Tableau 8

The tableau for this week is:

| 10 | 11 | 12 | | 13 | 14 | 15 |

Arranged as a magic square, adding to 33 in every direction, it becomes:

Remember to lay out the Keys so as to give both combinations. Then LOOK at them, with pencil and paper at hand so that you may make immediate note of anything which may be suggested to you. You never can tell when you'll tune in on the thought of somebody who knows a great deal more about the Tarot than you do. After awhile, if you persevere, you should find yourself getting this mental radio from members of the Inner School more and more often. Some of your best knowledge of Tarot will come in this way. The pencil and paper are absolutely necessary, for the impression made by some of these brain-waves is often as fleeting as a dream, and quickly passes beyond recall unless you capture it at the very time it comes.

Quite as valuable as the content of these fragments of illumination which you are sure to receive if you make due preparation for them, is the verification which this practice will give you as to the actual experience of the Inner School. It won't be long before you'll accumulate plenty of evidence that your own mentality, conscious or subconscious. It's hard to describe, but there is a difference between one's own thought and what is received telepathically, as distinct as the difference between the tone of one's own voice and that of another person. It will also be evident, after you have begun to receive these mental radiograms, that they come from different types of mentality, which may easily be distinguished, one from another.

As I write this, I am keenly aware that by no means all subscribers to these lessons will enjoy the contact with the Inner School which I have just described. Experience has shown that no matter how much I insist on the importance of following strictly the simple directions for using Tarot, it is the exceptional student who does exactly what he is told. So many students fail to realize that these instructions are not one man's opinions, but are, instead, the condensed essence of research and experimentation which have been carried on for centuries. A good many persons who read what I write are fairly sure that they know better about Tarot and what to do with it than I do. I seek to coerce no one's beliefs or actions, but it may do some good to say again that these pages do not contain Paul Case's personal views, particularly about methods of practice. He is simply transmitting to you something he has received, which he has himself carefully tested. It will work, if you work it.

In the first group of three Keys to be considered in this week's tableau, notice first the Warrior (7) and then the Adversary (15), with Justice (11) between them. Observe that the Warrior is not fighting, and that the sphinxes of his car are at rest. In explaining the symbolism of Key 15, I have somewhere pointed out the fact that the chains around the necks of the two figures at the bottom of the picture would not hold them a moment, if only they knew enough to lift the loops over their heads; and in speaking of the same Key, I have again and again reminded you that nowhere in the universe is there really anything like the Devil. There are no problems for your true Self, the Warrior in the chariot, nor is there any Adversary. The symbolism of Justice, where the scales are perfectly balanced, shows the reason for what I have just said. Since the forces of the universe are always in perfect equilibrium, there is really no antagonism anywhere, except in appearance, as man misjudges appearance. Wise men see this. Others try to reform the world.

In the next group of three (8, 11, 14) the meaning of Key 8 may be taken as a reference to this sentence of the Emerald Tablet: 'This is the strong force of all forces, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing.' That very force is now at work bringing about the realization of your heart's desire. Never mind any appearance to the contrary. One reason why you are studying this course is that you have reached that point in your occult development where you are about to be released from the hypnotic spell which appearances cast upon the minds of most persons. The force at work through you is adequate to overcome the subtlest of your seeming adversaries, and penetrating enough to reach you through every apparent obstacle. Nothing can keep it away from you, nor can anything prevent you from using it. You are approaching the point in your unfoldment where you are about ready to see that this force, right now, is being employed to make precisely those fine adjustments which are required in order to bring you to your true goal in life. Before long, you should begin to see that your whole life-story is really a mental conception of the Author of All. Then it will be evident to you that, what you have hitherto supposed to be something you wanted for yourself, is really something the Life-Power wants for you, and is working through you to bring into actual, tangible manifestation.

Ageless Wisdom is explicit in declaring that the whole universe is the expression of Conscious Energy. It follows that the One Intelligence sees the whole of Its manifestation, and every detail thereof. Time does not bind It as we are bound, so long as we are limited to the sense of succession which is characteristic of the intellectual level of our self-consciousness. As Abbe Dimnet says in What We Live By: “A pure Spirit, God, all the time sees the whole picture, of which we see only fragments. The Universe, even the endless succession of universes which astronomy has sometimes inferred from the conservation of energy, is present to Him, as our consciousness of ourselves at a given moment is present to us.” Among the details of this picture which must always be present to the Cosmic Intelligence are included the thoughts and desires of every human being. The power of that One Identity is all the power there is, and the whole of that power is always related to the particular manifestations which constitute your personality. Thus, your personal life is an aspect of the perpetual process of the Life-Power’s self-adjustment. In the course of that self-adjustment, there is a continual dissolution of forms, a continuous series of disintegrations of structure, but this eternal transition from one from to another expresses a power which, Itself, suffers no change in essence. No form or condition, therefore, has power to arrest your progress, because the real YOU is essentially identical with the One Identity. (Keys 9, 11, 13)

Manifestation is often pictured as a system of wheels. We find this image in Ezekiel, it is given in the Bhagavad-Gita, and it is repeated again and again in the texts of Buddhism. 'Wheels within wheels,' Ezekiel says, intimating an intricate correlation of cycles, such as is suggested by the symbols of Key 10. At the same time, he also takes care to convey the idea that this system is not a mere mechanism, for he says the wheels were full of eyes. The Great Rota is an intelligent expression of life, and this idea of Ezekiel's is shared by other seers who use the wheel symbol in their writings. In the midst of all the whirlings, moreover, there is balance. Every degree that the wheel turns upward on one side is compensated by an equal degree of descent upon the other. At the center there is absolute stillness. Thus he who finds that CENTER, the abode of Pure Spirit, in himself is freed from all necessity for action, which is brought to an end for him, so that he becomes like a pendulum which has ceased its motion. Thus it is forever true that the wise man thinketh, 'I am doing nothing.' Satisfactory statistics as to the present number of wise men are not available, but Tarot was invented by wise men, in the expectation of increasing their number as the years pass. (Keys 10, 11, 12)

