… The images and expositions of the Tarot therefore constitute no body of knowledge which has to be accumulated, attested and quoted. Rather does the organism of the entirety of the 22 Arcana provide guidance directly to the Rosicrucian sources of wisdom themselves. Tomberg writes:

„The symbols are therefore not instruments of thought, but rather the guides and active masters of thought, in exactly the same way as the “symbol of faith”, the Christian Credo, is no instrument of thought, but a Star-constellation far above the head. (16th letter; “The House of God”; Meditations on the Tarot”.)

***

… Where is the pupil led by the „Star-constellation of the Arcana“?
 
„It suffices to point to the following analogy: It was not the straw of the crib, nor was it the animals present there, that led the Magi from the Orient and brought them to the Child, but it was the Star of the Heavens. In like manner one will only find straw and animals in Hermeticism if one is not led by ones Star, which solely consists of Intuition.” (19th letter; “The Sun”; “Meditations on the Tarot”).

… The correlation between the soul penetrated by consciousness and the experiences of life that impress themselves on the physical body takes place in the intermediary etheric body. After the solar shaping of the astral body, the inner guidance at hand of the participation in the living stream of Hermeticism and the lessons of outer life, the finding of an extensive relation to the solar, radiant etheric life constitutes the aim of hermetic endeavors. However, Hermeticism does not teach in a predetermined and defined way as regards this life in clarity of consciousness. Rather it teaches the complex, immediate and living experience.

From: Was ist Hermetismus? Eine Untersuchung der christlichen Hermetik Valentin Tombergs im Licht der Geisteswissenschaft Rudolf Steiners, (What is Hermeticism? An Investigation of the Christian Hermeticism of Valentin Tomberg in the Light of the Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner); Dr. Sebastian Niklaus, Achamoth Verlag 2008. Available as book in German.

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