This dream i keep having. (10 of Disks, Thoth)

Greetings Travelers. I have been having a re-incurring dream for a couple of weeks now. I won't get way too deep into it, but this card keeps showing up in the dream. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/98282813/works/cups.jpg . I have done quite some research into the Thoth deck, and also the tree of life. I was hoping someone wiser than I could help me to understand the actual symbols that Lady Fredrick Harris used in this particular tree of life set up. More so, if some one could explain what the symbols are commonly identified as, or even better what L.F.H. thought they meant. Thank you for your time. 5_~*Nihilithic*~_5

Hey there, welcome at AT

hmm, great question! i never really studied this card precisely, so I'll just share what i know and hope it will help you to understand it better or maybe know where to look elsewhere for further studies

So we know that Mercury is in the 3. decan of Virgo. Mercury is one of the main alchemical substances while virgo represents alchemical process of distillation. Mercury represents air element, so it is kinda intriguing that Crowley uses air element for earth card... There will be many earth-air symbols on this card. I think what Crowley meant was illustrating the opposites of Kether and Malkuth. Since the card number is 10, we are situated in Malkuth and that is the reason why the bottom coin is the biggest of all... Interesting thing is that even though Thoth tarot is pretty contradictory, Crowley didnt see Kether and Malkuth as opposites but complements creating the universe... yes, Malkuth is the opposite of highest manifestation of God in Kether, but it also reflects the material reflection of this idea into a kingdom of earth. Since this is the last card closing Minor Arcana, we can say that this is the final manifestation of tree of life from Kether to Malkuth.

Good that you studied the basics of Tree of Life so that i dont have to explain myself much When we look at the Atzilah world, and the Kether place, we see the astrological symbol of Mercury again. At Binah and Chokmah, i see similar symbols. I assume they are some other derivations or sings for mercury (didn't find them). At Binah instead of a cross, there is an arrow, which is only used in Mars (and Neptune too but that is different sign), and at Chokmah there is a dot in the circle... in astrology a circle with a dot inside represents sun... so maybe you could look for some connections between Mercury, Mars & Sun... In Crowley notes, i only found that fused Mars and Mercury suggests demons Glasya-Labolas, Botis, Marax (or Morax) and fused sun and mercury represents demon Zagan. I think Crowley used astrological signs for Atzilah to express how perfect and complex this area is, that it is not possible for humans to understand the highest motives and not even touch them... therefore using symbols representing planets, he probably wanted to illustrate a parallel.. just like we will never be able to imagine the whole universe (not even understand it as we think), the same way we cannot imagine and understand Atzilah...

Now, we go through the Abyss to move onto Beriah world. In this area, Crowley uses Hebrew.. Beriah reflects the highest understanding and wisdom possible to men rid of the flaws, subjective moods and illusions. Therefore i assume he used hebrew alphabet since language is a way of culture of humans, when they separated themselves from animals, and were able to learn and understand the main principles of life. why hebrew? cuz old hebrew consists of 22 letters, just like Major arcana, connects individual Sephirot and based on tree of life explains the laws of universe... In Geburah place, we have hebrew letter BET, Bet represents I. Magician. For me, Magician also represents ego and thats probably why Crowley used this for Geburah (which means severity). Cuz when we are controlled by our egos, we are highly destructive... At Chesed i'm not really sure, but that letter looks to me as either TET or AYIN. It is a weird form of these letters. their normal form is very different, but they have some variations and this looks close to them.. Anyhoo, Tet is XI. Strength and Ayin XV. Devil... Both cards are pretty earthy and can be destructive... I think Crowley used these cards for Geburah and Chesed to show us that money is a good servant and bad master... if we use it to reach our ultimate illumination in life, we will be saved, but if we misuse it, these cards will come to control us... Magician, Strenght and/or Devil.. In Tiphareth there is a latin word that consists of letters Resh-Pe-Aleph-Lamed (from right to left) and they mean the name of archangel "Raphael". What is funny that Crowley kinda "reinvented" archangels back in his days, and guess what.. Raphael represents color yellow (the color of pentacles here, color yellow is also color of mercury) and is in Qamea of Mercury. MERCURY! Again! In Hebrew numbers Raphael is 200+80+1+30=311. You can find at various places that 311 is a number of Raphael...
Interesting exercise is that you can turn hebrew words and names into card spreads... Lamed-Aleph-Pe-Resh equals to Strength-Fool-Tower-Sun... Just like you would write Raphael in those funny hebrew letters, this is the way to write Raphael in "tarot" language..
http://img172.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=338959435_P1080133_122_518lo.JPG
You can study the spread, notice the similarities, differences, evolution... Notice how is the entire spread Reddish-Yellowish... Mercury element is grey,silverish... but Mercury planet is Reddish-Orange, Yellowish... so we're back at this card... Also latin numbers of these cards are 11+0+16+19. So the final quintessaince is 46... (Paroketh divides the tree of life with the veil of illusion into 6 upper objective sephiroth and 4 lower subjective sephiroth deceived by illusion)... I assume thats why Archangel is in Tiphareth here, at the 'self' center of being on a right path with the universe... to prevent illusions to cause harm at Geburah and Chesed... Moreover when you sum up 4+6= you get 10 again, which is 10 sephiroth and also number of this card... I dunno, other thoughts anyone maybe?

