Tag Archives: Egyptian Tarot

In every true act of divination, in every true act of magick, something of the soul is born into the world. This book focuses on the structure of the Tarot and the system of Qabalistic correspondences that transform it from a card game or fortune telling device into a spiritual, intellectual and magical vehicle of the highest order. The major arcana cards each have a chapter to describe them; a complete method of divination is provided. Unique to the Egyptian Tarot is the use of British surrealist artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun’s interpretation of the colour correspondences. This enabled us to produce the first figurative Tarot that is fully colour-integrated as according to the schema of the Golden Dawn. The book features 78 full colour illustrations of the Tarot.

Any set of Tarot that carries the proper traditional elements speaks directly to the soul, even when the person has no clue as to the internal keys or Tree of Life basis. And that is because it carries knowledge that pre-dates the religious, classical and Homeric eras, even while it includes the ideas and cultural contexts of the latter. In the same way, some very old churches contain stones and carvings that can be traced back to prehistoric times when the greater part of our whole land was covered with thick forests. The ancient Egyptians recycled building materials from much older temple structures and built them into newer structures, perhaps after two thousand years or more had passed, retaining some of the hieroglyphs and reliefs of the older works.

Clearly understanding the esoteric symbolism of the Tarot cards requires that we first liberate our minds from the baneful curse of modernism and of post-modernism within the occult, which has loudly suppressed all genuine tradition. When we refer to an ancient Egyptian source we are not speaking of the Egyptian civilisation as such. We are alluding to that Great Mind, whose heirs preceded the race of humans and established their divine image on the earth in times of unimaginable antiquity.

More information on the Egyptian Tarot and book may be found on our Ordo Astri ‘Books’ page here.

Aries Equinox: Egyptian Tarot Hrumachis IV

Posted on 23rd March 2019 by Metamorphosis

The Egyptian Tarot trump for the twenty-eighth path of Aries is here named Hrumachis IV. Hrumachis is best known as the Egyptian Sphinx and has various names that include Hu, Hormaku, or Hor-em-akhet. The esoteric title of the Tarot trump is Son of the Morning: Chief among the Mighty.[1]

The Egyptian hieroglyphic name of Hor-em-akhet, from which the Greek Hrumachis is derived, is at the top of the Tarot picture. In the centre is Ra-Mentu.[2] As Hrumachis, Horus is fully raised to the sky or heaven. The Sun and Serpent crown affirm his identity with both Ra and Typhon-Apophis. His nemmys is night-blue, the colour of the body of Nuit, which encompasses the whole horizon. He wears the leopard spots, emblematic of the ‘space-marks’ or stars and the gift of divine prophecy.

The ten stars on the platform of the throne symbolise the sephiroth in Malkuth of Assiah. The twenty-two stars grouped around the rectangular symbol of the Golden Mean (phi ratio) on the throne, the Foundation of the Universe, are the twenty-two scales of the Serpent of Wisdom. The god bears the Set-headed was sceptre of sacerdotal ordinance and authority in his left hand, while with his right hand he sends forth temporal power.

The hieroglyph in the lower section of the picture depicts the akhet lion or Sphinx, who gazes eternally at the equinoctial point on the horizon. The horizon is akha, or ‘sun in the horizon’. This has various meanings, which include ‘moment in time’, ‘appearance’ and ‘ordination’.

The astroglyphs for Aries and the Sun are shown on the border at the top of the card, for the Sun achieves his exaltation in Aries at the vernal equinox. On the lower edge of the card is the astroglyph for Mars, the ruling planet. Next to that is the symbol of alchemical Sulphur.[3] Tzaddi, the letter of the twenty-eighth path of Aries, is to the right of the title.

