Explore Thoth Tarot ATU 11 – Lust and the Arcane Tarot Key 8 – Strength through Western Hermetic Qabalah. Discover their solar fire symbolism, deeper meanings, and how these cards reveal the fusion of divine desire and spiritual will.

The Thoth ATU 11 – Lust is the controversial cousin of the traditional Strength card. In many decks, what Crowley names Lust appears instead as Strength, and the numbering often flips between 8 and 11 depending on the system. Crowley, however, was adamant that there is far more occult accuracy and magical power in the title Lust than in the more moralistic, Victorian-sounding Strength. This is not about repression or taming the animal nature, but about the ecstatic, willing union with it.

On the Thoth card, the Scarlet Woman/Goddess rides the Lion-Serpent—a composite Beast of solar fire and serpentine Kundalini. Many readers and occultists identify Her with Lilith or with the Sumerian Ereshkigal, the Dark Queen of the Underworld. This association arises in part from the myth of Lilith as the “First Wife” of Adam—the genetically pure Human prototype—who refused subjugation and insisted on equality. Rather than submitting to a patriarchal order, Lilith represents the untamed, sovereign Feminine Will: sexual, magical, and unapologetically free.

On the Path of Teth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Lust is not a card of polite restraint; it is the Mystery of consciously embracing the Beast within, riding the primal forces of desire instead of being dragged by them. Here, passion is not a sin to be conquered but a current to be directed by the Solar Self. To truly understand this Trump, we must be willing to confront our inherited religious shame, our cultural fear of power, and our own resistance to embodied divinity.

There is a great deal to unpack within this Pathway—mythic, Qabalistic, astrological, and deeply personal. Take your time with this blog, let the images work on you, and read slowly. Lust is not just a card to be “interpreted”; it is a force to be experienced in the depths of your own Being.

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

Thoth ATU XI — The Solar Fire of Divine Union

The Thoth Tarot’s ATU XI – Lust is one of the most radically re-envisioned Trumps in the entire Major Arcana. Where most traditional Tarot decks present Strength—a gentle maiden taming a lion—Aleister Crowley saw this image as too moralistic, too domesticated, and ultimately out of alignment with the true magical current of the Path of Teth (ט), the Serpent of Leo.

Crowley replaced Strength with Lust, a word chosen not as provocation but as revelation. For him, this card is not about restraining the Beast, but dissolving the barrier between the human and the divine through ecstatic union. Lust is the solar intoxication of the awakened Will—what he called “the enjoyment of all experience.”

🔥 The Thoth Woman on the Beast — Lilith, Ereshkigal, Babalon

The Scarlet Woman riding the Lion-Serpent has long stirred powerful archetypal associations. Many intuitively identify her as:

• Lilith, the First Wife of the Adam—the genetically pristine primordial human—who declared her equality and refused to bow.

• Ereshkigal, Sumerian Queen of the Underworld, who strips all illusions before granting rebirth.

• Babalon, Crowley’s mystic embodiment of the Divine Feminine, riding the Beast 666.

These goddesses share a common quality:
sovereignty without apology.

Lilith’s Rebellion

Lilith’s refusal to submit to Adam echoes the very essence of Lust. She is not a “fallen woman,” but the one who stood upright before the Demiurgic order and declared her own Being. She embodies the primal, liberated Kundalini current—the Lion-Serpent that cannot be tamed, only ridden by those equal to it.

Ereshkigal’s Underworld Authority

Ereshkigal governs the depth of subconscious fire—the dark womb where Inanna is stripped to bone before ascending. In the Thoth image, the woman’s naked joy atop the Beast mirrors this initiatory surrender to the primal forces that burn away all falsity.

Babalon’s Ecstatic Yes

Crowley explicitly identifies the woman as Babalon, whose Cup receives all experience and transmutes it into divine wine. In her, nothing is rejected; all becomes fuel for spiritual fire.

This is the essential formula of ATU XI:
not restraint, but radical acceptance as a magical act.

🔥 Why Crowley Rejected “Strength”

Traditional Strength cards emphasize control, purity, chastity, moral restraint. Crowley considered this Victorian virtue-ethic a distortion of the Hermetic Mysteries.

ATU XI is assigned to:

• Teth (Serpent)

• Leo (Solar Fire)

• The Kundalini Serpent rising through the spine

• The Beast — the unrestrained force of life

To call this card "Strength" reduces it to a moral lesson.
To call it Lust restores its full magical formula.

