Dissolution & The Age of Aquarius
Barcelona 2025
On the 19th of November, 2024 Pluto the planet of transformation and the higher octave of Mars arrived in the 1st Degree of Aquarius; and finally leaving earthy Capricorn where it had lived for the last 16 years. Pluto hasn’t been in Aquarius for approximately 226 years - its last time was in 1798. In very recent times we’ve witnessed developments in AI (Deepseek from China), the development of nanotechnology and Naeuralink in a human’s brain, cars that drive themselves, drone swarming technology, energy weapons, airplanes made and fuelled by hemp to name but a few recent technological advancements. On the 26th of July, 2023, there was a Congressional hearing where three long-serving military men testified as to the existence of non-human intelligence that the US government has known about for decades. On the 3rd of September last year a podcast about non-speaking Autistic children that communicate telepathically was released, by December it was the number one podcast in the US and Europe. It is hard not to think of the long-awaited Aquarian Age.
The arrival of the Aquarian Age has been much discussed over the last century and a half. The idea has also been championed by various groups - all with their own spin on the arrival of this beneficent age. When it has or will arrive is an ongoing debate with no conclusion in sight. This incoming age lives among such other future impending events like The Rapture or the 2nd coming of Christ. It will always seem to be in the future, a mirage forever moving to the next horizon. This is perhaps a part of human nature to project our hopes of a better future to keep us going in the present or even perhaps to defer the responsibility for action to a future time or generation.
It is also human nature - particularly in this materialist age - to interpret the many spiritual texts of antiquity with such a literal point of view. Such confusion and pain have been the result of such interpretation. In our lessons we are reminded repeatedly that we are practical occultists not speculative ones. Our chief duty is to work on ourselves with the aim of becoming better vessels for the One Light. No where are we taught to simply wait for a better age to dawn. With this practicality in mind let us approach Key 17 as symbol for the sign of Aquarius, the practice of meditation and likewise Revelation, and the principle of alchemical Dissolution. The symbology and Qabalistic attributions connected with this Key have a lot to teach us about what this great age might mean and more importantly what it might mean to us as individual practitioners on the path of Return.
The number 17 itself is revealing. We are taught that this number depicts the power of 7 through the agency of 1. The power represented by The Chariot through the agency of The Magician. The Chariot is attributed to the letter CHETH, meaning fence or enclosure, and is the Intelligence of the House of Influence. The power of Key 7 is really that of receptivity - receptivity to the presence of the Charioteer. Key 1 is BETH meaning House and is known as the Transparent Intelligence. The Transparent Intelligence and the work of the Magician represent the focusing of attention - much like a lens focuses light.
This clearly aligns with Patanjali’s definition of meditation being ‘an unbroken flow of knowledge on a particular object’ (TF 37 pg 1). Both Keys clearly depict the flow of something from ‘above to below’ or from superconscious to subconsciousness with our attention (Key 1) as the substrate through which the Light from above must pass. We have neither ownership of the light nor are we its source.
The number 17 further reduces down to 8. 8 is the gematria value of CHETH - the Hebrew letter associated with Key 7 as described above. This re-emphasises the idea of an enclosure or a fence that delineates a smaller space artificially divided from a larger one. Just like a fence might delineate a farm from the wild. The earth, plants, animals and Nature herself does not regard this barrier - a barrier that only makes sense to man - as nature itself continues on both sides of the barrier. In fact, the barrier itself is a part and development of nature. A technology evolved by Nature (Nature with capital N) and if you really think about it our personalities are just such a development. This is the field of consciousness in which we must cultivate our meditation - our focused flow - but we must not lose perspective on this field. Key 7 depicts this truth elegantly with our personalities being the cubic stone - an enclosure made of and by Nature - in which our Higher Self has been invited to command. Isn’t this the very thing we are seeking in meditation?
The number 8 also connects us with Key 8 - Strength - and its Hebrew letter TETH, meaning serpent, which is the Intelligence of the Secret of all Spiritual Activities. Key 8 depicts the power of the great magical agent - or the serpent power stored at the base of our spines. Here we have the same woman as in Key 17 this time clothed in white for purity as she lovingly assists the Red Lion in producing the speech of creation.
