The Eighth Nature: Beyond Patience

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This essay quickly became dense as I continue to draw inspiration from The Tao of Thoth, but it winds up with an exercise that you may find intriguing. Although there are seven tenets in Hermetic philosophy as presented in The Kybalion, an eighth metaphysical precept has been proposed that unifies them. One school of thought considers this principle to signify attentive “patience” in cultivating the others.

In esoteric astrology there are seven classical planets that symbolize the Soul’s development, and in Hinduism there are seven major chakras (I will only touch on one of the other five currently in vogue) that align its mystical properties with the body. When mapping the planetary model onto the Qabalistic Tree of Life from bottom-to-top in decreasing order of relative speed, Earth as a non-player in this spiritual evolution is the point-of-departure from the lowest sphere, beginning the upward journey known as the Path of the Serpent (which has connotations of knowledge and wisdom in this regard). The path then proceeds through the spheres of the Moon, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; because the three modern (or trans-Saturnian) planets were not part of the ancient scheme, the eighth sphere after this sequence departs the Earth does not contain an astrological body but rather the “Wheel of the Zodiac.” This ties in neatly with what follows.

It has been suggested that the eighth concept that transcends the planets is the space that both surrounds and separates them. (At one time this was called the “aether” and was theorized to contain an all-penetrating substance that transmitted electromagnetic waves and gravity). When viewed from the Earth, the celestial constellations — and specifically the twelve along the path of the solar ecliptic that represent mythological beings — form a cosmic backdrop or matrix against which the planets “live and move and have their being.” We might say that this puts a “face” on their presence and some structure to their wandering. (You may already know that in ancient Greek the word “planet” meant “wanderer” in contrast to the nearly stationary fixed stars). I’m also thinking of the “music of the spheres” after encountering the notion that eight is etymologically related to the octave and may provide a key to the seven-note progression of a heptatonic scale that returns to the root in a higher register. (At least that’s how I read it but I’m probably displaying my musical ignorance here.)

The Tree of Life eclipses the “crown” chakra in that its “Three Veils of Negativity” postulate increasingly subtle realms of existence (or perhaps “negative existence” is a more accurate term), the lowest tier of which might be equated with the tenth — or universal — chakra. The Primum Mobile (“Prime Mover,” also known as the “First Whirling”) lies just to the downhill side of this divide in the topmost sphere when ascending from Earth but it is still considered to be well beyond the ken of mortals; it seems well-suited for governing the interface between the crown chakra and Spirit. It is said to function entirely within the Mind of God but I’m an iconoclast with little use for any kind of spoon-fed orthodoxy in supernal matters (even if the Divine Pymander cited in my source material does cast the Eighth Nature in the same religious light), so I will continue to believe that it represents our “higher genius” as a function of the refined spiritual discernment that accompanies an exalted mental-emotional state, one that we can aspire to through experience and contemplation. (For the record, I’m a “Spinozan sympathizer” for whom god-consciousness is not anthropomorphic.)

I looked at the minor Eights of the tarot and concluded that the 8 of Disks in the Thoth deck — with its title of “Prudence” — comes closest to expressing patience; it suggests cautious optimism for a bountiful harvest, an assumption that is reinforced by its correspondence to the Sun in agrarian Virgo, representing harvest-time in the Northern Hemisphere. It reminds me of the old Paul Masson winery slogan, “No wine before its time,” meaning that they didn’t rush it out the door. The other Eights don’t measure up: “Swiftness” (8 of Wands) is the antithesis of patience, while “Indolence” (8 of Cups) and “Interference” (8 of Swords) imply an involuntary forbearance. The 8 of Pentacles in the Waite-Smith deck seems to be more about productive diligence than about consummate self-control. Among the Major Arcana, the Thoth “Adjustment” card (Crowley’s renaming of Justice) as the eighth trump exercises exquisite restraint in its deliberations. Henry Wadsworh Longfellow’s translation of Gottliche Rache by Friedrich von Logau says it all (even if it does invoke God):

Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all.

We could apply the 8 of Disks as a “lens” or “filter” through which we might examine the Hermetic import of the Minor Arcana as a group. It is the last of the binary cards reflecting harmony and equilibrium (the Tens don’t count as binary in this particular numerology), so it is well-positioned as a pragmatic “mediator.”

Here’s an idea: suppose we think of the Thoth 8 of Disks as a grist mill (it looks more like a whisky still, but forget I said that), with all of the other cards being fed one-at-a-time between its grinding stones. Place the “feed” card to the left, the 8 of Disks to the right, and then calculate a “binary essence” trump card for the two via Theosophical addition of their digits and place it to the far right as the output. There will obviously be some repetition since there are four “pip” cards of each number, so I would “shade” the interpretation of the trump card according to the number and element of the input card, with the 8 of Disks being a stabilizing feature that is already factored in. Below is an example:

We will sequentially place each Ace next to the 8 of Disks, with the “binary essence” calculation yielding “9,” the Hermit (another expression of Virgo). Then we will judge how the Hermit will accommodate Fire (Ace of Wands); Water (Ace of Cups); Air (Ace of Swords) and a doubling of Earth (Ace of Disks/Pentacles) as a secondary emphasis within its customary mode of operation, while the “1” of the Ace will show that the Hermit is receiving an undiluted jolt of its element. We could see it as a “kick in the pants” that gets him unstuck (just a little) from his prosaic preoccupation. Conversely, if the input card is a Ten, generating 18 as the “binary essence,” we have a choice: we can either use the Moon as our trump or reduce it down to 9 and the Hermit with the number “10” suggesting a millstone sitting on his chest. In practice, when these combinations come together in an actual reading, we might revisit this scenario by imagining the 8 of Disks between them acting as a cautionary reminder that advises self-discipline.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 7, 2024.