This forum is officially closed. It will however remain online and active in a limited form for the time being.

Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

A place for beginners and experienced alike to delve into the Mysteries of Tarot's most enigmatic deck.
Forum rules
This forum is for discussions regarding the study and appreciation the the Thoth Tarot.
Post Reply
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Hi. I was interested in taking a closer look at some of the Thoth esoteric card titles -- their Golden Dawn origins, what they're meant to refer to, how they form groups in the majors of "children", "lords" etc.

I thought I'd start with listing the majors. Then if there's discussion and we want to go on, I'm happy to list the minors as well.

This is from 777, with differences from Book T noted.

Fool
The Spirit of the Aether

Magus
The Magus of Power

High Priestess
The Priestess of the Silver Star

Empress
The Daughter of the Mighty Ones

Emperor
The Son of the Morning, Chief among the Mighty
(GD Sun instead of Son)

The Hierophant
The Magus of the Eternal

The Lovers
The Children of the Voice: the Oracle of the Mighty Gods

The Chariot
The Child of the Powers of the Waters: the Lord of the Triumph of Light

Adjustment
The Daughter of the Lords of Truth. The Ruler of the Balance

The Hermit
The Prophet of the Eternal, the Magus of the Voice of Power

Wheel of Fortune
The Lord of the Forces of Life
(GD The Lord of the of Fate Forces of Life)

Lust
The Daughter of the Flaming Sword

Hanged Man
The Spirit of the Mighty Waters

Death
The Child of the Great Transformers. The Lord of the Gate of Death

Art
The Daughter of the Reconcilers, the Bringer-Forth of Life

Devil
The Lord of the Gates of Matter. The Child of the Forces of Time

Tower
The Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty

Star
The Daughter of the Firmament. The Dweller between the Waters

Moon
The Ruler of Flux and Reflux. The Child of the Sons of the Mighty

Sun
The Lord of the Fire of the World

Aeon
The Spirit of the Primal Fire

Universe
The Great One of the Night of Time
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

This is an area that I've devoted a lot less time to than correspondences to hermetic Qabalah and astrology, and I'd like to give it some more thought. More than that, I'd like to hear what you have to say about them.

Looking at the list, there are some groups. We have 3 Spirits that match up to the 3 Hebrew mother letters, a handful of Daughters and one Son. Maybe a grandughter if you count the Moon, as the Child of a Son. ;) Several Lords. Only one Prophet.

Starting at the top, the first three majors have titles that refer simply to what they are. Those are the three paths that begin at Kether. Once we get to the Empress, we start getting titles that define the card in terms of their status in relation to other powers.

The Empress is the Daughter of the Mighty Ones, which means little to me without knowing who the Mighty Ones are. Crowley throws us a bone for this one when he says, "the path leading from Chokmah to Binah, uniting the Father with the Mother." So I assume the parental 'Mighty Ones' are a reference to Chokmah to Binah and her path, the first of three that connect the left to the right on the Tree.

empresspath.jpg
empresspath.jpg (34.01 KiB) Viewed 5400 times


Other or additional possible meanings could be from the astrological side and references to Venus. Her birth from sea foam connects the god of the sky (or at least his genitals) with the sea, due to a fight between Caelus and Saturn. Saturn gets a couple of references in this list as a god associated with time, but this seems like a less likely candidate for the Mighty Ones, at least in Crowley's mind. I could easily have missed something the GD said about their original intent.

I'll be back for more. Please feel free to add your thoughts about any of these titles! I'd be happy to have your insights.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
HRU's Muse
Seer
Posts: 45
Joined: 10 Jul 2018, 16:09

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by HRU's Muse »

I really love these titles.They are so evocative and poetic.

You know, Chokmah and Binah are sort of similar to Caelus and Saturn anyway. I mean, Binah and Saturn are cognate, and Caelus as Uranus isn't a bad match for Chokmah and the correspondence of "the zodiac" since Uranus is just outside of Saturn, and the modern ruler of Aquarius the Star (in other words, very "celestial" ie Urania.)

