UrbanBramble
I am delving back into the Thoth and am trying to understand the Tree of Life, slowly but surely. Last night I did a reading using the Tree as the layout... without going into specifications of the reading, I had a really interesting experience that I want to relay and get feedback on.
At the end of the reading I drew a Shadow card, which is something I do when I'm reading with other decks, just a technique I've picked up. I drew the Hierophant. At that point of the reading I was really exhausted and burnt out on trying to understand the Hebrew letters and their significance on individual cards as related to the tree of life, because I have no background in Kaballah. (the astrology comes much easier to me and in the past I've relied heavily on that to interpret the Thoth cards). I decided not to add the Hierophant to my interpretation of the reading, partially because I thought maybe adding a shadow card was too much in the moment and partially because I don't usually use it when reading with the Thoth anyway.
Then I had this dream: I was in a candle store and someone showed me these muddy reddish-orange candles. They said "you were looking for red candles, there you go!" I told them the candles weren't red at all. They said "yes they are, they're red like the Hierophant card." Of course when I woke up I looked this up. Lo and behold, red-orange is assigned to the Hierophant, on the Knight Scale. In addition, Crowley says "The symbolism of the Wand is peculiar, the three interlaced rings which crown it may be taken as representative of the three Aeons of Isis, Osiris and Horus with their interlocking magical formulae. The upper ring is marked with scarlet for Horus...." So there is the red in the red-orange.
OK, actually I will go into what I drew, but I will keep it succinct. Kether - five of wands. Chokmah - The Emperor. Binah - Queen of cups. Chesed - ten of cups. Geburah - The Magus. Tipareth - Ace of Swords. Netzach - Six of Swords. Hod - The Emperess. Yesod - The lovers. Malkuth - Princess of cups.
My initial interpretation, with a very rudimentary of the tree of life, based mostly on what DuQuette has to say, is this: The divine masculine and divine feminine is out of balance. The Queen of Cups is too passive in Binah, she only acts as a mirror to the Emperor. Because of this, Kether has not reached its potential, the fire energy of Leo is being constrained by Saturn. The goal of the reading is to take the Empress out of Hod and restore her to Binah, where she can stand as an equal to the Emperor. The rest of the cards support this, more or less. I'm still working on this and have some ideas of the astrological significance (which is really cool in this reading, especially the way the Empress and the Six of Swords landed). I just need to write it down and continue processing it.
If I was reading in a "standard" RWS system deck, I would translate this to "I need to bring a more assertive version of Cups energy into my life, listen to my subconscious and my emotional self." I've been working to build Fire energy for the past two years, so the second part is this is maybe it's time to start working with Water. I pulled a clarifying card and asked "how do I take the first step to bring this all into balance?" I drew the Ace of Cups, further reinforcing this interpretation.
Some musings on the Hierophant - is the sword in the card echoed in the Lovers and the Ace of Swords? If so, the symbolism is significant. I've had a hard time pinning down exactly what it is, and whether the sword is a piece of the imbalance or of bringing things into balance. The Hierophant as the nail that anchors the microcosm to the macrocosm, or connecting what's happening below the Abyss to the consequences above the Abyss... and the Hierophant as my personal Holy Guardian Angel... aiding me in bringing this all into balance and transcend the Abyss? The Hierophant connects Chesed to Chokmah in the tree, what does this mean in relation to my meaning? And getting back to the original issue, the color attribution. I have no knowledge of the significance of the colors, this seems like a theme of study for the OTO and I'm not currently doing that. SO - what is the significance of the Knight Scale? Red - orange vs. the scarlet of Horus (because in my dream I was definitely searching for RED and was told that red - orange WAS red)? And maybe suggestions as to a good reference for the significance of color in OTO teachings?
At the end of the reading I drew a Shadow card, which is something I do when I'm reading with other decks, just a technique I've picked up. I drew the Hierophant. At that point of the reading I was really exhausted and burnt out on trying to understand the Hebrew letters and their significance on individual cards as related to the tree of life, because I have no background in Kaballah. (the astrology comes much easier to me and in the past I've relied heavily on that to interpret the Thoth cards). I decided not to add the Hierophant to my interpretation of the reading, partially because I thought maybe adding a shadow card was too much in the moment and partially because I don't usually use it when reading with the Thoth anyway.
Then I had this dream: I was in a candle store and someone showed me these muddy reddish-orange candles. They said "you were looking for red candles, there you go!" I told them the candles weren't red at all. They said "yes they are, they're red like the Hierophant card." Of course when I woke up I looked this up. Lo and behold, red-orange is assigned to the Hierophant, on the Knight Scale. In addition, Crowley says "The symbolism of the Wand is peculiar, the three interlaced rings which crown it may be taken as representative of the three Aeons of Isis, Osiris and Horus with their interlocking magical formulae. The upper ring is marked with scarlet for Horus...." So there is the red in the red-orange.
OK, actually I will go into what I drew, but I will keep it succinct. Kether - five of wands. Chokmah - The Emperor. Binah - Queen of cups. Chesed - ten of cups. Geburah - The Magus. Tipareth - Ace of Swords. Netzach - Six of Swords. Hod - The Emperess. Yesod - The lovers. Malkuth - Princess of cups.
My initial interpretation, with a very rudimentary of the tree of life, based mostly on what DuQuette has to say, is this: The divine masculine and divine feminine is out of balance. The Queen of Cups is too passive in Binah, she only acts as a mirror to the Emperor. Because of this, Kether has not reached its potential, the fire energy of Leo is being constrained by Saturn. The goal of the reading is to take the Empress out of Hod and restore her to Binah, where she can stand as an equal to the Emperor. The rest of the cards support this, more or less. I'm still working on this and have some ideas of the astrological significance (which is really cool in this reading, especially the way the Empress and the Six of Swords landed). I just need to write it down and continue processing it.
If I was reading in a "standard" RWS system deck, I would translate this to "I need to bring a more assertive version of Cups energy into my life, listen to my subconscious and my emotional self." I've been working to build Fire energy for the past two years, so the second part is this is maybe it's time to start working with Water. I pulled a clarifying card and asked "how do I take the first step to bring this all into balance?" I drew the Ace of Cups, further reinforcing this interpretation.
Some musings on the Hierophant - is the sword in the card echoed in the Lovers and the Ace of Swords? If so, the symbolism is significant. I've had a hard time pinning down exactly what it is, and whether the sword is a piece of the imbalance or of bringing things into balance. The Hierophant as the nail that anchors the microcosm to the macrocosm, or connecting what's happening below the Abyss to the consequences above the Abyss... and the Hierophant as my personal Holy Guardian Angel... aiding me in bringing this all into balance and transcend the Abyss? The Hierophant connects Chesed to Chokmah in the tree, what does this mean in relation to my meaning? And getting back to the original issue, the color attribution. I have no knowledge of the significance of the colors, this seems like a theme of study for the OTO and I'm not currently doing that. SO - what is the significance of the Knight Scale? Red - orange vs. the scarlet of Horus (because in my dream I was definitely searching for RED and was told that red - orange WAS red)? And maybe suggestions as to a good reference for the significance of color in OTO teachings?