The Ascent from Not
Not
Meditating on absolute nothingness gives us a chance to experience (period). That's it. Just actual experience. With the Not card we can ponder the actuality of a "floor" to existence. We can ponder this “canvas” on which everything in Reality (the paint) “rests.” We can run to ground all the problems we see in the World or the Self and realize that there truly are some certainties in existence and that of these certainties, Not itself is the most fundamental.
Ascent 0
Not
Key 0 describes Not, which is the complete and absolute absence of everything. In the top-left corner is the AON symbol for Not: an inverted full solar eclipse. The presence of the symbol indicates that Not is part of the Self Well Arcana. This card depicts pure and perfect Darkness, but it is important to understand that inherent in this perfect Darkness which is achieved through the removal of all Light, is also pure and perfect Coldness which is achieved through the removal of all Warmth, the pure and perfect Stasis which is achieved through the removal of all Activity and the pure, perfect and absolute Emptiness which is achieved through the removal of all Presence. Not is the bottom. There is nothing deeper.
As such, despite not being extant, Not is nonetheless the basis for everything. Not is the deepest and most fundamental truth of Actuality. Beneath the most basic fundamental aspects of Reality itself is the Actuality of pure nothingness. This pure and perfect lack of everything cannot exist. Thus, in addition to Not being absolute, it also represents a perfect paradox. We see that Not exists when we remove everything, but this state of Actuality cannot exist. But that mind-bending paradox aside, if Not could exist, because we are Warm, Light, Active Presence, we could never know that Not existed. We can never experience Not.
Guided Meditation
Not
Not
Purity. Perfection. Truth.
This is the core. This represents an unshakeable foundation and a grounding rod for anything and everything that might interfere with the Self as it embarks on the journey of becoming. From here, there is only one possible direction we can go: the Ascent from Not.
The trick to rising from Not is to consider how we were able to even conceive of Not in the first place. To achieve the perfect core precepts of Darkness, Coldness, Emptiness and Stasis we had to remove Light, Warmth, Presence and Activity.