TAROT II{TERPRETATION

LessonTwenty-One

RENEWING THE MIND

l'he tableaufor this week is:

ll t2 ta
IJ

1/
t+ 15 t6

I7 18 t9

The magic squareis:

'tA
rt t9 12

13 l5 17

18 li I6

ln both ar"rangements the central I(ey is number 15, the Devil. The constantsummation of the
magicsquareis 45. It showsour consciousness of the overshadowing presenceof the One ldentity
(l(ey 9) asthe consequenceof the operationof intuition (Key 5) throughreason(Key 4). Thus this
tableaushowsintuition asthe sourceof materialupon which reasonworks to the end that we may
becometruly responsiveto the Oneldentity. I(ey 15 showswhat bringsus to this awareness.I(ey 9
is the Tarot representationof that awarenessitself.

The constantsummationof the rnagicsquareis the numberof the word E'1N,Adam (N, 1; 1,4;D,
40). Thus we may expectto find that this squareof Tarot Keys yields somedefinite answerto the
question,"What is Man?" Again,45 is the extensionof 9, or the sum of the numbersfrom 0 to 9
inclusive, so that this constantsummationofthe magic squarepoints to the completeexpressionof
the power representedby I(ey 9.

If we put all theseideastogetherit beginsto be evidentthat hereTarot is remindingus:

1. That reasonis not limited for materialsto pastexperience,or to the senselife. It may receive

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material from aboveits own level, and when that higher knowledgecomesdown, it must be fitted
iust ascarefully into our reasonedconstitutionof the universeasany'thingleamedfrom observation,
asanythingcalledforth from memory, asanythingsuggested by imagination.The Emperor,in other
words, doesnot surrenderhis rule at his own level evento the I{ierophant,andreasonmust checkup
on intuition before intuition can be of useto us at the self-consciouslevel of human life.

2. That although awarenessof the One Identity comesto us intuitively, this intuition is not
completercahzatton.To attainto realizatron,theintuition must be perceivedat the consciouslevel
of reason,and at that level built into our mental schemeof the cosmic order. This is necessary
becausefull realizationof our relation to the One Identity requirescertaindefinite changesin our
bodily structureand chemistry.

It is true that the merely naturalman cannot receivethe higher knowledgeof the Spirit. It is
true also that the bodily changeswhich enablehim to receivethat knowledgemust be effected
by the agencyof the subconsciousmind. But the subconsciousmind is normally under the
direction of the self-consciouslevel of awareness.True it is that, as Key 6 intimates,we may
so train subconsciousness that shewill act as the reflectorof superconsciousknowledgeinto
our lleld of personalawareness.Yet to give us a full realization,subconsciousness must
changeour physical bodies,and this it cannotdo unlesswe acceptsuchtransmutationas not
only possible,but alsoreasonable.

This is the inner significanceof that passagewhich says: "I beseechyou therefore,brethren,
by the merciesof God, that you presentyour bodiesa living sacrifice,holy, acceptableunto
God, which is your reasonableservice. And be not conformedto this world: but be ye
transformedby the renewingof your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable,and perfectwill of God." Here recall that I(ey 9 representsIntelligenceof Will.

3. That the place of Man in the cosmicorder is to act as an agentwherebythe Cosmic

Will may be proved, or testedand tried. Man, where evolution leaveshim, is ready for
transformation. Evolution can carry him no farther along the path. A thousandthousand
generationshencewill find no man liberatedfrom conformity to "this world" unlesshe
participatesin his own self-evolution. The unique position of man, amongall the creatures
we know anything about,is that he can changehis body by changinghis mind and thus
provide himself with a new instrumentthroughwhich the Life-power may manifestthe higher
levels of its infinite potencies.

Faith is requiredfor this, but all attributionsof Key 11, which representsthe Faithful Intelligence,
show us that this is not blind faith. The properly instructedstudentof AgelessWisdom has a deep
and abiding faith, rootedin observation,andperfectedby reason.The problemsof life do not look
less terrifying to an occultist than they do to an ordinary man. The differenceis that the practical
occultist hasbeenthrough a courseof training which makeshim know that no problem is really so
bad as it looks.
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As he advancesin his experimentalwork he learnsalso that there are sourcesof knowledge and
power otherthanthoserepoftedto us by our senses.He is not sense-bound, for when he beginsto
succeedin his practicalwork, he becomesactually a new creature.

