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Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Tarot

An Overview of the Opening of the Key Spread

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A recent exchange in the comment section made me go back to some notes I’ve been sitting on for a while about how different card spreads used to be in the past, compared to how they tend to be nowadays. A good example for this is the famous spread used by the Golden Dawn, which has become known as the Opening of the Key.

The Opening of the Key is a complex, multi-stage spread that was (and still is) used within the Golden Dawn system and has been adopted by Paul Foster Case’s and Crowley’s followers as well.

From a magical standpoint, the allure of this spread is that it mirrors within its layouts the whole GD system, being therefore a tool for learning it. Since I do not particularly advocate the Golden Dawn system, I’ll leave this aspect to your consideration, should you be so inclined.

From a purely divinatory standpoint, though, the interesting aspect of the Opening of the Key is that it affords us a glance at how card spreads used to work in traditional cartomancy.

Nowadays we are used to what many call “positional spreads“, that is, spreads where each single card is read more or less independently from the others based on the meaning of the position. The most famous positional spread is certainly the Celtic Cross, also taken from the GD system and popularized by Waite. Over time, though, more and more ridiculous spreads have emerged, with positional meanings as abstracted from actual reality as possible.

If we take a look at many books on divinations published before the 60s, when the Rider Waite deck truly took off, and with it the Celtic Cross spread, we find very different spreads.

Many traditional spreads, used both for tarot and for playing cards, share the following characteristics:

  1. They tend to be large and unwieldy. Many of them take up a whole table. In part, this reflects the old idea that you wouldn’t be potentially in contact with your go-to fortune-teller 24/7 via social media, and so the diviner ought to be able to cover as much of your life as possible in one go. There was also a certain old-fashioned mistique to these spreads, it being the idea that your life unfolds like a book that can be read page to page. Furthermore, the way of reading the cards was different: you didn’t waste too much time on each single card, but simply used it as a building block to be added to the others. Therefore, you needed many building blocks.
  2. Very few positional meanings. Many old spreads used to be either sequential or tableau-like, or a mix of the two. If certain chunks of spread did have a particular positional meaning attached to them, such positions were always covered by more than one card (usually three or more). The cross spread I was taught to use with playing cards is one such example.
  3. Strange techniques. In the English-speaking world, the idea that there are special reading techniques has largely gone lost for over half a century, as tarot became a tool for psychological masturbation that eschews all technicality in favor what one’s heart palpitations. This was until some people, tired of how ineffectual and watered-down the new-age version of the tarot had become, discovered Lenormand cards. In reality, reading techniques have been part of many cartomancers’ toolkit for centuries. Two of the most common techniques (though not the only one) used in old tarot and playing card divination were card counting (starting from a card and counting a certain number of cards to land on the next card to be read) and card pairing (pairing the cards on the opposite sides of a row two by two.)
  4. More than one stage. It was not uncommon for many spreads to have more than one stage to them. Back then, divination was not seen as something to run to for every minor inconvenience, but rather as something affording a general overview of one’s main issues and prospects. Cartomancy was, at least in part, a parlor game, though a serious one, with serious implications.

One of the characteristics of the early Golden Dawn, before it became a battle of egos, was its (relatively intelligent) syncretism, as well as its attempt to act as a reservoir of everything the occult Western tradition had created over the centuries. Many of the founding members of the Golden Dawn were very well acquainted with, and even contributed to the then-growing literature on fortune-telling.

It comes therefore as little surprise that THE Golden Dawn spread, the Opening of the Key, is just as much an occult compendium as it is a compendium of quaint fortune-telling techniques. Let’s read the original instructions together (From Book T):

A Method of Divination by the Tarot

  1. THE Significator.
    Choose a card to represent the Querent, using your knowledge or
    judgment of his character rather than dwelling on his physical
    characteristics.
  2. Take the cards in your left hand. In the right hand hold the wand over
    them, and say: I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt send H R U, the great
    Angel that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen.
  3. Hand the cards to Querent, and bid him think of the question attentively, and cut.
  4. Take the cards as cut, and hold as for dealing.

“First Operation”
This shows the situation of the Querent at the time when he consults you.