“Lust” here is not sexual excess—it is the ecstatic rapture of uniting the Divine Will with its fiery vehicle. The woman doesn’t tame the Beast; she becomes one with it, directing its power without suppressing its nature.

As Crowley wrote:
“It is the cry of the Soul in the passion of its rapture.”

🔥 The Path of Teth — Riding the Solar Beast

Teth connects Chesed (Mercy) to Geburah (Severity) on the Tree of Life. It is the balancing of the highest masculine force and the highest feminine force in the ethical triad.

On this Path, the aspirant learns:

• Desire is not the enemy.

• Suppression is not mastery.

• Fear cannot govern the True Will.

Lust is the moment the ego offers itself into the Cup of Babalon—
and the Solar Will is ignited.

🔥 The Lion-Serpent — Kundalini as Solar Beast

In the Thoth card, the Beast is not just a lion—it coils with serpentine wisdom. This hybrid symbolizes:

• Leo's solar fire

• Kundalini’s serpentine ascent

• The fusion of primal instinct with awakened consciousness

The Lion-Serpent is the rising Sun within the body.

The woman—Lilith, Ereshkigal, Babalon—does not quell this fire. She rides it in sacred intoxication, overflowing the Cup.

This is the dance of divine intoxication:
the body as the wand, the cup as the soul, the fire as the Will.

🔥 Lust as the Gate to Tiphareth (The Sun)

In the Thoth sequence, Lust is immediately followed by ATU XIX – The Sun.

This is not coincidence—it is initiation.

Lust is the trial by fire before the revelation of the Solar Child.
Before one can stand in Tiphareth as the Sovereign Self,
one must shed all falsehood through ecstatic surrender.

The old personality—the “saints”—is poured into the Cup.
The new Solar Being rises radiant.

Crowley saw Lust as the crucible that births the Christ/Bodhisattva/Horus Child within.

🔥 Crowley’s Reordering: Why ATU XI Belongs Here

Crowley swapped the positions of:

• Strength (Key 11 → 8)

• Justice/Adjustment (Key 8 → 11)

He did this to:

• Restore the correct astrological correspondences

• Align the Trumps with Hebrew letters

• Honor Leo as the rightful ruler of the Serpent Path

• Integrate Qabalistic symmetry in the Tree of Life

In Crowley’s system:

• 8 (Adjustment) aligns with Libra

• 11 (Lust) aligns with Leo

• Both are essential balances of Fire and Air in the ethical world

This reordering is not cosmetic—it is the architecture of the Mysteries.

🔥 Closing Insight: One Does Not Conquer the Beast… One Becomes It

The Thoth Lust card does not teach moral restraint.
It teaches ecstasy as liberation.
It teaches union as illumination.
It teaches sovereignty through surrender to the True Will.

The Beast is the Solar Fire within you.
The Woman is the Soul riding that fire into Godhead.

Lust is the power, the joy, the rapture
of saying Yes to your own divine nature.

This is not a card of taming the animal.
It is the revelation that the animal is divine
when ridden by an awakened Soul.

🔥 Crowley’s Vision in The Book of Thoth:

Lust as the Courage, Ardour, and Creative Passion of Leo

In The Book of Thoth, Crowley emphasizes that Lust embodies “the courage and ardour of Leo... inspired by the passion of creation.” This is not mere bravery or moral fortitude—it is Solar Courage, a fire that rises from the center of the soul (Tiphareth) and radiates outward through the body.

For Crowley, Lust is the engine of manifestation, the ecstatic fusion of force and form. He saw it as the magical formula of life itself:

• The masculine and feminine currents blending

• The serpent fire rising

• The ego dissolving into the divine frenzy

• The human will igniting into the True Will

This was not symbolic sentiment.
This was alchemy in motion.

Crowley considered Lust to be the operational secret behind every creative act—from childbirth and art to rituals, invocations, and mystical realization. In Thelema, desire isn’t something to suppress—it’s the raw fuel of enlightenment, once purified and directed.

Thus, Lust is not about indulgence.
It is about ecstasy as a gateway to spiritual identity.

🔥 3. Babalon: The Scarlet Grail of Thelema

Ecstasy, Openness, and Divine Transformation

Crowley’s association of ATU XI with Babalon is foundational to Thelemic philosophy. Babalon is not a mere mythic figure—she is a metaphysical formula, an archetypal force, and the ultimate expression of the Divine Feminine in Thelema.