The word of sacerdotal power and authority—and so spiritual Governance—is uttered at Thebes (Waset), the Place of Ordinance in the South. The sonic vibration is sent forth upon the light-flowing stream of the Nile until it is received by the priests of Heliopolis (Aunnu) in the North. There, in the holy city dedicated to the mysteries of the Phoenix, Hathoor gives birth to Horus by divine parthenogenesis, that is to say, without the intervention of a father. Likewise, Nuit gives birth to Set, her star of manifestation—As above, so below. Horus ascends to the sky or heaven as an immortal Khu. Likewise, the soul achieves resurrection by the power of utterance.[4]

The mysteries of Hrumachis, the enigmatic Sphinx, are further revealed in the hieroglyphic name: Hor-em-akhet, ‘Horus in the horizon’. The variant form, Horakhty, is literally, ‘Ra who is Horus of the two Horizons’. The akhet, or aker, is a gateway or door. The double lion-gate of the sun’s ingress and egress to and from the underworld (spring and autumn equinoxes) refers to Horus as the metaphysical principle of the horizon itself. It is a particular part of the sky—for example, where the sun rises at the equinox—and an equivalent portion of the Egyptian underworld. The name of Horus as ‘horizon’ or ‘dweller in the horizon’ relates to the circle as does his eye. The horizon symbolises the primordial boundary or limit. It is also the means, in the human domain, by which we define the shape and meaning of the sensible universe. The horizon also designates the boundary or crossing, the way of passing all liminal thresholds.

Hrumachis was often depicted as a lion with the head of a woman as with the Sphinx of the Giza plateau. At other times the neter took the form of a hawk or ram—especially when linked to the god Khephra, the rising or emerging sun at dawn.

Hrumachis is sometimes called HU, ‘authority’ or ‘will’ in the Egyptian hieroglyphic texts. In some passages of the Book of Coming Forth into Light, Ra is said to divide himself into two parts, HU, Will, and SIA, Mind (Greek Nous).[5] These are Chokmah and Binah of the Qabalah. Kings of Egypt were ‘Sons of Ra’ (Horus) from at least the 2nd Dynasty onwards.

Hrumachis: Lord of the Equinox

The Sun’s entry into the sign of Aries signifies the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. The full Moon after the equinox is in Libra, marking the first of the two balances of the year. The Sun’s entry into the sign of Aries signifies the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. The full Moon following the equinox is in Libra, marking the first of the two balances of the year, the aker lion ‘gateways of light’ leading into and out of manifestation as referred to earlier. The head of the Sphinx of Egypt points towards the vernal equinox on the horizon while her tail marks the ‘fall’ or autumnal equinox. Thus, Hrumachis is Lord of all Aeons in time and space and that which is beyond them all.

Hrumachis: Holy King

The twenty-eighth path of Tzaddi connects Netzach, the sphere of Venus, with Yesod, the sphere of the Moon. The title of the path is the Active Intelligence, and it is called thus ‘for thence is created the spirit of every creature of the supreme orb, and the activity, that is to say, the motion, to which they are subject’.[6] The letter Tzaddi (fish hook) of this path is that of the holy king, specifically the fisher-king found in the lore of many traditions. This path is represented fairly by what is usually thought to be a ‘crook and flail’ carried by Egyptian kings; in fact, the ‘crook’ is more likely to be an early form of needle for weaving, while the ‘flail’ is an instrument for threshing grain. Thus we have weaving and gathering on the one hand, and separation and purgation on the other, these being comparable to the dual and complementary principles of Peace and Justice.

The magical power of the twenty-eighth path is that of the Power of Consecrating Things, which owes to the fire of Aries.

Notes

From the forthcoming book and Egyptian Tarot deck.

1. The esoteric title of the Tarot trump is Son of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty. Lucifer the ‘light-bringer’ or Dawn Herald is frequently confused with Satan. Lucifer is generally thought to be the ‘son of the morning’ referred to in the book of Isaiah, 14: 12, which is a title of Venus as the Morning Star. The title of the 4th Tarot Atu is incorrectly given in Crowley’s ‘acquired’ work, Liber 777, as Sun of the Morning. The title refers to Venus, not the Sun. Chief Among the Mighty refers to the original Golden Dawn placement of the trump on the fifteenth path from Chokmah to Tiphereth. Curiously, Son of the Morning adumbrates the change of placement to the twenty-eighth path of Tzaddi recommended in the (Egyptian) Book of the Law, I: 57. The path has its source in Venus or Netzach, the seventh sephira or emanation.

