(The Magician Tarot Meaning) 1. Sorceress – Magic – Mercury

KEYWORDS: Mastery, power, mind over matter.

Mercury, the legendary “messenger of the gods,” is the astrological ruler of this card. The concept of a messenger or transmitter is actually how the Sorceress operates: the divine energy flows through her. She represents the distinction of consciousness–the Magician in other decks.

Anyone working with magic or healing realizes above all that it is not through the force of the personal ego that this work is accomplished; rather it works by allowing oneself to be a vehicle for the higher universal energies to manifest through.

Since the planet Mercury’s energies influence the intellect, the concept of “mind over matter” is a significant aspect of this card. In this process, one allows the attuned will to create and define circumstances, rather than being limited by them.

The image of the Sorceress is one of an androgynous woman, with the left hand reaching out to contact divine energy, directing it earthward toward its many manifestations. This symbolizes the occult axiom, “as above, so below.”

Many cultures have the Sorceress as the active manipulator of energies. She can be a shape-shifter, an adept at utilizing powerful earth energies, energies of the four elements as well as the planets. As she thinks, so it will be. The distance between thought and manifestation is brief in the world of the Sorceress.

The Sorceress’s left hand dissolves into the globe of white light, as the ego dissolves when this work is properly done. Suspended in mid-air are the tools of the trade (as well as the symbols for the 4 suits): wand, cup, pentacle and sword. This being is truly an adept, using the power of the mind and will to control matter.

To the left of the figure looms the Great Pyramid, to the right, Stonehenge–which was an ancient observatory as well as a temple. These masterworks in honor of the Wise Ones were erected from extraordinary monoliths. Ancient magicians and healers utilized sound and specific chords to move gigantic stones miles from their quarries and raise them many feet off the ground. The world-renown structures they created have stood the test of time as sacred sites where miracles could and did take place; indeed, esoteric phenomena continue to this day to be experienced by initiates called on pilgrimage to these sites.

The Great Pyramid was not simply a very elaborate tomb; it obviously played an important role in the mysteries and initiations practiced by the ancient Egyptians. Apart from its manifestation on the physical plain, the pyramid as a triangle is one of the most ancient symbols for female energy. The triangular image which remains is only the patriarchal version, however. Originally, the symbol also contained a hollow sphere in the center, representing the womb – the core of woman’s power. In essence, the patriarchs performed a radical hysterectomy on this potent image, severing woman symbolically from her power source. With the design on the backs of these cards we restore her womb impregnated with power potential.

The Sorceress wears a headband adorned with the astrological symbol for Mercury, as well as a golden pendant around her neck. Perched on her shoulders is a hawk, ready in an instant to relay her messages, as our animal familiars so often do.

She is dressed in a simple, beautiful white silk robe with the golden snake of infinity girding her waist. White silk has the purest vibration of any fabric and is therefore a most suitable fabric for magical work.

Energy comes streaming out of the Sorceress’ other hand, charging the earth with fire, one of the first great mysteries. We also see representations of the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, all of which respond and are attuned to the divine energy for life and healing.

I chose the Cheetah to be one of her totem animals for its lightning-swift speed; white lilies as the flowers sacred to the planet Mercury, and the clear quartz crystal because of its unequalled power as a transmitter for energy. The Atlantians used a huge submerged crystal as a generator for their main source of power. (We might do well to re-discover that secret, given our dwindling energy resources.)

Hopefully, the image of the Sorceress will evoke in each of you a sense of empowerment. You can become a creative agent for shaping your own lives as well as being a channel for universal energies, and for aiding the evolution of our planet.

When you receive this card, it is a reminder that you are the creator of your own universe and thus have the ability to create the world and life of your choice. Remember to use all your tools. You are magic!

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(The Fool Tarot Meaning) 0. Essence – Queen Mu – Uranus

 

KEYWORDS: Leap of faith, freedom, risk, creativity.

We see in the Essence the birth of the beginning, the first emanation from the spirit world. Most occultists agree that the first human beings were hermaphrodites (neither female nor male), able to reproduce parthenogenetically (without aid); outwardly, they resembled women.

For her image I chose Queen MU, the goddess and/or ruler of the legendary continent of Lemuria, a pre-Atlantian continent on the Pacific coast. Lemuria sank, dispersing its people and culture far and wide. This culture re-emerged in, among other places, the Cuna tribe of Panama, who also had a Queen Mu. She bore a striking similarity to the ancient one.

To the Cunas, she was a pre-existant Creator-Goddess who gave birth parthenogenetically to the sun, moon and stars. She was referred to by the Cunas as the Giant Blue Butterfly Lady. Interestingly enough, the Mu of Lemuria also held the butterfly image to be sacred, and blue was the color of their clergy.

The concept of androgynous beings as the wandering cosmic transmitters of culture is well represented by the image of Mu. She is seen emerging from the black/blue akashic egg, which manifests from a spiral. She carries a sack containing memories and knowledge from previous existences in one hand, and the sacred lotus in the other. She appears as a woman with blue butterfly wings, floating through yellow vapors which turn to shades of blue. The letter M decorates the border of her white gown; a flaming fire-wheel 8-rayed sun, like the one that appears in the upper left corner, graces her left breast. The sun is pale yellow and the rays are warm pinkish-red with pale blue points.

Many ancient cultures view the egg as a symbol of birth, the void and the number 0 (curiously enough, egg-shaped itself) which is the beginning and the end. In addition, ancient Egyptian, Hindu and Greek mythologies have preserved creation myths in which gods or goddesses arise from a cosmic egg. Almost universally, between Africa and the Arctic Zone, this egg is laid by a mythical bird.

One can conjecture as to the source of such cross-cultural similarities in mythology. Scientists postulate the “continental drift” theory and it may well be that cultural cross-pollination resulted from drifting and submerging continental masses. It is my belief that this phenomenon dispersed the survivors, explorers and wanderers of one great civilization who carried their myths and traditions far and wide.

This dispersal of culture, wisdom, and magic may very well be the origin of the Tarot, as I posit in Part I, The Heritage of the Tarot. A symbolic language such as the Tarot could have reached the wise of many cultures as well as profoundly influenced and developed emerging cultures in Egypt, Central, South and North America, and Asia and Polynesia, to name a few.

Legend has it that vestiges of the Lemurian culture still remain in California, particularly on Mount Shasta. Much intrigue exists about this area— mysterious lights flashing at all hours of the night; people pursuing lights and odd beings into the woods and never returning. There is even a tale about a magical cave in the mountain where a large crystal bell without a clapper rings as the cool Shasta air blows through. It is said that the great Avatars still reside here. Lemurian secrets and magic may continue through the mystery of Mount Shasta, but certainly continue in the Tarot carried by the cosmic wanderers from Mu and Atlantis.

The Essence is just such a wanderer–the Fool in traditional decks—floating lightheartedly through her life and path. She has no sense of danger, nor does she have a sense of self as distinctly different from the ALL. She is one who still responds to a high collective will, much as we can observe with colonies of ants and bees. This is an egoless state, where one resonates with the ALL or Totality, in the most pure, clear Uranian sense.

On the material plane, this card can be experienced as freedom, total abandon, or recklessness. This energy can also be experienced as genius in its many forms, where one takes the “leap of faith” to discover through pure intuition rather than through inductive reasoning. Scientists call it non-linear thinking; I call it magic!

This concept of a “leap of faith” is the essence of how this energy is experienced. When we move ahead to the next card, the Sorceress, we see how this pure light and spiritual energy can be transmuted and brought down to earth in its clearest form.

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