ROTAE I Trumps 0 to 7Trump XXI or 21:
The Universe
Beyond Polarity
Eternal Motion
Perfect Sight
Trump 21 is the whole scope of the Major Arcana. It does not stand for any single aspect, not even for the tripling of the divine 7 rays. If anything, then for the unfathomable quality associated with such a tripling. The sevenfold Law of Three and the three-fold Law of Seven are here but total abstractions, already beyond the last word-symbols Man may employ and still understand. The enlightened Yogi does not speak. The Man in highest Samadhi is not approachable. The Zen master does not speak anymore in understandable words. The syllables, colorful mental images, projections of quabbalist "power-language", even they have come to an end. There is a limit to human action and understanding, here Man has transcended it. Transcendence is the translation of "Beyond Polarity". Eternal motion is the state of the Universe. Perfect sight is a divine gift, rarely does Man purify himself to perfect his transcendental sight to perfection. It is a Siddhi, a divine attribute given to the already perfected. Sahasrara Chakra, the combination of Ajna and Sahasrara Chakras, Sahasrara Padma Chakra: not even the divine accomplished Yogi Milarepa could give words to this state. His songs address Men, Demons or Rakshasas, Gandharvas, Devas and Dakinis, but he cannot sing of the most high and absolute. Thus he remains in the Lila of perfect adoration, beyond Karma, submitted to the most sublime divinity. The Boddhisattvas Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara come and visit him, yet they exchange only images and ideas, no words. Milarepa, by having passed through and mastered all Magic and Alchemy, is considered the most developed Yogi ever to have run the whole path within one incarnation. His songs are the songs of his heart. Even the Gods come to listen.
Can the same be said of Orpheus? Not really, for he is considered a half-god, thus already beyond the normal human being at birth. Milarepa was wholly normal, average. But he fastened his mind to emulate the teachings of the Buddha, to apply them to practical life. He was aided up till the level of the 4th Heart Chakra, from then on he had to tread uncharted paths.
Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of the Lord, is also such a man. But he is aided by the divine incarnation, the Avatar Krishna. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita he says to Krishna: "My delusion is gone. Through Your grace, O Krishna, I have regained my memory. I am firm; I am free of doubt. I will act according to Your word." Thus, in the words of the Gita, "ends the Dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, which is the Essence of the Upanishads, the Science of Brahman, the Scripture of Yoga. Om. Peace ! Peace ! Peace be unto all! Om Tat Sat."
The Tarot-version that calls Trump 21 "The World", forgets that Trumps 10 and 20 are the world, the world of terrestrial Creation, of Man, inclusive of Karma, the law of retribution. Trump 11 is the central hub or axle around which all Trumps revolve, not Trump 21. Trump 21 is beyond the world, it is no longer concerned with the elements, it is pure Akasha, primal Akasha, symbolic of the state prior to the creation of the 4 Ethers, prior to the Skandhas, prior to the Chakras, prior to the arrival of the seven rays within the solar system, prior to manifestation, equal to Creation, but on a cosmic scale.
This is also part of the teachings of the enlightened master, Da Free John (Baba Free John), whom we have already mentioned. He also calls Man to return to the prior state, prior to birth, prior to reflection, prior to cognition, prior to the manifestation of Shakti, prior to the first and last breath.
We will repeat here the legend of the Buddha, already mentioned within Trump1: "The Buddha realised that he was a part of human evolution. He originated within the same wave of evolution that encompasses all of humanity. Thus, even having acceded to the highest spheres possible for Man, he realised that humanity as such was dependent on his achievement. Leaving it behind would have deprived the whole human race of the impulse and wisdom to accede to the higher spheres. Thus he made a vow, to himself and to the highest Creator, to ever return until all of humanity was liberated from the Wheel of Dharma, Samsara, thus enabling it to accede to the higher evolution which is no longer bound by terrestrial manifestation."
