The Mentors

This material describing the Mentors is from the unpublished book The Parrott Tarot, written by Thom Parrott about Margaret Parrott's 82 card Tarot deck. Based on the 78 card Golden Dawn system of attributions which also inspired Aleister Crowley's Thoth Deck, Pamela Coleman-Smith's Rider-Waite Deck and the B. O. T. A. (Builders of the Adytum) deck, the Parrott Tarot introduces four new face cards, the Mentors.

THE MENTORS

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." We must have been ready on 1 November 1977 when Charles Kowal "discovered" the Planet Chiron, the Wise One who prepares each of his students for their own Hero's Quest. With the Parrott deck, Chiron, the Rainbow Bridge between the Personal and Trans-Personal planets, is integrated into the Tarot.

The planet Chiron is assigned four new cards, the Mentors. These correspond to the ephemeral Sephirah Daath on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Since the Mentors are new with this Tarot pack, it was felt that a chapter devoted to them was necessary. They are also discussed as a group in the chapter on the Royals and as individuals in the chapters devoted to their various Suits.

DAATH, THE ELEVENTH SEPHIRAH

Daath is the knowledge necessary to cross the Abyss in each of the Worlds. This emerging Sephirah facilitates the manifestation of the potential which is resident in the Supernals and is the accumulated experience of that Manifestation -- the knowledge necessary to cross the Abyss on the journey back to Kether in Atziluth...to re-Union with the Divine. One must hold the Keys to all the Sephiroth in all Four Worlds to successfully return up the Tree of Life.

Daath is invisible or un-manifest because it is the Synthesis of all the Lower Sephiroth: as they exist in potential in the Supernals, as the Seven Steps taken by the One in producing Creation and as the steps taken by the Many in Ascending to re-Union with the One.

Daath rests at the point where the Path of the High Priestess crosses the Abyss between the Supernals and the rest of the Tree of Life. It is the highest point reached by the Serpent Leviathan after the Fall of the Spiritual Adam.

Daath is the place of the Gateway to the Supernal Eden where the Creator placed the Fiery Sword of Creation surmounted by the Letters of the Tetragrammaton that the uppermost part of the Tree of Life might not be involved in the Fall of Adam. ("Adam" is a Hebrew word meaning "mankind" or "humanity." It was not, originally, the name of a specific person.)

As humanity's consciousness of Spirit grows, so too does the substantiality of the Sephirah Daath which symbolizes Knowledge. The Tree of Life is evolving, as any student of the Living Qabala can testify, and the Eleventh Sephirah on the Tree of Life is growing into relative manifestation to counterbalance the Eleventh Qlippothic Sephirah on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The first sin was disobedience of God's command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- this Tree being an allegory for the belief in Duality -- the belief that part of Divine Creation was good and part was evil -- that when God saw what God had created and said It was Good, God was wrong.

With the Spiritual Revival of the end of the Piscean Age, and thru the work of scientists, psychologists, spiritualists, philosophers and other Magickians, we are returning to the realization that all of Creation is, as God said in the first place, Good, if we can but understand it.

The Parrott Tarot Deck contains four new cards which are allotted to Daath: the Mentors. They are assigned to the Planet Chiron and to the God from which it draws its Name. Chiron, the Rainbow Bridge between We and Thou, is the Path of Understanding Made Manifest.

CHIRON, THE PLANET

The Planet Chiron was discovered by Charles Kowal on 1 November 1977. While it behaves in a planetary fashion, it is physically a comet, made up of ice and debris. Chiron is estimated at 100 to 400 miles in diameter. It has an inclination of 655.8' and a mean sidereal period of 50.68 years. Chiron was originally called "Kowal's Object" and its symbol is derived from this -- a "K" over an "O" forming a key.

Astrologer's assign Chiron rulership of different Signs or none. Among those suggested are Sagittarius, Scorpio and Virgo. Its nature has been described by such keywords as "maverick," "doorway" and "passage." These last two make the key-like symbol of this Planet additionally appropriate.

Chiron's highly elliptical orbit crosses that of Saturn frequently and that of Uranus occasionally. It links, therefore, the Personal and Trans-Personal Planets and, symbolically, that part of ourselves which we see and understand as ourselves with that part of ourselves we don't see and, therefore, believe to be part of something else.

Chiron was named by its discoverer after the wise Centaur of Greek Mythology.

CHIRON, THE GOD

The God Chiron was the son of Saturn and his niece Philyra. To hide his union with Philyra from his wife Rhea, Saturn took the form of a horse. Because of this, Chiron was born with the body and legs of a horse, with the head, arms and body of a man where the horses neck and head would normally be. Chiron was the first of the Centaurs -- half-human and half-animal offspring of matings between Gods and animals or between humans and Gods disguised as animals. Chiron was the only one who manifested the best of human qualities instead of the worst of animal qualities.