The practical application of Tarot is intended to effect a change in the student's interpretation of the meaning of his experience. Just as astronomy has corrected our notions of the motion of the heavenly bodies, reversing beliefs formerly held by all mankind, so does Ageless Wisdom correct our opinion of the nature of our personal activities. The uninitiated regard personal action as being self-originated: the wise think of it as being simply the localized expression of universal forces flowing into and through the field of personality, like the river flowing through Key 7. Most persons look upon the forces surrounding them as being alien and dangerous, like the lion in Key 8: those who have been properly taught understand that we continually exert control over all these forces, which respond automatically to our conscious attitudes, even when we apply that control so as to bring us painful (and therefore educative) experiences. The greater number of human beings look upon the goal of attainment as being something afar off, in the future, and bound up with environmental conditions: the instructed few see that the true Goal is clear realization of the One Identity which, even now, is closer at hand than anything else, IS all that anyone ever hopes to be, has all that anyone ever hopes to have, and is able to accomplish all that anyone ever hopes to do. (Keys 7, 8, 9)

Included in the complete reversal of interpretation, which results from esoteric training, is utter freedom from the fear of death, and from the repudiation of the fact of physical dissolution, because the necessity for the latter is understood, and a higher type of experience has convinced the student, not only that his personality will survive the death of his physical body, but also that his personality is independent of that body even during the time the latter continues to exist. This is real knowledge, gained by experiment, and subjected to tests as searching as those applied to any other type of scientific investigation. In the course of the experiments many seemingly difficult problems are encountered, but as they are solved, one by one, the conviction grows in the student’s mind that whenever the forces of the universe present to him a forbidding and adverse appearance, it is because he has not yet learned the true significance of that appearance; not because there is anywhere in the universe a power inherently inimical to himself and his welfare. (Keys 13, 14, 15)

Tarot, let me say again, was invented by wise men to make others as wise as themselves. These Keys are a symbolic summary of the understanding of Those Who Know. By looking daily at these Keys, you impress your sub-consciousness with a condensed statement of the attitude toward life and its problems which enables adepts to perform their mighty works. An adept is not a person who has acquired unusual powers. He is a person who has achieved an unusual point of view. The masses accept the universe at its face value. An adept discerns what is really the true state of things. Use Tarot as these lessons are teaching you to use it, and you will saturate your sub-consciousness with the ripened fruit of the researchers of the Inner School. Your sub-consciousness will respond automatically to this treatment. At first it will make you see things differently, and produce changes in your interpretations and your emotional attitudes. Ultimately it will build you a new kind of organism, through which the forces of the universe may be expressed in works of power. Step by step, grade by grade, you will advance along the path of right knowledge. Sooner or later, you will witness the accomplishment, through your agency, of things which today you would call miracles. If only you could see it, you are witnessing the same thing now. But just now, perhaps, you may need to have a little better understanding of just what a miracle really is, and of what occurs when one is performed. It might be a good idea for you to give this matter a little thought during your hours of meditation.

Meditations

FIRST DAY: Keys 7, 11, 15. My real Self has no problems. My faith is steadfast in this conviction. The mask of the Adversary hides the face of the Beloved. I HAVE NOTHING TO FIGHT, FOR PERFECT ADJUSTMENT EVEN NOW OVERCOMES EVERY SEEMING EVIL.

SECOND DAY: Keys 8, 11, 14. The strong force of all forces is at work in me. It cuts every knot of difficulty. It is the free power of my real Self. I AM FILLED WITH POWER, ADEQUATE TO MY EVERY NEED, AND I FACE THIS DAY AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE THE TRUTH ON WHICH MY FAITH IS FOUNDED.

THIRD DAY: Keys 9, 11, 13. Pure Spirit, my real Self, sees everything as it is. It remains poised in the midst of action. It dissolves every limitation which might retard my eternal progress. MY LIFE IS IN THE HAND OF THE ETERNAL, AND ITS PERFECT JUSTICE LOOSES ALL MY BONDS.

FOURTH DAY: Keys 10, 11, 12. The Center of the cosmic whirlings is the Center, also, of my personal existence. That Center is in perfect equilibrium. I am at rest, as I rest in It. THE WHEEL OF MANIFESTATION HAS STILLNESS AT ITS CENTER, AND THAT STILLNESS IS IN MY HEART OF HEARTS.

FIFTH DAY: Keys 7, 8, 9. Ageless Wisdom corrects all my false notions about the meaning of my life. I live by the power of the whole universe. My goal is knowledge of the One Identity. MY TRUE SELF MASTERS ALL THE FORCES OF NATURE, NOW, AND STANDS, ALONE AND UNMOVED, IN THE MIDST OF THE APPEARANCES OF STRUGGLE AND EFFORT.

SIXTH DAY: Keys 13, 14, 15. Death is the name given by ignorance to change in form. I am in the midst of an experiment which releases me from that ignorance. The problems I face are but veils for the one beautiful Truth. I PASS ON FROM STAGE TO STAGE OF THE GREAT WORK, WHICH DISSOLVE EVERY APPEARANCE OF EVIL AND RESTRICTION.