I have a major pause and would like to ask if anyone sees the relationship to the understanding of astrology as a relationship to the tarot cards? Roni I apologize for pulling out my magus caduceus here and interrupting your explanation of the tarot and training but I have recently found a visual aid. It is in a QABALA teaching but goes along with what Roni is trying to teach/learn, the best teacher is always the student. This is an 11MB file that is an interactive file, it’s the complete website on your computer.
To me this was an amazing find as it is how I learned astrology through the use of the tarot. If you don’t mind learning ancient Hebrew it’s there too, along with yoga, the tree of life, and kundalini the chakras. Well as I was looking into this one site looking for tarot decks I found most to have this to say
trionfi.com/0/s/b/Sacred Rose
The colorful deck draws upon the ancient kabbalah, the Tree of Life, and the symbolic rose of the western world. The reader learns psychic development exercises to access and unlock the doorways of the mind. This set is rich with insight, history, and personal possibilities.
If you click on the link above you will find it to be a museum of tarot decks.
Here is the link that relates the quabala to the tarot and astrology.
ifdawn.com/ they use the Rider deck and so do I but it doesn’t make that much difference its all a mater of understanding.
I’ll tell of the Majician L8R just had to tell of a finding. This is a little past job here but I will get back and tell of my experiences with this tarot card.
Key 1 is the first of the first seven, commencing the powers or potencies.
Role of the son, ways in which the son remains part of the father.
This is also Norwegian Odin, the eternal wanderer, who according to legend does not create the world, but only plans and arranges it. Odin was also the inventor of poetry and Norse runes.
The Magus holds his arms in the "coagula/solve" position - meaning "coagulate (or join) - and "dissolve." The "coagulation" is a drawing-in of energy. The "solve" is the use of the energy to dissolve, or cut like a laser. This illustrates the maxim: "As above, so below."
Eden Gray says the Magus reaches up to take the hand of the Creator, and reaches down to take the hand of Earthly beings, offering guidance and encouraging their evolution. He unites Spirit and Matter in Eternity.
The downward hand points, particularizing, focusing, itemizing. There's the idea that the Magus is Adam, the first man, who named all of the animals.
Accurately naming things is a fundamental part of the maturing process. When we can "put our finger on something," we have more control. Ambiguous, uncomfortable emotion is debilitating. Articulating (Mercury) our needs clearly gets us better results in the world, and makes it easier to deal with our own inner voices.
Names range along a continuum of certainty - when we say "the sun," or "food," everyone understands. When we say "God," or "imagination," it's not so clear what is meant. Some words are metaphors, our only tools for describing the eternal or abstract - boundaries between Chochma and Binah, where undifferentiated wisdom becomes clearly articulated. Words that give us control, and words that verbalize our lack of control are all in the realm of the Magus.
Once depicted as the Juggler, the Magus also shows the artifical thought-bubble of our Human consciousness - an ability to suspend a variety of concepts simultaneously in our mind's eye (the table) - infusing mind and matter to create new things and ideas under the sun. Juggling also requires concentration, another association to this card.
On the table are a cup, a rod, a sword, and a disk, representing the four magical principles - To Know, To Will, To Dare, and to Be Silent. They also represent Water, Fire, Air, and Earth, or Will, Imagination, Action, and Physical Embodiment.
The pentagram, the star with five points, extrapolates our concept of "5" into geometry. FIVE is so basic to us, because of our five fingered hands.
The Caduceus wand mirrors archetypal DNA/Kundalini.
The Caduceus image comes from this mystifying Biblical passage: "Moses made a serpent of copper and placed it on the pole; so it was that if the serpent bit a man, he would stare at the copper serpent and live." [Num 21:9] This suggests the idea of the disease and the cure being the same thing; that snake venom is used to make snakebite antidote is only one of many examples from modern science.
Magus is Mercurius of alchemy, the chameleon of elements.
An infinity symbol hovers over his head, the same symbol takes the form of ribbons. The horizontal figure eight is ascribed to Hermes/Mercury, and shows dominion and mastery of the level plane - the physical world.
The figure-eight over the head of the Magus is like the right and left brain, here in balance. We know now that the right half of the brain controls visual memory, spatial judgement, and verbal skills, and the left half controls logic, mathematical thought and exacting dexterity. Left brain subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis and accuracy. Right-brained subjects focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity.
LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN
Logical Random
Sequential Intuitive
Rational Holistic
Analyzes Synthesizes
Objective Subjective
Parts Wholes
Julian Jaynes says that before the Greeks, human brains were not yet unified, and that God-concepts arose from our hearing one half of the brain as a voice from outside. The Brain was still learning about language and the ordered thought it engenders. When "consciousness," as we know it, developed, the voices in our heads became unified, and we became our own masters.
The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. This interplay is reflected in the infinity symbol nimbus over Key 1's head, as the two sides do their dance.
The "8" is a sine-wave, or a mobius strip. It represents rhythm, involution/evolution, the double helix of DNA, the cyclic nature of the universe. It is related to the Yin-Yang glyph, and the Tipharet Helix.
The Magus draws power from above, acknowledging that we are only channels or transmitters for the life force that comes from the infinite. We are allowed its use for a slice of eternity.
The white cloth binding his black hair shows the limitation of ignorance by knowledge. The red roses show desire channeled into art by way of intelligence - the garden is the subconscious mind cultivated by acts of attention and the conscious mind. The roses are the desire that shapes all self-conscious activity. The white lilies represent thought undistracted by desire.
The Table is the "Field of Attention." The concept of "table" carries deep symbolism. One "tabulates" data, and a chart or map is a table. We eat at a table, and eating is one of our most primary activities.
"Consider your table as a table before the Lord: Chew well, and hurry not." The Zohar
His white undergarment symbolizes wisdom, and his belt, a serpent with it's tail in it's mouth, represents eternity. Dr. Waite says "Here it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit."
The red cloak shows activity and passion, and is worn without a belt, showing that its Martian (red) nature is a choice. The Magus chooses when to take action and when to abstain from action, depending on circumstances.
This key shows human will in union with the Divine, achieving the knowledge and power to bring desired things into manifestation through conscious self-awareness.----
"True concentration is perfect transparency, in which personality becomes a free, unobstructed channel for the passage downward and outward of the superconscious radiant energy." P. F. Case
Another tradition holds that the Magus represents the showman, actor, market trader, and trickster. He is therefore the polar complement of the Fool, Key O. Magus is also a traveler, carrying the ambience of another world with him, teasing our curiosity, testing our wit.
Magus is the Director in the Quest for Self. He is at once the potential of all opposites and the means for their reconciliation.
This is the Animus, the archetypal male human, again, Adam. He loves to expound on things, he is wordy, and doesn't like to admit error. AND, he can change his mind at the drop of a hat. For a woman, the Magus is the Men in her life. For a man, The High Priestess is the Women in his life. All other archetypes can be said to descend from these two.
The Animus is concealed by the Persona, or mask. It is a general principle in Jungian thought that inner and outer personalites are complementary: a methodical and scientific Persona usually suggests an emotional and irrational inner being.
This card, connecting Binah and Keter, taps into the infinite cosmic force. It reminds us that the goal is not to depart from manifestation, but to forge an effective and enlightened oneness with the physical world. This is the Bodhisattva, who forgoes complete release into enlightenment, to stay in this world, assisting all creatures in their path to the light.
Some say the Magus has successfully accomplished the union of opposites, with the four elements at his disposal. Others say he is an eternal gambler, relying on luck to achieve his ends.
Mercury
Mercury's placement at birth sets the character for the person's mental style. It shapes the way our minds work; it is the connection between the spirit (Sun) and the personality (Moon).
Mercury infuences communication. Afflictions to Mercury commonly create misunderstandings, or mental phenomena like dislexia, speech impediments, or stuttering. Strong Mercury aspects give the native brilliance in speech, wit, writing or music. Mercury is dexterity, as best shown in Virgo; but undoubtedly many a jeweler, juggler, or surgeon has good Mercury placement. Mercury moves quickly, completing it's orbit around the Sun in 88 days. As one of the 'personal' planets, it's constant changing reflects interpersonal dynamics we see around us, and short term mood swings in ourselves and others.
Mercury retrograde causes misunderstandings, false starts, lost keys, and missed opportunities.
Mercury is Exalted in Aquarius, and Rules Gemini/Virgo. Mercury's detriment is Sagittarius, and its fall is Pisces.
Ben
