in Sir E. A. Wallis Budge's "Amulets and Talismans".
TAARP -
Why TAARP is Unique
For the resumes of Glenn Johnson and Fred E. Howard III, see the First TAARP Technical Report (TR-001), Block 3: The Technical Report (Itself), Appendix A. For further biographical information on Mr. Howard see:
I want to be very clear about exactly what it is that I think is unique about TAARP's approach to natal astrology. It is not just that we are conducting a truly scientific investigation. It is the combination of the comprehensive scope, the precise attention to explicit detail, the complexity and thoroughness of the analysis, and our focus upon the works of Aleister Crowley.
There is no doubt that there have been other good scientific investigations of natal astrology and other forms of astrology. In particular I refer to works like that of Michel and Francoise Gauquelin, and John Addey. The book "Recent Advances in Natal Astrology" by Geoffrey Dean, Arthur Mather, et al reviews many good studies of various pieces of natal astrology and other forms of astrology. However, none of the published material that I am familiar with is even in the ballpark of what is required to serve as a good scientific appraisal of the validity of natal astrology. TAARP has not conducted a thorough review of the astrological literature, but we are fairly familiar with the kinds of things in the literature, and to date (November 2000) we are not familiar with any efforts that tackle the subject of natal astrology on the level that we propose.
Let me give you an example. The Gauquelins claim in their works, as I understand them, that for individuals who are world class athletes, such as Olympic medal winners or national champions, there is a significantly higher probability for them than for other people that the planet Mars at the moment of birth will be just above the eastern horizon or just past the zenith. They found the same trend for world class actors and politicians except it was Jupiter and not Mars that was rising just above the eastern horizon or culminating just past the zenith at the moment of birth. The same held true for world class scientists with Saturn involved, and world-class writers with the Moon involved. In each of these cases except one, the correlation between the character feature and the planet involved agrees precisely with astrological tradition. The exception is the case of the Moon. Mercury for writers would have been more appropriate. The Gauquelins also claim that there is nothing to all of the astrological business about the meanings of planets in signs.
My first rejoinder to these claims is that, notwithstanding the fact that I have no firm evidence to support it, I am pretty sure that the Gauquelins did not attempt a comprehensive interpretation of natal charts, and that instead they simply did things like take the meaning of a planet in a sign such as the Sun in Leo, and try to correlate the standard meaning thereof with character traits manifesting in natives with the Sun in Leo. In comparison to what the Guaquelins did, what needs to be done is something along the nature of TAARP's work, which attempts to comprehend the totality of a natal horoscope, and based upon an extensive set of criteria identify prominent planets and astrological complexes. This is a much more difficult task than the one the Gauquelins undertook, and we think that with a much more comprehensive approach the following may indeed prove to be the case.
The more comprehensive approach will find a much higher statistical correlation than the Gauquelins found between specific planetary prominence in natal horoscopes and character traits of individuals. For example there are numerous ways that the planet Mars can be strong in a natal horoscope. Some of these are:
If Mars is rising just above the eastern horizon then it will tend to be strong. But if in addition it is also in its determent in Cancer and is conjunct Neptune, then these two factors will severely restrict the power in Mars due to its rising position. On the other hand, no matter where Mars is relative to the four angles (i.e., ascendant, zenith, descendant, and nadir) if it is in Capricorn and trine Saturn and Jupiter, sextile Uranus, and semi-sextile Pluto, then more than likely it will be very strong , and there is a reasonable chance that it will dominate the natal horoscope. However, even this is not enough to insure that the native will have the attributes required for high athletic achievement. In addition to the specifications given above for Mars, assume also that in the natal horoscope:
As emphasized repeatedly throughout this website, the great difficulty with natal astrology is the immense complexity of the subject. There are a large number of parameters (i.e., 10 planets in 12 signs, 10 planets in 12 houses, and 20 or more planetary aspects) all interwoven and synergistically operating together. A good comparison is the complexity of the living biological eurkaroytic cell (i.e., a cell with a nucleus as compared with the various forms of bacteria which have no nucleus). What goes on in the nucleus is effected by what goes on in the mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, the ribosomes, and the other organelles, and likewise what goes on in them is influenced by what goes on in the nucleus. Furthermore, all of these distinct features of the cell are made up of complex biochemical molecules and the general makeup and structure of the cytoplasm is also functioning in complex synergy with the rest of the cell. Consider also how terribly sensitive the healthy operation of a biological cell is to such simple little things as the predominance of hydrogen ions (i.e., the pH of the cell). Alter the cell pH just a tad to more acidic or more basic than it "desires" and the beautifully synchronous complex harmony of the cell deteriorates into absolute chaos. A proper approach to natal astrology must be as comprehensive and in depth as a proper approach to cell biology, human anatomy, depth psychology, and cosmology. The power of the scientific method including adequate utilization of computers with emphasis on artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, adaptive/self-organizing mechanisms,and multivariate analysis will be required to sort out what truth, if any, there is in natal astrology. TAARP is proposing just such an investigation of this elusive subject.
