Barleywine's Thoth 101 Beginner Class

[Barleywine]

On 8/4/2019 at 10:33 PM, Starlight said:

Hi @Barleywine - is there anything you'd like us to discuss further to the section we last read?

No, I've been away and need to put up the next section.

[Barleywine]

The Book of Thoth, Part One, The Theory of the Tarot, Sub-Part II, The Twenty-Two Keys, Atus or Trumps of the Tarot

 

This section presents what I find to be Crowley's refreshing and entertaining introductory synopsis of the Major Arcana as they relate to the Universe and particularly to the elements, planets and zodiacal signs. He doesn't take them at face value, but rather calls them "hieroglyphs of peculiar mysteries" and sees them as representing "rather curious phases of the universe," to "put forward certain particular aspects" and "to establish certain especial doctrines." He relates them to the "language of the Artist" rather than to that of "the strictly philosophical and scientific spirit of austere classification." At this exalted level of observation, I can find no fault with his logic. He goes on to explore the evolution of the trump cards to suit the times; he also starts expanding upon some of his Thelemic assumptions and how he has "reformed" the old model with them, but that is beyond our scope here and will emerge more fully when we talk about the individual cards.

 

The other valuable content is the tabulation of the elemental qualities of the court cards. It represents a blending of the nature of each court card with those of the four suits. All of the Knights represent "Fire;" the Queens "Water;" the Princes "Air" and the Princesses "Earth," and matching them up to the suit elements creates sixteen unique "flavors," some harmonious and others more dissonant depending on how cooperative the elemental constituents of each one are. This touches on the subject of "Elemental Dignities" without actually naming it. These are quite useful when trying to describe the "moral characteristics" (Crowley's phrase) of people represented by the court cards. More to come on that subject later.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Barleywine

[Starlight]

It's been a very busy Saturday, but I'm aiming to get this section read tomorrow. Just wanted to check in and let you know. 🙂

[KaiNO]

I'll try to get up to date tomorrow as well.

[Starlight]

Righto!

 

We start off the section with a quadratic equation. Quadratic equations plot curves. What I'm trying to understand is why we're using a quadratic equation. Why curves?

 

Quote

But, for the special significance of the pack as a Key to magical formula, the twenty-two trumps acquire a peculiar importance.

So, the 1-10s have already been equated with the elements and other symbols of how the universe is structured (point, line, etc.); the court cards equate to the Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, and the trumps also have their own symbols. So the 22 trumps are equated with the 22 Hebrew letters. The 22 letters themselves represent 3 active elements, 7 sacred planets, and 12 signs of the zodiac.

 

(It makes sense as in I understand what he's saying. I don't understand the WHY behind this though. Did the Hebrew letters always symbolise these things?)

 

Quote

These twenty-two cards acquire a personality of their own: a very curious personality. It would be quite wrong to say that they represent a complete universe. They seem to represent certain rather curious phases of the universe...... They change from time to time in their relation to current events.

I can see how the planets would change because they pass through the 12 zodiac signs in the sky, but the elements? How do they change?

 

He goes on to say that the names of the 12 major arcana suggest the language of the Artist, and the names are therefore not strictly scientific or rigid. (Was the Juggler the original Magician?)

 

Quote

Obviously these are not plain, straightforward symbolic representations of the signs, elements and planets concerned. They are rather hieroglyphs of peculiar mysteries connected with each.

So the trumps are equated with the Hebrew Letters and are a kind of pictogram of those things the letters themselves represent? So a representation of a representation? And the representation of the representation interacts with that element or planet or sign and adds to its meaning.

 

He goes on to talk about the Secret Chiefs of the Great Order setting things up this way. I'm not sure I can agree with him about this - I remain open to the idea, but I'm not accepting it at face value - because it seems to me that this is a man-made construction and based on coincidence. But perhaps that doesn't matter as long as I understand how the system is set up, whatever I think about its origins.

 

Quote

Knight of Wands, Fire of Fire
Queen of Wands, Water of Fire
Prince of Wands, Air of Fire
Princess of Wands, Earth of Fire

 

Knight of Cups, Water of Fire
Queen of Cups, Water of Water
Prince of Cups, Air of Water
Princess of Cups, Earth of Water

 

Knight of Swords, Fire of Air
Queen of Swords, Water of Air
Prince of Swords, Air of Air
Princess of Swords, Earth of Air

 

Knight of Disks, Fire of Earth
Queen of Disks, Water of Earth
Prince of Disks, Air of Earth
Princess of Disks, Earth of Earth

So, to repeat something you said earlier, the court cards have elements for their rank as well as their suit and as we move from the 1 to 10 we are moving down lower and lower through the elements until we reach the heaviest element and physical manifestation which is Earth of Earth. How do the Court Cards link to the Tree of Life diagram. (It's moving from the abstract theory to the practical and visual drawing that's confusing.)

