Qaballah and Tarot Lesson III Part 2 Section 2 Revision 1 July 31, 2010

Yael R.
Dragwyla First North American rights

Email: Polaris93@aol.com 24,013 words
http://polaris93.livejournal.com/
Qaballah and Tarot: A Basic Course in Nine

Lessons
Lesson III: The 22 Paths of the Tree of Life and the
Greater Arcana of the Tarot
B. The Individual Paths, continued
5. Key 15
Heh h “Window.” Trump IV, The Emperor.* Aries ò. Cardinal value, 5; ordinal value, 5.
Connects Sephirah 6, Tiphareth, with Sephirah 2, Chokmah. Roman/English equivalents: H, E.
*In Crowley’s system, this Key instead accesses Trump XVII, The Star. See Key 28, below.
a. Qaballistic Meanings and Theory

. . . [Two] things are necessary before our present phase of evolution is achieved:
a) perfect adjustment between all human beings, (and with the non-human beings that
make up the physical and superphysical worlds as well. This means joyful acceptance
of the conditions of the natural physical world, and a vital religious and mystical
awareness.) b) the attainment of the Vision of God face to face, which should never
have been lost in the first place. As things are now, the Gulf and the Abyss between
man’s different levels of being have to be bridged before this can be truly achieved.
The means to this goal of all mankind could be put in even simpler terms, and has
already been done so. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.’
(Luke x.27. and also Mat. Xxii.37., Mark xii.30., etc.)…. 13
Path 15, Trump IV, The Emperor, allows the penetrating Wisdom of Chokmah to descend into
Tiphareth, the Sphere of the Mystic Intelligence, where it becomes available to ordinary human
intelligence and applicable to our mundane affairs as well as to our striving to the rarefied heights of the
Tree and, ultimately, to Union with God. It is Truth translated for and made available to our ordinary
consciousness so that it can be applied to our most prosaic problems and needs. Its avatar is indeed the
Emperor who translates his vast, comprehensive vision of universal principles of human existence into
tactical principles necessary in day-day-administrative executive decision-making at the most concrete
level. It is pure Force particularized and reified for use in practical affairs.
The Emperor thus demonstrates that the Power and Might of God are manifest at the densest, most
individualized and particularized levels of existence as well as at the most rarefied and purified ones –
that God is manifest in all Creation, on every level of it, and that the Truth and Light of God illuminate
the humblest, earthiest, most prosaic aspects of existence rather than being confined only to special
regions, times, ceremonies, and similar limiting factors and conditions. The Emperor is Jesus teaching in
the world, mingling with publicans and sinners, making such simple, humble decisions as to what he and
his disciples would eat for dinner, finance their day-to-day needs, and similar earthy, basic, pragmatic
things.
The Emperor teaches us that God isn’t the exclusive property of priests and mystics. God is present
in all things, at every level and in every aspect of existence. Ultimately all things move, evolve, and
come to completion as aspects of the thrusting glory of Divinity as Pure Energy.
The Yetziratic Text for this Path says that
[the] Fifteenth Path is the Constituting Intelligence, so called because it constitutes the
substance of creation in pure darkness, and men have spoken of the contemplations; it
is that darkness spoken of in Scripture, Job xxxvii. 9, ‘and thick darkness a swaddling
band for it.’
(The complete passage from Job quoted above is:
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the
womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling
band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said,
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.)
– Job 38:8-11
Yetziratic title: Constituting Intelligence.
Hebrew letter: h h (Heh), meaning “Window.”
Numerical value: 5.
Title: Sun of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty.
Principle: All the functions of the sense of sight, such as vision, introspection, reconnaissance,
watchfulness, care, vigilance, examination, calculation, analysis, induction, inquiry,
investigation.
Astrological assignment: Aries ò; the mundane Lords of Aries are Mars and Pluto, Sol and
Luna are exalted in Aries, and the esoteric Lords of Aries and Mercury and Persephone
Element (Alchemical): Cardinal Fire (¼), Fire in its most active and primordial form
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle: Birth, hatching, the beginning of Spring, the thawing of
Winter’s ice by Spring’s heat, etc.; fire, and all fire-related phenomena, including fire-
selected plants such as manzanita, and the use of fire for “anting” by crows, ravens, and
their relatives; the ability to use fire and create a technology of fire, as seen in human
beings
Physical chemistry: plasma physics, the chemistry and physics of a flame
Colors: Scarlet (King Scale); red (Queen Scale); brilliant flame (Emperor Scale); glowing red
(Empress Scale)
Gods:
Greek: Pallas Athena (in Her battle-aspect Medusa); Ares; the story of the Golden Fleece;
Hercules
Roman: Mars; Venus Victrix
Egyptian: Isis; Men Thu
Scandinavian: Thor
USA: The Pioneer
France of the Enlightenment:
Celtic: The horned God Herne, Cernunnos, or Cerne, the Hunter. The Green Man.
Christian: Jesus as the Lamb of God
Hindu: Shiva, Kali (as Gods of Battle and War)
Voudon: Maîtresse Ezeli (in Her battle-aspect)
Other: Any priapic progenitor
Biblical associations: Easter, the Resurrection; Jesus as the Lamb of God; Moses; Benjamin,
son of Jacob; St. Peter, disciple of Jesus, founder of the Church of Christ
Countries: England, Germany, Denmark, Palestine, Burgundy
Cities: Florence, Naples, Verona, Marseilles, Birmingham, ancient Athens, Sparta
Peoples: Jews, Muslims
Meditation: Bloody Corpse
Magickal power: Power of Consecrating Things.
Perfume: Dragon’s Blood.
Magickal Weapons: The Horns, Energy, the Burin; the Battering-Ram (as a Weapon of Mars)
Musical tone: C natural.
Qlippoth: } w r y r y u b (Ba’airiron, “The Flock”); Hemethterith, whose sigil should be

lurid red, inscribed on a glowing red inverted triangle, suggesting a face above three equal-
armed crosses arranged in the form of a descending triangle with two serpentine forms
dividing the crosses, and who should be invoked in the key of A sharp, whisperingly, almost
inaudibly
*See Kenneth Grant, Nightside of Eden (London: Skoob Books Publishing, 1994), pp. 183-185.
Metals, stones, and minerals: Bloodstone, firestone, ocher, brimstone, diamond, all minerals of
a reddish hue (including cinnabar, HgO [mercuric oxide], which is associated with Mercury,
Who is an esoteric Lord of Aries)
Plants, real and imaginary: Radish, rhubarb, peppers, garlic, hemp, poppies, broom, holly,
thistle, nettles, onions, dock, fern, mustard, tiger lily, germanium
Animals, Real and Imaginary: Ram, Owl (for Pallas Athena), Salamander
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): All cerebral excitants
Mineral drugs:
The Body: The head, the brain (especially the cerebrum), the eyes, the nose, the face, the upper
jaw, the skull
Diseases: Apoplexy (stroke), cataracts, sinus problems, all other conditions affecting the brain,
the eyes, the nose, or any other Aries-ruled part of the body
Magickal image: A flame-clad God bearing equivalent symbols.
Lineal figures: Puer
•
•
• •
•
Domain: First third of Spring.
Archangel: Raphael.
Quarter of the Heavens: due East (during evocations of Spirits, the Triangle of Art, into which
spirits are evoked, is placed either East or North of the Circle, East for neutral or benign
spirits, North for evil or malefic ones)
Buddhist symbolism:
Far Eastern cosmological associations:

Wood/Air. The East. Spring. Vitality. Production. The Solid but Workable. Sour. Blue or green.
Controls liver and gall. The Dragon. The Planet Jupiter. Yang – the Pine. Yin – the Bamboo.
Tin. Air. Salt. Produces Fire, is produced by Wood/Air (naturally grown things), destroys
Earth, is destroyed by Metal (made things).*
Trigram from the I Ching: Sun (“The Gentle”/Penetrating, Wind)
––––
––––
– –
b. Design and Title of Trump

Gringonneur: A seated emperor, holding a sceptre in his right hand and an orb in his left. Two
children kneel at his left.
Bembo: A seated emperor (probably a portrait of Frederick III), holding the imperial orb in his left
hand and an orb in his right.
Insight: An emperor seated on a throne embellished with rams’ heads. In his left hand he olds an
orb surmounted by a cross, and in his right he bears a sceptre terminating in the Crux Ansata
(Ankh).
Marseille: An emperor seated in profile. On the side of his throne is the Imperial German Eagle.
His legs are crossed to make a “4.”
Italian: The same as in the Marseille, except that the eagle is double-headed.
Wirth: Similar to the Marseille, except that the sign of “4” made by the emperor’s crossed legs is
exaggerated for effect.
Waite: The design may have been derived from that of the Insight Tarot. Here, the emperor is
seated on a throne embellished with rams’ heads. The orb is held in his left hand, and lacks the
cross. In his right hand, he holds a sceptre, which terminates in a Crux Ansata.
B.O.T.A.: The design is derived from Wirth. It shows the emperor seated in profile on a cubical
throne, on the side of which is a rams’ head. The symbol of the rams’ head is repeated on his
left shoulder-plate. As in Wirth’s Tarot, the “4” made by his crossed legs is exaggerated. In his
right hand, he holds a sceptre bearing a Crux Ansata, and in his left an orb. The zodiacal sign
for Aries appears at the top of his helmet.
The Aquarian Tarot: The emperor upon a rams’-head throne. In his right hand is a sceptre with a
Crux Ansata, and in his left an orb without a cross. Before him are lilies.
Crowley’s The Book of Thoth: An emperor, seated, his legs firmly crossed to make a “4,” bearing a
rams’-head sceptre in his right hand. In his left hand is an orb with a Maltese Cross. His shield
bears the Imperial Double Eagle. Behind him, at either side, are rams. At his feet is a lamb
with a circle suggesting a halo and a flag draped casually over its shoulders.*
*In Crowley’s pack, however, this card is attributed to Tzaddi, the Path connecting Netzach and Yesod.
The New Tarot: Retitled “Actor.” A figure stands before a throne upon which is a crown and a two-
horned dog. His left foot rests upon the neck of a lion which sleeps beneath him. In his left
hand is an orb without a cross. There are two rather sinister bluebirds in the card, and a pattern
of Stars upon the ground.
The Fantasy Showcase Tarot: An emperor holding an orb in his left hand, his right hand, made into
a fist, resting on the head of a ram. He wears a chain around his neck; hanging from the chain
is a pendant metal figure of an Ankh over a circle. He wears a jeweled crown. Beyond that, it is
not clear whether he is seated or not, for the background as well as the emperor himself from the
breast down is indistinct.
America’s Tarot: Follows Crowley’s assignments, so this is Trump XVII, The Star. Shows the
Statue of Liberty against the New York City skyline and hopeful or lost-looking immigrants
coming through Ellis Island. In the skies above, a MAD Zeppelin floats; ghost-over of the
landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969; a computer chip; and Harriet Tubman (“General
Moses”).
The Divine Comedy Tarot:
Biblical Tarot: OT: Solomon. NT:
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Follows traditional assignment. Bill Gaines in his electric cart.
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot: Jubal Harshaw of Stranger in a Strange Land; Wilhelm of Orange in
Double Star
The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot:
The Stephen King Tarot: the king in Eyes of the Dragon
The R. R. McCammon Tarot:

c. Divinatory Meanings
Upright: Authorship. Invention. Rulership. Government. Authority. Guidance. Leadership.
Force. Strength. Energy. Courage. Activity. He who sets in order. The ruling mental activity.
Realization. The necessity of a firm will strengthened by the knowledge of truth and justice.
The realization of hope depends upon finding someone more powerful than the Querent to be of
assistance. Caesar, Tsar, Sirdar, Senate, senior, Signor, etc. War, conquest, strife, victory.
Ambition. Originality. Energy. Vigor. Vitality. The Wisdom of Sovereignty and Beauty, the
originator of these. The Sphere of the Zodiac acting through Aries upon the Sun and initiating
Spring. Transient wealth and power. Protection. Potency. Stability. The God-king, the divine
king. The emperor reinterpreted as a modern captain of industry. One who is dedicated and
disciplined. One who embodies or suffers from a lack of the Roman virtues. Natural
intelligence. Temporal or mundane power. Effect. Development. Domination of spirit over
matter. Active creation. An engineer, a constructor. Virile power. Lordship of thought. A
great person. Aid. Will. Benevolence. Compassion. Confusion to enemies.
Reversed: Aries, the first third of Spring. Easter (as a time of year). The Vernal Equinox. The
brain, the cerebrum, the face, the eyes, the upper jaw, the sinuses, the nose, the skull.
O’erweening confidence. Megalomania, Quarrelsomeness. Stubbornness. Impracticability.
Rashness. Ill-temper. Immaturity. Subservience. The possibility of being defrauded in one’s
inheritance. Loss of wealth or authority. Paternalism. Tyranny. Stoppage, blockage, check,
obstruction. Unripe.
d. Interrelationships of the Path and the Trump

Trump IV, The Emperor, is associated with h (Heh), the Path connecting Chokmah with Tiphareth.*
Its astrological attribution is the Sign Aries, whose mundane rulers are Mars and Pluto, in which the Sun
and Moon are exalted, and whose esoteric rulers are Mercury and Persephone. Chokmah is associated
with Neptune, one of the rulers of the Fiery Sign Sagittarius, and with the Element Fire; Tiphareth is
associated with the Sun, and the Sun’s Fiery energy; so this Path is a Fiery one, a Path of primordial Will
and Spirit. This card represents that stage of a child’s growth and development in which he or she first
truly perceives the Father as an important figure in his or her life, and as consort of the Mother. It is a
card of virility and male energy, and more generally of beginnings of all kinds, the card of the Pioneer. It
symbolizes the Will in action and its manifest results, and the Spirit upon the Throne of Matter.
*In Crowley’s pack The Book of Thoth, however, it is attributed to x (Tzaddi), connecting Netzach with
Yesod.
6. Key 16
Vav w “Nail.” Trump V, The Hierophant. Taurus ó. Cardinal value, 6; ordinal value, 6.
Connects Sephirah 2, Chokmah, with Sephirah 4, Chesed. Roman/English equivalents: F, O, U, V, W.

The 16th Path parallels the 18th. Both of these Paths are links between Spirit and Individuality, again
with emphasis on form in their symbolism. In the formula of JHVH, w (Vau, the “V” in JHVH) signifies
active manifestation in form, the result of the union of opposites of Yod and Heh. From the standpoint of
esoteric Christianity, the Nail (Vav means “nail”) is a significant symbol, signifying (in triplicate) that
which nails the Spirit to the Cross of Matter.
The shape of the letter Vau is similar to z (Zain, “sword” [see Key 7]). Zain can be considered to be
made up of a y (Yod), representing Spiritual reality, extending a line of communication down into
manifestation. A similar line of interpretation can be applied to Vau. However, in the case of Vau, the
Yod is positioned differently. Rather than being athwart the vertical line of communication, it is instead
inclined down into it, as if the dynamic force of Chokmah were driving its spiritual influence down into
the pristine form of the Individuality housed in Chesed. So whereas the emanations of Binah are Faith,
the emanations of Chokmah are Spiritual Will.
Since Chesed is that part of the Individuality which beholds the face of its creator, the Spirit,
containing within itself a pattern of the Spirit on which to mold its further manifestation, while Chokmah
is pure Spiritual being, the direct reflection of the very source of Being itself that resides in Kether, so
this Path can be taken to be, in the words of the Yetziratic Text “the pleasure of the Glory, beyond which
is no other Glory like unto it.” When all aspects of manifest existence radiate and reflect truth to and
from one another in this way, then will ‘the Kingdom come.’ So this Path can be thought of as a pattern
for the future, and a promise of what will be; for this reason it is also called “the Paradise prepared for
the Righteous.”14
Yetziratic Text:
The Sixteenth Path is the Triumphal or Eternal Intelligence, so called because it is

the pleasure of the Glory, beyond which is no other Glory like unto it, and it is
called also the Paradise prepared for the Righteous.
Yetziratic title: Triumphal or Eternal One
Hebrew letter: w (Vav, “Nail”)
Numerical value: 6
Title: The Magus of the Eternal
Principle: Cultivation, acquisition. The union of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm (“5 = 6”),
in the sense of uniting terrestrial and universal realms.
Astrological assignment: ó (the Sign Taurus), whose mundane rulers are Venus and
Hera/Durga, in which Sol and Luna are exalted, and whose esoteric Lords are Mercury and
Persephone; the Pleiades
Element (Alchemical): Fixed (Cherubic) Earth
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle: nurturance; fertility, fertilization
Physical chemistry:
Colors: Red-orange (King Scale); deep indigo (Queen Scale); deep warm olive (Emperor
Scale); rich brown (Empress Scale)
Gods:
General: Gods and Goddesses of fertility

Greek: Minos, the Minotaur; Europa
Roman: Venus
Egyptian: Osiris, Asar Ameshet Apis
Scandinavian:
USA:
Celtic:
Christian:
Hindu: the sacred cow
Voudon:
Other:
Biblical associations: Issacher, son of Jacob; Simon Zelotes, disciple of Jesus
Countries: Ireland, Russia (pre-Soviet), Switzerland, Poland, Cyprus, Persia, Crete
Cities: Dublin, Mantua, Leipzig, Lucerne
Peoples: the ancient Egyptians, the Druids, the ancient Cretans
Meditation: Beaten and Scattered Corpse
Magickal Power: The Secret of Physical Strength
Perfume: Storax
Magickal Weapons: The Labor of Preparation
Musical tone: C sharp or B flat
Qlippoth: } w r y m y d a (ADIMIRON, “Bloody); Uriens, whose name is evoked in the

key of C sharp and should be roared or bellowed, and whose sigil should be inscribed in
lines of flame on a brown triangle (the sigil shows a seven-armed figure, whose upper four
arms terminate in Yods, the lower three in crosses)
Metals, stones, and minerals: topaz, agate, emerald, alabaster, and coral
Plants, real and imaginary: moss, spinach, lilies, daises, dandelions, beets, larkspur, flax,
myrtle, mallow
Animals, Real and Imaginary: the Bull (Cherub of Taurus)
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): sugar
Mineral drugs:
The Body: adenoids, cerebellum, lower jaw, jugular vein, larynx, mouth, neck, pharynx,
salivary glands, throat, thyroid gland, tongue, tonsils, vocal cords, parathyroids. The sense
of hearing.
Diseases: Indigestion; dysfunctions associated with the cerebellum; dislocated jaw; blockage
of or wound in jugular vein; laryngitis; diseases of the tongue, mouth and throat, both
infectious, such as thrush, and functional/organic, such as cancer; Graves’ disease,
hypothyroidism, etc.; tonsillitis; broken neck, dislocated neck, etc.; problems with the
voice
Magickal image: between the Pillars sits an Ancient

Lineal figures: Amissio
•
• •
•
• •
Domain: Second third of Spring; the stage of Spring at its fullest; the fullness of resurrected
life
Archangel:
Quarter: ENE, S-by-E
Buddhist symbolism: success in Hatha Yoga, Asana and Prana-yama.

The Snake (the Chinese month corresponding to the Western Sign Taurus); grain rains come,
Summer begins; Fire; the South; Summer; brilliance, heat, bitter, red, controls heart and small
intestines; the Vermilion Bird (Phoenix); Mars; Yang, burning wood; Yin, lamp-flame; iron;
realgar.
Trigram from the I Ching:

Gringonneur: It shows a seated pope who bears the keys of Saint Peter, flanked by two seated
figures, perhaps cardinals.
Bembo: In this pack, the Hierophant is seated, his right hand raised in benediction.
Swiss: This pack shows a weary Jupiter, seated on a throne. His eagle is on the sand before him.
Like Trump II, The Papess, this card is a substitution to spare the feelings of the Church.
Insight: Here, the Hierophant is seated in front of two lotus-topped pillars. His left hand holds a
staff terminating in a triple cross, and his right hand is raised in blessing. Two monks (or,
perhaps, Cardinals) petition him.
Italian: Similar to the Insight, but here the Hierophant has his hand on his breast.
Waite: Similar to the traditional design, but with the following changes: the garments of the monks
are patterned, one with red roses, one with white lilies. The pillars are decorated in a
pomegranate (or grape) motive. A device in the shape of a “W” surmounts his crown.
B.O.T.A.: Like Waite’s, except that the Hierophant’s crown lacks the “W” that tops the crown of the
Hierophant in Waite’s pack, while the throne bears devices indicative of the Solar winged disc
or Taurus the Bull.
Aquarian: Here, the pope wears a stylized version of the triple crown. In the left foreground are the
crossed keys of St. Peter, and in the right foreground is the Papal Cross.
Crowley: Here, the Hierophant is seated on a throne decorated with the heads of elephants. A bull
stands behind him, part of its body twisted around him. At the four corners of the card are the
four Evangelical Beasts of the Apocalypse: the Angel, the Eagle, the Bull, and the Lion. In his
right hand he carries a rod terminating in a triple circle which may represent a combination of
the Holy Trinity, the Keys, the Triple Cross, and the Lingam. Crowley’s pack is frequently
ambiguous in its meaning (probably deliberately so). For example, the “benediction” of this
card shows the forefinger and middle finger the Hierophant’s left hand extended downward in a
gesture which totally reverses the normal meaning of the card. At the Hierophant’s feet is the
figure of Isis, standing, bearing in her left hand a bow or crescent Moon, and in her right a staff.
Behind the Hierophant’s head is a pattern of nails, representing the literal meaning of Vav, the
letter associated with this card. On the Hierophant’s breast is an upright Pentagram in which is
inscribed a running figure.
The New Tarot: Retitled “Speaker.” A naked figure stands on a narrow land-bridge above turbulent
waters. In his right hand he holds up a dark circle; in his left, a golden key. His heart is visible
in splendor. From his mouth issue forked lightning. Behind him is a volcano in eruption.
The Fantasy Showcase Tarot: Dressed in gorgeous, gold-trimmed robes and wearing a turban with a
jeweled headband, the Hierophant stands on a cobbled pave before a strangely-cut window
opening on the cosmos. He carries a staff headed by a great jewel within a gold ring.
America’s Tarot: A montage of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and that portion of the
Constitution that has to do with the Presidency. Article V of the Bill of Rights.
The Divine Comedy Tarot: Minos, one of the Judges of the damned in Hell
Biblical Tarot: Moses discovers the children of Israel making sacrifices to the Golden Calf.
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Al Feldstein.
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot:
The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot: Shub-Niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young
The Stephen King Tarot:
Upright: The Voice of the Hierophant giving verbal form to the Vision of the Fool. Revelation
(implying that which is not revealed, as well). Latent powers and energies. Secretiveness and
reserve. The powers of the unconscious mind, memory, and recollection in their highest
manifestation. “Revealer of Sacred Things.” Intuition as an unconscious response to reason.
The master of the Arcana, or occult intelligence. Stubborn strength. Toil. Endurance.
Placidity. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching. Goodness of heart. Help from superiors.
Patience. Organization. Peace. “Pontifex” or Bridge-Maker, one who links the outer world of
flesh and substance with the inner one of spirit and transubstantiality The linking of man to God
through the inner voice. Openness to new ideas. Unconventionality. The inventor. The hippie.
The Wisdom and Fountain of Mercy. The Sphere of the Zodiac acting through Taurus upon
Jupiter. The Magus of the Eternal Gods. Divine wisdom. Manifestation. Occult wisdom.
Resembles the Magician, the Hermit, and The Lovers in some respects. The occult power of
man. A secret revealed. Religious or scientific vocation. An advisor of the Querent’s, such as a
psychoanalyst, father-confessor, or rabbi. General paternal characteristics, in an emotional,
sexual, and social sense. Orthodoxy. Someone who mediates power between higher and lower
levels. Mercy. Beneficence. Kindness. Goodness. The exoteric Magickal method of
instruction. The creative will expressed. The dispenser of welfare, well-being, riches, or
political and social virtue. The universal life. Enlightened will power. Active authority.
Sanction in the sense of inner consent rather than external law. Natural authority. Inner
directedness, in the sociopsychological sense. The codifier in relation to the source of power.
The priest as one of two media of Truth, Art, and Religion. He who makes the sacrifice. The
King as the annual sacrifice, and, by extension, a scapegoat. The ruling power of external
religion. The power of the keys. The Keys to the Kingdom. Exoteric orthodox doctrine and the
outer life which leads to the doctrine. Al things that are righteous and sacred. The channel of
institutionalized (as distinct from natural) grace. Marriage. Alliance. Captivity. Servitude.
Inspiration. The man to whom the Querent has recourse.
Reversed: Adenoids, cerebellum, lower jaw, jugular vein, larynx, mouth, neck, pharynx, salivary
glands, throat, thyroid gland, tongue, tonsils, vocal cords. Taurus, the second Solar month, from
about April 20 to around May 20. A tendency toward superstition. A delayed project. A late
vocation. Someone who can accomplish practical affairs in a mysterious or deceptive manner.
Iconoclasm, radicalism, rebellion. Over-kindness. Weakness. Foolish generosity. The sum of
theology in its most rigid forms. Society. Good understanding.

