Why not add more information to the Tarot cards? (Tarot design)

Question: In the Minor Arcana of the Golden Dawn Tarot, we indicate the planet that sub-rules the decan on the card. Why do we not add the ruling planet of the sign on the card also? And why not the planet's dignity?

Answer: There is a concept in astrology called the "black chart" which is the result of adding more and more data points to the horoscope. For instance, you can add all the named asteroids, and all the Arabic points, and all the hypothetical planets, and all the fixed stars...and your chart will be completely black and overflowing with information--making it completely unusable. Sometimes, less is more. And for your average astrology student, the house markers and planets are about all they can cope with--it is the bare amount of information you need to read the chart.

Likewise, you could add all this other information to the cards...but each piece of information brings it closer to the black chart stage where there is simply just too much information. And in the case of exalted and fallen planets, that is specialty information--it is only useful if you worked with it a lot, or you have a handy chart. And honestly, the chart is far more useful than cluttering up the card itself.

Please note that both Adepts and astrologers are supposed to know the ruling planets of the signs. If you know the ruling planets, you know the falls; if you know the dignities, you know the detriments. (Basically, the negative weakened position is opposite of the strengthened position.)

Eight of Wands is assigned to the first decan of Sagittarius sub-ruled by Mercury. 

The information we put on the card is the bare minimum. So why the decan ruler? One, it is part of the base meaning of the card. Two, it saves you time figuring out what the decan sub-ruler is (I tend to have to count on my fingers to figure it out).

Whenever designing a Tarot card, you need to ask "Could I use this card in candlelight conditions?" If the answer is no, then you probably need to remove some clutter.

What is a Decan (why are decans associated with the Minor Arcana) and how is a decan shown in GD Tarot artwork?

A question asked in the Sanctuary of Mau (Golden Dawn Facebook group for people working their way though the Cicero's Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition textbook):

BB wrote:

"I'm trying to draw the two of Wands now, but I'm a bit confused by the wording. What does "Two small wands above and below" mean? I'm supposed to draw two central ones being held, then two above and two below them, making for six wands total? And what is the Decan? Maybe I should put this project on a hold until I have a better grasp of the material."

Description from Book T: "A WHITE Radiating Angelic hand, issuing from clouds, and grasping two crossed wands. Flames issue from the point of junction. On two small wands above and below, with flames of five issuing therefrom, are the symbols of Mars and Aries for the Decan."

My answer:

The small wands are just places to stick the symbols of Mars and Aries. Most, if not all, modern artists ignore that part of the description and just use the astrology symbols. If you really want something to place them on, I suggest little banners.

The small cards (Minor Arcana) two to ten in the sutis are associated with the Decans. A Decan is a third of a Zodiac sign (ten degrees). [Some other occult sources use the term Face for them.] Each Decan has a sub-ruler that flavors that ten degrees, and is stronger when you find the planet there. The typical wording is "planet in sign," but really should be "the ten degrees of the sign subruled by XYZ planet."

There are two ways to assign the planetary subrulers to the Decans. The method used by Golden Dawn is based on the same pattern as the assignment of the planets to the Tree of Life sephiroth. The other method (sometimes called the Vedic method) is based on the element of the sign and the rulers of the other two signs of the same element; this alternative method is actually easier to figure out in your head. Due to Golden Dawn choosing the harder method, it helps the reader if the astrological symbols are on the cards to remind the reader of the card's assignment.

So how is the decan used in readings? Besides being one of several layers that make up a card (others being Number, Colors, Sephiroth, etc.), one can use it to determine timing (this event will occur while the Sun is in this ten degrees of the Zodiac), and also the placement of planets when one does readings based on the planets.

For instance, in a Planetary based reading, the first card pulled would be the position of the Rising Sign, the second would be the position of the Sun, the third would be the position of the Moon, etc.

An example of the Two of Wands done by a modern artist and Adept.

Assignment of the Decans to the Minor Arcana.

For my birthday (how about no nasty surprises)

Yes, it is my birthday--I turned fifty-two about two hours ago.

For many years, I noticed that around the time of my birthday that I would be gifted by the universe with a problem or issue that would take a year to cope with.

Given the fun events and issues that I am currently dealing with, I would like to tell the Universe that my problem and issue bag is all full up at the moment, so please Universe no more nasty surprises for awhile. Thanks.

(On a more humorous note, I am so old that I used a computer program to figure out my solar return positions, instead of pen and paper. I may or may not blog later about the nasty story it tells.)

One can almost never go wrong sharing a cat meme.

Solar eclipse safety tip (know when to use a solar filter)

I can't believe that I have to say this:

It is not a lizardmen enslaving black magician political propaganda ploy that you really should not look directly at the sun without using a filter. It is not a plot to prevent you from becoming enlightened instantaneously.

No, it is medical fact that you can injure your eyes if you look directly at the sun for too long without using a solar filter.

What is too long? A few seconds is more than enough. And you will not feel the damage happening because the part of the eyeball being damaged has no pain sensors. In other words, you will not feel the damage happening.

So is there anytime during the solar eclipse when you can safely look at it without a solar filter? Yes. When it is 100% eclipsed by the moon. And that is the only time. I repeat--the only time that you can look without a solar filter is when it is 100% eclipsed by the moon. 

