Tzaddi is not the Star

Jim Eshelman

Got it!

Modest

@Jim Eshelman said

"
No. See above. The loop is done by plotting the Hebrew letters and the Tarot card numbers. You're confusing yourself by introducing the zodiac to it."

You are mistaken. You're confusing yourself by NOT introducing the zodiac to it. Try to read threefold31 posts again if you didn't understand. I will quote Crowley:

@The New Comment (c. 1921) chap. 1 line 57 said

"
Tzaddi is the letter of The Emperor, the Trump IV, and He is the Star, the Trump XVII. Aquarius and Aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of Pisces, just as, in the Trumps VIII and XI, Leo and Libra do about Virgo. This last revelation makes our Tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical."

@Book of Thoth, page 10 said

"For "The Star" is referred to Aquarius in the Zodiac, and "The Emperor' to Aries. Now Aries and Aquarius are on each side of Pisces, just as Leo and Libra are on each side of Virgo; that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."

@Book of Thoth, page 11 diagram said

"The Double Loop in the Zodiac"

EDIT:
Book of Thoth, page 279, The Tarot of Egyptians. It is written 11 Teth/Leo Lust, 8 Lamed/Libra Adjustment, 4 Tzaddi/Aquarius The Emperor, 17 He/Aries The Star. As I see it is in the book so official in the OTO.
End EDIT.

Now, the goodies:

This image shows how the GD Tarot number order is the MODIFIED Marseille's Tarot order to make the zodiac round assuming that Strength is Leo and Justice is Libra.

This image shows that Crowley's Tarot leaves the Marseille's Tarot number order intact but ONE loop forms in the zodiac if we assume that Strength is Leo and Justice is Libra.

This image shows Crowley's Tarot DOUBLE loop in the zodiac in order to solve the "Tzaddi is not The Star" and make the zodiac symmetrical.
Therefore Teth is Leo Strength, Lamed is Libra Justice, Tzaddi is Aquarius The Emperor, He is Aries The Star. There are only two ways to get the zodiac in symmetry assuming that Strength is Leo and Justice is Libra. Either GD or Crowley. Crowley follows the tradition of Marseille's Tarot number sequence and GD doesn't follow any tradition - it's their invention.

Avshalom Binyamin

You're using the Trump number correspondence in one pair to argue the Hebrew and Zodiac correspondences in the other pair.

The only thing that got switched (in the sense that the original order of the Major Arcana isn't in aleph-beth-ical order) between Lust and Justice was the trump number (8 and 11). Strength/Lust was always Leo, and Justice was always Libra.

The argument your images make is that if you wanted to be perfectly symmetrical, you would do the same for the Emperor and the Star, so the Emperor would remain Heh, Aquarius and the Star would remain Tzaddi, Aries. You would just switch the 4 and 17.

But that doesn't help with the whole "Tzaddi is not the Star".

So, if you switch Tzaddi/Star and Heh/Emperor, but leave the zodiac, like you do, you have Tzaddi/Aquarius/Emperor and Heh/Aries/Star.

Then, by your logic, we'd have to be symmetrical, and do the same with Strength/Leo and Justice/Libra.

So now we have Strength/Libra/Lamed and Justice/Leo/Teth.

In short, you're over-complicating it.

Modest

To make things crystal clear. The zodiac-hebrew letter attribution is form Sepher Yetzirah (Chapter 4) and is centuries old so far I know. Both Golden Dawn and Crowley use the Sepher Yetzirah zodiac attributions, the French Martinists do the same. In Sepher Yetzirah (Chapter 4) the attributions are Teth/Leo, Lamed/Libra, Tzaddi/Aquarius, He/Aries. To brake those attributions in a disorganized way would be not acceptable by anyone. There are NO LOOPS in Sepher Yetzirah zodiac-letter attributions.THE LOOPS are in zodiac to Marseille's Tarot roman number sequence attributions (see pic 2, pic 3) as Crowley stated himself(quotes included in the post before).

@Jim Eshelman said

"What makes this confusing is that the Teth-Lamed issue was never out of whack (until Waite "broke" it)."

