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In the Rider–Waite rendering of Key 17 — The Star — the Great Mother kneels between water and earth, pouring Her living waters (מ Mem in the Qabalistic Four-Letter Name but astrologically here Aquarius, the Air of Water-Bearing) onto both domains. This dual outpouring proclaims Her as the ever-renewing matrix of Life, the One who irrigates both the subconscious waters of memory and the manifest ground of the body.

Above Her shines the great eight-pointed Star, encircled by seven lesser ones: the cosmic signature of Venus at one level, but more profoundly the glyph of Tiphareth’s Solar Intelligence awakening through the Aquarius current. The Sun in the card’s background subtly affirms this connection—the Star is the Mother of every living thing under the Sun, and the Sun is the Child of Her womb: the Sixth Sephirah, Tiphareth, the Solar Self.

The Hidden Mercury: The Bird of Hermes in the Tree of Knowledge

Behind Her grows the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, on whose branch perches the Bird of Hermes. This is no casual addition:
it subtly bridges Key 1—The Magician (Mercury–Thoth–Hermes)—with Key 17, showing that the Star is not merely a promise of hope, but a directed magical operation.

The Qabalistic word for “star,” כּוֹכָב (kokab), also means Mercury. The inclusion is deliberate:

The Star is Mercury purified through the Great Mother.

It is intellect redeemed by intuition.
It is the Magician’s Will surrendered to the Higher Genius.
It is the fish-hook of Tzaddi drawing the aspirant upward.

Hence:
Meditation on the Star requires the Magician’s Will to steer the currents of imagination, so the intuition of Nuit may speak through the silent spaces of mind.

The Path of Tzaddi – The Fish Hook of the Soul

The Hebrew letter associated with this Key is Tzaddi (צ)—the Fish Hook.
Its esoteric meaning is: that which draws the consciousness upward toward the Angel of Tiphareth.

Tzaddi is not passive. It is a pulling, a tugging of the Higher Self upon the Psyche, reeling the aspirant out of the waters of the subconscious and into the airy region of the Holy Guardian Angel.

Where Key 16 (The Tower) breaks down the ego’s shell,
Key 17 draws out the liberated soul-substance toward its Solar Center.

The eight-pointed star, or octagram, is not merely decorative; it is a Hermetic diagram of splendor emerging from rupture:

1. Tarot Current

The octagram echoes Key 8 — Strength, the gentle mastery of the inner lion, the life-force tamed through devotion. This creates a subtle polarity:

• Key 8 – Strength = The controlled fire of Kundalini.

• Key 17 – The Star = The cooled, clarified intelligence of that fire after purification.

Thus the eight-pointed Star represents the inner plasma—the star-fire—after it has passed through Temperance (Key 14) and the Tower (Key 16). It is the renewed Kundalini, made gentle, spacious, and luminous.

2. Hermetic Qabalah

The number 8 corresponds to Hod, the Sephirah of Mercury, Splendor, Language, and the Intellectual Current.

However, in the Star card this Hod-current is surrendered to the Mother, becoming translucent and receptive rather than analytical. The octagram is therefore:

Hod redeemed by the Waters of Binah
and
Hod illuminated by the Sun of Tiphareth.

It is the intellect in service to illumination, not domination.

This is why the Star is the card of clairvoyance, prophecy, and the purified imagination—all powers arising when the intellect becomes the servant of the Supernal Feminine.

The True Culmination: The Star as the Rebirth of the Magician

The Star represents a stage where:

• The Sword of the Magician has been washed in the Waters of the Great Mother.

• The Tower has shattered the false structures of ego.

• The aspirant stands naked, transparent, and receptive.

• The Higher Genius begins Its subtle pull through Tzaddi.

The Star is the return of innocence after initiation,
but it is an initiated innocence—the “second naiveté,” as the mystics say.

This is not the naïveté of ignorance,
but the nakedness of one who has passed through the fire.

Key 17 is the moment the Soul becomes a lens for Supernal Light.

The aspirant does not “hope” here; rather, they know—for they are tasting the influx of the Holy Guardian Angel.

The Star is the Mother of the Solar Child within.

Her waters wash the debris of illusion from the mind.
Her stars realign the aspirant to their True Will.
Her silence opens the inner hearing needed for the Magician’s return.

