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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Page 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 Page of Swords from the BOTA (Builders of the Adytum) Tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time period is from the beginning of Libra to the end of Sagittarius, September 23 to December 21. Meanings: a young person of either sex. Artistic, active, generous. Capable of weighing evidence, somewhat interested in occultism, philosophy or religion. Naturally aspiring, graceful.
If Ill-Dignified: frivolous, cunning and prodigal
Light brown hair and blue eyes
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

A lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the act of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way the clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this way and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment. Divinatory Meanings: Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance, spying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging. Reversed: More evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state; sickness is also intimated.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

The Princess of Swords represents the earthy part of Air, the fixation of the volatile. She brings about the materialization of Idea. She represents the influence of Heaven upon Earth. She partakes of the characteristics of Minerva and Artemis, and there is some suggestion of the Valkyrie. She represents to some extent the anger of the Gods, and she appears helmed, with serpent-haired Medusa for her crest. She stands in front of a barren altar as if to avenge its profanation, and she stabs downward with her sword. The heaven and the clouds, which are her home, seem angry.

The character of the Princess is stern and revengeful. Her logic is destructive. She is firm and aggressive, with great practical wisdom and subtlety in material things. She shews great cleverness and dexterity in the management of practical affairs, especially where they are of a controversial nature. She is very adroit in the settlement of controversies.

If ill-dignified, all these qualities are dispersed; she becomes incoherent, and all her gifts tend to combine to form a species of low cunning whose object is unworthy of the means.

In the Yi King, the earthy part of Air is represented by the 18th hexagram, Ku. This means “troubles”; it is, for all practical and material matters. The most unhappy symbol in the book. All the fine qualities of Air are weighed down, suppressed, suffocated.

People thus characterized are slow mentally, the prey of constant anxiety, crushed by every kind of responsibility, but especially in family affairs. One of both of the parents will usually be found in the aetiology.

It is hard to understand line 6, which “shows us one who does not serve either king or feudal lord, but in a lofty spirit prefers to follow his own bent”. The explanation is that a Princess as such, being “the throne of Spirit”, may always have the option of throwing everything overboard, “blowing everything sky high”. Such action would account for the characteristics above given for the card when well dignified. Such people are exceedingly rare; and, naturally enough, they appear often as “Children of misfortune”. Nevertheless, they have chosen aright, and in due season gain their reward.
(From the Book of Thoth)

Golden Dawn’s Book T

AN AMAZON figure with waving hair, slighter than the Rose of the Palace of Fire. Her attire is similar. The Feet seem springy, giving the idea of swiftness. Weight changing from one foot to another and body swinging around. She is a mixture of Minerva and Diana: her mantle resembles the AEgis of Minerva. She wears as a crest the head of the Medusa with serpent hair. She holds a sword in one hand; and the other rests upon a small silver altar with grey smoke (no fire) ascending from it. Beneath her feet are white clouds. Wisdom, strength, acuteness; subtlety in material things: grace and dexterity.
If ill dignified, she is frivolous and cunning.
She rules a quadrant of the heavens around Kether.
Earth of Air

Etteilla

Observer
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Spy, Curious, Observer, Scrutinizer, Collector, Overseer, Intending. – Examination, Note, Observation, Annotation, Speculation, Account, Calculation, Conjecture. – Scientist, Artist.
Reversed. Unexpected, Suddenly, Suddenly, Suddenly. – Stunning, Astonishing, Inopinently. – Improvise, Acting and speaking without preparation, Composing and acting sitting down.

MQS

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

Vera Sibilla Cards That Indicate Loss

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I’m going to write a few articles on the similarities and differences between cards in the Sibilla deck based on certain topics or concepts. Because I’m a positive person, let’s start with the concept of loss.

This list is not meant to be exclusive (for instance, most bad cards next to the Money card can show loss of money). Context is key, and each spread must be studied as its own thing. Furthermore, loss is not the only meaning of the cards I talk about here.

Five of Hearts Reversed (Happiness)

The 5♥R generally indicates failing to meet aims and failing to live up to promises and commitments. These ideas can easily be what leads to loss, whether material or in the field of relationship (though it also has a strong connection with cheating in the latter field).

Six of Hearts Reversed (Money)

This one doesn’t require much in terms of explanation. The Money card, when reversed, can indicate money troubles.

