NOTE: This was my first attempt to do a real reading for someone else over the internet for someone else (or myself even) using geoff's tarot. i had the querent focus on a question, then click the link to shuffle and deal 15 cards. she turned them over one by one and read them to me. i put them in the order that they would have normally gone given the usual 15-card spread i use with the Crowley Thoth deck. (i also got my own cards out & made a physical representation of her layout so i could look at the cards). the interpretations are either my own, or come from The Crowley Tarot by Akron and Hajo Banzhaf, and some are based on notes from Gerd Ziegler's Mirror of the Soul. Overall, i'm very pleased with the result. the cards were relevant, accurate and fit together perfectly. Good job Geoff!

Here are the cards as they were "turned over" by the Querent:

  1. IV emperor
  2. queen of disks
  3. IX the hermit
  4. 4 of cups
  5. 4 of swords
  6. 2 of swords
  7. XIII death
  8. 10 of cups
  9. 9 of swords
  10. 10 of disks
  11. princess of wands
  12. princess of swords
  13. 5 of cups
  14. 7 of disks
  15. XVIII the moon

General Reading:
you are already on the path of change. you know what you need to do, you just need to find the strength/tools do it. there might be some bad fucked up shit coming - financial or physical - but you'll get through it. you're in a place of stagnation. you feel like you've got a pretty good handle on the world around you, and you are busting your britches to move on and learn new stuff. sort of a "been there, done that, tell me something i don't know" state. You've caught a glimpse of a much higher purpose and want to pursue it (The Hermit.)

You have already made the decision to change & do something about it, but you're not sure that was the right choice. you could just quietly accept your life, which really isn't so bad, very emotionally stable, perhaps even overwhelming and almost smothering when what you really want to do is bust out (group 2) The sitting & waiting and silent suffering would probably result in misery, and you know it (Group 3). The other option, the one you want to embark on, represented by the Princess of Swords and the Princess of Wands, is that you could bust loose and *make* changes. Catch the tiger by the tail, create a new life, even if it's only in the internal, spiritual realm (The Moon.)

Details:
the way i read this particular deck (the crowley thoth deck) is using this unique 15-card spread. it's broken down like this:

[group 1: you, your situation, the core of the question]
1. IV emperor
2. queen of disks
3. IX the hermit

IV - The Emperor:
fire; structure, control, exertion of will on natural (feminine-created) world; linear, masculine energy; figuring out/imposing structure on the unfathomable; a father-figure; patriarchy

Queen of Disks:
looking over a barren past of disappointment, deprivation, lonliness from an oasis of growth and maternal abundance; water in earth; Demeter/Artemis combined; a woman with great experience of hardship who as attained vitaility, creativity, assertiveness, and boundary-setting abilities; developing fallow talents in a fruitful time period of one's life; discovery & development of an existing relationship, starting a new relationship, the desire for a larger family

IX - The Hermit:
merlin, taliesin, abraham - the archetypal old wise man; necessity for withdrawal, seclusion, introversion, concentration, fasting, asceticism, silence, modesty and "going into oneself" in order to concentrate on the essentials of one's life; search for and discovery of the meaning of life

[group 2: given 2 possible paths, this is the path you are currently on, the "default" if you don't take action to change things.]
4. 4 of cups
8. 10 of cups
12. princess of swords

4 of Cups: Luxury
luxury sounds good, but it can mean that you're a bit stagnant, just sort of letting this sit as they are instead of moving forward; protecting your domestic security, which is really to small/tight/limiting

10 of Cups: Satiety
everything is just peachy emotionally and at home, you've got a solid foundation for moving onward & upward. maybe too much of a good thing "despite all of the apparent external peace, an inner strength is gathering force that provokes a new intensity."

Princess of Swords
get me outta here! this badass chick is bursting with power, energy, creativity, intellectual power and independence. she's slicing her way out of her stagnation. "we find ourselves in a conflict that either originates in one of the partners or is experienced as a threat to the partnership." she wants self-realization *now* and is hell-bent on getting it

[group 3: given 2 possible paths, this is the alternative to group 2, what could happen if you exert your will to make changes. if not drastically different from group 2, it is just a further extension of what you can expect or are expecting.]
5. 4 of swords
9. 9 of swords
13. 5 of cups

4 of Swords: Truce
suffering and martyrdom; peace at great cost; coming through sorrow to a place of introversion and self-knowledge; "a pause in which nothing changes on its own;" stability, keeping still; "withdrawal from the emotional realm in order to newly organize our live life;"

9 of Swords: Cruelty
one of the worst cards in the deck, it implies self-cruelty, self-torture, self punishment; beating yourself up about something; self-destructive behavior; misery, hate, fear as your guide.

5 of Cups: Disappointment
disappointment & pain; emotional exhaustion & hardening; depression; loneliness; infertility of the feminine powers; bringing up old childhood wounds; fulfillment of unconscious negative wishes

[group 4: external sources of change/influence. could be people (family & friends), events, general atmospheres]

6. 2 of swords
10. 10 of disks
14. 7 of disks

2 of Swords: Peace
thirst for knowledge; reconciliation; calm before the storm; balance of inner opposites; the tendency to polarize the world into yin/yang in order to understand it; professional progress and new projects or settlement of conflict; "previous differences and controversial standpoints can be united and the middle point between the two extremes is sought."

10 of Disks: Wealth
striving for or attaining gain, wealth, security; solid foundation, success & prosperity; the tree of life; physical and financial well-being; having of stuff; possibly inheritance, raise, gain on the physical real-world plane

7 of Disks: Failure
inner emptiness, resignation; confrontation with deep-rooted primitive fears; waiting; perhaps a death; exploitation of the earth without emotional bond; moving too far from nature; Saturn; (my interp. in the context of poly is the breaking of a boundary that stirs up deep shit. can mean end of a relationship. a "deal-breaker?")

[group 5: this is the hardest group for me to interpret. some say "final outcome" but that doesn't ever seem to sit right. i usually see it as "potential outcomes" - either 2-3 separate outcomes or a larger picture of 1 outcome. perhaps the best way to view it is "what you should be striving for."]
7. XIII death
11. princess of wands
15. XVIII the moon

XIII Death
this rarely means actual literal death, (that's usually XVI The Tower), but rather a transformation, from one thing to another. it can mean the end of one thing (way of life, relationship, job, mode of thinking, personality, etc) is necessary for the creation of the new. it's the cycle of new life out of the dirt created by the decaying old life. Osiris, saved by Anubis, guardian of the Moon (see the Moon) and Isis (the High Priestess)

Princess of Wands
this feisty fire-mama's got the tiger of fear (the one that bites the Fool) by the tail. new beginnings, release from fear, optimism, increased energy and perception; the fire of spring; "you yearn for intensive interchange w/ those of like mind & outlook" -Gerd Zeigler "Mirror of the Soul"

XVIII The Moon
depths of the soul; deepest self-knowledge; resurrection; devotion to intuitive knowledge; the connection between the unconscious desire (The Star) and the conscious striving (The Sun); represents a crazy-intense journey into the magickal world, one which requires great intensity, caution and power. you have to tread a careful path in the dark underworld of the self to avoid illusion, hysteria, persecution complex, hallucinations, fear, drug abuse, flight from reality. the towers represent our own fears and deep subconscious bullshit. if you succeed you are reborn out of your fears. out of the womb of night you are born into light. (this is a really complex card w/ 3 pages of commentary. let me know if you want more.)

by kiwitayro, may 25 2003