The Hebrew Alphabet as Programming Language: The Matrix

I was thinking about Colin Lowe's book, Notes on Kabbalah, A Depth of Beginning, and I thought it was interesting how he spoke about language being the building block of reality. He related that programming languages are able to create entire worlds in video games. Using math and programming languages to deal with light refraction and how gravity acts in a virtual world, etc, etc., which I thought was really interesting. Mostly because I'm finding it hard to connect to Gematria, the numerology of letters and words in Kabbalah, I was complaining that we just got some tables in the book and how am I supposed to start with this practically as a beginner, and it started an interesting answer of using programming language as metaphor to explain the Hebrew Alphabet and the paths on the Tree of Life!

Here's what Ellie had to say (that's what I call my ChatGPT!):
Colin Lowe is right to put his finger on language as world-building. In Kabbalah, the Sefer Yetzirah literally describes creation as God “engraving” the cosmos through Hebrew letters—like code. Think of each letter as both symbol and operator. Put them in motion, and suddenly you have syntax that generates not just words, but realities. That’s a beautiful bridge to programming languages and video games: code written in C++ or Python produces a landscape where a character can run, jump, fight, or dream. Letters and logic build a world.

Where Lowe’s presentation falters is exactly what you noticed—tables without living examples feel like scaffolding with no building attached. Kabbalah is at its best when correspondences are not just memorized but played with. For instance: if Aleph corresponds to Air and the Fool card, you might breathe deeply and imagine Aleph as the opening spark of inspiration. That’s when it shifts from abstract table to experiential practice.

The ups and downs you’re sensing are the tension between scholarship and initiation. Tables are fine for scholars. Beginners need lived metaphors, stories, and exercises. Without those, it’s like being handed the periodic table without ever seeing what hydrogen does when you light it.

You’ve already hit the gold vein, though—linking letters to programming and video game worlds is precisely the sort of metaphor that makes the dry tables come alive. The next step is finding or inventing examples that resonate with your own imagination. That’s how the tables become more than dead ink.

Want me to show you how you could take just one letter and run it through the Tree of Life, Tarot, and a creative exercise, so it stops being “just a column in a table”?

-Then they started with A and we just carried on all the way down the tree! Here it is:

Aleph (א) — the first letter.

Literal meaning:
Aleph means “ox” or “breath.” It is completely silent—the potential before sound, the invisible seed at the root of existence. Aleph is the breath that gives rise to every utterance, the silent heart at the center of creation.

Tree of Life:
Aleph connects Kether to Chokmah. It is the spark of pure potential moving into wisdom—the first motion from unmanifest to manifest.

Tarot:
Aleph corresponds to The Fool. It’s the card of innocence, openness, and the leap into the unknown—the first step before the journey even truly begins.

Programming:
Aleph is the empty project—the moment before the first line of code, the pure potential out of which the system will grow.

Bet (ב) — the second letter.

Literal meaning:
Bet means “house” or “dwelling.” It is the vessel, the first real structure in which creation can take place. Bet is the archetype of the home—the container that gives potential a place to dwell.

Tree of Life:
Bet connects Kether to Binah. Here, pure potential takes on form and limitation; the infinite is housed within structure and understanding.

Tarot:
Bet is The Magician. The Magician channels and shapes energy, turning potential into tangible creation within the house of reality.

Programming:
Bet is the framework or container—the coding environment or application structure that allows rules, systems, and worlds to be built.

Gimel (ג) — the third letter.

Literal meaning:
Gimel means “camel.” It’s the mover, the carrier, the one that brings resources across empty spaces. Gimel is the principle of movement, flow, and bringing gifts from place to place.

Tree of Life:
Gimel connects Kether to Tiferet. Divine source flows into the heart, bringing vitality and balance to the system.

Tarot:
Gimel corresponds to The High Priestess. She holds and transmits mysteries, carrying wisdom across the gulf between the worlds.

Programming:
Gimel is the data stream—the process that loads content and fills the world with life and interaction.

Dalet (ד) — the fourth letter.

Literal meaning:
Dalet means “door.” It is passage, threshold, the opening that allows transition and choice. Dalet is the point where you move from one state to another.

