Key 1 - The Magician

The title of our talk for this morning is The Magical Power of Concentration. You see before you here the magician, Tarot Key Number One.

Here in the magician we have the symbolic representation of that which is meant by concentration, of that which is meant by attention, therefore. Forth I am a center of expression for the primal will to good which eternally creates and sustains the universe because if all the power that ever was or will be is here now and this is indicated by the fool by super consciousness by tarot key zero being a center of expression for this primal will to good means that all the power that ever was or will be is coming through you as a center of this expression a center and this is what the magician is indicating and this is what makes us magical every single human being has has the magical power to concentrate. That's part of being human. I wonder if anybody here has ever had a problem worrying about something. Something, anything at all. If anybody has ever had a problem worrying, please raise their hands. All right, let's put it another way has anybody ever found that they're unable to worry and to worry very intensely please raise your hand you see that there there we have it you see now this time no one raised their hand this time everyone understood what I meant just think of what magicians we are we have never had had a problem concentrating.

Now then, ask yourself the next question. Why is it that you've always been a very effective concentrator? You've been able to use concentration most efficiently for worrying, but have not been able to use concentration concentration most efficiently for the opposite shall we say for enlightened faith now mind you I said enlightened faith I didn't say blind faith all right we're going to take that up so that we can understand a little bit more what extraordinary power we have what magicians we are and why then we should pay a lot not a little but a lot more attention to the way we're using this magic that isn't something we have to get you understand because I hope I've proven to you right now you don't have to get the ability to concentrate you notice where the magician is on the tree of life the magician is coming down from the crown which is the number one on the tree qabalistic tree of life and that number one is I am a center of expression for the primal will to good which eternally creates and sustains the universe and it is tied up very intimately with the magician and you notice that the power then pours via the power of the magician to understanding which is the Elohim or the feminine principle of God so that the divine feminine principle actually is the principle of Gaborah or discipline whereas the divine masculine principle which we chant as Yod-Heh-Vah-Heh pours down through the other side so that only together can we start seeing a picture. Now I would like to point out something that perhaps hasn't been noted. Now house is one of the meanings of this key that is assigned to self-consciousness, to the power of attention, the power of concentration, house. Now you notice the arbor of roses above the head of the magician now what's being said here symbolically oh but so potently what's being said is that where your desire is remember red roses are a symbol for desire active desire desire the action of the desire has to do with the redness of the rose the rose being a symbol of Venus and Venus being a symbol of emotion the emotional nature the feeling nature the design and the desire nature which again incidentally is power desire is power because feeling is like the gasoline of consciousness it's the power that drives consciousness and here when we look at the house or an arbor which is a house what we see is that the house of attention the house of concentration is made up out of our desires now you You have often read and you've heard that whatever you desire you can bring into manifestation if you have read elementary metaphysics.

But of course this is just a half-truth because it is elementary metaphysics. The fullness of this idea has to do basically with where we permit our feelings to go along which has to involve desire or we will not be able to keep our attention on it only that which means something to us will be the thing that will give us the ability to keep our attention concentrated and this is the secret of where our attention and the power of our concentration goes and there is the secret of the house of life that we live in and what kind of house it is that we have in our lives because Because there, as shown by the magician, our house of life, the house we live in, that arbor, is made up out of our desires, our active desires. Desires, and therefore no amount of anything. You have to know, incidentally, you just have to know the laws of concentration, the principles involved, in order to learn how to utilize them in a self-conscious, effective manner. And this is one of the first things that we we have to come to see to recognize mainly that we had better start paying more attention to what it is we really want rather than what we say we want or try to fool ourselves into thinking we want. We have to discover what we really want in order to be able to gain more effective control of our attention because only when we see what it is that we've been concentrating upon can we do things about transmuting the areas or the ways in which we bring about the finalizing here's the point we don't recognize the fact that we ourselves have been the fantastic magicians that that the magic of our own power of concentration brought us this kind of relationship.

