The tarot card for the second decan of Gemini is known as the Lord of Cruelty, or by the full title of Lord of Despair and Cruelty which is often more fitting. Crowley’s 777 gives the decan image description as “An eagle headed man, with a bow and arrow. Wears crowned steel helmet.”
The god form listed in the fragment 36 Airs of the Zodiac is the goddess Cybele, who is often shown accompanied by lions. Some of the mythology about her says that she was originally a hermaphrodite, both male and female in one body, but the other gods were jealous of the power this gave her and so they split her into two parts by striking off her male half, which died and was reborn as the god Attis, who as her twin flame of course eventually became her consort. Yet more cruelty and despair fills the tale as it is told that Attis castrated himself at his despair over having to marry another – or that Cybele does so herself at his apparent betrayal.
So for this image, I have them as twinned beings – one the eagle-headed man hunting with a bow described in 777 (and Picatrix), and the other as a lion-headed woman stabbing herself with a sword – both the suit of the card and the letter Zayin associated with Gemini. They stand back to back on a raised peak yet still cannot see their way out of the dark forest – a forest of pines referring to Attis, who in Ovid’s Metamorphoses transformed himself into a pine tree, and who represents the death of things in winter reborn in spring.
The decan ruler is bloodthirsty Mars. Here in Gemini these are the twin faces of Cruelty and Despair, the tarot Nine of Swords. They can be directed outward (Cruelty) or directed inward as self-cruelty, which often stems from Despair.
[coming soon]
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
I suppose I should say what this is for newcomers to the site. These posts are a series of line art drawings of the minors, the 36 astrological decans, of my new tarot, name not yet revealed, based on decan descriptions from 777.
Well, this is an interesting one! The Eight of Swords, Lord of Interference. Crowley’s 777, roughly based on the Picatrix description, gives us a great image to work with: A beautiful woman with her two horses.
Some inspiration was also drawn from Ibn Ezra, who says that the beautiful woman is “standing in the air“.
So here she is, standing beautifully poised upon her two steeds, seemingly almost floating.
36 Airs of the Zodiac has the deity as Tethys/Tethus. Now at first glance I thought that was different. Tethys is a Titan goddess, (usually as daughter of Gaia and Ouranos) associated with Water, but this as a Swords suit card is an Air card. There isn’t a lot of information out there about Tethys; most just consider her the consort of Oceanus/Okeanos the primordial sea. As Titans, some think they are so far off from mankind’s ken that they in turn also don’t pay much attention to us, so many magicians don’t work with them. But I actually once did a working focused on Tethys. (Out of desperation!) What I learned about her is that she isn’t only just associated with the Sea as the Ocean(s). I think of that as her husband’s domain. Tethys draws from the source, the great world sea, to fill the rivers, for she rules over fresh water. Fresh water is part of a whole cycle which in a simplified way is how water is drawn up from the oceans into the air and then comes down as fresh rain that rivers return to the oceans.
There are not many portrayals of her – but the few that still exist show her as having wings sprouting from her forehead. Which seems very Mercurial (Gemini), does it not?
She was the mother of not only the Oceanids, ocean nymphs, but also the Potamoi, gods of the innumerable rivers of the world.
Which leads to the point – or rather, the rivers lead somewhere. The river system shown in the background of the card shows how rivers split, and split, and split again into infinite streams of water or infinite decision points or choices. Follow one, and at certain points as it branches off, a choice is made and other choices eliminated. First as twins – one must be eliminated – and then so many more choices to follow. The woman has a myriad of choices to make, and is seemingly blindfolded (though free to remove it) while poised upon two horses, either of which could mean a different way, or a different twin to die. And the river branches on, again and again, a Fibonacci sequence of choices, A Jupiterian (aka Jovian) multitude! For while Mercury rules Gemini and Eights, Jupiter rules the decan – probably why she has horses!
Each sword is a different type. Eight choices (8 is part of the Fibonacci sequence) – but really an infinite number of river branches to follow.
This one was really fun to do. The woman trick riding in this way popped right into mind, and I’m grateful I know Tethys the unknowable at least the tiniest bit. I spend a lot of time around rivers.
Next up, some even more challenging Gemini decan cards. I’ll be glad to get to the Cancer decans!
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
Taurus III: third and last decan of Taurus, Seven of Disks, is the Lord of Failure – otherwise known as Success Unfulfilled. I like to think of it though as in, unfulfilled as of yet. Because there is always, or should be, a Plan B.
The image described in Crowley’s 777 is a challenging one: “A swarthy man with white lashes, his body elephantine with long legs; with him, a horse, a stag, and a calf.”
The image is done, and yes it was done during the decan period – there was no failure! I think it may be my favorite decan card yet, which is funny because actually getting this card usually feels like some form of bummer! Just finally getting around to posting about it.
So doing a black and white drawing and having “white lashes” show up is one thing. Ok, I think I managed but it will show better in the color version, making it obvious that this older gentleman has white lashes and brows. Next is that he has to have an “elephantine” body, with long legs. The word “elephantine” is interesting, as while of course it means “like an elephant” I figured it probably had an additional archaic meaning. And when I looked into it, it does, for it also means very large in size, and also “ponderously clumsy”. I suppose one might be clumsy if one was both enormous and long-legged as well as old enough to have white lashes. I suppose another meaning of “white lashes” could also be scars – it would fit, though is more Martial. But I chose the other meaning as I saw him as an old farmer (Saturn) working the Earth (Venus, for both Taurus and Sevens).
All this reeks of Saturn, and yes indeed Saturn is the decan ruler. One inspiration for this card was the painting “Man with a Hoe“. That guy looks long-legged, swarthy, and clumsy! But the guy in this card is instead sharpening his scythe, for he has to have a Plan B.
He also is long-legged and swarthy with white lashes, large and clumsy, and elephantine, with those large old man ears and nose, wrinkles, and that scythe blade suggests an elephant’s trunk!
Crowley’s 777 also says that with him is a horse, a stag, and a calf. Those are his Plan B. His crops have failed; does he harvest and replant? Is there still time (Saturn)? The horse in the disk representing his thought-bubble is pulling a plow, perhaps he can plant again. If that fails though, he might have to hunt this winter (the stag) and/or kill off his cattle to eat in the spring (his calf).
The fragmentary text 36 Airs of the Zodiac lists the deity for the card as “Litae“. Litae is Greek for “prayers”, and these goddesses surround the person who prays, trying to prevent the calamity or failure. These wizened daughters of Zeus follow after his other daughter Atë (Folly) goddess of ruin who brings death or downfall. The seven Litae goddesses shown praying here among the disks are not just old and lame, but skeletal, fitting the Saturnian theme. They alternately could stand in for the Pleiades and Hyades – each a group of seven sisters associated with the decan.
inked line art of 7 of disks
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
The Six of Disks or Pentacles, Lord of (Material) Success, is the middle decan of Taurus, Taurus II. While Taurus itself is Venus ruled, the decan is ruled by the Moon, which is exalted in the sign. To make things even better, it is placed in Tiphareth, the sephira of the Sun. Moon and Sun, conjoined by the loving yoking of Venus, in fertile Taurus yields success.