Eight of Hearts Reversed (Hope)

When upright, the 8♥ is connected with investments (things where there is a hope placed on future returns). When it is reversed, it often shows bad investments causing losses. It also indicates relationships that go up in smoke.

Ten of Hearts Reversed (Perseverance)

Traditionally, the 10♥R is really bad for commerce, as it shows loss of contracts and even of merchandise. More broadly, though, this card bodes ill for anything where you wish for smooth sailing.

Six of Clubs Reversed (Surprise)

When upright, the 6♣ represents a positive discrepancy between effort and returns: you get more than you hoped for based on your efforts. The 6♣R is the opposite: you put much effort into something but get little in return. It also shows excess confidence and ambition causing losses.

Five of Diamonds Upright or Reversed (Melancholy)

In general, this card represents unsatisfactory situations, but next to the card of something we hope to get it shows either we don’t get it or we are unsatisfied with it. When reversed it speaks more clearly of loss and debts.

Eight of Diamonds Reversed (Handmaid)

The 8♦R often speaks of the need of spending money or money going out in general. By itself not a tragic card, but its meaning can be exaggerated by the presence of other difficult cards. It also indicates lack of skill in balancing a checkbook.

Ten of Diamonds (Thief)

Obviously, a thief takes something from us, so we lose that something. The 10♦ represents all situations where we lose someone or something, and if other cards of dubious moral import add their meaning, foul play may be suspected.

Ace of Spades (Sorrow)

The A♠ is a strong card, which can modify most readings for the worse. It represents feelings of bereavement and loss, not necessarily material in nature. If it is material, it is likely to be a big loss, as it will shake the querent to the core, like a letter containing tidings of death (which is what the card represents). When reversed its meaning is lessened.

Three of Spades (Widower)

This is the ‘loss’ card. It represents the notion of ‘without’ and it brings loss to the fore as a concept. The loss doesn’t need to be material, so the 3♠ can show loss of friends or social support. As the title implies, it can show widowhood. When reversed the loss is more traumatic.

Five of Spades (Death)

The 5♠ is similar to the Widower in its depiction of loss, but the loss is sharper and is more likely to radically change (usually for the worse) the querent’s life.

Seven of Spades (Tragedy)

The 7♠ represents disruption, the surfacing of unaccounted or unexpected factors bringing the loss of what we hoped to achieve. As with most really bad cards, the Seven of Spades can add its meaning to other cards to bring most projects to their knees.

Eight of Spades (Desperation and Jealously)

The 8♠ is specifically connected with a crisis in material affairs (though of course it can bring problems to relationships as well). It is not uncommon to find it when the question is about investments or debts, showing a critical situation where the querent must tread carefully to avoid making mistakes they’ll deeply regret.

MQS

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

How Waite’s Contempt for the Minor Arcana Reinvented Tarot

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I am old enough to remember a time when people did videos of tarot unboxings and would be shocked to discover that their deck had either unillustrated pips or different designs incompatible with the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition (which is not a tradition. I’ll come back to it)

In this regard, the average literacy of tarot enthusiasts has slightly increased in the last fifteen years or so. For whatever reason, people online still rave about the latest RWS clones, but they are also aware that the RWS is not THE tarot deck. It just happens to be a very popular variant.

As a matter of fact, its illustrated pips are probably the single major contributor to its success (it certainly wasn’t for Pamela Colman Smith’s talent or Waite’s approachable writing). Although the Waite deck is not the first to have illustrated minors (the the Sola Busca has this honor, and centuries later also the Tarot of the Master) it was the one which, after a couple of decades of obscurity between World Wars, accompanied the New Age-themed Tarot revival that lasts to this day.

The Waite deck essentially redifined tarot for decades as needing illustrated pips. People have come up with all sorts of fantastic interpretations of the most minute and inconsequential details found in the pips. We also have a relatively consolidated tradition that has nothing to do with Waite’s (or Smith’s) vision, such as for instance the Eight of Pentacles being the apprentice card, the Nine of Pentacles being basically the strong independent woman who don’t need no man card, the Seven of Swords as the thief card and so on.

