Path: typhoon.sonic.net!feed.news.sonic.net!news-out.nuthinbutnews.com!propagator-sterling!news-in.nuthinbutnews.com!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!kibo.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!top-hat.demon.co.uk!newaeonbooks.demon.co.uk!cavalorn From: Cavalorn Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.lucky.w,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.occult.methods Subject: Re: Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic -- Storax and Styrax Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:37:34 +0100 Message-ID: References: <3d5d2335.577286@trialnews.peoplepc.com> <3D5DB86A.4C21@luckymojo.com> <3d5ee3c5.28889779@trialnews.peoplepc.com> <3D5F29B1.2C8@luckymojo.com> <3d5fde9b.841710@trialnews.peoplepc.com> <10cff505.0208182143.738d8817@posting.google.com> <3d6092e3.47001591@trialnews.peoplepc.com> <3d6586e4.31296267@trialnews.peoplepc.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: top-hat.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: top-hat.demon.co.uk:194.222.89.5 X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 1030088429 nnrp-07:20609 NO-IDENT top-hat.demon.co.uk:194.222.89.5 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Newsreader: Turnpike Integrated Version 5.01 S Lines: 68 Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick:314557 alt.lucky.w:12448 alt.magick.tyagi:34369 alt.occult.methods:461 In article <3d6586e4.31296267@trialnews.peoplepc.com>, Gnome d Plume writes > However the Emperor/Star >exchange does date from Aiwas's statement that: "All the pages of my >Book are aright except Tzaddi which is not The Star." This is a >mandate to make an exchange--which Crowley finally did That's one interpretation. There are others, e.g.: '... and the great mystery of the House of God. All these old letters of my Book are aright; but is not the Star.' All *these* old letters, note. 'These' is clearly a reference to something immediate. If this were a reference to standard Hebrew letter to Tarot trump attributions, one would expect to read 'all *the* old letters', not *these*. Have all the other Hebrew letters been listed? No. The only Hebrew letter which is mentioned is Tzaddi, which comes *after* the word 'these' and thus cannot possibly exemplify what is being indicated by 'these old letters'. What, then, is the justification for assuming that 'these old letters' has anything at all to do with Hebrew letters being incorrectly ascribed to Trumps? Why did Aiwaz not say 'Hé is not the Emperor'? We may also challenge that view which deems the 'traditional' attribution of letters to Trumps to be 'old', since it does not seem to be found before Eliphas Levi. Crowley did not know this at the time of the receipt of Liber Legis. Aiwaz, perhaps, knew better. [The truth of the matter is that] the comment concerns the curious use of the title 'House of God' for the Tarot trump more commonly known as the Tower. Observe that the comment about 'these old letters' comes immediately after the use of the term 'House of God', as if the intent were to clarify that usage. 'these old letters of my Book' are thus the old titles of the Tarot Trumps, of which 'The House of God' is an example. (This is not the only passage in which Aiwaz refers to whole words by referring to characters; compare the use of 'these runes' in AL II v 27.) By stating that 'tzaddi is not the Star', Aiwaz is pointing out that the Tarot card usually called the Star is *misnamed*. The error is not that the Hebrew letter Tzaddi is attributed to the wrong trump, but that the trump to which Tzaddi is attributed does not bear the correct title. (To call that card the Star would be a mistake akin to calling the Lovers card 'the Cupid'.) The Prophet has to give it its proper title, and this is to be one of the secrets retained by the adepts of Thelema. (You are referred in this context to the comments on AL I v 22.) Aiwaz simply refers to the Trump as 'tzaddi' in order to indicate which Trump He is talking about, because (as he then goes on to say) its proper title is to remain duly secret. Contrast the above with AL II v 15 in which Aiwaz refers to the 'Emperor' Trump as 'the King'. Evidently these titles are close enough one to the other not to warrant insistence upon a change; but to call the Tzaddi trump 'The Star' is to miss the point of the card altogether. Cav -- Give me a woman who's taken her knocks, Who's tasted both gutter and stars. Give me a lady with holes in her socks. Give me a princess with scars.