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V. THE POPE, OR HIEROPHANT---LE PAPE
To control the Will power and make it subservient to the law of Intelligence---this is the Great Work of our sacerdotal art. Ceremonies are made use of to educate the Will by means of the Imagination. Ceremonies which are performed without intelligence and without faith, in the absence of the higher aspirations of the soul, are but superstitious observances which tend to degrade those who take part in them. It is an error to attribute Magical Power to ceremonials, for Magical Power exists only in the trained Will of the operator. For this reason is the Magical Axiom true, that the Sanctum Regnum---the Divine Kingdom----the Kingdom of God----is within us. I.N.R.I., Intra nobis Regnum DeI; and hence also it is that great marvels can be shown by the PENTAGRAM, which is the seal of the Microcosm; for the Microcosm is the reflection of the Macrocosm; the Microcosm is Man and his human Will; he is the reflection of the Universe, which is the Macrocosm. The Man whose Intelligence has received culture can by his Will Power, exerted through the Pentagram, control and command the powers and beings of the Elements, and restrain evil elementaries from their perverse works.
The HEXAGRAM is the symbol of the Macrocosm; it is often called the Seal of Solomon. It consists of two interlaced triangles; the erect triangle is of flame colour, the inverse triangle is coloured blue. In the centre space there may be drawn a Tau Cross nd three Hebrew Yods, or a Crux ansata, or the Triple Tau of the Arch-masons. He who with Intelligence and Will is armed with this emblem has need of no other thing, he should be all potent, for this is the perfect sign of the Absolute.
This is the Monogram of Hermetic Truth; it expresses the subject of the Great Work. It is made up of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters, and the mode of expressing this ideal in the presence of un-initiates is by the word Azoth, or by the name Magnes: other Magi have applied to it the titles of the flying dragon of Medea, and the serpent of the mystical Eden.
This is the high and incommunicable TETRAGRAM traced in a Kabalistic and Hermetic design. All initiates, even of the first grade, will at once understand its symbolism.
This emblem is the monogram of the Universal Gnosis; it is formed of Greek and Latin letters; it expresses by symbols the secrets of the Wheel of Ezekiel, and the Book of St. John the Evangelist; it includes the sign of the Labarum of Constantine.
This emblem naturally shows the word ROTA; but viewed in the light of the Kabalah, the word TAROT.
These Characters, with the Philosophic Cross, include all science in esse, and those who are initiates of the Grand Arcanum need no further symbols or emblems; nor do those adepts who know the true but concealed meanings and powers of the words JAKIN and BOAZ, which are related to the two Pillars at the Porch of the Temple, one of which was of white marble, and the other black, while both were decorated with Brazen ornaments. By these Characters the spirits of evil nature are bound and held in control; by these also, if the operator be just and pure, he makes himself known to angels and may incline them to his aims. For indeed nothing can resist in magical arts the combined powers of the Pentagram, Hexagram, and Tetragram divine.
All other signs, seals, and symbols are but arbitrary, and the keys of their meaning may be found in the Steganographia, or the Polygraphia of the Abbot Trithemius of Spanheim, or else in the magical treatises of Peter of Abano, of Paracelsus, of Arbatel, or of Cornelius Agrippa.
Notes
The Tarot Trump numbered 5, named the Pope, Hierophant, or Jupiter, represents a crowned ruler bearing a tripled cross wand in his left hand: he is seated between two pillars. The meanings assigned by El. Levi are---religion, philosophy, symbolism, law, instruction, and demonstration. The right hand of the Pope gives the sign of occult wisdom, and not the usual papal benediction.
P. Christian decides that this card shows in the Divine World, Universal Law; in the Intellectual World, Religion; and in the Physical World, such inspiration as is communicated by the Astral fluidic force.
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