The Hierophant/Five of Swords: This card connection suggests loss of Spiritual balance and Awareness (crown on bottom tip of pentagram) due to the interference of thought. It may also symbolize a fall from grace or an attack of conscience. This may be experienced as an intense feeling of guilt or unworthiness for having sinned against God or one's higher principles. There may be guilt for having betrayed the trust of a loved one. On another level, this card connection suggests the danger implicit in thinking one's own belief system to be the only correct one. However, the opposite may also be implied here: a crisis wherein one begins to doubt everything one has believed to be true until now. These are the times when our faith is shaken to the roots (falling rose petals in background), leading us (hopefully) to the state of deep inquiry represented by the next card, the Six of Swords. Crowley refers to the Five of Swords as "Virtue declined." It's through lack of true attention that the so-called vices are given free reign, for the absence of Light is Darkness (Venus in Aquarius=pacifism and laziness).
The Hierophant/Five of Disks: This card combination suggests a threat to the established church. For example, the hidden sayings of Jesus, said to be contained in the “Gospel of St. Thomas”, speaks of the Church (any church) as an unimportant element, possibly even a barrier to the experience of the "Kingdom of God." The Five of Disks is Mercury in Taurus. Crowley refers to the Five of Disks and the inverted pentagram as follows: "The background is an angry, ugly red with yellow markings. The general effect is one of intense strain; yet the symbol implies long-continued inaction." The battle here is with spiritual inertia. What generally tends to happen at this stage—and this is the case with every card—is that it reverts to where it began. In other words, that which began in the Five of Wands ended in disappointment (Five of Cups). This created a conflict for which a decision needed to be made and a solution found. When this doesn't occur there's a tendency to simply give up (Five of Swords), causing stubbornness to degenerate into lethargy (Five of Disks). When this creates even further anxiety, there arises a great desire to revitalize one's sense of meaning in life. This is the return to the "Strife" of the Five of Wands. This creates a vicious circle wherein action is only taken because the pressure of Environment has become unbearable.
And who, in our Tarot deck, is master of the environment? Why, The Magus, of course!
The Hierophant is a mature form of The Magus, having grown into a spiritual dimension, just as The Emperor is the mature form of The Magus, having grown into a material dimension. The Hermit is The Magus retreating to the wilderness and returning as the Awakened One (The Hierophant). The Hermit signifies the abandoning of all ambitious pursuit (The Emperor grown weary). The Emperor, having arrived at the understanding that any action born of ignorance must inevitably be unfulfilling, decides instead to conquer himself. This initiates a long and arduous pilgrimage towards truth and self-fulfillment (The Fool/The Hermit). Finally, he solves his own equation (The Lovers) and finds fulfillment (Art), ending all conflict. He's then reborn as The Magus, formulating the expression of his attainment, and The Magus becomes The Hierophant (Bringer of Light). In the Thoth Tarot, The Hierophant (Vau) must marry The Star (Heh), that is, The Hierophant must marry Emptiness—the creative chaos of infinite possibility—for the formula of The Universe is Love.
The "Book of the Law" says:
"Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth." (Ch.1. V, 40.)
Notice how the author of this book (Aiwass) has used the word "lover" in the singular sense, suggesting that duality has been transcended. He may be referring, not to any one of the Lovers in particular, but to the child of their union, for the "man of Earth" is none other than The Hierophant himself. But what of the union that produces that child? The next card in sequence reveals exactly that.
The Lovers:
The Children of the Voice
The Oracle of the Mighty Gods
Trump #6
Zodiacal Trump of Gemini
Mercury Rules---Dragon's Head Exalted
Letter: Zain (sword) (numerical value: 7)
Path: #17 (Binah to Tiphareth)
NOTE: (To this Trump can be attributed the entire suit of Swords. As the sixth trump, The Lovers is associated with the sixth Sephira on the Tree of Life, Tiphareth—the Ruach [intellectual Center], to which is attributed the ceremonial Weapon known as the Sword.)
Helpful Quotes:
"The Oracle of the Gods is the Child-Voice of Love
in thine own soul! Hear thou it!
Heed not the Siren-Voice of sense, or the
Phantom-Voice of Reason: rest in simplicity,
and listen to the Silence."
-Aleister Crowley.
"The Lovers represent two opposites which yearn for and are attracted to one another.
This duality which is reflected in every aspect of existence, is existentially experienced
in the relations between man and woman. Every attempt at approach, union, connection, is an expression of the passionate urge to re-establish this lost Oneness."
-Gerd Ziegler
"Invite all parts of yourself to join you at the peace table in your heart."
-Jack Kornfield
"Love, Lover, and Beloved are one."
-Vivekananda
Contemplation
The Lovers is arguably the most complex card in this deck. Its meanings are legion, ranging from romantic love to mystical union. For those familiar with the "magickal language," I've included in the Appendix an attached essay containing some special considerations about this card. If this is gibberish to some readers, I strongly encourage you to read “Godwin's Kabbalistic Encyclopedia”, as well as Aleister Crowley's wonderful book of correspondences, “777”.
