The Shamanic Tarot.
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My suggestion for the Magician card is The Spider
When using my own deck I normally include the 'eight-armed' Magician card as opposed to the 'standard.'Mother Spider, who created the Word, that We might Speak to You
It kind of sets the stage for how Shamanism can be different from Magick as a whole.
The Magician, for one is represented by a Feminine entity ;
Yet, it is a creature whose gender is not immediately present to an unfamiliar observer. -
Very interesting, Universe.
However, as aspiring adepts, we might put forth supreme effort to remember that every act, word, deed, and occurrence is an act of magick. (Vis Magick INAPractice.)
In fact, sympathy is the original act of Magic(k), and sympathy is the aligning the self with something else, eventually the all -- the whole of shamanism.
If we forget this fact, we may fall prey to weak ones dressed in royal attire, trying to convince us that one form of Yoga is spiritually superior to another -- or that performing Liber Resh an hour early each day gives you power over time somehow.
The worse mistake one of us can make is to accept in pious notions of our work. As soon as the demon "I am better" enters our thoughts, and is not immediately banished and quickly forgotten, then this is as soon as the weak ones gain a strong tentacle of power over us. (Now I'm thinking "mmmmmmm... squid. So hungry.)
I would once like to go to a Christian church that serves sushi or octopus as the eucharist. I wouldn't eat it, it being an animal product, but it would be great to see some seventy-year-old lady scarfing down squid with half a tentacle protruding from her mouth, ... kinda wriggling.
Happy Birthday!
-Frosty the Snowman
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I might say you have picked up on some of the more subtle meanings to the story.
As it is said how man was gifted language by Mother Spider.
And that is one of the 'morals.'
A thing people often see as 'below us' or are afraid of has given us one of the greatest of gifts.Were I to create my own Tarot deck I might set The Spider as 1, with the final card being The Web.
Peering deeper into the symbolism of The Spider:
Its body, of two spheroid volumetric entities, is reminiscent of the lemiscule and brings to mind the infinite.
They are also the two eyes the peer outward, inward, however it may be towards that infinite.
The eight limbs extending from the two centers are akin to the eight limbs of Yoga.
When the legs are divided into two groups:
The left four legs represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac.
The right four legs represent the four letters of Tetragrammaton.There is then the intoxication, the drunkenness of the Words expression ( to keep with the original motif).
EDIT:
I admit the personal significance of The Spider and that it is more representative of Native-American Shamanism than Shamanism as a whole. -
In the AnimalWise deck, that I had mentioned
Mother Spider is Atu II, The Priestess
While yhey have eight eyes, they dont see well-dont trust what you see, trust what you feel, their legs are super sensitive.And Brother Fox is the Magician, Atu I
Foxes live at the edges of forests and fields, they are the keepers of magic, healing, shapeshifting and invisibility. -
Universe...
Language, as you were commenting on, is tied directly to Mercury as it's written manifestation. This is attributed to the four 8's in Tarot, and with drugs, Peyote, (visual language, we've talked about recently,) and Cannabis, (something that unties the kinks in language, verbal or written, and something that allows one to delve deeper into the meaning of such language whilst attaining to the higher, spiritually "lighter", side of it.
I must say, this thread has turned very interesting all of a sudden. Let's go through with this, my fellow students of Light. This may end up unlocking some secrets and we may all end up branded "True Heirs" of the Beast!
-or-, I could torture myself with another experiment this week. Please don't make me do this. If I get too bored, I will.
-Frosty (What's that red straw doing in that pile of sugar in this picture?)93
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Hm.
At first, I was thinking the Hermit might be a good choice for Fox.
Upon a deeper investigation, Art seems a better fit.The Magic and Invisibility of Fox has a great deal to do with blending in, going unnoticed.
Giving Fox an aura of living in between the Worlds.
I also feel balance is involved in the Healing aspect of Fox as well.@ThelemicMage said
"Language, as you were commenting on, is tied directly to Mercury as it's written manifestation. This is attributed to the four 8's in Tarot, and with drugs, Peyote, (visual language, we've talked about recently,) and Cannabis, (something that unties the kinks in language, verbal or written, and something that allows one to delve deeper into the meaning of such language whilst attaining to the higher, spiritually "lighter", side of it.
"Hm.
I would say Spider and its Word is more akin to the aspect of the Creative Word.
