Observations about the Thoth Tarot
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@student2012 said
"The assumption I operate under is that the cards were received, not engineered by A.C."
No, that's wrong. That's not how it happened.
Crowley gave some rough notes to Harris. Harris painted pictures (and any real inspiration was hers). He asked her for corrections sometimes and to redo cards sometimes. Usually she did. He was grateful for the paintings.
It was an artistic-literary collaboration. She drew on his writings and her own artistry, he had (for the most part) editorial control.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@student2012 said
"The assumption I operate under is that the cards were received, not engineered by A.C."No, that's wrong. That's not how it happened.
Crowley gave some rough notes to Harris. Harris painted pictures (and any real inspiration was hers). He asked her for corrections sometimes and to redo cards sometimes. Usually she did. He was grateful for the paintings.
It was an artistic-literary collaboration. She drew on his writings and her own
artistry, he had (for the most part) editorial control."Hey Jim, ok fair enough.
Was there some magical operation in progress parallel to this collaboration?
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@Jim Eshelman said
"You're missing a third possibility: It's visually accurate, but the light is not (as the text suggests) from Chokmah."
I have considered this possibility but was not able to come to any satisfactory conclusions about it...love illuminating the subconscious?
616
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@student2012 said
"Was there some magical operation in progress parallel to this collaboration?"
Nothing in particular, no. The magick of writing letters back and forth...
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Another 'discovery', new to me anyway, and one I can share, once the card is alive on the astral, it is possible to project the consciousness of the operator into different parts of the card. Meaning that instead of you looking outside and into the card, your seat of consciousness is inside the card, looking around from that vantage point. An example is the Queen of Disks, placing it in the center in the cube on her wand. Another is the Prince of Disks, and the Princess of Disks. I place myself inside these 3D objects and look out from it to the rest of the card, or the world specified by it. Very interesting result.
It is possible to put the seat of consciousness into a figure as well, sort of an assumption of a godform in the card. An example of this is the Princess of Swords. When I did that I heard a booming voice in the aether, but I could not understand the words.
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@KRVB MMShCh said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"You're missing a third possibility: It's visually accurate, but the light is not (as the text suggests) from Chokmah."I have considered this possibility but was not able to come to any satisfactory conclusions about it...love illuminating the subconscious?
616"
Just some thoughts, not meant to be conclusive or definitive. The light is not from the fiery Sephira Chokhmah at the top of the pillar of force, but from the fiery Sephira Netzach at the base of that pillar. This path imprints Desire (Netzach) onto the the Subconscious in Yesod. What does the Emperor desire? Governance and good order. Where better to impose that than at a level below (normal) conscious access? How does he do that? Notice that the Emperor is turned away from the light. Notice also that he appears to be meditating. Finally, the light strikes his left (Lunar = Yesod) side.
Dan
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93 Tarot,
"Just some thoughts, not meant to be conclusive or definitive. The light is not from the fiery Sephira Chokmah at the top of the pillar of force, but from the fiery Sephira Netzach at the base of that pillar. This path imprints Desire (Netzach) onto the the Subconscious in Yesod. What does the Emperor desire? Governance and good order. Where better to impose that than at a level below (normal) conscious access? How does he do that? Notice that the Emperor is turned away from the light. Notice also that he appears to be meditating. Finally, the light strikes his left (Lunar = Yesod) side. "
AHA
Thank you for the insight Tarot, the Tzaddi/Heh switch just became crystal clear. 
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Somehow I thought of the Knight of Swords when I saw this sigil:
http://www.dreamlandgrid.com/images/knoght-swords.jpg
Interestingly, the sigil seems to be fractally generated like other Things We (Us) have seen.
The 'hat' that he wears is a compass with the four directions manifesting in gold letters.
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Gayatri yantra, Rajastan, XVIII century, gouache.
Found in Lithuanian translation: Upanišados - Audrius Beinorius, 2006
Translation source: Sri Sankaracaryagranthavali. Prathamo Bhagah: Isadidasopanisadah Sankarabhasyayuktah, ed. Sri Govinda Sastri (Dilli: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992)An inverted pentagram in a hexagram. What's that?
P.S. Maybe this should be a new topic? -
@Modes said
"Gayatri yantra, Rajastan, XVIII century, gouache.
Found in Lithuanian translation: Upanišados - Audrius Beinorius, 2006
Translation source: Sri Sankaracaryagranthavali. Prathamo Bhagah: Isadidasopanisadah Sankarabhasyayuktah, ed. Sri Govinda Sastri (Dilli: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992)An inverted pentagram in a hexagram. What's that?