Tree of Life:
Dalet connects Chokmah to Binah. Wisdom crosses into understanding—potential steps through the doorway into form.

Tarot:
Dalet is The Empress. She embodies fertility and creative abundance, the threshold through which life emerges.

Programming:
Dalet is the conditional statement—the entry point or branching logic where choices are made and different paths unfold.

Heh (ה) — the fifth letter.

Literal meaning:
Heh means “window” or “breath.” It is awareness entering form, the moment when light or spirit reveals what is within the house.

Tree of Life:
Heh connects Chokmah to Tiferet. Divine impulse shines into the beauty and balance of the heart.

Tarot:
Heh corresponds to The Emperor. The Emperor is structured rulership, the clarity that brings order to the house.

Programming:
Heh is the render—the moment when code becomes visible, when the user can see and interact with the product of creation.

Vav (ו) — the sixth letter.

Literal meaning:
Vav means “hook” or “nail.” It is the fastener, the connector, the joining principle that links elements together into a whole.

Tree of Life:
Vav connects Chokmah to Chesed. Wisdom flows into loving-kindness, the divine spark linking with mercy and generosity.

Tarot:
Vav is The Hierophant. The Hierophant mediates between spirit and community, joining the sacred with the ordinary.

Programming:
Vav is the operator or connector—the “and” logic that binds systems and functions together into a working whole.

Zayin (ז) — the seventh letter.

Literal meaning:
Zayin means “sword” or “weapon.” It’s the edge, the principle of separation and discernment, which divides and clarifies.

Tree of Life:
Zayin connects Binah to Tiferet. Understanding sharpens the heart into clarity; the sword divides illusion from truth.

Tarot:
Zayin is The Lovers. This card is about choice, moral clarity, and the need to discern the true path between options.

Programming:
Zayin is the fork or if/else statement—the point where a program must choose between different outcomes or behaviors.

Chet (ח) — the eighth letter.

Literal meaning:
Chet means “fence” or “enclosure.” It defines a sacred, protected space—an inner courtyard where life can thrive.

Tree of Life:
Chet connects Binah to Gevurah. Understanding is shaped into discipline; the enclosure focuses and protects the growing force.

Tarot:
Chet is The Chariot. The Chariot represents controlled motion, strength harnessed within boundaries and direction.

Programming:
Chet is the container or level boundary—the structure that sets the limits within which processes or logic unfold.

Tet (ט) — the ninth letter.

Literal meaning:
Tet means “serpent” or “basket.” It is the principle of hidden good, the treasure curled up in darkness, waiting to be discovered.

Tree of Life:
Tet connects Chesed to Gevurah. Mercy balances severity; hidden strengths emerge through gentle mastery.

Tarot:
Tet is Strength. This card is about inner power, compassion, and the taming of wild forces through love and patience.

Programming:
Tet is the try/catch block—the system that holds and transforms errors, revealing good hidden within apparent problems.

Yod (י) — the tenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Yod means “hand” or “point.” It’s the smallest letter, just a dot—but it’s the seed of all creation. Every other letter is born from it. It’s the spark, the flame, the first motion that begins a world.

Tree of Life:
Yod connects Chesed to Tiferet. It’s the path of generosity becoming beauty—grace expressed through form.

Tarot:
Yod corresponds to The Hermit. A lone light in the darkness. A small flame carried high. The Yod is hidden but powerful—like divine inspiration whispering through solitude.

Programming:
Yod is the initial variable. A seed value. A single line that blossoms into whole functions. Small, but foundational.

Kaph (כ) — the eleventh letter.

Literal meaning:
Kaph means “palm” or “hollowed hand.” It’s about receptivity, the ability to hold, contain, and shape. Think of it as the divine hand forming clay.

Tree of Life:
Kaph runs from Chesed to Netzach. Loving-kindness pours into desire and action—grace fueling creative drive.

Tarot:
Kaph links to The Wheel of Fortune—cycles, fate, karma. The open palm catching what life throws. Destiny in motion.

Programming:
Kaph is your function call. It catches data, holds it, and shapes output. It’s the logic that accepts and transforms.

—

Lamed (ל) — the twelfth letter.

Literal meaning:
Lamed means “goad” or “staff.” It’s the letter of learning, urging forward motion—sometimes with a nudge. It’s the only letter that rises above the writing line, like a flag or a flame.

