Tarot Card Comparisons: The Thoth Tarot: PRINCE OF WANDS & The Barbara Walker Tarot: THE PRINCE OF WANDS-DAGON

  In the Wands, there is not a static card, as all the Wands represent the force of Eheieh, "I Will Be". The Wands are the inspiration behind creation.

Hence, The Prince of Wands is the Principle of Mastery of inspired creativity!

On the Thoth Tarot-The Prince Of Wands is  well represented as the Sun/Son Warrior not only does he represent swiftness, strength, brilliance and agility, he is also the paradigm of dynamic mastery of unlimited creative expression from deep "within"; from the Universal Source that the Qabalist's call Kether-The Crown, 1st Sephiroth on the Tree of Life.

The causally thrown reins over his wrist, symbolizes the inspired creativity that is not held back and is free to manifest and express itself. Therefore, he introduces an element of chance or often seemingly irrational change but having a deep underlining consistency.

The Solar Lion freely pulling the Chariot, symbolizes self trust in letting the creative process flow, without restriction nor restraint.

The contained fire in the chariot, is focused concentration  and attention to manifest one's creativity that comes from The Soul (The chariot is coming down from the heavens).

Therefore the character of the Thoth Prince promotes a Phoenix-like deep passion (open flower on chest-open heart chakra) for expressing one's own deep inner creativity.

The phoenix wand and cape expresses his commitment to expanding and liberating  himself through the creative process.

When one is "channeling" intuitive information or lost for hours  during a creative process, they are experiencing The Prince of Wands that is inherent in all of us "Solar spirits/Suns of God" who came to earth as "marriage partners", to give birth to a human- creative-power body! Remember, Animus (Perfect Male) is the Latin term for Soul, therefore the Psyche in a phallic expression is consider acting as male. Coming to Earth, and impregnating a form with life, would be a masculine expression of the Soul/Psyche.  When the soul is receptive it is considered to be expressing the Anima(Perfect Female), Latin for Spirit.

Remember, deep inside you is the great creative fire that built this universe---YOU as Spirit- ROCK!

The Princes of the Hermetic Qabalah, are the Son of the Queen and King, The Soul.  Thus, they are governed by Tiphareth, the sixth Sephiroth known as Beauty/ The Sun/ Son of God, and is shown as Central to the Tree of Life.

The Princes are wholly activated by the Queen and King, adding to their complexity as they have no motive power of their own. They are force, but a stable one, as they are being pulled along in their chariots. Since Chariots are an enclosure or fence (Vau), they are considered to be as Grail, and/or forms of the Divine Feminine. Therefore, the Fiery Princes are made stable by the Divine Feminine, just as fire is held stable by water.

The Figures of the Arch Fairies (Elementals) are the Lion, Eagle, Man and Bull. These are the Four Kerubim of Qabalah.  They are very ancient symbols for the elements of multi-religious belief systems. Appearing as Gods of the Assyrians, the Four Animals in the Old Testament vision of Ezekiel, they are also the four symbols of the Christian Evangelists.

In the unlimited vastness of Kether, the first Sephiroth, the Primordial Elements radiate into Tiphareth, becoming the united rulers of the elements that are individually expressed in Tiphareth. 

Anthropomorphically personified in Tarot, The Princes are the balance of the Four Elements in Tiphareth. Being the most refined aspects of the Solar-Personality, "The Real Person",  the Four Princes are the Elemental Kings in ourselves; The Christos or Buddha consciousness that is our Soul.

It should be no surprise then, that the Princes can be taken in any direction by Divine Will. Thus, the forces of The Prince of Wands may be applied with Justice or cruelty; the unconscious flowing motion of The Prince of Cups may be subtle and artistic; or it may be a hidden malicious evil. The rational mental activities of The Prince of Swords, may produce ideas that are either creative or destructive and last but not least, the material qualities of The Prince of Disks, may cause growth for good or evil. The Grounding Element for the Princes lessons, are the Princesses, who rule the earth from the Northern quadrants, and are represented as the Chariots. 