I{is outwardappearancemay not be strikingly different from that of the restof humanity. Ilis inner
life, liowever,is of a differentkind. He knowshimselfto belongto what is virtually a new species
on this planet---aspecies,so to say,self-generated.(Keys 11, 15, 19)

ln the passagejust quotedfrom St. Paul,the original Greeksays: "Be not fashionedin accordance
with this age." Suchis the invariablemessageof AgelessWisdom. Thereforeare its adeptsalways
like strangers,evenamongtheir own kin, men and womenwhosewhole courseof life is looked
upon with distrust, and, unlessthey concealtheir aims and convictions, such personsare often
denouncedandpersecuted,evenunto death. What is the fashionin any ageis neverthe Inner Truth,
for fashionschangeunderthe influenceof the racesubconsciousness. The practicaloccultist aims,
first of all, to reverseconditionsby reversinghis thought. His views arein nearly every respectthe
exact oppositesof thoseheld by a merely naturalman.

Listen,for example,to EliphasLevi, who tellsus ofthe GreatMagicalAgent in thesewords: "The

Astral Light is the key of all dominion. It is the first physical manifestationof the Divine Breath.
The Gnostic representedit as the buming body of the Holy Ghost. It is representedon ancient
monumentsby the serpentdevouringits own tail. It is the Hyle of the Gnostics.Lastly, it is the
,l-.';l ^c -.'^*^,.;^ .1.^^,*^r i -,.. :'
svr ll vr wAvlwllv uuBlrt4LlJltl.

That is to say,it is what Tarot representsby Key I 5. But what a reversalof commonopinion to say
that the "key of all dominion" is the "devil of exotericdogmatism!" Small wonderthat sageshave
sr-rftbredmartyrdom in every agewhen the herd mind hashad the upperhandin the affairs of men!

The greatproblem the practicaloccultisthasto faceis onewhich assumeseverchangingforms. lt is

the problem of his own ignorance,andparticularlythe problemof his ignoranceasto the reversalof
the curuentsof the Astral Light. lle who solvesthis problem can rule all things, for he can so
changehis physical body that it may be usedas an instrumentfor the direction of modes of force
which would consumethe ordinaryphysicalvehicleof humanpersonality.(Keys 12, 15, 18)

"Dissolution,"saythe alchemists,"is the secretof the GreatWork," andthey representdissolution

by the symbol which you seeon I(ey 10just abovethe letter R on the wheel. This is also the
symbol for the sign Aquarius,the Water-bearer,the sign which hasgreatestpower in the agewe are
now entering.It is peculiarlythe sign of Man, representedon Keys 10and2Iby theman'sheadat
the upperleft-handcomer of the design.

Thusit is towardwhatthis signrepresents thattheFool is looking. In chemistry,dissolutionis now

tenned analysis, andthis is what is meantby the alchemicaldictumjust quoted.Every problemhas
first to be ar-ralyzed.Its component pafts must be separatedfiom one another and carefully
measured.

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In Key 15 we seepicturedmany partsput togetherin disorderly,chaoticfashion.To understandthis

picture of the Devil, we must take it to pieces. Then only do we seethat what it really representsis
somethingboth male and female, somethingfound in all the elements(wings, air; eagle'stalons,
water; goat'shoms and grossbody, earth;torch, fire). Then it dawns on us that the whole design
representsa disorderly combinationof forces,and the reversedpentagramat the top of the picture
gives us a clue to the causeof the confusion. Trouble comeswheneverman'signorancercverseshis
true positionof dominionover the elements.

