The Tarot of Eli, LLC- Court Cards: Thoth Tarot-Prince of Swords & The Mystic Palette Tarot-Knight of Swords

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Above all things, know thyself!

The Thoth Prince of Swords (knight of swords in traditional tarot) is also called the Chariot of the Winds, Prince, and Emperor of the Sylphs and Sylphides. Zodiacally, he is the last Decan of Capricorn and the first two Decans of Aquarius.

He is Specific Air of Primal Air. The Element Air is Intelligence/Mind, so this one is like the intellectual mind itself, which can love thought alone, and not how others react to it. Therefore, he Is the mental element of ideas that can be constructive or destructive as to him any idea will do.

The Golden dawn card had 2 obvious fairies pulling the chariot. However, in the Thoth Tarot card of the Prince of Swords these fairies are shown as spheres of light in front of the Chariot accompanied by three-winged fairy children who are pulling it. Implying that, this chariot may be pulled capriciously and/or mischievously in any direction, imitating the unfocused Mind itself. Also, there is significant 9th Sephiroth-Yesod-Moon symbolism here, as the Moon rules the Faerie Kingdom and suggests this is a card that represents the Unconscious Mind.

In astrology, each zodiac sign is divided into three parts called decans, each spanning 10 degrees of the zodiac. The last decan of Capricorn and the first two decans of Aquarius that are applied to this Prince of Swords card offer unique characteristics:

1. Last Decan of Capricorn (January 11 - January 19):

   • Ruled by Venus: This decan combines the disciplined and ambitious nature of Capricorn with the harmony-seeking qualities of Venus.
   • Practical Idealism: Individuals born under this decan often possess a blend of practicality and idealism. They are driven to achieve their goals but may also be motivated by a desire to create beauty and harmony in their lives and surroundings.
   • Artistic Sensibilities: There is a strong artistic inclination with this decan, whether it manifests in the form of visual arts, music, or other creative pursuits. These individuals may have a keen appreciation for aesthetics and may excel in fields that allow for creative expression.
   • Sensitivity: Despite their disciplined exterior, those born in this decan may be more emotionally sensitive and attuned to the needs and feelings of others. They may possess a nurturing and caring nature, especially in their relationships.

2. First Decan of Aquarius (January 20 - January 29):

   • Ruled by Uranus: This decan combines the innovative and unconventional energy of Uranus with the intellectual and humanitarian qualities of Aquarius.
   • Eccentricity: Individuals born under this decan are often seen as unconventional or eccentric in their ideas, behaviors, and lifestyle choices. They may embrace change and seek to challenge traditional norms and structures.
   • Intellectual Curiosity: There is a strong intellectual curiosity and a thirst for knowledge within this decan. These individuals may be drawn to subjects related to science, technology, or humanitarian causes.
   • Humanitarianism: Those born under this decan are often passionate about making a positive impact on society. They may be involved in social justice movements, activism, or charitable endeavors aimed at improving the welfare of others.
   • Independence: Independence and freedom are highly valued by individuals in this decan. They may resist authority and prefer to carve their own path in life, often prioritizing personal autonomy and individuality.

3. Second Decan of Aquarius (January 30 - February 8):

   • Ruled by Mercury: This decan combines the innovative and communicative energy of Mercury with the intellectual and humanitarian qualities of Aquarius.
   • Mental Agility: Individuals born under this decan are known for their quick wit, sharp intellect, and ability to think outside the box. They excel in fields that require analytical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.
   • Social Consciousness: There is a strong sense of social awareness and a desire to contribute positively to society within this decan. These individuals may be drawn to causes that promote equality, freedom, and progressive change.
   • Eccentric Communication: Communication style may be unconventional or avant-garde, reflecting the unique perspectives and ideas of those born under this decan. They may enjoy engaging in intellectual debates or discussions that challenge conventional thinking.
   • Friendship and Networking: Friendships and social connections are important to individuals in this decan. They thrive in group settings where they can exchange ideas, collaborate on projects, and build networks of like-minded individuals.

