"The Priestess" and "The Tower" THOTH TAROT CARD: READING/s. These cards were pulled as a double reading, as a card has already been read in past tarot readings on chiasmus. The Order of this reading is from right to left.

 

"The Priestess", which is the 2nd card (II) of the Major Arcana Thoth Tarot.  And quite possibly Aleister Crowley's most significant card in it attribution to his Gnostic Christian influences, which are undoubtedly became interfused with his esoterica beliefs throughout the course of his life.  That covered both the Western and Eastern spectrum of the occult.  Yet, the contradictions that Crowley projects, seen with the accompanying The Book of Thoth, can at times, be too much for the reader to bear, as the so called contradictions are a mishmash of ad hoc manifestations that were derived from 500 years of Occultism.  And as discussed with these studies of the Thoth Tarot, Crowley's drug use, manly amphetamines, unfortunately lead to an overlap in its rambling dialogue in some of explanations of the tarot cards, which can be difficult to decipher in any rational manner.  It is only when certain other cards represent an even flow of wording, despite their cryptic meanings, the Thoth Tarot can hold a relevancy.   

Crowley was more inclined to be a sexist rather than a self professed 'feminist', when he passed in 1947, and his belief structure was relooked at, particularly Thelma in the reemergence of the late 1950s and 1960s counter cultures.  Crowley's 1900s Enlightenment period of Occultism was no match for the sexual liberation of the 1960s and 1970s, where Witchcraft and Satanism took centre stage as an aesthetical reference to which both men and women were able to reflect a degree of equality within their rituals of the Occult.  Crowley was not a Satanist, nor purveyor of Witchcraft, rather he descended from a rigid template of male oriented secret orders, that evolved from Hermeticism and Freemasonry and solidified their patriarchal romanticism of Egyptology and Hermetic Qabalah.  Which, very much like the Age of Enlightenment, saw that the newfound intellectualism of empirical discoveries in engineering and the sciences, came from men, not women.  This seeped into 18th and 19th Century occultism, and Crowley's own manifestation of the occult, as way of deciding where women were to be placed within the esoteric orders of the 1900s.  To which they were more symbolic in meaning, rather than any manifestation of equality. That the 60s and 70s counter cultures, as mentioned did represent.

The Priestess card heavily borrows from the Rider-Waite traditional The Priestess tarot, elaborating further the mythos that the card represents the Virgin mother, in which Crowley, from The Book of Thoth, decrees that The Priestess is "Wholly Feminine, and wholly Virginal"  equating that "purity" is only found in the female virgin.  Without creating a metaphor that the virgin, could be a rediscovery of sexuality, to be reborn into a ritual of the self.  And, ironically A.E. Waite hinted that his version of The Priestess card is more aligned with the pre-Islamic religious cults of the Middle East, ala the Astarte goddess of fertility and sexuality.  Other symbolisms seen on the card are fruit, flowers, diamonds, and a camel,  also noted is the Hebrew letter Gimel, which means, "kindness" or "to give".  And the crescent moon (feminine).  Crowley's The Priestess is not only outdated, but misses the point of how powerful the Virgin can be used in non binary sexual metaphor.  Thus, my reading will attempt to correct and realign the card into a contemporary portrayal. 

Reading:

In its purity, there is no purity.  But, only to be reborn.  To begin again, within the day.  Is to learn again, within the moment.  I am taught by the innocence, that is not innocent.  And yet, I yearn to redefine.  Did I take it all for granted?  Was I tainted by association?   Who will judge me?  I ask of this, as I begin to see everything anew, like the camel of lore, determined and driven.  To quench the thirst, is not a journey.  But a lesson.  Through the desert of my spirit, it has to be released.  Allow it to leave, so I may look at the material world as I did when I first arrived.  What I give, I want to receive, equally.  What might seem charitable, I do not offer prosperity.  As the fruit bears a new beginning, so do the diamonds, that transcend all of creation, as a reminder of the untainted, the unaffected.   I am no virgin.  But, I wish to know the carnal again.  Not to relive, but to enjoy.  And I am no priestess, nor goddess.  Only a conjurer of the self.  The Moon is barren, dead.  The Sun, reborn from the horizon, holds the golden light, as it fades into the evening.  Rejoice, for the flower once opened, also closes.     

