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NEW MAGICKS FOR A NEW AGE
Volume 3: Beyond Ritual – Part 10: Additional Topics –- Chapter 8: Time, the Shepherd of Reality
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Yael Dragwyla First North American rights

email: polaris93@aol.com 14,800 words

Volume III: Beyond Ritual: Historical, Philosophical,
and Scientific Considerations
– Essays on the Cutting Edge of Esoteric Science
Book 10: Additional Topics
Part 12: Shake, Rattle, and Roll:
The Goddess, Lady Liberty, and the Coming Times
Appendix
8. Luna’s Qaballistic Associations
In addition, the following apply to Luna, as She is associated with Keys 9 and 13 of the Tarot:
Key 9
a. The Sephirah
Sephirah 9, Yesod, “Foundation.” Sphere of × (Luna).
Yesod is the Sphere called the Akasha, the repository of the Akashic records, and sometimes the
Astral Light. It partakes of the nature of both mind and matter. It is to the “substance” of the space-time
continuum what the latter is to dense matter, and is the basis of the phenomena which the physicist
attributes to the behavior of the ultimate microstructure and basic ‘substance” of the Universe.
According to Dion fortune,
The Æther of the Wise might, in fact, be called the root of the ether of physics.47
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Yesod is the receptacle of the emanations of all the other Sephiroth as well as the sole, immediate
transmitter of these emanations to Malkuth, the physical plane. Yesod purifies, proves out, and corrects
the emanations which it receives from the other Sephiroth. As a result, it is in the Sphere of Yesod that
all operations designed to correct the Sphere of dense matter, Malkuth, or perfect its unity of design are
carried out. Therefore Yesod is the all-important Sphere for any operations of Magick which are intended
to take effect in the physical world.48
The Astral Ether, or space-time continuum, the level of reality upon which the phenomena of
quantum mechanics take place, Cancer be molded into forms by the mind. It also holds the molecules of
dense matter in its mesh-like lines of tension as if it were a rack of pigeon-holes into which those
molecules were slotted. 49
Yesod is also of enormous importance to the practical Hermeticist, because it is the first Sephirah
with which he comes into contact when he begins to “rise on the planes,” lifting his consciousness above
Malkuth. Having traveled from Malkuth along the ghastly Thirty-second Path of the Taurus Cross of
Suffering, associated with Saturn, he enters Yesod, the Treasure House of Images, the realm of Maya,
Illusion. Yesod, in and of itself, is the Sphere of Illusion, because the Treasure House of Images is none
other than the reflecting Ether of Malkuth, corresponding in the microcosm to the Collective
Unconscious, filled with ancient and forgotten things that have been lost or banished there since the dawn
of humanity, millions of years ago. The keys that unlock the doors of Yesod and enable the Hermeticist
to command the beings that dwell within it are to be found in Hod, the Sphere of Magick.
Yesod is also the Sphere of the Moon. The Moon and the earth share one astral body, though their
two physical bodies are separate, reflecting the fact that they share the same orbit around Sol. On the
Astral planes, the Moon and the Earth may be considered to be two poles of one gradient, Luna being the
positive pole and the Earth the negative one. As the physical Moon reflects the Sun’s light, Yesod
reflects the Solar Astral light of Tiphareth, which in its turn is Kether on a lower arc. Thus the light and
power of Kether is transmitted directly to Tiphareth, which reflects and redirects it toward Yesod, which
in turn reflects it on to Malkuth and the Earth. For this reason, some believe Pluto, associated with
Kether, to be the – or, at any rate, a – higher octave of Luna.
Yesod, like Luna, is forever in a cycle of ebb and flow lasting about a month or a third of a Solar
season, because the amount of sunlight reflected by Luna toward the Earth waxes and wanes in a twenty-
eight day cycle. In turn, Malkuth-Earth has a three hundred and sixty-five day cycle, of which the phases
are marked by the Equinoxes and the Solstices.* It is the interaction of these cyclical tides which is so
important to the practical Hermeticist, because so much of his work depends upon them. 50
*I.e., Earth’s Solstices and Equinoxes have a reflection in the Quarters of the Lunar months.
In Qaballistic symbolism, the organs of reproduction are assigned to Yesod. In this context it is
interesting that the Roman Goddess of the Moon was Diana, the Chaste or Maiden Huntress – who was
also, however, the Patroness of Childbirth, the Goddess Who stood by when women gave birth and
guarded them and their newborns from the perils that come at such a time.
Luna has three major aspects: Diana, the Maiden, the young woman who has never given birth;
Luna or Selene, the Matron; and Hekate, the Hag or Crone, the post-menopausal Woman of Power.
Overall the Moon is Woman. She rules the breast, the womb, childbirth, and infants as well as
inheritance, he home, and ancestry. Above all, She rules the Tides of Life, especially those of fertility;
menstruation; and pregnancy. She rules the cessation of physical fertility at menopause, which frees
women for cultivation of fertility of mind and spirit and to engage in the protection and education of the
young, the ultimate fecundity of a community and the future vehicle of its spirit. Finally, She rules the
rites attendant upon preparation of the dead for burial or cremation, and the grave, which is only the
foyer of the womb in the next incarnation.
The Qaballistic assignments for Yesod include the following:
MAGICKAL IMAGE: A beautiful naked man, very strong

GOD NAME: y j l a y d c (ShaDdaI AL ChaI,
Almighty Living God)
ARCHANGEL: l a y r b g (Gabriel)
CHOIR OF ANGELS: \ y b w r k (Kerubim)
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MUNDANE CHAKRA: Luna

VIRGO TUE: Independence
TITLES: The Treasure-House of Images
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: Vision of the Machinery of the Universe
ATZILUTHIC COLOR: Indigo
BRIATIC COLOR: Violet
YETZIRATIC COLOR: Very dark purple
ASSIATIC COLOR: Citrine, flecked azure
VICE: Idleness
SYMBOLS: The Perfumes and Sandals
For Yesod, Liber 777 gives the following assignments: Quartz: the banyan tree, mandrake, and
damiana herb; the Elephant (symbol); orchid root (drug); lead (mineral drug); jasmine, ginseng, and all
odoriferous roots (perfumes).
Yesod is associated with the Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
Amendment IX
Rule of construction of Constitution.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to

deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The commandment associated with Yesod is
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16, Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version
According to the Yetziratic Text,
The Ninth Path is called the Pure Intelligence because it purifies the Emanations.
It proves and corrects the designing of their representations, and disposes the unity with
which they are designed without diminution or division.
Yesod is the Sephirah of the Astral plane per se. Thus not only is it the raw machinery which powers the
physical world, but it also holds the framework in which all quanta of dense matter are held. I.e., it is the
realm of quantum mechanics, in which all the neuroendocrinological processes associated with thought,
Will, and emotion take place, the raw stuff of the space-time continuum itself.
The “etheric” realms or Astral planes exist side-by-side with all phenomena which are the subject of
the physical sciences, and the effect of their influence upon the physical world is more or less to vitalize
it. They act to integrate and coordinate the raw building-blocks of matter and life, from sub-atomic
particles to the cells that make up multicellular organisms such as ourselves, into coherent, organic
wholes. Without this influence our physical bodies would be nothing but random collections of
independent, unrelated cells, and matter itself would likewise be no more than loose aggregates of
unrelated sub-atomic particles and pure energy. Yesod is not a product of biological being, for it is closer
to the source of things than is Malkuth; but organic life as we know, from multicellular plants and
animals to the very rocks of the Earth and the planetary physiology of Gaea, as expressed via plate
tectonics and climatic patterns, it is its child.
Yesod is the controlling agent in the biochemistry of protoplasm. Its presence is reflected in the
reactions of organisms to stimuli of all kinds; it is the basis of the action of nerves and endocrine glands
which underlie thought and emotion. According to some schools of esoteric thought, it is the etheric or
astral body rather than the physical body which has the power to feel and react emotionally; from this
point of view, anesthetics do their work by driving the astral double out of the physical body, just as
sleep, deep trance, and death do. According to this school, the physical body has only the capacity of
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reception of sensory stimuli, but no actual sensory awareness as such except vague, dull, diffused feelings
such as general fatigue; the formation of the nervous system entails an admixture of astral with physical
force, so that there are only rudimentary nervous structures in plants, and none at all in minerals.
However, this point of view is in direct conflict with the work of Cleve Backster et al. on reactions
of plants to mere intentions of experimenters to do them harm,* as well as the incredible ability of plants
both to sense and react appropriately to changes in their enVirgo onment with a variety of exquisitely
fine-tuned, elegant, and powerful behaviors. These last range from the secretion of powerful toxins into
the air and the soil used by some plants to diScorpio urage other plants from invading their territory, to
various noxious or toxic substances generated in the leaves, stems, flowers, and roots of some plants to
drive away or kill off potential predators, to the ability (so help me God!) of manzanita, chaparral, and
other fire-selected plants to generate enormous positive charges of electricity in their roots to draw
lightning to start massive brush-fires during which these plants set seed, ensuring that their offspring will
have few or no competitors for resources such as space, light, and soil during the earliest and most
critical phases of growth.
*See Cleve Backster, “Evidence of a Primary Perception in Plant Life,” International Journal of
Parapsychology 10:4, 1968; and Lyall Watson, Beyond Supernature, (New York: Bantam Books,
1988), p. 45.
It is thus far more likely that it is Yesod and the astral body, rather than specific physical structures
such as the vertebrate central nervous system, that makes possible the ability to sense and react
appropriately to enVirgo onmental conditions in all organisms. I.e., since Yesod influences the entire
Earth and all its life, it makes more sense to assume that its influence endows all animals, plants, fungi,
microorganisms, and all other forms of life with such abilities, expressed in different ways according to
species and the exigencies of existence. The entire universe is in a sense an organic whole, capable even
of reproducing itself by means of black holes that generate new “Big Bangs” and resultant expanding
universes, and shows this same responsiveness to conditions, as does every one of its parts to one degree
or another. That this is so only serves to strengthen the hypothesis that it is Yesod and its Lunar action
that underlies all manifestations of mind and emotion; the belief that plants and other non-animal entities
do not possess minds and souls is therefore a form of species chauvinism which only keeps us from
seeing the results of Yesod’s actions everywhere, and is ultimately a neurotic, self-defeating denial
mechanism.
Be that as it may, the structure of all living beings is created and maintained in existence by the
astral web or network generated by Yesod, which is thus the foundation of physical existence. For this
reason, the title of this Sephirah is Yesod, “Foundation.”
In this way, Yesod contains the image of everything existing in the physical universe, what Rupert
Sheldrake calls the “morphogenetic field.”* For this reason it is called the Treasure House of Images.
Not only does it contain these images, but it also has the power to alter them; it is by tapping the power
of Yesod that the Yogi Cancer produce changes within his own body by means of the techniques of
Hatha Yoga, the practitioner of chi !kung Cancer produce physical effects in the bodies of others or even
the physical world around him, and anyone under the proper conditions Cancer , á la Yuri Geller, bend
spoons, twist keys, and create other such seemingly impossible changes in physical objects by merely
touching or stroking them. This particular aspect of Yesod is the one stressed in the Yetziratic Text,
above, as well as Yesod’s biophysical integrating and organizing functions. Ultimately, according to
Qaballistic theory, the supreme integrated image of Yesod is that of “the Luminous Image of the
Creator,” which is both expressed through and hidden by the physical world. Therefore the God Name of
Yesod is y j l a y d c (ShaDdaI AL ChaI), “Almighty Living God.”
*See Rupert Sheldrake, A New Science of Life (London: Blond & Briggs, 1981), passim; Watson, op.
cit., pp. 62-64, 96; and Lyall Watson, Lifetide (New York: Bantam Books1980), passim.
Since Yesod is concerned with the astral realms, the images of pre-physical manifestations of all
emanations from the higher Sephiroth, and the vast body of teaching developed about the Moon, the
Archangel of Yesod is Gabriel, the Archangel of the Last Trump and the Annunciation, who gives the
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powers of Vision. Gabriel Cancer be imagined as a beautiful blue-green figure with silver flashes of
light and a tremendous swirl of colors including various shades of peacock tints shot through with silver,
forming his wings and aura, with streams of liquid silver about his head and beneath his feet. While
these aren’t, strictly speaking, the colors of Yesod per se, they do evoke a mood of the Sea and the Lunar
power associated with per se, they do evoke a mood of the Sea and the Lunar power associated with
Yesod. This form should be imagined as changing into a tremendous pillar of silver light, one tinged
with mauve-gray, reaching up to the heavens and standing on the Earth, with clouds of peacock blue and
green surrounding the pillar. This pillar represents a sort of universal battery, through which all activity
and energy throughout the Universe is switched. It is this battery which gives Vision, the power of
Yesod, which includes clairvoyance, clairaudience, and psychic powers of all kinds. Another appropriate
image of Gabriel is a solid crystalline solid with nine sides, reflecting silver and blue-green light. This
figure should be imagined to contain the same forces contained by the pillar; by watching this solid, as
one looks into a crystal globe for scrying, and seeing what appears in it, one Cancer develop one’s
psychic abilities.
The Choir of Angels of Choir of Angels of Yesod are \ y b w r k (the Kerubim), “the Strong Ones,”
associated with the enormous strength required to hold together the astral planes and the stresses upon
which physical form depends. This idea is also behind the Magickal Image of Yesod, the Beautiful
Naked Man, very strong, reminiscent of Atlas, the Titan who holds the whole world on his shoulders.
Another representations of this strength is the idea of the gigantic tortoise on whose back stand four
elephants on whose shoulders the world is carried through the heavens. The Kerubim work to build
knowledge and harness force through methods peculiar to Yesod. One of these methods involves the use
of symbols associated with Yesod as the Sephirah is manifest in the depths of the unconscious mind.
Over time, use of these symbols tends to become less a matter of ritual and more a matter of mental
exercise. The various schools of psychoanalysis therefore preserve much of the symbolism of Yesod,
however weird the idea of “The Treasure House of Images” and the Lunar forces upon the dynamics of
the psyche depend may sound to the reductionist minds of most practitioners of psychotherapy. The
great powers of the astral realms are the Kerubim, and since the powers of Yesod are the great formative
forces of the world and of the living body and mind, those forces must be taken into account one way or
another by biomedical practitioners if their techniques are to have any value. Apart from those aspects of
Yesod which have to do with the unconscious mind, which are heavily involved in psychosomatic illness,
complete understanding of the machinery of the living organism necessary to heal its ills, keep it in good
condition, and rejuvenate it when it grows old are all contained in Yesod, and must be sought there, in the
astral foundation behind the physical realms of Malkuth.
Many forms of alternative or holistic medicine do in fact take these considerations into account,
though not always with explicit, conscious understanding of what their techniques actually entail. Some
of these techniques work better for patients who have conscious awareness of the astral levels of their
being to some degree. On the other hand, drug addicts are less likely to be helped by alternative medical
practices such as herbal medicine and homeopathy. Oddly, the presence in the body and the enVirgo
