My mum (pictured here) has spent the last four weeks in hospital, during which time she was permitted to leave for a few hours to celebrate her 90th birthday. Spending hours each day with her at the hospital, there was plenty of opportunity to reflect on and to discuss ageing. It became evident that it was highly unlikely she would be able to return to independent living in her own home. Given her location, family and social network the most logical residential option is a local nursing home and residential aged care facility that my dad was responsible for being built as his ‘project’ when he was the president of the local Rotary club back in the late 60’s. This would mean that she would be going from a four-bedroom home to a ‘hostel room with an ensuite’. Until recently, mum had been going out to this nursing home for years, being part of the support group that helped with their singing days. In many instances she was older than the people she was serving. Intimately familiar with what this move would mean she asked (with tears) a very poignant question, “Who will I be now?” Observing the inevitable confrontation with becoming elderly, 14th century Italian humanist philosopher, Francesco Petrarch wrote, “How swiftly time before my eyes rushed on after the guiding sun that never rests…This morning I was a child and am now old.” Petrarch, in describing the ‘trumps’ of life explains how Time (in the medieval manuscripts of Petrarch’s Trionfo, Time would be depicted as an old man carrying an hourglass typical of il tempo or the hermit in the tarot cards) “dissolves all mortal things, both physical and mental. Men turn to dust and life to smoke. Old age brings misery and Glory melts like snow in the sun. Time, in his avarice, steals all and thus triumphs over the world and Fame.”[i] Whenever those of us in the Western culture are presented (often beyond our control) with times of significant transition we either consciously or subconsciously ask this same question? An adolescent develops ‘adult physical features’ and in the case of young women, commence their menses, and even if not conscious of it will wonder, “Who am I now?” Women go through menopause, men through andropause, as well as facing retirement and may well ask, “So who will I be now?” In astrology reference is made to two Saturn returns, seen to be associated with those times when we make the transition from our formative years to our productive years (around the age of 30), and from our productive years to our harvest years (around the age of 60). Each time we are presented with the same question, “Who will I be now?” If we live long enough there is this time, like that confronting my mum, where all that essentially defines who we are both physically and mentally will be taken away. This results in what can be best described as a crisis of values. In other words, if what you valued was invested in external measures like wealth, power, love and intimacy, and popularity, then anytime natural justice, ageing or misfortune take them away, (which is inevitable) you’ll experience a values crisis. The recent pandemic forced people globally to prematurely experience that very thing. It would seem that a significant number of people found it overwhelming, typical of what the elderly experience when ‘Time’ turns their world upside down. During the pandemic, people were and still are being confronted with the loss of freedom, being confined to their homes. In many cases they struggled to keep their businesses open and to find enough money to pay the rent or sustain mortgage payment for their homes. What has significantly affected many people is the lack of social contact. When you think about it, this is typical of what a lot of elderly people experience, more especially, the older they get. The world has been given an intimate look at what the elderly have been experiencing for many years. In many cultures rites of passage are used for significant periods of transition. In the case of my own children, when my son reached the age of puberty and had noticeably developed more manly features, a friend of ours and his two boys, who were about the same age, decided to hold a rite of passage ceremony. In addition to the ceremony, it was decided to do bungy-jumping, which as dads we also did as our boys were quick to point out that we hadn’t had our rites of passage as teenagers. My daughters had their rites of passage with their mum and their network of women and girlfriends. Recently, friends of mine separated amicably and I suggested they hold a rite of passage to hold sacred this significant period of transition. The ceremony began with one large lit candle from which they each lit their own candle. The first candle was then blown out, symbolic of their union coming to a close. The lighting of individual candles symbolised the idea that the light they shared still existed in their individually lit candles. In their independence they could still acknowledge the love that they had shared. They were each then given a ‘worry-bead’ bracelet and for the number of beads that were on the bracelet, they would send their ex-partner a SMS message telling them what they appreciated about them, for as many days as there were beads. They had to wear the bracelet for the duration, after which they could do with it as they pleased. With their last bead they wrote a message of appreciation for the way they had been blessed, having been together. While talking to mum, the thought crossed my mind that what she was about to experience was one of the most challenging periods of transition that someone might face. Of course, many people by virtue of their spiritual journey voluntarily make this shift in values way before becoming elderly. Typically, this process of transition is called the Dark Night of the Soul. It’s my belief that whether it’s done voluntarily at an earlier age, or brought on by natural justice, ageing, or misfortune (or is experienced in post-mortality), it will still be a Dark Night of the Soul. This transition from unsustainable values to sustainable values in the Christian tradition was formalised in a rite of passage called baptism. I like to think of it as spiritual bungy-jumping since the apostle Paul wrote, “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31) Given the significance of this passage of transition, I began to explore that idea that people in the same situation as my mum could benefit greatly by holding a rite of passage ceremony. It would highlight the profundity of this transition from home to residential age care. It would give the elderly somewhere to ‘park’ their grief as their fast approaching ‘end of day’, that inevitable destination of Time, more quickly dissolves the body and the mind. By shifting the focus from one of loss to one of celebration and giving helps to reduce the impact of grief. This rite of passage would include family and close friends at the elder’s home and might include the following components: 1. In the ceremony, the family and friends that have gathered publicly acknowledge the elder’s contribution in their lives and highlight the key points of this elder’s journey, giving space for appreciation and gratitude, thus helping to minimise the impact of grief. 2. The gifting of personal artifacts to specific family members and close friends by the elder will fill the elder’s heart with the joy that giving brings (which they would miss out on after their death). The elder can now associate joy rather than loss with the things they have had to leave behind. 3. There could be a ‘key ceremony’ where the elder hands over the keys to their house, and in return are given an album of memories of the home they are leaving and a maybe an important plant or something similar that holds the symbolic essence of their home that will help to bring that energy to their new home. 4. A ‘mourning tea’ where family and friends gather to share food and company, thus helping the elder to be more of the observer of their past and less attached to it. Being the observer of their past, one is more able to be detached from the past. 5. The elder is then taken to their new residence by close family and friends where a priest or person of spiritual significance performs a blessing or clearing ceremony on the new space, highlighting that this is now a sacred space. A place of heightened spiritual alignment, given the gift of being release from their material-centred world. 6. Each family member and close friend will then publicly declare what they will do to support the elder while they are in their new ‘home’. When we have the capacity to see something differently, then and only then can we change our experience of that thing. One of the most important steps listed above is the fifth one. It’s creating this idea that where they have moved to is a sacred space. Sacred, because it’s here that the real work can be done to consciously prepare to cross the final human portal, from life to death (given that most of the mental faculties are functioning). Now free of those things that had defined who they were in the world (their home, possessions and activity in the world) the elder has the opportunity to contemplate who they are without those things and explore a whole new set of values with which to be aligned. The absence of that, can only result in suffering that attachment with loss brings. As an aside, this rite of passage would also be beneficial to the family and friends of the elder who might otherwise be burdened with the sadness and possibly even guilt at having to orchestrate this shift for their loved one. An expansion of their ongoing support is the encouragement and assistance they can give the elder in more fully embracing this sacred part of their life-journey. In Part 2 of The Ageing Epidemic, I will discuss what the nature of this contemplative time could look like. [i] From The Early Renaissance Personification of Time and Changing Concepts of Temporality by Simona Cohen

No, I am not another Greta knocker, but my question is serious. I have always taken what could be best described as a metaphysical approach to the human experience. Forty years in ‘natural’ healthcare, the last decade of which has been focused on western mindfulness, has provided plenty of evidence to support this notion. Obviously for some time I have tried to make sense of Covid19 and the global pandemic from a metaphysical perspective. This last week the penny finally dropped. A part of my perspective of the human experience is open to the idea that what manifests in physical form was first created energetically. From the human perspective, what the mind and heart (consciousness) are aligned with forms our reality. I have personally worked with enough people over the last decade to see that when people shift their state of consciousness, their reality changes. If this holds true, then in terms of our global pandemic, it begs the question, “What global alignment of consciousness could be powerful enough to have caused a pandemic?” In the context of social dynamics, critical mass is when a sufficient number of people become so aligned with an idea that it causes a tipping point or threshold where the perceived reality of a community or population is impacted. It’s my theory that in 2019 Greta Thunberg reached a critical mass of the global population with her passionate message to ‘save the planet’. In just one year she was presented with seven prestigious awards including Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2019. Called ‘the Greta effect’, Thunberg in one year created more global awareness and gathered more support about the need to reverse global warming than any other person in human history. The breadth of her influence, it could be argued, reached that all important global critical mass. This much change in consciousness, meaning that a critical mass of the global population has been impacted, meant that in the context of metaphysics, reality had to change, it could no longer stay the same. Since it came across that the agenda for change was primarily fear driven, then fear would infuse this collective shift in consciousness. Fear inspires urgency, which on this scale would be the catalyst for an almost immediate dramatic global shift in reality. Enter, the pandemic. Thunberg didn’t create Covid19. But, here is one example of how the pandemic mirrored Thunberg’s rhetoric. Greta was responsible for bringing to prominence ‘flight shame’, an anti-flying movement promoting train travel over flying in-order to help reduce the accelerating greenhouse emissions created by the airline industry. This movement already existed before Thunberg’s prominence, having been started by Swedish Olympian athlete Björn Ferry. It only became globally noticed (critical mass) when Thunberg refused to fly to her international engagements, choosing to sail instead. You may have already guessed where this was going. One of the biggest impacts of the pandemic was essentially the shutting down of almost all air travel. The reduction in air pollution was unprecedented and was achieved much more quickly that anyone ever thought possible. Thunberg clearly identified capitalism and consumerism as major causes for escalating greenhouse emissions. Once again the pandemic was more powerful than any capitalist as they couldn’t stop its ability to curtail consumption. All the while, the key motive that allowed the pandemic to bring about these changes was the global fear of imminent death. Ironically, Thunberg was also talking about death, but the difference was, she was talking about global mortality that was relatively more remote. That said, the poignancy of her message was heard by teenagers and the young adults who would be most impacted in the future by the rapid deterioration of the ‘health’ of the environment. The challenge when change is the result of fear and scarcity is the lack of sustainability. In spite of the critical mass buying into Thunberg’s message, the critical mass has also suffered from the forced loss of those things that they relied on most; their freedom to consume, to socialise and to travel. The very things that if limited, in terms of travel and consumption, could make a significant contribution to healing the environment. On a slightly different angle, these priorities were the primary distractions of choice that made it possible for most people to function day to day despite their personal suffering. Most people are struggling with scarcity in terms of wealth, autonomy, feeling loveable and acceptance. Having had a taste of what will be required to ‘save the planet’, there will be many people who aren’t so sure that what they experienced at the hands of the pandemic, is what they are prepared to do voluntarily. This is the point where the support for saving the planet begins to wane and the critical mass can no longer be sustained. That being the case, the world quickly returns to its habitual ways of avoiding those things that are responsible for their personal suffering, thus dropping the environmental agenda. The question has to be asked, “Can a critical mass of the population be inspired to want to ‘save the planet’ motivated by love and not fear?’ If the weakest link in the ‘Greta effect’ is the lack of sustainable commitment by the critical mass because of their need to avoid their suffering, then it makes sense that the sustainable remedy must be to have the critical mass shift their perceived reality from one of scarcity and fear to one of abundance and love. Imagine for a moment a critical mass whose values had permanently shifted from the need for wealth, power, love (eros) and fame to minimalism, self-realisation, agape (brotherly love) and social justice (for anawims and the planet). Imagine a critical mass with sufficient self-worth that their lives are filled with peace, joy, love, kindness, temperance, patience, gentleness and mercy, lives where feeling discombobulated is a rarity. The ‘church’ had a mandate to champion that state of consciousness, but because of its own greed, abuse of power, fear-centred teachings and self-importance, it forfeited that mandate. What the world needs now is the ‘Agape effect’, a global critical mass that is committed to remembering in each moment that they have a choice to be more loving to themselves, to others and to the planet.

You can’t just walk on into the Rose-garden, you need a key, and that key is revealed in the Cathar Code hidden in the symbology of the cards of the Marseille Tarot major arcana. Joseph Campbell in The Mythic Image make reference to the Rose of France, the centre of the rose window in the northern transept of Chartres Cathedral. “There, in the center, sits the Virgin, crowned, the scepter of world rule in her right hand and her left supporting the infant Christ. She is in this vision the ‘Mystical Rose’ of the litany, vehicle and support of the revelation of God, the very ‘Gate of Heaven’.” Barbara Walker further expands our understanding of the Rose-garden in her book, The Women’s Encyclopaedia of Myths and Secrets. “In the great age of cathedral building, when Mary was worshipped as a goddess in her ‘Palaces of the Queen of Heaven’ or Notre Dame (meaning Our Mother/Lady), she was at different times given a variety of rose centered titles: the Rose, Rose-bush, Rose-garland, Rose-garden, Wreath of Roses, Mystic Rose, Queen of the Most Holy Rose-garden.” Walker explains further, “The church, the garden, and Mary’s body were all mystically one; for she was Lady Ecclesia, the Church, as well as ‘the pure womb of regeneration’. Like the pagan temple, the Gothic cathedral represented the body of the goddess who was also the universe, containing the essence of the male godhood within herself. This was largely forgotten after the passing of the Gothic period.” In The World card the Rose-garden is symbolised by a yoni, the mandorla shape surrounding the central figure. At this point in the Fool’s journey, they can only go one of two ways. Not being in possession of the Rose Key that allows them to enter the sacred yoni, the Fool is reincarnated and is born of flesh once more, to once again encounter the Magician’s world of illusion. Having been born of water (having become a Fool for Christ) the Fool is in possession of the key, that opens the Mystical Rose, the secret Rose-garden, the Gate of Heaven. Now the Fool as the Christ is permitted to enter the sacred yoni and can now be born of the spirit. As Jesus explained, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The Cathars possessed the knowledge of the mysteries that would reveal the Rose Key, which was the only way the Gate of Heaven (the Rose-garden) could be opened. In this regard, the Marseille Tarot is much more than a tool for doing tarot readings. If people really knew what they had in their possession regarding the Marseille Tarot they would understand that it was ‘the