 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Golden Dawn Title Book "T" - The Titles of the Tarot Symbols 1 |
53. The Lord of Ruin Crowley: Ruin |
| Element 2 | Air (#11) |
| Element's Color 3 |
Yellow
Queen Scale: Sky blue, King Scale: Bright pale yellow |
| Sephirah Correspondence 5 |
Malkuth (10), The Kingdom Mem, Lamed, Kaph, Vau, Tau The degraded Daughter, the condition of the soul of unenlightened Humanity 10. The Daughter, fallen and touching with her hands the shells. |
| Intelligence of the Sephirah 6 | Resplendent Intelligence |
| Virtue and Vice of the Sephirah7 |
Virtue: Discrimination Vice: Avarice. Inertia |
| Magical Image of the Sephirah8 | A young woman crowned and veiled. (or crowned and throned) |
| Yetziratic Text 7 | The Tenth Path is called the Resplendent Intelligence because it is exalted above every head and sits upon the Throne of Binah. It illuminates the splendours of all the Lights, and causes an influence to emanate from the Prince of Countenances, the Angel of Kether. |
| Sephirah Color in Queen Scale 3 and 4 |
Citrine (N), Olive (E), Russet (W), Black (S) Saltire King Scale: Yellow 4 |
| Kabbalistic World and Color Scale of the Suit |
Yetzirah (Formative World) Prince/Emperor Scale |
| Sephirah Color in Prince Scale 3 and 9 | As queen scale [citrine, olive, russet, black], but flecked with gold |
|
Planet of the Sephirah Angelic Choir 10 |
Sphere of the Elements Eshim (Flames) [Chicken] or Kerubim [Whitcomb] |
| Symbols of the Sephirah 11 | Altar of the double cube. The equal-armed cross. The magic circle. The triangle of art. |
| Subtle Anatomy of the Sephirah12 |
Part of Soul: Guph Chakra: Muladara |
| Astrological Decan Ruled 13 |
Sun in Gemini 20deg to 30deg Gemini Jun 11 to Jun 20 |
|
Angels of the Decan 14 From Book "T": "Herein rule" |
Dambayah and Menqal |
| Magical Image of the Decan 15 | A man [clothed] in [a coat of] mail {armored with bow}, [with two] arrows, and [a] quiver |
| Associated Court Card 16 |
Queen of Cups (20deg Gemini to 20deg Cancer) Princess/Ace of Disks (0deg Aries to 30deg Gemini) |
| Keyword for Sun (Symbolic Meaning) 17 |
xxx Inner Self; ego; personality; power; ambitious; vitality; self-expression; faithful; loyal; masculine. |
| Sun's Color in All Four Scales 3 and 18 |
Sun (#30) King: Orange, Queen: Gold yellow, Prince: Rich amber, Princess: Amber rayed red |
| Sun's Traditional Astrological Metal and Color 19 |
Metal: Gold Color: Gold, yellow, Red or purple |
| Sun's Sephirah 20 | Tiphareth (6, Beauty) |
| Keyword for Gemini 21 |
Vivification Versatility; I Think; communication; versatility; variety; traveller; progressive; memory; governs hands, arms, shoulders, collarbone, lungs and nervous system; masculine. |
| Gemini's Color in All Four Scales 3 and 22 | Gemini (#17) King: Orange, Queen: Pale mauve, Emperor/Prince: New yellow leather, Empress/Princess: Reddish grey inclined to mauve |
| Gemini's Traditional Astrological Metal and Color 23 |
Metal: Mercury Color: All (especially yellow) |
| Gemini's Nature and Element 24 |
Nature: Mutable Element: Air |
| Gemini is Ruled by Planet 25 | Mercury (Detriment is Jupiter) |
| Geomantic Sign, if Applicable26 | Albus is Mercury in Gemini; there is no sign for Sun in Gemini |
Ten of Swords
(Almost a worse symbol than Nine of Swords.) Undisciplined warring force, complete disruption and failure. Ruin of all plans and projects. Disdain, insolence and impertinence, yet mirth and jolly therewith. A Marplot, loving to overthrow the happiness of others, a repeater of things, given to much unprofitable speech, and of many words, yet clever, acute, and eloquent, etc., depending on dignity.
Malkuth of Vav (Ruin, death, defeat, disruption.)
Herein rule Dambayah and Menqal.
Crowley in Book of Thoth 28
The Four Tens
These cards are attributed to Malkuth. Here is the end of all energy; it is away from the "formative world" altogether, where things are elastic. There is now no planetary attribution to consider. So far as the Sephira is concerned, it is right down in the world of Assiah. By the mere fact of having devised four elements, the current has derogated from the original perfection. The Tens are a warning; see whither it leads-to take the first wrong step!
