![\"IMG_5508\"](\"http:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/img_5508.jpg\" "\\"IMG_5508\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n1st<\/sup> \u2013 Self, Viewpoint \u2013 XVI the Tower<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Culmination.\u00a0 Overreach.\u00a0 Explosion.\u00a0 Collapse.\u00a0 We all know the Tower.<\/p>\n The summer is reaching its peak, and will soon be over.\u00a0 More to the point, my summer break is ending, and with it my time back in the mall, my months staying in Aradia\u2019s care, and the time I had originally slotted to study ceremonial magic.\u00a0 Soon, I will be leaving her to go back to Indiana; shortly thereafter, Sannafrid will leave Indiana for Oregon and a gap year before grad school.\u00a0 Further, I am loosing what little patience I had left for the mall jeweler gig.\u00a0 The details are beside the point, but I am reluctant to return during the next semester break.<\/p>\n The Tower is very much on my mind, and it is no surprise to me that it will be for the coming month.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2nd<\/sup> \u2013 Finances, Income \u2013 communication \u2013 4 D \u201cPower\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Four of Disks is a stable place, a well-defended front.\u00a0 It is balance and security.\u00a0 It is the having of these things and the establishment of them.<\/p>\n This is welcome news.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been worried about money quite a lot, and this indicates some stability on that front.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll have to work for it, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a coded message of \u201cstay home\u201d built in there, but \u2026 I can work with this.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3rd<\/sup> \u2013 Daily Experiences \u2013 immediate influences – 10 D \u201cWealth\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If there is a more straightforward card of material abundance, it does not come to mind.\u00a0 My daily experiences is not somewhere I expect to see any Earth card, let alone this one.\u00a0 I will say, though, that so far it\u2019s been pretty true to form: people have been giving me free food and money for no reason for about a week solid now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4th<\/sup> \u2013 Home-place – family, land, roots – VII the Chariot<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m moving from Kansas City back to Indiana during the second week of August, which creates the temptation to interpret this as that move.\u00a0 But the Chariot isn\u2019t about movement in a physical sense: it\u2019s about the completion of a quest.\u00a0 Crowley\u2019s Chariot is the bearer of the Holy Grail[1].\u00a0 The charioteer is on a fucking mission, with four sphinxes pulling him hard enough to steamroll over nearly anything.<\/p>\n Now, I don\u2019t know about y\u2019all, but \u2026 home-place<\/em> and mission<\/em>are hard concepts for me to reconcile.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5th<\/sup> \u2013 Fun \/ Pleasure \u2013 children, hobbies, lovers \u2013 6 C \u201cPleasure\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Having started with the Hansen-Roberts Tarot, my first associations with the six of cups are of childhood and nostalgia.\u00a0 Which is really not my idea of fun and pleasure as a satyr.\u00a0 Crowley\u2019s 6C, however, is\u00a0 the Sun in the Element of Water.\u00a0 And as a satyr with his natal sun and moon in Scorpio \u2026 the Sun in the Water is most certainly <\/em>my idea of a good time.\u00a0 Crowley says:<\/p>\n \u201cPleasure, in the title of the card, must be understood in its highest sense: it implies well-being, harmony of natural forces without effort or strain \u2026 Foreign to the idea of the card is the gratification of natural or artificial desires.\u00a0 Yet it does represent emphatically the fulfillment of the sexual Will, as shown by the ruling planet, element, and sign.\u00a0 \u2026 The idea of Pleasure\u2014Putrefaction as a Sacrament \u2026 is one of the master-keys to the Gate of Initiation.[2]\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sacred pleasures in the House of Pleasure?\u00a0 You know<\/em>I\u2019m down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6th<\/sup> \u2013 Work \u2013 illness, duty, routine \u2013 II the Priestess<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And \u2026. I have no idea how to reconcile this.<\/p>\n My work is my worship?\u00a0 I need to work on my magic?\u00a0 Go with the flow?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7th<\/sup> \u2013 Partnership \u2013 associations, spouse \u2013 XVII the Star<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I have always associated the Star with hope.\u00a0 To Crowley she is the figure of the Goddess[3], but the rest of the entry reads like mystical or drug-induced gibberish: useless to any who have not drunk from the same cups.\u00a0 For a rarity, DuQuette\u2019s analysis[4] is less than helpful: it does little more than refine my understanding of the card as one of hope.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8th<\/sup> \u2013 Taboo \/ Crisis \u2013 sex, death, taxes, loans \u2013 VI the Lovers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Lovers can be a tricky card to interpret in any deck.\u00a0 As usual, Crowley is the trickiest in my experience.\u00a0 Although romance is always an option, in more traditional decks it\u2019s usually about a choice between the high road and the low: mortal love or divine.\u00a0 Crowley\u2019s Lovers, though \u2026 there\u2019s all this mad alchemical symbolism[5]: the union of opposites, the production of a divine child, solve et coagula<\/em>.