So now we pass through Paroketh and enter Yezirah world. Here we have weird symbols... This is really not my area... Yezirah represents illusion and confusion and this is also me at this area in Hod, there is hexagram (which represents fusing of male and female energy) and it is inside of hexagon... I dunno what kind of symbol hexagram inside of hexagon is but i assume it would have something in common with sacred geometry... At Netzach there is a star with 8 edges... dunno what that means... At Yesod there is a triangle... Upright triangle symbolizes male energy and in alchemy means fusion of 3 main elements - salt, sulfur and mercury... there are also some numbers written inside if you look at the actual card... I think it is 8, 69 (or 89, cant see), 280 (or 260), and 2080 i think... no idea here again...

Then we finally move onto the Assiah world, which is Malkuth
itself. I think the symbol here is Caduceus and being in Malkuth could represent that the true fortune is when we are trully present and grounded in life without thinking into the future or past... When we are trully present in present moment and dont care about other coins or problems... Since this is malkuth, i guess it says we can reach this wisdom by believing in the tree of life or natural laws of life. I guess this image more talks about reaching fortune by accepting life as it is, living in the presence, being guided by the universe... its not that much as physical money, needs and demands as others assume... If the person focuses on money and materia itself, the they become too comfortable to change and evolve and the bad side of this image will arise... this card really talks about spiritual fortune rather than physical...

hope this helped... let me know

Addendum 1

This is a copy of a post from the Thoth Deck thread, just to give you a little more insight.

I have been studying this exact tree of life symbol spread for a lil while now, due to the fact that i have been having the same dream for about 6 days now, every night. To explain a little bit further, i haven't been able to sleep more than 3 hours at a time for about a month now. I am sure this is just my "pa" getting ready for the coming new AEON. Being a child/plaything of the gods, i have accepted this lot. However i still have to go to work, and what have you. So i usually get home and lay down for my first set of three hours. then in a window of about 12am to 2am i take 6mgs of melatonin, and lay down for the next set. up around 3 or 5, and back down again until 8 or 9. I never recall dreams during the 1st or 3rd shift, but always have a massive (almost OBE, or Lucid) dream fit in the middle shift.

Every week for the last month, or so, it has been so. And every week on Monday exactly, the dream will change. This week i am again in a void, and these symbols appear before me, in gold, then flame, then burn out. then all is dark again, and then i awake.


::Addendum::

Thanks for your interest, and insight. The first, Big idea i get from your insight is about Tiphareth = "to prevent illusions to cause harm at Geburah and Chesed... Moreover when you sum up 4+6= you get 10 again, which is 10 sephiroth and also number of this card" How that effects me in my life, and this ongoing spiritual saga, is that i recently had to rebuild all new defenses, because i found myself wide open to attack. Moreover, I have an Ex who knows enough of esoterics, and is vindictive enough, that either she sent something to harm me, or has contacted someone to lash out at me. I decided, especially in this time/space it would be better to not retaliate, but to use this opportunity to re-learn and strengthen my spiritual defense spells. In doing so, I have been channeling the aid of a murdered friend. Again, not to retaliate against my attackers, but to help bolster my safety.

Ten was also his number, and it would seem to be saying to me, in this vision, that he is represented by Raphael. It would make perfect sense for him to be protecting me from attacks against Chesed (love center) and Geburah ( justice ) .

