|
In the beginning of our studies, whenever we initiate our spiritual work, students tend to be filled with enthusiasm, with joy. When they find the doctrine of Samael Aun Weor and they practice it fully, they are usually very inspired, filled with perseverance and hope. We also tend to feel great gratitude for learning a knowledge that is so profound and eclectic, that which truly transforms our life and give us genuine joy.
However, the student and even many missionaries, after many years of work, inevitably face resistance, which is entirely psychological, the pressure and psychological impetus of the ego. We initiate our work through Arcanum 1: The Magician. With our will, we dedicate ourselves to practices of concentration, of meditation, transmutation. But inevitably, every initiatic work must face conflict. As we work against the ego, the ego fights back. This is the force of resistance, negation. We affirm that we wish to practice Gnosis. But then, the mind, knowing that its existence is threatened, retaliates, and if we are not careful and really profoundly comprehending the source of these conflicts, then in turn, we go between the battle of antitheses in the mind. We struggle with the mind and we fight with the mind, but do not see results. This is because there are two principles playing out here: positive, negative; affirmation, negation. But as Gurdjieff taught us, there is a third force: reconciliation, which Samael Aun Weor states is comprehension, understanding, intelligence, בינה Binah, in Kabbalah. So, what is that third force? It is inspiration. It is joy. It is profound, creative analysis, intelligence, wisdom. That third force emerges when we see ourselves as we are, when we understand what the ego is: despair, morbidity, depression. Therefore when you comprehend an ego, it longer has power over you, because you see it as something separate, and through comprehension we are going to work towards its elimination. That experience provides inspiration and joy when we recognize the causes of our suffering. But it is a process. It is not easy after facing twilight, the previous arcanum, to really emerge from that battle victorious. So, this is known as the spiritual night, the dark nights of the soul, in which every initiate is tested, is forged into a weapon of Christ, of righteousness and humility, to serve the divine. Samael Aun Weor spoke abundantly about this problem with many students and many missionaries as well. We have been of the habit of speaking to many people over the internet, students that speak to us about their difficulties, even instructors from many groups where they are stuck, stagnant. They want to advance, to have joy in their work. But they see so much negativity in themselves. Then they become morbid, pessimistic. We always respond that the solution is to comprehend the source of those thoughts which feel disillusionment with Gnosis, and which want to betray the cause. Our egotism, our egos do not ignore that their life is threatened by this work. Therefore this is twilight. In the progression of the arcana, we find that if we comprehend the mind and genuinely see the source of our problems, we become enflamed, enraptured, inspired. So, comprehension is precisely that dynamic that we need to overcome resistance, which is why Samael Aun Weor wrote in Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology: Regarding Gnosis, the Secret Path, and the work upon oneself, our own particular temptations are precisely found in those “I’s” who hate Gnosis, who hate the esoteric work. These “I’s” do not ignore that their existence within our psyche is mortally threatened by Gnosis and by this work.
Disillusionment, defeatism and despair―these are the opposites of this card.
Inspiration in itself is the result of working with a third force: comprehension. But we also receive comprehension in ourselves by working with the sexual energy, with chastity. So, what does it mean to inspire? We inhale the vital breath, the prana, the force of life. By taking in those energies through pranayama, alchemy, mantras, we learn to aspire. We elevate those forces into our mind, because without that fire, without that energy, we cannot see. We have no light. So, many students write to us, instructors saying that they struggle with chastity. They struggle to maintain temperance with balancing those forces in themselves and not succumbing to lust. We always write to them that they need to be dedicated to aspiration, raising the creative force by inspiring, breathing the vital wind. Without that energy, we cannot work. It is the very force that provides joy and happiness and love. To lack that element in our work and real dedication to it is what it means to be expired, to be dead spiritually. Inspiration is the true nobility of the heart. It is the radiance of the soul. We feel that joy in our work when we are comprehending our ego, because the problem is a lack of understanding of where doubt, despair, fear, resentment, pride exist. So, if we do not comprehend this in ourselves, we may intellectually know we are angry, we are proud, we are hateful, but it does not mean that we understand the root of that. Therefore the pendulum swings and so people like this leave Gnosis because they are not seeing the results. This card is precisely about finding joy in the work. It applies not only to married couples or alchemists, but to individual practitioners. 
Description of the Card
So, inspiration is mapped in this card. We see a radiant sun and two children holding hands. These are the lists of description that Samael Aun Weor gives in his book Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot, which is profoundly significant.
Children represent the soul, the innocence of Adam and Eve, primordial bliss in Eden. They carry in their hands, sharing in their embrace the Egyptian Tau cross, which is a phallic symbol, the symbol of Venus of divine alchemy, transmutation. Tau or Tao, ת Tav in Hebrew can sometimes be pronounced ו Vau relating to the spine, the ו Vav, the spinal medulla in which these forces rise victoriously. ת Tav in ancient Hebrew or Aramaic looks like a cross. This is the Tau cross, and its profound symbol is formed by this image that the couple is holding. It is a representation of man and woman united because when the couple is united in a marriage, they spark the fire in order to form Ignis, and through the mantras IAO, the supreme mantra of alchemy, they transmute the fire. That is performed through ת Tav, the T, the ☥ Ankh cross. This is the power of INRI, Ignis Natura Renovatur Integra, “Fire renews nature incessantly.” It is the fire of life, of הֲוָה Havah, the sexual organs which produces the alliance between human beings and God. 
Samael Aun Weor mentions that this card is the card of the alliance, and if you are familiar with the minor arcana, the thirty-third card, you see the exact representation as this, an initiatic couple holding hands with the ☥ Ankh cross. Thirty-three relates to the thirty-three vertebrae of the spine through which we are tested, as we explained in the Arcanum 15: Passion.
In order to raise the sacred fire of one vertebra, we have to face many great battles against the ego, many ordeals. But of course, the process by which we raise that fire, while it is a great war, we find joy, inspiration, happiness in the work which you find in allegorized in operas like Siegfried by Richard Wagner, in which the solar hero Heracles, Siegfried the Christ, is working in a forge. The Rune Sig means “victory.” Frid, fridmund means “peace,” joyful, joyful, “peaceful in victory,” and so during his hammering in the steel to reforge his father’s sword, he is inspired by Christ to conquer himself and to conquer the animal ego. 
You have three flowers in the bottom of this card which represent the three primary forces. But also the virtues of the soul. If you awaken in the astral plane and you are shown flowers, that is the virtue of Eden, the blossoming of the soul within ourselves.
You also have even hands emanating from the rays of the sun, which show the seven serpents of fire as well as the seven serpents of light.
We have to understand this card is pure alchemy, transmutation, transformation. It is the final liberation which brings absolute peace and serenity.
You also see that in the bottom left of this card is the sign, this zodiacal influence of Sagittarius. But also on the right the planet that influences is Mars. These are phallic symbols, masculine forces. Sagittarius as an astrological sign relates to the centaur, a being that is half man, half horse. This is a hasnamuss as we explained in our lectures on Turandot, an initiate who has development in the Being but who still has a lot of ego, such as a bodhisattva who is rising. They have solar bodies, but they have the animal “I.” Therefore they are split both in heaven and hell. They have a solar personality and a lunar personality.
So, why is it that the signs of Sagittarius and Mars relate to inspiration? Remember that Heracles, in the Greek myth, dined with centaurs. He is also Siegfried amongst the Nordics, the Germans. But in the Greek myth, Heracles was dining with the centaurs when because of drinking so much, they became impassioned and tried to kill him. He fought them with his bow and his arrows, the arrows dipped in the blood of the Hydra, a symbol of the animal ego that has been slain, with his seven vices or seven heads, the seven capital virtues of Christianity, the seven sins. So, when we extract the fire from the ego, we are able to kill more defects because we have more energy. Therefore we are more inspired to fight against the demon “I” in ourselves. Heracles waged his battles and won. He is Siegfried, joyful in victory. So, remember that the Hydra was the dragon with seven heads. When we conquer the seven headed hydra or dragon in ourselves, we are working with the seven rays of the sun in this image. We are raising the fire. We are raising the serpents of light and fire in ourselves progressively. First, the seven degrees of fire, then in the light. An Internal Experience Related to Arcanum 19
But it is important to remember that while this is an alchemical card, it relates to the perfect matrimony, gnostic couples. It also represents work in ourselves as single practitioners. I can relate this because I remember many years ago when I was single and not married, I was meditating very diligently in my home. I prayed to my inner Father: “Please, take me to Egypt” in the astral plane. I feel asleep, but doing mantras and prayers, transmutation, pranayama, and I entered the dream state. Then in my home, I invoked my Divine Father asking: “Please, take me to Egypt. I wish to receive help from the temple of Giza.”
My Divine Father lifted me with His magnetic pull and transported me through the wall and across the Earth, across the continents. In the next moment I awoke in a large room in an Egyptian temple. I was seated before a hierophant of Egypt, a female initiate. 
