Brother Paul paced about the small room. "Somehow I am reminded of the Temperance card of Tarot. A woman pouring water from one jug into another, as if oxygenating it, renewing its life. Pouring a soul from one vessel to another, transferring the essence of a person from one life to another. Maybe from Earth to Hell. And you—you are transferring my thrust from one direction to another. Maybe, with precession, it would work."
"We must all look where we must look," Siltz agreed, "and do what we must do. Some orient on gold, others on the Bible—but who is to say who is right and who wrong—or whether there are such things as right and wrong? It is obvious that Heaven has more merit than Hell—yet what is obvious is not necessarily true."
Brother Paul nodded thoughtfully. He was thinking of the way huge Satan in Dante's Inferno had winked at him. Surely that was a shallow concept of Satan, one that could be laughed off—and indeed they had done just that. But what would happen if he now went to interview the real Satan? He had been more or less a spectator in a framework designed for Lee's torture. This time the torture would be attuned to Paul himself.
Yet as he pondered, it seemed increasingly necessary. He had tried to examine the Gods of others from an objective standpoint and failed because he did not know enough about them. He had tried to examine his own Christian religion and failed again. The answer, ultimately, had to lie within himself—and to know himself, he would have to put himself to the test. Only then would be able to prove his own fitness to judge God. As Lee had put himself to the test in his Hell—and found, after suffering and doubt, vindication.
The surest test of Brother Paul himself would be found in his own, personal Hell.
Appendix:
Animation Tarot
The Animation Tarot deck of concepts as recreated by Brother Paul of the Holy Order of Vision consists of thirty Triumphs roughly equivalent to the twenty-two Trumps of contemporary conventional Tarot decks, together with five variously tilted suits roughly equivalent to the four conventional suits plus Aura. Each suit is numbered from one through ten, with the addition of four "Court" cards. The thirty Triumphs are represented by the table of contents of this novel, and keys to their complex meanings and derivations are to be found within the applicable chapters. For convenience the Triumphs are presented below, followed by a tabular representation of the suits, with their meanings or sets of meanings (for upright and reversed fall of the cards); the symbols are described by the italicized words. Since the suits are more than mere collections of concepts, five essays relating to their fundamental nature follow the chart.
No Animation Tarot deck exists in published form at present. Brother Paul used a pack of three-by-five-inch file cards to represent the one hundred concepts, simply writing the meanings on each card and sketching the symbols himself, together with any other notes he found pertinent. These were not as pretty or convenient as published cards, but were satisfactory for divination, study, entertainment, business and meditation as required. A full discussion of each card and the special conventions relating to the Animation deck would be too complicated to cover here, but those who wish to make up their own decks and use them should discover revelations of their own. According to Brother Paul's vision of the future, this deck will eventually be published, perhaps in both archaic (Waldens) and future (Cluster) forms, utilizing in the first case medieval images and in the second case images drawn from the myriad cultures of the Galactic Cluster, circa 4500 A.D. It hardly seems worthwhile for interested persons to wait for that.
Suit Cards
NATURE
SCIENCE
FAITH
TRADE
ART
1
Do
Think
Feel
Have
Be
Scepter
Sword
Cup
Coin
Lemniscate
2
Ambition
Health
Quest
Inclusion
Soul
Drive
Sickness
Dream
Exclusion
Self
Torch
Scalpel
Grail
Ring
Aura
3
Grow
Intelligence
Bounty
Gain
Perspective
Shrink
Curiosity
Windfall
Loss
Experience
Tree
Haze
Cornucopia
Wheel
Holograph
4
Leverage
Decision
Joy
Investment
Travel
Commitment
Sorrow
Inheritance
Literacy
Lever
ten
Pandora's Box
Gears
Book
5
Innovation
Equilibrium
Security
Permanence
Balance
Suspicion
Stasis
Confinement
Evanescence
Judgment
Band of Glory
Kite
Lock
Pentacle
Scales
6
Advance
Freedom
Temptation
Gift
Change
Retreat
Restraint
Guilt
Theft
Stagnation
Bridge
Balloon
Bottle
Package
Mobius Strip
7
Effort
Peace
Promise
