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This explanation is highly technical; but this is necessary because the card represents an important scientific formula, which cannot be expressed in language suited to common comprehension. [363]

Image : A female figure composed of two mirrored halves is pouring water and lightning into a golden cauldron. A white lion and red eagle drop red and white drops into the pot, upon which is engraved a raven sitting on a skull. A Latin phrase circles the figure and webbed designs complete the background.

There are several combinations of cards given particular notice by Crowley, and we have seen that he strongly paired the Lovers card with this card, Art, which is his alternative title for the card usually known as Temperance.

He saw the Lovers as “analysis” and the Art card as the corresponding principle of “synthesis”. He returns to this connection several times in his piece on Art, placing it in the context of the alchemical process. The Art card represents “the mingling of the contradictory elements in a cauldron”. It is in this stage of the process that we satisfy our sense of incompleteness by recognising that every element can be assimilated with “its equal and opposite”. [364]

The alchemical process of this card is explicit in the design and represents the “Consummation of the Royal Marriage which took place in Atu VI”. [366] The symbolism of the Lovers has been transmuted into blended or counter-posed forms; the Lion is now white, and the Eagle is red, the formerly binary black and white children are now a single androgyne figure. The “hidden content” of the Orphic Egg in Atu VI, the Lovers, is now in an advanced stage – just prior to the completion of the “Great Work”. [367]

As such, there is much sexual symbolism in the card, as we saw in the Lovers card. The “consummation” and “mingling” are of the sexual fluids in an act of sex magick; “It is impossible to explain these terms to any but advanced students of alchemy”, writes Crowley. [368] Further, “There is a particular interpretation of this card which is only to be understood by Initiates of the Ninth Degree of the O.T.O.; for it contains a practical magical formula of such importance as to make it impossible to communicate it openly”. [369]

The subject of sexual magick is beyond the scope of this present work, however since Crowley’s time, much has been written on the subject from an esoteric and spiritual perspective. Many of the techniques are Eastern, including Kareeza , working with the Kundalini , and Chi . However, there were earlier Western teachings, such as written by Ida Craddock (1857 – 1902), who was way ahead of her time by far – and mentioned by Crowley:

I am very far from agreeing with all that this most talented woman sets forth in her paper, but she certainly obtained initiated knowledge of extraordinary depth. She seems to have had access to certain most concealed sanctuaries... She has put down statements in plain English which are positively staggering. This book is of incalculable value to every student of occult matters. No Magick library is complete without it. [370]

In this card we see illustration of the sexual mingling of fluids to create the “hidden stone” or “Universal Medicine” that is made of the gold and silver, and red and white opposites; male and female. In terms of consciousness, this is the merging into the divine through the union of opposites – the recognition that the Art is One.

We have seen that this card is one of consummation, and the androgyne figure is the developed form of the separate black and white children on the Lovers card. They have come together to form one person, one state of consciousness that is blended. One head wears a crown of silver with a golden fillet, the other is opposite. This is the penultimate stage before true union is attained; there is unification, rather than union.

The Lance held by one of the figures in the Lovers card has now become a burning torch dropping burning blood, and the Grail pours forth white gluten. Again, there is a synthesis; “The fire burns up the water; the water extinguishes the fire”. Whatever else is going on in a situation for which this card appears, everything else will cancel itself out. Despite the passion or conflict.

Upon the golden cauldron is engraved a Caput Mortuum , a death’s head skull upon which is perched a raven. This alchemical symbol symbolises the stage of Nigredo , the blackening of a substance through the process of transmutation. Crowley places it upon the cauldron as indicative that the process of creation includes death. In a reading, we might refer to this ‘hidden’ symbol as teaching us that life implies death, and from the apparent ‘waste’ of one situation emerges the next situation.

The Raven was also to appear as a symbol on Adjustment, Atu VIII, until the design was simplified, as Crowley complained to Harris that the “dove and raven look simply stuck on” to the card in an earlier draft of the image. [371] The cards of Art and Adjustment can be contrasted as different forms of equilibrium and balance.

The magical formula of the rainbow is a Kabbalistic device developed by the Golden Dawn, based on the correspondences of the lowest three paths on the Tree of Life. These paths have the three letters Qoph, Shin and Tau attributed to them, which spells the word QShTh (Qesheth ) in Hebrew, meaning ‘bow’ or ‘rainbow’. As there is also an alchemical stage called Cauda Pavonis , the Peacocks Tail, they are to some extent synonymous.

The alchemical stage of ‘many-colours’ or ‘iridescence’ was one of the final stages before the ultimate goal of ‘reddening’ and then the production of the alchemical stone or gold. It occurred at around the same time as the nigredo , or blackening stage, as a brief burst of colour during the final purging of matter required for full spiritualisation.

In a similar way, the three paths at the base of the Tree of Life represent the final stages of creation, prior to manifestation – which is equal, ultimately – to spiritual reality. They represent a “formula” of creativity, initiation and insight, which can be illustrated by their corresponding letters and tarot cards; the Moon (Q), Last Judgement (Sh) and World (Th).

The rainbow arises from the process of transmutation and forms the collars of the androgyne figure, it signifies the blending of colours from black to white – from the spiritual to the material.

