3. Seven Stages to Spiritual Unfoldment Though Tarot

Tonight we're taking up the third stage of spiritual unfoldment. And as you can see before you, this third stage involves the three Tarot keys as taken from the tableau, the Tarot tableau.

Tarot key number three, the Empress. Tarot key number ten, the Wheel of Fortune. Tarot key number seventeen, the Star. Are. Now, the thing we want to keep in mind, now that we've gotten to this point, is that in actuality, each stage of spiritual unfoldment, as we've been bringing them out, we've had two now, this is the third, really, in a sense, involve a whirling circle. You might say, They, in itself, that is each of the series of three tarot keys, which represent a stage of consciousness, happen to be a representation, inclusively, of that particular stage.

And yet, the next stage, involving the next three, does not exclude the first three. Because although most people, as we pointed out, get stuck in a sort of groove like a record.

It does go on to the next groove, and this is how you get your idea of the whirling spiral, so that with the second stage of spiritual unfoldment, we did not exclude the previous three tarot keys. We merely added the next group of principle, law, or agency through which the principle works, and result or effect or stage of spiritual unfoldment going along the series of the Tarot keys therefore in this particular stage of spiritual unfoldment which we will discuss tonight we are discussing not only the third stage but we must remember that the other two two series really are a part of it, a continuous whirling motion of principle, activity, and effect, which in itself brings about the principle and activity and effect. And here is another thing we want you to keep in mind now that we've gotten this far. It is purely this. On the whole, you've been accustomed to thinking of stage of spiritual unfoldment more in terms of the fact that, for instance, Tarot Key 15 represents the first stage period for anybody or everybody or totally.

And that Tarot Key number 16, which was the end result of the second series, represents the second stage. And you may have wondered well I wonder which stage I'm in uh surely I'm not still in the first stage uh well I don't I don't think I'm in the second stage I've already been struck by the lightning as shown in the tower and therefore have seen uh the light at least in a flash so I couldn't still be stuck there and so hopingly yearningly you move yourself ahead to try to determine what stage of spiritual unfoldment are we in well this is erroneous thinking uh we can stop having any problems uh at all and we're in fact isn't it nice to have problems solved as readily we're going to solve this one for for you very easily because the truth of the matter is this that in some phases of your personality you're still in the first stage you're working out that phase in other phases of your personality you may be in the very last stage the complete what you might call world consciousness or a sense of innate intuitive cosmic awareness so the different parts of your nature uh in the the end result are in different areas of development. So you don't have to worry about which stage you're stuck in or are trying to move out of. You're trying to move out of all of them, actually, at times. And it's true, of course, we have periods or we have cycles where one particular part of our personality or environment, which is the result of the personality, gets focused there's a concentration and then we say woe is me oh god I've been studying for 10 years 20 years 40 years and look at me I mean that seems to me I'm worse than when I started isn't there any growing you know and then then of course we have many uh tears and depression as a result of that idea because we find in a specific situation that we're behaving less than infantile as we all know but you see again this is erroneous thinking we don't have to be troubled about that anymore because the truth of the matter is that although that does occur it doesn't mean that you have wasted all these years of study meditation effort at self-transmutation all it means is that there is another level being unfolded in a part of the personality that has still not yet developed the shall we like to call it spiritual muscles required for that particular part of your nature and so even when it seems to you that all the work you've done has come to naught that here after for instance working and working on your love nature let's say and getting to forgive your enemies let's say and getting to feel that whatever happened was really for our own good then we have some kind of experience or betrayal trail where we find ourselves full of turmoil and rage and we we have to admit if we're honest that the thing that would delight us more than anything is to see that enemy dragged in the dark and then suddenly we become upset with ourselves and say what's the matter with me that's not the spiritual attitude and so you see we throw ourselves into a conflict well of course it's not really the spiritual attitude the same time there are parts of the personality which are going to crack under certain conditions and this cracking does not mean that we fall on backwards as long as we're continuing to try to work out our stages of unfoldment, to transmute the areas of our personality, to become aware of that in us which needs illuminating, and to develop the ability to control and direct the powers as they are awakening in us. The fact that we stumble or fall or have moments or periods where we find certain of these surges of even perhaps a desire to get even with somebody or if we wouldn't have the courage to do that we we uh wish somebody else would get even with them for us at least but uh the whole point of course that we're making is that inevitably we're going to have periods where we're going to behave and react in ways that disappoint us because of the work we've been doing with ourselves and that when this happens we must not start tearing ourselves to pieces because this does not help the situation it merely puts uh the attention as if we want to think of that first uh series for the first stage of spiritual development it merely puts our attention on a part of the animal nature remember he ate with the lion being tamed which brings about the devil and we are intensifying that instead of just recognizing that since we're not completely finished product all right so we have reacted that way we just keep patiently as patiently as we can anyway uh pulling our attention away and trying to put it on its opposite until until the energy is drained away from that particular occurrence.

