"I.I.H." Theory: About the Elements

First, allow me to briefly address the response to the previous post "The Magician". Someone has suggested that as well as enlarge an image of Bardons' "Magician" for the sake of study and reflection, I might also consider printing a standard card sized copy and carry it with me so I can reflect on it often throughout the day. In this way, he suggests I may become more "in tune" with the essence of the card. Great idea! Let me say right here that suggestions like this are EXACTLY why I decided to post this journal instead of keeping it secretly tucked away in my bedroom.

I ran the last part of this suggestion by my mother and, being the old witch that she is, she recommended I not only print and keep the card with me but sleep with it under my pillow. Funny, that's precisely how she started me off reading tarot in the first place. So thank you so much for taking the time to consider my plight and offer a length of rope. And thanks even more for proving to me that my hunch to publish my efforts was well founded.

Pt 1- Theory: The Magician

Bardon opens up the section on theory with an explanation of the first card in the Tarot deck, The Magician. I had never seen the exact card described and was only able to find an image of it with the help of a fellow Occult enthusiast. Thanks so much to him for his willingness to share. What can I say, this image is well worth gazing on in contemplation of its meaning. It's a chapter in a book that can only be read by deep consideration of its symbolism.

Bardon explains it in plain enough English and I get the spirit of its story. An individual engaged in actively balancing the nature of the Self and the elemental world around us. The card expresses all the energies at play in Nature and Self. But "The Magician" warrants my time and attention before I can fully appreciate his meaning.

I will go to a local print and blow up a copy of this card and put it on the wall in my little home library so I can gaze on him frequently. I don't expect to get a full understanding of his mysteries right away, but if I include a regular meditation on the image during the pursuit of working through "I.I.H", I may in time unlock his secrets.

I.I.H. Intro:

Its true that when I was very young, though I was intrigued by Magic, I was mainly interested only in personal gain, power and prestige. Though I always read that you should seek only the more divine rewards of the occult sciences, I felt a little guilty because I knew I only wanted the "lower" benefits of magic. I was not yet spiritually mature enough to appreciate God union, but deep in my soul I yearned for it. I soon learned that nothing in the world of Magic was quickly gained and though I excelled at martial disciplines, I was terribly reluctant to embrace any real occult training. I needed to "understand" first. I didn't realize you must experience before you can cultivate the seeds that grow into Knowledge and Wisdom.

What kept me away from actually doing anything more than reading and researching ancient rites and theories was a deep seated fear instilled in me by our Western Christian culture, carried over and reinforced by my Father who didn't believe and my Mother who saw such possibilities with her own eye's but was horrified by what she didn't quite understand. Who can blame her, knowing that she grew up suffering the constrictions of Catholic school. We all were influenced by a gross misunderstanding of things of a mystical nature(the Work of Satan).

It was only as I grew and matured through an exploration of the world around me that I began to appreciate the occult sciences as a tool to bring us into harmony with Nature and into Union with the Divine. Then I began to regret that I hadn't practiced what I found here and there from the onset of opportunity, but I accept that perhaps then was not the time. Perhaps I wasn't ready and would not have recognized the many pitfalls and distractions so abundant in the old books and manuscripts, but the only way to know is to engage in a sincere and dedicated practice now and see where it leads.

So it's with deep gratitude that I set out to endure through this system laid out by Bardon, starting at the most appropriate place, the beginning, The Magician.