1. THE Significator.
Choose a card to represent the Querent, using your
knowledge or judgment of his character rather than dwelling on his physical
characteristics.
2. Take the cards in your left hand. In the right hand hold the wand over them, and say: I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt send H R U, the great Angel that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen.
3. Hand the cards to Querent, and bid him think of the question attentively, and cut.
4. Take the cards as cut, and hold as for dealing.
"First Operation" [of the OOTK]"
This shows the situation of the Querent at the time when he consults you.
1. The pack being in front of you, cut, and place the top half to the left.
2. Cut each pack again to the left.
3. These four stack represent I H V H, from right to left.
4. Find the Significator. It be in the HB:Y pack, the question refers to work, business, etc.; if in the HB:H pack, to love, marriage, or pleasure; if in the HB:H pack, to money, goods, and such purely material matters.
4b.) Crowley Version of the last line - with some changes by me:
Find the
significator. If it be in the Yod pack [far right], the question refers to work,
business, etc.; if in the He pack [2nd from the right], to love, marriage,
or pleasure; if in the Vau pack [2nd from the left], to trouble, loss, scandal,
quarreling, etc.; if in the He final pack [on the left]; to money, goods, and
such purely material matters.
5. Tell the Querent what he has come for: if wrong, abandon the divination.
6. If right, spread out the pack containing the Significator, face upwards. Count the cards from him, in the direction in which he faces. The counting should include the card from which you count.
For Knights, Queens and Princes count 4.
For Princesses count 7.
For
Aces, count 11.
For small cards, count according to the number.
For
trumps, count 3 for the elemental trumps; 9 for the planetary trumps; 12 for the
Zodiacal trumps.
Make a "story" of these cards. This story is that of the beginning of the affair.
7. Pair the cards on either side of the Significator, then those outside them, and so on. Make another "story," which should fill in the details omitted in the first.
8. If this story is not quite accurate, do not be discouraged. Perhaps the Querent himself does not know everything. But the main lines ought to be laid down firmly, with correctness, or the divination should be abandoned.
"Second Operation" [of the OOTK]"
Development of the Question
1. Shuffle, invoke suitably, and let Querent
cut as before.
2. Deal cards into twelve stacks, for the twelve astrological houses of heaven.
3. Make up your mind in which stack you ought to find the Significator,
"e.g." in the seventh house
if the question concerns marriage, and so on.
4. Examine this chosen stack. If the Significator is not there, try some cognate house. On a second failure, abandon the divination.
5. Read the stack counting and pairing as before.
"Third Operation" [of the OOTK]"
Further Development of the Question
1. Shuffle, etc., as before.
2. Deal cards into twelve stacks for the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
3. Divine the proper stack and proceed as before.
"Fourth Operation" [of the OOTK]"
Penultimate Aspects of the Question
1. Shuffle, etc., as before.
2. Find the Significator: set him upon the table; let the thirty-six cards following form a ring round him.
3. Count and pair as before.
"Fifth Operation" [of the OOTK]"
Final Result
1. Shuffle, etc., as before.
2. Deal into ten packs in the form of the Tree of Life.
3. Make up your mind where the Significator should be, as before; but failure does not here necessarily imply that the divination has gone astray.
4. Count and pair as before.