  1. The pack being in front of you, cut, and place the top half to the left.
  2. Cut each pack again to the left.
  3. These four stack represent I H V H, from right to left.
  4. Find the Significator. It be in the HB:Y pack, the question refers to work,
    business, etc.; if in the HB:H pack, to love, marriage, or pleasure; if in the
    HB:H pack, to money, goods, and such purely material matters.
  5. Tell the Querent what he has come for: if wrong, abandon the divination.
  6. If right, spread out the pack containing the Significator, face upwards.
    Count the cards from him, in the direction in which he faces.
    The counting should include the card from which you count.
    For Knights, Queens and Princes, count 4.
    For Princesses, count 7.
    For Aces, count 11.
    For small cards, count according to the number.
    For trumps, count 3 for the elemental trumps; 9 for the planetary trumps;
    12 for the Zodiacal trumps.
    Make a “story” of these cards. This story is that of the beginning of the affair.
  7. Pair the cards on either side of the Significator, then those outside them, and so on. Make another “story,” which should fill in the details omitted in the first.
  8. If this story is not quite accurate, do not be discouraged. Perhaps the
    Querent himself does not know everything. But the main lines ought to be
    laid down firmly, with correctness, or the divination should be abandoned

“Second Operation”
Development of the Question

  1. Shuffle, invoke suitably, and let Querent cut as before.
  2. Deal cards into twelve stacks, for the twelve astrological houses of
    heaven.
  3. Make up your mind in which stack you ought to find the Significator,
    “e.g.” in the seventh house if the question concerns marriage, and so on.
  4. Examine this chosen stack. If the Significator is not there, try some
    cognate house. On a second failure, abandon the divination.
  5. Read the stack counting and pairing as before.
    “Third Operation”
    Further Development of the Question
  6. Shuffle, etc., as before.
  7. Deal cards into twelve stacks for the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
  8. Divine the proper stack and proceed as before.

“Fourth Operation”
Penultimate Aspects of the Question

  1. Shuffle, etc., as before.
  2. Find the Significator: set him upon the table; let the thirty-six cards
    following form a ring round him.
  3. Count and pair as before.

Fifth Operation
Final Result

  1. Shuffle, etc., as before.
  2. Deal into ten packs in the form of the Tree of Life.
  3. Make up your mind where the Significator should be, as before; but failure
    does not here necessarily imply that the divination has gone astray.
  4. Count and pair as before.

There are many characteristics to the Opening of the Key that mirror the checklist I’ve created above:

  1. The spread is large. Especially in its fourth operation, it requires a big table to perform.
  2. Few positional meanings. No individual card signifies anything in particular. What counts is the diviner’s ability to string the meanings together into coherent sentences that apply to the querent’s concrete life. The stacks themselves do have general meanings (business, pleasure, etc.) but these are broad, and you will never find yourself applying them to just one card.
  3. Techniques. These are, more specifically, card counting and card pairing, which are plucked straight out of the fortune-telling tradition.
  4. More than one stage. This is quite evident. Although many GD initiates ended up simplifying the method (more on this in a later article), the complete operation, which could take up upwards of two hours, consisted of five stages which offered a glimpse into the various facets of a situation.

Quite clearly, there is more to the Opening of the Key than what I’ve listed, aside from the heavy occult overlays. For one, the GD added a method for discerning whether the divination is valid: one needs to find the significator in the appropriate stack. This is in part due to the desire to import the notion of ‘radicality’ used by many horary astrologers, according to which certain charts cannot be judged if certain configurations are present or absent; and in part it is a system of magical checks and balances to avoid idle curiosity (again, more on this in a later post).

MQS

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate Negative Feelings

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I already made a post about positive feelings. This is a follow-up on the other side of the coin. As usual, this isn’t meant to be exhaustive. Note that many cards indicating difficult feelings are just reversed cards whose upright meaning is positive.

Three of Hearts Reversed – The Balcony

When upright, the Three of Hearts relates to the sense of sight, both literally and figuratively. Reversed, it can represent someone who is blinded by emotion, especially such emotions as rage or lust (the “red” emotions). It can indicate the inability to control oneself as a result of such emotions.

Four of Hearts Reversed – Love

Aside from being an indication of depravity, the reversed Love card can, and in fact is more commonly found to relate to unrequited feelings, emotional dryness and deep emotional scars from disappointment, usually in love.

Seven of Hearts Reversed – The Scholar

Upright, the Scholar card represents the mind in its best aspects of intelligence, creativity and having a solid grip on reality and on one’s problems. When it is reversed, it represents either someone who is cold and calculating (the lower octave of the mind) or someone who feels impotent and easily overwhelmed by problems.

Eight of Hearts Reversed – Hope

When reversed, the Eight of Hearts is a harbinger of sorrow, disappointment and unfulfilled hopes and wishes. Being a card that is strongly connected with one’s inner optimism, the reversed Hope card becomes one of pessimism or even of mild depression (by itself).

Nine of Hearts Reversed – Faithfulness

Upright, the Dog card of the Sibilla indicates friendship and loyalty, as well as deep and strong attachment to someone, something or an idea. Reversed, it is an indicator of rebellion, unreliability and biting the hand that feeds you, from thankless teens to political activists depending on the context.

Ten of Hearts Reversed – Perseverance

Upright, the Ten of Hearts can indicate solid, reliable people, lasting feelings and certainty. When it falls reversed in a reading, the Ten of Hearts become an indication of turmoil and of not being able to control oneself, one’s instinct and one’s rage.

