Society for Sacred Sexuality

russ · Posted: August 17, 2005

The following information is taken entirely from Jewels of the Wise published by The Science of Man and available at www.scienceofman.org

Introduction:
One gem from many facets blazes fire
One light paints sacred scenes from stained glass hue
To just One Truth do many faiths aspire
There is One Way, but many paths thereto.

Tarot represents the Path of Initiation and depicts the workings of mind and soul on The Way of Enlightenment. The purpose of this book is not to present novelty but to further serve the cause of Truth. All essentials basic to the teachings are retained with such changes as have been revealed and given due consideration.
This book is not slanted for literary appeal but to bring together the simple fundamentals of universal Wisdom as depicted by the ancient symbols of Tarot, and to present them as clearly and constructively as possible. You must realize that, although study can lead you closer to attainment by opening up awareness, it is only after you have found some degree of Reality within yourself that the symbols can be really understood and appreciated.
We have not been told everything about each Key, because no one
can. You have to find much of it yourself, and it cannot all become clear the first time around. But, this material should provide an accurate and fruitful beginning to encourage the dawning Sun of Reality.
This work is taken from the ancient Cabala of the Hebrew Teachings and is not fortune telling Tarot. We have not gone into divination. Why should anyone sit back and let circumstances tell him what to do, to have his "fortune" told for him when he is supposed to tell IT what to do? He is expected by degrees to learn self-mastery, as he is able. No matter what the divination tells, it does not have to happen, unless you accept it and will permit it.
It is suggested you meditate on each Key for 5 or 10 minutes as you read the chapters and if you decide to color pictures, take them in exact chronological, forgetting your own preferences, to encourage the correct process chosen by the Masters to unfold the Wisdom of their teaching. For, until you have studied one Key, or opened one door, you are not ready for any of those which follow.
Coloring instructions and symbology in a nutshell are given in the companion book Keystone of the Tarot. The 22 cards of thje Major Arcana are also available.
In studying the cards individually, you can generally consider the background as representing trhat which has come before, or the past, and the fore ground as that which depicts the present opr future condition.
Let us assure you that the studies presented here are in no way derogatory to the teachings of any religious faith, but are designed to amplify spiritual understanding in all of them.

russ · Posted: August 17, 2005

Cabalism has been called the great poem of Judaism-" a Tree of symbolic jewels showing forth the doctrine of the Universe as the vesture of Deity"
The Cabala also provides an enlightening background to the teachings of Tarot , although the two subjects can be studied quite independently, and each found complete in itself. Their common link rests in the Tree of Life and it's paths , based on the mystical significance of the same twenty-two letters attributed to the Keys of Tarot.
The Tree of Life is the creative Power manifesting through the various facets necessary for it to manifest, as God spoke the Word of Creation into His universe. The Tree is depicted, one might say, like a map of Creation showing the channnels or Paths leading from God to His creation and back again, and through which the ancients attempted a minute study of each part in order to arrive at the whole.
It is shown upside-down because spiritual or eternal Life can only be rooted in that which is above us in consciousness, not in the sky of course, but in the inner, finer provinces of the heaven worlds where senses geared to grosser physical life cannot reach. In this context "above" and "within" are identical in meaning. This inner realm is not related to the physical body directly.
The only physical manifestation of the Tree of life is its fruit, a very small part of which can be seen by earthly eyes in the world of the four elements. This is the product or end result of the Tree. In this the Tree of Life is unlike any growth begun from the material standpoint, where roots are temporarily anchored in the perishable earth below our feet.
The Tree of Life is described in the Bible in both the first and last books. In the beginning, the man of earth and his mate were driven from the vicinity of the Tree before having tasted of its wondrous fruit, but in the last chapter of Revelation the Tree of Life reappears in the New Jerusalem to be enjoyed by spiritually-realized humanity. Two trees in fact were there to provide the "happy ending" after a long and arduous journey.
Cabala, also spelled QABALLAH or KABBALA, is a Hebrew word which means " a thing received" and refers to the reception and transmission of divine revelation of the secret or hidden tradition and unwritten divine Law. Unlike the traditions of the Pharisees, which were based on custom and regulations, these teachings are not a literal or historical version of the Law as understood by the majority, but are comprised of those meanings which were passed along to initiates, and usually by word of mouth. Some like to think this teaching began as far back as Abraham or even Adam.
The Ten Spheres on the Tree of Life diagram shown are called "Sephiroth", a Hebrew word meaning "Emanations " or "Numberings" {the many from the One}. Some Rabbis believed the word "Sapphire" also derived from "Sephira", because the Ten Spheres were called the Shining Sapphires which reflected the Light from the center of Kether, The Crown.
Beginning from the top, theses Sephiroth or Spheres are called a "progressive materialization of Ideas in the Mind of God" Each is shown as a separate state in manifestation - a stage in God's Emergence, and all show phases of Creative Evolution. Then, on the Way of Return when man lifts his consciousness to a higher level, a series of increasingly abstract refinements are experienced througfh the mystical initiations, as he draws nearer to the Fount or Source of all.
The Universe is described as having come about by the issuing of pure spiritual Substance from God; thus, the elements that were later to make up the universe were always potential in the Godhead.