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Aleister Crowley's Proto-Fascist latency returns with XVI "The Tower" card, as seen in numerous cards of mostly the Major Arcana of the Thoth Tarot, which shows the late occultist interest in Fascism, albeit mixed within his reworking of secret orders of the 1800 and 1900s and their occult societies.  Which were made up from a fusion of Eastern esoteric teachings, mystical Judaism and Western Christian based Cult of Saints societies.  There is no doubt the aesthetics of Middle Eastern and South Asian religions had a profound impact on occultism, more so Buddhism and Hinduism.  Just like the Nazi expeditions into Tibet in the 1930s to justify the rise of the Aryan myth, and in turn World War Two and the Holocaust, and yet it has to be reminded that Fascism and Nazism are not the same.  Crowley during World War Two worked, according to urban myth, for the MI5 as their chief magician, casting black magic spells on the Nazis and reportedly involved in psychic wars with German occultists, who were working for the Nazi party.  How much truth is in this, is up for dispute.  But, Crowley deep down was a Fascist, as were a lot of aspects of American, English educated society prior to World War Two.  Inspired by Mussolini's attempt at reshaping Italian society, the Middle East and Africa by incorporating a rigid, industrialised template based around war and Western/Italian superiority.  The early Futurism, modernist art movements all adhered to the Fascist cause, including poets, writers and even Zionist Jews, who also believed that Fascist structure and support of Mussolini would assist in having the British kicked out of Palestine, leading them to claim Palestine as a Jewish state without Arabs, all were drawn to the Mussolini's Fascist manifesto of 1932 decreeing that "Enforcing order" will create Peace.

The Eastern elements of destruction in both Buddhism and Hinduism is always read incorrectly, destruction often refers to destroying ego, being reborn as a pathway to enlightenment.  The Eastern metaphors, showed destructive visions as way of reiterating that mindfulness is a process of removing the egocentric self, and eventually leading to ego death.  This misinterpretation of destruction and creation began with early 20th century Western philosophers, who saw this as a necessity that the old is to be destroyed for the new, rather than a metaphorical look at the self,  it was seen as a structural necessity, in a generalist way, to change society.  Which in simplistic terms, always leads to war.   Crowley's subtitle in The Book of Thoth for XVI "The Tower" card is titled "War".

Reading:

Unfortunately the XVI "The Tower" has been drawn.  Also known as "War".  There are two ways to interpret this card and take them as you may: 1.  If you wish for change, a better place.  And you ask that the old be destroyed.  If that is indeed an aspiration through destruction.  You should see this destructive energy like a funeral, and what you do indeed destroy, creates spirits that have perished from the material realm and must be released. This, however is a perilous and dangerous technique.  Even in metaphor, no one walks away from war unscathed.  You will have scars.  To which once you have committed to the destruction of the material entity, you'll have to heal the self or forever be haunted.  2.  You view this card as the wise masters of old have advised, that destruction is destruction of the ego.  Not a war.  A personal process for deep meditation.  To learn that basis of ego death, use any destructive metaphor you like.  That from sexual yoga, I imagine a nuclear explosion after orgasm, engulfing all.  With only a white space that remains.  So that I may destroy my ego through elevation into transcendence.   I do not fear my scars, as my material body is a well crafted tool.  The symbols seen on the card are of the Dove of Peace fleeing to West, with the  "King of Chaos" Yaldabaoth appearing in the East.  As the waves of destruction begin from Right to Left, the Hebrew letter Pe can also be seen on the card, alongside the symbol for Mars.  Pe meaning mouth, and Mars, the dead planet.   The mouth can lead to war, fire and destruction.  Mars is not to be revered, it is, as mentioned, a dead zone.  The mouth, when undisciplined is impulsive.  Stare at this card, and the eye above, then close your eyes.  From this card, if you are unable to find a meditation within, although this maybe as an undodox act, the card should be turned over and war pacified. 

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(A.Glass 2024)

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