The High Priestess sits between the two temples, between the two pillars. This indicates that this is the straight
and narrow way. We must have balance. Just as all realms of existence cycle between two poles, and just as we
dwell in the universe of the pairs of opposites, we must find the balancing point between the two in order to
live. Too much air and you pass out; too little air and you pass out. Too much water and you pass out; too little
water and you pass out. Too much warmth and you die; too little warmth and you die. The results are the
same. Too much blessing and you die; too much judgment and you die. The way is broad that leads to death, but
the way to eternal, limitless, infinite life is very narrow. There are very few that find it. When you find it, what do
you find?

The High Priestess sits between the two pillars of the temple and she sits in front of the veil. Behind that veil is the
holy of holies.

Again if you are not familiar with the Bible, then you do not know what is meant by the “holy of holies.” You
should read in the book of Exodus in the Bible as God tells Moses how to create his holy sanctuary. Inside the holy
of holies, God's high priest, and we see here the High Priestess, would represent the people of before God. It was
only in the holy of holies that man truly met God and God truly met man. The veil of the temple was meant to be a
separation between God and the rest of the human race. This veil of the temple is covered with palms and
pomegranates. The pomegranates are symbols of fertility, motherhood, great plenty. They were used throughout
the Hebrew Bible in the various decorations throughout the temples. The palms were used to pave the way for
Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, the home of the temple, the home of the holy of holies. Through Jesus’ death, the
temple was torn, symbolically indicating that now through the death and resurrection of Christ there is available to
all people access to the inner holy of holies.

We will encounter this again in other cards, because as above so below. It is not merely enough for Jesus to have
died. If you truly seek access to the inner holy of holies, to the inner temple, you must balance properly between
blessing and judgment. You must die as Jesus died, so that you might be resurrected as Jesus was resurrected and
enter into the inner most holiness. On the other side of that temple veil, what does the High Priestess hide? The
Magician. As you encounter the Magician, you reach out to touch his hand, and he is pointing upward back to the
Fool.

The Tarot cards are not merely static images. Nothing is static. They are also a pathway representing realities
within you and beyond you. They also represent a pathway or a journey which you will take. You have, even
though you do not know it, already taken much of the journey. In the beginning of time, God the Fool split himself
into God the Father and God the Mother and eventually has led to you. In the years to come, you will return
through the pathway and eventually return to God the Mother, pass through her holy veil to your encounter with
God the Father, and follow through him to God the limitless unknown.

 TRUMP 3 - THE EMPRESS

1 + 2 = 3. That is the essence of this card. God the Father (Tarot #1 the Magician) plus God the Mother (Tarot #2
the High Priestess) combine and eternally mate to produce Mother Nature. The Empress is Mother Nature. She is
vast. She is huge beyond all human comprehension. The first three Tarot cards are spiritual, non-physical
powers. Here in Tarot #3, the Empress is material reality. Of course, the Empress embodies non-material realities
such as life, which is not based upon a chemical substance but is rather a spirit and a presence from the non-
physical domains. Mother Nature is, in fact, the actual creation--the entire known universe.

On this card, we see an eternally young woman holding in her right hand an orb with a crown of 12 stars, and
dressed in a gown covered in pomegranates. She reclines on a pillow behind which there is a red scroll of some
form. We see the shield with a symbol on it. Behind her there are many trees and a river of water flowing down
from the mountains.

There is much deep and great symbolism here. The orb in her right hand symbolizes the Sun, and the crown of
stars on her head obviously symbolizes the zodiac. As we have said before, the Sun is the source of all of our
power. It is the source of all life on this earth and is the single most controlling influence in any of our
lives. Without the Sun and without the constant stream of energy that comes from the Sun, we would be
nothing. Later, we will discuss a Tarot card devoted exclusively to the Sun. At that point, we will begin to examine
the spiritual symbolism of the Sun.
The crown of stars on the Empress's head points to all of the stars in the heavens. This indicates her vast and
incomprehensible size. Astronomers have been able to measure the Empress at approximately 12 billion light
years. That is how big around she is. What does that mean? A light year is how far light travels in one year. Light
traveling at 186,000 miles every second in one year covers 6 trillion miles. That is 6 thousand billion--one light
year. Our best telescopes have let us see out to 12 billion light years away. That means that light travels at 6
trillion miles every year for 12 billion years. So how wide is Mother Nature? 12 billion multiplied by 6 trillion. We
do not have a name for a number that large.

That is only the macro-cosmic scale. On the micro-cosmic scale, she is every bit as vast. The term “atom” means
“not able to be cut.” It was an idea, theorized by the early Greeks, that there must be some fundamental building
block of nature that would not be able to be divided into separate parts. At last count, there were over 200 sub-
atomic particles. Inside of this teeniest-tiniest thing which we call an atom, we have found over 200 separate
components. So if you take the 12 billion light years; all of the incomprehensible stars; all of the photons,
electrons, and atoms inside of the universe; and, inside of every one of those atoms there are hundreds of tiny
sub-atomic particles, you will see that Mother Nature has a depth and breadth and scope, the likes of which we
cannot possibly fathom.

She is, for all practical purposes, infinite. And mankind finds itself apparently right in the center of the cosmos in
terms of the size scale. To expand to the size of the universe, you must go up to approximately 30 orders of
magnitude. An order of magnitude is multiplying by 10. So if you multiply the size of a human being by 10x10x10
(1000), you have gone up 3 orders of magnitude. The universe is approximately 30 orders of magnitude. The
tiniest sub-atomic particles we have discovered are likewise on the order of 30 orders of magnitude smaller than a
person, divided by 10, divided by 10, divided by 10. We, then, in many ways are the focus and the center of
creation. We are the balancing point. This will become clearer as we examine other cards.

Mother Nature, vast and incredible, lies on a pillow which is actually a pregnancy pillow. On the card, Mother
Nature is eternally pregnant. She is always giving birth. And though we often care not to think about it, she is also
always dying. A curious thought that has arisen within the western traditions that is, that if everything was
perfect, nothing would die. If that were true, somehow Adam and Eve would sit there in the Garden of Eden, and
no leaf would fall from a tree. No snail would decompose, and Adam and Eve would live in those physical mortal
frames forever and ever and ever. This is actually a very silly idea.

There is eternal life. There are realms of the universe which are infinite and eternal and cannot and will not
die. Those realms we have already discussed. The Fool stands so completely outside of time and space that
he/she is not even manifest in any positive or negative sense. The Fool cannot be harmed in any way--cannot be
created or destroyed, cannot be born or die. So too with God the Father and God the Mother.

Mother Nature herself may also be eternal. As far as we can tell, God may forever exist as creator, preserver and
sustainer of a physical creation. The message of the Fool is that He does not have to, but it is entirely possible that
He/She will. Within the realm of nature, within the empire of the empress, life of the bio-organisms is not possible
without death. Birth and death are natural parts of the same flow, and absolutely everything requires the death of
something else in order to have life continue to cycle. Only when the leaves die, fall from the tree, and return to
the soil, can the soil be replenished with the nutrients necessary to give new trees. It is only through the
consumption of something else that each bio-organism is able to live. Therefore, while the Empress is eternally
pregnant, she is eternally dying. This completely natural cycle should not be feared.

The pomegranates symbolize fertility, as we discussed previously on the High Priestess card. The multitude of
species on this planet alone is an incomprehensibly large number. From the tiniest single cell bacteria to the
largest trees and whales, Mother Nature is forever prolific in expanding the numbers and combinations and
permutations of the dance of God, which is the creation.
The shield behind her has much significance. We see on it the symbol of the woman. This is also the symbol of
Venus, which is why the shield is in the shape of a heart. God is love, and that love is communicated through
nature. The Empress is eternal love. Love is a term which many of us know, but so few of us are able to
define. The best I can do is to state that love is experienced union, whether we talk about loving to eat a potato
chip, loving our children, or loving God. While we may have three very different domains for that love, they are all
shared in a commonality based upon union, oneness.

Religion means union. It means to bind together again. We have lost harmony. We have lost oneness, and we
must rediscover it. That is the message of religion; that is the message of the Bible. All of human interaction can
be seen as a war between culture and nature. For the Empress, this sometimes does not appear to be very
nice. There are floods; there are fires; there are earthquakes. There is pestilence, starvation, extreme heat and
extreme cold. Sometimes the Empress has such cruel love that we are repelled, so we wage war, mankind against
the elements, seeking to enshroud ourselves in a universe of man-made culture, man-made fabrics, man-made
walls, man-made existence. Even in our modern industrial society, this war wages on to overcome the limits of
biology, the weather systems, the limits of geography, and the limits of natural resources. In this way, we see one
of the other essential factors of this card--that of creativity.

Placed inside of humanity, we have the capacity to be co-creators with God, as above-so below. All those
attributes which are within God, are within us. It could not be otherwise as we've said before. Since we are a part
of God, everything in God must be reflected inside of us in one way or other. Therefore God's intelligence, God's
power, and God's creativity reside in a small degree in each one of us.

The Empress is a card of creativity--procreation, creativity and blossoming. At times, we often use our creative
powers in our war against Mother Nature, but the Empress reminds us that nature seeks not to be at war against
us, but seeks rather for us to come to be one with her. Through love, we may regain harmony and rediscover the
lost union. Can we build houses in a place that will not be subjected to floods? Can we learn how to control things
in such a way that we are not so suspect to disease? Is there perhaps a higher message or greater truth that no
matter what happens here in the physical realm, no matter what happens within manifest creation, it is all simply a
play and a dance? Just as the hero in a movie can be hurt, crushed, cut, can bleed, or sometimes even die, it is still
only a movie--it is still only a play. That is the message of the Fool. The only thing that is eternal, the only thing
that is in fact real, is the Fool. Everything else is a voluntary, self limiting of the Fool’s own energies by the rest of
those powers which the Fool has placed into the universe. The message we must learn is that the body is not to be
worshipped. The message we must learn is that the entire sum total of physical reality, the entire glorious created
universe, as vast and as unfathomably glorious as she is, is nothing more than shadows dancing upon the face of
the Arik Anpin.

And, the Empress seeks to remind us of that every now and then with an earth tremor, an asteroid, an eclipse, or a
fire. This is not to say that human beings are not hurt. This is not to say that we should not try to strive for greater
harmony and love with nature. But it is to say, that we must learn to go beyond worshipping the creation, because
the creation always seeks to point to the creator. That is the purpose of the scroll behind the Empress--that little
red scroll behind the pillow that she is leaning on. What is that? Do you know? That is a Torah scroll. The High
Priestess sits with the Torah on her lap. The Empress sits with the Torah completely encased. You see in a Jewish
temple, the Torah is handwritten on a scroll. That scroll is placed inside of a pillow, is covered with a dress, and is
adorned with various symbols to indicate the power of the Torah. During the high point of Jewish worship, a song
is sung, the scroll is taken out of the Ark, undressed, read and then dressed again. That is what that red pillow-like
thing behind the empress really is. That is a Torah scroll, much more concealed than in the High Priestess
card. What does this mean? It is very clear in the Bible in Psalms 19 and in many other places that the heavens
declare the glory of God, and the earth shows His handiwork. Just as nature always seeks to remind us that nature
is not eternal, and that nothing which happens on this plane of manifestation is of any lasting significance, so too
everything in this creation is pointing us back to God. How can this be?
You my dear reader are learning much about me through what I have created in this writing. As you continue to
read and absorb my words, you may not actually learn anything about the Tarot cards because it is possible that
every single thing I have said is completely wrong. However, you are unfailingly learning much about me. Every
word I have chosen, every syllable and every turn of phrase is an extension of me, and as you dwell in and study
my creation, my creation is a testimony to all that I am. Certainly there is much to me that is not in this writing,
but everything in this writing comes entirely from me. In the same way, the totality of God is far beyond the
physical creation. Just as me writing this is a very small part of my life, so too, God creating the entire universe is a
very small part of God's life. However, everything that is here indicates something about God.

God's nature and attributes, Paul said in the book of Romans, can be clearly seen and understood through what
has been made. Taken to its most extreme form, every plant, every animal, every star is a testimony to God. Every
mathematical equation and every scientific discovery is a revelation about God. This process of discovery is what
we come to in the next card--the Emperor.

The Empress is creativity. She is the subconscious. She is wisdom. She is the pre-rational side of us, and the
Empress is a presentational communication regarding the nature of God.

The Emperor moves us into the realm of discursive thought and reason and the scientific process. We will see
much more about him in the next chapter.

One of the most important factors of this entire card is the river of water flowing through the forest and coming
down to be with the Empress. This indicates the energy flowing from the cards above. Remember how we talked
about the Fool, and as he falls, he becomes the Magician? The Magician points his wand up towards the Fool and
points his other finger down toward the Empress. The High Priestess receives the Magician’s power, and the
bottom of her robe turns into water. That water we see flowing through the trees to become a pool by the feet of
the Empress.

God and nature are one. There is a harmony. There is a union. Jesus talked about streams of living water--that
water to become animated with the power and presence of God--hat water to flow through us, to resuscitate us,
and re-attune our spirits with nature and with God. There is great imagery wherein the High Priestess's robe turns
into the stream of water which becomes the Empress.

Without water, as we've said before, nothing can live. And water, simple H2O, on this planet is one of the rarest
substances in the entire known universe. This water flowing down indicates the invocation of God. There are two
terms we need to define at this point: the involution and the evolution.

Involution is where the powers of God come into creation and become fully aware. Evolution occurs when those
powers begin to return to the god-head. This is the breath of God. As God breathes out, so too He/She breathes
in.

The first half of the Tarot cards in the Major Arcana are dedicated to the involution of God. The last half are
dedicated to the evolution of God. Here is how the involution works.

We've already seen many of the instances. The first moment of creation is a contemplation of the Fool upon
himself. As he thinks upon himself, he becomes the Magician, God the Father, and God the Mother. They
combine to create the universe. Through pure, divine will, the will is placed within consciousness which is
symbolized in the Emperor. That consciousness is placed within a desire/emotion realm. It is touched with life and
placed into a human physical body.

So when we discuss human beings as being mind, body and spirit, sometimes the terms become confusing. Soul,
refers to the totality of your non-physical being. Spirit refers to the spark of God which animates your soul. So the
spark of God clothes itself in a will which enables you, which enables the spirit, to focus itself and point itself in
different directions. That will becomes conscious. That consciousness is clothed with desire and repulsion. It is
animated and placed inside of a physical vehicle. Every single act that you perform involves all of your
vehicles. Simply reading this document is an invocation of all of your vehicles. Your spirit wills to read this. You
then must focus your mind upon it. You must desire to do so. You complete the cycle by physically moving your
eyes across the page. You can think about it and want to do it, but sit there with your eyes closed and not
read. The sum total of your vehicles--physical, animated, desire, mental and spirit--must all work in harmony, or
nothing that you do will prosper. Nothing that you do can even happen. We call Mother Nature the Empress
because she is in fact in a position of great honor. She rules; she has dominion; she has power; she has much
expression. She is not to be ignored. We must honor and respect her, and as we see these living waters flow
down, we see the involution of God in the creative process.

The principle, as above-so below, is seen no more clearly than in the book of Genesis wherein we have in the first
chapter an accounting of the creation of the earth--creation of the world. If you re-read the first chapter of
Genesis, not from the standpoint of the physical elements, but from the standpoint of the spiritual realities which
are symbolized by physical elements, you will see therein the very clear description of the creation of a perfect
human being. The light represents the spark of God. The earth represents our bodies. The waters represent our
emotions. Separating the higher waters from the lower waters means that we recognize those earthly desires and
the difference between those and the higher more exulted desires. The air lives in between.

Thus, again we have the symbols of the fire and the water and the air and the earth. Our spirit, our minds, our
emotions, our bodies, and over the course of time, the water becomes alive and our souls become pure. We see
that the air becomes animated with the birds, and our minds are able to soar in the heavens and see the truth of
God, until finally we become perfect, made in the image of God. That is what we are heading for--that original
perfection that we had is the perfection which we will have. It has not gone away; it will not disappear. It is
merely waiting for us to reclaim it. We will learn much more about this in the Tarot cards to come.

To summarize then, the Empress is nature. The Empress is the glorious, infinite creation. The Empress is eternally
pregnant. She is eternally giving birth; she is eternally dying. The Empress is eternally the same. She is connected
to the Magician and the High Priestess above. Because 1 + 2 will always equal 3, she is the concealed Torah. All of
the revelations of God have been placed into a storybook which we call the universe--a storybook meant for us to
read.

She is creativity; she is the subconscious; she is wisdom. Above all, she is love. She reminds us that when we are
in harmony with her, regardless of what happens to the body, we ultimately can never be hurt.

 TRUMP 4 - THE EMPEROR

The Emperor is in stark contrast to the Empress. He sits sternly, scowling, upon a throne of granite. Rocks appear
behind him. He holds a glass ball in his left hand and a Ahnk cross in his right. Upon his head is a crown. The
Emperor is one of the sleekest cards in the Tarot deck in terms of quantity of image. Whereas the Empress and the
High Priestess and others have many, many symbols, the Emperor is actually very plain. What is the Emperor?

The Emperor is law. The Emperor is rationality. He is consciousness; he is knowledge. Whereas the Empress
focused on the feminine side, on creativity, subconscious and wisdom, the Emperor brings all of those faculties in
conscious dominion and control of the human being. This is the stage of Genesis where the birds of the air begin
to fly.

What is the meaning of the symbolism? Well, he sits upon a square throne--the square is obviously associated
with the number four. The number 4 relates to the world in its human counterparts. We talk about the four
corners of the earth. That reference is only in relationship to humanities’ interaction with the earth. We know the
earth is round and has no corners. The “corners,” for us, are north, east, south and west. We place our mental
framework around the Empress in order to be able to attempt to relate to her and understand her--the four winds,
the four rivers, which come out of the Garden of Eden. The number 4 has often symbolized the totality of human
experience. As I’ve said, this is the realm of consciousness.
The granite and the rocks behind the Emperor symbolize a very fixed, solid state. Whereas the Empress is all
fluidity, change, growth, birth, and death; the Emperor is constant. Just as the Magician and the High Priestess
correlate with one another, reflect and expand one another, so too the Empress and the Emperor work
together. Whereas the Empress is shown as being eternally young and eternally pregnant, the Emperor is shown
as being ancient. He is the ancient of days. What is his domain?

This is law, fixed, unyielding, unchanging. Whereas the Empress is on her soft, luxuriant pillow, the Emperor is
seated firmly upon his throne of granite. He will not change. He will not be moved. This is the essence of
law. Rules can change and almost every so called "law" that the human race has is nothing more than a rule. It is a
way in which we play our social game of civilization. One year it is the law that you can drive so fast. The next year
it's the law that you cannot drive nearly as fast. One year it's the law that you have to do this in business; the next
year it's the law that you can't do this in business. This is fickle. This is part of the silly human race. We create
rules for ourselves to enjoy the game, and when anyone gets too much of an advantage, then we change the rules
and frustrate everyone. It keeps the lawyers and politicians employed. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do
with law. The law of God is immutable. It cannot be changed. What do I mean by the law of God?

There are, of course, two dominions--as above-so below. The law below is the law of nature--the laws of
electromagnetism, the law of force, mass and acceleration, the law of gravity. These laws cannot, will not and do
not change. Through the physical world, we perceive the spiritual world, and there are laws of God in the spiritual
world. For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. This is the physical counterpart to the eternal
spiritual law: as you give so shall you receive.

We approached the Empress through her laws. The laws of nature are to heal the wounds of man. If we use them
wisely, they will help us if they can. When we use them wrongly, we will only harm ourselves. Then it's too late to
run to her for help. We access these laws through our rationality, through our mind. The mind enables us to
control and regulate our relationship with nature.

Our mind is the vehicle through which we can control and regulate ourselves. The mind is the window--the door
through which we see and control the outside world. That is the power of the mind. Interestingly enough, every
Hebrew letter has a meaning. The fourth Hebrew letter is the "HEH." We translate it into a English letter "H." The
meaning “HEH” is a window--the window through which we see the world and through which we control the
world. As we learn and study, we gain access to greater dominions of control. Once we understood the process of
fire, we were better able to control it. Once we understood electricity, we were able to harness it. As we
understand music and sound, we are able to control and shape it. As we understand the cosmos and understand
the earth, we are able to control the earth.

This relates to the war between culture and nature, although it does not necessarily have to be a war. Just as we
as individual human beings control our bodies through our minds, so too we as the creative, rational, intelligence
of God can have proper dominion over the realm of nature.

During the process to involution, the higher realms of God clothe themselves with ever lower vehicles which are
always denser and more limited, but grant control and power to the higher vehicles. A simple example would be
an automobile. An automobile is much less expressive and has far fewer capabilities then a human being. A
human being can paint a painting; a car cannot. A human being can sing a song; a car cannot, etc.

What happens though, is that this densest of vehicles is voluntarily used by the higher vehicles, the human being,
in order to give access to greater domains and have more power. The human being voluntarily limits his abilities as
he places himself inside of the car, temporarily only, so as to gain access to greater areas of the physical world. We
can travel farther, faster and have more access to this domain as long as we are willing to temporarily set aside
some of our other power, because you cannot paint a painting, or compose a symphony, or play racquetball while
you are driving a car.
For much, much more information on this, see my writing, "Self Mover," which is a examination of the human
beings’ relationship to the automobile and all that it tells us about religion.

In exactly the same way a human being limits his abilities to gain access to broader areas of the physical world, and
have more control over them to carry us somewhere to enable us to perform something, so too, the higher
vehicles of God temporarily limit themselves, so that they might likewise have access to broader planes of
experience.

The Fool, in order to have his nature and attributes known, limits himself by placing himself within the Magician
and the High Priestess in order to gain control over parts of his previously unmanifested existence.

The Emperor in the domain of rationality and consciousness enables us to focus on and to control our thoughts
and our world. The world of the Empress is far greater, and the powers of the subconscious mind are far more
vast than the powers of the conscious mind.

We are able to shape and move and control ourselves only through using the powers of rationality. Creativity
limits itself temporarily by standing inside of the vehicle of rationality, that creativity might gain access to other
areas that otherwise creativity would not have.

That power of rationality therefore opens up worlds to us. As we gain knowledge, we gain power. Knowledge is
power, and it is a sacred trust. The knowledge to heal brings with it the knowledge to maim. The knowledge of
electricity brings with it the knowledge of electrocution. The knowledge of how to shape the atom brings with it
the knowledge of nuclear explosions. This will always be the case. For knowledge, pure uncontrolled knowledge,
is simply a tool. It is up to the moral capacity of the being wielding the tool to use that tool for good or for
evil. That capacity we will meet in a later card called “Strength”.

Rationality and the pursuit of knowledge give us access to power. We see the interplay between the spiritual and
the physical domains, and this entire process we call “science.” Science is the rational pursuit of the Empress. The
Empress in some respects gives birth to the Emperor, so that the Empress might expand her abilities. The Emperor
then spends his time chasing after the Empress seeking to know her. This is a great truth. The process is called a
three fold manifestation, the three steps of which are: externalization, objectification, internalization. Going back
briefly to the illustration of the automobile, mankind creates the automobile out of his own power in order to
serve a purpose. That automobile then becomes an object, and that object begins to act back upon the actor. The
car requires maintenance. The car breaks down and does not perform as we sought it to. So that the process of
externalization, objectification, and internalization is an astounding revelation of the nature of the universe.

You can see that the entire creation is a flow of this externalization, objectification and internalization. The
Empress externalizes part of her concealed wisdom into the form of rationality. Rationality then becomes an
objectified entity, and that entity acts back upon the Empress in pursuit of her. This is science.

Throughout the years, science and religion have become mortal enemies. It was not always so. In the beginning of
mankind's age when humanity first started to think, the thinkers were just thinkers, and there was no difference in
terms of what they thought about. The universe was one, and therefore they would be part philosophers, part
religious people. They would be the priests, the medicine people, the scientists, and the mathematicians, all in
one. After the Renaissance and the enlightenment, there was a huge split due to the differences between
teachings of the church and scientific research. The scientists could not renounce what the Emperor was revealing
to them, and the Ecclesiastical structure found it very difficult to relinquish their power and authority.

The split occurred and the two great streams of human development have never returned to each other. Religion
has pursued its own ways and thinks of itself properly as the regulator of faith and belief. Science has seen itself
properly as the regulator of the Emperor--rationality, mind and study. The religious people see the scientists as
being apostate and lacking faith. The scientists see religion as being superstition and foolishness. The debates and
arguments go on endlessly between the two communities. This is all unfortunate and needless. We saw in the
Empress that the Tarot remains hidden inside of her. How are we to unwrap that scroll which she hides and be
able to read it? The only way we can do that is through the authority of the Emperor, who will order the scroll
read. It is only through the rational pursuit of science that we can gain understanding about the revelation that
Yod Heh Vav Heh has placed into the universe.

To see religion as being nothing more than a bunch of superstitious ideas is sad. Simply ignoring science as being
unnecessary is to sacrifice one of the greatest gifts we have. To think that science works against religion is a
horrible tragedy. God is not afraid of our brains. God is not afraid of our rationality. God is not afraid that we will
ask a question that he never thought of. There will never be a scientific fact discovered that will threaten God's
place as the ruler of the universe.

What we must do is have faith in this and applying that faith to our science. We must use our rationality to the
fullest extent possible, with a heart attuned to the Empress wanting to see the truth which she relates. In short,
we must re-marry science and religion. The only true and valid way to approach science is as a holy and religious
experience of the divine, and the only proper way to approach your religious life is as a scientific examination of
truth.

We must test all spirits to see if they are true. That is why I warned you at the very beginning to not automatically
accept or agree with anything that I've said in this writing. I am one more voice. I am one more opinion. It is up to
you in your scientific encounter with God to see if what I'm saying is true.

The methodology of science as applied to religion is a magnificent study. In science we find a problem, and we
generate a hypothesis to answer the problem. We use our intuition and the research of others. We read the
documentation, perform experiments, and gather data, then we evaluate that information and re-examine our
hypothesis.

That methodology is precisely what God would have us do as we pursue science and religion. God would have us
find a problem, whether it's the problem of evil or the problem of ego, the problem of suffering, or the problem of
why we exist. Create our hypothesis, part guess, part belief, part hope, and do the research of what have others
written on the subject? Is there a consensus in the field? Who are the experts? Then, perform our experiments.

We base our lives upon our hypothesis and we test the Lord God to see what is true. “Test me and try me in this,”
says the Lord. Then we gather our data, come to our determinations and re-evaluate our hypothesis. We do this
with the sum totality of our being, with our spirits, with our minds, with our hearts and with our bodies. This is the
revealing science of God.

This is the fulfillment of the ages. When we can get the Emperor to marry the Empress, we will rediscover huge
parts of what we have lost. We will find that science is not the mortal enemy of religion, but that science is the
vehicle that enables religion to breathe. Through the Emperor's efforts, he will be able to reach into the sacred
scroll and reveal its meaning to all of us.

If you look behind the Emperor, you will see, subtly, the river. It is painted in blue, right behind his throne. That
river is continuing from the Empress. This is indicating to us that there is no separation between nature and law,
between religion and science. There is no separation between the creative and the rational sides of human beings,
is no separation between the subconscious and the conscious. There is no difference between wisdom and
knowledge. They are different sides of the same coin. They work together in harmony. The Emperor holds the
orb, which is the orb of dominion, indicating that through this we can control the universe. As Genesis says, we
are to go out and have dominion over the earth. That does not mean that we are necessarily supposed to destroy
it, but rather to control, to enhance, to fulfill our destinies as co-creators.
In his right hand, the Emperor holds the Ahnk. This is a two-fold symbol. It is part cross, which indicates the
spiritual domain, and it is part orb of dominion, which represents the physical domain. By holding the Ahnk, the
Emperor is showing us that he controls both the physical world and the spiritual world--that rationality, as applied
to nature and to religion, is a unified purpose which will never ever hurt us.

That is the power inside of the Emperor. Through him, we gain access to the Empress. Through him, the Empress
begins to understand herself.

TRUMP 5 - THE HIEROPHANT

We have traveled the path from the Fool, through the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress and the
Emperor. We now come to card #5, the Hierophant, also known as the High Priest and the Pope.

The Pope stands between the two pillars presenting a three-fold cross in his left hand, pronouncing a benediction
symbol with his right hand, and wearing the three-fold crown of Heaven upon his head. At his feet are two keys
and two attendants. What is one to make of such a card?

The first thing we notice is that although this is card #5 the number 3 appears over and over within it--the 3 tiers of
the crown, the 3 arms on the cross, the 3 crosses in the center of the Popes robe, plus the fact that between the
Pope and the two attendants there are 3 people. This is obviously a reference to the Trinity, for we find that with
card #5 we are now completing our second trinity.

The oneness that is the Fool, splits into the duality which is the Magician and the High Priestess. The three of them
form one tri-unity, the same way the next three cards, the Empress, the Emperor and the Hierophant create their
own trinity. The three are one. What is the Hierophant?

Let us begin with the keys. These keys are the keys to the kingdom. The Pope holds access to the keys, and makes
the keys available to the people. The keys unlock the door of Heaven. The keys enable us to properly use the
power of reason, which we have in the Emperor, and to properly interpret and love the Empress.

In the Bible, in the book of Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is asking his disciples who different people think he is. They
give him some answers and finally Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ,
the Messiah, the son of the living God." And Jesus answers him and says, "You are blessed Simon Peter, because
flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father who is in Heaven, and I also say to you that you are Peter
the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you shall find on Earth shall have been found in Heaven, and
whatever you shall loose on Earth shall have been loosed in Heaven."

That is the power of the Hierophant. Peter is known as the first Pope. The keys to the Kingdom are a gift, a gift of
grace. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ did not come from flesh and bone, nor from biology nor
matter. This was a revelation of God.

That tells us much about the Hierophant. The Hierophant is a card of grace; it is a card of revelation. The Emperor
enables us to have reason. That reason enables us to understand and mate with the Empress, but we must be
reminded that the only reality is God.

It is easy for us to become puffed up and haughty in our own knowledge--knowledge capable of leading us far
astray off the path. For centuries people have argued within the church and the scientific community about the
relationship between faith and reason, between revelation and intellect. And in some respects, we see that the
Empress represents the faith and intuition and subconscious. The Emperor represents intellect, rationality and the
conscious. The ancient debate is embodied in those two cards. How is it that we are to learn anything? Is it
through the power of our minds, or can we only know things if God tells them to us?

The church has stood staunchly on the side of faith. The scientific community has stood staunchly on the side of
reason. This is an ancient, classical battle in the scheme of human history, and is still very much true today. If I
read a holy scripture, whether it is Buddhist or Hindu, Christian, Moslem or Jew, and there is something in that
writing that does not make sense to me and appears to be wrong, I have two choices. Choice number one is the
pathway of the Empress which says that regardless of what my intellect may tell me, the scripture must be true,
cannot be broken. Therefore, I will adjust my thinking based upon what the scripture says. In this respect, the
scripture teaches and admonishes and instructs us in our ways. The second choice, the pathway of the Emperor,
says, if there is an error in the scripture, it is only there because the scripture is wrong, and we must adjust,
amplify and correct the scripture with our reasoning.

The pathway of the Empress sees all scriptures being God ordained. The pathway of the Emperor sees all
scriptures as being man created. Faith vs. reason seem to be forever in conflict. The purpose of the Hierophant is
to re-marry the two. We come to understand through the Hierophant that there is no war between reason and
revelation. What do I mean by this?

First we must remember that the Hierophant is a priest, and the priest performs two duties. He carries the
prayers, needs and thoughts of the people to God, and he carries the word of God to the people. The priest stands
uniquely in the center as the fulcrum, as the meeting point between God and humanity. Jesus has been called our
Great High Priest. This is in the book of Hebrews. You can read it yourself.

As the priest petitions God on behalf of the people, he represents reason. Mankind and mankind's thoughts,
wants and desires reaching up to our God--reason trying to approach the Empress. As the priest represents God to
the people, he represents the revelation of God to the people--represents the Empress shaping and instructing the
Emperor.

So we learn through the Hierophant that the two are in fact one. We do not wish for the Empress to rape the
Emperor, nor for the Emperor to rape the Empress. If the Empress is to rape the Emperor, then she simply gives
out all of her secrets, lays them on the table. There is nothing left to be discovered. There is no quest, no journey,
no wonder, no concealment. If the Empress forces her revelation into the minds of humanity, then humanity’s
value is lessened. We do not want the Empress to rape the Emperor.

If, however, the Emperor is to rape the Empress, we are positioning ourselves to be our own gods. We have our
minds, and we have our scientific formulas, and this is all that there is. There is no higher purpose. There is no
concealed Torah scroll to be known. What we must do is re-marry these two.

We do this by understanding that our minds, as they look and think and react with Mother Nature, are in fact
doing that only by the powerful grace of God. Reason is a revelation. Reason is the process by which the Empress
reveals herself. Revelation is very reasonable, because there are always laws, and the Empress always expresses
herself through the laws of the Emperor.

Reason and revelation are one. Just as science and religion can become recombined, so can reason and
revelation. This is the pathway of true religious enlightenment. It is not to be taken lightly. You must use all of
your faculties in order to gain access to the inner holy of holies which is protected by the High Priestess. If you
ever want to re-encounter the Fool, you must very carefully listen to the words.

That is the power of the Hierophant. As we saw, the Magician is the Word. The Hierophant represents humanity’s
ability to listen and absorb the Word. The Pope is speaking and making his announcements. In this way, we see
the Word becoming active in our lives through our hearing.

Humanity is represented at the feet of the Pope by the two supplicants. They are wearing opposite colored
gowns. Who are they? They are the Empress and Emperor factors within us. They are our reason and our
intuition, our consciousness and our subconscious. They are the two sides of the human being merged
together. This indicates symbolically that the revelation of God and the reason of mankind are married, both on a
conscious and subconscious level, on a creative and analytical process.

The priest is speaking to the petitioners, and though we do not see it, they are also speaking to him. This is the
entire structure of Christian religious services. The priest or pastor will turn and speak to God on behalf of all the
people, then will turn and speak to the people on behalf of God. He will sit and listen to the peoples’ prayers and
petitions, then transmit them to God. In this way, we see the flow, the give and take, the ebb and turn. God
moves out, and we receive his word. We move out, and God hears our prayer. This is the breath of God. God
exhales, and we are inspired. We exhale, and send our spirits to God.

As the Pope speaks on behalf of God, we gain the idea of infallible communication. According to Catholic doctrine,
the Pope is perfect. He speaks on behalf of God. When he speaks from his official status as God’s representative,
his words become as scriptural and as important as the Bible.

Setting aside for a moment Catholic doctrine, the same idea is here inside of the Hierophant. There is no way that
the truth of God will ever fail us. The truth of God is perfect and is here to help, to guide, to touch us. That is the
Hierophant. As we receive that infallible communication from God, that infallible revelation as it touches our
reason and enlightens our souls, eliminating both our subconscious and conscious minds, we must enter into the
relationship with an attitude of humility. That is why the supplicants in the card are kneeling and bowing down,
not that the Hierophant is to be worshipped, but that the universe is a glorious and incredible wonder. As we use
our intellect, seek our discoveries, and learn much more about the Empress, we must recognize that the ability to
think is grace. It is a gift. And all of the tools which we have, whether they are electronic devices, mechanical
devices, musical instruments or language itself, are gifts which we must use in true proper humility. It is only that
humility that will enable us to draw closer to God.

All is good. As God created everything in the book of Genesis, He said over and over and over, this is good, this is
good, this is good. The heavens are good. The stars are good. The birds are good. The fish are good. Humanity is
good and everything is very, very good. That goodness, that grace is communicated through the power of the
Hierophant. There is, within this world, within each of us, the voice of God, that we might be not just hearers of
the word but doers. God's voice does speak, and it speaks always of goodness, because all is good.

So from the Hierophant we have learned grace. We have learned that revelation is reasonable and reason is a
gracious revelation of God. We have learned that the keys to Heaven are at our feet and have been given to us by
God. We have learned that the Empress and the Emperor are in fact one.

 TRUMP 6 - THE LOVERS

We come now to a critically pivotal card in the Tarot, and we come to a idea which is absolutely essential in the
history of western thought--that being the fall of Adam and Eve from grace in the Garden of Eden.

This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the Bible, and tragically so. All of the previous cards represent
powers and energies, different aspects of God. This is the first card where we actually see human beings. If the
Tarot cards are representing the different days or moments of creation, card #6 is day 6 when God creates human
beings, Adam and Eve. It also represents the fall. None of the other cards represent actual people, they are shown
as people, but they are symbols or attempts to indicate things in a anthropomorphic way.

In card #6, the imagery is actually very simple, very plain, and very obvious. Adam and Eve stand in the Garden in
front of two trees. Behind Eve, is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Behind Adam is the Tree of
Life. Behind them stands the angel. The angel was sent by God to guard the pathway so that Adam and Eve might
not be able to gain access back to the Tree of Life, until they had overcome the knowledge of good and evil. You'll
find this account in the book of Genesis, chapters 2 and 3. I will recount it for you. Because for Christianity, the
account of Adam and Eve, as it is currently understood, leads to many misunderstandings which have resulted in a
pollution of the entire gospel of Christ. You will find this discussion in much greater detail in my writing, "In the
Garden."
We have seen that everything is good. Throughout the first chapter of Genesis, everything that God makes, God
says is good, good, very good. The trees, the stars, the birds, everything is good. God then says that Adam and Eve
have dominion. They can go and rule the world. We have seen that power of the Emperor. What remains is God's
commandment. He told Adam and Eve that they may eat from every tree in the Garden, except from the fruit of
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. From the day that they eat it, they shall die. Why did God command
them not to eat from this tree?

That simple question has led to a whole host of grievous errors in Christianity, because we do not understand the
answer. The answer most commonly given is that it was a test. God made Adam and Eve free, endowed them
with free will, and therefore needed to test their obedience. He tested them, they failed. Their failure was
disobedience. That disobedience incited God's wrath. God, in order to strike out at them with retribution, caused
Eve to have great child birth pains, caused Adam to toil by the sweat of his brow, and cast them out of his holy
paradise.

None of the previous is actually true. It is a grotesque misunderstanding of the nature of God. God is the High
Priestess; God is the Empress; God is the Magician; God is love; and the only reality that there is, is
God. Everything that God made is good. When God ordered Adam and Eve not to eat from this tree, he was not
testing them. He was not giving them a childish little exam that he knew they would fail. He was actually warning
them--warning them that this tree could hurt them, because in the day that they eat it, they will die. Not that he
would kill them, but that they would die. The tree was poison. The tree would hurt them. When they ate from
the tree, the poison entered their system, and God sent them to the hospital. That hospital is the world as we
know it. Then he began working on the antidotes so that mankind might be healed.

What was the tree and how could it hurt them? This is another one of the profound and deep esoteric mysteries
contained in the cards and contained in the Bible. The tree had a specific name. It wasn't any tree. It was "the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve did not eat an apple. That’s a common
misunderstanding. We think that it was any kind of tree at all; therefore, it might as well have been an apple
tree. This is not even close to the truth. This was not a apple tree. This was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil.

We’ve touch upon the key elements of knowledge--rationality and intellect. We have also seen that the world is
good. Over and over and over, it is emphasized that all is good. It is all come from God. It is all an outpouring
from God, and it is all very, very, good. It could not possibly be otherwise. What then is the knowledge of good
and evil?

This much is clear: in order for Adam and Eve to know good, all they had to do was know the world. Open their
eyes, open their hearts, open their minds and everything that there was, was good. Therefore, they could know
goodness automatically and naturally. To know evil, they would have to know something which did not exist. The
entire physical and non-physical universe was and is good. From the fish in the sea to the highest heavens,
everything in their universe was and is good. It was up to them to know that in order to know evil, they would
have to gain consciousness of something which did not exist. It is significant that after they partook from the tree,
they had the eyes of their mind open, and they knew that they were naked. They were naked before, and they are
shown quite clearly in this card to be naked, without shame and without horror.

As soon as they knew good and evil, they became aware not only of what they were, the natural state of their
bodies which they knew before, but of what they were not. They were not protected. They were not
clothed. Nakedness is the natural state of all beings. As they knew evil, as their minds focused upon what was not,
they began to dwell as a separate self-existent ego. Me and not me. The glorious oneness of the creation and
their part in it was fractured and split into two. Me and not me is the foundation of ego, and it is the splitting of
the holy oneness of God's creation into separate tiny warring factions.
So God encounters Adam and Eve and says, "Where are you. Why are you hiding?" And Adam says, "I heard the
sound of Thee in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself." I, I, I, I, me, mine. Adam and
Eve had ceased to live in the flowing oneness of the Empress. They had ceased to flow in the glorious oneness of
the Emperor. They had become divorced from the revelation of the Hierophant, who is there only to communicate
the goodness and grace of God.

They turned from all of that to focus upon themselves, their nakedness and their small, fallen pathetic ego.

In short, the original sin is not disobedience. The original sin is ego. The ego came through the disobedience. The
disobedience was instrumental, but it was not the essence of the sin.

When a young child reaches for a hot stove, he is disobeying his parents, but that disobedience is secondary to the
threat of the impending harm to the child. In exactly the same way, God's warning was meant to try and help
them, but unfortunately they were not able to listen to that voice. We fall; we enter the world of sin and
selfishness and ego. That is the original sin.

What then was God to do? Adam and Eve have a poison in them, and God must now get an antidote. We will see
that antidote in a few cards from now. However, up until that time what happens? God casts Adam and Eve out
of the Garden, not as retribution and not even as punishment, but as protection.

If, in the ego state, Adam and Eve are able to partake from the Tree of Life and live forever, then the smallness and
the hurt and the pain and the ugliness which the ego state brings about, would be anointed with the holy grail of
eternity, and we would never ever be able to transcend our egos. This would be a tragedy of unimaginable
proportions.

Therefore, God barred the way to the Tree of Life The eternal Tree of Life is still there. That is the tree that we see
behind Adam--the holy tree, on which there are symbolically 12 branches. Since the number 12 is so familiar to us,
we need not reiterate it.

The Tree of Life still exists. It is real. That Tree of Life is our destiny. It is none other than God. For as we have
seen, life is the breath of God. The wages of sin is death, not of the sinner but of the sin. The ego state must be
transcended in order to return to the Tree of Life. So the angel stands guard, watches and protects as God
prepares a pathway for us to return.

On the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we see the serpent. The serpent has been
reinterpreted in Christian circles and over the course of time as being Satan. In its truest, purest original form, that
is not true. The serpent did not mean Satan to the people who wrote the Bible, because Satan had not been
invented or discovered yet. We will discuss this more in a few cards.

The serpent represents the power at the base of the spine--the sexual urge. This is not in any way to say that
sexuality is evil, but rather the power at the base of the spine moves out away from the creator and turns to
worship the creation. This is the pathway of the fall. The power at the base of the spine can be harnessed, and
there are exercises and practices which seek to harness that energy and enable that serpent power to rise up and
be used as a force for salvation and enlightenment. But more commonly, that serpent power flows out and down
and away. That is the tendency to look not at the oneness, but look at the many--to seek not that which is unified,
but that which separates. As Adam and Eve lived in their harmonious oneness with God in the universe, they left
that oneness and moved to their own multiplicity--many people each with their own agenda--many egos, many
problems, many fights. All of the enmity, strife, war, pain and suffering which we have on this planet are a result
of the incurring of the ego state--the knowledge of good and evil, focusing upon what does not exist, rather than
upon what does exist. You cannot have any anxiety over what is. You only have anxiety over what might
be. Jealousy is a desire for things which you do not have. Lies are a statement of what is not. Meditate upon this,
for there is great power here.

TRUMP 7 - THE CHARIOT

Following along in the story unveiled in the Tarot cards, we have just left the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve have
left the dominion of unification. They have left the oneness and harmony with God and nature, harmony with
themselves, harmony with each other. They have been cast out into a world of pain, of toil, of hardship. What
happens next?

The answer is the Chariot. All of the cards are remarkable, and this card is indeed astounding. It can take quite
some time for a novice to be able to absorb the imagery on this card.

We see a charioteer standing in a chariot. Behind him is a city in front of which is a flowing river. The Chariot has
two wheels and four posts rising up above him creating a canopy. Upon this blue canopy are many, many stars. In
front of the Chariot, we see a shield with a red, odd, top-looking thing, and a pair of wings with a yellow dot
between them. Pulling the Chariot are two sphinxes. The one on the left is black; the one on the right is red. The
charioteer wears a crown upon his head, a strange looking crescent moon on each shoulder, a breastplate, and a
gold girdle with several symbols on it. His left hand rests comfortably on the Chariot, and his right hand holds a
staff of some form. What is this rich imagery meant to convey?

Perhaps at this point in your Tarot studies you might want to begin by not immediately reading my description, but
rather take some time to absorb the symbolism of this card and see what it indicates to you.

This is a card of God's interaction in our lives. We have seen previously in Trump 5, revelation

in the Hierophant which unites our reason with our creativity. The chariot is not merely a card of revelation, but
actual divine intervention in all aspects of our lives.

The chariot is a vehicle of war. Of this, there is no doubt. Rome and Greece had thousands of chariots, sometimes
driven by one, two. three or more men pulled usually by a team of two to five horses. The famous chariot race in
"Ben Hur" is a fact of history. The energies of the horses were used to pull the charioteer in his war--take him
swiftly that he might have the combined energies and speed of two or more horses, instead of riding individually
on horseback. Also, he would be able to carry more implements of war in the chariot with him. What is this image
of war doing in our allegedly sacred Tarot book?

Ladies and gentlemen, life is war. Having left the Garden of Eden, there is struggle. Adam and Eve left the unified
state, and now see everything in terms of good and evil. After we leave the Garden of Eden, we see everything
polarizes in terms of plus or minus, better or worse. It is almost impossible for us to engage in any relationship of
any kind without entering upon judgment, comparison, evaluation, discrimination, and, therefore war.

Even if we do something as simple as eat a cookie, it is almost impossible for us to appreciate or enjoy that cookie
simply for itself. We must be constantly comparing it to other cookies. Is this better or is this worse then other
cookies we have had previously? You can expand that a billion fold, and you have the human race--always judging,
always testing, always comparing. And, that judging and testing and comparing causes us great amounts of harm--
great amounts of pain. It makes it impossible for us to appreciate anything the way it is. It is what it is. I am what
I am. When we return to the unitive state, we can appreciate other people for who they are. They are who they
are. We could appreciate things for what they are, it is what it is, without constantly comparing it to what it is
not. This is the essence of love--to be able to accept someone exactly for who he or she is, unconditionally,
without any comparisons or tests or criteria. This is a very high difficult thing to do. This is the promised land. This
is the Eden to which we attempt to return.

In the meanwhile, there is war. We are constantly fighting between discrimination of the plus and minus. We are
constantly battling between trying to live life in the unitive loving state versus living life in the fractured immoral
fall.

We, therefore, find ourselves in the middle of a religious holy war being waged inside of our very own souls. St.
Paul refers to this as the struggle between the old man and the new man. The old man, trapped in ignorance and
sin, enslaved to fleshly lusts and antipathy, versus the new man, whose eyes are on Heaven focusing on the realms
of the spirit. This war is the fight of our lives that is everyday. This is the battle that we must engage upon, so that
we might overcome those tendencies--the poison that was infused into our veins through the fruit of the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That poison must be extricated, but it will not go peacefully. It will not go
automatically. It will not go without us struggling to overcome. The Bible is a book of love. It is a book of God's
redemption. It is also a book of war. In both the Hebrew bible and in the Christian New Testament, we see
struggles--struggles with people against people and struggles with people against their sinful tendencies. And, the
Bible repeats over and over and over as a litany, the necessity of perseverance, the necessity of tenacity, and the
necessity of overcoming. If you read the first seven letters of Jesus to the churches in the book of Revelation, he is
constantly talking about persevering, fighting the good fight, and overcoming. To he who overcomes, I will grant
the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the nature of the war. That is why we have a charioteer. However, we do not
fight this war alone. If we did, we could never win.

Remember, this card and every card says, the only reality is the Fool. The only truth is the Arik Anpin and the
bubbling consciousness of creation upon that vast countenance. That is all that there is. That is all that there ever
was, and that is all that there ever can be. Everything else is dancing shadows. Therefore, once the consciousness
of God becomes so dense, once the light becomes so slowed down as to turn into matter, and God's divine spirit
becomes encased within human flesh to the point that the world is full of enmity and strife due to the poison of
the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God sends his chariot to enable us to escape to have
victory.

In the Bible, we read about Elijah, a prophet of God, who struggled mightily against the forces of darkness in his
age. At the end of his life when all seemed lost, God sent a magical, mysterious chariot from the heavens to whisk
him away and take him back to holy Jerusalem.

Undeniably, this card stems from that Biblical account. We see many elements which are crucial. Number one, we
see the city in the very farthest background. We have left the Garden of Eden, and now we are in full blown
civilization. This is the first time that we see anything that comes close to a human structure in the cards. This is a
full blown city. The other structures that we have seen are pillars in the temple and are meant to represent
elements not created by human hands, but by the mind of God. However, the city in the background symbolizes
perhaps another element--the holy city of Jerusalem inside of Heaven, the great gated city of God, the new
promised land that we are striving for.

In this way, we see the as above-so below. All cities are embodied in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is embodied in the
city of Heaven. We see this reflective echoing over and over and over in the Bible.

To use a common example, let’s think about a football. The term “football” means many things. In its broadest
sense, football is the sum-total of all people, players, games in the entire history of a national sport. Football
refers to one particular game that is being played in the global scheme. Football also refers to the physical object
that gets tossed about during the game. However, that too is an abstraction. Because we say during this one
game, there was only one football. You never have two footballs on the field. There is only one. However, in its
densest form, we have the actual, physical object, and that object can be used over and over. In a single particular
game, players might use five or ten individual different footballs. That is exactly how the as above-as below
works. That is why this city symbolized on this card is a representative of the eternal city of God--a representative
of Jerusalem and of all cities on the earth. The card is indicating to us that there is no real difference between the
earth and the sky, between Heaven and Earth. The same principles apply to the Kingdom of God as apply to the
Kingdom of Man. The laws that we saw in the Emperor apply universally.

But, what is the real purpose of the Chariot? The Chariot is here to provide a vehicle for us to overcome our fears
and our anxieties, to overcome our constant search for evil, and to forever look at what is. The Charioteer is divine
intervention; it is divine grace to carry us wherever we are willing to go.

The canopy above the Charioteer’s head is, quite obviously, the canopy of Heaven. The Charioteer is ready at a
moment’s notice to whisk us into Heaven. The notion of grace is a very powerful, mystical idea. In common
understanding, grace is the notion that God's not going to hold your sins against you, but grace is so much more
than that. As we've seen in other cards, the essence of grace is that whatsoever we do in thought, word or deed is
all the manifestation of the power of God.

Therefore, if we are to overcome and return to the godhead, what power are we going to use to do this? The only
power we can use is not the power of self; not the power of ego. The ego, which entered the world through card
#6, cannot be used to eradicate itself. If it even tries to do so, it just creates a much worse problem than before.
Let me give you an example. In China, people developed a religion called “Buddhism,” wherein the priests in the
Buddhist temples became known as "Boddhisattvas." The Boddhisattva ideal was a Buddha to be, not quite a
perfectly enlightened being, but one who was guaranteed in his next life to be a complete Buddha. The
Boddhisattvas would sit around proclaiming to everyone how they had slain their egos, had risen above the realm
of duality, and were now essentially complete and perfect enlightened beings.

Over the course of time, the Buddhists recognized that there was a bit of a problem here, because the
Boddhisattvas were most grievously guilty of the very thing which they claimed to have overcome--that being the
egotist state. When one sits down and says, “Look at me. I've overcome my ego. You should all be more like me.”
one does not yet grasp the core of life. In contrast, you see in the Bible, Jesus is constantly, only, and always
pointing to God the Father. "Why do you call me good? There is no one good but the Father. Do not cling on to
me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, I go to my God and your God, to my Father and your Father." He
came not to be a religious object of worship, so much as a religious subject, as a friend and a guide to show us the
way. When He says, "He who believes in me shall have everlasting life," He was not talking about a doctrinal
confession regarding the Athenasian Creed. He was, in fact, saying, “If you are listening to me, and you believe
what I am telling you is true, then this pathway will lead you to God. That is why the Christian proclamation of by
grace through faith is so crucial. The Chariot sits and waits to carry us to Heaven, just as it did Elijah.

The tradition has developed within the Tarot card community that the reason there are four pillars supporting the
canopy above the Charioteer’s head is that they represent the four letters of God's holy name, YHWH. All of the
Tarot cards are structured around this holy name for it is through that name that we can learn and know all that
there is about God. We will discuss this name in greater detail later. Suffice it to state here, that it is the holy
name in each of the letters YHWH which connect the Chariot on the ground to the canopy of Heaven above. The
Chariot is here to wage war, to grant us the grace and power to overcome.

But notice that while the Chariot appears to be a card of such power, action, and even intervention, the Chariot is
absolutely stationary. There is no indication whatsoever that the Chariot is moving. In fact, the entire
countenance of the card is that the Chariot sits and is here waiting for you. It is up to you whether or not you are
going to enter the Chariot. We have seen this principle several times. The groom shall not rape the bride, and the
bride shall not rape the groom. The two shall become one. It is up to us to determine if we are going to be willing
to let go and let God. This simple little cliché does contain much power. That power is the revelation of the
Chariot. The Chariot with all of its glory and all of its power and all of its divine intervention sits patiently waiting
for us to enter.

This is also symbolized in the two hands of the Charioteer. The left hand waits patiently, lying inactive upon the
mantle of the Chariot. In his right hand, the Charioteer holds a staff. That staff is drawn in such a way as to have a
dual meaning. Meaning number one is the sword. It appears to be sword-like to indicate that this is to cleave
truth from darkness, good from evil, yes from no, to help in the act of discernment. At the same time, the very tip
of the sword is drawn in such a way as to remind us of the Magician's wand in card #1, indicating that through this
wand, the power of God can be communicated. So we see the two-fold nature, both of earthly involvement,
warring and of communicating the divine mind. In this way, we see that the war that is carried out is all done
through the power of the Magician.

But there is more here, much more. Upon the breast of the Charioteer, we see a breastpiece. This is symbolically
representative of the breastplate that the High Priest would wear as he entered the Holy of Holies, (symbolized by
the canopy) as he would represent the people. Upon this breastplate were 12 stones, and upon them were the
inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This indicates that this power, this salvation, this redemption,
this divine intervention, are for all people of all races everywhere. The Tarot never discriminates between those
who are inside and those who are outside. All salvation and all truth are available for all people at all times.
Around the Charioteer’s waist, we see a gold band with 5 symbols upon it. If you project those 5 symbols to the
sides of his hips and the 5 symbols behind him, you see that once again these are the 12 signs of the zodiac--all of
the stars of Heaven, all time, all people, symbolized in this girdle.

The imagery in front of the Chariot conveys the power of the swiftness of the wings. Like the time I ran away,
turned around, and you were standing close to me. No matter how far we run, no matter how fast we run, no
matter how long we run away from God, all we must do is simply turn around, and we will encounter Him, the
swift messenger. It has been said that for every one step a man takes toward God, God takes a thousand steps
toward man. This is very true. Sometimes from our perspective, it seems that we must wait a long while. The
truth is that God answers instantaneously. That instantaneous answering does not necessarily constitute a change
in the external circumstances of our lives. If we are praying for a new job, then that may take quite some time
because the various layers of the cosmos, as they get more and more dense, take more and more energy, and
more and more time to change. As we sit in our automobile, for example, we can change our thinking
instantaneously. We can think about a flower one minute; we can think about a book another minute. If we want
to change something on the car, that is going to take much, much more effort. Even if it is something as simple as
opening the door, that takes more time and it takes more effort than it takes to change our thinking.

In exactly the same way, God's answers to our psyche, to our soul, to our spirit, are instantaneous. If we are
seeking for God's truth or for his comfort or peace, that help is available to our minds and to our souls
instantaneously. However, if we are seeking a transformation in the physical universe or in the social order to
effect changes in other human beings, this can and often and usually does take much more time. Why? Isn't God
all powerful? Can't he do anything and everything instantaneously?

The entire message of the Fool is that God is voluntarily self limiting. If God wanted to, God could eliminate all
hatred, but to do so would be to have the Groom rape the Bride. Therefore, since God is all powerful, but seeks
communion with his creation, he abides eternally in peace, standing in the Chariot waiting for us to approach
him. We are his agents within the world.

This is why the winged messenger sometimes seems to be so slow in arriving. Often the problem is not God; the
problem is usually and only us. God is, in fact, working instantaneously, but if he magically changes our
circumstances, then the flow and fabric of our lives could be completely destroyed. This is in violation of his laws
of nature. That being said and done, it remains forever true that the messenger is swift and the communications
between his mind and ours are instantaneous. The answers are always there if we will sit and silence ourselves
enough to listen.

The red top-like device is a symbol from India known as a “lingam.” It is another phallic symbol. It is there to
symbolize action on the part of God. This is not a form giver card. This is a interactive card indicating the presence
of God's power in our lives. Behold, I am with you forever, even until the end of the age.

