Arcanum Twenty corresponds to the Hebrew letter Resh, meaning Head, Chief, or Sum, with the numerical value of 200. The astrological symbol is Saturn and the common title is The Judgment, with the secondary title Resurrection of the Dead.
Mouni Sadhu begins by commenting, “The only power which pulls us ahead on the path of Evolution is the ARCHETYPE…Practically, it is all that we can conceive about the living and acting Deity. I am not speaking about the Unmanifested, Unattainable, Unconscious (in our limited sense of the word), and devoid of all qualities-ABSOLUTE, which is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, Eternity beyond all time and space , for it seems useless to speak about something, which is beyond all speech. So, the ARCHETYPE is the ATMAN, SPIRIT and GOD for Manifestation, in which we, human beings, are playing our modest role on this planet.’
“All the philosophy of the Tarot is under the spell of the Archetype. And this is rightly so. The influence of the Archetype pushes us along the Path, and attracts us to our SOURCE, which is-HIMSELF. That is why the first title of the Twentieth Arcanum is given as ATTRACTIO DIVINA (Divina Attraction).” Mouni Sadhu says that this Divine Attraction shows us the Way of Reintegration, or Return, yet we need astral regeneration which allows our powers to develop according to intuitional knowledge, which is the voice of the Archetype. Therefore the second title of this ternary is ASTRAL TRANSFORMATION. The third title is CHANGES IN TIME, which refers to the belief that if our actions are rightly directed, Nature will help us create the necessary conditions in time and space.
In the midst of this karmic explanation of Arcanum Twenty, our author throws in a strange statement, “The scene is as the Christian Scriptures conceive the Day of Judgment and general Resurrection.” However, there can be no blending of Hermetic philosophy in this matter with the Scriptures; they are as two binaries which cannot be neutralized.
In John 5, Jesus healed a man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years, giving him a warning, “Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” When the Jews heard the healed man’s testimony, they persecuted Jesus, and “sought to slay him, because he had done this thing on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God”.(verses 16-18)
Jesus answers this objection declaring that he, as God’s Son, did only what his Father had shown him to do. This leads into verses 21-29 which deal with the subject of the Twentieth Arcanum. These verses read in total: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickenth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”.
The comments Mouni Sadhu made regarding the personage of the Archetype and his call, do not in any way match the description of the Godhead revealed in the Holy Bible. The karmic view does not regard the evil man as ending up damned for eternity in hell; rather the evil man comes back in another incarnation under more difficult conditions due to his transgressions. No man under karmic law has access to the Savior, but he relies solely on himself, or a Rabbi or master, who by his own evil inclinations digs a hole deeper and deeper in which together they fall into.
Mouni Sadhu discusses prayer, but defines this as elementary theurgic acts. In the Bible, prayer is a rather simple act of directing our conversation to God in the name of Jesus Christ. Theurgy is defined as the “practice of rituals. sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.” (Wikipedia)
As an example of true prayer, Mouni Sadhu gives us the example of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Matthew 26:39 says he prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Our author encourages his students that they also leave the result to the Supreme. However it is not a matter to be taken lightly as to who God is, and to whom we are directing our prayers. And it is an important point whether our prayer originates in faith in Jesus Christ or in our own “magical” works. After all, the whole purpose of the magician is to acquire genuine powers in this temporal world which obey his will, and genuine respect for God and his honour have no part in magic.
There shall come a day when one must give account to God. Hermetic philosophy does not prepare its followers with the reality of that Judgment.
MOUNI SADHU UNMASKED 