Category Archives: Tarot

astrology, Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Philosophy, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

The Height of Science is to Know Nothing

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or “Summa Scientiae Nihil Scire” in Latin. This motto is very useful in practical fortune-telling. One of the greatest risks we run is of assuming. “She’s 85, how is she gonna find love?” “He’s a 23-year-old jock, he’s probably not a priest.” “She looks so prim and proper, she’s unlikely to have seven lovers.”

All these preconceptions and more cloud our mind as we try to read the oracle’s answer, regardless of the oracle, whether it be the Tarot, playing cards, astrology, the I Ching, etc. All these preconceptions are poison to the art of divination. They are not of service to us, nor to our querent. Let’s delve into why.

Let us start from the fact that bias is a natural and necessary phenomenon, as politically incorrect as this may sound. Bias comes to us from our experience, but also from the experience of others, especially family members, friends, teachers and people we trust. Bias orients our life, and this cannot be otherwise. The attempt to forcibly eliminate bias from people’s minds only causes suffering, and is its own kind of irrational crusade.

You know who is NOT biased? God. You know what God does? Everything. But you can’t do everything. You can only do something. And in order to do something, you must be biased against something else. That’s life.

This is not to say that all bias is good. For instance, I may have accepted some preconceptions from my parents, who got them from their grandparents, who got them from the priest, who got them from a crazy lady next door, etc. This kind of bias is the worst because it can needlessly limit our options and create likewise needless suffering in those around us. The best kind of bias is the critically examined one that you accept based on your actual life experience and keep open to revision.

Yet even this kind of “good” bias is harmful to divination. When someone comes to us for a reading, or when we read for ourselves, what we are doing is trying to look at reality from the point of view of a symbolic system that reflects life from an objective, or at least less subjective standpoint.

Divination is a language with no native speakers, except maybe the guy upstairs, which means that our understanding of it is always going to be imperfect and faulty. But this is a technical kind of difficulty, and in its own way it’s excusable. What is less excusable is the additional confusion we create by reading our biases into the divination. This is not just about politics, philosophy, morality or religion. It’s everything.

“A 85-year-old is not going to find love again” is one sort of bias. “An attractive young guy is probably not a priest” is another. The aim of divination is to read the truth, not ourselves. That’s why the height of science is to know nothing. If we start with a clean slate we can receive much more information from the tool we are using, simply because we are not randomly blocking out information we consciously or subconsciously deem unlikely.

The unlikely happens everyday. Think about it. Almost everyday something unlikely happens in the world. That’s not to say we must feel the urge to make our predictions as unlikely as possible in order to impress the querent. Most of the time, what’s likely is what ends up happening. Still the unlikely is not the impossible.

I am big on comparing divination with language, as those reading this blog know. And as you know, I am not a native speaker. Around fifteen years ago, I was trying to improve my English by watching youtube videos. Yet this was very hard, because the language people use on youtube is very inconsistent, erratic at times, filled as it is with memes, asides, jokes, ancdotes, interruptions… I was trying to project the artificial English I had learned in school onto this truer, more lived English.

“Surely he can’t have said what he has just said. It doesn’t make any sense,” I constantly thought. It was when I stopped projecting my presuppositions and started just taking in what was objectively being said that my English truly improved. That’s the same with divination. The height of science is to know nothing. Only if we know nothing we can take in what is being said.

MQS

Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Geomancy, I Ching / Yi Jing, Occultism and Esoterism, Philosophy, Sibilla della Zingara, Spirituality and Psychology, Tarot, Vera Sibilla

Divination and Intellectual Honesty

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When I was a teen, I remember stumbling upon Aristotle’s definition of the “educated mind” as being able to hold a thought without accepting it, and I remember thinking how silly and basic the definition was. The older I get, the more I find myself agreeing with him, as I see fewer and fewer people capable of doing it (the fact that Aristotle never actually wrote the sentence is a whole ‘nother can of worms)

A lot of people don’t have an educated mind per the definition above. One would like to think that tarot readers, astrologers and the like would not be like a lot of people, seeing how much the word “wisdom” gets thrown around in their circles. But one would be wrong. Leave it to the “spiritual community” to be among the most ideological and stiff. And, consequently, not among the brightest. If there is a group of people I don’t trust to be capable of holding any thought except the ones they agree with, that’s these people.