Waite didn't brake it. It was already broken in Book T. Don't blame Waistcoat.
Golden Dawn (or Waite) and Crowley differ in the way they solve the problem to achieve symmetry in the zodiac. Golden Dawn does MODIFY Marseille's Tarot roman number sequence (pic 1) - Crowley does NOT (pic 2, pic 3). But they both use the same Sepher Yetzirah attributions to fix that. Why Crowley kicked GD ass? Because he didn't brake the Marseille's Tarot roman number sequence attributions (in use since 1650) and achieved a kind of symmetry of the zodiac - that's all. Solving "Tzaddi is not The Star" is a by-product.

@Avshalom Binyamin said

"So now we have Strength/Libra/Lamed and Justice/Leo/Teth."

No, look again at pic 3 = the same as Book of Thoth, page 279, the Columns under the name The Tarot of Egyptians. It is written that 11 Teth/Leo Lust, 8 Lamed/Libra Adjustment, 4 Tzaddi/Aquarius The Emperor, 17 He/Aries The Star. As I see it is in the book so official in the OTO. Is it clear now Avshalom Binyamin? If not, you can get The Book of Thoth online and look for yourself at the page.

Jim Eshelman

@Modes said

"Both Golden Dawn and Crowley use the Sepher Yetzirah zodiac attributions, the French Martinists do the same. In Sepher Yetzirah (Chapter 4) the attributions are Teth/Leo, Lamed/Libra, Tzaddi/Aquarius, He/Aries."

No, you don't have that right. Crowley's post-CCXX form is Tzaddi=Aries, Heh=Aquarius. The final result is:

IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aries
XVII Star = Heh = Aquarius

"To brake those attributions in a disorganized way would be not acceptable by anyone."

Wrong. The letter-to-sign attributions are what was originally wrong. Sepher Yetzirah was either wrong or blinded in this regard.

"
@Avshalom Binyamin said
"So now we have Strength/Libra/Lamed and Justice/Leo/Teth."

No, look again at pic 3 = the same as Book of Thoth, page 279, the Columns under the name The Tarot of Egyptians. It is written that 11 Teth/Leo Lust, 8 Lamed/Libra Adjustment, 4 Tzaddi/Aquarius The Emperor, 17 He/Aries The Star."

Those are errors in the table, which was malformed. (That's perhaps what's misleading and confusing you through all of this.) Read, instead, the textual sections on The Star and The Emperor earlier in the book, and you will see that he persisted in Emperor = Aries and Star = Aquarius, which are pretty basic to the natures of the cards.

Modest

@Jim Eshelman said

"No, you don't have that right. Crowley's post-CCXX form is Tzaddi=Aries, Heh=Aquarius. The final result is:

IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aries
XVII Star = Heh = Aquarius"

@Jim Eshelman said

"The letter-to-sign attributions are what was originally wrong. Sepher Yetzirah was either wrong or blinded in this regard."

Crowley's post-CCXX New Comment:

@The New Comment (c. 1921) chap. 1 line 57 said

"
Tzaddi is the letter of The Emperor, the Trump IV, and He is the Star, the Trump XVII. Aquarius and Aries are therefore counterchanged."

Original:
IV Emperor = Heh = Aries
XVII Star = Tzaddi = Aquarius
Counterchanged:
IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aquarius
XVII Star = Heh = Aries

What don't you understand about the word "counterchanged"? So now we have that the Sepher Yetzirah is a blind, and Crowley's post-CCXX New Comment is a blind too? So Book of Thoth, page 10 is a blind too?

@Jim Eshelman said

"Read, instead, the textual sections on The Star and The Emperor earlier in the book, and you will see that he persisted in Emperor = Aries and Star = Aquarius, which are pretty basic to the natures of the cards."

I have read the book. The textual sections on The Star and The Emperor are a blind. They can't prove the double loop in the zodiac-number perfect symmetry as the Crowley's post-CCXX New Comment does and Book of Thoth, page 10 which is almost a copy-paste of the New Comment.

Jim, can you show me a double loop in the zodiac and numbers "sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical" with the IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aries, XVII Star = Heh = Aquarius? Book of Thoth, page 11 diagram is NOT "sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical" as anyone who can count sees. If you wan't to see perfect symmetry in diagram form look at my pic 3 or see Book of Thoth, page 279, the Columns under the name The Tarot of Egyptians for the text.
Jim, do you understand why the loop in the zodiac formed in the first place? And why in GD Tarot there is no loop?