This, I must confess, I find very amusing, considering Waite’s own attitude toward the minor arcana. Whoever takes the time to wade through Waite’s turgid prose quickly finds out that Waite couldn’t care less about the minor arcana in his deck (so much so that he had them almost completely eliminated from his later deck, the so-called Waite-Trinick)

Waite had been a member of the Golden Dawn, and as such he must have had to draw or color in his own deck at some point or another. He was instructed in the Golden Dawn system, wherein the pips (except the aces) are assigned to the decans of the zodiac (usually the Picatrix version) and given titles. So, for instance, the Two of Wands is the Lord of Dominion (and, lo and behold, the Two of Wands in the Waite deck has a lord observing his own dominion.)

All this is no secret, and has been discussed at length already. However, what is often not discussed enough is how scathing Waite’s attitude was toward both the Golden Dawn system and the minor arcana in general. He clearly believed that the Major Trumps were a separate, mystical device that had been merged with a regular playing deck with no meaning whatever. He certainly was intelligent enough to see that the Golden Dawn system was essentially made up and had no historical authenticity to it (though this is not to say one cannot work with it. Symbols are symbols.)

It is for this reason that he notoriously “spoon-fed” Smith the design of the Major Trumps. Because he deeply cared about them, or at least about his own interpretation of them. As far as the minor arcana are concerned, he generally had Smith follow the Golden Dawn system in illustrating the names of the pips.

This is clear when we read Waite’s interpretation of cards such as the Five of Pentacles, where the meaning of the Golden Dawn card (Lord of Material Trouble) cannot be harmonized with the other sources Waite draws from (such as Etteilla, for whom the Five of Coins is the Lovers card). That is, Waite seeks to find a harmony of the various meanings, but when this is impossible, he goes with the Golden Dawn variant, though not out of true conviction that the system is valid. He also very likely left Smith more creative freedom in decorating a bunch of cards he felt were useless distractions.

So what we have today is people finding meaning into something that never was intended to have much meaning in the first place. Surely it must be one of the great ironies of history that one of the most radical developments in the structure of the tarot, i.e., illustrated pips, came about not because the inventor cared about pip cards, but because he didn’t.

MQS

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Page 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 Page of Pentacles from the BOTA (Builders of the Adytum) tarot deck

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time pe r iod is from Decembe r 21 t o March 21, which encompasses the three signs of the winter quarter, Capricorn, Aquariusand Pisces, ruled by Saturn, Saturn- Uranus and Jupiter- Neptune.
Well-Dignified: good command in practical matters; ability to see the
principles be hind physical plane situations and phenomena; a young person of either sex, friendly to the Querent. Usually a friendly disposition with some leaning to the occult or a touch of psychic ability
in the make-up. Generous, diligent, compassionate.
lll-Dignified: more or less in bondage to material matters; inability to see beyond physical plane phenomena . A young person unfriendly, dull, wasteful, thoughtless, self-centered. If interested in the occult, it is usually for the sake of furthering selfish ends.
Dark eyes and rich brown hair.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

A youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over his raised hands. He moves slowly, insensible of that which is about him. Divinatory Meanings: Application, study, scholarship, reflection another reading says news, messages and the bringer thereof; also rule, management. Reversed: Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury; unfavourable news.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

The Princess of Disks, the last of the Court cards, represents the earthy part of Earth. She is consequently on the brink of transfiguration. She is strong and beautiful, with an expression of intense brooding, as if about to become aware of secret wonder.

Her crest is the head of the ram, and her sceptre descends into the earth. There its head becomes a diamond, the precious stone of Kether, thus symbolizing the birth of the highest and purest light in the deepest and darkest of the Elements. She stands within a grove of sacred trees before an altar suggesting a wheatsheaf, for she is a priestess of Demeter. She bears within her body the secret of the future. Her sublimity is further emphasized by the disk which she bears; for in the centre thereof is the Chinese ideogram denoting the twin spiral force of Creation in perfect equilibrium; from this is born the rose of Isis, the great fertile Mother.

