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Author Topic:   MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT
Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
Registered: Aug 2004

posted February 13, 2005 12:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT
A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism

((Anonymously Authored))


This book is an instant classic.

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Aselzion
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From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 13, 2005 03:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings...

Hello Steve...

I hope all is going well for you, and you are continuing with your spiritual progress. Remember always to keep one foot in Heaven and one foot on Earth; in this way only is balance both attained and maintained.

Yes I have this book and do refer to it from time to time in my own studies.

Bright Blessings...
A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 15, 2005 07:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Hi Aselzion.

You've been in my thoughts since my return to Lindaland. I wanted to say hi, but I'm not sure yet what else I might want to say to you - or ask of you.

Grounding seems to be the big lesson for me.
But, just to hear your response, what do you think of this:

"The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."

As tempted as I am to make a motto of it, it just returns me to these (poorly paraphrased) words of A.E. Waite:

"[It is as if someone, aware that all roads lead to Heaven, should very deliberately elect to take the path of degeneration and perdition.]"

What do you suppose must come first, Aselzion; the unsought mystical experience, gnostic revelation, or an act/sacrifice of the will? Or, could it be something altogether unforseen by me?

Good to talk to you,
take care,
Heart-Shaped Cross

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 15, 2005 08:54 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Then again...

"It is a thousand times better to be badly scorched by the devil, than to go to God insincerely, or stand forever at the crossroads."
- Leo Tolstoy

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Aselzion
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Posts: 1097
From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 16, 2005 04:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings Steve...

Well, I must say that I would have to agree with the Buddha: Moderation in all things.

I think the Middle Path is probably the safest/sanest to follow when on a spiritual journey.. excess in one direction or the other leads to imbalance, and that imbalance to loss of perspective.

For an example of an imbalanced personality, I would refer you to Aleister Crowley, a brilliant occult scholar, as recognized by many, but one's whose tendency to excess found him flailing toward the end.

I believe that we are all aspects of God, and therefore there is nothing that we have to do or to become, except perhaps aware of exactly Who and What We Are.

I think that if you re-read my post, I had actually answered this query before you asked: "one foot in Heaven and one foot on Earth"?!

I don't think that we can go before God in any way insincerely, we Are God and God is Us.. we (as human egos) may be unaware of Who We Are, but God forever holds the image of us as we Truly are... does that make any sense?

Philosophy is a wonderful thing, and a great many thoughts have come through the Philosophers... now, have they been able to walk their talk? I think that is the key question to ask.

The Master has said, and I paraphrase badly: "by their acts ye shall know them". It is not our thoughts that pave the road to Heaven, as it were, but our actions.

I hope this helps a bit.

Bright Blessings and welcome back...

A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 16, 2005 06:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Your response is admirable.
Consequently, there is just one matter I feel compelled to address.

Is it not the fundamental principle of magick, that our thoughts create our actions - and that there can be no right action without right thinking, the one following organically from the other?

Hence, "By their FRUITS ye shall know them."


hsc

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 16, 2005 10:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Which is to say, order a man's thoughts, and you need not concern yourself with his actions.

'The pen is mightier than the sword.'

I should go deeper, though, and say, appeal to a man's heart, and you need not concern yourself with his thoughts or actions.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added freely unto you."

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Aselzion
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From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 17, 2005 12:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings...

Well.. yes, but what are "their fruits" but the actions or the deeds that they do?

Energy does indeed follow thought, as you have said, and this is true. But what is another word for energy but action?

So it comes to the old question... where is the "seat of the Soul", as it were? Is it the Heart Center that allows us access to love, both conditional and unconditional? Perhaps it is the all seeing Third Eye? Or is it the Crown Chakra that allows the flow of Divine Energy from Above to Below?

In magic I always tell people that we should direct and hone our thoughts like a laser beam... focus and send it out to the Universe. But there must also be some act in the material world, I believe, to show our willingness to do our part. For example: if I were seeking employement, I could do "magic" for that purpose. I do not believe that the "magic" would happen if I then sat in my home and waited for the phone to ring, magically. Rather I would take a step (action) in the Material world by applying for jobs, making contacts and sending out the resumes. This action creates the ability for those looking for help to be directed to me.. or somehow will make my application/contact/resume stand out above the others.

