This book is a promise to all who use the new tarot that they shall surmount the world, change the world and themselves, and thus usher in a new age. How? Not through power; the eagle is hooded. Not through fame; the Changer is covered. It will be through beauty. The white flower of creativity is offered to the heavens in a pure spirit, unmixed by thoughts of personal gain or power. The Thinker has destroyed beauty, creating an environment of pure functionalism. But the function of the environment is not complete if it has lost all beauty and meaning. So, off with his head! That is the function of the axe of the headsman sewn into the Changer's tunic. The Thinker has led the sheep into a desert of shallow rationalism, in which all the higher forms of life have died. No purpose to life, no life beyond the functioning of the body, no risk or adventure, no magic or beauty, a safe and sterile world for robots. Into this desert the Changer brings a spring of fresh water from the deeps, and releases it freely with his left hand. It is there for all who seek, but is offered only with the left (yin) hand. It is offered, but first one must arrive at consciousness of thirst. In interpreting the white flower, it is well to remember that the former name of this card is the Mage. Magic is misunderstood by friend and foe alike. Foe imagine it to be mere stage illusion, mere Houdini. Friend imagine it to be incantation and rite, which stands in some cause and effect relationship to reality. In truth, real magic is art, and real art is magic. The art of the mage is to communicate subliminally with the depths of Self, his own and others. In this way, reality is slowly transformed indirectly, through pleasure rather than force or coercion. "The Changing Cne is to change and be changed... At this point of time let none measure the progress, or time, or activity.." Let none measure the time or progress, because the transition to the new age may take much longer than most suspect. It took 1000 years for the ideas of Confucius to flower into the golden age of China, and an equal amount of time for the Greco-Roman world to fall. Q: Is there a missing element? A coming shepherd? The shepherd is not some person, it is the Changer, who is dressed in the homespun brown of the shepherd. "Shepherd" means sheep-herder". It is no insult to compare people to sheep. Sheep are the most industrious and useful and versatile of animals, and the most courageous in their wild form, which inhabit rocky heights. But the dominant motivation of sheep is to be with the herd, and this is also true of people. Thus, they can easily be led astray by a wolf in sheep's clothing. "In the mouth of the lion is lodged the seed which must pass out and germinate. If his tail is tweaked, he will swallow it alas. If he is beset by wolves, they will steal it. He may knowingly pass it to a planter. Its fruit can juice the world. Unplanted, the seed will be a husk, dry and heavy. The lion may beget cubs then, but no more." Q: What is the seed? Would you be specific? Passages such as the ones quoted in this book accompany some of the descriptions. All quotes are from the BOOK OF T. In some cases they are highly relevant to the interpretation of the symbols, and in all cases are to be held in respect. The lion is any new age leader, here John Cooke specifically. The wolf is the dominant elite. The lion, the sheep, and the wolf appear in a number of these books and are part of the universal vocabulary of symbolism. In each case, their meanings derive from something unique or carried to extreme in their life-habits. The wolf is weaker and slower than its usual prey, the elk. Packs of wolves manage to catch large prey by helping one another. One will lay an ambush and the others will drive their prey towards it. The dominant elite is like that. Middle Americans are generally unaware that there is such a thing as a dominant elite, or that there is any class in America distinct from their own. In the Royal Maze of my own life, it was to find this out that 'chance' led me to Oberlin College, otherwise a miserable and unfruitful time. The male lion is a traditional symbol of leadership. Do you know why? It is not a matter of convention. Symbolism is always rooted in some unusual fact about the symbolic element. Male lions are unique among predators in that they do no hunting. Their 'family' hunts for them. This suggests the division of labor in human societies which enables spiritual, intellectual and artistic leaders to pursue their gift without having to grub for a living. Thus, in order to be a lion of the new age, you must find a way to pursue Solar activities full time, which implies a necessary willingness by the rest of us to support our young lions financially. The lions of new age leadership still lie asleep under the heel of the ACTOR, but have been released from the yoke of the Chariot in the VICTORIOUS ONE. If the lions can awaken and throw off illusion, they will be ready to "walk with other lions" and unite in upholding the seven ways in the ROYAL MAZE. The destiny of world unity thereby implied requires full time effort by at least a few. The seed that is lodged in the mouth of the lion, the new age leader who received this deck, is the seed of the new age, this revelation. The Nameless One could not 'tweak his tail' by telling him bluntly that the meaning of the Changer would be hidden from him. The meaning of the Changer is plain enough to those who understand the language. Nevertheless, there are things we will not state in English, in print, because we must be careful to keep the wolves from stealing the seed. Thus, the Way of the Sun will be a sacred way. The root meaning of "sacred" is "secret". That is why, alone among major arcana figures, the Changer is covered. A red stone pins the Changer's 'dress' together. People turn red when mad, embarrassed or straining. Red for passion. And it is our