Israel Regardie - The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic.pdf

THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN SYSTEM OF MAGIC
conditions. The five extremities, the head, hands and feet, allude to the
powers of the number five, the Letter He, the Pentagram - the concealed Spirit of
Life and the Four Elements - the originator of all living form. The Sign of Scorpio
especially alludes to stagnant and foetid water - that property of the moist nature
which initiates putrefaction and decay. The eternal change from life into death through
death into life, is symbolised by the grass which springs from and is nourished by
putrifying and corrupting carcasses; the herbiage, in its turn affords food to animals
and man, which again when dead, nourisheth vegetable life and bring to growth and
perfection the living herbiage. This is further shown by the figure itself putrifying and
decaying as it reaps the grass of the field. "As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower
of the field, so he fourisheth."The top of the scythe forms the Tau Cross of Life,
showing that what destroys also renews.
The whole is a representation of the eternal transmutation of the life of nature,
which reforms all things into fresh images and similitudes. This symbol represents the
corrosive and destructive action of the infernal Fire as opposed to the Celestial - the
Dragon of the Waters, the Typhon of the Egyptians, the Slayer of Osiris - which later
yet rises again in Horus. The Scorpion, Serpent of Evil, delineated before the figure
of Death in the more ancient form of the Key refers to the mixed and transforming,
therefore deceptive, nature of this emblem. Behind him, is the symbol of the Nameless
One, representing the Seed and its germ, not yet differentiated into Life, therefore
incapable of definition. The Scorpion is the emblem of ruthless destruction; the Snake
is the mixed and deceptive nature, serving alike for good and evil; the Eagle is the
higher and Divine Nature, yet to be found herein, the Alchemical Eagle of distillation,
the Renewer of Life. As it is said, "Thy youth shall be renewed like the Eagles." Great
indeed, and many are the mysteries of this terrible Kev.
The magical title is The Child of the Great Transformers, Lord of the Gates of
Death.
12th KEY-HANGED MAN
The Spirit of the Mighty Waters
The gallows from which this figure is suspended forms a Tau cross. The figure
itself, from the position of the legs, forms a fylfot cross. It also represents the
alchemical symbol of Sulphur in reverse.
There is a halo about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted that (1)
the tree of sacrifice is living wood as indicated by leaves growing thereon; (2) that the
face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole,
suggests life in suspension, but life and not death. It is a card of profound significance
but all the significance is veiled. His arms, clasped behind him, form an upright
Triangle, and this radiates Light. His mouth is resolutely closed. Waite dismisses most
interpretations saying very simply that for him it expresses the relation, in one of its
aspects, between the Divine and the Universe. He who can understand that the story
of his higher nature is embedded in this symbolism will receive intimations
concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know that after the sacred
Mystery of Death there is a glorious Mystery of Resurrection.
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