Jim Eshelman

No, you''ve got it exactly backwards. But I'm going to stop arguing with you. I've had my say two or three times already, and don't have time to keep repeating myself.

@Modes said

"Jim, can you show me a double loop in the zodiac and numbers "sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical" with the IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aries, XVII Star = Heh = Aquarius?"

No, and you're just being rhetorical - I've already stated (and you've quoted) "The loop is done by plotting the Hebrew letters and the Tarot card numbers. You're confusing yourself by introducing the zodiac to it."

"Jim, do you understand why the loop in the zodiac formed in the first place? And why in GD Tarot there is no loop?"

Yes to both. In the first case, as stated in The Zohar, the meaning of Tzaddi needed to be blinded until a later time. The creators of Tarot appear to have been quite aware that the vernal equinox had shifted back into Pisces, and therefore created Tarot with the zodiacal elements on the Virgo-Pisces axis. The original was created, therefore, to show this in the design and yet mask the real characteristics of Tzaddi.

As for the GD, I don't have time to write another essay on it (it would take an essay), but the long and short of it is: The apparent discrepancy was already hinted at in the cipher manuscripts on which G.D. was founded, but they settled into the Marseille model of numeration probably as the path of least resistance. Waite and Case both took one path to reconcilling the seeming discrepancy, but their path actually made things worse (adding two pairs or errors instead of one). Liber L. pointed to the real issue.

I can see why you are confused about this - Crowley, for years, was sorting the thing out gradually and then was ambivalent about whether to communicate it. Book of Thoth had numerous small errors (bad proof-reading, illustrations inverted by the printer, tables that never got proofed properly - he may actually have been sincere when he said the whole thing was dashed off). But he seems not to have been overly concerned about this sort of thing where this issue was concerned, since Liber L. indicated he would only "reveal it to the wise."

Modest

@Aleister Crowley said

"The New Comment to CCXX
Aquarius and Aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of Pisces, just as, in the Trumps VIII and XI, Leo and Libra do about Virgo."

"Book of Thoth page 11 diagram "The Double Loop in the Zodiac".
[www.cornelius93.com/Zodiac_Belt_5.JPG]"

Crowley clearly writes and draws in his books about a zodiac- tarot number loop and you clearly talk about a letter- tarot number loop. Okay, I go home and have a banana. Thank you, Jim, making the effort to discuss this issue. Now, your oppinion is clear to me.

@Jim Eshelman said

"The loop is done by plotting the Hebrew letters and the Tarot card numbers. You're confusing yourself by introducing the zodiac to it."

@Jim Eshelman said

"The letter-to-sign attributions are what was originally wrong. Sepher Yetzirah was either wrong or blinded in this regard."

Modest

Got back from my banana break. So crystal clear you state that the letter-number loop is perfectly symmetrical with:
IV Emperor = Tzaddi = Aries
XVII Star = Heh = Aquarius
Yes, it is! BUT is the zodiac-number loop perfectly symmetrical with these attributions? No, it isn't (see my pic 2)! Don't you see a problem with that, Jim?

Crowley surely does:

"The New Comment (c. 1921) chap. 1 line 57:
This last revelation makes our Tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical."

Jim Eshelman

The problem I see is that Crowley was screwd up in his description. It happens.

It's probably just a language issue. The flip of the numbers gives the loop which then (off-diagram) causes the zodiac flip to be perfectly symmetrical. All he meant by "perfectly symmetrical" is that Aries-Aquarius gets flipped against the numbers just as Leo-Libra was already flipped.

Modest

A comment to the New Comment by Modest
"The New Comment (c. 1921) chap. 1 line 57"
“Tzaddi is the letter of The Emperor, the Trump IV, and He is the Star, the Trump XVII.”
The double loop in Hebrew letters – Marseille's/Crowley's Thoth Tarot Trump numbers.
“Aquarius and Aries are therefore counterchanged, revolving on the pivot of Pisces, just as, in the Trumps VIII and XI, Leo and Libra do about Virgo.”
The double loop in Zodiac – Marseille's/Crowley's Thoth Tarot Trump numbers.
“This last revelation makes our Tarot attributions sublimely, perfectly, flawlessly symmetrical.”
There is no other way to make ALL the Tarot attributions symmetrical using Marseille's/Crowley's Thoth Tarot Trump number sequence.

