A Primer in God Consciousness ......................................................................................................5
States of Consciousness .......................................................................................................5
Expect...Something...Wonderful!! .......................................................................................7
Getting High.......................................................................................................................11
A Bible Study in God Consciousness ................................................................................14
Introduction ............................................................................................................14
The Briefest Overview of The Bible's "Plot" I Can Give ......................................15
Remember what specifically we are talking about: ...............................................15
These are the Bible passages that directly address this issue. ................................16
Opening Prayer.......................................................................................................16
Repentance as Transformed Consciousness ..........................................................16
Christ And God Are In You ...................................................................................17
Your Destiny ..........................................................................................................18
How We Get From Here To There ........................................................................19
Righteousness ....................................................................................................................21
Destination, Part 1 ..............................................................................................................24
Destination, Part 2 ..............................................................................................................27
Summary ................................................................................................................27
Introduction ............................................................................................................27
Important Point #1: ................................................................................................28
Important Point #2: ................................................................................................29
The Proximity of God Consciousness – A Commentary on War ..................................................30
THE REVEALING SCIENCE OF GOD .......................................................................................42
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................45
The One Really Big Question ................................................................................45
The 6 Domains of Human Thought .......................................................................45
The Bible is Silent ..................................................................................................46
Does Anyone Really Care? ....................................................................................47
PART 2: EPISTEMOLOGY ..............................................................................................49
Holy Books ............................................................................................................49
Religious Organizations .........................................................................................49
Authority Figures ...................................................................................................50
Reason & Logic .....................................................................................................50
Direct Revelations ..................................................................................................51
Overcoming Culture...............................................................................................51
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 1
The Scientific Method............................................................................................52
Applying the Scientific Method to Religion ..........................................................53
PART 3: DID GOD CREATE? .........................................................................................55
Life is More Than Chemical Interactions ..............................................................56
The Fractal Universe ..............................................................................................57
The Astounding Nature of Order ...........................................................................57
PART 4: "WHO?"..............................................................................................................60
Can God Be Known? .............................................................................................60
God's Sex ...............................................................................................................61
The Procession of the Gods ...................................................................................62
The Self-Existent One ............................................................................................63
God has simply always existed ..............................................................................63
The Mathematical Equation for God .....................................................................64
PART 5: "WHAT?" ...........................................................................................................68
What is the universe “made out of?” .....................................................................69
Internal and External Creations..............................................................................71
The Universe is God's Imaging ..............................................................................71
The Body of Christ .................................................................................................72
God is Light ...........................................................................................................72
The Energy/Mass Continuum ................................................................................74
Panentheism ...........................................................................................................74
Summary ................................................................................................................77
PART 6: "WHEN?" ...........................................................................................................78
The Relativity of Time ...........................................................................................80
Life is Here and Now .............................................................................................81
PART 7: "WHERE?" .........................................................................................................83
In the Mind of God.................................................................................................85
PART 8: "HOW?"..............................................................................................................88
The First Moment of Creation ...............................................................................88
Deeper, Slower Layers of Consciousness ..............................................................88
A Conscious Process ..............................................................................................89
Humanity................................................................................................................90
The Future ..............................................................................................................91
PART 9: "WHY?"..............................................................................................................93
Rejecting PreDeterminism .....................................................................................93
Perhaps There is No Purpose .................................................................................93
God is Forgetting in Order to Remember ..............................................................94
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Being Alone ...........................................................................................................94
From Possibilities Into Reality...............................................................................95
The Shocking Conclusion ......................................................................................96
The Problem of Evil ...............................................................................................96
The Biblical Evidence ............................................................................................97
Hide and Seek ........................................................................................................97
PART 10: IN SUMMARY ................................................................................................99
The Truth About Tarot Cards – A Guide for God Consciousness ...............................................100
Introduction ......................................................................................................................103
HISTORY OF THE CARDS ...............................................................................104
THE KABBALAH - TO KNOW GOD ...............................................................105
THE TAROT CAN HELP US SEE GOD ...........................................................105
NOT FOR BABES IN THE WORD....................................................................106
PREPARATION FOR STUDY ...........................................................................107
THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLISM ................................................................107
DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS..............................................................109
WHICH TAROT DECK? ....................................................................................110
THE HEBREW ALPHABET ..............................................................................110
GOD'S HOLY NAME .........................................................................................110
TWO GUIDING PRINCIPLES ...........................................................................111
TRUMP 0 - THE FOOL ..................................................................................................112
TRUMP 1 - THE MAGICIAN ........................................................................................118
TRUMP 2 - THE HIGH PRIESTESS..............................................................................124
TRUMP 3 - THE EMPRESS ...........................................................................................131
TRUMP 4 - THE EMPEROR ..........................................................................................137
TRUMP 5 - THE HIEROPHANT ...................................................................................142
TRUMP 6 - THE LOVERS .............................................................................................146
TRUMP 7 - THE CHARIOT ...........................................................................................150
TRUMP 8 - STRENGTH.................................................................................................156
TRUMP 9 - THE HERMIT .............................................................................................162
TRUMP 10 - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE ...................................................................167
TRUMP 11 - JUSTICE ....................................................................................................172
TRUMP 12 - THE HANGED MAN ...............................................................................176
TRUMP 13 - DEATH ......................................................................................................183
TRUMP 14 - TEMPERANCE .........................................................................................189
TRUMP 15 - THE DEVIL ...............................................................................................196
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TRUMP 16 - THE TOWER ............................................................................................204
TRUMP 17 - THE STAR ................................................................................................209
TRUMP 18 - THE MOON ..............................................................................................216
TRUMP 19 - THE SUN...................................................................................................220
TRUMP 20 - JUDGMENT ..............................................................................................226
TRUMP 21 - THE UNIVERSE .......................................................................................232
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 4
A Primer in God
Consciousness
States of Consciousness
What are you thinking?
What is your perspective? Your motive?
What conceptual framework are you using at this moment?
What is in your mind?
These constitute your State of Consciousness, your Awareness.
Now this is very simple, really....Connecting the dots between our previous discussions...
At any moment you can be acting from the perspective of the raindrop or the Ocean.
You can look at the world, yourself, and others around you, from the perspective of the limited,
small construct of your individual ego, or from a larger view....family--->friends--->locale-->nation--->planet--->universe--->God.
Clearly we must spend quite some time on exactly what God-Consciousness means:
What it is
Is it possible?
What it "looks like"
What effects it has on the individual
How you get it
But for now suffice it to say...God Consciousness is real...to Think, know, and have the
awareness of God. That is your destiny. That is 100% of what the religions of the
world are about....Oh, yes, they have a lot of other things to say along the way, but
make no mistake: The purpose of your life is to move from the
small, limited, ego-filled, hateful, sin-state of human (aka raindrop) consciousness
to the
large, limitless, egoless, loving, bliss-state of God (aka ocean) consciousness.
The fundamental problems, then, are:
The society around us does not believe in, or acknowledge, that God Consciousness
is even possible.
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The primary forces in that society, from government to education to commerce to the
so-called-church, all operate from the raindrop consciousness.
Actually, it is much worse, in that people cannot achieve what they cannot conceive,
and through the present social order it is nearly impossible to catch a glimpse that
Ocean Consciousness exists at all.
So, the OVERWHELMING majority of individual raindrops today have no way to know
the Ocean even exists...They cannot, therefore, know that the Ocean is their real
home, origin, and essential self...They have no clue that they are the Ocean in
embryo.
And, as a result, they certainly cannot find programs, "movements", or human waves
of consciousness to teach, train, and assist them in returning to the Ocean.
A WARNING
So....So.....I will continue to try to paint the pictures....
But I must warn you. And I am as serious as I can be.
Once you "get it," even the tiniest hint of the size, glory, eternity of the Ocean, and gain the
slimmest glimpse of the fact that you are, in fact, nothing more than that Ocean in miniature, you
will never again be able to live, move, or function as a typical raindrop again. You will be a
stranger in a strange land, disenfranchised from the structures of the social order around
you...none will understand, well, maybe one if you are fortunate, for Ocean-conscious raindrops
are the rarest treasure in the manifest Universe...The politicians, sports figures, so-called
religious leaders, on and on....all of it will be recognized for what it is: worse, oh so much worse
than merely "silly", but a sad, fallen, hollow shell of the true human potential, millionaires and
billionaires and trillionaires living like homeless paupers.
The only compensation is the scent of the ocean, as you feel its waves and tides flowing through
your veins...
And you will never go back...Your body will remain, and the outside world will still see a
raindrop...But your consciousness will be different...inside, where the world cannot see and does
not care to go, you will recognize you are, indeed, what you have always been, the birthless,
deathless Ocean.
You will have God Consciousness.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 6
Expect...Something...Wonderful!!
I really do encourage feedback, and often the "negative" ones are the most helpful.
Hopefully you have found that to be true in your own life. If you haven't, I respectfully submit
that you try it. Perhaps the criticism is right, maybe wrong, but either way you will be
strengthened by doing the examination...Unless, of course, it is old, well traveled material, in
which case you can refer them to the Frequently Asked Questions section!
Anyway....A couple weeks ago I was talking on the phone with one of my dearest friends, who
also happens to be a member of TCOY. (And yes, I do like to talk to people, and I know that if I
had an 800 number the phone would ring off the hook, sorry, but the # is (760) 749-6281.)
The conversation basically centered around politics, our reactions to them as Spiritual people, the
role the Church has in commenting on it, that type of thing. And the most remarkable thing
happened...Frankly I don't the dear person even remembers this particular part of the exchange,
but it has proven to be a catalyst for major transformations in me.
I said, da da da da da, "...just like all this silliness in Florida." (The contested U.S. election, all
that.)
And she said, "But why do you call it silly? These are hard working people, with families who
love them. Calling it silly seems mean to me."
And that was it. As I've said elsewhere about the lintscreen and cats and things like that, if you
keep your heart and mind open you can, indeed, find truth anywhere and everywhere. And that
one little question has proven to be absolutely essential in my life the last 2 weeks. I will explain
why.
If you are going to drive to my house, but do not know where I live, there are 2 ways we can deal
with the situation.
1. I can tell you where I am. Address, cross streets, longitude and latitude,
whatever. The advantage is that I only have to give this information one time, for
my house does not move. The disadvantage is that it is up to you to figure out
the specific directions, the actual pathway and turns you must take to arrive.
Here, the major burden is on the student to "get there."
2. Or, I can give you specific directions, roads to take, miles to drive, when & where
to turn. The advantage is that you will have a personalized guide. The
disadvantage is that the teacher must know exactly where you are coming from,
and the directions given will be different for each person. Here, the major
burden is on the teacher to tell the student how to get there.
The destination may be the same, but the journeys are very different depending on
where you start from. Some may need to travel north, some south, or east, even west.
In fact, unless they start from exactly the same place, no 2 people will ever take exactly
the same route to get anywhere!
This is a particular instance of the general principle of Point of View. Perspective.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 7
Your conceptual starting point, "where you're at" (to use the vernacular) affects every aspect of
your perceptions! Our ideas, opinions, thoughts, feelings, are all colored and affected by our
starting points, the conceptual framework that has been shaped by our emotional, intellectual,
personal, physical and spiritual histories.
In short, people have different opinions and thoughts on a subject because they react from
different perspectives.
And I realized...like a crystal diamond shot into my soul, that the central problem was that my
friend and I were coming from very different perspectives.
And I further realized that I had done a very poor job as teacher.
You see, I know something...
Something Wonderful......
Something so far beyond the bounds of our weak imagination...
My perspective is different....
And I know now with a clarity I have not had before, what I must do.
1. I must do a better job of describing the destination. Where are we really going
on this journey called life? What actually is its purpose? I have not been
completely forthcoming about this, and there are reasons though no excuses.
2. To the extent possible, I need to do a better job of helping reach people where
they are.
You see, all communication and teaching is a 2-edged sword, exactly like the "How to
get there?" example I just gave.
1. Where and what "it is." The purpose of life, what really is happening in this
universe. That is the purpose of the writings here, to explain what is "going on",
to give each person a glimpse of the Infinite Glory which is your birthright. This I
can only "offer-up", explaining as clearly as I can the address, cross streets,
latitude and longitude of what the word "God" really means, what the word
"Human" really means, what the word "Universe" really means, and how they are
all related.
2. How we get from where ever we are, to the goal. That is the point of the one-onones, thru emails and conversations and the discussion groups, wherein I try to
get a better understanding of exactly where you are, and help sketch
suggestions for the best way to proceed.
You see, with the technology of the Web I simply cannot give one-on-one personalized
instruction to every individual.
This is a very important point, and may seem obvious to you, but it deserves some comment.
You see, for the first several thousand years of human evolution we only learned on a 1-to-1
basis. Fathers taught sons, mothers taught daughters, grandparents taught the grandkids. Try to
think about this for just a moment. In such a society age is honored, because it relates to
experience, which is knowledge, which is power and strength.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 8
The next step was apprentice programs...learning from someone outside the biofamily, but
nevertheless still one-on-one.
Then came classrooms. the one-on-one was broken, but still it was face to face and person to
person.
And now? Oh, my friends.....One of the miracles of humanity is our adaptability...but how
quickly we lose perspective with that ability...The strange, amazing fact is that now, through the
Web technology, we have gone as far from the biofamily as is possible:
No more within the family, but the entire world.
No more one-to-one, but one-to-the-world.
No more face-to-face, but bodiless thought presented to the masses.
Family --> Apprentice --> Teacher --> Web
And I know why I have not given "full disclosure" here...Why the "Silliness" question still
rings in my ears...Because she doesn't know...doesn't really have any idea...And that's because
I haven't told her, or you, or the world, what you really need to know...Yes, the hints are here,
but there are way too many dots left to be filled in...Because of the fact that the real Truth of a
God-Centered Consciousness is soooo far beyond our normal human thinking, that my fear
has been that of being completely useless to the human race, not that their approval matters,
but that This Must Be HEARD! (Even the phrase "God-Centered Consciousness" contains a
universe of growth, challenges for me to communicate and the world to understand.)
But since I cannot meet everyone "where they are", all I can really do is the best job I can of
Painting Pictures of God.
OK. So that is the reality. And we can deal with it. Being aware of it is essential, I think,
toward a proper perspective...
Perspective? Oh yes...that ultimately is what it's all about!
In short, I will spend the rest of my life trying to do 2 things:
1. Drawing pictures of God.
2. Helping, wherever I can, people move from their current human, space-time
conditioned perspective, toward something new...something wonderful...A new
perspective, a new consciousness, a new way of looking.
You see, one of the places I realize TCOY is weak is in its very strength...There is
SOOO much here, that at present it is a jumbled-mass of seemingly unconnected
ideas....A bit of The Name here, a bit of Christ there, a bit of cosmology, not to mention
cats and lintscreens and all that kind of thing....We suffer, at present, from a wealth of
riches.
But it does have a common thread...One which I can now communicate, and re-organize all of
this material into one cohesive whole.
I seek your help...I look forward to the journey, as we start on
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 9
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 10
Getting High
Would you like to get high, little boy?
Ready to blow your mind, little girl?
Here we go...No drugs, of course...But this is one of the highest meditations I know. (Yes, dear
ones, there are others...Actually about 5 main ones, that have shaped my life, and helped open the
Gates of Heaven....Not to be confused, of course, with Heaven's Gate, a suicide cult in Rancho
Santa Fe where....[Skip ahead, please. Editor])
Question:
Why can't you see God?
Really...if this all-important Being, source and origin of all, is really "all that", why can't we even
see Him? And forget about all the little arguments about He wants us to approach Him by faith
(whatever that means) and the like...They are honest, well-intended approaches to a challenging
subject, but none answer the question or hit the mark.
Here's the real answer. And thinking about this, meditating on this, which simply means putting
your brain into alignment with this idea and focusing on it is one of the highest, involved, and
profound things I know.
Call this, please, the next lesson in
Why can't God be seen?
Because God is not an object.
God is infinite subject.
God cannot be seen because God is the seer...God is a way of seeing.
The source of all...everything comes FROM God. As a result there is no place you can go to to
see Him...God is the power by which you see...The power by which you hear......The power by
which you smell...The power by which you live...The power by which you taste...The power by
which you exist.
"Subject - Predicate" is the structure upon which all our human language is based.
God is infinite subject.
You are the predicate.
"Subject - Object" is the basis of everything we ever experience as people.
I (the subject) listen to music (the object).
I (the subject) read a book (the object).
I (the subject) see a bird (the object).
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I (the subject) sing a song (the object).
God cannot be perceived as an object.
God is Infinite Subject.
Meditate on these things...
If you will give it diligent effort, this one idea will change your life...
Research "subject", "predicate", "object"...
Examine the structure of language and how it relates to experience...
And ponder...deeply...inside of you...The Infinite Subject, the Mind of God Himself,
trying to peer into the world through your eyes and heart...
You can't see it, of course....
can't feel it...
can't hear it...
can't touch it...
Because only objects can be seen, felt, heard or touched...
That is what the Course Towards a Universal Season of God Consciousness is all about...
God Consciousness - To think, see, and feel with God's Mind.
Simply put? You cannot see God, but you CAN See as God Sees.
And, in case you haven't noticed, that is entirely the point of the last few Pictures of God...Why
I'm "bothering" you with pictures of vultures ready to eat starving children and tens of thousands
dying daily...We must chart a course wherein our limited, ego-filled, small human ways of
thinking are transformed. Transformed into something new...Something Wonderful...
We must move our eyes upward to the hills, the sky, the sun, stars and universe beyond, and
begin to see, think, and move with the Higher Mind that does, indeed, lie within us...The Mind of
God.
Next...A Bible Study on God Consciousness.
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The Truth About Tarot Cards - 13
A Bible Study in God Consciousness
Introduction
I don't do many Bible Studies, at least according to the usual meaning of the term. And
even deeply Biblical discussions (like Jesus' death & resurrection) I spare the chapter &
verse quotes. Why?
I know it frankly bores most people.
Almost inevitably you get involved in what I call the Conjugation Argument...With
"regular" ideas, even if they are religious and Biblical, you can present your material
and get on with it...But quoting the Bible seems to bring out the worst in people(!),
and rather than focusing on the meaning a purpose of what's written the discussion
devolves into the proper translation and conjugation of ancient verb forms...Uck!
Then there's the whole point of view thing. For many today in the Bible world, if you
are not willing to swear to all that is holy that you know in the pit of your soul that
each and every single word and verb form is completely, totally, 100% literally and
scientifically true, then they call you a Satanist and ignore the points you are
presenting. Such is the state of Bible discussion in America today. And, again, I
quite elegantly say, "Uck!"
But I have decided to violate "company policy" here...perhaps more in the future. Why?
This is a really, REALLY important topic. I have never been more earnest when I say
we are charting a course toward a word-wide transformation of human
consciousness. I will use every tool at my disposal to do that.
Many have written telling me they are getting into Bible study now, at least in part
through the ministry offered here.
The Bible is SOOO COOOL! Yes, it has gotten a lot of bad press, and has been
abused, and contains things trapped inside of its own cultural history that makes it
really hard for today's modern person to deal with...But SO DOES SHAKESPEARE!
And in the last couple of years alone Hollywood has made several modern movies
based on Shakespearean plays.
The Bible, properly understood, really is a delightful, precious, beautiful, glorious
Picture of God, and the transformation of the human soul.
I realize there are several topics that really should be covered, and if I live long enough I will do
so. They include:
The history of the Bible, where it came from...what got voted in, what was left out, and why.
This was not written as a textbook or mathematical treatise.
The source of its documents...Folks, when the authors wrote this stuff they had no idea they
were penning "Scripture."
The historical contexts the different documents were written in....that does have a lot to do
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 14
with properly understanding it all....I mean, unless you have a basic understanding of the
theater of his day, Shakespeare's stage directions are totally useless(!)
An overview of primary themes and how they all relate.
In short, The Church of Yahweh presents "A Guide to the Bible for the Modern Mind".
OK...some day...Maybe.
So, we will have to skip all that for now...There's important work to be done.
The Briefest Overview of The Bible's "Plot" I Can Give
1. The Self-Existent God, Named Ahyh Asr Ahyh, I Will Be What I Will Be, aka YHWH,
creates out of Himself the entire universe, and everything is perfectly good, including
mankind. (The Eternal Ocean evaporates into little raindrops.)
2. Man eats from the Fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, separating his
consciousness from all that is good, and begins to live as a small, self-willed, ego-filled
self-made-man. (The little raindrops forget there's an Ocean.)
3. YHWH does a lot of work, setting up covenants, talking to people about the pain they are
causing themselves, giving commandments (raindrop owner's manual), that type of thing.
4. He comes to the earth in bodily form, to talk to people one-on-one...about how lost they
are...about getting their lives together...That they can change, be born to a new life, and
discover Christ living inside of them. (We really are, after all, all made-up of the same
Ocean water.)
That's the best I can do.
Now, to the point at hand.
Remember what specifically we are talking about:
The whole thing (your life, the Bible, the history of humanity, everything) can be seen as a
journey from the
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small, limited, ego-filled, hateful, sin-state of human (aka raindrop) consciousness
to the
large, limitless, egoless, loving, bliss-state of God (aka Ocean) consciousness.
(I presented this in #48, States of Consciousness.)
These are the Bible passages that directly address
this issue.
All quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version.
Opening Prayer
Ephesians 1:18-19
I pray that:
the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
This whole religion thing is real. It's not just about believing and arguing and going to the potlucks on Wednesday night. It is about enlightenment, knowledge, hope, inheritance, and great
power!
And that is my prayer, that through this you, and indeed the entire planet, can begin to
comprehend your inheritance and destiny.
Repentance as Transformed Consciousness
Matthew 4:7
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
near.”
So, we start right-off with a problem...Like I said, proper translations and all...The fact is that the
word "Repent" nowadays has all of these religious overtones...In Jesus' day, the word that he
spoke meant to the people hearing it, "Change your thinking!" It is not just a matter of
changing your actions, but all of your being, renewed from the inside-out, starting with your
thinking.
That's what we see in the next passage...
Romans 12:2
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Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Christ And God Are In You
1 Corinthians 2:11-16
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within
him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that
we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in
words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing
spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual
man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s
judgment: 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
The mind of Christ, which is equated with the mind of God, lives in you!!!!
Folks, that one verse, that one idea, if true, means quite simply that we are not what we think
we are, and we do not live in the world we think we do!!!
The Mind Of Christ
lives in us!!!
And what is that? Read this...This explains just what this Mind Of Christ is:
Colossians 1:13-19
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins. 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For
by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold
together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and
the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the
supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.
We are talking about the source and origin of the entire universe. The fullness of God Himself is
in Christ, That is the Entire Universe, and that mind is INSIDE OF YOU!
1 Corinthians 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives
in you?
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2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you
not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
In the next passage Paul goes so far as to say that his small "I", the limited, ego-self is gone
entirely. As raindrop, he recognizes he is nothing more than a channel for the Ocean to pour
through...And after all, isn't that the whole point? We praise the radio program, not the radio!
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
Note the important phrase "crucified with Christ." That's the entire point of Christian
theology...It is NOT enough to "believe" that Jesus died or did anything...The Christian message
consists in being United with Him, that His life, death & Resurrection become ours, and with it,
everything that He Is!
Galatians 3:27
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Here we learn that Christ in you is the mystery of all ages, now revealed!
Colossians 1:25-27
I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the
word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages
and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To them God has chosen to
make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
God is in you, dear friend. This is not New Age, but the Ancient Proclamation.
Your life is not about being you.
Your Destiny
You will eventually know as much about God as God knows about you...That's what it means to
have God Consciousness:
1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
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Eventually, this Mind of Christ that lives in embryo will grow to fill us entirely, and Christ is
formed fully in us:
Galatians 4:19
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is
formed in you...
This, frankly, is just about my favorite verse in the entire Bible...It shows that our destiny, our
true calling, where we are going, the REAL purpose of our life, is to have that same infinite glory
that is in God Himself through Christ:
1 Peter 5:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you
have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm
and steadfast.
How We Get From Here To There
Ephesians 3:14
For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven
and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of
God.
The pathway to God Consciousness and the fullness of Christ is clear...Leave the old, small-self
behind and, born-again, live as the True, Real, New You:
Ephesians 4:17-24
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the
Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is
in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have
given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity,
with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that
way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the
truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to
put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be
made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to
be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 5:1
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
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Colossians 3:9
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the
image of its Creator.
Our small, limited local / national views are gone, replaced with a Universal View:
Colossians 3:11
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
That's the final word, Faith. NOT (Please, DEAR GOD!!!) as needing to believe whatever the
silly idea-of-the-month is, but as the living, breathing, tangible pathway from
small to large,
illusion to real,
sinner to saint,
raindrop to Ocean.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 20
Righteousness
Sometimes (far too often, frankly) you get the idea from people that being "saved" by
Jesus means they are free to do whatever they want. "I sinned today, I'll sin tomorrow.
God forgives me."
Oh. I get it. You are the same filthy, rotten, disgusting evil piece of human filth as everyone
else. Only difference is, you've said the magic words, so God won't hold it against you.
Well, in the spirit of our new approach to deeper Bible Studies, I just want to look at some
passages from Romans 6.
Astounding stuff, really. Incredibly exciting.
The Holy Bible, New International Version
Romans 6
1
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you
know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we
too may live a new life.
5
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also
be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was
crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin—7because anyone who has died has been freed
from sin.
8
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For
we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death
no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
The idea is quite clear. So clear it shouldn't even need comment. Christ's Passion becomes OUR
Life's story, the center of all existence. We "tap into" His experience through associating
ourselves with Him (which we do through faith and baptism.)
And example? Just look at the professional sports teams that wins championships....The "fans"
tear down the city. Why? Because it wasn't those 5 obscenely overpaid multi-millionaires who
won, WE DID! It's almost as though the fans themselves won the trophy.
Just a personal note here, but could you IMAGINE what this world would be like if we could
generate even 2% as much enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God as we do for a STUPID,
F***ING BALL GAME??!?!??!?! Could you just imagine what this society would be like?
(Oh dearest YHWH...I know I am not perfect...But I do spend my time, talent & treasure
attempting to help others catch a glimpse of the glory of life in the Kingdom. Please show me the
best ways to do this? What, exactly, you would have me do?") And now back to our regularly
scheduled program...
2
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 21
In a more religious setting, that's the idea here....Just believing that Jesus did anything, even if He
did it for you, ultimately does you no good. We UNITE with Him, his life becomes ours, he lives
in us....we die to our old self, and rise to our new self.
11
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.
Memorize this. Live by it. It will change your life.
I will be writing about this more very soon. For now, this is the key: We would do well to
translate Paul's statement as "Stop thinking about yourself as a sinner. Start thinking about
yourself as Christ in the Flesh!" And yes, the Greek language will support that. The
translators are just shy about anything that will really change lives.
You should say to yourself regularly, "I can't do that sin....I'm the Resurrected Christ!"
Quite different from the endless sinner getting forgiven because she's said those magic words,
huh?
12
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its
evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought
from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of
righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law,
but under grace.
15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By
no means! 16Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey
him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves
to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But
thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly
obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set
free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Set free from sin!
You need never do it again!!
EVER!!!!!!!
I + WILL = BEING.
And that "new you", has the Divine Will, YHWH Himself in you, and HE WILLS PERFECT
LOVE, Pease, Joy, and so on.
And if you fall, OK, fine, you are already forgiven....Just remember the 4 "r"s that unlock God's
forgiveness for you:
1. Remorse (the pain we feel when we recognize what we've done
wrong)
2. Repent (to change our thinking, and lead a new course)
3. Resolve (not just a little bit, but as a full, strong, new direction)
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4. Reparation (to fix any harm we may have done.)
But folks....You are a new creature......ALIVE TO GOD....He lives IN YOU......Weekly
and daily pounding your hearts on the proverbial rocks because you are disgusting, evil-
your religion IS NOT TEACHING
YOU THAT THE TRUE RELIGION IS ABOUT
PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION.
filled sinners simply means that
Dead to sin.
Alive to God.
This could get very exciting, people.
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Destination, Part 1
12:25 am, pst...I cannot sleep....This, ultimately, is a good thing....
The last remaining major challenge appears to be how to present this material without
appearing a lunatic...psychotic...And there again, I must remember the first and primary
principle of my life:
Work without attachment to the fruit of your labors. I will be what I will be...That, and only that,
can I affect...How others react is simply beyond the domain of my control, and therefore beyond
the scope of what I can manage to.
Still, with the social order being peppered with strange fellows, one fears being collected with
that group....Oh Well...
I have tried to prepare the soil, so to speak...
In "The Revealing Science of God" I attempt to show that the One And Only Mystery
is how it is possible that anything exists at all. I posit that the only answer available
to us is A Self-Existent Being, That Being consisting of the only reality.
In "The Truth About Tarot Cards" I try to show the Grand Scheme of things...This
Self-Existent Being's journey that we call this Universe. I have considered creating a
second document from this large one, one with all references to the Tarot Cards
removed. That's because, whether or not those cards have anything to do with God
or religion, the story I tell with them is true, and is the nature of the universe.
In "God is not God's Name" and "I Will Be What I Will Be" I show how this Being has
a personal Name, and through the Ancient Past unto today this Name is powerful,
important, reveals the Essential Nature of this Being, and that this Name is,
ultimately, You.
In "The Stations of the Cross" and "In the Garden" I show that this notion of humanity
being God's Name, and all that it means, is clearly drawn for us through the life and
times of Jesus, and that what is really essential is His life being a foreshadowing of
ours.
And that, my friends, with a supporting cast of various interesting or boring or
profound or stupid supporting characters, is the "Course in Post-Graduate Divinity
Studies" taught here at the Church of Yahweh.
Course - Both the teaching that we do, and the journey we travel.
Universal - Until all are free, all are enslaved. Uni-Verse, One Verse, One Song,
together.
Season - Man has suffered through The Fall, and existed quite long enough in the
Winter of his Discontent. Spring, with its promise of resurrection and new life is upon
us.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 24
God - The simple, 3-letter word we use in English to refer to the Self-Existent Being
Who Is The Only Reality.
Consciousness - Awareness.
God Consciousness - To think, see, and feel with God's Mind. Transformed from
our human, fallen, limited space-time consciousness into beings that know as much
about that Self Existent Being as He knows about Us.
That, my friends, is The Fool's Journey. (Heck, that one I haven't even publicized the
link to until now!) It is the Plot of the Universe, the Passion Play, The Mono-myth, the
essence of the Bible, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, and countless stories and dreams
and revelations recorded (and otherwise) from the Dawn of Light.
It is also your story.
You are not what you think you are.
Your life is not about being you.
Your life IS about Being Not You.
Your life has always been, and will always be.
We cut down the Tree of Life in order to build the Tower of Babel.
YOU are The Tree of Life.
You are the ocean, in the presence of light, bubbled-off of the surface, suspended in mid-air,
[Note: The 4 primal elements, as the Water (ocean) sits on the Earth, and the Fire (sun) causes
the ocean to evaporate into the Air] thinking you are an autonomous water molecule, the most
wonderful raindrop there ever was...Raindrop, yes...Wonderful, of course...But, even more so...
That, then, is our purpose here...Helping little raindrops remember what they really are.
In short, we are working
Toward - Whether we have any effect or not is beyond our control. It is not the
point. We are moving in that direction, which in and of itself provides a life full of
more meaning and purpose than any other endeavor imaginable, except of course
winning a Grammy for Best Hair of the Year. You see, ultimately, if we are not
personally living the changes we want to see in the world, then we are living a
purposeless lie.
Transformation - We are talking change. Your personal, individual change, and the
changing of the planet. Things cannot continue as they are. In fact, it is
mathematically impossible that they will. The little statistic I left off of yesterday's
Paint By the Numbers is that...that...In 25 years there are going to be 4 Billion
more people on this earth. A 66.6% increase in 300 months. So, not speaking as
a prophet, but only as a mathematician, something will (not must, will) change in less
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 25
time than has passed since Nixon cancelled the war in Vietnam...Either 1) we will
radically change the birth rates (thru war, disease, genocide, birth control, celibacy),
or 2) we will watch daily starvation in the millions (yes, millions), or 3) we will find...we
will find...Something Wonderful!!
Global - Each of us individually, ever closer, in the planetary community.
Consciousness - Oops...I'm repeating myself here...There's that thinking /
awareness
/
consciousness thing again...Global
Consciousness,
God
Consciousness...Could there be a connection?
Stay tuned...and don't forget, to...
"Singing to the Ocean, I can hear the Ocean's roar
Play for free, play for me, and play a whole lot more
Singing of the good things, and the Sun that lights the way
Singing to the ocean, Has the Ocean lost its way?!?!?!?"
---The Ocean, Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 26
Destination, Part 2
Summary
God Consciousness shows itself as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in the Soul of the Child of YHWH.
Introduction
Granted the previous material regarding God Consciousness, the next topic that seems
logical to me is, What does it look like? What does this "God Consciousness" feel like
and act like in the human being? In short, where are we going?
There is a lot to talk about here...And as long as I have strength I will continue to paint these
pictures for you. And (perhaps surprisingly to some) the Bible really does have a lot to say about
it.
For today, I offer this picture:
I am blessed to live surrounded by 120 orange trees. What with agribusiness being what it is they
can't really pay for their own upkeep, and amount to house plants I keep outside, but don't get me
started, and that is not the point.
The point IS that, from of old, a fruit tree has been seen as a beautiful symbol of God's presence
in the soul of the faithful...We could talk about the Tree of Life and all that, but another time...
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 27
The tree, starting as a seed planted in the soil, watered and fed, reaches through the air towards
the sun. Earth, water, air, fire, the 4 primal elements which play essential roles in the Bible
stories and symbols.
(Jesus: "I am the Bread of Life." The fruit of the wheat (earth) is ground-up, we add water, it is
animated (yeast), rises into the air, and is touched by the fire(!) That bread is nourishment and
life-sustaining, physically and spiritually.)
And where do those seeds come from? The fruit of other trees.
The fruit, frankly, is what it is all about. Some fruit we can eat (oranges, apples), some we
cannot (magnolias, pine cones), but only healthy trees can bear fruit, and without that fruit the
tree cannot reproduce.
So, enough intro. The point is that the Bible uses this imagery in a deeply profound way.
The symbolism is glorious and perfect...The seed of YHWH's presence is planted in our soul
through faith and repentance; that's what it means to be born again. I mean, the "New Man"
(born of the spirit) is not born fully grown, he (she) is an infant, and the Bible freely uses terms
like new born babes:
First Peter 2:2-3. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up
in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
That seed grows through decent, honest living, fellowship with like-minded spiritual seekers,
love, charity, etc.
The Holy Spirit (YHWH's indwelling presence) grows, and bears fruit. And that fruit looks like
this:
Galatians 5:22-25:
But the fruit of the Spirit is:
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness and
self-control.
Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful
nature with its
passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Important Point #1:
The orange pictured above is one fruit with several attributes:
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 28
Connection from the stem to the fruit
Outer skin
Inner skin
Separate sections
Skin (yet a different kind) that surrounds each of those sections
The tiny, individual "juice sections" (sorry I don't know the more technical term)
Seeds
And so on.
But there is only ONE FRUIT.
In exactly the same way, there is only ONE Fruit of the Holy Spirit, not 9! 9 listed attributes to
the One Fruit.
When YHWH is alive in you, when you start to have God Consciousness, it manifests itself as
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
That's what YHWH's presence inside of you "looks" and "acts" like.
ALL OF THEM!
You can no more pick and choose which "parts" of the Spirit's presence you "want" than you can
have an orange growing on a tree without its skin!
Important Point #2:
It is only in the fruit that the seeds of new growth exist.
In other words, you must live the changes you want to see in the world. Until or unless YHWH
is alive in you and bearing fruit, the Tree of Your Life cannot touch or inspire
(in-spirit, in-breathe, spirit, breath, seed, all one)
others to live a Spirit-filled life.
Look...I personally would love to live in a sinless, crime-free, hate-free world. So, the best I can
do is try my utmost to live a Spirit-filled life, that others can "partake" from the fruit my life
bears. That, quite simply, is the basis of the whole idea of ministry, making disciples of all the
world.
In short, you simply cannot inspire Spirit-filled changes in your world unless you personally are
Spirit-filled.
So that's it. Too many words, perhaps, but God Consciousness shows itself as love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in the Soul of the Child of
YHWH. That fruit, living in us, can nourish and touch others around us; in that way YHWH's
Garden grows.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 29
The Proximity of
God Consciousness
– A Commentary on
War
0
The Voices of Wisdom Through the Ages use very different words, but the Message is
consistent:
"Work without attachment to the fruit of your labors."
"Whatsoever you do in thought, word or deed, do all to the glory of God."
"Write as though no one will ever read your material."
One must stay true, that is the essence. Once something starts being observed, it often changes,
and seldom for the better. Create something just because of how you expect it to be received,
and you have lost your soul.
So, here it is.
War on terrorism....war on crime....war on drugs...
This is The Church of Yahweh's Official Declaration of War on War.
This is Scripture.
1
I am posting this to the World Wide Web in May of 2003. The American war in Iraq has settled
into the occupation.
I have been asked many times my "take" on the war.
I am publishing this because I have something to say. Of the endless parade of TV, radio,
newspaper, and internet commentary, I have never read, heard or seen anything from anyone that
comes even close to what I have on my heart.
We so easily separate into "us & them," "for & against," "in & out." Endlessly.
Memorize this: The "right" is always wrong, and the "left" is never right.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and it need not advertise, for people voluntarily sell
their souls to travel it. The Real Way, the Way that leads to life, is always the thin, narrow,
central path, which ultimately transcends both the "left" and the "right."
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 30
I will explain.
2
I gave this piece a "really important sounding title" because it IS very important.
It works in two ways:
The Proximity of <God Consciousness>
and
<The Proximity of God> Consciousness
The two are really one, and the only way out.
3
Should the US have worked longer with the UN before invading Iraq?
I do not know, and I take no position.
Were the UN weapons inspectors doing a good job?
I do not know, and I take no position.
Was Saddam Hussein involved in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks?
I do not know, and I take no position.
Did Iraq have Al Qaeda connections?
I do not know, and I take no position.
Was Iraq manufacturing weapons of mass destruction?
I do not know, and I take no position.
Was invading Iraq the only option available?
I do not know, and I take no position.
For the cowards this will seem like the coward's way. I disagree.
Gullibility is one of humanity's most ingrained traits. Tells us, we will die convinced. Show us,
and we will kill all who disagree.
We are all too quick to accept.
90% of all the earth's population have exactly the same religion.....Whatever mommy & daddy &
culture tell you is true.
This fact alone causes the majority of our wars and problems. We are RIGHT. We are GOOD.
We have the TRUE RELIGION. All the others are DISGUSTING FILTH. They must be
converted. Or killed. Either way they will spend the rest of a billion forevers in everlasting hell.
WE have the REAL Scripture. THEIRS are phony, and evil lies.
That, my friends, is your heritage. Almost every person on the earth, in one form or another,
holds this view. Simply because that's what their parents have taught them. That's how the
System works, and sustains itself.
Why do the "Muslims" hate the "Christians"? For exactly the same reasons the "Christians" hate
the "Muslims." THEY are not US. And only the US (and those who side with US) is good.
The overwhelming majority of you, statistically, do not care to find things out for yourselves.
Put as simply as possible:
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 31
Just because a government tells you something does not make it true.
Just because a church tells you something does not make it true.
Just because a media outlet tells you something does not make it true.
Just because your parents tell you something does not make it true.
Just because I tell you something does not make it true.
Just because any XYZ tells you anything, does not make it true.
I could give you thousands of examples...one will have to do. You know Abraham
Lincoln, the 16th American president, the great "Liberator of the slaves," right? Wrong.
In August, 1862 Lincoln wrote a letter to Horace Greeley, an editor of the New York
Tribune, who published an open letter insisting President Lincoln free the slaves
immediately. In Lincoln's reply he wrote "If I could save the Union without freeing
any slaves, I would do it..."
So, you see, the Great Emancipator really didn't give a damn about the slaves. They were only a
means to an end, pawns in the endless quest for power, which was Lincoln's real any only
motivation.
You can do the research yourselves. Test & see if I'm telling the truth.
Healthy skepticism is necessary.
Question Authority.
Question Everything.
Think For Yourself.
Think Outside Your Boxes of Conditioning.
Think.
4
Everything that really matters boils down to this:
The fruition of the human race requires us to realize that
All War is Civil War.
Brother against brother. Kin against kin.
We are one race of homosapiens, with billions of different variations.
5
Who are you?
With what do you identify?
Who are "you?"
Your body?
Family?
Neighborhood?
Community?
City?
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 32
State?
Country?
World.
As we go down the list we move to ever broader visions of self identity.
The higher the platform upon which you stand, the farther you can see. The higher your
consciousness, the more you can know.
The Bible invites us to God Consciousness.
The picture of the earth rising over the moon was supposed to elevate our consciousness to
embrace one planet, with one human race, living in harmony with all of nature.
It didn't work.
But be not deceived. All of the religions of the world teach us, in their high, pure, spiritual,
exalted selves, that we are ONE people.
God so loved the WHOLE WORLD......
"For there is NO DIFFERENCE between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and
richly blesses ALL who call on Him...." (Rom 10:12)
When you ask God to bless your particular country or group, you are limited. Your
consciousness is not as high or a wide as it can be.
As it should be.
As it needs to be...
If we are to survive.
6
Look, it really is incredibly simple. Almost all of the most complex issues really have
profoundly simple solutions.
At the end of the day, what have we made?
Bombs, or bread?
There are only so many resources. We dig & grind & burn & mold & shape....
At the end of the day, what have we made?
The numbers are staggering. The 2004 world-wide budget for military spending is
$862,000,000,000, according to CDI.org, the Center for Defense Information. That's $862
Billion. The best way I can express how much that is, is....You would need $1,000,000 (one
million dollars) in each of 862,000 (eight hundred and sixty-two thousand) banks to have that
much money.
The human race presently spends over $1,640,000 every minute on its military.
While approximately 45,000 still die of starvation & preventable disease every day.
We, all of us, the industrialized world, are building & researching & grinding & making things
all day long. Tragically, at the end of that day, we are even better able to hunt, kill, destroy,
shock and awe, while thousands die needlessly.
Mathematically, statistically, we have the energy & resources to eliminate all suffering on the
planet.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 33
What we lack is the moral will.
7
A lack of moral will, fed by an endless supply of colorful & interesting sand in which to hide our
collective heads.
You know what I mean, so I'll skip the lengthy lecture....tv, sports, porno websites, off road
vehicles....All of it designed to keep us consumers, and distracted from the holocaust happening
next door.
8
It has to do with Consciousness.
What are you aware of?
Your body?
Family?
Neighborhood?
Community?
City?
State?
Country?
World.
As we go down the list we move to ever broader visions of consciousness. Awareness.
The higher your platform, the more you know.
And the highest platform is God.
9
I'm not trying to kick anybody's butt here. I'm really not. Guilt in all of its manifestations seldom
acts as a genuine agent for change, and what we need here is change.
Of the tens of thousands of people I have personally met over the years, I have met perhaps 2
who are actually evil. "Evil, be thou my good" is a very, very rare creed.
The rest are just ignorant. Not as in "stupid," just "unaware."
If those 45,000 people were rotting away next door to your house, then you would be aware of it
in a tangible, visceral way. And would be more prone to do something about it.
What I want you to know is that they ARE right next door.
Open your heart.
Be transformed by the glorious renewing of your mind.
Think as God Thinks.
They are closer to you than you presently know.
As you become aware of ever broader horizons, the places physically "far away" become very,
very close.
The Proximity of <God Consciousness> means that EVERYTHING is a part of you. In you.
"All Things Belong To You!" (1 Cor 3:21)
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 34
God Consciousness brings all things together, in a One-ness.
One faith, one hope, one people.
Uni-Verse.
Close, ever closer than we can begin to imagine.
We live in God, He lives in Us, and in the Cosmic Marriage promised in the Revelation the 2
shall become One.
<The Proximity of God> Consciousness.
10
Consciousness matters.
It's the only way to change things.
We must become aware of the problems, make them matter to us, for only in that way is there
hope of change.
11
Remember, my friends, that all wars have been fought for exactly the same reason:
The other guy is an asshole.
Usually that assholery exhibits itself in the other guy wanting something we already have.
I have this river. He wants it.
I have nuclear weapons. He wants them.
I have bioterrorism weapons. He is trying to make some.
I am good. God loves me. The other guy is an asshole.
12
All systems seek to preserve themselves, and expand themselves. From the tiniest sub-atomic
particle to the largest galaxy, from microbes to the largest human social structures, self
preservation and expansion are built into the very essence of the universe.
So it is silly to fault a government for seeking to preserve itself, or expand its power.
That's the nature of these things.
Change cannot come from the government.
Government will always do what governments do. Bless some, oppress others, in the eternal
quest for preservation and expansion.
Different governments grow, amassing technology, threatening its citizens, to create armies,
wherein Might Always Makes Right.
Survival of the strongest.
To the victor go the spoils.
This is how our race's history has been shaped.
So we cannot blame the governments for their insanity. And cannot look to them for
transformation.
That's why Jesus never talked about government.
13
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 35
Commerce, the world of buying & selling, likewise will not help you.
In the end, its success is measured only in terms of money.
Nothing else.
Every corporate analysis & annual report cares about only one thing: The Bottom Line. How
much we made, how much we had to spend to get it, how much is left over, and what the next
year looks like.
How many employees are on drugs to get through the day? Does not apply.
How many employees families never see the breadwinner? Does not apply.
How many marriages were lost this year? Does not apply.
How many employees were hospitalized from stress? Does not apply.
How many lies were told this year to customers, suppliers and shareholders? Does not apply.
Unless someone got caught.
How many pre-industrialized people were oppressed, or had their way of life destroyed for the
Company? Does not apply.
The System of commerce, then, only wants to make sure that you continue to consume.
It has no other tools. No other metrics. No soul.
14
Which brings us to the heart of the matter.
If we need change (and we do), and
government and commerce cannot help (and they cannot),
Where then is hope?
15
Without a vision the people perish.
A lot of what I do in this ministry is try to give people a vision of what is possible.
Life without debt.
Peace integrated with ourselves, God, nature.
Holy Communion with the Divine, beyond mere forgiveness.
A glimpse of the future of the human race, our potentials and destiny.
A world without war.
I try, over and over and over, to reiterate that all suffering is needless, and can be eliminated. In
so doing, I try to give people a Vision.
We can never rise above our own self image.
Listen to me! Are you paying attention? This is more than important, it is essential. Everything
that exists, that has been shaped by the hand of man, starts with an IDEA. A Vision. "Hey, you
know, we could....."
I'm going to tell you a story I've told to very few people. A confession of sorts, but one of the
clearest examples I know of the importance of Vision.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 36
Last year I made right around $250,000. (Do I have your attention now?) The majority of it
comes from being a computer programmer, which is essentially Math. Financial planning
calculations are tough enough, but my main job is to place these calculations into the abstract
language known as code. (A sample can be found halfway down this page.)
I am known as a "math genius" by many people. And compared to most folks, I am somewhat
talented in the computational arts. At least I am now. It was not always that way. Not even
close. A major event happened in my life, wherein I gained a new Vision of myself as "Math
Genius." The story I need to tell you has to do with how this happened. On one specific day, one
specific minute, actually, that changed my view of myself, and in turn changed my life.
Growing up I was a very ordinary, average student. Some As, lots of Bs, regular Cs. Not stupid
by any means, but a long way from gifted, if you know what I mean.
In 1972 we were living in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. The "greater Pittsburgh area" had
approximately 3,000,000 citizens at the time. All of the 7th & 8th graders were required to take a
standardized math test, which they turned into a competition. Something like 100,000 middle
school students took this test. You know the kind, there's a question and 5 possibilities, you fill
in the little circle with your pencil.
Well, the test was typical. First ten questions easy, and then ever increasing complexity. Folks,
the honest truth is that of those 100 questions, I really knew maybe 20 of them. Stuff that went
so far beyond me I didn't even understand what the question was about, let alone any clue for an
answer.
Anyway....The moderator tells us "5 minutes." I'm looking at this practically empty answer sheet,
and I say to my 14 year old self, "What the hell." And I just randomly filled in the rest of the
answers. A, C, B, C, A, D, E....on & on, till the whole sheet was complete.
I came in 7th in the entire city!
Name in the newspaper, special awards ceremony where they gave me a medal, the whole thing.
And yup, that's the 31 year old (!) thing itself.
Everyone was amazed. My teachers, fellow students, parents, no one had any idea I was "such a
genius." I was the only one who knew for a fact that I wasn't!! But you can be certain that I told
no one about the strange, bizarre truth, that it was just a lottery & I lucked out. I really think I
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 37
was about 30 before I ever confessed to a fellow human the real truth. And I'm happy to tell the
story now because....IT MATTERS!
I never got less than an A on any math test or class again. Ever. Started inventing my own
system of mathematics. Doing puzzle problems for recreation. 740 SAT math score. Wound up
starting college as a math major....We covered the "regular" calculus stuff (integrals &
derivatives) in about 2 weeks, and spent the rest of the year investigating the theory and even
philosophy behind what the calculus is and how we know what we know.......
I never, EVER, let anyone down. Especially myself. I had done something really quite
remarkable, and probably would rather have died than let anyone know my secret.
Winning that silly math test/contest created an EXPECTATION, in myself and others. A
Vision. Their Vision of me had changed, overnight. And I "bought into" that Vision, it became
mine. And that Vision changed my life. I spent my energies making sure that I really, actually,
matched the Vision everyone had of me, and the Vision I had for myself.
It's more than a self-fulfilling prophesy. The Vision became Reality.
The Vision Became Reality!
Without the Vision, the reality would never have materialized.
We can never rise above our expectations.
"Without a Vision, the people PERISH!" Proverbs 29:18
It starts with a Vision. That's Belief.
But that's not enough. We need to apply our lives to the Belief, which turns Belief into Faith.
Faith lived becomes Reality.
That is why I "do" this Ministry.
To try to give people a Vision of what is possible, for themselves and the world.
But I am only one, small voice.
16
We need a New Way.
A World Vision.
When a child is having problems, the old way, the ignorant way, the wrong way, is to get the
child "counseling," so we can "fix the kid."
The New way, the Real way, is to council the entire family. What is the family doing to torture
this poor kid? That is where real therapy starts.
The key word is SYSTEM. Everything exists in the context of a System. Nothing operates in
isolation, and no human operates in isolation.
"Systems Analysis" is a new and very exciting view of human relations.
Employees are a part of a System.
Poverty is a part of a System.
Illness is a part of a System.
Starvation is a part of a System.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 38
As long as you "side" with one part of the system or the other, you are a part of the system, and
a part of the problem!!
Endless journalists and politicians and warriors and commentators and citizens, either "for" or
"against." On the "right" or the "left."
The right is always wrong, the left is never right, because they are both part of a sickness, a
diseased System!
So my "war commentary" is that WE NEED TO JUMP OUT OF THE SYSTEM! The whole
system is wrong, needless.
All wars are fought because the other guy is an asshole. The physically stronger "wins." This
creates a false sense of victory/security for the "winner," and breeds anger & hatred for the losers,
who vow their children's children's child to avenge the wrong.
Until, eventually, each and every single act is simultaneously unprovoked aggression AND
righteous retribution AND preventive defensiveness.
Please, humans of earth, can't you see how wrong this is?
The WHOLE SYSTEM IS DISEASED.
Ignorant: "US vs. Iraq." Enlightened: "US AND Iraq."
Ignorant: "US vs. Them." Enlightened: "US AND Them."
Ignorant: "Bush vs. Hussein." Enlightened: "Bush AND Hussein."
Ignorant: "Left vs. Right." Enlightened: "Left AND Right."
Can you see?
Please?
17
Where then is hope?
Where are we to get a Vision of the Good, what is really possible?
It is supposed to be in the Church.
Jesus had no comment on the governments of his day.
Almost none for commerce.
It was the "church," the religious leaders of the day he had the most contempt for.
Why would this be?
Simply put, the proper role of Religion is to carry the Light, be bearers of the Vision!
When the spiritual leaders turn to hate, there is no further hope.
When religion becomes just another form of I-Me-Mine, then it has joined the system of disease.
When the "church" becomes just another extension of the government & military, then hope is
gone, and the "church" has become a part of the evil it is meant to fight.
Think about the disgusting militaristic Muslims who teach their children to hate all Christians.
We do the same thing, in countless ways. Only "US" are good, only "US" are pleasing to
God.
The only difference is that American Christian bellies are much fuller than most Muslim's.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 39
Turn off the oil pipeline, or the aqueduct for a week, and you will see what I mean. The hatred
that hides itself so civilly just beneath the surface will bubble to the top, just like a cancerous boil
ready to burst its poison into the world.
After 9/11, the so-called church's responses were disgustingly evil, and a part of the System.
The role of the "church" now is to teach the children:
Everyone other than US is evil; only US go to heaven.
We must fight for our blessings, and be ready to kill anyone not US.
Everything that US does is good. We are on the side of right.
God will only bless US.
The Real Church, the mouthpiece of the Real God, teaches us differently:
All have sinned. All are called to a life of love & forgiveness here, and bliss in eternity.
We must love those who persecute us. Bless them, and curse not.
We are one people, one race.
All suffering is needless.
We need a new system.
18
I know this is all highly idealistic.
That's entirely the point.
We have lost Vision. All we see is what "is." And we therefore have desecrated our calling to
proclaim What Should Be, with an acceptance & furtherance of what is.
Salt that's lost its saltiness is useless.
19
Jesus offered us a different, higher, better way. To be able to jump out of the System of endless
retribution & aggression.
Not just to get "them" to change. But to repudiate the Entire System!
Would the Church ever dare to teach that government is not to be trusted?
This one does.
Would the Church ever dare to teach that warfare is a limited, ridiculous way to live?
This one does.
Would the Church ever dare to tell people that sending their children to go kill other children is
not God's Way!?!??!?
This one does.
20
I've made my point. One could go on & on with endless prose & examples......But, really, if you
don't get it by now, you probably never will.
You are either ready to jump out of the system, have a New Vision, or you are not.
21
A World Without War.
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All suffering is needless.
I will continue to do what I can to share The Vision.
A Vision that starts with the Proximity of God Consciousness.
If you have not already done so, please read my Bible Study in God Consciousness.
It shows us what is possible.
I hope you will join me.
Ahyh, May 16, 2003.
In The World, But Not Of It.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 41
THE REVEALING
SCIENCE OF GOD
-orWhat the Universe is Really All About
Overview
This document attempts to answer the deepest questions about the origin, destiny & purpose of
God, humanity, and the Universe. This is The Church of Yahweh's Summa Theologica,
explaining all aspects of cosmology, showing how everything is embodied in The Name.
As always, I seek your comments.
Ahyh
© 2000 The Church of Yahweh
May be freely distributed, but never sold
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 42
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 45
The One Really Big Question ............................................................................................... 45
The 6 Domains of Human Thought ................................................................................... 45
The Bible is Silent .................................................................................................................... 46
Does Anyone Really Care?.................................................................................................... 47
PART 2: EPISTEMOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 49
Holy Books.................................................................................................................................. 49
Religious Organizations ......................................................................................................... 49
Authority Figures ..................................................................................................................... 50
Reason & Logic ......................................................................................................................... 50
Direct Revelations.................................................................................................................... 51
Overcoming Culture ................................................................................................................ 51
The Scientific Method ............................................................................................................. 52
Applying the Scientific Method to Religion..................................................................... 53
PART 3: DID GOD CREATE? ............................................................................................................... 55
Life is More Than Chemical Interactions ......................................................................... 56
The Fractal Universe ............................................................................................................... 57
The Astounding Nature of Order ........................................................................................ 57
PART 4: "WHO?" ..................................................................................................................................... 60
Can God Be Known? ............................................................................................................... 60
God's Sex .................................................................................................................................... 61
The Procession of the Gods .................................................................................................. 62
The Self-Existent One ............................................................................................................ 63
God has simply always existed. ......................................................................................... 63
The Mathematical Equation for God ................................................................................. 64
PART 5: "WHAT?" ................................................................................................................................... 68
What is the universe made out of? ................................................................................... 69
Internal and External Creations ......................................................................................... 71
The Universe is God's Imaging ........................................................................................... 71
The Body of Christ ................................................................................................................... 72
God is Light ................................................................................................................................ 72
The Energy/Mass Continuum .............................................................................................. 74
Panentheism .............................................................................................................................. 74
Summary .................................................................................................................................... 77
PART 6: "WHEN?"................................................................................................................................... 78
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The Relativity of Time ............................................................................................................ 80
Life is Here and Now ............................................................................................................... 81
PART 7: "WHERE?" ................................................................................................................................ 83
In the Mind of God .................................................................................................................. 85
PART 8: "HOW?" ..................................................................................................................................... 88
The First Moment of Creation .............................................................................................. 88
Deeper, Slower Layers of Consciousness........................................................................ 88
A Conscious Process ............................................................................................................... 89
Humanity .................................................................................................................................... 90
The Future .................................................................................................................................. 91
PART 9: "WHY?"...................................................................................................................................... 93
Rejecting PreDeterminism .................................................................................................... 93
Perhaps There is No Purpose ............................................................................................... 93
God is Forgetting in Order to Remember ....................................................................... 94
Being Alone ................................................................................................................................ 94
From Possibilities Into Reality............................................................................................. 95
The Shocking Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 96
The Problem of Evil ................................................................................................................. 96
The Biblical Evidence .............................................................................................................. 97
Hide and Seek ........................................................................................................................... 97
PART 10: IN SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 99
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 44
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
From the dawn of time, whenever that was, and the dawn of human consciousness, whenever that
was, mankind has looked around in wonder and has asked questions. Why is the sky blue? Where
is the world? Why do birds fly? What is grass made out of? What happens after I die? How far
away are the stars? Is there a God?