The characteristics of an individual signified by this card are too various to enumerate; one must summarize by saying that she is Womanhood in its ultimate projection. She contains all the characteristics of woman, and it would depend entirely upon the influences to which she is subjected whether one or another becomes manifest. But in every case her attributes will be pure in themselves, and not necessarily connected with any other attributes which in the normal way one regards as symbolic. In one sense, then, her general reputation will be of bewildering inconsistency. It is rather like a lottery wheel from which the extraction of any number does not predict or influence the result of any subsequent operation. The fruit of the Philosophy of Thelema is enjoyed, rare, ripe, nourishing and vitalizing at its highest and fullest in this meditation; for to the adept every turn of the wheel is equally probable, and equally a prize; for every Event is “a play of Nuit”.

In the Yi King the earthy part of Earth is represented by the 52nd hexagram, Kan. The meaning is “a mountain”; of how sublime a significance is this Chinese doctrine of Balance, and how closely congruous with that of the Holy Qabalah!

The mountain is the most sacred of all terrestrial symbols, stark, rugged, and immoveable in its aspiration to the Highest, thrust up as it is by the Titan energy of Hidden Fire. It is no less an hieroglyph of the Inmost Godhead than the Phallus itself, even as Capricornus, the sign of the New Year, is exalted in the Zodiac, its deity autochthonous no less than the Most Holy Ancient One himself.

It is essential for the Student to trace this doctrine for himself in every symbol: Air, the elastic and flexible, yet all-pervading and the element of combustion; Water, fluid yet incompressible, the most neutral and composed of all components of living matter, yet destructive even of the hardest rocks by physical assault, and irresistible in its burning power of solution; and Fire, so kin to Spirit that it is not a substance at all, but a phenomenon, yet so integral to Matter that it is the very heart and essence of all things soever.

The characteristic of Kan in the Yi King is rest; each line of the comment describes repose in the parts of the body in turn, and their effects; the toes, the calves, the loins, the spine, and the jaws.

This chapter is a close parallel in this respect, line by line, with the 31st, Hsien, which begins the second section of the Yi.

The Rosicrucian doctrine of Tetragrammaton could hardly be more adequately stated-to every ear that is to heavenly harmony attuned.

“There’s not a planet in the firmament
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim;
But while this muddy vesture of decay
Doth wrap us round, our nature cannot hear it.

Let every student of this Essay, and of this book of Tahuti, this living Book that guides man through all Time, and leads him to Eternity at every page, hold fast this simplest, most far-reaching Doctrine in his heart and mind, inflaming the inmost of His Being, that he also, having explored each recess of the Universe, may therein find the Light of Truth, so come to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and accomplish the Great Work, attain the Summum Bonum, true Wisdom and perfect Happiness!
(From the Book of Thoth)

A medieval looking AI-generated illustration for the Page of Pentacles

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A STRONG and beautiful Amazon figure with rich brown hair, standing on grass or flowers. A grove of trees near her. Her form suggests Hebe, Ceres, and Proserpine. She bears a winged ram’s head as a crest: and wears a mantle of sheepskin. In one hand she carries a sceptre with a circular disk: in the other a Pentacle similar to that of the Ace of Pentacles.
She is generous, kind, diligent, benevolent, careful, courageous, persevering, pitiful.
If ill dignified she is wasteful and prodigal. She rules over one quadrant of the heavens around the North Pole of the Ecliptic.
Earth of Earth

Etteilla

Brown-haired boy
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Brown-haired Boy, Study, Instruction, Application, Meditation, Reflection. – Work, Occupation, Apprenticeship. – Schoolboy, Disciple, Pupil, Apprentice, Amateur, Student, Speculator, Shopkeeper.
Reversed. Profession, Superfluity, Width, Luxury, Lavishness, Magnificence, Abundance, Multiplicity. – Liberality, Beneficence, Generosity, Beneficence. – Crowd, Multitude. – Degradation, Dilapidation, Squandering, Dissipation.

MQS

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

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

Paul Foster Case (and Ann Davies)

The time p e riod corre la t e d with this Key is the whole first quarter of the zodiac from March 21 to June 21 inclusive, including Aries, Taurus and Gemini. The specific Divinatory meanings involved are:
Well Dignified: a young person, youth or girl; brilliant mind, courageous disposition , perhaps given to sudden anger and desirous of power. Capable of great enthusiasm.
lll Dignified: Revengeful at the least opposition, headstrong, theatrical, unstable, domineering and decidedly superficial.
This Key often stands for a messenger.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

In a scene similar to the former (i.e., of the Knight of Wands), a young man stands in the act of proclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange. Divinatory Meanings: Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a postman. Beside a man, he will bear favourable testimony concerning him. A dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief qualities of his suit. He may signify family intelligence. Reversed: Anecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability which accompanies it.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

The Princess of Wands represents the earthy part of Fire; one might say, she is the fuel of Fire. This expression implies the irresistible chemical attraction of the combustible substance. She rules the Heavens for one quadrant of the portion around the North Pole.