I hope that makes some sense.

Again, balance in all things... a focusing of mental energy, followed by an action that "seals the deal" as it were. Is working the magic enough? Maybe yes, maybe no... but combined with the action, I think the results are quicker and more sure.

You have a great intellectual capacity and are extremely well read... and I am impressed by this. Now your challenge, I believe, is to EXPERIENCE and "walk the talk", as it were... in this way will your Spirituality blossom, and all those things shall be added unto you!

Brightest Blessings...

A Friend along the Way...

A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 17, 2005 12:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
,

You're right, in theory.

I do not mean to suggest that actions should be neglected. Indeed, I think "fruit" does refer to actions, but, I see actions as the necessary and inevitable outgrowth of right attitude, right thinking, etc. If a man's actions are off, the problem is to be looked for in the root of his being. I think it was Nietzsche who said that telling a man to be good is like saying "be intelligent" or "be talented". Like everything in nature, we shall be as we are.

When Jesus cured the blind man, the man recovered his sight gradually, and the man, as he began to see, remarked "I see men, but they look like trees."

Gandhi speaks of the action of the spirit as automatic. A man imparts his spirit, he says, in the same manner that a rose imparts its scent, and any effort we make to help that process along just scatters it to the winds.

You can know a man by his actions, but you cant judge him by them - which is to say, you learn what he is (or was) capable of, not what else he is (or was) capable of. The latter would be referred to as judging according to works, or appearances, while ignoring the faith, or lack of faith, which inspired them.

Yes, action is part of it, as fruit is part of a tree. But actions happen naturally. You do not have to tell a person that, if they want a job, they must apply for it. Thats common sense. Rather, inspire them with the confidence to accept responsibility, and they will not only accept it, they will seek it out of their own accord.

I think.

Take Care,

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Aselzion
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From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 17, 2005 01:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings friend...

You are so very good at telling us what other people think or have said, but my curiosity now begs me to ask what it is that YOU think and feel and have experienced?

It is comfortable and safe to live in an "ivory tower", buried in books and researches. It is quite another to be puttting these thoughts and words and theories into use in our daily lives, and that, I think, is the challenge of this mortal coil.

We who have spent so many lives gathering information, and retreating to our safe towers, now have to step out into the world and experience! Is that not what we came to this Sorrowful Star to do?

Just some initial thoughts, from one who is barely awake at the moment...

In the Light...

A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

Posts: 700
From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 17, 2005 05:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Geez, Aselzion, I think I hit a nerve.

Yes, I do think for myself, but, I am an EarthHorse, and it is natural for me to see things from all sides. But I dont feel like explaining myself, and my passion for quotes, to you. If you like, here are some of my own thoughts... (I posted them on "yellow wax" under the title "you can quote me on that"):


Silence is the wisdom of the foolish,
and the folly of the wise.

The words of a wise man never reach the ears of a fool.

Better to fail in pursuit of the absolute, than succeed in pursuit of the particular!

Judgement is the antithesis of understanding.

It is superfluous to judge a man if he is guilty in his own eyes, and ridiculous if he is not.

Not crime, but conscience makes a criminal.
If a man is unfit to judge himself, who is fit to judge him?

I will surely take responsibility for myself, but who will take responsibility for ME?

In order to know him, it is not enough to walk a mile or two in a man’s shoes. One does not come to understand the nature of drunkenness after a single drink.

Humility works hard to satisfy its pride.

Patience isn't waiting for something.

Good men find their greatest pleasure in being virtuous,
while the rest of us find great pleasure a virtue.

The great tragedy of human existence is not that things change, but, that they change before we have an opportunity to get sick of them, and refuse to change long after we have.

Hope is always disappointed, but never disappointing. One must forget that the end is only a means, and the means is an end in itself.

Cause IS Correspondence.

Will is desire unimpeded;
where there's a way, there's a will.

Ignorance does not create error; error reveals ignorance. It is the same with man and his actions; he does not create them, but they reveal him.

The miracle is not that God became a man (that happens every day), but, that a man became God; something far more rare.

