The Magister 3

by Marcus Katz

  In Orage’s exercise book, Psychological Exercises and Essays, he provides a brief section on ‘Living a Fuller Life’. In this section he equates our usual sense of time – and our failing strategies to manage it – as a single string of beads. He notes that we try and either stretch the string, snapping it, or add more beads to it, which again results in snapping it. His solution is to point out that the analogy is due to our habitual training of time as a single string. He suggests that we can actually lay out three strings at the same time, and be aware of them, trebling our engagement of life. He also notes that this is not easy.

  In this practice appropriate for the Theoricus of the OED and given here as an example, we at least start to make an effort towards this Work. We must first learn to pause, and this contemplation of kundabuffers is designed to bring about regular pauses in daily activity without too much of a shock. Here are three kundabuffers from which you should choose one to explore over a month-long period:

  LYING: Whilst not concerning ourselves with the morality of lying, it is sufficient to state that the act of lying is a distortion of our representation of the world. At any time that you consciously lie over the month chosen for this practice, you should use it as a trigger to pause – nothing more.

  SUPRESSION: In suppression, we fall prey not to an incorrect action or lack of action, but again, an invalid model of the world. We assume that we are suppressing an action – a spoken word, an opinion, even a thought – because of our knowledge of the expectations of others. However, this knowledge can never be accurate. So, any time that you begin to suppress your action, for whatever reason, simply ... pause.

  REGRESSION: A third example of a failing of what Tart calls our ‘world simulator’ is when we regress to an earlier sense of self in our identity. We may throw a tantrum, feel jealousy or want attention – states belonging to a child-like self. We can ask ourselves, or have someone ask us, when we are emotional: “How old are you?” The answer is usually not what we expect. When asked that question, we break out of the regression to answer it. Again, when such regression occurs in you, use it as a moment to just ... pause.

  There are many other buffers that operate automatically to keep us asleep to the true nature of the passing moments in front of us. The Fourth Way work is an essential adjunct in the WEIS at the grade of Theoricus, to free us from these automatic responses to the world.

  The Initiatory Tarot.

  The Three Decks

  The Tarot of Everlasting Day is a unique creation in that it is composed of three decks, each layered in design upon the other. These three decks represent the Outer World, the Inner World, and their Union. A complex web of correspondences works not only between individual cards in their own deck, and between the same card in each deck, but also between different cards in each deck. They form a mystical labyrinth and a true library of Babel.[123]

  The three levels are designed to provide an accessible learning device on the Outer Deck, an initiatory schema in the Union Deck, and a mystical contemplative sequence on the Inner Deck. Whilst all three decks can be used for divinatory readings, it is the Outer and Union Decks that are particularly designed for this use.

  In this volume of The Magister, we illustrate and provide interpretation of four of the Union cards met by the Adept on their journey up the Tree of Life, utilising the Waite-Trinick correspondences. The first two encountered are The World (which is positioned the same as per the Golden Dawn / Crowley) and The Blasted Tower. We also look at The Fool as the final outcome of the initiatory journey of Union, and The High Priestess who provides illustration of the Crossing of the Abyss, a fundamental experience in the initiatory system. In following volumes, we will explore the other card images as they indicate the relevant stages of initiatory progress.

  The Mystery of the Monogram

  The monogram emblazoned on the images is that of the acronym of Goodwin-Hall-Katz in the style of the alphabet of desire. The single line and circle motif can also be read as an emblem of the horizon and the Sun, the ‘everlasting day’. It is also the line and the circle, the two building blocks of form, the male and the female, and duality.

