Hierophant / Significator

[Nau7ik]

I don’t really know where to put this thread. I’m comparing a meditation from the Qabalah to the understanding of the Significator of Mind (the Hierophant) from the Ra Material. I had just thought that it sounded very much like the Significant Self. Does anyone notice the similarities? I mean there should be common threads with the various traditions of Tarot since the Tarot are 22 archetypal images; archetypes which are in the deep mind of all planet earth.

The meditation is excellent. I feel a great feeling of gratitude after reading these; that I am blessed to be reading these words. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. This meditation is from Paul Foster Case’s the Book of Tokens. Every time I read a meditation from that book I am able to understand it a little more than the last time. Highly worthy meditations for contemplation!

Vav is the Hebrew letter attributed to Arcanum 5, the Hierophant. Vav signifies “a nail.” It’s number is 6, and it’s correspondence is to Taurus.

THE MEDITATION ON VAV

AS that which uniteth all things
In the world of the manifest,
I am rightly made known by VAV, the Nail.
Because I am all, and in all,
Therefore am I the link or bond
Which joineth together
The parts of the fabric of existence.

In all the universe there is no break.
By bonds indissoluble
Each point is fastened to every other.

Behind the separate existences
Is the unity of my being,
Which is as a net,
Gathering together all these many forms.
Nothing existeth alone;
All things are in combination.

Manifestation requireth
The appearance of separate parts. When I show forth my power,
What I bring into existence
Must seem other than myself;
And because I am wholly free,
I present myself to myself
In an endless variety of forms.
Yet is the seeming isolation of class and kind,
The separateness of creatures,
Naught but illusion which deludeth me not,
Nor are they by it deceived
In whom my Wisdom has ripened.

Unfathomed and unfathomable
Is the Great Deep
Of mine interior nature.
In the unplumbed abyss of the No-Thing
Mine Eternal Will ariseth,
And by the rising of that Will
The No-Thing cometh forth
Into the appearance of Something.

That Will is the Small Point of all beginning,
And its coming forth is a search for itself.
For that Will is a hunger, And a desire,
And a longing.

My nature being changeless,
This eager longing altereth not.
It is a thing concluded before all manifestation,
A purpose unalterably decided upon,
A determination which I confirm by mine experience.
Out of that longing
Cometh the fixing of the boundaries
Of the universe.
By it I draw the circle of the Something
Which emergeth from the illimitable Deep of the No-Thing.
Therefore is this longing the root of GEBURAH, Severity,
For it restricteth the liberty of the No-Thing,
And produceth an appearance of limitation and
separateness therein.

5 The Nail is a perfect symbol of this Severity.
It hath a property of sharpness and stringency,
Like the point of a nail;
And again, as a nail fasteneth together
The parts of a house,
So doth the desire of coming forth
Join together the parts of the universe,
My dwelling-place.

6 These are mysteries, O Israel,
Difficult to understand.
With much searching shalt thou still fail
To grasp them,
Unless thy search be rightly prosecuted.
Yet the Way to Understanding is ever open
To him who will follow it steadfastly.
It is the Way of the Heart,
And thou shalt be guided therein
By thine own inner Hearing.

Even this aspect of my nature
Which presenteth itself under the signature of the letter VAV
Is a promise and a fulfillment of the Way of Life.
Manifesting myself as the link
Which uniteth all the separate parts of my creation,
I make myself known as the bond of union
Between creature and creature,
And between the creatures and their Creator.

The Creator is myself,
And I am the Nail which joineth thee to me.
In thee am I ever present,
And thou hast only to turn within to find me.

Shut thine ears
To the confusion of the world which surroundeth thee.
Open thine inner hearing.
Aspire earnestly to me.
Verily thine aspiration is from me,
And what sendeth thee in search of me
Is that same eager longing which hath brought thee forth;
And it hath brought forth, too,
The four worlds and all that they contain.

Thy search for me
Is mine own search for myself,
Nor shall that quest of mine,
Which seemeth now to thee to be
Thine own pursuit of wisdom and of understanding,
Be doomed to failure.
Whosoever thou art that readest or hearest these words,
Know that thou shalt come to me.

9 I am the revealer of all mysteries.
None other is the Teacher of any man.
These words that thou readest,
Or that, perchance, are read to thee —— Whose words are they but mine?
I have brought thee before me for instruction,
And whether thou receivest it willingly or unwillingly,
Know that because thou hast this day heard or read these words,
Thou art henceforth consciously united to me.

Today thou mayest reject me.
Today thou mayest receive these words with scorn.
Yet it shall be that my Voice
Shall go with thee henceforth forever.
When thou sleepest it shall instruct thee,
And even when thou art busiest with the affairs of daily life, It shall ring suddenly in thine inner ear.

10 Forever art thou bound to me,
And in a day,
Or a month,
Or a year,
Or a lifetime,
Or a hundred lifetimes,
Thou shalt know this, even as I know it;

And when thou hast reached this goal,
What shall be a day,
Or a month,
Or a year,
Or a lifetime,
Or a hundred lifetimes?
Time ceaseth for those who come to me.
The quest will be forgotten
When thou hast reached the Goal.