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With two terminology posts in a row I must be turning into a curmudgeon or something. "You kids spell your damn words right!" Thankfully this one is probably my last on the subject, at least for awhile.
Every so often some nightclub performer comes along and decides to call what they do "magick" in order to, I guess, sound cool or something even though what they are doing is clearly stage magic. Another of these is apparently on the loose, named Odes Odhner.
Odhner calls what he does "magick," something that blends traditional nightclub-type magic, with majik, a kind of magic that examines occult practices of the present and past.
Hang on a second there. What the hell is "majik?" That can't be a real word!
See, when Aleister Crowley proposed that "magic" be used to describe stage magic and "magick" be used to describe the spiritual practices of theurgy and thaumaturgy he was simply reverting to the Elizabethan spelling of the word. It's English, just with a more archaic spelling. But "majik?" It's clearly Odhner's own goofy terminology, and Kelly-Anne Suarez, the journalist writing the article, buys it without a second thought. Maybe she just couldn't be bothered to check.
Here's a quick reference for future lazy journalists.
MAGIC: Stage magic, as practiced by nightclub magicians, mentalists and so forth.
MAGICK: Spiritual practices drawn from the Western Esoteric Tradition.
MAJIK: A completely made up word, or one of the above written by someone who is borderline illiterate.
See the difference?
I think I'm probably done with this topic as the terminology becomes more muddled every time I look into it. In my opinion Crowley's use of two (and only two) distinct spellings makes sense, but once you start throwing in every possible phonetic variation in order to look "edgy" or "cool" or something else that translates as "just plain stupid" the whole thing becomes a losing battle for anyone who values precision and consistency.
It's too bad, really. Complaining about this may seem overly pedantic, but if folks could agree on standard spellings for their terms it would make the Internet a whole lot more useful for those of us who do actual magical research.
Suggested ebooks:
John Moore - Aleister Crowley A Modern Master Extract
Kenneth Grant - Aleister Crowley And The Hidden God
The Thoth Tarot Deck was a tarot deck developed by the English occultist Aleister Crowley and illustrated on his instructions by Lady Frieda Harris. Aleister Crowley called the Thoth tarot deck, the book of Thoth and claimed that the deck reflected the wisdom of the ancient Egyptian book of Thoth. The tarot card descriptions found on the Thoth Tarot deck are different in symbolism and imagery compared to other standard tarot card decks.
Thoth is considered one of the most important deities of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. He is known as the God with the head of an ibis. He is the heart and tongue of the all-powerful Egyptian Sun God Ra. He translated the will of Ra into speech and is the divine communicator of Egyptian mythology. He was the scribe of the Gods and was called the God of Writing. The book of Thoth is used for divination through tarot cards. The tarot card descriptions on the Thoth deck are reflections of the great knowledge of the ancient Egyptians.
A cult of Thoth grew during the last years of the Egyptian civilization who claimed to predict the future through occult divination. Aleister Crowley claims that the Thoth tarot deck developed by him was based on the tarot card descriptions followed by the cult of Thoth. He developed the deck between 1938 and 1943. He commissioned Lady Frieda Harris to illustrate the deck based on his visions and based on the ancient Egyptian book of Thoth papyrus by Jasnow and Zauzich. It took five years to develop the deck because Crowley wanted the images to reflect different disciplines including science and philosophy.
The tarot card descriptions in the Crowley Thoth tarot deck are different from the Rider Waite and other standard tarot card decks. The Major Arcana or trump cards are 21 in number and consist of the fool, the Magician or Magus, the high Priestess, the Emperor, the Empress, the Hierophant, the lovers, the chariot, Adjustment, the hermit, the wheel of fortune, lust, the hanged man, death, art, devil, tower, star, moon, sun, aeon and the universe. Court cards in the Thoth minor Arcana deck are the prince, the princess, queen and the knight. While the suite of cups, disks, swords and wands remain the same, they are illustrated with an Egyptian hieroglyphic style. The pips of the minor Arcana in the Thoth deck relate to the signs of the zodiac with the aces depicting the root of the element they represent. Each pip card in each suite has an attribute.
The wand suite relates to the fire signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the fire element 2 dominions, 3 virtues, 4 completion, 5 strife, 6 victory, 7valor, 8 swiftness, 9 strength and 10 oppression.
The cup suite represents the water signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the water element, 2 love,3 abundance, 4 luxury, 5 disappointment, 6 pleasure, 7 debauchery, 8 indolence, 9 happiness and 10 safety.
The sword suite represents the air signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the air element 2 peace, 3 sorrow, 4 truces, 5 defeats, 6 science, 7 futility, 8 interference, 9 cruelty and 10 ruin.
The disks suite represents the earth signs of the zodiac. The ace is the root of the earth element, 2 change, 3 work, 4 power, 5 worry, 6 success, 7 failure, 8 prudence, 9 gain and 10 wealth.
The Thoth tarot deck reflects the tarot card descriptions that formed the visions of Aleister Crowley on a visit to Egypt. Many diviners have found great merit in predicting the future using the Thoth Tarot deck.
CM is a writer for SpiritNow.com. Visit SpiritNow.com today, the online home of America's Top Psychic, Sylvia Browne. Read Sylvia's 2009 psychic predictions and the best spirituality content on the Internet on SpiritNow.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig Malone
