The Ritual Begins
Laid before me, the Tree of Life, in all its glory. I enter and find a mythical place of Strength, the Tower, the Hanged One, the Empress. Each has a story to tell, a scent or
taste to offer, and the path to the Crown is uniquely mine alone. The Fool serenely welcomes me, and I am offered food and drink as I try to digest what just
happened. I wander back to my tent feeling spiritually elevated and satiated.
Tarot Path-Working Ritual
Often rituals are scheduled to allow a period of time for participants to gather, to acclimatize to other participants and the ritual purpose. This can happen within or near the ritual space, or it can happen at a remote place in preparation for processing to the ritual site. The first thing to imagine is what participants encounter when they arrive at the ritual site or gathering spot and how they are prepared.
Earlier we described the team role of the greeter. This person is charged with ensuring that each participant is welcomed, introduced to at least one other person, and given any personal instruction or printed handout produced for the ritual. This is where the ritual begins, because a welcomed participant is already entering a sacred state of mind. Although the audience will have gotten information about your event through advertising or an invitation, this is your last opportunity to prepare participants for the ceremony.
One option is to hand out a written ritual program. It may have the ritual title, intent, description, and even an outline (order of service). It may include the lyrics for any songs to be sung in the ritual. Be sure to include contact information for the ritual team or sponsor, and note how and when feedback can be offered after the ritual. Once you offer a written program, keep in mind that unless everyone has a pocket, one of their hands will not be free to use during the ritual.
The greeter also performs another function, that of making the initial connection with the ritual team. They can respond to any immediate questions, and they become a familiar point of personal contact after the ritual.
We often use this time of arrival and gathering to teach songs or chants to be used in the procession or the main portion of the ritual. You can also begin establishing the ritual purpose at the gathering place. Use appropriate spoken words, activities, sensory experience, or theater. You can choose to consider the ritual as actually beginning here, as people gather in anticipation, and apply everything you have learned about setting the ritual stage as they arrive.
Gathering at the ritual site presents some problems, but with forethought they can be overcome. A common problem is that people naturally converse and remain in their own world when left in a crowd waiting for an event to start. They can splinter into small social groups and may need to be drawn back to their purpose in attending. Providing a focus for their attention will naturally solve that problem. Invite community announcements. Begin a song or chant, or drumming and dancing. Startle the crowd with action or humor. A jester or any distinct character will draw attention and stop conversation. When the time has come to begin, attention can then be readily transferred to the next step in the ritual. Avoid disrupting whatever mood you have begun building by saying, “Okay, the ritual is going to start now, please pay attention!” Why not be creative here, and through a sensory experience, a visual or auditory cue, demonstrate that the ritual is about to begin?
People can be brought into the ritual from their point of arrival in several different ways. How they are brought to the ritual will also depend on their number, the site, whether you are indoors or out, and how big a team you have. When considering the method you will use, look to your ritual intent for guidance. Your choice should reflect an option that moves your ritual purpose forward!
Processions
A procession moves your participants from the gathering spot to the sacred ritual space or ritual gateway. It is a symbolic journey from the normal world we experience, the mundane, to the sacred. You may have attended a traditional funeral where a hearse and procession of cars arrive at the gravesite. People exit the cars and assess their surroundings, and walk in silence to the ceremony. The solemnity of the event and social customs have dictated the nature of this procession, which prepares us for grief, remembrance, and burial. Silence allows us to reflect on the person lost to us and our own mortality, and to attune ourselves to the occasion.
In community ritual, the procession should be a time to prepare for the entry into sacred space. It can be silent, or it can include drums or other music, chant or song, or theater. It can be led by members of the ritual team, costumed and speaking in character. A procession can happen spontaneously and with little organizational form. It can be a time of bonding with the community of participants, or an individual walk focusing on one’s own inner world.
What feeling will best aid your participants to prepare for the ritual? It could range from buoyant frivolity to quiet anticipation, from fear and dread to joy and pleasure. Imagine your large group led by a couple of silly jesters or a fairy. Could they do the bunny hop or form a conga line? Would someone dressed as the Reaper and carrying a scythe create a somber tone? If you have a symbolic prop to use in your ritual, why not carry it at the head of your procession? Don’t underestimate the power of an easy but focused chant to create a feeling of shared experience.
It is always best to have at least one member of your ritual team in a procession. Everyone is usually excited to get started and an appropriate pace needs to be established. Kids will want to run ahead, the elderly may need more time. Set a pace that keeps your participants together! This is a bonding activity for participants, and moving together as a community supports that feeling.
