Three Paths the Fool can take: Action, Mission, Passion (Dividing the Major Arcana)
Here is one for the Tarot lovers out there. This insight was thought to me by an old Magickian friend, who in turn learned it directly from a Dutch Tarot master who's name I have since forgotten. So if this seems familiar to you please leave a comment so I can give due credit.
There are three roads the Fool can take. The way of action, the way of his mission, and the way of passion. These ways are discovered when we lay out the Major Arcana in order, starting with I-The Magician, from top to bottom in columns of three till we end up with three rows of seven cards each:
The first row: I The Magician, IV The Emperor, VII The Chariot, X The Wheel of Fortune, XIII Death, XVI The Tower, XIX The Sun
The second row: II The High Priestess, V The High Priest, VIII/XI Strength, XI/VIII Justice, XIV Temperance, XVII The Star, XX Judgement
The third row: III The Empress, VI The Lovers, IX The Hermit, XII The Hanged Man, XV The Devil, XVIII The Moon, XXI The World
In the first row, the way of action, we can find cards whose energies are very active. In the second row we can find cards pertaining to our goals. And in the third row, which most likely needs the least explanation, we can find cards dealing with our passions, or where we become so passionate that we lose ourselves.
Can you see how each row, or way, tells a story?
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Feel free to give a vote, to follow, and to leave a comment,
Echion
this also seems to be the 3 pillars - the right hand path ( - action, the middle path- goals and the left hand path - passions (severity)... I can't remember the paths right now...but I need to look at this insight further - thanks for sharing
Yes, you mean the three pillars on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. The right hand pillar is the pillar of Mercy, middle pillar the pillar of Mildness and left hand pillar the pillar of Severity. But as the Tree is often used as an initiatory tool by modern day mystery schools, as a sort of map to see where we are on the ladder of initiation, I am now more inclined to look at the Tree horizontally instead of vertically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn#Structure_and_grades (Skip to section 2 structure and grades)
So if the Fool reaches XIX The Sun he has made it to the outside gates of Malkuth, the tenth and lowest of the Sephirah, and would be initiated into the 0=0 grade of Neophyte. There, at first he will be blinded by the light coming from the sixth Sephirah Tiphereth shining in the far distance right in front of him. In his book 777, Aleister Crowley ascribes The Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel to the path of Malkuth (Table 1, XLV, Magical Powers). The Holy Guardian Angel is said to reside in Tiphereth however, indicating that the light of this Angel shines as far, wide and bright all the way down to the tenth Sephirah of Malkuth. In more common, lay terms we could therefore call this experience Spiritual Awakening. It's when we first get a sense the light, but are still very far from that Spiritual experience which is commonly called Enlightenment.
When the Fool has made it to XX Judgement he will have made his way up to the Sephirah Tipheret. The Judgement card indicates Release as well as a sort of Rebirth. Crowley, in his Thoth deck, calls this card the Aeon, indicating that a new period or stage has begun. This Sephirah is associated with those Gods which rose from the death, like Dionysus, Jesus, and Osiris. Here the Fool will become an Adept (or Adeptus Minor 5=6 to be more precise). The equal armed cross on the flag hanging on the Angel's trumpet is another hint, as the equal armed cross is a symbol mostly associated with Tiphereth, symbolizing perfect balance.
And then when the Fool finally arrives in XXI The World he has made it across the Abyss (indicated by The Hermit, The Hanged Man, The Devil and The Moon), through the hidden Sephirah of Da'ath between the Sephiroth of Chesed/Gedulah and Binah. Both Binah and XXI The World correspond to Saturn. Binah is where the energies of the Supernal Triangle (consisting of the first three Sephiroth Keter, Chokhmah and Binah) culminate (downward, from Keter, via Chokhmah to Binah). So XXI The World represents all three of these Sephiroth, and it is here that the Fool will be initiated into the grades of 8=3 Magister Templi, 9=2 Magus, and 10=1 Ipsissimus respectively, if we are to use The Golden Dawn grading system as a reference.
You are welcome and thank you for the comment.
thank you for this indepth explanation- I look forward to reading it thoroughly tomorrow.
Interesting. I'd be tempted to correlate these with the Tria Prima. Action would equal Sulphur, which corresponds to the 'cardinal' signs in astrology. Mission would equal Mercury, which corresponds to the 'mutable' signs. Passion would be Salt, and the Fixed signs.
Thank you, I thought this was interesting too. I tried to look at it the same way, and we agree that Action would be Sulphur. I am still looking deeper into this though and find it hard to decide which of the two remaining paths would be Mercury (Mutable) and which would be Salt (Fixed). With so many Earthly and Saturnian energies in the Passion path I can see why you would want to attribute it to Salt, but I'm not sure how "Fixed" it is, since most of the Fixed cards (corresponding to the Fixed signs in Astrology) are in the middle row (Taurus, Leo, Aquarius).
And then I'm preparing to write another article on this which confuses the matter even further. I was looking at this and noticed how The Fool might have to go through all three paths, the first path being the path of Virility, where he battles his way through the mundane with Spiritual Awakening at the end, symbolized by the Sun. The second path the path of Virtue which is the path of initiation, where he becomes an initiate in XX Judgement (The Aeon). And the third path is the path of Vice or the path of liberation, where in XXI The World/The Universe true freedom is attained.
I specifically want to focus on The Cardinal Virtues: Fortitude, Justice and Temperance, in the middle row. And based on this spread, I want to propose a new Key for Prudence, which up until now has mostly been taken to be either II The High Priestess, IX The Hermit and XII The Hanged Man by various different people at different times. This should become interesting.
Thank you for the upvote.
Indeed. My tria prima attributions were a quick attempt. Mainly based on a superficial reading of the imagery in the concluding cards of the Sun, Judgement and the World. I can see how the final row could be seen as mutable however. This would also put the progression in the same order as astrology, which starts with cardinal (Aries), progresses to fixed (Taurus) and then Mutable (Gemini).
great ! I follow you and Upvote you .Upvote me ! Thank you
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STOPVery difficult to understand! too deep and complicated! You have a special brain!! Why not so many posts? A big gap!
Funny how I follow the trail to your blog. I used to be able to read palms and Tarot cards so accurately that it upset me and I gave it all up tears ago. Later on, I discovered my psychic ability, again letting it go. But I know i can still do things others cannot understand.
I had a strange dream last night. Hope you'll start posting again.
Following your complicated posts.
Cheers.
Hey thank you for the follow and I hope you get at least something out of my articles. I'm not much of a reader myself (apart from that I read for myself every day) but mainly study and work with thy symbolism and underlying archetypal forces of the cards. But I might go and practice for other people soon, and also publish more articles on Steemit. At the moment life keeps getting in the way unfortunately but that should all soon work itself out, hopefully.
Thanks again.
Hey, I hope you are going to post soon! Thank you very much for your kind support.
There is so much uncertainty in this world. I hope you'll be able to shed some light on the current energies and precautions we should consider.
Looking forward to seeing your new post soon,
Keep well and happy.
Cheers.
Greetings! I hope you'll be having a nice and peaceful time this winter month!
Do come back before Christmas!
Cheers.
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Hey! Stranger! Hope you are well!
Merry Christmas to you!
Be happy and healthy!
Come back soon!
Hey kaminchan... :) .. Thank you and a Happy New Year and an incredible 2018 to you...
Thank you very much! This new year you are going to starting posting?!
Cheers