The First Operation

[Carla]

I have found instructions to this effect in several sources, I believe they are attributed to Crowley/Golden Dawn:

This shows the situation of the Querent at the time when he consults you.

1. The pack being in front of you, cut, and place the top half to the left.
2. Cut each pack again to the left.
3. These four stacks represent Y H V H, from right to left.
4. Find the Significator. If it be in the Y pack, the question refers to work, business, etc.; if in the H pack, to love, marriage, or pleasure; if in the V pack, to trouble, loss, quarrelling, if in the H (final) pack, to money, goods, and such purely material matters.
5. Tell the Querent what he has come for: if wrong, abandon the divination.
6. If right, spread out the pack containing the Significator, face upwards.

My question is, does anyone do this? Do you abandon a reading if you don't get this right, as suggested in step 5? I only just encountered this particular ritual today, and am quite curious about it. One source I read suggests you should practice doing this until you are able to do it.

 

[The crowned one]

Yes, a modified version of this,( it is GD) actually I just sent a PM to some on this very topic.

I start out by seeing where the reading will go in a general sense as in money, love, arts, work ect... And if that opening does not match what the sitter is looking for, reading over, no charge... unless they want to continue down learning about the path my cards are showing. I start with a theme, tell them what happened to lead them to where they are, then tell them what will happen if they do nothing, and what aspects they could change, and lastly outcomes based on best and worse case to help them prepare... in a nut shell.

 

[Zephyros]

I think this is known as the Opening of the Key and is one of the most complex spreads out there. I've never done it myself, but I guess it's a kind of Tarot Everest for me, in a way. I'll do it one day. But yes, it dates back to the Golden Dawn, and includes several stages, each of which could cause you to abandon the reading altogether.

In effect, you actually read the entire deck in some versions of it. I found a detailed explanation of it here. There's also a YouTube channel I follow of some one who talks about Tarot, his OOTK videos start here.

 

[Carla]

I'm vaguely familiar with OOTK (as in, I've heard of it and know it's huge and scary). So did Crowley and Regardie do this ritual for every reading? Or just for OOTK?

Crowned One, did you practice doing this with volunteers until you got the knack? Curious.

 

[Zephyros]

Well, the Golden Dawn's view of Tarot divination was very different from what we think of as using Tarot today. The OOTK was a kind of initiation, meant to further you in your path towards contacting your Holy Guardian Angel or true path in life (I may be confusing the GD with Thelema). I seriously doubt it could be used to answer simple questions, unless you wanted to explore every single aspect of the question; it's just too big.

Are you talking about the ritual of invocation, as in "'I invoke thee, IAO, that thou wilt send HRU, the great Angel that is set over the operations of this secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen?" I guess they did that for every reading, but again, I'm not really sure how or even whether they actually read the cards like we do. It may very possibly be that they didn't, both Waite and Crowley speak strongly against "fortune telling."

What you quoted, by the way, is only the First Operation of the complete OOTK. If you want the full ritual, it can be found at the very end of the Book of Thoth, which can be downloaded for free.

ETA: I was wrong, I checked the BoT and it could be used for specific questions, but honestly it's just so big, I'm sure I could never use it to read for something specific.

 

[SunChariot]

I don't do ANY of that. Not any of the steps.

What is Y H V H?

That is not they way I choose my cards, I do not use significators. I started off using them when I was new, but I was not fond of them and seemed like too much trouble and did not add anything to the reading for me. And I certainly never tell the querent what he has come for. And I certainly do not abandon a reading if the cards do not tell me that.

To me if someone has contacted me they are meant to have a reading from me. It is not my business why. I am just there to do the reading, to pass on the info the universe wants them to get through me. IF the universe wants me to tell them why they have come,then I will see that in the cards and tell them. I do believe I am lead to see what I am meant to. If I do not see that, then I was not meant to tell them that.

I do not try to control the reading, what comes comes,. I am just there to open myself to whatever wants to get to the querent. Whatever I am meant to pass on will come through me if I do, and it will be in the querent's best interest, It is not for me to try control that or to say if this does not happen I will not read for this person.

But that has to do with my views that divination is a communication with the Divine.


Babs

 

[Zephyros]

I don't do ANY of that. Not any of the steps.

What is Y H V H?

...

But that has to do with my views that divination is a communication with the Divine.


Babs

That's actually not that different from the Golden Dawn's view of Tarot, communication with a Higher Power, only they did it in a different way. Telling the querent what they came for is another way of checking that that Higher Power is present; if not then there is no use in going on with the reading, at least according to them. The letters are the aproximation in English of the Hebrew letters that form the Tetragrammaton.

 

[Carla]

I tried it last night with hubby, two queries. On both counts, he decided that the substance of the query matched his. Then, because it was just a trial, he told me the question he had in mind. To me, any of those could match any kind of query. If someone wants a reading, they will probably agree that whatever you say is the substance of the reading.

I just thought this was an interesting and curious method to use, and wondered if anyone uses it anymore. It seems very old-fashioned. I wrote the method out in my spread book anyway, for the sake of knowledge.

 

[Zephyros]

I never had the time or patience enough to try it, but the guy in the video I linked to really recommends it, saying that it gives much deeper and more profound readings than any other spread. I'll do it some day, like I said, or at least try. I'm curious as to reading the whole deck in one reading, and writing all of that down is a must, otherwise so much information is lost.

 

[The crowned one]

I'm vaguely familiar with OOTK (as in, I've heard of it and know it's huge and scary). So did Crowley and Regardie do this ritual for every reading? Or just for OOTK?

Crowned One, did you practice doing this with volunteers until you got the knack? Curious.

Mine is a modified and abridged version to suite me.

Actually I memorized it years ago, and when I use it, the sitters are not aware of the workings behind my initial statements and card work, no more then the average person is aware what is really involved every time you flip a light switch on your wall.

I tend to use it if I am unsure, rather then when I feel sure that a reading will be good. My beliefs for tarot have nothing to do with anything outside of myself or the sitter, but it is good to know you are in tune with your immediate environment and interactions with the person across from you. I have never used it for anything but live readings of course.

I used to be, and still am but more mildly a big fan of Paul Foster Case.