These questions have helped create the human race. All of human knowledge, all of human
enterprise can be seen as one form or another of attempting to define and answer questions. What
can I do to have a little more leisure time? How can we live in peace with our brothers? Is there
anything I can do to lead a happier life?
The One Really Big Question
The highest form of human thought is in the realm of religion. And as it pertains to religion there
are really only six questions. Those six questions are inside of the one really big question.
The one really big question is, "How is it possible that anything exists at all?" This is the
ultimate question, and all other questions are derivative from it. All other questions are very
small subsets of this very, very big question.
And that very big question is expressed in different ways. "Why wasn't the universe forever just a
big black nothingness?" "Where did God come from?" "If there is no God then how did the
universe get here?" "If we come up with a scientific theory that says that it all came from a 'big
bang', then where did all the stuff come from to be able to 'bang'?"
The fact that anything exists at all anywhere in any way, shape or form is the ultimate
cosmological, ontological mystery. It is the great unknown. It is the fundamental rubric of all
human thought.
And in the attempt to answer that one really big question we have six smaller questions:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How? and
Why?
It's almost like we have a murder mystery. We've arrived upon the crime scene and, lo and
behold, there is a dead body. In our investigation there are only six questions we have to answer.
Who did it? Exactly what did they do, and, what did they use to do it? When did they do that?
Where did it take place? How was it done? And, why?
Opportunity and motive. When we come to the really big question, the really big question is like
our dead body in the murder mystery. And in order to be able to approach the really big question
we have to answer these 6 questions.
The 6 Domains of Human Thought
These 6 questions have become all different branches of human knowledge.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 45
When we ask who, we are asking the question of theology. Tell me about this God, what are His
attributes? Does He think? Does He feel? Does He get personally involved with us? Perhaps
there is no "He", only an impersonal, mindless force.
When we ask what, this is the field of science. What is in this universe? What's it made out of?
Tell me about the atoms and electrons and photons. What is gravity, after all?
When we ask when, we are contemplating in part cosmology, in part astronomy and a part
paleontology. How old it the Earth? How old is our sun? How old is the universe? How old am
I? Am I just a body? Or, has perhaps my soul, whatever that might be, been here a lot longer and
got somehow stuck inside of my body?
When we ask where, we are asking the questions of astronomy and metaphysics. Is the Earth the
center of the universe? Where is our sun in relation to the other suns? And if you add up all of
the suns and all of the galaxies, where are they? Does the universe go on and on and on forever?
Does it stop? If it stops, what's on the other side of it? Where is the whole thing located? And,
where is it in relationship to God? Is it apart from God? Is it inside of God? If it's inside of God,
then how does it relate to God?
Fifth, we ask how? How was the universe born? Was there a Big Bang? Did God create? How
did this all come about? This is an issue of metaphysics and theology and part mysticism. The
science of the Kabbalah for example, attempts to explain step by step exactly how God made the
world. And exactly how God is related to the world.
Sixth, we come to the most interesting question of all. If we adopt a theistic view, meaning that
there is a God and he/she is a person, why would He do this? Why did God make this world?
Why does God allow there to be suffering? Why does God permit human beings to do the
horrible things that they do? Why does God bless some and curse others? This is a question of
the highest philosophy. This is a question of religion. It comes down to the very core of the
purpose of life: why am I alive? What is the highest I can attain?
The Bible is Silent
These six questions, ladies and gentlemen, lie outside of the realm of the Bible! The Bible does
not answer any of them! Not completely. Of the six questions the Bible attempts to do the best
job on the question of "who." Who this God is and some of his nature and attributes.
But the other five are left to be a mystery. Open up a Bible if you have one, and you will read in
any Bible the very first verse. It is so familiar to western civilization that even the youngest
school children have it memorized. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth."
That's all it says. But what it does not say speaks volumes. It does not tell us who this God is.
And what the Bible will reveal to us during the course of it's pages is ways in which we can relate
to this person because of what he has done to, with and for us.
But before God made the world, what was He? Who was He? The Bible does not answer that
question.
Then we ask "what?" Well, the Bible will give us only very broad brush strokes as to what the
world is. Because Genesis describes God creating stars and oceans and fish and birds. But the
Bible is very quiet as to the scientific, mathematical, astronomical and atomistic nature of this
world. The Bible has left it to mankind to search out the answers to the "what" of existence.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 46
The "when" is never answered. We are told "in the beginning" God created the heavens and the
Earth. But we do not know when that was. Some people go through a laborious process counting
up the ages of the Saints and know generations and come up with a calculation that indicates that
"in the beginning" was about 6,000 years ago. But the Bible doesn't tell us that. Perhaps it was
billions of years ago.
"Where", the Bible again is silent. The way in which the world is created, within God, or outside
of God, or as a part of God, or with God's being, the Bible is very quiet. So where we are in the
universe is a mystery. It is such a mystery according to the Bible that the Renaissance
astronomers who indicated that the Earth was not the center of the universe were ostracized by
the Ecclesiastical authorities for blasphemy. The Bible does not do a very good job of telling us
where we are.
And where was God before He made the world? Where is He now? This is a very interesting
question, and again the Bible is silent.
How did God make the world? The Bible gives us no clue what so ever. The Bible indicates that
God said, "Let there be light" and the saying made it so. Well, how did that work?!?? I can say
"let there be pizza," and I don't see any pizza.
So, while the Bible indicates that it was through an act of speaking, the Bible does not indicate to
us at all how God actually created this world.
And finally, most mysteriously of all, the Bible gives us not one clue as to why God would do
such a thing. Was it because He was bored? Was it because He wanted to have some little
creatures down here to torture? Was it because He is an egocentric maniac, and wanted to force
us all to sit around and worship Him? Meanwhile, preparing ghastly and unspeakable tortures for
those who refuse to do so? The Bible does not tell us why.
And those theologians who have attempted to say, "Well it was obvious that God wanted to have
fellowship with Adam and Eve." don't tell us why that would be of any interest to God. And do
not tell us why he would care.
So, as we look to the first verse in Genesis, we have the following results:
Who? God.
What? Created.
When? In the beginning.
Where? Ah, the heavens and the Earth.
How? He said it and it was done.
Why? Because he's God.
Does Anyone Really Care?
Perhaps you are satisfied with these answers. It is all too obvious that the overwhelming majority
of mankind is entirely satisfied with these answers, or with no answers at all. The human race is
at this point at a stage of development where we are enamored of technological inventions. We
are in love with our machines, and are frankly much more interested in a warm place to live and a
cold beer, then we are in understanding the Who, What, When, Where, How and Why of
existence.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 47
And even those who do persue a knowledge of God, or face religion, for the most part approach
it for two reasons. Number one, to make sure that the big guy upstairs is listening to them so that
if they get sick or have a problem the big answer man in the sky will take care of them. And,
number two, once they die they want to know what the magical formulas are that they have to say
in order to be able to make sure that they won't go to the really, really bad place.
And, for countless millions of people that is the sum total of their religion. Morality takes a back
seat and the higher questions, the six questions inside of the one really big question, are never
approached.
Therefore it is obvious to me by the very nature of this writing that I have a somewhat limited
audience and will probably not wind up at the top of anybody's best seller list. Be that as it may, I
feel compelled to proceed with this project.
The creator of the universe has given us, and wants to give us, much better answers to the really
big question and to the six minor questions. That is the purpose of this writing.
The Revealing Science of God is to explain the best I can, to anyone who might be
interested, the totality of the universe:
Who God is,
What he has done,
When this occurred,
Where we are,
How the creation was affected, and
Why it was done.
Having explored these six we will then turn to the ultimate question because we will then have
much data to enable us to understand.
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 48
PART 2: EPISTEMOLOGY
This leads us to the question of epistemology. Epistemology is the study of how we know what
we know. It is not so much an examination of those ideas, facts and notions which constitute our
knowledge, but rather a study of how human beings can know anything. And the manners and
degrees in which that knowledge is possible.
As it comes to the question of religion there is one fundamental, epistemological question which
every aspirant for truth must answer. That question is,
What criteria will you use to evaluate truth and falsehood?
Pontius Pilot asked Jesus, "What is truth?" The most important thing you have to do is ask
yourself, how you are going to answer that question.
Perhaps mankind is not capable of knowing anything. Many people would say this. That anything
having to do with religion, and even those things having to do with science, are simply interplays
of words and thoughts which have no connection to actual existence.
To those people I simply respond that they may ultimately be right. But if so, then our
interactions with a dog or a snowflake are likewise based upon pure imagery, pure conjecture and
fantasy. If we can know anything at all, then, we can come to knowledge of the universe. And as
we do so we are presented with different tools. How do you know something about God? What
sources of information do you have? There are many.
Holy Books
Number one, a holy book. The Bible, either the Christian version or the Jewish version. Or,
maybe the Catholic version. Or maybe add in a couple more books for the Moslem version. Or
maybe add in a couple more books for the Mormon version. And then you have different
translations. Or you could read it in the original language it was written in 2,000 years ago. Or if
you are not going to do that then you're going to have to trust that somebody else has given you
the right understanding of the words. And that they're manipulating you or lying to you.
So which translation do you use? The good old King James, maybe the New American Standard.
How 'bout the living Bible? What about what is for many people the only true translation, the
New World Translation from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract society. What is your position on
the great scholarly debates around the proper translation of certain Greek words?
So, simply saying that you are going to trust in what the Bible says, is not necessarily an easy
way out. Why pick the Bible? Why not the Koran? Why not the Bhagavad-Gita? Why not the
Lotus-Sutras? Why not the Tao Te Ching? Is it because the Bible claims to be inspired by God?
Sri Rama-Krishna said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to Atman-Brahman
except through me." How do you pick one scripture over another?
Religious Organizations
Well, that leads us to number 2: an Ecclesiastical structure of some form. The Mormon church,
millions of people have the witness in their hearts, is the one true church. To belong to the
community of Israel is to enter a holy and sacred covenant with God. The Catholic church is
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 49
God's instrument, and to leave or question the Edicts of the Catholic church is to question God
himself, which one must do only with immense fear and trembling.
So if you are going to trust the edicts of a particular structure or organization, how do you know
that the structure is telling you the truth? Well, perhaps they just "preach the Bible." That gets us
back to point 1, and we really haven't accomplished anything.
Authority Figures
Third, we can trust in a person. Maybe it's a preacher on the old time gospel hour who really
ministers to us. Maybe it's our priest or our pastor. Maybe it's a particular teacher we had in
school. Maybe it's the author of a book, like this one. How do you know whom to trust? Why
accept the words of one person and not another?
Ultimately, you must come personally to some form of evaluative technique. Whether it is a book
or a structure or a person, you must turn inside to evaluate for yourself whom to trust, or forever
abdicate responsibility to an outside entity!
Reason & Logic
So, that leads us to part four. You can use your reason, you can think things out. You can
analyze, you can use logic. The powers of the mind are great and immense, but what happens if
your logic is faulty? What happens if you are operating upon insufficient data? What if the
Ecclesiastical structure is hiding some things from you? Why is it out of all of the thousands of
scrolls in the Dead Sea, only 5% of them have been made available to the public? Did you know
that there were hundreds of letters and Gospels written around the time of Jesus, but the church
only decided to allow you to read 27 of them?
How do you know that they found the right ones? How do you know that your reason is based
upon proper information? And even if it is, how do you know that you were drawing the right
conclusions?
Well perhaps we need divine guidance. That leads us to number 5.
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Direct Revelations
We can receive a direct word from God, in a vision or a dream or perhaps a miraculous prophecy
spoken through someone else. We can sit and wait for God to talk to us directly. But, what if He
never does? What if we are lied to? What if what we think is God is actually Satan appearing as
an angel of light? How will you know if what is being told is true?
Overcoming Culture
As you see, ladies and gentlemen, there is no single answer. In every venue, every tool which we
could seek to use as a criteria for truth is fraught with potential hazards, uncertainty and therefore
ever in danger. If the religious life matters enough to pursue it then it matters enough to find the
right answers. If you are one of those rare people who is actually seeking for the divine truth then
you must do something which 98% of the world's planet does not do.
What is that? Well, for 98% of the world's population the overwhelming majority answer to the
question of epistemology is "whatever mommy and daddy told me." And by mommy and daddy
we mean the entire social societal structure around the child as that child grows. The book that is
presented to the child as being holy, the practices that the child undergoes, the songs that the
child sings, the mythologies and stories that the child is told, the religious authorities that the
child meets, the holy buildings that the child attends gives to the child that child's religion.
And worldwide statistics indicate less then 2% of the worlds population ever abandons that
societal structure. Jews give birth to Jews. The number one thing that will convert people to
Islam is being born to Moslem parents. The overwhelming factor to make people decide to
become Hindus is if their mommy and daddy live in India. Christians give birth to Christians.
Conversion, abandoning the faith, all of these things to occur. But, if you are talking about the
human race as whole less than 2% of the population ever actually changes.
Therefore if you are going to be a genuine seeker for truth, the first thing you must do is rise
above the social constructs which have been donated to you by reason of your birth and heritage,
and begin a process of examining them for yourselves! To look at the books, to look at the
organizations. To look at your prophets, priests and kings. To examine your dreams, visions and
to challenge your thinking.
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The Scientific Method
How, then, do we approach this? Is there any hope at all? The answer is an undeniable,
unquestionable yes. The answer is what I call "The Revealing Science of God."
Science is an epistemology, it is a system geared toward the pursuit of knowledge, and is not just
the combination of facts and ideas which we have. It is a methodology for discovering new
truths. And that methodology has become absolutely codified over the centuries. And it is a
actually verifiable series of steps which are reproducible by other people. Scientific method is
designed to find as close to objective reality as is possible. The steps are quite few, and quite
distinct.
First. Find a question, find a problem, find something you wonder about. This can be something
simple from "how many times will a ball bounce when it's dropped 5 feet in the air?" to "what is
cancer?" "How do we stop aids?" "Why are stars born?"
Second. You start with the question, now what you do is you formulate a hypothesis. This is your
educated guess, the best answer you have at this given time.
Third. You read the literature. You see what other people have written upon this topic. And see
if there's any consensus, see what the results of their research have led them to. See if any of it
pertains to you. What areas are they uncertain of? Did they have dissatisfactory results in any
particular experiment?
Fourth. You perform your own experiment. This can be something very simple like counting the
number of times a cat purrs in a minute, to creating a 5 billion dollar nuclear reactor.
Fifth. You perform your experiment and gather your information. As you do that you evaluate
the data. Was your test clean? Were you interrupted? Are there any extraneous circumstances?
Can the test be repeated and the same results occur for someone else?
Sixth. Reevaluate your hypothesis in light of your new data.
Seven. Go back to step one. Perhaps we now need a new hypothesis. Perhaps we need to
examine a new question.
This is the methodology of science. It has led us to everything from laser beams to symphonies. It
has led us to the creation of antivirus vaccines. It has led us to aircraft carriers. It has led us to
pencils and computers.
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Applying the Scientific Method to Religion
Ladies and gentlemen, you can and must apply the same scientific method to your investigation
of God! You must create a hypothesis. You must find your questions. You must formulate your
initial hypothesis, you must do the research of the other people, other experts in the field. Fourth,
you must perform experiments. Fifth, you must evaluate that data. Sixth, you must reexamine
your hypothesis in light of the new data. And seventh, you must return to step one.
The problem, many people will say, is that the process and methodology of science is not
applicable to the field of theology because science deals with quantifiable, measurable physical
matter. Religion by its very nature is not dealing with mere physics, mere matter, but is dealing
with non-corporeal, non material realities. How then can one apply this method to God?
Several comments here. First, if there is a God, and if that God is in any way associated with the
creation, then all physical attributes and all scientific formulas are indicators of the nature of this
creator. In exactly the same way that a artist's painting says something about the artist, so too,
God's creation says something about God.
Second, every system of knowledge is based upon certain postulates. The postulates are those
items which stand before the theorems. They are those items which cannot be proven, not
disproved by any know methodology.
For example, the parallel line postulate. The parallel line postulate says in Euclidean geometry,
that two parallel lines will forever remain equidistant. That means on out to infinity they never
touch. Non Euclidean geometries will state either that at infinity the parallel lines meet. Or, that
at infinity the parallel lines are an infinite distance apart. These are postulates, they cannot be
proven, they cannot be disproved. They are then the building blocks of a system. The building
blocks of further theorems. They are the definitions. Upon those definitions, if they are agreed to,
we can come to sound conclusions based upon those postulates.
Much of religion then, boils down to postulates. And it just so happens that there is a very or
relatively small number of postulates that one can pose regarding God.
You see, much argumentation in the religious community comes about because people start from
different presuppositions. They start with different assumptions, they start with different
postulates. Therefore they must come to different conclusions. However, since most of this
remains preconscious, they sit arguing and bickering with each other about their different
conclusions and are unable to explicate the problems stemming from the different assumptions.
If we are basing discussions upon assumptions and we grant that these assumptions cannot be
proven or disproved, and if we start from different postulates then we can agree to disagree in
peace.
Also, the scientific method is for the most part limited to simple external tests and examinations.
When we come to religion we are dealing with the totality of your being. We are dealing with all
of you. We are dealing with your body. We are dealing with desires. We are dealing with
emotions, we are dealing with feelings. We are dealing with thoughts. We are dealing with
reason. We are dealing with intuition. We are dealing with dreams. We are dealing with a
subconscious and super conscious mind.
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All of these things can be applied to the pursuit of knowledge of God. So, whereas the
materialistic scientific community is limiting its research and its evaluative results to the realm of
physical matter, the Revealing Science of God is not so limited. And there are tests which you
can perform in matter, in your body, in your emotions, in your mind that can yield verifiable,
repeatable results.
This is not abstract science, this is The Revealing Science of God. By revealing I mean God's
attempts to give information to us. You see, if there is a God then we could easily postulate, and I
do, that God is interested in making some part of him/herself known to us. In this way the divine
mind is reaching out to touch and inspire human beings.
We then have a dance wherein through science mankind is reaching out with the totality of his
being to God, and in grace God is reaching out with the totality of his being to man. This is why I
call this, "The Revealing Science of God."
Knowledge of God is a pursuit, it is constant, it is clear, it unending. It affects every part of your
being. You can leave nothing out. You must read the literature, you must talk to your
Ecclesiastical authorities. You must use your reason. You must follow your heart. You must
dream dreams and seek visions from God.
And using all of these, through an attitude of prayer and supplication, make yourself open to
God's revelation.
You can and will come to your religion!
You will be freed from the religion merely that was handed to you by society and your religion
will become your own. The unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined faith is not
worth having.
As I have said, The Revealing Science of God is a quest, it is constant and clear. And it is forever.
This writing, then, is the result of my quest. I have read the literatures of the world's religions, I
have attended many of their holy places. I have spoken with many of their holy people.
I have thought my thoughts. I have dreamt dreams, I have had visions. This is my scientist's
journal, if you will, presenting to you the results of all of my experiments. I will leave it for you
if you are interested to make it a part of your pursuit of truth. Not as a final authority figure, but
as one more piece of literature in the never ending Revealing Science of God.
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PART 3: DID GOD CREATE?
The fundamental postulate upon which all of this material will be based is that
a) God is the creator of this universe.
b) We therefore can learn about him through the creation.
We must examine the likelihood and probability of this postulate. Because all of the revelation of
God, all of the science of God is useless if this is not true.
So the first question we have to deal with is, did God create the universe? You have several
different theories in the world. Some say that no, all we have is matter and that matter has
exploded through a big bang and is now dancing throughout the universe. And due to laws of
physics the different atoms are collecting and recollecting in different fashions. The result is
eventually universes, galaxies, stars, planets, oceans, frogs and people.
Others say no, everything has come down from above. That the matter is a reference of other
non-physical beings. The two views are absolutely opposite. And to clearly distill the difference,
I think is to frame it in this manner. To camp #1 consciousness is a result of matter. To camp #2
matter is a result of consciousness. This is actually a chicken vs. the egg question. And upon it
hinges all other discussions.
And it seems to me that this is a very, very good question to have the ability to focus upon. You
see, the entire religious debate, the entire debate between the religious and scientific
communities, revolves around this one postulate.
Is matter a result of consciousness, or is consciousness a result of matter?
Inside of the human being this is the difference between seeing that human knowledge resides in
the brain vs. the brain is simply the organ through which human knowledge (mind) expresses
itself.
In camp #1 when you are dead there is nothing left because your biophysical organism is the
totality of your being. For camp #2 when you die very little happens other then the loss of one
part of your organism.
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Life is More Than Chemical Interactions
From my studies and research it is clear, at least to me, that the absolutely overwhelming body of
evidence is that matter is the result of consciousness, and not the other way around.
The primary reports and ramifications, and experiential data that I have for this comes from a
cross cultural report of events which happen to the human being after their death.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, written centuries ago, accounts in symbolic language the same
exact steps that human beings go through who have reported events after their death, upon being
clinically resurrected. Some people have been dead for as long as 2 hours. And have come back
to report astounding things. The details do not concern us here. You can do the research yourself.
Next we add evidence which we find in cultures world-wide: the encounters, in one form or
another, that people have had with non-corporeal beings, such as what we call demons and
angels.
Finally we have the experience of astral projection or soul travel, wherein the person leaves their
body & travels in the next world.
I therefore concluded that the overwhelming evidence is that consciousness is primal. That there
is a non-physical counterpoint to all that we see. We are, in short, more than our bodies.
Life, in other words, will never ever be found in a laboratory, because there is no thing, no
chemical interaction which defines life. We have organisms, very, very, small organisms, one
cell bacteria and other amoebae, that science has been able to chart completely. And science has
been able to map out every single molecule in the body of that unicellular organism. We actually
have worms that we have the entire DNA chain mapped out and understood. And there is no
visible chemical interactions which can create life.
Life, whatever it is, is a non-physical force which finds itself expressing through matter.
But we don't have to go simply by the evidence of visions or dreams or after death experiences.
The totality of our lives also indicate to us the primacy of consciousness. Every single creation,
every single man made object, every single animal made object. And there are many of them,
there are bird nests, there are rabbit holes, there are beaver damns, there are many constructions,
not just from the human world. Every one of these is based upon a preceding consciousness, a
knowledge, a plan.
Even if we go so far as to speak of random art where the painter is simply throwing paint upon a
screen, there is still a consciousness, a plan to perform this random act. And every single
enterprise we have ever seen in this world shows us that consciousness comes first and matter
comes second!
First we have the idea for a book, then we have the book. First we have the idea for a restaurant,
then we have the restaurant. First we have the idea for a candle, then we have the candle. It is
never the other way around.
As it comes to nature then, we have a choice. We can theorize that nature has become as it is, due
to a series of the exact same processes that have resulted in everything else in the creation. Or
that they are based upon processes which are completely absolutely and utterly foreign to them.
In other words, since everything in nature, as it manipulates nature's energies creating dams and
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bombs and sparrows nests, always begins with a intellectual consciousness, preceding the
physical creation, then either there is some unseen creative intelligence which is manifesting this
universe, or, all of nature exists from a fundamentally different perspective and different avenue
of creation then everything else that we see.
In other words, if the sparrows have some form of consciousness before they build their nests,
how did the sparrows get here? Doesn't it seem reasonable to at least theorize or perhaps
postulate that some creative guiding intelligent force led to the existence of the sparrow? For me
the answer is overwhelmingly yes.
The Fractal Universe
One thing which we have seen, especially recently in nature, in the revolution going on in the
sciences through fractal geometry, and the application of fractal mathematics to all fields of
science, is that all of nature a reflection of itself. Cycles which occur on a microscopic scale,
occur on a macroscopic scale. The same factors of gravity which hold the moon in rotation
around the Earth, hold you to the Earth.
The scale is different, but the result is the same. The same mathematical structures which are
inside of the roadway system of the human race also exist inside the arteries of the human body.
As above so below. The air turbulence which helps create our weather patterns also affects the
flow of liquid into your bathtub.
These mathematical structures show across widely disparagingly different systems, fundamental
underlying mathematical harmony. The same process of photosynthesis exists in the tallest
mighty pine trees and hundred foot tall oak trees. And 300 foot redwood trees, as it does in the
tiniest blade of grass.
And that has been part of the delight and ecstasy for the human race over the centuries as seeing
the oneness of nature. And yet the scientific community today is unable to make the connection
and find any comfort or allow the realization that, based upon all the evidence from within the
creation, that all beings use consciousness to form and create. They're unwilling to accept that
this can indicate that there is indeed a higher consciousness which is forming and creating the
entire universe. Fractal. As below, so above.
Modern science is completely incapable of dealing with non-physical entities. Therefore they
must state with their fundamental postulate that there is nothing outside of matter and that matter
is the only reality.
The Astounding Nature of Order
There is one final piece of evidence which for me is absolutely conclusive, to state that
everything has a conscious creation, and that is the nature of complexity. A bird is not a simple
thing. And if you remove even 5% of the bird's feathers that bird will not be able to fly. If you
remove 5% of the bird's muscles, that bird will not be able to fly.
The structure of DNA alone is so unbelievably, incomprehensibly complex that to theorize that
all of the immense incalculable complexity of the universe results from chance manipulations of
eons of time, results for me and millions of other people in a complete paradox.
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If structure has resulted from chance interactions cast throughout the ages of time, then there
must be 2 equal tendencies: toward order and disorder. But if these 2 tendencies are only equal
(as pure chance would require) then nothing could exist at all!
Grant right now a function, wherein during the first cycle the function adds 10% and during the
2nd cycle it subtracts 10% and then it repeats. If you begin with any substance and pass it through
that function, the result after an infinite series of reiterations is absolutely zero!!
For example, if you start with $100 and come noon each day I give you an additional 10% of
your money, come noon you will have $110. And if come sundown everyday we remove from
you 10% of your money then at sundown we take out $11 and you are left with $99.
Notice, please, that these are two absolutely equal functions. Let us assume that the forces of
creation are part creative and part destructive, tending toward & away from order. And that they
are absolutely equal, for the laws of chance would require it. The limit of the function plus 10%
minus 10% as the function moves toward infinity is zero. It will not take very many years until
you have no money at all and I have all of it.
Now, the paradox is that this function leads to zero even after it has started with $100. If you are
not going to be able to start at that point then how in the world will you ever get the $100
dollars? Since equal functions will always destroy more then they create, how do we ever get to
the point where we have anything to be destroyed?
This problem has not been addressed by the evolutionists. If we are going to have any order at all,
then the forces of creation are going to have to be stronger then the forces of destruction. If that is
true, then the forces of creation must be mathematically, statistically unequal to the forces of
destruction. And by its very definition, then, creation is stronger then destruction. The tendency
to order must be greater then the tendency toward disorder. Yet this is not a simple random
chance. This means that flipping heads will come up more often then flipping tails.
The mechanism that "sees to it" that heads comes up more often, that sees to it that the forces of
creation are stronger then the forces of destruction, that sees to it that the forces of ordering are
greater then the forces of chaos, must lie outside of pure chance.
So what we can say is, due to the incredible complexity of the material world, if there is not
going to be some form of creative intelligence guiding it, then at the least there must be a
skewing of the results so that equal cycles of order and disorder are not in fact equal but are
favoring order.
That force favoring order, that part of the creation that tends to make things more ordered
then disordered, is exactly what we call God.
So, based upon the evidence of those who have physically died and have come back to talk about
it, based upon the experiences that people have had throughout the years with non-corporeal
beings, based upon the nature of all creative processes that we can witness have a intelligent
antecedent, and based upon the overwhelming complexity of the universe, and the necessity of
having some skewing of the forces of order and disorder toward order for anything to exist at all,
I conclude that:
1) It is at least reasonable to state that the entire universe has a creative, intelligent source.
2) Consciousness precedes matter.
3) God is defined as the agent which has shaped and molded nature.
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If none of this makes any sense to you, or you disagree with it, then there is simply no point in
continuing to read this. This is my starting point. This is the postulate, if you will. I cannot
actually prove to you that two parallel lines stay forever equidistant. In the same way I cannot
actually prove to you that God made the heavens and the Earth. But I can give you reasonable
evidence as to why it is acceptable to define the terms this way. And I can state that, based upon
the totality of my experiences, it is much more consistent within nature. It is much more rational.
And it is much more cohesive and justifiable to state that God is the creative force which has
shaped this universe then it is to state that God is merely an idea that is the result of
consciousness bubbling up from the interaction of matter.
That being said, the most difficult part is over. Because, this postulate leads us to many
conclusions which we can draw based upon it. If we are able to be comfortable postulating that
God created the heavens and the Earth, then we can in fact learn much, much, much about who
He is. That leads us to our next section, who is God?
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PART 4: "WHO?"
Who is God? In the previous section we spent a fair amount of time attempting to establish some
reasonable grounds for the statement that God is the creator. And in a fairly rationalistic formula
how we can make sense of that and justify it.
Now, who is this God? Is it a who or a what? If God is the creator then this much is absolutely
certain, that God's nature and attributes can be seen and understood through the creation. This is
a very Biblical principal that the heavens declare the glory of God and the Earth shows his
handiwork. It is the essence of the Secret Way of Judaism, the Kabbalah.
Everything we see explains to us some aspect of God. This is a very familiar concept and we
need not dwell on it a length. Just as every word in this writing somehow reflects something
about me, so too every single thing in the universe says something about God. That being the
case, one thing we can say is that God is at least a person. That is a very important phrase. God is
at the very least a person. Why?
Well, certainly a creator cannot make something greater then himself. Even the most lofty
invention of the human race, be it a symphony or a war machine or a nuclear reactor is a subset
of the mind and or minds which created it. Therefore, since no thing can create something greater
than itself, since God has created persons God is in the very least a person.
Individual people and individual organisms have many attributes. They have a self will, they
have a consciousness, they have desires and they have, of course, on this plane at least some
physical attributes. Therefore God must contain mind, consciousness. God must contain desire.
God must contain animation. And God must contain material.
That is why we say that God is at very least a person. In the world's religions there are three
primary views of God. An impersonal force, a person without attributes and a person with
attributes. The impersonal force is the primary view especially of the Buddhists, where God is
not seen as an active involved creative agent so much as the ground of being. And while it is
certainly true that God is the ground of being, it cannot be true that God does not have
personality, because the personalities which we see must be a subset of God.
Can God Be Known?
At the same time to say that God is a person but without attributes is often a statement not so
much about God but about our inability to know him. Many people say that regardless of what
the universe is, regardless of what God is we cannot know, we are too small. Certainly in some
respects this is true. My creation cannot comprehend everything about me. Because my creation
is just a very tiny subset of all of my powers and abilities. Therefore certainly no writing could
ever understand it's author. No symphony can ever understand it's composer. No bridge can ever
understand it's builder.
So on the one hand the position of the agnostics is very reasonable that we cannot know all there
is to know about God. However, we as animate beings with thought are capable of having the
totality of our minds expanded to the point that with all of our ability we do comprehend God.
That is not to say that we will understand everything there is to know about God. But we will
understand everything we can about God.
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Now this gets us slightly off the subject. But one of the divine mysteries as to who this God is, is
a creator who has placed within his creation the ability to fully comprehend him. This is a very
Biblical idea. And this idea exists in many other religions. The notion that at some point we will
come to a complete total knowledge of God. The Bible says that right now we understand dimly,
but eventually we will see God face to face. Now we know only in part that eventually we will
know everything fully and completely about God even as we have been full and completely
known.
The divine mystery is that we as creation will eventually understand as much about God as God
understands about us. This is a very big clue as to who God is and how we relate to him.
How are we to know this? How is this going to happen? If we as God's creation are to know
anything about him, how is it possible? Well, the only way the bridge could understand the
bridge builder is if the bridge builder was able to actually put some of his own mind into the
bridge. So that the bridge could think the bridge builders thoughts.
If the bridge builder could do that then the bridge could eventually learn everything that there is
to know about the bridge builder. Having the bridge builder's brain the bridge would then
eventually come to recognize what the bridge builder obviously has known from the beginning.
Astounding as it is we are told clearly not only in Christianity but also in Islam, also in
Hinduism, that we have been given God's brain. That as a part of his creation we have his brain.
In this respect, then, the notion of human beings as they relate to God is not so much on the order
of creator and creation but of a much higher much more powerful relationship. That is God as
father and mother.
You see, God has created the heavens and the Earth. The rocks and the waterfalls and the super
novas and the black holes. But as it comes to the human race, while we are in part creation, we
also have a different relationship. That relationship of children. We are God's children.
In terms of who we are and who God is, this notion of children is a very important idea. It means
that in exactly the same way that you can understand the creation as an expression of the creator,
much more so, much more so! You can see the children as inheriting genetically the personalities
of their parents.
God's Sex
Now I have to address the issue right now of God's sex. You see, in the Western world we always
talk about God the Father. We are incredibly nervous about talking about God the Mother. This
is unfortunate. One thing that we see in the world is that the vast majority of organisms
reproduce sexually, with a male and a female counterpart. It is completely irrational and very sad
to talk about God the Father and never mention God the Mother.
We talk about Father God and Mother Earth, and while there is valuable symbolism there,
certainly there must be a spiritual non-material counterpart to God the Father.
So when we talk about God as "He" or God as "She", we must understand the divine unfolding of
this one principal. God as Father and Mother have begotten children. So who God is is both the
male spirit side and the female form giver side. And God as Father/Mother begets children.
In this document, following western convention, I most often use "He." This is more readable
than "He/She" or "(S)He." This is a convention only. Nothing theological is to be taken by it.
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The Procession of the Gods
This leads us to another primary theory regarding God as Father/Mother. This idea is know as the
procession of the Gods. The theory comes from a very simple natural view. That is this: we call
God Father, and indeed he is. He calls us children, and indeed we are. And we are told and taught
and believe that eventually we will grow up to the fullness of God, which we will. This can only
mean one thing, that eventually we will become Godlike. We will grow up to be gods and
goddesses. And we will grow up to create our own universe, our own galaxies. Have our own
starchildren. This view is surprisingly popular in today's world, it is held very devoutly by many,
most especially the Mormons and Hindus.
And I will take position on this that may surprise some. My position is that the procession of the
Gods may or may not be true. I can see a certain reasoning behind it, and I can see why some
people would be drawn to that conclusion. But I do not take a definitive position on the
procession of the Gods because it cannot, in the ultimate sense, matter!
Here is why. Let us assume for the moment, for argument's sake, that the procession of the Gods
is the absolute total truth. Baby pine trees grow up to be adult pine trees and adult pine trees have
new baby pine trees. Maybe God the Father is having his children, and those children will grow
up to be God and have more heavenly children.
If that is true, then what we are talking about is a whole stream of local gods. Sometimes they are
referred to as galaxy gods or local order gods. But the important point is this, that the entire flow
of processions of gods has to exist inside of something. Where did the first God come from?
What is the mechanism within which all of these gods exist? What lies outside of them? What is
the ground of being of all of these gods and goddesses? In other words, even if the procession of
the gods is true it does not answer any questions of a ultimate nature. It explains more of the
dance perhaps, but that is all. By the dance I mean all of those phantasmogorical events which
happen in the lives of seekers for truth, happens within the created universe.
But where does it all come from? You see, we still haven't answered any questions! Postulating
or proving or seeing the procession of the gods does not help us to answer any of the questions. It
certainly does not help us answer the really big question. Why was there ever a first God to have
children with? It does not answer any of the smaller questions in terms of the ultimate ground of
being.
So for me, any discussion or theory regarding the procession of the gods, while interesting, and
certainly it could be amusing, is simply not the point. I seek not to know this local God as much
as to comprehend and become reunited with the ultimate ground of being. The field, the first seed
that came from wherever to create the first pine tree. The field that all grows in that has given
birth to all of the billions of trees.
That is the field which I seek. That is the quest for God which I am on. Not for the local God,
certainly not to denigrate such a creature. If such a being exists then I would do very well to pay
attention to, worship and adore such an incredible creature.
But ultimately, if that creature is there, then that creature is nothing more nor less then the nonphysical counterpart of my earthly father and mother. And while I certainly adore them, and
could never properly thank them for the gifts which they gave me through my childhood,
eventually I must stand up to become my own adult and decide what to do with my life. And
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perhaps I, if I am to become a local god, am going to grow up to the point where I do not seek
anymore children. I'll pursue the religious life and want to find out what made me.
What does the local god worship? Where did he come from?
I hope this is clear, because it is a very key point.
The Self-Existent One
What this boils down to is discovering the anchor for ground zero, for all of the chains of
dependencies. What do I mean by that?
The chain of dependencies seeks to establish that fundamental unchangeable foundation which is
the root of all existence. Everything which we see, everything which we hear, everything which
we know has dependencies. One upon the other.
A "self made man" depends upon a social order in order to have a job or money. He depends
upon gravity to connect him to the Earth. He depends upon parents who gave him good genetics.
He depends upon air to stay alive. He depends upon molecular cohesion to keep his body formed
and solid. Remove any one of the hundreds of dependencies and this "self made man" simply
ceases to exist.
So, where does it all come from? Where does it start? Who is God? What is it upon which
everything else is dependent? What is it that is the source and origin of all, including, if it exists,
the procession of the local gods?
Well, that being or substance must exist. This is a logical consistency in that we find that there is
at least the appearance of existence in this world. Remember the really big question; How is it
possible that anything at all ever exists what so ever?
God, being the source and origin of everything, we define as being self existent. I am not self
existent, the United States of America is not self existent, this Earth is not self existent. Because
without these different dependencies even the Earth would cease to exist.
If anything exists at all there must be one primal source and origin which is outside of all
dependencies. This is what philosophers have called the first mover, ground zero, the
causeless cause.
And as such we can know, logically, certain things about this being.
God has simply always existed
This is completely incomprehensible to us as mortals. Because everything that we have ever or
will ever encounter has a beginning, has a middle and has an end. Even if that extends beyond
our time frame we know that at one point those mountains were not there. And at one point in the
future they will not be there again.
So to say that God has always been there means that he is self existent, without any source at all.
Without any origin at all. Without any dependencies what so ever. Without any antecedent.
Without any history and without any cause. Completely, utterly and totally self existent.
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In the beginning God, from the beginning. What was before then? There was no before. So how
did he get here? Where did he/she come from? These are the wrong questions to ask, because
he/she has always been here.
Let me give you an example.............
So the night clerk gives the bellboy 5 one dollar bills. Tells him to give them back to the men.
The bellboy does not know what to do with $5 divided among the three men.
So he gives each of them $1 back and puts $2 in his pocket. We then see that since each man
paid $10 and got $1 back, each man paid $9. The bellboy still has $2 in his pocket. 9 X 3 is 27,
plus the bellboy's $2 is 29. What happened to the extra dollar?
Well this is a wonderful example of a very entertaining dinner party question. But the reason I
bring it up is to illustrate that sometimes the question is wrong. There is simply no way to answer
“what happened to the extra dollar?” There is no extra dollar. What happened to the $30? The
hotel has $25, the men each have $1, the bellboy has $2. That is the right question. Sometimes
we can ask questions which simply do not have any connection to reality.
It is beyond our comprehension to understand how anything or anyone can be eternal and self
existent. Without cause and without origin, and therefore having always existed. But this much
we can say, that based upon the notion that God is creator, and understanding as we do that we
are talking about more than the simple procession of the gods and are looking for the actual
rubric of existence itself, then, if indeed anything exists at all there must be a final ground from
which everything has come. And that being, by very definition, must be self existent.
The Mathematical Equation for God
We are actually given a formula that enables us to understand this being and understand what is
necessary and sufficient for the creation of the universe. The terms necessary and sufficient are
very important precise mathematical terms.
Something is necessary if it must be true in order for certain conditions to be met.
Something is sufficient if in and of itself it defines the structure.
Let me give you an example: A circle is a familiar object to everyone. One property that it is
necessary for a circle to have is that it is an enclosed space. And while that is necessary it is not
sufficient. Because, a square is also an enclosed space.
What is sufficient to define a circle is the definition of the collection of all points equidistant
from a center within a plane. That is sufficient.
Now, as it comes to this self existent being, there are many things that we can say that would be
necessary for it. It must have no source, no origin, no dependencies, etc.
But we're interested in much more then that. We want to know who God is. We want to know
how we relate to him. We are pursuing The Revealing Science of God. Therefore it is not enough
for us to merely discuss God's necessities. But what we are actually looking for is His
sufficiency. What is the sufficient condition for the self existent being to be able to generate a
universe?
And we actually have that formula. That formula is:
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I + WILL = EXISTENCE.
That formula is what is necessary and sufficient for God to be able to generate the universe. What
do I mean by that?
A rock could have, theoretically, for arguments sake, been the ground of all being. And this great
grand and glorious rock floating out in the middle of space could have been all that there ever
was. And it could theoretically have been there forever and just been there.
However that would not be able to generate this universe. It's missing two things.
1) "I" hood. This self existent being must be a person. Not a person as we think of it, because our
personhood is very limited in terms of time and space. But, a personhood which while it
transcends time and is beyond the confines of space, is also able to become self directed. That's
what it means to be the "I", and that's what it means to have a will.
2) Will, you see is one of the most unconsidered of facts of our lives. But, will is what shapes all
we do and who we are. It is the exertion of your will that enables you to determine if you are
going to react to something simply physically, on the basis of your feelings or on the basis of
your intellect. Your will focuses all of your vehicles into action. Your will decides and defines
who and what you are.
Therefore God, the ground of all being, has two attributes. And those two alone are sufficient for
generating the universe.
Attribute #1 is self, "I". Because being self dependent God has no other dependencies. There is
no not-I for God to interact with. There is this being and he lives on his own, he has no one to
talk to and nothing to do. He is, self existent.
This is crucial. His "I" has one and only one attribute. That attribute is will. And notice that these
are absolutes, this is the complete absolute self existent, self dependent "I". Within this "I" lays
the potencies for all manifest creation. It does so as an absolute "I" being coupled with an
absolute will. "I" plus will, the will to be able to shape, mold and form the "I" into whatever the
"I" will be.
I will be. I will be whatever I will to be. I plus will equals existence.
Ladies and gentlemen this is the infinite, limitless formula that has generated the universe. And it
is this formula which God has given to us as His Holy Name in the Bible. God's Name in the
Bible is "I will be what I will be." This shows us an integration and a unity in The Revealing
Science of God, that rings true with the type of consistency one looks for in the fields of science.
We have this one revelation in the Bible that God's Name is "I will be what I will be." We have
the logical determination that a self existent being and "I", must only have one attribute in order
to be able to generate a universe. And that is will.
I PLUS WILL EQUALS BEING.
I + Will = Being
And we see that this formula is the absolute rockbed foundation for the sum total of human
psychology and human development. All of your tens of thousands of books on the human mind
and the human psychology and child development. And family interactions and the recovering
alcoholic. And all of the other thousands of topics we discuss as human beings all boils to one
single thing.
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I PLUS WILL EQUALS BEING.
You, in order to receive and maintain health as a human being, must reclaim your "I" hood. To
recognize that you are both dependent and independent of those around you. That no one is
responsible for you but yourself. And that no one can make decisions for you but yourself. This
means that you must learn to exert your own will. You are the only one who can lose weight.
You are the only who can make you happy. You are the only one who can find your life fulfilled.
And you can express this in a hundred thousand different ways. But it all boils down to the same
thing, you will be what you will be. You will be what you will to be.
The 1) sum totality of your life, the 2) sum totality of the rubric of existence and 3) God's holy
and infinite name by which he says he will reveal all of his attributes are all one complete
whole. This is precisely what we mean by The Revealing Science of God.
As we said in our introduction, nature works in principles which extend beyond boundaries. And
what you look for are mathematical relationships which transcend their individual manifestation.
Force = Mass X Acceleration (F=MA) is a scientific mathematical principal that exists in
uncountable billions of specific applications.
We have here the formula for the entire universe. And that universal formula exists in all
dimensions, I plus will equals existence. This is God's name, this is the generational sufficiency
for the entire manifest universe. It is the sum total of your human existence. And it is the
reflection of all human interactions. We have this world the way it is because we want it this
way. If we willed to do so we could eliminate war, we could eliminate all hunger, we could
eliminate all pain and suffering.
The collective "I" of the social order manifests it's collective will to create this world as it
chooses. We collectively spend 2 million dollars every minute on maintaining our war
instruments on this earth. If we took all of that energy and placed it into the creation of health and
conquering diseases, and eliminating poverty and suffering, we could do so in years, not
centuries. Perhaps even months.
So we have found the central principal. The Revealing Science of God is an explanation of this
one formula.
I PLUS WILL EQUALS BEING.
One final note about this. It is very important that you notice the fractal nature of this revelation.
"I" plus will equals existence, and that existence becomes your new "I". I will be what I will be
what I will be what I will be.....
The "I" is placed into the will and the result is placed into the will and so forth. Your output of
today becomes your input for tomorrow. What you eat today becomes your source of energy for
tomorrow. Your "I" hood coupled with the decisions which you make as a manifestation of your
will becomes your destiny. And in that destiny you then couple your situation with your divine
will to create your new destiny.
This is how the universe works. That is who God is. "I" plus will equals being.
You can say, in shortest form, that the universe is a fractal equation of the formula
In+1 = In + WILL
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I will be what I will be. In terms, then, of God the creator, in the beginning "I will be" created the
heavens and the Earth.
If you want a marvelous exercise, get the Bible in computer form. And go through and teach your
computer how to replace the word "God" with "I will be." Teach your computer how to replace
"Lord" with "I will be." And teach your computer to replace "Lord God" with "I will be." Read
the resulting translation of the Bible. You will be astounded at what you see.
In the beginning I WILL BE created the heavens and the Earth. And the spirit of I WILL BE was
moving over the face of the waters. And I WILL BE said, "Let there be light." And there was
light. Literally translated from the Hebrew, this is "And light HE BECAME." And I WILL BE
saw that the light was good and I WILL BE separated the light from the darkness.
As it comes to the question of the creation, then, what do we have? We have the self existent
being whose "I" hood is limitlessly coupled with his/her divine will to create existence. The
nature of the creation then in terms of who this God is becomes the subject of our next section.
What is this creation? We have seen the best we can see within my abilities to communicate and
within the limitations of our language, who this being is. Now we will turn to the What? of this
creation.
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PART 5: "WHAT?"
What did God make the universe out of? What is the universe? We have said that the truly great
question is Why? or How? the thing ever came into existence at all. Why, once again, wasn't the
universe forever simply an empty nothingness of vast immeasurable blankness? And we have
looked at the notions of God being the ground of all existence. The source and origin of
everything that exists. We have seen the root formula of the universe, I plus will equals being.
We have discovered and defined God as being the end of all of the chains of dependencies.
Now, in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. What is it that he created? Well,
the vastness and complexity of the universe is a subject which has absorbed humanity's quest for
knowledge since the beginning of time. And what we have found is a universe so immense and
so detailed in every aspect of it's being, that it completely defies any attempt of the human being
to comprehend it.
When God said, "Let there be light." We now know that he created a substance which travels
186,000 miles every second. And we now know, based upon our most detailed astronomical
calculations that the expanse of the heavens which he created is at least 12 billion light years
across. That means that light traveling 186,000 miles every second, will take 12 billion years to
pass from one end of the creation to the other.
That's the breadth of the universe, and within that universe there are literally billions of galaxies.
And inside of each galaxy there are literally billions of stars. This is quite a vast place.
And yet if anything is more stupefying then the breadth of the universe it is it's depth. You see,
all of those stars are made of absolutely completely uncountable numbers of electrons, neutrons,
photons, particles of light, particles of energy, atoms and molecules which go to such a small
measure that there is no way for the human mind to conceive how small they are. Just as we are
incapable of imagining how truly vast the universe is we are completely incapable of
contemplating or conceiving of how truly detailed and microscopic the universe is.
And we have upon last count discovered well over 200 subatomic particles. That means that
inside of each of these uncountable trillions of atoms, there are hundreds of subatomic particles.
Scientists have not found an end to the universe in terms of a border line, after which there are no
more galaxies. And we have also not found, yet, a single fundamental building block for matter.
Now, with The Revealing Science of God ladies and gentlemen, we cannot hope to explain all of
the scientific and mathematical structures that God has placed into this universe. But the
fundamental question as to what this is we can indeed address. For you see, if anything we have
said so far about God is true then certain things become logically extended from our previous
conclusions.
For one, God operates in harmony with law and logic. God could not for example make a round
square. God has self limited in order to make the universe. And therefore abides by the form,
structure, laws and logic of the universe. They are his creation and he has placed them here for a
purpose and a reason.
Otherwise we could not learn anything about Him. God would then be seen as being utterly
capricious and not in any sense being genuinely connected to the universe.
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But there is something of a much more profound nature here. In terms of the what? of the
universe, which I have found over the years to have caused more controversy and more
uneasiness and more upset among my students then any other single topic I have ever discussed.
But regardless of how people react, I cannot alter the conclusions which The Revealing Science
of God has inexorably pushed me to. It all boils down to one simple thing, which is the subject of
this section.
What is the universe “made out of?”
According to the laws of logic, which we are comfortable concluding God works within, there
are logically only two choices. Either God made the universe out of himself or he/she made it out
of something else.
And this seemingly innocuous statement has threatened people for years. Because it leads us to
some rather startling but absolutely undeniable conclusions.
Many people feel that God is a shaper and molder of matter. Some teach, for example, that
within the procession of the gods matter is eternal. And that God is a spirit who molds and
shapes the matter.
There are other groups of people on this planet who share similar views, that there are indeed two
eternal beings. 1) The eternal spiritual being or beings which we call God or gods, and 2)
physical matter. And that what God was doing was shaping and molding the physical matter.
This winds us to a situation wherein you actually have two separate eternal beings. And you have
a much greater problem discovering the actual foundation of existence. Because you must
determine not only the self existent nature of the gods, but the self existent nature of matter.
Within the scientific community matter is the only self existent entity. Matter has combined into
planets, out of which developed life and that life has theorized this fantasy of a god.
But as I said in the introduction that position for me ultimately is a complete violation of many of
the tenants of science.
So if matter is not eternal and matter is not what generates God, then perhaps matter is eternal
and God is eternal. At which point we really have complicated things. Such discussions are
completely silly. The whole purpose of what we are trying to do with The Revealing Science of
God is discover the root and foundation of all existence. That is exactly the explicated purpose of
our previous chapter. And we have discussed the chain of dependencies. And have come to the
conclusion that God is the source and origin of all things and is the root and final anchor of all
chains of dependencies.
Therefore when God created the heavens and the Earth, what did he create them out of? Well, if
in the beginning the only reality was God, one self existent being, "I plus will equals being," and
that being is the soul source and foundation of all existence, then logically and simply everything
that exists must have come from God.
Now to this point the Christian church has very little trouble with hardly anything that I've said.
The classical Christian position is "ex nihlio", meaning out of nothing. God created out of
nothing, God did not have a co-eternally existent entity called matter, which he shapes and
molds. That he actually created everything out of nothing.
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However, upon deeper examination that statement does not hold up to any tests of logic, and is
fallacious. To say that God created out of nothing is true, in that, yes, there was no thing outside
of God for him to mold and shape. However, to say that he created out of nothing, to imply then
that the physical creation has a separate existence apart from God, is completely wrong. When
God said, "Let there be light," the only thing in the universe to generate that light was
himself/herself!
Therefore when we ask, "What did God make the world out of?" to say that he made it out of
nothing is an incomplete answer. The complete answer is he made it out of nothing other than
himself! The only energies that were there to create anything, were the energies of this self
existence, I will be.
In other words God took part of him/her own energies and transformed them into light and
matter. In short form, what is the universe made out of?
The universe is made out of God.
To say that God made everything out of nothing, most people imply then that the physical
creation remains apart from him. The most common illustration used is that he is the potter and
we are the clay. The difficulty with this is that God first had to find the clay, and where did he
find it? Well, he had to pull the clay out of himself, first!
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Internal and External Creations
You see, there are two and only two forms of creation, internal and external. An internal creation
is one wholly within the creator. And an external creation is where the creator takes his energies
and molds and shapes something outside of himself.
Most people conceive of God as a molder and shaper. However, if this is an external creation
then we are left once again with the inexorable question as to where this material came from for
God to shape and mold.
Everything that we do inside of the world is either an internal or an external creation. Every
creation begins with a will, which we have discussed before. Which is an internal impulse.
Within the realm of imagination we are able to create things within our minds. We can design
elaborate patterns, we can tell stories, we can create brand new worlds. The entire realm of
fiction and storytelling and television begins as an internal creation with our imagination, imagenation. Which we then, in order to communicate with other people, project onto the external
creation in forms of video tape and words and song.
We can do that because we have something outside of ourselves to project our internal creation
upon. However, if you are the source and origin of all existence, if you are the anchor of all
chains of dependencies then you have nothing outside of yourself upon which to project your
internal creation.
You see, the Bible is clear that God said, "Let there be light." And God said, "Let there be
mountains." And God said, "Let there be oceans." Ladies and gentlemen, you share that exact
ability. You can close your eyes and within your imagination create whatever you want! Let there
be a mountain, and upon that mountain let there be a river flowing down from the mountain. And
inside of that river let there be purple avocados that have four eyes and sing French marching
songs.
As simple, as complex, as sublime and as silly as you want, you can create just by saying, "Let
there be, let there be, let there be!" Let there be light.
The Universe is God's Imaging
The conclusion then is that the entire universe is God's imagination. God is thinking about
himself and placing his thoughts about himself into his realm of imagination. But his being is so
much more powerful then ours that we actually appear to be alive, and the creation takes upon
itself the appearance of reality.
So the "what" of the universe is God. The entire universe is simply God.
There is much Biblical and scientific evidence to support this. But, it still makes people very
nervous. Mankind currently is much more comfortable thinking of God as being utterly separate
and apart from mankind. That there is an inseparable gulf between God and us. He is the potter
and we are merely the clay.
It makes people uncomfortable to think that they might, in fact, be part of God's mind. And yet
the witness of science and the witness of the Bible is that that is exactly what the truth is. What
the universe is, is God.
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#1. The Bible says that God made us in his image. The connection between that and imagination
cannot be denied.
#2. Acts 17:28 says, "Inside of God we live and we move and exist." The Bible itself, if you will
simply read it, as a part of The Revealing Science of God, will tell you that we live inside of God.
Just like your liver lives inside of you, you live inside of God. That message is reiterated in
Psalm 139, where the psalmist indicates that no matter where I go, I'm still there with God. "If I
go to the highest heavens or the deepest hole, the farthest sea, into the darkness or into the light,
you are evermore with me."
Well, we are also told in the book of Colossians, that inside of him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17, he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Romans 11:36 tells
us, "From him, through him and to him are all things." That message is so clear that it is easy to
overlook. It is telling us:
1) Everything comes from God.
2) Everything is currently passing through God.
3) Everything returns to God.
4) Therefore everything is inside of God.
The Body of Christ
The Biblical message is quite clear, it is absolutely clear. The Bible also gives us this very
astounding and startling and shocking vision which most people ignore and take merely
allegorically. That image being the body of Christ. If this is one of the parts of the Bible you wish
to take literally then you will see the Bible is describing that we are being built up into becoming
the physical body of God.
You, ladies and gentlemen, have many parts, as we have discussed. You have a divine will, you
have a mind. You have emotions and desires and it's all placed inside of your physical body. Why
then would it be so shocking to see that God's "I plus will equals being" has placed itself into the
realm of mind. Into the realm of desire and emotion. And is actually inside of the material world
creating for himself a body.
But he is growing his body, not from anything outside of himself. But he is growing himself a
body out of his own powers and energies.
God is becoming born again through the universe. That is the what, God is taking upon himself a
body and that body is essentially his reincarnation. Reincarnation simply means to be put into a
body again. And the greatest, grandest image of all, God is forming the body of Christ and shall
live in it.
We can see, then, that the procession of the gods could be seen as developing different cells
within the cosmic body of the "I WILL BE."
God is Light
The witness of science however, is no less convincing. You see, part of the revelation tells us that
God is light. And universally, across all centuries and across all generations and across all
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continents, God is associated with light. And the Bible tells us literally, actually and clearly in 1
John 5:1, "God is light."
This is another verse which we tend to take very symbolically. Most Christians will take this to
mean that God is somehow the inner illumination to make us all able to see how beautiful he
really is. But the overwhelming evidence of science is that this part of the Bible is speaking a
literal, actual fact. That God is light.
This gets us into some very weighty deep waters. We as a human race have been spending
centuries studying light. And trying to figure out what it is. We know certain things about light.
And in short form it all adds up to an understanding that light completely defies all our laws of
logic and science. And is the absolute foundation of all existence. Let me explain.
This will be in very sketchy form, because it is a very deep and weighty subject deserving of it's
own treatment.
Some of the most significant aspects of light that we have learned are among the following.
#1. Light exhibits all characteristics of operating as a wave and life exhibits of operating an
particles. And we know absolutely that particles cannot move in waves. And waves do not
consist of particles. A wave is a disturbance. If you look at an ocean wave some of the ocean
water moves up and some moves down. But the actual water molecules are not flowing. There is
simply a disturbance in the water.
A bullet is a particle. Now for a particle to move in a wave defies all laws of physics because the
law of inertia states that an object will continue to move in the direction it's moving unless acted
on by an outside force. So if the bullet begins to move up then there is nothing to make it move
down again, so a particle is not going to move like a wave. And a wave being a disturbance is
absolutely not a flow of particles. And yet with all of the tens of billions of dollars of research we
have done, we can prove absolutely, scientifically that light behaves like a wave and behaves like
particles. Light therefore stands completely outside of the bounds of what we can comprehend.
#2. Another very important aspect of light is that it is the foundation of all time. If you took a
clock and were on a spaceship and wound up being accelerated to the point that you were
traveling exactly at the speed of light, your clock would stop. There is no time within the realm
of absolute light. This is completely consonant with the understanding that God is eternal and
outside of all time and space.