We don't recognize it at all because we're forever looking at and interpreting things in terms of how much comfort we are receiving, basically, so that even our own imaging goes un goes unrecognized this magical power of concentration oh I tell you it isn't something you have to learn to have but we all have to learn how to remain alert and aware of how we are using it and then our desire will automatically once we start to recognize how we're using it our desire nature will automatically start changing or being transmuted because with that self-conscious attention we are not about to just let it go wherever it will the more mature the more spiritual spiritual we become the more we learn to put our attention to desire that which is truly fulfilling and that which is in harmony with cosmic law now that is the position the magician is in in holding that wand now that wand incidentally is a symbol of will the willpower is doing what in other words this magician which is you and a picture of your consciousness is being told through this tarot key to take your willpower and it's being helped to develop it incidentally to take your willpower and to hold it in the position where you're going to receive from the above in other words our self-conscious abilities the power of our attention is what the power pours through and yet that power is divine power because that's the only power there is so whatever it is you give your attention to the divine power flows through it that's the staff as an act of will whether we're recognizing it as will or not and then it comes down with the left hand you notice the finger is pointing to the garden and therefore whatever Whatever the energies, the will, the desire from above, the house of desire, whatever has been pouring through, it pours down into the garden and that is what we reap. Remember, we reap the harvest out of our garden.

Now this idea of transparency has to be understood why do qabalists call the magician self-consciousness concentration attention these powers of the the intelligence of transparency for a very excellent reason because those who learn how to see what other people desire what they're concentrating on becomes very transparent in other words we're looking at other people through the colored glasses of the images that we want to see or expect to see and the result is we have experiences with the other person that we didn't bargain for and we say I'm disappointed in the other person now when we learn how to look with all of ourselves we are magical indeed because we learn more and more the the significance of seeing the whole person. What do I mean by seeing the whole person? We see that which is still undeveloped as well as that which is developed. We can see that which is beautiful and yet that which is still immature.

And therefore, what occurs? We do not expect the impossible. When we're disappointed in other people, we have a way of blaming them. But the truth of the matter is, the power, the magical power of concentration has not been utilized to see all of themselves. Now we cannot learn how to see all of other people unless we first learn how to see all of ourselves.

And that there again the house that rose arbor over us has to do we look out at everyone through our own house our own house of consciousness and only as we can see what we are and what we are not only as we can see what we're concentrating on only as we can see what we are permitting our or attention to go to and feed. Only then are we able to do things about it. As we change our own house of consciousness, our own attention, realistically, and develop it as it needs to be developed, only so then do we develop that concentration like the fire, where we pierce through surfaces, because we become the transparent consciousness we see through, because the universal life is pouring through us and so you know the pair of opposites assigned to this tarot key is life and death to the degree you pay attention to that degree are you alive to the degree that the attention is withdrawn to just never never lands to that degree are we not alive life to the degree that we learn to look and look with wonder because do you know one of the greatest problems we face is in losing the sense of wonder and we lose the sense of wonder mainly because we stop paying attention to the miracle that is present you are the magician remember Remember, you are the magician and your house of concentration is something you already have.

Now, all of us have to regain this sense of wonder. Now, how do we regain this sense of wonder? By learning how to look. In other words, with all of yourself.

Start looking with all of yourself. Are you going to look at a mountain? Look with all of yourself search out every detail of form of shadow are you going to watch a bird watch it with all of yourself having that above in other words and by all it's the vastness of your soul which is the real all that is seen through and into and concentrating the magic has to do with bringing that vast selfhood in and through the concentration of the complete concentration and seeing the things that we missed out on before are do you want love then start loving with all of yourself don't worry about what the other person should be like you see you have You have to see yourself. You have to know what you need. You have to know what your own qualities are. You have to know what your own requirements are in the way of temperament and type.

And you have to know it realistically by having studied what you really want and also studied what you got that you found out you didn't want. All of life has to be an interaction an interrelationship and the beauty of interrelationship the fulfillment in interrelationship is what god intends for you god intends it for you if you haven't got it it's only because you have not yet learned how to focus correctly you're learning whatever sorrow you've had that's part of the learning process but god intends you to to walk in joy, mainly because it's the only way God can walk joyfully. Don't you see? I mean, God has a self-interest here. Let's face it.

You know, let's look at things as they are. God has a self-interest.

Now, you'll say, well, doesn't that sound a little selfish of God? Well, what else has God got? There is nothing else except God. So naturally that you're part of the way God is you are an aspect of the selfhood of God I am everybody is and everything is it includes the creatures that includes the atoms that includes all things so you see divine fulfillment is the inevitable goal it is accomplished via the the fantastic power of magic the power of our attention your attention so as you use your magical power of concentration to learn what to pay attention to and how and with all of self that means the more vaster diviner aspect of self to that degree do you find yourself being fulfilled everywhere in work because you'll know how to utilize it in your in your work or in your home in your relationships no matter what they are in all things and certainly and most vital of all because but that ink isn't that is the over protective wings of God involved there in knowing yourself as being in union with God a union now past future present as a center of expression for the divine which you can never never be separated from you are magic incarnate practice it