A synopsis and small group discussion on Letter XVII ~ The Star arcanum found in Tomberg’s masterpiece Meditations on the Tarot. Part of a series of discussions to be found at majesterium.com/contemplativeaction/
Commentary from Charlotte Cowell on Letter XVII ~
The Star: The main points I was making were firstly to reinforce what John was saying about Hope as the great virtue of this Arcanum and to link that with the esoteric meaning of the number 17 (this being the 17th Arcanum), which is Resurrection. As 17 reduces to 8 this aspect is reinforced, 8 being the number of Christ, and through this reduction the Star corresponds to the Eight of Coins of the Minor Arcana. I read a small part from the Eight of Coins relating to the letter Hebrew letter Mem, which is the spiritual water – Tomberg makes much of Water as the spiritual agent of growth, which he contrasts with electrical fire – the agent of mechanical construction epitomised by the Tower – which is generated in closed circles of magic. The Christian Hermeticist is invited to go through the Door (Da’alet on the Tree of Life) which opens out from such closed circles and into the living spiral of organic evolution. The theme of growth puts us very much in mind of The Tree of Life, as John spotted at once and it is interesting that the pathway through the Middle Pillar of the Tree (the Shem pillar, or ‘Pillar of the Name’) corresponds at its base to the Letter Shin – the element of spiritual fire – which runs through Malkuth and Yesod up to Tifareth and has the function of purifying the pathways as we approach union with the Divine in the upper levels. In Tifareth Shin meets and gradually merges with Mem – the Holy Water – and together they form the fiery water which is symbolised by the Seal of Solomon and is the fuel of the Merkavah of our Souls at the heart of the tree, Tifareth being the Holy Palace here. From Tifareth the Shem pillar continues up through Da’ath to Keter via the principle of Aleph, the Ruach Elohim, Breath of God. It is in Da’ath that the meeting and covenant with the divine Trinity – the godhead at the top of the tree – is made. Here is the passage about Mem from the Eight of Coins (corresponding to the Sephira Hod) I read out: Mem is to be seen as a spiritual influence that comes from on High and that ‘creates’ the disciple, if he/she, by previous conscious effort, prepared their internal content to receive this superior influence. It is the spiritual strength that, acting from outside, through the Akasha, can transmute the human being, ready for this transmutation. Shin, which I didn’t read out, is described as ‘the force of the disciple himself. Without it, no creative work would be possible, despite the existence of aspiration. It is the presence of Akasha magnetised in the disciple, which allows creativity.’ The idea of a Baptism of Fire is relevant here, I think, as is the image of an artist being ridden by their Daemon, or in communion with the muse, as we looked at in connection with Peter Warlock. We also recalled that this Middle pillar corresponds to the central Nadi, the Sushumna, whilst Ida and Pingala weave together in spiral formation through the left and right channels. Our DNA, of course, is also a spiral formation. The other thing I highlighted was the fact that the woman of the 17th Arcanum is holding two jars of water – a silver and a gold – which she is pouring into the stream. As Tomberg says, this tells us much about the human condition and spiritual stream throughout history, because one jar contains all that is good and pure and true and beautiful, whilst the other contains, as he puts it ‘the mud of the serpent’ – and it has ever been thus since the Fall. But even here we have hope – it is not ALL our fault, it is just the way things are, but we do have a continual task of purification as we move through this stream. I also thought that Tomberg’s beautiful emphasis on the Mother was possibly connected with his own mother, who he lost very young in life but always looked upon as a guiding light, from beyond the grave. I agree also with Alice that the profoundly insightful section towards the end of an already very insightful letter is well worth going into in depth, as he starts to reveal his ‘sources’ there and the kabbalistic underpinning which is implied throughout MotT but not made nearly so explicit as it was by earlier teachers. Other than that, thank you for a truly inspiring reading, Alice, I thought that was just wonderful, I love this Arcanum! Charlotte x