pearl of great price’ that Jesus explained, would have a merchant sell all that he has to buy it. Anne Barring and Jules Cashford explain it this way in their book, The Myth of the Goddess. “The great myth of the Bronze Age is structured upon the distinction between the ‘whole’, personified as the Great Mother Goddess, and the ‘part’, personified as her lover-son or her daughter...This essential distinction between the whole and the part was later formulated in the Greek language by two different Greek words for life, zoe and bios, as the embodiment of two dimensions coexisting in life. Zoe is eternal and infinite life; bios is finite and individual life...The Great Mother Goddess can be recognised as the totality of the lunar cycle - as zoe - and her daughter and son-lover, who emerge from and return to her, can be seen as the moon’s phases - as bios...The sacred marriage, in which the Mother Goddess as bride is united with her son-lover, reconnects symbolically the two ‘worlds’ of zoe and bios.” This sacred union is not the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage of Christ and Sophia depicted in The Sun card. That created the androgyny which is the Rose Key. This Rose Key is the son-lover that now enters the bridal chamber of the Mother Goddess. There was a time in the Neolithic era “when the goddess was the image of the Whole, when life emerged from and returned to her, and when she was conceived as the door or gateway to a hidden dimension of being that was her womb, the eternal source and regenerator of life.” (Barring and Cashford) It was this knowledge and understanding of the mother goddess that became a key part of Mary’s mantle that was the precious knowledge secreted our of Montsegur by four Cathar perfecti on that fateful night in 1244. They possessed the mysteries of the Rose Key, the key that made it possible to unlock the birth passage to obtaining eternal life, becoming at-one-with the good God. This divine womb of the Mother Goddess was the Holy Grail, for which the Cathars were custodians. This knowledge was the purpose for these portable stain glass windows (the Marseille Tarot) being created in the first place. It was the perfect place to hide sacred mysteries - in plain sight! The image of The World card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP (Paris) This photo is from my personal alter, which includes symbols of the Yoni Rose and the Key (the cross). The image of the 'Gate' is from the book, The Hermetic Museum, Alchemy & Mysticism. Alexander Roob, © 2001 TASCHEN GmbH, Cologne, Germany. #worldcard #marseilletarot #catharcode #holygrail #thespiritualrootsofthetarot #rosegarden #rosekey

In just the same way the Fool had the test of the flaming sword after their sojourn through the Dark Night of the Soul (Hanged Man, Card XIII, Temperance, and Devil cards) so too is there a test on leaving the Treasury of Light, called the test of the Cherubim. These were the gatekeepers that God put at the Eastern gate of the Garden of Eden, making sure that Adam and Eve qualified to re-enter the Garden. You may recall that prior to their expulsion, they had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, essentially adopting the idea of ‘duality’, the belief that there was something that could be seperate from God. The only thing that could stay in the Garden (the kingdom of Heaven) was ‘oneness’ or what I referred to in the first couple of posts in this series, as undifferentiated consciousness. By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve had become differentiated from God. The Cathars subscribed to the idea of reincarnation. In The Judgement card we can see this being played out. The central figure arising from the grave is typically depicted as being almost androgynous. It often appears as if one side of the body is more feminine in its form and the other more masculine. Of course this was the result of the hieros gamos between the Christ and Sophia that occurred in The Sun card. This is one of the scenarios that plays out in the afterworld. The other is depicted by the man and the woman (possibly the emperor and empress) who flank the androgynous character. They, in their separated state are not able to pass the final test and as such will be reincarnated. On the other hand, the Christ/Sophia androgyny may well pass the test of the Cherubim, and in doing so qualify to enter the bridal chamber of the mother/goddess where she encounters the union with her lover son (androgyny) as depicted in The World card. More about that in the next post. Micheal the Archangel appears in the most brilliant of all the lights. Brighter than the sun, moon, and stars together. In fact, at this point they become redundant. His trumpet, as was often the case, was draped by a flag, or what was known as a ‘standard’. Etymologically, the origin of the word standard meant ‘an instrument by which the accuracy of others was measured’ or having achieved ‘a definable level of attainment’. This is exactly what was going on here. The flag as a standard has been presented, which measures whether of not the Fool as the androgynous ‘Son’ has met the definable level of attainment, consciously speaking. In the Marseille Tarot, the flag bears a cross, the instrument by which the accuracy of others was measured. The key to the cross being the measure is that it represents The Four in balance, which was the objective of the Cathar Code. If you recall, the whole journey of the Fool has been about reintegrating The Four with a consciousness of love. This would enable The Fool to return back to the kingdom of Heaven, that place of undifferentiated consciousness. This is the test of the Cherubim. Has The Fool brought the four aspects of the Cherubim (the Bull, Lion, Eagle, Angel [man]) into a whole being? The evidence that the Fool as the Christ is prepared to take the test was described by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. He lists the qualities that one would possess that would mean you could pass the test. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...’ and it then goes onto say, ‘...against which there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22) In other words, if you possess all of these qualities, you are free of the judgement of all law, which means you would qualify to return to the kingdom of God. The Judgement card is linked to the last and eighth Beatitude, “Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” There is a lot of justifiable debate as to whether this was an original Beatitude. All of the other seven Beatitudes describe a state of consciousness that you would adopt at various stages in your spiritual sojourn. Then suddenly, the last Beatitude describes what will happen to you, and nothing about you adopting anything. The Cathar would have identified with the whole idea of being persecuted for righteousness sake. However, if they were the inspiration for the trumps, then this card has a totally different focus. The link could be that as a religion they were completely eliminated by the Catholic Church in the middle of the 14th century, and that without exception they would all face the judgement that meant that they would either be reincarnated or enter the kingdom of Heaven. The card could be the reminder of what the after-life options were for the Cathars, given the inevitability of total eradication. If the Fool fails to pass the test of the Cherubim, then they are reincarnated. There is no hell, no inferno, no perdition, no nether world; only the hell we each experience here on earth, and keep experiencing each time we are reincarnated. If the Fool does pass the test, they are permitted to enter the bridal chamber, the sacred yoni, as depicted in The World card. More about that in the next post. (The image of The Judgement card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP (Paris) #judgementcard #marseilletarot #catharcode #beatitudes #cherubim #thespiritualrootsofthetarot #blessedarethepersecuted

The Moon card is full of surprises. There are four key symbols, the crustacean, the dogs, the buildings, and the Moon herself. We saw in The Star card a naked woman who in many versions of the Marseille Tarot appears to be pregnant. It’s possible that The Moon card, since it followed The Star card, could actually be a birth card. But where is that in the symbolism? In her JSTOR published article, “June’s Zodiac Sign & ‘Lobster-Like’ Crabs“, Jessica Savage writes, “Well into the seventeenth century, the word ‘cancer’ and its translations were used as generic terms for all crabs and lobster-like creatures...So, etymologically speaking, crabs, crayfishes, and lobsters were mingled together from very early on.” Astrologically speaking, the Moon and cancer were related. Three of the key stars that make up the constellation of Cancer give an important clue to understanding the deeper meaning of this card. Cancer as a constellation is not particularly bright, but at its centre is a star cluster known as Praesaepe, which means “manger” or “crib.” The two stars flanking this cluster are called (gamma) Asellus Borealis and (delta) Asellus Australis. Aselli (the singular of Asellus) was the Greek/Latin word for donkeys or asses. This lead to the idea that this grouping of stars symbolised the manger where Christ was born, which always included asses. Being symbolic of the birth of Christ, it can be extrapolated that this card is announcing the birth of the Christ in the Fool. In other words, the Fool, in having become pure in heart, is now fully aligned with the Christ. Instead of being the ‘son of man’, he or she is now, the ‘son of God’. The Fool qualifies for this birth because they have relinquished their attachment to the world of The Magician and have adopted both the corporeal and spiritual Works of Mercy as their way of life. The Fool has replaced their penchant for acting with pride, wrath, greed, lust, envy, gluttony and sloth, with seeking to be aligned with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - knowledge, understanding, wisdom, piety, fortitude, taking counsel and maintaining an awe of God. This was all symbolised in The Star card. All of this means that the Fool has become pure in heart. This is the being ‘born of water’ that Jesus referred to in the Gospel of John, the first of two births that the Fool had to experience in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven. The second was being ‘born of the spirit’ which will unfold a little later in the Fool’s journey. The sixth Beatitude said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” This is the face reflected in the moon. With the emergence of the Christ, when you have seen the son, you have seen the Father. In the early Greek translations of the Bible, the origin for the word pure, used in this context was katharos, which was also the root of the word cathar. The Cathar were in essence “the pure”. This level of purity was what was necessary for the Fool, as the emerging Christ, to pass the next gatekeepers, the dogs. They, like their Egyptian forebear Anubis, the Great Dog, would check that the new initiate (in this case the Fool) possessed the Odour of Sanctity. You were sanctified if who you be, matched what you taught. If they were congruent, then you could take on the next phase of service, as the newly initiated Christ. The buildings are the next revealing symbol in this part of the Fool’s journey. As the newly appointed Christ, your role is to be a ‘light unto the world’. In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus describes the symbolism of these buildings. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill can’t be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel...” Now he goes on to explain the key role of the Fool as the Christ, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) The Moon card is defining the role of the Fool as the newly born Christ. The Cathar believed that we all have the potential to adopt the role of the Christ and that Jesus was the first to show that it could be done. Through the symbology of the The Moon card they were also explaining what the Fool would doing - letting their light shine. As you would imagine, what Jesus modelled as the Christ set the benchmark for what the Fool would now be expected to do. I am very sorry if this went too churchy! But from the Cathar perspective, this is what they would have meant this card to mean. That is why The Moon card could well be called The Christmas card. (The image of The Moon card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille {Edition Millennium © 2011 FJP Paris) #mooncard #marseilletarot #catharcode #beatitudes #blessedarethepureinheart #thespiritualrootsofthetarot

Rebis was an alchemical term that was typically represented as one body having two heads, one being masculine and the other feminine. Sophia (as the fallen daughter, depicted as the Fool in the Marseille Tarot) was symbolic of matter and the soul, where Christ (the son sent by his heavenly parents to rescue Sophia) symbolised the mind and spirit. The Sun card is about these four (matter - the bull, soul - the eagle, mind - the man/angel and spirit - the lion, the four aspects of Ezekiel’s cherubim) finally reuniting. This reintegration of the ‘four’ was the whole purpose of the Cathar Code. The Sun card is the last step before this conjoining takes place. The symbol of this conjunction is the embrace that has been depicted between Christ and Sophia in the card. Going to the trouble to portray the embrace in such detail (as some of The Sun cards do) is evidence that it was important. Alchemical images portraying the King (sun) and Queen (moon) typically displayed a sequence of interactions between them, symbolic of the alchemical process. The stance and the positions of the hands were intrinsic to “the sacred embrace.” As temple culture historian, Hugh Nibley states, “The ritual embrace is the culminating rite of the initiation: it’s an initiatory gesture weighted with meaning.” This union is the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage that unifies differentiated consciousness. This is the pinnacle of Western mindfulness. When the Fool, now integrated with the Christ, gets to this point in their spiritual evolution, they choose to maintain a consciousness that embraces all that they have committed to on entering the Treasury of Light (the House of God): peace, righteousness, mercy and purity of heart. Righteousness (social justice) brings the Fool’s relationship with matter into its highest expression. Mercy (forgiveness) of oneself and others brings peace of mind. Purity of heart (saving grace) becomes the focus of the soul, and stillness is the silence of the spirit (what we desire) that brings the Fool into full accord with the will of God. These are the attributes of consciousness that makes the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage and union of Christ and Sophia real! This seventh Beatitude reads, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” This is the sort of commitment to peace that saw the Cathars often accepting their fate of death by burning, with non-resistance (the 200 Perfecti corralled and burnt at the base of Montségur in the middle of the thirteenth century). It was the same devotion to peace that inspired Mahatma Gandhi to resort to Satyagraha (“vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself.”) when resisting the British. It was the non-resistance demonstrated by Jesus when being accused and judged by the Romans and the Jews. Resistance gave power to what they resisted, and in the case of the Cathars would have been an admission that the world of the evil God was real. As an aside, Gandhi, a Hindu, made this observation of the Sermon on the Mount, “Christ’s Sermon on the Mount fills me with bliss even today. It’s sweet verses have even today the power to quench my agony of soul.” Like entrances to buildings and cities, crossroads and fences/walls were liminal places. That this card includes a stone fence is significant as it indicates that the Fool, as the emerging Christ, is standing at a transitional or transformative space. Liminal spaces are “waiting areas between one point in time and space and the next. Often when we are in liminal spaces, we have the feeling of just being on the verge of something.” The beginning to the emergence of the liminal space in which the Fool now finds themselves was the doorway depicted in the building on the left in The Moon card. Of course, we know that the Fool does in fact make a transition given the androgynous form that the Fool takes when emerging from the grave in the very next card, The Judgement card. The two have become one. From the perspective of the Cathars, the Fool has done everything possible to be ready for the final test, the test of the Cherubim. The Cathar perfecti (the most committed Cathars) have proven that they were “good and faithful servants.” They had forsaken their attachment to power, wealth, love and fame. They have kept themselves pure through regular fasting, being celibate and avoiding foods sourced from animals. They regularly repented, stayed true to the Lord’s Prayer, and have devoted their lives to spreading the gospel of truth and approaching all that they do with loving kindness. They were committed to being merciful and seek to be knowledgeable, but with understanding and wisdom. They are attuned to hearing the ‘still small voice’ and have courage to do the will of God. They live in awe of God, evidenced by lives filled with devotion and reverence. They have, as the apostle Peter said, given diligence “to make [their] calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you will never fall: As such, you’ll be given a wonderful entrance into the everlasting kingdom...” (2 Peter 1:10-11) Where Peter says ‘these things’ he is referring to what he said in verses 5 through 7: “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” These are the qualities of consciousness that made the hieros gamos a possibility. I was this state of Christ consciousness that would hold the Fool in good stead when faced with the test of the Cherubim. It was these things that would allow them to enter the world of the good God, because now, as the Beatitude explained, “the are the children of God.” (The image of The Sun card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP Paris) #suncard #marseilletarot #catharcode #beatitudes #hierosgamos #rebis #blessedarethepeacemakers #thespiritualrootsofthetarot