#3. Light is the absolute foundation of all existence. Nothing can move faster then light. And
light is pure energy. We know through Einstein's theories of relativity, which we have actually
been able to verify in the laboratory, that the mass of an object is directly related to it's speed.
The mystical equation, E=MC2, simply states that the total energy in a system equals it's mass
times the speed of light squared.
In other words, light is pure energy, and that energy divided by the mass is always going to equal
the same thing, the speed of light. Energy can change and mass can change but they will always
be related in terms of the speed of light. In other words if you take pure energy and you slow it
down it begins to become matter.
I will repeat that. This is a finding from nuclear physics and relativity, which we have been able
to verify inside of a laboratory. If you take pure energy and slow it down it turns into matter. It
takes on mass. And if you take matter and speed it up then it's energy as it approaches the speed
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of light becomes freed. This is the theory behind nuclear weapons. What happens with nuclear
weapons is we take matter and we accelerate it to the point of releasing all of the matter and
turning it back into pure energy. These results have led scientists to make a startling conclusion,
that energy and matter are different sides of the same coin!
The Energy/Mass Continuum
Scientists now speak of the energy mass continuum. That energy cannot be created or destroyed,
it merely changes form. And matter cannot be created or destroyed, it merely changes form. And
that energy can become slowed down and form matter. And matter can be sped up and returned
to pure energy. If you look at a rock, what you are seeing is simply condensed energy slowed
down, light slowed down. And if you perform the proper acts you could release all of that matter
from it's confines and return that rock into it's pure energy state. This completely astonishing
result happens to be 100% consonant with The Revealing Science of God:
God is light quite literally. And the first moment of creation the "I will be," limitless source of all
being manifested him/her self as pure infinite light.
Through acts of absolute will that being has been slowing parts of him/herself down into ever
denser forms of energy.
Matter is simply God in a different form.
All of physical existence then is made out of God, and is completely connected to him.
The laws of science therefore tell us that we do in fact live inside of God, move inside of him and
live inside of God.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the proclamation of The Revealing Science of God. The answer to
the question: What is the universe made out of? The universe is not made out of anything. The
universe is the manifestation of God's absolute will. The only reality is God.
That is another logical, derivative conclusion from the statement that God is the root of all
dependencies. If God is the root of all dependencies then everything else is derived one way or
the other from God. This is simple logic.
If the only thing we have in the universe is water, infinite masses of water, and that water has the
ability to manipulate itself by putting more or less energy into it, then no matter how many ice
cubes or ice ages or clouds of steam there are the only reality is water, H2O, simply sped up and
slowed down!
That is the essence of the universe. That is the greatest proclamation and that is the greatest
mystery. It has many religious implications.
Panentheism
The tendency for pantheism, while understandable, must be avoided. Pantheism says that
everything is God, and that is very close to what we are stating. However, pantheism focuses on
some part of the creation as being God and worships that part of creation. Pantheists will find a
particular mountain or a rock and worship that rock as God.
We are not espousing pantheism. And this has been a very difficult concept for people to
understand. The nature of the universe is not pantheistic, it is pan-en-theistic. Panentheistic
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religion states that everything is in God. "Pan"-all, in "theist"-God. Everything is in God. And
that is exactly what science tells us and that is exactly what the revelation tells us.
The Revealing Science of God tells us that the only reality, the anchor of all dependencies, is God
by definition or postulate or conclusion, however you wish to state it. And, that everything
therefore must be an aspect of God. Panentheism does not seek to worship any part of the
creation as God, because Panentheism recognizes that only the totality matters.
I do not seek to worship my big toe, although I do not wish to harm it. I do not want my liver to
run my life, although I certainly do no wish to abuse it. I, as a human being, am a total entity.
And all aspects of me are important. My body and all of its organs. My personality, my thoughts,
my emotions, all my desires, this is me. This is the totality of me. And to ignore that totality is of
an ultimate shame.
Therefore, we must resist panicking and allowing misuses of the truth to cause us to shy away
from them. We are in God and everything is God. But God remains outside of all of this.
The best illustration I can give you is, once again to return to the notion of the body. I use my
right arm all of the time, and I would be devastated if I was to lose my right arm. But you could
in fact cut my right arm off, and I would still exist. I would still have my thoughts, memories,
hopes, dreams, desires, emotions and the rest of my physical body. What we can say, then, is that
the whole is greater then the sum of its parts. As it pertains to the body I am not my arm, but at
the same time my arm is a part of me. It is not a part of you or anyone else. This is the simplest
illustration I can give you to explain the relationship of the creation to the creator.
Before God created the heavens and the Earth, before he limited any of himself and began to
condense into light, energy and mass, God remained the self existent one capable of
manifestation through a divine and absolute will. Being the self existent one God forever remains
that way. Therefore, while it is true that the universe is inside of God and is a part of him and is
nothing other than God, it is also true that God forever remains beyond the creation.
The simplest way this can be stated is
God is not the universe
- and the universe is God.
It cannot be anything else. If there's nothing outside of God for God to have shaped and molded,
and if God out of his own divine will, "I plus will equals the existence of the universe," then this
universe must be God.
But God remains beyond this universe, for he could indeed roll the heavens and the Earth up like
a scroll. Bring all energies completely back into himself and start again.
Now the religious implications of this I believe are obvious, but of course must be stated very
clearly. The relationship of the material universe to God is exactly the same relationship that you
have to God. The temptation is one of ego. And I have written quite extensively about this in
other places.
The nature of ego is the appearance of a separate self. Wherein the energies which God has
placed within the human being begin to feel that they are completely separate and apart from
God. And that they do not need God and that there is in fact no God. And that the only thing in
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the world that is real is the individual human being. This is separation, this is a fracturing of the
unitive state and this the essence of sin.
Sin is not disobedience to external laws. That is a very shallow understanding.
The religious pathway consists of enabling the individual personality and the individual ego to
transcend this individualization, and to become reunited with the totality. That is what is meant
by the commandments to love God with the fullness of your being, to give and share all that you
are and have with him. And to love your fellow man as yourself. To serve others, to take care of
them. To recognize that each individual is sacred and divine. To die to the illusion of ego and self
and rise into the realm of the redeemed.
This is the purpose of the revelation of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. And The Revealing
Science of God will echo with that, with every fiber of it's being. If the only reality is God and if
we for a time see that we are separate from God, and act apart from him, the only thing that we
have to act apart from him is the energy that he has given. In other words God has taken a little
bit of himself and placed it into us.
A little bit of that cosmic stuff has been placed into each and every human being. That is what we
call the spirit. We are all too familiar with our bodies, the soul encompasses your emotions,
desires, thoughts and memories and will. And the spirit is the actual spark of God, pure and
unmanifest.
This is why in the true proclamation everything is grace. This is why the notion of self works and
work righteousness is so anathema to the truth. Because there is no self in reality to work. There
is no individual in reality to perform any deed to in any sense be worthy of anything. All that is
left to be done is to gain the realization that we are simply particles in the great stream of
life. That we are a manifestation of grace. Grace, not just in a limited fallen sense of God loves
you and will let you go to Heaven when you die. Because while there is truth in that, that is a
very small and fallen conception focusing as it does upon the immortalization of the individual's
self. No, the higher proclamation of grace is that all things, all energies and abilities come from
God. The ability to curse is a manifestation of God. The ability to murder, the ability to love, the
ability to procreate, all things that we do are manifestations of God's energy. Because every
single one of those is dependent upon something and ultimately that something is God.
Therefore God has slowed a part of himself down. The result is you. We all become miniature
gods and goddesses. Not that we should be worshipped as such, but that we should die to
ourselves. And recognize our oneness with the totality to find our place inside of the body of
Christ. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the what of God.
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Summary
And as we work together to understand the nature of The Revealing Science of God, we can see
that not only does this have cosmological implications, but is important for each of us
individually. And that the religious pathway of dying to self and rising to newness of life, that the
commandments to love God with the totality of your being and to love your fellow man as
yourself are in fact 100% in harmony with all revelations and comprehensions that we have been
given.
You are a part of God, every breath you take you take by his grace. Every bird you see and every
click of every clock you have ever heard is a heart and manifestation of the divine mind. That is
what this universe is. God voluntarily through a act of his divine will slowing himself down into
matter, into pencils and into people.
The what of the universe is nothing more nor less than God's energies. God cannot have made the
universe out of anything other then himself because there was nothing to make it out of.
Therefore everything lives and moves and exists inside of God. The energy mass continuum is a
literal association with the divine presence. And The Revealing Science of God finds immense
perfect harmony between the revelation of God being light and the science of understanding that
light with our knowledge.
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PART 6: "WHEN?"
We now come to the interesting question of, "When?" When did God create the heavens and the
Earth? All the Bible tells us is in the beginning. We have seen that God in his/her eternity existed
before any worlds were made. In the beginning God. Later God then decided to make the world.
God did not come into being at the moment he/she created. However, up until that point God was
not a creator. You become a parent by having a child. You become an employer by having an
employee. You become a creator by having a creation.
In the same way that a parent begets a child, through the child we become the begotten father.
This is a significant clue to the nature of why God made the universe, which we will be dealing
with later. For the moment we wish to turn ourselves specifically to the question of when.
Within the religious and scientific communities there are hardly any questions which generate as
much controversy as this one. Within classical Judaism the scholars who have most meticulously
counted the generations and years and ages within the Bible, it is in the most orthodox circles felt
that we are now living in the year 5832. This is based upon counting as well as we can the
generations from one person to another. Some people, for example King David, we have very
fixed dates for. And then working backward through the generations to determine the actual age
of the universe.
On the other hand we have the scientific community which through a series of tests and
experiments have determined that their best guess is that the planet Earth is approximately 3
billion years old and that the universe as a whole is approximately 12 billion years old.
Now the difference between 6,000 and 12 billion is a very large difference. How large? Well, it is
exactly 2 million times different. If you take 6,000 and multiply it by 2 million, you come up
with 12 billion. There seems to be a fair amount of question then as to when this whole thing
came about. I'll give you my observations and though they may not be ultimately satisfying to
you, they are simply the best answers I can come up with.
I do not know when the Earth was created. While there is a large amount of paleontolgical and
chemical evidence to support the 3 billion year theory of the Earth, there are also certain clues
which the scientific does not want to tell you about. Because it frankly does not fit in with any of
their theories and therefore makes them most uncomfortable.
I will give you what I consider to be the most important. That has to do with our moon. We spent
a couple of Apollo projects before we actually landed upon the moon, circling the moon and
shooting rockets into it. Why did we do this? It just so happens that there is a thing in space
called cosmic fallout. Also known as cosmic dust. It is collected on satellites in space and we are
able to measure with unbelievable accuracy. These are specs of dust perhaps from other planets,
perhaps from other stars that have cooled, cosmic debris.
Well, to the greatest most precise measurements we can give cosmic dust falls at the rate of
exactly 125/1000 of an inch per year. That doesn't seem like very much. It would then take the
cosmic dust 25,000 years to develop one inch of dust. The problem is that if you are dealing with
something like the age of the moon, which is anticipated or theorized to be as old as the Earth,
and therefore approximately 3 billion years old. What you have to do is divide 25,000 into 3
billion and you wind up with a figure. That figure represents how many inches of dust there
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should be on the moon. That figure winds up to be approximately 1 mile. About 5,200 feet of
dust.
That is why we did not initially land a man on the moon. That is why we spent a lot of time and a
lot of money shooting missiles at it. Because according to all of the greatest scientific theories
which NASA had there should be approximately a mile of dust upon the surface of the moon.
And that the craters that we see are impressions and dents inside of this dust. Much like
footprints upon a beach.
Well, lo and behold, much to their shock and continued amazement, they did not find a half a
mile or a mile or even a hundred feet of lunar dust. But rather they found ¼ inch to a ½ inch of
cosmic dust. There are different theories as to explain this.
#1. The rate of cosmic fallout is increasing dramatically, and therefore the moon could in fact
still be 3 billion years old, but it's only, say in the last 100 years, that the rate of cosmic fallout
has his 1 25/1000 of an inch per year. If before that time there was virtually no fallout then there
would be nothing to fall upon the moon. The problem with that theory is that there is no known
mechanism to explain why the rate of cosmic fallout would appreciably change.
#2. While the Earth is 3 billion years old, the moon only broke of from the Earth or was only
captured around the Earth some 6 - 10,000 years ago. While an interesting theory, this does have
other major problems with it. Such an event of that magnitude would have left such incredible
marks and impressions, clues if you were on the base of the Earth, that the scientists are quite
perplexed as to why there are no indications what so ever that such an event ever occurred.
It is also possible that the rate at which we measure cosmic fallout has been in error. But they are
not able to verify that. And it is also possible that for some reason the cosmic fallout blows off of
the moon. 1) There is no evidence of any wind on the moon. 2) Even if there were wind it would
simply, as it does on the Earth, blow the dust around the Earth and not actually away from it.
In summary then the moon is a clue, the half life of the Earth's magnetic field is a clue. The
complete lack of any form of transitory fossils, where one species evolves into another. This is
another important clue, to indicate that perhaps we do not yet fully comprehend the age of the
Earth. For me this is a fascinating scientific inquiry which we must continue with. I am not going
to take a position one way or the other, because so often what people do is they fight the hardest
and most vehemently about those things that they are the least certain of. We want to believe
something for one reason or another. But without any evidence or data we hold to our beliefs and
scream, hurt and kill those who do not agree with us.
But you see you never find people arguing like that over mathematics. Once you leave the realm
of your beliefs, which is what The Revealing Science of God is all about, and enter the realm of
knowledge then you no longer have any reason for upset. If you know that 15 + 17 = 32, and
someone else comes along and says no it's 33, there is no reason to hurt that person or hate them
or try and kill them. Or burn their holy books. Because you understand that this person is simply
ignorant and wrong. Therefore if you have any compassion you will attempt to show the person
your understanding, and if they simply cannot accept it, then you will grant them the peace and
freedom to discover the truth at their own pace.
Therefore since I do not have any knowledge of the history of the universe, I cannot take any
definitive position in terms of the chronology of the when.
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The Relativity of Time
My second major comment regarding this issue is that regardless of the actual calendrical
computation of the Earth's age, certain truths remain self evident.
Those are: God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. And one of the attributes of light as
we saw in the previous chapter is that light stands out side of time. You see there is something
fundamental about light and that is that it's speed is completely absolute. What do I mean by
that?
Let's say that we are walking along a train that is traveling North at 100 mph. And we are
walking North along that train at 5 mph. Our direction North, is then 105 mph. That is called the
addition of velocities. The train at 100 mph North and our feet at 5 mph North add up to 105 mph
to the North. But this additive property of velocities does not pertain to light. If we are on a
spaceship traveling at the speed of light and we shoot a laser beam out from that spaceship,
which is also traveling at the speed of light. Then relative to North light is not moving at twice
the speed of light, but only at exactly the speed of light.
The additive properties of velocities breaks down when it comes to approximating the speed of
light. This is a very significant result. And this also has been proven scientifically in many
different venues. What it tells us then is that if anyone is attempting to measure speed, that speed
is a function of time relative to distance, miles per hour.
In as much as the additive velocities break down and at the speed of light there is only one speed.
Then you come to the conclusion that time must be relative. My clock running in my wall in a
very stationary position will run at a different rate then your clock on your spaceship traveling at
the speed of light. And while you may only see one hour tick by, I may see hundreds of millions
of years click by.
I admit that this is a thumbnail sketch. If you want more information there are many books
available which will explain Einstein's theories of relativity specifically as it comes to the relative
nature of time and space based around light being the absolute.
The point for this discussion however is that God, being light, is eternal. He stands outside of
time and he stands outside of space. The revelation tells us that God is the same yesterday, today
and forever. One of the proclamations of Einstein's relativity is that at the speed of light any
matter would have infinite mass and therefore be incapable of change.
We have a completely consonant description then of the state at the speed of light. We can see no
change because at the speed of light no light can approach us. At the speed of light we travel with
all light and therefore since the additive property of velocities does not work we could never see
anything. There would then be no change what so ever. We would in fact be the same yesterday,
today and forever.
We come to the understanding, then, that time is a function of the creation. It is a function of the
flow of the manifest world in terms of the electrons and photons of God's light having slowed
down. And it is only in that slowing down that time appears to exist.
However, it is crucial to understand that this is only an appearance. Time seems to flow only
because God has voluntarily taken his energies of limitless light and slowed them down.
Therefore in that slowing we appear to have birds that fly, bands that march and automobiles that
roll across the highway.
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But in the higher deeper truth all of this can be seen as a dance upon the screen of God's mind.
Remember that the only reality is God, therefore the only time is now. Time can be seen much
like a parade, wherein you sit in a fixed position and you watch things move from your left to
your right. From behind you into the front of you. But you remain unmoved.
God the same yesterday, today and forever can watch the phantasmagoria around him, but he
remains the same. He remains unmoved. In the same way you remain outside time and space.
Remember we discussed that your body houses your soul and your soul houses your spark. That
spark is none other than God himself. That spark is life eternal, and eternity goes on forever and
is completely limitless. Not affected by time and space.
That is why you must recognize that you can wait until later but even then it will only be now.
You can go somewhere else but even there it will only be here. What is happening in life is that
the parade is moving around you, but you stay where you are. That spark of God which is your
true nature lies outside of the realm of time and space. That is the religious call to get us to live
not just for today, not just for the temporal nature of the body, but with an eye and focus toward
the eternal nature of time, God and ourselves.
Life is Here and Now
Jesus said even when we have an abundance our life does not consist in our possessions. This is a
very, very high teaching. Most people think of their possessions as the physical objects which
they have accumulated on the material plane. But it is much more then that. You also have a
body, you have toes, fingers and a nose. You also have desires. You have emotions, you have
memories. You have thoughts, you have opinions.
All of these are your possessions. They can all change but you remain the same. That indefinable,
indescribable essence which is you remains the same regardless of your material possessions.
Remains the same regardless of your body, because your cells are continually dying and
renewing. Remains the same regardless of your particular emotions or desire state. Remains the
same regardless of what you think about and what your memories are.
Your life is not a part of any of these possessions. Your life is that spark of God which is eternal.
An everlasting life means that you do not focus your energies exclusively upon this dance within
time and space. But, begin to recognize and dwell in those domains where the infinite eternal
God of pure light is recognized as being your one and only true life.
So that is what I have to say regarding the when. Exactly when this material came into being I
simply do not know. There are some interesting clues to indicate that it could go either way. But
on the much more important question the when is now. Because God in his fullness lives outside
of time and space and therefore lives as a part of an unchanging eternal immortal reality. That
reality is your essence. That reality is your life. You are called to that eternal life which then rises
above time and space.
And there is no point in pretending that you have to wait for this to
happen or that to happen, because the only time is now. When did
God create the world? He created it now. And we sit in the same
seats we were in at the first moment of creation. Because the Bible
tells us that even before the worlds were made "I knew you." We
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were then inside of God's mind before the world was made, and that
is where we still are. The whole question of when is a question
within the creation. And as we return to our celestial home the
whole issue of time falls away.
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PART 7: "WHERE?"
Where is the universe? We continue to explore the fundamental questions of existence; who,
what, when, where, how and why?
When it comes to the where of the universe mankind has wondered for centuries. Where is the
Earth? The ancient Chinese theorized that it was on the back of a hare which stood on the back of
a turtle. Upon what the turtle stood they never asked. We may find this amusing but even in
Biblical times it was not at all clear to people where we are.
They spoke of the Earth and the firmament. The Earth being conceived as being flat. And the
firmament being a fixed location up above. The stars for the longest time were felt to be holes in
Heaven through which the light of God would shine.
While we can look upon these ancient cosmologies with amusement today we nevertheless face
the same ultimate questions. We now know that the Earth is essentially a ball or a sphere which
rotates on it's axis creating our days. Which evolves around the Sun creating our years.
We know that the Sun is one of several billion stars in a local island of stars which we call the
milky way. And we know that every 160 million years the milky way makes one complete cycle.
It is spinning almost like a flaming fire work. Or perhaps it's being sucked in to the center. Just
like water swirls into a whirlpool before it disappears down the drain.
And we know that this milky way is one of billions upon billions of uncountable galaxies. There
is a project being done in astronomy that is attempting to map and count all known galaxies. And
they are working on creating a three dimensional model to represent the arrangement and
alignment of galaxies in the universe.
I remember in college days seeing a wall sized poster in one of my religion teacher's rooms that
had thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dots. And the caption of the poster taught us
that every one of those dots was not a star, but was rather a galaxy. And the title of this poster
was "1 Million Galaxies." And I was always held in awe, and as you can tell, still remember that
poster, because of it's immense power, it's immense distance. It's immense size.
So when we ask the question "Where are those things?" we have a very challenging time. For one
thing distance and location are always and only knowable relatively speaking. The term North
has meaning only in reference to the globe. The term up has reference only in terms of the Earth.
If you are out in the middle of space then there is no North or South, there is no up or down, there
is no East or West. Down is simply the attraction of a gravitational field. And without that
gravitational field there is no down. Up is only an ascent into the sky. And without any sky to
ascend to there can be no up.
So if we are going to attempt to answer the question, "Where is the universe?" we will be hard
pressed to give any sort of definitive answer because we must understand our framework, our
perspective. From the Earth's perspective the universe is all around.
Man's mind is capable of expanding until it at least hopes to conceptualize the totality of the
universe. And once we reach the farthest galaxy, what lies on the other side of it?
If you want to take a totally atheistic approach and discuss the big bang, all of this cosmic stuff
that got condensed to form the big bang, where was it? Was it North of us, South of us, East,
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West? Where would you go? Where is the center of the galaxy? Where is the center of the
universe?
Conservation of momentum requires that there is actually a center for the universe, if there was
ever a big bang. Why is that? All mass behaves as though the totality of it's mass was localized at
the non-dimensional point, which is the balancing point, if you will, of the object. The very
center of the sphere, the balancing point of the fulcrum etc..
If you have a mass of hundreds of billions of cannon balls, place them all together in a huge pile
and then explode them, the center of mass which is the balancing point where all of those cannon
balls were centered, does not move at all by causing them to explode. The center of mass remains
unchanged within closed systems across all permutations, combinations and transformations.
Therefore if there was a big bang there must an actual geometric center of the universe. Where is
it? Scientists do not know. And even if we found where that center point was, what is it located
within?
Well, these and other speculations I can give you my answer to. I cannot claim that this is the
absolute definitive answer, but I can tell you that this answer appears upon all examinations to be
100% in harmony with all of the other theories which we are formulating in The Revealing
Science of God.
We do not have actual proof of the existence of electrons. All we know is that we do not have
any data that will contradict the theory which the electron is.
Properly understood a neutron is much more of a theory to explain mathematical relationships
then an actual particle. So what I'm going to present I cannot prove anymore than we can prove
the existence of a photon. However, I have been able to find no evidence that would contradict it.
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I n th e Mi n d o f G o d
The answer to the question, "Where is the universe?" is, "Inside the mind of God."
This is in complete agreement with other things we have discussed.
The universe does not share the same ontological status that God does. By ontological status I
mean the way in which something exists. That is the study of ontology, the forms and manners of
existence. A symphony does not exist in the same way that a cactus plant exists. A cactus plant
does not exist in the same way that the United States of America exists. And the United States of
America does not exist in the same way that Alice in Wonderland exists. They all have different
ontological grounds.
If anything that we have said is correct about the nature of God the creator, that using his own
energies is the way in which the universe came about, then it is clear that the universe must have
a different ontological status than God does. It's ontology is a subset of the divine.
The best analogy I can possibly give you is, as I have said before, the analogy of an author. An
author first tells his or her story inside of his or her mind and then puts it down on paper. The
paper is merely the transmittal form to get the information from the author's mind into the
reader's mind. The paper is simply the servant. It has no ultimate purpose.
In the same way God has fashioned everything out of his own energy and exists in his image and
is therefore his imagination. This is all the visible image of the invisible God. In exactly the same
way that words type on a page are the visible image or reflection of the invisible thoughts and
concepts.
God is forever sustaining the universe by means of his thought. Where are we? We are inside of
God's head. But how does that make any sense? What does it mean to say that the universe is
inside of God's head? Isn't there at least the appearance here of reality?
When I knock on a table it certainly feels solid, it certainly feels real. Aren't we just playing
verbal games to say that the world is nothing more than God's imagination? The best answer I
can give you, is that the imagination is a forming of God's energy into what we call time and
space. If an author sits in a chair, that author has, with a clear mind, the infinite potential for
thought. The author can think about anything.
The author then takes his mind, focused through his brain and arranges the electrical energy in
his mind in such a fashion as to focus his energies into a leprechaun, a green leprechaun. That's
going to be the focus of his story. To say that that green leprechaun does not exist is a falsehood.
That leprechaun may not have been projected yet into the external physical world but that green
leprechaun does exist. That green leprechaun is nothing more then the author's thought
condensed and formed and focused. What is the leprechaun made out of?
The leprechaun is made out of something more real than physical matter. The leprechaun is made
out of the very mind stuff of the author. The leprechaun is made not out of rock or stone or clay
or wood, but the leprechaun is made out of the author.
At this stage in our development we worship the physical creation. And if anything is going to be
real it has to be put into physical form. An interesting thing has happened with the electronic
revolution. Since we now communicate so quickly and easily electronically, and since so many of
our documents in the industrialized world are simply transmitted through computer, we have
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actually discovered that we have more paper rather than less. Because, it is not until the
document becomes printed into what we call "hard copy" and is physically on the page, that it
appears to the user to be real.
In the same way we worship this physical matter. That is where we are localized. That is our
centering, that is our base. For many people what they cannot feel and see has no reality at all.
But if you will leave that frame of mind for a while and contemplate upon the higher things, you
see that a leprechaun in my imagination is actually made out of the most glorious stuff in the
universe.
The reason for this rather lengthy explanation is to hopefully enable you to see that the universe
being made of God's imagination does not make it less real, it makes it more real. It makes it
made of a higher more glorious substance. The universe is not created out of rock or stone or
electrons or neutrons or photons. But the universe is created out of God's mind.
Now, this is our theory. The theory gives us many wonderful results.
#1. This would explain why God is everywhere.
Because, everything is inside of God as we have said so often before, and everything is inside of
his mind. Therefore, there is no where that could be gone to leave God.
#2. It explains where we are.
We are inside of God's mind, we are a focusing of his energies.
#3. It explains what is outside of this physical universe, the answer is nothing.
And now we can see why that nothing can be real. In a physical sense it is very hard for us to
imagine there being something outside. It is hard for us to imagine there not being something
outside. In every physical relationship there is always something on the opposite side of where
ever or what ever we are.
However, if our theory is correct and we are all inside of God's mind and simply God's
imagining, then the limits of the universe stop where God stops imagining.
To illustrate, most people are familiar with Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", and they
know that there was this large mysterious world that Alice explored. You have the Duchess's
house and the rose garden and the Caterpillar and many, many creatures and many lands. What
was on the other side of the wall at the Queen's rose garden? The answer is absolutely nothing.
Absolutely nothing. Because Lewis Carroll never conceived of it, never shaped it, never molded
it.
Therefore there was simply nothing there. That's why we can say, that right now at the ends of
the outer boundaries of the universe there is simply nothing there.
#4. The universe is infinite.
The reason it currently appears to be 12 billion light years across is because that is as far as we
can see. If we were able to get into a spaceship and travel to the outer regions of the universe,
then we would all of a sudden discover that there was a lot more universe to explore. How can
this be?
Currently, Lewis Carroll never thought about what would happen to Alice if she went over the
wall in the Queen's rose garden. But, if Lewis Carroll had Alice do that, then as a process of
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forming that image he also would have had to know what was on the other side of that wall. The
wall would not come into being until Alice crawled over it.
In the same way it is possible, though frankly unlikely, that the physical universe extends only 12
billion light years. But that once the human race or any other race of creature's comes to explore
or see any of those other galaxies beyond the known galaxies, that they will "magically" come
into existence. For you see we are the condensation of God's thought and he is pouring out an
immense story here for all of us. Ultimately for himself. When he comes to the point that he is
now ready to explore areas beyond what is currently formed then those areas will exist.
I realize that none of this appears in the Bible. I realize that much of this must seem like idle
speculation. And I freely grant to you that it may very well be. But I also present that these are
the best results that I have. Where is the universe? The universe is inside of God. It is in his
mind, it is his consciousness which is molding and shaping it from the beginning until the end.
What is on the other side of the universe? Only God. This is a theory meant to try and explain
many things, the vastness of the universe. The incomprehensibility of how it got here. And also
some of the mysteries as to how God can be everywhere and inside of everything. The highest
heavens the lowest sea, how can be the first, the last. The same yesterday, today and forever.
Lewis Carroll remained the same author regardless of what journeys he put Alice through. And
there was not a single bud on a single rose in that Queen's garden that was not there because of
Lewis Carroll's concentration.
But God of course is a much, much higher profound being, much more powerful then we are.
And therefore our imaginations only dimly reflect his. And we must extrapolate. Lewis Carroll
could so immerse himself into his imagined world that it could for him actually become real.
Some authors can become so lost in their little world that they lose touch of what we call
"reality."
And all that is left for them is the fantasy life of their creation.
God in some respects, you can say, has lost part of himself, within this world. And he is
concentrating on it so clearly that it all has immense detail, shape and form.
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PART 8: "HOW?"
When investigators look into a crime scene they are trying to figure out not only who did it, not
only what happened, not only when and where, but exactly how? What were the first steps, what
were the last events? Was there a murder weapon?
As it comes to the discussion of this universe we habituate, the question of how is truly a great
mystery. Much of the ground work we have already laid. The universe is in God's mind and has
come from him, through him, is returning to him. How does this actually happen? What follows
will to many people appear to be idle speculation.
I present it for purposes of information only. If this material seems particularly threatening or
foreign to you please feel free to ignore it.
The First Moment of Creation
The first moment of creation is when God sat and thought upon himself. The self existent one,
the I will be what I will be, in the first moment of manifest creation had nothing outside of
himself to contemplate. Had nothing outside of himself to be amused by, and nothing outside of
himself for distractions. So, therefore the only reality was and remains God.
The first moment of creation is when God began to contemplate his and her own essence. Doing
this through thought generated the word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and the word was God. We tend to think of language as simply scribbles on a piece of paper
or vibrations in air. But, ultimately the word is much more than that. A word is a representation a
re-presentation of what is represented.
The highest representation of God is God's own thoughts and meditations upon himself. At this
point the holy trinity was born. God the father/mother, the pure limitless self thought upon
himself and his thoughts are himself. This is the son. And the relationship between God and his
thoughts, the power at the spirit which sustains those thoughts is the Holy Spirit. Father, Son and
Spirit, one being, subject, object, relationship. Thinker, is one with thoughts in thinking.
Out of this multiplex, out of this incredible potential all kinetic forms of energy were released.
God the Father, God the Son, the holy word, united forever in spirit became now not just
potential but kinetic, real energy.
Deeper, Slower Layers of Consciousness
What happened afterwards is deeply shrouded in mystery but is never the less comprehensible.
As God continued to think on himself he put upon himself deeper and deeper layers of
consciousness. It's much like making sculptures out of play-doh. Play-doh is the only substance,
play-doh in this analogy is the mind stuff of God. That play-doh can be flattened out into the
form of a mere pancake. It can be molded into a rock. It can with much more care be sculptured
into a bird. That is in very crude analogy form exactly what the divine mind did.
God poured a bit of himself out and some of him became slowed down and said let there be light.
And in fact the physical creation came into being. That light, it has to be understood, is a limiting
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of the divine infinite potential. Then the light condensed further into other chemical elements and
the creation of actual matter.
Notice if you will how similar this is to modern scientific theory in the first moment of the big
bang. This endless energy which is poured out begins to combine and collect into different forms
until eventually hydrogen appears, then nitrogen, then carbon etc...
While such a system is conceived of as happening automatically and is therefore not properly
reflective of the creative nature of God. It does never the less properly account for the steps.
When the human race wants to build a automobile we start with a frame inside of that frame we
put an engine. Into that engine we attach different fluids and those fluids are touched with a spark
and the engine comes to life.
It is precisely the same thing with the creation. God begins with matter, then God pours out a
little bit more and that matter comes alive. That life form begins in the smallest parts. The single
cell organisms. The amoebae, the bacteria. Eventually those organisms turn into plant life.
If you look at a plant you can almost see God's energy being poured out. It is astounding that the
steps of the seven days of creation in the Bible parallel exactly the phases of evolution which the
secular scientists theorize.
So while the Biblical account explains the steps and the secular account explains the steps in
essentially the same manner, they disagree entirely as to the mode and operation. I'm going to
present to you that the how of the creation centers around the fact that both of them
misunderstand. They both have a part of the story, but it is not as simple as either side makes.
A Conscious Process
The how of creation, the how of the universe is not simply a intermingling of chemicals. In that
respect the big bang theorists and evolutionists are wrong. It is a conscious process guided from
above. At the same time this is not simply something that God does instantaneously; there is a
outpouring of his energy into the universe.
What is happening is that God's energy “gains experience”, if you will. This is so incredibly
difficult to explain because it lies outside of our normal realms of experience and therefore we do
not have shared common language to communicate it with. There is no way to actually describe
chocolate unless you have tasted chocolate. The best you can do is say that chocolate tastes just
like something else which you have experienced. If you have experienced nothing and have no
taste then it is pointless to attempt to communicate to you what chocolate tastes like.
Acknowledging as I do that this lies beyond the normal sphere of our language I will attempt to
continue. God takes his pure energy and as his energy condenses it turns into matter. Then God
pours a little bit more of himself out and that matter becomes animated with single cell amoebae
and the plants.
God then pours a little more of his energy out and the organisms wind up being disconnected
from the Earth, they become ani-mated which means animal.
Eventually enough of God's energy is poured out and the organism becomes it's own autonomous
self willed creature. As this happens the creation goes through different states of consciousness.
Inanimate matter is likened unto absolute unconsciousness. The lowest forms of matter of
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animation, the unicellular organisms and plants are likened unto non-dreaming sleep. It is a
different form of consciousness and yet it is not aware of very much.
The higher life forms enter into a state of dreaming sleep. Eventually the life forms gather around
human beings in the form of domesticated animals, cats, dogs, some kinds of birds, some horses,
wherein they see and learn and experience what the human race is all about. Eventually then that
part of God, that self consciousness of God enters into the waking state, that is the state of human
beings.
Humanity
We stand at the midpoint between inanimate matter and pure godliness. That godliness is our
destiny. Now, so that I am perfectly clear, I am stating that the energy which is you, the soul
which is inside of you has been around forever. As the Bible says, "Before we were formed in
our mother's womb God knew us." We were in the mind of God. Because that is the only reality,
the mind of God.
But our bodies have been here forever, our souls have been here forever. They have simply been
taking upon different forms over the course of time.
There is a fair body of evidence to suggest that the souls do not immediately come into "creation"
as soon as the body is born. Many people are very uncomfortable with the idea of pre-existence.
But, the Bible is clear and The Revealing Science of God is clear that you existed before you were
born. How does the Bible say that? Well, in those passages that refer to God knowing us before
we were formed in the womb of our mother. That knowledge of God means that our personality,
our being, our soul was something specific enough that God could have consciousness of it.
But there is another point. That is, if anything which we have said here in this writing is true then
the only reality there was, the only reality there is, the only reality that there ever will be is the
reality of God. That reality means to complete our analogies of conservation of energy and mass,
conservation of momentum, the conservation of God, that's what the Bible refers to when it says
that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore what you are is nothing more then
condensed and re-shaped Godhood.
How did God create the world? He thought on himself, slowed himself down and came into
lower and lower forms of vibration. A gold atom is a very much lower vibration then a hydrogen
atom, so to there are realms beyond physical matter which are much higher vibrations then
physical matter.
God pours himself out into matter and the matter becomes alive. He pours himself into that
animated matter and the animated matter begins to be able to walk and fly and meow. He pours
enough of himself out and says ultimately that he has completed this phase of making himself in
his own image.
So the how of it is that God is much like Lewis Carroll, and Lewis Carroll sent Alice not to meet
a white rabbit, but to meet Lewis Carroll. God has placed himself as a character inside of his own
story. He's created images of himself and placed them within the dance of creation. That is you,
that is me.
Now, how that occurs is through following the chain of evolution as the secularists believe or the
pathway of creation as the creationists believe. But it is neither pure evolution nor pure creation.
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Every invention that mankind has ever done goes through a growth and evolution but it is
always a consciously guided growth and evolution. I think that that bears repeating. No
creation which mankind has ever made has been instantaneously delivered. Mankind did not
decide to invent a car and have the first thing to roll off the inventor's wheel be a Lexus sports
coupe. No, the Lexus sports coupe is the result of years and years of consciously guided
evolution.
In exactly the same way the human race and all of creation is the result of consciously guided
growth, development and evolution. Again I am laying aside the question of how long this has
taken.
How long have you been around? Since the beginning of all time. How does God create the
world? In exactly the same way that the human race creates a car or the human race creates a
telephone or a television or a composer creates a symphony. You start with the raw materials and
you shape them. And you shape them deliberately and consciously throughout. Lengthy process
of growth and development.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the best answer I can give you regarding the how of creation. Yes,
there is an unfolding, but the seven literal days of creation as the radical fundamentalists want to
believe I don't find any reason to hold to one way or the other. It is certainly possible, but I don't
see any reason to fight for it either way.
At the same time it is clear that such a universe could not possibly have been created haphazardly
by chance. The marriage of the two grants us The Revealing Science of God. We as co-creators
with God find common truths regarding how we create anything. We start with an idea and that
idea we then start to fashion into matter. And that matter slowly becomes more and more and
more exactly what we are striving for.
What God is striving for is to re-create himself. God seeks to become re-incarnated, that is the
how. He guides, forms and fashions, beginning with an idea, manipulating matter until finally he
has been made in his own image. Let us make man in our own image, that is the how.
The Future
As we look to the future, once mankind overcomes his moral limitations and discovers how to
truly live together in peace, the next phases up to the technological development will bring us
that much closer to the reincarnation of God. We are coming to the point where instantaneous
travel of information is possible.
Imagine all of the computers linked up instantaneously. And imagine having instantaneous
access to all of the information in all of the computers, you would in effect know everything.
And you would know it automatically and completely. Imagine an interface where televisions are
so clean and clear and crisp that your image can be projected anywhere, and you can receive
images form anywhere. You would at that point be omnipresent, because you could see
everything and you could know everything, thus making you omniscient.
The entire human race as it joins together then, to form, as we've said before, the literal body of
Christ, is having God's infinite mind placed inside of it. The book of Colossians promises us that
in the glorious final day we will know everything about God that he knows about us. Well, he
knows everything about us already.
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When we know everything about him what will we be using to know this? How will this happen?
The Bible is clear and The Revealing Science of God is clear that only mechanism by which God
can know anything is through his own mind, that is the only active consciousness in the universe.
The Bible tells us that no man can know the thoughts of another man except for the man's spirit
which is in him. But we have the mind of Christ.
In the glorious day then we will know everything about God. But the only mechanism we will
have to know that is God's mind. Therefore the Bible and The Revealing Science of God are quite
clear:
In the final day God will know himself fully as God.
We are the cells in that body. That is the how of creation. By pouring himself out, beginning to
meditate upon himself and seeking to discover all that there is to know.
I know that this is very far flung series of ideas, but as we've said at
the very beginning we are dealing with notions which touch upon the
very essence of existence itself.
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PART 9: "WHY?"
It is self apparent that, having read this far, you are at least intrigued, if not in some what of an
agreement with me, about the previous material.
That being said, what conclusions have we drawn? The self existent being has created time and
space out of his and her own mind. And through the power of imagination projected himself into
the universe. Everything is inside of God, everything is connected to God.
The induction of human consciousness is an outpouring of God's divine being. But having
discussed the who, what, when, where and how of existence, leads us to the deepest question of
all. The question of why?
Rejecting PreDeterminism
If we assume that all of the previous material is true, why is it that way? Could it have been any
other way? Perhaps there is an inevitability in the universe. Perhaps God could not have created
any other way. Perhaps that, due to the nature of the self existent one, things could not possibly
have been other then they are.
This notion is shared by many people. The idea of predestination, preordination and absolute
determinism shaping the course of the universe. I renounce this on two bases: 1) Each individual
human being does have free will. I do not have to jump out of a 15th story window in order to
prove that I can. 2) That freedom of the individual as it relates to the creator means that freedom
of will and freedom of choice are a subset of the divine mind. Therefore to me God is a
conscious, willful being who is doing all of this for a reason, for a purpose. In other words, this
universe is not inevitable, this universe is not required. But this universe is consciously and
deliberately shaped by God. This leads us back to the central question, "why?"
If we are correct, if God is a conscious being and is directing the universe and has created it as an
act of free will, why is he doing it? What is his motivation? Again, what is the purpose of the
universe?
Perhaps There is No Purpose
Another possibility is that there is no purpose as we think of purpose. By purpose we usually
mean that we are passing through a means in order to reach an end. The purpose of having a job
is to procure money so you can buy the things you want. The purpose of taking a shower is to get
clean.
But many things are able to be an end in and of themselves. And, do not have to form another
purpose. You can pet the cat simply because the cat is nice to pet, for no other reason, no other
purpose. Perhaps then the "why" of the universe is very simply "because." That there is no
purpose, there is no reason. God did it because he felt like it, it gave him something to do, and is
ultimately no more nor less then scratching an itch.
You may be comfortable with that, but I am not. To gaze upon the miracle of the Andromeda
galaxy through a telescope is a deeply and profoundly transensual experience. To think that all of
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this has been done simply for idle dispassionate meaningless amusement is, I think, to deprecate
the universe. To negate the beauties of God's nature and personality.
Having exhausted, then, or rejected at least the possibility that there is no purpose and the
possibility that the universe is deterministic and had to be this way, we must address the only
remaining issue. That the universe is willful and has a purpose, there is an answer to the question,
"Why?" What would that be?
God is Forgetting in Order to Remember
The best answer I can give you is that God is forgetting himself in order to have the pleasure of
rediscovering himself. That may seem shocking and it may seem scandalous and it may seem
silly to you, but it is simply the best answer I can give.
If what we have said in the first few chapters is correct, then God is alone. This is a self existent
being. Since this self existent being is the source and origin of the totality of the universe, this
being must, tautologically, be absolutely alone. Therefore there is nothing and no one outside of
himself for amusement. For relationship. This aloneness is one of the fundamental aspects of the
human race.
Being Alone
For, you see, everything inside of the creator shares in this relationship. What do I mean by that?
For each of us, ultimately, the fundamental issue is our aloneness. As we become children we
must eventually learn that we are responsible for our own lives and cannot rely upon or blame
our parents.
As we become parents we must realize that our children are ultimately their own people. And
that we as parents cannot rely upon them to fulfill us or complete us. As we become spouses we
must recognize that it is impossible for the other person to complete or fulfill us. That we must
stand on our own.
As we become healthy, as we try and overcome whatever limitations we may have, whether it's
eating too much or drinking too much or gambling too much or working too much, we must
recognize that no one can help us but ourselves. And if we are related to a person with a problem,
no one can help that person but themselves.
When we close our eyes at night, the only one living behind the eyelids is ourselves and no one
else. We are utterly and completely alone.
No one knows our thoughts, no one shares our history. No one shares our memories. We are
isolated. That no one deeply or truly understands us accept ourselves. Even a spouse who might
have lived with us for 50 or 60 years knows almost nothing about the totality of our being. The
myriad of thoughts, the myriad of feelings, the infinity of the internal world of dreams and
subconscious desires and reality relies forever hidden. Even to the closest friend.
Imagine, then, that we would not be able to cover this with the illusion and fantasy of
togetherness. What if there were no other human beings at all? The greatest, deepest, punishment
human beings have ever found for one another is to place each other in solitary confinement. For
the deepest, darkest, most hardened criminals we reserve that greatest of all punishments.
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To be completely, utterly, totally removed and isolated from the human race is the pathway to
insanity. Is the ultimate psychological torture. You can read upon this in other books, there is no
reason to elaborate.
The point of the story is however, that for God the only truth is an unending infinity of
absolute, complete, total, solitary confinement. Think about that. Couple that with the
understanding of a God of love, a God of beauty, a God of joy, a God of forgiveness of bliss.
And to take such a being and to isolate him/her from all other beings would be a horror and a
torture the likes of which none of us could deal with.
And yet, if anything that has been said in this pamphlet is true, that is the absolute state of God.
Being total love, being bliss, being peace, being a person, this person as self existence finds
himself in solitary confinement for all eternity, without hope of parole.
Now, what would such a being do? With the attributes of I hood and will generating existence,
and absolute self determinacy, what would such a being do? There are two choices. Choice #1 is
to remain eternally alone, accept and acknowledge the reality of the situation and remain in that
constant state.
From Possibilities Into Reality
The fundamental problem with this is that potentiality or potential always seeks to become
kinetic and be expressed.
God, we say is love. But without another to love, that love cannot be expressed. God is light, but
without that light being able to shine on anything or be reflected back it cannot be seen. God is
truth but without anyone to hear the truth there is no point in calling it the truth. As long as love
is not expressed there is no difference between love and hate. As long as truth is never
communicated there is no difference between truth and falsehood. As long as light can never be
seen there is no difference between light and darkness.
Therefore God sought to leave the realm of pure potential and become real. To express or
manifest or transform into kinetic energy is potential energy that is exactly what happened. Now,
how do you do this?
Well, one way you could do this is to simply create a bunch of little beings to run around the
cosmos and teach them how to worship you. But why would an eternal being do that? Is that the
why of the universe? God wanted something to worship him? God created Adam and Eve to sit
there or bow on their knees and worship him and tell him how truly really big he is? My, we're
all so impressed down here. Well, that to an infinite eternal being is not very satisfying. It is
despotic and sick. If that is the vision of God you wish to have, fine. But I think that's very fallen
and pitiful.
What orthodox Christianity usually states is that God created us so that we might have fellowship
with him, so that we might enjoy being with him. The problem is if he is the center and source of
the entire universe then all of the energy which we are must be an extension of him. It is only
because of his energy that we can breath. We've discussed this before.
Therefore, if we are looking for a why to the universe, to say that God made us because he wants
us to worship him, or because he wants us to enjoy worshipping him, both responses fail as
answers.
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The Shocking Conclusion
Ultimately then I'm only left with one conclusion. That God, being self existent and eternal,
being all that there is, in order to express himself had to, in a certain extent, forget himself. He
had to manifest himself as creation and then enter into that creation. This is at least consistent.
We, you and I, all human beings, a slice of the Godhead, we are a tiny piece of the totality of the
self existent one. We are a tiny drop in the ocean of God consciousness.
We are therefore God, slowed down and transformed. We remain connected with him, and are in
fact himself. This is consistent with the notion of the body of Christ. God takes upon for himself
a body, that body is made up of individual cells and those individual cells are all human beings.
Now, God through the process of creation is going into a voluntary sleep, or a forgetting. So that
he can, #1, have relationship, all be it ultimately only with himself because that cannot be
avoided. But it can appear for a while that there is a relationship because he has forgotten that he
is both the subject and the object. This is another lesson which we learn as we grow older, that
what we like about some thing, some object, is not the object but rather what the object does for
us.
To give you a radical example, heroin and morphine do not do anything to the human body
except stimulate and accelerate the production of chemicals which are natural to the human body.
We project upon other people our hopes and our dreams and our desires. We project this upon
our children, we project it upon our spouses. We project it upon relationships. We see not what is
there, but what we want to be there.
Ultimately we are the subject and the object of our lives because as we've said before we are
alone. So, God has entered into this world as each of us and is splitting himself up into a billion,
billion pieces. Just like Humpty Dumpty falling off of the wall, he is now genuinely forgotten, at
least this part of him, who and what he is. He is growing, he is seeking, he is learning. And as he
does so he begins to remember who and what he is.
Everything has come from the same place, the same central origin. Therefore in one manner or
another, everything must have memory and relationship to that origin. God lives inside of each of
us and we are all on a process of rediscovering and remembering the true nature of existence. It
could not be otherwise.
The Problem of Evil
This helps us to deal with the problem of theodicy. The problem of theodicy has puzzled and
perplexed people from the beginning of time. The question of theodicy is phrased as a question.
How is it possible that the following three statements can equally be true:
#1. God is good.
#2. God is all powerful.
#3. Evil exists.
There are many, many ways to deal with this question. Perhaps there is no God. Perhaps God is
not good. Perhaps God is not powerful. Perhaps there is no such thing as evil.
The Revealing Science of God gives to us an answer to the nature of theodicy. Evil is an
ignorance voluntarily entered into by God himself. Which ultimately has no bearing upon the
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limitless nature of the Godhead. In other words God as we know him is different from as he
really is. To sit and worship God as being separate and apart from us is wrong. That is the first
misconception. Because God is intimately related with every human being. And is right here,
right now. We are apart of him and live inside of him, that is Biblical, that is absolute truth. That
is the first misconception.
#2. To state that God is all powerful is to misunderstand that he has voluntarily entered into this
creation and is voluntarily limiting his options.
#3. To say that God is all good makes it as though God is simply a painter who is supposed to
paint pretty pictures. And since there is pain and suffering and agony on this planet God doesn't
look like he's painting a very nice picture. If he's the potter and we are the clay, he's very naughty
because he's not doing a very nice job. What it fails to fully recognize is that God is not separate
and apart from creation but is one with it.
Therefore why does evil exist? Evil is an unknowing, a failure to recognize the totality. An
ignorance. The only reality is God. It cannot be otherwise. That fundamental reality shapes and
molds all aspects of creation. And is therefore intimately related with all parts of it. That is the
only truth that there could ever be. Any other truth is merely a delusion. And since the only being
that ultimately exists is God, all other perceptions are a self delusion of God, by God himself.
Evil then is God's forgetting of his true nature. Goodness is the truth of this self existent being.
This, ladies and gentlemen, solves all of the questions.
The Biblical Evidence
Remember how we said that the book of 1st Corinthians talks about us ultimately knowing
everything about God that he knows about us. And remember that we said that no one can truly
understand God except for the spirit of God, which is also in 1st Corinthians. And that we have
the mind of Christ. This is simple mathematics. If you put the statements together we will know
everything about God and be the only thing that can know anything about God is God. Then the
Bible itself tells you, that "in the end God will remember himself fully as God." The Bible
tells you, and it is in complete harmony with The Revealing Science of God, that God has
forgotten himself in order to have the pleasure of remembering himself.
That is my best shot, as a human being on planet Earth in the late 1990's, that's the best and only
answer I can give you.
Hide and Seek
It's funny where you find truth. There's a pop-rock keyboard player named Howard Jones. He was
very popular in the 80's, and in the early 80's had a hit song called "What is Love?" He's fairly
out of fashion now, but on his album "Human's Lib" you can find the most astonishing lyrics,
which encapsulate better then any other place I have ever found exactly what I am trying to tell
you. I reprint these lyrics without any permission. Because I don't know how to get a hold of
Howard Jones. But here they are.
Hide And Seek - Howard Jones
There was a time when there was nothing at all, nothing at all,
just a distant hum
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There was a being and he lived on his own he had no one to talk
to and nothing to do.
He drew up the plans, learned to work with his hands a
million years passed by and his work was done
and his words were these
Hope you find it in everything, everything that you see
Hope you find it in everything, everything that you see
Hope you find it, hope you find it, hope you find me in you.
So she had built her elaborate home with its ups and its
downs its rains and its sun
She decided that her work it was done, time to have fun,
and found a game to play.
Then as part of the game, she completely forgot where she'd hidden
herself and she spent the rest of her time trying to find the parts.
Hope you find it in everything, everything that you see
Hope you find it in everything, everything that you see
Hope you find it, hope you find it, hope you find me in you.
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PART 10: IN SUMMARY
I don't know how to communicate it any better then that. And as radical and wild as this may
appear at first reading, as strange as it seems and as widely different it is from orthodox
Christianity it is never the less quite consistent and makes apparently perfectly reasonable sense
based upon certain presuppositions.
Why did God create the universe? So that his potential could be made known. So that he could
derive infinite bliss from rediscovering his true nature. That is the why.
The truly big question then, why wasn't the universe forever just an empty black nothingness,
boils down to a simple statement. And from the beginning of time, before time, there was a being
who was simply self existent and could never be otherwise.
If that is true then all other statements in this writing have been results and what we in the world
of mathematics call corollaries to that fundamental postulate. If the universe was not simply
matter blowing up and creating consciousness, then the universe must be consciousness from
which matter has become derived. And if that is so, then this eternal being must ultimately and
completely be alone. And every single thing inside of this universe must be that being
transformed, modified and slowed down.
The cosmology then becomes one of the being entering into his own imagination and through the
power of creative thinking (will) transforming his pure potential energy into mountains, fields
and galaxies. The where of existence must therefore be inside of this self existent being and the
why can only be for the process of personal rediscovery.
I sincerely appreciate your time. And I value deeply your questions and comments of any type.
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The Truth About
Tarot Cards – A
Guide for God
Consciousness
The Truth About Tarot Cards - 100
Pastor Ahyh
© 2000 The Church of Yahweh
www.Yhwh.com
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Introduction
"The Truth About Tarot Cards."
The title is scandalous. It should not, many people will think, even be written.
Over the years, the Tarot has become associated with a great number of things which are
blatantly opposed and forbidden in the Bible. Deuteronomy 18:9 says,
"When you enter the land the Lord your God has given you, do not
learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one
be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire.
Who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in
witchcraft or casts spells. Or who is a medium or spiritualist or
one who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is
detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices,
the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You
must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you will
dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But
as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so."
Tarot cards have become grouped with many other things like Ouija boards, channeling, crystals,
and astrology, but Tarot cards have fallen from grace. They have fallen from the lofty goal for
which they were created. They remain shrouded in mystery and confusion, and they are used for
very profane, silly, almost stupid things, such as fortune-telling. To imagine that you could lay
out a series of cards on a table, look at them and have a clue as to what your future is going to be,
is at least very silly, and at worst, a profanation of God's holy word--an abomination.
I state this absolutely at the very beginning, and I stand in full agreement with the Bible, that
those who practice such things will find displeasure from God.
Why, then, a writing called "The Truth About Tarot Cards?" Shouldn't Christians run as far
away from the Tarot as possible? Shouldn't they stay away from it, just as they'd stay away from
Ouija boards and séances? Almost all Christians have. They have, understandably, linked the
Tarot with all other forms of occult practices.
While understandable, this is most unfortunate.
Tarot cards are actually a revealing of God's holy will, of
God's limitless power, of God's unfolding plan of redemption
for the universe, and of each individual's personal pathway
toward God.
Obviously, this is going to need much explanation.
How do I make such a claim? As a student of the world's religions and the language of
symbolism, I have studied the Tarot for several years. During this course of study, I have
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become aware of things in the Tarot cards which frankly astounded me since I had thought that
the cards were simply silly little fortune telling tools. Imagine my shock, and imagine your
shock, when we find God's holy, perfect name, written on the Tarot cards--not with any attempt
to profane Him or disgrace God's name, but to honor and reveal it.
There are countless books of the Tarot available. Unfortunately, while they start from many
different perspectives, most of them try to tell people how to read their fortunes. This, however,
is not the only means used to interpret the cards. There are those who see them as psychological
pictures to the brain. This is the Jungian frame of mind--that the Tarot cards give us a glimpse
into the inner subconscious, the great unknown, the collective unconsciousness of humanity.
This writing is different. Its purpose is to redeem the Tarot
from past and present abuses, and explain its rich symbolism,
unveiling the Divine, Biblically consonant revelation they
transmit.
HISTORY OF THE CARDS
These cards were originally written by Jewish people in the middle ages for purposes of
transmitting to the human race the results of their investigations, and the results of the revelations
which they had received from God. This, too, is controversial.
There is no agreement among scholars as to the origin of Tarot cards. As astounding as it is, we
do not know where they came from nor when they were first used. Some authorities say that they
go all the way back to the days of Egypt, before Moses; others say that they were created in the
1600's, because we have no actual written Tarot cards from before that time. My investigation
reveals that they came into being in approximately 1200 A.D.
In the 13th century, the Moslem and the Christian oppression had become immense. The Jews
were confined to small areas or ghettos of towns from which they were not allowed to move. It
became apparent to the Jewish leaders that the Christians and Moslems were threatening the
destruction of their entire culture--all of the knowledge and wisdom that had been gleaned
through the centuries by their holy men.
So what to do? If they wrote their teachings/knowledge/thoughts/stories in a holy book, that holy
book might well be destroyed. If they simply kept it by word of mouth, when the last Jew is
dead, there would be no one left to tell the story. So, throughout the years the holy men of Israel
devised a remarkable, inspired scheme. They would take their knowledge, their wisdom, and
their personal relationship with God and draw it in picture form, kind of like a symbol or a
mystery--exactly in the same manner that God talks to us in the Bible through the book of
Revelation. The book of Revelation is a series of pictures, symbols, and images which reflect a
higher truth.
The Jews and Christians of that day were under immense persecution from the government, and
Rome was threatening to destroy all of known Christianity. Rome was threatening to destroy the
entire temple and raise Jerusalem to the ground. So, when God wanted to talk to the churches,
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He couldn't write down a document that said, “Rome is oppressing you. Rome is evil. Rome is
Satan. The Government is Satan. Fight it and you will be rewarded.” Anybody caught with such
a document would be subject to immense persecution. Thus, God placed His revelation into
pictures, images, and symbols--The Dragon, The Whore of Babylon, the beast that sits on seven
hills. These are images which the people could understand, but which the Romans thought of as
silly little fairy tales.
The Tarot cards contain a holy and divine God-inspired revelation from which all human beings
can learn, just as the book of Revelation will open itself and reveal great secrets to those who
will open their eyes and hearts to study and learn.