I believe I already talked a little about this, but one of the most memorable examples I can think of is the 2016 US election, when every tarot reader on youtube and their mom were busy predicting Trump would lose the election disgracefully, poop his pants, writhe on the floor, throw a tantrum and retreat into the hell that spawned him while Hillary Clinton swung her throbbing, veiny, 25 inch hard-on at the glass ceiling. While I am slightly exaggerating, this was pretty much the tone. (interestingly, those same readers routinely claim that the tarot is not for fortune-telling)

One such reader went as far as channeling Trump’s character. I do not remember the exact spread, nor most of the cards, but two things stuck with me: first, no egregiously bad card showed up, and second, the King of Cups featured prominently in the spread. She interpreted the card as Trump being a violent man prey to his base emotions and instincts. I took a quick look at some of that reader’s other videos, only to discover that she never, ever interpreted the King of Cups this way. In fact, she always interpreted it as the significator of a good man who takes care of the querent.

This is a good time to point out that I am fiercely apolitical, so this is not about politics. All ideologies are, as far as I am concerned, clouds over the mind’s clarity. I’m not saying everyone needs to think like me. Everyone has their delusion of choice, and everyone (including me) has their way of slanting reality in one direction or the other, whether politically, spiritually or philosophically (or even scientifically, for that matter). In fact, slanting reality is probably needed in order to filter information that might be useful to us.

Yet divination should be something else. What that reader did was merely using the cards as a mirror of her own (perfectly legitimate) bias. This is fine, and can even be useful at times–if you are aware that you are doing it. Even that would not be actual divination, but at least it wouldn’t be a waste of time.

I already discussed that divination is really a process of deification, that is, the process of allowing the dispassionate, bird-eye view clarity of the divine into one’s limited, subjective world by letting new information in. In other words, true divination is the opposite of retreating into one’s bubble: it’s the bursting of the bubble.

This, in turn, requires a certain readiness to accept the information we get (which is why it is always best to get someone you don’t know to read your cards.) Divination without intellectual honesty is just a crutch for one’s ego, and that’s how it is currently being used by the vast majority of diviners.

Unfortunately, intellectual honesty won’t make you many friends. Back in 2016 I had arguments with more tarot readers than I care to remember and was routinely labeled a dangerous extremist just because I called into question the usefulness of this type of reading (back then I still tried to entertain fruitful conversations with people). But occultism, in all its branches, is a narrow path.

Two lessons from all this: 1) if you are reading for yourself and the cards (or chart, or dice, or whatever) seem to confirm what you already think or wish, apply a bucketful of salt to the reading; 2) invest some money into a simple handbook of logic, or at least expand your knowledge of logical fallacies. This will repay you many times over, regardless of what branch of sorcery you practice.

MQS

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – Knight of Coins or Pentacles

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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 Knight of Pentacles from the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is from the beginning of the third decanate of Leo to the end of the second decanate of Virgo, August 13 to September 12. This period is under the rulership of Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Meanings: Well-Dignified: ability to use actions effectively; good mind, able to see through the veils of sense experience to their true import. In specific divination, a man younger than the King and though intelligent, somewhat matter-of-fact; not original or imaginative; good at carrying out any plan calling for intelligent action on the physical plane.
Ill-Dignified: avaricious, mean, jealous, somewhat violent and cruel. Dark brown hair and dark eyes.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

He rides a slow, enduring, heavy horse, to which his own aspect corresponds. He exhibits his symbol, but does not look therein. Divinatory Meanings: Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude-all on the normal and external plane. Reversed: inertia, idleness, repose of that kind, stagnation; also placidity, discouragement, carelessness.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

(Note: Crowley and the Golden Dawn make a mess with the Kings and Knights)
The Prince of Disks represents the airy part of Earth, indicating the florescence and fructification of that element. He rules from the 21st degree of Aries to the 20th degree of Taurus.

The figure of this Prince is meditative. He is the element of Earth become intelligible. Clothed in light armour, his helmet is crowned with the head of a bull; and his chariot is drawn by an ox, this animal being peculiarly sacred to the Element of Earth. In his left hand he holds his disk, which is an orb resembling a globe, marked with mathematical symbols as if to imply the planning involved in agriculture. In his right hand he bears an orbed sceptre surmounted by a cross, a symbol of the Great Work accomplished; for it is his function to bring forth from the material of the element that vegetation which is the sustenance of the Spirit itself.

