Predicting The Present

by Daniel Kelley

  The Lovers can also represent discord and schism.

  Lao Tzu says:

  "One inch of division, and heaven and hell are set apart."

  This statement is an allusion to the quality known as spiritual purity, a nondual state of being that has nothing to do with vice or virtue, for it transcends both. In The Lovers, there are many biblical figures, all of whom pertain to the story of the Fall of Man found in the book of Genesis, and they teach a very important lesson; one which has nothing to do with curses from on high, but rather, the loss of innocence; an innocence regained in the full apprehension of this trump.

  Nuith says:

  "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all."

  -Book of the Law, Ch.1, V.29-30.)

  In the card we see Adam and Eve, and much more of Eve than Adam. In fact, we see Adam only once, in the figure of The Emperor. We see Eve in the upper left corner as see Lilith (Eve's "shadow"); in the upper right corner we see Eve before the "fall"; and lastly, we see Eve after the "fall" in the figure of The Empress, fully clothed to hide her "shame." Why there should be more of Eve than Adam remains a mystery to me. Perhaps it's because Eve is the "Mother of all Life"?

  We see the Biblical characters Cain and Abel in the figures of the two children at the feet of the royal couple, and the Old Serpent himself winding around the Orphic Egg, which is also the "forbidden fruit." The dome of swords, aside from being the flaming swords which guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden, is symbolic of the Knowledge of good and evil, the very act of the "fall" itself, the Serpent being a similar symbol.

  Osho says:

  "That is the true meaning of the biblical story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden. They were naked like children. They were not aware of the body; they were not aware of anger, greed, lust, sex, or anything. They were unaware. They were like children, innocent. But God had forbidden them to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The Tree of Knowledge was forbidden but they ate, because anything forbidden becomes inviting. Really, this forbidden-ness became the attraction, the invitation. But this story is beautiful because the tree is named the Tree of Knowledge. The moment they ate the fruit of knowledge they became non-innocent. They became aware; they came to realize that they were naked. Immediately, Eve tried to hide her body."

  So we see that purity is found in the compassionate acceptance of one's body, thoughts, emotions, and shortcomings. By fully accepting these things one begins to love and refine them. When you love something you treat it with respect, yes? For example, to accept your body doesn't mean that you should just allow it to be overweight, or what have you. Neither is anyone saying that you should hate the fact that you're heavy, short, skinny, or whatever. But with a growing sensitivity to the body, you'll find that you don't want to keep your body in an unhealthy condition and you'll do what you must do to protect it.

  As I said, The Lovers has also been called The Question. What question, you ask? Well, the ultimate question an ego can ask!

  "Who am I?"

  Such is the question asked of The Priestess by the Fool. Here, in The Lovers, we learn that who we are can’t be revealed in solitude alone; the mirror of relationship is required for full understanding. This question of who we are initiates a spiraling pilgrimage through the labyrinth of autobiography, arrowed straight into the depths of all that we are, past, present, and future. There's seemingly no limit to how far this question may be asked, and where it ends will depend upon the intensity and intelligence of the person asking it. As for myself, this question has occupied my mind for as long as I can recall, and I often turned inward for the answer.

  Taking this route I discovered many interesting things, the greatest of which was the discovery of my consciousness itself; its content and the ability to study it without bias. The bulk of this inner-work was done in seclusion. I wasn't in the least bit interested in what others thought of me; their opinions, advice, and feedback meant nothing to me whatsoever. My sole concern was to go deeper and deeper into the present moment. I wanted to see myself, not for who I used to be or where I came from, but for who I was at that moment, without the tinted screen of personal history.

  Along with the discovery of my consciousness came the awakening of authentic conscience (The Hierophant). If you look deeply into your own mind you'll find something that comes from your mother, something else from your father, your aunt Maggie or uncle Joe. In addition to this there's the powerful influence of environment: the culture in which you were raised, with its beliefs, prejudices, hopes, and fears.

  All these things constitute who you are.

  So who are you? Who's asking this question? More importantly, who's the entity giving the answer? For me, this realization bled through a few times while in deep meditation. I saw something of my mother, something of my grandfather, my friends, people I admired and despised. But it was nigh impossible to find much within me that I could say came from my father. Not that I knew nothing of him, I just didn't know enough.

  I knew very little of my father. When I was eight years old my parents divorced, and my relationship with my father ended at about the age of fourteen. Without going into the reasons why, suffice it to say that I grew to be quite contemptuous of the man, scowling whenever my mother castigated me for being "just like my father."

  Consequently, I never had the opportunity to be exposed to his side of the family, most of which lived either in Canada or Vermont. The little I did remember of his personality traits appended to mine only in the sense of being a writer. Never would I have expected what was to come.