It was in the weaving of its web, They say, that man saw the first letter.
Suspended and floating, as if having an existence all its own.
Upon further investigation, they came to note the web - the multitude of connections required to bring about even a single letter (let alone a word).
Another aspect for consideration is stuff which makes the web: While thin, nearly invisible, it is stronger than steel (one may notice, that when you run into a spider web you, for the most part, pull it off its moorings , you do not destroy it as a collective entity).Peyote is one of the few sacraments I have not partaken in.
Speaking of Cannabis, I can see what you are getting at.
From a young age I suppressed, and later through Yoga attempted to destroy my emotions.
Thus, much of my Magick Work has to do with me 'feeling things.'
One of the effects of Cannabis is to make things more visual, an image easier to describe than a feeling (for me).
Though, even there I have some blocks due to things seen as I child I would rather never see again. -
Just to save me own ass:
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYONE IMBIBE PCPThat said:
What I am interesting in finding is a correspondence to is PCP or Angel Dust.ThelemicMage's comment about taking 50 hits of LSD and interacting with a police officer brought it to mind,
My immediate reaction being "Take a crap load of PCP , do that, and I will be impressed"Possibly The Tower, though that may only represent the Ordeal that must be faced when taking the substance,
Before one can enjoy the 'high.'
As, the most accurate description of the Ordeal I can give is that one must embrace madness or be destroyed...Though I can also see correspondences with the Fool, as after spending a certain period indulging in the substance I was convinced I had attained to Nirvana.
Which may have not been entirely false (just a miss-labeling of the experience),
That was also when I started cleaning my self up. -
Very interesting point, Mark.
Universe: You can buy fresh or dried Peruvians cactii that are legal in any country, one species that is widely available is more potent than peyote.
Uni: You just contributed some interesting points as to why the spider would be first. Let me explain.
Hadit is "first" in manifestation, even though Nuit is his manifestation. She is no, nothing, not negative or positive, obviously. If you are familiar with Thelema, you might note that the Lord Hadit, when the Earth was cooling, shot forth his venom and the Alphabet appeared from the melted rock and substance, with a 27th letter unrevealed.
This would correspond directly to the notion of a human being seeing the first letter in a spider's web.
Additionally, and very importantly, Mercury, Photeth (Thoth), is attributed to the number 8, (reminding us now of the four 8's,) the same number of legs an arachnid has.
Very interesting thread indeed. Where is Dara the Explara? I know she's got some esoteric, trippy information to throw in here.
One last side-note. Was thinking of how Crowley stated multiple times that there is no such thing as evil, just things not fitting into the proper time and place -- things not moving or evolving as their "Universe" does around them. That might make our Plant, the "Plant of knowledge of the Upright and the Averse," taking into mind how "averse" is the more animal body trying to purify and evolve itself.
Any thoughts?
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I really have to say this about Spider,
The poor fellows of the species
Are small and weak compared
To the females,Not all spiders weave webs,
(they are master weavers
Weaving even in the dark)
Yet all spiders spin silk.Spinning and weaving
Seems more likev a Priestess. -
Well, you would want to group LSD with all the others, including the Cactus, which is the one listed in 777. All of them are the same kind of unique drug : serotonic agonists that act in very specific ways upon serotonin and other receptors, producing the same kinds of effects, but with different exact effects due to rate of absorption, size of molecule, potency of molecule, and structure of molecule.
And shamans never lick toads, they press their little mouths, (and thus teeth,) on a hard surface and drain their venom out, which is composed of 5-HO-DMT (Bufotenine,) and 5-MeO-DMT.
You don't have to bother toads to get this mixture. A safer and more comfortable mixture of these exact chemicals, with the addition of DMT itself, is in the seeds of Yopo and Cebil. (Anthera Perigrina sp?)
You know what else would be interesting? Foods that correspond to the Tarot. Wheat might go with the Knight of Discs, seeing as how wheat waves in the fields like slow-moving fire, and how the knight himself is holding wheat.
G'day.
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Was thinking about Storms and how they may be Aces
Wands-tornado
Pentacles-earthquakes
Swords-volcano
Cups-tsunamisi was also musing over Shamanic tools
Such as rattle, drum, sage( incences in general) feathers, skins, seeds (plant matter in general) song, dance, headdress, wampum, dress (shamans wear gowns like ladies, similiar to a priests robes) makeup and oils.Most of these have parralles to holy sacrements and ritual tools by priests/ess.
