The sixteenth numbered major trump is called Le Feu du Ciel, the Fire of Heaven, and portrays a tower the battlements of which, in the form of a crown, are being destroyed by a bolt of lightning issuing from the sun. The crown, being considerably smaller than the tower which it surmounts, possibly indicates that its destruction resulted from its insufficiency. The lighting bolt sometimes takes the form of the zodiacal sign of Scorpio, and the tower may be considered a phallic emblem. Two figures are failing from the tower, one in front and the other behind. This Tarot card is popularly associated with the traditional fall of man. The divine nature of humanity is depicted as a tower. When his crown is destroyed, man falls into the lower world and takes upon himself the illusion of materiality. Here also is a key to the mystery of sex. The tower is supposedly filled with gold coins which, showering out in great numbers from the rent made by the lightning bolt, suggesting potential powers. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the tower is a pyramid, its apex shattered by a lightning bolt. Here is a reference to the missing capstone of the Universal House. In support of Levi's contention that this card is connected with the Hebrew letter Ayin, the failing figure in the foreground is similar in general appearance to the sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Book of Successful Contemplation (Ying Kuan Ching) says: The sun sinks in the Great Water and magic pictures of trees in rows arise. The setting...

It enlighteneth also the heaven, the stars, and the deep above the earth, working in all things that are in this world, and is the king and the heart...

What is this? “Of unknown attributes, which Hemen hath given” is the name of the Funereal Chest. “The Witness of that which is lifted” is the name of...

Well, then, that fire like a pillar, and the fire in the desert, is the symbol of the holy light which passed through from earth and returned again...

From these ends is extended the spindle of Necessity, on which all the revolutions turn. The shaft and hook of this spindle are made of steel, and the...

The Fire, viz. the mightiest of them, has taken it into its Region [or Jurisdiction] in the Heart; and there it must mkeep, and the Blossom and Light ...

Differently, the stones might be the various phases of salvation; some occupying the upper, some the lower parts of the entire body saved. The three...

The Truth in Symbols There are certain truths which cannot be well expressed in words, but which may be at least partially expressed in symbols. To...

It describes gods and genii of the bounds in the Tuat who confer certain blessings on the deceased; such as this: “those who lift up their faces towar...

For the Chamber of the Building (or Fabrick] stands in very great Anguish, and [here] we must consider the Original of the Essence of all Essences, th...

All the stars which men see, and those which they do not see, they all signify the power of God the Father; and out of these stars is generated the...

It is not claimed, however, that in the pages of this book are given all the Secret Teachings of the Rosicrucians, such as their Formulas and Methods...

It is said also in a certain oracle,- "A pillar to the Thebans is joy-inspiring Bacchus," from the history of the Hebrews. Also Euripides says, in...

Also, the Word of God attributes to the Heavenly Beings a likeness to Brass, Electron, and many-coloured stones. Electron, as being partly like gold,...

For the holy Element continually longs, [or groans] through the four Elements, to be released from the Vanity of the four Elements; in like Manner als...

Now the high priest's robe is the symbol of the world of sense. The seven planets are represented by the five stones and the two carbuncles, for...

And that which (thus) rises is the great luminary, and is so named according to its appearance, according as the Lord commanded.

The living charm is behind him, behind this god, whose ka is glorious, the king of the Tuat, the prince of the Amenta, who takes hold of the sky,...

The coveting, then, the barrier of popular unbelief, was stretched in front of the five pillars, keeping back those in the surrounding space.

This Chapter is already found in the pyramid of Unas (l. 379-399). Prof. Erman ( Zeitschr. , XXXIII, p. 2) has made a special study of it, and has...