Introduction
This is a brief examination of the Aeon Card in the Thoth Tarot. Besides basic information, I’ll discuss the details I consider most exciting. Before doing so, let me mention that my viewers over Adjustment and Fortune picked this card. Taking that seriously, I left those for later by focusing on this script.
Judgment
The Aeon card was initially called Judgment or Last Judgment; examples are traditional decks like the Arthur Waite, Golden Dawn, and BOTA. The card depicts the angel Israfel awakening the dead from their graves by trumpeting and waving the Osirian flag. As Crowley explains, the cross symbolizes the Osirian era. Conventionally, the Judgment card is (described as expressing) John’s prophecy about the end of times from The Book of Revelations. On the contrary, many scholars agree this isn’t the world’s end. According to Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, it is the second apocalyptic holocaust ending with a Jewish revolt.
The Destruction of the World
Nevertheless, the older version of the Aeon card does communicate the destruction of the world. As hinted at by the postures of some of the dead,this is by fire. What they resemble is the letter Shin, which we’ll discuss briefly. According to the Book of Thoth:
“This (the destruction of the world) was accomplished in the year of the vulgar era 1904, when the fiery god Horus took the place of the airy god Osiris in the East as Hierophant. At the beginning, then, of this new Aeon, it is fit to exhibit the message of that angel who brought the news of the new Aeon to Earth. The new card is, thus, of necessity, an adaptation of the Stele of Revealing…”
Apparently, this doesn’t mean the world ended in a literal sense; it conveys that the world as it was known back then was destroyed at that time.
Aeons
Thelema recognizes three Aeons in the collective memory. A new one doesn’t occur from ‘actual gods’ fighting in space. Instead, that’s a metaphor for the state of the whole race’s Consciousness. Whenever there’s a cosmic shift in Consciousness, there’s also a new Aeon. The current or (most recent) Aeon marks the latest stage in humanity’s development.
The Destruction of the World
The destruction of the world, and thus the new Aeon’s coming, translates into destroying the old mental structures, constraints, and dogmas. Being the most painful, the first years of the Aeon can be regarded as its dark ages. That’s because there’s a direct clash between the old and the new. Yet, the more it progresses, the brighter things become, as encouraged by the book of Thoth.
“It is thought far from comforting to the present generation that 500 years of Dark Ages are likely to be upon us. But, if the analogy holds, that is the case. Fortunately, today we have brighter torches and more torch-bearers…”
A New Aeon
The Book of Thoth acknowledges several markers of a beginning of a new Aeon. That includes a concentration of political power and advancements in travel and communication, such as science and philosophy. Considering the present, we have all that going with full force. Aeons don’t have a predetermined duration; they occur as humanity evolves. Whether Aeons entirely replace each other is debatable. So let me know if you’re interested in discussing that on the channel.
A New Aeon
Above all else, the Aeon card conveys the formula of the Aeon of Horus, which according to Thelema, is the newest Aeon we live in. Explaining it requires saying a few words about the preceding stages of humanity’s development.
The Aeon of Isis
Associated with the great Goddess, and matriarchy, the first Aeon is of Isis, taking place in the age of Leo (10,996 — 8830 b.c.). The formula of that Aeon was that Earth is a mother, a giver of life, and the great Goddess. The biggest mystery of that time was the women’s period and pregnancy, such as how they corresponded to the moon phases.
The Aeon of Osiris
Succeeding that of the Great Goddess, the formula of the dying god is identified with the age of Pisces. That took place between 166 b.c. and 2000 ad. It began when farming developed. Figuring out the Sun’s crucial role in growing anything, humans began likening that to the semen of the male and eventually god. However, rather than seeing the creation as a collaboration between masculine and feminine, Sun and Earth, humans made god an abusive father figure. Ironically, this perception developed when humanity (actually believed the Sun dies every day at dusk. Sadly, its side effects proceed even now, at the dawn of the new Aeon depicted in the Aeon Card
Birth Death Rebirth
During the Aeon of Osiris, humans realized that everything in nature runs cyclically. Hence the formula of the dying god was adopted. This opened our Osirian ancestors to another truth. Namely, life comes out of death. To align themselves with that, humans began all sorts of sacrifices, starting with humans and animals and moving to bread and wine. Usually, that was in the name of the king, the supreme representative of the male god. The formula of the Aeon of Osiris was based on the denial of one’s flesh, desires, basic urges, etc. This was also when the notion that god waits to punish you for all these developed, leading to using self-flagellation for so-called purification.
The Aeon of Horus
The Aeon of Horus is a reconciliation of the two preceding Aeons and matriarchy and patriarchy. Whether it began on October 8th, 1904, it made some undeniable changes in the world. Some examples include destroying the patriarchal rule of European kings, such as the illusion of the ubiquitous power of the church and the Pope. Another is that women finally have equal rights in most countries.
More Changes
An increasing number of males openly recognize their traumas from patriarchy and go against the status quo of what a ‘real man’ should and should not do. Such as what emotions are appropriate for men and what for women. Also, more people are perfectly comfortable in their skin, sexuality, gender, race, and culture. There’s also a ‘huge’ interest in the divine feminine and recognizing both aspects of oneself. In the Aeon of Horus, humans rely on science for their understanding and notions about the universe and their lives. Speaking of that, I suggest checking my books based on the science behind fasting and willpower.
Illustration and Deities
Generally, The Aeon card depicts the Stele of Revealing in a modern, dynamic, and colorful manner. There are Nuit and Hadit, such as their child Horus.
Nuit
The first deity is Nuit, the infinite space and potentialities, as addressed in my video on the Star card. Nuit resembles the oval letter Omega. Arching over it, Nuit’s body is wrapped around the egg of light holding the throned god. Nuit is the expanded universe containing everything and the continuity of existence, as reiterated in the book of the Law. Her breasts encompass the galaxies. Unlike in the Star Card, where the Goddess is personified as a human-seeming figure, in the Aeon, she is ‘the surrounding space of Heaven, the pure philosophical idea continuous and omniform.’ Qabalisticaly, Nuit can be attributed to the second veil of Negative Existence (Ain Soph), such as Kether.
Hadit
Being the center point of the universe, which can be anywhere, Hadit is conceptualized as the infinity of an ultimately contracted universe; he’s the fiery globe representing infinite energy. Hadit is placed on the top of the inverted egg. Considering modern science, and the big-bang theory, Hadit can be seen as the pre-big-bang singularity. According to the book of Thoth, Hadit is the “ubiquitous point of view, the only philosophically tenable conception of reality.” Qabalisticaly, Hadit can be attributed to the first veil of Negative Existence (Ain), such as Kether.
The Egg of Light
The up-sided egg of light is, in fact, right between Nuit and Hadit, symbolizing their unity, such as the creation resulting from reconciling feminine and masculine
Horus. The Double God
The product of the unity of Nuit and Hadit, Horus (Heru-Ra-Ha — Sun Flesh) is the crowned and conquering child. As the third deity of the Thelemic Trinity, Horus is a double (or composite) god. It has an active (extraverted or mature) and passive (introverted) aspect which is why the scholar Eli Serabet defines it as an androgen. Being the active one, Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the Hawk-headed deity, whereas the hologram-or-ghost-like chubby child is Hoorparkrat or Harpocrates. Qabalisticaly, Heru-Ra-Ha can be attributed to the third veil of Negative Existence (Ain Soph Aur), such as Kether. Crowley explains that Heru is (in fact) identical to the angel Hru, who is the one of the Tarot.
Double Wanded God
It is said that Horus is also a dual-wanded god. Yet his ‘right hand’ holds a was scepter, whereas the left one is empty. The reason is that he single-handedly crushed the universe and the old mental structures.
The Crowned and Conquering Child
Being the crowned and conquering child, Horus symbolizes the fully-evolved, self-aware human being of the 21st century. It is basically us, millennials, gen-Xers, etc. While Horus associates with the Sun, that really exemplifies that every man and every woman is a star. And that (I think) is evidence that Thelema isn’t that much Solar but actually Stellar.
Hebrew Letter and Path
The Aeon card is attributed to the 31st path joining Hod (Splendor) and Malkuth (Kingdom). This is the path of the Hebrew letter ‘Shin’ (ש). One of the three ‘mother letters’ Shin attributes to the element of fire, such as Spirit. It means ‘tooth’ and 300, and symbolizes something that penetrates or pierces like the force of fire.
Three Yuds
Made of three Yuds (י), the Shin letter lies hidden in the lowest part of the card. These Yuds are basically cocoons or capsules holding three human beings, which according to Crowley, are ready to partake in the new Aeon. While I couldn’t find much information on that, my intuition tells me he meant particular kinds of human beings. So feel free to share if you know anything more.
Esoteric Names
The esoteric name of Atu XX, according to the Golden Dawn System, is ‘The Spirit of Primal Fire.’ Based on the Sepher Yetzira (or the Book of Formation), the esoteric name of the 31st path is ‘Perpetual Intelligence.’ While the first’s relation to the letter shin and the fire element is evident, in The Thirty-Two Paths of Wisdom, Paul Foster Case explains the second is continuous monitoring of Intelligence of the progress of the Personality toward Universal Consciousness.
Orbits and The Aeon Card
According to Liber Theta: Tarot and Symbolism, the Perpetual Intelligence ‘directs the Sun and Moon based on their natural order, each in its proper orbit.
Meanings of the Aeon Card
The meanings of the Aeon Card include:
“Final Decision in respect of the past, new current in respect of the future; always represents the taking of a definite step.”
The Libra Sign and the Next Aeon
Last but not least, behind the letter Shin is the barely noticeable Libra sign. According to Crowley, this is the fourth shadowing of the next Aeon, which is to follow the present one depicted on the Aeon card, presumably in about 2000 years. While Crowley explains it’s too early to say what that will be, some scholars offer it’s the Aeon of Maat associated with balance and equilibration; Others believe it will/is the one of Set. And third, predict we are approaching the Aeon of Typhon. Let me know what you think…