Then she was giving me a tarot reading. She was giving me the cards in the exact images we see here. The third card she showed me was this, as we see before us, but with some differences. The text below did not say Inspiration. It said Transience. But I saw a couple holding hands with the ☥ Ankh cross. I was very inspired by this image because I knew, having studied the tarot for years intellectually, I could understand the meaning of it. This initiate showed me how I needed to be inspired in my work and that I was seeing results from my practical efforts.
But why transience? Transience refers to impermanence, how nothing in this universe is stationary or independent. This is the Buddhist law of dependent origination, interdependence. What I am affects others. Others affect me. There is a relationship in a causal way between all phenomena. Nothing is separate. Therefore, nothing entirely exists in and of itself. This is the Buddhist teaching of emptiness. Nothing exists eternally in itself. All things relate. Samael Aun Weor mentions many times that when we see the relationship of our mind to other people, we learn many things. We learn to see our own ego. But also, we learn to see our own virtues, our own soul. So, this is the law of interrelations, the relationship between the internal and the external worlds, between thought and sentiment. Samael Aun Weor mentions in Igneous Rose from his chapter the “Esoteric Discipline of Mind”: In the presence of any person, many images that correspond to the internal life of that person with whom we are in contact will emerge from our interior. This is known as clairvoyance.
Remember we spoke in our Gnostic Meditation course about the three stages of initiation: Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. What the master is explaining is that when we awaken clairvoyance, we are developing our heart, and we learn to see and understand people better. We follow our intuition. We also become inspired about the psychological qualities of others and ourselves. We learn to relate to humanity better. We feel inspired in the presence of what we see. Of course, this is not just a physical thing. It is a psychological sense. We can see someone physically showing no expression but we can sense their anger, their resentment, their pride. When we recognize how we relate to others and we see that we can promote positive action, we become inspired. This is the meaning of this card. Samael Aun Weor also mentions in his book Sexology, the Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology in his monumental chapter “The Supraconsciousness,” he explains what inspired knowledge is:
When we elevate ourselves to inspired knowledge, we understand and comprehend that the accidental accumulation of objects does not exist. Really, all phenomena of nature in all objects are found intimately and organically joined together internally dependent upon each other and mutually conditioning each other. Really, no phenomena of nature can be integrally comprehended if we consider it isolated. Everything is in incessant movement. Everything changes. Nothing is quiet. In every object there is an internal struggle. An object is positive and negative at the same time. Quantitative transforms itself into qualitative. Evolution is a process of complication of that energy. Inspired knowledge permits us to know the inner relationship between everything which is, has been, and will be. ―Samael Aun Weor, Sexology, the Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology, “The Supraconsciousness”
So, this is what this great female initiate showed me: transience. She told me: “You are being inspired in your work because you are understanding how your mind relates to others, and that by promoting virtue, you bring about the happiness to others.”
On the contrary, there is also the opposite, people who lack comprehension of their own negativity, their own negative “I’s,” do not understand this law of karma, cause and effect, because they do not see how their own mental states, their negative mental states, promote suffering. Therefore, they enter into nihilism, not caring what they do and ignoring they produce their own happiness or sorrow. So inspiration is transience, interdependence, impermanence. It is a law of cause and effect of karma. When we understand how this law works, we are inspired. That is how we experience the joy of the soul, represented by this couple. While it pertains to gnostic matrimonies, it also refers to the human and divine soul, תפארת Tiphereth and גבורה Geburah, in Kabbalah. While I also mentioned that this card, in my particular case, was related to developing telepathy―certain virtues I wanted to develop in myself in order to help other people―but of course, it also comes to a price. We have to work to earn benefits from the White Lodge. 
The Philosophical Stone
We do that by working with the philosophical stone. It is the stone of Φίλω philo, love and σοφῐ́ᾱ sophia, wisdom., חכמה Chokmah, Christ. This is the basis of genuine philosophy. It is the stone of יסוד Yesod, the sexual energy, Heliogabalus, the stone of Helios, the Sun. This is represented in the Muslim tradition by the Ka’ba. It is the black stone in Mecca which Muslims pray daily towards. It is a symbol, a representation of our own energy, which if we do not work with, we cannot submit to God. We cannot develop anything without this force. But of course, it is black within us because of desire.
There is the myth in Islam of Prophet Muhammad ascending the seven heaven while meditating at this stone, his head resting on the stone like Jacob in the Bible in which he had a profound vision, in which Muslims throughout the centuries have venerated Al-Miraj, the Ascension of the Prophet. He was meditating and falling asleep in which he had a vision of a mystical creature, الْبُرَاق Al-Buraq, in Arabic, which has the body of a mule, with wings, the face of a woman, the tail of a peacock that he rode upon to travel physically in a jinn experience or state towards Jerusalem, the temple of the holy mosque in the Middle East. Afterward, he ascended up the seven heavens and spoke with many prophets and masters who confirmed his prophethood and gave him inspiration to work.
So, this is a teaching that has inspired many millions of Muslims throughout the ages, throughout the past few hundred years. However, more inspirational is how this myth applies to us, because it is a symbol of this card of Inspiration. الْبُرَاق Al-Buraq in Arabic means “the lightning,” or in Sanskrit, vajra. It is the energy of Christ that elevates the soul. It is the Kundalini, “Ssssssssssig!” the mantra of the Divine Mother is Sulu Sigi Sig, which is a lightning bolt, which we use in our practices to seal our energy after performing transmutation, alchemy, the Eucharist. Muhammad rode upon this mystical creature, which is feminine, reminding us of the Divine Mother. She is the lightning of Christ, the divine intelligence within our seed, our stone. Muhammad as a figure existed. But he is a symbol of the human soul, of our bodhichitta. If you look at the Arabic letters and their numerical equivalents, you find that the name Muhammad relates to م Mim, ه Ha, م Mim, م Mim, د Dal. Or in Hebrew, מ Mem, ח Chet, מ Mem, מ Mem, ד Daleth. Numerically, 40 + 8 + 40 + 40 + 4. It is 132. So, if you look at the letters of the names in Arabic or Hebrew, you can reach their synthesis, understanding of what they represent. In the Arabic Abjad system of Kabbalah, 1 + 32 is 33, the 33 vertebrae of the spine, the Alliance that Muhammad, the soul, the heart formed with الله Allah, the Christ, the Absolute. There are two columns in the temple of the alliance, Jaquin, Boaz, or in Hebrew, ו Vav, ז Zayin; male, female; man and woman. So, how is that Muhammad rode upon the lightning? He was an alchemist from the Arabic and Greek, الله Allah-χημία Khemia, “to fuse oneself” through “the chemistry of God.” We do that through the Tau cross as represented in the image of the card. That cross is ת Tav, but also the science of Venus and, if you are familiar with the symbol of Islam, you have the crescent moon and the star of Venus, a symbol of this teaching. This stone is what gives one longevity, life, happiness, inspiration, because that energy is the elixir of life, which any resurrected master acquires when perfecting the work. It is the synthesis of all things, because we are summed up in our energy. So, how we use the creative sexual impulse determines our spiritual life. It is the stone of the temple of the masons. It is the stone of Peter upon which we should build the Gnostic Church. People who do not work with the stone have no inspiration. They are dead. You see many priesthoods who reject sexuality. They follow Christ in their heart but not in sex. Therefore they are Judas. Judas is a symbol of a very developed person who loves God but loves fornication more because he sells Christ for thirty pieces of silver, a symbol of releasing the energies for a few moments of pleasure. Therefore they are dead. They have no life, which is why if you know many priests or imams of different faiths or traditions, you may find while they speak eloquently about these topics, if you know them deep down, they suffer, because they do not know. They do not know God from experience and therefore they have no inspiration.
This arcanum is the work of the sun and relates to the Magician card, because 1 + 9 form 19, and 1 + 9 is 10. 1 + 0 is 1. The number 10 is sexual. The vertical one is the phallus, the number zero is the woman, the uterus. It is through this mystery of inspiration in which the couple rises. They learn to overcome the wheel of samsara, Arcanum 10: Retribution by working with inspiration itself, the mysteries of the lingam-yoni.
The Great Alliance through Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury
So, what is this great alliance based upon? In alchemy we study three principles: Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury. In this image we see Parsifal with the temptress Kundry in various mythological Christian dramas, his secret stage play, all which has inspired many millions of people, but the real allegorical meaning is not very well understood. We will give a series of lectures on this opera on our website eventually. But here we mention this in brief because Kundry, while the temptress, is also the source of Parsifal’s redemption.