And we will find it drains away far more rapidly. Whereas, say, when we might have been in our teens or twenties, we might have spent hours and hours and days and days trying to think up the proper thing to do to get even with somebody or whatever.

Say we've fallen from our pedestal recently because of something occurring well we're not going to take that wrong because of all the work we've done the perception we've done the training we've done we will find that we will very quickly what took years and years we'll manage to accomplish sometimes in weeks sometimes if we're having a very rough time it will take months but most of the time days and very often just hours it will be that temporary or even minutes it varies so remember don't worry about what stage of unfoldment these uh stages represent for you we are we repeat all of them and we will have experiences from all seven of the different stages or levels depending on what we require at this time and sometimes we will be having experiences that involve several at once and of course that makes it very interesting our our lives get so complex then that we sometimes decide we'd like a vacation go off on the asphalt and come back and start over without all uh so many things uh irons in the fire at one time that wouldn't work either so we just might as well get busy again use our sense of humor and continue the grand adventure with the wonderful fool up there because each class I want to remind you that whatever series we're studying these are merely the principles the activities and the effects of the manifestation of that super conscious level of our being of that which has come from the height to have this grand adventure through the valley in order to get to the next height in other words again the whirling spiral going round and up and round and up all right now then this third stage of spiritual unfoldment representing tarot key 17 the star sadi is a very beautiful representation when we compare it to what we've been looking at for the last two weeks because remember last week tarot key 16 the second stage has this terrible storm these figures being their hair standing on end and upside down thrown out because of the lightning of god striking their tower or the terrible state of affairs and then the one before that the devil I mean what could be worse than uh the devil you know hell but that's synonymous so both of the symbolic representations although they were unpretty remember we showed you that they have a side which has more than prettiness it has beauty because the devil is mirth and laughter is what we need to bring through from the beginning through all these areas and the lightning of god when it strikes us is really if you remember because of the pair of opposites involved in tarot key 16 called grace and sin so it's really the grace of god and of course this doesn't mean that we're telling you to become a masochist and every time the lightning strikes uh like some women love to be they say They love to be struck by their husbands because their husbands don't love them unless they have a few bruises to show at regular intervals.

I mean, we're not recommending a masochistic attitude towards the Lord of the universe because, remember, we are the aspects of the Lord of the universe that are unfolding.

And it is through the ability to perceive correctly that truth and revelation will come. And so this Tarot Key No. 17, Kabbalistically, is assigned to the twin ideas of revelation and meditation.

That's very specific in the function that has to do with this particular Tarot Key.

And the Hebrew letter involves Kabbalistically, remember. Revelation and meditation. Now, of course, you notice the revelation involves what? This figure is nude. In other words, it stands revealed. And what is this figure? Well, this figure is Mother Nature. You see her in Tarot Key number 3 there as the Empress, which we will discuss in a moment. First I want you to familiarize yourself with this result before we go over to the principle that's involved with this particular result all right now another meaning then is true because something that's revealed is what that that is the truthful thing therefore it has to do with but reality and remember the devil had to do with unreality illusion and the lightning had to do with knocking you out of your prison and so here you have this beautiful result which is the the revelation or reality. And remember, this comes in various degrees.

And it comes from different parts of our nature and in relation to different kinds of experiences.

Each its own series, more or less. So, Kabbalistically also, this Hebrew letter is assigned to the idea of the object, which we call the fishhook. That doesn't sound very poetic but remember in as much as meditation is the function of this Tarot key meditation very important we want to remember that the fish hook is involved with what with angling for fish and where our fish fish you will find fish in only one place that's in the water and what's the water you remember the high priestess the cosmic mental substance consciousness subconsciousness was shown that way and you see the water here in tarot key number three the empress you can see that same water that flows from tarot key two which is assigned to memory and the intelligence of unity is flowing now into tarot key number three as that stream and then a little waterfall and a pool and this is all what it's the motion of consciousness so when you think of Saudi the star Tarot key here being assigned to the fish hook and you think of angling for fish you realize that you're angling for something that is in the substance of consciousness and what is meditation but angling in consciousness isn't it trying to catch and uh what a fish and of course fish is we remind you the name uh that is given to the hebrew letter noon which is assigned to scorpio death horrible figures to most people you know the awful skeleton and reaping heads, you'll see it very soon in one of our series, I think in two weeks, reaping heads and feet and hands and, oh, looking like a very fearful sort of thing, which is one of the agencies or motions, which it isn't, because actually it alludes to another process, and we will take that up as an activity and process when we come to that series of keys.

But the thing to remember in terms of tsadi is that when one is angling for the fish that's related to noon, the Hebrew letter noon, and therefore to Tarot key 13 and death, one is angling for the meaning of life and death in essence, it's just part of it, for the meaning of consciousness, for the revelation that involves reality. Reality and furthermore one is doing it with The only energy there is to do anything with with the Scorpio energy, which is the reproductive energy, which is the sex energy and Therefore you have heard it said often that That meditation is very much involved with the sex energy That's why you've heard it said often that by our Eastern Brethren not by the Western School of Thought that he who wishes to attain to the highest in meditation, in liberation, must go in for a countenance in chastity.

