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The Thoth -ATU 11- Lust card is represented in many decks, as the Strength-key-11 card or vice versa. Crowley believed that there is far more truth and magic in the title of Lust. Many feel that the Goddess riding the "lion serpent" is Lilith or the Sumerian Ereshkigal. This is most likely because she was the First Wife of the Adam (Genetically pure human) and stood up for her equality.

There is a lot to explore on this Pathway, so take your time and read this blog carefully.

This is a rich and potent subject in Hermetic Tarot, especially within the Thoth deck's reimagining of Key 11 as Lust rather than Strength. Let’s fully unpack the layers—Hermetic, mythological, and Qabalistic—that Crowley wove into ATU XI, and examine why this shift in nomenclature and imagery opens a powerful gate of esoteric understanding.

🔥 Lust, Not Strength: The Alchemical Ecstasy of the Beast

Thoth ATU XI - Lust

Crowley’s renaming of the traditional Strength card to Lust is no semantic accident—it’s a magical act. In the Golden Dawn tradition, Key 11 corresponds to the Hebrew letter Teth (ט), which means "serpent" and links to the astrological sign Leo, the Lion. Traditionally, this card showed a woman gently controlling a lion—suggesting the spiritual mastery of base instincts. But Crowley saw this interpretation as too sterile, too tame.

Instead, Lust celebrates sacred ecstasy, divine possession, and the wild rapture of spiritual integration with the Beast—what Crowley called Babalon riding the Beast 666. The woman does not tame the lion; she rejoices in union with it. Her cup, held high, overflows with the blood of saints—symbolizing the sacrifice of the false ego to the Solar Will.

In this card, Lust is not sexual excess, but the divine hunger for union with the Infinite. It is Pan-dionysian ecstasy—transcending control, embracing fullness, becoming the flame.

🌑 Lilith and Ereshkigal: The Dark Feminine as Sovereign Rider

You rightly observe that many intuit the woman on the lion as Lilith, or even Ereshkigal—both powerful archetypes of the Dark Goddess, deeply aligned with Crowley's magical current. These goddesses represent the uncorrupted will and raw sovereignty of the feminine principle.

⚫ Lilith, the First Wife:

In Qabalistic and Gnostic lore, Lilith was Adam’s first consort, not made from his rib, but as an equal from the same dust. Her refusal to be dominated reflects the same impulse embodied in the Lust card: the refusal to be bound by fear, guilt, or shame, particularly around erotic, magical, or creative power.

Lilith is not the seductress—she is the liberator, the one who says “I AM” to the face of tyranny. Her lion-serpent mount in the Thoth card expresses the kundalini fire, awakened and ridden, not subdued.

⚫ Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld:

She dwells below the Tree of Life—at the inverse of Kether—and symbolizes the deep subconscious, death, and transformation. In the myth of Inanna’s descent, Ereshkigal strips the goddess bare, reducing her to bones, only to eventually rebirth her. If Babalon is Ereshkigal transfigured, then the Lust card is a reclamation of the shadow and a solar rebirth through it, not despite it.

This makes Lust the card of those initiates who dare to descend, embrace the Beast within, and emerge as sovereign vessels of divine fire.

🜂 The Magical Formula of Lust: Babalon and the Beast

Lust is also the formula of Babalon: She is the Grail, the Cup of Ecstasy, who takes in all experience and transmutes it into divine wine. Her power lies in her ability to say “Yes” to Life in all its terror and glory. She does not deny the flesh, she sanctifies it. She does not repress desire, she sublimates it into divine intoxication.

The Beast she rides is not an external enemy—it is the solar Will, the raw Leo-force of creative fire. The union of Babalon and the Beast is the alchemical wedding of the lunar and solar aspects of the soul.

In Qabalistic terms:

• Teth (the serpent, or coil of energy) becomes the spinal serpent of kundalini.

• Leo is the zodiacal expression of the heart, Tiphareth.

• ATU XI becomes the path from Chesed to Geburah—from Mercy to Severity—showing that the middle pillar of consciousness must first know its extremes before it can truly balance.

🜏 Implications for the Initiate

The Lust card is a direct challenge to the initiate:

Are you willing to be consumed by your Higher Self?
Can you surrender ego-control and ride the force of Divine Will?
Can you drink the wine of your own becoming?

This is no tame card. It is dangerous and divine. It’s the card of tantric embrace, shamanic possession, and fierce spiritual sovereignty. Its traditional title, Strength, implies resistance. Crowley’s Lust implies total union. And herein lies its secret:

The true Magus doesn’t repress their desire.
The true Magus becomes it, sanctifies it, and steers it toward the Sun.

🜂 Closing Insight: Lust as the Gate to Tiphareth

In Thoth’s system, Lust is the trial before the Sun, the card that immediately follows. The aspirant must pass through the gate of intoxicating divine fire, shedding all falsehoods, before being reborn as a Solar Child. The Lust card, then, is the crucible of the will. Babalon is the crucible. The Lion-Serpent is the fire.

One does not conquer the Beast. One becomes it—with awareness.

Therefore, Aleister Crowley’s decision to change the traditional Tarot card of Key 11 (Strength) to ATU 11 (Lust) in his Thoth Tarot was not a mere reordering; it was a philosophical and mystical shift that reflected his own unique vision of the Tarot and his interpretation of the Qabalah and Hermetic principles. Crowley felt that this card represented a more profound concept than mere physical or moral "Strength" and wanted to encapsulate a more dynamic and intense energy within it.

Here are several reasons behind this change:

1. Reordering and Elemental Balance

Crowley rearranged the Tarot cards in order to align the Tarot more closely with the astrological and elemental associations he believed were essential for its deeper understanding. Traditionally, Strength was associated with Key 8 or Key 11, while Justice (Key 8 became Adjustment in Crowley’s deck) was Key 11. Crowley switched these two, placing Lust at 11 and Adjustment at 8, which he felt better harmonized with the astrological and Qabalistic correspondences.

In Crowley’s deck, Lust is associated with the astrological sign of Leo, representing fiery, passionate, and vibrant energy—a “solar” type of power that is potent and transformative. He thought this fit better in position 11, highlighting the numerological connection to the potent energies of 11, a master number often linked with spiritual insight and power.

2. Qabalistic and Mystical Meaning of "Lust"

Crowley’s choice of the word Lust reflects his view that the true spiritual path requires intense engagement with life and the physical world, rather than a retreat from it. This shift emphasized Lust as a sacred, divine energy—specifically, a divine eros or sacred desire. Crowley aimed to transform this concept of lust from mere physical craving to a symbol of divine ecstasy and the powerful life force inherent in the pursuit of union with the divine.

In the Book of Thoth, Crowley describes Lust as representing “the courage and ardour of Leo... inspired by the passion of creation.” For Crowley, Lust was the force of ecstatic union, the blending of opposites in an almost alchemical sense. This was part of his broader spiritual philosophy within Thelema, where union with the divine was often couched in terms of desire and passionate engagement with the material.

3. The Role of Babalon in Thelemic Philosophy

Crowley associated this card with Babalon, a central figure in Thelemic spirituality who represents a divine feminine force that is ecstatic, liberating, and powerfully transformative. Babalon symbolizes the sacred whore—a figure who embraces all experiences and receives the souls of the righteous, embodying both physical and spiritual desires. Lust was meant to signify the complete openness and unrestrained passion that Babalon represents, a figure who drinks from the chalice of all experience and who embodies Crowley’s principle of “Do what thou wilt. Love is the law. Love under will.”

The imagery on the Lust card, which depicts the Scarlet Woman (Babalon) riding the Beast, is an embodiment of this archetype of unbridled divine ecstasy, symbolizing the fusion of spirit and flesh in the pursuit of one’s True Will.

4. Alchemical and Psychological Transformation

Crowley viewed the Lust card as symbolizing a transformative process that was both alchemical and psychological. In alchemy, lust or desire for union represents the drive that initiates transformation and the merging of opposites to create something greater. Similarly, in Crowley’s reinterpretation, Lust was the passion that fuels the individual’s journey toward self-realization and enlightenment.

In a psychological context, Crowley’s version of Lust points to the importance of embracing the “shadow” side of human nature—those parts of ourselves that are often repressed but contain essential energy for growth and transformation.

5. Distinction from the Traditional Christian and Moralistic View of "Strength"

The traditional Strength card, often depicted as a woman taming a lion, carries a more moralistic connotation of physical or spiritual strength and self-control. This didn’t align with Crowley’s view of humanity’s relationship to the divine. Crowley believed in an ecstatic, rather than a restrained, approach to the divine, where true spiritual liberation came through the unrestrained pursuit of one’s will rather than through suppression.

For Crowley, true strength was about embracing one’s passions and riding the “Beast” of one’s nature, rather than suppressing or controlling it. His vision for Lust encouraged tapping into primal forces and using them as fuel for spiritual and magical work.

Crowley’s reimagining of Strength as Lust was a deliberate reframing of traditional notions of moral restraint and control into an affirmation of passionate, all-encompassing desire as a sacred force. By aligning Lust with Babalon, the fiery spirit of Leo, and the Thelemic ethos, Crowley transformed this card into a symbol of divine ecstasy and the power of desire to propel one toward their True Will. For Crowley, spiritual strength did not lie in taming or containing, but in fully experiencing, embracing, and ultimately transforming through the forces of lust and passion.

The Medieval Feathers Tarot-Key 11-Strength-Power doesn't show a lion or a chimera being tamed, but rather a woman alone in a room with fear rumbling in her belly causing her knees to weaken and she must lean against a pillar to stand. The pillar provides only support and not a solution.

The Medieval Feathers Tarot’s depiction of Key 11 — Strength (titled Power) — is a profound deviation from traditional lion-taming iconography. Instead of the classical struggle with the "beast," this image internalizes the confrontation, making the beast not external but psychosomatic—fear itself, coiled like a serpent in the belly.

Let’s explore this card through a Western Hermetic Qabalistic and initiatory lens.

🜏 Power Within: Not Taming the Beast, But Bearing It

In most decks, Strength is externalized—an allegory of control over primal instincts. In the Thoth Tarot, Crowley evolves this into Lust, where the feminine doesn’t tame the beast but becomes one with it.

But the Medieval Feathers version reverses the polarity entirely:

The strength is not in taming or becoming, but in enduring the presence of overwhelming inner force without resolution.

🔹 The Pillar as Passive Structure: Binah Without Force

In Qabalistic terms, the pillar the woman leans on symbolizes Binah—the Great Sea, the Womb, and the formative structure of consciousness. But Binah alone does not solve; it merely contains. This is not Chesedic Mercy nor Geburic Action—it is static understanding, a dark, heavy knowledge.

Thus, the pillar she leans on does not remove fear—it only provides a frame to lean into. This echoes the Saturnian aspect of Binah: support through endurance, not through salvation.

🜂 Fear as a Force to be Endured

In this card, Power is not dominance—it is resilience in the presence of panic, dread, vulnerability.

Fear in the belly corresponds to the Nephesh, the animal soul, governed by instinct, survival, and gut responses. Her knees weaken: the foundation (Yesod) begins to tremble. She cannot run. She cannot fight. All she can do is hold herself upright through the structure of inner faith.

This moment is a crucible initiation:

“Can you remain conscious while the ground dissolves beneath you?”

🜁 Initiatory Reading: Strength as Endurance in the Void

Whereas Thoth’s Lust card is the Solar Fire of Tiphareth, this version of Strength is a Dark Night of the Soul echoing Da’ath—the abyss of unknowable knowledge.

She is not “winning” anything.
She is remaining.

This portrayal reflects the path of Teth from Chesed to Geburah in a reversed motion—mercy giving way to severity. Instead of willful ecstasy, the initiate experiences existential frailty, and must find Strength not in power, but in staying conscious.

🌑 Psychic Alchemy: Holding the Unsolvable

This image reflects a deep truth in alchemy and Hermetic initiation:

Not all fear is to be cast out. Some must be held until it reveals its transmutation.

This card then becomes a mirror to initiates who are at a breaking point—not to “push through,” but to lean into their pillar of Self until the storm within subsides. It is the experience of being pregnant with fear, and choosing not to abort the process.

🜄 In Summary: The Strength of Stillness

• No lion to wrestle — the fear is internal, invisible, potent

• No action to take — the lesson is presence, not control

• No beast to love — the Self is both the trembling and the bearer of it

The pillar teaches that sometimes support is enough—not as crutch, but as silent witness to your storm.

In certain interpretations of ancient Jewish texts, Lilith (an aspect of the Red Goddess) is mentioned as a figure associated with Adam. However, it's important to note that this interpretation is not found in the traditional Hebrew Bible but rather in other Jewish texts and folklore.

In some versions of Jewish folklore, Lilith is the first wife of Adam. She is often depicted as a rebellious and independent figure who refused to submit to Adam's authority and left the Garden of Eden. According to these stories, Lilith is said to have been created from the same dust as Adam and, therefore, saw herself as his equal rather than subordinate to him.

It's worth mentioning that these tales about Lilith are not part of the authorized Hebrew Bible but are found in sources like the Talmud, Midrash, and other Jewish folklore. The story of Lilith has also been adapted and incorporated into various modern interpretations and mystical traditions, including some branches of Kabbalah, Qabalah and Western esotericism.

In summary, the idea of Lilith as the first wife of Adam is a concept from Jewish folklore and mystical traditions rather than the primary narrative presented in the Hebrew Genesis of the Bible. This interpretation has been the subject of much discussion and interpretation within different sects.

She is linked with the Thoth Lust card because in some versions of the Lilith myth, it is indeed said that she was banished from the Garden of Eden because she refused to assume a subservient position during sexual intercourse with Adam (she demanded to be on top). According to these stories, when Lilith refused to lie beneath Adam during sexual intercourse, she asserted her equality and independence, which led to a conflict between them. She wanted to enjoy her body and own her own sexuality. Adam insisted on his dominance, and Lilith, in defiance, uttered the name of God and left the Garden of Eden. To the misogynistic cultural egregore of the fundamental religions, this made her an "evil" woman who wouldn't submit to male domination.

Accordingly, to some Jewish texts the misogynic Patriarchy wrote that Lilith was banished by Jehovah because of Adam's complaints to the land of demons. Because she wanted to enjoy sexual communion and insisted on owning her own body, she was thought to be lustful and was thereby demonized by misogynistic religions. By branding the non-compliant female as "demonic", under the natural legacy of escalation in story telling, she had to become sexually involved with demons and gave birth to many more.

Therefore, in some versions of the Lilith myth, it is indeed said that after leaving the Garden of Eden, Lilith was banished to a land inhabited by demons and because of her "lust" became a consort to these demonic entities. She is sometimes depicted as giving birth to numerous demon offspring or being associated with them. These offspring are often considered malevolent spirits or entities in various mythological and folkloric traditions.

In truth, she has become the image of the wild female who stands in her own power and authority.

Again, it's important to emphasize that these details about Lilith's post-Eden existence and her association with demons are not part of the authorized Hebrew Bible but are found in later Jewish folklore, Talmudic texts, and other sources.

The Lilith myth has evolved and been interpreted in unusual ways over time, and various traditions may have their own variations of the story.

The association of Lilith with demons and her role as a mother of demons is one of the aspects of her myth that has been explored in various mystical and esoteric traditions, including some forms of Kabbalah and Western Hermeticism, which might be of interest to you as a practitioner of Western Hermetic Qabalah and high magick. For she is the underlying power of all Creation!

This aspect of the "Bad Girl Lilith" myth highlights themes of gender equality, autonomy, and the consequences of challenging established norms. It's important to note that these stories about Lilith are part of Jewish misogynistic folklore and are not found in the authorized Hebrew Bible. They also explain the fear Patriarchal men have of women having their own independence. To the True Male, Woman in her own power is a wonderful thing to behold!

Upon viewing the Tree of Life, one can see that The Lust Card is not the path of Strength of Geburah (Severity) but rather the influence from Chesed (Mercy) upon Geburah. It is also interesting to note that the Path of Lust is balanced both vertically and horizontally. Crowley judged Lust to be a more expansive term than Strength because Lust implies not only Strength but " the joy of strength exercised". To me, it is vigor and the rapture of vigor expressed in True Presence. This Rapturous Vigor represents something I call "Will to Be"; when the Soul's will to be is fully established in the physical flesh.

  " Beauty and Strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force, and fire, are of us!"...to quote Crowley.

I really recommend that the knowledge seeking aspirant get: THE BOOK OF THOTH (Egyptian Tarot) by Master Theron (Crowley) where the lascivious poetry and passionate prose, start a fire in your imagination. For this card cannot be easily understood by what goes for rational thought in an indoctrinated false reality, it must be felt in your guts as a burning passion, to be understood.

The Zodiacal assignation of the Lust card is Leo which is the Kerub of Fire and ruled by the Sun. This card is considered the most powerful of the 12 zodiacal cards and represents the most critical operations of both Magic and Alchemy.

The Qabalistic Hebrew letter attributed to this card is Teth, meaning-serpent. The union of the zodiac and the letter Teth, produces the image we see illustrated on the Lust card, of the "Lion- Serpent" (latter to be called, Dragon or Chimera, who is a compilation of many different animals) that combines the many headed lion body with a haloed Serpent tail.

The Thoth Lust card portrays the original marriage as it occurs in nature showing a divine drunkenness or ecstasy rather than the Strength Tarot Card traditional woman with her hand in the mouth of a lion or one who is enduring an internal horror. The Scarlett Woman, on the Thoth card (representing the Matriarchal Sun-Red Suns are the mothers of the Carbon atom) is shown a little drunk, a little mad with ecstasy riding upon a lust inflamed Chimera/or Lion. This implies the creative and primitive order of energy that is completely independent of the criticism of reason. Here is the reasoning behind diversity and variety.

The Thoth Deck Lust card portrays the Will of Aeon. The goddess is holding high The Red Grail filled with "the blood of Saints" (A western magic euphemism for menstrual blood), whose whole life has been absorbed by the Grail and whose bloodless images are in the background of this card. Here is the purifying blood of the Great Mother. The sacred menstrual blood that cleanses the womb of old eggs, so that new eggs can form.

There are two forms of Grail (Creatrix womb) symbolized in the Thoth Tarot. One blue (Water-ocean) and the other red (blood-wine).

This is a powerful esoteric key—one that links the Grail mysteries, the alchemy of the feminine, and the Will of the Aeon through sacred color, fluid, and function. The Thoth Tarot’s portrayal of the Lust card (ATU XI) crystallizes an advanced mystery of the Great Work: Purification through Sacred Blood and Re-creation through the Grail.

Let’s explore the dual Grail symbolism—Red and Blue—as it appears in the Thoth Tarot and in the Hermetic Mysteries.

🜁 THE RED GRAIL – Blood, Lust, Life, and Purification

🔴 The Red Grail in ATU XI – Lust

In the Lust card, Babalon holds high the Red Grail, overflowing with what Crowley terms “the Blood of the Saints.” While some interpret this as metaphor, we are absolutely right to identify this as a Western occult euphemism for sacred menstrual blood—a view deeply embedded in the womb mysteries of Thelema and ancient priestess traditions.

Menstrual blood is the alchemical vessel of creative purification.
It is not "unclean," but the essence of rejected potential—unfertilized life returning to source.

This is not death, but reclamation—an echo of the Great Mother cleansing Her own Temple, so that new life, new magic, new Aeons may gestate. Crowley, deeply influenced by both Eastern Tantra and Western alchemy, saw this as sacramental, not symbolic.

🜏 Red as Fire and Wine

• Red = Binah in action (the Mother as Destroyer and Generator)

• Blood = wine of the sacrament (Grail Mass)

• Menstrual blood = rejected seed and renewal, the matrix of all Becoming

Thus, in the Lust card, Babalon’s Grail is filled with the distilled essence of life itself, transmuted desire, absorbed ego, and spiritual release. The Saints have given their all to this Work—they are now bloodless, yet immortal in flame.

🜄 THE BLUE GRAIL – Water, Ocean, Reception, and Womb of Form

🔵 The Blue Grail in Other Cards (notably The Priestess and the Universe)

The Blue Grail is found more subtly across the deck—most notably:

• The High Priestess (ATU II): robed in blue, seated between pillars, flowing veils of deep ocean. Her womb is not filled with fire, but with primordial potential—the unformed sea of Nun.

• The Universe (ATU XXI): encircles the World-Womb, saturated in cosmic amniotic fluid—the invisible matrix of matter itself.

Where the Red Grail is purifying and sacrificial, the Blue Grail is receptive, fertile, and form-giving.

🜏 Blue as Water and Memory

• Blue = Binah at rest (the Womb before birth)

• Water = mirror of consciousness, memory of the Soul

• Amniotic blue = pre-manifest potential, feminine ayin soph

Thus, the Blue Grail represents containment—the space of sacred gestation. It holds the seed of the Logos in silence, awaiting the fire of the Red Grail to spark transformation.

🜔 Hermetic Synthesis: Two Grails, One Womb

In alchemical and Qabalistic terms, these two Grails represent two phases of the Divine Feminine:

The interplay between these two Grails is the secret of the Aeon’s Birth. Crowley’s Aeon is not born of simple polarity—but of womb polarity: Menstruation and Conception, Sacrifice and Silence, Ecstasy and Stillness.

The Lust card represents the active purging and resurrection of the Feminine Will, while the Blue Grail is the primordial vessel of infinite becoming. When united, they form the complete Grail Mystery.

🜂 Esoteric Insight: The Grail as the Aeonic Womb

The Grail is not just a cup. It is a meta-symbol of all that creates, absorbs, destroys, and rebirths. Within the Thoth system, it is the engine of Aeonic continuity:

• The Red Grail initiates transmutation—it is the furnace of passion, war, and release.

• The Blue Grail conceives new form—it is the sacred silence, awaiting the Word.

