The Devil — XV

In the preceding card, Temperance XIIII, we discussed how temperance defines a space in-between the extremes. To the one side we have the adverse, Death XIII. But death is just a certain ending. What comes after an ending isn't nothing, but rather, something different, a new beginning. When death loops, it loops to its opposite, life/rebirth. A cycle of growth is created. Like the sun which symbolically dies each day and is then reborn in the glory of the morning. The morning isn't simply daytime, it is something new; something that has been tempered. It is the daytime specifically that is following the experience of the darkness of the night. It lands differently than a daytime experience of eternal daylight.

To the other side of Temperance, lies the experience of the good, which when taken to its extreme lands us in the territory of The Devil XV. The Devil speaks to the difficulties that can arise due to temptation, because the opposite of the adverse/evil is the good/beautiful, the experience of which can easily lead toward excess because it is pleasurable . . . , desirable, which eventually causes it to become evil/bad/darkness, i.e., the devil, due to excess of "the good." And if the light (the good, or the "light bringing" Lucifer) itself becomes the darkness (evil), what hope is there? There's no hope in hell!

I AM THE WAY INTO THE CITY OF WOE.

I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN PEOPLE.

I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL SORROW.

SACRED JUSTICE MOVED MY ARCHITECT.

I WAS RAISED HERE BY DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE,

PRIMORDIAL LOVE AND ULTIMATE INTILLECT.

ONLY THOSE ELEMENTS TIME CANNOT WEAR

WERE MADE BEFORE ME, AND BYOND TIME I STAND.

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE.  - Canto III, 1-9, The Inferno, Dante Alighieri, John Ciardi translation, 

Tarot de Marsailles - Subordination, decay, bondage, malevolence, weird experiences, seeming inability to reach one's goals, violence, shock, frailty, selfishment, temptation to evil, self-destruction, lack of principles.

Temptation is ultimately from Latin temptare "to feel, try out, test; attempt to influence,"a variant of tentare "handle, touch, try, test"[OE] (notice the connection between certain words beginning with *ten- and *temp-[an extension of *ten] both coming from the same apparent root meaning "to stretch").

Who is the one "feeling, trying out and testing"? Even though the person who is being tempted is being influenced to feel, try out, and test what is on offer, the tempter is equally feeling, trying out, and testing the temptee. Will they succumb to temptation? Such as Jesus being tempted by the devil in the desert. The devil was feeling him out and testing the boundaries of Jesus' commitment (how far he would stretch), seeing if Jesus wanted try out what he was offering him. Jesus was in a vulnerable state, having fasted for many days. His ability to say no to what he viewed as illicit (to "die" to himself) proved (he passed the test/temptation) that he was not a slave to (bound by) his passions (holding onto an inordinate light). Jesus didn't choose the path that would be seemingly desirable in the moment, the path he was being tempted to take, in which his powers would be used for his own gratification (satiating his hunger), worldly influence and star status/glory. Imagine the life of luxury and fame he could have pursued with his same abilities.

Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness, The Children's Bible, copyright 1965, Western Publishing Co., photo by Julie O.

Like Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings if she had accepted the ring from Frodo, Jesus could have gone very far. But he chose to "kill" that version of himself (as did Galadriel), and instead submit himself to insult, abuse and death by a cross in order to save the Day.

We aren't tempted in the same way by the adverse, i.e., that which is "turned against" us; that which is hostile, unfavorable. We don't normally get caught up in wanting to indulge excessively in the experience of adversity, as we do with pleasure. But we can have the desire to "try out" the adverse. In fact without the experience of the adverse, enjoyment ceases to have meaning. You have to get uncomfortable, such as getting tired, hungry, cold, sick, etc., to enjoy things such as sleep, food, warmth and health. We wouldn't want to never experience anything in the category of "the adverse," we just don't want it to go too far; to be too much. Too much darkness. Too much heat. Too much suffering. That is, we don't want it to be EVIL! But, in the same way we don't want our experience of the pleasurable to go too far and turn to evil either. Whereas death leads to life, like the seed of a plant that falls to the ground after its growth cycle, and a new plant grows in its place, 

life leads to death, or we could say "the good," "the beautiful," "the pleasurable" has the ability to lead us to death, or a death trap if it is not tempered, because there is a such thing as "too much of a good thing," or "a good thing at the wrong time." Even something that we think of being really fun, like a roller coster ride would very quickly become hell on earth if it didn't end, or if we were forced to ride it when we were sick. And if we went to the same amusement park every day and did the same things and ate the same food, we would come up against the problem of diminishing returns. It wouldn't be as fun as if we only went sometimes. The more we strive to engage solely in the polarity of pleasure, the less pleasurable we are able to access (the pleasure starts to die / loops towards death). Chasing after pleasure ends up becoming a vicious trap.

A certain tension between the good (what we turn to) and the adverse (what we turn away from) must be maintained in order to have the experience of pleasure at all, in the same way that a string on a guitar has to be plucked under tension in order to create a pleasing sound. Without the tension, there are no good vibrations. It is the movement between the polarities that creates the tension which is temperance.

So, it's not that a person can't do what they want to do. We don't need to glorify the Devil, fetishized objects of temptation, and forbidden fruit, as if pleasure is a bad thing. You can do whatever you want to do! It's not like God is a prude who can't stand to look upon people enjoying themselves. It's just that there are consequences to seeking pleasure. And sometimes the consequences are quite bad. If pleasure seeking isn't tempered with an appropriate willingness to also abstain for the sake of balance and health, then pleasure turns to pain. It's just a natural consequence of experience. Eating a piece of cake can be pleasurable, but eating more and more cake becomes less and less pleasurable, and at some point it becomes painful and feels evil. Eating too much cake may also make a person gain undesired weight and take the place of getting proper nutrition. These consequences are not intended as punishment, they are just the result of imbalance, that is, the experience of straying too far from the middle, too far from equilibrium, too far from justice.

  

 

Religion might attempt to save people from this trap by enforcing rules and discipline which  steers a person towards moderate behavior and purposeful engagement with suffering (i.e., engaging with the opposite of pleasure). Sometimes this is accomplished with the use of guilt and scare tactics, such as the threat of eternal damnation. This may be effective in saving some people from the evils which arise due to overindulgence, but does not necessarily create temperate people (although practicing temperate actions can be a way of learning temperance, if it is pursued with integrity), rather religion/rules just fetter the natural urges. And for those  who are not religious, these types of imposed rules might not even hold sway at all. But even in this case, the frustrating reality of the impending doom of dissatisfaction still looms, because even if a person says they they don't believe in God and they don't feel the shame of not following the proposed rules, they STILL cannot find happiness in simply just doing whatever they are inclined to do.

Even this person is somewhat dependent on the excitement that they derive specifically from NOT FOLLOWING THE RULES, or in engaging with the taboo. What fun would Aleister Crowley have had if there were no taboos? The very fact that something is forbidden can make it an object of lust, because when you haven't had something for a long time, or are forbidden from having it, and then you have it, this produces an experience of great pleasure, more so than if you were "allowed" to have it.  And let's not even mention the enjoyment that can be derived from acting salaciously! What would these people do if no one cared that they were doing? Therefore a person who has a lot of rules and restrictions placed upon them has ample ability to know that they could experience pleasure if they were only allowed it. They are not up against a dead end for experiencing pleasure. Whereas, on the other hand, someone with no rules or restrictions, and no imposed social norms might be bored with everything they have. For example, if you are forced to be out in the freezing cold all day and then get inside in front of a fire, you enjoy that warmth more than the person who was allowed to be inside all day. It becomes harder and harder for the person who is only indulging in what is pleasurable to even enjoy anything after a while. When this happens there are two choices 1.) turn away from pleasure (suffer a type of death) and regain balance or 2.) continue to indulge and seek enjoyment in more and more extreme ways in order to create novelty and tension, which leads toward perversion / corruption / distortion and  inability to experience pleasure [in normal ways]. Like King Midas who desired that everything he touched would turn to gold, but ended up not being able to enjoy anything because of his excess. He found a living hell in the fulfillment of his wish.

Dissatisfied King Midas

In order to be freed from his curse he was told to submit to an act of obedience, which is an act of humility and a type of death (death to oneself). Dionysius told Midas to rinse in the waters of the river Pactolus; which is a baptism "immersion," so, it was symbolically a death/rebirth, like the evening sun when it is "immersed" (sets) in the waters of the sky at sunset, thus symbolically dying before it is reborn, reemerging from the same waters at dawn: reset. A sun (a great light) that refuses to "die" in this way, is not part of "the Day" as we know it. A Day consists of "day, night, morning: one day," not eternal daylight.

This gift/curse of the Golden Touch is analogous to the gift/curse of a created being, being made in the image and likeness of God. To be like God is to be capable of creating or having whatever is wanted when it is wanted. But what happens when you can do whatever you want and you don't have a mature sense of balance? You find yourself in a hell of your own making. And if you yourself made that happen while only wanting what is good for yourself (the pleasurable), then what hope do you have to remedy your predicament? How does one get out of this hell?