If you want to sing or chant, keep it simple! It may seem a small matter to walk and vocalize, but it isn’t easy if the words or tune are unfamiliar. We can get easily winded when walking! A procession is marginal exertion, but add the strain on breathing that a song or chant represents and your participants can lose their ability to energetically contribute. The more complex, energetic, or important singing is to a procession, the more members of your team need to participate. It is better to have a procession in silence than to plan for one with many facets and components that falls apart on the way because it cannot be sustained. We don’t want our ritual to feel like a failure or too much effort right from the start!
Example
In our largest ritual (see chapter Thirteen), we used a method that alternated drumbeats with short phrases. This call-and-response was very effective in setting a pace and creating a warm invitation to join the procession and chant, energizing and embedding the theme into the participants and procession.
Sing tonight [boom—boom] Plant a seed [boom—boom]
Dream tonight [boom—boom] Come tonight [boom—boom]
(A lead caller shouts the upcoming words during the double drumbeat so the procession can easily learn and join in as an echo.)
Sometimes participants want to bring items to a ritual. It could be drums, rattles, or shakers. Maybe they have a blanket or chair to sit on, or a wrap if it turns cold when outside. Plan for how you will handle this in a procession, or even provide a cart or wagon to be part of the procession. We often have processions that lead to a path-working gate and then the path leads to the main ritual site. We love a raucous procession with drums and rattles. What if these items inhibit participants in the path-working? We solved the problem by processing past a blanket at the edge of the ritual site and dropping off our instruments there, modeling this action for the participants. We then finished the walk to the path-working gate in silence, reinforcing the ritual mindset taking root.
At night, or if it supports your ritual purpose, people may be asked to carry a candle, flashlight, glow stick, incense, or another item for use in ritual. Candles are beautiful for a procession, but flame and melted wax can be a fire hazard or prohibited indoors. Be aware how each of these items affects a procession. Ask yourself if the “effect” on the procession really supports the ritual purpose or inhibits it. Plan for items carried to be held for the duration of a ritual, placed in a clearly designated location, or disposed of when arriving at the ritual site.
Drums and other percussion instruments can add rhythm to a procession that gets everyone moving together. They can also become a chaotic force that drowns out a group or solo voice. Percussion tends to dominate tempo. If your ritual team cannot lead the percussion in a procession, choose a few strong percussionists you can trust. Keep the tempo moderate to slow, and simple. Someone will need to control the procession pacing, keep everyone together, and may need to adjust on the fly so the procession arrives intact and prepared.
Processions are most used out of doors but can also work great indoors. You can have a gathering spot just outside a door or in a building entryway and then process down a hall into a room. If there is only a doorway between two rooms, you can process the outer circumference of a gathering space before entering the room of the ritual site. Another option is to enter a doorway and process the outer circumference of the ritual room itself upon entrance. However you choose to include a procession, know the reason you are including one. Is it supporting your ritual vision somehow?
Whenever we plan for participants to move in ritual or a procession, we need to consider how those with limited mobility can be accommodated. These are not just people considered handicapped, but anyone for whom mobility presents a challenge. The elderly may not be as steady on their feet or able to navigate obstacles. Families with young children may have strollers or need to hold hands. Participants with limited endurance may simply not be able to walk more than a few yards. Often all it takes is advance thought to accommodate mobility issues. A few minutes removing or marking obstacles outdoors may be all that is needed. Providing a team member to offer aid at a bridge, narrow passage, or obstacle can solve the problem of universal access. When these options won’t work, we usually provide transport to the ritual site before the procession. Most people with disabilities are happy to know they have been thoughtfully included even if their ritual experience is different in a small way. If the totality of your ritual is challenging and requires adept mobility, reconsider how you promote, advertise, or assess your audience. You may have varied from what your community needs by not planning for a diversity of mobility needs.
Path-working is a term sometimes used to describe a visualized internal journey. We have expanded its meaning to encompass an actual physical journey as part of ritual. A ritual path-working can take many forms. It can be a method for organizing a complete ritual experience, flowing from beginning to end moving through several locations. A path-working can be an extended entry into a ritual site or a portion of a ritual, occurring anytime during it.
Path-workings are effective when participants need to receive an individual experience within a large group. This can be accomplished by setting up one or more experiences along the way to the location of the main part of the ritual. Here it becomes an experiential procession of sorts. If you are outside, position members of your team in secluded areas along the path to offer an emotional or sensory experience. A path-working is possible indoors and even within a single large room. Create stations using concealing cloth or props to create the effect you want. Path-working used to bring participants to the ritual site will allow them to attune to the ritual mindset. If you can keep them in that state until the entire group is assembled, you may be able to abbreviate the process of establishing sacred space.
