5 Mind-Blowing Symbols in the Thoth Tarot Deck

I love a mind-blowing moment, and not just in the colloquial sense of being intellectually awed. I mean in the mystical sense, where the mind blows itself up into enlightenment. Reducing suffering for myself and others has been my goal. Luckily, there are many manuals from many traditions on how to do this. It's called mysticism. Most mystical traditions eventually lead to a cessation of the mind where suffering finally ends. That's enlightenment, the recognition of your true nature. All the great spiritual traditions have a different way to conceptualize this, from the Yogic samadhi, to the Buddhist nirvana (which literally means, "blown out"). It's quite literally mind-blowing.

The tarot within Western mysticism is not as direct as Eastern mysticism, but can still show us the way. It uses a scenic route, allowing the seeker to tour through a sophisticated set of symbols, archetypes, and many fun ideas. The Thoth Deck in particular does this on an existential level. It can definitely blow your mind, not just intellectually, but mystically. I would suggest that the tarot, especially the Thoth Deck, is an expression of the mind blowing itself up to reveal its true nature. My new book, Tarot Mysticism: the Psycho-Spiritual Technology of the Thoth Tarot, explains this in detail. However, I'm going to share with you some specific examples in the Thoth Deck that encapsulate this mystically mind-blowing process.

1. The Thesis: The Back of the Card
The first place in the Thoth Deck to explore its mind-blowing nature is the back of the card. This is both the table of contents to the deck and also its thesis. The image is the Hermetic rose cross, a glyph derived from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This glyph symbolizes the recurring motif of the Western Mystery Traditions: the union of the microcosm with the macrocosm. Or, more simply put, the localized, temporal mind being blown into its eternal nature. The cross is actually a cube of six squares being blown open to reveal a rose.

The rose is a symbol of the microcosm, the mind of humanity blossoming to its true nature. The opened cube is a symbol of the universe. The petals of the rose represent the twenty-two Hebrew letters and twenty-two major arcana cards, symbolizing the language of reality. The four arms of the cross represent the four suits, thus the minor arcana. The smaller rose at the center has five petals, representing the five senses and five wounds of Christ. Christ is the incarnation of God—eternity—into man, representing time, which is also our mind. One of the first things I teach in my book is that tarot is an expression of the relationship between time and eternity, humanity and God, form and the formless. In fact, the original rose cross of the Golden Dawn would have an inscription on the back: "The Master Jesus Christ, God and Man." The back of the Thoth cards thus establishes the essential thesis: the merging of mind/time/microcosm with truth/eternity/macrocosm.

2. Holy Homunculus! The Hermit's Secret Sperm Cell
The thesis now established, we can explore its many expressions in the Thoth Deck. One of my favorites is the homunculus. You'll notice a sperm cell emerging from the bottom left corner of the Hermit card in the Thoth Deck. If you look closely, you'll notice a small humanoid figure inside with a diamond on its head.

This is a homunculus, originally drawn in 1694 by Nicholas Hartsoecker. The outdated idea held that a little human form existed in each sperm cell. This is obviously inaccurate in the reproductive biological context. However, occulture loves taking outmoded ideas and running with them. In the Thoth Deck, this homunculus represents a formed intention given to an object to achieve development and manifestation. This has two levels. On the human level, this is magic—the planting of a seed that will hopefully grow into your desire. But there's a deeper level to this homunculus symbolism; it's the seed planted by the divine that grows into our life. One might call this the Logos, the word of God. The symbolism acts both for our personal homunculi (our magic) and the cosmic homunculus (God's magic). This will be important for the discussion of the Lovers card next.

What does this have to do with the mind being blown? Well, it's sort of the opposite. Here, the mind is being formed from the divine. The Hermit corresponds to the Hebrew letter Yod. He even takes its shape. The Yod is the first letter of the Holy Tetragrammaton, the name of God, YHVH. It also represents the Logos, the word of God, which pours its limitless infinitude into all possible limited forms. One of those limited forms is humanity—the homunculus, the human mind.

The nature of the mind to be blown is embedded in its formation. The symbolism follows this. Notice how there is a diamond on the head of the homunculus. The diamond is a symbol of Keter, the highest emanation of the divine on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Keter means Crown, which is placed above the head. The crown is a symbol of something above the head, beyond the mind—literally transrational. This furthers the thesis that the seed and production below, our own incarnation, is none other than God's mind-transcending nature above. Furthermore, it is said by Kabbalistis that the tip of the Hebrew letter Yod beggins in Keter! All this symbolism points to the idea that the self-transcending nature of God is encoded within the seed of incarnation. We will explore self-transcendence further in The Universe card.

