"XII. The Hanged Man", "8 of swords. interference", "9 of swords. cruelty ". THOTH TAROT CARD READING/s. These cards were pulled as a triple reading. The Order of the reading is from left to right.

 

Major Arcana card XII of the Thoth Tarot, "The Hanged Man", is indeed one of the most striking of the Major Arcana cards and one of the most charismatic cards of all the known Tarot collections.  As one would expect, the meaning of the card in "The Book of  The Thoth", which was published in 1944, three years before Crowley passed away in 1947, is cryptic and moderately, compared to the other Thoth "Major Arcana" cards, ambiguous in its overall meaning of the The Hanged Man.  And in my analysis of Crowley's Thoth Tarot, with his abundance of Hermeticism, Astrology  Egyptian mysticism, Gnostic Christianity, Esoteric Islam and Judaism, and a lesser degree, science.  The Hanged Man has all these influences inserted into its meaning, as a traditional rework of the Rider-Waite card.

And what a rework Crowley's "The Hanged Man" is, as the card itself is one of my personal favorites, as it revels in codemination, rejection and predicament as way of being reborn, but not redeemed.  However, there are key differences between the traditional Rider–Waite tarot deck and Crowley's Thoth or Thelema inspired Hanged Man.  Rider–Waite has the man with his hands, presumably tied behind his back, with his left legged tucked behind his suspended right leg and ankle tied to the gallows, which is a living tree.  With a halo around his head.  So, the card is seen as a positive reading, within its various interpretations, is not of the forsaken.  Crowley, who was obviously impressed with the original Hanged Man card, took the imagery further.  In its similarity, he has the male figure poised in a triangular configuration, with his left leg suspended by the ankle, balanced with an Ankh, and a coiled snake wrapped around the foot. The right leg is tilted Ninety degrees folded over the left leg.  The arms outstretched, like his right angled leg, have been crucified to three green orbs, representing Venus.  Below, sits a pool of darkness which lies another snake, this time in waiting at the man suspended.

The Hebrew letter "Mem", bottom left, and the alchemy symbol, an inverted pyramid, bottom right, both represent waters.  The card overall exemplifies water as being an abyss, from the light above, to the void below.  Reminding me of the Asian/Middle Eastern proverb, "He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain."  Yet, The Hanged Man appears suspended between both the Light and Dark.  Or is he slowly descending into the darkness?    Has he already fallen?  In reiterating John Milton's Lucifer as the antihero from "Paradise Lost" (1667), in accepting his predicament, as it is "Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven",  to which Crowley hints when explaining the cards meaning from "The Book of The Thoth", by saying, "Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled and the consoler".  Also note, that in Crowley's crypticness, is his sexual rite "The Sleep of Shiloam", which he decrees, that the The Hanged Man is positioned in a ritualized sexual manner, thus the card, according to Crowley, also represents The Sleep of Shiloam.  To summarize the explanation named by Crowley as a sexual rite (possibly influenced by Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism), and if you have been fortunate enough to be able to conjure this technique, from your own intuition (without it being named).  All the power.  It is to deny oneself orgasm, whilst bringing up arousal - and then keeping oneself in a state of arousal (which is a power of the feminine, to prolong stimulation), eventually falling asleep.  This could last hours or even days.  You'll have visionary dreams.  For all intended purposes with the same technique, with a partner, is the possibility of also having an out-of-body experience, whilst in sexual intercourse without orgasm.

The explanation of the Two Serpents, of above, wrapped around the left foot, meaning Creation and Destruction, and below being the abyss of Death and Rebirth.  Both powerful in their symbolism, which keeps the card balanced.  Also, noting that the card was credited to being "The Dying God", which may allude to the appeal of the Occultist, that God or Gods are not immortal.  And within mythology, it also aligns that a God and a mortal can be reborn after dying.  But, I suspect that Crowley could be trying to find the essence of that mythical power, the omnipotent has over man.  In which both may perish.  Which essentially could be correct.  When humanity dies, our God will die with us.  The Dying God subtitle for The Hanged Man, could also instil the defiance aspect of the card and its acceptance of one's circumstance. 

Reading:

I am neither fallen or condemned.  And redemption is not what I seek, as it would be a debt owed.  And who would I owe that debt too?  To choose the position of the inverted pyramid is of the sacred, what points down into the void is also renewed by it, from Light to Dark and into Dark to Light.  The coiled serpent around the left foot shall be no curse nor burden, but a reminder of the cycle of Creation and Destruction.  And so be the serpent who lies waiting in the abyss, it is of Death and Rebirth.  And even if I have been crucified to the three orbs, representing Venus, to be seen only in the morning and evening.  I am the inbetweener of worlds.  I have resigned to no suffering.  No torment.  For let it be known; He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain.  That the concealed truth of god is a closed "Mem", then I shall request that it open, by visions of the divine, the practice to withhold the climax of bliss, is the lucidity of the feminine.

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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 light bearer'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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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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(A.Glass 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)

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