Six of Swords - Science

Welcome Andrew. Lets see if I can see if I can add information to your data and see if it fits in with the card description so far.

Mercury is one of the two primordial forces of alchemy (the other sulphur), it is sometimes called the mother of all other metals and is associated with the materia prima (the first substance from which all substances come from).

As for Aquarius I cannot find quickly what you mentioned about it.

Okay and onto the Swords, I can see what you mean by the different pomels and colours, that reinforces the idea of: 'Varied ideas meet at one central point.' If you can find out more about those shapes it'll be intresting to know.

What fantastic differences between the Thoth and RWS...the RWS usually defines the Six of Swords as smooth journeys...
Another thought came to me, as I looked at this card some more. Science is usually the destroyer of religion. The card can be taken literally, with the swords stabbing into the heart of the cross. Crowley was a practical joker, and even though it says in the Book of Thoth that "all ways point to the Rosy Cross as the true science" maybe he tossed the idea of science destroying religion in there as a "stab"?

jeez andrew - welcome, btw in our little study group - your inputs are so great and come from a area we havent yet explored yet at all seems like we are a nice complementary group

I totally clicked with your last comment - how could I miss that link!! Thanks for that! I agree there is definetly the challenging thought about science vs religion, I have to remember here, what my dad recently told me - he read it somewhere

When one starts learning more about science, first one will question the devine, but once digging deeper and deeper, will find it again as the final answer.

I am also curious about the different symbols on the swords, for me I was only drawn to the one light/golden one and I would also be interested what all of them might represent - I'd have no idea where to start looking for it, ie - what to enter in google

I'm trying to find out information on the meanings of those shapes. 2D shapes seem more easy to find then 3D.
There's an amazing amount of resources available at places like the Internet Sacred Texts Archive. I'd also Google "magickal shapes" and see what comes out of that. I was looking around the bookstore last night on some information, but I couldn't find any. Also, I'll check out some stuff from my Pythagorean tarot as well.

Hm. The shape in the background corresponds closely with the Heptagram of Major Arcana, shown here: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/HMAco.gif The heptagram is used to associate planets with each trump. Actually, the article that the image is from is quite interesting as an aside: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/PT/Music.html
Found this as well:
The Solids show the carving of real from manifest. By having volume, by taking up space, they have a special property no plane figure has. They represent what is real in Universe as opposed to what is abstract or potential. Plato defined five solids as the essential forms of the physical universe, and assigned each to the elements, in a way most magicians should resonate with:

Cube: Earth

Tetrahedron: Fire

Octahedron: Air

Icosahedron: Water

Dodecahedron: Aether

That explains some of those shapes!

mymy andrew - you find all these new shades of linkages - never thought about a link between the Major Arcana and scales/tones....Its an interesting page, I have to check it out in more detail (not having any knowledge about scales and so on at all )

Taking out the sphere and pyramid there are four other swords remaining, so I am personally not sure if the pomels on the swords have deeper meanings.

As for the Heptagram, it has seven points and the swords number six so again I am unsure of where you are leading with this.

The idea of the swords stabbing the cross as science killing religion does seem intresting though.

So Andrew what are your thoughts of the card without aids?

The heptogram is in the background, inside the circle.
As far as my own thoughts on the card, the card seems to be pointing to the combination of science and spirituality. The swords suit has always been leaning toward "book smarts" in my readings, when mixed with cups, usually gives "wisdom". The fact that the rosey cross is in there, and segmented, reminds me of a tesseract, which brings to mind the thoughts on quantum physics used to describe many spiritual things. The rosicrucians love quantum physics. Anyway, I'm tangenting.
The surrounding shapes, which look almost like origami ninga stars or something, to me represents chaos. It seems to have been cleared away by the central figures in the card. This card seems to be all about learning. Clearing away the chaos in order to discover the secrets of the unknown, and find your own truths.

I still can't see the heptagram but I see your point about everything else.

More musings:
The circle is like the sun (the circle--note the yellow on its outer borders) holding back the darkness (bottom corners) and clearing the mists of doubt (the windmill things) leading to clear thinking and illuminated thoughts.

Kenny said:

The idea of the swords stabbing the cross as science killing religion does seem intresting though.

Click to expand...

Yes, interesting although I'd further temper that particular 'blade'. I'm reminded of the Master Mason Third Degree Masonic ceremony. The 'slain' Master is lying on the floor (The Rose and Cross or in your analogy; religion.) The other Master Masons (Initiates) are around him all pointing their swords at him (as in the card). He is raised up (to a higher state from his previous).

One could therefore say that the religion isnt being killed off, but raised to a higher plain and understanding by 'Scientific Illuminism'. (see the motto of the Equinox)