TAROT II\TERPRETATION

LessonTwenty-six

The Tarot tableaufor this lessonis as follows:

5 l5 t6 2

l0 8 7 l3

6 T2 11 9
a
l7 4 t4

Its constantsummationis 38. Thus the meaningof the twenty possibleways of readingthe
rows of cardsis alwaysrepresentedby the eleventhKey, consideredas the working of the
power representedby Key 8 through the agencysymbolizedby Key 3. This square
correspondsalso to the third stageof spiritualunfoldmentrepresentedby Key 17.

Thus we know that the constantsignificance of this squarehas to do with the manifestation of
the F-aithfulIntelligencerepresentedby the letter Lamed and Key I 1. We know also that the
meaningof the squareis limited to thoseaspectsof the Faithful Intelligencewhich are the
outcomeof the operationof the Luminous Intelligence. We know, furthermore,that the
whole tableaumust relateto the unveiling of truth in the practiceof meditation.

Here we may also make fuilher applicationof the principle behindthe hint given in
Lesson25.

Sincethe summationof every row of Keys in this squareis 38, and may be representedby
placing Keys 3 and 8 side by side,it is evidentalso that Key 5 hasto be taken into
considerationin studyingthis tableau,becauseKey 5 is the link betweenKeys 3 and 8.
(8 minus 3 equals5).

Meditation unveils truth and thus establishesfaith. Meditation is also a practicewhich utilizes
the law that subhumanfbrms of universal energy are under the control of human
subconsciousness. This law, consciouslyrecognizedand appliedto developcreative
imagination,is what enablesus to establishtrue magicalfaith-{he faith which moves
mountains,overcomesdisease,banishespoverty,makesfor happiness.

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7-AROT ]N7'ERPItETAl'ION., 26

Not blind faith, however. fhe woman seatedon the throneof Justicewearsno blindfold. The
faith of an occultist is basedon tried and testedknowledge. His faith is an imaginative
extensioninto the future of what he alreadyknows now. True magicalfaith is confident
expectationthat what really is will continue to be what it is.

This is just the oppositeto blind faith which puts up petitionsto a God who is supposedto be
susceptibleto flattery. To ask God to ward off calamity,to pleadwith Him for specialfavors,
is to pray amiss. Suchprayer assumesthat He is the authorof calamity,or that He is
capricious.

To be sure,occult doctrineagreeswith the prophetIsaiahin declaringthat the One Lif'e-power

is the causeof all conditions,including thosewe call evil. Ceitain it is, also,that the prayer of
faith is answered,eventhough the God to whom it is addressedbe wrongly conceived.

No one who has given thoughtful attentionto this subjectcan lail to be impressedby the
incidentsin the life of GeorgeMueller who conductedseveralorphanagesin Englandon the
assumptionthat God always answersprayer. Yet an occult studentwould find it difficult to
acceptGeorgeMueller'stheologicalopinions,or evenhis ideaof God.

What is the explanation?Simply that Mueller'sfaith, blind though it was, had in it an element
of truth. Nothing could shakehis convictionthat God is the unfailing sourceof supply for any
good work. Mueller's faith, in short,was betterthan his theology. Nor shouldwe overlook
the fact that his f-aithneverwaveredno matterwhat the appearances rnight be. Thus he never
prayedthat calamity might be avefted, On the contrary,his prayerswere affirmative. He
always kept his vision of the Life-power as a treasuryof inexhaustibleabundance.

True magical faith hasthe samesteadfastquality becausea practicaloccultist accumulatesso

many evidencesthat the Life-power is dependable.He neverdoubtsthat the mental patterns
he conceiveswill be fully realizedas objectiveconditionsmanifeston the physicalplane.

'fhe
beginningof his faith is in recollection. By carefulexaminationof the memory record of
his own personalexperience,he learnsto discernthe operationof law in the eventsof his life.
This careful examinationof his personalpastis aregularpart of his daily meditationpractice.
Every day, he reviewsthe eventsof that day, thus he seeshow the law has beenmanifest in
thoseevents;and he also devotesmuch time to examiningthe eventsof his earlieryears,
carrying hirnself back to his earliestmemories(Key 2).

As a result of this practicehe overcomesmany of his early delusions. He now hasthe

perspectiveof a wider experienceand a highertype of knowledge. Thus he is able to seehow
erroneouswere many of the suppositionshe oncemistook for truths (I(ey 16).

