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The He/Tzaddi Switch



    “...All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ is not the Star. This also is secret: my prophet shall reveal it to the wise.” - Liber AL vel Legis, I:57.

    I should preface this text saying: I am not qualified to explain this.
    What follows is public information provided by Crowley regarding the switch, along with some musings of my own.
   
    The origin of this issue must also address the Teth/Lamed switch. When history realized that there were both 22 Tarot trumps and 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, they applied the attributions in a straight line. If we directly apply the Hebrew letters to the Marseilles Deck, card VIII is Justice, while card XI is Strength. This would apply the letter 9, Teth, to Justice, and letter 11, Lamed, to Strength. According to the Golden Dawn’s Cipher Manuscript, the letter Teth corresponds to Leo, ruled by Sol, an apex symbol of Strength. The letter Lamed corresponds to Libra, a symbol of the Scales of Justice. It seemed very obvious to the magicians of the Golden Dawn that these should be switched. Of course Leo, ruled by Sol, would relate to Strength, the Sun in its strongest form. And of course Lamed & Libra would want to connect with Justice. This is reflected in the Rider Waite deck, arguably the most famous Tarot deck, as Strength is card VIII while Justice is card XI. 
    This is a bold change. A change that I would argue is more bold than the He/Tzaddi switch. Here Waite is rearranging the order of the Tarot deck, (something Crowley undoes in the Thoth Deck, while also adding the He/Tzaddi switch). What’s different between Waite’s change and Crowley’s change is that Crowley kept the original structure of the Renaissance Tarot, while adjusting their (secret-at-the-time) attributions. Waite instead adjusted the (ancient) Tarot to suit the needs of these Golden Dawn attributions. (Adjusting old stuff to suit your ideas is historically a bad idea.)

    Crowley’s compromise was to maintain the Renaissance Tarot order, and instead forsake the order of the Hebrew Alphabet. A similar issue occured when trying to codify the structure of the Tree of Life: having each element logically arranged led to stagnation and lack of fruition. There is a reason why the paths of the Tree of Life seem to be arranged at random - Life is Dynamic. But it also maintains the structure put forth by the Golden Dawn, in creating a mirror image swap on the other side of the Zodiac. 
    This allows the order of the Trumps to remain the same, while adjusting how the letters are applied to the Zodiac. The Emperor is still card IV, but is no longer related to He, instead Tzaddi. The Star is still card XVII, but is no longer related to Tzaddi, instead He. Justice is still card VIII, but maintains its connection to Libra, and Strength is still card XI, but maintains its connection to Leo. 

    This gives us some esoteric nudges. The Emperor, potentially a symbol for Christ, has been dethroned. His path no longer transcends the Abyss. He has been demoted, guiding Outer College members to build a foundation of devotion. This is a prerequisite, not an exaltation. 
    Alternatively, the symbol of the Star as morphed from some random twinkle in the sky into a representation of the concept of infinity. As Nuit mentions as a speaker of Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof (I:22):

    “...My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.” - Liber AL vel Legis, (I:60)
   
    This turns the Stars from a mundane aspect of life (used for navigation and entertainment) to a holy aspiration of the Spirit unto God, connecting Beauty & Wisdom. (See the Tree of Life.) This aspiration is literalized most obviously in things like our Space Programs and Environmentalism, and mythologized by the concept of “Crossing the Abyss.” Only then can our souls be dropped off as dust at the bottom of the City of the Pyramids: 

...”Then shall the winds gather themselves together, and bear thee up as it were a little heap of dust in a sheet that hath four corners, and they shall give it unto the guardians of the abyss.

    And because there is no life therein, the guardians of the abyss shall bid the angels of the winds pass by. And the angels shall lay thy dust in the City of the Pyramids, and the name thereof shall be no more.” - Liber Cheth, v. 5-6.