The Hermit's Staff?

Abrac

Thank you very much for that Snaut. I can actually see the tiny people now in Harris' image. :)

Here's an illustration. In Harris' image there seems to be a cord connecting the two heads. It resembles the things extending from the heads in Hartsoeker's diagram, only there it's become separated.
 

Abrac

I can see that in the Hartsoeker image but in the Crowley Thoth image it's not as clear and looks more like two tiny people to me. Consider Crowley's reference to the Formula of the Tetragrammaton in the Book of Thoth:

“It is explained in this essay (see 16, 34, et al.) that the whole of the Tarot is based upon the Tree of Life, and that the Tree of Life is always cognate with Tetragrammaton. One may sum up the whole doctrine very briefly as follows:

The Union of the Father and the Mother produces Twins, the son going forward to the daughter, the daughter returning the energy to the father; by this cycle of change the stability and eternity of the Universe are assured.”​

He refers to the same formula in his description of The Hermit:

“The letter Yod is the first letter of the name Tetragrammaton, and this symbolizes the Father, who is Wisdom; he is the highest form of Mercury, and the Logos, the Creator of all worlds. Accordingly, his representative in physical life is the spermatozoon; this is why the card is called The Hermit.

The figure of the Hermit himself recalls the shape of the letter Yod, and the colour of his cloak is the colour of Binah, in whom he gestates.”​

The Hermit represents the Father, the red cloak symbolizes the Mother (Binah) and the two tiny people are the Twins.

Maybe not a smoking gun but a decent theory. :)
 

ravenest

Perhaps this article from wikipedia helps:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preformationism

Aha! Thanks :)

I could not see it in the Harris image until I blew it up as large as possible and referred to the other image several times , now I can see the ONE fetus fairly clearly (in magnification ) now.

..... 'kernal (corn) baby' :)

Abrac - if there were meant to be two they would be referred to as homunculi . The formula you seek is in the crown of the Homunculus' head (tilted towards your POV ) see post #14