The final element we will look at in this card is, for many of you, perhaps somewhat of a mystery--the two very
strange creatures pulling the Chariot. They are obviously sphinxes--one black, one white. What is the sphinx? The
sphinx is a creature from Greek mythology. The sphinx was there in front of the pyramids when the Hebrews were
held captive in Egypt. What is the myth of the sphinx? The sphinx was a creature with the body of a lion, usually
wings of an eagle, and the face of a human woman. It would go about terrorizing citizens in the town, asking them
a riddle. If the citizen answered the riddle correctly, he would be spared. Otherwise, he would be devoured by the
sphinx. No one ever answered the riddle correctly until a young man named Oedipus came along. Do you
remember the riddle from your junior high school mythology class? It was, “What animal is it that goes about on
fours in the morning, twos in the day and threes at night?” The answer, Oedipus said, is “man,” who crawls as a
baby, who walks in his strength in middle age, and hobbles about using a cane in his old age. The moment that
Oedipus gave that answer to the sphinx, she shrieked a horrible howl and dashed herself against the rocks until
she was dead.
Why in the world would we put such an image from Greek mythology on this card? Well, as we've said so many
times, the Tarot is dealing in symbolism. The symbolism behind these sphinxes is quite clear and quite powerful,
and it's something that you could not condense into any other imagery that I can think of. Man goes in a cycle of
birth, life and death, and that cycle is forever. That cycle is natural. The death that Adam and Eve experienced in
the Garden of Eden was a spiritual death. They no longer lived according to the life principle which is the unified
principle, but they forever more were living according to the good vs. evil principle. This has nothing to do with
the biological flow.

As we live below, so we live above. We are born to a new idea. We let it live within us and then, in one form or
another, it dies away. Even if it stays with us forever, it changes and grows and merges with other ideas.

Going about on fours and twos and threes is the cycle of life. It encompasses the totality of all human experience,
whether it is your marriage, your job, your religion, your body, your hopes, your dreams or anything. That cycle of
life, the riddle of the sphinx, encompasses all aspects of it, and the Chariot is here to constantly help.

The sphinx was in a life and death struggle. The sphinx would devour creatures who could not solve her riddle
until she met someone who could, at which point she had to destroy herself. There is no compromise. There is
only right and wrong. There is life, and there is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There is nothing in
between. Either we will overcome and we will solve the riddle of the sphinx and we enter the Chariot and return
to our celestial home, or we will be devoured in totality by the darkness of the realms of opposites, the
consciousness of good and evil.

There are two sphinxes--one white, one black. They are there to indicate that the cycle of life and the divine
intervention exist in all aspects of our lives. If we say that something is "good," or we say that something is "bad,"
usually we mean that it is pleasant or unpleasant. This has very little to do with whether it is from the tree of life
or from the tree of death. All things which happen to us which are "good" and all the things which happen to us
which are "bad" are likewise reflections of the cycle of man and can all be tools of blessing. If good things happen
to us, we can stray from God and think that we are self made people not needing any divine help. If bad things
happen to us, then we can think that God does not love us, that we are cursed, that we are getting what we
deserve.

The opposite is true. If good comes, we can see it as a blessing and a gift of God. If adversity comes, we can see it
as merely another test, another learning experience, another opportunity to rise above the realm of good and evil
and seek the unity beyond.
That is the Chariot; that is the power. That is the divine intervention--the endless, limitless grace of God, here to
take us from the pain and suffering through our fall and restore us to the eternal throne, the blessed new
Jerusalem.

 TRUMP 8 – STRENGTH

And Moses said unto the people, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of
bondage. For by strength of hand YHWH brought you from out of this place." Exodus 13:3.

Tarot card #8 is strength. It completes the third trinity of the Tarot cards, the first trinity being the all power of the
Fool, which becomes bi-polarized into the Magician and High Priestess. Then we saw the Empress and the
Emperor, which are re-harmonized through the Hierophant. In the third trinity, we have cards #6, #7 and #8. Card
#6 begins the trinity by presenting us with the human problem, the error which we must overcome, the
fundamental root of sin--ego. We see the divine response to that in the Chariot, card #7, but as we pointed out so
clearly, the Chariot sits and waits for us to enter. The Chariot will not interfere in our lives. The Chariot is there,
but awaits our response.

So we have a pole. We have another dynamic tension between the problem of the lovers and the solution of the
Chariot. How does one resolve this? There are many steps involved, and those steps will take us through the rest
of the cards.

Though we have a series of cycles within cycles in the Tarot cards and every new card attempts to expound and
explain and amplify points which in essence have already been covered by other cards, everything you need to
know, everything in the entire universe is symbolized inside of the Fool. As we said so many chapters ago,
everything else is simply commentary. Therefore, as we enter newer cards, we will see reiterated cycles of
revelations and comprehensions of the past.

This flow has been discussed by western philosophers in terms of three aspects: thesis, anti-thesis and
synthesis. For example, the creativity of the Empress being the thesis, the harsh legalism of the Emperor being the
anti-thesis, and the Hierophant and the two-fold nature of revelation, being the synthesis.

We have precisely the same problem or issue here. The lovers are the thesis. Mankind is draped in sin. We find
ourselves in the ego state, trapped in hatred, malaise and hopelessness. The anti-thesis to that is the Chariot,
ready to whisk us away, to solve our problems, to enable us to see that there is no problem at all. These two
become synthesized through card #8, Strength.

Card #8 is one of the most sparse cards in the entire Tarot deck. By sparse, I mean that it does not have very much
imagery. It is very plain. A simple, gentle woman or girl closes the mouth of a lion at her feet. In essence, that is
the card. There are certain other elements, and we will look at them, but that is the message of the card. A simple
young woman closes the mouth of a lion.

It is sometimes marvelous to wonder at and adore the power of the imagery in the cards--how so much symbolism
and so much meaning can be packed into such simple pictures. These pictures are indeed worth thousands of
words.

The woman is wearing a white gown. This is the first time that we see a white gown in all of the Tarot cards. The
Empress has on a white gown, yet she has pomegranate symbols covering it making it part white and part
red. Strength’s gown is pure white. Upon her head is a garland of flowers, around her waist is a string of roses,
above her head the infinity symbol. She has her left hand upon the lion's nose and her right hand underneath his
chin. She is closing his mouth while his tongue is still extended. This is an important clue. They stand upon a very
natural ground. If you look carefully, you will see that the coloring of the ground is the same as that on which the
lovers stand in card #6, and that mountain in the background is the same mountain standing between the two
lovers.

As to the symbolism, obviously the first thing we have to deal with is the lion. So many things in the language of
symbolism frustrate the novice explorer because there is not necessarily a clear one to one didactic relationship. If
there were, then the symbols would cease to be symbols and would be signs, as we've discussed before. There is
no clearer illustration of this than in the symbolism of the lion.

In the Bible, the lion is used to represent ultimate good and ultimate evil. Jesus is referred to as the lion of Judah
upon the throne. In the book of Revelation, we see Jesus as the reigning lion, who is able to open and reveal the
mysteries of the sacred scrolls. But, we also have the image of Satan prowling about like a lion seeking whom he
may devour. What is the image here? What is the purpose of the lion here?

We will set aside, for our purposes, discussing whether the lion represents good or evil. The lion it is sufficient to
say represents the animal nature. This is a powerful enough symbol and really does not here indicate either the
presence of Satan, the devil, or Jesus. Certainly, Strength is not closing the mouth of God, and this is really not a
card dealing with the Devil. The Devil is an important concept which we must discuss, but we do not encounter
him until card #15.

Therefore, if Strength is not closing the mouth of the Devil, and she is not closing the mouth of Jesus, what is she
closing? She is closing the mouth of our animal nature. We saw in the lovers, the power of the serpent, the power
of the base of the spine, and the power of creation to move farther and farther away from the Creator.
Anyone who has ever done any extended creating, observes through the externalization, objectification, and
internalization processes that the creation, regardless of its nature, begins to take upon itself ideas and powers
and characteristics which are different from what the creator had originally intentioned, and actually struggles
against the creator’s will. If you look at the manuscripts of Beethoven for example, it is clear that the man
constantly fought against his music. He was at war with his compositions. There was a battle between the natural
flow of the melodies--where they wanted to go and where Beethoven knew he had to take them.

Authors will regularly indicate that the story or the characters evolved into something which they had never
imagined. This is the power of the serpent. This is the power of the creation. Ideally, as we have seen in other
cards, most specifically the Empress, the purpose of the creation is to indicate the creator, that through the
creation, we might see God. Yet the creation so seldom performs this function. Much more often, the creation
pulls us away from the creator as we become entangled in the multitude of details within the creation--how this
relates to that and that relates to this. Animal nature is summarized well inside of the book of Romans wherein
Paul says that, "They turned from the Creator to worship the creation."

We do this every day of our lives. We do not see the soul inside of a human being. We simply see a body or a
consumer to be used. We look not with the eyes of the spirit, but with the eyes of the body. We do not look at
the spiritual principles, but at the physical principles. That is the lion who goes about prowling, seeking to be the
head animal to devour others. Any thing or any person which stands in its way, we will conquer. We will crush
them. Rather than try to work with them or compromise with them or love them or resolve all of our differences,
we will eat them, either emotionally, or in the case of actual war or physical violence, physically destroy
them. That is the lion, the base evil nature which comes through the creation of ego.

This is a problem, because we are all one. We are one family. We are all children of the same God. And if the
message of the Fool is correct, the only reality that there is, is God. Therefore, the oneness and unification of the
“uni-verse” is the only truth. That is the way, the truth and the life.

But we do not look at that goodness, we look at all that is not. We therefore seek to exalt ourselves above all
others. Between the lion and the Chariot is the tension where we find ourselves in most of our day to day
lives. Most human beings on this earth live right here. Each of the Tarot cards represents powers and forces in the
universe, and as we have tried to point out so clearly, they also represent tendencies and realities within our
individual soul. They represent stages of our development.

The vast majority of us have not attained to the revelation of the High Priestess, nor to the revelation of the
Hermit or the Wheel of Fortune. The vast majority of us are past the real base problem presented in the lovers,
and we struggle somewhere between the lion and the Chariot. Symbolically, you could say that although the
Chariot awaits us, our prowling lion nature seeks not to enter the sacred celestial vehicle, but rather to find other
beings to consume.

The regulating force among us is the lady of Strength. She has no struggle within her. None. The lion does not
want his mouth to be closed. Strength is closing the lion's mouth effortlessly, with great peace and a smile on her
face, while the lion still has his tongue extended. He is about to painfully pierce his own tongue with his own
teeth.

This too is a symbol of wonderful power, for we are constantly biting ourselves. The pain we experience in this
world is usually brought upon ourselves by ourselves--not always, certainly, but very, very often. The physical
suffering can be induced by external circumstances, but we remain the controllers of our emotions and our
minds. Our reactions to circumstances remain ours to control. I learned this crucial revelation really for the first
time in 1984, when after a series a very painful events, I found myself feeling very victimized. Then, one glorious
evening, I heard the voice of God saying to me that all of this pseudo-victimization was nothing more than a series
of responses I was making to my own life; that just as I was choosing to feel myself the victim, I could choose to
feel myself something else; and, that all of these difficult situations were ultimately no more nor less significant
then stubbing my toe upon a footstool. There was a certain amount of pain, but that pain was incidental. What
was truly pivotal was my response to the pain and how I chose to deal with it. Should I let that pain become my all
consuming reality, or move past it to a new life? At that point I heard five words of magic, five words of immense
power which have transformed my life and the life of millions of people who have attained this revelation: I am
not a victim.

That is all, be it somewhat obtusely, symbolized within the lion’s tongue. All of this pain he is about to experience
or could be experiencing right now, he is blaming on Strength. He is blaming it on the woman, but notice that all
he has to do is pull his tongue in, and he would solve his problem. He does not have to be victimized.

The pathway of ego is not a pleasant pathway. We engage upon it constantly, but its blessings are so pathetically
small compared to the rewards of the pathway of the egoless state, that it is nothing short of tragic to see the
amount of energy we expend holding on to these useless trinkets of dust, which we call our accomplishments.

Who is this woman--this woman who so easily controls the animal instincts, who harnesses the base powers and
enables us to enter the Chariot? I believe the answer is completely, intuitively obvious. The woman is the divine
will which we've all been given. Above her head is the probably too obvious infinity symbol. The only other time
we see this symbol in the totality of the Tarot cards is above the head of the Magician. Obviously then, she is the
power of the Magician; she is the power of God. She is the controlling force; she is all power; she is strength. What
is strength? Ultimately strength is control. The more strength you have, the more you are able to control. This is
so simple, and yet so profound. Someone who is able to lift 200 lbs. is able to control much more of the physical
world than someone who can only lift 20 lbs.

Health and strength are forever connected with each other, for health is defined as strength. We are able to do
what we choose to do, and this controlling factor is the essence of will. We have said many times before that
there are different parts within the human being; that divine will comes straight from the spark of God, the in-
dwelling spirit; and that will controls the mind, the emotions, the desire, the physical body, and, actually any
mechanical body, such as a automobile that we may be in. It is through our will, that we determine if we are going
to follow the pathway of the Chariot or the pathway of the lion. It is through that will that we develop strength of
character, strength of being. This strength wishes to touch all aspects of our being. Strength wants to make our
minds powerful, that we might be able to comprehend the height and the depth and the breadth of God.

One of the things, unfortunately, which common religion expects of people, is that they check their brains at the
door just as though they were checking a hat or a raincoat. We saw this during the discussion of the Hierophant--
that religion, as it is exoterically taught, does not want people to think, is afraid of reason, and is afraid of
intellectual exploration. God has given us our minds to explore and worship and know, and the power of God's
presence in our lives will make us brilliant, will make us intellectuals, will open our minds to the wonders of the
world.

The strength of God, through the power of will, shall also enable our desires to be controlled, that we desire not to
follow the world as a prowling lion, devouring all in our wake, but rather to desire to enter the holy chariot and
travel with Him to the highest points of Heaven. Strength will also encourage our emotions to have the proper
reactions to all around us--to see ourselves not as a victim nor to seek retribution, but to seek only goodness,
oneness and wholeness.

Strength will also touch our physical bodies, that we might have the ability to work and live and move in this
world. In all ways then, the divine will is working to provide health to all of our vehicles--to our mind, our
emotions, our desire and our body. This is why I began this chapter with this quote, which I will repeat. Moses
said to the people, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by
strength of hand, YHWH brought you out from this place." The woman is God. Divine will lives within us. Bondage
in Egypt has become a symbol for slavery to sin. Held captive by the lower desires, we prowl the earth as a lion,
and we are actually enslaved and unable to free ourselves. But as YHWH removed the Hebrews from bondage to
slavery in Egypt, so too he will remove us from bondage to sin in our mortal lives.

How do we move from the lion state into the Chariot? We recognize that God's redeeming, freeing power is
already present, and we enable that power to transform our base animal instincts into a vessel of holy, righteous
purity. Notice that the scripture, Exodus 13:3, clearly states that YHWH is doing this by the power of his hand. The
hand is immensely symbolic. The hand is the active mechanism. Just as the Chariot is there to actively participate
in all aspects of our lives, so too the divine will is an active participant, an active controlling agent in our
lives. These are not merely principles or ideas, nor are they merely pictures or symbols. The divine will is a real
existent power working in the universe and working in our lives, moment by moment.

Exodus 15:2, "YHWH is my strength and my song, he is my salvation." Strength is also passion to encounter life
with exuberance, not merely as a burden to be endured, but with great excitement, as a great journey to be
explored.

Beginning to summarize, we see then that the lion is our base animal instincts, and that the woman of strength,
through very little or no physical effort, automatically and simply overcomes the lion. To overcome your base
instincts, to transform your life from being a hater into a divine lover, you need do nothing more than recognize
that you already are free, you already are strong, you already are pure. It is up to you to focus on which part of
you, you will use. That strength is health. It is power, it is control, it is commitment, it is passion. It is the divine
will.

We are admonished in 1 Chronicles 16, to seek Yod Heh Vav Heh and his strength. Seek his face forever. We are
told in Nehemiah 8, that the joy of Yod Heh Vav Heh is our strength. We are told in Psalm 18, "I love thee oh!
YHWH my strength." Psalm 20:6, "I know that YHWH saves his anointed, he will answer him from his holy Heaven
with the saving strength of his right hand."

It is all summarized, I think most beautifully, in two verses, Ecclesiastes 7:19, "Wisdom is a strength to the wise
more than ten rulers that are in a city." Wisdom--we have seen wisdom before. That wisdom, that living life
according to the powers of God, is our strength. And finally, Mark 12:30, "You shall love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." That is the pathway. That is our
vision. That is our quest--to take us from the darkness of the ego state and enable us to ride the infinite chariot to
the kingdom of celestial Godhood.












 TRUMP 9 - THE HERMIT

The Hermit stands upon a high, high precipice. He holds in his right hand a lantern containing a glowing radiating
Star of David. He holds in his left hand a staff. He is wearing a very large billowing enshrouding cloak. He has a
long flowing beard. This is a card of great mystery, and its symbolism is perhaps among the most difficult to
comprehend. The Hermit's a card of many things. We will start with the most obvious.
Remember the mountain that the Fool began on, the mountain that stands behind and between the lovers, the
mountain in the background behind Lady Strength. The Hermit now stands upon that mountain. This is a card of
great attainment. We have crossed the pathway of involution and come to the point of the fall. We see the
pathway of redemption through the Chariot and have been presented with the divine will to conquer all evil.
At the stage of the Hermit, the religious aspirant begins to internalize the religious life. The religious life does not
consist simply of hearing the Word, nor simply of believing these stories, nor simply in being a follower. The
essence of religion is attainment. The essence is actualization. As the Bible says, "We should not be hearers only,
but doers of the sacred word."
At the stage of the Hermit, we are not complete. We are not done. At the stage of the Hermit, we have not
completely slain the ego, and we have not fulfilled our eternal destiny. However, the proclamations and powers
which we have met, up until this point, are beginning to take shape and form inside of our own being.
We have seen, behind the Fool, the pure white light of the Sun. Behind the lovers in the pathway which the angel
guards, there is the eternal infinite limitless sun of the divine presence in our lives.
The other places that we see light in the Tarot cards are in images of stars representing celestial kingdoms. This is
the first time that we see anything which appears in simple form to be a man-made light. The Hermit is holding a
lantern, and he controls that lantern. It is not by chance that he controls it in his right hand. As the right hand of
the Charioteer contains the Magician's wand and as the right hand of the Lady of Strength is pulling up to close the
Lion's jaw, so too in the right hand, the Hermit holds the light. This is a pathway of illumination. The sun which we
have lost, which we are seeking to return to, the limitless light of God is beginning, albeit in a small measure, to
take shape and exist in our lives. That is the first symbol here--the Hermit standing upon the Mountain holding the
light.
The light of God, being the only reality, will eventually come under your control. As we saw, the essence of
strength is control. You, as a co-creator with God, have an appropriation of the infinite limitless light within
you. Through tapping into the Lady of Strength, working the pathway, you will enter the Chariot. And as you do
so, you are taken to the highest mountain. Contrary to popular opinion, the Hermit does not so much crawl up the
Mountain, as he is deposited there by the Chariot. Those lights of Heaven above the celestial canopy are not
simply to be looked at . They are not simply to be worshipped. They are to become our reality. We are the light
of Heaven.
The reference to the Biblical passage is obvious. Jesus says, "You are the light of the world." Not merely a
reflector of the light, but in a higher truer sense, you are the light of the world. God is light.
When we get a bit farther down the road, we will overcome the temptation of the moon in card #18 to merely
reflect the light, and we will have our homecoming in card #19 where we are fully reunited with the radiant Sun. A
tiny bit of that sun has been broken off. A tiny bit of the canopy above the Chariot has been placed into the
Hermit's lamp. A tiny bit of what God is has been placed into you.
The Bible promises us that eventually we will grow to the fullness of Christ. At the stage of the Hermit, we are not
yet there, but we have learned much.
The Hermit is alone There is no denying this, and there is no hiding from it. He has no one around him, and he is
first and foremost, completely and always, utterly and entirely alone.
When you close your eyes at night, there is no one behind your eyelids but you. And in your heart of hearts, there
is no one but you. No one knows all of your thoughts, all of your feelings, all of your memories, all of your actions,
except you. And, the revelation of Lady Strength is that absolutely no one controls or shapes your destiny except
for you. You are alone.
The essence of religion is to recognize that aloneness in ourselves and to enable it to become reality. The holy
name is, "I will be what I will be"--not what Madison Ave. says I will be, not what culture says I will be, not what my
friends say I will be, not what my church says I will be, not what my pastor or my parents or my spouse say I will
be. But, I will be what I will to be.
Will, we have seen, is the essence of Lady Strength. As we harness that will, we become what we will become. As
we shape and mold our will, we realize our destiny--not by the power of our community or our friends or relatives,
but singly, solely, wholly and entirely by the power of the divine within us. This is the beginning of health. The is
the beginning of being responsible for your own life.
But while the Hermit is alone, he is not cut off from the rest of the world. Notice his entire attitude. He is holding
the light. He is not holding the light to enable him to see, for he is already upon the mountain. He is holding the
light for others to see.
Notice that he is looking down. He is, however, not looking down so that he might find his own way. He is looking
down to watch and seek and attune himself to others. This is the glory of religion. Religion is what we do
completely alone in the inner most beings of our own soul, as well as what we do in partnership with every other
soul around us.
The Hermit’s attainment does not remove him from compassion. It begins compassion. The isolation and fracture
begun by the Lovers, experienced through the poison of ego, as Adam seeks to even blame his holy wife for his
problems--that fracture begins to become healed on the pathway of the Hermit. For as you attain, and as you
receive, you shall be free to share. We have discussed this before. As you give, so shall you receive; and, as you
have received, you will give.
What is the greatest law? To love God with your total being and to love your fellow human beings as
yourself. Note that this is a law. The law of gravity needs no one to give consent to it for it to be true. The law of
electromagnetism was the governing factor of the universe before anyone ever conceived of it. In exactly the
same way, the great law of God does not need you to consent to it or obey it for it to be true.
The fact is that you do love God with your whole being, and you do love your fellow person as yourself. These are
not so much statements of command, as they are statements of reality--an explanation of the law of the
universe. You absolutely must take time to meditate on this and make sure that you are completely clear on it.
How you love yourself is exactly how you will love others, and your entire personality is your expression of your
love for God. The ways in which you think, the things that you feel, and those deeds that you perform are the way
you love God. What you think about yourself and how you conceive of yourself when you close your eyes are how
you love your fellow human beings.
You already do love God with the wholeness of your being. You already do love your fellow man as yourself, and it
could never, ever be any other way.
Therefore, in the pathway of the Hermit, as we begin to see the glories of the canopy, as we begin to delight in the
ecstasy of riding the Chariot, as we begin to become healthy and have greater control over ourselves through the
Lady of Strength, we are able to reach out and to share this with other people. As we become different people, we
love differently. As we receive, so shall we give, and the giving that we do establishes what we will
receive. Remember, this is a fractal universe. Our output becomes our input, and our input becomes our
output. Therefore, when we attain the state of the Hermit, we seek to reach out, to share, and to touch other
people. The best way to learn is to teach.
If you really want to learn something, try to explain it to another person. Reach out your hand. Let your light
shine. You do not place a light upon a mountain in order to hide it. You place a light upon the mountain in order
to let it shine. The whole purpose of the Bible is to discuss evangelism or discipleship. It is to discuss outreach,
that we might let our light shine before others in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our
Father, who is in Heaven.
We become an actual channel. We become a vessel through whom the light of God can and will flow. Just as the
Chariot is able to convey the higher powers of God to our eternal spirit, in exactly the same way as that spirit
becomes awakened and alive and born inside of us, we too then can be a transmitter of that light. Whatever you
bind on earth, shall already have been bound in Heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, shall already have been
loosed in Heaven. Go ye and therefore and make disciples of all nations. During that process, momentum is
gained.
For others then as they are able to dwell in our light and we are able to become in part a channel for them are able
to enter into a relationship with the divine and there light can shine back and help encourage and strengthen
us. This is the entire notion of community. Therefore the Hermit begins in total isolation, but as he reaches out he
becomes a member of the family of man, becomes a organ in the body of Christ being built up to the fullness of
God.
God is becoming reincarnated in each of us. This card--the Hermit--is a card of the incarnation, the mystery of God
in the flesh. The card also teaches us about the importance of having a teacher. The disciple-rabbi relationship is
found in every religion in the world. In modern society, we have walked away with our technocratic age from this
holy relationship, and people think that by merely reading books or watching television shows that they can learn
as much as from a personal teacher. But every synagogue has its rabbi, every disciple had Christ. Every student
has his guru. Every monk has his teacher. The powers of God can best and only be fully communicated through
other human beings. This writing, as hopefully valuable and important as it may be, cannot ever take the place of
a personal relationship with the Hermit, who stands bearing the light.
This is a crucial point. We said how card #8 Strength was related to God taking the Hebrews out of bondage to
slavery. Card #9, the Hermit, is Moses, the individual through whom God worked. God could have simply killed all
the Egyptians, one supposes, and in that manner let the Hebrews go. But, it was not to be, and that is not how he
operates on this earth. God works through people. The power of the strength of card #8 is placed inside of a
person named Moses, and Moses takes the people out of bondage.
One must guide; one must have a guide. If you truly seek to return to paradise to appropriate the power of the
divine will, you must, for your own sake, reach out to others and attempt to help them along their pathway.
We see then that the many shall become one, and the one shall touch the many. The staff that the Hermit holds
clearly represents, for one, the staff which Moses held, turning the staff into a serpent. We have seen the multi-
dimensional symbolism of the serpent before.
The Hermit is painted as being very old, the ancient of days, because people at this point in their lives are very old
souls. Those who have attained to the level of the Hermit are no longer entirely trapped by the base animal
instincts. The light of God is beginning to be able to shine through them, so they are not entirely encased within
ego. They are symbolically much closer to the ancient of days.
The Star of David is a two-fold symbol--a symbol of the spirit and a symbol of the world. As a symbol of the spirit,
it symbolizes the revelation and religious proclamations God made through his servant David primarily through the
Psalms. It is also a symbol of earthly power, because David placed this star upon his shield of war. The light of the
Divine cannot stop until it has touched all aspects of the universe. It cannot stop merely inside of your soul. It
cannot stop merely by making your body healthy, but rather must encompass all aspects of society and every
human interaction--from what we currently call government, to our economic systems, to our ecological
management systems. The radiant light conferred through control of the divine will can, must, and will transform
the totality of existence.
The final point regarding the Hermit has to do with his robe. The robe is concealing something. We get this hint by
his hat or hood. The hood is in the shape of a Yod, the Hebrew letter which we translate into a "Y". The Yod is the
first letter of God's holy name, Yod Heh Vav Heh. The Yod, symbolizing the divine creative controlling intelligence,
shows that here in the stage of the Hermit, while we may not be utterly free of all pollution from the lower
spheres, we are at least in touch with the mind of God. The name of God is beginning to take shape within us. The
Yod Heh Vav Heh, as the image of God and the image of man, is beginning to take root in the very rubric of our
soul.

This is a true and almost indescribable glorious joy.
To summarize, the Hermit is attainment--bringing the divine powers under personal individual control. It is a card
of isolation, but an isolation which will reach out in harmony with others to enable them to rise to the top of the
mountain with the Hermit. The Hermit is the stage of spiritual development wherein the name of God is beginning
to be formed completely within us.

 TRUMP 10 - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

In stark contrast to the previous two cards, which have almost no symbolism at all, in terms of the icons and
images on the cards themselves, the Wheel of Fortune is absolutely stuffed full of very great symbolic
detail. Simply by looking card #10, one immediately notices that it is very different from the others that we have
seen. The others have featured a human figure in the center of the card with the exception of the Lovers, who
have one angel and then two humans. On all of the rest, we have one central human being with different icons
and images around him or her. Obviously the Wheel of Fortune is very, very different.

What is this card all about? We are dealing here with a powerful concept. As we discussed in previous cards,
everything is a cycle. Everything within the realms of creation vibrates. The densest rock, the most rarefied air,
the farthest star vibrate. Rest is a mere idea. It has no reality. That vibration, that cycle, exists not only in physical
matter, but in animate objects--the cycle of breathing, the cycle of waking and sleeping, the cycle of being born,
living and dying. The Wheel of Fortune encompasses all cycles of manifestation and expresses the notion that no
matter what occurs within the physical creation, it is all (1) a part of the divine plan, and (2) a part of the divine
revelation. In other words, the Wheel of Fortune card says there is no such thing as chance.

A wheel of fortune exists in many different forms. For instance in gambling halls, we have roulette wheels, we
have slot machines, which are a combination of three or more Wheels of Fortune, and we have the big wheels
which spin much in the manner depicted on this card. There are different numbers or images on the wheel. You
place your bet on a number on which you think the wheel will stop. If your number comes up you win; if not, you
lose.

To the uneducated eye, it appears that a wheel of fortune is chance. However, this is not entirely true. A Wheel of
Fortune, if it is even, works according to law. What do I mean by even? Let us assume that there are ten numbers
on the wheel, 1 through 10. And, let us assume that the wheel is perfectly balanced and each number is
mathematically as likely to come up as any other number. What then are the odds of picking the right
number? Obviously the odds are 10 to 1 or 1 in 10. If you bet $1 and your number does not come up, you lose
your dollar. If your number comes up, then you should receive exactly $10. The element of chance pertains to any
individual single event. It is in fact, in a wheel of fortune such as we are describing, not possible to predict what
any given spin will be. It is a random chance event. So in that respect, individual moments within time are chance.

