Yo, yadda yadda (me 'n' Thoth)

Illuminatus is brilliant.

You'll love it.
And I am sure you will find some very interesting things to highlight!

I did. I read it a few times many yars ago, but I ended up giving it to a friend, cos she had got into it.

Happiness can be such an elusive thing sometimes.
but you are right. It always has to come from within.
It's no good looking for outside things and expecting them to make us happy, they never do, except in the most transitory way. True happiness has to come from within, and as you say, has to be practiced.
It took me a long time to realise this, and I still have trouble with it sometimes!

I am glad to hear that the Thoth is still being part of your life. You could not have found a better place than AT to learn more about it.

Rose cross detail

Attached is the best and most accurate rose cross I could find on the web. It matches exactly with the illustration of the RC in Regardie's Complete Golden Dawn book. Regardie has this to say about the cross

It is a complete synthsis of the Positive, Masculine, or Rainbow Scale of Colour attribution, the 'Scale of the King,' as it is called. These colours maybe be found in a Knowledge of the Planets, the 22 of the Rose to the 22 paths. It is the Cross in Tiphareth, the receptacle and center of the forces of the Sephiroth and the Paths. The extreme centre of the Rose is White, the reflected spiritual brightness of Kether, bearing upon it the Red Rose and Golden Cross from which the second Order takes its name; the symbols of the rescuing force.

Around the Hexagram on the white part, below the Rose, are place the planets in the order which the the Key of the Supreme Ritual of the Hexagram. Around the Pentagrams are the symbols of the Spirit and the four Elements in the order which is the Key of the Supreme Ritual of the Pentagram. In each of the floreated ends of the Cross itself are arranged the three Alchemical principles, but in different order in each element and as showing their operation therein.

Click to expand...

As for the various blocks of color on the cross:

Air - yellow ground purple pentagram and symbols
Fire - scarlet ground emerald pentagram and symbols
Water - blue ground orange pentagram and symbols
Spirit - white ground black hexagram and planets
Earth - divided into citrine, russet, olive and black, white pentagram and symbols

Lon DuQuette, in his Understanding Aliester Crowley's Thoth Tarot, devotes an entire chapter to the symbolism of the rose cross. And it's a whole lot easier to understand than anything written by the Golden Dawn. Crowley picked up the RC from the GD and the cross was originally developed by Mathers, I believe. The RC on the back of the Thoth deck is a simplified version of the GD cross.

Crowley's contributions to understanding the RC can be found at

http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Rose_cross

which is a great website for all things Crowley/Thelema

And here's another thread on the RC

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=46477

AT discussions are a great way to learn about the Thoth deck.

Do everything

Hi Plati,

Nup, do it yourself ... but here is a bit of help, dont just concentrate on readings, get familaiar with the deck. (If you havnt got it yet) get a map of tree of Life Lay the cards on it (Aces on Sephiroth 1. 2's on Seph.2 etc. Place the trumps on the paths, cort cards in appropriate spots, look, meditate, imagine. make 4 trees, one for each suit, join em together. lay them out in the solar system spread (3 elemental trumps as earth, 12 Zodiacal trumps as the houses around the earth. 7 planetry trumps between the two (as a 'natural' horoscope, or todays , or your natal chart, or your friend, see a Tarot form of your natal horoscope), pick one out, sit it on your alter, stick it under your pillow and dream, meditate and project through/into the card, try all different stuff, be flexible and open,

I


The hexagram is a magical glyph used to controll the planetary energies, feeling a bit saturnian? more than a bit? getting you down? well you can adjust it you know. Thats one of the ideas of being a magician, you can control your destiny and path, you can change your karma and behaviour, you can reprogramme and heal yourself, the hexagram represents all these things. But being a 6 pointed star its traditional versioun is a little hard to cast (draw in the air) - pentagrams are easy (all in one line) So uniursal hex eneables one to cast it in one continuous line and overlap begining and end, (like casting a circle). In a reading it seems to indicate large 'nodes' of magical energy coming or being present.

failure is a maze, dont take it the wrong way. imagine you are going thru a maze, you come to a dead end, are you gonna sit there and feel defeated and think "I stuffed up, I'm a failure?" Of course your not, you are going to say "Hmm, first turn left 2nd turn right leads to dead end, I'll remember that and try another path". Keep doing that and you will soon be out of the maze, and just think of all the stuff yourve learnt along the way. Its one of the warning cards that councils us to check our attitude
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