onment of radioactive materials, for all the damage they Cancer do to the body, causing everything from
heart disease to deadly Cancer cers, may stir up the astral or etheric levels of the organism and make it
easier to treat the patient via alternative techniques. Go figure.
The Mundane Chakra of Yesod is the Moon. Luna is intimately connected with so-called vegetative
growth, as in the growth of plants, fungi, Cancer cers, etc. There exists a vast, ancient cultural reservoir
of lore concerning herbs and their influence on illness and other things, all associated with Yesod, which
more and more is proving to be of enormous value to the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.
While quacks and faddists are ever prone to abuse such knowledge, it is nothing to sneer at – consider,
for example, the discovery of digitalis, an extract of foxglove herb.
Luna is intimately connected with the Earth in the same way that the astral or etheric plane is
intimately connected with the physical levels of being. The power of etheric vitality resembles power of
the Moon’s gravity, by which the vast energies of the oceanic tides are generated. The cyclic activity of
the astral “Machinery of the Universe” is like the cycles of the tides and the menstrual cycles of women,
who from time out of mind have been associated with the Moon.
The Moon and the Sun represent the two great principles upon which all Creation is grounded, which
have their analogs in the Pillars of Severity and Mercy of the Tree of Life. Pan and Isis are two great
complimentary aspects of Yesod; Pan represents the idea of archetypal strength which is characteristic of
the etheric level of being and of the influence of Luna on the Earth, while Isis represents the archetypal
Feminine Side of God, the great Yin or receptive aspect of the universe which is manifested in the
reflection of the light of the Sun by the Moon, as well as Yesod’s function as receptacle of the emanations
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from all the higher Sephiroth, which it forms into the morphogenetic fields which are the basis of form in
the physical world. Above all, the primary function of Yesod, by which all beings live and die, are born
and begotten and mated, is also the function of the Great Mother, Isis, Who contains all other Goddesses.
In terms of Magick, Yesod is more important than any other Sephirah except possibly Hod. The
Egyptian God Djehuti, a Lunar God, is of course associated with it, for He is the Lord of Magick, and a
partner f Isis. All higher forces must pass through Yesod before they Cancer manifest in the physical
world, and it is in Yesod that they are purified and unified in ways that are absolutely necessary to
Magick.
The Sandals represent the close Magickal link which Yesod has with Hod, for Hod is associated with
the God Mercurius, Whose Winged Sandals give Him the speed of thought. Also, the Sandals are
Magickal Weapons which enable the aspirant to travel with ease over the Foundations of the various
levels of the astral world.
The Perfumes represent the Magickal functions associated with minerals and plants. Perfumes, like
music, Cancer work profound changes in the psyche, the province of Yesod. There is also a more subtle
esoteric aspect to perfumes associated with Isis and Da’ath. There is a strong link between Da’ath and
Yesod, which are considered to be “opposite poles of the Magickal circuit.” Da’ath represents the highest
aspects of the psyche and Yesod its lowest, apart from the physical body in Malkuth and those aspects of
the Self associated with the Supernals. These two Sephiroth are the two poles of the link between Spirit
and Matter.
The powers of the Moon and the Sea were worshipped as Gods long before humanity worshipped
Solar Gods. Thus the fertilizing powers of Luna became sacred to the ancient peoples from whom sprang
the Jews and, later, the followers of Islam. At one time, Luna was worshipped as a God as well as a
Goddess, various peoples being inclined more to one or the other point of view, and ancient clashes
between those peoples may have come about as a result of such religious differences.
The Queen-Scale color associated with Yesod is purple, a secondary color combining the pure
primary cobalt blue of Chesed with the brilliant, pure scarlet of Geburah.
There are numerous traditions of teaching associated with mysteries of the sea. Like stone, the sea is
a symbol of the universe as a whole, of the vast reaches of outer space – and it is Luna and Her influence
upon the world that gives the sea its power. Knowledge about celestial bodies, along with numerology,
was an extremely important part of ancient mystery teachings. Lunar lore has been with us since perhaps
before we were ever human, possibly even from the beginnings of life on Earth, some 4 billion years ago,
when the Moon came close enough to the Earth to nearly destroy it as a result of tidal action. Out of our
collective awareness of the rhythms and influence of the Moon was born all our astrologies,
numerologies, and calendars, out of which evolved all our arts and sciences. Yesod, the Sphere of Luna,
is thus concerned with every application of the measurement of time and space and all bound by and
contained within them, the objective as well as the esoteric sciences, as well as with rhythm, contrast,
and the cycles of life and death underlying all our arts. Its archetypal science is astrology, the parent of
astronomy, and its primordial art is music, which harnesses the ebb and flow of the universe to influence
our very souls in whatever way the musician desires.
Finally, Yesod is associated with the Great Triple Goddess, the Great Mother Who is represented in
Virgo tually all cultures as the trio of Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Some of their avatars include, e.g.,
Pallas/Athena/Medusa; Durga/Parvati/Kali; Artemis/Selene/Hekate, etc. Originally, before patriarchal
culture triumphed Virgo tually everywhere, this trio was symbolized by a great Warrior-Queen (the
Matron), a gifted psychic (the Maiden), and a powerful Wise Woman or female Magickian (the Crone).
They also represent the three major stages of a woman’s life, from Virgo ginal girl through childbearing
years to a post-menopausal niche as the grandmother who teaches and protects the generations to come.
For this reason the numbers 3 and 9 (= 3 x 3) have been associated with the Moon from long before the
advent of written history. The numbers 7 and 28 are also associated with the Moon, because of the 28-
day cycle of Lunar phases; and the number 13 as well, because there are 13 Lunar months in a Solar
year.* As for the archetypes of Maiden, Matron, and Crone, the Crone is associated with both Binah,
whose number is 3, and Da’ath, associated with the number 11 and Magick, while the Matron is
associated with Sol and Tiphareth, whose number is 6, as well as with Luna and Yesod, and the Maiden,
Artemis or Diana, is also the Huntress, associated with death as well as birth, and thus with Pluto and
Kether, whose number is 1. Thus the Triple Goddess in a sense is represented by the Central Pillar of
Consciousness as a whole, and is associated with the numbers 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, and 13.
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*The symbolism of the United States of America is closely associated with the number 13. The birthday
of America is July 4, when the Sun is almost in the very middle of the Sign Cancer cer, whose Lord
is Luna; further, in the U.S. natal chart, for 2:30 a.m. local time, July 4, 1776, at Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, PA, Luna is in Aquarius in the 10th House, the highest Planet in the chart; Uranus, ruler
of Aquarius, is rising, in the First House in Gemini, conjunct the Fixed Star Aldebaran; and
Mercury, ruler of Gemini, associated with Hod, is in the Sign Cancer cer. From an esoteric point of
view, therefore, it isn’t surprising that there would be so much Lunar symbolism involved with this
country.
b. The Cards
Enneads (groups of nine things), the Enneagon (a regular nine-sided polygon with nine interior
angles of 36° each), the Enneagram (a nine-pointed Star formed variously of three superposed equilateral
Triangles oriented at angles of 0°, 120°, and 240° to the vertical, with congruent centers, or tracings from
point to point of an Enneagon with gaps of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 points between connected points), or a 9-rayed
Star (9 rays emanating from a central Point) are all associated with Yesod. In particular, the Enneagram
formed by superposing three equilateral triangles with concentric centers represents the Great Mother
Goddess and Luna in Their most powerful aspect. The angle 40° is considered by astrologers to represent
power, that is, opportunities or occasions upon which the native may act most effectively, or which
confer great power upon him or her, or potential strengths in his or her makeup. Various associations
with this angle include birth, brooding (as a hen on her egg), completion, gestation, creativity,
development, devotion, fertility, growth, nourishment, nurture, refinement, release, productivity,
supportiveness, and testing. Cats – whose eyes wax and wane like the Moon – have nine lives. All such
associations are excellent for representing the Nines.
The Nines
1) WANDS
Design: Nine Wands, Staves, or Rods in one arrangement or another. Waite’s pack shows a
man with a bandaged head (or wearing a sweatband?) leaning upon a Staff; behind him stand
eight other Staves. Crowley’s shows eight small Wands and one large one; the smaller ones are
arrows pointing downward, their feathers formed from stylized crescent Moons, their tips also
crescents; the arrows are crossed, and the ninth Wand has a Solar disc at its top and a crescent
at the bottom; the sigil for Luna is above, that for Sagittarius below.
America’s Tarot: Upright: A ninja standing in a clearing amid nine healthy redwoods, who
wears a sweatband and holds a great treasure chest in his arms (the number 9 has great
Significance in ninpo, the philosophy behind Ninjutsu combat arts). Alternatives: rather than a
ninja, the person could be a Szekeli (Gypsy) prince, or it could be a Szekeli in a ninja’s
nightwork costume (the Szekeli are the ninjas of Europe; they were the aboriginal inhabitants of
the Indian subcontinent who, rather than submitting to Aryan rule and becoming Outcastes, left
their homeland to wander the world, organizing themselves much as the ninja clans of 9 th
Century Japan did, developing their own combat and guerilla skills to perfection – like the
ninjas, they are known everywhere as thieves par excellence, and all manner of mystical powers
are attributed to them). Reversed: The same ninja or Szekeli, but standing at the entrance to a
cave that holds nine enormous, fire-breathing dragons.
Upright meaning: Entitled “Strength.” Luna in Sagittarius. The second decanate of

