Tableau 19

The Tarot tableau for this lesson is

| 12 | 10 | 9 | 15 | | 8 | 14 | 13 | 11 | | 19 | 5 | 6 | 16 |

The constant summation is 46. This indicates Key 10, THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, considered as the operation of the principle symbolized by Key 6, THE LOVERS, working through that which is represented by Key 4, THE EMPEROR.

Key 10, through its connection with the letter Kaph, is related to the 21^st path on the Tree of Life. The name of this path is “The Intelligence of Desirous Quest,” and the Book of Formation says: “It is so called because it receives the divine influence which flows into it, and through it sends a benediction upon every mode of existence.”

The meaning of the letter-name Kaph is “a grasping hand,” and thus comprehension is the fundamental meaning of all that is represented by the letter and the Key corresponding to it. What is comprehended is something already given. We have to become properly receptive to the universe before we may grasp its significance. As I have so often said, a true Qabalist is, first of all, a receptive person. The whole mental training of the practical occultist rests upon this foundation of adequate receptivity to the influx of the impulses of the Life-Power. These impulses come to us through the sense-channels, from without, and from the super-conscious levels, through the inner sensorium, from within. Right comprehension is the consequence of balancing the two kinds of impulse. From without we receive the impressions that make us aware of the facts of existence. From within we receive the intuitions which enable us to grasp the meaning of the facts.

The Universal Mind, which eternally grasps both the facts of existence, and their significance, is regarded by occultists as being an immediate presence in every human personality (Key 4). The degree to which that presence is felt, the measure in which the perfect knowledge of the One Life is expressed in personal consciousness, are matters largely dependent upon the personal organism. A highly developed organism is more responsive, and expresses more clearly the heavenly vision, just as a fine radio-set has a greater range, finer selectivity, and better tonality than a cheap one (Key 18). In occult practice, right meditation is the method used to refine the physical vehicle. Contrary to outward appearances, a man in meditation is not merely passive. By an intense act of will, he maintains an unbroken flow of knowledge in some particular object. Meditation begins with intent concentration on some fact of sense-experience. The passivity of outward appearance presented by the still body of a person deep in the meditative trance is in sharp contrast to the intense inner activity which characterizes true meditation (Key 17). The outer vehicle is still, but the inner life is intensely alert and active (Key 7).

After a certain amount of purely technical preliminary training in concentration, meditation should be used in connection with some particular object, which is suggested by whatever problem may be uppermost in the student’s life. Remembering always that the appearances of adversity which constitute a problem are appearances caused by his own ignorance of some element of the situation, the practical occultist faces his problem squarely, making no attempt to avoid it or to escape from it. He knows from experience that every problem contains its own answer, and in meditation looks for the answer (Key 15). He knows, too, that the real Self above and behind his personality already knows the answer, and in his meditation seeks merely to make himself receptive to the influx of that higher knowledge (Key 9). In this kind of practice, the underlying principle is the fact that no matter what the appearances may be, no circumstance whatever is separate from the unbroken succession of events constituting the universal order. The conditions which seem to be adverse, the situations which appear to us as problems, are merely aspects of the universal order whose relation to the whole and to ourselves we fail to perceive. Meditation enables us to receive from super-conscious levels the Life-Power’s perfect knowledge of the significance of any given situation (Key 10). Thus, one of the means to the attainment of right comprehension is the mental attitude of complete passivity in relation to the supporting presence of the Life-Power. That is to say, the practical occultist recognizes the truth that every detail of his personal life-expression is really just a particular manifestation, in time and space, of the universal Life. To that Life, surrenders himself utterly, and the more complete the surrender, the more perfectly does the personality express the Life-Power’s command over every circumstance. Inwardly passive and receptive, the practical occultist appears to be extraordinary dominant over all things in his environment. His affairs seem, to those who witness nothing but the externals of his life, to fall miraculously into right adjustment. Thus his contemporaries usually suppose him to possess some secret that enables him to exert unusual personal command over circumstances; but he himself knows that the reverse is true. His real secret is that he submits he whole existence to the direction of the Life-Power (Key 12).

