Gonna learn Thoth if it kills me - Minors

Ace of Wands

I must be the only person in the world who did not notice the fire emanating from the wand was painted as Yods. I think it was Snuffin who said there are 18 bolts of lightening which is the number of chai, which is life to us Hebrew types What a wonderful execution of this card.

I don't really follow much of the color scheme with the Kabbalistic correspondences but I recall some of them are flashing colors and I think the red/green is one of that category.

re: Ace of Wands

When I first saw this card, I felt like there was so much energy that I was afraid to move! Kind of like when my brother was learning weapons kata and I would stay perfectly still. He was a perfect judge of where I was and it made for an interesting show/attraction!

It took quite a while for it to sink in that the little "licks" of flame were shooting out of the sephiroth and that you can see the paths. Makes sense to me. You have to actively walk down a path; but at the beginning there are too many!

nicky said:

I must be the only person in the world who did not notice the fire emanating from the wand was painted as Yods.

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I think it's the other way around; a yod is a representation of primal fire (as in the A of W) - a little 'lick' of flame, most Hebrew letters are constructed of little yods and other shapes of flames. I can see Hebrew as fire script, ie. it is written in flames - like Arabic and Farsi are air script - written like wisps of incense smoke, idogrammatic writing (eg. chinese) as earth and water .... (you pick one).

Is the wand / club in the Ace made of wood? is the fire consuming the club? Or is it not burning, like in Moses' bush (in the desert)?

nicky said:

I don't really follow much of the color scheme with the Kabbalistic correspondences but I recall some of them are flashing colors and I think the red/green is one of that category.

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yep, remember the color wheel from school art?
You have 3 primaries; red, yellow, blue, to make flashing colors (as they call them) take one primary and use the 'opposite' which is the combination of the other two primaries
red : green = blue + yellow
blue : orange = yellow + red
Yellow : violet = red + blue

ravenest said:

Is the wand / club in the Ace made of wood? is the fire consuming the club? Or is it not burning, like in Moses' bush (in the desert)?

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I think it is like the Moses deal...since the aces are not really manifest on this plane...

2 Wands

Mars in Aries... Aries is the 'first' sign...which would fit in nicely with the idea of initiated energy.

Read a thread here where someone asked about the horse heads on the ends of the dorjies, and I might also ask what of the faces, and snkaes at the bottoms.

I do love the hot background which almost sizzles.

Call me a corn-y-flake, but I get a mad vision of myself and/or my children galloping around the yard on our pony sticks! Pouring all our energy into having fun and riding the wind . . . even if it isn't a "real" one yet.

nicky said:

Mars in Aries... Aries is the 'first' sign...which would fit in nicely with the idea of initiated energy.

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Actually, we just passed out of this decan and into Aries II (Sun in Aries) tonight...

Here's the thing to remember about the Decans... they AREN'T modern sunsign astrology. So most of the stuff you'll read about astrology will be worthless unless you're very careful about your sources. Any modern natal sunsign bollocks is worth exactly zero on this watch. If you're talking about actual astrology as it's used by the GD, the Zodiac is geography and there are only 7 planets. The power is in the planets. So it isn't Aries that matters, it's Mars.

Mars rules Aries during the day… so this Decan is like his home. And he’s the “Lesser Malefic” meaning he’s pretty damn harsh and this Face of Aries is ruthless... Hence the Lord of Dominion.

The sign that a planet rules is like its Castle. It is comfortable there and has the most authority. It’s the advantage of waging war or playing a game on your home turf… you know the lay of the land and you control it.

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This is a ferocious Decan, fierce and wild and unrestrained... “It is a Human decanate and an Armed decanate.” Remember: Mars is “a lover of Slaughter and Quarrels, Murder, Theevery, a promoter of Sedition, Frayes and Commotions.” Out of the seven deadly sins, Mars is assigned to Wrath.

This isn't the Lord of Power or Stength. This is Dominion.

Scion said:

Here's the thing to remember about the Decans... they AREN'T modern sunsign astrology. So most of the stuff you'll read about astrology will be worthless unless you're very careful about your sources. Any modern natal sunsign bollocks is worth exactly zero on this watch. If you're talking about actual astrology as it's used by the GD, the Zodiac is geography and there are only 7 planets. The power is in the planets. So it isn't Aries that matters, it's Mars.

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OMG that is just too funny...my purpose in picking up the Thoth was to get to the minors and learn some astrology. Now that I am here of course I am stuck with the deck because I began to love it and am awed by the BOT.

This is just funny, eh?

Well I am counting on you (and everyone else) to help when I get this all arse backwards!

Here's to more insanity.

I think this is my card actually, my birthday is March 30. I shall now have to run off and get some GD material.

Thanks Scion ... I needed to know this early before I went off on tangent.

Nicky

Oh! You'll learn astrology... a lot of astrology. But it'll be real astrology as it existed for a couple thousand years, not the modern psychological (IMO) woo-woo horseshit. Bottom line: any book or website that spends a lot of time talking about the signs and very little on the planets... anyone that likes to talk in vague generalities and platitudes, but eschews hard, provable facts... any horoscopes that seem relentlessly positive and mushy while avoiding negatives, details, or verifiable predictions... any definitions that mention "empowerment" or "mood" or "affirmation" or "archetype" or other empty new age buzzwords are suspect, probably worthless, and to be avoided.

Now the terrible thing is that the book that covers this GD astrological material doesn't exist. Annoying, right? To be completely egomaniacal I'll add that (after discovering this and several crazed years doing the research for the Liber T) I'm writing the damn thing myself out of frustration, but it isn't anywhere near done. I'm actively working on it though, in between actual gigs and I have made a ton of progress. The research has totally changed my worldview, too. And for folks who think astrology and Tarot have nothing to do with each other, I'll point out that Astrology (not QBLH, not Heresy, not Alchemy) is the one unquestionable verifiable source of symbolism in the earliest decks... to wit, all the planetary symbols throughout the Visconti-Sforza trumps. And small wonder: three of the trumps are celestial bodies. That's not to say any of the attributions are clear or even definite, but rather that Astrology was so much a part of the Renaissance worldview that it is deeply woven into the fabric of Tarot, however unintentionally.

Also know that the GD Tarot books available REALLY overfocus on Qabalah for a lot of reasons, mainly having to do with Victorian magick and the available scholarship of the time. Most occult authors don't bother doing any actual homework of their own, content to either swipe it or wing it. Likewise most are either lazy or crazy, so they're either relying completely on someone else having done the work and regurgitating blindly OR they're just making up "discoveries" wholesale and calling them (ahem) blinding revelations that require discarding all known attributions and only discernible within intentional "blinds" that conceal the capital-T Truth that will shake the world to its foundations. Notice that BLIND is the recurring theme of the two above models. Another reason there are so many crappy books in the world! The way I see it, whether you won't open your eyes or decide to gouge them out, the decision to not see is willful. I'm not naming any names, but I'm sure you can connect the dots.

But trust me when I say that the astrology you'll pick up from the Thoth is amazing, and can be life-changing if you keep digging into it. Hang in there, missy! I'll help as much as I can, and maybe by talking it through with you it'll force me to get off my butt and get this thing written.