Our life on Earth in the flesh creates the illusion of separation from God and veils our power as creators. So we don't encounter this problem of being gods in this way. Instead we are generally forced to some semblance of moderate behavior (experiencing the adverse as well as the pleasurable) by circumstances of life and being in a body. Such as people of antiquity, or people living in remote places without a lot of resources who have to work hard every day just to get their survival needs met, and don't have or can't afford the luxury of a lot of leisure time. As things are, we have to daily battle bodily discomfort and illnessl. In this way life usually forces us to experience a lot of adversity, while enjoyment, in contrast, is harder to come by. In modern society, a person needs money and so will work many hours doing things they don't necessarily want to be doing, which then creates this great thing called "days off" and " weekends." And their available income puts a cap on what they are able to buy and do, so they are kept in a state where enjoyment is readily accessible because they are so often not doing or getting everything that they want. Just the mere act of getting off work or out of school for the day brings a feeling of joy.

However, people are always wanting to get away from these limiting circumstances without understanding that when a person succeeds and gets to a place where they easily have access to an abundance of everything they desire (resources, time, etc.), this doesn't in an of itself automatically give rise to the happiness that they dream of. Because it isn't the mere state of not working that is enjoyable, but rather the movement or dance, back and forth, between the different polarities, such as between work(toil/effort) and leisure(pleasure/rest) that is satisfying and creates happiness. So, as in the case of retirement, a person must create some sort of disciplined routine for themselves to maintain balance in their lives or risk becoming sick and depressed. They have to actively choose to create the tension between the so called, "good and evil," for themselves rather than having it inflicted or forced upon them. They have to create a work/leisure balance and adhere to it. Whereas, once, they were forced by weekly grind and raising children to work hard and not have too much leisure (and thus appreciate it), now they may begin to see life as evil or cruel joke because they have reached the so called "golden years" but yet they are not happy. They can become trapped here again, not with the iron chains of responsibility, but with a bond that is even harder to break because it is really nothing. In their freedom do do whatever they want, they can become restricted from enjoyment by this very same openness. 

This is an interesting idea considering the story in Old Norse mythology of the bond that was made by the Svaltárfar "Black Elves" to to bind the wolf Fenrir (which we could say is representative of our animal appetites, desiring nature, or avarice/ greed). This fetter was said to be made out of six things 1.) the noise of a cat's footfall, 2.) a woman's beard, 3.) mountain roots, 4.) the sinews of a bear, 5.) a fish's breath, and 6.) the spittle of a bird, that some say are things that "don't exist" or are "impossible," since the text reads, 

. . . thou must have seen that a woman has no beard, and no sound comes from the leap of a cat, and there are no roots under a rock; and by my troth, all that I have told thee is equally true, though there be some things which thou canst not put to the test. [ch. 34, p.44] 

but from looking at them, we might say instead that they are things that are rather just "barely anything" or are "unseen," or are "of no consequence," things that are very subtle and so make a most subtle chain, and not simply that they don't exist.  This chain, called Gleipnir, was described as being like a soft smooth silken ribbon, unlike the two chains of metal that were first made, both of which Fenrir was able to break free from in a great exposition of raw strength. Some sources say the meaning of Gleipnir is "open one" and some add "lissom" as well, but others give such meanings as "entangled one," and "the deceiver." One possible etymological origin given is that it is derived from the verb gleipa meaning "scorn, sneer." It's not clear where the meaning of "open one" is sourced from, if it is an accurate etymology, however, being "open" does seem to have something to do with being lissom "thin, supple, graceful," in the sense that being lissom allows for some freedom, i.e., "openness" of movement compared to a thick, clanky chain made out of heavy metal links, and this would also make it more frustrating to not be able to break free from it, so it might appear to "scorn" in this way and be a "deceiver,"

Try and Fenrir, Illustration by John Albert Bauer (1882-1918), for Our Fathers' Godsaga by Victor Rydberg published 1911.

which would make Gleipnir similar to such words as gloat, glower, and  glare, which words are said to come from, "a large group of Germanic gl- words having to do with shining and glittering and, perhaps sliding. . . from PIE *ghel-" [OE]. So maybe we could say it is slippery, but not like Sleipnir the eight-legged horse of Odin whose name means "sliding one" or "gliding one," who was named such presumably because his swiftness of foot. And, we would also say it is "slippery" not just because it is smooth and perhaps glistening like a silken ribbon (or perhaps we could say,  rue-band, like Fenrir's "band of rue".),

Gleipnir looking like a glistening ribbon / rue-band,  Fenrir by Istrandar 

but we also could say that Gleipnir is "slippery" because it is like the snake in the garden of Eden who was a deceiver, a smooth talker, who perhaps we could say was a glib (archaic meaning "smooth and slippery") one (so a we could say,  glibnir [one who is glib]), and tricked Eve into eating the fruit, telling her she was open to do it, as a result putting the animal nature of man in a bind.

A gleaming glamorous ripon-like snake, Eve Tempted by the Serpent, William Blake

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desireable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Gen. 3:6

This serpent in Genesis is described as arum (aw-room') "crafty, shrewd, sensible, prudent, subtle"/ arom (aw-ram') "to be shrewd or crafty," which we could say would make him a "smooth" character, and this smoothness has a connection to arom (aw-romé) "naked," which would be something that is smooth as well (not covered with fur). He was very open in telling Eve the truth, but he was very crafty because his words had double  / diable / devil meaning, so his words were deceptive and ensnared her. He didn't force her to eat the fruit, he instead tricked her into thinking it was the right thing to do. Remember Eve/Chavvah "life" was perfectly innocent and without sin when she ate the fruit; she was lured into a trap. 

A snakey finger trap

Adam and Eve, in this story, represent innocent states of a polarized masculine and feminine perspective They are the two sides, ish "man" and isha "woman, wife, female," of adam "man." The tsela, translated as "rib," taken from the man, ha adam, Adam, was not one of his many rib bones, rather, it was one full side of man, it was one of a set of of two as the word is used in this passage from Exodus to describe the sides[ribs] of the tabernacle,

"Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on the one side[rib] of the tabernacle, five for those on the other side[rib], and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle.  Exodus 26:26-27

and the tabernacle itself is a representation of the human body [which is a fitting place for God to dwell].

From the one side, the feminine perspective, the woman understood that since the fruit was good for food (nutritious), it was pleasing to look upon (looked healthy and appetizing), and was beneficial to gain wisdom (a good desire) making one to be like God (a seemingly good desire, since they were in fact made in God's image and likeness) that it couldn't be bad to eat it. Why would God make a good, and beautiful fruit that would kill them? Why would God create a tempter? Eve trusted in the goodness of God and did not believe God would make anything to harm her, therefore the fruit that God made was good and would therefore be good to eat. Why would an all good loving God make an evil fruit? She was trusting in the absolute goodness of her Creator and his love for her. It is the reasoning and faith of a child. And, in fact, when she (the feminine) ate the fruit in this state of innocence, nothing bad happened. She remained innocent. It wasn't until he (the masculine) ate it, that any negative consequences then appeared. 

Innocent Eve & Adam

Eve clearly was the one who decided the fruit was good to eat and ate it first. It doesn't go into detail about what happened after she ate it, but there was definitely a time when she had eaten the fruit and Adam had not eaten it yet, and nothing bad had occurred yet. Eve felt fine after eating it and this is why she offered it to her husband. Her conscience was clean at this point. However, here Adam was secondarily tricked by the devil's ruse. Adam had not reasoned to the same conclusion for himself as Eve had. He, in fact, acted without permission from his own authority and simply did what she had done, because she had done it. He mistakenly thought that since Eve had done it and nothing bad had happened that he could do it too. But this action upset the hierarchy of his own internal masculine and feminine, that is the "husband," his head, was not acting as the head (leader). Eve was tricked into to reasoning out [that is, HER head said] that it was OK to eat the fruit. Her conscience was clean. Adam was tricked into foregoing his reason [his head] by doing what his wife had done, simply because SHE had been able to do it. But Adam should not have subjugated his own reason to the reasoning of his wife when it went against the authority of his own conscience [his own voice of God]. Adam himself believed it was forbidden by God to eat the fruit, and that if they ate it they would die. Eve didn't know that her reasoning was not sufficient reasoning for her husband to follow for himself. Eve had the right innocence and purity of conscience to eat the fruit and not have it be a sin, believing wholeheartedly that her Father in heaven who loves his creation is all good and only made good things, so he wouldn't have made anything to be in the garden that would harm her. But Adam did not share this reasoning; rather, he knew it to be wrong to eat the fruit. So, it was after Adam ate the fruit that they BOTH began to feel shame for what they had done. When Adam (the head) felt guilty for eating the fruit, then Eve too felt shame (in her head) and believed she must have done something wrong. 