Sagittarius, 10° 0’ 0” - 19° 59’ 59” Sagittarius (about December 1 through December 11 of a
given year). Preparedness, strength in reserve, a second wind, victory after opposition. Great
strength. Change in stability. The best that Cancer be obtained from the energy of the Suit of
Wands. Power, health, energy. Victory after the application of great force. A desire to attain
the realms of the psychic, which goes beyond the bounds of physical safety. Delays. Gain.
Separation and advantage. Extremely valuable knowledge or intelligence. A stalwart position.
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Order, discipline, good arrangement, disposition. Realization of success. Continuous success.

Teaching. Planning travel. Editors and journalists. Prophecy. Preaching. Public excitement,
frenzy, or celebration. Revolution. Strength in opposition. Suspension. Adjournment.
Reversed: The thighs. Early December. Physical debility or illness. Abstract, objective, or
physical science. Mathematics. Threat or mishap. Obstacles, calamities, disaster. Crosses (i.e.,
things that cross someone, cross his path, hinder his way.) Displeasure. Unruliness.
Controversy. Contradictions wherever this card appears. Generally speaking, a bad card.
2) CUPS
Design: Generally, nine Cups in one arrangement or another. Waite’s pack shows a
merchant sitting in satisfaction before a row of Cups. Crowley’s shows nine Cups in the form of
lotuses; the sigil for Jupiter is above, that for Pisces below. The New Tarot shows eight Pears
surrounding a ninth. The Fantasy Showcase Tarot shows two, er, beings hanging out in a Cancer
tina, which may or may not be located in Mos Eisley; nine Cancer s of beer are stacked in a
pyramid on the bar between them.
America’s Tarot: Upright: Nine beautiful lakes by an ancient forest. Several American
Indians are camped by one of the lakes. The air is clear and pure, the skies beautiful. Reversed:
The same lakes, but a resort town has grown up around them, powerboats roar across some of
the lakes, children play all around the shores of the lakes, and concession stands are everywhere.
Much of the forest has been chopped down to accommodate a housing development. The scene
still has its virtues, but these are definitely less than were those of the Upright view.
Upright: Entitled “Material Happiness” or “Happiness.” 10° 0’ 0” - 19° 59’ 59” Pisces
(about March 1-10 of a given year). Material success, physical well-being. The most complete
and beneficial aspect of the force of water. Stability, security, well-being. Complete success,
pleasure, and happiness; wishes fulfilled. Success in the realm of intellect. Success in
everything, especially matters of the heart. Victory, advantage, success, triumph, difficulties
surmounted. Motherhood. Contentment, Gemini ütlichheit. Concord, harmony. Your heart-felt
wishes will come true. Dreams come true. Of good omen for military men and for business.
Reversed: The opposite of any of the above, without justification, and with attendant
troubles. Desires unfulfilled. Material troubles and unhappiness. Faults, errors, mistakes,
imperfections. Truth, loyalty, liberty. Mistakes, imperfections.
3) SWORDS
Design: Generally, nine Swords in one arrangement or another. Waite’s pack shows a
figure sitting up on a bed, covering its eyes, possibly weeping; behind it are nine horizontal
Swords; the bedcover is decorated with a design of squares which contain, in alternating
sequence, red roses with the Planetary Signs and those for the Houses of the horoscope.
Crowley’s shows nine Swords, point downward, dripping blood; the sigil for Mars is above, that
for Gemini below. The New Tarot shows nine Blades in the form of a wheel, like a buzz-saw,
rotating in a clockwise direction.
America’s Tarot: Upright: Nine ballistic missiles in the process of being launched toward
an enemy target. Reversed: A war-room below ground, nine generals pondering a great map on
the wall which shows nine question-marks that could indicate incoming mail but which also
might not.
Upright: Entitled “Despair” or “Cruelty.” Mars in Gemini. 10° 0’ 0” - 19° 59’ 59” Gemini
(around May 1 through May 10 of a given year). Despair. Cruelty. Worry. Suffering. Misery.
Loss. Unconscious, primitive instincts. A sociopath or psychopath. A fanatic. Suggested
solutions for dealing with this card: passive resistance, resignation, or martyrdom; sometimes
implacable revenge. Assorted tribulations, most of them arising from evil done by others, which
Cancer be effectively combated by means of calculated inaction. At best, this card brings new
Page 9
life out of suffering, at worst complete isolation from all hope or comfort. Associated with
Chiron and the Shaman. Illness. Malice. Pain. Agony. Suffering generally. Matter struggling
towards perfection. Unmarried or unattached person. A dead twin, enmity between twins.
Total disasters of assorted varieties. Anxiety. An ecclesiastic, a priest. Conscience. Probity.
Good faith. Integrity. Enduring hatred. Dogma, dogmatism. An ecclesiastical mind. Hard
judgment. Orthodoxy. Asceticism. Swearing. Shyness. Miscarriage. Shame. False evidence
given. A scrupulous mind. Conscientiousness. The scientific method. Natural selection. Utter
desolation. Death. Failure. Delay. Deception. Disappointment. A card of very bad omen.
Reversed: The hands. Early May. Hope for the morrow. Desire to succeed. Unseen
complications or adversaries. Doubt. Slander. Evil gossip. Wise distrust. Suspicion, fear,
doubt. Shady character. Imprisonment. Reasonable fear. Good ground for suspicion against a
doubtful person.
4) COINS/DISCS/PENTACLES
Design: Generally, nine Coins, Discs, or Pentacles in one arrangement or another. Waite’s
pack shows a woman in a vineyard filled with ripe grapes, presumably on her own land; on her
upraised left hand she holds a bird; her gown is patterned with flowers in the form of the sigil of
Venus. Crowley’s shows six small Discs surrounding three large ones, which are reminiscent of
the Ace of Discs; within the smaller discs are the planetary sigils of Saturn, Jupiter, Venus,
Luna, Mercury, and Mars made into stylized faces; the sigil for Venus is above, that for Virgo
go below. The New Tarot shows nine Stones.
America’s Tarot: Center: Nine silver Liberty-head dollars, arranged to form the apices of a
nonagon, which are connected by rays of light to form a nine-pointed Star. Upright: A woman
who is likely an American Indian within an arbor on her own land; the arbor is filled with ripe
grapes, much as in Waite’s card; nine of the grapes are larger than the rest, and bear Pentacles
in their centers. A great wolf lies contentedly at her feet, and an eagle flies above. In the
middle distance is a great manorial house and fields and orchards filled with ripe, healthy crops
of all kinds. In the far distance are great purple mountains and azure skies. Reversed: The
same scene, now overrun, pillaged, looted, and burned by invaders; the woman lies bleeding on
the ground, apparently the victim of one of the invaders, who may have ravished her; most of
the invaders have already gone, and only a couple Cancer be seen in the charred ruins of the
manor house in the middle ground.
Upright: Entitled “Material Gain” or “Gain.” Venus in Virgo go. The second decanate of
Virgo go, 10° 0’ 0” - 19° 59’ 59” Virgo go (about September 3-12 of a given year). Prudence.
Material gain. Completion. Good fortune in material affairs. Favor and popularity.
Inheritance. A great increase in one’s financial standing. Gain of a fortune. Private concerns:
the pleasures of life, an inheritance, or one’s own interests. Unattainable agreement between the
spiritual and the material. Agreement. Future gain. Endeavors accomplished for the benefits
they will bring in the future. The mystic arts. Spiritual practices and gifts on a large scale.
Discretion. Circumspection. Discernment. Absolute equilibrium. Honesty. Positive action.
For the Querent it means “Go ahead, you will succeed.” Strong affirmative answer to questions.
The effect is certain. Safety. Success. Accomplishment. Certitude. Prompt fulfillment of what
is indicated by neighboring cards.
Reversed: The vermiform appendix, the back. Assorted dangers: thieves, Cancellations,
loss of home or of a friend. A need for caution. Differences of opinion.. Concealed or latent
plans. Dealing. Games involving money. Risky ventures. Chance. Fate. Gambling. Cards.
Dice, roulette. Big business. Deceit, bad faith. Artifice. Deception. A durable fortune.
Roguery. Voided project. Vain hopes.
c. The interrelationships between the Sephirah and the cards of the Tarot
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Both the Eights and the Nines, respectively associated with Hod and Yesod, have a great deal to do
with Magickal Workings and the fruits that come from them. The Nines also represent as well the
middle third of the last third of a season, the second decanate of the Mutable Signs Sagittarius, Pisces,
Gemini, and Virgo go. Like the Eights and the Tens, they represent the functions of intellect, perception,
memory, and emotions. Because Yesod is on the Middle Pillar of Consciousness of the Tree of Life, the
Nines also represent equilibrium and balance; and because Yesod receives the influence of Tiphareth
directly, without the mediation of any other Sephirah, the power of Yesod, represented by the Nines, is
enormous. Each of the Nines shows the full impact of the force of the Element in its most material sense,
or rather the idea of it, since Yesod is still in Yetzirah, the Formative World. In many traditions the
number 9 is considered a number of perfection, and is sacred, and that idea carries over into these cards.
The Nine of Wands, “Strength,” is ruled by the Moon. It represents at once the potential for change
in the heart of stability and the stability of the processes of change: “The only constant in this universe is
change.” Change is, from another point of view, energy or information. It is the intense energies of the
realm of quantum mechanics, the Strong Force of the atom, that holds everything together; constrained
into tight channels, these energies are thereby transmuted into matter, and thus the world comes into
being. From the point of view of information science, only the endless communication among the
components of reality makes reality a coherent whole. Or consider a bicycle: only by keeping the
bicycle’s wheels in rapid, continuous motion Cancer one keep one’s balance on the contraption. And if
one tries to draw a straight line, the task becomes impossible if one’s hand shakes. Hence “Change =
Stability,” which is the meaning of this card. The card is associated with Luna in Sagittarius. Luna rules
all the great changes of the world, the tides of life, while Sagittarius is a card of harnessed Fire, Fire
made to do work for the good of all. So here is all the power of that which causes Change in the most
fortunate of all Signs. To be sure, Luna has Her esoteric detriment in this Sign, and ordinarily that would
make Her very weak; but all the Planets are given great dignity in this Sign, which applies no less to
Luna, so that what would otherwise be a debility becomes great strength and good fortune.
The Nine of Cups is entitled “Happiness.” This is one of the best of all the cards, signifying great
good fortune. It is associated with Jupiter in Pisces, which Sign is one of the traditional dignities of
Jupiter, the Great Benefic. In Pisces Jupiter is in His strength and is in full harmony with the nature of
the Sign, so that only good Cancer come to pass from such a placement for Him. The Cups represent
love, and here the Divine Love signified by Jupiter is given one of its finest expressions. Even so, Pisces
represents Illusion and Deceit, and if one is not careful to take wise advantage of the benefits conferred
by Jupiter’s passage through this Sign, once He has left it for Aries those benefits may all disappear like
smoke on the wind, or a dream in the light of morning.
The Nine of Swords is called “Cruelty.” This card is associated with Mars in Gemini, in which Mars
falls, the ugliest aspects of His nature coming to the fore. As Crowley says, it represents agony of mind.
It shows “mind at the end of its tether,” lost in the depths of despair. Crowley says of it: “It is always a
cathedral – a cathedral of the damned.”* The mind is furiously active, but filled with the sense that for
all its striving, it will never get anywhere.
*Crowley, The Book of Thoth, op. cit., p. 186.
The Nine of Discs, Pentacles, or Coins is called “Gain.” This card is associated with Venus in Virgo
go, a Sign in which Venus has Her fall, the most acquisitive and greedy side of Her nature coming to the
fore. It represents the apotheosis of Gemütlichkeit, the feeling that “everything is for the best in this best
of all possible worlds.” It is a card of perfect material contentment and satisfaction, and all that these
entail, and material gain in great measure.
Key 13
Gimel g “Camel.” Trump II, the High Priestess. Luna ×. Cardinal value of 3, ordinal value of 3.
Connects Sephirah 1, Kether with Sephirah 6, Tiphareth. Roman/English equivalents: G, C.
a. Qaballistic Meanings and Theory

