The Golden Dawn or Thoth Method

Difficulty: Complicated

Note: Tarot decks that use reversed cards such as the Rider-Waite do not work well with this spread, which was designed to be read using elemental dignity.

The Golden Dawn spread is best suited for use with the bifrost Tarot and especially the Book of Thoth, as these decks are meant to be read a certain way with the court cards. Princes and queens represent actual men and women connected with the matter, while princesses generally represent ideas; thoughts or opinions, and knights represent arrival or departure of a matter depending on the direction faced.

In this tarot spread, particular attention should be paid to a card's exact position in relation to its neighbours. Whether the neighbour cards bear the same energy (suit) determines whether a card is considered well-dignified or ill-dignified. Opposite suits ill-dignify each other, while other suits are considered friendly. Tarot cards of the same suit or element strengthen each other.

As with other tarot spreads, it is important to count the cards' tendencies, such as whether there is a lot of one particular suit or number pattern. The patterns reveal special messages. Having several majors present indicates higher forces at work, several cups suggest strong emotions, etc.

Card #1 represents the reader and the nature of the topic at hand.

Cards #2 & #3 are read in extension of #1 to further comprehend the nature of the topic.

The two sets of three tarot cards at the top of the spread represent chronological sets of events. The current path as it would unfold naturally is represented by cards #4, #8, & #12. The alternate path that could be taken is represented by cards #13, #9, & #5. However, if the reader gets the feeling these cards are telling them they go together, then the alternate path is to be considered an extension of the current path, and to be read chronologically in this order: #4, #8, #12, #13, #9, #5. Just keep in mind: this is only if the two paths seem particularly similar.

Cards #14, #10, & #6 shed light upon the psychological undertones of the current issue.

Cards #7, #11, & #15 represent the influences of karma and destiny beyond the reader's control. These cards suggest adapting to this, as fate.

Your Golden Dawn Reading

The Alternate Path (or Extension of Current Path)				Your Current Path
7 of Wands – Valour	10 of Wands – Oppression	Queen of Swords		3 of Wands – Virtue	9 of Wands – Great Strength	6 of Swords – Science
		The Querent
		The Tower	8 of Wands – Swiftness	The Lovers
The Psychological Basis				Karma
The Hermit	10 of Disks – Wealth	5 of Swords – Defeat		8 of Swords – Interference	2 of Swords – Peace	The Wheel of Fortune

The Querent

cards represent the querent and the nature of the topic at hand. The first card (in the center of the spread) represents the very core of the matter, and the other two cards around it are added to it in order to further comprehend the nature of the topic.

Mercury in Sagittarius

A sudden burst of energy causes eight arrows to explode into action. This card indicates that something is about to happen fast.

Meaning:
Action, explosive energy, electricity, fast communication, gain of rapid speed, light, quickness.
When ill-dignified: Too much too fast, a flash in the pan.

Mars

This is the dark side of The Magus; the lower self. The Demiurge has come out to play. Many are struck down on their quest to the top. Only the chosen one can climb the stairway to heaven. He must first acquire the proper understandings and tools or his climb will certainly be disastrous. Now is the time to use what you've been building up inside. Often a card of war.

Meaning:
Danger, destruction, quarrel, combat, ambition. Escape from prison. Rise to the top at the expense of others.

Gemini

Lovers are eternally bound in Soul. A nude family holding hands in the form of a lemniscate represents natural purity.

Meaning:
Attraction, childishness, openness to inspiration, love, beauty.
When ill-dignified: shallow, superficial union. Instability, insecurity, indecision.

Your Current Path

Sun in Aries

This card represents the pioneer motivated by the spirit of goodwill. You do what is right in your eyes. There is also a tendency toward egotism in this card.

Meaning:
Realisation of hope. Noble cause. Pride and arrogance.
When ill-dignified: conceit.

Moon in Sagittarius

Great Strength. Eight arrows have been collected and are now under the authority of a headmaster arrow. They have been completed by this arrangement and the addition of the moon-heads. The driving force that empowers them is the sun.

Meaning:
Great strength, tremendous force, power, competition, warrior spirit, focused rage. Change is stability.

Mercury in Aquarius

Six swords in the form of a hexagram converge in the centre of the rose cross. There is wisdom in the symbolism of this card, a multifaceted intellect that goes straight to the heart.

Meaning:
A goal realised.
When ill-dignified: selfishness, conceit, intellectual pride.

The Alternate Path

Mars in Leo

This card shows an uphill battle. The snake-rods have come alive. Six of them are doing battle against one.
The central snake however is the strongest, as god is with him.

Meaning:
Struggles, obstacles, difficulties met with courage. Small victories.
When ill-dignified: quarrelling.

Saturn in Sagittarius

The wands have now become bars. We live in prisons of flesh. We are each our own warden and we all do our own time.

Meaning:
Brute force with no apparent spiritual source. Lies, repression, cruelty, malice. The element of fire in its most destructive form.

2:00 – 4:00 Female
Libra

The Queen of Swords sits on the throne of heaven. The moon has eclipsed the sun, making for a strange overcast. The eclipse is a symbol of two that are one, a reference to the dual nature of Libra. The eclipse also represents her as a dominant female, overshadowing the male, and this is also apparent in her left hand. She represents clear perception and the pinnacle of thought. However, superficial attractiveness coupled with a lack of empathy makes her the most dangerous female in the deck.

Meaning:
A confident, gracious, just, perceptive, graceful, elegant woman.
When ill-dignified: A cruel, sly, deceitful, unreliable woman who uses charm as a weapon.

The Psychological Basis

Virgo

Solitary time. Father Time retreats from society to be alone. The mirror represents reflection and inner self-discovery. Cerberus follows the lantern as the Hermit enlightens his dark side. Turned sideways, the hourglass represents a moment of timelessness, and at this juncture the Hermit realises the nature of eternity.

Meaning:
Divine inspiration, wisdom, finding one's guiding light, a period of time being out of touch with society, circumspection, self-knowledge.
When ill-dignified: loneliness, despair, loss of sanity, paranoia.

Mercury in Virgo

Coins of gold, silver, and copper fall to earth. The ten coins in the foreground form the tree of life, each with a symbol matching its particular sephiroth. The coins in the background represent the different pathways. This card represents something valuable.

Meaning:
Material prosperity. Completion of material building. Good health.
When ill-dignified: sloth, heaviness, dullness.

Venus in Aquarius

The pale blue background of this card symbolises airy weakness. A chipped sword attempts to battle four bent swords in the shape of a pentagram. A hopeless struggle, this solitary sword is the weakest of the five.

Meaning:
Weakness, loss, spite, malice, trouble, dishonour, degradation, infamy, revocation, loss, humiliation, anxiety. A driver of wedges.

Karma

Jupiter in Gemini

Two swords of one kind have gone on a power trip over six swords of different kinds. They have interfered with the natural chaos in establishing order.

Meaning:
Waste of energy in attention to details at the expense of the big picture. Restriction. Bad news, sickness, crisis, censure, distress, hardship, misfortune.

Moon in Libra

Two swords stuck in a mound form the shape of a V, the symbolic gesture of peace like the hippies were so fond of. The owners have thrown their arms down in the spirit of harmony.

Meaning:
Contradictory characteristics of the same nature coming together. Pleasure after pain. Quarrel resolved.

Jupiter

Who knows what the Wheel of Providence has in store for you? Deep down inside, you do.

Meaning:
Providence, fate, karma. A change in fortune, generally a good change.