To be Continued

russ · Posted: August 17, 2005

Watch for this coming soon!

russ · Posted: August 17, 2005

The Tarot is a book of pictures, each of which depicts a different version of the great universal Truths , in symbolism common to all sacred teachings since the most ancient times.
These symbols were designed with great care by spiritual Masters of Wisdom that they might awaken within each who perused them a recognition of their true Self.
We think more vividly in pictures than we do in words, so that a picture impressed in our minds is easier to remember than the same lesson not illustrated. These pictures are called Tarot Keys, and the symbols do act as Keys to unlock, one by one, the secret chambers of our soul's memory of that Divine Source from whence we came. In that sense they are not something that must be learned, but rather they help to uncover through association that which we already know.
These pictures become painted in Light upon our inner consciousness, and each admits one portion of the whole Light, just as stained glass windows of a great cathedral tell of various events, but the Light they diffuse is all from the same source.
The origins of Tarot are hidden in the archives of time; for no one knows definitely when and where to place the beginning of this ancient book of pictures. In a day when spiritual knowledge was highly suspected, and books were being burned which did not agree with the current religious or political ruling, what better way to hide the sacred Wisdom Teachings than to put them out in plain sight, among a set of "foolish" pictures, which could be carried in anyone's pocket, and hidden under the cover of a crude game in case they were found?
These symbols are so simply used that only an initiate would notice them. The Fool himself is a clue to their secret. Sufi masters often played the part of fools to put across their teachings in action rather than words, and the royal court jester of old was often a very wise man who, by calcuated antics, was subtly able to advise the king.
The Sufis claim that Tarot forms an allegory of the teachings of a Sufi master about certain cosmic influences upon humanity, and that the word "Tarot" derives from the Arabic "turuq" meaning "4 ways", in view of the division of the pictures into four elements of four "suits" when brought down into playing cards. The word "tariquat" means "the way " - reminiscent of the TAO, "The Way" of Lao- Tsu. Another source says the word comes from the Sanskrit, and means " fixed star " symbolizing immutable tradition.
Others say it derives from "Tarosh" from the Book of Thoth, of Egyptian origin, and that it signifies the symbolical presentation of universal ideas. Symbols on the cards include motifs common to the Rosicrucians, Masons, Qabalists, Egyptians, Pythagoras{ Greek} and the old Alchemists.
One tradition is that a group of adepts from all over the world gathered at Morocco to pool their great Wisdom in pictorial symbols that would transcend the language barrier. Again we are told that the Knights Templar brought these cards back secretly from the Crusades, having taken them from the Saracens, and used them for amusement and gambling. { note from Russ: Jewels of the Wise was written in the late 1950's and early 1960's before the new discoveries about the Grail and the Templars became available }. Whether they were concealed to hide the fact of their theft is not not known.
Gypsies at about the same time began to wander Europe, and they used cards for telling fortunes. Gypsies were first officially mentioned in English books of law about the time of Henry VIII, where they were described as an outlandish people" calling themselves Egyptians, who do not profess any craft or trade, but go about in great numbers".
A legend indicates that after the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria, the large number of attendant priests banded together seeking means to preserve secrets of the rites of Serapis. Their descedants carried with them the most precious of the volumes saved from the burning library- the Book of Enoch, or Thoth{ Tarosh}. [ Note from Russ: Enoch is mentioned in the book of Genesis as "one who walked with God , lived 300 years -at a time when mankind was living up to 900 years- and was seen no more ] These descendants later became wanderers upon the earth, remaining a people apart with an ancient language and a birthright of magic and mystery. This great library, by the way, burned for a whole week, wiping from memory much of mankind's recorded learning. { Note from Russ : thus introducing "The Dark Ages " to the history of the west notably escaped by the Irish, descendants of the Celts, and who are consisered the saviors of western civilzation by many scholars}
It is said in some of the ancient Egyptian initiations that the iniatiate was led through a long gallery in which were hung life -sized pictures of the Tarot Keys, and was required to spend enough time before each picture to achieve some sort of realization of the significance of that Key. A legend still more ancient states that the Tarot teachings were brought out from ancient Atlantis. Obviously, these teachings were not limited to any single culture, and their story, if it could be fully traced, would be most fascinating.

russ · Posted: August 17, 2005

Coming Soon !

russ · Posted: September 8, 2005

Watch for this .