"The devil" THOTH TAROT CARD: ANALYSIS AND READING.

 

Aleister Crowley was not a Satanist per se, he was more aligned with Jewish esoterica, Christian Gnostic and Middle Eastern and Asian mysticism, to which he combined to create his own religion known as Thelema.  Which, on the surface is a very detailed and complex theorem of esoterical beliefs.  He also engaged in the use of drugs and ceremonial sexual acts, that appeared to be drawn from various tribal practices such as the Hindu tantric ritual, particularly one known as Maithuna, which was used for sexual alchemy.  The renewed interest in Crowley and his religion Thelema rose to prominence, after Crowley passed away in 1947, within the countercultures of the late 1950s and 1960s when younger people, who were removing the shackles of 1950s conservatism, showed an affection towards the occult.  Devil worshipping evolved more so in the 60s as a symbolic backlash against a Western Christian society of that era.  Yet, it was Crowley's interest in balance and harmony which appears in most of his manifestations of the Thelema religion, and this could be attributed to his foundress of the 4th Century Chinese text the Tao Te Ching.

Like all Thoth Tarot cards there is a layered complexity to the card itself, The Devil is always the Fifteen card of the Major Arcana tarot, marked in Roman numerals as XV.  And depicted by the Baphomet, which appears in middle of the card as mostly crossed legged, sitting in a meditation pose, with the left arm pointing downwards and the right pointing upwards.  Signifying the non duality of all things.  In Crowley's depiction of the card, it is of a goat with four legs, with a third eye in the middle of its forehead.  The bottom left Hebrew letter means Ayin, which like Aleph are silent letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Ayin meaning "eye".   The two spheres on the left and right bottom are filled with four lots of human figures, on the left the feminine, and on the right masculine.  Both in their material form (note one of the male humans as 'Pan'  the wild masculine Greek god), yet all appear to be in chaotic turmoil.  The goat or "Devil" appears calm and detached, standing above the tumultuous human condition, with the Qabalah tree of life in the background, which also has its chaotic flows, with its branches spawned in all directions.  Sitting below the Goat is the Chief Adept's Wand, the Egyptian influenced "Golden Order" wand, to which Crowley had been part of the 1900s esoteric English order, before branching off to create his own religion.

The Thoth Devil tarot card is not as dramatic as the traditional Rider-Waite "The Devil", it certainly has removed the more sexual elements of the Rider-Waite's depiction of "The Devil", with Baphomet chaining the two naked female and male entities yearning to be free from the shackles of apprehension, as the non-binary devil sits upon its throne.  Viewed as the balanced antagonist.

Reading:   

Control and contentment.  The conjuring of worlds and mastery over the feminine and masculine.  The Ayin is of the Devil's middle eye, stands aloft and high like the mountain goat, its spiral horns piece the heavens with Earthy chaos.  Already fallen, it chooses to reign, rather than serve.  Meditating on human folly and nature's disregard.  Use the material world, rather than be used by it.   "The Devil" card can offer liberation, but it comes at a price.  Can you endure all or nothing?

In summary:

Control, Contentment, Conjure, Mastery, Masculine, Feminine, Middle Eye, Balance, Earthly chaos, Spiritual insight,  Reign, Circumstance, Meditate, Darkness, Liberation, At a cost, Loss, Gain, Endure

(A.Glass 2023)

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All Thoth Tarot card analysis and readings to date:  chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/search/label/Thoth%20Tarot%20reading

(A.Glass 2023)