And "Mighty Ones" is certainly a good name for the Titans. It could be Uranus and Gaia too, that fits (Binah/Saturn also coonects to Malkuth/Earth, the mother/daughter thing). The whole pantheon of gods descends from Uranus and Gaia. The only earlier were Chaos and Nox, Aethyr and Hemera, Eros (Phanes, not the son of Aphrodite), and Pontus the Sea (and some of his offspring also with Gaia) at least according to the family tree in Bulfinches.

Nut and Geb kind of works too.

I sure wish I could have been there when Mathers was hashing out these names. They really fascinate me. Somewhere I even have a spreadsheet where I was trying to figure out a grand design LOL
~ I enter as a hawk; I come out as a phoenix in the morning. Pert-em-hru
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

If we agree that the Mighty Ones in the Empress are Chokmah and Binah, what does it mean to say that she represents their Daughter?

Only two majors with a female as the focal point of the card aren't daughters. The High Priestess and the Universe. In between them the Empress, Adjustment, Lust, Art, and the Star are all daughters.

At first I was a bit put off by that. But we can look to Book T's description of the Princesses to see the power to be had when inheriting traits. A Princess is -- "The mighty and potent daughter of a King and Queen: a Princess powerful and terrible: a Queen of Queens --- an Empress --- whose effect combines those of the King, Queen, and Prince, at once violent and permanent..."

And unlike the RWS in which the King is the final card of his suit, in the Thoth it's the Princess. She has the pivotal role of being both the culmination of everything that's came before her, and the turning point at which we start over in a new cycle.

If she's similar, the Empress as daughter seems to point toward the power that comes with combining the traits of the 'Mighty Ones' within herself. That's reinforced in the Empress' horizontal path between the pillars of Mercy and Severity.

She combines unconstrained creative force (Chokmah) with the impetus toward separation into forms (Binah). The two fundamental forces joined together are fertility and set the stage for all creations -- from the world to an idea to a cake you decide do bake.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

HRU's Muse wrote: 25 Jan 2020, 23:45 I really love these titles.They are so evocative and poetic.

You know, Chokmah and Binah are sort of similar to Caelus and Saturn anyway. I mean, Binah and Saturn are cognate, and Caelus as Uranus isn't a bad match for Chokmah and the correspondence of "the zodiac" since Uranus is just outside of Saturn, and the modern ruler of Aquarius the Star (in other words, very "celestial" ie Urania.)

And "Mighty Ones" is certainly a good name for the Titans. It could be Uranus and Gaia too, that fits (Binah/Saturn also coonects to Malkuth/Earth, the mother/daughter thing). The whole pantheon of gods descends from Uranus and Gaia. The only earlier were Chaos and Nox, Aethyr and Hemera, Eros (Phanes, not the son of Aphrodite), and Pontus the Sea (and some of his offspring also with Gaia) at least according to the family tree in Bulfinches.

Nut and Geb kind of works too.

I sure wish I could have been there when Mathers was hashing out these names. They really fascinate me. Somewhere I even have a spreadsheet where I was trying to figure out a grand design LOL
I was typing as you replied... Great to see your thoughts here. I remember reading that you included these titles in your meditations when working on Tabula Mundi.

I had to run look up Urania. Which I like. There are always so many connections I haven't thought of, because the concepts are literally universal. Uranus makes sense the way you describe it beyond the limits of the planets associated with the cards. Uranus and Gaia, earth and sky (and keeping it in the family like the courts). I'm sort of struck by the Venus rising from salty sea foam, making Pontus a good fit. Of course Uranus and Gaia together make the sea, so that works.

Nut and Geb… the point when they meet being darkness reminds me of grey Chokmah and black Binah.

I see why you'd have a spreadsheet! You highlight how these associations can overlap and add to one another. I think I've been trying to pin them down to one or two ideas, but that's an arbitrary limitation, when 777 is all about the many ways different systems highlight similar archetypes.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

The Emperor is the 'Son of the morning'... Maybe the rising sun ( Ra-Hoor-Khuit), and Aries the first sign of spring and start of the zodiac.

