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0.  Fool:  A ray of light strikes; poised upon a peak, at the edge of a precipice, the beautiful drunken youth wavers in the turning wind. Garbed in multi-colored motley, a plume curved like a question mark behind his ear, he reaches to catch a butterfly, blinded by the light. His staff is balanced over his shoulder: at one end the jester’s bladder, festooned with ribbons; at the other a bulging wineskin accounts for his empty purse. A dire wolf dances at his heels, and far below in the abyss the crocodiles wait hungry in the river. There is a sound of bells, ringing faintly in the distant air.

1. Magus:  Along the weird and winding road that ascends and descends the holy mountain there whirls a mountebank messenger, a singer of dreams and a thief by night. His sandals are subtly winged, he is masked and cloaked in shadow, and conceals a secret book. At the feast of the senses he juggles the celestial spheres; with coins and cups, with daggers and wands, he spins illusions to madden the crowded house. In every lie he tells is truth, and he contains the infinite. A serpent coils about his hand.

2. Priestess:  In the hidden cave of the oracle there is an ancient darkness from beneath the roots of the world. A still pool catches falling rays of moonlight shining through the entrance above, reflecting pure silver upon the dreaming face of the priestess in her trance. She reclines upon a wide throne between two pillars from which triple veils descend; near her hand rests a scroll in an unknown language. From a tripod rise fumes of laurel and opium, and before Hekate’s shrine are offerings of pomegranates, apples and grapes. A spilled cup pours red wine into secret waters unmoved by tides.

3. Empress:  At the center of the broad earth’s expanse the Mother sits in her garden; from about her radiate fields and orchards, forests and plains, outwards to the circling sea. She is crowned with flowers, surrounded by children and bright birds, in the warmth of summer’s turning when the harvest draws near. There is music of the bees in their hives, and the fire she guards burns in every hearth. The star of morning and evening rises upon the horizon, a flight of swans sweeps swiftly overhead.

4. Emperor:  Atop the mound where the ancestors lie the true king sits upon his ancient throne of stone; he holds lightning in his right hand and an eagle upon his left. He bears arms of steel and a crown of gilded ram’s horns; when the Law is spoken his voice is heard over all the four corners of the land. From volcanic cracks in the rock there glows a sulphurous fire, dark storm clouds gather like thoughts overhead. In the distance is a thunder like marching armies.

5. Hierophant:  From the holy of holies, in the temple open to all, the high priest translates the sacred texts, revealing and concealing the truth, teaching what can be taught, opening the gates to the god in the shrine that the solstice light may enter. Robed in purple, ancient and wise, a serpent-glitter in his eyes, he laughs most quietly to himself. Builder of bridges, holder of keys.

6. Lovers:  A mighty tree with fruits of jewel stands at the primal center of things, and the original couple from the dawn of time shelter beneath its branches; only now separated, cloven from a single being and already longing to reunite. Sadly smiling the peacock angel sees innocence and experience begin the dance of lust and life. Here there are dragons. A serpent twines about a sword whose blade is angled like a lightning-bolt.

7. Chariot:  Racing along toward glorious battle the charioteer trails scarlet banners, drawn by galloping sphinxes that change in constant chaos, mingling lion and eagle, man and bull, shifting chimeras of light and dark. So swift is the motion that the vehicle seems still, it is as though the world turns beneath its wheels. With one hand the hero holds the reins; in the other he bears high the Holy Grail, returning victorious from his quest. His cloak is deep blue with stars of gold; above him a royal falcon soars, and casts a shadow on the path before him.

8. Balance:  On a chessboard floor in a space unseen a masked blind figure stands, sword and balance in her hands, weighing truth’s feather against a crystal heart, truth transparent in a silent word of breath.

9. Hermit:  By the hidden paths of solitary night a black-cowled hunchback wanders alone, with an unlit lamp of olive oil and a sheaf of scattering grain, passing unseen and leaving no footprints, invisible light transforming the self, wisdom passed from mouth to ear in secret.

10. Wheel:  With only emptiness at the center a circle is eternally turning: mighty engine of industry’s progress, sacred teaching mandala upon the temple wall, torture device where a heretic’s limbs are broken, roulette wheel of changing fortune, spinning globe of earth and clockwork of the celestial spheres. Neon colors change in the chakras: a car is waiting.

