Laura's Daily Draws (experimental)

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Laura Borealis

29-02-2012, 07:16

I'm trying something new, for me. Daily draws of one Thoth card and one card from my I Ching deck (Holitzka (http://pasteboardmasquerade.com/Reviews/ichingh.html)) which I got from cardlady22 (many thanks!) I was inspired by reading that the I Ching was Frieda Harris's divination method of choice.

8 of Cups
Keyword: Indolence

Saturn in Pisces. Crowley says Pisces is calm but stagnant, and the weight of Saturn deadens it completely. There's very little flow; the water barely drips from two droopy, sad-looking lotus flowers into the chipped and broken cups. Heavy cloud cover dims the scene. The Golden Dawn title is the Lord of Abandoned Success, and this seems apt -- this fountain may have lively at one time, but then it clogged up and went into a major decline.

Hexagram 43
Breakthrough

This is an interesting pairing! The 8 of Cups is still and stagnant, while Hex 43 is all movement. The card shows a figure with arms upraised, encircled by a ring (I irreverently thought of a hula hoop). The sense I get from the sources I read is that, if a determined effort is made, a breakthrough will happen. They use water imagery: after a long accumulation of tension, a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or a rain-laden cloud releases. I can see a sexual metaphor there, both in the interpretation and in the image... Crowley would approve. ;)

Going back to the Thoth, the 7 (Debauch) is all sick and poisoned; the 8 stagnates; but in the 9 (Happiness) the waters gush forth once again.

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Wendywu

29-02-2012, 15:55

Laura Borealis

01-03-2012, 00:20

Yarrow sticks were eventually Crowley's preferred choice too :)

I read up on how to cast the yarrow sticks, but it just confused me! The Thoth might be simple in comparison. :P

Laura Borealis

15-03-2012, 13:34

Now that things are settling down in my life, I can get back to this.

Just a note for anyone who bothers to look at this: I know I'm not using the I Ching properly. This is just for fun and to learn a bit about these systems. The idea is just to draw one Thoth card and one from my deck of I Ching cards, compare them, and see what thoughts I have.

Also, I might or might not interpret them in terms of myself or my life, and I might not share the interpretation, if it's personal. Like the first one -- I found meaning in it, but didn't feel like getting into the self-examination bit "out loud" so to speak.

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Today's Thoth/I Ching pair are Queen of Disks and Hexagram 19

The first thing that strikes me right off is that these two kind of look alike. (Photo attached.) Actually the more I look at it, the more striking the similarities are. The Queen of Disks is encircled in thick black spikes -- Hex 19 is encircled by a thick black brushstroke with spiky ink splashes. Both have black encircling gold tones. The horizontal lines of Hex 19 are echoed by the horizontal lines of the desert and winding river in the background of the Queen. Even the small red circle on Hex 19 has its analog in the round crystal atop the Queen's scepter, in approximately the same place on the cards.

Further: The Queen of Disks is the Watery part of Earth. Hex 19, Approach, is composed of the two trigrams, Earth and Lake. How cool is that?

Hex 19 is called Approach. My book says it "signals the approach of powerful beneficial influences. Just as the winter solstice heralds the return of spring, the appearance of this hexagram marks a similar movement toward light and growth."

The Queen of Disks is looking into the distance, where a river winds through a desert landscape; little groups of palm trees spring up, each a new oasis, perhaps. Paul Hughes-Barlow says this card has an energy of things coming alive -- light and growth, as in the paired hexagram.

My I Ching book speaks of success if one has inner discipline and perseveres on the path of truth. Of the Queen, Crowley says she is quiet, disciplined, hard-working. If there is a message to myself, perhaps it is to emulate the Queen of Disks, to be disciplined and work hard at my goals for the best chance at the success promised by Hexagram 19.

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Laura Borealis

07-04-2012, 04:51

Today's I Ching/Thoth pair: Hexagram 20 (Contemplation) and Two of Disks (Change).

I'm seeing this as a two-phase thing: contemplation leads to change.
I had a friend's situation in mind while drawing these cards.

Hexagram 20

Holitzka's card for hexagram 20 depicts a person on top of a tower. Buffeted by strong winds, the figure shades her eyes from the sun and contemplates what she sees. Meanwhile, the tower appears to be dissolving from underneath her.

My I Ching book says a basic fact of consciousness is that we tend to take on the energy of whatever we focus our attention on. This makes sense to me -- it's why in a stressful situation, we may try to "go to our happy place," to try to keep from taking on too much stress and letting it rule our reactions.

Two of Disks

The Two of Disks is Change. The serpent wearing a little crown, with its tail in its mouth, loops around a pair of yin-yang symbols with elemental symbols drawn inside the yin-yang dots. Crowley says they represent the harmonious interplay of the four elements in constant motion.

Twos are stable, so it may seem odd for this card to be called Change. But Crowley says change is the support of stability. Think of how bridges are built to be flexible in order to be strong, or how while standing on two feet, we are always adjusting our balance slightly.

Together

Hexagram 20 indicates a need to be contemplative, to detach from anxious emotions, and in the calm place of detachment one is better able to choose the right solutions. The Two of Disks suggests a change in the material realm is part of the solutions. That change will bring about a stability -- the tower will no longer be crumbling out from underneath. The constant cyclic movement of the snake will provide a new balance.

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