Archive for Tarot

A Small Tarot Reading: The Scales and The Devil

Posted in Divination, Occultism, The Path of Flames with tags , , , , , , , , , , on September 2, 2013 by Sypheara

So following my successes with my first venture into the Tarot (described here https://theluciferianrevolution.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/my-experience-with-the-tarot/) I’ve always been meaning to write up about another one of my readings of the Tarot.

A recent reading came up that I though was very interesting, so I thought I would relay it as a smaller post preceding the larger book review im undertaking. As such, I’ll launch right into it.

Background

The previous night, I felt like again  approaching Hecate and asking her for assistance in a Tarot reading, to determine what would be the major influence within the coming weeks. This came after several weeks of detachment from pursuing anything concrete in any fashion and indulging myself to recharge my psychological and physiological batteries, and after a period of break I decided to approach Hecate for help.

What happened I did not expect. After shuffling the cards in my usual manner calling on Hecate, I split the deck into three stacks in front of me and drew the middle first, followed by the left most card, followed by the right most card.

The middle card was asked to reveal the current and near future state and its dominating influence. The left most card was asked to reveal the past influences which have led to the current state. The right most card was asked to reveal the end result of the current and near future dominating influence, if it was left to run its natural course.

The cards I pulled from each stack were in no way expected, but I found them to be highly interesting. The leftmost card was The Devil, The middle card The Ten of Pentacles, and the rightmost card Justice. I will now provide my own small reading on them, for what I believe them to be indicating to me.

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A picture taken from the reading itself.

Past Influence which has led to the current state : The Devil

The Devil as a Major Arcana card is the first Major Arcana card I have encountered within an actual reading. For me, this came as a shock at first, due to the cards overly negative connotations. However, when read with the middle card, and taking into account my recent past, I can see why it would play a role and appear in a reading.

The negative connotations of the Devil card are best summed up as a feeling of being in bondage or being otherwise restricted physically, emotionally and spiritually. It can also relate to remaining willfully ignorant, bound to material matters, or being self absorbed into a overly negative world view. It can also relate a feeling of intense hopelessness.

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The Devil from the Tarot Of Trees.

As a whole, at first, none of these seem to overly relate. However, on deeper introspection and asking questions, I can see how the Devil card has arisen. In the last past period, I have definetly let go of pretty much every inhibition I held on some level. The last few weeks has been highly healing, hence I think leading to the Ten of Pentacles. This is the process with which I have broken the chains that were to some extent holding me down psychologically. I believe this is related to the stagnation I have finally broken out of in one area of my life and finding my centre again. I also believe it relates to my deteriorating financial state, and the binding issues that has placed upon me.

I believe that the card not only represents the old issues, but also the method through which inverted I used to overcome these problems tackling fire with fire. I also believe however it marks a warning, to ensure that I do not continue in this manner as a general rule, or end up being caught in a new problem of my own creation and immolating myself. Its position corroborates the fact it has been mostly moved away from, something I am thankful for!

The current and near future state : Ten of Pentacles

The Ten of Pentacles, although a Minor Arcana card, is a welcome one in this reading. Traditionally it deals with security and enjoying the fruits of ones labour and that things will finally come together. This coming together will yield a state that creates a long lasting foundation of some description for the future. It also usually depicts the need to share and spread this overabundance of stability through various manners. It usually deals with mainly physical matters, but can also relate to an abundance or knowledge or other revelations which brings about this state. This is usually a rational or methodic knowledge rather than spiritual.

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The Ten of Pentacles from the Tarot Of Trees.

In relation to myself, I have interpreted this is many ways. In my life, I have recently been offered a job interview that, if I am successful at, will eleviate my current financial situation and give me a new level of freedom. I believe that pulling this card signifies that all current indicators point to that I will be successful in this, and that has been corroborated with other signs from the company themselves and the arrangement process.

However, Hecate doesn’t often only send me signs about mundane matters, so I also believe this also has a hidden meaning that is not entirely been revealed to me. This could be in relation to coming into possession of knowledge that must be continued to be shared when possible in regards to methodology, and that this card could be a reminder of my duties in that regard.

Regardless, the fact that some material foundation or settlement is occuring or will soon begin to occur is a welcome one, and one that I will hope to seize full advantage of it if presented.  However, with the appearance of the following card, I hold that view with a degree of caution.

The result arising from this state: Justice

Another interesting card to pull, Justice is another Major Arcana card and the second I have ever pulled in a reading. The way I have seen this card in my studies and and looking at it has been one of it representing Karma. In this way, Justice is a card I see representing this force, of causation and reaction. I use the word force here on purpose – in the card that I possess, the figures eyes are blindfolded. This to me indicates that it isnt the figures emotional reaction or judging of a situation, but simply the cold logic of the outcome of the scales being held.

As such, I see this card as a double edged blade – it is one that could have positive or negative consequences, and shows that some causal action in the past is going to cause a large reaction in the immediate future. As a Major Arcana card, I therefore also believe this indicates such a reaction will have an impact on a wide level for the person involved including Physical, Mental and Spiritual Elements. The old adage you reap what you sow does indeed apply here.

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Justice from the Tarot Of Trees.

Applying this to myself is therefore also done in a double edged fashion, because nobody can escape the laws of cause and effect when bound to our current universe. As such, I believe it offers both a promise and a warning, especially paired with the previous two cards.

In a positive light, the Justice card could potentially mean that, after a period of having to be exceptionally careful with money and my mundane life balance, i will finally receive the payoff i’ve been searching for in regards to it. This would allow me more freedom to pursue my spiritual path, having been freed of living in an environment hostile to my practice. This would be a sign similar to my previous reading – instead of enjoying the bounties of my spiritual fufilments, now I may also be in the position to see my mundane life move forward as well.

However, I also see it as a warning in that if the opportunity is not seized, then I will miss out and lose the bounty offered up by the Ten of Pentacles as cause and effect takes precedent.

In addition, I also believe this carries a further warning: the method and influence of the The Devil card still leaves a mark and is not entirely discarded, and it could also relate to an action or actions I took in that period coming back to have an unseen effect, limiting the effectiveness of the Ten of Pentacles or causing a new, unforeseen problem to arise.

This has in a way already come to pass, and I am therefore wary of the negative side that the Justice card can bring. As such, I also see it as a warning indicating that I must be wary of falling into its influence again at least for the immediate future or risk what i might be able to obtain.

In actuality, I expect that a combination of both positive and negative outcomes will occur resulting in a more balanced outcome than suggested by the Ten of Pentacles on its own. I admit I am in no way perfect, so the the outcome of the cause and effect principle will not be entirely what I seek and I expect surprises in the future due to the manifestation of this cards influence in the reading.

Conclusion and Follow-Up

With such an interesting array of cards, I feel that it will be necessary to carefully observe the next few weeks and how it develops. Seeing the results will reveal to me hopefully the meaning within the reading, helping me gauge what was successfully read, and what wasnt. Either will be interesting to note, and will hopefully shed more light on the cards and the reason they were presented by Hecate. As such, I hope to write another small follow up if possible detailing the outcomes.

I hope this has again been interesting. I have begun work on the review of Apocalyptic Witchcraft, and hope to release it in two parts as it has grown outside of the original scope I had planned for it. That should be released later this week at some point.

Thanks as always for reading,

~S~

My Experience With The Tarot

Posted in Divination, Occultism, The Path of Flames with tags , , , , , , on July 14, 2013 by Sypheara

So as promised, here is the first in the next few entries, this particular one focusing on the Tarot. This will include some personal reflection. I’ll try to keep it it to as a minimum as its supposed to be detailing my experience with the Tarot, not the personal issues involved.

Introduction

I’ve always been interested in the concept of the Tarot, ever since being sixteen years of age, predating what I would consider to be my own spiritual awakening. Something about them has always had me enamoured – I think now looking back  it was the ‘mysterious’ story surrounding them and my interests in different ways of divination in a psychological and artistic sense at the time.

When I actually underwent the spiritual change from my past to current self, some of that was invariably lost. In looking for deeper meaning within myself, and at other more ‘serious’ gnostic and witchcraft works, I began harboring the notion that Tarot, longed used by TV psychics and other charlatans, was a tool in self deception. Not surprising considering my sudden shift in mental patterns, I was still trying to make sense of things from my old, over critical mindset.

Sparking my Interest

After recently taking my witchmark, I decided that it was time to try out the Tarot for myself.  The thought behind this was simple. I had been exposed to many things by that point which had shaken my previous convictions and made me a lot more open minded. Due to that, I believed that I needed to begin the search for tools which could aid in Magickal workings and Communication with the Divine, and that when found these needed to be tried out and experimented with, to see what would work for me as an individual.

Due to the abilities heightened and unlocked by the Witchmark and my completed self initiation, I felt like it was a good time to rekindle my interest in the Tarot. The logic was that, even if it had been used by charlatans and its origins over exaggerated and lied about, at the end of the day it was only a channel or conduit, not a source of action itself. On this basis, I decided that exploration in a creative manner would net me interesting results.. and so it did.

For a few weeks I investigated the traditional meanings of the cards, and picked out a deck that I felt attracted to for purely aesthetic reasons. I didn’t get too hung up on the meanings of the cards, but instead enjoyed researching hem, especially the major arcana, as Jungian Archetypes. Some very good information was found online once heavily sifted through. Eventually, relatively comfortable with the basic concepts, I decided to a very simple, one card reading.

One Card Reading

My first experiment was simple. I would do a small meditation and visualisation of Hecates sigil, ask a basic question asking her to answer it, whilst shuffling the deck. Taking one card out at random, when it felt ‘right’, yielded the Eight of Cups.

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Eight of Cups from the Tarot Of Trees.

(Note: This was not the deck used, but I lacked  a picture of this reading

and this Deck caught my eye)

This was pretty interesting to see, especially considering it’s the card I was expecting to come up! At that point in my Life when this card was pulled, I had felt that all my efforts outside of  exploring my spiritually had been destroyed and smashed. I had also been attempting, and still attempting, to repair to me an important relationship that had ended in bewildering circumstances leading to feelings of loss, regret, sorrow and confusion. This had been leaving me feeling drained and lacking hope, with the feeling that  I wanted to grow out of those circumstances into something that was more meaningful and become more effective as a person without knowing how or if I had the potential to do so.

This threw me for a bit,  despite my attempts to rationalise it as confirmation bias, so I didn’t attempt the next reading until several weeks later.

Three Card Reading

Feeling emboldened by the previous reading, despite its confirmation of my negative state at the time, I decided to try a slightly more complex reading.  This time, I did the same whilst shuffling the deck as the first instead this time concentrating on asking Hecate about my present course on the path of flames, and where it could lead if i continued in the same vein.  Splitting the deck into three, I  then revealed the top three cards in left to right fashion on the stacks and laid them down in front of me.

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Actual picture of the reading, revealing the

King of Pentacles, Five of Swords, and Ten of Cups.

This was another interesting result. The King of Pentacles traditionally represents an solid foundation in material wealth, that can mean alot of wealth or quality of life and wealth. However, in regards to this reading and seeing the full picture, it instead spoke to me of my distant past as someone rooted in a safe upbringing with very athiestic, earthly tendencies, and accepting the prefered worldview.

The Five of Swords was a very interesting card to get, and one that resonated with me alot. This card represents a difficult conflict in progress, that can have either a negative or positive effect, either way with some negative consequences. Due to the final card, I dismissed several interpretations which did not make sense in light of it, and instead settled on my own personal meaning. This was that the difficult battle would be a testing time, pitting my will and direction with others and not everything will go my way. However I saw this as a positive sign in that although their would be a price to pay, and it would be an emotionally and spiritually testing one, that it would likely develop into the final card.

The final card is the Ten of Cups, which represents spiritual and emotional fufilment and balance. To me this was a joyous card to receive from Hecate – whilst it doesnt mean permanance or assurance, I couldn’t have asked for a better result to the challenge of The Five of Swords.  It’s good message,  I was happy to receive in relation to my question to her.

When compared with the other cards, this indeed showed a tradeoff and a dying of an old self to attain something new, through the process of a difficult, conflict and not entirely scarless transformation. This I took as a good sign,despite there being a warning buried within it I needed to heed.

Full Reading

So following on from these readings, after another several days, I felt like it was time to try a much more complex reading. The issue surrounding and pushing through on the first rading was the fallout from a long lasting, doomed  relationship. The issue about this  I wanted to resolve was what to do with the remaining friendship, due to it causing lingering problems. I wanted to ask Hecate for help in that manner, as it was becoming obstructive to my path and to moving forward in any manner. With this in mind, I used a simplish spread that I found admittedly online and gave it a shot.

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Actual picture of the reading, revealing the

layout of the spread.

I’ll detail the cards in position, thier meaning and then wrap up with a conclusion to the reading and post.

Distant Past : King of Pentacles

Interesting that the King of Pentacles would show up again in this reading, in the distant past section. Considering my previous stable life, and admittedly lucky circumstances, this card made perfect sense in a more materialistic, straightforward way in this position outside of needing comparison with the second reading.  For this reason, I didn’t dwell on this card, which I saw as just confirming what had already been revealed to some extent in the last reading.

Recent Past: Five of Cups

This card also made alot of sense in this position. The Five of Cups indicates feelings of loss and regret in the recent past. Considering the nature of the question and the surrounding situation, this perfectly described the recent past in black and white terms. It also to me additionally  indicated the suddeness of the change, and the shock associated with it, in addition to the actual lingering consequences.

Present: Ace of Pentacles

This was an interesting card to get, and one that revealed a good foundation around which to base any decision. It also revealed what present weakness was also furthering the problem, rather than contributing to it being fixed. This was revealed by the other cards, and that error and issue was placing too much trust into the current state of affairs.

Future Influences: Four of Pentacles

The Four of Pentacles was also a very powerful card in this reading, and I read it as a warning for the future that was walking into, and one that I wanted to avoid if at all possible. This card indicates hoarding, the need to possess, maintain control, and keep the status quo.  Due to my prior influences and the situation at hand, I could see how walking into such a mentally and spiritually confining place could be very easy to do. As such, I took this card as a serious warning.

External Influences: King of Wands

The card of this position indicates an external influence, I took the  presence of the King of Wards indicated an actual person other than myself who was . This was another major card for me. I had recently been talking to another person in my life who I regard as being a definite King of Wands, who had been helping me in alot of different matters. This fire and energy had been transfered to me, and given me the strength needed
to continue growing in my magickal work. This had had an affect on all matters in my life, especially when it all had culminated in me acquiring my witchmark. It had been this energy which had revitalised me and spurred me on to challenge this issue head on. As such, I saw this external influence as being the pushing point to initiation the reading, and change within me.

My Mental Attitude: Page of Cups

The appearance of the Page of Cups indicated that my mindset up until the reading and decision to push forward had been one revolving around still around intimacy, loving and caring indicating to me the mental reasons that had been contributing to me continue down the current path. Whilst revealing nothing new to me, seeing this card in this position helped confirm that I had read the initial situation correctly.

Helpful Energies: Three of Pentacles

This card, appearing in this position, was another interesting card.  From its position and my reading, it refered in my mind more to help and support I have been getting from others, rather than the person in question. These people have been supporting me through dealing with the issue, unknown to them really, and had been keeping it from escalating into a problem up until this point.

Main Problem: Two of Cups

The Two of Cups represents lovers, or a relationship. Due to this being in the problem position, I interpreted this a blunt way – that the person is question was developing a relationship with another.  When read with the other cards, I saw this as being an unsurmountable problem – as such, rather than resist it in any fashion mentally,  direct my efforts elsewhere.

Hope and Fears: Four of Cups

Another card that pinpointed something I had alreaady to an extent encountered, making an existing thought be able to be seen more clearly. The Four of Cups indicates withdrawal from the world and self absorption. In the position of Hopes and Fears, I interpreted this as my fear that, if this situation continued, it would cause me  me to stagnate in the worst way possible to the point of becoming reclusive.

Final Result: Eight of Swords

The Eight of Swords was the final nail in the coffin. The Eight of Swords indicates the feeling of being bound, with no way out. It indicates that a person feels like whatever decision they take, they will be gravely injured. This was well represented on the card itself – one move would cause the guillotine to fall severing the head.

However, the card also shows that this is also caused by a certain amount of self delusion caused by the situation, and that other options exist that will result in a positive payoff if only they are looked for an explored.

With this being the final result,  I decided that looking for those options in the present before the situation got too bad was the most wise course of action.

Conclusion of Final Reading

With the overall reading being dominated by feelings of lethargy and entrapment, I decided that action was necessary to prevent such a situation from arising. As such, I set about first to see if the actual situation matched that of the cards in regards to the other person. It turned out that, unfortunately, the reading was entirely correct.

I would find out, through pursuing the matter further, that the reading has accurately assessed the situation down to the exact details.  It did  turn out that this person had been using me as an emotional crutch, all the while beginning a new relationship with another. They finally explained to me first hand that they were unable to tell me for multiple reasons, and were pursuing this new relationship to to avoid with dealing with existing issues as some sort of panacea.

