Tarot Card Comparisons: The Thoth Tarot-Key 19 :THE SUN & The Barbara Walker Tarot-Key 19 : THE SUN/ EL SOL

* Color:Orange

*Musical Note: D- Natural

*Planet: Sun

*Meaning: Head

* Double letter (Hebrew) Fertility-Barrenness

* Qabalistic esoteric title: The Lord of the Fire of the World.

From the Thirty Two Paths of Wisdom: The Thirtieth Path is the Collecting Intelligence and is so-called because Astrologers deduce from it the judgment of the Stars, and of the celestial signs, and the perfections of their science, according to the rules of their resolutions.

(The Path of Resh is the path from the circle #8-Hod at a down angle to circle #9-Yesod)

The Path of Resh-The Sun Tarot, connects Splendor (Hod) with Foundation (Yesod) and is the first of the Paths of the Personality Triad to be encountered in upward motion on the Tree.

As the active Path of the  intellectual formative side, it is the activating force of the Personality which is  an "image of the High Self" (Real Person) since it is composed of both Male-electric-dynamic ("masculine-intuitive-dynamic, Yod) and female-formative-magnetic  (intellectual-formative, Heh) and a harmony of energy frequencies from the union of the two opposites which is known as the equilibrating, Vau.

The Sun Tarot Card in the Hermetic Qabalah, is the "Collecting Intelligence", meaning that it exercises control over many different components which is seen as the:

RESH- Key 19-The Sun

[Illustrated Hebrew Letter card from: Ask The Kabala- Oracle Cards by--Deepak Chopra &  Michael "Zappy" Zapolin with Alys R. Yablon]

The Sun Tarot card is from the Barbara Walker Tarot.

 

Resh- is the first letter in Rivka (Rebecca) and the Hebrew story of Rebecca tells the story of the Two intellects:

                Genesis 25:24-28

The Great Matriarch Rebecca and her twin sons, is a story of contrasting elements in all of us----we are Soul Consciousness (Issac) and we are of Genetically Modified Animal sub-conscious forms (Esau). There is a clash among these two, these twins, Mothered by "The Womb-With- A-View" (Great Mother Binah/Divine Feminine). In the Form of Mother Earth, Esau (animal Personality) and the Mother of Intellectual form (Solar Person Form)---Spirit Persona, is a collective called the Son/Sun of god (spirit-Is Intellect of Father). Esau is in essence, the "Survival Mind" of the animal and Issac is the "inner-Sun", enlightenment radiating from Spirit.

This union may seem like a form of competition, as some believe, each one competing for His First Born rights but it is a "communion", of earth intelligence and alien intelligence, a double helix,where each one is joined at birth to "expand and liberate" both body and Soul/Psyche. Here, the Alien Archetypes from the stars, joined intellect with the Planetary Archetypes of Earth, through genetic splicing.

If you read on in the book of Genesis, you will see that Isaac (the father of the twins) love Esau and was to give him the first born blessing while Rebecca loved Jacob and set up an elaborate scheme to get the first born blessing for Jacob.

The seeming battle between the animal-unconscious and our solar-conscious, is well known in us all---where the animal instinctively sees threats (enemies) the Solar mind sees "another as myself" and acts with compassion. We all feel that struggle in our "heads" and " hearts" believing that somehow they are separates and in conflict. The Body is Loved into Being, and the Spirit's Soul is Love of  Being-----Love is the joining factor here!  Knowing that the Qaballah is about "the motion/force and form" of Supreme Being and how the Union of seemingly opposites makes the "flow" from motion into form possible, uniting the Solar Self with the Planetary Self.

The Hebrew Story Letter Resh shows us a deeper understanding of ourselves. Soul is the Beloved; Physical Body is the beloved. Therefore,  enlightening us to the greatest mistake of many fundamentalists which is to believe that the body is somehow bad and of less value than the Spirit/Souls. 

