A'Ano'Nin: The Devil
Is A Woman Dressed In Red
©
Linda Falorio 1993
In The Shadow Tarot, the card of A'Ano'Nin speaks to the dark side
of Atu XV, The Devil of traditional tarots. The Devil,
known in the esoteric teachings of the Golden Dawn as The Lord of the
Gates of Matter, and The Child of the Forces of Time
falls astrologically under the aegis of the planet Saturn, Chronos,
Keeper of Time, higher octave of the Moon in its role as signifier of the
slow, inexorable rhythms of nature. Alchemically, Saturn relates to the
qualities of lead, to the denseness and heaviness of matter, the solidity
of earth, to the pull of gravitation that keeps us on the planet, as well
as the planet's seething molten core.
Saturn, outermost planet known in
ancient times, defined the boundaries of the then known cosmos, and
defines our personal boundaries and vulnerabilities as well, both physical
and psychological. Where the Moon, earth's bright satellite nurtures
earthly life, dark and distant Saturn defines the limitations inherent in
life's structure and form. Cold and dark, Saturn refers us to the
geophysical North, the direction from which orgone energy streams
into our life web, discernible as the pulsing aurora of the Northern
Lights. Saturn thus is also associated with winter, December in the
Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun enters Capricorn, Saturn's native sign.
In the Shadow Tarot, The Devil, though
most often thought of as typically male, instead turns a feminine face to
us as Set, ass-headed Egyptian god of the deserts, Shaitan
of the desert-dwelling Yezidi whose devotees worshipped facing
North. In this card we find the soul in bondage to the senses and the
earth: matter ruling spirit. Yet, where in traditional tarot the idea of
matter dominating spirit has been seen as evil, in the Shadow Tarot we
experience this as a condition to be sought. The feminine has long been
maligned, yet there is truth in this, for if earthly existence is seen as
an evil to be endured on the way to some heavenly paradise, the feminine
has but two possible roles: that of virginal psychopomp, leading
the soul to God, as Beatrice did for the poet Dante
Alighieri, or that of temptress, leading the soul from God,
binding man to earth as the physical gateway to the material world of
sensuality and satisfaction of animal desire through the subtle
pheromonal working of her body. Indeed, matter equals mother,
for it is she who clothes all things with form, she who holds the
developing fetus in her body, thus she keeps our boundaries and holds us
in reality.
A'Ano'Nin calls us to the lustful
dance of spirit clothed with form. The soul is pulled into incarnation by
desire. Enthralled by the rapture of the senses, the glamour cast upon us
by our lovely planet binds us to the blessings of the earth, we have
fallen into Time that we may revel in the joy of physical existence.
In the pentagram—the
five-pointed star—we see
an ancient seal of protection. It represents the four elements of the
Ancients—fire,
water, air, and earth—whose
infinite combinations constitute the manifested universe crowned by the
fifth element of spirit to which humanity aspires. Inverted, the pentagram
becomes the sign of Pater Pan: "Pamphage, Pangenitor, all father, all
begetter". It represents the generative spirit of the fertile earth,
the Goat Foot God, Cernunnos, Capricorn, Saturn—The
Devil, if you will—none other than the god
who "has a spiral force", the spirit of A'Ano'Nin, which binds us
all to
life.
In the card of A'Ano'Nin, Set, the red-haired ass who has come to
represent bodily passion and lust, appears as the alluring Scarlet Woman,
or Suvasini—"sweet-smelling
woman"—her body
exuding powerful pheromonal essences. These affect the primitive
mammalian limbic areas of the backbrain which regulate the most basic
levels of instinctual behavior. It has long been known that women who live
and work together tend to menstruate during the same time. This is due to
the release of hormone-triggering
pheromones at certain phases of the menstrual cycle, one woman's biology
thus triggering another's, all taking place entirely below the level of
conscious awareness.
In this card, the heightened emotions
and intensification of the senses caused by this stimulation of the
ancient rhinencephalon, or "nose brain",
through the primitive sense of smell are graphically depicted. Satyrs and
fauns are found cavorting in the priapic bliss engendered, in a wild
Saturnalia of passion and desire to which Set gives the sign of
blessing. This pagan carnival (from L. carnem levare, "to put away the
flesh", as
food) of Saturnalia was
celebrated at the end of December, the month of Capricorn, for the seven
days prior to the Winter Solstice. This festival, generally beginning on
the fifteenth of December, an interesting occurrence in that 15 is
also the number of the major arcana of The Devil—Atu
XV—commemorated the
rule of Saturn, beneficent Etruscan King in the fabled Golden Age of
peace, prosperity, and universal happiness, in which greed was unknown,
nor was there slavery or private property, for the citizenry held all
things in common. The festival of Saturnalia was marked by feasting,
revelry and mad pursuit of pleasure, in which masters changed places with
their slaves, and all ate at a common table, keeping alive the idea of
equality. Furthermore, war could not be declared, and executions were
postponed. This season, then as now, was time for giving and receiving
gifts.
But there was a darker side to the
Roman Saturnalia. It was also a period of license, when customary
restraints of law and morality were thrown aside, when all gave themselves
up to pleasure, and the darker passions were given vent never allowed in
the staid and sober course of ordinary life. The human personality was
allowed to dissolve into madness, feeding on the dark world of the senses
as the Maenads feasted upon their victims, torn to shreds in the ecstatic
worship of their gods.
Saturnalia, though an ancient festival,
bears a striking similarity to current native practices of those living
high in the Andes mountains of Peru. At certain times of the year, these
natives mount wild festivals accompanied by much chewing of coca
leaves. During the festival they play pan-pipes and drums, engage in
public erotic rites, and indulge in bloody fist fights, drinking maize
beer and brandy through the night until stupor is attained.
