It is Tuesday. I just received the Golden Dawn Temple Tarot from Wendrich Art House. I was expecting the cards to arrive and start work with them. But there is a problem. According to the Golden Dawn Hermetic Tradition, a ritual should be done before opening the cards and for this, some tools are essential like the tarot wand and a tarot box or pouch. We will make the wand and the box ourselves.
Materials
- Side wood pieces 16.2 x 8 cm
- Bottom wood piece 9.4 x 16.4cm
- Top wood piece 13 x 19.6 cm
- Front and back wood pieces13 x 8 cm
- 2 small hinges 4 x 2.5 cm
- 4 x 1.5cm screws for hinges
- Some 4cm or 4.5cm screws for wood pieces
- Acrylic paints, brushes and varnish
- Wooden dowel diameter 1.6 cm, 15 cm length
- Sandpaper number 100 and 200
- Drill
- Wood glue
- F clamps
Box
With no 100 sandpaper, make all edjes smooth. Then with the no 200 make all wooden pieces smooth. Apply glue to the wood pieces and use the F clamps to tighten them. With a wet cloth remove any glue that will go out of the union points. After 24 hours make the holes with the drill and screw the screws for making the box even safer. You may bypass this step. Screw the two hinges. Choose your symbols to paint in the cover and inside. Good ideas are to make divination sigils, add your God or Goddess name in the inside of the box. You can also paint the whole box inside and outside. If you use gesso, then use the no 200 sandpaper to make it smooth. When the acrylics will dry, apply varnish only in that area.
Wand
For making the tarot wand you will need a circular wooden dowel. Cut it in 15cm and then with the sandpapers make it smooth. Apply gessho and then use the no 200 sandpaper. Divide 5 sections but make sure thw white one will be the biggest of all. The other four have equal lengths. After painting each section slowly, apply varnish.
Colors: black, yellow, blue, red, white
The colors represent the four worlds. Black for Assiah, Yellow for Yetzirah, Blue for Briah and red for Atziluth. Those colors can also represent the four elements, which are represented in the Minor Arcana. Wands for fire, cups for water, swords for air and pentacles for earth. Sigils and hebrew letters have been drawn to represent the energy of the worlds and in the white section, the light one, we have the world ROTA and the sigil of the secret wisdom angel HRU. For complete instructions for constructing the wand, you should check the "Secrets Of The Golden Dawn Temple", written by Ciceros.
The wand is stored with your tarot deck, so if you keep your deck in a box, make sure you choose the right wand.
Concecrate Tarot
I used the Golden Dawn ceremony to make the symbols come to life.
Make good Divination!
It amazes me how so many traditions follow these ancient protocols and roles,