  The day of his funeral in Vermont, my brother and I entered the Dorset Playhouse (my father was a Baptist pastor turned actor) expecting a small gathering at best. Instead, as we walked down the hallway of this small-town theatre and opened the door to the auditorium, we were shocked to find that the whole town had gathered there, not to mourn the loss of some familiar face, but to celebrate the life of a small-town celebrity! I sat there with freezing hands as the townsfolk, one by one, took center stage to describe what could only be described as an exact description of myself in every way! Even my spiritual drive was not particular to me, for it was, according to everyone gathered there, one of the most prominent features of the man. My appreciation for natural beauty came from him, for he was the first to expose me to such a vision.

  Sometimes, to renew the vigor of our quest, we need a shock to jolt us out of whatever comfort zone we've burrowed ourselves into; and that funeral shocked me to the core!

  So who are you? Are you no more than the sum of your genetic parts? Are you merely the product of your environment?

  Find out!

  Go deep within yourself and have a look around. What treasure is there, what magic? And then ask yourself: who is it that's looking? You may be shocked when you find the answer. But when you do find it, find a world and share yourself with it.

  PHASE TWO:

  (From The Chariot to The Tower)

  The Lion and the Caterpillar

  "To come upon reality originally, radically, to come upon reality without any mediator---to come reality as if you are the first person to exist---that is liberating. The very newness of it liberates."

  -Osho

  The Chariot:

  The Child of the Powers of the Waters

  The Lord of the Triumph of Light

  Trump #7

  Zodiacal Trump of Cancer

  Luna Rules—Jupiter Exalted

  Path: #18 (Binah to Geburah)

  Letter: Cheth (fence) (numerical value: 8)

  Helpful Quotes

  "The Issue of the Vulture, Two in One, conveyed; this is the Chariot of Power.

  TRINC: the last oracle!"

  -Aleister Crowley

  "Do what you have to do resolutely, with all your heart. The traveler who hesitates only raises dust on the road."

&nbs
p; -Gautam Buddha

  Disciple: "I have come to offer you my service"

  Master: "If you dropped the 'I,' service would automatically follow."

  -Zen anecdote

  "It is difficult to renounce all action without engaging in action; the sage, wholehearted in the yoga of action, soon attains freedom."

  -Bhagavad-Gita

  Contemplation

  "If it is possible, O Lord, let this chalice pass from my hands; but nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done."

  Such was the tormented cry of Jesus as he stood in the garden of Gethsemane waiting to be taken to the cross. The ability to remain centered during life's crises, from the darkest depths of sadness to the face of Death itself, is the highest lesson taught by this card. This is the card of the spiritual warrior. Without dedication to the discovery of Purpose we can't possibly hope to meet life from this ever-shining center of courage and sanctity. The Chariot reminds us that a plastic heart can't approach the shrine of Purpose. Totality of action, totality of being, and totality of vision; these are required to unearth the treasures of this card.

  This vision can't truly be yours until you’ve cultivated the capacity to share it with everything and everyone you encounter. Until it informs your life with a sense of the sacred, the power of your Will is limited. Whether The Chariot is manifesting love or war, his greatest enemies are cowardice and confusion. When this card shows up in a reading, you must ask yourself where and how you invest your energies. You must reevaluate the sincerity of your words and actions. More importantly, you must ask yourself what you value most in life and why you value it. This will be the “organizing principle” that determines your actions and your fate.

  The Chariot is The Hermit come back from the wilderness, and he’s learned an important lesson:

  It’s good to go astray, sometimes, for there are things which can be learned in hell that one might never learn in heaven.

  For a spiritual path to be well-rounded it must include the possibility of going astray. We must go astray many times before we learn where our true home is. Falling into many ditches, we acquire balance. In the card, these "ditches" are the two black Sphinxes; the concept of balance is found in the two white Sphinxes.

  Says Rajneesh:

  "Try this when you feel miserable. Be miserable; don't fight with it. Try this, it is wonderful. When there is misery. When there is misery and you feel miserable, close your doors and be miserable. Now what can you do? You are miserable, so you are miserable. Now be totally miserable. Suddenly you will become aware of the misery. And if you try to change it you will never become aware, because your effort, your energy, your consciousness is directed towards change, towards how to change the misery. Then you are missing a very beautiful experience—the misery itself."

  It's good to go inward to find the truth about who you are, but who you are can't be known in silence alone, for the majority of who you are exists in relationship. Spiritual life isn't confined to the church, temple, or mosque. Meditation isn't just about sitting cross-legged chanting mantras. For spiritual transformation to be complete it must inform your life in every way.

  The Chariot reminds us that the Hero's Journey is our journey too, and our calling is where the heroes of myth and legend meet. When we fail to honor our calling we fail to honor the hero within us, our chariot comes to a standstill, and our cup remains empty. The Chariot points to the ambivalence of every situation. Each moment contains the possibility for crisis or opportunity. The more conscious you are of the decisions you make and why you make them the less you’ll find the need to apologize.

  A good King, if he’s such not just in title but also in his heart, embodies the saying, "If you want something done right you must do it yourself." Should his knights fail to slay the dragon he must, as sovereign, play the man and slay it himself. Everything we touch, taste, smell, hear, see, think, and dream, is the very stuff that constitutes our individual kingdom, and a divided kingdom can't stand. The attitudes, preconceptions, and faces we bring to the various experiences of our lives will determine the karmic results of our actions. Each moment this must be decided anew; it's futile to rely always on ready-made answers. It's incumbent upon each of us to shed the straitjacket of fake piety and instead don the robe of authenticity:

  You can't cut the man to fit the coat.

  The Chariot reminds us that to become The Emperor or The Empress doesn't mean that we're to live in some ivory tower, safe from the ever-changing friction of life. To be true masters of our destiny we must submerge ourselves in the river of life and accept the challenge of the unknown *(TRINC: The last oracle!) We must not wander the streets, strangers in our own kingdom.

  The Chariot challenges us to awaken to our Purpose, to be confident that we can bring to each moment the heart of compassion, conviction, courage, and interminable faith. The Charioteer, to become The Emperor, not in name but in consciousness, must shed his armor; the Grail must be all that remains. The Chariot stands for victory through introspection, the retreat-time of The Hermit used wisely. At the center of the amethyst Grail held by the Charioteer is a pool of revolving blood. This too is reminiscent of the sun-lantern held in the left hand of The Hermit.

  Says Crowley (Parenthesis mine):

  "In the centre is radiant blood; the spiritual life is inferred (infrared); light in the darkness."

  Integrated in The Chariot card are The Hermit, The Priestess, The Emperor, and The Empress, for he bears the Cauldron of Art. In this light, The Chariot is nothing short of the enlightenment of The Hierophant put into action, especially social action. Everywhere he moves, the buddha-nature moves with him. The hermit crab on the Charioteer's helmet also reiterates the relationship of The Chariot with The Hermit. It's time to center yourself, gather your force and fire, and then set your True Will into motion.

  The Chariot of Triumph escorts the ten "face cards" of the Major Arcana in a procession toward The Universe to be annihilated in the Beloved (Nuith), encountering in turn each of the twelve "non-face cards" (see Glossary). His armor, gemmed with the celestial dew of The Priestess, is but the integument of the highest form of responsibility. The "celestial dew," also called the "Ten Stars of Assiah"---aside from being the ten Sephiroth in the World of Action and the ten planets of our solar system---could also be associated with the aforementioned “face cards” of the Major Arcana. The Chariot imbibes these cards, their virtues and their vices. When the face cards symbolize the masks of persona, i.e., the various roles we play in life, they point to that which holds the golden armor of the Charioteer together. Kabbalistically speaking, this is the Nun, Tzaddi, Samekh, Peh, and Ayin, dynamism; i.e., the "self-image," the flimsiest of all citadels!

  A quick glance at The Tower card and you'll count seven windows (minus the door), connecting this card not only to The Chariot, but also to The Star (Heh="window"). Alternatively, when the face cards symbolize the various spiritual qualities of these trumps, then the Ten Stars of Assiah are transformed into celestial dew, the Blood of the Saints—the sacred elixir within the Grail: the "Wine-Cup" of BABALON (see the Lust card). This is the metaphorical description of the human “gene pool”. Ultimately, everything we do is a tithing to the offering plate in the Church of Posterity. We all pour our blood into the Holy Grail called DNA.

  The Chariot also represents Duty. Whether this duty is to oneself or others, whether it’s a good or bad thing, will be determined by context. On the one hand, this card portrays the culmination of the devotion of the worshiper, such as is beautifully portrayed in The Star card. On the other hand, we have the devotion of the knight to The Emperor and The Empress—the soldier who serves his or her country. There's religious devotion which, unlike the worship of The Star, is here done vicariously through the medium of a priest or guru: the realm of The Hierophant. We must reevaluate where we stand at each moment and from that center act totally. Sometimes this simply means putting ourselves forward to arrive back at the place we started, but with fresh
eyes.

  A story:

  There was once a man who hewed stones from rock. His labor was very hard, and he labored much, but his wages were slight, and he was not content. He sighed because his labor was hard, and he cried, "Oh, I wish I was rich, so I could rest on a couch with a cover of silk." Just then, an angel came down from heaven, saying, "You are what you have said." Suddenly, in a flash, the man was made wealthy; and he was rich, and he rested on a couch, and the cover was of silk.

  The king of the land went by with horsemen in front of his carriage and behind the carriage there were also horsemen, and a golden parasol was held over the head of the king. When the rich man saw this, he was vexed that no golden parasol was held over his own head and he was not content. He sighed and cried, "I wish to be a king." And the angel came again and said, "You are what you have said."

  Then he was king, and many horsemen rode in front of his carriage, and there were also horsemen behind his carriage and a golden parasol was held over his head, and the sun shone its hot rays and scorched the earth so that the grass shoots withered. And the king complained that the sun burned his face and that it excelled him in power and he was not content. He sighed and cried, "I wish to be the sun." And the angel came, and he said, "You are what you have said." And he was the sun and he directed his rays upward and down, to the right and to the left, everywhere, and he scorched the grass shoots on earth, and the countenances of kings who were on earth.