After the comma is 'Chief among the Mighty'... We had Mighty Ones in the Empress, so maybe it's related, particularly with the old path of the Emperor from Chokmah. But my first thought is the Sun. When I consider the Emperor on the path between feminine Netzach (Venus) and Yesod (Moon), it reminds me of the Ra passing through Nuit's body. (Son and Sun make me think of Tiphareth.)

All solar. That's as far as I've gotten with this one.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Monk
Sybil
Posts: 122
Joined: 04 Dec 2019, 13:52

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Monk »

HRU's Muse wrote: 25 Jan 2020, 23:45
I sure wish I could have been there when Mathers was hashing out these names. They really fascinate me. Somewhere I even have a spreadsheet where I was trying to figure out a grand design LOL
If you ever run into that you should share it :) Those are valuable pieces of work and would help people (me) wrap their heads around stuff.

M
Premier Principes Tarot is about to launch on Kickstarter - follow below to get updated.
-Premier Principes Tarot- https://www.instagram.com/premier_principes_tarot/
User avatar
HRU's Muse
Seer
Posts: 45
Joined: 10 Jul 2018, 16:09

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by HRU's Muse »

The "Sun/Son of the Morning" connection with the rising Sun works well for the Emperor since he is Aries, the sign that begins the zodiacal sequence at the Vernal Equinox, and since the Sun is exalted in Aries.
The "Sun/Son of the Morning" is also something Lucifer is sometimes called. We think of the Devil, Capricorn, but it's notable that the Aries's ruler Mars is exalted in Capricorn. (There is also venus who is called Morning Star, but that will just confuse things! Actually, edited to add, that it makes sense in a way, for him to be the "Son" of Venus the Morning Star, even though he is her consort, if you consider her the gate/mother of all below the Abyss, and the "old Aeon" path attribution out of Chokmah)

The other title "Chief Among the Mighty" is interesting. Note it isn't Mighty Ones but only Mighty. What I am thinking is that the "Ones" refers to the supernals. To be chief is to be head, and the sign Aries refers to the head in the body. It is also the first sign, so perhaps the Mighty are the 12 signs, all of which are below the Abyss, or below the supernals.

Monk, eventually I will find that spreadsheet. I've changed computers recently but still have the old one and its files. Right now though I am out straight with book deadlines and hand painting special gifts for everyone who preorder my new deck Pharos. Crazy to do that but once my muse gets an idea it forces me to do it. Honestly I shouldn't even be posting but I have been working non stop for weeks and have to get away from it sometimes! If only to put the body in some other position. Once the crush is over I will look for it, though I can't say I ever figured out the "grand pattern" - assuming there is one!
~ I enter as a hawk; I come out as a phoenix in the morning. Pert-em-hru
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

HRU's Muse wrote: 27 Jan 2020, 23:50 The "Sun/Son of the Morning" connection with the rising Sun works well for the Emperor since he is Aries, the sign that begins the zodiacal sequence at the Vernal Equinox, and since the Sun is exalted in Aries.
The "Sun/Son of the Morning" is also something Lucifer is sometimes called. We think of the Devil, Capricorn, but it's notable that the Aries's ruler Mars is exalted in Capricorn. (There is also venus who is called Morning Star, but that will just confuse things! Actually, edited to add, that it makes sense in a way, for him to be the "Son" of Venus the Morning Star, even though he is her consort, if you consider her the gate/mother of all below the Abyss, and the "old Aeon" path attribution out of Chokmah)
Nice! I hadn't even thought of Venus/Empress, but Venus sometimes rising bright before the sun (and far more visible than Mercury) is a great connection. And the GD never had a problem with keeping the consort mythology in the family to show a cycle repeating.
HRU's Muse wrote: 27 Jan 2020, 23:50The other title "Chief Among the Mighty" is interesting. Note it isn't Mighty Ones but only Mighty. What I am thinking is that the "Ones" refers to the supernals. To be chief is to be head, and the sign Aries refers to the head in the body. It is also the first sign, so perhaps the Mighty are the 12 signs, all of which are below the Abyss, or below the supernals.
The list seems to be heavy on types of Mighty. (And the Bible certainly used it a lot to describe different types of power.) I guess I'm used to Crowley pointing to Leo for a top zodiac spot, but as you say, Aries is first and starts the whole circle in the spring when visible growth takes off again. And if the Empress is the Daughter of two supernals, and the Emperor is Chief of the zodiac below that, it reinforces the idea of him organizing the process of creation that begins above.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Looking at the Hierophant, the Magus and Hermit pop up along with him. They share words that don't show up in any other titles.
Magus - The Magus of Power
Hierophant - The Magus of the Eternal
Hermit - The Prophet of the Eternal, the Magus of the Voice of Power

