Tableau 15

The Tarot tableau for this lesson is

Lay out the Keys as above. Inspect the tableau before you begin reading the lesson. The combinations are different from those to which you are accustomed. Let your sub-consciousness receive the impression of the whole tableau at first. Then see what you can discover concerning its details before turning this page.

This is the first of the seven “Jupiter” magic squares upon which this lesson and the next six will be based. It is a symmetrical arrangement of numbers which produces the magical figure called the Sigil of Jupiter.

The sigil is made by connecting the central points of the sixteen cells of a Jupiter square. The center of the square numbered 0 is the beginning and end of the line forming the sigil. Straight lines connect the centers of the cells in the order of the numbers from 0 to 15. The resultant figure is shown below. In ceremonial and talismanic magic, this figure is used in operations of Jupiter. It is then drawn with violet ink, paint or crayon.

There are other magic squares of sixteen numbers, but this particular arrangement has been handed down to us as having special potency in Jupiterian operations. Its har-

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NIZZI TOSH YASIN

monious character, considered merely as a balanced system of lines, is obvious at first glance.

In these Jupiter squares notice that the first and third, and second and fourth, numbers on the diagonal lines are extremes whose mean term is shown by the number between them. On the diagonal running from the upper right corner to the lower left, 0 and 10 are extremes balanced by 5, and 5 and 15 are extremes balanced by 10. On the other diagonal 3 and 9 are extremes balanced by 6, while 6 and 12 are balanced by 9.

Again, the sum of any two numbers diametrically opposed, as 0 and 15, 1 and 14, 4 and 11, or 7 and 8, is always the same. In this square the constant total is always 15. Thus, the whole square corresponds to the first stage of spiritual unfoldment, represented by Key 15. Thus we know that this square has to do with the initial recognition of bondage, the facing of a problem. It is also connected with the Qabalistic ideas related to the $26^\text{th}$ path on the Tree of Life, termed The Renewing Intelligence.

In the meditations for this lesson and the next six, the fundamental ideas will be taken from the four horizontal and the two diagonal rows of Keys. We shall also make some use of ideas suggested by the Qabalistic meanings of the letters corresponding to the Keys. Each horizontal row will be read from right to left, Hebrew fashion. The diagonal row from upper right to lower left will be read from bottom to top, and the other diagonal will be read from the upper left to the lower right.

“I utter myself by seeing,” says the Book of Tokens, and in practical occultism we must always remember that the Heavenly Vision is the real cause of the Earthly Appearance. This physical universe is the embodiment of the mental seeing which is an essential quality of the Fiery Intelligence that is pictured by the Tarot Fool. Not yet do we share that vision, for it is beheld at a level which to us is super-conscious. Yet we are assured by the Wise that the Spirit of Life in us, is now and always the Seer of that glorious Beyond, which looms up to inconceivable heights, transcending the utmost that has yet been attained to by humanity (Key 0). This Seer is with us always. It is the genius represented by Key 14. From it we derive all our aspirations. From it comes not only the impulse to advance, but also the power to go ahead. For the One Seer is the One Actor, too, and from that One’s action all our deeds are derived (Key 14). Again, this One is the dissolver of all delusion. Steadily it moves in its progress from the darkness of the Unknown toward the sunlight of the perfect manifestation. Endlessly it reaps the fruit of the Past in the field of the Present. To the unwise it wears the grisly aspect of death, but to the knowers of reality, it is the Great Harvester, who becomes, in another guise, the

Sower of the New Day (Key 13). And the seed thus sown springs up in the rich fruitage of ideas and forms suggested by the ripening grain at the feet of the Empress. Even so, among the letters we are now considering does Daleth, symbol of the womb, follow Nun, which has for centuries upon centuries represented the Martian, masculine, phallic power. And thus our first series of Keys in this tableau ends with a Key corresponding to the fruitful mother, Venus. It is related psychologically to the creative function of the subconscious mind. Vision, experiment, action, and the formulation of a new mental pattern are suggested by this series of Keys. Students familiar with astrology should note that the planetary sequence suggested is the iconoclastic Uranus, the expansive and orderly Jupiter, the transforming and disintegrating Mars, and the formative and integrative Venus.

The conjoined powers of Venus and Saturn are represented by the Key beginning the second row. Equilibrium is always the basis of the work of the practical occultist. Never does he seek to escape from the true order of the universe. Never does he seek to evade it. Practical occultism is living the law. It is strict conformity in action to the way things really are. This requires true imagination (Venus) and concrete embodiment of that imagery in external forms of procedure (Saturn). Venus, again, as ruler of the formative and image-making power of subconsciousness, is dominant in the next Key of the second row. But here her power is linked with that of the Moon, represented in Tarot by the High Priestess. If we seek to square our lives with the true order of the universe, we must invoke the power of intuition. We must learn from our observation of what is below in the field of sensation, but we cannot know the meaning of what we observe unless it be imparted to us from what Tarot pictures as the Hierophant. When we are so instructed, what really occurs is that we become partakers in the Life-Power's perfect memory of the significance of all that exists. The One Spirit knows, at this very instant, the exact nature of the glorious opportunity which presents itself to us in the guise of a terrifying problem. It will share that knowledge with us, if we listen. Thus, and thus only, may we attain that fine balance of personal mental powers represented by the third Key in this second row. The harmony between the two modes of personal mentality, self-consciousness and sub-consciousness, and their happy relation to each other and to the super-consciousness Self, are the direct consequences of listening repeatedly to the Inner Voice, and of obeying its instruction. Thus comes true discrimination, and thus comes, too, that ability to utilize the law which is represented by the final card of the second row. When we are always obedient to the Inner Voice, then the suggestions transmitted to the human level of sub-consciousness, symbolized by the woman in Key 8, are invariably constructive. From this level they automatically descend to the sub-human levels that are typified by the lion. We do not have to trouble ourselves about this transmission. It works perfectly without any conscious interference on our part. All the powers of nature obey us without question if we obey the Inner Voice. This, in the plainest of language, is the Great Secret of practical occultism.