However, in the larger picture, that wheel will work according to absolute law. If you spin that wheel an infinite
number of times, exactly 1/10th of those spins will be landing in each of those ten numbers.

So while individual events may be unpredictable, the larger picture is 100% predictable. This is how gambling
institutions in Las Vegas make their money. They do not need to cheat. The game, as it is presented to the player
or the gambler, is already fixed. If the player picks the wrong number, the player loses the dollar. However, if he
picks the right number, he does not get $10 dollars the way he should. He gets $9. As a result, if you begin with an
infinite amount of money and play this game for an infinite number of spins, you wind up with absolutely no
money. This is the law.

In terms of the Wheel of Fortune, we actually have three different manifestations in this game of life. This first one
that we've talked about is random, wherein each individual event is completely unpredictable, but the totality of
the process is 100% governed by law. There are two others.

We also have deterministic relationships. Deterministic relationships are very common to us. Those relationships
are where, given the current state of things, we are able to determine absolutely, at any given time frame, what
the status of the system will be in the future. A simple example is a automobile driving along the road. If we know
where the car is now and we know exactly how fast it is traveling, then at any given point in time we will know
where the car will be. If the car is traveling at 30 mph, we know that in exactly 15 minutes the car will be 7 1/2
miles away. This is completely deterministic. The deterministic universe is the realm of what we have traditionally
called science. Science is discovering that there are other realms which it must attend to, but for the most part,
the Newtonian revolution was when humanity began to discover the deterministic nature of the world.

In addition to random relationships and deterministic relationships we have the third manifestation, known as
chaotic relationships. This is a brand new field of science which is revolutionizing biology, physics, chemistry,
sociology, just as the Newtonian revolution did hundreds of years ago. A chaotic relationship is 100% deterministic
and absolutely unpredictable. What do I mean by that? That means given any current state, the next step or the
next cycle is 100% deterministic. And, there is a one to one relationship. Any particular initial state will generate
one and only one next step, however the relationship is so complex that it is impossible to determine what cycle
10 will be until we experience cycle 9.

This would be like having a automobile, to refer to the previous analogy, that we know is traveling at 30 mph and
we know absolutely that in one minute it will be so many feet away, but we will not know how many feet it is away
in 15 minutes until we get to the 14-minute mark.

These chaotic relationships are wondrous creatures and seem to be built into the very essence of nature. Let me
give you an example. Take a number sequence. Start with a number--any number at all. If that number is even,
divide it in half. If the number is odd, multiply it by three and add one to it. Take the result and perform the
operation again. Eventually the number will return to 1. Notice that each and every single number cycles in the
next iteration to one and only one number. The number 26 will only go to number 13. The number 27 will only go
to 84. It cannot ever go anywhere else. But, there are no fields of mathematics that enable us to determine how
many iterations it will take any particular number to return to one.

The relationship is cycle by cycle deterministic and yet completely unpredictable. Why have I taken you along this
discussion?

These 3 relationships--random, deterministic and chaotic--are symbolized by the three wheels in the Wheel of
Fortune. We have the tiniest innermost circle, a larger circle, and then the outer circle. These circles will spin, not
just clockwise and counter-clockwise, but will also rotate around their axis much like a globe. And, they will spin
top to bottom, like an earth spinning around itself.

These wheels are the interplay of God with his creation. These are the laws which have been laid down for
existence. This is the moral dance that plays throughout our lives. And, the proclamation of this card is that
regardless of which way the wheels spin, whether for "good" or "bad," for we are still here in the realm of duality,
whether we are experiencing a random, deterministic or chaotic relationship at this time, everything echoes with
the name of God, and everything is perfect.

We see from the wheel that all manifestations are a direct outpouring of God because of the letters surrounding
the outer wheel. We see the T O R A. Read counter-clockwise it's Torah; read clockwise it's Tarot. What do those
funny little symbols between the T A R O mean? Well, between the “T” and the “A,” that little squiggle thing is a
Yod, that is a "Y". Between the “T” and the “O,” we have a Heh. Between the “O” and the “R,” there is a
Vav. And, between the “A” and the “R,” there is another Heh. That spells YHWH. That is Yahweh. That is the holy
Tetragrammaton. That is the infinite limitless name of God. That is God's name. “God” is not God's name. God is
what God is. Yod Heh Vav Heh is God's name.

If we read counter-clockwise, what do we have? We have YHWH. If we read clockwise, what do we

have? YHWH. This is not a coincidence. If you start with the “R” and read clockwise, it's Rota, which is the
wheel. We discussed this way back with the High Priestess. Rota is the wheel. Torah is the revelation of God's
holy mind in scripture. Tarot is the unveiling. The Tarot is the hidden wisdom which we are attempting to unveil,
all be it ever so slightly. And what the wheel says is that the Wheel of Fortune, both the Tarot and the Torah, are
Yahweh.

It does not matter if the wheels spin left or right or up or down. It does not matter if you are dwelling in a
deterministic or a random or a chaotic world. It does not matter, the individual moments. It does not matter how
confused or how puzzling or how bizarre life may seem. There is always a law. There is always a
connection. There is always a purpose. There is always a direction. There is always a focus. That focus is the
Wheel, the Wheel of Life. And that Wheel of Life is the holy word of God. That Wheel of Life is the Torah, and the
Torah is revealed through the Tarot. The Tarot, the Torah, and Wheel of Life are all Yod Heh Vav Heh. That is a
very powerful statement.

The Wheel of Fortune also pertains to the idea of success and prosperity. We as human beings become obsessed
with material possessions. When I graduated from college, in order to have my own self respect, I spent several
years cleaning houses. This was a decent solid honest job. I was the black sheep of the family, because at that
time on both my father's side and mother's side, I was the only one of any of the grandchildren to have ever
graduated from a four year college. And, yet the college graduate was scrubbing toilets. I was an object of shame
at family gatherings. The Wheel of Fortune started to turn differently, and I entered a new profession and started
to make a lot of money. All of a sudden, I was someone who mattered to the family. I actually had people call me
to say that they had never understood what I was doing, but they were really proud of me now. This is a horrid
burden to put on anyone.
The proclamation of Jesus is that riches do not matter. Wealth and fortune, as they pertain to the material plane
of money and commerce, are the lowest shells in the cosmic dance. Your divine limitless spirit does not care if you
have a lot of money or hardly any money at all. The Wheel of Fortune will make some poor and some rich. Some
will begin poor and become rich; some will begin rich and become poor. As we attach ourselves to the hub of the
wheel then, we spin up and down. As we attach our consciousness to the rim of the Wheel of Fortune, when we
make more money we are happier, and when we lose money we are sadder.

We have given over dominion of our lives. The strength that we have seen in other cards--the power of the divine
light inside of us--we have given over to the whims of the Wheel of Fortune. What we should recognize is not the
outer most rim, but the axis. We should recognize the truth of the Wheel--that whether we are rich or poor,
whether we are successful or a material failure, whether we are healthy or sick in our bodies--it is all still a part of
the cycle of God. It is all a part of the breath of God. It is all an unfolding of the divine plan. That is what the
Wheel seeks to teach us.

Inside of the Wheel, there are 8 spokes. These 8 spokes refer to the 8 normal cardinal points on the
compass: north, east, south, and west; northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. On the axis, we see some
symbols. Those are symbols for chemical elements: salt, sulfur, mercury and water. I will leave it to you to
meditate upon the importance and value of these symbols. Their chemical structure can, in fact, reveal aspects of
the Wheel of Fortune to us.

Sitting atop the Wheel of Fortune is the sphinx. We have discussed in great length in the Chariot card the
symbolism of the sphinx. The sphinx is reiterated here because the cycle of life, which the sphinx held as its secret,
is the central focus of this card.

To the left hand side of the wheel, there is a yellow snake, and under the right hand side of the wheel, there is this
red strange creature. These are obscure references to Greek mythology. The snake is Typhon; the red bizarre
creature is Hermanubis. Without going into great detail, they symbolize transformation, blessing, and decay. The
sphinx is the stabilizing image. The snake is the transforming image. The Hermanubis is the decay image. God is
the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe. All three manifestations are necessary for existence--
creation, preservation and destruction--birth, life and death. They are all surrounding the wheel.

The last images we see are in the four corners, these angelic beings holding books. The beings, reading counter-
clockwise from upper left, are an angel, a bull, a cow, and a eagle. These creatures come from two places in the
Bible. The book of Ezekiel is intimately related to this card. Ezekiel has a vision of the throne of God. God's throne
is sitting upon these different wheels, which have wheels within wheels within wheels. Attached to these wheels
are four living creatures. The book of Revelation chapter 4 reiterates this vision where John in his heavenly vision
sees the throne of God and sees the living creatures--the angel, the bull, the ox, and the eagle. They are there to
help reveal God's word.

Notice that on the card, they are all holding a book. This is to indicate that these creatures of divine special
revelation stand around the throne of God. They contain within themselves, and they control the unveiling of
God's divine infinite mind. These beings are attached to the Wheel of Fortune. Once again, the Tarot is telling us
that all cycles of natural manifestation--earth, life and death, creation, preservation and destruction--are a
simultaneously natural unfolding of the creation and a divine revelation of supernatural importance.

Every day that you wake up to brush your teeth, the full revelation of God is there screaming at you. Every time a
bird flies through the sky and lands upon a tree branch, God is singing to you sermons so loud that the only reason
you do not hear them is because you have had to cut them out. Or else, because of their glorious refrain, you
would not be able to function in the day to day world. The glorious celestial choir, which is singing through every
moment of this random, chaotic and deterministic world, so overwhelms our human soul, that we block out the
light in order to be able to function and worry about our egos and our money and our conquest of other human
beings.
The Wheel of Fortune says it need not be so. Through the Wheel of Fortune, we recognize that we can quite
literally have our cake and eat it too. We can live in the normal world and suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune. We can become richer and poorer. We can live as normal mortal human beings. But, we can
recognize that every moment is the Torah, the Tarot, and Yod Heh Vav Heh.

This is a card of great conflux, bringing together all aspects of religious revelation and natural science, bringing
together all aspects of our lives into one central point. That point is the axis.

TRUMP 11 – JUSTICE

We have come far on the pathway of the Fool, and we have met many important agencies. We now come to the
completion of the fourth trinity--that fourth trinity being composed of the Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, and
Justice.

Thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis. The card of attainment in the Hermit, as a individual proclamation and recognition of
the presence of God, becomes reflected in the Wheel of Fortune in the recognition of God's omnipresence and
abiding activity in all aspects of existence. What then is the response? How is the Hermit to properly appropriate
the energies of the Wheel of Fortune? What is the next step in our growth and development? How is it that the
powers of the Wheel of Fortune and the Hermit will become active and actualized in this earth? The answer is in
Tarot card #11, Justice.

Of all of the symbols in the Tarot, this is, in all probability, the easiest to comprehend because this symbol is the
most familiar to us. A robed figure sits upon a stool in front of two pillars. Spread between them is another veil.

In Justice's right hand, is the raised sword, and in Justice's left hand, there hangs a pair of scales. The two potencies
of God and man meet here once again. Justice is obviously a divine attribute, and as God becomes reincarnated
inside of us. Justice then becomes a human attribute. What is Justice? It’s another word, much like “Love,” that
everyone knows and everyone recognizes, but which is very often hard to define. As a definition of Justice, I will
propose the following: fair and equal application of all of the laws of the universe. Notice that this definition
encompasses both the human order and the celestial order. God is just means that, in essence, he always
operates in accordance with the ever present law of love.

Modern Christianity has bifurcated the divine being into two halves. God is pure love and pure justice. As the
story goes, these two sides war with one another. When man sinned, God's pure love wanted mankind to be with
him in Heaven, but God's justice demanded punishment for the wrong. Therefore God's justice was at odds with
his love, creating some form of alleged divine dilemma. The answer to this paradox was found, so the reasoning
goes, in Jesus.

The problem with this is that it fails to understand the nature of love, the nature of justice and the nature of
punishment.

Justice is not a separate self-existent entity. To say that God always operates with justice means that he always
operates in perfect accordance with his law of love. God's laws of love embody many things which we have seen
throughout the cards. One of the prevailing factors is that of freedom of the individual. God will not coerce you
into doing anything. As we've said before, God does not want to rape the bride, and he does not want the bride to
rape Him. The celestial dance is a mating song of ecstasy. It is not a brutal violent rape. So God holds the
sovereignty of the individual to be of utmost critical concern. This is his justice.

Inasmuch as God will not violate your personal freedom, and as much as God grants to you the ability to be a co-
creator with him, this divine relationship, as it is expressed with every one of God's children on this earth, creates
the dimension of human justice. In short, as God treats us, we must treat others.

Since God recognizes our individual sovereignty, so too we must recognize the sovereignty of every
individual. Therefore, coercion of any kind is forbidden. This is the essence of the moral law. To murder is to
remove someone's life from them, coercion. To steal is to remove someone's property. To harm them in any way,
physically or emotionally, is coercion. This goes all the way to the macro structures of our social order--macro
structures such as taxation, government-required conscription, and obedience to externalized laws.

Many in the religious world see a separation between the realms of the divine and the realms of human
interaction. Martin Luther, the middle ages reformer, is probably among the most notorious in this area. He saw
his reformation being one of faith and prayer and Bible study and sacraments. When he was asked to help bring
these principles to the social order, he renounced his petitioners as being tools of the Devil. The Kingdom of God,
he said, is not of this world, and therefore matters of civil unrest are not the proper domain of the church. Of
course, Luther was wrong.

We live in a “uni-verse”, as we have said so often. And the command to love God with our entire being is exactly
like the command to love our fellow people as ourselves. It is quite clear that no one who hates their brother or
sister can actually love God. The two are intertwined. Therefore, the divine justice, which God has handed out to
each of us by recognizing the autonomy of our individual self hood,, we must in turn extend to all other people.
Taxation is theft. It is coercion. Theft, adultery, lying, murder--all of the evils of the world--ultimately result from a
failed recognition of the commonality we all share as brothers and sisters of God. They result from our usurping
another person’s rightful authority on this earth.

When we all attain to the state of the fullness of Christ, there will be no reason for any laws. People will need no
coercion, no rules of society, no taxation, none of the other social evils, for they will be ruled by the goodness of
God within their hearts. Neither will we have any reason to teach one or another, because we will all be
fulfilled. Until that point however, what do we do? This is the higher question regarding justice. Justice has two
sides: a recognition of how we should operate and what to do when others do not operate in accordance with
justice.

Justice holds the scales in one hand to say that all are free, all are equal, everything is perfectly balanced. The law
of God and the law of man are one, and every human being stands equal in the eyes of God. And, every human
being is completely free. As it says in the book of Leviticus 19:15, "Do not pervert justice, do not show partiality to
the poor or favoritism to the great. But judge your neighbor fairly. All are equal."

In the other hand, Justice holds the sword--the sword of righteousness, the sword of judgment--to meet out
properly, one to the other. As we give, so shall we receive. That is the law. And, the proper social order would be
exactly what was laid out in the time of Moses--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The thieves have what they
stole taken from them. The murderers shall be killed.

To some, there appears to be a contradiction. If it is evil to murder to begin with, how can it be just to repay that
evil with the very evil we find so abhorrent? We must recognize the communal nature of man. We all share the
social order. We are all in harmony and together in one. To extricate a murderer is not necessarily fair to that
murderer, but it is fair to the rest of the social order. These are deep and weighty matters, the likes of which
people have debated for centuries.

A card, such as Justice, enables us to enter into endless debate, because it is so familiar to us and we all have our
own notions as to the best way to live. If we wish to gain access to the hidden holy of holies behind Justice, we
must take the powers of the Hermit. We must take the revelation of the Wheel of Fortune and all divine powers,
and appropriate them for our lives on the earth.

What about God and how God wields justice. When Adam and Eve, the Lovers in card #6, fell from grace, what
was God to do? This gets us into the proper area of punishment. There are two kinds of punishment, so most
think. Actually, it is better to say that there is punishment and there is retribution.

Punishment is very different from retribution. Retribution is where I pass along to you or to another the wrong
which you did to me, and there is place and a need within the world for retribution to be meted out. Retribution,
ultimately then, is a tool for preventing greater harm. If we have a murderer in our midst, the removal of that one
murderer potentially saves hundreds of lives. Therefore, the proper use of retribution is to prevent a further,
greater harm. In exactly the same way, punishment is the inflicting of a lesser comprehensible pain in order to
prevent a greater incomprehensible pain. The clearest example is a child reaching for a hot burner on a stove. The
parent slaps the child and scolds the child, punishing him for what he is attempting to do. This punishment--a slap
on the hand--is a punishment that the child can understand, because it hurts. But ultimately, that slap on the hand
is harmless. That slap on the hand is a much lesser threat than the incomprehensible threat of the hand which
would be so badly burned. This is exactly what God did in the Garden of Eden, as we've seen before. God did not
seek to get even with them so much as he did give them a smaller hurt that they could understand in order to help
prevent the much larger hurt which would have been the immortalization of their egos.

In summary then, retribution is a lesser pain delivered to an individual to protect the greater group. This is the law
of eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Punishment is the infliction of a lesser pain in order to prevent a greater pain to the individual. The principle is the
same, and the principle is always justice--to increase freedom, to help educate in the ways of goodness and health,
to expand the power and presence of God in this world. That is the pathway of justice. This figure of justice does
not sit with his eyes blindfolded, for justice need not be blind. There is no blindness in God. That is a human
figure. That is a social symbol to indicate that justice is not supposed to distinguish between rich and poor, black
and white, male and female.

In the higher spiritual symbolism, God is light, and in him, there is no darkness whatsoever. We are to maximize
full use of all of our faculties--sight, sound, touch, intuition, intellect--all of those things which we have been
discussing throughout these cards. Justice is blind as to differences between people, because all are to be treated
individually. Yet justice remains fully aware of all that happens and takes all factors into consideration.

The Bible is clear that justice is an attribute shared by God and by man. Psalm 11:7, "For the Lord is a righteous, He
loves justice. Upright men will see His face." In Acts 17 it says, "God has set a day when Jesus will judge the world
with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of all this to all men by raising Jesus from the dead."

The death of Jesus is seen in the Bible as an unjust act. Acts 8:33, "In his humiliation, Jesus was deprived of
justice. In Acts 17, his resurrection re-establishes justice. This is a divine mystery which we will very shortly be
unveiling in these cards.

Justice, then, is the proper application of all of God's laws and principles to each aspect of his creation, and as that
is done, it creates a social order and a social law and social justice, wherein we interact with each other and can,
through divine wisdom and guidance, deal properly with violators of God's natural law. God's natural law states
very simply that you have the complete freedom and right to do whatever you choose to do, insofar as it does not
hamper anyone else's right to do whatever they choose to do.

Upon this is based the law and the gospels, to love God with the wholeness of our being and to love our fellow
man as ourselves. And for those who get out of balance and seek not to operate according to justice, there are
divinely guided ways to reset the balance. The scales must always be equal, and when one side gets out of
balance, we must take steps to re-right the wrong so that forever things are in balance, things are equally
shared. The sword of justice is there to cleave truth from evil and to mete out either retribution or punishment,
whichever may be needed.

 TRUMP 12 - THE HANGED MAN

At this state, we find the soul self-actualized. In the story that the Tarot cards are telling, the soul has come to
earth. The divine will is manifesting the divine mind. The mind is controlling the emotions and desires of all that is
placed within a healthy human body. That person is able to wield the sword of justice, is able to help others
through the pathway of the Hermit, is able to recognize that life rotates with the Wheel of Fortune. The person is
not subjected to the slings and arrows of fashion. The person is able to make their own decisions based upon their
own will. They are, at this point, what modern psychology refers to as "a self-actualized person." That term can
also be called a "self-made man," no longer dependent upon others for his thoughts, ideas and feelings, but able to
live his own life. He does not live independent of others, nor dependent upon them, but lives interdependently.

For modern psychology, self-actualization is the end of the pathway. Once you are self-actualized, you have found
it. You have arrived. You are complete, and you are all that a human being can be. In other words, once you have
health in all of your vehicles, that's all you can ever expect to have. The pathway of God states that self-
actualization is the halfway point--the halfway point in the journey. What remains? That is what we will see with
the remaining cards.

The purpose of the Hanged Man is to point us in the direction we must go, and the remaining cards will illuminate
different aspects of this card. Just as all of the cards illuminate the Fool and help explain what the Fool is, and just
as the Hierophant helps amplify and explain what the Empress and the Emperor are, the remaining cards will help
amplify and explain the Hanged Man.
The Hanged Man is a pivotal point in the history of a human soul and he has proven to be absolutely pivotal in the
history of the human race. If you look at the card, I believe you can see very clearly what is indicated. A man, with
his left leg crossed under the right one, hangs suspended by his right leg from a cross. His arms are folded behind
his back. Upon his face is an indication of great peace. And, there is a halo around his head.

Many people's first instinct, when they see the Hanged Man, is to turn the card upside down. For some time,
Tarot scholars thought that the original Marseilles deck had been drawn incorrectly, and that what the Hanged
Man really represented was a man standing on one foot, attempting to deliberate his next step. Such is not the
case. The card absolutely, completely, properly belongs with the man hanging upside down from the cross.

Why upside down? This card visually indicates the reversal of everything we know, everything we think,
everything we feel, and everything that we are. Many Tarot scholars have called this the most shockingly different
card in the entire deck, representing powers, experiences and potencies completely beyond anything we
encounter in any of the other cards.

The man is upside down in an approximate shape of a Star of David. If he had another limb, then that limb could
be connected to his left foot and his head, at which point we would have a vertical triangle between his right foot
and two arms and an inverted triangle from his left knee, his left foot and his head. In this way, the card
approximates the Star of David. As we saw in the Hermit, this star represents the two-fold nature of power--
earthly power, in that it is a shield of war, and spiritual power, as it is a sign of the grace which God bestowed upon
David to make him wise and a good ruler.

The Hanged Man then, whatever his domains, whatever he is doing, whatever his power, whatever his experiences
indicated, consists both of the earthly and spiritual domains. We will be careful in this card to look at each of
those separately. The Hanged Man is a card of self- sacrifice. It is a card of crucifixion. It is not yet death, because
death, being as crucial as it is, has its own card, card #13. The Hanged Man is a card of crucifixion, a card of the
dying rising God.

The symbolism is fairly obvious. Jesus said very clearly, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his
cross, deny himself and follow me into eternal life." There is no more essential idea within all of Christendom. The
purpose of the Bible, the purpose of Jesus’ life--his teachings, his miracles, and in fact, his passion--is to teach us
what it means to take up our cross. Many people have seen this as being some form of personal affliction. Oh, I
have a bad back. It's just the cross I must bear. Oh, I'm going through a tax audit. It's the cross I must bear. Oh, I
really don't like my mother-in-law at all, but we all have our crosses to bear. These are cute sayings, but they truly
have nothing to do with taking up one's cross.

The problem that entered the world in card #6 through the Lovers is addressed here. What is that problem? If you
recall, we stated that the problem with Adam and Eve, their original sin, was not disobedience, but was rather a
change of their mind which led to the existence of a separate ego. The original sin is not disobedience, but is
actually ego.

That being the problem, the Hanged Man is the antidote--the solution. What exactly is that? Hopefully, it is
obvious. To take up one's cross, means to engage upon those actions and experience those realities which will
lead to the death of the ego. Your cross is that instrument upon which your ego will be slain. This is the crux of
the biscuit, as they say. This is the cat's meow. This is the law and the gospel and the sum total of all human
religious experience--the death of the ego.

Nature gives us an illustration, the great cosmic body of water. The spirit of God moves over the surface of the
waters, and as the powerful light of the Sun hits the water, the water begins to evaporate. As it does, it rises into
the air, forms into clouds, and those clouds eventually become so heavy that they shed their moisture. The
raindrops begin to fall to the earth, hit the ocean, and are reabsorbed into the cosmic oneness of God.
The ocean is God, symbolically. Through the light, the individual droplets form. This is the ego state where you
can look at each individual raindrop, having its own characteristics. It has size, weight, a specific density, and a
surface tension. It is a self-actualized slice of the ocean. Eventually, however, that slice of ocean becomes too
thick and too heavy, thus it winds up falling back into the ocean. Our egos eventually must die; they must fall, just
as the parable talks about the seed falling into the ground and dying. As that water drop falls into the ocean, the
water drop still exists. Every single electron in that raindrop, all hundreds of uncountable trillions of them, still
exists. However, that raindrop is no longer distinguishable or identifiable as one raindrop from another. They are
all part of the glorious harmonious oneness which is the ocean. Unless a seed dies and falls into the earth, it can
never be reborn. As long as we hold onto our tiny little egos, we will never be anything more then a pathetic
minuscule raindrop. Once we abandon our egos and we return to our source, then we inherit and become one
with all that the ocean is. That is the breath of God.

God dies so that we can live, so that we can die, so that God can live. God dies, the ocean denies itself and allows
itself to be broken up and fractured. As God dies, each individual soul bubbles up from the vast countenance of
God. God dies so that we might live. That is the message of the cards,. That is the message of the Bible. God
exhales, takes a part of his energy, and breathes it into the nostrils of Adam that we might live. So that what? So
that we can walk around the rest of our lives thinking that we are self-actualized and not needing anybody
else. Right? Wrong!

God dies, so that we can live, so that we can become the Hanged Man, and in so doing, fall back into the ocean,
return to the Garden of Eden and the tree of everlasting life, and rediscover the oneness which we have with God.

Now at this point there is a rather unpleasant matter that I must discuss with the Christian church. Christianity has
developed the idea that none of this is true, and that none of this necessary. Christianity has developed the idea
that it is necessary only to believe that Jesus did this for us.

If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, then the church teaches, you will go to Heaven. This is a very small,
exoteric fallen teaching. Number one, it places an inordinate amount of power simply within the realm of
believing something to be true. The Biblical term is one of faith, and faith constitutes the totality of one's
being. All of your thoughts, all of your actions, all of your energy are the essence of faith. Simply believing
something will benefit you nothing.

It also retains the idea of the individual with his or her sin simply being overlooked in their unpleasantness, and
God not holding it against them and allowing them into Heaven. This is absolutely not true. What is the essence
of the Christian passion? What is it that Jesus actually did? This is another issue that the Christian church has
gotten wrong over the years. It is true, Jesus died upon the cross, and it is true that he was resurrected. But, that
is not what he did. That is not his active participation in the passion. What was?

It was his final night in the Garden of Gethsemane. As the fall of man happened in the Garden of Eden, the
redemption of man happens in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying and he sees before him two pathways-
-the pathway of life and power, comfort perhaps, and the pathway of the cross. And, what he actually did was
pray to God that if this cup can pass away from me, so be it. But not my will, but thy will be done.

You can spend as much energy as you want worshipping Jesus as being absolutely perfect, but the Biblical record is
quite clear that he wanted something against God's will. Not my will, but thy will. What Jesus wanted was not
what God wanted. He wanted something which was against the will of God and, in essence, at that moment, at
least, was a sinner. He had the power of ego within him, to seek his own life, his own comfort, to not have these
problems, to not have to go to the cross. But, he recognized that as being against the will of God, and in so doing,
voluntarily died to himself. He sublimated his will, his ego, his desires and sought only to serve the higher power
of God's will. He died to himself. He took up his cross and entered eternal life.
That is the active participatory deed which Christ accomplished. He died to himself and followed not his ego, but
the will of God. He did not hold onto the specific density of his tiny little raindrop, but recognized that that
raindrop had to die, had to live for something beyond its own self-preservation, and its own tiny ego bound
will. He sought to merge with the will of the Divine. In this way, he opened himself up so that the power of the
ocean could flow through Him. The power of Strength, the power of Justice, the power of the Magician and High
Priestess--the power of God could move and flow through Him. That is religion. That is the Christian
pathway. That is the story of the Tarot cards.

The ego, which entered the world through Adam and Eve, died in Gethsemane, in Jesus. Through his passion then,
he made this power available to all human beings through the pouring out of this holy spirit. This Pentecost, this
baptism of God's energy, was poured out to all people. Jesus did die, He was resurrected, and the blessing of
Pentecost happened for all human beings. But, ladies and gentlemen, that is not enough.

The Bible is also clear that if the only ego which dies is that of Jesus, then He may sit at the right hand of God, but
you may spend the rest of eternity trapped in your ego and pain. That is why we have the sacraments of
communion and baptism: that we might be fed in our bodies and souls in the physical and spiritual universe, in
that two-fold manifestation; that we might be fed by his sacrificial atoning body and blood; and, that through
baptism, we may be washed and immersed into the holy cleansing power of God.

The book of Romans makes it painfully, repetitively clear. If we belong to Christ and if we have been merged with
Him in the likeness of His baptism, then so too we will merge with Him in His death and in His resurrection. Failure
to do that leaves us caught forever, cast out of the Garden of Eden, forever trapped in our own sin.