Hence, when thrown during Divination, the Princes often represent the coming and going of an event or person and the Princesses often represent the approval or disapproval of a matter.

The four Sixes and the Four Princes.

God the Son; The sacrifice Gods; Consciousness of the Higher Self/The Real Person and of the Great Masters; The vision of the Harmony of things; Healing and redemption; The Elemental Kings.[Malachim].

The Calvary Cross, the Rose Cross, the Truncated Pyramid, the Cube, Vau.

The Planet of Tiphareth is the Sun, thus the Sephiroth color is Yellow.

The existence of the Soul, depends on the Light of Tiphareth, the same way the Sun provides light and life support for the earth. In Tiphareth resides the first great initiation in to the meaning of Self, as the personality is sacrificed to the Higher Self and/or The Real Person; what the initiate believes to be oneself, of what one has known to be life, is merely being "alive" which is a "color of Life" that is sacrificed for a greater reality, The One Life, when one's consciousness is in Tiphareth. This is a translation of force from personality to Greater Persona, by a direction of "Inner Will". As if Helios, one enters the Chariot of the Sun, to view the earth-life.

The Qabalist understands that The Divine Creative evolves and this Universal Collective Unconscious energy goes through varying conditions, as does light and as we each do in varying stages of evolution; By becoming different gods in evolutionary sacrifice of one principle for another, we human gods evolve greater realities.

Tiphareth is called the Mediating Intelligence, as it is the center of the Tree of Life, collecting within itself all the powers that flow form the other Sephiroth, where they stand balanced and in a state of communion. Tiphareth is a healing center where all is brought into harmonious inter working. Being the Sun, it is also the center of the Planets, as seen in the illustration of the Hexagram, from the text book, The Qabalistic Tarot, by Robert Wang.

This Light of Tiphareth is not metaphorical, it is descriptive, as bright, warm and radiant, the direct experience of this Light is the "Great Work" of the Divine Persona in incarnation; to Bring the "As Above, to the Below". Devotion to the Great Work is a virtue assigned to Tiphareth and involves the principle that is known in some social science circles as the"hundredth Monkey principle". For when the individual, of a cultural group psyche, improves themselves in some way, that improvement works towards the benefit of the entire race as it invariably resides as experience in the Universal Collective Unconscious. The ultimate goal is for the Consciousness to return to the Godhead from which the Universe emanates.

Because our Soul-conscious has "descended" into matter, and become self-consciousness, in order to deal with Tiphareth, one must have begun the climb of initiation of Malkuth-Earth; Yesod-Air; Hod-Water; Netzach-Fire, which is integrating the four Sephiroth, that must be done before the Light of Tiphareth redeems them from the "fall" or descent.

In other terms, we "down sized" to become most economical in sensual operation, but in so doing, we have "forgotten" our True Self, as too much previous data had to be left behind. Thus, traveling up the Tree of Life, is a journey in Remembering Thyself! As a result of this "turning around" in Tiphareth, is to become as a Divine Child in a new world. So the Child/Sun is attributed to Tiphareth, and must grow into adulthood (Greater Self or Greater Sun of the Galactic Core) in order to take Malkuth (Earth and Princesses) as bride. 

Above, Kether the Eternal Father, willfully produce Chokmah and Binah as Father-Mother-God Self Identity, who meet in equilibrium at the middle pillar of The Tree of Life, which produces the Child, The Son/Sun that is Tiphareth. Thus, the King and Queen marry, giving birth to a Prince who marries the Princess, which is an anthropomorphic symbolism of the operation of Yod-Heh Vau Heh. Tiphareth is  the Vau of this formula.

