The Shadow Series Tarot Card Comparisons; Thoth Tarot Key 15- The Devil & The Shadow Tarot-Path 26- A'Anonim

 

The difference between a comedy and a tragedy is that in a comedy the characters figure  out reality in time to do something about it.

 

On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, The Devil-Key 15: The Path of Ayin, connects the Sephiroth of the  Solar Logos-Tiphareth with the Sephiroth- Hod, which is the sphere of Mercury and intellect.

The Path of Ayin, is the Twenty-sixth Path, in both the Qabalah and The Shadow Tarot and is formative Path. In the terms of Self structure, it is the bridge between the Personality and individuality.

As I have stated before, the Solar Logos, is the Original Personality of the Divine Child of God, i.e. the Son/Sun. Note: this is not a sexual description of a species, rather it is an Energetic one. For the Son of God is a Sun that sends "solar flares" (Divine Energy) outward as individual expressions of It's own Self ( Personality); from Self into selves, that circumnavigate through the experiences of self-awareness back to Self. In other words, from Tiphareth to Malkuth and back up the Tree to Tiphareth again.

The Hebrew letter Ayin means -Eye and is a simple letter that also means -Mirth. This double meaning  may invite confusion; However, rest assured, that this Path of Ayin is one of the most difficult for western people to understand, for interpretation flies in the face of Christian cultural definitions that have been applied to the Devil. 

In Barbra G. Walker's Book [ THE WOMAN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTHS AND SECRETS] which has been honored by the London Times Educational supplement as 1986 "Book of the Year", the provenance of the word devil is noted as Persian. She states." The Words "devil" and "divinity" grew from the same root, Indo-European devi (Goddess) or deva (God), which became daeva (devil) in Persian. Old English divell (devil) can be traced to the Roman derivative divus, divi: gods. Thus it seems that, from the beginning, gods and devils were often confused with one another."   She goes on to explain such enlightening scholarship that I highly recommenced this book to anyone who seeks an honest education.

There is another fact here that may hide from reason, and that is the combination of the words Devi (Goddess)and Lingam ( Male phallus), is Divya Linga ( Sanskrit word for Divine- lingam)  and has also been interpreted by propagandists of Christian past, as the word Devil. The Greek word Christos, actually bespeaks of the "Son of God" as the Solar Phallus. Much to study here as most of our "knowledge" is propaganda based misconstructions! But then superstition and religions are all based on the Arriving and Ascension of  "Those who from the sky came" (Sumerian-Annuaki or the Dogon- Nommos/Nephilim), and the DNA experiments that created the modern Human as the "angels of god mated with the women of men".

To the Qabalist, the Devil is not viewed as an evil entity (lived spelled backward) having its own god-like existence, rather the devil represents a special mystery (Arcana) that must be experienced and understood before we can hope to directly know the Higher Self. The Devil is the intelligence that is Master of Manifest form, which we meet on the Path of Ayin, and must face and conquer it's temptations. The Path of Ayin, takes the traveler into an understanding that we are entering  a transition between the intellect of consciousness (individual conscious) and true spiritual conscious.

Three Paths lead directly into Tiphareth: THE DEVIL {key 15), ART (key 14 called Temperance in Golden Dawn Deck), and DEATH (key 13). Now each of these paths  represents a special trial for the initiate; However, each student is not required to travel all three Paths. One way to experience Path Travel is  the Devotional Path of the Middle Pillar, where one need only experience the Path of Samekh (meaning- Prop) or the Art Card-key 14 (Temperance in other decks), leading from Yesod (Foundation ) to Tiphareth (Beauty). This is more of a gentle path of the Mystics  and demands less mental and emotional will from the Student.

The Magi's way of following each and every Path, means the acquisition of control over Forces which each Path symbolizes: every Path confers a unique power ("magical abilities") as purported in the descriptions of The Shadow Tarot Cards of Linda Falorio.

A Magus is an active Force of Creation, rather than a Passive one. The difference here, is that the Traveler of the Middle Path does learn to balance and understand within the Self, the forces of  the twenty-two Paths, but understanding these conceptual states of conscious energy does not necessarily develop the ability to manipulate them, which is an art necessary in the development of  a "discerning creative Personality"; the Spiritual purpose for the human body!.

Now I know, that some students of the Occult (hidden mysteries) enter into the studies seeking a type of "Raw Power", hoping to control others and circumstances just to avoid pain and "doing unto others before they can do unto them". Such misinformed students soon learn that if such Power is acquired and then misused there is a devastating price to pay. So there is no question that for the timid, the Middle Path is much safer than facing and conquering the temptations of the Magical Path.

THE DEVIL represents Raw Power (Mars), it is the Force that brings about the transmutation of THE TOWER (key 16) and is in the sign of Capricorn (also shown as the Goat on the card), which is where Mars is exalted.  Capricorn, is a weighty, even blind sign of Earth and symbolizes the highest and lowest states of individual  personality. Yet it is considered a sign of initiation, or release from matter formed limitations. These material limitations are suggested by the astrological ruler-ship of Capricorn by Saturn, the Planet of Binah, The Great Mother that governs the limitations of form, as does Saturn.

These limitations are of both the enclosure of matter or of time, the artificial system by which we meter and enclose all activities. Thus, THE DEVIL also represents the average person's misconception of "reality"; a perceptive belief  that the material-sensual condition is "Real". The Qabalist knows the physical-material world as the "1%" world, and realizes that the other invisible  "99%"  (often called "the other side of the Mirror") is the Real.

The misconception of reality is symbolized in two ways on THE DEVIL  card:

This Card emphasizes the knowledge that our belief in the illusion of matter (Matter is only .4% visible as our bodies are 99.6% space!) is actually laughable while also implying that laughter and a humorous approach to our lives is a tool which will help our consciousness to transcend the illusion of "seeing it to believe it".