The Fool is now passing through the outer portal of the House of God, which in the Temple of Solomon lead from the the Court of the Congregation to the Holy Place. They are about to enter the Treasury of Light (as it was called by the Gnostics), also known as the Holy Place, evidenced by the fact that all of the cards from here on are all about light. Both the Christians and Gnostics taught about the varying degrees of glory, the mysteries of the Kingdom of Light. Clement of Rome (said to be the first pope 88-99 CE) describes the Prayer Circle of the early Christian temples, the ritual that took place at the entrance to the Holy Place. “...Then all give each other (all facing each other in a circle with the Bishop in the middle) the sign of peace. Next, when absolute silence is established the deacon says: “Let your hearts be to Heaven. If anyone has ill feeling towards his neighbour, let him be reconciled (or) let him withdraw...For the Father of Lights is our witness with the Son and visiting angels. Take care lest you have aught against your neighbour.” In other words, you could not possess any ill feeling towards another in order to qualify to enter the inner sanctuary (the Holy Place) of the House of God. It makes sense that the Star card is associated with the fifth Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” This card depicts the more full expression of the Works of Mercy that began with the Devil card. If you recall, the Devil card retaliated to the forth Beatitude, which was about social justice (hunger and thirst after righteousness - social justice), thus meeting the corporal needs of others. This is depicted in the Star card with Sophia (the Gnostic equivalent to the Fool) pouring water onto the earth in this card. She is also pouring water from another vessel into the stream, which is symbolic of the spiritual Works of Mercy: pardoning wrong-doers, loving your enemies, praying for those condemn or falsely accuse you, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile and refraining from judging or condemning. These are all aspects of forgiveness, which could see the Star card actually being the forgiveness card. In the last few paragraphs in the Sermon on the Mount (the Cathars go-to scriptures) Jesus talks about a house built on rock verses a house built on sand. In some of the Marseille Tarot, we see Sophia kneeling on a platform, as depicted here. It is in contrast to the platform that we see the Fool sitting on, on top of the Wheel of Fortune. Of the latter Jesus said, “And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:27) This card depicts what a house built on rock would look like. Sophia is naked, since just having passed the test of the flaming sword (the House of God card), she has relinquished all of her possessions and ‘special’ relationships, much like St Francis did when he severed his links with his family and all the trappings that came with that. He literally walked away naked in the city square. (A story worth reading.) Sophia (the Fool) has now adopted an approach to life that is fully devoted to the honouring the Works of Mercy. We see that she is pregnant, and the scenery around her is symbolic of the promise of new life, spring! Even the constellation of the stars depicted in the cards could be linked to the Pleiades and Ursa Major, both symbolic of impending new life (spring). It would seem that something significant is about to happen, which one would expect will become evident in the Moon card. A birth/new life of some kind is about to manifest! Given that the Fool is entering the Holy Place of the temple, it could also be that the seven smaller stars represent the light emanating from the menorah, the Jewish seven-stemmed oil lamp that gave ‘unfailing light to the tabernacle’. The seven lamps symbolised the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, those qualities of enlightenment that were indicative of someone who was pure in heart, or in other words, someone who had become a Fool for Christ. The seven lamps symbolised: knowledge, understanding, wisdom, fortitude, piety, counsel (the still small voice) and awe of God. These became the new values that one would prioritise if they have become committed to being aligned with Christ consciousness. These would displace the basest of human consciousness: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. The Star card is telling the Fool what they will have to do to be able to go on and inherit the degree of glory symbolised by the Moon card. In the Gnostic scripture entitled The Pistis Sophia, it explained, “After one has completed the test, the baptisms, and the anointing and has been conducted to the treasury of light, one ascends up a few steps to the drawing aside of the veil and the entrance into a new purification, when the cycle begins all over again, but at a higher level.” The Fool has left the world of illusion and has passed through the Dark Night of the Soul and has now entered the Treasury of Light. This was the hope advertised by Hecate, the hope of finding the Crowning Glory of Christ as symbolised by the zig-zag crown depicted on her hat. Albeit, this is the lesser glory. The Cathar made it very clear (as depicted in the balance of the cards) as to what was required of the Fool if they wanted to be aligned with the higher degrees of glory, suffice it to say that in the degree of glory associated with the Star, the Fool will have devoted their life to corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy. (The image of the Star card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP Paris) The photo of the menorah is of the one I use as a part of my morning ritual meditation. #starcard #marseilletarot #catharcode #beatitudes #blessedarethemerciful #thespiritualrootsofthetarot

That its name was changed from the House of God to the Tower is a good indication that this was one of the more misunderstood cards in the majors of the Marseille Tarot. Firstly, let me put the House fo God card into context. It sits between cards XII and XV, the Fool’s journey through the Dark Night of the Soul, and cards XVII and XX, the Fool’s journey through the Treasury of Light. The last card in the Dark Night ‘four’ is the Devil, who we see holding a flaming sword (typical of the standard canon of the Marseille Tarot). One of the very few references to a flaming sword was when God placed it, along side Cherubim at the Eastern Gate of the Garden of Eden (another name for the House of God, the place where God resides). They were gatekeepers, who were to test that Adam and Eve qualified to enter back into the presence of God. This would suggest that a deep appreciation of the role and meaning of the flaming sword is essential if one was seeking en-light-enment or everlasting life. How many Sunday sermons did you hear on how to pass the tests of the flaming sword and the Cherubim? Sorry to go biblical so much in this post, but this is what the Cathar were all about. There is a story of young man who approached Jesus and asks him what he has to do to obtain eternal life (the kingdom of Heaven). Basically, Jesus tells him to obey all of the commandments (ie the Ten Commandments). The young man replies, “All these things have I done from my youth up: What lack I yet?” Then Jesus says, “If you will be perfect, go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: come and follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful because he has many possessions. (Matthew 19:20-22) Jesus goes one step further, and here we see the significance of the sword. “I came not to send peace, but a sword...He that loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34,37) So in summarising the level of detachment required here Jesus says, “And everyone that has forsaken houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (Matthew 19:29) Some Cathar context here. The Cathar did not teach that Jesus was a saviour, to them he was an exampler. That said, they recognised that it was Christ consciousness that would save them, and so when these scriptures refer to loving father, mother, son or daughter, ‘more than me’, from the Cathar perspective that wasn’t about Jesus, but Christ consciousness. So, the House of God card is essentially depicting the Fool relinquishing his attachments to special relationships (the people falling out of the tower) and the crown, which symbolised wealth, power and fame. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains why this is so necessary. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You can’t serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Human consciousness has to be converted to Christ consciousness if the Fool is to enter the Treasury of Light (cards XVII - XX). The ‘tower’ represents the bricken construct of one’s life that is defined by how much wealth, power, love, and fame one has that will have to be sacrificed if you want to adopt Christ consciousness. You can’t serve God and mammon. Now, this leads to an bit of a conundrum, because if you were making the sacrifice (on an alter for example) the flames would be going up. This was the significance of the alters in the Court of the Congregation, the forecourt to the Jewish temple. It doesn’t make sense that God would be the one striking your tower of human attachments. God already did their bit by exposing the Fool to Justice, Time and Chance. It’s interesting that in the Noblet cards, the flames are coming from the building and reaching up to the sun, and not the other way around. The other conundrum is, if the building represents the constructs of the Fool as defined by his state of human consciousness, then where is the House of God? I call the flaming sword and House of God card the Abrahamic Test. Here’s why. Abraham is 100 years or there about when he and Sarah give birth to their first child. Now Abraham has had a life time of being ‘attached’ to the idea of having a son. When he escapes from his country of birth he takes his nephew Lot with him. That has its challenges. God promises Abraham that he will have many children, but nothing is forth coming. So Sarah suggests he has a son to her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar. She gives birth to Ishmael. This also has its challenges. Once again God declares to Abraham that he will be the ‘father of many nations’, but that this blessing would not come through Ishmael. As it turns out, Sarah does give birth, to Isaac (which means “he laughs” because Abraham laughed at God when he said he would be having a child to Sarah). From a psychological perspective, Abraham’s narrative driving his neediness around having an heir (to which he would serve as a loving parent) may have come from his own childhood experience. Abraham was almost executed as a young man, by King Nimrod, as a consequence of an altercation that he, Abraham, had with his own father. Isaac is a lad when an angel appears to Abraham and says that God wants him to take Isaac “who obviously you really love, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, of which I will tell you later” (Genesis 22:2, my adaptation). This idea of the sacrifice of a child by a parent was incorporated into almost all religious faiths. For example in Greek mythology, Iphigenia is sacrificed by her father Agamemnon. The Etruscans would adorn their cremation urns with scenes from Iphigenia’s sacrifice. These urns would be placed beside the entrance to the yoni shaped passages in their tombs that lead to the rear of the tomb. Cremated remains placed in this urn was an indication that this person had passed the test of the flaming sword. Even in the Christian religion, God sacrifices his only begotten son, Jesus. Getting back to Abraham. He takes Isaac up to the appointed place, builds an alter, ties up Isaac and is about to perform the sacrificial ritual (with a knife/sword and fire) when the angel returns and tells him not to continue. He frees Isaac and captures a wild ram caught in a thicket and sacrifices the ram instead. God wanted to know that Abraham had more love for God than Isaac. No wonder the word jealous was attributed to God! The thing to which we have our greatest attachment, we will be asked to sacrifice. That is what this card is all about. This is the way we can inherit ‘everlasting life’. So where is the House of God in all of this? It’s the baubles in the air surrounding the tower. It’s the non-material depicted in the image. The Cathar believed that the good God had no physical association. “...the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; (Acts7:48).” It’s the place where the smoke and odour of the sacrifice is merged into the air and rises up to God, who recognises the sacrifice by the odour. This is symbolic of the way human consciousness communicates with God. This was also evidenced by the Alter of Incense found in the Holy Place in the Jewish temple. (More about that in the post on the Moon card). The Fool can only make their way into the Treasury of Light by passing the test of the flaming sword. It is impossible for them to adopt Christ consciousness if they fail to pass this test. The Cathar needed for there to be no confusion about what that involved and devoted a whole card to explaining that test. In the next post I will be looking at the the messages of the Star card, which explains to the Fool what changes in consciousness they will need to adopt in order to posses the sweet odour of sanctity.

The Buddha taught that there where three poisons, essentially equivalent to how the seeds were sown in Jesus’s parable of the sower. As explained in ‘plain English’ by Lama Surya Das, the first poison was Ignorance of the Truth (Jesus’s seeds that fell in sealed soil). The second poison was Attachment (Jesus’s seeds that fell in soil that was populated with rocks). The third poison was Aversion (Jesus’s seeds that fell in soil with that also possessed the seeds of weeds.) The Fool, by virtue of their Dark Night experience (poor in spirit, mourning and being meek) have resolved the Ignorance poison... they are no longer ignorant of truth (that wealth, power, love and fame are all illusions). Now the Fool has to deal with the second poison, Attachment. The Devil card represents those things to which we are attached. In his book, Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das wrote, “Who, or what are you most attached to? Is it a person? Is it some object? Is it an attitude or behaviour pattern? Are you attached to some repetitive or even compulsive habit or way of doing things? Are you attached to money? Are you attached to status? How about ambition? Often our attachments take over our lives. It’s as if we are possessed by our possessions. We want success so much that we give up real lives; we want beautiful things so much that we only see the imperfections in what we have; we become so attached to others that we try to control or own them; we become so attached to something or somebody that we become totally dependent and forget who we are.” (Pg 68-9) It comes as no surprise that the fourth Beatitude is linked with the Devil card. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. You’ll notice Jesus didn’t say ‘blessed are those who are a little peckish’. What he is saying is that the sort of desire and drivenness that has you wanting to return to accumulating wealth, power, love, and fame has to be translated to wanting to live righteously. Given that the Fool has progressed through their Dark Night, and that they have had their vessel filled by Temperance, then they will possess the knowledge for how to live righteously. From the Cathar perspective, living righteously equated to adopting the Seven Works of Mercy. Originally there were only six: feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, take in the stranger, clothe the naked, attend to the sick and visit those in prison. With the advent of the plague (where between 60-75% of the European population died) the Pope added bury the dead, since so many people needed burying and most people were afraid to touch the dead. Jesus called the people who did these things the ‘righteous’, so it can be deemed that doing these things is righteousness. Effectively, this sees the shift in awareness turning from meeting personal needs to seeing and meeting the needs of others. Jesus does give a very important context to this, that was distorted by Christianity. He taught that the fundamental law was to love your God, and the second was much like it - love your neighbour (the works of mercy) as you love yourself! The church taught, even up until recently, that the love of ‘self’ was wrong. Any time the Devil appears he represents the challenge between ego will and divine will. In the Garden of Eden, Eve is put into the position of choosing between obeying God or being tempted by the Devil. After his forty-day fast, Jesus is having to choose between obeying his Father’s will or the temptations of the Devil. Now the Fool is also presented with having to choose between pursuing divine will or the temptations of the Devil. These are the things of the illusionary world advertised by the Magician and programmed into the maturing Fool, symbolised by the Emperor, Pope, Lovers and Chariot cards. This was the Cathar rationale of there being two worlds, that of the good God and that of the evil God. It was Jesus explaining that you can’t choose both God and mammon. The end of the thirteenth century saw the meteoric rise in the Christian construct of the devil. Even his role as the adversary of God and goodness sees the idea of hellfire and damnation gain momentum. Dante’s Inferno fuels these ideas, and by the fourteenth century Satan possesses Pan-like features with horns and half-man, and half-goat features. For half of the first Christian millennium when depicted in art, the Devil had a halo just like Jesus. Several hundred years later and he is given a pitchfork by which he can torment people in hell. His being worshipped is ascribed to anyone who challenges the teachings or is at variance with the church. The Templars were accused of worshipping Baphomet, the Cathar were said to venerate the Devil, and women were easily marked as witches and worshippers of Satan. The gospel of love had been replaced by a gospel of fear. But from the Cathar perspective, Satan was Isaiah’s “fallen star” who’d created this world and was its God. The unique features included in the image of the Devil symbolise the various appetites that will stop the Fool becoming a Fool for Christ. The ears on the man and woman are typical of the standard attire worn by the sots, the itinerant medieval actors who played professional fools in plays called sorties.This is a reminder that these two symbolise the Fool. That they have antlers is an important addition. Antlers historically were associated with primordial nature and animal instincts. The thing about antlers was, they could be cut back or broken but would grow back again. This is symbolic of the Fool trying to get control of their appetites, only to constantly lose control. It was for this reason that the Cathar perfecti (their priests) held a monthly gathering called the apareilementum. It involved a “public and solemn confession”. An extract from an extant manuscript of the Cathar ritual reads, “Whereas