Outside of that little window, do not look at the sun directly without using a solar filter.

(Why can you do it when the sun is 100% eclipsed by the moon? Because the moon is actually blocking out the parts of the sunlight that can fry your eyes. This is science, not magic.) 

Know when to use a filter!

Even Nazis would cringe if you decided to listen to people telling you that it is ok to look directly at the sun without a filter.

Just because it is happening in Trump country, it does not mean that normal safety rules are optional.

Mix and match divination (just toss everything into the pot)

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Welcome to another round of the Tarot Blog Hop. Today's theme is the simple question: 

"Do you combine Tarot with any other divination system? Why or why not?"

Short answer: Yes...because I am a member of the Golden Dawn tradition.

Long answer: Well, let me illustrate what I am doing. 

Golden Dawn, a system of lodge initiations and magical instruction, founded in 1888, has mixing the Tarot with other forms of divination built into the system since day one. The common method of associating the Tarot cards with astrology that many of us know, actually first appears in the Cipher Manuscript of Golden Dawn. The Cipher Manuscript, the foundational document of Golden Dawn, lists the associations for the Major Arcana with the planets and zodiac signs. It also shows a connection of astrology with the system of divination known as geomancy.

Whoever created the Cipher Manuscript, probably the Victorian Masonic authority and writer, Kenneth Mackenzie, worked out a system of correspondence between the Kabbalah, the geomantic symbols, Tarot, and astrology. The connection between the Tarot, kabbalah, and astrology (& geomancy with astrology) was not a new idea, but the Cipher Manuscript arrangement was the one that ended up in Golden Dawn, and then spread outward into the general esoteric occult community, through the works of A. E. Waite and Aleister Crowley, and became the standard in the English branch of the Western Mystery Traditions.

(Recently, I saw an argument that claimed that Mackenzie [or whoever created the Cipher Manuscript] got his system of Tarot to astrology associations from Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers [one of the co-chiefs of the original Golden Dawn]--there is only one problem with this idea: Whoever created the Cipher Manuscript actually first assigned Strength and Justice one way to astrology, and then changed their mind in a later section--hardly what you would do if you inherited the system from someone else.)

Astrological decans and the Tarot (Golden Dawn tradition).

Thanks to the student of Golden Dawn learning these associations, they tend to explain the occult symbols in a great circle, going from one system of esoteric modeling to another, eventually ending up back at the beginning of the circle which is to say they continue to go around in a circle.

One of the exercises required from the practicing Adept Minor is to perform three operations for the same subject of a divination. In other words, the Adept Minor asks a question, and creates a geomantic shield, an astrological (horary) chart, and does a Tarot spread (Opening of the Key) for the question--comparing the three readings with one another.

It should be noted that once one passes their Adept Minor exams, that one often just sticks with a single style of divination after that point. But there are always those who continue to mix and match divination systems...

...freaks like myself.

As an example of a mix and match operation, let's look at one of my ongoing projects--the examination of astrology charts using the symbols of the Tarot and geomancy to extract meaning--a form of mediation on parts of an astrology chart.

For instance, in my birth chart, I have my natal Moon in the sign of Scorpio. Using the Tarot, the astrological position of the Moon in my birth chart can be depicted by the High Priestess (Moon), Death (Scorpio), and the fact that the moon is in the 20th degree of Scorpio with the Seven of Cups (the Minor Arcana associated with the third decan of Scorpio).

(A point of interest is that not only do I suffer a Moon in Scorpio, so did my mother and her sister, making an interesting familial dynamic.)

Stage one of this odd method--with Via, Populus and Rebis for Moon in Scorpio.

Now, my Moon is squared to my Mercury in Leo, my only planet in a Fire sign, which can be depicted with the Magician (Mercury), Strength (Leo), and the Seven of Wands (for the 21st degree of Leo which is in the third decan of the sign).

(Interestingly enough, my mother's Mercury is also in a Fire sign, that of Aries. If you ignore Pluto, it is her only planet in a Fire sign. By the way, the more I examine the charts of my relatives, the more such similarities I have discovered.) 

Stage two with Albus, Conjuntio, Fortuna Major, and Fortuna Minor for Mercury in Leo.

Now, taking the associated geomancy symbols for the planets and signs, I can further extend the symbolism by treating the geomantic symbols as part of a geomantic shield. (A geomantic shield is like a Tarot spread, but with geomancy.)

Adding and combining the points of the geomantic symbols (a standard procedure in geomancy), I end up with two more bits of information, the geomantic symbols of the Moon and Aquarius. Interestingly enough, one of the decans of Aquarius is sub-ruled by the Moon, so I end up with another symbol to add to the mix.

So I end up with another High Priestess (Moon), as well as the Star (Aquarius) and the Seven of Swords (another third decan card). 

Stage three with Via and Tristitia representing the dynamic of the Square aspect.

Now does any of this make sense? Maybe. Maybe not.

But I do exhibit a pattern of being argumentative when the (current) Moon is in Scorpio or in a Square aspect to that, especially when it comes to defending my ideals; and when I realize that it is once again that time of the month, I tend to wander off without another word rather than continue to abuse other people.