  The Goodwin-Hall-Katz Monogram from the Tarot of Everlasting Day

  The World

  The World card (called ‘The Apparent’ in the Inner Deck) is here the depiction of the original state of the Neophyte, who is pictured sleeping at the foot of the staircase in a foetal position. This echoes the depiction of The Fool in the Outer Deck as a child taking their first steps. The Fool and The World are intimately connected – ‘as above, so below’ – and they remind us that not only does every journey begin with the first step, we are all – always – already at our destination. When we take our step on what is literally a fool’s journey (for it is not necessary), it is always already too late – we are moving away from our goal of union, not towards it. It is fortunate then that The World does not recognise The Fool and our steps always lead back to the beginning, where we may discover our foolishness.

  At the base of this image is a black border, signifying the limits of all things. Above it is a black and white checkerboard floor on which a 10 stepped stairway arises. This is similar to the stairway to heaven, Jacob’s ladder, and the staircase in the film Matter of Life and Death with David Niven (directed by Michael Powell, 1946).

  At the bottom step of the stairway we see a figure (very small) asleep in the foetal position. He is The Fool in his first incarnation, at the start and end of his journey. Also on the step we see a staff with 12 segments (representing the zodiac) and a bag. These are the same as are transformed in the final Fool image of the Union Deck.

  At the top of the stairs, taking up the majority of the image is a vesica piscis / mandorla. It is floating in a field of stars alike to the Hubble Deep Field view of the cosmos. There are the seven classical planets easily seen in the background.

  Four circles hold the vesica piscis in place, in each a pair of hands, symbolising four elemental approaches to life:

  Prayer / air (top circle)

  Passion / earth (left circle)

  Penitence / fire (right circle)

  Peace / water (bottom circle)

  The vesica piscis is constructed of 78 interlocking rings symbolising the whole of the tarot (not 72 which symbolise the name of God, Shem ha-Mephorash, the explicit name of God, as used in many other designs). Within the vesica piscis is a female figure in a trance dance. She has tattoos of the four elemental cherubim, and is veiled in swirling ribbons, skirts, belts, beads, and buckles. This adornment is in ‘tribal fusion’ style showing the old revisioned in the new, the primitive and the modern, the fusion and synthesis of the card’s meaning. Her movement is a spinning spiral.

  Above her is a light source (Kether) which relates back to the point of light in The Fool card at the bottom of the Abyss. Below her is a dark sphere (Malkuth) upon which she dances. The light source emits a single ray which shines down, through the dark sphere (cracking it slightly), and upon the head of the sleeping figure. In this it mirrors the work of Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna lucis et umbrae (Amsterdam, 1671), on optics. We see later in The Fool of the Inner Deck the final and nihilistic resolution of this play of light, distortion and mirroring. This light is emblematic of the Golden Dawn phrase uttered to the Neophyte, that “The Light shineth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not.” It breaks through the apparent but it remains up to the sleeper to awaken. The ray of light is mirrored too by the long shadow which is cast by The Fool in his final fall depicted on the Union Deck, where he returns to this World card to commence his journey again in an endless cycle of seeking.[124]

  The floor is tiled with black and white, symbolising duality, from which The Fool has not yet arisen. These black and white tiles also appear on the candy stick of the Outer Fool, who offers us this choice, yet at the same time implicitly presents duality.

  The World (Tarot of Everlasting Day, Union Deck)

  The whole scene is well
lit, very still and formal. It is the nascent beginning of all things, and their end. It is somewhat akin to the final surreal room scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey (directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1968). It is hyper-real and yet cannot be real. On the columns of the stairway are carved the two Trees of Knowledge and Life, which also appear on The Herald and The Fool card, as well as elsewhere through the symbolism of the Order of Everlasting Day. Here in The World card they are calcified and sterile; ancient reliquaries of their living reality, forgotten by most other than as decorative elements of the lowest order.

  In the Union Deck of the Tarot of Everlasting Day, the Major Arcana are brighter in the lower branches of the Tree and get darker as we progress to our own source and roots. In the Inner Deck, the lower card images are darker and become brighter as we progress up the Tree, for it is a divine tree that we now ascend, not a tree of self-discovery or recovery.

