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Lesson18
Transcriptions from Ann Davies' Class Lectures
In this and the next lesson,we shall be working with The Emperor, Tarot Key 4. In
the last lesson we took up The Empress,who is the wife of The Emperor, and as you will
recall we emphasizedthe maternal aspectof the Empress,although there are many other
elementsinvolved in that key. Yet, the maternal principle of God is one of the most
important things for us to understand and to work with in order to free our subconscious
minds of the erroneousways of thinking and feeling that we have developedregarding
ourselves.
Notice the position of the Emperor; he is looking out upon a stream. The stream
that he is watching begins with the High Priestess,from whose robe it flows and continues
through the Empress, where it makes her garden fertile. The Emperor, the ruler, the king,
would have nothing to rule had not the fertility of the Empressbrought forth children. The
Empress' fertility is what makeshim the ruler.
The relationship of Key 4 to Key 3 has meaningson many levels, and its significance
on each must be fully understood. One important point to note about the attribution of the
Emperor to the masculineprinciple and of the Empressto the feminine principle is that
both are shown as being rulers. Esoterically,it is known that, in effect,the Empressis
subject to the Emperor, to the king and ruler of the entire household.
the inner plane, the female is projectiveand the male is receptive. If more men and women
would recognizethis interdependentrelationship betweenthe sexes,they would be much
happier. For neither has lost rulership; both rule their own spheres;they are as king and
queen. It is this relationship that, as every well-mated woman knows, makes it possible for
her to lead her husband to do anything she wishes by working with the female principles of
receptive thought. The same type of reciprocity is true of her husband if they are really
willing to be what they are and to respond to the life processesin the way they should.
All the keys are different aspectsof the Fool. The Emperor is a phaseof the Fool in
its aspectof rulership; for when we considerthat the reasoningconceptis assignedto that
in us which is the ruler, we realizethat the ruler must be the Higher Self. What else could
it be? And, knowing that the reasoningcapacity is an expressionof our Higher Self, we
rcalize its importance in occultism.
With the Fool, we were awakenedto the senseof adventure, to the willingness to
live; with Tarot Key 1, The Magician, to the necessityof alert attention in order to gather in
reliable data; with the High Priestess,we were awakenedto the processthat absorbsthis
data and files it away in memory, along with all of the universal interpermeationsthat take
place at that level. From the conjoiningof the Magicianand the High Priestess(indeed,one
may say in a sensethey are married and becomethe Emperor and Empress),from their
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relationship, you have creative imagination, the creative ability of the Empress. Once
something is createdyou have the king who has to frame the law of action and relationship,
This framing of the constitution, in a sense,takes place on all levels including the physicaf
level.
Sight is the sensory function attributed to this key, which also has the faculty of
reason. Sight and knowledge are closelyconnectedin our speech. When we understand
something,we often say, "Oh yes, I see." In somelanguages,such as Greek and ancient
Egrptian, the verb meaning "to know" is simply the past tense of the verb meaning "to
see." There is an inner seeing,an inner perception. Sight assumesknowledgeof how to
look. Our problem is that we usually do not know how to look, and hencedo not see, We
hide from our vision the very things that are obvious,the little traits and attitudes. We fail
to study the stream of consciousness that flows through our own subjectivelives. Since we
have not really studied our own motivations, we fail to recognizethe motivations and
attitudes of other people. In this lx,'s)/, open ourselvcsto all kinds cf problerns.whicl:,
14'e
little by little, teach us how to recognizemotivations and to look beyond the surface
appearances.
To do this, you must stop being afraid. That is why Key 4 shows a warrior king, full
of courage. Aries is characterizedby the courageof the executive. You must have the
courageto be willing to see,in order to developan objectiveview,
never present. When you talk to him, he never hears what you say; the first thing he does
is to go to sleep,he is that much not here! This particular psychicis not only clairvoyant
but also clairaudient;he hears as well as seesall sorts of things. As far as his seeingthem
and hearing them goes,they are good. But he has no discriminationbecausehe lacks true
reasoningability. He cannot truly evaluatewhat he receivesbecausehe is not all here.
Those who have this kind of clairvoyanceshould bend all their efforts to develop critical
reasoningpowers.
