THE SECRET DOCTRINE OF THE TAROT By Paul F Case
ZAIN, the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, corresponds to the Greek Zeta and the English Z. The Hebrew character is probably derived from the Egyptian hieratic letter corresponding to a hieroglyphic, which was a picture of a hissing goose. This bird is a very ancient symbol. It figures in the sacred allegories of India, in the myths of Greece, and in the stories of the Norse gods. To these high sources we may trace its meaning in folk-tales and proverbs. Thus the goose that lays the...
Lebateleur
of his art. His right hand, holding a wand, is raised heavenward. The extended forefinger of his left hand points to the earth. Over his head is the lemniscate symbol of Spirit. His tunic is white, girdled with a blue serpent biting its tail. The outer garment is red. He stands alone in a garden, in which roses and lilies are growing. The wand in his right hand is what Eliphas Levi calls the Verendum of the magus. It is a material agency that enables the adept to concentrate the cosmic energy....
By Paul F Case Lah
SINCE the Phoenicians carried their alphabet to the great centers of civilization in the ancient world, most of the symbols have undergone many alterations. To this rule, however, Heth, the eighth letter, is a notable exception. In the oldest records it consists of two uprights, joined by either two or three cross-bars. The character used in Greek inscriptions found at Thera, and in one of the earliest Latin alphabets, is composed of two rectangles, one above the other. A variation of the...
By Paul F Case 1
AS the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph suggests beginning, or primary manifestation. The letter A, in fact, has this meaning all over the world. As Furlong says in Faiths of Man A stands commonly for the first of all existences, the Maha-deva, or I Supreme. It represents the agent of creation, even when typified by the bull. It is shrouded in the complicated San-1 skrit A called the'Supreme' Vishnu or Krishna. Students of the Bhagavad-Gita will remember Krishna's words, i Among...
By Paul F Case Cub
THE earliest sign for the letter Gimel was probably a conventionalized picture of a bow. As a bow is used for shooting arrows, the first idea it suggests is propulsive force. Furthermore, since we have learned that the letter Beth was originally in the form of an arrow-head, it becomes evident that Gimel, the bow, as the propulsive force behind the arrow, stands for something that incites the objective mind, represented by Beth, to express itself in concentrated attention. Bows have no force of...
the secret doctrine OF THE TAROT Ymf
a olimpse of the Dazzling Light all these owe their illumination to previous study that sometimes covers half a lifetime. Yoga is an elaborate system for training the subjective mind or, as Eckhartshausen would say, for opening the inner sensorium. It begins with moral practices, which purify the inner consciousness, and impress upon it the sug-oestion that it is free from illusions and false desires. Then come various physical practices, the primary object of which is to inhibit muscular...
the secret doctrine OF THE TAROT Jbo
action. Note the implicit of virginity suggested by these words of the German adept. The same thought that the primordial feminine principle is forever pure arid undefiled is emphasized in the Greek notions of Artemis, and in the Latin doctrine of the Virgin Mary. The secret meaning to be taken from these doctrines is, I think, that the primordial root of matter, Prakriti, being infinite, must always be an exhaustless source from which pure substance and energy may be drawn. I find difficulty...
THE SECRET DOCTRINE OF THE TAROT Fbn
IN th pictorial alphabet of the early Semites, the sign for Kaph represented the palm of the hand. From this pictograph two sets of implicits may be derived. The first is a development of ideas connected with the fact that the palm is the active working part of the hand, and all the implicits of this group have their origin in the verb to grasp. The second chain of association begins with the universal belief that the palm is a map of life, which affords a skilled reader an accurate record of...