They help bring about changes in consciousness, and could with a littlemimagination and flexiblity, easily fit into other arena then just the Earthen Pentacles.
For example an acorn or seed has the fire of life with in its germ and maybe could be placed with the swords.Just some ideas.
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I might switch volcanoes and tornadoes, seeing as how wands are of Fire, and swords are of Air. There's a few groups that have switched attributions, somewhat unfulfillingly, trying to fit with the progression of elements in the new Aeon(s).
This is where I got in trouble trying to explain myself in the thread about the Fortune card. I still can't figure how to word myself to better say what I already had in that thread...
But yes, on those other things, miss Dara. Let me check all my resources and get back with you privately -- these seeds may be too "ass-kicking", "backwood", "amazon" for someone who doesn't blow loads of Yopo up their nose every night like those hardcore natives do.
And I would not let my Dara swim in the deep end of the pool without practicing first in the seven-feet section.I will compile a list of information that is at least very interesting, if not a guide to some of Nuit's more rare secrets.
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"I might switch volcanoes and tornadoes, seeing as how wands are of Fire, and swords are of Air. There's a few groups that have switched attributions, somewhat unfulfillingly, trying to fit with the progression of elements in the new Aeon(s). "
Maybe one of my blocks then in really grasping the tarot is my intuit reaction that wands areof air, and swords are of fire.
Wands always seem to be a tool to direct my thought
Swords were forged in fire, tempered and refined in the burning away.I realized when your responded that I had indeed switched those two, and I find it funny that when I was writting I didnt even notice it just came out.
In thinking of the cups, and bodies of water which move consciousness in different ways, we might like to think of creeks and streams, waterfalls, rivers, marshes, bogs, ponds, lakes, seas, glaciers, rain (watercycle in general) and the Oceans. Probably need to refine that order to progress through the cards.
In the pentacles I was thinking of sedimentary, ignenious and metamorphic rocks, the vast aray of minerals (specimen), fossils, sand, dirt, soil, dust/ash, peat, and meteorites, Earth itself.
In the wands, for air I was thinking of the different air currents themselves, the winds, as well as the different layers of the biosphere, which I cant recall off the top of my head right now but I think there is seven of them. Winds come from the sun though, so I am not sure I am ridgedly set on that concept
i could see natural hotbaths, geysers, oceanic hot springs, in with fire, even though they are water elements, but also the equator/tropics, ocean currents, the many different types of lava flows, as well as the different types of volcanos themselves.All these attributes have their own uniqueness, and shamans except that as different sorts of consciousness, consciousness that can be accessed, communicated with, tapped into, refined, and utilized.
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And I have just recently learned to be truly happy. Dwarfs are amazing to have around. Their wine has strong effect, but does not make one "drunk". Is much more like all the positive effects of the greatest libations of all time, without the negative ones.
But this Yopo, tis very "come-of-age"-manly. My experience:
- Decided to prepare Yopo in the traditional way and use the traditional way, as per South American bright feather-donned warriors.
Toasted seeds slowly and lightly on the base of a slow-cooker, until the shells were cracking off. Pealed the shells off and powdered using a coffee-grinder. (Traditionally, mortal and pestile.) Mixed with maybe 1/12th eyeballed amount of pickling lime. (Calcium Hydroxide. The natives use crushed and burned snail shells, or the ash of a specific tree. Snail shells are calcium carbonate. This chemical seems to be the key to activating the alkaloids for insufflation.) Everything was mixed, a small amount of water added to form a paste, then heated slowly to form a chunk that could be powdered.
I had read that to get full-on effects with Yopo, one would have to get both of their nostrils full of this stuff as the natives do. (Watch the Discovery channel. Sometimes they have documentaries on the natives that use Yopo. They have long, wooden, ceremonial pipes that are loaded, and a friend or family member blows the powder into the others' nose.)
Measuring what looked like two nostril-fulls, I pulled them up with the standard equipment. Money is dirty, I use paper. Within fifteen seconds, the familiar tryptamine-hum, (the sound of the "Aum", or "Aumgn" of Creation,) was coming on so strong, that my head was actually humming all the way through. Obvious psychic feeling came with it and I knew I had to make it to the bath tub fast, and get the water on.
Knowing I had done nothing life-threatening, and me being all-in for any learning experience that doesn't kill me, I relished in the entire experience, but I admit straightly that it rocked me all the way through.
