Tarot and Kabbalah: Arcanum 9

Arcanum 9

The Ninth Arcanum is the arcanum of the Hermit. It is represented by an elder who carries a lamp in his right hand. This lamp must be raised up in order to give light on the path; it must be raised aloft in order to illuminate.

The number nine when multiplied by any number always results in nine. For example:

2 x 9 = 18 then 1 + 8 = 9

4 x 9 = 36 then 3 + 6 = 9

5 x 9 = 45 then 4 + 5 = 9

This becomes more interesting because there are nine inferior circles within the interior of the Earth. It can be stated that there are nine infernal parallel universes, from the epidermis of the Earth into the interior. These universes extend until reaching the very heart of the Earth, with the ninth circle in the center of the Earth. These nine circles are the nine demonic or diabolical regions.

There also exist nine superior circles that in occultism are called the nine heavens. These nine heavens are represented by the nine planets.

For example, when we refer to the Moon, we must not think about the Moon as the physical satellite. The sub-lunar diabolical regions must not be searched for in the Moon but in the interior of the Earth.

Let us consider now the lunar heaven. These heavens do not mean precisely that they are related to the physical Moon, but to the superior regions, those molecular regions which are lunar. They are governed by the Moon. It is a molecular lunar world which is found here in our world.

This first heaven of the Moon has its science; here we find the souls that deserve to rise into that region because not all of the dead achieve the arrival into that heaven. The majority of the dead return from the threshold in order to enter into the region of the dead; then they penetrate into a new womb. Others enter into the submerged involution of the nine infernal spheres.

The first heaven of the Moon is entered as a resting place. The Moon is related with chastity, with sex. Here, one can remember the distinct errors committed with sex.

A grave problem exists because the Moon tends towards materiality. The whole terrestrial mechanism is controlled by the Moon. The whole life of the Earth, the whole terrestrial mechanism, is controlled by the Moon. This whole mechanical life in which we live in is of a lunar type.

The Moon, like the weight of a great clock, makes the terrestrial machinery move. The sprouting of vegetables, the animals, ovulation in women, the flux and reflux of the ocean, high and low tides, etc., all depend on the Moon. Since life is so mechanical, if triumphing is what is really required, then the Moon must be taken advantage of. The crescent moon as well as the full moon is for our activities. However, if the waning moon is utilized, we fail. The new moon is very difficult as well; it does not have strength. If we want to triumph in any activity, or in business, inevitably we will have to take advantage of the crescent moon and the full moon. Never start a business during the waning moon or new moon.

It is necessary to have the perfumes of the rose and violet plants accessible in order to control the lunar materiality. These perfumes must be used in order to control materiality, because the Moon exercises a materialistic influence over the human mind. Moreover, to our disgrace, the subjective elements which we carry within are controlled by the Moon.

The soul of every living being emanates from an atom. This atom is the Ain Soph. Each person has his own Ain Soph. This is a star that shines in infinite space beyond the nine Heavens. Souls must return to their Star, to their own Ain Soph. This return towards their Star, the Ain Soph, is a divine event. The day when the soul is Self-realized will be when it has the luxury of returning to its star. This was commented on by Plato in his Timeus. Each three-brained biped being needs to create the butterfly in order to return to that star.

The nine heavens are intimately concordant with the nine infernal circles; they are compaginated. In total we have:

9 heavens + 9 infernal circles = 18

1+ 8 = 9; this is the number of the master, of the initiate.

We need to Self-realize within the eighteen circles. An individual that does not Self-realize within the eighteen circles is not a master. In synthesis, in order to be a master, to be the perfect nine, is to be able to act with assurance in any of the eighteen circles.

Atman is the Divine Spirit (an emanation from the Logos). He has two souls, Buddhi and Manas. It is vital to comprehend this. In the Middle Ages, when the medieval knight departed in order to fight for his lady, it was nothing more than the Human Soul struggling for the conquest of his Spiritual Soul.