The Hellenistic fragmentary text 36 Airs of the Zodiac attributes the Horae to this decan. The Horae were goddesses of proper timing – thus their name referring to “hours”. There were actually a few different triads of Horae. There were three seasonal goddesses known as Horae, associated with Aphrodite (Venus): Thalo of Spring, Auxo of Summer, and Carpo of Autumn. Thalo brought the spring blossom, Auxo the full plant growth, and Carpo the harvest. In the card image below, the three lower disks represent this triad, with a rose bud of spring, a full blown rose, and ripened rose hips as the fruit of the rose, the flower of Venus.
The upper three disks represent the other most common triad of Horae. Eirene (Peace), has iconography of the overflowing cornucopia, the celebratory rhyton of ale, and the scepter. Her iconography also seems very Taurean and Venusisan! Dike (Justice) is shown as the disk with the balancing scales of Justice, which is both a symbol of Venus’ other sign Libra, but also is featured in the Rider Waite Six of Pentacles card, as the scales that measure out the proper amount of alms as the figure altruistically shares the bounty with those less fortunate. The third upper disk shows an open book for Eunomia, Order – a goddess whose name refers to “good laws” – and also makes a pun on “fields” for the agricultural motif. The open book also is a symbol of the Priestess, for the Moon as ruler of the decan. The disks all have a hexagonal (six-sided) insert, for the sixth sephira of the Sun.
These two triads make for six goddesses, shown as dancing maidens on the hillside. I admit that these dancing maidens were totally inspired by a famous Pre-Raphaelite painting (now in the public domain). They were too perfect to pass up, as they appear to be dancing in a ring, and the central flower-wreathed and beribboned pole – very phallic-yonic – is none other than the Maypole. This pole shows the result at the end of their dance, when the ribbons have been successfully wound to the end in a ritual fertility rite performed by young maidens at Beltane, which falls in this decan.
There were also Horae associated with goddesses of the four seasons, who were said to be children of Helios (the Sun) and Selene (The Moon) – the two drivers of agricultural timing for the Earth. We see this fortunate pairing above, with Selene as the crescent and curving female form conjunct the solar-rayed face of Helios.
But what about the decan imagery? Glad you asked!
The major image to hit correctly comes from 777: A man of like figure (to the ascendant decan, aka the female figure from the 5 of Disks) with cloven hoofs like an ox.
So, torn clothing like the Five’s figure, cloven hoofs; check. He is carrying a cauldron of spring flowers and a key, as the image also pulled (cherry-picked!) from other decan sources:
Liber Hermetis: Its image is a man, erect (note to self: do they mean erect or “erect” – guess the pole is a stand in here), having tightly curled hair on both sides of the head. On his chin there is a growing of fine hairs and on his face there is a beard hanging down on his neck from both parts of his chin.
Picatrix: A man like figure of a camel and having on his fingers are hooves like those of cows, and he is completely covered by a torn linen sheet. He desires to work the land, to sow, and to make things…
Agrippa: In the second face there ascendeth a naked man, holding in his hand a key; it giveth power, nobility and dominion over people.
Vedic:…a man with a discriminative intellect with good knowledge of lands, grains, houses, cows, arts, ploughing and carts, hungry, sheep faced, dirty clothes and shoulders like the hump of an ox…
Lastly, the Egyptian god form is Helitomenos, or sanctuary of Helios.
The Five of Disks, first decan of Taurus, is known as the Lord of Material Trouble, or Worry. The sign is Venus-ruled Taurus, the decan ruler is Mercury, and the ruler of the Fives is Mars. In the Thoth deck, five leaden gears grind against each other. In the RWS, two barefoot vagrants in raggedy clothes trudge through a snowstorm past a church window. In my Rosetta deck, five gauges show a mercurial machine on the brink of implosion. In my other deck Tabula Mundi Tarot, the turntable set up of the Magus (Mercury) is locked up by the Hierophant’s (Taurus) lock and key. The electronics are smoking, with five broken records on rotation. Here is another take, a new image for the Five of Pentacles or Disks.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this decan is when we begin to till our gardens and plan and seed our first plantings. (As a matter of fact, we did this in our household this week!) We see this agricultural theme in the decan descriptions as many of them mention planting and plowing. We wonder: will our seeds bear fruit? We worry: will the weather be conducive or destructive for our harvest? Will there be enough to eat? In my image the five disks bear the symbols of the five elemental Tattvas. In each is a particular potential calamity: the triangle of Fire shows the hot sun and drought baking the earth, the circle of Air shows a cold and harsh wind blowing, the crescent of Water shows a flooded field, the square of Earth shows a devouring locust, while the central egg of Spirit shows a cracked seed. The energy of the Five (Mars/Geburah) cracks open the land and the seed, but will this cracking mean it has successfully sprouted and will grow, or will it perish?
The decan is ruled by Mercury (in Western astrology; Vedic assigns Venus). Mercury is a mathematician. The disks surround a geometric measuring device, that divides according to the Golden Ratio.
36 Airs of the Zodiac gives the deity of the decan as Charis (“Charity”), representing the youngest of the Charities or Three Graces of mythology who was also named Aglaea, an attendant of Aphrodite (Venus, ruler of Taurus). After Aphrodite’s husband, the smith-god Hephaestus, left her for her infidelity with Ares, it is said he married Aglaea. Perhaps this is why her clothes are described as burnt – it gets hot hanging out with a blacksmith!
The image is first based on Crowley’s decan description in 777, but also incorporates ideas from other decan description texts.
777: A woman with long and beautiful hair, clad in flame-coloured robes.
Ibn Ezra: A woman with hair, who has a son, and who wears clothes partly burnt.
Picatrix: A woman of curly hair, having a single child who is dressed in clothes like unto fire, and she herself dressed in similar clothes. And this is a face of plowing and working the earth, of sciences, geometry, of sowing seed, and making things.
Agrippa: In the first face of Taurus ascendeth a naked man, an Archer, Harvester, or Husbandsman, and goeth forth to sow, plough, build, people, and divide the earth, according to the rules of Geometry.
Bruno: In the first face of Taurus is someone naked, ploughing, wearing a hat of woven straw, of dark complexion, followed by a rustic or a woman sowing seed.
Vedic: The first face of Taurus represents a woman with torn ringlets, pot bellied, with fiery clothes, hungry and thirsty, with a penchant for gold and food. This is a female decanate and fiery.