That this is possible in God's will is clearly evident throughout the Bible. As Paul followed Christ and as he served
Christ and he let his own ego die, we have these magnificent passages where he talks about all of his human
accomplishments and all of his ego triumphs. And, he says that he counts it all as rubbish, for the higher calling of
God in Christ. Toward the end of his life in the book of Galatians, he was able to say, "It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me. And the life which I live, I live by the power of God." Paul is stating there that he is the
Hanged Man; that his ego has died; that he is now living as one with God.

This is your destiny, ladies and gentlemen. This is the pathway which God has laid out in the universe. This is the
pattern He has laid out in the Bible. This is the pattern He has laid out in nature and in the Tarot cards. God dies
so that we can live, so that we can die, so that God can live.

Remember I talked about the Hanged Man being a two-fold revelation, physical and spiritual. The spiritual we
have discussed, the physical revelation though also contains great power. We have seen in modern years the great
power available to those who will deny themselves and follow the pathway of non-violent resistance. Mahatma
Gandhi comes most easily to mind, along with Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others. The pathway of the world
and the pathway of military and strength and war certainly accomplishes many things, but it also exacts great
suffering and great turmoil. By always demanding our own way in life, whether it is in business or in politics or in
the family. we will often get what we want, but only in part. It is only by being able to give in, give up, cooperate,
and help others that they might appear to be great that we are able to be true children of God. It is only through
giving up a little bit of our earthly power, that we are able to have all on the earth which we want.

If you are always demanding that your children do everything exactly the way you want them to, number 1 you will
have constant strife. Number 2, even if you are successful in completely sublimating their wills to yours, you will
wind up with completely crippled, diseased children, unable to make any decisions for themselves. You will never
have the lasting satisfaction of knowing that you helped those human beings become adults. It is only by lowering
your ego, and allowing them to have their own freedom that you will find any lasting peace. This is the nature of
the Hanged Man. This is the nature of recognizing, through the pathway of justice, that all people are equal.
As Jesus died to His ego, you must and can die to yours. As you do so, you will then open yourself up to immense
spiritual power. That is what is signified by the glowing halo around the Hanged Man's head. The light, which is
the Fool, enters creation, the glorious infinite son of eternal light and life which we had in the Garden of Eden,
which now is guarded by the holy angel. We see, first dimly in the lantern which the Hermit holds, and we
discussed at that point that here the individual secret for truth is beginning to be able to control some of the divine
light. In the pathway of the Hanged Man, we actually become the divine light. We recognize that we are not
simply controlling an external agent, but rather we are becoming that agent. As long as we are an ego with a self
will, we are working against the will of God.

Therefore, the divine light must be external to us. That is why at the stage of the Hermit, the Hermit is holding the
light, but he is not the light. Jesus said that we are the light of the world, not that we control the light of the world.

Once the barriers between self and God are broken down, once the ego begins to dissipate, then that divine light,
that divine revelation, that divine power is no longer external to us. It is no longer something which we merely
control, but rather, once we have died and it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us, then we become
the light. We recognize that we are the light, and that the light is all that there truly is. That is why Jesus is
portrayed with this glowing halo. That is why the Hanged Man has this radiating halo, no longer simply a advanced
controlling agent of the light, but actually light itself. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. This is a
great and glorious proclamation.

The pathway of the Hanged Man, then, is to take us beyond anything we have ever known. It is a call from our
heavenly home to embark upon the second half of the journey. God has died and we do live. The Tarot cards, and
nature, and the Bible, and the passion of Christ are all calling us to the second half of the story--for us to die, that
God might live. That is what we are going to see in the remaining Tarot cards, as they continue to portray the
entirety of the soul’s journey from the beginning with God to full ego-hood, to the beginning of the religious
pathway, to the death of the ego, to the return to perfect oneness with the Divine.

The entire breath of God is portrayed in these cards. This is a call to you--a call which we must recognize
constantly. As St. Paul said, "I die daily." All of these tendencies exist simultaneously right here and right
now. Right here and right now you have access to the consciousness of the Fool. Infinite God is right at this
moment, here and now.

It is not that He is so far away that He cannot be seen. It is that He is so present that we overlook Him. We have
access to the consciousness of Mother Nature. We have access immediately to the consciousness of the Emperor
or the Chariot or any of these powers or potentialities or characteristics that we have seen in any of these cards. It
is up to us to control our will freely, and decide what we want to focus on.

On any given day, we can return to the fallen lovers and have ego reign. At any given moment, we can follow the
pathway of the Hanged Man and rejoice in the benevolent egotist state. It is constantly and forever up to us. The
Tarot cards, as they exist in the soul, are much like a television. It is up to us which channel we are going to
select. All of the signals are available. Whether you are currently looking at channel 2 or 4 or 5, they're all right
here, right now. It is up to us to attune ourselves to which channel we are going to work through on a moment by
moment basis.

At this point, we see that the Tarot cards are leaving the realm of mere speculation or philosophical
contemplation, and any further progress must be recognized as an intimate and direct call to our souls to answer
the voice of God calling us to a higher life, a higher purpose.

We cannot study the Hanged Man without becoming the Hanged Man. We can, in a certain sense, study Justice,
understand it, and still seek in justice. But, if we are truly to understand and embrace the notion of the Hanged
Man, it demands a response on the part of our soul to be willing to seek, not our own will, but God's will. That is
the purpose, that is the message.

TRUMP 13 – DEATH

If you haven't already, spend a few minutes just looking at this card. It says much about the mortal human
condition, and it says much about the spiritual pathway. We have just come through the experience of the hanged
man. The ego is beginning to die, and the aspirant for God is seeking to have his self will submerged into the
glorious ocean of God's will.

After that, comes death. Jesus was willing to die to His self, was placed upon the cross, and died. This is a card of
darkness and hope, although the hope is not easily perceived. Death is death, and it is never easy nor
pretty. There is a myth in America today of “the good death.” The myth basically goes that if we live a nice life,
and we are good people, and we take care of our bodies, then at some point we will peacefully, painlessly pass into
the arms of our Savior and we will be given the final gift, that of a good death. This is the pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow--the final reward, the blue ribbon for those who have lived the proper life. This myth causes untold
suffering, because, that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is available to practically no one. Those who have
studied death will tell you that less than 3% of the people on this earth will experience the good death, and even if
they do somehow wind up slipping into the unknown peacefully, it is much more often than not because they're in
some form of a coma after a prolonged illness.

The number of people who live healthy, long, fulfilling lives, go to bed one night and wake up dead without any
struggle or pain, are such a small minority of the populous that they may as well not exist. Yet people continually
strive after this vision, this dream, this hope. They feel guilt and their pain is exponentially multiplied when they
watch a loved one suffer in death. The feelings of guilt and the feelings of sorrow come from the sensation that if
we had lived a better life or if we had loved our wife or child better, that somehow this wouldn't have
happened. None of this is true. Death is death.

We perpetuate this myth within the Christian church. Easter morning is usually severely misplaced. We have a
Good Friday service, which seldom is attended in large numbers in any church or denomination, and that service is
usually one of great peace. The candles are lit and subdued; we sing gentle hymns. We have a wonderful little
germinate about how beautiful is the gift that God has given us, and we go from the peace and the tranquility of
Good Friday to the glorious Resurrection Sunday of Easter. The trumpets blare, everybody wears their new
Spring/Easter outfits. The flowers are budding, the birds are singing, the choirs scream the ecstasy of God at the
top of their lungs. It's all understandable, but it is all wrong. It has nothing to do with history. It has nothing to do
with our lives.

The history of the Gospels is much closer to the truth of our lives. What is that history? You know it very
well. Jesus died on a cross, a very unpleasant, nasty, miserable, painful death. To imagine he did not suffer is truly
one of the most psychotic ideas that human beings have come up with. The physical pain was
immense. Crucifixion was designed by the Romans for a very specific purpose. Its purpose was to make the victim
suffer. They knew a certain technique that would extract the pain and anguish as long as anything that they could
imagine, and the way that a human body was strung up on a cross was to provide the crucified person with two
options. Number 1, was to hang loosely from the arms as the wrists were pinned to the cross beam. That would
enable him to get some rest from his feet, but it would also cause the lungs to collapse, and create incredible
pressure upon the heart and the lungs--a most unpleasant experience.

If the crucified person tired of that, then he could stand up, relieve the pressure on his arms and his lungs and his
heart by putting the weight of his body upon this nail that was pounded through his feet. The crucified person
would struggle for hours, caught between the anguish of the sharp pain in the feet and the strangling convulsive
pull of the lungs being crushed by the rib cage, until finally, the crucified would lose all energy, pass out and
ultimately die from strangulation. No more air could get into the lungs.

Even if you are the Holy Son of God, this is not a fun thing to go through. And, when on Good Friday we
commemorate death with these sweet little songs and these tender little meditations, we whitewash and profane
history. The history of the death of Jesus is the history of pain, suffering, blood and filth.

In exactly the same way, we profane the message of Easter. Because on the following Sunday after Jesus was
buried, the women and disciples wound their way to the tomb at one time or another, and found that the tomb
was empty. There were no trumpets blaring. There were no angelic children running around hunting for Easter
eggs. There was no great dance and celebration and Easter breakfast. There were scared, frightened people
hiding for their lives. Their leader had just been crucified, and their greatest fear was that they would be next. In
their fear and in their anguish and in their aloneness, they went and found a tomb that was empty. This
compounded their fear; this compounded their anxiety. They heard a message from an angel saying that He is not
here, He is not dead, He has risen. Not a one of them believed this initially. It took them days, months, and years
to fully comprehend all that this meant.

So you see death is always much more painful than in our imaginings, and resurrection is much more laborious,
gradual process than we wish to confess.
All of that is addressed in this card. Death is pain; death is suffering; death is loss. Deal with it. The Bible is about
death. The Bible is about blood. The Bible is about pain. There are nearly a thousand verses in the Bible which
refer to death, dying and the dead. If one were to print all of these verses out on 8 1/2” x 11” paper, the
document would be over 60 pages long.

It is forever true, that one cannot begin to live until we are prepared to die. Death is the great equalizer. It affects
the young and the old, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the famous and infamous. And, absolutely no
one can escape it.

Now there is another fantasy, which we have approached previously, that has developed within western
civilization--that all death resulted from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There are forests in South Africa,
and there are jungles in the world that have not seen a human being for hundreds of millions of years, if
ever. And, to believe that the constant cycle of death and rebirth that we find in that jungle is a result of Adam
and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit, is a great leap of imagination. Death is a universal law, and there is
nothing that can live, as we have seen before, unless there is death. Death completes the cycle. Death completes
the breath of God. The leaves, through photosynthesis, create the food of the world. Those leaves enter the
animals, the animals leave droppings, those droppings decay and re-nourish the soil. If the plants did not die or if
the animals did not die, there soon would be no more nutrients for the plants. All life would cease to exist. This is
the message of the Bible, yet it is remarkable how we have ignored it.

If a seed does not die, it cannot be reborn. If we do not die, we cannot be reborn. So the first aspect of this card is
that of physical individual death. That death affects the body. It affects the emotions. It connects us to our loved
ones. We must, if we seek health, be prepared for death. This is simple, existential, factual reality.

If you have a spouse, child, friend, or acquaintance, there is only a finite number of destinies for that person’s
relationship with you.

Destiny Number 1: You will lose contact with one another and not go through death. This can happen through
divorce, through people moving away, people having new lives, or simply losing contact with one another. The
relationship becomes broken and is no longer a factor. However, if you remain in a relationship with your parents,
children, spouse or friends, then there are only three other destinies.

Destiny Number 2: Your parent, child, spouse or friend will die and leave you to mourn.

Destiny Number 3: You die and leave your parent, child, spouse or friend to mourn.

Destiny Number 4: You will both die together in some sort of catastrophe leaving everyone else around you to
mourn.

There are no other choices.

Once we can embrace this and face it openly, we can begin to live. Here is the greatest secret I have ever
discovered regarding death: Embrace death fully. Recognize that death is the natural state. Do your mourning
now. Recognize that your cat is already dead; your baby is already dead; your parents are already dead; you are
already dead. Face this. Embrace this death which sits upon the horse. Embrace this card and make it your
reality. Live in it, absorb it, eat it, breathe it, drink it. Recognize that this is the destiny of one and all, and that it is
completely, utterly inescapable.

Do not let this death stop with your friends. Embrace death in all aspects of existence. The clock, which you
cherish, is smashed, destroyed, broken and dead. The business you have worked for so long is bankrupt, dead,
destroyed. The house which you have spent so many years working for is a rubble, completely useless, gone.
The sum total of the universe has been swallowed into the mysterious unknown, and death is the only
reality. Once you can do, you will begin to live in resurrection. The cat is already dead. We have buried the
cat. What would you do? What would you give if you could spend just one more day with your dead cat?

Your wife is already dead. You have just returned from burying her. What would you give for one more day to be
able to tell her all of the things that you wanted to tell her, but never did? Your parents are already dead. You
have just come back from the funeral parlor. What would it be like if you had one last opportunity to spend some
time with them, to live with them?

That is the reality you can tap into, once you embrace death. Once you recognize that everything is already dead,
then every single day is a gift of infinite grace. Every single day is a resurrection. Every single day is that one last
chance to do and be all the things you want to be--to spend the time and the relationships and the warmth with all
of your dead relatives. One last chance to enjoy working in your dead, bankrupt business. One more chance, by
some divine miracle, to live one last day in that house which is a burning, rotting, rubble of dust. Then there is no
mourning. There is no death. There is only resurrection. When the cat finally dies, you have already mourned the
cat. When the children finally die, you have already mourned their passing. And you have lived a life of fulfillment,
taking advantage of every opportunity of every moment of every day. When the miracle of resurrection has
passed on, then you are at peace to recognize that things have simply returned to their natural state. You wake up
one morning, and the resurrected cat is no longer there. There is no reason to grieve, because you have already
buried the cat.

That is why this card is in the Tarot deck. It is meant to be embraced. It is meant to be a gateway to a new
birth. If we can embrace death, then our lives are transformed. That is the physical realm. This is also a card of
immense spiritual power. The crucifixion of ego, that we saw in the Hanged Man, can and will become reality. As
that ego dies, we then live in a glorious resurrection. As we continue to look at the card, we see several important
elements.

First, we see the skeleton riding upon the pale horse. The pale horse throughout the years has become an image
of death and dying. They say he comes on a pale horse, and the rider is Death. The skeleton is what is left after all
of the maggots have consumed the flesh and organs. The bones are once again the great equalizer between
animal and man, male and female, rich and poor, and the skeleton, for many obvious reasons, has become a
symbol for death. But, this skeleton is wearing armor. This is a very powerful image. You cannot hurt this
skeleton. You cannot stop him. He is a conqueror, and there is nothing you can do to prevent him from
advancing.

He is holding a banner with a white rose on a black background. The white rose is in a five-fold multiplication. Five
is the number of grace, the number of the Hierophant, the number of revelation, the number of new
growth. There is, throughout death, the process of new growth.

At his feet, we see just behind the horse, a man, dead. This man represents all of the human achievements. He
represents King Matter. For, in fact, all of matter, not just the organic matter, but all matter, will eventually
become destroyed and swallowed up. The very electrons themselves are not eternal, but are subject to death,
decay and entropy.

The horse is stomping upon the crown. All of our achievements and all of our growth will not survive. The
greatest, grandest, glorious human creation is merely a tool to hopefully get us closer to God. Things are meant to
be used to serve people. People should never be used to serve things. All of matter and all of human creation will
be swallowed up. Death affects all.

We see the Pope standing beside Death, praying. Death affects the old and the young. Here we see the religious
authorities seeking to come to terms with Death. We see a young woman at the feet of the Pope who has fainted
and is unable to deal with the horrible passing of the King of Matter. At the feet of the horse, we see a little child
holding a white rose, looking up at death with open eyes. This magnificently represents the three types of human
response to death. King Matter is dead. Death has taken his toll.

The three primary human responses are that of the religious community, through prayer and supplication, to try to
have the hurt and the pain mourned over and dealt with. We have elaborate rituals for burying the dead,
transforming the dead, talking to the dead--all of the things which the religious community does, both in a healthy
and in an unhealthy way, so we can try and love death, work with it, make death our friend, and transform death
into a good situation.

The young girl in gray has fainted. This is the majority response. We look the other way. We do not want to be
here. We do not want to see; we do not want to know. In our society, millions of people die every year. Where
are they? We hide them. This is the secret. We don't even like to see funeral processions. In other societies, the
death of a person is a central event in the life of the entire community; not in ours.

Death is a secret, death is a darkness which we do not wish to look at nor embrace. So if we are not going to
supplicate death and we're not going to ignore death, what response do we have? The response of the little
child. Unless we have faith like a little child, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and recognize all
truth. The little child does not seek to turn death into a friend. The little child does not seek to ask death to go
away. The little child does not turn her eyes and pretend that death is not there. The little child opens her eyes,
sees death in the face, recognizes death as what it is, and has a simple straight forward natural acceptance of this
reality.

Notice that in the background there is a ship sailing on the river. Life goes on. For every death, there is a
rebirth. For every baby that is born, there is an old person who is planted. This is the eternal cycle of God's plan.

As the final element, I wish to direct your attention to the right hand side of the card, just above the head of the
Pope. Notice, that we have two towers, and we have the Sun beginning to rise. Death is a stripping away of the
veils--physical, emotional, mental and spiritual veils. And as we strip away veils, we can see more clearly into the
heart of truth. That heart of truth is the light. God is the light. That is the Sun, and that sun will become our
destiny in the next cards.

That halo of light which surrounds the head of the Hanged Man is nothing less than the presence of infinite God
himself, and we must now, as we follow with these cards, take a journey, a long journey up and over the hills, until
finally we will come to these two towers again. We will come to the Sun again. Death is the beginning of the
pathway to resurrection, not instantaneous, not immediate, not overnight. Death is rather just the beginning.

The disciples were engaged upon the start of the spiritual pathway when they began to understand the
resurrection of Jesus. You must start there to understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. But as we have said
before, Jesus’ death and resurrection are only the beginning, because they are an instruction booklet for you
and your personal death and resurrection. That is the power that enables you to embrace death, look it squarely
in the face with the faith of a little child, and rise beyond the human limitations to a glorious and infinite
resurrection.

 TRUMP 14 – TEMPERANCE

We come to one of the unsung heroes of the spiritual pathway. As we look at card #14, we will be discussing one
of the most overlooked topics in the human race, and yet one of the most important. With Temperance, we are
completing our fifth trinity of cards. This one encompasses the Hanged Man on one side, death on another,
balanced by Temperance.

Temperance is balance and the sharing, within one person, of multiple and often contradictory energies. We are
all subject to many, many thoughts, feelings, tendencies and energies. The various vehicles which we operate all
have their needs, wants and desires. The mechanical vehicle, the physical vehicle, the emotional desire vehicle,
the mental vehicle, the spiritual vehicle all lay claims to the energies of the divine controlling will, and all ask for
their own attention.

The mechanical body needs to have its tires changed. The physical body experiences heart palpitations, gets
hungry, wants to sleep. The desire body gets tossed about with overwhelming feelings of love and ecstasy, anger,
tension, seeking one moment for peace of mind, seeking the next moment for thrill and excitement. The
emotional body gets tossed in its reactions to all that happens, one moment full of peace and contentment, the
next moment raging. The mental body has a plethora of experiences to tease, pull and tantalize it, all of which
exist as playgrounds for the divine will. Where are we to focus ourselves? Not only do each of the different
vehicles have conflicting desires, conflicting energies, but they all compete against one another. You cannot fix
your car while you are meditating. You cannot serve humanity while you are feeding your face.
So Temperance is here as a divine guiding principle to bring balance, harmony and focus to all of our energies. This
is most significant, coming as it does, on the heals of the previous two cards. The Hanged Man is the call to
transcend ego. Death is the potential pitfall. For some people, the pathway of the Hanged Man is one of
annihilation of the self--to beat the body until feeling is no longer possible, to dull the senses until experience is no
longer possible, to numb the emotions until feeling is impossible, and to so confuse the mind, that thought is not
possible. That form of ego transcendence leads not to the positive death merely of the ego, but the total
annihilation of the being.

This pathway has been followed by many people. The term "nirvana" can be translated, to snuff out. No
breath. Once the self is eliminated, then the self is free. Therefore, we have these pathways of absolute radical
aestheticism. Do not feed the body, torture and kill the body. Do not feed the emotions, do not experience
desire. Do not stir up the waters with all of your frivolous thought. Brother, seek to expire. Seek to be blown
out. Some see the human consciousness as a knot, as a gnarl of tangles, and the purpose is to comb out the
cosmic hair, removing all of the knots, wherein you'll be seeing that the individual does not exist.

The cult transcendence of ego is a very subtle pathway, and for those who arrive there at all, there is great
temptation to mortify the flesh and all aspects of being in order to enter this Nihilistic state.

Temperance is here then to teach us several things. Number 1 is how to balance between each of our different
individual vehicles. Number 2 is how to balance between ego transcendence and total annihilation of the self.

When we were discussing the Hanged Man, we discussed the droplet of water which re-enters the ocean. Each
and every individual atom and electron and molecule inside of the raindrop still exists. It has not been passed
through some vaporizer that will not only turn the water into steam, but will also disseminate every single atom in
some form of cosmic explosion wherein the atoms no longer exist. That is what is known as the left hand pathway,
the negative pathway. the Nihilistic pathway.

We are not talking about the ego becoming the destruction of the person, but rather to break down the barriers
between the individual and the group, between the particular and the whole. God is the whole, we are the
individual and all fellow human beings are the group.

When the secret tradition calls us to the egotist's state, it is not calling for the abrogation of existence. It is not
calling for the negative. It is not calling for the wholesome positive parts of the individual to be destroyed. In this
respect, the call to death is not a death of the entire being, but only a death of those individual attributes which
separate the individual from the totality in the group.

That's why the greatest law is the law of love. The law of love states that we love God with our whole being, and
we love our fellow man as ourselves. That means that the individual merges with the totality of God and the
individual merges with the group of all fellow persons. In this respect, Temperance balances the transcendence of
ego and seeks to preserve it from an annihilation of the self so that the positive, or right hand pathway of ego
transcendence, leading us through death, is a death not of all of ourselves, but only those parts which need to
die. This is the key to Temperance. Temperance is a balance--finding the right amount and proportion in all
aspects.

The opposite of Temperance is excess. If we are to kill the entire being, then we are proverbially tossing out the
baby with the bath water. We are not separating the wheat from the chaff, but we are rather killing them all and
letting God sort them out. This is excess. This lacks discernment, which is another important aspect of the angel
of Temperance.
What is the balancing controlling force that is going to enable us to be temperate? How are we to determine
which is wheat and which is chaff? How are we to determine those aspects which properly shall be annihilated,
and those which are good, should remain and be strengthened?

Obviously we must have discernment. This is a higher function from that of justice which we saw applying
essentially to the realm of human interactions and God's interactions with people in terms of what is right and
wrong. That cycle is through and comes out as the angel of Temperance.

In the higher facilities of being able to discern up from down, good from minus, plus from evil, this is how the
universe operates. So, what do we have? We have a call to the transcendence of ego, and we have two pathways
for this to occur upon. The pathway of total Nihilism and the pathway of transcendence of only those evil sides.

The pathway of Nihilism leaves us with absolutely nothing. The pathway of positive transcendence leaves us with
only the good. And the faculty which we use to determine the difference is the faculty of discernment, which is
cosmic conscious awareness of the yea and nay of life, leading us to balance--leading us to Temperance.

I began this chapter stating that balance was the unsung hero of the human race. If I breath too much, I will hyper-
oxygenate and pass out. If I breath too little, I will become asphyxiated and pass out. The result is the same. Too
much air and too little air lead to the same exact outcome. If I eat too much, I will become sick and die, yet if I eat
too little, I will become sick and die. If I sleep too much, I will become groggy and tired, yet if I sleep too little, I will
become groggy and tired. I must have a balancing point in all aspects of my life. Temperance is here to help give
us discernment and keep/or restore the lost balance.

If I focus exclusively on my lower vehicles, spending all of my time shining and polishing the automobile, then my
higher vehicles will suffer. I may not eat properly, I may not spend any time in thought or meditation, or I may
isolate myself from all human beings because I am obsessed with my car. If I spend too much time in thought and
prayer and meditation and do not deal with simple aspects of nutrition, movement and exercise, then my physical
vehicle will expire.

What we obviously need then, is a balance and a discernment in order to keep all vehicles operating in
harmony. In this way, the pathway of the Tarot, the pathway of the secret tradition, the pathway of the Bible, is
different from much of the rest of the world.

There is nothing wrong with the body; there is nothing wrong with eating. There is nothing wrong with the lower
vehicles; there is nothing wrong with sexuality. And it is tragic that so much of the human race, and especially
exoteric Christianity as taught in retail outlets which we call churches, has enabled the holy beatific gifts to become
blasphemed.

All vehicles are an expression of the higher consciousness. As above, so below. Your body is a reflection of your
mind, just as your mind will be affected by your body. Ultimately, there is no separation and no difference
between the soul and the body. They are one. God did not consider it to be immoral to take upon himself a body.

God did not consider it to be a blasphemy to eat, therefore the appetites need not be abrogated and sexuality
need not be ignored. The sum totality of all vehicles is an incredible celebration to be rejoiced in. The problem
arises when the Angel of Temperance is ignored.

If we get overbalanced and spend too much of our energies worshipping the body, then the higher vehicles will
suffer. The discernment enables us to perceive truth from falsehood. This is a key point. The essence of
repentance is not to simply promise you won't do it again or to feel really sorry about what you did. The essence
of repentance is to change your thinking. In all of the entomological roots, repentance is a transformation of the
mind a different awareness.
The Angel of Temperance bringing discernment and enlightenment enables us to perceive life
differently. Remember the great commandments, to love God with your totality and love your fellow man as
yourself. Recall that we indicated that this is not so much a command, as it is a law, just as gravity is a law. And
we commented that you do, in fact, love God with your totality, and you do, in fact, love your fellow human beings
in exactly the same way you love yourself. What happens, then, is as the Angel of Temperance and discernment
comes to you, as you repent of the wrong, as you change your mind and experience the transformation of
metanoia, you go beyond your previous thinking into new thinking.

You gain discernment and you can see more of what it means via the law. You can then see that in fact you do
love God with your whole being, because you are united with Him. You can see that you do love your fellow man
as yourself, because you are one with them. Therefore as you gain more access to knowledge, you have more and
more discernment. Then the law becomes less of what is apparently a command and more of a awareness of the
truth.

The law to love God and love your fellow man begins as a commandment. When we follow it without any desire or
comprehension, we have no recognition of the truth. But as time goes on and we begin to recognize temperance
and the balance and the totality, then we recognize that these are not commandments, but rather statements of
actual fact.

We then see the essence of what is known as the secret tradition. The essence of all of the mystical schools and
secret temple initiates is all the same thing. They all attempt to bring about a change in the initiate, through a
series of revelations, heightening the awareness of the aspirant and therefore bringing about a change in the
individual. However, these secret initiate ceremonies are not necessary. Truth is there for one and all.

If you choose to participate in some secret organization, that is, of course, your choice. For some people, that
participation or membership gives them a heightened sense of importance, as though they are doing something
more sacred than what others do. The primary difficulty there is the entrapment of ego. As you experience your
religious pathway as a part of a secret special initiation, then tearing down the walls of ego is so much more
difficult.

What we see is that commandments are transformed into divine law by discernment, and that ego and hatred are
transformed into harmony and union through discernment. As we recognize that we are one being, as we
recognize that God's blood flows through our veins, as we begin to recognize that we are the Fool, and as we begin
to recognize that we are all God's children and separate cells in the entire body of Christ, then our ego, through
that cleansing light of consciousness, begins to dissolve.

What are we going to do to answer the call of the Hanged Man? That is the question addressed by the balancing
Angel of Temperance. And, it is a question which we did not address in the Hanged Man, because we were not
prepared to do so. Let us assume that we are at the phase of the Hanged Man, that we are prepared to answer
the call of God in our hearts and transcend our ego. We are ready to become baptized into Jesus’ death and His
resurrection. We are, we feel, prepared to enter the egoless state. What do we actually do? What steps, or plans
or practices or meditations, exercises, tools do we engage upon in order to do this?

O.K. God, I'm ready! Now what do I do? You cannot do anything. Whatever you might do, is going to be a action
of your ego and lead you back to the paradox of the Bodhisattva. What you must do is nothing. There is only an
awareness that one is, in fact, one with the universe. You can simply open your eyes, and through the process of
repentance, metanoia, and the transformation of your mind, recognize that your ego never existed at all.

In exactly the same way, the law to love God begins as a commandment only because we start entrapped in our
ego. So we fight against God and work against His law, perceiving it simply as a command or a duty to be
performed.
As the Angel of Discernment comes to us, and we recognize that there is no fundamental separation between God
and ourselves, then the eyes of our heart are opened and we see the infinite truth. As the Bible says, "We shall not
be conformed to this world, but we shall be transformed by the renewing of our minds," by the metanoia, by the
discernment granted to us. That enables us to recognize truth, recognize all vehicles and all domains as being part
of the divine flow, and grants us the ability to become aware of the oneness which we all share.