In the end, it does not matter if it is nonsense or not--what matters is that it allows me to examine parts of horoscopes from a different angle.

Blessed be.

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February birthday installment delayed (Mostly true Astrology)

Decided to kick the Mostly True Astrology February Birthday installment to Feb. 15th (two weeks later) because I am having a cold start on the project. (File under "things writers sometimes have to do to preserve their sanity.")

Born in February--Mostly True February Birthday Horoscopes

What day is it again?

Planning a Fourth of July BBQ really early in the year?!?

Today's (January 1st) email from some astrology service mentions Fourth of July BBQs....I am guessing that these are randomly selected by a computer and are never looked at by a real life human being before being sent out--so Happy 4th of July unless my calendar is right and it is actually January 1st--in which case, Happy New Year!

Why should a magician study astrology?

Why should magicians and witches study astrology? Because it is damn useful if you are working with either practical magic or spiritual development.

Now if you believe that rocks, bits of ice, and hot balls of super-heated gas have no effect upon you, then you can skip the rest of this and safely leave astrology out of your studies....because nothing I say will convince you otherwise.

And there are a lot of people who are just looking for an excuse, so that they do not need to study astrology. After all, astrology is complicated enough that you can spend an entire lifetime studying it; and who has that amount of time when you are busy trying to knife your way to the top of the food chain? Won't it just be better to study some form of chaotic new age woo woo that does not give any credit to the whole astrological nonsense?

And if you can reproduce the effects of astrological magic without resorting to the use of astrological magic, then good for you. Go forth with your bad-ass chaotic new age woo woo-ist self.

But some of us find that astrological based magic works pretty well.

There are two underlying assumptions beneath astrological magic. One is that the universe was set in motion by a divine force, and that there is a plan for the universe with the planets and stars being hands on a cosmic clock enabling one to figure out the current state of the universe and the people who inhabit it. The second assumption is that the celestial bodies are the bodies of supernatural intelligences who can influence events on Earth.

As such, a study of astrology will boost the effects of any magic cast at the right time and place, the act being imbued with the time stamp of the celestial bodies present in that moment. In other words, the moment that a spell is cast colors the spell, just like your birth moment colors your personality and potential.

And with the right techniques, one can overcome the effects of one's birth-chart with magic. For an instance, a person born under a sun in Virgo can over time become more like a person who was born under a Leo sun---if the magician desired such a change. And someone who had a crippled moon in a water sign could lessen the effect that transits of the moon had on one's daily emotions and reactions.

Now, it should be noted that such changes do happen naturally, but the changes come slowly and only work in one direction as one birth-chart progresses forward. The magician does not have to accept this snail-pace of change. A magician can override this slow gradual development and choose to be a product of an early century if they feel like putting in the work. Or a much later century. One should note that such a grand working would make it harder to interact and understand those of this century, but great mages are never concerned with the real world because of their unique nature and need to be greater than the drooling mass of humanity that surrounds them.

The basic way of working with astrological magic is though symbols. For instance, the fixed stars are associated by tradition with powers and entities, who in turn are associated with names, which are composed of magical alphabets and magical images. By using the images, one can use the forces of the energies of the celestial entity to work change in oneself and the world.

For those who are curious of what such symbols would look like, just take a look at the cards of a Tarot deck. Thanks to a great magus in the past, the stars are connected with the Hebrew alphabet, which in turn is associated with the Tarot cards. This is why one can both study astrology with a Tarot deck, as well as perform magic with a deck of cards.

So yes, the study of astrology is a long and hard process, but there are reasons to undertake it if you are a witch or magician. Bottom line: it is damn useful.

Emphemeris for Sirius and the Four Royal Stars

Here is a ephemeris for Sirius and the Four Royal Stars (Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares, Fomalhaut).

Golden Dawn, and its Inner Order (RR et AC), consider Regulus, one of the ancient Persian Royal Stars, to mark the first degree of the zodiac. Several sub-systems that are connected with GD astrology, including the Golden Dawn system of Tarot, start in the first decan of Leo which starts at the position of Regulus, according to the original founders of Golden Dawn (Westcott and Mathers).

In my own practice, mostly using standard Western astrology, I use the Tropical Zodiac rather than the Sidereal of India; nor do I use the Rosicrucian Sidereal of Golden Dawn. But I do make note of Regulus, as well as the Four Royal Stars, just in case, there is something to initiated system.

For those who are interested in futher information about Regulus, and the other three Royal Stars, as well as Sirius (the most important star to the Ancient Egyptians, as well as the brightest star in the night sky), I wrote an article that was published in the Winter 2015 issue of the Golden Dawn journal, Hermetic Tablet (also available in hardcover from Lulu).

Ephemeris for Sirius and the Four Royal Stars

Happy birthday Cthulhu

It is Cthulhu's birthday. Or at least, the anniversary of his first public appearance.

Cthulhu de Willendorf (MDE 2016)

While H. P. Lovecraft wrote The Call of Cthulhu in the summer of 1926, it wasn't until February 1st, 1928 that Weird Tales published the story.

Weird Tales--February 1928

Due to this little fact, some esoteric astrologers working with the mythos use this date as Cthulhu birthday when calculating certain figures.

[Shameless plug: You can buy a print of my Cthulhu de Willendorf on DeviantArt.]

