(the understanding) in the next incarnation or in other generations which follow. Therefore this card expresses the idea of reincarnation or a renewal of life after destruction. The thirteenth card has its evil or negative aspect as a symbol of necromancy, or the evocation of the shades of the dead, for here we find the gaunt skeleton returning to earth through magical formulæ to reap his harvest. It can readily be seen, however, that this is but a misunderstanding and perversion of the true meaning, which is the renewal of life and return to incarnation of the Souls harvested by Death that they may work out that which they have sown; and not the evocation of the empty shells or cast-off astral envelopes incapable of thought. Thus while the Great Mother-Divine Love is its true symbol, its evil side has for its symbol what Éliphas Lévi describes as the Queen of the World, “Knowest thou that old queen of the world who is on the march always and wearies never? Every uncurbed passion, every selfish pleasure, every licentious energy of humanity, and all its tyrannous weakness, go before the sordid mistress of our tearful valley, and scythe in hand, these indefatigable laborers reap their eternal harvest."4 The Bible calls her the scarlet woman. "Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth on many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."5 As long as the place of the Divine Mother is taken up by this creature, the earth and its inhabitants must bring forth in sin, and while they do so, Death the Reaper is a blessing. To live forever subject to the whims of this old Queen of the World who has usurped the Divine Motherhood would be unbearable. Hence in this respect Death the Reaper is in truth a beneficent friend. We need the sleep of so-called death, not only that our consciousness being transferred to another plane may see 4 Transcendental Magic, Lévi, 181. 5 Revelation, XVII, 1-2, the happenings of our past life from a new angle and thus judge the hidden springs of action, but we also need it that we may wait patiently for the harvest we sowed in our past life to grow and be reaped, that when we again return we may take up the task of separating the wheat from the tares. This could not be done in one life, since both must grow together till the harvest. Only when the skeleton Reaper has put in his scythe and we have had our eyes opened and have been able to look at our work from an entirely new viewpoint in the higher realms, are we able to distinguish which is which. Therefore since in our next earth life our work must be burning the tares and gathering the wheat into the garner, physical immortality without re-generation would be a bitter curse. CHAPTER XXI. Number 14. THE MENTAL FOUNDATION. "Every week-that is every fourteen thousand years the soul bathes itself and reposes in the jubilee dream of forgetfulness."-The Kabbalah Unveiled, Mathers, 37. Just as we found number four to be the Foundation Stone or the physical basis upon which nature is built, so we may look upon number 14 as being the Foundation Stone in the mental world or the Mental Foundation upon which must be built the higher mental conceptions of Truth. As we have said elsewhere,1 "After having laid the foundation stone, with its four-fold base, upon which the personality must be sacrificed, yet which is necessary to a true foundation, let us lay one more stone upon the pyramid of truth which we are erecting in our lives. Since this pyramid is to be our Tower of Truth in the three worlds, until we have its foundation laid in each of the worlds our Tower cannot, reach into the heavens. This stone we will call our mental foundation stone. "The Hermetic' axiom, 'As above so below, as below so above,' applies in all realms. Just as in the creation of a world the rocks must first solidify and take form ere the work of creation can proceed, so in the mental world our conceptions of Truth must solidify and take form ere our mental world can be founded upon a rock, ere we can truly enter upon the Path of Illumination.” This Mental Foundation the Soul must lay for itself, first through the mental analysis and then through the synthesis of the experiences gained in the completed cycle of number ten. For number 14 is all that number four symbolizes, with the power of number ten added. We must also consider it from the digital valuation of 1+45 or humanity (5), the thinking being or manas, the man who has recognized in him 1 See lesson, The Mental Foundation, Curtiss, self the One Life and consciously laid his Foundation Stone [(4) in the mental world and upon it begun the erection of his [Temple of the Living Christ. Number 14 is called the Number of the Mental Foundation because it is only when the mind of man has laid a firm foundation and knows on what to build up his mental structure that he can become a balanced thought-producer. Without such a foundation his thoughts are but fleeting and are not spiritually vital; mere waves of thought-force often not his own which are passing through his mind; thought-forces of the community in which he dwells. But a balanced mind, while still receiving the thought-waves of the community, has gained the ability to weigh them and reject those which do not appeal to him or which do not harmonize with the ideals he has set for himself. He can also help transmute the error he finds in the community-thought and send it forth again in corrected and helpful thought-waves. In short, one who has laid for himself this Mental Foundation, in a large measure is master of his thoughts, hence is a leader of the thoughts of others. One who has thus balanced his own mind becomes to the community a rock or jetty against which the waves of adverse, trifling and impractical thoughts may toss yet never override; a breakwater which turns the tides of thought into wise and helpful channels. Number 14 therefore represents the man who has balanced his mind or put his mental house in order and who has laid four-square the cubic stone whose four corners are the four Ps described by us elsewhere as follows: "The four corners of the Mental Foundation Stone are Perception, Promptness, Perseverance and Perfection, the four Ps. In all manifested forms God geometrizes. Hence that which indicates the Spirit, the substance and the life as expressed through geometry, brings to us a realization of our oneness with all, with God. Let us then briefly consider the geometrical design of the letter P. Originally it was made up of a circle-symbolizing a sphere of the unmanifested-lifted a little above the earth. In this case we will call the sphere the mental world or that sphere of conception which our mentality is capable of entering, grasping and cognizing. From the circle there reaches down to earth a perpendicular line or pedestal upon which it rests. In other words, the letter P is a modification of a circle resting upon the top of a fixed perpendicular line. This line represents unity or 1, also the I, that conception of I-am-ness which we must gain by reaching up into the mental world long ere we are ready to lay our Mental Foundation Stone and prepare for spiritual illumination. Until we have carved this four-fold Stone and placed it upon its pedestal in the mental world we have no sure foundation of knowledge upon which to stand or build." Thus we must place such a monument at each of the four corners as a support for our Mental Foundation Stone. When these four corners of the Mental Foundation Stone are laid and the disciple has carved them true, especially the third, he will be surprised to find the fourth corner has apparently carved itself in the night while he slept, or during the long days when he was so busy with the other three Ps. This fourth corner P is perfection, and he will wonder at its attainment, even as the prince did when he found his wonderful palace erected in a night by the magician. For every one has a magician to work for him once he learns how to command him. We call this magician the Will, which never fails to work its wonders for all who make it their servant. But like Aladdin we must polish up the Lamp of Truth, keep it bright and shining, and whenever we call upon our magician we must rub the lamp; for Truth pure, bright, shining and uncovered is the lamp or receptacle for the divine Light of Illumination, and the magician will only obey one who knows how to keep this lamp polished, trimmed and burning. It is only when we cultivate the Will and recognize it as a wonder working magician, given us to use and not to shut up in a 2 The Mental Foundation, Curtiss. |