March 2 - 4, 2012: 8 of Swords

Al-Shariyf

INTERFERENCE
(Previously called, “Shortened Force.”)
Eight of Swords

Meditation Pattern: Place Atu X, Fortune, and Atu VI, The Lovers, side-by-side, with the 8 of Swords above them.

Traditional Description: Four pairs of swords, points upwards, emanate (two pairs each) from the bottom corners of the figure. All their points touch near the top of the card. Above and below are the Decanate symbols of Jupiter and Mercury.

Hod of Air: Unexpected interference or bad luck. Indecision. Lack of persistence in matters of intellect, contest, or effort. Constraint of mental faculties, possibly through overdoing it; “over-trained,” “overqualified,” “misses the forest for the trees.” Narrow, restricted, petty. Controlling by use of intellect.

Jupiter/Gemini: Too much force applied to small things; attention wasted on detail, at the expense of the principal and more important points; obfuscation. If ill-dignified, these qualities produce malice, pettiness, and domineering characteristics. Patience in detail of study; great care in some things, counterbalanced by equal disorder in others. Impulsive; equally fond of giving or receiving money or gifts; generous, clever, acute, selfish, and without strong feeling of affection. Admires wisdom, yet applies it to small and unworthy objects. Versatile (or distractible); obliging (or overly conciliatory); well-mannered (when this may not be warranted); avoidant; carefree (or superficial).

Mercury + Jupiter: Intellectual; but frivolous, mischievous, unable to focus or concentrate, absent-minded, autistic. If well-dignified: may indicate common sense, a gift for speech, ease of learning, resourcefulness

http://pturing.firehead.org/occult/thelema/libri/The Book of Thoth/thoth/swords08.jpg

Jim Eshelman

This one is sooooo different from the last one in appearance!

[attachment=0:2awlgn5z]Swords 8.jpg[/attachment:2awlgn5z]

Al-Shariyf

The colors don't blend and mix well like they did with the 7 of swords.

They seem to be at odds. They're darker and they clash. The "texture" (for lack of a better term) is "coarse" and "hard" and there's ALOT going on. It's almost like looking at someone wearing an outfit with too many colors that don't even match!

Jim Eshelman

@Dar es Alrah said

"
"Mercury + Jupiter: Intellectual; but frivolous, mischievous, unable to focus or concentrate, absent-minded, autistic"

Autistic people usually have excellent focus and concentration. The use of the term here is pejorative and inaccurate, and I request it is removed."

True. The word wasn't used here in the medical sense, though, but in the more literal meaning of "self-istic," i.e., self-absorbed, viewing everything as if oneself is the only thing that matters in the universe.

I've never been sure that using this word as a diagnostic label is any more accurate than using "hysteria" (literally "uterus behavior") for "conversion disorder;" but I do tend to 'autistic' in its non-medical sense because there isn't another word that quite captures the flavor. "Selfish" and "self-absorbed" just don't do it.

Jim Eshelman

I'm not referencing the autistic neurotype at all. The medical terminology is newer than the basic meaning of the word, not a pejorative added after the fact. The psychiatric term only dates back to 1912.

Literally and etymologically (which are generally the same thing), autism means selfism. Depending on the dictionary, its basic meaning is something like "characterized by abnormal subjectivity" (that's from American Heritage) or "a tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires" (that's the more lax dictionary.com).

Takamba

@Jim Eshelman said

"I'm not referencing the autistic neurotype at all. The medical terminology is newer than the basic meaning of the word, not a pejorative added after the fact. The psychiatric term only dates back to 1912.

Literally and etymologically (which are generally the same thing), autism means selfism. Depending on the dictionary, its basic meaning is something like "characterized by abnormal subjectivity" (that's from American Heritage) or "a tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires" (that's the more lax dictionary.com)."

Then I have an autistic philosophy and am in no way ashamed of it.