Parsifal, a Pharisee, a Farsi, a worshipper of fire who works with fal, the phallus, his sexual organs, represented by the sword that is next to him. She is the primordial Eve, the sexual organs which, if tamed in a marriage, is the source of redemption for the great heroes who conquer the castle of Klingsor, the temple of the black lodge, our own egotism. We do so if we overcome the foolishness of the soul, because sometimes Parsifal means, according to some, “the innocent fool,” which we relate to Arcanum 21: Transmutation in this course. Parsifal learns to overcome temptation by working with three elements in alchemy: Salt, Sulfur, Mercury, in which we find the synthesis of this card. Salt is the brute entity of the semen. It is the physical matter in which is contained Mercury. Mercury is the energy of sex. It is the fluidic aerial force that rises from the waters. It is the waters itself, which is fecundated by the fire, the Sulfur, the Kundalini. These three elements mix and are transformed when the couple is working diligently to maintain chastity and die to the ego. We find Mercury―as contained within the brute semen, the Ens Virtutis, according to Paracelsus―is virtue of the soul within the Ens Seminis, the seminal matter and energy. It is the positive principle of interior magnetism. It is what gives a couple real charisma or magnetic force because that energy is saved and it charges the couple eternally, gives them life, gives them vitality. So, we need to learn to transmute and thereafter sublimate this sexual energy to the heart. We need to bring up the fire of Sulfur through awakening divine love. But of course, to do that you must overcome temptation. The Mercury must never be let out. There are couples who know how to restrain brute Mercury, the physical entity of the semen and yet they indulge in orgasm without seminal emission. This is known in certain Taoist practices, which is very black, because while the physical entity is never emitted, the energy is lost through identification with desire. So, there is a lot of confusion among students in our schools because they hear of Taoist practices which say never to emit or lose the physical entity of semen, and yet they continue to teach how to indulge in pleasure or orgasm, but without losing the physical matter. Of course, this confusion is rectified when we understand these three forms of energy. There is the physical, there is the energetic, there is conscious force―Salt, Sulfur, Mercury. The Mercury is the energy which needs to become enflamed and transform the Kundalini, the fire. If we do not learn to use these principles, transmuting and conserving the Salt, the Mercury and the Sulfur, these forces polarize in accordance with our mental state. If you look at certain priests of different traditions that are celibate, they conserve the energy. They physically do not emit their vital fluids, but because they do not work on lust or ego or mind, who do not know how to meditate on the death of the ego, they do not sublimate that power. They do not circulate it. It is not known, and therefore those waters become stagnant, black like the stone of the Ka’ba that we saw previously. It is not enough to just conserve energy. We have to transform it. We transform it through mantras, prayer, meditation, sacred rites, runes, performing walks in nature, hiking, some exercise, swimming, by breathing profoundly, listening to classical music with love, performing good deeds, virtuous acts. Those are forms of sublimation in which we direct that energy. If we save it but do not know how to use it in our heart and soul, the ego takes it. This is the great detriment and failure of many churches, movements and schools. That energy that is not being transformed crystalizes into more desire. So, we have to learn how to create the soul through this great alliance. The fire needs to create the solar bodies. The Gospels speak about the wedding garment of the soul, which we must create in the book of Matthew, chapter 22: 1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
Meaning us, we invite all humanity to the mysteries of inspiration, the alchemical path, the wedding of the soul with God through the perfect matrimony, physically.
5 “But they paid no attention and went off―one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ―Matthew 22
So, this refers how the prophets and teachers are criticized, persecuted and slain because they give the doctrine of chastity which nobody likes. The king, the Innermost was enraged. He sent his army, the warriors of Mars, the lords of karma and destroyed those murderers and burned that city through great cataclysms.
7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Which is what we’re doing now. We have the websites in which this knowledge about the wedding of the soul is now taught openly. All of humanity is invited.
10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
So, this wedding clothes refers to the solar bodies. If we wish to marry our Divine Mother, Turandot, our Inner Christ, our Being, we have to have those vehicles built. That is the steppingstone that leads to resurrection. It is the path of the First Mountain mentioned by Samael Aun Weor.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The solar bodies are necessary to be born again spiritually, to form the alliance of the soul with God. This is paralleled in Islam. There are many names of الله Allah in the Muslim faith: الودود Al-Wadud, الخالق Al-Khaliq, “The Loving,” “The Creator.” So, what is الودود Al-Wadud? “The Loving,” and what is الخالق Al-Khaliq? “The Creator.” It is interesting, because where else do we find the power to create through love than in sexuality?
You find then the word الودود Al-Wadud, two و Waws or ו Vavs as well as two د Dals or ד Daleths. So, the Arabic and Hebrew are the same in their meaning: و Waw, د Dal in Arabic, ו Vav, ד Daleth in Hebrew. It is two dervishes, ד Daleths, male-female working with their spines. That is how they love الله Allah. So this why it says in Surah Al- Mu’minun, “The Believers,” verse 14: Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators. ―Surah al-Mu'minun, "The Believers," verse 14
So, people think this refers to physical birth. But it is a symbol of creating the solar bodies through that sexual energy within Muslim esoterism. These solar bodies are the Egyptian Sahu or Arabic لباس التقوى libas al-taqwa, “the garments of reverence,” which is mentioned in the Qur’an, Surah Al-Araf, verse 26:
O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you raiment to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the raiment of reverence―that is best. That is from the signs of Allah that perhaps they will remember. ―Al-A'raf 26
So, this term in Arabic, لباس التقوى libas al-taqwa, relates to reverence itself, تقوى taqwa, and the root word relates to the word attaqa, the verb “to shield oneself.” So, we have reverence for God when we shield ourselves against our ego. We fight against desire and deny ourselves by taking our cross and following Him. These are a lot of references in the Qur’an too about shielding oneself from hellfire. The way that we do that is to create solar bodies, eliminate the ego.
What is interesting is that even in the image of the nineteenth arcanum you see a couple wearing the raiment of reverence, which is a very prominent symbol of purity in Islam. The color green is the most favorite color of the Prophet Muhammad, a symbol of the flowering of the soul, the virtues of the God within oneself.
So, just as this great alliance occurs within the couple below on Earth, it must also occur above. The masculine human soul must merge with the feminine divine soul, תפארת Tiphereth with גבורה Geburah. These twin souls unite with resurrection, which is going to be the symbol of the next Arcanum 20: Resurrection, which is interesting because in this sequence of cards, Inspiration appears before Resurrection, referring to how when we are inspired in our work, the human soul merges with the divine soul through death, death of the ego, which Shakespeare represented in Romeo and Juliet by the eternal couple wedded in death, which provides the basis upon which upon the families, the Montagues and Capulets, reconcile, a symbol of karmic balance. So, this is the symbol of Parsifal, the human soul, the warrior, תפארת Tiphereth with הוה Havah-Eve, which down below is impure, but when she is purified and chaste, she is the holy Magdalene, mag, the magician, the priestess, and so with this we learn to reach through inspiration. Samael Aun Weor mentions that when the human soul and the divine soul are united through resurrection, the Chakra Sahasrara, the temple of Laodicea, the church of omniscience, is perfected. That provides us with what is known as polyvoyance: perfect, intuitive clairvoyance―to have images and understand immediately the meaning thereof, which we can develop in ourselves when we learn to meditate. So that when you have a samadhi or an astral experience, a jinn experience, an internal experience, you can see images coming, emerging in which you are both a witness and a spectator and you can comprehend the meaning of it immediately. This relates to imaginative knowledge, inspirational knowledge, intuitive knowledge. You see the images. That is the imagination of a psychic, spiritual type. You understand symbolic representations and what they mean, their relationship to us. We see that there are symbols and meanings hidden there. Therefore we are inspired to want to know more. Once we understand the connection between those images in our life, we have intuition, understanding. So, it is important that we learn to develop intuitive illumination, intuitive clairvoyance, polyvoyance, because having images in the mind is not enough. There are many people in our movement, they have dreams or visions or astral experiences of other gnostics or other people, and they see things that are very disturbing. They go around through the movement saying: “Such and such is a witch or a sorcerer, a black magician.” “I have seen what this person was doing in my mind’s eye in the internal planes.” But because there is no intuition there, no intellectual culture, or profound study of the knowledge, they easily condemn and blame others and judge, ignoring that what that person may have seen was an ego from an ancient cosmic era of that person that they may be working on. It is important not to just have visions of people or things, but to understand the relationship of those phenomena. So, we have to develop inspired knowledge, to be inspired by the interrelations of all things, and then, when we understand the connection by meditating profoundly, we do not get confused. Therefore we do not go blaming people or pointing our fingers because that causes a lot of problems in the Gnostic movement. 
We must learn to be guided by spiritual sun, the sun of midnight, which is taught within the readings of Samael Aun Weor. That is the symbol of how we need to watch the horizon in the astral plane to receive that inspiration because, if you are wondering about your true level of development, you can ask internally: “Show me my level.” Then in the astral plane, looking up at the sky, you can see the qualities thereof.
