Insanity is the New Normal

Death: The 24th Path

ALLIES OF SCORPIO

“This path is scary too, Mr. M.”

“The 24th path presents challenges for even the most valiant and courageous hero. Since it is called ‘Death,’ most people assume that the path is only about physical death. But remember, each path has meanings for all levels of the self, the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels, not just the physical level. The path nevertheless still inspires fear because it suggests radical change, and of course many people are afraid of change. But change, of course, is the only certainty in this world. Even more importantly, perhaps, the soul grows through change. On every level death leads to regeneration. Of the people we see on this path who are expiring as death approaches, only one, a small child, appears to be welcoming death with flowers. It’s that attitude that we cultivate in the face of change on all levels. We must be as little children.”

“I’m not sure that I can do that, Mr. M.”

“Certainly it becomes harder as one grows older. On previous paths, we have passed within the veil, which might be one reason that this path is so scary. In other words, we have already begun examining what it means to be awake. So often, we just go about the business of living on auto-pilot, half-asleep. Our family and our society condition us to maintain the 'unexamined self,' partially as a survival mechanism. We adopt certain beliefs and get into physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual habits as we learn to play by the rules. In the process, we become passive, allowing others to control and manipulate and even crush our imaginative powers, and it is this very habit of inner passivity that becomes the veil. Even though these habits and beliefs interfere with our ability to live fully and creatively, if nothing challenges our belief systems too much, and life doesn’t treat us too badly, then we remain passive and don’t question anything. But this tower that we create is sometimes hit by lightning, as we have witnessed in the 27th path, The Tower.”

“So should we accept change, Mr. M?”

“On one level, yes. On another, the path suggests that we have no choice. The trick is to embrace change in such a way as to move purposefully from lower to higher consciousness. The astrological sign of Scorpio associated with this path suggests this process. On the lowest level, Scorpio is associated with the scorpion, but Scorpio is also associated with the snake and the eagle. The snake, among other things, is a symbol of rebirth because it sheds its skin. The eagle, as well as being a symbol of Water, symbolizes the higher self; the eagle, as a soaring bird, sees great distances, just as the higher self takes on the perspective of eternity. Scorpio is, of course, a Water sign, and you’ll notice that in the background, a river passes by two towers as the sun rises, or sets, in the distance. The towers suggest the side pillars of the Tree of Life, and the sun as a symbol is associated with Tiphareth, or Beauty, the Emanation of the higher self.

“Remember that the highest spiritual experience of Malkuth, the physical plane, is the ‘Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel,’ the guardian angel being the higher self, and we cannot experience the higher self without the death of the conditioned self.”

“That seems really hard, Mr. M!”

“Yes, but at some point, the individual, like the little child, embraces the death of the lower self for the birth of the higher self. In the meantime, apathy and inertia are the great dangers of this path. In the face of constant change, the individual might give up on potential growth. Change might be inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be meaningless or random or merely destructive. We have the power of the will to change in positive, beneficial ways.

“On this path, you see Death on a white horse moving toward a small group of people who are all dying, which is so sad--all dying at one time. That sort of thing can be just too hard to understand. Why would God allow such a thing to happen? But then everything we know will die at some point. Everything we know now will disappear from the earth at some point. Everything is changing, and we want to put up walls around us to keep all the changes away, but death just keeps coming on his white horse. Where would we be, though, if everything stayed the same? That would just be the worst kind of death. The main thing is to keep moving along the path, to keep changing and growing in every way that we can.”

Five of Cups: Mars in Scorpio

"Look, Mr. M, there's that sad man again!" Claire exclaims.

"Yes, we're seeing him again because we are in the realm of Scorpio, which is the realm of radical change and transformation. He is torn because he has to decide how to move on to another stage of his life. He cannot escape this life-changing choice, which means that he might need to leave much behind. It isn't easy to leave behind your attachments. It can break your heart and tear your soul apart. Most of us have to face a choice of this kind at some point, but learning how to deal with it eventually gives us strength to deal with even greater challenges."

"It's still kind of sad, Mr. M."

"Indeed, it is. Sad but true."