 

Quote

The Tarot trumps are twenty-two in number; they represent the elements between the Sephiroth or Things-in-Themselves, so that their position on the Tree of Life is significant.

These are the paths, I think, between the sephiroth?

 

Quote

Here are one or two examples. The card called "The Lovers", whose secret title is "The Children of the Voice, the Oracle of the Mighty Gods", leads from the number 3 to the number 6. The number 6 is the human personality of a man; the number 3 is his spiritual intuition. Therefore, it is natural and significant that the influence of the 3 upon the 6 is that of the intuitional or inspirational voice. It is the illumination of the mind and the heart by the Great Mother.

Where does the secret title come from? Is Crowley using some form of numerology to interpret the 6 (human personality of man?). It looks like Crowley is linking The Lovers to the numbers its path connects, but I don't see how this works on the Tree of Life diagram. The paths start at the number 11.

 

 

I haven't quite finished the reading, I'll be back later.

Thanks, @Barleywine 🙂

Edited August 11, 2019 by Starlight

[Barleywine]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:28 AM, Starlight said:

Righto!

 

We start off the section with a quadratic equation. Quadratic equations plot curves. What I'm trying to understand is why we're using a quadratic equation. Why curves?

 

So, the 1-10s have already been equated with the elements and other symbols of how the universe is structured (point, line, etc.); the court cards equate to the Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, and the trumps also have their own symbols. So the 22 trumps are equated with the 22 Hebrew letters. The 22 letters themselves represent 3 active elements, 7 sacred planets, and 12 signs of the zodiac.

 

(It makes sense as in I understand what he's saying. I don't understand the WHY behind this though. Did the Hebrew letters always symbolise these things?)

 

I can see how the planets would change because they pass through the 12 zodiac signs in the sky, but the elements? How do they change?

 

He goes on to say that the names of the 12 major arcana suggest the language of the Artist, and the names are therefore not strictly scientific or rigid. (Was the Juggler the original Magician?)

 

So the trumps are equated with the Hebrew Letters and are a kind of pictogram of those things the letters themselves represent? So a representation of a representation? And the representation of the representation interacts with that element or planet or sign and adds to its meaning.

 

He goes on to talk about the Secret Chiefs of the Great Order setting things up this way. I'm not sure I can agree with him about this - I remain open to the idea, but I'm not accepting it at face value - because it seems to me that this is a man-made construction and based on coincidence. But perhaps that doesn't matter as long as I understand how the system is set up, whatever I think about its origins.

 

So, to repeat something you said earlier, the court cards have elements for their rank as well as their suit and as we move from the 1 to 10 we are moving down lower and lower through the elements until we reach the heaviest element and physical manifestation which is Earth of Earth. How do the Court Cards link to the Tree of Life diagram. (It's moving from the abstract theory to the practical and visual drawing that's confusing.)

 

These are the paths, I think, between the sephiroth?

 

Where does the secret title come from? Is Crowley using some form of numerology to interpret the 6 (human personality of man?). It looks like Crowley is linking The Lovers to the numbers its path connects, but I don't see how this works on the Tree of Life diagram. The paths start at the number 11.

 

 

I haven't quite finished the reading, I'll be back later.

Thanks, @Barleywine 🙂

This is getting deeper into the details of the BoT than I intended since I want to get on to a study of the deck, but I'll see what I can do.

 

I think Crowley fancied himself something of a scientist, and his use of mathematical expressions here and elsewhere uphold the "Method of Science" part of his early motto. This one has always struck me as an oblique way to say that everything in the Universe can be traced back to its origin in Nothing. Another one is his "0=2" expression, which supports his idea that we can best understand Zero as the combination of a positive "something" with an equivalent negative one, essentially cancelling them out.

 

The Hebrew letters didn't mean these things until Macgregor Mathers (most likely standing on the shoulders of Eliphas Levi) decided they should. To get an idea of what they originally meant, read the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation). It's very brief and to-the-point.

 

I also don't take the "Secret Chiefs" stuff at face value. It's all just a bit too pat and convenient since nobody but the self-proclaimed chief adepts are privileged to experience them directly.

 

To get an idea how the elements change the expression of the planets, look at the concept of the astrological "temperaments:" choleric (Fire), sanguine (Air), phlegmatic (Water) and melancholic (Earth). Other than the Fool, the Hanged Man and Judgment (which relate directly to primal Air, Water and Fire), the planets as used in tarot only have an element through association with the sign(s) they rule, and there isn't complete agreement on all of them. For example, is Venus an earthy planet (Taurus) or an airy one (Libra)? Is Jupiter a fiery one (Sagittarius) or a watery one (Pisces), or is it in fact an airy (sanguine) one which seems to befit its expansive nature. I see all of this as a kind of "lens filter" that colors the influence of the planets. I just pick one correspondence in each case and stick with it (e.g. Venus = Earth).

 

The Magician was originally the Juggler and considered to be something of a mountebank and master of sleight-of-hand rather than a magical adept.

 

The court cards are typically related to Chokmah, the Supernal Father (Knights); Binah, the Supernal Mother (Queens); Tiphareth, the Son (and Sun) below the Abyss (Princes) and Malkuth, the Daughter (Princesses). They have no direct representation on the paths.

 

I've tried to puzzle out why certain cards go into certain paths, and the closest I can come to an answer is Paul Foster Case's explanations, which aren't 100% satisfying either. Eden Gray made an attempt to reassign them (which was even less convincing) and I made my own stab at it as well. Crowley basically followed the Golden Dawn attributions but tinkered with the Emperor and the Star based on his Thelemic inspirations (which I also find a little specious). The card numbers and the path numbers don't seem to have any correlation, and the sephiroth they connect offer only slightly more testimony. But read Case, and when you've absorbed that, Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism.

 

Your mention of the Lovers brings up an interesting point. In one interpretation, the TdM "Lover" card shows a young man standing between his apparently disapproving mother and his love interest. We might say that one-half of this image is expressed on the Tree of Life as the Lovers card sitting between the Mother (Binah) and the Son (Tiphareth). The other half could be equated to the path between Tiphareth and Netzach, the sphere of Venus, which is occupied by Death. Do you think there might be a moral lesson here?

Edited August 12, 2019 by Barleywine

[Starlight]

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

This is getting deeper into the details of the BoT than I intended since I want to get on to a study of the deck, but I'll see what I can do.

Oh crumbs, @Barleywine, I'm so sorry! I read whatever section you have posted as a heading in your post and then try to tackle it! And usually end up confused. (Do you think Crowley deliberately intended to confuse non-eligible student-wannabes?)

 

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

I think Crowley fancied himself something of a scientist, and his use of mathematical expressions here and elsewhere uphold the "Method of Science" part of his early motto. This one has always struck me as an oblique way to say that everything in the Universe can be traced back to its origin in Nothing.

 

Ok... So the line moves outwards and then curves back into Nothing, something like that?

 

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

The Hebrew letters didn't mean these things until Macgregor Mathers (most likely standing on the shoulders of Eliphas Levi) decided they should. To get an idea of what they originally meant, read the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation). It's very brief and to-the-point.

*adds book to TBR pile*

I found online copies here and here.

 

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

To get an idea how the elements change the expression of the planets, look at the concept of the astrological "temperaments:" choleric (Fire), sanguine (Air), phlegmatic (Water) and melancholic (Earth). Other than the Fool, the Hanged Man and Judgment (which relate directly to primal Air, Water and Fire), the planets as used in tarot only have an element through association with the sign(s) they rule, and there isn't complete agreement on all of them. For example, is Venus an earthy planet (Taurus) or an airy one (Libra)? Is Jupiter a fiery one (Sagittarius) or a watery one (Pisces), or is it in fact an airy (sanguine) one which seems to befit its expansive nature. I see all of this as a kind of "lens filter" that colors the influence of the planets. I just pick one correspondence in each case and stick with it (e.g. Venus = Earth).

I see. So should I go and find a list of astrological correspondences now for the planets, or should I wait a bit until further into the text?

 

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

The Magician was originally the Juggler and considered to be something of a mountebank and master of sleight-of-hand rather than a magical adept.

Thank you. Is this how Crowley sees the Magician? Is this more the meaning of the magician in the Thoth system?

 

1 hour ago, Barleywine said:

The card numbers and the path numbers don't seem to have any correlation, and the sephiroth they connect offer only slightly more testimony. But read Case, and when you've absorbed that, Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism.

Ah, I see. It's just something that one has to learn without there being any clear logic behind it. Thank you for the book recommendations. I will check those out. (Is it necessary, do you think, to read those books while we're studying with you, or can we read those later on as we have a bit more time?)

