From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nigris (333)) To: usenet Subject: Thoth Deck Analysis and Correction (LONG) Date: 49991029 AA4 _LIBER TAHUTI vel 78: THOTH TAROT (RE)STRUCTURE_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by nigris 3 3 3 [comment: analysing the structure and formal logic of the Harris-Crowley ("Thoth") tarot deck as it appears in popular publication (large deck, Atu I, "The Magus" selected as Plate V in _The Book of Thoth_ depicts (Aleister Crowley, Weiser, 1981; p.225)). commentary on distributed dissection in "[brackets]" by the author.] Small Cards ___________ Suits: Wands Disks Swords Cups Elements: / \ \-/ /-\ \ / [alchemical sequence?] F E A W [comment: the alchemical sequence I remembered was FWAE, the same sequence by which the Small Cards are listed in _The Book of Thoth_; the deck rigidifies the sequence above within its Small Cards, which can *only* be placed in this sequence when arranging the cards in a coherent configuration matching up numbers, planets and zodiac; the suit and element associations are traditional and pictorially obvious.] __________________________________________________ Numbers/Zodiac/Planets [planets in the "Sequence of the Ancients"]: Ares Taurus Gemini Cancer Mar/Sun/Ven Mer/Mon/Sat Jup/Mar/Sun Ven/Mer/Mon 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 Leo Virgo Libra Scopio Sat/Jup/Mar Sun/Ven/Mer Mon/Sat/Jup Mar/Sun/Ven 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces Mer/Mon/Sat Jup/Mar/Sun Ven/Mer/Mon Sat/Jup/Mar 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [comment: the numerical and zodiacal sequence proceeds in a traditional fashion, distributing the numbers amongst the elementary signs in a progressive cyclic. the planetary attribution follows the traditional sequence identified through selection amongst weekdays (skipping backwards two days each): Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday, Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, etc., starting and ending with Tuesday. all of these attributions are on the faces of the cards themselves.] ------------------------------------------------------------------- Court [sequenced both by elemental-attribute and graduated power]: Knight Princess Prince Queen Gender M F M F [comment: Crowley's elementary attribution (text) matches my own visual pre-assessment of the graduated power apparent in the graphics of the card based on the appearance of the Court figure in question: relative position, orientation and size of elemental symbol on the card, etc. _The Book of Thoth_ describes the Small Cards secondarily, after the Large, first in Part III: The Court Cards, in which proceeds Knight, Queen, Prince, Princess, as well as Wands, Cups, Swords, Disks. it proceeds from Courts to a comparison of numbers: Aces, Twos, Threes, etc., and thence on to an analysis of Ace through 10 of each suit in the same sequence as the Courts. the book therefore appears to intentionally transpose what the deck implies is a structural constant (an elemental, planetary and zodiacal combination) which yields only one possible orientation, further supported by a visual (as well as aristocratically-historical) Court-sequencing allowing an obvious application to the Tetragrammaton (Yod-He-Vav-He). further, Appendix B provides "The Court Cards of the Tarot with the Spheres of their Celestial Dominion" in FWAE suit sequence listed down the page as Knight, Queen, Prince, Princess. Crowley's description echoes this configuration as it describes the Princess of Disks as the "last" of the Court Cards.] =================================================================== Large Cards ___________ Roman Numerals: 0-XXI # Title Attribution Hebrew Letter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0 Fool /-\ [air] Aleph I Magus Mercury Beth II High Priestess Moon Gimel III Empress Venus Daleth IV Emperor Ares He V Heirophant Taurus Vau VI The Lovers Gemini Zain VII The Chariot Cancer Cheth VIII Lust Leo Teth IX The Hermit Virgo Yod X Fortune Jupiter Kaph XI Adjustment Libra Lamed XII The Hanged Man \ / [water] Mem XIII Death Scorpio Nun XIV Art Sagittarius Samekh XV The Devil Capricorn A'ain XVI The Tower Mars Pe XVII The Star Aquarius Tzaddi XVIII The Moon Pisces Qoph XIX The Sun Sun Resh XX The Aeon / \ [fire] Shin XXI The Universe Saturn Tau [comment: here I have intentionally displayed my own 'fix' of the Large Cards per their obvious zodiacal and Hebrew sequences in view of possible alternatives which Crowley sometimes favors. more below. _The Book of Thoth_ has Atu IV ("The Emperor") listed with Tzaddi, Aquarius, and a key scale of 28 (all three of these transposed with "The Star", XVII's He, Ares and 15). it also has Atu VIII listed as "Adjustment" (formerly 'Justice') with Lamed and Libra on key scale 22 (transposed with XI's "Lust", formerly "Strength", Teth, Leo, and 19). the key scales are generally otherwise assigned to the Atu # + 11 as listed in 777 and elsewhere indicative of the paths on the Lurianic Tree of Life. the cards themselves have Atu IV, "The Emperior" assigned Tzaddi and *Ares* with obvious Ares-ian symbolism traditional to 'The Emperor' contained therein. they have assigned Atu XVII, "The Star" with He and *Aquarius*, with obvious Aquarian symbolism traditional to 'The Star' therein. the deck also has Atu *VIII* as "Adjustment", Lamed and Libra with obvious Libran symbolism traditional to 'Justice' and Atu *XI* as "Lust", Teth and Leo with obvious Leonine symbolism traditional to 'Strength'. the attribution sequence of elements proceeds from Atu 0 (Air) to XII (Water), XX (Fire) and one past XX at ".", key scale "32 bis", (Earth) (possibly related to Ain, certainly associated with the letter Shin (cf. _777_, p. xxiv). the planetary attributions are provided in same as from Atu I (Mercury) to II (Moon), III (Venus), X (Jupiter), XVI (Mars), XIX (Sun), XXI (Saturn), forming a backwards chain of 2-3-1-2-2-1. the zodiacal signs are given the attributions to the following Atus: IV (Aquarius), V (Taurus), VI (Gemini), VI (Cancer), VIII (Libra), IX (Virgo), XI (Leo), XIII (Scorpio), XIV (Sagittarius), XV (Capricorn) and XVII (Ares), clearly out of cosmologic order. THE REPAIR taking the cards and Appendix B into consideration, and more importantly comparing a zodialogical and literary sequence in combination with the graphic representations on the cards themselves, the following corrections were made to the cards on their face as was represented in the table above: * IV: changed Tzaddi to He * VIII: changed VIII to XI * XI: changed XI to VIII * XVII: changed He to Tzaddi this brings the deck's structural configuration into alignment with a coherent astrological and Hebraic sequencing. these changes are quite obvious and may have constituted a 'blind' or deception set forth by the designer or publisher. perhaps it was done for the purposes of acting as test of adeptship on the part of the reader, or as a means to preserve the 'occult' status of the tool per oaths of secrecy or perfunctory administrative policy. this may have also been the case in the re-arrangement in presentation in the book of the suits and Court cards as to their proper sequence as compared to a deductive reconciliation. ____________________________________________________ (c) 1997 nigris (333) (nagasiva@luckymojo.com) this file approved for electronic reproduction. no compensation above cost shall be exacted nor shall the text be distributed without this copyright notice attached unless provided by the author in writing or excerpted for 'fair use'. REVISION: 49991029 AA4 (c) 1999 tyagi nagasiva nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nagasiva) ArkaotikA 6632 Covey Drive Forestville, CA 95436