THE BOOK OF THOTH (Egyptian
Tarot)
by THE MASTER THERION (Aleister Crowley)
Appendix A
THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE TAROT
It being now established, at the conclusion of the Essay, that the cards of the Tarot are living individuals, it is proper to consider the relations which obtain between them and the student.
Consider the analogy of a debutante at her coming-out ball. She is introduced to seventy-eight grown people. Assuming her to be a particularly intelligent girl, with a very high social education, she may know all about the position and general characteristics of these people. This, however, will not imply real knowledge of any one of them; she will have no means of saying how any one will react to her. At most, she can know only a few facts from which deductions may be made. It is unlikely, for example, that the V.C. will hide in a cellar if somebody thinks that there is a burglar in the house. It is improbable that the Bishop will indulge in the more blatant types of blasphemy.
The position of the student of the Tarot is very similar. In this essay, and in these designs, is given an analysis of the general character of each card; but he cannot reach any true appreciation of them without observing their behaviour over a long period; he can only come to an understanding of the Tarot through experience. It will not be sufficient for him to intensify his studies of the cards as objective things; he must use them; he must live with them. They, too, must live with him. A card is not isolated from its fellows. The reactions of the cards, their interplay with each other, must be built into the very life of the student.
Then how is he to use them? How is he to blend their life with his? The ideal way is that of contemplation. But this involves initiation of such high degree that it is impossible to describe the method in this place. Nor is it either attractive or suitable to most people. The practical every-day commonplace way is divination.
The traditional technical method of divination by the Tarot here follows: It is taken from The Equinox, Vol I, No.8, and its publication is authorized by Frater O. M. Adeptus Exemptus.
I. THE SIGNIFICATOR.
Choose a card to represent the Querent, using your knowledge
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or judgment of his character rather than dwelling on his physical characteristics.
2. Take the cards in your left hand. In the right hand hold the wand over them, and say: I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt send H R U, the great Angel that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen.
3. Hand the cards to Querent, and bid him think of the question
attentively, and cut.
4. Take the cards as cut and hold as for dealing.
First Operation
This shows the situation of the Querent at the time when he consults you.
I. The pack being in front of you, cut, and place the top half to the left.
2. Cut each pack again to the left.
3. These four stacks represent I H V H, from right to left.
4. Find the Significator. If it be in the Yod pack, the question refers to work, business, etc.; if in the He' pack, to love, marriage, or pleasure;, if in the Vau pack, to trouble, loss, scandal, quarrelling, etc.; if in the He' final pack, to money, goods, and such purely material matters.
5. Tell the Querent what he has come for: if wrong, abandon the divinati6n.
6. If right, spread out the pack containing the Significator,
face upwards.
Count the cards from him, in the direction in which he faces.
The counting should include the card from which you count.
For Knights, Queens and Princes, count 4.
For Princesses, count 7.
For Aces, count II.
For small cards, count according to the number.
For trumps, count 3 for the elemental trumps; 9 for the plane tary trumps;
12 for the Zodiacal trumps.
Make a "story" of these cards. This story is that of the begin
ning of the affair.
7. Pair the cards on either side of the Significator, then those outside
them, and so on. Make another "story", which should fill in the
details omitted in the first.
8. If this story is not quite accurate, do not be discouraged. Perhaps
the Querent himself does not know everything. But the main lines ought
to be laid down firmly, with correctness, or the divination should be abandoned.
Second Operation
DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUESTION
I. Shuffle, invoke suitably,
and let Querent cut as before.
2. Deal cards into twelve stacks, for the twelve astrological houses of
heaven.
3. Make up your mind in which stack you ought to find the Significator,
e.g. in the seventh house if the question concerns marriage, and so on.
4. Examine this chosen stack. If the Significator is not
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there, try some cognate house. On a second failure, abandon
the divination.
5. Read the stack, counting and pairing as before.
Third operation
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUESTION
I. Shuffle, etc., as before.
2. Deal cards into twelve stacks for the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
3. Divine the proper stacks and proceed as before.
Fourth Operation
PENULTIMATE ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION
I. Shuffle, etc., as before.
2. Find the Significator:
set him upon the table; let the thirty- six cards following form a ring
round him.
3. Count and pair as before.
(Note that the Nature of each Decan is shown by the small card attributed
to it, and by the symbols given in Liber DCCLXXVII, cols. 149-151.)
