Five of Pentacles/Three of Cups. The Five of Pentacles (Mercury, reason, intelligence, education, skill, communication, in Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn) traditional image shows a woman and a child, one of them injured in some way, travelling in the cold wind, with a church window behind them. There is usually snow on the ground and on the trees, or a cold wind blowing, but the window, set in a strongly built wall of stones and mortar, usually appears lit from within. The upright message of this card tells me to expect some challenges in the physical world, maybe connected to finance, health, or family, that might bring a sense of isolation or of lacking approval or support. However, the Three of Cups (Mercury, reason, intelligence, orderliness, communication, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive tenacious, nurturing, moody) tells of the possibility of experiencing emotional abundance, emotional connections to others, and emotional support as a part of the day. Perhaps a time of feeling isolated or alone will encourage me to examine just what I really do have; looks like I will be in for a pleasant surprise.

My Thoth card is the Seven of Cups. Okay, Uncle Al’s keyword for this is “Debauch,” but that might be a bit extreme. Ya think??!! Anyway, the Seven of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, controlling, obsessive, mysterious) is letting me know that there are messages out there to pick up, and choices or opportunities to access. The arrangement of the Cups on Crowley’s version of this card suggests the Tree of Life, with the sephiroths ending below Da’at, which means there is no connection to the Sacred Fertility of Binah. Crowley sees the emotions represented by this card as putrefying because they are not expressed or acknowledged.

My Legacy card is Temperance flavored by the King of Swords. Temperance connects with Sagittarius (“I seek,” philosophic, adventurous, blundering) Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change), Samekh (the tent post), and the Path between Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest into the physical world of action and outer reality) and Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify). Besides telling me of the presence of Archangel Uriel, this card reminds me of the value of joining forces, when just the right mix is used. Cooperation brings compromise, and compromise brings balance, and balance is a good thing. The King of Swords (cusp of Capricorn, “I build,” ambitious, cautious, cunning, authoritative, and Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, cause-oriented, aloof) tells me how to respond to challenges presented in the physical world. He may be a bit severe, but he is good at being impartial and he has the ability to control himself and others that grants him quite a bit of authority, enough to be an impressive leader who is not easily fooled. Perhaps that Seven of Cups is reminding this King of Swords that repressing emotions is not good. After all, Temperance and the Three of Cups are telling me that while the Five of Swords tells of a resource issue in the physical world, my spiritual life and my connections to others bring me amazing riches.

My 6-digit date number is 9, the number of completeness of experience and manifestation.

My horoscopes: “Give your loved ones the attention they need today, Sagittarius. Don't let another day go by without saying you love them. Life is short and getting shorter with each passing day. Be confrontational about a serious issue that needs addressing. You're responsible for your feelings. Don't play the victim. You'll only experience more pain and resentment later.”

And: “Someone is going to get what they want by appealing to your analytical side today -- but you may find that your emotional side is convinced, too. Today marks the beginning of a shift in your perceptions. You are much more willing to see both sides of arguments and to let people slide on the silly stuff. You are mellowing out, and the people around you are feeling more comfortable about presenting new ideas and getting you involved in adventures.”

Technology: “Having all the answers is one way to look informed at work. Your nimble intellect, however, lends itself more readily to asking all the smartest questions. Prepare your inquiries now and start seeking the answers.”

My Sun reading: “You make good connections and strong attachments when the Sun trines Uranus. Heads up! The latter is also capable of producing a few pleasant surprises. If you're single, anything initiated under this evening's Moon/Neptune trine should progress slowly. Things have a better chance of blossoming successfully at that speed.”

After a little over a week since my last visit to the Ancient Altar, with no further progress in understanding just what was opened within me the last time I was there, I decided that I would go back. I had even made use of the heat during my drive down to Cape May on Friday night (it was well over 100 degrees outside, had been for a few days, and the air conditioner in my car decided it was not going to work), rather than trying to fight it, thanks to instructions from Cernunnos. I treated my drive like a spa trip, and saw myself as sweating out the toxins in my body during the drive, and during the rest of the weekend (which was equally hot and humid). Now that things had cooled off, I decided that I would actually ask for help this time, rather than trying to feel my way to a solution.