I will now make a few comments on one very specific TAARP attribute that puts it in a unique position to attack natal astrology on the requisite level of complexity. This attribute deals with the works of Aleister Crowley, and the fact that I, Fred E. Howard III, am fairly unique amongst my fellowmen in that I have seriously studied the technical works of Aleister Crowley for 30 years, and furthermore, I have had some pretty good success at fathoming the messages he has to offer. At numerous places on this website I have referred to the importance of Aleister Crowley vis-à-vis understanding natal astrology. I will here focus on trying to convey to the reader the importance of esoteric knowledge versus exoteric knowledge in the investigation of natal astrology, and the high degree to which Crowley was privy to esoteric knowledge.
In the first place, it is most important to understand that in all the world's great religions the real essence of religious truth lies in the mystical teaching of the religion. In the Hebrew religion it is the Qabalists who have mystical knowledge. In Christianity it is the Gnostics. In Islam it is the Sufis. The great Egyptologist Sir E. A. Wallis Budge discussing this subject in one of his books, and I believe it is one of his two volumes entitled "The Gods of the Egyptians", says something like the following in reference to an ancient Egyptian papyrus: "Right here in the margins the scribe is saying 'here is the truth (refering to something written in the papyrus), but here is what we will tell the people'." The Hebrew Qabalah does not curse woman, knowledge, and the Wise Old Serpent the way the Bible does, but rather it venerates and worships all three. This is also the case with the Gnostic gospels. (See Elaine Pagels' book "The Gnostic Gospels").
We have the same situation with the occult sciences such as astrology, the Tarot cards and numerology. There is a well known body of exoteric knowledge for each of these subjects and there is a much less well known esoteric body of knowledge for each of them. The wonderful astrological author Liz Greene is a good example of a fine exoteric astrologer. Her knowledge of mythology is very good. She is a very critical and creative thinker, but she is clearly not of the esoteric nature that Aleister Crowley is. Let's look at a few examples.
First, listen to Crowley talking in "the Complete Astrological Writings of Aleister Crowley" on P-149 in his discussion of the meaning of Uranus in Scorpio where he explains to us why the modern astrologers are so wrong in assigning rulership or partial rulership of Neptune to Pisces, Pluto to Scorpio, and Uranus to Aquarius instead of the classical rulerships of Jupiter to Pisces, Mars to Scorpio, and Saturn to Aquarius. (Note that Crowley uses the term "house" instead of "sign" when referring to Aquarius. This is a terrible confusion that permeates many astrological writings by many authors. There are 12 zodiacal signs and 12 diurnal houses. To refer to the signs as houses is very misleading. Also, note that in the following quote Crowley does not mention Pluto, because at the time he wrote it Pluto had not been discovered.)