Here is the line art for the design. These images I’m posting now only show the basic structure of the design; the final art will have more details and shading added, and then will be painted in color. (Ignore the guidelines on the sides of the image – these won’t be in the picture and are only for me so that I can leave plenty of room for potential cropping of the finished image.)
Five of Disks inked line art
The Five of Disks or Pentacles, Taurus decan I, the Lord of Worry (Material Trouble).
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
We are in the last decan of Aries with the 4 or Four of Wands, Lord of Completion. First is the main decan description from Crowley’s 777 that I’m using as the main guideline for these images, plus some alternate decan texts that may have influenced the image in some way. The deity from 36 Airs of the Zodiac for this one is Eros, the child of Aphrodite (Venus) with her lover Ares (Mars), appropriate as Mars rules the sign of the card (Aries) and Venus rules this particular decan. So the beings depicted in the card are appropriately both Martial and Venusian.
Crowley’s 777: Cadent decan of Aries. A restless man in scarlet robes, with golden bracelets on his hands and arms.
Liber Hermetis: It is like a woman erect, adorned with linen tied with gold strings tinted a dark rose color. She has a royal gold [crown] on her head. In the middle of her belly there are belly emeralds. She is holding a four-headed serpent on the top of a staff. The two heads in the middle are to one side and the [other] two are to the opposite side.
Ibn Esra: A yellow man whose hair is reddish, and he is irascible and contentious, and in his hand are bracelets of wood and a wand, and his clothes are red, and he is a blacksmith, and he desires to do good but he cannot.
Picatrix: There ascends in the third face of Aries a man in red and white with red hair, appearing to be angry and deeply concerned, holding a sword in his right hand and a horn in his left hand, dressed in red. He is learned with a perfect knowledge of science and a skilled master in the art of ironwork. He wishes for good and does not want evil.
Agrippa: In the third face ariseth the figure of a white man, pale, with reddish hair, and clothed with a red garment, who carrying on the one hand a golden Bracelet, and holding forth a wooden staff, is restless, and like one in wrath, because he cannot perform that good he would.
Bruno: In the third face stands a man with reddish hair, wearing ruddy clothing, with a bridle in his left hand, wearing a bracelet and carrying a hardwood walking staff in this right hand. Restless and wrathful. his face shows a longing for wealth which he can neither obtain not hang on to.
I’m not sure if I will post every one of these or not. Obviously they are unfinished as not yet colored or shaded, but every one will have the line art finished during the appropriate decan period, or that is the intention. I should probably hold some back though so there can be some surprises. I hope you like these; I am having a blast with this.
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
I’m following 777 mainly and strictly for the decan descriptions but occasionally incorporating some symbolism from other decan descriptions.
Crowley’s description of the decan per 777, Succedent decan of Aries: A green-clad woman, with one leg bare from the ankle to the knee.
Picatrix: A woman dressed in green clothes, lacking one leg.
Agrippa: A woman, outwardly clothed with a red garment, and under it a white, spreading abroad over her feet.
Liber Hermetis: The second decan has the face of the Sun. It’s name is Sabaoth. It has a two headed face and the lotus of kings is open upon its head. In the compass of the lotus there are stars of the splendor of gold. He has in his right hand a water jug which is called life, in his left a scepter the extremity of which is bifurcated. This decan is clothed in linen and he treads under his feet a tortoise entirely covered with a net.
The Three of Wands card is Aries II, the second or middle decan of Aries. Whereas the Two of Wands has association with Aidoneus (Hades) per the 36 Airs of the Zodiac, the Three corresponds to his Queen Persephone or Kórē, the goddess who rises in the spring to green the world yet is the powerful ruler of the Underworld realm. As such, the three wands are shown in the form of a trishula or three-pronged staff behind her, that is a composite of the Egyptian forms of the soul: the Ba (personality), shown as the human-headed bird with outstretched wings, combines with the Ka (life force and vital essence of life), shown as the upraised hands, to form the Akh which takes the form of the crowned ibis. The Akh represents the “effectiveness” of kings, and the character and intelligence that makes up a person – which has a lot to do with the meaning of the Lord of Virtue.
The middle decan of Aries is ruled by the Sun, and in the springtime the solar force awakens the seeds of the Earth, cracking them open with the force of Mars (Aries) so they emerge. The idea of a woman in green upon one leg is reminiscent of a sprout, and indeed when seeds sprout with their initial two curling leaves they look just like the glyph of the sign Aries!
The Invocation for the Lord of Virtue is in sonnet form. I don’t usually write sonnets as I prefer something more freestyle with fewer constraints on form but was inspired by Andrew Watt’s decan walk series where he ritualized the process of sonnet writing, and had one burn the first one written as an offering to Persephone’s realm.
Invocation for Aries II, Virtue, by M.M. Meleen
A maiden I once was, but now a Queen.
Good governance my gift to lands beneath.
Each Spring I rise again and growth is green.
Obedience to me all souls bequeath.
I warm Earth, and crack seeds embryonic.
Crowned with the Sun I cause the primal surge.
I bear Earth-fire rising from the chthonic.
I wear the vernal bright as sprouts emerge.
My virtue drew the virile nether lord.
I, Kora, gathered blooms of the flowers.
With horses dark he took me as his ward,
enthroned and crowned with underworld powers.
He fed me pomegranate seeds of six,
and I became the Queen of Spring and Styx.
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
That’s right – I’m taking another spin on the wheel, and an image and invocation style decan walk as part of the process to create another deck. Aries Decan 1, 1st, the first face of Aries, the tarot Two of Wands.
I began this process on the vernal equinox at dawn (Sunday March 21, 2021) and started work on the image Tuesday (Mars’ Day and hour) and finished the art, consecrated it with a personal decan invocation during Mars hour today, Sunday with the Sun still in the first decan of Aries.
Aries 1 – First decan of Aries
I’m mainly using the description from Crowley’s 777, but also looking at other decan description sources:
Crowley; Ascendant Decan of Aries: A tall, dark, restless man, with keen flame-coloured eyes, bearing a sword.
Picatrix: The form of a black man, restless and great in body having red eyes and holding a cutting axe in his hand, girded about with white garment; and there is great worth in this face. And this is a face of strength, high rank, and wealth without difference.
Agrippa: Therefore it is said, in the first face of Aries, ascendeth the image of a black man, standing and clothed in a white garment, girdled about, of a great body, with reddish eyes, and great strength, and like one that is angry, and this image signifieth and causeth boldness, fortitude, loftiness and shamelessness.
Bruno: In the first face of Aries is a man with a radiant black complexion, of immense stature, with burning eyes and a grave countenance, standing clothed in a dazzling white garment.
Vedic: The First Drekkana of Aries represents a dark complexioned man with a white cloth round his waist, liberal minded, ready to don the garb of the Redeemer, oriented to protect, with awesome red eyes & with a lifted axe. This is a human decanate and an armed decanate.