P.S. Maybe this should be a new topic?"Just to clarify since there are a couple different Atu discussed on this thread, which one do you mean?
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@Modes said
"I mean the card with the hexagram and the inverted pentagram. Almost all say it should not be inverted."
Atu V has such a symbol. Harris describes it as:
"The pentagram with a point upwards and the dancing child shows that he has the heart of a child; in the reversed pentagram the meaning seems to suggest he has dominion through will; the final pentagram again points upwards, showing the acceptance of a governing cosmic law."
The confusing part is that the outermost symbol looks like a hexagram, but is actually a pentagram except the 2 lower points of the star never meet in the card, so it may look like a hexagram at first glance.
FYI the child in the small pentagram has a blue symbol on his left foot. Looks like it could be a cross or an Ankh if it is somehow worn on his ankle. The woman who I think is Venus with the sword, in her chest appear to be a few stacked disks or platters in 3D.
The following is not my own observation but interesting to add to the list:
"Three pentagrams, 15 points in all. 15 is the Devil of Tarot who is closely linked with the Thoth Hierophant - see Eliphas Levi's depiction of Baphomet. 15 is also related to Liber XV The Gnostic Mass. Crowley's main exoteric religious rite designed to replace the Catholic Mass. 15 = 6 (1+5) to form the hexagram and equal the numeration of the letter Vau which is attributed to this card.
The pentagram has 5 points . Three of them 5-5-5. In Roman numerals V V V. Then into Hebrew Vau Vau Vau = 666."Theres lots of other stuff in this card, it is full of symbolism. I bet there are some cool spells/formulae in there too. I am starting to see that some of these are alchemical in nature and may span multiple cards based on such correspondences.
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@gmugmble said
"The Thoth Companion by Michael Snuffin points out a lot of details, especially in the trump cards, that I would have otherwise missed. The definitive book on the Thoth tarot (the book that DuQuette's should have been but sadly wasn't) has yet to be written."
I've read bits of it -I have yet to buy it- but he does point out a lot, especially concerning the color schemes which usually escape me.
As regarding abraCadabra, he offers up that the C is emphasized to call attention to Cheth=Cheth+Yod+Tau=418, Abrahadabra as a whole. Whether you think that was Crowley or Harris' intention, I think that's a very interesting proposition.
On the subject of possible *mistakes * in the Thoth... the Hanged Man's feet look to me like they are swapped, left foot for right foot, as well as the monkey's paw in the Magician card
Maybe that's just me...Also the card's outline shows a Hebrew letter on the left bottom and astrological sign on the right bottom, but why is this order switched for the magus card? Is that just editorial carelessness? One of the extra 2 magus cards (the smaller deck has 2 previous attempts at the magus card) does reverse it to the "normal" pattern, so that Beth is on the left side.
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Very interesting observations Escarabajo.
"the Hanged Man's feet look to me like they are swapped, left foot for right foot"
Thats a great observation. Also he seems to be wearing a helmet or there is a bubble around his head.
I had similiar thoughts around the C but have not worked out the figures yet. On the Magus card, I also noticed the switch of the symbols while making my own cards, just out of the blank side of index cards with the key correspondences. They are used as flash cards to identify each astrological, Hebrew letter, value, etc, I find it is easier to learn these fundamentals without the distraction of the art. Very soon I plan to trim my deck, so those things on the border wont matter anyway. I can vibrate the cards better without the border (if anyone has done this or has any advice about how to trim the deck without butchering it would be good to hear it). I'm not sure if the switch in position means anything.
Another thing about the Magician I recently noticed is the 11 in his crown, with lightning going down each one vertically.
http://www.dreamlandgrid.com/pompeii-11.jpg
(yes this is the part where I refer you to the first post disclaimer, batsh*t crazy, etc)Another of interest is 3 of disks, Works. It seems as if many of these cards are blueprints for energy patterns, patterns of force, or blueprints for creating an energy system or configuration. This one has the triangle, fundamental shape of force as explained in A Note on Genesis and elsewhere. The alchemical attributions appear to be mercury, sulpher, silver. There is a small arrow pointing downward (or is it pointing up...hmmm) from the top sphere (mercury). This is in other cards too such as 6 of Swords, Science. The arrows point to intersecting lines which contain symbols and sigils when pulled out and connected.
And because 3 of Disks is in Mars, or maybe for ne reason at all,
http://www.dreamlandgrid.com/teds_fort.gif