I’d like to say, in closing, that courage is the primary virtue required to separate the actual moon from the many fingers pointing at it. As we’ve discussed elsewhere, courage isn’t the same thing as fearlessness. A fearless person needn’t involve his heart while confronting some terrifying experience. In fact, to be fearless, you must shut your heart off completely. After all, it will only get in the way! This is how a “brave” person views the heart: as a distraction. But a truly brave person will use his heart to confront both the terrifying thing and the fear itself. The very word “courage” is French for “with heart”. When you learn to tap into the power of your heart, you’ll no longer require an idea to get you through. An idea is just a substitute for heart, and if you require an idea to get your heart pumping then your heart hasn’t truly started functioning. When your heart is functioning, you become like the Sun at noon, piercing through the dark clouds of fear; and the Sun doesn’t require an idea to shine.
Speaking of The Sun, let’s move on to our next Contemplation.
The Sun:
The Lord of the Fire of the World
Trump #19
Planetary Trump of the Sun
Path: #30 (Hod—Yesod)
Letter: Resh (numerical value: 200)
Helpful Quotes
"Give forth thy light to all without doubt: the clouds and shadows are no matter for thee. Make Speech and Silence, Energy and Stillness, twin forms of thy play!"
-Aleister Crowley
"Ecstasy is of the heart, is of the total. By "heart" is meant your total, organic unity."
-Osho
"Worship of beauty in abstract and concrete form strengthens and protects man in all his activities. One who is able to live in this way needs no outside help and sheds warmth and radiance on all around him. If we wish seriously to set the stage and prepare the way for this attainment our first step must be gradually to eliminate all unnecessary thoughts, desires and habits from our lives."
-Vera Stanley Alder
"On the level of our consciousness this card has particularly great significance. It shows the awakening, blossoming, and maturing of our sun-like nature and the reconciliation with the shadow side."
-Akron and Hajo Banzhaf
Contemplation
The Sun heralds the ending of The Dark Night of the Soul, the spiritual ordeal for which this book has been written.
A story:
The sun was setting when the monk left the monastery. He was delivering a message to a certain master who lived some distance away. Although his fellow monks warned him of the dangers of the path, he still refused to take with him a lantern to light his steps. "There's no need to worry," boasted the monk, "I'm both sharp of sight and swift of foot. I can make it before sundown." So he set out to deliver the message.
On the way, he passed by a few people coming back from town. He'd bow politely and continue on. But as the sun was disappearing, and the night was creeping in, people came less and less. Those who did pass by tried to convince the monk to turn around and wait for the light of morning, but he heeded them not.
Finally the night was upon him, and the monk could no longer see the path. Suddenly the woods became a menacing place, full of unforeseen dangers. The sound of wild beasts surrounded him on all sides. The monk began to chant, trying to comfort himself, but to no avail. "Why didn't I listen to those folks when they tried to warn me? The monk thought to himself. "I'm such a fool!"
Then, just as he was thinking this, the monk stumbled on a rock and fell over a precipice. He screamed and flailed his arms in the dark, reaching for something, anything, to break his fall. He was able to catch hold of a rock, jutting out from the side of the cliff. The monk sighed with relief. But the danger remained: how long could he hold on before his arms grew tired? The poor monk knew that he couldn't scream for help, for to do so would invite all sorts of wild animals to feast upon his flesh.
He was helpless…
Hours went by in agony. He cried, and he prayed, and he chanted; all to no avail. His arms were beginning to tire, and he was beginning to lose all hope. One by one his fingers slipped from the rock. "This is it," he thought to himself, "I'll accept my fate."
With all hope gone, the monk let go of the rock. It was then that he laughed aloud. He sang, and he danced, and he laughed uproariously; for he'd been only six feet above the ground the entire time.
On the most common level of interpretation, The Sun symbolizes feelings of happiness, zest, and joy. We're enjoying some good news, such as the reunion of old friends, a vacation, or perhaps a honeymoon. But on the highest level of interpretation, we're being bathed in an altogether different sort of light.
Says Jesus: (St. Matthew-5: 14-15)
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
In The Hierophant, we saw disguised as a halo the same rose blossom seen in the central portion of The Sun card. This alludes to the illumination of repressed Shadow and the enlightened conscience of The Hierophant. The fact that this rose has bloomed around his head recalls the Hebrew letter Resh, which means "head," and is attributed to The Sun.
The illimitable energy of The Sun is great for beginning creative projects and is one reason why we find it located on the genitals of The Fool (Springtime). It heralds new beginnings, spiritual joy, inspiration, and artistic expression after a long and painful draught; and this applies to any situation The Sun points to. Oftentimes the Adept thinks that inspiration will last forever. She procrastinates, allowing distractions to win the day. Her inspiration is drained away and she's left feeling empty. But this rarely happens to the Adept that crosses the Abyss and reaches past the Dark Night to find the New Day. Such individuals have access to an inexhaustible source of energy because they're following their True Will; they know their Purpose. The Adept is psychologically integrated, and what's generally experienced as distracting for others doesn't create a disturbance for her. For example, in situations where most people would respond impulsively, the Adept remains unmoved. Compare the turbulent surface of the sea to silence of the ocean floor. Such is the difference between the ignorant and the Adept.
