Tableau 21

The Tarot tableau for this lesson is

| --- | --- | --- | --- | | 14 | 12 | 11 | 17 | | 10 | 16 | 15 | 13 | | 21 | 7 | 8 | 18 |

The constant summation is 54. This indicates Key 9, THE HERMIT, considered as the operation of the power symbolized by Key 4, THE EMPEROR, working through the agency that is represented in Tarot by Key 5, THE HIEROPHANT.

THE HERMIT corresponds to the 20^th path on the Tree of Life, named the Intelligence of Will. The Book of Formation says: 'It is so called because it forms the patterns of all bodies; and by this intelligence, when it is perceived, the pre-existent Wisdom is discovered.'

The letters of the Hebrew word 'rawtsone' (WILL) are four in number, and by their Qabalistic correspondences they represent radiant energy (R), air (Tz), earth (V) and water (N). Thus the occult significance of the word relates to the idea of a synthesis of the four elements, which synthesis is none other than the One Reality, the Ancient of Days, represented by the HERMIT, and customarily designated by the divine name IHVH.

In the 'Mind of the Father,' as the Chaldean Oracles call it, are the primary patterns of all things, and each pattern is the mental embodiment of the intention, or purpose, or will, of the Universal Mind. These archetypal patterns are maintained throughout a cycle of manifestation, and thus they are imposed upon all particular centers of life-expression. These patterns in the Mind of the Father, in other words, are the conditions of manifested existence; or rather the archetypal roots of all conditions of embodiment. Orderly formulation of knowledge concerning these conditions is the method of science, exoteric and esoteric. But exoteric science regards these conditions as being given by forces of powers external to man, who observes and studies them. Occult science, on the contrary, declares that the Mind of the Father is a real presence in every human being. It holds that when Jesus said, 'I and the Father are One' he was simply declaring his personal realization of a fact which is just as much a fact for those persons who have not yet realized it. Thus, Occult Science declares that the power that forms the patterns of all bodies is a real, integral part of man's constitution. From this it follows that the conditions around us are not imposed upon us from outside, but are really the expressions of our true Will.

Not until the differences between the functions of the conscious and subconscious levels of personal mentality have been understood, at least in some measure, may we come to know the Will of the Father. Confusion as to the nature these functions, ignorance of the differences between the two modes of personal consciousness, and consequent attempts to try doing consciously what ought to be done subconsciously (or vice versa), are among the most potent causes of our human predicaments. As soon as we realize that the conscious mind in personality is only the watcher and initiator of action, as soon as we act upon the fact that the sub-consciousness is the bodybuilder and the link between personality and the universal Self, the confusion begins to clear up. All practical occultism is a development of the fundamental facts and laws represented by the 6th Tarot Key. It is on this account that the final Key of the major trumps bears a number which is the extension of the number of THE LOVERS. For 21 is the sum of the numbers from 0 to 6 inclusive. This, to a number symbolist, is equivalent to saying that what is represented by Key 21 is merely the unfoldment of the possibilities shown in Key 6.

Our tableau this week, then, reminds us that to know the Will of the Father, we must have used the law of suggestion to turn the subconscious mind, like a mirror, so that it reflects the light of super-consciousness into the field of personality (Key 6). Conscious immortality, as we have shown elsewhere, is the direct consequence of our subconscious contact with the true Self. For when that contact is established, the body-building functions of the sub-consciousness are modified. So to say, the patterns in the Mind of the Father are reflected into the field of personality, and there ensues a complete reorganization of the personal vehicle. This reorganization includes the awakening of the functions of certain bodily centers which enable us to become consciously aware of the fact that we are four-dimensional, eternal beings (Key 20). Such awareness, in other words, is the immediate consequence of a regenerative process just as much physical as mental (Key 19). The regenerative process turns us away from the limitations of the sense of life, and opens to us the glories of the supernatural realm. It is in this realm that we establish contact with the Intelligence of Will, and realize, at last, our essential identity with the Silent Watcher (Key 9).

The truth about the Self unveils itself to us in our hours of meditation. As it is written in Light on the Path, “Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the storm: not till then.” Hence, in Tarot, the Key which pictures this experience, Key 17, is placed immediately after the one which shows a violent storm. Only through right meditation can confidence be developed in the absolute justice of cosmic law, and such confidence be developed in the absolute justice of cosmic law; and such confidence is indispensable to him who would establish equilibrium in his own personality (Key 11). It is because the practice of meditation puts us in touch with the Inner Life that it is so insisted upon in all manuals of practical occultism. Again we quote from Light on the Path: “For within you is the light of the world… Through your own heart comes the one light which can illuminate life and make it clear to your eyes.” Those quotations are from the portions numbered 12 in the first and second sections of Light on the Path, and they are in direct correspondence with THE HANGED MAN (Key 12). After the suspension of personal action, after the utter resignation of the personal life to the guidance of the Universal Spirit, comes the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. And that Angel effects the transmutation of all the base elements of the personal life (Key 14).