This is a very clever trick indeed! When Adam felt guilt for what he had done because he had not let his reason rule [he had not respected the voice of God in the form of his conscience], his action came to the light as a sin for him, and when Eve saw his shame and experienced his regret and disapproval of their action of eating the fruit, she felt guilty for of having given him the fruit to eat and being the cause of this darkness, and also felt the shame of her own seemingly deficient reasoning. Their eyes became *weid- ("to see") open. 

Eating the fruit in this story would be equivalent to the sun going to sunset (going to darkness) in the ancient Egyptian mythology, when Nut "Sky," who was also associated with Hathor/ ḥwt-ḥr "House/temple of Horus (the mother/consort of the reborn morning sun/Ra, rising from the horizon )" and Isis / [Egyptian] ist / ꜣst "seat, place," of the sun, (who were) the mother of the living [Eve/Chavva] or life [Ankh], this goddess swallows ["eats"] the sun(Ra) in the form of Tem /Atum, thus beginning his journey through the hours of the night (adversity), 

Nut as the Night Sky shown ingesting, gestating, and giving birth to the Sun [the red disk], Papyrus copy based on late Egyptian temple at Denderah, Getty Images

before he defeats the forces of chaos, aka, the world serpent Apep/Apophis, and is reborn as the morning sun, as discussed in the preceding card, Temperance XIIII. 

From this ancient Egyptian story it is more clearly illustrated, than in the biblical story, how it is proper for the feminine to be seeded (to eat the fruit) because a woman as woman is able to give birth and a man as man is not able to give birth . . .  unless his head is smashed open like Zeus. 

In the story of Zeus,  Zeus swallows his wife Metis, literally meaning "advice, wisdom, counsel; cunning, skill, craft" (who had already "eaten the fruit," that is she was already seeded, i.e., she was pregnant), and so Zeus is then secondarily seeded through his wife (which bears some resemblance to the story of Adam taking the fruit from his wife who had listened to the "metis[cunning]" snake). Zeus then is in great agony until giving birth to Athena (gaining the goddess of wisdom) through his head. 

Illustration from D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, p36

So, if we compare Eve "mother of the living" with the ancient Egyptian sky goddess (Nut/Hathor/Isis), when she eats the fruit she is brining upon sunset and the experience of darkness immanently just as when the sun sets, it is "swallowed" by the sky and this brings upon darkness. When the woman (Eve) ate this fruit she was impregnated with the seed of wisdom which then necessitated the experience of pregnancy and birth/labor as a result of the seeding. When the man ate the fruit that the woman had eaten, he had to journey (a toil/labor) through the perilous hours of the night like the sun/Ra, or the son of God, which is a death and rebirth experience and is definitely a real headache! Meanwhile the sky (the goddess, Mother of God, the new Eve) gestates and gives birth to the sun, the new Adam, the new man, the savior of the world, the Christ, the son of God at the dawn of the new day (that is, she provides a place by being a place [a seat/throne/tabernacle for wisdom] for this internal journey to take place, the night sky, the underworld, the realm of the subconscious). This is not just a story about the literal and physical phenomena in the sky, but also an archetypical story explaining the inner processes of a human being transitioning from the innocence of spiritual childhood through to spiritual adulthood within the course of the Day of life.

In the same way a child is naked but is not aware of their nakedness, Adam and Eve at first were not aware of their nakedness. The first knowledge that came to them after eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the knowing (yada) that they were naked.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made covering for themselves. Gen. 3:7

Arom (aw-romé) "naked" is from ur (oor), "to be exposed, bare," which is similar in sound to or (ore) "a light"

And God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." Gen. 1:3

So, perhaps things that are exposed / bare / naked [ur] are things that are in the light [or], or they are not covered. And this would connect these naked/shrewd words from Hebrew with the Germanic gl- words, from *ghel-, meaning "to shine," like Lucifer is the shining light, and he is also the smooth(arum) talker, the deceiver, and he does this not by force or chains of iron, but by cunningness, or a glam/glamour, like light silken ribbon, talking with openness which we could say is talking with nakedness. He got Adam and Eve to step out into the light 👁👁 💡🧠 and they saw that they were mere creatures (created beings) made in the day (the cycle: light, dark, light) and therefore subject to change, which they thought made them less than God and they were ashamed.

Shadowscapes Tarot - artwork Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

"Loosing independence, addiction and enslavement, caught up in the material realm, overindulgence, choosing to stay in the dark, pleasures, lust, and desire. Feeling hopelessness close in and limit he options. The Devil plays on your desires with a masterful touch. Break free from the puppeteer's strings by looking beyond the material blockades and temptations." -Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore

It's really a smooth trick because simply by having the experience of bad/evil, Adam and Eve became sinners due to their interpretation of the experience. They thought that the experience of adversity was a punishment for disobeying God, and they willingly took on the silken ribbon bonds of shame. The "barely anything" of their transgression became the source of forever damnation; a bond stronger than the strongest metal chains. They lost trust and faith in the love of their creator when in actuality nothing can separate any of us from the love of God.

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Is. 43:25

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Is. 44:2

All they had to do was believe in the love of their creator as Eve had initially done in her innocence. Instead, they saw their nakedness as something to be ashamed of, rather than seeing their smoothness as a sign of their light: their intelligence. This led them into a fall from grace which spiraled out of control and still binds us to this very day. It is entirely understandable how this could happen since it is perplexing to think why, if God loves us, he would create a world where we all experience evil. It doesn't seem like a loving thing to do. However, when we realize that we were made to be like the one who made us, that is, we were made to be like God, then it is makes sense that we must also have the knowledge of evil to be like God, because God HAS knowledge of both good and evil.

So the the deception of the devil, like the smooth rope, Gleipnir, holds our animal/wolf (creature) nature in bondage until the gloaming of the Gods, Ragnarok, the "destined end of the gods," when we will take on the responsibility of our own divinity, that is, Christ Consciousness; the birth of Christ in us, and conduct ourselves accordingly, not by being bound by imposed rules and regulations, guilt or shame, but instead by enlightened self mastery (spiritual adulthood).

The name Devil, is from Ecclesiastical Greek diabolos (from dia "across, through"+ ballein "to throw") meaning "accuser, slanderer," which is from "a scriptural loan-translation" of the Hebrew satan," which has the meaning "adversary." That definitely sounds like someone who would throw you under (the bus, or into hell) as well. 

Spolia Tarot - artwork by Jen May, design by Tara Romeo, written by Jessa Crispin

The Devil as the Devil is not interested in liberating, even if succumbing to temptation can end up being a great teacher and a catalyst for liberation. There is nothing benevolent about the Devil's motives. When he seduces you to the fall he is hoping that you never get back up again. He only exists as the ruler of the dead end, eternal darkness/damnation. In the day he has no place because the darkness which is part of the day(day☀️ [night 🌚] ☀️morning) is surrounded by the light, so is not eternal darkness and therefore not evil. When the lights come back on to complete the day(the sun rises / morning), it's lights out for the Devil. His reign over eternal darkness comes to naught and evil vanishes like a mist. 

The Devil is alarmed by the first signs of daylight. Fantasia, Night on Bald Mountain, 1940

The devil is only the product of the fact that when we get too out of balance in any direction we cease to enjoy anything. We abhor becoming limp (too little tension) . . . yet we also abhor pain and love pleasure. The state of pure bliss we desire is hard to hold on to, it is ephemeral like the aroma of orange blossoms in the breeze on a perfect spring afternoon. Scent is very alluring and magical, yet if you try too hard, if you try and seize the beauty and cling to it, it escapes you. The longer you smell something the less your brain registers the smell, or in the extreme, smell can turn to evil; more is not always better. For example, one drop of essential oil can smell amazing and produce a magical bliss of emotions, but a whole handful placed to the nose produces nausea, and extreme aversion. The quantity of the scent must and needs to remain small, and the duration of smelling fleeting in order to be most profoundly enjoyed. When it remains so, it is a beautiful thing ,. . .  otherwise it becomes unsatisfying or even evil. We have to recognize it, breath it in, love it and then let it flit away like a butterfly.

Salvador Dalì Tarot

In this way we could say that aroma is arum "subtle," so then perhaps too it is arom "naked," that is, "smooth" like the serpent in the garden. Aroma is alluring as are the temptations of the devil. Aroma is odor, originally meaning "sweet smell, scent, fragrance" which is from PIE *hed- "to smell," which is similar to Greek hēdys "sweet," and hēdone "pleasure, delight, enjoyment." It's frustrating to want pleasure but not be able to own it. Instead the hēdone can own us. Instead we must trust the pleasure to come and go as it does. We have to enjoy it for  just a moment, a time, or a season and then let it go /die to it (for a time). We have to be OK with change and movement. But for some, it is so uncomfortable to not be in control that they are willing to forego goodness, just to have a firm placement. That would be hell. In hell you don't have to worry about being better, you don't have to work hard at anything, you don't have  the constant push and pull between pleasure and pain. Instead you can just sit and wallow in your misery eternally. There isn't anything complicated about that. . . And you can hate. You can hate God. You can be be the victim. And it won't ever stop . . . 'til you wise up.

