Adocentyn

"His right hand pointed to heaven, his left to earth. Under his mantle he wore a white tunic girded with a serpent swallowing its tail.

His face was luminous and serene, and, when his eyes met mine, I felt that he saw most intimate recesses of my soul. I saw myself reflected in him as in a mirror and in his eyes I seemed to look upon myself.

With his hands he unites heaven and earth, and the four elements that form the world are controlled by him.

And I heard a voice saying: Look, this is the Great Magician!"

Words: P D. Ouspensky, The Symbolism of the Tarot, 1913

Brilliant introduction by Dr Justin Sledge

"Confronted by a singular looking being."

John Uri Lloyd's allegorical hollow Earth novel Etidorhpa was first published 1895. The following year saw an edition graced by a bevy of suitably unworldly artworks by J. Augustus Knapp, an illustrator now best known for his paintings in P. Manly Hall's compendium of Western mysteries, The Secret Teachings of All Ages.

Dream Vision, Albrecht Dürer, 1525, Watercolour on paper, 30 x 43 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The text reads:

"The One rules all. Nothing has authority over it. It is the God. It is Father of everything, Holy One The invisible one over everything. It is uncontaminated Pure light no eye can bear to look within.

"The One is the Invisible Spirit. It is not right to think of it as a God or as like God. It is more than just God.

"Nothing is above it. Nothing rules it. Since everything exists within it It does not exist within anything. Since it is not dependent on anything It is eternal.

"It is absolutely complete and so needs nothing. It is utterly perfect Light.

The One is without boundaries Nothing exists outside of it to border it. The One cannot be investigated Nothing exists apart from it to investigate it. The One cannot be measured Nothing exists external to it to measure it."

Taken from the The Apocryphon of John (Translated by Stevan Davies)

La Questionante from Etteilla's orginal Livre de Thot deck of 1789.

Though this card actually corresponds to the papess/high priestess of more regular decks, to me at least, it's imagery seems to evoke The World card instead. I definitely get an Anima Mundi vibe rather than a Sophia or Isis vibe.

#tarotCardOfTheDay #tarot #TheHighPriestess

(Caption: The Sea is the Body, the two Fishes are Soul and Spirit.)

The Sages will tell you That two fishes are in our sea Without any flesh or bones. Let them be cooked in their own water; Then they also will become a vast sea, The vastness of which no man can describe. Moreover, the Sages say That the two fishes are only one, not two; They are two, and nevertheless they are one, Body, Spirit, and Soul. Now, I tell you most truly, Cook these three together, That there may be a very large sea. Cook the sulphur well with the sulphur, And hold your tongue about it: Conceal your knowledge to your own advantage, And you shall be free from poverty. Only let your discovery remain a close secret.

"I saw Eternity the other night, Like a great ring of pure and endless light, All calm, as it was bright, And round beneath it,  Time in hours, days, years Driv'n by the spheres Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world And all her train were hurl'd"  - Henry Vaughan