First, I’d like to announce that I added three more prizes. There were more entries that I thought deserved a prize than there were prizes, and since I like to give prizes, I just decided to add more. I added another tier of three more awards, each to get their choice of any Tabula Mundi tarot Major Arcana as an 8×5 print.
I’ll post first the entries that one a Major Arcana tarot print, then the entries that got an Ace print, and last, the Grand prize winning entry.
Here are the entries that get their choice of a Major Arcana tarot print, in no particular order:
The above entry was from MH, of Redondo Beach, California, USA.
Also getting a Major Arcana tarot print, the following two written entries:
Good evening M. M. Meleen,
Thank you for creating the Kether is in Malkuth contest…I am excited to see if I hit on anything.
Firstly, the presence of “Abrahadabra” appears to be breathing life into the spherical design in the center of the image. Crowley used the term, Abrahadabra, to represent “The Great Work accomplished.” This suggests the breath of Kether is renewing Malkuth (the spherical design surrounded by four shooting stars — perhaps representing the four cherubim) — promising the coming of a new Aeon.
Within the sphere are two sets of the four tools of ritual Magick (i.e., wands, cups, swords, and pentacles), which may allude to the duality present in the manifest world of Malkuth; while the craftily constructed octagon (which contains the two sets of suit symbols) acknowledges the “bendability” of the earthly realm by Qabalistic path-working and ritual Magick.
The octagon symbolizes the eight sephira, Hod, the intellectual consciousness, acting upon Malkuth (i.e., the path of Shin, which is associated with Crowley’s Aeon card).
Thank you again!
~The above entry was from JL, provenance unknown. (JL, if you are reading this, please note that I do not have you as a purchaser of Tabula Mundi under your email or your name. Since the contest rules state it is only open to those who ordered, please let me know the name you ordered under, or place an order to receive your prize)
Another winner of a print, from IL of Amherst NY, USA:
Hi Melissa,
I’ve received my deluxe edition decks today and everything is exquisite! I can’t imagine how many hours of hard work has gone into developing this project. Tabula Mundi is no doubt a welcomed addition to any tarot collection.
Thank you for holding this contest, going through the clues to work out a solution was a lot of fun.
Here’s my view:
Malkuth, the Kingdom and the earth element, is usually depicted as a circled cross with four-fold divisions. In the back design, the Malkuth symbol has been reworked and combined with artistic modifications. The circle in the card center – a perfect geometric shape – resembles the ideal, which is a symbol of the infinite and the divine. The rectangular card outline, however, is finite and measurable, because the four corners defines the components of the material world, such as the four elements, the four seasons, the four cardinal virtues and many more. By incorporating the circle with the four-fold divisions/corners, Malkuth appears as a metaphor – the divine’s manifestation in the material world. Therefore, Malkuth is embedded in the entire back design.
Please do post the winning entries when the contest is over, can’t wait to read what others think about the back design.
~The above entry was from IL, of Amherst, NY USA
All three entries above get any Major Arcana print of choice, congratulations and thank you!
Next up, the Aces:
For his swiftness, and passionate multiple entries, the Ace of Wands, Root of the Powers of Fire, goes to CJ, of Bremerton, WA, USA. Here are all of his entries below:
Entry 1: My first guess is that the Sphinx located at the bottom of the card, standing on the ground (Earth element) with one hand reaching for the star. My reasoning for this is that in “777” by Crowley, Column XXXVIII (Animals, Real and Imaginary), he refers to the Sphinx as the animal pertaining to Malkuth. Looking at the card, I’m not sure if Malkuth is shown at he corners of each card in The Tree of Life. I will enter again with that answer.
Entry 4: New entry (or just an observation ). I have numbered the Tree of Life on the card back. To me this makes sense because Tiphareth is in the middle, with the Sun symbol (or Eye of Ra) in the very middle, which with the 4 cups make the Rosy Cross. Tiphareth is also where the Holy Guardian Angel resides. Malkuth would be “Abrahadabra “, or the Great Work fulfilled.
I received my package today. Wonderful! Thank you for your hard work. The cards are beautiful.
Entry 5: I’ll give it another shot. At the feet of the Sphinx (maybe?) there is a symbol. I see an inverted Virgo symbol, which is also a symbol for Earth. Joining this symbol at the top is an “M”, which could also be construed as the Omega symbol. Perhaps this could be symbolic for the beginning of our journey in Malkuth (Earth), culminating in the “end” of our journey, Omega, or the finish. Or as they say, “On Earth as it is in Heaven”.