As we turn specifically to the Tarot card #14, we see many gorgeous images. First, we see the return of the angel,
who guards the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden on Tarot card #6. At this point, as we overcome the
transcendence of ego, as we overcome ego, as we recognize the power of divine will and judgment and have the
blossoming consciousness of God himself, and as we have the mind of Christ, we are overcoming the pairs of
opposites. The curse of knowledge of good vs. evil, me and not me, is being dealt with, is being overcome. There
is a oneness that we are returning to.

The angel is there to welcome us back to the fold and send us on the final phases of our journey. We must travel
farther. We are not home. We are not yet complete. The breath of God has us returning to the Father/Mother,
but we are not yet there. She is radiant, with her glowing head and glorious wings. We see clearly the balance of
all aspects of the universe. We have the four-fold symbolism, the four primal elements, very clearly here. She
stands with her left foot upon the earth and her right foot upon the water. She has wings to fly in the air, and we
see around her head and behind her, behind the mountains, the all consuming fire of the Sun--earth, water, air,
fire, the four elements.

The Angel of Temperance is here to balance these elements and enable them to stay in harmony with one
another. The angel is standing partially on earth and partially on water, to show that these different forces need
not work against each other. They are in harmony. Your body and your desire state need not be at war. You can
control all aspects of your being through the power of strength and through the divine will. As the book of
Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything: a time to live, a time to die, a time to celebrate, a time to
grieve. There is a time to eat and a time to refrain from eating. That is the power that the Angel of Temperance
grants to us.

The angel is holding two cups which represent the chemist’s methodology. She is pouring the water from one cup
into the other, then from that cup back into the first. This is something that chemists and biologists do as they are
performing their experiments. They pour the different liquids into the different containers until they have the
right mixture. This is the card of transformation. This is a card of action. For through the discernment and
awareness and glorious enlightenment, through the metanoia of this angel, we are transformed. The call to the
transcendence of ego, the challenge of properly embracing death becomes our victory and our reality through this
card.

Upon her breasts, the angel has a square housing a triangle. The symbolism here is obvious and profound. The
square represents the four, which as we have seen is law, matter. The triangle represents the trinity, represents
nature. It also represents the total subject-object relationship: we have two cups, (subject, object) and the
relationship is the liquid which flows between them. That liquid is the living water that the Bible talks
about. When we have overcome, we are granted access to drink from the streams of living water. The water itself
is alive. It is not merely a chemical, it is actually alive, growing and breathing. That water fills our bodies and
transforms us, i.e., the subject-object relationship.

Finally, but most importantly, let’s look at the most essential aspect of this entire card. It is something which most
people overlook. Just above the square and triangle on the angel’s chest are some little black squiggles. Some
people think that those are just a part of the folds of the angel’s gown, but they are actually none other then the
Yod Heh Vav Heh. That is God's holy name. The symbolism is astounding. The angel wears the name of God. The
angel is God in the flesh. The angel is Yod Heh Vav Heh and that Yod Heh Vav Heh is manifested within the four
plus the three. All of law, plus all of nature, create the seven--the harmonious balance. The Chariot, the revelation
which will take us back to the inner throne room of God, and the angel wear the name of Yod Heh Vav Heh. We
wear the name of Yod Heh Vav Heh.

This is truly astounding. So many people, as we said before, think of the Tarot cards as being dark satanic things
used for evil, fortune telling purposes, yet here two-thirds of the way to the end of the pathway of the Major
Arcana, we see in card #14, emblazoned on the chest of the Angel of Temperance, the holy name of Yod Heh Vav
Heh. Remember, this is the name which God said He shall be known by, Exodus 13. This is the sacred name which
we saw in the Wheel of Fortune, whether we are turning to the left or to the right. It is all Yod Heh Vav Heh. The
power of that name is the discerning force that enables us to recognize all truth.

Behind the angel there is a pathway that leads to the mountains. In the previous card, Death, we saw the Sun just
beginning to peak above the horizon. Here in the next card the Sun is just a little bit higher. This is not
coincidence. We are in day break and entering the promised land. We will, over the course of the next cards,
follow that pathway through the mountains to the Sun. But next, we must pass through the dark knight of the
soul.

TRUMP 15 - THE DEVIL

We come now to one of the most difficult and controversial cards in the entire deck. Many people we see in
common circles, in movies, on television, and in commercials seem to remember two cards better than any others-
-one is the Devil, the other is Death. And, with this iconography they automatically assume that the Tarot cards
are darkness incarnate.

When we discuss the Devil, we are discussing a subject which is very near and dear to the hearts of many
people. People feel very passionate one way or the other about the Devil. For some, the Devil is a living physical
individual being who is the conscious deliberate underlord of all that goes wrong with this world. For others, the
Devil is a symbol of negative tendencies within man and is, therefore, really not essential.

The pathway of Temperance leads us straight to the Devil's doorway, and if we wish to finally have our
homecoming, we must overcome the Devil in one form or another. We must come to terms with who or what the
devil is. We must come to terms with the Devil's temptation. We must become unchained and unfettered and
have the Devil get behind us, if we are to proceed.

As I present some historical perspective, I do not wish to offend anyone. As I said, many people take the Devil
quite seriously, and this is one matter which people find intently personal. Some feel immediately threatened if
you challenge any of their conceptions or preconceptions about the Devil. Before we go into any form of religious
or spiritual interpretation or understanding of the Devil, we must understand the history.

The Devil was invented or discovered, depending upon your perspective, approximately in the year 580 B.C. How
do I say this? I am not fabricating and I am not interpreting. I am expressing to you actual documented facts of
history, which the Bible makes clear to us. If you read in the Bible there are several writings in what we call the Old
Testament, the Hebrew Bible, which account the history of the early Jewish race as it transforms a theocracy into a
monarchy. Those books are 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Chronicles. They account almost chapter for
chapter the same events, the same perspectives, the same times. The difference is they are written at two very
different time periods. 1st and 2nd Samuel where written first. Most authors will say approximately around the
time of their events. Many people actually believe that they were written by Samuel himself, and I have no reason
to dispute this one way or the other.

1st and 2nd Chronicles were written much later, some few hundred years later after the Babylonian
captivity. What was the Babylonian captivity? You should review your history if you're unfamiliar with this
event. This was a pivotal moment in the life of the Jewish people. The Babylonians from the North, in what we
now call Iraq and Iran, came down and through war, conquered the Jews.

In those days, the Babylonians were actually relatively kind people. Yes, there was a lot of slaughter, but the way
the Babylonians dealt with things was not to kill everyone, but to disperse them. The Babylonians recognized that
the political and economic rulers of a given country were talented, bright, energetic people, and if they could, they
would harness them for their own purposes. So rather than slaughter all of the lords and the kings and the queens
and the mayors and the merchants, they would take them back to Babylon with them. In this way, they left their
conquered people without any leadership, seriously reducing the opportunities for uprising, and at the same time
making available for themselves the wit, wisdom, and enterprise of the best and brightest of the conquered
nations. This is what was known as the Babylonian captivity.

After the Babylonian captivity around 535 B.C., the Jews were able to come back to Jerusalem, back to the holy
promised land. During this time, they attempted to recount their history. After years of study, they "published"
1st and 2nd Chronicles which is a review of the early history of Judaism. This is the same period that 1st and 2nd
Samuel dealt with, the early days of Saul, Samuel, King David.

Now why have I taken you on this miniature tour of history? What in the world does that have to do with the
Tarot cards? What in the world does that have to do with the Devil?
The first accounting of the Devil we have, historically speaking, is in Samuel. The second accounting is in
Chronicles. In 2nd Samuel 24, David takes a census. He counts all of the people. He was punished for this because
God saw that he was attempting to usurp God's authority. David was not merely satisfied to be the king, but he
also wanted to count all the people, make himself more glorious by knowing exactly how many people he truly
ruled.

Now the key issue here is in the differences between two verses in the Bible. 2nd Samuel 24:1 says, "Now the
anger of the Lord burned against Israel and it incited David against them to say, ‘Go number Israel and Judah.’" 1st
Chronicles 21:1 says, "Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel." I, of course, don't
know anything about you my reader, but perhaps you have been reading the Bible and going to church for
decades, and have never had this pointed out to you. The contrast cannot be more apparent.

Read the context yourself. Study it. Become convinced that they are talking about the same events, because they
are. Before the Babylonian captivity, the historians said that the Lord incited David to make the census,. David did
the census, and then the Lord punished him for doing it. This was Jewish thought.

As in the book of Job, shall we accept good from the hand of the Lord and not evil. Jewish thought, early Jewish
thought, was that the only reality was God, and that all things come from Him. As in the book of Ecclesiastes, a
time to live and a time to die. They are both seen as being parts of God's unfolding plan.

The only active agent in the world is God, to the early Jewish mind. Therefore, if David was to be incited to take a
census, either it would be himself, some of the humans, or God. There was no concept of a devil in early Jewish
thought. And, if you read the book of Genesis, it never says that the Devil told Eve to eat this forbidden fruit. It
says that the serpent talked to her. We have discussed this before. The serpent, hundreds of years later, became
reinterpreted by St. Paul as the Devil. But this interpretation did not exist when Moses wrote Genesis and did not
exist for the first several hundred years that that book was read. The only active agent is God.

Now, in 1st Chronicles, it is quite clear that Satan inspires David to do this horrible thing. God obviously couldn't
do this, because it was evil and God punished David for it. Therefore, how could it have been God's will? Why
would God tell David to do this and then punish him for it? It doesn't make any sense.

Now ladies and gentlemen you can be as fundamentalist as you choose. By “fundamentalist,” I mean essentially a
Bibliolotrist, someone who worships the Bible and doesn't worship God. All of this talk about the Bible being
perfect, the Bible not having a single contradiction, the Bible not having any "mistakes" or errors of any kind, either
scientific or moral or philosophical, is the creation of a false God. It seeks to worship the Bible instead of God. It
seeks to have one magical answer book that one can follow, without having to be involved with the Spirit. without
having to follow the religious pathway, without having the testimony of the Holy Spirit in one's life.

You tell me the answers God, and I will do it. You tell me the command, and I will do it. This is exoteric religion as
delivered in retail establishments. It has nothing to do with the true path. This is plain, because the Bible could
not be clearer in this direct and immediate contradiction. 2nd Samuel 24 says God told David to create the
census. 1st Chronicles 21 says that Satan told David to create the census. Either God did, or David did, or Satan
did. It cannot be the same. A contradiction is defined when something in the same time, same way, and same
manner is both true and not true. Did God tell David to create this census? The Bible contradicts itself. In the one
place the answer is God, and another place the answer is Satan. Is God Satan? Is Satan God? That is the only way
to resolve the contradiction.

I must hasten to add here that this does not in the slightest way devalue the power of the Bible and the revelation
it contains. To simply close our eyes and shut our minds to a plain simple fact of history, however, does not serve
God, Christendom, the Bible, or ourselves any good. The Biblical record is here for a reason and the writers of the
Bible were not offended by this contradiction. That is a key point. If they had wanted to, they could have changed
Chronicles to make it match Samuel. They could have edited the texts of Samuel to make them match
Chronicles. They did not do that; it was not necessary. They were comfortable with this contradiction because this
contradiction teaches us much. It teaches us is that in the early days, God was seen as the only active agent within
the world. After the Babylonian captivity, Satan is seen as being the great tempter. What changed? Well,
Zoroastrianism is what changed.

Zoroastrianism is the religion of the Parsees, the Babylonians. Zoroastrian was a prophet, who sought for
God. Around the year 580 B.C., he came to a revelation that everything that happens in the world that is good is
the act of God, and everything that is bad is the result of a single controlling underlord, the evil mind, Anya
Maynu. This is the evil one; this is Satan.

Through the Babylonian captivity, the Jews encountered Zoroastrianism, and became familiar with the idea of the
Devil. When they came back, the Devil was intimately a part of their religion. As they chronicled their early
history, some things were rewritten with their new understanding and their new interpretation, saying that you
know it couldn't have been God who inspired David to do that census. It had to have been the Devil. Oh, that
serpent of old, you know, that had to have been the Devil.

This is a new interpretation. So you have choices, and these are the choices of history--not theology--
history. Either, the people who wrote the earliest Biblical records understood that God was the only active agent
and they were correct, but that through the influx of an evil paganism the notion of a devil crept into the Bible. Or,
you can say that the early people, who wrote the Bible, did not understand exactly everything that they were
talking about and dealing with, and that through the revelation which God gave to Zoroaster, they came to see the
higher deeper truths of the nature of evil.

Now the Biblical record is quite clear that in the New Testament times, the Devil is an actual, factual being. The
Devil is cursing people. The Devil is seen as being the primal enemy of God. The Devil must be enchained inside of
the lake of fire. And, Jesus wrestles with the Devil throughout his ministry, not as a symbol, but as a real being.

Well, perhaps you could say Jesus was speaking of the Devil as though he was in a parable form. But, Jesus was not
so much admitting the actual, personal underlord of all evil, so much as he was using the symbol of the Devil for
illustrative purposes. The Bible is quite clear that Jesus was tempted of the Devil, spoke of the Devil, and had to
deal with the Devil. People become very uncomfortable with talk of the Devil as a symbol, because they feel that
this is the first step that the Devil wants in order to get people to not believe in him. It is only through believing in
him, that the Devil loses his power.

Each personal aspirant must make these decisions for himself. If I am to take a position, I would say, yes, it is
apparent that there are personal forces of evil. The Devil is a very real entity and must be dealt with. It is through
the revelation which God gave to Zoroaster, a Parsee, hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, in the year 580 B.C. that
we have been able to discover the Devil and meet him.

This touches upon the broader issue that there are perhaps other revelations that God has given to other people in
other lands and other religions, that we could also learn from. But we will leave that question for you.

In terms of the Devil, the Devil is the controlling force of matter. The Devil is the opposite of God, to worship the
creation instead of the creator, to amass the powers of all manifest existence and harness it as a separate entity
apart from the prevailing will of God.

The temptation of Jesus by the Devil is astoundingly illustrative. Regrettably so few seem to recognize what these
temptations are. Temptations are not simply Jesus being able to prove that he is really the Son of God. There are
three temptations, and each one represents a very specific danger on the pathway of spiritual existence. As we
learn, as we grow, as we are able to harness strength and manifest the divine will, and as we begin to overcome
the temptations of ego, there are three definite temptations which the Devil gives to us.

Temptation #1: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. The temptation here is to
use the spiritual powers which the adept acquires for the purpose of satisfying his own flesh and his own needs
and wants.

Temptation #2: If you are the Son of God, stand upon this high pinnacle of the temple and throw yourself
down. The temptation here is, as one overcomes the limits of normal humanity and begins to glow with the
celestial light of God, to make a spectacle of one's self and point to one's self as an object of worship and
adoration.

Temptation #3: The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and
all of their glory. He said to Jesus, "All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me." This
temptation is the final and most difficult. This is, in some respects, the last dying gasp of the ego. As the ego
becomes cleansed and spiritual abilities are granted, and as the soul begins to recognize that it is a manifestation
of God, the temptation is to harness those energies to control the entire world.

Temptation #1, we use our spiritual powers for our own personal pleasure.

Temptation #2, we use our spiritual powers to draw attention to ourselves as an object of worship.

And temptation #3, we use our spiritual powers to control the world.

To overcome temptation #1, we must always seek to serve others and recognize that we are all one.

For temptation #2, we must recognize that we are, in fact, nothing more then a conduit of the divine light and a
channel of God's presence in this world.

And for temptation #3, we must recognize that the totality of manifest creation, as glorious as it is, is simply the
dancing of shadows upon the face of God. We are to live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. We shall not tempt the Lord our God, and we shall worship the Lord our God and serve
Him only.

The Devil must be overcome, and these temptations must be overcome as we return on the pathway.

Jesus, through his passion and his death on the cross, states quite clearly, "It is finished." The struggle between
good and evil, God and man, the spirit and the flesh, is over. The bonds of sin and death have been broken. The
chains which ensnare the human race have been cast aside. We are now free to worship God and no longer be
cast about and plagued by the Devil, yet the Devil is still alive and still well.

This is the symbolism of card #15. What else do we see? The most striking element perhaps is that this card has a
completely black background. This card and the next card are the only two cards in the Tarot deck like that. The
other backgrounds are either blue, the color of air; yellow, the color of the fiery sky; or, gray, which is non-
committal. The Devil's black background indicates the absence of light. This leads us to another key point--the
difference between light and dark. Many people ignorantly feel that light and dark are part of the pairs of
opposites, just like male and female, heads and tails, North and South, but this is absolutely and categorically
wrong.

From a perceptive standpoint, it is true in that we perceive light and we perceive darkness and we perceive them
as being opposites. But they are, as we are transformed by metanoia, not opposites at all. Male and female are
equally existent entities. Both are good. Both have the same ontological status in that they exist in the same way
and the same manner although they are opposites. Heads and tails on a coin are equal entities but they are
opposites. Light and dark are not equal entities. Light is an energy; light is a presence; light is a physical aspect of
reality. Darkness is simply the absence of the light. When I turn on a light switch, the light comes flooding into the
room. When I turn off the light switch, darkness does not flood the room. The light simply disappears. Light is the
positive existence. Light is the truth. God is light. Darkness is the absence of light. It is not a power and a
presence of its own. It is a lessening. It is a weakness. Strength is power. Light is energy. Darkness is a dimming
or a blocking of the light.

And in a universe of all light, how do we get darkness? We cannot turn off the light of God. How then do you get
darkness? There is only one way. Via a shadow. You must have something stand between you and God. There
must be something solid, something created, something material, which is standing between you and the Divine
light. This revelation could not be clearer. The Devil and his darkness result as we block out the light of God by
placing some part of the physical creation between us and the celestial presence. When we turn from the Creator
to worship the creation, we place that darkness into our souls. This is clear.

So if we are worshipping our automobiles and considering them to be more important than fellow human beings,
or if we fulfilling our monetary dreams and desires at the expense of our family, friends and against the will of God,
we have placed some part of the creation between us and God. That is where the darkness of the Devil comes
from. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Therefore, since God fills the heavens and the earth, the
only way that there can be this darkness of the Devil is through the casting of a shadow, where we have placed
something between ourselves and God. To overcome the Devil, is to overcome these temptations, rise above the
fetters of matter, and once again dwell in the limitless light.

What else do we see on this card? On the Devil's head, we see an inverted star. The star is a blessed symbol. It is
the four elements: earth, water, air, fire, crowned with a fifth. This is known as sometimes ether. This is the
spirit, the actual individual spark of God. The star is inverted here to show that the Devil is the pathway of
inversion. The creation flows from the Creator and returns to the Creator, in, of, and through Him, to Him. That is
the natural flow of things.

The pathway of the Devil is when we get the energies of the universe inverted, when our minds are being used to
serve our desires. Our desires are being used to serve the body. The body is there to carry the higher
vehicles. When the higher vehicles exert all of their energy for the sustenance and manipulation of the lower
vehicles, then we have an inversion. We have a blocking of the light. Things are there to help the people. People
are not to be used to gain access to more things. All of the mechanical devices are there to help other people to
live theoretically, happier, better lives. When we manipulate people, lie to them, use them for purposes of
procuring more money so that we can have more things, then we are dwelling in the realm of the Devil. We are
experiencing the inverted pentagram. This is darkness. This is blocking the light.

We see at the foot of the Devil, Adam and Eve, the Lovers, chained to the Devil's footstool. As we talked about
Jesus saying that he had overcome the powers of sin and death, he had overcome the Devil. As he said, it is
finished. We see, though, that people are still being plagued by the Devil. Why?

This card gives us the clearest indication it possibly could. These poor fools, Adam and Eve, are wearing the Devil's
horns. They're dressing like him. Adam's got his Devil's tail, and so does Eve. They are acting as though they are
enslaved to their sin, enslaved to their conscience. The Devil made me do it. I am weak. I have no control. I am
being held prisoner here. My parents didn't love me as a child, and that's why I can't love you. I had a rotten day,
so that's why I'm going to tell you a lie. Oh, I was misunderstood in my youth, and people made fun of me on the
playground, so that's why I'm going to murder you and eat you for dinner.

The card is telling us very clearly that this is all a lie. If you look, you can plainly see that Adam and Eve, with their
fettering chains around their necks, could very easily remove those chains. The loops are so large that they could
quite simply slip over their heads. All they have to do is want to be released through the divine will. Through an
exercising of their conscience, they will be free. It is truly over. The only forces and power that the Devil and
darkness have over us are the forces which we voluntarily grant to them. This is the key.

The only power which darkness has is that which we grant to it by volunteering to become its agent. The only
truth is God. The only truth is the light. That freedom and that oneness is your divine call. Why do we have this at
this stage of the aspirant’s life?

We have come through the Wheel of Fortune, Justice, the Hanged Man, Death, and we have the divine guidance of
Temperance. Why now do we face the Devil?

Because all of the fetters of creation, all of the temptations which we have seen, stand as the dark night of the
soul, as one of the final obstacles for the seeker of God to overcome. Until we begin to deal with the Hanged Man,
and until we begin to respond to the call to the egoless state, we are encased inside of the Devil's powers and his
creation. It is only through working with God's enlightening forces that we are able to recognize other
entrapments, other ensnarements, and other temptations.

At this point of the spiritual seeker’s life, the Devil exists when he becomes conscious and aware of the
temptations of life. Those final three temptations which Jesus had with the Devil are the temptations which we all
must overcome--to not use the material creation for either our own personal gratification, our own fame, or as the
center of our worship. Instead, we must use the physical creation to assist the soul in its ascent, as the soul
becomes free from its own personal glory, and to move through all aspects of the creation back to the limitless
godhead of the Creator. That is why we encounter the Devil here. We have accomplished so much, yet there is
still so much to learn.

The three important points on this card are:

Number 1, that the temptations that Jesus encountered are the temptations that we must all encounter.

Number 2, darkness is only the blocking of the light and is not a positive existent reality, as light is.

And, number 3, that we are free to slip the bonds of Satan off our heads anytime we choose. Our imprisonment to
the fetters of materiality is none other than our own doing.

 TRUMP 16 - THE TOWER

We are passing through the dark night of the soul. We have overcome the Devil and his temptations, and one
would think that we are done. But merely overcoming the temptations of physical creation, does not lead us all
the way home. No, it's never that simple. For though we have come oh, so incredibly far, we have so far yet to
go.

The Tarot cards relay the entire pathway, the entire breath of God, and these final cards unveil the first moments
of creation. Remember, we have talked about God pouring out His energy as He creates the world, giving each of
us an individual spark of God. We clothe the spark with Will, place it inside of mind, place inside of our desire
body, and finally into our physical body.

We are overcoming the temptations of the flesh. We are overcoming the temptations of darkness, and we are
turning from the creation to the Creator. Yet, the Tower is in darkness. Let us examine the card.

The Tower stands alone on a very high rock. It has three windows which were previously occupied by two
people. Upon the very top of the Tower was a crown. At the moment we see the Tower, several things are
happening. First, the lightning bolt is coming from the heavens and has hit the Tower. The crown is flying off. The
Tower has burst into flames. The two occupants have jumped from the Tower and are falling to unknown depths
below. There is a rain of yods all around the Tower.
What in the world is meant by such symbolism? Why is it here? What could this possibly have to do with our soul
and with religion? Well, this is one of those cards that is absolutely stuffed full of imagery.

We will begin with the Tower itself. The Tower stands alone, completely alone. The Tower symbolizes our
individual consciousness, for at this point, we are dealing almost exclusively in the realm of mind and thought. The
Tower is the structure which we all create--the way we look at the world, the things we think, our perceptions, our
religion, our philosophy, our morality, our understanding of the nature of God, perhaps even our secret initiate
perceptions, our esoteric reality--all of the truths we have gained from studying the Tarot.

The Tower is our mind. And it, for in fact all of human existence, is a manifestation of mind. This is absolutely
essential. Notice that this is a tower. It is not a hill. It is not a mountain. It is a tower. It is built upon a high
mountain, but it is a completely, utterly and totally man-made existence. As such, it is a symbol for the
mind. Everything that we see in the totality of the human race is a manifestation of our minds. All that we have
and all that we are and all that we do is here because of our consciousness as it is placed into our desire and made
real with our physical energy.

All of our inventions, from the simplest piece of pottery, to the most sophisticated lasers and computers, are all
extensions of the human mind. They are all edifices and towers which we create and sustain by our own
thinking. Even an absolutely incomprehensibly huge structure, such as the United States of America, is only a
manifestation of mind. The communal thoughts which we have, have created and sustain this thing.

It is impossible to overemphasize this point. Your body is the way it is because of how you think. Are you
particularly muscular? Are you a bit flabby? Do you excel at running? Or are you better at long distance
endurance? How do you dress? Are you flashy, flamboyant? Conservative? Prudish? Do you wear lots of
makeup? Do you splash yourself with huge amounts of cologne? Do you like to have a hairdo that is very carefully
quaffed and adjusted to be just so? Have you shaved in the last two years? Do you prefer the all natural
look? Your physical appearance is a manifestation of your mind.

Have you had your breasts enlarged? Have you had your tummy flattened? Have you had your eyebrows
raised? Have you had surgical implants in your calves to give you a more manly, masculine look? All existence in
the human realm is a manifestation of mind.

Now, the message of the Tower is that our mind, left to its own devices, leads us into a realm of immeasurable
darkness. Our man-made consciousness leads us into the void. Even if this man-made consciousness is seeking
religious truth, there is still immeasurable darkness all around. We cannot perceive truth, if we are constantly
fettered with our own preconceptions.

We have had discussions throughout this book regarding Bibliolatry and the false gods which we create for
ourselves. So whether our mind is leading us into crass materialism or even creating fanciful notions of the nature
of God's truth, the strictly human psyche, the hopelessly human mentality, unless it is touched by the Divine, is, in
fact, nothing more than the outer, all encompassing darkness.

Having overcome the Devil, we still have nothing if we are enshrouded in our own conceptions. This is the purpose
of the lightning bolt. In our darkness, the light comes in and tells us, "Thus sayeth the Lord." This is the flash of
intuition, the flash of recognition, the dawn of consciousness, wherein we finally see absolute total divine
light. We are, at this point, using our minds and beginning to radiate with the glow of God's truth. But here, the
actual fire of God, the actual light of God, comes in and touches us. It comes like an actual lightning bolt out of the
blue, shocking, terrifying almost threatening.

Light has two natures: the nature of illumination and sunshine, and then as that light gets too close to us, the
actual all consuming burning fire of lightning. You see life is not always simply pleasant. The religious pathway is
not one of gentle illumination and sitting, reading our portals of prayer for the day, delighting in each new tidbit of
wisdom that the Lord shines upon us. No, the true religious pathway often involves pain, shock, and the jolt of
God's consciousness. We do not always get what we want. But if we truly seek for the Divine, we will get what we
need. In the aloneness of our temple which we have created for and to ourselves, in the magnificent structure of
our minds which is our crowning achievement, the Divine light will come in like a shocking lightning bolt to begin to
illuminate us with actual truth. This is the flash of God's light in the absolute dark night of our soul.

But notice that as that light comes in, the Tower begins to burn. Burning is the fire, the chemical process of
transformation. Because you see, the tower will burn, and all of our man-made structures will fall. But as the
Bible says, "He whom the Lord loves He chastises and purifies so that all of the impurities will burn off and all that
is left is the pure gold of Godhood.”

The Tower will burn, but that burning is not a destruction. It is a transformation. We have dealt with the
temptations of the Nihilism involved in the pathway of death as it pertains to the transcendence of ego. No, we
are not talking about annihilating your mind. We are not talking about leaving you lobotomized, unable to think, a
robot under the mind control of some other despotic tyrant. No, we are talking about the transformation of your
mind.

As it says, and as I have quoted it before in Romans 12, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be renewed by the
transforming of your mind." As the fire hits the tower, the tower burns. What that fire is doing is releasing the
different chemicals. Some of the energy will be released from the wood and rise up into the air. Symbolically,
those things which we have placed within us, which are pure, the energies of God and the soul which have been
granted to us, which we have condensed to create our Tower of Babel, will be released so that they can flow back
into the realm of the pure spirit. Other parts will turn to ash and charcoal. The more base earthly elements will be
left to decay back into the earth.

But what is important here is to notice that nothing is ever destroyed, never. Transformation is the only
reality. You cannot have anything created. You cannot have anything destroyed. It is only transformed. That is
the message of the ages.

What is the meaning of the two figures jumping out of the Tower? They represent our conscious and our
subconscious minds. Both of them live inside of the Tower. Just because our subconscious mind is not under our
direct conscious control does not mean it doesn't live in the Tower. For it does. Our dream lives are shaped and
controlled by our tower. Our preconscious memories and those forces which shape us and cause us to act as we
do, whether for good or for bad, are all resident inside of our tower of mind. Therefore, when the lightning bolt of
God's revelation strikes our tower, the occupants therein bail out. All of our false thoughts, all of our false dreams
and false hopes, all of our misconceptions flee in the face of God's purifying power.

