by Marcus Katz
The Mountain of Myrrh
An Esoteric Tarot Narrative
Containing a treatise upon the Emblemata Sacra commonly referred to as the Tarot.
Also Known as
Liber CCCLX (360)
Sepher Hafra'á
The Book of Perturbation
O.E.D. Zelator Grade Material
Publication in Class C
MARCUS KATZ
Twelve spokes, one wheel, navels three.
Who can comprehend this?
On it are placed together
three hundred and sixty like pegs.
They shake not in the least.
— Dirghatamas, Rigveda 1.164.48
FORGE PRESS
Keswick, Cumbria, 2019
www.westernesotericism.com
Copyright © Marcus Katz, 2019.
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.
Enquiries should be made to the author.
Tarosophy® and Western Esoteric Initiatory System® are registered trademarks.
Dedication
To the dedication of the Initiates of the Order of Everlasting Day.
And as ever, and above all, this book is spiritually dedicated to
Antistita Astri Argentei
The Priestess of the Silver Star
She whose light leads the way to the Arcanum Arcanorum, the Secret of Secrets
Vos Vos Vos Vos Vos
V.V.V.V.V.
PREAMBLE
In this booklet is set out a progressive series of esoteric correspondences utilising the Tarot.
As symbols they are woven as if in a dream.
As numbers they are structured and sequenced in patterns.
As meaning they are narrated to create a demonstration of their connectivity.
The whole is explained as a textual Tree of Life.
Any confusion within this document will often be resolved by appropriate attribution.
A fictional narrative then presents the Emblems in their grace.
The reader should ardently look for patterns of three, four, five, seven, ten, twelve or twenty-two.
Often a pattern is given in ascent and descent, above and below, one in two.
The point is towards the light of understanding, wisdom and knowledge.
COMMENTARY (PREAMBLE)
This booklet is set out as an exercise in correspondence and a demonstration of the use of such in creating narrative verse.
It seeks to present new ways of looking at Tarot and encourages the reader towards novel interpretations and insights of the works of many Esoteric authors who have utilised a similar approach in the past, particularly Aleister Crowley and A. E. Waite.
The ten lines of the Preamble themselves are set to a Kabbalistic template, following the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, ascending from Malkuth to Kether.
This booklet is a gate through which the reader may find the dawn-laden meadow, and upon crossing it, come at last to the forge in which awaits the crucible of the everlasting day.
The reader is cordially invited to join us in that Crucible.
www.marcuskatz.net
COMMENTARY (TITLE PAGE)
This structure of this booklet is inspired by two significant but enigmatic works of Aleister Crowley; the Book of Lies and Wake-World.
It further takes inspiration from a similar work by A. E. Waite, Steps to the Crown.
As a title, I have taken a pair of symbols noted by both Crowley and Waite to point to the most profane and sacred of mysteries; The Mountain of Myrrh.
A companion piece to this present work will soon follow and be titled with the paired symbol, The Fig Tree.
The Order title of this work is the “Book of Perturbation”, a word here taken in an astronomical context as applying to the complex motion of a body when subject to other forces.
It denotes that symbols are interlocked and the trembling of one symbol has consequences upon the entire system.
The Hebrew word for ‘perturbation’ equates to 360 by Gematria, the numerology of Kabbalah, this number being the number of degrees in a perfect circle.
It demonstrates that disturbance arises within the fabric of order.
- 0 -
CAPUT 0
SHUSH
The Master Key Words
Or, the Answer to the Least important Question of All.
Silence.
Speech. Secrecy.
Nature. Power. Religion.
Love. Mind. Relationship. Self.
Union. Balance. Value. Life. Integration.
Knowledge. Release. Vision. Reflection. Expansion. Decision.
Comprehension.
COMMENTARY (C. 0)
The sound “shush” or “shh” is the perfect simple sound of the womb and the optimum phoneme for immediate cessation of meaning
The secret of the true enigma is unbearable silence. Therefore, no-one should remain before stepping off the cliff-edge into the void. If 1 should remain, the 0 will be imperfect and return immediately to 10 fragments in what is termed the cascade magnus, or ‘Greater Fall’.
The Keywords in this chapter [caput] follow the sequence of Major Arcana in the Tarot, and in other chapters follow the Minor Arcana in Decreasing numerical order, through the four Worlds of Kabbalah; Pentacles/Assiah, Swords/Yetzirah, Cups/Briah and Wands/Atzliuth.
Then follows the Court Cards in order of ascent though the Worlds.
