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Introduction
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An angel rings the first circle of Hell. No one answers. The angel dials the second. The same tale: he calls the third. After about fifteen determined calls, a breathless little demon finally lifts the receiver and says:
– What do you want, who's there?
– Hey folks, what's going on over there? Where has everyone vanished to?
– We're in chaos! A student wound up here, mistook Hell for DOOM, turned the place upside down—he's already cleared three levels!!!
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Illustration. And once more—the key, so plainly in sight… lies there, watching; where then shall I wander…2
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This book is a continuation of the author's Gallery of Tuning Forks Tarot series.
Through engagement with the Tuning Forks of Tarot, the author discovered that not only individual cards, but entire suits had been extracted from the modern popular deck.3
So, what then, is the true matter at hand?
Upon setting forth to work with Tarot cards, the first thing that greets the eye is the astonishing variety of Tarot decks. At present, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Tarot deck variations flourishing upon planet Earth.
Today, the Rider–Waite style decks hold the scepter of popularity, perhaps owing to their elaborate interpretations of each card’s meaning. 4
Yet, in our current era, there exists a veritable menagerie of other, even the most exotic, Tarot decks.5
There is, quite frankly, nothing that cannot be found! One encounters abstract-philosophical incarnations; and also erotic decks, more reminiscent of the Kama Sutra; and Luminous decks of manifestly Theurgical inclination; and Shamanic Tarot decks; And even those ominously somber decks of Necromancers. 6789
It would seem that all is well. A commonplace emanation of the Fountain of Life, in all its manifold diversity. Yet the encyclopedic generalists and gentle pedants among the theorists of Tarot furrow their brows in perplexity.
How can this be, dear comrades? After all, according to the classical canon, the Tarot deck is said to describe four quite specific Elements.
These are Earth—Denarii, Coins, which are also Diamonds in a playing card deck.
This is Water—the Cups, also known as Hearts in the playing card deck.
This is Fire—the Swords, also known as Spades in the playing card deck.
This is Air—the Wands, also known as Clubs in the playing card deck.
And so, as it is generally understood, the catalogue of Elements and suits in the popular deck officially concludes.
But is it truly so?
The celebrated principle of correspondence in Hermeticism—'As Above, so Below…'—declares that the Tarot suits must mirror the Elements of tangible objects and the ways in which their interactions are revealed. In a deck, the suits must mirror the Elements just as they do in ‘reality’.
A layout of four suits essentially describes, for the most part, only the world of inanimate matter—for example, the realm of technology.
Yet the living world is utterly impossible without the appearance of such elements as Life and Death.
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Figure: 'Cube of the Elements.' Everything in this world is exceedingly simple. There are two, and, to these, four more.10
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The very suits of hearts and clubs in the ‘ordinary’ deck hint at this quite transparently to the neophyte.
Behold—the Suit of Hearts appears as a distilled emblem, evoking the heart or the lungs. And the pulsation of the heart, the flowing breath, are classical symbols of life itself. So long as a creature draws breath and its heart beats—it persists in living.
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Illustration. The Ace of Hearts in the playing deck.11
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Illustration. And as a certain connoisseur once quipped: 'While I breathe—I live, brother.'12
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Illustration. The Ace of Clubs in the playing deck.13
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Fig. Two destinies have intertwined. Now—one must take its leave.14
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Characteristically, the black sigil of 'Clubs,' in terms of symbolism, altogether describes the very topology of conflict. Two flawed destinies, both ravenous for vengeance, cross paths—and one is 'drawn' into the world of the dead.
It also, in the author’s view, subtly gestures toward the prospect of immortality, should one practice 'non-conflict' and adhere to the principle of 'thou shalt not kill.' But that is a tale for another time.
The existence of two hidden suits within the Tarot—of Life and Death’s—nicely accounts for the lavish diversity of perspective and symbolism that flourishes among the many Tarot decks. It’s simply that in these decks, the familiar quartet of suits is not classical, and one (or even two) are, in essence, replaced by the Suits of Life or (and) Death.
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Thus, it is quite reasonable (at least in the author’s view) to surmise that the playing card deck harbors a subtle hint: in the complete Tarot, the Suits of Life and Death should indeed be present.
An indirect confirmation of this notion is found in the dual resonance of the symbolism of Hearts and Clubs with that of Life and Death. The likelihood of such a coincidence arising by chance is vanishingly small and, in the author’s vision, nothing less than another riddle bequeathed by the Ancients.
