AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here I'm nibbling around the edges of Aleister Crowley's magickal formula, "0=2," which I've always assumed to be purely Qabalistic, but that I now realize is more analytically rigorous (and just a bit beyond my college-level calculus). Hermetically, I've understood zero (or "nothing") to be represented by the three "Veils of Negativity," but … Continue reading Zero = Two/Two = Zero: A Null Outcome Proposition
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The Maverick Cartomant, Part 3: The Thoth Tarot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It may be disingenuous to claim "maverick" status when my approach to the Thoth tarot is at least 95% aligned with the content of its companion volume, The Book of Thoth, and the Golden Dawn's Liber T tarot curriculum on which it is largely based. But I do have reservations about a couple … Continue reading The Maverick Cartomant, Part 3: The Thoth Tarot
The 5 of Cups: Disappointment or Loss in Pleasure?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another instance where Aleister Crowley's tinkering with the Golden Dawn's title for one of the Minor Arcana does not really capture the original intent (or so it seems to me). The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn presented the 5 of Cups as the "Lord of Loss in Pleasure." Use of … Continue reading The 5 of Cups: Disappointment or Loss in Pleasure?
A Mini-Lesson in Card Counting-and-Pairing
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I first encountered the concepts of "counting round" and "mirroring" in the Lenormand Grand Tableau, I noticed a strong similarity between those 18th-Century cartomantic practices and the "counting-and-pairing" steps of the "Opening of the Key" (OotK) method for working with the tarot that was developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden … Continue reading A Mini-Lesson in Card Counting-and-Pairing
Tarot and the “Lust of Result”*
*"For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect." - Aleister Crowley in The Book of the Law AUTHOR'S NOTE: In my study of Taoism I came across two concepts that have a bearing on the ethics of divination: the "conceit of silver" and the "conceit of iron," … Continue reading Tarot and the “Lust of Result”*
The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Recently I was asked to specifically name what I've often alluded to as the "half-dozen nuggets of pure metaphysical brilliance" in Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law (the founding text for the religion of Thelema and a fundamental source for the Book of Thoth and the Thoth tarot), as opposed to the rest … Continue reading The Cosmos According to Aleister Crowley: Love is Not Unconditional
Thoth Preliminaries (and a Few Particulars)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In yesterday's post I set myself the task of "taking a deep dive" into the Thoth Tarot, an esoteric deck I've been using since 1973. I will approach it more systematically in future essays, so here I'm only going to outline a few important details. My ultimate goal is to avoid repeating the … Continue reading Thoth Preliminaries (and a Few Particulars)
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 