Fifth Operation
FINAL RESULT
I. Shuffle, ec., as before.
2. Deal into ten packs
in the form of the Tree of Life.
3. Make up your mind where the Significator should be,
as before; but failure does not here necessarily imply that the divination
has gone astray.
4. Count and pair as before.
(Note that one cannot tell at what part of the divination the present time occurs. Usually Op. I seems to indicate the past history of the question; but not always so. Experience will teach. Some times a new current of high help may show the moment of consulta tion.
I may add that in material matters this method is extremely
valuable. I have been able to work out the most complex problems in minute
detail. 0. M.)."
It is quite impossible to obtain satisfactory results from this or any other system of divination unless the Art is perfectly required. It is the most sensitive, difficult and perilous branch of Magick. The necessary conditions, with a comprehensive comparative review of all important methods in use, are fully described and discussed in "Magick", Chapter XVII.
The abuse of divination has been responsible, more than any other cause, for the discredit into which the whole subject of Magick had fallen when the Master Therion undertook the task of its re habilitation. Those who neglect his warnings, and profane the Sanctuary of Transcendental Art, have no other than themselves to blame for the formidable and irremediable disasters which infallibly will destroy them. Prospero is Shakespeare's reply to Dr. Faustus.
GENERAL CHARACTERS OF THE TRUMPS AS THEY
APPEAR IN USE
KNOW NAUGHT!
ALL WAYS ARE LAWFUL TO INNOCENCE.
PURE FOLLY IS THE KEY TO INITIATION.
SILENCE BREAKS INTO RAPTURE.
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BE NEITHER MAN NOR WOMAN, BUT BOTH IN ONE.
BE SILENT, BABE IN THE EGG OF BLUE, THAT THOU
MAYEST GROW TO BEAR THE LANCE AND GRAAL!
WANDER ALONE, AND SING! IN THE KING'S PALACE
HIS DAUGHTER AWAITS THEE.
In spiritual matters, the Fool means idea, thought, spirituality,
that which endeavours to transcend earth.
In material matters, it may, if badly dignified, mean
folly, eccentricity, or even mania.
But the essential of this card is that it represents an
original, subtle, sudden impulse or impact, coming from a completely strange
quarter.
All such impulses are right, if rightly received; and
the good or ill interpretation of the card depends entirely on the right
attitude of the Querent.
I
The True Self is the meaning of the True Will:
know Thyself through Thy Way.
Calculate well the Formula of Thy Way.
Create freely; absorb joyously; divide intently;
consolidate completely.
Work thou, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Ontni present,
in and for Eternity.
Skill, wisdom, adroitness, elasticity, craft, cunning, deceit, theft. Sometimes occult wisdom or power, sometimes a quick impulse, a brain-wave". It may imply messages, business transactions, the interference of learning or intelligence with the matter in hand.
II
Purity is to live only to the Highest; and the
Highest is All; be thou as Artemis to Pan.
Read thou in the Book of the Law, and break
through the veil of the Virgin.
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Pure, exalted and gracious influence enters the matter. Hence, change, alternation, increase and decrease, fluctuation. There is, however, a liability to be led away by enthusiasm; one may become "moon-struck" unless careful balance is maintained.
III
This is the Harmony of the Universe, that Love
unites the Will to create with the Understanding
of that Creation: understand thou thine own
Will.
Love and let love. Rejoice in every shape of love,
and get thy rapture and thy nourishment thereof
Love, beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, completion,
good fortune, graciousness, elegance, luxury, idleness, dissipation
debauchery, friendship, gentleness, delight.
IV
Pour water on thyself thus shalt thou be
a Fountain to the Universe.
Find thou thyself in every Star.
Achieve thou every possibility.
War, conquest, victory, strife, ambition, originality, over-
weening confidence and megalomania, quarrelsomeness, energy,
vigour, stubbornness, impracticability, rashness, ill-temper.
V
Offer thyself Virgin to the Knowledge and Con-
versation of thine Holy Guardian Angel. All
else is a snare.
Be thou athlete with the eight limbs of Yoga: for
without these thou are not disciplined for any
fight.
Stubborn strength, toil, endurance, placidity,
manifestation,
explanation, teaching, goodness of heart, help from superiors,
patience, organization, peace.
VI
The Oracle of the Gods is the Child- Voice of Love
in Thine own Soul; hear thou it.
Heed not the Siren-Voice of Sense, or the Phantom-
Voice of Reason: rest in Simplicity, and listen to
the Silence.
