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Reading with the deck

Before the spread

Crowley did not design the deck to be read reversed; the meaning of a card is modified by its neighbours through elemental dignities and by its position. Read the whole spread first for the balance of suits and the presence of trumps and courts before reading any single card.

Elemental dignities

FriendsFire and Air; Water and Earth. A card between two friends is strengthened. EnemiesFire and Water; Air and Earth. A card between two enemies is weakened and its meaning turns toward its worse side. NeutralFire and Earth; Air and Water. Neither helps nor harms. Same elementStrongly strengthened, for good or ill. TrumpsTake the element of their letter: Mothers their element, planetary trumps by planet (Mars and the Sun as Fire, the Moon and Venus as Water, Mercury as Air, Saturn and Jupiter as Earth or Water in different schemes), zodiacal trumps by sign.

The Celtic Cross with the Thoth deck

The ten positions in Waite's order, with what to look for when the deck is Thoth.

  1. The present, the heart of the matter. Note its element; it sets the tone the others are dignified against.
  2. The crossing, what helps or hinders. Read the dignity of 1 and 2 together before anything else.
  3. The foundation, the root below the question; the unconscious ground.
  4. The recent past, what is passing away.
  5. The crown, the best that can be hoped, or what is consciously aimed at.
  6. The near future, what is coming into effect. Positions 4 and 6 flank 1 and dignify it.
  7. The querent, their attitude or self-image. A court card here is often the querent.
  8. The environment, other people, the house.
  9. Hopes and fears, which in this deck are frequently the same card.
  10. The outcome. If it is a court or an ambiguous card, Crowley's practice is to draw a further card and read it with the outcome.

Use the correspondences as connective tissue: two cards of the same sign, or a small card and the court that rules its decan, or a trump and the Sephiroth of its path, are telling one story.

The Opening of the Key

The Golden Dawn's spread, given in Book T and reprinted in the Book of Thoth. In summary:

  1. Choose a significator (usually a court card that fits the querent).
  2. First operation: cut the deck into four piles for YHVH, find the pile holding the significator, fan it and read by counting from the significator, then by pairing the cards from the ends inward.
  3. Second operation: deal into twelve piles for the houses; read the pile with the significator the same way.
  4. Third operation: deal into twelve piles for the signs.
  5. Fourth operation: deal into thirty-six piles for the decans.
  6. Fifth operation: deal into ten piles for the Sephiroth. The five operations are read as the development of the matter in time.

Counting values

Elemental trumps3 (Fool, Hanged Man, Aeon) Planetary trumps9 Zodiacal trumps12 Aces5 Small cardstheir own number Princesses7 Knights, Queens, Princes4

Count from the significator in the direction the figure faces (or, for cards without a figure, as the reader decides beforehand), landing on each card in turn until a card is reached that has already been counted.

Working psychologically

For a reflective rather than predictive reading, take one card and use active imagination: describe the picture aloud, let a figure in it speak, notice what the card refuses to say. The archetype pages collect the cards by the figure they carry.