The Prince of Swords personality is known to sweep into one's life with the force of the wind, yet he isn't noted for staying long; Hence, he is not really concentrating on the querent as he is more often "tilting windmills". The triangle with bar, is the symbol used for the Universal Element of Air, as are the flying fairies and swirling air attributed to the art of this card.

The phrase "tilting at windmills" originates from Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote (1605), in which the protagonist, Don Quixote, mistakes windmills for giants and charges at them with his lance in an act of misguided heroism. His loyal companion, Sancho Panza, tries to warn him, but Quixote, lost in his chivalric delusions, refuses to see reality as it is.

Symbolism & Meaning

1. Fighting Imaginary Foes

   • The phrase "tilting at windmills" has since come to symbolize engaging in noble but futile battles, fighting perceived enemies that are either nonexistent or far less dangerous than imagined. It speaks to an individual’s misguided idealism, often rooted in illusion rather than reality.

2. The Archetype of the Fool and the Hero

   • Don Quixote represents the foolish hero, a character who seeks greatness but is blinded by illusion. His actions, while seemingly absurd, also reflect the human tendency to fight for principles even when the battle is unwinnable.

3. The Hermetic and Qabalistic Perspective

   • In a Western Hermetic framework, this concept aligns with the Qabalistic Path of Netzach (Victory) vs. Hod (Intellect/Logic). Netzach, ruled by Venus, represents idealism and creative vision, while Hod (Mercury) represents rational thought. The act of tilting at windmills may reflect a disbalance, where Netzach (passion, illusion, and belief) overrides Hod’s logical discernment.
   • The Tarot of Thoth’s "Prince of Swords" or "The Fool" (Aleph) could embody this energy—rushing forward with airy inspiration but lacking practical wisdom.

4. Solar Myth & The Quest for Meaning

   • Don Quixote’s journey mirrors the archetypal hero’s journey, akin to the Sun’s path across the sky. His battle against windmills can be seen as a metaphor for the spiritual aspirant confronting their own illusions—a necessary stage before enlightenment.

Modern Application

• Spirituality & Mysticism: Many mystics and magicians “tilt at windmills” by chasing visions, signs, or unattainable goals instead of grounding their practices.
• Social Change & Politics: The phrase is often used for activists or dreamers who fight against ingrained systems despite seemingly impossible odds.
• Personal Psychology: It also applies to self-sabotage or projecting personal demons onto external situations.

Final Insight

From a Hermetic perspective, tilting at windmills can be both a folly and a divine madness—a test of discerning true giants from illusions. The key is initiatory wisdom: knowing when to persist in a noble but seemingly impossible quest and when to recognize the windmill for what it is—a force of nature indifferent to the knight’s charge.

The Prince of Swords in the Thoth Tarot is perhaps the perfect representation of "tilting at windmills." His intellect is sharp, but his understanding is chaotic, leading to a reckless war against illusions rather than genuine adversaries.

Prince of Swords: The Erratic Mind of Don Quixote

• The Prince of Swords (Tiphareth in Yetzirah, Air of Air) represents intellectual frenzy, where the mind moves so fast that it cuts through reason and structure, often mistaking delusions for truth.
• Like Don Quixote, he is an idealist without grounding, charging forward into battle with an unshaken belief in his own mental constructs, even when they do not reflect reality.
• His chariot is pulled by a frantic figure of multiple swords and wings, illustrating the dispersed, unfocused nature of his mind.

Tilting at Windmills in the Prince of Swords

1. The Mind Detached from Reality

   • The Prince constructs a battle that may not even exist, seeing enemies where there are none. His intellect is so sharp that it cuts through logic itself, leading to self-defeating battles.

2. Over-Analysis & Over-Intellectualization

   • He embodies the Hod-like tendency (Mercurial logic) pushed to an extreme, where the mind fragments reality into false patterns. This mirrors how Don Quixote interprets the mundane as grand myth—a distortion of perception rather than true insight.

3. The Air of Air Paradox

   • Being Air of Air, the Prince lacks grounding (Earth) and depth (Water). His thoughts move so quickly that he cannot stabilize or reflect, leading to erratic action and misjudged battles.

