03-14-2015, 10:45 AM
I'll start. For me it's pretty clear that it's the Temperance card. Let me explain.
I first noted that the card was personally significant to me http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthrea...=tempering
The basic idea is transformation. You take experience the bad, the mundane, experience of life and transform it into the spiritual.
I do this with experiences that happen to me. I try and do with with old pain that's still stored within me. I try and do this for other people, and the world. I've used it so much it's effectively become second nature, and by far my dominant "meditative" technique, that no longer really requires traditional meditation for me, just sort of thought.
It basically allows me to "recover" the, shall we say, emotional charge behind the things that happen, and then transform that power into something that can be usefully used for other purposes, usually just to gain more spiritual power.
The way I sort of originally visualized it was a magical sword that can be used to absorb and sort of magic and recover the power of it.
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As powerful as it is, a problem that can arise is simply that there's not always enough "Athanor" to fuel it, so I'm thinking I should be working with another archetype that is capable of producing or creating some raw power to work with. What do you think?
I first noted that the card was personally significant to me http://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthrea...=tempering
Quote:Unbound: The Lesser Work of the Alchemist, in the Black Phase, whereby the athanor (body) temperament or temperature must be kept even over an extended period of time by the maintenance of the flame and constant attention to its heat to allow for the raw matter to process and blend alchemically, translates psychologically as the development of patience, mindfulness and awareness within the alchemist.
Me:
Eternal, your Alchemical analogy is nearly identical to the way I have both understood and experienced it.
First, "Temperance" in the tarot card is an well-known double-entendre for the tempering of steel. The crystallization of this archetype for me coincided with discovering this old Chinese quote on the day of the Venus transit:
"Only with tempering is steel produced"
Translates to me as maintenance of the flame of experience with care and patience until the given the crystallization point is reached and steel is produced.
The basic idea is transformation. You take experience the bad, the mundane, experience of life and transform it into the spiritual.
I do this with experiences that happen to me. I try and do with with old pain that's still stored within me. I try and do this for other people, and the world. I've used it so much it's effectively become second nature, and by far my dominant "meditative" technique, that no longer really requires traditional meditation for me, just sort of thought.
It basically allows me to "recover" the, shall we say, emotional charge behind the things that happen, and then transform that power into something that can be usefully used for other purposes, usually just to gain more spiritual power.
The way I sort of originally visualized it was a magical sword that can be used to absorb and sort of magic and recover the power of it.
---------------------
As powerful as it is, a problem that can arise is simply that there's not always enough "Athanor" to fuel it, so I'm thinking I should be working with another archetype that is capable of producing or creating some raw power to work with. What do you think?
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