In this chapter the keywords are arranged in a triangle to demonstrate how patterns and relationships are highlighted within particular arrangements of the cards.
A tarot deck is a constant and living prayer, as is life.
It exists as a perpetual re-arrangement of the infinite void between silence and comprehension.
This verse also refers to the silence of the Aeons and Harpokrates.
NOTE
The question is “What is in the Fool’s Satchel?”
- I -
CAPUT I
PLENTY, ASLEEP IN JUPITER’S GARDEN
In the Intermediate Space is Bound the Will.
The Daemons are many and various, and the main of them is Love.
Neither Mortal nor Immortal.
Through Will and Love subsists the sciences of the sacred;
All divination.
All sacrifice and Expiation.
All disenchantment.
All Prophecy.
All Magic.
When we are Plenty, we Sleep.
COMMENTARY (C. I)
The title refers to a description by Plato in The Banquet, wherein is described the nature of philosophy - and, the Daemon Socrates.
Plenty, son of Metis, attends the great feast, which is celebrating the birth of Venus. He becomes drunk and falls to sleep in Jove’s garden, where he is found by Poverty. She, low of estate and desiring a child, lays with him and conceives - their child is Love.
Plato goes on to describe Love as the Servant of Venus and of a far more troubled nature; “so far from being delicate and beautiful, as mankind imagine”.
“Love is the Law, Love under Will”.
In this section, relating to the tarot card of the Magician, is described the power and nature of philosophy applied to the magical act.
As with each Arcana, we will return to this card in the narrative section.
- II -
CAPUT II
SANCTUM SANCTORUM
She is the Indwelling Glory and Abiding Mercy in the Chamber of the Heart.
Betwixt the Pillars of Time.
Upon the Cubical Altar of Space.
Th
e Veil is but the dust thrown up of I MUST BE.
We do not draw it back but rather await our own withdrawal.
It is Remembrance of the Divine Estate.
Reconciliation.
Neither Memory nor Realisation.
It cannot be remembered.
It cannot be Real.
It is the Loss of Forgetfulness.
COMMENTARY (C. II)
The Tarot Trump labelled La Papess or High Priestess is an image of the Shekinah, the presence of the divine upon the Altar of the Apparent.
The veil is the dust thrown up by the activity of the mind. It is only when we still our own feet and be silent that it settles. At that point we realise it was only ever there because of our own seeking.
“I am that which is attained at the end of desire”.
- III -
CAPUT III
THE VIRIDIAN TABLET
1. If it only existed it would be enough.
2. That all things are created is its certain truth.
3. With no mother, it bears all in its womb.
(And nothing dies within it)
4. It remains beyond recognition of mercy or fear.
5. For it has no edge to define itself.
6. Yet its edge is an endless mirror.
7. In time it is a moving likeness of eternity.
8. It recognises only itself.
9. No matter the dream, it can be awoken.
10. And it is enough, then, that it exists.
COMMENTARY (C. III)
The Astrological Symbol of Venus, corresponding to the third Tarot Arcana of the Empress, is the only symbol to connect all ten Sephiroth when traced onto the Tree of Life.
It is therefore a symbol of love and unity; indeed, the Hebrew words for love and unity, Ahavah and Achad, both equate to 13 by Gematria and together sum to 26, the number of the divine name YHVH.
Viridian is a type of green as is Emerald.
- IV -
CAPUT IV
MARCH!
I never understood Surrealism.
Until the poet Enrique Enriquez said to me ‘it arose from a political necessity’, as a reaction to a singular madness and human atrocity.
It arose to remind us forever never to forget our common sense.
And, as he kindly explained, in a simple way that stopped me dead and absolutely changed the way I saw it;
“It was so that if they ever said ‘March!’ again, everyone would simply laugh and reply ‘April!’”
COMMENTARY (C. IV)
Peshat
There is a power in listening and learning [Heh in Assiah].
Remez
There is a power in remembering [Heh in Yetzirah].
Derash
There is a power in being able to change the way you look at things [Heh in Briah].
Sod
There is a power in the word [Heh in Atziluth].
This section relates to Atu IV, the Emperor, which corresponds to the Spring Equinox in March.
- V -
CAPUT V
A RATTLE OF LOCKS
In the temple, Upon the Altar, A Box, A Box,
A Rattle of Locks.
In the Box, Upon the Altar, A Light, A Light,
Full of Delight,
In the Box, A Box,
A Rattle of Locks.
In the Light, Within the Box, A Flame, A Flame,
The Call of your Name,
In the Light, A Light,
Full of Delight,
In the Box, A Box,
A Rattle of Locks.