4. A Hermetic Warning

   • In the Book of Thoth, Crowley warns that the Prince of Swords represents the danger of unchecked intellect—"without sufficient material basis for its energy."
   • He is brilliant but chaotic, needing discipline (Saturnian wisdom) or a stabilizing force (perhaps the Princess of Disks as the grounding element).

Key Distinction: Prince of Swords vs. The Fool

• The Fool (Aleph, Air) also engages in seemingly foolish quests, but his madness is divine, leading to wisdom.
• The Prince of Swords, on the other hand, is lost in a storm of his own making, battling windmills of his own overactive thoughts.

Conclusion: The Prince of Swords as Don Quixote

The Prince of Swords embodies the erratic and misguided intellectual warfare of tilting at windmills, where the mind’s momentum becomes its own downfall. His intelligence lacks wisdom, making him the perfect figure for fighting imagined foes in a whirlwind of ideas—a reminder that discernment, not speed, is the true weapon of the mind.

Although he is a charming lover, highly intelligent, and eloquent, he will leave the querent wondering what just happened. However, s/he is not noted for being cruel or purposefully mean, s/he is just like a child chasing his fantasies. Like all court cards, this one is not necessarily gender related; However, this type of personality more often tends to operate a male body or a more male aggressive style of female.

In the right hand, the Thoth- Prince is swinging the Sword of invocation and creation and in his left is a sickle which immediately destroys that which is created. With childlike innocence, the Prince of Swords wields his Sword of Geburah/Severity as the logical mental processes of the prince has reduced the Air (mind) into geometric symbols that represent no real plan but demonstrates power of an undefined purpose.

The Thoth Prince is an image of a madman, as he has a sword in one hand and a sickle in the other. This suggests that he creates with the sharp wit of the Mind and then destroys what he creates with the sickle of death and/or contrary argument. He may seem Utterly mad! But this is not necessarily so, as the astrological sign Aquarius assigned to this card implies affection, kindness and a good heart, as well as a divided mind. The 2 halves of one mind are shown as Sword and Sickle.

The element attributed to Swords is Air; the Prince of Swords represents the airy part of Air and/or the intellectual part of Mind, which as air is directed by "outside influences" such as the heat of passion and the coolness of emotional indolence. Edgar Allen Poe, who was born on January 19th, was a Prince of Swords core personality. Hence, this tarot birth sign points to madness. However, there is an exceptionally fine line dividing madness and pure genius. The musical genius Mozart (some thought him mad), born January 27th, was also a Prince of Swords personality. Therefore, when the mind is given a creative outlet for this process of creating and then recreating (a process most of us do our entire lives) such as music, literature, or the art of filmmaking, we discover pure genius. Mendelssohn was a Prince of Swords personality, as was the Great Film directors D.W. Griffin and Federico Fellini, and the visionary Emanuel Swedenborg. James Dean was a fine actor who was also born a Prince of Swords, who played Jim Stark, in the film Rebel Without a Cause, and whose portrayal of this fictitious character was the perfect example of the tortured frustration of such a personality.

Therefore, the Thoth Prince of Swords and the Mystic Palette Knight of Swords, is the Archetypal personality of the intellectual, pure mind and a good actor. As such, the Thoth Prince of Swords is dressed in woven-full armor of definite device. His chariot is composed of geometric ideas. Unharnessed wing children draw this chariot "who are flights of fancy" and may go any-which way they like, as the reins are attached to passing and disconnected geometric ideas. This is like the knowledge of Euclid expounded upon by an idiot, whose argument takes any twist and turn it wants to and yet be rational. The chariot is easily moved but unable to go in any definite direction---except by accident.

The Prince of Swords of Thoth representation is a quick intellect, who without the depth of intent supplied by the Will/Spirit, loves argument for argument's sake. Nevertheless, the Thoth Prince of Swords is crown by a Golden Child's Head, for there is a secret Divinity here (childlike innocence) that is linked up to the 6th Sephiroth-Tiphareth (the Sun/Son of God) the ruling Sephiroth of the Princes. A secret innocence, as there is no moral consideration of the effects of such erratic thought and to him it is playing and not a serious concept.

