The Sun at Midnight

The Zohar tells us that the moon “renounced her place of higher rank” – that of equality with the sun – and that “from that time she has had no light of her own, but derives her light from the sun. Nevertheless, her real light is greater than that which she radiates here below.”

Here below, therefore, the moon reflects the light of the sun, whilst above – where her name is ELOHIM – “her power is manifest in all directions…EL being ‘the dominion of the day’, IM being ‘the dominion of the night and HE in the middle being the remainder of the forces (‘the stars), participating in both dominions.”

Now, the moon, in so far as she is the nocturnal luminary above, she shines with her own light, and it is the sun which reflects her. In other words, the moon is ‘solar’ above and ‘lunar here below, whilst the sun is ‘solar’ here below and ‘lunar’ above.

It is in this sense that EL, the radiant part of the moon’s name above, has the “dominion of the day”, ie, it is the visible sun – reflecting the invisible moon during the day. Similarly, the visible moon reflects the sun (become invisible) during the night. The spiritual moon is therefore the sun which shines at midnight. And it is the spiritual moon – or Isis – Sophia – that Apuleius “saw shining at midnight in its briliant radiance.” For the long vigil in the Isis temple resulted in a vision of the cosmic principle of Isis, ie, the spiritual moon or the “sun at midnight.”

All these things, although presented to us in mythological clothing, relate to the profound reality of the relationship of intelligence and wisdom, and their union – intuition. For intelligence corresponds to the moon, wisdom to the sun, and intuition to the restoration of the “intimate union” of the two luminaries.

Here below intelligence reflects wisdom – or, if it is eclipsed (see Letter XVIII, The Moon), it reflects the terrestrial world of external experience. But there is another intelligence above, a trancendental intelligence, whose “light is greater than that which it radiates here below”, and which – united intimately to wisdom – is “inscribed above among the letters of the sacred name (YHVH), which are four in number”, and which shines in the middle of the night “in its briliant radiance.”

This higher intelligence, this “sun at midnight”, which is the conjunction of the spiritual sun and spiritual moon – or, in other words, the intimate union of intelligence and wisdom – is the “star” of Hermeticism, and it is “The Sun” of the nineteenth Arcanum.

“The Sun” of the nineteenth Arcanum is the “sun at midnight”, ie, the sun that Apuleius “saw shining at midnight in its brilliant radiance,” and it is this “sun” which is the “star” of Hermeticism across the ages. It is the principle of intuition, or the intimate union of transcendental intelligence and wisdom.”

Unknown Author, Meditations on the Tarot, Letter XIX, The Sun

Prayer for a Revelation of the Supreme Mystery

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. An-Soph, Yah, Soph Yah.

Thou, the most Holy Divine Sophia, the substantial image of beauty and the delight of the transcendentally extant God, the bright body of Eternity, the soul of the worlds and the queen-soul of all souls, by the fathomless blessedness of Thy first Son and beloved Jesus Christ, I implore Thee to descend into the prison of [the] soul, fill this darkness of ours with Thy radiancy, melt away the fetters on our spirit with the fire of love, grant us freedom and light, appear to us in a visible and substantial manner, become Thyself incarnate in us and in the world, restoring the fullness of the aeons, so that the deep may be covered with a limit and God may become all in all.

Vladimir Solovyev, Prayer for a Revelation of the Supreme Mystery

The Egg

The Egg (PeterM)

This is the story she told the Master of Mysteries: “It was my second year at university at the start of the summer term, a night in May. I had a nice Thursday evening out with friends, most of which was spent in a student faculty building listening to a band called The Egg.

I was with a clever person called James (what is in a name?) and we experienced the music in the best possible way, which was psychedelically transcendentally. This involved one of us empathetically playing the guitar (him) while the other was drumming (me).

My boyfriend and our male friends had, at a comparable point in the evening, embarked upon what I later found out to be THE most debauched party imaginable then, courtesy of a fairly well known homosexual history tutor from a neighbouring college.

“Bloody hell and buggery” was the first definition to arise when I was later given the low-down, and it was related that the host regularly dosed his guests with LSD in order to ensure that his annual party was a weird and lively, corrupt sort of affair; the stuff of almost legend. Or so I heard

My own very enjoyable evening of musical appreciation was drawn to a close before midnight, after which I returned alone to my room at college.

I had not been back long before I was surprised by a late visit from another of the very bright and interesting fellows, this one called Benedict, who had been looking for my boyfriend but by a curious twist of fate found me instead. As it happened, the meeting was serendipitous and Benedict’s company was something of a blessing.  He even rolled a most wonderful joint and, in keeping with the spirit of peace, we listened to almost the entire collection of Bob Marley’s greatest hits.

Benedict was exceedingly clever and I enjoyed his visit. We related well and it seemed to me that everything we did not say made perfect sense. I also had the distinct impression that something was going to happen, that it was inevitable as one follows two. What that something would be, I could not have said, although I felt I knew.

Suffice it to say that Benedict left my room shortly after the joint had been smoked and Bob Marley left us. He had been there for just over an hour and during this time I had become supremely and irrevocably high.