Valerian - These are only my opinions (of course, everything I post is, but in cases like this I like to make that explicit (g))... 1) I would propose that unlike a final Judgement, in Osirian myth, the Aeon imlies a dynamic process, after which one continues in a new equilibrium. Mythologically, the annunciation of the Aeon of Horus was the "end of the world" for the Aeon of Osiris, and so the card replaces the earlier image of the Apocalypse. Thus, the card presents the same archetype, modelled on Thelemic, rather than Osirian, principles. Doesn't make it righter-or-wronger, but the Thoth deck must be interpreted, symbolically, even iconologically, in terms of Thelema since that is the paradigm that Crowley and Harris were using to design the cards. I don't see any difference in the interpretation of the card in a reading, by the by. 2) Aeon has several meanings. A very long time (like an epoch). A spiritual being in Neoplatonic myth - I would say at a Briahtic level, ie. direct manifestations and officers of the Divine will. The card mostly refers to the Aeon as a period in humanity's spiritual development (the Aeon of Horus, which began in 1904, in Thelemic mythology) and to the "Current" of that Aeon, the principles by which it operates. 3) The infant figure is Hoor-pa-Krat, Harpocrates. This is the aspect of Horus-the-Infant, the child of Isis and Osiris, before He reaches maturity as Horus the Warrior, King, Priest (Ra-Hoor-Khuit). He is silence, and the unquenchable yearning for knowledge and experience of the Child. The finger position has an interesting side note. Earlier notions of the God named him as God of Silence, for the Romans, seeing statues of Harpocrates with finger to lips, assumed it was the sign for silence, as we use it today (ssssshhhhhh). But later archaeology suggests it was meant to represent, as you note, finger sucking - a baby sucking its thumb or fingertips. Both meanings are useful in magick, and specifically the magick of Thelema, where the magician seeks the intense openess and learning mindset of the infant. 4) Nothing unusual. It reads like Judgement in spreads (for me at least, though I am the first to confess being unregenerately traditional in reading spreads). In readings aimed at specifically magical queries, it often indicates the energy of the Aeon in my work and life - the role of my commitment to Thelema and the work I need to do to carry that out. This I regard as a particular interpretation that would not likely apply to a non-Thelemite's reading. Though the Judgement card also refers to a pivotal mystery of the Osirian formula - the resurrection in Glory from the demise shown forth by the Hanged Man. Christ on Easter following Christ on Golgotha; Osiris-un-Nefer enthroned in Amenti following Osiris slain, etc. Paul *** From: heidrick@well.sf.ca.us (Bill Heidrick) Newsgroups: alt.tarot Subject: Re: Aeon Date: 1 May 1995 01:03:23 GMT [...] Like many Tarot decks, the Thoth deck has a particular slant. The Majors or Atus in it amount to "holy cards" to illustrate Crowley's _Liber AL_ or _Book of the Law_. Accordingly, the Aeon Atu does differ from the traditional Judgment Trump in some areas of meaning. Particularly, there is no sense of a Resurrection in the Last Days. Rather, it depicts an emergent existence, with three forms rising in the flames of the Hebrew letter Shin, instead of from graves. That Hebrew Shin in its turn represents "Ruach Elohim", the divine spirit. [mythology] "Aeon" in this instance refers to "The Aeon of Horus", sometimes likened to the Age of Aquarius. In Thelema, the philosophy or religion of Crowley's _Liber AL_, this is the Aeon of Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child. [the design] The figure sucking his finger is Harpocrates, aka Hoor-paar-kraat. All four of the principal deities of _Liber AL_ are shown in the design: 1. Nuit -- the mother goddess. Shown as a deep blue arch across the top and down the sides of the card. You can see her hands and feet below. Her head is stylized to the right and her breasts show galaxies in the upper right corner. 2. Hadit (Ba-Hadi, the Egyptian winged sun) --- the father or god of self in this tradition. Shown as two downward sweeping wings with a red sun disk at their juncture between the hands and feet of Nuit. Two coiled uraeus serpents also mark the figure, just at the base of the red sun. 3. Horus the child or Hoor-paar-kraat --- the passive or gentle child. This is a transparent figure, index finger to lips and fore lock to the left in the traditional style of Ancient Egyptian depictions. The Atif crown on the child's head is not traditionally associated with Hoor-paar-kraat in Egyptian art, but probably refers to "the Crowned child" motif. 4. Ra Hoor Khuit --- the warlike or active form of the god child Horus. This is the seated figure in the center, hawk headed with sun disk and single serpent. The scepter is not traditional Egyptian art for this figure, rather that would be an arrow fletched with a hawk's head. The full name of this figure in Egyptian mythology is Ra Heru Khuti b-Hadi, Ra as Horus who flies into the disk of the Sun. This was the Egyptian decan ruler at the time Crowley received _Liber AL_ by a process now usually called "channeling", April 8, 9 and 10 of 1904 e.v. 93 93/93 Bill Heidrick