There has been a frequent dream I have; an indicator of progress is in the sky. I was in the habit of waking up in the astral plane and then going out of my home, sometimes my old parents’ home from many years ago, a symbol of my own mental center of gravity, my familiar places, states of mind. Then I looked up at the sky and if I see it is full of clouds, it means that my mind is obscured. There is the need to clear that atmosphere. But if you see stars or a sun, it is a representation of ascension, ascendance, because to see the stars and the galaxies and heavens is a profound symbol of connection with God. Divinity will show, in the atmosphere, the Sun. Samael Aun Weor calls it the sun of midnight. So, it sounds ironic: why is it that contradictory or paradoxical? Why is it that there is a sun at midnight? It means that at midnight when you are physically asleep, you see the astral sun and it guides you and shows you what you need to do by showing you the state of the atmosphere. If there is a sunrise, it means that something is being born. If there is a sunset, it means something needs to die. As an example, there is an axiom that states: “Do not expect anything from the East but expect everything from the West.” So, it is a beautiful symbol of kabbalah. The East is where the Sun rises, תפארת Tiphereth. The West is where the Sun sets, relating to מלכות Malkuth and hell realms. Everybody in this knowledge wants to have samadhis. We all crave and long for mystical experience from the East, to see the sunrise, a symbol of direct, intuitive, inspirational knowledge. But we have to remember that, if we wish to ascend, we have to first descend. You have to face your own infernos, face your own hell realms. That is why by facing the West, by looking at the sunset, we are being told: “You need to die to the ego.” Therefore, expect everything from the West, from the sunset, because it means we are going to learn how to die to certain defects. The death of the ego produces inspiration, joy, the sunrise. As you saw in the image of the card, the sun of heaven, the sun of midnight stands above the couple with its seven rays. Samael Aun Weor stated in The Revolution of the Dialectic: For the Gnostic, the greatest joy and celebration comes from the discovery of one of his defects, because that discovered defect will become a dead defect. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic
So, do not crave experiences, but work on your ego, and naturally, light emerges.
Even this morning, while awakening form sleep in an astral experience related to this card, I was driving my car in a forest in along a road that went through a series of woods, and I remember I saw, being awake, the sun setting into the west, a beautiful sunset. I knew immediately to look at the clock in front of me, in the car. It signed 2:53. So, it is very interesting. When you have dreams of numbers, it means that you have to add the digits together to arrive at the synthesis. 2 + 5 + 3 is 10. If you look at the card of Inspiration, 1 + 9 is 10. The same symbol there: vertical phallus, horizontal uterus. Number 1 and 0. So, I was shown that especially since I teach this knowledge, it is a form of driving one’s car. It relates to the three vehicles: Shravakayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana. Yana means vehicle. When we give knowledge, it refers to driving your car. So, I was being shown: “You’re driving your car and we’re showing you a sunset.” Meaning, you wish to be inspired as well so your students can understand inspiration, you want to work with death, death of the ego. So, it is a very beautiful symbol. So, these visions and dreams are very inspirational. They show us that we are working effectively and that we are seeing results. So, that is an example of things that we can work with. Love and Desire
In this card, Samael Aun Weor mentions a lot about love and desire, especially in his book Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot. He says that love is essential for this path. It was very well understood in the era of the Renaissance, a time of wigs, beautiful dresses, wagons, men who knew how to sacrifice themselves for their lady. They knew how to serve and appreciate women.
But of course that type of sentiment is no longer practiced in this era of Kali Yuga. So, men today do not know what love is, neither do lustful women, because desire is the opposite of love. Desire only wants to satisfy itself. It says: “I want. I crave. I need. I desire,” and always fights for what it wants at the expense of the other. Love only knows how to give at the expense of oneself. Compassion and lust are incompatible. Compassion is for others. Lust is only for itself. Love is true inspiration. It is the energies of in-spiring the vital winds and aspiring, elevating them to the mind and the heart. Without this we are expired, dead. Desire decomposes into thoughts, volitions, feelings, sentiments. It is very subtle and difficult to discern from love. This is why meditation is essential. Couples need to comprehend what desire is, what love really is and to learn to distinguish between the two, because without that discrimination, there is only the satisfaction of lust. Those energies need to be trained, conserved. They are polar opposites. The Being and the ego cannot mix. It is often asked of us in our studies: how people look for a partner, especially in the Gnostic movement. They are looking for a gnostic couple. They want to practice this science if they are single. They want to learn how to find their true love. We always emphasize that the way we do that is to meditate. You will know in your heart and through a lot experiences. It is very easy to fall into temptations of desire, infatuation, the novelty of a new experience of a new couple, which if it is fulfilled with desire, then opens the door to poison and suffering, which is evidenced by the divorce rate in America. Desire is poison. It is sweet to the senses, but it is damaging to the soul. People think that they love, but they really desire. The evidence is in the fruits of one’s actions. Do we really serve the other partner or do we fulfill what we want? If people knew how to develop their soul, through working in meditation and chastity, they would be able to know the difference between what their mind thinks and what their heart knows. People ask us: “How do I know who my partner will be? How will I find my perfect matrimony?” As we said, it is very simple. You meditate. You go into the internal planes and ask. They will show you experiences relating to that partner. They show you gardens, temples, beautiful symbols relating to your particular path. You will have the inspiration and the certainty about what you are doing physically. Therefore you do not become confused or doubtful if “this person is right for me.” That is the problem with people in the movement. They do not meditate enough. If they do not learn to ask internally what is going on and their particular life experience, they do not have the inspirational knowledge or certainty of what they are doing. So many people and couples get together because of certain desires and then the reality of that union comes very shockingly to its realization and results in a lot of pain, because it depends. Some couples may join together because of their desires, but they feel uncertainty. The solution is asking your Inner God to show you what you need. You ask, “Show me who my partner will be,” and “show me what is this person’s role in my life,” and therefore wait. Then make the decision whether to join with that person. If God says this is so, then you know and then you do not have to worry. Or if you feel doubt, despair and pain (because desire is doubt, is pain, is fear, saying, “Why is this person not for me? What if I made a mistake?” ―then reflect. That does not exist in a couple, or people or gnostics who know from Christ. Personally, I felt that knowledge for a long time about who my partner will be and what to expect. Everything is falling in the place because of my work. If we wish to know with certainty, if we are single, do not look for another person. Do not go out of your way to snatch someone off the street, because we are lonely. Instead, what is important is work on the mind, the ego. Be chaste, and, as the Qur’an teaches, let men or women be patient in their chastity and God will provide out of his bounty (24:33). Likewise, the love of the soul is nourished with love and chastity. We fortify our hearts by working with the sexual energy and desire is enflamed through acts of desire. Samael Aun Weor mentions that if the soul principle, the human soul were active in all humanity, they would know how to love. This is an affirmation of what Jesus taught: With patience possess ye your souls. ―Luke 21:19
We do not possess our souls yet. We have a lot of ego. Therefore this is why it is important to be careful. Do not run into relationships, but if you are single, take your time. Get to know the person who may be a potential partner. Only act when you know from God what is right.
Likewise, people often demand understanding and love from their partner but do not know how to give it. So, there are couples who unite because of karma. They have a certain level of love or understanding, but some aspects of the soul are not shared, and so people demand that their spouse understands them. Meanwhile they are only shown through a karmic relationship that they need to give love, to understand the partner. We learn to love and receive love by giving. That is the nature of compassion. This is why when people swear eternal love, sometimes they break up. It is because of desire. Desire is not satisfied. This is the importance of destroying desire, of annihilating desire in oneself. It has to be annihilated because this is the only way love can blossom in the soul. It has a very distinct psychological flavor. When you experience it, you know it. Especially if you are meditating and you have astral experiences, you know that the quality of your experience physically is exactly the same as your samadhis internally. This gives us faith and inspiration. So, remember that love forgives everything. It does not demand. It does not provide ultimatums, “Do this or I won’t marry you.” “Do this or I will not be your partner.” “Do this or that.” Really, a lot of relationships are based on this, on fear, ultimatums, rules. Love is the relationship of the ocean between two shores says Khalil Gibran. 
You see in this image of Sufi teaching of Majnun and Layla in the Muslim Sufi mysticism. Majnun is a symbol of the soul in love with Layla, the feminine representation of الله Allah. You can read Khalil Gibran’s poetry, especially The Prophet, which provides many teachings alchemically, kabbalistically that we can understand and which you find available on our website.
The Search for Security
So, when we look for love, we also look for security. The ego always looks through the external world, and many people want to be inspired in their work or their path in life, but do now know where to find it or see it. This is why you find so many movements today which have nothing of spiritual flavor, inspirational speakers who are so popular. They offer: “If you follow my teachings and pay me certain amount to money, you’ll get this result in your life.” Of course, this kind of system is degenerate, because real knowledge is free. It is not demanded. The only thing demanded is a profound discipline of oneself.