we are taught by God’s Holy Word as well as by the Holy Apostles and the preaching of our spiritual brothers to reject all fleshly desire and all uncleanliness and to do the will of God by doing good [the Works of Mercy], we unworthy servants that we are, not only not do the will of God as we should, but more often give way to desires of the flesh and the cares of the world, to such and extent that we wound our spirits.” This is what they were depicting in their theology that was interpreted as the Devil card. The issue here isn’t about the desire to pursue the will of God, it’s about sustainability. The Cathar embedded one more significant symbol into their theology that was to appear in the Devil card - the Devil holding a flaming sword in his left hand. This is the symbol describing how the Fool can becomes a Fool for Christ without wavering. The flaming sword and the House of God card are inseparable and reveal how its possible for the Fool to finally leave the journey through the Dark Night of the Soul and qualify to enter the journey into the Treasury of Light, which leads to the kingdom of Heaven. (The image of the Devil card included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millenium] © 2011 FJP Paris The photo is one taken by me. It’s a permanent display on the bookcase in my lounge at home. #devilcard #marseilletarot #thespiritualrootsofthetarot #catharcode #beatitudes #blessedarethosewhohungerandthristafterrighreousness

It’s significant that the Marseille Tarot typically has no title on card XIII. It would suggest that this card may not actually be about a physical death. It’s my belief that The Hermit card is more aligned with the notion of mortality than card XIII. Given that this is the second step in the sequence of the Dark Night of the Soul, and that the Hanged Man was the first step in the Fool being distanced from worldly values, one would expect the narrative to continue in this vein. In one of the Sforza-Visconti versions of card XIII, whole bodies are huddling together, enveloped by the scythe. In the Marseille version, pieces of bodies are scattered on and through the earth, the scythe has already done its job. The earlier cards highlight impending death and its associated fear, where in the Marseille canon, Death has already completed its deed. It’s worth noting that prior to the plague, this card was symbolised with a character looking like Death, holding a bow and arrow. Like Eros, it was about the prospect of ‘a’ target, not mass extermination as depicted in this card. So, if this wasn’t about dying, why depict Death? If this part of the journey of the Fool is describing an internal journey and the transformation of consciousness (as discussed in the previous blogs in this series), then the card has to be interpreted in the context of changing consciousness. In that regard, this death then is about the death of human consciousness. It’s the death of one’s personal narrative that relied on the external measures of power, wealth, love, and fame. Now it makes sense that what is scattered on the ground are the remnants of an emperor, a pope, a lover, and possibly a victor (those remnants varying in the different versions of the Marseille Tarot). It’s a symbolic severance from the Fool’s attachments to human consciousness, those things that belonged to the Magician’s world. As described by Petrarch, this is the Triumph of Death. Imagine for a moment what is left of a person if the reference points for existence as a human disappear. Who would you be if you could no longer be defined by your possessions, your relationships, your achievements, or your autonomy, irrespective of whether your experience has an abundant or scarce filter? Many people are robbed of their consciousness with diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s, and to some extent, depression. In each instance there is a disassociation in one form or another from those defining attributes of human consciousness. These are perfect examples of a death without dying. The Cathar would have associated this card with the second Beatitude, “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Mourning is evidence that you are no longer grieving someone’s passing, or the loss of something to which your were significantly attached. Let me explain. Mourning is being in a place where you are observing your grief. In card XIII we see Death observing his work, the severance is complete. Grieving is that place where you are still attached to what has been severed and are still caught up in the pain and suffering of the loss. When your consciousness is still attached to what you have had taken away from you, then you are grieving. In the case of the Dark Night of the Soul what has died is that version of yourself that was defined by human consciousness, i.e. loss of love, approval, security or self-determination. So here’s the difference between grief and mourning. The circumstances are the same, but the perspective is different. In grief you are still ‘buried’ along with all of the things to which you are attached. In mourning, you are the observer of those things to which you were attached. Mourning is in effect an external expression of your grief. Wailing, is an external expression of one’s grief. Being able to talk to a friend or counsellor gives external expression to one’s grief. Journaling can be another form of external expression. Rituals give grief expression. The point at which you can witness your grief through its external expressions (mourning) instead of being mentally and emotionally caught up in the pain of the loss, is the point at which you can be free of suffering. Jesus went so far as to say that those who mourn would be comforted. Mourning doesn’t deny the grief or the loss, it just observes it. A funny thing happens in the place of being the witness, there is no emotion felt, just emotion observed. And in that place there is freedom from suffering, there is ‘comfort’. When you choose to become the witness, you find yourself in a liminal space, the space between what was and what will be. This liminal space is a poignant part of the Dark Night of the Soul experience. The Fool is now found in a no-man’s land. On the one hand “the world of the evil God” as described by the Cathar, has been rejected with its defining values of wealth, power, love, and fame. Yet, the Fool hasn’t been able to identify who they are in the “world of the good God” with its defining values of righteousness, mercy, pure love, and peace. These are literally worlds apart and the Fool is right bang in the middle. If the Fool has access to the Cathar Code as embedded in the cards, then they are in possession of the knowledge that details how to make one’s way through the Dark Night, and then at least there is cause for hope. Without it, the chance of finding one’s way through is slim. The global epidemic of lifestyle diseases, depression and addictions are evidence of that. No wonder Hecate at the crossroad (La Force) needed to warn the Fool about how difficult this route would be. (The image included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP Paris. #deathcard #marseilletarot #thespiritualrootsofthetarot #catharcode #blessedarethosethatmourn

The Cathar were dualists, meaning that in their beliefs there were two worlds, each ruled by a different God. They saw this world as having been created by an ‘evil God’ and heaven as the world of the ‘good God’. In the majors of the Marseille Tarot, the Magician is seen as the billboard advertising the nature of the world of the evil God, where Strength, as explained in the first blog in this series, is the billboard for entering the world of the good God. This dual world concept is highlighted by the hats worn by the Magician and Strength. These hats are a key for unlocking the layout of the cards. As depicted in this lemniscate layout, the world of the evil God is reflected in cards I - X. The world of the good God is in fact the very centre of the World card, behind the dancer. Cards XI - XX is a detailed explanation for the transformative journey the Fool will have to take to reach the world of the good God. If you recall, in the Magician card, there are only three legs of his table exposed. It’s my belief that this represents the reach of the world of the evil God. Legs one and two are cards I-V and VI-X respectively. The third leg is depicted in cards XI - XV, which means that cards XVI-XX are in no way influenced by the Magician. That’s because those cards are about the Treasury of Light, where illusion doesn’t exist. The reason I preempt Temperance in this way, is that she and the Devil both have wings, which suggests that the Fool is going to be less impacted by the Magician at this point in the Fool’s journey. Wings symbolise a heavenly influence. What that really means is that even though it’s not impossible for the Fool to resort to being caught up in the ‘things’ of the Magician’s world once again, the chances of it at this point are much less likely. If you recall, the Fool is in a liminal place that sits between the worlds of the evil God and the good God, which is also the halfway point of their journey through the Dark Night of the Soul. The key to this card is the water being poured into an empty vessel. Saint Augustine said, “Empty yourself so that you may be filled.” Fourteenth-century German Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart observed, “No cask can hold two