According to Bill Butler, in Dictionary of the Tarot (New York: Schocken Books, 1977), Arland
Ussher, in The XXII Keys of the Tarot (Dublin: Dolmen, 1969), associates this card with Aries and the
sacrificial ram:
. . . (Thus Ussher incorporates ideas of the king as an annual sacrifice, and, by

extension, a scapegoat.) . . . Ussher’s suggestion of sacrificial ram and thus the
connection between the priest (as killer) and the king (as annual sacrifice) which would
seem to follow from it is ingenious. It not only completely delineates power, both
temporal and heavenly or spiritual; but it also indicates the pairing which occurs
between the emperor and the high priest. They are bound together, each necessary for
the other and ultimately the same figure, just as the papess and the empress are
identical.
Butler, op, cit., p. 132
Vav, the Path associated with Trump V, Chokmah with Chesed, signifying Mercy tempered with
Wisdom, beneficence inspired by the Will of God. A good part of its meaning is inherent in Taurus, the
Solar month associated with Vav. In Taurus, the seeds planted when the Sun was in Aries now begin to
germinate and rise upward to the light, putting forth shoots of green, struggling mightily for a place in the
Sun and the Hidden Treasures of Hades, the minerals, water, and gases in the soil which provide the food
the new plants need to live and thrive. Deep in the soil, a fierce battle rages among the young plants:
some plants, the strongest, manage to drive their new roots far and wide, sequestering as much of the
soil’s wealth as possible, while others, less strong or lucky, are starved out by their abler (or luckier)
neighbors. Insects and nematodes begin to feed on the young plants, some of which secrete toxins that
sicken or kill the predators. Algae team up with fungi in the union known as lichen; together they are
able to survive and thrive as they could not apart. And so it goes. Beneath the beauty of mid-Spring –
indeed, the matrix that gives rise to it – are battle, strife, horror, and tragedy in every sort of stage and
expression, the manifestations of Scorpio. Thus each Sign is supported, nurtured, even conceived by its
opposite. Here, Spring is nurtured and schooled by Autumn, the Maiden, Persephone, taken to wife by
Hades, Lord of the Dead.
7. Key 17
Zain z “Sword.” Trump VI, The Lovers. Gemini ô . Cardinal value, 7; ordinal value, 7.
Connects Sephirah 3, Binah, with Sephirah 6, Tiphareth. Roman/English equivalent: Z.

The most concrete of the three Supernal Sephiroth, Binah contains the image of the Spirit and its
destiny in Earth. This Path, Zain, is the means by which knowledge of the Spirit’s destiny is brought into
the central focus of consciousness in manifestation, Tiphareth.
Binah is “the parent of Faith, from which doth Fate emanate.” This Path “. . . provides Faith to the
Righteous,” by which the latter “clothed with the Holy Spirit.” In this context, Faith is “the Foundation
of Excellence in the state of higher things.”
The Holy Spirit is the Third Aspect of God, or Third Person of the Trinity, and is attributed to Binah.
It may be associated with both Yesod and Binah; indeed, these two Sephiroth have much in common, as
meditation on the symbolism of the Moon and Water associated with Yesod and the Great Sea of Binah
reveals. Binah is also closely connected with the Holy Guardian Angel, in spite of the fact that the
Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is the Spiritual Experience of Malkuth.*
Again, there is a close link between Binah and Malkuth, the Superior Mother and the Inferior Mother.
According to Gareth Knight,
The Holy Guardian Angel is not the Individuality, but that aspect of the “Group
Thought-Form of God” which impressed the Swarm of Divine Sparks at the beginning
of Time. When the Swarm broke up to undergo individual experience in manifestation
the ‘Group Thought-Form’ broke up also, each fragment connected with a particular
Divine Spark. . . . [The] Holy Guardian Angel may be considered to be that part of a
human being which reveals his purpose in manifestation to him in accordance with the
Divine Plan.
*See remarks concerning various definitions of the Holy Guardian Angel by different esoteric schools in
the previous lesson. Gareth Knight’s description here of the functional reality of the H.G.A. – which
is corroborated by most other schools and in the experience of most practicing occultists – lends
strong support to the idea that it is a phenomenon of Malkuth and either analogous to the superego or
identical to it. On my own, however, I experienced something very like – if not, in fact, identical to
– what is commonly reported as the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel in
Binah rather than Malkuth, i.e., as a Uranian, rather than a Solar or Terrestrial, phenomenon. Why
and how this happened, I am unsure, but it did give me the experience which Knowledge and
Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is supposed to confer, albeit on a far higher level than that
is normally experienced.
Here is the explanation of the origin of the esoteric titles of the Tarot Trump and also of the
astrological Sign, Gemini, associated with this Trump. The Holy Guardian Angel may manifest as an
Oracle of the Mighty Gods, each Holy Guardian Angel being a child of the Logos. Such manifestations
are above the levels of mind, thus manifesting as faith. This may be not only a general faith in God, but
the faith in himself that every healthy being has to persevere at what he considers to be his true calling in
spite of all opposition.
Gemini, the Twins, represents the ideal relationship between the Holy Guardian Angel and the
Individuality: each should be a reflection of the other. This applies equally to the Spirit and
Individuality, and to the Individuality and Personality. In esoteric writing, it is to the latter pair that the
Heavenly Twins, Castor and Pollux (the Gemini), are more commonly referred. Castor and Pollux were
children of Leda. Pollux and Helen of Troy were sired by Zeus in the form of a swan, and Castor and
Clytemnestra were the true children of Leda’s husband, Tyndereus. Here is an analogy of the Holy
Guardian Angel which, like Pollux, was formed directly by God, and the incarnating Spirit which, like
Castor, is essentially human. Castor was mortal, Pollux an immortal; Pollux bought immortality for
Castor by consenting to spend half his time in Hades, the realm of the dead. This represents downward-
directed meditation on the Holy Guardian Angel, the Spirit, or the Individuality, according to the level of
interpretation, when the lower unit is the mortal person. The final goal of incarnation also has its analogy
in the myth: Zeus, deeply moved by this example of brotherly love, placed the Twins together in the sky
as a single constellation, signifying the spiritual future of humanity and also its means of attaining it –
through Love to the Stars.
*Is our biology reflected in our esoteric models and theories, or vice-versa? It is of interest here to point
out that with the advent of sexually-reproducing organisms, Earthly life began to evolve toward
forms that would eventually try to attain the Stars, literally. Asexual life has little or no community,
the basis of which is love, if only neighborly love. Asexual life strives merely to reproduce its
numbers and expand into as much territory as possible. Sexual life, on the other hand, has to evolve
some sort of communal life and a culture to go with it, if only to ensure a ready supply of mates and
optimize its ability to give its young a good start in the world. And only with the skills and
advantages given by a true community and culture can a species – and its world – attain the Stars.
Space makes the grimmest terrestrial desert or hellhole look like paradise, and only a truly social
organism, which can develop an advanced technology and cooperate in highly intricate, complex
tasks has the slightest chance to survive in outer space. So we evolve: through love – love of
friends, neighbors, mates, children, Planet – to the Stars.
The Tarot Trump associated with this Path is called The Lovers. It shows three people, one male,
two female, over whom hovers Eros in the form of Cupid, armed with bow and arrow. One of the women
is crowned and faces the couple, who are obviously the Lovers. The couple are the counterpart of the
Dioscuroi, the heavenly Twins; the crowned woman is the principle of Form; and the Cupid is the
driving principle behind manifestation, the primordial Eros of Kether. (Mighty Eros, a figure of dynamic
Divine Love, has been popularized down the ages into the sentimental Cupid, just as the true significance
of this card was for a long time considered to be that of man’s choice between Good and Evil, with Evil
about to get an earful of arrow from the winged figure of Justice. An even shallower interpretation
regarded it as a card upholding the sanctity of marriage. This process of evolution of different levels of
interpretation of this or any other card is inevitable, and it must be borne in mind that the significance of
the symbols in each cared will change as one’s own understanding matures. If a symbol is a good one,
all levels of its interpretation are correct, and there is no ultimate meaning for any esoteric symbol. This
fact must always be borne in mind in esoteric work.) There is an interesting confirmation in the design of
this Trump in ‘The Chymical Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz’ wherein a Virgin is mistress of
ceremonies and the young King and Queen about to be married have a Cupid constantly hovering over
their heads.
The Key to the Path, the Hebrew letter Zain, means “Sword.” The shape of the letter suggests a
sword; in another way, it signifies the action of the Holy Guardian Angel. The Holy Guardian Angel,
Knowledge and Purpose on its own high level, is represented by the Yod at the top of the letter. The Holy
Guardian Angel projects a “rod” of Knowledge and Purpose downward into manifestation, represented by
the vertical lines of the letter. There is nothing attached to the lower end of this shaft, signifying that the
inner opportunity presented by the Holy Guardian Angel has to be seized and acted upon.
The attribution of the Sword may seem strange at first in connection with the Lovers and Twins, for
the Sword is a symbol of separation. It is, however, appropriate to the rest of the symbolism.* This Path
is essentially one of separation, for the separation of the individual monads of Spirit that make up the
human group-soul is essential for individual evolution; and the part of the Self that stays in Heaven and
the part that descends into manifestation must likewise be separate. This separation is part of the Vision
of Sorrow of Binah, one of whose Magical Images is a heart pierced with Swords (i.e., the Three of
Swords). Furthermore, the Heavenly Twins, though similar, and united by relationship and love, are
separate beings. Without separation there could be no love.
*Also, the Sword is a symbol of Air, and that Gemini, the astrological Sign associated with this Trump,
is an Air Sign.
The Sword is also a weapon of destruction. As such, it symbolizes the fourth aspect of God: God
the Destroyer or Disintegrator, Whose avatars include, e.g., Kali, Shiva, the Archangel Mikhail, Medusa,
etc.. This represents an aspect of the ascent of this Path during which all manifestation is eventually
reabsorbed into the Great Sea. On one level, this is Binah on one level; ultimately it refers to Binah’s
analogue beyond Kether, Ain Soph, Limitlessness.
There are countless legends having to do with the Sword. There are singing swords, and swords
which speak, though perhaps the most famous of all is Excalibur, the Magickal Sword belonging to King
Arthur. Through all Brythonic legend there are accounts of Divine Purpose being revealed by means of a
sword in a stone or, sometimes, found floating in the water. It was by means of such an oracle that
Arthur was made king. The association with the stone represents manifestation in dense matter, and the
water in which the stone floats is a reminder of the Waters of Binah or Ain Soph (Excalibur itself came
from and was returned to the lady of the Lake!).
There is of course an obvious sexual element in the symbolism of the Sword. This is just one facet
of the principle of polarity which produces manifestation;* hence the relevance of this Path to Binah and
the symbolic relationship of this Path shown in the design of Trump VI as well as in the myth of the
Constellation Gemini. The Sword represents the power of polarity, on all its levels. The myth of
Excalibur is an obvious case in point, and its scabbard, which according to Merlin was worth more than
the sword itself and which was stolen by the sorceress Morgan Le Fay, represents the knowledge of the
application of this power.** The whole Arthurian story-cycle is an esoteric treatise on the principle of
polarity. Although this principle may be expressed in the guise of mere love-affairs between various
lords and ladies, the implications of such symbolism run very deep, for polarity is the very principle of
existence.† When dealing with the higher aspects of the Tree of Life, we are dealing with fundamentals,
and at those levels, the stories involving Excalibur, the Knights and Ladies, the Holy Grail and the Round
Table, are not merely examples of human behavior, as they might be lower on the Tree, but indeed
principles of cosmic reality.‡
*As indicated in the discussion concerning Key 14, above, this polarity is associated with the Planet
Venus. In turn, Venus is one of the esoteric rulers of Gemini, the Sign associated with Trump VI and
Key 17.
**Knowledge per se is ruled by Saturn, traditional ruler of Aquarius, another Air Sign (see Key 28.,
below).
†This is literally, physically true. The Big Bang with which the physical Universe began only took place
with the birth of equal masses of virtual particles and their corresponding anti-particles. Most of
these annihilated one another in one gigantic, cataclysmic event, the energy of which gave birth to
our universe. For detailed discussion of current models of the birth of the universe, see James
Cornell (editor), Bubbles, Voids, and Bumps in Time: The New Cosmology (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1989); Alan Dressler, Voyage to the Great Attractor: Exploring Intergalactic
Space (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994); and Karel A. Velan, The Multi-Universe Cosmos: The
First Complete Story of the Origin of the Universe (New York: Plenum Press, 1992).
‡If there is anything to the esoteric Arts and Sciences, then what is Above (on the Inner Planes, the
realms of Spirit) must be reflected in that which is Below (our everyday, mundane, historical reality).
The Arthurian Romance cycle grew out of what Britons remembered of the early history, which
included the occupation of the British Isles by the Old Roman Empire and the Dark Ages which
followed the retreat from Britain of the Empire in its last, dying phase. The reader might want to see
how well the events of that time correspond to the symbolism of this Trump and its exegesis given
here by Knight. See Sir Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (New York:
Dodd, Mead, 1956-1958. 4 volumes) for a description of the historical Arthur and his times.
Resh, the Path from Yesod to Hod, associated with Trump XIX, The Sun, has to do with the division
between the sexes, and the problems that come about from refusal to recognize this division or accept it.
Zain parallels Resh, thus representing the same tendencies, but at a higher level.* According to Knight,
It is a point of some academic nicety where exactly the roots of the Prime
Deviation lie. The Spirit is said to have been perfect until it learnt of the Plan of the
Manifest Universe; then it took on imperfection. Thus one could put the root of the
trouble in Binah [Eve], but it is perhaps safer until more is known, to follow the more
traditional idea of the Serpent of Confusion rising only as far as Daath. The fact is that
the wrong image was projected into Chesed and the Spirit is responsible, for it is the
Spirit which projects, and should act through, all the vehicles of man. 15
*As discussed in the section on Key 30, below, this Trump is associated with Sol, Who is one of the
esoteric Lords of Gemini.
Yetziratic Text:
The Seventeenth Path is the Disposing Intelligence which provides Faith to the
Righteous, and they are clothed with the Holy spirit by it, and it is called the
Foundation of Excellence in the state of higher things.
Yetziratic title: Disposing One
Hebrew letter: z (Zain, “Sword”)
Numerical value: 7.
Title: The Children of the Voice, the Oracle of the Mighty Gods
Principle: Separation, the union of opposites, twinning
Astrological assignment: the Sign Gemini, the third third of Spring; the Fixed Stars Castor and
Pollux
Element (Alchemical): Mutable Air; mercury (the vaporous products of Alchemical

decomposition of a substance)
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle: the transition between Spring and Summer, the
beginning of the process that will make young organisms independent of their parents; wind
Physical chemistry: the tendency of any gas to disperse
Colors: Orange (King Scale); pale mauve (Queen Scale); new yellow leather (Emperor Scale);
reddish-gray, inclined to mauve (Empress Scale)
Gods:
General: All twinned Gods

Assyrian: Nebo and Tasmit
Greek: Castor and Pollux
Roman: Romulus and Remus; Mercury; Janus
Egyptian: the twin Merti, the twin Rehti, etc.
Scandinavian:
USA: in the natal horoscope of the USA that is generally accepted today, Gemini is rising,
hence Mercury, ruler of Gemini, rules our country, as do Castor and Pollux, the Gemini
Themselves
Celtic:
Christian: Boanerges, the Sons of Thunder; James, “the lesser,” disciple of Jesus5t
Hindu: Sunda and Upusunda (from the Mahabharata); Rama and his twin brother (from
the Ramayana)
Voudon:
Other:
Biblical associations: Simeon and Levi, sons of Jacob who avenged the rape of their sister
Dinah by slaughtering many of the tribe of Shechem
Countries: United States of America, Belgium, Wales, Sardinia, northeast coast of Africa,
Lower Egypt, Flanders, Lombardy
Cities: London, Melbourne, San Francisco, Cordoba, Versailles, Plymouth, Nuremberg, Cardiff
Peoples: Gypsies
Meditation: White
Magickal Power: Bilocation and Multilocation (the power of being in two or more places at
once, Prophecy.
Perfume: Wormwood
Magickal Weapons: The Tripod
Musical tone: D natural.
Qlippoth: } w r y m y l l x (TzALALIMIRON, “Clangers”)
*See Kenneth Grant, Nightside of Eden (London: Skoob Books Publishing, 1994), pp.
Metals, stones, and minerals: alexandrite, tourmaline, Iceland spar, beryl, crystal, garnet, topaz,
aquamarine, marble, chrysolite, and all striped stones
Plants, real and imaginary: yarrow, woodbine, vervain, tansy, dog grass, madder, orchids, all
cloned plants, all hybrids
Animals, Real and Imaginary: all cloned and hybrid animals, magpies, parrots, ravens,
parakeets, all other talking birds
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): ergot, all ecbolics
Mineral drugs:
The Body: Arms, breath, organs of respiration, bronchi, capillaries, diaphragm, fingers, hands,
sense of hearing, lungs, neurons, oxygenation of the blood, nervous system, brain,
sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, autonomic nervous system as
a whole, peripheral nervous system (nerves), upper ribs, sense of sight, sense of smell,
memory, sense of taste, thoracic cavity, thymus gland, sense of touch, trachea
Diseases: Phthysis, pneumonia, asthma, and all other diseases or dysfunctions of the above
Magickal image: A young prophet, in the Sign of Osiris Risen
Lineal figures: striped patterns of all kinds; the Swastika; Albus:
• •
• •
•
• •
Domain: Third third of Spring; one’s neighborhood or immediate environment; elementary
school; students; small appliances; short-distance journeys; books; libraries;
communication in all forms; learning; memory; writing
Archangel:
Quarter: NNE; W-by-S
Buddhist symbolism: .

The Horse (Chinese month equivalent to Western Sign Gemini); grain fills, grain forms ear; Fire;
the South; Summer; brilliance, heat, bitter, red, controls heart and small intestines; the
Vermilion Bird (Phoenix); Mars; Yang, burning wood; Yin, lamp-flame; iron; realgar.