Two of Clubs Reversed – The Peacock

When it comes up reversed, the Peacock card embodies the negative side of the symbolism of the animal, namely pride, haughtiness, an inflated ego that is easily slighted and self-centeredness. Depending on the surrounding cards this can go from a mild drama-queen complex to serious pathological deviancy.

Seven of Clubs Reversed – Realization

The Upright Seven of Clubs represents our realization in the world, our ambitions and our sense of accomplishment. When it comes up reversed, it shows insecurity, dissatisfaction with one’s existence, and fear, especially understood as feeling under attack in one’s life projects.

Eight of Clubs Reversed – The Reunion

Reversed, the Reunion card has many difficult meanings relating to groups and one’s social contacts. However, it is also a card of disillusion, sadness and depression. It represents someone who has lost momentum and is prey to inner turmoil, self-doubt and similar feelings.

Nine of Clubs Reversed – Merriment

Coming up reversed in a reading, the Nine of Clubs reverses the hakuna matata feeling of its upright counterpart. It becomes a card of joylessness, and it can also represent feeling isolated from others, sometimes even as a consequence of other people taking shots at us.

Four of Diamonds – Falsehood

The Falsehood of this card must be understood broadly as a feeling of “wrongness” and negativity. In this sense it is the opposite of the Dog card. It represents being ill-disposed or displeased with something, and negative feelings brewing right below the surface.

Five of Diamonds – Melancholy

The title speaks for itself. Upright, the card can be an indicator of disappointment, sadness, pining, melancholy and dissatisfaction. By itself it is not a tragic card, but it does slow you down. Reversed, the card becomes much more impactful and its effects long-lasting.

Seven of Diamonds Reversed – The Child

When it falls reversed, the Child card embodies the negative side of children: childishness, in the main, but also a general sense of inexperience and that the world is too complex for us to understand and tackle.

Nine of Diamonds – The Fools

The Fools indicate feelings of unwarranted exaltation and self-confidence, mistaken conceptions, as well as easily aroused feelings of aggression. They depict a volatile atmosphere where things can go seriously south.

Ten of Diamonds – The Thief

The Thief is a card of betrayal, whether literal or metaphorical. It represents ill-will toward someone or something, and the desire to do wrong things. This needn’t be tragic, as there are many situations where the sneakiness of the Thief borders on amorality rather than immorality. Still, this card is always a warning.

Ace of Spades – Sorrow

The Sorrow card is the card of tears, of the broken heart and of the sense of being cut off from one’s source of happiness. In itself it is a very difficult card to go through, but when not piled on by other problematic cards it can show just a sense of discouragement that the person can muscle through with some mental discipline.

Three of Spades – The Widower

Another difficult card, the Widower represents isolation, loneliness and serious interpersonal issues. Being the card that signifies “oneness” and the single individual, sometimes it can show things done alone, with no negative connotation, but more often than not it foretells difficulties in one’s loneliness. When reversed, it becomes a rather tragic card.

Four of Spades – Sickness

Although this is the card that indicates literal sickness, it can also be interpreted metaphorically on occasion. It often signifies feeling sick, disturbed or down, but it can also be the card of sick and morbid feelings which cannot find a healthy expression.

Six of Spades – Sighs

Among the less difficult Spades in the deck, the Six of Spades represents everything we desperately long for and await, hoping it will come to us. It is a less serene version of the Eight of Hearts, as it contrasts its composure with a sense of uncertainty and fear of losing what one wishes to get.

Seven of Spades – Tragedy

Another card of “red” feelings, this one indicates anger and wrath. It shows explosive energy disrupting one’s life, which, from an emotional standpoint, usually signifies that we are feeling slighted or wronged or somehow unable to restrain our ire.

Eight of Spades – Desperation and Jealousy

In the main, the Eight of Spades is a card of literal jealousy and envy, but it can represent all those situations where we look at others with toxic feelings in our heart. It can also signify desperation and tears, and a sense of being trapped in a corner with no way out.

MQS

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Tarot

The Mystery of the Six of Pentacles

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Following up on my article about the Seven of Swords, I want to take a look at another ambiguous card in Waite’s deck: the Six of Pentacles.

As usual, there is a folk intepretation of this card and there is what Waite meant. My comment is not meant to be disparaging of anyone’s interpretation: it is just philological in nature.

Generally, most people see the Six of Pentacles as a card of generosity, philanthropy and giving to others. This is rather odd at first, since for the meaning of the minor cards Waite follows the Golden Dawn system almost religiously (which is proof that he didn’t care much about the minors in the first place, see my article about his disdain for the minor arcana).