The third row of Keys begins with the Chariot, related to the sign of Cancer, and so to the combined influences of the Moon and Jupiter. He who would meet and solve his problems must continually remind himself that his personal existence is a vehicle of expression for the universal Life-Power. Our personal lives are direct expressions of the cosmic order, and manifestations of a Power ever victorious. No matter what the appearances of the moment may be, each of us is in exactly the situation which at that moment is requisite for the expression of the perfect Order and Beauty of the One Being. Over us, ever observing our progress, stands the Silent Watcher, lighting the upward path (Key 9). No slightest detail of our daily lives can possibly be excluded from the sequence of Divine Manifestation. Whatever seems otherwise is merely evidence of temporary delusion, and even that delusion has its place in the Great Plan (Key 10). Not for one moment is the vigilance of the Supreme Self relaxed. Not for one moment is there any cessation of the supervision which the Life-Power exercises over the whole process of its self-manifestation, and that process includes the life-history of every human being (Key 4).

Thus, the fourth row of Keys begins with the Hanged Man, symbol of the utter dependence of personal existence upon the great Tree of Universal Life. The message of this Key is here, as always, the truth that we must make conscious surrender of even the least details of personal existence to the supervision of the Life-Power. We must practice this, because it does not “come natural.” All the superficial evidence of the senses is against it, and to overcome the influence of this sensory illusion, together with the hypnosis of delusion which afflicts the race-mind with the sense of separateness, continual repetition of the conscious attitude of surrender is necessary (Key 12). Every such repetition leaves its mark on the personal memory, and eventually the attitude of surrender becomes second nature. When this is accomplished, one result is that we begin to be able to read the scroll of the Universal Memory. For it is the sense of personal separateness that prevents us from so doing now. That is to say, our belief that we are separate constitutes a suggestion which is accepted by the subconscious mind, and the response to that suggestion is what keeps us from reading that part of the High Priestess' scroll which was inscribed before our physical birth into this present incarnation. As soon as we realize that our present personal life is in all respects continuous with the stream of universal existence, we shall begin to recover knowledge of events that occurred before the date of our birth (Key 2). Such knowledge is often essential to the solution of the more important problems that confront us. Furthermore, as the inverted pentagram on the Devil's head implies, every problem is fundamentally one of ignorance, and the root of all ignorance is some form of the delusion of separateness. This ignorance is to be overcome by conscious mental activity, at the level represented by the third Key in the fourth row of the square. The transforming power has its field of operation at the self-conscious level. On the one hand, we have to be intentionally and consciously receptive to the descent of knowledge and power to the plane of sub-consciousness. Thus the matter of primary importance, as shown by the position of the Magician in the Tarot series, and by the number printed on that Key, is that of our location in the cosmic scheme. By this I mean that everything depends upon our appraisal of the place of human personality in the cosmic order. If we know where we are, if we understand the nature of our self-consciousness, if we know its powers, and make right use of them, everything else follows automatically (Key 1). This may sound almost too easy, but we must remember that the great Masters all declare, with Jesus, 'My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' And this should be borne in mind when we are considering the final Key of this series. The fearsome aspect of the Devil is nothing but delusion. There is no reality in the universe corresponding to this dreadful figure. For the perfect knowledge of the Life-Power, there are no problems whatever, nor any ignorance at all. The true Self of you, at this very moment, knows just what you must do to be free from whatever form of bondage seems now to limit you. Mentally relate yourself to that liberating power and you will find the solution of the problem (Key 15).

Meditations

FIRST DAY: Keys 0, 14, 13, 3. The vision of my joyous destiny is even now perceived by my true Self. That Self directs the alchemical operation, which transmutes my personality into a more adequate vehicle of its manifestation. In the field of my personal life it reaps the harvest of Yesterday and sows the seed of Tomorrow. MY EARTHILY LIFE TODAY IS THE REALIZATION OF THE HEAVENLY PATTERN.

SECOND DAY: Keys 11, 5, 6, 8. Today I live the law. I hear and obey the Inner Voice. Consciously and sub-consciously I am in harmony with my true Self. ALL POWER IS GIVEN ME OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN.

THIRD DAY: Keys 7, 9, 10, 4. My personal life is the field of a cosmic manifestation. I move upward toward what I really am. My inevitable destiny is release from every form of delusion. MY BIRTHRIGHT IS PERFECT MASTERY OF CIRCUMSTANCE.

FOURTH DAY: Keys 12, 2, 1, 15. Today I renounce every appearance of separateness. This day’s thoughts and deeds are related to all that has ever gone before. I know my rightful place in the Great Whole. MY PROBLEM IS MY OPPORTUNITY.

FIFTH DAY: Keys 15, 10, 5, 0. I fear no evil. For this day’s experience is part of the manifestation of a perfect Order. Let me hear the Voice that expounds its true meaning. LET ME SHARE NOW IN THE HEAVENLY VISION.

SIXTH DAY: Keys 3, 6, 9, 12. The door of opportunity opens to me this day. Let me have discrimination to perceive it. Let me remember always that I advance steadily toward the heights of conscious mastery. FOR THIS, MY PERSONAL LIFE, IS BUT THE EARTHLY UTTERANCE OF THE HEAVENLY WORD.

Awakening - Jupiter Magic Square