Tarot as Initiatory Journey (The Fool)
In ‘Astrology, Aleister and Aeon’, Charles Kipp describes the intention of the initiatory journey of the Golden Dawn and other mystery schools. It’s also a very apt description of the initiatory journey inherent in Tarot.
“In traditional astrology the Ascendent and the sign in which it is placed is taken as the starting point for interpretation due to its reference to the persona as the interface of the personality with the world in which one lives. The first order of business for the program of spiritual development employed by various schools and disciplines of religious philosophy, as distinguished from the doctrinaire approach of societal religion, has been to foster the realization of the part of a candidate that one’s persona or ego, as the focus of consciousness, is not the whole of one’s person; that there is a deeper spiritual entity that animates the personality and participates in a greater order of being than that given to the perception of the bodily senses and taken as the material world that one inhabits. The traditional method employed for the development of this realization is that of initiation through progressive degrees of inner awareness leading to ever greater insight into the nature of one’s whole being. Disciplines of this sort have been practiced from time immemorial and such practice is the true and serious meaning of the word “magic”.”
The serious study of Tarot is an exploration of the spirit, an opening to new levels of consciousness and making contact with and expressing more fully that part of ourselves which is beyond the logical, rational mind - the soul.
The start of the initiatory journey is represented by The Fool. He comes to us from Kether, the highest and most abstract level of the Tree of Life. The Fool is spirit manifesting into form. His element is Air and his Hebrew letter is Aleph. Aleph has no sound, but is the action of taking a breath before speaking.
The Fool ‘falls’ from Kether (0) and descends to our earth plane, Malkuth (10), via the Sefiroth and Paths of the Tree of Life. His task is them to ‘remember’ and climb back up the Tree and reunite with Kether. Sefiroth is a Hebrew word that means ‘number’. The sefiroth can be thought of as energy or power centres that the human being experiences through their actions, throughs, belief structures etc.
Kether is the highest plane of awareness and consists of the energy of ‘God’. There is no separation in this state – all is one. The next level is Chokmah, which is where the all begins to develop a separate awareness and becomes ‘1’. This sphere also holds all knowledge and information. This is why 0=2. Kether, or 0, cannot be aware of itself. It needs to separate and become 2 distinct things in order to be aware of itself. In this sense, ‘1’ can’t really exist except as an abstract concept.
While we study, we are in the sphere of Chokmah. When we begin to sort out that information, to organize it and to use discretion about what is useful and what isn’t, we approach the sphere of Binah.
0 Kether = Creation
1 Chokmah = Wisdom
2 Binah – Understanding
When we are in the realm of Kether, we experience things that are transpersonal and even miraculous, like forgiveness, acts of mercy and unconditional love, magic, prayer and moments of enlightenment. This is the realm of the Fool. The Divine cannot experience itself as 0, so it splits of parts of itself to ‘fall’ into our human reality, to experience separation and then to reunite with All. Energetically, Kether is close to what we call God, but it’s not God. In Kether we are asked to receive the guiding Light of Spirit in an act of intention and faith. By studying with Qabalah, sharing our insights with each other and doing our best to have faith in a higher power, whatever we perceive that to be, we do the work of Kether. Kether is the desire to shed light where there is none.
Having said that, though, the soul must experience whatever is in it’s path, be it objectively good or bad, in order to reunite with All. The initiatory journey back to All is filled with danger and heartbreak, as well as light and joy and all these experiences are reflected in the Tarot and form the Fool’s journey home.
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