In the Golden Dawn system of tarot, all sixes represent the best expression of the suit and are assigned to the sephira Tiphareth, which is indicative of perfect harmony and equilibrium within the element. The harmony represents a balance between the closed stability of the Four and the chaos of the Five, with a direct influx from the Ace coming from above -shown, as it were, by the fact that the Six is directly in contact with the first Sephirah, Kether the Crown:

The Tree of Life as used within the BOTA and Golden Dawn tradition (and OTO as well, with minor changes). Number Six is right in the center

In the Golden Dawn system, the Six of Pentacles is called Material Success. The description of the meanings says (taken from Book T):

Success and gain in material undertakings. Power, influence, rank, nobility, rule over the people. Fortunate, successful, liberal and just.

If ill dignified, may be purse-proud, insolent from excess, or prodigal.
Tiphareth of HB:H (Success in material things, prosperity in business).

Clearly, Waite meant the Six of Pentacles to represent material success and influence/rank in that the merchant in the depiction has material success and has influence over the needy underneath him. The other important source of inspiration for Waite is Etteilla, who calls the Six of Coins the card of the “Present” understood as present time, now, immediately. This is in contrast to the Six of Cups, which Etteilla calls the card of the past (when upright) and of the future (when reversed).

With that in mind, let’s see what Waite has to say about this card (taken from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot):

A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as to his goodness of heart. Divinatory Meanings: Presents, gifts, gratification another account says attention, vigilance now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc. Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.

Note how Waite stresses that the act of giving is “a testimony to his success in life”. Then he adds the divinatory meanings, and he says “presents, gifts”. Why? One may be tempted to say that he is taking this hint from the keywords “liberal and just” from Book T. In reality, Waite may have mistaken the word “present” in Etteilla, taking it as meaning “gift” rather than “now”.

Mistaken is probably an excessive word. Waite knew his French quite well, so it is unlikely he got the translation from Etteilla wrong. What he is trying to do is “drawing a harmony of meanings”, as he often says, between the various sources. This is why he adds the strange meaning “present prosperity”, which mixes the material success of the GD Six of Pentacles and the present time of Etteilla’s Six of Coins.

Note, furthermore, that Waite is not the first to add the keyword “presents, gifts” to the Six of Pentacles: MacGregor Mathers had already done so in his exoteric booklet on the tarot, a book Waite definitely used as a source. Of the two, if anyone was more likely to have misread the French it was probably Mathers, and Waite simply ran with it.

What is interesting about Waite’s interpretation of the card is that it is certainly colored by his Christian mysticism. He says that the merchant depicted in the card has success and “goodness of heart”, which mediates between the stable but unfruitful Earthly Power of the Four and the destitution and Material Trouble of the Five.

What results is a rather dynamic card which ends up representing material success not as something in itself, but as a means to help others, which is the most beautiful (Tiphareth) expression of the suit of Pentacles. This is in contrast to the Ten of Pentacles, which, in GD decks, is often described as “material wealth but nothing beyond”.

MQS

Card Meanings, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Everyday Oracle, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Sibilla della Zingara, Vera Sibilla

Pangs of Conscience (Example Reading)

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Sometimes the Sibilla’s chattiness is exasperating: there you are, trying to get a straight answer about whether he loves you or not, and she just wastes your time telling you about what his aunt thinks about the whole thing. At other times, though, the Sibilla is a drama queen in the type of language she uses. Here’s a simple example of the latter behavior.

It’s an old reading from at least ten years ago, when a friend and I were relatively fresh out of college. She had been desperately looking for work for some time but without success, and, like most desperate people, she’d started looking in unconventional places. She’d answered an ad that would require her to move to Poland or the Czech Republic (can’t remember) for a stage followed by a part-time offer if all went well.

The first contact was by phone, yet she had some suspicions. She didn’t seem to be able to get a straight answer out of the guy interviewing her. So she asked me to pull some cards on the dude, and here’s what came up:

Can I trust him? Vera Sibilla Reading

I don’t think we need much interpretation to see that there’s something fishy at best about the offer, and at worst it’s a total swindle. The Thief and the Enemy can obviously show anything from an actual thief to a mobster to an assassin, depending on the other cards. Here we have no hint of violence, so we’ll stop at swindle.

The most interesting card here, though, is the reversed Six of Spades. When it is upright, the Six of Spades represents someone who sighs after someone or something, whether because he or she longs for it or because they have pangs of conscience about it.

When it is reversed, the Six of Spades can be a good card if surrounded by positive cards: it can indicate letting go of an addiction, for instance, or of an unrequited love. Broadly speaking, it indicates not sighing anymore.

In this case, though, the reversed Sighs card is surrounded by terrible cards, cards that indicate someone who would hurt others, at least financially, for his own profit. Therefore, the Six of Spades reversed simply shows he has no pangs of conscience about it, which in turn makes him even more dangerous.

