The you that you think is you is not you. It is a dream you. In fitcf, the you that you think is you is a dreamer inside a dreamer inside a dreamerinsideadreamer. You are the Kingoftheuniverse, who hasfitllen asleep and is dreaming he is the Queen, who hasfallen asleep and is dreaming she is the Prince, who hasfitllen asleep and is dreaming he is a sleeping Princess. -RABBI LAMED BEN CLIFFORD
“Whether we realize it or not, when we work with the Tarot, we are working with the Qabalah. Tarot's like the DNA of the Qabalah- better than that-it's actually the picture-book of the Qabalah.”
- LMD
Astrology and Qabalah come from the same place. Signs of the zodiac represent more than just time coordinates. Each sign (and consequently each zodiac trump) has attached to it a litany of traditional plants, animals, precious stones, foods, drugs, and deities sacred to cultures and mythologies from around the world. All these attributes are hiding just below the surface of each card. I've got them all organized in a giant Rolodex in my garage. Whether we consciously recognize them or not, these are arche- typal images that we share with every other human being on the planet-and Qabalah is the glue that holds them all together. Depending upon the circumstances, the Justice card could stand for an emerald, or an aloe plant, or an elephant. The Emperor might sug- gest ruby, or geranium, or a ram.
- LMD
T h e Emperor IS Aries, HeirophantTaurus, Lovers Gemini, Chariot Cancer Stre.ngth. Leo, Hermit Virgo, Justice Libra, Death Scorpio, Temperanc; Sagittarius, Devil Capricorn, Star Aquarius, and Moon Pisces.
The Magician is Mercury, the High Priestess is Luna, the Empress is Venus, the Wheel ofFortune is Jupiter, the TOwer is Mars, the Sun card is the Sun, and the World is Saturn.
mercury is the metal for the Magician, silver rules the High Priestess, copper rules the Empress, tin rules the Wheel ofFortune, iron rules the TOwer, gold rules the Sun, and lead rules the World.
The planetary trumps also represent parts of the human body. This information could be helpful in a reading concerning health mat- ters. The Magician rules the nervous system, the HighPriestess the lym- phatic system, the Empress rules the reproductive system, the Wheel of , Fortune rules the digestive system, the TOwer rules the muscles, the Sun rules the circulatory system, and the World card rules the bones.
Air, Water, and Fire
The Fool represents Air, the Hanged Man Water, and Judgement, Fire. These three trumps are attributed to the three Mother Letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, Mem, and Shin. The fourth element- Earth-is represented by the World card that assumes double duty with the very compatible planet Saturn.
LBC: If you divide the 56 cards of the Lesser Arcana ino four stacks one for Wands, Cups, Swords, and Disks, you have this four- fold universe laid out in front of you. To really organize your world, lay each.o f the four stacks face up, with the Ace n top ..Beneath the Ace put the four Court Cards (King, Queen, Prince, Princess), then the Small Cards (2 through 10). The four stacks with the Aces on top are the four letters in the Great Name, YOD HEH VAU HEH, and the cards underneath are the pieces of Deity, Its universe and our own souls. The Wans ae theYodstack,andbytraditionareattributedtoFire;theCupsliveIII the first Heh stack and represent the Water element; the Swords are the Vau stack and Air; and the Disks are the Final Heh stack and are attributed to the Earth element.
The four Aces are really the big YOD, HEH, VAU, HEH and everything that goeswith it. The AceofWands is Spirit of Fire;Aceof Cups is Spirit of Water; Ace ofSwords is Spirit of Air; Ace ofDisks is Spirit of Earth. Together, the four Court Cards ofeach suit are a miniature YOD HEH VAU HEH that subdivides their Acesinto four parts. Kings are the fiery nature of their suit, Queens are the watery nature of their suit, Princes are the airy nature of their suit, and the Princesses are the earthy nature of their suit. Are you following this?
