The preparation for the future is held in the cup itself and this is truly what gives her the power of divination, because it is through the work of the pure, transparent, receptive feminine that the future can actually be seen in advance and materialised into ideas, words and actions. All we need to do is uplift our cups (inner sight) so that the new vision of humanity can be received; it is as simple as that. If the nature in us doesn’t want to replace attachment to the survival of the form by the concept of a higher vision of love and harmony, it won’t happen. The symbol of the cup is linked to the great mother, the Goddess, or Mary; she is that great field of life that holds the whole Solar System together. It is not just Earth, or the Goddess of nature materialising, but the great Goddess of receptivity, making certain that she faithfully reproduces her ideals. The transmutation of the world is in the cup, which is where the alchemy is happening.
You could call The Magician an alchemist who has to realise the great work. He acts on illusion so as to dissolve it and reveal reality. The sword and the cup are a necessary union of the two principles of mind and heart. Spirit has to go to the heart of mat ter for anything new and beautiful to happen, for new vision and new manifestation. If we use our heart or head alone we haven’t got a complete vision. The head and heart have to be together. The process has to be loved with the passion of the heart and the light of Spirit has to be able to penetrate the darkness, to absorb its mis understandings and this way clarifies the cup. This is mirroring the primordial union, when the Spirit came into the great womb of the Solar System; this is the evolution that we are re-enacting inwardly.
With the sword we are doing magic, for it is used to draw a circle of protection around The Magician. If we look at the handle it is in the shape of a gold cross. The blade is the penetrating Spirit used to vitalise matter, for we are not destroying with the sword of truth, but awakening and informing matter. That is why we need to understand that books or a person can’t change our lives; they may be a catalyst, but the acceptance of a revelation comes when we are ready. While we are thinking that something from outside will do it for, or to us, we haven’t contacted our own spark of responsibility to spiritualise truth. We need to kill the old for the new to be born.
It is not a bloody sword, but an incredible, wonderful sword, because it doesn’t just free the teacher or the initiator, it frees the old patterns of the past. As the Spirit penetrates matter, there is a symbolic death and at the same time a real death, for it frees man from attachment to the pull of matter. Man evolves, elevates and transmutes the unconscious in his body by the acceleration of his vibration with the light of understanding. This light creates a circle of protection, for he must live in this world to increase the light. The cross of the hilt of the sword tells him to cut himself free, mak ing certain that he has no auric or karmic ties around him, so that he doesn’t still give out the idea that the world ‘does’ it to him, or that he does it to the world! It is about owning and taking complete responsibility for our ideas and actions and then we are our own true initiators.
The cup and the sword allow the movement of inspiration from the wand to the pentacle to take place and then the manifesta tion is complete. Without the sword we can see that the pentacle wouldn’t be gold, for it could be corrupted by outer influences. The sword is the one that makes certain that we all have our own circle, that there are no ties to bind us, that nothing is pulling us down and that the gold of the solar plexus centre radiates, so ena bling the whole of the body to become incorruptible.
These four elements, or the four aspects represented by wands, pentacles, cups and swords in the minor Arcana are the beginning of everyday life and the totality of the cosmic world at the same time. They tie up with the cosmic patterns of the stars and so link to the astrological signs.
The wand is fire, which is action and this is seen in Aries, which is the first sign to come in. This is the fiery direction that becomes domination in Leo. So Aries initiates a movement into a direction, or impulse. Leo is the dominating fire of life that has to find its own truth in dominating itself, then with Sagittarius the fire has to learn to point upwards and inwards. When the arrow keeps going downward, or towards the outer, we are looking at the Earth rather than looking at God, so then that fiery element goes into self-destruction. A fiery person that doesn’t look within is definitely in danger of burning out. If we want to dominate the world with our good or bad ideas, we slide into power and the lust for more. We have to learn to dominate our passions.
The cup represents the element water, which in its highest meaning is the great water of Heaven. Rain is what links the creative creature and his God and water is psychic life. So we start with Cancer, the origin of life, the Mary or mother who is the awak-ener of the psychic life. Then in Scorpio we have the hidden life, the mystery, sexuality and death, which bring the questions that the anxious man is going to ask, about the transition towards the Spirit. Pis ces, with the fishes, is completely submerged into the psychic life, revealing the difficulty with the two currents; one is going up and the other going down. It has to become the purified waters of the Soul, as Jesus (the Soul) demonstrated, by asking us to go beyond the physical and emotional worlds. Action has no value to man if it is not directed by the realm of the Soul, which is eventually the high est representation of the cup.
The sword, which is air, is Spirit inform ing the heart. In Gemini we have the mind that wakes up and its power touches every thing. It has to find stability. In Libra, we find a balance between the desire to dominate in Leo and the acceptance of sacrifice in Virgo. This middle point can truly only be achieved in this world, for there is no other possible place where it can be found. Once we have the middle point we’re home. Unless we can simultaneously experience life and witness it with detachment, we are not going to find the narrow door to the higher mind in the Soul. Air in Aquarius will allow the mind of humanity to go beyond the understanding of life as survival and will start to perceive the oneness of life in the cosmic waters. The mental/spiritual life of the air and the water will show us the way through. The mind of the average Aquarian has to work very hard at this point, to recognise other people’s point of view and reality, as equally important as their own. It is one great mind made of trillions of points of view.
The pentacle represents matter and the biological life of our bodies; this is where all initiation must start. It doesn’t matter which way we take, we have to go deeper and deeper into the Earth to reach the heart of the cells, which are the building blocks of life. This is the importance of the cave, for there is no birth without a cave and its potential of bursting into light. The test of probation on Earth gives man the trust or the backup of the world in which he lives. So we have the bull, Taurus, offering its endurance and devel oping the perseverance and the patience to find the light. Virgo has the resignation that forgets self through devotion, because we know that we hold the promise of the world in us. There is still a hint of accountability, judgement and criticism here, because Earth is the product of that fantastic Active Intelligence which will be able to see every single little detail that is not right, so it is only through devotion that we can completely resign ourselves to the idea that this is the way the world is; it is perfect as it is and not as we want it! Then in the great Capricorn we have the self-realised man, clothed in his own silence and secrets. He bears and holds the secret and he sometimes doesn’t even realise that he’s got a secret in him; all he knows is his silence. He has in front of him in his hand the entire cre ated world; all the mental thoughts and all the possibilities. That is a heavy weight and we can see why Capricorn can either be so stern or the depressive comic.
To be an initiate is not to be a disincarnate ‘master’, meaning an entity that doesn’t need to come back and experience matter; rather he is looking for the middle way. He has always known that wher ever he is in matter, the middle way is so
СКАЧАТЬ
