What Can The Esoteric Study Of Tarot Do For Us?

[KittyWampus]

"I believe in God....
Who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of the Universe...
I believe that Intelligence is manifested throughout all nature...
The Basis of Scientific Work is the conviction that the world is an ordered and comprehensive entity and not a thing of chance."

-Albert Einstein


"There are many methods of developing the 'sense of symbols' in those who are striving to understand the hidden forces of Nature and Man and for teaching the fundamental priciples as well as the elements of the esoteric language. The most interesting of these is the TAROT.

-P.D. Ouspensky


Learning to understand the esoteric meaning of Tarot means learning its symbolic language. And becoming fluent in that language enables us to go beyond mere translation of other people's work to the creation of our own masterpieces.

And a good deal of working with Tarot deals with breaking down old, outworn patterns that we have of deficiency and self-loathing and imprinting more helpful, positive images of who we are and what we can accomplish.

Working with the Tarot Keys helps sharpen our Intuition. As we progress, we start to actively, CONSCIOUSLY create our Selves and our Environments as we strive to work in accord with the Universe.

Questions:

If you boiled the Universe down into its most basic, constituent parts, what would you be left with?

What's the most efficient and effective way to communicate andwork with these basic elements?

Do we need symbols? Are there limits to Rational Thought?

[Why Syzygy]

1. "starshine"

I would like to adopt that name. Was talking to a friend who knows a lot of science this weekend and he explained (sorta) helium. and the processes that go on with stars. I didn't take notes, so I can't repeat exactly. But it was fascinating. I happen to believe I will be a star when I leave this plane. He said there is some basis for that, scientifically. He said that's the material from which we are made! wow ..

So the answer to the first question is, star power, or maybe helium and a few other chemicals/gases.
I would add 'love' to the equation.

I do not know that humanity is quite ready for efficiency. Nothing I've seen indicates that.

Yes we need symbols!

Finally. Rational Thought? WHERE? Man, I have some friends who dropped lsd. I never did. They say it was mind expansion. Well, if my mind expands any more than it does already, everyone is in trouble. I'm trying to shepard it back in. Ya know. Mind expansion. Sure shot. Not.

[KittyWampus]

5. Well, The Word "Fool" In Tarot Comes From The Word Follis Which Means

"windbag" and the concept that is linked to the Fool and the Hebrew letter Aleph is Ruach or "Life Breath".

So maybe helium isn't so far off!

As for efficiency and Mankind, there are always a few in each generatin who sees the vast POTENIAL of being human and then pursue it.

That might be where the Fool is going... to begin the adventure of finding out what life is like without limits.

[Terran]

13. Not to get off topic too much, but this is interesting too:

Was talking to a friend who knows a lot of science this weekend and he explained (sorta) helium. and the processes that go on with stars. I didn't take notes, so I can't repeat exactly. But it was fascinating. I happen to believe I will be a star when I leave this plane. He said there is some basis for that, scientifically. He said that's the material from which we are made! wow ..

Your friend is right, of course. Stars are made of the same elements that planets are, and our bodies share the same elements that make up the Earth--carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and traces of other elements. These elements are found throughout the universe, not just in our galaxy. We are, literally, not just "star stuff" but "universe stuff".

I probably should look it up to be sure, but it's my understanding that stars are basically giant fusion reactors. Their "power" comes from the fact that their tremendous gravity is continually causing fusion reactions--atoms of hydrogen (or is it helium? I thought not) are continually being compressed and releasing their energy explosively. I think it's not beyond the realm of possibility that stars could possess a form of sentience because there are massive electrical and magnetic fields being generated by all that activity, as well as heat and light, and electricity is what powers human sentience in the physical body. So your feeling that you're going to "be" a star is compelling to me. The idea that planets can become sentient has been explored scientifically in science fiction before (the novel "Earth" by David Brin), so why not stars too?

I do feel the need to point out that stars, like us, are part of the material plane of existence...so when you leave this plane of existence, I'm not sure you'll be able to become a star unless you can reincarnate as one. One wonders what one has to do in order to achieve that privilege?