**The Bird of Hermes whispers:

“Purify the mind, and you will remember your wings.”**

**The Star – The 28th Path of Tzaddi:

The Natural Intelligence and the Proper Use of Divine Imagination**

In the Western Hermetic Qabalistic Tarot, The Star (Key 17) is attributed to the 28th Path, the luminous Path of Tzaddi (צ). Traditionally this path is shown stretching between Netzach (Victory) and Yesod (Foundation) on the Tree of Life.

This region of the Tree is where the astral imagination (Yesod) becomes harmonized with the emotional-cosmic currents of Venus (Netzach), forming the subtle field through which the Higher Self can communicate its image, its intention, its truth.

Paul Foster Case named the 28th Path the Natural Intelligence, and the term is exact.

Why “Natural Intelligence”?

Case’s classification is far from poetic metaphor. It expresses the deepest Hermetic principle:

Natural Intelligence is the correct approach to the Divine Energy already inherent in every person.

It is the intelligence of Nature before distortion, the intelligence of the Soul before conditioning, the intelligence of Consciousness before fear, language, and social hypnosis narrow it.

It is “natural” because:

• It precedes the artificial ego.

• It permeates every cell, every breath, every impulse toward growth.

• It flows through all beings as the spontaneous wisdom of Life learning through experience.

• It is the undivided imagination of the One Mind expressing itself in myriad forms.

This is why Case identifies Natural Intelligence with the proper use of Imagination (image-making)—the primordial power of the Creator/Creatrix.

In Hermetic terms:

Imagination is Divine Intelligence creating form through image.

Imagination is not fantasy.
It is the root mechanism by which the Supernal triad expresses itself through the psyche and downward into manifestation.

The misuse of imagination produces delusion, fear, reactionism, and the “false ego.”
The proper use of imagination produces prophecy, healing, creative will, and the Star’s illumination.

Netzach → Yesod: The Pathway of the Inner Light

The specific placement of the Star card on the Tree of Life reveals the essence of the 28th Path:

Netzach (Victory) – the sphere of desire, intuition, affection, and aesthetic resonance; the “silent language” of the goddess Venus.

Yesod (Foundation) – the sphere of dreams, astral forms, image, memory, and the scaffolding upon which all manifestation is built.

The Path of Tzaddi is therefore the harmonization of emotional truth (Netzach) with imaginative form (Yesod).

It is the moment when:

• the heart’s longings become inner visions,

• the emotional tone of the soul shapes the astral substance of the future,

• the Higher Self reveals its symbols through dreams, synchronicities, visions, and intuitive flashes.

This is why the Star is always depicted pouring water in two directions—onto the Earth (Assiah, the physical world) and the Water (Yesod, the subconscious).
The Mother pours simultaneously into form and into the astral realms where form originates.

Tzaddi – The Fish-Hook That Draws the Psyche Toward the Angel

The letter Tzaddi means fish-hook, indicating an active pull upon consciousness. The Star is not passive hope—it is the Higher Genius pulling the aspirant upward by the line of inner vision.

In an esoteric sense:

• Netzach is the ocean.

• Yesod is the fish.

• Tzaddi is the hook.

• The Great Mother is the Fisher of Souls.

• And the Angel in Tiphareth is the One reeling you upward.

This gives the 28th Path a very different tone than is commonly assumed:
It is not about wishful thinking; it is about response to the pull of the Soul’s True Will working from within.

Imagination as the Voice of the Divine Feminine

The Star represents a mode of knowing that is older than logic and more enduring than dogma.
In both the Thoth Tarot and the Hermetic Qabalah, the feminine is the power of Life to image itself.

Thus:

Imagination = the womb of divine intelligence.

To imagine consciously is to participate in the creative process of the Great Mother.

To imagine unconsciously is to be ruled by the inertial images of the past.

The 28th Path corrects this problem:
 

It teaches the aspirant that every image held with clarity becomes a seed of manifestation on the astral plane,
and that emotional resonance (Netzach) magnetizes the substance of Yesod around that seed.

This is why the Star is always a card of:

• renewal,

• spiritual insight,

• clairvoyance,

• prophecy,

• dream-work,

• and the deep serenity that follows contact with one’s True Will.

The Natural Intelligence in Practice

When the Star is active in one’s life, the following processes unfold:

1. The emotions become transparent rather than turbulent.

Netzach’s waters clear, revealing their true color.