Well, my friend did some snooping around and she soon came into contact with other people who had answered the ad. By piecing together the information they had, it turned out that it was a swindle. I am not sure what would have happened, had they gone to the “stage”. Probably they would have been duped out of some money. Anyway, I’m sure glad she didn’t go.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book IV Pt. 4

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Abano discusses the various meanings of Tristitia, Laetitia, Puer and Puella as they derive from other figures.

Laetitia

When from Populus and Laetitia, it means luck, gain, especially in large [or great] things.
When from Acquisitio and Puer it means gain, merriment, especially in changeable things.
When from Amissio and Albus it means luck, but with mediocre gain.
When from Major and Puella it means fixity, gain and good luck.

When from Minor and Rubeus it means mediocre gain or honor or good luck.
When from Via and Caput it means gain, honor, positive change.
When from Cauda and Conjunctio it means misfortune, evil, but incapable of doing all it wants.1
When from Tristitia and Carcer it means mifortune, difficulties and problems.

Tristitia

When from Populus and Tristitia it means misfortune, danger, evil.
When from Acquisitio and Rubeus it means fixity and misfortune, except in in things lascivous or feminine.
When from Major and Albus it means luck, gain and honor with firmness.2
When from Minor and Puer it means better3 luck in every question.

When from Caput and Conjunctio it means great fortune, gain and stability.
When from Via and Cauda it means mediocre luck, difficulties, problems.
When from Laetitia and Carcer it means a good deal of luck, but with more problems than positive things.4

Puella

When from Populus and Puella it means infirmity, lascivousness, luck, gain.
When from Acquisitio and Cauda it means mobility, mediocre luck.
When from Amissio and Tristitia it means good luck after much toiling and difficulties, gain in venereal5 things.

When from Via and Rubeus it means misfortune and anger, rumors, change, damage.
When from Albus and Carcer it means gain, good luck, firmness.
When from Conjunctio and Puer it means fortune in everything, luck.

Puer

When from Populus and Puer it means gain, good luck, change.
When from Acquisitio and Laetitia it means gain, honor, mirth, goodness in everything.
When from Amissio and Caput it means good luck, bood in easy things and in seeking pleasure.

When from Major and Cauda it means unfortunate change, damage.
When from Via and Albus it means useful variety,6 fortune, good change.
When from Carcer and Rubeus it means major misfortune in everything, loss.
When from Minor and Tristitia it means fortune, some kind of gain, strife.

THE END

MQS

Footnotes
  1. It is not clear wheter Abano means that the person won’t be able to do all he or she wants, or whether the evil signified by this combination is not all-pervasive. ↩︎
  2. In this case, it seems that Tristitia’s role is to solidify the good fortune signified by the two figures it comes from. ↩︎
  3. ‘migliore’ means ‘better’, but it’s unclear better than what. ↩︎
  4. These two meanings might be hard to harmonize, though maybe not impossible. ↩︎
  5. That is, in things ruled by Venus. ↩︎
  6. It is not always clear what Abano means when he talks about variety, firmness, changeable things, etc. ↩︎
Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Tarot

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Four of Wands

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(Note: this is a collection of the meanings attributed to the cards by some occultists in the past centuries. It does not reflect my own study or opinion of the cards. It is only meant as a quick comparative reference as I develop my own take.)

The Four of Wands from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) Tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The Four of Wands is associated with the third decanate of Aries, the time period April 10 to April 19, ruled by Jupiter.
Well-Dignified: this card signifies success through personal merit, good
social standing, influential friends, the perfection of something built
up after labor, benefit through travel, shipping and business with foreign countries.
lll-Dignified: loss in the same things, or in consequence of unpreparedness or by hasty action.
Keyword: Perfected work.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house. Divinatory Meanings: They are for once almost on the surface–country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these. Reversed: The meaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty, embellishment.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

In the Wand suit, the card is called Completion. The manifestation promised by Binah has now taken place. This number must be very solid, because it is the actual dominating influence on all the following cards. Chesed, Jupiter-Ammon, the Father, the first below the Abyss, is the highest idea which can be understood in an intellectual way, and that is why the Sephira is attributed to Jupiter, who is the Demiurge.

[…]

This card refers to Chesed in the suit of Fire. Being below the Abyss, it is the Lord of all manifested active Power. The original Will of the Two has been transmitted through the Three, and is now built up into a solid system:-Order, Law, Government. It is also referred to Venus in Aries, which indicates that one cannot establish one’s work without tact and gentleness.

The wands are headed by the Ram, sacred to Chesed, the Father-god Amoun-Ra, as also to Aries; but at the other end of the wands are the Doves of Venus.