"The nature of Uranus is so singularly like that of Scorpio, so far as his less humanitarian and uplifting aspects are concerned, that we may anticipate his presence in this house to be so strong as to dominate the personality, even where that is of an opposite character. The excellence of this position will depend largely upon the aspects of Uranus, more so than in the case of other signs. It has been generally alleged that Uranus has a special affinity for the sign Aquarius, and some innovators have gone so far as to call it his house. To such a position, breaking up as it does the entire septenary system of correspondences, it is impossible to assent. Neptune and Uranus represent forces far beyond the plane on which that system operates; and it is useless to destroy the old unless the new is demonstrably better. We prefer to assign Uranus to all the Cherubic signs, Neptune to all the passive signs, while the primum mobile may be properly considered to rule over the Cardinal signs. By this method, we not only retain the septenary system but complete it by assimilating it to the Qabalistic tenfold system of the Tree of Life, without the smallest disturbance. We retain the twelvefold Zodiac, and the attributions of the Tarot, and a thousand other systems which are irrevocably interlocked with these; and we remain in prefect communion with the thought of the Ancients. This appears a wiser and more rational course than to exhibit our ignorance of the necessity of the septenary in order to show off our knowledge about Uranus."Knowledge and understanding of the issues Crowley expands upon in such of his works as "777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley" and "The Book of Thoth" are required in order to appreciate this quote.
Now look at another example that deals with Jupiter and the mythological entity IAO. It must be stated up front that the issue of IAO is very, very complex. In addition to the references to it below from Crowley's works it should be studied in a variety of mythological writings by a variety of authors and in particular:
in Sir E. A. Wallis Budge's "Amulets and Talismans"."It is important to notice some other correspondences. The three vowel-consonants of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, Yod, Ayin, these three letters form the sacred name of God, I A O. These three Atu, IX, O, and XV, thus offer a threefold explanation of the male creative energy; but this card especially represents the masculine energy at its most masculine. Saturn, the ruler, is Set, the ass-headed god of the Egyptian deserts; he is the god of the south. The name refers to all gods containing these consonants, such as Shaitan, or Satan." (Also see pages 336-337 of Crowley's book "Magick in Theory and Practice".)
"Essential to the symbolism are the surrounding – barren places, especially high places. The cult of the mountain is an exact parallel. The Old Testament is full of attacks upon kings who celebrated worship in 'high places'; this, although Zion itself was a mountain! This feeling persisted, even to the days of the Witches' Sabbath, held, if possible, on a desolate summit, but (if none were available) at least in a wild spot, uncontaminated by the artfulness of men."
To begin to get an appreciation for this it is really necessary to study "The Book of Thoth" in its entirety along with the deck of Thoth tarot cards that Crowley designed and Lady Freida Harris executed into artistic form. From these and specifically from page 278 of "The Book of Thoth" it can be seen that except for the three archetypal planets (i.e., the three planets that cannot be seen with the naked eye, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto) there is a one-to-one correspondence between the 22 Tarot Trumps and the 7 personal planets (i.e., the 7 planets that can be seen with the naked eye and note that in astrology the Sun and the Moon are called planets) plus the four elements of fire, air, earth, and water plus the 12 zodiacal signs. (Note that 7+4+12=23, and there are only 22 Tarot trumps, but one trump, the last one, corresponds to both the planet Saturn and the element earth.) (Note also that of the 12 x 7 = 84 combinations of the 7 personal planets in the 12 zodiacal signs, 36 of the combinations correspond, except for the four aces, to the small cards in the four suits of the minor arcanna in the Tarot cards. For example, the 2 of swords corresponds to the Moon in Libra, the 6 of cups corresponds to the Sun in Scorpio, and the 4 of wands corresponds to Venus in Aries. Furthermore, the court cards of the minor arcanna correlate in a certain way with the zodiacal signs. For example, the Queen of Wands rules from 20 degrees Pisces to 20 degrees Aries, and the Knight of Disks rules from 20 degrees Leo to 20 degrees Virgo. See pages 282 and 283 of Crowley's "The Book of Thoth".)
