5 OF COINS

Correspondences: SEFIRA PECHAD OR GEBURAH

Major Arcana 5 and 14

The 4 of Coins dealt with the four present principles and

active in humans. The 5 of Coins introduces a fifth and
new element, the central, the "quintessence", or even
the element SHIN or LOGOS (see 21st Major Arcanum).
In the cross of equal arms, the graphic symbol of the
quaternary, the Shin corresponds to the central point
that joins the four arms. Adding the Shin to the divine
name Iod-He-Vau-He, transforms it into Iod-He-Shin-
Vau-He - ‫ יהשוה‬- that is, Ieoshua or Jesus.
The name ‫ יהוה‬could be interpreted as “Divine Will”. The
second word, having Shin (the Logos) as the central
point, will indicate the means of manifestation of this
Will. It is the symbol of INVOLUTION or DESCENT INTO
MATTER of the Divine Word, to act on the physical
plane.
In general, the pentagram in an evolutionary (upright)
position, symbolises being human. The four lower
points correspond to its psychophysical composition
and the upper point - the Spiritual Principle that this
composition will become in its immortal soul.

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One aspect of the Spiritual Principle is the Divine Will.
In the pentagram, which symbolises the human being,
the Divine Will is represented by human will, and it can
be considered. as being the projection of the Divine Will
about the individual soul. The human personal will
differs from the Divine while not discovering its
Primordial Source and it is not integrated into the
Divine Will.
In the stage of 4 of Coins, the will constituted an
impulse to reach a desired target. In the 5 of Coins
there are various different types of will and various ways
in which it reflects on the inner life of human
PERSONALITY.
The disciple, at this stage of spiritual development,
must first of all understand that the will, although it is
a reflection of the Divine Will, is, in general, very
distorted for the disharmony and imperfection of the
envelopments of the being internal human, that the
Divine Will needs to cross before reaching your
consciousness.
The graphic symbol of the Cross of the
Hierophant illustrates the subject clearly.
When there is harmony between the three
planes - mental, emotional and physical -
symbolised by the horizontal lines, the vertical
axis - the Divine Will - can cross them in a
straight line. If the planes, instead of
horizontal lines, have slanted or twisted
lines, however, when the vertical line
crosses them, it also warps, that is, the
manifestation of the Divine Will is
distorted.
If human thoughts are directed at evil, volitional
strength will propel all man to bad deeds; if the
emotional body is under the influence of lower passions,
the will shall take the decisions caused by this
involutive state; In the event that the physical body is
dominated by an addiction, as in Fig. 8, the will shall be
directed to satisfy this.

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The disciple must know that, working to harmonise its
casings or carp, it not only performs the first few steps
on the path of general spirituality, but also purifies your
will, which will always be more able to express the
Divine Will. Progressively, your will shall no longer be
directed to the satiation of personal desires and will
serve your higher self. However, following the Higher
Will does not mean to drown out the voice of feelings or
needs of the legitimate personality. This characterises
Eastern and Christian asceticism, which condemns any
desire or will and recommends killing the carp. The way
of Coins advocates the development of all positive
aspects of the human being, governed by the
EVOLUTIONARY WILL.
To obtain a good result, the student must carefully
analyse their inner world, learn to know the character of
his desires and, using his mental abilities, discern the
evolutionary desires of the involutive ones, but also to
differentiate the natural and useful from the useless
and superfluous that disturb your internal work. The
important thing is that these desires do not control you,
but that they are controlled by you and, at every
moment, if necessary, can be overcome.
Especially dangerous are the desires which have
become habits. The disciple, aspiring to initiation magic,
must get rid of habits, whatever the character of the
same. However, in the internal life of the human being
there are trends that the evolutionary will must take
into account and even sustain and direct. These are the
creative trends, whether scientific, philosophical or
artistic. They all enrich the personality. However, the
evolutionary will must not allow them to degenerate into
disharmonious manifestation. You need to make them
subtle and use them as a means of spiritual progress.
Each human being has his innate characteristics: the
predominance of reason, of feelings, of this or that
element, etc. The evolutionary will must take these data,
taking advantage of its particularities, both for the
development multilateral personality, as well as for