Trump IV The Emperor Tzaddi Aquarius
Trump XVII The Star He Aries

So, Jim, you're right that Crowley wrote about the double loop in Hebrew letters – Marseille's/Crowley's Thoth Tarot Trump numbers. See first sentence of the New Comment.

@Jim Eshelman said

"The flip of the numbers gives the loop which then (off-diagram) causes the zodiac flip to be perfectly symmetrical."

By this quote I understand that you know about The double loop in Zodiac – Marseille's/Crowley's Thoth Tarot Trump numbers. See the second sentence of the New Comment.

So can you draw a diagram with Trump IV The Emperor Tzaddi Aries, Trump XVII The Star He Aquarius "which then (off-diagram) causes the zodiac flip to be perfectly symmetrical."? Please do if you write about it. How do you make with these attributions a perfectly symmetrical zodiac - trump numbers. I get only non symmetrical see my pic 2 - single loop in the zodiac-trump numbers. I would be happy to see how you do it.

Jim Eshelman

@Modes said

"So can you draw a diagram with Trump IV The Emperor Tzaddi Aries, Trump XVII The Star He Aquarius "which then (off-diagram) causes the zodiac flip to be perfectly symmetrical."? Please do if you write about it. How do you make with these attributions a perfectly symmetrical zodiac - trump numbers. I get only non symmetrical see my pic 2 - single loop in the zodiac-trump numbers. I would be happy to see how you do it. "

Already answered:

@Jim Eshelman said

"No. See above. The loop is done by plotting the Hebrew letters and the Tarot card numbers. You're confusing yourself by introducing the zodiac to it."

By "off-diagram" I literally mean that the zodiac issue is not on the diagram. It's a consequence of what IS in the diagram but is, itself, not on the diagram.

Draw the loop like on the bottom of page 11 of The Book of Thoth (essentially a long horizontal oval with a loop at each end). Starting at the bottom of the left loop (bottom of the circle on the left end), and following the cross-over line of the loop, write the Hebrew simple letters in order: Heh (bottom of left), Vav, Zayin, Cheth (arching across the top), Teth (bottom of the right circle), Yod (right side of right circle), Lamed (top of right circle), Nun, Samekh, A'ayin (acros the bottom edge), Tzaddi (top of left circle), Qoph (left side of left circle).

Next, starting in the same place and goiung *around the outside *of this, not looping but circling the outside of the whole thing, put the Trump numbers: 4, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

This matches up the following of Trump number vs. zodiac:

4 - Tzaddi
5 - Vav
6 - Zayin
7 - Cheth
8 - Lamed
9 - Yod
11 - Teth
13 - Nun
14 - Samekh
15 - A'ayin
17 - Heh
18 - Qoph

There is no need to screw with the zodiacal attributions to the cards, ony with the way that the cards (reflected in their numbers) correspond to the Hebrew letters. (The astrological attributions are off-diagram - this loop diagram has nothing to do with them.) Your wish for a zodiacal-number flip is exactly what I've said from the beginning isn't here. It's a trump number - Hebrew letter flip.

The result is that Aries (Trump 4, The Emperor) and Aquarius (Trump 17, The Star) loop around to highlight Pisces (Trump 18,The Moon), just as Libra (Trump 8, Adjustment) and Leo (Trump 11, Lust) loop around to highlight Virgo (Trump 9, The Hermit). Since this was conceived about the time the equinoctial points had reached the centers of Pisces and Virgo, I find it fascinating that this highlights a Pisces-Virgo horizontal axis and places Gemini at the highest declination and Samekh at the lowest - which was astronomically correct.

Jim Eshelman

Rather than starting in the middle, let's roll this back to the poiont where a problem was detected. It makes this looping less loopy.