He recalls instancesof seemingadversityand seesthat oflen the very obstaclesand limitations

which distressedhim were the actualcausesof his advance(I(ev 15).

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Wheu, in addition to the practiceof recollection,he addsthe practiceof listeningto the Inner
Voice, he soon beginsto understandhow true it is that he hasbeenunder guidance,even in
thoseperiodsof his life when he seemedto be walking in utter darkness(Key 5).

Then he beginsto understandthe working of the law of transformation.He learnsthe futility

of the ignorant desireto keep conditionsas they are. He seeshow the law of eternalprogress
demandsthat old forms must give placeto new. Thus he comeseventuallyto discoverthe
mystery of life behind the veil of death,for one certainresult of meditationis the recoveryof
definite memoriesof past incarnations;and oncethe studenthas seenfor himself that his
presentlife is but one of a series,all fear of deathleaveshim (Key 13). From that time
forward he understandsthat the personalityis an ephemeralvehicle for the eternalSelf
(I(ey 7). As he continueshis practiceof recollectionand meditation,it becomesincreasingly
eviclentthat the outer conditionsof his personalexperiencehavebeenalwaysobiectifications
of his mental attitudes(Key S).

Furthermore,he discoversthat eventhosemental attitudeswhich were pain-bearingwere

beneficentin that they broughthim correctiveexperience.Then he seesthat even his mental
unfoldment is a cosmic as well as a personalprocess.He traceshis progressupward from
earlier stagesof comparativeignoranceto his presentstateof betterunderstanding,and
perceivesthat every stepwas inevitable. From then on he has no doubt of the perfect
completionof the prccess(Key 10).

In the earlier stagesof spiritual developmentthereis usually a strongsenseof effort, even of

struggle. For in thoseearly stagesthe delusionof separateness is yet strongwithin us. Yet all
sagestestify with one voice that this senseof effort is itself illusive. It is not we who do the
work. The power of the One Self carriesus upward,and we are alwaysunder its beneficent
supervision(I(ey 9). A practicaloccultistlearnsthis by carefully examiningthe record of his
own past life, and by carefully observingthe lives of his contemporaries.Thus he learnsthat
every human personalityis a direct expressionof the law which maintainsthe perfect
equilibriumof the cosmicorder(I(ey 1l).

A direct consequence of this knowledgeis the mental attitudeof completeacquiescence.'Ihe

true Initiate knows the law is at work becausehe hasseenit in variousphasesof his own life,
and has observedit in the lives of others. Thus he surrendershimself to it without any
reservationwhatever(Key 12).

This, of course,doesnot come all at once. The recordsof memory must be scannedwith
greatcare. They must be strippedof all disguise. The outcomeof this occult practice,which
is not unlike the catharsisemployedin psycho-analysis,is to establisha harmonious
reciprocalrelation betweenthe self-consciousand subconscionselementsof the personal
mental life. The perfectedconditionthus attainedis representedin the symbolismof I(ey 6.

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TA ROT I NTERP RETA'I'ION 26

Right meditationis really the work which leadsto the Knowledgeand Conversationof the
Holy GuardianAngel. More, wheneverright meditationis established,one perceivesthat the
personallife is, and has beenalways,an alchemicaloperationwhich is really the work of that
Angel. lt is not we who make progress,but it is ratherthat our improved stateof
consciousness, with its accompanyingincreasein our ability to control the conditionsof our
environment,is the outcomeof the operationof the true Self upon its vehicle,personality.

There is a hint of this in the words of Jesus: "1, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."
For thesewords imply the presenceof a power superiorto the personalman, Jesus,and that
power, which Jesuscalled "Father," is truly the Divine Operatorwho tempersour personal
chemistryso that we becomemore suitableinstrumentsfor expressingwhat It really is
(Key 14).

No part of our personalequipmentis separatefrom the universalBeing. Do we seethings as

.fhen
they really are? are we but sharingin the Divine Vision, Our personalcommandof
circumstanceis none other than the UniversalDominion expressedin the conditionsof time
and spacewhich constituteour personalenvironment(I(ey 4).

Even the subconsciousgestationof mental irnages,in consequence of which new ideascome

into being within our field of personalawareness,
is really a universalprocess. There is no
plane of being wherethe universalLife-power is not ptesent,nor is there any phaseof activity
in wlrich it is not the real Actor (Kev 3).

