The Tarot Grimoire

by Henry Ho

  From exploring the 8 of Cups via card counting we see that it is the root cause of my situation. The 5 count from the Ace prescribes what I need to create the change I want, invoke Fire energy into my life. Or maybe more specifically it is suggesting to invoke Sagittarian energy. On a more mundane level perhaps it is simply suggesting that I push myself to be more active. But because this is the Air string, working on an etheric/energetic or mental level is likely what is recommended[9].

  In this instance it is perhaps not appropriate to work with the 8 of Cups card itself as the reading itself describes how to create the change. However I will be describing in the relevant chapters how to do so if the reading had recommended it.

  I will stop the example there and not go into the right count as I feel I have sufficient information, and that the left count alone is enough to serve as an example.

  Card Pairing

  Traditional Golden Dawn sources instruct us to use the Card Pairing technique after card counting is done. I must confess that I rarely use card counting in my readings any more. I have found that card counting alone offers plenty of detail for an everyday reading. Card counting on top of that gives us too much information to deal with practically for a single reading.

  However for readings where you can afford the time and the patience to do so, it is very much recommended that you include card counting for extra depth in order to see what further insights can be afforded.

  Readers should definitely learn both techniques in order to see what works best for them. It could be that some readers prefer card pairing over card counting and use card pairing exclusively.

  From my experience card pairing often takes less time than card counting. Reading the elemental dignities of paired cards is much simpler than the triads found in card counting, and so it may be more suitable to certain readers’ tastes.

  The Golden Dawn

  “The Diviner now pairs the cards from opposite ends of the horseshoe[10]”

  The Golden Dawn method instructs readers to pair the cards from the edges of a reading and move towards the centre of the string of cards.

  The Book of Thoth

  “Pair the cards on either side of the Significator, then those outside them, and so on. Make another "story", which should fill in the details omitted in the first[11].”

  We see here that the two methods given vary quite dramatically. Whereas the Golden Dawn method pairs cards from outside in, Crowley’s method starts from the significator and moves outwards.

  I have no idea as to the rationale behind the two methods, but experiment to see which method suits you more. I personally have used the Golden Dawn method over Crowley’s simply because it is mechanically simpler. Trying to pair cards using Crowley’s method can be complicated depending on where the significator is. Keeping track of which cards are meant to be paired can be difficult. The Golden Dawn method is simply more intuitive and easier to do since it is consistent and does not vary with the location of the significator.

  Card Pairing Example

  Air String Card Pairing

  The Traditional Golden Dawn method of pairing the cards from the opposite ends of the string and moving inwards is my preferred method. Thus I present it in this example.

  (8 of Wands, 3 of Wands)

  There is a desire for swift activity. To be inspired to create.

  (Art, Queen of Disks)

  The desire to manifest something creative and concrete is part of who I am.

  (5 of Swords, 10 of Cups)

  However I am defeated by satisfaction. It is holding me back.

  (8 of Cups, 4 of Cups)

  There's nothing lacking in my life and so I am held back by a lack of goals and motivation.

  (Ace of Disks, Knight of Cups)

  The potential for manifestation comes from pursuing dreams and ideals. Since all my basic needs are met, my foundation is solid. Therefore the only way to go is up.

  (7 of Wands, Death)

  That will give me the drive to end my stagnation. Bringing change.

  (The Tower, 7 of Swords)

  That will break this cycle of unstable effort. The pattern of starting things without following through.

  Conclusion:

  This is similar to what was said in the overview. But the reading was very clear. As is the case here, I find that card pairing gives a clearer picture of the broad overview than card counting does. Counting tends to look more into the small details, which is easier to get lost in.

  In this reading, card pairing has given me more insight. I feel the Knight of Cups is significant here. It is presented to me as a solution to the problem. This links to the unaspected card of this string, 8 of Cups, which is attributed to Pisces. It seems that Pisces energy is the solution.

  In the 8 of Cups we have Saturn in Pisces. The planet of restriction does not do well in a sign ruled by the expansive Jupiter. It is like the artistic and creative nature of Pisces is restricted by the practicality of Saturn. Perhaps some more expansive Jupiterian energy in my life would give me the creative passion and inspiration that I need.

  In my search for a worthwhile goal to devote myself to, I sought for something that ideally would be financially rewarding. Or at least produce something that is worth the effort. It seems that this sentiment has been limiting me all this time.

  After doing this reading I am going to reassess my stance on card pairing. I will find a way to integrate it into my readings again. Perhaps for really quick readings I will use it instead of card counting.

  The Astrological Operations

  The second, third and fourth operations are grouped together in this chapter because they all relate to astrology. These all represent the “development of the question[12].”

  The Second Operation relates to the 12 Astrological Houses.

  The Third Operation depicts the 12 Zodiac Signs.

  And the Fourth represents the 36 Decanates.