THE KABBALAH - TO KNOW GOD
The Kabbalah is a branch of Judaism. It seeks to go beyond what we are told about God; beyond
what we read about God, what we believe about God, and what we think about God, It seeks to
actually know God Himself. The essence of the Kabbalah, then, is to directly, immediately,
enter into a personal relationship and to know the absolute reality of God. Many, many different
ideas, texts, pathways, exercises, and rituals are devoted to this idea.
Some would say, we cannot know God, but the essence of religion is to take us beyond what we
think or what we feel or what we've heard, and get us to the point that we might know. The book
of 1 John, for example, talks about the disciples having seen, heard, felt and touched the Living
Word, and that the purpose of their writings was so that we too might know the truth--not merely
believe it because someone else tells it to us.
Throughout the Bible, God appears to people. Isaiah sees Him. Ezekiel hears His voice. John,
in the apocalypse, is taken up to Heaven and is granted a vision of the divine presence upon the
infinite throne in the sea of crystal. Moses walked with God and talked with God. It is foolish of
us to feel that just because we are centuries removed from these experiences, we cannot have
them. The Holy Word says that "God is the same yesterday, today and forever."
We are capable of having the same relationships with Him that others have. If God lives, doesn’t
He want us to see Him, hear Him, touch Him, know Him, rather than merely believe in Him or
listen to other people's stories about Him? That is the purpose of the Kabbalah. That is the
purpose the Jewish seers had dedicated their lives to--to being able to see God, as Isaiah did. It is
to that end that they collected their writings, knowledge and experiences, and they passed them
down from generation to generation.
THE TAROT CAN HELP US SEE GOD
Why then do I write this? First, for the aforementioned reasons, I am convinced that there is
great beauty and truth in these cards. Second, I seek to, in some small measure, try to rescue
these cards and the revelation contained therein from the blasphemy which has been done to
them over the years. I wish to strip away the silliness and drop what is worthless, so that we
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might see more clearly what is true and good. Simply because the Tarot is under great misuse
today is no reason not to pursue it.
This leads us to a very important point regarding the creative abilities of evil and darkness. Evil
does not create. Only God and goodness create. Evil merely transforms what is good, and in so
transforming, it can pollute good and corrupt it into something evil. An example might be the
Bible. The Bible has been used to justify the slaughter of tens of thousands of people, millions of
people--Dead--in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that the
Bible should be thrown away.
Science is being used to explore a world and universe in which there is no room for a belief in
God, yet science is being used to do many profane and horrid things. That does not mean that
science should be thrown away. Science is a good and wonderful pursuit of knowledge.
Sexuality is being used by forces of darkness, pollution and evil. All sorts of perversions and
darkness exist in the realm of human sexuality, but that does not mean that it is evil. It merely
means that the good gift that God has given us is being polluted for dark purposes. This is true
for the Bible; this is true for the pursuit of knowledge through science; and this is true for human
sexuality.
What we must do, then, is separate the good from the evil,
separate what the Bible calls the wheat from the chaff, and
hold onto the good. In exactly the same way, we must separate
the foolishness from the truth of the Tarot and see its value.
NOT FOR BABES IN THE WORD
This document is definitely a "beginner's document" in terms of the knowledge of the Tarot, but
it is not for “beginners on the spiritual path.” The Bible refers to the milk of the word which is
for the new born babes, and it also refers to the more weighty, or meatier subjects, which are for
the more mature Christian and seeker for truth.
No one can deny that there are different types of instruction in the Bible. There is a series of
levels of revelation. Some things are available to everyone, and some are reserved for those who
have been trained. Jesus talks in parables to the multitude because they are not ready for certain
other truths. Jesus explains some parts of the plan of salvation to His disciples, and then waits
several years to explain the rest. As He goes away, He says, “I have many more things to tell
you, but you can not bear them now, but the holy spirit will come to lead you into all truth."
So I advise you, if you are new to the spiritual path, do not
begin to study this document. Put it down and come to it later
in your life. This is not a joke.
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PREPARATION FOR STUDY
What do I consider the prerequisites for this study?

First, a thorough knowledge of the Bible is essential. Biblical ideals, principles, and images
are encased within the Tarot. It is challenging enough to unravel the symbolism, but if the
student has little or no comprehension of the underlying spiritual world, learning becomes
exponentially harder.

Next, a personal relationship with God is indispensable. No amount of simple book learning
will ultimately help the soul, if that book learning is not applied to life.

A knowledge of the world's religions, including human psychology, is also very helpful.

Finally, the student should have a general familiarity with the language of symbolism.
THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOLISM
Signs versus symbols. The Tarot is a symbolic system. It is not a system of signs or words.
Before one can delve deeply into the understanding of the Tarot, one absolutely must become at
least generically familiar with the language of symbolism and its power.
When I see a word, for example the word "cat,” that word is a sign. It points, on a one-to-one
relationship, with what it indicates. It only represents one thing. A stop sign means only one
thing; a speed limit sign has only one purpose. In this way, words and signs are able to relate
important meanings to us. They are the rock bed of our communications. They enable us to
transfer information clearly and unambiguously between different people.
A symbol is different. A symbol does not have a one-to-one relationship with anything. Instead
of having one exact meaning; it usually has a multitude of meanings. A symbol seldom stands
alone. A sign or a word like "cat" derives all of its meaning simply by itself. The word "cat" or a
"stop sign" is a completely unambiguous indication of whatever is meant.
However, a symbol seldom reveals its full meaning until it is placed in conjunction with and in
relationship to other symbols. The ancient philosophers and scientists of several millennia ago
saw the world as consisting of four primary elements, with a fifth being later added. Those four
elements are: earth, water, air and fire. It was felt that every single thing in the world consisted
of one of those four elements, and that they were arranged bottom to top in that order. How did
they know that?

If you put a rock (which is of the element earth) into a pond, the earth sinks to the bottom.

If you stroll by a brook, you will often see water bubbling out of the earth.

Water placed in the air will fall down to the earth, but will not fall under the earth. Air held
underneath the water will bubble up and be above the water.

And, when you burn a fire, it rises up, into and above the air.
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These four elements have been incredibly influential in the history of human thought because
those four elements became symbols for four aspects within the human being. The earth
symbolizes our physical bodies, which are essentially matter. They are very little different from
earth matter, and are made of: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. The water came to
symbolize the world of desire and emotion. Just as emotions can change from one moment to the
next, so too, water is very fluid, very adaptable, very moldable. It will automatically adapt itself
to whatever container it finds itself in. Air represents the spiritual side of man--invisible and yet
consisting of the essence of our life. Fire represents the spark of life. It represents the warmth of
the body; the power that transforms the physical body into a living being; and, the intellect, the
mind, the power of the mind.
These four elements, then, have become the basis of great symbols. The Bible is full of symbolic
language. The Bible is not a series of signs alone. Yes, there are many words, and yes, there are
many indications of direct commands and direct communications. The Bible contains many
simple commands from God. It contains many explanations of simple history, i.e., this person
did that or that, but it also contains many symbols. Symbols are often used to communicate
power beyond what we normally see and think and hear.
If what the symbol was trying to communicate was a simple, earthly, normal relationship, then
the symbol would use a sign. It would communicate directly with the reader or the listener and
tell them exactly what is meant. And what this writing tries to do is in some sense transform the
symbols into "sign language” to unravel some of the symbolism and give you some direct
pointers toward the underlying realities that the symbol is indicating. The difference is between
presentational and discursive language. A symbol presents itself all at once. Discursive
language is linear, first this word and then the next word. You see the symbol in its entirety in a
flash. In this respect, it stands outside of time and space; however, you can only perceive a sign
on a linear basis. This is embodied in the old saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words."
The picture is the symbol. It is the presentational language, and that must be transformed into the
thousand words which is discursive linear signs.
One example of a symbol in the Bible is where Jesus talks about himself being the bread of life.
A simple way that you could look at that symbol is that Jesus enables us to live, because without
bread we die. A deeper way to look at it is through the mystery of holy communion, wherein we
actually partake in His presence. Yet another way of looking at the symbol of the bread of life is
through these four symbolic domains: earth, water, air and fire. First we have the wheat which
is born out of the earth. We grind the wheat and mix it with some water and some yeast. It then
rises into the air as the bread expands, and finally it is placed into the fire for finishing.
Symbolically then to say that Jesus is the bread of life would mean on a deeper level that He is
fulfilling all aspects of our being; that as we enter into a relationship with God, our bodies will be
healed and transformed and made pure; that our emotional life and desired life will be free from
the fetters of compulsion and ugliness; that our minds will become clean and full of inspiration;
and, that our spirits will begin to resonate with the very presence of God.
So we see that the power of symbolism is immense. It enables a person to perceive the symbol
and discover the deeper meanings, the likes of which are often difficult to put into words.
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There is a final aspect of symbols that I wish to discuss at this moment: symbols in some respect
bring us in touch with what is symbolized. If we gaze at a painting of a farm house, many things
happen in our minds. Is this one particular farm house? Does it remind us of one we’ve visited
or seen before? Does it bring up childhood memories? For a moment, our whole being is filled
with this symbol. The symbol brings us in touch with a non-corporeal reality. The farm house is
not physically present with us, but through concentrating on this painting, it is as though we were
in or by the farm house; so too, the symbolism of holy communion.
Sometimes religious people, Christians especially, are guilty of saying, "Oh, it's only a symbol."
I am not here debating whether or not Jesus is physically present in holy communion. That is the
point. The power of the symbol, as we meditate on the symbol, as we eat and drink of the
symbol, actually brings us in touch with the power of Christ. Therefore, even if communion is
"only a symbol," that symbol still brings us literally and actually into the presence of Christ. The
nature of the bread and the wine as physical conduits are not important. The importance lies in
the relationship that the bread and wine bring us into with Christ.
As we study the Tarot cards, all of these elements come together and are combined. The Tarot
cards are very definitely structured around the language of symbolism. Different symbols have
very specific meanings and some have very vague meanings. Some have meaning only as they
relate to other symbols. The Tarot cards are structured around the four symbols of earth, water,
air and fire, and without understanding that symbolism, much of the Tarot cards will be
completely meaningless. The Tarot cards also help to focus on those images which are the
symbols, and in so doing, actually bring us into contact with higher realities--things which are so
very, very difficult to discuss.
DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS
You could spend tens of thousands of words discussing many of these images because they are so
rich and powerful. and rich. They symbolize realities far beyond our normal realm of thinking.
This is another reason why fortune telling with Tarot cards is so silly and wrong. To have
someone else tell you what the cards say is to miss the point entirely. What’s important is what
do they say to you--not in terms of, "Should you buy that new car?" or "Should you take the new
job?" or "Should you divorce your spouse?" but, in terms of your relationship with the higher
spiritual reality which these cards represent. Only you have dominion over your life. You are a
free spirit. You have been given dominion. You have been filled with free will. To sacrifice
that in any capacity, by letting someone else tell you what you should do is completely wrong.
In exactly the same way having someone else tell you what these particular symbols mean is not
good. Therefore, I advise you to take everything in this writing or any other writing on the Tarot
cards or on any religious matter as merely one more piece of evidence, one more opinion, one
more clue. It would not be good for you to wholly absorb and agree with everything I say in this
document. The purpose of this writing is not to convince you that this is how things are, but
rather to get you started down the road to seeing the immense power in these symbols and to get
you to focus on the transcendent spiritual reality embodied in these symbols.
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To simply adopt one person's viewpoint is wrong. This writing is my viewpoint. You cannot
find this particular writing anywhere else. Other authors on the Tarot would absolutely agree and
will disagree on many of my conclusions. This is the result of my personal encounter with the
symbols in the cards and the spiritual truth which lies behind them.
WHICH TAROT DECK?
You cannot really study the Tarot cards as a Christian without being personally involved;
therefore, you need to acquire your own deck of cards. There are scores of different decks
available--some are simply silly, i.e. Alice in Wonderland goes to Tarot cards. Some are
astrological; some come from witchcraft; some come from Satanism, etc. The only deck that I
can recommend is called the “Rider Tarot deck.” It was created by Arthur Edward Waite, and
the drawings are by Pamela Coleman Smith. This deck contains the best version of the symbols I
have ever seen, and it is available in most bookstores. All of my discussions will be based on
these symbols and no others. Most other decks, in my opinion, are so polluted they are unusable.
THE HEBREW ALPHABET
You need to spend some preparation time understanding the Hebrew alphabet. You do not have
to read and write Hebrew in order to study the Tarot cards, but in order to fully appreciate them,
you really must be familiar with the letters and certain rudimentary aspects of the language. For
example, there are 22 letters in their alphabet, and those 22 letters form the basis of the cards.
The Tarot cards are divided into two sections. There are 22 major symbols or images called the
Major Arcana, and 56 cards called the Minor Arcana--a total of 78 cards. The Major Arcana take
us beyond our normal earth bound life and focus us on the eternal spiritual truths. These 22
cards relate to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Minor Arcana deal with all aspects of
life, from your body to your money, to family life, personal relationships, intellectual struggle,
etc.
GOD'S HOLY NAME
The entire Tarot system is also based upon God's holy name. God's name is not God. God's
name, as revealed in the Bible, is a series of four Hebrew letters: YOD HEH VAU HEH. If you
are unfamiliar with this, I highly recommend that you read my document, "God is not God's
Name." It will explain to you the nature of this name and why it is so important. God's name is
used throughout the Tarot cards, and it physically appears on many of the cards. Unless you are
familiar with this holy name, its symbolism, and how it is written in the original Hebrew letters,
you simply will not be able to gain much information of lasting value from the Tarot cards.
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TWO GUIDING PRINCIPLES
There are two principles with which you must be completely familiar in order to understand the
power and symbolism of the Tarot.
The first is “As above, so below.” Everything that happens on this physical world is merely a
image of the spiritual higher reality. A Biblical example is when God first shows Moses the
temple which exists in Heaven. Moses then moves to create a copy of that on the earth. As
above, so below is one of the most powerful, symbolic keys to open up the meanings, not only of
the Tarot cards, but also of the Bible. In a previous example when we mentioned Jesus as being
the bread of life, we see that the physical loaf of bread (the below part) actually symbolizes some
very high and powerful nonphysical entities.
The earth symbolizes human bodies. Fire
symbolizes human intellect. Water symbolizes human emotion. As above, so below.
The second principle is the relationship between individuals and community. What happens to
you individually also affects the entire community. Just as individuals are born, learn, grow and
die, so too do communities, businesses, and other kinds of human group activities. They have a
beginning, they have a purpose, they have a learning period, they have a development, and
eventually they have a death. So the symbols that we see in the Tarot will apply to three
domains:
1. The spiritual reality, the archetype if you will--the image of the temple in the heavens before
it has been built.
2. Your personal life. That is what happens with you as you grow and develop and learn all that
it means to be a child of God.
3. How you relate to the larger community of people.
All of this is, of course, embodied in the two great commandments: to love God, with our entire
being and to love our fellow men and women as ourselves. This places the three domains: the
spiritual domain, God's domain, our world and the world of all our fellow human beings into a
harmonious oneness. That is the story that the Tarot cards wish to reveal to us.
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TRUMP 0 - THE FOOL
We will begin our investigation of the symbolism of the Tarot with the Major Arcana. If you
take out your deck, you will see the first 22 cards are strikingly different from the rest of the
cards. They each have different words at the bottom describing what they are, and different
numbers at the top--0 through 21.
As I said previously, they relate to each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. We will start
with #0, the Fool. This symbol is the most complex and difficult to interpret in the entire deck.
Why? Because the reality and the power which it symbolizes is the farthest removed from our
day to day consciousness. The Tarot cards symbolize realities and experiences which transcend
their physical images.
What is symbolized in the Fool? When you begin to examine each Tarot card, clear your mind
and observe very carefully. What do we see on the card? Obviously we see a man or a young
boy dressed in a remarkable gown with a backpack in his right hand over his right shoulder, with
a white rose in his left hand. He is standing on the very edge of a cliff which is beginning to
crumble. At his heels is a white dog. In the background we see a huge, ice covered mountain. It
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is apparent from where he stands that he is quite high into the air, because the Sun is beating
down behind his head.
How can such a seemingly silly picture mean anything? How can it have any spiritual power? It
has spiritual power because this card is full of symbolism--symbolism which points to a reality
far beyond your imagination, far beyond your experience. It is impossible for me to describe to
you what the Fool symbolizes. I will attempt to do so, but all the words that I use will be very
feeble compared to the ultimate reality that is symbolized in the Fool.
The first thing we notice in terms of the symbolism are the four primal elements. We have the
earth in the cliff that he stands on. We have the water, frozen in the snowy, icy mountains behind
him. We have the air, which he stands so high within, and we have the fire in the form of the
Sun, shining and illuminating the entire scene.
From the symbolism, it is then apparent that the sum total of all creation is embodied in this card.
In other cards we have different parts of these items, but in their natural form, this is the only
card where we see all four elements so clearly displayed.
Next, look at the man. The man is given the number zero. This indicates that this card stands
outside of the domain of the rest of the cards. Many people do not know that the #0 was the last
number to have been invented by the human mind. The numbers 1, 2, 3 etc.. were selected
relatively early, but the idea of zero being a number with properties of its own is a relatively new
development in mankind’s brain. What are its principles?
Zero plus anything equals anything. Zero times anything equals zero. Zero then has a split
personality. If zero is added to something, that something remains completely unchanged. In
that respect, zero is the least obtrusive of all numbers. It is completely invisible and has no effect
whatsoever in the domain of addition. If, however, you are going to multiply a number by zero,
then the result is zero.
Addition and multiplication, you see, also symbolize things. If we put it into human terms, I
think you could say that addition is friendship. You and I can stand shoulder to shoulder,
become added together and thus form a bond. Neither of us loses our identity. But, if we
become married, at least in theory, we are no longer two people, but only one person. Our
individual lives have become merged into the greater union. When we simply add the Fool to
our lives, our lives remain exactly as they were. If we attempt to retain any part of ourselves,
then we will remain completely unaffected by the Fool, whatever it turns out to be. If we marry
ourselves to the Fool, then we will discover that we no longer exist, and the only reality is the
Fool. This gives you a very great clue as to what the Fool is.
The number zero has been associated also with a letter. This Tarot card relates to the letter Aleph
which is the Hebrew equivalent of our letter (A), but not quite. You see our letter (A) has a
sound of “ah” or “ay.” In Hebrew, the Aleph is completely silent. They have other vowels for
the sound “ah.” The Aleph is the silence before the storm. The Aleph is that moment of
hesitation before one actually speaks.
The Fool is actually standing approximately in the form of an Aleph. This is the starting point.
This is the moment of silence before the dawn of creation. The first letter in the Bible is a Beth,
which is our letter (B). This is meant to indicate, the Kabbalists say, that before God created the
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world, He still existed and still had activities and life. The first moment of physical creation is
embodied in the (B). The eternal realities of God, before the physical creation began, are
embodied in the Aleph. This is bringing us much closer to the meaning of the Fool.
As the Fool stands in the position of the Aleph, the significance becomes quite profound. As I
indicated to you before, you must have some familiarity with the holy name of God. I will
summarize a little bit of this for you because it is essential to the understanding of what the Fool
is all about.
Most people think that God's name is God. God is not God's name. Those who know that God
has a name think that it is Jehovah or see it as being Yahweh. These are better and worse names
for God and are based upon biblical statements. In the Bible, we have a YHWH, which is
sometimes pronounced Yahweh and/or Jehovah. Throughout the Bible, that is the name that is
used the most, but it is not the original name that God gave to His people.
If you read Exodus, chapter 3 in Hebrew, you will see that when God tells Moses His name for
the first time He says, “AHYH, Aleph Heh Yod Heh.” This is an absolutely essential revelation.
Exodus 3 gives God's official name as AHYH ASR AHYH, Aleph Heh Yod Heh - Aleph Shin
Resh - Aleph Heh Yod Heh. In English, that translates into a sentence meaning “I will be what I
will be.”
As Moses came down the mountain and the people said what is God's name, Moses said, “I will
be what I will be.” The people (we learn this from the Jewish oral tradition) said “you can't say
that!” Moses said, “Well that's what His name is.” And the people said, “Well O.K. fine, but you
can't say, ‘I will be what I will be.’ All you can say is ‘He will be what He will be’.” He will be
is YHWH, and when the Christian Bible translates Exodus, chapter 3 as “I am that I am,” they
completely miss both statements. They do not translate His name as it should be, “I will be what
I will be.” They do not even translate it as, “He will be what He will be,” but rather “I am that I
am.” There is so much ignorance and darkness in this matter.
This is the single most important religious matter that a human being can know, and it truly is
desperately sad to see the human condition having fallen into a state of such total ignorance about
this holy and sacred matter.
We see inside of the Tarot cards the Aleph Heh Yod Heh and the Yod Heh Vav Heh. The Yod
Heh Vav Heh is what you might call the exoteric name of God. Aleph Heh Yod Heh is the
esoteric or hidden name of God. That is another clue to the nature of the Fool. As you continue
to look at this card, concentrate on his robe or gown. This is a remarkable creation. It
symbolizes two things. All those little miniature wheels and dials and bursts, symbolize the
galaxies which God will soon create. Secondly, if you look carefully and count them, you will in
fact find that there are 12 such wheels or centers or sparkles on the robe, exactly 12.
The symbolism is very powerful. The number 12 is one of the most powerful symbols in the
human race. The number 12 symbolizes the twelve months of the year, to which are attached
twelve signs of the zodiac. I'm not talking about astrology; I'm talking about the zodiac. Just as
the Tarot cards have fallen and their pure transcendent divine revelation has been profaned for
purposes of fortune telling, so has the divine revelation of the zodiac, which is the pathway that
Earth travels through as it goes around the Sun.
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As we gaze into the stars, the Bible tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the
earth shows His handiwork. The stars tell a story--the story of God's redeeming plan. For more
information you should seek out, "Bullinger's The Witness of the Stars." It will explain it all to
you in great detail.
As it pertains to the Fool, the 12 starbursts represent the galaxies which God will create; the 12
signs of the zodiac; the 12 months of the year; the 12 hours in the day; the 12 tribes of Israel; the
12 apostles of Christ; and, the 12 gates on the holy city of Heaven. The number 12 symbolizes
the totality of the manifest creation. All of the stars and all of the people and all of the hours in
creation are embodied in this number 12. That is the cloak that the Fool is wearing. The Fool is
covered and clothed inside of the physical universe.
He is carrying a backpack on which you will see the image of an eagle. Also, in his left hand he
is carrying a rose. What do these symbolize? The starbursts on his robe symbolize fire
animated--fire come to life. The potentialities of all that is symbolized by the fire, which we see
physically in the Sun, are transformed and animated through the stars, seasons and human
experience. The air around him becomes infused with life in the symbol of the eagle. The rose is
animated water. The rose is often a symbol of love, devotion, romance, and the heart felt
experiences. We take physical reality, and we water that rose. That water becomes alive, just as
we have to water our romances.
At the feet of the Fool, we see the dog. The dog represents the animus, from which we get the
words “animal” and “animation”--something that is alive. The dog standing on the ground
symbolizes life--taking physical reality and infusing it with animation. We see that the dog is
nipping at the heels of the Fool. Although the Fool stands on the crumbling precipice, he has no
concern about falling. The dog is barking at him, not so much as a warning, but as a playful
celebration.
So, using these symbols, what is this card telling us? The Fool is what is known as the vast
countenance of God. The Kabbalists call this the Arik Anpin, the vast countenance of God.
What was God doing before He created the universe? The first thing that the Bible tells us is that
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But, that is in the beginning of the
existence of the heaven and the earth. That is not the beginning of God, because the nonphysical transcendence spiritual reality, which is God, has always existed and will always exist.
That is one of the ineffable mysteries, the eternal non-temporal essence of God.
In the Bible, Moses asks to see God. God shows Him His backside because God says no one can
see my front side and live. This is God without attributes. This is God before He has spoken to
say, “Let there be light." He has the potential for all within Him, and He is clothed in that robe
of infinite manifestation. He stands on the precipice; the precipice of creation. Every creation is,
in fact, somewhat of a fall. If I sit at an easel with my oil paints, as long as I do not paint, the
blank easel has infinite potential. But, as soon as the first drop of paint touches that canvass, the
painting begins to fall from its infinite potential into a state of manifest reality. As I sit at a piano
without playing, I have the potential of infinite expression, but the first note that I play drops
from these lofty heights and begins to enter manifest reality.
That is what this card is all about--God, at that moment just before He created the world, flying
so close to the Sun in the highest lofts of Heaven, symbolizing God transcendent beyond all
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physical manner, unlimited, uncaring. The precipice is about to collapse because in the next card
we will see God with attributes. We will see God in His first moment of creation, as He begins
to pour out all energies to create the universe. But, we are not there yet.
Here we see God just before He takes His fall from pure infinite potential into commitment,
because creation is a commitment, whether it is a writing or a painting or a piece of music. It is a
commitment to a particular action. It is a voluntary limiting of ourselves. In that respect, as God
creates and delves into the creation, He voluntarily limits Himself.
Notice His expression as one of being carefree. This also contains a great revelation, because
ultimately God's reality as pure infinite being remains unaffected by his "fall" into creation.
What is there to harm Him? If the sum total of the universe were to disappear and to evaporate,
the eternal transcendent reality of God would remain. This is one of the difficult lessons we must
learn.
From our perspective, every single human action is of ultimate importance. We see great
tragedy, great human suffering and much wrong as well as much joy, and much ecstasy, great
human accomplishments and triumphs of the will. What we must learn, and what this card
reminds us of, is non-attachment. Because ultimately, whether we succeed or fail, whether we
are born or we die, it is all just part of the play.
The Fool as number zero stands outside of the rest of the game. This is God in His purest form.
This is ourselves in our purest form inside of God. The Bible tells us that before the worlds were
made, God knew us. That is astounding! That means that we partake in the reality of the Fool.
That means that we are there with Him, and that whatever happens in our physical lives pales in
insignificance to the true spiritual reality.
To summarize then, the Fool is infinite God before He creates. The Fool contains infinite
potential. The Fool, as number zero, will add himself to us completely and unobtrusively. If we
simply ask God to come along with us, He will do so and allow us to retain our own free will.
But if we seek to become married to the divine Godhead, then we will find that our individual
personality becomes lost and all that remains is God.
Paul says in the book of Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Paul,
having spent so much time merging his life with God, seeking God, serving God, knowing God,
found that he, Paul, as a separate being, had no reality at all. The only life he lived, he lived by
the faith and the power of the son of God. This is the mystery and power of the number zero. If
we just seek to add God to our already full lives, then our already full lives will remain
completely unaffected by adding the number zero. If, however, we multiply ourselves and marry
ourselves with God, then we will seek to exist. The idea of a court jester is also very important
here. Throughout literature, the idea of the court Fool or the court jester has developed. Half of
the time he spends being completely silly, stupid and absurd, and the other half of the time he’s
telling the truth.
In Shakespeare's "King Lear", the only one who will tell the king what is really going on is the
Fool. The Bible itself tells us that the wisdom of God is foolishness to this world, and we see
that the story is complete. Within each of us, the Fool lives. The Fool is that spark, the highest
reality of God before he was manifested into the universe, before he created the universe. And,
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that wisdom abides within us all. The pathways of the Fool are those stages we go through as we
move from our normal mortal life into the marriage with God.
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TRUMP 1 - THE MAGICIAN
The differences between the Fool and the Magician are very subtle, but they are in fact very
profound. The Fool is infinite potential; it is God without attributes; the sum totality of the
universe before anything was created. The Fool is the Arik Anpin. As we turn to the Magician,
we see the first moment of God with attributes: God as Creator, God as He, God as the Word. In
the beginning, God created.
As we us look at the card, I want to remind you that we are dealing with symbols. We are talking
about realities which go far beyond human comprehension--realities which cannot really be
spoken of in simple human language--realities which are the basis and power and essence of our
ability to speak or think. Therefore, the pictures are cryptic and strange, and require a bit of
analysis before we understand them.
As we look at the Magician, we see the number one at the top of the card. We see the figure of a
young man with a sign of infinity over his head, holding in his right hand a Magician's staff or
wand. His left hand is pointing down to the earth. Around his waist is a belt in the form of a
snake whose mouth is swallowing his tail. In front of him, there is a table on which there are
four items: a disk with a star on it, a cup, a sword, and a staff.
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How in the world can this mean anything, and even if it does mean something, isn't it a rather
dark symbol? Doesn't the Bible forbid magicians? The first thing we must deal with then is the
idea of the Magician.
What is a magician? A magician is one who, with the strength of his word, manifests and
manipulates the physical world. That has come into ill repute, because the power of the magician
has been used for very dark, evil purposes. However, it was not always so, and in its purest form,
magic is religion.
Let me give you some examples. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth with
His word. God said, “Let there be light." And there was light. God said, “Let there be earth."
And there was earth. God said, “Let there humanity." And there was humanity. The power of
the word is integrally related to the Magician. The #1 card of the Magician does, in fact,
represent the Logos, the Word. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. Jesus says if you have faith like the mustard seed, you will say to the
mountain be gone, and the mountain will be gone. That is the power of magic in its purest sense-not in an evil satanic sense, but in its purest sense. Jesus looked into the grave and said,
“Lazarus, come forward." And His words are life and power and truth.
I will tell you another story. Even young school children learn the words “hocus-pocus.” Do you
know where those words come from? Hocus pocus are the wonderful words used in cartoons
and other things to represent magic. The magician simply says, “Hocus-Pocus," and wonderful
or evil things happen. What is its origin? It comes from the Christian practice of holy
communion. The priest holds the wafers or the bread above his head and pronounces the words
of institution. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when He had given
thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, “This is My body, do this in remembrance
of Me." At the moment the priest says, “This is My body," he makes the sign of the cross. In
fact, when he uses the word "this," he begins his downward motion for the vertical staff of the
cross. When he says the word "body," he finishes the horizontal bar of the cross. At that exact
moment, according to Christian, especially Catholic, doctrine, that bread ceases to be bread and
physically becomes the body of Christ himself.
Through the magician’s words, the bread has become transformed into the living, actual presence
of God. I use the word "magician" advisedly, because at that point the priest is performing an act
of magic. The difference between magic and prayer is that prayer requests something of the
divine; magic demands it. Through the words that the magician speaks, the bread turns into the
body of Christ. The term “hocus-pocus” comes from words spoken in the Catholic mass. Until
recently, the Catholic mass was said in Latin. At the moment the priest pronounces the words of
institution when he says, “This is my body," he is actually saying in Latin, “Hoc est corpus
meus." To the ears of the uneducated who may not understand what words the priest is saying
but do understand that something holy, sacred and magical is going on, those words can sound
like, “Hocus-Pocus.”
I am not, in any sense, saying that this makes all "magic" okay. Most of it is wrong. It will lead
you far astray and will lead you down various pathways of great darkness and danger. But in its
purest form, magic is the essence of creation. Magic is the word of God. As God said, “Let there
be light," so too has He placed within us the ability to speak. Our words do contain power. As
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the Bible says, “The tongue is a mighty flame and an incredible power." Through your very
words, you have the ability to create, and you have the ability to destroy. This is so essential.
There is no way to over emphasize it.
To return to the card then, the Magician as number one is related to the letter “Beth” or “B” in
the Hebrew alphabet. The very first word of the Bible is "Bereshith."
“Bereshith” means in the beginning. It obviously begins with the letter "B," and for the Hebrews,
the letter "B" has always had a very sacred, special meaning. Notice, the symbolism. This all
may be chance, but the symbolism fits so well that it does indeed communicate a very profound
truth. The first letter of the alphabet for the Hebrews is the Aleph, but it is not the first letter of
the Bible. Aleph stands outside and before the moment of creation. The "B" is the beginning of
manifest creation. That is the power of the Magician.
The Magician is holding in his right hand the Magician’s staff. Just as the priest carries the cross
and the cross is the vehicle through which God's power is relayed, the Magician’s staff is a
transformer. It is an antenna. It is used to pickup the power and energy from beyond. What
power and energy is the Magician picking up? If the Magician is God and his creative energies,
what does he need to transmit? I hope the answer is obvious. The Magician is transmitting the
power of the Fool. God the creator is transmitting those positive aspects of his being into the
creation. This is a key point. As God creates everything he says this is good, this is good, this is
good, this is very good, everything in the universe which has been made by God is perfectly and
absolutely good.
That is the power of the Magician's wand that he is holding. He is to transmit only the good.
The left hand pointing down shows that the energy is going to move from the Fool through the
Magician into the rest of the universe. This is a card of manifestation. This is a card of power; a
card of creation and all the energies embodied therein. This is a card of activity. The symbol
above the Magician’s head is the infinity symbol. It is one of the most obvious symbols in the
entire deck. It stands for never ending, ever going, limitless, total power. We have no way of
knowing how large this created universe is, and even if we were able to find its limits, we would
have no way of conceptualizing how vast that truly is.
Light travels 186,000 miles per second. It takes light 8 minutes to travel from the earth to the
Sun because it has to travel 93 million miles.
That means that the Sun could explode right now, and you wouldn't know it for another 8
minutes. To get to the nearest star to the Sun, Alpha-Centauri, light has to travel for 4 1/2 years.
That's 27 trillion miles. In our little teeny, tiny cluster of stars called the Milky Way, there are
well over a billion stars, and for light to travel from one end of this teeny, tiny, little bubble to the
next would take well over 100 thousand years.
Scientists have counted well over a billion galaxies and have no way of knowing how many there
really are. Infinity is vast beyond our comprehension--100's of trillions of stars and galaxies and
power and light, the likes of which go far beyond our ability to imagine. The Bible tells us God
holds all of that power and all of that universe in the palm of His hand. That is the Magician’s
left hand--the hand pointing down toward the physical world.
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Around the Magician’s waist, we see a snake, and the snake is swallowing its tail. This an
ancient symbol, and there is no way that I could possibly convey to you the power and
importance of this symbol, but I can give you a few examples.
During the last ten years, mathematicians have discovered a mathematical structure called a
fractal. Many books are being written now on fractals, and the science and mathematics of
fractals are being applied to many different fields of human study. The sciences of biology,
chemistry, physics, astronomy, sociology, electronics, and computer engineering are all being
affected by this mathematical idea. The essence of a fractal is very, very simple. You take any
system--be it a equation, a structure, or a music piece--and place something into it. Something
comes out. You take what comes out, and you place it back in. The simplest mathematical
fractal I could give you would be x = x + 1. Start off with x as being any number, 0. x = x + 1, so
you add one to x and you wind up with 1. You then take that result, and run the equation again.
x now equals 1, x = x + 1, now x = 2. That simple little equation as we take its output and put it
back into the input becomes a fractal, and that fractal generates every whole number there is. It
generates an infinite number of numbers.
There are many books you can get to read up on this, and the field will yield immense results.
The importance of fractals has not yet hit the religious community, but the universe is a fractal
equation, based upon God's name! God's name, as I hope you remember from the Fool, is, “I
will be what I will be.” That is a fractal equation. “I will be” is your “x”, “What” is your “=”, I
will be is the resultant function.
X = X + 1……..+1……….+1…
I will be, what I will be, what I will be, what I will be….
We live our lives and do certain actions, make certain decisions. I will be what I will to be. As a
result of those actions and decisions, we wind up being a certain type of person living in a certain
type of environment. The person we are and the environment we live in then act back upon us,
and we must again be who we will be. Everyday we have new decisions. Every moment is
another creation and another manifestation of the fractal relationship, I will be what I will be.
My past decisions help in a large degree to decide what I will do today, and what I will do today,
helps determine to a large degree what I will do tomorrow. As the Bible says, the sins of the
Fathers are passed down to the children and then to the grandchildren and then to the greatgrandchildren. We live in a fractal universe. This is the very essence of the Tarot principle that
we talked about in the introduction regarding “as above-so below.” I will be what I will be. My
body reflects what goes on in my heart. My heart reflects what goes on in my mind. My mind
reflects what goes on in my body. The input for our bodies and our souls passes through our
lives and becomes the input for the next cycles round of becoming. That is what is alluded to
with the snake whose tail is being eaten by the snake.
Infinity is never ending and yet is completely enclosed within itself, because all things reside
inside of God. The only reality is the Fool and God said, “Let there be light" and there was light.
The Bible tells us that God is light and that in Him there is no darkness. I find it remarkable that
at the first moment of creation God says, “Let there be light," and the Bible is so clear to always
refer to God as light. We could go very far afield here, but I will indicate to you that if you study
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the books on physics regarding the nature of light, including Einstein's theory of relativity, you
will find that every single mathematical equation that we have regarding light tells us something
about the nature of God himself. I believe it is entirely possible that when the Bible tells us that
God is light, it actually means what it says.
Back to the #1 card. Notice that the Magician’s face has deliberately been drawn young. This
indicates that God is the same yesterday and today and forever--forever young, forever creating,
forever new. The table in front of him has four elements on it. Hopefully at this point you can
determine for yourself which elements those are. The coin, the cup, the sword and the staff all
relate to one of the four primal elements: earth, water, air and fire. The coin is often called the
pentacle, penta meaning five. When the pentacle is inverted so that the one point is down, this is
a symbol of evil. When the two points are at the bottom and the one point is moving upward,
this is a symbol of goodness. The pentacle represents the earth. The coin is very connected
obviously to the idea of money. Love of money, as the Bible tell us, is the root of all evil. What
is money? Again this is an issue that we could discuss at some great length, but suffice it to say
that money is the potential to manifest the physical universe. If I have 25¢ in my pocket, I do
not have as much ability to manifest this physical universe as you have if you have $100. In
shortest form, money is the ability to manipulate the physical world and is therefore a symbol for
all of matter.
The cup obviously holds fluid. It holds water and is a symbol for our heart, our emotions, our
desires.
The two edged sword is capable of separating good from evil. The sword of the spirit which is
able to discern truth from falsehood is a symbol of the mind. In all aspects of our intellect, this is
the symbol of the air.
And finally, the staff is a symbol of life. Because the staff is a tree and is therefore unlike the
coin or the cup or the sword, the staff is actually alive. This represents the fire, the spark of life
that keeps our bodies warm and actually gives us the miracle of life itself. That is the symbol of
fire.
This is the only card in the Major Arcana where you see these symbols. The symbolism is almost
too obvious to need comment; however, for the record, the card symbolizes that within God,
within the Magician, all levels of reality are created--the physical universe, the emotional desire
universe, the realm of thought and mind (mathematics and science), consciousness itself and the
highest mystery of all, life.
Jesus says, “Even when you have an abundance, your life does not consist in your possessions."
Well what do you possess? Not only do you possess physical objects you've acquired, like a car
or a couch or a book, but you also possess a body. Your soul is housed inside of your body, and
your body is much more of a possession than anything else. You possess feelings. Those do not
consist of your life. You possess thoughts, ideas, and memories. Those do not embody your life.
Your life is beyond all of those. Your life is a spark of God. It cannot be created; it cannot be
destroyed. It can only change form.
The Bible is clear that God knelt down, took his air, and exhaled it into Adam and Eve--the life
giving air. This is an incredibly powerful symbol. The thing which beats in your heart, that
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which gives you life, is none other than God himself. I know that for some of you this must be
an incredibly radical and almost threatening idea, but I told you at the beginning, this study is not
for neophytes.
One last observation on the Magician. This is a card of maleness. The Fool is androgynous,
neither male nor female, neither positive nor negative, but the entire sum totality of all there is.
If you will, the Fool is a bunch of electrons floating in free space without any structure or flow.
As we enter the realm of creation, a battery, in order to work, has to have a positive pole and a
negative pole--a plus and a minus, a giver and a receiver, a male and a female. This is the nature
of the universe. The Magician is God the Father, the giver, the sender. In this respect, the
Magician’s staff is also the symbol of the phallus--the giver, the sender, the transmitter of the
seed. But, there must also be a receiver.
Western culture is very comfortable with the idea of God the Father, but if you even say the
phrase, “God the Mother”, people become very nervous. It starts to sound like a cult. It starts to
sound like some weird eastern religion. But ask yourself simply and clearly, without any fear, if
there is a God the Father, how can the universe exist without God the Mother. And, if there is a
God the Mother, where is She, who is She, what is She like? Why don't we talk about Her?
The power of the Fool, the free flowing electrons, enter the realm of action. In order to act, the
electrons must leave some pole and enter another. There must be a flowing direction. If you lay
the cards out on a table in front of you, put the Fool at the top. On the left hand side below the
Fool, put the Magician. On the right hand side below the Fool, put the High Priestess card #2.
The oneness of the Fool becomes separated into the two poles of the Magician and the High
Priestess, i.e., God the Father and God the Mother, infinite maleness and infinite femaleness.
We hear a lot of talk about women's liberation, and we are so far beyond the essence of social
order here, that it’s almost laughable. Suffice it to say that pure maleness and pure femaleness
are each absolutely essential and are completely wholly 100% equal.
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TRUMP 2 - THE HIGH PRIESTESS
Every single card in the Major Arcana is full of incredibly powerful symbolism and imagery. It
does no good to try to compare one to the other or to say one is more or less powerful. They are
equally significant. However, the imagery in the High Priestess is so foreign to our usual ways of
thinking that it will, in all probability, take us a bit longer to unravel the mysteries which she can
reveal to us.
The High Priestess is robed in blue. She has a rather strange looking crown on her head, a cross
on her chest, and she holds a Torah scroll. At her foot is a crescent moon. She sits between two
pillars of the temple labeled (B) and (J), and she sits in front of a rather strange looking curtain.
Remarkable as it may seem, this is a symbol of almost overwhelming power, glory and beauty.
We will look at each of the elements in turn.
We cannot understand the High Priestess unless we, of course, first understand the Magician.
The High Priestess gives form to all of the impulses of the Magician. Once we leave the nonmanifest infinite potential unity of the Arik Anpin in the Fool and enter into reality, we
immediately enter duality. That is the purpose of the #2 on the High Priestess. We are now
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entering the realm of opposites. That is one of the reasons that there are two pillars to the
temple.
Every single thing in the universe exists in a dual form. Absolutely, positively every inanimate
object, every relationship, every animate object, has a dual nature. And, that dual nature consists
of a spirit and a body--a impulse and a form; a seed and a soil. There are an infinite number of
illustrations. You have thoughts, feelings and desires which become your spiritual impulse. That
impulse expresses itself and gains form through your body. Words themselves have a spiritual
underlying meaning which get clothed in the words. If I say the word "power" the individual
letters are a sign to point to the non-physical reality behind them.
Love is an emotion. Love is a relationship. Love is a reality which gets expressed in actions--a
kiss, a gift, a touch. The Magician is then the spark, the impulse, the seed, the soul. The High
Priestess is the form giver, the body, the soil. The Magician is the positive pole on the battery
sending the energy out. The High Priestess is the negative pole on the battery taking the energy
in. For every giver, there must be a recipient or there can be no gift. For every speaker, there
must be a listener or there can be no speech. This is a deep and profound mystery understood by
far too few people on this earth. This is the essence of the Christian revelation of the Holy
Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit--subject, object relationship. The Father is the subject; the object
of his love is the Son; and, they have a relationship between them which is the Spirit.
This tri-unal relationship is every single thing we have experienced. The Trinity is the only
reality. The hearer is the Son, the speaker is the Father, and the speech or the word is the Spirit.
We have here the Magician which is the speaker. We have the High Priestess who is the listener.
The relationship between them and what they are sending between themselves is, of course, the
energy of the Fool. Yet notice how they are all one. The Magician plus the High Priestess create
no less of God then the Fool alone does.
Every living organism requires certain things. The vast majority of organisms on this planet
reproduce sexually, but even those organisms that are able to reproduce asexually perform by
themselves both the act of father and mother. The sender of the seed and the recipient of the seed
are essential. The father delivers the power to which the mother gives form. In as few words as
possible, the Magician is God the Father, the High Priestess is God the Mother.
As I stated when I was discussing the Magician, we in western civilization have almost
completely ignored God the Mother, or at least we've tried to. It turns out that in Christianity, we
have God the Mother for us. For Catholics, God the Mother is the Virgin Mary, and all of those
warm, loving, nurturing things which we associate with mother are done for us by the Virgin
Mary. Within Protestantism, the Virgin Mary was renounced and is not a figure. Who then is
God the Mother for a Christian? Shocking as it may seem, God the Mother is Jesus. God the
Father is seen as being the stern, harsh judge. God the Mother is Jesus, who is there as gentle
Jesus, meek and mild, to take care of us and to wash away our tears. I am sure you have seen
paintings of Jesus which are very soft and almost feminine. This is in direct contradiction, of
course, to the Biblical record of Jesus, the man who was not afraid to whip the money changers
in the temple, was not afraid to go to the cross, and was anything other than a soft, meek and
mild wimp.
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God the Father and God the Mother combine to give birth to the universe. That is the next card,
the Empress. God the Father, number one, plus God the Mother, number 2, equals three. The
Empress is Mother Nature, all of nature, mountains, skies, trees, etc. We will discuss her later.
The notion of God the Mother is somewhat strange or foreign to most of us. Everything that
there is takes form through God the Mother. We likened in the previous chapter God the Father
to the word, the power of creation, but that word has a dual reality, each of which is important. If
I think of the word "cat," there is the reality of the word unspoken in my brain--clothing my mind
with this word. But, that word must also take a form into the world of vibrations or letters,
otherwise the thought cannot be communicated. So even a word, we see, has a spiritual and a
material aspect to it. God the Mother gives form to all beings.
She carries out what God the Father initiates. What the Magician conceives, She ultimately gives
birth to. And, the two of them are eternally embraced, eternally begetting, eternally one. The
Magician points from the Fool straight to his beloved, the High Priestess. There is, in fact, a
profound wonder here. Christianity is clear to talk about what is referred to as the mystery of the
ages--the body of Christ. We tend to think of the body of Christ symbolically, not really
believing what the Word says. The body of Christ is being prepared to be the body and bride of
Christ. We have talked about the principle of as above, so below. Father God takes to himself a
wife, Mother God. They beget nature. Into nature is placed humanity, and humanity then has
Father God and Mother God placed within each of us to take us and transform us from our sinful
state into being the bride of Christ. We see then that the divine play of Father God and Mother
God takes upon itself ever lower and denser forms of energy in order to continually recycle the
divine play.
As God without attributes turns Himself/Herself into the Magician and High Priestess, God the
Father and God the Mother, so too this spiritual God as He/She creates the physical world, seeks
to marry that physical world and have that physical world become the new bride of God that they
then might be one and continue to beget more and more children. This is indeed a very deep and
profound mystery and often it is difficult to discuss such things in language.
But I want us to focus a little longer on this idea of God's energy becoming evermore dense. The
first moment of creation, God said, “Let there be light." The saying was the impulse. That
impulse played itself out within the universe of God's mind and energy and light came about.
God's spiritual impulse was given form through God the Mother and became light. As a result,
God the Mother is also represented with light. The crescent moon at the feet of the High
Priestess has many symbols, but one of them is to indicate the power and the presence of light.
All that we have ever encountered in the universe is light. One of the things that Einstein has
taught us is that if you take light in its purest form and simply slow it down, light begins to
thicken. As it thickens, it becomes what we call matter. It takes on different shapes and forms.
Energy and matter are simply different parts of the same reality--the pure limitless energy of
light. As God slows it down, and it condenses into matter, we can, through the power of atomic
energy, take that matter and reconvert it into pure energy.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God cannot be created or destroyed. He is eternal
and beyond all effects. Energy cannot be created or destroyed; matter cannot be created or
destroyed. They simply change form, one from the other.
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Everything then in the physical universe, we now know, is actually nothing more than light--light
condensed and slowed down. Every living thing lives by one, and one power only--the power of
light. The magical miracle of photosynthesis transforms light into what we can take as food.
Our bodies are nothing more then transformed light. The light from the Sun hits the plants, the
plants from the miracle of photosynthesis transform that into plant material, which eventually
either directly or indirectly, through the food chain, becomes our bodies. This is astounding. At
the first moment of God's creation when He said, “Let there be light," God created light. That
light, as Mother God the physical form of the spiritual impulse, has given shape and form to all
other things.
The last comment about light is that light is the only thing that you can ever see. You have never
seen a plant. You have never seen a dog. You have never seen a rock. The only thing you have
ever seen is the light as it bounces off of the plant, the dog, and the rock. As the light hits the
plant, the dog, or the rock, the light immediately adapts itself to the shape of that item. That light
is then reflected into your eye. It is impossible for you to see a dog. All you can see is the light
as it comes off of the dog. So from the first moment of creation, that spiritual impulse of the
Arik Anpin to manifest Him/Herself into reality, created God the Father, who is the spirit to say I
will be what I will be and I will that there be light--immediately creating the light as God the
Mother who will give form to God the Father’s impulses. That light is the source of all physical
matter for all matter is simply light slowed down. That light is the essence of our lives, because
without it no living organism could exist. That light, from the day you are born until the day you
die, is the one and only thing that could ever, have ever or will ever see. That is God the Mother.
That is the shaper of all existence.
This mystery of light is seen in the High Priestess card in the crescent moon. Reflecting the light,
the moon itself is dead. This is a very important issue which we will see many chapters from
now when we see a card #18 which is devoted entirely to the moon. For right now, we have
some observations to make of a more general nature about the moon.
The moon reflects the light of the Sun--that one light the true light, the light of God. The
crescent moon shows another very important aspect of light--the nature of oscillation and change.
Nothing is static. Nothing is fixed. Nothing is flat. Everything moves and everything changes.
Even that rock that appears to be doing nothing is vibrating. Every single atom inside of it is
moving with such intensity and such power that if that rock had all of its energy released, it
would create an explosion, the likes of which we have never seen since the beginning of time.
Atoms move. They vibrate. Strings move left to right. The Sun rises and sets. We get up; we
get down. Everything is a cycle. Everything is a flow. This is indicated to us in the crescent
moon. The moon goes through its phases to wax and wane. It goes from a thin sliver to a full
moon, disappears gradually until it's another sliver, and finally disappears entirely, which we call
the new moon. This cycle occurs approximately every 29 1/2 days. That cycle becomes a
symbol for many aspects of our lives, as the light of God reflects through us brighter and dimmer.
None of us are constant; none of us are fixed. All of our desires and thoughts and energies are
changing. We see the faces of the moon in the crown the High Priestess is wearing. We see the
full moon in the center, the growing moon--the waxing moon--on the left, and the waning or
disappearing moon on the right.
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The moon is related to another item which is also very closely associated with the High Priestess
and with that of the mother--water. Just as light immediately adapts itself to whatever it strikes,
so too water immediately adapts itself to whatever shape of container it is poured into. It does
not matter if it is a huge ocean or a tiny thimble. Water will immediately adopt that shape. This
is part of the fluid nature of water. Our bodies, just as they are animated light, so too they are
animated water. They are animated, air because in exactly the same way that light and water will
immediately adapt to whatever container they are in, so also will air adopt itself to whatever
container it is in, though we do not see it as clearly. Our bodies consist of a tiny bit of earth
combined with a lot of animated water. We are about 85% water sustained by the power of air
and light. Those are the four primal elements: the earth, the water, the air and the fire.
The Magician holds the four elements on the table. He is the impulse for these, and God the
Mother actually gives form to them. The phases of the moon are also related to womanhood and
motherhood. The idea of cycling is in the female of almost all species, and especially in the
human race. The woman's menstrual cycle very, very, closely matches the cycle of the moon.
Approximately every 28 or 29 days, most women complete there menstrual cycle. The office of
mother in an earthly sense is as sacred and holy an office as there is, but it is no more nor less
holy than the office of father. They all work in conjunction with each other. So we see the
images of light, of water, of fluidity, of the moon, of cycles, of change, of motherhood--all of
these are embodied in the High Priestess.
All creation, all manifestation is a cycle. This cannot be overemphasized enough.
Let's examine her robe now. Notice that the robe is blue, obviously a reference to life giving
water. Notice how the robe, as it cascades down to the ground, seems to turn into a river. This is
a beautiful image on this card. The High Priestess has a cross in her center. This image is so
familiar to most people that it needs very little comment. She is also holding a scroll with which
we are much less familiar. The scroll is a Torah scroll. The word “Torah” holy and sacred. It
officially refers to the five first books of the Bible, otherwise known as the books of Moses:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are for Judaism the highest
holiest books ever written. All the other books of the Bible, and all the other books that have
ever been written are simply commentaries one way or the other on these five books. You can
make a very clear case that all of Christianity, and in fact Islam, are expansions and
commentaries on the groundwork that is laid in these first five books.
The fact that the High Priestess is holding that scroll tells us that only through properly
understanding God the Mother can we come to a true comprehension of the Torah. It also shows
that, as it has been said throughout the ages, the Torah is the Bride of Yahweh.
The God of the Universe married to himself the Hebrew letters, married to himself his holy word
and through the power of that word has created the universe and established all relationships with
human beings. The Torah is a divine revelation which gives shape to God and enables us to see,
touch and feel his non-physical reality. Once again, we see the idea of the spirit of God the
Father being given form, shape, substance, and a body through the Torah--God the Father and
God the Mother this time seen through the Torah.
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However, there is more to it then that. Remember, the document you are reading is entitled Tarot
for Christians. Have you ever wondered where the word "Tarot" came from? Take the letters
TORA and arrange them in a circle like this:
T
A O
R
If you read clockwise, it reads TORA. If you read counter clockwise it reads TAROT. Tarot is
in fact a revelation of the Torah. As I said to you in the introduction, you will be shocked at
some of these images. This is not a card of evil or Satan. This is not a card of darkness. This is
a card indicating the strange mystical images of the very essence of God Herself, and the card is
in part about the Torah. The Torah will help us to understand the Tarot, and the Tarot will help
us to understand the Torah. As we cycle the wheel one way, we have Tarot. As we cycle the
wheel the other way, we have Torah.
Those four letters can also start with the "R." If we do so, we have the word "Rota", Latin for
wheel. In fact, Tarot card #10 is the wheel of fortune upon which we will see the words Tarot,
Tora and Rota.
The sentence “Tarot Rota Tora” means that the Tarot reveals the wheel of truth which is the
Torah. Once again we see remarkably the Torah as the "father", the Tarot as the "mother" or
"son", and the Rota as the wheel turning left and right, forward and back. Retaining the same
essence is the relationship between them, again the Trinity, the tri-unity.
The High Priestess sits elevated above the crescent moon with the cross on her chest holding the
partially concealed Torah. We now must discuss the final two elements.
She sits between two pillars--a black "B" and a white "J." These represent duality which we have
already discussed. For every positive there is a negative. For every up there is a down. For
every left there is a right. This is the world of the pairs of opposites. This is the dynamic tension
that creates all that exists. What do the "B" and the "J" stand for? Blessing and judgment.
These are the two pillars of the temple. As God the Mother reaches out to us, she grants us both
blessings and judgments. Some people have seen God the Father as being the judge, and God the
Mother or God the Son as being the blessor. However, that is not strictly true. God the Father,
the Magician, gives his energies, God the Mother gives form to them, and we must have the
blessing and the judgment. Blessing is the loving, outpouring, grace of God, for all is grace and
all is a gift. Judgments are those forms of correction and discipline. Both blessing and judgment
are equal forms of love and equal gifts, for without one or the other, our lives would be
meaningless.
The judgment is not that of God's hatred and wanting us to burn forever in hell or some such
idea. The judgment is the discernment of God to say this is better for you, this is worse. As you
enter into areas which are worse for you, I will guide you and try to give you as much correction
as I can to bring you back to where you belong. These are the two holy pillars of the temple. In
Christianity, they are discussed in terms of law and gospel. Often we misunderstand both terms
because the gospel and the law are not as they are commonly conceived. The gospel is not an
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unthinking, forgetting on God's part of all that you are and ignoring you and forgetting about your
sin nor thinking that you are a saint anyway. And, judgment is not a plan on the part of God to
eternally punish you for the slightest error. The blessing, the gospel, is the unfailing, undying
love. The judgment is a part of that love to help guide you and correct you that you might
become the fullness of God--that you might become the bride of Christ.
The High Priestess sits between the two temples, between the two pillars. This indicates that this
is the straight and narrow way. We must have balance. Just as all realms of existence cycle
between two poles, and just as we dwell in the universe of the pairs of opposites, we must find
the balancing point between the two in order to live. Too much air and you pass out; too little air
and you pass out. Too much water and you pass out; too little water and you pass out. Too much
warmth and you die; too little warmth and you die. The results are the same. Too much blessing
and you die; too much judgment and you die. The way is broad that leads to death, but the way
to eternal, limitless, infinite life is very narrow. There are very few that find it. When you find
it, what do you find?
The High Priestess sits between the two pillars of the temple and she sits in front of the veil.
Behind that veil is the holy of holies.
Again if you are not familiar with the Bible, then you do not know what is meant by the “holy of
holies.” You should read in the book of Exodus in the Bible as God tells Moses how to create
his holy sanctuary. Inside the holy of holies, God's high priest, and we see here the High
Priestess, would represent the people of before God. It was only in the holy of holies that man
truly met God and God truly met man. The veil of the temple was meant to be a separation
between God and the rest of the human race. This veil of the temple is covered with palms and
pomegranates. The pomegranates are symbols of fertility, motherhood, great plenty. They were
used throughout the Hebrew Bible in the various decorations throughout the temples. The palms
were used to pave the way for Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, the home of the temple, the home of
the holy of holies. Through Jesus’ death, the temple was torn, symbolically indicating that now
through the death and resurrection of Christ there is available to all people access to the inner
holy of holies.
We will encounter this again in other cards, because as above so below. It is not merely enough
for Jesus to have died. If you truly seek access to the inner holy of holies, to the inner temple,
you must balance properly between blessing and judgment. You must die as Jesus died, so that
you might be resurrected as Jesus was resurrected and enter into the inner most holiness. On the
other side of that temple veil, what does the High Priestess hide? The Magician. As you
encounter the Magician, you reach out to touch his hand, and he is pointing upward back to the
Fool.
