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    SILENT SONG

    Being an integration of existing interpretations,

    leading to a discourse of

    An Original System of Magick

    focusing on:

    a Numerological

    approach to

    the Sacred Tarot

    as a system of Divination

    being a guide to

    Personal Healing, Growth,

    Psychological Integration,

    Individuation

    and

    Spiritual Development

    written by Randy Chance and consecrated this 1st day of the Year nineteen hundred and eighty seven,



    Part 1:

    An Introduction to the

    Sacred Tarot


    From the very beginnings of my interest in Magick, I was drawn irresistibly to the Tarot. That peculiar deck of colorfully illustrated cards seems to have inspired a singular energy among virtually all who become preoccupied with occult knowledge, as can be readily seen. It was certainly by far the single most endearing and lasting memory Mr. A. E. Waite has bequeathed to us, of all his many writings. And the unique Mr. Alistair Crowley seems to have possessed a singular affection for the cards, which culminated in his designing his own rather exceptional deck. History is filled with artists, kings and psychics, each of whose obsession with the Tarot has contributed to its colorful and mysterious story.

    Of the three predominant occult systems, Numerology seems most potent. Though we can discuss endlessly what Thoth was to the Egyptians and how it related to what Hermes meant to the Greeks, or Mercury to the Romans, as soon as I ask you how you feel about the number three, for instance, suddenly the conversation gets very personal. Subjective I dare say, easily to the point of madness, for these abstract archetypes are like an endless hole in one's psyche that nothing seems to plug up. It is for this purpose that, after having allowed myself an appropriate amount of confusion over the many Tarot forms and interpretations, I concluded that only a system of symbolism as personal as Numerology could give me the process needed for dredging up from my inner universe the raw material needed for a complete and original system of divination and occult philosophy. But Numerology is and of itself for this very reason far too inert to be practically applicable for spiritual purposes.

    Astrology, on the other hand, is anything but inert. The complexity of it's mechanism continually strains the thought processes almost to the point of rendering their contents undecipherable. And yet, for the very reason it's calculations are at the same time so accessible and yet so controversial, it has produced a wealth of symbolic imagery unequalled in any system which attracts the imagination (spiritual or otherwise). As much as this enormous wealth of imagery is needed for our purposes, I find the processes of Astrology too fixed, too constraining, to be really satisfying on a daily basis for spiritual healing and understanding.

    The Tarot has a unique ability to attach itself to that continuous dialogue that ushers forth between the conscious and the unconscious, or as A. E. Waite put it, from "behind the Veil". And like that dialogue, the statements of the Tarot are continually changing, continually in a state of flux, as is any living being. The Tarot's powers are a perfect testimony to the precept that a human being is not a thing, but a process. And so I would like to offer my own analysis of that process here, harvesting as well as I can from all these other occult systems, if I may, as well as from all the world's mystical and spiritual preoccupations, as they have guided and inspired me in my own experiences.

    Mary K. Greer, in her wonderful book, "Tarot for Yourself", encourages us to write an affirmation of our feelings about the Tarot, what it means to us, and what we would like to use it for. So,

    Put forth:

    A partial description of purposes for the Tarot.

    The Tarot is an ancient system of transpersonal symbols which have evolved from all of the human communities of the Earth since the beginning of civilization. The Tarot is a distillation of human experiences with the Unknown. Through endless encounters with endless people, the Tarot has developed into a set of High Magickal systems with infinite potential to provoke, change and transform human spiritual Being.

    Some of the major purposes of the Tarot are to create and help define a relationship between the unconscious and the conscious, between the Self and the ego, between God and man. And to concretize a process and a universe of inner symbolism. And to teach the relationship between that inner world and the symbols of the collective unconscious. And to provoke out of the intellectual ruts, the emotional and relationship scripts and the inertia of spiritual immaturity and stagnation, a process of healing, integration and individuation.

    Some of my primary motives for working with the Tarot are to learn a basis for creating my own personal approach to symbols. And to learn how to use the Tarot as a set of symbols for self knowledge, and for personal spiritual transformation.

    One of the most powerful ways in which the Tarot does what it does is the way in which it integrates the two hemispheres of the brain. The pictures, designs and visual symbols on the cards communicate with the right side of the brain, which deals with non verbal, non temporal, spatial relationships, and the mystical, inexplicable aspects of experience. The verbal definitions which we memorize and contemplate in our Tarot studies are apprehended by the left side of the brain, which processes the rational, verbal, critical aspects of experience.

    The roots of this approach to left brain - right brain phenomenon are to be found in the Kaballa, the system of ancient Hebrew mysticism which provides the background for most traditional Tarot study in our culture. The Kaballa is based on a mystical approach to the ancient Hebrew language, which is unique in human history in that it combines a pictorial approach to communication with a rational one. Languages of the world generally fall into one of two groups. They are either, like the Japanese or Chinese languages, based on pictures, which symbolize ideas, or they are based on phonetic symbols, which, when put together, conjure an idea in the readers head (which is what you're doing as you read this book: The symbols "C-A-T" are not a picture of a cat, they are symbols that represent sounds which, when pronounced together, present the idea of cat that has been taught to you).

    The Hebrew language, however, does both. It's twenty two letters are pictorial symbols which each have a distinct meaning. Yet at the same time, each letter represents a sound which, when combined with other letters, creates an idea in the same way our English language does. When you consider as well that each letter of it's alphabet has a numerical quantity assigned to it, it becomes apparent that there is a great wealth of symbolism available at the contemplation of such a system.

    I encourage individual approaches to the Tarot. I believe the best approach is to give oneself permission to let the system of symbolism in the Tarot inspire one's own personal symbolism. I also believe that, in studying the Tarot, one's own intuition is the best guide through the maze and mire of varying interpretations.

    I keep a set of blank flash cards in a desk drawer. Whenever I feel like inventing a new Tarot card, I do so. I may arbitrarily ascribe Kaballa numerological, gematric (magic words) and/or pictorial symbols and values to it. I may decide that this symbol is a God, and I think it's fine to have lots of them. I reserve the right to kill God and reinvent him again on a daily basis, and I give you permission to do so too.