We can only manifest what we believe is possible. If we are fooled into thinking that we are a prisoner with no means to ever escape we can exist in a kind of eternal hell. We are bound there until we believe we can be free, and this can stretch on eternally. We have this idea that we suffer because we are sinners. But what if we instead we say that we suffer because it is an experience. It is an experience which gives us the knowledge of evil.

A new Eve had to come along who would have such innocence of faith that she would view any darkness that she had suffered in her life, not to be the result of her own personal sin. She is the immaculate conception; she is she who is born without sin, and therefore she is she who allowed herself to believe that she was worthy to give birth the son of God because God had made her so, despite the fact that she was a mere mortal. Due to this acceptance, fiat, on her part of God's will, the "sun" (son) had a place to gestate and be born from creating the cycle of the day which turns the experience of darkness to light and envelops it in the safe confines of the Day: evil and Eve's ill being defeated.

The savior that is born, God made man, then, incarnates to show us how to get out of our own way. It isn't this savior who heals us, but it is God in us who heals us through our own faith. Jesus attests to this when he says, "Your faith has healed you." Mk 5:34, Mk 10:52. However it is Jesus/Yeshua, the Christ, who gives us reason to believe that we can be healed. It is Christ who allows us to believe again that God actually loves us and that we don't need to continue in a state of separation. This is what he died for to prove to us.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. Gal. 5:1

Freedom, however, is never the purpose of the Devil.

Lost in the valley of the night

It is the music of the people who are climbing to the light

For the wretched of the earth

There is a flame that never dies

Even the darkest nights will end and the sun will rise

They will live again in freedom in the garden of the LORD

They will walk behind the ploughshare

They will put away the sword

The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward!

Will you join in our crusade?

Who will be strong and stand with me?

Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?

Say, do you hear the distant drums?

It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes! - Les Miserables, Finale

 

Temperance — XIIII

Tarot de Merseilles 

- the angel appears to be tempering the liquids in the jars by mixing. What are they making?

Temperance meaning "self-restraint, forbearance, moderation," is by way of Anglo-French temperaunce from Latin temperantia "moderation, sobriety, discretion, self-control, "from temperans "moderating, controlling." However the verb which it comes from, temperare, contains the notion of blending and combining, that is, tempering. Temper:

mix or work up into proper condition, adjust or restore to proper proportions; Middle English temperen, from late Old English temprian "to moderate by mixture, bring to proper or suitable state, modify (some excessive quality), restrain within due limits," from Latin temperare "observe proper measure, be moderate, restrain oneself," also transitive, "mix correctly, mix in due proportion; regulate, rule, govern, manage." [OE, temper]

We all know the saying, "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy." So, it's not simply the idea of moderation and control by way of abstinence, or going to one extreme of never doing what is pleasurable that is temperance, but temperance is rather the combining and mixing of things that are different (opposite polarities) together in a way that makes something "proper" or "suitable," so we might say makes something well, as in healthy and good. Whatever gets you there is appropriate. If we could all get there simply by pursuing the pleasurable, and avoiding the painful, we certainly would and there would be nothing wrong with that. But as we all know, this is not the case. Temperance is about maintaining balance. 

But if we think of a balance (the instrument) it is only completely balanced when it is not in motion. If there is even just a little bit of movement, one side goes up and the other side goes down. We can think of the polarities being connected to temperance in this way. If something is becoming more light (if light is added), it is also becoming less dark(darkness is taken away), if it is becoming hotter, it is also becoming less cold, if you experience pleasure you are creating the conditions for experiencing adversity and vice versa. For example, if you are hungry and able to enjoy eating food, it is because you did not eat food for a while and got hungry. If you enjoy the warmth of a fire it is only because you got cold first. If you were hot already, the warmth of the fire would not be enjoyable. 

The Balance of Ma'at

Temperance takes us between the polarities. It is not too much of either one or being one way. Rather, there is correct mixture and all in due proportion. Like adding the right amount of salt to food, neither too much salt or too little salt is good. And when you are dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean salt may even seem kind of evil, but it is not really the salt, it's just the proportions for the given circumstance. 

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.  -Rime of the Ancient Mariner 119-122, Samuel Coleridge

However, for preserving foods, a solution that is very salty is good, and fermented foods such as sauerkraut are good for gut health and are very tasty.

Universal Waite Tarot - Ecconomy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation.

We generally have to use discretion and practice some level of self-control in order to maintain health and overall happiness. Because it just so happens that it is much easier to go to extremes that are pleasurable (that which we are inclined to want to do) than toward the adverse extremes (that which we are inclined to not want to do), and this is why we must temper the extreme of pleasure with intentionally restraining ourselves, which we generally think of as temperance, as in the Universal Waite tarot above, which uses such words as "frugality." However, even this word frugality comes from the PIE root *bhrug- meaning "to enjoy," so is really about a behavior, i.e., taking less, using less, and employing that behavior when it is fruitful or useful, i.e., good to do so,  and not necessarily all the time or at every occasion. Ebenezer Scrooge had to learn this lesson. The whole point of everything is enjoyment (fellowship and friendship), not the accumulation and hoarding of wealth for its own sake. If a person ends up miserly and miserable, they have taken the idea of moderation too far.

Self-restraint is a part of temperance, but it isn't the whole story. While it is true that only seeking pleasure gets a person out of balance and opens the door to ill / sin / evil / sickness, going too far in the direction of denial isn't good either. It is good to not waste money and resources, yet the point of having money and resources is to use them in a way that is moderate. ANY road that only leads in only one direction is ultimately a highway to hell (either to the one extreme, eternal flame "hot as hell" or the other extreme, utter frozenness "cold as hell" [like Dante's Ninth Circle of Hell]). It takes us away from the place in the middle, which is the good place; i.e., paradise (a place "built around," an "enclosure, park"). 

Like the Earth is a temperate zone in space, never straying too far away or too closely to the sun. 

The Earth, our paradise in the abyss of space. Not too close to the sun (too hot) and not too faraway (too cold).

The Western Hemisphere of the Blue Marble, created in 2002, NASA's Earth Observatory

Since we are creatures who are always in motion, sadly, we can't simply get to a good place (balance) and then rest there forever. We are always traveling, always drifting in one direction or another like the the Earth is always in motion circling around the sun and turning on its axis, creating times (day and night) and seasons. It's not always an exact "perfect" distance away from the sun or rotating at an exact "perfect" angle with respect to the sun, as if there was one, rather it flows between a temperate range. We don't have eternal daylight or eternal summer, we have the day (which is composed of hours with varying degrees of lightness and darkness) and the year (composed of seasons). But even so, at the Equator there is a more extreme lack of variation of seasons and more abrupt transition from daylight to darkness (at sunrise and sunset), and at the Poles the hours of daylight and darkness become extreme making the year to be more like a day, with only one sunrise and one sunset per year and an extremely prolonged period of twilight (months). 

 March 20, 2024 Sunset at the South Pole (Image credit: Krystian Kopka/NOAA)

We, like a ship that is navigating by the stars, must also adjust as we go, staying in a particular range, never slipping too far off course, but rarely ever being dead on course either. Think of this place of wellness like a station on a radio. Imagine that the tuning dial is always gradually and slowly slipping in one direction or the other so that you need to keep tuning into the station, adjusting the dial to the left, then to the right and back and forth, to tune in properly and get the clearest sound.

Analog Tuner

Acts both of restraining and indulging have a part in temperance in this way. It is varied experience of movement toward one or the other that reveals the moderate middle ground, which we might label as being what is temperate ground. We don't have a middle without having boundaries that the middle is the center of. For example, the place on the dial where the station is audible is not a single indivisible point, it is a certain space between the places to either side where the station becomes inaudible. The same goes for tuning an instrument. The string is tightened and loosened until the proper sound is made when plucked. Temperance reveals a middle ground that is temperate by determining boundaries / limits. And there is only one way to determine a boundary . . . by going there. Stretching and contracting. How far is too far? How much is too much, how much is too little, what is too hot, what is too cold, etc.? You never know until you try it (or at least until someone tries it). Once we know what are the extremes we have a middle ground between the extremes. 

History of Guitar in Standard Tuning-ironageaccesories.com

And what exactly is considered to be extreme in the first place? The extremes are determined by our desire for a particular outcome, such as the desire to hear the radio station clearly, or tune a string to a particular sound. We know when we stray too far when we can't hear the music or our instrument is out of tune. When we are dealing with the Earth's habitat, a place might be called extreme if it is inhospitable to most life, and creates (extreme) forms of life that have to be very specialized (such as hydrothermal ocean vents). Regarding our bodies, it comes down to health and wellness. How do we determine these extremes? We definitely know we've hit an extreme when we don't feel well. When we experience hunger we know we are moving towards an extreme of not enough food, when we start to get full we are moving toward the extreme of too much food. No one wants to be hungry, weak, and tired, and no one wants to feel sick, bloated and weighed down either, so we fluctuate between a temperate range of eating and abstaining from food most of the time in order to achieve goodness for the body. Sometimes we fast, sometimes we feast, but mostly we stay toward the middle. And when we do this we feel ok. We feel like we are on track. If we often act in a way that is not temperate because of bad habits or addictions we don't feel happy or well. 

But since nothing is objectively good or bad, hot or cold, up or down, light or dark in all situations and circumstances, how do we get to a notion of what is good or bad? Hot or cold? etc. What is the appropriate temperature? Is 90°F/32°C hot or cold? It is realtively hot, if we are talking about the weather outside, but too cold if we are cooking food in the oven. However, if the weather has been 110°F, then when it is 90°F outside it is cooler than it has been and feels better, and it may even feel really pleasant if the humidity is low and you have been swimming, and if there is also a breeze you might even feel cold when you are wet. However, if you are wanting the warmth of a hot tub, 90°F will seem too cold and not be really pleasant. And since we have a good idea of what is a comfortable range of temperature, we can say definitely that 90°F is "hot" weather (because it is a lot hotter that 72° which is generally comfortable), but, then, having "hot" weather isn't objectively good or bad either. In some instances it is "good" and in some instances it is "bad." For example depending upon the kinds of plants you want to grow. There has to be the correct mixture of conditions to make it good or bad or something that works or doesn't work for a given situation. 

Slocan, BC : Yucca Valley, CA

In music when we have a single note it is neither good or bad, but suddenly when it is played with other notes the proportion of the frequencies between the notes becomes important. It may be harmonious or not, and the succession or combination of the notes played matters. And then, what the whole musical piece is trying to do is important as well. What mood is it trying to set? Sometimes atonal music is appropriate to set a certain mood for a scene in a movie, for example. If the audience is meant to feel unsettled then the music has done a good job and we call it good, but if the tone is meant to be jolly then that music would be bad. So it is subjectively either good or bad for music to sound dissonant rather than harmonious and no single note is good or bad in and of itself. And there is the problem of something good turning into something bad, the notion of "too much of a good thing." We can't even say absolutely that oxygen or water is good in this way. Hypoxia (not enough oxygen) and dehydration (not enough water) can kill a person, however, there is a such thing as getting too much oxygen or too much water that can make those things deadly as well (oxygen toxicity, water toxicity).

In addition to tuning and toning our bodies toward health by engaging with temperance, we also begin to affect what we think, feel and desire, or affect what we might call our tone / tune (both from PIE root *ten- meaning "to stretch). For example if you sometimes fast and sometimes indulge, you will appreciate your food in a different way than if you never fast or always indulge. If a person has not eaten all day, the idea of eating an apple might seem wonderful and be tantalizing, whereas if they were eating high calorie foods and desserts all day the idea of eating an apple might seem boring and unappetizing. In the long run things like stomach size and the microbiome of the gut are affected by how much and what we eat, which in turn effects cravings and mood. So by exercising temperance a person helps to calibrate their desires. We might say we stretch (*ten-) ourselves in either direction to find the place in the middle (in one case we stretch the time between eating, in the other we stretch our stomach). If you know what is good for you, for example, to consume a certain amount of calories per day, then you know it is extreme to consume far less or far more than that amount and especially for extended periods of time and, so you might set some limits on how often or for how long you will engage in such activities. Therefore engaging with temperance is to engage with proper times and seasons, temporibus et temporibus. 

Temperare "observe proper measure" is said to be from tempus "time; season, moment" 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 

a time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to break down, and a time to build up; 

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to loose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV

The OE says of tempus,

But as the root sense of tempus seems to be 'stretch,' the words in the "restrain, modify" sense [*such as temper and temperance] might be from a semantic shift from "stretching" to "measuring" . . . from PIE *temp- "to stretch," an extension of root *ten- "to stretch", with derivatives meaning "something stretched, a string; thin." -temper, OE

  

We could say Temperance is about proper timing or intervals, the tempo, between different types of actions, namely between the pleasurable and adverse. We do have the saying a stretch of time, so we use the word "stretch" (*ten-) to sometimes mean an interval or length, which can both be measurements. 

It is actually natural to connect the idea of stretching with measuring given the history of architecture. In fact the origin of the word temple is said to come from EITHER *temp- / *ten- "to stretch," or *tem- "to cut." And in ancient Egypt,

The stretching of the chord laid out the measurements for a temple

Before they constructed a sacred building . . . the ancient Egyptians would preform a foundation ceremony known as "the stretching of the chord." One part of this ceremony was the laying out of the building's perimeter by stretching a chord between sakes in the ground. -Met Museum

So the stretching of the chord measures out the appropriate parameters (boundaries) of the building. And the notion of *tem- meaning "to cut," is present in the Greek temenos "sacred area around the temple,"literally "place cut off," from stem of temnein "to cut."[OE] And what determines where it is "cut off" from the rest, but how far it stretches?

Although the two root word meanings (of *ten- "to stretch" and *tem "to cut") don't seem to have a lot in common at first, they do actually work hand in had. When you mix (temper) something you may be "cutting" it, like you can cut the harshness of alcohol with a mixer, which also stretches the liquor (you have more liquor left over for the same quantity of beverage), or you can cut the spiciness of a food with a creamy condiment, which stretches the overall amount of dinner you have to serve because you have more, and hopefully the more you have is even improved in flavor, but you can also ruin something by cutting it too much, such as adding too much water to the coffee. This cutting would be stretching your coffee too thin so that it isn't even enjoyable anymore. When we mix two substances together we may dilute one or the other, or contaminate them (such as adding mud to drinking water). So not all mixing is good and not all mixing is bad, it just depends on the desired result and the ingredients and proportions used. Was the mixing temperate? Did it achieve a good outcome?

Halloween Tarot - by Karin Lee, art by Kippling West

"A witch carefully mixes her ingredients. Self control and moderation. A good combination of choices. Make safe decisions, but don't be afraid of trial-and-error methods. Working well with others."

Atum, Tem, Temu [itm(w), tm(w)] was an ancient Egyptian god identified with Ra (the sun) at the completion (tm "to complete, to finish") time of the day, sunset, which we could say is the "autumn" of the day, when the sun is cut(*tem-) off by the horizon and night begins. The sun rising and setting measures the day. It cuts the day into parts, the sunrise, when night is finished, and sunset, when daytime is complete.

Atum-Ra in the form of Mau / míw "Cat,"was said to guard the sacred Ished (iŝd) tree, literally "fruit" tree, the Egyptian Tree of Life, which in this particular story with Mau is identified with the persea tree, from the name given by the ancient Greeks, περσέα, to the Memusops laurifolia [at other times the ancient Egyptian sacred tree is identified with other trees such as the Sycamore].

Mau cuts Apep with a khop at the base of the Persea Tree - Temple of Seti I, Abydos, c. 1290-1279 BC

So Ra as Mau was a pussycat that was in this respect the persea cat. The Ished tree was identified with the place (the horizon) where the sun set and was then resurrected / reborn each day, which connects its symbolism to the goddess Nut (the sky) as the cosmic tree / tree of life. Nut was herself associated as the tree goddess (along with other iterations of the mother goddess, Hathor and Isis), and in this guise she is often shown offering sustenance from or as a tree to the deceased. 

  Tree Goddess in Sennedjem's Tomb at Luxor 

Tree Goddess from the tomb of Pashedu in the Valley of the Kings

But since Ra was born each morning from this Nut "tree," we might say that Ra was born from her persea. And in certain funerary texts, such as The Book of the Dead and other Coffin Texts, Ra is said to split (pesesh/psŝ "split, divide, separate") or is splitting (pŝn) the Ished tree each day, defeating the serpent Apep / Apophis (Gk.), so this would literally be the crack (splitting) of dawn, daybreak, when the sun emerges out of the opening/mouth of the eastern sky, or, we could say, from Nut's pussy, 

r' - "mouth" , which is an opening

when the night is completed (tm), or is split off / divided (psŝ ) from the day as it was in the beginning.

God saw that the light was good, and he separated [badal] the light from the darkness. Gen. 1:4

Reminding us of the scarab beetle (kheper), the one with a badal "separated" body, or a "split" (*bheid-) crack down the middle of its back between its sheath wings). Called Khepera the morning aspect of Ra, the sun.

Khepri / Khepera / ḫprj  — ḫprr [beetle] / ḫpr "coming to be"+ r [mouth] + í [reed leaf] + Ra god determinative

So to complete something can mean to divide it or cut it off, like a movie is complete when it is cut . . . The End. Tem (aka, Atum) "the finisher," completes the cycle of the day (day, night, morning) and emerges as Khepera, by splitting, that is, cutting (*tem-) the world tree, . . . timber! . . . which is identified with the goddess, who is identified with the sky and the cosmic tree (Milky Way), whom Ra enters by way of her mouth at sunset and exits from the opposite opening at sunrise. In the guise of Mau (a form of Ra) slaying Apep . . . 

Nut as the Night Sky, Papyrus copy based on late Egyptian temple at Denderah, Getty Images

Mau / míw, is the word for "(male) cat" in ancient Egyptian, but it is said to be given to Ra, in the Book of the Dead, because of a [confusing for us] play on words with the word mi "like, similar, identical," and the word miw "cat." So this could give some clarity as to why there are these images of a "cat" slaying the serpent near the Persea Tree. 

We don't have to believe that Ra is actually a cat, he is just being called "Cat." Probably similar to how Jesus is called "The Lamb of God" or the Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove. We aren't supposed to believe that Jesus is actually a lamb, nor are we to believe that the Holy Spirit is actually a bird. 

Lamb of God - Cathedral in Florence, Italy (18th century)

Holy Spirit Dove - from center of the wall in the back of the High Altar st St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

These are just ways of illustrating certain attributes belonging to the person or concept. All these stories are metaphors to describe complex subject matter with symbolism. Such as in the Bible how Jesus uses many different parables to describe one thing from various angles. For example, The Kingdom of God is described as both a hidden treasure and a fishing net (among others). So also with the ancient Egyptian stories and "gods," called nṯr (s.) / nṯrw (pl.), perhaps we could say "nature / natures"(instead of our word "gods"), there may be many overlapping concepts, such as Ra being called one name in the evening (Atum / Tem) and another in the morning (Khepera), or being equated with different animals (cat, beetle, ram, falcon) and the sun.

Here is the passage from one translation of The Book of the Dead which explains why Ra is named Mau "The Great Cat." 

ir miw pfy aA nty psS iSd r-gs.f m iwnw

ra pw Ds.f Dd.tw mid r.f m Dd siA mi sw m nn ir.nf

xpr rn.f m miw

That great cat {miw} beside whom the ished-tree {iSd} was split {psS/pesesh} in Iunu {iwnw/Anu/Heliopolis}   

is Ra himself, called Cat when Sia {siA} said of him "that is how {mi} he is, by what he has done {ir}"

and his name {rn/ren} became {xpr/ḫpr/kheper} Cat {miw} 

- Book of the Dead, Chapter 17, Allen part a, Section 15

or, from a different translation,

I am the Cat which fought near the Persea Tree in Anu. . . 

This male Cat is Re himself, and he was called 'Mau' because of the speech of the god Sa, who said concerning him: 'He is like (mau) unto that which he hath made; therefore, did the name of Re because 'Mau.' 

- Ch.17, Papuyrus of Ani -Budge, 1895 p.287

 and another,

I am the Great Cat, who frequents the Persea Tree in Heliopolis. . .

Who is that great Cat? It is Ra himself. For Sau said. He is the likeness (Maȧu) of that which he hath created, and his name became that of Cat (Maȧu)  

- page 37., Ch. 17, Sir P. Le Page Renouf, Knt, completed by Prof. E. Neville, 1904

A further hypothesis is added in the footnote for this passage from the Renouf / Neville translation above. It states that the word for cat is also similar to the word "shining" which is said of the sun:

mȧȧu - milk jug in net hieroglyph mi + reed leaf hieroglyph i + quail chick hieroglyph w/u + cat hieroglyph míw = Mau / Ra

mau -eagle and sickle hieroglyph ma + quail chick hieroglyph w/u  + sun with rays determinative hieroglyph = "shinning"

maȧu-milk jug in net hieroglyph  mi + reed leaf hieroglyph i = "like, similar, [exemplar]"

But it is also true that to be "like" God is to be "shining" (or a shinning one), so they are all related. [It is clear how much variation and lack of uniformity there is in transliterating and translating Egyptian hieroglyphics to English from these examples. The ancient Egyptian language had a number of sounds which are not found in the English language, and are not simply or accurately represented with the Latin alphabet].

So the one who splits the tree and defeats Apep, is the one "like the ones he made," and this also happens to be like (mi) the word for cat (miw). And this seems to be like (mi) the passage in Genesis where it states,

This is the written account of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. Genesis 5:1, NLT

That God made man to be (miw) "like" himself, after his own likeness (miw-ness). Therefore God is like (miw) the ones he made [*w/u ending is used in hieroglyphics to indicate plural], and they in turn are then able to be reborn from Nut as Ra is. Such as in this utterance:

Recitation by Nut the greatly beneficent: The King[*the deceased] is my eldest son who split open my womb; he is my beloved with whom I am well pleased - Sarcophagus Texts Utterance I

another translation,

To say by Nut, the brilliant, the great: This is (my) son, (my) first born, N[*name of deceased]., opener of (my) womb; this is (my) beloved, with whom I have been satisfied. - 1. Nut and the Deceased King, Utterance 1

A  pesesh-kef ritual knife [psŝ "to split / to divide"- kf "flint"], which had a split end, was used in a "splitting" ceremony called, the Opening of the Mouth (wpt-r / wepet-er), which was a ritual enactment of a type of rebirthing process for the diseased. 

Atum-Ra as the Great Cat, Mau, was said to "split" pesesh /psŝ  the Ished, aka, Persea Tree each morning and was depicted slaying Apep with a knife next to the tree which is a metaphor or parable about the birth of the sun from the sky each day. The sun "splits" the sky as it emerges on the horizon,

Akhet "horizon" hieroglyph

mountain [lower half] + sun [upper disk]

which is the sun being born from the goddess who is the sky and who is the tree. As the sun rises above the horizon it is visually separated from this image of the horizon, which consists of the mountain hieroglyph with a disk (the sun) rising from it [as above]. We could say visually that the mountain hieroglyph [ḏw/Dw, below], which is similar in shape to the pesesh-kef symbolizes the moment the umbilical chord is cut. Dw (mountain hieroglyph) is also a component in Dwa "surgical knife." Cutting the chord is an act done after a baby has successfully been born or survived the dangerous birthing process. Before modern times it would have been a major concern that a baby could get stuck inside the birth canal or have an issue with the umbilical chord being prolapsed or wrapped around the baby resulting in the death or great harm to the baby or both the baby and mother. The splitting of the tree and then chopping the head of Apep would symbolized a successful birth when the newborn is fully separated from the body of the mother. So perhaps separated from evil, i.e., Dw "evil" (mountain hieroglyph N26), or triumph over the present danger.

It means that the navel chord of the Osiris N. has been cut

All the evil [Dw] of it is removed - Book of the Dead, Ch. 17, Allen part a, Section 8 

The sun then separated from the horizon continues to rise into the fullness of the day. So again, Mau, who is Ra, splitting the Ished tree and defeating Apep can be seen as a metaphor for Ra (god) being born from (splitting), and then being separated (cutting the chord) from, the goddess Nut who is the tree, at dawn. To be similar to this god, Ra, enables one to be born anew each day as he is, thus defeating evil. 

Then because Ra is born each day from the goddess this literally makes him the fruit of her womb, and therefore the fruit of Tree of Life, the Ished, which fruit is said in the book of Genesis [3:22] that when eaten gives eternal life. And in the ancient Egyptian tradition, "it [the sacred tree] gave Eternal Life and the knowledge of the Divine Plan, a map of destiny," which would make it "the way(map), the truth(knowledge) and the life" John 14:6, and so be like the body of Christ.

Jesus said to them, "Very truly [Amen, amen] I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. John 6:53

So it is interesting that Nut in fact "eats" this "fruit" each evening, she swallows the disk (of the sun) into her mouth, like a holy communion, 

The Blessed Sacrament Displayed  in a Monstrance (giving off mad solar vibes) for Adoration

and then gives birth to the same sun resurrected each morning [so it seems to be a very symbiotic relationship. The child grants eternal life to the mother, and the mother participates in the birth and continual rebirth of her son, the sun. Without the son/sun she would literally have no light/day, and therefore no life, and without the mother/sky, the son would have no place to live, gestate and be born from].

This "like"ness of Mau, also strikes similarity to the archangel Michael [mi "who"+ ke "like" + el "God"]"who is like (miw) God,"

St. Michael the Archangel, University of Bonn

The Latin phrase QUIS UT DEUS? "Who is like unto God?" is upon his shield, from Hebrew  מִיכָאֵל

 who defeats the evil "ancient serpent" in the Book of Revelation,

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. . . The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. . . Revelation 12:7, 9

So this likeness to god, Mau, defeats the forces of darkness and chaos (isfet) who is the serpent Apep / Apophis. He cuts / chops it with a knife called a khop/ḫp, or we could say "knifes" it, which is to cut (*tem-) it, and finishes (tm) it off, all in good time.

We could say in a way this splitting, separating (badal) or cutting (*tem-) blends (temperare) or stretches (*temp- / *ten-) the day in a way that makes it good. Tem tames the day. Instead of the day being just day then turning to night and being swallowed up in infinite darkness, the night loops back around to day again, thus becoming part of the day, which allows for ankh "life" (which is a loop symbol ☥). This stretches the whole day over the periods of both light and darkness in an endless cycle of time (which is from [*da- to divide] division, therefore a splitting/cutting). The night is blended or mixed (from PIE *meik- "mix") in with the day in a seamless way, and this in turn tempers the night. The harshness of the night is cut by the day, and the harshness of the day is cut by the nighttime hours as well. They are both made to be well by this mixing, or Meik-ing, that makes one to be like God. The night becomes the womb of rebirth and the evil which is always threatening to swallow up creation is defeated.