The Tarot cards are not merely static images. Nothing is static. They are also a pathway
representing realities within you and beyond you. They also represent a pathway or a journey
which you will take. You have, even though you do not know it, already taken much of the
journey. In the beginning of time, God the Fool split himself into God the Father and God the
Mother and eventually has led to you. In the years to come, you will return through the pathway
and eventually return to God the Mother, pass through her holy veil to your encounter with God
the Father, and follow through him to God the limitless unknown.
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TRUMP 3 - THE EMPRESS
1 + 2 = 3. That is the essence of this card. God the Father (Tarot #1 the Magician) plus God
the Mother (Tarot #2 the High Priestess) combine and eternally mate to produce Mother Nature.
The Empress is Mother Nature. She is vast. She is huge beyond all human comprehension. The
first three Tarot cards are spiritual, non-physical powers. Here in Tarot #3, the Empress is
material reality. Of course, the Empress embodies non-material realities such as life, which is
not based upon a chemical substance but is rather a spirit and a presence from the non-physical
domains. Mother Nature is, in fact, the actual creation--the entire known universe.
On this card, we see an eternally young woman holding in her right hand an orb with a crown of
12 stars, and dressed in a gown covered in pomegranates. She reclines on a pillow behind which
there is a red scroll of some form. We see the shield with a symbol on it. Behind her there are
many trees and a river of water flowing down from the mountains.
There is much deep and great symbolism here. The orb in her right hand symbolizes the Sun,
and the crown of stars on her head obviously symbolizes the zodiac. As we have said before, the
Sun is the source of all of our power. It is the source of all life on this earth and is the single
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most controlling influence in any of our lives. Without the Sun and without the constant stream
of energy that comes from the Sun, we would be nothing. Later, we will discuss a Tarot card
devoted exclusively to the Sun. At that point, we will begin to examine the spiritual symbolism
of the Sun.
The crown of stars on the Empress's head points to all of the stars in the heavens. This indicates
her vast and incomprehensible size. Astronomers have been able to measure the Empress at
approximately 12 billion light years. That is how big around she is. What does that mean? A
light year is how far light travels in one year. Light traveling at 186,000 miles every second in
one year covers 6 trillion miles. That is 6 thousand billion--one light year. Our best telescopes
have let us see out to 12 billion light years away. That means that light travels at 6 trillion miles
every year for 12 billion years. So how wide is Mother Nature? 12 billion multiplied by 6
trillion. We do not have a name for a number that large.
That is only the macro-cosmic scale. On the micro-cosmic scale, she is every bit as vast. The
term “atom” means “not able to be cut.” It was an idea, theorized by the early Greeks, that there
must be some fundamental building block of nature that would not be able to be divided into
separate parts. At last count, there were over 200 sub-atomic particles. Inside of this teeniesttiniest thing which we call an atom, we have found over 200 separate components. So if you
take the 12 billion light years; all of the incomprehensible stars; all of the photons, electrons, and
atoms inside of the universe; and, inside of every one of those atoms there are hundreds of tiny
sub-atomic particles, you will see that Mother Nature has a depth and breadth and scope, the
likes of which we cannot possibly fathom.
She is, for all practical purposes, infinite. And mankind finds itself apparently right in the center
of the cosmos in terms of the size scale. To expand to the size of the universe, you must go up to
approximately 30 orders of magnitude. An order of magnitude is multiplying by 10. So if you
multiply the size of a human being by 10x10x10 (1000), you have gone up 3 orders of
magnitude. The universe is approximately 30 orders of magnitude. The tiniest sub-atomic
particles we have discovered are likewise on the order of 30 orders of magnitude smaller than a
person, divided by 10, divided by 10, divided by 10. We, then, in many ways are the focus and
the center of creation. We are the balancing point. This will become clearer as we examine
other cards.
Mother Nature, vast and incredible, lies on a pillow which is actually a pregnancy pillow. On the
card, Mother Nature is eternally pregnant. She is always giving birth. And though we often care
not to think about it, she is also always dying. A curious thought that has arisen within the
western traditions that is, that if everything was perfect, nothing would die. If that were true,
somehow Adam and Eve would sit there in the Garden of Eden, and no leaf would fall from a
tree. No snail would decompose, and Adam and Eve would live in those physical mortal frames
forever and ever and ever. This is actually a very silly idea.
There is eternal life. There are realms of the universe which are infinite and eternal and cannot
and will not die. Those realms we have already discussed. The Fool stands so completely
outside of time and space that he/she is not even manifest in any positive or negative sense. The
Fool cannot be harmed in any way--cannot be created or destroyed, cannot be born or die. So too
with God the Father and God the Mother.
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Mother Nature herself may also be eternal. As far as we can tell, God may forever exist as
creator, preserver and sustainer of a physical creation. The message of the Fool is that He does
not have to, but it is entirely possible that He/She will. Within the realm of nature, within the
empire of the empress, life of the bio-organisms is not possible without death. Birth and death
are natural parts of the same flow, and absolutely everything requires the death of something else
in order to have life continue to cycle. Only when the leaves die, fall from the tree, and return to
the soil, can the soil be replenished with the nutrients necessary to give new trees. It is only
through the consumption of something else that each bio-organism is able to live. Therefore,
while the Empress is eternally pregnant, she is eternally dying. This completely natural cycle
should not be feared.
The pomegranates symbolize fertility, as we discussed previously on the High Priestess card.
The multitude of species on this planet alone is an incomprehensibly large number. From the
tiniest single cell bacteria to the largest trees and whales, Mother Nature is forever prolific in
expanding the numbers and combinations and permutations of the dance of God, which is the
creation.
The shield behind her has much significance. We see on it the symbol of the woman. This is
also the symbol of Venus, which is why the shield is in the shape of a heart. God is love, and
that love is communicated through nature. The Empress is eternal love. Love is a term which
many of us know, but so few of us are able to define. The best I can do is to state that love is
experienced union, whether we talk about loving to eat a potato chip, loving our children, or
loving God. While we may have three very different domains for that love, they are all shared in
a commonality based upon union, oneness.
Religion means union. It means to bind together again. We have lost harmony. We have lost
oneness, and we must rediscover it. That is the message of religion; that is the message of the
Bible. All of human interaction can be seen as a war between culture and nature. For the
Empress, this sometimes does not appear to be very nice. There are floods; there are fires; there
are earthquakes. There is pestilence, starvation, extreme heat and extreme cold. Sometimes the
Empress has such cruel love that we are repelled, so we wage war, mankind against the elements,
seeking to enshroud ourselves in a universe of man-made culture, man-made fabrics, man-made
walls, man-made existence. Even in our modern industrial society, this war wages on to
overcome the limits of biology, the weather systems, the limits of geography, and the limits of
natural resources. In this way, we see one of the other essential factors of this card--that of
creativity.
Placed inside of humanity, we have the capacity to be co-creators with God, as above-so below.
All those attributes which are within God, are within us. It could not be otherwise as we've said
before. Since we are a part of God, everything in God must be reflected inside of us in one way
or other. Therefore God's intelligence, God's power, and God's creativity reside in a small degree
in each one of us.
The Empress is a card of creativity--procreation, creativity and blossoming. At times, we often
use our creative powers in our war against Mother Nature, but the Empress reminds us that
nature seeks not to be at war against us, but seeks rather for us to come to be one with her.
Through love, we may regain harmony and rediscover the lost union. Can we build houses in a
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place that will not be subjected to floods? Can we learn how to control things in such a way that
we are not so suspect to disease? Is there perhaps a higher message or greater truth that no
matter what happens here in the physical realm, no matter what happens within manifest
creation, it is all simply a play and a dance? Just as the hero in a movie can be hurt, crushed, cut,
can bleed, or sometimes even die, it is still only a movie--it is still only a play. That is the
message of the Fool. The only thing that is eternal, the only thing that is in fact real, is the Fool.
Everything else is a voluntary, self limiting of the Fool’s own energies by the rest of those
powers which the Fool has placed into the universe. The message we must learn is that the body
is not to be worshipped. The message we must learn is that the entire sum total of physical
reality, the entire glorious created universe, as vast and as unfathomably glorious as she is, is
nothing more than shadows dancing upon the face of the Arik Anpin.
And, the Empress seeks to remind us of that every now and then with an earth tremor, an
asteroid, an eclipse, or a fire. This is not to say that human beings are not hurt. This is not to say
that we should not try to strive for greater harmony and love with nature. But it is to say, that we
must learn to go beyond worshipping the creation, because the creation always seeks to point to
the creator. That is the purpose of the scroll behind the Empress--that little red scroll behind the
pillow that she is leaning on. What is that? Do you know? That is a Torah scroll. The High
Priestess sits with the Torah on her lap. The Empress sits with the Torah completely encased.
You see in a Jewish temple, the Torah is handwritten on a scroll. That scroll is placed inside of a
pillow, is covered with a dress, and is adorned with various symbols to indicate the power of the
Torah. During the high point of Jewish worship, a song is sung, the scroll is taken out of the
Ark, undressed, read and then dressed again. That is what that red pillow-like thing behind the
empress really is. That is a Torah scroll, much more concealed than in the High Priestess card.
What does this mean? It is very clear in the Bible in Psalms 19 and in many other places that the
heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth shows His handiwork. Just as nature always
seeks to remind us that nature is not eternal, and that nothing which happens on this plane of
manifestation is of any lasting significance, so too everything in this creation is pointing us back
to God. How can this be?
You my dear reader are learning much about me through what I have created in this writing. As
you continue to read and absorb my words, you may not actually learn anything about the Tarot
cards because it is possible that every single thing I have said is completely wrong. However,
you are unfailingly learning much about me. Every word I have chosen, every syllable and every
turn of phrase is an extension of me, and as you dwell in and study my creation, my creation is a
testimony to all that I am. Certainly there is much to me that is not in this writing, but everything
in this writing comes entirely from me. In the same way, the totality of God is far beyond the
physical creation. Just as me writing this is a very small part of my life, so too, God creating the
entire universe is a very small part of God's life. However, everything that is here indicates
something about God.
God's nature and attributes, Paul said in the book of Romans, can be clearly seen and understood
through what has been made. Taken to its most extreme form, every plant, every animal, every
star is a testimony to God. Every mathematical equation and every scientific discovery is a
revelation about God. This process of discovery is what we come to in the next card--the
Emperor.
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The Empress is creativity. She is the subconscious. She is wisdom. She is the pre-rational side
of us, and the Empress is a presentational communication regarding the nature of God.
The Emperor moves us into the realm of discursive thought and reason and the scientific process.
We will see much more about him in the next chapter.
One of the most important factors of this entire card is the river of water flowing through the
forest and coming down to be with the Empress. This indicates the energy flowing from the
cards above. Remember how we talked about the Fool, and as he falls, he becomes the
Magician? The Magician points his wand up towards the Fool and points his other finger down
toward the Empress. The High Priestess receives the Magician’s power, and the bottom of her
robe turns into water. That water we see flowing through the trees to become a pool by the feet
of the Empress.
God and nature are one. There is a harmony. There is a union. Jesus talked about streams of
living water--that water to become animated with the power and presence of God--hat water to
flow through us, to resuscitate us, and re-attune our spirits with nature and with God. There is
great imagery wherein the High Priestess's robe turns into the stream of water which becomes the
Empress.
Without water, as we've said before, nothing can live. And water, simple H2O, on this planet is
one of the rarest substances in the entire known universe. This water flowing down indicates the
invocation of God. There are two terms we need to define at this point: the involution and the
evolution.
Involution is where the powers of God come into creation and become fully aware. Evolution
occurs when those powers begin to return to the god-head. This is the breath of God. As God
breathes out, so too He/She breathes in.
The first half of the Tarot cards in the Major Arcana are dedicated to the involution of God. The
last half are dedicated to the evolution of God. Here is how the involution works.
We've already seen many of the instances. The first moment of creation is a contemplation of the
Fool upon himself. As he thinks upon himself, he becomes the Magician, God the Father, and
God the Mother. They combine to create the universe. Through pure, divine will, the will is
placed within consciousness which is symbolized in the Emperor. That consciousness is placed
within a desire/emotion realm. It is touched with life and placed into a human physical body.
So when we discuss human beings as being mind, body and spirit, sometimes the terms become
confusing. Soul, refers to the totality of your non-physical being. Spirit refers to the spark of
God which animates your soul. So the spark of God clothes itself in a will which enables you,
which enables the spirit, to focus itself and point itself in different directions. That will becomes
conscious. That consciousness is clothed with desire and repulsion. It is animated and placed
inside of a physical vehicle. Every single act that you perform involves all of your vehicles.
Simply reading this document is an invocation of all of your vehicles. Your spirit wills to read
this. You then must focus your mind upon it. You must desire to do so. You complete the
cycle by physically moving your eyes across the page. You can think about it and want to do it,
but sit there with your eyes closed and not read. The sum total of your vehicles--physical,
animated, desire, mental and spirit--must all work in harmony, or nothing that you do will
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prosper. Nothing that you do can even happen. We call Mother Nature the Empress because she
is in fact in a position of great honor. She rules; she has dominion; she has power; she has much
expression. She is not to be ignored. We must honor and respect her, and as we see these living
waters flow down, we see the involution of God in the creative process.
The principle, as above-so below, is seen no more clearly than in the book of Genesis wherein we
have in the first chapter an accounting of the creation of the earth--creation of the world. If you
re-read the first chapter of Genesis, not from the standpoint of the physical elements, but from
the standpoint of the spiritual realities which are symbolized by physical elements, you will see
therein the very clear description of the creation of a perfect human being. The light represents
the spark of God. The earth represents our bodies. The waters represent our emotions.
Separating the higher waters from the lower waters means that we recognize those earthly desires
and the difference between those and the higher more exulted desires. The air lives in between.
Thus, again we have the symbols of the fire and the water and the air and the earth. Our spirit,
our minds, our emotions, our bodies, and over the course of time, the water becomes alive and
our souls become pure. We see that the air becomes animated with the birds, and our minds are
able to soar in the heavens and see the truth of God, until finally we become perfect, made in the
image of God. That is what we are heading for--that original perfection that we had is the
perfection which we will have. It has not gone away; it will not disappear. It is merely waiting
for us to reclaim it. We will learn much more about this in the Tarot cards to come.
To summarize then, the Empress is nature. The Empress is the glorious, infinite creation. The
Empress is eternally pregnant. She is eternally giving birth; she is eternally dying. The Empress
is eternally the same. She is connected to the Magician and the High Priestess above. Because 1
+ 2 will always equal 3, she is the concealed Torah. All of the revelations of God have been
placed into a storybook which we call the universe--a storybook meant for us to read.
She is creativity; she is the subconscious; she is wisdom. Above all, she is love. She reminds us
that when we are in harmony with her, regardless of what happens to the body, we ultimately can
never be hurt.
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TRUMP 4 - THE EMPEROR
The Emperor is in stark contrast to the Empress. He sits sternly, scowling, upon a throne of
granite. Rocks appear behind him. He holds a glass ball in his left hand and a Ahnk cross in his
right. Upon his head is a crown. The Emperor is one of the sleekest cards in the Tarot deck in
terms of quantity of image. Whereas the Empress and the High Priestess and others have many,
many symbols, the Emperor is actually very plain. What is the Emperor?
The Emperor is law. The Emperor is rationality. He is consciousness; he is knowledge.
Whereas the Empress focused on the feminine side, on creativity, subconscious and wisdom, the
Emperor brings all of those faculties in conscious dominion and control of the human being.
This is the stage of Genesis where the birds of the air begin to fly.
What is the meaning of the symbolism? Well, he sits upon a square throne--the square is
obviously associated with the number four. The number 4 relates to the world in its human
counterparts. We talk about the four corners of the earth. That reference is only in relationship
to humanities’ interaction with the earth. We know the earth is round and has no corners. The
“corners,” for us, are north, east, south and west. We place our mental framework around the
Empress in order to be able to attempt to relate to her and understand her--the four winds, the
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four rivers, which come out of the Garden of Eden. The number 4 has often symbolized the
totality of human experience. As I’ve said, this is the realm of consciousness.
The granite and the rocks behind the Emperor symbolize a very fixed, solid state. Whereas the
Empress is all fluidity, change, growth, birth, and death; the Emperor is constant. Just as the
Magician and the High Priestess correlate with one another, reflect and expand one another, so
too the Empress and the Emperor work together. Whereas the Empress is shown as being
eternally young and eternally pregnant, the Emperor is shown as being ancient. He is the ancient
of days. What is his domain?
This is law, fixed, unyielding, unchanging. Whereas the Empress is on her soft, luxuriant pillow,
the Emperor is seated firmly upon his throne of granite. He will not change. He will not be
moved. This is the essence of law. Rules can change and almost every so called "law" that the
human race has is nothing more than a rule. It is a way in which we play our social game of
civilization. One year it is the law that you can drive so fast. The next year it's the law that you
cannot drive nearly as fast. One year it's the law that you have to do this in business; the next
year it's the law that you can't do this in business. This is fickle. This is part of the silly human
race. We create rules for ourselves to enjoy the game, and when anyone gets too much of an
advantage, then we change the rules and frustrate everyone. It keeps the lawyers and politicians
employed. It has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with law. The law of God is immutable.
It cannot be changed. What do I mean by the law of God?
There are, of course, two dominions--as above-so below. The law below is the law of nature--the
laws of electromagnetism, the law of force, mass and acceleration, the law of gravity. These
laws cannot, will not and do not change. Through the physical world, we perceive the spiritual
world, and there are laws of God in the spiritual world. For every action, there is an equal but
opposite reaction. This is the physical counterpart to the eternal spiritual law: as you give so
shall you receive.
We approached the Empress through her laws. The laws of nature are to heal the wounds of
man. If we use them wisely, they will help us if they can. When we use them wrongly, we will
only harm ourselves. Then it's too late to run to her for help. We access these laws through our
rationality, through our mind. The mind enables us to control and regulate our relationship with
nature.
Our mind is the vehicle through which we can control and regulate ourselves. The mind is the
window--the door through which we see and control the outside world. That is the power of the
mind. Interestingly enough, every Hebrew letter has a meaning. The fourth Hebrew letter is the
"HEH." We translate it into a English letter "H." The meaning “HEH” is a window--the window
through which we see the world and through which we control the world. As we learn and study,
we gain access to greater dominions of control. Once we understood the process of fire, we were
better able to control it. Once we understood electricity, we were able to harness it. As we
understand music and sound, we are able to control and shape it. As we understand the cosmos
and understand the earth, we are able to control the earth.
This relates to the war between culture and nature, although it does not necessarily have to be a
war. Just as we as individual human beings control our bodies through our minds, so too we as
the creative, rational, intelligence of God can have proper dominion over the realm of nature.
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During the process to involution, the higher realms of God clothe themselves with ever lower
vehicles which are always denser and more limited, but grant control and power to the higher
vehicles. A simple example would be an automobile. An automobile is much less expressive
and has far fewer capabilities then a human being. A human being can paint a painting; a car
cannot. A human being can sing a song; a car cannot, etc.
What happens though, is that this densest of vehicles is voluntarily used by the higher vehicles,
the human being, in order to give access to greater domains and have more power. The human
being voluntarily limits his abilities as he places himself inside of the car, temporarily only, so as
to gain access to greater areas of the physical world. We can travel farther, faster and have more
access to this domain as long as we are willing to temporarily set aside some of our other power,
because you cannot paint a painting, or compose a symphony, or play racquetball while you are
driving a car.
For much, much more information on this, see my writing, "Self Mover," which is a examination
of the human beings’ relationship to the automobile and all that it tells us about religion.
In exactly the same way a human being limits his abilities to gain access to broader areas of the
physical world, and have more control over them to carry us somewhere to enable us to perform
something, so too, the higher vehicles of God temporarily limit themselves, so that they might
likewise have access to broader planes of experience.
The Fool, in order to have his nature and attributes known, limits himself by placing himself
within the Magician and the High Priestess in order to gain control over parts of his previously
unmanifested existence.
The Emperor in the domain of rationality and consciousness enables us to focus on and to control
our thoughts and our world. The world of the Empress is far greater, and the powers of the
subconscious mind are far more vast than the powers of the conscious mind.
We are able to shape and move and control ourselves only through using the powers of
rationality. Creativity limits itself temporarily by standing inside of the vehicle of rationality,
that creativity might gain access to other areas that otherwise creativity would not have.
That power of rationality therefore opens up worlds to us. As we gain knowledge, we gain
power. Knowledge is power, and it is a sacred trust. The knowledge to heal brings with it the
knowledge to maim. The knowledge of electricity brings with it the knowledge of electrocution.
The knowledge of how to shape the atom brings with it the knowledge of nuclear explosions.
This will always be the case. For knowledge, pure uncontrolled knowledge, is simply a tool. It
is up to the moral capacity of the being wielding the tool to use that tool for good or for evil.
That capacity we will meet in a later card called “Strength”.
Rationality and the pursuit of knowledge give us access to power. We see the interplay between
the spiritual and the physical domains, and this entire process we call “science.” Science is the
rational pursuit of the Empress. The Empress in some respects gives birth to the Emperor, so
that the Empress might expand her abilities. The Emperor then spends his time chasing after the
Empress seeking to know her. This is a great truth. The process is called a three fold
manifestation, the three steps of which are: externalization, objectification, internalization.
Going back briefly to the illustration of the automobile, mankind creates the automobile out of
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his own power in order to serve a purpose. That automobile then becomes an object, and that
object begins to act back upon the actor. The car requires maintenance. The car breaks down
and does not perform as we sought it to. So that the process of externalization, objectification,
and internalization is an astounding revelation of the nature of the universe.
You can see that the entire creation is a flow of this externalization, objectification and
internalization. The Empress externalizes part of her concealed wisdom into the form of
rationality. Rationality then becomes an objectified entity, and that entity acts back upon the
Empress in pursuit of her. This is science.
Throughout the years, science and religion have become mortal enemies. It was not always so.
In the beginning of mankind's age when humanity first started to think, the thinkers were just
thinkers, and there was no difference in terms of what they thought about. The universe was one,
and therefore they would be part philosophers, part religious people. They would be the priests,
the medicine people, the scientists, and the mathematicians, all in one. After the Renaissance
and the enlightenment, there was a huge split due to the differences between teachings of the
church and scientific research. The scientists could not renounce what the Emperor was
revealing to them, and the Ecclesiastical structure found it very difficult to relinquish their power
and authority.
The split occurred and the two great streams of human development have never returned to each
other. Religion has pursued its own ways and thinks of itself properly as the regulator of faith
and belief. Science has seen itself properly as the regulator of the Emperor--rationality, mind and
study. The religious people see the scientists as being apostate and lacking faith. The scientists
see religion as being superstition and foolishness. The debates and arguments go on endlessly
between the two communities. This is all unfortunate and needless. We saw in the Empress that
the Tarot remains hidden inside of her. How are we to unwrap that scroll which she hides and be
able to read it? The only way we can do that is through the authority of the Emperor, who will
order the scroll read. It is only through the rational pursuit of science that we can gain
understanding about the revelation that Yod Heh Vav Heh has placed into the universe.
To see religion as being nothing more than a bunch of superstitious ideas is sad. Simply ignoring
science as being unnecessary is to sacrifice one of the greatest gifts we have. To think that
science works against religion is a horrible tragedy. God is not afraid of our brains. God is not
afraid of our rationality. God is not afraid that we will ask a question that he never thought of.
There will never be a scientific fact discovered that will threaten God's place as the ruler of the
universe.
What we must do is have faith in this and applying that faith to our science. We must use our
rationality to the fullest extent possible, with a heart attuned to the Empress wanting to see the
truth which she relates. In short, we must re-marry science and religion. The only true and valid
way to approach science is as a holy and religious experience of the divine, and the only proper
way to approach your religious life is as a scientific examination of truth.
We must test all spirits to see if they are true. That is why I warned you at the very beginning to
not automatically accept or agree with anything that I've said in this writing. I am one more
voice. I am one more opinion. It is up to you in your scientific encounter with God to see if
what I'm saying is true.
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The methodology of science as applied to religion is a magnificent study. In science we find a
problem, and we generate a hypothesis to answer the problem. We use our intuition and the
research of others. We read the documentation, perform experiments, and gather data, then we
evaluate that information and re-examine our hypothesis.
That methodology is precisely what God would have us do as we pursue science and religion.
God would have us find a problem, whether it's the problem of evil or the problem of ego, the
problem of suffering, or the problem of why we exist. Create our hypothesis, part guess, part
belief, part hope, and do the research of what have others written on the subject? Is there a
consensus in the field? Who are the experts? Then, perform our experiments.
We base our lives upon our hypothesis and we test the Lord God to see what is true. “Test me
and try me in this,” says the Lord. Then we gather our data, come to our determinations and reevaluate our hypothesis. We do this with the sum totality of our being, with our spirits, with our
minds, with our hearts and with our bodies. This is the revealing science of God.
This is the fulfillment of the ages. When we can get the Emperor to marry the Empress, we will
rediscover huge parts of what we have lost. We will find that science is not the mortal enemy of
religion, but that science is the vehicle that enables religion to breathe. Through the Emperor's
efforts, he will be able to reach into the sacred scroll and reveal its meaning to all of us.
If you look behind the Emperor, you will see, subtly, the river. It is painted in blue, right behind
his throne. That river is continuing from the Empress. This is indicating to us that there is no
separation between nature and law, between religion and science. There is no separation between
the creative and the rational sides of human beings, is no separation between the subconscious
and the conscious. There is no difference between wisdom and knowledge. They are different
sides of the same coin. They work together in harmony. The Emperor holds the orb, which is
the orb of dominion, indicating that through this we can control the universe. As Genesis says,
we are to go out and have dominion over the earth. That does not mean that we are necessarily
supposed to destroy it, but rather to control, to enhance, to fulfill our destinies as co-creators.
In his right hand, the Emperor holds the Ahnk. This is a two-fold symbol. It is part cross, which
indicates the spiritual domain, and it is part orb of dominion, which represents the physical
domain. By holding the Ahnk, the Emperor is showing us that he controls both the physical
world and the spiritual world--that rationality, as applied to nature and to religion, is a unified
purpose which will never ever hurt us.
That is the power inside of the Emperor. Through him, we gain access to the Empress. Through
him, the Empress begins to understand herself.
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TRUMP 5 - THE HIEROPHANT
We have traveled the path from the Fool, through the Magician, the High Priestess, the Empress
and the Emperor. We now come to card #5, the Hierophant, also known as the High Priest and
the Pope.
The Pope stands between the two pillars presenting a three-fold cross in his left hand,
pronouncing a benediction symbol with his right hand, and wearing the three-fold crown of
Heaven upon his head. At his feet are two keys and two attendants. What is one to make of such
a card?
The first thing we notice is that although this is card #5 the number 3 appears over and over
within it--the 3 tiers of the crown, the 3 arms on the cross, the 3 crosses in the center of the Popes
robe, plus the fact that between the Pope and the two attendants there are 3 people. This is
obviously a reference to the Trinity, for we find that with card #5 we are now completing our
second trinity.
The oneness that is the Fool, splits into the duality which is the Magician and the High Priestess.
The three of them form one tri-unity, the same way the next three cards, the Empress, the
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Emperor and the Hierophant create their own trinity. The three are one. What is the Hierophant?
Let us begin with the keys. These keys are the keys to the kingdom. The Pope holds access to
the keys, and makes the keys available to the people. The keys unlock the door of Heaven. The
keys enable us to properly use the power of reason, which we have in the Emperor, and to
properly interpret and love the Empress.
In the Bible, in the book of Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is asking his disciples who different
people think he is. They give him some answers and finally Jesus says, "Who do you say that I
am?" Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God." And Jesus
answers him and says, "You are blessed Simon Peter, because flesh and blood did not reveal this
to you but my Father who is in Heaven, and I also say to you that you are Peter the rock, and
upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give
you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you shall find on Earth shall have been
found in Heaven, and whatever you shall loose on Earth shall have been loosed in Heaven."
That is the power of the Hierophant. Peter is known as the first Pope. The keys to the Kingdom
are a gift, a gift of grace. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Christ did not come from flesh
and bone, nor from biology nor matter. This was a revelation of God.
That tells us much about the Hierophant. The Hierophant is a card of grace; it is a card of
revelation. The Emperor enables us to have reason. That reason enables us to understand and
mate with the Empress, but we must be reminded that the only reality is God.
It is easy for us to become puffed up and haughty in our own knowledge--knowledge capable of
leading us far astray off the path. For centuries people have argued within the church and the
scientific community about the relationship between faith and reason, between revelation and
intellect. And in some respects, we see that the Empress represents the faith and intuition and
subconscious. The Emperor represents intellect, rationality and the conscious. The ancient
debate is embodied in those two cards. How is it that we are to learn anything? Is it through the
power of our minds, or can we only know things if God tells them to us?
The church has stood staunchly on the side of faith. The scientific community has stood
staunchly on the side of reason. This is an ancient, classical battle in the scheme of human
history, and is still very much true today. If I read a holy scripture, whether it is Buddhist or
Hindu, Christian, Moslem or Jew, and there is something in that writing that does not make sense
to me and appears to be wrong, I have two choices. Choice number one is the pathway of the
Empress which says that regardless of what my intellect may tell me, the scripture must be true,
cannot be broken. Therefore, I will adjust my thinking based upon what the scripture says. In
this respect, the scripture teaches and admonishes and instructs us in our ways. The second
choice, the pathway of the Emperor, says, if there is an error in the scripture, it is only there
because the scripture is wrong, and we must adjust, amplify and correct the scripture with our
reasoning.
The pathway of the Empress sees all scriptures being God ordained. The pathway of the
Emperor sees all scriptures as being man created. Faith vs. reason seem to be forever in conflict.
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The purpose of the Hierophant is to re-marry the two. We come to understand through the
Hierophant that there is no war between reason and revelation. What do I mean by this?
First we must remember that the Hierophant is a priest, and the priest performs two duties. He
carries the prayers, needs and thoughts of the people to God, and he carries the word of God to
the people. The priest stands uniquely in the center as the fulcrum, as the meeting point between
God and humanity. Jesus has been called our Great High Priest. This is in the book of Hebrews.
You can read it yourself.
As the priest petitions God on behalf of the people, he represents reason. Mankind and
mankind's thoughts, wants and desires reaching up to our God--reason trying to approach the
Empress. As the priest represents God to the people, he represents the revelation of God to the
people--represents the Empress shaping and instructing the Emperor.
So we learn through the Hierophant that the two are in fact one. We do not wish for the Empress
to rape the Emperor, nor for the Emperor to rape the Empress. If the Empress is to rape the
Emperor, then she simply gives out all of her secrets, lays them on the table. There is nothing
left to be discovered. There is no quest, no journey, no wonder, no concealment. If the Empress
forces her revelation into the minds of humanity, then humanity’s value is lessened. We do not
want the Empress to rape the Emperor.
If, however, the Emperor is to rape the Empress, we are positioning ourselves to be our own
gods. We have our minds, and we have our scientific formulas, and this is all that there is. There
is no higher purpose. There is no concealed Torah scroll to be known. What we must do is remarry these two.
We do this by understanding that our minds, as they look and think and react with Mother
Nature, are in fact doing that only by the powerful grace of God. Reason is a revelation. Reason
is the process by which the Empress reveals herself. Revelation is very reasonable, because there
are always laws, and the Empress always expresses herself through the laws of the Emperor.
Reason and revelation are one. Just as science and religion can become recombined, so can
reason and revelation. This is the pathway of true religious enlightenment. It is not to be taken
lightly. You must use all of your faculties in order to gain access to the inner holy of holies
which is protected by the High Priestess. If you ever want to re-encounter the Fool, you must
very carefully listen to the words.
That is the power of the Hierophant. As we saw, the Magician is the Word. The Hierophant
represents humanity’s ability to listen and absorb the Word. The Pope is speaking and making
his announcements. In this way, we see the Word becoming active in our lives through our
hearing.
Humanity is represented at the feet of the Pope by the two supplicants. They are wearing
opposite colored gowns. Who are they? They are the Empress and Emperor factors within us.
They are our reason and our intuition, our consciousness and our subconscious. They are the two
sides of the human being merged together. This indicates symbolically that the revelation of God
and the reason of mankind are married, both on a conscious and subconscious level, on a creative
and analytical process.
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The priest is speaking to the petitioners, and though we do not see it, they are also speaking to
him. This is the entire structure of Christian religious services. The priest or pastor will turn and
speak to God on behalf of all the people, then will turn and speak to the people on behalf of God.
He will sit and listen to the peoples’ prayers and petitions, then transmit them to God. In this
way, we see the flow, the give and take, the ebb and turn. God moves out, and we receive his
word. We move out, and God hears our prayer. This is the breath of God. God exhales, and we
are inspired. We exhale, and send our spirits to God.
As the Pope speaks on behalf of God, we gain the idea of infallible communication. According
to Catholic doctrine, the Pope is perfect. He speaks on behalf of God. When he speaks from his
official status as God’s representative, his words become as scriptural and as important as the
Bible.
Setting aside for a moment Catholic doctrine, the same idea is here inside of the Hierophant.
There is no way that the truth of God will ever fail us. The truth of God is perfect and is here to
help, to guide, to touch us. That is the Hierophant. As we receive that infallible communication
from God, that infallible revelation as it touches our reason and enlightens our souls, eliminating
both our subconscious and conscious minds, we must enter into the relationship with an attitude
of humility. That is why the supplicants in the card are kneeling and bowing down, not that the
Hierophant is to be worshipped, but that the universe is a glorious and incredible wonder. As we
use our intellect, seek our discoveries, and learn much more about the Empress, we must
recognize that the ability to think is grace. It is a gift. And all of the tools which we have,
whether they are electronic devices, mechanical devices, musical instruments or language itself,
are gifts which we must use in true proper humility. It is only that humility that will enable us to
draw closer to God.
All is good. As God created everything in the book of Genesis, He said over and over and over,
this is good, this is good, this is good. The heavens are good. The stars are good. The birds are
good. The fish are good. Humanity is good and everything is very, very good. That goodness,
that grace is communicated through the power of the Hierophant. There is, within this world,
within each of us, the voice of God, that we might be not just hearers of the word but doers.
God's voice does speak, and it speaks always of goodness, because all is good.
So from the Hierophant we have learned grace. We have learned that revelation is reasonable
and reason is a gracious revelation of God. We have learned that the keys to Heaven are at our
feet and have been given to us by God. We have learned that the Empress and the Emperor are
in fact one.
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TRUMP 6 - THE LOVERS
We come now to a critically pivotal card in the Tarot, and we come to a idea which is absolutely
essential in the history of western thought--that being the fall of Adam and Eve from grace in the
Garden of Eden.
This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the Bible, and tragically so. All of the previous
cards represent powers and energies, different aspects of God. This is the first card where we
actually see human beings. If the Tarot cards are representing the different days or moments of
creation, card #6 is day 6 when God creates human beings, Adam and Eve. It also represents the
fall. None of the other cards represent actual people, they are shown as people, but they are
symbols or attempts to indicate things in a anthropomorphic way.
In card #6, the imagery is actually very simple, very plain, and very obvious. Adam and Eve
stand in the Garden in front of two trees. Behind Eve, is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil. Behind Adam is the Tree of Life. Behind them stands the angel. The angel was sent by
God to guard the pathway so that Adam and Eve might not be able to gain access back to the
Tree of Life, until they had overcome the knowledge of good and evil. You'll find this account in
the book of Genesis, chapters 2 and 3. I will recount it for you. Because for Christianity, the
account of Adam and Eve, as it is currently understood, leads to many misunderstandings which
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have resulted in a pollution of the entire gospel of Christ. You will find this discussion in much
greater detail in my writing, "In the Garden."
We have seen that everything is good. Throughout the first chapter of Genesis, everything that
God makes, God says is good, good, very good. The trees, the stars, the birds, everything is
good. God then says that Adam and Eve have dominion. They can go and rule the world. We
have seen that power of the Emperor. What remains is God's commandment. He told Adam and
Eve that they may eat from every tree in the Garden, except from the fruit of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. From the day that they eat it, they shall die. Why did God
command them not to eat from this tree?
That simple question has led to a whole host of grievous errors in Christianity, because we do not
understand the answer. The answer most commonly given is that it was a test. God made Adam
and Eve free, endowed them with free will, and therefore needed to test their obedience. He
tested them, they failed. Their failure was disobedience. That disobedience incited God's wrath.
God, in order to strike out at them with retribution, caused Eve to have great child birth pains,
caused Adam to toil by the sweat of his brow, and cast them out of his holy paradise.
None of the previous is actually true. It is a grotesque misunderstanding of the nature of God.
God is the High Priestess; God is the Empress; God is the Magician; God is love; and the only
reality that there is, is God. Everything that God made is good. When God ordered Adam and
Eve not to eat from this tree, he was not testing them. He was not giving them a childish little
exam that he knew they would fail. He was actually warning them--warning them that this tree
could hurt them, because in the day that they eat it, they will die. Not that he would kill them,
but that they would die. The tree was poison. The tree would hurt them. When they ate from the
tree, the poison entered their system, and God sent them to the hospital. That hospital is the
world as we know it. Then he began working on the antidotes so that mankind might be healed.
What was the tree and how could it hurt them? This is another one of the profound and deep
esoteric mysteries contained in the cards and contained in the Bible. The tree had a specific
name. It wasn't any tree. It was "the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve
did not eat an apple. That’s a common misunderstanding. We think that it was any kind of tree
at all; therefore, it might as well have been an apple tree. This is not even close to the truth. This
was not a apple tree. This was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
We’ve touch upon the key elements of knowledge--rationality and intellect. We have also seen
that the world is good. Over and over and over, it is emphasized that all is good. It is all come
from God. It is all an outpouring from God, and it is all very, very, good. It could not possibly
be otherwise. What then is the knowledge of good and evil?
This much is clear: in order for Adam and Eve to know good, all they had to do was know the
world. Open their eyes, open their hearts, open their minds and everything that there was, was
good. Therefore, they could know goodness automatically and naturally. To know evil, they
would have to know something which did not exist. The entire physical and non-physical
universe was and is good. From the fish in the sea to the highest heavens, everything in their
universe was and is good. It was up to them to know that in order to know evil, they would have
to gain consciousness of something which did not exist. It is significant that after they partook
from the tree, they had the eyes of their mind open, and they knew that they were naked. They
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were naked before, and they are shown quite clearly in this card to be naked, without shame and
without horror.
As soon as they knew good and evil, they became aware not only of what they were, the natural
state of their bodies which they knew before, but of what they were not. They were not
protected. They were not clothed. Nakedness is the natural state of all beings. As they knew
evil, as their minds focused upon what was not, they began to dwell as a separate self-existent
ego. Me and not me. The glorious oneness of the creation and their part in it was fractured and
split into two. Me and not me is the foundation of ego, and it is the splitting of the holy oneness
of God's creation into separate tiny warring factions.
So God encounters Adam and Eve and says, "Where are you. Why are you hiding?" And Adam
says, "I heard the sound of Thee in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid
myself." I, I, I, I, me, mine. Adam and Eve had ceased to live in the flowing oneness of the
Empress. They had ceased to flow in the glorious oneness of the Emperor. They had become
divorced from the revelation of the Hierophant, who is there only to communicate the goodness
and grace of God.
They turned from all of that to focus upon themselves, their nakedness and their small, fallen
pathetic ego.
In short, the original sin is not disobedience. The original sin is ego. The ego came through the
disobedience. The disobedience was instrumental, but it was not the essence of the sin.
When a young child reaches for a hot stove, he is disobeying his parents, but that disobedience is
secondary to the threat of the impending harm to the child. In exactly the same way, God's
warning was meant to try and help them, but unfortunately they were not able to listen to that
voice. We fall; we enter the world of sin and selfishness and ego. That is the original sin.
What then was God to do? Adam and Eve have a poison in them, and God must now get an
antidote. We will see that antidote in a few cards from now. However, up until that time what
happens? God casts Adam and Eve out of the Garden, not as retribution and not even as
punishment, but as protection.
If, in the ego state, Adam and Eve are able to partake from the Tree of Life and live forever, then
the smallness and the hurt and the pain and the ugliness which the ego state brings about, would
be anointed with the holy grail of eternity, and we would never ever be able to transcend our
egos. This would be a tragedy of unimaginable proportions.
Therefore, God barred the way to the Tree of Life The eternal Tree of Life is still there. That is
the tree that we see behind Adam--the holy tree, on which there are symbolically 12 branches.
Since the number 12 is so familiar to us, we need not reiterate it.
The Tree of Life still exists. It is real. That Tree of Life is our destiny. It is none other than
God. For as we have seen, life is the breath of God. The wages of sin is death, not of the sinner
but of the sin. The ego state must be transcended in order to return to the Tree of Life. So the
angel stands guard, watches and protects as God prepares a pathway for us to return.
On the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we see the serpent. The serpent has
been reinterpreted in Christian circles and over the course of time as being Satan. In its truest,
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purest original form, that is not true. The serpent did not mean Satan to the people who wrote the
Bible, because Satan had not been invented or discovered yet. We will discuss this more in a few
cards.
The serpent represents the power at the base of the spine--the sexual urge. This is not in any way
to say that sexuality is evil, but rather the power at the base of the spine moves out away from the
creator and turns to worship the creation. This is the pathway of the fall. The power at the base
of the spine can be harnessed, and there are exercises and practices which seek to harness that
energy and enable that serpent power to rise up and be used as a force for salvation and
enlightenment. But more commonly, that serpent power flows out and down and away. That is
the tendency to look not at the oneness, but look at the many--to seek not that which is unified,
but that which separates. As Adam and Eve lived in their harmonious oneness with God in the
universe, they left that oneness and moved to their own multiplicity--many people each with their
own agenda--many egos, many problems, many fights. All of the enmity, strife, war, pain and
suffering which we have on this planet are a result of the incurring of the ego state--the
knowledge of good and evil, focusing upon what does not exist, rather than upon what does exist.
You cannot have any anxiety over what is. You only have anxiety over what might be. Jealousy
is a desire for things which you do not have. Lies are a statement of what is not. Meditate upon
this, for there is great power here.
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TRUMP 7 - THE CHARIOT
Following along in the story unveiled in the Tarot cards, we have just left the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Eve have left the dominion of unification. They have left the oneness and harmony
with God and nature, harmony with themselves, harmony with each other. They have been cast
out into a world of pain, of toil, of hardship. What happens next?
The answer is the Chariot. All of the cards are remarkable, and this card is indeed astounding. It
can take quite some time for a novice to be able to absorb the imagery on this card.
We see a charioteer standing in a chariot. Behind him is a city in front of which is a flowing
river. The Chariot has two wheels and four posts rising up above him creating a canopy. Upon
this blue canopy are many, many stars. In front of the Chariot, we see a shield with a red, odd,
top-looking thing, and a pair of wings with a yellow dot between them. Pulling the Chariot are
two sphinxes. The one on the left is black; the one on the right is red. The charioteer wears a
crown upon his head, a strange looking crescent moon on each shoulder, a breastplate, and a gold
girdle with several symbols on it. His left hand rests comfortably on the Chariot, and his right
hand holds a staff of some form. What is this rich imagery meant to convey?
Perhaps at this point in your Tarot studies you might want to begin by not immediately reading
my description, but rather take some time to absorb the symbolism of this card and see what it
indicates to you.
This is a card of God's interaction in our lives. We have seen previously in Trump 5, revelation
in the Hierophant which unites our reason with our creativity. The chariot is not merely a card of
revelation, but actual divine intervention in all aspects of our lives.
The chariot is a vehicle of war. Of this, there is no doubt. Rome and Greece had thousands of
chariots, sometimes driven by one, two. three or more men pulled usually by a team of two to
five horses. The famous chariot race in "Ben Hur" is a fact of history. The energies of the horses
were used to pull the charioteer in his war--take him swiftly that he might have the combined
energies and speed of two or more horses, instead of riding individually on horseback. Also, he
would be able to carry more implements of war in the chariot with him. What is this image of
war doing in our allegedly sacred Tarot book?
Ladies and gentlemen, life is war. Having left the Garden of Eden, there is struggle. Adam and
Eve left the unified state, and now see everything in terms of good and evil. After we leave the
Garden of Eden, we see everything polarizes in terms of plus or minus, better or worse. It is
almost impossible for us to engage in any relationship of any kind without entering upon
judgment, comparison, evaluation, discrimination, and, therefore war.
Even if we do something as simple as eat a cookie, it is almost impossible for us to appreciate or
enjoy that cookie simply for itself. We must be constantly comparing it to other cookies. Is this
better or is this worse then other cookies we have had previously? You can expand that a billion
fold, and you have the human race--always judging, always testing, always comparing. And, that
judging and testing and comparing causes us great amounts of harm--great amounts of pain. It
makes it impossible for us to appreciate anything the way it is. It is what it is. I am what I am.
When we return to the unitive state, we can appreciate other people for who they are. They are
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who they are. We could appreciate things for what they are, it is what it is, without constantly
comparing it to what it is not. This is the essence of love--to be able to accept someone exactly
for who he or she is, unconditionally, without any comparisons or tests or criteria. This is a very
high difficult thing to do. This is the promised land. This is the Eden to which we attempt to
return.
In the meanwhile, there is war. We are constantly fighting between discrimination of the plus
and minus. We are constantly battling between trying to live life in the unitive loving state
versus living life in the fractured immoral fall.
We, therefore, find ourselves in the middle of a religious holy war being waged inside of our very
own souls. St. Paul refers to this as the struggle between the old man and the new man. The old
man, trapped in ignorance and sin, enslaved to fleshly lusts and antipathy, versus the new man,
whose eyes are on Heaven focusing on the realms of the spirit. This war is the fight of our lives
that is everyday. This is the battle that we must engage upon, so that we might overcome those
tendencies--the poison that was infused into our veins through the fruit of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil. That poison must be extricated, but it will not go peacefully. It
will not go automatically. It will not go without us struggling to overcome. The Bible is a book
of love. It is a book of God's redemption. It is also a book of war. In both the Hebrew bible and
in the Christian New Testament, we see struggles--struggles with people against people and
struggles with people against their sinful tendencies. And, the Bible repeats over and over and
over as a litany, the necessity of perseverance, the necessity of tenacity, and the necessity of
overcoming. If you read the first seven letters of Jesus to the churches in the book of Revelation,
he is constantly talking about persevering, fighting the good fight, and overcoming. To he who
overcomes, I will grant the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the nature of the war. That is why we
have a charioteer. However, we do not fight this war alone. If we did, we could never win.
Remember, this card and every card says, the only reality is the Fool. The only truth is the Arik
Anpin and the bubbling consciousness of creation upon that vast countenance. That is all that
there is. That is all that there ever was, and that is all that there ever can be. Everything else is
dancing shadows. Therefore, once the consciousness of God becomes so dense, once the light
becomes so slowed down as to turn into matter, and God's divine spirit becomes encased within
human flesh to the point that the world is full of enmity and strife due to the poison of the fruit of
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God sends his chariot to enable us to escape to
have victory.
In the Bible, we read about Elijah, a prophet of God, who struggled mightily against the forces of
darkness in his age. At the end of his life when all seemed lost, God sent a magical, mysterious
chariot from the heavens to whisk him away and take him back to holy Jerusalem.
Undeniably, this card stems from that Biblical account. We see many elements which are
crucial. Number one, we see the city in the very farthest background. We have left the Garden
of Eden, and now we are in full blown civilization. This is the first time that we see anything
that comes close to a human structure in the cards. This is a full blown city. The other structures
that we have seen are pillars in the temple and are meant to represent elements not created by
human hands, but by the mind of God. However, the city in the background symbolizes perhaps
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another element--the holy city of Jerusalem inside of Heaven, the great gated city of God, the
new promised land that we are striving for.
In this way, we see the as above-so below. All cities are embodied in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem
is embodied in the city of Heaven. We see this reflective echoing over and over and over in the
Bible.
To use a common example, let’s think about a football. The term “football” means many things.
In its broadest sense, football is the sum-total of all people, players, games in the entire history of
a national sport. Football refers to one particular game that is being played in the global scheme.
Football also refers to the physical object that gets tossed about during the game. However, that
too is an abstraction. Because we say during this one game, there was only one football. You
never have two footballs on the field. There is only one. However, in its densest form, we have
the actual, physical object, and that object can be used over and over. In a single particular game,
players might use five or ten individual different footballs. That is exactly how the as above-as
below works. That is why this city symbolized on this card is a representative of the eternal city
of God--a representative of Jerusalem and of all cities on the earth. The card is indicating to us
that there is no real difference between the earth and the sky, between Heaven and Earth. The
same principles apply to the Kingdom of God as apply to the Kingdom of Man. The laws that we
saw in the Emperor apply universally.
But, what is the real purpose of the Chariot? The Chariot is here to provide a vehicle for us to
overcome our fears and our anxieties, to overcome our constant search for evil, and to forever
look at what is. The Charioteer is divine intervention; it is divine grace to carry us wherever we
are willing to go.
The canopy above the Charioteer’s head is, quite obviously, the canopy of Heaven. The
Charioteer is ready at a moment’s notice to whisk us into Heaven. The notion of grace is a very
powerful, mystical idea. In common understanding, grace is the notion that God's not going to
hold your sins against you, but grace is so much more than that. As we've seen in other cards, the
essence of grace is that whatsoever we do in thought, word or deed is all the manifestation of the
power of God.
Therefore, if we are to overcome and return to the godhead, what power are we going to use to do
this? The only power we can use is not the power of self; not the power of ego. The ego, which
entered the world through card #6, cannot be used to eradicate itself. If it even tries to do so, it
just creates a much worse problem than before.
Let me give you an example. In China, people developed a religion called “Buddhism,” wherein
the priests in the Buddhist temples became known as "Boddhisattvas." The Boddhisattva ideal
was a Buddha to be, not quite a perfectly enlightened being, but one who was guaranteed in his
next life to be a complete Buddha. The Boddhisattvas would sit around proclaiming to everyone
how they had slain their egos, had risen above the realm of duality, and were now essentially
complete and perfect enlightened beings.
Over the course of time, the Buddhists recognized that there was a bit of a problem here, because
the Boddhisattvas were most grievously guilty of the very thing which they claimed to have
overcome--that being the egotist state. When one sits down and says, “Look at me. I've
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overcome my ego. You should all be more like me.” one does not yet grasp the core of life. In
contrast, you see in the Bible, Jesus is constantly, only, and always pointing to God the Father.
"Why do you call me good? There is no one good but the Father. Do not cling on to me, for I
have not yet ascended to my Father, I go to my God and your God, to my Father and your
Father." He came not to be a religious object of worship, so much as a religious subject, as a
friend and a guide to show us the way. When He says, "He who believes in me shall have
everlasting life," He was not talking about a doctrinal confession regarding the Athenasian Creed.
He was, in fact, saying, “If you are listening to me, and you believe what I am telling you is true,
then this pathway will lead you to God. That is why the Christian proclamation of by grace
through faith is so crucial. The Chariot sits and waits to carry us to Heaven, just as it did Elijah.
The tradition has developed within the Tarot card community that the reason there are four pillars
supporting the canopy above the Charioteer’s head is that they represent the four letters of God's
holy name, YHWH. All of the Tarot cards are structured around this holy name for it is through
that name that we can learn and know all that there is about God. We will discuss this name in
greater detail later. Suffice it to state here, that it is the holy name in each of the letters YHWH
which connect the Chariot on the ground to the canopy of Heaven above. The Chariot is here to
wage war, to grant us the grace and power to overcome.
But notice that while the Chariot appears to be a card of such power, action, and even
intervention, the Chariot is absolutely stationary. There is no indication whatsoever that the
Chariot is moving. In fact, the entire countenance of the card is that the Chariot sits and is here
waiting for you. It is up to you whether or not you are going to enter the Chariot. We have seen
this principle several times. The groom shall not rape the bride, and the bride shall not rape the
groom. The two shall become one. It is up to us to determine if we are going to be willing to let
go and let God. This simple little cliché does contain much power. That power is the revelation
of the Chariot. The Chariot with all of its glory and all of its power and all of its divine
intervention sits patiently waiting for us to enter.
This is also symbolized in the two hands of the Charioteer. The left hand waits patiently, lying
inactive upon the mantle of the Chariot. In his right hand, the Charioteer holds a staff. That staff
is drawn in such a way as to have a dual meaning. Meaning number one is the sword. It appears
to be sword-like to indicate that this is to cleave truth from darkness, good from evil, yes from
no, to help in the act of discernment. At the same time, the very tip of the sword is drawn in such
a way as to remind us of the Magician's wand in card #1, indicating that through this wand, the
power of God can be communicated. So we see the two-fold nature, both of earthly involvement,
warring and of communicating the divine mind. In this way, we see that the war that is carried
out is all done through the power of the Magician.
But there is more here, much more. Upon the breast of the Charioteer, we see a breastpiece.
This is symbolically representative of the breastplate that the High Priest would wear as he
entered the Holy of Holies, (symbolized by the canopy) as he would represent the people. Upon
this breastplate were 12 stones, and upon them were the inscribed the names of the twelve tribes
of Israel. This indicates that this power, this salvation, this redemption, this divine intervention,
are for all people of all races everywhere. The Tarot never discriminates between those who are
inside and those who are outside. All salvation and all truth are available for all people at all
times.
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Around the Charioteer’s waist, we see a gold band with 5 symbols upon it. If you project those 5
symbols to the sides of his hips and the 5 symbols behind him, you see that once again these are
the 12 signs of the zodiac--all of the stars of Heaven, all time, all people, symbolized in this
girdle.
The imagery in front of the Chariot conveys the power of the swiftness of the wings. Like the
time I ran away, turned around, and you were standing close to me. No matter how far we run,
no matter how fast we run, no matter how long we run away from God, all we must do is simply
turn around, and we will encounter Him, the swift messenger. It has been said that for every one
step a man takes toward God, God takes a thousand steps toward man. This is very true.
Sometimes from our perspective, it seems that we must wait a long while. The truth is that God
answers instantaneously. That instantaneous answering does not necessarily constitute a change
in the external circumstances of our lives. If we are praying for a new job, then that may take
quite some time because the various layers of the cosmos, as they get more and more dense, take
more and more energy, and more and more time to change. As we sit in our automobile, for
example, we can change our thinking instantaneously. We can think about a flower one minute;
we can think about a book another minute. If we want to change something on the car, that is
going to take much, much more effort. Even if it is something as simple as opening the door,
that takes more time and it takes more effort than it takes to change our thinking.
In exactly the same way, God's answers to our psyche, to our soul, to our spirit, are
instantaneous. If we are seeking for God's truth or for his comfort or peace, that help is available
to our minds and to our souls instantaneously. However, if we are seeking a transformation in
the physical universe or in the social order to effect changes in other human beings, this can and
often and usually does take much more time. Why? Isn't God all powerful? Can't he do
anything and everything instantaneously?
The entire message of the Fool is that God is voluntarily self limiting. If God wanted to, God
could eliminate all hatred, but to do so would be to have the Groom rape the Bride. Therefore,
since God is all powerful, but seeks communion with his creation, he abides eternally in peace,
standing in the Chariot waiting for us to approach him. We are his agents within the world.
This is why the winged messenger sometimes seems to be so slow in arriving. Often the problem
is not God; the problem is usually and only us. God is, in fact, working instantaneously, but if he
magically changes our circumstances, then the flow and fabric of our lives could be completely
destroyed. This is in violation of his laws of nature. That being said and done, it remains forever
true that the messenger is swift and the communications between his mind and ours are
instantaneous. The answers are always there if we will sit and silence ourselves enough to listen.
The red top-like device is a symbol from India known as a “lingam.” It is another phallic
symbol. It is there to symbolize action on the part of God. This is not a form giver card. This is
a interactive card indicating the presence of God's power in our lives. Behold, I am with you
forever, even until the end of the age.
The final element we will look at in this card is, for many of you, perhaps somewhat of a
mystery--the two very strange creatures pulling the Chariot. They are obviously sphinxes--one
black, one white. What is the sphinx? The sphinx is a creature from Greek mythology. The
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sphinx was there in front of the pyramids when the Hebrews were held captive in Egypt. What is
the myth of the sphinx? The sphinx was a creature with the body of a lion, usually wings of an
eagle, and the face of a human woman. It would go about terrorizing citizens in the town, asking
them a riddle. If the citizen answered the riddle correctly, he would be spared. Otherwise, he
would be devoured by the sphinx. No one ever answered the riddle correctly until a young man
named Oedipus came along. Do you remember the riddle from your junior high school
mythology class? It was, “What animal is it that goes about on fours in the morning, twos in the
day and threes at night?” The answer, Oedipus said, is “man,” who crawls as a baby, who walks
in his strength in middle age, and hobbles about using a cane in his old age. The moment that
Oedipus gave that answer to the sphinx, she shrieked a horrible howl and dashed herself against
the rocks until she was dead.
Why in the world would we put such an image from Greek mythology on this card? Well, as
we've said so many times, the Tarot is dealing in symbolism. The symbolism behind these
sphinxes is quite clear and quite powerful, and it's something that you could not condense into
any other imagery that I can think of. Man goes in a cycle of birth, life and death, and that cycle
is forever. That cycle is natural. The death that Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of
Eden was a spiritual death. They no longer lived according to the life principle which is the
unified principle, but they forever more were living according to the good vs. evil principle. This
has nothing to do with the biological flow.
As we live below, so we live above. We are born to a new idea. We let it live within us and
then, in one form or another, it dies away. Even if it stays with us forever, it changes and grows
and merges with other ideas.
Going about on fours and twos and threes is the cycle of life. It encompasses the totality of all
human experience, whether it is your marriage, your job, your religion, your body, your hopes,
your dreams or anything. That cycle of life, the riddle of the sphinx, encompasses all aspects of
it, and the Chariot is here to constantly help.
