Tarot Key 8: Strength and the capacity for peace

Taken from the Sunday Service talk on 7 July 2024, the focus is on Tarot Key 8, Strength, and its profound symbolism. Emphasising the Intelligence of All Spiritual Activities, the talk explores how this intelligence aids in cultivating conscious awareness and intellectual perception. Through the story of a memory involving the speaker’s aunt and her volatile horse, the talk illustrates the power of strength, trust, and the conscious control of inner forces, leading to greater personal mastery and peace.

 

Dear Fratres and Sorores, the focus of this morning’s talk is Tarot Key 8, Strength. In addition to exploring the intelligence attributed to it, namely, the Intelligence of All Spiritual Activities, I aim to explore some of the meanings associated with this Key, and how they can lead to cultivating conscious awareness and intellectual perception of the various factors informing our lives.

A Personal Anecdote

While meditating on the symbolism of this Key and on what I was going to say, a memory from my teenage years rose up in my mind. I was riding with my aunt, a champion equestrian, around the paddocks of my uncle’s mid-Canterbury farm. My horse was a quiet grey mare called Glee. My aunt was riding Monty, her small but volatile ex-racehorse, a horse that we children were only allowed to ride in a tightly closed-off area and under strict supervision. Well, all was going smoothly, until it wasn’t. For whatever reason, Monty went ballistic and threw off my aunt. She, then, brought Monty under control – lunging him round in circles until he had quietened down. I sat looking on, amazed by her courage, strength and skill. When Monty had quietened down enough so that he could be ridden safely, my aunt and I rode back to the farmyard where he was put in a loose box – much like a naughty child. Later in the afternoon, I went to see how he was. I said, “Monty, give us a kiss.” And, over the loosebox gate came his beautiful chestnut head and muzzle that ‘kissed’ me on the cheek. So how does this incident concern the intelligence and symbolism associated with Tarot Key 8, Strength?

“Wise Ones employ [when] they wish to compress their knowledge of the Great Magical Agent into a single emblem”

The Intelligence of All Spiritual Activities

As mentioned, the intelligence attributed to Tarot Key 8 is the Intelligence of All Spiritual Activities. This intelligence, when we pause to consider its range as well as the implications of its operation, is truly profound and, in most instances, misunderstood. This misunderstanding is due in no small part to the materialism uppermost in mankind’s approach to life at this current time. It is also due to mankind’s misunderstanding and superstitious regard of that great occult symbol the serpent, the snake. However, as signified by Teth, the letter associated with this Key, this intelligence is intrinsically linked to the serpent; the symbol that Paul Foster Case asserts the “Wise Ones employ [when] they wish to compress their knowledge of the Great Magical Agent into a single emblem” (Tarot Fundamentals 19, p.1). Further, this intelligence and the symbol related to it concerns the Life Force which is at the heart of all life – even death.

Cultivation and Conscious Awareness

In the natural world, the symbolic as well as the real domain of the serpent and the snake, the Great Magical Agent is the raw power that energises, that motivates, that vitalises, that shakes the wilderness of Kadesh, that takes form in the subtle movements and patterns of the elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth. That drives the orbits of the planets and the pathways of the galaxies and stars. It is further the power that takes form in the myriad forms and patterns of the cells, minerals, plants, and creatures of the natural world, and which animates their behaviour and lives, particularly as regards reproduction. In contrast to its operation in the natural world, the Great Magical Agent in man “is especially manifested as a subtle kind of nerve-force,” known by our Eastern brethren as Kundalini, “the coiled one” (ibid). In the work of our Order this secret power is thus the nerve-force that can be consciously cultivated and employed to unlock and transmute the patterns of yesterday and thereby bring about health, fulfilment and, ultimately, peace. So, how is this evidenced in the symbolism of this Key?

Symbolism of Tarot Key 8

Preeminent in the symbolism is the emphasis on nature as well as mankind’s subconscious relationship to nature. As signified by the garland of roses encircling the woman and the lion, mankind’s ability to cultivate is phenomenal and limitless and intrinsically related to our subconscious desire to be more, to know more, to live more, and thus have more dominion over our inner and outer lives. Moreover, as signified by the woman’s headdress, the buds of which symbolise the five senses that we use daily and which are extensions of our personality, cultivation is a process that is continually undergoing renewal and refinement. In contrast to Tarot Key 7, The Chariot, in which the art of cultivation is conveyed via various manmade symbols, cultivation is here a natural mode of behaviour, as is its outcome – reproduction.

Geometric and Figurative Symbolism

In the symbolism of Tarot Key 8, this mode whereby the secret of all spiritual activities is revealed, consciously realised and put into operation, is conveyed simply but powerfully by the intimate relationship between the woman, signifying subconsciousness, and the magnificent red lion, symbol of the Great Magical Agent. Central to this relationship is strength, as well as trust. Although strength is often associated with the physical, we know from our daily work in the outer, the material world, as well as our work as spiritual aspirants in the inner, that it also concerns the intellect, and desire nature. Consequently, as we continue to deepen and prove our capacity in both areas, we find we develop greater perception and insight into how our mental and emotional states are inextricably linked to our ability to control and direct the Great Magical Agent. Thus, do we develop ever more conscious awareness, ever greater intellectual perception.

The Reciprocal Paths on the Tree of Life

Looking even briefly at the compositional arrangement of this Key in conjunction with the symbolism of the letter Teth can help us understand how this might be achieved. In the language of art and design, composition is determined by the placement and arrangement of things, such as figurative and geometric shapes and forms within a defined area. Further, geometric shapes are a way of representing or conveying information that could take pages to describe, but which in the descriptive language of the Tarot is fleshed out in pictorial form. Hence as regards the development of conscious awareness via control and cultivation, the human and animal figures in this Key are arranged in a highly meaningful way. In the hermetic geometry of our Order, the woman represents the vertical, and the lion the horizontal axis that are enclosed by a circle, which in this Key is implied by the sunlit sky. Thus, the woman and the lion convey a crucial fact associated with the letter Teth, namely, that the ancient form of this letter was a “crude picture of a Tally, in the form of a circle enclosing a cross” (The Book of Tokens, p. 94). Further, “in the ancient form of TETH the circle surrounding the cross is a symbol of the ‘power of letters,’ because the total number of Hebrew letters is 22, and 22 is the characteristic number of any circle” (The Book of Tokens, p.95).

There is, however, another way of reading this figurative geometry. If we trace a line from the top of the woman’s head, down to the lion’s mouth, then along his body and back up his tail to the top of the woman’s head, we have implied the Pythagorean triangle revered by the Masons and said to be a summary of the Great Work (The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order, pp. 47-48). The triangle in which the alchemical elements of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt that are core to the operation of the Great Work are assigned to the vertical; the natural elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth are assigned to the horizontal; and the states of consciousness, the Mineral, Vegetable, Animal, Man, and Superman are assigned to the diagonal. Further to this implicit symbolism we have in the overt symbolism of this Key two figure eights by which the hermetic knowledge regarding the cultivation and control of the Great Magical Agent in the reproduction and manifestation of form can be perceived and realised. Both in our everyday life as well as our spiritual development.

Practical Applications of the Great Magical Agent

The first of these is the horizontal figure above the woman’s head, and the other the garland of roses coiled like a snake around the Mars area of the woman’s body and the Venus area of the lion. In contrast to the upright figure eight, the horizontal figure eight signifies infinity and the eternal manifestation and obscurity of the cultural power, the Great Magical Agent, irrespective of time and space and irrespective of conditions. It thus signifies superconsciousness, the state of being that is beyond all, but which is within all – even those states of being considered raw, wild, uncultivated, uncultured, and unsophisticated, and that we have each passed through during our many lifetimes.

The second figure eight, by contrast, is for us aspirants even more significant for it signifies the secret relationship between Mars and Venus, volition and desire. Consequently, in addition to understanding the intelligence assigned to this Key through its geometric and figurative symbolism, we can deepen our understanding of its operation in our lives and in the life of mankind, by considering its position on the Tree of Life. In so doing, we find on this glyph the reciprocal path of the nineteenth path of Tarot Key 8, Strength, linking the fourth Sephirah of Chesed, Mercy, to the fifth Sephirah of Geburah, Severity. Moreover, we perceive that this reciprocal path is paralleled by the fourteenth path of Tarot Key 3, the Empress, and the twenty-eighth path of Tarot Key 16, the Tower. The significance of this placement is extraordinary! How so?

Conclusion and Personal Reflection

Well, on the Tree of Life, the reciprocal path of Tarot Key 8 is also associated with the Yesod, sphere of the animal soul and automatic consciousness, to the reproductive organs of the Grand Man. Thus, in using this Key to gain understanding of the essential purity of the power associated with Yesod, a power that is reproduced in every shape and form, we find the operation of Venus and Mars in Tarot Key 8 to be reversed. Consequently, here, as with the Pythagorean triangle, we find the power of Mercury operating through the directive agency of subconsciousness to control and cultivate the vital power inherent in the animal consciousness of mankind. The vital power that, if left uncultivated, can lead mankind to be subject to all manner of inflamed and uncontrolled passions.

Hence conscious awareness is crucial to cultivation and cultivation is crucial to conscious awareness. The one cannot exist without the other. Moreover, in both the state of consciousness and the act of cultivation it is natural to find degrees of rawness, ignorance, immaturity as well as degrees of ripeness, wisdom, maturity, and sophistication. Consequently, in our spiritual and daily work we learn the wisdom of training ourselves to develop the intellectual perception to see into and understand the causative factors, such as the law of attraction and the law of reciprocity, influencing any condition, any situation. In so doing, we are less likely to run amok, to run with the flock, herd, or tribe. We find instead that we can influence the outcome of any condition or situation rather than letting the condition or situation slip from our grasp and gain the upper hand.

Finally, in returning to the incident from my early life, my aunt, who was a slightly built woman, exhibited extraordinary courage and strength in controlling and directing the raw power natural to her beloved Monty. Her strength was due to her many years acquiring the skilled knowledge associated with being an expert equestrian. It involved cultivating a relationship with a spirited animal. It involved cultivating the language of touch, sight and sound between rider and mount. It involved cultivating a balanced posture and firm, but gentle handgrip. And it involved cultivating a loving sense of mastery so that Monty could feel safe and secure.

This is what Tarot Key 8 represents. Like an experienced equestrian whose hands on the reins are light but firm, we are safe in the hands of our Higher Self as we seek the secret to cultivating, controlling, and mastering the Great Magical Agent as it flows into and through our thoughts, feelings, deeds and imaginings so that they are balanced and full of strength, contributors to peace.

Read more: Introduction to Light in Extension – The Hermit Tarot Card 9