The Princess is therefore shewn with the plumes of justice streaming like flames from her brow; and she is unclothed, shewing that chemical action can only take place when the element is perfectly free to combine with its partner. She bears a wand crowned with the disk of the Sun; and she is leaping in a surging flame which re-calls by its shape the letter Yod

This card may be said to represent the dance of the virgin priestess of the Lords of Fire, for she is in attendance upon the golden altar ornamented with rams’ heads) symbolizing the fires of Spring.

The character of the Princess is extremely individual. She is brilliant and daring. She creates her own beauty by her essential vigour and energy. The force of her character imposes the impression of beauty upon the beholder. In anger or love she is sudden, violent, and implacable. She consumes all that comes into her sphere. She is ambitious and aspiring, full of enthusiasm which is often irrational. She never forgets an injury, and the only quality of patience to be found in her is the patience with which she lies in ambush to avenge.

Such a woman, ill-dignified, shews the defects of these qualities. She is superficial and theatrical, completely shallow and false, yet without suspecting that she is anything of the sort, for she believes entirely in herself, even when it is apparent to the most ordinary observer that she is merely in the spasm of mood. She is cruel, unreliable, faithless and domineering.

In the Yi King, the earthy part of Fire is described by the 27th hexagram, i. This shows a person omnivorous in passion of whatever kind, entirely reckless in the means of obtaining gratification, and insatiable. The Yi commentary is packed with alternate warning and encouragement.
(From The Book of Thoth)

AI generated illustration for the Page of Wands

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A VERY strong and beautiful woman with flowing red-gold hair, attired like an Amazon. Her shoulders, arms, bosom and knees are bare. She wears a short kilt reaching to the knee. Round her waist is a broad belt of scale-mail; narrow at the sides; broader in front and back; and having a winged tiger’s head in front. She wears a Corinthian-shaped helmet and crown with a long plume. It also is surmounted by a tiger’s head, and the same symbol forms the buckle of her scalemail buskins. A mantle lined with tiger’s skin falls back from her shoulders. Her right hand rests on a small golden or brazen altar ornamented with ram’s heads and with Flames of Fire leaping from it. Her left hand leans on a long and heavy club, swelling at the lower end, where the sigil is placed; and it has flames of fire leaping from it the whole way down; but the flames are ascending. This club or torch is much longer than that carried by the King or Queen. Beneath her firmly placed feet are leaping Flames of Fire.
Brilliance, courage, beauty, force, sudden in anger or love, desire of power, enthusiasm, revenge.
If ill dignified, she is superficial, theatrical, cruel, unstable, domineering.
She rules the heavens over one quadrant of the portion around the North Pole.
Earth of Fire

Etteilla

Foreigner
Upright. This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Stranger, Unknown, Extraordinary. – Strange, Unusual, Unheard of, Surprising, Admirable, Wonderful, Prodigy, Miracle. – Episode, Digression, Anonymous.
Inverted. Announcement, Instruction, Warning, Admonition, Anecdotes, Chronicle, History, Tales, Fables, Notions, Teaching.

MQS

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

Tarot Encyclopedia – The Knight 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 Knight of Swords 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 Taurus to the end of the second decanate of Gemini, May 11 to June 10. Meanings: youngish man; some talent for governing; materialistic, with some artistic appreciation; active, clever, skillful in management.
Well-Dignified: favorable to querent and his enterprises
Ill-Dignified: Inimical, domineering, overvalues small things, crafty.
Dark hair and eyes.
(From the Oracle of Tarot course)

A. E. Waite

He is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design he is really a prototypical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost be Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart. Divinatory Meanings: Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. There is therefore a sense in which the card signifies death, but it carries this meaning only in its proximity to other cards of fatality. Reversed: Imprudence, incapacity, extravagance.
(From The Pictorial Key to the Tarot)

Aleister Crowley

(Note: Crowley and the Golden Dawn made a mess with the kings and knights)
This card represents the airy part of Air. With its particular interpretation, it is intellectual, it is a picture of the Mind as such. He rules from the 21st degree of Capricornus to the 20th degree of Aquarius.