All of the entries above came from CJ. CJ, your persistence paid off, with the Ace of Wands!
The Ace of Cups, Root of the Powers of Water, goes to CM, of Ely, MN, USA, for coming next in line with a correct entry and for both the clarity of her entry, and for being the only one to mention sharing on social media. The Powers of Water seems appropriate for the sharing aspect, to me.
Hello! I am excited to get my deck.
I see Malkuth in the 4 corners of the back of the card, at the base of
the trees.Just wanted to let you know I did share on social media. Thank You.
Thank you for sharing, CM! I greatly appreciate when anyone helps me get the word out. I can’t do it alone, and I want these decks to find good homes!
The Ace of Swords goes to BM, of Las Vegas, NV. Here is his entry, and you can see the clarity of mind with which he thoughtfully considered the clues; the Root of the Powers of Air is his reward:
Now about the contest. First I thought that the back itself is Malkuth, being the result of your genius-Kether brought into manifestation. In this context the whole deck in its material form which could be used and played by anyone is Malkuth, including its back. It certainly carries your Kether (and all the others) and will inspire and serve as a catalyst to many other’s creative projects.
Speaking of the design of the back, I first thought Malkuth to be in the center of the suits circle. There is a small white point in the middle of the Sun glyph – that’s what I thought to be Malkuth as a small point in the Solar System (Tiphereth), highly depending on the Sun. But then I saw the elements of the Tree in the corners and decides to cut it (the printed photo) into 4 pieces, like I told you (don’t know if that’s what the Oscar Wilde hint suggested to do). What I got was actually the Malkuth symbol (an equal cross also seen on your signature card as a silver glyph) with 2 trees meeting in the Malkuth point in a form of an eye and 4 sphinxes. The sphinx being combined of 4 Cherub elements reminded me of the Universe card (representing also the Earth). The 4 Cherubs, the 4 elements, the 4 parts of the cross (also seen on the GD Pentacle, the Earth’s weapon) – these are the characteristics of Malkuth, which is now seen in the center. The sphinxes’ gesture however made me think of an «So above, so below» – and maybe best idea is not to cut the back, but to bend it just so that the corners meet – we’ll see the 3D structure of the Tree, with Kether above (the small white point) descending into Malkuth below along with the divine presence of Abrahadabra.
I am not sure about the eye symbol. I just know you love it so much – there are so many eyes in Rosetta and in Tabula Mundi. I don’t know whether this is Shiva’s eye destroying the Universe or the human’s eye perceiving the light of the Sun. I know that in the Malkuth context the eye is what sees the result of the divine manifestation into a form. This eye is actually Malkuth (where 2 trees meet) and might also refer to one of Malkuth’s titles as “The Gate of Tears”. It can also be thought of as a window through which a man perceives the World. The window can be thought of as a second H of IHVH also bringing us to the Malkuth idea. The eye finally reminds me much of a rotated womb of Binah, another Saturn correspondence on the Tree, and the “celestial shekhina” (Malkuth being the “worldly shekhina”).
I don’t know if it all sounded clear, cause I needed to put my thoughts into foreign phrases, but I just hope I wasn’t completely opposite to what you’ve put into the back design ))
Whishing you very happy Crowleymas.
Happy Crowleymas, SK!
And the Grand Prize of all four Aces goes to KA, of Muang, Thailand! Here is his victorious entry:
Dear MMM,
First of all, I would like to say that I actually do not know whether this is the right answer or not. At least it is (they are) what I see (feel/contemplate) when I look through the Tabula Mudi’s card back in association with the “Where is Malkuth?” question.
To me, Malkuth (or Kether in Malkuth) is consciously and subconsciously illustrated throughout the card back area. Here is the list of what I feel/see/contemplate (10 inter-related answers). Hope that it is not too weird (especially with my non-English-speaking answers).
- “As above, so below” Obviously, the Reversible card back is an illustration of the “Kether is in Malkuth” (or “Where is Malkuth?”), where Malkuth is a reflection of Kether and vice versa.
- “Kingdom” Since Malkuth is associated with the realm of matters/physical world, I can see a creation of the Great Kingdom of our time that is of importance to all of us. That is the origin of our Universe; Big Bang, where all those matters (i.e. suit symbols) are dispersed out. Such four elements correspond to four states of matter; earth, water, air and fire.
In addition, it can also be seen in a bit smaller scale; i.e. our Solar system, where all suit symbols line up as the Sun in the card back’s centre and all planets circulate around the Sun.
- Thoth’s Ace of Disks; to me, the illustration on the card back is resemble to the Thoth’s Ace of Disks (Earth; physical plane); Circle in the centre & Disk in the centre, Sphinxes’ wings corresponding to the four pairs of wings, four empty paths and four directions of wings, Octagram star and Septagram star in the centre, etc. Disks represent the physical plane; i.e. Malkuth.
- Card back’s Four Corners: (Half-) Trees of Life are illustrated on all 4 corners of the card back, each of which has one-fourth of the Malkuth’s Sephirah locating at the very corner. As such, these quarters looks like a framework structuring the whole great picture (the Universe/Realm of Matter). Moreover, no single colour is associated with the Malkuth; normally, citrine, olive, russet and black are used for the Queen scale. These four quarters (or four colours) can be combined to one full Malkuth.
(In this case, it also reminds me of the Lenormand’s Grand Tableau. Those four corners of the Grand Tableau can be used to bring context to all the answer.)
- Portal:
In Tabula Mundi, the Fool is walking down to the Whirlpool/Portal, while the Maiden in the Universe is sprung out from it. This process can be seen in reverse; where the Maiden in the Universe card is pulled into the whirlpool of matters. Consistently, the circle centred on the card back is the whirlpool/portal, where all matters/four elements spread disperse out or are drawn back to the origin. In other words, everything goes to Malkuth and comes out from Malkuth (as well as Kether)
- Sphinxes:
Moreover, to enter or exit from that Malkuth, paths/directions are illustrated on 4 sides of the card. Sphinxes can be seen as guardians of such gateway/portal between the realm of matter (Malkuth) and the realm of spirits/heaven/other side (Kether). As such, it is not an easy task to walk the path and cross-over to the other realm. Knowledge/process is therefore necessary.
- “Crown” Kether means “the Crown”, of which the top-view is similar to an 8-pointed star. This star (/crown) is in the circle and the circle is in the rectangular (i.e. four-corner) card. If Kether is in Malkuth, it means Malkuth is there; all over the card. Such 8-pointed star also reminds me of the Buddhism’s Noble Eightfold Path, dealing with harmony, balance, mindfulness, etc. In Buddhism, if one rightfully and mindfully follows the noble eightfold path, the cycle of birth and death will end. As long as we still cling to this matter world, we will repeatedly and endlessly walk down and come out of such Malkuth.
- “Roots”
Malkuth can also be seen in the centre circle. If I look the card from top view, I can see the Crown (8-pointed Star as Kether) is “Above”, I can see a very bottom of the tree (of life), Roots, inside the circle. Such root-look-alike structure inside the circle is “Below” and is therefore Malkuth.
- Hexagram (8-pointed star + Abracadabra pyramid):
This combined illustration can be seen either as a separable 0-and-1 or as a single inseparable entity (0-Kether & 1-Malkuth). The “As above, so below” concept is again shown here.
Starting from the phrase “Bring Ace (Kether) to Malkuth”, as we know the “Ace” starts with an alphabet “A”, this A is gradually growing/extending into the Abrahadabra in the pyramid shape (which can also be seen in the Universe card above the Maiden) when it moves towards the centre of the cards. The Abrahadabra expanding process looks like the movement/insertion of 1 into 0 (As Crowley said that, “the establishment of the phallus of the Macrocosm in the void of Microcosm”); e.g. Big Bang.
10. “Ineffable”: Last but not least, this word could generally refer to “Kether” (and since it is in Malkuth). I would like to say that your “Artwork” is ineffable!!! That is why I initially say that Malkuth lies in everywhere on the Tabula Mundi’s card back (Actually, it includes illustrations, the deck itself, production, wooden box, etc.) . The whole package can be described with this phrase “Ars est Celare Artem”
Thank you very much for creating this deck and setting up this contest. I am now looking forward to the receiving the package soon (and the real answer of this contest as well).
Congratulations KA, for a great entry that I very much enjoyed reading.
As you all can see, there were a lot of correct ways to answer the question “Where is Malkuth” in relation to the card backs. I very much enjoyed reading the entries and learned so much from all of you, so thank you to everyone who entered. I will contact the winners via email over the next few days, so they can choose the form of their prize, and mail out the prizes before the month ends.
Happy Crowleymas everyone! Before mailing the prizes, I’ll post pictures of the Aces here for all to see.
MMM