Most of us are aware of the many catastrophes that happen in the name of love, most of which point to the fact that we're dealing not with love, but something altogether different. Often, we're dealing with such things as attachment, co-dependence, sexual-addiction, fear of being alone, wanting to feel needed or desired by another, and so forth. It's very rare that one gets a glimpse of that which lies beyond such things. Perhaps in orgasm, or while in deep, passionate (not merely lustful) embrace do we receive our first, but timeless, glimpses of this "little-death" called love. In the Thoth deck, The Tower represents the male orgasm; the female orgasm is represented by the Lust card.
An exhaustive discussion of The Lovers is impossible without including its relationship to the fourteenth trump, Art. They're both players in an alchemical story with a rather complicated plot. To put it simply, the most sublime interpretation of The Lovers pertains to the transmuting of lower drives into higher ones.
In the “Book of the Law”, the goddess Nuith says (Parentheses mine):
"Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove (The Priestess, The Empress, The Star), and there is the serpent (Lust/Art). Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God (The Tower/The Universe)."
-Book of the Law, Ch.1, Verse 57
If you glance at the diagram in the Appendix, you'll see that each of the above pairs of cards form a cross on the Tree of Life, indicating the marriage of the earthly (horizontal bar) and divine (vertical bar) realms:
•The path of Daleth cuts through that of Gimel, as does the path of Teth.
•The path of Peh intersects the path of Samekh.
The Priestess represents the holistic state of awareness brought about by the amalgamation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain, what Hindus refer to as the union of Ida (moon/subconscious) and Pingala (sun/conscious). This force congeals and accumulates in the middle channel called Sushumna (spinal column), corresponding Kabballistically to the path of Samekh, the Art card (14th trump). The upward shooting arrow seen in Art symbolizes the awakening of the "serpent power" called
Kundalini, represented symbolically in The Lovers by the serpent coiling around the Orphic Egg. The Magus represents the ability to communicate from the state of enlightenment brought about by this marriage. Indeed, the serpents entwined on The Magus’s head symbolize the fact that his kundalini has risen.
We can explain this inner alchemy of The Lovers and Art thusly:
Solve Et Coagula: “Dissolve and Bind”.
The essence of this Alchemical formula is found throughout the deck and involves raising one's entire field of energy into spheres of heightened awareness, which causes the lower drives to gravitate towards the higher level (dissolve and bind). Kabballistically speaking, this is Chiah (divine Will/Chokmah) and Neschamah (divine Understanding/Binah) working in harmony. Chiah represents a controlled link to what's known as the Yechidah (pure Self/Kether), while Neschamah represents the accessing of this link by way of direct intuition.
The Path of the mystic, sometimes called the Path of the Arrow, resides primarily on the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life. As we've seen, the modus operandi of the mystic is one of "awakening," and his first task is to recognize the unity of his own consciousness (Yesod=Moon/Tiphareth=Sun). Because of this awakening, the peripheral Sephiroth are simultaneously integrated onto the Middle Pillar. On the left side of Yesod (Being), we have Hod (reason/thought), and on the right we have Netzach (desire/emotion):
This is known as the Mundane Triangle.
On the left side of Tiphareth (awareness/imagination), we have Geburah (individual will/energy of desire), and on the right we have Chesed (biographical memory/habit):
This is known as the Moral Triangle.
All these psychic aspects are united and absorbed in the growing awareness of Tiphareth (beauty/gravity of mind), leading us to the door of the Supernal Triad and the realization of Kether, Chokmah, and Binah:
This is known as the Celestial Triangle.
All of these concepts are illustrated in the eighteenth trump, The Moon (integration of unconscious energies), and in the image of the Unicursal Hexagram. *(See Crowley’s "Book of Thoth", P. 11)
Even if contact with the supra-conscious energies is at some point subdued, it matters little so long as the effort toward integration was total. A seed has been planted and, when the season has come, that seed will flower. This is the true meaning of what's known as the "magickal Oath”. The latter isn't a mere verbal promise, but a driving question with which one's entire being is involved. The mind can try to think about it, solve it, analyze it, but it does so in vain. The magickal Oath is by its very nature unsolvable. It's the intensity of the question itself that makes for an authentic Oath. For example, if a man should discover that the issue of love is one that he simply can't ignore, he immediately finds himself in a position of having to either ignore or oblige the question, "What is love?" This is a question that can't be answered rationally, and the only thing capable of answering it is the experiencing of love itself, with all its joys, subtleties, and hangovers. This knowledge exposes the differences between love and lust, infatuation and devotion. Regardless what the Oath being made is about, the prerequisite is the same:
To Will a thing, and to make an Oath to fulfill that Will, must be such that it drives deep into the psyche, there to recognize itself in the wordless understanding of why such a question was so unavoidably important to begin with.
In short, we reach in with the Oath to embrace the Will reaching out (Eros and Agape). A technical device that simulates the magickal Oath is the infamous Zen Koan, which are questions designed with the understanding that they have no rational answers. Personally, I don't call it the "oath" at all; I call it the Passion. It just makes much more sense to call it that.
