Written by a B.O.T.A. member. Printed in the Zenith News Notes No 126, December 2019.
Introduction: Understanding three Tarot archetypes—Justice, the Hanged Man, and Death
In this contemplative piece by a B.O.T.A. member, we explore a powerful meditation using three Tarot archetypes—Justice, the Hanged Man, and Death. These keys guide us through deep truths about faith, surrender, and the nature of transformation. The article offers spiritual insight into how change, though challenging, always serves a higher purpose.
A Meditation on Three Tarot Keys
There is a simple meditation in the Tarot Interpretation course of the B.O.T.A. lessons. The three keys involved are Justice, the Hanged Man and Death. The meditation is:
“Poise is mine this day, and peace, and I see that every change is for the better.“
Key 12 is the central key in this arrangement, mediating between Key 11 and Key 13. It emphasizes surrender to the One Will and the mental attitude ‘of myself I can do nothing, the Father within doeth the works.’
To catch a glimpse of such a realisation seems like a far-off goal. It is the goal we are working toward as aspirants. Key 11 in this arrangement gives us some clues as to how we might achieve the goal. Key 11 is concerned with elimination. It is a careful weighing of everything in our lives to see whether it is in harmony with our goals. Anything which is out of step with our goals should be replaced by something that contributes toward them.
Key 11 is assigned to the Faithful Intelligence. One of the meanings of faithful is something that can be relied upon. As we come to see the operation of Divine Justice in all the events of our lives – the unfailing cause and effect that keeps the Universe in balance – we develop faith in its operation.
Surrender, Transformation, and the Central Self
This relying upon, or faith, is taken a step further in Key 12, where the Hanged Man literally depends on the One Will. Key 12 pictures samadhi, a mystical state in which the adept experiences deep union with the Central Self. We are told that in this state the adept’s sense of separate self disappears. In mystical Islam the corresponding state is called Fana or extinction, in Christian mysticism it is the mystic death.
If we carry these ideas into our interpretation of Key 13, we see the white skeleton as the Central Self. The outer vehicles have been stripped away, leaving only what is most essential – that which endures throughout all manifestation. The skeleton is the framework and the support for all the work we do on the physical plane. The Central Self lives Life through us and is our Real or True Self. The white colour of the skeleton shows that this Central Self is really the One Identity located on the Tree of Life in the Sephirah Kether.
Seeing Change from the Higher Self
I see that every change is for the better.
Not ‘I hope’ or ‘I believe’ or ‘I think’ that every change is for the better. I see that every change is for the better. This is something that is easy to say and harder to do. Seeing is perception, and the simple statement in the meditation is pointing to a very deep perception or state of realization. Imagine if we really could see every change as being for the better – even the ones that are uncomfortable for our personalities or seem negative for the planet based on our everyday partial view of the world.
We are told many times in the lessons that Creation is a cosmic success process, that the end is assured, and that we are engaged in an evolutionary spiral. Another seed thought we are given is that our desires come from our Higher Self. They are promises waiting to be fulfilled. Desires drive change. Our desires show us what the Higher Self has in store for us, but we have to pay attention and make room in our lives so they can be achieved. This thought is related to Key 13 as the path between Tiphareth, the sphere of the Higher Self, and Netzach, the sphere of desire on the Tree of Life.
Reversing Personal Will and Moving in Cycles
To understand this, we must reverse our everyday modes of thinking represented. This reversal is pictured by Key 12. We are used to seeing our desires as originating within our personalities and carried into action by our personal will. The Truth we are told, is that there is only One Will – and that this is the true source of our desires and also the only knower and doer.
So part of the message of this series of Keys seems to be about letting go of outworn habit patterns and fear of change and allowing our Higher Self to make the necessary changes in our lives that will transform us, bringing us closer to our heart’s desire. It is a kind of surrender. What we give up is the delusion of separateness.
There are seasons in our lives and we must move in tune with the natural cycles. The skeleton in Key 13 is harvesting, bringing to mind the ideas of sowing, growth, harvest and decay. 13 can be made with the numbers 3 and 10. The harvest is sown with Key 3 the Empress representing birth, is brought to completion by the universal cycles represented by Key 10, and is reaped by the Central Self in Key 13, Death. The heads and hands and feet in this key might represent our thoughts and feelings and works and deeds while in a cycle of expression. These are harvested by the Higher Self and form the seeds of a new cycle in which we will continue to learn and grow and transform.
The white rose in Key 13 is related to the planet Uranus and Key 0 the Fool. This detail reminds us that every death – whether bodily death, or change, or breaking down of structure – is an opportunity for growth and new adventure. When Spirit is released from form, energy becomes available to create again.
Sight, Reason, and the Power of the Mind
I see that every change is for the better.
In Tarot, the function of sight is assigned to Key 4, the Emperor. The Emperor is also assigned to Aries and the head and brain. Sight is essentially a mental process. Our eyes relay sense impressions to the brain. It is the brain that interprets the sense data and determines what it is that we actually see. The Emperor pictures the Constituting power of the universe which is an aspect of the One Identity which is also the skeleton or Central Self of every creature. The correlation with the One Identity, remember, is shown by the white colour of the skeleton.
Aries in astrology is ruled by Mars. Mars is also a ruler of Scorpio which is assigned to Key 13. Aries is the day house of Mars and Scorpio is the night house. Part of the secret of seeing correctly is the raising of the Scorpio force so that it energises centres in the brain. This is the goal of the alchemical process in Western mysticism. This is the goal of yoga practice in the Eastern schools.
Key 4 is assigned to the reasoning mind. We allow the Central Self to achieve changes through us by exercising the power of reason. It is not a letting go or abandonment to whatever happens. The desire for change should be met with careful gathering of evidence, analysis and weighing of options. Once we have done this to the extent we can, a course of action should become clear. We can now see the way forward and the new goals we have set for ourselves. Then the energy made available by the breaking down of old structures can be channelled into new activities that reflect the desired change. These are universal powers working through us.
Key 13 also embodies the idea of Creation as ceaseless change and motion. When we stop to think of all the countless millions of adjustments that must be made every nano-second of Creation in order to keep the universe in perfect balance, we begin to see how vast the universal consciousness must be. Because the Universe is Consciousness.
These ideas proceeding from Key 11 and Key 13 are balanced by the peaceful scene in Key 12. We must find the centre within where the pendulum comes to rest. By establishing contact with the Central Reality behind all appearances we may come in time to remain fixed on that Reality amid all activity and change. We may come to see as the Higher Self sees. Then we may truly be able to say with deep realisation:
“Poise is mine this day, and peace, and I see that every change is for the better.”
Read more: Tarot Key 13: The Final Transformation, 24th Path of Wisdom