Page 11
According to the Yetziratic Text:
The Thirteenth Path is named the Uniting Intelligence, and is so called because it is
itself the Essence of Glory; it is the Consummation of Truth of individual spiritual
things.
This is an elegantly concise summary of the fundamental basis of spiritual reality: Unity = the
Essence of Glory = Truth. Moreover, this Path is on the direct line of contact between Spirit (Kether) and
Individuality (Tiphareth). It is part of what might be called the backbone or spinal column of the Tree of
Life, the long Path between Spirit and Earth, Kether and Malkuth, which, for purposes of analysis, are
split into three: the 32nd, 25th, and 13th Paths. The Atziluthic colors of all three of these Paths are the
same: the Blue of Love and Aspiration, darkening to indigo in the denser levels of Form.
The vertical line up the Tree is the Path of the Arrow, the Way of the Mystic, who seeks not the
manipulation of occult powers, but rather Union with God. The blue of the lower levels of this Way is
darker. The reason that the 32nd Path has the color indigo on the Atziluthic Scale is because that color is
associated with Saturn, the planet of Form and Limitation. One Cancer not, must not, undertake the Way
of the Mystic unless one is completely grounded in Form and has learned all its lessons. To try to ascend
to the higher realms before the lowest levels of the Tree of Life are mastered is cowardice, not holiness,
not saintliness but sin, a regression on the Path of Involution. Such a regression is a form of sorcery,
regardless of the wannabe mystic’s ostensible high intentions. In such a case, ‘holiness’ is used merely as
a way of escape, as a tool for personal use – i.e., as a means of blaspheming against { r a h y n d a
(Adonai ha-Aretz) – God inherent in the living world.
The Path of the Mystic ascends from Malkuth along the 32nd Path, the Gateway to the inner planes,
and passes through the Unconscious domain of Yesod. From Yesod the Mystical Way leads through the
‘wilderness’ of the 25th Path, the Intelligence of Probation, the first Dark Night of the Soul before the
golden dawn of Tiphareth is reached, and contact with the ‘God within’ is achieved. Even so, this
contact with Tiphareth is just the lowest aspect of the ‘God within,’ for this Path leads still further on,
right up to the ground of Spirit, Kether. This latter half of the Mystical Way is the 13 th Path, g (Gimel).
Gimel means “Camel,” a reminder that here is another Desert, a higher octave of the 25th Path, and
therefore the second Dark Night of the Soul. As the first Dark Night of the Soul might be termed a
symbolical crossing of the Gulf, so this second one indicates the way across the Abyss
For anyone who has taken up the “occult” way, developing the powers in action of the Individuality
in Earth, most, if not all, the excrescences should have been cleared away from his or her soul on the 19 th
Path, which links Geburah, Sephirah 5, with Chesed, Sephirah 4. For any such, making his or her way
across the Abyss from Chesed through Da’ath to Binah, he or she would undergo this experience yet
again, but this time more “by reason of the altitude of the Divine Wisdom,” which “exceeds the
comprehension of the soul,” than because of any “baseness and impurity.”
This way out of Chesed to Binah is known as the “secret silent Path.” It is called “secret” because it
does not appear on the traditional Tree of Life, and “silent” refers to its quality of “nothingness.” The
experience of this Secret Path is one of loneliness and desolation, the Path of Chiron and the Shaman. In
other words, it is the same as the Dark Night of the Soul encountered on the 13 th Path, which is to be
expected since both Paths are Ways across the Abyss, through the crepuscular realms of Da’ath. It is, in
fact, a final purification, one leading to the experience of the approaches to the final Union with God, the
Spiritual Experience of Kether.
In Qaballistic terms, this is the initiation known as “The Babe of the Abyss. “This is nothing that
Cancer be conferred by means of a simple ritual; rather, it is a condition attained only by means of years
of spiritual striving. At best, a so-called “initiation ceremony” on the physical plane Cancer only be a
triggering mechanism for getting a process started within a soul, and a confirmation of what has already
been achieved. Real initiation is a subjective realization which comes about as a result of a natural
process of growth; it is not a thing that Cancer be bought, sold, given, or received. By analogy, consider
graduation ceremonies and commencement rituals: they do not confer education or maturity upon the
graduate, but only serve to acknowledge what has already been accomplished and (it is hoped) to inspire
the graduate to go on to achieve great things in the real world. Even more to the point, consider a Marine
recruit going through Boot Camp and then getting advanced to PFC: this advancement on paper at best
only acknowledges whatever skills the new Marine has acquired in Boot Camp as well as his or her
potential for accomplishment in the field. Initiation isn’t merely a question of knowing a great number of
symbols and their traditional meanings. Instead, it is a state of being.
Page 12
The High Priestess of Tarot Trump II is frequently compared to Isis. There is a great deal of truth in
this comparison. The Silver Star of Crowley’s A∴A∴is the Star Sothis, or Sirius, the star sacred to Isis*
and attributed to the Sephirah Da’ath.** Isis is also associated with the Moon, the astrological ascription
of this Path.
*Also to Djehuti, Lord of Magick, Divination, Justice, and Wisdom.
**It is also the Star of the new Aeon of Horus, i.e., of the Age of Aquarius.
Now, the Moon is intimately connected with the Earth, as well as with the lower Astral, ruled by
Malkuth, Sephirah 10, and Yesod, Sephirah 9 on the Tree of Life. Luna is the Lord of Flux and Reflux,
and is as well an archetype of receptivity. Thus Da’ath is akin to Yesod; in fact, Da’ath could be called
a higher octave of Yesod. In terms of the ascent of the Tree of Life, Da’ath is a gateway to Outer Space:
Sothis or Sirius, associated with Gimel, is the extra-Solar body most closely connected with this Solar
System.* Descending the Tree, however, looking at things entirely from the point of view of the living
Solar System, the Lunar aspect of Da’ath has to do with the fundamental working of the laws of cyclic
action and polarity. The close analogy to the lower Astral is also important, for the latter has two
aspects: it unites all things in Earth, and it holds them in dense physical existence. It is evasion of these
two factors that constitutes the bulk of mortal troubles, obvious in the chaotic state of the world today;
the causes are denial of the unity of all things, the sin of separation, and refusal to face Earthly reality.
*Actually, though Sirius is only about 8 light-years away from us, there are several Stars even closer.
The closest is Alpha Centauri, Sagittarius A, a Star rather like our own Sun in many respects, and
one which may harbor carbon-based life similar to our own world’s. Sirius, on the other hand, is a
young, hot blue Star that will probably end as a supernova, and which is unlikely to have Earth-like
Planets with terrestroid life-forms. While Sirius has long been recognized for its occult influence,
there is no reason that any other Star doesn’t have some sort of influence on us, however small or
strange, and this surely goes for all those Stars closer to us than Sirius.
According to Qaballistic theory, this wholesale deviation from spiritual reality resulted in the
formation of the Gulf and the Abyss. It is these two obstacles along the line of contact between Spirit
and Earth that cause most of the trouble, and result in unpleasant experiences of both of these Dark
Nights of the soul. However, the repercussions of these blockages go further than just giving mystics a
bad time, for they also play an important part in all world conditions, especially in the area of sexuality
and relationships of all kinds.
The human Spirit is androgynous and thus any attempt to deny the conditions of existence in Earth
manifests as an urge for Independence. This, it is true, is the virtue of Yesod, but an exaggerated or
compulsive manifestation of a virtue results in a Vice. So we may have the androgynous Da’ath state of
the Spirit attempting to exert itself in the lower analogue of Da’ath, Yesod. This means an inability to
form any satisfactory relationship, particularly a sexual one. There is no such thing as independence in
the physical universe; all are related and complementary to each other, bound together on the one hand
by the etheric Machinery of the Universe, and on the other hand unified in Love in Earth to the degree
that spiritual redemption is achieved. Where Love is missing, one has only the mechanics of sex,
enslaved by the false image of androgynous independence. “Independence” shouldn’t be regarded as a
dirty word, and is in fact often necessary. The problem arises from compulsive behavior and appetites.
Such things may first arise out of what seem at the time to be the highest of motives, aspirations,
and ideals; but when they become compulsive, they turn deadly. This is particularly so on a group level
in the inhuman, depersonalized bureaucratic government of any large, organized social unit, the
functioning of which depends upon adherence to a book of rules rather than the dynamic initiative of
individual human beings. This applies to private business corporations as well as government
departments: no one has a monopoly on inhumanity. A red hot coal will burn the hand that picks it up,
however commendable the motives involved. The Laws of any plane are paramount upon that plane, so
one shouldn’t try to rise onto a plane until the laws of that plane one is on are mastered.
Page 13
The letter of this Path, Gimel, Cancer be likened to a cosmic battery, the two Yods at top and bottom
being terminals of the battery. If the power is suddenly switched through the line in between, the channel
must be capable of standing up to it. Thus the contacts of higher mystical experience should not be
attempted until life in Malkuth, the real world of the Outer Planes, has been mastered. Above all, this
requires acceptance and full control of the forces and conditions of the dense physical universe. 11
Far Eastern cosmological associations:
Yin. Silver. The Female.
Line: Yin
––
The Qaballistic associations for this Path include the following:
Astrological: Luna
Qlippoth: Gargophias. This name should be vibrated or “howled” in the key of G Sharp. Her sigil
should be painted in silver on a black circle. Her number is 393, which is allied to the numbers
392 and 933. Just as Gimel is associated with AL, its Qlippothic shadow or Tunnel of Set is
concerned with LA. Traditionally, l a y l m g (Gamaliel, the Obscene Ass) is the Regent of
Hell or Demon associated with Gimel.
Colors: blue; silver; cold pale blue; and silver, rayed sky-blue.
Gods:
Egyptian: Hathor; Chomse; Djehuti; Isis

Greek: Artemis, Hekate, Persephone (as the Maiden Koré)
Roman: Selene, Luna
United States of America: Liberty, Freedom
Revolutionary France: Liberté
Hindu: Chandra, Kali, Shiva, Chandi, Parvati, Durga
Norse:
Haitian Voudon:
Jewish: Queen Shabbat; the Archangel Gabriel
Christian associations: Mary, Mother of God; Laodicea
Buddhist Meditation: Loathsomeness of Food
Precious stones: moonstone, pearl, crystal, coral
Plants, real and imaginary: almond, mugwort, hazel, moonwort, ranunculus, aloe, white ginger
Animals, real and imaginary: dog, cat, Woman, camel
Magickal Powers: the White Tincture, Clairvoyance, Divination by Dreams
Mineral drugs: silver nitrate (in homeopathic dilutions of not less than 1022 parts pure water to one of
silver nitrate)
Plant-derived drugs: juniper, pennyroyal, all emmenogogues
Perfumes: menstrual blood, camphor, aloes; all sweet, virginal odors