In other words, the idea being that if the sex drives, the sex energies are kept from expressing on the natural reproductive level, they will then be able to be used these energies for these higher states well of course you see the trouble is this is both true and not true because in all the traditions of Qabalah and in many other of the esoteric stories we have continuous allusion to the fact that some of the masters or Illuminati have been married men with children and therefore if it were true that the sex energies have to be completely banked you wouldn't have that told as a matter of fact if this were true every religious organization you want shall we have that the air cooler turned off for a while hmm how about it you want the air cooler turned off for a while turn it off for a while people are putting the sweaters on and I have to talk louder but why didn't you say so before I always object to the air cooler being on when I talk but I was afraid that you'd object to it not being on you see if you're afraid to say things or tell us how you feel how do you expect to have results so you're not going along with our tarot keys I'm waggling my finger at you hmm I prefer having it off I don't like the hum of it although if you get too warm or you fall asleep I wouldn't like that either especially if you're falling asleep I figure getting warm maybe you could adjust to that so you see we have to find something to keep most of us happy anyway way and it's up to you to speak up when it gets uncomfortable that way we solve the situation we put it on for a few minutes the air is changed in two minutes when we have it on you see so a few minutes on and we can shut it off again and we keep everybody happy at least we try quite an order now relating to the idea then of the reproductive energy and its usage the truth is that if non-use of this energy were so much or was so much involved with attaining to the highest every single religious group who has that for instance as their priests those who swear off of any expression of that energy uh we would have these particular people uh as being the most highly evolved you could come across both the men and the women you know whether they're the types that are nuns or monks you know or priests and you know very well that this has never been so We have never found that the ones who go in for being the monks and the nuns and the priests are the most highly evolved spiritually in any way.

Therefore, there's something wrong with that concept. And this particular group of Tarukis, and particularly, of course, the end result, gives us a hint. We're not going to take up all of what's involved with that idea in this class tonight night because we have several of the other groupings where we need to show you the different aspects that are involved with what this energy is and isn't and does and doesn't and why certain ideas involving it are have not been correct but in actuality you see those who repress just plain repress this energy usually develop a very unwholesome and unhealthy subconsciousness and it expresses itself in an actual hatred of humanity covered up by sanctimoniousness and I think many of you have come across that very often wherever you have this kind of repression what happens is that that lion and tarot key eight it goes wild but it goes wild in a manner that's covered up and so merely repressing an energy does not make it available for higher states and again if this was so when people are in love imagine how much this energy has been stirred we all have seen it and yet when people are in love is this not the time when they're the easiest is to get along with I mean outside of perhaps being too dreamy for our taste at times I mean they're full of lovingness that everything is wonderful they glow they they love everybody I mean they even love their enemies more easily shall we say during that period and what has happened there's been a stirring of all of these energies and it's been stirred through what through love. So you see, the idea that's involved in learning how to angle for that fish is really in terms of certain very special changes of attitude and consciousness which has to do with meditation, as he indicates. This complete freedom, this undress, this willingness, us to look at reality instead of covering up with all the false shames and the chains that we saw in our other two previous keys and when this attitude and this proper uh reverence and love and respect are present the ability to control and direct uh comes automatically you know it's just pretty much like when you have certain conditions of temperature in your upper and lower layers automatically you have the development of clouds and rain certain conditions automatically bring about certain abilities I want you to notice that this figure in revelations meditation, Mother Nature, has eight stars involved there, which has to do again with what Western occultism, our mystery school teachings, have always called the interior stars or the interior planets, and which our Eastern brethren have called the chakras. Actually, they are the seven with the one that indicates the composite development and therefore involves the figure eight again as we have brought it up a couple of times before now the figure eight again also involves things that has to do with the tarot key uh number 10 the wheel of fortune because in actuality there are eight segments when you it looks to you like there may be four but if you look carefully there are eight the eight segments and on the fool the decoration has eight segments and so the number eight is very important remember there's the number horizontal number eight that's over the magician and there's this horizontal number number eight that's over, the humanized subconsciousness and tarot key number eight when she's taming our animal nature, the lion.

So here, again, we are being shown that the third stage of spiritual unfoldment, no matter what situation is involved, has to do with a balancing of those seven inner chakras, the seven holy planets plus their being brought together through what? Through the revelation that comes from meditation and then Mother Nature which is really the female aspect of God reveals herself to us after having gone through our previous stages which involve all of the other keys, remember not just some of them all right now then let's jump to number three the Empress Dalek is the Hebrew letter on that and cabalistically it is assigned to the object which we call the door now the door is a very apt symbol because what is the door the door is the the womb of birth and this is a pregnant matron symbolically shown very easily discerned so that you have this idea of the door which is really the womb of birth but what is that involving again this hebrew letter and therefore the whole key cabalistically are involved with what is called the luminous intelligence now luminous this is rather interesting uh have you noticed there are two times when people's eyes shine with a luminous quality one when they're in love two when they're in a state of creative effort you know in other words it's also being in love they're in love they're creating and these are the two times when the there's a luminosity and so here we have the luminous intelligence assigned cabalistically to this key and here's another point the pair of opposites called wisdom and folly which we're going to talk about now now remember this is the principle which in another way is also the result of the previous Tarot key remember in In Tarot Key Number 16, the tower with the striking lightning, that was assigned to the exciting intelligence.

