What are all those foxtails for?

The first time I saw this Ace of Wands card from the Golden Dawn Magical Tarot I thought, 'What are all those fox tails for?' It looks like a three-pronged stick with a bunch of wagging animal tails mounted on it, and some leaves blowing about. But, no, that's not it at all. I'm still not sure why the wand has three prongs, but I suspect it might have something to do with the three mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph, mem, shin, which represent the three elements air, water, fire. Not sure about that, but you can see that there are 10 'tails' on the wand, which certainly correspond to the 10 sephira of Tree of Life. And on each 'tail' there are four colours, corresponding to the four suits. So actually, they are not tails, they are forty flames, the forty minor cards.

Too Temperate?

Golden Dawn Magical Tarot

The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot has two Temperance cards, and not because the artist couldn't make up his mind, nor so that readers could take their pick. It's because of the Portal Ritual of the Golden Dawn. The companion book instructs to take one out for divination, and doesn't explain why two are needed for the ritual, nor does it give any detail about the ritual itself.

Off to the docs

Golden Dawn Magical Tarot, Llewellyn

I'm off to a hospital appointment in another town today to get a second opinion about my hearing loss. I thought I'd do a one card draw on it and got 9 of Cups, then decided to go ahead and draw the next two cards to see a fuller message.

Review: The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot

by Chic and Sandra Cicero


What's Included
Golden Dawn Magical Tarot comes in a typical Llewellyn box: oversized, flimsy and coming apart at the seams upon arrival. When I opened my parcel, I could feel something sliding around inside the box, tore off the outer shrink wrap, and the side of the box (not the top flap) came open because the glue was dried out. I opened the box and the deck slid out onto the table, not in its own tuck box but only wrapped in cellophane,  like a pack of cigarettes. I dumped the remaining contents out: a white bit supposedly meant to hold the deck in place, but nothing like the same size or shape as the deck, and a companion book called 'The New Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot'.