A series of encounters can set up an expectation and prepare participants individually for resolution once all have arrived at the main ritual site. They may hear whispered questions, they may see a prop or scene that reappears later in the ritual, or experience a smell, taste, or touch. You might have them “force” their way through obstacles in the path or receive something relevant on the journey. This can be done indoors using a hallway or passage to make it seem a journey. Use path-working when you want a part of your ritual to be enhanced by a solitary experience.
Example
When we incorporate a costumed figure that represents deity or who plays a major symbolic role in ritual, we sometimes provide a decorated cot for them to “lie in state” as participants pass by in a path-working. This gives an opportunity for them to see and connect (or interact) with them in advance of their appearance in the later, gathered group portion of a ritual.
In very large group rituals, a path-working can be used to divide participants into smaller groups where they may experience a portion of the ritual more intimately than as a whole but not individually. A path-working within a largely attended group ritual can easily create a bottleneck. After rehearsing and thinking through the experience, we can often identify problems in advance and counter them. You should plan to provide guides to aid in a smooth movement along the path. Never assume how people will act or pace themselves in a path-working. There are some who will race through and some who will crawl in their thoroughness to experience the path completely. Plan to accommodate both and keep everyone moving without harming the ritual mindset and purpose.
We like to have our whole team also experience the parts of a ritual that are individual experiences. If you line up your ritual team in the order in which they are encountered by participants, each member of the team can then experience the ritual by leaving their station to join the main group immediately after all the participants have passed them. If we have a sound group, choir, or musicians, whenever possible we ask them to serve double duty and act as invisible guides in key parts of the ritual.
Whenever you use a path-working, remember it is a part of the ritual. It needs particular attention to every detail, because it has many opportunities to lose its relevance. Consider how each aspect of the path contributes to the ritual, just as you would with any other technique.
In ritual, a gateway can be either a physical structure or prop that acts as a doorway, or an unseen barrier established by the actions of the ritual team and then opened by the team’s actions or words. A gateway of some type is desirable in most rituals. We want participants to clearly feel, “Here you are outside the ritual; now you have entered.”
If your participants are gathered at your ritual site, you can still establish a gate to move the participants from a mundane crowd into a ritual space. When faced with a room full of people milling about, draw them through a gateway at one edge of the room to redefine them into participants now entering a sacred place for ritual.
Your gate can be as simple as two people, torches, flower pots, or any other props that define the two sides of a door. We have also had gates so elaborate that the entry gate became the heart of the ritual!
A gate can serve many and multiple functions:
- • To establish the entry to ritual space
- • To transition from mundane interaction occurring outside the ritual space
- • To challenge or to provoke thoughts from entrants verbally or physically; they must do or say or hear something in order to pass through
- • To smudge, bless, or anoint participants
- • To slow down or regulate the entrance rate of participants
- • To provide participants with any objects or props they may need within the ritual
- • To actually begin the experience of the intent of the ritual: a sensually elaborate statement of what is being entered
Some gateways are visual works of symbolic art. You could create one that people will somehow add to as they enter or leave something upon as they exit. Gateways can move participants through darkness or from darkness into light. A gate can provide physical contact, visual illusion, a gauntlet of sound or voices, or a potpourri of odors or tastes. Whatever your choice, it should be tailored to fit and reinforce the ritual intent, and flow with whatever is to follow, not be a gimmick or an isolated experience. The gateway will be as important to the purpose of the ritual as the effort you put into designing it and integrating it into the ritual plan.
Example
A powerful and simple gateway that just requires the availability of six or more people (and a regulator who stands at the entry and spaces people a few steps apart) is a whispering “gauntlet.” If your team or choir does not have other duties during entry, they can do double duty and help with this. Space team pairs a few steps apart from each other along the path, facing inward with enough room for a person to pass between them. Provide short phrases for each pair to whisper in each participant’s ears as they are briefly paused. Use words that support your intention and/or provoke thought such as: “Prepare for the great mystery,” “You enter the abyss.” Because the whispers are simultaneous, participants may miss the full phrases, but be assured the words enter the subconscious! The gauntlet can be adapted and used with percussion, sound, or many other sensory offerings.
One of our ritual glitches came within a wonderfully planned ritual when we had recruited a last-minute volunteer to smudge, bless, and cleanse participants at our entry gate. We did not know that the procession would gather nearly 200 people, nor what a vague term “smudge” was! As our team members were all acting within their characters and roles, it was 15 minutes before we realized the length of the entry line backup and the slowness of entry. Our smudger was doing a very thorough job, as she had been taught for personal ritual. She was wafting smoke up and down both sides and over the hands and feet of every participant. We hastily adjusted once we realized the difficulty. Even a brief rehearsal would have caught this misunderstanding before it had affected the ritual.
