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Twenty-two Arcana
Arcanum 22: Return
| Arcanum 22: Return |
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Hebrew Letter TAVFrom Psalm 119:
169 Let my cry come near you, Oh Iod-Havah 170 Let my prayer come before you; deliver me according to your Word. 171 My lips shall pour forth praise when you have taught me your statutes. 172 My tongue shall answer your Word; for all your commands are righteousness. 173 Let your hand help me; for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I have longed for your salvation, Oh Iod-Havah 175 Let my soul live and it will praise you; and let your judgments help me. 176 I have gone astray as a lost sheep; seek your servant; for I do not forget your commandments.
Arcanum 22From the Esoteric Course of Kabbalah by Samael Aun Weor
Arcanum Number 22Let us now study the Twenty Second Arcanum of Kabbalah. This Arcanum is the Crown of Life.
Revelation 2: 10 states: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
To find faithful people in these studies is difficult. All those who enter into Gnosis want to develop occult powers immediately; this is grave. People believe that the Path of Self-Realization is like playing football or like playing tennis. People have still not learned how to be serious. Commonly, people enter into these studies with the longing of acquiring powers within a few months. However, when they realize that they need patience and hard work, they then desperately leave in search of another school. Thus, this is how they waste their life away, fleeing from one school to the next, from one Lodge to another, from institution to institution until they get old and die without ever having achieved anything. Thus, this is how humanity is. One can count those who are truly serious and truly prepared for the practical Adepthood, on the fingers of the hands. Beloved disciples, you need to develop each of the twenty-two major Arcana of the Tarot within yourselves. You are Immitatus, or rather, one who others have put on the Path of the Razor's Edge. Exert yourself to become Adeptus, one who is the product of one's own deeds, the one that conquers science by his own, the child of one's own work.
Primeval Gnosis teaches three steps through which anyone who works in the Flaming Forge of Vulcan has to pass through. These steps are as follows:
It so happens that curious people who enter into our Gnostic studies want immediate illumination, astral projection, clairvoyance, practical magic, etc., and when they do not achieve this, they immediately leave. No one can achieve illumination without having been previously purified. Only those that have achieved purification and sanctity can enter into the Hall of Illumination. There are also many students that enter into our studies purely out of curiosity. They want to be wise immediately. Paul of Tarsus stated: "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect," (Corinthians I, 26). Therefore, only those who achieve the third step are perfect. Only among them can Divine Wisdom be spoken of.
In the ancient Egypt of the Pharaohs, among the occult Masons, the three steps of the path were:
Candidates remained in the degree of apprentice for seven years, and sometimes longer. Only when the Hierophants were completely sure of the purification and sanctity of those candidates could they then pass them to the second step. The first faculty that the candidate develops is the one related with the degree of listener, the faculty of Clairaudience (occult hearing). Indeed, illumination begins only after seven years of apprentice. Nevertheless, students believe that spiritual faculties are going to be immediately developed and when they realize that this subject matter is serious, they flee. This is the sad reality; this is why in life it is very rare to find someone who is prepared for the Adepthood.
The Crown of LifeThe Innermost is not the Crown of Life. The Crown of Life has three profundities and these are beyond the Innermost. The Crown of Life is our Resplendent Dragon of Wisdom, our Inner Christ.
The Three ProfunditiesThe first profundity is the origin of life, the second is the origin of the word, and the third is the origin of the sexual force. These three profundities of the Resplendent Dragon of Wisdom are beyond the Innermost. The Innermost must be searched for within the unknowable profundities of oneself.
The Number 22The three profundities of the Resplendent Dragon of Wisdom emanated from a mathematical point, this is the Ain Soph, the Interior Atomic Star that has always smiled upon us. The Holy Trinity emanated from this Inner Star; the three profundities will return, they will fuse together again with this Inner Star. The number 22 is Kabbalistically added as follows: 2 + 2 = 4 The Holy Three emanates from the Inner Star, thus, the Holy Trinity plus its Inner Star is the Holy Four, the mysterious Tetragrammaton, which is Iod-He-Vav-He. Now we comprehend why the twenty-second Arcanum is the Crown of Life. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2: 10 Blessed by the one who incarnates the Spirit of Wisdom (Chokmah); those Buddhas who do not renounce Nirvana can never incarnate the Cosmic Christ, who is beyond the Inner Buddha. Our Inner Buddha has to seek the Cosmic Christ within its own unknowable profundities. The Cosmic Christ is the Glorian, the incessant eternal breath profoundly unknowable to itself, the ray that joins us to the Abstract Absolute Space.