Tree of Life:
Lamed connects Gevurah to Tiferet. This is discipline refining beauty. The staff of the teacher guiding the soul.

Tarot:
Lamed is Justice—clarity, karma, and balance. It cuts clean. It teaches by adjustment.

Programming:
Lamed is your rules engine. It enforces conditions. If things don’t align, Lamed corrects them.

—

Mem (מ) — the thirteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Mem means “water.” It’s the flow of thought, emotion, and depth. There are two Mems: open (מ) and final/closed (ם). Water begins in movement and ends in silence.

Tree of Life:
Mem flows from Gevurah to Hod. Force becomes communication—emotional truth entering intellect.

Tarot:
Mem is The Hanged Man—suspension, reflection, inner surrender. Water holds and purifies.

Programming:
Mem is flow control—pauses, loops, and timeouts. It holds motion in tension.

—

Nun (נ) — the fourteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Nun means “fish.” It’s life within water, motion within depth. Like ideas swimming beneath the surface.

Tree of Life:
Nun connects Tiferet to Netzach—beauty fuels desire and victory. Art stirs the will.

Tarot:
Nun is Death. Not doom—transformation. The fish dies to become new life.

Programming:
Nun is refactoring—cutting old code to make space for better logic. Life through loss.

—

Samekh (ס) — the fifteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Samekh means “support” or “prop.” It’s the unseen structure that holds things upright. A circle with strength inside.

Tree of Life:
Samekh links Yesod to Tiferet—the subconscious (foundation) rises into the heart (beauty).

Tarot:
Samekh is Temperance—balance, flow, alchemy. Holding opposites in harmony.

Programming:
Samekh is architecture—the code scaffolding that holds everything else. Silent but vital.

—

Ayin (ע) — the sixteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Ayin means “eye.” It is perception, vision, and symbolic insight. Not just seeing—but seeing into.

Tree of Life:
Ayin joins Tiferet to Hod—beauty informs intellect. Aesthetic becomes logic.

Tarot:
Ayin is The Devil. Not evil—but attachment, illusion, the eye caught by shadow. Seeing what binds us.

Programming:
Ayin is the debugger’s eye—what do you really see when the system misbehaves?

—

Pe (פ) — the seventeenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Pe means “mouth.” It’s speech, command, and expression. The letter of creative utterance.

Tree of Life:
Pe moves from Netzach to Hod—desire becomes communication. Emotion meets thought.

Tarot:
Pe is The Tower—explosive speech, breakdowns, truth shouted aloud. Destruction that frees.

Programming:
Pe is output, logging, or alerts. The system speaking back to you, sometimes loudly.

—

Tzaddi (צ) — the eighteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Tzaddi means “fishhook.” It pulls the hidden to the surface. A symbol of righteousness that draws down light.

Tree of Life:
Tzaddi links Netzach to Yesod—desire shaping the subconscious.

Tarot:
Tzaddi is The Star—hope, guidance, the light that calls you forward.

Programming:
Tzaddi is data retrieval—queries and searches that pull buried truths into view.

—

Qoph (ק) — the nineteenth letter.

Literal meaning:
Qoph means “back of the head.” It represents the subconscious, the dreamworld, the unknown within us.

Tree of Life:
Qoph links Netzach to Malkuth—the will pours into reality, from astral to physical.

Tarot:
Qoph is The Moon—mystery, reflection, illusion, intuition.

Programming:
Qoph is background processing—threads running behind the scenes.

—

Resh (ר) — the twentieth letter.

Literal meaning:
Resh means “head.” It’s about beginning, leadership, and visionary direction.

Tree of Life:
Resh connects Hod to Yesod—thought becomes feeling, intellect stirs emotion.

Tarot:
Resh is The Sun—clarity, joy, radiance.

Programming:
Resh is main()—the start point, where the program truly begins to shine.

—

Shin (ש) — the twenty-first letter.

Literal meaning:
Shin means “tooth” or “flame.” It’s a letter of fire, transformation, and divine spirit. Often drawn with three flames—it represents the triune soul.

Tree of Life:
Shin moves from Hod to Malkuth—intellect ignites reality. Word becomes world.