In the symbol, the ends of the wands touch a circle, showing the completion and limitation of the original work. It is within this circle that the flames (four double, as if to assert the balance) of the Energy are seen to play, and there is no intention to increase the scope of the original Will. But this limitation bears in itself the seeds of disorder.
(From The Book of Thoth)

AI-generated illustration for the Four of Wands

Golden Dawn’s Book T

TWO White Radiating Angelic Hands, as before, issuing from clouds right and left of the card and clasped in the centre with the grip of the First Order, holding four wands or torches crossed. Flames issue from the point of junction. Above and below are two small flaming wands, with the symbols of Venus and Aries representing the Decan.
Perfection or completion of a thing built up with trouble and labour. Rest after labour, subtlety, cleverness, beauty, mirth, success in completion. Reasoning faculty, conclusions drawn from previous knowledge. Unreadiness, unreliable and unsteady through over-anxiety and hurriedness of action. Graceful in manner, at times insincere, etc.
Chesed of HB:Y (Settlement, arrangement, completion).
Herein are HB:NNAAL and HB:NYThHL Angelic rulers

Etteilla

Company
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, in its natural position means: Society, Association, Assembly, Relation, Confederation, Alliance, Union, Gathering, Circle, Community, Assembling, Multitude, Mass, Crowd, Troop, Band, Company, Cohort, Army. – Convocation, Accompaniment, Mixing, Mixture, League, Amalgamation. – Contract, Convention, Covenant, Treaty.
Reversed. Prosperity, Increase, Accretion, Advancement, Success, Succeeding, Fortune, Blossoming, Happiness. – Beauty, Beautification.

MQS

astrology, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Playing Cards, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

In Divination, If You Can’t Name, Describe!

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I had a conversation with a reader of this website, and he told me that the main obstacle in learning how to read the cards is that he can’t put the meanings of the cards together to form a clear picture of the situation. The example he used was that it may be hard to tell a querent that they are at risk of getting fired, when in fact the cards may be predicting a fight with a coworker or a demotion, or some other work-related problem, but not a firing.

Divination is an art in itself, and it does require practice and patience. For the first couple of years after being taught cartomancy, I couldn’t put two card meanings together to save my life, even if it was obvious. I still remember my teacher’s dismayed expression when I couldn’t tell her that “talking” and “work” meant, quite obviously, “talking at work or talking about work”. Yes, it is obvious, just like it’s obvious that you first put one leg forward and then the other in order to walk, yet it takes us time to learn.

There are plenty of reasons why divination is hard, and lack of talent is only rarely an issue. Most of the times, we are simply experiencing the same hardships we would face when learning a new language, and most people can learn a second language if they put their mind to it.

Furthermore, I find that we often feel the need to overperform in order to convince the querent we are not frauds, and we do so by wanting to give them an absolutely accurate, unambiguous and immediately recognizable picture of the future. Of course, it would be nice if every divination session was as clear, but we are limited beings and we must be grateful for what we can do with the hand we are dealt (quite literally).

What do you do if you want to say ‘apple’ in a foreign language but you just can’t remember the name? You get creative and go back to the language’s building blocks: you describe the apple. “A round, red thing to eat.” This may sound weird and it is a bit vague, as there are other round red things we can eat, but it does help you narrow down the thing you want.

The same happens with divination. Sometimes we just can’t put the building blocks together into a single unambiguous picture (“you are at risk of getting fired”). But we can always describe what the cards are telling us: “I see some potentially upsetting circumstances surrounding your career.”

This is very vague, but it’s a start. Once we have narrowed down the topic, we can look for cards and combinations that give us additional clues: “These upsetting circumstances seem to involve a man, possibly a boss, who causes you trouble, and as a result I see the potential for some money problems.”

This is still not unambiguous: there are plenty of events that fit the description, e.g., being fired, being demoted, being assigned to an unrewarding task, a boss being replaced by another one that is so terrible the querent chooses to quit, etc.

Yet in spite of only describing the outline of a situation instead of naming it specifically, this is already very helpful to our querent, because we are giving them rather specific information they can use in preparing for difficult times ahead in their career.

We can also come up with a number of likely scenarios that fit the description as examples for our querent, and often they will help us fill the blanks (“Oh right, there’s that new project coming up no one wants to take on” or “Oh right, my boss has been talking about relocating for some time now”)

Note, also, that it is perfectly acceptable to voice our insecurity to the querent: “It is something between X1 and X10, and it seems to me like X1 to X3 are more problable, but I could be wrong”.

Once the prediction has come to pass, it is always possible to go back and see if perhaps we couldn’t have been more specific. This is a very important part of learning: there’s always something we miss, some turn of phrase of the cards we have misread or some meanings we have misapplied or even forgotten.

