3x different Magus Cards in Thoth deck

Aeon418

I can't make anything out of this trying basic gematria, or common sense, for that matter. Googling "1751 thelema" comes up with lots of hits, but they all seem happenstance. Any thoughts?AW
Possibly....

The form of the swastika that Crowley was familiar with via his Golden Dawn training was made up of 17 squares. The classic pose of the goddess on Atu (17) XVII The Star is the swastika. It is also the ritual pose called the Mourning of Isis.

The Crown, Kether, is defended by three thunderbolts on the paths of Aleph, Beth, and Gimel. 3 x 17 = 51.
51 is the numerical value of the Hebrew words AN, Pain, and NA, Failure.

The Enochian equivalents of the English letters N and A correspond to the astrological signs Scorpio and Taurus. In the Tarot that is Atu's XIII and V. The Hebrew letter attributions of these cards are Nun and Vav. The transliteration of those same letters into English is NU - the name of the goddess on Atu XVII The Star in her swastika pose. The same goddess who says in AL I:29-30:
Nuit said:
29. For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.
30.This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.

Also Vav and Nun are 6 and 50. Nuits number as per AL I:24.

Maybe the painful division of NU (swastika-thunderbolts) along the first three paths of Aleph, Beth, and Gimel, is given it's purpose in the next path of Daleth - Atu III The Empress - Venus - for Love's sake.
 

Barleywine

I bought the "3X Magus" Thoth back when it was first published in the '80s. I recall being startled by it since none of my previous versions were so "blessed." (Then I realized that - and this was before the days of "print-on-demand" - the publisher was just making creative use of the two extra card slots left on the print sheet for a 78-card run, rather than putting advertising on them, leaving them blank or just discarding them.)

As a graphic artist with several years of formal training, my first impression (just from an artistic standpoint with no consideration of changes to the symbolism of the published Magus) was that the so-called "rejects" were not as elegantly executed as the eventual winner; I found them a bit awkward, whereas the successful one was a veritable "poster boy" for Magi everywhere. I think US Games thought they were giving buyers a unique bonus, a window into the deck's creative evolution, and not brewing up a "perfect storm" of confusion.

I use only one of them and not all three (as some people seem to think was intended), but at this point my deck is so scrambled I can't tell which was the "middle one" when it was first opened. Not the one demurely hiding behind the big caduceus, nor the Hindu-looking one flaunting his.
 

Always Wondering

Possibly....

The form of the swastika that Crowley was familiar with via his Golden Dawn training was made up of 17 squares. The classic pose of the goddess on Atu (17) XVII The Star is the swastika. It is also the ritual pose called the Mourning of Isis.

The Crown, Kether, is defended by three thunderbolts on the paths of Aleph, Beth, and Gimel. 3 x 17 = 51.
51 is the numerical value of the Hebrew words AN, Pain, and NA, Failure.

The Enochian equivalents of the English letters N and A correspond to the astrological signs Scorpio and Taurus. In the Tarot that is Atu's XIII and V. The Hebrew letter attributions of these cards are Nun and Vav. The transliteration of those same letters into English is NU - the name of the goddess on Atu XVII The Star in her swastika pose. The same goddess who says in AL I:29-30:


Also Vav and Nun are 6 and 50. Nuits number as per AL I:24.

Maybe the painful division of NU (swastika-thunderbolts) along the first three paths of Aleph, Beth, and Gimel, is given it's purpose in the next path of Daleth - Atu III The Empress - Venus - for Love's sake.

I hadn't thought of dividing 1751, which is rather the point I was missing. Failure as simply division. A very helpful shift in perception, thank-you Aeon418.

It also helps explain this better.

But the reflection of the truth hath been shown in the lower Sephiroth. And its balance is in Beauty, and therefore have they who sought only beauty come nearest to the truth. For the beauty receiveth directly three rays from the supernals, and the others no more than one. So, therefore, they that have sought after majesty and power and victory and learning and happiness and gold, have been discomfited. And these sayings are the lights of wisdom that thou mayst know thy Master, for he is a Magus. And because thou didst eat of the Pomegranate in hell, for half the year art thou concealed, and half the year revealed.[

I get such a strong feeling of the paths reading Liber 418. I keep reading it and trying to work it out.

Barleywine said:
I use only one of them and not all three (as some people seem to think was intended), but at this point my deck is so scrambled I can't tell which was the "middle one" when it was first opened. Not the one demurely hiding behind the big caduceus, nor the Hindu-looking one flaunting his.

Picking a Magus was my first task with the Thoth. I picked the demure one. I have since loosened up a little :laugh:

AW
 

RLG

Possibly....

Maybe the painful division of NU (swastika-thunderbolts) along the first three paths of Aleph, Beth, and Gimel, is given it's purpose in the next path of Daleth - Atu III The Empress - Venus - for Love's sake.

Dwtw

Excellent insight Aeon418!

The path of Dalet completes the Supernal Triad as a triangle, leaving the paths of Zain and Heh to join the descending path of Gimel to complete the tetrahedron at Tiferet. Zain and Heh total 12, added to the other four paths (1-2-3-4) makes 22. So this tetrahedron could represent the complete set of 22 paths, or trumps for that matter. This is a possible scheme:


Zain-Heh = 7+5 = 12 = the Zodiac (7 planets rule a sign, 5 planets rule a second sign);

Gimel = 3 = the Elements (3 mother letters, descending 3 Triads, 3 horizontals, 3 paths of the Middle Pillar)

Alef-Bet-Dalet = 1+2+4 = 7 = the Planets (Sol as 1 in the middle of the hexagon of planets; Saturn-Luna as 2, the spheres above and below Sol on the Middle Pillar; Jupiter-Mars-Venus-
Mercury as the other 4 spheres on the side pillars)


So this particular way of attributing letters makes the six paths of this tetrahedron a sort of fractal of the whole design, which doesn't work with other numberings such as the Gra Tree. By skipping the number 6, you don't end up with the triangular number of six, (21) you get that extra unit that brings it to 22. Seems very clever on the part of the designers, or just a really great coincidence ;-)

Note the prominence of the tetrahedron in this other alternative Magus depicted here, apparently showing it in Tiferet:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v57/threefold31/?action=view&current=MagusofPower.jpg

This version was printed in one of the volumes of Man, Myth and Magic. I particularly like it because of the skewed perspective looking upward. Doesn't have the golden spider web filaments, but seems to show Chokmah and Binah, with Kether as the halo around his head, and Yesod at his feet, crossed by the crescent of Luna. Maybe this version was rejected because AC wanted his Magus to be more strictly drawn depicting the alchemical glyph for Mercury, as Harris does on a couple of versions.

I think there were a total of 8 different Magi, but I'm not sure they all made it into final color form or not, since at least one I have seen only in black and white. It would be nice to get them all together into a collage - 8 is the sphere of Hod/Mercury after all :)

Litlluw
RLG
 

ravenest

Another one! Eight you say ? ... we better start a thread and collate them together