Page 14
Magickal Weapons: the Bow and Arrows
Lineal figure: the Enneagram (9-pointed Star), Nonagon (9-sided regular polygon), Triskedekagram
(13-pointed Star), a regular polygon of 13 sides, etc.
Musical note: G Sharp
Trigrams of the I Ching:
b. Design and Title of Trump
The High Priestess of Trump II is a memorial for two medieval legends, that of Pope Joan, and that
of the Visconti Papess.
The Visconti Papess, Sister Manfreda, was elected by the Guglielmites, an Italian religious sect. One
of their beliefs concerned the sect’s founder, Guglielma of Bohemia, who died in 1281 e.v. but
supposedly would be resurrected in 1300 e.v. on the Feast of Pentecost, initiating a new age wherein
women would be Popes, rather than men. In preparation for this, the Guglielmites nominated Manfreda
Visconti to be their papess. However, when Sister Manfreda was burned at the stake in 1300 e.v., that
Scorpio tched the idea of a female Pope for quite awhile.
On the other hand, the legend of Pope Joan has exerted a powerful effect on the European
imagination since the late 13th Century. The first popular report of Pope Joan was in 1282 e.v., in the
writings of Martin Polonus. According to Polonus, after the death of Pope Leo IV (c. 855 e.v.), one John
Anglus, a native of Metz, was elected to the throne of St. Peter, remaining Pope for two years, five
months, and four days. It was discovered that this Pope was in fact a woman when, on a procession from
St. Peter’s to the Lateran, she collapsed as a result of the process of childbirth. At this point, the story
becomes somewhat vague. Either Pope Joan was torn to pieces by the enraged mob, who thought they’d
been conned (after all, the election of a woman to the office of Pope was at the time a dire sacrilege), or
else she died in childbirth. In either case, it was a great story. Many were all too eager to believe the
worst of Rome and of the Popes, a it was, and the legend of Pope Joan simply confirmed their most
delightfully evil imaginings about the Vatican . However, there is just one tiny flaw in the story: after
the death of Leo IV, only one and a half months elapsed before the consecration of Pope Benedict III, for
the coronation as Pope of whom a wealth of high dependable evidence exists.
Another source for the story may have been Crusaders returning from the Middle East who brought
back the story of “The Fisherman’s Wife” from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. In this story, the
fisherman’s wife asked for several things from a miraculous Flounder she found among the rest of her
husband’s catch: that she become Empress (granted), then that she become Pope (granted), and finally
that she become God. At that point the pious Flounder returned her, by the same Magickal means as
before, to the humble cottage wherein she had first conceived her delusions about assuming the power
and grandeur of God. If this is the true origin of the story, it explains the lack of any real historical
existence for the existence of a medieval female Pope; the story, once spread to the people of Europe by
the returning soldiers, would have undergone the inevitable transmutations which always attends the
reception of one culture’s stories by another, vastly different culture, ultimately taking the form of the
story of a disguised female Pope.
Knowledge of these legends was readily available to the early designers of the Tarot. Sister
Manfreda was immortalized in the Bembo Tarot cards, which were painted for her distant relative,
Bianca Maria Visconti, now preserved in the Pierpont Morgan Library; it is her face which looks
longingly towards Heaven in the card of the Papess in the Visconti Tarot. As for Pope Joan, she became
something of an ecclesiastical joke, turning up in the writings of many Church Fathers anxious to prove
or disprove the story, according to their beliefs. Later on, she appears in the novel Pope Joan by
Emmanuel Royidis, which was translated into English by Lawrence Durrell.
Whatever the ultimate sources of the story, it continues to exert a strong influence on Tarot design.
The design of The High Priestess is one of the strongest of the all the Major Arcana in both Waite’s and
Crowley’s packs, though in both she actually represents the High Priestess of the Eleusinian Mysteries,
Persephone as the bride of Hades (Whose Planet is Pluto, associated with Kether, the upper terminus of
this Path), as well as Isis and other Lunar Great Mother Goddesses.
The following are the various designs for this card:
Page 15
Bembo: A nun, wearing the triple crown and the habit of the Umiliata Order, holding a breviary or
Bible in her left hand. This card, dating from about 1450 e.v., may be the earliest
representation of the Papess in the Tarot.
Swiss: Juno, standing with her peacock.* In many Tarot packs of Southern France, the Papess was
replaced by Juno in order to avoid giving offense to the Church.
*The peacock is a symbol of the Sign Aquarius. See footnote, below, for America’s Tarot.
Insight: A high priestess of Isis, seated on a throne, flanked by lotus pillars. She holds a partially
visible scroll bearing the legend “Torah,” meaning the first few books of the Old Testament and
the Law of Deuteronomy. On her breast is a Solar cross; at her feet is a waxing crescent Moon.
On the pillar to her right the word Boaz, signifying negation, is partially visible; on that to her
left is the word Jachin, meaning “Beginning.”
Marseille: A seated female Pope, wearing the triple crown. She has an open Bible on her lap.
Wirth: Similar to the traditional, with the addition of a crescent Moon to the crown of the high
priestess. In addition, she holds the Keys of St. Peter.
Waite: A priestess of Isis, the Solar cross upon her breast and the waxing crescent Moon beneath her
left foot. She sits between the pillars Boaz and Jachin, in front of a screen decorated with
pomegranates. In her lap is a rolled-up Torah scroll. On her head is a crown symbolizing the
waxing, waning, and full Moon and, by extension, the Great Triple Goddess (Maiden, Matron,
and Crone).
B.O.T.A.: Like Waite’s, except that the pillars between which the priestess sits are lotus buds rather
than opened flowers, signifying that she is a Virgo gin, symbolizing latent or undeveloped
powers.
Aquarius arian: A pensive priestess sits in front of a curtain upon which are figures of
pomegranates. In her left hand are several flowers. Two rods stand on her left, signifying Boaz
and Jachin.
Crowley: Isis enthroned. She is Isis because in her lap are the bow and arrows of the Virgo gin
Goddess Diana (the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess). On her head is the crown of Isis.
Between her and the viewer is a screen, in front of which are grapes, a lotus, crystals, a cone,
and a camel.
New: Retitled “The Mother,” this card shows a nearly naked woman standing between the two
pillars, one of which is light and the other dark. In her upraised left hand is a lotus, and in her
right is a lightning bolt. Between her breasts is a seven-pointed Star. She is crowned with a
double-headed snake. Above her head is the Sign of Aquarius.
America’s Tarot: Lady Liberty, ghost-over. Haji Ali the Camel-Driver, leading a train of camels
across the deserts of the American South-West. Sojourner Truth. Article II of the Bill of rights.
The Divine Comedy Tarot:
Biblical Tarot:
John Burt’s MAD Tarot: Moxie Cowznowski, with a pillow stuffed into the front of her jeans.
The Robert A. Heinlein Tarot: A montage of scenes from “The Man Who Sold the Moon,”
“Requiem,” The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Rocket Ship Galileo.
Page 16
The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot:
The Stephen King Tarot:
The R. R. McCammon Tarot:
c. Divinatory Meanings
Upright: Alternate titles: “The Priestess of the Silver Star” (Crowley), “The Crown of Beauty” (the
Golden Dawn). Memory. The unconscious mind. The Collective Unconscious (another link
with Hades, husband of Persephone). A high priestess. The possibility of form. A Goddess of
Fertility. Fertility as an attribute. Pure, exalted, and gracious influence. Change, alternation,
tides, fluctuation, flux, increase and decrease (in any astrological chart, Luna rules changes of
all kind; like Saturn, the progressed Moon manifests form and is a ruler of Time). A liability to
be overcome by enthusiasm. Potential. Inspiration. Revelation. Divination. Intuition. A wise
or prophetic woman giving good advice. The beginning of sovereignty and beauty. The
Primum Mobile acting through the Moon upon the Sun. The occult. Intuition. The forces of
nature. Safety. Power over events. A revealing of something hidden. Certainty triumphing
over evil. Doors opening, new opportunities. Psychic abilities. Astral projection. Primordial
instincts. The path of secrecy or silence. Desolation. Nothingness. Purification. The
acceptance of absolute despair. Illumination. Spiritual enlightenment. Science. Wisdom.
Knowledge. Education. Wise adaptation of Solar power. Enlightenment brought to a
previously unillumined mind. A link between the Unmanifest (Kether) and phenomenal reality.
A woman of authority, with the powers of persuasion. God the Woman or the Divine Mother.
The eternal feminine. Constancy. Fidelity. Repose. Stability. Endurance. Art and artistic
ability. Wealth. The Masonic Lodge. The formative. The healing. Nature’s great Web of
Life. The World Wide Web. Internet. Destiny. Kismet. Moira. The spiritual bride and
mother. The Queen of the Borrowed Light. The cohabiting glory. Supernal understanding and
indwelling glory. Pregnancy. Gestation. Secrets. Mystery. The future as yet unrevealed.
Silence. Tenacity. Justice, especially divine justice (with reference to the fact that this Path
passes through Da’ath; also, Djehuti, the Egyptian Lord of Justice and Wisdom, rules the
Moon). Transmutation. The Black Dragon of Alchemy.
Reversed: The physical Moon, and by extension a Moon of any Planet or a satellite of any larger
primary body. A camel. Blood plasma and its fractions; the brain; the left eye of a man, the
right eye of a woman; lungs; lymph (the fluid); spinal fluid; the stomach; the uterus.
Emotional instability or enslavement. Lack of foresight. Reluctance to take advice, which gives
rise to serious problems. Conceit. Sensuality. Superficiality. Intuition or psychic perception
blocked or destroyed by hostility, hypocrisy, or some other negative influence. A Virgo gin. An
outgoing woman. A woman with many lovers. A prostitute. A vampire. Decadence.
Cynicism. Ignorance. Incompetence. Superficial knowledge. Lack of skill, dyslexia, lack of
coordination, etc. Dumbness, laziness, resistance. Passive opposition. Passion. Moral or
physical ardor.
d. Interrelationships of the Path and the Trump
This card is associated with Luna and all the Lunar Gods and Goddesses from the Babylonian Shin
and the Hindu Kali and Shiva to today’s Lady Liberty. In earlier versions of this card, the concern was
with the Spirit of Nature above the Abyss; the High Priestess is the first card connecting the Supernals
with the Sephiroth below the Abyss, and this Path makes a direct connection between the Father in his
highest aspect, Kether, and the Son in his most perfect manifestation, Tiphareth. Part of the Central
Pillar of Consciousness, in exact balance with the Pillars of Severity and Mercy, this Path represents the
purest and most exalted idea of the Moon (at the other end of the same scale is Trump XVIII, The Moon,
associated with the Sign Pisces, the lower Astral and the Qlippoth).
This card represents the most spiritual form of the Great Triple Goddess, Artemis of the Greeks,
clothed only in luminous veils of Light. In terms of the higher initiations, Light should be regarded not
as the perfect manifestation of Spirit, but rather as the veil hiding that Spirit, doing so all the more
effectively because of its dazzling brilliance. Thus the High Priestess is light, and the body of light, the
Page 17
truth behind the veil of light, the soul of light. Upon her knees is Artemis’ bow, for she is the Divine
Huntress, Hunting by enchantment. The bow is also, however, the framework of a lyre or lute, for the
highest form of enchantment is through music.
From behind the Veil of Light, the third Veil of the Three Negatives (Ain, Ain Soph, and Ain Soph
Aur), matrix of manifestation, the Goddess Nuit, the potential for Form, this first, most spiritual
manifestation of the Feminine takes unto herself a corresponding masculinity by formulating from within
herself a geometrical point from which to begin manifesting potentiality. She is the idea behind all form.
As soon as the influence of the Supernals, through her, descends below the Abyss, that idea is made
complete in the form of concrete reality.
She is the Moon, Who, in every astrological chart, represents change and manifestation, Time, Form,
and Completion. She indicates birth, death, and every important life-change in between. She is Womb
and Tomb – and the Opened Tomb from whence issues forth the redeemed, resurrected Soul, reborn in
the Light of God. Maiden, Mother, and Crone, it is she who births life, sees it through its infancy and
youth, and lays it in the tomb at the last. She is fertility – and death, made necessary by that fertility,
without which there could be no creativity, nothing new in the world. She kills so that Life may continue
and realize all its potentials; she heals, that its mortal wounds shall not be fatal. She is the Womb of
God and the indwelling Wisdom, Sophia, of the power behind that Womb. She is Persephone, linking
Hades, Kether, to new life and the possibility of Redemption, Tiphareth. She is Divine Justice, restoring
the Balance of the World by means of judicious selective pressure. She is, in short, the Soul of Gaia,
who counters every negative impact on our living world’s life and well-being by means of the
development of new strategies for Life to use to continue itself in the face of an ever-changing,
dangerous Universe.
Above all, she is Liberty, the Great Mother Goddess of Exiles and the Polyglot Universe of North
America, who breaks all chains, provides hope and a new start for even the most down-trodden.
Luna, as the Foundation of Life and the High Priestess, associated with Kali, ELITh,* Eris, Isis, and
all other Great Goddesses and Their various Aspects, is the ultimate mediator between the Creator and
Creation, the Light of Life without which we and the rest of our living world would not exist. So the
First Lady, even more than the President (unless, of course, she is the President), is the mediator between
the highest aspects of God and that which nourishes and sustains our nation and its people.
*For more about ELITh, see Volume 3, Book 10, Part 1 of New Magicks for a New Age, “The Esoteric
Significance of the Star Algol.”
Page 18
9. Article: “Goodbye, All That: How Left Idiocies Drove Me to Flee” by Ron Rosenbaum
October 11, 2002, 11:27 PM
Goodbye, All That: How Left Idiocies Drove Me to Flee

