Disks (tarot)
From Thelemapedia
Part of the Thoth Tarot series.
Disks are one of the suits in the Thoth Tarot deck.
The four suits of the Tarot are: Wands, Cups, Swords, Disks
In The Book of Thoth, Crowley explains his theory behind the new attributions of the suit of Disks:
- ...all previous [tarot] packs are of little more than archaeological interest; for the New Aeon demanded a new system of symbolism. Thus, in particular, the old conception of the Earth as a passive, immobile, even dead, even "evil" element, had to go. It was imperative to restore the King Scale colour attribution to that of the Aeon of Isis, Emerald Green, as was understood by the Egyptian Hierophants. This green is, however, not the original vegetable green of Isis, but the new green of spring following the resurrection of Osiris as Horus. Nor are the Disks any more to be considered as Coins; the Disk is a whirling emblem. Naturally so; since it is now known that every Star, every true Planet, is a whirling sphere. The Atom, again, is no more the hard, intractable, dead Particle of Dalton, but a system of whirling forces, comparable to the Solar hierarchy itself.
- This thesis dovetails perfectly with the new Doctrine of Tetragrammaton, where the Earthy component, He final, the Daughter, is set upon the Throne of the Mother, to awaken the Eld of the All-Father. The NAME itself, accordingly, is no longer a fixed symbol, emblem of extension and limit, but a continuously revolving sphere; in the words of Zoroaster, "rebounding, whirling forth, crying aloud".
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The Court Cards
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Knight of Disks
- Title: The Lord of the Wide and Fertile Land. The King of the Spirits of Earth.
- Astrology: 20° Leo to 20° Virgo
- Element: The fiery part of Earth
- Tree of Life: The Path of Shin
- Description: "This warrior is short and sturdy in type. He is clothed in great solidity of plate armour; but his helmet, which is crested with the head of a stag, is thrown back, for at the moment his function is entirely confined to the production of food. For this reason he is armed with a flail. The disk which he bears, moreover, is very solid; it represents nutrition. These characteristics are borne out by his horse; a shire horse, solidly planted on all four feet, as was not the case with the other Knights. He rides through the fertile land; even the distant hills are cultivated fields."
- Interpretation: "Those whom he symbolizes tend to be dull, heavy and preoccupied with material things. They are laborious and patient, but would have little intellectual grasp even of matters which concern them most closely. Their success in these is due to instinct, to imitation of Nature. They lack initiative; their fire is the smouldering fire of the process of growth. — If ill-dignified, these people are hopelessly stupid, slavish, quite incapable of foresight even in their own affairs, or of taking an intelli gent interest in anything outside them. They are churlish, surly, and jealous (in a dull sort of way) of what they instinctively realize is the superior state of others; but they have not the courage or intelligence to better themselves. Yet they are always irritably meddling about petty matters; they interfere with, and inevitably spoil, whatever comes their way."
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Queen of Disks
- Title: The Queen of the Thrones of the Earth.
- Astrology: 20° Sagittarius to 20° Capricorn
- Element: The watery part of Earth
- Tree of Life: The Path of Mem
- Description: "The Queen of Disks is throned upon the life of vegetation. She contemplates the background, where a calm river winds through a sandy desert to bring to it fertility. Oases are beginning to shew themselves amid the wastes. Before her stands a goat upon a sphere. There is here a reference to the dogma that the Great Work is fertility. Her armour is composed of small scales or coins, and her helmet is adorned with the great spiral horns of the markhor. In her right hand she bears a sceptre surmounted by a cube, within which is a three-dimensional Hexagram, and in her left arm is curved her proper disk, a sphere of loops and circles interlaced. She thus represents the ambition of matter to take part in the great work of Creation."
- Interpretation: "She represents passivity, usually in its highest aspect... Persons signified by this card possess the finest of the quieter qualities. They are ambitious, but only in useful directions. They possess immense funds of affection, kindness, and greatness of heart. They are not intellectual, and not particularly intelligent; but instinct and intuition are more than adequate for their needs. These people are quiet, hard-working, practical, sensible, domesticated, often (in a reticent and unassuming fashion) lustful and even debauched. They are inclined to the abuse of alcohol and of drugs. It is as if they could only realize their essential happiness by getting outside themselves. — If ill dignified, they are dull, servile, foolish; they are drudges rather than workers. Life for them is purely mechanical; and they cannot rise, or even seek to rise, above their appointed lot."
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Prince of Disks
- Title: The Prince of the Chariot of Earth.
- Astrology: 20° Aries to 20° Taurus
- Element: The airy part of Earth
- Tree of Life: The Path of 32-bis
- Description: "Clothed in light armour, his helmet is crowned with the head of a bull; and his chariot is drawn by an ox, this animal being peculiarly sacred to the Element of Earth. In his left hand he holds his disk, which is an orb resembling a globe, marked with mathematical symbols as if to imply the planning involved in agriculture. In his right hand he bears an orbed sceptre surmounted by a cross, a symbol of the Great Work accomplished; for it is his function to bring forth from the material of the element that vegetation which is the sustenance of the Spirit itself."