Gringonneur: Three pairs of lovers, promenading. The central pair appear to be quarreling. In the
heavens, two Cupids are taking aim at them with bow and arrow.
Bembo: This card shows Cupid, blindfolded, standing on a pedestal. Before him is a pair of lovers,
probably modeled on Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, the lady for whom these
cards were designed. In this card, as in Gringonneur’s, “love” refers to “courtly love,” a concept
which owes its origin to Provençal poetry of the twelfth century and the works of the Roman
writer Ovid. From these sources it is developed in the writing of Boccaccio and Margaret of
Navarre. The themes are literally “courtly”: the books in question were to be read at royal
courts. Not surprisingly, a disproportionately large number of the characters in them were
aristocrats of one stripe of another.
Swiss: The card shows two lovers, and Cupid taking aim at them from the heavens; the scene is
observed by an old man leaning on a staff.
Insight: A young man, apparently choosing between an older and a younger woman. Cupid is in this
card, as well, taking aim at figures below; He is set against the Sun in glory.
Italian: Like the Insight Tarot, but here Cupid is blindfolded.
Waite: An angel blesses Adam and Eve. Even stands before the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil, around the trunk of which is wrapped a smiling Serpent. Adam stands before a tree filled
with flame (the flame design reappears in Card XV, The Devil).
Aquarian: Two lovers, with iris flowers in bud.
Crowley: A king and queen join in marriage before a figure like an Arch-Druid, whose hands are
raised over them in blessing. The queen wears the crown of Isis; the king wears a traditional
king’s crown. They are attended by two naked boys, one of whom is black and carries a club,
and the other of whom is white and carries flowers. The queen offers a chalice with a dove
sitting on it with her left hand; the king holds a spear in his left hand. Their right hands are
joined. Below them is a winged egg, wrapped around with a serpent. Below, to the right, is an
eagle; below and to the left is a lion. Both of these heraldic animals are plainly laughing. In
some respects this card recapitulates the Alchemical teaching-tale of Christian Rosenkreutz.
The New Tarot: Retitled “Unity.” A man and woman stand on the periphery of a circle, hands and
feet just touching. Within the circle is an ocean and two fish who might be dolphins. There are
two ladders, one white and one brown, at either side. The Moon is shown at the top in all four
quarter-phases. At the bottom, from left to right, are a sword, a Pentagram, ripe corn, an ibis
standing upon a tortoise, and a pear tree.
The Fantasy Showcase Tarot: The design of this card is explicitly sexual. It shows a naked man and
a naked woman, the man kissing the woman, the woman caressing a serpent rising from the area
of the man’s genitalia. Behind them is a winged Solar disc upon which is a face with eyes half
shut and a pouting mouth. The woman wears a headpiece with stylized wings over her ears, and
the man wears an odd scarf patterned with flowers that has spines like a dragon’s over the back
of his head.
America’s Tarot: Alfred E. Neuman and Moxie Cowznowski, his girlfriend, holding hands in
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; the Golden Gate Bridge is in the background. (San Francisco
is a Gemini city.) Article VI of the Bill of Rights. (Alternate: Alfred with a black eye and a
bright-red palm-print on one cheek, looking dazed, Moxie stomping away in high dudgeon.)
Biblical Tarot: Jacob and his Coat of Many Colors (OT); Boanerges (the Sons of Thunder) (NT);
James the Lesser (NT); Simeon and Levi, brothers of Dinah (OT)
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Alfie and Moxie.
Upright: Diversity, contrast, antithesis, distinction, discrimination, perception, acuity, sharpness.
The physical senses. The two roads. Analysis followed by synthesis. Openness to inspiration.
Intuition. Intelligence. Second sight. Choice. The understanding of beauty. The production of
beauty and sovereignty. Saturn acting through Gemini upon Sol. Passive or, in some cases,
mediumistic inspiration. Motive, power, and action arising from inspiration and impulse. The
thought of physical love. Union. Marriage. A choice that must be made. A possible change in
someone’s love-life. Love. Sacred (as opposed to profane) love. The necessity of trial and
testing. Virtue. Wise dispositions. Proof. Trials surmounted. Unwise plans. Failure when put
to the test. Someone who is in love. By seeing, one is transformed, as is that which one sees (as
distinct from perception, in which that which is seen is clearly distinct from that which sees).
Limerance. All that relates to light and brilliancy. The choice between submitting to the
passions, and conquering them and becoming an initiate. Decision. The nervous system and
everything acting as an organ. The eye included as an organ. The law of duality. The law of
good-vs.-evil. Wisdom versus pleasure (pleasure being the likely winner, as the choice is up to a
use, and pleasure is appropriate to his age). Human love, as part of the way, the truth, and the
love. A mystery of the Covenant and Sabbath. Attraction. Love. Beauty. Trials overcome.
Reversed: Arms, breath, organs of respiration, bronchi, capillaries, diaphragm, fingers, hands, sense
of hearing, lungs, neurons, oxygenation of the blood, nervous system, brain, sympathetic
nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, autonomic nervous system as a whole,
peripheral nervous system (nerves), upper ribs, sense of sight, sense of smell, memory, sense of
taste, thoracic cavity, thymus gland, sense of touch, trachea; Phthysis, pneumonia, asthma, and
all other diseases or dysfunctions of the parts of the body ruled by Gemini. A sword, a weapon
of any kind. The Solar month of Gemini, May 21 through June 19. Struggle between passion
and conscience. Childishness. Frivolity. Thoughtfulness divorced from practical consideration.
Indecision. Self-contradiction. Union with others in a shallow degree. Instability.
Contradiction. Triviality. The highbrow or snob. A bad choice. Many unions. Infidelity.
Love affairs. Divorce. Dissatisfaction. Unhappy love. Vice. Reunion or antagonism, with all
their consequences. Failure. Foolish designs. Marriage frustrated. Contrarieties of all kinds.

Zain connects Binah with Tiphareth, representing the congress of the Spheres of Uranus, ruler of the
Heavens, and the Sun, the Giver of Life. On a spiritual level, it therefore represents the relationship
between the Will of God and the Source of Life, the Breath (Ruach) breathed into Adam by God that
brought him alive, the Spirit that informs living beings. It also represents inspiration, the impulses
“breathed” into us by the Gods. And since Binah is associated with the Sorrowing Mother and Tiphareth
with Jesus, Zain is also associated with the sorrow of Mary upon receiving the body of her murdered son,
as well as the relationship in life between Jesus and his mother.
On a physical level, Zain represents the desire of terrestrial life to literally attain the Stars, to
colonize worlds of Stars other than Sol.
8. Key 18
Cheth h “Fence.” Trump VII, the Chariot. Cancer õ. Cardinal value, 8; ordinal value, 8.
Connects Sephirah 5, Geburah, with Sephirah 3, Binah. Roman/English equivalent: Ch, as in Scots
“loch.”

Cheth joins Geburah, the Sephirah of manifest spiritual activity, and Binah, the Sephirah of
archetypal form. The Chariot, the device of Cheth’s Trump, is a good symbol for it, because a chariot is
a vehicle designed for active movement. The vehicle of the spirit for its activity in manifestation is that
of manifestation of one body for each level from Sephirah to Malkuth, the physical world.
According to esoteric theory, each body builds up around a permanent “atom” or core on its
corresponding plane; this core, sometimes called a “seed-atom,” remains attached to the Spirit over a
series of incarnations. The “seed-atoms” therefore hold the memory of all previous incarnations of the
Spirit, while the primordial particles of the various planes that gather around them each time to form a
body are subsequently dispersed to form the common pool of matter for that plane which is utilized by
other manifesting Spirits.
It is possible that a portion of astral or mental substance may be utilized by an incarnating being
before that substance has been completely broken down into its component parts. It will therefore still
retain the signature of the imprint of the previous entity to some degree or another. This may account for
strange positive and negative tropisms, seemingly out of character, that occur in some persons. Such
tendencies wouldn’t be evident in a spirit in good control of its vehicles, but it can and does happen, and
it is well to bear this in mind before jumping to conclusions about former incarnations, pre-terrestrial ties,
“Karma,” or the doubtful theory of “soul mates.” Like the horse who continued to turn in at his former
master’s gate long after being sold to a series of new masters, in such cases it may be simply that that the
physical or a spiritual or astral body of a person who exhibits such tendencies is haring off on its own,
independent of the will of the spirit for which it is a vehicle, to fulfill the desires or habits of beings
which have long since sloughed it off for new bodies.
The symbols of this Path all stress the aspect of Form: the House of Influence, the astrological Sign
Cancer and the 4th House of the Horoscope, ruled by Cancer, the Crab with its hard carapace; the Fence;
and the Chariot, which, on the Tarot Trump, has a square, house-like superstructure. Form is again
emphasized in the Lunar symbolism of the card, images of the Moon appearing on the king’s sceptre and
his epaulettes. The Moon is a general symbol of Form; like Form, it is predominantly receptive, its great
power over the tides of the oceans being a drawing or actively receptive power like all other aspects of
the Feminine Aspect of God.* The polarity of manifestation is represented by the two horses which draw
the chariot, the design of the king’s crown, the two wheels of the chariot, and the two sets of pillars
which support the chariot’s canopy. A chariot can be regarded as a mobile throne, another reference to
Binah, whose Angelic Choir is the Aralim, “Thrones.” The mobility of this throne or chariot represents
Geburah, the lower terminus of this Path: since the war-hose is attributable to Geburah it might be better
to leave the animals that draw the chariot as horses, rather than to make them sphinxes, as in the usual
modern formula. Part of the basis of the mobility of the chariot comes from Chokmah, as well, whose
Choir of Angels is the Auphanim, “Wheels.”16
*Astrologically speaking, Luna brings all things into manifestation as well as ending them. She rules
Change in all forms, and is a lower octave of Pluto because of Her ability to transmute everything
from non-being to being to other forms of being and back again to non-being. In progressions of
astrological charts, She moves through the sky at the rate of about 2½° per month – which is very
close to the magnitude of the average motion of transiting Saturn. Saturn is Lord of Manifestation,
ruler of the physical world; Luna is also one of His lower octaves, because of Her power to
manifest, change, and destroy all things, so like Saturn’s, reflected in the equivalence between the
speed of Her progressed motion and His transiting motion. What Saturn rules on the physical plane,
Luna rules on the Inner Planes. Saturn is the traditional Planet of Binah, the Mother, the ruler of
Water; Saturn is exalted in Scorpio, the Cherubic Sign of Water, and in horary and natal charts, like
His dominion of Capricorn and the Tenth House He rules the Mother. Luna is also associated with
Water and the Mother, and Yesod, the Sphere of Luna, reflects Binah on a lower plane.
Trump VII, The Chariot, represents the Great Work, that process by which a man comes to know the
Crown, and attains to the Knowledge and Conversation of his Holy Guardian Angel, perfect self-
integration and consciousness.17
Cancer and the Fourth House of the Horoscope rule the roots of personal being, i.e., the ancestry of
the individual as well as inheritance from ancestors, especially those at not more than five removes from
the person in question. They rule the land of one’s birth, the homeland, one’s native country, one’s home
and dwelling-place. Like the Eighth and Twelfth Houses of the Horoscope, the Fourth House, ruled by
Cancer, is a House of Endings – and thus of Beginnings. See also Keys 24 and 29, below, concerning
Scorpio/the Eighth House and Pisces/the Twelfth House.
Yetziratic Text:
The Eighteenth Path is called the Intelligence of the House of Influence (by the
greatness of whose abundance the influx of good things upon created beings is
increased), and from its midst the streams and hidden senses are drawn forth, which
dwell in its shade and which cling to it from the Cause of all causes.
Yetziratic title: Intelligence of the House of Influence
Hebrew letter: j (Cheth, “Fence”)
Numerical value: 8.
Title: The Child of the Powers of the Waters, the Lord of the Triumph of Light
Principle: Sensitivity; conservation; ancestry
Astrological assignment: õ Cancer, the fourth Solar month of the year, the first third of
astrological Summer; the Summer Solstice; the Aselli (Stars representing the donkeys
ridden by Bacchus and Hephaestos in the war between the Olympians and the Titans, part of
the Constellation Cancer), Praesepe (another Star in the Constellation Cancer, representing
the manger of the donkeys ridden by Bacchus and Hephaestos, popularly called the Beehive,
Manger, or Crib)
Element (Alchemical): Cardinal Water ∇
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle: the tides of the ocean and great lakes; increase of
biomass through growth attained by ingestion of nutrients; the flowing waters of the world,
e.g., rivers and streams
Physical chemistry: H2O (oxygen dihydride, the ashes of hydrogen), capable of dissolving
almost anything (it is thus virtually the Universal Solvent which all Alchemists have striven
to find down the ages); the liquid phase of any material
Colors: Amber (King Scale), maroon (Queen Scale), rich bright russet (Emperor Scale), and
dark greenish-brown (Empress Scale)
Gods:
General:
Greek: Apollo the Charioteer, Artemis, Praesepe, the Aselli
Roman: Mercury, Apollo the Charioteer, Diana
Egyptian: Kephra, Hormakhu
Scandinavian:
USA:
Celtic:
Christian:
Hindu: Shiva, Kali, other Luna deities
Voudon:
Other:
Biblical associations: the tribe of Zebulon (OT); the disciple Andrew (NT), who was also a
follower of John the Baptist
Countries: Scotland,* Holland, Paraguay, Burgundy, New Zealand, and most of Africa. In the
natal horoscope of the United States of America, the Sun is in Cancer (July 4); since
Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is on the Ascendant of that chart, our country is thus doubly
ruled by Mercury Who, in China, is associated with quicksilver (mercury metal) and thus
with Water, the Element of Cancer.**
*The four nations of Great Britain are represented by the first four Signs of the Zodiac: England by
Aries; Ireland by Taurus; Wales by Gemini; and Scotland by Cancer. What esoteric significance
this has isn’t certain.
**In addition, in that chart Mercury is in Cancer, ruled by Luna; Luna is in Aquarius, ruled by Uranus
and Saturn; and Uranus is in Gemini, ruled by Mercury, as well as being conjunct the Ascendant,
while Saturn is in Libra, ruled by Venus Who, in that chart, like Mercury, is in Cancer. Mercury’s
influence is thus reflected throughout the chart via two systems of tripartite mutual reception:
(Mercury/Luna/Uranus) and (Luna/Saturn/Venus), with Venus in Cancer.
Cities: New York,* Constantinople (Istanbul),
*This assignment, by Alan Oken, is debatable. Some astrologers assign either Gemini and Mercury to
this archetypally American city, others to Aquarius and Uranus. Which assignments are more
appropriate depend upon whether Mercury, Luna, or Uranus are stronger in the U.S. chart (Mars,
Who rises in that chart, is associated with Geburah, the lower terminus of Cheth, and thus may be
considered in this context to be related to Cancer) and its history. At any rate, since it is New York
City that now most strongly symbolizes America to the rest of the world, certainly one of these
assignments – Gemini, Cancer, or Aquarius – is appropriate for that city. It may be that NYC is
jointly ruled by all three, to one degree or another, an idea which is supported by the polyglot, multi-
ethnic makeup of that great city, which has been the port of entry for countless millions who have
immigrated to our country to make their home there.
Peoples: Black Africans*
*Black or African Americans, on the other hand, are ruled by the Signs and Planets associated with the
USA. Certainly Cancer and the Moon are associated with them, because of the Cancerian birthday
of our country, but so also are Gemini and Mercury. And because so many Black Americans have
American Indian ancestors, they are also strongly ruled by Uranus and Aquarius, the astrological
Lords of the North American continent and its native peoples. In other words, to paraphrase a
famous old saying about Jews vs. the rest of humanity, Black Americans are just like all other
Americans – only more so. 
Meditation: Worm-Eaten Corpse
Magickal Power: Power of Casting Enchantments.
Perfume: Onycha (derived from a mollusk, primordially Cancerian animals, it represents Water
in the incense of Moses)
Magickal Weapons: The Furnace (which is connected with the energy of the Sun in Cancer;
also, it is the Furnace or Forge which is used by the smith to melt metallic ores, turning
them into molten metal, which flows like water)
Musical tone: D natural.
Qlippoth: } w r y r j y c (ShIChiRIRON, “Blackness” or “Darkness,” associated with the

midnight-black of the sky of the Sun in the Fourth House of the horoscope, which is ruled
by Cancer, often called “the Witching Hour”); Characith, whose sigil should be painted in
dark greenish brown on an amber-hued circle, showing a downward-facing mummy
overshadowed by a camel-headed entity, and whose name should be vibrated in the key of
D sharp, accompanied by the plashings associated with Magickal fountains or waterfalls
Metals, stones, and minerals: Selenite, moonstone, chalk, crystal, pearl, emerald, onyx, coral,
amber, mercury metal (quicksilver); all soft, white stones; all molten metal
Plants, real and imaginary: Cucumbers, squashes, melons; all plants which grow in water, such
as water-lilies, lotus, rushes, and phytoplankton (which is also, as it happens, the basis of the
food-pyramid in the waters of the world, from the merest pond to the Pacific Ocean, which
from the beginning have been the womb of all terrestrial life; Cancer rules the stomach and
everything that nurses or nurtures life, so the assignment of phytoplankton to Cancer is
doubly appropriate)
Animals, Real and Imaginary: The Crab; the Turtle or Tortoise (the ancient Babylonians
assigned this animal to the Constellation of Cancer); the Sphinx (for its silence, the silence
of midnight); the Scarab or Dung-Beetle (which was associated with midnight and the
Fourth House of the horoscope by the ancient Egyptians)
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): Watercress
Mineral drugs: Mercury metal (used as a specific against venereal disease right up past the
invention of penicillin; the expression “Mad as a Hatter” comes from the weird behavior
resulting from nervous-system damage done by overdoses of mercury, which was also used
in the making of hats up until this century)
The Body: Alimentary canal, breast, esophagus, lower ribs, stomach, uterus
Diseases: Cancer, in all its forms, including leukemia; rheumatism (according to Crowley, in
Column CLSSSVI of Liber 777); diseases and dysfunctions of all parts of the body ruled by
Cancer, including spontaneous abortion (which is also ruled by Pisces)
Magickal image: A young, holy king under the Starry canopy
Lineal figures: Populus and Via:
• •
• •
• •
• •
Populus
•
•
•
•
Via
Domain: The first third of Summer; the waters of the world; real estate, land; ancestors,
ancestry, one’s ancestral lands
Archangel: l a y r w a (Auriel)
Quarter: The North (this Quarter of the Heavens is traditionally considered to be that from
which demons come, and during evocations of evil or malefic spirits, the Triangle of Art,
into which they are to be evoked, is placed just outside the Circle at the North – the Eastern
Quarter is used for evocation of good or neutral spirits)

The Sheep (the month corresponding to the Western Solar month of Cancer); Summer Solstice,
moderate heat; Fire, the South; Summer; brilliance, heat, bitter, red, controls heart and small intestines;
the Vermilion Bird (Phoenix); Mars; Yang, burning wood; Yin, lamp-flame; iron; realgar
Trigram from the I Ching: K’an
--- ---
---------
--- ---

During the time of ancient Imperial Rome, it was customary in Germany, Gaul, and Britain to
exhibit the spoils of conquest and prisoners of war in triumphal parades. The ideas was that the more
magnificent the spectacle, the more political bonus-points would accrue to the general responsible for the
triumph, who would probably use them later in an attempt to become emperor. Even that long ago, the
tradition was enormously ancient. According to Curtius, Plutarch, and Diodorus, after his conquest of
India, Alexander the Great made a triumphal progress through Carmania (now Iran) in gigantic chariot
filled with his close friends and loaded with musical instruments, food, and wine. Reportedly Alexander
did this in imitation of the Dionysiac revels or triumphal marches of Dionysos through Asia (Thriambus,
“Triumph,” was one of Dionysos’ titles). From this, the connections between Triumph (Dionysos),
Triumph (Alexander), and Triumph (Roman) arises. This tradition continues down through the Tarot
cards to such varied forms of expression as the 137 woodcut designs by Hans Burgkmair and others for a
projected triumph of the Emperor Maximilian the Great. A more grotesque example of the triumphal
chariot is the funeral car of the Duke of Wellington, which may give this card an added dimension of
meaning.
The legendary significance of the chariot probably lies in the chance that chariot races give every
bettor, regardless of his or her circumstances, to win. For this reason it may be connected with Trump X,
The Wheel of Fortune.
Gringonneur: A warrior or the statue of one drawn in a triumphal car by two spirited horses.
Bembo: A seated empress in a chariot drawn by two winged white horses, holding an orb in her left
hand.
Swiss: The card is divided into two parts. In the upper part, a king looks out from under a canopy.
In the lower part, two horses pull an empty chariot in two directions at once.
Insight: A king borne in a triumphal car. He is armored and his shoulder-plates resemble the Urim
and Thummim (talismans on the breastplate of the high priest of Israel).
Marseille: Like the Insight Tarot card, but here, one horse is red, the other blue.
Wirth: Like the Insight Tarot, with the following changes: the triumphal car is drawn by sphinxes,
the canopy is embellished with Stars, and the winged Solar disc appears on the chariot.
Waite: Similar to Wirth’s, except that the Lingam and Yoni appear on the front of the chariot (see
the description of this card in The Fantasy Showcase Tarot, below). On the king’s breast is a
radiant square; there is an eight-pointed Star on his crown.
B.O.T.A.: Similar to Waite’s, except that the king’s crown incorporates several Pentagrams instead
of the Octagram; the device on his breast is a square figured with three Tau Crosses; and his
sceptre, which he carries in his right hand in the traditional manner, ends in a variant of the
lemniscate or infinity-sign combined with the conjoined Lingam and Yoni.
Aquarian: Similar, but the charioteer wears shoulder-plates and has a Pentagram upon his head.
Crowley: A fully armored knight, the visor of his helmet closed, holding a rapidly rotating disc or
gleaming metallic bowl (it isn’t clear which) in his hands before his abdomen. His helmet is
surmounted by a crab. His chariot is drawn by four fabulous beasts that bear a resemblance both
to the four Beasts of the Apocalypse and the four Cherubim of the Fixed Signs.
The New Tarot: Retitled “Victorious One,” this card shows a warrior with one sandal leading a
gentle white beast and a savage dark one away from a chariot. Above his head flies an eagle
with arrows held in its talons. His unshod feet are winged. A pair of dice lie in the foreground;
each die shows three of its faces to the observer, and any two corresponding faces of the two
dice total seven (e.g., the spots on the two top faces of the two die total seven, those on the two
left faces total seven, etc.). Behind the figure is a flock of birds bearing a curtain in their beaks
which contains the images of wild bests, possibly horses or wolves).
The Fantasy Showcase Tarot: The card shows a young charioteer dressed only in blue briefs and a
minimalist, stylized crown standing in a chariot, lashing the two sphinxes who pull it with a
whip. The sphinx on the left is dark brown, and male; that on the right is white, and female.
The chariot, its occupant, and the sphinxes that pull it are coming through an opening in a dark-
blue curtain or drape that is spangled with white spots to mimic the Starry heavens. The
background, beyond the curtain, is scarlet above, yellow below, and the ground beneath is
brown. On the front of the chariot is a winged shield bearing a device representing the Yoni
penetrated by the Lingam.
America’s Tarot: The Chariot. Scenes depicting America’s love-affair with the automobile, from
portraits of classic American cars such as the Pierce-Arrow, Cadillac and Lincoln Continental to
Stephen King’s Christine (perhaps the former on the Upright portion of the card, the latter on the
Reverse section).
Biblical Tarot: The disciple James the Lesser (NT); the tribe of Zebulon (OT)
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Alfred drives an Edsel (or maybe a Yugo) with one busted headlight & a
crumpled fender.
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot: The signing of the Declaration of Independence of the original
thirteen colonies from Britain; Heinlein himself (his date of birth was July 4, 1907)
Upright: A fence. A field and the fence enclosing it. A corral. Anything that encloses it. Psychic
abilities. Receptivity. Tenacious memory. Triumph, victory. Hope. Nutrition, nurturance. Violence
used to try to maintain traditional ideas in force. Political conservatism, political conservatives.
Conservative attitudes, whether political or any other kind. Tradition, traditionalists. Ancestry. Diehard
ruthlessness. Obedience. Faithfulness. Delegated authority. Understanding (Binah, Saturn or Uranus)
inspiring severity or strength (Geburah, Mars). Saturn or Uranus acting through Cancer upon Mars.
Health. Unstable or transient triumph, victory, health, or success. The material currents which carry
individuals along. Unexpected new. Conquest. News spread abroad by word of mouth. A timely good
word. Libel or slander. Struggle, the outcome of which, ranging from victory to disaster, is determined
by surrounding cards. Balance. Accomplishment. Stamina. Trouble or adversity, possibly in the past.
The Magus, having completely mastered his animal passions, is now ready to move on to the next stage
of development. Overcoming obstacles. Overthrow. The chariot of incarnation. That which is fixed
and concrete. Adam Kadmon, the higher self or reincarnating aspect of the self. A conqueror advancing
in a powerful chariot. One who has vanquished and directed the Elementary forces. War. Ruthless
power. Will in application. Triumph of the mind. Triumph over nature. Succor. Providence.
Presumption. Vengeance. Trouble. A nursery. A newborn. Birth. The fluid that fills the womb during
gestation. An egg, especially one covered with a hard shell. Motherhood.
Reversed: Alimentary canal, breast, the chest (a fence of rib-bones), esophagus, lower ribs, stomach,
uterus. Digestion, lactation, gestation, nurturance. Cancer, in all its forms, including leukemia;
rheumatism (according to Crowley, in Column CLSSSVI of Liber 777); diseases and dysfunctions of all
parts of the body ruled by Cancer, including spontaneous abortion (which is also ruled by Pisces). The
Solar month of Cancer, the first third of Summer, spanning the time from the Summer Solstice, around
June 20, to about July 22. Lust of destruction. Bad news. A card which isn’t strong by itself, but which
asserts authority over other cards. Imbalance. Instability. Failure. Weakness. Overthrown. Conquered
by obstacles at the last moment. The ecological fallout of acting on a ruthless and ecologically stupid
point of view, such as strip-mining, discharging of industrial effluent into rivers and aquifers, etc. Water-
pollution. Riot. Quarrel. Dispute. Litigation. Defeat. A vampire. Midnight.

