Six of Swords - Science

Kenny, here we go I started the thread and post your initial note below:

KENNY:
With my pocket Thoth I asked the question: what card should be focused upon first?

Science -- Six of Swords

Okay where to start: Don DuQuette's Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot

After then an astrology book or two.
The Book of Thoth--of course the LWB and essay but not too easy to read first off.
A Kabbalah book: Don DuQuette's The Chicken Qabalah is a good first book--also I'm currently reading The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang OOP sadly.

Other books I've got:
Keywords for the Crowley Tarot
Tarot Mirror of the Soul

I'll talk about the card in a bit, maybe in a different post.




I will check out the card a bit later and post tomorrow

I found this link here as well

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=74744&highlight=swords

To break down the card a bit first I'm going to say what I see and feel--trying to ignore my girlfriend playing on her consol.

Six swords all point inwards to the centre of a Rose Cross in a circular manner, surrounding the Rose Cross is a circle. The background is all angular and linear and reminds me of stained glass.

Above and below the centre of the card are two astrological pattens--I'm not too hot on symbols so cannot ID them yet.

The noise is too much here and the g/f keeps talking so I cannot concentrate upon the card just yet. I'll try again later.

yeah, Kenny - tricky to concentrate when someone is playing video-games, they get 'soaked' in completely and dont realize their volume I know what you mean (I even played once on it as well and realized that one indeed gets so absorbed, one blanks out everything around

Anyhooo


Ok here is what I thought about the card. (I might go off a completely wrong track, as I do not have the Thoth book and am not soo down with symbolism - have to look it up, always) Anyway

I was a bit hung up on the associated word - Science - when thinking about it, I got a more extensive idea about the RW 6/swords...
So, why is there Science? We are not happy with the status quo and look to change/improve it. In order to do that, we need to take our knowledge with us, to explore the next level (hence RW - the people representing the past knowlege are in the boat, the swords are equally balanced, we go from troubled water to smoother water, we find the smoother water as we have thought about the past, what was not working and have now a clearer idea of the path where we want to be, we even have it 'in sight' already - I think that links in well with 'Science' )

Now, regarding the card image. The circle is greyish-blue only, and only outside the circle are yellow 'shadows' so, to me the circle seems a bit elevated, also - the card 'feels' like we are looking straight down at it. The swords are not lying on the floor, but seem stuck in the rose cross. Not sure if the cracked glass is below the circle and the cross or above, but because of the 'shadows' I feel its below. The light shining through the cross 'creates' the shadow. Now, how is it relevant for the interpretation? To me - I thought it might mean, we have found the purpose we are thinking about/looking for, we pinned it down - sure it rough still, in the beginning stages, we have only identified what we wnat to 'address', (swords stuck in the cross) we do not yet have the exact way identified 'how' to reach it. BUT it seems profitable, maybe before there were the cracks in the glass and we couldnt see them too visibly, they might have been there, but we seem to have accepted them without giving too much thought (the cracks are in the circle as well, but they are not dominant) now, as we identified what we want to see, we see also that the cracks are actually in a pattern (is it like a star? - it looks like the same pattern are repeated in the 7/swords, just larger and if one has pulled them out a bit on each side)

So, in summary - before we had an issue that needed to be dealt with, we have started and pinned it down, due to that we see something that is more 'workable' and allows us to reseach and explore the next step.

My thoughts Might be waaaaay off compared to what Crowley wanted to say with it

Kenny said:

Above and below the centre of the card are two astrological pattens--I'm not too hot on symbols so cannot ID them yet.

Click to expand...

the one underneath is for aquarius (also on the 7/swords if I remember right) and the one at the top is mercury

I will post what I find about the two in a bit

Mercury
This glyph depicts the winged-helmeted messenger of the Gods. In Roman mythology Mercury is the god of commerce, travel and thievery, the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky. It was given two names by the Greeks: Apollo for its apparition as a morning star and Hermes as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body.

Mercury acts to process large volumes of information within our essential being---as represented by the sun. It allows a person to think, discriminate, express oneself and to move about. This has been called an animator of movement and is associated with our nervous system: the communication and transportation system within our bodies.

Mercury tends to make a person verbose, critical, and high strung; the person born under the sign ruled by this planet may even give Leo a run for his money in the egotistical department

You've got some good comments there CherryBerry, right now to what I see.

First with the Rose Cross and the swords--there is a good chapter in DuQuette's book about the Rose Cross and here is a very short summary. The Rose Cross--look on the back of any card--contains all the elements of the deck, all five elements, each major arcana, each court card, and so on.

