Barleywine
I've been having some fun with this. Went looking for the geomantic correspondences on the court cards. I was expecting to see rows of dots but instead found what looks like the talismanic symbols _ aka telesmatic emblems - formed by joining the dots with lines. I happen to have Israel Regardie's Falcon Press "brick," The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic, so I took a look to see what I might learn. The various figures are included in the paper by G.H. Frater D.D. C. F. (Mathers) titled "Nature and Method of Formation of the Telesma;" as near as I can tell (some of the figures don't fully correspond), this is the alignment. I'm no expert on these symbols, so perhaps someone else will see what I miss.
King of Staves:
"The characters of Luna and Chasmodai taken from Via equals Cancer."
Queen of Staves:
"The characters of Sol and Sorath taken from Fortuna Major equals Leo."
Prince of Staves:
"The characters of Venus and Kedemel taken from Puella equals Libra."
Princess of Staves:
This one seems to fit - a bit loosely - under the umbrella statement "The characters of Caput Draconis . . ."
King of Blades:
. . . and this one seems to fit - a bit loosely - under the umbrella statement "The characters of Cauda Draconis . . ."
Queen of Blades:
"The characters of Mercury and Taphthartharath taken from Albus equals Gemini."
Prince of Blades:
"The characters of Venus and Kedemel taken from Amissio equals Taurus."
Princess of Blades:
"The characters of Mercury and Taphthartharath taken from Conjunctio equals Virgo."
King of Pentacles:
"The characters of Mars and Bartzabel taken from Puer equals Aries."
Queen of Pentacles:
"The characters of Saturn and Zazel taken from Tristitia equals Aquarius."
Prince of Pentacles:
"The characters of Saturn and Zazel taken from Carcer equals Capricorn."
Princess of Pentacles:
"The characters of Jupiter and Hismael taken from Acquisitio equals Sagittarius."
King of Alembics:
"The characters of Sol and Sorath taken from Fortuna Minor equals Leo."
Queen of Alembics:
"The characters of Luna and Chasmodai taken from Populus equals Cancer."
Prince of Alembics:
"The characters of Jupiter and Hismael taken from Laetitia equals Pisces."
Princess of Alembics:
"The characters of Mars and Bartzabel taken from Rubeus equals Scorpio."
This was a bit mind-bending since not all of these are the correspondences I might have anticipated from an elemental and astrological perspective, and they don't seem to all line up precisely with the segments of the zodiac assigned to each court card. But the GD source material included each symbol as part of a "chain" that may have had an entirely different purpose. (I could also be completely missing something ). Anyway, interesting and instructive. Now I'm going to compare these observations to Crowley's descriptions of the court cards in the BoT.
ETA: I pulled out Francis King and Stephen Skinner's "Techniques of High Magic" and note that the "geomantic sigils" are closer to the designs on the cards than Mathers' seem to be.
King of Staves:
"The characters of Luna and Chasmodai taken from Via equals Cancer."
Queen of Staves:
"The characters of Sol and Sorath taken from Fortuna Major equals Leo."
Prince of Staves:
"The characters of Venus and Kedemel taken from Puella equals Libra."
Princess of Staves:
This one seems to fit - a bit loosely - under the umbrella statement "The characters of Caput Draconis . . ."
King of Blades:
. . . and this one seems to fit - a bit loosely - under the umbrella statement "The characters of Cauda Draconis . . ."
Queen of Blades:
"The characters of Mercury and Taphthartharath taken from Albus equals Gemini."
Prince of Blades:
"The characters of Venus and Kedemel taken from Amissio equals Taurus."
Princess of Blades:
"The characters of Mercury and Taphthartharath taken from Conjunctio equals Virgo."
King of Pentacles:
"The characters of Mars and Bartzabel taken from Puer equals Aries."
Queen of Pentacles:
"The characters of Saturn and Zazel taken from Tristitia equals Aquarius."
Prince of Pentacles:
"The characters of Saturn and Zazel taken from Carcer equals Capricorn."
Princess of Pentacles:
"The characters of Jupiter and Hismael taken from Acquisitio equals Sagittarius."
King of Alembics:
"The characters of Sol and Sorath taken from Fortuna Minor equals Leo."
Queen of Alembics:
"The characters of Luna and Chasmodai taken from Populus equals Cancer."
Prince of Alembics:
"The characters of Jupiter and Hismael taken from Laetitia equals Pisces."
Princess of Alembics:
"The characters of Mars and Bartzabel taken from Rubeus equals Scorpio."
This was a bit mind-bending since not all of these are the correspondences I might have anticipated from an elemental and astrological perspective, and they don't seem to all line up precisely with the segments of the zodiac assigned to each court card. But the GD source material included each symbol as part of a "chain" that may have had an entirely different purpose. (I could also be completely missing something ). Anyway, interesting and instructive. Now I'm going to compare these observations to Crowley's descriptions of the court cards in the BoT.
ETA: I pulled out Francis King and Stephen Skinner's "Techniques of High Magic" and note that the "geomantic sigils" are closer to the designs on the cards than Mathers' seem to be.