Chiron and Jupiter were half-brothers. Jupiter was the son and heir of Saturn and his wife Rhea. Saturn was in the habit of eating his children to protect his position as ruler of the Gods, but Rhea fed him a rock when he came for Jupiter. She hid Jupiter with Chiron in his cave, the Chironian. Eventually Jupiter overthrew Saturn, just as Saturn had supplanted his own father Uranus.

Chiron married the Naiad (water sprite) Charicles and they had a daughter, Thea the Prophetess. Thea is a name sometimes given to the Moon.

Chiron became the greatest of teachers. He was a master of the arts and music, of riding, hunting and warfare, of healing herbs, surgery and astrology. Chiron was also an oracle and a quest guide. He taught his students to achieve strength thru the balance of these various disciplines, though none were able to emulate his universal mastery. Among the Centaur's students were Achilles, Jason, Actaeon, Peleus, Hercules, Orpheus, Aristaeus and Asclepius.

Whether by accident or intent, Chiron was wounded by one of Hercules' arrows which had been smeared with a poison Chiron himself had taught Hercules to make. Faced with an eternity of excruciating pain, Chiron gave his immortality to Prometheus and died. Jupiter placed his beloved brother in the sky as the constellation Sagittarius.

TAROT CARDS, THE MENTORS

Each of the Mentors shows two figures, Chiron, having the body of a horse with the body of a human male growing out of its shoulders, and a similar Being formed from the upper body of a human and the lower body of an Elemental Spirit relevant to the Suit. Each card also shows a chasm or Abyss containing a depiction of the nature of the Element appropriate to the Suit. In each, a Rainbow fills the sky.

The mixed animal and human figures show the capacity to understand and unify the animal and Divine natures. The presence of two figures shows the relation between student and teacher. The chasm is the Abyss between the Three Supernal Sephiroth, or the Potential, and the lower Seven Sephiroth, or the Manifest. The Rainbow shows that the potential to cross the Abyss is now coming into manifestation.

The Mentors also occur on the Path between Binah and Chesed, one of the "Secret Paths," so called because it was hidden or not manifest on the diagram of the Tree of Life. This was the only part of the Flaming Sword of Creation not shown on the Tree of Life. The Mentors occurring here make whole the Path of Creation and, thereby, bring healing to the wounds created by the Fall of Adam.

In placing the Mentors between the Queens and the Princes, we are also placing them between the first HEH of the Tetragrammaton, or Four Lettered Name of God, and the VAV of The Name. The Four Lettered Name is spelled YOD-HEH-VAV-HEH, often represented by its initials, thus: YHVH. This Word is sometimes spelled and pronounced Yah-Veh, Yehovah or Jehovah, but pronouncing it as a word is considered blasphemous by Hebrews and knowledgeable mystics -- it should always be spelled out or referred to as the Tetragrammaton.

Fortunately, when adding the Mentors, the Hebrew mystics have provided us an alternative to leaving a blank space or placing a dash in the middle of YHVH -- the Letter SHIN, the Spiritual Fire, has often been placed thus: YOD-HEH-SHIN-VAV-HEH. In this place, SHIN represents the Spiritual Fire descending to animate the power of the Word and to rule over the four mundane Elements. This further illustrates the arrival of that time wherein direct communication between the mundane and the Divine is becoming increasingly commonplace.

In a reading, the Mentors may represent a teacher, whether appearing as a God, Spirit, channeled information, a human being, a book, a process, a therapist, a quest or an event. The Mentors may indicate that the querent is, or should become, a teacher or that a teacher is present. The Mentors may also indicate the process or the results of the process appropriate to their Suit, such as a change or healing. The Mentors may have any of the skills of the God Chiron, such as riding, hunting, warfare, healing thru any means, music, the arts and Divination. They may show the need for a quest or the presence of a quest guide. As with any card, the Mentors should be related to those around them to determine the specific nature of their message.

Information regarding each of the individual Mentors will be found between the Queen and Prince in the chapter devoted to the Mentor's Suit.

MENTOR OF WANDS, VOICE OF FIRE

The Mentor of Wands is a being of Fire whose outward personality is spiritual. He, or she, loves and expresses Fire but recognizes that to know Fire abstractly, one must perceive oneself to be outside of it -- at the same time knowing that to exercise our native divinity we must recognize that we are one with the Fire.

The Mentor of Wands shows the Centaur Chiron standing on one side of the Abyss. On the other side is a being who is half-human and half-salamander, Salamanders being the Elemental Spirits of Fire. Behind them is the Rainbow Bridge spanning the gap between Creation and the Creator. Flames arise between them.

