Under Arcanum IV, Mouni Sadhu discusses the four Virtues of Hermetism which are to Dare, to Know, to Keep Silent, and to Will. These four virtues he assigns to the pattern of a Greek Cross, which has equal length arms. He explains that the cross is an example of man’s active and passive manifestations on the astral plane. On such a cross, to Dare would be represented by a black horizontal bar, with the vertical colored white. To Know is a black cross. To Keep Silent is represented by a cross with a black vertical bar, with the horizontal white. To Will is a white cross.
Greek Cross representing “To Know” the light within which is Darkness
The vertical arm of the cross has Yod at the top and Vau at the bottom; the upper,as more active, is assigned the sphere of Good. The lower is assigned the realm of Evil. The horizontal arm of the cross has the first, or passive, He’ at the left, as the receiver of Evil influences; the second He’, as active, is at the right and the receiver of good influences. Mouni Sadhu says, “An Initiate must, in every moment of his life discriminate well between both realms, and always to hold himself in the middle, in the neutral point of the centre of the cross.” He adds that this is knowledge of good and evil in deeds.
“Man, who has reached the wisdom of the arcanum of authority (that is the Fourth of the Tarot) should not only understand how to discriminate between good and evil, in his own deeds, but also to realize how to use good and evil influences alike.” That is how Mouni Sadhu explains the meaning of the cross.
He overlooks the biblical references to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the fact that a man judged worthy of death and hung on a tree is accursed of God. He ignores the historical narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, who as a sinless man, and unworthy of death, was hung on a cross and overcame the wrath of God against mankind’s sin which began in the garden of Eden and ended with us receiving Death as the wages of our sin.
Mouni Sadhu continues, “The mystical authority of Man is based on the fact, that he should stand in the centre of the Hermetic Cross, then being present in all its elements, and so become the master of them, as is the case with the central point which belongs to all of the cross.” Now at this point he assigns various elements of the metaphysical, physical and astral planes to his Hermetic Cross, and creates some common arrangements such as the circle of Ezekiel.
I think that Job must have felt that he was caught in the rotating circle of the Hermetic Cross. For Job 23:8-9 says, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job came forth as gold in part because he understood the importance of the blood sacrifice and his need for a redeemer. In addition he learned that man cannot at will enter into the hidden realm of God’s will.
It is apparent from the lesson that Mouni Sadhu has given on the centre point of the cross, and the idea of rotation, that vortices of power can be created. I can see that a simple cross can be developed into a more complicated form such as the sixteen pointed cross or star of the Central Intelligence Agency.
16 pointed cross shown as a star
While he does not go beyond the basic cross in Arcanum Four, I can see that the centre point of a swastika is similar to the Polaris star around which Ursa Major and Ursa Minor revolves. The Big Dipper, also called the Great Bear or the Plough, symbolizes the high priesthood of Lucifer. To this Proverbs 21:4 says, “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” I can see no way that Mouni Sadhu can escape his own iniquity when he desires to neutralize all binaries that cannot be neutralized.
In his final lesson on Arcanum IV, we learn of The Great Arcanum, which is not to be confused with the Arcanum of the Tarot. Mouni Sadhu says, “In magic, this unitary connection between the metaphysical axiom, astral tourbillon, and physical method is called the Great Arcanum”. He notes that this final mystery of the maximum of human power is never communicated by a Master to his pupil directly. If the student is in fact ready for this understanding, he will reach it on his own. The driving aim behind these magical operations is “the perennial search by Man for his eternal HOME, that forgotten and lost spiritual fatherland to which leads the Great Arcanum of the Hermetic Tradition.”
The Great Arcanum is the realization of Man’s true being or ultimate SELF. I understand this to mean that it is a search for the powers given to Adam before he disobeyed God and was cast out of the Garden of Eden. It is also seen as a means of overcoming the Cherubims and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. These magicians initiated into each Arcanum of the Tarot display an increasing pride of heart.
Three symbols are shown by Mouni Sadhu to represent The Great Arcanum of Magic. The top and first is a triangle (a ternary) with Yod and He’. The middle is a hexagram with Vau , and the third lower symbol is a quaternary, a square with He’ enclosed in a circle with a cross. I am not going to go into the details of such magic, except to note that INRI and IGNE NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA are brought into this lesson. INRI, Mouni Sadhu notes, was the symbol of the Rosicrucians. And we see this symbol on the 33d degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Thus in addition to misusing the name of God, Jehovah as the Tetragrammaton, we also see the blasphemous use of the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And these magicians really think that they can live on a neutral point on the Cross and escape the executioner of Death?
INRI 33 Degree Freemasons
MOUNI SADHU UNMASKED 