Your ritual participant numbers, type of procession or path-working, and entry through a gate into sacred space all need to be coordinated to flow smoothly. Especially in rituals with more than 50 people, a concise gateway method is advised. You can build the ritual intent at a gathering place, create an energizing and supportive procession, and have an amazing entry method or visually stunning gate, only to have the momentum crumble apart because of a 40-minute line to enter the ritual space.
When a gateway or entry may cause a long wait time, you can provide a community activity for those in line. A powerful chant or song, or sustained drumming or music, will help keep participants focused. Socially we are conditioned to have little patience for waiting. You may be able to use that impatience to further the intent. What could you do to encourage introspection among those in line? People who are physically uncomfortable or new to community ritual are the most vulnerable to losing focus while waiting for entry. If you lose the attention of your ritual audience right from the start with a boring wait time, you may never get them back.
Ritual: Tarot Path-Working Ritual
Location: Sacred Harvest Festival, 2008
© Nels Linde and Judith Olson Linde
Ritual context
This ritual was one of the largest and most theatrical we ever facilitated. All the tarot trumps were represented in full costume, presenting their own personal experience to festivants who encountered them. More than 200 people passed through the path-working, some coming back a second time since each trip was unique!
Ritual intent
Participants will experience the trumps of the tarot personified and at their essence. Their random choice will determine the path they follow through the Qabbalistic Tree of Life.
Ritual description
Tarot trump personas will conduct a brief walking meditation for those who draw that path. Participants will work their way up the Tree of Life through these meditative experiences as the draw of cards directs them.
Ritual setup and supplies
The Qabbalistic Tree of Life was laid out on the ground with wide florist ribbon. From Kether to Malkuth it measured nearly 100 feet long. Tipareth was the middle point, Kether nearest the ritual circle, Malkuth farthest away. The Temple of Malkuth was set up as the entry point. Festivants were smudged on entering the temple.
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Photo by Jenna Touchette |
Photo by Jenna Touchette |
Photo by Jenna Touchette
Devil trump, Fool trump, and High Priestess
persona (left to right, top to bottom).
Each Sephira (with the exception of Kether, which had a more elaborate setup) had a tiki torch, a blanket or rug for waiting, and a large pouch containing Hebrew letter cards, which determined randomly the path each person would take. There was a 10 x 17-inch tarot trump placard placed at the beginning of each path. These depicted the trump card and its corresponding Hebrew letter. Because the 14th, 19th, and 27th paths were accessible from either end, they had two placards, one at each end. (The B.O.T.A. website has Paul Foster Case’s trump images available for purchase and download in black and white.17 Print on legal size paper, color appropriately, mount on foam core, and you have your placards.)
The journey was one-way only—that is, from Malkuth to Kether. The paths each person took were determined by drawing a Hebrew letter card from the pouch at each Sephira. We downloaded the Hebrew alphabet from the Internet, made the letters about ¾-inch-high and bold, printed multiples onto card stock, and cut them into 1-inch square cards. We put the letters into each pouch to send participants on a journey in the direction of Kether (be sure to have plenty of extras of each letter, as you may have to refill if you get a large turnout). So, for instance, the pouch at Malkuth had tau, shin, and qoph as options. Yesod offered resh, tsaddi, and samech. Hod offered peh, ayin, and mem. Netzach offered a trip across peh as well, but also nun and caph. Tipareth was the starting point for lamed, zayin, gimel, heh, or yod. Refer to the arrows on the diagram for the rest.
Team members
Ritualista, at least 23 trump personas (two at Lovers), two greeters, exit guardian, wrangler. For this ritual, the more help, the better.
This ritual cannot be done without a dedicated crew of people willing to “own” their role. They should immerse themselves in the card they will act out, learning as much as possible about its meaning, correspondences, colors, and Qabbalistic associations. They are encouraged to creatively express their card in costume, and asked to somehow incorporate into it the Hebrew letter associated with their card. Each trump has a recommended taste and scent for their meditation and will need to devise a method of carrying these so they are easily accessible.