Still, the aim of divination is to provide help to people, not to impress them, and we are of service in the measure that we can point them in the right direction. If we can’t give them precise indications on the path ahead, “Between North and West, but more West than North” is good enough.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Playing Cards

A Water Spirit (Example Reading)

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One cool thing about moving to our new place is that we now live much closer to the countryside. Although there are a couple of major cities around us, our district is basically a cluster of small pictoresque old German villages close to the woods. This is a very good place for a magic practitioner to settle down.

I also discovered that there is a small lake or large pond (depending on who you ask) nearby. It’s been my experience that old water places, just like old caves, tend to be stably inhabited by spirits. In fact, in a subtle way, these spirits *are* the place they inhabit.

Before visiting the place I drew three cards to investigate, and these cards came up:

A water spirit – Cartomancy with playing cards

Obviously, the first thing to take note of is the presence of the Queen of Hearts, which is a motherly figure or a positive female entity. This is confirmed by the Eight of Hearts which can represent a water place, so in the context of an esoteric / magical reading it would represent a female entity of a broadly positive nature tied to water. The Ace of Clubs represents power, dominion, rulership. It indicates that the spirit has power over the place, so while she is positive, she is not the airy-fairy pushover type.

After doing the reading, I started researching local folklore. If you know of any such place near where you live, it may be wise to research local legends, as they often contain romanticized but accurate hints about the nature of the spirit.

What I discovered is that there is a medieval legend tied to the place, according to which a mother (!!!) once brought a local duke a basket of vegetables, in exchange for having a new irrigation system dug near where she lived. This irrigation system became the pond. There is no narrative reason why she should be characterized as a mother. Her being a mother serves no purpose in the legend, which makes it a very important hint in understanding the spirit: she is essentially motherly.

“But” you may be wondering “this is an artificial pond, how can it be magical?”

We must not draw strict boundaries between the world of humans and that of the great powers of nature. What we know from the legend is that a water spirit wanted to establish herself in this place and convinced the humans around her to cooperate by being motherly and nurturing toward them, and the humans were intelligent enough to accept her offer. There is nothing strange about this: in actuality, humans cooperate with nature all the time.

Note how the reading hints at a spirit that is positive (Queen of Hearts) but not submissive (Ace of Clubs). Had she been a difficult spirit she could have simply flooded the zone. There is altogether too much mischaracterization of water in the spiritual and magical community as something weak, vague and mystical. Water can be devastatingly powerful, so it is a good thing our local water spirit is a positive member of the community.

MQS

Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy

The Geomancy of Peter of Abano – Book IV Pt. 3

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Abano discusses the various meanings of Albus, Rubeus, Conjunctio, Carcer depending on the figures they come from.

Albus

When from Populus and Albus it means love of women,1 good luck in everything, especially in feminine things.
When from Acquisitio and Caput it means excellent good luck, stability, love, gain.
When from Amissio and Laetitia it means changeability, variety, and its effect is strong.2

When from Major and Tristitia it means positive stability, mediocre luck.
When from Minor and Cauda it means change, variety, mediocre luck or gain.
When from Via and Puella it means good luck, change.

Rubeus

When from Populus and Rubeus it means danger, misfortune, loss of blood, tears.
When from Acquisitio and Tristitia it means misfortune, loss.
When from Cauda and Amissio it means weak fortune, problems in everything.
When from Minor and Laetitia it means variety, mutability, mediocre luck.
When from Via and Puella it means changeability, misfortune, loss.

When from Albus and Conjunctio it means well, positive things, honor, stability.3
When from Puer and Carcer it means mutability, misfortune, except in war.
When from Conjunctio and Albus it means positive things, succession, some difficulties, bad outcome.
When from Puella and Carcer it means stability and positive outcome

Conjunctio

When from Populus and Conjunctio it means good luck, gain, getting one’s wish.
When from Acquisitio and Major it means great good luck in everything.
When from Amissio and Minor it means bad luck, but good outcome in the end.4

When from Via and Carcer it means mediocre bad luck, but inclining more to bad than good.
When from Caput and Tristitia it means stability, fortitude, great troubles, honor, gain.
When from Cauda and Laetitia it means problems, mediocre honor.

Carcer

When from Populus and Carcer it means major troubles, long-lasting issues, delay in obtaining freedom (from prison).
When from Acquisitio and Minor it means good outcome, gain.5
When from Amissio and Major it means misfortune, loss.
When from Conjunctio and Via it means bad luck, tragedy in everything.

When from Caput and Cauda it means misfortune, trouble, loss, problems.
When from Albus and Puella it means luck, gain, honor, mediocre stability.6
When from Rubeus and Puer it means grave danger, misfortune, loss, fights.
When from Laetitia and Tristitia it means misfortune, prison, troubles, loss.