by Ron Rosenbaum
So I went up to the antiwar demonstration in Central Park this weekend, hoping to

hear some persuasive arguments. After a couple of hours there, listening to speeches,
reading the hate-America literature, I still don’t know what to think about Iraq — will
an attack open a Pandora’s box, or close one? — but I think I know what I feel about
this antiwar movement, or at least many of the flock who showed up in the Sheep
Meadow.
A movement of Marxist fringe groups and people who are unable to make moral
distinctions. An inability summed up by a man holding a big poster that proudly
identified him as “NYC TEACHER.” The lesson “NYC TEACHER” had for the day
was that “BUSH IS A DEVIL … HANDS OFF NORTH KOREA, IRAQ,
AFGHANISTAN …. “
Yes, Bush is “a devil” compared to those enlightened regimes that torture and
murder dissidents (like “NYC TEACHER”). Bush is certainly “a devil” compared to
enlightened leaders like Kim Jong Il, who has reduced the North Korean people in his
repulsive police state to eating moss on rocks; or to Saddam Hussein, who tortures and
gasses opponents, and starves his people to fund his germ-war labs; or to the Taliban in
Afghanistan, who beat women into burqas. Yes, surely compared to them, Bush is “a
devil.” Thank God New York’s schoolchildren are in such good hands.
Back in 1929, Robert Graves published a memoir with the endlessly evocative title
Good-Bye to All That. He was leaving England, saying goodbye to a society he felt was
deeply implicated, however triumphant, in the horrors he’d witnessed firsthand in the
trenches of the First World War.
Goodbye to all that. The phrase occurred to me when I heard the sad news that
Christopher Hitchens was leaving The Nation. Sad more for The Nation, a magazine
I’ve read on and off since high school, now deprived of an important dissenting voice
amidst lockstep Left opinion. Mr. Hitchens was valuable to The Nation, to the Left as
a whole, I argued back on Jan. 14 in these pages, because he challenged “the Left to
recognize the terrorists not as somewhat misguided spokesmen for the wretched of the
earth, but as ‘Islamo-fascists’ — theocratic oppressors of the wretched of the earth.” He
was leaving in part, he said, because he’d grown tired of trying to make this case in a
venue that had become what he called “an echo chamber of those who believe that John
Ashcroft is a greater menace than Osama bin Laden.”
The Nation still has assets of course: the incomparable polymath literary critic,
John Leonard; the fierce polemical intelligence of Katha Pollit, which I admire however
much I might disagree with her; some serious investigative reporters. And recently
Jack Newfield, who long ago co-authored an important book on the populist tradition
— still a faint hope for a non-Marxist Left in America.
But Mr. Hitchens’ loss is a loss not just for the magazine, but for the entire Left;
it’s important that America have an intelligent opposition, with a critique not dependent
on knee-jerk, neo-Marxist idiocy. And it’s important that potential constituents of that
opposition, like Nation readers, be exposed to a brilliant dissenter like Christopher
Hitchens.
And the level of idiocy one finds in knee-jerk Left oppositionalism is sometimes
astonishing. I’d like to focus on two particular examples that have led me to want to
say my own goodbye-to-all-that as well.
Before I get into the two idiocies that tipped the scale for me, I want to make clear
that saying goodbye to idiocies on the Left doesn’t mean becoming a conservative, neo-
or otherwise. I think I made that clear in a column published here on Jan. 28 of this
year, “Where Was the Values Crowd When Dr. King Needed Them?” In that column, I
Page 19
argued that just as the Left had failed to come to terms with its history of indifference
to (at best) and support for (at worst) genocidal Marxist regimes abroad, the Right has
failed to come to terms with its history of indifference to (at best) and support for (at
worst) racism and racist political allies here at home.
It’s ironic, considering what I’m about to write, that I got a nice note from that
hard-core Old Red folkie, Pete Seeger, thanking me for my Dr. King column. But you
know, I still Cancer understand people like Pete Seeger joining the Party back in the
30’s during the Depression, when it looked like unregulated capitalism had cruelly
immiserated America, when racism and lynchings reigned down South and it looked
(looked, I said) as if the Soviet Union was the only force willing to stand up to Hitler.
But to cling to Marxism now, after all we’ve learned in the past 50 years — not just
about the Soviet Union, but China and Cambodia … ?
I must confess that my own learning curve was on the slow side, having grown up
reading The Nation and The New Republic and believing that the evils of Soviet
Communism were a figment of J. Edgar Hoover’s imagination. My slow learning
curve had a lot to do as well with coming of age during the Vietnam War and covering
antiwar demonstrations, where I found myself seduced by the brilliant Groucho
Marxism of Abbie Hoffman (I still miss his anarchic spirit). And (more culpably) I was
fascinated by the Dostoevskian moral absolutism of the Weather Underground,
although never, thank God, by the pretensions of Marxism to be a “science of history.”
I still identify myself as a contrarian, libertarian, pessimist, secular-humanist, anti-
materialist liberal Democrat who distrusts the worship of “the wisdom of the market.”
Someone who was outraged (and outspoken in these pages) about the Bush-Baker
election tactics in Florida, for instance. But not stupid enough to think we’d be better
off with Al Gore as President now; not stupid enough to think Al Gore is smart. (See
my Nov. 6, 2000, column, “Al’s Screwy Scrawlings Cancer ‘t Pass for Intelligence”).
Anyway, all this is a preface to the Tale of Two Idiocies that has led to my own
goodbye-to-all-that moment.
Let’s begin with the little idiocy, the later one, because I think it was the straw that
broke the camel’s back. In fact, I think I came across it shortly before I had heard of
Mr. Hitchens’ farewell. One irony of it is that this little bit of idiocy was penned by a
former Hitchens acolyte, a sometime Nation writer now living in London who appended
a cruel little addendum to what ostensibly was a review, in London’s Times Literary
Supplement, of Tom Hanks’ Road to Perdition.
At the close of an uninspired review of an uninspired film (How many times must
wannabe intellectuals quote Robert Warshow when speaking of gangster films?
Shouldn’t there be some kind of statute of limitations?), the writer graces us with this
final reflection: “Still, if Road to Perdition ultimately fails as entertainment, it offers
rich material for allegory. Maybe it was because I attended a screening on Sept. 11,
but I couldn’t help seeing Hanks as an American everyman, a pure-hearted killer who
will commit no end of mayhem to ensure a better life for his children. Imagine Willie
Loman with a tommy gun, and you’ll see what I mean. ‘You dirty rats! Attention must
be paid.’”
But of course! What a brilliant point he’s making in the course of preening his anti-
American ism before his audience of U.K. intellectuals. What does Sept. 11 remind
him of? The way American s are killers. Sept. 11 becomes, in his lovely leap of logic,
really about American s being pure-hearted killers capable of “no end of mayhem,”
infinite evil deeds. Doesn’t everybody think that way? (Everybody in his little circle, I
imagine). Sept. 11 reminds them that American s are first and foremost murderers, so
let’s not spend a moment acknowledging that little matter of Sept. 11 being a day on
which 3,000 American s were murdered by the “pure-hearted killers” of Al Qaeda.
Who, when not committing mass murder, stone women as punishment, torture gays,
crush free thought by executing dissidents. No, they get a pass (and the 3,000 become
non-persons).Because they hate America, they must be for liberation, and so we Cancer
‘t blame them; we must accuse ourselves of being killers. In fact, we should thank
them for providing our witty writer with an occasion for reminding the world that the
“American everyman” is a killer.
Page 20
That one paragraph is a useful compression of the entire post-9/11 idiocy of one
wing of the Left. That’s what Sept. 11 has come to mean to much of the Left: a wake-
up call for American self-hatred. Mr. Hitchens was one of the few who challenged
that consensus.
But when I say goodbye-to-all-that, it’s a goodbye that’s been brewing ever since
the Really Big Idiocy, the one I encountered barely a month after Sept. 11, from a
more illustrious figure on the Left, an academic Left paragon.
It was a mixed gathering with a heavy representation of Left academics, and people
were going around the room and speaking about the attacks and the response. Over and
over, one heard variations on the theme of, “Gee, it’s terrible about all those people
who died in the towers and all” — that had already become the pro forma
disclaimer/preface for America-bashing — “but maybe it’s a wake-up call for us to
recognize how bad we are, Why They Hate Us.” The implication was evident: We
deserved it. It would be a salutary lesson. It was the Pat Robertson wing of the Left in
full flower: Sinful America deserved this Judgment from the sky. Crocodile tears
could be shed for those people who died in the towers, but those buildings were so ugly,
they were such eyesores, they were a symbol of globalist hubris — it was as if the
terrorists who flew the planes into the towers were really architectural critics, flying
Herbert Muschamps, not mass murderers.
No, we must search for the “root causes,” the reasons to blame the victims for their
unfortunate but symbolically appropriate deaths. And on and on, until I felt myself
already beginning to say goodbye to the culture that produced this kind of cruel,
lockstep thinking. Until finally, the coup de grâce — the Big Idiocy, the idiocy di tutti
idiocies. It came from the very well-respected and influential academic, who said that
there was at least one thing that was to be welcomed about 9/11: It might give
American s the impetus to do “what the Germans had done in the 60’s” — make an
honest reassessment of their past and its origins, as a way to renewal.
Reassessment of our past: Clearly he was speaking admiringly of the 60’s
generation in Germany coming to terms with its Nazi past, with Germany’s embrace of
Hitler.
At that point, having sat silently through an accumulation of self-hating anti-
American ism, I couldn’t take it any more. I’m not a demonstrative patriot; I don’t
believe in putting God in the Pledge of Allegiance, for instance. I don’t believe in
making people pledge at all — there’s something collectivist about it. But this last was
too much: We should be grateful for 9/11 because it would allow us to reassess our
shameful, even Nazi-like, past?
“Isn’t there an implicit analogy you’re making between America and Nazi
Germany?” I asked. “It’s just an analogy,” he said. Well, goodbye to all that, goodbye
to the entire mind-set behind it: the inability to distinguish America’s sporadic
blundering depredations (dissent from which was sometimes successful) from
“Germany’s past,” Hitlerism. It was “just an analogy.” O.K., then, let me make an
analogy here, one that I believe goes to the “root cause” of Left idiocy of this sort.
The analogy that occurred to me grew out of a conversation I had several years ago
with the philosopher Berel Lang, author of Act and Idea in the Nazi Genocide, a talk
that took place in the course of researching my book, Explaining Hitler. Mr. Lang is
an extremely thoughtful and meticulous thinker on the question of degrees of evil, and
the role of intentionality in determining them. He was speaking about the question of
whether one could say there was “a history of evil” — whether Hitler represented a new
fact, a new landmark in that history, and if so, what the next step might be.
I suggested the “next step” might be Holocaust denial, because the deniers had
found a diabolical way to twist the knife, compounding the pain of the survivors by
negating and slandering the memory of the murdered.
Mr. Lang demurred, because he had his own notion of what the next step in the
history of evil might be. The paradigm for it, he told me, was the postwar career of
Martin Heidegger, the Nazi-friendly philosopher beloved to distraction by
postmodernists (and Hannah Arendt). All of whom apologized for him, despite an
increasingly damning series of revelations that disclosed his toadying to Hitler’s thugs
Page 21
in order to attain professional advancement, hailing Hitler’s Reich as the ultimate