Aries 1 – First decan of Aries; talismanic art of the Two of Wands: The Emperor (Aries) and decan ruler Tower (Mars)
Invocation of Aries I by M.M. Meleen. For staking claims of true precedence, claiming sovereignty of self, leading the pack, and winning.
See?
I plant my flag.
I claim dominion of the directions.
Ram regardant, I lead the beastly circle.
First son, last born: the decans my destiny.
I break ground.
Motion is mine.
Martial flint, solar spark, as year revolves.
My serpent mouth consumes all, circling round to satiety,
where my dominion is sealed.
Here first I was.
I Am, and ever shall be.
North and South, East and West, Above and Below:
Dominion is mine!
All see:
I AM.
As it was, as it is, as it shall ever be.
It is known.
Son of the Morning, I marshal the hosts of the mighty.
I draw from the earth-star, the chthonic fiery core. I draw from the star-fire, lead the celestial parade.
By the Ram and the Boar, I claim the peak and the trough.
Above and below, I claim dominion.
By crown and scepter, by hook and flail, by shield and spear,
I prevail.
I declare I am:
Angaraka, born from the celestial sweat of the Lord of Beasts;
Assiccan, Aroueris, Zazer.
As Horus, I stand upon the pillar.
As Emperor, I look out over the rampart.
As Grand Architect, I survey my domain.
See?
I stake my claim on sovereignty.
First I was.
I AM
and shall ever be.
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
In my last blog post I *very* briefly talked about the process I’m using for creating the art for my next tarot deck, as yet not publicly named. To recap, for each card I have been:
studying the description in the *source text* (more specifics about what text that is and why in a future post)
using visualization and astral/imagination techniques to picture that description – and combining the specifics of the description with my own personal language of symbolism associated with the card correspondences
gathering inspirational materials, models, and resources to help the drawing process
doing a very rough and dirty pencil sketch to get the idea and proportions in place
using that sketch as a template for inking the bare bones line work, and perfecting the elements of the drawing
after this, at some point doing the shading and coloring of the image (of course with the GD color scales)
But these six steps leave out a critical 7th step, which is boththe first and last step in the process – and that is about having magical intention as part of the process. I thought maybe there would be interest in that as well. In a sense, magick and art can both be very simply defined as thinking of something and making it manifest, via purposeful manipulation of energy. I make no claims of being an accomplished magician, but I do practice, and sometimes succeed. It takes long term application of will and focus to make 78 cards of art, and these qualities are useful in magical applications as well.
For me, making art is certainly about making beautiful images. I love hearing people say they find my tarot art beautiful. The smart readers recognize that it is more as well. I always hope people also see the level of thought as well as care that went into the works. It’s about making intelligent images. “Intelligent images” in this case means more than one thing. On the mundane level, it means that the images are well thought out, that I as the creator of them am doing a lot of thinking, and intuitively drawing on decades of accumulated knowledge and lore about all sorts of things that go into the cards, like Symbolism, Astrology, Mythology, Numerology, and Qabalah. The art intelligently incorporates the appropriate symbolism according to esoteric tarot teachings and doesn’t just insert a lot of new age visual jargon in there, popping in magical symbols so that it looks cool. Everything is considered and there for an actual reason, that begins to describe the intersection of Art and Magick.
For they are intelligent images in a different sense. The reason for incorporating these elements, chosen from traditional esoteric correspondence sources, is to make the artwork a suitable container for the indwelling of the appropriate energy, or you could say, spirit. These “spirits”, that are said to be the beings we communicate with (whether we acknowledge it or not) when we read the cards, are intelligences. To some extent they have sentience, in that we can communicate with them, and they can have something to say back to us in turn. We can have an actual conversation with a card, and get information not generally available to our normal consciousness. There is something beyond the ink and paper that can be “contacted” or tapped into and does have a unique “personality” and even is capable of intelligent response. Whether that is within or without us is up for debate.
To offer a popular misquote, “if you build it, they will come”. I believe that in order to make a tarot card a suitable vessel, the correspondences illustrated have to be appropriately resonant with the spirit or archetype I’m trying to attract. BUT there is more to magick than choosing correspondences! That type of thing is very Mercurial, very 8th sephira Hod, very reasonable but rather intellectual and lifeless in and of itself. Crowley defined Magick as “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will” and that is a perfect definition. Though “science” is needed, it needs more than just the logic of Mercury. It needs the “art” as well as the science. In order to magically make a work a container for spirit: we need Venus in addition to Mercury. We need the Venusian, the 7th sephira Netzach, the fire and feelings, the love of beauty, the enlivening factor of the heart that loves beauty and knows how to use the powers of attraction. The image must also be beautiful, loved by the senses. For the ancients in Greece and Egypt knew, that in order for the animating force to come into a work of art – particularly when it was a statue of a god or goddess – the proportions had to be beautiful, the face and features idealized as well as representative of the archetype. For this reason, I prefer ideal and beautiful images to realism, and incorporate principles of sacred geometry and design into the work. Not everything has to be beautiful to be art, but it has to have beauty in some form, if that makes sense.
The magical artist needs both the hand and the eye: the mind and hand skills of Mercury and the eye for beauty represented by Venus.
We need both the intellect and dexterity of Mercury (Hod) and the attraction capabilities and inspiration of Venus (Netzach) for inspired and ensouled artistic creations to occur – and we need to merge and reconcile them along the Middle Pillar. Yesod, the sephira of the Moon, between that of Mercury and Venus, is appropriately sometimes called “The Treasure House of Images” (note that Treasure=Venus and House=Mercury) and for me, I think it is here that the reconciliation happens that allows for the intellectually sortedcorrespondences and the emotionally chosen inspirations to combine via intuition and the astral to create “Images” or reflections. The sephira of the Moon is associated with the astral light – which is reflected, having been generated by the Sun in Tiphareth. The Sun is our own inner genius, the heart (that ultimately receives its inspiration from deity above in Kether). The light of our inner genius is reflected in the astral via the light of the Moon.
The intersection of Art and the Tower, in the “diamond of art” formed by sephiroth 6 through 9
Magick can be defined as making something happen through force of will (fixed Fire) + desire (fixed Water) + knowledge (fixed Air) + grounding (Fixed Earth). You could also say “Creation on earth = will + love + reason + action”. These could, in a way, somewhat correspond to the four sephiroth shown above.