Androgynous looking St. Michael's

(1) slaying a beast wearing a floral headband

(2) Italian school end of the 17th century. . . looking pregnant holding a knife and scales

The home of the Ished tree in ancient Egypt was at the Sun Temple of Atum-Ra in Heliopolis, One word that was used for "house" with the connotation of "place" or "enclosure," and sometimes "temple," in ancient Egyptian is the word pr /per. So it is interesting if we play around with this pr itm / Per Tem "House of Atum" [and there was  such called place with this name, i.e., Pithom, from the romanized form of the name in Hebrew taken from Egyptian (pr itm). Its exact location is somewhat uncertain.], if we reverse Per Tem , we get the word tem-per 🙌 ! And since Atum /itm is thought to be derived from the verb tm "to complete, to finish," this would be a house that is complete or finished (so we could say "brought forth, born," therefore,  post Per Tem / partum) like a person or thing tempered or exhibiting temperance. Like something in balance, as is a person who has the proper relationship between their parts in the "temple" of their body and is therefore whole and holy. Like  paradise. And if we say, a per "house" dice "cut/cubed," it is a house cut off from the rest; a temenos "sacred place, sacred enclosure." 

Shadowscapes Tarot-Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

  ". . . Holding opposites apart from one another denies their power of unity. By drawing them together to merge in a measured fashion, and understanding what one bestows upon the other, a beautiful synthesis can be created. . ." -Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore

An image of God.

Often times things are heated and cooled in order to temper them. Glass and metals(iron, steel) are heat treated to make them stronger and in the case of glass to make it safer for people to be around such as car windows and shower doors. The experience of heat and cold like a sauna / cold plunge combination is good for a person too. A person who is exhibiting temperance isn't a person who only dwells in the rage of the middle or mild (the temperate). Exhibiting tempered behavior is, rather, the product after engaging with extremes and thus creating a medium or middle that is good. For example, it is healthy to exercise which stresses the body and raises the heart rate to its maximum (extreme) bpm, and to also meditate or sleep which lowers the heart rate and reduces stress. On average, the heart rate will be between these two. To build up muscle mass the muscle fibers need to be torn, that is, used to a breaking point (extreme), then given time to rest and recover. Doing both these kinds of things helps to create overall health in the individual, all of the time. If the person never engages in these more extreme activities health is not achieved. If a person lives life only taking cat naps and never committing to hours of uninterrupted deep sleep, then they won't ever be fully awake and engaged while they are up, but rather sleepy and unenergized. However, if a person has the right balance of sleep and awake time, they can operate at their best. If a person never indulges in good food they may be constantly in the state of craving it, or if a person never indulges in rest, relaxation and recreation they will get get burned out. But if a person always indulges in food and drink and never works or abstains, they will start to feel bad physically and may get dissatisfied and bored with what they have.

For this reason this somewhat unusual interpretation of the Temperance card in the Spolia Tarot is thought provoking,

Spolia Tarot - artwork by Jen May, design by Tara Romeo

This is a card of extremes, no matter what you have heard. It's about the combining of opposites to create something new. Our hermaphrodite (the combination of the male and female into a new body) is standing among monsters, other opposites that have come together to create something new.

It's about combining extremes rather than running around between them, going from a rabid meat eater one day to a hardcore vegan the next, or abstinent one day and a drunkard the next. It's about finding a middle spot, not in the sense of moderation but in the sense of holding the tension.

Earlier decks came with other virtues like prudence and charity. Those cards fell out of favor, but we honor Temperance's sisters with the irises that represent the virtues. 

-Jessa Crispin, Spolia Tarot, Temperance

It is helpful to highlight this understanding that temperance isn't prohibitive of extremes. And the notion of holding tension "a stretched condition," absolutely pertains to temperance. However the point is to make something well and good (like an image of God), not necessarily to make just anything, like a monster. So, it isn't clear how this card is trying to inform us about Temperance with these figures, or why experiencing extremes is part of temperance. . . or what that orange thing in the background is. 🍊🤔

Yet it is fine to have monsters. 👹 Monsters do have a place in this world. The polar regions and the bottom of the oceans are kind of monsters to us, as are quasars and black holes. Zeus allowed for the children of Typhon and Echidna (who were monsters) to remain on earth so that they could be worthy opponents for heroes. The hero is made in overcoming adversity and defeating evil. Without adversity there is no possibility for the hero (who overcomes adversity). However, monsters as monsters are not creatures that are themselves creatures of temperance. They are, rather, monstrosities, from Latin root monere "admonish, warn, advise". They are more a warning of what happens when you start to get too out of alignment (too extreme). Monsters are the embodiment of a boundary.

It's not clear what we are supposed to think about the hermaphoditic figure in the picture either. Are they a monster? Hermaphrodite comes from Hermaphroditus, the name of the child (a combination) of Hermes and Aphrodite who, in some accounts, was apparently born male and later joined into one body with the female nymph, Salmacis. So these were two separate people, male and female respectively, who were put together, but not born as a single intersex individual. Historically, the term hermaphrodite has been associated with such words as "monster," such as the Old English word scritta  said in the Online Etymological Dictionary which was "used to gloss[*explain, define] Latin hermaphroditus,"[OE] and means something like "monster, goblin." According to this article, the word entered the English language generally carrying a negative connotation when applied to humans.

"Hermaphrodite" seems to have entered late Middle English, via Latin from the Greek, . . . When applied to animals, and especially human beings, however, the word usually implied monstrous malformation. This was the case even when it was used in a more figurative sense to describe effeminate men or virile women. . . The Lancet, Hermaphrodite, Jane Seymour

However, in actuality every human being is always a combination of both masculine and feminine qualities and characteristics regardless of their sex or gender. We are all hermaphroditic in that sense. We are all a mixture of these dual polarities. And we are all one thing (humans, man, mankind, adam). We start out as little androgynous embryos until our sex genes (chromosomes) kick in and our organs develop in a particular way around week six or seven of gestation, when at that point we begin to differentiate or we could say we are "separated," however both men and women are made from a mixture of the genetic material of  a sperm and egg, and both masculine and feminine individuals produce both testosterone and estrogen, in their bodies, just generally in different proportions. The people who are born as intersex, whom people might think of as being "hermaphrodites" are not different in this respect, they are just more extreme examples in the sense that they are a less typical expression (as a percentage of the population), as well as other LBGQTIA individuals, and so have historically suffered discrimination because of this in many societies. Whereas people who are identified as either male or female at birth and who also identify with that same given sex and gender are less extreme in that they more typical, but at the same time these individuals are more extreme in the sense that their sex and gender expression falls more extremely to the side of one polarity over the other (either the masculine or feminine). However,  cases of very extreme polarized gender identification are rare as well, such very manly men who look, act, think and feel entirely in stereotypically "male" ways, or very feminine women, who look, act, think and feel only in the most stereotypically "feminine" ways. Most people fall in a more temperate range.

To speculate about the picture of the orange thing behind the hermaphrodite with the plant on top. . . upon reflection, it seems likely that it is meant to represent a play on the term "hermaphrodite." Instead of a combination of Hermes/Aphrodite, like Hermaphroditus, it is a combination of their Roman counterparts, Mercury and Venus. 

(1) Composite picture of Venus from three different missions

(2) Murcurialis ambigua 

The orange thing most definitely looks like the pictures available online of the planet Venus, which would then point to the plant on top as being perhaps . . . a Mercury plant? Mucurialis annua, or Spanish Mercury, Mucurialis ambigua, is an annual plant with a history of medicinal usage found in the Mediterranean region. So this Mercury/Venus mashup would be Mercurvenus, instead of Hermaphroditus. Probably the child of a planet and a plant would be a monster. And Venus itself is a bit of a monster planet, being an extreme of hotness, covered with clouds of sulfuric acid, as well as rotating in the opposite direction from all the other planets, and the Mercury plant is said to be poisonous (as well as medicinal), so, yeah, these aren't "temperate" things.

The Earth, on the other hand, is an appropriate mixture of yin and yang qualities. Some areas are more extreme than others (polar regions, deserts, etc.), but on a whole it is measured, it is suitable for abundant life. It is not exactly half fire (one hemisphere) and half ice (the other hemisphere). And even though the Earth is always exactly half light and half dark, it is not always light and dark in the same place (like a planet that is tidally locked to its star). Those polarities are just part of the mixture which creates a temperate habitat. In much the same way, even though people generally appear to be outwardly EITHER male or female, the whole gamut of sex and gender expression within the human population is a model of temperance. De todos ha de hater en el mundo. Because each individual person is by their very nature, a unique image of God (who is the exemplar [mȧȧu] of temperate mixture) and this, of course, does not prohibit less usual expressions, such as persons who are intersex, transgender, homosexual, etc.