In general,every problem is a phaseof what Key 15 symbolizes. Analysis of any problern into its
partsis valuablebecauseit showswherethesepartsfit into the cosmicorder. Thus analysisleadsto
synthesis,and synthesisunveilsthe beautifultruth behindtheugly faceof everyproblem. (I(eys 13,
15,17)

Man must participatein his self-evolutionif he is to advanceto higher levelsthanthoserepresented

by the consciousnessof the herd-mind. Yet you must not understandfrom this that Ageless
Wisdorn holds that man has a power which he may contributeto the GreatWork, or may, if he so
determines,withhold from that Work. For then man would be more powerful than the Universal
Spirit whencehe catneand could defeatthe purposesof that Spirit. It is not turtil the work of the
Spirit uponus, fiom within andwithout,haschangedus so thatwe reabzewhatis going on within
us that we may be said to participatein the GreatWork.

'Ihose.
for example.who rejectthedoctrineof AgelessWisdomcannotacceptit. St. paulhadthis
in mind when he wrote: "The naturalman receivethnot the things of the Spirit of God: fbr they are
fbolishnessunto him: neithercanhe know them,becausethey are spirituallydiscemed."

Up to a cefiain point, we are all subjectsof the work of transmutation.Beyond that point, we
becomeparticipants. From then on there is a subtle,but important,changein our merilal attitude.
We no longerfeal problems. We welcomeeveryproblemas a freshopportunity.

Problemsdo not look any lessterrifying,but theyceaseto dauntus. Becausewe know ourselvesto
be centersof expressionfor a power wise enoughto resolveeveryprobleminto its componentparts,
and bring those parts together again in an orderly arrangement,we face every problem boldly
without bitternessof hearl.

This stateof mind doesnot come all at once. It is precededby the breakupof many structuresof
fhlseknowledge. Storm and stressprecedethe calm of serenemeditation.ThusthePsalmisttells us
that a heart utterly shatteredand broken is not despisedby God. He meansthat until we have
clissolvedour subconsciouscomplexesof erroneousopinion,basedon our acceptance ofthe illusion
of separateness as being not an illusion but an actualreality,thereis no possibilityof advancing
beyondthe stageof bondageto problemsandcircumstance.This stageof extremediscomfortis the
ordinarypredicamentof the naturalman. (I(eys 14, 15, 16)

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Rememberthat the transformationbeginswith faith. Nor is faith limited to religion, philosophy,or

metaphysics.Our scientistsexercisea degreeof faith which surpasses in intensityanythingwhich is
achievedby the ordinary religiousdevotee.No person,for example,eversawan electron,or a gene,
but f'ewscientistsdoubttheir existence.The fission of the atomwas accomplishedby men who had
taith in things unseenwhich were revealedto them by the symbolsof pure mathematics.

Dr. GeorgeCrile hasasseftedthat in everycubic inch of our musclesthereareprobably four billion

tiny points of radiantenergy,eachof which has a temperatureof from 3,000 to 6,000 degrees
centigrade.His faith in the presenceof thesetiny hot points in our bodiesis a reasonablefaith,
iustified by the fact that living tissueemitsultra-violetrays. HenceDr. Crile arguesthat sincewe
know it takesa temperatureof at least3,000degreesto produceultra-violetrays,theremust be these
high temperaturesin extremelydiminutive hot points in our muscles.We do not feel the heat
becausethe points are so tiny that they do not aff-ectour senses.

This discovery, by the way, is a direct confirmation of the old occult doctrine that man is a
microcosm. The newspaperdispatch in which it was first reported said: "We may say that
protoplasmis a Milky Way consistingof 'solarsystems,'infinitely diminutive,eachcreatedin its
own imageby the Sun'sradiance."

More recently,physicistshaveannouncedthat the conceptionofprotoplasmasbeinga f,rndamental

living substanceis no longer tenable. Protoplasm,they say, tums out to be simply a certain
combinaticn of iiiattei, aiiJ its coinponcirtelerneiitsdo iio'rexliibit tlic chalaoteristicvitai phenornena
we find expressedthrougli the protoplasmiccombination. What we call life is manifestedsothat we
may observeits activitywheneverseeminglylifelesssubstancesare combinedin certain ways.
This, of course,meansthat the potentiality of life is presentin all "matter," whetherit be organicor
inorganic. Hence what St. John said: "God can of these very stonesraise up children unto
Abraham,"is seento be literally true.