It is known that there are many, many varieties of vibrations that affect people who
are psychic; even those who are not especiallypsychicwill occasionallyhave an experience
of clairvoyant vision that does not necessarilymean anything. For example,they might
suddenly see a beautiful tree becauseof being in a certain attunement or vibration, or
becauseof the planets being in a certain relationship, If they are a little withdrawn from
the outer world, suddenly their astral being becomesfocusedwithout there being any more
meaning in the experiencethan if they were taking a drive and saw a beautiful tree. For an
instant they have a sight, a vision of almost anything: country, animal, star. This happens
frequently, and having had such an experience,peopleoften ask, "What doesit mean?"
They seem to think that what you experiencemust have a meaning.
The chief problem in applying the Emperor to our own lives lies in being objective.
We usually fail to be sufficiently objectivebecausethere are so many things that would
frighten us if we saw them as they really are. Having set our hearts and minds on certain
pictures of ourselvesand others, we cannot bear, from within, to see reality. The truth is,
paradoxically, that to the degreethat you learn to look at people as they really are and
conditioned as they are, to that degreewill you stop having the pain of disillusion and
disappointment. You will be then doing and reacting to things in a way to open yourself to
a more consistent intuition, becauseyou are taking in reality to the utmost of your ability.
It is worth pointing out that babieshave to learn how to seelthey do not at first see
what we see. When someonehas beenblind and suddenly,becauseof a medicalor spiritual
miracle, regains his sight, the reports are always that he doesnot know how to interpret
what he sees. A globeand circle look the sameto him. A personwalking toward him
CI,ASSWORKON SUPERSENSORYPOWERS: 18 b
appears to grow larger as he nears. The eyesof such a person pick up a certain image, but
it is the consciousnessthat must interpret the electrical impulsestransmitted from the eye
to the brain.
And yet, we fall into the error of saying "seeingis believing." The outer seeing,the
looking at appearances,is the gleatest of illusions if we acceptit as the whole truth. We
have to learn to look at things in a specialway, which is the burden of this lesson,together
with the insights and perceptionsthat developfrom this type of learning,
You must practice objectivity, of course,and this can bring many unhappy
experiences. I remember the first time I had an extraordinary perceptionbeyond the range
of clairvoyancewhile working with the Tarot. I had known someonefor about two years
whom I consideredalmost a Master of Wisdom;he was exceptionallydeveloped,and he
taught me many things. As this was before I cameto Dr. Caseand Builders of the Adytum,
I thought that he was very highly evolved,
Then certain things occuned which were not in keeping with this high estimate of
his character. I '*'ascvetwhelmedand ccrnpleteiyber',ildered.I felt tl-ratI should nevel.
have expectedthis type of conduct from one who had shown me such other traits and
powers. This discrepancykept bothering me; my mind would dwell on it, trying to gain
someunderstandingor insight into it. Curiouslyenoughit was while I was working with
the Emperor that my puzzle was solved. . . I was resting, and my mind was focusedon this
individual. SuddenlyI saw him clairvoyantlyin his office with two other people;I saw the
position he sat in talking to the peoplein a businessconference.The remarkablething was
that I did not only seehim clairvoyantly;I saw into his soul. It is possible,then, to have
many levelsof experiencesin seeing;clairvoyantseeingon the psychiclevel is in many ways
not very different from seeingon the physical plane. The developmentof spiritual vision is
somethingtruly to be worked for and aspiredto. (Incidentally,I checked,and he had been
in his office with those two people,sitting on the corner of his desk,exactlyas I had seen
him. My psychicvision was valid.)
Becausethe rest of him was so developed,the spotswere the blacker and the more
incredible. This was a spiritual seeingthat I had in conjunctionwith psychicclairvoyant
seeing,and let me recognizethat thosethree big black spotswere so seriousthat it would
take him severalincarnationsto fill them with light, through experience.This kind of
6 CI,ASSWORKON SUPERSENSORYpOWERS: 18
Concentrate,therefore, on all the myriad forms and conditions that surround you.
Reach for the ability to seethe infinite number of details that usually escapeyou. Thus will
you prepare yourself for extendingyour range of vision and finally achievethe capacity to
seeon the highest levelsof your being.