The Tarot of Eli 2, LLC: Gold Foil Tarot-Key 18-The Moon & The Tarot of the Old Path- Key 18- Illusion.

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In Western Magic and Tarot, it is known that the way of attainment is the way of return; you cannot escape the consequences of one’s actions. This is a main attribute of the Moon, which reflects from the Sun what the Sun radiates. On Gold Foil Moon card, the crayfish that is climbing out of the pool, represents the instinctive mind of the subconscious, as does the wolf and dog, but in a higher form of intelligence, resulting from evolutionary modification. Also, the wolf is a symbol of nature, and the dog, of art because he is a product of human genetic manipulation and/or adaptation. The Path, on the Gold Foil Moon Card, which lies between dog and wolf, suggests the way of balance, goes neither too far toward artificiality nor allows everything to be influenced by ungoverned natural impulses.

The path wanders through well-tilled fields on the Gold Foil card, or to the mysterious world of the unknown heights beyond the 2 towers of present human achievement. The undulation of the ground represents alternate periods of rest and action. Therefore, the stage of unfoldment is Organization. This is the Path of Qoph, a Hebrew letter, shown on the bottom of the Qabalistic Thoth ATU 18 Moon card. The Path of Qoph, is called by Dr. Paul Foster Case (of B.O.T.A.) as the Corporeal Intelligence, meaning body consciousness-known as the subconscious, which is the body collective or aggregate intelligence generated by the individual cells and that has become profaned by the "mind virus" of the "false ego" and/or the Shadow side of our brain. . Also, the Hebrew word "corporeal" means to "rain upon" and this is shown by the raining of the Yod shaped solar radiant on the Gold Foil Moon Card.
 

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The Tarot of the Old Path names key-18, Illusion, and is based on the same principle with a theme based on the dark side of the Moon and/or the dark subconscious. Represented on the Old Path -Illusion Tarot Card, are the pale, almost insubstantial figures of a man and woman, standing in troubled waters of disturbed emotions. This scene of desolate feelings is emphasized by the man holding his head in his hands, distraught and unable to open his eyes. The Woman is pleading with the Moon (pleading to the Goddess).

We can see the new moon image, with a faint suggestion of full moon, within the image of the Egyptian-Sky Goddess Nuit (Nut). The expression on the Goddesses' face is none too happy and the image of her face is reflected in the troubled water. She is hurt by our ignorance and sheds a tear, indicating her hidden emotion for her children who refuse to "grow up".

Due to the mayhem of childhood, many of us forget that we are the masters of our own image, and if we are distraught, in grief or emotionally disturbed, it is from our own thinking not the "outside" world. Overwrought emotion comes as we take ourselves too seriously, i.e., " self-judgments of good and bad". The fingers of the Goddess form waterfalls that feed the pool of emotions, implying that she is the creator of Consciousness and the resulting Emotions. She is the Imagination (image maker) ---the "Womb-with-a-view"; The Moon.

There is only one way to communicate with the inner "gods/goddesses" and that way is in this great statement given to me as a young 10-year-old boy by my teacher Yo Chen (sounds like) when he said," If you wish to speak to me, you must stand, for I'll not kneel to your weakness." Such a statement may be called "tough love" but it is also the communication of equals, something we often forget. We are the Strength of Immortality, of the "gods"; we have inherited Divinity of Spirit, Mind and body and are therefore seen as the "image of the Living Divine Creatrix " who sees all creation as a "self-reflection". To build weakness by myopic thinking, and then bow to it as if it is a greater reality than us, is to be the "insane" kneeling of immortal Spirit to the mortality of the body; lost in our own mire of confusion, misdirection, and fear of death.

Our name is I AM ("I" is Spirit and "Am" is Mind) and our life is a declaration of thought forms or self-made identity, called-"Me'! Death and emotional darkness are just a phase of the Moon and/or life, it will soon cycle back into its full glory, just as the Spirit will soon rebuild a new form of self-expression. The Goddess is mirroring the statement, "Get over yourself, get on with you, impeccability is what we do!"

The symbol for early conscious growth is the crayfish, and disturbed by the dark moon, dogs howl in the background.

In the language of flowers, the honeysuckle growing at the side of the card implies inconsistency and the bramble signifies envy and remorse. The overhanging willow trees represent the those that are forsaken and the poplars on the horizon represent The Tree of Life.

The card emphasizes a warning of distinguishing illusion from reality; that the reflected light of the moon casts shadows of illusion and uncertainty, implying the reflected light of the dark subconscious being disturbed by the survival mind of the animal. The Subconscious is also where psychic powers are developed. The Universal Collective Unconscious and its sub (survival mind of animal), speaks in symbols, images, and misinterpretation of these intuitive messages or taking them as literal messages, will lead us into disaster. To benefit from this insight of symbols we must learn to interpret the symbols given by using the "Sun" light of Higher Reason and the Symbols of Moon light (unconsciousness) in combination, they assist each other rather than confuse each other. Therefore, Qabalists study the Tarot. Divination in the Qabalah or any Gnosis, aids language bound reason in learning the language of the imagination. For she only speaks in forms and is reflected in literal consciousness as emotions when linked to her husband who is will to force. She is illuminated by Tiphareth (The Solar or Higher Consciousness) and reflects unseen knowledge our reason must listen to the impeccably of the inner self to properly operate the Creative self.