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To create a Gallery of visual Tuning Forks—emblematic examples of the Suit of Life—is precisely the aim of this book.
Regrettably, the ‘author’ is compelled to honor the arcane strictures of copyright and is bound by the scarcity of suitable illustrations from freely available sources.
Thus, this Gallery can never lay claim to perfection—nor to wholeness. Rather, this will serve as a sketch, offering a general impression of the subject at hand.
Still, the book may prove useful to all who venture deeply into the Tarot and to those who practice magic.
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Zero of Life
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"Father, why isn’t an apple that’s quickly picked up considered to have truly fallen?"
"Ah, my son, not only that—it actually becomes even more beneficial than it was before it hit the ground."
"Why is that?"
"Because, you see, the old microbes were shaken off with the impact, while the new ones haven’t yet had the chance to climb aboard."
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Zero in Kabbalah is that hidden, slumbering potential—or else, something minuscule and seemingly insignificant.
The Heart embodies the symbolism of the Elements of Life.
Thus, the Zero of Life is the dormant or insignificant potential of Life. Or something small or negligible within the Elements of Life.
For example, it may signify a barren desert or a humble insect.
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Fig. 0.1 The Desert. Life is almost absent. Owing to the lack of water and the tyranny of extreme temperatures.15
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Fig. 0.2 The Dead Sea. No Life endures here, for the salt-laden waters brook no rival.16
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Fig. 0.3 Pure medical spirit. No life exists, not even at the level of bacteria, due to its sterilizing powers.17
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Fig. 0.4 Air of the high mountains. Life is almost absent. It is too cold, too rarefied.18
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Fig. 0.5 Surface of Mars, the Moon, Mercury. Life is almost absent here, for lack of atmosphere, water, and because of the extremity of temperatures.
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A distinctive trait of the Zero of Life: upon closer inspection, any living being, under magnification, reveals itself as the Zero of Life.
For instance, a grand creature such as an elephant, when considered against the vast scale of the Solar System and beyond, dissolves into the Zero of Life.
It is also worth noting that the magnitude of the threshold—the 'insignificance of life'—is profoundly subjective. Thus, where one beholds, within the desert, a complete absence of Life, another may yet hunt a little and secure sustenance.
The 'reversed' Zero of Life is that which, once the most insignificant among living beings, has ceased to be insignificant.
For example, in nature, microscopic algae, under propitious circumstances, may swiftly multiply and dramatically transform the face and very Life of a body of water.
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Ace of Life
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A bull terrier, having dashed into the grounds of the hospital, healed three hopeless patients suffering from paralysis of the legs, and relieved two others of chronic constipation…
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The 1—according to Kabbalah—is impulse, impetus, blow, increase.
The Heart embodies the symbolism of the Elements of Life.
Thus, the Ace of Life is the impulse, impetus, blow, or increase of Life.
For example, it may symbolize the movement of some living creature, or the Impulse of Life from a particular vantage.
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Fig. 1.1 A pea sprout, newly emerged from its seed. The Impulse of Life: from within the seed, outward.19
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Fig. 1.2 A fish, in water, curving its body, strikes with its tail to move itself forward. The Impulse of Life.20
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Fig. 1.3 A snake, undulating, glides across the sand. The Impulse of Life.
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Fig. 1.4 A dove beats its wings for flight. The Impulse of Life.21
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Fig. 1.5 A shaft of sunlight piercing through dense branches in the forest, gently dissolving the heavy twilight. The Impulse of Life, awakening plants to activity.
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One of the distinguishing features of the '1' is its immediate urge to become the '2'—to cross into the realm of interaction.
Thus, the boundary between the '1' and the '2' is rather provisional.
It is determined chiefly by temporal limits and by the angle from which one regards the matter.
Typically, our attention is drawn just before the process shifts from the '1' into the '2.'
The Unit of Life is marked by the fact that it has not yet openly entered into interaction with other living beings. Though, for all our sophisticated distinctions, such interaction inevitably persists nonetheless. Thus, the status of the One remains quite conditional, subjective, and, to a great extent, depends upon the perceptiveness and cunning of the observer.
For the Absolute Observer, it is plain: the Ace of Life is but HIMSELF, and those observers who are truly His equals. For He perceives the profound and hidden interplay and kinship among individual beings, and, indeed, it is HE HIMSELF who acts as the impetus for the very emergence of these interactions.