No amount of argument will ever convince anybody that this procedure will actually produce good results. All the proverbial wisdom of the race is against it. There is nothing in ordinary experience which seems to support the occult doctrine. Yet, as one approaches what the occult schools so often call “ripeness,” some dim realization that one’s whole existence is actually but a particular manifestation of universal activities begins to dawn in the mind of the seeker for libration (Key 11). From this initial vague awareness on to the point where the speaker passes through the “mystic death” which utterly dissolves his former personality, and completely transforms the fundamental motivation of his existence, there is a steady, but almost imperceptible, growth in consciousness (Key 13). After the transformation just mentioned, the person in whom it has occurred knows at first hand that his personal existence is actually a particular example of demonstration of the prayers of the Universal Life (key 14). The ultimate outcome of this demonstration is complete verification of the truth that the Higher Self is master of all conditions. The first stages of this demonstration bring the student’s own body and all its forces under control of his mind. Later stages of growth bring animal life outside his body under his control. Still more advanced stages of development make him master of the forces of the vegetable kingdom. The final stages of the Great Work give him control over the elemental forces of the inorganic of mineral kingdom. He in whom the Great Work reaches its final term appears to his contemporaries to be a worker of miracles; but in his own understanding he seems to be no more than the passive instrument of a higher power. Thus he says, with Jesus, 'I do nothing of myself. The Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' That is to say, the real cause of the marvels that excite the admiration of his contemporaries is understood by an adept to be the already-existing command of circumstance inherent in the nature of the Life-Power. That command of circumstance is an eternal fact, so that it must have been an actual reality long before the particular time-period in which it is demonstrated through the life of a given adept. In other words, 'My Father worketh hitherto.' In consequence of that working, says the adept, 'I work.' (Key 8)

Worldly wisdom regards each man's life as his own personal affair, and the foundation of its whole structure of precept and practice is the fallacy that every human being is a separate unit. That false interpretation of the meaning of personality must be utterly destroyed before the Great Work can be completed in the field of time and space, which is the setting for the life of a given personality (Key 16). Careful examination of one's own states of consciousness helps to overcome the error. When the operations of the self-conscious and subconscious levels of the personal life are closely watched, it soon becomes evident that the force at work on both self-conscious and subconscious levels does not originate in either of these two fields of personal action. Self-consciousness and subconsciousness are, both of them, fields of mental reaction.

We respond consciously and subconsciously to various stimuli, but the stimuli themselves originate outside the limits of personality. Even the power which makes response possible has its sources outside the personality. This is a fact which any one may discover for himself as the result of attentively considering the physical and mental activities of his personal existence. By the angel in Key 6, The Lovers, the Tarot represents the true sources of the powers expressed through personality, and the symbolism of that Key shows the true relation of the self-conscious and subconscious aspects of personality to the superconscious Life-Power (key 6). On the practical side, furthermore, he who will merely assume that there is present in his life a real source of knowledge, always ready to guide those who will adopt the right mental attitude, may soon receive abundant evidence that his assumption is correct. For him who listens, the Inner Voice gives freely of its wise counsel (Key 5). Under its guidance there is, in due season, a complete regeneration or renewal of the elements of personal life. This is the “new birth” described so often in sacred and occult scriptures. It fashions the whole personality after a new image, and the changed consciousness thus brought into manifestation is symbolized in Tarot by Key 19.

The truly “twice-born” or regenerated person turns his back upon the restrictions of three-dimensional existence. He faces in another direction. He stands in a magic circle, so to say, and his whole life is a magical ceremonial, productive of extraordinary results (Key 19). His daily experience is a continual verification of the underlying principles of practical occultism (Key 14). His inner life is a state of joyous union with the Higher Self. Nothing resists his will, because he has completely identified his “personal will” as the One Will behind the Universal Order. Note well the significance of the verb “identified,” and you will get at the inner meaning of what you have just been told (key 9). In short, an adept is able to give every outward and visible evidence of mastery because he has come into full realization of the fact that his true Self is none other than the eternal Master of the Universe (Key 4).

In Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna says: “There is nothing for me to do in these three worlds, nothing unattained that is possible to attain; still I am present in action.” The Supreme Self is the Doer of all. He is present in action, and the action is unceasing. Yet is He also eternally at rest in His own divine perfection (Key 7). The cycles of manifestation follow each other in the unending flux of involution and evolution, yet the Self remains poised and unmoved, like the sphinx at the top of the Wheel in Key 10. Unceasing change of form, necessitating the passing away of old forms that new ones may come into manifestation, is the framework of the Life-Power’s self-expression. As the Book of Tokens has it: “I am the germ, I am the growth, I am the decay.” Yet the Self remains unchanged in the midst of change (Key 13). Only forms perish. Thus, only those systems of action are doomed to destruction which rest upon the false assumption that there can be any permanence in form. The attempt to establish forms that shall be everlasting is the fundamental error exemplified by the story of the Tower of Babel (Key 16).

Thus, the right interpretation of the Intelligence of Desirous Quest, and of Key 10, which is its representative in Tarot, may be summed up thus:

Right comprehension of the cyclic nature of manifestation shows us clearly that there is, during any great period of manifestation, an unbroken involution of spiritual potentialities, balanced by an unbroken evolution of manifested forms of expression. No form can be final, because no form can terminate the manifestation of inexhaustible possibilities. It is the same idea that is represented at the beginning of the Tarot series by the Fool. No matter to what height the self-expression of the Life-Power attains, there is always a height beyond. To know this is to be free from two mistaken desires: (1) The desire to perpetuate some particular form; (2) the desire to attain to some form of expression which is regarded as being ultimate or final. The wise man’s liberation is not the attainment of some changeless condition. Even if that condition be thought of as altogether formless (from our point-of-view), a closer inspection of the thought will show that the so-called “formless state” is really a vague uniformity. No, liberation is not in this. It is identification with that which, though it enters into all forms, is restricted by none of them. The object of our desire, then, is not form at all, but the spiritual Reality behind all forms. We are not seeking a final condition, because there can be no such thing. Our quest is for identification with that which is beyond all bonds of name and form – the pure Spiritual Self.

Meditations

FIRST DAY: Keys 4, 18, 17, 7. The Universal Mind, comprehending all phenomena and their significance, is a real presence in my life. Daily, I become more and more responsive to the influx of its wisdom. Established in right meditation, I see this day nw forms of truth. MY PERSONAL LIFE IS THE FIELD OF MANIFESTATION FOR THE VICTORIOUS SPIRIT.

SECOND DAY: Keys 15, 9, 10, 12. Every problem contains its own answer. My true Self already knows whatever remains hidden from my personal vision. Every situation in which I find myself is an aspect of the universal order. THIS DAY I RESIGN MYSELF UTTERLY TO THE UNFAILING SUPPORT OF THE ONE REALITY.

THIRD DAY: Keys 11, 13, 14, 8. All my personal actions are but the particular expression of universal powers. Day by day I am transformed into a mere perfect likeness of my true Self. Always I am under guidance. MY TRUE SELF IS NOW MASTER OF ALL CONDITIONS.

FOURTH DAY: Keys 16, 6, 5, 19. Nothing in my life is, or can be, separated from the Universal Life. The true source of all my personal activities, conscious and subconscious, is a power flowing into the field of personality from super-conscious levels. As I listen, the Inner Voice gives freely its wise counsel. THIS IS A DAY OF REGENERATION.

FIFTH DAY: Keys 19, 14, 9, 4. My whole life is a ceremony expressing the heavenly order. This very day I certify the principles of true occultism. I identify my personal volition as being one with the Universal Will. MY TRUE SELF IS THE ETERNAL MASTER OF CREATION.

SIXTH DAY: Keys 7, 10, 13, 16. The Supreme Self is present in all action. It remains poised and firm in the midst of change. Let forms pass, It remains. I AM FREE FROM DESIRE FOR THE CONTINUANCE OF ANY FORM.

Realization - Jupiter Magic Square

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