Creative Imagination

This week look at The Empress for five minutes before reading this lesson.

In Lesson 2 the key word attributed to the number 3 is MULTIPLICATION. The dictionary definition for multiply is, 'to cause to increase in number, to make more by natural generation.' Multiplication is the act or operation of increasing by multiplying.

CREATIVE IMAGINATION is the way the principle of multiplication manifests itself in your consciousness. The secret of the process is given under the definitions of number 3 where it says 'the response of Subconsciousness to Self-consciousness in the generation of mental images.' Just as 3 is produced by the combination of 1 and 2 so also is the Empress a symbolic combination of the ideas represented by the Magician and the High Priestess. Here is shown the activity which is the logical result of their harmonious union.

The High Priestess is a virgin. She symbolizes the potencies and possibilities of sub-consciousness rather than the actual exercise and unfoldment of those powers. For it is only when subconscious power are set in motion by the objective mind, the Magician, that their highest manifestation is possible.

Read the last sentence again. It is a brief and accurate statement of the reason why human beings are truly 'lords of creation”; Man is the only being on earth that has an adequate organ for expressing self-consciousness. Consequently he is the only one who can deliberately modify his sub-consciousness to any appreciable extent. Man has, as his birthright, the ability to use intelligently the principles and forces which have worked for millions upon millions of years in transforming living organisms from simple, one-celled bodies to the human level of complexity. As man progresses in this development he begins to learn consciously to direct the transformation of his own organism, modifying it little by little until it is capable of receiving and utilizing forms of energy which will make him master of his environment and absolute lord of his destiny. At the present time you are at the beginning of this stage of conscious modification of you bodily organisms, for that is what these studies will help you to do. Such modification is brought about through the principles laid down in the lesson last week which you copied into your notebook. Review them before you proceed.

Imagination is the working out into active manifestation of the patterns impressed upon Sub-consciousness by self-consciousness. The progeny of the Empress are the concrete ideas that bring illumination and understanding. Imagination, because it is a subconscious process, is always deductive. It always reasons from the general to the particular. Failure to recognize this law frequently causes many of those who attempt to attain results by mental means to fall short of their goal. It is useless to affirm an absolute principle. To say over and over again, “All is Good” is just a vain repetition. A statement of truth does not work unless it be linked to a specific image of some manifestation of the principle involved. The image must be definite and concrete. It must prepare mind and body for action.

On this account the ten affirmations that constitute the Pattern on the Trestle Board lead by suggestion to specific changes in personal consciousness. True affirmations must be patterns. To say “All is Beauty” may be true, but it will not make your world a whit more beautiful. But to say “In all things, great and small, I see the Beauty of the Divine Expression,” and to follow up this initial statement with specific images of beauty is to bring about a transformation of personal consciousness which will eventually modify for the better all things in your world.

The Hebrew letter DALETH (pronounced daw-layth) means “Door” in Hebrew. As applied to Key 3, it is the point of passage from the Within, or subjective world, to the Without, or objective world. This is precisely the function of imagination. We do not see sub-consciousness at work. All that we perceive is the end results, which present themselves to us as concrete mental images. Consequently, THE POINT WHERE THE WORKING POWER OF SUBCONSCIOUSNESS MAY BE CONTROLLED IS THE POINT WHERE THOUGHTS TAKE FORM AS DEFINITE MENTAL IMAGES. Ponder this statement. It tells you again why it is so important for you to discriminate as to the mental images to which you devote your attention. When you exercise your power of choice in this respect you take the most important step towards the complete control of your inner powers.

Daleth signifies the door of life. The Book of Tokens says, “Now, as Daleth, I present myself as the Portal, through which Life Eternal and Unbounded entereth the realm of temporal and limited creation. That great Door is... the fruitful Mother of all living.' Again the same book states 'She is the Thought, which spinneth the plan of existence, that web of manifestation which entangleth the minds of fools, and giveth understanding to the wise who know the secret of its mystery.'

This is a plain indication that the Empress is Mother Nature. Astrologically she is Venus, goddess of Nature. The web of manifestation which entangles the minds of fools is illusion. The wise see through appearances and to them Nature unveils herself. The veil that conceals truth is the veil of human ignorance, and that veil can be removed by proper selection of mental imagery. The creative force is always at work in nature, but the application of that force is up to the individual man, since sub-consciousness has no power of discrimination.

