The Spirit Breatheth Where It Will ...

Letter I : The Magician

St. John Ch. iii V8 The Spirit breatheth where it will and thou knowest his voice; but thou knowest not whence he cometh and whither he goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.

[Ponderings]

The voice of the Spirit that proclaims the Will of God is the Son who is the image of the Father. “… but I do the will of my Father who is in heaven.” says the God-man, Jesus Christ. And that will is to beget the Son, that is why He is the Father. To beget the Son is to speak one word, once and for all eternity. Within this Word is contained all words.

Word, Image, Symbol.

Symbol is the language of the Spirit. Symbol is visible to all but thou knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth.

Unless one is born of the Spirit one cannot understand the origins and ends of symbol, which are verily one and the same because it is the Eternal One who speaks.

It is not enough that one simply hear the voice of the Spirit on the wind. That you recognize with a passing fancy, or even great erudition, the meaning of symbol in a cerebral manner is but straw. One has to be born of the Spirit, born into living symbol; one must needs be initiated.

Concerning the Tarot then, as our dear Unknown Friend suggests, it is not enough that an intellectual (in the modern sense of a dry intellectualism) study is partaken thereof, but that the symbols themselves are partaken thereof.

[From our dear Unknown Friend]
“The Major Arcana of the Tarot are authentic symbols. They conceal and reveal their sense at one and the same time according to the depth of meditation. That which they reveal are not secrets, i.e. things hidden by human will, but are arcana, which is something quite different. An Arcanum is that which is necessary to “know” in order to be fruitful in a given domain of spiritual life. … An arcanum is a “ferment” or “enzyme” whose presence stimulates the spiritual and the psychic life of man. And it is symbol which are the bearers of these “ferments” or “enzymes” and which communicate them – if the mentality and morality of the recipient is ready, i.e. if he is “poor in spirit” and does not suffer from the most serious spiritual malady ; self-complacency.”

You must do more than simply hear their voice on the wind but you must seek out from whence they come and whither they go.

A voice at all times is meant to awaken, to call attention to, to summons, to bring another into a certain state of awareness.

But the voice is a trail of breadcrumbs in the woods. The sweet serenade of the beloved.

Christ calls His own into the Kingdom. He calls and His sheep hear His voice and follow Him to where He goes to prepare a place for them.

[From our dear Unknown Friend]
“Just as the arcanum is superior to the secret, so is the mystery superior to the arcanum. The mystery is more than a stimulating “ferment”. It is a spiritual event comparable to physical birth or death. It is a change of the entire spiritual and psychic motivation, or a complete change of the plane of consciousness. The seven sacraments of the Church are the prismatic colours of the white light of one sole Mystery or Sacrament, known as that of the Second Birth, which the Master pointed out to Nicodemus in the nocturnal initiation conversation which He had with him. It is this which Christian Hermeticism understands by the Great Initiation.”

The Mysterium, the heavenly reality, the Kingdom of God is where one ceases to hear the voice of the Spirit as an external call; as other. Instead the voice permeates every part of one’s being (to use crude and unworthy words). The Word of God gives form to oneself. Man as symbol; man as image and likeness of God.

[From our dear Unknown Friend]
It goes without saying that nobody initiates anyone else, if we understand by “initiation” the Mystery of the Second Birth or the Great Sacrament. The Initiation is operative from above and has the value and duration of eternity.”

“… But thou knowest not whence he cometh and whither he goeth.”