Each of the 36 Small Cards (in figure 31, page 165) represents one decan (l00) of the zodiac: The 2s, 3s, 4s represent the cardinal signs of the zodiac: Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn; The 5s, 6s, 7s represent the fixed signs of the zodiac: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius; • The 8s, 9s, 10s represent the mutable sig
Now can you see where the Small Cards get their traditional meanings? It's a combination of their Qabalistic and astrological attributes. The 2 ofWands is called Dominion because it is first and foremost a strong and fiery Wand, the suit of the Will; then it is a Two, the purest and strongest position in the Small Card sequence; then it is the first decan of Aries, the strong, aggressive and energy- filled sign of the zodiac; finally, the planet attributed to the 2 of Wands is Mars, and Mars is very, very happy to be in Aries. In other words-W and plus Two plus Aries plus Mars equals "Dominion." All the Small Cards aren't as obvious as the 2 ofWands, but I guarantee that if you carefully examine the suit, the number, the zodiac sign, and the planet attributed to each Small Card, you will eventually see why it bears its traditional meaning-why the 3 of Cups is Love, why the 6 ofWands is Victory, and the 9 ofSwords is Despair and Cruelty.
the four Princesses. These four maids are treated differently from the other twelve Court Cards. This stems from the Qabalistic doctrine concerning the exiled condition of the human soul.
Assiah, the material world we see around us, is just the lowest vibratory expression of the universe. It is where the pure consciousness of Deity is so slowed down-so doped u p - that it actually crystallizes. It is where light and energy become mat- ter and the invisible becomes visible. The Nephesh, the Animal Soul, is our own personal version of Assiah. It is the only world our Nephesh recognizes. From this extremely limited point of view, both Deity and you and me are trapped, exiled in a frozen prison of matter. We are a Princess who has forgotten her royal birthright. We have fooled ourselves into believing that Assiah is the only reality. We identify ourselves com- pletely with this lowest level of divine consciousness and the lowest part of our soul. But there is a way out-a way to escape the prison of matter and live in the bliss of the highest Qabalistic world. A clas- sic fairytale shows us the way. A Princess, a daughter of a King and Queen, is the victim of a magic spell and falls into a deep coma. A charming Prince (also the son o f a King and Queen) sees the motionless perfection o f this sleep- ing beauty and falls hopelessly in love with her image. Even though she is asleep (and unlikely to respond in kind) the Prince stoops down into her sarcophagus and kisses her. The pure love coursing through his lips is the magic that awakens the Princess. She is lifted from her tomb and marries the Prince, the act of which simultane- ously makes her the Queen and hirrt the King. That's where the fairytale stops, bur in the Qabalah, the new King then makes his new Queen pregnant. After doing this, he rolls over and goes to sleep. The Queen gives birth to twins, a Prince and a Princess, who leave the castle for adventures of their own. They get separated. She gets cursed-falls asleep-yada yada yada-we know the story from there. That's how Kings are made. If there were no Princesses-there could be no Kings. She may be asleep, she may be slumbering in the deepest forest, guarded by height-challenged mining engineers, bur without her redemption the old sleeping King will never reawaken, and the entire electricity of the universe will short-circuit. This two- way incestuous circuitry is the dynamo that creates and sustains the unrverse,
LBC: We're talking about you and me here, booby. The you that you think is you is not you. It is a dream you. In fact, the you that you think is you is a dreamer inside a dreamer inside a dreamer inside a dreamer. Youare the King of the universe,who has fallen asleepand is dreaming he is the Queen, who has fallen asleep and is dreaming she is the Prince, who has fallen asleep and is dreaming he is a sleep- ing Princess. The first step in our return to our original state is to trick our own Prince into kissing us and waking us up. This is pretty difficult, but it's not impossible, because we've all got one of these Princes run- ning around in the "more awake" world. Even now, he's beating his fists against the lid o f our glass coffin, trying to wake us up so he Can marry us and can get on with his career. Modern Qabalistic magi- cians call this Prince the Holy Guardian Angel and view the union with their HGA as the first step toward spiritual enlightenment.