righteous anger at the wolf which keeps his clothing pinned and thereby keeps the Way sacred. At the end of the book, the One usually gave a one line interpretation, but in the case of the Changer, the Nameless One said "significance cannot be said!" Not to John Cooke. Meaning no disrespect to this advanced being, now deceased, I don't believe he was prepared to accept the proposition that the way to change the world was through magic. If told this, he would probably have simply ignored the revelation, and it would have been lost. This power is so unexpected by the world, that it comes "out of the blue", from on high, which is what the blue sky and high plateau means. Unfortunately, this aspect of the card is not clearly drawn. The Changer stands on a sphere. The sphere is the world. It is the same sphere held in the palm of the hand of the Actor, and used as a footrest for the Hanging Man. In the Changer, it is a promise to the new age, that we shall stand on top of the world, surmount all difficulties, and change the world, bringing about a new age. And we shall not do it through the force of government. We shall do it with the tools of the Changer, spread out upon cloth of gold below. These are the four symbols of the minor arcana. Before we can do the Mage-Art, we must discover our own new tarot, and build it around a suit of stones, a suit of curved blades, a suit of pears, and a suit of two-headed serpents. Primarily these stand for four different types of people and their appropriate actions. The four tools rest on cloth of gold. Gold is unique in being untarnishable. It doesn't rust or decay. Gold jewelry buried thousands of years ago is still just as beautiful as it was when buried. It is a substance easily purified. You merely heat it in a cauldron, and the rocky slag floats to the surface, while the metallic components stratify. Life is also a cauldron; it tends to purify the Self and gradually float away the slag and separate off the inferior metal, until the pure and untarnishable Self remains. Whenever you see gold used symbolically, think of the imperishable within, and its purification over many lifetimes. The four tools of the mage are the universal symbols in the collective unconscious, formed over many centuries. The Changer stands in the T-cross, open to the adventure of life, accepting the risks and dangers right along with the joys, as challenges to stimulate our greatness. And this should remind us that there is no simple formula for growth and change, and that we must adapt and struggle with each new day. The T philosophy is echoed in the double-bladed axe, which also has the T shape. There is more to it than that, however. The double-bladed axe has traditionally been the weapon of the headsman, the executioner. Taking into consideration the code of the Nameless One, this is obviously not an invitation to violence. What can it mean? The Thinker regards the head as the seat of intellect. While this belief is not psychonically correct, as a symbol, the head means intellect. "Off with their heads" is thus an expression of our opposition to the Thinker, the general symbol of evil in the new tarot, and replacement of the Satan card. This is heartfelt, and something to beat our breast about. We make no secret of our opposition to the 'mad scientist' and the unwholy creations of high technology. The narrow specialization of the expert is a false idol, and we must expose the feet of clay. The way to Change the world is to be a shepherd to mankind, to help those who are lost find their way, and to protect the flock from the wolf. How shall we do this? The principle way is the white flower. This is the Art of the Mage, the Yang side of the Changer. The rest of the card is principally advice as to what not to do to change the world. We should not be missionaries. Most spiritual and religious groups think they have a license to bother people. And, indeed, the sheep are dying of thirst in a cultural and spiritual desert. Yet the healing water from the deeps we can provide is offered only with the Yin hand. We will accept and nurture all who come to us and Seek. But first they must seek. We shall not change the world through government, either as revolutionaries, or as politicians. The eagle represents government because the eagle is the only universal predator, striking its prey in the air, on the ground, or in the water. Likewise, government is the universal predator, more powerful than anyone or anything, and a danger to all. Here, we have brought government under control, and put a hood on it like a tame falcon, though at a cost of three drops of blood. Thus, we shall oppose all revolutionaries (for all seek to change things with government), and we shall oppose all liberals who hold the same belief; we shall oppose all government, and seek the expansion of other institutions and traditions. This is done only in a Yin way. The eagle is on the left shoulder. This is not our crusade, or principal way of acting. I once supposed that world unity must require world government. Instead, world unity lies at the heart of our Royal Maze destiny, and comes about by the revival of the seven spiritual paths. We shall lead the world through the power of beauty. Lead on, gentle Changer. |
The Changer is a man standing on a sphere, with his arms stretched out to the sides, forming the sign of "T". His right palm is turned upward and holds a white flower. His left palm (on the right of the picture as we view it) is turned downward, and from it water falls. He wears a brown dress or tunic, stretching to his knees, and gathered at his right shoulder by a red stone. A double axe is woven into the cloth over his chest. An eagle, hooded in white, sits on his left shoulder, drawing three drops of blood. Spread below him on a cloth of gold are a stone, a two-headed serpent, a pear, and a curved blade. The whole scene is on a high plateau with clear blue sky.