1. Tarot of the Abyss. Starting point.

2. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Disclaimer: I hereby advocate no violence in act or word of any kind against oneself or anyone else. All illegal, abusive or harmful activity renounces the material, principles and goals set forth in this booklet.

3. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Introduction to Darkeness. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. The Tarot of the Abyss is founded on the notion that obsessions with death, melancholy, pain, intense frustration, and even evil are fundamentally proof of the reality of the existence of human Soul, indeed of all souls. Not only is death the proof of life (can something be killed that is not alive?), but it and nightmares (both dreaming and waking) are also signs of an attempted communication between material reality and the spiritual source. This communication may be attempted by either side, but to bring the unknown magical realms into the known physical world will often appear at first like the opening of a dark cave, if only because it was hitherto veiled from waking consciousness.

4. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Introduction to Darkeness. Trekking the path of Darkness, one can indeed fall into perilous traps, prey to all kinds of predators: one can truly be burnt if by nothing else than one's own self-deception. On the converse, many people are trekking this path without even realizing it, either by their suffering or by their social deviance. To identify the course, learn to understand the tides and finally anticipate the traps and reefs regardless of their appearance is therefore a mark of life and health, no matter what label may be attached by others. Unfortunate behaviour (such as violence, deceit, depression, and closed-mindedness) is not the direct result of the unfolding of the Abyss, but rather a failure to own-up to it: a difficulty in accepting the mystery in our lives, a weakness in overcoming our hardships or accepting our alleged shortcomings.

5. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Introduction to Darkeness. There is also the paradox of utter arrogance: believing we are in total command of our own lives while delegating the fault for everything that goes amiss to someone else, be it a person or a demon. If we are truly humble before God, we cannot possibly consider ourselves powerful enough to offend Him. If faith is truly more powerful than the devil, then every mistake is but a stepping-stone that will allow us to climb over the ignorance of our purest nature. Pain must remain painful; hardships must remain harrowing; fear must remain frightful; all of these to the point where one is ready at an instant to completely deny all previous affirma- tions, to renounce all previous beliefs, and to betray all previous honours. Death must remain the greatest mystery and the most awry foe, or else there is no meaning to it all. Without this, or should there be any consolation at all in the understan- ding would completely sever the usefulness in experience.

6. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Introduction to Darkeness. The only course of action in the face of adversity of any kind is to face it without fighting it. That is, to completely immerse oneself in it thereby gaining knowledge and power from it. Our refuge, our lifeboat is in returning to a continual observation of ourselves, our feelings and reactions without ever criticizing, but in comparing what we do with what we want. When the comparison reveals discordance, it is imperative to reveal the "why" and gradually make the necessary adjustments to create harmony - and therefore strength.

7. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Lessons from the deep. Contemplating death is a strong method to this end. It is the working of one's Soul (surpassing the intellectual exercise) with the questions: 1-If you were to die today, in what context would you want it to be? 2-What is the last thing you want to do at the time of your death? 3-You wish ill to this person: in what way and why? 4-How can the other person's ill-fate improve your own and how can it disturb yours? 5-What betterment or relief would death bring you in the present context? 6-What kind of attention or feedback are you trying to acquire in your own or someone else's death? 7-Do you wish to die before or after your mate, parents, children, friends and to what end, for what purpose? 8-Try to envision the ongoing of your life and relationships after the death of X, Y and Z (starting at the funeral). 9-Try to envision the ongoing of the lives of X, Y and Z after your own demise (starting at the funeral).

8. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Lessons from the deep. Now, knowing that morbidity and depression are a renouncing of the material life as well as a confirmation of it, use them to tap into the spirit and gain the power and the wisdom of your life. Understanding that folly, extremes and depression are your own Soul trying to set aright some imbalance in your life, tap into your fantasies and dementia to unlock the purest essence of your being. The Tarot is intended to bring to light the deepest recesses of one's existence. Anger is metaphorically let loose in order to liberate oneself without binding anyone else. Lucifer's name means the "Bearer of Light" as he brings both the blinding light of truth to the darkness of ignorance as well as the unseen, unacknowledged hidden truth from the depths to arrogant denial of the surface.

9. © Productions RJPT, Ottawa 2001 Lessons from the deep. Baphomet, as the God of the adverse pentagram, bears a torch between his horns creating thereby the Holy Star of David, equating the opposites of above-below, light-dark, right-wrong. The 2 opposites are left behind and the truth is contemplated. In a society where instincts are still either vexatingly shunned or ludicrously idolized against their actual intent, the person in the Shadows of Darkness requires a tool (like the Tarot of the Abyss) to cope with his incessant contradictions. Love is the law, love under will.