Predicting The Present

by Daniel Kelley

  Yesod is very difficult to encounter due to the fact that it's standing perilously close to that which it's trying to observe, whereas in the higher Worlds the distance is very great. The process of differentiation can be here likened to a man standing on the edge of a precipice during a hurricane. Below this cliff rages a stormy sea. Any moment the poor man may fall in and drown. This is the complete paralysis of the ego, but from this center we can observe the cyclic nature of our appetites, longings, habits, hopes and fears. We can observe the subtle nuances of the body, our moods, and the disparity between our childhood and adult worldviews.

  Can you see the cyclic and transient nature of your self-image? By achieving clarity, we see that psychological suffering arises out of an unwillingness to "give up the ghost", as it were, in favor of a new way of looking at things. The discovery of this clarity-in-movement is the contraction of the Wheel of Time. It becomes smaller and smaller, closes in upon its center, easier to see in a flash, and that closed fist begins to open. The total illumination of this movement is to be standing in the World of Briah, uniting the Ruach (intellect) with the Neschamah (intuition). The Hermit is coming closer to uncovering the Yod to which he's attributed, and the fist becomes an open hand. The Hebrew letter Yod means "hand," and is attributed to the second Sephira, Chokmah, which contains the Chiah (True Purpose), and Kether, which contains the Yechidah (True Self). Once this True Self emerges, the lamb becomes a lion (ess).

  Lust:

  The Daughter of the Flaming Sword

  Trump #11

  Zodiacal Trump of Leo

  Sol Rules—Uranus Exalted

  Path: #19 (Chesed to Geburah)

  Letter: Teth ("serpent") (Numerical value: 9)

  Helpful Quotes:

  "Avoid those pretenders who decide for you. You have to decide. In fact, in that very decisiveness, your soul is born. When others decide for you, your soul remains asleep and dull. When you start deciding on your own, a sharpness arises."

  -Osho

  "And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyards for the winepress, say in your heart, 'I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress, and like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels'; and in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup; and let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress."

  -Kahlil Gibran

  Contemplation

  To fully understand this card, you must ask yourself a fundamental question:

  What is passion?

  Passion arises the instant you stop covering your weaknesses with pretentious strengths. Or, as Crowley would say, “Cloak not your vices with virtuous words”.

  For example, a man may feel quite passionate about becoming a priest and may take whatever steps necessary to become one. He may eliminate all hindrances to his goal and then discover that he's a sex-addict. The people closest to him may ridicule his lack of sincerity. He may even feel inclined to agree with them! But the only way he’s going to find out is if he goes into the fact of his sexual addiction, not as an abstraction, but as a reality. If having done so he finds that his religious aspirations still ring true, he'll be astonished to find that his piety has been fortified in ways he would’ve missed had he decided to scorn instead of scrutinize himself.

  The human being is an animal, and he exists in a marginal state between animal and divine.

  The animal within you isn’t a bad thing. It may be dangerous, for sure, but that doesn't make it evil. But the status quo is, after all, the status quo and we do have to live in society. It makes not a lick of difference if you move to the Himalayas. You can go on a lengthy meditation retreat and experience some profound states of mind but, in the end, you must come back to the world and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if you escape to the monastery, the world comes with you.

  Society is basically a machine in which none of its parts interact with each other in a genuine manner. Christians don't genuinely interact with Muslims. Hindus don't genuinely interact with Buddhists. Republicans don't genuinely interact with Democrats. Upper class spits on lower class. The employed spit on the unemployed.

  But life is relationship!

  Conflict begins when we forget how to truly relate to each other and to nature. Going to a football game with a bunch of people---one shouting for his team and you for your team---isn't relating, it's tolerating.

  If the majority of people in the world have forgotten how to commune, then anyone who attempts to do so is going to be viewed with suspicion. It's safer to blend in: Talk about sports, politics, and celebrities. But problems don't go away through diversion or distraction. You can't solve a problem by avoiding it. For instance, anger can be sublimated easily to the realm of sexual expression, but what's changed? You're still a slave, not a master. The energy will accumulate again and will always seek the avenue of least resistance. So what can be done?

  The answer to this question is what the eleventh trump is all about.

  In the card we see The Beast (Lion) and Babalon (Naked Woman) conjoined. It must be remembered that Crowley gave fresh interpretations to these Biblical characters. Unlike they're New Testament predecessors, The Beast and Babalon have been elevated to a new status. They’re no longer scorned but worshipped. The Beast, being one of the many mottos Aleister Crowley attributed to himself (so did his mother), is representative of the inner animal of man, and Babalon that of woman. Notice the direction in which these two figures are moving on the Tree of Life:

  From the fourth Sephira, Chesed, to the fifth Sephira, Geburah---the path of Teth.

  In what might be called The Kabbalistic Fairytale, the Prince of Tiphareth weds the Princess of Malkuth, which includes in it the ninth Sephira, Yesod---our so-called "lower" nature (Guph/Nephesh). I won't say that the Prince represents one's "higher" Self, because to do so has the tendency to suggest that it's somehow not you, which, in the final analysis, is simply untrue. Similarly, the Princess is by no means "lower" or separate from you. Malkuth is "lower" only graphically, on the map of the Tree of Life. It's only condemnation that gives rise to the notion that she (you and me) needs to be "redeemed."

