THE MAGIC OF MERLIN CLASS

On Sunday, 12th November, I will be running a Magic of Merlin Class where we will be considering Merlin's association with certain key Tarot cards, the Magician and the Fool. The Magician Trump shows the mastery of the four elements, while the Trump of the Fool, if you are on a deep metaphysical path, shows an allegory of magical power. The beautifully turned out figure steps, not blindly, but knowingly to where he wishes to go. The Fool is the essence of magic, its actual power; while the magician is aware that every act is a magical act. Possessing that knowledge separates him from his ordinary peers.

We will also be considering the analogies between the four elemental principles of fire, air, water and earth. Another allegory we will be considering is that of the Garden of Eden. This allegory is graphically illustrated on the Trump of the Lovers.

The course is a very practical one and we will be experimenting with many magical powers, such as pulling down globes of light, and erecting psychic barriers.

This will allow us to make a connection to those magical, mystical creatures, the dragons. Dragons are real, and make excellent guardians and friends and can communicate telepathically. So we will be using a meditation to call forth the dragons from their lair.

There will also be an attunement to Celtic Druidism so that the Celtic symbols can be used in a healing manner while creating an enchanted story. The symbols are magically powerful.

We will also be looking at Merlin's association with the Tarot Trumps of the High priestess and the Empress and how the Goddess energy signifies both wisdom and folly. Druids were great respecters of Mother Nature and enjoyed her many gifts and blessings. We can do the same in this day and age.

I have made Druid Wands for the course and we will be enchanting them to make them magically powerful. They can be used in ceremonies, for activating symbols and runes, for charging water or for channelling the vital life force. Their uses are many and varied.

In my next blog I will give some examples of our experiments.

THE TAROT & THE HOLY KABBALAH

The Kabbalah teaches that our universe evolved organically and sequentially from the formless void or the Great Unknowable Source into matter. The information contained in the Kabbalah deals with the nature of God; the Sephiroth, or divine emanations deal with angels and man. God is known as Ain Soph and fills the entire universe. As He is infinite, the mind of man cannot conceive Him. Mind cannot perceive something that created it, because mind is only part of it, not the whole.

In a certain sense, God is perceived as being non-existent. To validate His existence, God became active and creative, gathered primal energy around Himself and projected the ten Sephiroth or divine ideas. The numbers one to ten are Kabbalistic cardinal numbers corresponding to the original divine ideas by which the invisible and visible world was created.

THE TREE OF LIFE: This is a simple diagram composed of the ten spheres known as the Sephiroth and 22 connecting lines called Paths. The Sephiroth and the Paths together are commonly called “The thirty two Paths of Wisdom.” At this point, we will only touch briefly on some of this information as it has been given previously. With reference to the Tarot, we will just say that the twenty two major arcana cards relate to the twenty two paths, which are numbered from 11 to 32; the Sephiroth being numbered from 1 to 10.

Kether, Chokmah and Binah are abstract concepts beyond our human comprehension and relate to the Supreme Mysteries of the Spirit or the Archetypal World. Chesed, Geburah and Tiphareth pertain to the Higher Self or the structure of the individuality, and relate to the Greater Mysteries or the Creative World. Netzach, Hod and Yesod pertain to the structure of the personality or the Lesser Mysteries or the Formative World. Malkuth relates to the physical body or the Active World.

From the unmanifest, the Ain Soph, which is symbolized by a closed eye, emerged number one, called KETHER, the Crown, which is symbolized by an open eye. Symbolically, as long as this eye remains open, the universe is preserved, when it shuts, it returns into a state of non-being or pralaya.

http://www.esotericcollege.org

THE TAROT AND PSYCHIC POWERS

Psychic powers are common to all people, but some have not used their ability in the field of Metaphysics so they consider that they don’t have them; everyone has them to some degree or another. Some brain researchers explain that the primitive brain is more intuitive and that hunches and psychic insight are activities of this more primitive part of the brain.

The energies come up through the medulla (Centre M) through the cerebellum lobes, to and through the pineal in their twinned trinities, (and note these trinities are not of opposing polarities.) The energies which come through the trinities shine through their various avenues and that which is the first trinity channels initially into mainly the left hemisphere, then across to the pituitary gland.

Those energies cause an imprint on the energy already flowing through that left hemisphere. This imprint we call thought. So, we have the left hand side dealing with abstract thinking, music, art and literature; the imprint called thought and the ability to think clearly. This, in turn channels to the right hemisphere where it is necessary.

So, rather than a left brain, right brain phenomena, it could perhaps be described as an inner brain, outer brain phenomena. If we go along with this theory, traumatic situations may allow the thought processes to occur at a more primal level, so that decisions are made instinctively or intuitively. So we have an influence coming from the subconscious mind which, by its definition, resides below the threshold of consciousness.

Correct training can help this information come to the conscious mind at will. Practice with the symbolism of the Tarot can raise the level of awareness and hone the intuitive faculty. Symbols are the language of the subconscious mind and the Tarot, being rich in Metaphysical symbology will speak directly to your subconscious mind and allow intuitive insights. When you experience the symbolic nature of the Tarot, the experience is brought directly from your subconscious mind into consciousness awareness.

http://www.esotericcollege.org

THE MYSTIQUE OF TAROT- The Magician and the understanding of the four elements

The study of the Tarot in an esoteric sense will lead you through one of the doorways to the mysteries of life. The Tarot has been with us since the dawn of time in one form or another as it is a pictorial representation of the journey back to the Godhead. And we can see this even in many religious ceremonies today. For example, on the first card, the Magician, we see depicted the four elements, in the form of the sword, the wand, the cup and the coin resting on a table. If you look at the symbology depicted in some churches today, you will see something similar. It takes only a little bit of thinking to come up with the analogy. The cards are simply used to show the many blessings and pitfalls along the way. And as you work your way through each impression of the card, you will experience the energies associated with the archetype that the card represents.

Spiritual truth never comes as dogma; it comes as a small still voice from within, and is only relative to you and the lessons you have chosen to learn in this incarnation. This does not mean to say that you cannot assist others if they ask you, but the warning here, of course is, not to let your ego or personality colour the information coming through. Truth depends on the insight of each individual, so it is rather impossible to generalize about the problem of truth, except to say that each one will have their own truth and it will be relative to the degree of their spiritual maturity.

The capacity to differentiate between knowledge and wisdom is also tied up with this problem of truth. There is a wide difference between the two and it is much easier to gain knowledge than wisdom. Whereas knowledge depends on receptivity and understanding of the mind and experience coupled with the memory of such experiences, wisdom does not depend on knowledge at all, although both are identical up to a certain point. The source of wisdom comes from the causal principle or that which is termed the Godhead. Therefore wisdom does not depend on the mind or the memory, but on the maturity and purity of the individual entity and insights are passed on through the intuitive or inspirational processes. Therefore to develop a well rounded out personality, knowledge as well as wisdom must go hand in hand; neither one nor the other must trail behind.

The Tarot, therefore is the perfect tool to assist in unlocking the intuitive processes and can lead to profound insight and wisdom.

http://www.esotericcollege.org