Tea and biscuits with Mouni Sadhu

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Hi and welcome to the October 31st Tarot Blog Hop. This time around, our fearless wrangler, Arwen Lynch Poe, wanted us to talk about someone dead that we admired or disliked that ties into cartomancy.

My choice of such a figure is Mouni Sadhu, a student of the French Tarot system that was based on the work of Levi. One of the first advanced books on magic and the Tarot that I brought was written by him. I actually learned a lot from his book on Tarot.

Of course, when I say that, often I have someone ask if I have gone out of my mind.

Now, I do understand why people say that. For one thing, Sadhu (Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski) used the Levi system of ordering the Tarot. Most of my friends use the English system of Tarot that was created inside of the Hermetic Golden Dawn. The difference between the two systems is in how the Major Arcana are ordered. Levi placed the Magician at the beginning of the Major Arcana while Golden Dawn places the Fool at the beginning. When this ordering is combined with the Hebrew alphabet, you end up with completely different cards being associated with the elements, planets and zodiac signs.

(Please note that I think that it is useful to compare the two systems. Also note that it is not until the 18th century that the Hebrew and the Tarot had anything to do with one another.)

For another thing, Sadhu has some odd little equations of magic scattered throughout his book. Here is one:

"Equation No. 214: Knowledge (2) [High Priestess {Luna}] together with a clear perception of the principle of regeneration (20) [Last Judgment {Saturn}] undoubtedly makes an adept, who has the wisdom of the Major Arcana, a true Rosicrucian, like those original brothers hundreds of years ago. But how hard it is to conquer in full the FIRST element (2), and how difficult it is to believe, with a pure heart, as does a child (a necessary condition), in the SECOND (20), and apparently how torturing and strenuous is the task of neutralizing BOTH in one's true life."

Some people who read that will pull more from it than others. It makes odd sort of sense to me, but I can see where others would consider it complete nonsense.

When our wrangler first mentioned this subject, I found myself wondering what his natal chart (astrology) looked like. At first I thought that I was going to have to haul out my "no information available, but damn'it I have Tarot cards" spread to generate a chart for him.

(Basically, I lay out cards and use their GD astrological associations as a key to fill out the chart. I use an equal house system; and if I draw a planet card, I use the sign of its rulership as the position of the astrological data point that I am drawing for. Not the world's best way to do it, but when you have a headful of astrology--you use it.)

But when I did the Google, I discovered a noon natal chart for him.

Mouni Sadhu---polish mystic and magician,

I am not sure that I completely agree with the resulting rising sign, so I might later pull a card anyways to get a different possibility for it.

(And yes, occasionally when I have all the other data, I will pull a card to represent the rising sign. What do you expect from someone who writes Sun Sign astrology? Actual science?! Actual astrological technique?!)

Of course, there is also the debate of "if the rising is actually Scorpio, do I use Death (English) or Temperance (French) card to represent it?"

Well, at least this type of stuff keeps me off of the streets and out of trouble.

For those times that you simply do not know the data to plug in.

Thank you for reading my ramblings. As always during a Tarot Blog Hop, I encourage you to continue along to the next blogger in the chain (or the last one if you like to go in the opposite direction), and if you have any difficulties doing so (breaks in the chain), hop over to the Master List.

Happy Samhain.


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Have I mentioned that I love the math of astrology lately?

Have I mentioned that I love the math of astrology lately? How about the math of astronomy?

I didn't think so.

I am currently trying to calculate some figures for a chart that I want to include in my article about the Four Royal Stars.

Or not.

If not, I still need the numbers for another chart that I might include.

A chart that will probably hit the cutting room floor and not even make it to being actually submitted to the editor because the chart(s) will violate the principle of writing on an eighth grade level or below for your average advanced audience.

(That is the rule I learned writing for a college newspaper--I shit you not.)

How big of a violation am I thinking of committing?

Well,  the base measurement I am working with is 5028.796195 arc seconds. That is a fucking real number that says something to...well, I am sure that someone might understand it...though it might only be me.

I completely understand why people generally use the ball-park rule of one degree per seventy-two years for precession of the sphere of the fixed stars.

But...I am a damn Virgo. Need I say more?

And have I mentioned that I really only write for myself? I probably don't need to mention that, right?

I hope that the editor remembers that. And that he really could care less if I make readers cry. I can always hope that he is desparate for pages. There is probably a real measurement of that too if I look hard enourgh.

Math Cat says that I should wait a century to see if the numbers are actually right. 

Mercury in the small Tarot cards

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Welcome to the early August edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. (In this post, I will be discussing the effect of Mercury on five of the Minor Arcana cards.) Some of my more observant readers will promptly notice that this edition is a week behind schedule; that is due to the original scheduled wrangler having to step out to deal with a problem on her end, and a substitute wrangler stepping forward.


While researching the Wiccan holiday that this TBH is "occurring" on, our super wrangler, Joanne Sprott, noted that Lammas, also known as Lughnasad, is associated with the Irish/Celtic deity Lugh.


Lugh, a master of many trades and arts, is associated with both the Sun and the trickster planet of Mercury. In my Rite of the Magical Images of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, the profession of the Image of Lammas is unclear, this is in part due to the importance of Lugh to his holiday, Lughnasad. "He might be a merchant; he might be a farmer; he might be a herdsman; he might be a soldier; he might be a raider [Viking]."