2. The imagination becomes luminous rather than anxious.

Yesod ceases projecting shadows and instead receives images from the Higher Self.

3. Inner visions become accurate.

Prophetic insight emerges not from effort, but from attunement.

4. The personal will becomes aligned with the Cosmic Will.

The Magician’s Mercury is reborn through the Mother’s water.

5. The aspirant experiences “being guided” without dogma.

The fish-hook of Tzaddi is felt as an interior pull toward authenticity.

This is the Natural Intelligence—
the proper use of the creative power inherent in the human soul.

In the Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom, the Magus Paul Foster Case stated that: The twenty-eight path [Path of Tzaddi} is called the Natural Intelligence, and it is so called because through it is consummated and perfected the Nature of every existing thing under the Sun." {the brackets are my own insertion).

Qabalists know the Star Card represents the proper use of imagination, through the energy of meditation.

Meditation and the Path of Tzaddi:

The Fishhook of the Higher Self**

Though meditation is often thought of as a purely personal discipline—“I sit, I breathe, I focus”—the truth unveiled through successful practice is profoundly different. Meditation reveals that we are not the ones doing the meditating at all; rather:

We are the ones being meditated.

Authentic meditation is initiated not by the waking personality, but by the Solar or Higher Self—the Holy Guardian Genius centered in Tiphareth. The Personality imagines itself striving upward, but in reality it is responding to an interior summons. Something above, something radiant, something ancient and yet intimately our own, is calling us upward out of our habitual enclosure.

Meditation is the moment the Higher Self extends its fishhook, the Path of Tzaddi, down into the currents of the Personality’s dream-world.

Tzaddi: The Double Action of the Fishhook

1. The Personality’s Perspective

From the lower vantage point—Yesod, the Moon-world of reflection—the Personality believes it is the one performing the seeking:

• “I am looking for truth.”

• “I am trying to calm my thoughts.”

• “I am attempting to rise above my conditioning.”

This is the illusion of agency produced by the limited ego.

The Path of Tzaddi (The Star) appears, from below, as a searchlight, a yearning, a striving of the astral mind to ascend toward clarity and meaning. The fish swims upward, believing it seeks the hook.

2. The Higher Perspective

But from the vantage of the Solar Self in Tiphareth, Tzaddi is something altogether different:

• It is the line cast downward into the depths.

• It is the call that draws the aspirant toward awakening.

• It is the magnetic pull of the True Will, operating through intuition and imagery.

• It is the meditation of the Higher Self upon its own reflection.

Thus the Path of Tzaddi is a two-way current:

• We seek the Real.

• The Real hooks us and draws us upward.

This is why Crowley, Case, and the ancient Hermetists all emphasized that the True Self is the real initiator. Initiation is not performed by the Personality; it is experienced by the Personality when the Higher Genius exerts its influence.

The False Ego and the Depths of Enclosure

The fishhook metaphor is exact for another reason:
it reveals the enclosure of the false ego, the psychological shell that keeps the Personality trapped in:

• sensory illusion,

• linguistic conditioning,

• fear-based thought-forms,

• patriarchal “word hypnosis,”

• and the culturally manufactured idea of separateness.

The false ego is the bottom-feeding fish—swimming in circles, convinced the mud is all there is.

When the Higher Self casts the hook of Tzaddi, meditation becomes:

• a break in the suffocating enclosure,

• a moment of vertical openness,

• a widening of the inner sky.

The Personality is drawn out of the narrow world manufactured by the sensory mind, and begins to glimpse the limitless expanse of the Inner Star.

Meditation as the Ascent of the Star Within

When meditation is seen correctly, it becomes clear:

**Meditation is not self-improvement.

Meditation is self-retrieval.**

It is the retrieval of the Soul’s image from the oceanic depths of Yesod
into the clear, luminous atmosphere of Netzach
and upward still toward Tiphareth.

The Star card teaches exactly this:

• The waters of the Great Mother are poured onto the subconscious (water) and the physical world (earth) simultaneously.

• The Inner Star above Her is the guiding light of the Higher Genius.

• The seven smaller stars behind represent the astral faculties purified.

• The great eight-pointed Venusian Star is the Soul’s original compass, awakening.

