5 of Diamonds - The Hierophant.

Of all the cards in this deck, several of which "see" me, there is only one that has directly attacked me. That would be this one. Ugh.

An old man with a beard and a crown, hunched over, peers at me intently. Two keys with the diamond coin symbol float in front of his bears. Three diamonds - not coins - are present in his crown, to equal 5.

I am literally resting my headphones on top of the card to block the gaze while I write. This is... intense.

The pamphlet reads "Tradition" "Spiritual Authority" "Deception".

It isn't too hard to guess why I am feeling such antagonism from, and revulsion toward, this card. In the world right now, our form of traditional authority - Western governments and health boards - are trying to influence us all, as hard as they can, to take an untested vaccine for a virus that does not threaten the life of the vast majority of the people. Per the rules of my own common sense, this is not something I should participate in. And yet the coercion is at my very door. Breathing, hotly, down the back of my neck.

I won't rule out getting a vaccine eventually (or at gunpoint, if that should be how it goes; I will accept the smaller risk of death). But I DO NOT LIKE that this is how the authorities are choosing to treat us. It makes my skin crawl.

Perhaps at a later time, I will be able to approach this card with more equanimity. Or perhaps... I will be able to recognize it as a warning.

Sphere of Protection - Closing.

I've been working hard on doing the opening part of the SOP daily - that's mostly been happening! I pair it with going out to water the garden - there's a place back behind the plum tree which is private enough. I've adjusted the wording to the following (it's still a work in progress):

"By the infinite sky above me,
By the earth descending below,
By the energy of life within me--
Bless and protect all within this space."

I don't love the twice-over use of "within" but I may have to get over that.

So... I think I can move on to adding the official closing, as well! Let's work through that here.

1) First, complete the Opening.
2) Focus on your solar plexus, where your two ribcages meet, in the middle of your body.
3) Feel the beam of light forming a small ball there. See this as where the two streams of light meet inside your body - the one from above, and the one from below.
4) Imagine the ball expanding, fed by both streams of light. It should extend as far as the space you wish to protect.
5) Concentrate on the feeling that the space inside the sphere is lighter, cleaner, and brighter than that outside it.
6) Pause to feel the space in a state of illumination and cleansing.
7) Cross your arms again, right over left, and repeat the prayer: "Bless and protect all within this space."
8) That's it!

It will probably take me just as long to get the hang of this as the Opening... but, no better time to start than now! :)

Also, it will be good to do this inside the house (in the bedroom) when the weather gets bad. I look forward to protecting the place where Mike and I sleep, too.

Dogme et Rituel de la haute magie - translation!

Yeah, this will go easier if I literally transcribe it. Let's see how much I can do, LOL!

We'll start with Page 70. The heck with the random guy who wrote such a long prelude! Partial sentences will be translated on the page on which they start.

*

Across the veil of all the hieratical allegories and the mystiques of ancient dogma, across the darkness and the bizarre tests of all the initiations, under the seal of all the sacred writings, in the ruins of Ninevah or of Thebes, on the crumbling stones of the ancient temples and on the black face of the sphinx of Assyria or of Egypt, in the monstrous and marvelous paintings that translate the sacred pages of the Vedas for believers in India, in the strange emblems of our our old books of alchemy, and in the practical ceremonies of the mystery societies, one discovers traces of of a universal doctrine - one everywhere carefully, meticulously hidden.

Occult philosophy serves as the wet-nurse or the godmother to all the religions, the secret level of all the forces of the intellect, the key to all the divine obscurities, and the the absolute queen of society, in the ages where it was exclusively reserved for the preparatory education of the kings.

*

Good enough start! I'll keep on going from here. Let's see how much French... and spiritual stuff... we can learn! :)