The character denoted by this card is that of great energy brought to bear upon the most solid of practical matters. He is energetic and enduring, a capable manager, a steadfast and per severing worker. He is competent, ingenious, thoughtful, cautious, ‘trustworthy, imperturbable; he constantly seeks new uses for common things, and adapts his circumstances to his purposes in a slow, steady, well-thought out plan.

He is lacking almost entirely in emotion. He is somewhat in sensitive, and may appear dull, but he is not; it so appears because he makes no effort to understand ideas which are beyond his scope. He may often appear stupid, and is inclined to be resentful of more spiritual types. He is slow to anger, but, if driven, becomes implacable. It is not very practicable to distinguish between the good and evil dignities in this card; one can merely say that, in case of his being ill-dignified, both the quality and quantity of his characteristics are somewhat degraded. The reaction of others to him will depend almost entirely upon their own temperaments.

In the Yi King, the airy part of Earth is represented by the 53rd hexagram, Kien. The commentary concerns the flight of wild geese, “gradually approaching the shore”, then “the large rocks”, then “advanced to the dry plains-the trees-the high ~ finally, to “the large heights”. It thus symbolizes slow, steady emancipation from repressive conditions.

The description is even happier than that given by the Qabalah, although in every way congruous with it. Practical considerations are never absent from Chinese thought, even at its most abstruse and metaphysical. The fundamental heresy of the Black Lodge is con tempt for “the world, the flesh, and the devil”, all which are essential to the plan of the Universe; it is cardinal to the Great Work for the Adept so to order affairs that “even the evil germs of Matter shall alike become useful and good”.

The error of Christian Mystics on this point has been responsible for more cruelty, misery, and collective insanity than all others put together; its poison can be traced even in the teaching of Freud, who assumed that the Unconscious was “the devil”, whereas in fact it is the instinct which expresses, beneath a veil, the inherent Point-of-View of each, and, properly understood, is the key to Initiation, and a hint of what seed may blossom and fructify as the “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”. For “Every man and every woman is a star”.

But no doubt the judgment of the Adepts Exempt (for it is they who determine, under the guidance of the Masters of the Temple, all such details of doctrine) in respect of this card has been influenced by its transition from Aries to Taurus. It is too often forgotten that Taurus is the House of Venus, and that Luna is exalted therein. The new doctrine set forth in this present Essay makes the primary colour of Earth not black, but green; it insists that every Disk is a living and revolving symbol. The central thesis of the Book of the Law asserts the Perfection of the Universe. In its pantheistic conception all possibilities are equal in value; each and every Point-Event is “a play of Nuit”, as it is written in the Book of Wisdom or Folly, “Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt. But whose availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!” Liber Al. 1. 22. Or, yet more comprehensively and simply: “Every number is infinite; there is no difference.” Ib I.4.
(From The Book of Thoth)

Weirdly adorable AI generated illustration for the Knight of Coins

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A WINGED Kingly Figure seated in a chariot drawn by a bull. He bears as a crest the symbol of the head of the winged bull. Beneath the chariot is land, with many flowers. In the one hand he bears an orb of gold held downwards, and in the other a sceptre surmounted by an orb and cross.

Increase of matter. Increases good or evil, solidifies; practically applies things. Steady; reliable. If ill dignified he is selfish, animal and material: stupid. In either case slow to anger, but furious if roused.
Rules from 20 Degree Aries to 20 Degree Taurus.
Air of Earth

Etteilla

Utility
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Useful, Advantageous, Gainful, Profitable, Interesting. – Interesting, Important, Necessary, Obligatory.
Reversed. Peace, Tranquility, Rest, Sleep, Apathy, Inertia, Rest, Inactivity, Unemployment. – Leisure, Pastime. – Recreation, Carefreeness, Indifference, Indolence, Laziness, Poltrony, Numbness, Discouragement, Annihilation.

MQS

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

Predictions that Change Behaviors

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I don’t remember if I already talked about a reading I did for myself some time ago. I was expecting a parcel but needed to go somewhere else, so I asked the cards if the package would come on that day. The cards clearly answered in the negative, and I was right: I went out, and the parcel arrived the day after.

