Introduction
The purpose of this essay is twofold. Firstly, it aims to provide insight into the forty small cards of the Tarot — specifically Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot — in terms of their relationships to a particular Qabalistic framework and in terms of their astrological and elemental attributions. Secondly, it aims to provide insight into that framework and into those astrological and elemental attributions by examining how they contribute towards the meanings of the small cards.
A note of caution will be necessary. Symbols in general are by their very nature flexible in meaning, and nowhere is this more true than in the realm of “occult” symbolism. For this reason, the reader should be on his guard against any ideas of evaluating the “correctness” of the usage of those symbols in this essay, for no such correctness exists. The usage of symbols in the current work may and does differ from other usages in some respects, sometimes insignificantly, and sometimes markedly. The meaning of any given symbol resides in the consciousness of the individual reader, and not in the symbol itself, so any criticism against the essay or against the author on this basis is misplaced.
The description of symbols in this essay is a deliberate attempt to interpret them in the light of a particular context, that context being a model — described in Chapter 1 — of the development of the individual consistent with Thelemic metaphysics. This narrow interpretation is deliberate, and whilst attempts have been made to not completely reverse the “traditional” understanding of a symbol, the author has exercised no restraint in highlighting those partial elements of a particular interpretation which are most suitable to his needs. In particular, the symbolism of the astrological signs — representing, as they are often held to do, 8.33% of the world's population each — are very complex and broad, so much so that there is usually little difficulty in finding an acceptable and plausible interpretation to fit a given need. The reader should therefore be wary about attributing too much importance to the remarkable fitness that traditional interpretations appear to exhibit in the current work, and as an illustrative exercise may wish to attempt to derive equally satisfactory interpretations from different or even opposing astrological signs.
The main symbols used are the elements of the Tree of Life themselves (with the exception of the 22 paths) which are explained fully, along with elemental, planetary and zodiacal symbols; any astrological text can be consulted for the meanings of the latter group. One element of astrological symbolism which may benefit from further explanation relates to the decans. Each zodiacal sign represents thirty degrees of sky (12 × 30° = 360°) and each sign can be further subdivided into three equal decans of ten degrees each, making 36 decans in all. Each of the small cards of the Tarot, from two through ten, are attributed to one of the decans, 36 cards in total across the four suits; the Aces are not attributed to a decan. The first decan of each sign is called the ascendant, the second the succedent, and the third the cadent. The ascendant decan represents the initial appearance of the sign, the succedent decan its full force, and the cadent decan its decline, in much the same way that the cardinal, fixed and mutable signs represent the equivalent stages of their respective elements. The succedent and cadent decans are “influenced” by the other signs of the same element in the cardinal–fixed–mutable order, as so:
| Sign | Influences on | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascendant | Succedent | Cadent | |
| Cardinal | (None) | Fixed | Mutable |
| Fixed | (None) | Mutable | Cardinal |
| Mutable | (None) | Cardinal | Fixed |
For instance, the succedent decan of Aries (the cardinal sign of fire) is influenced by Leo (the fixed sign of fire) and the cadent decan of Pisces (the mutable sign of water) is influenced by Scorpio (the fixed sign of water).
Each decan is also ruled by one of the planets. There are different ways of calculating the planetary ruler. In one system, the decan is ruled by the ruler of the sign that influences it, i.e. the ascendant decan of Aries is ruled by Mars (the natural ruler of Aries), the succedent decan is ruled by the Sun (the natural ruler of Leo, the fixed sign of fire) and the cadent decan is ruled by Jupiter (the natural ruler of Sagittarius, the mutable sign of fire). This system is not used in the Thoth Tarot, and is not used in this essay. The system that is used here ascribes planetary rulers to each successive decan in the order Mars, The Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter.[1] That is, the ascendant decan of Aries is ruled by Mars, the succedent by the Sun, and the cadent by Venus, then the ascendant decan of Taurus is ruled by Mercury, and so on. Note that because there are 36 decans, but only seven planets, each planet rules five decans with the exception of Mars, which rules six.
Footnotes
- Note that if we begin this order at Saturn, then it gives the natural order of the planets in decreasing order of distance from the earth if — like the Ancients did — we put earth at the centre of the Solar System and put the Sun in its place.
