The Sephirot and the Thoth Tarot: Part 2

I might as well finish the analysis of the 9's and 10's of the Thoth Tarot in relation to history. We have already looked at fire and air; now for the feminine elements, water and earth.



9 of Cups is called Happiness. And was not collective happiness a driving motive behind much of modernist thought and action? "With an iron fist we drive humanity towards happiness", stated a slogan in a Soviet concentration camp (though I cannot find a flawless source for it at the moment), but there were also healthier examples of this drive in the ranks of socialism, nationalism and liberalism. Eventually, happiness leads to Satiety, the 10 of Cups, representing the postmodern state of cheap comfort and desire gratification at your service. Here, appetite has truly been satiated, and there is nothing left to do but to surf the wave until something more interesting comes up: a new water impulse, an Ace of Cups.

9 of Pentacles is called Gain. This is an image of productive collaboration for mutual profit, the release of "productive forces" if you will, a powerful and dare I say positive card, labor exploitation notwithstanding. Western countries are surely past this stage economically, while arguably some non-Western countries are not. It evolves into the 10 of Pentacles, Riches - the result of Gain, no longer productive but simply content to behold itself in all its splendour. Crowley adds that this card, as the last number of the last element, represents to totality of all that has been created before. Of all the 10's this is doubtlessly the most magnificent one, as are the riches of the world today, and one will be somewhat saddened to eventually see it go.

I have been reflecting on the possibility of extending this analysis even farther back in time: the 8's, 7's, 6's and so on, though this seems like a more difficult task. It need not even be the case that the Tarot captures historical evolution for the lower numbers; for now, I am content to state that is does so in an illuminating way for the eras of modernism and postmodernism at the very least.

The number 11 in Western Left Hand Path philosophy

But of course.

There is the magical order Dragon Rouge, based in Stockholm, which I once wrote a paper on. The founder of this order, Thomas Karlsson, has written about the magical number 11 and its significance. Curiously enough, I have never before (perhaps because I was not then acquiantanced with astrology) related his 11-oriented philosophy to Aquarius. Yet, as Aquarius rules creative group work (including rituals), occult science and the breaking of boundaries, it is sensible to say that Karlsson understands the number 11 in accordance with its astrological correpondence with Aquarius, Uranus and the eleventh house.

If you are unfamiliar with Karlsson and Dragon Rouge, you can read just slightly more about it on English or Swedish Wikipedia, though it is sad to say that their homeside seems unavailable. Suffice to say that it is a Western Left Hand Path organization, whose philosophy states that one ultimately has to choose between merging with God and breaking out to become a God on one's own. Rubbish if you ask me, though it had some influence on me as a youth. Now, in his (Swedish) book Kabbala, Kliffot och den goetiska magin, Karlsson explores the mysteries of the ten Kliffot - the dark versions of the Sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life - until he arrives at the highest Kliffa which he calls Thaumiel. Regarding this and the number 11, he writes (p. 108-113, and I quote selectively):

Målet med den vänstra handens väg enligt den kliffotisk-alkemiska vägen är att nå den yttersta mörka sfären Thaumiel. Kliffan Thaumiel har betydelsen 'tvillingen' eller 'tvillingguden' och representeras av djävulsfurstarna Satan och Molok. [...] Thaumiels klyvning är orsaken till att kliffots tal är 11 och dess formel AA - Adamas Ater, 'Den svarta diamanten'. Numerologiskt representerar talet 1 till 10 eller 10 till 1 föreningen mellan människa och gud, slutet och början, och det symboliseras av ormen som biter sig själv i svansen. När magikern utvecklas enligt de kabbalistiska nivåerna när denne slutligen den högsta principen Keter. Med Keter har 10 och 1 förenats och cirkeln har slutits, och den ljusa adepten har nått sitt mål och blivit ett med Gud. Även den mörka adepten når denna nivå, men har här valet att ta ett avgörande steg till. Genom Thaumiel öppnas en elfte nivå - ett svart hål som blir en port till ett annat universum. Den mörka adepten frigör sig helt från Gud och den gamla skapelsen och blir själv en skapare. Istället för att bli ett med Gud blir magikern genom den elfte nivån själv en gud. Det är slutmålet och själva essensen av den vänstra handen väg.