I achieved the comprehension of this when my real Being took me into the causal world, which is a world of an intense electric blue color. The King, Atman, the Lord, was seated at a table with a beautiful lady who was his Spiritual Soul, his Beatrice, his Valkyrie. They were seated forming a triangle with the Human Soul. Atman began to speak and said, “I have two Souls: the Spiritual Soul and the Human Soul. While the Human Soul works, the Spiritual Soul plays and lives happily. This is my doctrine. Thus, we three are one.”

We—Atman, Buddhi, and Manas—were reunited in the causal world, in that region of causes. So without such experience I could not explain this in a clear form.

Atman unfolds into Buddhi and Buddhi into Manas, just as when we look at ourselves in a mirror. Thus, the trinity is created. The Essence is an enfoldment of the Superior Manas. This Essence in its turn is bottled up within the “ego.” The awakening of this Essence is the awakening of consciousness; it is to make oneself cognizant of the mysteries of life and death. Many want to awaken the consciousness but they abandon the work at any moment. This is why the Maithuna was not communicated to anyone if previously this person did not have an awakened consciousness. The Christmas Message of 1968-69 [Magic of the Runes] is a book that explains the Runes for the awakening of the consciousness.

To incarnate the Being, the Divine Triad, is something that is very difficult; to accomplish this, the building of the solar bodies is necessary. Without having the solar bodies built, if the Being was incarnated, this would produce an electric shock that could not be tolerated and one would die.

The building of the solar bodies is vital. One must work in the Ninth Sphere; one must descend into the forge of the Cyclops in order to work with the water and the fire. The creative energy is the Holy Spirit, Vulcan, who is the Third Logos, the sexual force; He is Shiva.

The sacred fire is “She,” the igneous serpent that rises through the medullar canal. She is the Mother Kundalini. She marries her husband in the pineal gland. The Third Logos, the Holy Spirit, the eternal spouse, begets the Divine Mother Kundalini, the root of the Monad, the Mother Space.

The cosmic seed plot—the Matripadma—is the Devamatri, the chaotic matter, the substance mater, the raw matter of the Great Work. She is Mother Space. The Holy Spirit is the Third Logos who fecundates her, who is latent within the Matripadma. Without him, she remains quiet, and with him, she ignites herself; she reverberates; she swells.

The Father is the First Logos, the Second Logos is the Son, and the Third Logos is the Holy Spirit. These three aspects are behind Atman, Buddhi, and Manas. From the Ain Soph emerges the Father, from the Father emerges the Son, and from the Son emerges the Holy Spirit. These Three Logoi are the Tao, Brahatma, and the universal Spirit of life; beyond this is the Absolute. These Three Logoi emerge from this Universal Ocean of Life; a tide that rises could be Ishvara, a Purusha that instructs. Once he instructs he returns into the ocean of the Spirit. He fuses himself with the Ocean of the Spirit.

The Absolute in itself has three aspects: the Ain, the Ain Soph, and the Ain Soph Aur. To talk about the Ain is difficult, for it is the unmanifested Absolute. No form, no figure, no number, nor weight exists within the Absolute. When a universe is dissolved, only the memory of it remains in the consciousness of the gods. With those memories, the universe of Pleroma is formed. If something wants to be taken out of this place, it does not exist because it is only a memory.

Synthesis

- It is understood that a Self-realized Being is someone who has built the solar bodies and who has finished with the ego.

- The descent into the abyss is only under the command of the Elder of Days, and this will be in order to ascend.

- Initiation is your own life.

- The one who receives initiations is the Innermost.

- Thus, initiation has nothing to do with those fantastic tales which are so abundant in certain books.

- Thus, nothing is given to us for free. Everything has its price. Whosoever has not earned anything cannot collect anything.

- Initiations are payments that the Logos gives to human beings when the disciples have sacrificed themselves for humanity.

- Those who only preoccupy themselves with their own spiritual progress and do not work for others achieve absolutely nothing. Whosoever wants to progress must sacrifice the self for others.

- Initiation is this same life intentionally lived with rectitude and love.