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Two of Life
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The coolest deodorant
A common deodorant merely conceals the scent of sweat. The new FA deodorant operates in a different fashion: it slays bacteria, is absorbed through the skin, seeps into the bloodstream, reaches the nerve cells, and brings breath to a halt. The dead do not sweat!
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2, according to the Kabbalah, embodies interaction.
The Heart embodies the symbolism of the Elements of Life.
Thus, the Two of Life is the interaction of a living being with another living being or an object.
For instance, it may symbolize the interplay of a living creature with the surrounding world.
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Fig. 2.1: Any movement across the planet’s surface—be it jostling, striking, sitting, or delving—reveals the many ways a living being participates in the dance of the Element of Earth.22
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Fig. 2.2: The gills of a fish ceaselessly draw water through their delicate filaments. Thus do fish breathe, their secret afforded by these wondrous organs. The circulatory labyrinth within the gills, sustaining this exquisite respiration—such is the Six of Life. Yet the very act of water streaming through the gills—herein lies the Two of Life. The whiskers of the catfish, conduits of touch in silty gloom and shadow—these, too, are the Two of Life. Even the most unremarkable swim of fish may be contemplated as the Two of Life. Interaction transpires within the aspect of the element Water.23
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Fig. 2.3 Venom in serpents, spiders, and scorpions—an alchemical method by which these beings commune with the world. The biochemical nature of Venom empowers its bearers to hunt and to endure. The bombardier beetle, the spitting cobra, the skunk—when they defend themselves with acid or Venom, this, too, is the Two of Life. Interaction unfolds through the aspect of the element Fire.24
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Fig. 2.4 The flight of a butterfly, a bird—at times, even a fish or a squirrel—as a means of weaving connection with the world, in the manner of the element Air.252627
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Fig. 2.5 The art of generating a subtle vacuum to draw in nourishment or liquid—one of the living creature's myriad methods of engaging with the world. Engagement with the world manifests through the aspect of the element Metal (Emptiness).28
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The hallmark of the Two of Life card lies in some mysterious encounter of a LIVING being with the surrounding world. This includes interaction with another living being.
Such interaction, in one way or another, can be registered by the primary organs of perception.
For instance, the movement of one being may be noticed by another.
The ‘reversed’ Two of Life signifies an absence of interaction between a living creature and the surrounding world.
More precisely, it is when its engagement with the world goes unnoticed by the observer.
So long as the creature lives, it inevitably interacts with its surroundings—it breathes, releases scents, makes noise, moves, leaves traces, and so forth.
A living creature may try to remain hidden from a predator for a while, like a mouse frozen in the shadow, but as long as it lives, it CANNOT HELP BUT INTERACT with the surrounding world
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Примечания
1
Downloaded from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/wizard-ai-generated-10025996/
2
https://pixabay.com/ru/photos/ключ-карта-компас-монеты-винтаж-5724875/
3
Within the book 'A Self-Tutor in Stalking,' the author reveals that the zero and the minor one card denominations were excised from the deck.
4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider–Waite_Tarot
5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tarot_decks
6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama_Sutra
7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theurgy
8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism
9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancy
10
/pixabay.com/photos/cube-elements-brick-6127828/
11
/pixabay.com/vectors/hearts-ace-deck-playing-cards-game-884186/
12
/pixabay.com/illustrations/playing-card-map-ace-heart-body-112868/
13
/pixabay.com/vectors/clubs-ace-deck-playing-cards-game-884184/
14
/pixabay.com/photos/grave-stones-creepy-horror-2510928/
15
https://pixabay.com/photos/desert-sand-dunes-landscape-1654439/
16
/pixabay.com/photos/dead-sea-sea-israel-sand-nature-4927978/
17
/pixabay.com/photos/ethanol-alcohol-protection-covid-19-5058486/
18
/pixabay.com/illustrations/red-planet-moon-extraterrestrial-571902/
19
/pixabay.com/photos/pea-sprout-germinated-macro-food-330337/
20
/pixabay.com/photos/betta-fish-blue-fish-animal-6368233/
21
/pixabay.com/photos/dove-bird-freedom-flying-2680487/
22
/pixabay.com/photos/great-spotted-woodpecker-nuthatch-8024806/
23
/pixabay.com/photos/the-fish-eyelash-aquarium-swimming-7281186/
24
/pixabay.com/photos/line-cobra-dangerous-reptile-1974382/
25
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish
26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_flying_squirrel
27
/pixabay.com/photos/butterfly-blue-wings-flight-insect-2837589/
28
/pixabay.com/photos/food-truck-food-cocktail-milk-2553919/