Velkommen til afsnit 22 af serien Årsrejse i Tarottens talkort. De foregående tekster kan findes under hovedsiden Tarot.
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Gør hvad du vil skal være Lovens helhed
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23. oktober – 1. november
Dette er Skorpionens brod – det faste vandtegns uappetitlige åbning. Kortets navn er Disappointment // Skuffelse. Dets formel lyder: Vand + Mars i Skorpionen + 5. sfære.
Dette er trængslernes søjle:
Om Geburah véd vi, at dette er den blodigt røde voldsmands værksted, hvor sindets stivnede former brydes om, og styrken udprøves i ilden. I grundbeskrivelsen, som vi allerede har tygget ganske grundigt på i afsnittene om Bekymring og Strid, læser vi denne udhævelse af 5. Sephirahs hovedsag:
In the “Naples arrangement”, the introduction of the number Five shows the idea of motion coming to the aid of that of matter. This is quite a revolutionary conception; the result is a complete upset of the statically stabilized system. Now appear storm and stress.
This must not be regarded as something “evil”. The natural feeling about it is really a little more than the reluctance of people to get up from lunch and go back to the job. In the Buddhist doctrine of Sorrow this idea is implicit, that inertia and insensitiveness must characterize peace. The climate of India is perhaps partly responsible for this notion. The Adepts of the White School, of which the Tarot is the sacred book, cannot agree to such a simplification of existence. Every phenomenon is a sacrament.
Hvert eneste fænomen er helligt. Dér har vi selve sagen. Dette er, så kortfattet udtrykt som muligt, Tarottens grunddoktrin: At helheden er hellig – i ét og alt. Derfor elsker den hvide skoles mestre altid Verden.
Ild & Vand
Dog, som der står i den næste sætning – hvor udlægningen af de enkelte element-suiter påbegyndes:
For all that, a disturbance is a disturbance; the five of Wands is called Strife.
I umiddelbar forlængelse heraf læser vi, hvad der skrives om Bægrenes 5:
On the other hand, the Five of Cups is called Disappointment, as is only natural, because Fire delights in superabundant energy, whereas the water of Pleasure is naturally placid, and any disturbance of ease can only be regarded as misfortune.
Modstillingen er klassisk: Her opfører Ild og Vand sig fuldkommen forskelligt. Hvor Ilden næres, så viljen vækkes, forstyrres Vandet, så forståelsen forplumres. Sådan har disse grundelementer deres udspændte særpræg – mellem bevægelse og stilstand. At turde & at tie. Alting til sin tid og på sit sted. Ilden er modet til at handle, og Vandet er den udsøgt vanskelige evne til at være stille – og forstå.
I den førnævnte – evigt anbefalelsesværdige – lille perle Book 4, hvori Bæstet udlægger den symbolske indebyrd af alle magikerens redskaber, læser vi under kapitlet om det magiske Bæger dette sammentrængte anslag om vandets grundpræg som forståelsens udtrykte billede – i passende udstrækning, med Mesterens udhævninger:
As the Magick Wand is the Will, the Wisdom, the Word of the Magician, so is the Magick Cup his Understanding.
This is the Cup of which it is written: “Father, if it be Thy Will, let this Cup pass from Me!” And again: “Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of?”
And it is also the Cup in the hand of OUR LADY BABALON, and the cup of the Sacrament.
This Cup is full of bitterness, and of blood, and of intoxication.
The Understanding of the Magician is his link with the Invisible, on the passive side.
His Will errs actively by opposing itself to the Universal Will.
His Understanding errs passively when it receives influence from that which is not the ultimate truth.
In the beginning the Cup of the student is almost empty; and even such truth as he receives may leak away, and be lost.
They say that the Venetians made glasses which changed colour if poison was put into them; of such glass must the student make his Cup.
Very little experience on the mystical path will show him that of all the impressions he receives none is true. Either they are false in themselves, or they are wrongly interpreted in his mind.
There is one truth, and only one. All other thoughts are false.
And as he advances in the knowledge of his mind he will come to understand that its whole structure is so faulty that it is quite incapable, even in its most exalted mode, of truth.
He will recognize that that any thought merely establishes a relation between the Ego and the non-Ego.
Kant has shown that even the laws of Nature are but the conditions of thought. And as the current of thought is the blood of the mind, it is said that the Magick Cup is filled with the blood of the Saints. All thought must be offered up as sacrifice.
The Cup can hardly be called a weapon. It is round like the pantacle – not straight like the wand and the dagger. Reception, not projection, is its nature.
Forstår vi det? Selvfølgelig ikke. Tankerne lyver. Svaret er stilhed. Dette er dig – og mig.
Naturlig antipati
I det særlige afsnit om Skuffelsens fem 5 Bægre længere inde i The Book of Thoth finder vi denne beskrivelse af kortets betydning:
This card is ruled by Geburah in the suit of Water. Geburah being fiery, there is a natural antipathy. Hence arises the idea of disturbance, just when least expected, in a time of ease.
The attribution is also to Mars in Scorpio, which is his own house; and Mars is the manifestation on the lowest plane of Geburah, while Scorpio, in its worst aspect, suggests the putrefying power of Water. Yet the powerful male influences do not show actual decay, only the beginning of destruction; hence, the anticipated pleasure is frustrated. The Lotuses have their petals torn by fiery winds; the sea is arid and stagnant, a dead sea, like a “chott” in North Africa. No water flows into the cups.
Moreover, these cups are arranged in the form of an inverted pentagram, symbolizing the triumph of matter over spirit.