The Devil, always a troublesome card to
interpret, has often been explained as the soul or spirit in bondage to
the senses and the earth. When this card is active in our lives, involved
are issues of power over and control, bondage and submission. Competition
comes into play, fueled by material greed and ambition to make it to the
top. Methods may be covert, involving subtle manipulation, and "playing
politics" to win the game. Thus, The Devil, Capricornus, can be
seen as the archetypal Organization Man. He believes in hierarchy, hard
work, and tradition, he believes in control of animal passions and
emotions, in self-control, and in submission to authority, in sacrificing
his individuality in favor of the common good. This, in its highest
expression supports the creation of a society in which the human spirit
may be sustained and nurtured.
As every idea contains the seed of its
own opposite, The Devil as A'Ano'nin becomes that wild, untamed
lustful animal spirit within us, that blind ecstatic force of nature which
is an expression of the fertility and abundance of the earth. However,
such free and joyful expression of the human spirit is feared as hubris
that constitutes a societal danger, threatening the very ideas of
hierarchy, structure, authority, and control upon which societies are
based. Therefore, in order to function and survive, a society finds it
must place limits upon individual behavior defined as disruptive to the
common good of the group. Furthermore, if it is not to devolve into
anarchy and chaos, there must be a consensus of meaning, an agreement on
what constitutes its reason for existence, its
purposes and plans.
The individual, once he has become a
danger to the status quo, arousing anxiety that the human universe may
collapse into chaos and uncertainty must be repressed and brought under
societal control. Society, to justify it's actions in the preserving of
its power-structure, calls upon the combined establishments of church and
state and medicine to define such individuals either as "sinful", as
"criminal", or "crazy" in the old game of "blame
the victim", or scape-goating.
Submission to a dead hierarchy that has
ceased to provide little meaning or societal context beyond the
ideological imperative of preserving its own ability to pursue material
greed and ambition, breeds poverty of spirit, hopelessness, helplessness,
and depression, which may be expected to eventually explode into violence,
anger, and aggression, threatening the power structure with the very
uncertainty and chaos which it so fears.
It should not be surprising that such
release of pent-up energy as we find in the ancient Saturnalia, or
in the modern Peruvian rites often degenerated into wild orgies of lust
and crime, in which we can perhaps identify an ancient type of the
disturbing current practice known as "wilding". Yet, the mad spree
of random anti-social gang violence and aggression known as wilding,
may also be seen as a result of the individual's repression by a society
that imparts little meaning beyond pursuance of material greed and
ambition, one that, rather than nurturing the free human spirit allows
little opportunity for its expression, thus breeding violence, anger, and
aggression.
When we find ourselves
in bondage to such a repressive system, rather than follow through with
the cycle of repression—depression—anger—violence,
we need instead to find the ability to see beyond the conventional wisdom
cautioning us to quietly observe the status quo, we need to see through
artificial
societal limitations placed upon
behavior. Rather than exploding with anger at our repressors, we may then
release ourselves in joy to follow the path with heart, the dictate of our
spirit and our Will.
In A Reading:
When we use this card for meditation,
or when we see this card in a reading we are reminded to live through the
senses. It is time to get back in touch with the cycles of the earth, to
attune ourselves to the vast rhythms of nature, and the timeless wisdom of
our bodies. We need to take time to get back to
basics, to notice the mundane, to enjoy and appreciate those around us,
with all their faults and failings, in that they are unique expressions of
the phases and cycles affecting human life.
At times, we all feel stuck, and
stressed, frustrated by subjection to senseless rules and regulations. We
find ourselves bending to social pressure to conform to standards that we
find devoid of meaning. We have moments when we fear we are in danger of
becoming Myrmidons to corporate, patriarchal anality, that we
have dutifully sacrificed the best in us, our vitality and youth,
to the demands of industrial efficiency in our quest to "get ahead".
Such social pressure and overwork tend
to block the streaming orgonomic energies of our bodies, and we may
experience depression, sexual impotence, or vague feelings of anxiety and
guilt when we allow ourselves to experience sensual pleasure. We are left
feeling isolated, trapped, controlled, depressed, and
alienated from nature
and the body. Longing to escape, we may become attracted to religions, or
other world-views that validate denial of sensual pleasure in the here and
now, promising release through transcendence of the material world and the
world of the senses. On the other side, when we seek to break free from
social sanctions and express our freedom and pleasure of the senses, we
may encounter those who, in venting a sense of vengeful righteousness
based on fear, seek to impose their restrictive sex-morality upon others—what
Wilhelm Reich called "the
emotional plague."
"Be Here Now", staying in the
moment is the secret of A'Ano'Nin, for in attunement with the
natural world, we find the ability to draw healing energy and vitality
from direct contact with the earth as the Greek, Tellus, derived
his strength. One with the earth, we are able to find power spots, and to
"ground" potentially disruptive forces by
channeling them back into the all-accepting earth. In our attunement with
nature, in our love and acceptance of the basis of life, in our own
natural instincts and humanity, we find the ability to contact all manner
of fairies, gnomes, sylphs, undines, and devas of the kingdoms of
the earth, and to communicate with all forms of life. In feeling at one
with the expression of life, at ease in a wholistic world of which
humanity is a natural part, where instincts are not evil, where
everything/ everyone/ every act is acceptable as a necessary unfolding of
The Faceless One, Hecate, La Belle Dame
Sans Merci—the
Unfathomable Great Goddess—we
gain the ability
to materialize desire in the Here and Now.