synthesis of politics and his philosophy.
But that wasn’t what made Heidegger a new chapter, Mr. Lang said; it was his
astonishing postwar behavior. After everything came out, after it was no longer
possible to deny at least post facto knowledge of the Holocaust, nothing changed for
Heidegger. He felt no need to incorporate what happened into his philosophy. “His
silence,” Mr. Lang said, “it wasn’t even denial. For him, it wasn’t important! It wasn’t
important …. Now if you ask which of them is worse … the Revisionists [Holocaust
deniers] deny it occurred, but their official position, at least, is that if it occurred, it
would have been wrong. But Heidegger knows it occurred, but it’s just not important
— it’s not something to distort history to deny. For Heidegger, this is not history to
concern oneself with.”
Not history to concern oneself with ….
Here’s the analogy: Heidegger’s peculiar neutrality-slash-denial about Nazism and
the Holocaust after the facts had come out, and the contemporary Left’s curious
neutrality-slash-denial after the facts had come out about Marxist genocides — in
Russia, in China, in Cambodia, after 20 million, 50 million, who knows how many
millions had been slaughtered. Not all of the Left; many were honorable opponents.
But for many others, it just hasn’t registered, it just hasn’t been incorporated into their
“analysis” of history and human nature; it just hasn’t been factored in. America is still
the one and only evil empire. The silence of the Left, or the exclusive focus of the
Left, on America’s alleged crimes over the past half-century, the disdainful sneering at
America’s deplorable “Cold War mentality” — none of this has to be reassessed in light
of the evidence of genocides that surpassed Hitler’s, all in the name of a Marxist
ideology. An ideology that doesn’t need to be reassessed. As if it was maybe just an
accident that Marxist-Leninist regimes turned totalitarian and genocidal. No
connection there. The judgment that McCarthyism was the chief crime of the Cold War
era doesn’t need a bit of a rethink, even when put up against the mass murder of
dissidents by Marxist states.
The point is, all empires commit crimes; in the past century, ours were by far the
lesser of evils. But this sedulous denial of even the possibility of misjudgment in the
hierarchy of evils protects and insulates this wing of the Left from an inconvenient
reconsideration of whether America actually is the worst force on the planet. This blind
spot, this stunning lack of historical perspective, robs much of the American Left of
intellectual credibility. And makes it easy for idiocies large and small to be uttered
reflexively. (Perhaps the suggestion I recently saw on the Instapundit.com Web site
calling for an “Anti-Idiotarian” party might be appropriate.)
Recently I saw the strangest documentary, a film with a title that sounds like a
Woody Allen joke: Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary. It’s a New York Film Festival pick
and well worth seeing, just for the example of willed, obtuse blindness on the part of
the secretary when she claims that she was insulated from all the terrible things
happening during the war. But even Hitler’s secretary — unlike Heidegger, unlike the
knee-jerk anti-American Left — feels the need to make some gesture of dismay at her
“blind spot” in retrospect. But not the know-it-alls of the Left, who have never been
wrong about anything since they adopted Marxism as their cult in college. What would
the harm be in admitting that one didn’t know as much at in college as history has
Taurus ght us now?
But noooo … (as John Belushi liked to say). Instead, we get evasions and tortuous
rationalizations like the Slavoj Zizêk zigzag: This extremely fashionable postmodern
Marxist academic will concede the tens of millions murdered by Stalin, etc., but it’s
“different” from the millions murdered by Hitler, because the Soviet project was built
on good intentions, on utopian aspirations; the tens of millions dead were an
unfortunate side effect, a kind of unfortunate, accidental departure from the noble
Leninist path that still must be pursued.
It’s sad, though, because one senses that Mr. Hitchens forced a lot of people on the
Left to confront their blind spot, their on-bended-knee obeisance to anyone in the Third
World who posed as a “liberator,” from Mao to Castro to Arafat and the Taliban. This
was why Mr. Hitchens was so valuable and hopeful in the immediate aftermath of 9/11,
Page 22
hammering away at the point that the Islamo-fascists weren’t friends of the oppressed,
they were oppressors — of women, gays, poets and all dissenters.
But now, a year later, it seems that despite Mr. Hitchens and a few other voices,
such as Todd Gitlin’s, the blind-spot types have won out on the Left — the blind spot to
Marxist genocide obscuring any evil but America’s. You could see it at the Sheeps
Meadow. You Cancer see it in the hysterical seizure on Enron and other corporate
sCancer dals: See, we were right all along — corporations and businessmen are
(surprise!) greedheads. This excuses averting their eyes from anti-American terrorism
— from people and regimes preparing to kill American s rather than merely diminish
their 401(k)’s. Enron was the fig leaf many on the American Left needed to return to
their customary hatred of America. Because America isn’t perfect, it must be evil.
Because Marxist regimes make claims of perfection, they must be good.
So, for my part, goodbye to all that. Goodbye to a culture of blindness that
tolerates, as part of “peace marches,” women wearing suicide-bomber belts as bikinis.
(See the accompanying photo of the “peace” march in Madrid. “Peace” somehow
doesn’t exclude blowing up Jewish children.)
Goodbye to the brilliant thinkers of the Left who believe it’s the very height of wit
to make fun of George W. Bush’s intelligence — thereby establishing, of course, how
very, very smart they are. Mr. Bush may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer (I
think he’s more ill-informed and lazy than dumb). But they are guilty of a historical
stupidity on a far greater scale, in their blind spot about Marxist genocides. It’s a
failure of self-knowledge and intellectual responsibility that far outweighs Bush’s,
because they’re supposed to be so very smart.
Goodbye to paralysis by moral equivalence: Remind me again, was it John
Ashcroft or Fidel Castro who put H.I.V. sufferers in concentration camps?
Goodbye to the deluded and pathetic sophistry of postmodernists of the Left, who
believe their unreadable, jargon-clotted theory-sophistry somehow helps liberate the
wretched of the earth. If they really believe in serving the cause of liberation, why
don’t they quit their evil-capitalist-subsidized jobs and go teach literacy in a Third
World starved for the insights of Foucault?
Goodbye to people who have demonstrated that what terror means to them is the
terror of ever having to admit they were wrong, the terror of allowing the hideous facts
of history to impinge upon their insulated ideology. Goodbye to all those who have
evidently adopted as their own, a version of the simpering motto of the movie Love
Story. Remember “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”? I guess today, Left
means never having to say you’re sorry.
This column ran on page 1 in the 10/14/2002 edition of The New York Observer.
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8. Luna’s Qaballistic Associations

Sephirah 9, Yesod, “Foundation.” Sphere of × (Luna).

The Qaballistic assignments for Yesod include the following:

MAGICKAL IMAGE: A beautiful naked man, very strong

MUNDANE CHAKRA: Luna

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to

The commandment associated with Yesod is

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Exodus 20:16, Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version

According to the Yetziratic Text,

Upright meaning: Entitled “Strength.” Luna in Sagittarius. The second decanate of

Order, discipline, good arrangement, disposition. Realization of success. Continuous success.

*Crowley, The Book of Thoth, op. cit., p. 186.

a. Qaballistic Meanings and Theory

According to the Yetziratic Text:

*Also to Djehuti, Lord of Magick, Divination, Justice, and Wisdom.

Far Eastern cosmological associations:

Yin. Silver. The Female.

The Qaballistic associations for this Path include the following:

Egyptian: Hathor; Chomse; Djehuti; Isis

Christian associations: Mary, Mother of God; Laodicea

Buddhist Meditation: Loathsomeness of Food

Precious stones: moonstone, pearl, crystal, coral

Animals, real and imaginary: dog, cat, Woman, camel

Magickal Powers: the White Tincture, Clairvoyance, Divination by Dreams

Plant-derived drugs: juniper, pennyroyal, all emmenogogues

Perfumes: menstrual blood, camphor, aloes; all sweet, virginal odors

Magickal Weapons: the Bow and Arrows

Musical note: G Sharp

Trigrams of the I Ching:

b. Design and Title of Trump

The Divine Comedy Tarot:

The H. P. Lovecraft Tarot:

The Stephen King Tarot:

The R. R. McCammon Tarot:

d. Interrelationships of the Path and the Trump

October 11, 2002, 11:27 PM

Goodbye, All That: How Left Idiocies Drove Me to Flee

So I went up to the antiwar demonstration in Central Park this weekend, hoping to

in order to attain professional advancement, hailing Hitler’s Reich as the ultimate

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