The number 8 appears in Key 17 as the eight stars, each with 8 major rays. We are taught that 7 of these stars refer to our internal stars or chakras. They are so organised in the night sky so as to form 3 pairs. Mars and Venus at the top, the Sun and the Moon in the middle, and Saturn and Jupiter at the bottom. These three pairs represent opposite yet complementary forces. The small star above the Isis-Urania’s head is that of Mercury - our sense of self-consciousness represented by Key 1 - the Magician as well as the man in Key 6 and 15. These are the 7 stars of our makeup yet this Key is not called The Stars but the singular Star because what is really being discussed in this Key is the 8th star - the gold, emblazoned star in the centre of the key.
This 8th star with its eight major rays and, interestingly, eight budding rays that will eventually grow into The Sun of Key 19. This 8th glowing yellow star is likewise paired like the other six but this time vertically. It is paired with the smallest star, Mercury, our self-conscious self. We are reminded of the occult maxim “as above, so below” which is likewise depicted in the symbol of Aquarius and Dissolution itself by the two parallel wavy lines, one on top of the other. The eighth star is the light behind the other seven stars in our individual makeup. It shines brightest in the dark night when Nature - Isis-Urania herself - reveals this truth to us once we have done the work encouraged by this Key. This clearly shows the power of 7 through the agency of 1 - the One Limitless Light behind all things yet expressing itself as 7.
The number 8 is also the 8th sphere on the Tree Of Life - HOD. The path of HOD is the Perfect Intelligence - perfect is the word for SHALOM which means ‘complete, finished, whole’ and also stands for ‘sound, healthy’. The process of meditation in time reveals to us the ‘eternal splendour of the Limitless Light’ and it gives us the deepest sense of confidence to continue our work. We will return to this idea later.
In a number of the lessons on Key 17 we are encouraged to make further investigations into the practice of Concentration by studying Patanjali’s Yoga Aphorisms. In the preparation for this presentation three translations and commentaries were consulted. There is much to be taken from these works - too much for the scope of this talk - but a few key points stand out having special significance to our present focus.
In the commentary on the 2nd Yoga affirmation of Book 1 William Q Judge writes:
“The reason for the absence of concentration at any time is that the mind is modified by every subject and object that comes before it; it is, as it were, transformed into the subject or object. The mind, therefore, is not the supreme or highest power; it is only a function, an instrument with which the soul works” (W.Q. Judge pg15).
Further in the commentary Judge describes the structure of consciousness which consists of a brain as the physical receptor of consciousness, the mind which operates on a plane above the brain, and likewise the soul operating on a plane above the mind. The mind uses the brain as a tool and the soul uses the mind and brain as a tool. In the quotation above we see how, in Judge’s terminology, the mind takes whatever shape it is focusing on as it has no physical form itself - only its tool the brain has physical form. This can be easily observed in how we can get swept away by our own thoughts. We all know how a negative memory, for instance, rises up in our thoughts and we are immediately transported to the past with all of the sense memories of the negative event. Even our body and its brain - a tool of the mind and soul - flares with the all the chemicals of feeling that the negative memory stirs.
The physical brain makes an appearance in Key 17 as a tree - as plant life. The tree with its brain stem as the trunk of the tree that extends into the earth. The same earth that five streams of water are divided that flow from Isis’ left hand. The brain-tree has a red Ibis perched in the frontal lobe. This Ibis - a member of the animal kingdom - with its long, pointed beak symbolises the precise, one-pointed concentration required to meditate. The Ibis is likewise coloured red, the colour of Mars and Geburah, as it is active in the beginning of meditative practise.
Western materialist science has it that consciousness lives and dies with the physical lump of flesh that is the brain. A comparable analogy is like believing that the music heard on the radio is made in the radio set. Radios do not make music they merely transmit it. So it is with our brain and consciousness.
As practical occultists we know Western, materialist science to be mistaken. In our own practice, however, we can get caught up in what William judge calls the Mind. Left unchecked this ‘mind’ which we must remember is merely a tool belonging to the soul can lead us in error to conclude that it is the entirety of the self. This is obviously a cul de sac and much easier to say than to realise. What is so easily forgotten, in Patanjali’s terminology, is that the soul is the owner of the mind and its receiver the brain.