Tarot:
Shin is Judgment—awakening, resurrection, the fire that renews.

Programming:
Shin is execution—when the compiled code runs and the system comes alive.

—

Tav (ת) — the twenty-second and final letter.

Literal meaning:
Tav means “mark,” “seal,” or “truth.” It’s the completion, the final stamp of reality.

Tree of Life:
Tav links Yesod to Malkuth—from the subconscious to the physical. Dream becomes flesh.

Tarot:
Tav is The World—completion, integration, wholeness.

Programming:
Tav is your final commit, your build release. It seals the cycle.

—

And that’s the whole Aleph-Bet—22 creative forces, 22 stages of emergence from nothing into everything.

The Abyss - Down in a hole

I bought the collected works of Promethea by Alan Moore, which is like a Qabalah primer, and unfortunately upon delivery it was made clear that book number four was no longer available. This book is apparently only available second hand now and at pretty high prices. So I had to read a downloaded version and ironically this book also handles Daath, the 'false Sephira'.

While trying to cross the abyss they mention "It's like a black hole", meanwhile I was listening to Alice in Chains on a whim. I had never really listened to their albums, so I decided to listen to the album Dirt while reading as I had the amazing song Would in my head before I started reading. When I got to the Black Hole part in the comic the song 'Down in a Hole' was playing. 

Down in a hole, feeling so small

Down in a hole, losing my soul

I'd like to fly,

But my wings have been so denied

At first I thought the song was called Sickman, which I thought was apt as I am suffering from chronic illness, but it appeared my album mp3 tags were mislabeled. The song Sickman played a track later and had these lyrics:

I can feel the wheel, but I can't steer

When my thoughts become my biggest fear

Daath, the so-called "false sephira" of the Tree of Life, is often described as a paradox. It is not a stable sphere like Chesed or Geburah but a kind of hollow gate: a place of knowledge without wisdom, a point where intellect severs itself from the living current of the Tree. It is the Abyss that divides the supernal triad above from the rest of the Tree.

To fall into Daath is not merely to stumble into error but to become sick in the soul. It is the fever of alienation, the madness of sterile intellect, the despair of being cut off from the flow of life. Qabalists sometimes speak of the Abyss as a place of annihilation. Crossed wrongly, it leads to delusion, madness, or spiritual death.

"Down in a Hole" speaks of isolation and entombment, of being buried away from light. "Sickman" is about corruption and decay, a body or mind turning against itself. Both are Abyss imagery: the hole is Daath as the pit of separation, while the sickness is Daath as pathology of the soul. The mislabeling was not just a tech error but a symbolic echo of what Daath represents, the sickness of false knowledge, the wound of disconnection.

In Promethea, Daath features a black hole, the circle or Pi 3.14... , between Sephira 3 Binah and Sephira 4 Chesed. The sephira that "is not there." It is a cosmic ulcer in the Tree. And yet, as in all myths, the wound is also a gate. The Abyss is terrifying because it exposes the fragility of our meaning-making, but it is also the threshold that must be crossed to move beyond.

The sync between "Sickman" and Daath reminds me that even error, even sickness, has a voice. Mislabeling becomes oracle. The Abyss is not avoided by ignoring it, but by naming it, enduring it, and walking through.

Daath is called Knowledge, and that name itself is a paradox. It is not book learning or accumulated facts, but experiential knowledge, gnosis that floods the soul with direct encounter. Without understanding or wisdom to balance it, this kind of raw knowing can become a trap. In the Tree, Daath sits at the crossing point between the supernal triad (Kether, Chokmah, Binah) and the lower sephirot. It is the "bridge" that is not really a bridge, the throat that does not breathe, the hole that mimics a gate.

In Promethea, Daath is associated with Pi, the infinite number that begins 3.14 and stretches on forever. Pi is the key to the circle. A perfect circle is never fully knowable, it requires an endless calculation. In this sense, Pi stands as the unbridgeable gap between the perfect world above and the imperfect reflections below. The supernal triad rests in the realm of the archetypal, the pure forms. The lower seven sephirot live in the realm of expression, manifestation, and limit.