Thinking back on this, I was reminded of an experience reported by famous British astrologer John Frawley. I cannot remember if he discusses it in The Real Astrology or in his Horary Textbook, but it goes somewhat like this: he was waiting for some repairman to come to his house, but he also wanted to take a relaxing bath, so he cast a horary chart to know when the guy would come, only to discover that he wouldn’t. So he slipped into the bathtube, and his prediction proved correct

I believe this kind of readings is the most fun and instructive on the nature of divination. Ultimately, divination is intelligence-gathering. Sentient beings organize their behavior based on the information available to them. Therefore, new information is bound to change the being’s behavior.

The more complex the organism, of course, the more factors come into play, but the basic principle remains true. This is not to say that anything is possible, because only someone with infinite knowledge would know how to overcome all kinds of situations he or she finds unpleasant. We humble mortals are always restricted by difficult circumstances. Still, the information we gather through divination is not, in principle, different from the one we gather through other means which are all just as imperfect.

A fatalist might try to defend the idea of an all-encompassing destiny by arguing that the prediction is itself part of the person’s fate. I was destined to pull those cards and go out. But this stance, interestingly enough, invalidates the idea of prediction itself. If everything is destiny, then even knowledge that everything is destiny is destiny, rather than the truth.

I believe that divination is not simply communication with the divine, but also a form of deification: if we take God on one hand, that is, someone who is capable to be the pure consequence of its own choice, and a rock on the other, that is, something that simply passively receives whatever action external forces exert on it, then divination moves us closer to the divine condition of being the consequence of our own choice.

This is also why I am skeptical of airy-fairy forms of divination that try to take the focus away from concrete life in the name of some vapid divine idea. Ultimately, there is far more divine depth to Frawley’s ability to take a bath thanks to a horary chart than there is to questions like “How can I embody the divine feminine and honor my ancestral heritage more fully?”

MQS

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Knight 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 Knight of Wands in the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

Astrologically the Knight of Wands includes the time period from the third decanate of Scorpio through the second decanate of Sagittarius, November 12 to December 11, representing, as we have seen, the combined influences of the Moon in Scorpio and of Jupiter and Mars in Sagittarius. In Divination we find the more specific meanings of each Key, but always remember that as advanced B.O.T.A. members, treading the Path of Return, you must use this art with discretion. It is best not to give querents for your help too specific instruction. Try to act as an emissary for the Hierophant and give them the principles behind their problems as they are unveiled to you by the sequence of Keys. Leave it to those you are helping to apply universal principles to specific problems in their lives.
Well Dignified: an active, generous, impetuous, quickmoving man, younger than the King of Wands. He is secretive, probably interested in the occult, somewhat psychic and mysterious. He is friendly to the querent and may bring him news relating to his enterprises.
Ill Dignified: e vil-minded, false, cruel, bigoted, brutal young man (or situation), dangerous or unfriendly to the querent1 s affairs. This card
sometimes signifies departure or change of residence.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A.E. Waite

He is shewn as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith. Divinatory Meanings: Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence. Reversed: Rupture, division, interruption, discord.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

AI-generated illustration for the Knight of Wands

Aleister Crowley

(note that Crowley and the Golden Dawn made a mess with the knights and kings)
The Prince of Wands represents the airy part of Fire, with its faculty of expanding and volatilising. He rules from the 21st degree of Cancer to the 20th degree of Leo. He is a warrior in complete armour of scale mail, but his arms are bare on account of his vigour and activity. He wears a rayed crown surmounted by a lion’s head winged, and from this crown depends a curtain of flame. On his breast is the sigil of To Mega Therion. In his left hand he bears the Phoenix wand of the Second Adept in the Ritual of 5○=6□ of R.R. at A.C.), the wand of Power and Energy, while with his other arm he reins the lion which draws his chariot, the chariot which is fortified by a wheel radiating flame. He rides upon a sea of flames, both waved and salient.

The moral qualities appropriate to this figure are swiftness and strength. But he is sometimes inclined to act on impulse; sometimes easily led by external influences; sometimes, especially in trifles, a prey to indecision. He is often violent, especially in the expression of an opinion, but he does not necessarily hold the opinion about which he is so emphatic. He states a vigorous proposition for the sake of stating it. He is in fact very slow to make up his mind thoroughly on any subject, but always sees both sides of every question. He is essentially just, but always feels that justice is not to be attained in the intellectual world.