Now look at Crowley's and Harris' Xth Tarot Trump, which is titled "Fortune", and Crowley's discussion of this card in "The Book of Thoth", and note that in astrology the planet Jupiter corresponds to the Xth Trump in the Tarot cards.
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| Crowley/Harris Xth Trump |
There is a wheel with three mythological beings on the circumference. They are the Sworded Sphinx, Hermanubis, and Typhon. All of this is very important for astrologers who are trying to understand the meaning of the planet Jupiter, and by far most of it is well beyond what the great majority of astrologers ever delve into in their study of astrology. However, we have not yet ventured into the more esoteric meaning of Jupiter. We will now do so by quoting from Crowley's "The Vision and the Voice", which is a most wonderful work, both in and of itself and in terms of the story behind which it came to be. Suffice it to say here that Crowley would perform a certain form of ritual magick using the Enochian wisdom of the 16th century occult investigators Dr. John Dee and Sir Edward Kelley. Crowley would go into a mystical trance state and see visions and hear voices. Here is the result he got when he performed the Enochian ritual for the evocation of the 20th Aethyr.
"... and there cometh a peacock into the stone, filling the whole Aire. It is like the vision called the Universal Peacock, or, rather, like a representation of that vision. And now there are countless clouds of white angels filling the Aire as the peacock dissolves."
"Now behind the angles are archangels with trumpets. These cause all things to appear at once, so that there is a tremendous confusion of images. And now I perceive that all these things are but veils of the wheels, for they all gather themselves into a wheel that spins with incredible velocity. It hath many colours, but all are thrilled with white light, so that they are transparent and luminous. This one wheel is forty-nine wheels, set at different angles, so that they compose a sphere; each wheel has forty-nine spokes, and has forty-nine concentric tyres at equal distances from the centre. And wherever the rays from any two wheels meet, there is a blinding flash of glory. It must be understood that though so much detail is visible in the wheel, yet at the same time the impression is of a single, simple object."
"It seems that this wheel is being spun by hand. Though the wheel fills the whole Aire, yet the hand is much bigger than the wheel. And though this vision is so great and splendid, yet there is no seriousness with it, or solemnity. It seems that the hand is spinning the wheel merely for pleasure – it would be better to say amusement."
"A voice comes: For he is a jocund and ruddy god, and his laughter is the vibration of all that exists, and the earthquakes of the soul."
"One is conscious of the whirring of the wheel thrilling one, like an electric discharge passing through one."
"Now I see the figures on the wheel, which have been interpreted as the Sworded Sphinx, Hermanubis and Typhon. And that is wrong. The rim of the wheel is a vivid emerald snake; in the centre of the wheel is a scarlet heart; and, impossible to explain as it is, the scarlet of the heart and the green of the snake are yet more vivid than the blinding white brilliance of the wheel."
"The figures on the wheel are darker than the wheel itself; in fact, they are stains upon the purity of the wheel, and for that reason, and because of the whirling of the wheel, I cannot see them. But at the top seems to be the Lamb and Flag, such as one sees on some Christian medals, and one of the lower things is a wolf, and the other a raven. The Lamb and Flag symbol is much brighter than the wheel itself, and occupies more space than it did."
"It speaks: I am the greatest of the deceivers, for my purity and innocence shall seduce the pure and innocent, who but for me should come to the centre of the wheel. The wolf betrayeth only the greedy and the treacherous; the raven betrayeth only the melancholy and the dishonest. But I am he of whom it is written: He shall deceive the very elect."