Crowley wrote that Babalon is the Holy Grail itself, the Cup of the Mother who receives all experience and transmutes it into pure spiritual gold. She is both:

• The Whore of the Gods — because she refuses nothing

• The Mother of Abominations — because she births all transformations

• The Grail — because she is the Vessel of the True Will

• The Gate — because one enters the divine through her openness

Her sacred invitation is absolute:
“Pour yourselves into me, and be renewed.”

In this sense, the Lust card reflects the complete surrender of the ego into the Cup of Babalon—where the false self is dissolved, and the Solar Child (Horus) emerges. Babalon does not “tempt” or “seduce” in the moralistic sense; she opens the gates of consciousness by accepting all aspects of existence—light, shadow, divinity, and flesh—without shame or resistance.

The Magical Formula: Love Under Will

Crowley’s core axiom—
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.”
—finds its lived expression in ATU XI.

• Do what thou wilt is the clarity of purpose

• Love is the law is the ecstatic flow of energy

• Love under will is the mastery of directing that energy

In the Lust card, this formula becomes literal:

• The Beast = the raw, fiery Will

• Babalon = the governing Soul who rides the Beast

• The Chalice = the vessel of surrender and transformation

• The Serpent-Lion = kundalini and solar fire unified

Babalon receives all experience into the Cup, and in doing so, nothing of the self remains untouched or untransfor

🔥 Babalon as the Thelemic Key to ATU XI

Open, Ecstatic, and Terrifyingly Free

In the imagery of the Thoth Tarot:

• Babalon rides the Beast, unafraid, intoxicated with divine rapture.

• Her Cup overflows with the “blood of the saints”—the sacrifice of the false identities we cling to.

• Her hair streams upward like flame.

• Her body is arched in union with the primal fire of Leo.

Babalon is not restrained.
She is sovereign.

She is not “pure.”
She is whole.

She is not separate from the Beast.
She commands it through union.

In this, Crowley reveals a deeper teaching:
one does not rise to the divine by denial, but by radical acceptance and transformation.

🔥 Why Lust Is the Most Misunderstood Trump

The average reader sees Lust and thinks “sex.”
The Hermetic aspirant sees Lust and thinks alchemy.
The Thelemite sees Lust and thinks initiation.
The Adept sees Lust and thinks the formula of the Sun.

Crowley chose this card as a hinge-point in the journey toward Tiphareth.
It is the cleansing fire before the illumination of the Sun card.
It is the joyful destruction of illusion.
It is the body becoming a vessel of the True Will.

Babalon is the Grail.
The Beast is the Will.
Lust is the union.
And in union, the Solar Child is born.

🦁 The Arcane Tarot — Key 8: Strength

The Inner Lion, the Abyssal Womb, and the Power of Quiet Courage

The Arcane Tarot – Key 8: Strength retains the traditional numbering and iconography familiar from the Rider–Waite–Smith system. Rather than Crowley’s ecstatic fusion of woman and Beast, this deck returns to the classical motif: a woman exerting gentle, unarmed mastery over a lion.

Yet the Arcane Tarot enriches this familiar image with a distinctly cosmic dimension.

At the forefront strides an ornately adorned Male Lion, mane blazing like a solar corona, advancing with deliberate majesty. Behind him whirl planets, stars, and nebulae, signaling that this is no mere terrestrial creature—it is the Lion of the Macrocosm, the fiery core of the human will, emerging from the cosmic matrix itself.

The accompanying text links this Lion directly to woman’s inner strength, which resonates profoundly with Hermetic symbolism. In the Western Qabalah, Woman is not defined by physical might, but by her identity as the Abyssal Womb of the Macrocosm—the primordial matrix through which form is gestated, balanced, and ultimately redeemed.

Thus, the Strength card becomes an emblem of:

• Inner sovereignty

• Compassion over coercion

• The capacity to hold and transmute force rather than suppress it

Rather than riding the Beast in ecstatic union (as in Thoth Lust), the Arcane Tarot depicts a quieter, subtler alchemy:
the taming of instinct through presence, calm, and spiritual centeredness.

This interpretation stands firmly in the lineage of the RWS Strength card, where the maiden gently closes the lion’s jaws with bare hands, wearing only a simple gown. Her power is not muscular, but vibrational—the power of heart coherence, inner equilibrium, and serene mastery of emotional force.

🔮 Upright Meaning

Tap into your inner strength, resilience, and quiet confidence.
This card signals that victory comes not from force, but from self-mastery. You overcome obstacles through patience, compassion, and steadfastness of heart—not through domination or outward aggression.

• Trust your inner reserves of power

• Move with calm determination

• Let gentleness become your shield

Strength is the art of leaning inward, into one’s own divine center.