HieroglyphHieroglyphics of this Arcanum: the Crown of Life is amidst the four mysterious animals of Sexual Alchemy. In the middle of the Crown, Truth is represented as a naked woman who has a little stick in each hand (the Priest and the Priestess); this is Sexual Alchemy. We can incarnate the Truth only by working in the Flaming Forge of Vulcan
The Ark of Alliance
The Ark of Alliance had four Cherubim (two at each end); with the tip of their wings they touched each other and were found in the sexual position (a man and woman copulating). The (Iod) blossoming staff of Aaron, the (Hei) Cup or Omer containing the Manna, the Two Tablets of the Law, were within the Ark; these elements are four, as four is the outcome of the addition of 22 (2+2=4).
The Internal LodgeThe first duty of any Gnostic is to be sure that the Lodge is protected. During the degree of Apprentice, the Attention is focused on the Astral Plane. Thus, the Inner Lodge must be protected; the Astral Body must be clean from any type of animal passions and desire. In the Second Degree the Mental Lodge must be protected. Thus, worldly thoughts must be cast out of the Temple. It is necessary to protect the Inner Lodge very well so that doctrines, people, demons, etc. do not penetrate inside the Inner Sanctuary and thus sabotage the Great Work. We have witnessed (apparently very serious) students who became careless, who did not know how to protect their Inner Lodge, and were thus invaded by people and strange doctrines. Most of the time, these careless students continued their work in the Flaming Forge of Vulcan, but they combined it with very different methods and systems. Thus, the outcome of all of this was a true Tower of Babel, a barbaric confusion whose only purpose was to bring disorder into the Inner Lodge of their Consciousness. Therefore, it is necessary to have the Inner Lodge, the authentic School of Inner Education, in perfect order. We are absolutely sure that only one door and only one way exist, Sex. Thus, anything that is not through this way is just a miserable waste of time. We are not against any religion, school, sect, order, etc. Nonetheless, we firmly know that inside our Individual Inner Lodge we must have order, so that we avoid confusion and error. We have accomplished this charge and feel satisfaction, since we have served humanity and ourselves. To present a work of such magnitude, encourages us and prepares us for new services. Humanity has never liked the Doctrine of the Gnostics. Hence, the substantial content of this work is for a more advanced humanity, because the people of this barbaric epoch are not capable of understanding these things. We hope that you, friend, as a good reader, know how to find the happiness, the joy and peace that we want for all beings within this treasure that you now hold in your hands. If however, you despise it, it is because you cannot find anything that entices you within it; but do not be selfish, think about the one who is next to you that might need it and give the book to them. May your Father who is in secret and may your Divine Mother Kundalini bless you.
Samael Aun Weor
Letter TAU
Power and Servitude, the Mark, the Seal of God, the Seal of Truth, the Seal of Creation
The value of the letter Tav is 400, which is reduced to 4, the Tetragrammaton, YHVH which we already know is the name of the living God. Tav is written with Tav and Vav, which gives us the sum of 406, and when those numbers are added, it is reduced to 10, (the Sephirah Malkuth, the Kingdom). We already know that Assiah or Malkuth is related with the full name of God, YHVH The secret of the Sephirah Daath (Tantra) nourishes the Wisdom and Faith of the Heavenly Man (Tiphereth). The Sephirah Daath, through Yesod-Sex, bonds (Meleck) Tiphereth to Malkuth (his bride) throughout the Tree of Life. Those who practice scientific chastity are bound to the Tree of Life by means of the Tzalem of God that is placed in the sexual glands (Yesod) of their physical body (Sephirah Malkuth). This Tzalem is the foundation (Yesod) of the Faith in the Living God. Thus, the Divine Essence of the Holy of Holies abides within the fruits of the Tree of Life, and is placed in the Ninth Sphere within the Stone of Jacob, which is the foundation of Ish-Ra-El (or the Hashim which are those igneous particles of Kether marked with the holy impression of Ha Shem). The impression of the Tzalem of the Ruach Elohim (Aleph) which develops true faith, is placed within the heavenly body (Beth) of Abba, precisely in his head (Reish, Rosh) and descends into Yesod, into his seed (Hei) of the waters of life Mem (Schamayim). This is why it is written that from the seed of Abraham comes the Messiah, because Abraham (aleph, beth, reish, hei and mem) make the addition of 248 and by adding 2+4+8 we get 14 which is Nun (the heir to the throne); 1+4 = 5, the Pentagramaton, the Microprosopus. This is how the terrestrial man (Daleth) in Malkuth (by means of the sexual covenant of circumcision, sexual chastity) performs the entire work of self-realization by means of Nun and is sealed with the letter Tav.