The swords are all pointing down into the centre of the cross so maybe here we have a getting to the truth of a matter--what is science the understanding and truth and of getting to the truth of a matter.

The swords start outside the blueish circle and end up in its heart; to me this shows points of view from outside looking in--in the RWS from the water looking at the boat and to the land in the distance--or the complete view and image from the outside to the heart of hearts.

I'm now getting out a book to further ID the card. The card, as you said before, is ruled by Mercury in Aquarius. (Jan 30 to Feb 8) From what I can see is that this astrological identity is attentive, has an ability to grasp abstract ideas, an observer of people and motivations--loving to predict them too--has an open and scientific mind, orginial, and unorthodox.

The card's original title was Lord of Earned Success.

The numerological number of the card is 6. Love, romance, nurturing, responsibility, family, duty, service to others., balance, harmony To be honest I cannot see these fitting into the card meanings other than harmony and balance. In the picutre everything is nicely balanced. One half is almost a mirror image of the other half.

The six swords could either create a hexagram--okay I cheated and saw this in one of my books--or the symbol of the 6's a Star of David.

The same book I got the hexagram from--Keywords for the Crowley Tarot--I also noticed that it mentioned a square around the circle which it says means the eternal truth--the circle--concealed within reality.

Now I'm looking at the card some more those 'random lines' are looking more like chart lines from sea charts, a map, and draftsmans lines, a plan. The swords could also be like arrows, pointing the way to the inner truth.

I'm going to take a break now.

Kenny - very interesting thoughts on it and more detailed info! Thanks for that!

I am excited that this deck - even if they are pip cards - still appears so intuitive!

Your comment about Arrows stood out for me a bit, as I noticed also that there are very small and tiny 'feathers' at some of the lines, which did indeed remind me of arrows as well. Check it out in close up

Here is what I found about the symbolism of arrows, and once again the tiny/single symbols sums up cards pretty well

Arrow

To see an arrow in your dream, symbolizes how to reach targets and the goals that you have set for yourself. Arrows also signify an end to suffering and the beginning of new-found pleasures and festivities.

Hi CherryBerry and Kenny! Thanks for letting me in on your study group!
I'm looking at my APS (anti-pocket sized) Thoth deck at the 6 of Swords card. The first thing I notice is the color of the hilts of the swords, how each are slightly different, as well as the different symbols on the pommels. From the twelve o'clock position going clockwise: sphere, pyramid, hexagon, diamond, octagon, and dodecahedron. Wow, watch me screw up my 2D/3D shape names. Perhaps a meaning there? I'll have to check my Pythagorean book on that.

Also, the astrological symbols can also be translated as alchemical in nature as well, with the Mercury symbol showing the element of Quicksilver, and the Aquarian symbol the symbol of multiplication. Unfortunately, I'm not very well versed in philosophical alchemy, much less chemical alchemy. I'm just throwing out raw data, here.

Right I'm back, this time with my girlfriend playing Sonic again. This time however I'm going to be a bit of book work so it should not suffer too much...

Varied ideas meet at one central point. [1] Attributed to Tiphareth, it is the centre of the Tree of Life and is the only Sephira that is below the Abyss to link directly with Kether. With its links it dominates the lower Sephirotha. [4]

Swords form a hexagon for mutal penetration of earthly and spirtual world. [2] -- Okay so researching about the Hexagram has led me to find out that a hexagram and the Star of David are one and the same and is composed of two superimposed triangles. The Hexagram embodies the hermetic axiom, 'as above, so below.' The upwards triangle represents masculine powers and the other feminine powers.

Lines, flexible and networked thinking. [2] -- This links to my ideas of the map and draftsmans lines, in fact they are in a way the same thing. Most maps show where places are but do not show you the way which you then have to discover for yourself. Draftsmans plans break down an object allowing you to understand and make one yourself but again they do not inculde instructions which you have to discover for yourself.

'The four Sixes are thus representative of their respective elements at their pratical best.' [4] -- This point makes me think that Science is pure and simple clear analytical thinking and all else that the Swords represent, hence the Science. Science could mean not only the science of physical sciences but also the science of being allowing you to understand things better in all respects. This could also lead you to finding new ways of doing. (Rose-cross shows scientific method of thinking which breaks old methods and out-dated thinking. [1] Tips at centre, inner understanding and unity. [2] Six equal swords focus powers of analysis and discrimination upon the mystery of being. [3])

----Sources----
[1] Tarot Mirror of the Soul, Ziegler
[2] Keywords for the Crowley Tarot, Banzhaf & Theler
[3] Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot, DuQuette
[4] The Book of Thoth, Crowley