His character is intensely noble and generous. He may be an extravagant boaster, while slyly laughing both at the object of his boast and at himself for making it. He is romantic, especially in matters of history and tradition, to the point of folly, and may engineer “stunts” or play elaborate practical jokes. He might select some inoffensive nobody, and pursue him for years with every weapon of ridicule) as Swift tormented the unhappy Partridge, all without the least animus, ready to give the shirt off his back, should his victim be in need. His sense of humour is omnivorous, and may make him a mysterious figure, dreaded without reason by people who actually know nothing about him but his name-as a symbol of Terror.

This is due to the influence of the last decan of Cancer upon this card. One of his greatest faults is pride; meanness and pettiness of any kind he holds in infinite scorn. His courage is fanatically strong, and his endurance indefatigable. He is always fighting against odds, and always wins in the long-the very long-run. This is principally due to his enormous capacity for work, which he exercises for its own sake, “without lust of result”; perhaps his haughty contempt for the world at large-which however coexists with profound and ecstatic respect for “every man and every woman” as “a star”-is responsible for this.

When this card is badly dignified, the character degenerates. Each of the qualities mentioned above is found in its antithesis. There is great cruelty in him, partly sadistic and partly due to callousness arising from indifference-and, in a sense, laziness! So too he may be intolerant, prejudiced and idle-principally because it saves trouble. He may furthermore be an empty boaster and a great coward.

In the YI King, the airy part of Fire is represented by the 42nd Hexagram, Yi, which signifies addition, increase. Full of virtue, and confident therein, he contemplates work of stupendous scope, often with the idea expressed in line 5: “with sincere heart seeking to benefit all below”. In this he may achieve immense success. But this course is fraught with commensurate danger. “We see one to whose in crease none will contribute, while many will seek to assail him. He observes no regular rule in the ordering of his heart”. (line 6) This peril avoided, there come “parties adding to the store of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells whose oracles cannot be opposed-Let the King employ them in presenting his offerings to God….” (line 2).
(From The Book of Thoth)
Note: Crowley clearly sees himself in this card, which is why he depicts the Prince as the adorable occult prankster he saw himself as.

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A KINGLY Figure with a golden, winged crown, seated on a chariot. He has large white wings. One wheel of his chariot is shewn. He wears corslet and buskins of scale armour decorated with a winged lion’s head, which symbol also surmounts his crown. His chariot is drawn by a lion. His arms are bare, save for the shoulder-pieces of the corslet, and he bears a torch or fire-wand, somewhat similar to that of the Zelator Adeptus Minor. Beneath the chariot are flames, some waved, some salient.
Swift, strong, hasty; rather violent, yet just and generous; noble and scorning meanness.
If ill dignified — cruel, intolerant, prejudiced and ill natured.

Etteilla

Departure
Upright: This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Departure, Displacement, Removal, Absence, Abandonment, Change, Escape, Desertion, Transmigration, Emigration. – Transposition, Translocation, Transplantation, Transmutation, Evasion.
Reversed: Disunion, Disagreement, Rupture, Dissension, Division, Competition, Separation, Partition. – Faction, Party. – Complaint, Altercation. – Cut, Fracture, Discontinuity, Interruption.

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Knight of Cups

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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 Knight of Cups in the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck.

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is from the beginning of the last decanate of Aquarius to the end of the second decanate of Pisces, February 9 to March 10, under the rulerships of Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and the Moon.
Well Dignified: a man of graceful, somewhat indolent, personality; generous and enthusiastic, when he is really interested. Somewhat impressionable and psychic. Fond of home and probably puts all women more or less on a pedestal. Friendly to the Querent.
Ill Dignified: lazy, untruthful, likely to be effeminate and ‘catty’.
Brown hair, grey or brown eyes.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

Graceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet, referring to those higher graces of the imagination which sometimes characterize this card. He too is a dreamer, but the images of the side of sense haunt him in his vision. Divinatory Meanings: Arrival, approach–sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition, demeanour, invitation, incitement. Reversed: Trickery, artifice, subtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

(Note: Crowley and the Golden Dawn made a mess with Knights and Kings)
The Prince of Cups represents the airy part of Water. On the one hand, elasticity, volatility, hydrostatic equilibrium; on the other hand, the catalytic faculty and the energy of steam. He rules from the 21st degree of Libra to the 20th degree of Scorpio.

He is a warrior partly clad in armour, which seems, however, rather a growth than a covering. His helmet is surmounted by an eagle, and his chariot, which resembles a shell, is also drawn by an eagle. His wings are tenuous, almost of gas.. This is a reference to his power of volatilization understood in the spiritual sense.