Trumps will meet each festivant (or groups of 2 or 3 as necessary) at the starting trump placard. Conduct this meditation by slowly walking them up the path a way, saying the first line, then stopping and asking participants to close their eyes, and then delivering the rest of the meditation. The trumps then offer a sensory experience and poetic words, finishing with “The path of [trump name] is now yours,” and walk or wave them forward. Festivants then have the last half of the path to meditate on what they have experienced as they slowly move to the next Sephira. Since the 14th, 19th, and 27th paths have two entry points, the Empress, Strength, and the Tower will be taking participants from either end. Once the participant reaches the next Sephira, they can wait there until they are ready to move onward.
Ritual script
A solemn drum procession announced the ritual’s opening, but festivants could wander down and experience the path-working from that time onward until its close. Once in the entrance temple (Malkuth), festivants were individually offered a draw from the pouch, which set them on their path. (Tell festivants to keep their Hebrew letter cards as a record of their journey. If they replace them into the wrong pouches it will become very confusing very quickly.) Judgement, the World, and the Moon were waiting a few steps up their ribbon-marked path. All the other trumps were at their reception point Sephira. The tarot trump personas each conducted a brief walking meditation for those who drew that path, and the festivants worked their way up the Tree of Life through these meditative experiences. The participants drew a letter from each Sephira pouch and followed instructions on to the next path. They waited until the trump of the path drawn was finished speaking to the current participant and was available, and then continued onward. As each festivant had to wait until greeted to move on, the trumps returned to their starting Sephira after each festivant was waved forward. (By random draw, some paths will have more activity and backups may occur.)
The path ended at Kether, where the Ritualista guided festivants to a large resting area around the fire. Here they were greeted with a water aspergement, snacks, and water to drink, as well as soft instruments (flute, didgeridoo, rattles) and chanting to create ambiance. The festivants stayed as long as they wished and left via a ribbon-marked exit at the South, which led around the East edge back to the road so as to not disturb path-walkers on leaving.
Below is what each trump character offered as participants approached them. The brief meditations and sensual offerings used by the trump characters were based on visualization exercises in the book The Shining Paths by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki.18 The poetic words spoken at the end were taken from The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley.19
FOOL: “The space between the pillars is pure light. Naked, and unencumbered, you embrace the new journey still ahead. You stand on the precipice, all of manifestation spread before you. As you look down to your own body, you find yourself clothed in the rags of a wanderer, holding a staff and a yellow rose. With a bark, your black dog leaps from the edge, and you follow, slowly spinning to your destiny.”
Taste: Fennel seed. “You will set your hand to the plow of experience, and sow the seeds of knowledge.”
Scent: Peppermint or neroli. “Your memories are the fruit of your past and your future. How will you preserve them?”
The Fool (Book of Thoth): “Know Naught! All ways are lawful to innocence. Pure folly is the Key to Initiation. Silence breaks into Rapture. Be neither man nor woman, but both in one. Be silent, Babe in the Egg of Blue, that thou mayest grow to bear the Lance and Grail! Wander alone, and sing! In the King’s palace his daughter awaits thee.”
MAGUS: “Bubbles slowly rise from the primordial ooze, through the past, present, and bursting at the surface, forming the future. A hand reaches down and plucks one up, then another hand, and as the bubbles rotate slowly, being juggled in the air, they take on form and light and color, until all the shapes that dictate form dance before you. A brightly costumed juggler appears, claiming these hands, as the objects of our world vibrate to life. He says, ‘As above, so below.’”
Taste: Dill. “As the shapes fall to earth around you, the juggler turns and walks through the doorway of a simple cottage.”
Scent: White sandalwood, lemongrass, or benzoin. “Turning back he asks, what spirits will share your house?”
The Magus (Book of Thoth): “The True Self is the meaning of the True Will: Know thyself through Thy Way! Calculate well the Formula of Thy Way! Create freely; absorb joyously; divide intently; consolidate completely. Work Thou, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, in and for Eternity.”
HIGH PRIESTESS: “Ahead the star Sothis. A camel leads you on the way of the mystic in the desert night. An infinitely deep chasm blocks your way, with only a rickety plank to cross it. A jackal appears and starts across. You follow, and it creaks and splinters. As you step across, it splits and falls with no sound. The Jackal now dissolves and you walk a paved path up a hill. Two glowing pillars appear extending to infinity in front of a veil of deep blue mist. As you approach soft wings encase you and the mother’s voice sounds, ‘Who follows the star, with no hope, are those who journey to me.’”
Taste: Lemon. “As you are so I was. As I am so you will be.”
Scent: Jasmine. “Who so crosses the abyss can stand before me and say, ‘I Am.’”
The High Priestess (Book of Thoth): “Purity is to live only to the Highest; and the Highest is ALL: be thou as Artemis to Pan! Read thou in The Book of the Law, and break through the veil of the Virgin.”