Of course, we must not ‘mistake the finger for the moon’ as our Zen brethren would say and get lost in comparing terminology between different systems. But, we view the mind as our individual enclosure of consciousness - Dr. Case might refer to this as our personality - which we know is a tool of the One Life to experience itself. Remember the Big golden star is paired with the small Mercurial star in Key 17, and as pointed out earlier, the ‘artificiality’ of a fence in nature. Only from the point of view of the mind does the fence have a hard barrier, from the point of view of Nature there is no barrier. The barrier itself is part of Nature. This truth of oneness is what is Revealed by Isis-Urania in key 17.
If you remember on Key 6, Key 15, and even key 20 - the chap on the right in these Keys is our self-consciousness. The two vases in Key 17 are filled with water drawn from the pool of the mind-stuff by Isis-Urania. On the left - the side of subconsciousness - she pours the water directly back into the pool it was originally drawn from. On the right - the side of self-consciousness - we see the water poured on earth and split into five separate channels meant to represent our five senses. When the side of self-consciousness is given superiority, we end up getting lost in the world of sense. Our ‘fence’ of personality then takes on a hard and limiting aspect and suffering is often the result.
The Delicate Art of Fishing:
Key 17 is attributed to the Hebrew letter Tzaddi, the fish-hook, and its gematria value is 90. 90 is of course the degree of a right angle, so essential to building, the legend taught in Freemasonry and as ‘an ancient symbol for justice and rectitude’ (TF 38 pg 2).
Interestingly, 90 is also the number of the full spelling of the word MAYIM (Mem, Yod, Mem) —meaning water— associated with Key 12 - The Hanged Man. At first glance The Star and The Hanged Man have little in common. There’s no visible water in Key 12, while it flows so abundantly in Key 17. We have a completely nude female in one key, but in the other a fully clothed man with a glowing head suspended upside down above a dry ditch.
But under closer inspection these two keys are very much interconnected. What flows in Key 17 is MAYIM the mind-stuff that begins it’s flow with the High Priestess’ robe in Key 2. The ditch in Key 12 is dry because we are not dealing with physical water but with the suspension of the flow of the mind-stuff. MAYIM is known as the Stable Intelligence which is so carefully hinted at by the right foot of Isis-Urania in Key 17 that rests on the stable yet rippled waters where she does her work.
The connection continues with the repeating motif of 90-degree angles. Both of Isis’ knees are at 90 degrees as is her foot to the water. Likewise, our man in Key 12 is perfectly suspended at 90 degrees to the wooden TAV that frames the top of the Key. TAV is attributed to Key 21 and the planet Saturn, co-ruler of Aquarius, and symbolic of the force of limitation. This connects us with the idea of concentration - like our Magician in Key 1 - who by attention limits and thereby focuses the flow of the water of consciousness on a particular object.
Key 12 shows us the fish-hook (Tzaddi) in successful action. In order for a fishhook to be effective it needs to be attached to a line - here the twisted rope from which the Hanged Man so elegantly depends. The line must also be limited by something - the wooden Tav of Key 12 - otherwise we will never be able to land our fish. The perfectly caught fish in Key 12 is of course none other than the Hanged-Man himself - who we are taught is the ‘Adept bound by his engagements’.
The Book of Tokens Meditation on Tzaddi says:
Men think they seek me,
But it is I who seek them.
…
The fish graspeth the hook,
Thinking to find food,
But the fisherman is the enjoyer of the meal.
The Fisherman is the One Self in Kether. It is in the direction of Kether that our ‘fish’ directs his gaze and why his head is illuminated with a golden light that shines from behind his head. This golden light is not only representative of Golden Star in Key 17 but also of the splendour of the eighth sephiroth - Hod.
If the Hanged Man is the result of work encouraged by Key 17 - meditation that has reached a point of proficiency where Isis Reveals herself to us - then the truth we are meant to establish is the singularity behind the appearance of the many. This is what the large, golden star Key 17 takes its name from that expresses itself through the 7 stars in our make-up. This singularity is the cord that suspends the Hanged Man - an adept - from the Will the One Life.
