Course XLIII - Teaching 4: First to Fifth Tarot Figures: Their Interpretation

Figure 1

The man in white is the triumphant man, the man God; it is he who came to control the Great Element. This is why he is over the waters.
He has achieved this control through harmony with the powers; this harmony is represented by his left arm raised and the right one extended downward.
His achievement –denoted by his wide hat and luminous halo– is the result of a serene vision of God. At the same time, he is the microcosm, image of the Macrocosm.
Cosmogonically, the water is Primordial Substance; the hat, manifest Universe; and the man, Cosmic Energy.
In Latin Mithology, he is Mercury, who flies over the earth; in Christian religion, he is the Triumphant Christ, rising from the tomb.
Also he is Horushatum, who possesses the beginning, end and preservation of the Universal Creation.

Figure 2

This figure is symbol of duality, both positive and negative agent, masculine and feminine, man and woman.
But notice that, instead of two figures, here only one figure comes up, that of the woman. This is so because the first differentiation point is ever potential; this is why its emblem is the feminine aspect.
The potential and active power of duality rules over the Universe; the woman with two horns, seated between two pillars, confirms this power.
The red cloak means that where there is manifestation and duality, there is life, and the secret of life is: mobility, change, attraction and repulsion, “solve et coagula”; in short, duality.
This image is the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Latin Venus.

Figure 3

This figure is the Divine Mother, the Manifestation under three different expressive forms: spirit, mind and matter.
Her attributes express the ternary as a whole, the Trinity.
She wears a red cloak, symbol of life; and also a light blue cloak, symbol of the divine source of the Creation.
Her hands hold the globe, with wings as a symbol of the flight of the spirit; on the shield there is the picture of an eagle, since matter constantly tends to return to its original fount.
Spirit and matter are united in this figure by the female image, which is like a link between sky and earth.
This is the image of the Immaculate Conception.

Figure 4

Particularly see in this figure the triangle on the chest of the Emperor and the square tended below by the cross formed by his crossed legs because here the spirit is in the matter, the power of life is in the human manifestation.
The Emperor wears on his chest the triangle, the band, sign of power, but he can use it just according to a human restraint, because his legs are not free but crossed.
It is the last point, the Nadir, where one arrives and gathers strength for the return.
Christ said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”. He means; “You are matter that has to be vivified, you are the initiated material man”.
When the spirit settles upon the matter, the transmuted matter becomes spirit.” “You are the gate of Heaven, Guardian of the Threshold”; in short, matter in its highest vibration, when is going to be absorbed by the spiritual vibration.
Also the symbol of this sign is the two keys of Ahehia, which are crossed, and open gates of Heaven and Hell.
It is the Hebrew“tau”, which opens gates of Heaven.
The crossed legs of the Emperor also symbolize the four cardinal points, and the four earthly elements.

Figure 5

The Great Hierophant is symbol of the pentagram, of mental powers; power to know the matter, to know the astral essence, the radiant essence, the heart of beings and power to know their capacity.
This symbol is philosophy, religion, ethics, history and language.
The Master can teach all, but he cannot give Spiritual Realization.
The great Priest can take the soul to the gate of the place where judges of death will examine the soul that however must enter by itself.
The Great Hierophant controls both lower and higher worlds: two pillars in the background of the figure; he has material, astral and mental power.
But the spiritual power only belongs to God.