The Golden Dawn received tradition, which both Crowley and Waite learned (and Case encountered when he joined the A&O after his initial Tarot investigations and writings) attributed the 12 zodiacal signs and their Tarot cards to the 12 Hebrew simple lettes as follows:

4 Emperor, Aries: Heh
5 Hierophant, Taurus: Vav
6 Lovers, Gemini: Zayin
7 Chariot, Cancer: Cheth
8 Justice, Libra: Lamed
9 Hermit, Virgo: Yod
11 Strength, Leo: Teth
13 Death, Scorpio: Nun
14 Temperance, Sagittarius: Samekh
15 Devil, Capricorn: A'ayin
17 Star, Aquarius: Tzaddi
18 Moon, Pisces: Qoph

Mostly it's a nice, orderly, consistent pattern - you could draw it on a circle and everything would line up right except - WAIT, OOPS - there's something wrong here: 8 and 11 are out of sequence.

Waite and Case resolved this by concluding that the number assignments to 8 and 11 were wrong. They each swapped these. To them: Problem solved.

But Crowley, having been told by Aiwass that Tzaddi is not The Star, approached the problem differently. Starting from the above list, he eventually uncovered that the seeming 8/11 problem was really not a problem at all - it was the solution! And that, with Leo and Libra card numbers seemingly screwed up against the whole pattern, and the problem before him to solve was the Aquarius card... the solution was that Aquarius and Aries were behaving just like Leo and Libra! This was symmetrical. And to bring it into alignment, since it was the Hebrew letter attribution of The Star that was being challenged, the solution was to swap the Hebrew letter assignments of those two cards, resulting in this table:

4 Emperor, Aries: Tzaddi
5 Hierophant, Taurus: Vav
6 Lovers, Gemini: Zayin
7 Chariot, Cancer: Cheth
8 Justice, Libra: Lamed
9 Hermit, Virgo: Yod
11 Strength, Leo: Teth
13 Death, Scorpio: Nun
14 Temperance, Sagittarius: Samekh
15 Devil, Capricorn: A'ayin
17 Star, Aquarius: Heh
18 Moon, Pisces: Qoph

No other change was needed. Many long-standing collateral problems were resolved by this one change. Putting it in Hebrew letter order, we get:

17 Star, Aquarius: Heh
5 Hierophant, Taurus: Vav
6 Lovers, Gemini: Zayin
7 Chariot, Cancer: Cheth
11 Strength, Leo: Teth
9 Hermit, Virgo: Yod
8 Justice, Libra: Lamed
13 Death, Scorpio: Nun
14 Temperance, Sagittarius: Samekh
15 Devil, Capricorn: A'ayin
4 Emperor, Aries: Tzaddi
18 Moon, Pisces: Qoph

What is flipped (when the Hebrew letters are set in motion) are the numbers assigned to two pairs of cards. Therefore, it is the numbers against the letters that resolve the whole puzzle. The card names and zodiacal signs simply ride along with the trump numbers, which serve as the sequencing key.

Heru

@Jim Eshelman said

"What is flipped (when the Hebrew letters are set in motion) are the numbers assigned to two pairs of cards. Therefore, it is the numbers against the letters that resolve the whole puzzle. The card names and zodiacal signs simply ride along with the trump numbers, which serve as the sequencing key."

So how is the double loop in the zodiac formed? In both of the lists you give there is only one loop in the zodiac. If you use the Hebrew alphabet as your sequencing key then Aquarius and Aries are looped but Leo and Libra are in their natural zodiac order. Likewise if you use the Tarot numeral sequence then Aries and Aquarius are in their usual zodiac order but Leo and Libra are flipped. So how did Crowley manage to get two loops in the zodiac at the same time?

Hebrew Alphabet sequence.

17 Star, Aquarius: Heh [Aquarius out of sequence]
5 Hierophant, Taurus: Vav
6 Lovers, Gemini: Zayin
7 Chariot, Cancer: Cheth
11 Strength, Leo: Teth [Leo in normal zodiac position]
9 Hermit, Virgo: Yod
8 Justice, Libra: Lamed [Libra in normal zodiac position]
13 Death, Scorpio: Nun
14 Temperance, Sagittarius: Samekh
15 Devil, Capricorn: A'ayin
4 Emperor, Aries: Tzaddi [Aries out of sequence]
18 Moon, Pisces: Qoph

Roman Numeral sequence.