MQS

  1. We usually assign women to Puella (and Venus) but in many old texts Mercury (and therefore also its figure Albus) is often described as more female than male, possibly by simple virtue of not being masculine. ↩︎
  2. This sentence is actually rather obscure. ↩︎
  3. Why Rubeus should indicate these things is beyond my understanding. ↩︎
  4. Possibly because Minor alters the loss into a final gain. ↩︎
  5. While it is clear it derives from positive figures, it is unclear then what Carcer’s contribution to the meaning would be, except that maybe it crystallizes the good luck, making it last. ↩︎
  6. I do not understand how Carcer can indicate honor. ↩︎

Card Meanings, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Occultism and Esoterism, Tarot

The Mystery of the Seven of Swords

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Waite the Juggler

The Rider Waite’s minor arcana (which I already talked about here) are based on the Golden Dawn’s correspondences and titles found in Mathers’ and Felkin’s Book T. Yet Waite, who was very fond of showing off his erudition, made it a point to look for as many similarities as possible between the Book T system and other lists of meanings such as Etteilla’s, Christian’s and others.

This is reflected in the accompanying book to his deck, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, where he tries to find similarities between various sources for each minor card. He never mentions the Golden Dawn material, despite the fact that knowing the GD’s card names would clarify most of the designs.

The 1 to 1 correspondence between GD meanings and Waite’s minor arcana is self-evident, and once it is noted it cannot be unseen. Yet in his book he makes it a point to just rely on non-esoteric sources, or at least on non-GD sources.

Note that the Golden Dawn did something similar, despite the claim that the card titles were revealed to them. Take the Four of Cups, for instance, which technically should be ascribed to the rulership of the Moon in the third decan of Cancer and to the sephira Chesed (mercy). All these things sound very promising. Yet the card is called Blended Pleasure and it is less positive than the previous two, largely (I believe) in an attempt to accomodate Etteilla’s relatively negative interpretation of the Four of Cups as a card of boredom, annoyance, etc.

Similarly, the Golden Dawn retained certain meanings found in traditional fortune-telling, such as ‘travel by water’ for the Six of Swords. This can be seen as part of the GD’s attempt at summarizing the whole of the Western magical tradition in a new synthesis.

Going back to Waite, it is clear that in his book he is also trying to balance various sources, but if in doubt about which one to follow, he will stick (without saying so explicitly) to the GD tradition. An example I already discussed is the Five of Pentacles, which Etteilla calls the card of the lovers, but the Golden Dawn called it ‘Material Trouble’.

Another example is the Two of Wands, which Etteilla calls a card of sorrow, but for the GD it is a card of Dominion, so Waite goes with the GD but tries to stretch the interpretation in his text by saying that it could be the sorrow of a great leader, like Alexander the Great, at the height of his power.

But What About the Seven of Swords?

With that in mind, what the hell is going on with the Seven of Swords? Let me explain: most people who pick up a Rider Waite tarot deck, even today, have no idea about the esoteric stuff behind it, so they base their interpretation on the design (which, incidentally, Waite thought very little of). This is how, for instance, the Two of Pentacles, the Lord of Harmonious Change according to GD, became the card of juggling, or how the Seven of Cups, the Lord of Illusionary Success, became the card of options.

In this new folk approach to the Waite deck, the Seven of Swords became known as the thief card due to the design.

Yet Waite does not even mention thieves in his description. He says:

A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand. Divinatory Meanings: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other. Reversed: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander, babbling.

The meanings he gives are from Etteilla, where the Seven of Swords is one of the few non negative Sword cards. The description of the card, however, is far more consonant with what we find in Book T, which is:

The Lord of Unstable Effort […]Partial success. Yielding when victory is within grasp, as if the last reserves of strength were used up. Inclination to lose when on the point of gaining, through not continuing the effort. Love of abundance, fascinated by display, given to compliments, affronts and insolences, and to spy upon others. Inclined to betray confidences, not always intentionally. Rather vacillatory and unreliable.
Netzach of HB:V (Journey by land: in character untrustworthy)

This thing with the yielding when victory is within grasp is clearly depicted in the card, where the thief takes away most of the enemy’s swords, but not all, as Waite clearly states.

But why did Waite (and, maybe, Smith) decide to depict a thief in the Seven of Swords despite it being so thematically different from Waite’s actual inspiration (Book T) and even his cover-up inspiration (Etteilla)?

The only hints we find in Book T that seem to point in this direction are “to spy upon others” and “in character untrustworthy”. In an attempt to accomodate Etteilla, Waite probably saw the man looking longingly at the swords he left on the ground as a symbol of hope, which is Etteilla’s meaning for the card.

One possible explanation is that Waite and/or Smith probably thought the type of action that is best suited to the Suit of Swords is the kind of sneaky, underhanded action depicted in the final design of the card. Be it as it may, this is one of the cards that always stood out to me when studying the history of this deck, because it takes a very non-obvious approach to its theme.

MQS