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XXI - the Universe
Zodiac: Saturn (rules Capricorn - XV. the Devil) Tree of life: From Malkuth to Yesod Element: Earth (Cold and Dry - Melancholy) Number: 21 as the symbol of the whole, 3 x 7, the cross sum is 3 The Universe at the end and completion of the Major Arcana is the symbol for the zenith of development - the achieved goal. The work is done or will soon be and we have found our place in life or will soon do so. Seeing the second decade of the Major Arcana as a way of self-realization, the Universe becomes the crown and the end. The Death was the rebirth, the Art the beginning of the alchemical work, the Devil the overcoming of restrictions, the Tower the breakdown of the jail. We followed the Star, explored the Moon, found the Sun and watched the Phoenix rise from the ashes. Finally, we touched the Universe. On a more practical level the Universe implies the good news that a goal has been achieved, or a success sure to come, and that a venture will florish. In its negative aspect the trump can tell us that we are running after false ideas, that our way leads nowhere, that it is far too early to reach out for the Universe for there's substantial work that has yet to be done. Drive: Entirety and completion, harmony between spirit and body Light: Being home in one's self, inner independence, the 'mental paradise' Shadow: False visions, being on a street to nowhere ( source: www.corax.com/tarot/cards )
Essential questions. Synthesis. Delay. Completion. Opposition. Inertia. Perseverance. Patience. Crystallized thinking. This card is attributed to the letter Tau. Together with the first card, the Fool, the word Ath is spelled, meaning Essence. Thus all reality is comprised in the series of which these two cards are the beginning and the end. The letter Tau symbolizes a fourfold extension, applicable to the transcendence of space and time by a continually self-compensating change. The letter is further attributed to Saturn, the slowest of the planets, and on that account associated with the element of Earth. Saturn is the old god, the god of fertility. The presence of the letter Tau upon the Tree of Life indicates a state of equilibrium between change and stability. The glyph on the card, therefore symbolizes the completion of the Great Work. The image of the Universe is a maiden, the final letter of Tetragrammaton. She is represented as dancing with the Great spiral-forming Serpent or Sun. She is surrounded by ten symbols. About her is an ellipse composed of seventy-two circles for the quinaries of the Zodiac. At the corners of the card are the four Kerubim, showing the established Universe. In the centre is the Wheel of Life, initiating the form of the Tree of Life, which is visible only to those of pure heart. On the lower part of the card is the late J.W.N. Sullivan’s well known map of the chemical elements. Saturn. Earth. Tau. The universe is represented as a maiden dancing with a great spiral serpent. She holds the Moon in her hand and the Sun is merged in the Eye of God. These two planets typify the positive and negative forces. Behind her is a geometrical solid by Moebius. Around her are all the stars of the Zodiac, the curved seventy-two lines stand for the quinaries and are also an attempt to convey movement and to give the fourth dimension of time. Beneath her is Sullivan’s map of chemical elements. At the Four corners are the Cherubim or Winds of Heaven, the bull, the lion, the eagle and the man. ( source: Aleister Crowley's Thoth tarot deck booklet )
Uncle Al's extended commentaries on the Major Arcana Coming Soon! --- ( source: Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth )
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