ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugh Colmer, artist and philosopher, believes the Tarot belongs to the same iconographic tradition as Egyptian hieroglyphics and is a Perfect Language of Images. Punctuated with 78 stunning images replete with ancient symbolism Dragon Lore Decoded delves into the mystery of a greater unseen Power, that not only exists, but controls the everything of who and what we are.

Hugh possesses an array of talents that have led him from agent/producer of art and photography to the investigation of comparative myth and religion. Inspired by his initial searches, he co-wrote a novel with Anthony Masters in 1995 called Hidden Gods: The Doorway, wherein a news photographer is on an urgent quest to find the secrets of Atlantis encoded into the Great Pyramid.

During Hugh’s examination of myth and religion, he realized that the Cross and the Circle were the most profound symbols of all time and so inspired him to register The Crosscircle Group to publish books and writings on spiritual ‘Truth.’ His core inspiration and commitment is to share the wisdom of the ancients, like that found in the ‘Book of Thoth’ and its subsequent incarnations as the Tarot. Like those who were part of the Knights Templar, he is dedicated to uncovering and sharing the Truth of the Ages, which is the raison d’etre for the art and text he created for Dragon Lore Decoded.

Hugh and his wife Carol run a spiritual retreat center in Windham, NY.

THE HERMETIC TAROT

The serpent is the symbol of wisdom and the wise Nagas of Hindu literature are none other than Rishis, Yogis, Adepts Magi, and the Hermetic Magicians. The fact that we question the Hermetic Teachings as a method or a doctrine highlights the limitation of three dimensional minds, The Italian physicist Giuliana Conforto’s LUH, Man’s Cosmic Game: highlights our rigid thinking and sees us in tune with cosmic oneness through the fluidity of the Hermetic traditions. Her book is another sign that human history has reached a prelude in the Cosmic Game by integrating metaphysical, scientific, and artistic concepts. In order to understand the ‘Game of the Matrix’ we need to experience other invisible realities as well. Our reality reflects our level of consciousness.

Thoth-Hermes has long been associated with the Tarot, which is said by many to be the embodiment of Hermetic teachings. The arcana continually call us back to the spirit of the hieroglyphs that make up the Tarot, which also reside in the heart. It is only in this sacred place that we can receive and contain the inner spiritual truth that can transform us. Aldous Huxley christened the Tarot as Perennial Philosophy, a timeless science of the soul or a time capsule that surfaces in times of need. Its premise is that there exists an archetypal mind that determines physical reality, and individuals can access that realm through direct knowledge of the god within. The Hermetic tradition is one of the oldest spiritual traditions in the world, and while no direct evidence links the ‘Book of Thoth’ to Eastern religions, it shares concepts and terminology with Taoism, Adwaita Vedanta, and Buddhism.

In the West, the Emerald Tablets found a home not only in the pagan tradition but also in all three of the orthodox Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), and many of the most heretical beliefs of the Gnostics suppressed at the Council of Nicea are also expressed in it. Like Thoth, the Gnostics believed that direct knowledge of reality could be attained through psychological discipline and Self enquiry. They also shared a common view of the universe in which All Is One, a pattern of creation and decay symbolized by the Ouroboros (the serpent eating its own tail).

The axiom, As Above, So Below, is well represented in both the myths of the constellations above and the myths of events on earth and in the underworld within, which if decoded correctly, reveal the history of the world. Serpent energy and the Serpent in its many shapes are omnipresent. It is the Serpent that represents Prometheus’s spark of mind, and the knowledge of who and what we are that leads to immortality. Kundalini is the dormant power present in everyone lying like a coiled serpent in the etheric body at the base of the spine. This coiled serpent has been waiting for the moment when the soul begins to integrate the physical, astral and mental bodies. This ‘spiritual’ force awakens the pineal gland, and opens the third eye to the subtler planes of life. Meditation, study, self-discipline and selfless service influence the soul; this will ensure a parallel awakening of the etheric force centers at the base of the spine. When this process is practiced the awakening will not be dangerous.