The two alchemical emblems have here been counter-changed from their first appearance on the Lovers card, Atu VI. The Lion is now white, the Eagle now red. This symbolises the merging of the physical fluids of sex and partaking by both parties. This is “the stone of the philosophers, the Universal Medicine, [to be] a talisman of use in any event”. [372] What was separated in the Lovers is now unified again by Art.

The phrase VITRIOL, which is written in flowing text about the “glory” at the top of the card, is an alchemical acronym said to stand for Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem , 'Visit the interior parts of the earth: by rectification thou shalt find the hidden stone'. [373]

It derives from the alchemical work, L’Azoth des Philosophes (1624) by ‘Basilius Valentinus’, a pseudonymous name attributed to several 17th century alchemical works, claiming to date from the 15th century.

Crowley sees the statement as recapitulating the magical formula already presented throughout the Book of Thoth , and Vitriol itself as a combining of the three alchemical substances; Sulphur, Mercury and Salt. These correspond to the Magus, Empress and Emperor, according to Crowley – in difference to his correspondences earlier in the Book of Thoth .

To the reader, the statement advises the client – or ourselves – to dig deep and find the answer by purifying all which is at odds to our True Will. In doing so, we will “fertilize and bring to manifested Life the Orphic Egg” of possibilities. [374]

We have seen the arrow in the Lovers card, where it represented – as it does here – the Will. Crowley says it has “supreme importance” in both cards. [375] As a symbol of the “directed will”, he includes in the Appendix of the Book of Thoth a section from The Vision and the Voice entitled ‘The Arrow’. [376]

In that piece of writing, we see the arrow as the means of initiation through the middle pillar of the Tree of Life, to the crown of the Tree and beyond into the Ain Soph Aur. Crowley received this vision in Tolga, Algeria, on December 13, 1909 over two hours, 8:15-10:10 p.m. This was during the workings of the Enochian Aethyrs and it is worth breaking down some of the detail to demonstrate how these visions pervade the illustrations of the Thoth Tarot.

Crowley said, “Thou canst not believe how marvelous is this vision of the Arrow”. We will take four sections of the vision and see how they underpin his writings in the Book of Thoth . [377]

First, we have a section in which the arrow is used in the symbolism we encountered in the Lovers card, illustrating the relationship between love and will through the image of Cupid:

Thou mayest draw to an head the bow of thy magical will; thou mayest loose the shaft and pierce her to the heart. I am Eros. Take then the bow and the quiver from my shoulders and slay me; for unless thou slay me, thou shalt not unveil the Mystery of the Aethyr.

In that section, Crowley determines that once he has fired the arrow of will to slay love, it actually pierces his own heart and opens the inner mysteries of the vision:

I see that the crown of the Arrow is the Father of all Light, and the shaft of the Arrow is the Father of all Life, and the barb of the Arrow is the Father of all Love. For that silver wedge is like a lotus flower, and the Eye within the Ateph Crown crieth: I watch. And the Shaft crieth: I work. And the Barb crieth: I wait. And the Voice of the Aethyr echoeth: It beams. It burns. It blooms. [378]

The arrow is there divided into three parts, three times over; it is light, life and love; watching, working and waiting; beaming, burning and blooming. These are the three upper Sephiroth in different perspectives above the Abyss. It is one unified Will, separated into three aspects. However, the vision continues to process the experience of divine unity:

And now there cometh a strange thought; this Arrow is the source of all motion; it is infinite motion, yet it moveth not, so that there is no motion. And therefore there is no matter. This Arrow is the glance of the Eye of Shiva. But because it moveth not, the universe is not destroyed. The universe is put forth and swallowed up in the quivering of the plumes of Maat, that are the plumes of the Arrow; but those plumes quiver not.

Here we see a reformulation of Platonic thought, where time is “the moving likeness of eternity”. As the process of rectification, purification and merging continue, all becomes as still as it is one; for when one is everything, there is nowhere to move.

I am reminded of the gnostic vision in which the mystic perceives all of reality to come to a sudden stop – the clouds in the sky, even, are “astonished”. [379]

The closing section of the vision was footnoted by Crowley as being the most important doctrine concerning the upper reaches of the Tree of Life, for all students of the Mysteries:

It is shown me that this heart is the heart that rejoiceth, and the serpent is the serpent of Death for herein all the symbols are interchangeable, for each one containeth in itself its own opposite. And this is the great Mystery of the Supernals that are beyond the Abyss. For below the Abyss, contradiction is division; but above the Abyss, contradiction is Unity. And there could be nothing true except by virtue of the contradiction that is contained in itself.

The card of Art is an illustration of the Work which precedes this state, where nothing can be truly formulated in isolation or individuation. A footnote by Crowley in The Vision and the Voice summarises this vision, He wondered if it meant:

In the Shrine seek not for God. For He is everywhere. But in such a place as this all possible meanings are equally true.

Keywords: Combination, working with others, alchemy, synthesis (but in process rather than completion, which is illustrated by the Universe card).

The card signifies a combination of forces, the result of planning and accuracy, and success particularly after “elaborate manoeuvres”. [380] We must be creative and artful, getting the most by blending everything that is at our hand. There is no need to add or subtract anything from the situation, when this card is present it speaks to making the most of what we already possess.