11. Lust:  The great enchantress is astride the beast, the elder dragon with seven heads, as it is written: "The head of an Angel: the head of a Saint: the head of a Poet: the head of an Adulterous Woman: the head of a Man of Valour: the head of a Satyr: and the head of a Lion-Serpent. Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is BABALON."  She is drunk upon scarlet wine and rich blood, she is the sacred womb of god, lens and focus of life’s longing, proud ecstasy of the passing dance. In her is all power given. Naked she rides the rhythm, to union with all otherness and separation ending. The shaken sound of the sistrum is heard, like the hissing of a brazen snake.

12. Hanged Man:  At the crossroads a cursed traitor hangs inverted from the gallows-tree, gazing without sight; from his purse pour thirty pieces of silver, from his ejaculate mandrakes grow. Drowning the waters draw him deeper into dream, bound in chains he is made free by secret runes, drugged near to dying for a vision.

13. Death:  Beneath an expanse of starless sky cold desert spreads. Dancing goes the skeleton lord, with hourglass and scythe: all about him severed heads, of kings and slaves and children, artists, clowns and concubines, of all the human race. Softly jingling on his skull he wears the jester’s cap; black clouds of starving ravens follow in his wake, a shadow covering all.

14. Art:  At the boundary between land and sea an androgyne angel spreads rainbow wings, with vessels of silver & gold she mingles the shimmering substance of alchemy, elixir of eternal life and medicine of metals, mutation’s art of unique change transforming in cycles of time.

15. Devil:  In the underworld a beast enthroned upon the cubic stone, vast wings of a bat and lewd head of a goat, rampant phallus and a woman’s breasts: Baphomet the Templar secret, midnight god of the witches’ sabbat. Between his horns a pine-torch burns with chill black flame, enkindled by a secret gem found in the head of a toad.

16. Tower.  Carved in seven levels from the mountain’s crags a mighty tower stands then falls, house of god struck by fire from heaven, kissed by lightning’s sudden glare and the word of the destroyer, a moment of thunder frozen in time, a wonder of citadels fallen and shattered cathedrals.

17.  Star:  Concealed in the ebon egg of night is the naked white form of a beautiful woman, living fountain of the waters from outside, marked by the sigils of constellations. Above her seven stars circle the eighth; and the ibis stands upon one leg in the marshlands, dreaming beyond time.

18. Moon:  Beneath the glow of the waning moon pale Hekate passes with her frenzied horde, daemons unleashed and maenads fair, wild beasts and the furious host of dead souls. Her unbound hair with serpents teems, and from her poisonous cauldron nightmares breed. Dogs howl and the black cockerel crows, in seething waters croaking toads and creeping things are gathered.

19. Sun:  Within a stone circle upon a green hill stands a white marble statue of the lion-headed god. On the altar before him are gathered red roses: the phoenix has made the nest which is her pyre, laid the golden egg which is herself, burning to ash then born anew in the cycle of the ages. Poised upon the pinnacle of noonday the solstice sun shines brilliant over the sacred rites.

20. Aeon:  It is the invisible flame that works in secret, it is the lost word spoken. The angel of the apocalypse blows the final trumpet, and the dead rise from their graves. The hawk of gold spreads immortal wings, and all is suddenly changed. Tyranny dies and freedom is won, sorrow is turned to play. The wondrous stone of the philosophers falls as a toy into the hands of a laughing child. It is the birth of the Age of Fire.

21. World:  Circled by the zodiac, bearing double wands, unveiled and unmasked the gynander dances, wrapped in a coiling serpent, image of time and eternity, a universe coded into human form.

0. Fool:  A ray of light reflects; balanced on a point at the green edge of wilderness, a gorgeous drunken god opens the New Year. Naked save for a leopard’s skin, bearing the thrysus, horned like a bull, garlanded with ivy. Where he wanders vines of purple grapes spring up, old wine jars flood with a sudden vintage. Accompanied by panthers, by silenii and satyrs, Dionysos wanders, ever the stranger god returning. There is a sound of panpipes, distant, warmed with subtle pleasures. There is a light of ceaseless dawn, shining in the soul. The dolphins leap up from the waves of the sea, laughing about the sinking ship.
 

 This was scribed on 2/22/02, in part as a visual description of the 22 tarot trumps which now exist only inside my head. The quotation is from Aleister Crowley’s Book of Lies: chapter 49, ‘Waratah-Blossoms’.  Fay ce que vouldras!