Matt.22:1-14 Fornicators cannot bind their soul to the fruits of the Tree of Life because they expel the Tzalem of God from their own particular stone of Jacob. Yesod-Sex is the stone of Jacob. Here is where we find the seed of Abraham. This is why the following is written:
Seal of the living God The symbol of the letter Tav (the Cross) shows us that through the sperm and the ovum (Nun, within which is the Tzalem of the Ancient of Days, Kether) the soul receives a mark or a seal. This seal depends on the transformation of the sexual energy by the will (Thelema) in Malkuth (the Kingdom). If the Initiate chisels the stone of Yesod by means of chastity, he then receives the seal of the Ancient of Days (the seal of the living God) on his forehead. This seal is evidence of the cognizant faith developed through the self-realization of the infinite presence of the Being by means of his Tzalem, placed within Yesod-Sex, which is the origin of the finite presence of man. Cognizant faith is developed through our own particular individual spiritual inheritance, which is placed in potentiality within Yesod-Sex (the Tree of Knowledge) by the Ruach of the Elohim (that work through the Law of the Heptaparaparshinokh, the Law of Seven). In the beginning of the initiation, on the probationary path, our Seed, the Nun in the Ninth Sphere (Yesod-Sex) of Malkuth, links our spiritual inheritance (the Tzalem of God) by means of the nine initiations of Lesser Mysteries. These nine Mysteries gradually reveal the state (or condition) of the psyche (or consciousness) of the initiate in relation to his past evolution. Each initiation sequentially reveals the psychological relationship of the involuntary existence of his consciousness in Malkuth to each of the Nine Sephiroth within. In this way, he is capable of comprehending the type of work he then collectively performed within the realms of Malkuth (Nature). At the end of the Nine Initiations, the initiate consciously arrives at the Ninth Sphere, and the Monad becomes a Master of Minor Mysteries and gains access onto the Initiations of Major Mysteries. We then understand the necessity of developing from Malkuth the nine-fold inner constitution of the human being in relation to the Tree of Life (the Ten Sephiroth): The Three Solar Bodies: Astral, Mental and Causal. The total control of the Psyche or Soul: Nephesh, Ruach and Neshamah. The development of the Power of the Triune Spirit: Kether, Chokmah and Binah. This is how the Ruach Elohim (through his own “Tzalem” or image that is within the Nun) passes his generative power from generation to generation. This is done through the “Iod” (in Yesod-sex) of the lower world, Malkuth (the physical body). Thus, this is how solar faith is developed and our physical personality is linked to the supreme immanence of Kether, the Solar Father. Thus, Kether’s Kingdom becomes the Kingdom within all of the Sephiroth of all the manifested worlds. The first seal of true faith is enclosed within Nun (the Sperm, the Seed, the Tzalem of Abba, our Innermost in heaven, our Inner Father), within which the secret of our eternal spiritual inheritance from Iod-Havah Elohim is placed. Kether is the Truth; this Truth is known only through Faith, and this Faith is the seal of love of the living God’s creation in Yesod. So, Tav is the completion of completions, the culmination or fulfillment of the twenty two commandments of Kether within the Kosmic Man (his creation).
The wisdom of the twenty two Arcana of the Tarot is written with the twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet; this is why the Tarot begins with Tav and ends with Tav because it is the outcome of Tav, the outcome of the Nun (sperm-ovum) on the cross or letter Tav. It is the impression of the Faith (the Rose of Love) that blooms from the energy of Nun. It is (Tiphereth) the beauty of the Soul developed on the cross of the perfect matrimony. Chastity is spiritual circumcision or the elimination of the bestial spasm, the abominable orgasm of the fornicators. It is the separation of the human soul from the bestial orgasm by means of initiation; this is symbolized by the cutting off of the foreskin (lust) of the phallus from our animal or physical body.
Tav is the seal of the first covenant received by the soul of the first man “Adam,” or rather, Tav is the seal of the first commandment received by the soul when it incarnates within the human body for the first time: Tiphereth (the human Soul) is the name of the Sixth Sephirah, the embryo of soul (Nephesh) is part of it. This embryo receives the intellect through evolution within the kingdom of the beast (Animal Kingdom). If the embryo of soul wants to enter into the kingdom of Adam Kadmon (the Human Kingdom) it needs to receive the Seal of the Living God through Yesod. Otherwise, after the embryo of soul completes its 108 returns or opportunities into the physical bodies of Intellectual Beasts, it loses all of its chances of entering into the Kingdom of the Human Being. These failed souls then receive the mark of the beast: a mark on their right hand (servitude), or on their foreheads (horns of the demons on their animal mind). The mark of the beast is the seal of servitude for the falling souls who are slaves of the animal mind in the Kingdom of Klipoth, where “no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that has (Kabbalistic) understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man (Tiphereth); and his number is Six hundred Sixty and Six.” Revelation 13: 17, 18.