4 Emperor, Aries: Tzaddi [Aries in normal zodiac position]
5 Hierophant, Taurus: Vav
6 Lovers, Gemini: Zayin
7 Chariot, Cancer: Cheth
8 Justice, Libra: Lamed [Libra out of sequence]
9 Hermit, Virgo: Yod
11 Strength, Leo: Teth [Leo out of sequence]
13 Death, Scorpio: Nun
14 Temperance, Sagittarius: Samekh
15 Devil, Capricorn: A'ayin
17 Star, Aquarius: Heh [Aquarius in normal zodiac position]
18 Moon, Pisces: Qoph

Modest

@Jim Eshelman said

"This matches up the following of Trump number vs. zodiac:
4 - Tzaddi
5 - Vav
6 - Zayin
7 - Cheth
8 - Lamed
9 - Yod
11 - Teth
13 - Nun
14 - Samekh
15 - A'ayin
17 - Heh
18 - Qoph

The result is that Aries (Trump 4, The Emperor) and Aquarius (Trump 17, The Star) loop around to highlight Pisces (Trump 18,The Moon), just as Libra (Trump 8, Adjustment) and Leo (Trump 11, Lust) loop around to highlight Virgo (Trump 9, The Hermit). Since this was conceived about the time the equinoctial points had reached the centers of Pisces and Virgo, I find it fascinating that this highlights a Pisces-Virgo horizontal axis and places Gemini at the highest declination and Samekh at the lowest - which was astronomically correct."

Here's the picture in accord with your instructions:

Your diagram doesn't meet the requirements set in Book of Thoth:

@Book of Thoth page 11 said

"that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."

You form the zodiac loops but they don't correspond to each other so there is no perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution.
Okay, I have drawn the diagram your way, now you draw the diagram Crowley's Book of Thoth way:

Make a double loop in the zodiac as in Book of Thoth diagram 11 or your own diagram.
Next, starting at Aquarius, next Taurus... and going around the outside of this, not looping but circling the outside of the whole thing, put the Trump numbers: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

This meets the requirements set in Book of Thoth:

@Book of Thoth page 11 said

"that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."

@Jim Eshelman said

"Rather than starting in the middle, let's roll this back to the poiont where a problem was detected. It makes this looping less loopy."

Okay.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Waite and Case resolved this by concluding that the number assignments to 8 and 11 were wrong. They each swapped these. To them: Problem solved."

Don't forget to mention that in doing so they didn't brake the vital Sepher Yetzirah zodiac-hebrew letter attributions to the Tarot.

@Jim Eshelman said

"But Crowley, having been told by Aiwass that Tzaddi is not The Star, approached the problem differently. Starting from the above list, he eventually uncovered that the seeming 8/11 problem was really not a problem at all - it was the solution! And that, with Leo and Libra card numbers seemingly screwed up against the whole pattern, and the problem before him to solve was the Aquarius card... the solution was that Aquarius and Aries were behaving just like Leo and Libra! This was symmetrical."

See commented at the beggining of my post. But I quote Crowley again:
Book of Thoth page 10-11
"He tried for years to counter-change this card, "The Star", which is numbered XVII, with some other."
Crowley tried to counterchange the trumps - NOT the hebrew letters or ANYTHING else.
"Tzaddi is "The Emperor"; and therefore the positions of XVII and IV must be counterchanged."
Crowley counterchanged the trumps XVII and IV - NOT the hebrew letters or ANYTHING else.

But it is the same as:

"that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."
The double loop in the zodiac. In doing so he didn't brake the Sepher Yetzirah zodiac-hebrew letter attributions as well as Waite and Case.

@Jim Eshelman said

"And to bring it into alignment, since it was the Hebrew letter attribution of The Star that was being challenged, the solution was to swap the Hebrew letter assignments of those two cards, resulting in this table:"

And why do you think that Crowley would brake the vital Sepher Yetzirah zodiac-hebrew letter attributions to the Tarot when Case and Waite wouldn't? Couldn't it be that you are wrong?

@Jim Eshelman said

"The card names and zodiacal signs simply ride along with the trump numbers, which serve as the sequencing key."