Defense
Beauty
Error
War
Threat
Vulnerability
Ugliness
Ladder
Plow
Ship
Shield
Face
8
Power
Victory
Satisfaction
Conscience
Impotence
Defeat
Disappointment
Failure
Ruthlessness
Rocket
Flag
Mirror
Crown
Yin-Yang
9
Accomplishment
Truth
Love
Wealth
Light
Conservation
Error
Hate
Poverty
Dark
Trophy
Key
Klein Bottle
Money
Lamp
10
Hunger
Survival
Reproduction
Dignity
Image
Phallus
Seed
Womb
Egg
Compost
ENERGY
GAS
LIQUID
SOLID
PLASMA
Court Cards
NATURE
SCIENCE
FAITH
TRADE
ART
PAGE
Child of Fire
Child of Air
Child of Water
Child of Earth
Child of Aura
KNIGHT
Youth of Work
Youth of Trouble
Youth of Love
Youth of Money
Youth of Spirit
QUEEN
Lady of Conflict
Lady of Emotion
Lady of Status
Lady of Expression
KING
Man of Na
ture
Man of Science
Man of Faith
Man of Trade
Man of Art
ENERGY
GAS
LIQUID
SOLID
PLASMA
Triumphs
0 — Folly (Fool)
1 — Skill (Magician)
2 — Memory (High Priestess)
∞ — Unknown (Ghost)
3 — Action (Empress)
4 — Power (Emperor)
5 — Intuition (Hierophant)
6 — Choice (Lovers)
7 — Precession (Chariot)
8 — Emotion (Desire)
9 — Discipline (Strength)
10 — Nature (Family)
11 — Chance (Wheel of Fortune)
12 — Time (Sphinx)
13 — Reflection (Past)
14 — Will (Future)
15 — Honor (Justice)
16 — Sacrifice (Hanged Man)
17 — Change (Death)
18 — Vision (Imagination)
19 — Transfer (Temperance)
20 — Violence (Devil)
21 — Revelation (Lightning-Struck Tower)
22 — Hope/Fear (Star)
23 — Deception (Moon)
24 — Triumph (Sun)
25 — Reason (Thought)
26 — Decision (Judgment)
27 — Wisdom (Savant)
28 — Completion (Universe)
Nature
The Goddess of Fertility was popular in spring. Primitive peoples believed in sympathetic magic: that the examples of men affect the processes of nature—that human sexuality makes the plants more fruitful. To make sure nature got the message, they set up the Tree of Life, which was a giant phallus, twice the height of a man, pointing stiffly into the sky. Nubile young women capered about it, singing and wrapping it with bright ribbons. This celebration settled on the first day of May, and so was called May Day, and the phallus was called the Maypole. The modern promotion of May Day by Communist countries has led to its decline in the Western world, but its underlying principle remains strong. The Maypole is the same Tree of Life found in the Garden of Eden, and is represented in the Tarot deck of cards as the symbol for the Suit of Nature: an upright rod formed of living, often sprouting wood. This suit is variously titled Wands, Staffs, Scepters, Batons, or, in conventional cards, Clubs. Life permeates it; it is the male principle, always ready to grow and plant its seed. It also relates to the classic "element" of Fire, and associates with all manner of firearms, rockets, and explosives. In religion, this rod becomes the scepter or crozier, and it can also be considered the measuring rod of faith, the "canon."
Faith
The true source of the multiple legends of the Grail is unknown. Perhaps this famous chalice was originally a female symbol used in pagan fertility rites, a counterpart to the phallic Maypole. But it is best known in Christian mythology as the goblet formed from a single large emerald, from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper. It was stolen by a servant of Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands from it when the case of the presumptuous King of the Jews came before him. When Christ was crucified, a rich Jew, who had been afraid before to confess his belief, used this cup to catch some of the blood that flowed from Jesus's wounds. This man Joseph deposited Jesus's body in his own tomb, from which Jesus was resurrected a few days later. But Joseph himself was punished; he was imprisoned for years without proper care. He received food, drink and spiritual sustenance from the Grail, which he retained, so that he survived. When he was released, he took the Grail to England, where he settled in 63 A.D. He began the conversion of that region to Christianity. The Grail was handed to his successors from generation to generation until it came at last to Sir Galahad of King Arthur's Round Table. Only the chaste were able even to perceive it. The Grail may also relate to the Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty, the ancient symbol of the bounty of growing things. It is the cup of love and faith and fruitfulness, the container of the classic "element" of water, and the symbol of the essential female nature (i.e., the womb) represented in the Suit of Cups of the Tarot.