The magickal Oath is exactly that to which Krishnamurti is referring when he says:
"So have you planted that seed? And is the seed planted deep, in the deep valley of the brain, where there is soil, much richer soil than the soil of the earth? And from there it can grow, the answer, the decision, the action upon it."
NOTE: (The seasoned occultist will no doubt recognize in this quote the formula of V.I.T.R.I.O.L. I'm convinced that the formula of V.I.T.R.I.O.L. should be one with the formula of the Oath, which is just an expression of the True Will. The Oath + V.I.T.R.I.O.L. = True Will)
The issue of the Oath is a twofold process, one in which the aspirant consciously seeks the essence of the Oath while the Oath lies waiting to be found. It’s understood that the finding of the guiding force of one's life is, in fact, the silent uttering of the Oath itself. It’s Nietzsche’s “organizing principle” in its most sublime expression. This Path of the Arrow corresponds to the double-arrowed consciousness we spoke of regarding The Magus and The Priestess. We can see this upward-shooting arrow in the middle column of the Art card, on the path of Samekh, leading from Yesod to Tiphareth. The finding of the Passion (Oath) is one with the attainment known as The Beatific Vision, and we also see this arrow lying on the lap of The Priestess, on the path of Gimel, leading from Kether to Tiphareth and waiting to be shot down into the realm of conscious awareness. This downward shooting arrow is sometimes portrayed as a descending white dove, as is a symbol of Grace.
Once all these things have been accomplished, the aspirant may experience the Mystic Marriage. This comes unbidden, sudden, and in a flash of illumination. This is the "aha!" experience represented by the Eye of Shiva seen in The Devil, The Tower, and The Universe cards. This Mystic Marriage is not represented by The Lovers, as most people think, but by The Universe. The Lovers card simply represents one method of Hierogamy (union with the divine).
The vision of the Mystic Marriage occurs on the tenth Sephira, Malkuth; is understood on the sixth Sephira, Tiphareth; but is attainted on the first Sephira, Kether, which is really just a return to Malkuth (the material plane). So The Hermit, who is the officiating priest in The Lovers, first "steps down" into that "darkly splendid World," and glimpses the body of his true Self "wrapped in clouds." This Beatific Vision then becomes an unconscious drive, or seed, moving and growing toward and into the flower of self-actualization.
The Lovers, as the sixth trump, is associated with the sixth Sephira on the Tree of Life, Tiphareth, suggesting that Truth can be approached in two general ways:
1. Love totally and your eyes will be opened.
2. Open your eyes totally, and you will come to know Love.
While meditating upon these things it's important to understand that the word "love" isn’t the actual experience it represents. True love is synonymous with peace. Love is the relaxation of the state of tension that exists between any opposing things. Its most sublime manifestation is in the insight that they were never truly separate to begin with (The Universe). This state of tension exists not only in romantic relationships, but also within every one of us as the ego/shadow,
conscious/unconscious, internal/eternal polarities, and within every card in Tarot. In the Thoth deck, the longing to merge with the divine through prayer, devotion, or surrender is represented by The Star, while the longing to merge with the divine through another person is represented by The Lovers. In either case, the result is the same:
The realization that there's no such thing as conflict in all of existence unless we create it. It must be understood that conflict isn't the same thing as crisis or cataclysm.
Says Nuith:
"The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"
-Liber Al Vel Legis, Ch.1, V.45
The Lovers card also contains the Tantric approach to spiritual transformation. In this approach, one consciously regards one's lover as representative of the divine. It's been said that the enlightened one achieves celibacy because he's already merged with the opposite sex within himself. These sublime interpretations of The Lovers will, without a doubt, be appreciable only to those who have experienced love; otherwise, it's just useless information and philosophical speculation. In fact, it may even prove harmful.
In a Tarot reading,
you'll find that you're rarely able to go into the more sublime aspects of this card. Often, you'll be dealing with its cross-sum, The Devil. It should be remarked that the figures getting hitched in this card are The Empress and The Emperor, and one can imagine how such strong egos may experience some difficulty in surrendering to something or someone for any prolonged period! The fifteenth trump, The Devil (1+5=6), in many traditional decks, frequently contains the image of a man and woman chained together at the foot of the Devil's throne. This aspect of The Lovers is very important to understand, for it's one of the most common themes brought up by The Lovers in a reading. The reason for this is simple:
When someone asks for a Tarot reading, they’re typically doing so because they're experiencing conflict within the area of the question being asked, and when it comes to relationships there tends to be a binding agreement that no matter how much of a torture the relationship becomes, at least they have someone to help them with their financial, emotional, and sexual burden.
In the first part of the classical play, "Faust", The Lord says to Mephistopheles (the Devil):
"Toward your kind I have born no hate. Of all the spirits that deny, the scoffer burdens me with slightest weight. Man's activities can all too easily go slack, he loves to be in ease unqualified; hence I set a companion at his side to goad him like a devil from the back."
Predicting The Present Page 9