Most people go through life identified with whatever they're born into. For example, a person born into a communist family will probably grow to be a communist also. It's very rare that a person breaks away from his roots entirely. That people rebel is common enough. But if you rebel against your Christian upbringing, say, by becoming an Atheist, you're still reacting according to your conditioning. What to say of the person working to divorce his conditioning entirely? Such a person isn't reacting against her conditioning. Such a person digs into the question of her conditioning entirely and has concluded that it's all borrowed and artificial. She therefore puts this conditioning aside to discover something not given by circumstance.
To discover this space is to become self-actualized…
However, this too can become just another form of bondage, and we may not welcome the cyclic nature of the Self. I've personally experienced states of such deep absorption that it sometimes felt as if I were drugged or dying. Things which would normally elicit a strong emotional reaction wouldn't make so much as a ripple. My appetite for food, sex, or entertainment would completely vanish at such times and I sometimes thought, "This is it, this is enlightenment!"
But I was wrong…
As soon as I relaxed my vigilance or quit the technique (or ritual) I was using, the state would abruptly end, and I'd be once again left with my neuroses.
This issue also lies at the heart of all magick.
magick has been defined as the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with Will. The effects of magick are the result of cohesive psychic force. I'm not referring to those branches of magick that rely on the aid of non-physical beings. Rather, I'm talking about the very essence of magick, whic
h requires nothing in the way of outside help.
Throughout the pages of this book, I've been emphasizing the potency of a mind without conflict. Such a mind is free to observe without interference. The subject can be anything from the mind itself---it's memories, dreams, and reflections---to a chosen aspect of divinity. It’s important to note that the act of observing is itself a form of conflict, as it implies an observer separate from the observed. In magick, however, it's the very tension between oneself and that which one desires that creates the energy necessary to obtain the desired effect. The tension (conflict) created by the sorcerer is set-up deliberately. It’s a law of Nature that all tensions between two opposite things must inevitably find resolution by uniting. We see this, for example, in the creation of a thunderstorm or hurricane. This state of tension between two opposing elements is what’s meant by the word “Love”, and the controlled creation of this tension is what’s meant by the phrase, “Love under Will”.
The Sun represents inexhaustible Willpower, and the joy of exercising it.
These skills (let’s call them that) demand a different type of awareness, and what's useful in one state may be worthless in another. The good news is that each level of awareness gives a strength transferable from one skill to the next. But we can't even take one step in the right direction without first eliminating conflict from the psyche. In the card, conflict is represented by the two split halves of an apple located at the feet of the dancing winged children (Forbidden Fruit). Its resolution is symbolized by the twelve rays emanating from the Sun, unhindered through the twelve Zodiacal signs.
We've already discussed how this conflict must cease at the very outset of our quest, not the end. What we've not discussed is the ability to move effortlessly from one level of awareness to another, and from one state of consciousness to another. For example, let's say that you've developed the power of mindfulness to an impressive degree. You've learned a lot about yourself and many beautiful, terrifying, and profound experiences have been yours. You then discover that, although you can concentrate on your internal state, you can't focus with similar intensity on your tasks at work. Yet, even here, your mindfulness training comes in handy because through it you’re able to perceive this handicap.
This conflict between mind-states occurs because you're conditioned to attend primarily to your internal states at the expense of your environment. In mindfulness training, it often becomes necessary to turn off awareness of the outside world so as to focus upon your inner world. In order for self-knowledge to deepen, introversion must at times become all-important. As a result of this, your gaze becomes sharp when directed inward but fuzzy when focused outward.
The Sun also represents that aspect of meditation in which the meditator becomes one with the object meditated upon.
Many people are familiar with one aspect of meditation only, called concentration. Unfortunately, what most people infer from this is that they must narrow their awareness until all else is excluded, much like a spotlight does. They sit motionless while imagining an object, such as a blue square, a flying nun, or whatever. They’re told that if they can do this for three minutes without a break in concentration they’ll become enlightened. What they aren’t aware of is that they’re not really concentrating at all, for there are many things moving below their surface awareness, and in yogic concentration all movement constitutes a "break" in attention. In contemplation movement is fine. Contemplation is certainly a part of meditation (it can be done for its own sake as well) but is not meditation per se. In meditation all movement must cease, including the movement of contemplation; and when movement ceases, energy accumulates.
Energy is power, and power is the essence of magick…
For magick to work it must become your very lifestyle. First, you must be aware so that energy isn’t being wasted in trivia. This is the reason for the injunctions given to magicians and mystics alike, warning them not to waste energy in sexual excess, useless talk, mentation, overwork, and so on.