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straighten and harmonise their bodies or planes - the
sleepers - horizontal crosses of the Hierophant's Cross.
The analysis of the conditions of the penetration of the
Divine Will in the internal human "climate", reveals a
mutual dependence: the Higher Will, penetrating the
internal "climate", makes it subtle and harmonises it,
but on the other hand, raising the level of this "climate"
allows for a "better penetration of the Divine Will. It is
normal for the disciple, in this degree of development, to
have difficulty adjusting your will to the Divine. An
important task of the internship in Coins consists
precisely of establishing a harmonious relationship
between the Divine Will and that of human personality.
The first Arcanum of Coins spoke of the need to be
conscious in all your actions. In the fifth Arcanum, this
same permanent state of consciousness becomes more
penetrating, because the disciple must consider and
evaluate the ethical aspects of each action and impulse.
Ethical Hermeticism affirms that a conscious bad action
is, in a sense, better than a good, unconscious one. This
paradox, apparently amoral, underlines itself the
enormous importance of being aware of everything that
you do, say or think, becoming accountable,
RESPONSIBLE for everything. It is at this stage that the
disciple learns, not just to make a deep analysis of your
actions, words, internal impulses and reactions, but
also to accept responsibility of the same. The conscious
human will, even when degraded or purely selfish is,
STILL, a manifestation of QUINTESSENCE- the fifth
essence -that is, of consciousness, which is a Divine
Principle.
The Hierophant of the card of the 5th Major Arcanum
symbolises the principle of consciousness and the
Higher Will, present in the human being. The two
figures before him, the positive and negative elements of
your own personality. The Hierophant blesses the first
and threatens the second. The title of the Arcanum -
"Sciencia Beni et Mali" – confirms the importance of

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always being aware of ethical quality of everything that
comes from the personality.
Tradition calls the 5th Major Arcanum "The Arcanum of
Life", because in the field of Hermetic Philosophy, this
Arcanum corresponds to the understanding that the
"Divine Breath" penetrates into all the planes of
creation. The perception of this omnipresence creates in
the disciple of Coins a new understanding of himself
and the world that surrounds. Find out that you live to
make it easier for the Cosmic Hangman (Universal
Magnetism) that moves and connects everything
(Natural Religion) manifests itself with greater strength
in it too. The disciple must understand the fact, and not
just understand it mentally, that the Divine Breath, as
Principle of Life, is inseparable from Universal Harmony
and that, therefore, the vital risk of each organism is
proportional to the harmony of the elements that
compose it.
The connection of the 5 of Coins with another Major
Arcanum – the 14th - is evident. The 14th, is the
Arcanum of the harmonious synthesis of personality.
The 5 of Coins explains how this synthesis can be
carried out under the influence of the evolutionary will
of the human being. Arcanum 14 also deals with the
transition of energy, that is, the transition from one
state to another. In the field of Ethical Hermeticism, the
transfer of energy is manifested through the
transmutation of the lower human elements in
superiors. The energy hidden in the human being is
called "Kundalini" in the East and "Elixir of Life" in the
West. In Ancient Egypt it was symbolised by the
Caduceus. H. P. Blavatsky says in the "Secret Doctrine"
that Kundalini is the Shakti force moving in serpentine
line along the column vertebral column. It is a universal
principle of life, present throughout Nature and which
includes the two basic forces: that of attraction and
repulsion, electricity and magnetism are their
manifestations. This torus provokes a continuous
adaptation; internal content to external environments,