However, as it has been noted, if this personality thinks in terms of the divine, one believes they are "chosen by god" and often suffers from the righteousness of a fanatic. However, this does not deter from this person's immensely powerful personality, even though it is created by their unsettled principles; principles that enable them to put forth any argument without regret or remorse. Like an insane-used-car salesman from hell who while pouring sawdust into an automatic transmission, to temporarily cover up the fact it doesn't shift properly, while expounding on the benefits of sawdust to society.

The Prince of Swords personality is glib to quote scripture, cunningly supporting any thesis without being aware that he supported an opposite thesis earlier in his bombast. He is impossible to defeat because any position is as good as another and ready to enter combination with the nearest element available. He really doesn't care if his or her ideas are contradictory, to them any idea is its own purpose! His/her momentary Vision is primarily! To the prince, boundaries are a nuisance and are usually ignored or destroyed in principle.

There is, however, a bright light here when Pure Rationale is aligned with Pure Spirit, ideas can become living image. Pure Spirit (Will)does not reside in religion...that chaos of ideas belongs to the idiots that praise God for creating life while their fanatical ideas destroy life all around them, especially if "life" is a "nonbeliever". Religion is not God; it is a control mechanism installed in the social egregore by the few who rule the many.

The Purity of Spirit is the Life itself, that resides as the Great Ocean of Mother all around, in and through us while being AS US! So once again, "Above all things know thyself", is necessary here. Each of us must know that I Am Life and all around me Life is expressing itself as another way of being alive. We belong to each other, and not to ideas that separate us from each other, for such divisionism belongs to the "divide and conquer" greed-paradigm of the Patriarchy/Military Industrial Complex mind virus called the Wetiko by Native Americans or the Archon by the Gnostics..

Ideas have no purpose unless applied to the function of Life---for that is the Great Work of I AM. Ideas make I AM (identity) in their own image, while The Divine Creative-makes us into its image of Self Awareness!

Aleister Crowley is famous or infamous, for stating, "Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law. The Law is Love. Love under Will." To understand this statement is to see the obvious; that to know Love is to know thyself! The Soul is Life, and it creates Lifetimes, and as an awake conscious representative of our souls, we are the mercury-observer and action of "what we think we are".

We have the "sleeping mind" (Unconscious) which can be compared to the Hindu preserver god Vishnu, whose dream creates the universe. But the Dreamer is the dream and can't separate themselves from it. Hence, according to this philosophy, the universe died when sleeping Vishnu awakens. Then there is the Creator god aspect of Brahma. However, the awake and dancing god (awake consciousness), who moves within the dream as Avatars, can correct the dysfunctions that can change the universal cycles.

Vishnu and Brahma are not the same god in Hindu cosmology, but they play complementary roles in the process of creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe. Each has distinct functions in the cosmic cycle, and they are part of the Hindu trinity, known as the Trimurti, which includes Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

• Brahma is the creator god, responsible for the creation of the universe. He is often depicted as emerging from a lotus flower that grows from Vishnu's navel while Vishnu is resting on the cosmic ocean.

• Vishnu is the preserver or sustainer of the universe. He maintains the cosmic order (Dharma) and intervenes through his avatars when there is imbalance or chaos in the world. Vishnu is often referred to as the "dreamer" of the universe because he is seen as resting in the cosmic ocean, dreaming the universe into existence. In some traditions, the universe itself is considered to be Vishnu's dream.

While both Brahma and Vishnu are involved in the creation of the universe, they are distinct deities with separate roles. Vishnu, as the preserver, ensures that the universe follows its intended course, while Brahma initiates the process of creation. Despite their differences, the idea of unity among gods in Hindu philosophy is also common, suggesting that while Vishnu and Brahma are distinct in their roles, they are ultimately manifestations of the same divine source, Brahman, the universal consciousness.

So, while they are not the same god in their specific functions, they are interconnected aspects of the same ultimate reality in Hindu thought. Just as the Unconscious and awake consciousness are aspects of the same Psyche.