I believe that the artist, like the magical practitioner, stands within the diamond of these four sephiroth: Hod/Mercury and Netzach/Venus on the horizontal plane and Yesod/Moon and Tiphareth/Sun on the vertical plane. (Instead of the “triangle of manifestation”, we could call it the “diamond of art”!) We reconcile and combine these energies on the crossroads where the path of Art (the Temperance card, as referring to tempering) intersects with the hot flash of inspiration and energy that is the Tower, and we manifest it down here on Earth (Malkuth) where actual shit gets done – err, I mean, matter gets created. Yes, the Tower is associated with destruction as well as the lightning of inspiration. But the artistic creative process is one of destruction, as once the image is actually created, an infinite number of potential images the artist held in the astral that could have occurred instead are effectively destroyed.
Besides the “crossroads” path of Art/Temperance and Tower, it’s also interesting to look at the other paths that form the outer part of the “diamond”: Death and the Devil, and the Sun and Emperor. Death and the Devil clearly show the artistic process as the creation of matter and the astral forms subsequently destroyed, while the Sun/Emperor pair illustrates art as something seen that illuminates (the Sun) and the structure of good design and proportions (Emperor, Aries where Sun is exalted). Even if you don’t accept Crowley’s Emperor/Star path switch, the Star works as well, as it is also a Sun, and a card of idealism and beauty.
So how are the energies we want to indwell the image evoked here on Earth, besides through creating an image of idealistic beauty, that is well-thought-out with appropriate correspondences, inspired on the astral, well proportioned, and drawn down from above? I try whenever possible to use appropriate timing, for example starting an image for the Empress, card corresponding to Venus, on a Friday, preferably also during the hour of Venus, or beginning the Lust/Strength card on a Sunday/Sun hour since the card corresponds to Leo, ruled by the Sun.
For the Fool in my newest deck, I started the ritual of formally inking it with a ceremony during the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn we had in the sky at the beginning of this year, that ushered in a whole new 200 year cycle, a series of Air sign conjunctions beginning with Aquarius. This once-in-a-lifetime occurrence (PORTAL), involving these father, sky, and creator gods of chaos, was perfect for embodying the energy of the tarot Fool, who is the chaotic creator god of Tarot and whose correspondence is Air. And yes, divination also agreed that it was the right time to create this new Fool card, under the portal of these energies.
Speaking of the Fool card…imagine that you were Pamela Coleman Smith, and A.E. Waite of the Golden Dawn is “spoon-feeding” you the elements of the card. “Pixie, ” he says, “the figure should be an effeminate youth. He should wear a feathered cap and carry a vagabond’s bag-and-stick in one hand, and a rose in the other. Under a white sun he walks without a care in the world, nose in the air, seemingly unconcerned as he is about to walk off of a cliff. Mountain peaks in the distance, oh and a little white dog should accompany him.” You, as PCS, say, “OK, no problem; I can do that.” And with beautiful simple lines, the iconic image we all know was born. We might imagine that’s easy, and maybe it was for her. Art doesn’t just flow from one’s fingertips, but it was surely an act of magic. It now exists in thousands and hundreds of thousands of decks, and in even more minds. You just imagined it now, called it to you on an astral level.
Now let’s try a harder one. Imagine you are Freida, Lady Harris. Aleister Crowley has agreed to teach you magick as he directs the art of his own tarot deck, also in the Golden Dawn tradition but under his auspices. Freida first paints curly haired Harpo Marx as the Fool – and Crowley roundly berates it – for after all he doesn’t want to be laughed out of town by his Golden Dawn bros. “Freida,” he says, “while Harpocrates certainly applies, ditch the Harpo idea. The figure should be a Dionysian horned god, green and gold, showing all the madness and frenzy of spring. He should be bursting through the three negative veils of existence, in mid air, while carrying a crystal water chalice, and a flaming pine-cone, and mixing the elements. A crocodile and tiger should harry him, and make sure you include a vulture, a caduceus, two infants embracing, the sun and moon, the rose, the diamond, a butterfly, ivy, grapes, a dove, the benediction of three-flowers in one and…are you getting all this? Oh and he also must be carrying a bag that contains the entire Universe.” I can imagine Freida thinking…”Ookaaaaaaaaayyyyyy…what have I gotten myself into!?” You have to admit, she pulled it off. Very inspiring.
So this is a bit of what I put myself through for my own Fools, as I have to split myself in two in order fill the creative roles of both Waite/Crowley and Smith/Harris. For Rosetta, the assignment was quite Thoth based. “Make a Dionysus figure, horned and stepping through an Ouroboros portal in space. Keep that fire cone/water chalice admixing thing, and the harrying tiger and croc and all those other symbols too if you can.” That wasn’t so bad, it was a lot easier than Freida’s assignment. For the next deck, Tabula Mundi, the muse had to assign something more challenging. “This time make the green dude more virile, do better with anatomy while you are at it, and keep the creatures and the elements and the three-negative-veils of existence, but have him about to step into a wormhole in space-time.” (It’s a miracle that one happened.) The next Fool I did (which has not made it into a deck, yet, but some of you have seen here) broke away from the stepping off a cliff, or through a portal or wormhole or what-have-you, and instead made him the “babe in the egg of blue, breaking out of the egg upon the lotus carried by/harried by twin crocodiles of Harpocrates.” After that one came more Fools. The official one that ended up in Pharos Tarot had the Fool as Phanes Lightbringer, just emerged from the cracking of the world egg, riding the light through the three veils and from Kether headed towards Malkuth. The hardest part of that assignment was that I had to convincingly portray someone riding Light itself.
The reason I’m telling this story of the (past present and future) Fools, was that the deck I’m working on now came about because of inspiration related to the Fool card and difficulties with artistic assignments like this. That text I’m working with as the “assignment” for this deck, has one of the most challenging descriptions of the Fool card I’ve ever seen – I mean, read. It’s perfectly relevant, elegant even, but I can see why there isn’t a deck out there that I’m aware of with a Fool that looks exactly like it, as it crams so many hard to draw elements into it. For years I’d read it and walk away, saying “Too hard!!” But finally I had an epiphany: if I can find a way to paint a portal, the negative veils, a wormhole in space-time, a hatching child, and a dude riding light, well I may as well give this one a try too. (I’m laughing here.) I won’t describe him here, as I haven’t shown him to you yet, but when I tell you the description you will get why it was a difficult thing to consider the composition of. Like a lot of things in life, as it turns out it wasn’t as hard as it seemed, once the force of will was behind it.
The point is, that you can create something that does not yet exist, you can make something happen here on earth through force of will by purposely directing energy. That’s magick!
So back to magickal methods. I do use astrological timing for these works. HOWEVER – creating 78 works of art, especially magically correct art, takes A LONG TIME. At least for me. If I only worked on a piece during perfectly timed astrology electionals or even only during the appropriate planetary day and hour it would never get done! So while I do strive to at least begin a piece during the right astrological time – the right time to do any magical work is in that elusive Venusian Venn diagram Vesica Piscis window where your time and energy or inspiration intersect and align. If I’m inspired and have time NOW I’m going to work on it, because time and energy are precious commodities not to be squandered.