 Yet Tiphareth is also the realm of the dying or sacrificed gods

(Christ, Buddha, Osiris, Prometheus, etc.). so Universal cyclic renewal demands that the Prince must die, in order to expand Universal Awareness.

is Air of Fire or Specific Air of Primal Fire (Consciousness of Spirit).   His passion is tremendous, so I attempted to show the "rocking chariot", that is being pulled by Leo (the Sun) the Lion. "Rocking" because of his enormous strength that can go any direction, even unto violence if angered.

The Thoth Tarot card, shows the Marital Prince holding The Phoenix Wand of Geburah,(fifth Sephira/Severity) and thus, wields the fiery Severity of Geburah. 

Ruling from the 21st degree of Cancer to the 20th degree of Leo, he is endowed with a powerful faculty for expanding and volatilizing. His arms are free of armor and mail, as he is vigorous and active. As you can see, he is aflame in every way above, the rayed  crown surrounded by a winged Lion head sending from his crown a curtain of flame, suggesting the Solar Logos ("Word of God"). In his left hand (side of the Goddess) he holds the Phoenix Wand of Power and Energy, while the other has released the reigns of the Lion .  His sexual energy is renowned as Promethean. With wheels radiating flame, he rides on a sea of flame, both waved and salient.

 

The Prince of Wands:Dagon of the Barbara Walker Tarot, depicts the Philistine consort of Astargatis, known as Dagon who later became the "Christian devil", as he was opposed to the cult of Yahweh.

He was an ancient shape-shifter god, who could appear as a goat, serpent, bull, or merman. He even was depicted as a Jonah like entity emerging from the mouth of a Great Fish, giving the image of a man with a fish tail, much like Oannes of Sumerian myth.

Barbara Walker illustrated this Prince of Hel, with the tokens of his marriage with the Divine Feminine; the phallic scepter and uterine cauldron, for he was as Lucifer, who represented the fertilizing fire descending into the watery abyss. Here, on his cylinder-podium, are displayed the Darkness of the Abyss, and the Sun of "Father god" and the Moon of "Mother god".

Although biblical writers set Dagon against Yahweh, in earlier texts, the followers of Yahweh actually adopted Dagon's attributes for Yahweh.

One of Dagon's other names was that of "the one from Phoenicia", i.e., The Phoenix, very apropos, since he regularly immolated himself in flame, and resurrected. However, in the Phoenician city of Tyre, he was known as Melek, meaning, The King. In the Bible, he became Molech, also meaning "king". Yet another Semitic name for Dagon, was Yamm, making him "the Great Serpent of the nether waters", which could be interpreted as the Serpentine Wave of Divine Creation within the Universal Collective Unconscious. Here also, he was listed as among one of the many "dying gods", for he was slain by his alter ego, Baal, in eternal cyclic competition for the favors of the Goddess.

lord of the nether world. His consort was the Goddess Mari, representing the androgynous Yamamari, who is incarnate in the Dali Lama as "Slayer of the Death King".

Once again, showing up in the middle east as a male-female deity, Mari-Yamm or MeriYam, the same name as applied to the  early Christian Mother of  Jesus "the Son of God". [ Ashe, 48]

Jesus was the name Jehovah took when he was worshiped together with the Sea-goddess Mari, or Miriam, or Mariamne. In fact, 2nd century B.C. medallions showed Jehovah with a sea serpent tail like the marine aspect of Dagon.

Dagon is an appropriate representative for the Tarot Prince of Wands, as he represents all that is unexpected, startling, unpredictable, or even unconventional. His dual nature of fire above and water below, combine the Passion of Spirit's "I Will BE", to the Watery Imagination of the Unconscious "Will to Form", producing offspring of a unruly nature; sometimes light, or dark; sometimes fertile or sterile. Obviously looking up the myths, helps in understanding the subtle knowledge shown in Tarot Cards. For later on, Dagon became Dragon, with wings of the air element, Fire of the sun, a tail to swim through the Waters,  and the predatory teeth and face of an earthly/ water predator. Adding control over the four alchemical elements to the image of the "Prince of Hel", the Great Goddess.

When the Prince of Wands/Dagon is thrown during a divination:  

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