From: tonya@csa2.lbl.gov (Thomas Edward Conlon IV)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Tarot spread
Date: 6 Jan 1993 09:16 PST
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.197
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

First, let me thank Frater Nigris for the ph. # to Thelema Lodge.  
Thanks!!!!!

And thanks as well to everyone that responded to my posting.  I do not 
consider any of the replies 'flames'.  I do not mean to discredit 
teachings of Jesus, AC, Lovecraft,the AA, GD, etc. but rather value 
somewhat more the opinions and experiences of people really involved in 
the practice of magick, etc. today because we are almost in a 
'post-Aquarian' society.  The Abolition of all *almost* of the 
psychotropics and opiates etc, which before the Volkstead acts (et al.) so 
plainly helped AC e.g. invoke certain attributions (see _777_),
and the general scorn for the workings of 'magick' in popular opinion, Not To
Mention those fuckers like the Psychic Friends (Extortion Ring) Network, 
has left me with the idea that magick has fallen into some disrepute and 
I don't want to see the things that have given my life so much meaning
become academia or 'Mere Magick'.

ANYway...

SO my Tarot spread, use it as you will,
How I do it.

I use the Crowley Thoth deck (lg.), with the book of Thoth.  I do not 
use their spread, however, I use the 'horseshoe' type taken from _Golden 
Dawn_ by Israel Regardie.  IT is in one of the appendices.  How it works 
is that according to the attributions (astrological - sun sign) in _Book 
of Thoth_ I pick the Querent's significator.  Since I don't do the 
readings enough to know every little symbol by heart (which I should, 
like my musical scales, I know, I know) I let the Querent read the 
personality archetype delineated in the section on that card in the 
_Book of Thoth_ (_BoT_), while they hold and examine the actual card, to 
relate to the pictures.  Only once has one person said they disagreed 
with the description.  But she agreed for the sake of the reading.  Then 
I put the Significator in the middle of the deck and invoke according 
to the little blurb in the deck (I A O I invoke H R U the guardian 
angel, etc.)  I read in _Diary of a Drug Fiend_ that they pronounce
"I A O" as "Ee Ah Oh", I always wondered about "H R U"- I always 
pronounce "Hoo Rah You".  Any comments?  Anyway... with the "church 
part" being done, I ask the Querent to concentrate on the matter at 
hand, with no distractions,like music, etc .I then shuffle until
something tells me "3 more times" and then I stop.  I cut the deck
into 4 roughly equivalent parts in this manner:

to THE LEFT!!!!

piles 4, 3, 2, 1              <------respectively.


pile 1, cut in half into piles 1 & 3.

pile 1, cut in half again into piles 1 & 2.

pile 3, cut in half again into piles 3 & 4.

I have the Querent help me find their card,
for speed's sake, without disturbing the order thereof.  Then I ask the 
Querent if their question deals with 
(if in pile 1)	attrib. to fire, "Energy, driving goals of your life, 
      		not so much intellectual, more primal, etc." (wands)
(if in pile 2)	attrib. to air,  "intellectual goals, trouble, sorrow, 
      		strife, etc."  (swords)
(if in pile 3) 	attrib. to water, " pleasure, love, marriage, etc." 
      		(cups)
(if in pile 4)	attrib. to earth, "money, business, finances, etc." 
      		(disks/pantacles)
The card need not be the above mentioned suit, it just shows the 
correspondence.  

Then, if they're satisfied that their question has to do with "business, 
more than love, your driving goals, or pleasure", for example, I 
continue.  The _GD_ book says to stop for 24 hours, if wrong.

I lay the cards in a convex horseshoe (from me), usu. facing east too, 
from right to left.  The direction that the significator card is 
looking is the direction to start the reading.... 


And now, since I don't want to get fired yet, and I don't have the 
formulae for the type of cards and the amount of spaces you count over, 
I have to say  TO BE CONTINUED!!!!

peace

-Tom Conlon
(temp. address) TONYA@CSA2.LBL.GOV
        	TONYA@LBL.BITNET