The Initial Vehicle

I consider Atu VII to be the first “real lesson” in the Trump Series. Atus I-VI have been of the nature of preparation. (It can be argued that Atu VI, due to the complex nature of its depiction, is the first lesson. I would simply argue that it is the last, and most important, lesson in the preparation*.)

The metaphor of “The Chariot” has been a favorite amongst many traditions as a standard for describing the status of “an ordinary being”. Even Gurdjieff, who did not subscribe to the standard “occult” retinue, unhesitatingly used the “chariot” metaphor to describe “the beginning status” to his students. The metaphor is utterly simple. There is the Main Vehicle. Added to that is the Conductor and the Moving Force. The ‘reigns’ connecting the ‘conductor’ to the ‘moving force’ is the first auxiliary metaphor-extension.

(For those who play with the Crowley-Harris version of this image, there are no ‘reigns’ connecting ‘the driver’ to ‘the driving force’. But the ‘reigns’ are apparent if you view the surrounding rings radiant from the ‘held cup’, which is like “a steering wheel”. This “steering wheel” is very much equivalent to “a scrying medium” (cup-of-water, crystal-ball, etc.).)

This icon is very much The Somatic Vehicle. It is What We Begin With!

With Atus I-VI, the initiate has been ‘prepared’ with a diet of concepts that build from “relative nothing-ness” to “relative something-ness”.

Atu VII is that “slam” of “this is actually what you have to deal with, in the beginning”. You have this Bio-Form! It has some basic intrinsic properties. It is “the first consideration” in all of your consideration(s) of “How Am I Going to Navigate ‘This’ Universe?” It is rather ‘the question from very birth’. From the very beginning of stumblings, that ‘question’ is all-pervasive. This is ‘the lesson’ of this Trump: “how do I deal with this stumbling temple?”

The “lesson” takes on properties of cognizing a kind of “visceral” cognizance. “The Body” has a kind of ‘wisdom’ of its own. We use the metaphor of “feeling my way” through “all of this”. The basic english language has the one handicap of using the term “feel” in both a bio-sensory and an emotional way. It doesn’t help that this dual definition is equally valid. (Thus the association of this Trump with the Astrological Cancer.) That is why I have chosen to use the metaphor of “Visceral Navigation” with this Trump.

But Atu VII is much more than mere “visceral navigation”. It rather epitomizes the Entire Body Sense. To actually “feel” that ‘this body’ is ‘a vehicle’. To cognize that you are “navigating a vehicle” is of supreme importance!

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* Atu VI has the awesome responsibility of transmitting the most primal lesson of “The Metaphor of The Student”, who must principally cognize Two Key Ingredients in One’s Composition, which the “Gnostics” labeled ‘The Eidolon’ and ‘The Daemon’. They are “the intimate lovers” co-existing in “one house”. The average description to this image is that “a marriage is occurring” — but “the awful secret” is that “there really was never a separation”, and that “the marriage” is kind of “after-the-fact”. The metaphor of “a marriage” is based on a delusion that there was ‘a separate status’ that ‘had to be married’. The “marriage ritual” is as a formality, in the sense that “the separate two” were never really “separate” — it only appeared as such. The “marriage” has “been arranged” from the very beginning.

The Ultimate Pilot

Atu XX is called “The Aeon” in the Crowley-Harris Tarot. Crowley’s use of the term is difficult and misleading, especially for “the beginner”. He ‘distorted’ the idea of “an epoch” to conform to his desire to ‘create a new religion’ ( a huge mistake in my opinion). One is better off investigating the use of that term with regards to “Gnosticism”. (I have yet to read Jung’s book by that title.) The ‘classic’ full title is “The Last Judgment”, which is infinitely superior to the foreshortened “Judgement”; but one is much better off dissociating the “X-tian connection” to that phrase.
Crowley’s design of Atu XX, even by his own description, is claimed to be a portrait of “the Hierarchy of the New Aeon”, which is technically correct but, again, misleading by the presented wording. Instead of “back-pedaling” and then “forward-pedaling”, I’ll just jump right in.

The Developing Human has gone through the entire adventure as described by the Trump Series — from the initial “Abandonment of the Previous” of Atu 0 unto the eventual “Discovery of the Fuel Chamber” of Atu XIX. Atu XX is a portrait of a new Vehicle of Incarnation (a schematic if you will), and is “the rebirth” unto “a new human”. (I want to say “new being”, but let’s keep this within ‘humanity’.) The Seated Central Deity is “the new person” placed at the Captain’s Chair of the New Space-Time Vehicle. The “Wand of Power” in one hand is “the shifting-stick of the transmission gear-box” controlling “the velocity”. The other hand is “steering the vehicle” controlling “the orientation” (the phrase “I have crushed an universe, and nought remains” is a groovy technical phrase). The Ghostly Twin Sibling is what is commonly called “the astral body” of the physical pilot. In another sense, this is the gnostic Daemon in relation to the seated Eidolon. The Surrounding Goddess (Nuit) is not only the Shell of the overall Vehicle, but also the Distortion of Space-Time about that Vehicle, whereby “point A” and “point B” are ‘curved’ into coincidence. The Basic God-Focus (Hadit) is multi-aspect: the “point A+B” coincidence, the “fuel source”, and (to use a ‘disneyland’ metaphor) the monorail track of the Vehicle.
The complex image at the very base of the portrait, the “hebrew-letter-shin” with the “three children”, and the flames surrounding, I will not get into except that they refer to the ‘classic’ version of this card — yet beyond the average considerations.

For those not acquainted with “space-time travel”, I simply invite you to search for the presentation given by ‘the heretic-scientist’ Bob Lazar, who actually ‘back-engineered’ one of the “extra-terrestrial vehicles”.

This “New Vehicle” is a complete violation of “what we are supposed to be” according to Nature. (Atu VII “The Chariot” is the Vehicle “we are supposed to be” according to Nature.) For those who pretend that “human evolution” is “better”, you should double-check with Nature “who prefers you that you subscribe to ‘her’ parameters”. Nature does not want the “new human” described in this portrait. The stage depicted with this portrait requires a “real grown-up attitude”, when you are cast out of the gestating house and unto a real ‘wild abandon’. “You are now A God.” This is very different from ‘answering to a god’. The “Children of Nature” have a much ‘easier’ time with the matter of ‘living’. All you have to do is “stay asleep” within the ‘bed-chamber’ of “mother”s choosing. Animals are very much friendly with this tactic. And “sleeping humans” are very much entrenched in animal life.

I was reluctant to use the term “resurrection” with this card, rather than “rebirth”, so I ran to my ‘trusty’ dictionary. The following three definitions are offered: a) “the act of rising again after death” (ok); b) “a bringing back into use” (ok); c) “a body snatcher” (HA! There It Is!). Atu XIV also qualifies as a “resurrection” of sorts; so how was that to be distinguished from Atu XX? Actually, in the “long analysis”, there is definitionally “no difference” — so the difference is only to be cognized within the Trump Series. But there is a huge difference between the “Temperence” stage and the “Aeon” stage, given the various ‘trans-terrestrial’ stages between those two (Atus XVI, XVII, XVIII and XIX).

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