So, the number of the beast is 666. When we add these numbers together, 6+6+6, we get 18; and by adding 1+8 we get 9; the number nine is Yesod – Sex. In itself 18 is the Arcanum of occult enemies, those psychological entities (bestial ego) that hinder our spiritual development because of their bestial fornication (animal orgasm). The Tree of Good and Evil is symbolized in the duality of the Eighteenth Arcanum; within the number 18, the Ninth Sephirah Yesod – Sex is found twice, which points out the good and evil ways of utilizing the sexual energy of the stone of Jacob (Yesod).
So, Tiphereth (the true Servant of God) is the sixth of the ten Sephiroth. Tiphereth begins and ends with the letter Tav, and corresponds to the letter Vau, V, of the Tetragrammaton IHVH. It is also called Meleck or King as well as the Son of Man (Son of Arik Anpin). It is the central Sephirah of the SIX that composes Zauir Anpin, the Microprosopus, or Lesser Countenance, the Microcosmos, the Human Soul, the terrestrial man. The Malkuth (physical body) of the terrestrial man has three nervous systems or three brains which are located on the top, middle and bottom of the spinal medulla (symbolized in the letter Vav) and that are represented in the inverted triangle of the seal of Solomon: Tiphereth, in servitude of the Demon of Desire that squanders the fires of the letter Vav (spinal medulla) through the Sexual Center, sexual organs = 6 Tiphereth, in servitude of the Demon of Thought that squanders the fires of the letter Vav (spinal medulla) through the intellectual center, the head = 6 Tiphereth, in servitude of the Demon of Evil Will that squanders the fires of the letter Vav (spinal medulla) through the emotional center, the heart = 6 So, 666 is the number of a Man, a Man that falls, and that Man is Tiphereth, the human soul in servitude of sin because the superior triangle “Arick Anpin,” Adam Kadmon never falls, for he is perfect! Synthesis: the beast 666 is the inverted triangle of the seal of Solomon, in other words, it is the soul bottled up into the number 18 (the unbelievers, the uncircumcised, our occult animal or bestial psychological enemies within). The mark of the beast is the sign on the forehead of Kain (the animal mind)!
On the other hand, the number of those who receive the Seal of the Living God on their foreheads is 144,000. By adding the numbers 1+4+4+000 = we get 9 again, this is the number of Adam (the true human being in Yesod). The Power of Faith is the Seal of Love of the Living God placed in Nun within Yesod, the Ninth Sephirah. The number nine is related with the foundation of Faith; so Faith is based on chastity, because Faith is solar creative energy that develops as Soul or consciousness; it grows through the initiation. Yesod, the Sephirah number nine is the root number of creation. In Kabbalah, the number nine significantly stands out as no other number does. Nine is the number of Adam (Aleph (1) + Daleth (4) + Mem (40) = 1440 = 9). So, Adam symbolizes the true human being, and humanity in general, that (after having triumphed in the ordeals of Water, Air, Earth and Fire) needs to receive the Tzalem of God, a humanity that needs to receive the seal of the living God by means of chastity.
The three letters that spell the Hebrew word “Emet” (Truth) are Aleph, Mem and Tav. Aleph corresponds to the Ruach Elohim that hovers over (Schamayim), the waters of Mem, fountains of Divine Wisdom (in Yesod). The wise fire of the sexual waters of life must flow within the soul in order to receive our spiritual treasure (spiritual inheritance) and thus store it in every (ta) cell (every particle of Ish-Ra-El) of the house or temple of God (the Christified body of Adam Kadmon) when the culmination of the self-realization of the being (symbolized on the letter Tav) is done. When Ish-Ra-El (all the igneous particles of the Being “Hashim”) are integrated in one whole, the initiate receives his degree of objective reasoning, which is based on Objective Faith not futile beliefs. This Solar Objective Faith allows him to understand the Absolute, the Ain to a degree, beyond that understanding, he only perceives uncreated Darkness. Thus, the Ain Soph places its absolute dark-essence of its abstract unknowable Seity in concealment and seals it with the darkness of the no-being, the Ain.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Revelation 2: 10 Luke, chapter 23: 26-49
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“Rabbi Johanan said, "The Israelites are compared to an olive tree, because as the olive yields its oil only by hard pressure, so the Israelites do not return to righteousness except through suffering."”-Talmud, Menahot 53b




















The Tower of Babel