This is just my first immediate interpretation on your insight, more will follow.

The symbols on the coins are all glyphs that represent Mercury, except on the 8th coin which is usually the position of Mercury. In this case there is a 6 pointed star, which represents the Sun. I see you found this thread already, which maybe is helpful.

I think The Sun in the place of Mercury is a reference to the Sun in the Earth (Virgo), or the highest in the lowest, and the tetragrammaton formula. It would be useful to read what Crowley says about the Princess of Disks and "redintegration".

Grigori said:

The symbols on the coins are all glyphs that represent Mercury, except on the 8th coin which is usually the position of Mercury. In this case there is a 6 pointed star, which represents the Sun. I see you found this thread already, which maybe is helpful.

I think The Sun in the place of Mercury is a reference to the Sun in the Earth (Virgo), or the highest in the lowest, and the tetragrammaton formula. It would be useful to read what Crowley says about the Princess of Disks and "redintegration".

Click to expand...

ooooh, i didnt see that thread before... so all pentacles except Hod represent Mercury? thats so weird, cuz Hod should also be Mercury...

2nihilithic: glad that my interpretation helped to unveal the part of the dream... maybe you should pray to angel Raphael and ask him for help. Find some books, or something online, do ritual and ask him... angels always help, we jsut need to know the way to approach them... i think he could fix the situation...

JadoreHauteCouture said:

so all pentacles except Hod represent Mercury? thats so weird, cuz Hod should also be Mercury...

Click to expand...

But the whole tree is Mercury based. It's like a Mercury talisman. Makes sense to me to put the 'Sun' in Hod. If it was a tree based on appropriate symbols of Venus on eachSephiroth then 'Sun' would appear on Netzach.

Thank you for your time. effort, and guidance. I have a of information to absorb. Like i said, i try to stay away from the thoth deck, but i have now commissioned an artist friend of mine to render one for me, using the actual deck and ritual he is know for. Probably wont get my hands on it for a week or two.

However. Tonight is the night when my dream usually changes. I think at midnight tonight i will pray, and meditate and then pull a layout in the tree of life spread. I use a Mythic deck that was handed down to me but a coven i did some favors for a decade ago.

I will post this reading onto the forum if you guys would like to engage with me into it's meanings, and then when my dream reality shifts tonight, i will pot the dream up on the forum too.

If you fellow seekers are interested in my odd pre eon change saga.

It came to me while reading the above post .... so I may as well post it;

N, if your shift is communicating via symbol sytems relating to those on Thoth 10 of discs and its imagery, your Mythic Tarot, an arriving Thoth deck and your 'night school' (i.e. dreams, sleep cycles, etc) you might want to throw in some Liz Green mythological, psychological astrology as well (if you already have not ).

i am unfamiliar with the Liz Green, but i shall investigate.

It's time for me to go sleep, and i think i will up the melatonin 3mgs more tonight. I have drawn my tree of life. I will worry about studying it on the morrow, after the new dream-set. Here are the cards i drew. If anyone would like to interpret themselves, and post here, i would be honored. It will aid me, and give me more school for thought, especially after tonight's quest. Wish me luck, and all Blessings Be.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/98282813/works/1203121.jpg

ravenest said:

But the whole tree is Mercury based. It's like a Mercury talisman. Makes sense to me to put the 'Sun' in Hod. If it was a tree based on appropriate symbols of Venus on eachSephiroth then 'Sun' would appear on Netzach.

Click to expand...

hmm, interesting! thank you for your insight

nihilithic said:

Thank you for your time. effort, and guidance. I have a of information to absorb. Like i said, i try to stay away from the thoth deck, but i have now commissioned an artist friend of mine to render one for me, using the actual deck and ritual he is know for. Probably wont get my hands on it for a week or two.

However. Tonight is the night when my dream usually changes. I think at midnight tonight i will pray, and meditate and then pull a layout in the tree of life spread. I use a Mythic deck that was handed down to me but a coven i did some favors for a decade ago.

I will post this reading onto the forum if you guys would like to engage with me into it's meanings, and then when my dream reality shifts tonight, i will pot the dream up on the forum too.

If you fellow seekers are interested in my odd pre eon change saga.

Click to expand...

let me know what dream you had tonight... and also feel free to post the reading! id be more than happy to help with explanation...