In Hindu cosmology, the concept of cyclical creation and destruction is central. This is reflected in the idea of Kalpas (cosmic cycles) and the cycles of creation and dissolution that repeat infinitely. Each Kalpa lasts for about 4.32 billion years, known as a "day of Brahma," followed by a "night of Brahma," where the universe is dissolved and then re-created when the next day begins.

There isn't a definitive number of universes that have existed before this one because Hindu belief emphasizes the infinite nature of these cycles. The universe has been created and destroyed countless times, and this process will continue indefinitely. The idea is that the universe dies and is reborn, with no specific beginning or end.

Thus, according to this belief, there were infinite universes before the current one, just as there will be infinite ones after it.

Knowing this, we who are the Avatars of Vishnu, can be active in the dream and by experience, find the flaws in the Universal Self dream and individually correct them as our own functional dream of Self! Hence, we as awake consciousness can be the lucidity of the Dreamer. Your purpose is far greater than the "little" world of the body. You are Spirit-Mind-Body. Somewhere in the Prince of Sword's consciousness this is known, and he takes nothing as serious. He or she rather dance in the mind.

The Mystic Palette Knight of Swords illustrates an armored knight, who's facial tattoos are wings (denoting the air element) and holding a great sword outward as if saying" I am armed". In the foreground is a silver winged helm, denoting the god mercury who was called the messenger of the gods.

This card implies mercurial ambitiousness, leadership qualities and spontaneous reactions and/or "jumping to conclusions. Here is presented one who is ready to jump in and seize the moment by making snap judgements that are often valid. He gains advantage by being the first one to act, while others are holding back waiting to see the way the wind will blow.

Being a spontaneous risk taker and not afraid to go against the "flow" (social egregore) the caveat associated with this card is to be careful with spontaneous impulse or impatience. Both actions attributed to this personality that can cause future difficulties in this one's life.

The false ego survival mind virus must be destroyed by conscious observation of the subconscious mind and awake analysis. Failure to apply wisdom to self-analysis will bring discord, martial authoritarianism, destructive, and unjust actions. All that applies to the Thoth Prince of Swords, applies to the Mystic Palette Knight of Swords.

The primary meaning of the Prince and-Knight of Swords, implies that change is maybe hard to accept: However, it tasks you to use your full potential and reap the fruits of your labor, after careful analysis.

As a person, The Prince/Knight of Swords personality is purely intellectual and implies:

• Overflowing with ideas that tumble over each other in a mass unrelated to practical effort.
• This is a brain that won't quiet itself down long enough to focus well on one thing.
• Intensely clever, admirably rational, with high degrees of thought, yet unstable of purpose.
• There is in this Prince of mind, and indifference to their own thought, as any idea is worth exploring, but not for too long.
• By reducing every thought to ratiocination, this personality has removed all substance from thoughts, making them formal and fantastical, as they no longer relate to any facts; even those upon which the thoughts are individually based.
• Thus, this person is completely free from settled principles and is capable of conceiving and putting out any conceivable argument without the clutter of remorse or regret.
• This is a mind so glib that it can forget the contrary argument it produced minutes before and go sallying forth with a new argument.
• These people often become faddists, cultists and devotees of drink, drugs, theologies, humanitarianism or music and religion, but without stability.
• The querent feels the need to release creative and intuitive thought while cutting through any barrier to this release.
• There is a tendency to think too fast so slowing down the thought process is advised if success is to be achieved.
• The querent is showing the tendency to be overly rational, missing the subtle emotional points that would heed success in communication.

If the querent is able or has achieved the ability to focus their thought, and subdue the "Shadow", they are committed to acting out their ideals and philosophy in their own lives; not really caring about how others do it, as they put incredible energy into supporting or examining beliefs.

• They often present a magnetic personality that is extravagant, careless, and excessive.
• Ruthlessly brilliant, they can have good business judgment. There is a combative nature here that is courageous, turbulent, and skilled in the war of wits.

If ill defined by the surrounding cards, it implies:

• Hastiness.
• Short sightedness. 
• Destructiveness. 
• Erratic changes.

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