In his entry for The Hierophant, Crowley tells us that the main point of being a Magus is to unite below with above, unite the individual with the HGA: "...the main reference is to the particular arcanum which is the principal business, the essential, of all magical work; the uniting of the microcosm with the macrocosm." ~Book of Thoth

The Hierophant unites with the 'Eternal', and literally nothing in the world of Malkuth we experience every day with the senses is eternal. Everything from quantum particles to mountains to galaxies is in a constant state of change. 'Eternal' is another pointer to the macrocosm and also to Kether, or even, as far as it's possible to conceive of it, Ein Soph.

The Hermit is 'The Prophet of the Eternal', and prophets don't so much do the actual uniting; they go around telling people that it's possible. Which goes well with The Hermit's second title, 'The Magus of the Voice of Power"...

The Magus ('The Magus of Power') is "the Word of creation whose speech is silence." ~BoT His power is Will, which is maybe sort of a big deal in Crowley's Thelema. ;) Mercury being a great correspondence for the aspect of speech.

The Hermit is Virgo ruled by Mercury, and he's the 'Magus of the Voice of Power', which sounds a lot like saying he's The Magus again, but on a lower level in his path and as earthy Virgo. He's the most accessible of the 3, the one you would meet first who opens your mind to the possibility that there is something eternal, and that there is a true Will. From there you meet a teacher in the form of The Hierophant. Beyond lies the Magus whose path actually connects with Kether itself.

...Or that's what it seems like to me so far.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
HRU's Muse
Seer
Posts: 45
Joined: 10 Jul 2018, 16:09

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by HRU's Muse »

All that sounds about right. I also am struck by the word "eternal" as far as it relates to the concept of Time, which connects it to the "below" as well as to the above, because of time's connection to Saturn and the Universe card "The Great One of the Night of Time". Which is also attributed to Earth as well as Saturn. So the Heirophant and Hermt, both Earth signs, are Magus and Prophet of the Eternal. (The other earth sign Capricorn the Devil also ties in with the idea of Time). It's funny because in order to be eternal something has to be beyond time but the idea of eternity is defined by time. Beyond time is probably "above Binah" or beyond Saturn, defined by time is down here in good old Malkuth.Again the connecting of above to below.
~ I enter as a hawk; I come out as a phoenix in the morning. Pert-em-hru
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

HRU's Muse wrote: 03 Feb 2020, 12:02 All that sounds about right. I also am struck by the word "eternal" as far as it relates to the concept of Time, which connects it to the "below" as well as to the above, because of time's connection to Saturn and the Universe card "The Great One of the Night of Time". Which is also attributed to Earth as well as Saturn. So the Heirophant and Hermt, both Earth signs, are Magus and Prophet of the Eternal. (The other earth sign Capricorn the Devil also ties in with the idea of Time). It's funny because in order to be eternal something has to be beyond time but the idea of eternity is defined by time. Beyond time is probably "above Binah" or beyond Saturn, defined by time is down here in good old Malkuth.Again the connecting of above to below.
Now that you put it like that, "One" in the title for The Universe looks like a big pointer, saying Hey, look; Malkuth is what happens when the One is within the boundary of Saturn / space-time.

And yes to the Lord of the Gates of Matter and time, with Capricorn ruled by Saturn. He seems to be wholly and engrossed in matter of all forms as opposed to concerned about uniting with anything not about matter, which I'm guessing is why he doesn't get the Magus title of the other 2 earth signs. But then again he is given a path that connects to Tiphareth, so maybe I'm wrong.

