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#9. In thought word and deed, I rest my life, from day to day, upon the sure Foundation of Eternal Being.

Central Wand: Crowned with the Sun and rooted in the Moon, representing the marriage of male and female polarity. This is the alchemical backbone of the card: equilibrium is strength.

• Eight Arrows: They cross in the form of an “X,” which is not just structural balance but also the rune Gebo (gift, partnership, balance, wild ox). Lady Frieda Harris’ design captures this rune-like geometry, tying Western runic gnosis into the Hermetic framework.

• Crescents & Moons: Each arrow is tipped with crescent heads and feathered with lunar symbols, showing that strength is not brute but adaptive, psychic, and attuned to cycles. The Moon repeats 8 times, suggesting the infinite adaptability of lunar force when paired with solar Will.

🏹 Sagittarius & the Path of Samekh

• Zodiacal Attribution: Moon in Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the Archer whose arrow aims at the heights.

• Qabalistic Path: Sagittarius rules the Path of Samekh on the Tree of Life — the path that connects Yesod (Moon) to Tiphareth (Sun). This is one of the great balancing paths, the Middle Pillar journey of the initiate.

• Union of Sun and Moon: The arrows “shoot upward” from Yesod to Tiphareth — lunar instincts striving for solar harmony.

• Crowley’s Irony: He notes the Moon is weak, Sagittarius elusive, yet the card declares itself Strength. This paradox is key: true strength comes from inner fortitude, not outer weight. It’s the resilience of the bow, not the heaviness of the club.

🌞🌙 Hermetic Polarity

• The Sun at the top and Moon at the base mirror the alchemical axiom: “As Above, So Below.” Solar consciousness crowns the work, but lunar receptivity roots it.

• Lady Harris visually implies androgyne strength — the balanced integration of masculine and feminine currents. This is not domination but synergy.

🔑 Rune Gebo (X) & the Gift of Balance

• You’re right to connect the X-crossing with the rune Gebo. In esoteric rune-work, Gebo means gift, offering, exchange, partnership.

• In this card, the “gift” is the inner balance of polarities, giving rise to fortitude through equilibrium.

• The “wild ox” resonance is also fitting — oxen are patient, enduring, and resilient, qualities the 9 of Wands implies.

🌌 Divinatory Insight

• Upright: Inner strength, resilience through balance, integration of opposites, adaptability, fortitude in crisis. The ability to face trials with centered will.

• Reversed: Scattered will, imbalance of polarities, yielding too much to one side (Sun without Moon = arrogance, Moon without Sun = confusion).

🜍 Hermetic Key

The 9 of Wands is not “strength” as brute force (that’s more like Geburah). Instead, it is strength as balance — the bow that holds tension without breaking, the gift of X, the Rune of partnership, and the eternal dance of Sun and Moon.

The Moon in Sagittarius in astrology is believed to influence emotional tendencies and behaviors in alignment with the traits associated with the Sagittarius zodiac sign. Here are some characteristics of the Moon in the house of Sagittarius:

1. Optimistic Emotions: Individuals with the Moon in Sagittarius often have an optimistic and positive approach to their emotions. They tend to see the brighter side of life and are generally cheerful.

2. Adventurous Nature: Emotional fulfillment for these individuals often comes through exploration and adventure. They may seek excitement and new experiences to satisfy their emotional needs.

3. Freedom-Loving: Moon in Sagittarius individuals value their freedom and independence in emotional matters. They may feel constrained by too much routine or restrictions, preferring a more open and flexible approach.

4. Philosophical Reflection: Emotional responses are often influenced by a philosophical perspective. These individuals may reflect on their feelings, seeking deeper meanings and understanding the emotional aspects of life.

5. Direct Communication: They tend to express their emotions openly and directly. Honest communication is important to them, and they may find it challenging to navigate around indirect or subtle expressions of feelings.

