Sinister Tarot Reading

Below is a beta version of a customized tarot reader that uses Christos Beest’s Emanations deck (Major Arcana only for now, used in accordance with a Creative Commons license). There are still some bugs to iron out, but the reader is fully functional. While we believe that tarot is best conducted physically in a sacred space rather than in a digital medium, this is meant to be both an introductory tool for those not familiar with how to use or interpret the Sinister Tarot, in addition to being a fun way to familiarize oneself with the various correspondences of the Septenary spheres, the Dark Gods, and the Tree of Wyrd.

Instructions:

Click an individual card to flip it. Once flipped, click it again for more information about the card.

There are two types of tarot spreads typically employed in the Order of Nine Angles: a "Septenary" spread and the traditional Celtic Cross spread. The one employed here is the Septenary spread, which is structured according to the following diagram:

Each card in this layout corresponds to a Septenary sphere on the Tree of Wyrd:

  1. Moon
  2. Mercury
  3. Venus
  4. Sun
  5. Mars
  6. Jupiter
  7. Saturn

As written in NAOS: A Guide to Modern Magick, these relations should be considered with respect to the energies and correspondences of each sphere. Additionally, it notes the following:

1 are unconscious factors
2 and 3 are the past
4 is the present
5 and 6 are the immediate future
7 is the outcome

In turn, 1-2-5 are negative elements/energies, while 1-3-6 are positive. 1-4-7 are what needs to be done to either bring about 7 or prevent it from arising.

Finally, NAOS notes: "In both this and the Celtic pattern all combinations should be seen as how energies flow and change, or become altered through the other influences present. Intuition should enable the practical manifestation of these energies to be understood - e.g. a particular influence/energy might represent an actual person or event in the client's life."

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ATU X Wyrd / 6 Azanigin

ATU X Wyrd / 6 Azanigin

Azanigin is the salt/unconscious-level Dark God of Saturn and is associated with the sixth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from the Moon to Saturn. Along with those of Lidagon and Nemicu, Azanigin’s path is one of the three hidden paths on the Tree and one of the most important, as Her tarot name (Wyrd) suggests.

In red desert
Three fingers and a skull
Are laid on fur
The stones of a circle
Turn to frogs
The skeleton of a child
The birth of an army
A Nexion is opened.

That which is beyond personal Destiny. That which causes expression of itself via the implementation or provocation of acts which in their design achieve long term aims beyond the causal death of an individual; changing aspects of a society by significant creations and thus changing a whole race of people – fulfilling the destiny or Wyrd of the ethos of a civilization. Acts that inaugurate a new Aeon. The causal nature that is dictated by the essence of things – ‘fate’ etc.

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ATU VI The Lovers / 12 Karu Samsu

ATU VI The Lovers / 12 Karu Samsu

Karu Samsu is the salt/unconscious-level Dark God of Venus and is associated with the twelfth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from Venus to the Sun.

Sappho dance in still water
Chains and roses in blue
Invoke the Sun
To an arch of fire
Gravestones, butterflies
And rivers of snakes.

The double tetrahedron a nexion created via the union of balancing forces. The sowing of the seed of Change that which may transform and carry evolution beyond the Abyss, and thus beyond ‘self-image’ – or that which may destroy. The invoking of energies that coerce to create something beyond ‘self’.

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ATU VIII Change / 7 Nekalah

ATU VIII Change / 7 Nekalah

Nekalah is the mercury/ego-level Dark God of Mercury and is associated with the seventh path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from Mercury to Mars.

Their Name …
Inside the room of Sacrifice:
White flowers.
A garden, dry, of dead roses.
The masked lady
Holds Her new child.

The earthing and spreading of energies. The hard truth of Nature – the dying time of one form to give way and birth to another. A causal form created to act as a focal point/channel for the fulfillment of Wyrd – the beginnings of a practical realization of strategies and aims. The Sinister Dialectic in action: by its dynamic nature a prelude to – and when realized a creator of – insight.