Openness to inspiration, intuition, intelligence, second sight,
childislmess, frivolity, thoughtfulness divorced from practical con-
sideration, indecision, self-contradition, union in a shallow degree
with others, instability, contradiction, triviality, the "high-brow".
VII
The Issue of the Vulture, Two-in-One, conveyed;
this is the Chariot of Power.
TRINC: the last oracle.
Triumph, victory, hope, memory, digestion, violence in main-
taining traditional ideas, the "die-hard", ruthiessness, lust of
destruction, obedience, faithfulness, authority under authority.
VIII
Balance against each thought its exact opposite.
For the Marriage of these is the Annihilation of
Illusion.
Justice, or rather justesse, the act of adjustment,
suspension of all action pending decision; in material matters, may refer
to law suits or prosecutions. Socially, marriage or marriage agreements;
politically, treaties.
IX
Wander alone; bearing the Light and thy Staff.
And be the Light so bright that no man seeth thee.
Be not moved by aught without or within:
keep Silence in all ways.
Illumination from within, secret impulse from within; practical
plans derived accordingly. Retirement from participation in current
events.
X
Follow thy Fortune, careless where it lead thee.
The axle moveth not: attain thou that.Change of fortune. (This generally means good fortune because
the fact of consultation implies anxiety or discontent.)
XI
Mitigate Energy with Love; but let Love devour
all things.
Worship the name ____, foursquare, mystic,
wonderful, and the name of His House 418.
Courage, strength, energy and action, une grande passion; resort
to magick, the use of magical power.
XII
Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.
Enforced sacrifice, punishment, loss, fatal or voluntary,
suffer ing, defeat, failure, death.
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XIII
The Universe is Change; every Change is the
effect of an Act of Love; all Acts of Love
contain Pure Joy. Die daily.
Death is the apex of one curve of the snake Lfe:
behold all Opposites as necessary complements,
and rejoice.
Transformation, change, voluntary or involuntary, in either
case logical development of existing conditions, yet perhaps sudden
and unexpected. Apparent death or destruction, but such inter-
pretation is illusion.
XIV
Pour thine all freely from the Vase in thy right hand,
and lose no drop. Hath not thy left hand
a vase?
Transmute all wholly into the Image of thy Will,
bringing each to its true token of Perfection.
Dissolve the Pearl in the Wine-cup; drink, and
make manifest the Virtue of that Pearl.
Combination of forces, realization, action based on accurate
calculation; the way of escape, success after elaborate manoeuvres.
XV
With thy right Eye create all for thyself, and with the
left
accept all that be created otherwise.
Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous,
ambition,
temptation, obsession, secret plan about to be executed; hard work,
obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.
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XVI
Break down the fortress of thine Individual
Self, that thy Truth may spring free from the
ruins.
Quarrel, combat, danger, ruin, destruction of
plans, sudden
death, escape from prison.
XVII
Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn
up thy thought as the Phoenix.
Hope, unexpected help, clearness of vision, realization of possibilities, spifitual insight, with bad aspects, error of judgment, dreaminess, disappointment.
XVIII
Let the Illusion of the World pass over thee, unheeded,
as thou goest from the Midnight to
the Morning.
Illusion, deception, bewilderment, hysteria, even madness,
dreaminess, falsehood, error, crisis, "the darkest hour before the
dawn", the brink of important change.
XIX
Give forth thy light to all without doubt;
the clouds and shadows are no matter for thee.
Make Speech and Silence, Energy and Stillness,
twin forms of thy play.
Glory, gain, riches, triumph, pleasure, frankness, truth, shame-
lessness, arrogance, vanity, manifestation, recovery from sickness,
but sometimes sudden death.
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XX
Be every Act an Act of Love and Worship.
Be every Act the Fiat of a God.
Be every Act a Source of radiant Glory.
Final decision in respect of the past, new current in respect
of the future;
always represents the taking of a definite step.
XXI
Treat time and all conditions of Event as Servants
of thy Will, appointed to present the Universe to
thee in the form of thy Plan.
And: blessing and worship to the prophet of the
lovely Star.
The matter of the question itself, synthesis, the end of
the
matter, may mean delay, opposition, obstinacy, inertia, patience,
perseverance, persistent stubbornness in difficulty. The crystalliza-
tion of the whole matter involved.
PREVIOUS SECTION---SMALL CARDS