I climbed to the Altar as usual, and prepared, cast my circle and called my Guardians and Deity, as usual. Then, I danced around the Altar several times, raising my own energy as I did so. Finally, hot and sweaty, with my muscles singing, I stood before the Altar; I once again offered gratitude for the Gift I was given at my last visit, and I asked for help in understanding and using it. What did I need to do next?

I winced (remembering my last visit), and waited for a response. Nothing. I took several deep, cleansing breaths, and looked around. No change.

And then I looked up.

How do I describe what I saw? It was as if there were highways and roads and paths above me in all directions, and on those highways and roads and paths there were lights, all different colors, travelling at different speeds. Some of the roads were major highways, with multiple lanes in each direction and with lights travelling at high speeds; some of the roads were single lanes or paths that meandered all over the place; the lights travelling on these roads moved at varying speeds, sometimes relatively fast and other times barely moving. Some of the lights were so bright that they hurt my eyes, while others were soft and spread out a bit; a few were so dim that I could hardly see them. I even saw lights that left trails, like the smoke behind a meteorite or the contrail behind a plane. The ones that were moving straight and fast had trails that started tight but that spread out as the light moved further away; the ones that meandered left a glowing trail behind them that seemed to merge into other lights.

I heard words too, again too fast to understand. They seemed to be in many languages and at all different volumes, and in fact, some were not words at all, but rather they were sounds, each with a different tone and vibration, and I am assuming that many were not detectable by my physical ears. Some were so loud that I vibrated from them and some were so soft that they were almost drowned out by the louder sounds. As I watched and listened, fascinated, a series of lights split off from a main road and blazed a new trail into the distance; others followed behind. I could not see where this new road went, as it was soon indistinguishable from the maze of lights that was the other roads.

Suddenly, I wanted to touch those lights and I wanted to get closer so I could hear them better. I jumped upward, and felt my astral self rise closer, but not close enough. I tried again, and got a bit closer, but still not close enough. It was like trying to fly in a dream, lots of effort expended but little results. I tried even harder; again I got higher, but not high enough. But I could see what I needed to focus on and reach for!!

I then heard a Voice say: “That you can see this Information at all is an indication of your progress thus far. Continue your efforts; don’t allow yourself to be distracted from your Task. Free your mind, and you will follow!”

For a while, I stood before the Altar, looking up at the lights in the sky. I realized that the energy around this Library was different from my own energy body; it was thinner and lighter, yet denser as if everything unnecessary had been removed from it. My own energy body is heavier and more syrupy in texture, and in a way this makes sense. After all, my life force needs to be able to connect with the physical world in order to successfully inhabit my physical body, and the energy of the physical world is way heavier than the energy of the astral realms. It vibrates slower, and thus it is colder and heavier and contracts more than it expands. The energies around the Akashic Library (that is what I assume I was seeing, and LOL, now I know it exists) were nowhere near as dense and heavy and did not contract at all, because the Information was from the Higher Realms and was meant to be apart from the physical world. It was not to be accessed by those who were too close to the physical world. This makes sense, too.

This is the information that The High Priestess guards; The Hierophant brings us the lessons which teach us to accept on faith alone that this information exists. The Magician is able to access this Information and use it for his own purposes, and The Empress is the conduit that manifests the Information, not in the language of light but in the language of Nature. This “space” or “place” where the Akashic Library is located is the location of the Christian Heaven; it is not “up” in the physical world, but rather it is “higher” in the astral world, and only those who have learned to raise their own energy levels high enough can ever “see” it. Wow, now I know that Heaven exists, too (and Nirvana and the Summerland, and every other “final resting place”), and is available to those who wish to dwell there, because I have seen where it exists.

And I realized that “high” is not solely good, just as “low” is not solely bad. Each level has value and each level needs to exist in our Universe. The lower energies allow me to experience the physical world and its effects, and the higher energies have given me glimpses of the Machinery of the Universe. It’s just that the higher levels are far removed from the physical world (which is mostly all we know, until we consciously reach outward and upward), and thus are more difficult to experience first hand.

Even now, I can sense that information travelling above me. I am no closer to it, but it is there. I know it is there, because I have seen it.

Sorry; I’m a bit “woo-woo” today, but this is incredible! Carolyn has recommended that I revisit The Vision and The Voice (written by my dear old Uncle Al, about the Aethyrs). I found a nice version on the internet [http://hermetic.com/crowley/the-vision-and-the-voice/], and I will see if anything jumps out at me.

$>