"For in the beginning the Father of All called for lying spirits that they might sift the creatures of the earth in three sieves, according to the three impure souls. And he chose the wolf for the lust of the flesh, and the raven for the lust of the mind; but me did he choose above all to simulate the pure prompting of the soul. Them that are fallen a prey to the wolf and the raven I have not scathed; but them that have rejected me I have given over to the wrath of the raven and the wolf. And the jaws of the one have torn them, and the beak of the other has devoured the corpse. Therefore is my flag white, because I have left nothing upon the earth alive. I have feasted myself on the blood of the Saints, but I am not suspected of men to be their enemy, for my fleece is white and warm, and my teeth are not the teeth of one that teareth flesh; and mine eyes are mild, and they know me not the chief of the lying spirits that the Father of All sent forth from before his face in the beginning. (His attribution is salt; the wolf mercury, and the raven sulphur.) Now the Lamb grows small again, there is again nothing but the wheel, and the hand, that whirleth it."
"And I said: 'By the word of power, double in the voice of the Master; by the word that is seven, and one in seven; and by the great and terrible word 210, I beseech thee, O my Lord, to grant me the vision of thy Glory.' And all the rays of the wheel stream out at me, and I am blasted and blinded with the light. I am caught up into the wheel. I am greater than the wheel. In the midst of a myriad lightnings I stand, and I behold his face. (I am thrown violently back on the earth every second, so that I cannot quite concentrate.)"
"All one gets is a liquid flame of pale gold. But its radiant force keeps hurling me back. And I say: By the word and the will, by the penance and the prayer, let me behold thy face. (I cannot explain this, there is confusion of personalities.) I who speak to you, see what I tell you; but I, who see him, cannot communicate it to me, who speak to you."
"If one could gaze upon the sun at noon, that might be like the substance of him. But the light is without heat. It is the vision of Ut in the Upanishads. And from this vision have come all the legends of Bacchus and Krishna and Adonis. For the impression is of a youth dancing and making music. But you must understand that he is not doing that, for he is still. Even the hand that turns the wheel is not his hand, but only a hand energized by him."
"And now it is the dance of Shiva. I lie beneath his feet, his saint, his victim. My form is the form of the god Phtah, in my essence, but the form of the god Seb is my form. And this is the reason of existence, that in this dance which is delight, there must be both the god and the adept. Also the earth herself is a saint; and the sun and the moon dance upon her, torturing her with delight."
So, all of the information given in this quote is quite essential to grasp if an astrologer wants to pursue the meaning of the planet Jupiter to any real depth. Once this is done, the astrologer is now half way to attempting to comprehend the meaning of Jupiter in Cancer in a natal horoscope. The other half of the work to be done is studying the meaning of the VIIth Tarot Trump, "The Chariot", in "The Book of Thoth" and the Thoth tarot cards, because the VIIth Trump corresponds to Cancer. In doing this the astrologer will learn that the zodiacal sign of Cancer is involved with the chariot that is in one of Eziekel's visions, the letter of the Hebrew alphabet called Cheth, the great magick word Abra-Had-Abra, the uniting of the microcosm (i.e., the human ego) with the macrososm (i.e., the totality of the Universe), the evocation and banishing rituals of the pentagram and the hexagram, and many other issues. Now the astrologer is prepared to try to really understand the meaning of Jupiter in Cancer in a natal horoscope. Furthermore, since it is impossible to ever gain a good understanding of the meaning of one Tarot Trump without also gaining an understanding of all the Tarot Trumps because they are all so interlinked in meaning, after "conquering" the Xth and VIIth Trumps the astrologer will have also "conquered" the other 20 Trumps and hence the astrologer will be ready to try to understand all of the 7x12=84 meanings of the seven personal planets in the 12 zodiacal signs. Prior to being prepared for the truly tough synthetic job of analyzing a natal horoscope in it's totality the astrologer in addition to acquiring knowledge of the 84 meanings of the 7 personal planets in the 12 zodiacal signs must also gain an appreciation of the meanings of:
If there is any doubt in the reader's mind that Crowley's "The Book of Thoth" and his and Lady Freida Harris' Thoth tarot cards represent powerful and deep esoteric mystical wisdom let him/her perform the following ritual. Set aside at least two hours a day for 22 days in a row for concentrated focus on their Tarot cards. Eliminate all alcohol, illegal drugs, and sex for this period of time. On the first day take the first Tarot trump, which has Roman numeral 0 on it and so should more properly be called the 0th Tarot Trump and is titled "The Fool", and study the symbolism in the card with the analytical mind and by meditation. Set it on the kitchen table as you prepare and eat breakfast. Take it to work with you. Keep it concealed from others and periodically take it out and look at it. Keep it out and in view while preparing and eating dinner. After dinner read what Crowley says about it in "The Book of Thoth". If you have any mythology books handy, look up the many mythological references Crowley mentions in his discussion of the card in "The Book of Thoth". Now place the card on an altar that you have previously built just for this occasion. Light a candle, burn some incense, and/or whatever you can do to create a sincere atmosphere. Now take whatever instruments you normally use to be creative with and create. This can be pen and paper for writing or drawing, oil or acrylic and canvas for painting, the piano or guitar for music, or just simply your feet for dancing. Create in honor of the Tarot card. Write a poem, or make an abstract drawing, or create a tune, or do an improvised dance. The only thing that is critical is that you spontaneously create in honor of or in the nature of the Tarot Trump called "The Fool". Have the card close by as you fall asleep. Look at it at once before you fall asleep and sincerely ask the Universe to communicate to you that part of Itself that is embodied in "The Fool" in a dream. Arise at least 1/2 hour early the following morning and carefully record your night's dreams. After this, take out the 1st Tarot Trump with Roman numeral I on it, which is titled "The Magus" and proceed as you did the day before. Proceed in a similar fashion for 22 days in a row. At the end of the 22 day period if the experiences that you have had in your dreams and waking life have not convinced you of the esoteric power of Crowley's and Harris' Tarot cards, then repeat the 22 day process and possibly add in at your discretion one or some combination of the following:
To help insure proper effect on the first 22 day attempt do the following. Take off 22 days and ride the rails in open box cars with your sex partner and lots of caffeine, nicotine, and marijuana. If this is not effective, then check your birth certificate to make sure it says "homo sapiens sapiens". The aspirant should be advised that if he/she is not in good physical, mental, and emotional health, then this exercise in any form should not be attempted because it is pure and simple a method for raising the kundalini, the serpent power which lies asleep (in most of us) coiled at the bottom of the spine ready to leap to life and propel the individual to a higher and more exalted level of existence. Before beginning this exercise it would be very helpful if the aspirant read the Gopi Krishna's "Kundalini, The Evolutionary Energy in Man". Note that the kundalini corresponds to Uranus in the zodiac and to Crowley's true/Magickal will and Crowley's Holy Guardian Angel.
In addition to all of the reasons given above for TAARP's uniqueness in terms of conducting a proper scientific investigation into the validity of natal astrology, there is one additional very important element of our uniqueness. This other element deals with the potent nature of my partner, Mr. Glenn Johnson.
Glenn is the brains in the outfit. He is very intellectually sharp. He is most adept on the computer. He learns very quickly. He is very creative. He is an avid and very knowledgeable amateur astronomer. Block 14 presents some of his astrophotography. He has very good ideas about new analytical methods for investigating natal horoscopes, and he has a good synthetic ability to pick out salient features of natal horoscopes. However, his most valuable attribute vis-à-vis our astrological research is his natural mystical nature which manifests in powerful archetypal dreams, deep intuition, and spontaneous hallucinatory experiential encounters with natal horoscopes. I am of the opinion that if TAARP had funding to support Glenn so that he could focus his full powers on the research instead of having to work a mundane job to support himself, then his hallucinatory experiential encounters with natal horoscopes would really mature and enable him to discern the "hidden secrets" of natal astrology.