So remember, that was the second stage of spiritual development, and it was the upsetting. It was the upsetting of the prison of the towers, of that Tower of Babel, built with words, with false thoughts, with false notions with hanging on to misinterpretations of memory and so on and so that we had there in tarot key number 16 the ideas of the exciting intelligence which does what it incites or excites into the next aspect when we go around through our spiral going to Tarot Key 3 here for the next group of three Venus and here we're dealing with what creative imagination and love now what is it that excites us into creative imagination usually it's a problem isn't it and certainly you must admit that in Tarot Key number 16 we have these people are having a problem knocked out of their tower you know all the things that they've been thinking and believing in uh being swept away because of that lightning of god and so what are they going to do they have to try to get out of it that's you too see we're showing you the the way the energy flows for you and not only that it's going to help you uh to receive help far more readily when you in the future start going over these keys in groups of three and when you get to that point in your lessons those of you who haven't done it yet you will see that you will get immeasurably more out of your lessons and even so you will also be able to start seeing the way the whole process of your growth works with that acceleration by watching the way these steps are taking place in these groups of three for these seven stages of spiritual unfoldment and the result will be that you will far more easily more quickly get out of the various different spots you put yourself into which you will that's part of the adventure you know but each will be a a further growth that will bring a greater another revelation you see tarot p17 and then on with the next ones which we'll take up as we come to them so each is the opening up of the petals of the flowers more and more all right then you see this exciting intelligence of key 16 when we're in trouble immediately our mind gets busy and say what should I do okay what should I do should I do this or that or the other what are we doing we're using creative imagination aren't we because we're starting to try to project our consciousness into imaginative solutions and this is creative imagination what else and what is it that we're using with this projection of our consciousness into these imaginative solutions we're using all the things that that we mentioned in the previous keys because remember tarot key one the attention you want to see I'll run down it quickly so you'll start catching on to the principle and then stir your own way of using it like tarot key number one that you that would you put your attention to your life and death element actually uh as principle becomes the activity of tarot key number eight which is what which forms the suggestion because remember that it's assigned to suggestion the suggestion is the training of our own wild animal nature. Attention trains it into special forms of expression, which brings about what? Which brings about the result of Tarot Key 15, which is the devil. In other words, usually brings about the appearance, the result, the bondage, and also, if we're very smart, the ability to see the result, the whole principle of manifestation and when it looks like the devil we get more surges only to start doing something more about it and usually it looks like the devil so that's why the devil isn't such a bad fellow because other if he was a fellow that we were happy with we just stay in that stage of spiritual unfoldment wouldn't we and whichever it was so what do we do then things look like the devil we need want to do something we go right back then you see we've just done one little whirling circle haven't we but we're not sticking in the groove we're going to our next one so we go on to tarot key number two which is that next series of three and what is that that's the principle of memory remember which is the uniting intelligence the whole stream of consciousness now all that has occurred does what it makes an impact in memory does it not so here you have your principle going on to what the next element the law or the agency which was telling you know isn't it clever of me to remember all this tarot key number nine uh the idea was to get a little little chuckle so we don't fall asleep and listen hmm oh all right if uh you'll I sometimes deliberately say something outrageous the chuckle wakes you up and then we can go on and then we all have a better digestion as a result of laughing don't you think so so so as we said we have here then the memory when we've gone down that second row which does what it's our memory which brings about our response to life and that comes to tarot key number nine which is assigned to response and the sense of touch remember and it is our memory content that gives us this sense of touch with all beings, with all life, with all experience.

And that sense of touch and that contact then brings about what? Brings about certain ideas, opinions, attitudes, which develop in us what? Those little isolated towers. Tarot key number 16.

And therefore we're stuck on a tower until the grace of God, with grace and sin involved in a pair of opposites shoots us out with this bolt of lightning and this becomes the exciting intelligence which brings us on now we're on to our third level do you see now how to how to work it whirling whirling all right so now with tarot key number three the empress assigned to creative imagination what do we do then when we're in this state of disturbance when that which we've been banking on we've been putting all our security on this false you know into this false tower of key 16. uh and we've been knocked out of it whether it's banking banking on money or banking on people because of bad perception or poor discrimination, which has not yet developed, whatever it is, we're shaken up and we're in trouble. And this excites our creative imagination to hunt for the solution.