Mars in Scorpio, moreover, is the attribution of the Geomantic figure Rubeus ; ~;. This is of such evil omen that certain schools of Geomancy destroy the Map, and postpone the question for two hours or more, when Rubeus appears in the Ascendant. Its meaning is to be studied in the “Handbook of Geomancy” (Equinox Vol. I, No.2).
Som vanligt gennemgår vi teksten skridtvist.
Altså: Geburah i Vandets suite – that calls for trouble: Mellem Ilden og Vandet er der, som enhver forstår og erfarer, en naturlig antipati; et grundlæggende modsætningsforhold, der i almindelighed vil indebære det enes elements udslettelse af det andet: Enten udslukker vandet ilden, eller ilden bringer vandet til at fordampe – og føres bort med vinden.
Alkymiens anliggende er at bringe disse stridende elementer i samklang og derudaf avle en tredje tilstand, som med rette kaldes salighed. Men det sker ikke i Geburah. Forståelse er ikke en erobring. Et samleje kan aldrig tvinges frem.
Hence arises the idea of disturbance, just when least expected, in a time of ease.
Mars i Skorpionen
Og vi gentager:
The attribution is also to Mars in Scorpio, which is his own house; and Mars is the manifestation on the lowest plane of Geburah, while Scorpio, in its worst aspect, suggests the putrefying power of Water. Yet the powerful male influences do not show actual decay, only the beginning of destruction; hence, the anticipated pleasure is frustrated.
Altså – som tidligere anført: I denne runde ned gennem Træet befinder alle Himmelmagterne sig i egne sfærer og viser sig dermed i mest, skal vi sige, uhæmmet fremtrædning. Her har vi således Mars – mandskraftens, stridens, stormens, anstrengelsens, voldens, viljens, styrkens, driftens flammende Herre i sin mest entydige manifestation, som den, der bringer alting i bevægelse.
Om Mars læser vi den førnævnte grundbog The General Principles of Astrology disse indledende ord:
Mars is the god of war. Pestilence and famine are his captains; before him goes terror, and after him gallops the phantom of Death.
Mars is a vigorous and fiery god: he is the soldier “seeking the bubble reputation” even in the cannon’s mouth. He is force, not fruition. He is still in the heat of the struggle. He has not acquired that authority, dignity, repose which comes with success.
Naturligvis er denne kraft nødvendig – aldeles som alle de andre grundkræfter, der viser sig i hvælvingens vandringsfolk. Kunsten er, selvfølgelig, at finde kraftens rette anvendelse.
Og Skorpionen, det faste vandtegn; vel nok det mest anstødeligt gådefulde af Dyrekredsens tolv – og derfor ikke ét, der skal plapres for højlydt om her. Nøgleordet er, naturligvis, forrådnelse – både som vilkår og velsignelse. For blomstringen har rod i alt det rådne. Sand nydelse gror kun i kyndigt gødet jordbund. Noget må dø.
Her er forløbet endnu ikke fuldbragt – vel nok fordi der stadig gøres modstand:
Yet the powerful male influences do not show actual decay, only the beginning of destruction; hence, the anticipated pleasure is frustrated . . .
Et omvendt pentagram
Nu rettes blikket mod selve billedet:
The Lotuses have their petals torn by fiery winds; the sea is arid and stagnant, a dead sea, like a “chott” in North Africa. No water flows into the cups.
Moreover, these cups are arranged in the form of an inverted pentagram, symbolizing the triumph of matter over spirit.
Kronbladene på den store Moders blomster sønderrives her af ildens vinde; bunden er blottet, stanken fornemmes. Her strømmer intet. Havet er dødt. Stilstanden er absolut – frembragt af overdrevent ildrig iver. Skuffelsen råder.
Altså – et omvendt pentagram; forståelsens udtørring i materiens sejr over Ånden:
. . . His Understanding errs passively when it receives influence from that which is not the ultimate truth . . .
Rubeus
Til allersidst – en understregning af det allerede udsagte:
Mars in Scorpio, moreover, is the attribution of the Geomantic figure Rubeus. This is of such evil omen that certain schools of Geomancy destroy the Map, and postpone the question for two hours or more, when Rubeus appears in the Ascendant. Its meaning is to be studied in the “Handbook of Geomancy” (Equinox Vol. I, No.2).
Den geomantiske figur Rubeus: Geomantik er, som førnævnt, er klassisk varselssystem, som af og til dukker op i Crowleys skriverier. Og den geomantiske figur Rubeus – den har vi allerede stiftet bekendtskab med tidligere, nemlig i undersøgelsen af de 7 Skiver (hvori der også kan læses en kortfattet introduktion til, hvordan geomantik fungerer).
Hovedsagen er, lige nu, at Rubeus er den figur, som afbilder Mars’ tilstedeværelse i Skorpionens tegn og – som vi hører – markerer et særdeles ondt varsel, der billedligt kan aflæses som et omvendt bæger, og hvis grundbetydning (som kan findes i den nævnte håndbog), lyder:
Evil in all that is good, and good in all that is evil.
Kan I drikke det bæger, jeg drikker?
Som afslutning tillader vi os at samle trådene. Dette er væsentligt: Det magiske Bæger er ikke et våben og heller ikke et redskab, men en beholder, hvis indhold hverken erobres eller frembringes, men tilmåles og modtages – som morgendug ved Solens frembrud.
Porten er smal. Væsken er ækelt sort. Angsten er ægte. Den dødsviede tvivler med rette, når han stilfærdigt spørger:
Kan I drikke det bæger, som jeg drikker?
Dette er sandheden – til udtalt skuffelse for den uforstående:
. . . the Ego-idea must be ruthlessly rooted out
before Understanding can be attained . . .
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Kærlighed er Loven, kærlighed under vilje
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Næste afsnit handler om 6 Bægre og kan læses her.
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