The Sun Card -Resh- is described as the "Collective Intelligence", i.e. The Soul fractal and or Real Person, meaning that It has control over a number of components. In this case, the 12 (12-Rays) signs of the Zodiac. These signs are the 12 guideposts  of Personality and the "Wombs"(receptacles) of  Planetary Influences, one of which governs the birth and life motion of each incarnation of the Spirit-Persona and Body Personality! The Sun is the central link (Tiphareth) to the incarnation at hand and to all the Personalities that have been experienced in  past incarnations.

The Collective Intelligence of the Sun also unites all the component parts of the Personality, discovered on the lower paths of the Tree of Life, and infuses them with the dual action of the Sun,i.e. light and warmth, which are considered intellectual qualities! The path of the Sun is the highest level of human intellect (light and warmth=enlightenment) which is known as the Christos and/or Buddha consciousness.

Resh means head  which is consistent with this thought of high human intellect. This  high intellect is a combination of animal intellect and Soul intellect---not as some would have you believe--a divorcing of the two! The Sun  basically is the Intellect acting on the dualities of the human condition, consciousness and its human vehicle (power tool). This is the point of connection of the human intellect with the higher intellect of solar conscious [The Greater Life]. The Sun is also the Son who carries on the work of the Father (Chokmah) which is motion and the Body is Form of the Mother (Binah).

As adepts of the  Hermetic Qaballah, one knows that one is the Union of Hermes-Aphrodite (hermaphrodite-High Priestess Key 2) who give birth to Solar-Body unions; of course you'll have to do more studying to see this easily. These two Children of the Divine Androgyny,  "Will to Force"/motion (solar) and "Will To Form", entity- form  (matter) are both loved and their Greatest Value is in their Union of Equilibrium (Beauty). These children are often represented in tarot, as the dancing twins who move hand in hand throughout creation (motion and form) or "golden" children standing face to face with hands joined. To be "as the Children"---is to be the innocence of enlightenment. Here there is no good or bad, right or wrong, just I AM ME. Therefore Let your Soul supply the motion of your Form by listening to the "Inner Sun"  who loved your person into being. Love must Power the Body-power tool!

To be understood, the lesson of Resh requires The Knowledge of Love and the Love of Being---to be twins, body and soul, of expanding and liberating life! Knowledge is not "thought", it is KNOWN. Hence, this Love must come from the "Heart"--known but not thought of, while the intellect of the body--the Head--must move as love (thought action), rather than as animal reaction! In other words Knowledge of Union, rather than the survival thoughts of division!

The Sun Radiates all Life Motion and  knows that"All that I see is another way to be me", as all energy comes from the Stars. This is the Knowledge of the heart, ask any child who hasn't been indoctrinated in "good-bad" (enemy creation), they are in union with all around them and eyes of Wonder look at all things; Eyes that aren't veiled by fear which is indeed "thoughts that be-devil us"!  Trusting the Spirit that made you. Knowing that you have no enemies for even death is not your enemy as it exists for the sustainability of organic matter. A sustainability, that as a Spirit Persona---you can always have another available another way to be a discerning self conscious.

 

Survival-Thought is "the Devil that deceives" us---knowledge is our Divine Inheritance and is known as "intuition" which is the thoughtlessness of knowing. Creator has joined with creation in order to be a sensual God---i.e. intimate with creation. A tough idea to get, but once gotten-never forgotten! The Divine Creative doesn't create what it doesn't want to be! Therefore earth is not a court room of judge (rulers) and jury (peers), but a placement of the approved!

The Sun card represents The Lord of Light, Heru-ra-ha , in his manifestation to the human race as the Sun, spiritual, moral and physical. The Lord of light is also the Lord of the New Aeon of Horus; The Hawk Headed-Horus representing the proposed self-conscious state of the New  22nd century Human. The Energy -Conscious State of Horus is the State of Enlightenment that is often sought by the adept and neophyte alike. It is the awakening of the "sleeping" 2/3rds of the brain that is done by the Soul/Psyche (The Real Person) who claims its body back from the definitions of Rulers- a reaction built persona.

