THE GREAT ARCANA OF HERMETICISM

 

The Hermetic tradition teaches the existence of three Great Arcana which are the cross-channels between the male/female pillars in the World of Emanation, Creation and Formation (diagram at bottom). There are twenty-two channels joining the ten Sephiroth in the Sephirotic Tree of Life (left diagram). Beyond the ten Sephiroth, special significance is attached to the three “crossing-points” on the middle pillar of horizontal channels with the vertical channels (right diagram).

 

 

 

  

ST. ANDREW’S CROSS

 

 

These three crossing-points (image on right above), each marked in the scheme by St. Andrew’s cross, indicate the “metaphysical or psychological points” where the three tasks named “Great Arcana” are to be realized.* These same points represent the transformational work in the stages of meditation on this site: Stage 1 (Body-Mind), Stage 2 (Lower psychic), Stage 3 (Sacred Heart), and Stage 4 (The Holy of Holies) respectively. (See: Diagram below)

 

 

The first Great Arcanum called the “Great Magical Arcanum” is situated at the crossing-point of the horizontal channel joining the Sephiroth NETZACH (Victory) and HOD (Glory), and the vertical channel joining TIPHERETH (Beauty) and YESOD (Foundation). It belongs to the World of Formation. The Arcana are shown on the right and left diagrams above.

 

The second Great Arcanum, the “Arcanum of Moral Geniality,” is situated at the crossing point of the horizontal channel joining the Sephiroth GEBURAH (Judgment) and CHESED (Mercy) and, and the vertical channel joining KETHER (Crown) and TIPHERETH (Beauty). It belongs to the World of Creation.

 

The third Great Arcanum, that of geniality in the domain of knowledge, the “Gnosis Arcanum” is situated at the crossing-point of the horizontal channel joining the Sephiroth CHOKMAH (Intelligence) and BINAH (Wisdom) [from the A.E. Waite Sephiroth], and the vertical channel joining KETHER (Crown) and TIPHERETH (Beauty). It is the state of consciousness that Kabbalists call DAATH, that the Hindu yogis call Samadhi, and that we call here Intuition. It belongs to the World of Emanation, i.e., the sphere of divine respiration, the sphere of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Great Magical Arcanum is therefore the center of the cross formed by the current “Inspired Elevation – Certainty of Knowledge” and the current “Beauty – Love.” It is a matter, therefore, of the task of realizing the marriage of the creative fire of imagination with the limpid clarity of the waters of thought in the current which goes out from Beauty and ends in Love.

 

The Great Arcanum of the moral life is the center of the cross formed by the binary “Magnanimity – Justice” in the current “Divine Radiation – Beauty.” It is a matter of the realization of the marriage of the charity which pardons all and everything with the judgment of strict justice in the current which emanates from divine Essence and arrives at the realization of Beauty.

 

The Great Arcanum of knowledge is the center of the cross formed by the binary “Wisdom – Intelligence” in the current “Divine Radiation – Beauty.” It is a matter of the realization of the marriage of revelation from above with argumentative intelligence based on experience.

 

The three Great Arcana of the tradition are therefore three crosses formed by the vertical middle pillar and three horizontal channels on the Sephiroth Tree. This is why the triple cross is the traditional symbol of complete initiation, and this is also why the title Trismegistus (“thrice greatest”) is attributed to the founder of Hermeticism, the author of the Emerald Table.

 

Much has been written on the gnostic, moral and magical Great Arcana, and this is my contribution; no doubt still more will be written in the future. What is being presented here is simply a matter of applying a system of meditation on the Great Arcanum to the marriage of Intelligence and Wisdom in the context of the two other Great Arcana of the tradition. For the three Great Arcana are, truth to tell, only three aspects on three planes of one single Great Arcanum of the marriage of opposites in the head, in the heart and in the will.

 

In other words, it is a matter of three aspects of the sole Great Arcanum of the Cross, since it is always the cross which realizes the marriage of opposites including that of the formal knowledge of intelligence and the material knowledge due to revelation from above. Intuition is the fruit of the gradual transmutation of intelligence which has put its light at the disposal of the whisperings of wisdom. The gnosis aspect of the Great Arcanum of the “marriage of opposites,” is thus the transmutation of Intelligence which is occupied with the “how” of things into an intuitive organ which is occupied with the “what” of things. It is, at the same time, the transformation of the revelation of Wisdom from beyond the threshold of intelligence into intelligible language and communications that can be assimilated by the intelligence.

 

In other words, the unconscious, instead of shocking intelligence, allies itself with it, penetrates it, and becomes luminous within it. But this takes place only after the more-or-less long and painful experience of the crucifixion of consciousness on the cross formed by the pair of opposites: subjectivity – objectivity (the vertical pillar), and the pair of opposites: intelligence – unconscious wisdom (the horizontal). It is this cross where the gradual approach, alliance and, eventually, the union of intelligence and unconscious wisdom is affected. At the beginning of this process intelligence and unconscious wisdom have so little in common that communication between them is reduced almost entirely to dreams, i.e., to the state of consciousness where intelligence, although present, is most passive.

 

When and if this communication is extended to the waking state, the language of communication then becomes that of symbols including the 22 paths of the Tarot. As intelligence and wisdom consciously evolve to the degree of mutual comprehension, they will understand directly without the intermediary of dreams and symbols. It is only then that their union is achieved, i.e., that the state of consciousness called “in-tuition” (or inner-teaching) or what Cabbalists identify with DAATH, is attained.

 

 

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* Paraphrased from (An open-sourced book) Meditations on the Tarot by Anonymous (Valentin Tomberg)