Cheth is the Path connecting Binah, associated with Saturn and Uranus, with Geburah,, associated
with Mars. Wholly part of the Pillar of Severity, it signifies controlled strength guided by high
intelligence. A good analog of this card is a modern rocket or missile. The firing-chamber of a rocket
rifles, channels, and directs the tremendous force unleashed by the rocket’s ignition-system and thereby
causes the rocket to move swiftly and with imperative force toward a far-away target; otherwise the
force would be dispersed in all directions, doing no useful work. Another good analogy is a hard-shelled
egg or a mammalian uterus, which contains the developing zygote until the latter is ready to enter the
world unprotected by amniotic fluid or the shell of its egg (with corollary associations with the
mammalian vagina, down which the infant must travel during the birth-process). All such analogies are
indicated by the literal meaning of Cheth, “fence,” meaning something which contains and restrains.
And since such a container or fence is often used to protect something, the ideas of protection,
nurturance, housing, nursing, and so on are also associated with this Path and The Chariot.
9. Key 19
Teth f “Serpent.” Trump VIII, Strength (in Crowley’s pack, The Book of Thoth, this Trump is
numbered XI and is called Lust, but otherwise has the same attributions). Leo ö. Cardinal value, 9;
ordinal value, 9. Connects Sephirah 5, Geburah, with Sephirah 4, Chesed. Roman/English equivalent:
T.
In the same way that Key 27, Peh, Trump XVI, The Tower, is the main cross-bar of the personality,
Key 19 is that of the Individuality. Just as the spiritual meaning of Key 27 is shown by the strong, fiery
planet Mars, so that of Key 19 is expressed by the equally strong and fiery sign of Leo. The “packing
force” of Key 27, analogous to the strong force of particle physics, is that which holds together the
various aspects of the personality, the unit of incarnation; in the same way, the “packing force” of Key
19 holds together the individuality, the unit of evolution. So the Tarot Trump of this Path is Trump VIII,
Strength: a woman holding the jaws of a lion open, apparently without any appreciable effort on her
part. 18*
*In Crowley’s Book of Thoth pack, this card is numbered XI, and titled “Lust.” See Key 22, below,
concerning Trump XI, Justice, which in Crowley’s pack is numbered VIII, and titled “Adjustment.”
Those horizontal Paths on the Tree which join together a male and a female Sephirah are termed
“reciprocal Paths.” The first of these is Key 14, Daleth, Trump III, The Empress, linking Binah, the
Mother, with Chokmah, the Father, Woman with Man, Female with Male; Key 19 is the second, linking
Geburah, Might, with Chesed, Mercy, Divine Justice with Divine Love; and Key 27 is the third, linking
Hod, Brilliance, with Netzach, the Triumph of Love, Intellect with Emotion, Analysis with Synthesis,
Facts with Meaning.
Bast, Pasht, Sekhet, and Mau, are all associated with this Path because They are cat Goddesses. Ra-
Hoor-Khuit and Apollo are also associated with it, because They are Gods of the Sun, ruler of Leo.
Demeter and Venus, Who are agricultural Goddesses, are also attributed to it. Its animal is the Lion; its
flower is the sunflower; its jewel is the cat’s eye; and its perfume is olibanum. 19
Yetziratic text:
The Nineteenth Path is the Intelligence of the secret of all the activities of
the spiritual beings, and is so called because of the influence diffused by it
from the most high and exalted sublime glory.
Yetziratic title: Intelligence of all the Activities of the Spiritual Being
Hebrew letter: m Teth,
Numerical value: 9.
Title: The Daughter of the Flaming Sword, Leader of the Lion
Principle: Cosmic splendor; love in all its forms; pleasure; warmth; radiance
Astrological assignment: Leo
Element (Alchemical): Fixed Fire ∆
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle: photosynthesis; thermonuclear fusion, the force that
powers the Stars
Physical chemistry: the biochemistry of photosynthesis; the atomic and subatomic interactions
underlying thermonuclear processes; combustion, whether internal (as in an automobile
motor) or open (as in a bonfire)
Colors: Yellow, greenish (King Scale); deep purple (Queen Scale); gray (Emperor Scale);
reddish amber (Empress Scale)
Gods:
Greek: Demeter (borne by lions); Apollo

Roman: Venus (repressing the fire of Vulcan)
Egyptian: Ra, Horus, Bast (Pasht), Sekhet
Scandinavian: Baldur the Beautiful
USA: Pecos Bill (taming the catamount)
Celtic:
Christian: Jesus Christ (the Lion of Judah)
Hindu: Vishnu (Nara-Singh) avatar
Voudon:
SubGenius: “Bob”
Other:
Biblical associations: Judah, son of Jacob, and Samson (OT); John the Beloved and Christ the
King (NT)
Countries:
Modern: Italy, Sicily, France, Bohemia, Northern Wallachia (Romania), and the Alps
Ancient: Chaldea, Phoenicia, Macedonia, Phrygia, Rome
Cities: Chicago, Philadelphia, Rome, Bath, Bombay, Portsmouth, Bristol, Damascus, Prague,
Los Angeles, and, to some extent, Hollywood, California (which is co-ruled by Pisces)
Peoples: Rastafarians
Meditation: Corpse gnawed by wild beasts
Magickal Power: Powers of Taming Wild Beasts
Perfume: Olibanum
Magickal Weapons: The Discipline (Preliminary)
Musical tone: E natural
Qlippoth:
} w r y b h l c, ShaLeHBIRON, Flaming (associated with the burning sun of August?)
The Tunnels of Set: Tunnel 19, the Qlippoth of Key 19, is guarded by the demon
Temphioth. His number is 610. His sigil is etched in a sharp greenish-yellow hue upon
a gray arrow-shaped ground. The predominant influence is that of the lion-serpent,
Teth, which is a symbol for the spermatozoon, shown in the sigil in the shape of four
vesicas depending from a serpentine form attached to a leonine head. His name should
be vibrated in the key of E natural, with a roaring, hissing, explosive force behind it.
While the Path is the domain of the Lion, the Tunnel is the den of the Serpent, and this
symbolism should be included in that of the Qlippoth of Key 19.
Metals, stones, and minerals: Ruby, diamond, cat’s-eye, gold, hyacinth, chrysolite, carnelian,
sardonyx, peridot, alexandrite, and all soft yellow minerals
Plants, real and imaginary: The sunflower. In general, Leo rules many plants that are also ruled
by the Sun, e.g., chamomile, celandine, European angelica, eyebright, marigold, orange,
rue, and saffron. Other plants ruled by Leo include borage, bugloss, peony, and poppy. In
addition, mugwort is associated with Regulus, and thus with Leo
.
Animals, Real and Imaginary: Traditionally the Lion, the Cherub of Fire, is associated with Leo.
Other animals associated with this Sign include wild beasts in general, especially all the big
cats; honeybees; and birds with gaudy, brilliant plumage, such as the peacock
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): All carminatives and tonics
Mineral drugs:
The Body: The heart, aorta, upper back, the sides of the body, spine, spinal cord, spinal fluid,
inferior and superior vena cava
Diseases: Syncope, cardiac diseases and problems of all kinds; inability to love
Magickal image: A smiling woman holds open the jaws of a fierce and powerful lion
Lineal figures: Fortuna Major and Fortuna Minor
••
••
•
•
Fortuna Major
•
•
••
••
Fortuna Minor
Domain: The second third of Summer; the heart of the Sun or a thermonuclear explosion; a
blast-furnace; the king, emperor, ruler, or other chief of state; the theater and allied arts;
all activities carried out for the pleasure they give; games; trusted messengers; Tantric
Magick; ambition
Archangel: Michael
Quarter: East-by-North

The Monkey: July 22-August 7, Great Heat; August 7 to August 22, Autumn Begins. Yang, Metal.
West, Autumn, destruction and decline; the solid but molded; acrid, white; controls lungs and large
intestine; the White Tiger; the Planet Venus. Yang: a weapon. Yin: a kettle. Copper. Sublimate of
mercury. Produced by Earth; produces Water; destroys Wood; destroyed by Fire.

Early cards show a woman opening or closing the jaws of a lion, or, in some cases, a male figure
(possibly Hercules) beating a lion with a club. During the Middle Ages, the Lion was an Alchemical
symbol of the Sun, gold, and (Alchemical) sulphur.
In a 16th-century text presented in the form of a dream, the dreamer is required to subdue a lion in
order to be admitted to a group of scholars. At first, he approaches the lion, which is very old, and
attempt to pet it. Then he wrestles with it, and finally kills it. The scholars applaud his effort, but give
him the additional task of restoring the lion to life. By that point, the lion has been rendered down into
red blood and a large quantity of white bone (Alchemical Sulphur and Salte, the oily and ashy aspects of
matter). The tasks set for the dreamer are thus the Alchemical decomposition and recomposition of
matter.
Other Medieval associations with Leo are the Lion of St. Mark, one of the Apocalyptic Beasts, and
the Cherub of Fire. Others include Samson and Androcles.*
*An early Christian martyr who had once pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw, where it had been festering
for a long time, thereby delivering the lion from great pain and illness. Eventually Androcles was
thrown to the lions, by order of Caesar; but the lion that came out to meet him happened to be the
one whom he had earlier succored, and spared his life out of gratitude. The awed multitude in the
circus who were watching voted to release Androcles, who was thus saved from death.
Gringonneur: A seated woman breaking a pillar.
Bembo: Hercules, armed with a club, beating a lion which seems to be trying to slink away, its tail
between its legs.
Swiss: Hercules with a lion. Hercules appears to be wrestling with it, and has discarded his club.
Might be a reference to Androcles and the Lion.
Insight: A woman wearing a hat with a lemniscate on its brim, who opens the jaws of a lion.
Waite: As above, except that the woman is closing the lion’s jaws. She is crowned with flowers, and
the lemniscate hovers over her head. She wears a garland of flowers around her waist.
B.O.T.A.: Like Waite’s, except that the woman is now opening the lion’s jaws. The flowers around
her waist are connected to a garland around the neck of the lion, implying some sort of
relationship between them other than simple domination.
Aquarian: A stern knight with his dog. A motif of arrowheads or spear-points.
Crowley: Retitled “Lust,” and numbered XI, the card shows a woman riding a seven-headed beast,
representing Crowley’s “Scarlet Woman” and “Babalon,” i.e., Babylon the Great of Revelations
17:3-6.
The New Tarot: Retitled “Deliverer,” it shows a woman being sacrificed by fire before a lion over
whose head hovers a fiery lemniscate. At the left, a serpent rises from a cubical box; at the
right, a man is drinking what might be blood from a chalice.
America’s Tarot: Follows Crowley’s assignment, so this card’s number is XI, and it is titled “Lust.”
Shows a puma strolling through the hills above the Los Angeles basin (L.A. is a Leo city).
Article VIII of the Bill of Rights. Ghost-over of Simon Rhodia’s Watts Towers. Reverse:
Hollywood, CA, at its most tinseltownish
Biblical Tarot: Samson and the Lion; Christ as King.
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Moxie holds a butcher-knife and a balance-scale that holds a fish and an
older sneaker; she wears a clothespin on her nose.
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot: Lummox, the star of The Star Beast
The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot: Hastur
The Stephen King Tarot: The young and old kings of Eyes of the Dragon
The R. R. McCammon Tarot: “The Red House” from his short-story collection Blue World (Pocket
Books, 1990)
Upright: Serpent power or cosmic electricity. Regeneration. Reincarnation. Immortality.
The fiery vital force which is the source of all human action. Intelligence of all the
activities of the Spirit. The joy of strength exercised. Vigor and the rapture of vigor.
Courage, strength, energy, action. A grand passion. Resort to Magick, the employment
of Magickal power. The courage to take risks. Defeat of unworthy impulses.
Reconciliation with external or internal enemies. Spiritual strength, strength of Will.
Fortitude, endurance. The glory of strength. Jupiter acting through Leo upon Mars.
Power not arrested as in the act of judgment, but instead passing on to further action.
Momentum. Raw force or power. The mind can always dominate matter. Events
overcome by willpower. The situation mastered with right on your side. A card
providing good counsel: a time to be firm, courageous, steadfast. Hanging tight.
Consolidation of energy, coming to a reasonable assessment of oneself in relation to the
world. Grasp on reality, a workable alternative, truthful direction, discovery of one’s
center, inspiration (i.e., as by a God), help from friends or loved ones. Traditional
meanings of this card combined with those of a pope or emperor. A test of what has
happened so far in personal evolution. Acceptance of both fact and responsibility. The
enchantress. The reconcilement of two or more sides of one’s nature. Power, might,
force, strength, fortitude. Dichotomy resolved. Generation (Yang or Solar force) kept
in exact balance with disintegration (Yin or Lunar force). Vitality. The spirit of inner
strength. The exercise of Will. Union and friendship with that which we have
mastered, with people who are able to respond to our thoughts, or to whose thoughts we
are able to respond. Renewed youth. Legendary feats. Wisdom as power, weakness as
strength, innocence as generative virtue. Innocence and strength residing in
contemplation. Fortitude connected with the divine mystery of union. Power, energy,
action, courage, magnanimity, complete success and honors.
Reversed: August; July 23-August 22, the “Dog Days.” The heart, aorta, upper back, the
sides of the body, spine, spinal cord, spinal fluid, inferior and superior vena cava.
Syncope, cardiac diseases and problems of all kinds; inability to love. The sense of
taste. Digestion. Cowardice. Indulgence in vices without any attempt to refrain,
libertinage, license. Hatred. Domination of the material. Fear of the unknown. Abuse
of power. Obstinacy, inertia. Events or people overcome you; you become the victim
of superior forces. Stubbornness. Decadence, addiction, disaster, a friend or lover who
will cause harm or unhappiness, loss of reputation, perversity, putrefaction, deprivation.
Pomposity. An overbearing manner. Want of fortitude. Despotism, abuse of power,
weakness, discord, disgrace, fall from power.

The 19th Path links Geburah, Power, with Chesed, Grace, and represents the influence of Chesed
upon Geburah, Power tempered with Mercy and Wisdom. This Path is balanced both vertically and
horizontally on the Tree of Life, being level (horizontal) and situated between two other such horizontal
Paths. One is reminded of the legendary Wisdom of King Solomon, which enabled him to wield power
which nonetheless was graced with mercy, and to employ mercy with objectivity and reason, in order to
bring about justice rather than compound injustice, as in the story of the two women disputing over which
was the mother of a certain child.
One of my favorite images for this Path is that of the surfer, who “walks on the water,” harnessing
his or her own momentum in order to master the wave and the surf and exulting in the ecstasy of that
mastery. This can also be seen as a metaphor for Tantric Magick, in which the ecstasy of sexual
stimulation, rather than being allowed to run its course to an explosive climax and the wanton dissipation
of its energy in the trieste of the aftermath, is constrained and harnessed, built up to heights so great that
it literally touches the Stars, and thereby used to fuel the Magickal Machine, the force behind the most
powerful Magick. Another analogy of this Path is the Rocket: the containment of its firing chambers
represents the iron Will of the true Magickian, the raw force contained in those chambers representing
Kundalini energy, and the direction of flight and the final effect of the rocket’s actions representing the
Magickian’s Desire, in accordance with which he or she aims to bring about change in conformity with
his or her Will.
10. Key 20
Yod y “Hand.” Trump IX, The Hermit. Virgo ÷. Cardinal value, 10; ordinal value, 10.
Connects Sephirah 4, Chesed with Sephirah 6, Tiphareth. Roman/English equivalents: I, J, Y.

Yod, the 20th Path, is the link within the Individuality that gives the vision of what the pattern of
destiny is, which pattern ultimately comes from the spiritual levels of being. This pattern is the
Individuality’s own idea of itself, and upon it the Individuality strives to mould its succession of
Personalities, which in turn gives the experience of dense manifestation upon which the Individuality
itself is built. Thus at one and the same time, this image is a kind of alpha and omega, a beginning and
an ending. The alpha image is the image of the Spirit itself, inexperienced and unevolved. The
Individuality tries to project a Personality for itself based upon this image. At first, the effort is
unsuccessful, due to its inexperience, but gradually, in life after life, it is more and more accurate,
sometimes manifesting different types of Personality altogether to redress the unbalance of development.
Eventually it can project a Personality just the way it wants to, which means that it has become
competent at controlling dense matter for such purposes. But all the hundreds of Personalities built up
through its evolution go to enrich the make-up of the Individuality, and by this time the Individuality
isn’t limited to the simplistic image of itself that the Spirit laid down at the beginning of its evolution.
The image itself has evolved into a form of what the Individuality should be at the end of its evolution –
which might be called the omega image. Thus there is the image of the beginning and that of the ending,
and the way in between is the path of individual destiny. In terms of Biblical symbolism, the image of
the beginning is the Garden of Eden, while that of the ending is the Heavenly Jerusalem, and the way in
between is the history of man.
This Path is called the Intelligence of Will, that is, the Spiritual Will. As the Yetziratic Text goes on
to say, by this Intelligence, or action of the Spiritual Will, “the existence of the Primordial Wisdom
becomes known.” The Primordial Wisdom is the knowledge of the spiritual realities of the Supernal
levels, and the continuous contemplation of the true image is also “the means of preparation of all and
each created being,” for it acts as a guide to individual evolution and the types of vehicle that need to be
developed to follow through with that evolution. For this reason the Tarot card associated with this Path
shows a Hermit, a holy man, who carries a light to guide him along the path.20
Yetziratic text:
The Twentieth Path is the Intelligence of Will and is so called because it is

the means of separation of all and each created being, and by this intelligence
the existence of the Primordial Wisdom becomes known.
Yetziratic title: Intelligence of Will
Hebrew letter: y (Yod)
Numerical value: 10.
Title: The Prophet of the Eternal, the Magus of the Voice of Power
Principle: Purification, in the sense of developing an utter one-pointedness of Will and of total
elimination of anything not essential to the subject under consideration. Purification of the
Will, of food, of aim are all expressions of the principle.
Astrological assignment: ÷ Virgo
Element (Alchemical): Mutable Earth
Element (chemical): rare-earth elements (lanthanides, elements 57-71)

Ecological process, realm, or principle: weathering, the reduction of materials to finer and finer
grinds, as in the creation of sand, powder, etc., hence the beaches and tidal habitats of the
world, river-deltas, etc. The sorting and grading of materials at harvest-time.
Physical chemistry: Pauli Exclusion Principle (which affirms that two particles of like kind
cannot occupy the same space at the same time)
Colors: According to Liber 777, these are green, yellowish (King Scale); slate gray (Queen
Scale); green-gray (Emperor Scale); and plum color (Empress Scale). According to
Geraldine Davis, in Horary Astrology (Los Angeles: Tate Printing Co., 1942), they are
black, speckled (ibid., p. 38). According to Nicholas de Vore, in Encyclopedia of Astrology
(New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), it is black with blue splotches. Opalescent
colors, thin and dense striping, paisleys, and similar intricate patterns of many colors also
represent Virgo.
Gods:
Greek: Hermes, Attis, Ceres, all harvest-Gods and –Goddesses, Hestia, Astraea, Erigone
(daughter of Icarus), the Mermaid, Orpheus and Eurydice, Persephone and the
Eleusinian Mysteries
Roman: Attis, Ceres, Adonis, Vesta and Her virgin priestesses
Egyptian: Isis; Heru-pa-Kraath (Harpocrates), the Sphinx
Zidonia: Ashtoreth
Syria: Astarte
Scandinavian:
USA:
Celtic:
Christian: the Virgin Mary
Hindu: the Gopi girls, the Lord of Yoga
Voudon:
Other:
Biblical associations: OT: Esther; Asher, son of Jacob; Esther; the story of Ruth and Boaz.
NT: Philip, disciple of Jesus; Mary, mother of Jesus
Countries: Ancient: Assyria, Arcadia, Babylonia, Ionia, Mesopotamia, Rhodes, and the Doric
Plains. Modern: Crete, part of Greece, Croatia, Brazil, Turkey, Switzerland (co-ruled by
Taurus), the West Indies, and the country between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Cities: Boston, Paris, Heidelberg, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Lyons, Corinth, Athens, Toulouse, and
Strasbourg. Most towns that are connected in some way with the growing of fruit and its
various industries are ruled by Virgo, as are health spas and resorts and cities associated
with them.
Peoples: All farming and agricultural peoples, the farmers and peasants of the world. The tribe
of Cain, an agriculturist, are thus ruled by Virgo, just as Abel and his people, who were
hunters who stalked wild animals for their meat, hides, and fur, were ruled by Pisces.
Meditation: A bloated corpse.
Magickal Power: Invisibility, Parthenogenesis, Initiation
Perfume: Narcissus
Magickal Weapons: The Lamp and the Wand (Virile Force Reserved), the Bread
Musical tone: F
Qlippoth: } w r y r p x (TzaPhiRIRON, Scratchers); Yamatu, whose name should be
intoned in the key of F in a lower register and with sighing or murmuring undertones, and
whose sigil is painted in yellowish green on a silver of gray slate – his number is 131.
Metals, stones, and minerals: jasper, agate, marble, sand and powders of all kinds (especially of
the finest grinds), topaz, aquamarine, hyacinth, flint, peridot, sapphire
Plants, real and imaginary: Snowdrop, lily, narcissus, all cereals (corn, rye, rice, millet, barley,
oats, wheat) and grasses, sedges, endive, valerian, skullcap, woodbine. All medicinal plants
are ruled or co-ruled by Virgo, as are herbs which animals seek out when they are ill.
Animals, Real and Imaginary: Any solitary or virginal person or animal, hence hermits,
unicorns, virgins
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): Anaphrodisiacs (e.g., the legendary salt-peter, with which the
food in boys’ schools and military academies is supposedly laced to keep the young
gentlemen chaste by inclination)
Mineral drugs: salt-peter (see above)
The Body: The small intestines, the back, the abdominal cavity, metabolism, digestive system
and function, gall bladder, pancreas,* Solar plexus, capillaries (Virgo co-rules these because
of their finely-divided character)
*However, since this is an endocrine gland, a member of the endocrine, system, which is ruled by Venus
and Neptune, it is possible that Pisces is the actual ruler of this gland.
Diseases: Appendicitis, inability to absorb nutrients in the upper bowel, backaches, metabolic
disorders, disorders of the digestive system, gall-bladder ailments, obstructions or diseases
of the capillaries
Magickal image: wrapped in a cloak and cowl, an ancient walks along bearing a staff and a
lamp
Lineal figures: Conjunctio
••
•
•
••
Domain: the third Third of Summer, the time of Harvest
Archangel:
Quarter: South by West, WNW

