Thelemic Holy Season: Day 10
93!
Mem
The Hanged Man
Liber LXV, Ch.3
Vee-Deck Hanged Man
First of all, a few more thoughts about yesterday and Death. This is another apt card for the Department, even more than the Tower. (How many more times are you guys going to be hearing this? ;) ) For quite a while, my personal symbol for the Department was the phoenix. It's current rebirth only makes it more apt. Heya!
I continued to deal with liminality today (fairly standard these days, really). Today was the New Moon and I rededicated Hekate's shrine and made an offering. It was very intense, much more so than it usually is. Seems appropriate enough...
Yesterday I realized that I had to let go a little (more than a little). I decided to listen more. To look for my Will rather than tell myself what it is. Today's card and path continue and intensify this theme.
The Hanged Man represents a change of perspective, sacrifice, suspension of action to gain wisdom. Hanging between the worlds. It's most often linked to Odin hanging from the World Tree to gain knowledge of the runes. It's opening up and surrendering to what is larger and deeper.
This change in perspective can be both why we learn magic - and a consequence of doing magic. It's the moment when you think, "Oh, crap. This is real." (If you're me. Perhaps others accept things more gracefully.) I have had such moments in the past, and continue to. (The most recent being about an hour ago. Yeah.) It's the shift in awareness where everything suddenly looks different - and the people around you think you're crazy. (Or you're afraid they will.)
It's also an important part of the creative process, and one I have difficulty with. I'm quite stubborn, and tend to hammer away at whatever I'm working on, regardless of if it fits or not. This is the path of looking at it differently.
This path on the Tree, the path of Mem, is deeply paradoxical. It's the path between Hod (basic rationality) and Geburah (severity, strength, force.) Geburah is associated with Mars. This is the quick precise cut, the path of learning our power. (I don't think it's coincidence that I've felt Scathach's presence more strongly lately. This path seems very Her. And very Departmental, come to thing of it. Surprise!)
But the card attributed to such an active path...is semi-passive. Waiting. Holding space. Being in between (and I suddenly realize why this one resonates with me so strongly. This is where I am right now, especially in regards to my future.) The deep transformation begun in the Death card hasn't been resolved yet.
Many of the concepts on this path are associated with fire (by me, at least.) Yet, what is this path's attribution? Water. It all becomes very Taoist:
" Water is the softest and most yielding substance.
Yet nothing is better than water,
for overcoming the hard and rigid,
because nothing can compete with it. "
(Tao Te Ching, translated by j.h.mcdonald)
This attribution hints at where true strength lies, and the importance of balance. This is a huge overall theme of the Tree.
I've been doing a lot of water-related work lately, not intentionally. The swimming, which I will get back to (maybe tomorrow?) This month I'm getting to know Poseidon for God of the Month. And I've really be dealing with my emotions lately, instead of surpressing them.
I really love the Vee-Deck image of the astronaut. Suspended in the arms of Nuit - lovely. A personal image of this path is floating on my back in a swimming pool and half-projecting. (I strongly associate these things.) Suspended between multiple sets of worlds. Learning strength, learning to flow. (Why hello again, Scathach.)
Today I opened and held in abeyance. I tried to see things differently (the poetry assignment I used today was a nice departure from my usual way of working.) Tomorrow I continue to act. May the paths be opened (which is suddenly appropriate on more levels than one).
93 93/93
Mem
The Hanged Man
Liber LXV, Ch.3
Vee-Deck Hanged Man
First of all, a few more thoughts about yesterday and Death. This is another apt card for the Department, even more than the Tower. (How many more times are you guys going to be hearing this? ;) ) For quite a while, my personal symbol for the Department was the phoenix. It's current rebirth only makes it more apt. Heya!
I continued to deal with liminality today (fairly standard these days, really). Today was the New Moon and I rededicated Hekate's shrine and made an offering. It was very intense, much more so than it usually is. Seems appropriate enough...
Yesterday I realized that I had to let go a little (more than a little). I decided to listen more. To look for my Will rather than tell myself what it is. Today's card and path continue and intensify this theme.
The Hanged Man represents a change of perspective, sacrifice, suspension of action to gain wisdom. Hanging between the worlds. It's most often linked to Odin hanging from the World Tree to gain knowledge of the runes. It's opening up and surrendering to what is larger and deeper.
This change in perspective can be both why we learn magic - and a consequence of doing magic. It's the moment when you think, "Oh, crap. This is real." (If you're me. Perhaps others accept things more gracefully.) I have had such moments in the past, and continue to. (The most recent being about an hour ago. Yeah.) It's the shift in awareness where everything suddenly looks different - and the people around you think you're crazy. (Or you're afraid they will.)
It's also an important part of the creative process, and one I have difficulty with. I'm quite stubborn, and tend to hammer away at whatever I'm working on, regardless of if it fits or not. This is the path of looking at it differently.
This path on the Tree, the path of Mem, is deeply paradoxical. It's the path between Hod (basic rationality) and Geburah (severity, strength, force.) Geburah is associated with Mars. This is the quick precise cut, the path of learning our power. (I don't think it's coincidence that I've felt Scathach's presence more strongly lately. This path seems very Her. And very Departmental, come to thing of it. Surprise!)
But the card attributed to such an active path...is semi-passive. Waiting. Holding space. Being in between (and I suddenly realize why this one resonates with me so strongly. This is where I am right now, especially in regards to my future.) The deep transformation begun in the Death card hasn't been resolved yet.
Many of the concepts on this path are associated with fire (by me, at least.) Yet, what is this path's attribution? Water. It all becomes very Taoist:
" Water is the softest and most yielding substance.
Yet nothing is better than water,
for overcoming the hard and rigid,
because nothing can compete with it. "
(Tao Te Ching, translated by j.h.mcdonald)
This attribution hints at where true strength lies, and the importance of balance. This is a huge overall theme of the Tree.
I've been doing a lot of water-related work lately, not intentionally. The swimming, which I will get back to (maybe tomorrow?) This month I'm getting to know Poseidon for God of the Month. And I've really be dealing with my emotions lately, instead of surpressing them.
I really love the Vee-Deck image of the astronaut. Suspended in the arms of Nuit - lovely. A personal image of this path is floating on my back in a swimming pool and half-projecting. (I strongly associate these things.) Suspended between multiple sets of worlds. Learning strength, learning to flow. (Why hello again, Scathach.)
Today I opened and held in abeyance. I tried to see things differently (the poetry assignment I used today was a nice departure from my usual way of working.) Tomorrow I continue to act. May the paths be opened (which is suddenly appropriate on more levels than one).
93 93/93