THE FOOL

  



   I Am, 

     Without beginning, without end,   Older than night or day,

     Younger than the babe new-born,      Brighter than light, 

     Darker than darkness,      Beyond all things and creatures, 

     Yet fixed in the heart of everyone.

     From me the shining worlds flow forth, To me all at last return,      Yet to me neither men nor angels 

     May draw nigh, For I am known only to myself.

     Ever the same is mine inmost being; Absolutely one, complete, whole, perfect;     Always itself;     Eternal, infinite, ultimate;

     Formless, indivisible, changeless.

     Of all existences I am the source,  The continuation, and the end.

          I am the germ,

          I am the growth,

          I am the decay.

     All things and creatures I send forth;

     I support them while yet they stand without;

     And when the dream of separation ends,

     I cause their return unto myself.

   I am the Life,   And the Wheel of the Law,

     And the Way that leadeth to the Beyond.

          There is none else.

     I am the Fire of Mind    Which divideth itself

     Into the Superior and Inferior natures,     And putteth on a robe of flesh

     To come down. I am the vital principle of all that is.     Nothing is that does not live.

     And of that life I am the source.

     As it is written:  

          "First the stone,

          Then the plant,

          Then the animal,

          And then the man."

     But before the stone, I am the FIRE,

     Distributed equally in space,

     Nowhere absent, filling all.

     And before the Fire, hidden within it,

     I am the pure KNOWING

     Whence all forms flow forth.

     Apart from me   There is neither wisdom,

     Nor knowledge, nor understanding.

     Into every state of knowledge do I enter.

     Into false knowledge as well as into true,

     So that I am not less the ignorance of the

     deluded, than the wisdom of the sage.

     For what thou callest ignorance and folly

     Is my pure knowing,  Imperfectly expressed

     Through an uncompleted image

     Of my divine perfection.

    Woe unto them   Who condemn these my works unfinished!

   Behold, they who presume to judge  Are themselves incomplete.

     Through many of fiery trial of sorrow  Must they pass,Ere the clear beauty of my wisdom    May shine from out their hearts,

     Like unto a light   Burning in a lamp of alabaster.

6    I am the doer of all.

     Nothing moveth but by my power.

     Mine is the healing influence

     Flowing down from consecrated hands.

     Mine the venom of the adder's fang.

     Nothing falleth but by me

     And in whatsoever riseth

     Mine is the power that lifteth up.

7    My presence is the substance of all things.

     I am the virgin snow on mountain heights;

     I am the fruitful loam in valley depths.

     I am gold and silver of the temple vessels;

     I am the mire on sandals left by the faithful at the temple gate.

     See me and regard me equally in all, 

     O Israel, And thou shalt see indeed.

8    For seeing thus, shall thou see, too.

That nothing is, or can be, my antagonist.

All, and in all  Shall I fight myself?

 What hath power to limit or defeat

 The very source of power?

now then, that all thy sense of conflict

 is but the shadow-play of ignorance.

 Wait with patience on me, thy Lord,

And in my appointed time

 will I make clear what now is dark,

And show before thee, straight and true,

 A path of safety In the very place where now an abyss of Terror    

 seems to open at thy feet.  

9  I am the beginning of all beginnings,

 Checked by neither time nor space,

 Held by no bonds of name or form.

Present everywhere, Centering the full perfection

Of mine exhaustless power,I am thy Lord, O Israel,

And Lord of countless hosts.

 Seek me in the Holy of Holies,

In the heart of the true Temple,

On the Holy Mountain.

Behold, I am with thee always,

And I never sleep.

10   I am the Height above all heights.

My descent reacheth likewise below all

depths.   Yet am I poised forever between Height

and Depth In perfect balance.

Consider me under the aspect of ALEPH:

There shalt thou find both Height and Depth

And the path also which joineth them

For descent and return.

11   ALEPH in truth am I,

The OX of solar fire

 Whose radiance lighteth all the world,

Whose life-breath ebbeth and floweth

In creatures great and small,

Whose power taketh form

In all the acts of men, of beasts, of plants

 Yea, and of things which seem inanimate, as well.

ALEPH am I, the patient burden-bearer

 Strong to carry the heavy load of the manifest.

ALEPH am I, the Eternal Worker By whose might all fields are tilled,

And from whose life all seeds Derive their growth and increase.

         

ALEPH am I.  The First and the Root.

From mine unfathomable Will The universe hath its beginning.

in my boundless Wisdom  Are the types and patterns of all things.

        Before all worlds I WAS;

        In all worlds I AM;

     And when worlds are but a memory,

        I SHALL BE.

From The Book of Tokens

Authored By 

Dr. Paul Foster Case, 

Recognized world authority on 

Tarot and Qabalah and founder of The Builders of The Adytum 5105

 North Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90042 (213) 255-7141



THE TAROT A KEY TO THE WISDOM OF THE AGES 

COMMENT ON ALEPH A L E P H, pronounced awlef. Transcribed as "A."

The number 1. Meaning: Ox The Fiery Intelligence. Throughout this text the proper name "Israel" should be understood as applying to the spiritual Israel. This name means "He shall rule as God", and thus the text is addressed to all who, by identifying themselves with the Divine Will became unobstructed channels for its expression. Thus they truly live the Divine Life, and consequently share in the Divine Rulership.

2 "To me neither men nor angels may draw nigh." Nothing conscious of separateness can approach the Reality of the Absolute. When all at last return to the One, the differences that constitute various classes, such as plants, animals, men, and angels, will vanish.

4 "I am the vital principle of all that is." This is a reference to the attribution of Ruach to the letter ALEPH. The Hebrew Ruach is analogous to Sanskrit Prana, Greek Preuma, and Latin Spiritus. Every one of these words means Breath, and every one means Life. The meditation says emphatically that this Life-Breath animates even those forms which are commonly regarded as being lifeless.

5 The phrase "my works unfinished" is a key to the whole philosophy of good and evil running through these meditations. In the thought of the author, we live in a dynamic, growing organism, which we call "the universe". The purpose for which that organism has been projected into relative manifestation is not yet fully achieved. It is not a finished mechanism, a thing made, once and for all. Rather it is a living Being, whose life includes innumerable lesser lives and lesser degrees of knowledge.