Thelemic Holy Season: Day 16
93!
Zain
The Lovers
Liber LXV, Ch. 2
Today's path is attributed to Gemini, my sun sign. This is a path of communication, in a place where words often fail. (To communicate, there must be at least two people...) It bridges the balanced, integrated self and spiritual understanding. It is the reconciliation and unification of opposites (sound familiar by now?) Taken downwards, it is "becoming two things", and then multiple - the spread and separation of spiritual understanding into personalities and qualities.
I found a fitting quote in this interesting article. "The balance does not rule the Universe, it IS the Universe. In its duality is singularity, and in that singularity is the beginning of everything."
The Lovers card echoes the imagery of previous cards - man and woman, opposites, eagle and lion, orphic egg, hermit...the story continues either way you look at the sequence. There is lots of alchemical imagery here, which is resolved in the Art card. (This article is an interesting introduction to alchemy and the Thoth tarot.)
There is also an arch of swords in the background. Other than being a phallic symbol, the sword in the tarot is a weapon of air - the power of words and intellect to separate. Here, it is a symbol of the path that leads the other way, as well as the "double-edged" nature of speech. (Duality again. Of course.)
Today's text also alludes to alchemy and transformation. The lines about the speaker and the statue of Asi (Isis or Aset) seem to me to relate to the changing colors in alchemical processes mentioned in the above article - basically a sequence of putrefaction and purification. These ideas can, of course, be applied to internal processes of refinement - one of the main themes of alchemy. The description of dolphin and harper speaks of continual transformation, reminding me a little of the shapechanges in Celtic myth. Once more, we see that this is dynamic - in fact, none of these paths have been truly static. (Perhaps the Hanged Man, although that is a pause between processes, a stillness that makes movement possible.) We traverse these paths endlessly - the real challenge, perhaps, is coming back across the Abyss, bearing the new wisdom. (The challenge of communication, perhaps?)
christeos_pir's writings on this path reminded me of the Feri idea of the Shadow Lover - another side of ourselves that must be accepted and united with. When I did this exercise in the Iron Pentacle workshop, I realized how much of others I carry in myself. If the work has been done properly in Tiphareth, it is possible to move forward to unity and infinitely complex simpicity.
93 93/93
Zain
The Lovers
Liber LXV, Ch. 2
Today's path is attributed to Gemini, my sun sign. This is a path of communication, in a place where words often fail. (To communicate, there must be at least two people...) It bridges the balanced, integrated self and spiritual understanding. It is the reconciliation and unification of opposites (sound familiar by now?) Taken downwards, it is "becoming two things", and then multiple - the spread and separation of spiritual understanding into personalities and qualities.
I found a fitting quote in this interesting article. "The balance does not rule the Universe, it IS the Universe. In its duality is singularity, and in that singularity is the beginning of everything."
The Lovers card echoes the imagery of previous cards - man and woman, opposites, eagle and lion, orphic egg, hermit...the story continues either way you look at the sequence. There is lots of alchemical imagery here, which is resolved in the Art card. (This article is an interesting introduction to alchemy and the Thoth tarot.)
There is also an arch of swords in the background. Other than being a phallic symbol, the sword in the tarot is a weapon of air - the power of words and intellect to separate. Here, it is a symbol of the path that leads the other way, as well as the "double-edged" nature of speech. (Duality again. Of course.)
Today's text also alludes to alchemy and transformation. The lines about the speaker and the statue of Asi (Isis or Aset) seem to me to relate to the changing colors in alchemical processes mentioned in the above article - basically a sequence of putrefaction and purification. These ideas can, of course, be applied to internal processes of refinement - one of the main themes of alchemy. The description of dolphin and harper speaks of continual transformation, reminding me a little of the shapechanges in Celtic myth. Once more, we see that this is dynamic - in fact, none of these paths have been truly static. (Perhaps the Hanged Man, although that is a pause between processes, a stillness that makes movement possible.) We traverse these paths endlessly - the real challenge, perhaps, is coming back across the Abyss, bearing the new wisdom. (The challenge of communication, perhaps?)
christeos_pir's writings on this path reminded me of the Feri idea of the Shadow Lover - another side of ourselves that must be accepted and united with. When I did this exercise in the Iron Pentacle workshop, I realized how much of others I carry in myself. If the work has been done properly in Tiphareth, it is possible to move forward to unity and infinitely complex simpicity.
93 93/93