Getting in the tub with the shower on, I removed the filter to the tub just in time. I felt all the toxic leftovers from human metabolism start to surge towards my stomach through my blood and fluids, starting at my fingertips and toetips. A purifying gush of vomit came that has not been rivaled even unto this day. The pain was incredible, all the way from the extremities, but it was the toxicities attempting to latch onto anything they could to keep from being expelled.
After the purge, I was shown brilliant three-dimensional patterns that resembled a giant universal palace of bluish-white light. A little dimmer than pure DMT or Psilocin, due to the Bufotenine, (toad chemical,) but I was Aeons away from complaining of the quality of the experience. The tryptamine hum was over-powering and went along with the visions. A few secret conversations with the elves-past-death, and I noticed that the effects started to wear off, probably around fifteen minutes. I cleaned up and went back to my room a brand new human without all the gunk that mucks up our precious bodies.
See, that's almost the most important part of the experience down in South America, le Purge. God-chemicals tend to do a pied-piper calling to all the nastiness, and if nastiness doesn't respond, the piper just turns on his whirlpool vacuum and it all surges from the entire body to the stomach.
You may note when you haven't been eating healthy, auras and whatnot are more difficult to perceive. When the purge is over, the visions begin. This is due to not only the imbibing of the Light by the pineal gland, but because there is no more muck on the lens to prevent one from having 20-20 visions in second-sight.
After many experiments with tryptamines and purging, I decided it was best to cut out all processed food, even bread, and prepare all my meals from scratch. The grocery store sells "Organic, all-natural" "food" that clearly lists "calcium chloride", "artificial flavors", etc.. on the ingredients list. Enough of that nonsense, I had none of it anymore. (I had been eating "all-natural" food since 2001, but of the above described kind along with truly natural food. Not good enough.)
It is much healthier to make this change, and I noticed that I didn't purge anymore when imbibing these sacraments of Nuit. They just stayed down and I had wonderful experiences.
Wanna hear something disgusting? When I first started ordering coca leaf years ago, I had not used C in years, and all of it had been clandestinely produced, no matter the quality "percentage". A strong cup of tea, including adding a tiny amount of baking soda and sugar, got me to places that were just so far out of the reach "regular" stuff, that the effects were beyond even mental description. I'm talking pulling all your soldiers out of their barracks, filling them full of sunshine made of fresh, falling, rolling, undulating snow, blasting them to the stars, where they start dancing and you stop trying to pour words over the experience. A simple cup of tea, my dear. "Everyone simply MUST have a cup of tea!" -Hatter God Almighty, the things I do with cups of tea.
Now I could do this one night, and no matter how immense the euphoria, was not something that I "had" or even did the next, or the next night after. And the supply of this green powder was cheap enough to do this ten times a day every day for a month for like seventy dollars. After actually quantifying this stuff per pure chemical weight, I'd say the value on the "street", (have you ever even talked to a "street", much less bought something from it?), would have been so phenomenal that it would be useless to try to compare them.
I think She, (Nuit), as well as my Angel took me away from the streety dirtiness for a few years before they showed me the true miracles of these intelligent, talkative, plant allies. There's a few tricks I know up this ally as well, please PM me if interested in furthering your knowledge of nature.
Now all cerebral excitants are attributed to Key 15, corresponding to "The Emperor" Atu. However, Crowley has cocaine clearly listed under Key 21, (777), attributed to the Wheel Atu. C is also under Key 5 next to atropine, (both are tropane alkaloids,) corresponding to the four Fives of the Tarot. Four fives are twenty, and Atu 20 is the Aeon. This makes perfect sense, seeing as how the Aeon is brand new, and tropane alkaloids show one that perfect Light, just beyond Death, that one must rush into if one wishes to proceed with Karmic repair, (reincarnation.) The other two plants listed for Key 5, and thus the four Fives, are Nux Vomica (strychnine,) and Nettle. I must admit, I do not know what nettle is. I shall look it up after submitting this.
Very, very good thread.
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I have not read some of the newer posts to this thread...
An idea came to me for Atu O
Two ears of corn being circled by four Holy Men
A reference to a Native American creation story
Where the four Holy Men set down two ears of corn
Covering it, they each walked about it four times
Pulling back the veil to reveal First Man & First Woman
Who are, of course, the ones who shall be imbibing the substances