"9 of Swords. Cruelty", "7 of disks. Failure" and "2 of swords. Peace". THOTH TAROT CARD READING/s. These cards were pulled as a triple reading. The Order of the reading is from left to right.

 

Aleister Crowley's (d1947) simplistic Thoth Tarot cards, are at times his more cohesive, precise and interesting.  There is no doubt that this study of Crowley's Thoth Tarot has a flow akin to a bipolar peak and rise, with its depressive lows.  Mixed with a mishmash of meanings, esoteric conjoing, all within the realm of structured Western secret societies, which leaned towards early Fascist idealisms, beginning in the late 1800s via Helena Blavatsky's "Theosophical society" and onward onto the1950s with various occult offshoots.  That thankfully took a major backseat, when the late 50s counterculture began to offer more inclusion and less rigidness to alternative spiritual beliefs.

The "9 of Swords: Cruelty" is one of Crowley's doomsdayism Thoth cards, where he has encouraged, paradoxically, a resistance of the 'stability over change' ethos of Proto-Fascism. Which, in its early manifestation, favoured the extremities derived from the Age of Enlightenment, be it with its renewed imperialism and colonisation of conquering the world through techno-authoritarianism.  Leading to poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's (d1944) 1909 precursor to the Futurism art/writing movement and then later, Italian Fascism; titled the The Manifesto of Futurism. And as history has taught us, Proto-Fascism encourages, war, technological advancement through controlling of resources and conquering of nations, all for the expansion of Western power throughout the word.  Does it sound like it is happening again?  Re: Donald Trump 2.0?

Crowley's "9 of Swords: Cruelty", as mentioned, offers that break of rigidity and control of the individual, when overly structured realms only allow individualism for the greater society.  That the rebellious spirit will always defy, and will view doomsday as a conjuring power, that reminds man and his mortal realm, that nature always has the final word.  And arrogance and visions of grandeur will come undone, thus when cruelty is inflicted, in the name of progress onto the individual, than cruelty, in reflection, will be used in return.  Not as a forever cycle of violence and destruction, but a rebuttal by understanding the nature of the beast.  And its capacity to devour itself.  From the Book of the Thoth:  

The symbol shows nine swords of varying lengths, all striking downwards to a point. They are jagged and rusty. Poison and blood drip from their blades. There is, however, a way of dealing with this card: the way of passive resistance, resignation, the acceptance of martyrdom. 

So, the card could be seen as a reading of resistance under Fascist control, be it the dissident, freedom fighter or martyr. And I do like the wording, "passive resistance",  to which I will base my reading around.

Reading:

When the oppressor offers structure through control, peace through destruction, power through exploitation.  From the obsessive, crazed idealism of the techno-authoritarian.  With his grand ideas of authority, a paranoid vision that they will lose the future, to the dissident, the antithetical, the ones who turn their backs.  This is freedom of the individual, who chooses to not contribute to a society that has not yet learned to care.  And if cruelty is inflicted onto the ones who reject, then cruelty in turn will be conjured from the Left Hand Path, as we shall seek the opposition of man, to teach the controller a lesson.  The fallen, who despises the arrogance of stupor.  The 9, turned upside down becomes a 6, the swords remain at 9, the number that rules Mars, the dead realm.  Where ego will be obliterated.  The Swords point upward, rusted and chipped, but they are weapons of the freedom fighter.  Who offer resistance till the end.  Against the cursed, the rulers using the heavens as their guide.   But, despite this, it is the metaphor of defiance, and its passivity against control.  See this card in its meditation, as a hex against the cruelty of man.  Through the end, from the destruction brought on by the oppressor who uses destruction.  May, we know its nature.         

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Seven of disks from the Thoth tarot is less aligned with Aleister Crowley's fusion of Westen, Eastern and Middle East esoteric, although the card mostly has a connotation with astrology as the Seven of Disks represent Taurus, note the symbol at the bottom of the artwork.  Also noted is the 17th Century geomancy, which many occult astrologists would combine as a complete reading.  This can be seen by the seven disks, Four symbolising Saturn, Three representing Taurus, as the inverted glass shape of Rubeus (red), which if read from a traditional tarot card reading would mean bad luck.   Yet, with Crowley, he has further tarnished the card with the withered leaves that are now a dull purple, from phosphorous deficiency and blight.  A dying landscape.  Hence, the card's title of "Failure". 

Reading:   

Apparently, if the Rubeus was revealed to the Tarot receiver, the reading would end there and then.  I suspect to keep things balanced, this card would be read with another Thoth card, but since I do single, at this point in time, card readings twice a week; Fridays and Sundays, the 'Failure' would be read as a one.   So, I would create a riddle, to accompany the Seven of Disks (Failure) card.  As follows:  "What shape does two pyramids make, when joined at the bottom?"

If answered correctly.  I would say:

"Then may you reside within the chaos, in all of its decay and decline, with great calm and detachment.   For you are, your own guiding light."

If answered incorrectly.

"From lofty highs, the restless spirits await."

7 of Disks "Failure" 

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"2 of Swords.  Peace" is Aleister Crowley's (d1947) more serene and peaceful card, representing, according to the Book of Thoth, as the junction between Fire, Water and air.  Crowley's reading from the Qabalah is usually fused with both Jewish and Hemetric underpinnings, which can, from his interpretation at times, be hard to follow.  Claiming that Chokmah second on the right of the Tree of Life (Sephirot), is the conjurer of air, which may have something to do with its nominated colour, that being gray.  And in Hermetic Qabalah, the Sephirot is viewed from the left side to the right, rather than right to left, to which the left side in Hermetic Qabalah representing analytical thinking and stability, rather than "wisdom" in Jewish Qabalah.  

Also, equating that the Moon in Libra equals balance and regulation, with the two swords crossed being harmonized and in union, both piercing a rose petal, while four wind dials creating perpetual motion, that being a symbolic interaction with natural elements.  Also noting the two smaller daggers, one above and below, yet both pointing upward, one holding up the astrology symbol Libre (below), and the other above, the moon, also representing balance and harmony.

Reading:

Fire and Water are not opposites, yet one can dominate the other.  Where there is no water, there is fire, where there is water, there is no fire.  Of this meditation, nature is balanced, one over the other does not matter, and air, with the wind that blows for eternity, is the breath of life that holds the perpetuation.  And the Moon, which controls the Earth's oceans, the rise and fall of the seas.  The Swords present this balance, as does the geometric wind chimes, all work in harmony.  

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(A.Glass 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)

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