In a theological symbolique the proliferation of symbols can veil the true implied meaning, but the symbol in itse!f is always revelatory. Every action depicted in the symbolique, every spontaneous or reasoned gesture, complies with an impulsion whose functional character is cosmic.
R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz The Temple of Man P. 47

In the understanding of the Qabalah one must practice the art of innuendo. It is the basis of taking a relationship out of the analytical arena of the mind and into the less restricted spirit.

The Universe card is full of details but it’s essence is unification. One can delve into each of the details, the Kerubim, the blue streams coming from their mouths, the snake, the universe, the fish hook (tzaddai-gee, it’s not a star), the eye, the universe, the mobius strip. Each will take one on a fascinating journey and each has been addressed elsewhere on the Tree of Life. But here they are all together and this is the culmination of the process - their reunion.

On the Tree of Life, this card represents the stem of the funnel going from Yesod to Malkuth. All the aspects of the Original Will have had their moments of expression and have come together in that great machine of Yesod and now the organized and interactive culmination proceeds into the evolving soul of Malkuth. The light of perception comes in. It becomes the snake of transformation. It is expelled out through the qualification of the elements. The mobius strip is the subtle hint that it may look like two but it is only one.

The overall glyph is one of concentration into the center and expansion out past the parameters of the card. The streams coming from the mouths of the Elements push the mind past the ‘limits’. The shape of the universe is the vesica. The circles that create the vesica are outside of the card but they are implied. So the mind is naturally expanded just by the simple shape of the vesica.

Tau is the final letter in the Hebraic alphabet and its value is 400. As this card represents this finality it is interesting that finality is not implied at all, rather a moving on and an expansion. Does this mean that our final reward is not a harp behind pearly gates? That nirvana and it’s peace is just a pipe dream? That we have to COME BACK?!! The Great Work does not end in the passionate of embrace of the One Mind and the One Thing. 4 has the rigidity of form As Qabalists we have a responsibility to change the lead into gold. We have to take what we have learned and fix this world. That’s the catch (oops there’s that tzaddai again). We have to make the below match the above. That’s why alchemists tried to find the secret to long life. Not because life is so great but because it isn’t and we have work to do.

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