Humanity evolved over time, as did the zodiac from eight to ten signs and then to 12 signs—the dinosaurs and sea-monsters, became the crocodiles, the Makara (Capricorn) the Dragons of Wisdom. The key to earlier civilizations is present within the animals of the zodiac wheel especially as the 13th sign Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Bearer near the constellation of Scorpio also formerly symbolized as the phoenix a marriage of a serpent, and an eagle. The Garuda is the symbol of Scorpio.

Mušḫuššu the splendid dragon is associated with Marduk. It gave rise to the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology and ultimately to the modern Hydra constellation. Hydra, the great sea serpent, is the largest constellation in the heavens extending over four zodiacal constellations. It occupies the southern sky in spring bordering Cancer, extending to Leo, Virgo to as far as Libra and Centaurus. Similarly Pisces is connected with Cetus, or Leviathan the Whale holding Jonas captive, or Tiamat, the Sea-Monster, who symbolized Draco the Dragon, who spawned the animals of the zodiac. Aquarius’s serpentine connections have been covered up in Greek Myth and is generally assumed to be a case for homosexuality yet Hindu astrology gives the clue as Aquarius is called Khumba, the pot, which pours soma or amrita, another name for the serpent energy from the Galactic Center or the sacred blood of the serpent goddess to enlighten and heal the world.

Cosmologist Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet holds that the myth of Vishnu’s ‘Three Strides’ are to be understood in terms of the movement of the Precession of the Equinoxes and the Astrological Ages corresponding to the fixed signs of the Zodiac. But there is a major disagreement over which sign of the zodiac is first. PNB concludes that Scorpio in the form of the Garuda or Phoenix is known to be Vishnu’s ‘Vahana’ or Vehicle, symbolizes the fixed sign of Scorpio. The three strides of Vishnu begin in the Age of Scorpio and moves in reverse zodialogical order through the other three fixed signs of the Zodiac: Leo, Taurus and Aquarius. PNB teaches that each of Vishnu’s steps through the Ages of the fixed signs, an Avatar comes to Earth to assist the evolution of consciousness which implies that an ancient zodiacal knowledge is embedded in the Hindu myth of the Ten Avatars of Vishnu.

Thousands of years ago Vishnu came to earth in the form of a Tortoise to help the devas gain the wisdom of immortality through drinking amrita. The giant pterodactyl like Garuda siezed the pot of amrita or sacred blood from the serpent Vasuki and flew away from the battle-scene and it is believed that four drops of this nectar fell in the Ganges and became the basis for the belief that the Ganges has a mystical power because of the amrita. Kumbh Mela is celebrated every twelve years there as it is believed that after bathing there one can get moksha. A study of the Aquarius glyph makes it apparent that it represents serpent energy and, in those days, it was the serpent spewing forth both fire and water.

Astrology today forgets that there were originally ten signs of the zodiac when Virgo and Scorpio were one. The constellation Libra was originally part of the constellation Scorpius, and represented the claws of the scorpion. It was the Romans who cut the claws off the scorpion and made them into a new constellation named Libra, which represented the scales of justice. So the original ten signs became twelve. Virgo and Scorpio, Lilith and the Serpent are one; inextricably entwined around the tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Scorpio is not the poisonous Scorpion, but the Serpent. In fact Scorpio’s ultimate symbol is the Phoenix, a marriage of serpent and eagle from Lemurian times. In early Lemuria there was the zodiac of 8 signs. It was governed by Scorpio and Scorpio also marked the end of that zodiac. Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology.

The Secret Doctrine’s belief that the Age of Virgo-Scorpio or the Phoenix ruled over the Motherland of MU or Lemuria 18 million years ago would seem to support PNB’s theory. Ancient Egyptians originally regarded Hu, the Celestial Phoenix as the giver of Life but changed the New Beginning to Leo as Scorpio or Hu’s influence waned. The Phoenix is a winged Serpent, or Dragon, a combination of the two highest aspects of Scorpio. But by 14,000 BCE. the priests wanted a new god for the Age of Leo. Their new beginning, Zep Tepi was an astronomical alignment