E. W. Bullinger in his book, Number in Scripture, gives this interesting insight into the number eleven (page 251), “If ten is the number which marks the perfection of the Divine order, then eleven is an addition to it, subversive of and undoing that order. If twelve is the number which marks the perfection of Divine government, then eleven falls short of it. So that whether we regard it as being 10+1 or 12 – 1, it is the number which marks disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration.”
We are now taking a look at Arcanum XI entitled Strength or Leo Domitatus, which pictures a woman with an infinity sign over her head, closing the mouth of a fierce lion. She conveys self-confidence and irresistible power, for this Arcanum has at its hieroglyph a palm grip, designating the Hebrew letter Caph. Mouni Sadhu says that this card has an easy interpretation as the woman who conquered the lion has three qualities: knowledge of the Astral, purity of intentions, and faith in herself.
My comments on this Arcanum will center around Hebrews 11:33 which recalls those whose faith “stopped the mouths of lions”. It is to be remembered that the lion as archetype in the Bible can represent either Jesus Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, or as the adversary (Satan), the devil who as a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour. Mouni Sadhu presents some biblical history, reinterpreting it to fit his false views. In this regard he also presents the Hermetic interpretation of the Ten Commandments. To fully comprehend this interpretation, it should be noted that the gematria of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:2-10, can be translated as Eleven, the ten Names of the Sephiroth, the Name of Jehovah God. Another equivalent is Eleven, the City of the Chief Prince of Israel, Throne of Satan. Eleven as 1+10, represents the Magician having command of the ten commandments, the ten names of the Sephiroth, or Arcanum X as the wheel of fortune.
The Ten Commandments of the Hermetic Tradition compared with Exodus 20:2-10 are as follows:
I. Metaphysically profess the One Unique Life. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
II. Do not metaphysically divide that life, that is do not be entangled in the slavery of the multiple conceptions born in the mind. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
III. Do not astrally divide that Life, that is do not apply the mystery of the Dynamic Cycle (Tetragram) to deviation from the normal Hierarchy. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
IV. Do not obscure that Life by destroying, on the physical plane, remembrance about the Emanative Origin of every form of life. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gate. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
V. Honour those who granted Life to you (even physical parents, provided they do not deviate from the evolutionary formula). Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
VI. (The list given by Mouni Sadhu reverses 6 and 7. I have retained the Biblical order here.) Do not attempt to rob anything of Life on the physical plane. Thou shalt not kill.
VII. Transmit life wisely and consciously. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII. Do not desire any property which belongs to others on the physical plane. Thou shalt not steal.
IX. Do not attempt to possess anything bound up with the life of your neighbor on the astral plane, neither PASSIVELY through lies… Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X. …nor ACTIVELY through jealousy. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.
Now what would motivate a teacher of Hermetism to present such a falsified view of the Ten Commandments given by Jehovah God? If one’s whole foundation of philosophy is built upon the Name of Jehovah God, why is this God censured in the ten commandments of the Hermetic Tradition? Simply because this Name as been reduced to numbers to usurp the throne of God by making this name mean the throne of Satan.
Titus 1:10-11 says, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” Thus we discover that while the high priest Mouni Sadhu says that the conqueror of the lion must have pure intentions, we can readily see that our author is teaching these falsehoods for filthy lucre’s sake. “Stopping the mouth of lions” through faith in Jesus Christ is in fact stopping that Revelation of the Pinnacle of the Temple of Guile. Also what is required is faith in the true God, not in oneself.
Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that what things so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Convicted of sin, yet refusing to repent, the Hermetist reinvents the ten commandments, and in so doing, condemns himself. Romans 3:19 and Titus 1:11 are sufficient to condemn Mouni Sadhu; he is without Strength.
MOUNI SADHU UNMASKED 