16 subelements of emotion

[rainwolf]

In the LWB of the thoth tarot, it mentions under The Chariot (in the catalogue section) that "The charioteer is seated in the chariot of the body and is drawn by sphinxes, who represent the sixteen subelements of the emotions."

Does anyone know what these sixteen subelements of emotion are? I've looked on the rest of the internet and cannot find it.

 

[Lillie]

I do not know what that phrase means exactly.

But I know that the sphinxs on the chariot card represent the 16 court cards, or rather the 16 combinations of he four elements that are represented by the court cards.

ie. fire of water, water of earth... etc.

So, something to do with that I suppose.

 

[rainwolf]

Well that would make sense...the 16 C.c's have very different personalities and they could each sub for emotion.

 

[Grigori]

In the Book of Thoth Crowley says

This chariot is drawn by four sphinxes composed of the four Kerubs, the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Man. In each sphinx these elements are counter-changed; thus the whole represents the sixteen subelements.

and that is where he stops.

The "of emotions" seems to be added by Harris into the second part of the LWB (it is not mentioned in the first part, where like Crowley in the Book of Thoth she says only the "sixteen subelements." .

The front of the LWB says

...two essays that were originally written as exhibition catalogues for London gallery showings of the paintings in the early 1940's have been located. The first essay [with no "of emotions"] edited by Lady Harris solely from Crowleys writings. He is on record as having approved the contents of this essay. The second essay was her own interpretation of the cards and represents her only written public statement on the cards

So perhaps the "of emotions" is Harris's personal opinion, and if so another reference to it, or further explanation probably doesn't exist unfortunately.

 

[Grigori]

Stuart Kaplan lied to us!

Well it seems SK's insistence that Harris wrote the second article about the Thoth deck may be partly wrong. While reading about something else, I stumbled on a Duquette reference to the LWB.

He also agrees that the 1st article was compiled from Crowley's writing (but does not say by who), however the second article that Kaplan attributed to Harris, Duquettes says

The second, written for the Berkeley exibition, was written by Harris's friend Robert Cecil and was simply titled Exhibition of 78 Paintings of the Tarot Cards by Freida Harris

I went searching and found this info also, at this impossible to read website.

With assistance from Robert Cecil, she produced two gallery catalogues for the Cambridge and Oxford shows. The Cambridge catalog was based on Crowley's notes, which were italicized, and met with his approval. He rejected the Oxford catalog, however, since it was not based on his work.The descriptions of the twelve cards published in this year's calendar are excerpted from the Cambridge exhibition catalog. Harris made every effort to promote the cards and raise funds for their publication, including radio talks and lectures.

 

[Always Wondering]

Is it possible to consciously classify the sub elements in regard to ego/personality, or is it a more meditative, unconscious thing?

Has anyone done it and written about it? I've been reading Liber Theta and meditating on them but with no real obvious results.

To be clear I was thinking along the lines of ascertaining which parts of ego might be causing challenges or are in need of attention.

AW

 

[Grigori]

Is it possible to consciously classify the sub elements in regard to ego/personality, or is it a more meditative, unconscious thing?

Isn't this what Myer-Briggs is all about? Fill in the questionaire and we'll tell you what the balance of elements is that makes up your personality. Or do you mean something different AW?

 

[Always Wondering]

Sorry Grigori, I have a difficult time explaining myself lately.
Let me try an example.

I have been in a period of quiet, rest, and regeneration which I have sought and try to accept. But there is part of me that is very discontent and tells me I have no life, I am lazy and I should get a job, stuff like that. I ask the cards, what part of me is this? And pull the Princess of Wands.

I understand that she is earth of fire and wants action. But she is also the avatar of HGA and symbolizes the completion of the Great Work. So it seems her goal and mine are the same. She also rules a quadrant of Cancer which is my rising sign, so I think I should try and understand this rather then throw her back into the deck.

For the first time in my life I am cultivating an awareness of breath, posture, and so on, and having good results with some of my body/mind issues. So why won't she play with the rest of the team? I practice the suggested meditation in Liber Theta and I understand this part of myself less and less. I have had similar experiences with the rest of the courts. They are as conflicted and obstinate as I am.

I thought the courts, as sub-elementals would be great tools for inner work. But maybe I misunderstand their use, or am taking a backward approach. I was wondering if any one else has had success or if there were some kind of instruction or insight out there.

Or maybe I am lazy and need a life.

I hope this makes sense, but wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't, it's been that way lately.

I think they put me on medication after I took the Briggs Meyer. It was a long time ago. Could have been a different test.

AW

 

[Teheuti]

The sphinxes are obviously of mixed elements.

The elements are the basis of early medicine, with the humours, and early psychology, with the temperaments—which could today be equated with emotions. Each of the sixteen Court Cards is a combination of elements/temperaments: The Earthy part of Water, etc. As someone mentioned, the Myers-Briggs Types are a good example of this.

Synchronistically, 16 = 1 + 6 = 7 = The Chariot. [Don't you think Crowley knew that!]

 

[Barleywine]

Clarification from Taheuti

In the LWB of the thoth tarot, it mentions under The Chariot (in the catalogue section) that "The charioteer is seated in the chariot of the body and is drawn by sphinxes, who represent the sixteen subelements of the emotions."