An example of how magick works goes something like this:
You perform a purification bath. This symbolizes the washing of conflict from your life. This is the first step. Next, you robe yourself and enter the temple. All of this is done very consciously, without mental recourse to why it’s being done or what the results might be. Any and all identification with the purpose of the ritual is a form of conflict, so it’s avoided. The putting on of the robe is meant to signal to your subconscious mind that something extraordinary is about to happen; the subconscious will therefore yield the energy needed to accomplish the desired effect. This comes in the beginning so that there’s no need to ponder it further, for to do so would squander the energy of one’s Will. The same proves true in common matters also: the very urge to find the solution to a problem brings the energy needed to solve it. The Sun represents this energy of True Willpower.
But this enhanced Willpower has a dark side…
To understand how the shadow side of The Sun operates, we must turn for a moment to the issue of power. Not too many people like their bosses. Be that as it may, many people hate authority figures because they secretly wish to be one! When given a taste of power, we humans tend to lose our heads. Also, many folks see in the acquisition of power an opportunity to make themselves look bigger than they are.
Just as in the shadow side of The Star we find the need for self-recognition, in the dark-side of The Sun we find the desire to eliminate all other nominees! As power grows, so too must the ability to expediently employ it. What often happens instead is that power grows faster than our capacity to handle it.
The Sun is a symbol of concentrated power, and yet it doesn’t function like a spotlight. Unless its rays are channeled through a medium that narrows them, The Sun is really an enormous floodlight. As such, it shines its light on all things equally. It’s not until someone power hungry fool focuses those beams through a magnifying glass that we find the more fearsome aspect of The Sun.
In Kabbalistic terms (see Glossary), if The Sun is shining in the sky of the Ruach (Reason), then we’re dealing with the rational side of this card. Still, those solar rays of “reason” can be employed either in service of a greater intellectual unity or as a narcissistic beam of destruction. In a Tarot reading, it’s easy to determine which of these you’re dealing with by interpreting The Sun in light of the other cards in the spread.
If The Sun is shining in the sky of the Guph/Nephesh (primal human nature), the very same energy is experienced as organismic consciousness, that is, the heart, blood, nerve-force and bioelectricity (Qi, Prana, Orgone).
Going deeper still, beyond the Guph/Nephesh and the Ruach, we enter into the realm of the Neschamah/Chiah dynamism. In this sky, The Sun shines as the enlightened Mind. This is the maturing of the Child/Butterfly phase of our journey through the Major Arcana. In the card, this is confirmed by the butterfly-like configuration of the twin children dancing their way down the green mountain of paradise. The red wall surrounding this green mountain is more so a prison than a paradise and recalls images of the Biblical Garden of Eden.
It’s been said that man, once expelled by God from the Garden, is now free to turn the entire world into an Eden. God, on the other hand, is still stuck in the original Eden, imprisoned behind the walls of His own creation. But mankind has succeeded, not in turning the planet into a new Eden, but in creating yet another prison.
The apple, so it seems, doesn't fall far from the tree!
This walled garden eventually goes on to become The Tower (16th trump), and we regress backwards instead of moving forward. Lucky for us the next card, The Aeon, heralds a new age, not a dark one.
The Aeon
The Spirit of the Primal Fire
Trump #20
Elemental Trump of Fire and Spirit
Path: #31 (Hod to Malkuth)
Letter: Shin ("tooth") (Numerical value: 300)
Helpful Quotes
"Be every Act an Act of Worship!
/> Be every Act the Fiat of a God!
Be every Act a Source of radiant Glory."
-Aleister Crowley
"We have, then, available to us two basic modes of knowing: one that has been variously termed symbolic, or map, or inferential, or dualistic knowledge; while the other has been called intimate, or direct, or non-dual knowledge."
-Ken Wilber
"When I enter most intimately into what I call 'myself,' I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception itself.'
-David Hume
Contemplation
"Be every Act an Act of Worship!
Be every Act the Fiat of a God!
Be every Act a Source of radiant Glory!
The Aeon is evolution, both collective and personal. We’re being told to keep our minds and hearts open to new discoveries in science and soul, so that we may fortify our understanding of the universe and our place within it. For an emerging paradigm to transcend the old it must include the old discoveries; it must stand on the shoulders of past paradigms, keeping what works while scrutinizing what doesn't. In this sense, The Aeon has within itself the basic functions of the Art and Adjustment cards. Traditionally, these three cards---Adjustment, Art, and The Aeon---are seen as the “balancing” cards of the Major Arcana. We can better understand the differences and similarities shared by these three trumps by way of analogy to the art of gardening. On the one hand, a plant will need the right combination of sun, soil, and water to grow. A little too much or too little of either and the plant will die or not grow at all. This working out of the proper ratio of elements is the key function of Adjustment, whereas the combining of the elements themselves is the key function of Art. But what of The Aeon? How does that card fit into our analogy? Well, The Aeon is the “moment of truth”. That is to say, The Aeon is the final result of all your efficient or inefficient work as a gardener.
Predicting The Present Page 26