Crowley: This is the harmony of the universe, that love unites the will to create with understanding of that creation: understand thou thine own will. Love and let love. Rejoice in every shape of love, and get thy rapture and thy nourishment thereof. Love, beauty, happiness, pleasure, ... , completion, graciousness, elegance, luxury, - idleness, dissipation, debauchery. (BT p. 255)

This is a very rich card, packed with concepts; but its imagery is simple. The representation is of a woman clothed in the raiment of rule and possessing the paraphernalia of power. She is the empress; mother to her people, co-head of the family unit called the state. She represents the feminine aspect of rule - affection as the complement to the male aspect of rule - order. To understand the connection between this card and these kua it is important to hold the image of a nation as being cognate with a family unit or clan.

Wilhelm: (kua 37) This hexagram represents the laws obtaining within the family. THE FAMILY shows the laws operative within the household that, transferred to outside life, keep the state and the whole world in order. (p. 143)

Lady Frieda Harris painted the original Tarot cards under the direction of Mr. Crowley. Her summary of this card is, "This is woman in her all embracing receptivity, incarnate woman."

Kua 37, The judgement: THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE WOMAN FURTHERS. (p. 143)

Wilhelm: (kua 37) The tie that holds the family together lies in the loyalty and perseverance of the wife. The family is society in embryo, it is the native soil on which performance of moral duty is made easy through natural affection, ... (p. 143- 144)

Crowley: On the tree of life, DALETH is the path leading from Chokmah to Binah, uniting the father with the mother. The doctrine implied is that the fundamental formula of the universe is love. (BT p. 75)

Kua 37, line 5: AS A KING HE APPROACHES HIS FAMILY. (p. 146)

Wilhelm: (kua 37) ... the whole family can trust him, because love governs their intercourse. ... they associate with one another in love. (p. 146) ... order in the family depends on the character of the master of the house. If he cultivates his personality so that it works impressively through the force of inner truth, all goes well with the family. (p. 147)

Crowley speaks of uniting the will with love; and that this union brings harmony to the family, the state, and to the world. Let's see what the I Ching, as interpreted by Wilhelm, has to say.

Kua 37, line 1: FIRM SECLUSION WITHIN THE FAMILY: THE WILL HAS NOT YET CHANGED. (p. 571)

Wilhelm: (kua 37) ... it represents the time when the will of an individual has not yet changed for the worse. (p. 571) ... If we begin to late to enforce order, when the will of the child has already been overindulged, the whims and passions grow stronger with the years, offer resistance and give cause for remorse. (p. 145)

In addition to the concepts of rulership and their relationship to the family, Crowley includes, as an aspect of this card, the attributes of beauty, graciousness, elegance, luxury, and art.

Crowley: ... in these highest cards (EMPEROR and EMPRESS) are the symbols of perfection; both the initial perfection of nature and the final perfection of art; ... (BT p. 77)

Wilhelm: (kua 22 footnote) This hexagram shows tranquil beauty. ... This is the world of art. By contemplating the forms existing in the heavens we come to understand time and its changing demands. Through contemplation of the forms existing in human society it becomes possible to shape the world. (p. 91)

Wilhelm: (kua 22) "GRACE" - beauty of form - is necessary ... However, it is not the essential or fundamental thing; it is only the ornament ... (p. 90)

Kua 22, The sequence: GRACE IS THE SAME AS ADORNMENT. (p. 494)

Through kua 22 the link between love and art is illustrated.

Wilhelm: (kua 22) The form of human life results from the clearly defined and firmly established rules of conduct, within which love (light principle) and justice (dark principle) build up the combinations of content and form. Here too love is the content and justice is the form. ... a tendency throughout the hexagram to counteract overemphasis of form by means of content ... warding off the danger of exaggerated grace and returning to simplicity. (p. 496)

Associated with the concepts of beauty, art, and harmony are the equally comprehensive concepts of order, completion, and perfection. This brings us to kua 63, "AFTER COMPLETION."

Crowley: (I Ching kua 63) Perfected work. Perfection borders close to the frontier of new disorders.

Wilhelm: (kua 63) The transition from confusion to order is completed, and everything is in its proper place even in particulars. (p. 244)

Crowley: ... Because of the beauty of the symbol, ... the student who is dazzled by any given manifestation may be led astray. (BT p. 77)

Wilhelm: (kua 63) Hence the hexagram indicates the conditions of a time of climax, which necessitate the utmost caution. ... It is only in regard to details that success is still to be achieved. (p. 244)

We are reminded that the true light of beauty and perfection shines most clearly when the essential simplicity of a thing is allowed to manifest without excessive adornment. True graciousness appears when affectations are kept to a minimum. This is a truism in the realm of state craft and family function no less than it is in the world of art. In this sense, excessive concern with details and the fetish for ornamentation can be viewed as crimes against beauty.

In the realm of state craft this excessive concern for order manifests as useless and arbitrary laws which hinder the expressions of natural affection and repress the will of the people in the pursuit of their aspirations. Of course, the same principles apply within the family unit. Excessive concern with material goods and a slavish adherence to the superficial customs of society, in the belief that such adornments lend true grace and beauty to the family unit, actually only move it further from the more essential beauty inherent in simplicity.

This brings us to the last kua in this group; kua 36, "DARKENING OF THE LIGHT." The kua describes a time in which the better principles of conduct have been set aside. Petty, mean, and at its worst, evil principles have become predominant within the culture. All forms of excess are indulged in by the rulers and the people. In such conditions there is only one thing for the superior person to do:

Kua 36, The image: THE LIGHT HAS SUNK INTO THE EARTH: THE IMAGE OF DARKENING OF THE LIGHT. THUS DOES THE SUPERIOR MAN LIVE WITH THE GREAT MASS: HE VEILS HIS LIGHT, YET STILL SHINES. (p. 140)

Basically, the advice given in this kua is to be in the world but not of it. This kua is included within the constellation of concepts assigned to the tarot card of THE EMPRESS because it demonstrates the tendency for people to be carried away by desire for more of that which is considered beautiful or fulfilling.

Idleness, dissipation, and debauchery are seen to be the inevitable sins or crimes resulting from a failure to recognize the consequences of excessive elegance and luxury. When the will is no longer yoked to natural affection true understanding is lost amid the resulting chaos of desires.

Crowley: In this card, she (the woman) combines the highest spiritual with the lowest material qualities. (BT p. 75)

The Hebrew letter associated with this card is DALETH, which means, "a door" or "doorway." Reflecting this correspondence Crowley says: "This card, summed up, may be called; THE GATE OF HEAVEN."

In the Chinese language, the character which means "door" or "doorway" also means "family" or "home." Kua 37 is titled "THE FAMILY" and is symbolic of the the state. The heads of the family are representative of the heads of state. The concept "head of the family" is formed by writing the character for "doorway" with the character for "lord." In the feudal period of Chinese history even the emperor used this form as his title.

When the rulers and the people keep to the principles which define and promote a healthy state and family great things may be accomplished and brought to happy completion. In China the doorway of a house, in addition to being a symbol of the family, was also a symbol of industriousness.

If, as a result of that industriousness, great luxury manifests there will be a tendency to forego adherence to those principles of simplicity and graciousness which best promote natural affection and the best expressions of the will. The result of this neglect, if not checked, will be idleness, dissipation and debauchery. A true "darkening of the light." By placing the Chinese character for "dog" below the Chinese character for "doorway" we create the Chinese word for "sin" or "crime."