Likewise, it is sometimes hard to tell with the Tarot what "energy" is having the most effect. The Tarot as we know it is a combination of several sets of energies blended with one another. A card from the Minor Arcana is more than just its suit and number. Take for instance, a random card, the Five of Pentacles.


In the Golden Dawn (and groups that draw off of the lessons of the Golden Dawn), one is not only looking at the card from its suit and number; but also its associated sephirah (position on the Hebrew Tree of Life), the planet associated with the sephirah, its Mystical/Magical Title, and (in the case of the Five of Pentacles) its associated decan.

An uncolored example of the Golden Dawn version of the Five of Disks.

Some of my readers at this point are saying, "Decan?"


A decan is ten degrees of a zodiac sign. Each zodiac sign is divided into three decans, and there are thirty-six decans in the zodiac. Each decan lasts just a touch over ten days. The concept of decans comes from the Ancient Egyptians, who originally used the night sky as a calendar, using thirty-six stars to mark the beginnings of the decans (which served as the Ancient Egyptian version of a week).


In Golden Dawn, thirty-six of the small cards (Minor Arcana) of the Tarot are associated with the decans. Each decan is said to be like the energies of its sub-ruler (one of the seven classical planets) in that sign of the zodiac.

The Golden Dawn version of decan sub-rulers and their association with thirty-six Tarot cards.

In the case of the Five of Pentacles, it is associated with the first decan (00.00 to 9.99 degree) of Taurus, which is sub-ruled by Mercury. The Golden Dawn version of the card, reflects that astrological association, as well as the suit and number, associated sephirah (Geburah which is associated with Mars), and the Magical Title of the Five of Pentacles (the Lord of Material Trouble).

An colored example of the Golden Dawn Five of Disks.

In the able hands of the artist, Pamela Colman Smith, and the writer and occult authority A. E. Waite (former member of the original Order of the Golden Dawn), the Five of Pentacles was depicted as a poor shoeless woman and a man using clutches walking in the snow outside of a church.


The influence of the decan on this card is based on how the energies of Mercury reacts in an horary sense while in the sign of Taurus. The influence of Mercury on the Five of Pentacles causes the mind to focus on how dire the situation is (the half empty glass mindset). Quite often if the first card of a Tarot reading is the Five of Pentacles, the client is currently concerned with large stacks of bills (quite possibly medical bills), and their seemingly utter lack of resources.

There are four other Minor Arcana associated with decans ruled by Mercury. Let's look at how the energies of Mercury manifests in each of these cards.

Mercury has an opposite effect on the next card, the Three of Cups. Associated with the second decan of Cancer (10.00 to 19.99 degrees of Cancer) sub-ruled by Mercury, the Three of Cups is called the Lord of Abundance by Golden Dawn. Here Mercury creates a half full glass mindset, with the client being able to see lots of opportunities; many of which involve creativity or networking. The energies of Mercury and Cancer work well with the energies of the card's associated sephirah Binah (Saturn).

Mercury's energies also function well in its next associated decan card: the Ten of Pentacles (the Lord of Abundance), the third decan of Virgo (20.0 to 29.99 degrees of Virgo). Here Mercury's energies produce valuable work; and there is a decisiveness in the choices of the client, which are often practical and constructive.

In the fourth Mercury decan card, the Eight of Wands (Lord of Swiftness), the client can be a little trigger happy, a little too quick in their decision making, thanks to the effect of Mercury on the first decan of Sagittarius. Here is a place where the energies of Mercury can create what one can call "Instant Karma"--those times where the results of one's actions rapidly come to past; whether it is "good" karma or "bad" depends a lot on the decisions of the client.

The fifth and final card with a Mercury sub-ruled decan is the Six of Swords. Associated by the Golden Dawn with the second decan of Aquarius, its Magical Title is the Lord of Earned Success. The impact of Mercury on Aquarius can indicate that the client's mindset is a little unstable, and that they are taking an eccentric approach to matters at hand. There is a certain amount of detachment associated with Mercury in this position.


Each of the thirty-six cards listed in the earlier decan association chart can be explained in this manner using its respective decan, planetary sub-ruler and zodiac sign. Hopefully, this provided some understanding of this part of the composition of the small cards of the tarot.


Thanks for reading, Happy Belated Lughnasad, and hopefully you will continue onwards to the next blog post of this early August's Tarot Blog Hop.



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Happy Leap Second!

Happy Leap Second!

What the heck is a leap second?

A leap second happens every few years when the standard time around the world is adjusted to account for the slight mismatch between our clocks and the Earth's rotation.

This time around, the leap second was slipped in just before 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time (midnight Coordinated Universal Time/Greenwich Mean).

And if you were like me, you didn't even notice it.

Happy Leap Second!

Dance with the Devil (Tarot Blog Hop)

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(It is with great pride that I write my 1200th post on this blog--I was always told by my family that one of my problems is that I do not know how to shut up.)

Welcome to the first Solistice Tarot Blog Hop of 2015--in my neck of the woods, it is the Summer Solistice; meanwhile my friends down under are enjoying the Winter Solistice...though I am not sure that I would recognize it as being winter, given my strange Northern Hemisphere ways.