EMPRESS: “You are in a dark, tight passage. You know there is light and struggle to reach it. You feel the need to push and finally break free. You are held in the mossy arms of the green earth, in a courtyard old as ages. Framed by a vine-covered archway stands a woman of great beauty. She is the Mother, with all that that entails. She tells you the story of the creation, and of your creation, in a language lost to time, yet you hear and understand.”
Taste: Vanilla. “She cups your face and plants a kiss on your forehead.”
Scent: Rose. “Who enters the door, who leaves? Who keeps you from the outstretched nurturing hand?”
The Empress (Book of Thoth): “This is the Harmony of the Universe, that Love unites the Will to create with the Understanding of that Creation: understand thou thine own Will! Love and let love. Rejoice in every shape of love, and get thy rapture and thy nourishment thereof.”
EMPEROR: “Following the brightest star, you walk a moonlit forest trail. As the full moon rises you feel yourself lifted skyward. You fly past the moon and each planet in turn, until the glowing temple of the zodiac forms about you. Below you is a great castle, its round table visible to you as you peer through the window. The light focuses on the ritual chalice there, as it glows brighter and brighter.”
Taste: Ginger. “Just as it seems too bright to hold your gaze, you see within it the face of the supreme.”
Scent: Bay leaf or petitgrain. “Do you see deity in your own vessel?”
The Emperor (Book of Thoth): “Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn up thy thought as the Phoenix.”
HIEROPHANT: “Above the glowing hearth fire, a tapestry of the winged bull hangs. As you look closer, the scene develops perspective, and then becomes real. You stand atop the dais, dressed in white, ready to perform a royal wedding. As the winged bull leads the couple up the steps to you, you hear the ring of the smith’s hammer, drawing iron into nails at the anvil.”
Taste: Thyme. “Once offered the chalice of tears by pure white hands you now are blissfully wedded with the higher self.”
Scent: Cardamom or rosewood. “What can wed you to your higher consciousness? What fear holds you back?”
The Hierophant (Book of Thoth): “Offer thyself Virgin to the Knowledge and Conversation of thine Holy Guardian Angel! All else is a snare. Be thou athlete with the eight limbs of Yoga: for without these thou are not disciplined for any fight.”
LOVERS: “You walk along a seashore, warm with summer breezes. You see, rising from the water, a sword, brilliant in the sun. As you approach, you see yourself reflected on its mirrored surface. The image is you but not quite; it is a [insert opposite here, male or female] version of you. The sword dissolves as your twin steps forward, embracing you, and you continue your walk together, knowing love, knowing there is no separation.”
Taste: Lavender or peppermint. “What is the sword that parts you?”
Scent: Lavender, geranium, or peppermint. “What girdle binds you together?”
The Lovers (Book of Thoth): “The Oracle of the Gods is the Child-Voice of Love in thine own soul! Hear thou it! Heed not the Siren-Voice of Sense, or the Phantom-Voice of reason: rest in Simplicity, and listen to the Silence.”
CHARIOT: “The horses carry you forward over the hill. Ahead on the vast plain you see a walled city. As your chariot draws near you see many people brimming the battlements cheering and waving. You see also that the walls of the city are crumbling, the homes and buildings are derelict, the people are not well fed. You summon your power, you call for aid, and commence the rebuilding.”
Taste: Coriander or carrot. “How can a kingdom rule itself?”
Scent: Chamomile. “Which of your boundaries needs rebuilding?”
The Chariot (Book of Thoth): “The Issue of the Vulture, Two-in-One, conveyed; this is the Chariot of Power.”
STRENGTH: “Before you crouches an old one, above a figure in a black cloak. As they raise fists to punish again, you see your dark twin in their eyes. The crouched elder becomes you as a child, running toward you with a brightly wrapped gift. The child turns into a sweet lion, and you pet its mane. It twists and snarls to bite you and as you grasp its jaws, it melts into a gold cup filled with liquid. The first drink is bitter and foul, the second sweeter.”
Taste: Rosemary. “The third sip is sweet honey.”
Scent: Juniper berry or neroli. “What experience must you tame?”
Strength (Book of Thoth): “Mitigate Energy with Love; but let Love devour all things.”
HERMIT: “Bearing a lantern, you tread the castle path across the drawbridge and enter the courtyard. You shuffle into the darkened chapel where screened alcoves hold other seekers. As you hold your vigil in prayer, you examine your hands—each line and crack, a story or lesson learned.”
Taste: Caraway. “At dawn you awaken naked, and as you leave to greet the dawn you find a new monk’s robe about you.”