We have to go inside of our mind to receive true inspiration and joy. The ego is the enemy of life, life free in its movement. The soul knows how to adapt to any circumstance, how to be inspired, how to fluctuate, how to move, like water in a container. It changes with every circumstance, but it is essentially the same element. This is the law of transience and action, interdependence, inspiration. The animal ego says: “I need security.” “I need this job.” “I need this wife, this partner, this house,” and always looks to the external world for security, ignoring that genuine confidence comes from God. You find it by working on your ego. Whenever the aspirant looks for security in external things and acquire powers and development, they fail, because they ignore that the true power comes from divinity. When you have that connection, you are not afraid of anything in life: losing one’s job, being sick, being distressed, because Christ is fearless and fear inspiring among the demons who do not understand that complete lack of attachment to anything atemporal. But it is the truth of life free in its movement. So, there is always this tendency in everybody. This is why Jesus said: 25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? 28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. ―Matthew 6
Everything is provided to us if we are working in the knowledge. Of course, these karmic circumstances arise, but if we are really showing in our sincere efforts to change, then the Being modifies karma, withholds situations from happening that can produce a lot of pain and suffering, because God knows that we are paying our karma consciously and that we can negotiate with the law. Therefore, do not waste your energy in superfluous things: looking for the next car, the next house, the next job. We find sustenance and plenitude in the moment, and not thinking (worrying) of the future or the past.
When the mind does not search anymore, when the mind does not search for refuge, when the mind does not go around coveting more books or knowledge, when the mind ignores the memories of desire, then only that which is called love will remain within us. How great it is to love! Only the Great Souls can and know how to love. ―Samael Aun Weor, Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot
It is always the mind that says: “How shall I support myself? How will I live?” Of course, these are very genuine concerns, but they are masks worn by fear. Fear is the opposite of inspiration. When we know that we are being helped internally by God, we have no fear―even if the whole world is falling apart. Instead, we have those experiences guiding us physically and in the internal planes about what we must do with ourselves. Therefore, that is the true sense of security and inspiration we need.
Psalm 119
In these lectures we always refer to the Psalms, as from the Psalm 119, verses 145-152, which all begin with the Hebrew letter ק Quf, about which we will analyze today. These verses all relate to the mysteries of inspiration:
קָרָאתִי בְכָל־לֵב עֲנֵנִי יְהוָה חֻקֶּיךָ אֶצֹּֽרָה׃
We look for answers from God in our meditations, through experiences. We say: “I will follow you to the end if you but show me in my mediations or astral experiences what I must do. So, I will keep your testimonies, your visions sacred.”
147 I go before the dawn of day and cry; I hope in your Word.
So, this is above meditating in the morning hours and receiving insight in our dreams before we wake, and we cry for help and understanding and inspiration. We receive it if the mind is still and in silence.
148 My eyes go before the night watches, to meditate on your Word.
So, we must be vigilant in times of war, like a soldier in a battlefront. We must watch in the night, meaning, we meditate, we go to sleep physically, but our soul is awake and vigilant in the internal planes.
149 Hear my voice by your mercy, Oh Iod-Havah; give me life by your judgment.
We receive life, inspiration, joy by judging the ego, by annihilating the “I.”
150 The pursuers of mischief draw near; they are far from your Law.
So, our own ego is a pursuer of mischief. The animal “I,” desire which always produces problems in life. They always seek to pull us from the path, those negatives “I’s,” which are the great enemies of Gnosis, relating to Arcanum 18: Twilight.
151 You are near, Oh Iod-Havah, and all your commands are true. The Hebrew Letter ק Quf and the Zohar
But let us examine the Hebrew letter ק Quf.
ק Quf in Hebrew is also represented in Arabic as ق Qaf. They have the same meanings, the same kabbalistic principles, because the semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, share the same roots. ק Quf in Hebrew is dual. Above it, is a heavenly, solar mind, but it also can represent a lunar, animal mind. We always represent in these lectures too the creation story of the Zohar, in which we find represented the twenty-two Hebrew letters of kabbalah presenting themselves as personifications of the principles of God. They always demonstrate or show themselves before יהוה Iod-Havah, asking divinity, “Let me create the world by me through my principles or letters.” The letter ש Shin came before Him (ש Shin is the fire, as we mentioned many times specially in Arcanum 3: The Empress and also Arcanum 4: The Emperor of this course). She said, “Master of the worlds, May it please You to create the world by me, for by me You are named שדי Shaddai, (ש Shin, ד Daleth, י Iod, the force of the Almighty Living God in יסוד Yesod) and it is fitting to create the world by a holy name.”
So, what does it mean that the letter ש Shin, fire, is a true letter, and yet that letter is corrupted? That force of the sexual energy. It means that through lust or desire, fornication, the power of truth is adulterated.
For “a lie cannot exist unless ק Quf, ר Resh, Q and R, take you.” So you find that the Hebrew letters ש Shin, ק Quf and ר Resh spell שקר sheqer, meaning a “lie.” So ק Quf in this sense is a negative representation. It is the animal mind that abuses the sexual fire, ש Shin, through lust. Even the letter ק Quf itself is formed by a כ Kaf and a ו Vav. כ Kaf reminds us of a Kufiyah كُوفِيَّة the head or כתר Kether, the crown. ק Quf, כ Kaf, or Kufiyah كُوفِيَّة in Arabic or Islam is the cap that Muslims wear above their heads in prayer covering the head. This is a sign of humility and subservience, submission. כ Kaf is also the crown of glory, but ק Quf in Hebrew can also mean “monkey,” an animal mind, one that is constantly attached to sensations, which is why if you observe the animal behavior of monkeys, they never sit still. They are always moving doing different things. They are never stationary or still. When ש Shin, the fire, is used to feed that animality, it becomes שקר Sheqer, a lie, a spiritual deceit, which is why you find so many new age movements that teach similar principles that we teach here, but they always abuse the sexual energy and therefore they are foolish, always running around like monkeys in their mind, chaotic. So, whoever wants to tell a lie first will lay a foundation of truth and then construct the lie. For ש Shin is a letter of truth, a true letter of patriarchs, who were united in it (the Hebrew letter ש Shin, if transposed upon the human body, relates to the heart―two י Iods and ת Tav referring to patriarchs), Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or חסד Chesed, גבורה Geburah, תפארת Tiphereth (the spirit, divine soul, human soul). ק Quf, ר Resh are letters that appear on the evil side, left pillar. In order to survive, they entangle with ש Shin, forming קֶשֶׁר Qesher, conspiracy.” Seeing this, she left His presence. ―Zohar, Pritzker, Vol. 1, p. 12 The Monkey Mind, Nervous Systems, and Circuitry of God
So, it is a very beautiful verse from the Zohar. So, if we use the fire to fortify the intellect, we are demons, monkey creatures. Remember that Beelzebub, whom Samael Aun Weor helped to redeem in the astral plane, had the form of a gorilla, who is a giant ק Quf, giant animal, prince of demons. But he learned through the path of alchemy and love how to renounce hell.
He illuminated his ק Quf, his head, like the pumpkin gourd. You extract the guck during Halloween from a pumpkin guard and put a candle inside of it. You are illuminating your mind. You are celebrating a hallowed evening, Halloween, in which the ego is being fully annihilated.
ק Quf also spells קליפות Klipoth (ק Quf, ל Lamed, י Iod, פ Peh, ו Vav, ת Tav). It means “husk, shells.” Klipoth is the hell realms, the world of shells, because it is all based on appearances, whereby the current seed of life in the shell, when being extracted, is lost. So, it is a beautiful symbol of how in those dimensions, the infraconscious worlds, they have beautiful appearances, diabolic beauty, the sphere of Nahemah. It is empty of any real spiritual substance. The shell is the ego, in which the seed of the soul must be extracted. We spoke a lot about this in our lecture on Arcanum 2: The High Priestess, in this course. ק Quf, as I said is a כ Kaf, the eleventh letter, and a ו Vav together, the sixth letter, the crown of the spinal medulla. As I said, people use the intellect to justify the ego, and this is why in Arcanum 18: Twilight, Samael Aun Weor mentions that the greatest weapon the black lodge uses against the initiate is the intellect. It is very deceptive. The intellect is not the sole indicator of intelligence or understanding. It is a machine that can say thesis, antithesis; good, bad. It compares ideas. It cannot know the truths of the heart unless it is guided by profound works of meditation. Even ק Quf is made from the Hebrew letter ר Resh, which will be the next letter in this course. ר Resh is similar to כ Kaf. This actually looks like the bottom of a ל Lamed as well. But ר Resh (or Rosh) is the head, and ו Vav and ז Zayin are the masculine-feminine principles, Ida-Pingala, which rise through our ק Quf, our mind. So, the forces of heaven descend from above, from the crown, as light, down to the brain and to spinal column to the sexual glands. Even in medical science we know that the brain itself is not the real source of intelligence. You find that the brain or cranial nerves permeate the entire body, the spinal column. The heart and the nerves, the lymphatic system, the endocrine system, everything relating to our senses is not just found in the intellect, but all throughout the spine, which emphasizes why by working with the sexual fluids, which have the same quality as the fluid in the brain. That is what produces profound intelligence and promotes that circuitry of the soul with God, the alliance, because the spine is the radio tower in which we find the crown, the head, which thoughts are directed through the intellect, the pineal gland. But then receives its power from its battery, its energy system, from below, which is sex. So, by working with that fire, we illuminate our ק Quf, our head through raising the source of Kundalini, ז Zayin up or above, up our spine. 