Gringonneur: A hermit carrying an hourglass.
Bembo: A hunchback carrying an hourglass
Swiss: A monk carrying a lantern
Wirth: The same, except that the monk shields the light with his cloak. Also, nearby there is a snake
coiled to strike, though not at the hermit
Waite: As traditional, except that the light is from a hexagrammatical Star within the lantern
Aquarian: As Waite, except that the Star has eight points
Crowley: As Waite, except that the Star has sixteen points. Also, in his right hand the hermit carries
an egg around which a snake is coiled. He is accompanied by a three-headed dog (Kerberus,
guardian of the Underworld). He walks through a field a ripe grain. Something that may be a
spermatozoon springs up at the Hermit’s feet from the lower left side of the card.
The New Tarot: A blindfolded, naked man prays to a volcano or possibly to a fleeing woman, who
abandons him, an open book, and a bouquet of flowers as she hurries toward a distant city.
The Fantasy Showcase Tarot: A hermit stands at the end of a cliff, looking out over the land. It is
night. In his right hand he carries a lantern containing a blazing hexagrammatical Star; in his
left is the Serpent Rod of Moses. He wears a gorgeous gown of silver-gray patterned with
astrological and other esoteric symbols, and a cape of Tyrian purple. Standing on the foothills
below is a figure who may be a woman, looking up at him, apparently preparing either to climb
up to meet him or to wait for him to descend.
America’s Tarot: Paul Morphy, America’s great genius of chess; Henry Hollerith; Claude Shannon.
Reverse shows Carrie Nation and the XXIIIrd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Prohibition).
Article IX of the Bill of Rights.
The Divine Comedy Tarot: Images of Purgatory and its purification
Biblical Tarot: Mary with her infant son; Esther; Asher, son of Jacob; Esther; the story of Ruth
and Boaz; Philip, disciple of Jesus
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Harvey Kurtzman, holding a flashlight and carrying a walking-stick, walks
away from the MAD offices (with a pink-slip in his pocket).
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot: Friday, the heroine of the novel of the same name
The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot: His various scholars who go mad studying volumes of arcane lore etc.
The Stephen King Tarot: Rose, heroine of Rose Madder; Thinner, one of his “Bachman Books”;
King himself (he was born 9/21/47 at 4:18 a.m., Portland, Maine)
The R. R. McCammon Tarot: scenes and characters from his short stories “Blue World” (prostitutes
as priestesses of Eros, the purification of a life), “Yellachile’s Cage” (since Pisces rules prisons,
Virgo rules opposition to and triumph over them), and “Night Calls the Green Falcon” (one-
pointed Will) from his collection of short stories Blue World (New York: Pocket Books, 1990);
Sheila Fontana (prostitute, recovery of one’s True Will) and Sister (exercise of True Will) from
Swan Song
Upright: The hand of man; the open hand. Touch. Coition. Self-training in the correct
interpretation of experience, in concentration, in work with the Unconscious mind leading to
eventual union with God or the True Self. The Veiled Lamp. Prudence. Silence is golden.
Illumination from within, secret impulse from within, practical plans based upon inner
knowledge, retirement from participation in current events. The start of the journey towards
spiritual perfection. A councilor, retreat from the world, a need for caution, patience, discretion,
and silence. A veterinarian. A healer. A dentist. A hermit or anchorite. A teacher, a wise man
or woman. The mercy of beauty, the magnificence of sovereignty, the glory of strength (Jupiter
acting through Virgo on the Sun). The Magus of the Voice of Light. Wisdom sought and
obtained from above. Divine inspiration (but active, as opposed to that in Trump VI, The
Lovers). It is one of the three Magi among the mystical cards, the other two being Trump V, the
Hierophant, and Trump I, The Magician. The inner life. A secret which shall be revealed.
Saturn, bringer of the wisdom of old age, Who also confers longevity. Planning. The summit,
perspective, circumspection, preparation, precautionary measures, care, isolation, separation,
solitude, correct choice. A man beyond desire for personal gain who has the vision to benefit
the world. Awareness, scrutiny, a corner on the market. A wise man in action in the world.
The search, the hunt, the quest. Inner wisdom or truth and the quest for them. The Quest of the
Holy Grail, linking Spirit with Individuality. The focusing point of the whole being of man in
manifestation. The hidden, cosmic mind of man which serves to guide and inspire the soul in all
its ways. The realization of the existence of a balance between material and spiritual realms;
the necessity to continue working to maintain that balance and to progress. Prudence, caution,
deliberation. The House of the Master: “Where I am, there you may be.” Very important to
initiatory experience. Safety and protection ensured by wisdom or circumspection.
Enlightenment in all three worlds. Protectors, initiation, prudence. Ideas, perspectives, spiritual
or moral influences. Teachers, legal authorities, bureaucrats, guides. A serpent. An adept of
Tantra. A card of attainment: “Where I am, there you may be.” A pilgrimage, a pilgrim.
Concentration of all one’s faculties on one small area in order to force growth. Meditation, one
who meditates. A shaman, one who has undergone a shamanic journey into the Underworld,
either physically or psychically.
Reversed: Late August through mid-September; harvest season; the parts and functions of the body
ruled by Virgo, and any diseases or injuries of them. Refusal to listen. Foolhardy reliance on
one’s own resources. Stupid rejection of wisdom. Suspicion of others’ motives or of
innovation. Neophobia. Paranoid schizophrenia. A tendency to play the eternal Peter Pan.
Great delay in the revelation of a secret. Manipulation, plans, or delays caused by unreasonable
caution, fear, stubbornness, oppression, or even deceit. A rogue. An arch-criminal. Immaturity,
rashness, overproduce, a total lack of prudence (the courage or terror of a child inexperienced in
the ways of reality). Over-prudence, timorousness, fear. Illness of all kinds, especially mental
and spiritual. Bureaucracy. Dogma, as opposed to faith. Twisted power. An evil old man.
Treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned
caution. Loneliness.

Yod represents the relationship between Chesed and Tiphareth, between Mercy and Beauty or Glory,
between sagacity and strength. This is the Path of the wisdom of the great lawgivers attained by the
young and strong through many tests and trials.
Yod means “the Hand,” the primordial tool or instrument. As it is the Hand that carries out the Will,
so Virgo represents the Magickian at work – not only the wizard, but also the artisan, the engineer, and
all others who strive to bring about change in the real world in conformity with Will. Essentially, this
card means Fertility in its most exalted sense, and for that reason in many packs the Hermit is pictured
either walking through or standing above a field full of ripe grain.
The ruler of Virgo is Mercury, Whose Grecian avatar is Hermes, Lord of Magickians, teachers,
healers, veterinarians, and, in general, all seekers after wisdom. Hermes is the Psychopompos, Who
conducts the souls of the newly dead down to the Underworld, and those who are about to reincarnate up
to the world of light and life. Hence this card is one of seeking after ultimate truths, and of the
communication of those truths back to the world of the living. It is thus a card of shamans and of the
experiences that give them their powers. In line with that, it is therefore the card of the knight-errant,
especially one who goes dragon-slaying – if he lives, he inherits a kingdom, a king’s daughter, and the
vast horde of gold, silver, and precious gems which the dragon guarded during its long life.
This is the Path of Koré, the feminine avatar of Hermes, and Her journey to the Underworld, during
which She was initiated into the Mysteries of Womanhood, thereby becoming Persephone, Queen of the
Underworld, wife of Hades. One of the symbols frequently used on this card is therefore a field of ripe
grain, the gift of Ceres, mother of Persephone.
In general, this Path is the Path of the Quest, through which the young are initiated into the
inheritance of maturity, after which they may take their place in their communities as full citizens. It is a
Path of tremendous strength tempered by vast wisdom, a good modern symbol of which is the Saturn-V,
whose steel firing-chamber contains and directs the tremendous raw power of its engines, reflecting the
esoteric dominion over Virgo of Saturn (adamantine strength) and Uranus (blasting power). An
appropriate ancient symbol for it is Tantric Magick, in which the enormous strength and trained skill of
the adept’s mind controls the raw blasting energy of Kundalini energy raised by Tantric practice,
directing it to cause successful change in the real world in conformity with the Will of the adept.
11. Key 21
Kaph k ‫“ ך‬Palm of the Hand.” Trump X, The Wheel of Fortune. Jupiter Û. Cardinal value, 20,
500; ordinal value, 11. Kaph also has a final form ] for use at the end of words; when used as such its
cardinal value is 500. Connects Sephirah 4, Chesed, with Sephirah 7, Netzach. Roman/English
equivalent: K (sometimes also C, for the sound; but the Roman/English C is more commonly associated
with Gimel, Path 13).
. . . [Kaph] is attributed to . . . Jupiter, and as it connects Chesed (the sphere of Û)

to Netzach, . . . the sphere of . . . Venus, . . . [Kaph] partakes both of the magnanimous
and generous expansive character of Û and the love nature of Ù. It repeats on a
considerably lower plane the attributions of Jupiter, Zeus, Brahma, and Indra . . . .
Pluto is also attributed, since he is the blind giver of wealth, symbolical of the infinite
and abundant prodigality of Nature. . . .
. . . [Its Tarot card], in some packs, is a wheel of seven spokes, with a figure of
Anubis on one side bearing a caduceus, and on the other a demon with a trident. On top
of the circumference [of the wheel] is a Sphinx bearing a sword. The wheel represents
the ever-whirling Karmic cycle of Samsara, of existence after existence, at one moment
elevating us above princes and the kings of the land, and at others throwing us below
the level of slaves and the dust of the earth. . . .21
This is a Path which connects Individuality and Personality – apart from the
organic fusion of the two in . . . Tiphareth. Chesed represents that part of the
Individuality where the pure image of what the Individuality intends to be is held. This
image should be a true reflection of the Will of the Spirit. The Sephirah into which the
influence of Chesed flows, via the 21st Path, is Netzach, representing the creative
imagination and higher emotions within the Personality. Thus the potencies of this path
are responsible for the ideals and aspirations which capture the imagination of man.
Foremost of these, perhaps, in Western European man is the ideal of the Quest of
the Holy Grail. . . .22
Jupiter was the Divine King of the Old Roman Gods. As previously discussed, He was the Old
Roman counterpart to Zeus, the King of the Greek Pantheon, Whose name was eventually latinized into
deus, meaning “God.”* These two divine patriarchs shared numerous traits, though there were important
differences between Them, based upon the different historical origins and cultural dynamics of the pre-
Christian Greek and Roman cultures, as well. The Old Roman city-states eventually because united into
a republic, which evolved into a world-conquering empire, one which lasted for centuries. On the other
hand, the political unification of Greece occurred not long before her absorption by the Old Roman
Empire; even before then, Greece dominated a far smaller territory than did Rome during the latter’s
imperial phase. Therefore the Roman God Jupiter was patron of the Roman State in a way impossible to
Zeus with respect to either the Grecian federation or the later, short-lived Athenian Empire. Even so,
below Their obvious differences, Jupiter and Zeus are two faces of a single reality. The Old Romans
considered Them to be so, adopting the mythology pertinent to Zeus almost whole cloth for Jupiter, just
as they did the religious stories about the other Olympian Gods to apply to their own. Thus the
mythology of Jupiter is essentially that of Zeus, except for those parts of it that came directly from
aspects of Old Rome differing significantly from the socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors
peculiar to ancient and classic Greece.
*In Latin, “Jupiter” is spelled “Iupiter.” The original form of the word was Iopater, “All-Father.”
According to the Olympian creation myth of the ancient and classical Greek religious traditions, in
the beginning Chaos gave birth to Gaia (Earth). At some unknown time after Her birth, Mother Gaia fell
asleep. As She slept, She bore a son, Ouranos (Uranus = the Heavens or Sky). Ouranos fell in the love
with His mother, and began to shower fertile rains upon her (i.e., He ejaculated upon Her). Impregnated
by this fertilizing rain, She soon began to produce grass, flowers, and trees. Shortly thereafter She gave
birth to the insects, birds, mammals, and other animal life proper to each kind of plant-life now covering
Her fertile body. Ouranos continued to bathe His mother with rain, which overran Her lands and created
Her rivers, lakes, and oceans, complete with fish, frogs, and all the other creatures that inhabit Her
waters.
Gaia then bore Her first semi-human children. These were the hundred-handed giants Briareus,
Gyges, and Cotus. Next, She bore the three one-eyed Kyklopes,* fierce, wild beings who were master
smiths and builders of gigantic walls existing in the world long before modern men populated it.** The
names of these three beings were Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. The Kyklopes rebelled against Ouranos’s
harsh rule of the world, and He imprisoned them in Tartaros (the Underworld). Ouranos then fathered the
seven Titans upon Gaia.†
*This name is usually Latinized as “Cyclops.” It means “Wheel-Eyed Ones.” It refers to the glowing
calderas of active volcanoes, round in shape and shining with fiery light.
**This may have been a “just-so” explanation of the origin of various pre-Hellenic ruins.
†The Titans were worshipped as Gods by early pre-Hellenic settles of the Southern and central portions
of the Attic peninsula. The portion of the Olympic creation story that follows reflects the
replacement of the Titan cult with the Olympian cult as the Hellene invaders swept across
Attica, conquering or destroying the older cultures in the area and replacing the worship of the
Gods of the latter with that of their own Gods.
Enraged by Ouranos’ oppressions and by His treatment of Her sons, the Kyklopes, Gaia persuaded
the Titans to rebel against Their father. Led by Kronos (Whose Roman counterpart was Saturnus), the
youngest among Them, the Titans surprised Ouranos as He slept. Kronos, Whom Gaia, His mother, had
armed with a flint sickle,* mercilessly castrated His father. Grasping His father’s genitals in His left
hand,** Kronos severed them with His sickle and then threw them, along with the sickle, into the sea.
But drops of blood flowing from the dying Ouranos fell upon Gaia, impregnating Her with three more
children: the Erinnyes, the Furies Who avenge crimes of parricide and perjury, Whose names were
Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. The nymphs of the ash-tree, the Meliae, were also born from that
blood.
*Assuming that this story reflects real, historical events, however distortedly – an assumption that has
proved fruitful for various lines of investigation concerning origin stories of various peoples –
this detail of the flint sickle places the technological level of the culture upon which it was based
at the Neolithic or earlier. A sickle is a good-sized tool, and the work it is used for is laborious;
ideally, its wielder would want it to have a good, sharp, long-lasting blade. Flint doesn’t take a
sharp edge as dependably as a well-made blade of bronze or steel, and won’t last as long through
steady use, though it usually will take a better edge, and last longer, than a simple copper or iron
implement. Yet the Kyklopes were remembered as “master smiths,” i.e., workers of metal,
implying that they and the Titan culture in general had evolved past the Paleolithic stage, during
which only stone such as flint was worked, into the Neolithic, at which stage some metal-
working takes place. Therefore it is likely the historical originals of the Titans were a Neolithic
people who had some knowledge of the working of metal but a far better-developed technology
of flint-napping and use of tools and weapons made of flint. In general, “children of Gaia,” i.e.,
“children of Earth or natives, probably refers in the main to all pre-Hellenic, Paleolithic and
Neolithic, pre-Olympic cultures on the Attic Peninsula, the most prominent of which at the time
of the invasion of the Olympics was the Titan culture. Zeus, unlike His brothers Hades and
Poseidon, was a God of the heavens or sky; His dethronement of Kronos and the overthrow of
the Titans by the Olympians may represent the historical displacement or destruction of native
cultures of the region by the invading Olympians, similar to that of the overthrow of the native
Dravidian culture of ancient India by the later Aryan invaders. In fact, the preservation of the
Dravidian Great Mother Goddess, Kali/Chandi/Parvati, as a battle-aspect of the Aryan Queen of
Heaven, Durga, is very similar to the inclusion of Pallas/Athena/Medusa, originally a Libyan
matriarchal Goddess, among the Olympians as an aspect of Zeus Himself (i.e., as a child born
from His forehead, His ideal self). That the Goddess Pallas Athena was actually the patron
Goddess of Athens in spite of the patriarchal culture of the Greeks and the fact that the Greek
Pantheon was headed by a male deity is an eerie echo of the fact that Kali, the Mother Goddess
of the despised Draviddians, whose remnants in India are the despised Outcastes, is the most
respected and feared of any deity in the Hindu – i.e., Aryan – Pantheon. (By a similar process,
after the Levitic revolution in early Judea, the Gods and Goddesses, the Elohim, of the tribes that
had been amalgamated into the Kingdom of Judea were included in Judaic hagiology as angels
and archangels in the same way that, centuries later, Western Christianity incorporated local
Gods into the Roman Catholic Church hagiology as the Saints. The Archangel Michael,
originally a God of one of the peoples who later became part of the Kingdom of Judea, was thus
incorporated into the Judaic hagiology as the Captain of the Archangels, Defender of the Throne
of the Most High. Christianity eventually inherited this hagiology, and the Archangel Michael
also became the Christian Saint Michael, with essentially the same duties – e.g., it was Michael
who led the Angelic Hosts against Satan and Fallen Angels, and who would command those
same hosts come the Last Battle and Judgment Day, at the End of Days. Regardless of gender,
Michael had much the same relationship to JHVH ALHIM as Pallas Athena did to Zeus,
Minerva to Jupiter, and Kali/Parvati/Chandi to Durga and Brahma. So essentially alike are these
paradigms among these otherwise widely differing cultures and peoples that it is almost certain
that they point to one underlying sociobiological and psychospiritual reality, invariant among all
human cultures and perhaps among all terrestrial species. What that reality may be is something
very much worth investigating not only by Hermeticists, but by sociobiologists, anthropologists,
and ecologists, because the results of such research could have an important bearing on our
understanding of ourselves, not only as a species, but also as part of our living world, and of the
likely future of ourselves and our world.
**Ever since then, the left hand has been the hand of ill-omen.
The Titans then released the Kyklopes from Tartaros, and made Kronos Their king, monarch of all
the Earth. But no sooner had They crowned Kronos than He re-imprisoned the Kyklopes once more in
Tartaros. He then married His sister, Rhea, and commenced His harsh, tyrannical rule over the Earth.
But both Kronos’ mother, Gaia, and His dying father, Ouranos, prophesied that one of Kronos’ own
sons would eventually dethrone Him. Therefore every year, when each of His children were born to
Rhea, Kronos swallowed the child: first His daughter Hestia, Who would become Goddess of the Hearth;
then Demeter, Who would become Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture; then Hera, Who would become
Queen of Heaven; then Hades, Who would become God of Death and the Underworld; then Poseidon,
Who would become the Lord of the Oceans.
Finally, outraged by Kronos’ cannibalization of Her children, Rhea arranged to bear Her next child
and third son, Zeus, in the dead of night on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia. She gave Her new-born son to
Gaia. In turn, Gaia gave Zeus to the ash-nymphs Adrasteia and Io and the goat-nymph Amalthea who
lived in the Cave of Dicte on the Aegean Hill to raise. The three nymphs raised Zeus there together with
the infant Pan, Who would become the wild Goat-God of the Hills and Deep Forests. When Zeus
eventually became Lord of the Universe, out of gratitude to the kind nymphs, His foster-mothers, He set
Amalthea among the Stars as the Constellation Capricorn, thereby including her in the company of the
immortals.*
*Zeus also borrowed one of Amalthea’s horns, and gave it to the daughters of Melisseus. This horn
became the legendary Cornucopia, the Horn of Plenty, which is always filled with whatever food
or drink its owner may desire. The Cornucopia may be a symbol of the divine Vulva of the
Great Goddess, Who was worshipped the world over for countless millennia before the advent of
patriarchal cultures some 7,000 years ago. This “just-so” story about the origin of the
Cornucopia may reflect attempts by the patriarchal Hellenes to come to terms with the
matrifocal, Goddess-worshipping cultures which they displaced as they invaded and conquered
the Attic peninsula, keeping the Goddess and Her Magickal Weapons rather than outlawing the
Goddess-cult. If so, they nevertheless made sure that Zeus, the divine Patriarch, All-Father of
Earth and Heaven, kept ultimate control of the Goddess’s potent Self and Powers, which
otherwise could rise again and perhaps destroy the Hellenic culture and the latter’s control of
Attica. 80a
Around the cradle of the infant Zeus, which was hung in a tree (so that Kronos couldn’t find Him in
Heaven, nor on Earth, nor in the sea), stood armed guards, the Kuretes, sons of Rhea. They clashed their
spears against the shields and shouted loudly to drown out the sound of the child’s cries, which Kronos
might otherwise have heard. In the meantime, Rhea had wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and given
the bundle to Kronos, Who, believing this was His new son, swallowed it. Even so, Kronos finally found
out what had really happened, and set out to find Zeus. To escape His father’s murderous wrath, Zeus
transformed Himself into a serpent and His foster-mothers into bears. Later, He commemorated this part
of His young life by creating the Constellation Serpens, and set the ash-nymphs in the heavens as the
Greater and Lesser Bear, simultaneously honoring their kindness to Him during His infancy and youth.
Zeus grew to manhood among the shepherds of Ida, in another cave. When He reached maturity, He
sought out Metis the Titaness, Who lived beside the vast, world-circling River Ocean. On Her advice He
sought out His mother, Rhea, and asked Her to make Him Kronos’ cup-bearer so that in that He might
thereby gain an opportunity to rescue His siblings, Who were still in Their father’s belly. Rhea quickly
agreed, and mixed up a powerful emetic, which Metis had told Zeus to mix with Kronos’ drink. This
plan went off without a hitch. Kronos drank great quantities of the doped drink. Soon He became
extremely nauseated and began vomiting. First, He vomited up the stone Rhea had given Him in place of
Zeus. Then, one after the other, He vomited up Zeus’s brothers and sisters, who sprang forth from Their
father’s belly unhurt. In gratitude, They asked Zeus to lead Them in battle against the Titans, Who were
led by Atlas, since Kronos was now too old to do so.
The war between the Titans and the Olympians lasted 10 years. The Olympians finally won when
Zeus freed the Kyklopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones from Tartaros, strengthened them with food and
drink, and won them over as allies. In return, the Kyklopes gave the Olympians potent gifts: to Zeus
they gave the Thunderbolt as an offensive weapon; to Hades, they gave the Helmet of Invisibility, which
generated an impenetrable darkness around Him and made Him invisible whenever He wore it*; and to
Poseidon, they gave the Trident, another offensive weapon.** Using these Weapons, and backed up by
the Hundred-Handed Ones, who threw gigantic boulders† at the Titans, the Olympians conquered Kronos
and the other Titans. With the exception of Atlas, the Titans, including Kronos, were banished to the
British Isles, and never again troubled Hellas. Atlas, the war-chief of the Titans, was punished by being
made to carry the sky on his shoulders.‡ The Titanesses were spared, however, for the sake of Their
sister Rhea and Metis, since these two Titanesses had helped Zeus to trick Kronos into regurgitating the
other Olympians.
*The Norse version of this Weapon is the Tarnknappe, the Cap of Invisibility made by the Dwarf
Albericht and stolen from him by Odin (Wotan). The dwarves of the Norse myths and legends
bear the same relationship to the Norse Gods that the Kyklopes, Hundred-Handed Ones, and
other, non-deified Children of Gaia (Earth) do to the Titans and, later, the Olympians. Legends
about them are almost certainly based upon the experience which the Celts and other immigrants
into what is today Western and Central Europe had with the original native peoples there, many
of whom were very competent workers in metal and stone.
**In Hindu mythology, one of the aspects of Shiva, God of Destruction and Enlightenment, is that of the
Power of the Sun upon the Waters, a kind of Sea-God. Shiva’s weapon, like that of Poseidon, is
the Trident, with powers identical to those of Poseidon’s Weapon. (Originally, Shiva is a God of
the Full Moon, just as Kali, His wife, is a Lunar Goddess and a Goddess of the Eclipse.)80b
†This could refer to gigantic siege-engines, such as ballistae, of the sort frequently used by large armies
against fortified cities from at least the time of Cyrus on. The Hundred-Handed Ones were
supposed to have great skill as engineers and craftsmen, who could well have turned their skills
to military uses.
‡This may be a conflation of several different legends and myths. The Atlas Mountains of Northwest
Africa, stretching across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, have peaks up to 4,150 meters (more
than two miles) high. Metaphorically speaking, they “carry the sky on their shoulders” – a
saying from ancient times. The battle-master of the defeated Titans, whatever his original name,
was probably exiled to that region after it was all over. Either his name was then given by
Greeks to those mountains, or he was remembered for his banishment to that area, which already
had the name; in either event, this part of the legend most probably commemorates exile and
banishment of a defeated war-leader, not a torturous physical punishment (imposition of which,
in the literal form given in the myth, would have been physically impossible, anyway).
In this way, Zeus became King of the Gods and Lord of the Universe. As previously discussed,
Jupiter is essentially identical in this as well as the rest of His story to Zeus, Their mythologies differing
only superficially. These differences are due primarily to expedient modifications in the Greek myths
made by Imperial Rome to encourage continued adherence to and support of the Empire by the people.
Jupiter/Zeus also bears a strong resemblance to Brahma, war-leader and king of the Hindu pantheon.
However, Zeus/Jupiter differs in important ways from Odin/Wotan, leader of the Norse Gods.
Zeus/Jupiter was primarily a politician. Odin/Wotan, on the other hand, though of course a political
adept, like Zeus, was also a Magickian, like Hermes/Mercury (Who was not King of the Gods). Nor
does the amorous and pleasure-loving Zeus/Jupiter resemble JHVH, the God of the Old Testament, Who,
by the time of the establishment of the Kingdom of Judea under King David, had evolved into an
apparently bodiless Voice emanating from unknown worlds, without carnal needs or desires, the pure
superego of a people and little else, commanding His adherents to live lives of righteousness and virtuous
abstentious from many of the things which the Greeks, like the Romans, considered to be life’s necessary
pleasures.
Huge-natured in all things, Jupiter/Zeus was first in war, first in justice, and first in mercy and
beneficence (except when it suited His convenience, lusts, or rage to do otherwise). He did not begrudge
men their pleasures any more than He begrudged Himself the same pleasures. And while He might scour
the heavens and the Earth with the terrible fury of His Thunderbolts when His wrath was aroused by evil
or even just simple impudence committed by any of His subjects, human or otherwise, once the
miscreants had been punished and His rage had been satisfied, He acted only in kindness, distributing the
bounty of the Universe impartially to all. By the advent of Christianity, He had evolved into a God
rivaling JHVH in justice and love for His children, but without that God’s parochialism and dislike of the
compellingly carnal. His worship covered the known world, with His temples set up throughout the
Roman Empire. The vengeance of Ouranos had ironically become the blessing of all humankind: the
establishment of the heavenly rule of the truly Great Good Father.
Astrologically speaking, the influence of Jupiter closely fits His mythology. The original Divine
Party-Animal, He is the Greater Benefic, as Venus is the Lesser Benefic. Traditionally, more than any
other Planet, He signifies success, expansion, opportunity, achievement, good luck, prosperity, and, in
general, every good thing life can offer. The Planets from Jupiter outward aren’t so much concerned with
the individual’s personal existence and experience, as they are with one’s environment. Jupiter has to do
with the amount of support which relatives, friends, spouses, and society as a whole gives to the
individual, and the abundance which life has to offer him or her. At least for those living in Western
urban cultures which have not yet learned to live within their ecological means, Jupiter’s influence is
almost the reverse of that of Saturn, Who governs the amount of resistance which one encounters in one’s
social and ecological environment in the process of trying to fulfill one’s wants and needs. Jupiter
expands life’s horizons to the maximum possible, and opens the doors the new opportunities and
experiences through which one can grow and improve one’s life. Jupiter integrates the individual into the
world by encouraging him or her to reach out to life and achieve ever more, for both him/herself and
others.
According to Michael Meyer, Jupiter represents
[t]he principle of preservation, increase, and compensation. The process of individual