Does anyone know what these sixteen subelements of emotion are? I've looked on the rest of the internet and cannot find it.

This post led me down an interesting path. I went digging to see what light I could shed on the "counter-changing" of the "four elements" as represented by the four-fold admixture of the physical characteristics of the four Kerubs visible in the card.

The first thing I found is that in both Greek and Egyptian mythology, the sphinx was a tripartite being (discounting the serpent-headed tail, which did not seem to figure in Crowley's symbolism for this card) rather than four-fold, as shown in this Wiki entry:

"THE SPHINX (or Phix) was a female monster with the body of a lion, the breast and head of a woman, eagle's wings and, according to some, a serpent-headed tail."

and

"Unlike the Greek sphinx which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an androsphinx)."

The Bull doesn't make an appearance. Apparently Crowley changed this conceptually to correlate with his use of the Vision of Ezekiel as one basis for his symbolism. The eagle's wings only figure prominently in two of the four images (Bull/Earth and Lion/Fire) since the eagle symbolism is represented in other ways on the remaining two. The head, body (or "haunches" in another Wiki description) and breast were swapped around on all four of the sphinxes.

Next I went searching in those of my tarot texts that might be deep enough to speak on this subject. Robert Wang had the following to say:

"He (Crowley) . . . has, thus, taken Levi's dual sphinxes and turned them into the Four Kerubiim, each of which has four sub-elements, as in the Tattvas."

Volume 2 of the "Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic," under "Introductory Paper on the Tattvas," describes the four elemental Tattvas (the fifth, Akasa - ether or spirit - does not appear to play a part in the sphinx symbolism) as follows:

Vayu - The Aerial Principle, symbolized by a circle of clear blue, the air being obviously a sphere of blue colour. (Man/Aquarius?)

Tejas, the Principle of Light and Heat, symbolized by a triangle of flame red, the shape and colour being both obviously appropriate. (Lion/Aries?)

Apas - Watery Principle, symbolized by a crescent in silver, alluding to the Moon as ruler of the waters. (Eagle/Scorpio?)

Prithivi - the Earthy Principle, symbolized by a square form of a yellow color; the stability of earth being denoted by the square or cube; since the perfect form of earth according to the alchemists is gold, the colour yellow is appropriate. (Bull/Taurus?)

There is nothing clearly linking the four Tattvas to anything that would correspond to the four Kerubiim of Ezekiel. However, we can take a cue from the Chariot card itself, which shows a Bull-headed, an Eagle-headed, a Human-headed and a Lion-headed sphinx. For sake of argument, if the head is considered as the elemental key to the entire figure, then we have a Fire sphinx (Lion); a Water sphinx (Eagle); an Air sphinx (Man) and an Earth sphinx (Bull). From there it's a short leap to conclude that, accordingly, the Fire sphinx has a female human upper body (the Airy part of Fire), a bull's fore-and-hind-quarters (the Earthy part of Fire) and an eagle's wings (the Watery part of Fire). Unfortunately, after that the orderly arrangement seems to break down a bit since it's not entirely clear "what's what" on the other three sphinxes. The heads are all obvious, as are the eagle's lower extremities on the Human-headed sphinx, the human fore-quarters on the Eagle-headed sphinx, and the lion's fore-quarters, eagle's wings and feathery torso on the Bull-headed sphinx.The remainder of the images are rather amorphous (it's almost clear that the Air sphinx has a bull's hind-quarters [but not feet]; the Earth sphinx really throws me, however). The only thing that seems obvious is that the wings on the middle two figures are not significant since the Water (Eagle) symbolism is already accounted for. I would appreciate some additional insight on this apparent vagueness since it's clear what was intended but the execution seems to have lapsed somewhere along the way.

Edit: After further staring at the card (with a magnifier) and absorbing Teheuti's input, I'll make another stab at the rest of the "counter-changing."

Human-headed (Air) sphinx has Eagle's lower extremities - fore-quarters and hind-feet (the Watery part of Air); perhaps a Bull's hind-quarters (the Earthy part of Air); and a sort of furry collar (reminiscent of the bust of Nefertiti) in the "breast position" that is the only representation of the Lion (the Fiery part of Air) that I can deduce. (These last two could be interchangeable; the imagery simply isn't clear enough.)

Eagle-headed (Water) sphinx has Human fore-quarters (the Airy part of Water); Lion's hind-quarters (the Fiery part of Water); and a slightly larger furry collar at the "breast" that seems to stand in for the Bull (the Earthy part of Water). (In this case the former is very clear so the latter seems more plausible, but I still think it's a stretch.)

Bull-headed (Earth) sphinx has Lion fore-quarters and maybe hind-quarters (the Fiery part of Earth); what appear to be attenuated Human hind-feet in profile (the Airy part of Earth); and an Eagle's feathery torso and wings (the Watery part of Earth).

I don't see any particular significance to the different head-dress on each sphinx, but I'm in no way an Egyptologist. Maybe others can weigh in.

I haven't compared these impressions to the deeper Court card symbolism to see if there is any alignment between the placement of the various sub-elements on the sphinxes and the CC meanings, but that's a whole 'nuther study.