The Tarot of Eli. LLC

Is Freedom an Illusion?

Why Liberty and Freedom Are Not the Same Thing

Are we ever truly free?

At first glance, it feels like an obvious yes. We live in free countries. We make choices. We move, speak, work, and vote.

But look closer, and the idea of freedom becomes far more complicated.

From the moment we are born, our lives are shaped by ownership, obligation, and control. Parents raise us. Schools condition us. Laws govern us. Economies require us. Even our time is scheduled, taxed, and monitored.

So here is the real question:

If freedom means total independence, does it actually exist at all?

The uncomfortable truth about “freedom”

Consider the human life cycle:

• As children, we are legally the responsibility—and effectively the property—of our parents.

• In school, we are trained to follow rules, schedules, and social norms.

• As adults, we become subject to laws, taxes, regulations, and enforcement by the state.

At no point are we truly unowned.

Even rebellion is often allowed only within approved limits.

This doesn’t mean society is evil. It means society is a system—and systems require structure, boundaries, and control to function.

So when people talk about being “free,” what do they usually mean?

They rarely mean absolute freedom.

They mean something else.

Freedom vs. liberty: a crucial distinction

We often use the words freedom and liberty as if they were interchangeable. Historically and philosophically, they are not.

Freedom is existential

The word freedom comes from the Anglo-Saxon freodōm, which did not mean comfort or unlimited choice. At its deepest level, it implied belonging to oneself rather than another—even to the point of choosing death over submission.

This kind of freedom is not social or political.
It is existential.

It refers to the ultimate truth that:

• no one can live your life for you,

• no one can die your death for you,

• and no authority can fully escape that reality.

That kind of freedom is unsettling. It carries responsibility, uncertainty, and risk. Which is why most societies don’t encourage people to dwell on it.

Liberty is legal and negotiated

Liberty, on the other hand, is practical.

Liberty refers to:

• rights granted by law,

• permissions within a system,

• protections tied to citizenship, contracts, and property.

Liberty is not freedom from the system.
It is freedom within the system.

You may own property.
You may speak within legal limits.
You may move, work, and live according to agreed rules.

Liberty exists because laws exist—and can be expanded, restricted, or revoked by those same laws.

Why freedom often feels like an illusion

The illusion begins when liberty is marketed as freedom.

We are told:

• voting equals freedom,

• consumer choice equals freedom,

• expression equals freedom.

But these are conditional privileges, not absolute independence.

They are real and valuable—but they are not the same thing as freedom in its deepest sense.

True freedom would include the right to fully opt out, to refuse ownership, to reject the entire structure without consequence.

No modern society offers that.

And perhaps no society ever truly could.

So are we doomed to be unfree?

Not necessarily.

If freedom is defined purely as political independence, then yes—it is largely an illusion.

But if freedom is understood as inner sovereignty—the ability to know oneself, choose consciously, and take responsibility for one’s life—then freedom exists, even inside systems.

Liberty governs the body.
Freedom belongs to the will.

You can lose liberty and still remain inwardly free.
You can have liberty and still live in psychological bondage.

A final thought

Civilization can grant liberty.
Only consciousness can approach freedom.

Perhaps freedom was never meant to be something governments give or take away.
Perhaps it was always something quieter, more dangerous, and more personal.

Not a comfort—but a responsibility.

And not an illusion—
just misunderstood.

Freedom Is Not Given

A Hermetic Reframing of Freedom, Liberty, and the Illusion of Autonomy

No human being is born free.

From a Hermetic perspective, this is not a political complaint but a metaphysical fact.

The incarnate soul enters the world already bound: to bloodline, to body, to language, to gravity, to time. To be born is to accept limitation. The body itself is a contract, a vessel governed by laws that precede personal will.

If freedom meant the absence of constraint, then incarnation would be its negation.

And yet—Hermeticism does not teach despair. It teaches initiation.

The body is not free, but the Will may be

In Hermetic doctrine, the human being is triune: Spirit, Mind, and Body. Confusion arises when freedom is sought in the wrong layer.

The body is governed by necessity.
The mind is shaped by symbols and conditioning.
The Spirit alone participates in freedom.

This is why the uninitiated seek freedom through politics, rebellion, or social change—while the initiate seeks sovereignty of Will.

The world was never meant to be free.
It was meant to be intelligible.

Liberty belongs to the realm of Form

Liberty is a function of Form, not Essence.

In Qabalistic terms, liberty operates in the lower worlds—where law, structure, and limitation allow life to exist at all. Law is not the enemy of Spirit; it is the scaffolding through which Spirit expresses itself.

Liberty is the permission to move within Form:

• to own,

• to contract,

• to participate.

It is real, valuable, and necessary—but it is not liberation.

Liberty is the rule-set of the game.
Freedom is awakening to the fact that you are playing one.

Freedom begins where identity loosens

Hermetic texts do not promise freedom of circumstance. They promise freedom of identification.