[Barleywine]

4 hours ago, Starlight said:

Oh crumbs, @Barleywine, I'm so sorry! I read whatever section you have posted as a heading in your post and then try to tackle it! And usually end up confused. (Do you think Crowley deliberately intended to confuse non-eligible student-wannabes?)

 

 

Ok... So the line moves outwards and then curves back into Nothing, something like that?

 

*adds book to TBR pile*

I found online copies here and here.

 

I see. So should I go and find a list of astrological correspondences now for the planets, or should I wait a bit until further into the text?

 

Thank you. Is this how Crowley sees the Magician? Is this more the meaning of the magician in the Thoth system?

 

Ah, I see. It's just something that one has to learn without there being any clear logic behind it. Thank you for the book recommendations. I will check those out. (Is it necessary, do you think, to read those books while we're studying with you, or can we read those later on as we have a bit more time?)

Crowley just assumed that all of his readers had a basic knowledge of Qabalism, so he didn't spend much time on basics.

 

There are a couple of lists of correspondences for the planets in the back of the Book of Thoth that should get you started.

 

The Tree of Life is a two-way street; what manifests is reabsorbed, and ideally the arc becomes a spiral and not simply a treadmill.

 

Crowley's Magus (Magician) is an esoteric adept, not a stage conjurer.

 

I would read the Sepher Yetzirah now since it speaks directly to some of your questions. It's quite brief and is to Hebrew Qabalism what the Emerald Tablet of Hermes is to Hermeticism in general. A good reference work to have is Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot; the others can wait.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Barleywine

[Barleywine]

I will be away until Saturday and won't be able to reply to any posts until then.

[KaiNO]

On 8/12/2019 at 6:57 PM, Barleywine said:

Crowley just assumed that all of his readers had a basic knowledge of Qabalism, so he didn't spend much time on basics.

In the last chapter we've read, Crowley writes: 'The card called "The Lovers,"..., leads from the number 3 to the number 6. The number 6 is the human personality of a man; the number 3 is his spiritual intuition.' And he doesn't even bother to mention 😂 that he's talking about the Path between Binah ("number 3") and Tipharet ("number 6") of the Tree of Life  (or in his words the "Holy Qabalah").

 

 ***

 

I am just touching base to let you know that I'm up to date. Though I am not the most active here, I have great pleasure in this, and I'm looking forward to the continuation.

 

I try to get all the good quotes with me, and my book keeps getting better and better and more enjoyable to browse, like this:

 

 

 

And, thanks for the book references along the way, I appreciate these!

[Starlight]

1 hour ago, KaiNO said:

And he doesn't even bother to mention 😂 that he's talking about the Path between Binah ("number 3") and Tipharet ("number 6") of the Tree of Life  (or in his words the "Holy Qabalah").

I understood it was the path between the sephiroth, I just wasn't sure how he came to the conclusion that it was _this_ particular path that linked to the Lovers and not a different Trump card or a different path. I wondered where the logic lay. 🙂

 

1 hour ago, KaiNO said:

I try to get all the good quotes with me, and my book keeps getting better and better and more enjoyable to browse, like this:

I love your book! A real treasure trove there. Adding in notes and comments and linking ideas - it makes the material real, doesn't it? It's an absolute pleasure to re-read annotated books because it reminds you of what you know, and who you were at the time you made the annotations.

 

(I'm up to date with the material, too.)

[KaiNO]

24 minutes ago, Starlight said:

I understood it was the path between the sephiroth, I just wasn't sure how he came to the conclusion that it was _this_ particular path that linked to the Lovers and not a different Trump card or a different path. I wondered where the logic lay. 🙂

I tried to understand this earlier this summer, and have only learned a little so far, but I realized what he meant. I can understand that it is not obvious to everyone.
The first illustration here is very good in relation to this.

 

 

30 minutes ago, Starlight said:

I love your book! A real treasure trove there. Adding in notes and comments and linking ideas - it makes the material real, doesn't it? It's an absolute pleasure to re-read annotated books because it reminds you of what you know, and who you were at the time you made the annotations.

Thanks, I'm loving it too 😊

 

 

And, Starlight I forgot, but I meant to say thanks to you for being so good at asking questions! For the benefit of us all: You get more out of Barleywine's inexhaustible sources of knowledge such as good quotes and book references! 👍

 

 

 

[Barleywine]

The Book of Thoth, Part One, The Theory of the Tarot, Sub-Part III, The Tarot and the Universe

 

The very first statement in this section sets the tone:

 

"THE TAROT is a Pictorial representation of the Forces of Nature as conceived by the Ancients according to a conventional symbolism."

