The Chariot/Cheth & Hebrew Letter

[anubis777]

Hello All,
Sorry to interupt your study of the bol but i need to ask about the signifigance of the hebrew letters assigned to the cards & there importance if any in readings. For instance, the Chariot is assigned Cheth which means fence/enclosure & the zodiac sign Cancer as well as the 4th house. Ok well as we can see the chariot is really protected under the canopy as well as being totally covered in armour from head to toe & hands as well. So a fence keeps things such as persons out but it also keeps things in maybe like a prison. So with all of this protection & since the 4th house rules family & home what exactly are we to make of this card when it shows up in a reading? Are we supposed to protect our vehicles & our home as well as family if so then from what or from whom? On the negative side are we imprisoned by the fence unable to get away from our home/family for some reason? I feel like these hebrew letters are to be added into the meaning of readings but again some are hard to figure out & apply such as the Emperor & it's letter Tzaddi which is a fishook. If this shows up in a reading are we to say or think that the person is going fishing? I'm sure the person would say we were nuts & think we were smoking something. So again a fishook catches fish so if we take the death card 13 which is assigned to the letter Nun & add 1+3 = 4 tada we have the Emperor with his fishook on hand. But what the hell does this all mean? well it means something or Crowley wouldn't have gone through the Tzaddi switch. I know the letters are mostly used for the spiritual meaning but what about the material meaning? Ok well please feel free to enlighten me !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Grigori]

For instance, the Chariot is assigned Cheth which means fence/enclosure & the zodiac sign Cancer as well as the 4th house. Ok well as we can see the chariot is really protected under the canopy as well as being totally covered in armour from head to toe & hands as well. So a fence keeps things such as persons out but it also keeps things in maybe like a prison. So with all of this protection & since the 4th house rules family & home what exactly are we to make of this card when it shows up in a reading? Are we supposed to protect our vehicles & our home as well as family if so then from what or from whom? On the negative side are we imprisoned by the fence unable to get away from our home/family for some reason?

Yes to all of the above I think like any other symbol, they have different meanings depending on the reading/question/situation. Any of those could be the meaning for a certain reading, and also none of those. I often relate the fence to the idea of containing or controlling something, like the Chariot who is a commanding controlling sort of person, the type who would contain or control things. But I've also had this card literally suggest a guardrail, which is I guess a type of fence. Depends on the reading

I feel like these hebrew letters are to be added into the meaning of readings but again some are hard to figure out & apply such as the Emperor & it's letter Tzaddi which is a fishook. If this shows up in a reading are we to say or think that the person is going fishing?

Maybe! My father is a mad keen fisherman, as are his brothers, so a patriarch with a fishing rod fits into my worldview very easily. I also think of the hook as looking like the symbol of Mars which is the ruler of Aries, and a warrior like implement, for piercing things with. The hook also catches fish, which you could extrapolate to a commentary on Pisces, or Christ, or the Death Card (scorpio, also ruled by Mars). Depending on the context again.

It might also be useful to think about how the letters relate to the material meaning of a card. What about Lust is serpent like, what about The Lovers relates to a sword, why would The Star fit with a window etc.. Or you can use the cards to inform the letters. e.g. yesterday I discovered that Satan in Hebrew is spelt Shin-Teth-Nun. Interesting that Satan could be related to fire-snake-death.

There's lots of ways to use the ideas, up to you I guess

 

[anubis777]

Hello Grigori,
Thanks for the reply yes i guess all of the meanings can be used. I have a friend & her boyfriend is psycho that she seperated from well she wanted to know if she took him back how he would be. Well this is one of the cards that came up so knowing how controlling he is i said you would lose your freedom b/c he wants to keep her in the house & not let her go anywhere. The fence is her prison & its so true. I wish someone would write a book & use these hebrew letters in card readings. The letter Peh that is assigned to the Tower is a perfect fit b/c every single time that card comes up verbal arguments/yelling are going on. To bad i can't just understand every letter that easy & apply it.

 

[Grigori]

I think Paul Foster Case's books give a good description of the letters as they apply to the trumps. He's not using the tzaddi/heh swap, but still I think its the most useful discussion I've read on the letters in a single book. That might help you a bit, and is easily found online also.

Also for you friend it might be useful to look at where this letter falls on the tree of life, as well as what it means. It's on the left hand piller of severity, linking Geburah (mars) to Binah (saturn) and it crosses the Abyss. That's probably not the sort of relationship most people want to be in. Also with Crowley's version of the card you see the charioteer holding the holy grail, containing the combined male and female fluids. I'd read this in a similar way, that she could be consumed into him, and crossing the abyss is another type of loss of identity. The spiritual version of those things is quite positive, but the mundane interpretation in a reading sounds kinda miserable to me.

 

[ravenest]

I think one can start up with a litteral interpretation of the symbol of a letter but, for me, it goes further. If the tarot is the basis then each card is not just really a letter or card but all vibes in that correspondence. they all enter the unconcious and throw out to you .... whatever you get.

 

[thorhammer]

I think that's why Crowley seemed to prefer the word "cognate" to "correspond*" anyway. The latter seems to be so much more concrete, where the former has much more possibility and openness.

\m/ Kat

 

[nicky]

Not to mention you can start playing with the numerical value of the letters and look for insights.


Ah the Thoth ... who would have thought I would miss you so.....

 

[anubis777]

Hello Gregori & everyone,
Yes the relationship is very violent on his part if you notice the crab on the helmet of the charioteer it means that the person has something or someone that they will not let go of. A crab will lose its arms/claws before it lets go of its prey. So that's the meaning of the little crab on his helmet enforced by the fact that Cancer people have a hard time letting go, sorry Cancers no offense. You know if only we had the "Secret Papers" from the O.T.O on the Thoth cards we could all rest in tarot peace but that will never happen. I would even pay someone who is a scholar on the Thoth deck to answer some of my questions from numerology to the hebrew letters along with the astrology that is the golden key that unlocks it all. Yes i also didn't think of Cheth being on the pillar of severity. So if you look at the astrological association of this card on the path of Binah to Geburah it sounds rough. Saturn acting through Cancer on Mars. I think of the sorrow of Binah influencing the loving receptive sign of Cancer on the warring planet of Mars yikes !!!!

 

[Grigori]

You know if only we had the "Secret Papers" from the O.T.O on the Thoth cards we could all rest in tarot peace but that will never happen.

Oh but we alrady have it! You just need to buy all of Crowley's books and study them for a couple of decades I don't think anyone at the OTO has any secret papers better than what you can buy from Amazon already

(Wait, are there secret papers? Really? )

 

[thorhammer]

I would even pay someone who is a scholar on the Thoth deck to answer some of my questions from numerology to the hebrew letters along with the astrology that is the golden key that unlocks it all.

What were you saying the other day, Grigori, about in life you have to either do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you, but in the study of the occult you have to do both?

So if you look at the astrological association of this card on the path of Binah to Geburah it sounds rough. Saturn acting through Cancer on Mars.

Or Mars acting through Cancer on Saturn. Wait, wait, where's my Chicken Qabalah . . . ah. The Rabbi always has something to shed . . . Cheth spelled in full enumerates to 418 . . . a familiar number to you, anubis777? Seems that someone in this relationship is not acting according to their Will (gee, really? ). Not capitalised, it appears that one is exerting will over the other. And that the second needs to stand up for themselves.

\m/ Kat