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which, according to Spencer1, forms the basis of life. It
also causes the adaptation of the external environment
to internal energy, according to the Upanishad
definition, it forms the basis of transmigration of the
Spirit, that is, of reincarnation.
In humans, this torus remains dormant in the sacrum
plexus; is unconsciously aroused in the sexual
excitement and becomes active during sex. To be able to
submit it to your will and keep it as a psychic force for
the work to be done, chastity is needed, at least relative,
that is, to maintain full awareness and control during
sexual intercourse and, retaining the flow, make the
Kundalini energy rise and accumulate instead of being
wasted. For success, for example, of any magical
performance, sexual abstention is absolutely
indispensable.
Someone who, without failure, knows how to control
this energy, can perform the subtlety of their bodies,
that is, transmutation of the elements that compose
them, beginning with the physical body that will become
less dense. In turn, the harmonisation and subtlety of
inferior bodies causes a natural awakening of the
Kundalini. THE esoteric reason for chastity - the basis
of all systems of the spiritual perfection - aims towards
accumulation and purification of that force.
There are different methods and opinions about how to
awaken Kundalini. Orthodox religions, in particular,
believers condemn any volitional act provoking your
awakening. According to the religious conception, the
hidden powers (which appear under the influence of
Kundalini) must arise automatically as a result of
general purification, as gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In certain Eastern schools it is the Master who opens
certain centres of the disciple, when he considers him
sufficiently prepared. In other schools, Kundalini
awakening is left to the discretion and responsibility of

1
Herbert Spencer is referred to, naturalist, philosopher,
psychologist, anthropologist and British sociologist, from the 19 th
century.
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the disciple himself and the result depends on your
internal preparation and conscious will. There are
special yoga exercises to speed up the awakening of the
Kundalini. It would be wrong to think that knowledge of
this belongs exclusively to the East. In the East, in
particular in India, this knowledge became more
widespread, due to yogic schools based on the Patanjali
system.
In the West, the study of the force called in the East
"Kundalini" initiation schools were limited. This study
was part of the hidden wisdom of ancient Egypt and
later of certain occult - esoteric centres in Europe. The
symbol of this force is the Caduceus of Hermes. This
symbol, that can be considered as a synthesis of the
Sephirothic Tree, presents the main characteristics of
the force of Kundalini: the central axis – Sushumna
Nadi, the two snakes - Ida and Pingala; the four points
of intersection in the central column - the four chakras
that correspond to the four planes, that is, the physical
(lower point), the astral (the first crossing of snakes), the
mental (the second crossing serpents) and the spiritual
(the small sphere). The wings symbolise the general
elevation, as a consequence of ascent of the force.
Of course, occult powers, such as telepathy,
clairvoyance, etc., increase the possibilities of
realisation and enrich the personality of an aspirant to
magical beginning. However, starting his work in that
sense, the disciple must know that if he is not
sufficiently prepared, the Kundalini awakening will turn
against himself. Astral fire, one of the manifestations of
this force, will act in a destructive way and may cause a
psychic imbalance and even a complete loss of reason.
Despite the importance of occult powers, the realisation
of a 5th grade disciple of Coins is not to develop them
but to establish an esoterically correct relationship
between your karma and the evolutionary will. The
torus of evolutionary will shall determine your progress,
but it is the result of two influences: that of the Divine
Will and that of the womb folks. Therefore, the degree of

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evolutionary will is also conditioned by the past, by all
evolutionary activities and involutive that formed the
disciple's current personality with your torments,
weaknesses and the type of your desires, that is,
conditioned by Karma.
The 5th degree of Coins is a reflection of the fifth Sefira,
that of Severity, which, by the principles of order and
legality, reasonably limits the Sefira of Mercy. The 4th
Sefira and the 4th Arcanum expressed an authority and
the will to action in the present. The 5th Arcanum deals
with conditioning, as a consequence of the past, that is,
of Karma, conditioning the evolutionary will. This, in
turn, will determine the future. This will deal with the
6th Arcanum.
In alchemy, the 5 of Coins corresponds to exertion of
the psychic energy of the alchemist-operator on the
"Rebis" mixture. Psychic energy - corresponding to
Kundalini - constitutes the quintessence of the process;
is your influence which causes the transmutation of the
"Rebis" mixture in the "Philosopher's Stone". In
alchemical language, this 5th force is also called
"Nitrogen of the Sages".

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