 

That symbolism was astrological. This section is partitioned into six sub-sections under the heading "Theories of the Ancients" that we will take one at a time.

 

In Part 1, he talks about the "scientific convenience" of changing the astronomical calculations to fit the theory rather than the other way around. I especially like the Bertrand Russell quote: (In mathematics) "nobody knows what he is talking about, and it matters to nobody whether he is right or wrong." (It would be evil to suggest this same might apply to some discussions of the tarot I've been a party to.)

 

In Part 2, he describes the observation of natural cycles as the basis for the astrological model of the Universe.

 

In Part 3, he enters into the subject of astrological decanates ("decans").

 

In Part 4, he discusses the elemental and planetary attributions given to the signs of the zodiac.

 

In Part 5, he goes into a dissertation on the Unity of Nature, and how that unity can be manipulated through the processes of dividing and then uniting once again in different proportions to create the semblance of multiplicity (specifically in the zodiac). (I'm ad-libbing a bit here, so don't look for these words in the book.) This sounds like an allusion to the Law of the Conservation of Mass and Energy. He explains his 0=2 equation a little (but very little) more fully: "Zero equals plus one plus minus one 0=(+1)+(-1)." Change occurs when this steady-state equilibrium is subject to further addition or subtraction.

 

In Part 6, he introduces the subject of the Tree of Life as an extension of the astrological paradigm, and how it differs from Chinese mysticism, which he cites as a cause for past confusion.

 

All of this is interesting as a run-up to the Tree of Life, which will be the subject of my next post.

Edited August 17, 2019 by Barleywine

[KaiNO]

Thanks, Barleywine!

I'm up to date with the material again.

[Starlight]

On 8/17/2019 at 8:06 PM, KaiNO said:

And, Starlight I forgot, but I meant to say thanks to you for being so good at asking questions!

That is very kind of you, @KaiNO. :) Thank you. And thank you for sharing your periodical thread here on the forum. WOW! There is so much information there. Really, really cool.

[Barleywine]

The Book of Thoth, Part One, The Theory of the Tarot, Sub-Part III, The Tarot and the Tree of Life

 

At the beginning of this section, Crowley says, in essence, that the tarot depicts the "influence of the Ten Numbers and the Twenty-two Letters on man, and his best methods of manipulating their forces." This is probably as good a general description of the esoteric purpose and use of the cards as any. Of the minor cards, he describes the Aces as representing the "root" of the elemental forces, with the Nines showing the "fixation" (fulfillment, culmination) of those essentially spiritual forces in physical terms. The Tens are past their prime and already contain "the seeds of decay," implying the impending death of the energy to make way for the next wave. As the energy of an element descends down the Tree, it experiences "progressive degradation of the idea," , becoming "less ideal and more actual" as the force begins to expend itself. This goes against the Pythagorean principle that the Ten is a "perfect number" since it is based on a devolving energy model and not a philosophical one; energy - like anything on the material plane except maybe bourbon - decays and becomes more impure as it matures rather than achieving perfection.

 

He briefly goes into the dual nature of the court cards, which partake of both an overarching element (for example, all Knights represent Fire regardless of suit) and the element particular to their suit (Knight of Wands portrays Fire of Fire, Knight of Cups Fire of Water, etc). He also touches on the court cards as agents for natural forces and how they are expressed through the zodiacal modes: cardinal, fixed and mutable (although he doesn't use those terms). The table titled "The Triplicities of the Zodiac" lays this out in full, excepting only the Princesses which have a more inclusive domain (the four quadrants of three signs each).

 

The Major Arcana have their own sub-section ("The Atu of Tahuti"), which will be the subject of the next post.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Barleywine

[Starlight]

Just checking in, @Barleywine 🙂 I'm having a hectic time at the moment but I am aiming to read this section tomorrow (Sunday) and post later the same day.

[KaiNO]

On 8/20/2019 at 8:04 PM, Barleywine said:

The Book of Thoth, Part One, The Theory of the Tarot, Sub-Part III, The Tarot and the Tree of Life

 

By the way, I read the chapter on Saturday. I tried to come up with an intelligent question, but I couldn't 😖 So either I understood everything or nothing, I'm hoping for the former 😏

[Starlight]

Tonight.

I'm finding this material really challenging so I keep putting it off till my little grey cells feel they can cope. Those monents are few and far between.

