The black crescent in the goddess 's right hand

Best wishes to all of you!

I only got to study The Thoth deck a month ago and Wow! There are so many new symbols and figures to learn. Just for one: anyone can tell me the meaning of the crescent shape object the goddess holds in her right hand? Could it be a sickle as suggested by Lon Milo Duquette? Then why would she stick this sharp end of it in the big eye at the top of the card?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Tecla.

Which card is that on?

I'm sitting here, trying to picture every card in my mind, and not seeing a sickle anywhere.

I'm too tired tonight to go and look through the deck. (it's 3 am here!)

So, which card, and what goddess?

I think we're talking about the Universe card, but I don't think there is an answer to your question Tecla. At least not a definative one.

There are a few good ideas here. I like to think of it as a Saturnian sickle, but that is just a personal preference.

Oh, that!

I should have thought of that.

Although I always thought it looked like a fishing hook.

Don't know what it is. I'll have to look in the book see what the man says.

But if no one has an answer then I suppose Mr C never said anything definitive.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I look at this imagery is a fish hook coming from the eye. Tzaddi mean "fish hook," but Tzaddi is the Emperor. There could be some association with Tzaddi. I seem to recall reading something on this not long ago, but where escapes me. I'll post it if I find it.

Anyone else see a fish hook?

-fof

This description is from a 1942 exhibition catalogue of the Thoth Tarot, written by Frieda Harris.

XXI The Universe. Saturn. Earth. Tau.

The Universe is represented as a maiden dancing with a great spiral serpent. She holds the Moon in her hand and the Sun is merged in the Eye of God. These two planets typify the positive and negative forces. Behind her is a geometrical solid by Moebius. Around her are all the stars of the Zodiac, the curved seventy-two lines stand for the quinaries and are also an attempt to convey movement and to give the fourth dimension of time. Beneath her is Sullivan's map of chemical elements. At the four corners are the Cherubim or Winds of Heaven, the bull, the lion, the eagle and the man.

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The Universe

Thanks for answering.

No doubt the Harris description must be considered of prime importance. Since she was designing the card. I also like the Tzaddi ( fish hook ) suggestion. The Mayden could use the Moon crescent as a hook to hold on to Resh (Sol). The ( Yin ) that fuses with the ( Yiang ). Duquette and Zeigler see it as a sickle. I don't see how they came to this conclusion. Any of you can explain?

My regards to all.

Tecla

Tecla said:

Duquette and Zeigler see it as a sickle. I don't see how they came to this conclusion. Any of you can explain?

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The sickle is a symbol of Saturn, mortality, change and death. All symbols related to the element of Earth.

Tecla said:

Could it be a sickle as suggested by Lon Milo Duquette? Then why would she stick this sharp end of it in the big eye at the top of the card?

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I think Duquette was on the right track with the sickle idea, but where he comes up with the idea that she is poking it into the eye is truly beyond me.

Crowley never says what the symbol actually is, but he does say what this card represents: "The Fool is the negative issuing into manifestation; the Universe is that manifestation, its purpose accomplished, ready to return." - Book of Thoth; Page 118. The overall meaning then, according to Crowley, is that of return. The woman represents the World Spirit returning to source. I believe the crescent, sickle, or fish hook are all correct to some degree.

"In ancient Egypt, fishing was responsible for restoring Osiris to his original shape. The moon, which was an eye torn from Horus, was found in a fishing net; the hands severed from the god were discovered in a fishing basket." - Penguin Dictionary of Symbols; Page 385. After Isis had retrieved the dismembered parts of Osiris, with the help of Horus, she restored him to life (spiritually) through magic and he became the Lord of the Dead in the spirit world. Crowley makes clear in his description of the Tower that the eye in that card is the eye of Horus, so it seems reasonable to assume that this same eye is the one we see in the Universe card. They look exactly alike anyway.

"Fishing amounts to extracting the unconscious elements from deep-lying sources - the 'elusive treasure' of legend, or, in other words, wisdom." - A Dictionary of Symbols; J.E. Cirlot; Page 108

Taken together - the fish hook (fishing, extraction), the sickle (the harvest), and the crescent (spiritual renewal) - all paint a picture of the World Spirit, Sophia (wisdom) being liberated from material form.

It is also interesting that the Universe's dancing partner just happens to be a serpent, fequently a symbol for wisdom.

Just a few thoughts. I could be way off.

The Universe card matches almost exactly the Pelasgian Creation Myth recounted by Robert Graves (it's the first page of his book _The Greek Myths_). The Creator Goddess Eurynome was mother to Uranos and Grandmother to Saturn. As a card corresponding to Saturn, the idea of a sickle makes a lot of sense and makes this a multi-dimension mythic creation image.

Mary