Thus I also incorporate other methods of infusing the work with the appropriate archetypal resonances, when astro-timing isn’t perfect. The work area can be surrounded by ritual tools, elemental items, and sacred statues of appropriate gods or goddesses. Sound can be used via music or the ringing of bells or tuning forks in the appropriate key. The correct scents can be burned, or applied via plant hydrosol or essential oil to the artist; the correct colors, or gems, or metals, or talismans or planetary malas can be worn, the appropriate planetary Sanskrit mantras chanted or played; the Orphic hymns, or personal poems or prayers can be recited, or the right offerings made. Sigils can be added to or hidden in the artwork. Sacred geometry grids of appropriate numerology can underlie a work invisibly or visibly. I have used all of these methods either individually or in some combination. If it works out, you could use them all at once, but it is rare that it is practical to do so. Working on the art in stages, where sometimes it can be at propitious times and at other times with different resonances used, helps; but never let time perfection or ritual perfection get in the way – perfect is the enemy of good. The image can always be consecrated at the appropriate time after it is complete.
Those methods above are all correspondences and thus mind oriented (Mercury). But I’m also looking for a feeling of falling in love with the image and the process of creation (Venus) – that can only be experienced. That’s an indication that the magic is working.
You actually don’t need any of the ritualized aspects, making a work of art is in and of itself a magical act. The artist dreams up something that does not exist, and makes it exist, via focus and sheer force of will. But the ritual helps invoke the feeling within you, so that you can evoke it in the art.
Tip for artists: When inspiration is needed, working with both Mercury (Magus, Ganesha, Hermes, Thoth) and Venus (Empress, Lakshmi, Aphrodite, Hathor) placed side by side near the blank canvas while chanting an appropriate seed mantra and making offerings of fire, scent, and water, or food and flowers, can help. On the Tree of Life, between the sephira for Mercury and that for Venus is the path of the Tower – any blockage will be removed, and then inspiration can come in. (You could even use Hadit and Nuit as stand-ins for Mercury and Venus, for their third is Horus who is also quite a Mars-type influence.)
The important thing is that the images just need to happen one way or another, and be inspiring to me as the artist. (note: the artist should go through a process of falling in love with the image, and the same is for the practitioner and the magical act.) Hopefully it is thus also inspiring to the spirits, and to those of the eventual viewers of the cards (you) who take them in through the eyes. For we do take in the essences of god forms through the eyes, and are affected by them. In Hindu philosophy there is a term called darshan, Sanskrit for “viewing”, that refers to the process of beholding the image of a deity or a sacred object, and the reciprocal nature of that viewing where the deity or sentience of the object also views and blesses you, affecting change. The image (and actually, all created things of this universe) combines both matter (prakriti, nature existing in time and space) and spirit (purusha, consciousness). These images of deity were sometimes brought out from the temple and driven through the streets in a chariot so that all could venerate them and in turn receive darshan of the sacred object. It’s interesting in terms of the Chariot card of Tarot, which is often interpreted as the vehicle of the sacred spirit or precious object, protected in an enclosure and carried forth to do one’s will.
When making an “ensouled” work of Art, I like to keep an awareness of the “elemental powers of the Sphinx”, with the sphinx as a stand-in for mankind’s evolutionary process as a utilization of the combination of all four elements, which when successful creates a unifying fifth element of spirit that allows progress forward. For any magical work we first Will it, then we Dare to do it and fall in love with it, we reason and Know it, and for maximum effectiveness we maintain a certain level of Silence around it to bank the energy. Only then do we Go forth and take action, bringing something into being.
Want to follow along with the creation of this deck or see when more articles like this post? Sign up for the newsletter! No spam and your info is never shared. It comes out monthly if all is going well, though sometimes a month gets skipped!
This is an article by M.M. Meleen originally published in Tarosophy Magazine in 2016 Vol II Issue 7. I was hunting around the blog and saw my original post about it realized I’d never published the article here. At the time, I was supposed to get a Lulu link where I, or anyone else, could purchase a hard copy of that issue of the magazine, and I would have passed that on to you as promised. But I never got it. So since I stumbled onto a mention of this in 2016 (on the “Ides of March”, exactly 5 years to the day after that original post directing people to the magazine), I decided why not publish it here, finally, for all.
Tarot Zoology: A Field Guide to the Tabula Mundi by M.M. Meleen
Methods of portraying archetypal and allegorical symbolism abound, and are as diverse as tarot decks themselves. Yet animal figuration seems to be a constant, and one would be hard pressed to find a single deck with no animal symbolism of any kind. Even in a deck that would not be considered animal based or themed, there are many ways in which animals can have a presence. This can be as prevalent as the Knights generally shown seated on horseback denoting swiftness and force, or as subtle as a decorative element on a garment or an object. Purposely focusing attention on the symbolism of the animals present in a reading can add an additional layer of meaning. This is often done on a subconscious level, as humans have lived with the animal kingdom from the dawn of humanity.
Mankind is familiar with animal symbolism in folklore, mythology, alchemy, astrology, and fairy tales. When animals appear, we often have no trouble forming an instant impression of what they bring to mind. Sometimes the depictions of animals may be so subtle that one is not aware of how they may be influencing perception. Much like the sense of smell, an animalian gift, these images trigger memories and evoke the primal unconscious. Bringing some conscious consideration to this can be illuminating. Asking oneself why certain animals find their natural habitat in certain cards can be fruitful, whether it is a study of a particular deck, or noticing how animal symbolism repeats itself in the same card over myriad decks. Become a Tarot Zoologist. Seek out and learn to identify animals “in the field” of Tarot.
This guide is only a brief synopsis of what is possible. It is illustrated with examples from the tarot deck called Tabula Mundi, as a deck called “picture of the world” must of course include some of the world’s creatures. This deck serves as one example of the many ways that animals are used symbolically in tarot, for it is not an animal deck per se, but is coded with animal images used as an occult or hidden script. These serve as an archetypal cosmology or form of language. In fact, going through the seventy-nine images of the deck (seventy-eight cards and the card backs) only eight cards contained absolutely no hint of zoological emblem.
Examining the way animal symbolism is used in different decks is one way to analyze a deck’s personality. How many types of animals appear in a deck, what are they, and how many of each do you find? Let us delve into some illustrated examples of tarot creatures in their natural habitat. When surveying the wildlife population in a deck consider your first count as potentially being understated, as it is very easy to miss some of them in the wild. Challenge yourself to find every animal in your favorite deck. You may discover that it takes careful observation to locate them all. First though, one must define the ways in which animals can show up in a deck.
