A preview of my new work in progress, Pharos Tarot. In honor of today’s auspicious astronomical event, the Mercury-Sun cazimi, I wanted to send out a communication (Mercury) and give you a preview of one of my favorite Pharos Tarot cards, The Sun. I call this one The Lamp. It’s a glyph of illumination and liberty: Light, Love, Liberty, and Life.
The Hebrew letter is Resh, meaning head – the central or front of the head or face. Light enters the face and head, into the pineal gland, through the eye.
The lamp shows the four stations of Liber Resh vel Helios, Crowley’s solar adoration ritual performed four times daily, at each of the stations of the Sun’s journey: sunrise to Ra in his strength (shown by the sun symbol and serpent), noontime to Hathor in her beauty (shown by her horned crown at the apex), sunset to Tum or Atum in his joy, (shown by his white crown), and midnight to Khephra, in his hiding (shown by the winged scarab beetle at bottom).
Twin children dance on the solar barque at the bottom, representing the solar twins as dual forms of Horus or Heru. The active form holds what looks like a one – the pillar. The passive form holds what looks like a zero – the void. Yet they are also the letters I and O, and along with the A between them spell the magical formula IAO. IAO is also another name for the Tetragrammaton, known as the Bringer of Light, and as a godform as a sun god and a gnostic god of the mysteries.
The two V’s on the barque transform IAO into VIAOV. Crowley, adapted IAO for the new Aeon, adding the Hebrew letter Vau to both ends, which he then called the “proper hieroglyph of the Ritual of Self-Initiation in this Aeon of Horus” VIAOV enumerates to 93, like Thelema and Agape. Crowley calls this person who travels through this new process, “Man made God, exalted, eager; he has come consciously to his full stature, and so is ready to set out on his journey to redeem the world.”
The colors are Orange, Gold Yellow, Rich Amber, and Amber, rayed red. More to come on that later.
This post will be added to the main section of this site for the Pharos Tarot, on the tab called “Pharos” above. You can go there to see all of the posted cards in one place, with all updated information
With Light, Love, Liberty, Life; MMM
Wow!! Amazing ☺️? I often wonder about the four stations of adoration. I think it truly corresponds to the Sun’s four stations. It’s a “sine curve.” The four seasons of life. Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. From the equator to the tropic, then from the tropic to the equator, then from the equator to the opposite tropic and back to the equator. Each one takes exactly 3 months and represents the seasons colon birth , Life, Maturity and then Death. Then the cycle repeats. The first recorded Babylonian cycle. Predates Egypt.
Anyway, reminds me of that ???
Thank you for sharing during then Cazimi. Haha ?
Breathtaking!
Amazing! Your work blows my mind.
Spectacular!
Amazing. Artisticall, you are going from strength to strength. Conceptually, it’s difficult to believe you could top the Rosetta and Tabula Mundi – but if anyone can do it, it’s you.
That just took my breathe away!
What a masterpiece! This will be another landmark work of Thelemic art. I can’t wait to see more. When will you be taking preorders or orders for this deck?
Absolutely stunning! I learn so much from your tarot works, Mel. Thank you for sharing this and I’m eagerly awaiting more whenever you’re ready to share them. <3
Wow, this looks amazing! Can’t wait to keep seeing more of these and eventually get the whole deck. Everything you do is fantastic, beautiful and so imbued with meaning. Thank you for sharing! Also, now I know what my astrological rabbit hole for the day is: cazimis. 🙂
It’s gorgeous!!!