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RE: Three Paths the Fool can take: Action, Mission, Passion (Dividing the Major Arcana)
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.