- 1. The angel with red wings and flame hair also appears on the
Judgement card and is described in the Golden Dawn Practicus ritual as
“...MICHAEL, the Great Archangel, the
ruler of Solar Fire...” (Regardie, p 172).
- Apple tree/Serpent/Flame Tree/Naked Figures is obviously drawn from
the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden. This suggests that the Flame Tree behind the
male is the Tree of Life, associated with the QBLH tree of life. The same theme will
be repeated again in the tails of the figures on the Devil card.
- This card is assigned to Gemini which may explain why Waite changed
the image to 2 figures. The traditional TdM image shows a man between two women.
- There are hints in Waite’s other works that he associated this image with
Rosicrucianism and also with QBLH.
In The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross
(p 169), he quotes from one of the early Rosicrucian writings
(The Chemical Marriage of Christian
Rosencreutz): “There were two lovers and about them was a Cupid.” In The
Secret Doctrine in Israel (pp 254f), he says “the Higher Eden is the place of
Divine Nuptials, while the garden...was the place of nuptials below...the nuptial
intercourse which was infinite and holy in the world above, in the world below,
descended through what is termed the Fall of man into the...order of animal things.”
That is, the false significance of the male-female duality occurred (mythically)
in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve perceived their “nakedness.” Order is
restored during lawful intercourse because the
male/female duality is dissolved into Unity in the ecstasy of mutual
orgasm. And you
thought QBLH was about Sephira and Letters!!!!
Based on original research by Robert V. O'Neill. To add to this collection of information, please email
Robert V. O'Neill.