2. This image is based on a replica of the Stele of Revealing, the funeral stone of the Theban priest Ankh-af-na-khonsu.

3. This is one of three Tarot trumps corresponding to the principles of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: Isis-Urania, Hrumachis and The Priestess.

4. The transformation of the soul into a living Khu, the mysterious personification of Horus the divine hawk, and his relation with the Sphinx is revealed in our translation of Egyptian papyrus Spell 78. The translation and commentary is given in, ‘Liber 364 vel Lux Occulta’, Babalon Unveiled! Thelemic Monographs.

5. The Book of Coming forth into Light is the more accurate name of the book falsely named the ‘Egyptian Book of the Dead’ by tomb robbers and Egyptologists.

6. See Thirty-two paths of Wisdom (Ordo Astri) for a complete description of all paths of the Tree of Life.

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Unicorn of the Stars

Posted on 23rd October 2020 by Metamorphosis

The Practicus of the Golden Dawn has the eponymous title, Monokeros de Astris, ‘Unicorn of the Stars’. This is best explained through the name of the Titan, Astris (Αστρις), which means, ‘Starry One’. Astris was born from a marriage of the Sun and the ocean (Moon or sea-foam), alchemical types of fire and water. The Practicus degree corresponds to Hod (Mercury), the Water Temple that receives the fiery solar influence from Netzach (Venus).

The Initiate of Hod, Unicorn of the Stars, has first to traverse, at least symbolically, the fiery paths of Shin (thirty-first) and Resh (thirtieth) before entering Hod, the Water Temple. Hod is thus seen in every way as a sphere of transmutation. Although Hod sometimes symbolises the concrete mind, as ‘form-building’, it is not the goal of Initiates to become detained by the limits of ordinary reason. In fact, Hod, the 8th path or sephira from the Crown or root of the Tree of Life in heaven, is traditionally called the Stellar Light, and is also the ‘Seat of the Primordial’. This is usefully affirmed by the Greek value of Monokeros de Astris, which is 1,175. As 29 x 75, the unicorn’s horn corresponds to the ‘Divine Pillar of Nuit (or the sky)’. The twenty-ninth path corresponds to the Hebrew letter qoph, which is the ‘head’ or ‘pinnacle’, while 75 is a number of Nuit (NVIT).

This article is abridged from Nu Hermetica—Initiation and Metaphysical Reality [Ordo Astri books].

While it is true that the letter qoph is more frequently referred to as the ‘back of the head’, owing to the shape of the letter, it is a misleading and possibly incorrect attribution. Qoph is not merely the ‘back of the head’ as the complement of resh as the ‘front of the head’. Resh refers more to the ‘chief’ or ‘leader’, which is also the ‘first’ or ‘highest’ in an order of hierarchy. But qoph (or quf in Arabic) is more specifically the skull or cranium, and as such it has a special meaning of indicating the gate of egress from the cosmological sphere to the heavenly or primordial sphere. For this reason Christ-Jesus was crucified on a hill called ‘Place of the Skull’ (Golgotha).

The Unicorn and Sokar

The primordial is variously symbolised as a pillar, mound or mountain—for there is nothing beyond the peak of a mountain except the sky or heaven. The unicorn’s horn points straight upward to heaven, and is spiralic. The Arabian white oryx is the original type of the fabled unicorn. The higher end of the ancient Egyptian hennu sky-boat of Sokar is fashioned in the shape of the head of an oryx. The unicorn’s singular horn is not descriptive of the beast itself, which has two horns, but is an esoteric assignment for the Primordial Pillar, as well as the upward ascent of consciousness, as in yoga. Sokar, it may further be noted, is frequently depicted as the head of a black hawk, a symbol of the primordial in the very particular sense of the unmanifest or ‘dark’ state, which necessarily comes first, or is greater than, all dual manifestation. Both the unicorn and the yearly rite of carrying the wooden boat of Sokar around the temple’s location, symbolises the circumpolar revolution of the ‘seven’ around the ‘eighth’ or Pole Star. The Pole Star marks the visible axis of the universe and the height of the visible heavens.[1]

The Unicorn and the Flower of Mind

The oryx is reputed to dig a bed out of the desert sand with its hooves, to lie in and keep cool. This explains the attribution of the one horn, for the shifting sands of desert dunes have always symbolised the Abyss that lurks on the upper limit of human reason. The penetrating horn of mind (reason) must be made concave, so to speak, on the abysmal threshold that closes in upon the limits of human reason. Over time, through yoga, contemplation and devotional Tantras, the Flower of Fire (or Mind) is cultivated as the ‘fruits’ of the flower are rejected in favour of pure receptivity to the intelligence from beyond.[2]

It should be noted that the Gnostic term, ‘Flower of Mind’ or ‘Flower of Fire’ is not the mind or intellect in the ordinary sense; it may be likened to an essence that is drawn out and upward. The Egyptian ‘flame’ hieroglyph has both a physical and a metaphysical level of interpretation. It carries all the meanings of a fire, flame or luminosity, and that of a ‘flame of flames’. The latter is comparable to the yogic realisation of atmadarshana of Advaita Vedanta.[3

Veritably, the threshold to the post-abysmal Mind of Minds is fiercely guarded and barred. The role of guardians or ‘watchers’ such as Anubis, and other Setian creatures including the crocodile and jackal, as well as the Cherubim in various traditions, is complex. They are guardians of the gates, ferociously attacking or even devouring those who would enter. At the same time, they symbolise the drawing forth of the bolt, which is the means by which the gates are opened.[4] The action of the bolt symbolises both ‘opening’ and the image-making or phallic power withdrawn or inverted, which is a reversal of the usual flow of consciousness.[5]

The door of the sky or of heaven is not opened by any mortal man but, for example, it was the office of Ankh-af-na-khonsu, the priest and scribe of the Stele of Revealing, to literally ‘open the doors to the sky’. He performed the ritual of opening the doors to the roof of the temple at certain times of the year, so the image of the Goddess, taken from the subterranean vault below, could observe Sirius rising.[6] Sirius (Σθις), the Star of Egypt and of the Order, symbolises both Isis (or Hathoor) and her ‘son’ or divine child, born of the ascent of consciousness arising from the depth. Hathoor was also known as the ‘Divine Pillar’ at Iunet in Egypt, which has the same meaning.

Notes

1. The three-yearly Jubilee of the Pharaoh coincided with the rite of the ‘round’ of Sokar, proving an identification between Sokar and Set or Saturn, and also the primordial mound. Thus the unicorn, as a horned creature, has an association with both Saturn and the Pole.
2. See G.R.S. Mead, The Chaldean Oracles.
3. It is impossible for Egyptologists to construe ancient Egyptian sacred texts, as they cannot admit to the existence or even the possibility of an esoteric level of interpretation. They are thus dogged by the limitation of their reasoning faculties. They then produce nonsensical ‘translations’ of the texts, and say it is nonsense because the ancient Egyptians were themselves confused and irrational!
4. See John Anthony West, Serpent in the Sky, pp. 149–157 (on Spell 316).
5. Phallus (Greek φαλλος) literally means, ‘image’ or ‘image-making’.
6. This is explained in detail in ‘Star and Snake of Egypt’, pp. 150 Babalon Unveiled.

This article is abridged from the book Nu Hermetica—Initiation and Metaphysical Reality.

The hennu boat with oryx illustration is a detail from the Egyptian Tarot.

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