Animals as seen in nature, showing up on a card as themselves, performing some action or being present as part of the scene
Animals as portrayed in heraldry, often seen as a blazon on a coat of arms, flag or shield in positions with specific meanings
Animals symbolically present as part of an object, such as a decorative element on a suit element or part of an article of clothing
Animals as human companions or familiars
General human-animal hybrids wherein a human figure combines with an animal component such as the lower body of an animal, or the horns, wings or head of an animal and general compound animal hybrids that combine multiple animals
Mythological creatures with specific names and histories
Animal-related objects or parts, embryonic or skeletal stages of animals, or animals suggested but not physically present such as depiction of honeycomb, eggs, furs, bones, chrysalises, shells, feathers or wings, which may suggest animals, birds, mollusks, bees or other insects
Animals as court crest elements and in court card traditional depictions
Following are just a few pictures illustrating each example – there are lots more to find in the cards! (The first 7 are from the color version of Tabula Mundi and the last from the black and white edition.) After that, we get to the good stuff – the symbolic meanings!
Example 1: Animals seen in nature, showing up on a card as themselves, performing some action or being present as part of the sceneExample 2: Animals as portrayed in heraldry, often seen as a blazon on a coat of arms, flag or shield in positions with specific meaningsExample 3: Animals symbolically present as part of an object, such as a decorative element on a suit element or part of an article of clothingExample 4: Animals as human companions or familiarsExample 5: General human-animal hybrids wherein a human figure combines with an animal component such as the lower body of an animal, or the horns, wings or head of an animal and general compound animal hybrids that combine multiple animalsExample 6: Mythological creatures with specific names and historiesExample 7: Animal-related objects or parts, embryonic or skeletal stages of animals, or animals suggested but not physically present such as depiction of honeycomb, eggs, furs, bones, chrysalises, shells, feathers or wings, which may suggest animals, birds, mollusks, bees or other insectsExample 8: Animals as court crest elements and in court card traditional depictions
In the Tabula Mundi, seventy cards, and the card backs, portray some animal symbolism. Many types of natural animal, plus some objects and hybrids suggesting them, and several specifically named mythological creatures, can be seen in the cards. The most common animal was the Snake or Serpent which appeared on forty percent of the cards. Many snakes were only present in subtle ways, such as a decorative element on an object, or part of a hybrid animal. The preponderance of Serpent imagery is an indication that this deck is a potent tool of transformation and knowledge, some primary messages of Snake.
Mythological creatures with distinct names known in folklore were counted separately, and were the second most commonly occurring element. More general human-animal hybrids were third most common, as they include the winged or horned archetypal humans present in many of the Majors and Courts. The prevalence of mythological creatures and hybrids gives the deck an aura of mystery and magick and brings in legends and fables from the collective consciousness. Mythological creatures have their own stories that can provide layers of meaning and trails to follow. For other unnamed hybrids, one can simply study their component animals.
Back in the natural world, the second most common real animal in the Tabula Mundi is the Eagle, virtually tied with the Lion. Given the fact that they are both kerubic beasts, and a very symbolic pair alchemically, it isn’t surprising. They show up singularly and also together on several cards. These two are rulers. The Lion is the majestic king of the beasts and the Eagle is the far-seeing sovereign of the air, symbolic of mastery of Heaven and Earth, the realms of Tabula Mundi. The Lion is the Kerub of Fire, and is symbolic of great heart, dignity, strength, and honor. The Eagle is most generally the Kerub of Water (though sometimes switched with Air in Crowley’s Nox formula) and stands for perceptive vision and clarity, higher purpose, and nobility of spirit.
The following is a concise description of meanings that may be suggested when each animal appears in the cards, depending on context. When analyzing a reading specifically for animal symbolism as a practice, considering the animals’ habits and folklore can be an interesting exercise.
Zoomancy, or Theriomancy, is a method of divination that derives auspices from the appearance and behavior of beasts. A Zoomantian spread one can do with any deck is to separate out every card with animal symbolism, and from these draw four cards, one for each of the four elements and directions, and read them totemically for any animals that appear in order to receive a unique message from the animal kingdom.
Mundi Creaturae
Natural Animals
Bat Mysteries of the night. Sonar, echo location, and the ability to navigate darkness. Mesmerism. Madness. Seeing through illusion. Facing fear.
Bee Venus, Binah, the yoni. Sweetness of life. Diligence and industriousness. Solar and lunar forces. Pollination and fertilization. Wild nature, the swarm and the sting. Royalty.
Beetle The Scarab and the solar barge, passages of change. The midnight sun. Resurrection and purification.
Boar Ferocity and confrontation. Fearlessness in the face of danger. War and chaos. The Calydonian hunt. The destructive rampage. Masculine urges. The earthquake.
Bull Taurus.Kerub of Earth.Fecundity of earth; the sowing.Virility and strength. Productivity. Beast of burden; physical labor and endurance. The Minotaur.
Butterfly The chrysalis.Transformative journey of the soul. Element of Air. Transmutation. Moment of conception in the womb.
Camel The letter Gimel.The ship of the desert. Transporting valued cargo; knowledge. Crossing the Abyss. Stamina on an arduous journey. The destination.
Crab/Crayfish Forces of the Moon. Cancer and Pisces. Armor and defense. Maternal protection. The subconscious. The indirect path.
Crocodile Primal nature of water. Silence. Initiation. The mysteries of birth and incarnation. Sobek. Guardians of hidden knowledge. Fertility. Clairvoyance. Letter He final. Feminine form of Dragon.
Dog (See Cerberus)The most loyal companion. Willingness. Protection on the journey and at the home. Master the senses and follow the trail of things not ordinarily seen.
Dolphin The womb. Protector of the waters. Friendship of deities. Sonar powers, navigation, and memory. Unexpected help.
Dove Venus,Aphrodite, female sexuality. Creativity. Maternity. Peace and pacifism. Beauty and gentleness. Messages. After the deluge.
Dragonfly Magic. Air over the waters. Swiftness and lightness. Shifting colors. New perspective. Summer. Visionary brilliance and the fleeting nature of thought.
Egg Incarnation. Orphic egg that contains the universe. Result of the hermetic marriage. Fertilization. The ideal, and all potential. Incubation. New knowledge. Promise of flight at maturity.
Eagle/Hawk Clear vision. Exaltation above matter. Higher purpose. Leadership. Divine truth. Spiritual ecstasy and nobility of spirit. In some cards, the white eagle of alchemy; the purified salt.
Elephant Royal and majestic power. Strength and authority. Earth. Money and material concerns. Memory for injustice. Solidity and endurance.
Feather Communication with spirit. Writing and treaties. Virtue. Lightness. Maat and weighing the heart. Truth and order. Flight. Rising above.
Fish The sign of Pisces. Christ. Sacrifice and crucifixion. Prophecy and inspiration. The letter Nun. Beneath the waters. The flow of life. The Salmon of Wisdom. Prosperity, surplus. Initiation and baptism.