Today's Tarot Blog Hop is a trip through the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana. If you are doing the hop, you may have just came from Christiana Gaudet's blog, the second Temperence entry in this hop. Or you may be traveling backwards and just left S. Johanna Hill's blog, the second Devil entry of this particular Tarot Blog Hop.

I choose the Devil card because all the cards that I am comfortable with had already been spoken for. And I figured if I was going to deal with a card that I was uncomfortable with, I just as well struggle with the Devil card. After all, I was having trouble trying to figure out what my own version was going to look like.

Five minutes after picking the task of dealing with the Devil card, I knew exactly what my version would look like....

....so I guess that I am far more comfortable with the Devil than I thought I was.

Hello, we would like to talk to you about the Devil...

Being Wiccan, and a lifer at that, my vision of the Devil is not your typical Satan. For me, evil is the uglier aspects of nature; in particular, the ugly side of human nature. You know that part of humanity that lusts, becomes addicted, feels greed, and can explode in ugly violence. Quite often this side of humanity is played like a puppet by politicians, religious leaders, and ad executives.

In my version of the card, the mascot of an evil company is sitting on the altar. It might be the mascot of a big box store or restaurant chain. Or it might be an investment company. Or maybe it is the true image of the United States. Hanging from its horns is a bag of loot, and a stick. The bag could be filled with carrots, but it is probably money--money being a carrot that most people chase after.

(For those who are curious, the symbol on the bag is the astrological glyph for the asteriod Isis, the 42nd asteriod discovered by man. In astrology, it relates to issues of fragmentation versus wholeness, sibling issues, and androgyny issues.)

The couple in front of the altar, who are not chained to the altar, represent the voice of society, which informs most of us what is good and what is evil. One does not necessarily have to agree with what the voice of society says.

(The couple I used for this illustration are actually a couple of my friends, dressed up in the clothes that they wear while playing in their band. For the record, I do not think that they are actually evil....but I could be wrong; after all, they are musicians.)

Do you dare play Bingo with the Devil?

Besides, making my own version of the Tarot card, I also made a Bingo card of some of the things associated with the Devil card. It is part of a larger "art project" that I am working on. I did think about filming myself dancing, hence this post's title, but I decided that I didn't want anyone to go blind.

And because I was thinking about the Devil, alongside of my recent bout of making bad, bad videos, I did consider what I would use to represent the Devil in a video clip---it was not really hard to figure out. I have gotten in the habit of using a rather creepy looking Santa doll for all the really evil people that I have been talking about in my various Mad Uncle Morgan clips.

(No, you do not actually need to watch the video--it is there merely to illustrate my point.)


When you think about it, Santa could be a symbol of the Devil, especially if you are using my version of the Devil card. The modern nature of Santa Claus is pretty much in line with a crossroads demon, full of salesmanship, offering carrots, and torturing people with sticks. But that jaded view of Christmas and Santa might simply be my bad childhood speaking.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

If you are continuing with the Tarot Blog Hop, the next stop is S. Johanna Hill's blog, the second Devil entry of this particular Tarot Blog Hop. Or you might want to travel backwards to Christiana Gaudet's blog, who is talking about the Temperence card.

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The Shem Grimoire by Nick Farrell (Book Review)

Table of contents page from the Shem Grimoire.

The first thing that a reader needs to know about this book is that this book is not for beginners. This is not a history of the Shem ha-Mephorash and the evolution of its associated angels, nor is it heavy on theory and philosophy. No, this is a grimoire with just enough history and theory to orient a Zelator Adept Minor (Z.A.M.) before turning them loose on actual working with the Shem Angels.

The second thing that a reader needs to know about this book is that it is meant to be used. One of its center pieces is a ritual to actually get in contact with a Shem angel (one of the 72 angels created from the so-called 72 lettered name of God...which actually has 216 letters in it, but who is counting?). There is also an interesting Middle Pillar ritual, complete with head movements inspired by Abraham Abulafia (a mystic of the Kabbalah bent).

(I might write a blog entry about the rituals contained in this book after I work with them for awhile. Or maybe not...it is always hard to tell with me.)

Having worked with some of the Shem angels previously (using a combination of techniques grabbed from Golden Dawn, the Franz Bardon school, and ancient paganism), I mainly focused on the listings for the angels--the place I start with most books that list the uses and powers of spirits that I have previously worked with...because if they get that section wrong, then I have to wonder about the accurancy of the rest of the material.

Based on Nick Farrell's descriptions of the Shem angels, I am confident that he has actually worked with them. While there are minor differences in the functions of the angels as Farrell describes them compared to my own experiences, the differences are so insignificant that one can see that they are based on differences in perception of the operators involved, and not ignorance.

But one does not have to have extended working experience to double-check the general function of the angels. One of the things that I learned while working with the Bardon system was that the angels ruling the important positions of one's birth chart has a certain amount of influence over the individual. If one sits down with their birth chart and look at the position of their rising sign and their planets, one can often see how those planets and sensitive points of one's birth chart is colored by the influence of the angels that rule those astrological degrees. (This is a point that Farrell also mentions in his book--he suggests what order one might want to work with the angesl ruling one's birth chart.)