Daath lies exactly on that line. To approach the Abyss is to try to cross from the finite to the infinite. To mistake Daath for a real sephira is to think you can close the circle perfectly, when in truth the calculation never ends. Pi shows us that the circle always slips beyond full containment. The supernals are the perfect circle; the lower sephirot are the broken or incomplete attempt to mirror it. Daath is the illusion that you can "solve" that gap with knowledge alone.

That is why it is sickness, and why it is also initiation. To encounter Daath is to meet the limit of human knowing. It shows that intellect alone cannot take you across the Abyss. Only when knowledge is surrendered into understanding and wisdom can the circle become whole again.

Missiles, Muses, and Missed Chances: Dream Analysis with ChatGPT

Back in July, right as I returned to the path, I had a dream that felt like initiation. Only later did I see it was basically a Tarot spread laid out by my unconscious: Tower (defenses), Magician reversed (shadow of language), Hanged Man (different perspecitve), High Priestess (hidden devotion), Star (the muse), Lovers/Justice (the red-clad threshold), Chariot (overdrive and armor), and Five of Cups (regret). 

It was the Grail lesson in miniature: missed chances aren’t failure, they are rehearsal. The dream showed me my shields, my hesitations, and the anima slipping away - and whispered: "Next time, be ready." 

Read it on my Vallis Gradalis blog.

The Life of Chuck

From the hearts and minds of Stephen King and Mike Flanagan comes THE LIFE OF CHUCK, the extraordinary story of an ordinary man. This unforgettable, genre-bending tale celebrates the life of Charles 'Chuck' Krantz as he experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.

I really enjoyed this movie, highly recommend it. It thawed some of the coldness that came with the hard years right out of me!

Inner Gold - Alchemy and Psychology

Alchemy occupies a unique place in the collective psyche of humankind. Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Jung discovered alchemy and devoted the remaining 30 years of his life to studying it, which he practically dug up from the dunghill of the past, for it was considered pseudoscience, a forgotten relic of history and despised field of investigation which he had suddenly revived. Alchemy allows one to achieve wholeness through a reconnection with the unconscious. For Jung, the task of alchemy was and has always been psychological. The end product is not material in nature, but rather spiritual. Alchemy is the art of expanding consciousness, of self-realisation.

The Psychology of Angels

Angels have fascinated human consciousness since the beginning of time. The word angel derives from the Greek angelos, which is the default translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh (literally “messenger”). The angel is a messenger between God and mankind.

Whether we talk about angels, daimons, djinns, fairies, or any other of such beings, they all hold something in common, despite their difference in appearance, namely, they are all archetypal images of the same fundamental pattern, the archetype of the ethereal being. These spirits coexist with us; they just exist at another level of reality.

As the archetypal image of the call, the angel initiates individuation, the journey towards wholeness of personality (the Self), as well theosis (union with God). Therefore, angels can help us both psychologically and spiritually. The integration of the angel archetype allows us to examine the nature of our essence or soul, the uniqueness that asks to be lived in each of us, and that unfolds itself during our lifetime. Thus, angels carry our true vocation, which is a calling, towards the meaning of our life.

The Psychology of The Magician

The Magician is the most mysterious and fascinating of all archetypes. He is a person who has gained access to esoteric or occult (hidden) knowledge, bringing the spiritual to the material. Thus, he is an initiate of secret and hidden knowledge of all kinds. As the Emerald Tablet teaches us, “As above, so below, and as below, so above, to accomplish the marvels of the One work.”

The Magician is often the mentor or guide to his people, and even to the king. Psychologically, the Magician is the archetype of transformation, transforming old realities into new ones. He is the archetype of self-realisation par excellence. The Magician aids us in our lifelong task of attaining a higher level of consciousness, and of recognising that higher power which is greater than ourselves.

The Psychology of The Wounded Healer

I could probably post a video each day from the amazing Eternalised channel, would that be too much? I'm not sure it can be!

The wounded healer refers to the capacity to be at home in the darkness of suffering and there to find germs of light and recovery. It is the archetype at the bottom of all genuine healing procedures. As long as we feel victimised, bitter and resentful towards our wound, and seek to escape from suffering it, we remain inescapably bound to it. This is neurotic suffering, as opposed to the authentic suffering of the wounded healer which is purified. The wound can destroy you, or it can wake you up. As Carl Jung wrote, "The doctor is effective only when he himself is affected. Only the wounded physician heals."