assimilation of the social consciousness. The urge to be a self-sustaining entity
consciously participating within the social realm. The establishment of a larger frame
of reference and the power to grow through co-operation with experience. Dharma, or
the individual’s ‘power of right action.’ The guru, patriarch or savior image.
Cyclic Meaning: The expansion of the individual’s realm of activity within the
social sphere.
Retrograde: A life dedicated to the service of a higher principle; or, social
withdrawal.
Whereas Saturn represents the Superego, self-restriction one one’s behavior out of fear of social
reprisal and/or desire for social approval, particularly from authority figures, Jupiter represents the
Conscience, ethically motivated self-restraint, action based upon mercy, compassion, and love. 82 He is
the good, wise, kind, and benefic ruler, judge, and administrator, the State as Benefactor, the source of all
good things, as opposed to Saturn, Who represents the State as Authority. Jupiter also represents the
highest form of wisdom which we as mortals can ordinarily comprehend. He is the administrator of
Earthly justice; while often this requires punitive actions, that isn’t the main thrust of His influence,
which is directed to bringing about the most good for the greatest number, i.e., equity law, as opposed to
adversarial law, ruled by Saturn. Venus refines the abundance brought into being by Luna; in turn,
Jupiter distributes the fruits of Venus’s work as equitably as possible. He represents all those aspects of
Sol involved with wealth, happiness, and security, distributed across society as a whole. His placement
in any horoscope generally indicates how luck, opportunity, and beneficence will enter the life of the
native, or influence a matter under consideration in a horary or event chart for the benefit of all
concerned.
Yetziratic title: The Lord of the Forces of Life
Yetziratic text: “The Twenty-First Path is the Intelligence of Conciliation and Reward, and is so
called because it receives the divine influence which flows into it from its benediction upon
all and each existence.
Hebrew letter: k ‫( ך‬Kaph()

Numerical value: 20, 500
Principle: Expansion
Astrological assignment: Jupiter, which, with Neptune, rules Sagittarius and Pisces; is exalted
in Cancer and Aquarius; and is the esoteric ruler of Libra and Scorpio. Jupiter is
masculine, fruitful, benefic, warm, moist, electric, and superior.
Day of the Week ruled by Jupiter:
Geocentric:
Thursday
Heliocentric:
Thursday
Hours of the Day ruled by Jupiter:
Geocentric:
The first, eighth, fifteenth . . . daylight hours after the first moment of dawn of Thursday;
the third, tenth, seventeenth . . . hours after the first moment of sunset on Thursday night
Heliocentric:
Same
Element (Alchemical): Tin
Element (chemical): Tin (Sn), atomic number 50
Ecological process, realm, or principle:
Jupiter is associated with detoxification, hence with the natural systems which, over
time, detoxify and cleanse the soil, air, and water of pollution (Neptune is also associated
with these); the oceans (because of His dominion over Pisces; Neptune is the primary ruler
of the oceans); and the great natural balances of the living world (because of His aspect as
the Just Judge, i.e., He Who Restores Balance to the World).
Physical chemistry:
Colors:
Liber 777 gives the following. King Scale: deep violet (Key 4), violet (Key 21);
Queen Scale: blue (Key 4), blue (Key 21); Emperor Scale: deep purple (Key 4), rich
purple (Key 21); Empress Scale: (deep azure, flecked yellow (Key 4), bright blue, rayed
yellow (Key 21).
Generally, the colors and combinations of colors associated with Jupiter include royal
purple, violet, deep blue, royal blue, and some blends of red and indigo such as magenta and
claret. To these, Davis adds red mixed with green and ash-color. Watters adds yellow-
green and aquamarine, perhaps because of Jupiter’s traditional rulership of Pisces, i.e., of
the ocean and the Element Water, which often display these colors.
Gods:
Egyptian: Amoun, Amoun-Ra.
Greek: Zeus (in Latin, Deus = “God”); Pallas Athena.
Roman: Jupiter (Io-Pater, “God All-Father”); Minerva.
Scandinavian: Odin, Wotan.
Russian:
Hungarian:
Polynesian: Tane (Kane) (as Lord of the Heavens); Ta’aroa (Kanaloa) (as hurler of the
lightning).
Native Australian:
Hindu: Brahma, Indra.
Szekeli (Romany Gypsy):
Chinese: the Jade Emperor (ruler of Heaven)
Japanese:
The French Enlightenment: Justice, Egalité.
Eskimo:
Central American:
American Indian:
American folklore: Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan (tall tales, big men)
SubGenius: Wotan/Odin/JHVH-1
Discordianism: Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Eris (rough justice! <G>)
Africa:
Southeast Asia:
Celtic:
Voudon: Shango or Chango, Lord of the Lightning-Bolt, Giver of Justice (a God of thunder
or explosives, ruled by Uranus, in Whose Sign Aquarius Jupiter is exalted).
Christianity: St. James (Santiago, San Diego, etc); Joseph of Aramathea
Judaism: Tzedkiel
Islam:
The Land of Oz: Ozma of Oz; Glinda the Good.
Lovecraft: Randolph Carter (far-traveler)
Stephen King novels:
Science fiction: Randolph Carter; Baron Münchausen’s tales;
LaVeyan Satanism:
God-Name:
AL (Aleph-Lamed)
World religions:
Olympian religion of ancient and Classical Greece; JHVH-1 and Fightin’ Jesus cults of
SubGenius
Grades of the Temple:
7th degree = 4th grade, Adeptus Exemplus (highest grade of Second Order)
Archangel:
Tzedqiel
Angelic Choir:
Chashmalim
Angel:
Sachiel
Angels given by Barrett, et al.:
Olympic Planetary Spirit:
Bethor
Intelligence:
Yaphiel
Spirit:
Hismael
Spirits given by Bardon, Barrett, et al.:
Name of Planet in Hebrew:
Tzedek
Commandment:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your
work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any
work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your
cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord Blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Exodus 20: 8-11
The Ten Plagues of Egypt (from Exodus 9 and after):
Plague of hail and fire (Zeus’s weapon is the Thunderbolt, i.e., meteorites
Verses of the Creation Story from Genesis (Genesis1-3):
And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds
fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created the great sea
monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God blessed
them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds
multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
Genesis 1:20-23
Cantos from the Inferno of Dante Alighieri:
Cantos from the Purgatorio of Dante Alighieri:
Cantos from the Paradiso of Dante Alighieri:

Article of Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of
America):
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
arrests shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.
Biblical associations:
Meditation: Liberality
Magickal Power: Power of Acquiring Political and Other Ascendancy
Perfume:
Magickal Weapons: The Sceptre
Musical tone: Bb or A#
Qlippothic spirit: Kurgasiax, the Smiter. Evoked with the tone A#. His colors are bright blue,
rayed with yellow.
Orders of Qlippoth:
Gha’agsheblah, “Smiters”
Stones, gems, metals, chemical elements, etc.:
Liber 777 gives lapis lazuli, the deep blue-violet color of which represents Jupiter’s
spiritual nature; the amethyst, because of its violet color, its ability to protect against
poisons, and its traditional use as the stone of episcopal rank*; and the sapphire, because its
color is the blue of the Element Water, traditionally ruled by Jupiter (in the West).
**In addition, the amethyst is associated with Pisces, a Sign traditionally ruled by Jupiter.
Other stones traditionally associated with Jupiter include turquoise, because of its sky-
blue color (Jupiter was ruler of the heavens or sky); topaz; hyacinth; jacinth; chalcedony;
diamond; chelidon; bezoar; armenia; iris; green arabian; and carnelian.
Traditionally the metal of Jupiter is tin (chemical element Sn, Z = 50).
Herbs, trees, and other planets:
Liber 777 gives the oak, traditionally sacred to Jupiter because, as Jupiter is King of
the Gods, the oak is King of Trees; the olive tree*; the shamrock (it has four leaves, and
brings luck); arnica , because of its ability to relieve pain; the hyssop (used to purge the
liver, which is ruled by Jupiter; also, because of its religious use in lustration); the opium
poppy, because it relieves pain and gives “Olympian detachment”; the poplar, because of
its soft and easily swollen pulp and great height; cedar, because incense made from it is
used for religious purposes, and protects vestments from attacks by moths; and the fig, a
symbol of the testicle, and thus of male sexuality and virility, archetypal aspects of Jupiter
(also, perhaps, because of its soft, sensual texture and its rich purple color).
* Because it was a potential source of enormous wealth; also, Pallas Athena, Zeus’s idealized self, was
supposed to have given the olive tree to humanity as one of Her great gifts.
Generally speaking, Jupiter is associated with various nutritious fruits and nuts, such as
almonds, apricots, asparagus, the chestnut, currants, rhubarb, rose-hips, and strawberries;
plants with a pleasant odor, such as anise, balm, balsam, cloves, jasmine, linden,
meadowsweet, mint, myrrh, and nutmeg; the oak tree, which is associated with Zeus-
Jupiter in mythology; medicinal plants which affect the liver or the arterial system, which
are ruled by Jupiter, such as chervil, cinquefoil, dandelion, deer-tongue, docks, garlic, leeks,
limes, liverwort, onions, sage, and scurvy grass; and miscellaneous others, including
agrimony, the ash tree, birch, betony, bloodwort, borage, daisies, the fir tree, jasmine, the
mulberry, nailwort, polypody, small samphire, swallow-wort, sugarcane, thorn apple, wild
pinks, and wild succory.
Animals and Other Organisms:
Liber 777 gives the unicorn (a symbol of virility) and the eagle (Jupiter’s messenger).
In general, the animals associated with Jupiter include large animals, such as the horse,
elephant, and whale (which is also a marine creature, ruled by Pisces, of which Jupiter is the
traditional Lord); those with valuable fur, such as the ermine, sable, mink, seal, and
chinchilla; the ostrich, because of its size and because of the great distances it was once
necessary to travel for Westerners to view or catch one; and the turkey. Any animal of the
sky (Sagittarius) or sea (Pisces) is secondarily ruled by Jupiter.
Legendary orders of being:
Liber 777 gives Incubi and Nightmares.
Foods, drugs, and perfumes:
For vegetable drugs, Liber 777 gives opium and cocaine. For perfumes, it gives cedar,
saffron, and all “generous odors.”
Goldstein-Jacobson gives olive oil, honey, fruits, and sweet, heavy wines, such as
Maneschewitz.
De Vore gives things that have a fragrant or bland taste or scent.
By extrapolation from Jupiter’s essential nature, He rules all rich or luxurious foods,
especially those prepared as part of a banquet given to many people; the wine and wafer
used in Holy Communion; and food or drug that affects the liver or general circulation,
which is ruled by Jupiter; fattening foods; drugs that make one feel expansive, generous-
spirited, or megalomanic; homeopathic preparations of stones, metals, minerals, or other
substances ruled by Jupiter; food prepared from animals or plants taken from the sea;
agricultural products of all kinds; and all rich odors and valuable perfumes.
The Body:
Diseases:
Magickal image:
Patterns:
Patterns related to growth and expansion, e.g., as in time-wise studies of population
growth, series of maps showing expansions of empires, etc. Shiela-na-Gig Celtic
luck/fertility figure. Four-leafed clovers.
Forms, shapes, lineal figures, geomantic figures, figures related to pure number, and
numerological associations:
Jupiter is associated with full, generous curves. These are usually prominently
displayed in the handwriting of those in whose natal horoscopes and lives Jupiter is
prominent. Jupiter rules solid figures, that is, three-dimensional (cubical) ones, as well as
the square and the rhombus, both four-sided figures.
The numbers 4 and 21 are associated with Jupiter, since these are His Key-Scale
numbers. Therefore the Mystic Numbers of the Sephiroth 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 and 1 + 2
+ . . . + 21 = 231 are associated with Him, as well. The number of Jupiter’s Trump,
Fortune, is 10 (that is, the Roman numeral X). The sum of the letters that make up the
name of His Sephirah, CheSeD (Cheth-Samekh-Daleth) is 8 + 60 + 4 = 72, while the sum of
the letters that spell the name of His Atu, KaPh (Kaph-Peh), is 20 + 80 = 100. Jupiter’s
God-Names in Assiah (the Material World) are AL, ABA, and AL AB (respectively “the
God,” “the Father,” and “God the Father”); the sums of the letters spelling these are
respectively 1 + 30 = 31, 1 + 2 + 1 = 4, and 1 + 30 + 1 + 2 = 34. Finally, the value of the
Hebrew letter associated with His Atu, Kaph, is 20 = 4 x 5. Clearly the number 4 is strongly
associated with Jupiter, since it factors most of the other numbers associated with him
and/or constitutes the sum of their digits. The number 10 also factors many of them;
further, 10 is equal to 1 + 2 + 3 + 4, the Mystic Number of His Sephirah, Chesed, and so is
also an archetypal number of Jupiter.
The 4 x 4 Magick Square of Jupiter, used to construct sigils for Jovial talismans and
amulets, is as follows:
4 14 15 1
9 7 6 2
5 11 10 8
16 2 3 13
Seal of Jupiter:
Seal of Intelligence of Jupiter, YAHPhIEL:

Seal of Spirit of Jupiter, HISMAEL:
Clothing, Magickal Weapons, and other things, objects, and processes:
For Magickal Powers, Liber 777 gives the Vision of Love and the Power of Acquiring
Political and Other Ascendancy. For Magickal Weapons, it gives the Wand, Scepter, or Crook
(i.e., Bishop’s Crosier).
Jupiter rules high ceremonial in any form. He especially rules sacred and holy things, and
things connected with religions, religious centers and buildings, and the Bible; rosaries;
churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious buildings, and all their furnishings,
including altars, the Ark of Torah and torah scrolls, stained-glass windows, religious regalia, and
ecclesiastical robes.
He rules higher education in all its forms, and therefore all things connected with it. These
include institutions such as colleges and universities and their furnishings; the cap and gown
worn at graduation ceremonies; professorial regalia; and diplomas. He also rules publishers
and publishing, especially those connected with supplying students of higher education with
textbooks or religious texts and hymnals for churches, synagogues, mosques, monasteries, etc.
And he rules philosophy and philosophers.
Jupiter rules all rituals of state and their accoutrements, and therefore crown jewels,
uniforms, medals, parade regalia, robes of state, court-costumes, judges’ wigs, the baton, and the
judge’s gavel or mallet.
Jupiter rules people of high station, great fame, or great national or international
importance, including those who attain fame through crime and dishonor as well as those who
attain it honestly and honorably.
Jupiter rules codes of honor and ethics, legal systems, law, lawyers, and law schools.
Jupiter rules expansion and growth, and their expression in terms of material wealth. He
therefore rules machinery that brings gain, such as gambling machines, lottery wheels, ATM
bank machines, and so on. He rules large fortunes, and the instruments used to negotiate large
monetary transactions, such as letters-of-credit and similar instruments used by banks and other
large financial institutions, including electronic versions of such documents. For the same
reason He rules luck, hence prizes and awards; gamblers and gambling; and good fortune in
any form. He rules lavish expenditures of all kinds, and therefore losses through reckless
speculation or gambling.
Jupiter rules large vehicles such as vans, trains, buses, and parade-floats. He is also
associated with all things that are connected with long-distance travel and travel for pleasure,
including caravans, ships, Winnebagos, land-rovers (vehicles), foreigners, strangers (even those
one meets at home), foreign languages, and the science of linguistics. He rules charitable and
philanthropic organizations and the things connected with them.
He rules public functions, assemblies of a state or official nature, social gatherings, and
anything associated with them, such as theaters, banquets, and the jewelry and clothing
associated with high-society and state functions.
Jupiter rules circuses and large pleasure-parties, and the things associated with them. He
rules horse-racing, race-tracks, and stables for race-horses. He rules large mountains, and
mountain-climbers.
He rules large wild animals, zoos, and game preserves.
His musical instruments include the pipe-organ and the calliope. And of course He rules
symphony orchestras.
Four-leafed clovers, rabbit’s-feet, and other luck talismans are ruled by Jupiter.
Anatomy and physiology:
Liber 777 gives the digestive system. With this assignment I disagree. Virgo, ruled by
Mercury, is the ruler of the small intestines, and Scorpio, ruled by Mars and Pluto, rules the
bowels. Traditionally, Jupiter rules the liver – an assignment which Liber 777, for reasons best
known to itself and God, gives to Key 22, which is associated with the Sign Libra!
Jupiter rules the posterior pituitary gland; the feet, thighs, buttocks, hips, and hip-joints;
the liver, the intestines (secondarily; see above for the primary rulers), and muscles
(secondarily; Mars is the primary ruler). He rules growth as a general process. He rules control
of the shoulders and arms, in motions which depend upon good timing for their effectiveness.
He rules the sciatic nerve and its function. He rules cell nutrition and development and flesh-
building. He rules blood plasma, the arterial system, and the formation of hemoglobin and red
corpuscles.
In pre-Christian Greek and Roman religious astrology, He also rules the testicles and
external male genitalia, as well as male sexuality and virility. In modern Western astrology,
these, along with the female genitalia, are ruled by Scorpio and Pluto, with Mars being the
secondary ruler of the male genitalia and Venus that of the female genitalia. However, the older
assignment makes a good deal of sense in terms of general sociobiology. The division of a
species into male and female originally began as establishment of specializations for providing a
means of nurturance and stability for the young of the species, in the form of the ovum
(female); and one for species dispersal, in the form of spermatozoa (male). These two functions
could co-exist in the same, hermaphroditic individual, e.g., as in modern snails; or they could be
manifest in morphologically different individuals, e.g., as in all modern mammals. Regardless,
it is the task of the “male” to make sure that the next generation is optimally dispersed
throughout the habitat, to prevent overcrowding and overuse of the resources of the habitat,
which could be detrimental to the growing young as well as to the environment that they depend
on for survival; and it is that of the “female” to make sure that the “male” dispersal function
isn’t overdone, that the individual young aren’t so widely dispersed that essential resources
aren’t available to them or they can’t find mates when the time comes for them to reproduce.
The “male” thus roves far from “his” birthplace; the “female” tends to stay close to home.
Jupiter not only rules long-distance travel, but the keeping of harems, male promiscuity, and
frequenting of bordellos. He is thus associated with exaggerated forms of human male behavior
that are perfect human expressions of the essential “male” function – spreading one’s genes as
widely as possible, through as many offspring as possible. That Jupiter also rules the
husbandman, the paterfamilias, doesn’t contradict this – many a culture expects a man of
substance to have one or more mistresses or concubines in addition to one or more “official”
wives, the sort of thing for which Zeus and Jupiter were famous. At any rate, fior this reason
Jupiter can certainly be considered the secondary ruler of the testes and the male genitalia, if not
the primary one.
Psychology:
Jupiter rules the abstract and creative faculties; broad generalizations, and reasoning and
comparisons based on them; idealism; a powerful sense of the dramatic and ceremonial;
obsession with a desire to be of service to humanity; optimism; harmony; the orderly mind;
the expansive and gregarious personality; talent for amassing great wealth, but without Saturn’s
miserliness; generosity, both materially and spiritually; temperateness; sociability;
hopefulness; a peace-loving, law-abiding nature; the philosophical temperament and faculties;
religious inclinations; the “higher,” spiritual faculties; moral integrity; the ethical sense; the
just and ethical person; wise judgment tempered with mercy; a love of beauty applied to
grandeur and the sublime; a love of the fine arts, especially sculpture; broad vision; open-
mindedness; reasonableness.
Jupiter creates conditions through which such qualities can be expressed, such as health, as
an expression of physical harmony; law, as an expression of social harmony; or religion, as an
expression of spiritual harmony. In all cases, these are vehicles of creation and maintenance of
justice, harmony, and balance, not particularly as intellectual diversions or the means of
acquiring wealth. Jupiter represents wise judgment, benevolent power, profit, good fortune,
honesty, and dignity, and all the psychological traits and faculties that express or mediate these.
On a lower level, Jupiter is also concerned with respectability and Gemütlichkeit, and the drive
to acquire and maintain these.
At his best, the Jovial person is generous, expansive, genial, temperate, vital, benevolent,
respectful, and self-controlled. But when frustrated, he or she is likely to become proud,
dissipated, boastful, a compulsive gambler, a spendthrift, extravagant, procrastinating,
complacent, or hypocritical.
Diseases and dysfunctions:
Liber 777 gives dropsy and gout for diseases ruled by Jupiter.
Jupiter is associated with illnesses and dysfunctions of any of the parts of the body ruled by
Him, as well as those involving or the result of pathological expansion, distention, or growths
anywhere in the body. Such illnesses include those that are a result of over-indulgence, such as
hangovers or gout, both of which are cries of outrage from an unhappy liver; congestion of
tissues; chronic systemic acidity; abnormal blood pressure; and apoplexy (cerebral congestion,
often leading to stroke). Jupiter increases the magnitude of any symptoms of illness. He causes
excessive expansion of tissues, superabundance of fluids or glandular secretion, flabby tissues,
and impurities in the blood due to dietary indiscretions. He causes fatty degeneration of parts of
the body ruled by the Sign in which He currently resides; this is worst in the Sign Leo, which
rules the heart. He initiates unwanted growths, such as fibroids and other non-malignant tumors;
such growths could, however, become malignant due to bad aspects between Jupiter and Saturn,
and in any cause would do harm to nearby organs as Jupiter continues to cause them to increase
in size and put pressure on neighboring tissues. Jupiter is also associated with pathologies such
as obesity, megalomania, obsessions, and compulsions that drive the native to work too hard or
try to care for too many people; an inability to take a personal stand on any issue; compulsive
extravagance and gambling; and religious mania.
Occupations and ecological niches:
Jupiter rules professions involved in banking, especially international finance, and such
occupation niches as cashiers and bank-tellers; careers in law, as exemplified by senators,
magistrates, judges, and attorneys; ecclesiastical careers, such as those of bishops, priests,
ministers, rabbis, and preachers; careers in higher education, especially the teaching of
philosophy; clothiers; restaurant workers; publishers; linguists; gamblers, bookies, croupiers,
and owners of gambling-houses; jockeys, racetrack touts, horse-breeders, and owners and
managers of race-tracks; mountain-climbers; philanthropists; ambassadors; professions and
occupations involving high status, great fame, or national importance; travel-agents and
adventurers (who travel widely in foreign lands); tin miners; and zoo-keepers, managers of
game preserves, zoo docents, and all others connected with zoos and anything else dealing with
large wild animals.
Places, nations, and peoples:

Jupiter rules all places of dignity and solemnity, commanding respect or reverence. These
include, e.g., churches, cathedrals, altars and confessionals; law courts and military tribunals;
banks; large, ornate buildings such as palaces, etc. (another reason He rules cathedrals); and
large institutions such as universities and great libraries. He rules any large, luxurious, or
valuable property, building, or other place; parliamentary and other legislative meeting-places;
places of higher education; and charitable or philanthropic institutions and the buildings that
house them, such as public library systems established through philanthropy, and hospitals for
the poor.
Among peoples, Jupiter rules or co-rules all theocracies.
Jupiter rules the Republican political party in the United States. This may be because He
was the chief God of the Pantheon of the Old Roman Republic, and could be considered to have
been its ruler, though Mars and His sister Venus were the rulers of the Roman people per se.
Planetary Age of Man:
Jupiter rules the Sixth Age. Traditionally, this age spans ages 58-69, the period when,
having already achieved a certain success in life, one continues to nurture and administer what
one has created, but with an increased awareness and understanding. This is a time of increased
reflection upon Earthly events and contemplation of a greater, spiritual reality.
By the reckoning according to which each Planet rules a decade of life, beginning with
Luna and proceeding outward to Pluto and any Planets beyond, Jupiter rules ages 51-60. This is
the period of full maturation of Earthly wisdom, and the beginnings of true spiritual maturity.
Matters of the horoscope:
Jupiter rules abundance, in any form; adventure; affluence; altars; artificial legs and hip-
joints; beliefs; cathedrals; churches, Kingdom Halls, mosques, pagan and Magickal Circles,
Sacred Groves, synagogues, and temples; celebrations and parties; ceremonies and ritual;
charity and philanthropy; courts, both those concerned with law and those of nobility or
royalty*; exploration; gamblers and gambling in any form, including lotteries, games of
chance, betting, etc.; generosity; gifts; judges; judgment (as a faculty) and judiciousness;
luck, fortune; optimism, hopefulness; philosophy; publishing; religion; the Republican Party
of American politics; and universities and other institutions of higher education.
*Originally these were identical. It was the Lord of the Realm – count, duke, king, or other ruler – who
ruled on matters of law and even made the law. Modern aristocracies are the descendants of the
early feudal and other systems in which the rulers were simultaneously military, religious, and civil
authority. Today, these functions are usually invested in separate agencies, e.g., legislative bodies,
religious organizations, military agencies, etc., and the aristocracy – where it still exists in an
established form, such as in England – is mostly a repository of cultural heritage, little more. But in
the beginning, the ruler was divine, his or her mandate given by heaven, and the word of the
monarch was that of the Gods Themselves (except when the ruler’s behavior became so outrageous
that it was decided that “the mandate of Heaven had been removed,” in which case the ruler either
got the hell out of Dodge a few steps ahead of the local tar-and-feather party, or joined his or her
ancestors in some creatively nasty way, to be replaced by someone a little more biddable by the
Gods). For this reason, Jupiter rules monarchs, legislators, and ecclesiastics, as well, for originally
all these were invested in the same man or woman, who represented the Will and Earthly
manifestation of God. The Latin word deus, “God,” after all is derived from Zeus, the Greek name
for Supreme Divine Lord; it is generic for “God” but also refers especially to Jupiter. The “Will of
God” is above all the “Will of Jupiter” or “Will of Jove,” and it was this Will of which the early
rulers were the Earthly agents. For this reason, Jupiter rules rulers and authority of all kinds, hence
what are today the multiple functions of church, state, aristocracy, etc.
Music:
Beethoven’s Sixth and Ninth symphonies; Gustav Holst’s “Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity,”
in his The Planets; Vangelis’ sound-track for the film Chariots of Fire; all grand and grandiose
music
Poetry:
Alfred Noyes’s “The Barrel-Organ”
Books and other literary productions:
The Chemical Rubber Company’s Chemical Handbook, any good-sized encyclopedia, The
Oxford Dictionary of the English Language (the two-volume job that comes with the little
magnifying glass that most of us have ripped off from the book-clubs at some time or another*),
most of James Michener’s works, and a good many of Stephen King’s, if sheer size is any
consideration; cookbooks concerned with gourmet foods or exotic delicacies; textbooks on law
(e.g., Blackstone); religious works, e.g., the bible, the Torah, the Koran, and the Mahabharata);
works on high finance, e.g., Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.
Robert R. McCammon’s great novel Swan Song (1987) is co-ruled by Jupiter because of its
vast size, the fact that its general architecture is that of Dante’s Inferno, and its moving spiritual
themes. Dante’s Divine Comedy is ruled by Jupiter. The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter
Straub (1984) is a story of a great quest, as is King’s Dark Tower series and his The Stand (1983,
1994), hence ruled by Jupiter.**
*Like the Signs of Their strength, the functions of Mercury and Jupiter do oppose one another a good
deal of the time, after all. :)
**Stephen King was born at 4:18 a.m. on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. Using the Placidean
system of house domification, his natal chart has Jupiter in Scorpio (death, horror, the primordial, the
occult, etc.) in his Third House (the house dealing with writing, writers, etc.). He also has the star
Algol exactly conjunct his Midheaven, and Spica exactly conjunct his Third House cusp. Algol is
traditionally considered to be “the most evil star in the heavens,” while Spica is considered to be the
most fortunate of stars. His career (Midheaven, 10 th House) deals with explorations of horror and
evil and humanity’s ability to triumph over these (prose versions of Dante’s journey through the
Inferno to Purgatory and then Paradise), while his writing has brought him vast (Jupiter in Third
House) good fortune (Spica). Sheer coincidence. (Yeah, right.)
Architecture:
The Sistine Chapel; Notre Dame Cathedral; Buckingham Palace; Capitol Building in
Washington, D.C.; the White House; the Vatican and all it comprises; the Hermitage in
Moscow, Russia; the Russian Kremlin (Russia only recently emerged from feudalism and, after
that, Communism, and for many Russians, the state has always been inseparable from spiritual
authority in some form); Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sculpture and Monuments:
Washington Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, a vast

sculpture comprising the busts of four American Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln,
Theodore Roosevelt; the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island in New York City Harbor; John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, a memorial to a martyred
President; the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, ditto; Puukohola Heiau,
Hawaii, ruins of temple built by King Kamehameha; Crazy Horse National Monument; Simon
Rodia’s magnificent Watts Towers, Watts, California; monuments dedicated to Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr/
Visual arts:
The Sistine Chapel ceiling
Cinematographic Arts:
Made-for-TV-movie series; Gone With the Wind; Gandhi; Chariots of Fire; The Ten
Commandments; anything with about 200 sequels, like so many of the animated features
produced by Dreamworks
Saints and exemplars:
The 36 Just Men and the 36 Wives, a Jewish legend (they correspond to the 36 decanates of
the Zodiac, North (husbands) and South (wives) of the Celestial Equator) – as long as they exist
in the world, we are not wholly lost
St. Nicholas, A.K.A. Santa Claus, Father Christmas (seen on many wanted posters around
January 1 of each year for instigation of highway robbery by the nation’s merchants).
Judge Dee, the famous Chinese magistrate of the Tang Dynasty (circa 7th Century e.v.).84a
Justinian, Emperor of Rome, 527-565 e.v., creator of the Codex Justinianus, last and
greatest codification of Roman Law.84b
Temujin, Genghis Ka Khan.
The lawmaker Solon.
Solomon ben David, King of Judea.
the Apostle Peter, the “Prince of the Apostles,” first Bishop of Rome and essentially first of
the Popes; .
Andrew Carnegie, the famous 19th-Century Scots-American financier and philanthropist.
Lucky Jim Baldwin, adventurer, gambler, and financier who hit it big in the Alaskan gold-
rush of the late 19th Century and finally settled in Southern California, where he helped build
and operate the Santa Anita Racetrack.
Tsar Peter the Great of Russia
The Italian adventurer Giovanni Jacopo (1725-1798), better known as Casanova, famous for
his Memoirs, which include accounts of his many love-affairs;
Grigoi Efimovich Rasputin, Russian religious mystic and faith-healer, also known for his
astounding amatory capacity and his practice of a sexual form of mysticism involving a
tremendous number of female partners. Among other things, he was virtually unkillable – it
took a vast amount of cyanide, several bullets, and a few heft whacks over the head before
pitching him into an icy-cold river in the midst of a Russian Winter before he finally gave up the
ghost. His influence over the Russian Tsarina eventually changed the course of history.
Aleister Crowley. ‘Nuff said.
American emblems, sigils, symbols, myth, folklore, and urban legend:
Paul Bunyan
Pecos Bill
All tall tales
Trigrams and/or Hexagrams from I Ching, and Other Aspects of Taoist Cosmology:
Sun, “The Gentle” (The Penetrating, Wind)

______
______
__ __
Ch’ien, Heaven, The Creative

_______
_______
_______
Hexagrams (King Wen arrangement): 1, Ch’ien (Ch’ien above Ch’ien); 57, Sun (Sun above Sun)

Gringonneur: The Goddess Fortuna standing astride Her wheel. She holds a scepter in Her right
hand, and an orb in Her left. Through the center of the wheel a country scene and a castle are
visible.
Bembo: It shows the Goddess Fortuna blindfolded and seated in the center of Her wheel. At the top
is a cherub with ass’s ears and the legend Regno on a banner. Two other figures, one ascending
and the other descending on the wheel, bear the legends Regnabo and Regnavi. At the bottom is
an old man on hands and knees with the legend Sum sine regno.
Swiss Tarot: Fortuna, blindfolded, naked except for some strategic drapery, cranks a wheel which
appears to stand on the edge of a precipice. Beneath the wheel is a blossoming rose tree. At the
top of the wheel are a young couple, the man blissfully unaware of danger, the woman looking
over her shoulder in alarm. At the lower right is the falling figure of a man who has been
thrown off the wheel.
Insight Tarot: Three monkeys riding on a wheel. One, wearing a crown, is at the top; another is
rising to the top; the third is falling from it The wheel turns in a clockwise direction, against
the prograde (west-to-east) angular motion of the planets and of the angular motion of the Moon
as seen from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, and of the rotation of the Earth as seen from above
Earth’s North Pole, but with the year-to-year angular motion of the stars in the heavens due to
the precession of the Equinoxes.
Marseille Tarot: This one shows the same crowned monkey as in the Insight Tarot; he bears a
sword. The wheel turns in a counterclockwise direction, in the same direction as the night-to-
night prograde angular motion of the planets and that of Luna as seen from Earth’s Northern
Hemisphere, and of the rotation of the Earth as seen from above Earth’s North Pole, but against
the year-to-year angular motion of the stars in the heavens due to the precession of the
Equinoxes.
Italian Tarot: A crowned monkey with one wing, standing astride a wheel. A dog or wolf located at
three o’clock on the wheel ascends, i.e., the wheel turns in a counterclockwise direction.
Wirth’s Tarot: It shows a wheel surmounted by a Sphinx armed with a sword. The base of the wheel
rests in a boat. Around it twine two serpents, forming a Caduceus, the symbol of the God
Hermes. Ascending the wheel at three o’clock (the wheel turns counterclockwise) is a dog
bearing a Caduceus, possibly representing the dog-faced baboon that is the symbol of the God
Djehuti, the ancient Egyptian analog of Hermes, or else the ancient Egyptian God of the Dead
and patron of travelers Anubis. Descending on the wheel at nine o’clock is a demon bearing a
pitchfork, who may have been intended by Wirth to represent the Greek God Typhon, son of
Tartarus and Gaia.
Waite-Rider Tarot: It shows a wheel surmounted by a smiling Sphinx who holds a naked sword over
her left shoulder. On the sword are the letters T-A-R-O, and, alternating with these letters, the
Hebrew letters h w h y (Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh), rendered variously in English as “Yahweh,”
“Jehovah,” or “Tetragrammaton,” i.e., the unpronounceable (unspeakable, unmentionable)
name of G-d, also referring to the alchemical entities sulphur, water, mercury, and salt, and to
the Elements Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. At the four corners of the card are shown the four
Apocalyptic Beasts or Cherubs of the four Elements, the Lion, Eagle, Man, and Bull. On the
right side of the card, Anubis, also associated with Hermes the Psychopompos, is rising on the
wheel; on the Left, Typhon, in the form of a serpent, is descending on it.
B.O.T.A. Tarot: Like Waite’s version of this card.
Aquarian Tarot: Similar to Waite’s version of the card, except that both of the creatures on the
wheel are rising, and both are serpents. There is a winged bull and a winged lion here,
symbolizing the Elements Fire and Earth, but the eagle and the man are missing. The Sphinx
and Anubis are not represented.
The Crowley-Harris Book of Thoth Tarot: This pack has Typhon, the symbols of royal authority in
his hands, descending on the right-hand side of the wheel, while the Ape of Thoth (the sacred
dog-headed baboon that symbolized the God Djehuti to the ancient Egyptians) ascends on the
left-hand side of the wheel. A Sphinx perches atop the wheel, a drawn sword in her hands,
ignoring everything.
The New Tarot: The card is retitled “The Royal Maze.” Two horses, one black and the other white,
hold up a circle divided into pattern of circles and squares possibly intended to represent the
squaring of the circle solely with a geometer’s compass and ruler, a Euclidean impossibility.
Other symbols in this card include a lemniscate (figure-8 or ∞ symbol), a torch, a sailboat, a cup
filled with what could be either blood or wine, and, at the top of the card, a group of three
interlocked rings.
America’s Tarot: “Oh beautiful for spacious skies / And amber waves of grain . . .” Has the Wheel
of Fortune in the center of the card. Top half (Upright): amber fields of grain waving in the
breeze, with a background of purple mountains and blue skies. Bottom half (Reverse): a factory
city with smoggy skies, slag pits, sick and hungry people crowding the littered streets. Article X
of the Bill of Rights.
Biblical Tarot:
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Alfred, holding a battered top hat in one hand and a cream pie in the other,
stands over the Wheel of Fortune (as seen on TV).
Case: The Hebrew letter k (Kaph). A curve. Wealth and poverty. Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius and
Pisces, and exalted in Cancer. The color violet. The musical notes B flat or A sharp. The
intelligence of conciliation, or rewarding the intelligence of those who seek. Rotation, cyclical
motion, repeating phenomena, cycles, sequence, whirling motion or rotation, simultaneous
ascent and descent, evolution and involution, fortune, destiny, chance, fate, necessity,
probability.
Christian: The active principle that animates all things, ruling authority, good or evil fortune.
“Remember, son of earth, that ability depends upon the will; if your will is to be accomplished,
you must be daring; and to dare successfully, you must be able to keep silence until the moment
comes for action. To possess knowledge and power, the will must be patient; to remain on the
heights of life – if you succeed in attaining them – you must first have learned to plumb vast
depths with a steady gaze.”
Crowley: The palm of the hand (as represented by the Hebrew letter k (Kaph). Jupiter. Intelligence
of conciliation. The color violet. The left ear. The Gods Amoun-Ra, Brahma, Indra, Zeus,
Jupiter (IAO-Pater, All-Father), Pluto (Hades). The Eagle. Plants: hyssop, oak, poplar, fig.
Gems: amethyst, lapis lazuli. Magickal weapon: the Sceptre. Perfume: saffron and all
generous odors. Drug: cocaine. Magickal power: the acquisition of political and other
ascendancy. Geometric figures: the square and the rhombus. Title: Lord of the Forces of Life.
Fortune, attributed to Jupiter, the Great Benefic. Not merely good fortune, but also luck or
chance, the incalculable factor. Change of fortune, generally good, as the fact of consultation
implies anxiety or discontent over one’s current status.
Douglas: The traditional meaning of chance, generally seen as not under the Querent’s control.
Eden Gray: Blind fate. Another reading gives the working out of the law of karma, that what goes
around comes around, and what you do comes home at last to roost.
Golden Dawn: The mercy and magnificence of victory. Jupiter, the Greater Benefic, acting through
Jupiter directly upon Venus, the Lesser Benefic. The Lord of the Forces of Life. Good fortune
and happiness (within bounds); but sometimes as well intoxication with success and a
consequent fall, if the cards that fall near this one bear this out.
Grimaud: Evolution. Events moving toward a significant change. The outcome is inevitably happy.
It is possible the transformation will be made with difficulty.
Huson: Not given
Kahn: Stability, ease, grace, benefit, money, control of the life force, earnings gained in a
compatible manner or with a minimum of effort or by luck. If the card is reversed or among
unfortunate cards, it can signify hard work, poverty, difficulty, day-to-day existence without
prospects of change.
Kaplan: Traditional meanings. See, e.g., those for the Golden Dawn pack, above.
Knight: The pattern of destiny evolving within the Querent.
Lind: The working out of karma.
Mathers: Good fortune, success, unexpected luck. If the card is ill-aspected, however, it can signify
ill fortune, failure, or unexpected bad luck.
Mayananda: The creative force in motion.
Papus: The Hebrew letter y (Yod), the forefinger extended as a sign of command. The idea of
command or supremacy. The idea of duration, and of the endless action of time.
Sadhu: The Hebrew letter y (Yod) as a testament in which are flowing all mental principles and
currents. The mill of transformation which pulls us implacably in a painful process that
ultimately refines us as the grinding of the wheel of a mundane mill refines grain. Fortune. The
sign Virgo.
Thierens: Fortune, good or bad as the card is well- or ill-aspected. The sign Capricorn. The
authorities to which the Querent is subject, but also his own actions, deeds, manifestations, and
the position he occupies in the world, his status. Karma, in the strict sense. The fruits of past
speech.
Usher: Chance and fate. The beginning and the end.
Waite: The perpetual motion of a fluid universe and the flux of human life. Destiny, fortune,
success, elevation, luck, happiness, increase, abundance, superfluity.
Other interpretations: Zero-sum games and processes, sinusoidal curves, the rise and fall of
dynasties and other corporate bodies, the rise and fall of individuals, progressive (entropic)
change, evolutionary (entropic) trends. The solar wheel, i.e., the round of the year and the
Zodiac, the signs (twelfths of a year, beginning with the Spring Equinox) and constellations
(zones in the heavens officially designated as to the celestial latitudes and longitudes that bound
them) through which the Sun passes during the year. Among other things, this card represents
the Sun, though its primary association is with the planet Jupiter, and so it is also associated with
the four Fours and the four Sixes of the Minor Arcana, and with Trump XIX, The Sun, and the
Hebrew letter r (Resh) as well as with its traditional assignment, k (Kaph). Due to its solar
associations, for Christians it also represents Jesus Christ, and for Jews, it represents the
Messiah, i.e., the triumphant general who will lead his people in battle against the forces of evil
at the End of Days.

