Thoth - Notes on Symbolism (Fool)

Croc Update

I finally broke down a bought a hard copy of The Book of Thoth. Thumbing through it, I thought I would flip to the section on The Fool and see what, if anything, Crowley had to say about the crocodile. He clearly identifies it with water, and the Egyptian god Sebek (Sobek). A study of this god is very enlightening. But the most interesting stuff is what Crowley actually writes. He doesn't come right out and say it, but I believe the thing on the side of the crocodile's head is a gill. The key is in the last sentence. Read for yourself and decide:


The Crocodile (Mako, son of Set; or Sebek)

"This same doctrine of maximum innocence developing into maximum fertility is found in Ancient Egypt in the symbolism of the Crocodile god Sebek. The tradition is that the crocodile was unprovided with the means of perpetuating his species (compare what is said above about the vulture Maut). Not in spite of, but because of this, he was the symbol of the maximum of creative energy. (Freud, as will be seen later, explains this apparent antithesis.)
Once again, the animal kingdom is invoked to fulfil the function of fathering the redeemer. On the banks of the Euphrates men worshipped Oannes, or Dagon, the fish god. The fish as a symbol of fatherhood, of motherhood, of the perpetuation of life generally, constantly recurs. The letter N. (Nun, N, in Hebrew means Fish) is one of the original hieroglyphs standing for this idea, apparently because of the mental reactions excited in the mind by the continual repetition of this letter. There are thus a number of gods, goddesses, and eponymous heroes, whose legends are functions of the letter N. (With regard to this letter, see Atu XIII.) It is connected with the North, and so with the starry heavens about the Pole Star; also with the North wind; and the reference is to the Watery signs. Hence the letter N. occurs in legends of the Flood and of fish gods. In Hebrew mythology, the hero concerned is Noah. Note also that the symbol of the Fish has been chosen to represent the Redeemer or Phallus, the god through whose virtue man passes through the waters of death. The common name for this god, in southern Italy to-day, and elsewhere, is Il pesce. So, also, his female counterpart, Kteis, is represented by the Vesica Piscis, the bladder of the fish, and this shape is continually exhibited in many church windows and in the episcopal ring. ["IXO*YC, which means fish and very aptly symbolizes Christ." The Ring and the Book. The word is a Notariqon of Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.)]
In the mythology of Yucatan it was the "old ones covered with feathers that came up out of the sea". Some have seen in this tradition a reference to the fact that man is a marine animal; our breathing apparatus still possesses atrophied gills." - Book of Thoth; Pages 59-60.

Interesting - but I dont see the connection with the gill statement (in man) and the crocodiles 'ear'.

I was thinking however if it IS a flower, its the worst or wierdest flower Frieda ever painted.

PS Congrats on your puchase of hard Thoth .... perhaps you'll ressurrect the Book of Thoth study thread ?

ravenest said:

Interesting - but I dont see the connection with the gill statement (in man) and the crocodiles 'ear'.

Click to expand...

I believe the "atrophied gills" that Crowley is referring to is the human ear. The crocodile's ear is the little bump directly behind the eyes on top of the head. The object in question is clearly on the side of the crocodile's head where a human ear would be. So what are we to make of this? I believe Crowley has used this symbolism as a metaphor for primordial humanity in a state of "maximum innocence developing into maximum fertility." This seems to be the overall theme of The Fool.

I was thinking however if it IS a flower, its the worst or wierdest flower Frieda ever painted.

Click to expand...

I agree!

PS Congrats on your puchase of hard Thoth .... perhaps you'll ressurrect the Book of Thoth study thread ?

Click to expand...

Thanks

What the Book of Thoth study thread needs is a full-time facilitator to keeping it going. However, finding someone who can commit to that responsibility is another matter.

I went back to my bookcase to see what other Crowley references I might have, and came up with Arrien's "Tarot Handbook", Banzhaf's "Handbook to the Cards", and Wanless' "New Age Tarot" - none of which provided anything new on the crocodile rose/gill question. In fact, none of these books mentions that particular detail at all.

