We read in 2 Peter 1:19-21, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
The Hermit Lucifer bearing Occult Light
Arcanum IX is called The Hermit, and has the hieroglyph of a roof, as protection or defence, and is represented by the Hebrew letter TETH. Mouni Sadhu notes that this card has to do with Lux Occulta and the ternary Protectores-Iniatiato–Prudentia. He tells his students that the illustration is not to be read as in a mirror; in other words, the Hermit is some being which you are not. So if this card is not to be read as “a mirror”, then who is this mysterious Hermit? Let us ignore the comments of Mouni Sadhu at this point, for he wanders far afield almost in a way which diverts our attention from the illustration before us. Except that he warns us of attacks from sex devils at night, so here I offer the underlying reason for that problem.
TESH as Nachash-The Serpent
We see an Ancient of Days sort of individual, solitary, bearing light. Ah yes, Lucifer himself, for that is the meaning of his name. Occult light is that light which gives a private interpretation of the words of God. Remember that scene in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:1, ” Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” In verse 4 he reassures Eve, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”.
Now this Arcanum has three main ideas, that of Protection, Initiation, and Prudence or Carefulness. I think I remember that the Freemasons have a title for someone called The Protector and Conservator of the Order. So it is here that we will find that notable order which is the defender of Lucifer. Known by many names such as Ancient Bear, the Constellation of The Great Bear, the Order of the Leopard, the Knights Templar Crusaders, the Ninth Arcanum represents the Captain of these Defenders of Occult Light in the form of TETH. We see TETH pictured as a Serpent ready to strike, and strike he does with the death curse known as the Whip of Fire.
Now 9=1+8, The Master of Justice. Or 9=1+2+6, The Master of the Gnosis of the Law of Reaction, or the Return Blow. How about 9=1+4+4? He is also Master of The Double Cross. We remember that Mouni Sadhu means Silent Wandering Holy Man, so our author must be a Master of Cursing in the form of a beguiling, subtil serpent high priest. Now Mouni Sadhu Unmasked has a sanctuary, a holy place; and if we add up the sums of his number we discover he is also a high priest Bear with the special ability to give the death curse of Pulsa d’Noura. Since he regarded himself as having the purest of motives, of course, he never felt any return blow, right? Is it possible that that Cherub known as the Perfection of Wickedness perfectly balances the scales of Justice at all times?
MOUNI SADHU UNMASKED 