Atu XVI - The Dove and the Serpent

[Aeon418]

Recently while glancing through The Thoth Companion by Michael Osiris Snuffin, I came upon the authors explanation for the Dove & Serpent symbolism on Atu XVI - The Tower.

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The dove represents the Holy Ghost of Christian theology, fleeing the destruction of the Old Aeon. The dove bearing an olive branch is a symbol of peace, which is driven off by war (War is the alternate title of this trump.)

The dove is succeeded by the lion-serpent moving toward the center of the card.

 

While I don't necessarily disagree with this interpretation, I feel it lacks the nuance of Crowley's explanation in the Book of Thoth. Crowley begins his explanation of this card by saying it represents "the destruction of existing material by fire. It may be taken as the preface to Atu XX, the Last Judgment [The Aeon], i.e., the Coming of a New Aeon." On the surface this seems to be very much in line with Snuffin. But Crowley then goes on to say that "magical symbols must always be understood in a double sense, each contradictory of the other." Is destruction just wanton destruction, or is it liberation? It all depends on your point of view. This may be why the Eye is the central feature of this card and not the Tower itself.

 

This "double sense" most definitely applies to the symbolism of the Dove and the Serpent. In one sense they represent two separate things, where one succeeds the other. But in another sense the Dove and the Serpent are one thing that may be expressed in two ways.  Here I agree with Marcus Katz in his book, Secrets of the Thoth Tarot:

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My personal view is that it is essential to appreciate the Book of the Law to even get one level down into the Thoth Tarot.

 The one thing expressed in two ways is Love. 

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Liber AL, I:57. ".... Love is the law, love under will. Nor let the fools mistake love; for there are love and love. There is the dove, and there is the serpent. Choose ye well! He, my prophet, hath chosen, knowing the law of the fortress, and the great mystery of the House of God."

First off it is important to understand that this "love" is not necessarily sentimental affection as ordinarily understood. Crowley defines "love" as union with experience that leads to change. This is a fundamental property of the universe in which everything is changing all the time through the course of events, moment by moment. In the Book of the Law, the sum total of all possibilities of experience is personified of the goddess, Nuit. It is she who "speaks" the verse quoted above and urges us to "choose" between the love of the dove and the serpent. But how is one to choose?

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Each action or motion is an act of love, the uniting with one or another part of “Nuit”; each such act must be “under will,” chosen so as to fulfil and not to thwart the true nature of the being concerned.

Deep self knowledge of one's true nature (Will) enables one to unite with Nuit/experience, moment by moment, in an authentic manner that fulfils that same nature. The dove and the serpent are two modes of union with Nuit through love and constant change.

 

Towards the end of the explanation of The Tower card, Crowley tells us that the dove and the serpent represent the Will to Live and the Will to Die, respectively. He then goes on to say, "the nobility of the latter is possibly based upon recognition of the futility of the former." The futility of the Will to Live is based on the fact that everything dies. It is because of this that older systems of spiritual attainment insisted upon renunciation and rejection of the world, and human love in particular, as the first steps towards initiation.

 

This brings us full circle to Snuffin's interpretation. It is the older systems of self-denial and renunciation that must be replaced by a new spiritual ideal that sees expansive self fulfilment (Life/Dove) and self/ego transcendence (Death/Serpent) as two expressions of one thing. How we are to choose between these two expressions of love, moment to moment, is rooted in the unifying Vision 👁️‍🗨️ and deep Truth that we are the Universe itself. The Tower card represents "cosmic energy in its grossest form." This same energy expresses itself through us in twin phases of Life and Death. Neither of these alone is enough. (Cf. The Book of Lies, chp.1, The Sabbath of the Goat.)

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Break down the fortress of thine Individual Self, that thy Truth may spring free from the ruins.

 

[Aeon418]

Throughout the Book of Thoth, Crowley references a series of visionary experiences he had while working with the 16th century Enochian magical system of John Dee and Edward Kelly. These visions became Liber 418 or the Vision & the Voice. For whatever reason, maybe for space considerations, Crowley decided not to quote an extract from the vision of the 16th Aethyr that clearly influenced the imagery of Atu XVI (also Atu's XI and XII).

 

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Now at last he appears in the gloom. He is a mighty King, with crown and orb and sceptre, and his robes are of purple and gold. And he casts down the orb and sceptre to the earth, and he tears off his crown, and throws it on the ground, and tramples it. And he tears out his hair, that is of ruddy gold tinged with silver, and he plucks at his beard, and cries with as terrible voice: Woe unto me that am cast down from my place by the might of the new Aeon. For the ten palaces are broken, and the ten kings are carried away into bondage, and they are set to fight as the gladiators in the circus of him that hath laid his hand upon eleven. For the ancient tower is shattered by the Lord of the Flame and the Lightning. And they that walk upon their hands shall build the holy place. Blessed are they who have turned the Eye of Hoor unto the zenith, for they shall be filled with the vigour of the goat.

 

The King in this section of the vision can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly he represents traditional notions of God as an external and separate being. The "ancient tower" is the doctrine of Theism and the whole structure of norms and values that have developed around this idea.

 

Secondly the King represents the individual ego. Within the microcosm the ego believes it is king. Values and norms are derived from the personal likes and dislikes of the ego.

