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Goetia Question

Boy in a Suitcase

17:54 / 14.02.03

Ah!

Was wondering about the Magical Circle of Solomon:
does anybody know the significance of the "T" shaped
crosses in the pentagram/hexagrams and the Iron
Cross-like doohickeys extending from the central
square? (I am referencing the Mathers/Crowley Lesser
Key here, although I think it's the same in Waite.)

Constructing a huge seven by seven permanent Magic
Circle, painting on the floor like mad like Bobby
Geldof in "The Wall,"

Boy in a Suitcase

13:43 / 17.02.03

I think they indicate the descent of the divine into the material, typical Gnostic stuff- but am not sure.

13:54 / 17.02.03

Haven't seen the drawings you're talking of. There's a T-shpaed cross on the cover of my copy of "Magick" made up of 11 squares - 6 up, 5 across which I think represents the qabalah - 10 sspheres + daath, and the union of 5 + 6 (5 elements plus 6 planets refered to in the pentegram/hexagram rites). Don't know if this helps?

Your floor sounds cool as fuck though.

17:02 / 17.02.03

I suspect the ones you are referring to are diagrams of the Enochian system - I believe I just saw one of the T's you refer to just recently in Book 4...

I'll check and post back.

Who's your Tzaddi?

19:00 / 10.03.03

<π>

19:38 / 10.03.03

That diagram has nothing really to do with the "Enochian System". As mentioned, it's another representation of the sephirot of the Tree of Life.

Just out of pure, stupid curiosity, why exactly are you painting magickal symbols you don't understand on your floor?

Who's your Tzaddi?

19:49 / 10.03.03

† Are you sure that you are not talking about "Tau", the hebrew "T"?EA;

Nietzsch E. Coyote

20:20 / 10.03.03

The Tau is the T on the floor of the boy in the suitcase.

Boy in a Suitcase

20:46 / 10.03.03

(laughs frantically)

18:52 / 14.03.04

My nine foot circle and three foot triangle is on painting plastic cover. It took two weeks. I can take it anywhere I desire.

20:17 / 14.03.04

I think the "T" symbols are to indicate where you place candles.

(If you look at the pentacles in the classic Crowley-Mathers illustration, you'll see they say "Candle" on each side.)

In the same way, I assume you don't write "Master" in the middle of the circle where the magician stands.

trouser the trouserian

11:44 / 15.03.04

Boy
In Crowley's version of the Lesser Key of Solomon, he says (in respect to the magic circle of Solomon):

The small Maltese crosses are placed to mark the conclusion of each separate set of Hebrew names. These names are those of Deity Angels and Archangels allotted by the Qabalists to each of the 9 first Sephiroth or Divine Emanations.

I think it's entirely possible that the seals are intended to reinforce the power of the cicle given the popular notion in Goetic magic that demons are averse to crosses.

13:52 / 16.03.04

The Maltese crosses in the coiled serpent are separate from the tau crosses in the pentacles and hexagrams and the quasi-Maltese crosses at the corners of the central square in the magic circle.

From a review of the Mathers/Crowley instructions I'm still not sure whether the tau crosses are supposed to be drawn, or whether they're just markings showing where to put candles, just as the word "Master" shows where the magician should stand.

("The square in the centre of the circle, where the word "Master" is written, is filled in with red. . . . In the Hexagrams . . . the centres, where the T-shaped crosses are, [are filled in with] blue or green. In the Pentagrams outside the circle . . . the centres with the T crosses written therein are [filled in with] red.")

Since there are similar tau crosses on the Hexagram of Solomon -- which is written on parchment -- I now suspect that the crosses really are supposed to be drawn. Personally, I'd skip them, but I'm not a big fan of crosses.