It is due to this symbolism that some older decks of the Tarot placed the Zero, O, either between Trumps 20 and 21, or even equated the 21 with 22. Now, seen from a rather long distance in time, this is understandable. The newer decks simply aimed to place God, the immutable, unknowable eternal One, the undefinable O, which is also all-encompassing, at the beginning of the Tarot. This is mathematically logical, philosophically it is as much a paradoxical nonsense as the placing of God in any position whatsoever. In the end, it is correct, for the O is also the 22, the primal prior and the ultimate prior, the primal after and the ultimate after. The circle speaks for itself. All secrets have a tongue, yet they choose to speak only of their own accord. Thus the secret hides itself by itself and reveals itself by itself. Man has no part to play within this. Man's secrets were made to be revealed, broken, disintegrated. There is no will above God's own will, nor below. The best of human will can only partially reflect God's will.
Heaven is ultimately indefinable. It is beyond, and yet within the Universe. The channel of pure bliss, Amrita Nadi, is its interior reflection. The Sahasrara Padma Chakra of ultimate bliss is a merging with Heaven, with the flux and fate no one can fathom.
Again, in this age of obscurity, Man should most likely follow the inner path, seeing the highest ultimate as a goal in another time, a higher time, when all is bright and unobscured. Now the inner path is more adequate, the accumulating bliss of inner purity, the joining of the 5th and 6th Chakras with the central Anahata Chakra of the Heart. And so Man, objectively seen, returns to his pagan roots, for the inner path is also the path leading into Earth. The inner dimensions, after all, are more tangible and more easily discovered than the higher dimensions. It is a choice. Yet in this time, Man is more likely to encounter obstacles and even enmity when pursuing the higher path, for there he may encounter the emotionless monsters lacking all feelings, in fact lacking the vital-emotional body. This is distinct from the psychic-astral body, which may be put to base and corrupted use, yet not entirely lost. By pure use of the intellectual mental capacities, Man may lose his sentiments, thus depriving himself of all emotions. This, imperceptibly, deprives Man of his vital body. Then of course the whole evolutionary path of the sublime and ethereal vessels, of the Mer-Ka-Ba or Body of Light is broken. The physical and psychic-astral bodies, deprived of the strength and impulse of the vital-emotional "double", in fact of any luminous double-body at all, cannot serve as an ethereal vehicle for Man. At one point, along this path of self-destruction to utter obliteration and disintegration, even the idea, the mental image of the higher spheres disappears. A sign of this is when the very idea of such spheres becomes obnoxious and stirs an emotional reaction of anger. This then is not anger at all, but utter helplessness. Such individuals need to be pitied, but also, in the words of Krishna to his pupil Arjuna: "In this crisis, O Arjuna, whence comes such lowness of spirit, unbecoming and dishonourable, an obstacle to the attaining of heaven?" "The Self, which dwells in all bodies can never be slain, O Bharata. Wherefore you should not mourn for any creature." "Not the desirer of desires attains peace, but he into whom all desires enter as the waters enter into the ocean, which is full to the brim and grounded in stillness." "Works do not bind the man, O Dhanajaya, who relinquishes action through yoga, whose doubts are destroyed by knowledge, and who is self-possessed. Therefore with the sword of knowledge cut asunder this doubt about the Self." "The action that is obligatory and is done without love or hate by one who desires no fruit and who is free from attachment - that action is characterised by sattva, the emotion of Sakhya Yuga, the feeling of Heaven." "These enemies before you, they are already dead. You are mourning those who should not be mourned for. It is children and not the wise that speak of the path of knowledge as distinct from the path of action. He who is firmly set on one reaches the end of both."
Opposed to this, Krishna also says: "Self-honoured, haughty, filled with the pride and intoxication of wealth, they ostentatiously perform sacrifices, which are so only in name, in utter disregard of any precepts. To ostentation, arrogance and self-conceit, in anger and displaying rudeness and ignorance they offer worship. Through delusion they act with impure resolve. They hate Me, in the bodies of others and in their own. These cruel haters, these evil-doers, these vilest of men, I hurl always into the wombs of the demons in the cycle of births and deaths. They never attain me, O Arjuna, but go farther down to the lowest state."
