Date: Thu 04 Feb 88 10:22:18 To: Mordeci Shapiro Subj: The 11th Path The High Priestess, t

Date: Thu 04 Feb 88 10:22:18 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: Mordeci Shapiro Subj: The 11th Path The High Priestess, the Scintillating Intelligence (the genuine Veil of Isis) protecting and revealing at the same time...Beth, the House of God, between the Ancient Wisdoms of Chochmah and the Admirable, Ineffable brilliances of Kether...the Holy Temple between the Imponderable Impossibities of Light and marvels of primordial wisdom... --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Fri 05 Feb 88 07:14:14 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The Twelfth Path Gimel, The Moon, blessed by The Emperess, opens Visions and True Dreams on the Path from Kether to Binah (the third Sephiroth -- thus Gimel, echoing the 11th path which is blessed by Beth to Chochmah, two, and Beth). The echo of the polarity between the Moon and Saturn (Cancer and Capricorn) sounds in the Twelfth Path and in and in Binah, Herself. Thus in my version of the Tree of Life, Kether, symbolized by The Magician linkes with the Second and Third Sephiroth through the gracious powers of the High Priestess and the Emperess...a trinty of one Male and two Women of sweet potency and great Power and pleasant Balance. (I have wanted to share my attributions of the Intelligences, Hebrew letters and Tarot cards for some time. I will express my feelings about each path, one a day, during the Mercury Retrgrade period. Mercury Retrograde is always a good time to organize old thoughts and to pick up threads from the past. I got this "revelation" after my first class in Alchemy with Frater Albertus in Salt Lake City a lot of years ago [any PRS people out there?] I promise neither consistency nor contentiousness. I have no desire to argue or defend this approach, I simply want to express it in a harmonious atmosphere in order to gather my thoughts together and to get whatever feedback that is out there.) Blessed Be and 93! --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sat 06 Feb 88 07:51:30 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: Thirteenth Path The Inductive Intelligence of Unity between Kether and Tiphareth, echos Death in its number, ruled by the Bearded Venus, the Emperor, the Door (Daleth) to the Ultimate Heavens. The Path hints at the mysterious, occult power of Venus in the attainment of "illumination." (There is a pleasurable elegance in the symmetry of this approach to to the Tree of Life. The top of the Tree, with the Magician in Kether is ruled by the High Priestess on Path 11 and the Empress on Path Twelve (reinforced by Beth, Chochmah, and Gimel, Binah). The "shaft of the arrow" on the Thirteenth Path is the Emperor who is Venus...and Four suggesting that mastery involves mastering the Four Elemental Forces which may be very "high," indeed...and may well have a place as high as the Heavens...if Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth is in Kether, this may be the Path that makes it so...inducing unity as it does.) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Mon 08 Feb 88 12:14:52 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The Forteenth Path...The Illuminating Intelligence Hierarchical illumination throught The Pope joining the Temple of Wisdom (Chokmah -- Beth) to the Workplace of the Dark Mother of All that Is, the Dark Mother of Form in Binah. The Pope crosses the the Emperor in their Eternal Struggle, checking and balancing, offering stability linking the High Priestess and the Emperess in their eternal works of knowledge and understanding. The Hierophant on this path is indeed the institutor of the arcana and the foundation of holiness... --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Tue 09 Feb 88 07:26:08 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The Fifteenth Path...the Constituting Intelligence Ah, The Lovers, Taurus, Vav (the Bull's Prick that nails down the Universe)...the very essence of the Universe is represented by this path demonstrating the Tantra of Creation. Heh, the Breath of Life, mediated by the Hierophant or Pope, carries Illumination from Chokmah to Binah while Vav, the Bulls Prick flashes Divine Fecundety from Chokman to Tiphareth. (Heh, the Divine Breath, as the Hierophant is the beginning of the demonstration that Justice is best served when it is equated with Cheth, another aspect of the Divine Breath...the Golden Dawn teachings babble about blinds and has created a devasting blind by slipping the numbers around and changing Justice and Strength.) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Thu 11 Feb 88 01:48:18 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The Sixteenth Path, Zain, Gemini...The Chariot "The paradise of pleasure prepared for the just..." the Yetziratic text reads and it delights me, being Gemini. The Eternal Intelligence given to the mutible Gemini! The eternally changeable universe...change is the only certainty we know. One suspects that Eternal Life, whatever that my may mean is everchanging splendour and the possibility of Eternal Life may well be the ability to change and change and change...and may well have something to do with shape shifting. And so The Chariot, the War Cart, rattles up and down the 16th Path between Chokmah and Chesed, between the Circle of the Zodiac and Jupiter informing Mercy with the Splendour of Supreme Unity, filling the Receptacular Intelligence (Chesed ) with sweet and holy essences. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Thu 11 Feb 88 07:41:34 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The XVIIth Path, The Disposing Intelligence, Cheth...Justice The Path from Tiphareth to Binah, "disposes the devout to perseverance and thus prepares them o recieve the Holy Spirit." Hard work, the Puritan Ethic, the Holy Spirit: Justice, indeed! (5,8,11: Heh, Cheth, Kaph...each an aspirate letter...each an aspect of the Breath of Diety...now you have the Key, see if you can find the Lock.) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Fri 12 Feb 88 09:38:32 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All SEE ALSO #100 Subj: The Eighteenth Path, The Intelligence or House of Influence, Hermit The Path of the Snake, Teth, swirls up from the Ishim in Geburah to the Dark Halls of Binah and spirals down again as the Hermit (Der Herr Mit...God with us) solemnly lights the phallic path, by the greatness of whose abundance the influx of good things upon created beings is increased...and thence are drawn the arcana and the concealed meanings which repose in the shadow thereof. (Indeed I met the Hermit in the House of Influence holding a Yellow Tent Peg. The Golden Influence of Leo is present in my life through the turning ofthe great wheel of the zodiac. Golden splendour spinning warmth into an aging life...I have entered the House of Influence with the Hermit at my side.) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sat 13 Feb 88 07:33:24 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The XIXth Path, The Intelligence of the Secret, Wheel of Fortune ...a poem from another time, from the late sixties, from my Stoned Tarot: There is a Wheel in some hidden palce (Planets wheel through silent space.) Perhaps it turns Perhaps it does Perhaps it helps the human race. Fools watch wheels follow Chance (Planets wheel though silent space.) Those wheels turn Fire burns Perhaps they help the human race Wheels carry men through time and space (Planets wheel through silent space) These wheels are muscle They turn and turn Perhaps they help the human race There is a Wheel no man has seen (Planets wheel through silent space) Perhaps it shapes the Clay of Life Perhaps Perhaps it helps the human race The Wheel of Grace spins on Faith Past wheeling planets...through silent space... It sings a sacred melody A Song of Holy Certainty It helps the human race --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sun 14 Feb 88 14:51:50 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The Twentieth Path, Intelligence of Will, Jupiter, Strength "It prepares all created beings, each individually, for the demonstration of the existence of primordial glory." The 20th and 21st paths each make a statement of what will is. The effortless hold the Goddess, the Higher Self has on the jaws of the lion is effortless will. It is not Hercules struggling desperately with a lion. It is gentle power holding the beast with gentle force. Eternal space is empty Like tender, empty hands. God fills this space eternally His tender, loving hands Resting on the Lion's jaws The Lion of the Sun. God is Eternal Woman. God measures Force in Love. The Stoned Tarot, 1968 titled, Force Contemplate the words, the Intelligence of Will. What is the "intelligence" of will. What intelligence guides the operation of will. What is the effortless will that is symbolized by the gentle but absolutely powerful hold the Goddess has on the Lion's jaws? The quiet command that stills the babbling mind, that gently and wisely commands the body, that with placid power controls life, lives and universes has a mind. What is that mind. Where is it. What is the mind or intelligence of will. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Mon 15 Feb 88 07:54:36 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The XXIst Path, The Rewarding Inelligence of Those Who Seek The Hanged Man, Lamed, Libra covers this Path of Placid Beauty. It is as if one forms his desire on the 20th Path (Intelligence of the Will) and quietly awaits and recieves his due on the 21st Path. "It recieves the divine influence, and it influences by its benediction all existing things." As I walk this Path with The Hanged Man, I get intimations of the Crucified One...but in another key. He is there, but not quite as I have known him. I feel His Presence as a benign Guide who sifts my desires and willlings carefully and lovingly...look at my needs as well as my desires...not denying the desires at all. It is a Path of Wise Beauty that alows me to be my own Hanged Man, who is truly my Higher Self at work. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Tue 16 Feb 88 12:50:04 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The 22nd Path, The Faithful Intelligence, Death, Mem, Water The equation of the Death trump with Mem (Water) is richly appropriate. The mysteries of initiation and new birth pictured forth in the Judgement trump involve birth out of the watery womb, out of water...born of water and the spirit, someone has said. This path from Tiphareth to Gevurah signals the move from the Heart to the Spirit. Water (Mem) and the Spirit (Heh -- Gevurah, the fifth Sephira) out of the solar fire of Tiphareth. The symbolic conversation continues leaping from one level of abstraction to another...from numbers to letters to pictures to geometries like flashing sparks of divine illumination singing to one another and to each of us. "The twenty-second path is called the Faithful Intelligence, because spiritual virtues are deposited and augment therein, until they pass to those who dwell under the shadow thereof." Richly pictured here is the powerful and final initiation of life. Each genuine initiation is a foreshadow of the final and triumphal death of each one of us releasing a fleeting glimpse of the ultimate glory and finality we all face. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Wed 17 Feb 88 08:01:06 From: Hugh Read (on 161/93) To: All Subj: The 23rd Path, The Stable Intelligence, Nun, Scorpio, Temperance Well, what can I say about "23" that RAW and Brad Hicks have not. So, rather than observe that stability is achieved through continual balance as demonstrated by the cups in the Trump for this path and that Tantra is undoubtedly one of the Ways of Balance, I will give you my 1968 version of Temperance from the now famous Stoned Tarot: Impersonal love Impersonal care Impersonal circuits In fire and air Mercury stings Whirling rings Flash of Falling Stars The Cups contain Powers and pains And blasted comet-dust The Work goes on beyond man's mind The Work goes on behind man's mind The Work goes on within man's mind The Impersonal Vortex whirls Angels swing the Earth Sing-swing the Earth through Time That's it folks...times up. The Stable Intelligence is "the source of consistency in all the numerations." Bye! --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Fri 19 Feb 88 08:31:54 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 24th Path, The Imaginative Intelligence, The Devil, Samech Every year carnval time comes in Saggitarius (Samech) and The Devil has his-er Way. If I read Mouni Sadhu correctly, he says that The Devil Trump is the center of the Astral Tourbillion. If you want interesting material on Astral Travel read his description of the 15th Trump in his book, The Tarot. The 24th Path from Netzach to Tiphareth is, "...the Imaginative Intelligence. It is the ground of similarity in the likeness of beings who are created its agreement, after its aspects." Sounds like Magick to me! Sounds like the root of what Gurdieff calls objective art which as I understand it, is art created with conscious intent to communicate consciously chosen concepts...and does so. He considers such works as the Sphinx conscious creations containing concept that are discrete and considered available to those who have developed their consciousness to the point that they can recieve the hidden message encoded in this anicent work of Objective Art. It might be that Saggitarius is the entry way to the inner worlds being the sign that precedes the Winter Solstice. They say that the five days after Christmas were the intercalery days of Egypt, a time of exhausting revelry for the Fools, if I recall them, and a time of Mysteries for the Wise Ones. I am sure most of you remember those exciting times. (Each Hebrew letter is given a meaning in the Rosicrucian Kabbalah. Teth, Leo, is given as a tent peg. A yellow tent peg is an arch way of speaking Kabbalah.) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sat 20 Feb 88 17:10:44 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 25th Path, The Probationary Intelligence, The Tower, Ayin "The twentififth path is called the Intelligence of Temptation or Trial, because it is the first temptation by which God tests the devout" The Tower shakes and shatters under the impact of God's trial...foundations are shaken and one is cast down into Yesod to heal and be prepared for the next testing and he is thrown up onto the path again and again until he is strong enough to soar into Tiphareth. Ayin, Capricorn, rules this craggy, difficult path of testing. Some think of the path as the first dark night of the soul. On a mundane level if you can manage to focus it properly, the path is a fine place to test an idea, an invention...I wonder if it is a good place to test a friendship or a lover, though... --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sat 20 Feb 88 17:19:42 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 26th Path, The Renewing Intelligence, Mars, Peh, The Star The Star is Mars, not in his explosive aspect, but in her power/beauty aspect. She is bathing the Earth in healing, renewing power. It was long ago when I looked at the Golden Dawm way of spelling Aleph, the word: The Fool, Justice, The Tower. Look at with clear eyes and see the violence that is echoed in the angry divisions of the past and the litigeous tendencies of some of its present day offspring. The Fool which repesents in some aspects violent, clumsy, untrained energies is brought to Justice and thereafter goes out and blows up again and again. The so-called French system of spelling the word Aleph is quiet reasonable and very beautiful: The Magician, The Hanged Man, The Star. This says to me that the Magician goes into a deep state of receptivity in order to heal and renew the Earth and/or create beauty. When I put this on the wall in Mill Valley in those distant, halcyon, wierd days, something in me relaxed. God! I felt relieved! "The twenty-sixth path is called the Renewing Intelligence, for thereby G-d, blessed be He, reneweth all which is capable of renovation in the creation of the world." Renew me Lord! Renew me Lady! Now! --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sun 21 Feb 88 13:33:52 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 27th Path, Tzaddi, The Moon, The Active or Exciting Intelligence The Moon, the Presence of God in or Mundane world, glows in unulant splendour from New to Full to New... I am as the Moon Our Light is ever changing Healing, gathering The Tzaddik, the Righteous One catches the Splendors of G-d, and illumines Mundane world as the Moon catches the splendours of the Sun. The Moon through his-r aspects runs the world. When the Moon is unaspected, the cat's away and the mice can play...but in another octave the Ultimate, the One is there without interferance from the Moon and wonders can emerge...it is a time to let go and let God and enjoy when the Moon is Void of Course...it is a time to trust in the Grand Ultimate and "know that I am God!" for the is now no mediator between God and Human...not even the Moon. "The Twenty-seventh Path is the Active or Exciting Intellgence and it is so called because every existent being recieves its spirit and motion." Perhaps every esistent being does recieve its spirit and motion through the Moon on the 27th path between Netzach and Hod. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Sun 21 Feb 88 13:43:44 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 28th Path, Pices, The Sun, The Natural Intelligence, The Sun Pices the last mysterious sign of the zodiac, signifier of the Age coming to an end, the final sign in the zodiac where the soul is completed and perfected. The Path from Yesod, the Moon, to Netzach, Venus...and the mysterious Venus (the Hidden Intelligence) shows his-r nature and subtle, hidden ways again. The 28th Path is called the Natural Intelligence: by it is completed and perfected the nature of all that exists beneath the Sun. Once again the sychronistic beauty of this system of attribution shows its appropriateness: two children playing in the Sun, Who is mentioned in the Yetziratic Text...two children being purified by the benign Sun. From The Stoned Tarot, Hugh Read, 1968 Thirteen sweet Tears of Mercy Fall from the Sun To feed the Children These are the Children of Life and of Light Coming out of the Earth They are clumsy and gentle And sweetly submissive Deeply dependent on God The Sun Tears Surround them And touch them And heal them and nourish them Fully on Love Touch me with Sun tears Touch me, dear God, Nourish me fully on Love Notice that as we approach the "end" of the paths we are approaching what most think of as the beginning and the paths begin to become more abstract and less personal and mundane. Those who say Malkuth is the mundane world do not notice what the Yetziratic verse covering Malkuth says, ITSELF. They listen to what others say and ignor the words. --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) --[SEEN-BY: ]-- Date: Mon 22 Feb 88 17:02:32 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: The 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd Paths "The Twentinineth path is called the Corporeal Intelligence; it informs every body which is incorporated under all orbs, and it is the growth thereof." Judgement covers this Path, with Resh, the Sun: Initiation. From the Stoned Tarot: Miracle of patience: God! Muttering man...childless man...slack, old, naked man,,, Crude woman... Sad child They raise crude arms to Death: Black Sacophegus The seek Joy, hiding in Defeat They are hiding in silent Defeat Release! Fail again...grow again...die again... Faithful, patient, Joyous, Crude, Loving: God! The thirtieth path is called the Collective Intelligence, for thense astrologers, by the judgement of the stars and the heavenly signs, derive their speculations and the perfection of their science according to the motions of the the stars" The thirtieth path is covered by shin, sharper than a serpents tooth...the old ways die hard... The Stoned Tarot: The Two sexted Creature, clothed in Flesh, Benignly dances on. Within a Wreath, with Gold beneath She dances in her mind Angels in their varied forms Sadly watch her cance. They want to see her Faith in God. She dances in her mind Touch, dear God, our Flesh with Faith Touch us with Holy Faith. Faith is all we need, dear God, To dance right out of our minds. Tav indeed! --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) Date: Mon 22 Feb 88 17:15:52 From: Hugh Read (on 282/341) To: All Subj: More Paths The thirty-first path is called the Perpetual Intelligence. Why is it so called? Because it guides the sun and the moon according to their constitution and cases each to gravitate in its respective orb. The thirty-first path is covered by the Fool and Tav. What does the Fool and what does Tav have to do with movement of the sun and the moon...I don't have the slightest idea. Case says this is the path of conscious immortality. Sounds good to me! Perhaps a little alchemy is hidden here. The thirty-second path is called the Assisting Intelligence, because it directs all the operation of the seven planets, with their divisions, and concurs therein. There is only one Aleph in this system, in Kether. There is only one Magician in this system, in Kether. The thirty second path, also called the Administrating Intelligence is void of symbolism, save that which you choose as you travel the path. Perhaps this is where Higher Self abides...or where the Holy Spirit whispers in silence and beauty. Thank you all for bearing with me in this Mercury Retrograde operation which I am bringing to a close now amidst physical confusiong and computer madness. In time to come, I may get this into a presentable form. Now it is a tattered tree of spontaneous thoughts based mostly on the text of the Sepher Yetzirah as fond in A.E. Waite's, The Holy Kabbalah and in Gareth Knights, a Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symolism. Blessed Be and 93 93/93 --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341)