And so our creative imagination will hunt for whatever the solution is that's in terms of our development of that series of experiences according to our development evolutionary-wise for that particular series. That's why it's called, what? Wisdom and Folly, you see. Because if we're still determined to remain in all of the states of ignorance, to hang on to yesterday to hang on to that which we should have outgrown to hang on to bigotry to prejudice to isolation well whatever our creative imagination we use to try to get out of our trouble it's going to be something that's going to put a wisdom of folly it's going to be folly isn't it it's going to get us into more trouble which is good because otherwise how are we going going to finally grow and find out pretty much I mean we just give you a simple analogy on the physical plane uh you take a baby and you tell you show the baby fire fire light you say don't touch hot baby says to itself in its own way of saying huh they want me to keep me from playing with that very beautiful light I'm not going to be restrained I don't believe them so puts out its little finger and it touches the fire and it cries out it hurts so you see the baby's ignorance or folly made it use you know in other words drove it into what the motion of experience here you're you are with key 10, the wheel of fortune, which is what?

It's the wheel we've been talking about, really.

The wheel of life, the wheel of experience, which brings about the revelation. Because wouldn't you say the baby had a revelation after it put its finger in the fire? Really?

Well, maybe not a pleasant one, but it serves a nice purpose. And we have these things that take place on the physical plane we have them taking place on the emotional plane we have them taking place on the mental plane and we have them taking place on the spiritual plane so you see they take place on all planes and and sometimes all at once as we pointed out anyway this wheel of fortune cabalistically I want you to have the cabalistic background then in the latter part of the class we're going to go in for some of the ideas of love that's involved here which I promised you I would talk about although I'm going to talk to you about love even more when we get to the sixth stage of spiritual unfoldment and uh maybe maybe all of them for all I know anyway uh the hebrew letter on the wheel of fortune is called kath and it is a it is assigned to the idea of the hand in grasping now you see the tarot key nine you know which was the previous agency or motion for the previous group of three that was also the hand but it was the open hand for the sense of touch this key is the uh hand gripped together like this and I'm not giving you the communist salute I'm anti-bolshevik think but I'm trying to show you that when the hand is gripped like this in a fist uh there's a whirling spiral right in the fist just look look the thumb from the forefinger and thumb you hold it like that you'll see that's that's a very interesting little aspect of this key now what does it mean the idea of the hand closed and held this way really is a symbolic representation or meaning that has to do with comprehension when you comprehend something you grasp it so this has to do with comprehension and remember what we told you about this motion that brought comprehension to the baby with the revelation of what fire will do after all therefore the motion the wheel of motion brings about that is the activity that is the law or the agency that develops the comprehension and it is the degree or level of our comprehension which will bring about whatever revelation or result or meditation which is going to be our next series because the thing you want to remember at this point in case I forget to tell you I better tell you now that it is your meditation that brings about every stage of your unfoldment you are in meditation at all times and therefore when we're talking about this stage of spiritual unfoldment we're not talking about something that happens once in a while or the time when you sit down for half an hour an hour to do formal meditation in order to open up certain chakras which is something you better be doing uh when you're instructed so to do or you'll make me a little sad that you're not using the time and the privileges of the methods we have to try to achieve what we can but you see we are in meditation at all times because meditation is what a meditation remember as we pointed out is like an angling it is a way like consciousness is scamming scanning and your consciousness is always in a state of scanning either your own subconscious content or somebody else's or your situation and the kind of meditation you're in as a habitual thing has to do with everything we it's gone on before you see and it will have to do with what goes on after too because there is no such thing as separating anyone from the other They're an interrelated group of energies, even though we have to take them in sections.

So you see, the comprehension of any situation is what will determine what our meditative attitude, or what the revelation will be in the situation for example if our comprehension of human nature is such that we know that nobody can be trusted because you know a lot of people know this this is their comprehension therefore I this is the comprehension they uh you know people can't be trusted what uh will the effect or result be of course the principle behind it is your wisdom and folly I mean don't overlook that all right so what will the result be because we're trying to show it to you in that uh area of the of the of the circle the result will be uh inevitably since your grasp of your understanding of human consciousness is that no one can be trusted it you're the you will be in a continuous state of receiving revelations of what a marvelous perception you've got marvelous isn't it furthermore you will be in a continuous meditative state hunting for all the suspicious things to prove out why somebody should not be trusted and and so that will be going on with your consciousness and you'll have a very high opinion of your comprehension and your perception and you'll have a very low opinion of anyone who says oh I think people are wonderful I love them they will this type of person again we'll go into the wisdom and folly aspect of the opposite of what love would be because remember venus the empress creative imagination is an ex as an expression of love how much love have you and haven't you of course this doesn't mean that uh when you love you uh trust people It depends, trust them for what, or in what, and where, and under what conditions.

You see, you can't generalize the discernment of all these little elements and the differentiations as part of the evolution of our evolution, which makes us handle the substance of consciousness in this complex way. You see, the reason we are the miracles we are maybe is because we have so many irons in the fire, because our consciousness is able to do this.