In his right hand he bears a Lotus flower, sacred to the element of Water, and in his left hand is a cup from which issues a serpent.

The third totem, the scorpion, is not shewn in the picture, for the putrefaction which it represents is an extremely secret process. Beneath his chariot is the calm and stagnant water of a lake upon which rain falls heavily.

The whole symbolism of this card is exceedingly complicated, for Scorpio is the most mysterious of the Signs, and the manifested portion of it symbolized by the eagle is in reality the least important part of his nature.

The moral characteristics of the person pictured in this card are subtlety, secret violence, and craft. He is intensely secret, an artist in all his ways. On the surface he appears calm and imperturbable, but this is a mask of the most intense passion. He is on the surface susceptible to external influences, but he accepts them only to transmute them to the advantage of his secret designs. He is thus completely without conscience in the ordinary sense of the word, and is therefore usually distrusted by his neighbours. They feel they do not, and can never, understand him. Thus he inspires unreasonable fear. He is in fact perfectly ruthless. He cares intensely for power, wisdom, and his own aims. He feels no responsibility to others, and although his abilities are so immense, he cannot be relied upon to work in harness.

In the Yi King, the airy part of Water is represented by the 61st hexagram, Kung Fu. This is one of the most important figures in the Yi: it “moves even pigs and fish, and leads to great good fortune”. Its dignities and correspondences are manifold and great; for it is also a “big Li”, the trigram of Sol formed by doubling the lines. By shape it suggests a boat, but also the geomantic figure of Cancer, Saturn in Capricornus.

This card is in consequence one of great power; Libra going over into Scorpio is of tremendous, active, critical energy and weight. To such people good will, sincerity, and right mating are the essentials of success; their danger is overweening ambition.
(From The Book of Thoth)

An AI generated illustration for the Knight of Cups

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A WINGED Kingly Figure with winged crown seated in a chariot drawn by an eagle. On the wheel is the symbol of a scorpion. The eagle is borne as a crest on his crown, cuirass and buskins. General attire like King of Wands. Beneath his chariot is the calm and stagnant water of a lake. His armour resembles feathers more than scales. He holds in one hand a lotus, and in the other a cup, charged with the sigil of his scale. A serpent issues from the cup, and has its head tending down to the waters of the lake.

He is subtle, violent, crafty and artistic; a fierce nature with calm exterior. Powerful for good or evil but more attracted by the evil
if allied with apparent Power or Wisdom.
If ill dignified, he is intensely evil and merciless.
He rules from 20 Degree Libra to 20 Degree Scorpio.
Air of Water

Etteilla

Arrival
Upright: This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Arrival, Coming, Approach, Landing, Welcoming, Entrance, Reapproachment. – Conformity. – Coming, Approximation. – Access. – Affluence. – Comparison.
Reversed: Deception, Scoundrelishness, Briccony, Deception, Artifice. – Fineness, Dexterity, Cunning, Fraud. – Subtlety, Irregularity. Nefariousness.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Tarot, Uncategorized

So Many People! (Tarot Reading)

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Here’s a recent reading I did. The querent is a man in his early 40s

A work-related tarot reading

The most obvious thing that caught my attention is the Emperor next to the Lovers and Justice. The Lovers is also the center of the whole spread. It can show a meeting but also being in talks for something, and next to Justice it can indicate a partnership.

On the first line we have three bad cards in a row: the Tower, the Hermit and the Hanged Man (the Hermit is not necessarily bad, but it’s sandwiched between difficult cards, so they create a negative cluster together). There seems to have been a long period either of unemployment or of serious difficulties. The Empress could indicate the person’s money but upon asking him he told me that he’s gone through a rough patch in his work life which led his girlfriend to leave him.

Then we have the Popess and the Pope, which usually show an older couple. So I ask him if he’s going into a partnership with such people, and he said these are his aunt and uncle, who are offering him to go into business together. The Sun in the end shows it will be a good move.