ק Quf, Cain, and Abel in the Bible
There is a figure in the Book of Genesis that relates to this letter ק Quf. We find Cain. קין Cain is spelled ק Quf, י Iod, ן Final Nun. When Adam and Eve fell, when brain and sex were abused in ancient humanity, they created קין Cain (Qayin) and הבל Habel. Cain is the intellectual, sensual mind. Abel is the soul, the part of us that was still left and was not adulterated just yet. It is a symbol of a past humanity, but also even now what happens in us.
You remember from the myth that Cain killed Abel, and so may Jews think it is a literal history, many Muslims and Christians, too. But every time we identify with our intellect, we kill our soul, הבל Habel. We are vain, because the word הבל Habel means “vanity,” הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים Habel Habalim, “vanity of vanities. All is vanity,” says Solomon in the scriptures. So, in the book of Genesis you find in that story how Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. What does it mean to keep sheep? It means to be practicing gnosis. Sheep, the ram, represents fire of sex, Aries, working to illuminate the ק Quf, our head with the sacred fire. It means to work with the spark of our energies through chastity, to be chosen people, favored people by divinity. But to be a tiller of the ground is to be like anyone in this city of Chicago, fascinated with materialism, tv shows, money, looking at these external things as the sole patrimony of all that is good or useful. This is not to say that we can’t learn certain things from tv or shows, but in synthesis this is all that people think about, is cars, money, television, sex, drugs, violence. That is Cain. People till the ground. They get themselves dirty with the filth of Klipoth, the mud of the earth. God favored הבל Habel, Habel, meaning the breath of ה Hei within ב Beth and ל Lamed. לב Lev, ל Lamed, ב Beth, is the heart in Hebrew. So, הבל Habel, if you switch among the letters around, can refer to the heart, the soul (since ה Hei is the indefinite article, “the,” in Hebrew). If we do not follow our soul, like Pinocchio ignored Jiminy Cricket, we kill our soul. In the myth of Pinocchio you find that this wooden puppet wants to become a human being, a real master of flesh and blood. Question: Cain is the intellect? Instructor: Yes. And then because Jiminy Cricket, his conscience, his soul, הבל Habel, does not jive with his sense of materialism, he kills the cricket with a hammer, his will. He directs and kills it. Read the book. The film was different, but it is the same myth. We are killing our soul all the time. Our intellect kills our soul, Abel, through fascination, identification, sleep. Cain is cursed by God for having killed Abel, which means us, and Cain must be avenged sevenfold, according to the book of Genesis, chapter 4, verse 15: Therefore, whosoever slays Cain, vengeance should be taken sevenfold. ―Genesis 4:15
This refers to how the law in action punishes the soul and we develop the seven capital sins, the ego.
But also Adam knew his wife again from chapter 4 of Genesis, verses 25 to 26: And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: “For God,” said she, “hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” ―Genesis 4:25-26
So, they are beautiful symbols because every time we kill our soul, if we are working in this path, we can give birth to שת Seth, ש Shin, ת Tav. We can become inspired like Adam and Eve were inspired again after losing Abel. They in other terms gave birth to the Kundalini. ש Shin is the fire. ת Tav is the human seal of the covenant. You find ת Tav in תפארת Tiphereth, the human soul. ת Tav begins and ends that name. But notice that this couple in Arcanum 19 is holding the cross ת Tav, in which the fire, ש Shin, illuminates them, inspires them. This is Adam and Eve giving birth to Seth, inspiration, the fire. But of course, that comes above when we recognize that we really have killed our soul. We stunt our spirituality through indulgence and desire.
The Arabic Letter ق Qaf and the Qur’an
There are other meanings relating to these mysteries. ק Quf has its Arabic equivalent ق Qaf. It has the same meaning. Even the calligraphy looks like a circle with a line referring to the spine and the head. You also find two diacritical marks above ق Qaf which relates to the pituitary and pineal glands, which become enflamed through the sexual fire.
So, what is the meaning of قُرْآن Qur’an Arabic? The Arabic mysteries hide a lot. So, in the Muslim myth, Muhammad was meditating on جَبَل ٱلنُّوْر Jabal al-Nur, “the mountain of light,” which he went in solitary mediation to connect with God. That is when the Angel Gabriel came to him in a vision and told him: “Recite.” And Muhammad said: “I cannot. I don’t know how to read or write,” because in the mysteries of that tradition they say that Prophet Muhammad was illiterate. Many Muslims believe this tradition literally, but it is a symbol how like any one of us, when we climb the mountain of initiation, we are unlettered. We do not have the 22 Hebrew characters or principles of the arcana [the eternal tarot] developed in us, the archetypes of the soul. But if we learn to enter initiation, we can illuminate our mind and heart. So, Gabriel said again: “Recite.” He said: “I cannot.” And then the third and final time: “Recite.” And Prophet Muhammad said: “What shall I say, my Lord?” A symbol of our three brains. Divinity tells us to act, to enter the work. We deny it with our intellect in the beginning. We deny it with our heart, afterward, but when we learn the sexual mysteries, the motor-instinctual-sexual brain, we learn to reconcile this mission in ourselves, and then we say, “What shall I recite, my Lord?” Intellectual brain, emotional brain, motor-instinctual-sexual brain. When we work with the motor-instinctual-sexual brain, the vehicle of action, we can learn to recite the word of God. So, the word Qur’an means “recitation,” and refers to the scripture, really, amongst the Muslims, as the expression of God through Prophet Muhammad. But as Rumi taught, there are many Qur’ans, many recitations given to humanity by the prophets. The Muslim Qur’an is just one of them. But if you look at the letters of the Qur’an, you find that it is many kabbalistic meanings there. They relate to these principles of alchemy and kabbalah. You find the singular ا Alif, the breath, which has its Hebrew equivalent in א Aleph, followed by ל Lamed or ل Lam, ال Al meaning God, אל El in Hebrew. So, the recitation also means the indefinite article ال Al, “the” in Arabic, but refers to the spirit, the breath, the wind. They manifest to our און Aun, ל Lamed, ل Lam. قُرْ Qur: ק Quf / ق Qaf and ر Ra / ר Resh―Q and R―ק Quf, ר Resh, sounds like אור Ur, the Hebrew letter for “light.” When you are working with your energies and raising it into your ק Quf or ق Qaf, illuminating your pituitary and pineal glands, you learn to express light. قُرْآن Qur’an, the Arabic letters for آن An, ا Alif, ن Nun, or א Aleph, נ Nun in Hebrew refers to און Aun, the strength of sex. When we work with transmutation, we are transmuting our און Aun, our virility. You even find the word און Aun in the name of סםאל און ואור Samael Aun Weor, “Samael’s strength and light” in Hebrew. The teachings we give here are found in this master’s recitation. His Qur’an is the basis of this school. His light, the light of Samael Aun Weor, explains many Qur’ans, many recitations, because the virtue of his teaching is that it is the synthesis of everything, whether from East or West. So, if we wish to understand the Muslim Qur’an, we can study the kabbalah and alchemy of Samael Aun Weor in his books. And so, Qur-an, the light emerging from our head comes from און Aun, the sexual strength, and when we have that light and energy manifested through alchemy, you learn to speak the words of God. There is even a Surah in the Qur’an known as Al-Qaf, which begins with this letter, and the Sufis have commented on this line as an emerald mountain. So, what is that mountain? It is the mountain of initiation. What is the meaning of emeralds? So, we know that Prophet Muhammad’s favorite color was green, as a symbol of the virtues of the soul, and refers to the spine with all its jewels, the virtues of the chakras opened. ق Qaf. By the honored Qur’an. But they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among themselves, and the disbelievers say, "This is an amazing thing. When we have died and have become dust, [we will return to life]? That is a distant return. ―Qur’an 50:1-3
So, you have to remember that every prophet has their antithesis in the black lodge. Prophet Muhammad is a master of the white lodge who gave a very radical teaching on the work of the death of the ego and about faith, conscious experience. But of course, he had many enemies in the Middle East who were trying to kill him. This is the black magicians of the Middle East, of Arabia who are very active today. So, these black magicians are always horrified by the prophets.