I will conclude this block by giving further evidence that TAARP is fully aware of the importance of esoteric matters vis-à-vis the essence of astrology. The following discussion will only make sense to people who have given serious consideration to Crowley's technical works and in particular to his "The Book of Thoth". The issue I will discuss deals with the comment "Tzaddi is not the star" given to Crowley by Aiwass when Aiwass dictated "The Book of The Law" to Crowley in 1904. (See Block 7: The TAARP Sidereal Zodiac for more discussion of "Tzaddi is not the star".) The importance of this issue for astrology is involved with what the true nature of Aries and Aquarius are, and also possibly with what the true nature of the sacred septenary is. There are also serious implications concerning exactly what age it is that mankind has just entered. It is Aquarius, or is it Leo, or is it Aries, or is it Libra? Or, is it Aquarius/Leo. Or, is it Aries/Libra?
The whole business about "Tzaddi is not the star" is most confusing. Proof of this is the two mistakes in the table on page 278 of Crowley's "The Book of Thoth". I have a 1998 paperback printing with ISBN 0-87728-268-4 with Samuel Wiser, Inc. as the publisher. There were, I think, three previous printings of the book and the copyright is 1944 Ordo Templi Orientis. Hence, I am not sure how long the error has existed. The first error deals with the IVth Tarot Trump "The Emperor", for which the column labeled "Attribution", and which in fact should be labeled "Zodiacal Attribution", is Aquarius, and it should be Aries. The second error is similar and deals with the XVIIth Tarot Trump, "The Star", for which the Attribution column lists Aries, and it should be Aquarius. If these corrections are made then the table will conform with the discussions of the IVth and XVIIth Trumps in the text.
The basic question highlighted by this mistake is just exactly what did Crowley mean when, some years after receiving "The Book of the Law" in 1904, he decided that "Tzaddi is not the star" meant to do some kind of swapping on the Qabalistic Tree of Life vis-à-vis the path between Chokmah and Tiphereth on the one hand and the path between Netzach and Yesod on the other hand. For the standard Tree of Life the first path is attributed to the Hebrew letter Hé and the latter path to the Hebrew letter Tzaddi. Its clear from the text of "The Book of Thoth" and from the figure of the Tree of Life on page 266 that the Hebrew letters themselves are to retain their original positions on the Tree of Life. Furthermore, it is clear from the text that there is to be a swapping of the original attributions of Tzaddi with the XVIIth Trump and Hé with the IVth Trump, so that the new attributions should be Tzaddi with the IVth Trump and Hé with the XVIIth Trump. Also, as I said above it is clear from the text of "The Book of Thoth" that Aries is to remain correlated with the IVth Trump and Aquarius is to remain correlated with the XVIIth Trump. It is also clear that Tzaddi is to retain its numerical value of 90 and Hé is to retain its numerical value of 5, and I am pretty sure that the basic symbolic indicator (i.e., the column labeled "English" on page 278) for each letter remains unchanged so that Tzaddi remains correlated with "fishhook" and Hé remains correlated with "window".
To summarize, I am fairly certain that all of the attributions for the IVth and for the XVIIth Trumps presented in "777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley" are to retain their "normal" status, with the only exceptions being:
Exactly the same conditions apply to Crowley's swapping the positions of the VIIIth and XIth Tarot trump on the Tree of Life, with their standard positions being the Chesed/Geburah path and the Geburah/Tiphereth path, respecitvely, and Crowley's new positions thus being Chesed/Geburah for the XIth Trump and Geburah/Tiphereth for the VIIIth Trump.
Crowley gives a very unsatisfactory discussion of these two sets of swappings on pages 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of "The Book of Thoth". The discussion is very unsatisfactory in terms of the justifications for the swappings. The most unsatisfactory part of the discussion deals with what the implications are vis-à-vis astrology. In fact all he says about the zodiac is:
"For 'The Star' is referred to Aquarius in the zodiac, and 'The Emperor' to Aries. Now Aries and Aquarius are on each side of Pisces, just as Leo and Libra are on each side of Virgo; that is to say, the correction in the 'The Book of the Law' gives a perfect symmetry in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end."There is no discussion of what this implies for astrology. Does it imply that for astrology the positions in the zodiac for Leo and Libra are to be swapped, so that if normally in a natal horoscope Jupiter fell in Leo it now should fall in Libra, and if Venus normally fell in Aquarius it now should fall in Aries? If there is to be these counterchanges of positions of the two sets of signs, does it hold for both tropical astrology and sidereal astrology (see Block 7: The TAARP Sidereal Zodiac) or just one of them, and if the latter, then which one?