So, step-by-step,the advanceof scienceconfirmsthe ancientdoctrinesof occultism,andstrengthens

our reasonable conviction that human life is related to, and is dependent on, the entire
worid-organism. The whole universeflows through us, and the stuff from which our bodies are
made is structurally a miniature copy of the starsof heaven.

This fiery energy is the basis of our existenceas human personalities. The particular form of it
which holds greatestpossibilities for us is that which ordinarily finds expressionthrough the
reproductivefunction. When we know the natureof this energy,we can control its currents,and
reversetheir ordinary operation. By this meanswe may emergefrom the bondageof the natural
man into the freedomof the higher order of being for which the naturalman is but a seed-form. In
so emergingfrom naturalhumanitywe shallbe released,asour final demonstration,from bondage
to tlre appearanceof deathwhich the Bible rightly describesasthe "last enemy."(I(eys II,12, 13)

It4editationis one of the most importantpracticesinvolved in our releasefrom naturalhumanity. It

is primarily a state of intentional receptivity to the spiritual life which flows into our field of

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IIOT' INTEIIPRE7-ATION.. 2I

persollalityfiorn superconscious levels. We mustopenourselvesto that life in ordertorneditate.At

the sarnetime, we must keep self-consciousness on the alert, or around which, the stream of
intelligencecoming frorn higherlevelsmay be madeto flow. Right rneclitationshoulclbe aimed
alwaysat theco-ordinationof all our energies,ashintedby thebalancedaffangement of starsin I(ey
17, and this co-ordinationlias a physicalresult. Meditationchangesthe plrysicalbody, altersits
chemistryand structure. Out entergencefrom the stateof natural hurnanityis as definitely a
physiologicaladaptationasis theetnergence ofthe naturalmanfiorn theanimalkingdom. [l'we are
to be transfbrmedby the renewing of our minds, it is not less true that the result of the
translbrmationis an actualregeneration, to which the wise refer wl'renthey say we must be born
again.(Keys17,18,19)

MEDITATIONS

FIRST DAY: I(eys 11, 15, 19. Today I havefreshopportunitiesto adjustzurdadaptthe forces
of
lifb. TheseopportunitiescomeastheproblemsI shallmeetthis day. Tluough solvi'g the'r I may
becomea new creature.I have power to adjust all difficulties, for I am a direct expressionof
the ruling power of the universe.

SIICOND DAY: I(eys 12, 15, 18. l'oday I set myself to reversemy former errors. I-et me
renlenlberthatwhateverfiightensme doesso because I havenot learnedits rnealing. Let rnepress
t'rtlwarcl
in the Weryof l-iberationtowardthe goalof enlightemnent.I am an agentof the Spirit of
Life' which knows the answersto all my problems,and is shapingmy very flesh to the end
that I may solvethem.

'll-llRD
DAY: Keys 13,15, 17. I am transfonnedby the renewingof my rnind. Thereis 'o
bondagefor me savethat of rny own ignorance. That bondageI dissolvetoday thro'gh calm
rneditation.I analyzemy problems,and discernthe opportunitiesthey hold for me through
my steadymeditationof their true meaning.

IiOURTFI DAY: i(eys 14, 15, 16. I seen-ryselftodayasthe subjectof the GreatWork of spiritual
tt'ansmutation.My bondage,howeverreal it niay appearto be,is only delusiol. It will end wlen I
atn releasedliorn theprisonof eror I havebuilt uryself. The One Self is worhing through me to
solvcevery problem and releaseme from all erroneousopinion.

FIFTI I DAY: Keys 1l, 12, 13. My faith is groundedin reason.I entrustmyself to a cosmicorder
lbr which I have abundantevidence. Not even death frightens rne, for I know its beneficent
purpose.I am poisedand s€curein the midst of change.

SIXTI-IDAY: I(eys 17, 18, 19. Today,in silentmeditation,Ishallcatcha new glimpseof truth.
For I atn being transfbrmedbodily by the new knowledgeI am receiving. "fhe processof.
regetrerationis at work within me. As I seetruth, I am transformed into a more perf'ectlikeness
of rny spiritual origin.

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