<\/p>\n This is an interesting card for my 8th House, given that my current plan is to, upon completing the conjuration of my Natal Demon (hopefully tonight), perform an invocation of Baphomet as both the culmination of my ceremonial year and as the initiatory\/dedicational rite to begin my year of chaos.<\/p>\n But I can\u2019t forget the more obvious sexual and romantic interpretations[6], either, given the complexities of my romantic life.\u00a0 Nor can I quite shake the vivid image of the Lovers from Aradia\u2019s recent visionary experience[7].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 9th<\/sup> \u2013 Higher Perception \u2013 journey, movement \u2013 Queen of Swords<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Queen of Swords is a clear and decisive card.\u00a0 She is a lady of action and precision, ruthless and focused.\u00a0 I rather like seeing her here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10th<\/sup> \u2013 Recognition \u2013 career, ambition, status\u00a0 – 2 D \u201cChange\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The two of disks is one of the small cards that puzzles me sometimes.\u00a0 It\u2019s a card of small changes, of refining action rather than intent.\u00a0 In this, case, though it seems to indicate a simple shifting of gears: from miserable mall good, through a couple weeks of genuine rest, then back to my little temple and academic ambitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 11th<\/sup> \u2013 Friendships \u2013 groups, social activities \u2013 Hexagram <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve pulled the hexagram card a few times before, but not often.\u00a0 It\u2019s generally a sign that big shit is\u2014or ought to be\u2014going down.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really sure what that could mean in my social House, though, unless there\u2019s some magickal badassery about to crop up that I can\u2019t currently forsee.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 12th<\/sup> \u2013 Secrets & Fears \u2013 hopes, ambitions \u2013 4 S \u201cPeace\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This one\u2019s easy: I want the rest and relaxation that this summer really hasn\u2019t given me, but I\u2019m a little afraid that the only sleep I might get is on the far side of the grave.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +1\/6 \u2013 Current Position \u2013 2 C \u201cLove\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n My current position is undeniably a solid one, and the degree to which I am content with my love life is hard to overstate.\u00a0 I\u2019m pleased to see that, for the coming month at least, this isn\u2019t likely to change.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +2\/6 Current Influences \u2013 XV the Devil<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m a little less certain how to interpret the Devil as my most immediate influence.\u00a0 Is this my general frustration with the status quo at large?\u00a0 Some effect of my planned invocations that will cast a pall (or an interesting light, anyway) over my coming month?\u00a0 Only time will tell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +3\/6 What Crowns It \u2013 Ace of Swords<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n New ideas and inspirations will crown this month, and I couldn\u2019t be happier about that \u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +4\/6 The Root of It \u2013 I the Magus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026 particularly not with the Magus at the root of it all.<\/p>\n While the true meanings of these cards will only be revealed with time, I\u2019m looking forward to the results.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +5\/6 Going Out \u2013 5 W \u201cStrife\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n With my time in the mall coming to an end, so, too, ends my chief source of conflict.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n +6\/6 Coming In \u2013 3 S \u201cSorrow\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This really isn\u2019t a surprise to me.\u00a0 I talked about a lot of the issues at hand back at the First House, and it should come as a surprise to no one that I\u2019m going to be a little broken up about it.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just hope there aren\u2019t too many unanticipated \u201cSorrow\u201ds in the pipeline besides the ones I already know are coming.<\/p>\n 1 \u2013 Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth<\/em>, (Strumfurt, CT: US Games Systems, 2002), 85.<\/p>\n 2 \u2013 Ibid. 199.<\/p>\n 3 \u2013 Ibid. 109.<\/p>\n 4 \u2013 Lon Milo DuQuette, Understanding Aleister Crowle’ys Thoth Tarot<\/em>, (Boston: Weiser, 2003), 143-5.<\/p>\n 5 \u2013 Ibid. 112-3.<\/p>\n 6 \u2013 Hajo Banzhaf, and Brigette Theler, Keywords for the Crowley Tarot<\/em>, (York Beach, ME: Weiser, 2001), 82-3.<\/p>\n 7 \u2013 Aradia, “no hx of trauma (the story of a very expensive trance)<\/a>,\u201d Divining Belle<\/em> (blog), July 18, 2012, Accessed July 26, 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I failed to do a reading for the last month.\u00a0 I\u2019m irritated at myself for that, of course.\u00a0 At the same time I\u2019m not sure how the cards could have prepared me for the past month\u2019s main challenge: sheer exhaustion brought on by twelve-hour days in that psychic cesspool known as a shopping mall. The … Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[61,266,268],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-witchcraft","tag-dark-moon","tag-tarot","tag-tarot-reading"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kUcm-cm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeythroughtheobsidiandream.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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