❤️ Relationships

Strength encourages emotional intelligence in partnership.
Use empathy and attentive presence to nourish the relationship. When conflicts arise, bring calm instead of reaction. Rein in impulsivity and respond from your highest self. This is a card of kindness as power, not weakness.

💼 Career

In work matters, Strength urges you to show competence through steady self-assurance. Let your actions speak for you. Avoid being swept by emotion or pressured into haste. You are more capable than you realize—stand firm and confident.

⚠️ Reversed

Reversed, Strength suggests:

• Self-doubt

• Emotional overwhelm

• Allowing instinct or aggression to override wisdom

This can signal losing touch with your inner center—the lion roaring louder than the maiden’s guiding hand. It’s a reminder to pause, breathe, and reclaim your composure. Return to patience, presence, and the deeper wellspring of inner power.

🦁🔥 Side-by-Side Comparison: Thoth ATU XI – Lust vs. Arcane Tarot Key 8 – Strength

Two Lions, Two Mysteries, One Path of Inner Fire

Though both cards feature the Lion—a primordial symbol of solar fire, instinct, courage, and the will—they express entirely different spiritual philosophies.
One is ecstatic union (Thoth).
The other is quiet mastery (Arcane/RWS).

Together, they reveal the full spectrum of the Hermetic Path of Teth.

1. Philosophical Foundation

✨ Thoth ATU XI – Lust (Crowley/Harris)

• Represents ecstatic fusion with the Beast

• Celebrates divine intoxication, rapture, passion, and alchemical combustion

• Embodies Thelemic philosophy: “Love is the law, love under will.”

• The woman (Babalon/Lilith/Ereshkigal) is not restraining the Beast—she is one with it

• Desire is transformed into spiritual fire

• The ego is offered into the Cup of Babalon

Core idea:
Union, not control. Becoming the Beast, not taming it.

✨ Arcane Tarot Key 8 – Strength

• Retains the classical RWS philosophy

• Emphasizes inner calm, compassion, and gentle mastery

• Represents spiritual resilience and patience

• The woman closes the lion’s jaws without force

• Power arises from self-control and emotional regulation

Core idea:
Calm mastery over instinct. Patience as strength.

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.

2. The Lion Symbolism

🔥 Thoth Lust

The Lion-Serpent is the Kundalini Solar Beast:

• Serpentine fire

• Solar radiance

• The raw Will rising

• The divine masculine force electrified by the feminine Will

It is instinct + spirit fused into one unstoppable power.

🦁 Arcane Strength

The Lion is the animal soul (Nephesh) that must be harmonized by the higher self:

• Instinct

• Emotion

• Fight-or-flight impulses

• Lower passions

The lion is not destroyed—it is calmed and understood.

3. Feminine Image and Function

🔥 Thoth Lust

The feminine figure is:

• Babalon, Holy Grail

• Lilith, First Wife of Adam

• Ereshkigal, Abyssal Queen

• The Scarlet Woman

• The Great Mother of Ecstasy

She is sovereign, radiant, intoxicated with divine fire.
Her function is to transform all experience into will-made wine.

🜁 Arcane Strength

The feminine figure is:

• The inner cosmic expanse.

• The gentle maiden

• The serene soul

• The moral center

• The one who “faces the lion unarmed”

She expresses inner moral strength, compassion, and healing presence.

Her function is to calm, balance, and pacify.

4. Qabalistic Attributions

🔥 Thoth ATU XI – Lust

• Hebrew Letter: Teth (ט), “Serpent”

• Path: Chesed ↔ Geburah

• Astrology: Leo

• Function: Alchemical fusion; ecstatic transformation

• Formula: Babalon + Beast = Solar Union

• Sphere Result: Preparation for Tiphareth (Sun)

🜁 Arcane Key 8 – Strength

Although the Arcane Tarot is not a Golden Dawn Qabalistic deck, its symbolism aligns with:

• The RWS tradition

• Strength as a moral-psychological archetype

• The Lion as the Nephesh

• The Maiden as Tiphareth’s gentle influence

• The Infinity symbol (lemniscate) above the woman’s head in RWS, representing balance

Arcane Strength occupies the “moral equilibrium” niche traditionally assigned to Key 8.