Mirth, therefore, is seen as the first great corrective and helps us not to take our perceptions of the material world seriously, which only means "fearfully". 

It pays to noted that the Survival Mind of the animal, is our Devilish tempter that tricks us into believing we are as Moons who are at the mercy of Forces rather than the Magus (The Sun) who manipulates them.

As stated in THE DEVIL part one, this card is called the Path of Ayin (eye) on the Tree of Life and connects Hod (Splendor) with Tiphareth (Beauty).  It is to be noted, that the Sephiroth (Circles) are objective intelligent STATES OF ENERGY, while the Paths are subjective states of intelligent energy.

One primary statement of the Path of Ayin (meaning-Eye) is that the ignorant, superstitious person, sees the world in an "upside down" vision. Thus the upside down pentagram is associated with the Devil. The Qabalist knows that "all things were from One by the meditation of One," [from the Emerald Tablet] stating the obvious, that there is nothing in the Universe that isn't of God, including the bogey of the ignorant, the Devil.

As stated, the Christian concept of the Devil is from the Hindu word Devi meaning goddess, and is a rather obvious attempt at the misogynistic propaganda of the Patriarch (military war based gods) religions.

If one has any education at all, one knows that the womb is the place of Form, not the male semen, which is -a pollen, if you will, and is but a elixir. And without the womb, semen will never become form.

The Qabalah is all about states of energy known as "Force and Form", what is masculine is considered Force (electric) and what is feminine is considered Form (Magnetic) which is much more viable with today's biological knowledge. 

The intelligent state of energy known as Devil has also been called the "Prince of the Powers of Air", implying that this energy state is meditating in the flow of the Astral currents. In this context, Air is understood to be the whole of Yetsirah, the Astral Plane, which controls the ebb and flow of matter.

The ability to reverse the ebb and flow of Astral light, requires meditation, intellect and discipline, all of which are achieved by conquering the Path of Ayin or the Shadow Qlipha A'Anonin of the Shadow Tarot.

One must begin this process of discipline with the intellect of Hod, traversing into the intuition of Tiphareth; the Christ or Buddha state of intelligent energy. Even the scriptures talk of Christ's  passage through the temptations of the Devil, i.e. his own illusions brought on by matter.

 

You may recall that THE DEVIL is Saturn in Capricorn, which brings up an interesting point. The Ancient Romans stated that "Saturn eats its own children", meaning that for Spirit ( I AM), illusion of form (Me) is necessary to produce the material form, and that the dissolution of these forms (Me) is essential to the Path of Return.  The Roman belief was made famous as the Rubens painting of Saturn consuming a child. Depicting "Grandfather Time" (Saturn) as a kind of "bogey man" as well.

To the Alchemist dissolution means analysis, which is the precise application of separating the component forces of ourselves and our universe into twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life. The next part of the process is reintegrating these forces through the understanding of their operation.

Eliphas Levi called THE DEVIL--The Path of Ayin---the"Great Magical Agent" this process of manipulation as,to dissolve, to consolidate, to quicken, to moderate.,i.e. dissolution, re-integration, activity, and grounding.  Thus we have the same qualities as described to Fire, Water, Air and Earth.

Once again we understand The Devil to represent the "score of the forms and appearance of relative existence.", a description supplied  in various Mystery Tests.

Another ancient description is that the Devil is "Lord of the Gates of Matter and Child of the Forces of Time," which indicates a phallic energy state, Lord being husbandry, as the gateway to form is Yoni or Womb. Thus you will observe the stylized phallus and testes on the Thoth Deck Tarot Card, that is both the back drop and support of the Goat figure that represents the old god Pan. The testes are also seen as supporting human shaped white figures.

As one can see, there is represented an understanding of the intercourse of Forces and Form, attributes to the understanding that "God is sex". In truth, The Creator, who is One that is Two, knew that It needed a mirror to see itself; the material world is that which reflects from the mirror of consciousness. The I AM can only be aware of Itself, as a Me.

What the understanding of The Devil card produces in us , is the knowledge that the illusion of Form, is the same as the illusion of mirror reflections, its all reflected backwards and is not a true state of Being. Turn your mind around, and know that you are a Spirit who owns a body (which is a power tool for discernment), and not a body that is seeking Spirit. The analogy that I like to use when describing this common perspective of seeking spirit, is that of a "fish in the ocean, seeking water". Not only is this a accurate description for a body seeking spirit, it is also a mirthful one that describe the illusion of form, as the fish-form can be stated as "The Ocean experiencing itself".

The Shadow Tarot Path 26,  A'Anonin depicts a stylized Scarlet Woman at the Gate of the Tunnel of A'Anonin.  For indeed the Shadow of the Masculine devil is a Feminine Devi. In this depiction, the Great Babylon, another name for the Scarlett Woman is shown as the Red eclipsed moon, with the radiant Sun behind her. Using her evil eye to allure, exuding powerful pheromones stimulating and regulating the most basic levels of instinctual behavior. Basically, the Scarlett Woman is seen as the lust-filled allure of Nature.  As Linda Falorio writes:

 Emotions heighten, and intense stimulation of the senses via the rhinencephalon (A combination of the lymphatic system,as shown in the illustration of the brain), satyrs and nymphs cavort in the phallic bliss engendered to which she gives the Ancient sign of blessing.

The inverted pentagram, a curious sign of the devil, is also shown, as it depicts the 4 elements and the five element of Spirit. This symbol also represents Saturn, Grandfather time who rules the heavy, slow, and inexorable rhythms of matter.

Therefore, the abilities gained by traveling through the Tunnel path of A'Anonin are: