The Priestess

The card we will look at this month is the Priestess.

Priestess

This card is a card representing independence and an ability to see beneath the veil, ie to be psychic and to understand how the universe works from spiritual law and understanding. Though it is not an intellectual knowing but an intuitive understanding of the deeper mysteries of the universe. It is connected to the Moon and the associations of mystery, the unknown and reflecting light back to source also come in here. The Priestess connects with the higher realms as well as is able to reflect back to people what they are creating in their lives, often times with advice on how to change things. The moon can also be seen to be symbolised in the image by the priestess wearing the crown of Isis which symbolises the changing phases of the moon. Isis is associated with stability so there is also the idea that change happens but is also stable, and that in order to have a stable life we must change continually in line with the flow of the truth of things. She is naked showing her dedication to the truth of things and what is beneath – there is no need to conceal things – there is enough mystery in the universe of itself.

More technically the image on the Thoth deck shows a woman with her hands outstretched – she is in a meditative state and is not looking to the physical world to find her answers but within so doesn’t need her eyes to be open.

The card is associated with the hebrew letter Gimel which means camel – you can see the camel depicted on the card’s image too. The idea of camels being self sufficient in the desert  fits with this interpretation of the card. She is independant and needs no other person to rely on or to feel or be safe. Her safety is within her. She is also able to contain the worries and fears of others without feeling burdened as she can see the bigger picture. She crosses the abyss between oneness of spirit and the earthly realms. As with all of us we have to make this connection alone – ultimately there is only ourselves when we start to look at birth and death in the physical realm – even though in spirit we are all one – we make this journey of the physical world ultimately alone.

There is also a great abundance associated with this card in the crystals and fruits at the bottom of the card and the bow of Artemis on the lap of the priestess (Crowley states this connection). She is the Goddess of hunters and also connected with the moon – she is independant and a warrior as is the priestess here. She provides what she needs for herself and through her own connection with the abundance of the universe.  It can also be seen as a lyre (Frieda Harris has said this) and as such is also a symbol of protection and of hathor – a form of Isis.

The Priestess is the path between Kether and Tiphareth on the Kabbalah and so is the direct link to spirit. Also a very balanced position, she possesses access to secret and hidden wisdom of the higher realms through this symbolism also.

The Lovers

This card depicts a number of opposites balancing each other in some way – with the couple in  the middle joining as one in marriage which is being blessed by the hermit above them.

Lovers

Intuitively there is a sense of commitment to uniting differences, whether this is in a partnership sense or whether it is within ourselves. We unite all the opposites in ourselves, acknowledging the different sides of ourselves and bring them together to work as a team in our lives. Sometimes using the active side of ourselves, sometimes the passive, sometimes the part of us that wants to be out there in the world with others – sometimes the part that wants solitude. As we balance the expression of the opposites we find within so we find peace. The card shows the Hermit as the overseer which matches to the part of ourselves that is the observer of our lives, the part that is untouched by life or even death, the eternal in us. This more spiritual part of us can observe and in a sense mediate any conflicts between our various sides. As we work with this inner part of the part so then also we find ourselves able to connect with another person in the external world of our lives. As we come to love all of our own conflicting sides so conflicts with those around us is less and we are more likely to attract a mate who will both complement us and also challenge us, but also will be a match for us. Commitment is possible if desired by both parties.

The card is connected to Gemini the twins so reflecting duality here also.  Also this can indicate good communication and connections with data transmission as Gemini loves these fields. All things analytical are indicated and the ability to look at many sides of a situation. As we consider all angles we come closer to the truth.  It can indicate an ability to keep changing as the world needs of us, Gemini being a mutable sign. The reds, golds and pinks indicate higher love, passion and self-esteem unite the couple together.  These inner qualities, when we develop them fully. help us to integrate ourselves and then also to have them reflected back to us from a partner.

So there is a sense of finding the perfect partner for you at this point in time – one who mirrors who you are and are not. This may bring with it a great challenge to face all parts of yourself, though when this card arises it suggests you are ready to do so. Bearing in mind a ‘perfect partner’ may be the one who most fully reflects you so if you have issues to work on these are reflected also, so the relationship may not be easy – though compelling.

You can also see the analysis aspect of the card reflected in the arch of swords that created the arena for the marriage. The swords are about analysis, thinking, dissecting and discerning. In the image they come together in harmony from two sides so there is a suggestion of balance being found after much discussion and assessment.

There is also the opposite of this expressed in the card – not surprisingly as the card is all about opposites coming together – Cupid is above the couple blindfolded – bringing to mind things such as ‘love is blind’ and the idea that the unconscious has a say in the attractions we have to people. So whilst all the analysis is going on there is also the factor of what we can not see or know at the time – the unconscious drive that propels us to ourselves even when we do not recognise our self fully in another. Hence the way we may often find ourselves compelled to be with someone yet find out quite quickly that they are not all we thought and difficulties arise, offering us the challenge to go within and find more of ourselves. The challenge of wanting to be with them yet obstacles that seem to be insurmountable. If we walk the path of our heart with as much awareness as we can then we can learn a great deal and be the richer for the experience. Mere analysis is not always enough.

 

 

 

10 Swords – Ruin

This month’s card to explore is the 10 Swords with the keyword Ruin. Many people find this one of the more challenging cards to receive in a reading as we have a tendency to fear that we literally will experience the ruin of our entire lives. If reading for ourselves this is doubly scary as this card does appear when we do indeed fear this to be the case – we might be scared we are about to lose our job and then our house and family to boot with no income to hold our lifestyle together.

10Swords

However this card is usually talking about this fear – the fear, not the actual experience, of ruin. As we fear things will just get worse and worse until our lives are shattered around us so we feel immobilised and scared about all our actions and decisions. Sometimes this can bring about events that serve to confirm our worst fears. However we can look at the card and see the symbolism of the heart in the center with light shining all around it as showing us that we are actually on the brink of a turning point. The difficulties we have been experiencing to this point are about to turn around and the light and joy of the heart about to grow and become stronger and stronger in our lives if we do not allow the fear to take over but face it head on.

Technically looking at the card we see it is a 10 which corresponds to the ending of something in numerology and the implied renewal, and swords being thoughts we have the ending of our thoughts being the only driving force in our world; thay may feel very powerful when this card is active though.

In the Kabbalah the 10’s are at the malkuth node of the Kabbalah. This is the final most earthly point of each of the worlds. The world of the swords is about the mental facilities and how we conceive of the world intellectually. This card indicates how our thoughtforms can create physical situations, but at this level we are being tested in a sense. Having experienced difficulties with our thoughts further up the tree as we try and manifest our highest thoughts, so here at the earthly level of Malkuth we see that we have done all we can with our thoughtform energy and now something more physical must happen to continue to bring our dreams to reality. We have to shift from thinking to doing (the world of the disks). As we make this transition some of our ideas have to be refined and we are tested in our ability to hold positive visions of what we want to create as we face physical issues that now have to be overcome on the final stage of the journey into creation on the Earth. In a sense it is the ruin of the intellect, we can no longer trust to our thoughts alone we have to move forward and do something and trust our journey thus far has strengthened us to overcome the fears our intellect can place before us. As we view the energy this way so we can overcome the possibility of creating our own worst fears by ‘running away’ into our obsessiveness.

It is sun in gemini and so represents thoughts changing (mutable gemini) and running all over the place in an ungrounded way. Gemini’s quick-to-change energy being out of control. We can harness this and recognise that we also do have the ability to use this fluidity of thinking to find the way forward into the physical world and find solutions to any real problems that arise in creative ways. We can also discern when our thinking is merely circular and fear based, rather than based on any real evidence. This distinction helps us know what is just purely fear based on no evidence, and what is actually an issue that needs to have some action taken to make a change occur. Once we see the difference, the actions needed can be taken, remembering to let go of negative expectations (met in the 7), and fears of defeat (met in the 5).

We see this process demonstrated as we fear the job change will ‘all go wrong’ rather than be exactly the breakthrough we have been seeking. We see it as the money almost running out – giving us the fear will will not be able to continue living in our house, yet it is only a transition and we need to place our trust in ourselves; that our journey on life is exactly what we need to develop into our fullest and highest version of ourselves. We see it in the fear that our partner’s desire for space means they are no longer in love with us, or the fear that our speaking up for what we know we need with push our partner away.

We may need to be active in following our heart’s desire in spite of the fear, rather than to submit to it at this point, allowing the fear to stop us going forward to find the new, more rewarding job, or to check our income and outgoings and make changes for now to help us move successfully through the transition. To allow ourselves to trust that our relationship will be able to hold up to each partner being able to live their own individual needs as well as nurture the relationship. As we do this so the light of our heart grows in strength.

We see the five upper swords pointing towards the tiphareth and this shows how our connection with our spirit and dreams (tiphareth) and our balance is attacked by our fears, the moon on the hilt of the sword at Malkuth and the sun on the one at yesod suggesting the unconscious is becoming conscious so we see our fears; our lack of self-belief and self-value; the things we most dislike about ourselves, as we are challenged to move through this energy with awareness and the on into our dreams with a more balanced practical approach.  The seeing of our shadow can be a powerful opportunity for growth and brings into the light how we negatively view ourselves. Once in the light we can work with our self belief and come to see ourselves as more valuable, lovable and loved and so attract this into our lives as we release this transition.

Adjustment

This month’s card to look at is Adjustment.

img074

Now; I realise as I post this, this was the card I spoke about last month. Last month I picked it from the deck – with the ‘What do people what to know more about.’ intention. This month I had completely forgotten last month’s card and just was very drawn to discuss this card. It is only now as I paste this into the email that I see we were talking of it last month. However I feel my approach to the same card is somewhat different in discussion here to last month so I will stay with it and just allow the further discussion to further inform. I hope you enjoy it 😀

In other decks Adjustment is the Justice card. Here Crowley connects the card as the feminine counterpart of the Fool. As the fool jumps and follows his instinct and intuition without any guarantees so Adjustment is the response the universe gives to our impulses. The resulting feedback to our actions in a sense.

When this card turns up in a spread we can see it as the need to maintain balance and recognise our influence in the world – if we are out of balance in ourselves then the world around us seems chaotic and imbalanced. As we increase our self balance so the universe reflects this back to us.

On the card we see the woman has a mask on her and she is not looking at external actions and results in the world but rather is looking internally to her own inner world and her responses to the different sides of herself. As she listens intently so her action can be made accurately and to reflect her own inner truth. This ensures the world around also reflects her inner truth. If we spend time in meditation we can find this inner balance, from this place then we make our decisions and as we do this so what the universe sends back to us is closer to what we truly feel and believe.

It can be seen as the law of karma, however a simplistic look at this removes the sense of self destiny, learning necessary lessons and can tempt us into a punishment and control ethos – this is not what this card is about. It is more about the fine balance we keep ourselves in. The making of decisions after carefully weighing up the ramifications of all we say, do and don’t do. As we consider all points of view from our deepest self so we find the response that moves us forward on our highest path of development.

The card is ruled by libra, which is the scales and also concerned with keeping the peace, finding balance and reducing extreme demonstrations to the minimum. This energy can be blocking in some circumstances where we find we are so busy keeping the peace we have forgotten to listen to our own truth. So when this card is surrounded by difficulty then the need to go within and allow ourselves to witness fully our extremes is the way to release the stuckness experienced. It is as if we are so busy balancing we have forgotten to look what is in the scales and decide whether it has merit.

Fours are represented here by the orbs, these sets of 4 are reminding us that stability is possible if we don’t allow external circumstances to throw us off balance. We can experience peace at this time, and even large difficulties can be navigated successfully.

The Emperor

This month’s card is The Emperor

Emperor

The first things that hits us with this card is the colour, lots of reds and yellows here and oranges between. Red is the colour of power, action, blood, life, the base chakra – where we connect to the earthly realm – the material, money and earthly concerns. From this we have already a sense of the card’s meaning.

 

Yellow is a colour of the solar plexus and our self-esteem and sense of self, is it the sun and the corresponding associations of warmth, connection, life, light, growth and the self.

 

Each colour has its flip side to the anger and violence of red, the cowardice (yellow-bellied) and overdone energy of the sun in its burning, the arrogance of over self-assertion.

 

If we start to look to the technical make up of the card we see this card is connected to Aries (ruler mars and colour red) and the sun is exalted in Aries and we have an astrological link with the above initial observations. Aries being the leader  the driving force, the warrior of a group of people. Confident and assertive and if overdone with its mars ruler, also aggressive and unyielding  Aries is indicated by the sign of Aries on the border and more obviously in the depiction of the ram through out the card. The dark and light Ram representing the two faces of this powerful warrior energy, the rams head on the sceptre, the tool with which the power is wielded.

 

Many of the Thoth cards can be read in this way – as we look at the image, so tightly connected to the underlying systems of thought, so we access the card’s meaning easily and simply – with little knowledge of the depth of astrology we could fathom beneath it – indeed taking it further and exploring these realms is interesting and enriching, but to understand the cards to start to use them it is not necessary. We can begin from where we are.

 

Other emblems and motives on this intricate card that we can read from the image alone include:

 

The bees on the garments of the Emperor symbolising working together as a group, hard work generally and a feeling of organisation and industriousness. They also symbolise fertility and that good works can come from the Emperor’s leadership. You can see the bees in their honey making as the ability of the Emperor energy to provide for the young, to father children and provide a good stable nutritious base for them to grow from. There is a sense too that the bee is in service to the Queen, and so it is in the Emperor energy, reflecting in us that our masculine sides are the protectors of the intuitive feminine side, the intuitive having the inspiration of direction and the Emperor serving her – leading the group to the direction she suggests.

 

The number four is represented here frequently – in the card number itself, the shape of the Emperors legs, the cross upon the orb, the dominant points in the circles to the left and right – 4 being the number of stability, structure, buildings (four walls). He is a stable character, dependable and committed. Able to make decisions and follow them through.

 

The lamb at his feet a symbol of innocence, youth and softness, all this authority needing to be tempered by a reminder of the vulnerability of people, and ourselves. As he protects and cares he becomes a stronger leader, and balances his determined warrior energy. 

2 Cups

2 Cups Love

I thought this month I would explore one of the more positive cards in the Thoth deck – here we have the 2 cups – entitled Love. A card people want to see in regards to relationship matters as it is a card of balanced and even love. A relationship that can last that has both partners as equals supporting each other but standing on their own two feet too.

2 cups

As we look at the image we see two fish entwined and feeding energy in the form of light into the lotus of spiritual love they are standing on – this shows them as separate yet also each has an equal footing in the relationship that is balanced. The fish symbolises love and Crowley talks about them being dolphins though clearly they do not resemble dolphins in their depiction on the card. Dolphins are creatures of love, often associated with spiritual love and giving, fish in general are connected with water and thus the emotions. Here they are in balance and feed into the central stricture as a well as acting as a bouncing point for spiritual love from higher sources to bounce from and on out to the wider world.

In the way you often see when you are in love the whole world around you seems a better place and it is easier to love all people as you are feeling filled with love yourself.

Being a ‘2’ card it is a card that has just differentiated from the unity of spirit into two things so the driving force is to return to that union, so in relationship we seek to unite with our lover and become one again, yet there is also the tension of being in the physical world and complete union through all time is difficult or impossible to achieve physically though our souls may experience the union fairly fully.

You can see how the spiritual love from the two feeds the two at the foreground of the image and these two are cups overflowing – there is an abundance of love and it is never-ending in this card. There is a hint though given the four receptacles – two lotus’ and two cups that once stability (4 is stability) is achieved then there will need to be a shift and movement to allow development or else stagnation will settle in (reference to the 4 cups that is coming)

The background is yellow calm sea becoming green in the foreground indicating a sense of positive self-regard and self-esteem (the yellow) is the source of the love (green) and this relationship is founded in the self-love that each person has of themselves – we can not fully love another until we love ourselves. In some cases it may well be that each person has indeed fallen in love with a reflection of themselves in the other person – something they may not yet have seen in themselves.

Snuffin talks about the symbolism of the dolphins being additionally connected to the sun and the moon – with each fish a different eye colour – the one on the left has a yellow eye representing the sun and the one on the right a silver eye representing the moon. In addition there is a tenuous link with the Emperor and Empress with the 5 and 4 fins on the inner side of each dolphin, and these cards being the 5th and 4th trumps (fool = 0) personally I do feel this is tenuous – though in an intuitive sense makes for a good connection between the two poles of energy each of us has – the masculine and feminine. As we integrate these so we are better able to be whole in our relationships with others and make for better, more harmonious and loving interactions. So in this sense it is a useful trigger point in a reading.

With the astrology being Venus in Cancer and this is harmonious in itself we have additional links with beauty, the home and a feeling of emotional stability, love and protection.

9 Swords – Cruelty

This months randomly drawn card is 9 swords. This is one of the harsher cards to see in a reading – at least at first look – with its damaged swords dripping with blood – it is like we have done battle, yet arranged in an orderly fashion it seems the battle has become a habit or pattern. The blood droplets are also mirrored by opalescent droplets higher up and we get the sense of healing energy coming from higher realms to transform and heal wounds.

44-Minor-Swords-09

This card is talking about inner pain – in its unaddressed form this inner pain will likely manifest externally for us in the form of someone being verbally (usually) cruel to us, and our experiencing anger and rage over being mistreated in the present day.

Astrologically we see Mars in Gemini which can show this rage or passion of mars expressed through thoughts and words of Gemini (and very much swords related), sharp harsh words are had, there may be a feeling of needing revenge and a sense of power over someone. The heart of the matter can be ignored. Eventually though this type of feeling and experience leads us to seek more and to have the courage to go within and explore the inner pain and torture we put ourselves through because of our historical experiences. Healing can then begin as described below. In a reading it may be suggested this cruelty is being experienced externally in some situation – however focusing on the internal side leads to a more final resolution of the problem, and a deeper healing in the client.

So in interpretation this card is very much about the cruelty we inflict upon ourselves, repeatedly telling ourselves we are wrong, worthless, useless, and not good enough. The battle was once fought out in the external world, often with one of our primary caregivers, and we were never able to stand up for ourselves enough. We may have decided it was safer to agree with the caregiver and see ourselves as indeed not good enough, and so start to internalise the cruelty, which was often emotional of nature, deep in ourselves.

That time may be long over – now however we repeat the pattern of behaviour to ourselves cruelly criticising who we are – our loves, our feelings, our ways of being, in order to feel safe. As adults though we can not make another choice. This card brings the issue to our attention to understand our own ways of being cruel to ourselves. ONce in our consciousness the next step is to begin to change what we say to ourselves. We can use affirmation for this, but often the pattern is so deeply ingrained in order to really allow a new affirmation in we first have to experience the pain of the original wound and emotionally understand we were being treated harshly. ONce we have emotionally felt our own decision to keep ourselves safe in our history it becomes much easier to then change the way we treat ourselves now.

Visualising a child part of ourselves can help this process along. Then getting to know, love and listen to this part of ourselves with compassion is a good deal of the way to healing our negative voice. It may be we need to separate out the part of ourselves doing the criticism too, and allow a more open dialogue between the two sides so a renewed trust can be built between the two. We have internalised the perpetrator and though we can not change anyone outside ourselves we can heal and change the internal form, set boundaries for its expression and gain a deep understanding of the underlying motives for the cruelty – which invariably we for protection from some imagined (or even real) threat of some sort in the eyes of the perpetrator.

This card brings this powerful healing to our attention – the possibility for it and the timing cue “Now the time is right to address this”. It is often useful in readings to pick an extra card as response to the question: “What will my life look like when I address this issue (or stop treating myself cruelly)?” The card that comes as response to this helps us hold a positive image and outcome rather than pictorially reinforcing our cruelty by holding the 9 swords in our minds. Of course if this second card is also challenging then we repeat this approach with that card, a series of challenging cards suggesting the process of healing is going to take some time and that there are more complex aspects to the underlying pain that need to be addressed to come to full healing.

I welcome any comments you may have on these ideas here.

8 Disks

Keyword: Prudence

This card shows us how the energy of the 7 disks is recovered from. What was fearful and difficult now becomes approachable. There is a change of heart – whilst still some caution applies from the left over experience of the 7 disks. There is renewed confidence and ability to speak out – the yellow-orange of the background shows a background of confidence and solid self-assurance. The tree on the card shows good strong roots going deep into the earth. Though the new flowers are protected there is a really strong base of fertility that they are springing from.

29-Minor-Discs-08

So this card talks about renewed confidence, and also the ability to take things step by step – moving forward yet not rushing anything. The foundation of the situation is strong and rooted in fertile soil. So in matters of business a project has good solid foundation for success and is reliable, a relationship is on good footings. However it is not the time to take risks nor to reveal all your plans and hopes.

The card is an 8 so on the Kabbalah this is Hod – the position of mercury and of splendour – there is a dedication to the truth and to integrity in all things. So we see in this card despite a withholding there is also high integrity and what is held back is not done so out of manipulative methods – but more of self-protection and of the need to nurture further before allowing a new idea into the world to be assessed and judged in any way.

This card is one of gaining strength, protection yourself and honouring your own need to have things feeling right before a risk or commitment is taken.

Astrologically it is Sun in Virgo and so is about perfection and striving for the best in all things. It is also about service to something higher.

There is a link with geomacy with this card as there was in last months tip – the flowers are arranged as the geomantic figure populus. Populus is about people and community and how others around us show us ourselves. In this card I feel the link is connected to the service aspect of virgo and though we may not reveal our full selves to those around us at the moment – we have the strength and self-confidence to be able to put ourselves forward into the community to be of service to others. Perhaps giving a hand in a community project, helping someone or something get off the ground by simple yet effective offers of practical help.

8 Cups Indolence

8 cups – Indolence

This months Thoth Tip focuses on 8 Cups, keyword – Indolence – I picked this card from the deck with the intention that it would be the card that would be of most use to those reading this months tips – either because of something they found confusing about reading the card or that something in the message of this card would be pertinent to them now. So this card is for you.

57-Minor-Cups-08

This card, with its dark background and empty cups, shows a picture of stagnation, where there is very little left to give. In psychological terms it is a card that often appears when we are complete exhausted and burnt out. It might br through over work and trying too hard, or it might be a relationship is taking all our energy and we are keeping none for ourself. Either way the root of this situation is usually that we haven’t valued ourselves enough to say no to what is taking our energy. We in some way fear that if we say no it either makes us a failure, or a bad person, or we won’t be loved. Actually we fear being loved, accepting love from others and being supported. It might be we feel if we were we would ‘owe’ too much back, we wouldn’t be able to repay a kindness etc. Or it may be that we are used to being treated badly and to be treated well would challenge our early beliefs about the world and about ourselves. This can be a frightening prospect. However the appearance of this card in a spread very often means it is exactly the right time to be facing these issues and in many cases it begins with saying “No”. No to extra work, no to a friend, family or partner who wants more from us, and a “Yes” to ourselves. It may just be we need a break to recover, it may be we need to make some lasting changes, but it all will start to improve as we say no.

As this is the underlying feel for this card it can also manifest in the physical world as an illness, colds and flu serve to force rest on us we need, and help us say no and take the space from those who have been making demands on us. We can prevent this happening if we take action to say no ourselves, or sometimes we can allow this to happen and be compassionate to ourselves and realise our body has given us what we really needed to further our growth.

The keyword “indolence” is defined in the dictionary as : habitually idle or lazy, indisposed to exertion or labour. So how does this rather harsh word fit in here? When we are exhausted we are actually too tired to work much further and further exertion can see our work with error and slips that can appear as being ‘lazy’ with the quality of our work. But I feel a stronger feel for this word is in the situation where we have actually known we are giving too much, we are over doing it, we are just not looking after ourselves, but despite the warning signs we have chosen to ignore them. In a sense the hard ‘work’ here is to face the truth and to set the limits we need to set for ourselves. Sometimes being lazy in our lives is actually working very hard and against our own best interests as the energy and will to create conflict with our bosses and loved ones feels too much to do. So in this sense we can be seen as indolent. Lazy in not setting our boundaries with others, hoping someone else will notice our hard work and tell us to take time off, and do the work of being responsible for us.

Still quite a hard-hitting message, however if we realise it is not in our working too little that we are lazy, but in our attention to what is best for us, our whole being, that we are lazy. We can address the situation and turn it around. Take some time off rest and recuperate and plan for a lifestyle change if one is necessary.

I welcome your thoughts and comments below.

Lust (strength)

This months Thoth Tip focuses on Lust – this card is number 11 and in other decks often called strength.

Lust

Crowley emphasised the driven obsession side of the card – where we have to exert personal strength to keep ourselves in balance when faced with our primal desires. This can take the meaning of lust to a wider sphere too where we can have lust for life and passion for many things in our lives but if we act on our ‘lust’ to the exclusion of all else our lives can become imbalanced. All training in our favourite sport and no rest, as much as watching our favourite TV show 24/7 with no activity, any extreme turns out to be bad for us, however with awareness we can live out our passions whilst also keeping in check when they become self-destructive and against our highest good.

Crowley writes in the Book of Thoth

“Lust implies not only strength, but the joy of strength exercised.”

So taking the meaning further to include the enjoyment of our own self-imposed boundaries, the finding the balance and having the strength to say no to our desires every whim brings a joy in itself – a knowledge we are in control of our lives and that we are not at the mercy of our feelings and desires, but can harness them to good use. The image shows this well with the woman having a strong hold of the reigns whilst also surrendering to passion and fire in herself. We have the picture of containment of our desires without repression.

The ground upon which the beast walks contains images of saints and traditional images of prayer where the ethos is to offer up to another our power. To ask another to judge us as good or bad, the other being representative of a higher being who ultimately judges us – this is what paved the way for the new age – age of Horus. In the new age we are responsible for our own actions and judgements we need not give our power to another but seek our own personal connection to the divine, and honour all parts of ourselves even the traditionally darker parts. As we come to love ourselves fully so we gain the strength to contain them without denial.

When lust shows in a reading it can represent the simple idea of being ‘in lust’ with someone but more often it is showing us our passions and our raw feelings are available to us and need not be avoided – we have the strength to see them, explore them and also be in charge of them – though part of us will be intoxicated by them as the woman on the card is, we can also have a grip on ourselves and form boundaries of expression that are for our highest good. We are in charge. We can have great joy and fun and know when we need to stop.