Tarot and the Magus: Opening the Key to Divination, Magick and the Holy Guardian Angel

205 Pages·2004·3.98 MB·English

by  Paul Hughes-Barlow

THETAROT AND THE MAGUS
OPENING THE KEY TO DIVINATION, MAGICK
AND THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL
Paul Hughes-Barlow is a practicing Magician and Tarot Reader.
He regularly speaks at conferences and events, and has consulted to
many journals and websites.
He currently resides and practices in Brighton, England
A E O N

THE TAROT AND THE MAGUS
OPENING THE KEY TO DIVINATION, MAGICK
AND THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL
Paul Hughes-Barlow
A E O N
First published 2004
by Aeon Books Limited
London NW3
www.aeonbooks.co.uk
0 Paul Hughes-Barlow 2004
The moral right of the author has been asserted
AU rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. is available for this book from the British Library
llustrations from Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot@re produced
by permission of AGM AGMiiller. OAGM AGMiiller / OTO.
Extracts from the works of Aleister Crowley by permission of the OTO.
ISBN 1 904658 02 4
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Biddles
To Punditt Maharaj
Acknowledgements
Gerard Encausse, Gliphas Lkvi, McGregor Mathers and Aleister
Crowley, whose writings hint at many mysteries.
On the internet Jess Karlin and George Leake showed me the value of
rigorous scholarship on the Tarot, while the email queries from tarot
students around the world inspired me to create and develop the
Tarot Lessons on Supertarot, the basis of this book.
My best inspiration comes from people not obviously associated with
Tarot. Punditt’s mysticism, teachings and spiritual help have always
been forthcoming. Beryl’s spiritual and inspirational help and faith in
my abilities continues down the years, especially during the many
dark days. Elayne gave me space and more to write in Houston Texas;
the timely trip to New Orleans transformed the magical and spiritual
direction of this book. Prosper0 provided mutual encouragement on
writing books on Tarot in the various pubs of Kemptown. Last but not
least, my Publisher who courageously allowed me to develop the
book in ways beyond the original remits.

CONTENTS
1
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE 7
The Fool, The Universe and the Aces
The Opening of the Key Spread
CHAPTER TWO 15
The Magus, The Aeon, the Twos and the Kings
Overview of Reading the Cards
CHAPTER THREE 29
The Priestess, The Sun, the Threes and the Queens
Pairing the Cards
CHAPTER FOUR 43
The Empress, The Moon and the Fours
Elemental Dignities
CHAPTER FIVE 63
The Emperor, The Star and the Fives
Card Counting: Golden Dawn Tarot Sutras
CHAPTER SIX 75
The Hierophant, The Tower, the Sixes and the Princes
Unaspected Cards
CHAPTER SEVEN 85
The Lovers, The Devil and the Sevens
Love Relationships
CHAPTER EIGHT 105
The Chariot, Temperance (Art)a nd the Eights
Performing Readings for the Public
CHAPTER NINE 7 17
Justice (Adjustment),D eath and the Nines
The Visionary Experiences of the Shaman
CHAPTER TEN 137
The Hermit, The Hanged Man, the Tens and the Princesses
Sex Magick
CHAPTER ELEVEN 151
Fortune, Strength (Lust)
The Spirits of the Tarot
APPENDIX I 169
Meditations
APPENDIX I1 178
The 22 Mercurial Spirits of Liber 231
APPENDIX 111 182
The Qliphot and the Tarot
APPENDIX IV 186
Self Initiation and the Neophyte Spread
BlBLlOGRAP HY 7 94
Introduction
With hindsight it should have been obvious to all but the most shallow and
incompetent magician that a book structured upon the Golden Dawn system of
Tarot and the number eleven would inevitably result in some kind of magical or
spiritual knowledge. However, the fact is that the original ambition was simply
to present the Opening of the Key Spread, based upon the author’s Supertarot
website, to the general public. As the reader will see, this book is no mere primer
on the subject of readng tarot cards.
There are many books on tarot decks in which the format is to present a picture
of each card, provide a description and then to give the divinatory meanings.
The format has changed little since A.E. Wake wrote the accompanying book to
the Rider-Waite tarot nearly one hundred years ago. There are also a few books
focussing on the many varieties of tarot spreads. This book is neither. The original
intention was to study the first stage of the Opening of the Key Spread in which
the cards are cut into four piles. The piles are turned over, the top cards analysed
and then one of the piles is spread out in a horseshoe to be analysed using the
Golden Dawn techniques of Pairing and Counting.
I have used this spread professionally for many, many years and promoted
the spread on the Supertarot website. I not unnaturally considered myself fairly
knowledgeable about this spread and was not expecting any surprises during
the writing process. I could not have been more wrong. Since neither I nor the
publisher wanted to create a book based upon the distinctly uninspiring formats
currently followed, we hit upon the idea of structuring the book around eleven
chapters, eleven being Aleister Crowley’s favourite number of magick and
1