The zodiacal signs rode always all along hebrew letters as the attributions came from Sepher Yetzirah. They never were attributed to trump numbers directly but as a hebrew letter-zodiac pack so how can they ride them? But oh, you say Sepher Yetzirah is a blind.

Modest

@Her said

"So how is the double loop in the zodiac formed?"

Hi, Heru, if you haven't read Jim says there is no double loop in the zodiac-Trump number.

@Jim Eshelman said

"Your wish for a zodiacal-number flip is exactly what I've said from the beginning isn't here. It's a trump number - Hebrew letter flip. "

He thinks the zodiac-trump number loops form his own deduced way (See his last two posts). But this quote proves, I believe, how to do the double loop in the zodiac and it is not the way Jim does it:

@Book of Thoth page 11 said

"that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."

Make a double loop in the zodiac as in Book of Thoth diagram 11 or your own diagram.
Next, starting at Aquarius, next Taurus... and going around the outside of this, not looping but circling the outside of the whole thing, put the Trump numbers: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,13, 14, 15, 17, 18.

This is my conclusion, if you want to read Jim's and how he forms the loops read his last two posts.

Oh, and you can do THE SAME thing but this time by looping the Trump numbers in accord with other citations:

@Book of Thoth page 10-11 said

""He tried for years to counter-change this card, "The Star", which is numbered XVII, with some other.""Tzaddi is "The Emperor"; and therefore the positions of XVII and IV must be counterchanged.""

And you don't have to brake the Sepher Yetzirah hebrew letter-zodiac attributions.

Heru

@Modes said

"He thinks the zodiac-trump number loops form his own deduced way (See his last two posts)."

I've followed Jim's diagram drawing instructions to the letter. I came up with the same result you did here.
https://s13.postimage.org/zb4phkamr/jims_circle.jpg

Obviously it does not match the one in the Book of Thoth.

Avshalom Binyamin

Actually, Jim's method matches both the diagram and the text of the Book of Thoth.

The diagram that looks exactly like Jim's, and the ones you two made, is labelled "The Double Loop in the Zodiac"

The text also makes it very clear that the Emperor is Aries.

"The card which must be exchanged for "The Star" is "The Emperor", who bears the number IV, which signifies Power, Authority, Law, and is attributed to the sign Aries. This proves very satisfactory. But it became infinitely more so as soon as it was seen that this substitution cleared up the other mystery about Strength and Justice."

The only way around this is to simultaneously cite the Book of Thoth, and insist that both the text and the diagram are blinds.

The answer is much simpler: "The Double Loop in the Zodiac" means what matches the diagram and the text, not what you've decided it must mean.

Heru

@Avshalom Binyamin said

"The diagram that looks exactly like Jim's, and the ones you two made, is labelled "The Double Loop in the Zodiac""

With all due respect I think you need to take another look at the diagram and closely compare it to the one printed in the Book of Thoth. This time ignore the left hand loop. Do you see the glaring disparity?

@Avshalom Binyamin said

"The answer is much simpler: "The Double Loop in the Zodiac" means what matches the diagram and the text, not what you've decided it must mean."

Actually I haven't decided it must mean anything. I've simply followed the step-by-step procedure outlined by Jim (3 times) and come up with something that does not match the diagram printed in the Book of Thoth. The only part that does match up is the left hand loop. Everything else is inverted.

Avshalom Binyamin

Yes, you're right, my mistake... the diagrams do not look exactly the same. Except for the left hand loop, Crowley's goes counter-clockwise, and Jim's instructions go clockwise.

Crowley's was done by mapping the Zodiac to the double loop, and then assigning Trump numbers. Jim's is done by mapping Hebrew letters to the double loop, and then assigning Trump numbers. So, visually, they don't match up.

However, in terms of attributions they are harmonious. Crowley's diagram does not have the Hebrew letters assigned, but has Aries as the Emperor, and Aquarius as the Star. To match Crowley's diagram, either you assign Tzaddi to Aquarius and the Star, or you assign it to Aries and the Emperor. Based on the text, and the Liber Al quote, obviously Tzaddi is the Emperor and Aries.

Modest's solution does not match the attributions in Crowley's diagram, or the text.