The sphinx was in a life and death struggle. The sphinx would devour creatures who could not
solve her riddle until she met someone who could, at which point she had to destroy herself.
There is no compromise. There is only right and wrong. There is life, and there is the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There is nothing in between. Either we will overcome and we
will solve the riddle of the sphinx and we enter the Chariot and return to our celestial home, or
we will be devoured in totality by the darkness of the realms of opposites, the consciousness of
good and evil.
There are two sphinxes--one white, one black. They are there to indicate that the cycle of life
and the divine intervention exist in all aspects of our lives. If we say that something is "good," or
we say that something is "bad," usually we mean that it is pleasant or unpleasant. This has very
little to do with whether it is from the tree of life or from the tree of death. All things which
happen to us which are "good" and all the things which happen to us which are "bad" are
likewise reflections of the cycle of man and can all be tools of blessing. If good things happen to
us, we can stray from God and think that we are self made people not needing any divine help. If
bad things happen to us, then we can think that God does not love us, that we are cursed, that we
are getting what we deserve.
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The opposite is true. If good comes, we can see it as a blessing and a gift of God. If adversity
comes, we can see it as merely another test, another learning experience, another opportunity to
rise above the realm of good and evil and seek the unity beyond.
That is the Chariot; that is the power. That is the divine intervention--the endless, limitless grace
of God, here to take us from the pain and suffering through our fall and restore us to the eternal
throne, the blessed new Jerusalem.
TRUMP 8 - STRENGTH
And Moses said unto the people, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of
the house of bondage. For by strength of hand YHWH brought you from out of this place."
Exodus 13:3.
Tarot card #8 is strength. It completes the third trinity of the Tarot cards, the first trinity being
the all power of the Fool, which becomes bi-polarized into the Magician and High Priestess.
Then we saw the Empress and the Emperor, which are re-harmonized through the Hierophant. In
the third trinity, we have cards #6, #7 and #8. Card #6 begins the trinity by presenting us with
the human problem, the error which we must overcome, the fundamental root of sin--ego. We
see the divine response to that in the Chariot, card #7, but as we pointed out so clearly, the
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Chariot sits and waits for us to enter. The Chariot will not interfere in our lives. The Chariot is
there, but awaits our response.
So we have a pole. We have another dynamic tension between the problem of the lovers and the
solution of the Chariot. How does one resolve this? There are many steps involved, and those
steps will take us through the rest of the cards.
Though we have a series of cycles within cycles in the Tarot cards and every new card attempts
to expound and explain and amplify points which in essence have already been covered by other
cards, everything you need to know, everything in the entire universe is symbolized inside of the
Fool. As we said so many chapters ago, everything else is simply commentary. Therefore, as we
enter newer cards, we will see reiterated cycles of revelations and comprehensions of the past.
This flow has been discussed by western philosophers in terms of three aspects: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. For example, the creativity of the Empress being the thesis, the harsh
legalism of the Emperor being the anti-thesis, and the Hierophant and the two-fold nature of
revelation, being the synthesis.
We have precisely the same problem or issue here. The lovers are the thesis. Mankind is draped
in sin. We find ourselves in the ego state, trapped in hatred, malaise and hopelessness. The antithesis to that is the Chariot, ready to whisk us away, to solve our problems, to enable us to see
that there is no problem at all. These two become synthesized through card #8, Strength.
Card #8 is one of the most sparse cards in the entire Tarot deck. By sparse, I mean that it does
not have very much imagery. It is very plain. A simple, gentle woman or girl closes the mouth
of a lion at her feet. In essence, that is the card. There are certain other elements, and we will
look at them, but that is the message of the card. A simple young woman closes the mouth of a
lion.
It is sometimes marvelous to wonder at and adore the power of the imagery in the cards--how so
much symbolism and so much meaning can be packed into such simple pictures. These pictures
are indeed worth thousands of words.
The woman is wearing a white gown. This is the first time that we see a white gown in all of the
Tarot cards. The Empress has on a white gown, yet she has pomegranate symbols covering it
making it part white and part red. Strength’s gown is pure white. Upon her head is a garland of
flowers, around her waist is a string of roses, above her head the infinity symbol. She has her left
hand upon the lion's nose and her right hand underneath his chin. She is closing his mouth while
his tongue is still extended. This is an important clue. They stand upon a very natural ground. If
you look carefully, you will see that the coloring of the ground is the same as that on which the
lovers stand in card #6, and that mountain in the background is the same mountain standing
between the two lovers.
As to the symbolism, obviously the first thing we have to deal with is the lion. So many things in
the language of symbolism frustrate the novice explorer because there is not necessarily a clear
one to one didactic relationship. If there were, then the symbols would cease to be symbols and
would be signs, as we've discussed before. There is no clearer illustration of this than in the
symbolism of the lion.
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In the Bible, the lion is used to represent ultimate good and ultimate evil. Jesus is referred to as
the lion of Judah upon the throne. In the book of Revelation, we see Jesus as the reigning lion,
who is able to open and reveal the mysteries of the sacred scrolls. But, we also have the image of
Satan prowling about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. What is the image here? What is
the purpose of the lion here?
We will set aside, for our purposes, discussing whether the lion represents good or evil. The lion
it is sufficient to say represents the animal nature. This is a powerful enough symbol and really
does not here indicate either the presence of Satan, the devil, or Jesus. Certainly, Strength is not
closing the mouth of God, and this is really not a card dealing with the Devil. The Devil is an
important concept which we must discuss, but we do not encounter him until card #15.
Therefore, if Strength is not closing the mouth of the Devil, and she is not closing the mouth of
Jesus, what is she closing? She is closing the mouth of our animal nature. We saw in the lovers,
the power of the serpent, the power of the base of the spine, and the power of creation to move
farther and farther away from the Creator.
Anyone who has ever done any extended creating, observes through the externalization,
objectification, and internalization processes that the creation, regardless of its nature, begins to
take upon itself ideas and powers and characteristics which are different from what the creator
had originally intentioned, and actually struggles against the creator’s will. If you look at the
manuscripts of Beethoven for example, it is clear that the man constantly fought against his
music. He was at war with his compositions. There was a battle between the natural flow of the
melodies--where they wanted to go and where Beethoven knew he had to take them.
Authors will regularly indicate that the story or the characters evolved into something which they
had never imagined. This is the power of the serpent. This is the power of the creation. Ideally,
as we have seen in other cards, most specifically the Empress, the purpose of the creation is to
indicate the creator, that through the creation, we might see God. Yet the creation so seldom
performs this function. Much more often, the creation pulls us away from the creator as we
become entangled in the multitude of details within the creation--how this relates to that and that
relates to this. Animal nature is summarized well inside of the book of Romans wherein Paul
says that, "They turned from the Creator to worship the creation."
We do this every day of our lives. We do not see the soul inside of a human being. We simply
see a body or a consumer to be used. We look not with the eyes of the spirit, but with the eyes of
the body. We do not look at the spiritual principles, but at the physical principles. That is the
lion who goes about prowling, seeking to be the head animal to devour others. Any thing or any
person which stands in its way, we will conquer. We will crush them. Rather than try to work
with them or compromise with them or love them or resolve all of our differences, we will eat
them, either emotionally, or in the case of actual war or physical violence, physically destroy
them. That is the lion, the base evil nature which comes through the creation of ego.
This is a problem, because we are all one. We are one family. We are all children of the same
God. And if the message of the Fool is correct, the only reality that there is, is God. Therefore,
the oneness and unification of the “uni-verse” is the only truth. That is the way, the truth and the
life.
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But we do not look at that goodness, we look at all that is not. We therefore seek to exalt
ourselves above all others. Between the lion and the Chariot is the tension where we find
ourselves in most of our day to day lives. Most human beings on this earth live right here. Each
of the Tarot cards represents powers and forces in the universe, and as we have tried to point out
so clearly, they also represent tendencies and realities within our individual soul. They represent
stages of our development.
The vast majority of us have not attained to the revelation of the High Priestess, nor to the
revelation of the Hermit or the Wheel of Fortune. The vast majority of us are past the real base
problem presented in the lovers, and we struggle somewhere between the lion and the Chariot.
Symbolically, you could say that although the Chariot awaits us, our prowling lion nature seeks
not to enter the sacred celestial vehicle, but rather to find other beings to consume.
The regulating force among us is the lady of Strength. She has no struggle within her. None.
The lion does not want his mouth to be closed. Strength is closing the lion's mouth effortlessly,
with great peace and a smile on her face, while the lion still has his tongue extended. He is about
to painfully pierce his own tongue with his own teeth.
This too is a symbol of wonderful power, for we are constantly biting ourselves. The pain we
experience in this world is usually brought upon ourselves by ourselves--not always, certainly,
but very, very often. The physical suffering can be induced by external circumstances, but we
remain the controllers of our emotions and our minds. Our reactions to circumstances remain
ours to control. I learned this crucial revelation really for the first time in 1984, when after a
series a very painful events, I found myself feeling very victimized. Then, one glorious evening,
I heard the voice of God saying to me that all of this pseudo-victimization was nothing more than
a series of responses I was making to my own life; that just as I was choosing to feel myself the
victim, I could choose to feel myself something else; and, that all of these difficult situations
were ultimately no more nor less significant then stubbing my toe upon a footstool. There was a
certain amount of pain, but that pain was incidental. What was truly pivotal was my response to
the pain and how I chose to deal with it. Should I let that pain become my all consuming reality,
or move past it to a new life? At that point I heard five words of magic, five words of immense
power which have transformed my life and the life of millions of people who have attained this
revelation: I am not a victim.
That is all, be it somewhat obtusely, symbolized within the lion’s tongue. All of this pain he is
about to experience or could be experiencing right now, he is blaming on Strength. He is
blaming it on the woman, but notice that all he has to do is pull his tongue in, and he would solve
his problem. He does not have to be victimized.
The pathway of ego is not a pleasant pathway. We engage upon it constantly, but its blessings
are so pathetically small compared to the rewards of the pathway of the egoless state, that it is
nothing short of tragic to see the amount of energy we expend holding on to these useless trinkets
of dust, which we call our accomplishments.
Who is this woman--this woman who so easily controls the animal instincts, who harnesses the
base powers and enables us to enter the Chariot? I believe the answer is completely, intuitively
obvious. The woman is the divine will which we've all been given. Above her head is the
probably too obvious infinity symbol. The only other time we see this symbol in the totality of
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the Tarot cards is above the head of the Magician. Obviously then, she is the power of the
Magician; she is the power of God. She is the controlling force; she is all power; she is strength.
What is strength? Ultimately strength is control. The more strength you have, the more you are
able to control. This is so simple, and yet so profound. Someone who is able to lift 200 lbs. is
able to control much more of the physical world than someone who can only lift 20 lbs.
Health and strength are forever connected with each other, for health is defined as strength. We
are able to do what we choose to do, and this controlling factor is the essence of will. We have
said many times before that there are different parts within the human being; that divine will
comes straight from the spark of God, the in-dwelling spirit; and that will controls the mind, the
emotions, the desire, the physical body, and, actually any mechanical body, such as a automobile
that we may be in. It is through our will, that we determine if we are going to follow the pathway
of the Chariot or the pathway of the lion. It is through that will that we develop strength of
character, strength of being. This strength wishes to touch all aspects of our being. Strength
wants to make our minds powerful, that we might be able to comprehend the height and the
depth and the breadth of God.
One of the things, unfortunately, which common religion expects of people, is that they check
their brains at the door just as though they were checking a hat or a raincoat. We saw this during
the discussion of the Hierophant--that religion, as it is exoterically taught, does not want people
to think, is afraid of reason, and is afraid of intellectual exploration. God has given us our minds
to explore and worship and know, and the power of God's presence in our lives will make us
brilliant, will make us intellectuals, will open our minds to the wonders of the world.
The strength of God, through the power of will, shall also enable our desires to be controlled, that
we desire not to follow the world as a prowling lion, devouring all in our wake, but rather to
desire to enter the holy chariot and travel with Him to the highest points of Heaven. Strength
will also encourage our emotions to have the proper reactions to all around us--to see ourselves
not as a victim nor to seek retribution, but to seek only goodness, oneness and wholeness.
Strength will also touch our physical bodies, that we might have the ability to work and live and
move in this world. In all ways then, the divine will is working to provide health to all of our
vehicles--to our mind, our emotions, our desire and our body. This is why I began this chapter
with this quote, which I will repeat. Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you
came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand, YHWH brought you
out from this place." The woman is God. Divine will lives within us. Bondage in Egypt has
become a symbol for slavery to sin. Held captive by the lower desires, we prowl the earth as a
lion, and we are actually enslaved and unable to free ourselves. But as YHWH removed the
Hebrews from bondage to slavery in Egypt, so too he will remove us from bondage to sin in our
mortal lives.
How do we move from the lion state into the Chariot? We recognize that God's redeeming,
freeing power is already present, and we enable that power to transform our base animal instincts
into a vessel of holy, righteous purity. Notice that the scripture, Exodus 13:3, clearly states that
YHWH is doing this by the power of his hand. The hand is immensely symbolic. The hand is
the active mechanism. Just as the Chariot is there to actively participate in all aspects of our
lives, so too the divine will is an active participant, an active controlling agent in our lives.
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These are not merely principles or ideas, nor are they merely pictures or symbols. The divine
will is a real existent power working in the universe and working in our lives, moment by
moment.
Exodus 15:2, "YHWH is my strength and my song, he is my salvation." Strength is also passion
to encounter life with exuberance, not merely as a burden to be endured, but with great
excitement, as a great journey to be explored.
Beginning to summarize, we see then that the lion is our base animal instincts, and that the
woman of strength, through very little or no physical effort, automatically and simply overcomes
the lion. To overcome your base instincts, to transform your life from being a hater into a divine
lover, you need do nothing more than recognize that you already are free, you already are strong,
you already are pure. It is up to you to focus on which part of you, you will use. That strength is
health. It is power, it is control, it is commitment, it is passion. It is the divine will.
We are admonished in 1 Chronicles 16, to seek Yod Heh Vav Heh and his strength. Seek his
face forever. We are told in Nehemiah 8, that the joy of Yod Heh Vav Heh is our strength. We
are told in Psalm 18, "I love thee oh! YHWH my strength." Psalm 20:6, "I know that YHWH
saves his anointed, he will answer him from his holy Heaven with the saving strength of his right
hand."
It is all summarized, I think most beautifully, in two verses, Ecclesiastes 7:19, "Wisdom is a
strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city." Wisdom--we have seen wisdom
before. That wisdom, that living life according to the powers of God, is our strength. And
finally, Mark 12:30, "You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength." That is the pathway. That is our vision. That is our
quest--to take us from the darkness of the ego state and enable us to ride the infinite chariot to the
kingdom of celestial Godhood.
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TRUMP 9 - THE HERMIT
The Hermit stands upon a high, high precipice. He holds in his right hand a lantern containing a
glowing radiating Star of David. He holds in his left hand a staff. He is wearing a very large
billowing enshrouding cloak. He has a long flowing beard. This is a card of great mystery, and
its symbolism is perhaps among the most difficult to comprehend. The Hermit's a card of many
things. We will start with the most obvious.
Remember the mountain that the Fool began on, the mountain that stands behind and between the
lovers, the mountain in the background behind Lady Strength. The Hermit now stands upon that
mountain. This is a card of great attainment. We have crossed the pathway of involution and
come to the point of the fall. We see the pathway of redemption through the Chariot and have
been presented with the divine will to conquer all evil.
At the stage of the Hermit, the religious aspirant begins to internalize the religious life. The
religious life does not consist simply of hearing the Word, nor simply of believing these stories,
nor simply in being a follower. The essence of religion is attainment. The essence is
actualization. As the Bible says, "We should not be hearers only, but doers of the sacred word."
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At the stage of the Hermit, we are not complete. We are not done. At the stage of the Hermit,
we have not completely slain the ego, and we have not fulfilled our eternal destiny. However,
the proclamations and powers which we have met, up until this point, are beginning to take shape
and form inside of our own being.
We have seen, behind the Fool, the pure white light of the Sun. Behind the lovers in the pathway
which the angel guards, there is the eternal infinite limitless sun of the divine presence in our
lives.
The other places that we see light in the Tarot cards are in images of stars representing celestial
kingdoms. This is the first time that we see anything which appears in simple form to be a manmade light. The Hermit is holding a lantern, and he controls that lantern. It is not by chance that
he controls it in his right hand. As the right hand of the Charioteer contains the Magician's wand
and as the right hand of the Lady of Strength is pulling up to close the Lion's jaw, so too in the
right hand, the Hermit holds the light. This is a pathway of illumination. The sun which we have
lost, which we are seeking to return to, the limitless light of God is beginning all, be it in a small
measure, to take shape and exist in our lives. That is the first symbol here--the Hermit standing
upon the Mountain holding the light.
The light of God, being the only reality, will eventually come under your control. As we saw, the
essence of strength is control. You, as a co-creator with God, have an appropriation of the
infinite limitless light within you. Through tapping into the Lady of Strength, working the
pathway, you will enter the Chariot. And as you do so, you are taken to the highest mountain.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Hermit does not so much crawl up the Mountain, as he is
deposited there by the Chariot. Those lights of Heaven above the celestial canopy are not simply
to be looked at . They are not simply to be worshipped. They are to become our reality. We are
the light of Heaven.
The reference to the Biblical passage is obvious. Jesus says, "You are the light of the world."
Not merely a reflector of the light, but in a higher truer sense, you are the light of the world. God
is light.
When we get a bit farther down the road, we will overcome the temptation of the moon in card
#18 to merely reflect the light, and we will have our homecoming in card #19 where we are fully
reunited with the radiant Sun. A tiny bit of that sun has been broken off. A tiny bit of the canopy
above the Chariot has been placed into the Hermit's lamp. A tiny bit of what God is has been
placed into you.
The Bible promises us that eventually we will grow to the fullness of Christ. At the stage of the
Hermit, we are not yet there, but we have learned much.
The Hermit is alone There is no denying this, and there is no hiding from it. He has no one
around him, and he is first and foremost, completely and always, utterly and entirely alone.
When you close your eyes at night, there is no one behind your eyelids but you. And in your
heart of hearts, there is no one but you. No one knows all of your thoughts, all of your feelings,
all of your memories, all of your actions, except you. And, the revelation of Lady Strength is that
absolutely no one controls or shapes your destiny except for you. You are alone.
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The essence of religion is to recognize that aloneness in ourselves and to enable it to become
reality. The holy name is, "I will be what I will be"--not what Madison Ave. says I will be, not
what culture says I will be, not what my friends say I will be, not what my church says I will be,
not what my pastor or my parents or my spouse say I will be. But, I will be what I will to be.
Will, we have seen, is the essence of Lady Strength. As we harness that will, we become what
we will become. As we shape and mold our will, we realize our destiny--not by the power of our
community or our friends or relatives, but singly, solely, wholly and entirely by the power of the
divine within us. This is the beginning of health. The is the beginning of being responsible for
your own life.
But while the Hermit is alone, he is not cut off from the rest of the world. Notice his entire
attitude. He is holding the light. He is not holding the light to enable him to see, for he is
already upon the mountain. He is holding the light for others to see.
Notice that he is looking down. He is, however, not looking down so that he might find his own
way. He is looking down to watch and seek and attune himself to others. This is the glory of
religion. Religion is what we do completely alone in the inner most beings of our own soul, as
well as what we do in partnership with every other soul around us.
The Hermit’s attainment does not remove him from compassion. It begins compassion. The
isolation and fracture begun by the Lovers, experienced through the poison of ego, as Adam
seeks to even blame his holy wife for his problems--that fracture begins to become healed on the
pathway of the Hermit. For as you attain, and as you receive, you shall be free to share. We have
discussed this before. As you give, so shall you receive; and, as you have received, you will give.
What is the greatest law? To love God with your total being and to love your fellow human
beings as yourself. Note that this is a law. The law of gravity needs no one to give consent to it
for it to be true. The law of electromagnetism was the governing factor of the universe before
anyone ever conceived of it. In exactly the same way, the great law of God does not need you to
consent to it or obey it for it to be true.
The fact is that you do love God with your whole being, and you do love your fellow person as
yourself. These are not so much statements of command, as they are statements of reality--an
explanation of the law of the universe. You absolutely must take time to meditate on this and
make sure that you are completely clear on it.
How you love yourself is exactly how you will love others, and your entire personality is your
expression of your love for God. The ways in which you think, the things that you feel, and those
deeds that you perform are the way you love God. What you think about yourself and how you
conceive of yourself when you close your eyes are how you love your fellow human beings.
You already do love God with the wholeness of your being. You already do love your fellow
man as yourself, and it could never, ever be any other way.
Therefore, in the pathway of the Hermit, as we begin to see the glories of the canopy, as we begin
to delight in the ecstasy of riding the Chariot, as we begin to become healthy and have greater
control over ourselves through the Lady of Strength, we are able to reach out and to share this
with other people. As we become different people, we love differently. As we receive, so shall
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we give, and the giving that we do establishes what we will receive. Remember, this is a fractal
universe. Our output becomes our input, and our input becomes our output. Therefore, when we
attain the state of the Hermit, we seek to reach out, to share, and to touch other people. The best
way to learn is to teach.
If you really want to learn something, try to explain it to another person. Reach out your hand.
Let your light shine. You do not place a light upon a mountain in order to hide it. You place a
light upon the mountain in order to let it shine. The whole purpose of the Bible is to discuss
evangelism or discipleship. It is to discuss outreach, that we might let our light shine before
others in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our Father, who is in Heaven.
We become an actual channel. We become a vessel through whom the light of God can and will
flow. Just as the Chariot is able to convey the higher powers of God to our eternal spirit, in
exactly the same way as that spirit becomes awakened and alive and born inside of us, we too
then can be a transmitter of that light. Whatever you bind on earth, shall already have been
bound in Heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, shall already have been loosed in Heaven. Go
ye and therefore and make disciples of all nations. During that process, momentum is gained.
For others then as they are able to dwell in our light and we are able to become in part a channel
for them are able to enter into a relationship with the divine and there light can shine back and
help encourage and strengthen us. This is the entire notion of community. Therefore the Hermit
begins in total isolation, but as he reaches out he becomes a member of the family of man,
becomes a organ in the body of Christ being built up to the fullness of God.
God is becoming reincarnated in each of us. This card--the Hermit--is a card of the incarnation,
the mystery of God in the flesh. The card also teaches us about the importance of having a
teacher. The disciple-rabbi relationship is found in every religion in the world. In modern
society, we have walked away with our technocratic age from this holy relationship, and people
think that by merely reading books or watching television shows that they can learn as much as
from a personal teacher. But every synagogue has its rabbi, every disciple had Christ. Every
student has his guru. Every monk has his teacher. The powers of God can best and only be fully
communicated through other human beings. This writing, as hopefully valuable and important as
it may be, cannot ever take the place of a personal relationship with the Hermit, who stands
bearing the light.
This is a crucial point. We said how card #8 Strength was related to God taking the Hebrews out
of bondage to slavery. Card #9, the Hermit, is Moses, the individual through whom God worked.
God could have simply killed all the Egyptians, one supposes, and in that manner let the Hebrews
go. But, it was not to be, and that is not how he operates on this earth. God works through
people. The power of the strength of card #8 is placed inside of a person named Moses, and
Moses takes the people out of bondage.
One must guide; one must have a guide. If you truly seek to return to paradise to appropriate the
power of the divine will, you must, for your own sake, reach out to others and attempt to help
them along their pathway.
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We see then that the many shall become one, and the one shall touch the many. The staff that the
Hermit holds clearly represents, for one, the staff which Moses held, turning the staff into a
serpent. We have seen the multi-dimensional symbolism of the serpent before.
The Hermit is painted as being very old, the ancient of days, because people at this point in their
lives are very old souls. Those who have attained to the level of the Hermit are no longer entirely
trapped by the base animal instincts. The light of God is beginning to be able to shine through
them, so they are not entirely encased within ego. They are symbolically much closer to the
ancient of days.
The Star of David is a two-fold symbol--a symbol of the spirit and a symbol of the world. As a
symbol of the spirit, it symbolizes the revelation and religious proclamations God made through
his servant David primarily through the Psalms. It is also a symbol of earthly power, because
David placed this star upon his shield of war. The light of the Divine cannot stop until it has
touched all aspects of the universe. It cannot stop merely inside of your soul. It cannot stop
merely by making your body healthy, but rather must encompass all aspects of society and every
human interaction--from what we currently call government, to our economic systems, to our
ecological management systems. The radiant light conferred through control of the divine will
can, must, and will transform the totality of existence.
The final point regarding the Hermit has to do with his robe. The robe is concealing something.
We get this hint at by his hat or hood. The hood is in the shape of a Yod, the Hebrew letter
which we translate into a "Y". The Yod is the first letter of God's holy name, Yod Heh Vav Heh.
The Yod, symbolizing the divine creative controlling intelligence, shows that here in the stage of
the Hermit, while we may not be utterly free of all pollution from the lower spheres, we are at
least in touch with the mind of God. The name of God is beginning to take shape within us. The
Yod Heh Vav Heh, as the image of God and the image of man, is beginning to take root in the
very rubric of our soul.
This is a true and almost indescribable glorious joy.
To summarize, the Hermit is attainment--bringing the divine powers under personal individual
control. It is a card of isolation, but an isolation which will reach out in harmony with others to
enable them to rise to the top of the mountain with the Hermit. The Hermit is the stage of
spiritual development wherein the name of God is beginning to be formed completely within us.
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TRUMP 10 - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE
In stark contrast to the previous two cards, which have almost no symbolism at all, in terms of
the icons and images on the cards themselves, the Wheel of Fortune is absolutely stuffed full of
very great symbolic detail. Simply by looking card #10, one immediately notices that it is very
different from the others that we have seen. The others have featured a human figure in the
center of the card with the exception of the Lovers, who have one angel and then two humans.
On all of the rest, we have one central human being with different icons and images around him
or her. Obviously the Wheel of Fortune is very, very different.
What is this card all about? We are dealing here with a powerful concept. As we discussed in
previous cards, everything is a cycle. Everything within the realms of creation vibrates. The
densest rock, the most rarefied air, the farthest star vibrate. Rest is a mere idea. It has no reality.
That vibration, that cycle, exists not only in physical matter, but in animate objects--the cycle of
breathing, the cycle of waking and sleeping, the cycle of being born, living and dying. The
Wheel of Fortune encompasses all cycles of manifestation and expresses the notion that no
matter what occurs within the physical creation, it is all (1) a part of the divine plan, and (2) a
part of the divine revelation. In other words, the Wheel of Fortune card says there is no such
thing as chance.
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A wheel of fortune exists in many different forms. For instance in gambling halls, we have
roulette wheels, we have slot machines, which are a combination of three or more Wheels of
Fortune, and we have the big wheels which spin much in the manner depicted on this card.
There are different numbers or images on the wheel. You place your bet on a number on which
you think the wheel will stop. If your number comes up you win; if not, you lose.
To the uneducated eye, it appears that a wheel of fortune is chance. However, this is not entirely
true. A Wheel of Fortune, if it is even, works according to law. What do I mean by even? Let
us assume that there are ten numbers on the wheel, 1 through 10. And, let us assume that the
wheel is perfectly balanced and each number is mathematically as likely to come up as any other
number. What then are the odds of picking the right number? Obviously the odds are 10 to 1 or
1 in 10. If you bet $1 and your number does not come up, you lose your dollar. If your number
comes up, then you should receive exactly $10. The element of chance pertains to any individual
single event. It is in fact, in a wheel of fortune such as we are describing, not possible to predict
what any given spin will be. It is a random chance event. So in that respect, individual moments
within time are chance.
However, in the larger picture, that wheel will work according to absolute law. If you spin that
wheel an infinite number of times, exactly 1/10th of those spins will be landing in each of those
ten numbers.
So while individual events may be unpredictable, the larger picture is 100% predictable. This is
how gambling institutions in Las Vegas make their money. They do not need to cheat. The
game, as it is presented to the player or the gambler, is already fixed. If the player picks the
wrong number, the player loses the dollar. However, if he picks the right number, he does not
get $10 dollars the way he should. He gets $9. As a result, if you begin with an infinite amount
of money and play this game for an infinite number of spins, you wind up with absolutely no
money. This is the law.
In terms of the Wheel of Fortune, we actually have three different manifestations in this game of
life. This first one that we've talked about is random, wherein each individual event is
completely unpredictable, but the totality of the process is 100% governed by law. There are two
others.
We also have deterministic relationships. Deterministic relationships are very common to us.
Those relationships are where, given the current state of things, we are able to determine
absolutely, at any given time frame, what the status of the system will be in the future. A simple
example is a automobile driving along the road. If we know where the car is now and we know
exactly how fast it is traveling, then at any given point in time we will know where the car will
be. If the car is traveling at 30 mph, we know that in exactly 15 minutes the car will be 7 1/2
miles away. This is completely deterministic. The deterministic universe is the realm of what
we have traditionally called science. Science is discovering that there are other realms which it
must attend to, but for the most part, the Newtonian revolution was when humanity began to
discover the deterministic nature of the world.
In addition to random relationships and deterministic relationships we have the third
manifestation, known as chaotic relationships. This is a brand new field of science which is
revolutionizing biology, physics, chemistry, sociology, just as the Newtonian revolution did
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hundreds of years ago. A chaotic relationship is 100% deterministic and absolutely
unpredictable. What do I mean by that? That means given any current state, the next step or the
next cycle is 100% deterministic. And, there is a one to one relationship. Any particular initial
state will generate one and only one next step, however the relationship is so complex that it is
impossible to determine what cycle 10 will be until we experience cycle 9.
This would be like having a automobile, to refer to the previous analogy, that we know is
traveling at 30 mph and we know absolutely that in one minute it will be so many feet away, but
we will not know how many feet it is away in 15 minutes until we get to the 14-minute mark.
These chaotic relationships are wondrous creatures and seem to be built into the very essence of
nature. Let me give you an example. Take a number sequence. Start with a number--any
number at all. If that number is even, divide it in half. If the number is odd, multiply it by three
and add one to it. Take the result and perform the operation again. Eventually the number will
return to 1. Notice that each and every single number cycles in the next iteration to one and only
one number. The number 26 will only go to number 13. The number 27 will only go to 84. It
cannot ever go anywhere else. But, there are no fields of mathematics that enable us to determine
how many iterations it will take any particular number to return to one.
The relationship is cycle by cycle deterministic and yet completely unpredictable. Why have I
taken you along this discussion?
These 3 relationships--random, deterministic and chaotic--are symbolized by the three wheels in
the Wheel of Fortune. We have the tiniest innermost circle, a larger circle, and then the outer
circle. These circles will spin, not just clockwise and counter-clockwise, but will also rotate
around their axis much like a globe. And, they will spin top to bottom, like an earth spinning
around itself.
These wheels are the interplay of God with his creation. These are the laws which have been laid
down for existence. This is the moral dance that plays throughout our lives. And, the
proclamation of this card is that regardless of which way the wheels spin, whether for "good" or
"bad," for we are still here in the realm of duality, whether we are experiencing a random,
deterministic or chaotic relationship at this time, everything echoes with the name of God, and
everything is perfect.
We see from the wheel that all manifestations are a direct outpouring of God because of the
letters surrounding the outer wheel. We see the T O R A. Read counter-clockwise it's Torah;
read clockwise it's Tarot. What do those funny little symbols between the T A R O mean? Well,
between the “T” and the “A,” that little squiggle thing is a Yod, that is a "Y". Between the “T”
and the “O,” we have a Heh. Between the “O” and the “R,” there is a Vav. And, between the
“A” and the “R,” there is another Heh. That spells YHWH. That is Yahweh. That is the holy
Tetragrammaton. That is the infinite limitless name of God. That is God's name. “God” is not
God's name. God is what God is. Yod Heh Vav Heh is God's name.
If we read counter-clockwise, what do we have? We have YHWH. If we read clockwise, what
do we have? YHWH. This is not a coincidence. If you start with the “R” and read clockwise,
it's Rota, which is the wheel. We discussed this way back with the High Priestess. Rota is the
wheel. Torah is the revelation of God's holy mind in scripture. Tarot is the unveiling. The Tarot
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is the hidden wisdom which we are attempting to unveil, all be it ever so slightly. And what the
wheel says is that the Wheel of Fortune, both the Tarot and the Torah, are Yahweh.
It does not matter if the wheels spin left or right or up or down. It does not matter if you are
dwelling in a deterministic or a random or a chaotic world. It does not matter, the individual
moments. It does not matter how confused or how puzzling or how bizarre life may seem. There
is always a law. There is always a connection. There is always a purpose. There is always a
direction. There is always a focus. That focus is the Wheel, the Wheel of Life. And that Wheel
of Life is the holy word of God. That Wheel of Life is the Torah, and the Torah is revealed
through the Tarot. The Tarot, the Torah, and Wheel of Life are all Yod Heh Vav Heh. That is a
very powerful statement.
The Wheel of Fortune also pertains to the idea of success and prosperity. We as human beings
become obsessed with material possessions. When I graduated from college, in order to have my
own self respect, I spent several years cleaning houses. This was a decent solid honest job. I was
the black sheep of the family, because at that time on both my father's side and mother's side, I
was the only one of any of the grandchildren to have ever graduated from a four year college.
And, yet the college graduate was scrubbing toilets. I was an object of shame at family
gatherings. The Wheel of Fortune started to turn differently, and I entered a new profession and
started to make a lot of money. All of a sudden, I was someone who mattered to the family. I
actually had people call me to say that they had never understood what I was doing, but they were
really proud of me now. This is a horrid burden to put on anyone.
The proclamation of Jesus is that riches do not matter. Wealth and fortune, as they pertain to the
material plane of money and commerce, are the lowest shells in the cosmic dance. Your divine
limitless spirit does not care if you have a lot of money or hardly any money at all. The Wheel of
Fortune will make some poor and some rich. Some will begin poor and become rich; some will
begin rich and become poor. As we attach ourselves to the hub of the wheel then, we spin up and
down. As we attach our consciousness to the rim of the Wheel of Fortune, when we make more
money we are happier, and when we lose money we are sadder.
We have given over dominion of our lives. The strength that we have seen in other cards--the
power of the divine light inside of us--we have given over to the whims of the Wheel of Fortune.
What we should recognize is not the outer most rim, but the axis. We should recognize the truth
of the Wheel--that whether we are rich or poor, whether we are successful or a material failure,
whether we are healthy or sick in our bodies--it is all still a part of the cycle of God. It is all a
part of the breath of God. It is all an unfolding of the divine plan. That is what the Wheel seeks
to teach us.
Inside of the Wheel, there are 8 spokes. These 8 spokes refer to the 8 normal cardinal points on
the compass: north, east, south, and west; northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. On
the axis, we see some symbols. Those are symbols for chemical elements: salt, sulfur, mercury
and water. I will leave it to you to meditate upon the importance and value of these symbols.
Their chemical structure can, in fact, reveal aspects of the Wheel of Fortune to us.
Sitting atop the Wheel of Fortune is the sphinx. We have discussed in great length in the Chariot
card the symbolism of the sphinx. The sphinx is reiterated here because the cycle of life, which
the sphinx held as its secret, is the central focus of this card.
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To the left hand side of the wheel, there is a yellow snake, and under the right hand side of the
wheel, there is this red strange creature. These are obscure references to Greek mythology. The
snake is Typhon; the red bizarre creature is Hermanubis. Without going into great detail, they
symbolize transformation, blessing, and decay. The sphinx is the stabilizing image. The snake is
the transforming image. The Hermanubis is the decay image. God is the creator, preserver and
destroyer of the universe. All three manifestations are necessary for existence--creation,
preservation and destruction--birth, life and death. They are all surrounding the wheel.
The last images we see are in the four corners, these angelic beings holding books. The beings,
reading counter-clockwise from upper left, are an angel, a bull, a cow, and a eagle. These
creatures come from two places in the Bible. The book of Ezekiel is intimately related to this
card. Ezekiel has a vision of the throne of God. God's throne is sitting upon these different
wheels, which have wheels within wheels within wheels. Attached to these wheels are four
living creatures. The book of Revelation chapter 4 reiterates this vision where John in his
heavenly vision sees the throne of God and sees the living creatures--the angel, the bull, the ox,
and the eagle. They are there to help reveal God's word.
Notice that on the card, they are all holding a book. This is to indicate that these creatures of
divine special revelation stand around the throne of God. They contain within themselves, and
they control the unveiling of God's divine infinite mind. These beings are attached to the Wheel
of Fortune. Once again, the Tarot is telling us that all cycles of natural manifestation--earth, life
and death, creation, preservation and destruction--are a simultaneously natural unfolding of the
creation and a divine revelation of supernatural importance.
Every day that you wake up to brush your teeth, the full revelation of God is there screaming at
you. Every time a bird flies through the sky and lands upon a tree branch, God is singing to you
sermons so loud that the only reason you do not hear them is because you have had to cut them
out. Or else, because of their glorious refrain, you would not be able to function in the day to day
world. The glorious celestial choir, which is singing through every moment of this random,
chaotic and deterministic world, so overwhelms our human soul, that we block out the light in
order to be able to function and worry about our egos and our money and our conquest of other
human beings.
The Wheel of Fortune says it need not be so. Through the Wheel of Fortune, we recognize that
we can quite literally have our cake and eat it too. We can live in the normal world and suffer the
slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. We can become richer and poorer. We can live as
normal mortal human beings. But, we can recognize that every moment is the Torah, the Tarot,
and Yod Heh Vav Heh.
This is a card of great conflux, bringing together all aspects of religious revelation and natural
science, bringing together all aspects of our lives into one central point. That point is the axis.
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TRUMP 11 - JUSTICE
We have come far on the pathway of the Fool, and we have met many important agencies. We
now come to the completion of the fourth trinity--that fourth trinity being composed of the
Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, and Justice.
Thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis. The card of attainment in the Hermit, as a individual proclamation
and recognition of the presence of God, becomes reflected in the Wheel of Fortune in the
recognition of God's omnipresence and abiding activity in all aspects of existence. What then is
the response? How is the Hermit to properly appropriate the energies of the Wheel of Fortune?
What is the next step in our growth and development? How is it that the powers of the Wheel of
Fortune and the Hermit will become active and actualized in this earth? The answer is in Tarot
card #11, Justice.
Of all of the symbols in the Tarot, this is, in all probability, the easiest to comprehend because
this symbol is the most familiar to us. A robed figure sits upon a stool in front of two pillars.
Spread between them is another veil.
In Justice's right hand, is the raised sword, and in Justice's left hand, there hangs a pair of scales.
The two potencies of God and man meet here once again. Justice is obviously a divine attribute,
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and as God becomes reincarnated inside of us. Justice then becomes a human attribute. What is
Justice? It’s another word, much like “Love,” that everyone knows and everyone recognizes, but
which is very often hard to define. As a definition of Justice, I will propose the following: fair
and equal application of all of the laws of the universe. Notice that this definition encompasses
both the human order and the celestial order. God is just means that, in essence, he always
operates in accordance with the ever present law of love.
Modern Christianity has bifurcated the divine being into two halves. God is pure love and pure
justice. As the story goes, these two sides war with one another. When man sinned, God's pure
love wanted mankind to be with him in Heaven, but God's justice demanded punishment for the
wrong. Therefore God's justice was at odds with his love, creating some form of alleged divine
dilemma. The answer to this paradox was found, so the reasoning goes, in Jesus.
The problem with this is that it fails to understand the nature of love, the nature of justice and the
nature of punishment.
Justice is not a separate self-existent entity. To say that God always operates with justice means
that he always operates in perfect accordance with his law of love. God's laws of love embody
many things which we have seen throughout the cards. One of the prevailing factors is that of
freedom of the individual. God will not coerce you into doing anything. As we've said before,
God does not want to rape the bride, and he does not want the bride to rape Him. The celestial
dance is a mating song of ecstasy. It is not a brutal violent rape. So God holds the sovereignty of
the individual to be of utmost critical concern. This is his justice.
Inasmuch as God will not violate your personal freedom, and as much as God grants to you the
ability to be a co-creator with him, this divine relationship, as it is expressed with every one of
God's children on this earth, creates the dimension of human justice. In short, as God treats us,
we must treat others.
Since God recognizes our individual sovereignty, so too we must recognize the sovereignty of
every individual. Therefore, coercion of any kind is forbidden. This is the essence of the moral
law. To murder is to remove someone's life from them, coercion. To steal is to remove
someone's property. To harm them in any way, physically or emotionally, is coercion. This goes
all the way to the macro structures of our social order--macro structures such as taxation,
government-required conscription, and obedience to externalized laws.
Many in the religious world see a separation between the realms of the divine and the realms of
human interaction. Martin Luther, the middle ages reformer, is probably among the most
notorious in this area. He saw his reformation being one of faith and prayer and Bible study and
sacraments. When he was asked to help bring these principles to the social order, he renounced
his petitioners as being tools of the Devil. The Kingdom of God, he said, is not of this world,
and therefore matters of civil unrest are not the proper domain of the church. Of course, Luther
was wrong.
We live in a “uni-verse”, as we have said so often. And the command to love God with our
entire being is exactly like the command to love our fellow people as ourselves. It is quite clear
that no one who hates their brother or sister can actually love God. The two are intertwined.
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Therefore, the divine justice, which God has handed out to each of us by recognizing the
autonomy of our individual self hood,, we must in turn extend to all other people.
Taxation is theft. It is coercion. Theft, adultery, lying, murder--all of the evils of the world-ultimately result from a failed recognition of the commonality we all share as brothers and sisters
of God. They result from our usurping another person’s rightful authority on this earth.
When we all attain to the state of the fullness of Christ, there will be no reason for any laws.
People will need no coercion, no rules of society, no taxation, none of the other social evils, for
they will be ruled by the goodness of God within their hearts. Neither will we have any reason to
teach one or another, because we will all be fulfilled. Until that point however, what do we do?
This is the higher question regarding justice. Justice has two sides: a recognition of how we
should operate and what to do when others do not operate in accordance with justice.
Justice holds the scales in one hand to say that all are free, all are equal, everything is perfectly
balanced. The law of God and the law of man are one, and every human being stands equal in
the eyes of God. And, every human being is completely free. As it says in the book of Leviticus
19:15, "Do not pervert justice, do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great. But
judge your neighbor fairly. All are equal."
In the other hand, Justice holds the sword--the sword of righteousness, the sword of judgment--to
meet out properly, one to the other. As we give, so shall we receive. That is the law. And, the
proper social order would be exactly what was laid out in the time of Moses--an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth. The thieves have what they stole taken from them. The murderers shall be
killed.
To some, there appears to be a contradiction. If it is evil to murder to begin with, how can it be
just to repay that evil with the very evil we find so abhorrent? We must recognize the communal
nature of man. We all share the social order. We are all in harmony and together in one. To
extricate a murderer is not necessarily fair to that murderer, but it is fair to the rest of the social
order. These are deep and weighty matters, the likes of which people have debated for centuries.
A card, such as Justice, enables us to enter into endless debate, because it is so familiar to us and
we all have our own notions as to the best way to live. If we wish to gain access to the hidden
holy of holies behind Justice, we must take the powers of the Hermit. We must take the
revelation of the Wheel of Fortune and all divine powers, and appropriate them for our lives on
the earth.
What about God and how God wields justice. When Adam and Eve, the Lovers in card #6, fell
from grace, what was God to do? This gets us into the proper area of punishment. There are two
kinds of punishment, so most think. Actually, it is better to say that there is punishment and
there is retribution.
Punishment is very different from retribution. Retribution is where I pass along to you or to
another the wrong which you did to me, and there is place and a need within the world for
retribution to be meted out. Retribution, ultimately then, is a tool for preventing greater harm. If
we have a murderer in our midst, the removal of that one murderer potentially saves hundreds of
lives. Therefore, the proper use of retribution is to prevent a further, greater harm. In exactly the
same way, punishment is the inflicting of a lesser comprehensible pain in order to prevent a
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greater incomprehensible pain. The clearest example is a child reaching for a hot burner on a
stove. The parent slaps the child and scolds the child, punishing him for what he is attempting to
do. This punishment--a slap on the hand--is a punishment that the child can understand, because
it hurts. But ultimately, that slap on the hand is harmless. That slap on the hand is a much lesser
threat than the incomprehensible threat of the hand which would be so badly burned. This is
exactly what God did in the Garden of Eden, as we've seen before. God did not seek to get even
with them so much as he did give them a smaller hurt that they could understand in order to help
prevent the much larger hurt which would have been the immortalization of their egos.
In summary then, retribution is a lesser pain delivered to an individual to protect the greater
group. This is the law of eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Punishment is the infliction of a lesser pain in order to prevent a greater pain to the individual.
The principle is the same, and the principle is always justice--to increase freedom, to help
educate in the ways of goodness and health, to expand the power and presence of God in this
world. That is the pathway of justice. This figure of justice does not sit with his eyes
blindfolded, for justice need not be blind. There is no blindness in God. That is a human figure.
That is a social symbol to indicate that justice is not supposed to distinguish between rich and
poor, black and white, male and female.
In the higher spiritual symbolism, God is light, and in him, there is no darkness whatsoever. We
are to maximize full use of all of our faculties--sight, sound, touch, intuition, intellect--all of
those things which we have been discussing throughout these cards. Justice is blind as to
differences between people, because all are to be treated individually. Yet justice remains fully
aware of all that happens and takes all factors into consideration.
The Bible is clear that justice is an attribute shared by God and by man. Psalm 11:7, "For the
Lord is a righteous, He loves justice. Upright men will see His face." In Acts 17 it says, "God
has set a day when Jesus will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has
given proof of all this to all men by raising Jesus from the dead."
The death of Jesus is seen in the Bible as an unjust act. Acts 8:33, "In his humiliation, Jesus was
deprived of justice. In Acts 17, his resurrection re-establishes justice. This is a divine mystery
which we will very shortly be unveiling in these cards.
Justice, then, is the proper application of all of God's laws and principles to each aspect of his
creation, and as that is done, it creates a social order and a social law and social justice, wherein
we interact with each other and can, through divine wisdom and guidance, deal properly with
violators of God's natural law. God's natural law states very simply that you have the complete
freedom and right to do whatever you choose to do, insofar as it does not hamper anyone else's
right to do whatever they choose to do.
Upon this is based the law and the gospels, to love God with the wholeness of our being and to
love our fellow man as ourselves. And for those who get out of balance and seek not to operate
according to justice, there are divinely guided ways to reset the balance. The scales must always
be equal, and when one side gets out of balance, we must take steps to re-right the wrong so that
forever things are in balance, things are equally shared. The sword of justice is there to cleave
truth from evil and to mete out either retribution or punishment, whichever may be needed.
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TRUMP 12 - THE HANGED MAN
At this state, we find the soul self-actualized. In the story that the Tarot cards are telling, the soul
has come to earth. The divine will is manifesting the divine mind. The mind is controlling the
emotions and desires of all that is placed within a healthy human body. That person is able to
wield the sword of justice, is able to help others through the pathway of the Hermit, is able to
recognize that life rotates with the Wheel of Fortune. The person is not subjected to the slings
and arrows of fashion. The person is able to make their own decisions based upon their own
will. They are, at this point, what modern psychology refers to as "a self-actualized person."
That term can also be called a "self-made man," no longer dependent upon others for his
thoughts, ideas and feelings, but able to live his own life. He does not live independent of
others, nor dependent upon them, but lives interdependently.
For modern psychology, self-actualization is the end of the pathway. Once you are selfactualized, you have found it. You have arrived. You are complete, and you are all that a human
being can be. In other words, once you have health in all of your vehicles, that's all you can ever
expect to have. The pathway of God states that self-actualization is the halfway point--the
halfway point in the journey. What remains? That is what we will see with the remaining cards.
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The purpose of the Hanged Man is to point us in the direction we must go, and the remaining
cards will illuminate different aspects of this card. Just as all of the cards illuminate the Fool and
help explain what the Fool is, and just as the Hierophant helps amplify and explain what the
Empress and the Emperor are, the remaining cards will help amplify and explain the Hanged
Man.
The Hanged Man is a pivotal point in the history of a human soul and he has proven to be
absolutely pivotal in the history of the human race. If you look at the card, I believe you can see
very clearly what is indicated. A man, with his left leg crossed under the right one, hangs
suspended by his right leg from a cross. His arms are folded behind his back. Upon his face is
an indication of great peace. And, there is a halo around his head.
Many people's first instinct, when they see the Hanged Man, is to turn the card upside down. For
some time, Tarot scholars thought that the original Marseilles deck had been drawn incorrectly,
and that what the Hanged Man really represented was a man standing on one foot, attempting to
deliberate his next step. Such is not the case. The card absolutely, completely, properly belongs
with the man hanging upside down from the cross.
Why upside down? This card visually indicates the reversal of everything we know, everything
we think, everything we feel, and everything that we are. Many Tarot scholars have called this
the most shockingly different card in the entire deck, representing powers, experiences and
potencies completely beyond anything we encounter in any of the other cards.
The man is upside down in an approximate shape of a Star of David. If he had another limb, then
that limb could be connected to his left foot and his head, at which point we would have a
vertical triangle between his right foot and two arms and an inverted triangle from his left knee,
his left foot and his head. In this way, the card approximates the Star of David. As we saw in the
Hermit, this star represents the two-fold nature of power--earthly power, in that it is a shield of
war, and spiritual power, as it is a sign of the grace which God bestowed upon David to make
him wise and a good ruler.
The Hanged Man then, whatever his domains, whatever he is doing, whatever his power,
whatever his experiences indicated, consists both of the earthly and spiritual domains. We will
be careful in this card to look at each of those separately. The Hanged Man is a card of selfsacrifice. It is a card of crucifixion. It is not yet death, because death, being as crucial as it is,
has its own card, card #13. The Hanged Man is a card of crucifixion, a card of the dying rising
God.
The symbolism is fairly obvious. Jesus said very clearly, "If anyone wishes to come after me, let
him take up his cross, deny himself and follow me into eternal life." There is no more essential
idea within all of Christendom. The purpose of the Bible, the purpose of Jesus’ life--his
teachings, his miracles, and in fact, his passion--is to teach us what it means to take up our cross.
Many people have seen this as being some form of personal affliction. Oh, I have a bad back.
It's just the cross I must bear. Oh, I'm going through a tax audit. It's the cross I must bear. Oh, I
really don't like my mother-in-law at all, but we all have our crosses to bear. These are cute
sayings, but they truly have nothing to do with taking up one's cross.
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The problem that entered the world in card #6 through the Lovers is addressed here. What is that
problem? If you recall, we stated that the problem with Adam and Eve, their original sin, was
not disobedience, but was rather a change of their mind which led to the existence of a separate
ego. The original sin is not disobedience, but is actually ego.
That being the problem, the Hanged Man is the antidote--the solution. What exactly is that?
Hopefully, it is obvious. To take up one's cross, means to engage upon those actions and
experience those realities which will lead to the death of the ego. Your cross is that instrument
upon which your ego will be slain. This is the crux of the biscuit, as they say. This is the cat's
meow. This is the law and the gospel and the sum total of all human religious experience--the
death of the ego.
Nature gives us an illustration, the great cosmic body of water. The spirit of God moves over the
surface of the waters, and as the powerful light of the Sun hits the water, the water begins to
evaporate. As it does, it rises into the air, forms into clouds, and those clouds eventually become
so heavy that they shed their moisture. The raindrops begin to fall to the earth, hit the ocean, and
are reabsorbed into the cosmic oneness of God.
The ocean is God, symbolically. Through the light, the individual droplets form. This is the ego
state where you can look at each individual raindrop, having its own characteristics. It has size,
weight, a specific density, and a surface tension. It is a self-actualized slice of the ocean.
Eventually, however, that slice of ocean becomes too thick and too heavy, thus it winds up
falling back into the ocean. Our egos eventually must die; they must fall, just as the parable talks
about the seed falling into the ground and dying. As that water drop falls into the ocean, the
water drop still exists. Every single electron in that raindrop, all hundreds of uncountable
trillions of them, still exists. However, that raindrop is no longer distinguishable or identifiable
as one raindrop from another. They are all part of the glorious harmonious oneness which is the
ocean. Unless a seed dies and falls into the earth, it can never be reborn. As long as we hold
onto our tiny little egos, we will never be anything more then a pathetic minuscule raindrop.
Once we abandon our egos and we return to our source, then we inherit and become one with all
that the ocean is. That is the breath of God.
God dies so that we can live, so that we can die, so that God can live. God dies, the ocean denies
itself and allows itself to be broken up and fractured. As God dies, each individual soul bubbles
up from the vast countenance of God. God dies so that we might live. That is the message of the
cards,. That is the message of the Bible. God exhales, takes a part of his energy, and breathes it
into the nostrils of Adam that we might live. So that what? So that we can walk around the rest
of our lives thinking that we are self-actualized and not needing anybody else. Right? Wrong!
God dies, so that we can live, so that we can become the Hanged Man, and in so doing, fall back
into the ocean, return to the Garden of Eden and the tree of everlasting life, and rediscover the
oneness which we have with God.
Now at this point there is a rather unpleasant matter that I must discuss with the Christian church.
Christianity has developed the idea that none of this is true, and that none of this necessary.
Christianity has developed the idea that it is necessary only to believe that Jesus did this for us.
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If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, then the church teaches, you will go to Heaven. This
is a very small, exoteric fallen teaching. Number one, it places an inordinate amount of power
simply within the realm of believing something to be true. The Biblical term is one of faith, and
faith constitutes the totality of one's being. All of your thoughts, all of your actions, all of your
energy are the essence of faith. Simply believing something will benefit you nothing.
It also retains the idea of the individual with his or her sin simply being overlooked in their
unpleasantness, and God not holding it against them and allowing them into Heaven. This is
absolutely not true. What is the essence of the Christian passion? What is it that Jesus actually
did? This is another issue that the Christian church has gotten wrong over the years. It is true,
Jesus died upon the cross, and it is true that he was resurrected. But, that is not what he did.
That is not his active participation in the passion. What was?
It was his final night in the Garden of Gethsemane. As the fall of man happened in the Garden of
Eden, the redemption of man happens in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying and he sees
before him two pathways--the pathway of life and power, comfort perhaps, and the pathway of
the cross. And, what he actually did was pray to God that if this cup can pass away from me, so
be it. But not my will, but thy will be done.
You can spend as much energy as you want worshipping Jesus as being absolutely perfect, but
the Biblical record is quite clear that he wanted something against God's will. Not my will, but
thy will. What Jesus wanted was not what God wanted. He wanted something which was
against the will of God and, in essence, at that moment, at least, was a sinner. He had the power
of ego within him, to seek his own life, his own comfort, to not have these problems, to not have
to go to the cross. But, he recognized that as being against the will of God, and in so doing,
voluntarily died to himself. He sublimated his will, his ego, his desires and sought only to serve
the higher power of God's will. He died to himself. He took up his cross and entered eternal life.
That is the active participatory deed which Christ accomplished. He died to himself and
followed not his ego, but the will of God. He did not hold onto the specific density of his tiny
little raindrop, but recognized that that raindrop had to die, had to live for something beyond its
own self-preservation, and its own tiny ego bound will. He sought to merge with the will of the
Divine. In this way, he opened himself up so that the power of the ocean could flow through
Him. The power of Strength, the power of Justice, the power of the Magician and High
Priestess--the power of God could move and flow through Him. That is religion. That is the
Christian pathway. That is the story of the Tarot cards.
The ego, which entered the world through Adam and Eve, died in Gethsemane, in Jesus.
Through his passion then, he made this power available to all human beings through the pouring
out of this holy spirit. This Pentecost, this baptism of God's energy, was poured out to all people.
Jesus did die, He was resurrected, and the blessing of Pentecost happened for all human beings.
But, ladies and gentlemen, that is not enough.
The Bible is also clear that if the only ego which dies is that of Jesus, then He may sit at the right
hand of God, but you may spend the rest of eternity trapped in your ego and pain. That is why
we have the sacraments of communion and baptism: that we might be fed in our bodies and
souls in the physical and spiritual universe, in that two-fold manifestation; that we might be fed
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by his sacrificial atoning body and blood; and, that through baptism, we may be washed and
immersed into the holy cleansing power of God.
The book of Romans makes it painfully, repetitively clear. If we belong to Christ and if we have
been merged with Him in the likeness of His baptism, then so too we will merge with Him in His
death and in His resurrection. Failure to do that leaves us caught forever, cast out of the Garden
of Eden, forever trapped in our own sin.
That this is possible in God's will is clearly evident throughout the Bible. As Paul followed
Christ and as he served Christ and he let his own ego die, we have these magnificent passages
where he talks about all of his human accomplishments and all of his ego triumphs. And, he says
that he counts it all as rubbish, for the higher calling of God in Christ. Toward the end of his life
in the book of Galatians, he was able to say, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me. And the life which I live, I live by the power of God." Paul is stating there that he is the
Hanged Man; that his ego has died; that he is now living as one with God.
This is your destiny, ladies and gentlemen. This is the pathway which God has laid out in the
universe. This is the pattern He has laid out in the Bible. This is the pattern He has laid out in
nature and in the Tarot cards. God dies so that we can live, so that we can die, so that God can
live.
Remember I talked about the Hanged Man being a two-fold revelation, physical and spiritual.
The spiritual we have discussed, the physical revelation though also contains great power. We
have seen in modern years the great power available to those who will deny themselves and
follow the pathway of non-violent resistance. Mahatma Gandhi comes most easily to mind,
along with Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others. The pathway of the world and the pathway
of military and strength and war certainly accomplishes many things, but it also exacts great
suffering and great turmoil. By always demanding our own way in life, whether it is in business
or in politics or in the family. we will often get what we want, but only in part. It is only by
being able to give in, give up, cooperate, and help others that they might appear to be great that
we are able to be true children of God. It is only through giving up a little bit of our earthly
power, that we are able to have all on the earth which we want.
