Category: Lore
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
The Hierophant – Tarot
This is the 6th trump and is associated with the number 5. Traditionally this card is called the pope and sometimes the High Priestess Card is called the Papess (or female pope). I think I’ve seen one pack that even calls this the High priest, but that feels like some Wiccan stuff. Gébain changed the…
-
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…
-
Chokhmah – The Second Sephirah of the Tree of Life and the divine name Yah
Sepher Yetzirah Chokhmah is often referred to as the illuminating intelligence in Sepher Yetzirah. We are beyond the limited reality in this point of existence or consciousness so this is blinding beyond the bright of any sun looked at from a mere metre away. This is infinite brightness. No matter yet. Rankine informs us that…
-
21st Atu – The Universe – Thoth Tarot
This card symbolises the 32nd path on the Tree of Life, the path associated with the Hebrew letter Tau. This is the path that connects Yesod to Malkuth. It is associated with Saturn. This article is an attempt to analyse the pictures and symbols that appear on The Universe card of the Thoth Tarot Deck.…
-
32 – The Tau path – The Tree of Life
This article is a stub based on Nick of Cups‘s Youtube video concerning the Universe Card, Daniel Gunther’s notes on the Initiation in the Aeon of the Child, James Eshelman’s Mystical and Magickal System of the A.’. A.’., The Book of Thoth and the Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley, and more books on Qabalah.…
-
Tree of Life – Index
The Tree of Life is an idea that is used to explain the process of creation of the universe in Qabalah. It is often suggested that it can be used in reverse for a mystic to follow the path of creation in reverse to find the creator or at least “higher planes of reality” as…
-
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…