  This is the hidden message of the Lust card.

  The Prince symbolizes the consciousness that’s awakened to its true Purpose. The Prince is the love-awakened consciousness. And when I say "Love," I don't mean in love with anything or anyone in particular. I simply say that it is Love. It's a consciousness characterized by complete and utter self-acceptance and self-abandon. This type of awareness can be with the Princess, the animal self, no matter what mood she's in. Whether there’s anger, sex, greed, agitation, stupor, or depression: it doesn't matter to the Prince; he accepts her! We see this union symbolized in Lust by the figure of the Abraxas serpent (the Beast’s tail).

  It should point out that the Lion, as a solar symbol, is a standard occult symbol of Tiphareth, sphere of the sun. It's also commonly thought that the Prince must reach out, as it were, to embrace the Princess. But this isn't entirely accurate, for the Princess is also unconsciously groping in the dark for the Prince. The only difference is that she tries to find him in superficial pleasures (Netzach) within the realm of time, whereas the Prince is reaching out to her from the realm of the timeless. Marriage implies love, which is why it's said that the Prince weds the Princess in our Kabbalistic fairytale. Only through love can something be redeemed because to be loved is to be found worthy. You can't induce this love or will it into existence; you can only become aware of the chaos that's within you and see it as the beautiful vixen she is.

  That's another thing:

  It's said that the Princess lay sleeping, awaiting the kiss of the Prince. The Prince symbolizes the love-awakened consciousness and very messenger of peace. The Prince and the Princess are symbols, a fairytale describing forces that exist within each of us. The road leading to happily-ever-after is one in which we become more and more aware
and accepting of our energies. In Taoist terms, this is a harmony of Yang and Yin. Yang is needed to actualize Yin, but Yin is needed to temper Yang. How you become aware of this is incredibly important. When things become chaotic, when your inner darkness is becoming thicker and it feels as though you'll be swallowed by it, it's here that the Prince (self-love) comes to the rescue. The darkness becoming too deep, that's your cue! So remain with it and stare into the darkness with loving, faith-filled eyes; and then it comes: the love-awakened consciousness. This is the Guest, the Beloved, what the Sufis call the Friend, and what Aleister Crowley referred to as The Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

  Says Crowley, in the "Book of Thoth," regarding Babalon:

  "Its passivity is like the giving-up of the self to the Beloved."

  It's through surrender that it comes: through a sharp, unwavering, and conscious surrender. In this way one pierces through the Veil of Paroketh and enters into the kingdom of Tiphareth.

  In terms of the four Worlds of Kabbalah:

  In the World of Assiah, the Princess reaches out to the Prince. In the World of Yetzirah, the Prince reaches out to the Princess. In the World of Briah, they’re both enjoying their honeymoon. And in the World of Atziluth, they were always one! It was your condemnation, and the condemnation of those around you, that caused the split; and the break-up was extended to every corner of your psyche.

  It's the royal honeymoon that we're privy to in this particular trump. This is what Crowley was saying when he said to "Mitigate Energy with Love.":

  Go on a honeymoon with existence!

  We see this honeymoon in The Universe, the card that symbolizes the Great Work completed. In that card the woman is dancing with a snake, symbol of lifeforce and ecstasy. This is the same woman we see riding The Beast in the present card. She's the daughter and the Princess redeemed by the son, the Prince, and restored to her rightful place on the third Sephira, Binah, the cosmic Mother. She mustn't be delivered up false to herself. She mustn't be divided into the One and the Many, for she is all.

  Notice the seven heads of the Beast? According to Crowley, we're looking at the head of an Angel, the head of a Saint, the head of a Poet, the head of an Adulterous Woman, the head of a Man of Valour, the head of a Satyr, and the head of a Lion-Serpent. What in the name of all things unholy is that supposed to mean, you ask? Whatever Crowley was referring to in this passage is beyond me. For our purposes---and for all practical purposes---we can interpret these symbols as masks of character.

  Most of us are aware of the many false faces used by humans to cover up the animal within. Humanity has become, as a result of these masks, a perfect hypocrite. One of these faces may be that of a perfect saint: he goes to church every Sunday, gives offering unto the Lord, and all that jazz. Then there’s the other face, and the complete opposite of the saint (Saint): the man (Satyr) or woman (Adulterous Woman) who goes to the strip-club every Friday, cheats on his or her spouse, and lies incessantly. A man can be apparently brave and pragmatic (Man of Valour) but furtively a coward and a dreamer (Poet); in much the same way as a woman can be either a prude (Angel) or a vixen (Lion-Serpent). These masks are mere appendages, covering up the beast within.

  We expend much energy trying to hide this beast because to become conscious of it is to admit its sovereignty. To open up to it is to be overwhelmed by it completely. Beneath every gentleman there's an animal clamoring at the gates, foaming at the mouth. The same is true for a lady. These seem to be the only two options available for dealing with this animal within us: suppress or express. If we suppress it, then at least we'll maintain our respectability. If, however, we choose to express it we're lost in a never-ending cycle of hedonism and hangover.