(Bit of a tangent, but in Buddhism we hear a lot of teachings about the non-eternal, impermanence, as a mark of all 'conditioned' existence (i.e. Malkuth), and that's only not applicable to the 'unconditioned', because the enlightened, "have abandoned all becoming: they, the Such." -- It's funny, because 'personal growth' is such a popular concept, and for Buddhists there's the desire to 'become enlightened', but even as we make use of that desire in the form of motivation to do certain things, enlightenment isn't actually about becoming anything. Kind of a similar paradox to the one you describe in which our understanding of eternity is defined by time even though it's beyond time.)
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

The Lovers
The Children of the Voice: the Oracle of the Mighty Gods

'Voice' makes me think of The Magus and Hermit's titles, and Book of Thoth says, "The hooded figure which occupies the centre of the Card is another form of The Hermit, who is further explained in Atu IX. He is himself a form of the god Mercury, described in Atu I."

For Children of the Mighty Gods, perhaps the Garden of Eden and the fall. There's always the pronoun "us" there in God's speech, or there's the Serpent. There's even a sword like Zain guarding the gate. -- "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union."

Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins, one born mortal, one fathered by Jupiter. Sometimes said to be born from an egg*. When Castor is mortally wounded Pollux shares half of his immortality with him, making them a pair of demi-gods.

Since The Lovers joins Binah and Tiphareth other 'Mighty Gods' contenders could be dark Saturn and light Sun. Crowley addresses the path in reference to the title. "he [Cupid] may be regarded as the intellectual aspect of the influence of Binah upon Tiphareth, for (in one tradition) the title of the card is 'The Children of the Voice, the Oracle of the Mighty Gods'."

Which also brings up Cupid and Psyche. She wears funeral attire to her foretold 'wedding' with a beast, but ends up married to Cupid after much trouble and a visit to the underworld. -- Just realized their child is named 'Pleasure', like the 6 of Cups at Tiphareth, which as a decan of Scorpio is another reference to Death that precedes Art.

"Oracle' I thought might have to do with the way this card sets in motion a process that will be completed in Art? Crowley says these 2 cards have to be understood in reference to one another, and I'm on board with that.

Art
The Daughter of the Reconcilers, the Bringer-Forth of Life

I thought the 'Reconcilers' would refer to The Lovers. *And when Crowley says, "the whole of this card represents the hidden content of the Egg described in Atu VI," it made me think of bringing forth the life from within that Orphic egg, which would be Phanes (hey, Pharos' Fool), the light and a further 'reconciler.'
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

The Chariot
The Child of the Powers of the Waters: the Lord of the Triumph of Light

Waters
Cancer is the cardinal sign of water, also corresponding to the 2, 3, and 4 of Cups. Cardinal signs have the power to begin things. Plus 'Powers of the Waters' refers to the sea of Binah, I assume. And with powers and waters both being plural, perhaps also the blood of Geburah, corresponding to Mars.

Light
Summer Solstice -- The GD King Scale is Amber, and Crowley has that color on the armor and calls it "appropriate to the sign," due to Cancer's connection with the longest daylight of the year. Snuffin points out that the 6 light rays at the center of the cup refer to Tiphareth/Sun/the 6s and so the HGA*. On the card the circular ripples behind the Chariot are golden yellow like light. -- Actually none of the scale colors for this card are colors of water. Heading up, they're greenish brown, russet, maroon, and amber, like heading through Geburah and toward the light.

Not just Light but the 'Triumph'
Perhaps triumph for its path crossing the Abyss. And the triumph of coming out the other side of Geburah, associated with Mars and the challenging 5s.
*Also to successfully consciously connect with one’s HGA. (Snuffin references Abrahadabrah on this card as a reference to that. The note in BoT to go read a page of gematria in Equinox of the Gods makes a connection between Abrahadabrah, the Chariot's letter Cheth, and the new Aeon, and a connection between Binah/mother and Malkuth/daughter in Cheth-Yod-Tau, with Cheth/Chariot's path beginning in Binah, and Tau referring to the path of Tau/The Universe which ends with us in our daily life at Malkuth/Earth.)