Scent: Wintergreen or sage. “What helping hand do you seek to fertilize your growth?”
The Hermit (Book of Thoth): “Wander alone; bearing the Light and thy Staff. And be the Light so bright that no man seeth thee. Be not moved by aught without or within: Keep Silence in all ways.”
WHEEL OF FORTUNE: “You walk the winding path toward the mountain, joining the stream of pilgrims of all tribes and classes ever upward on the quest. At each crossroads hawkers wave and offer directions, distraction, and shortcuts, some obviously false. You console the lost ones and find your sack of gold ever growing, as you move upward following the soaring eagles.”
Taste: Nutmeg or clove. “Finally, you see the mountain top, and it is covered with weary travelers, palms faced toward you.”
Scent: Cedar. “Do they wave in accomplishment or seek to ward you away?”
Fortune (Wheel of Fortune) (Book of Thoth): “Follow thy Fortune, careless where it leads thee. The axle moveth not: attain thou that.”
JUSTICE: “You enter the eight-sided temple of the sun. You see the four altars of the elements, and smell the scent of herbs beneath your feet. At the white marble altar stands the young goddess Maat, who demands truth with her eyes. The thrones of the 42 Karmic Assessors line the hall, waiting to question you. Maat stands aside, and light fills the altar to radiance.”
Taste: Spearmint. “Your eyes adjust to see the golden scales thereupon.”
Scent: Myrtle or palmarosa. “What is the lesson to learn in this life?”
Justice (Book of Thoth): “Balance against each thought its exact Opposite. For the Marriage of these is the Annihilation of Illusion.”
HANGED ONE: “In a gigantic workshop, a pottery, he gently picks you up and as you spin on the wheel, clay forms around you. Done now, you are hung upside down to dry. From upside down, you see things differently, more clearly, without distortions. You are placed in the kiln to burn away the dross. Small cracks make their way through the shell, and you know what and where these flaws are. You are set on a table and with sharp taps from his hammer, the pottery shell falls away.”
Taste: Caraway. “Have you forgotten your real self was inside?”
Scent: Wintergreen or sage. “What deep knowledge will bubble up into the light?”
The Hanged Man (Book of Thoth): “Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.”
DEATH: “Through the crowd you push your way to the river. A boat awaits with priests ready to prepare you for the journey. As the boat pushes off, you are laid upon a litter and a heavy silver mask is put over your face. The boat bumps against the shore and your litter is carried up to the stone monument, and then down into the bowels of the pyramid. Timeless stillness enfolds you. (Pause.) Like a hawk you hover, looking down at your still form. In a spiral you descend to rejoin your body.”
Taste: Vinegar. “Do you live this life fully?”
Scent: Cypress. “Do you walk in two worlds?”
Death (Book of Thoth): “The Universe is Change; every Change is the effect of an Act of Love; all Acts of Love contain Pure Joy. Die Daily! Death is the apex of one curve of the snake Life: behold all opposites as necessary complements, and rejoice.”
TEMPERANCE: “Staff in hand, you hike at dusk across a wide desert. You approach the largest oak imaginable, the heart of a most sacred place. As hoofbeats pound in your ears, you see centaurs approaching from behind. You try to hide and fall into a dark pit. As your eyes adjust you see snakes all around you. One glowing, golden snake approaches and bites you painfully on the leg. You are filled with memory and knowledge of the ages. You watch as the snake entwines upon your staff and becomes solid with it. Glowing now, it lights a tunnel back to the desert surface.”
Taste: Bergamot. “The staff turns to a fine bow in your hands, and you light an arrow skyward. It leaves a rainbow trail as it arches to the horizon.”
Scent: Hyssop or angelica. “Why do you wait? You are the foundation.”
Temperance (Book of Thoth): “Pour thine all freely from the Vase in thy right hand, and lose no drop. Hath not thy left hand a vase? Transmute all wholly into the Image of thy Will, bringing each to its token of Perfection. Dissolve the Pearl in the Wine-cup; drink, and make manifest the Virtue of that Pearl.”
DEVIL: “You walk a corridor of mirrors reflecting your image, and as you move, your image distorts and becomes twisted in illusion. Hysterically laughing, a goat rampages past, horns and tail breaking mirrors, your falseness falling like shards of turmoil. The corridor becomes cave-like, walls filled with drawings of new gods drawn over the layers of old.”
Taste: Sage. “The goat rushes back past, out now into the plain. A scapegoat carrying the sins of your tribe with it.”
Scent: Patchouli. “To which illusions are you enslaved?”
