Maskelyne said:
As for the astrological and qabalistic glyphs and associated meanings, I see those as parallel to the image. The cards encapsulate Crowley's knowledge of Qabalah and magick, but these occult systems are just other ways of encoding meaning, they are not meaning in and of themselves.
That is an interesting thought and worth keeping in mind. Thank you for dropping in Maskelyne!
In order to get free shipping (I hate paying for shipping when I can just get another book!) I have been trolling medieval astrology and Beothius. I am not sure I ever come at anything directly and these might encourage a way of thinking more than offering simple solutions to the problems posed by the Thoth.
I cannot help thinking this is an appropriate almost cliché?
If the Thoth is the answer - what is the question?
So I think context is going to be a side approach for me. Fail or not, I'll certainly learn something! The GD is at the root of the beginnings of Thoth, so a little looking into the minds of Yeats, et al. (and therefore a context for Blake) and investigating the influence on art to give the times some context as well. I was just reading a book on J.W. Waterhouse - never declared publicly a member of the GD, but his art has whispers.
On another note, I think it was on Nicky's thread that I read that modern astrology has been heavily influenced by theosophy? Is it not correct to assume that the GD was also? It will be interesting to discover what Crowley's split with the GD was based on. Does anyone know? I am fishing a little at this point. I really don't know anything!