As nothing ever ends, though there be many partings, and one life follows another, chapter 21 of the Dhammapada is called: "Wakefulness". It refers to perfect sight. It makes an astounding statement: "A saint is pure from past sins; even if he had killed his father and mother, had murdered two holy kings, and had also murdered the best of men. The followers of Buddha Gautama are awake and for ever watch. Ever by day and by night they remember Buddha, their Master, the Truth of the Law, the holy brotherhood (Sangha), the mystery of the body. They find joy in love for all beings, they find joy in supreme contemplation. The road of transmigration is a road of pain for the traveler: let him rest by the road and be free." The last chapter of the Dhammapada, the 26th, thus corresponding to the numeric "value" of Hebrew "Jehova", is called "The Brahmin". This indicates an even superior person than the monk and recluse. Its last sub-chapter reads: "He who knows the river of his past lives and is free from life that ends in death, who knows the joys of heaven and the sorrows of hell, for he is a seer whose vision is pure, who in perfection is one with the Supreme Perfection - him I call a Brahmin." This reflects the last, 40th Kasina of Hinayana Buddhism, which is called: "The state where there is neither perception nor absence of perception", a circumscription of "total realisation".
The Path of Power, the I Ching "Moon-variant", has only one last statement: "Use Polarity. Being and Non-Being create each other. Past and Future follow each other. High and low embrace each other."
Man has been shown to potentially develop a Body of Light. Taken to its symbolic conclusion, this Body of Light, whereby Man becomes a Cosmic Individual (see Appendix, the Law of Mutual Self-Preservation), finds its first complete manifestation beyond the symbolism of the 22 Trumps. As 3 x 8, the double-luminous body perfected to the "boddhisattvic" third Body of Light, this would correspond with the 24th page of the Book of Wisdom. Again, that would need further perfection, for the Cosmic Individual can pass through all spheres of the solar system, and may even leave it (probably towards the sphere of Sirius). Thus the Book of Wisdom, as it applies to Man, to humanity, to the human evolution, offers the further "completion stages" (well-known within Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism), symbolised by Trumps or cards 32, 40, 48, 56, 64 and 72. Thus the Microcosm interconnects with the Macrocosm, and Man is the created Being capable of achieving this.
The 21st Kasina of Hinayana Buddhism (a path of 40 meditative states), is called: "Sky". As the Universe, Sky is at least a symbol. When the possibility of transcending the solar system, to arrive within the sphere of Sirius, is evoked, then the Body of Light must be perfected. This is symbolised by the so-called Caduceus of Hermes, which also shows the Yin-Yang forces as they apply, roughly, within the Body of Light.
The Tarot has lost the hieroglyphic pictures corresponding to these further stages. The only tangible system, which intrinsically applies to Trump 21 also, is the system of the Enneade, graphically shown by the Enneagram.
Of interest within Trump 21 are the seven positions the central triangle can occupy. Thus the numeric code given is 21. Composed of nine points or stations, the Enneagram symbolises the eternal flux within Time and Space, the primal "weaving", creative principle. It may stand for the Emanations of God. The number 9 is here symbolic of the primal Dynamism, the eternal flow of Fluid Light, ever emanating, ever returning to its source, the all-encompassing All and One. Ain Soph Aur is the Hebrew synonym.
Life springs from Myth. Myth returns to Life. The Now is ever-present. It is prior to Being, yet no Being knows anything of a prior state of Being. The central Divine Emanation may know, if Being has always been eternal, or if it was created. Once created, though, it becomes eternal. For at one point it will enter Creation, from where Being has come. The day turns to night, only to become day again, the exhaling will become an inhaling, what was manifested will return to the unmanifest, which again will manifest. The Universe is a stream of constant flux, action turns into Karma, which again turns into action, stars are created, then explode, only to distribute matter that will again form stars. The history of the planets, none can know them, for they evolve, and may be linked to the life-time of their home-stars, but maybe not, for are there not those highest Beings of pure light that may even be able to move planets?
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