Due to these considerations TAARP's job has been greatly increased. Whereas initially we were only concerned about investigating whether or not correlations exist between the nature of an individual and his tropical natal horoscope, and whereas we have known for some time that we need to extend our investigations to considerations of correlations between the nature of the individual and the TAARP sidereal zodiac (see Block 7), in light of the Leo/Libra and Aquarius/Aries swappings we must beat a native's nature against 4 natal horoscopes:
The following, which is footnote 1 on page 219 of Liber 65, which is "Commentaries on the Holy Books, and Other Papers" by A. Crowley, H.P. Blavatsky, J.F.C. Fuller, and Charles Stanfeld Jones, touches on this subject vis-à-vis the precession of the equinoxes and the sidereal zodiac, but again the information given is unclear. Crowley wrote Liber 65 and the commentary for it, to which the footnote corresponds, but it is not at all clear who wrote the footnote, but I am fairly sure that it was not Crowley.
The first part of the footnote is confusing at best and contradictory at worst. The first two sentences seem to clearly say that we are now in the Age of Aquarius/Leo, but the last sentence seems to intimate that we may in fact be in the Age of Aries/Libra.
The second part of the quote is even more confusing. At the vernal equinox at the transition from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces, the Sun would be right on the Aries/Pisces boundary. Assuming no Crowley like swapping of signs, at the general transition time of the summer solstice, which is my interpretation of the meaning of "Sun in the North", the Sun would be right on the Gemini/Cancer boundary heading into the higher degrees of Gemini for upcoming summer solstices. Again assuming no Crowley like swapping of signs, for the Pisces/Aquarius transition time period, at the summer solstice the Sun would be at the Taurus/Gemini boundary heading into the higher degrees of Taurus for upcoming summer solstices. To imply that as the Age of Pisces progressed into the Age of Aquarius, the summer solstice Sun progressed from Taurus to Gemini is absolutely backwards. If you include the Crowley Aries/Aquarius and Leo/Libra swappings into this business nothing changes because the summer solstice points are not effected. Maybe my interpretation of "Sun in the North" is incorrect. Also, what in the world does the phrase "But the actual God worshipped" mean? This must be a deep, dark secret of the OTO!
I think there is some evidence in "Gerald Massey's Lectures" by Gerald Massey, and in particular on page 135 that "Tzaddi is not the star" may mean that Tzaddi is no longer a feminine septenary associated with the XVIIth Tarot Trump, "The Star", but rather has evolved to a higher level of manifestation and is now a masculine septenary associated with the IVth Tarot Trump, "The Emperor". Note that:
Those pieces of "Gerald Massey's Lectures" that are particularly involved with the evolutionary nature of the sacred septenary are:
Note also that in my mind pages 8, 60, and 140 of "Gerald Masseys Lectures" give some possible evidence for the transition from the Age of Aries to that of Pisces to have happened around 250 BC, and the transition from the Age of Pisces to that of Aquarius to have occurred around 1900.
(Aside: Isn't it interesting that such an "earthy" thing as fertility could be associated with the most spiritual form of the sacred septenary, and Mercury, which is the analytical mind, not only rules Virgo, but is exalted in Virgo, and Virgo is not only an earth sign, but one which is intimately tied up with fertility. See Crowley's discussions of the 0th Tarot Trump, "The Fool", which zodiacally corresponds to the element air, and the IXth Tarot Trump, "The Hermit", which zodiacally corresponds to Virgo, in his book, "The Book of Thoth".)