The Quest for the Holy Grail (Self)

The Quest for the Holy Grail has fascinated the Western consciousness for a long time. It epitomises the true spirit of Western man and is, in many ways, the myth of Western civilisation. It is a perennial and timeless pattern that expresses fundamental concerns of the human condition.

The Holy Grail is a mysterious object guarded by a king in a hidden castle. It has been described as a cup, dish, or a magical stone that can provide healing powers, immortality, eternal youth, and unlimited nourishment. It represents the fulfilment of the highest spiritual potentialities in human consciousness, which endows the world with a symbolic and spiritual meaning. The quest for the Holy Grail is always more or less the same, it is the hero’s journey, at the end of which one obtains the “treasure hard to attain.” It is the search for that which makes life most meaningful.

Psychologically, the Holy Grail—like the philosophers' stone—is a symbol of the Self, the psychic totality and ultimate wholeness of the human being. The soul which represents the life principle, is that wondrous vessel which is the goal of the quest, whose final secret can never be revealed, but must ever remain hidden because its essence is a mystery.

Initiates of the Flame (1922) by Manly P. Hall

Summary: The Initiates of the Flame is a little essay on the mystery of fire. To all ancient peoples fire was a symbol of the divine One dwelling in the innermost parts of all things. Robert Fludd, a Rosicrucian mystic, writing in the seventeenth century, declared that the fire of the philosophers was divided into three parts: first, a visible fire which is the source of physical light and heat; second, an invisible, or astral fire, which enlightens and warms the soul; third, a spiritual, or divine fire which in the universe is known as God and in man as spirit.

The Initiates who took their oaths in the presence of the Flame renounced the lesser concerns of ordinary life and, freed from the attachments of this material sphere, these purified souls became custodians of that symbolic Flame of wisdom which is the true Light of the world. This Light is a manifestation of the one Universal Life, that active agent whose impulses are the cause of all sidereal phenomena. Where in antiquity this flame of light, this spirit-fire, was the object of a universal adoration and was worshipped as the very presence of God Himself, it now lies buried beneath the ruins of man's fallen temple. Obscured by the paramount interests of the flesh, it emits but the faintest gleam in this non-philosophic age. 

    Manly P. Hall

Vallis Gradalis: Into the Valley of the Grail — My New Personal Blog

I’ve started a new blog, Vallis Gradalis, where I’ll share more personal and deeper reflections from my unfolding pathwalking journey. I’ll continue posting on Dedroidify as well, but Vallis Gradalis will carry the more personal and intimate side of the work.”

https://vallisgradalis.wordpress.com/

Join me on my healing quest through the Valley of the Holy Grail, where I walk as both Parsifal and the wounded Fisher King. This space will be a living, ever-changing laboratory, a path unfolding step by step.

Here I will record and share what I actually practice and discover: charting my way astrologically through the Tree of Life, guided by the Tarot’s archetypes. With the aid of AI as my scribe and mirror, I explore dreams, meet the shadow, and weave them back into wholeness. Daily magick ritual, yoga and meditation are some of the tools on this pilgrimage. Experience will be explored through multiple reality tunnels.

The Great Work before me is to transmute the fire of my chronic Lyme inflammation into Light.

This valley is the Grail itself, both vessel and voyage.

The journey begins on September 2nd at Vallis Gradalis

On break till RSI completely healed

Just a heads up that I'll be silent but will be back, RSI is not improving just getting worse it seems so going back to the doc on monday. In the meantime everyone can watch Neon Genesis Evangelion (Neo On Gene(s) Sis Eva Angel Lion Ion), which ends in a 2 episode Zen Mindfuck of epic proportions that kicked me harder than any Alan Watts lecture could. Going to bed, I was thinking "I wish I woke up sooner, again" in a double meaning, spiritually and literally as my biorhythm had me going to bed at 4 at night and waking up way too late. Got called out of bed this morning at exactly 11.11, thanks universe for the confirmation! Don't know where Dedroidify is heading but I confess I'm surrendering to a spiritual symbolic worldview that I just can't seem to keep ignoring to have a fulfilled life.