3. The Lovers
The Hermit is seen again in the Lovers card. In the Hermit, he represents the Logos bringing incarnation and possibility. In the Lovers card, he officiates an alchemical wedding. His primordial desire—his seed—develops into a subject and object relationship: his desire emanates below into the desire between two lovers, a king and queen.

The Lovers card blows my mind in its exploration of big existential questions, like, "What are we doing here?" It illustrates for us the mechanics of mind: separation. The "mind" is an abstract term we superimpose onto the experience of separation—all the constant empirical evidence that there is an "inner" world separate from an "outer" world. It is this duality that allows for all possible relationships. An experience of separation is required for experience. It makes sense that the corresponding letter to the Lovers card is Zayin, meaning "sword." The sword cuts unity into duality for the universe to experience itself (as they say). This is the dance of the Lovers.

The Logos can be interpreted as the will of the divine. Why would the divine want to separate itself into parts? Into lovers? Well, one answer is simply to love, for the joy of it. Tantric traditions cover this well. However, Crowley proposes something different. He argues that particles will not remain in their combinations forever but will maintain memory of their past combinations. In this way, the universe never gains or loses energy but is constantly gaining information the more it experiences itself.

The Lovers card thus symbolizes the process of universal desire (the Hermit above) emanating into human desire (the Lovers below) to increase the ever rising total amount of information in the universe. The mind is thus a fold in the fabric of consciousness. Or, to fit more with our zeitgeist, the mind is a folder on the desktop of the universe, hosting its ever increasing information. It is appropriate that this card is attributed to Gemini, the sign of duality and curiosity.

4. 10 of Swords: Mind Eating Mind
As I mentioned earlier, I am interested in the end of suffering. Many mystical traditions promise this by finding the edge of the mind, the end of the illusion of the separate self. This is expressed in the Ten of Swords, where we see ten swords arranged in the form of the Tree of Life. This tree is a map of God, the universe, and ourselves. The central sword, representing the intellect (or ruach on the tree) is shattered, representing the death of the ego. This card is about thought running itself into ruin, the mind destroying itself.

Here's a meta-thought experiment to uncover the meaning: Have you ever noticed how you, as a mind, can think of your own mind? If you can conceptualize yourself, who's doing the conceptualization? And if you can conceptualize the process of conceptualizing yourself, then who's behind all that?! Be careful now. Existential crisis is just around the corner, but so is enlightenment! I teach thought experiments like this to my students and in my book. They are contemporary methods to explore the mysteries underlying esoteric tools like the Thoth Deck.

Enlightenment is the end of the ego, at least from the perspective of the ego. To the ego, this is death. Crowley calls the Ten of Swords "Ruin." This is the mind blown!

5. Stepping on a Snake
Don't worry. We can pick up the pieces. In fact, that's what the Universe card does. Like the Tens of the tarot, the Universe card (the last of the majors) represents a climax of manifestation and reintegration. With all possible separation realized, the only possible step forward is a return to unity.

In the Thoth Deck, this is represented by the divine feminine, the Shekinah (and Princess of the court cards), stepping on a snake, representing the divine masculine, the Logos. Like most of the Thoth cards, there are so many interpretations to this. However, in our context of "blowing your mind," this represents us, as the maiden, stepping on our past—the serpent. The serpent is our evolutionary past, our DNA, and the manifest Logos itself.

The self-transcendent nature embedded into the seed by the Hermit comes to fruition in this revolutionary step—the step of the princess onto the snake's head. This is the transcendence of all past experience. Many spiritual people talk about ending generational trauma. Well, this card represents the transcendence of the trauma of the species, and the planet, and the universe. It's about integrating and transcending all that was coded into your creation. It's about playing hide and seek with God.

The Universe is attributed to Saturn, the planet of time. On the card, the symbol of Saturn, the Scythe, emerges from the eye of Shiva, which when open, destroys the universe. This represents the end of time and the entrance back into eternity. Mind and time are really the same thing. Here, the mind is blown into its nature as eternity.

The Thoth Deck is many things to many readers. There are various levels of interpretation. Crowley himself writes from more than a couple different levels. The deepest level of the Thoth Deck, as with any serious mystical tradition, leads to an ineffable paradox, where the end is the beginning, form is the formless, time is eternity, and the mind is none other than the divine. If you are interested in exploring these deeper matters, I recommend my new book, Tarot Mysticism: the Psycho-spiritual Technology of the Thoth Tarot. You can also find free classes and e-books on these topics at www.tarotmysticismacademy.com or youtube.com/joemonteleone.