The Ten of Swords is called Ruin. It teaches the lesson which statesmen should have learned, and have not; that if one goes on fighting long enough, all ends in destruction.
Yet this card is not entirely without hope. The Solar influence rules; ruin can never be complete, because disaster is a sthenic disease. As soon as things are bad enough, one begins to build up again. When all the Governments have smashed each other, there still remains the peasant. At the end of Candide's misadventures, he could still cultivate his garden.
Ten of Swords: Ruin
The number Ten, Malkuth, as always, represents the culmination of the unmitigated energy of the idea. It shows reason run mad, ramshackle riot of soulless mechanism; it represents the logic of lunatics and (for the most part) of philosophers. It is reason divorced from reality.
The card is also ruled by the Sun in Gemini, but the mercurial airy quality of the Sign serves to disperse his rays; this card shows the disruption and disorder of harmonious and stable energy.
In the Yi King, Sol in Gemini is the virtue of the 43rd Hexagram, Kwai, the Watery modification of the Phallus; also, by the interlacing interpretation, the harmony of these two same Trigrams.
The signification is perfectly harmonious with that of the Ten of Swords It represents the damping down of the Creative impulse, weakness, corruption, or mirage affecting that principle itself. But, viewing the Hexagram as a weapon or method of procedure, it counsels the ruler to purge the state of unworthy officers. Curiously, the invention of written characters to replace knotted strings is ascribed among Chinese scholars to the use of this hexagram by the sages. Gemini is ruled by Thoth; 10 is the key of the Naples Arrangement; and Apollo (Sol) is the patron of literature and the arts: so his suggestion might appear at least no less suitable to the Qabalistic correspondences than to their double emphasis on Water and the Sun.
Apart from this, however, the parallelism is complete.
Waite - Pictorial Key 29
Divinatory Meanings: Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death. Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.
Additional Meanings: Followed by Ace and King, imprisonment; for girl or wife, treason on the part of friends. Reversed: Victory and consequent fortune for a soldier in war.
Mathers' 1888 document 30
54. Ten of Swords.— Tears, Affliction, Grief, Sorrow; R. Passing Success, Momentary Advantage.
Etteila's Tarot (1788) 31
Ten of Swords - Tears
Book of Thoth 28
The hilts of the Swords occupy the positions of the Sephiroth, but the points One to Five and Seven to Nine touch and shatter the central Sword (six) which represents the Sun, the Heart, the child of Chokmah and Binah. The tenth Sword is also in splinters. It is the ruin of the Intellect, and even of all mental and moral qualities.
Waite - Pictorial Key 29
A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.
Another perspective - From Joan Bunning's site
1. p. 541 GD, p. 283 BoT, p. 224 and 226 Whitcomb, p. 301 Hulse [GD and Crowley Title]
2. p. 17 of 777 Table II, p. 278 BoT [keyscale for element]
3. p. 99 GD, p. 4 and 7 of 777 Table I (King: col XV, Queen: col XVI, Emperor/Prince: col XVII, Empress/Princess: col XVIII), p. 263 Wang, p. 279-281 BoT, p. 266 Fortune [color scales]
4. p. 614 GD: Citrine = Air of Earth, Olive = Water of Earth, Russet = Fire of Earth, Black = Earth of Earth. p. 72 of 777 "Citrine combines blue, red and yellow with a predominance of yellow; olive, with a predominance of blue; russet, with a predominance of red; and these represent respectively the airy, watery, and fiery sub-elements. Black is the earthy part of Earth. But here we observe a phenomenon compatible with that found in the Tarot, where the four Empresses (symbolical of He final) are the throne of the Spirit as well as being the ultimate recipients of the force of King, Queen and Emperor. The black is the link between the lowest conception, the climax of the degeneration of pure color in the final assimilation of light, and the black of Binah. It is the lowest part of the daughter which contains in darkness the identity with the Pure Mother, to set her upon whose throne is one definite image of the Great Work."
p. 114 Wang, p. 160 Whitcomb.
p. 67 of 777 (Malkuth in King Scale) "The yellow indicates Malkuth as the appearance which our senses attach to the solar radiance. In other words, Malkuth is the illusion which we make in order to represent to ourselves the energy of the Universe."
p. 78 of 777 (regarding how Crowley uses color scales) "You can use the four scales of colour as you choose. The only thing to remember is the attribution, the Tetragrammaton. The Sephiroth are given in the King's Scale and the paths in the Queen's Scale in accordance with the general law of balance. You must never have a masculine sticking out by itself without a feminine to equilibrate it." (On most decks that use the color scales, the paths are King's Scale and the sephiroth are Queen's Scale.)