chariot-path.jpg
chariot-path.jpg (76.46 KiB) Viewed 6702 times
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Adjustment
The Daughter of the Lords of Truth. The Ruler of the Balance

Lords of Truth
I guess Douglas Adams was right, and 42 really is the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," or at least... In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, when your heart is weighed on Ma'at's scales, and Osirus and Thoth are standing there, there are also 42 "Lords of Truth" in the room. If your heart weighs less than a feather, before you can breathe a sigh of relief, these Lords of Truth need to confer with the gods and agree that the answer is, yes, you pass.

The Daughter of these Lords of Truth is Ma'at. ("She is the goddess Maat" (BoT on Adjustment)) 'Daughter' in the title also makes a connection, since with that sword between her thighs, she's the "Woman Satisfied" and shows that the Daughter becomes the Mother (another Malkuth --> Binah reference).

Ruler of the Balance
This seems straight forward, since Ma'at actually personifies orderly harmony, a constant adjustment to keep the balance. Not only weighing feathers, but sometimes shown as a plinth, the foundation beneath everything else.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Fortune
The Lord of the Forces of Life
(GD: The Lord of the Fate Forces of Life)

If it had been Lords plural, there are the Sphinx, Hermanubis, and Typhon (which Crowley calls the riders, and then right after, in a quote, says they are not. Classic.) And 3 Gunas and 3 alchemical elements. But since it's only 'Lord', looking at the card I'd punt for cycles and change as 'the forces of life'. Fortune "represents the Universe in its aspect as a continual change of state." (BoT)

(I think of change in this card as the larger cycles in history and the course of our lives as opposed to moment to moment alteration in the 2 of Disks, Change. Fortune also has more good fortune than the 2, being expansive Jupiter rather than Jupiter in Capricorn.)

This is the second of only 2 edits Crowley made to the majors' titles. He tosses 'Fate'. Since Thelema is about discovering your true Will, then acting in line with that Will, and since he encourages dynamic, self propelled energy when it comes to staying focused on that goal, Fate may have sounded too static, with a hint of inertia in the common phrase accepting your fate.
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
Papageno
Sage
Posts: 507
Joined: 02 Feb 2020, 09:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Papageno »

Rose Lalonde wrote: 05 Feb 2020, 01:36
(Bit of a tangent, but in Buddhism we hear a lot of teachings about the non-eternal, impermanence, as a mark of all 'conditioned' existence (i.e. Malkuth), and that's only not applicable to the 'unconditioned', because the enlightened, "have abandoned all becoming: they, the Such." -- It's funny, because 'personal growth' is such a popular concept, and for Buddhists there's the desire to 'become enlightened', but even as we make use of that desire in the form of motivation to do certain things, enlightenment isn't actually about becoming anything. Kind of a similar paradox to the one you describe in which our understanding of eternity is defined by time even though it's beyond time.)
this excerpt is from the ending scene from the Martin Scorsese film: Kundun......a really beautiful film btw.

Indian border guard:

Are you the Lord Buddha?

Dalai Lama:

I believe I am a reflection, like the moon on water. When you see me, and I try to be a good man, you see yourself.
Rocket Raccoon: Blah, Blah, Blah.....
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Lust
The Daughter of the Flaming Sword

Leo is the fixed fire sign ruled by the sun. And this is a path immediately above Tiphareth, the sun. "the Woman in the card may be regarded as a form of the Moon, very fully illuminated by the Sun"(BoT)

Lust's path is Chesed to Geburah, and the magical weapon for Geburah is the Sword. Geburah also corresponds to fiery Mars, so it seems to fit the 'Flaming Sword'.

Crowley says this card is not so much the Strength that's Geburah's title, but the effect of Mercy/Chesed on Strength/Geburah and that, "Lust implies not only strength, but the joy of strength exercised." That's in the Thoth card, but it was the GDS who came up with 'Daughter of the Flaming Sword', and I don't see a direct reference in their title to Chesed's influence. (Though I could have missed it!) The GDS named their version of this card Strength, in keeping with the TdM's La Force, but also pointing right at Geburah's title.