6. Generosity and Empathy: Moon in Sagittarius individuals are generally generous and empathetic. They may feel emotionally fulfilled when helping others or engaging in acts of kindness.

7. Restless Energy: There can be a sense of restlessness in their emotional nature, leading them to seek variety and change. Routine may feel confining, and they may need constant mental and emotional stimulation.

It's important to note that the complete astrological profile involves considering the positions of other planets, the Ascendant, and more. Individual birth charts provide a more detailed and accurate analysis of an individual's personality and emotional tendencies.

🜍 The Sephirothic Placement

• The 9 of Wands belongs to Yesod in Atziluth (the Archetypal World, the World of Pure Spirit/Fire).

• Yesod is normally the Moon’s sphere, but here it expresses in its highest, fiery form — the crystallization of archetypal Will into form.

• This is why Crowley names it the Lord of Great Strength: not because the Moon is strong, but because in Atziluth even the weakest vessel becomes the seat of pure plasmic energy.

🌙 The Moon in Its Own House

• The Moon is called weak, but in Yesod she is at “home” — the natural Sephirah of the lunar current.

• In Sagittarius she would normally feel scattered, but on the Tree she is stable: Sagittarius is the arrow that gives her direction.

• Thus, this card unites what is usually unstable (Moon + mutable sign) with the stabilizing function of Yesod, creating focused adaptability.

🔥 The Number 9

• In Qabalistic numeration, 9 represents the full crystallization of force before it enters Malkuth.

• In Wands (Fire/Spirit), 9 is the purest plasma before grounding.

• Crowley hints that here we see “the seat of great crystallization of Energy” — the last pure form of the wand’s Fire before it incarnates.

⚡ Strength Defined Hermetically

• Not brute strength, but the internal fortitude of directed plasmic energy.

• The arrows cross in balance, the Sun crowns, the Moon roots — this is a card of equilibrium under tension.

• It is Yesod in Atziluth, the fusion of dream/foundation with the highest flame, making the subconscious itself a source of resilience.

🌌 Summary

The 9 of Wands is:

• The Moon enthroned in her natural Sephirah, crystallizing elusive Sagittarius into focused strength.

• The number 9: the purest, unadulterated form of the element before it manifests in matter.

• The Lord of Great Strength: plasmic Fire harnessed through balance, polarity, and fortitude.

👼 The Angelic Rulers of the Decan

• The 9 of Wands belongs to the second decan of Sagittarius (20°–30°).

• Its Angels of the Shem ha-Mephorash are:

  • Yirthiel (ירתי-אל)

  • Sahiah (שאה-יה)

• These intelligences govern how lunar adaptability (Yesod’s fluidity) is directed through the Archer’s bow of Sagittarius.

• Their function is to crystallize change into usable form — guiding flux into fortitude.

🌙 The Moon in Sagittarius

• Normally the Moon in Sagittarius is restless, fluctuating, never content to remain.

• But here, in Yesod of Atziluth, that flux is elevated: change itself becomes strength.

• The card teaches that adaptability, the capacity to renew and reorient, is not weakness but resilience.

• Lady Harris shows this visually in the eight arrows of balance, whose “X” crossing means both gift and dynamic crossing of energies.

🔥 Yesod in Atziluth – Crystallization of Energy

• Yesod is the “Foundation,” the seat where higher forces coagulate into patterns.

• In Atziluth (the archetypal world), Yesod is not yet dense form but the pure crystallization of Fire into image.

• Crowley calls this “the seat of great crystallization of Energy” because it is the moment plasmic Fire takes pattern without yet being imprisoned in matter.

• The 9 is therefore the purest form of Wands-energy before it descends into the 10.

⚖️ Strength Through Perpetual Change

• Most people think of “strength” as rigidity, but this card redefines it as endurance through flexibility.

• The Moon’s strength is not in resisting change, but in riding it perpetually.

• Sagittarius provides the direction, the arrow-flight that keeps flux aligned.

• Thus the paradox: the “weakest” planet in an elusive sign becomes great strength because it is fluid and adaptable, yet purposeful.

🌌 Hermetic Summary

The 9 of Wands – Strength can be condensed as:

• Angelic Intelligence: Yirthiel and Sahiah crystallizing flux into fortitude.

• Astrological Power: Moon in Sagittarius — adaptability and renewal made into resilience.

• Qabalistic Seat: Yesod in Atziluth — pure coagulation of Fire into archetypal form.

• Hermetic Lesson: True strength is not stubbornness but perpetual adaptability without loss of direction

However, the Moon also has a dark side, a duality that must be understood.

• Light Side:

  • Adaptability, resilience, the gift of renewal.

  • The ability to ride flux, to change course without losing strength.

  • Perpetual change as survival strategy turned spiritual virtue.

• Shadow Side:

  • The Moon also rules the animal subconscious, the survival-mind.

  • Here arise apprehensions, insecurity, and illusions.

  • Fear-based thinking can sabotage strength — making strife the “price” of victory.

  • Success under this card often comes after enduring conflict, doubt, or the illusion of weakness.

Thus, the card teaches that real strength is not absence of fear, but persistence through it.

⚡ The Moon in Sagittarius – Double-Edged Power

• Sagittarius gives direction, but the Moon makes it fluctuate.

• This produces the sense of striving through turbulence.

• On one hand: unstoppable arrows of focused intent.

• On the other: the feeling that “my bowstring may snap at any moment.”

• The paradox is that strength emerges not from smoothness, but from learning to balance while the ground shifts.

🔥 Yesod’s Crystallization Under Strain

• Yesod is the “Foundation,” but it is also the sphere of mirrors, dreams, and phantoms.

• In Atziluth, its crystallization is pure — but when reflected downward, it still carries the lunar shimmer of illusion.

• Therefore, the 9 of Wands embodies a crystallized Fire that flickers: strong enough to endure, but always tested by the survival-mind.

• This is why Crowley remarks on the irony of “the weakest planet in the most elusive sign” — it’s a force only gained through strife.

🌌 Hermetic Key to This Duality

The 9 of Wands is the card of the warrior who has endured. Not because battles were easy, but because fear was faced and survived.

• Its gift: Resilience through balance and adaptation.

• Its warning: The path of Strength often demands strife, doubt, and insecurity before success is crystallized.

• Its truth: The animal mind may whisper fear, but the higher soul learns to crystallize that flux into power.

🌙 The Feminine Current in the 9 of Wands

• The Moon here is not weakness, but the strength of Woman: receptive, nurturing, and adaptive.

• Her role is to tame the beast-force of Fire, not by chains, but by love.

• This is echoed in the Major Arcana Lust/Strength (XI), where Babalon tames the Lion not with force but with ecstasy.

• In the 9 of Wands, Lady Harris captures this principle in the union of Sun and Moon on the central wand: masculine will crowned by feminine empathy.

❤️ Love as the Antidote to Fear

• The animal-subconscious, ruled by the Moon, is prone to fear, illusion, and survival-thinking.

• But when that same Moon is illuminated by love, empathy, and care, the illusions dissolve.

• Fear always subsides when faced with true love — this is not sentimentality but alchemy: lunar reflection becomes the mirror of Solar truth.

• Thus the card teaches that the greatest strength is not rigidity, but compassion harnessing power.

🜍 The Feminine as the Crystallizer

• Yesod, the lunar foundation, is the “seat of crystallization.”

• What is crystallized here is not raw fire but fire tempered by love.

• The feminine principle takes the volatile plasmic energy of Atziluth and coagulates it into form without destroying it.

• This is why the card is a 9, not a 5 (strife) or a 7 (unbalanced valor): it is the perfection of the feminine balancing the masculine.

🌌 Hermetic Lesson of the 9 of Wands

• Masculine Will-to-Force alone creates strife, conflict, and exhaustion.

• Feminine Love-to-Nurture receives that force, tempers it, and returns it as enduring strength.

• Together, Sun and Moon form the true foundation of Strength: fear transmuted into courage through love.

✨ So, the Lord of Great Strength is not about being unshakable — it’s about allowing the Feminine current of love and empathy to absorb and redirect fear until it becomes resilience.

☀️🌙 The Wand as Phallus and Womb

• In the Thoth Tarot, the central wand is unmistakably a stylized Sun-phallus — the symbol of raw, generative force.

• Yet it is crowned and rooted in the Moon, signifying that this force is enclosed, directed, and wielded by the Feminine principle.

• This is the “Will-to-Force” (masculine Sun) enclosed by the “Will-to-Form” (feminine Moon).

• Without form, force dissipates; without force, form is inert. Their balance is what Crowley and Harris name Strength.

🜍 Egyptian Echo: The Moon Pulls the Sun

• The ancients often depicted the Moon not as passive but as the charioteer of the Sun.

• This myth encoded the idea that receptivity governs direction.

• Just as the Moon draws the tides, she is imagined as drawing the Sun across the heavens.

• In the 9 of Wands, Lady Harris’ imagery honors this principle: the feminine current harnesses the phallic force and sets its course.

⚡ Polarity in Physics & Spirit

• This is beautifully linked this to the atomic analogy:

  • Positive pole (positron / Sun): radiates outward as force.

  • Negative pole (electron / Moon): receives, attracts, and channels that flow.

• Just as matter forms through the union of positive and negative charges, so too strength arises from the marriage of Sun and Moon.

• The Feminine here is not “weaker”; it is the controlling polarity that directs energy into usable crystallization.

🌾 The Axiom: “Change is Stability”

• This card cautions against imagining strength as rigidity.

• True strength lies in flexibility, adaptability, and the ability to yield without breaking.

• The image of rigid trees falling in storm winds versus grasses bending and surviving is the perfect natural metaphor.

• Thus, the 9 of Wands teaches fortitude as resilience — strength because of the power to change.

🌌 Hermetic Lesson of the 9 of Wands

• Sun (Will-to-Force) = vitality, initiative, outward radiance.

• Moon (Will-to-Form) = receptivity, containment, adaptability.

• Their polarity is not antagonism but synergy, creating crystallized plasmic energy at the level of Yesod in Atziluth.

• The “Lord of Great Strength” is therefore the marriage of polarity, not the dominance of one over the other.

✨ So in our formulation:

• The wand-phallus = solar will.

• The lunar womb = power to wield and direct it.

• Their union = strength through balance, flexibility, and adaptability.

☀️🌙 The Hermetic Marriage Within

The Thoth 9 of Wands – Strength is not only about resilience or adaptability — it is about the alchemical union of the Will-to-Force (Solar, Animus) and the Will-to-Form (Lunar, Anima).

• The Wand is the Sun-phallus, the radiant Soul’s will.

• The Moons are the enclosing wombs of Form, the power to shape and direct.

• In the “honeymoon suite” of the body — our incarnate vessel in Malkuth — these two principles are joined.

This marriage reveals the harmony of all Four Worlds of Qabalah:

• Atziluth (Fire): Pure archetypal Will-to-Force.

• Briah (Water): The formative Will-to-Form.

• Yetzirah (Air): The interplay, arrows in motion, the shaping intelligence.

• Assiah (Earth): The crystallized union, strength embodied in form.

The 9 of Wands thus reminds us that the physical body is not a prison but a temple of the Great Rite, where the Sun and Moon never cease their eternal communion.

🌌 True Identity: The Plasmic Soul

At its root, the card declares: we are not the body; we are the energy animating it.

• Our true identity is Plasmic-Celestial-Vital Life Force — the Soul as radiant plasma.

• The body is the “honeymoon suite,” where Soul (Sun) and Psyche (Moon) are wed in form.

• The Moon’s flux, far from weakening us, makes us adaptable vessels of that plasmic fire.

💞 The Creative Power of Two-in-One

When two polarities are joined into One, whether internally (Animus + Anima within a single person) or externally (two souls in sacred union), the result is Divine Creative Power.

• This is the mystery of Strength: not dominance of one force over another, but their marriage into perpetual renewal.

• Two made One become a mirror of the eternal Sun and Moon — the cosmic lovers who sustain the universe.

• Fear, insecurity, and strife dissolve in this communion, for true strength is love harnessing force into form.

🜍 Hermetic Key of the 9 of Wands

The “Lord of Great Strength” is not brute force, but the perpetual honeymoon of polarity within the soul.

• When Animus and Anima unite, strength flows as the ability to endure, adapt, and create.

• When two souls unite in the same spirit, their plasmic life force amplifies into Divine Creative Will.

✨ In essence, the 9 of Wands is not merely about survival — it is about the eternal marriage of opposites, the true stability of change, and the revelation of our identity as plasmic Suns incarnated in lunar wombs.

🔥 The Tenfold Flames of the Solar Self

In the Thoth card, the ten flames surrounding the central Wand signify the descent of the Solar Self (Soul) into embodiment.

• This is the fire of Tiphareth (the Sun) reflected downward into Yesod, the lunar foundation.

• The result is the “reflection of being” — the Soul made flesh.

• Thus, the human body becomes the honeymoon suite of the Divine Two, the sacred vessel where Sun (Father) and Moon (Mother) are united as One.

This imagery emphasizes that our incarnate form is not incidental, but the actual temple of the Great Marriage.

🌌 Change as the Path of Strength

When the 9 of Wands appears in a reading, it carries the clear message: expect change.

• But this change is not destructive — it is directed toward the growth of inner strength.

• It often signals recovery from illness, where the body reweaves itself through lunar resilience and solar vitality.

• Or it appears in times of trial, when the character of the querent is being tempered, like a bow under tension.

The card assures that the change, though demanding, is for the purpose of fortitude.

🜍 The Hermetic Lesson

• Strength is not found in unchanging rigidity, but in the ability to yield, adapt, and crystallize anew.

• The Sun’s plasmic fire becomes truly strong only when reflected and adapted through the Moon.

• This card reminds us: the Soul’s fire is safe in the womb of change, and every trial or illness is the forge of renewal.

✨ In short: the 9 of Wands – Strength means that the Solar Self is grounding into the body as a vessel of Divine Union, and that life-changes — whether physical or spiritual — are weaving new resilience into the soul’s journey.

This card in the Medieval Feathers deck leans closer to traditional Tarot imagery and meaning than the Thoth.

• Imagery: A new wand joins the existing group of eight, echoing the theme of the 8 of Wands but with a new, disruptive element. This addition has not yet learned the responsibilities of power and force, and its presence threatens to destabilize what has already been established.

• Symbolism: The blackbird’s feather acts as a protective influence, helping to ward off or diminish the effects of intrusion. Yet its presence also suggests vigilance is required.

• Meaning: This card signifies that individuals or situations may intrude upon your peace, disrupting plans and unsettling your progress. The querent must decide whether to endure these disruptions with resilience or to put a definitive end to them.

🌌 Upright Meaning

• Disruption of stability or plans by outside interference.

• A new force or influence entering the situation before it has matured, causing imbalance.

• The need to remain vigilant, but also to recognize that not every battle must be fought.

• Strength lies in knowing when to hold the line — and when to cut away intrusion.

🌒 Reversed Meaning

• Facing more difficulties than you can carry alone.

• Pride or stubbornness preventing you from asking for help.

• The need to release defenses, let go of over-guarding, and allow assistance to flow.

• Resilience does not mean isolation; sometimes strength is shared.

🜍 Hermetic Contrast with the Thoth 9 of Wands

• Thoth (Moon in Sagittarius, Yesod in Atziluth): Strength through inner balance, adaptability, and polarity marriage. Change is the path of resilience.

• Medieval Feathers: Strength tested through intrusion, disruption, and the need to learn boundaries. Outer resilience comes from discerning when to endure and when to accept help.

Thus, both systems agree on a key principle: strength is not rigidity, but adaptability in the face of change or disruption. The difference lies in emphasis: Thoth internalizes it as polarity marriage, while Medieval Feathers externalizes it as learning to manage disruption and asking for support.

In Western Hermetic Qabalistic Gematria and Numerology, the number 9 is imbued with profound symbolic and esoteric significance. It is often associated with completion, culmination, and a higher state of understanding. Here's an elucidation of its key characteristics:

Spiritual Significance

1. Completion and Fulfillment: 9 represents the end of a cycle. It is the highest single-digit number, symbolizing attainment and the final step before a new beginning.
2. Wisdom and Enlightenment: 9 often embodies spiritual insight and universal understanding. It resonates with the idea of gaining wisdom through experience and transcending material concerns.

Numerological Attributes

1. Humanitarianism: 9 is associated with compassion, altruism, and service to others. It reflects the qualities of selflessness and dedication to the greater good.
2. Transformation: As a number of endings, it signifies the potential for transformation and renewal, encouraging one to let go of the old to make way for the new.

Magical and Hermetic Associations

1. Planetary Correspondence: 9 is linked to Mars in traditional Western Hermeticism, representing dynamic action, courage, and sometimes strife, but also the drive to overcome obstacles.
2. Tarot Connection: In the Tarot, the number 9 is expressed in cards like The Hermit (Major Arcana IX), symbolizing introspection, guidance, and spiritual quest, as well as the 9 pip cards across the suits, which often depict near-completion or refinement of the suit’s energy.

Geometrical Symbolism

1. Triple Trinity: 9 can be viewed as three sets of three, highlighting its connection to the divine triad repeated at a higher level.
2. Circle and Eternity: Its mathematical properties (e.g., 9 x any number reduces back to 9) link it to cycles and eternity, echoing Hermetic ideas of the eternal return.

Cultural Resonance

1. Kabbalistic/Qabalistic Perspective: In the Tree of Life, the 9th Sephirah is Yesod, representing the foundation and the final stage before manifestation in Malkuth (the material world). It acts as a reservoir of all the energies from the higher Sephiroth.
2. Alchemy and Transmutation: 9 symbolizes the spiritual alchemist who transmutes base experiences into spiritual gold, emphasizing inner growth and refinement.

Nine’s resonance with the Hermetic principle of "As above, so below" makes it a powerful symbol of unity between the spiritual and the material, the macrocosm and the microcosm. Its energies encourage individuals to align their highest ideals with practical action in service to humanity and the divine.

🌟 9 of Wands Comparison: Thoth vs. Medieval Feathers

✨ Hermetic Insight:

• The Thoth 9 of Wands emphasizes the inner marriage of polarities (Sun + Moon) as the source of resilience.

• The Medieval Feathers 9 of Wands emphasizes the outer challenge of intrusion and the need to guard or seek support.
  Together, they present the dual truth of Strength: internal balance and external discernment.

When the 9 of wands is thrown during a divination it implies:

• Strength, power, health.
• Tremendous and steady force that cannot be shaken.
• Herculean strength is sometimes specifically applied.
• Remarkable success, but with strife and energy.
• Health good, and recovery not in doubt.
• Generous, questioning, and curious. 
• Fond of external appearance.
• Maintaining diligence.

If reversed, it implies:

• Victory, preceded by apprehension and fear.
• Intractable.
• Obstinate. 
• Your suspicion, stubbornness, lack of initiative and selfishness result in failure.

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