5. p. 265-266 Fortune, p. 114 Wang, p. 138 Chicken (degraded daughter quote), p. 28 Gematria in 777 (Crowley variation of daughter quote), p. 161 Whitcomb [sephirah correspondence]
6. p. 4 of 777 Table I col XIII, p. 266 Wang, p. 265 Fortune [sephirah intelligence]
7. p. 265 Fortune [sephirah virtue and vice, yetziratic text]
8. p. 25 of 777 Table IV col CXX, p. 265 Fortune, p. 160 Whitcomb [sephirah magical image]
9. p. 73 of 777 "The scale of the Emperor is derived from the two previous scales by simple admixture, as of colours on a palette for the most part."
10. p. 63 GD, p. 2 of 777 Table I col VII, p. 265 Fortune, p. 145 and 216 Chicken, p. 114 Wang, p. 159-160 Whitcomb [planet and choir of sephirah]
11. p. 265 Fortune, p. 114 Wang [symbols of sephirah]
12. p. 160 and 165 Whitcomb [subtle anatomy]
13. p. 49 and 51 Wang (best diagrams), p. 541, 554, 600 GD, p. 283 BoT, p. 26 of 777 Table IV col CXXXV, p. 165 and 167 Chicken. Also p. 642 GD and 644 GD. [decan attribution]
14. p. 563 GD, p. 24 of 777 Table IV col CXXXI, p. 119 Wang, p. 267 Whitcomb [angels of decan]
15. p. 28-29 of 777 Table V (1st decan: col CXLIX, 2nd decan: col CL, 3rd decan: col CLI), p. 268 Whitcomb [decan magical image]
16. p. 51 Wang, p. 305 Hulse, p. 166 and 176 Chicken [associated court cards]
17. p. lii Hulse, p. 36-37 Astrology [keyword for planet]
18. p. 19 of 777 Table III (key scale of planet), p. 68 of 777 "The orange of Sol is an intense but gross physical vibration of animal life.", p. 73 of 777 "Sol is yellow, the apparent colour of the sun, and of the metal gold.", p. 76 of 777 "The perfection of Sol is its fixation in the Amber of Cancer by elevation at the summer solstice. In this it receives the adornment of pure physical energy, Fire. The red is purer than the orange, being of the incorruptible element."
19. p. 267 and 287 GD [planetary colors], p. 19 Table III of 777 col lXXXI (metal), p. lxxxviii Hulse [color], lxi [metal], p. 520 Whitcomb, p. 121 Whitcomb, [traditional color and metal of planet]
20. p. 275 BoT "The Numbers of the Planets", p. 123 Whitcomb, p. 160 Whitcomb
21. p. 175 Whitcomb, p. 36 Astrology [keyword for sign]
22. p. 69 of 777 "Gemini is orange since ATU VI shows the solar twins Vau He.", p. 73 of 777 "At most one can say that the color of the scale represents the degeneration of the key scale.", p. 77 of 777 "Gemini is perfected by active thoughts, aimed and tinged by spiritual intention."