  Lying on the middle steps are a discarded carnival mask and a white angelic feather, symbolising the Abramelin work which we will cover in a following volume of The Magister. This feather appears as a pin on the swaddling cloth of the child in The Fool of the Outer Deck and on the head of The Fool in the Union Deck. It also appears as the emblem of Maat on the Herald of Everlasting Day.

  The World card is a synthesis of all that has come before and the promise of all that will follow. In Tarot Flip we discovered that the unconscious meaning given to this card by hundreds of readers through tens of thousands of mappings to real life in their readings is ‘beginning’.[125]

  The Fool

  The Fool is the most paradoxical image, and was created first in the deck. He is a symbol of all that transcends time, space and identity. He is not just beyond duality – he knows no duality and is numberless. The Fool’s dog represents the faith in reality that is ever-present, until the very last moment when even that must be sacrificed. It is the final story in the Elric fantasy tales of Michael Moorcock. Elric is a doomed albino prince of a decadent empire, who lives through the power of a demonic sword called Stormbringer. The sword can drink the souls of its victims and transfer the energy to Elric, so they have a co-dependent relationship. Elric also has a constant companion, Moonglum. In the very last tale of Elric, in the epic war of Chaos versus Evil, when the old world is destroyed, Elric must blow the horn which will bring about the new world. However, he does not have the energy remaining after the battle. So Moonglum sacrifices himself on the sword to give Elric the energy. Elric uses this last remaining energy and blows the horn, bringing about the dawn of a new age ... however, as he dies, the sword turns back into a demon, and rises into the sky to enter the new world, putting back into it the spirit of chaos, with the words “I was always a thousand times more evil than thou.”

  It is that twist that The Fool, with his dog, contains. That one thing is always borne out of the last.

  The coiling dark turning light represents a DNA helix and the orbit of light when it approaches a black hole. The two Trees are the Moringa tree and the Tamarind tree from the Herald of Everlasting Day.

  On the side of the Tree of Knowledge the Fool’s staff is discarded on the path, turning into a serpent. On the side of the Tree of Life, the dog tugs at the shadow of The Fool, which extends from The Fool down the path to the Tree. The Fool is seen breaking from his shadow as he falls backwards.

  The other objects (attachments) left on the path are one of time and one of space – instead of the tropes of hourglass and compass, we see instead a prism (for space) and a piece of cloth looped in a Möebius strip (for time). There is some similarity of The Fool with Asclepius, the healer (whole).

  The Fool (Tarot of Everlasting Day, Union Deck)

  The Hebrew letter meaning ‘sword’, ‘weapon’, is placed as a small Zayin-shaped scar on The Fool’s exposed chest. This is a letter of ‘time’ and the concept of Chozer or ‘returning light’.

  The dog is shown as a devouring beast and looks suitably dream-like. His Ancient Egyptian depiction varies; sometimes he has crocodile-like warts for hair, sometimes a dark hair-like mane. The atmosphere of the card is timeless and eerie. The card also has that ‘edge of known law’ vibe to it, so light and time are being distended, distorted, dragged into the event horizon of the Abyss.

  The Blasted Tower

  In the Waite-Trinick arrangement of the paths on the Tree of Life, The Blasted Tower takes the place of The Last Judgement on the path connecting Malkuth up to Hod. It thus represents one of the three paths open to the Zelator in their progress up the Tree of Life. It is an unbalanced path, yet it must be taken first before returning, having exhausted its possibilities. At that stage, the opposite path is usually taken by the Zelator – for what other choice do they have – until that too finds itself a cul-de-sac. Then the Zelator can return to their initial state and make the now obvious step into self-observation that was probably apparent in their original work. It is a step that cannot be taken whilst the temptations or imbalances of other possibilities have not yet been explored and exhausted.