Let us now zoom in on the Fish-hook. The word Fish-hook is NUN (Fish - Key 13) and VAV (nail or hook - Key 5). Dr Case tells us in the lessons that these two letters depict the physical centres that are involved in the process of meditation. Key 13 - Scorpio - is connected with the reproductive organs and the coiled, serpent-force that is raised up in the progressive work of meditation. This agrees with the connection to key 8 as described earlier. Key 5 - Taurus - is the throat and the organs involved in hearing. In this case we are focused on the internal hearing represented by The Hierophant - The Revealer of Secrets. Dr Case informs us that true meditation is a result of the kundalini energy that rises from the Scorpio region at the base of the spine to activate the higher sense of internal hearing.
The Fish-Hook, Nun-Vav, are interestingly located on the cube of space where Key 13 and Key 5 form the two uprights on the Southern face. Both travel upwards from the base of the cube associated with the Moon and subconsciousness towards the upper face of Mercury and self-consciousness. This further develops the idea of meditation bringing information to light from the unknown to the known in our conscious awareness.
The top of these two uprights is connected by the path of Tzaddi, the fish-hook of Key 17, and Aquarius. It runs from the Western face to the Eastern face. Its direction of flow on the cube is the opposite to what one might assume (much like the reversal taught by Key 12 - The Hanged Man). It flows from the present moment of the Western face (Key 10) to the Eastern face (Key 3) which represents the imagination as the origin of all manifestation. This teaches us that Key 17 is about going backward into understanding the origin of our present circumstances - ‘a revelation of some eternal principle which bears directly on one’s problem and leads to its solution’ (TF 38 pg 4).
This is extremely important - this symbology shows us how meditation begins with what is known to us if we apply our attention in the present moment (Key 10 - The western face of the cube). This is the effect part of cause and effect. It is then by meditation that we come to perceive through the effects before us the essential cause of our present circumstances which began in the imagination of Key 3 in the Eastern face of the cube. We know from the Kybalion that everything is mental. Everything made by humans began first in the imagination. Everything made in Nature (of which we are a part) began in the mind of God. This is the essential starlight that emanates from the great golden Star at the centre of Key 17. Showing us that once we develop the skill to perceive it we discover the true building block behind all of Nature. This is truly the ‘solution’ to our problem.
Water as the Universal Solvent:
Dissolution is the alchemical process attributed to Key 17. In fact the symbol for the sign of Aquarius is also the symbol for alchemical principle of dissolution. Before we do a deep dive into the meaning of dissolution it is perhaps useful to remind ourselves of the meaning of the word solution. Its most common definition has to do with the ‘means of solving a problem or dealing with a difficult situation’. In Chemistry it is ‘a liquid mixture in which the minor component (the solute) is uniformly distributed within the major component (the solvent)’ It can also be used to describe ‘the process or state of being dissolved in a solvent’. The latter two definitions are perhaps most interesting to our present investigation. But the first definition pertaining to the answer to a problem is the real reason for meditation in the first place. In fact, it is because of the pain and suffering caused by our problems that we are all gathered here together, that we have sought out B.O.T.A. and studied its wisdom. This is why we study and put our learning into practice - to find a better solution.
In Chemistry the universal solvent is water - and so it is in our esoteric studies. The water of Key 17, the mind-stuff that began in the flowing robes of the High Priestess, is none other than the First Matter of Alchemy. And just as a crystal form can be dissolved into its solution, so can our problems, our experiences, and all of Nature can be similarly separated into its homogenous solution. This solution is a mental fluid that is the fundamental building block of building blocks. It is this amorphous substance ‘that does not wet the hand’ and seems to flow through us like water. It has its rhythmic and wave-like qualities just like what is shown by the symbol of Aquarius and Dissolution. It is this essential substance that is revealed to us thru regular and committed meditation.
The Meditation on Gimel, section 5, in the Book of Tokens:
Whatever existeth
Is as a ripple on the surface of the stream,
But all are of the one substance.
Thus all share in the peculiar quality
Of the stream itself,
Which is the mirror of myself to myself,
The root of all remembrance.