Karlsson continues by comparing the similarities between the Western, kabbalistic tradition and the Eastern, tantric one. In the east, the number 11 is captured not in kliffotic spheres, but in chakras:

Människan har sex huvudsakliga chakror som löper från baschakrat till ajna-chakrat i huvudet. De tre nedre chakrorna dominerar hos människor som är fokuserade på det jordiska och sina drifter. De tre högre dominerar hos andliga människor. Den högra handens adept arbetar oftast med att höja sina energier från de nedre nivåerna till de högre, för att vid ajna-chakra bli upplyst om universums illusoriska natur. Slutmålet för den högra handens adept är att ta det stora steget ut mot sahasrara för att där uppnå samadhi och ett utslocknande av sig själv. Den vänstra handens adept kan vid ajna-chakra gå ett steg bakåt i sig själv och finna tre hemliga chakror som finns dolda i dennes huvud. [...] Det finns alltså 3 x 3 chakror, varav tre är hemliga och öppnas enbart av mycket avancerade adepter på den vänstra handens väg. Nästa steg blir att uppnå sahasrara-chakra, men genom uppväckandet av ajna-chakra och de tre hemliga chakrorna kan adepten ta ett steg bortom sahasrara och den tionde nivån, in genom sunya, en elfte nivå, för att bortom sunya skapa nya världar. [...] Istället för Guds enhet erbjuder den mörka vägen en dynamisk tvåfald som högsta princip. Enhet innebär utslocknande, medan den yttersta tvåfalden möjliggör liv och energi.

 For Karlsson, then, 11, also understood as 2 (1 + 1) represents the ultimate reality. Never mind that he misconstrues tantric philosophy (the end goal is not understood differently in the Indian Left Hand and Right Hand Paths), this at least is an interesting example of an esoteric model revolving around the number 11. If we are indeed approaching the Age of Aquarius, such thinking may become commonplace. Who knows?

What strikes me is that Karlsson's charicature of 'light magic' is only possible because he posits the end-goal of such a philosophy at the number 10. As we have seen, this is indeed the number of completion, and in Tarot represents the end of a cycle. In astrology, however, not only is the 10 followed by 11, but 11 is followed by 12! Thus, after breaking out of stagnant forms, the dark magician ultimately has to surrender and give up whatever wonderful reality he has created for himself. After Aquarius comes Pisces. Perhaps this is the main problem with Karlsson's philosophy - it seems to imply that the dark magician can become a god and somehow step out of the existing universe to create his own universe, thus becoming 100 % autonomous and immortal for all time. But everything that has beginning has an end. Ultimately, the magician must let go and - behold! - merge with the infinite, just like the dreaded light magicians. And so it turns out that this is where the true light magicians were heading all the time - not Capricorn, but Pisces.

Aquarius and the number 11

10 is a number of completion. In astrology, 10 is related to Saturn and the sign of Capricorn. The tenth house begins in the Midheaven, where the planets reach their highest point in the sky. From the number 9, associated with Sagittarius and Jupiter - developing a philosophy of life - we arrive at the 10, and the individual is now ready to make public his findings in the 9th house. Here he advances his peculiar religion, philosophy or way of life, not through further speculation but through action and production, making ideas manifest physically in the world of form. It is now that he reaches his full growth here, the high point of maturity, and it is no wonder that many esoteric models end here, going back again from the 10 to the 1.

While we should probably be cautious mixing various esoteric models with one another, such as the Tarot and the Zodiac, I do believe there is a similarity between the numbers 10 in both systems, at least in this regard. Which is why the Zodiac is more intriguing in that it does not say simply: from the 10 all the way back to the 1, and let a new cycle begin - rather, from the perfected structure of 10, Capricorn, Saturn, we move one (eventually two) more step and enter into the number 11, Uranus, Aquarius. What Aquarius does is to reject the fullness of the Capricornian structure, and say: it is now that the real fun begins! By moving beyond the 10, we enter into a dynamic, unstable state of free creativity and boundless potential. It is now that the wildest dreams can come true, not through individual ego-creativity as in Leo (number 5), but through high-minded cooperation of like-minded, visionary companions. "Calling all souls!" Aquarius says, and his friends are simply those who heed the call: who they are and where they come from does not matter, as long as they are headed in the same direction as he.

There are yet many esoteric models organized around the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12; but is there anyone orbiting the number 11? There is but one I can think of at the moment - more on this later.