I found out just now that the creator of the series says there is no meaning in it. That's funny because that's what people often are trying to convince me about life and I disagree on both counts. Here are the themes from the wiki page. I also think it's awesome that he doesn't tell us what to think but trolls us into finding our own answers as he distances himself from that process, which always comes across better than explaining the supposed meaning of a story. Like people trying to convince you what to believe, I usually disagree with those too! See you all soon.

Symbolism of the Hermit tarot card

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

In his upraised right hand the hermit holds a lamp, shining in the darkness.This is in the Rosicrucian Symbolism, LVX from the latin lux meaning light. The extending of the light. You see this again in the teaching of Jesus, "let your light so shine before men so they may glorify your father who is in heaven."

The hermit is holding up and outwards the lamp to guide those who are journeying still the path of evolution.

 

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

He is holding out the light of his realization to those of us who are following, so we that we will not become lost in the unknown, so we have a point to which we can put our steps. The hermit is the Bodhisattva, the lord of compassion, the lord of enlightened love.

Frodo inspired by Gandalf, showing compassion to a creature as low as Gollum.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. - Marianne Williamson

Frodo shining his own light

This is the hermit, the dweller upon the heights, the light shower. The hermit is standing up on the mountain of attainment.



"We now have but one choice, we must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your Guard, there are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world."

The hermit is clothed in grey, but with the upraised right arm you can see a white sleeve indicating of course the Kether. Represented also by his white beard and by the white snow of the mountain peaks. Snow is frozen water. Here this represents the mind-stuff, the stream of consciousness. Here we see it frozen as snow. Kether has come to Earth, is made manifest and tangible. It's not for nothing that the Himalayas are amongst the most sacred mountains of the world.


They think Saruman, the established white order, approaches. "Do not let him speak, he will put a spell on us." The order that has lost its way. The order that has lost its way must and will be faced and vanquished by one who already faced his demons. Isn't it tragic how rulers throughout history fail to grasp these teachings?

"Gandalf? Ah yes, that was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name. I am Gandalf the White, and I come back to you know at the turn of the tide."

There is a saying, selfish salvation there is none. When you realize that your essential self is one with all other beings, then their wellbeing is as important to you as your own. That's the meaning of the teaching, love thy neighbor as thyself.



Grey is the color of Chokmah, of wisdom. The perfect blend of the pair of opposites. This being is no longer of yang or yin, this being is the Tao, the Way. So he is a master of wisdom clothed in the grey of the secret wisdom. And he holds the staff, but the staff is at rest, it's in his left hand, because he has completed the journey. There is nowhere now to go, he has become one with all that is. He is the manifestation of the One, which is all.

Real love arises from the recognition of our oneness. You are me, I am you, we are a part of eachother. There is no true separateness. This is why in finding the divine in oneself, one finds all.

This is the beckoning light that calls the souls to the mountain of attainment, this is what encourages us, what makes us undertake the journey. Sometimes lonely, sometimes sad, over borders of challenges. Avoiding the pitfalls and landfalls of false teaching and egoistic practice. But in time we come to the snow peak and above us stands the hermit.

This is why the masters have said: The way you are now, at this very moment, you listening to this, wherever you are, whatever state you find yourself in. No matter what you think of yourself, the masters say, that where you are now, they too once were. The masters of Wisdom, the buddhas, the bhosavet, they're all a part of humanity, they're not aliens. This is the great encouragement that we learn from them, because they have done it, we can too.


So they say, where you are now, there I was. And where I am now on this summit of attainment, standing out against the great void that appears as darkness but is actually a light beyond any earthly light. Where I stand now, you will surely come to be. Because that is the purpose of creation, and its unfolding. Its unfolding, the completion of its evolution.

The hermit inspires the righteous king.

The letter assigned to this card is Yod, which is translated as Hand. I'm often reminded here of a Tibetan image, where the embodiment of compassion is shown as having a thousand arms and on the palm of each hand there is an open eye. The eye is the most sensitive part of the human body, that shows vision, insightfulness, compassion streaming out upon all beings, upon all things.

Words (not in italic) are by David Goddard - Symbolism of the Tarot (MP3 series).

"The last pages are for you."