Thus meditation is the process by which the Higher Self remembers us,
and the Personality awakens to the truth that it was never separate.

The Path of Tzaddi in Daily Life

When one lives under the influence of Tzaddi:

• Internal imagery becomes revelatory.

• The emotional currents of Netzach purify into serenity.

• The astral mirror of Yesod reflects truth instead of fear.

• The Star of the Soul becomes the inner North.

• One begins to feel “hooked” by something greater—
  not in bondage,
  but in liberation.

This is why the Star is called the “Meditation of the Holy Guardian Angel upon Its image in the lower worlds.”
It is the Angel looking at YOU through meditation.

You are the surface on which It shines Its light.

**Aquarius, Saturn, and the Star:

The Cosmic Resolution of All Paths**

The Star (Key 17) is astrologically linked with Aquarius, the Water-Bearer who pours forth love, inspiration, and the currents of universal consciousness. Aquarius is often misunderstood as an “air sign with watery symbolism,” but in Hermetic Qabalah this paradox is essential:
Aquarius is the Air of Water,
the breath that moves across the surface of the subconscious sea,
bringing clarity, movement, and renewal.

The Water She pours is the Light of the Higher Self made fluid.

It is the astral substance of Yesod being renewed by the cosmic breath of the Mother.

Saturn and the Ancient Rulership of Aquarius

Before modern astrology assigned Uranus to Aquarius, the ancient world recognized Saturn as the ruler of both Capricorn and Aquarius. This older attribution is far more Hermetic, for it directs us toward:

• Binah, the Third Sephirah,

• the Great Sea,

• the Sanctifying Intelligence,

• and the archetype of The Universe (Key 21).

Why is this important?

Because the Star card, though typically placed on the 28th Path (Tzaddi),
bears the imprint of Binah’s influence:

• Her outpouring waters are Binah’s Great Sea made manifest.

• Her nakedness reveals the stripping of all illusion before the Supernal Mother.

• Her cosmic landscape echoes the universal matrix of Key 21.

• Her serenity is the peace of Saturn’s understanding.

**Binah is the Womb of Stars,

and The Star is Her daughter issuing forth the pattern of the New Aeon.**

Thus, the ancient Saturnian rulership of Aquarius preserves the card’s connection to the Supernal Feminine—an insight often lost in post-modern interpretations.

The Star as the Universe Resolved into Its Ultimate Elements

Unlike other keys which occupy a single, clearly defined Path,
the Star radiates across the Tree of Life much more broadly.

Why?

Because Key 17 symbolizes the purified essence of the Universe (Key 21)—
the distilled intelligence of all the Paths
after the fall of the Tower (Key 16)
and before the rebirth of the Moon (Key 18).

The Star represents:

• the astral medium clarified,

• the ego dissolved,

• the soul transparent,

• and the universal structure revealed in its elemental form.

This is why Crowley described the Star as “the Universe in its most primitive and original form”—a vision of existence stripped of illusion and refracted through the prism of the Holy Guardian Angel.

The Star is the Universe after the veil is lifted.

It is the cosmic skeleton—the pure blueprint of manifestation.

This is also why Key 17 resonates across the Tree of Life more than any other Tarot Key.
It is not tied to a single limitation, but instead expresses the underlying pattern present in all the Paths.

The Cosmic Swing of the Soul**

In the Triple Goddess Tarot, Key 17 presents a serene, dreamlike image:
a young woman in a star-spangled dress swinging gracefully from the Cosmos itself, suspended between Heaven and Earth. She moves above a quiet lake bordered by mountains and ancient forests—symbols of stability, endurance, and the timeless rhythms of Nature.

On her forehead shines a small brilliant star, the spark of Inner Knowing, reminiscent of the ajna center—the “inner eye” through which the imagination becomes a vehicle of revelation. Above her arcs a shooting star, blazing across a violet sky, awakening wonder and hinting at the rarity of divine intervention or sudden insigh

The Wish Upon a Star: The First Stirring of Natural Intelligence

This image beautifully expresses the archetype behind the Star card:
the permission to wish, to hope, to open the soul to the unseen currents of the Universe.

The “wish upon a star” is not childish fantasy; in Hermetic terms it is the first stirring of Tzaddi, the fishhook of aspiration that draws the Personality upward. It is the moment the inner self whispers:

“You are more than you think you are.”