If you are always demanding that your children do everything exactly the way you want them to,
number 1 you will have constant strife. Number 2, even if you are successful in completely
sublimating their wills to yours, you will wind up with completely crippled, diseased children,
unable to make any decisions for themselves. You will never have the lasting satisfaction of
knowing that you helped those human beings become adults. It is only by lowering your ego, and
allowing them to have their own freedom that you will find any lasting peace. This is the nature
of the Hanged Man. This is the nature of recognizing, through the pathway of justice, that all
people are equal.
As Jesus died to His ego, you must and can die to yours. As you do so, you will then open
yourself up to immense spiritual power. That is what is signified by the glowing halo around the
Hanged Man's head. The light, which is the Fool, enters creation, the glorious infinite son of
eternal light and life which we had in the Garden of Eden, which now is guarded by the holy
angel. We see, first dimly in the lantern which the Hermit holds, and we discussed at that point
that here the individual secret for truth is beginning to be able to control some of the divine light.
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In the pathway of the Hanged Man, we actually become the divine light. We recognize that we
are not simply controlling an external agent, but rather we are becoming that agent. As long as
we are an ego with a self will, we are working against the will of God.
Therefore, the divine light must be external to us. That is why at the stage of the Hermit, the
Hermit is holding the light, but he is not the light. Jesus said that we are the light of the world,
not that we control the light of the world.
Once the barriers between self and God are broken down, once the ego begins to dissipate, then
that divine light, that divine revelation, that divine power is no longer external to us. It is no
longer something which we merely control, but rather, once we have died and it is no longer we
who live, but Christ who lives in us, then we become the light. We recognize that we are the
light, and that the light is all that there truly is. That is why Jesus is portrayed with this glowing
halo. That is why the Hanged Man has this radiating halo, no longer simply a advanced
controlling agent of the light, but actually light itself. God is light and in Him there is no
darkness at all. This is a great and glorious proclamation.
The pathway of the Hanged Man, then, is to take us beyond anything we have ever known. It is a
call from our heavenly home to embark upon the second half of the journey. God has died and
we do live. The Tarot cards, and nature, and the Bible, and the passion of Christ are all calling us
to the second half of the story--for us to die, that God might live. That is what we are going to
see in the remaining Tarot cards, as they continue to portray the entirety of the soul’s journey
from the beginning with God to full ego-hood, to the beginning of the religious pathway, to the
death of the ego, to the return to perfect oneness with the Divine.
The entire breath of God is portrayed in these cards. This is a call to you--a call which we must
recognize constantly. As St. Paul said, "I die daily." All of these tendencies exist simultaneously
right here and right now. Right here and right now you have access to the consciousness of the
Fool. Infinite God is right at this moment, here and now.
It is not that He is so far away that He cannot be seen. It is that He is so present that we overlook
Him. We have access to the consciousness of Mother Nature. We have access immediately to
the consciousness of the Emperor or the Chariot or any of these powers or potentialities or
characteristics that we have seen in any of these cards. It is up to us to control our will freely,
and decide what we want to focus on.
On any given day, we can return to the fallen lovers and have ego reign. At any given moment,
we can follow the pathway of the Hanged Man and rejoice in the benevolent egotist state. It is
constantly and forever up to us. The Tarot cards, as they exist in the soul, are much like a
television. It is up to us which channel we are going to select. All of the signals are available.
Whether you are currently looking at channel 2 or 4 or 5, they're all right here, right now. It is up
to us to attune ourselves to which channel we are going to work through on a moment by
moment basis.
At this point, we see that the Tarot cards are leaving the realm of mere speculation or
philosophical contemplation, and any further progress must be recognized as an intimate and
direct call to our souls to answer the voice of God calling us to a higher life, a higher purpose.
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We cannot study the Hanged Man without becoming the Hanged Man. We can, in a certain
sense, study Justice, understand it, and still seek in justice. But, if we are truly to understand and
embrace the notion of the Hanged Man, it demands a response on the part of our soul to be
willing to seek, not our own will, but God's will. That is the purpose, that is the message.
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TRUMP 13 - DEATH
If you haven't already, spend a few minutes just looking at this card. It says much about the
mortal human condition, and it says much about the spiritual pathway. We have just come
through the experience of the hanged man. The ego is beginning to die, and the aspirant for God
is seeking to have his self will submerged into the glorious ocean of God's will.
After that, comes death. Jesus was willing to die to His self, was placed upon the cross, and died.
This is a card of darkness and hope, although the hope is not easily perceived. Death is death,
and it is never easy nor pretty. There is a myth in America today of “the good death.” The myth
basically goes that if we live a nice life, and we are good people, and we take care of our bodies,
then at some point we will peacefully, painlessly pass into the arms of our Savior and we will be
given the final gift, that of a good death. This is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow--the
final reward, the blue ribbon for those who have lived the proper life. This myth causes untold
suffering, because, that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is available to practically no one.
Those who have studied death will tell you that less than 3% of the people on this earth will
experience the good death, and even if they do somehow wind up slipping into the unknown
peacefully, it is much more often than not because they're in some form of a coma after a
prolonged illness.
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The number of people who live healthy, long, fulfilling lives, go to bed one night and wake up
dead without any struggle or pain, are such a small minority of the populous that they may as
well not exist. Yet people continually strive after this vision, this dream, this hope. They feel
guilt and their pain is exponentially multiplied when they watch a loved one suffer in death. The
feelings of guilt and the feelings of sorrow come from the sensation that if we had lived a better
life or if we had loved our wife or child better, that somehow this wouldn't have happened. None
of this is true. Death is death.
We perpetuate this myth within the Christian church. Easter morning is usually severely
misplaced. We have a Good Friday service, which seldom is attended in large numbers in any
church or denomination, and that service is usually one of great peace. The candles are lit and
subdued; we sing gentle hymns. We have a wonderful little germinate about how beautiful is the
gift that God has given us, and we go from the peace and the tranquility of Good Friday to the
glorious Resurrection Sunday of Easter. The trumpets blare, everybody wears their new
Spring/Easter outfits. The flowers are budding, the birds are singing, the choirs scream the
ecstasy of God at the top of their lungs. It's all understandable, but it is all wrong. It has nothing
to do with history. It has nothing to do with our lives.
The history of the Gospels is much closer to the truth of our lives. What is that history? You
know it very well. Jesus died on a cross, a very unpleasant, nasty, miserable, painful death. To
imagine he did not suffer is truly one of the most psychotic ideas that human beings have come
up with. The physical pain was immense. Crucifixion was designed by the Romans for a very
specific purpose. Its purpose was to make the victim suffer. They knew a certain technique that
would extract the pain and anguish as long as anything that they could imagine, and the way that
a human body was strung up on a cross was to provide the crucified person with two options.
Number 1, was to hang loosely from the arms as the wrists were pinned to the cross beam. That
would enable him to get some rest from his feet, but it would also cause the lungs to collapse,
and create incredible pressure upon the heart and the lungs--a most unpleasant experience.
If the crucified person tired of that, then he could stand up, relieve the pressure on his arms and
his lungs and his heart by putting the weight of his body upon this nail that was pounded through
his feet. The crucified person would struggle for hours, caught between the anguish of the sharp
pain in the feet and the strangling convulsive pull of the lungs being crushed by the rib cage, until
finally, the crucified would lose all energy, pass out and ultimately die from strangulation. No
more air could get into the lungs.
Even if you are the Holy Son of God, this is not a fun thing to go through. And, when on Good
Friday we commemorate death with these sweet little songs and these tender little meditations,
we whitewash and profane history. The history of the death of Jesus is the history of pain,
suffering, blood and filth.
In exactly the same way, we profane the message of Easter. Because on the following Sunday
after Jesus was buried, the women and disciples wound their way to the tomb at one time or
another, and found that the tomb was empty. There were no trumpets blaring. There were no
angelic children running around hunting for Easter eggs. There was no great dance and
celebration and Easter breakfast. There were scared, frightened people hiding for their lives.
Their leader had just been crucified, and their greatest fear was that they would be next. In their
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fear and in their anguish and in their aloneness, they went and found a tomb that was empty.
This compounded their fear; this compounded their anxiety. They heard a message from an
angel saying that He is not here, He is not dead, He has risen. Not a one of them believed this
initially. It took them days, months, and years to fully comprehend all that this meant.
So you see death is always much more painful than in our imaginings, and resurrection is much
more laborious, gradual process than we wish to confess.
All of that is addressed in this card. Death is pain; death is suffering; death is loss. Deal with it.
The Bible is about death. The Bible is about blood. The Bible is about pain. There are nearly a
thousand verses in the Bible which refer to death, dying and the dead. If one were to print all of
these verses out on 8 1/2” x 11” paper, the document would be over 60 pages long.
It is forever true, that one cannot begin to live until we are prepared to die. Death is the great
equalizer. It affects the young and the old, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the
famous and infamous. And, absolutely no one can escape it.
Now there is another fantasy, which we have approached previously, that has developed within
western civilization--that all death resulted from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There
are forests in South Africa, and there are jungles in the world that have not seen a human being
for hundreds of millions of years, if ever. And, to believe that the constant cycle of death and
rebirth that we find in that jungle is a result of Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit, is
a great leap of imagination. Death is a universal law, and there is nothing that can live, as we
have seen before, unless there is death. Death completes the cycle. Death completes the breath
of God. The leaves, through photosynthesis, create the food of the world. Those leaves enter the
animals, the animals leave droppings, those droppings decay and re-nourish the soil. If the plants
did not die or if the animals did not die, there soon would be no more nutrients for the plants. All
life would cease to exist. This is the message of the Bible, yet it is remarkable how we have
ignored it.
If a seed does not die, it cannot be reborn. If we do not die, we cannot be reborn. So the first
aspect of this card is that of physical individual death. That death affects the body. It affects the
emotions. It connects us to our loved ones. We must, if we seek health, be prepared for death.
This is simple, existential, factual reality.
If you have a spouse, child, friend, or acquaintance, there is only a finite number of destinies for
that person’s relationship with you.
Destiny Number 1: You will lose contact with one another and not go through death. This can
happen through divorce, through people moving away, people having new lives, or simply losing
contact with one another. The relationship becomes broken and is no longer a factor. However,
if you remain in a relationship with your parents, children, spouse or friends, then there are only
three other destinies.
Destiny Number 2: Your parent, child, spouse or friend will die and leave you to mourn.
Destiny Number 3: You die and leave your parent, child, spouse or friend to mourn.
Destiny Number 4: You will both die together in some sort of catastrophe leaving everyone else
around you to mourn.
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There are no other choices.
Once we can embrace this and face it openly, we can begin to live. Here is the greatest secret I
have ever discovered regarding death: Embrace death fully. Recognize that death is the natural
state. Do your mourning now. Recognize that your cat is already dead; your baby is already
dead; your parents are already dead; you are already dead. Face this. Embrace this death which
sits upon the horse. Embrace this card and make it your reality. Live in it, absorb it, eat it,
breathe it, drink it. Recognize that this is the destiny of one and all, and that it is completely,
utterly inescapable.
Do not let this death stop with your friends. Embrace death in all aspects of existence. The
clock, which you cherish, is smashed, destroyed, broken and dead. The business you have
worked for so long is bankrupt, dead, destroyed. The house which you have spent so many years
working for is a rubble, completely useless, gone.
The sum total of the universe has been swallowed into the mysterious unknown, and death is the
only reality. Once you can do, you will begin to live in resurrection. The cat is already dead.
We have buried the cat. What would you do? What would you give if you could spend just one
more day with your dead cat?
Your wife is already dead. You have just returned from burying her. What would you give for
one more day to be able to tell her all of the things that you wanted to tell her, but never did?
Your parents are already dead. You have just come back from the funeral parlor. What would it
be like if you had one last opportunity to spend some time with them, to live with them?
That is the reality you can tap into, once you embrace death. Once you recognize that everything
is already dead, then every single day is a gift of infinite grace. Every single day is a resurrection.
Every single day is that one last chance to do and be all the things you want to be--to spend the
time and the relationships and the warmth with all of your dead relatives. One last chance to
enjoy working in your dead, bankrupt business. One more chance, by some divine miracle, to
live one last day in that house which is a burning, rotting, rubble of dust. Then there is no
mourning. There is no death. There is only resurrection. When the cat finally dies, you have
already mourned the cat. When the children finally die, you have already mourned their passing.
And you have lived a life of fulfillment, taking advantage of every opportunity of every moment
of every day. When the miracle of resurrection has passed on, then you are at peace to recognize
that things have simply returned to their natural state. You wake up one morning, and the
resurrected cat is no longer there. There is no reason to grieve, because you have already buried
the cat.
That is why this card is in the Tarot deck. It is meant to be embraced. It is meant to be a gateway
to a new birth. If we can embrace death, then our lives are transformed. That is the physical
realm. This is also a card of immense spiritual power. The crucifixion of ego, that we saw in the
Hanged Man, can and will become reality. As that ego dies, we then live in a glorious
resurrection. As we continue to look at the card, we see several important elements.
First, we see the skeleton riding upon the pale horse. The pale horse throughout the years has
become an image of death and dying. They say he comes on a pale horse, and the rider is Death.
The skeleton is what is left after all of the maggots have consumed the flesh and organs. The
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bones are once again the great equalizer between animal and man, male and female, rich and
poor, and the skeleton, for many obvious reasons, has become a symbol for death. But, this
skeleton is wearing armor. This is a very powerful image. You cannot hurt this skeleton. You
cannot stop him. He is a conqueror, and there is nothing you can do to prevent him from
advancing.
He is holding a banner with a white rose on a black background. The white rose is in a five-fold
multiplication. Five is the number of grace, the number of the Hierophant, the number of
revelation, the number of new growth. There is, throughout death, the process of new growth.
At his feet, we see just behind the horse, a man, dead. This man represents all of the human
achievements. He represents King Matter. For, in fact, all of matter, not just the organic matter,
but all matter, will eventually become destroyed and swallowed up. The very electrons
themselves are not eternal, but are subject to death, decay and entropy.
The horse is stomping upon the crown. All of our achievements and all of our growth will not
survive. The greatest, grandest, glorious human creation is merely a tool to hopefully get us
closer to God. Things are meant to be used to serve people. People should never be used to
serve things. All of matter and all of human creation will be swallowed up. Death affects all.
We see the Pope standing beside Death, praying. Death affects the old and the young. Here we
see the religious authorities seeking to come to terms with Death. We see a young woman at the
feet of the Pope who has fainted and is unable to deal with the horrible passing of the King of
Matter. At the feet of the horse, we see a little child holding a white rose, looking up at death
with open eyes. This magnificently represents the three types of human response to death. King
Matter is dead. Death has taken his toll.
The three primary human responses are that of the religious community, through prayer and
supplication, to try to have the hurt and the pain mourned over and dealt with. We have
elaborate rituals for burying the dead, transforming the dead, talking to the dead--all of the things
which the religious community does, both in a healthy and in an unhealthy way, so we can try
and love death, work with it, make death our friend, and transform death into a good situation.
The young girl in gray has fainted. This is the majority response. We look the other way. We do
not want to be here. We do not want to see; we do not want to know. In our society, millions of
people die every year. Where are they? We hide them. This is the secret. We don't even like to
see funeral processions. In other societies, the death of a person is a central event in the life of
the entire community; not in ours.
Death is a secret, death is a darkness which we do not wish to look at nor embrace. So if we are
not going to supplicate death and we're not going to ignore death, what response do we have?
The response of the little child. Unless we have faith like a little child, we will never enter the
Kingdom of Heaven and recognize all truth. The little child does not seek to turn death into a
friend. The little child does not seek to ask death to go away. The little child does not turn her
eyes and pretend that death is not there. The little child opens her eyes, sees death in the face,
recognizes death as what it is, and has a simple straight forward natural acceptance of this reality.
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Notice that in the background there is a ship sailing on the river. Life goes on. For every death,
there is a rebirth. For every baby that is born, there is an old person who is planted. This is the
eternal cycle of God's plan.
As the final element, I wish to direct your attention to the right hand side of the card, just above
the head of the Pope. Notice, that we have two towers, and we have the Sun beginning to rise.
Death is a stripping away of the veils--physical, emotional, mental and spiritual veils. And as we
strip away veils, we can see more clearly into the heart of truth. That heart of truth is the light.
God is the light. That is the Sun, and that sun will become our destiny in the next cards.
That halo of light which surrounds the head of the Hanged Man is nothing less than the presence
of infinite God himself, and we must now, as we follow with these cards, take a journey, a long
journey up and over the hills, until finally we will come to these two towers again. We will come
to the Sun again. Death is the beginning of the pathway to resurrection, not instantaneous, not
immediate, not overnight. Death is rather just the beginning.
The disciples were engaged upon the start of the spiritual pathway when they began to
understand the resurrection of Jesus. You must start there to understand the death and
resurrection of Jesus. But as we have said before, Jesus’ death and resurrection are only the
beginning, because they are an instruction booklet for you and your personal death and
resurrection. That is the power that enables you to embrace death, look it squarely in the face
with the faith of a little child, and rise beyond the human limitations to a glorious and infinite
resurrection.
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TRUMP 14 - TEMPERANCE
We come to one of the unsung heroes of the spiritual pathway. As we look at card #14, we will
be discussing one of the most overlooked topics in the human race, and yet one of the most
important. With Temperance, we are completing our fifth trinity of cards. This one
encompasses the Hanged Man on one side, death on another, balanced by Temperance.
Temperance is balance and the sharing, within one person, of multiple and often contradictory
energies. We are all subject to many, many thoughts, feelings, tendencies and energies. The
various vehicles which we operate all have their needs, wants and desires. The mechanical
vehicle, the physical vehicle, the emotional desire vehicle, the mental vehicle, the spiritual
vehicle all lay claims to the energies of the divine controlling will, and all ask for their own
attention.
The mechanical body needs to have its tires changed. The physical body experiences heart
palpitations, gets hungry, wants to sleep. The desire body gets tossed about with overwhelming
feelings of love and ecstasy, anger, tension, seeking one moment for peace of mind, seeking the
next moment for thrill and excitement. The emotional body gets tossed in its reactions to all that
happens, one moment full of peace and contentment, the next moment raging. The mental body
has a plethora of experiences to tease, pull and tantalize it, all of which exist as playgrounds for
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the divine will. Where are we to focus ourselves? Not only do each of the different vehicles
have conflicting desires, conflicting energies, but they all compete against one another. You
cannot fix your car while you are meditating. You cannot serve humanity while you are feeding
your face.
So Temperance is here as a divine guiding principle to bring balance, harmony and focus to all of
our energies. This is most significant, coming as it does, on the heals of the previous two cards.
The Hanged Man is the call to transcend ego. Death is the potential pitfall. For some people, the
pathway of the Hanged Man is one of annihilation of the self--to beat the body until feeling is no
longer possible, to dull the senses until experience is no longer possible, to numb the emotions
until feeling is impossible, and to so confuse the mind, that thought is not possible. That form of
ego transcendence leads not to the positive death merely of the ego, but the total annihilation of
the being.
This pathway has been followed by many people. The term "nirvana" can be translated, to snuff
out. No breath. Once the self is eliminated, then the self is free. Therefore, we have these
pathways of absolute radical aestheticism. Do not feed the body, torture and kill the body. Do
not feed the emotions, do not experience desire. Do not stir up the waters with all of your
frivolous thought. Brother, seek to expire. Seek to be blown out. Some see the human
consciousness as a knot, as a gnarl of tangles, and the purpose is to comb out the cosmic hair,
removing all of the knots, wherein you'll be seeing that the individual does not exist.
The cult transcendence of ego is a very subtle pathway, and for those who arrive there at all, there
is great temptation to mortify the flesh and all aspects of being in order to enter this Nihilistic
state.
Temperance is here then to teach us several things. Number 1 is how to balance between each of
our different individual vehicles. Number 2 is how to balance between ego transcendence and
total annihilation of the self.
When we were discussing the Hanged Man, we discussed the droplet of water which re-enters the
ocean. Each and every individual atom and electron and molecule inside of the raindrop still
exists. It has not been passed through some vaporizer that will not only turn the water into
steam, but will also disseminate every single atom in some form of cosmic explosion wherein the
atoms no longer exist. That is what is known as the left hand pathway, the negative pathway. the
Nihilistic pathway.
We are not talking about the ego becoming the destruction of the person, but rather to break
down the barriers between the individual and the group, between the particular and the whole.
God is the whole, we are the individual and all fellow human beings are the group.
When the secret tradition calls us to the egotist's state, it is not calling for the abrogation of
existence. It is not calling for the negative. It is not calling for the wholesome positive parts of
the individual to be destroyed. In this respect, the call to death is not a death of the entire being,
but only a death of those individual attributes which separate the individual from the totality in
the group.
That's why the greatest law is the law of love. The law of love states that we love God with our
whole being, and we love our fellow man as ourselves. That means that the individual merges
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with the totality of God and the individual merges with the group of all fellow persons. In this
respect, Temperance balances the transcendence of ego and seeks to preserve it from an
annihilation of the self so that the positive, or right hand pathway of ego transcendence, leading
us through death, is a death not of all of ourselves, but only those parts which need to die. This is
the key to Temperance. Temperance is a balance--finding the right amount and proportion in all
aspects.
The opposite of Temperance is excess. If we are to kill the entire being, then we are proverbially
tossing out the baby with the bath water. We are not separating the wheat from the chaff, but we
are rather killing them all and letting God sort them out. This is excess. This lacks discernment,
which is another important aspect of the angel of Temperance.
What is the balancing controlling force that is going to enable us to be temperate? How are we to
determine which is wheat and which is chaff? How are we to determine those aspects which
properly shall be annihilated, and those which are good, should remain and be strengthened?
Obviously we must have discernment. This is a higher function from that of justice which we
saw applying essentially to the realm of human interactions and God's interactions with people in
terms of what is right and wrong. That cycle is through and comes out as the angel of
Temperance.
In the higher facilities of being able to discern up from down, good from minus, plus from evil,
this is how the universe operates. So, what do we have? We have a call to the transcendence of
ego, and we have two pathways for this to occur upon. The pathway of total Nihilism and the
pathway of transcendence of only those evil sides.
The pathway of Nihilism leaves us with absolutely nothing. The pathway of positive
transcendence leaves us with only the good. And the faculty which we use to determine the
difference is the faculty of discernment, which is cosmic conscious awareness of the yea and nay
of life, leading us to balance--leading us to Temperance.
I began this chapter stating that balance was the unsung hero of the human race. If I breath too
much, I will hyper-oxygenate and pass out. If I breath too little, I will become asphyxiated and
pass out. The result is the same. Too much air and too little air lead to the same exact outcome.
If I eat too much, I will become sick and die, yet if I eat too little, I will become sick and die. If I
sleep too much, I will become groggy and tired, yet if I sleep too little, I will become groggy and
tired. I must have a balancing point in all aspects of my life. Temperance is here to help give us
discernment and keep/or restore the lost balance.
If I focus exclusively on my lower vehicles, spending all of my time shining and polishing the
automobile, then my higher vehicles will suffer. I may not eat properly, I may not spend any time
in thought or meditation, or I may isolate myself from all human beings because I am obsessed
with my car. If I spend too much time in thought and prayer and meditation and do not deal with
simple aspects of nutrition, movement and exercise, then my physical vehicle will expire.
What we obviously need then, is a balance and a discernment in order to keep all vehicles
operating in harmony. In this way, the pathway of the Tarot, the pathway of the secret tradition,
the pathway of the Bible, is different from much of the rest of the world.
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There is nothing wrong with the body; there is nothing wrong with eating. There is nothing
wrong with the lower vehicles; there is nothing wrong with sexuality. And it is tragic that so
much of the human race, and especially exoteric Christianity as taught in retail outlets which we
call churches, has enabled the holy beatific gifts to become blasphemed.
All vehicles are an expression of the higher consciousness. As above, so below. Your body is a
reflection of your mind, just as your mind will be affected by your body. Ultimately, there is no
separation and no difference between the soul and the body. They are one. God did not consider
it to be immoral to take upon himself a body.
God did not consider it to be a blasphemy to eat, therefore the appetites need not be abrogated
and sexuality need not be ignored. The sum totality of all vehicles is an incredible celebration to
be rejoiced in. The problem arises when the Angel of Temperance is ignored.
If we get overbalanced and spend too much of our energies worshipping the body, then the higher
vehicles will suffer. The discernment enables us to perceive truth from falsehood. This is a key
point. The essence of repentance is not to simply promise you won't do it again or to feel really
sorry about what you did. The essence of repentance is to change your thinking. In all of the
entomological roots, repentance is a transformation of the mind a different awareness.
The Angel of Temperance bringing discernment and enlightenment enables us to perceive life
differently. Remember the great commandments, to love God with your totality and love your
fellow man as yourself. Recall that we indicated that this is not so much a command, as it is a
law, just as gravity is a law. And we commented that you do, in fact, love God with your totality,
and you do, in fact, love your fellow human beings in exactly the same way you love yourself.
What happens, then, is as the Angel of Temperance and discernment comes to you, as you repent
of the wrong, as you change your mind and experience the transformation of metanoia, you go
beyond your previous thinking into new thinking.
You gain discernment and you can see more of what it means via the law. You can then see that
in fact you do love God with your whole being, because you are united with Him. You can see
that you do love your fellow man as yourself, because you are one with them. Therefore as you
gain more access to knowledge, you have more and more discernment. Then the law becomes
less of what is apparently a command and more of a awareness of the truth.
The law to love God and love your fellow man begins as a commandment. When we follow it
without any desire or comprehension, we have no recognition of the truth. But as time goes on
and we begin to recognize temperance and the balance and the totality, then we recognize that
these are not commandments, but rather statements of actual fact.
We then see the essence of what is known as the secret tradition. The essence of all of the
mystical schools and secret temple initiates is all the same thing. They all attempt to bring about
a change in the initiate, through a series of revelations, heightening the awareness of the aspirant
and therefore bringing about a change in the individual. However, these secret initiate
ceremonies are not necessary. Truth is there for one and all.
If you choose to participate in some secret organization, that is, of course, your choice. For some
people, that participation or membership gives them a heightened sense of importance, as though
they are doing something more sacred than what others do. The primary difficulty there is the
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entrapment of ego. As you experience your religious pathway as a part of a secret special
initiation, then tearing down the walls of ego is so much more difficult.
What we see is that commandments are transformed into divine law by discernment, and that ego
and hatred are transformed into harmony and union through discernment. As we recognize that
we are one being, as we recognize that God's blood flows through our veins, as we begin to
recognize that we are the Fool, and as we begin to recognize that we are all God's children and
separate cells in the entire body of Christ, then our ego, through that cleansing light of
consciousness, begins to dissolve.
What are we going to do to answer the call of the Hanged Man? That is the question addressed
by the balancing Angel of Temperance. And, it is a question which we did not address in the
Hanged Man, because we were not prepared to do so. Let us assume that we are at the phase of
the Hanged Man, that we are prepared to answer the call of God in our hearts and transcend our
ego. We are ready to become baptized into Jesus’ death and His resurrection. We are, we feel,
prepared to enter the egoless state. What do we actually do? What steps, or plans or practices or
meditations, exercises, tools do we engage upon in order to do this?
O.K. God, I'm ready! Now what do I do? You cannot do anything. Whatever you might do, is
going to be a action of your ego and lead you back to the paradox of the Bodhisattva. What you
must do is nothing. There is only an awareness that one is, in fact, one with the universe. You
can simply open your eyes, and through the process of repentance, metanoia, and the
transformation of your mind, recognize that your ego never existed at all.
In exactly the same way, the law to love God begins as a commandment only because we start
entrapped in our ego. So we fight against God and work against His law, perceiving it simply as
a command or a duty to be performed.
As the Angel of Discernment comes to us, and we recognize that there is no fundamental
separation between God and ourselves, then the eyes of our heart are opened and we see the
infinite truth. As the Bible says, "We shall not be conformed to this world, but we shall be
transformed by the renewing of our minds," by the metanoia, by the discernment granted to us.
That enables us to recognize truth, recognize all vehicles and all domains as being part of the
divine flow, and grants us the ability to become aware of the oneness which we all share.
As we turn specifically to the Tarot card #14, we see many gorgeous images. First, we see the
return of the angel, who guards the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden on Tarot card #6. At this
point, as we overcome the transcendence of ego, as we overcome ego, as we recognize the power
of divine will and judgment and have the blossoming consciousness of God himself, and as we
have the mind of Christ, we are overcoming the pairs of opposites. The curse of knowledge of
good vs. evil, me and not me, is being dealt with, is being overcome. There is a oneness that we
are returning to.
The angel is there to welcome us back to the fold and send us on the final phases of our journey.
We must travel farther. We are not home. We are not yet complete. The breath of God has us
returning to the Father/Mother, but we are not yet there. She is radiant, with her glowing head
and glorious wings. We see clearly the balance of all aspects of the universe. We have the fourfold symbolism, the four primal elements, very clearly here. She stands with her left foot upon
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the earth and her right foot upon the water. She has wings to fly in the air, and we see around her
head and behind her, behind the mountains, the all consuming fire of the Sun--earth, water, air,
fire, the four elements.
The Angel of Temperance is here to balance these elements and enable them to stay in harmony
with one another. The angel is standing partially on earth and partially on water, to show that
these different forces need not work against each other. They are in harmony. Your body and
your desire state need not be at war. You can control all aspects of your being through the power
of strength and through the divine will. As the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for
everything: a time to live, a time to die, a time to celebrate, a time to grieve. There is a time to
eat and a time to refrain from eating. That is the power that the Angel of Temperance grants to
us.
The angel is holding two cups which represent the chemist’s methodology. She is pouring the
water from one cup into the other, then from that cup back into the first. This is something that
chemists and biologists do as they are performing their experiments. They pour the different
liquids into the different containers until they have the right mixture. This is the card of
transformation. This is a card of action. For through the discernment and awareness and
glorious enlightenment, through the metanoia of this angel, we are transformed. The call to the
transcendence of ego, the challenge of properly embracing death becomes our victory and our
reality through this card.
Upon her breasts, the angel has a square housing a triangle. The symbolism here is obvious and
profound. The square represents the four, which as we have seen is law, matter. The triangle
represents the trinity, represents nature. It also represents the total subject-object relationship: we
have two cups, (subject, object) and the relationship is the liquid which flows between them.
That liquid is the living water that the Bible talks about. When we have overcome, we are
granted access to drink from the streams of living water. The water itself is alive. It is not
merely a chemical, it is actually alive, growing and breathing. That water fills our bodies and
transforms us, i.e., the subject-object relationship.
Finally, but most importantly, let’s look at the most essential aspect of this entire card. It is
something which most people overlook. Just above the square and triangle on the angel’s chest
are some little black squiggles. Some people think that those are just a part of the folds of the
angel’s gown, but they are actually none other then the Yod Heh Vav Heh. That is God's holy
name. The symbolism is astounding. The angel wears the name of God. The angel is God in the
flesh. The angel is Yod Heh Vav Heh and that Yod Heh Vav Heh is manifested within the four
plus the three. All of law, plus all of nature, create the seven--the harmonious balance. The
Chariot, the revelation which will take us back to the inner throne room of God, and the angel
wear the name of Yod Heh Vav Heh. We wear the name of Yod Heh Vav Heh.
This is truly astounding. So many people, as we said before, think of the Tarot cards as being
dark satanic things used for evil, fortune telling purposes, yet here two-thirds of the way to the
end of the pathway of the Major Arcana, we see in card #14, emblazoned on the chest of the
Angel of Temperance, the holy name of Yod Heh Vav Heh. Remember, this is the name which
God said He shall be known by, Exodus 13. This is the sacred name which we saw in the Wheel
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of Fortune, whether we are turning to the left or to the right. It is all Yod Heh Vav Heh. The
power of that name is the discerning force that enables us to recognize all truth.
Behind the angel there is a pathway that leads to the mountains. In the previous card, Death, we
saw the Sun just beginning to peak above the horizon. Here in the next card the Sun is just a
little bit higher. This is not coincidence. We are in day break and entering the promised land.
We will, over the course of the next cards, follow that pathway through the mountains to the Sun.
But next, we must pass through the dark knight of the soul.
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TRUMP 15 - THE DEVIL
We come now to one of the most difficult and controversial cards in the entire deck. Many
people we see in common circles, in movies, on television, and in commercials seem to
remember two cards better than any others--one is the Devil, the other is Death. And, with this
iconography they automatically assume that the Tarot cards are darkness incarnate.
When we discuss the Devil, we are discussing a subject which is very near and dear to the hearts
of many people. People feel very passionate one way or the other about the Devil. For some, the
Devil is a living physical individual being who is the conscious deliberate underlord of all that
goes wrong with this world. For others, the Devil is a symbol of negative tendencies within man
and is, therefore, really not essential.
The pathway of Temperance leads us straight to the Devil's doorway, and if we wish to finally
have our homecoming, we must overcome the Devil in one form or another. We must come to
terms with who or what the devil is. We must come to terms with the Devil's temptation. We
must become unchained and unfettered and have the Devil get behind us, if we are to proceed.
As I present some historical perspective, I do not wish to offend anyone. As I said, many people
take the Devil quite seriously, and this is one matter which people find intently personal. Some
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feel immediately threatened if you challenge any of their conceptions or preconceptions about the
Devil. Before we go into any form of religious or spiritual interpretation or understanding of the
Devil, we must understand the history.
The Devil was invented or discovered, depending upon your perspective, approximately in the
year 580 B.C. How do I say this? I am not fabricating and I am not interpreting. I am
expressing to you actual documented facts of history, which the Bible makes clear to us. If you
read in the Bible there are several writings in what we call the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible,
which account the history of the early Jewish race as it transforms a theocracy into a monarchy.
Those books are 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Chronicles. They account almost chapter
for chapter the same events, the same perspectives, the same times. The difference is they are
written at two very different time periods. 1st and 2nd Samuel where written first. Most authors
will say approximately around the time of their events. Many people actually believe that they
were written by Samuel himself, and I have no reason to dispute this one way or the other.
1st and 2nd Chronicles were written much later, some few hundred years later after the
Babylonian captivity. What was the Babylonian captivity? You should review your history if
you're unfamiliar with this event. This was a pivotal moment in the life of the Jewish people.
The Babylonians from the North, in what we now call Iraq and Iran, came down and through war,
conquered the Jews.
In those days, the Babylonians were actually relatively kind people. Yes, there was a lot of
slaughter, but the way the Babylonians dealt with things was not to kill everyone, but to disperse
them. The Babylonians recognized that the political and economic rulers of a given country were
talented, bright, energetic people, and if they could, they would harness them for their own
purposes. So rather than slaughter all of the lords and the kings and the queens and the mayors
and the merchants, they would take them back to Babylon with them. In this way, they left their
conquered people without any leadership, seriously reducing the opportunities for uprising, and
at the same time making available for themselves the wit, wisdom, and enterprise of the best and
brightest of the conquered nations. This is what was known as the Babylonian captivity.
After the Babylonian captivity around 535 B.C., the Jews were able to come back to Jerusalem,
back to the holy promised land. During this time, they attempted to recount their history. After
years of study, they "published" 1st and 2nd Chronicles which is a review of the early history of
Judaism. This is the same period that 1st and 2nd Samuel dealt with, the early days of Saul,
Samuel, King David.
Now why have I taken you on this miniature tour of history? What in the world does that have to
do with the Tarot cards? What in the world does that have to do with the Devil?
The first accounting of the Devil we have, historically speaking, is in Samuel. The second
accounting is in Chronicles. In 2nd Samuel 24, David takes a census. He counts all of the
people. He was punished for this because God saw that he was attempting to usurp God's
authority. David was not merely satisfied to be the king, but he also wanted to count all the
people, make himself more glorious by knowing exactly how many people he truly ruled.
Now the key issue here is in the differences between two verses in the Bible. 2nd Samuel 24:1
says, "Now the anger of the Lord burned against Israel and it incited David against them to say,
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‘Go number Israel and Judah.’" 1st Chronicles 21:1 says, "Then Satan stood up against Israel
and moved David to number Israel." I, of course, don't know anything about you my reader, but
perhaps you have been reading the Bible and going to church for decades, and have never had
this pointed out to you. The contrast cannot be more apparent.
Read the context yourself. Study it. Become convinced that they are talking about the same
events, because they are. Before the Babylonian captivity, the historians said that the Lord
incited David to make the census,. David did the census, and then the Lord punished him for
doing it. This was Jewish thought.
As in the book of Job, shall we accept good from the hand of the Lord and not evil. Jewish
thought, early Jewish thought, was that the only reality was God, and that all things come from
Him. As in the book of Ecclesiastes, a time to live and a time to die. They are both seen as
being parts of God's unfolding plan.
The only active agent in the world is God, to the early Jewish mind. Therefore, if David was to
be incited to take a census, either it would be himself, some of the humans, or God. There was
no concept of a devil in early Jewish thought. And, if you read the book of Genesis, it never says
that the Devil told Eve to eat this forbidden fruit. It says that the serpent talked to her. We have
discussed this before. The serpent, hundreds of years later, became reinterpreted by St. Paul as
the Devil. But this interpretation did not exist when Moses wrote Genesis and did not exist for
the first several hundred years that that book was read. The only active agent is God.
Now, in 1st Chronicles, it is quite clear that Satan inspires David to do this horrible thing. God
obviously couldn't do this, because it was evil and God punished David for it. Therefore, how
could it have been God's will? Why would God tell David to do this and then punish him for it?
It doesn't make any sense.
Now ladies and gentlemen you can be as fundamentalist as you choose. By “fundamentalist,” I
mean essentially a Bibliolotrist, someone who worships the Bible and doesn't worship God. All
of this talk about the Bible being perfect, the Bible not having a single contradiction, the Bible
not having any "mistakes" or errors of any kind, either scientific or moral or philosophical, is the
creation of a false God. It seeks to worship the Bible instead of God. It seeks to have one
magical answer book that one can follow, without having to be involved with the Spirit. without
having to follow the religious pathway, without having the testimony of the Holy Spirit in one's
life.
You tell me the answers God, and I will do it. You tell me the command, and I will do it. This is
exoteric religion as delivered in retail establishments. It has nothing to do with the true path.
This is plain, because the Bible could not be clearer in this direct and immediate contradiction.
2nd Samuel 24 says God told David to create the census. 1st Chronicles 21 says that Satan told
David to create the census. Either God did, or David did, or Satan did. It cannot be the same. A
contradiction is defined when something in the same time, same way, and same manner is both
true and not true. Did God tell David to create this census? The Bible contradicts itself. In the
one place the answer is God, and another place the answer is Satan. Is God Satan? Is Satan
God? That is the only way to resolve the contradiction.
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I must hasten to add here that this does not in the slightest way devalue the power of the Bible
and the revelation it contains. To simply close our eyes and shut our minds to a plain simple fact
of history, however, does not serve God, Christendom, the Bible, or ourselves any good. The
Biblical record is here for a reason and the writers of the Bible were not offended by this
contradiction. That is a key point. If they had wanted to, they could have changed Chronicles to
make it match Samuel. They could have edited the texts of Samuel to make them match
Chronicles. They did not do that; it was not necessary. They were comfortable with this
contradiction because this contradiction teaches us much. It teaches us is that in the early days,
God was seen as the only active agent within the world. After the Babylonian captivity, Satan is
seen as being the great tempter. What changed? Well, Zoroastrianism is what changed.
Zoroastrianism is the religion of the Parsees, the Babylonians. Zoroastrian was a prophet, who
sought for God. Around the year 580 B.C., he came to a revelation that everything that happens
in the world that is good is the act of God, and everything that is bad is the result of a single
controlling underlord, the evil mind, Anya Maynu. This is the evil one; this is Satan.
Through the Babylonian captivity, the Jews encountered Zoroastrianism, and became familiar
with the idea of the Devil. When they came back, the Devil was intimately a part of their
religion. As they chronicled their early history, some things were rewritten with their new
understanding and their new interpretation, saying that you know it couldn't have been God who
inspired David to do that census. It had to have been the Devil. Oh, that serpent of old, you
know, that had to have been the Devil.
This is a new interpretation. So you have choices, and these are the choices of history--not
theology--history. Either, the people who wrote the earliest Biblical records understood that God
was the only active agent and they were correct, but that through the influx of an evil paganism
the notion of a devil crept into the Bible. Or, you can say that the early people, who wrote the
Bible, did not understand exactly everything that they were talking about and dealing with, and
that through the revelation which God gave to Zoroaster, they came to see the higher deeper
truths of the nature of evil.
Now the Biblical record is quite clear that in the New Testament times, the Devil is an actual,
factual being. The Devil is cursing people. The Devil is seen as being the primal enemy of God.
The Devil must be enchained inside of the lake of fire. And, Jesus wrestles with the Devil
throughout his ministry, not as a symbol, but as a real being.
Well, perhaps you could say Jesus was speaking of the Devil as though he was in a parable form.
But, Jesus was not so much admitting the actual, personal underlord of all evil, so much as he
was using the symbol of the Devil for illustrative purposes. The Bible is quite clear that Jesus
was tempted of the Devil, spoke of the Devil, and had to deal with the Devil. People become
very uncomfortable with talk of the Devil as a symbol, because they feel that this is the first step
that the Devil wants in order to get people to not believe in him. It is only through believing in
him, that the Devil loses his power.
Each personal aspirant must make these decisions for himself. If I am to take a position, I would
say, yes, it is apparent that there are personal forces of evil. The Devil is a very real entity and
must be dealt with. It is through the revelation which God gave to Zoroaster, a Parsee, hundreds
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of miles from Jerusalem, in the year 580 B.C. that we have been able to discover the Devil and
meet him.
This touches upon the broader issue that there are perhaps other revelations that God has given to
other people in other lands and other religions, that we could also learn from. But we will leave
that question for you.
In terms of the Devil, the Devil is the controlling force of matter. The Devil is the opposite of
God, to worship the creation instead of the creator, to amass the powers of all manifest existence
and harness it as a separate entity apart from the prevailing will of God.
The temptation of Jesus by the Devil is astoundingly illustrative. Regrettably so few seem to
recognize what these temptations are. Temptations are not simply Jesus being able to prove that
he is really the Son of God. There are three temptations, and each one represents a very specific
danger on the pathway of spiritual existence. As we learn, as we grow, as we are able to harness
strength and manifest the divine will, and as we begin to overcome the temptations of ego, there
are three definite temptations which the Devil gives to us.
Temptation #1: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. The
temptation here is to use the spiritual powers which the adept acquires for the purpose of
satisfying his own flesh and his own needs and wants.
Temptation #2: If you are the Son of God, stand upon this high pinnacle of the temple and throw
yourself down. The temptation here is, as one overcomes the limits of normal humanity and
begins to glow with the celestial light of God, to make a spectacle of one's self and point to one's
self as an object of worship and adoration.
Temptation #3: The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all of the
kingdoms of the world and all of their glory. He said to Jesus, "All these things I will give you if
you fall down and worship me." This temptation is the final and most difficult. This is, in some
respects, the last dying gasp of the ego. As the ego becomes cleansed and spiritual abilities are
granted, and as the soul begins to recognize that it is a manifestation of God, the temptation is to
harness those energies to control the entire world.
Temptation #1, we use our spiritual powers for our own personal pleasure.
Temptation #2, we use our spiritual powers to draw attention to ourselves as an object of
worship.
And temptation #3, we use our spiritual powers to control the world.
To overcome temptation #1, we must always seek to serve others and recognize that we are all
one.
For temptation #2, we must recognize that we are, in fact, nothing more then a conduit of the
divine light and a channel of God's presence in this world.
And for temptation #3, we must recognize that the totality of manifest creation, as glorious as it
is, is simply the dancing of shadows upon the face of God. We are to live not by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We shall not tempt the Lord our God, and
we shall worship the Lord our God and serve Him only.
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The Devil must be overcome, and these temptations must be overcome as we return on the
pathway.
Jesus, through his passion and his death on the cross, states quite clearly, "It is finished." The
struggle between good and evil, God and man, the spirit and the flesh, is over. The bonds of sin
and death have been broken. The chains which ensnare the human race have been cast aside.
We are now free to worship God and no longer be cast about and plagued by the Devil, yet the
Devil is still alive and still well.
This is the symbolism of card #15. What else do we see? The most striking element perhaps is
that this card has a completely black background. This card and the next card are the only two
cards in the Tarot deck like that. The other backgrounds are either blue, the color of air; yellow,
the color of the fiery sky; or, gray, which is non-committal. The Devil's black background
indicates the absence of light. This leads us to another key point--the difference between light
and dark. Many people ignorantly feel that light and dark are part of the pairs of opposites, just
like male and female, heads and tails, North and South, but this is absolutely and categorically
wrong.
From a perceptive standpoint, it is true in that we perceive light and we perceive darkness and we
perceive them as being opposites. But they are, as we are transformed by metanoia, not opposites
at all. Male and female are equally existent entities. Both are good. Both have the same
ontological status in that they exist in the same way and the same manner although they are
opposites. Heads and tails on a coin are equal entities but they are opposites. Light and dark are
not equal entities. Light is an energy; light is a presence; light is a physical aspect of reality.
Darkness is simply the absence of the light. When I turn on a light switch, the light comes
flooding into the room. When I turn off the light switch, darkness does not flood the room. The
light simply disappears. Light is the positive existence. Light is the truth. God is light.
Darkness is the absence of light. It is not a power and a presence of its own. It is a lessening. It
is a weakness. Strength is power. Light is energy. Darkness is a dimming or a blocking of the
light.
And in a universe of all light, how do we get darkness? We cannot turn off the light of God.
How then do you get darkness? There is only one way. Via a shadow. You must have
something stand between you and God. There must be something solid, something created,
something material, which is standing between you and the Divine light. This revelation could
not be clearer. The Devil and his darkness result as we block out the light of God by placing
some part of the physical creation between us and the celestial presence. When we turn from the
Creator to worship the creation, we place that darkness into our souls. This is clear.
So if we are worshipping our automobiles and considering them to be more important than
fellow human beings, or if we fulfilling our monetary dreams and desires at the expense of our
family, friends and against the will of God, we have placed some part of the creation between us
and God. That is where the darkness of the Devil comes from. God is light and in Him there is
no darkness at all. Therefore, since God fills the heavens and the earth, the only way that there
can be this darkness of the Devil is through the casting of a shadow, where we have placed
something between ourselves and God. To overcome the Devil, is to overcome these
temptations, rise above the fetters of matter, and once again dwell in the limitless light.
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What else do we see on this card? On the Devil's head, we see an inverted star. The star is a
blessed symbol. It is the four elements: earth, water, air, fire, crowned with a fifth. This is
known as sometimes ether. This is the spirit, the actual individual spark of God. The star is
inverted here to show that the Devil is the pathway of inversion. The creation flows from the
Creator and returns to the Creator, in, of, and through Him, to Him. That is the natural flow of
things.
The pathway of the Devil is when we get the energies of the universe inverted, when our minds
are being used to serve our desires. Our desires are being used to serve the body. The body is
there to carry the higher vehicles. When the higher vehicles exert all of their energy for the
sustenance and manipulation of the lower vehicles, then we have an inversion. We have a
blocking of the light. Things are there to help the people. People are not to be used to gain
access to more things. All of the mechanical devices are there to help other people to live
theoretically, happier, better lives. When we manipulate people, lie to them, use them for
purposes of procuring more money so that we can have more things, then we are dwelling in the
realm of the Devil. We are experiencing the inverted pentagram. This is darkness. This is
blocking the light.
We see at the foot of the Devil, Adam and Eve, the Lovers, chained to the Devil's footstool. As
we talked about Jesus saying that he had overcome the powers of sin and death, he had overcome
the Devil. As he said, it is finished. We see, though, that people are still being plagued by the
Devil. Why?
This card gives us the clearest indication it possibly could. These poor fools, Adam and Eve, are
wearing the Devil's horns. They're dressing like him. Adam's got his Devil's tail, and so does
Eve. They are acting as though they are enslaved to their sin, enslaved to their conscience. The
Devil made me do it. I am weak. I have no control. I am being held prisoner here. My parents
didn't love me as a child, and that's why I can't love you. I had a rotten day, so that's why I'm
going to tell you a lie. Oh, I was misunderstood in my youth, and people made fun of me on the
playground, so that's why I'm going to murder you and eat you for dinner.
The card is telling us very clearly that this is all a lie. If you look, you can plainly see that Adam
and Eve, with their fettering chains around their necks, could very easily remove those chains.
The loops are so large that they could quite simply slip over their heads. All they have to do is
want to be released through the divine will. Through an exercising of their conscience, they will
be free. It is truly over. The only forces and power that the Devil and darkness have over us are
the forces which we voluntarily grant to them. This is the key.
The only power which darkness has is that which we grant to it by volunteering to become its
agent. The only truth is God. The only truth is the light. That freedom and that oneness is your
divine call. Why do we have this at this stage of the aspirant’s life?
We have come through the Wheel of Fortune, Justice, the Hanged Man, Death, and we have the
divine guidance of Temperance. Why now do we face the Devil?
Because all of the fetters of creation, all of the temptations which we have seen, stand as the dark
night of the soul, as one of the final obstacles for the seeker of God to overcome. Until we begin
to deal with the Hanged Man, and until we begin to respond to the call to the egoless state, we
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are encased inside of the Devil's powers and his creation. It is only through working with God's
enlightening forces that we are able to recognize other entrapments, other ensnarements, and
other temptations.
At this point of the spiritual seeker’s life, the Devil exists when he becomes conscious and aware
of the temptations of life. Those final three temptations which Jesus had with the Devil are the
temptations which we all must overcome--to not use the material creation for either our own
personal gratification, our own fame, or as the center of our worship. Instead, we must use the
physical creation to assist the soul in its ascent, as the soul becomes free from its own personal
glory, and to move through all aspects of the creation back to the limitless godhead of the
Creator. That is why we encounter the Devil here. We have accomplished so much, yet there is
still so much to learn.
The three important points on this card are:
Number 1, that the temptations that Jesus encountered are the temptations that we must all
encounter.
Number 2, darkness is only the blocking of the light and is not a positive existent reality, as light
is.
And, number 3, that we are free to slip the bonds of Satan off our heads anytime we choose. Our
imprisonment to the fetters of materiality is none other than our own doing.
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TRUMP 16 - THE TOWER
We are passing through the dark night of the soul. We have overcome the Devil and his
temptations, and one would think that we are done. But merely overcoming the temptations of
physical creation, does not lead us all the way home. No, it's never that simple. For though we
have come oh, so incredibly far, we have so far yet to go.
The Tarot cards relay the entire pathway, the entire breath of God, and these final cards unveil
the first moments of creation. Remember, we have talked about God pouring out His energy as
He creates the world, giving each of us an individual spark of God. We clothe the spark with
Will, place it inside of mind, place inside of our desire body, and finally into our physical body.
We are overcoming the temptations of the flesh. We are overcoming the temptations of
darkness, and we are turning from the creation to the Creator. Yet, the Tower is in darkness. Let
us examine the card.
The Tower stands alone on a very high rock. It has three windows which were previously
occupied by two people. Upon the very top of the Tower was a crown. At the moment we see
the Tower, several things are happening. First, the lightning bolt is coming from the heavens and
has hit the Tower. The crown is flying off. The Tower has burst into flames. The two occupants
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have jumped from the Tower and are falling to unknown depths below. There is a rain of yods
all around the Tower.
What in the world is meant by such symbolism? Why is it here? What could this possibly have
to do with our soul and with religion? Well, this is one of those cards that is absolutely stuffed
full of imagery.
We will begin with the Tower itself. The Tower stands alone, completely alone. The Tower
symbolizes our individual consciousness, for at this point, we are dealing almost exclusively in
the realm of mind and thought. The Tower is the structure which we all create--the way we look
at the world, the things we think, our perceptions, our religion, our philosophy, our morality, our
understanding of the nature of God, perhaps even our secret initiate perceptions, our esoteric
reality--all of the truths we have gained from studying the Tarot.
The Tower is our mind. And it, for in fact all of human existence, is a manifestation of mind.
This is absolutely essential. Notice that this is a tower. It is not a hill. It is not a mountain. It is
a tower. It is built upon a high mountain, but it is a completely, utterly and totally man-made
existence. As such, it is a symbol for the mind. Everything that we see in the totality of the
human race is a manifestation of our minds. All that we have and all that we are and all that we
do is here because of our consciousness as it is placed into our desire and made real with our
physical energy.
All of our inventions, from the simplest piece of pottery, to the most sophisticated lasers and
computers, are all extensions of the human mind. They are all edifices and towers which we
create and sustain by our own thinking. Even an absolutely incomprehensibly huge structure,
such as the United States of America, is only a manifestation of mind. The communal thoughts
which we have, have created and sustain this thing.
It is impossible to overemphasize this point. Your body is the way it is because of how you
think. Are you particularly muscular? Are you a bit flabby? Do you excel at running? Or are
you better at long distance endurance? How do you dress? Are you flashy, flamboyant?
Conservative? Prudish? Do you wear lots of makeup? Do you splash yourself with huge
amounts of cologne? Do you like to have a hairdo that is very carefully quaffed and adjusted to
be just so? Have you shaved in the last two years? Do you prefer the all natural look? Your
physical appearance is a manifestation of your mind.
Have you had your breasts enlarged? Have you had your tummy flattened? Have you had your
eyebrows raised? Have you had surgical implants in your calves to give you a more manly,
masculine look? All existence in the human realm is a manifestation of mind.
Now, the message of the Tower is that our mind, left to its own devices, leads us into a realm of
immeasurable darkness. Our man-made consciousness leads us into the void. Even if this manmade consciousness is seeking religious truth, there is still immeasurable darkness all around.
We cannot perceive truth, if we are constantly fettered with our own preconceptions.
We have had discussions throughout this book regarding Bibliolatry and the false gods which we
create for ourselves. So whether our mind is leading us into crass materialism or even creating
fanciful notions of the nature of God's truth, the strictly human psyche, the hopelessly human
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mentality, unless it is touched by the Divine, is, in fact, nothing more than the outer, all
encompassing darkness.
Having overcome the Devil, we still have nothing if we are enshrouded in our own conceptions.
This is the purpose of the lightning bolt. In our darkness, the light comes in and tells us, "Thus
sayeth the Lord." This is the flash of intuition, the flash of recognition, the dawn of
consciousness, wherein we finally see absolute total divine light. We are, at this point, using our
minds and beginning to radiate with the glow of God's truth. But here, the actual fire of God, the
actual light of God, comes in and touches us. It comes like an actual lightning bolt out of the
blue, shocking, terrifying almost threatening.
Light has two natures: the nature of illumination and sunshine, and then as that light gets too
close to us, the actual all consuming burning fire of lightning. You see life is not always simply
pleasant. The religious pathway is not one of gentle illumination and sitting, reading our portals
of prayer for the day, delighting in each new tidbit of wisdom that the Lord shines upon us. No,
the true religious pathway often involves pain, shock, and the jolt of God's consciousness. We
do not always get what we want. But if we truly seek for the Divine, we will get what we need.
In the aloneness of our temple which we have created for and to ourselves, in the magnificent
structure of our minds which is our crowning achievement, the Divine light will come in like a
shocking lightning bolt to begin to illuminate us with actual truth. This is the flash of God's light
in the absolute dark night of our soul.
But notice that as that light comes in, the Tower begins to burn. Burning is the fire, the chemical
process of transformation. Because you see, the tower will burn, and all of our man-made
structures will fall. But as the Bible says, "He whom the Lord loves He chastises and purifies so
that all of the impurities will burn off and all that is left is the pure gold of Godhood.”
The Tower will burn, but that burning is not a destruction. It is a transformation. We have dealt
with the temptations of the Nihilism involved in the pathway of death as it pertains to the
transcendence of ego. No, we are not talking about annihilating your mind. We are not talking
about leaving you lobotomized, unable to think, a robot under the mind control of some other
despotic tyrant. No, we are talking about the transformation of your mind.
As it says, and as I have quoted it before in Romans 12, "Do not be conformed to this world, but
be renewed by the transforming of your mind." As the fire hits the tower, the tower burns. What
that fire is doing is releasing the different chemicals. Some of the energy will be released from
the wood and rise up into the air. Symbolically, those things which we have placed within us,
which are pure, the energies of God and the soul which have been granted to us, which we have
condensed to create our Tower of Babel, will be released so that they can flow back into the
realm of the pure spirit. Other parts will turn to ash and charcoal. The more base earthly
elements will be left to decay back into the earth.
But what is important here is to notice that nothing is ever destroyed, never. Transformation is
the only reality. You cannot have anything created. You cannot have anything destroyed. It is
only transformed. That is the message of the ages.
What is the meaning of the two figures jumping out of the Tower? They represent our conscious
and our subconscious minds. Both of them live inside of the Tower. Just because our
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subconscious mind is not under our direct conscious control does not mean it doesn't live in the
Tower. For it does. Our dream lives are shaped and controlled by our tower. Our preconscious
memories and those forces which shape us and cause us to act as we do, whether for good or for
bad, are all resident inside of our tower of mind. Therefore, when the lightning bolt of God's
revelation strikes our tower, the occupants therein bail out. All of our false thoughts, all of our
false dreams and false hopes, all of our misconceptions flee in the face of God's purifying power.
The conscious and subconscious have dived out of the two lower windows. The third and the
highest window is known as the “super conscious.” That is the conceptualization of the highest
parts of the spirit. This is the realm of will which actually creates and controls the subconscious
mind. This is a very high teaching about which few people have knowledge.
All around us we see on the Tower these little yellow squiggles. They are actually yods, the Yod
being the first letter of the holy name of God. There are 22 of them, just as there are 22 letters in
the Hebrew alphabet, and there are 22 cards in the Tarot Major Arcana. They are divided into 10
and 12. The symbolism there is so obvious, it needs no comment.
