Eight of Cups (Indolence)
Hod (Splendor): Saturn in Pisces
Also called “The Lord of Abandoned Success”
The symbolic meaning of this card is exactly that. It is success without progress or success abandoned. You have a good thing going, and you piss it away.
Saturn is always kind of a shit and Pisces is always a mess, both are low in the Tree and even more depressing than usual. Nothing good comes of this card and it further implies that the subject’s failings are their own fault! Failure is almost always the person’s own fault in one way or another, but this card hints at achievement followed by neglect and rot, not mere honest human failing. From a certain point of view this is a fine way to start our story, you really don’t have any place to go from here but up.
Crowley called this card “The German Measles” of the deck for good reason.
Six of Wands (Victory)
Tiphareth (Beauty): Jupiter in Leo
This card is Victory over strife. It is joy found in good work. It says that there is much gained in this success.
Jupiter in Leo? It doesn’t get much better than that, and no chance of failure here because everything is always lovely in Tiphareth. We went immediately from shutting down our own success to victory and joy. What’s happening here, I wonder? A great turnaround!
Seven of Wands (Valour)
Netzach (Victory): Mars in Leo
That victory may not be as complete as you think and you know you still might fail, but still you can find courage.
Drawing this card in sequence with its sister the Six of Wands is interesting and strikes me as a clear warning. Mars in Leo sounds like a great time but this is happening pretty low on the Tree of Life and the sublime Victory of the Six is not as certain now at all; manly Mars and Leo are not so very manly down here.
Still, there is hope. Their masculine power may be marginalized in the deteriorating elements but Mars and Leo are still Mars and Leo. Think Psalm 23. Take heart!
Atu IX: The Hermit “The Magus of the Voice of Power”
Virgo’s card (Mutable Earth)
#20 Yod (Hand)
[this letter is too small to print clearly here — read this a/o see below]
Sepher Yetzirah: Path 20 lies between Chesed (Mercy) and Tiphareth (Beauty) and is called the Intelligence of Will: the means of preparation of all and each created being, and by this intelligence the existence of the Primordial Wisdom becomes known.
Mercury rules this card, and Mercury is exalted in Virgo
The card of Isis as Virgin (who is Mary, the Holy Mother), Ceres and Adonis
The occult meaning here is deeply wrapped up in the Hebrew, as Virgo’s sacred letter Yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, is the letter that begins and ends all other letters. Knowing this, we perceive its primal creative energy and thus understand why the Sun is the center of the card, the light of the world carried by a lonely figure. These three major celestials together are the energy of The Great Work: Mercury (or Thoth, the source of all magicks), Earth (all material forms), and the Sun (creation).
This card signifies an illumination from within and the will to make the necessary plans to go along with gained insight. A retirement from participation in current events is another possible meaning. Wisdom and a certain transcendence are gained.
Ace of Swords
Root of Air (Capricorn-Aquarius-Pisces)
The card of The Mind-Invoked as opposed to Natural force
The Ace signifies strength through trouble. It is the affirmation of Justice upholding divine authority. It can also portent absolute evil if negatively expressed.
The root of Air resists attempts to mystify itself, the elemental source of the scary sword cards cannot abide bullshit. Air can be quite vicious. Having interacted with this person a bit I don’t think that this is a bad card though it always could be, you never can tell with Air 😎
Moon in Virgo
“Now that I have achieved this knowledge, what can I do with it?” asks the Moon in Virgo, now even more cold and pragmatic. The Hermit appears most appropriately this evening.
What indeed will you do?
Some supporting images:
Originally published at https://dissidenttower.substack.com on May 16, 2022.