Therefore new Aeon has for its purpose, the complete emancipation of the human race from the indoctrination of intransigent prejudicial thought forced upon them by enforcement of rule and doctrine-made-slave-morality since about 25,000 BCE. We know from history, that when those who had made the transition from indoctrinated morality to enlightenment, have been ill received by Society and persecuted for displaying the Life, Liberty and Love of the "Solar Self",i.e. Soul.

Hence, The New Aeon, represents a social change from Social enslavement to the visions of the ambitious Alpha's of animal survival mind,  to the Life, Liberty and Love of the emancipated Spirit.

The Dancing Twins of the Thoth Tarot Sun card, represent the Divine male and female, eternally young, innocent  and shameless.  The Fertile Earth is represent as a green mound or green grass, aspiring to the heavens, as seen on the Barbara Walker Tarot. The fact that the new Aeon  doesn't mean absence without control (love your neighbor as yourself--is the control) is shown by the wall surrounding the top of the Fertile Earth. Yet the Twins dance or stand outside this wall, as they are dancing/standing in the light. Hence, complete freedom is both the cause and effect of the new solar logos energy upon the earth. The ignorant restrictions of both sin and death in the old indoctrination, have been abolished by a enlightened knowledge of  "create-see error and correct it", i.e. Wisdom, free from the pathological aspect of blame.

At the feet of the Thoth Twins are the symbols of both the Rose and the Cross, from which they are arisen and still supported.  The Cross is now expanded into the Sun (The 6th Sephroth-Tiphareth), from which it was derived and has expanded beyond the four arms of mundane law (mundane law is associated with the #4) into the 12 rays of both the zodiac and the 12 Hua-Most Ancient-Holy Ones - also known as the Eld or Elders ( Hua is numerically the #12) who sponsored the Human Race and came from "the Heavens" (Annunaki in Sumerian). 

This formula of the  Rose and Cross has expanded into the  complete union of terrestrial and celestial communion in human kind which is shown by the Wall completely encircling the top of the mound. Because of this communion of Solar Creative Fire and Terrestrial intelligent matter, the Spiritual Fire has changed into something "rich and strange", producing"living gods" as the "inner Sun", which is the light of the personality rises just as the physical Sun does in the material world. This is most profound, as the Inner Solar Being,(the Inner Master/Christos/Buddha) is now consciously in operation of the physical body as both Master and Masterpiece in energy conscious union.

Therefore The Path of Resh and/or The Sun=Key 19- is the first of the Personality triad of  paths, rising on the Tree of Life, from Yesod (foundation) to Hod (splendor). The encountering student, will experience the intellectual-formative side of this conscious energy as an activating force of the Original Personality.  Just as the Higher Self (Real Person) and the Spiritual Self (The Universal Divine Collective) are composites of the masculine-intuitive dynamic,Yod and a feminine-Intellectual-formative, Heh, that together combine opposing forces, producing a set of equalized forces called Vau.All of this is explained in greater detail in my class reference book by Robert Wang: THE QABALISTIC TAROT (a text book of Mystical philosophies). For now, suffice it to say that The Sun-collective, assembles all the component parts of the Personality, on these lower paths, by infusing them with "light-bright and Warm" which are considered intellectual qualities. Thus the Path of the Sun (Resh) is considered the highest level of human intellect, as The Star-Key 17, is considered the highest path of human emotions.

What may be curious to the discerning student of Tarot, is that when you combine The Sun 's high intellect with the high emotion of The Star card, the balanced effected is represented by The Tower-key 16, which at first glance seems the opposite of balance. if not out right chaos. However, what we are witnessing here, is the destruction of the unworthy elements of the "man-made personality", so that the Sun (son) Solar Personality/Real Person is free to arise to its Source.

