Category: Hermetics
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Roses and Lillies in the Smith-Waite Tarot
These flowers show up multiple times in the Smith-Waite-Rider deck. You perhaps will have noticed them on the Magician card. They also appear on the robes of the tonsured monks at the bottom of the Hierophant card. This is mostly likely a symbol from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They initiated Waite and…
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The Lovers – Tarot
Originally, this card featured a couple of young children about to be struck by Cupid. The children are probably the offspring of the Visconti and Sforza families who are arranged to be wed before long. Those were the families that commissioned the deck. Early interpretations of this card include marriage. Later the Marseille and Italian…
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What is Mount Abiegnus?
Perhaps you have come across this term in a Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ritual or the writing of Crowley. This article will contain ritual words from the HOGD so avoid it if you intend to undergo the initiation and do not want the ritual spoiled. Well, most of its description is in the…
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The 4 Elemental Kings
The 4 elemental kings are some spirits that I feel are quite useful to new practitioners of magic. They do require a bit of getting used to and there are other options, but these are a good first choice for many practitioners. They are considered kings of each element or sometimes Sovereigns. They are believed…
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A Brief History of the Tarot
This is part of my section about the Tarot including interpretation of the symbolism of all the cards. Please see this page as an index of all that information. In the modern day, the tarot is a means of divination. This means it is used to derive information from spiritual sources. It was not always…
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The Empress – Tarot
This card has generally been very consistent. It features a female ruler. Even as far back as the Visconti-Sforza deck she has a shield with her while her male counter part the Emperor has the globe. In Smith-Waite-Rider’s deck she also holds a wand with a globe on the end and her shield rests on…
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The High Priestess – Tarot
So the real question in my mind is what Waite, who seems the least womanly of all the Golden Dawn men, would have to say about this card. I mean you had the men who adored women in the Golden Dawn, but couldn’t quite get them. The men who raised women up but then also…
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The Magician – Tarot
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The Magicians Sometimes called the Magus and sometimes the Juggler this card often features a man at table. Frequently on the in front of him are a series of tools. In the Smith-Waite-Rider deck the cools before him are the suits, but older cards have a variety of different tools. In the Smith-Waite-Rider deck he…
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The Fool – Tarot
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This is often treated like the first card of the Major Arcana. When the other cards were traditionally numbered, the fool was not, leading some to call it “card zero”. Similarly to the Joker of a normal playing deck, the card was part of the deck, but not part of it at the same time.…
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The Tarot
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For a Brief History of the Tarot click below. Composition of the Smith-Waite-Rider deck This deck consists of 78 cards. 22 of them are called Trumps, Atus or the Major Arcana. The remaining 56 are the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana is divided into 4 suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit has 10…