And of course, we'll be wrong a good deal of the time in various areas, because we have not yet developed the discernment. But as we work with the tarot keys, the point is this, the impact of this symbolism, as we make it a living part of our being accelerate this whole process so that every experience becomes a growth experience in an ever accelerated manner and we stop getting stuck in the ruts of being in the one groove with that needle and we keep going higher and higher on the spiral and become therefore more and more open to the quick development from the first to the seventh stage of each series as it unfolds through our expanding and unfolding evolution I've talked too long it's time for us to have a five-minute intermission I will give you an announcement one or two. First of all, I hope that you're all admiring...

Andy.

I didn't mention that the middle Tarot key in this series of 3, 10, and 17, the one, the Wheel of Fortune is also called the Rewarding Intelligence the Rewarding Intelligence and the it also has a pair of opposites assigned to it and the pair of opposites happens to be riches and poverty now this is really quite significant because just taking it back then to Tarot Key Number Number three is principle.

That which our creative imagination dwells on brings about the motion or the circle. Remember, things circle back on themselves. The idea of karma as well as evolution.

This tarot key can be thought of in terms of the vast evolution, that is the involution of the whole concentration concentration of the divine Selfhood in order to evolve self-conscious centers for itself and also in terms of each of our individual Evolutions the pattern or ways that we grow Because as above so below Ezekiel's wheels within wheels as you can see on the four figures, you know, these are the the carabin of the Bible. It's been mentioned by Ezekiel and in Revelation, I believe, that the living creatures, also showing that this wheel is not a mechanical thing, but the law, there's a certain law that's immediately brought into activity. And remember, we're dealing with the law or activity through which that first as principle, Tarot Key Number Three, that is work and so what we give our attention to in terms of our understanding of the moment which is our wisdom or folly brings about this rotating motion and this rotating motion is the rewarding intelligence we are richly rewarded with with folly and we're richly rewards that's why it's the rewarding intelligence the thing to remember is it's always a reward I mean next time you're in trouble maybe it'll comfort you if you'll say well but by golly this is a reward uh in a which it is in a sense because it's the impact of an experience uh which is going to bring about extra perception insight understanding and expansion of your consciousness or whatever it appears to be at the moment but laughter aside and we shouldn't really put it aside and it really belongs all over the rewards are all are always there and therefore we have a wealth of whatever the rewards are or there is a poverty that is involved when we think of it in terms of wealth and poverty and what would the poverty aspect be to the degree that we lack creative imagination to that degree do we have a poverty of the motion of life and therefore experience so that in a way you might almost say it's better to be a little full of folly and get into trouble and learn and grow you know and it would be wealthy in terms of experience and the expansion of consciousness than to be uh in a vacuum without the creative imagination which brings a poverty of experience which interferes keeps us from this growth and the same idea is shown again in that other way you remember key one the magician attention and it is to the the attention the degree of concentration and attention that we can put on a thing that is called life and death the livingness is our ability to control that mental substance in concentration and in attempts at working out what we call our problems which really is more like the artist's problem in attempting to draw a figure that's lifelike or to sculpt you know to make a lifelike figure in sculpture or someone who's just learning how to create things in terms the pottery you know the first efforts are rather clumsy and then but as as you were you gain skill and it gets better so perhaps you're seeing this uh wonder in the miracle and the marvel of the motion of this life the recompense which we see here and what it is to be really wealthy and haven't you noticed yourself whatever periods you've been in where your mind and heart has been fallow you know where I suppose everyone has had a period where you sort of couldn't think you couldn't plan you couldn't dream I mean is there anything more hellish than that it's like a living in death and no matter how much we suffer when we're working out a problem at least we're alive and we're growing through it and we gain riches the riches of experience which deepens the cup of our whole consciousness and brings about then again here we have the result again then, going back to key 17, which is the end figure of this tree, brings about the revelation on that level, and the perception of truth, which is the revelation, and that which our attention will be on, which becomes our meditation. Because, you know, what is meditation, really? It's extended concentration so if you'll think the magician key one is concentration meditation is an extension of that concentration and when we go in for meditation for spiritual experience of course we are then trying to use the mental substance for specific periods of time in order to open up buds within our own being to receive the revelations of the causal plane or the the spiritual level that has to do with the unity of all life and mother nature here really is expressing this unity in her own way uh the water she's pouring from the vases being shown that it comes from that same same pool you know no matter whose five senses it is that we see on the ground we're all out of the same substance and another interesting thing to keep in mind if you recall I gave you the analogy of our own individuality when we were discussing concentration which is really a deliberate limitation of the mental substance and which brings our individuality or the miracle of uniqueness for us if you will recall I compared it to a sort of a little whirlpool in the sea well you see the same idea of the whirlpool in the sea right there with tarot key 10 the wheel of fortune in terms of the activity because this is also giving you the idea of a whirling wheel which is a whirlpool and you see the idea again in key 17 as a result meditation what is that but a whir a whirlpool brought about by what by mother nature pouring the water from the vase which she got out of that same pool to begin with where else could she get it and so you have that development of the whirlpool and the whirling motion is involved all over again with the whole motion of the evolution of consciousness the spiral motion and remember the entire universe is really uh in the same kind of motion and I have brought it up before I like to bring it up again whenever we bring in this spiral motion idea the fact that just forgetting for the moment atom if we think of the moon revolving around our earth then our earth with its sister planets but don't think of the sister planets for the moment just think of the moon which is revolving around our earth the earth with its moon is revolving around the sun now the sun with its earth and the planet too which includes the moon is revolving around the center in the milky way now it is also in motion now can you see all the wheels within wheels they're all whirling motions going around you see it on the physical plane the whole creation of the outer universe is a reflection from the waters of consciousness and we are that consciousness you you are the creator of the universe as an aspect of it not as the total your little whirlpool is the way that one creator creates so back to our creative imagination we're dealing with creation the creative imagination is really very closely akin to love as we can see when a person uh goes into inspiration whether it be in terms of a scientific investigation or let's put it in the field of art by writing music or writing a poem or story when you get into a state of creative imagination you're caught up aren't you in an ecstasy you're caught up in a rapture isn't this like being in love love is being caught up in an ecstasy it's being caught caught up in a rapture and when we think of that and then think of it in terms of the whole universe surely we should see that the entire universe must be involved with God being caught up in the rapture in ecstasy of love in the creation of its own centers of self-expression and mother nature gives us a symbolic picture in one way as well as the wheel of fortune gives it in another way but the star t17 shows this beauty this utter beauty that's involved in the idea of love. Now the empress as love, as parakeet number three, when we think of it as the female or feminine aspect of the life power, and when we realize that the maternal instinct is perhaps one of the most beautiful that we can find and incidentally never forget it isn't limited to human beings you know what the maternal instinct is like and birds forth young and animals forth they're young almost all creatures almost all creatures will sacrifice their own lives to protect the young and they'll do it far more readily is it sad to say or strange to say that human beings will when you study nature mother nature you discover something that is staggeringly significant people say nature and it's the tooth and claw have they forgotten that in all nature you see this staggering a drive of love and unity which sacrifices itself at all times in order to bring about the growth of its young so that they can get into life and experience it. And where does that come from? From the one source because there is only one source. Meditation, true meditation, shows that. The pouring of the water from the vase is showing that it all comes from the one source now the empress you notice she has her garden well planted things are growing there's a fertility this is because she's in a state of fertility due to the fact that she represents then the love now she doesn't represent only maternal love because she's assigned to venus and of course some people think that venus is very lacking in certain morals this scandalous love affair she carries on with mars you know in literature but that is just part of the chuckle we need to develop in realizing how people interpret certain things. The thing to realize is this basically, that love is love and maternal love exists just as much in a man as it does in a woman. When the man is protective towards his wife, when the father is protective towards his child or towards somebody that's helpless is this any different than the mother's protectiveness or towards her young it's the same spirit love uh nurtures automatically it doesn't have to reside in just one or the other of the sexes it just happens that it's a little more more difficult for the male to express this nurturing element in his nature in this society because of conditioning that's where he's got to get knocked out of that tower of our previous hierarchy most of the time though plenty of men have not been able to be enslaved with some of these conditionings and they freely they're men enough and masculine enough to be able to afford to express love from all levels including the nurturing level which is natural to life.

Now love having this nurturing aspect, the thing we want to remember in terms of the creative imagination, we won't have time to go into the personal aspects of love in this class although we will need to through the seven stages of spiritual unfoldment to really have a full understanding of ourselves and our growth processes and the problems we have and those around us but in tonight's class we just we haven't got the time to go into the elements that involve so much of the personal responses to love in their various ways but we do want to bring out this main factor which is vital to the whole subject of this stage of spiritual unfoldment when we are talking about love and it is basically this that only through the act of love and we're talking about love in terms of its principle as shown here can we even begin to hope that nature will unveil herself for us that we will see reality in terms of both our own natures that which we hide from ourselves about ourselves that which we hide in terms of other people the self-deceptions we go in for you know which after all these are the opposite of revelation aren't they when we cannot look the other consciousness we shouldn't say straight in the eye because that brings us to the devil but anyway we should put it say more in essence we cannot look them straight into the in the heart in a way because the empress has this heart there as her shield as you notice in tarot tree number three and the way to develop the ability the real ability to live in reality in other words the way to develop the ability to see what people are really like to discern and handle situations to be able to have our consciousness and the kind of meditation as a result of that which will bring us into further types of unfoldment is to recognize that in order to really love in order to really should we say have wisdom we have to get a very clear understanding of what love is and is not and the clear understanding about what love is is often rather startling because some people think love is being namby-pamby and letting anybody get away with anything and some people think love is being indulgent and spoiling the other person and incidentally this isn't love at all there are some parents who give the outer show of lovingness who are in a sense destroying their young because of their lack of unfoldment it's true the comic situation but love hides itself there again you have you're back to the revelation she's 17. uh that is love hides itself from the eyes of those who cannot face reality you see the little saying love is blind simply isn't true love principle is not blind take a look at the naked figure in 217 love sees more clearly love sees more truly if I I love you and I say to you, you are beautiful.

And you say to me, oh, you're prejudiced. I will say to you, oh no, this is a scientific objective observation. Or I will agree, oh yes, I am prejudiced. Or I will say to you, all these things enter into the picture. The point is that love can see beauty because love looks in such a way that nature has unveiled itself. Self and for example when you really love another person be it a husband a lover a sister a brother a child when you really love that other person you will be able to bear to see that that person instance is in stage key 15 the devil and some of its aspects in key 16 locked up with prejudices in the tower in its other some of its other aspects you'll see the beauties in its other areas and all together you'll see that this is a complete whirling motion of the one divinity the one the one glory the life of god growing the various parts of its being and so you won't be searching for your idea of perfection in that individual when you love and the minute you find that you have to be tearing somebody else down temper even if temporarily you can know that at least for that little period that little part of that person's nature has gotten you into the 15th Tarot key where the appearance looks like the devil and is making you react with the negative side of key 16 that is hatred because of you know passion and and attack and don't you should don't get discouraged the time will come when you will have a level of revelation and many of you may have already had it but you'll need to have more of them but where you will surely have this level of revelation within yourself from the workings and whirling of these energies within you and your clear perceptions the time will come when you will see such miracle such beauty in everything that you are as well as other people are that you will see such glory such wonder such Marvel that you will hardly be able to bear it because you will realize that everything everything that looks like the devil stage one that everything that is locked up and isolated stage two all these things are part of an unfolding uh miracle that is the miracle of your consciousness and the miracle of the consciousness of the others that these are so glorious that it's well worthwhile looking at and suffering through those various stages and when you see that a very strange thing is going to start to happen to you by the way you're going to start whirling your wealth and poverty stream in the action the agency the law in such a way that the whole electromagnetic attraction will be such that you will be living in what in essence will be like a different world you know I know one person I'll just let me say this much I know one person who comes to talk to me every once in a while he has many problems he feels and he does you feel you have them you do and uh the thing he says people I just uh they are utterly irresponsible responsible you can't depend on them now here's the point that's just one of the things he says this man doesn't know how to keep an appointment on time I've never known him to be on time furthermore he breaks appointments all over the lot and then gives excuses and yet he thinks of himself as being responsible and long in his business that he cannot find people who are responsible you can't hire anybody who's responsible anymore they're utter utterly irresponsible and they steal all right now you see his whole attitude he thinks of himself as being a loving individual but his whole attitude is not loving towards people uh his whole world all the people that he runs into including incidentally the girls in his life always turn out to be be pain-producing experiences and have to do with betrayals, and so he doesn't trust women, and he doesn't trust people. And his reward for all of this is exactly what you would expect.

But notice, what is the principle behind all this? His trolley, his inability to truly love has magnetically kept him in a whirling motion of the most extraordinary concentration of this kind of person now don't make the mistake when we bring this out of deciding with somebody you meet who may be in a whirlpool of problems that this automatically means that that person has a certain kind of characteristics he mentioned or any other sometimes there's a major initiation going on where the book is thrown at you you know for your next major whirl into a truly higher initiation of consciousness and when we say the book is thrown at you let's uh let's admit you throw it at yourself from your own higher self level I mean nobody else is doing it to you so it seems like it at the time so we mustn't uh be hasty to judge when we run into situations where sometimes a person just seems to have nothing but problems in their immediate environment in terms of the kind of people that they meet or the kind of people they get both commercially and personally however it does more or less hold true that in the total sense sense when you find a human being having a whole life pattern there's the point of running into this type of a particular situation like that there you very well know that the love nature has not come out and when we love nature we mean the love nature in terms of nurturing some people can be very emotional and expressive and intense you know and scream I love you and even make the most romantic statements you ever heard uh but uh by their work she shall know them have they got that nurturing because real love nurtures never forget it if you wonder if somebody ever loves you or not I'll give you a little bit of wisdom if you're not being nurtured in little ways know this one of two things that person has not developed the capacity to love yet so you can't blame them therefore they're not nurturing you or they just plain don't care enough for you to nurture usually it's the first rather than the second so if you're expecting nurturing from an area that hasn't evolved the ability for it yet you're being foolish wisdom and folly creative imagination is all hey why are you they haven't been watching the revelations properly because you have no right to expect a one-year-old infant uh to get up and play baseball you see and so you can stop twirling yourself into erroneous circles by gaining that kind of perception and if you want to know how much love nature you've got so now you know watch it any questions I hope I haven't upset you I'll tell you I'll nurture each one of I nurture you all but if you want I'll make the rounds I'll make you feel better Thank you.