"VII. The Charoit." THOTH TAROT CARD and "XI Lust" THOTH TAROT CARD: READING/s. These cards were pulled as a double reading. The Order of the reading is from left to right.

The Chariot, Major Arcana card number VII (7) from the Thoth Tarot, maintains Aleister Crowley's intricacy in merging various esoterica, and when initially looking at the card, one might not be overtly aware of how much Jewish mysticism via the Qabalah, influences The Chariot card.  But, it is abundant.  From the Four Pillars of the World, to which the knight sits under the canopy of the chariot.  With the Ten Stars or Diamonds imbedded into the Chest armour, representing the Ten Universes of the Assiah, which are, according to Qabalah mysticism, the Universes hold dark powers.  The Four Cherubs, from Christian teachings and also esoteric Christian beliefs, represent the Bull, Eagle, Man and the Lion.  All protective symbols at the throne of God.  The Knight holds the 'Holy Grail' which appears to reflect water, with the core representing blood, the lifeforce of the Universe within.  Sitting above the Knight is a image of a crab, as the card in astrological terms represents Cancer, on the bottom left side is the Hebrew letter Chet, which corresponds with Life and the number Eight.  And of the bottom right side, is the astrological symbol for Cancer.

My interpretation, within the context of randoming pulling this single card from the Thoth deck, would entail the mysticism of the self, of both the feminine and masculine, the two as one.  As the knight's form is shielded by its armour, we do not try and see what lies beneath it, therefore we must accept the mystery of its formlessness.  And be guided by its intrinsic wisdom, despite the knight holding a circular vessel of water, the blood in the middle is the reminder that life emanates from the pelvis, note the knight sitting cross legged, not standing.  Representing the feminine power in all of us, there is no duality.   Yet, the knight maybe an imposter, who has infiltrated the throne of so called higher wisdom, offering an alternative.  But do we accept? 

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"XI Lust" is certainly Aleister Crowley's (d1947) more sexual orientated Thoth Tarot cards, which is solely attributed to the divine feminine, and its carnal energy.  Although Crowley was not an anthropologist, he was however a keen purveyor of Eastern Religions, and it's variations of antinomianism.  To which his own religion "Thelema" did encourage sexual rituals, with his "Sex Magick" techniques as a way of awakening the Age of Aeon.  While offering a plethora of contradictions to Crowley's conservative and Proto-Fascism beliefs, seen in other Thoth Tarot cards.  The height of Crowley's Sex Magick practices were held in late 1940s within the Californian branch of Ordo Templi Orientis, under its assigned senior member, instilled by Crowley, rocket engineer Jack Parsons who can be credited for developing a stable rocket fuel that NASA used to send astronauts to the moon in 1969, yet was tragically killed in 1952 in an accidental explosion at his house, while developing rocket fuels.  Many of the Occult societies of the late 1800s, and throughout the 1900s did encourage a degree of open sexuality, as way of conjuring or seen as a ritualizing technique, borrowing heavily from  Tantric Hinduism, and Tantric Buddhism in viewing the female as conduits of energy and thereof able to transmit this esoteric knowledge, through sexual rites.  These sexual rituals had nothing to do with satanism or Left Hand Path practices, or even free love and later sexual liberation/hedonism of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.  Although one could argue that Tantric, albeit unconsciously, did have an impact of the West, as a sexual ritual, be it a Friday night out, and a one night stand, with very little ego involved.  It was sex, for sex's sake, whether it was also used to conjure or release spirits, would be up to the individual.

Crowley passed away before the counterculture years that followed after his death, and would have most likely not approved of the more open sexuality that society became renowned for at that point in time, for Crowley, sex was a ritual performed to evoke his "Scarlet Woman", which was a 1800s occult reworking of the "Whore of Babylon", also portrayed in Gnostic Christianity as the "Great mother" and Western Jewish Qabalah teachings as the "Binah" from the Tree of Life, attempting to, in a theological sense, at redefining Babylon as not seductive or evil, but misunderstood.  And Crowley saw Babylon not as a metaphor, but as an entity, hence he requested that Jack Parson's and L.Ron Hubbard (of Scientology fame) commit to a series of Sex Magick rituals, under the influence of amphetamines and psychedelics, in the Mojave Desert, to manifest this Babylonic red haired woman.  Which according to lore, had Parson's and Hubbard mastubting and ejaculating on ceremonial Thelema seals.  And a woman had indeed been manifested from these 'rituals' as that "Scarlet Woman", and it was the red haired socialite, bohemian and artist Marjorie Cameron who coincidently turned up at Parson's house one day after these rituals, and they ended up marrying.  Who, after Parson's death, Cameron became mentally unstable and ended up trying to form doomsday, UFO cults of the late 1950s, before her death in 1995, she was very much part of the early 1960s counterculture years and the California art and underground movie scenes of the 1970s and 1980s.   

I will attempt to rework the reading of this card, and make it more open and nonduality.

Reading:

View the divine self pleasuring, unaffected, in rapture, disconnected and in bliss.  Synchronized with the other, but unrelated.  The ecstasy is of the same, the sacred energy prolonged, she mediates on a thought that radiates from the sexual realm, while the male requires the imagery.  She does not.  As the feminine holds the key in unlocking lust, and controlling it, without viewing it.  See her riding the Chimera, the fluidity of desire.  For she may be aroused by all, but selective, of who she requires to fulfill that need.  Do not assume this as an invitation, but be enthralled at her energy.  And yet, she may indeed conjure herself, if the position shifts and faces the direction of the other.  The connection, and transfer of energy may be required.  For the ultimate transmission, and the Two may become one.  So, saviour her elixir, while she holds in her left hand the wand of pleasure.    

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(A.Glass 2023, 2024, 2025)

All Thoth Tarot card analysis and readings to date: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/search?q=thoth