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Queen of Swords

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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 Queen of Swords in the Builders of the Adytum (BOTA) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is from the beginning of the third decanate of Capricorn to the end of the second decanate of Aquarius, January 10 to February 8, under the combined rulerships of Mercury in Capricorn, Saturn-Uranus in Aquarius and Mercury in Gemini. Meanings: a woman of some authority, outwardly agreeable and complaisant, but inwardly ambitious and subtle. She has keen perceptions, is a good observer and self-confident. She is accurate in superficial details; is often graceful and fond of dancing.
Well-Dignified: she is friendly to the Querent.
Ill-Dignified: she can be deceitful, sly, cruel.
Usually light brown hair and gray eyes.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair the left hand is extended, the arm raised her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she is scarcely a symbol of power. Divinatory Meanings: Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation. Reversed: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale, deceit.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

The Queen of Swords represents the watery part of Air, the elasticity of that element, and its power of transmission. She rules from the 21St degree of Virgo to the 20th degree of Libra. She is enthroned upon the clouds. The upper part of her body is naked, but she wears a gleaming belt and a sarong. Her helmet is crested by the head of a child, and from it stream sharp rays of light, illuminating her empire of celestial dew. In her right hand, she bears a sword; in her left hand, the newly severed head of a bearded man. She is the clear, conscious perception of Idea, the Liberator of the Mind.

The person symbolized by this card should be intensely perceptive, a keen observer, a subtle interpreter, an intense individualist, swift and accurate at recording ideas; in action confident, in spirit gracious and just. Her movements will be graceful, and her ability in dancing and balancing exceptional.

If ill-dignified, these qualities will all be turned to unworthy purposes. She will be cruel, sly, deceitful and unreliable; in this way, very dangerous, on account of the superficial beauty and attractiveness which distinguish her.

In the Yi King, the watery part of Air is represented by the 28th hexagram, Ta Kwo. The Shape suggests a weak beam.

The character, excellent in itself, cannot support interference. Foresight and prudence, care in preparation of action, are a safeguard (line i.) Advantage is to be won, moreover, by reliance on help from apparently unsuitable comrades (lines 2 and 5). This alien strength often supplies the defeat of inherent weakness, and may even create definite superiority to circumstance (line 4). In such an event, there may be temptation to undertake rash adventures, foredoomed to failure. But even so, no blame is incurred (line 6); the conditions of True Will have been satisfied, and the issue is compensated by the feeling that the right (however unfortunate) course has been adopted.

Such people acquire intense love and devotion from the most unexpected quarters.
(From the Book of Thoth)

an alien-looking AI-generated Queen of Swords (without a sword, but it was too cool)

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A GRACEFUL woman with wavy, curling hair, like a Queen seated upon a
Throne and crowned. Beneath the Throne are grey cumulus clouds. Her general attire is as that of the Queen of Wands, but she wears as a crest a winged child’s head. A drawn sword in one hand, and in the other a large, bearded, newly severed head of a man.
Intensely perceptive, keen observation, subtle, quick and confident: often persevering, accurate in superficial things, graceful, fond of dancing and balancing. If ill dignified, cruel, sly, deceitful, unreliable, though with a good exterior.
Rules from 20 Degree Virgo to 20 Degree Libra.

Etteilla

Widowhood
Upright: As far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, this card means, in its upright position: Widowhood, Widow, Deprivation, Absence, Famine, Sterility, Indigency, Poverty. – Empty, Vacant, Unemployed, Idle, Free.
Reversed: Evil Woman. – Malignity, Malice, Cunning, Craftiness, Machination, Bigotry, Prudery, Hypocrisy.

MQS

Card Reading, Cartomancy, Divination, Divination Master Post, Fortune-telling, Reading Example, Tarot

Tarot Reading – Again on Real Estate

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As I said in my other article, I had a reading on my real estate adventure ready. I was waiting to publish it to avoid jinxing it. Since today we have signed the papers, I can safely discuss it 🙂

Will we buy the house?

The question was simple. We had seen a nice house in October and I wanted to know if we’d manage to buy it. The first thing that caught my eye was Justice, Tower, Lovers, Wheel. Justice and Tower, in this context, indicates a real estate (Tower) contract (Justice). The Lovers card indicates an agreement and the Wheel, aside from showing the flow of money, indicates the agreement is positive. Next to Justice is the Empress. This can be neither the owner nor the agent because both were men. This is a woman who would help us get the positive deal. And indeed a female friend of ours who knows a lot about this stuff helped us negotiate a lower price.

We come to the first row of cards. I usually interpret the Popess or Pope next to the World card as a married person or a family member. In this case we have two married people in the family. The Hermit shows their distance, but the Strength card indicates that they are somehow active or present. At the time I interpreted this as my parents helping us. It was a good prediction, as my parents gave us some additional money for the down payment. In short, we are home owners!

MQS