  Paul Hughes-Barlow in one of his YouTube video rightly points out how odd it was that the Golden Dawn divided these three aspects of astrology into different spreads. When reading a natal chart, an astrologer would look at all these aspects at the same time. No outsiders know why it was done this way so we can only speculate.

  Personally I have only used each operation as standalone readings, rather than as five parts of a single reading. To me, doing all five operations would just be an information overload. As stated before, the First Operation alone is used for most questions.

  I have used the Second Operation whenever I wanted an overview of my life. The 12 Houses divides up different aspects of my life neatly, which I can fan out and read using card counting as I see fit. For example, if I wanted to look at the state of my home, I’d analyse the cards in the 4th House. With this spread I would not be limited by where my significator is located, although its position would indicate the area of my life that I am primarily focused on. Alternatively it can be an indication from the reading itself as to which aspect of your life you should be paying attention to.

  The Third Operation has been useful for yearly forecasts. This spread is good for New Year and Birthday readings. Of course you can start your forecast whenever you feel like. This spread allows me to look at how my life would progress on a month by month basis.

  I have never used the Fourth Operation. I hadn’t really thought of a use for them until I started writing this book. First of all, this can give the reader a more “zoomed in” view of their yearly forecast. A decanate translates to roughly ten days and so the reader can get a more pin point accuracy with regards to the timing of events.

  However the main use I can think of for the Fourth Operation is for figuring out which spirit of the Shemhamphorash or the Goetia to work with. These two groups of 72 spirits are linked to the decanates of astrology. If the tarot reader is also a magician that works with one or both of these grimoires then this reading can give insight as to which spirit is the most appropriate for the reader to work with. Perhaps the decanate
in which the significator is located in would give the clue you need.

  If you happen to work with one of these groups of spirits, give it a try. If you can come up with any new ideas for using the Fourth Operation I’d love for you to share it with me in an email!

  The Second Operation

  Deal the cards face down into 12 stacks in a circle, starting from the 9 o’clock position going anti-clockwise until you run out of cards. In other words deal out 12 cards until you have one card in each position, then place the next round of cards on top of them. Rinse and repeat. Do NOT place 6-7 cards into the first stack, and then 6-7 for the second, etc. These represent the 12 Houses of Astrology.

  This is the layout in the traditional instructions. But I personally dislike looking at cards at an angle, so I prefer to keep all the cards upright like this:

  As with the First Operation, turn each stack over and read the top cards as an overview with these positional meanings in mind:

  1st House: Overview of reading, Health & fitness, self-image, how others perceive you.

  2nd House: Family, income, throat, voice, values.

  3rd House: Communication, siblings, hands, short distance travel

  4th House: Home, Mother, vehicles, childhood education.

  5th House: Creativity, children, gambling, self-expression, adolescent education.

  6th House: Work life, challenges, diseases, charity, pets.

  7th House: Marriage, partnerships, business, other people.

  8th House: Death, sex, life’s ups and downs, accidents, sudden events.

  9th House: Higher learning, religion, law, long distance travel.

  10th House: Father, authority, career, life’s purpose, external life.

  11th House: Big financial gains, networking, hopes and wishes.

  12th House: Dreams, private life, isolation, mysticism.

  As always, these are just brief key words off the top of my head. To make the best use of these astrological spreads one should learn basic astrology and study the houses and zodiac signs in depth. There is a multitude of sources to learn astrology, but I recommend you search on YouTube “KRSChannel.” Kapiel Raaj teaches Vedic astrology in manageable bite-sized chunks.

  After the overview, find your significator and then spread out the stack it is located in into a string of cards. Or alternatively just fan out the stack assigned to the House that relates to the area of life you want to look at. Analyse the string, and proceed onto card counting and pairing as shown in previous chapters.

  The Third Operation

  Deal the cards as in the Second Operation. Except this time the 12 stacks represent the 12 Zodiac Signs.

  Aries, the Ram "I am."

  Taurus, the Bull "I have."

  Gemini, the Twins "I think."

  Cancer, the Crab "I feel."

  Leo, the Lion "I want."

  Virgo, the Virgin "I scrutinize."

  Libra, the Scales "I balance."

  Scorpio, the Scorpion "I wish."

  Sagittarius, the Archer "I see."

  Capricorn, the Goat "I use."

  Aquarius, the Water Bearer "I know."

  Pisces, the Fish "I believe."

  Read the overview and fan out the stack that the significator is in as before.

  As stated, I tend to use this spread as a yearly forecast, where each Zodiac sign represents the one month time period they are assigned to. So the top cards give me an overview of what would happen in each month. The location of the significator draws my attention to zoom in and look at a particular month. But this Operation is one where I may actually take the time to look at each and every stack. Perhaps you can shuffle and deal the cards at the beginning of the year and keep this reading saved in a particular deck. Then you can pull out each stack on the 21st of every month (where we transition between each sign) and fan them out to look at what happens in the month ahead.