- Interpretation: "The character denoted by this card is that of great energy brought to bear upon the most solid of practical matters. He is energetic and enduring, a capable manager, a steadfast and persevering worker. He is competent, ingenious, thoughtful, cautious, trustworthy, imperturbable; he constantly seeks new uses for common things, and adapts his circumstances to his purposes in a slow, steady, well-thought out plan.
He is lacking almost entirely in emotion. He is somewhat in sensitive, and may appear dull, but he is not; it so appears because he makes no effort to understand ideas which are beyond his scope. He may often appear stupid, and is inclined to be resentful of more spiritual types. He is slow to anger, but, if driven, becomes implacable. It is not very practicable to distinguish between the good and evil dignities in this card; one can merely say that, in case of his being ill-dignified, both the quality and quantity of his characteristics are somewhat degraded. The reaction of others to him will depend almost entirely upon their own temperaments."
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Princess of Disks
- Title: The Princess of the Echoing Hills. The Lotus of the Palace of the Earth.
- Astrology: Rules a 4th Quadrant of the Heavens about Kether.
- Element: The earthy part of Earth
- Tree of Life: The Path of 32-bis
- Description: "Her crest is the head of the ram, and her sceptre descends into the earth. There its head becomes a diamond, the precious stone of Kether, thus symbolizing the birth of the highest and purest light in the deepest and darkest of the Elements. She stands within a grove of sacred trees before an altar suggesting a wheatsheaf, for she is a priestess of Demeter. She bears within her body the secret of the future. Her sublimity is further emphasized by the disk which she bears; for in the centre thereof is the Chinese ideogram denoting the twin spiral force of Creation in perfect equilibrium; from this is born the rose of Isis, the great fertile Mother."
- Interpretation: "The characteristics of an individual signified by this card are too various to enumerate; one must summarize by saying that she is Womanhood in its ultimate projection. She contains all the characteristics of woman, and it would depend entirely upon the influences to which she is subjected whether one or another becomes manifest. But in every case her attributes will be pure in themselves, and not necessarily connected with any other attributes which in the normal way one regards as symbolic. In one sense, then, her general reputation will be of bewildering inconsistency."
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The Small Cards
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Ace of Disks
- Title: The Root of the Powers of Earth
- Tree of Life: Kether
- Description: "It has been the custom of publishers or designers of packs to set their personal seal upon the Ace of Disks...The central symbol of the Ace of Disks is consequently the personal Hieroglyph of 'the chosen priest and apostle of infinite space', 'the prince-priest the Beast'... In the centre of all is yet another form of Tetragrammaton, the Phallus, showing Sol and Luna, with the number 666 duly inscribed, as if to equilibrate, to fit into the Vesica, with the seven sevens adding to 156... Should one choose to interpret the vertical line above 666 as 1, and add it, the number of the Scarlet Woman, 667, appears...This cipher is enclosed in a Heptagram, as manifestly needful; and this figure again in interlaced Pentagons whose sides are extended, so forming a Wheel of 10 spokes whose boundary is a Decagon; and this again within a circular band, upon which is inscribed in full the name, of 12 (6 x 2) letters. About this whirling Disk are its six Wings; the entire symbol is not only a glyph of Earth as understood in this New Aeon of Horus, but of the number 6, the number of the Sun."
- Interpretation:
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Two of Disks
- Title: Change
- Astrology: Jupiter in Capricorn
- Tree of Life: Chokmah
- Description: "[T]wo Pantacles, one above the other; they are the Chinese symbols of the Yang and Yin duplicated as in the Hsiang. One wheel is dextro- and the other laevo-rotatory... About them is entwined a green Serpent {see Liber 65, chapter iii, verses 17-20}. His tail is in his mouth. He forms the figure Eight, the symbol of the Infinite, the equation 0=2."
- Interpretation: This card represents "the harmonious interplay of the Four Elements in constant movement. One may in fact consider the card as the picture of the complete manifested Universe, in respect of its dynamics."
From Liber 65 ("Cordis Cincti Serpente"), ch.III, verses 17-20:
- 17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the Infinite Circle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.
- 18. O Snake of Emerald, Thou hast no time Past, no time To Come. Verily Thou art not.
- 19. Thou art delicious beyond all taste and touch, Thou art not-to-be-beheld for glory, Thy voice is beyond the Speech and the Silence and the Speech therein, and Thy perfume is of pure ambergris, that is not weighed against the finest gold of the fine gold.
- 20. Also Thy coils are of infinite range; the Heart that Thou dost encircle is an Universal Heart.
- 17. Then I beheld myself compassed about with the Infinite Circle of Emerald that encloseth the Universe.
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Three of Disks
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Four of Disks
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Five of Disks
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Six of Disks
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Seven of Disks
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Eight of Disks
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Nine of Disks
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Ten of Disks
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