The figure of this Prince is clothed with closely woven armour adorned with definite device, and the chariot which bears him suggests (even more closely) geometrical ideas. This chariot is drawn by winged children, looking and leaping irresponsibly in any direction that takes their fancy; they are not reined, but perfectly Capricious. The chariot consequently is easy enough to move, but quite unable to progress in any definite direction except by accident. This is a perfect picture of the Mind.

On the head of this Prince is, nevertheless, a child’s head radiant, for there is a secret crown in the nature of this card; if concentrated, it is exactly Tiphareth.

The operation of his logical mental processes have reduced the Air, which is his element, to many diverse geometrical patterns, but in these there is no real plan; they are demonstrations of the powers of the Mind without definite purpose. In his right hand is a lifted sword wherewith to create, but in his left hand a sickle, so that what he creates he instantly destroys.

A person thus symbolized is purely intellectual. He is full of ideas and designs which tumble over each other. He is a mass of fine ideals unrelated to practical effort. He has all the apparatus of Thought in the highest degree, intensely clever, admirably rational, but unstable of purpose, and in reality indifferent even to his own ideas, as knowing that any one of them is just as good as any other. He reduces everything to unreality by removing its substance and transmuting it to an ideal world of ratiocination which is purely formal and out of relation to any facts, even those upon which it is based.

In the Yi King, the airy part of Air is represented by the 57th hexagram, Sun. This is one of the most difficult figures in the book, on account of its ambivalence: it means both flexibility and penetration.

Immensely powerful because of its complete freedom from settled principles, capable of maintaining and putting forward any conceivable argument, insusceptible of regret or remorse, glib to “quote Scripture” aptly and cunningly to support any thesis soever, indifferent to the fate of a contrary argument advanced two minutes earlier, impossible to defeat because any position is as good as any other, ready to enter into combination with the nearest element available, these elusive and elastic people are of value only when firmly mastered by creative will fortified by an intelligence superior to their own. In practice, this is rarely possible: there is no purchase to be had upon them, not even by pandering to their appetites. These may nevertheless be stormy, even uncontrollable. Faddists, devotees of drink, drugs, humanitarianism, music or religion, are often in this class; but when this is the case, there is still no stability. They wander from one cult or one vice to another, always brilliantly supporting with the fanaticism of a fixed conviction what is actually no more than the whim of the moment.

It is easy to be deceived by such people; for the manifestation itself has enormous potency: it is as if an imbecile offered one the dialogues of Plato. They may in this way acquire a great reputation both for depth and breadth of mind.
(From The Book of Thoth)

A futuristic AI generated illustration for the Knight of Swords

Golden Dawn’s Book T

A WINGED King with Winged Crown, seated in a chariot drawn by Arch Fays, represented as winged youths very slightly dressed, with butterfly wings: heads encircled by a fillet with a pentagram thereon: and holding wands surmounted by pentagrams, the same butterfly wings on their feet and fillets. General equipment as the King of Wands: but he bears as a crest a winged angelic head with a pentagram on the brows. Beneath the chariot are grey nimbus clouds. His hair long and waving in serpentine whirls, and whorl figures compose the scales of his armour. A drawn sword in one hand; a sickle in the other. With the sword he rules, with the sickle he slays.
Full of ideas and thoughts and designs, distrustful, suspicious, firm in friendship and enmity; careful, observant, slow, over-cautious, symbolizes GR:Alpha and GR:Omega; he slays as fast as he creates.
If ill dignified: harsh, malicious, plotting; obstinate, yet hesitating; unreliable.
Rules from 20 Degree Capricorn to 20 Degree Aquarius.
Air of Air

Etteilla

Military Man
Upright: This card, as far as the medicine of the spirit is concerned, means, in its natural position: Military Man, Man of Sword, Man of Arms, Fencing Master, Swordsman. – Soldier of any corps and weapon, Enemy Fighter. – Dispute, War, Combat, Battle, Duel. – Attack, Defense, Opposition, Resistance, Destruction, Ruin, Overthrow. – Enmity, Hatred, Anger, Resentment. – Courage, Valor, Bravery. – Satellite [= Attendant], Mercenary.
Reversed: Inexperience, Inertia, Stupidity, Bestiality, Stupidity, Imprudence, Impertinence, Extravagance, Ridiculousness, Baggianity. – Scrounging, Fraud, Bricolage, Industry.