[Matariki]

2. the qabalistic answer

to: "If you boiled the Universe down into its most basic, constituent parts, what would you be left with?"

would be: mathematics

[KittyWampus]

6. Yes, Mathmatics. And there's a way to lay the Tarot Keys down to

illustrate many of the inherent relationships.

That would be laying Keys 1-21 out in three rows of 7 and putting the Fool or 0 above all the others.


0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Zero is in between and within all the other numbers.


Math deals with Universal constants and relationships... it is in the end, however, a man made system and thus artificial.

What do we have before Number?

[Matariki]

7. pure math is a man made system?

well perhaps the symbols & the language, but mathematics itself, no. Existance itself is defined by number. 0=2. the only way for the Creator to know itself. (in Thelema, 0=2 is an mathematical expression of Love btw.)

but anyway, where are you going with this?

[KittyWampus]

8. exploring how Tarot can help us learn the basic parts of the Universe.

I hope you're doing well Kineta.
:hi:

Also, regarding the use of Tarot Keys with the "cookie cutter" approach.

It'd be nice to expand our understanding of what studying Tarot Keys can do for us.

[Matariki]

11. hi back to you Cryingshame!

:wave:

that key you posted with the number grid is very useful in understanding the major arcana and a good start at making connections between cards.

thanks for posting it.

[Why Syzygy]

9. In programming language

there are only two numbers ... 0 and 1 ... which represent yes or no.
It's amazing to think about.

Long ago we had a computer game, "Rocky's Boots" that taught the basics of programming. The only thing you had to do was open the gate or close it. Yes or No. On or Off. There were no maybes.

Extended mathmatics is fascinating. The same friend I mentioned in above post talks to me about that too. He reads this book about E/MC 2, etc. When I tell him about numerology, he asks, why do you use a 10 base? Why not a 16 base, for example? I told him, well, in numerology, we use a 9 base, darlin. He was fascinated.

LOL . science and art. What a deal!

[Matariki]

10. I'm currently reading The Baroque Trilogy by Neal Stephenson

He has the natural philosopher Gottfried Leibniz creating a system of cryptology (as well as conceptualizing an early computer system) after watching a Chinese diviner in the market doing an i Ching reading. The i Ching giving him the idea of binary.

Which reminds me of my favorite joke: There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.

- soror io ;-)

[mntleo2]

3. Love

Cat's philosophical thoughts:

They say, "God is love" and I take that to mean the energy that comes out of the act ot creating. When asked by Moses Who was sending him to speak with Pharoah, God Called God's Self "I Am". I take that to mean "I know I exist" an awareness of one's own existence. Look around you and you can feel the world literally singing with that conscienceness, in a waterfal, in rocks, in trees and finally a major chorus in the Earth Herself. The only way anything in this universe exists comes out of creation and thus out of love, thus "I AM" is the very essence of the universe... Math was already created, helium was already created, see?

I think this was why some of us know that love is a very powerful action. This is why Jesusn told us the most important thing we can do is to love. We are always being creative when we love. Also what we call 'destruction' might be considered an act of love because as physics says, "nothing is ever destroyed, it is merely reorganized..." the flower dies and it goes into the ground and nourished a tree and thus becomes the tree...see?

I am just an empath, and I do not read the tarot, but it seems to me, Tarot is something that connects with the universe, thus is connecting to Love, and all that we call 'chance' is creation in motion. Thus Tarot is love in motion....

Am I being too crazy here?

My 2 cents

Love,
Cat In Seattle

[Why Syzygy]

12. Reorganized

Think about it. Our physical bodies will always be a part of our Mother Earth. Except I have a family member whom I've notified to go ahead and take my ashes to the galaxy (space ship ya know).

Is that asking too much? However. I have a feeling that the ashes will find their way back home. Mother Earth. So I might as well call that off.

There's a lot to think about in your post.

[LaurenG]

4. ?

Questions:

<If you boiled the Universe down into its most basic, constituent parts, what would you be left with?> Mathematics, to describe it all.

<What's the most efficient and effective way to communicate and work with these basic elements?> Directly, through thought, they are also conscious.

<Do we need symbols? Are there limits to Rational Thought?> We need symbols for now, there are no limits to rational thought, it's all rational past a certain point anyway. Until we are intuitive and can communicate otherwise, it's the best we can do. (Just my opinion)