different kinds of drink. If it is to contain wine, then they must of necessity pour the water out; the cask must become empty and free. Therefore, if you are to receive God’s joy and God, you are obliged to put out created things.” The Hanged Man and card XIII are the emptying out. Grieving, that place of still being attached to ‘created things’ essentially means that the cask (vessel) is still filled with water. Even being in the place of having to exert discipline to be detached from wealth, power, love, and fame means that your vessel is still filled with water. Only when the vessel can be emptied without attachment, as an act of self-love, will it be truly empty. This emptying out, and the capacity to refill was perfectly aligned with the third Beatitude - Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness was closely linked to the word humble, etymologically speaking. The word humble came for the Latin humilis meaning ‘lowly, humble, literally “on the ground”, from humus “earth”. A small but significant symbol in this card is the five-petalled rose on the forehead of temperance. “In the Middle Ages a rose would be suspended from a ceiling of a council chamber requiring that all present, sub rosa (under the rose), pledge to secrecy…Church confessionals are often decorated with carvings of five-petalled roses indicating confidentiality.” Confession is an outward acknowledgement of those things to which the Fool was attached, belonging to the world of the evil God, that were not self-loving. It’s at this point that the Fool chooses temperance, self control of their appetites. From its classical Greek origin, the word temperance meant moderation in action, thought and feeling. Now the cup is truely emptied, the Fool has inherited the earth! A Course in Miracles has a saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” This card depicts the student being ready, as the teacher has appeared and is refilling the Fool’s vessel with wine (metaphorically speaking)! In the gospels, this source of knowledge was referred to as the Comforter, “which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.” In the Middle Ages the Holy Spirit was fashionably called the Spirit of Wisdom. The thirteenth century onwards was, in some quarters of Christendom, called the Age of the Holy Spirit. The Beguines [lay Christian religious orders], the Joachimites [followers of Joachim of Fiore (c.1135 - 1202) who taught this concept of the Age of the Holy Spirit, which he said would start in the middle of the thirteenth century], and even the Cathar subscribed to an age where the role of the church would be made redundant by the function of the Holy Spirit. It was taught that the Spirit of Wisdom would change the hearts of those who listened, such that they would be so attuned to “pure love” that there would be no need for the church, the Eucharist and the pope. In this state of consciousness, having had one’s vessel filled by the Spirit of Wisdom, the Fool is ready to experience the fourth Beatitude, represented by the Devil card. (The image of Temperance included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millenium] © 2011 FJP Paris The image of the Lemniscate was formed using the Jean Noblet Marseille Tarot circa 1650. ©The Flornoy Estate [Letarot.com Edition] #temperance #marseilletarot #thespiritualrootsofthetarot #catharcode #beatitudes #blessedarethemeek

The Cathar had made “…the Sermon on the Mount the essence of their ethics…” (Durrant, The Age of Faith). The two parts of this sermon that most people today are familiar with, which were also fundamental to the Cathar, were The Lord’s Prayer, and the Beatitudes. From the perspective of the Cathar, the Beatitudes defined the passage that the Fool as a pilgrim had to follow in order to return to the world of the Good God, the kingdom of Heaven. It seems that they allotted one card for each Beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit - Le Pendu. Blessed are those that mourn - Card XIII. Blessed are the meek - Temperance. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst - Le Diable. Blessed are the merciful - Le Stoille Blessed are the pure in heart - La Lune. Blessed are the peacemakers - Le Soleil. Blessed are those who are persecuted - Le Judgement. The first four relate to the journey the Fool has to take through the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. The last four is the Fool’s journey through the ‘Treasury of Light’. So the Hanged Man is the first step of the journey. The only medieval context for hanging someone upside down was called the Jewish execution, a punishment specifically directed at Jews who had been caught thieving. They would often be hung with two dogs as a reminder of how low their state of consciousness was. In those days animals symbolised the lowest state of human consciousness, then there was God-fearing human consciousness and finally Christ consciousness. The space between the head and the earth was essential on two accounts. Firstly, it meant that when they died the criminal would more quickly pass on from the earth. It was common for hangings to take place at a cross road as it was deemed to be a liminal place where the veil between the earth and the afterlife was thin, and evil people could move on more quickly. Secondly, it highlighted that this card represented the element of air (intellect and soul). Card XIII was aligned with earth (matter and the senses), Temperance with water (emotions and intuition), and The Devil with fire (energy and passion). Since this was a ‘healing’ formula, and during the medieval period a Greek physician, Galen of Pergamon, who had become the authority of medicine in the Roman Empire at the time, subscribed to the Hippocratic philosophy that if these things were out of balance, then disease would manifest. The creators of the images of these cards only understood healing in this context, which meant in one way or another they had to be included in the cards. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. The symbology of this card is saying that life can’t get more challenging than being in this situation. The Fool’s life has been ravaged by natural justice (in this day and age lifestyle disease typically), old man time (confronting the issues of ageing and the prospect of death - in fact I see this as being the death card) and Fortuna (who has taken what we treasure away from us, ie. the way Covid 19, the global financial crisis etc stripped people of their livelihoods and security). That is all symbolised by the pruned timber surrounding the Fool. His legs are in the shape of an upside-down ‘4’, a form that keeps reappearing throughout the Majors; The Emperor, the falling man in The House of God and the dancer in The World card. The whole package of the majors is about recalibrating ‘the four’ which first appeared as the Bull, Lion, Eagle and Angel in The World card, the states of differentiated consciousness that was the consequence of the Fool (as Adam and Eve) having left the world of the the Good God (the garden of Eden) which I call undifferentiated consciousness. The World card is the alpha and omega, where we come from and where we return to! Being linked to the element of air (intellect), the Hanged Man is in the position of having to change their thinking. Where previously the thinking centred around power, wealth, love and fame, now through the interference of justice, time, and chance, the Fool’s thoughts are turning within. “And don’t be conformed to this world: but be transformed by renewing your mind, and do this by proving what is the good, acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) Being detached from the treasures of human consciousness isn’t easy when that is all you have known. Having to let go of the need for control or of one’s victimhood requires trust and forgiveness. Only then will you know (prove) the will of God in terms of power. Letting go of your attachment to wealth or your incessant struggle with scarcity requires trust and a desire to be charitable. Only then will you know the will of God in terms of wealth. Relinquishing the idea of a special relationship or surviving being alone requires trust and understanding the love that arises from being “pure in heart”. Only then will you know the will of God in terms of love. Letting go of your longing for recognition and acceptance, or your being reclusive or overlooked requires trust and the ability to see yourself as God see you. Only then will you know the will of God in terms of fame and acceptance. In every case there first has to be an emptying out. If you think of consciousness as being a cup or vessel, in order for anything to be poured into a cup it first has to be empty. To empty the vessel or cup you have to turn it upside down. This card is showing the Fool being emptied by being inverted. They first have to empty their current state of consciousness to make it possible for a new state of consciousness to be poured in, and of course the beginning of the vessel being refilled can be seen in the Temperance card. In today’s language this Beatitude would read, “Blessed are the depressed, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” Imagine if the Cathar Code hidden in the cards was the cure for depression! (The image included in this article is from the Tarot de Marseille [Edition Millennium] © 2011 FJP Paris. #thehangedman #marseilletarot #lependu #thespiritualrootsofthetarot