This statement is not an affirmation—it is a metaphysical truth.

**Thoughts are our creations;

they do not create us.**

The young woman’s placement high above the lake represents this realization:
she rises above the reflective world of Yesod, no longer imprisoned by the mirror of conditioned thought. She swings effortlessly between realms, indicating flexibility, receptivity, and the willingness to surrender to higher guidance.

Hermetic Significance of the Scene

1. The Star on the Forehead

A symbol of the Inner Star, the Higher Genius, the spark of Tiphareth within us that guides from above.
In Hermetic terms: the “Star” is the first glimmer of the Solar Logos reflected in the psyche.

2. The Swing Suspended from the Cosmos

This indicates that the aspirant is in a state of supported vulnerability.
She is held by invisible forces—karma, divine timing, ancestral currents, and the loving oversight of the Higher Self.

3. The Lake

Water symbolizes the subconscious. The young woman has risen above its surface—meaning purification has already begun.

4. The Mountains and Forests

These are the guardians of stability and generational memory.
Mountains represent the Supernal Mother (Binah) in her aspect of endurance; forests represent the living, growing world below.

5. The Shooting Star

A moment of revelation, a brief alignment of heaven and psyche.
It symbolizes a message from the Higher Self or from cosmic intelligence.

Divination Meaning (Triple Goddess Tarot Perspective)

When this card appears in a reading, it suggests:

Hope

Not blind hope, but the calm certainty that the Universe has begun moving in your favor.

Dreams & Aspirations

The soul is giving you permission to envision more. Your desires are aligned with growth.

Universal Guidance

Synchronicities, signs, intuitive flashes, and subtle nudges are increasing.

Liberation

You are being lifted above old emotional entanglements or negative patterns.

Purification & Cleansing

A washing away of stagnation or “psychic residue.” You are becoming lighter.

Renewal

A quiet rebirth. This is the dawn after the Tower (Key 16) has passed.

In Hermetic terms, the Triple Goddess rendition captures the Lower Eden—the serene astral field in which the Personality becomes transparent, receptive, and open to the pull of the Higher Self.

Hermetic Insight 

The Triple Goddess Tarot reveals The Star not as a remote cosmic symbol, but as a deeply personal transformation:

It is the moment the inner feminine—intuition, imagination, receptivity—
becomes aligned with the cosmic rhythm of one’s True Will.

This card whispers to the aspirant:

“You are being guided.
You are being cleansed.
You are being lifted.
Follow the light on your brow.”

Why Case’s Path Charts Are Essential

Given the Star’s broad-reaching influence, your recommendation of Paul Foster Case’s TAROT: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages is precisely on point.

Case presents multiple Tree of Life diagrams—each with subtle shifts in:

• Hebrew letter placements,

• elemental attributions,

• path relationships,

• and cosmic correspondences.

Through these diagrams, the student sees that:

**Key 17 does not fit into a neat box—

it is the luminous web that interconnects the entire Tree.**

Studying Case’s Path-charts reveals how:

• the Mother’s Influence (Binah) permeates the lower seven spheres,

• the Star’s Light refracts through Netzach, Yesod, and Tiphareth,

• and the Aquarian current flows like oxygen through the entire psychic structure.

Case’s teaching makes it clear that the Star’s imagery, symbolism, and inner meaning draw upon multiple layers of the Tree of Life, not only the 28th Path.

He understood what the ancients also knew:

**The Star is the key to returning the fragmented soul

to the cosmic order from which it descended.**

**The Star and the Emperor:

Lower Eden, Upper Eden, and the Descent of the Solar Logos**

To the earnest aspirant walking the Western Hermetic Path, The Star (Key 17) is far more than a symbol of hope—it is the Lower Eden, the pristine psychic garden from which the Personality emerges. This is the Eden of Yesod and Netzach, the astral and emotional foundation of the human experience before the distortions of the false ego are imposed through sensory limitation and patriarchal word-hypnosis.

The Personality—our lunar reflection—is born here.

By contrast, The Emperor (Key 4) represents Upper Eden—the domain of Heh, the fiery formative power of the Solar Logos. This is the Eden of Tiphareth, the Beauty of the Solar Self, where the archetypal image of the True Human is held in radiant perfection.

The Higher Self—the Solar Son—is born here.