  We see in this image the top of the ‘false tower’ which is struck by the lightning flash of realisation. This is the awakening above consciousness of the soul. The Neophyte, now taking a step forward and engaging with their work, is represented by a red robed acolyte plucking a red rose from a copious garden, but walking out of that garden, bearing the rose.[126]

  This symbolises the initial steps taken in the Great Work, which are predicated on one’s existing state and knowledge. It also indicates that we believe we can bring – indeed, offer as sacrifice – something from the apparent world, whether it be ourself or some other attachment. At this stage we do not see the eventual transformation of the red rose to the white, seen on The Fool image.

  The Blasted Tower (Tarot of Everlasting Day, Union Deck)

  The High Priestess

  In this card we look most to the Waite-Trinick High Priestess, with elements of the mystical teachings of the card from Crowley, and the Masonic / traditional symbolism of Waite. We also go further back to The Papess-type Marseilles demarcation of the card.

  There are two figures, an Upper Priestess and a Lower Priestess (as per the Trinick design). Below, a robed female figure stands facing towards us, behind an altar, upon which is an oyster containing a pearl. She holds high a mirror in which is reflected the light from above. Behind her are arches, pillars and drapes in a semi-circle; the drapes decorated with pomegranates, and the arches depicting a scene where five camels march across a desert between two seas, with a pyramid in the background. The letter ‘V’ stands atop each pillar. A pillar on the right is black, and marked with the Hebrew letter Cheth.

  The Upper Priestess dominates the majority of the image, and is depicted in the posture of the Greek maiden. She is Isis, the goddess. Her robes are similar to Waterhouse’s Cleopatra. A lunar light shines from her like a net – indeed, she is almost composed of light herself. It is this light that shines in the mirror below and the pearl.

  The figure of the Lower Priestess, who is naked, carries some semblance to The Truth, by Lefebvre, in terms of posture. We get the sense that she is the same woman who later (or earlier, for time is not the same here), in older age, is depicted in The Emperor image.

  The titles of this card are: The Oracle. The Sibyl. The Shekinah. Isis Veiled. The Papess of Antiquity.

  Robert Place compares her to the priestess of Venus (or Isis) in the mystical romance, Hypnerotomachia, the Dream of Poliphilo (Venice, 1499), so we look to bring in the idea of her as a priestess of the mystery schools.[127] We also nod to Masonic influence in using pillars and arches as a backdrop.

  The High Priestess (Tarot of Everlasting Day, Union Deck)

  Her letter in the mystical schema (Waite-Trinick) is Cheth. The letter Cheth corresponds to life and devotion. It signifies a fence, barrier, enclosure, and also awe and fear. The letter is composed of Vau and Zayin. We think that The Priestess and The Magician should both be in temples – enclosures that reflect their nature. Th
e Priestess with a circle of arched columns behind her, and drapes, bearing the pomegranate.

  The 18th path is called the ‘House of Influence’, so we reference this in terms of the ‘drawing down of the Moon’ which is clearly depicted in the Waite-Trinick version.

  The Sepher Yetzirah states, “From the midst of the investigation of the arcana and hidden senses are drawn forth, which dwell in its shade and cling to it, from the cause of causes”. It is an image of the secrets of Nature – the unveiled, the virgin, the mysterious. Other keywords include: unity through devotion, serenity, mystery, revelation and secrecy, transcendental change.

  The image illustrates the connection between Binah and Geburah (instead of Tipahreth to Kether on the Golden Dawn / Crowley schema) so this is between ‘Understanding’ and ‘Might’. It is the matrix card, weaving the net of all structure, giving form to light itself. It is the veiling of energy in matter, in a more ethereal manner than The Empress above.

  It is, indeed, the next graduation of the feminine formative energy below The Empress. In a spiritual sense, Jodorowsky says of this card, “she intransigently purifies everything that could form a barrier to the vibration of divine energy.”[128] I feel that Crowley states this also when he says “it is important for high initiation to regard Light not as the perfect manifestation of the Eternal Spirit, but rather as the veil that hides that Spirit … Thus she is light and the body of light.”[129]