 

Both of these views are destroyed by the opening of the Eye of Hoor, or direct spiritual experience. The lightning flash of direct insight that temporarily destroys the sense of an ego-self destroys the value structures that have been built up around it. Also destroyed is a sense of separate, individual existence. The singular Eye of Hoor is symbolic of that unifying vision that perceives everything as a Unity. In this unity the categories of inside and outside, above and below are annihilated. The Theistic notion of a separate deity is incompatible with this new awareness. It is for this reason that the outline of a human head and shoulders is visible on Atu XX - The Aeon. The "gods" are aspects of ourselves.

 

This new understanding of existence, brought about by the destruction of the old Tower, necessitates a "revaluation of all values." The subsequent rebuilding that takes place after the shattering experience of awakening must be informed by the knowledge that we literally are the House of God. This new perspective is a literal inversion symbolised by "they that walk upon their hands." Crowley identified this with the figures who are thrown out of the old Tower. (This also influenced the outstretched arms redesign of Atu XII - The Hanged Man.) The new value structures must built up from within the reconstructed Self and the knowledge of universal connection or Love. The Dove and the Serpent are the outward expression of these new values. Instead of being imposed from above by an angry deity, they are self generated by the realization that Every man and every woman is a star.

 

In the vision of the 16th Aethyr the old King, after a temper tantrum and lot of complaining (WAR), eventually abdicates the throne in favour of a new stage of illuminated consciousness symbolised by the Beast - "who hath laid his hand upon eleven." Atu XI - Lust is symbolic of this new consciousness. At the top of the card is the natural corollary to the destruction of Atu XVI. Commenting on this in the Book of Thoth, Crowley says:

 

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Behind the figures of the Beast and his Bride are ten luminous rayed circles; they are the Sephiroth latent and not yet in order, for every new Aeon demands a new system of classification of the Universe.
At the top of the card is shown an emblem of the new light, with ten horns of the Beast, which are serpents, sent forth in every direction to destroy and re-create the world.

           

Edited May 1, 2023 by Aeon418
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[2dogs]

Thanks for this information. The philosophy as a whole is too much for me but this post makes sense and is helpful.⚡

[Aeon418]

Hi Serpentwand. I'm glad you found the post helpful. Obviously all this arcane and mystical sounding stuff can seem very far removed from the typical Tarot reading. The appearance of card XVI in a spread does not necessarily imply that the querent is about to experience a sudden spiritual awakening that is going to completely destroy how they see life, the universe and reality itself. It would probably frighten the living daylights out of most people. 😲

 

In terms of mundane life I'm sure we've all had sudden, shocking, eye-opening experiences that have the capacity to completely change everything we think we know. But because most of us are creatures of habit the temptation to try and hold on to existing ways of seeing things can be very strong indeed. It's not unusual for people to resist change, particularly when it seems as if the very foundations of what they hold dear are under attack. Change can be frightening. But learning how to let go and embrace change can be intensely liberating. Suddenly new options become possible. New ways of seeing things open up. The shocking energy that enters into a fixed situation can become empowering and energizing provided we have the ability to embrace it and move with it.

 

Perhaps this is one reason why, unlike other versions of the card, the Thoth Tarot's Tower isn't the central feature of the card. 

 

 

 

 

[Aeon418]

In his description of the Thoth Tarot's Tower card, Michael Osiris Snuffin claims that two of the windows on the Tower itself are representative of Malkuth - Earth. This is a reasonable assumption. The 10 paned window (10 = Malkuth) in the lower left and the saltire cross (4 elements = earth) in the central circular window can be interpreted as Earth symbols that fit in with the idea of the Tower as a structural thing. But the cross in the circle can also be interpreted as the sign of N.O.X., which means Night. This is symbolic of the ultimate spiritual union that is so profoundly complete that all sense of separation is annihilated in a perfect union that can only be described as Darkness or Nothingness because it can make no possible sense to the individual mind that works on the basis of separation and light as symbolic of consciousness.

 

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Crowley: " To understand this is not easy for most western minds. Briefly, the doctrine is that the ultimate reality (which is Perfection) is Nothingness. Hence all manifestations, however glorious, however delightful, are stains. To obtain perfection, all existing things must be annihilated."

 

The cross within a circle symbol of N.O.X. on the Tower may be a Crowley and Harris' attempt at a Thelemic reinterpretation of the Golden Dawn doctrine that saw the common 3 window motif on the older Tower cards as a symbol of the Trinity and thus a sign that the destruction of the Tower had an ulterior spiritual purpose beyond the outward appearance of wanton destruction.

 

This theme appears in Liber VII - chapter 1, which corresponds to the planet Mars.

 

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36. Thou art a beautiful thing whiter than a woman in the column of this vibration.

37. I shoot up vertically like an arrow, and become that Above.

38. But it is death, and the flame of the pyre.

39. Ascend in the flame of the pyre, O my soul! Thy God is like the cold emptiness of the utmost heaven, into which thou radiatest thy little light.

40. When Thou shall know me, O empty God, my flame shall utterly expire in Thy great N. O. X.

 

 

In these verses we see the aspiration for spiritual union also being linked to the arousal of an inner spiritual fire that acts like a funeral pyre, burning up the sense of individuality and separation until the ultimate union and annihilation is achieved. (Nirvana = extinction.) We see this on the Tower card, where the great mouth of Dis belches out consuming flames that attack the very foundations of the Tower, which is symbolic of the individual ego-self. This is the burning desire of a dedicated spiritual practice that outwardly appears destructive, but is inwardly an awakening and a liberation. N.O.X.