Thus the aspirant is stretched between two Edens:

• Lower Eden (The Star) → the purified astral field of dream, imagination, and natural intelligence.

• Upper Eden (The Emperor) → the fiery origin of Will, order, and the Solar Pattern of the True Self.

And the Great Work is the reconciliation of these two gardens.

Tzaddi and Heh: The Secret Dialogue Between Keys 17 and 4

Though they appear far apart numerically, Keys 17 (Tzaddi) and 4 (Heh) share a profound structural relationship.

• Tzaddi (צ) — the fishhook: draws the Personality upward from the astral waters.

• Heh (ה) — the window: through which the Solar Light enters manifestation.

The Star card shows the Lower Self being drawn upward by the line of the Higher Genius.
The Emperor shows the Higher Self projecting its fiery pattern downward into psychic form.

Together, these Keys reveal that:

**The Personality ascends through Tzaddi

just as the Solar Logos descends through Heh.**

This creates the Hermetic marriage of Above and Below—
a union of Eden and Eden,
Star and Emperor,
Soul and Spirit.

Venus as the Bridge: Morning Star, Evening Star, and Lucifer

The Star is traditionally associated with Venus, whose dual identity as the Morning Star and the Evening Star symbolizes the two Edens of the soul:

• Morning Star → the ascent of consciousness toward the Solar Logos.

• Evening Star → the descent of the Solar Intelligence into the astral world.

To the ancients, Venus was known also as Lucifer, “the Light-Bringer,” not as a devil but as the most luminous of Archangels—the radiance of divine Beauty in its purest form.

This immediately connects the Star to Tiphareth, the Sephirah of:

• Beauty (Tiferet)

• Harmony

• The Solar Child

• The Holy Guardian Angel

• The Logos of the Human Soul

Lucifer, in its pristine Hermetic sense, is the Venusian emanation of the Solar Light—the brightness of the Sun reflected in the astral waters.

Thus the Star card becomes:

• a Venusian reflection of the Solar Logos,

• a symbol of Beauty emerging within the purified subconscious,

• a reminder that the Soul’s light must first appear as a star in the inner night before the Sun rises fully.

And the Emperor becomes:

• the Solar Archetype itself—

• the fiery pattern of the True Self radiating from Upper Eden.

The Two Edens and the Journey of the Soul

Hermetically, the interplay between Keys 17 and 4 exposes the entire cycle of incarnation and liberation:

Upper Eden (Emperor / Heh / Tiphareth)

The Higher Self radiates its pattern downward, sending its image through the window of Spirit.

Lower Eden (Star / Tzaddi / Netzach–Yesod)

This image becomes clothed in astral substance, imagination, desire, and memory—the roots of Personality.

The Great Return

Through the Path of Tzaddi, the fishhook of the Higher Self begins reeling that Personality upward again, drawing it out of illusion and back toward the Solar Logos.

This is the “return to Eden” that every authentic magical and initiatory system teaches—not a literal place, but the union of Lower and Upper Eden within the aspirant.

Hermetic Summary

• The Star = Lower Eden, the purified astral matrix where the Personality originates.

• The Emperor = Upper Eden, the fiery archetypal blueprint of the Higher Self.

• Tzaddi draws the soul upward.

• Heh opens the window for the Solar Spirit to descend.

• Venus/Lucifer bridges these realms as the reflected Beauty of the Solar Logos.

• Tiphareth is the Sun from which the True Self emanates and to which it returns.

Thus, the Star is not simply a card of hope—it is the astral Eden in which the Solar Logos first stirs, and the Emperor is the fiery Eden from which that Logos originates.

This is the journey of the Soul: from Star to Sun, from Lower Eden to Upper Eden, from reflection to radiance.

**The Star as Revelation:

The Trees, the Senses, and the Nervous System of the Divine Feminine**

In the Rider–Waite–Smith Key 17 — The Star, the background tree often goes unnoticed, yet it is one of the card’s most profound esoteric symbols. This tree is not merely part of a pastoral scene; it represents the human brain and nervous system, the organic “forest” of dendrites and neural branches through which consciousness experiences the world.

Trees—rooted below, branching above—mirror the function of the spinal column and neural pathways. They stand as the silent guardians of the body’s inner Eden, the physiological counterpart to the psychic Lower Eden of the Star card. In Hermetic symbolism, the Tree has always been a glyph of both the Cosmic Mind and the Human Mind, microcosm and macrocosm reflecting one another.