To turn the other cheek is just to look the other way, but trading blow for blow is the worst kind of hypocrisy.

Who said, 'There are no contradictions,'? He only spoke half-truths.

Every word is an abstraction.

Man appears to dominate his will, only because he is himself the predominant circumstance to which his will is subject.

Whether or not man may determine his will is of small consequence if he cannot determine the man who wills, and will the man who determines.

Only the inevitable is ever truly possible.

A man who thinks evil is good doesn't know the difference between good and evil; a man who thinks wrong is right doesn't know the difference between right and wrong.

Good men are not free to do evil;
evil men are not free to do good.
A warm heart cannot fail to give warmth,
nor a cold heart chills.

Morality is understood with the heart, not the head. One desires the good in proportion to one's experience of it.

To know the good is to will the good.

The moral sense is strong in some and weak in others. But, even in this, the strong still persecute the weak.

Hatred of evil is the craftiest and least well known of vices, so easily is it mistaken for love of good.

We tend to lose sympathy for a person to the extent that their suffering, having quite overwhelmed themselves, begins to affect us.

We generally reproach a man for the immodesty of his suffering when it is ourselves who will not suffer so much as the suggestion of it.

The term "unconditional love" is redundant;
and "conditional love" is an oxymoron.

Some resist the will of God, and some accept it, - but all obey.

Proposing to reveal Him, religion created the illusion that God is concealed.

Who has everything has nothing to live for.

Who is more unreasonable: The man who possesses no respect for human life, or the man who expects it of him?

Tyrants will teach children,
being judged unfit to govern men.

Sociopaths will enforce the laws they fear to break.

A man who has never known great or prolonged suffering has no real claim upon his happiness. Who is to say it will not abandon him at the first scent of trouble? We are tried by suffering, baptized or burnt, and it is only having passed through its flames that we come to know what we are made of.

Equanimity, in itself, is not a virtue; more often it is the result of weak passions than strong wills. Only strong passions can give birth to strong wills.

The key to happiness?:
Demand nothing of yourself and settle for anything.

When we need a reason to forgive, a reason can certainly be found. The trick is not needing one.

Self-contempt is the highest form of pride.

If a man is not slightly crazy, he is completely mad.

Whether confident or insecure, self-rapport is the same in every man. The self to which we remain attached is always the self that detaches, and never the self from which it is detached.

Flesh is not merely the corruption of Spirit, it is also the Divine Manifestation; the Fall is also the Incarnation. Herein lies the (previously unutterable) mystery and essence of Christian doctrine.

If suicide is cowardly, how much more so is the fear of death?

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Aselzion
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From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 17, 2005 10:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings Steve...

Actually, it appears to me that I am the one that may have hit a raw nerve.

The purpose of any Teacher is only to hold up a mirror that we may better see... ourselves.

I bid you Peace...

A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

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From: north of Boston, MA
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posted February 17, 2005 11:43 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
You give up too easily.

------------------
What good is a philosopher who offends no one?
- Diogenes the Cynic

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

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posted February 18, 2005 06:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
Even the Buddha reached moderation via the path of excess.

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Heart--Shaped Cross
Knowflake

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posted February 18, 2005 06:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Heart--Shaped Cross     Edit/Delete Message
It's always darkest before the dawn.

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Aselzion
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From: Peabody, MA USA
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posted February 18, 2005 05:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aselzion     Edit/Delete Message
Greetings Steve...

I think perhaps the best answer was given to us in a commercial: Just DO it!

Live, love, experience everyting that you desire to. Then use that experience to gain wisdom!

Isn't that the point of the game?

But I think the key is in the doing. We can learn only so much by reading and vicarious living, the rest we must set out and experience for ourselves. That is the Fool's Journey in the Tarot; The Fall from Grace and the Path of Return.

In the Light...

A

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"The ALL is MIND; the Universe is Mental." *** The Kybalion

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Diogenes of Sinope
Knowflake

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From: North Andover, MA, USA
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posted February 18, 2005 06:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Diogenes of Sinope     Edit/Delete Message
He's what I think:

A man can see the world without leaving his chair.
When he has seen enough of it, he can rule from there, as well.

After all, the universe is mental, right?

"As above, so below,
As below, so above."

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