But tonight. I will drop everything and Make. Myself. Focus.

[KaiNO]

17 hours ago, Starlight said:

Tonight.

I'm finding this material really challenging so I keep putting it off till my little grey cells feel they can cope. Those monents are few and far between.

But tonight. I will drop everything and Make. Myself. Focus.

 

You're doing well, @Starlight 👍
We are soon over the hump now, then we can start working with the cards 😀

Edited August 27, 2019 by KaiNO

[Barleywine]

The Book of Thoth, Part One, The Theory of the Tarot, Sub-Part III, The Atu of Tahuti

 

This section exhausts several paragraphs talking about why the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are arranged "just so" on the paths of the Tree of Life, with the verdict being "Who knows?" (but if you want to know more you have to become an initiate in an esoteric order). Not very useful for our purpose, but the inevitable conclusion is "that's just the way it is" so we will move on. He gets more cogent when he talks about the fact that there are only three "Mother" letters for Fire, Water and Air, but there are five elements if we add Earth and Spirit. So two letters have to do double duty: Shin is both Fire and Spirit and Tau is both Saturn and Earth. Shin relates to Judgement (elemental Fire but also Spirit, as the image and the allegory convey) and Tau to the World (the Path of Saturn from Malkuth ["Kingdom"] to Yesod ["Foundation"] but also elemental Earth).

 

He then makes a few statements that are excellent food for thought:

 

"The tarot is justified not by faith, but by works." I take this to mean that while we can take the Hebrew system at face value, we don't have to stand still in our exploration of the correspondences and can tinker with them as experience dictates. (I know I certainly have.).

 

"It must always be borne in mind that the Tarot is not only an atlas for recording facts, but a guide-book showing one how to travel through these countries previously unknown" His example shows how important it is to learn the local customs if one expects to understand the culture as a whole. His thorough deconstruction of the 6 of Wands exemplifies what he's talking about in tarot terms, and he then brings it to bear on the trumps: "One abandons the contemplation of the whole in order to take practical advantage of a part." He considers it a matter of tactics over strategy. It's impossible for any card to comprise a complete map of the territory it proposes to illuminate, so we must content ourselves with particulars. (In a reading I like to think of them as "signposts along the road;" they point the way but don't lead us by the hand.)

 

"The student of the tarot must not therefore expect to find anything beyond a careful selection of the facts about any given card, a selection made for a quite definite magical purpose. However, the tarot does try to resume, in a single pictorial symbol, as many as possible of the useful aspects of the idea. In studying any card, one ought not to neglect any of the attributions, because each class of attribution does modify the form and color of the card, and its use." This is probably the most difficult passage we have encountered yet, but I think what he is alluding to is that the average student doesn't stand a chance in hell of intuitively free-associating from the images in his deck. The cards have to be studied with some perspicacity and dedication in order to master their meaning. For example, while the Minor Arcana may be highly evocative in their richness of color and mood, that is just the facade; one still needs a firm grasp of the underlying architecture in order to make the most of them.

 

But don't get discouraged; as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding," and we will see how all of this hangs together when we start working with the cards.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Barleywine

[Barleywine]

On 8/26/2019 at 8:20 PM, Starlight said:

Tonight.

I'm finding this material really challenging so I keep putting it off till my little grey cells feel they can cope. Those monents are few and far between.

But tonight. I will drop everything and Make. Myself. Focus.

Hang in there. We're getting into the meat of Crowley's high-level thinking about the Major Arcana next, and I'm going to try to boil it down to essentials.

[Starlight]

6 hours ago, Barleywine said:

Hang in there. We're getting into the meat of Crowley's high-level thinking about the Major Arcana next, and I'm going to try to boil it down to essentials.

 

22 hours ago, KaiNO said:

 

You're doing well, @Starlight 👍
We are soon over the hump now, then we can start working with the cards 😀

Thank you both so much for your encouragement. I am getting there. 🙂

[KaiNO]

For your info: I travel to warmer regions tomorrow. I'll be back in a week. Although I like Crowley, he stays at home.

 

But I'm up to date now and I will read myself up again in the book and on new posts in the thread on Sunday in a week.

[KaiNO]

It feels a bit lonely here, I hope I'm not the only one left 😟

 

Maybe we should have recruited more participants? Strangely, that there are so few of us since this class is really inspiring! Barleywine certainly knows his stuff 👍 It's still possible to catch up on the progression this far.

 

And Thoth isn't hard to learn. Come on, this illustration is actually just a joke 😉 :