trystinn | Occult Projects: Pillars of Tubal-Cain & Tree of Life Oracle

"I'm currently reading (or trying to read) "The Pillars of Tubal-Cain" by Nigel Jackson & Michael Howard. I'm incredibly ambivalent about this book - its nearly impossible to read, what with the assumptions that the reader already has a background in the material and the thousands of disjointed snippets. Its not a 'read' per se, its more like a reference guide. The only way I can make any sense out of it is to read a chapter here and there, then set it aside for a few weeks.

The other project is using the "Tree of Life Oracle" by Cherry Gilchrist and Gila Zur. I'd bought the set, thinking since I was very comfortable with Tarot, it would be easy to use. Geez, was I wrong! Its only now, after several years of dedicated studying of the Tree of Life do I feel confident to pick this up again. The set is an experiment with pathworking the Tree of Life without the tarot. Instead of tarot arcanas or symbology, this set uses 14 "wheel cards" in 4 element (air, fire, water and earth) suits. Its a very complicated set, one a reader would need a very good basis in Kabbala, specifically the TOL, to use. The layout is somewhat similar to the Celtic Tree Spread - but uses the Twelve Zodiac Houses instead. Each 'read', travels the Lighting Bolt of Creation to organize the Wheel cards into a readable whole.

The Wheel cards remind me of the I Ching, each with their own name and story. And while the philosophical references of each card are very philosophically & intellectually Jewish, one needn't be Jewish or have a background in the Torah to appreciate the wisdom offered. These bits of wisdom are very universal, very poignant and very thoughtful."

Expect a lot of posts on these, volunteers for the TOL Oracle will be requested at some point. I may create a filter so I don't bore half my Flist with these posts.