Ardent desire for power is required of us, but the power we are taught to desire is not power over others. It is contact with the life-power itself, and this contact is often described as “knowledge.” But his is not superficial brain-knowledge. It is not ordinary information. It is an intimate union, closely approximating the archaic significance of the verb “to know,” and it is directly connected with the sublimation of the forces corresponding to the zodiacal sign Scorpio (Key 13). Such knowledge brings about the development of the inner senses, and results in comprehension of the true significance of the various combinations of elemental forces. Those combinations seem chaotic to the eye of outer sensation, and their activities seem to constitute a strong opposition to our plans and purposes. But to the spiritual eye, they present another aspect. When that eye is opened, the Adversary is recognized as a friend, wearing a mask of terror while He teaches us how to play the game of life (key 15). Through His instruction, we learn how to conquer the false desires of the outer senses, and are enabled to overthrow the edifice of erroneous supposition erected upon the foundation of the sense of separateness (Key 16). Ultimately we discover the truth that everything in the field of manifestation is related to everything else. We see that our personal existence is part of the whole cycle of manifestation. We perceive that the events of today are directly connected with the entire past, and just as truly joined to the whole future (Key 10).

Following the Path of Return, which leads within, we pass beyond the limits of ordinary experience, into that vast Beyond, whence come the reports of Those Who Know, our Elder Brothers who have preceded us. We are on the same path as They, for all that They seem so far beyond us. And from them comes the message, “The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the Way.” In other words, occult development includes the physical, or corporeal nature, and is not complete until the outermost vehicle of Spirit, the physical body, has been transformed by the renewal of the mind (Key 18). In this transformation the work is almost wholly subconscious. The conscious mind simply perceives the law and formulates the demand or pattern. The actual reorganization which brings the animal nature completely under control is effected at subconscious levels (Key 8). It is on this account that we are told, “Kill out the hunger for growth.” The transformation which is to be effected is not growth, not the addition of something that we do not now possess. Rather is it a re-arrangement of the vehicles of consciousness – a better co-ordination or alignment of the instrumentalities of Life-expression. For the glorious truth is that the Self already is all that we aspire to be – and infinitely more. Not attainment, in the ordinary sense of that word, but realization of what already is, is the Goal (Key 7). No words can describe that realization. It is conscious identification with the Universal Spirit. Perfect peace, perfect bliss, perfect knowledge. All this it is, and more than this (Key 21).

The Administrative Intelligence, which corresponds to the final Tarot Key, really means “the serving Intelligence.” Cosmic consciousness, or the realization of identity with the Universal Spirit, finds expression in service. He who knows the truth needs live it. He becomes thenceforth a servant of the ALL. He does this, not as a duty hard to carry out, but as a natural expression of his realization of his true place in the cosmic order (Key 21). For such a person, all selfish preoccupation with personal aims is automatically at an end (Key 16). He looks upon his personal existence as a manifestation of that exquisite adjustment which maintains the cosmic equilibrium. In his vision all that he does is naught but the manifestation of Karma; and because he has made himself, as a personality, utterly receptive to the influx of the Universal Will, whatever action he engages in is extraordinarily effective (Key 11). On the side of self-consciousness, he acts merely as the witness of the universal order. He knows that alert watchfulness is necessary. He is intent on each succeeding phase of experience. Most of all, he is intent on clear reception from the super-conscious Will, through the channels of subconsciousness (Key 6).

The conscious mind, in other words, by right reasoning infers the presence of the Universal Will as the guiding power at the heart of the personal life. Even though the Silent Watcher be unseen, right reasoning shows us that He is present (Key 9). From this it follows that the only logical procedure is to submit the whole personal life to that Higher Guidance. By repeated self-reminder, one comes at last to regard all the operations of the personal life as having their real sources in super-sensual and super-personal planes of the Life-Power’s operation (Key 12). This intellectual correction of appearances, it should be understood, does not banish the appearances during our ordinary waking states of consciousness. The illusion of separateness continues, but the delusion arising from accepting the illusion as reality is overcome by occult practice (Key 15). Eventually, every cell of the body is more or less influenced by the change in mental attitude. Through the ordinary processes of physical elimination, the old physical vesture, conceived in ignorance, ceases to exist, and is replaced by a new body. This is a physical body, but so perfectly adjusted, and in certain aspects so different in internal structure, that it might be regarded as belonging to a new species. Such are the bodies of adepts and Masters – human in form, but truly superhuman in their capacity for utilizing and transforming rates of vibration which would soon disintegrate the ordinary human vehicle (Key 18).