(Important note--remember to round up when doing this. For instance, Leo 20 degrees, 33 minutes is actually the 21st degree of Leo, not the 20th.)

Take for instance, the position of Mercury in my own birth chart, Leo 20 degrees, 33 minutes. This places my Mercury, the planet of communication and writing, in the section of the zodiac ruled by the Shem angel Meheshiiah (Mem-Heh-Shin-Yod-Heh). Given that I am one of the less evolved types, the influence of this angel tends to be more dubious and negative than positive. One of the things that Farrell says about Meheshiiah is, "There is little in the way of conciliation about him and Meheshiiah is unhappy to make a peace which does not involve total capitulation." Many people who have dealt with me will nod knowingly at this point, because I will not accept partial peace offerings, preferring to remain at war with people instead--a trait that often shows up in my writing.

I am giving this book five out of five stars.

The Shem Grimoire is limited to two hundred hard-cover copies, and is available from Lulu. 

[Disclosure: This review is based on a pre-proof stage file copy given to me by the author for review purposes.]

Proper Samhain

Bribes might change our opinion of your numptiness.

Exactly one year ago, someone posted a post on one of the forums wishing everyone a Happy Proper Samhain--which made me aware of this particular issue that was silently bubbling in the magical community. So what the hell is "Proper Samhain"? According to some people, Samhain should be celebrated on the day that falls exactly between the Fall Equinox and Winter Solistice--or when the Sun is in the fifteenth degree of Scorpio (the "astronomical Samhain" or "astrological Samhain")--November 6 or 7 this particular year (depending upon where you live).

And my response to this idea that everyone, other than these enlightened armchair occultists, are doing Samhain on the wrong day? Poppycock!!!

Honestly, my opinion is that the "Proper Samhain" theory was created by a bunch of people who decided that they have to be smarter than practicing Wiccans and pagans, especially the sainted Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca. The theory sounds good on paper, but really does not hold water when it comes to actual practice? No, it does not.

For one thing, the "solar-astronomical" Sabbaths, the Equinoxes and Solstices, are known as "Lesser Sabbaths." The "Greater Sabbaths" are all planting/harvesting/fertility holidays. Therefore, a proper astrological correct Samhain instantly becomes a Lesser Sabbath, a mere point on the journey of the sun though the zodiac--in other words, something other than solar position makes Samhain what it is--a Greater Sabbath.

Secondly, the theory ignores the non-universality of the observance of the Sabbaths. The holidays that the Sabbaths are based on were not practiced everywhere; and more importantly, when they were practiced, they were based on local agricultural conditions...or some local religious observance.

In other words, local conditions trump (override) the astrological theory. Your first harvest ritual corresponds to when your first harvest actually happens in your local neighborhood--not when the sun is in a particular degree of the zodiac. Likewise, your last harvest (aka Samhain) occurs when your local growing conditions cease to be suitable to leave the majority of the crop out in the fields (please note that there are some winter crops that can be harvested or planted despite the drop in temperatures). In fact, last harvest can vary from year to year--last year, my own last harvest occurred in late November--this year, it was mid-October. The only reason that modern-day Wicca gets away with fixed dates for the Sabbaths is that most of us are not farmers or gardeners anymore--but that still does not make the astrological version more valid than the farming/fertility version of the Sabbaths.

And in the case of Samhain (All Hallows Eve--Halloween), it occurs on a day that several cultures (including the much-hated Catholic culture) consider preceding a feast day celebrating the honored dead. This is another form of local condition overriding the astrological theory. Then again, that may be the real reason that certain armchair occultists want to move the celebration to a different day--in their minds, we can't share anything in common with the hated oppressors of the pagan religions...despite the fact that the Church lifted that particular feast day directly from the pagans themselves with us merely reclaiming it as our own in modern times.

So Happy Proper Astrological Samhain! to all the armchair occultists. And stay out of my garden!

Mother, may I? (31-HP Day 28)

You come asking
Questioning and begging
Seeking an answer
Crossing my palm
With silver coins

Shuffle and flip
Pasteboard images
Messages and truth
Spirit communication
Divine wisdom

Your eyes blind
Your ears deaf
Ignoring reality
Your mind set
Could be home

Bits and pieces
Wrenched out
Of proper context
Only heard
Is what you want

Seeking agreement
Looking for a goat
Your course is set
Advice you need not
Permission sought

I see no good
Coming from this
Outside my fee
You are doomed
Spirits annoyed

Go forth
Do your worst
Blame the cards
Blame the reader
Anyone, but yourself

Regulus and four other stars

Given yesterday's post, I do not want people to believe that I completely ignore the initiated version of late Victorian era astrology. I just happen to be very selective about what I play attention to.

As a regular rule of thumb, assume that the Tropical Zodiac is 24 degrees ahead of the Sidereal Zodiac. You can eyeball this without doing math. Or a full sign ahead if you are doing the initiated version; again no math needed. (If you want to do math, it is about one degree per 72 years from whenever you decide the origin year of the zodiac is.)