The Mentor of Wands brings a voice to Fire, explaining it to those who are not ready to re-establish themselves as one with the Fire, and providing initiatory processes for those who are. The Mentors lessons are intense and transformative, often all-consuming, leaving the initiate purified and tempered. Resisting our fiery lessons may leave us burned out.

The Mentors exist beyond the Astrological Wheel, showing us the path to life beyond Karma and material restraint. They are assigned the planet Chiron, whose orbit overlaps that of Saturn (most distant of the visible planets and symbol of our conscious knowledge) and Uranus (first of the outer planets and symbol of our sub-conscious and of the unknown roots of Creation).

The Mentor of Wands is a light complected person of either gender and any age, often appearing ageless. They will be a person with something of a spiritual nature to share, often thru a more or less formal teaching process. Depending on position, either the querent has something to give to another or someone or something else is bringing lessons to the querent.

The Mentor of Wands is the Sephirah Daath in the Qabalistic World Atziluth. The Mentor communicates the demands and gifts of the Fire Triplicity: cardinal Aries, fixed or Kerubic Leo and mutable Sagittarius, particularly as they relate to the Planet Chiron. Hear now the Voice of Fire.

MENTOR OF CUPS, VOICE OF WATER

The Mentor of Cups is a being of Water whose outward nature is spiritual. Here is a sacred commitment to the sensual.

The Mentor of Cups shows the Centaur rearing up on the undercut banks of a watery Abyss. In the Water swims a delightful being who is half human woman and half sea horse. She plays the music to which Chiron dances.

In a reading, the experiences taught here involve the difference between enjoying the finer things of life and sinking into sybaritic excess. Learning about receptivity and reflectiveness, sensuality and sharing, loving without owning.

The Mentor of Cups is about nurturing and healing, especially healing and nurturing our own feelings.

The Mentor of Cups is the Sephirah Daath in the Qabalistic World Briah. He communicates the cardinal, fixed and mutable energies of the three Water Signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, particularly as they relate to the Planet Chiron. Hear now the Voice of Water.

MENTOR OF SWORDS, VOICE OF AIR

The Mentor of Swords is a being of Air whose persona is spiritual. The Mentor uses the intellect in service to the Divine, not to attack Unity.

The Mentor of Swords shows the Centaur Chiron drawing a bow, teaching hunting and martial arts to the Air Elemental in the foreground. She has the upper body, head and arms of a woman and the lower body and wings of a great bird. She holds a sword in one hand, a dagger in the other -- the Elemental Weapon of the Hermetic Magickian for Air is the Dagger. The Abyss between the two figures is an empty crevasse. As with the other Mentors, the Rainbow of Understanding arches behind.

In a reading, the Mentor of Swords would regard lessons about the strengths and limitations of the intellect. Also, actual physical violence will often be involved in the learning process -- everything from firmly ending a relationship to killing. In any case, the process will usually come on suddenly and rush to a conclusion.

The Mentor of Swords is the Sephirah Daath in the Qabalistic World Yetzirah. The Mentor discloses the demands and gifts of the Air Triplicity: cardinal Libra, Kerubic Aquarius and mutable Gemini, particularly as they relate with the Planet Chiron. Hear now the Voice of Air.

MENTOR OF DISKS, VOICE OF EARTH

The Mentor of Disks is a being of Earth whose exterior is spiritual. He is in this Earth, but not of it.

The Mentor of Disks and his student, the Bearlike Earth Elemental, have sheathed their arrows. Chiron holds a Disk featuring the Triangles of Fire and Water interlocked to form a Hexagram superimposed over a field in the colors of the Four Material Elements -- the Hexagram means (among many other things) "As above, so below" and the Four Elements show that this is true even within the material plane. The Earth Elemental holds aloft a studded club, a most earthly weapon. Below the Mentor and Mentee, in the Abyss of the card, are forests, meadows and plowed fields -- Chiron taught hunting and herbalism. The Rainbow of Promise arches over the Earth.

In a reading, the Mentor of Disks is a relatively dark complected person of either gender and any age, often appearing ageless. They will have something of a material nature to share, from physical fitness to sexuality to investment practices to material work to warfare. They may represent the teacher, or they may come to the querent for instruction, depending on the question, the position in the layout, and the surrounding cards.

The Mentor of Disks is the Sephirah Daath in the Qabalistic World Assiah. The Mentor discloses the demands and gifts of the Earth Triplicity: cardinal Capricorn, Kerubic Taurus and mutable Virgo, particularly as they relate with the Planet Chiron. Hear now the Voice of Earth.

All text Copyright � 1998 or prior by Thom Parrott.
All art Copyright � 1998 or prior by Margaret Parrott.
All rights reserved.

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