The Tower is another Sword/Mars combo, and the only horizontal path below Lust. Like Geburah, the weapon is also the Sword, and it corresponds to Mars.

The sword on Adjustment is said to show she's the 'Woman Satisfied', and I think the sword serves a similar function here. Lust "represents the act of the original marriage as it occurs in nature, as opposed to the more artificial form portrayed in Atu VI"

Lust-title.jpg
Lust-title.jpg (59.48 KiB) Viewed 6624 times
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Death
The Child of the Great Transformers. The Lord of the Gate of Death.
-
-
deathXIIsm.png
deathXIIsm.png (61.15 KiB) Viewed 4264 times
-
-
Great Tranformers:
Time seems like an obvious contender. And Book T says, "Time, age, transformation, change involuntary..." Someone on Aeclectic put Nature forward as another, and with Netzach as one end of Death's path, that seems reasonable.

I think of the Lovers, since Crowley says, "In alchemy, this card explains the... series of chemical changes which develops the final form of life from the original latent seed in the Orphic egg," on The Lovers. Death would be the transformation of the Lovers, and we come out on the other side with the Lovers' counterpart, Art.

Crowley also talks about a zoo's worth of creatures: Scorpio's three levels of scorpion, snake, eagle (a transformation from low to high in themselves), and then Qabalah's Hebrew Letter Nun, the fish, associated with resurrection/reincarnation. All are shown on the card.

ETA: I just picked up a copy of Tarot Deciphered, by Meleen and Chang, and it mentions the Tree of Life's Supernals could be the Transformers. Everything can find its root in them, but their culmination in Binah seems very apt for Death. With that first idea of creating form and boundaries also comes the idea of their eventual breakdown, endings recycled into beginnings.

The Lord of the Gate of Death
Seems pretty self explanatory, emphasizing a threshold at Tiphareth, the sun and center. --- A tangent, but I keep thinking of the Thoth inspired Tabula Mundi's 6 of Cups that illustrates both Scorpio's eagle and the Sun (since that card is the decan of Scorpio ruled by the Sun, plus it's a 6 corresponding to Tiphareth and the sun). The result is Pleasure. And in the Thoth, a certain type of Death is necessary, so it's not denial to see the positives. Crowley can be accused of many things, but he wasn't exactly a Pollyanna. ;)
-
-
6 cups.png
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
User avatar
Rose Lalonde
Sage
Posts: 239
Joined: 12 Jan 2020, 02:45

Re: Thoth esoteric titles and their GD origins

Post by Rose Lalonde »

Art
The Daughter of the Reconcilers, the Bringer-Forth of Life

Daughter of the Reconcilers

I believe the Reconcilers are the 2 Sephiroth that sit at either end of Art's path: Yesod, the moon, and Tiphareth, the sun. They're the middle pillar fulcrums between Kether and Malkuth where the extremes are reconciled in the center.
-
-
art-path.jpg
-
-
The moon and sun are poster children for ideas related to duality, yin and yang. Art is the rainbow formed from water and fire together, and it's the balance and integration of the moon and sun, dark and light, into one. The Thoth card shows that as the two Lovers now one figure. In that sense Art is the Daughter of the Reconcilers, but is also a reconciler itself.

Bringer-Forth of Life

Crowley's BoT gives his interpretation. "It [the Alchemy alluded to in the title Art] is to fertilize and bring to manifested Life the Orphic Egg." The Orphic Egg, also mentioned in the previous Death post, is front and center at the bottom of the Lovers card, and Crowley says Art, "is the complement and the fulfilment of Atu VI, Gemini. It pertains to Sagittarius, the opposite to Gemini in the Zodiac, and therefore, 'after another manner,' one with it."

So the Orphic Egg from the Lovers undergoes alchemical putrefaction in Death which leads to a reconciling into a new type of life in Art. You can see that expressed in the Thoth inspired Pharos Tarot's Art by M. M. Meleen.
-
-
art-thoth-pharos.jpg
"One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black earth." LXV
Post Reply

Return to “Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot”