Scrying the Thoth Tarot: The Ten of Swords

The Vision

I saw an image of ten swords swirling before a malevolent, serpentine eye that gazed at me from the heart of a bright sun. Then, the rest of the serpent—which wore a ten-pointed crown on its head—extended out of its light as wind and clouds swirled before it, drawing me into the eye of the sun. Inside the eye, all turned black and I perceived tunnels of vicious, spinning machinery. On the other side of the tunnel was a sandy beach beneath a clear blue sky, and on its sands a circle of ten downward pointing swords was cast. Looking out to the sea from the centre of the sword-circle, I caught a fleeting glimpse of Shiva dancing above the waters. Then, as his form faded, I saw a boat filled with armed men crossing the sea. Above them, the serpent sun reappeared and lashed at their vessel with its tail, disturbing the ocean to a great tumult and forcing the men’s captain to blow a note on a horn to pacify it. Once the serpent was banished, the sun and the waters resumed their tranquillity and the boat sailed calmly to its destination across the sea. Crossing the water to follow the men, I saw that the land they arrived at was rocky and grey with ten terrible peaks visible on its horizon. Lightning forked down to the place where the sailors came to shore, destroying their boats and leaving them wishing they hadn’t banished the great serpent in the sun, for its intervention was a device to stop them coming to that terrible place. On feeling a very real and sharp pain in the right side of my head I perceived a sword thrusting being thrust into it. Then, another nine swords embedded themselves in my skull and the vision ended.

Notes

From this point on, many of the scryings begin to form a series of connected narratives, so a deeper analysis for this card is best done synoptically at a later stage. A more general interpretation of the vision is that the element of disruption apparent in the serpentine sun thrashing the sea with its tail is consistent with the card’s attribution to the Sun in Gemini. This placement brings disruption and disharmony to thoughts and decisions and can have ruinous outcomes. The decisions of the soldiers’ captain to quell the serpent’s disruption, for instance, appeared to be the wisest course of action in the heat of the moment, but no consideration was made of the fact that the course they were taking was ruinous and that the obstacle raised by the serpent was an intervention designed to prevent, rather than cause, their ruin. After acting rashly, they battled against adversity and triumphed. Yet the product of that victory was entrapment in a dark, ruined land where further peril awaits. Shiva’s appearance was a clue of forthcoming destruction which wasn't heeded. His appearance was also a signal to apply clarity of thought, as the crescent moon that he is often depicted wearing on his brow represents the clear-mindedness that is missing with the Sun in Gemini. 

Tarot	Name	Sign	Decan	Dates	Quinary	Angel	Goetia
10 Swords	Ruin	£	Q	June 11 - 15	20-24°	Lauviah	Botis
10 Swords	Ruin	£	Q	June 16 - 21	25-29°	Caliel	Bathin

Looking at the Shemhamphorash attributions of the 10 of Swords, some of the characteristics of the Goetic spirits Botis and Bathin are present in this vision. Botis is described as appearing as 'a Viper or Man with Great Teeth & Horns carrying a Sword,' while Bathin is 'a Strong Man with a Serpent's Tail sitting upon a Pale Horse.' With the appearance of an ominous Serpent’s Tail in the vision, Bathin seems of particular interest. Having previously worked with many of the Shemhamphorash Angels and Goetic Spirits in tandem (as per the attributions of Thomas Rudd), I was compelled to check back over my old notes to see what I had written about the pairing of Caliel and Bathin. In them, I discovered the following.

Caliel came as a human skeleton in a dark dungeon armed with a sword and sceptre. Bathin appeared in the undercroft as a pale, featureless spectre (no horse, but his body was very pale). He came forward when I bade him to and split me down the middle with a sword and asked to enter me. Caliel, who was already 'inside' me, came out and disarmed him with his weapons, then bound him and pulled him inside me. We then proceeded to fly across an astral landscape until we crossed a sea and came to another landscape, which was all blasted, lifeless, volcanic rock. This was what I assumed the meaning of travelling suddenly to foreign countries meant - astral journeying, though I also had the impression it was also to do with the sudden opportunity or expectation to travel. 

While there are arguments against attributing the spirits of the Goetia  to the zodiacal decans and Minor Arcana, the similarities of the things seen in this scrying and my previous work with Caliel and Bathin are quite apparent. Unfortunately, the plans I once had to complete the entire cycle of Angels and Spirits were forced to an early conclusion, with only 60 of the 72 pairings being explored, so a complete comparison of such similarities won't be possible. On top of that, many of the notes I made from those workings were lost due to clumsiness with data backups, so only a select amount of information is available. I will, however, analyse what I have, and if enough overlaps are noticed, I'll consider completing the cycle and filing in the gaps as time allows.