Low Magick by Lon DuQuette (the reading strategies book TXT) 📕

The four sets of 5-6-7s reside in the fixed signs of the zodiac (Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus).

The four sets of 8-9-10s find themselves neatly housed in the mutable signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius, Pisces, Gemini, and Virgo).

From left to right, the 36 Small Cards

distributed through the zodiacal year.

The thirty-six squares of the Great Cross of each Elemental Tablet are equivalent to the thirty-six Small Cards (2–10) or each tarot suit. The 2-3-4s (the cards that represent the 30 degrees of the cardinal signs of the zodiac) are always positioned in the left-hand column of the Great Cross; the 5-6-7s (the cards that represent the 30 degrees of the fixed signs of the zodiac) are always positioned as the horizontal row of the Great Cross; and the 8-9-10s (the cards that represent the 30 degrees of the mutable signs of the zodiac) are always positioned in the right hand column of the Great Cross. The ordering of the cards within their respective columns and row, however, differ between the four Elemental Tablets.

The 36 squares of the Great Cross of each Enochian Elemental Tablet

are equivalent to the 36 Small Cards of the tarot

The Tablet of Union is sort of like the master ruler or table of contents for the four Elemental Tablets. It is made up of only twenty lettered squares (five wide by four high), but oh what squares they are, for those twenty squares contain the entire elemental enchilada.

Tablet of Union

Now that you have had a basic introduction the Enochian way of looking at the elemental world, you’ll understand a bit more of the method to the magical madness I was about to embark upon.

I laid the unopened deck of cards upon the Tablet of Union like it was a tiny little virgin on a sacrificial altar and performed a brief baptism ceremony whereby I officially named the deck Tarot of Ceremonial Magick. I opened the box and slid out the little white book and the sealed deck. With my thumbnail, I broke the clear plastic hymen and took out the cards. They smelled wonderful! I separated the twenty-two trumps (greater arcana54) from the fifty-six cards of the lesser arcana.55 I would start by charging the lesser arcana.

I placed each Ace in the center of its natural tablet (the Ace of Wands on the Fire tablet, the Ace of Cups on the Water tablet, the Ace of Swords on the Air tablet, the Ace of Disks on the Earth tablet). These lettered tablets, which contain the names of literally thousands of Enochian elemental angels and spirits, are reproduced on the Aces of my deck.

I then placed the sixteen Court Cards upon the appropriate subangles of the four Elemental Tablets. These lettered subangles with their specific hierarchy of spirits are also reproduced in colorful detail on the Court Cards of the deck.

Finally, I arranged the thirty-six Small Cards (nine per tablet) on their appropriate squares of the Grand Cross area of each tablet. These individual squares are also reproduced on the Small Cards of the deck.

I opened the temple with the traditional four-part Opening by Watchtower ceremony that was used by the Golden Dawn, and then systematically activated the tablets by invoking the Three Great Secret Names of God and the seven planetary Seniors of each tablet. Then I intoned, in turn, the first eighteen Calls in the Enochian angelic language. Over the years I had intoned the Calls many times, but never all at once. It felt very strange, and put me in an altered state of consciousness that intensified as the two-day-and-night ritual would proceed.

It was midnight by the time I was through activating the tablets. I went to bed without banishing in order to let the fifty-six cards of the lesser arcana “fry” all night upon the fully activated Enochian Tablets. In the morning (Saturday), before getting back to magick, I outlined the rest of the marathon ceremony in my journal. There was still a lot of Enochian work ahead of me. For each of the sixteen Court Cards, I had to call upon the three major angels (two God Names and Kerub of the Calvary Crosses) and four minor angels (the four servitors of each subangle). As the tablets were already activated from the night before, this took less than ninety minutes.

After that, the ceremonies turned classically Qabalistic. I called into the thirty-six Small Cards (the 2s–10s of each suit) the seventy-two Angels of the Shemhamphorash, whose names appear on the cards. This took more time than I imagined. I had to first lay out the cards, then intone, in order, each angel name and recite the Psalm that tradition holds is expressive of the duties assigned to each particular angel. (Oh those Qabalists do love their Psalms!)

Next, I turned my attention to evoking into the cards the seventy-two spirits of the Goetia whose names and sigils appear in pairs

on each of the thirty-six Small Cards. The spirits of the Goetia are traditionally categorized as fallen angels and can be a pretty rough bunch. It’s not that they’re evil per se—just blind, unbalanced forces that do the heavy lifting in the universe. Like heavy machinery, they can be dangerous to the untrained operator, and very helpful to the experienced (or lucky). These critters are divided into thirty-six day spirits and thirty-six night spirits, so naturally, I would have to evoke thirty-six in the daytime and thirty-six at night.

It was nearly noon on Saturday when I started the evocation of the day spirits. I first cast the circle and triangle that would be necessary for that kind of operation. As each of the thirty-six Small Cards plays host to one day spirit and one night spirit, I spread all thirty-six cards in the Triangle together (a tight fit) and evoked, charged, and dismissed the thirty-six day spirits in turn without