  The Fourth Operation

  It was only when writing this section that I realised that the Regardie instructions for this operation are very different to Crowley’s. So here I will present both.

  Since you are only using one card per position rather than a whole stack of cards in this Operation, you can place the cards face up as you deal the cards, or you can place them all down face down and turn them over at the end according to your preference.

  Regardie

  This Operation is very different from the others. Shuffle the pack until you feel like stopping. Then turn the deck face up and go through it to find the significator. Once found, cut the deck and place the cards between the bottom card to the significator inclusive on top of the rest of the deck. The result is that the significator becomes the top card. Turn the deck over so that it is face down, and then place the significator on the reading surface. After that, deal the 36 subsequent cards (from top to bottom) in a circle around the significator. Starting from the 9 o’clock position going anticlockwise as before.

  Crowley

  Shuffle the cards until you feel it is right to stop. Turn the deck face up and go through it to search for the significator as before. Place the significator in the middle of your reading surface. Then deal the subsequent 36 cards around the significator starting from the 9 o’clock position, going anticlockwise.

  If you run out of cards, go to the bottom of the deck and continue dealing cards from there, as if the deck were a circle. If you were to visualise the deck face down, you are essentially reading the cards from the bottom up. Just like with the First Operation.

  I feel that whilst the Crowley method is simpler, the Regardie method is perhaps more elegant. At least to me. Experiment and see what you prefer.

  Regardless of which method you choose, you should end up with a spread like this. You do not end up with stacks of cards as before. Each individual card is laid out on its own.

  Please excuse the wonky illustration. Drawing this on Microsoft Word is an ordeal.

  As with the Second and Third Operations, I actually prefer to keep the cards upright as depicted in the instructions for the Second Operation.

  Proceed to read from the significator. Then start counting from the first card and go anticlockwise from there.

  A decanate is literally 10 degrees of an astrological wheel. So each card represents 10 degrees of the sky, and 3 decanates make up an astrological house and/or zodiac sign.

  I personally do not know enough about the 36 decanates it great enough detail to assign meanings to them. It is a highly specialised topic even among astrologers. However the way I personally work around it is by using the tarot as a reference. Each of the Minor Arcana, apart from the Aces, are assigned to the 36 decanates and are meant to represent them to a degree. So for example to understand the nature of the first 10 degrees of Aries I will look at the 2 of Wands, for example.

  If on the other hand you want to study the decanates in greater depth I highly recommend 36 Faces by Austin Coppack.

  For the most part I use the decanates as nothing more than indicators of the time periods they represent (in terms of the solar return). But let’s say you want to do rite for invoking a spirit of Mars you are doing the Fourth Operation to gauge its success. You may track down the location of the Tower card and find that it is in the 2 of Wands, which represents the first decanate of Aries that is ruled by Mars. Then you’ll know that the conditions are favourable.

  The Fifth Operation

  Israel Regardie stated that the Fifth Operation is the “Conclusion of the Matter[13]” whereas Crowley calls it the “Final Result[14].” This has been true for the example reading in this book. It has been a direct continuation of the reading from the First Operation. However I did these two operations 22 days apart. By the time I did the Fifth Operation, I have already been through the transformation outlined in the First Operation and the Fifth was describing the results that were already visible.

  The original Golden Dawn instructions tell us to do all five operations in one sitting but that is an overly lengthy process for
a simple tarot reading. A more practical application I feel would be to use it as a follow up to previous operations as a follow up when you feel that enough time has passed. Perhaps as a reflection of what has occurred since performing the First Operation, giving the reading a sense of closure, the feeling of an end of an old cycle.

  I usually I use this spread as a standalone reading using the meanings of the Sephiroth themselves as the positions. This is another way for me to analyse different aspects of my life. Although whereas the Second Operation reflects areas of one’s life (work, family etc.), the Fifth Operation looks at state of querent as an individual.

  The Fifth Operation uses the Tree of Life as a model for a tarot spread. Thus the meanings of each position is derived from the ten Sephiroth themselves.

  Dealing the Cards

  Deal the cards into the shape of the Tree of Life in the order of the ten Sephiroth and repeat the process until you run out of cards. In other words deal out ten cards until you have one card in each position, then place the next round of cards on top of them. Rinse and repeat. Do NOT place 8 cards into the first stack, and then 8 for the second, etc.

  To best utilise this spread, understanding the Tree of Life is necessary. The only book on the Qabalah I have ever needed was Dion Fortune’s Mystical Qabalah. Others have recommended Lon Milo Duquette’s The Chicken Qabalah but I’ve personally never read it. There is so much to understand about the Tree of Life that you’d need an entire book to do the topic justice. But for the purposes of this book I’ll give simple keywords that define the meaning of each position. These are woefully inadequate at fully explaining the Sephiroth and so further reading is recommended.