They said: “Truly talk about resurrection. And how about when we have died, we will become dust, and we will return to the light again?” Muslims read this very literally as referring to the death of the physical body, but here the black magicians are referring to efforts of death in the center of the Earth, the Klipoth. “You’re saying that you’ll rise again?” meaning that “We will go back to mineral, plant, animal, human state? That is a distinct return!” Meaning, it is very distant for them. Muhammad is talking about entering the straight path of the bodhisattvas, but the black magicians say: “We want to go down into the Earth and then we want to be recycled again and to reach that, that is a very distant return.” So, it is a lot meanings and subtleties hidden there. ن Nun has to do how we work with ق Qaf, our head, our intellect. Muslims, as I said, cover their heads with Kufis, ק Quf, كُ Kaf, كُوفِيَّة Kufiyah, which is similar to the letter ق Qaf, which is more a K sound. ק Quf and ق Qaf in Hebrew and Arabic have similar meanings. So, the Prophet recited from the Qur’an: We know what the earth diminishes of them, and with Us is a retaining record. ―Qur’an 50:4
So, the earth, in the infradimensions swallows the lost souls, diminishes them through the second death.
But they denied the truth when it came to them, so they are in a confused condition. ―Qur’an 50:5
It is interesting that he says confusion is amongst the qualities of the unbelievers. People who don’t have inspiration or certainty are very confused, very lost. The Qur’an repeatedly states: “Say unto them… Say… say to the disbelievers. Say to the believers.”
The Hebrew words are ק Quf, ל Lamed or the Arabic ق Qaf, ل Lam. In Hebrew it is ק Quf, ל Lamed, Q and L. There is no פ Peh in Arabic, but they refer to this letter ק Quf, ל Lamed; ق Qaf, ל Lamed; or ق Qaf ل Lam. meaning: speak unto them through the power of their fire in your head and through ל Lamed, ل Lam, your tongue. Speak the Word of God to the unbelievers so that they can change. We can also say, “Speak your ק Quf (speak your mind).” We have to have the fire present, און Aun, the strength raising to ק Quf, our head so that ن Ra, قُرْ Qur-آن an, the fire of Ra, the Solar Logos, the Absolute, the אין סוף אור Ain Soph Aur, speaks through us. The Perfect Matrimony and Inspiration in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra
In conclusion, we will talk about some advice given by Friedrich Nietzsche about inspiration in his chapter called “On Child and Marriage,” about couples in Gnosis who want or people in Gnosis who want to be married. So, as I said, many students and people write to us asking “How do I find my partner?” They write to us on our forum on gnosticteachings.org and ask for help. They want to be inspired in a marriage. Sometimes we have given them this advice from Nietzsche, which is very useful. We always state that our level of being attracts our life. If we are angry, violent, lustful, hateful, people, naturally, that will be our corresponding partner. If we are chaste, sweet, serene, patient. That is what we will attract.
As the Qur’an teaches: “Vile men for vile women, and chaste men for chaste women.” This is from Surah al-Nur, the Light, Surah 24. So, I will refer to a quote from Nietzsche with some exegeses, explanations from the Gnostic perspective. I have a question for you alone, my brother: like a sounding lead, I cast this question into your soul that I might know how deep it is.
This refers to how when couples unite sexually, they form a bond in marriage that has nothing to do with papers. It has to do with sexual connection. When couples unite because of lust and not because of the will of God, then Nietzsche says: And let the God who lives near to bless what he never joined keep his distance. So, we have to learn not to engage in those acts but be patient to find our partner.
Worthy I deemed this man (initiate), and ripe for the sense of the earth (how to practice sexual magic by dominating his own מַלְכוּת Malkuth, his kingdom / body, so as to become a King, מלך Melech, a king of alchemy); but when I saw his wife, the earth seemed to me a house for the senseless. Indeed, I wished that the earth might tremble in convulsions when a saint (gnostic initiate) mates with a goose (a woman who has no inclination to practice gnosis, a lustful person lacking spiritual drive). ―Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “On Child and Marriage”
So, this has to do with couples who join because of desire and it is very common in the movement where one person may be interested in Gnosis and the other may not. Of course that is a karmic situation to deal with. It can be a very painful one. But it doesn’t indicate that one may not be successful. What matters is that one is going to be working seriously because through our work and our efforts and our changes, the other partner can change with living examples. But Nietzsche had a very Martian side when saying that. It is good that people take their time before getting married.
This one went out like a hero in quest of truths, and eventually he conquered a little dressed-up lie. His marriage he calls it.
So, of course we get a lot of people who write to us saying: “I want to practice Gnosis, but my partner does not.” And of course, that is very painful to deal with. What we advise if our students are listening on the radio as well, who are single, take your time. Don’t go out of your way to marry until you know from God what is right.
Careful I have found all buyers now, and all of them have cunning eyes. But even the most cunning still buys his wife in a poke.
Meaning in meditation of our defects, we work on those egos that cause the most pain. Meaning if we are practicing alchemy whether or not our partners are practicing this, we learn to drink the bitter cup of our love. This is even in couples who are both practicing gnosis. There is pain. It is inevitable. It is karma.
Therefore, drink the better cup of your love through meditation. Eliminate resentment and pride and lust which causes pain in relationships, and for that, we learn to change. Bitterness, karmic suffering, lies in the alchemical couple. Bitterness (karmic suffering) lies in the (alchemical) cup of even the best love: thus it arouses longing for the Superman; thus it arouses your thirst, creator (alchemist). Thirst for the creator (חסד Chesed, בינה Binah, חכמה Chokmah, and כתר Kether, since the upper trinity of the Tree of Life creates along with the spirit), an arrow and longing for the Superman: tell me, my brother, is this your will to marriage? Holy I call such a will and such a marriage.
So, I conclude by mentioning that in our relationship all that matters to receive inspiration is love. I know that some people get caught up in wanting to have a gnostic partner, this ideal of “In order for me to be successful in Gnosis, my partner has to be the same.” Of course, Nietzsche was speaking very different points of view, saying for people who are single, who have not found Gnosis yet or who have been in Gnosis for a number of years he advises them: “Take your time. Be patient. Don’t jump into relationships.” But, at the same time, if we are in a relationship, then we find the knowledge afterward and we work where we are at and be patient and love our partner. Love is the requisite for inspiration, for initiation, for change has nothing to do with titles or belonging to a certain faith or group. What matters is the affinity of thought, feeling, will. What matters is that love blossoms.
Do you have any questions? Questions and Answers
Question: Does pranayama activate Kundalini and help the Kundalini rise?
Instructor: Swami Sivananda writes that pranayama awakens sparks of Kundalini. He was not explicit, but we know that for the Kundalini to awaken fully, we need a marriage, because male-female, ו Vav and ז Zayin, work together to form חַיָה Chaiah (life), ח Chet, the eighth letter of Kabbalah. In that way, we give life to our soul, inspiration. But single practitioners can do pranayama and through their nostril breathing awaken sparks. The confusion amongst Sivananda students is that he was never explicit. He said that with pranayama you can awaken Kundalini, but he meant sparks. Without the Kundalini present, one cannot have Samadhi, experiences. So, you can have sparks of that in an individual practice, or in a marriage, awaken the fire completely, which is represented by the image of inspiration in this card. Question: Does sunlight help to activate or help raise the Kundalini? Instructor: Good question, because in alchemy, to awaken the Kundalini and to raise it, the couple has to practice at night. Couples can practice alchemy in the daytime to eliminate ego according to Samael Aun Weor. But… Question: But for single practitioners, sunlight does help? The force of the sunlight, I understand that it is very spiritual. Instructor: So, if we are single one can still work with the energy at any time. It does not matter, but there is something special that happens at night amongst couples, which is why in all the primordial myths of Genesis within any faith, any tradition or world religion, they teach that the Gods created the light from the darkness, meaning, you create solar bodies, the Kundalini rises by working in the nighttime. Samael Aun Weor mentions in Tarot and Kabbalah, he says that the Sun is the enemy of generation, because if you look at a newborn chick that is forming in an egg, it has to form in the darkness of the shell. It cannot be exposed to sunlight or it will die, because that force is too powerful. The same principle applies to raising the Kundalini. So, in order to raise the fire, the couple has to work at nighttime. But, as the master explains in The Mystery of the Golden Flower, we can, as couples, eliminate ego through alchemy in the daytime. So that is a good practice especially. Question: At least that helps single people? Instructor: Yes, but married couples, obviously, when they’re together, they have to raise the Kundalini together at night. But individual practitioners can raise their energies through pranayama any time at day. It doesn’t matter. The reason is the force that you accumulate from a marriage is much more powerful, magnified. Single practitioners are like a candle. The light of a candle is simple, beautiful, powerful, but the light of the Sun, through a marriage, like the Sun in the card of inspiration, is much more profound. So, there are degrees and degrees. Comment: But I suspect that most of the great majority of people who study gnosticism, haven’t managed to get to the point where they get to work in a marriage, who get to engage with Kundalini in a spiritual level. It is a goal. I strongly suspect that there are not too many couples like that… Instructor: You do find and I’ve been in many schools and movements where I’ve seen very happy gnostic couples, but also some very miserable ones too. So, the thing to remember is that whether one is in Gnosis or not, that is not a predicator of success in one’s