  Is there not some other way to tackle this problem?

  Remember: we must consume our own tail, not chase it or imagine that it's chasing us! We must turn and embrace the animal within us, introduce ourselves to it, learn to love it, and "Mitigate Energy with Love." Let's start by asking a question:

  What is it to be strong?

  What does it mean to have strength? And is there any difference between fortitude and callousness? In short, does true strength belong to the Beauty or to the Beast? Is it native to both? Perhaps we'll find it in the proper tempering of the Sun (Beast) and Moon (Babalon)? I say "perhaps" because I don't wish to fall into the trap of assuming that the symbolic interpretation is the correct one merely because this happens to be a book dealing with the interpretation of symbols. The symbols are relevant insofar as they act as springboards to the activation of true self-inquiry, otherwise they're useless.

  So how would you define strength? Is a man of valour defined by how high he stands or by how often he bends to help? One person may define strength by how many battle scars he has, while another may define it by how skillfully he stops a battle before any scars are left. I think there's a tremendous difference between the strength of love and the callousness of war. For instance, a woman may be betrayed by many lovers and develop a "thick skin" until love itself becomes a battlefield and the matrimonial alter the frontlines of war. But this hardening of the heart is no more the hallmark of strength than promiscuity is of "free love." We see this truth expressed in the card by the naked figure of Babalon, nakedness being a symbol of authenticity and free love. In other words, a warrior isn't a true warrior until the day she needs no armor. Beauty itself has historically been both the cause and the prevention of many a war, and most people are familiar with the concept of beauty taming the wild beast.

  So we see that this card, Lust, is "strength" redefined. True strength isn't that which is resilient but that which is open, yielding, and inexhaustible. A popular analogy compares a rigid and ancient tree to a small blade of grass. When a storm passes, the strong tree will stand firm and will therefore break in the harsh wind. The blade of grass, however, won't break because it’ll yield to the storm. A small child can pull the blade of grass out of the earth with a single tug, but the storm will be defeated. A storm is non-violent with the grass because the grass has acknowledged the superiority of the whole. A storm is natural; violence for the sake of violence is unnatural.

  The eleventh trump affirms William Blake's assertion that "Energy is delight." Sexual energy, psychic energy, meditative energy, and artistic energy, all provide the raw materials for endless delight. Recall the words of the god Hadith: (Liber Al, Ch.2, V.9)

  "Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all sorrows are but shadows; they pass and are done; but there is that which remains."

  Most of us are familiar with only three forms of ecstasy: sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I'm not against these things, in moderation, and neither is Hadith:

  "I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge and Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, and be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! Lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." (Liber Al, Ch.2, V.22)

  The keyword to the above passage from the "Book of the Law" is release. It's very important for the maintenance of sanity to find ways and means of affecting release on all planes simultaneously: physical, emotional, and psychical. We'll presently learn some methods of doing this, but first a word of caution:

  Under no circumstance should you attempt anything which may jeopardize your health; drugs jeopardize your health. Nor should you attempt anything that may put someone else's health in jeopardy; sex often includes someone else. So be prudent while experimenting. Keeping to the injunction of "An it harm none, then do as thou wilt," we can safely explore the fundamental mechanics behind creating organismic release.

  Running is one way to create physical release. Running creates endorphins within the body that eventually reach the brain, creating euphoria and elevating mood. The trick is to run for prolonged
periods of time, preferably early in the morning somewhere in nature. Natural settings tend to be replete with negative ions, the inhaling of which can lead to profound levels of altered consciousness; thus the infamous "altitude high" reported by many mountaineers. You can engage the emotive aspect perhaps by listening to emotionally evocative music on a portable tape, CD player, or IPOD. You'll feel the effects of such a combination---believe me!

  Running to the point of exhaustion, find a spot where you can flop to the ground and simply observe, from a passive psychic standpoint, the organismic euphony within your bodymind. This is the difference between ejaculation and orgasm: orgasm isn’t necessarily genitally based. Ejaculation is always genitally based, but not orgasm. Sex is just one of many ways to achieve orgasm, which is not localized but spread over the entire bodymind. This has to be experienced to be understood. You must allow the energy to flow through you unencumbered. Feel the pounding of your heart, the heat of your body, the hyperventilation, and the emotive hyperarousal. To be requires no action on your part; simply allow whatsoever is there to be there without resistance.

  Sexual arousal is another means of bringing about organismic release, and it helps to have a partner with whom you're emotionally involved. And by "emotionally involved" I don't mean having a mere "crush" on someone. I've heard many people profess the difference between infatuation and love, but so far no one’s actually explained to me that difference. Infatuation occurs when another person captivates one's senses all at once: optically, by the way they look and move; audibly, by the manner in which they speak and the sound of their voice; olfactorily, by the way they smell, their pheromones; orally, by the flavor of their lips to the taste of their tears; and tactile/emotively, by the way they make you feel, both physically and emotionally.