Hi there! Welcome to the Sunday Spread where I pull three Thoth tarot cards to give us some things to consider for the week ahead. I believe that tarot isn’t prophecy, it’s a tool for introspection and contemplation so don’t think that what the cards say is the law. As Aleister Crowley famously said, “do as thou wilt,” meaning, do what feels true to you. Take this reading with a grain of salt and think about how it might fit into your life.

This week’s cards popped out of the deck all at once in a group of three as I overhand shuffled the deck. All of the cards in all of the Sunday Spread posts will be upright as I don’t feel the need for reversals with Thoth, and as always, we’ll keep the analysis brief and save the breakdown of all the symbolism for the Card Deep Dives. Here are our cards for this week’s Sunday Spread:

Adjustment

In the Rider Waite Smith deck, this is the Judgement card. We can see an echo of that theme in the scales, visually though, nothing in this card resembles the RWS Judgement. Rather than corpses rising out of coffins reaching toward a giant angel in the clouds hoping for redemption, here we have a peaceful card of perfect balance. Everything in this card is serene and symmetrical.

Anything is possible but that means that what can be great can also be terrible, serenity lies in the balance.

Seven of Swords

This card is visually cold and icy; the light blue background and white transparent, very pointy, stars emphasize this. The central image here is one large sword with signs of many battles pointed upward in the center and six small swords, three on each side fanned out pointing toward the blade of the large sword. the symbols on the handles show the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn on the small swords and the Sun on the large one. Crowley’s words on this card are rather bleak.

I don’t think this means our week will be in absolute shambles, though. If we think about the card before it, Adjustment, we just need to remember to balance. Don’t go bounding into heavy work without remembering to rest, for example. It’s important to consider all of the cards together and not be thrown into a spiral when a less than great card shows up. The cards are reminders to be aware and raise your consciousness.

The Hierophant

This is a very complicated card, even visually there is a lot happening in this composition. At the center is a man resembling a holy figure; he is styled much like classical depictions of Christ or other important figures within Christian church systems throughout art history. He has a halo-like circle behind his head and holds his right hand down much like Christ in his many-painted forms. The staff, or wand, he holds has three circles at the top. In Christian traditions this would symbolize the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in Crowley’s Thelema these are the Aeons of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. Wrapped around this religious man is a bull symbolizing Taurus. We see another Taurus reference in the choice of earthly colors, browns and reds, the literal color of dirt or earth.

Crowley’s writing on this card is still convoluted to me but thankfully we have the book, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo DuQuette. He writes, “he is the Prince Charming in the cosmic fairytale—our Holy Guardian Angel. […] Our microcosmic self is the dancing child in the pentagram upon the Hierophant’s macrocosmic breast.”

I interpret this, along with the visual imagery, to mean that no matter the religion, the Hierophant is the entirety of cosmic knowledge and tradition and we are just a mere baby yearning for these things. The Taurus imagery is a reminder to stay grounded in our cosmic pursuits. Interestingly in this combination of cards, there is a small blue woman holding a sword downward in a pose very similar to the woman on the Adjustment card; there is visual balance bookending this spread.

The Takeaway

So, TLDR: we can have a sense of satisfaction as long as we remain balanced. Don’t rush into anything this week without knowing what you’re up against, and remember to stay grounded in your pursuits of knowledge, tradition, and spiritualism.

See you again next Sunday!