Trade
It is intriguing to conjecture which of the human instincts is strongest. Many people assume it is sex, the reproductive urge—but an interesting experiment seems to refute that. A group of volunteers including several married couples was systematically starved. As hunger intensified, the pin-up pictures of girls were replaced by pictures of food. The sex impulse decreased, and some couples broke up. Food dominated the conversation. This suggests that hunger is stronger than sex. Similarly, survival—the instinct of self preservation— seems stronger than hunger, for a starving person will not eat food he knows is poisoned, or drink salt water when dehydrating on a raft in the ocean. This hierarchy of instincts seems reasonable, for any species must secure its survival before it can successfully reproduce its kind. Yet there may be an even more fundamental instinct than these. When the Jews were confined brutally in Nazi concentration death-camps, they cooperated with each other as well as they could, sharing their belongings and scraps of food in a civilized manner. There, the last thing to go was personal dignity. The Nazis did their utmost to destroy the dignity of the captives, for people who retained their pride had not been truly conquered. Thus dignity, or status, or the perception of self-worth, may be the strongest human instinct. It is represented in the Tarot as the Suit of Disks, or Pentacles, or Coins, and associates with the "element" Earth, and with money (the ignorant person's status), and business or trade. Probably the original symbol was the blank disk of the Sun (gold) or Moon (silver).
Magic
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted by the Serpent to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fruit is unidentified; popularly it is said to be the apple (i.e., breast), but was more probably the banana (i.e., phallus). Obviously the forbidden knowledge was sexual. There was a second special Tree in the Garden: the Tree of Life, which seems to have been related. Since the human couple's acquisition of sexual knowledge and shame caused them to be expelled from Eden and subject to the mortality of Earthly existence, they had to be provided an alternate means to preserve their kind. This was procreation—linked punitively to their sexual transgression. Thus the fruit of "knowledge" led to the fruit of "life," forever tainted by the Original Sin.
Naturally the couple would have escaped this fate if they could, by sneaking back into Eden. To prevent re-entry to the Garden, God set a flaming sword in the way. This was perhaps the origin of the symbol of the Suit of Swords of the Tarot, representing the "element" of air. The Sword associates with violence (war), and with science (scalpel) and intellect (intangible): God's manifest masculinity. Yet this vengeful if versatile weapon was transformed in Christian tradition into the symbol of Salvation: the Crucifix, in turn transformed by the bending of its extremities into the Nazi Swastika. And so as man proceeds from the ancient faith of Magic to the modern speculation of Science, the Sword proceeds inevitably from the Garden of Eden... to Hell.
Art
Man is frightened and fascinated by the unknown. He seeks in diverse ways to fathom what he does not comprehend, and when it is beyond his power to do this, he invents some rationale to serve in lieu of the truth. Perhaps the religious urge can be accounted for in this way, and also man's progress into civilization: man's insatiable curiosity driving him to the ultimate reaches of experience. Yet there remain secrets: the origin of the universe, the smallest unit of matter, the nature of God, and a number of odd phenomena. Do psychics really commune with the dead? How does water dowsing work? Is telepathy possible? What about faith healing? Casting out demons? Love at first contact? Divination? Ghosts?
Many of these inexplicable phenomena become explicable through the concept of aura. If the spirit or soul of man is a patterned force permeating the body and extending out from it with diminishing intensity, the proximity of two or more people would cause their surrounding auras to interpenetrate. They co
uld thus become aware of each other on more than a physical basis. They might pick up each other's thoughts or feelings, much as an electronic receiver picks up broadcasts or the coil of a magnetic transformer picks up power. A dowser might feel his aura interacting with water deep in the ground, and so know the water's location. A person with a strong aura might touch one who was ill, and the strong aura could recharge the weak one and help the ill person recover the will to live. A man and a woman might find they had highly compatible auras, and be strongly attracted to each other. An evil aura might impinge on a person, and have to be exorcised. And after the physical death of the body, or host, an aura might float free, a spirit or ghost, able to communicate only with specially receptive individuals, or mediums.
In short, the concept of aura or spirit can make much of the supernatural become natural. It is represented in the Animation Tarot deck as the Suit of Aura, symbolized in medieval times by a lamp and in modern times by a lemniscate (infinity symbol: ∞ ), and embracing a fifth major human instinct or drive: art, or expression. Only man, of all the living creatures on Earth, cares about the esthetic nature of things. Only man appreciates painting, and sculpture, and music, and dancing, and literature, and mathematical harmonies, and ethical proprieties, and all the other forms and variants of artistic expression. Where man exists, these things exist—and when man passes on, these thing remain as evidence of his unique nature. Man's soul, symbolized as art, distinguishes him from the animals.