**The Kneeling Woman:

Isis, the Virgin Empress, and the Laws of Balance**

The central figure—Isis, Natura, the Virgin Empress—kneels in an iconic posture that encodes the laws of equilibrium:

Her left leg rests on the Earth.

This symbolizes stability, grounding, embodiment—the physical plane as the anchor of consciousness.
It is the pillar of form.

Her right leg rests upon the surface of the water.

She maintains her balance by contacting the vibratory field of the subconscious, the astral waters of Yesod.
This indicates mastery of frequency, emotion, and psychic resonance.

Thus she stands simultaneously in two worlds:

• Earth → the material, measurable, structured world of sensation.

• Water → the fluid, reflective, imaginative world of inner feeling.

She is the reconciliation of these realms—the Mother of the Inner Star, balancing form and vibration, perception and intuition.

This dual posture teaches the aspirant that balance is maintained by control of vibration, not by rigidity. She does not freeze or brace herself; she flows.

**The Five Streams:

The Narrow Gate of the Five Senses**

From her right hand pour five streams of water—the traditional five senses:

• sight

• hearing

• taste

• smell

• touch

These streams symbolize the restricted bandwidth through which the ego-personality interprets reality. As long as consciousness is confined to the five senses, it remains imprisoned in a narrow tunnel of perception—a psychic bottleneck.

This is why the Post-Tower path of the Star is called Revelation:

**Key 16 breaks the false structures;

Key 17 reveals the deeper truth.**

The five-sense personality is the “fallen” view of Eden—Eden seen through the filter of conditioned perception.

**The Thirty-Three Senses:

The Awakening of the Nervous System**

Yogic science and modern neurobiology agree:
the human being has far more than five senses.

Traditions enumerate:

• proprioception

• interoception

• equilibrium

• temperature gradients

• pain distinctions

• electromagnetic sensitivity

• subtle vibration detection

• spatial and energetic awareness

• emotional resonance

• intuitive cognition

—and many more.

Some systems list thirty-three senses, perfectly corresponding to the thirty-three vertebrae of the spinal column—the ladder of Light, the Yetziratic Tree embodied in the body.

This number is profoundly Hermetic:

• 33 = the number of Paths plus the three Supernal Veils

• 33 = the initiatory ascent of the Kundalini

• 33 = the Masonic degrees

• 33 = the age of the Solar Initiate in multiple traditions

• 33 = the levels of neural integration in the human nervous system

Thus the Star is the moment the aspirant begins to awaken beyond the five-sense illusion and to perceive reality through the expanded nervous system—the Tree within.

The five streams symbolize the starting point, not the limit.

The thirty-three-sense model is the true human capacity, revealed only after the shattering of the Tower and the illumination of the Star.

Hermetic Summary

• The trees symbolize the neural Tree of Life within the body.

• The kneeling woman is Isis-Natura balancing Earth and Water—form and vibration.

• The five streams represent the limited five senses of the ego-self.

• The thirty-three senses represent the true sensory capacity of the awakened human.

• Key 17 marks the beginning of this expanded perception—
  a revelation of the Higher Self’s presence within the body’s own Tree.

This Occult link is associated with the Egyptian Goddess- Sopdet and/or the Dog Star Sirius, whose helical rising on July 19th marked the Festival of Opet, the annual Egyptian festival that celebrated the fertilization of the Nile Valley. The message here is that of new life with greater understanding and insight where the light of the Soul/Solar Psyche is allowed to shine through the body as vital flowing Life force.

As always, language falls short here. The only true way to experience the Energy that is the Star, is a refined sense of intuition brought on by meditation practices. This Maiden who is the essence of inspiration for the hero (Galahad and his search for the "Holy Grail"), is a very real condition of consciousness called the Sol Invisibilis (Latin-"The Invisible Sun"), Lumen Naturae (the "Light of Nature"), among other descriptive terms.

The two pitchers represent the Sun and the Moon merging various aspects of consciousness (rational, intuitional, and imagination), returning them to the primordial pool from which they came. To effectively work with this archetype requires one to be experienced in meditational practices. For she is the one meditating on you into existence and when we become aware of True Self, we realize that we are the bridge that connects the Macrocosm with the Microcosm.