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ATU I The Magickian / 9 Binan Ath

ATU I The Magickian / 9 Binan Ath

Binan Ath is the salt/unconscious-level Dark God of Mars and is associated with the ninth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from Mercury to Mars.

Headless
The white angel impaled
By Seven.
Seven bells rung,
The cortege from a black hill
Passed the squatter’s cottage.
Black flame engulfed
Black flame ate the ‘holy’.

Empathy; a flowing with natural forces that are consciously understood. An integration becoming (part of) a greater Wyrd; an awareness that spans Aeons. Actions that prepare the way.

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ATU XIV Hel / 5 Aosoth

ATU XIV Hel / 5 Aosoth

Aosoth is the mercury/ego-level Dark God of Venus and is associated with the fifth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from the Moon to Jupiter.

The Bleeding Earth
From the throats of fools,
in brooks
From the Gate
A red bird
This, the corn needs
Containment of Winter:
The Maiden is ready

Self-possession; knowledge that allows one to consciously improve/evolve and use natural abilities (or ‘gifts’) – such as sexual charisma – to the advantage of personal Destiny and Wyrd, and to confront and resolve those qualities within character which are detrimental. Self-honesty. In early stages of development, such an individual causes unforeseen disruption and resentment amongst others. Beginnings of that which is re-presented by atu III.

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ATU XV Defoel / 1 Noctulius

ATU XV Defoel / 1 Noctulius

Noctulius is the mercury/ego-level Dark God of the Moon and is associated with the first path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from the Moon to Mercury.

The Moon wraps itself
Around the Savage God;
Impaled on a throne
As the wheel of skulls turns.
The jewelled Lady
The crone …
Winter in the wildest of woods.

Sinister awakening – Nature as it is, raw and unaffected. That primal awareness of the vibrance of life that possesses and creates the ‘accuser’, that provokes acts that challenge the existence of the ‘sacred’. The real meaning of liberation unchained by temporary abstract ideas; the laughter of the savage, wild god. Terror to the uninitiated.

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ATU 0 Physis / 8 Ga Wath Am

ATU 0 Physis / 8 Ga Wath Am

Ga Wath Am is the salt/unconscious-level Dark God of Mercury and is associated with the eighth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from Mercury to the Sun.

The power within is great
The eagle eats
Its human offspring
Cold music here
Blue woman hold the horse’s head
While the Seer weaves

The gradual unfolding of nature; the source of Evolution, that which creates Wyrd. The essence behind the appearance of things. Ga wath am: the Power within me is Great.

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ATU XIII Death / 2 Nythra

ATU XIII Death / 2 Nythra

Nythra is the sulphur/self-level Dark God of the Moon and is associated with the second path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from the Moon to Venus.

A canal route lined
By white Griffins.
A vortex of grey starless space.
The chalice spills its
White blood
And the Herdsman’s light shines
In the Chamber of the Sphinx.

That which follows hubris; the consequence of attempting to escape that which is ill-fated by Destiny. Personal destruction from self-delusion and the cessation of self-evolution. Energy vortex in the Abyss. The stripping away of the self-image that, if successful, will produce a genuine Master/Mistress; confronting the Chaos within and without.

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ATU III Mistress of Earth / 19 Davcina

ATU III Mistress of Earth / 19 Davcina

Davcina is the mercury/ego-level Dark God of Jupiter and is associated with the nineteenth path on the Tree of Wyrd, which leads from Mars to Jupiter.

From a mountain of skulls
Blue Trees
A rose garden cracks
Two women walk through;
The corpse in a wedding dress
No longer guides
Four waterfalls flood the Earth
And books become ash …

Empathic manipulation (such as ‘enchantment’) to create Change via causal structure – amoral acts that may conventionally be seen as ‘evil’. Actions provoked by unfettered passions and a reveling in the physical pleasures and challenges of life. “Ruthless ambition”. Creativity and Change via destruction – i.e. War, culling.

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