"5 of cups. Disappointment" and "8 of swords. Interference" THOTH TAROT CARD: READING/s. These cards were pulled as a double reading. The Order of the reading is from left to right.

 "5 of cups.  Disappointment" is one of the more negative of the Thoth tarot cards, akin to 5 of Disks "Failure", both representing the geomantic "Rubeus", from  17th Century geomancy, which many early occultis used as a way of discerning patterns in nature as divination and patterns that were devised to create a foretelling.  Rubeus being seen as an inverted glass, within its dot symbolism, and is latin for "Red" and essentially means evil if it is revealed to the participant of the reading.  The card shows five empty cups in the formation of an inverted pentagram, the lotus flowers leaves are falling from the "fiery winds" sitting above a "dead sea", and according to Aleister Crowley's (d1947) interpretation, the card represents the beginning of destruction.  "5 of cups.  Disappointment" is ruled by Mars over Scorpio, apparently also a bad omen.

Reading: 

Is the Earth, another planet's hell?  Is the hell state of the mind?  Do the unsettled thoughts, create the stagnant waters?  The dead sea within?  Did you expect that all would be well from a lofty heights, and you did not expect to fall?  Then you have entered the hell realm, and from here, one must face the fiery winds, the turmoil, as what points down, is the inversion of the will of the self.  But it can be ruled, overcome, and reclaimed.  Self destruction is not your only salvation.  Watch the Lotus flowers wither and die in this place, and see this as only temporary, to withstand is to elevate, and leave this place.  Like the Unorthodox Hindu Aghori sect, who meditate within a ring of fire.  Understand, that the five cups, being the fire senses, can be dulled, controlled and switched off, so I can endure.  And, when liberated, may the cups be filled again with the water of life, the sacred elixir. 

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"8 of swords.  Interference" is a cryptic card, aligned with Aleister Crowley's  ambiguous and at times paradoxical blunt interpretations of the Thoth Tarot.  And in esoteric Qabalah, the number Eight is attributed to the intellect, similar to Jewish esteroric, yet in Western magic, when meditated and acted upon within rituals, can lead to good fortune.  To which, Crowley has aligned "accidental interference" as a thwart to the conjuring, possible indicating that the spell could be broken if externally interrupted.    Lady Frieda Harris cubism/futurism artwork (d1962), with its geometric style brushwork in the foreground, showing the balance and alignment that the card could hold, more so the two swords pointing downward.  However, with the six mismatched swords crossing over their blades, shows how the card and reading can fall out of alignment, and according to Crowley's reading from The Book of Thoth, you may give up if you were indeed accidentally interfered.   

Reading:

When in meditation, do not grip too hard, this is not body up, nor trance like meditation, which is of the most primitive form.  The mind controls the body, the body does not control the mind, however in divergence the nervous system can override everything.  When you let go, you find transcendence and a spell can be conjured.  But, be wary of too much order from the external can cause chaos, and interference can occur, that even it is accidental it can disrupt the flow, the concentration breaks and the spell lost.  You'll need to begin again.  Have you got the will to be persistent?  Or give up, and succumb to structural weight of impermanence.  The card urges you to see, through the two swords that point south of heaven to the Earthly realm, that persistence was the lightbearer's greatest gift, to maintain when it crossed through chaos.  So, you should not give up.  Meditate on the number Eight, of renewal, not repetition.

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(A.Glass 2023, 2024, 2025)

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