The Hexagram is the symbol of the composite Thirtieth Path which is  compressed of the Four Elements, the Signs of the Zodiac, and the Planets, all under the Ruler ship of the Sun. Thus, the Hexagram is the symbol of the perfect integration of Personality and Higher Self  (Tiphareth -meaning Beauty). The Sun is also called the "Splendor of the Material World", as it connects Yesod-Foundation to Hod-Splendor, and is basically representative of the intellect acting upon the dual human condition of, consciousness and the physical body. Thus, the Sun is a point of connection with the Greater Life that is comprised by balancing the human intellect with the Higher Intellect that is the "Sun (Son) of God".

For the initiate, experiencing the Path of  Resh, is very profound as it is the introduction to the inner sun, which is the light of the personality, as the outer sun is the light of the physical world. What one tends to forget, while experiencing the warmth and light of this inner sun, one's personality cannot look directly into this Solar intelligence, anymore than they can at the physical sun, without suffering a type of damage. As shown by The Tower Card;  equilibrium will be reached by "burning away" what is unworthy of the Higher Personality and/or "Real Person".

As I have said before, working on the Paths brings about definite physiochemical changes in the human body and as one of the most noted teachers of the Hermetic Qabalah, Dr. Paul Foster Case has stated in his study course, The Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom,"...marked inner differences from the average person, are due to psychological contrasts in the mental state of the ordinary human beings, but they are also the outer signs of organic changes inside the skin of the new creature. He [She] is chemically and structurally unlike genus homo.  There are different constituents in his [her] blood stream.  Through his [her] nervous system pass currents of force not present in most human bodies because in his [her]organism channels are open which are closed in the physical vehicle of most persons.  Centers in the nervous system and in the brain, and glands related to them, function differently in the body of an adept from the way they do in the bodies of the greater number of his [her] contemporaries." ( The brackets are my own addition, as it was written when the proper He was used to describe both sexes.)

This is the same physiochemical change that happens to adepts in the Tantric Arts, where balanced Divine Male and Divine Female  energy opens up theDivya Sidhis or magic abilities (dormant Chromosomes) that are attributed to the rising "twins of Ida and Pingalla".

The Hermetic Qabalist always bears in mind that the Personality, the component parts of which are represented on these lower Paths of the Tree of Life, functions through the body as an experience-collecting vehicle for the Soul/Spirit.  To divorce the body from the Spirit, such as the body is less spiritual, is a most serious mistake of divisionism, for then we are mentally and thus physically divorcing ourselves from the very Powers that created the body as a self-image! The body is the crucible of the Alchemist, and the Sun is the important symbol, as well, for it is the furnace heat that is the transformative alchemical process of turning the lead of unworthy thought into the gold of Higher Mind.

The Lower Paths on the Tree of Life, Tau, Shin and Resh, ( The Universe, The Aeon, The Sun-),are the symbols of the component parts of the Personality which functions through the body-vehicle, as the Soul's experience-collecting apparatus. The Higher Self and/or Real Person, must function through the Personality if it is to influence the physical plane, as Pure Spirit must function through the Higher Self/Soul and body to establish "Whole Shelf".  The fact that we perceive separation between these aspects of One Collective Conscious, is to necessitate understanding of each of the components that are in a state of infinite connectivity.

The Tree of Life does describe, by its pattern, a degree of separation, as Sephiroth, but The Paths (Major Arcane Tarot Keys) show us they are all connected and that the perception of separation is to expedite understanding of a dimension of conscious energy.

Perception, is noted for its wide variations from one organism to another, so it is up to each individual student to literally create their own Qabalah. The Path of Resh is crucial in developing the individual Qabalah.

Upon journeying this Path of  The Collective Intelligence, one will receive the imprint and acceptance of "Spirit guides", or those beings  who direct the inner learning experience of the student.  On The Path of Resh (head) the candidacy for Tiphareth

(Beauty), The Conscious of the Son (Sun), and /or Higher Self, is begun.