The ripples in the pool that supports the right leg of Isis-Urania are what appear to us as form - from the most complex to the simplest. We are such a ripple - albeit a complicated one. We are all of the same substance just like everything else in the universe. This is the essential UNITY behind the idea of Aquarius. Once this oneness is revealed to us - and it can only be revealed to the individual who practises - our world of limitation comes to an end. The fence is still perceived but we can see the forest thru the trees as the saying goes. This then becomes the Holy Calm of Key 17 in contrast to the stormy destruction of Key 16. This is described in the lessons as:
‘Purified and concentrated thought helps us to synchronise these whirling forces. A rhythm is established which attunes us to the greater rhythm of the Cosmic Order….poise and balance are established because personality is by this attunement perfectly adjusted to the rhythms of Mother Nature.” (TF 38 pg 6)
This idea of synchronisation between ‘whirling forces’ is what is shown in the symbol for Aquarius and Dissolution. The below is synchronised to the above - our personal consciousness is aligned with super-consciousness. They move in parallel, as above, so below. Remember the Golden star and its pairing with the smaller star of Mercury and our self-consciousness described earlier. What is then discovered is that our consciousness is in fact itself a meditation of the One Life. We are the object in which the One Life has its unbroken flow of knowledge on.
Here we approach a very deep mystery, indeed. The solution to all of our problems is the truth of UNITY. Dr Case describes our personalities as being like a whirlpool in a flow of water. In this example the whirlpool is part of the water, much like our field with a fence earlier, but it’s separateness is created by a force running through the water. Once the force is removed or redirected the whirlpool is no more. Our personalities are solid, like ice, when the conditions are such to support its solidity. The conditions of what we perceive as the physical world are in a similar spot. All are made of the same substance varying in form and in degree of solidity. The substance - just like in the case of water and ice - is the same.
This is analogous to the creation of a crystalline form. All crystals begin in solution - from salt crystals to diamonds- a substance evenly distributed through a solvent - until energy is applied. For a diamond it is a thousand years of pressure, for salt it is simply the evaporation of the water. This application of energy is much like the example of the whirlpool or in what is required to change the state of a solid to a liquid or a liquid to gas.
It is interesting to note that there are 7 fundamental shapes of crystals. In Key 17 we have 7 smaller stars that we understand to be made of the same substance as the one great blazing star in the centre. We also know that there are seven alchemical metals, 7 interior planets or chakras, 7 stages of enlightenment, 7 Seals in the Apocalypse of St John, and of course - most revealing of all, 7 spirits of Elohim assigned to Binah - the sphere of Saturn on the Tree. These 7 are essentially ONE - they are the 7 aspects of the One Being. My words in this presentation can only circumscribe the faintest of outlines of this Truth, Truth with a capital T, that must be individually sought through meditation and then revealed by Isis-Urania when we are ripe and ready.
In conclusion, there is one final Qabalism that needs to be opened up. Key 17 and the sign of Aquarius is associated with the 1/2 tribe of Israel - Manasseh (MEM, NUN, SHIN, HEH) with a gematria value of 395. Manasseh literally means ‘causing to forget’. This is indeed the situation we most often find ourselves in - having forgotten our real situation in the cosmos. The Revelation of Isis-Urania is really about remembering who we really are and what is expressing itself through us.
The same letters that spell Manasseh also spell NESHAMAH (NUN, SHIN, MEM, HEH)- the pure and undefiled Divine Soul behind all of creation and said to be seated in Binah. This is what we must work to remember - not in a theoretical sense as presented in this talk - but actual remembrance in our daily lives. When you add the numbers in 395 (the value of Neshamah) you end up with 17 and of course 8 when reduced down to a single digit.
Our sense of enclosure is but a tool of the One Life. It is a unique expression of its OneNess through the 7 stars in our interior make-up. The golden light behind the head of the Hanged Man is the light of the great Star in Key 17 radiating its Splendour that is always before us, always has been. It manifests interiorly and individually -eg within our fence of self - when we remember our location in the cosmos as a centre of expression of the Primal Will, as a child of NESHAMAH. This the true Age of Aquarius - not something of science fiction in the world around us.