Crowley: With thy right eye create all for thyself and with the left accept all that be created otherwise. Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous, ambition, temptation, obsession, secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance. (BT p. 258)

Here is a comparison to send shivers down the spines of theologians! In the Wilhelm/Baynes interpretation of the I Ching "THE CREATIVE" is heaven and in the social world it represents the highest aspirations of the best among us. It will no doubt come as a shock to discover that the same attributes of the creative principle are, in Crowley's tarot, ascribed to THE DEVIL.

Wilhelm: (kua 1) The power represented by the hexagram is to be interpreted in a dual sense - in terms of its action on the universe and of its action on the world of men. In relation to the universe, the hexagram expresses the strong, creative action of the Deity. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature. (p. 3) (italics added)

Crowley: Irresistibly strong, ... endurance

Kua 1, The image: THE MOVEMENT OF HEAVEN IS FULL OF POWER. THUS THE SUPERIOR MAN MAKES HIMSELF STRONG AND UNTIRING. (p. 6)

Crowley: This card represents creative energy in its most material form; ... In every symbol of this card there is the allusion to the highest things and most remote. ... This card especially represents the masculine energy at its most masculine. ... (BT p. 106)

The kua of "THE CREATIVE" is composed of all yang lines. thus it is the epitome of the masculine half of the universal polarity. Because of its association with masculine concepts this kua, and the trigrams which compose it, are referred to as: father, ruler and God (as masculine principle).

Wilhelm: (kua 1) These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is light giving, active, strong, and of the spirit ... its essence is power or energy. Its image is heaven. (p. 3)

Crowley: (trumps XIII, XIV, XV) These three cards may therefore be summed up as a hieroglyph of the process by which idea manifests as form. (BT p. 105)

Wilhelm: (kua 1) The beginning of all things lies still in the beyond in the form of ideas that have yet to become real. But THE CREATIVE furthermore has power to lend form to these archetypes of ideas. (p. 4)

Crowley: ... he transcends all limitations; he is Pan; he is all. (BT p. 106) ... This card represents Pan Pangenetor, the All- Begetter. (BT p. 105)

Wilhelm: (kua 1 footnote) THE CREATIVE causes the beginning and begetting of all beings, and can therefore be designated as heaven, radiant energy, father, ruler. (p. 6)

The Hebrew letter assigned to this trump is AYIN and its meaning is "eye." It is spelled AYIN YOD NUN. Another Hebrew word, spelled the same way, is "source." Still another word, also spelled the same way, is "to look at with anger, hate." In this conjunction of meanings we may begin to understand why this trump refers to "the creative source" as the devil.

Wilhelm: (kua 1) THE CREATIVE does indeed guide all happenings, but it never becomes manifest; it never behaves outwardly as the leader. Thus true strength is that strength which, mobile as it is hidden, concentrates on the work without being outwardly visible. (p. 375)

Crowley: ... the impulse to create takes no account of reason, custom or foresight. ... for pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is in every way perfect. (BT p. 106) ... Blind impulse, ...

Wilhelm: (kua 1) The sublimity of the Creative depends on its absoluteness, on the fact that it is the beginning of all things - for it is not itself conditioned by anything else - and that it is the active principle, i.e. it is itself the cause of all else. Furtherance and perseverance - meaning the urge to life, and the fixed laws of nature - reveal the causality of the Creative in its efficacy. (p. 377) ... Its energy is represented as unrestricted by any fixed conditions in space and is therefore conceived as motion. (p. 3)

Kua 1: The Creative, by positing the beginning; is able to further the world with beauty. its true greatness lies in the fact that nothing is said about the means by which it furthers. (p.377) (italics added)

Crowley: ... secret plan about to be executed.

Crowley: The formula of this card is then the complete appreciation of all existing things. (BT p. 106)

Kua 1, Commentary on the decision: GREAT INDEED IS THE SUBLIMITY OF THE CREATIVE, TO WHICH ALL BEINGS OWE THEIR BEGINNING AND WHICH PERMEATES ALL HEAVEN. (p. 370)

Kua 14, "POSSESSION IN GREAT MEASURE" illustrates the pitfalls of great wealth and power and the ethical/moral approach necessary to prevent or ameliorate the negative aspects of the devil in Crowley's card from manifesting.

Kua 14, The image: FIRE IN HEAVEN ABOVE: THE IMAGE OF POSSESSION IN GREAT MEASURE. THUS THE SUPERIOR MAN CURBS EVIL AND FURTHERS GOOD, AND THEREBY OBEYS THE BENEVOLENT WILL OF HEAVEN (p. 60)

Wilhelm: (kua 14 line 5 ) How is it possible that the weak line (the ruler) has power to hold the strong lines fast and to possess them? It is done by virtue of unselfish modesty. The time is favorable - a time of strength within, clarity and culture without. Power is expressing itself in a graceful and controlled way. This brings supreme success and wealth. (p. 60)

Kua 14, line 1: NO RELATIONSHIP WITH WHAT IS HARMFUL; ... (p. 60)

I'll let Confucius have the last word.

"To bless means to help. Heaven helps the man who is devoted; men help the man who is true. He who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy, is blessed by heaven. He has good fortune, and there is nothing that would not further." (p. 63)