We are talking here of the Tower of Babel. As we each build our towers, we reflect something
that we see in the Bible. The Tower of Babel was an attempt on the part of the human race to
build a monument to itself so great and so high and so glorious as to actually reach God. Today,
what we are attempting to do with our science, our technocracy, our ruling technologies, is to
build a tower to God so that we can control all aspects of life and death. We are seeking to
control the process of birth through genetic engineering, that we might control who is born, and
how, when and what their attributes are. We are also seeking to control the process of death, that
we might extend mortal life indefinitely and be able to preserve the human being forever through
cryonic freezing. We are freezing certain parts of people so that their genetic make up might be
preserved for future posterity.
We are still building the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel is not just our physical sciences
but also our mental processes. And, God's answer to the Tower of Babel was to send his divine
fire to destroy it, to scatter people, and to make their languages diversified. This contains a
profound revelation. We call by many names what is truly one. As we overcome the barriers of
language, we recognize that we are, and always have been, one family. The barriers of language
are temporary illusions which are necessary to keep us from harming ourselves.
So we are talking here in the Tower about awareness, past language. This is an extremely high
difficult meditation. When we look at a tree, since we understand the word “tree,” we are
incapable of seeing the it without thinking “tree.” The language that we have becomes
completely encased within our consciousness, and colors, shapes, clouds and pollutes every
experience we have after that.
Part of the power which the Tower is transferring to us is the ability to rise above and beyond the
limitations of language, to be able to perceive things as they are in their pure prelinguistic state.
Here, too, is the breath of God, the natural flow. Before I knew the truth, mountains were only
mountains, and trees were only trees. Once I began to learn the truth, mountains were no longer
mountains, and trees were no longer trees. Once I fully embraced the truth, I recognized that
mountains are mountains and trees are trees.
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We see a mountain and we call it the word “mountain,” but when we can see it, know it, feel it as
it is in its purity, without having to filter through the language and our mental perceptions, then
we begin to become free. When we see another human being based upon how they look, we
automatically make judgments about them based upon their hair, their dress, their size, their
shape, their skin color. We make a whole host of almost instantaneous judgments and
assessments of them. The Divine light, which strikes the Tower, seeks to enable us to see people
as they are, to love them all unconditionally, to leave the darkness of our solitude, to transform
that conscious energy into its original pure state and be able to recognize things as they are.
At this point, we will begin to reflect the Divine name. I am who I am. You are who you are.
We will be able to recognize things and people as they are, because they are what they are,
instead of as something to be manipulated or controlled or avoided.
As we overcome our human conceptions, we do not erase mind, but we cleanse it. Much like a
window, you do not need to shatter the window in order to clean it. Merely get rid of all of its
dross. That is what is contained here within the Tower. We are not talking about the elimination
of human mind. We are talking about its purification.
Having overcome the Devil, we now find toward the final stages, that our minds become pure
and clean--that infinite light eliminates all of our thoughts of our human accomplishments. Our
crowning achievements appear to pale as nothing in the light of God's purity. We are now ready
for the final stages.
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TRUMP 17 - THE STAR
Genesis 1:16, "God made two great lights. The greater light to govern the day and the lesser light
to govern the night, he also made the stars." With these next three cards, we have the great
glorious trinity known as the lights of heaven. As we look out into the sky, there are, in fact,
only three kinds of light: the stars, the Moon and the Sun.
The great light to guide day is the Sun. The lesser light to rule the night is the moon. And, the
glorious canopy, the celestial ceiling, is the wonderful canopy of stars. It is interesting, if the
Tarot cards are simply a form of stupid fortune telling, that they would bother with three such
important symbols.
The Bible is full of references to stars. Often the three lights of heaven are grouped together.
Specifically as it pertains to the stars, what does the Bible say?
First stars are used as an indicator of large numbers and blessing. 70 people entered Egypt and
uncountable numbers as many as the stars of heavens left. This is a symbol of God's blessing of
fruitfulness. Our descendants are as numerous as the stars. Our blessings are as numerous as the
stars.
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God sets, ordains and names the stars, each and every single one of them. The stars are a symbol
of God's providence, his presence, his power, and his intimate involvement with all aspects of the
universe. When you look up at the stars, the Bible tells us that God has set them each where they
are, that each is exactly where it belongs, and that God knows the names of every one of them,
deeply and personally.
The Biblical record and, of course, the record of the Tarot cards, is not that of a God who is lofty
and far removed, dwelling somewhere out there. No, the God of the Bible, the God of the Torah,
the God of the Tarot, the God of the Rota, is intimately involved with all aspects of creation,
right here and right now. You can go somewhere else, but even there you will only be here. You
can wait until later, but even then, it will only be now. This is the idea. Where can I go to hide
from God? If I go to the highest heaven in the realm of the stars, you are there. If I go to the
deepest part of the ocean, you are there. Therefore if you are seeking for God, there is nowhere
you have to go, because he is as much present here as he is anywhere.
Also, you do not have to wait until any time, because God is eternal, He is infinite. He stands
outside of the confines of time and space, and therefore cares not one wit about needing certain
things to occur before others. Anytime we are ready, the light of Heaven will shine and
illuminate us, whenever we are ready.
A third thing that the stars and lights of heaven indicate symbolically in the Bible is not actually a
symbol, so much as a warning. The early peoples were very prone to worship the Sun, the Moon,
and the stars. The Bible repeatedly forbids against this, and God delivers his punishment to those
who do so. I believe this is an important warning to us, even today. There are temptations, even
in this hopefully high Tarot study that we are doing. There are temptations to see these cards as
pointing us to worshipping the star, or worshipping the Moon or the Sun. These are elements of
the heavens which declare the glory of God and show forth His handiwork.
But the Tarot and the Bible are constantly calling us to move through the physical creation into
the spiritual creation, to not worship the creation of the lights of Heaven, but to turn to and adore
the Creator. It is part of the message here. The message of the star is deep and subtle, but it is
very great.
We, at this stage in the soul’s development, are learning that all aspects of creation are simply
extensions of the Divine mind They are not of themselves to be worshipped, but are rather to be
seen as a pathway and an expression of the Divine mind. Therefore, we must be careful at all
stages not to worship these things.
A fourth Biblical reference to the lights of Heaven is in prophesying and describing their
darkening. The book of Matthew, for example, describes the distress of the last days. The Sun
will be darkened. The Moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky, and all the
heavenly bodies will be shaken. There will be signs in the Sun, the Moon and stars. On Earth,
nations will be in anguish and perplexed at the roaring and tossing of the sea. When neither the
Sun nor stars appear for many days, and all the storm continues to rage, we finally will give up
all hope of being saved.
The symbolism here is quite plain. The light of Heaven is a reference to the actual consciousness
of God. God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all. We have the three great lights of
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heaven. Heaven is the home of God, just as the earth is the home of God. Symbolically, the
earth represents those base, more physical attributes of our existence. Heaven represents the
highest, purest, spiritual part.
To say that the Sun, the Moon and the stars become darkened is to see no more light from them,
that in the dark night of the soul, God's light can no longer be seen. There is no spiritual
guidance. There is no help from the heavenly host. As we saw in the previous cards, that
darkness comes from blocking things, from things which stand between us and the light. That is
the essence of the symbolism that says that the stars will fall to the earth. This is not physically
possible, and those fundamentalists who believe that the Bible must be taken absolutely literally,
will not have a very good time interpreting that passage literally.
You see, a single star is millions upon millions of times larger then the earth is. And it is
completely, physically, theoretically impossible for the stars to actually fall to the earth. If even
one star came within a few million miles from the earth, the earth would be completely burned
and disintegrated. So obviously we are not dealing with literal truth, we are dealing with
symbolism. As we have said before, the Bible is replete with symbolism. To try and ignore that
is to do ourselves a great and sad disservice.
The symbolism of the stars falling to earth is to show that the consciousness of God, the Divine
celestial light, has become trapped within the earth. The pathway of involution takes the Divine
limitless mind, the expanse of the ocean of God’s consciousness, and places it into ever lower
and lower, denser vehicles. Until, finally the consciousness of God is focused upon ever smaller
domains.
Ultimately the lights of Heaven fall to earth, and we are so obsessed with that tiny little speck of
dirt on a rug that we lose any peace of our soul. We have no love; we have no hope. All seems
darkness, futility and the void. We have all had this experience.
Also, fifth, the star is a sign for the birth of the Son of God. This comes from the New Testament
in Matthew 2:2, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the
East and come to worship him." Matthew 2:7, "Herod called the Magi secretly and found out
from them the exact time the star had appeared. When they saw the star they were overjoyed."
I am not claiming here that the Magi did not actually see a physical star. I am perfectly willing to
grant that they did. The power of religion, and hopefully I have made the case clearly enough at
this point, is that whether they actually saw a physical star or not, simply does not matter. This
would be a part of history. This would be an event that occurred to them thousands of years ago.
And if it is a fact, and its only value is in the concrete physical history, then it has no value
whatsoever and should be removed from the Bible. But if this event is also an indication of a
symbolic meaning, then we have much to learn from it. We have the three-fold path--the three
lights of heaven, and we approach them in this order: the star, the Moon and the Sun.
The star is the smallest of the lights. It is the dimmest of the three. The reason it is dim and the
reason it appears to be small is not because the star is actually small. The star is just farther
away. Our sun is a star, however, our sun is limitlessly closer to us by several orders of
magnitude than the stars are. You’ll remember that we discussed “an order of magnitude” when
we were analyzing The Empress.
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An order of magnitude is a power of ten. If something is one foot long and something else is ten
feet long, then the longer piece is one order of magnitude larger then the smaller piece. Our sun
is 93 million miles away. If you multiply 93 million times 10, that equals 900 million. Times
ten again is 9 billion. Times ten is 90 billion. Times 10 is 900 billion. The nearest star to us is 5
orders of magnitude away because it is more than 9 trillion miles away; it is 27 trillion miles
away.
Therefore our sun is 5 orders of magnitude closer to us then the nearest star. It is no larger or
smaller than the average stars. Some stars are larger than ours; some are smaller. Ours is a very
average sun. The reason the stars are dimmer and the reason they are smaller, to repeat, is
because they are farther away. The symbolism of the star is to account for the very moment of
the birth of the Son of God.
The Magi studied the heavens, and they watched the stars. When one particular star was properly
placed, they knew that this meant that the Son of God had been born. The Magi were early
astronomers. They gazed up into the heavens. One thing that we have lost, especially in
modernized America, is all contact with the lights of Heaven. We no longer rule our days
according to sunrise and sunset. We no longer rule our harvest and activities by the phase of the
moon. We no longer gaze up into the heavens at night to dream and gain visions.
In Jesus’ day, in the warmth of the Palestinian desert, the Magi could lay out at night, and they
were not distracted by television or radio. They could gaze up into the heavens and just watch
the stars. In that time, the stars were television. The stars were the active story which the Magi
studied and listened to. When they looked up into the heavens, they saw a message. That
message was of the redeeming plan of God. The signs of the zodiac indicate the ancient
revelations, the ancient visions that the Magi and others had, as they gazed into the heavens and
saw the redemptive plan of God.
Just as the Tarot cards have fallen from grace and are used for fortune telling, so too the zodiac,
which is a divine revelation, has fallen from grace and is being used for simple stupid fortune
telling. It was never meant to be. As we discussed before, each one of the signs of the zodiac is
a collection of images, pictures and symbols, all of which combine to form the story of the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus.
He was born of Virgo, the virgin. He is Aquarius, the water bearer to feed us with streams of
living water. He is Aires, the ram or lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He is
Gemini, part God, part man with the dual nature. He is Libra, the great judge who will come to
discern truth from falsehood and through whom God will judge the world. He is the conqueror
of Scorpio, the serpent who will sting him on the heels. He is Pieces, the fish. The word “fish”
is an acronym for Jesus Christ God's Son Savior. That's why we see these little fish symbols on
the back of cars today. He is Pisces, the Son of God.
We could go into great detail, but this subject is so vast that it deserves a book all its own.
Fortunately for us, such a book has been written, Bullinger's "The Witness of Stars." He
discusses in that book every zodiacal sign and every miniature constellation inside of the larger
constellations. He even gives the ancient, original names that were given to these stars thousands
of years ago, and tells how those very names mean, "She who brings forth the Savior."
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The point of this discussion is to show you that the pathway of the stars, the pathway of the birth
of the Son of God, is the moment when the absolute true light is born and lives cleanly and
purely inside of you. The star is also used as a symbol of the fulfillment of the birth. What do I
mean by that? Jesus refers to himself as the morning star in Revelation 22:16. "I Jesus have sent
my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David and
the bright morning star."
What is the morning star? The morning star is Venus. It's not actually a star; it's a planet. Most
mornings you can look toward the East and see a very bright light, obviously much brighter than
any of the other stars or lights. That’s the planet Venus, the nearest neighbor to Earth. The
morning star became a symbol of newness, because it happens in the morning. Rebirth. We can
wake up in the morning and see that the lights of Heaven are still there. We can begin the day
afresh, with a moment of devotion, a moment of contemplation, and a moment of attuning
ourselves with thankfulness that God's revelation and the lights of Heaven still shine. We can
attune ourselves to that energy, that focus, that purpose, that divine grace, and let it be our
guiding purpose all day long. Jesus says he is the morning star.
Now we come to the central message of this card. We have seen that the stars represent the
guiding light of God. We have seen that the stars indicate the birth of the Son of God. We have
also seen that the Son of God calls himself the morning star. That, my friends, is all introduction.
That is laying the groundwork for the true message of the Star. What is that message?
2nd Peter 1:19, "We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to
pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star
rises in your hearts." Read that verse again.
The Tarot cards do not tell us one single thing that the Bible does not tell us. And, as you can tell
by the many references to the Bible in this document, we really cannot understand the Tarot cards
without the Bible. The two of them, Tarot and Torah, combine and relate and help illuminate
one the other.
The Bible helps show us things that we could never really see in the Tarot. The Tarot helps us to
crystallize our thinking and condense, through symbolic language, things which have always
been in the Bible.
Jesus is the morning star, but that is not the end of the story. You will have the day of God dawn,
and the morning star will rise in your heart. That is the purpose of this card. This card is an
indication of the incarnation of God within you.
We have come so far on the pathway of the Tarot. We have learned of the divine nature of grace.
We have learned that this is all God's revelation. We have learned that through controlling our
divine will, we have all strength necessary. We have learned that we must proclaim and share
the light, or will be extinguished. We have learned that all aspects reflect the name of God and
are an expression of the divine glory. We have learned that the only powers that the Devil has
are those we give to him. We have learned that through dying to ourselves, we can be born
again. At this point, birth actually occurs. At this point, the Hanged Man has embraced death,
has overcome the temptations of the Devil. We have died to our own thoughts in the Tower. We
are now transformed and purified. Having dwelt in the word of God, we have the morning star
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rising inside of our very soul. As the Bible says, “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your heart.”
Jesus also says in Revelation 2:28, "I will also give him the morning star." That is this card. We
are now prepared to actually look at the physical drawing.
We see a central star with 8 points on it. We have discussed the symbolism of the eight before.
It symbolizes the cardinal points on the compass. It is the eight-fold pathway of God's grace.
Around that central 1 star, there are 7 other stars. The 7 + 1 = 8. Every one of the 7 stars has 8
spokes, so the card is called the Star, the one star. There is only one star. That star is Jesus. The
Bible tells us very clearly, "I am the morning star, thus says the Son of God." That is the one
star, the large yellow one.
That morning star will rise in each of our hearts. It will be given to each of us, and we all,
therefore, become the lesser lights of Heaven. We all become the Star. The Son of God is born
in each of us and rises in all of our hearts.
So, we are the smaller white stars. We have the same exact shape as the large star. The 7 are all
manifestations of the 1, indicating symbolically that the oneness of God is played out through all
7 moments of creation, through all 7 realms of the universe: matter, emotion, desire, mind, will,
spirit, the realm of the angels and the spark of God himself.
That 1 star plus the 7 stars totals 8 stars, but the card is only called the Star. I guess the best
illustration I can give of this is a radio broadcast. We have millions of radios, and they all create
their own miniature voice. But, as I speak into the radio transmitter, there is only one speaker.
That one voice multiplies through the many, and yet they are all connected only to the one. This
is the divine glorious pathway of God, that the one becomes many, and the many remain the one.
There is only one God. There is only one source origin in all. There is only one light.
That light multiplies itself into a limitless and infinite multiplex. As it does so, it appears that
there are many, many parts. But through the light of revelation and through following the
pathway of spiritual discovery, we remember that all of these different parts are, in fact, only one.
There are many, many human beings on this earth, yet there is only one body of Christ. That is
why there are one star and seven stars, yet the card is called the Star.
Underneath the Star, we see a woman who is naked. None of the creatures from here on in the
Tarot cards have any clothes on whatsoever. Why? Because we are far beyond mortal
frameworks here. Nakedness is a man-made sin. There is no shame in being naked. It is natural.
The only shame is in our minds and in our inability to deal with it. As Adam and Eve partook
from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first thing they did was
become aware of their nakedness and try to run and hide from it.
As we follow the pathway of God and enter into true revelation, and as the morning star is born
inside of us, we overcome the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We see only the
oneness and the goodness of God. And con-commitment with that, all shame at nakedness
disappears. This is not a licentious comment; this is simply the truth.
Nakedness is one of our great and glorious man-made sins. It was never to be that way, and as
we reach our fruition, it will cease to be that way.
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Who is the maiden? Well, there are different interpretations. You could see her as being Eve,
the purity of womanhood. You could see her as the bride of Christ. You could see her as Mother
Nature. Perhaps, there is no genuine difference between these.
She has two pails of water. One is being poured out upon the sea. One is being poured out upon
the land. This indicates beautifully that the streams of living water, which the Son of God will
give us, are now flowing freely inside of our lives, and all aspects of our being are touched in this
card.
We have the earth, which is full of the living water. We have the waters themselves. We have
the bird on the tree in the background that flies in the air. We have the spark, which is the fire,
the flame of God, which is the morning star, which is the Son of God, who is born in our hearts.
Body, emotions, mind and spirit are all touched by the glorious unfolding of the light of God.
That is the Star--the one star with the seven stars, making eight stars, which are only one star.
That is the glory. That is the blessing.
The bird represents animated air. The consciousness which we have is so illuminated that it's
actually alive. Just as we have streams of living water, we have streams of living air. That is the
symbolism of that bird stuck back there on the tree.
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TRUMP 18 - THE MOON
Here we come to the final enemy, the final obstacle, the final trial. After the Moon, there are
three stages left: The Sun, Judgment and the World, all of which are glorious celebrations. But,
in order to gain them, we must overcome the final enemy.
The Moon is not a card of happiness. It is not a card of blessing directly. The Moon is the great
ultimate challenge.
Upon the face of the Moon, we see a rather sour look with eyes closed facing the earth.
There are 32 rays (22 + 10) emanating around the Moon. The Moon is shown in phase.
It is shown in its first quarter as the Moon is getting brighter. There are 15 Yods between the
Moon and the earth. We see the two gray pillars that we first saw far on the horizon in card #13,
Death.
We have a hound and a wolf barking at the Moon on either side of a pathway, which leads from
the ocean up into the hills. And, beginning to crawl out of the water, is a lobster or crayfish.
What is this card, and what is it doing here?
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You can tell by the scouring face and the posture of attack and the teeth-bearing scowl of the
wolf, that there is little happiness here. This may be a surprise to some students. We have
overcome death. We have the experience of the Hanged Man. We have survived the destruction
of the Tower. W have the morning star born and rising inside of us. What is left to be a
problem?
In order to discover the answer to this, we have to be very certain we understand what the Moon
is. The Moon is a dead, cold, lifeless piece of rock, trapped through gravity, in a orbit around the
earth. We saw in the previous card, that the Bible refers to the three lights of Heaven--the stars
of the sky, the greater light to rule the day, and a lesser light to rule the night. But the Moon is
the great pretender. The Moon does not give off any light. It has none. The Moon is only
darkness.
Inside of the earth, our actual physical planet, there is heat. There is a molten fire. The Earth is
alive with energy. The Moon is not. The Moon does not give off any light of its own. The
Moon does not have any fire in its core. It is one solid cold chunk of absolute base matter, and
yet the Moon pretends to be the lesser light to rule the heavens by night. The Moon is a liar. The
Moon is a pretender to the throne, because the Moon does not rule the night. Only the Sun rules
the night.
The Moon is not a light. The only light is the Sun. The Moon goes through its phases. When
everything is properly aligned, the Sun is able to bounce squarely off of the face of the Moon,
and we are able to see its entire face illuminated. We call that the full Moon. That only lasts for
the briefest of times, and happens once every 29 1/2 days. After the Moon is full, the right hand
side of it starts to get darker and darker until it disappears entirely 14 1/2 days later. We call that
the New Moon.
The phases of the Moon are created through the different angles of observation, as the light of the
Sun bounces off of the Moon. When the Moon stands between Earth and the Sun, we have the
New Moon. When the Moon stands exactly between Earth and the Sun, we have a solar eclipse,
and the light of the Moon actually blocks out the light of the Sun.
When the earth stands between the Moon and the Sun, we have a full moon, and when the earth
stands exactly between the Sun and the Moon, we have a lunar eclipse and the Moon turns to
darkness and a fiery, red, blood color.
Why do I give you this little lesson in astronomy? Because without it, the symbolism of the
Moon is absolutely meaningless.
As I said earlier, the Moon is the final obstacle to be overcome. The Moon represents our
incarnation, the final dying gasp of our individual consciousness and of our ego. For you see, the
only light which the Moon has, is the light which it reflects. And the night of the Full Moon has,
throughout the centuries, evolved into a celebration. Originally, it was a night of celebration
because it was very bright outside and people, in the days before electricity, could dance and
celebrate and harvest all night long. They could actually work very efficiently by the light of the
Full Moon.
But there is also a darker side to the Full Moon. It is a scientifically verified fact that on the night
of the Full Moon, people go crazy. This is lunacy: Mad Man Moon. In hospitals, in psychiatric
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wards, in welfare offices, as the Full Moon approaches, the workers know it, because people just
turn crazy. There appear to be biological reasons for this, because at the night of the Full Moon,
the earth stands between the Sun and the Moon. The gravitational pull on both sides of the earth
causes the waters of the ocean to so bulge, that their massive gravitational attraction, as it pulls
upon the waters of our body, appears to create certain psychological and physiological
imbalances in the human race. (Remember, our bodies are approximately 80% water.) No one
understands this. It is a great mystery, but it is a fact.
Symbolically, the night of the Full Moon is also a paradox. On one hand, the Full Moon
represents the highest part of human achievement, wherein we are perfectly 100% reflecting all
of the light of God and illuminating others. At the same time, when the Moon is its fullest, the
temptation is greatest for the Moon to proclaim itself the light of Heaven. Look at me; see how
glorious I am. When it is full, the Moon is at opposite extremes from the Sun. We can turn and
look at the true light, the Sun, or we can turn 180 degrees opposite, and look at the false light, the
Moon. Just before sunset on the night of the Full Moon, and just after sunrise the next morning,
you can see both the Sun and the Moon together. You have a choice as to which you will look at.
You can focus yourself in the direction of the true light and worship the Creator, or you can turn
you focus from the Creator to the creation and watch the Full Moon rise. During the Full Moon
phase, the Moon works opposite to the Sun. As the Sun rises, the Moon disappears. As the
Moon rises, the Sun disappears.
During the New Moon, when the Moon and the Sun are on the side of the earth, they work in
harmony and conjunction. The Moon does not attempt to shine any of the light onto the earth. If
you see the Moon, you are looking actually at the Sun. The Moon is not attempting to usurp the
Sun's position in the sky. They rise together and set together. The Moon goes through its phases
because the Moon is out of synch with the earth. The Moon is trapped in an orbit around the
earth, yet it is not fixed to the earth. Therefore, the Moon does not rise and set at the same point
or at the same time throughout the month. The earth's rotation causes the phases of day and
night. The Moon's rotation around the earth creates the cycles of new and full.
Symbolically, ladies and gentlemen, you could not possibly be given a clearer picture of the
nature of the individual soul. Our consciousness is trapped by the earth. We spend huge
amounts of our time thinking about our bodies, taking care of our bodies, mending our bodies.
Even when we are free, completely, utterly and totally free, from the confines of physical
existence, our consciousness remains trapped on the earth. When we sleep, when we dream, we
can go anywhere or we can be anything. As we sleep and dream, our consciousness is freed from
the fetters of material physical existence. Yet what do we dream about? Eating, drinking, doing
things with our bodies.
The Moon remains trapped by the earth. This is the final frontier. We must be able to renounce
the Moon and its illusory light and the illusion of ego--the illusion of consciousness trapped by
matter. In the stage of the Moon, we overcome all final limitations, and we become completely
free from all ramifications of our divine consciousness being placed inside of the lower vehicles.
The Yods which we see here are not so much raining down from the Moon, as they are caught in
between the Moon and the earth. The Divine Word rains only from the light of the Sun, and
these yods await us on the other side of the towers.
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What do the towers symbolize? I think the best answer is to say that they represent our rational
side and our creative side, both the left hand and right hand pathways of consciousness. They
stand guard to make sure that only if we are sufficiently purified, can we pass between them.
They are guard towers, because as we travel through this pathway that we see winding up into the
mountains, we have finally reached our homecoming. We return to the high mountain on which
the Fool stood, so many cards ago. We return to our home. That’s what the next card is all
about. Until we get there, we must overcome. We cannot be allowed to touch the Tree of
Eternal Life with any trace of our space bound, physical bound consciousness still living. To do
so, would be to immortalize matter. It would be to immortalize the flesh and all of its
constraints. We must overcome.
The dog and the wolf are shown baying at the Moon, and it is not by chance that the mythology
of the werewolf has developed. Our emotions do change with the phases of the Moon, and when
the Moon is full, many of us turn into monsters, if not physically, then symbolically our ego’s
rage. We attempt to keep ourselves as the light. The morning star is born in us, and what do we
do? Draw attention to ourselves to be worshipped. We say to others, “Look at me. I have the
Son of God living inside of me. I have the morning star. I am the Full Moon. I am the glorious
one.” And, this insanity leads us to immense ruin.
The crayfish, coming out of the waters, symbolizes the deep subconscious forces at work within
us. As I said at first, this is the final enemy. This is the hardest battle to fight. Here we are,
dealing with overcoming the constraints of actual biology, the constraints of physical matter. As
the divine spark of God is placed within our lower vehicles, those lower vehicles begin to assert
their influence and control the higher forms of God. And even once we recognize the essential
emptiness of our ego, and once we overcome and are the morning star, that morning star, as it
dwells within us, is still subject to falling back down to the earth--to become trapped.
The final obstacle to be overcome, the Bible says, is death. And this space/time consciousness,
as it exists apart from God, is death itself. The Moon is dead. Death is the final obstacle to
overcome. The Moon is a white washed sepulcher, complete total death and dirty nothingness,
which nevertheless pretends to be the great light of Heaven.
We can and we will overcome. We have learned so much. We will persevere, and we will
eventually be welcomed home.
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TRUMP 19 - THE SUN
Welcome home traveler! We started our journey ages ago with card zero, the Fool. As the Fool
was dancing on the highest mountain, we say, just above his head, the radiant Sun. We have
seen that light increase. We saw it being guarded by the Angel of Life in card #6, the Lovers.
We have seen stars and illuminations. We have seen the Hanged Man's head begin to glow with
the light of the divine. We have seen the Sun rising above the mountains of Temperance. We
have traveled the path, through the dark night of the Devil in the Tower. The morning star is
born inside of us, and we have finally overcome all human limitations of biology, time, space and
incarnation. We are coming home.
The eternal limitless spark of God has clothed itself with will, with mind, with desire and the
body. The body has become purified and overcome. The waters of emotion have become alive.
The mind has been cleansed of all ignorance and fetters. The divine will has been harnessed, and
completely controls all the lower vehicles. The Sun has risen to high day. The Sun has risen to a
glorious ecstasy. The divine dance is now able to go forward in immense celebration.
All of this is intimated and symbolized in this card. We have the glorious, radiant Sun with an
expression of transcendent peace. There is no anger; there is no sorrow. But neither is there any
giddy, childish happiness or “tom foolery.” There is mature awareness of all the glory and a
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bubbling out of a joy which is oh so different from happiness. Happiness, being space/time
bound, is subject to change. Joy is the ecstasy of spirit, which results when we recognize the
divine truth which is forever around us.
The Sun is resplendent in his/her glory. The Sun is life. The Sun is the highest physical symbol
of God. The Sun is the light from which all other lights are derived. The Sun is the life from
which all other lives are derived. It is the source of illumination, the source of warmth, the
source of existence itself.
In the beginning is the light. In the end is the light. We move from light unto light. Only inbetween, due to moments of temporary ignorance and darkness, is there night. The Sun is
forever. The Sun always shines. The light of God is always there. Even during the night, the
only reason we do not see the Sun is because the earth blocks its pathway. When the earth
becomes purified and cleansed, as it does through the pathway of the Moon, then it is no longer a
blockage of the Sun, and there is no night.
This is the great and glorious symbolism in the book of Revelation, where the Sun does not set,
where the light is forever. The light has nothing left to block it. When there are clouds and when
there is rain, the Sun still shines. All we must do is go high enough into the air, rise above the
overcast, and delight in our return.
This is the fruition of the soul. Workings of man set to ply out historical life, re-regaining the
flower of the fruit of his tree. All awakening, all restoring you. Workings of man driven far
from the path re-release inhibitions so that all is left for you.
Master of images, songs cast a light on you. Pondering our dark existence, we reawaken, as the
dawn of time dances in our soul. This is the Sun. We move from light unto light.
But, there is more here in the card. We see a naked child sitting upon a horse. Again, we see
nakedness. There is no shame, we are far beyond the trappings of human embarrassment and
vanity. The child represents the true essence of God within us, which is forever young. Though
the body may grow old and change and tire, the soul is forever eternal, therefore, forever young-forever being born, forever being renewed, the same yesterday, today and forever, untouched by
the bonds of mortality.
The child wears a garland of flowers upon his or her head. The child is intentionally drawn so
that we can neither tell if it is “he” or “she.” This symbolizes all people. The flowers are all
sunflowers. The secret of the seed is in the fragrance of the flower. As the petals open up and
bow their heads toward the Power in the sky, we are passing by a million miles every hour on the
universal clock. Its basic rhythm is forever. Life dances and rejoices with the knowledge of its
freedom, and the promise of a new found destiny.
These flowers have their roots in the soil. They are fed and watered by the nutrients of the earth
and the waters of emotion. The plants rise into the air, called by the light of God to reach out
toward the Sun in an ecstatic dance of limitless divine bliss.
The horse symbolizes the higher natures, the higher animal faculties.
imagination, creativity, reason.
Things such as
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We notice also the wall behind the Sun child. What is the purpose of this wall? This is to
indicate that there is no barrier between God and man. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with
the creations of the human race, for we are reminded in this card that we are co-creators with
God. His creative abilities pulse in our veins. And as such, it is not wrong, it is not a problem, it
is not a sin for us to manifest those energies. Likewise, our creations are not evil. They are a
glorious unfolding of the song of God. So we build our industry, and upon these, the flowers do
grow.
What then do we have in this card? We have the totality of all known realms of existence. We
have inanimate matter inside of the stones. We have physical human bodies. We have desire,
emotion, mind. We have divine will and the spark of God itself. We have the higher faculties of
human consciousness and the results of that human consciousness, as we mold and shape the
world with our creativity. It is all one great and glorious union between the Creator and the
creation.
It is intimate. It is almost sexual in nature, the deep and ecstatic ecstasies, for you see physical
orgasm is also a sign. All of the heavens declare God's glory and show His handiwork, and
sexual orgasm is the most intense feeling a human being is capable of. This is an overwhelming
sign of what true divine union is like. It is an ecstasy which dances beyond the farthest fringes of
our imagination, and is only very dimly hinted at through the ecstasy of sexual union. There is
no shame here. There is no darkness. There is no licentiousness.
We are of the Sun. Nous Sommes Du Solei. All life and all energy dance and rejoice in this
resplendence.
This too is the other Son. Because at this stage, the morning star has been born in us, and we
have grown up to know the height and the depth of God. We have the mind of Christ working
inside of us. We have God's divine will flowing through us, and we have come to know the
height and depth of all consciousness.
Paul says in Effusions chapter 3, that he prays that God would grant us, according to the riches of
his glory, to be strengthened with power through the spirit in our inner man, so that Christ may
dwell in our hearts through faith, and that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth,
and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the
fullness of God.
We are born not of the water, not of the flesh, but we are born of God. God is becoming
reincarnated in us again in body form. Yes, Jesus was the Son of God, and the Sun is a powerful
symbol for the Son. The two of them work together.
As the morning star is born in us, that star finally gets closer and closer and closer until it fills our
totality, at which point, we recognize that the morning star is not just a star, but is the Sun. We
are not just disgusting piles of filth. No, we are, in fact, Adam and Eve. We are, in fact, children
of God. We are sons and daughters of God. This could not possibly be clearer than it is in the
Bible.
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Jesus’ final words to his disciples: "I go to my Father and your Father. I go to my God and your
God." It says clearly in Luke 6, that no one is above his teacher, no one is below his teacher. But
rather everyone, after they have been fully instructed, is as their teacher. This is our destiny.
As we have seen so many times, the Biblical message, the message of the Torah, the message of
the Tarot, and the message of the Rota, is that it is not sufficient to simply adore and worship
Jesus. Adoring and worshipping Jesus is incredibly valuable and wonderful and essential for the
soul, but its purpose is not to forever keep Jesus upon a pedestal while you feeling worthless and
filthy. Its purpose is that you, through your worship and adoration, might become one with the
Son--that your heart and mind and will so vibrate and become attuned to his presence, that your
sin disappears. Your ego disappears. Your consciousness becomes saved from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, and you return to the beatific vision of the oneness of life, where
all is one, all is God.
This is not pantheism. Technically, the word is “Panentheism.” That means “all is in God.” The
glorious proclamation of the Bible is that everything is inside of God, and everything, as such, is
a part of God. The book of Acts tells us that in God, we live and we move and we exist inside of
Him, much like a cell inside of your body. Where can it go? If it goes up to your head or down
to your toes, you are still there.
So what the Bible is telling us, is that God is not you. And, you are God. You are all parts of the
body of Christ, like fingers on a hand. I am not my finger. You could cut my finger off, and I
would still exist. But, my finger is nothing more than me. My finger is a part of me, but it's not a
part of you or Frank or Wilma or anyone else. The finger is entirely, totally and completely me.
But, I am much more than my finger. You are one of God's fingers. God is not you. You could
be erased from the universe, and God would still be God. He would miss you, exactly as I would
miss my finger, only much more so.
So while it is true that God is not you, it is also true that at this stage of the Sun, you recognize
that you are God. This is a very difficult and dangerous teaching, because as we saw in the
Moon, the tendency is so easy to slip and fall from these lofty heights, for a person to say I am
God is one of two things. It is either the single most ego centered statement a person can make,
meaning that I am God, and you are not, and you should worship me, which is the most odious,
disgusting, sinful, evil blasphemy. It is the greatest darkness of all. That is what we have seen
through the cards through this spiritual journey. This is known as the left hand pathway, wherein
a person says I am God, meaning that I, therefore, should be worshipped.
But if a person says I am God, they can also say it through the right hand pathway, wherein they
are indicating that this is the least ego centered statement they could possibly make--that the “I,”
which you have been knowing and which I have been preserving and worshipping, does not exist,
has no being, has no reality. The I-hood is simply an illusion. The only reality is the presence of
God. That is what Paul said, and that is exactly he meant when he said that, "I no longer live, but
it is Christ who lives in me, I am Christ."
This “I” who you talk about is not me. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who
live. I am dead. And when you talk to me, you are not talking to me, you are talking to Christ.
And when you listen to me, you are not listening to me, you are listening to Christ. This the right
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hand pathway--the proper pathway, wherein Paul does not seek any praise or worship of himself,
but rather he seeks only to praise and worship God.
The same thing is true with the holy Son of God, Jesus the Christ himself. He sought not to be
worshipped, but rather only to call each of us to worship God. Then, we are home. The breath of
God has been fulfilled.
There is a marvelous passage in the Bible, which very clearly outlines the entire breath of God. It
is in Philippians 2:3-11. The essence of it is that Christ dwelt in the form of God. He emptied
himself out of that form and became a bond servant. He humbled himself to death, at which
point He was resurrected and regained the form of godliness He had before the worlds were
made.
God says in the Bible, that before the worlds were formed, I knew you. We were in the mind of
God before our physical bodies ever existed. You must adulterate this scripture in order to make
it say anything else. Before our soul became encased within matter, we dwelt in the pure premanifest, pre-created celestial realm know as the mind of God. We were there in his mind,
before he ever placed our souls into these bodies, before he ever made light itself.
Here we begin to come home. Here we are home. “Home” is a wonderful word, and it is
linguistically associated with many other words, all of which point to the same thing: home,
womb, mom, a-men, omen. The Hindus even have the word "Om". Om, home, mom, omen-these are all reflections of the same spiritual center.
We are the Fool. The soul wanders throughout existence, starting in that celestial paradise,
dancing in our pre-manifest forms known by God, dwelling in his mind, within wander, taking
upon ourselves shades of divine will and mind, emotions and body until finally we come to the
Earth to have our children, and eat our food, and wage our wars, and hate our brothers, and all of
the silly stupid things that we spend our time doing.
It doesn't change the fact that the Sun is still there. It does not change the fact that the Sun is the
only reality. It does not change the fact that the mind of God still exists, that we are still inside of
God's mind, and that God has placed his mind inside of us.
Once again we have the image of union. The groom is in the bride; the bride is in the groom.
God becomes a father by begetting children. Until there are children, there is no parent. The
subject becomes the object, and without the object, there is no subject. The subject and object
are one in their relationship. The Father and the Son are three with the Spirit, and yet those three
are forever one. We are in God; God is in us. Everyone is everyone else.
We abide in Jesus; Jesus abides in us. We are in God; God is in us. This is a great mystery and
an unnamable ecstasy. "The glory which you have given me, I have given to my disciples that
they may be one just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be perfected in unity.
That the world did know that you did send me, did love them even as you love me. Father, I
desire that they also whom you have given me, be with me where I am. In order that they may
behold my glory which you have given me, for you did love me before the foundation of the
world. Oh, righteous Father although the world has not known thee, yet I have known thee and
these have known that you did send me. And I have made your name known to them. And will
make it known that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them."
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At the stage of the Sun, the morning star has risen inside of us and continues to rise until it fills
us. At that point, we recognize that we are a part of the Holy trinity, God the Father, God the
Son. God the Son is our existence, for we no longer live. It is only Christ who lives through us.
Just like that radio we talked about before, the radio no longer brings attention to itself, but it is
only the messenger, only the speaker. The one star plus the seven stars are eight stars, which are
one star.
Gloria! Hallelujah! Praise to God!
Praise to the Glory!
Welcome home.
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TRUMP 20 - JUDGMENT
All of the cards that we have experienced up to this point discuss aspects of our individual
personal growth, as well as aspects which apply to every human being. None of us is alone. But,
as we stated many cards ago, the essence of religion is what each of us does in our complete
solitude, in conjunction with those around us. Prayer, for example, is only valuable if each
individual is, in their heart of hearts in the deepest recesses of their soul, praying directly to God.
However, that becomes strengthened and multiplied when that prayer is joined with others.
So the pathway that we have seen leading from the pre-manifest Fool to the homecoming of the
Sun, is a journey which every single one of us, in one form or another, must take. The card
Judgment continues this process and shows us something which each of us must individually
engage upon. However, this card does something which none of the others have. It shows
visibly all of the other souls of God uniting with us on our pathway.
At this point, after we have our homecoming, we meet our friends and neighbors, our brothers
and sisters. What is Judgment?
This card indicates several things. First, is the process of divine Judgment. This occurs in two
ways, before and after death. Before death, God is constantly watching, guiding, judging and
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supervising our actions to determine the next step for us. The laws of--as you give, so shall you
receive; as we forgive, so shall we be forgiven; as we seek, so we will find; as we knock, the
door will be opened to us; as we ask, we shall receive--these laws are immutable and create the
framework for our spiritual growth. We can spend a very long time or a relatively short time on
the path. It is not necessary to debate actual years here. For some, the pathway is a matter of
years or decades. For others, it is a matter of centuries. But such discussions, while not only
controversial, are ultimately fruitless, because we do not know absolutely the structure of each
soul’s growth. And much more importantly, by the time we reach the stage of Judgment, time is
no longer a factor. The nature of the homecoming is to recognize God's eternal presence.
The only reality is here. The only time is now. And that here and now is an unending stream of
divine consciousness, wherein time and space cease to exist in the mortal way that we think of
them. God's judgment in our lives is constantly working to bring us to the awareness of our
homecoming.
The second part of God's judgment refers to the ultimate judgment of each of our souls. Upon
death, our lives are reviewed. We simultaneously do this from two perspectives, ours and those
whom we affected. We see every single act, every single thought, every single word. We are
reminded of our own motivations, and we see through the heightened awareness of the next
world what those actions, thoughts, and words did, in terms of affecting other people.
There is great controversy today, and perhaps there will be forever on the Earth plane, about what
happens to you after you die, or more importantly, immediately when you die. The card of
Judgment is pictorially stating to us several things.
First, the dead will come out of their graves. We see several graves in a vast ocean of death. The
dead rise up out of the graves in response to the trumpet of the angel who guards the Tree of Life.
They come out of the graves, their hands outstretched, their faces pointed toward the heavens.
The following discussion is not meant to disturb or perturb anyone. However, if you are one of
those people who are vehemently set in your ways as to what happens when you die, or if such
discussions make you very uneasy, then I would advise you to skip the following.
It is felt by many, that we simply cannot know what happens after we die, but applying the tools
and techniques of the revealing science of God, we are able to come to consensus, based on the
most accurate accounts we have. The theory of atoms, electrons and neutrons is just that, it is a
theory. We cannot actually see an electron. We cannot actually hold an atom. All we know is
that every single experiment we have performed perfectly, matches the model which we have. In
the same way, through performing experiments, through personal accounts, through a cross
cultural witness which spans millennia, we do have a consistent framework as to what happens to
you when you die. We have documented experiences of people who have died, have had
absolutely no vital signs whatsoever, and have been resurrected so to speak, or resuscitated.
The following then, is the consensus, called from years of personal, scientific and scholarly
research. You are, of course, free to accept or reject it as you choose.
Our souls are different from our bodies, you are not your body. That is absolutely, perfectly
clear. The experience of soul projection is a verifiable, repeatable experience by anyone who is
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willing to take the time to do so. Soul projection, also known as astral projection or soul travel,
is where a soul slips outside of the body, while the body is still alive.
This is really no different than a driver opening the door and stepping out of the car. But if you
have spent so many decades inside of your car, and you forget that there is a door, then you might
actually come to the point where you do not believe it is possible to leave the car, or else you will
die.
This is simply not true. You can step out of your body and observe it. You can step out of your
body and travel through the heavenly realms, while you are still maintaining a body that is alive.
Death, as we know it, is simply the rendering inoperable of the physical vehicle. Death is the
moment at which your car ceases to work forever more, and it's time to be scrapped. You step
out of the car for the final time. You are now dead.
Here we have great controversy, because some feel that at that point, you simply fall asleep until
some point in the distant future where the angel of God calls to resurrect you. I do not wish to
offend anyone's personal religious sensibilities, yet the overwhelming body of evidence is that
that is simply not the case. There is a direct simple transition of consciousness, just as you step
out of your car. You do not black out. You do not pass out. You still know who you are, and
you still retain the same thoughts, memories and habit patterns.
It is exactly the same case with death. You slip out of the body. You usually see your body
laying there, then you turn to the higher next world. There is a certain transition to get into the
next domain, the world of heaven. otherwise known as the astral world. You step out of your
car, and there is usually a walkway that leads you to a doorway into the next building you are
entering. That is exactly the same thing with the transition of death. There is a certain gateway
or passageway that leads you into the next world.
Once there, your life is reviewed, as I've stated, from your perspective and from the subjective
perspective of those who you have affected. You retain your same thoughts; you retain your
memories; you retain your desires. You are the same exact person.
There is, however, one profound and fundamental difference. The final buffer which you have
relied upon for so long is now removed. By final buffer, I mean the actual forceful manipulation
of the physical form.
We used an illustration many cards ago of snapping your fingers, which has to be a manifestation
of your will, focused through your mind to think of such a thing, focused through your desire to
want to do such a thing, and then placing that desire into the physical body to move the muscles
and snap you fingers.
In the next world that final step is gone. You still have to focus your will. You still have to
focus that will through your mind. You still have to clothe that mind with desire, but the desire
is the doing. The Bible says to light yourself in the will of the Lord and He will give you the
desires of your heart.
The next world is know by different people as Heaven. It is known as the astral world. It is
known as the desire realm. This world is also known as Hell. It is one place, although you can
wind up in very different states. If, during the course of your life, you have culled the higher
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faculties of love, devotion, philosophy, art, music, mathematics, science, intellect, then you will
find that in the next realm, you are much better suited to pursue those avenues. If, however, your
entire being has been focused upon the mortal frame, whether it is the acquisition of cold hard
cash, or it is excessive indulgence in any form of physical stimulation, via drugs or alcohol, or
any kind of physical activity which is almost void of any intellectual counterpart, then you find
yourself in the realm of unfulfilled desire.
And that burning of unfulfilled desire is all consuming. It is the fiery flames of Hell, because you
no longer have a body to distract the consciousness from its desires. I may want to go out and
perform a certain activity, but I still have my body. II still have financial concerns. I still have a
host of other things to temper my inability to do these.
In the next realm, desire is the body. You have a desire body. It looks just like your current
body, only without any imperfections. That desire body is your all consuming reality, and what
you desire is what you do. If your whole desire is focused on doing something, which is no
longer possible in the physical realm because you are not in a physical realm, then you are deeply
and truly in Hell.
The realms of the desire world are much more rarefied and vast than the physical world. Simply,
the desire for music is the music. There is no need to physically express it through any form of
mechanical device. Thinking of the music and placing it into your desire is the music.
This is why morality is so important, not simply in terms of regulating our physical behavior, but
in terms of cultivating a soul, which is capable of traveling all of the pathways of God's
revelation. This is why Jesus says if you lust after a woman in your heart, you have already
committed adultery with her. Thinking and desire are the highest faculties which must be
cultivated. If you think about something and desire it, but do not actually do it, your problem in
the next world will be that you are unbuffered. In this way, we can see that the physical body is
actually a set of training wheels. We are capable of gaining experiences and interacting with
other people, while being protected with that final buffer between what we want and what
actually happens.
When someone has the feelings of I wish I could kill him, and truly genuinely feels that, then that
desire, that hatred, will be the only reality for them in the next world. The exertion of that desire
is the exertion of the equivalent of murder in the next world. These are difficult things to
comprehend, because most people conceive of the next world as being one of two different
places, as being absolute and essentially unchanging. None of this is true.
There is one state, just like there is one world. Therein, are those who live in Heaven and those
who live in Hell. In the next world, there is one world. Therein, are those who live in Heaven
and those who live in Hell. But, these are not absolutes. Because just as in this world there are
greater and lesser degrees of pain and pleasure, Heaven and Hell, so too in the next world, there
are different layers or levels. The Bible refers to greater and lesser rewards at Judgment day.
Although this is something which most people have a difficult time with, the desire body is not
eternal. Jesus referred to many things which he wished he had discussed with his disciples, but
they were unable to bear it then.
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The entire discussion of life after death is omitted from the Bible. Anything that we gain from
the Bible, we have to infer or derive from different stories which may or may not be allegorical,
may or may not be factual.
When you die, your desire body is the next body you find yourself in. You currently have it. But
at that point, there are still three layers of manifestation, the focusing of the divine will upon the
mind placed into desire. You still have a buffer. You can think of something, but not actually
want to do it.
We have all wondered what it would be like to do something in an intellectual or curious way,
but have not actually had any desire to do it. When we are ready, eventually our desire body falls
off., and we die to the desire realm. We find ourselves in the realm of pure mind. We have
returned to the mind of God. At that point, we are one step away from the inner most throne
room, where the will still must focus the mind. Eventually, the mental body does drop off, and
we find ourselves in the limitless realm of God, pure divine will, capable of infinite limitless
manifestation. And, there are domains of God's consciousness which lie outside of and beyond
the mental desire and physical universe.
At that point, it is said, the true spiritual journey begins. We have completed the breath of God.
As God knew us before the foundation of the world, and he blew into us having created our
divine will and our minds and our desires and our bodies, that exact process will eventually
unfold--by the dropping of the body, by the dropping of the desire vehicle, by the dropping of the
mind and returning to the state of pure limitless divine will. God breathes out; God breathes in.
This is the eternal cycle.
We are discussing things which lie far beyond most people's consciousness. We are discussing
things far beyond our mortal experience. I present them to try and help focus your thoughts and
prepare you, and hopefully, not have you be too terribly surprised when certain events do happen.
The last aspect of the Judgment card, which I want to be sure I focus on, is the fact that this is all
being done together. Each of us is going through this process, but we are doing it in conjunction
with uncountable, billions of souls. So what happens is that, as we ascend to God, the barriers
which separate individuals, also break down. We all appear to have separate bodies, even though
we are one flesh. We all share in different desire bodies, even though it is made up of the same
heavenly stuff. We all have individual thoughts, even though there is only one mind of God. We
all have control of our divine will, even though there is only one reality, that is God.
As we ascend, the barriers between people break down. It is not necessary to move your physical
mouth in order to communicate. It is not necessary to exert any desire in order to share thoughts.
All of the individual cells inside of the body of God come alive and are able to freely share their
information with all other cells, at which point God's presence has gone from a preconscious
state to a conscious state.
You see the breath of God is separated into four different divisions. God begins as He is. We
were in the mind of God, but we are not consciously aware of that. We have no actual
recollection of that state whatsoever, just as were in the womb with our mother, but have no
conscious recollection of it. This is state one, the preconscious union.
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Phase two, God breathes out, and we are born. This leads us to state two which is preconscious
separation. God has breathed into Adam's nostrils; other has given birth to her baby. But, Adam
is not fully aware of who and what he is. He is not yet awake. This child is not awake or fully
aware of what he or she is. This is the state of unconscious separation.
Third, Adam partakes of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and becomes
completely awake to what is and is not. The child, who has been born, becomes aware of what is
and is not. This is me and this is not me. No! No! No!
We then enter the great period of conscious separation. We then have found that God has
breathed out, and we are alive. God has died to himself, so that we can live. We then embark
upon the journey which, being the phase where we are right now, occupies the overwhelming
majority of our time and concentration, and we attempt to move into a realm of conscious unity-to love our mother, recognize that we are one family and one flesh, to love God as ourselves. At
this point, we expire of our egos and God breathes back in.
So the breath of God, wherein God dies that we might live that we might die that God might live,
passes through those four stages of unconscious unity, unconscious separation, conscious
separation, and conscious unity.
When all of us have responded to the trumpet of God, and all souls ascend to the heavenly plains,
then all barriers between people, and between God and people, break down. We then enter into a
conscious union of all of our energies in a divine dance, the likes of which we, at this point in our
lives, cannot possibly imagine. It would be like you gaining conscious control and awareness of
every single cell in your body and having that ecstasy multiplied a trillion times over. That is the
judgment we are all being called to. That is the glorious resurrection, and that is the pathway.
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TRUMP 21 - THE UNIVERSE
Assuming you have been following along in your Waite Tarot deck, you will notice immediately
that Waite calls card #21 the World. Most other decks call it the Universe, and I think that for
many reasons Waite was intentionally trying to confuse people.
The Universe is, for many reasons, a far better name for this card. If you are uncomfortable with
that, just use the term World to mean the whole world, all of the animals, plants, humans, matter.
But, understand that this world is not the totality. We are talking about all realms of existence,
all planets, all stars, all of nature, all of the manifestation in a oneness.
We began 20 cards ago, talking about the Fool, talking about the one essential center of the
universe. We have seen the different ways that the one becomes many through the process of
involution, and we have seen the way that the many become one through the process of
evolution.
The term “universe” is marvelous. It means that this is all one verse of the song of God. The
song perhaps has many verses, but everything within this universe is a part of the one verse. All
human beings are ultimately one. We share one flesh; we share one desire; we share the mind of
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God. All human beings are one with God. Whatsoever we do to the least of our brothers, we do
to God.
The greatest laws are not commands, but statements of truth. We do love God with our totality,
and we do love our fellow human beings because they are ourselves. Why would my index
finger want to attack my thumb? Why would my big toe want to scratch my leg? God has only
one body, and we see that body on this card.
The body of the bride of Christ. She is very feminine, with obviously flowing breasts. Some of
the other figures have been uncommitted. For example, the child that sits on the horse in the
Sun, is both male and female. But, Miss Universe is shown being as obviously female.
She is also shown as holding two of the Magician's wands. The Magician, if you recall, is the
first moment of God's creative power that we saw back in card #1. That was the last time we saw
this symbol of the Magician's wand. The symbolism is quite obvious, the one becomes two, and
yet they share the same power.
God is creating for himself his eternally virgin bride. All people, as they follow God and come
closer to him, unite with their brothers and sisters and share a oneness. As this happens, we are
all being built up to the body of Christ. This is not an allegory, people. This is the truth.
The Earth is alive. It has things growing on it. We are apart of that life and the physical
universe. The totality of nature is the body of God, and that body, as it is infused with God's
divine mind, is built up to become the holy bride, wherein there is no separation.
The celestial honeymoon awaits us. God will forever mate with his bride, embraced in the union
of ecstatic love. God loves the church and gave his life for her. We are all being built up into the
universal church, and the church loves God.
He first loves us, because he is the Magician, he is the male force, he is the giver. He is the
energy, he is the thrust. We are the recipient; we are the bride. And, we return his love to him.
This is the glorious pathway.
For artistic purposes, the bride of Christ is wrapped in a bit of a mantle of victory. This is there
to help keep the card from being too overtly erotic, because at this point, clothing is not
necessary. There is only openness. There is only complete, total glorious loving acceptance of
who we are, of ourselves, of each other and of God. There is no shame, there is no sorrow, there
is no darkness, there is no one to manipulate. There is no one to use or abuse. There is only an
ecstatic forever flowing of oneness with God.
We have returned to the Garden of Eden, and live in perfect harmony with God, and ourselves,
and each other. We have no need for shame, we have no need for sorrow. There is only ecstasy.
God looks about and sees that it is good. And, it is very good.
The wreath has a two-fold meaning. First, it is a garland of victory or celebration, because it is
fulfilled and all is complete. It is also an oval, which is the symbol of the eternal womb. God's
energy unites with his bride, and her womb becomes the berthing place of his holy procreation.
That is what we are, you are God's womb. You are the womb of the bride of Christ. God wishes
to place his seed, his spirit, into you and as he does so, you will grow, and you will give birth to
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the holy son or daughter of God, which is who and what you truly are. Don't wait too long.
Hopefully, you have been inspired through these talks to get a little farther down the pathway.
Notice the four creatures in the four corners. We’ve seen them before. They surround the Wheel
of Fortune. They were present at Ezekiel's vision of God on the throne. They were present in
John's revelation around the throne of God. But this time, notice that the figures have no books.
There are no scrolls to open. There are no secrets to be revealed, and we have no need of
writing. We have internalized the Bible. All religious teachings are now one with us.
We have no need to teach one another, for the law is written on our hearts. You see, the Bible is
not eternal. God is eternal. You are eternal. The Bible is not eternal. The Bible is a teacher,
meant to guide you to a direct relationship with those parts of the universe that it simply attempts
to instruct. And like the able teacher, the Bible seeks to make itself unnecessary. Think about
that. No fifth grade teacher for her or his student to have to rely upon forever in order to be able
to understand the fifth grade mathematics. Such a teacher would not be a teacher at all, but a
pretty sad person.
In exactly the same way, the Bible does not seek for you to have to need it forever. God does not
want you to be in Heaven reading Psalms. For you are a Psalm. Your life is to be a Psalm. Your
existence is a scripture. Your life is the only Bible that most people will ever read. Your life is
God's holy word. The Word will live in you and fill your life.
That is why these witnesses, surrounding the throne of God, do not carry any scrolls or books.
All of the religious proclamations have been internalized.
What then have we seen? We have seen so much that it is difficult to summarize. I believe that
the principles of the Bible, the Torah, the Tarot and the Rota are relatively few and very
important.
Principle #1: The only reality is God.
Principle #2: The commandments of God begin as rules, and are fulfilled when they are
recognized as being law.
Principle #3: We are one with God and with our fellow human beings.
Principle #4: All is good. All is good and the only thing that is bad is our way of thinking.
Principle #5: Repentance and salvation consist of an enhancing of our mind, that we might see
the glorious truths.
Principle #6: The divine Lord plays himself out in this universe through an interlocking series of
will, mind, desire and matter.
Principle #7: There is no difference or separation between the highest vehicle of God and the
lowest. Having a body is not evil, and it does not separate you from God. All vehicles are a part
of the divine dance.
Principle #8: The only reality, the only power of our physical lives and our religious life, is the
power of grace. Since everything comes from God, and goes to God, and lives and breaths and
moves in God, everything that occurs, is an outpouring of his grace.
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Principle #9: The final enemy to be overcome is the appearance of our ego, which is the separator
keeping us from oneness with God; keeping us from oneness with each other.
Principle #10: The breath of God is eternal. God breathes out and his expiration is our
inspiration. We breathe out and re-inspire God. God dies so that we can live, so that we can die,
so that God can live.
Here is to your eternity. Here is to our universe. Here is to our God.
Here is to love.
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