The Moon represents the reflected light of the subconscious (animal mind), it is the Crone of the Triple goddess-Maid-Mother-Crone (shown in the moon pool of the Tarot of the Old Path). The 18 Yods, falling from Sun-Moon image on the both the Gold Foil card, represent the Key number as well as "falling rain"; eighteen is also the Hebrew number of the noun Chi; Chi signifying "Life". Hence, the falling Yods, (flames) represent the life-force from above to the below of the living and/or the conditions of corporeal existence. The Pool below (Moon Pool) symbolizes the "Abyssal Womb" and/or "Great Deep" of Cosmic Mind-Stuff, out of which emerges "dry land" and/or physical manifestation. This pool also signifies the 9th Sephiroth-Yesod, "The Sphere of the Moon" and is the seat of the Vital Soul, manifested in the human as the automatic consciousness, commonly known as the subconsciousness.

Aleister Crowley, a Western Hermetic Qaballist, disagrees with the Rider-Waite-Smith/Gold Foil representation of this Key 18, as Waite believed the Moon to be on its increase. Waite's rational being that, on one level, the crayfish crawling out of the water (On his card) is the symbol of Cancer, meaning that when the Sun is in Pisces the Moon will be increasing in Cancer. As he stated," the Sun below the horizon, as he ever is when the Moon is increasing above." Crowley/Harris developed the idea of the Crayfish as a representation of the Water Strider, making the water element central to the Thoth card emphasizing the darker aspects of the Moon Key 18, on its last dark cycle. and/or tidal change.

The Moon -Key-18, symbolizes the rebirth of light out of hideous darkness; bright intellect overcoming the dark denizens of our subconscious, i.e., the illusions of instinctual fears. from the depths of the subconscious.

In the Qabalistic Thoth Tarot, THE HIGH PRIESTESS, is a source of pure, clear waters (consciousness) emerging from the from the Godhead-The Father to the Son/Sun. The Same waters of consciousness are seen here on the Rider-Waite-Smith -the Moon card, Thoth Tarot they are polluted with the dark subconscious fears of mortality, something that physical manifestation bestows on consciousness. However, as I have stated before, the traveling up the Path of Qoph, (Moon) towards the "Sun/Son Consciousness", notably changes the body physiology, as the Bright Beautiful Light Intellect of the Son/Sun (Tiphareth) descends into it, dissolving the "False ego". When traveling up the Path of Qoph, the Personality becomes increasingly aware of the Higher Self and less control by the dark fears of the body /mind virus of the "lower false self/ego" where they are felt.

The Path of Qoph is where we meet the Animal's fears of being preyed on. Here the Survival Mind (subconscious) has stored the deep dark fears of being "eaten" and/or of Death. Hence, the aspirant not only must conquer their own "nightmares" but also those of humanity. Without this face to face with your shadows, you won't be able to "push" the subconscious up the "Tree of the One Mind" into higher and higher states of SELF, making the subconscious more consciously awake. To me it seems funny that we will train our dog, but not our own "inner dog", that is the subconscious. You are a Higher Psyche called a Soul (Solar/Sun Self) and the subconscious, is but a "reflection" of that Powerful Radiant Mind, which has become polluted with falsehood provided by the evil indoctrination and dogma of the Military Industrial Complex; a phrase created by President Dwight Eisenhower. Hence, it is time to redirect your animal fears of death, to the greater enlightenment of I AM ---the Alpha and the Omega of manifestation. As Spirit, we know death to be a transformative, not an end of Being. In Qabalah, a "Being" is an immortal Intelligence, while an entity is but a "self-reflection". It is now time to strap on your Golden Chariot armor and defeat your inner dragons. It's obvious that ships need their anchors tied down on their decks, not buried in the mud, to steam onward and travel the ever-wonderous seas of the Mind. Hence, one needs to "raise" the body out of instinctual fears, for it to be our companion among the stars.

All dark shadows aside, the Moon is also a card of Childbirth. Which seems understandably in error as it is representation of the trinity Goddess. However, this is a card of the deepest anguish and pain as well as the gateway to life and death. Hence, childbirth.

When the Moon or Illusion, Key 18- is thrown during a divination, it implies:

• Journey into subconscious depths.
• The eerie path into the dark depths of the Soul. 
• Confrontation with the night.
• Encounter with fears.
• Deepest self-knowledge.
• Devotion to intuitive knowledge.

When Reversed:

• Illusion.
• Hysteria.
• Persecution complex.
• Hallucinations.
• Drug abuse.
• Flight from reality.

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