Thoth Court Cards Astrological Association

This article introduces the reader to the Thoth Court Cards Astrological Association by using a Decan Wheel specifically for the Thoth Tarot Deck.

The YouTube video can accessed by clicking the image below:

 

With the exception of the Princesses, the Court Cards have an astrological connection to time and therefore the signs of the zodiac as can be seen in the image below:

 

Using the Knight of Wands for example, we can see that he spans 30 degrees of the zodiac, with 20 degrees in the sign corresponding to his own suit, and 10 degrees of the preceding sign which is either a conflicting or neutral element:

 

Through the Court Cards, elements are connected rather than separated from one another.

The Court Cards are not allowed to completely rule any particular sign but rather ‘bind together’ the 12 parts of the zodiac by spanning more than one sign.

Another consideration is the actual sign to which the court card dominates but before expanding on this, it is useful to look at some topics which Crowley introduces in the Book of Thoth to aid in our understanding.

 

Thoth Court Cards and the Three Gunas

The reason for this unexpected Court Card – Astrological Association is the BALANCING of energies between the RANK of the Court Card and the 3 gunas or three qualities (virtues) of nature. It is important to have some understanding of these as Crowley also refers to them in relation to the alchemical properties of the major arcana.

The 3 gunas are:

Rajas: the force to change (activity) = Knights (on horseback)

Tamas: Inertia = Queens (sitting on a Throne)

Sattva: balance, harmony, creativeness (Princes combining the two on a moving chariot)

They all arise from:

Prakriti: the infinite potential from which creation was manifest (like the Tree of Life from Kether).

The force to change comes from the Rajas guna, the Sattva guna empowers one towards harmonious and constructive change, while Tamas guna checks or retards the process, showing that all three have their place in the harmony of being.

 

Thoth Court Cards Astrological Association & the Quadruplicities

Before considering the table below, perhaps a brief definition of the Quadruplicities (groups of four signs) would be helpful:

Cardinal Signs: The Cardinal Signs are known as the initiators of the energy of the element (fire, water, air, earth) to which they belong. The cardinal directions are the north, south, east and west. They are the times when the seasons change. Aries for Spring; Cancer for Summer; Libra for Autumn; and Capricorn for Winter. They therefore are times for a new beginning with an impulse of energy.

Fixed Signs: The fixed signs represent the stability of the energy of the element to which they belong. Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio share this quality.

Mutable Signs: The word “mutable” means “subject to change”. The keyword for these is “adaptability”. The Mutable Signs are Virgo, Gemini, Sagittarius, and Pisces.

 

Going back to our example the Knight of Wands, being comprised of the sub-elements Fire of Fire which was explained in a previous article, we would expect this impulsive, surging character to be associated with the cardinal sign of Aries as part of his make up, but instead he corresponds to the adaptable energies of mutable Sagittarius, and the stability of the fixed energies of Scorpio for balance (balancing out the energies of the three gunas). This ‘balancing’ pattern repeats for all of the twelve court cards with an astrological attribution, and they will be described in detail in each of the respective videos.

 

The Princesses & Their Spacial Attribution

Whilst the Knight, Queens and Princes rule quadrants of time (each one spanning 30 degrees of the zodiac), The Princesses rule quadrants of space along with their aces. Therefore each Princess rules one-fourth of the zodiac, or a quarter of the heavens around the North Pole, centered above the (Fixed) signs along the dashed lines on the decan wheel below:

Princess of Wands Rules: the quadrant of space occupied by Cancer, Leo and Virgo.

Princess of Cups Rules: the quadrant of space occupied by Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius.

Princess of Swords Rules: Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Princess of Disks Rules: Aries, Taurus and Gemini.

 

 

This can be seen roughly in 3-D:

 

 

 So The Princess rule both quadrants of Space and, being of the element earth, also have rulership over specific areas of the planet:

Princess of Wands Rules: the area of Asia.

Princess of Cups Rules:  The Pacific.

Princess of Swords Rules: The Americas.

Princess of Disks Rules: The areas of Europe and Africa.

 

The meridian for the Princesses is the Great Pyramid of Giza. A meridian is essentially a straight line between the Pyramid and the North and South Poles:

 

In the next article we will look at the Astrological Associations of the Thoth Court Cards.

 

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