Therefore, The Path leading into Hod-Splendor, is where inner discoveries are made as the Inner Teachers ("other Persons" of the Collective Soul Intelligence) exert their influence on the material world, clarifying the relationship between mind and body.

The Path of Resh, will help the student understand the control and limitations of intellect. The Path of the Sun, is also the path of  "awakening", that helps the student understand the use of the tremendous"Sexual Force" of Yesod (Foundation) that is known as the "secret" or Arcane force manipulated by the initiate of the Mysteries. This force has many names, such as"Serpent Force", Kundalini, or "Life Force", and even"Spirit", all of which fall short in proper perception, as most definitions do. This force must be experienced to be understood, and proper preparation for its "rising" must be made by experiencing of The Perceptual Intelligence on the Path of Shin (The Aeon).

Yesod, the 7th Sephiroth-Victory, is attributed to the Moon which represents the Intelligence that governs the ebbing and flowing of the Astral Light (Akashic Fluid) and is the sexuality beneath our material existence. Hod is considered to be Mercury, the first similarity of the specific Personality. The Personality is hermaphroditic, as male and female qualities have yet to be separated out as specifics. The Path of the Sun, when considered  developmentally, is the point of childhood; of the emerging Personality as it builds toward an earthly incarnation. By traveling upward, towards Hod, we are once again experiencing this initial innocence, a kind of re experiencing youth and/or a rebirth. The initiate reaches a stage where there is some recollection of the Source from which we emerged, i.e. our Sun-collective intelligence.

The  dancing Twins, on  both the Thoth Tarot and Barbara Walker Sun card, symbolize the purest-innocent repression of the electric-male (Earth) and the magnetic female (Water) principles in physical manifestation. These Twins are also a reference to the astrological sign of Gemini, the sign that links Taurus (Earth) and Cancer (Water).  The ancient Greeks and Romans also referred the sign Gemini, to Apollo and the Sun.

 To reiterate: In the Thoth  Sun card, the green mound beneath the Twins, symbolizes fertility, as its shape shows aspiration to the Higher Self. The Children dance, free from enclosure, symbolizing freedom from the "prejudices of the people that date morally from the about 25,00 B.C." [Crowley].  Here, the Sun, is the Rose-Cross expanded from four arms to 12 rays and embracing the whole of creation in its rays.

This expanded "Inner Sun" is felt by the initiate, as a very warm rising, fertile power, that does change the physiology of the physical form into the "Master's Body" or "The philosophers stone".

Therefore The Path of Resh is seen as the first active path on the formulation-intellectual  side and is the activating force of the Personality. The Supreme Spirit Self, the Higher Self and the Personality are all composed of an intertwining of the Feminine side and a Masculine side (the twin serpents on the Caduceus) and forces resulting from the interaction of opposites. The Sun-Resh is also known in the Hermetic Qabalah, as the "Collective Intelligence" meaning that it exercise control over the Zodiac as shown by the 12 rays on the Thoth Deck Tarot Card-The Sun-Key 19. Astrologers know these zodiacal signs as  the twelve guideposts of Personality and as receptacles (feminine) of Planetary Influence. The Sun is not only a link to the present incarnation but also a link to the past personality incarnations. Being collective, the Sun is also infuses all the components parts of the Personality on the lower paths with the actions of the Sun, light and warmth which are considered intellectual qualities.

You may notice the "Dancing Twins" as show on the Thoth card,  they were called in ancient Egypt, the "Sons of Seth" or the "Daughters of Seth" where they represented --the Twin aspects of the Goddess or God.  In the Hermetic Qabalah these Twins represent, The Fiery Spirit or Spiral Energy of Masculine electric and the Magnetic-Formative Sophia (Goddess of Wisdom) feminine side. Their arms cross, on the Thoth Card or hold a garland on the Barbara Walker card, to represent the Union of these Divine States of Intellect and Energy (in Tantric Image they would be in "Sexual Union") that must be established to"Collect" all the necessary Forces in order to establish a Intellectual and living Being.