The most important part of the initiated version of astrology is the star Regulus, which Mathers allegedly instructed initiates to use as the starting point for the sign of Leo. (I have yet to see anyone produce a document that proves Francis King's claim.) Interestingly enough, I actually do a certain amount of work dealing with Regulus, thanks to belonging to a magical Order ruled by Regulus (to a lesser or greater extent) and the fact that Regulus is located at the midpoint between my Sun and Mercury.

(For those people who believe that my calling of BIORC as a magical Order a lie, just remember that BIORC is probably no longer a true Golden Dawn Order. BIORC is to Golden Dawn as BOTA is to AO--a descendant only in name by the best of standards; by the worst of standards, BIORC will always be a GD Order...make of that what you will.)

Given the importance of Regulus to both the Order I belong to, and to my personal birth chart, I have done a certain amount of research into the Four Watchers of the World--the four stars that the Ancient Persians believed guarded the world. (The quarter that they sit in, and the solar event that they correspond to, was established by the Persians in about 3000 BCE--by modern standards, the symbolism tends to make no sense, especially when looked at by people who do not really understand ancient astrology.)

The Four Watchers are:

Aldebaran, the Watcher of the East, corresponds to the Vernal Equinox (northern viewpoint), a red star called the Eye of the Bull, which nature is of Mars (and somewhat of Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sun). In 1980, it was located at 9 Gemini 31; in 1888, it was at 8 Gemini 14.

Regulus, the Watcher of the North, Summer Solstice, Heart of the Lion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 29 Leo 33; in 1888, it was at 28 Leo 16.

Antares, the Watcher of the West, Autumnal Equinox, the Heart of the Scorpion, nature of Mars and Jupiter. In 1980, it was located at 9 Sagittarius; in 1888, it was at 8 Sagittarius 12.

Fomalhaut, the Watcher of the South, Winter Solstice, nature of Venus and Mercury. In 1980, it was located at 3 Pisces 35; in 1888, it was at 2 Pisces 18.

And another star that I think that one should keep track of, if one is involved in esoteric Orders, is Sirius, the Dog Star, herald of the Ancient Egypt's flooding of the Nile (the start of the Egyptian year), nature of Jupiter and Mars (less so Neptune). In 1980, it was located at 13 Cancer 48; in 1888, it was at 12 Cancer 31.

For those people who worked with the methods of generating magical names from astrology charts, they might want to examine the use of these five stars to generate a name of power.

The biggest problem with the zodiac

The zodiac and the path of the sun.

Given the fact that sooner or later in the upcoming series of astrology posts, my dislike of Sidereal Astrology will come up, we just as well address the issue right up front.

According to Francis King, Samuel MacGregor Mathers came up with an idea that the true initiated zodiac began with the star Regulus. Some experts have insisted that King made up this fact. Personally, I do not care--others in the late Victorian era were also saying this (more or less), so we know that the idea was in the water before Mathers (allegedly) instructed Adepts that this was the initiated truth.

Now, some initiates of Golden Dawn have picked up the idea and poked at it to see if it works. Some say that it does; others say that it doesn't.

The upcoming series of posts concerns the Tropical Zodiac (the Sidereal gets at best a few mentions). Personally, I trained with the Tropical Zodiac; the Order that I was originally initiated in used the Tropical Zodiac. I have more experience using the Tropical Zodiac.

And I have a little problem with pretty much all forms of Sidereal use.

The claim for Sidereal Astrology (and magic, for that matter) is that it focuses on the actual position of the planets and constellations as they really exist in the sky. But more often than not, if you actually compare actual sky charts with the results, you learn that it is more or less lip-service.

Go ahead, look at these pictures of the constellations. Are you absolutely sure where one sign begins and other ends? And if you are--do the Zodiac Signs end up with equal areas of influence and space?

Any system that picks a point and then divides the ecliptic into twelve equal signs from there is not truly playing full attention to where things actually are. And it gets even more interesting when one starts to track how past generations viewed the constellations (for instance, Libra was originally a part of Scorpio).

I am sorry, but I believe that the Zodiac Signs were originally names for the twelve equal sections of the ecliptic arc--later a set of constellations were named after these sections. Yes, this makes me a bad Golden Dawn Adept--a non-believer in the greatness of all things Mathers. But it means that I can practice Tropical Astrology in a Golden Dawn context. (By the way, from a standard Tropcial chart, I can point out where the constellations and planets are--I do not need a Sidereal chart for that, nor does any other properly trained astrologer or magician.)

And if you do not think that it makes a difference (I presume that you actually believe that magic and astrology work...if not, why are you reading this?), just consider that in one system of astrology, I have a Virgo Sun, a Cancer Ascendant, a Moon in Scorpio, and my Mercury in Leo; in the other system, I would be a Leo Sun, a Gemini rising sign, with my Moon in Libra, and Mercury in Virgo. My friends will instantly spot the problem with one of these versions, as will a few of my critics.

As for Mathers, I suspect that he embraced the idea of the Regulus marking the start of the Zodiac (with Leo being the first sign of the Zodiac) because it allowed him to have a Sun in a Fire sign (Sagittarius, instead of Capricorn), and it allowed him to claim that everyone outside of the Order of the Hermetic Students of the Golden Dawn were doing astrology wrong. And Mathers liked being the smartest person in the room.

Aries to Leo along the ecliptic.

Leo to Scorpio, plus Ophiuchus.

Scorpio to Pisces.