MQS

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

Checking Talismans with Playing Cards

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In one of my recent posts I discussed how playing cards can detect curses (of course, it’s not just playing cards that can do it). Today I wanted to add to this subject by discussing the esoteric use of Playing Cards to check if a spell (in this case, a talisman) is a good idea or has been successfully created and is working.

I should perhaps first explain that there is a modicum of belief in magic involved in all this. The modern worldview tends to react to the idea of magic in two ways: the skeptical way (“it’s not really true”) and the new age way (“it’s not really true, but I would really love for it to be true, so I’ll play make belief and tailor everything to my preconceptions”)

Either way, magic is reduced to the acceptable role of cathartic theater or psychological tool (unfortunately, even great minds within the occult scene, like William Gray, have partly fallen for this approach, or at least considered it viable). From here it has even found its way even into the corporate sphere (a friend of mine working for Google told me she was forced to attend a “magical” day with a psychic who talked to them about tarot and Wicca). You know something is crap when pandering megacorporations appropriate it.

At least since Aleister Crowley (but there are predecessors) magic has been understood as the way of the will. Granted, Crowley’s understanding of the word “Will” is not the same as how we understand it in our everyday life, which would rather be “whim“. His view resembles more closely Nietzsche’s view of the will, so it does have some nobility.

But this doesn’t detract from the fact that most people whose view of magic has been colored by Crowley’s (and that’s almost everyone today, whether they know it or not) don’t REALLY believe in magic. Instead, they tend to see it as, again, little more than a placebo. It’s true if you believe in it. It’s true if you want it to be true.

Still, it’s my experience that belief in magic is not really required for magic to work. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find any trace of the concept of the magician’s will in the traditional Western approach to magic (or in the Eastern approach, for that matter).

Because just believing in it was usually not considered a prerequisite for success, the use of divination to check the efficacy of magical workings has been advocated a long time. Besides, if belief is not enough, other, more objective factors must be checked. *

The Arab mages of old, for instance, invited people to do a horary reading to see if the use of planetary magic was warranted. Agrippa probably used geomancy for the same purpose. We don’t know about Abano, but it is not a stretch to think he would have consulted a geomantic shield to check how his spellwork was doing.

In general, all forms of divination take the reality of magic for granted within the worldview that informs their language. After all, why would divination work, but not magic? ** This is true for playing cards as well. Here is an example.

Last year while the Sun was in Leo I was working on a Sun talisman. I’m not going to disclose the aim of the talisman. It was nothing untoward, but I’d rather keep it to myself. After the creation of the talisman I set out to consecrate it. The number of days varies.

On the first day, after the first consecration, I got the following spread:

A♠ – 6♣ – 5♠

Definitely a bad start. And I wouldn’t have expected anything less. The majority is Spades, which is bad for anything but black magic.

6♣ – 8♣ – 10♣

Second day of consecration. A mash of clubs is not positive. It shows difficulties and toil without success. Still, Spades have abandoned the spread, which is a positive.

6♣ – A♦ – 3♠

This is the third day. Close but no banana. It is still a negative spread. It has the Six of Clubs in common with the previous spread, and it closes with an unpromising Three of Spades, which bring Spades and large obstacles back into the equation. Note that this is the third day in a row I get the Six of Clubs. But the Ace of Diamonds has appeared, which indicates success, talismans and even the Sun.

A♦ – 9♦ – 10♦

Fourth day. This is the sign I was waiting for. The Ace of Diamonds is back. This time it is well-placed. The Nine of Diamonds and Ten of Diamonds together just mean “it works”, whether we are talking about an object, a business plan or a spell.

MQS

* This is not to say that the old magi wanted you to do your homeworks half-heartedly. Marsilio Ficino talks about the importance putting your heart in your spellwork.

** this would lead us off into an interesting discussion of all those that practice divination without believing it to actually work (“it’s just a brainstorming method” being the most common rationalization)

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

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 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