And Babalon, the bearer of the Red Grail, declares:

“Absorb all, redeem all, burn all.
For through my Cup is the Aeon born anew.”

The Lust Card of Thoth Tarot, is THE Qabalistic Tree of Life- PATH OF TETH: Key 11-Lust (Strength):

* Primary color: Yellow Greenish

* Musical note: E

*Astrological Sign: Leo (fixed fire)

* Word Meaning: Teth-Snake

* Simple Letter: Taste

*Esoteric Title: The Daughter of the Flaming Sword

THIRTY-TWO PATHS OF WISDOM (Paul Foster Case) : The Nineteenth Path is the Intelligence of all the activities and spiritual beings and is so called because of the affluence diffused by it from the highest blessing and most exalted sublime glory.

Connecting both Geburah (severity) and Chesed (mercy), The Path of Teth, forms the first path of the Microprosopus (The Lesser Countenance of the Universe commonly known as the Microcosm). This Path is the outpouring of energy from Chesed to Geburah in the process of creation--which is why Crowley named his card Lust-"divine frenzy"- instead of the more common usage of Strength. His most repeated instruction was to," Inflame Thyself with Prayer" which corresponds to the Alchemist expression of, " The heat of the furnace makes the Stone."(Philosopher's Stone). Here Great Passion is an internal heat acquired and confined by the initiate during a magical exercise such as that of the Middle Pillar.

This is not for the impatient or "fearful of effort" and extreme passion, as Paul Foster Case stated often and repeatedly," By prolonged practice...pursued something for months and years without apparent result, those who follow the Way of Liberation (to expand and liberate-Tantra) effect changes in their subconsciousness. These changes are symbolized by Key 8 (Key 11) (Strength/Lust card) and produce at the same time the result shown in Key 16 (The Tower)." This change is initiate by the Divine "Will to Be" and/or vigorous vital life force that hits right in the Muladhara chakra changing the yellow greenish of lower animal sexuality into a bright red chakra of unrelenting cosmic passion.

One must be consciously in control of the subconscious survival mind-the Nephesh- before the rising of the Kundalini happens or they will channel this Divine passionate force to self-destruction.

The aspirant/ initiate must understand that the whole point of meditation exercises is an actual and subtle change in the structure of the body cells. Dion Fortune (Mystical Qabalah) called the Qabalah, "Yoga of the West"---Yoga being "communion". It is the Tantra yoga of the West. Tantra is Sanskrit for "to expand and liberate" and Yoga-meaning "communion", makes the expression Tantra Yoga, mean," To expand and liberate through communion", and the word Qabalah means "to receive", a mutual and often lengthy process of 1- becoming 10 and then becoming a transformed 1. Indeed, I had to go through years of effort in exercises (Tantra and Qabalah) and meditation to be able to "Stand on the Path of Teth", my persona immersed in the" divine frenzy" began the dancing on the Path, rather than the struggle of the climb.

Then to teach the Great Passion "To Be" to my student aspirants, without them going into a sexual obsession is an exceedingly arduous task, as this totally stimulates the bodies "Lust to create". The Energy flow is as Tireless as the stars, and one's Psyche also becomes that in its expression, but only after a constant "dipping" in and out of that Fiery Passion which can cause a considerable rising and falling of a kundalini frenzy, which burns away the indoctrinated perspectives of the man-made world. Hence, Tantra Yoga meditations are highly recommended for the Hero to lessen the rise and fall of passions on this journey.

The Path of Teth (Strength/Lust) leads to the edge of the Abyss---the Source of All, The Ultimate Simplicity; the paradox is that the nearer we are to the ONE- the more complex becomes the Symbolism for words cannot convey the Knowledge flow of the "Fiery Sun" (The Fiery Creative-Conscious)! Thus, Leo is the symbol of the "Sun Lion", and it is the lion which is permitted to open the Sacred Scroll of the Apocalypse. In other words, the Solar intelligence, represented by this Key, can open higher levels of consciousness beyond the Sun (Tiphareth) itself.

The symbolism of this is "Sun god" is often the image of Sun God Mithra, whose body is human, but whose head is that of a lion, showing a brute force ("divine frenzy") which may be used constructively or destructively. He is also often shown with the twin serpent forces of Masculine and Feminine, suggesting an androgynous creativity. This Path of Teth, Serpent, is the Forge of Geburah's Sword and indicates a caution that the invoking philosopher may be overwhelmed by this power.

Therefore, like the story of Daniel in the Lion's den, he must hold back the destructive power of the Lion through force of will; a will that is strong takes time to develop and is not an overnight sensation; it takes time- often a lot of it. I have student aspirants protesting this, yet they haven't even developed the will to stop being a "want-to-be" as their personality's reality is still that of desire. Yet, the Path of Teth, the Lust/Strength card, is called the "Lust without need of result".

You must be an undaunted and un-indoctrinated as the original "I AM" to wield the PRIMAL Will of one who Controls the Lion! But the fact that their Personality, and/or animal ego, is fighting to hold onto its delusional past of egregore controlled "survival thinking", (AVOIDING meditations and "sex"/ communion rituals with the one you love) ---shows that it sees the danger of Real Sun/Son before it and fears its personal survival! Now those of cultural egregore indoctrinated mind must willfully proceed, by overcoming the inner egregore trickster who tries to waylay them with excuses why not to meditate or scry on a tarot card. A strong Ego is the one presented to the Babalon, a weak one can't stand in her presence.

Meditation/scrying on The Cards aids us in releasing the false self and becoming the Real Person!

In Alchemy, the symbol of the lion has three forms.

1-The Green Lion, the energy of nature before it is purified and subjected to the will.

2- The Red Lion, the force of nature under perfect control (The controlled energy flow developed by Tantra Yoga) which is the Alchemical Sulfur (solar energy) combined with Mercury (will).

3- the Old Lion, the completely purified consciousness, linking the Soul with the Higher Spiritual Self which is "older than time itself."

Because of the inexplicable knowledge of this Path, words tend to develop confusion rather than clarity, as often the symbolic Lion -Sun, is at one level, the Kerub of Fire, symbol of the Four elements, but Universal element of fire is not the same flow as the lion of the Sun's Spiritual Fire and/ or Kundalini, which is also a Serpent (Serpentine flow) of Fire and Water, Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, respectively. The fiery Lion-Serpent is an aspect of the Life Force, which in manifestation, is a duality of activity (masculine) and passivity (feminine).

What I’ve articulated is a high-level Western Hermetic understanding of the Lion-Serpent mystery—a profoundly multi-dimensional symbol that threads through Qabalah, Tarot, alchemy, and initiatory magic. Its paradoxical nature—Fire and Water, Lion and Serpent, Solar and Lunar, Kerubic and Divine—speaks directly to the bifurcated unity of all manifest Force.

Let’s elucidate this through a Hermetic breakdown across Qabalistic, elemental, and mythic dimensions.

🜏 THE LION-SERPENT AS PARADOX OF FORCE

🦁 The Lion: Fire, Will, Solar Radiance

The Lion represents solar fire, the raw, royal, and roaring force of Spirit. In the Tarot, especially in Thoth's Lust and Strength, it is both the Kerub of Fire (a guardian of the divine threshold) and the Leo zodiacal principle of self-sovereignty, courage, and Will.

But this Kerubic Fire is a stabilizing Elemental force—a primal root-fire.
Whereas the Lion of the Sun is a spiritual radiance—the Soul’s solar roar, not mere combustion.