The conscious and subconscious have dived out of the two lower windows. The third and the highest window is
known as the “super conscious.” That is the conceptualization of the highest parts of the spirit. This is the realm
of will which actually creates and controls the subconscious mind. This is a very high teaching about which few
people have knowledge.

All around us we see on the Tower these little yellow squiggles. They are actually yods, the Yod being the first
letter of the holy name of God. There are 22 of them, just as there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and
there are 22 cards in the Tarot Major Arcana. They are divided into 10 and 12. The symbolism there is so obvious,
it needs no comment.

We are talking here of the Tower of Babel. As we each build our towers, we reflect something that we see in the
Bible. The Tower of Babel was an attempt on the part of the human race to build a monument to itself so great
and so high and so glorious as to actually reach God. Today, what we are attempting to do with our science, our
technocracy, our ruling technologies, is to build a tower to God so that we can control all aspects of life and
death. We are seeking to control the process of birth through genetic engineering, that we might control who is
born, and how, when and what their attributes are. We are also seeking to control the process of death, that we
might extend mortal life indefinitely and be able to preserve the human being forever through cryonic
freezing. We are freezing certain parts of people so that their genetic make up might be preserved for future
posterity.

We are still building the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel is not just our physical sciences but also our mental
processes. And, God's answer to the Tower of Babel was to send his divine fire to destroy it, to scatter people, and
to make their languages diversified. This contains a profound revelation. We call by many names what is truly
one. As we overcome the barriers of language, we recognize that we are, and always have been, one family. The
barriers of language are temporary illusions which are necessary to keep us from harming ourselves.

So we are talking here in the Tower about awareness, past language. This is an extremely high difficult
meditation. When we look at a tree, since we understand the word “tree,” we are incapable of seeing the it
without thinking “tree.” The language that we have becomes completely encased within our consciousness, and
colors, shapes, clouds and pollutes every experience we have after that.

Part of the power which the Tower is transferring to us is the ability to rise above and beyond the limitations of
language, to be able to perceive things as they are in their pure prelinguistic state.

Here, too, is the breath of God, the natural flow. Before I knew the truth, mountains were only mountains, and
trees were only trees. Once I began to learn the truth, mountains were no longer mountains, and trees were no
longer trees. Once I fully embraced the truth, I recognized that mountains are mountains and trees are trees.

We see a mountain and we call it the word “mountain,” but when we can see it, know it, feel it as it is in its purity,
without having to filter through the language and our mental perceptions, then we begin to become free. When
we see another human being based upon how they look, we automatically make judgments about them based
upon their hair, their dress, their size, their shape, their skin color. We make a whole host of almost instantaneous
judgments and assessments of them. The Divine light, which strikes the Tower, seeks to enable us to see people as
they are, to love them all unconditionally, to leave the darkness of our solitude, to transform that conscious energy
into its original pure state and be able to recognize things as they are.

At this point, we will begin to reflect the Divine name. I am who I am. You are who you are. We will be able to
recognize things and people as they are, because they are what they are, instead of as something to be
manipulated or controlled or avoided.

As we overcome our human conceptions, we do not erase mind, but we cleanse it. Much like a window, you do
not need to shatter the window in order to clean it. Merely get rid of all of its dross. That is what is contained
here within the Tower. We are not talking about the elimination of human mind. We are talking about its
purification.

Having overcome the Devil, we now find toward the final stages, that our minds become pure and clean--that
infinite light eliminates all of our thoughts of our human accomplishments. Our crowning achievements appear to
pale as nothing in the light of God's purity. We are now ready for the final stages.

 TRUMP 17 - THE STAR

Genesis 1:16, "God made two great lights. The greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the
night, he also made the stars." With these next three cards, we have the great glorious trinity known as the lights
of heaven. As we look out into the sky, there are, in fact, only three kinds of light: the stars, the Moon and the
Sun.

The great light to guide day is the Sun. The lesser light to rule the night is the moon. And, the glorious canopy, the
celestial ceiling, is the wonderful canopy of stars. It is interesting, if the Tarot cards are simply a form of stupid
fortune telling, that they would bother with three such important symbols.

The Bible is full of references to stars. Often the three lights of heaven are grouped together. Specifically as it
pertains to the stars, what does the Bible say?

First stars are used as an indicator of large numbers and blessing. 70 people entered Egypt and uncountable
numbers as many as the stars of heavens left. This is a symbol of God's blessing of fruitfulness. Our descendants
are as numerous as the stars. Our blessings are as numerous as the stars.

God sets, ordains and names the stars, each and every single one of them. The stars are a symbol of God's
providence, his presence, his power, and his intimate involvement with all aspects of the universe. When you look
up at the stars, the Bible tells us that God has set them each where they are, that each is exactly where it belongs,
and that God knows the names of every one of them, deeply and personally.

The Biblical record and, of course, the record of the Tarot cards, is not that of a God who is lofty and far removed,
dwelling somewhere out there. No, the God of the Bible, the God of the Torah, the God of the Tarot, the God of
the Rota, is intimately involved with all aspects of creation, right here and right now. You can go somewhere else,
but even there you will only be here. You can wait until later, but even then, it will only be now. This is the
idea. Where can I go to hide from God? If I go to the highest heaven in the realm of the stars, you are there. If I
go to the deepest part of the ocean, you are there. Therefore if you are seeking for God, there is nowhere you
have to go, because he is as much present here as he is anywhere.

Also, you do not have to wait until any time, because God is eternal, He is infinite. He stands outside of the
confines of time and space, and therefore cares not one wit about needing certain things to occur before
others. Anytime we are ready, the light of Heaven will shine and illuminate us, whenever we are ready.

A third thing that the stars and lights of heaven indicate symbolically in the Bible is not actually a symbol, so much
as a warning. The early peoples were very prone to worship the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. The Bible
repeatedly forbids against this, and God delivers his punishment to those who do so. I believe this is an important
warning to us, even today. There are temptations, even in this hopefully high Tarot study that we are
doing. There are temptations to see these cards as pointing us to worshipping the star, or worshipping the Moon
or the Sun. These are elements of the heavens which declare the glory of God and show forth His handiwork.

But the Tarot and the Bible are constantly calling us to move through the physical creation into the spiritual
creation, to not worship the creation of the lights of Heaven, but to turn to and adore the Creator. It is part of the
message here. The message of the star is deep and subtle, but it is very great.

We, at this stage in the soul’s development, are learning that all aspects of creation are simply extensions of the
Divine mind They are not of themselves to be worshipped, but are rather to be seen as a pathway and an
expression of the Divine mind. Therefore, we must be careful at all stages not to worship these things.

A fourth Biblical reference to the lights of Heaven is in prophesying and describing their darkening. The book of
Matthew, for example, describes the distress of the last days. The Sun will be darkened. The Moon will not give its
light. The stars will fall from the sky, and all the heavenly bodies will be shaken. There will be signs in the Sun, the
Moon and stars. On Earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexed at the roaring and tossing of the sea. When
neither the Sun nor stars appear for many days, and all the storm continues to rage, we finally will give up all hope
of being saved.

The symbolism here is quite plain. The light of Heaven is a reference to the actual consciousness of God. God is
light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all. We have the three great lights of heaven. Heaven is the home of
God, just as the earth is the home of God. Symbolically, the earth represents those base, more physical attributes
of our existence. Heaven represents the highest, purest, spiritual part.

To say that the Sun, the Moon and the stars become darkened is to see no more light from them, that in the dark
night of the soul, God's light can no longer be seen. There is no spiritual guidance. There is no help from the
heavenly host. As we saw in the previous cards, that darkness comes from blocking things, from things which
stand between us and the light. That is the essence of the symbolism that says that the stars will fall to the
earth. This is not physically possible, and those fundamentalists who believe that the Bible must be taken
absolutely literally, will not have a very good time interpreting that passage literally.

You see, a single star is millions upon millions of times larger then the earth is. And it is completely, physically,
theoretically impossible for the stars to actually fall to the earth. If even one star came within a few million miles
from the earth, the earth would be completely burned and disintegrated. So obviously we are not dealing with
literal truth, we are dealing with symbolism. As we have said before, the Bible is replete with symbolism. To try
and ignore that is to do ourselves a great and sad disservice.

The symbolism of the stars falling to earth is to show that the consciousness of God, the Divine celestial light, has
become trapped within the earth. The pathway of involution takes the Divine limitless mind, the expanse of the
ocean of God’s consciousness, and places it into ever lower and lower, denser vehicles. Until, finally the
consciousness of God is focused upon ever smaller domains.

Ultimately the lights of Heaven fall to earth, and we are so obsessed with that tiny little speck of dirt on a rug that
we lose any peace of our soul. We have no love; we have no hope. All seems darkness, futility and the void. We
have all had this experience.

Also, fifth, the star is a sign for the birth of the Son of God. This comes from the New Testament in Matthew 2:2,
"Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and come to worship
him." Matthew 2:7, "Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had
appeared. When they saw the star they were overjoyed."

I am not claiming here that the Magi did not actually see a physical star. I am perfectly willing to grant that they
did. The power of religion, and hopefully I have made the case clearly enough at this point, is that whether they
actually saw a physical star or not, simply does not matter. This would be a part of history. This would be an event
that occurred to them thousands of years ago. And if it is a fact, and its only value is in the concrete physical
history, then it has no value whatsoever and should be removed from the Bible. But if this event is also an
indication of a symbolic meaning, then we have much to learn from it. We have the three-fold path--the three
lights of heaven, and we approach them in this order: the star, the Moon and the Sun.

The star is the smallest of the lights. It is the dimmest of the three. The reason it is dim and the reason it appears
to be small is not because the star is actually small. The star is just farther away. Our sun is a star, however, our
sun is limitlessly closer to us by several orders of magnitude than the stars are. You’ll remember that we discussed
“an order of magnitude” when we were analyzing The Empress.

An order of magnitude is a power of ten. If something is one foot long and something else is ten feet long, then
the longer piece is one order of magnitude larger then the smaller piece. Our sun is 93 million miles away. If you
multiply 93 million times 10, that equals 900 million. Times ten again is 9 billion. Times ten is 90 billion. Times 10
is 900 billion. The nearest star to us is 5 orders of magnitude away because it is more than 9 trillion miles away; it
is 27 trillion miles away.

Therefore our sun is 5 orders of magnitude closer to us then the nearest star. It is no larger or smaller than the
average stars. Some stars are larger than ours; some are smaller. Ours is a very average sun. The reason the stars
are dimmer and the reason they are smaller, to repeat, is because they are farther away. The symbolism of the
star is to account for the very moment of the birth of the Son of God.

The Magi studied the heavens, and they watched the stars. When one particular star was properly placed, they
knew that this meant that the Son of God had been born. The Magi were early astronomers. They gazed up into
the heavens. One thing that we have lost, especially in modernized America, is all contact with the lights of
Heaven. We no longer rule our days according to sunrise and sunset. We no longer rule our harvest and activities
by the phase of the moon. We no longer gaze up into the heavens at night to dream and gain visions.

In Jesus’ day, in the warmth of the Palestinian desert, the Magi could lay out at night, and they were not distracted
by television or radio. They could gaze up into the heavens and just watch the stars. In that time, the stars were
television. The stars were the active story which the Magi studied and listened to. When they looked up into the
heavens, they saw a message. That message was of the redeeming plan of God. The signs of the zodiac indicate
the ancient revelations, the ancient visions that the Magi and others had, as they gazed into the heavens and saw
the redemptive plan of God.

Just as the Tarot cards have fallen from grace and are used for fortune telling, so too the zodiac, which is a divine
revelation, has fallen from grace and is being used for simple stupid fortune telling. It was never meant to be. As
we discussed before, each one of the signs of the zodiac is a collection of images, pictures and symbols, all of
which combine to form the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

He was born of Virgo, the virgin. He is Aquarius, the water bearer to feed us with streams of living water. He is
Aires, the ram or lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He is Gemini, part God, part man with the
dual nature. He is Libra, the great judge who will come to discern truth from falsehood and through whom God
will judge the world. He is the conqueror of Scorpio, the serpent who will sting him on the heels. He is Pieces, the
fish. The word “fish” is an acronym for Jesus Christ God's Son Savior. That's why we see these little fish symbols
on the back of cars today. He is Pisces, the Son of God.

We could go into great detail, but this subject is so vast that it deserves a book all its own. Fortunately for us, such
a book has been written, Bullinger's "The Witness of Stars." He discusses in that book every zodiacal sign and
every miniature constellation inside of the larger constellations. He even gives the ancient, original names that
were given to these stars thousands of years ago, and tells how those very names mean, "She who brings forth the
Savior."

The point of this discussion is to show you that the pathway of the stars, the pathway of the birth of the Son of
God, is the moment when the absolute true light is born and lives cleanly and purely inside of you. The star is also
used as a symbol of the fulfillment of the birth. What do I mean by that? Jesus refers to himself as the morning
star in Revelation 22:16. "I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and
offspring of David and the bright morning star."

What is the morning star? The morning star is Venus. It's not actually a star; it's a planet. Most mornings you can
look toward the East and see a very bright light, obviously much brighter than any of the other stars or
lights. That’s the planet Venus, the nearest neighbor to Earth. The morning star became a symbol of newness,
because it happens in the morning. Rebirth. We can wake up in the morning and see that the lights of Heaven are
still there. We can begin the day afresh, with a moment of devotion, a moment of contemplation, and a moment
of attuning ourselves with thankfulness that God's revelation and the lights of Heaven still shine. We can attune
ourselves to that energy, that focus, that purpose, that divine grace, and let it be our guiding purpose all day
long. Jesus says he is the morning star.

Now we come to the central message of this card. We have seen that the stars represent the guiding light of
God. We have seen that the stars indicate the birth of the Son of God. We have also seen that the Son of God calls
himself the morning star. That, my friends, is all introduction. That is laying the groundwork for the true message
of the Star. What is that message?

2nd Peter 1:19, "We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it
as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." Read that verse
again.

The Tarot cards do not tell us one single thing that the Bible does not tell us. And, as you can tell by the many
references to the Bible in this document, we really cannot understand the Tarot cards without the Bible. The two
of them, Tarot and Torah, combine and relate and help illuminate one the other.
The Bible helps show us things that we could never really see in the Tarot. The Tarot helps us to crystallize our
thinking and condense, through symbolic language, things which have always been in the Bible.

Jesus is the morning star, but that is not the end of the story. You will have the day of God dawn, and the morning
star will rise in your heart. That is the purpose of this card. This card is an indication of the incarnation of God
within you.

We have come so far on the pathway of the Tarot. We have learned of the divine nature of grace. We have
learned that this is all God's revelation. We have learned that through controlling our divine will, we have all
strength necessary. We have learned that we must proclaim and share the light, or will be extinguished. We have
learned that all aspects reflect the name of God and are an expression of the divine glory. We have learned that
the only powers that the Devil has are those we give to him. We have learned that through dying to ourselves, we
can be born again. At this point, birth actually occurs. At this point, the Hanged Man has embraced death, has
overcome the temptations of the Devil. We have died to our own thoughts in the Tower. We are now
transformed and purified. Having dwelt in the word of God, we have the morning star rising inside of our very
soul. As the Bible says, “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.”

Jesus also says in Revelation 2:28, "I will also give him the morning star." That is this card. We are now prepared
to actually look at the physical drawing.

We see a central star with 8 points on it. We have discussed the symbolism of the eight before. It symbolizes the
cardinal points on the compass. It is the eight-fold pathway of God's grace. Around that central 1 star, there are 7
other stars. The 7 + 1 = 8. Every one of the 7 stars has 8 spokes, so the card is called the Star, the one star. There
is only one star. That star is Jesus. The Bible tells us very clearly, "I am the morning star, thus says the Son of
God." That is the one star, the large yellow one.

That morning star will rise in each of our hearts. It will be given to each of us, and we all, therefore, become the
lesser lights of Heaven. We all become the Star. The Son of God is born in each of us and rises in all of our hearts.

So, we are the smaller white stars. We have the same exact shape as the large star. The 7 are all manifestations of
the 1, indicating symbolically that the oneness of God is played out through all 7 moments of creation, through all
7 realms of the universe: matter, emotion, desire, mind, will, spirit, the realm of the angels and the spark of God
himself.

That 1 star plus the 7 stars totals 8 stars, but the card is only called the Star. I guess the best illustration I can give
of this is a radio broadcast. We have millions of radios, and they all create their own miniature voice. But, as I
speak into the radio transmitter, there is only one speaker. That one voice multiplies through the many, and yet
they are all connected only to the one. This is the divine glorious pathway of God, that the one becomes many,
and the many remain the one. There is only one God. There is only one source origin in all. There is only one
light.

That light multiplies itself into a limitless and infinite multiplex. As it does so, it appears that there are many, many
parts. But through the light of revelation and through following the pathway of spiritual discovery, we remember
that all of these different parts are, in fact, only one. There are many, many human beings on this earth, yet there
is only one body of Christ. That is why there are one star and seven stars, yet the card is called the Star.

Underneath the Star, we see a woman who is naked. None of the creatures from here on in the Tarot cards have
any clothes on whatsoever. Why? Because we are far beyond mortal frameworks here. Nakedness is a man-made
sin. There is no shame in being naked. It is natural. The only shame is in our minds and in our inability to deal
with it. As Adam and Eve partook from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first thing they
did was become aware of their nakedness and try to run and hide from it.
As we follow the pathway of God and enter into true revelation, and as the morning star is born inside of us, we
overcome the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We see only the oneness and the goodness of God. And
con-commitment with that, all shame at nakedness disappears. This is not a licentious comment; this is simply the
truth.

Nakedness is one of our great and glorious man-made sins. It was never to be that way, and as we reach our
fruition, it will cease to be that way.

Who is the maiden? Well, there are different interpretations. You could see her as being Eve, the purity of
womanhood. You could see her as the bride of Christ. You could see her as Mother Nature. Perhaps, there is no
genuine difference between these.

She has two pails of water. One is being poured out upon the sea. One is being poured out upon the land. This
indicates beautifully that the streams of living water, which the Son of God will give us, are now flowing freely
inside of our lives, and all aspects of our being are touched in this card.

We have the earth, which is full of the living water. We have the waters themselves. We have the bird on the tree
in the background that flies in the air. We have the spark, which is the fire, the flame of God, which is the morning
star, which is the Son of God, who is born in our hearts. Body, emotions, mind and spirit are all touched by the
glorious unfolding of the light of God. That is the Star--the one star with the seven stars, making eight stars, which
are only one star. That is the glory. That is the blessing.

The bird represents animated air. The consciousness which we have is so illuminated that it's actually alive. Just as
we have streams of living water, we have streams of living air. That is the symbolism of that bird stuck back there
on the tree.

 TRUMP 18 - THE MOON

Here we come to the final enemy, the final obstacle, the final trial. After the Moon, there are three stages
left: The Sun, Judgment and the World, all of which are glorious celebrations. But, in order to gain them, we must
overcome the final enemy.

The Moon is not a card of happiness. It is not a card of blessing directly. The Moon is the great ultimate challenge.

Upon the face of the Moon, we see a rather sour look with eyes closed facing the earth.

There are 32 rays (22 + 10) emanating around the Moon. The Moon is shown in phase.

It is shown in its first quarter as the Moon is getting brighter. There are 15 Yods between the Moon and the
earth. We see the two gray pillars that we first saw far on the horizon in card #13, Death.

We have a hound and a wolf barking at the Moon on either side of a pathway, which leads from the ocean up into
the hills. And, beginning to crawl out of the water, is a lobster or crayfish. What is this card, and what is it doing
here?
You can tell by the scouring face and the posture of attack and the teeth-bearing scowl of the wolf, that there is
little happiness here. This may be a surprise to some students. We have overcome death. We have the
experience of the Hanged Man. We have survived the destruction of the Tower. W have the morning star born
and rising inside of us. What is left to be a problem?

In order to discover the answer to this, we have to be very certain we understand what the Moon is. The Moon is
a dead, cold, lifeless piece of rock, trapped through gravity, in a orbit around the earth. We saw in the previous
card, that the Bible refers to the three lights of Heaven--the stars of the sky, the greater light to rule the day, and a
lesser light to rule the night. But the Moon is the great pretender. The Moon does not give off any light. It has
none. The Moon is only darkness.

Inside of the earth, our actual physical planet, there is heat. There is a molten fire. The Earth is alive with
energy. The Moon is not. The Moon does not give off any light of its own. The Moon does not have any fire in its
core. It is one solid cold chunk of absolute base matter, and yet the Moon pretends to be the lesser light to rule
the heavens by night. The Moon is a liar. The Moon is a pretender to the throne, because the Moon does not rule
the night. Only the Sun rules the night.

The Moon is not a light. The only light is the Sun. The Moon goes through its phases. When everything is properly
aligned, the Sun is able to bounce squarely off of the face of the Moon, and we are able to see its entire face
illuminated. We call that the full Moon. That only lasts for the briefest of times, and happens once every 29 1/2
days. After the Moon is full, the right hand side of it starts to get darker and darker until it disappears entirely 14
1/2 days later. We call that the New Moon.

The phases of the Moon are created through the different angles of observation, as the light of the Sun bounces
off of the Moon. When the Moon stands between Earth and the Sun, we have the New Moon. When the Moon
stands exactly between Earth and the Sun, we have a solar eclipse, and the light of the Moon actually blocks out
the light of the Sun.

When the earth stands between the Moon and the Sun, we have a full moon, and when the earth stands exactly
between the Sun and the Moon, we have a lunar eclipse and the Moon turns to darkness and a fiery, red, blood
color.

Why do I give you this little lesson in astronomy? Because without it, the symbolism of the Moon is absolutely
meaningless.

As I said earlier, the Moon is the final obstacle to be overcome. The Moon represents our incarnation, the final
dying gasp of our individual consciousness and of our ego. For you see, the only light which the Moon has, is the
light which it reflects. And the night of the Full Moon has, throughout the centuries, evolved into a
celebration. Originally, it was a night of celebration because it was very bright outside and people, in the days
before electricity, could dance and celebrate and harvest all night long. They could actually work very efficiently
by the light of the Full Moon.

But there is also a darker side to the Full Moon. It is a scientifically verified fact that on the night of the Full Moon,
people go crazy. This is lunacy: Mad Man Moon. In hospitals, in psychiatric wards, in welfare offices, as the Full
Moon approaches, the workers know it, because people just turn crazy. There appear to be biological reasons for
this, because at the night of the Full Moon, the earth stands between the Sun and the Moon. The gravitational pull
on both sides of the earth causes the waters of the ocean to so bulge, that their massive gravitational attraction, as
it pulls upon the waters of our body, appears to create certain psychological and physiological imbalances in the
human race. (Remember, our bodies are approximately 80% water.) No one understands this. It is a great
mystery, but it is a fact.
Symbolically, the night of the Full Moon is also a paradox. On one hand, the Full Moon represents the highest part
of human achievement, wherein we are perfectly 100% reflecting all of the light of God and illuminating others. At
the same time, when the Moon is its fullest, the temptation is greatest for the Moon to proclaim itself the light of
Heaven. Look at me; see how glorious I am. When it is full, the Moon is at opposite extremes from the Sun. We
can turn and look at the true light, the Sun, or we can turn 180 degrees opposite, and look at the false light, the
Moon. Just before sunset on the night of the Full Moon, and just after sunrise the next morning, you can see both
the Sun and the Moon together. You have a choice as to which you will look at. You can focus yourself in the
direction of the true light and worship the Creator, or you can turn you focus from the Creator to the creation and
watch the Full Moon rise. During the Full Moon phase, the Moon works opposite to the Sun. As the Sun rises, the
Moon disappears. As the Moon rises, the Sun disappears.

During the New Moon, when the Moon and the Sun are on the side of the earth, they work in harmony and
conjunction. The Moon does not attempt to shine any of the light onto the earth. If you see the Moon, you are
looking actually at the Sun. The Moon is not attempting to usurp the Sun's position in the sky. They rise together
and set together. The Moon goes through its phases because the Moon is out of synch with the earth. The Moon
is trapped in an orbit around the earth, yet it is not fixed to the earth. Therefore, the Moon does not rise and set
at the same point or at the same time throughout the month. The earth's rotation causes the phases of day and
night. The Moon's rotation around the earth creates the cycles of new and full.

Symbolically, ladies and gentlemen, you could not possibly be given a clearer picture of the nature of the individual
soul. Our consciousness is trapped by the earth. We spend huge amounts of our time thinking about our bodies,
taking care of our bodies, mending our bodies. Even when we are free, completely, utterly and totally free, from
the confines of physical existence, our consciousness remains trapped on the earth. When we sleep, when we
dream, we can go anywhere or we can be anything. As we sleep and dream, our consciousness is freed from the
fetters of material physical existence. Yet what do we dream about? Eating, drinking, doing things with our
bodies.

The Moon remains trapped by the earth. This is the final frontier. We must be able to renounce the Moon and its
illusory light and the illusion of ego--the illusion of consciousness trapped by matter. In the stage of the Moon, we
overcome all final limitations, and we become completely free from all ramifications of our divine consciousness
being placed inside of the lower vehicles.

The Yods which we see here are not so much raining down from the Moon, as they are caught in between the
Moon and the earth. The Divine Word rains only from the light of the Sun, and these yods await us on the other
side of the towers.

What do the towers symbolize? I think the best answer is to say that they represent our rational side and our
creative side, both the left hand and right hand pathways of consciousness. They stand guard to make sure that
only if we are sufficiently purified, can we pass between them. They are guard towers, because as we travel
through this pathway that we see winding up into the mountains, we have finally reached our homecoming. We
return to the high mountain on which the Fool stood, so many cards ago. We return to our home. That’s what the
next card is all about. Until we get there, we must overcome. We cannot be allowed to touch the Tree of Eternal
Life with any trace of our space bound, physical bound consciousness still living. To do so, would be to immortalize
matter. It would be to immortalize the flesh and all of its constraints. We must overcome.

The dog and the wolf are shown baying at the Moon, and it is not by chance that the mythology of the werewolf
has developed. Our emotions do change with the phases of the Moon, and when the Moon is full, many of us turn
into monsters, if not physically, then symbolically our ego’s rage. We attempt to keep ourselves as the light. The
morning star is born in us, and what do we do? Draw attention to ourselves to be worshipped. We say to others,
“Look at me. I have the Son of God living inside of me. I have the morning star. I am the Full Moon. I am the
glorious one.” And, this insanity leads us to immense ruin.
The crayfish, coming out of the waters, symbolizes the deep subconscious forces at work within us. As I said at
first, this is the final enemy. This is the hardest battle to fight. Here we are, dealing with overcoming the
constraints of actual biology, the constraints of physical matter. As the divine spark of God is placed within our
lower vehicles, those lower vehicles begin to assert their influence and control the higher forms of God. And even
once we recognize the essential emptiness of our ego, and once we overcome and are the morning star, that
morning star, as it dwells within us, is still subject to falling back down to the earth--to become trapped.

The final obstacle to be overcome, the Bible says, is death. And this space/time consciousness, as it exists apart
from God, is death itself. The Moon is dead. Death is the final obstacle to overcome. The Moon is a white washed
sepulcher, complete total death and dirty nothingness, which nevertheless pretends to be the great light of
Heaven.

We can and we will overcome. We have learned so much. We will persevere, and we will eventually be welcomed
home.

TRUMP 19 - THE SUN

Welcome home traveler! We started our journey ages ago with card zero, the Fool. As the Fool was dancing on
the highest mountain, we say, just above his head, the radiant Sun. We have seen that light increase. We saw it
being guarded by the Angel of Life in card #6, the Lovers. We have seen stars and illuminations. We have seen the
Hanged Man's head begin to glow with the light of the divine. We have seen the Sun rising above the mountains
of Temperance. We have traveled the path, through the dark night of the Devil in the Tower. The morning star is
born inside of us, and we have finally overcome all human limitations of biology, time, space and incarnation. We
are coming home.

The eternal limitless spark of God has clothed itself with will, with mind, with desire and the body. The body has
become purified and overcome. The waters of emotion have become alive. The mind has been cleansed of all
ignorance and fetters. The divine will has been harnessed, and completely controls all the lower vehicles. The Sun
has risen to high day. The Sun has risen to a glorious ecstasy. The divine dance is now able to go forward in
immense celebration.

All of this is intimated and symbolized in this card. We have the glorious, radiant Sun with an expression of
transcendent peace. There is no anger; there is no sorrow. But neither is there any giddy, childish happiness or
“tom foolery.” There is mature awareness of all the glory and a bubbling out of a joy which is oh so different from
happiness. Happiness, being space/time bound, is subject to change. Joy is the ecstasy of spirit, which results
when we recognize the divine truth which is forever around us.