Trump X, The Wheel of Fortune, is associated with the Hebrew letter k (Kaph), the Path connecting
Chesed with Netzach. Its astrological attribution is the planet Jupiter, the traditional ruler of Sagittarius
and Pisces, which is exalted in Cancer and Aquarius, and is the esoteric ruler of Libra and Scorpio.
Chesed is likewise associated with Jupiter, the Greater Benefic, while Netzach is associated with Venus,
the Lesser Benefic, ruler of Taurus and Libra, so this Path is generally a fortunate one partaking of the
Fire and Water of Jupiter and the Air and Earth of Venus, the four Elements together in balance,
producing the Quintessence, the ultimate perfection of the soul and the spirit and, alchemically, that of all
the material world.
This card represents the ever-changing nature of the living cosmos. As long as life in any form
persists, nothing ever becomes permanently static. The tendency of all physical entities is to continue in
their original motion until redirected in their paths by obstacles of one sort or another; their motion never
ceases, only changes and, in some cases, becomes redistributed among other physical entities, as is what
happens at the death or destruction of a physical body of any kind. In the lives of men, this means that
whoever is ascendant today may be in the descendant tomorrow; that dynasties, having arisen and
become ascendant above all others, inevitably fail; and that might and wealth of empires is never eternal.
The higher one rises, the harder one can fall, so moderation in all things, including political power and
wealth, is more desirable than any form of excess. Fortune gained at the expense of others fails sooner
than that gained with the cooperation and aggrandizement of others, so kindness to those less fortunate
than oneself is better than heartless treatment of them, for a subject today may become a deadly enemy
tomorrow. This is the card of the ups and downs of life, of the rise and fall of both human and
evolutionary dynasties, and the adjustments and adaptations that living organisms must make to the ever-
changing circumstances of their lives and their evolutionary lineages if they are to persist and pass on
their genes.
12. Key 22
Lamed l “Ox-Goad.” Trump XI, Justice (in The Book of Thoth this Trump is numbered VIII and is
called Adjustment. See Key 19, above). Libra ø. Cardinal value, 30; ordinal value, 12. Connects
Sephirah 5, Geburah, with Sephirah 6, Tiphareth. Roman/English equivalent: L.

This Path . . . is generally known as the Path of Karmic Adjustment. . . .
. . . [All] factors of existence below Daath are bound to be riddled with sin and
error. This requires the action of karma to rectify it. . . . The Lords of karma may be
likened to physical surgeons, though more properly they are restorers of Cosmic
Balance or Lords of Truth.
These terms, which are the esoteric titles of the Tarot Trump, give the whole theory
of the Path very well. The implications of the figure of justice on the card, with sword
and scales, are resumed in the astrological sign of the Path, Libra – the Scales. The
Path leads toward Geburah, which . . . has aspects which may be likened to a Judgment
Hall. Like its opposite number, the 20th Path, this Path has affinities with Daath, for
Daath is also a sphere of Cosmic Balance.
Perhaps the most complete analysis of the 22 nd Path is to be found in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead, particularly the judgment scene. It was the Egyptian belief that each
individual was judged after death and, according to the result, either went to a life of
everlasting bliss or was instantly annihilated.
. . . [Although] it is not widely believed that any souls are completely
annihilated, . . . the general Egyptian idea is in accord with esoteric tenets. When the
Personality is judged in accordance with Spiritual Principle, that part which measures
up favourably will be assimilated by the Individuality as part of its fund of manifest
experience; so the Individuality becomes enriched. Evil traits, however, will be
completely rejected, not through any policy of separation of sheep from goats or wheat
from tares, but because that which does not conform with Spiritual Truth cannot, by
that very fact, have any reality.
Non-existence of evil from a Spiritual viewpoint does not mean that it may just be
written off – ignored. . . . [While] spirit itself must be perfect and free from evil on
noumenal levels, we live and move and have most of our being in phenomenal
existence, and on these levels evil is certainly very real. So evil which is not absorbed
into the Individuality remains to be accounted for, for it must be absorbed in the end,
though after transmutation or sublimation. This task the Individuality often does not
care to face, but puts the matter off. The principle is much like that of the Personality
not being able to face up to certain home truths about itself. The scientific term for this
almost universal situation is dissociation or repression, and the symptoms are varying
degrees of neurosis, or even psychosis, which are so common.
We have here . . . the elements of a psychiatry of the Individuality in addition to
the more familiar orthodox psychiatry of the Personality. These aspects of former
incarnations which are not absorbed remain linked to the Individuality with a certain
autonomous life of their own. This accounts for the phenomenon of ‘magical bodies.’
...
Magical bodies reveal themselves in much the same way as do the Jungian
archetypes of the unconscious; that is, they may have a temporary obsessing effect.
Usually they stem from Incarnations when great power was possessed and abused. . . .
...
While most magical bodies seem to build up round instances of abuse of power,
this is not necessarily always so. They could equally involve an abuse of wisdom or
love. . . .
Such magical bodies may be met with, and they may be considered as elements in
one’s past experience rejected from the Judgment Hall of Osiris, or, in other words, not
assimilated by the Individuality. . . . [Their] continued existence in the manner outlined
above is a pathology, albeit a common one. What is to be done.
The answer lies in . . . Redemption[, which] . . . means the ability to face up to the
true situation within oneself coupled with the willingness to change it. . . . [This]
requires ruthless honesty, considerable powers of discernment, and not a little courage,
but prolonged intention and aspiration, which can be easier achieved by dedication to
some religious organisation, esoteric or exoteric, will help to attain it.* With a magical
body, the aim is to face up to it, see exactly what it is, what it has done, accepting this
however hideous or disgusting it may be, and once this confrontation has been fully
achieved then one has power over that magical body instead of being the passive victim
of its arbitrary and unpredictable restimulation.**
*This depends upon the religious organization, of course. Dedicating oneself to a life of service to, say,
the Royal Order of Gtrls’t, which requires sacrificing nubile young virgins on the altar of your
choice, or the Church of Blgfrx, which promotes jihads against anyone not belonging to the One
True Church, might not be the way to go. Just as there is no Royal Road to Geometry, there is no
Divine Road to Spiritual Sanity. Ya gotta be careful about these things, that’s all.
**In fact, Dante Alighieri did just this for the entire West of his day in his Divine Comedy.
...
The 22nd Path has an additional importance in that it is on the line of The Lightning
Flash representing the line of the descent of involution of the Sephiroth. The Hebrew
letter of the Path, Lamed, has reference to this. Geburah represents the condition of the
Spirit in action in the higher levels of Form and the subsequent descent to Tiphareth via
the 22nd Path is the establishment of the spirit as a unit of Individuality at these sub-
Supernal levels, from which levels the further projection of a Personality into Earth is
made. The highest Path on the Tree, the 11th, connects the first coming forth of the
Spirit into manifestation and is assigned the letter Aleph, meaning an Ox. The ox is
one of the earthiest of symbolic animals and so we see that manifestation in Earth is
implicit in the Spirit’s purpose from the very beginnings of things. Thus, the processes
of the Spirit, active in Geburah, driving its own projection down to the relative stability
of the Tiphareth, is well symbolized under the form of an Ox-goad.
The shape of the letter itself, suggestive of two Yods, (one above and one below a
lateral dividing line), suggests the Hermetic axiom ‘As above, so below’ – a reference
to the aim of producing a Personality which is a true reflection of the Individuality, just
as the Individuality should be a true reflection of the Spirit.
The symbol of the Ox-goad, like the symbols of Geburah, may evoke suggestions
of punishment, but this is not strictly accurate. The drive to fulfill destiny or the need
to work out karma are not in themselves punishments, though they may appear so to a
deviated Personality which insists on ‘kicking against the pricks.’ . . . [Although] man
tends to make God in his own image, . . . man has distorted his own image by his Prime
Deviation, so we should not think God’s works to be too close a reflection of man’s
works. Divine Justice is a very different thing from human ‘justice’ . . . in terms of
suffering. It would be interesting to know which caused the most misery in the history
of mankind – criminality, or the punishments for it inflicted by society.
A truer approach to the potencies of this path might be gained by considering the
Hebrew letter under its lesser known, somewhat apocryphal symbolism of a King, for it
is by the Wings of Faith that the soul can best achieve its destiny and escape from the
shadow of karma. Faith emanates primarily from Binah, and flows into Geburah via
the 18th Path [Cheth]. . . . Binah is . . . ‘the Creator of Faith’ and ‘the parent of Faith
from which doth Faith emanate.’
So we have a link shown to us by the Yetziratic Texts, which also describe the 22 nd
Path as the Faithful Intelligence, by which ‘spiritual values are increased.’ ‘All
dwellers on earth are nearly under its shadow’ and we may well assume that by striving
to become completely under the protection and shadow of the Wings of Faith we shall
attain to the realisation that Divine Justice or Absolute Balance is not a system of
remorseless punishment, but our protection against Cosmic Darkness, ‘Spiritual
wickedness in high places,’ and complete annihilation.
As Jesus said: ‘If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto the
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you.’ (Matthew.xvii.20). This has particular relevance to the man-
made mountains of sin, corruption and ignorance, which the astringent tests of this Path
serve to remove. 23
Yetziratic title:
Hebrew letter:
Numerical value: .
Title:
Principle:
Astrological assignment:
Element (Alchemical):
Element (chemical):
Ecological process, realm, or principle:
Physical chemistry:
Colors:
Gods:
Greek:
Roman:
Egyptian:
Scandinavian:
USA:
Celtic:
Christian:
Hindu:
Voudon:
Other:
Biblical associations:
Countries:
Cities:
Peoples:
Meditation:
Magickal Power: .
Perfume:
Magickal Weapons:
Musical tone:.
Qlippoth:
Metals, stones, and minerals:
Plants, real and imaginary:
Animals, Real and Imaginary:
Vegetable drugs (plant extracts):
Mineral drugs:
The Body:
Diseases:
Magickal image:
Lineal figures:
Domain:
Archangel:
Quarter:

General: The blindfolded figure of Justice as she appears on this card represents the Greek Titaness
Themis. Statues of Her, seated or standing, with sword upraised in one hand and the scales of
truth in her other, are found in the porticoes of halls of justice throughout Europe and America.
She is the guardian of men’s oaths, and is the Goddess of oaths and binding contracts of all
kinds. She has the gift of prophecy, and was honored at the shrine of Delphi. She corresponds
to the ancient Egyptian Goddess of Divine Justice, Maat, the feminine analog of Djehuti. She is
concerned with weighing truth, with testing the truth of things.
Gringonneur: Justice seated, scales held in her left hand, an upraised sword in her right.
Bembo: The same.

Swiss Tarot: Justice is standing; otherwise the card is the same as in Bembo’s and Gringonneur’s
packs.
Insight Tarot: Justice is seated, and is otherwise as in Gringonneur’s pack.
Marseille Tarot: The same.
Italian Tarot: The same.
Wirth Tarot: The same.
Waite-Rider Tarot: Traditional, but in this card a square device ornaments Justice’s crown, and a
further square, enclosing a circle, is used to fasten Her cloak.
B.O.T.A. Tarot: Similar to Waite’s version, but the crown is a variant of that of the Goddess Isis;
and the device that fastens Her cloak is a Tau Cross.
Aquarian: Similar in all major respects to Waite and Marseille.
Crowley: Justice standing, holding a pair of scales and a drawn sword pointing downward between
the pans of the scales. The hilt of the sword incorporates lunar motifs. In the pans of the scales
are, to the right, the Greek letter α (alpha), and on the left, the Greek letter Ω (omega). The
sword is identical to that shown in the card for the Ace of Swords.
New Tarot: Retitled “Donor.” A woman with a naked sword hanging from a circlet around her
neck, holds up two pillars, one in either hand, a black pillar on the right, a white one on the left.
Two hands come down out of the sky above her. Her sword just pierces a heart located between
her feet.
America’s Tarot: Follows Crowley’s system, so this card is numbered VIII and is called Adjustment.
A montage of American Supreme Court justices against a background of the building in which
they work; Andrew Vachss, the legal advocate for children; Jeff Masson, author of The Assault
on Truth (1984 e.v.).
Biblical Tarot:
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Bill Gaines pries open the jaws of a patched, moth-eaten lion costume to
reveal a terrified Joe McCarthy.
Case: The Hebrew letter l (Lamed). To teach or instruct. An ox-goad. Its function is work or
action, in the sense of the Magnum Opus, the Great Work. Karma. The sign Libra, which is
ruled by Venus. The exaltation of Saturn in Libra. The color green. The musical tones F sharp
or G flat. Faithful intelligence.
Christian: Absolute justice, attraction and repulsion. Man’s narrow and fallible justice.
Crowley: Ox-goad. Libra. The Element Air. Saturn and Mercury as rulers of Air. Faithful
intelligence. Justice. The color emerald green. The Gods Yama, Maat, Themis, Minos,
Aeacus, Rhadamanthus, all Divine Judges. Vulcan. The animal is the elephant. Plant: aloe.
Stone: the emerald. Magickal Weapon: the Cross of Equilibrium. Perfume: Galbanum. Drug:
tobacco (the peace pipe of American Indians). Magickal powers: justice and equilibrium. The
geomantic sign of Puella. Title: The Daughter of the Lords of Truth. The Ruler of the Balance.
In his The Book of Thoth and in the Tarot pack that goes with it, Crowley renames this card
Adjustment. The equilibrium of all things. The feminine counterpart of the Fool. The act of
adjustment, suspension of action pending decision. Lawsuits or prosecutions. Engagement,
betrothal, or marriage. Treaties.
Douglas: Conscience reminding the conscious mind about the existence of the unconscious mind.
Judgments, arbitration, vindication of truth. When ill-aspected, the card represents injustice of
various kinds, legal tangles, or expensive lawsuits.
Gray: Equilibrium through the love of the Great Mother. Justice. Mercy advised and excessive
severity contraindicated.
Golden Dawn: The severity of beauty and sovereignty. Mars acting through Libra upon Sol.
Daughter of the Lord in Truth. The Holder of the Balances. Eternal Justice and Balance.
Strength and Force arrested as in Judgment. Legal proceedings. A court of law. A trial at law.
Grimaud: Equilibrium. Trial, rehabilitation, honesty, justice performed, loss, unjust condemnation.
Huson: A warning to weigh a situation carefully before making a decision about it. Balance,
natural balance, equilibrium. Dharma. An arbitrator. When the card is ill-aspected, it warns of
imbalance, prejudice, bias, or an unfair or corrupt arbitrator.
Kahn: Cosmic law, the means by which man apprehends the universe, occult studies, secret
societies, divinatory arts, regulatory forces of the universe. Karma, legal contracts, licenses both
practical and mystical. When ill-aspected, it can signify illegal activity, ruthless people, or
crime.
Kaplan: The traditional meanings of the card, plus virginity, violence.
Knight: Karmic adjustment.
Lind: Divine Justice (without the blindfold). Everything weighed in the balance.
Mathers: Equilibrium, balance, justice. When ill-aspected, the card can mean bigotry, abuse of
justice, over-severity, inequality, or bias.
Mavananda: No meanings are given.
Papus: x (Cheth). A field. The sign Cancer. Equilibrium in all things.
Thierens: The sign Scorpio. Avenging justice, with the emphasis upon vengeance rather than
justice. The faculty of desire, both higher and lower. Sexual experience. Occult and psychic
experience (where, traditionally, sex is sublimated). Transmutation. The card of sorrow as well
as that of deeper satisfaction. That which is secret or hidden.
Usher: Reason for its own sake, the possibility of spiritual growth. Cancer (the disease). The
equalization of all individual manifestations of will.
Waite: Equity, rightness, rectitude, probity, the execution of decisions, triumph of the deserving
side. When ill-aspected, the card can mean law, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive
severity.
Other: Symmetry, both physical and spiritual. Reciprocity. Equity. The application of law. All
face-to-face relationships, including partnerships, marriages, dealings with physicians and
attorneys and other professionals, war and battle (where the enemy is the other participant in the
relationship), antagonists, lawsuits. The first 30 days after the Autumnal Equinox. The Element
Air as the ruler of communities, and the planets strong in Air Signs (Saturn and Uranus, in
Aquarius; Mercury, in Virgo; and Venus, in all Airy signs). Kronos and Hades, Who are also
Divine Judges. Hephaestos, the Greek analog of Vulcan. The transition from the imbalance and
tension of the waxing quincunx, ruled by Virgo and the sixth house of the horoscope, to the
confrontation and decision-making of the opposition, represented by Libra and the seventh house
of the horoscope; and that from the decisive action of the opposition to the imbalance and
tension of the waning quincunx, ruled by Scorpio and the eighth house of the horoscope. The
marriage of Hades and Persephone, hence the process by which Koré was transformed or
transmuted into Persephone through marriage to Hades, and the lichen, a symbiotic partnership
between an alga, representing Koré/Persephone, and a fungus, representing Hades. This card
may be seen as the complement to Trump X, The Wheel of Fortune, representing Jupiter, Who is
exalted in the sign Cancer, another sign in which Venus is strong. The Wheel is the card of fate
or luck, random factors that one can do little but roll with. Justice is exactly a card of absolute,
titanic justice, the redistribution of energy so that matters reach equilibrium or equity.

Trump XI, Justice, is associated with l (Lamed), the Path connecting Geburah with Tiphareth
(though in Crowley’s Book of Thoth pack, Lamed connects Geburah with Chesed). Its astrological
attribution is the sign Libra, whose mundane ruler is Venus, in which is exalted Saturn, the Greater
Malefic, and Uranus, and whose esoteric rulers are Jupiter and Neptune. This is thus a Path dominated
by the generally malefic Outer Planets, with a slight admixture of the balancing, benefic, and beautifying
force of Venus.
Geburah is associated with the fiery and acidic planet Mars, traditional ruler of the fiery sign Aries
and the acid waters of Scorpio, while Tiphareth is associated with the Sun and its fiery solar energy. This
Path is thus a fiery and, at times, caustic one, a Path of the testing of primordial Will and Spirit, their
arena proving-out.
Justice represents that time in a child’s life in which the child becomes truly socialized, learning to
interact fairly with others as a gigantic step in his progress toward maturity and the taking of his place in
one or another community of men. It is a card of balance, testing, socialization, taming, judgment,
decision-making, partnership, willing submission to the rule of law, and a turning away from the rule of
the whims of individuals and the temptations of great power. It signifies the embrace of justice,
cooperation, and the rule of law and the consequent relinquishment of aggressive competition, unjust or
imbalanced interactions with others, and the rule of anarchy and tyranny.

Qaballah and Tarot Lesson III Part 2 Section 2 Revision 1 July 31, 2010

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Qaballah and Tarot Lesson III Part 2 Section 2 Revision 1 July 31, 2010

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Yael R.

Dragwyla First North American rights

Qaballah and Tarot: A Basic Course in Nine

B. The Individual Paths, continued

a. Qaballistic Meanings and Theory

(The complete passage from Job quoted above is:

Yetziratic title: Constituting Intelligence.

Hebrew letter: h h (Heh), meaning “Window.”

Title: Sun of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty.

Physical chemistry: plasma physics, the chemistry and physics of a flame

Countries: England, Germany, Denmark, Palestine, Burgundy

Cities: Florence, Naples, Verona, Marseilles, Birmingham, ancient Athens, Sparta

Peoples: Jews, Muslims

Meditation: Bloody Corpse

Magickal power: Power of Consecrating Things.

Perfume: Dragon’s Blood.

Musical tone: C natural.

Qlippoth: } w r y r y u b (Ba’airiron, “The Flock”); Hemethterith, whose sigil should be

Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): All cerebral excitants

Magickal image: A flame-clad God bearing equivalent symbols.

Lineal figures: Puer

Domain: First third of Spring.

Far Eastern cosmological associations:

Trigram from the I Ching: Sun (“The Gentle”/Penetrating, Wind)

b. Design and Title of Trump

The Divine Comedy Tarot:

Biblical Tarot: OT: Solomon. NT:

The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot:

The Stephen King Tarot: the king in Eyes of the Dragon

The R. R. McCammon Tarot:

d. Interrelationships of the Path and the Trump

a. Qaballistic Meanings and Theory

The Sixteenth Path is the Triumphal or Eternal Intelligence, so called because it is

Yetziratic title: Triumphal or Eternal One

Hebrew letter: w (Vav, “Nail”)

Title: The Magus of the Eternal

Element (Alchemical): Fixed (Cherubic) Earth

Ecological process, realm, or principle: nurturance; fertility, fertilization

General: Gods and Goddesses of fertility

Biblical associations: Issacher, son of Jacob; Simon Zelotes, disciple of Jesus

Countries: Ireland, Russia (pre-Soviet), Switzerland, Poland, Cyprus, Persia, Crete

Cities: Dublin, Mantua, Leipzig, Lucerne

Peoples: the ancient Egyptians, the Druids, the ancient Cretans

Meditation: Beaten and Scattered Corpse

Magickal Power: The Secret of Physical Strength

Magickal Weapons: The Labor of Preparation

Musical tone: C sharp or B flat

Qlippoth: } w r y m y d a (ADIMIRON, “Bloody); Uriens, whose name is evoked in the

Animals, Real and Imaginary: the Bull (Cherub of Taurus)

Vegetable drugs (plant extracts): sugar

Magickal image: between the Pillars sits an Ancient

Quarter: ENE, S-by-E

Buddhist symbolism: success in Hatha Yoga, Asana and Prana-yama.

Far Eastern cosmological associations:

Trigram from the I Ching:

b. Design and Title of Trump

John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Al Feldstein.

The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot:

The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot: Shub-Niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young

The Stephen King Tarot:

The R. R. McCammon Tarot:

d. Interrelationships of the Path and the Trump

. . . (Thus Ussher incorporates ideas of the king as an annual sacrifice, and, by

Butler, op, cit., p. 132