23. p. 300 and 302 and 305 GD, p. 169 and 171 Whitcomb [traditional color and metal of sign]
24. p. 167 and 169 Whitcomb, p. 165 Chicken [triplicity and quadriplicity]
25. p. 27 of 777 Tale V col CXXXVII (sign), col CXXXVIII (ruler), CXXXIX (exaltation), p. 284 BoT, p. 537 GD, p. lxxvi Hulse, p. 482 and 167 and 169 and 173 Whitcomb [planetary dignities]
26. p. 69 and 494-495 and 526-527 GD, p. lxxxix-xcviii Hulse, p. 188 Whitcomb [geomancy]
27. p. 552 and 554 and 584 and 209 GD
28. p. 187 and 188 and 217 BoT
29. http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/index.htm A.E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910)
30. Mathers 1888
31. p. 94 Wicked
32. p. 235 Spirit
33. p. 196 Gill
34. p. 178-179 Light and Shadow
35. p. 147 Magickal
36. p. 94-5 Herbal
37. p. 176-177 Cosmic Tribe
38. p. 92 Hallowquest
39. p. 116-119 Haindl
40. p. 120 Spiral
41. p. 137 Cosmic
42. p. 152-3 World Spirit
43. p. 114-116 Wood
[GD] = Regardie, Israel. The Golden Dawn: A Complete Course in Practical Ceremonial Magic. Four Volumes in One. The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Stella Matutina) as revealed by Israel Regardie, with further revisions, expansion, and additional notes by Israel Regardie, Chris Monnastre, and others, under the editorship of Carl Llewellyn Weschcke. Complete index compiled by David Godwin. Sixth Edition. orig 1971. 1995: Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN. ISBN 0-87542-663-8
[777] = Regardie, Israel, ed. 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley. orig 1973, 777 orig 1909. 1997: Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine. ISBN 0-87728-670-1
[Fortune] = Fortune, Dion. The Mystical Qabalah (First published 1935) 1991: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-596-9
[Wang] = Wang, Robert. The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy. (First published 1983) 1992: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-672-8
[Chicken] = DuQuette, Lon Milo. The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford 2001: Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-215-3
[Whitcomb] = Whitcomb, Bill. The Magician's Companion: A Practical & Encyclopedic Guide to Magical & Religious Symbolism. 1993: Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul MN. ISBN 0-87542-868-1
[Hulse] = Hulse, David Allen. The Key of It All: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Sacred Languages & Magickal Systems of the World. Book Two: The Western Mysteries. 1996: Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul MN. ISBN 0-87542-349-5
[Astrology] = Brodie-Innes, J.W. The Astrology of the Golden Dawn. Edited by Darcy Kuntz. 1996: Holmes Publishing Group.
[BoT] = Master Therion. The Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot). orig 1944. 1991: Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine. ISBN 0-87728-268-4
[Wicked] = Decker, Ronald, Thierry Depaulis & Michael Dummett. A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot. 1996: St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-16294-4
[Mathers 1888] = MacGregor Mathers, S.L.. The Tarot: Its Occult Significance, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play, etc. 1888: George Redway. Webbed at http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/Matherstarot.htm
[Ceremonial] = DuQuette, Lon Milo. Tarot of Ceremonial Magick: A Pictorial Synthesis of Three Great Pillars of Magick: Enochian, Goetia, Astrology. 1995:Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-764-3
[Spirit] = Eakins, Pamela. Tarot of the Spirit. 1992: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-730-9
[Gill] = Gill, Elizabeth Josephine. The Gill Tarot. 1996: US Games Systems. ISBN 0-88079-963-3
[Light and Shadow] = Williams, Brian and Michael Goepferd. The Light and Shadow Tarot. 1997: Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-503-5 (comes with deck)
[Magickal] = Willis, Tony. The Magickal Tarot Handbook. 1992: The Aquarian Press, London. ISBN 1 85538 093 5 (came with deck)
[Herbal] = Michael Tierra and Candis Cantin. The Spirit of Herbs: A Guide to the Herbal Tarot. 1993: US Games Systems. ISBN: 0880795255
[Cosmic Tribe] = Ganther, Eric. The Cosmic Tribe Tarot. 1998: Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-700-3 (came with deck)
[Hallowquest] = Matthews, Caitlin & John. Hallowquest: Tarot Magic and the Arthurian Mysteries. 1990: The Aquarian Press, London. ISBN 0-85030-963-8
[Haindl] = Pollack, Rachel. The Haindl Tarot: Volume II: The Minor Arcana. 1990: Newcastle Publishing, North Hollywood, CA. ISBN 8-87877-156-5
[Spiral] = Steventon, Kay. Spiral Tarot: A Story of the Cycles of Life. 1998: US Games Systems. ISBN: 1572811315
[Cosmic] = Huets, Jean. The Cosmic Tarot. 1997: US Games Systems. ISBN: 0880796995
[World Spirit] =
[Wood] = Wood, Robin. The Robin Wood Tarot: The Book. 1998: Robin Wood. ISBN 0-9652984-1-8
Reviews and More Information about the Pictured Decks
Top Left: Waite-Smith (Rider-Waite) -- Top Middle: Thoth -- Top Right: Hermetic (Dowson)
Middle Left: Ceremonial Magick (DuQuette) -- Middle Middle: Magickal (Clark) -- Middle Right: Golden Dawn Ritual
Bottom Left: Gill -- Bottom Middle: Tarot of the Sephiroth -- Bottom Right: Tarot of the Spirit
Return to Main Page of Study Helps
Illustrations from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, Hermetic Tarot, Ceremonial Tarot, Gill Tarot, Tarot of the Sephiroth, and Tarot of the Spirit reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA. Copyrights 1971, 1982, 1990, 2000, 1996 respectively by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited. The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck* is a registered trademark of U.S.Games Systems, Inc.
Visit the worlds best source for tarot decks at www.usgamesinc.com.