The Essence Of The Taro
by an Anonymous Author
The Fifth Ternary
The fifth ternary, arcana XIII, XIV, XV.
The 13th card, Death, is the Yod, and is the active (+) force of the ternary. We know that Death is change at all levels. The physical body, and the refinement of the spirit, and within the mind. The mind is always growing with new ideas and breaking down old ideas, forming judgments, and refining these thoughts. It is this refinement of the mental aspects which Death, as the law, 1+3, makes clear the active (+) qualities in this septenary. As the lamp of Hermes is the vehicle of divine illumination, death of the false Ego, becomes the active (+) force in this ternary.
The 14th card, Temperance, is the 1st He, and is the passive (-) force of the ternary. A woman of angelic qualities is pouring liquid from one vessel to another. Her right foot is in the stream in which the stars above are reflected. She is actively receiving the divine illumination from the stars above, and with that knowledge, she is balancing and refining the the liquid within the vessel in her right hand.
The 15th card, the Devil, is the Vau, and is the neutral (=) agent of the ternary. The Devil shows us the involutionary chains which bind us. The devil stands upon a square to which are chained a man and a woman. Lust, material desires and comforts, habitual and harmful behaviors. That part of us which is realized and is ready to be refined.
The 2nd He of the Tetragrammaton, The Lightning-struck Tower, is the active/passive (+/-) element. As the process of Death and change with the divine influence of Temperance, we see the involutionary qualities presented by the Devil. And it is the balance of Death and Temperance giving birth to the realization of the Devil that the Tower is destroyed by the light of the divine. It is in the destruction of this Tower, or the false Ego, that we transition to the next ternary.