The Sun is resplendent in his/her glory. The Sun is life. The Sun is the highest physical symbol of God. The Sun is
the light from which all other lights are derived. The Sun is the life from which all other lives are derived. It is the
source of illumination, the source of warmth, the source of existence itself.

In the beginning is the light. In the end is the light. We move from light unto light. Only in-between, due to
moments of temporary ignorance and darkness, is there night. The Sun is forever. The Sun always shines. The
light of God is always there. Even during the night, the only reason we do not see the Sun is because the earth
blocks its pathway. When the earth becomes purified and cleansed, as it does through the pathway of the Moon,
then it is no longer a blockage of the Sun, and there is no night.

This is the great and glorious symbolism in the book of Revelation, where the Sun does not set, where the light is
forever. The light has nothing left to block it. When there are clouds and when there is rain, the Sun still
shines. All we must do is go high enough into the air, rise above the overcast, and delight in our return.

This is the fruition of the soul. Workings of man set to ply out historical life, re-regaining the flower of the fruit of
his tree. All awakening, all restoring you. Workings of man driven far from the path re-release inhibitions so that
all is left for you.

Master of images, songs cast a light on you. Pondering our dark existence, we reawaken, as the dawn of time
dances in our soul. This is the Sun. We move from light unto light.

But, there is more here in the card. We see a naked child sitting upon a horse. Again, we see nakedness. There is
no shame, we are far beyond the trappings of human embarrassment and vanity. The child represents the true
essence of God within us, which is forever young. Though the body may grow old and change and tire, the soul is
forever eternal, therefore, forever young--forever being born, forever being renewed, the same yesterday, today
and forever, untouched by the bonds of mortality.

The child wears a garland of flowers upon his or her head. The child is intentionally drawn so that we can neither
tell if it is “he” or “she.” This symbolizes all people. The flowers are all sunflowers. The secret of the seed is in the
fragrance of the flower. As the petals open up and bow their heads toward the Power in the sky, we are passing by
a million miles every hour on the universal clock. Its basic rhythm is forever. Life dances and rejoices with the
knowledge of its freedom, and the promise of a new found destiny.
These flowers have their roots in the soil. They are fed and watered by the nutrients of the earth and the waters
of emotion. The plants rise into the air, called by the light of God to reach out toward the Sun in an ecstatic dance
of limitless divine bliss.

The horse symbolizes the higher natures, the higher animal faculties. Things such as imagination, creativity,
reason.

We notice also the wall behind the Sun child. What is the purpose of this wall? This is to indicate that there is no
barrier between God and man. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the creations of the human race, for we
are reminded in this card that we are co-creators with God. His creative abilities pulse in our veins. And as such, it
is not wrong, it is not a problem, it is not a sin for us to manifest those energies. Likewise, our creations are not
evil. They are a glorious unfolding of the song of God. So we build our industry, and upon these, the flowers do
grow.

What then do we have in this card? We have the totality of all known realms of existence. We have inanimate
matter inside of the stones. We have physical human bodies. We have desire, emotion, mind. We have divine will
and the spark of God itself. We have the higher faculties of human consciousness and the results of that human
consciousness, as we mold and shape the world with our creativity. It is all one great and glorious union between
the Creator and the creation.

It is intimate. It is almost sexual in nature, the deep and ecstatic ecstasies, for you see physical orgasm is also a
sign. All of the heavens declare God's glory and show His handiwork, and sexual orgasm is the most intense feeling
a human being is capable of. This is an overwhelming sign of what true divine union is like. It is an ecstasy which
dances beyond the farthest fringes of our imagination, and is only very dimly hinted at through the ecstasy of
sexual union. There is no shame here. There is no darkness. There is no licentiousness.

We are of the Sun. Nous Sommes Du Solei. All life and all energy dance and rejoice in this resplendence.

This too is the other Son. Because at this stage, the morning star has been born in us, and we have grown up to
know the height and the depth of God. We have the mind of Christ working inside of us. We have God's divine will
flowing through us, and we have come to know the height and depth of all consciousness.

Paul says in Effusions chapter 3, that he prays that God would grant us, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with power through the spirit in our inner man, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith,
and that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

We are born not of the water, not of the flesh, but we are born of God. God is becoming reincarnated in us again
in body form. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God, and the Sun is a powerful symbol for the Son. The two of them work
together.

As the morning star is born in us, that star finally gets closer and closer and closer until it fills our totality, at which
point, we recognize that the morning star is not just a star, but is the Sun. We are not just disgusting piles of
filth. No, we are, in fact, Adam and Eve. We are, in fact, children of God. We are sons and daughters of God. This
could not possibly be clearer than it is in the Bible.

Jesus’ final words to his disciples: "I go to my Father and your Father. I go to my God and your God." It says clearly
in Luke 6, that no one is above his teacher, no one is below his teacher. But rather everyone, after they have been
fully instructed, is as their teacher. This is our destiny.
As we have seen so many times, the Biblical message, the message of the Torah, the message of the Tarot, and the
message of the Rota, is that it is not sufficient to simply adore and worship Jesus. Adoring and worshipping Jesus is
incredibly valuable and wonderful and essential for the soul, but its purpose is not to forever keep Jesus upon a
pedestal while you feeling worthless and filthy. Its purpose is that you, through your worship and adoration, might
become one with the Son--that your heart and mind and will so vibrate and become attuned to his presence, that
your sin disappears. Your ego disappears. Your consciousness becomes saved from the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil, and you return to the beatific vision of the oneness of life, where all is one, all is God.

This is not pantheism. Technically, the word is “Panentheism.” That means “all is in God.” The glorious
proclamation of the Bible is that everything is inside of God, and everything, as such, is a part of God. The book of
Acts tells us that in God, we live and we move and we exist inside of Him, much like a cell inside of your
body. Where can it go? If it goes up to your head or down to your toes, you are still there.

So what the Bible is telling us, is that God is not you. And, you are God. You are all parts of the body of Christ, like
fingers on a hand. I am not my finger. You could cut my finger off, and I would still exist. But, my finger is nothing
more than me. My finger is a part of me, but it's not a part of you or Frank or Wilma or anyone else. The finger is
entirely, totally and completely me.

But, I am much more than my finger. You are one of God's fingers. God is not you. You could be erased from the
universe, and God would still be God. He would miss you, exactly as I would miss my finger, only much more so.

So while it is true that God is not you, it is also true that at this stage of the Sun, you recognize that you are
God. This is a very difficult and dangerous teaching, because as we saw in the Moon, the tendency is so easy to
slip and fall from these lofty heights, for a person to say I am God is one of two things. It is either the single most
ego centered statement a person can make, meaning that I am God, and you are not, and you should worship me,
which is the most odious, disgusting, sinful, evil blasphemy. It is the greatest darkness of all. That is what we have
seen through the cards through this spiritual journey. This is known as the left hand pathway, wherein a person
says I am God, meaning that I, therefore, should be worshipped.

But if a person says I am God, they can also say it through the right hand pathway, wherein they are indicating that
this is the least ego centered statement they could possibly make--that the “I,” which you have been knowing and
which I have been preserving and worshipping, does not exist, has no being, has no reality. The I-hood is simply an
illusion. The only reality is the presence of God. That is what Paul said, and that is exactly he meant when he said
that, "I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in me, I am Christ."

This “I” who you talk about is not me. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live. I am
dead. And when you talk to me, you are not talking to me, you are talking to Christ. And when you listen to me,
you are not listening to me, you are listening to Christ. This the right hand pathway--the proper pathway, wherein
Paul does not seek any praise or worship of himself, but rather he seeks only to praise and worship God.

The same thing is true with the holy Son of God, Jesus the Christ himself. He sought not to be worshipped, but
rather only to call each of us to worship God. Then, we are home. The breath of God has been fulfilled.

There is a marvelous passage in the Bible, which very clearly outlines the entire breath of God. It is in Philippians
2:3-11. The essence of it is that Christ dwelt in the form of God. He emptied himself out of that form and became
a bond servant. He humbled himself to death, at which point He was resurrected and regained the form of
godliness He had before the worlds were made.

God says in the Bible, that before the worlds were formed, I knew you. We were in the mind of God before our
physical bodies ever existed. You must adulterate this scripture in order to make it say anything else. Before our
soul became encased within matter, we dwelt in the pure pre-manifest, pre-created celestial realm know as the
mind of God. We were there in his mind, before he ever placed our souls into these bodies, before he ever made
light itself.

Here we begin to come home. Here we are home. “Home” is a wonderful word, and it is linguistically associated
with many other words, all of which point to the same thing: home, womb, mom, a-men, omen. The Hindus even
have the word "Om". Om, home, mom, omen--these are all reflections of the same spiritual center.

We are the Fool. The soul wanders throughout existence, starting in that celestial paradise, dancing in our pre-
manifest forms known by God, dwelling in his mind, within wander, taking upon ourselves shades of divine will and
mind, emotions and body until finally we come to the Earth to have our children, and eat our food, and wage our
wars, and hate our brothers, and all of the silly stupid things that we spend our time doing.

It doesn't change the fact that the Sun is still there. It does not change the fact that the Sun is the only reality. It
does not change the fact that the mind of God still exists, that we are still inside of God's mind, and that God has
placed his mind inside of us.

Once again we have the image of union. The groom is in the bride; the bride is in the groom. God becomes a
father by begetting children. Until there are children, there is no parent. The subject becomes the object, and
without the object, there is no subject. The subject and object are one in their relationship. The Father and the
Son are three with the Spirit, and yet those three are forever one. We are in God; God is in us. Everyone is
everyone else.

We abide in Jesus; Jesus abides in us. We are in God; God is in us. This is a great mystery and an unnamable
ecstasy. "The glory which you have given me, I have given to my disciples that they may be one just as we are
one. I in them, you in me, that they may be perfected in unity. That the world did know that you did send me, did
love them even as you love me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, be with me where I
am. In order that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you did love me before the foundation
of the world. Oh, righteous Father although the world has not known thee, yet I have known thee and these have
known that you did send me. And I have made your name known to them. And will make it known that the love
with which you love me may be in them and I in them."

At the stage of the Sun, the morning star has risen inside of us and continues to rise until it fills us. At that point,
we recognize that we are a part of the Holy trinity, God the Father, God the Son. God the Son is our existence, for
we no longer live. It is only Christ who lives through us. Just like that radio we talked about before, the radio no
longer brings attention to itself, but it is only the messenger, only the speaker. The one star plus the seven stars
are eight stars, which are one star.

Gloria! Hallelujah! Praise to God!

Praise to the Glory!

Welcome home.

 TRUMP 20 – JUDGMENT

All of the cards that we have experienced up to this point discuss aspects of our individual personal growth, as well
as aspects which apply to every human being. None of us is alone. But, as we stated many cards ago, the essence
of religion is what each of us does in our complete solitude, in conjunction with those around us. Prayer, for
example, is only valuable if each individual is, in their heart of hearts in the deepest recesses of their soul, praying
directly to God. However, that becomes strengthened and multiplied when that prayer is joined with others.

So the pathway that we have seen leading from the pre-manifest Fool to the homecoming of the Sun, is a journey
which every single one of us, in one form or another, must take. The card Judgment continues this process and
shows us something which each of us must individually engage upon. However, this card does something which
none of the others have. It shows visibly all of the other souls of God uniting with us on our pathway.

At this point, after we have our homecoming, we meet our friends and neighbors, our brothers and sisters. What
is Judgment?

This card indicates several things. First, is the process of divine Judgment. This occurs in two ways, before and
after death. Before death, God is constantly watching, guiding, judging and supervising our actions to determine
the next step for us. The laws of--as you give, so shall you receive; as we forgive, so shall we be forgiven; as we
seek, so we will find; as we knock, the door will be opened to us; as we ask, we shall receive--these laws are
immutable and create the framework for our spiritual growth. We can spend a very long time or a relatively short
time on the path. It is not necessary to debate actual years here. For some, the pathway is a matter of years or
decades. For others, it is a matter of centuries. But such discussions, while not only controversial, are ultimately
fruitless, because we do not know absolutely the structure of each soul’s growth. And much more importantly, by
the time we reach the stage of Judgment, time is no longer a factor. The nature of the homecoming is to recognize
God's eternal presence.

The only reality is here. The only time is now. And that here and now is an unending stream of divine
consciousness, wherein time and space cease to exist in the mortal way that we think of them. God's judgment in
our lives is constantly working to bring us to the awareness of our homecoming.

The second part of God's judgment refers to the ultimate judgment of each of our souls. Upon death, our lives are
reviewed. We simultaneously do this from two perspectives, ours and those whom we affected. We see every
single act, every single thought, every single word. We are reminded of our own motivations, and we see through
the heightened awareness of the next world what those actions, thoughts, and words did, in terms of affecting
other people.

There is great controversy today, and perhaps there will be forever on the Earth plane, about what happens to you
after you die, or more importantly, immediately when you die. The card of Judgment is pictorially stating to us
several things.

First, the dead will come out of their graves. We see several graves in a vast ocean of death. The dead rise up out
of the graves in response to the trumpet of the angel who guards the Tree of Life. They come out of the graves,
their hands outstretched, their faces pointed toward the heavens.

The following discussion is not meant to disturb or perturb anyone. However, if you are one of those people who
are vehemently set in your ways as to what happens when you die, or if such discussions make you very uneasy,
then I would advise you to skip the following.

It is felt by many, that we simply cannot know what happens after we die, but applying the tools and techniques of
the revealing science of God, we are able to come to consensus, based on the most accurate accounts we
have. The theory of atoms, electrons and neutrons is just that, it is a theory. We cannot actually see an
electron. We cannot actually hold an atom. All we know is that every single experiment we have performed
perfectly, matches the model which we have. In the same way, through performing experiments, through
personal accounts, through a cross cultural witness which spans millennia, we do have a consistent framework as
to what happens to you when you die. We have documented experiences of people who have died, have had
absolutely no vital signs whatsoever, and have been resurrected so to speak, or resuscitated.

The following then, is the consensus, called from years of personal, scientific and scholarly research. You are, of
course, free to accept or reject it as you choose.

Our souls are different from our bodies, you are not your body. That is absolutely, perfectly clear. The experience
of soul projection is a verifiable, repeatable experience by anyone who is willing to take the time to do so. Soul
projection, also known as astral projection or soul travel, is where a soul slips outside of the body, while the body
is still alive.

This is really no different than a driver opening the door and stepping out of the car. But if you have spent so
many decades inside of your car, and you forget that there is a door, then you might actually come to the point
where you do not believe it is possible to leave the car, or else you will die.

This is simply not true. You can step out of your body and observe it. You can step out of your body and travel
through the heavenly realms, while you are still maintaining a body that is alive.
Death, as we know it, is simply the rendering inoperable of the physical vehicle. Death is the moment at which
your car ceases to work forever more, and it's time to be scrapped. You step out of the car for the final time. You
are now dead.

Here we have great controversy, because some feel that at that point, you simply fall asleep until some point in
the distant future where the angel of God calls to resurrect you. I do not wish to offend anyone's personal
religious sensibilities, yet the overwhelming body of evidence is that that is simply not the case. There is a direct
simple transition of consciousness, just as you step out of your car. You do not black out. You do not pass
out. You still know who you are, and you still retain the same thoughts, memories and habit patterns.

It is exactly the same case with death. You slip out of the body. You usually see your body laying there, then you
turn to the higher next world. There is a certain transition to get into the next domain, the world of heaven.
otherwise known as the astral world. You step out of your car, and there is usually a walkway that leads you to a
doorway into the next building you are entering. That is exactly the same thing with the transition of death. There
is a certain gateway or passageway that leads you into the next world.

Once there, your life is reviewed, as I've stated, from your perspective and from the subjective perspective of
those who you have affected. You retain your same thoughts; you retain your memories; you retain your
desires. You are the same exact person.

There is, however, one profound and fundamental difference. The final buffer which you have relied upon for so
long is now removed. By final buffer, I mean the actual forceful manipulation of the physical form.

We used an illustration many cards ago of snapping your fingers, which has to be a manifestation of your will,
focused through your mind to think of such a thing, focused through your desire to want to do such a thing, and
then placing that desire into the physical body to move the muscles and snap you fingers.

In the next world that final step is gone. You still have to focus your will. You still have to focus that will through
your mind. You still have to clothe that mind with desire, but the desire is the doing. The Bible says to light
yourself in the will of the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

The next world is know by different people as Heaven. It is known as the astral world. It is known as the desire
realm. This world is also known as Hell. It is one place, although you can wind up in very different states. If,
during the course of your life, you have culled the higher faculties of love, devotion, philosophy, art, music,
mathematics, science, intellect, then you will find that in the next realm, you are much better suited to pursue
those avenues. If, however, your entire being has been focused upon the mortal frame, whether it is the
acquisition of cold hard cash, or it is excessive indulgence in any form of physical stimulation, via drugs or alcohol,
or any kind of physical activity which is almost void of any intellectual counterpart, then you find yourself in the
realm of unfulfilled desire.

And that burning of unfulfilled desire is all consuming. It is the fiery flames of Hell, because you no longer have a
body to distract the consciousness from its desires. I may want to go out and perform a certain activity, but I still
have my body. II still have financial concerns. I still have a host of other things to temper my inability to do these.

In the next realm, desire is the body. You have a desire body. It looks just like your current body, only without any
imperfections. That desire body is your all consuming reality, and what you desire is what you do. If your whole
desire is focused on doing something, which is no longer possible in the physical realm because you are not in a
physical realm, then you are deeply and truly in Hell.
The realms of the desire world are much more rarefied and vast than the physical world. Simply, the desire for
music is the music. There is no need to physically express it through any form of mechanical device. Thinking of
the music and placing it into your desire is the music.

This is why morality is so important, not simply in terms of regulating our physical behavior, but in terms of
cultivating a soul, which is capable of traveling all of the pathways of God's revelation. This is why Jesus says if you
lust after a woman in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her. Thinking and desire are the
highest faculties which must be cultivated. If you think about something and desire it, but do not actually do it,
your problem in the next world will be that you are unbuffered. In this way, we can see that the physical body is
actually a set of training wheels. We are capable of gaining experiences and interacting with other people, while
being protected with that final buffer between what we want and what actually happens.

When someone has the feelings of I wish I could kill him, and truly genuinely feels that, then that desire, that
hatred, will be the only reality for them in the next world. The exertion of that desire is the exertion of the
equivalent of murder in the next world. These are difficult things to comprehend, because most people conceive
of the next world as being one of two different places, as being absolute and essentially unchanging. None of this
is true.

There is one state, just like there is one world. Therein, are those who live in Heaven and those who live in Hell. In
the next world, there is one world. Therein, are those who live in Heaven and those who live in Hell. But, these
are not absolutes. Because just as in this world there are greater and lesser degrees of pain and pleasure, Heaven
and Hell, so too in the next world, there are different layers or levels. The Bible refers to greater and lesser
rewards at Judgment day. Although this is something which most people have a difficult time with, the desire
body is not eternal. Jesus referred to many things which he wished he had discussed with his disciples, but they
were unable to bear it then.

The entire discussion of life after death is omitted from the Bible. Anything that we gain from the Bible, we have
to infer or derive from different stories which may or may not be allegorical, may or may not be factual.

When you die, your desire body is the next body you find yourself in. You currently have it. But at that point,
there are still three layers of manifestation, the focusing of the divine will upon the mind placed into desire. You
still have a buffer. You can think of something, but not actually want to do it.

We have all wondered what it would be like to do something in an intellectual or curious way, but have not
actually had any desire to do it. When we are ready, eventually our desire body falls off., and we die to the desire
realm. We find ourselves in the realm of pure mind. We have returned to the mind of God. At that point, we are
one step away from the inner most throne room, where the will still must focus the mind. Eventually, the mental
body does drop off, and we find ourselves in the limitless realm of God, pure divine will, capable of infinite limitless
manifestation. And, there are domains of God's consciousness which lie outside of and beyond the mental desire
and physical universe.

At that point, it is said, the true spiritual journey begins. We have completed the breath of God. As God knew us
before the foundation of the world, and he blew into us having created our divine will and our minds and our
desires and our bodies, that exact process will eventually unfold--by the dropping of the body, by the dropping of
the desire vehicle, by the dropping of the mind and returning to the state of pure limitless divine will. God
breathes out; God breathes in. This is the eternal cycle.

We are discussing things which lie far beyond most people's consciousness. We are discussing things far beyond
our mortal experience. I present them to try and help focus your thoughts and prepare you, and hopefully, not
have you be too terribly surprised when certain events do happen.
The last aspect of the Judgment card, which I want to be sure I focus on, is the fact that this is all being done
together. Each of us is going through this process, but we are doing it in conjunction with uncountable, billions of
souls. So what happens is that, as we ascend to God, the barriers which separate individuals, also break down. We
all appear to have separate bodies, even though we are one flesh. We all share in different desire bodies, even
though it is made up of the same heavenly stuff. We all have individual thoughts, even though there is only one
mind of God. We all have control of our divine will, even though there is only one reality, that is God.

As we ascend, the barriers between people break down. It is not necessary to move your physical mouth in order
to communicate. It is not necessary to exert any desire in order to share thoughts. All of the individual cells inside
of the body of God come alive and are able to freely share their information with all other cells, at which point
God's presence has gone from a preconscious state to a conscious state.

You see the breath of God is separated into four different divisions. God begins as He is. We were in the mind of
God, but we are not consciously aware of that. We have no actual recollection of that state whatsoever, just as
were in the womb with our mother, but have no conscious recollection of it. This is state one, the preconscious
union.

Phase two, God breathes out, and we are born. This leads us to state two which is preconscious separation. God
has breathed into Adam's nostrils; other has given birth to her baby. But, Adam is not fully aware of who and what
he is. He is not yet awake. This child is not awake or fully aware of what he or she is. This is the state of
unconscious separation.

Third, Adam partakes of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and becomes completely awake
to what is and is not. The child, who has been born, becomes aware of what is and is not. This is me and this is not
me. No! No! No!

We then enter the great period of conscious separation. We then have found that God has breathed out, and we
are alive. God has died to himself, so that we can live. We then embark upon the journey which, being the phase
where we are right now, occupies the overwhelming majority of our time and concentration, and we attempt to
move into a realm of conscious unity--to love our mother, recognize that we are one family and one flesh, to love
God as ourselves. At this point, we expire of our egos and God breathes back in.

So the breath of God, wherein God dies that we might live that we might die that God might live, passes through
those four stages of unconscious unity, unconscious separation, conscious separation, and conscious unity.

When all of us have responded to the trumpet of God, and all souls ascend to the heavenly plains, then all barriers
between people, and between God and people, break down. We then enter into a conscious union of all of our
energies in a divine dance, the likes of which we, at this point in our lives, cannot possibly imagine. It would be like
you gaining conscious control and awareness of every single cell in your body and having that ecstasy multiplied a
trillion times over. That is the judgment we are all being called to. That is the glorious resurrection, and that is the
pathway.

 TRUMP 21 - THE UNIVERSE

Assuming you have been following along in your Waite Tarot deck, you will notice immediately that Waite calls
card #21 the World. Most other decks call it the Universe, and I think that for many reasons Waite was
intentionally trying to confuse people.

The Universe is, for many reasons, a far better name for this card. If you are uncomfortable with that, just use the
term World to mean the whole world, all of the animals, plants, humans, matter. But, understand that this world is
not the totality. We are talking about all realms of existence, all planets, all stars, all of nature, all of the
manifestation in a oneness.

We began 20 cards ago, talking about the Fool, talking about the one essential center of the universe. We have
seen the different ways that the one becomes many through the process of involution, and we have seen the way
that the many become one through the process of evolution.

The term “universe” is marvelous. It means that this is all one verse of the song of God. The song perhaps has
many verses, but everything within this universe is a part of the one verse. All human beings are ultimately
one. We share one flesh; we share one desire; we share the mind of God. All human beings are one with
God. Whatsoever we do to the least of our brothers, we do to God.
The greatest laws are not commands, but statements of truth. We do love God with our totality, and we do love
our fellow human beings because they are ourselves. Why would my index finger want to attack my thumb? Why
would my big toe want to scratch my leg? God has only one body, and we see that body on this card.

The body of the bride of Christ. She is very feminine, with obviously flowing breasts. Some of the other figures
have been uncommitted. For example, the child that sits on the horse in the Sun, is both male and female. But,
Miss Universe is shown being as obviously female.

She is also shown as holding two of the Magician's wands. The Magician, if you recall, is the first moment of God's
creative power that we saw back in card #1. That was the last time we saw this symbol of the Magician's
wand. The symbolism is quite obvious, the one becomes two, and yet they share the same power.

God is creating for himself his eternally virgin bride. All people, as they follow God and come closer to him, unite
with their brothers and sisters and share a oneness. As this happens, we are all being built up to the body of
Christ. This is not an allegory, people. This is the truth.

The Earth is alive. It has things growing on it. We are apart of that life and the physical universe. The totality of
nature is the body of God, and that body, as it is infused with God's divine mind, is built up to become the holy
bride, wherein there is no separation.

The celestial honeymoon awaits us. God will forever mate with his bride, embraced in the union of ecstatic
love. God loves the church and gave his life for her. We are all being built up into the universal church, and the
church loves God.

He first loves us, because he is the Magician, he is the male force, he is the giver. He is the energy, he is the
thrust. We are the recipient; we are the bride. And, we return his love to him. This is the glorious pathway.

For artistic purposes, the bride of Christ is wrapped in a bit of a mantle of victory. This is there to help keep the
card from being too overtly erotic, because at this point, clothing is not necessary. There is only openness. There
is only complete, total glorious loving acceptance of who we are, of ourselves, of each other and of God. There is
no shame, there is no sorrow, there is no darkness, there is no one to manipulate. There is no one to use or
abuse. There is only an ecstatic forever flowing of oneness with God.

We have returned to the Garden of Eden, and live in perfect harmony with God, and ourselves, and each
other. We have no need for shame, we have no need for sorrow. There is only ecstasy. God looks about and sees
that it is good. And, it is very good.

The wreath has a two-fold meaning. First, it is a garland of victory or celebration, because it is fulfilled and all is
complete. It is also an oval, which is the symbol of the eternal womb. God's energy unites with his bride, and her
womb becomes the berthing place of his holy procreation.

That is what we are, you are God's womb. You are the womb of the bride of Christ. God wishes to place his seed,
his spirit, into you and as he does so, you will grow, and you will give birth to the holy son or daughter of God,
which is who and what you truly are. Don't wait too long. Hopefully, you have been inspired through these talks
to get a little farther down the pathway.

Notice the four creatures in the four corners. We’ve seen them before. They surround the Wheel of
Fortune. They were present at Ezekiel's vision of God on the throne. They were present in John's revelation
around the throne of God. But this time, notice that the figures have no books. There are no scrolls to
open. There are no secrets to be revealed, and we have no need of writing. We have internalized the Bible. All
religious teachings are now one with us.
We have no need to teach one another, for the law is written on our hearts. You see, the Bible is not eternal. God
is eternal. You are eternal. The Bible is not eternal. The Bible is a teacher, meant to guide you to a direct
relationship with those parts of the universe that it simply attempts to instruct. And like the able teacher, the
Bible seeks to make itself unnecessary. Think about that. No fifth grade teacher for her or his student to have to
rely upon forever in order to be able to understand the fifth grade mathematics. Such a teacher would not be a
teacher at all, but a pretty sad person.

In exactly the same way, the Bible does not seek for you to have to need it forever. God does not want you to be
in Heaven reading Psalms. For you are a Psalm. Your life is to be a Psalm. Your existence is a scripture. Your life is
the only Bible that most people will ever read. Your life is God's holy word. The Word will live in you and fill your
life.

That is why these witnesses, surrounding the throne of God, do not carry any scrolls or books. All of the religious
proclamations have been internalized.

What then have we seen? We have seen so much that it is difficult to summarize. I believe that the principles of
the Bible, the Torah, the Tarot and the Rota are relatively few and very important.

Principle #1: The only reality is God.

Principle #2: The commandments of God begin as rules, and are fulfilled when they are recognized as being law.

Principle #3: We are one with God and with our fellow human beings.

Principle #4: All is good. All is good and the only thing that is bad is our way of thinking.

Principle #5: Repentance and salvation consist of an enhancing of our mind, that we might see the glorious truths.

Principle #6: The divine Lord plays himself out in this universe through an interlocking series of will, mind, desire
and matter.

Principle #7: There is no difference or separation between the highest vehicle of God and the lowest. Having a
body is not evil, and it does not separate you from God. All vehicles are a part of the divine dance.

Principle #8: The only reality, the only power of our physical lives and our religious life, is the power of grace. Since
everything comes from God, and goes to God, and lives and breaths and moves in God, everything that occurs, is
an outpouring of his grace.

Principle #9: The final enemy to be overcome is the appearance of our ego, which is the separator keeping us from
oneness with God; keeping us from oneness with each other.

Principle #10: The breath of God is eternal. God breathes out and his expiration is our inspiration. We breathe out
and re-inspire God. God dies so that we can live, so that we can die, so that God can live.

Here is to your eternity. Here is to our universe. Here is to our God. Here is to love.