The color of Key 3 is green, which is also the predominant color in nature. Note that green is produced by the combination of blue and yellow, which are the colors attributed respectively to the High Priestess and the Magician.

The Empress is a matronly figure, and traditional interpretations tell us that she is pregnant. She is therefore in direct contrast to the virginal High Priestess. This is in direct harmony with the fact that creative imagination is the direct result of the impregnation of the subconscious mind by self-consciousness.

Her hair is yellow like that of the Fool, symbolizing radiant energy. It is bound by a wreath of myrtle, a plant sacred to Venus. Myrtle is an evergreen shrub, and is thus a symbol of immortality.

On her head is a crown of twelve golden six-pointed stars. This connects her with the woman in Revelation, who was clothed with the sun and crowned with twelve stars, with the moon under her feet. Older symbolic representations identify her with the Queen of Heaven. Six-pointed stars represent universal forces; hence the symbolism of the crown is the twelve modes of cosmic activity which are associated with the twelve signs of the zodiac. One idea conveyed here is that sub-consciousness is not only affected by objective mind, but receives also an influx of power from the super-conscious, or celestial, level of the Life Power’s activity.

Her green robe is bound by a golden girdle, above which there is shown a red triangle. The triangle, by its shape, is a Greek letter Delta, which corresponds to Daleth. It is red to show the influence of the universal fiery energy in the activities of sub-consciousness.

Her sceptre is surmounted with a globe bearing a cross. This is a symbol of dominion. Older symbolism is that the globe and cross form a union of masculine (cross) and feminine (globe) or positive and negative modes of the activity of the Life of Power on all planes of nature.

The shield is of copper, the metal sacred to Venus. The dove on its face, also sacred to Venus, is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Christian symbology. The significance of this symbol in this connection is profound.

Beneath the feet of the Empress is a crescent moon. It represents the fact that all of the activities of sub-consciousness which have to do with growth, development, reproduction, and imagination are based upon rhythm.

The stone seat is richly ornamented, in contrast to the severe cube upon which the High Priestess is sitting. This shows the result of the operation of self-consciousness upon sub-consciousness, which results in modifications and adaptations of nature. That is why Venus is the goddess of art and beauty.

The ripened wheat in the foreground represents the completion of a cycle of growth, and carries with it the same idea of multiplication that is indicated by the number three.

The stream and pool in the background correspond to the stream of consciousness which has its source in the robe of the High Priestess. The symbol of water falling into a pool is also a subtle intimation of the male and female modes of the cosmic energy. The stream is modified and directed by the self-conscious activities represented by the Magician, and the pool represents the accumulation of these self-conscious influences in sub-consciousness. The stream waters the garden and makes it fertile.

The cypress trees in the background, the rosebush and the necklace of pearls are all Venusian symbols. The roses represent the seven astrological planets.

You will find that regular use of the Empress will enrich your faculty of creative imagination and stimulate your inventiveness. It will give you power to make new combinations of ideas, and to develop old ideas into something better. There is no picture in the entire series which is more needed in these days. We live in an age when cheap printing and motion pictures, combined with the cut-and-dried life of our cities, are endangering our imaginative power. We take our imagination at second-hand from the screen and the printed page. In direct consequence of this consulting psychologists are continually called upon to help in the solution of personal problems which have arisen simply because people do not realize the tremendous power of imagination. Our prisons are full simply because men and women are unable to imagine the consequences of their own acts. People fail in business and in other activities for the same reason.

This Key will help you to use Imagination positively and constructively. Through your eyes it tells your subconscious mind what powers it has and how they should be exercised. Possibly you may not grasp the inner meanings of the symbols at first. But YOUR SUBCONSCIOUSNESS WILL, for this picture, like the other Tarot Keys, is in YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND'S OWN LANGUAGE. Pictorial symbolism is the language of dream, of revery, of imagination. It is not an intellectual affair, although intellect may analyze it. It goes far deeper. Use Key 3 whenever you find yourself apparently sterile of ideas, and it will help to bring ideas to you in abundance.

THE EMPEROR

Red / C

East Above

Lovers

Southeast

Hierophant

Empress

East Below

Chariot

Northeast

Emperor

Astrological Chart

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