Meditations

FIRST DAY: Keys 6, 20, 19, 0. Sub-consciousness reflects the light and wisdom of the Oversoul into my field of personal awareness. Thus I receive the power of eternal life in the midst of this illusion of temporal existence. I am beginning to live the life of regeneration. I KNOW MY IDENTITY WITH THE SILENT WATCHER.

SECOND DAY: Keys 17, 11, 12, 14. The flower of realization blooms in the silence of meditation. I am sure of the absolute justice of cosmic law. The light of the world is within me. THE LIGHT TRANSMUTES MY WHOLE EXISTANCE INTO ITS LIKENESS.

THIRD DAY: Keys 13, 15, 16, 10. Even the least of my activities is a transformation of the one Life-Power. Thus I know that whatever mask of terror confronts me but veils the face of the Eternal Friend. All semblances of stress and terror are but preludes to the dawn of the Great Peace. THIS DAY THE WHEEL OF LIFE MOVES FORWARD FOR MY GOOD.

FOURTH DAY: Keys 18, 8, 7, 21. I follow the Path of Return, transforming my body by the renewal of my mind. My life today is a stage in my progress toward the perfect demonstration of the Great Secret. My true Self is, even now, all that I aspire to be. I AM ALL PEACE, ALL BLISS, ALL KNOWLEDGE.

FIFTH DAY: Keys 21, 16, 11, 6. Let me be the servant of all. No aim is mine that others cannot share. I am the instrument of the Life-Power’s perfect ability to adjust all things for good. LET ME BE INTENT ON CLEAR PERCEPTION OF THE GREAT PURPOSE.

SIXTH DAY: Keys 9, 12, 15, 18. Though I see Him not, I feel today the presence of the Silent Watcher. I submit my whole life to His perfect guidance. Thus I recognize every appearance of separateness and chaos as being merely a veil of illusion, and I am not deluded by these surface appearances. EVEN IN MY FLESH I SHALL SEE GOD.

In Lesson 2 you were told that the Tarot Keys can be combined in 112 different groups of nine Keys, each group containing nine cards numbered consecutively. This does not include the various possible “magic arrangements” such as we have been using in this course. In every group the numbers of the cards follow a certain natural order. The 112 combinations fall into eight groups of 14 combinations each. As given in the tables below, the first combination is the key to all the others in that group, as will be seen from inspecting the tables. No two arrangements are the same, and all represent slightly different shades of meaning.

Sixth Group

Seventh Group

As there are fourteen arrangements in each group, it is possible to use two each day for eight full weeks. One arrangement should be set up for the morning meditation, and the other should be used just before retiring. Here is material for your occult diary. See what you can do in the way of writing out meditations similar to those you have been receiving in this course.

You have by no means yet exhausted the possibilities of the Tarot. Just remember that there are no less than 1,124,000,727,777,607,680,000 possible arrangements of the twenty-two major trumps. To all intents and purposes, an infinite number of combinations. And every different arrangement has its own particular effect upon subconsciousness. This tremendous figure, moreover, indicates merely the number of possible ways in which all twenty-two Keys may be arranged. It would be practically impossible to reckon the various combinations that could be made by various subdivision of the major trumps.

Just as Tarot is infinite in its combinations, so are there innumerable ways to make use of it. The emphasis, up to now, has been upon yourself. It has been the aim of the courses of instruction concluded by this lesson, to put you in possession of the fundamental knowledge requisite for intelligent self-direction.

If you have worked persistently and faithfully with the material that has been put into your hands, you are quite another personality than when you first began this undertaking. New vistas have opened out before you. New experiences have come your way. Ideas which would have been hard for you to grasp have been made easier for you to comprehend. Changes have been made in your mentality, and transformations have been made in your body-chemistry. You are now better equipped to be of service to humanity.

If you have fallen behind in your occult diary bring it up to date by writing a summary of your present understanding of Tarot. Say what you have found of value in the study. Note any changes of consciousness it may have brought you. And be sure to include a statement of what you think the Tarot philosophy indicates as to the place which is taken in the world-order by enlightened men and women.

You may not see just why this last statement is required, but it is really very important. The Inner School invented Tarot to assist its members and others in the work which leads to the realization that one has a very definite place in the cosmic scheme of administration. Thus our work together has necessarily the same objective, and it is important that there be some record of your present understanding of the matter.