When the initiate realizes:

• I am not my role,

• I am not my conditioning,

• I am not my fear of loss,

then something subtle shifts.

The chains remain—but they no longer define the self.

This is why Hermetic freedom is often symbolized not as escape, but as standing upright within necessity.

“I choose my own death” as an initiatory truth

The old meaning of freodōm—“I choose my own death”—is not a call to self-destruction. It is a declaration of inner authorship.

In Hermetic terms, death is not merely biological. It is symbolic:

• the death of false identity,

• the death of unconscious obedience,

• the death of living as property of fear.

The initiate dies before dying.

That is freedom.

Why the masses are never taught this

A society can tolerate liberty.
It cannot tolerate widespread inner sovereignty.

Because a person who has discovered inner freedom:

• cannot be fully coerced,

• cannot be fully owned,

• cannot be ruled through illusion alone.

This is why the Mysteries were always reserved, veiled, and initiatory.

Not because they were elitist—
but because freedom without preparation destroys more than it liberates.

Hermetic conclusion

Freedom is not something granted by states, laws, or revolutions.

It is the capacity to remain sovereign within limitation.

Liberty is external and conditional.
Freedom is internal and irreversible.

The world binds the body.
The law orders the mind.
But the awakened Will belongs to neither.

And once known, it cannot be taken away.

Freedom, Liberty, and the Thoth Tarot

The Magus, Adjustment, and the Aeon as a Hermetic Key

In the Thoth Tarot, freedom is never portrayed as social independence or political escape. It is portrayed as initiation through consciousness. Three Major Arcana—The Magus, Adjustment, and The Aeon—form a precise Hermetic sequence that clarifies the difference between liberty and true freedom.

This triad reveals why freedom cannot be given, only realized.

The Magus: Freedom begins with Will, not circumstance

The Magus does not stand outside the system. He stands within it—fully aware of its mechanics.

This card represents conscious Will, the awakening of the Logos within the individual. The Magus does not deny limitation; he uses it. Language, symbols, laws, and tools are not chains to him—they are instruments.

Hermetically, this is the first correction to the popular idea of freedom.

Freedom does not mean “no structure.”
Freedom means knowing how structure works.

Before this awakening, a person believes they are trapped by parents, society, economy, or fate. After it, they realize they have been unconsciously participating in these forces all along.

The Magus teaches that freedom begins the moment one stops confusing unconscious obedience with destiny.

Adjustment: Liberty belongs to Law, not to freedom

Adjustment (Justice in older decks) is the most misunderstood card in the Thoth Tarot. It does not symbolize morality—it symbolizes cosmic equilibrium.

Here we encounter liberty.

Liberty exists only where Law exists.
It is balance, not escape.

Adjustment reveals that:

• every action has consequence,

• every privilege is conditional,

• every right exists within a system of counterweights.

This card destroys the fantasy of absolute freedom in the material world. There is no motion without friction. There is no embodiment without constraint.

From a Hermetic standpoint, law is not oppression. Law is what allows manifestation to occur at all.

Adjustment teaches that liberty is the correct alignment with necessity—not rebellion against it.

The Aeon: Freedom is rebirth beyond identification

If the Magus awakens Will, and Adjustment aligns that Will with Law, The Aeon does something far more radical.

It ends the illusion of the old self entirely.

The Aeon is not about social change—it is about ontological transformation. The individual ceases to define themselves by inherited identity: family, culture, fear, guilt, or historical momentum.

This is where the old meaning of freodōm—“I choose my own death”—becomes fully Hermetic.

The Aeon is the death of:

• unconscious inheritance,

• obedience without understanding,

• identity as property.

What is reborn is not freedom from the world, but freedom from false identification within it.

This is why the Aeon cannot be legislated, granted, or revoked.

It happens inwardly—or not at all.

The Hermetic synthesis: what the Thoth Tarot actually teaches

Taken together, these three cards deliver a precise Hermetic doctrine:

• The Magus: Freedom begins as awakened Will.

• Adjustment: Liberty is lawful movement within form.

• The Aeon: Freedom is rebirth beyond conditioned identity.

Civilization can offer liberty.
It can never offer freedom.

Freedom arises when the individual:

• understands the system (Magus),

• aligns with necessity without illusion (Adjustment),

• and dies to unconscious identity (Aeon).

This is why Hermetic freedom is never promised to the masses. It requires responsibility, discernment, and the courage to stand without borrowed meaning.

Final Hermetic conclusion

Freedom is not political.
It is initiatory.

Liberty governs the body and its permissions.
Law governs the mind and its balance.
But the awakened Will—once reborn—belongs to neither.

The world may claim your labor.
The state may claim your obedience.
Time may claim your body.

But no authority can own a consciousness that has crossed the Aeonic threshold.

That is the freedom the Mysteries point toward.

And once known, it cannot be undone.

Thank you for your interest and support.
Your donations directly sustain this work and allow these teachings to remain available to all.
May your path be prosperous, and may you live long and prosper.

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