Re: Mercury/Pluto - There is no question to me that it is the symbol for Mercury. The symbol for pluto linked to has the crescent below the circle, and also I am not sure old this symbol of Pluto is or if Crowley would have known it. In the diagrams in the BoT he uses the English symbol for Pluto, which is basically a combination of the letters P and L. Also why would he leave out Mercury from the seven ancient planets and insert Pluto?. I can't see any symbol for mercury below the Sun symbol, only the symbol for aquarius. I see the similarity to pawn pieces in the hilts of the downpointing swords, the hilt of the Sun is more like the top of the Queen or King in some chess sets. The pawns attacking the King would fit the battle analogy; it looks more like the top of the Queen chess piece though, we still have the battle analogy but the Queen chess piece would suit the title of card 'Futility'. In a game with King piece against six pawns then the King is in pretty dire straits, six pawns going against the power of a queen piece though stand little chance. It depends upon whose actions are being considered 'futile', the one or the six it battles against?
Kwaw