Truth itself is identicalwith the One Spirit, and though it may seemto us, at first, that we
uncovertruth by meditation,the time will come when we shall understandthat we are
disposedby the One Self to adoptthe practiceof meditation. Thus we begin to realizethat
any man in meditationis merely a specificexampleof the methodwherebythe One Life
unveilsitself to humanconsciousness (Key 17).

Tlrus, when Patanjalisaysmeditationis an unbrokenflow of knowledgein a particularobject,

reflection makesit evidentthat meditationis participationin the One Spirit'sunbrokenflow of
knowledgein all things. Really to meditate,then, is to be identified,during meditation,with
the Divine Consciousness of someaspectof reality. This, indeed,is why all genuineoccult
literaturelays so much stresson the importanceof meditation(Key 17). In meditation,the
personalmentation,always intermittentand spasmodic,is wholly suspended.Thus a sagein
Sumadlti is in a stateof trance,and in the deepeststagesthe tranceis so completethat it
counterf.eitsdeath(I(ey 12).

Yet this suspensionof personalmental activity is accompaniedby a tremendousenhancement

'fhe
of consciousness.The personalvehicle is at rest. sensesare completelyquiescent.Yet
the Self is wide awakeand there is no cessationof self-consciousness.
He who emergesfrom
the tranceof true meditationdoesnot ask, "Where am I?" Neither doeshe make any inquiries
as to what he has said or done.for he hasneverfor a moment lost consciousness.

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What has occurredis that his consciousness

has beenfunctioning at a liigher level. From that
level he bringsbackwith him definiteknowledge,and equallydefiniteability to exercise
power beyondthe limits of ordinarypersonalconscionsness (l(ey 7). For suchan one has,in
Samadhi,remernberedwhat he really is, and the glory and power of that recollectionmanifest
thernselves (Key 2).

Recall,then, what was said early in this lesson. The beginningof meditationis careful
examinationof the memoryrecordof your personalexistence.Combinedwith this must be
the attitudeof listeningfor the cornmentof the InnerVoice as it explainsthe significanceo1'
tltat record. This tnustbe a clailypractice(l(ey 5). The resultwill be that you will gain
knowledgeof tlic GreatSecret.This knowledgecannotbe impartedadequatelyby human
words. Only its bareoutlinehasbeengiven in any occultwriting. It is symbolizedin Tarot
by Key 8. From the innerrevelationof this GreatSeuet,a practicaloccultistderiveshis
open-eyed,magicalfaith (Key I l). The immediateoutcomeof that faith is what medieval
writers on magic calledthe Knowledgeand Conversationof the Holy GuardianAngel. To
l<trowthat Guiding Presence,to sharein its perception,to receivethrough it the wisdom and
powerof PureSpirit-this is the consequence of meditation(l(ey l4).
MBDITATIONS

FIRST DAY: Keys 2, 16, 15,5. I remembertodaywhat I really am. This recollection
enablesme to destroyerroneousmentalconstructions.i facemy problemsgladly,1brthey are
power. My life this day is a lessonin the mysteriesof the
my opportunitiesto demonstrate
I{igher Law.

SECONDDAY: Keys 13,7, 8, 10. All transformations of circumstance arefor my good.My

body and my environmentareplasticvehiclesfor the limitlesspowerand wisdom of Eternal
'Ihey
Spirit, arethe outpicturingof my vision of the Self. The life of this day is a cycle of
thc Eternal Existence.

THIRD DAY: Keys 9, 11,12,6, It is not I who do this day'swork, not I who enjoy this day's
pleasures,not I who experiencethis day'sdifficulties. All theseeventsare part of the
balancingof Heaven'saccounts.Let me quietly observethe Perfect Work.

FOURTI-IDAY: Keys I 4, 4,3, 17. I submitjoyfully to the teststhis day brings. Throughme
the UniversalDominion expressesits perfectcommandof circumstances.It works below the
surfaceof my consciousness to developmore beautiftllfbrms of expression.God in me
unveils Himself to Himself.

FIITTI-IDAY: I(eys l7 , 72,7, 2. Truth itself is the basiso1rny personalexistence.Nothing

can separateme fiom its untailing support. No slightestdetail of my personallife but is a
of UniversalSpirit. I remember my Creator.
rnanifbstation
SIX'Ili DAY: I(eys 5, 8, I 1, 14. Be Thou my Guide,O Teacherof all teachers!Let me be
strongin Thy strength. Let rne be faithful in act, in thought,in word. I am overshadowedby
the protectingpresence
of the Almighty. U,50300