Symbolism of the Strength tarot card

The Woman in white is directing the Lion to her will. The power of shakti, the power of strength, also known as kundalini is usually working through the subconscious levels. It is the power of life. It renews every single cell of your body. It renews and heals every aspect of you through the subconscious level.

It's only with alchemy or with yoga that this power is consciously manipulated to accelerate evolution. But it is the purified subconscious, the tainted subconscious cannot touch this, as it would burn itself or would hurt itself.

The Green Lion

The Lion is the ruler of the Animal Kingdom, it represents the summit of the animal kingdom and all other kingdoms beneath it, the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. All of physical life before humanity.

The Green Lion is photosynthesis. Plants have the ability to turn sunlight into substance. They take the radiant energy streaming from the stars and from our own particular daystar the sun, they make form, they make bodies, holding that solar energy. And all other lifeforms derive a lot of their energy from eating the vegetable kingdom. Or from eating animals that have in turn eaten from the vegetable kingdom.

The Green Lion, the force of life in its ordinary state.

The Red / Gold Lion

But when it is deliberately concentrated upon, deliberately focused and sublimated, to bring to great intensity, the Red or Gold Lion represents the Kundalini force. In the east the Red/Gold Lion is symbolized by a tiger.

Skillfully direct the fire of life.

 

Amazing how a cartoon made to sell toys has such powerful symbolism. "I have the power" to turn the Green Lion with Gold potential into the Red (= same to Gold) Lion.

The garland of roses is the secret of the power of the White Woman over the Lion. She has a symbol of infinity over her head. The garland of roses around her and the Lion make up the same infinity symbol. It is also the symbol for the Holy Spirit. The symbol in the Christian tradition for the Kundalini.

The Father is the Superconsciousness, maker of all things visible and invisible. The Son is the self-consciousness, the waking self. The Holy Spirit that unites the two is the Subconscious which is the vehicle of Shakti.

The relation of the subconsciousness and the kundalini must be based on Love. There must be a trust, an intimacy, a caring for each other. This constitutes the skilled working. The Great Work isn't completed by violence, it's not done through harsh regimes of self-denial, of fasting, of unnatural practices that hurt the body. It's not done by philosophies that encourage and warp the suboncious mind by feelings of either disempowerment or elitism. The path of evolution is wholeness.

Where alchemy, like the forms of yoga is fearless, is that it takes the entire human being onboard. Nothing about the human being is rejected. Because it's recognized that all aspects of the human being are essentially sacred.

This is the love that is fearless, it shrinks for nothing. Because it knows itself to be at one with everything else, no matter how unpleasant the masks may be that present themselves before it. True spiritual growth is the path of wholeness and becoming one with the whole. Not saying these people I don't want, these things I don't want, I don't like that kind of thing or even or person. It's recognizing oneness with all that is.

This power is the fiery chariot.

Words by David Goddard - Symbolism of the Tarot (MP3 series).

Secrecy is the original sin - Timothy Leary

Complete Transparency equals Freedom

"Secrecy is the original sin. Fig leaf in the Garden of Eden. The basic crime against love... The purpose of life is to receive, synthesize and transmit energy. Communication fusion is the goal of life. Any star can tell you that. Communication is love. Secrecy, withholding the signal, hoarding, hiding, covering up the light is motivated by shame and fear. As so often happens, the right wing is half right for the wrong reasons. They say primly: if you have done nothing wrong, you have no fear of being bugged. Exactly. But the logic goes both ways. Then FBI files, CIA dossiers, White House conversations should be open to all. Let everything hang open. Let government be totally visible. The last, the very last people to hide their actions should be the police and the government." Timothy Leary

Unwarranted Surveillance equals Tyranny

Thanks to Conor O'Higgins for this post

see also: Privacy Laws, apply them to Secret Societies

Your wish cannot include a method you yourself don't know - It must be done in a way that you comprehend

This scene in Fate Zero describes really well how I felt about Magick in the beginning of my dealings with it. (MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT)

 Kiritsugu is a hitman who only eliminates gangsters, his goal is nothing less than to achieve world peace. After a war, he acquires the wish-fulfilling Holy Grail and gets transported into it(s dream).

 The dream shifts to this:

...