The Devil (Book of Thoth): “With thy right Eye create all for thyself, and with the left accept all that be created otherwise.”
TOWER: “On the gory field of battle, swords arc, clanging, and you run uphill to the mouth of a cave. You find a large, golden, glowing egg inside, and as you gaze at it, you see visions: villagers gossiping and insulting one another, and then retiring to their isolated hovels standing in ruin. The egg begins forming the cracks of hatching. Memories flood you of times of strong desire, creative leaps you have made, and of your own naked image.”
Taste: Black pepper. “A sharp red tongue and then a jagged mouth breaks through the egg, and with a crash it shatters and the Phoenix breaks free and lifts to the heavens.”
Scent: Pine or sassafras. “Who does your voice aid? What sword does it wield?”
The Tower (Book of Thoth): “Break down the forces of thine Individual Self, that the Truth may spring free from the ruins!”
STAR: “By starlight you walk the misty path between twin rivers, lush and verdant at dusk. Above the creatures of the night glide past. Below all is ethereal and beautifully calm. Enjoy the path of perfect, completed nature. Ahead the evening star is bright as a beacon.”
Taste: Lime. “Gazing in the rivers the vital silvery fish swim here and there at random.”
Scent: Camphor or eucalyptus. “How do you reach within and gain the prize?”
The Star (Book of Thoth): “Use all thine energy to rule thy thought: burn up thy thought as the Phoenix.”
MOON: “The mist clears between twin crystal pillars. On either side stand a wolf and a dog, and the sound of a thousand beating wings fills you. You circle a small fern-lined pond filled with giant goldfish. A large weather-stained stone phallus marks the path to the temple of white stone. Two leopards flank the steps, and lounging there is the hoofed, horned piper, rubbing fine oil on his brown skin. From the open doorway above, the draped figure of the Goddess of Love appears beckoning. As the breeze wafts animal musk and exotic perfume to you, they retire to the inner temple, smiling.”
Taste: Marjoram or honey. “As you turn to walk away, you see the phallus has now turned to a bright marble statue of lovers entwined and is decorated with fresh flowers.”
Scent: Sandalwood. “Do you weep for those who would not listen?”
The Moon (Book of Thoth): “Let the Illusion of the World pass over thee, unheeded, as thou goest from the Midnight to the Morning.”
SUN: “Soaring over forests and meadows of rich vegetation and fields of glorious bright flowers, you glide above the white marble city with its temples and schools and observatories and land at the steps of the center of learning. You ascend between lions of stone to greet sages and teachers. They teach that to forgive is to remember and to begin anew.”
Taste: Tangerine. “How does the wick burn so bright in the candle, and only strengthen with the pain of fire?”
Scent: Frankincense or cinnamon. “How do you light the darkness?”
The Sun (Book of Thoth): “Give forth thy light to all without doubt; the clouds and shadows are no matter for thee. Make Speech and Silence, Energy and Stillness, twin forms of thy play.”
JUDGEMENT: “Follow the salamander to the spirit of primal fire. Stepping onto the bed of glowing coals you feel your essence, your body, burn away, as you transform through the fire. The eyes of the gorgon and your own past incarnations burn into you as you rise from the flames like the Phoenix. Reborn by the smith’s forge, you seek to quench your new form.”
Taste: Basil. “Between lies the middle path.”
Scent: Pennyroyal or anise. “Cleansed, where do the guiding divine hands at each side lead?”
Judgment (Book of Thoth): “Be every Act an Act of Love and Worship! Be every Act the Fiat of God! Be every Act a Source of radiant Glory.”
WORLD: “Walk the path of descent. Be stripped of all trappings, assumptions, self-image, personas, and ornaments. Descend into the underworld, past the phantoms of the dead, and monstrous beings. Cross the narrow bridge over the river Styx, past the Watcher of the threshold. You are the guest of the night of time.”
Taste: Pomegranate. “Now impaled on a cross of equal arms, you spin slowly in space, and find truth.”
Scent: Myrtle or vetiver. “What will you miss about leaving your physical body?”
The World (Book of Thoth): “Treat time and all conditions of Event as Servants of thy Will, appointed to present the Universe to Thee in the form of thy Plan. And blessing and worship to the prophet of the lovely Star.”
17 Builders of the Adytum, http://store.bota.org.
18 Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, The Shining Paths: An Experiential Journey through the Tree of Life (The Aquarian Press, 1983; 2nd ed., Loughborough, UK: Thoth Publications, 1997). Adapted with permission.
19 Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth © Ordo Templi Orientis. All rights reserved. Used with permission.