gregory
Glad to be of service. Want the rest ? THAT I can probably do !Grigori said:PS ♂ woohoo!!
Seriously - it is a bit like when "they" tried to explain calculus....
I still can't even grasp what it IS !
Glad to be of service. Want the rest ? THAT I can probably do !Grigori said:PS ♂ woohoo!!
I love the idea of a moleskin Thoth notebook! I've only got a pocket Thoth at the moment (it looks kinda cute!?), and having a soft notebook that I can carry around with my deck would be fabulous. However I'm more of a technogeek and have decided to start a blog instead.Le Fanu said:Get yourself a notebook, page or more per card, look at all the cards and note down your feelings about the atmosphere of the card, all the usual journalling stuff, then read Duquette and then Snuffin and write down the factual/interesting stuff, like this card is Venus in Aquarius, or Lady Frieda used an old fencing diagram to contruct this card etc, or whatever. I only braved the Book of Thoth after I'd read Duquette & Snuffin to be honest.
With Thoth, I go away and come back to it and all the "factual" and astrological stuff I can't easily remember, but it's all there, distilled in my moleskin Thoth notebook, and I go on adding to it, my thoughts, comments here from members. I can never seem to remember it all, but it is noted down for me so I don't have to keep rereading the whole of Duquette & Snuffin each time I'm in a Thoth phase!
Life with Thoth is a long term thing...
Scion said:Now as for the decan of Mercury in Sagittarius, it is not literally the Planet Mercury in the sign of Sagittarius, but the force it wields is much like the force Mercury expresses when ensconced in the region of Sagittarius. Swiftness! Right? By the same token there are times where that force is useful, and times where it can become malevolent. Again, much more compluicated/subtle than modern astrology's "I'm a Scorpio, what about you?" oversimplification.
Thanks Scion - I like the play analagy. It makes a lot of sense to me.Scion said:I've probably said this elsewhere but the way I usually describe traditional use of planet and zodiac is in terms of a play. The 7 Planets are always the actors, the forces moving and doing and changing. The "forces" that drive astrology are planetary and/or referred to in planetary terms. So Venus is a force, and there are other celestial phenomenon that are "like unto Venus" and thereby related. So the Behenian "fixed" star Sirius has Venusian qualities, but it isn't Venus. But by understanding Mars you gain an understanding of Sirius' influence in a chart.
The signs of the Zodiac (of which moderns make so much and often make themselves fools thereby) are like the sets of the play, the geography through which these 7 planetary "characters" move. The & planets have different dignities (levels of power/comfort) in each of these 12 regions and their influence is affected accordingly. Again, like a play: Mars LOVES being in hot dry Aries because Mars is also hot and dry, but Mars in Pisces not so much. This is where investigating the doctrine of the humours and the Empedoclean elements was a real help ffor me.
It is VERY helpful.Scion said:As for considerign QBLH... I'll offer one caveat: don't try to do it all at once. There's so MUCH material braided into this thing, it's packed as tightly as the coils in DNA and it can get frustrating and overwhelming if you attack it all at once head on with a stubborn omnivorous approach unless you're very very brave. Pick a subject (alchemy, astrology, QBLH, Thelema, Gnosticism, whatever) and focus for a period of time. Whatever seems the most intriguing or sexy or fun as a topic of study. I say that not to be a buzzkill but out of a desire to nurture long-term enthusiasm for the Thoth wherever possible! Spend several months cracking that first-chosen occult nut and then double back and take another topic. Rinse, repeat. They do all overlap, but that can be as much a hindrance as anything...
Then again, everyone learns differently. I may be bonkers and you should tell me to go to hell. In any case, hope some of this is helpful...
S
I can see where you coming from X, and I do agree in general. I guess like you I've reached a point where I want to learn WHY the Five of Wands = Strife, and although I like the modern decks in my collection, they don't give me these answers.Professor X said:Ever since finding out that the decans were what the RWS were set up with I have pretty lost interest in the decks that are just copies of the RWS. This pretty much makes up about 90% of the decks out now. I know a lot of people on here love the new age decks but they just dont get my interest anyone more. I see I am attracted to more occult decks. The Thoth deck now that it is back out will be my next purchase.
Without understanding the importance of the decans people are divining meanings from cards without truly understanding the root of why the images mean what they do. I have come to see that most people who read the tarot likely do NOT like the Golden Dawn. I have seen that here on AT. But yet they use the tarot set up that the GD put in place. Of course I would imagine that a lot of people never even bothered to research that in the first place.
I also see that most of these tarot guides trying to explain what the cards mean are pretty much worthless in my view(maybe others think differently).
This because most of them will focus in on the images on the RWS and what ever hunky dory stuff people divine from those images. This is cool and Im not knocking anyone for doing but to truly understand the MODERN set up of 90% of the decks out now one must dig deeper to go how it was set up.
teomat said:I can see where you coming from X, and I do agree in general. I guess like you I've reached a point where I want to learn WHY the Five of Wands = Strife, and although I like the modern decks in my collection, they don't give me these answers.
However they do 'work' for me (sometimes ) and for many others, so even though I and others might not know the actual roots, I do give credit to the GD system in that it can still work in a 'veiled' form (i.e as in a theme deck).
I like to think that there's magic in the system which tunes into the magic in us.
This is such good advice (say I, with the tone of one who has mastered all of the above ). I find that with the Thoth I have to go at it intensely, look & study intensely, then go off to something else while the new layer percolates down without me really noticing it. Then I come back at it with another focus, another rush of energy. The Thoth has stopped intimidating me like it did in the early days; I just enjoy it as something long term and enjoy the periods of intensity. Yet I feel as if I am at a stage now where I use it for most of my readings and it really does speak to me. I really am no expert but I feel like I'm getting more & more out of it, more & more stimulation, which - for me - can only be a good sign...Scion said:As for considerign QBLH... I'll offer one caveat: don't try to do it all at once. There's so MUCH material braided into this thing, it's packed as tightly as the coils in DNA and it can get frustrating and overwhelming if you attack it all at once head on with a stubborn omnivorous approach unless you're very very brave. Pick a subject (alchemy, astrology, QBLH, Thelema, Gnosticism, whatever) and focus for a period of time. Whatever seems the most intriguing or sexy or fun as a topic of study. I say that not to be a buzzkill but out of a desire to nurture long-term enthusiasm for the Thoth wherever possible! Spend several months cracking that first-chosen occult nut and then double back and take another topic. Rinse, repeat. They do all overlap, but that can be as much a hindrance as anything...