marriage. I know many gnostics specially in our retreats, other schools who are married, they have their partner, but they have a partner doesn’t study Gnosis, is not interested. But the thing is, the foundation of love is there. That’s the key thing. When Nietzsche was talking in that quote I referenced “On Child and Marriage,” has to do with one who is gnostic, who goes out of the way to be with their partner who is against the knowledge. Cooperation is essential whether they are gnostic or not. If the partner is against one from transmuting, is making effort to make one fall, that is obviously a very negative relationship and going to be harmful, but of course there has to be some communication and love, and understanding where the couple is being very open about what their goals are. That is the foundation of love: being able to communicate. What Nietzsche was saying is that there are certain people in our movement who really go out of their way to sleep with someone or sleep around, get in a relationship when there’s no affinity there and that’s the dangerous part. This is why he says: “I wish the Earth would tremble in convulsions when a saint makes for the goose.” Because there has to be love. It cannot just be desire. This is why we get so many emails, people saying: “Well, I want to find a partner and therefore I’m going on this dating website and trying these things to find a partner,” but that’s founded in lust. You look at images on the internet of another person, you message them to get into a relationship, but what one is dealing with in the mental plane is fornication, because you see the image of that person, you have an objective fantasy of what that person is like and one is infatuated with desire, and this is the problem… Comment: It’s a crapshoot! Instructor: Yes. Samael Aun Weor mentions, even in his time, he condemned magazines in which people write columns: “Such and such man with long hair or brown eyes with certain feature looking for woman of such and such height and shape.” He said that was degenerated even then, because he would awaken in the mental plane, he would look at the sources of those advertisements, and he would find dens of prostitution in the mental world of people who write those articles to find each other copulating in the mental plane. They already connected in that dimension and they’re fornicating, asleep, like animals. So, even now is worse because of the internet. You can see images of people on Facebook or provocative photographs and people are already fornicating in the mental plane with that person. Those relationships really are, tend to be founded in desire. And so, many people have asked me: “Well, what if I try like a gnostic dating site?” And of course (I kind of laugh at that) it’s kind of funny but being sincere, it is kind of silly, because really, the way that you find your partner is three factors: transmute, practice chastity, mediate on the death of desire, help other people. That’s it. Comment: But I think that there is a lot of karma for people on this plane, the hardest thing is for them to sublimate that force. That is the goal. It is so easy to cross over to the other side unless you have a really good spiritual foundation. It is amazing how this sexual force can really bring people down… Instructor: Yes and it is also a problem for people who are new to gnosis and want to get in a relationship, because to really practice alchemy effectively, it is really essential or better if that person is or has been transmuting for years before they get married, because people that are used to fornication and try these teachings for the first time, they have no control, even with themselves to be able to work with that energy, which is why Nietzsche said: “You wish for a child and marriage, first you have to be built, perpendicular in body and soul.” This is the cross, fourth way teachings, psychological balance. Personally, in my case, I was practicing for many years as a single person, and just doing my work and being patient, I found my wife. I had a lot of astral experiences showing me: “You’re going to get married with such type of person.” Of course when I had physical encounters with my partner, my wife, you know, those experiences were relating to what’s going on, and I just let the beauty of that unfold, and that’s the magic of love. It is unforced. It happens when Christ wants it. When you have that experience in yourself, you are ready for it. So, I don’t advise people to go on the internet to try dating websites. It is really a lustful medium. It is very difficult. I do not know how people may find their partner that way. Comment: It can be very dangerous. Instructor: It can be very dangerous. So, the thing is. It’s good for practitioners who are single to really take their time. Transmute, die to the ego, serve others in whatever way it’s possible. In that way, our level of being rises and we are able to attract the partner that we want. Question: In the Biblical story about the king who invite everyone to attend his son’s wedding feast, why is the man without a wedding garment speechless? Instructor: Because he doesn’t have the Verb incarnated. So, the king asks: “Where is your wedding garments?” Meaning you’re in Nirvana, you have approached the heavenly realms and supped with Christ, the wedding banquet of the Lamb, and he couldn’t say anything because he couldn’t defend himself. That’s the first level of meaning, but in a deeper sense he couldn’t pronounce the Verb. He was speechless because they didn’t have Christ inside. He didn’t work with a marriage. That’s the meaning of Qur’an, to recite. It’s interesting that in the Christian faith in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. A lot of people like to think that Christianity and Islam have very different viewpoints, but the esoterism is the same. When the Muslims recite the Qur’an, they use the verb, the speech. The pronunciation of the Arabic language has beautiful sounds, a symbol of how Christ is incarnated in us, we learn to speak the words of divinity, of God, and therefore, if we don’t have that light inside through transmutation, we are speechless. I remember many years ago, I mentioned this experience in one of our prior lectures of the Tarot. I went to Egypt, in the astral plane, and they invited me into their temple of Giza. In that temple they showed me a room full of children learning sign language. They couldn’t speak. They were learning from an adult who is teaching them how to communicate with signs. I didn’t know the meaning of it at that time, but I was inspired. I knew that this is a symbol of the white lodge. I was receiving knowledge about my own development. And so, I had to meditate further to understand later what it meant. It was a symbol of how as an Essence I was still learning how to work effectively. We do sign language with the runes: Is, Ehwaz, Os, Ur, Ar, Man, Sig. Seven vowels, seven mantras, seven runes. Or sacred rites of rejuvenation. You perform signs with your body in order to pray and communicate with God. So, if you show me you want to speak the word of God, you want to recite a Qur’an, give the knowledge or give the teaching, then you learn to work with the Verb, mantras, learn to speak, because the Bible says that the lame and the deaf and the dumb are healed by Christ. So, it’s a symbol of our soul. So, the man is speechless in that myth because he wasn’t working in alchemy. He didn’t have the Verb incarnated. We reach the incarnation of Christ through the Venustic Initiation. You create the solar bodies and enter the straight path, then you can enter the higher degrees of mastery. Question: The one who doesn’t have solar bodies cannot incarnate the Verb? Instructor: No, because Christ is an energy and if Christ tried to enter us without those vehicles developed, we would be annihilated. The solar bodies are the vehicles of God. They have the circuitry of God. If we wish to express that light perfectly, we need the channels in our body, internally, to manifest that force, because it is the power of the Sun and so is the means by which that light can generate. This is the meaning of Qur’an. To recite that light, Muhammad had to rise upon جَبَل ٱلنُّوْر Jabal Al-Nur. He entered the Mountain of Initiation, and, in the myth, Gabriel speaks to him, commands him to recite. גַבְרִיאֵל Gabriel, جِبْرِيل Jibril in Arabic, refers in Hebrew to גַבְרִיאֵל Gibur-Ra-El. 卍Gibur is the swastika, the Rune Hagal amongst the Nordics. ᚼ Hagal looks like an axe with a line through it, so a six-pointed diagram, referring to the hexagram or six-pointed star of David, six points, six enclaves. Question: Is there not a point in the middle that can represent the Sun?
Instructor: It can be. In some symbols they have the Sun. In some cases different symbols in the middle. The representation of the six-pointed star refers to Adam-Eve, and six plus six is twelve, the 12th Arcanum: The Apostolate, the apostle that is working with his partner. But Gabriel, Gibur is a swastika, the power of God in motion through Ra, the solar energies of El, of the Spirit. So, Muhammad was obviously a Master of the Fifth Initiation of Major Mysteries at that point, in that myth. He was practicing alchemy with his wife, and then, at جَبَل ٱلنُّوْر Jabal al-Nur, the Mountain of Light, he was told by Gabriel: “Recite.” And then he said: “I can’t.” And a second time: “Recite.” He says: “I can’t.” And he says: “What shall I recite my Lord?” Because he’s accepted the direct path. He embraced it, and therefore, when Christ incarnates within him, he was able to recite the words of الله Allah. So, a very beautiful teaching there. So, he was very inspired and his inspiration terrifies many people because the sorcerers of Arabia hated his doctrine and his doctrine is now very disfigured today. But if you know how to read between the lines about what is in Arabic or Hebrew, you understand these things if we are alchemists and kabbalists.
I invite you to continue practicing your practices of meditation and to be inspired by the writings of Samael Aun Weor, any scripture that motivates you especially, since we gain strength by reading knowledge that comes from masters, who’ve done this before. It can be very easy to get discouraged by the magnitude of the teaching, how vast and profound and complex and beautiful it is. So, we learn to push forward and ahead by learning from the masters who have really embodied this doctrine so that we can be encouraged in our work. Question: With daily meditation? Instructor: Daily meditation, transmutation, service in whatever level we can, and in that way, we can overcome many obstacles. With faith of size of a mustard seed you can move mountains. That is inspiration, and if we work with our sexual energy, whether single or married. That is what drives us in this work of what is coming.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
The Gnostic Academy of Chicago
Free online courses, lectures, podcasts, and transcriptions. Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
