part0014

Crowley described Aeons as a series of long periods of human history characterized in a particular manner according to the nature of ancient Egyptian deities. These Aeons, according to Crowley, last approximately two thousand years, and began with the Aeon of Isis, the goddess of nature, followed by the Aeon of Osiris – the ‘dying god’. Crowley saw his reception in 1904 of the Book of the Law as heralding the commencement of a new Aeon - the Aeon of Horus, god of vengeance and war; ten years prior to the start of World War I. He alludes also to a future Aeon, that of Maat, goddess of truth.

Further to Crowley, others have come to develop this concept of the Aeons, building an entire model of history and futurism describing the evolution of human consciousness.

The word Aeon means ‘age’, ‘forever’ or ‘for eternity’. It is a Latin transliteration from the koine Greek word ὁ αἰών (aion). It was used to describe periods of time, but also in Gnostic writings the Aeons were spiritual entities and planes of being, with their own characteristics such as ‘power’ and ‘charity’.

Crowley’s parents, as we know, were Plymouth Brethren. This movement from Protestant Christianity was strongly founded in the belief of dispensations ; divided times of history defined by the relationship between god and mankind. It is no surprise then, that Crowley came to incorporate dispensationalism in his own view of the universe.

Crowley was not the first esotericist to divide the ages in such a way – he was building on another stream of Christian theology, influenced by Eliphas Lévi (1810-1875). Lévi used the Joachite teaching of three ages corresponding to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost: the Age of the Nettle (Law), Rose (Gospel) and Lily (Spirit); Father, Son and Holy Ghost. These ages, in turn, were based upon the teachings of Joachim of Fiorre (1135-1202).

Joachim gave detail of these ages and timeframes for their influence:

The Age of the Holy Spirit, impending (in 1260), when mankind was to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message. The Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, a new dispensation of universal love, would proceed from the Gospel of Christ, but transcend the letter of it. In this new Age the ecclesiastical organisation would be replaced and the Order of the Just would rule the Church.

These Aeons are not only external passages of time – they are also seen as inner transitions of consciousness. In the development of thinking within the ‘Ma’at Current’, particularly during the 1980’s-1990’s, the Aeons were seen as simultaneously occurring and their qualities accessible in awareness through ritual and meditation. The practitioner was encouraged to open a ‘dual current’ of both individualism and collectivism, for example, through rituals of an almost science-fiction nature. [46]

This idea is already present in Christian eschatology and dispensationalism. In a commentary on Fiore’s works, the Islamist scholar Henri Corbin ( 1903-1978) remarks:

The three Ages of which Joachim de Flore speaks [of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit] are not successive periods of historical time ... (and Berdiaev observes this in a profound remark ...) ... the three Ages represent unities of existential time, interior time ... The succession of these Ages plays itself out in the interior of souls, in the mystery of each soul ... In historical time in fact these Ages coexist. [47]

Hidden in the back of the Book of Thoth is an important reference to the Aeons as applying to psychology. [48] Crowley notes that the formula of the “dying god” has “a sort of shadowy validity in psychology”. [49] He gives the case that with every task of any importance:

One begins very pleasantly, the period of Isis; the task becomes tedious and baffling, one begins to despair, the period of Apophis; then suddenly the subject is mastered and one comes to a triumphant conclusion, the period of Osiris. [50]

It is likely no coincidence that whilst the Golden Dawn held no outright teaching in this regard, the Last Judgement card – one of the first illustrations to be seen by Crowley during his formative initiations – uniquely illustrates Osiris, Isis and Horus as arising from the tombs upon the design. It is also the tarot card that Crowley then came to name - some forty years later - the Aeon.

The concept of the Aeons is found throughout the Thoth Tarot, as we will examine in each individual card. The nature of each Aeon, the characteristics of the deities and the role of the tarot as illustrating both the New Aeon and the proof of Crowley as its prophet is to be found on many pages of the Book of the Thoth .

Now the “pagan” period is that of Isis; a pastoral, natural period of simple magic. Next with Buddha, Christ, and others there came in the Equinox of Osiris; when sorrow and death are the principal objects of man's thought, and his magical formula is that of sacrifice.

Now, with Mohammed perhaps as its forerunner, comes in the Equinox of Horus, the young child who rises strong and conquering (with his twin Harpocrates) to avenge Osiris and bring on the age of strength and splendor. His formula is not yet fully understood.

Following will arise the Equinox of Maat, the Goddess of Justice. It may be a hundred or ten thousand years from now; for the computation of time is not here as there. [51]

The influence of the Golden Dawn can still be seen in his reference to the “Equinox” of each deity; the Order taught that the magical currents changed at each Equinox, and the Hierophant of the temple was sometimes changed for another person at this time.

Crowley’s thinking on the ‘dying god’ was drawn from works such as The Golden Bough by Sir George Frazer, and his sense of the ‘pastoral’ Aeon of Isis was consistent with other thinkers including Johann J. Bachofen (1815 – 1887) who saw the developmental stages of humanity progressing through matriarchal to patriarchal phases. [52]

Can these ideas which are built into the Thoth Tarot apply to an everyday reading? When we read the Thoth Tarot, for ourselves or for another, we are presenting various aspects of these ‘Aeons’ playing out in the situation which is subject to our divination. Are we a ‘dying god’, sacrificing ourselves for an obsolete reason? Are we being true to our own star or merging with the collective? Are we being more like our father or our mother? Are we allowing a situation to burn out its own fire and fury? Do we need to let go of an utterly outworn belief or tradition? The Thoth is perhaps so brutal on the individual because it is so vast in scope.

In addition to structure of Kabbalah and the pattern of the Aeons being built into the deck, Crowley utilised a range of other esoteric teachings in his design, notably alchemy – with a specific association to sex magick - and astrology. We will turn our attention to these subjects in so much as they appear in the deck. The reader is directed to a recommended reading list available through the Arch of Bou-Saada mailing list which will guide further study.

Aeon Name (Deity)	Aeon Title (Characteristics)
Bes	Nameless (Primitive)
Isis	The Goddess (Agriculture, Tribal)
Osiris	The Dying God (Industry, Science, Religion) [44]
Horus	The Child (Psychology, the Self, Individualism)
Maat	Global/Cosmic Consciousness
Harpocrates	Transcendent, Wordless [45]