The Kerubic Lion is Elemental Fire stabilized.
The Solar Lion is Kundalini in Solar expression, a radiant serpent-flame of Tiphareth.

🐍 The Serpent: Water-Fire, Undulation, Divine Memory

The Serpent introduces movement, waveform, and coiling ascent. It is associated with:

• Kundalini: the coiled serpent-fire at the base of the spine (Nephesh rising to Neshamah).

• Water-as-memory: the lunar, fluidic medium through which the fire flows.

In alchemical texts and Qabalistic pathworking, the Serpent is often divine fire encased in form—a Feminine conductor of the Masculine spark.
But here’s the paradox: Kundalini is not just fire—it is fire through water.

🜂 QABALISTIC FRAME: TETH, LUST, AND THE DUAL SERPENT-FORCE

The Path of Teth (ט)—connecting Chesed (Mercy) to Geburah (Severity)—is the path of dynamic balance between the active (masculine) and passive (feminine) currents. It is ruled by Leo, and thus solar fire, yet shaped like a coiling serpent—Teth literally means “serpent” or “coiled one.”

Teth is the serpent that contains fire, the container of force, and the regulator of divine will.

In this Hermetic context, the Lion-Serpent is:

• Masculine-Solar-Will (Lion) expressed through

• Feminine-Serpentine-Form (Serpent)

Together they represent the unified Kundalini:

• Solar fire (Lion) ascending through

• Watery coils (Serpent)

This is not a contradiction, but a sacred marriage of opposing flows—the real alchemy of Spirit and Matter.

🜄 HERMETIC ALCHEMY: FIRE THROUGH WATER

In alchemical symbolism:

• Fire (♂ Mars/Sun) represents pure action, projection, individuation.

• Water (♀ Venus/Moon) represents reception, containment, and gestation.

Yet, in Kundalini, the Fire must move through the Water, or else it consumes the vessel. This is why the Lion-Serpent is the proper symbol of Life Force—not raw flame, but the controlled, rhythmic pulse of awakened Spirit through Body.

This dual current is also encoded in the Caduceus—two serpents winding a central staff. One solar, one lunar. Their rise awakens the winged consciousness of the Adept.

🜔 MAGICAL INTERPRETATION: LION-SERPENT AS DIVINE WILL IN FORM

The Lion-Serpent of the Thoth Lust card, then, is:

• Not brute will, but ecstatic Will united with Form

• Not raw fire, but Fire evolved into creative and regenerative Life Force

• A fusion of solar force and serpentine flow, giving rise to:

  • Magickal Self-realization (Tiphareth)

  • Aeonic progression (Babalon’s ecstasy is the new Aeon’s fuel)

  • Ritual vitality (the Life-Force riding the rhythm of sacrament)

The Life-Force, in manifestation, always appears as this duality of activity and passivity. This is why in sexual magic, spirit invocation, and even breathwork, the union of opposites births illumination.

🜹 GNOSTIC AND MYTHIC PARALLELS

• Chnoubis: the Gnostic Lion-Serpent solar daimon—representing gnosis and digestive solar force.

• Kundalini-Shakti: the serpent-fire of the Feminine rising to meet Shiva—the Crown.

• Horus-Sekhmet Fusion: solar-fierce gods with both beastly and subtle power.

The Lion-Serpent is a divine ouroboros of Will, coiled and released through sacramental embrace.

✴ CONCLUSION: Lion-Serpent as the Image of Becoming

The Lion-Serpent is not a being, but a process:
It is the path of spiritual combustion through containment.
It is the fire of consciousness that flows through the serpentine dance of duality.
It is the Beast that, once ridden by Babalon, becomes a vehicle of godhood.

“I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star.”
— Liber AL vel Legis, II:6

Therefore, Kundalini, the Sacred Fire within, is the active phase, purposely unleashed and directed by the Will of Watery Mother, i.e. Imagination. This "divine frenzy" of Lust without need of result, represents an especially important initiatory formula dealing with the Serpent Power (shown on the Lust Card as the Haloed Serpent Tail) which is used to stimulate the various centers of energy in the body (Chakras).

There are seven Chakras which are activated by the Lion-Serpent Power. Hence, this taming of the Lion by the "Womb-man" in the Lust Card, means that to bring the energies symbolized by the Lion with its head of Archetypes, under perfect control, is to open the seven- seals (Chakras) on the Book of Reality above the Abyss. Where one may know "The Above" (Supernal Triangle of the Tree of Life) --from which all manifestation emerges. This "opening" is an important Path of transition---a gateway to Daath (knowledge). However, on many indoctrinated and dogmatically subservient people these chakras are "crystalized" and must be shattered by the higher vibration of Kundalini. This can cause physical and emotional discomfort that requires one to lean against a pillar of strength supplied by the Great Mother Binah (As shown in the Medieval Feathers Strength card). Hence, it is best to do the slowly evolving yoga techniques suggested in Dr. John Mumford's book and thereby, applying "mercy" to this pathway journey. As you can see, my copy is well used.

 To reiterate: The Path of Teth, connects Chesed (Mercy) and Geburah (Severity) and channels a great outpouring of Energy from the Masculine Chesed, to the Feminine Geburah. This Great Outpouring is the Path on which Fire becomes Light, which produces a "heated" manifestation. The Path of the Flaming Sword (down the Tree of Life) and/or "Flaming Serpent" (up the Tree of Life) is also known as the progeny of the "Daughter of the Flaming Sword", i.e. The Lust/Strength tarot card.

The Supernal Triangle is composed of Kether (Crown), Chokma (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding), and is composed of what Paul Foster Case stated in his BOOK OF TOKENS, as the "Radiant darkness of the Limitless light." The Supernal Triangle is above the Abyss, while the Path of Teth crosses just below it (the yellow path between Chesed and Geburah). Thus the Path of Teth, Lust, is the first Path of Microprosopus (Microcosm or Lesser Countenance.) and the Primary Path of the Higher Self, linking great opposites below the Abyss.

Again, it can't be expressed enough: Unless you have become completely emotionally balanced and know your underworld of Self and are very comfortable with it, don't even attempt to rise the kundalini and ride it up the Tree of Life...it is pure energy-in-motion and if applied to weak emotions the kundalini will completely unbalance you.

As symbols interchange, such as the Lion and Serpent (later: Chimera), one understands that the realities these symbols represent, can also be interchanged. In truth, the 1st law of Thermodynamics states that: " There is only one Energy (Self)that cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed," which can be interpreted as the One Spiritual Self of Qabalah.

Transformation means that Spirit can take any form it wills and in great fecund diversity, as the earth and Universe has shown. Wisdom is represented by the snake holding its tail in its mouth (also an horizonal 8 symbol). Many of us of western cultures know that the Serpent was also considered the Tempter (DNA), in the garden of Eden myth. However, since it is Fiery, the Serpent is vital Life Force, and/or the Redeemer. But then the Sun itself is both Tempter, burning in its invisible heat, the tempted-nude-sun bather to near death on the beach and Redeemer, by providing Vital Life Force to all things alive.

