December 26, 2000

G'morning! We were treated to a spectacular sunrise this A.M. Even now, more than an hour after the event the high clouds to the far south are tinted with scarlet and salmon. Every Sunrise is a gift some are just more astonishing.

I hope that you were able to witness yesterday's partial solar eclipse. This far to the South the Moon took a very small bite out of the Sun, about 22%; it was an incredible sight to witness, nonetheless! We watched beginning to end. Safely, of course! Robert made a viewing box and our telescope has a system of filters and an indirect viewing apparatus that allows the event to be witnessed without the potential of eye damage.

Some trivia regarding PSE's and Christmas day---the last one occurred in 1954, and was visible only in parts of Africa. The next will occur in 2307. I am doubly glad we took the opportunity to view 2000's!

The Moon remains in Capricorn for a bit longer as the Cosmic Wheel continues to revolve. In a continuation of the commentary about the Moon card I brought out Paul Foster Case's "The Book of Tokens: Tarot Meditations".

THE MEDITATION ON QOPH

I AM the KNOT in the endless cord of life,
Binding Past to Future in the eternal Present.
I am ALEPH and TAV,
Beginning and end.

All that was,
And all that shall be,
Now is,
For in mine eyes time is not.

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Reads the first two quatrains of the first meditation. Heady stuff. Aleph and Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Qoph, the Hebrew letter that represents the Quabalistic name for Kether, the Crown; the Head or the 'beginning' of the Sephiroth. Case indicates that the connection between the Moon and Qoph is the concept of "En Soph Aur", the Radiant Darkness. That which is in back of the first Sephirah.

From countless hours of examination of the historical record I have come to believe that when the Golden Dawn and its antecedents made the "corrections" to the correspondences from Papus and his predecessors there were leaps of faith made without due consideration to what had been established, not as dogma but as scholarship AND intuition.

Thus I agree with the early esoteric masters,Tzaddi is the Hebrew alphabet correspondence to the Moon. Tzaddi, indicating an aim or a goal ended. The turning of the "eye' from the external to the internal: contemplation and introspection are more attuned to the 18^th card than to the 17^th, the Star. Tzaddi,

"The passage from death and darkness
Of the Outer
Into the life and light
Of the Inner
Is but the turning of the eye of the soul
From the contemplation of appearance
To the vision of reality."

With The Moon card we are presented with choice laced with duty. Authenticity becomes the point of spiritual evolution. Universality is encountered with The Moon. The Moon is the link between the human physicality and the deiform.

The lesson of The Moon is reflection. The material world provides no true light; the shadows of the material world are reflections of another realm. All that is seen in reflection are impressions. Impressions infrequently contain information. More often impressions are vague and ineffectual. It is important to distinguish between impression and information.

Falsehoods are seductive. Mental acuity and clarity are needed to temper emotions. Purpose is vital to completion. We have, at our order and distribution, all the knowledge and experiences to display clarity and purpose.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
-- Plutarch

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