I did see the reference to the gills when I studied the "Book of Thoth", but didn't make the same connection. I think it's a viable possibility, though, so I'm glad you mentioned it! Gills are a reference to our primordial selves, which I think is very appropriate for the Fool card.

I had another thought about this thing last night. From the Book of Thoth (just one page after the gill comment):

Now consider the traditional form of Harpocrates. He is a babe, that is to say, innocent, and not yet arrived at puberty; a simpler form of Parsifal, he is represented as rose pink in colour. It is dawn--the hint of light about to come, but not by any means that light; he has a lock of black hair curling around his ear, and that is the influence of the Highest descending upon the Brahmarandra Chakra.

Click to expand...

Reading that and looking at the card, it occurred to me that Harpocrates is described as having a dark "curl" at his ear on a rose pink background, while the crocodile ("who threatens Harpocrates" in the next paragraph) has a rose pink "curl" at his ear on a dark background. Could this be a way of getting at the idea that Harpocrates and the crocodile are intimately linked, maybe one and the same? That might go along with the idea of every symbol containing its own contradiction, which Crowley goes into a few pages further on.

I guess that theory is even more fanciful than the gill theory, but it makes a certain amount of sense to me. What do you guys think?

(Sorry about the quotes around the word "curl," it's that weird "forbidden" error that won't allow that word by itself.)

I think we could be clutching at straws here, I am still not convinced that the shape is specific to the croc but could be part of the overlaid central symbols on the card.

... or it IS the smudged palette

hey Formicida-

I see what you are saying and hear where you are coming from. It is interesting to ponder.

Whether or not this was intentional on the part of Crowley and Harris it is difficult to say. But I believe there is a force at work (some call it occult, subconscious, unconscious, or even superconscious mind) that directs things in ways we could never fathom.

Just wondering if anyone has any further thoughts on what this pink rose/blob on the crocodile might be?

Could it relate to Malkuth in any way (as the Fool's body seems to be fashioned on the Tree of Life, with Yesod (the moon) directly above the blob)?

I always thought it was his eye, actually. In any case, in my opinion the crocodile connects the Fool both to Death, and to Adjustment, in interesting ways.

Sobek was a god of creation, perhaps similar to Temu, who arose out of the waters of chaos onto a mound and masturbated the world into existence. On the other hand, crocodiles were feared in Egypt, especially in the dry season, when they would come closer to inhabited areas, and so we have Mako the Devourer. Both sides of the same animal suggest a connection, especially if we equate the crocodile with the Nun (fish) of Death. Every beginning is also the end of whatever preceded it. In the Fool's case, in his "first stirrings," he brings about the death of the purity of Nothing. Looking at the Tree of Life, we see that the Fool parallels Death, implying a connection. Personally I think that pink thing really is a gill, as it all ties together so elegantly.,

As to Adjustment, Crowley tells that she is "the consort of the Fool," and rightly so, as her letter is Lamed, the ox-goad. The Fool is the Ox of Aleph. In acting, the Fool creates the reaction of Adjustment who in turn reacts by giving birth to a new Fool, and so on. Every reaction is an action unto itself, and the two play off each other exactly as Chochma and Binah do. The crocodile, again with the connection to the fish, is the Omega to the Fool's Alpha. The watery Binah is course attributed to Saturn, making the connection of time, old age, heaviness and death. "On the banks of the Euphrates men worshipped Oannes, or Dagon, the fish god. The fish as a symbol of fatherhood, of motherhood, of the perpetuation of life generally, constantly recurs. The letter N. (Nun, N, in Hebrew means Fish) is one of the original hieroglyphs standing for this idea." Nun is the continuation of Lamed, separated by Tiphareth.

So I think it's a gill, too many seafood references.

Thanks for this closrapexa - that's given me a lot of interesting things to think about.