5. Magical Formula and Alchemy

🔥 Thoth Lust – The Formula of Ecstasy

This card is a ritual in itself:

• The ego is dissolved

• Desire is sanctified

• The union of opposites produces the Solar Child

• Fire becomes illumination

• Passion becomes Will

• The aspirant becomes the Beast—the Will made flesh

Arcane Strength – The Formula of Mastery

This card is the yoga of inner calm:

• Instinct is tamed

• Emotion is centered

• Fear is overcome

• Compassion becomes power

• Self-control becomes sovereignty

It is the temperance of force, not the glorification of it.

6. Psychological Meaning

7. Reading Them Side by Side

🔥 Thoth Lust tells you:

“Unleash. Transform. Say yes to your fire.”
Follow the True Will with fiery ecstasy.
Do not repress desire—transmute it.

🜁 Arcane Strength tells you:

“Stay centered. Breathe. Tame the inner lion.”
Approach life with calm, compassion, and patience.
Restraint is your power.

8. One Lion, Two Initiations

🜂 Final Hermetic Insight:

Thoth Lust is the fire of becoming.
Arcane Strength is the calm of being.

One teaches you to ride the inner fire.
The other teaches you to temper it.

Together, they reveal the complete Lion Mystery:
the Beast within you is both the fire of your becoming and the force you must learn to harmonize.

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.

🔥 Teaching the Great Passion “To Be” Without Misinterpretation

Guiding aspirants into the Mystery of Great Passion—the Hermetic fire of Being itself—without them collapsing it into sexual obsession is one of the most delicate initiatory tasks. This is because the energy awakened by ATU XI is the same current that fuels biological desire, creativity, vitality, and kundalini ascent.

When an aspirant touches this force, the body often interprets the surge as erotic, because the physical vessel only knows one language for fire. But the Magus knows that this is not mere sensuality—
it is the Will-to-Create permeating the psychic field.

This is why the first encounter with the Lust current often produces a phenomenon similar to kundalini frenzy:

• rising heat

• falling back into inertia

• surges of inspiration

• then exhaustion

• waves of emotion

• and the burning away of culturally conditioned thought structures

This oscillation can be terrifying for the uninitiated because it dissolves the personality’s inherited worldview—its false moralities, its sexual shame, its repression, its patriarchal conditioning. The “civilized ego” is simply not built to withstand this level of fire without training.

Like the stars themselves, this energy is tireless, radiant, and relentless.
And when the psyche begins to mirror that tirelessness, it can feel overwhelming… until it is stabilized.

Thus, to manage this sacred fire without collapsing into obsession, addiction, or egoic inflation, the aspirant must learn regulated immersion—what the ancient initiates called “dipping into the fire, then withdrawing to cool.”

This is why Tantra Yoga, in its true pre-patriarchal form, becomes an indispensable tool.

🔥 Why Tantra Yoga Is Essential in the Path of Lust (Teth / Leo)

Tantra Yoga is not sexual technique.
It is energy regulation, breath discipline, and the sacred art of balancing:

• Shakti (serpent fire)

• Shiva (stillness)

In the context of ATU XI:

Tantra provides a vessel strong enough to hold the fire.

It trains the aspirant to:

• Ride the wave of passion without being drowned

• Expand the breathing field so kundalini flows smoothly

• Dissolve shame without collapsing into indulgence

• Anchor the fire in the heart center (Tiphareth) rather than the pelvic region

• Maintain consciousness during states of ecstasy

Most importantly, it prevents the “rise-and-crash” cycle that destabilizes the untrained psyche.

Tantra teaches the Hero how to:

• Rise with the fire

• Descend in equilibrium

• And rise again with even greater clarity

Eventually, the oscillation stabilizes.
The fire becomes steady solar radiance, not uncontrolled flame.

This is when the aspirant shifts from:

🔥 Kundalini frenzy → 🌞 Solar coherence

And the Great Passion becomes the joy of Being, not the craving for experience.

🔥 Final Hermetic Clarification for Your Students

The Passion of Lust is not sexual desire.
It is the ecstasy of existence itself—
the Soul’s rapture in realizing its own divinity.

The body may translate this as erotic sensation at first,
but the trained initiate learns to elevate this fire into the heart,
where it becomes:

• creative force

• spiritual purpose

• radiant presence

• courageous Being

• the Will made flesh

This is the true teaching of Lust:
How to burn without being consumed.
How to desire without being driven.
How to Be, without needing to become.

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."

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.

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 implying that the Organic Matte that eats itself is the great tempter. 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/Energy 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 (Dark Mater/matter), and the other side reflective of the image of all who investigate it. That could also be called the Dark Unconscious and the light 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"!

Hence, 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.

"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.

  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.

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.

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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