Arcanum VI is represented by the Hebrew letter Vau, the number 6, and the hieroglyph of the eye and the ear. Although not pointed out by Mouni Sadhu, I would like to note that Vau is also The Nail, a symbol often used to denote Satan. This tarot card shows a young man with two women; the one on his right is trying to show him the right way, and the one on the left represents temptation to do the wrong thing. Mouni Sadhu explains that the three figures on the right side of the man form an evolutionary triangle reflecting the virtue in the young man. The three figures on the left therefore form an involutionary triangle. A mirror image has been created with the man standing at a crossroads of decision making. Indirectly we can also see the form of the stauros. Mouni Sadhu has named this tarot card Temptation rather than The Lovers, as others have done. One of the names also given Arcanum VI is The Enamoured One, which seems to capture both ideas.
“Analogy and reflection are the principles on which is built the pentacle of this Arcanum, the Great Hexagram, or Solomon’s Star, or the Seal of Solomon, the personal side of the Great Pentacle of Solomon, Sign of the Macrocosm, and so on. This pentacle is a combination of two triangles, one of which is the reflection of the other. In the center of the hexagram we see a stauros symbolizing the process of fecundation: the vertical arm is active and male, the horizontal one is passive and female.” Mouni Sadhu then adds that this pentacle contains within it almost the whole content of Arcanum VI.
Tau in center of Hexagram
After looking at several concepts and applying the hexagram idea of ascending and descending triangles, our author asks, “But where will we find the necessary instruction for the true choice between the two triangles? Tradition tells us that it comes from the SPIRITUAL HARMONY in us.” He then turns to the Hermetic conception of harmony; “the neutralization of the binaries of ‘Adam-Eve”, ‘Activity-susceptibility’ inside of the astral man himself”.
Temptation, as a persuasive power affecting our eyes and ears, creates a crossway in the heart and mind of fallen mankind. We should remind ourselves that when Jesus Christ died on the Cross and accomplished our redemption, his life and death also condemned sin in the flesh. Arcanum VI undervalues the end result of the decisions men make in their lifetime.
Whereas this tarot card shows an innocent looking cherub shooting an arrow which is punitive, according to Mouni Sadhu, into the evil woman on the left side, most of us have seen Valentine’s Day cards where the arrow was the cause of infatuation. When I view this archer in the card, and the idea of temptation as originating from the Devil, I think of Obadiah 1:14. It says, “Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.” Solomon in the book of Proverbs contrasts Wisdom with the Strange Woman, and gives warning against that persuasive harlot whose path leads to hell. James 1:14-15 says, ” But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
It is interesting to note that modern Israel displays the hexagram of this Arcanum on its flag. Amos 5:25-26 asks, “Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” In the book of Acts, Stephan addressed the council of the Jews, referencing this Old Testament passage, but he called their image, “the star of your god Remphan”. The Hexagram does not so much seem to be a sign of temptation in its first stages, so much as a sign of the finality of judgment upon the tempted who as 2 Timothy 4:4 notes, “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
MOUNI SADHU UNMASKED 