Goat The sign of Capricorn. The Zenith. Climbing and ambition. Baphomet. Pan the Satyr, god of Nature. Libido and craving. Surefootedness. Business opportunity. Power.
Honeycomb/Beehive (See Bee) Honeycomb as container of the elixir, the hexagon and harmonic structure. Beehive as the sweet reward that comes from perfect structure, organized labor, and well-governed industry. The perfect union of opposites. Harmony. Tiphareth. Solve et coagula, nectars transmuted to honey.
Horse Swiftness, strength, and vitality. First force and the Will. Exploration and travel; a journey. Freedom of sexuality. The Centaur. Sagittarius.
Ibis A bird of the waters. Thoth. The lunar forces and cycles of time. The maternal instinct. In alchemy, the successful transmutation.
Jackal Anubis, protector of the dead, of tombs. Guide of the soul. Guardian of the scales. Wepwawet, the Opener of the Ways, stands at the prow of the solar barge.
Leopard/Panther Inner power. Ecstatic meditation. Shakti essence. Silence and speed. Controlled transformation. Sexual awakening.
Lemur Higher knowledge. Hermanubis. Mercurial function. Intelligence. Communication and answers. Messages. Happiness and playful fun. Enjoying life.
Lion Leo.The Sun.Solar fire kerub. Courage and kingship. Protector of the good. Strength. The red tincture of alchemy. Passion. Gold. Pride. The brave heart and the strong spine.
Mollusk/Shell The Yoni. The feminine principle.The pearl. Beauty, luxury. Perfection of form. Soothing irritation. Protection of form. The lunar forces and phases. Love. Aphrodite, Venus, Lakshmi, Binah. Emotional high.
Moth Cycles of soul change. The cocoon. Nocturnal otherworldliness. Influenced by lunar force. Dreams. Illusions. Shadows. Seeking the light even unto destruction.
Owl The true reality.Vigilance. Cycles of reincarnation. Wisdom and intelligence. Minerva and Athena. High Magick. Lunar power. Omens, prophecy. Psychic awareness. Astral projection.
Peacock Cauda Pavonis, the alchemical stage of truth or deceit. Transcendence. Integrity and incorruptibility. Beauty and the influence of Venus.
Ram/Sheep Aries. The start of a cycle. Spiral life force. The head, mental power. Dominion and dueling. Opportunity, strength, and challenge. Renewal of Spring.
Raven/Crow Magick and the night.Alchemical death. A trickster. Shape-shifting, theft, and deception. High intelligence. The power of language.
Scorpion Sign of Scorpio. Venom and stinging. The will to change. First stage of putrefaction. Desire nature. Potency. Passion and pathos.
Snake/Serpent (see Ouroboros)The knowledge of good and evil. The temptation of Eve. Wisdom, initiation. Kundalini. Transformation and healing. Immortality. Sometimes Hadit. Cycles of death and rebirth; cycles of Time.
Stag Wild nature. Masculinity and virility. The hunt. Renewal of life. The generative force of the land.
Swan Grace, beauty, and purity. The embodied soul. Love and partnership. Aphrodite. The Muses and inspiration, poetry and music.
Tiger.Fiery passion and sensuality. Power and sleekness. Solitary magnificence. Durga. Ferocity. Beauty of motion. Willpower and courage.
Mythological Creatures
Arch Fey (see Butterfly, Dragonfly, Moth) “Arch” meaning cunning, crafty, mischievous, sly and also in combination with other words, meaning chief, leader, ruler. “Fey” meaning fairies, seen usually as slight beings with butterfly, moth, or insect wings.
Cerberus (See Dog) Hound of Hades. Guardian of the adamantine gates. Psychopomp companion. Three heads for mastery of speech, action and thought.
Chimera (see Goat, Lion, Serpent) Fire breathing multi-part creature infused with all the strength and agility of its parts. One of many monstrous offspring of Typhon, the last son of Gaia and Tartarus (the Abyss). Omen of disaster.
Double Headed Eagle (See Eagle) Rulership in all directions. Authority in both secular and religious matters.
Dragon (See Crocodile, Ouroboros, Serpent) Guardian of wisdom. The treasure of the Great Work and the Philosopher’s Stone. Chi and life force; power. Control of the beast within; the inner quest. Rule of the elements. Balance of male and female. If winged, the volatile; if not, the fixed.
Griffin (See Eagle, Lion) As combination of the king of beasts and the sovereign of the air, the Griffin is said to be a ruler combining the strength of both. Guardian of that which is precious.
Hippocampus (see Dolphin, Horse) Horses above and Dolphins below. The Chariot of Poseidon. Mounts of the Nereids. Seahorse shaped parts of the brain; the limbic system. Skills of navigation. Savior of sailors. Loyal, graceful and agile. Good omen.
Medusa (see Snake)A Gorgon, female with snakes for hair whose gaze turns one to stone. Aegis of Athena. Divine protection. Medusa from Greek meaning guardian, protectress. Gorgon, from the word meaning dreadful. Ward against evil.
Oneroi (see Bat, Crayfish, and either Serpent or Fish) Black winged demons who live by the Gates of Horn and Ivory. Personification of dreams. Descended from Nyx, the Night, and Hypnos, God of Sleep. The Siren. Two worlds; the Otherworld. Passing through the veils.
Ouroboros (see Snake) Tail-devouring serpent, symbol of infinity and cycles of time. Regeneration. The Azoth. The alchemical maxim “One is All” and the concept of self-sufficiency.
Sobek/Sebek (see Crocodile) Egyptian crocodile deity, both Creator and Devourer, name derived from a verb meaning “to impregnate”. The Hé final process in the formula of the Tetragrammaton.
Sphinx (see Lion, Bull, Eagle as applicable by type) The Mysteries. Sun worship. Enigma; secrets and riddles revealed. Tiamat, slain by Marduk to create Heaven and Earth. Symbol of Malkuth, connection to Kether. Man’s highest potential. The cross within the circle. The soul thru space and time. The rose cross, the expanded Tau cross. The four Kerubs combined. Light, Love, Liberty and Life. The Great Work. The four powers of the Sphinx are To Will, To Dare, To Know, and To Keep Silent and together, they create the fifth power To Go. Also, when as human headed lion, symbolizing a lion’s strength and a ruler’s intelligence.
Zurvan (see Lion, Bull, Eagle, Snake) Mesopotamian demonic deity of Limitless Time, and Time of Long Dominion. Maturity, growth, and decay. Associated with the Axis Mundi, or center of the world.
The Menagerie cards: These two cards probably have the greatest number of creatures, counting parts of hybrid creatures. How many can you spot?
This article is freely offered for your personal use, but please don’t copy it for commercial use. If you would like a copy formatted to fit inside your Book M, you can download it here. You can also copy and format it yourself, to print one copy for personal use with your Tabula Mundi Tarot deck.