When the Rider-Waite-Smith and the Triple Goddess Tarot -Key 17- Star Card, is thrown during a reading the querent shall be or will be experiencing:

• Hope, faith, and unexpected help for 17 weeks or 17 months.
• Self-esteem and confidence contribute to self-efficiency and talent. 
• The querent, upon meditating, shall hear their own song (sound frequency), becoming harmony and then emoting love, calm, and peaceful agility.
• Despair has turned to hope.
• Basking in peace and serenity.
•  The querent is or will be, experiencing freedom from all masks, illusions and restrictions while being replenished by the pure waters of the Universal Unconscious.
• Spiritual illumination. 
• Truth unveiled. 

 If ill defined by the accompanying cards, there can be the experiencing of:

• Dreaminess, and deceived hope.
• Despair.
• Feeling of hopelessness.
• Disappointment. 
• Dishonesty.

Thank you for your interest, comments, and supportive donation. May you live long and prosper.

🔥 Thoth Master Class

Western Hermetic Qabalah & Tarot

Private One-on-One Esoteric Training with Magus Eli

This Isn’t a Tarot Class. This Is a Soul Activation.

Step into the current of Living Light.
The Thoth Master Class is a one-on-one initiatory experience that fuses Hermetic wisdom, Qabalistic structure, and the archetypal genius of the Thoth Tarot — all personally guided by Magus Eli, master teacher and Solar Self awakener.

These aren’t generic lectures. They are ritual-grade, soul-specific transmissions designed to unlock your inner Temple, align your psychic architecture to the Tree of Life, and awaken your resonance with the living language of Tarot.

🌞 What Makes This Class a True Initiation?

• 🎓 Private Apprenticeship: Just you and the Magus in a deep 2-hour Google Meet session, entirely focused on your development.

• 🔄 Flexible Rhythm: Weekly, biweekly, or monthly — you set the pace. (12 sessions recommended for full arc of mastery.)

• 📹 Recorded Sessions: Each class is recorded so you can revisit the teachings and track your spiritual evolution.

• 🌿 Living Hermeticism: You won’t just learn about Qabalah — you’ll live it, feel it, and integrate it into your energetic field.

• 🃏 Practice Meets Power: You’ll lay spreads, decode symbols, and channel Tarot through your own voice, with real-time feedback and co-interpretation.

🜂 What You'll Learn (and Embody):

• The entire architecture of the Thoth Tarot: Major Arcana, Minor Arcana, and Court Cards through a Hermetic lens

• The Western Hermetic Qabalah: 10 Sephiroth, 22 Paths, and the Four Qabalistic Worlds

• How to use Tarot as a portal to meditative pathworking and astral temple building

• Rituals, spreads, and practices that bring gnosis, guidance, and transformation

• How to build your personal mystical system, rooted in self-authority and Divine resonance

📚 What You’ll Need to Begin:

• The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy by Robert Wang

• A Thoth Tarot deck (Crowley-Harris edition preferred)

• A Book of Shadows or personal journal

• A desire to know thyself through the Solar Flame

🌟 Is This Class for You?

Yes — if you are:

• A beginner with a soul-call to the Thoth deck, but no formal training

• An experienced reader seeking depth, ritual, and Hermetic context

• A mystic ready to reclaim your path through archetype, symbol, and gnosis

• Anyone craving one-on-one spiritual mentorship in the Western Esoteric Tradition

💠 Investment in the Self — Not in Gold

At The Tarot of Eli, money is never the gatekeeper of gnosis.

These teachings are offered on a sliding scale, because every soul ready to walk the Path deserves a guide. You are not buying a class — you are answering the call of your Soul.

If you feel the fire of this journey within, reach out. Let’s find a way that works for your means. No sincere aspirant will be turned away for lack of coin.

🕊️ The true currency of this Master Class is your will to become who you truly are.

📬 How to Begin Your Journey

Email eli@elitarotstrickingly.com
to request your resonance mapping session, check availability, and discuss the exchange that fits your path.

Traditional Tarot Card Comparisons blog and tarot store.

Home page, Tarot Store and Master Tarot classes page. Nontraditional Tarot Card Comparisons blog.

Western Hermetic Magick ritual and invocation website and magick blogs.