As such I took the stark warning in the cards seriously, and severed any relationship with this individual in the kindest way possible. Since then, things have drastically improved. I no longer feel mentally shackled or bound, and have been able to move on in both my magickal and mundane projects, and my personal relations with others have improved.

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Conclusion

I can honestly say that using the Tarot as a divinatory and decision making tool has so far yielded exceptional results.

Using only a very basic method, I have been able to achieve consistent results outside of even needing to consecrate them as tools. I have been quite surprised at this, as I fully expected them to be a very hit and miss, without much practical application.

With them turning out to be the opposite, I will definetly be using them in future workings to ascertain just how useful they can actually be. This will inevitably be expanded as I learn more about them, and how they can be applied to my own Path and in Divinatory use. As always, if anything interesting I can share surfaces, I will gladly share them here.

Thanks for taking the time to read this as always.

~S~

Small Update: Next Series of Posts

Posted in Other with tags , , , , , on June 28, 2013 by Sypheara

So the last few weeks have been quite insane, both in my personal life and in my witchcraft to a degree. Whilst not all of these developments have been positive, they have certainly given me many ideas for future posts which I hope to release in a small series in the approximate following order. Please note this isn’t final. It is likely to swap and change.. but thought I’d share what I am thinking early as I’ve been neglecting my corner of the internet.

My Recent Experience with the Tarot

I am no experienced practioner when it comes to the Tarot at all, having had only a passing interest in learning the individual card meanings, methodology, and experiencing the, until until very recently.  With my first formal initiation into Hecates fold seemingly accepted and  things beginning to feel like they were internalising, I became freed of alot of my inhibitions. Feeling correspondingly empowered, I finally decided to give them a real study and do one or two basic readings under Hecates guidance.

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I was very shocked to learn how accurate the readings turned out, doing three in total which revealed alot to me. These have helped me deal with a potentially very painful personal issue over the last few weeks, and because of their effectiveness and my experience, I’d love to detail this in more manner.

I’ll be working on this entry next, with corresponding pictures. Two of them taken of the actual last two readings, showing the corresponding cards. I’ll also try and detail as much as I feel comfortable the issue surrounding my use of them as its vital to understanding the effectiveness of them.

Book Review: Apocalyptic Witchcraft

Recently received another wonderful book from Scarlet Imprint, that I am in the midst of devouring in earnest.  Already from the first few chapters I can tell it really does tap into a universal thread that runs through not only my own path, but many other forms of Witchcraft and Magick i’ve studied.  It’s refreshingly written with fire and passion, and it is certainly not an unconfrontational or conformist book.

Instead, what it presents is modern witchcraft as a purified lightning rod for the spirits, outside of a specific lens or tradition. I can already tell the whole book illuminates this shared current that unites the different strains. The book firmly places itself in the modern world illustrating why witchcraft it is needed in our current age of destruction and unprecedented change more than ever, due to the modern world placing ‘a price on everything, and a value on nothing’.

To me,  it is right up there with Fosforos, and other similar illuminating works of pure genius. So I will be definetly visiting this in the near future once I have had chance to go over it in a comprehensive manner. It resonates with my own convictions, and I can definetly say that if you are on the fence and can’t wait, definetly give it a look in.

http://www.scarletimprint.com/apocalyptic_witchcraft.html

Sigilic Drawings under visualisation and compulsion

A long and probably too conceited and grandiose title on first view, its the best way I can describe what I want to cover in this coming post. I was recently part of an open working with the Temple of Ascending flame, utilising visualisation and meditation on sigils along with blood magick to strengthen a connection with my Gods.

They requested a log be kept of the results. I did so, also recording any sigils I saw in these small visions.  They seemed quite interested in what I had to show in the end, and I was encouraged to publish them in some manner. I let this mostly slide, until the other day I had a similar compulsion to draw a sigil, and I have been wondering whether to put a compilation together and show them.  However, I think it is appropriate to wait for confirmation from the Gods and Spirits to ensure this is the correct course of action out of respect. I’m also wanting to discover more of their use or meaning rather than the simple vague ideas I have now to really flesh this post out.

Hopefully this will be cleared up by the time I get round to this addition and have finished putting them all to paper in my actual logbook, as I am excited on sharing them and seeing what other people have to say about them if they can see parallels with their own work.

(Sigil below from the now unfortunately defunct TOTBL site. Highly interesting when compared with my own to come.)

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