Yin/Yang, drawing by Wesley Stupar, @WesleytheArch

And then, according to what we know about temperance, it makes the utmost of sense that the image of God, which image is also expressed in all people as one body, would consist of separate images of God having a range of ALL possible combinations, from the most usual to the most extreme, rather than something so absolutely binary and black and white as a world that is always half day and half night in the same place, or the idea of creatures that are made to be entirely and absolutely only male or female without any mixing. In this sense, the "aberrations" who are a split of male/female, i.e., "hermaphrodites," are just part of a complete world of expression. 

It is interesting that in Old English, a term used to mean "hermaphrodite" was wæpenwifestre, literally, "penis-woman-who is," which is equated with the term bæddel (hermaphrodite; a person who is divided male and female) which is similar in sound to בדל (badal) "to be divided." If we compare these words to the concept of another similar sounding word, beetle, as Kepera in ancient Egypt, who is the morning aspect of Ra (the sun) who "divides"(badal) /splits the day, not unlike the God of Genesis, then we can say that it is not necessarily a monstrous thing to be to be "divided," or to be a mixture, but rather, it makes one to be like God. For even God (who is represented by the sun metaphorically), has this certain "nature" with respect to creation, where he is born, grows in strength, declines in strength, and dies and must be reborn/resurrected. Whereas, the "monster," i.e., the warning, is Lucifer, who refused to be humbled, and so being an extreme light, then became an extreme "darkness"/evil. . . too hot to handle!

Satan (Lucifer) in his Original Glory - William Blake, 1805

Betelgeuse Star, artist's concept (A) and (B) illustration NASA

Satan, Sitting on a Throne in Hell, AI art generator

Like the star ("sun") of a hell world that never rises or sets, so it never "suffers" the experiences of birth, change, and death with respect to its planet, a Dark Lord whose extreme light and heat scorches one side of the world while, at the same time, the other half freezes in eternal darkness with only an eerie unchanging liminal twilight space between the two hemispheres. Rather than being tempered light and dark, like the God of creation, who will turn the f*uck "off" sometimes, 🌞👁😎 but always comes back . . . and those made to be like him. So, it is clear that dividing the day was actually an act of temperance creating a measured day, rather than creating a monster world that has no "day," but rather eternal day on one side and eternal night on the other. In the same way by separating the two sexes, humanity was tempered, rather than somehow being creatures who are only male or female, or entirely half male and half female, but not a mixture.

Temperance isn't straight up bilateral equilibrium, half yin and half yang. ⚫️⚪️ It is a mixture of the two (and there is always the yang in the yin and the yin in the yang). 

In this way we could call the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Temperance. Rather than existing in an eternal state of equilibrium or stasis, mankind tasted the extremes of goodness (ecstasy) and adversity (agony) and were, in the end, made to be something different by the mixture. In fact they were made to be "like God" [Gen 3:5] in this.

O happy fault, that merited such and so great a Redeemer!

O Felix culpa, quad talem ac tantum meriti habere Redemptorem!  - Exultet

That is, a redeemer who dies and is resurrected, so that we being made like him also share in the same resurrection.

For if we have been united together in the likeness [homoíoma] of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, - Romans 6:5 NKJV

So we are like God in the experiences of death and rebirth, which is a type of knowledge (experiential) of good and evil. In God the Absolute, there is no evil, just a perfection of the ALL (both polarities, both yin and yang. . . feminine and masculine, dark and light, conscious/awake and unconscious/asleep, nothing and everything), both the knowable and the unknowable, however, in mortal creatures (God made flesh) who experience time, there is the experience of evil. This is why Yahweh Elohim let Adam and Eve know that they could not . . . should not eat the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good [tov/tob] and evil [ra']," for, "in the day" that they ate of it they would die [Gen. 2:17] (obviously, they were not prevented from doing it, but they were warned of the consequences). And what is "a day"? 

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends; With the LORD a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. -2 Peter 3:8

As the crafty serpent assured Eve, they did not die immediately, however they did eventually experience death . . . just like God.

Tommaso Masaccio, Brancacci Capel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy, Fresco [detail], 1427

The previous card on our "Fool's Journey" is Death XIII. Death takes us to one extreme, we experience a boundary, Temperance as card XIIII takes us back toward life, the space created around and between birth and death, sunrise and sunset, day and night. When we go toward the extremes we gain knowledge. We find what is too much and therefore learn what is temperate and appreciate it. We learn that sometimes less is more and sometimes more is less. 

We can tend to idolize the extremes when we haven't been there . . . Like Lucifer, the most beautiful being of light 😇🤗, who wanted to be equal to God . . . by being ONLY Light 👿👎👇. Or like Pinocchio who thought he would be happy if he didn't have to go to school, and that Pleasure Island would be a fun place to live. When we think we will be happy if only we were able to go to an extreme. . . I would be happy if . . .  if I didn't have to work . . .  . if I had more (sex, drugs, wealth, power, etc), if I were better than everyone else. . . " But once we understand how we feel when we go too far in any direction, we no longer idolize the extremes, instead we know that our only happiness lies in traveling between the extremes in a measured fashion 😅 Jiminy Cricket! 🦗

No polarity is objectively good or bad, however, going too far in the direction of a single polarity is not good, so we sometimes set certain boundaries for our own good. We can get into trouble before we know what is happening like when we drink too much alcohol in a short amount of time and it is more than our body can process. We need to decide in advance how much we can safely drink and stick to that range. . . or we suffer the unpleasant consequences.

Silly Sammy Slick

sipped six sodas

and got

sick sick sick. 

 -Dr. Seuss' ABC

And hopefully we don't go too far and die, like by testing what mushrooms are good to eat by eating them!🍄☠️

Temperate behavior can conceal experience of the extremes within itself. When we see a temperate person, we do not see their whole history, we only see them acting in a way we say is temperate. When we see a person drinking one soda, we don't see their reasoning behind this decision or see the times when they have made, or times they will make different decisions. And this speaks to a certain problem with how to address temperance with another person. How can anyone be told how to be temperate? Is it simply by mimicking actions that are considered to be temperate? Not necessarily! This is why the father of the prodigal son gave his son his inheritance rather than restricting him. His son needed to see for himself, and thus become temperate through his own experience of the extremes, his experience of pleasure and pain, excess and lack. But the brother who stayed at home was indignant. If there is not a visceral understanding of why the particular actions of temperance are profitable then they won't be adhered to unless by way of force. For example, some people don't smoke because they aren't allowed to, but others don't smoke because they don't want to smoke, or they tried smoking and didn't like it, or they did like to smoke but didn't like the health consequences of smoking so they stopped. We can't really say that the person who is being prevented from doing something is actually acting with temperance.

There comes a time when a person has a certain level of maturity, that they need to be free to experience the consequences of their own choices. We prevent babies from running into the street, and we tell them what they can eat and when they have to sleep, but we don't micromanage the behavior of adults. A person can be forced to practice "temperate" actions, but it is more important what they choose to do when left to their own devices. A person can also freely choose to mimic the behavior of a seemingly temperate person (to act with temperance) in order to grow those muscles, but ultimately to be temperate they will need to acquire the correct understanding, or they risk becoming intemperate again.

Book of Thoth Egyptian Tarot - Alister Crowley

"Vista Interiora Terræ Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem"

So, in this respect, we could say that there is a bit of an art to Temperance, 

Art (n.) "skill as a result of learning or practice," from Old French art (10c.),  from Latin artem (nominative ars) "work of art; practical skill; a business, craft," [OE]

as there is art to creation itself. 

Although the Word of creation is singular it is not simple, it is mutifaceted (multi "faced"), it is fractal (from Latin fractus "interrupted, irregular," literally, "broken"), and holographic (every part is "written in full"). Creation was made not just by creating light, but by separating the light and the dark and mixing them into cycles; days, weeks, months, seasons, years, aeons, etc. Within the cycles creating stars, galaxies, planets. . . a planet suitable for life, life, and human beings. It was a singular act 💥, a separation, a splitting , something was born from nothing, but then a lot of mixing occurred which created a lot of different things from the basic building blocks, i.e., from "nothing" and something, dark and light, stillness and action, down and up. . . Not so unlike a painter creating something extraordinary out of just one thing, i.e., brush strokes, but using and mixing dark and light pigments, using thin or thick lines, this or that placement, etc., etc., to create different scenes and forms. 

Even light itself is not singular, but, rather, it is divided into a whole spectrum of colors and frequency of wavelengths, some which are visible to the naked eye, and some that are invisible. It's not all black and white.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

So when we see a rainbow, we are reminded that even though God is the light, God is a tempered light. 

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Gen. 9:14-15

And even though we are each an image God who is the light 😇, there is also a way in which we are divided or broken into a rainbow spectrum of images of that same light.

Who is like God?