Good & Evil

Descent VI

Good & Evil

Here we see the arms of Baphomet – one inscribed with Solve (“dissolve”) pointing up, one inscribed with Coagula (“join together”) pointing down. The significance here is the occult message, “As above, so below.” The images of the Baphomet arms are shrouded (further occulted) in the haze of the gradient Yin-Yang. The gradient Yin-Yang shows us that there is no pure white and there is no pure black. The significance of this symbolism is to indicate that there is no pure good and there is no pure evil. In the top-left corner of this card is an AON symbol for Good & Evil indicating that this trump is part of the Self Well.

Good & Evil are not universal forces, but rather moral assessments created by humanity to categorize actions. Good & Evil is essentially the application of morality onto action. This is done through Judgement. It is only after we perform an action that we can then apply the mantle of Good & Evil to the action and answer the question, “Was that a Good action or an Evil action?”

For simplicity "Evil" is defined as behavior we engage in which knowingly harms someone else while (probably) benefiting us, but we do it anyway. This can be as simple and “harmless” as cutting someone off in traffic or not holding the elevator door for someone and can be as egregious as causing personal injury or death to another lifeform (human or otherwise).

Goodness, on the other hand, is action taken to help other people even if there does not seem to be a benefit to ourselves. Goodness is also a striving for truth which we may also see in Love (Key 24). Good is the giving of positive energy without an expectation of thanks or reciprocation.

Here in Key 6 we find the very foundation of most every religion and philosophy ever embraced by humanity. Good & Evil is as far down into the depths as religions and occult systems can go. But in our pursuit of the depths of the Self and Reality, we will need to continue to drop even deeper. Beneath this moral Judgement of Good & Evil created by humanity in an effort to help govern ourselves, we will find that there are still several layers to peel back. Now, though, we can see that this layer of Good & Evil – also called Morality or Judgement – is just another layer of the Self which for better or for worse complicates and obfuscates the true core of the Self.