In the Name, Within the Flame, A Mystery, A Mystery,
A Rosy Key,
Set you free.
In the Call of your Name,
In the Light, A Light,
Full of Delight,
In the Box, A Box,
A Rattle of Locks.
COMMENTARY (C. V)
There are three fundamental blocks in the construction and presentation of oneself to oneself; a set of values/beliefs, a means of self-identity and a sense of time in which to transport those values and identity from moment to moment.
These are illustrated by the cards of the Hanged Man (values), the Hierophant (beliefs), the Hermit (Self-Identity) and the Wheel (Time).
One might look upon these cards upon the Tree of Life for further elucidation.
The Hierophant illustrates the interface between what is believed and what is actual - in itself, an unknowable mystery.
It is thus no wonder the Hierophant is the most disliked card amongst readers of tarot.
- VI -
CAPUT VI
BY THE LIGHT OF A FARTHING DIP
The Whore’s Catechism
DEMANDE.
Quelles qualités doit avoir une putain?
RÉPONSE.
Trois qualités essentielles.
DEMANDE.
Quelles sont ces qualités?
RÉPONSE.
L'effronterie, la complaisance et la métamorphose.
COMMENTARY (C. VI)
The Catechism libertin, or ‘Whore’s Catechism’ is falsely attributed to Theroigne de Mericourt. However, it was originally published in 1791, and later re-published in 1881 by Gay et Doucé as “Catéchisme libertin à l'usage des filles de joie et des jeunes demoiselles qui se décident à embrasser cette profession.”
It was published first in English as ‘The Whore's Catechism’, by Mary Wilson, Spinster (London, 1830). Wilson - likely a pseudonym - also wrote Venus School Mistress, The Voluptuous Night and the dedication for The Spirit of Flagellation.
It would appear that the three essential qualities of a whore are also those of an Initiate.
First, a lack of shame in the sense of self-acceptance and comfort in oneself for oneself.
Second, complacency in terms of working without lust of result.
Thirdly, an ability to actively court and accept transformation.
The title of this chapter is taken from a note by Aleister Crowley in which he described writing a particular section in The Book of Lies which was of later significance.
- VII -
CAPUT VII
JACK IN THE GREEN
Jack took a trade, made himself a kettle,
Beat it himself, made out of metal.
Jack took the Kettle, went out for tea,
Got burnt by the metal and stung by a bee.
Jack took the tea, threw it away,
Got wet by the tea, no time to play.
Jack took his trousers, hung them to dry,
Got called names by a rude passer-by.
Jack chased after the stranger, left his home,
Got lost in the woods, scared and alone.
Jack climbed a tree all the way to the top,
Fell all the way down and came to a stop.
COMMENTARY (C. VII)
Jack is a theophoric name, deriving from the name of a deity, such as Demetrius, ‘devoted to Demeter’. In the case of Jack, which has come to stand for an ‘everyman’, it derives from the Hebrew, YVChNN, ‘god is gracious’.
This word totals 10 + 6 + 8 + 50 + 700 = 774, by Gematria, which is given in 777 as ‘filia septenarri’ [it should be septenaria].
In turn, this is BTh ShBA’a (seventh daughter). Such a child, daughter or son, was said to be born with the gift of healing or prophecy.
Any story of Jack might well have him as a seventh son.
There is a long history of Jack tales, such as Jack and Jill, and one in particular is a cumulative (or chain) tale, The House That Jack Built:
This is the man all tattered and torn
That kissed the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.[1]
Such chain tales might be considered initiatory fables, similar to an Aramaic and Hebrew song, Chad Gadya, which first appeared c
. 1590, and is commonly sung at the end of the Passover Seder.
It has ten verses which can be interpreted as stages of initiation upon the Tree of Life.
(1) Then came The Holy One, Blessed be He, and (2) smote the angel of death, who slew the (3) slaughterer, who killed (4) the ox, that (5) drank the water, that (6) put out the fire, that (7) burned the stick, that (8) beat the dog, that (9) bit the cat, that ate (10) the goat, Which my father bought for two zuzim.
- VIII -
CAPUT VIII
THE TENTS OF KEDAR
It is true, sayeth the Psalmist, that the coals of Juniper are alike to heat as the sharpness of arrows. It is true that we must look upwards for salvation. It is true, that which is divine does not sleep. Yet it is true that the tents of Kedar are found still within the shade of our right hand and the embers of that fire are not yet diminished.