Understanding the Tarot Court Cards Part I

The structure of the 16 court cards can be broken down into various areas or modes of expression using the four elements, the Titles: Knight, Queen, Prince and Princess, and the sephirah on the kabbalistic tree of life.

Both Crowley and Waite used the Golden Dawn document Book T as their basis, but A.E. Waite deliberately confused tarot students with the names and descriptions of the Court Cards, while Crowley's Thoth tarot follows the correct method.

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[AceOfWandsSeeker]

Do you offer class lessons or private perhaps?

[PaulHughesBarlow]

@AceOfWandsSeeker I do private lessons. You can send me a direct message if you are interested. Paul

[PaulHughesBarlow]

@TarotMichael Waite is deliberatly obfuscatory. He discusses rituals in his book that he knows barely a couple hundred people have ever seen, let alone understood, and pretends that his readers will understand. Crowley swore those binding oaths, but once he was no longer a member, he felt no obligation.

In this light you might consider him to be beyond OTO and AA since he discusses them openly

[TarotMichael]

@PaulHughesBarlow: And that's what I like about you. Thoth = enough & from what I gather later Waite is muddled anyways.

I was considering Masonry, but your talks about non-committment makes more sense. Swearing oathes isn't a light thing and you point out how it can be binding in negative ways.

[PaulHughesBarlow]

@TarotMichael I am using mystical in the Eastern philosophical sense. The grade system impinges on this too. I hope one day to get near the bottom of what Waite is up to. In the meantime I will struggle with Thoth!

[TarotMichael]

@TarotMichael Sorry, by "mystical" I'm taking it in the Decker & Dummett sense of dispensing with ranks (e.g., 4=7, 5=6, 6=5, etc.). Crowley kept those, but Waite seemed to dispense with them. With his second deck it's hard to figure out which cards are which as he blurred the distinctions so much.

[TarotMichael]

@PaulHughesBarlow Of course, that's why I use it as a staple. It never disappoints ;)

[PaulHughesBarlow]

@TarotMichael There is a lot of mysticism in the Book of Thoth too, which is very interesting

[TarotMichael]

Another part of Waite's agenda, besides trying to preserve some secrets until Crowley published them in 1912, was to impose his own ideas on the Tarot. He had more mystical, rather than secret, leanings as seen in his second, albeit more unknown & out-of-print second deck w/ another artist.

[PaulHughesBarlow]

@7Ron4 Hi Ron,

All of Crowley's magical and spiritual knowledge is in the Book of Thoth - it means you have to study widely to understand

Paul