In my visions, the representation of planetary Jupiter, the Silent Harlequin, never speaks. If he appeared with Little Miss Gothic Lolita (planetary Saturn), he let her do all the talking. The Silent Harlequin, and later his messenger who wore my face but was not me, only spoke with tarot cards. Usually employing some slight of hand to pull them from behind ears and between cleavage, and often using just two cards at a time.
So now that it is settled the amethyst pendulum is Jupiterian (I know the term is Jovian, but I need to make a distinction between the god and the planet), I pulled out the Universal Waite (the deck the Silent Harlequin uses most often in the visions) to get Jupiter’s words of the matter. Because the number 4 and 16 are associated with Jupiter because of its magic square (4 x 4), I dealt the fourth and the sixteenth card to serve as the Silent Harlequin’s pair.
The fourth card is the 6 of Swords. The HKT calls this card, “Science”, and attributes it to Mercury in Aquarius. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot talks of departure and swift matters if upright, of public confessions and declarations if not. However, hermetic readers will speak of a moment of mental balance and clarity, and of a pause in time where internal and external forces are neither strengthening nor weakening each other. It is the latter definition that resonates with me. The Silent Harlequin may use the images of the Universal Waite because those cards are the strongest in my memory, but he relies on my understanding of those cards to give them meaning. And I do not always agree with Waite. (Or with anyone else, but that’s another post.)
The sixteenth card is Strength [8]. The HKT has it numbered the same. Attributed to the astrological sign of Leo, and to the Path of Teth linking Chesed and Geburah on the Tree of Life, it was once called “Fortitude” in earlier decks. The way things have been going with my own excursions, I’m partial to changing the name back to “Fortitude”, myself.
I started laughing on seeing Strength on the table. I have been filled with so much doubt. Wondering again if this is “real” or just vanity taking advantage of coincidences. Wondering if I’ll be able to make the magical trip to the Path of Teth as I had been challenged, and from which sephira. I’m doing so many things wrong after all.
I guess I’m doing all the wrong things, in the right way for me. If I didn’t know better, I think the Silent Harlequin just told me how to enter the Path of Teth. Excuse me while I headdesk. ~thunk~ What was I supposed to be practicing all this time?
Focused meditation.
Well, fuck.