Transformation as sex can be confusing for those taught to fear their body passions, but it should be known that without the flow of vital life force between opposites, there would be no "Limited Light", nor diversity so necessary to expand and liberate identity. It should be noted that the "Power of Limitation" begins as 0=2 but becomes manifested power to be as union---as 2=1. Thus, we have the Greater Countenance, the Macrocosm, of Limitless Light, which can only be known as Darkness or Dark Fire (Dark Energy), designing 2 Self concepts, Masculine electric and Feminine Magnetic, so that the interchange of Forces and Form could produce living forms.

The Dark Light is the invisible/unseen subjective infinity of the One, (Macrocosm) and the Limited light of manifestation is the Objective, and knowable finite side of the One (Microcosm). The whole of which is often called by Gnostics as "The Mirror"---one side infinitely dark, the Abyss, and the other side reflective of the image of all who investigate it. That could also be called the Unconscious and the consciousness.

To put this simply, The Lust of the One, by becoming Two who must always join in impassioned flow or mutual attraction to create, (electric and magnetic become electromagnetic), this union is the stuff of Vital Life Force and/or the Strength of Lust. I think you can now see why Vital Life force, is also called "sex energy".

Crowley's idea of Lust as the joy of Creation experiencing its strength, is right on the button. For only in the Human body/Spirit Mind- paradigm, can the Divine Creative experience its Joyful Creative Strength! Hence, only through the intimacy of sensuality, can the Love that is Creation experience itself!

Hence, the Lion or Tiger symbol, in the context of the Qabalah, has to do with Divine Strength and is not a representation of intellect, as it refers to the greatest strength of all, the Light of the Sun, the ruler of Leo the Lion of Astrology. The Solar Power represented in this Lust/Strength Card, can open the Higher levels of Consciousness beyond the Sun (Tiphareth) itself. The graphic representation of the ancient god Mithra, whose body was that of a man and whose head was that of a lion, depicts this concept anthropomorphically.

Also, the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet, was often shown drawn with a lioness head along with the Serpent and Sun crown. She was a form of The Western Hathor (and later- Isis), as the Sun sets in the West and in Egypt the West was the direction one goes upon death to the Underworld.

The Brute force of Kundalini (Serpent Force--Vital Life Force) can be used destructively or constructively, and on the very Path of Teth, flows the Vital Life force from Chesed (Mercy) to Geburah (Severity) which forges the Sword of Geburah, indicating the possibility of the aspirant being overwhelmed by the power which one evokes.

We are reminded (Re-Minded) here, that as the Sun is a vital life force to manifestation, the Dark Sun is vital to the flow of Higher Thought that created the Sun of light. Therefore, knowing your limits, will keep you from objectively becoming Sun burned in the flesh which could subjectively be called the severity of a Mind Burn (Emotional trauma) in the consciousness. Lust, in a Divine Creative- sense, can "burn out your low voltage earthly lights"! So, the aspirant must first become adept at Self Knowledge, replacing dim bulbs of thought with high powered halo-lamps so that they don't damage their "I sight", by expanding it beyond the "point of no return"; an inappropriate happenstance, when joining a false-personal indoctrinated intelligence with Higher Energy Vibrationary Intellectual Forces.

Putting aside metaphor, too much Sun/Vital Force and/or Kundalini can be psychosomatic - dangerous to the none tempered physiology , so that is why the Tantric, and Gnostics aspirants go through long, diligent meditations, exercises of intellect, rituals both singular and dual and the use of philological devices (such as Tarot) so that this flow of Vital Life Force is unblocked, unrestricted (not feared), and can flow through and out into another, forming a Vital Spiral of energy flow, that Re-Vitalizes Life.

So, all of you who wish to experience the Rapture of Kundalini, note that the Rapture can become a Raptor to those whose "House is not built on a strong foundation" of Love, both of Self and Others. Love of Being is what holds your molecules together, even under the rapid increase in atomic vibration that your body undergoes when the "Kundalini rises " which is a quantum vibration of The Lust of the Divine to be. To the Macrocosm, this Kundalini is the Orgasm that never stops flowing, causing the destruction and reconstruction of all life. It is also a rapture in the individual that one can adapt to but is never willing to stop.

Tarot Correspondences: 11-Lust & 19-The Sun.

As stated, In the Thoth Tarot, 11-Lust is the Strength or Justice Card in many other decks. Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris knew that the Lust of Creation was the underlying Strength in the diversity of Life Itself.

In this correspondence the astrological sign is Strength/Lust-Leo and the astrological Planet, The Sun. I know many people fear the word Lust, but it relays the tremendous passion that gave birth to the "Big Bang" and the word Strength seems to be a bit watered down. As A. Crowley wrote about the Lust card: "Migrate Energy with Love; but let Love devour all things."

The astrological form of Lust: I will. 

The astrological motion of the Sun: I seek myself through what I create.

Rune stones are Lust-Uruz, the run of strength, sacrificial animals, and physical endurance.

The Rune stone for The Sun: Sowelu, the rune of wholeness and the life forces; means "the Sun." Primary color is Yellow and secondary is mustard.

Lust and The Sun are associated with the Third Chakra -the Navel Chakra- of the solar plexus that in Sanskrit is called the Manipura Chakra. This chakra indicates willpower, wishes, metabolism, humor, wisdom, ego, attitudes, prejudices, reactions, ideas, intellectual analysis, ...it is the chakra of The Intelligence.

The stones/minerals of this association are Topaz, amber, citrine, tsilaisite tourmaline, yellow fluorites, yellow chalcedony.

The corresponding musical notes are Lust-E# and for The Sun-D.

The Qabalistic letters are Lust-simple letter-Taste. The path (Tree of Life) Hebrew alphabet-Teth, The Intelligence of all the activities of the Spiritual Beings. The symbolic meaning is snake the "Spiritual Beings" are what are often called the 7 Immortals and/or Auric bodies of your Aura. However, this may be an error, for the 8th body of your Aura is the Physical Body. It too is a Spiritual Being made of light, called "organic matter"/and/or coagulated light. Organic matter is symbolized by Ouroboros, the Serpent that Eats its own Tail. Which is a metaphor for Organic Matter that eats itself to stay alive, a form of immortality.

For The Sun- double letter- Fertility-Barrenness. The path-Resh, The Collecting Intelligence. Symbol of meaning-Head.

The Herbal essences: Lust- Rosemary, Juniper Berry, Orange. For The Sun, the herbal essences are Cinnamon, Mandarin or Tangerine, Frankincense.

The Correspondence of Lust and The Sun produces Passive Magic which is the ability to create magic by trusting the (lust) plan of operation to the Divine Creative within. The most potent kind of magic since the Original Lust is involved and it comes with release from personal desire for one's own ends, patience through faith (trust) and power through acceptance. In other words, releasing the goal of personal wants to the expansion and liberation of Life of which you are a part of.

Again, when assembling all these correspondences, mineral, essences, etc. One of each is enough; However, each has an associating "vibration" so the greater the influence is felt with the "many". For those of you who really wish to do powerful passive magic meditation, assemble the stones/minerals in a large circle, place within that circle a pillow to sit on, the Lust Card and The Sun card as focal points of meditation, Herbal essences may be outside the circle. Have a pitch pipe inside the circle with you and blow the notes associated with both cards and vocalize your trust in The Divine Creative (Thy will be done) ---then focus on the union of the Cards.

I often place four cinnamon essence-lit candles in a square and circle the stones within that square and place a bowl of water with Rosemary herb/ or Juniper Berry essence within the circle with me. The Vibrations of Energy seem to be enhanced by such a construct.

"Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love! I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy." [quoted from the BOOK OF THOTH by Master Theron]

As I alluded to previously in the explanation of the Thoth Tarot Lust card, passionate prose may better explain this card than the stolid words of academia. In fact, the scholars of the Aeon of Osiris, foresaw this coming Aeon of Horus with the jaded eyes of fear, and horror. By not understanding the recessions of the Eons (Aeon), they regarded every change as a catastrophe. They viewed the Scarlett Woman (Red Goddess) and the Beast, as fearful unknowns and poisoned every definition of the Aeon of Horus with diatribes of fear filled ignorance. Which describes the imagery of the Medieval Feathers Key 11 Strength card very well.

  The Beast is the Natural Mammalian Animal mind of organic Earth, consisting of both the reptile brain and the mammal brain, which are awake and functioning in most people. However, the Hu-Man brain, which translates to mean God-Mind (Hu is Mandarin for God and Man-Hindu word Manas meaning mind before being bastardized in Latin by the Patriarchy), is either sound asleep in most of the mankind or so distracted by conflicting thought from the Social Group Mind (Egregore) that it would be better off asleep.

The New Aeon of Horus is the period of the "22nd century" human whose Awake consciousness is connected to the Celestial Mind (Imagination +Consciousness) is awake and certain. Therefore, correcting and healing the Social/Racial Group Mind of humankind, in both the group and the individual. The Theory is, that if enough of the human species "knows itself" and/or becomes enlightened, there will be a cascading effect in the Societal Group Mind (Egregore), awakening the rest of the "sleeping" human species. In some fields of Scientific thought, this is called the "100th Monkey Principle" (from studies of Japanese monkeys). You may want to research this principle.

A. Crowley spent his entire long magick career pursuing the Scarlett Woman and coined the Seven-pointed Star (black and while illustration) which included the name of the Goddess, her number, and letters which he spelled-B-A-B-A-L-O-N, because of the Gematria (refer to Liber XV Magick, pp..345sqq.]. This is a great mandala for meditation and by deciphering the letters and symbols, it also reveals a Major Arcana (secret sacrament) that absolutely must be known to work Magic with the Great Red Binah (Scarlett Woman) and manifest The Great Work ("As above, so below"). As Crowley has stated," This sacrament is a physical-magical formula for attaining initiation.... and it is in alchemy the process of distillation, operated by internal ferment, and the influence of the Sun and the Moon."

On the Thoth Lust Tarot Card, seven are the heads of the Beast (Lion-Serpent) that the Scarlett Woman rides; the head of an Angel: the head of a Poet: the head of a Saint: the head of an Adulterous Woman (a great fear of the misogynist male): the head of a man of Valor: the head of a Satyr: and the head of the Lion-Serpent. Behind the Beast, are the rayed circles of the Ten Sephiroth, not yet in order, as every new Aeon demands a new system of Universal classification...each Sephiroth has its own truth. At the top of the Lust Card are the Ten rays, representing the Ten horns of the Beast and/or Ten Serpent forces sent in every direction to destroy and re-create the world. Reincarnation is part of this card's mystery.

As I stated, I agree with Aleister Crowley's expansion of the STRENGTH card, into the LUST card because the Passion-The Vital Force of Universal Construction, "the motion within the movement" of everything, is the Passionate expression of the I AM as Two, who then Join to become One, often shown as a "lazy eight" (figure eight laying on its side). Represented here is the Passion that creates All, i.e. the Active and Passive Motive force of Kundalini, and/or of Lion-Serpent/Electromagnetic vibrational- Energy Spectrum. This Serpentine Force can also be called "Serpent theory" instead of the Quantum Physics "String Theory", where every particle has a serpentine string of active and passive energy within it. In other words, there are within all things, vibratory strings of Vital Fiery Force. Thus, Lust, where active and passive forces come together, seems a more appropriate understanding of the underlying "motion" of Life.

Aleister Crowley’s relationship with the goddess he named "Babalon" is a fascinating part of his occult philosophy and practice, representing one of the most potent archetypes in his magickal system. Babalon, for Crowley, was not only a goddess but also a symbol of the liberated, divine feminine energy—a powerful, transformative force at the heart of his beliefs about human consciousness, sexuality, and spiritual ascension.

1. The Archetype of Babalon in Thelema

In The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis), Crowley introduces the Thelemic goddess Nuit, but his understanding of Babalon evolved from this archetype into a separate, specific entity embodying the divine feminine’s liberating and erotic aspects. Crowley’s Babalon was a figure of ecstatic freedom, self-empowerment, and divine intoxication. She was simultaneously a spiritual force and a guide for those willing to face the unknown and transcend conventional morality.

2. Symbolism and Attributes of Babalon

Babalon, often identified with the Biblical "Whore of Babylon," does not represent debasement in Crowley’s teachings but rather a sacred liberation of sexual and spiritual energy. She represents the "Scarlet Woman" or the priestess who opens herself fully to divine forces and revels in the physical and mystical aspects of love, with no shame or repression. This contrasts with traditional Judeo-Christian views of sexuality, which often associate such archetypes with sin or downfall. For Crowley, Babalon’s unrestricted expression symbolized true spiritual liberation, challenging conventional ideas of morality and purity.

3. Babalon and the Holy Grail

Crowley further associated Babalon with the Holy Grail, which in his symbolism was filled with the “blood of the saints,” signifying the collected essence of souls who had achieved spiritual transcendence. To Crowley, Babalon’s “Grail” was the vessel into which all seekers' souls might be poured, merging individual consciousness into the universal. Thus, devotion to Babalon became a form of surrender that transcended ego and personal desire, uniting the seeker with the All.

4. Babalon and Ritual Practices

In Crowley’s rituals, Babalon played a role similar to the Divine Feminine in other mystic traditions but with unique qualities. Crowley performed various rites and invocations to honor Babalon, often focusing on sacred sexuality as a path to enlightenment. His "Scarlet Woman" partners, who he believed incarnated aspects of Babalon, acted as priestesses or conduits for her energy, helping Crowley access her transformative power through ritual sex and magick.

5. The Babalon Working and Later Developments

Although Crowley had passed by the time of the Babalon Working, the legacy of his relationship with Babalon continued to influence later magicians. The Babalon Working, led by Jack Parsons with the help of L. Ron Hubbard in the 1940s, aimed to incarnate Babalon on Earth as a new aeonic force that would transform humanity’s spiritual landscape. Crowley’s vision of Babalon as the gateway to cosmic unity and boundless spiritual freedom remained influential, representing a central aspect of Thelemic magick.

In summary, Babalon for Crowley embodied the divine feminine power of transformation, liberation, and ecstasy, an archetype intended to guide the aspirant beyond the confines of ego and into union with the divine. Her role within Thelema challenges conventional norms and reflects Crowley’s revolutionary approach to spirituality, blending mysticism, sexuality, and transcendence into a singular, potent image of sacred feminine power.

The Kundalini, or Fiery Lion Serpent is the Vital aspect of Life Force, which in manifestation, is duality of passivity and activity in a rhythmic beat, like a heart. Kundalini is known as the Sacred Fire, when in its active phase, purposely unleaded by Willed goal.

The UNIVERSE key 21, is the completion of the LUST CARD, and you'll see the Woman figure riding the Lion Serpent on the Lust card, dancing with the Serpent Force in the Universe card.

Both illustrations are veils, concealing the principles of the Creatrix Babalon although at different ends of manifestation. LUST is the beginning of Microcosm created by the Creatrix and THE UNIVERSE (Lilith/ Ereshkigal/Babalon) Card represents the completion of it. Both cards are of that which is Womb, at the Highest Level, the womb-man who has tamed the Lion-Serpent and the womb-man who dances in space surrounded by the Cherubim of the four elements are both expressions of that which is the EMPRESS/Binah key 3.

Again, this is an immensely powerful Qabalistic path and those of sensitive psyche will be profoundly affected. One must appreciate the fact that this Path of Teth (meaning Snake), Lust Card, is a statement of methodology, whereby the Original Will controls the Vital Life Energy. We must also remember that the word- Power, means "the ability to do work" and our body, if Loved as a master Craftsman loves and adores one's favorite-tools, gives us Willed -Power in this dimension of crystallized energy.

A power to weave our very own Vital Life Force into masterpieces of Self Identity! 

But be warned, for "here be dragons", if your sexual desires are kept as those of a "Wanna-Be" man-made personality, upon encountering the Kundalini, one will become so obsessed with sexual union, that they can't eat or sleep and madly seek sexual gratification. This, then, could be a time for institutionalization!

This Divine Frenzy requires a focused willful intelligence, much like Gilgamesh of Sumerian/Babylonian legend (shown and explained in earlier blogs on Babylonian Tarot Cards) and not some mad hatter personality, which can't even control its own thought.

I would recommend that one Scry the Thoth card only after one can hold a one- thought or image focus during an entire meditation and after one has already met the "Secret Lover" within! For, any Psyche that Touches the Lust of The Great Father/Mother Divine Creative, will be profoundly charged, changed, and expanded beyond comfortable perspectives, all of which can be dangerous to the balance of our delicate false ego's and illusionary persona.

In other words, one must be diligently trained in channeling higher and higher vibratory levels of Vital Life Force, before they "Ride the Lion-Serpent". For this "Bad boy" is not just for any rodeo rider, it is the impassioned Roar of the "Big Bang", that started it all! That is why A. Crowley calls the Traditional Strength card Lust. For even the "little lust" of the manifested (Microcosm) seems to be beyond the cultural ego's control, as most every theologian's or politician's "secret life" will show. It is hard to imagine, what the Macrocosmic Lust would do to such a weak emotional identity, but then again, we have historical examples in Caligula, Adolf Hitler, Trump etc.

The Heat applied, is the great passion within the confines of Tantric exercises, or the exercise of the Middle Pillar (Aleister Crowley's book,777), all of which I recommend that the interested party research. As Mustafa Jelaluddin Rumi, the 12th century Sufi Master Stated in his devotional poetry, "...I Want the Burning!", for if one is properly tempered by the Serpent fire, one is in ecstasy.

Crowley's imagery may shock some, as he presents the Whore of Babylon, taming the Lion-Serpent but then he understood that the epitome of virginity (sign of Virgo), was the Sacred Virgins of the Temples, before Christianity, made them "evil women" or Saints, of which both perspectives were confusingly applied.

The Christian word "Whore" is a bastardization of the Greek word, Hetacrate (meaning female companion) or Horae, who acted as midwives to the Greek Gods and inspired earthly horae (harlot-priestesses) to train men in the Sexual Mysteries. The temple dance, still called the Hora, was based on the Priestesses imitation of the zodiacal circling of "hours". Horology is Time keeping, because of the systems devised by the ancient Temple Priestesses of the Goddess. The Horae were called the "fair ones, begetter of all things who in appointed order, bring on day and night, summer and winter, so as to months and years grow full."

These "fair ones" had many names: The Tantric word for sacred harlot was Veshya (Mahanirvanatantra, 328), derived from the Divine Creatrix's oldest names in Greece and Rome, Hestia, or Vesta, "the hearth mother" who was served by Vestal Virgins who were originally harlot-priestesses. Then, "Hearth" and "Earth" both arose from the altar of the Saxon Goddess Ertha, or Heartha, the northern Hestia-Vesta. In fact, in the matriarchal age, every woman's hearth-fire was her altar. The hearth was also the omphalos (Orphic egg), (Potter & Sargent, 201) feminine hub of the Universe, and the navel-stone of the temple, around which the sacred harlots performed their Dance of Time.

In Egypt they were the "Ladies of the Hour", in Persia houris,

in Babylon harines; among Semites they were the "whores" call hor (a hole), ancestresses of the Horites.

Ishtar (arguably pronounced Easter), the Mesopotamian Creatrix, was considered the "Great Whore of Babylon", (Briffault 3, 169) who announced, "A prostitute compassionate am I."

Mary Magdalene, Priestess of the Temple of Mari in King Salomon's court (Malvern,49) stated, " Not only are we compassionate of ourselves, but we are compassionate of all the race of mankind."

These ancient harlots (Priestesses of Babalon) were revered for their learning and often commanded high social status and were considered the embodiment of the Queen of Heaven, who in Palestine was called Qadeshet, the Great Whore; therefore, the harlots were honored like queens at centers of learning in Greece and Asia Minor. Noteworthy is the empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, who began her career as a temple harlot (Bullough, 125). St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, was a harlot before she became, via revisionism, an empress-saint.

Yet the Whore of Babylon, the Fiery Feminine Divine Creative, is not "any man's" companion, she is the mother of the Solar-Father God, or " Wild Vital Life Force" known as the "serpent force". This "Powerful Form" of the Great Mother, is beautifully illustrated on the Thoth Tarot.
Therefore, she is the Great Whore and no man's servant; For She is impregnated by Photon Suns....Something more for the diligent student to investigate!

To me, Lust is the vigor and the rapture of vigor expressed in The True Presence, The Prometheus fire in us all. This Rapturous Vigor represents something I call "Will to Be"; when the Soul's "I will be" is fully established in the physical flesh. " Beauty and Strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force, and fire, are of us!"...to quote Crowley.

I really recommend that the truly seeking student get: THE BOOK OF THOTH (Egyptian Tarot) by Master Theron (Crowley) where the lascivious poetry and passionate prose, start a fire in your imagination. For this card cannot be easily understood by rational thought, it must be felt in your guts as a twisting- burning passion, to be understood A fiery Serpent encircling your spine.

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When the Lust or Strength card is thrown during a reading, it means:

• The querent will be experiencing or soon will be experiencing, in the next 11wks or months; passion, awareness, aliveness and strength to overcome.
• The querent is presently expressing their full creative abilities while also having a strong trust in those abilities.
• There is present the Principle of Courage and Self Esteem. The inner passion of Will-To-Be- is appearing in the querent's waking consciousness.
• The querent could be called an Enchantress or is a passionate animal /nature/ helper.
• The querent may also find Magical helpers through the Matriarchal Conscious that brings sexuality and language to her people. Also, knowing from the heart what is needed.
•  Loving passion.
• The querent is relying on spiritual powers to manage the situation at hand and is receiving the strength to overcome. 
• Following one's own inner light, doing what their "heart of heart" inner self says is right.
• There can be an experiencing of a "gut level" driving force, instinctual and compelling for protection or survival.
• Also, possessing the courage of one's convictions.
• The strength of Passion, in Higher Nature, is power, courage, energy, action and magnanimity.
• One is experiencing the Law of Self-Domination, self-rule and self-control.

If ill defined, this card is about obstinacy and the negatives of the above passions without love. Spiritual and sexual deviancy (one of which is celibacy).

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