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"The Purpose and Function of a New Tarot"
Reprinted from: National Satanic BBS

by Roger L. Whitaker, Priest of Set III* Temple of Set
Electronic mail: CompuServe 72460,3034
 
As is the case with all Great Works, this particular one - the redesign and 
development of an updated Tarot deck - began with a simple question, a 
nagging need for an answer, and a specific Form within which to encase that 
answer as it made its way into consciousness.
 
Why is there a need, a necessity as it were, to create and design another 
Tarot deck? Hasn't the poor old Tarot been disrespected, mauled, and cajoled 
into a boring plaything of the casual and shallow dilettante? Don't we have 
enough decks of various types to exhaust every possible initiatory 
proposition which MAY have a grain of truth hidden somewhere within its 
mysterious confines?

At present the so-called "Tarot reader" enjoys a choice of decks, from which 
he or she can select the one by which the "querent" will be most easily 
influenced. Such mundane considerations have no place within the function of 
a new Tarot deck, which would be designed specifically for Greater Black 
Magical (GBM) applications.
 
The creation of such a new deck - the Setian Deck - will constitute a return 
to the original inspiration that resulted in the final Great magical Work of 
Aleister Crowley, the _Book of Thoth_ (Thoth Tarot). Ipsissimus Crowley 
realized that for any Tarot deck to be a viable initiatory tool, it must 
undergo periodic revisions in accordance to the known Principles of the 
existing aeonic current. Balance is a primary concern of any serious 
aspirant to initiated wisdom. If the Tarot is to be used in any capacity to 
aid one's initiation, it must be synchronized with the appropriate 
initiatory current.
 
In keeping with the groundwork laid by Crowley, this new Tarot will be one 
in which the essential elements contained within the deck are updated. The 
deck will contain those fundamental initiatory Principles that are the 
standards by which to judge the coming into being of events which pass 
within an initiate's personal environment.
 
As many of you probably already realize, the use of the Tarot as a "fortune 
telling" device is a debased activity for which the cards have unfortunately 
been employed. The utilitarian aspect of the Tarot in its much higher and 
more useful aspect (for initiates) is its function as a vehicle for the 
mapping out or structuring of an individual's Subjective Universe at a 
particular moment in time. Used in this manner, the Tarot can become a very 
precise and articulate tool by which to classify and realte those elements 
pertinent to each individual's personal concept of what profane humanity 
call a divine being: one's "Holy Guardian Angel" - but what the true Adept 
understands as an image not of an exterior entity of any sort, but rather of 
the Higher manifestation of his OWN consciousness: a persona of personal 
godhood.
 
Here is something that those of you who believe yourselves Adept at such 
matters should take to heart: For all the good or bad that it does to each 
individual's personal equilibrium, the ultimate goal and purpose of 
initiation is to create a god of ONESELF: a being of genuine control over 
one's existence, environment, and, most importantly, Will. The method of 
accomplishment is the conscious and willed structuring (and re-structuring) 
of the components that comprise one's individual Universe within and without 
oneself.
 
The Tarot is intimately involved with the above-mentioned goal. Its cards, 
through a variety of mathematical, scientific, and classical symbols and 
archetypal imagery, inspire mental images or concepts. These are instantly 
realized as representing timeless Principles which have eluded decomposition 
into triviality or dogma.
 
An important point: It is the responsibility of certain initiates within 
each aeon to update and make correct those aspects of the Tarot which have 
become more clearly defined by the new aeonic current. This work clearly 
involves the removal of unintelligible and dogmatic elements as well as of 
outdated and useless symbols. In some cases, complete conceptual re-design 
is called for. This must be accomplished while retaining AND maintaining 
those elements of the deck which are timeless and eternal. This guarantees 
the integrity of the Tarot system itself.


	* *

 
This work was begun a number of years ago by Priest and Priestess Whitaker 
of the Temple of Set. The projected date for having the project finished is 
still several years away. The Whitakers may be reached through CompuServe 
for those of you who would like to discuss this topic.


	* *


THE INVERTED PENTAGRAM LAYOUT

I have never been much for the complicated layouts that are often designed 
for placing the Tarot cards. Understanding that the special significance of 
a card should be apparent on its own regardless of physical position I came 
to use the Inverted Pentagram layout which was shown to me by a Mr. Lynn 
Norton.
 
1. You need to know the cards well enough to easily do a reading with only 
5-6 cards.
 
2. Do not give any of the positions pre-imposed designations (such as: "the 
lower point of the pentagram represents an element of the past", etc.). Lay 
the cards out in any order you wish.
 
3. AFTER you lay the cards out, study them. THEN give them specific time-
designations if you wish as you apply them to the context of your reading.
 
An inverted pentagram layout is specifically that. One card will represent 
each of the five points of the pentagram - in this case a star with two 
points upraised. An additional card may be placed in the center if 
absolutely necessary.
 
The most essential and sublime use of the Tarot is that of an initiatory 
tool for the individual aspirant. I'd rather read a "soul" than a "fortune". 
I'd rather chart a course than be led down one not of my own making. Adepts 
should understand this.