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

THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN SYSTEM OF MAGIC
authority of the Catholic Church. But Pope means in reality Father and as the
Initiator, the Hierophant certainly represents an authoritative father figure - the one
whose power and function is to stir up and initiate the creative process in the
Genetrix or Mother.
His magical title is Magus of the Eternal Gods.
4th KEY-THE EMPEROR
The symbolism of this card is forthright, in that it depicts the Emperor sitting on
a throne with an actual ram (for Aries) under his feet, and carrying a wand with the
head of a ram. Since Aries is ruled by Mars, this card represents enormous creative
energy and of course rulership. One set of Order symbols or attributions depicts the
Mars decanate of Pisces as the end of one cycle of the year, and another Mars
decanate in Aries to represent the tremendous power involved in the return of Spring
when Nature begins to evidence growth and the emergence of Life once more in
Spring.
One of the apparent paradoxes of the Order symbolism, is that this card is
attributed not merely to Mars, a very masculine symbol but to the letter Heh which is
distinctly feminine. It is the first Heh of Tetragrammaton, signifying the Mother. All
symbols contain their own opposites, thus creating a balance of opposing forces,
without which the universe would come to an end.
The Emperor is patently the consort of the Empress, the preceding card
attributed to Venus and Daleth, indicating that the two had better be considered
together. One is masculine and the other is feminine. One is force and fire; the other
is beauty, luxury and fecundity. It is worth remembering that a poet once wrote that
man is peace and the woman is power.
This magical title is Son of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty.
3rd KEY-THE EMPRESS
The Empress here is not unlike most of the figures in other and older packs.
She is attributed to the letter Daleth, meaning a Gate, and is the uppermost of the
so-called Reciprocal Paths on the Tree, joining Chokmah to Binah, the celestial
Father and Mother. Venus is attributed to that wall of the Vault of the Adepts which is
the entry to the Vault and the Pastos, which is thus the symbol rebirth.
She is a stately figure, seated on a throne, having rich vestments and royal aspect,
as - says Waite - of a daughter of heaven and earth. There is a dove to the right of her,
descending as it were from above. She bears a sceptre, that of royalty, surmounted by a
globe, while in the other hand is the Ankh, the symbol both of Venus and of eternal
Life. In Waite's lovely language, in which he fears to use an English phrase when a
Latin one will do better, she is not the Queen of Heaven, but nonetheless she is still
the Refuge of all Sinners, the fruitful Mother of thousands. There are also certain
aspects of this card which correctly describe her as desire and the wings thereof, as
the woman clothed with the Sun, as Gloria Mundi and the veil of the Holy of
Holies.
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