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.Hence all practical methods, Eastern or Western, for controlling the Astral Light, involve theactivity of the purified Imagination, typified in Strength by the woman.She is the Empress, but the sign above her head shows that she has assimilated some of thequalities of the Magician.Readers of Hudson s works on psychic phenomena will see in her thesubjective mind, purified and trained by suggestions from the objective (the Magician),mastering the Fire-principle in the human body, and so gaining control over its manifestationsoutside the body.Qabalists will remember that Hod, the eighth Sephirah, is named Splendor, in reference to theglory of the purified Fire-principle.They will also recall the fact that Hod belongs to thefeminine pillar of the Tree of Life, and that its number is the sum of the numbers of Binah,Understanding, and Geburah, Severity, the other two Sephiroth of the feminine pillar.Hod is thePath of Occult Intelligence, the sphere of the planet Mercury (represented in the Tarot by theMagician), and to it is attributed the element Water.In Strength the woman is Water and the lionis Fire.Thus the whole picture represents the modification of Fire and Water, and the secret ofthis is the Great Arcanum.To this the name of the Path attributed to Teth also refers.It is Intelligence of the Secret, or Intelligence of all of the activities of the Spiritual Being. Strength, then, symbolizes control of the Astral Light by Understanding; and because it is Vau ofthe formative world, it shows that such control is the equilibrating activity in all formation.Inthat world desire (the Lovers) takes the initiative; will (the Chariot) is the determinativeprinciple, corresponding to the letter Heh; and subconscious modification of the Astral Light(Strength) maintains the balance between desire and will.Here is a great truth, expressed insimple emblems.Happy is he who can apprehend it, and happier he who has courage andpatience to apply it!30 Introduction to the Study of TarotCHAPTER VIIITo begin his study of the triad of trumps bearing thc numbers 9, 10, and 11, let the student addthe ninth and tenth cards to the tableau given in preceding chapters, thus:13 25 468 7910This completes the Tree of the Sephiroth.The number 9 is Yesod, the Foundation, and 10 isMalkuth, the Kingdom.Yesod, spelt ISVD in Hebrew, combines the letter Yod, I, with word SVD, Sod, a mystery. Thus the secret meaning of Yesod is the mystery of Yod. The Sephra Dtzenioutha says: Yodis above all (symbolizing the Father), and with him is none other associated. This doctrine isimplied by the title and symbolism of the ninth trump, which also corresponds to Yod in theHebrew alphabet.The Hermit lives alone, isolated; and the picture shows him above all, on asnowy mountain-peak.His white beard suggests that he is the Most Holy Ancient One, sooften mentioned in the Zohar; and the gray, cowled robe recalls the name, Concealed with allConcealment. These epithets are applied by Qabalists both to Ain Suph and to Kether, which areheld to be identical in all but name.Here they refer to the correspondence between Yesod, theFoundation, and Ain Suph, the Source of all.That correspondence will be better understood after a study of the analogies between 9, thenumber of Yesod, and 0, which symbolizes Ain Suph.The sign of that which precedes allmanifestation is 0; and 9, the last figure in the integral series, denotes completeness, perfection,realization.The only perfect Being must be the Absolute, and the Absolute is No-thing, 0.Perfection, moreover, is beyond and above all manifestation, for manifestation is a process thatends with the realization of the Perfect.9, therefore, represents the Absolute as the Goal of allexistence, while 0 typifies It as the Source of all.Consequently, in the Tarot 0 is a youth, lookingupward, in the morning light; but 9 is a bearded ancient, looking down, at night.Again, themathematical properties of 9 are similar to those of 0.Multiply any number by 9, and the productgives 9 as the least number of its reduction.Substitute 9 for 0 in a complex number, and thereduction will give the same least number.Thus 259 reduces to 7, and so does 250.Hence, inreducing a complex number composed of several figures, 9 is regarded the same as 0, and onlythe other figures are added to find the least number.Finally, the extension of 9 is 45, whichreduces to 9, so that 9, like 0, always produces itself by evolution.In brief, then, the Hermit and the Fool are two aspects of one principle, which is the foundation of all things.The Hermit is the Ancient One, the Source of all existence, above all things, yetsupporting all.He precedes everything, and is forever young, as in the symbolism of the Fool;31 yet He will continue when all else has passed away, and He is the Goal of all our hopes.Thus Hemay be represented as a bearded ancient, the Hermit
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