 As Stated: The Path of Resh, is intellectual, and THE SUN represents the highest form of human intellect (The Real Person) which is both a balance of Masculine and Feminine conscious energy that radiates from the Galactic Core. However, in a physical representation, when both the Left and Right side of the brain are in equilibrium with the Solar Forces (Kundalini-Serpentine Life Force radiation from the Galactic Core) within the body, we are at our most advanced state of Personality. This is a profound union of the Personality with the "Inner Sun" (of both Galaxy and Body) where there is a deep physical inner feeling of Warmth and Light not unlike the external feeling of warmth and light a sun bather may experience. Also, like the physical sun, you cannot look directly into the "inner sun" with out suffering "damage", for it will burn away the dross. Reminding us of the opposites of the Sun, that it is both the harbinger of fertility and barrenness which is the Double Letter meaning of the Hebrew letter- Resh. Modern Astrologers, know that a massive amount of Photons radiate from the Central Sun of our galaxy, which began long before earth. These microwaves of Light, become "bio Photons" and/or organic photons from which living flesh can be made. This Central Sun is billions of years older, and therefore a large collective intelligence, that has mated to the planetary Mother Intelligence we call Nature; who is herself, a collective of photons.

As a symbol of Resh, the human head is represented, which is our Collective Intelligence. The Path of Resh is an initiation of the Personality to the Great Source of Inner Light which takes place in the material body that affects the dual components of the Lower Self (Chemical and Intellectual). The Adept knows that the component parts of the Personality (Lower Paths on the Tree of Life) function through the body as an  experience-collecting vehicle for the Soul, The Collective of Life experience. The human body is an important Crucible for the Alchemical union of Higher and Lower Self communion with the Galactic "Sun of God" and/or the Galactic Creative. Therefore, the Physical body is a Sacred Place; our temple of the Sun, and/ or our forge, where ideas are forged into artistic-intimate-sensual-presence and where Male and Female are not divided into a purely errant "Battle of the Sexes" as proposed by the "Divide and Conquer" indoctrination of divisionism!

Remember "God creates what God wants!" This is a Hermaphroditic path, where we return to the innocence of a child  and as we travel upwards this Path of Resh, our Personality grows younger, innocent and sees with Wonder rather than the critical eyes of the good and bad Pavlovian-domesticated and divided-personality of  the Adult. We begin seeing What God Sees!

Tiphareth is the Central Sun (Son) of the physical microcosm and connects us to the Dark Sun (limitless light-Father) of the Macrocosm and the Path of Resh begins us on the Journey to Central Sun-of God, within. There is much to study about this card, Cain an Able ( bareness and fertility), the Dragon-faced-Men, Sons of Seth, Daughters of Seth and the Christ who Didymos Judas Thomas in the Gnostic Gospels quoted as saying"....I am the honeymoon suite." and much more!

The Barbara Walker Tarot-Key 19: THE SUN, sticks to the more traditional art of the medieval tarot art. Here depicted are the Children of the Sun as the female deity of old Aryan belief, "The Glory of Elves"  who gave birth to a new daughter sun after the death of the present universe.  Hence, this New Sun Goddess would preside over a new and more perfect universe.

There would then be a new primal Eden, where the first two new human beings would grow up together. The girl would become the Mother of All Living, a woman named Lif (Life-Spirit-Anima). The boy, becomes her adult mate, a man named Desirer-of-Life (Soul- Animus). Hereare represented the ancient Solar-Lunar twins of mythology (Isis & Osiris, Apollo & Artemis etc) as well as the future incarnations of the pre-biblical Adam and Eve.

Thank you for your interest,comments and supportive donations. May you live long and prosper!

 

 

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