On one hand, the Tenebrous runic-tarot has features familiar to tarot and rune readers. On the other, though, this divination system that I’ve devised also has a number of unique features. Something I therefore wanted to do in my divination series was to provide additional commentary on the system’s omens. I’m continuing this examination with a comparison between the fives – i.e., 5 Attainment, 5 Communion, 5 Strife and 5 Innovation.

Introduction

The Tenebrous runic-tarot

For those who may haven’t yet read my book, it’s useful to first summarize some basics of my divination system.

What does Tenebrous divination have in common with tarot? It entails a similar number of omens, with similar meanings, arranged in a similar structure thus:

• My equivalent of the major arcana are called archetypes. There are 28 of these. 22 are closely analogous to the traditional tarot; titles and small nuances of meaning differ, but central meanings and order are little-changed. 6 are creations of my own that I have inserted into the traditional sequence. The intent is to capture aspects of a Satanist’s journey that I find inadequately represented by default tarot trumps.
• My equivalent of the minor arcana are called tropes. These are divided into four suits, which I call kingdoms. Each consists of numbered omens 1-10, which I call phases, and four court-card equivalents, which I call incarnations. Thus in my system, pages are called muses, knights are heroes, queens are witches, and kings are sorcerers. The meanings of all of these omens are broadly-speaking similar to the traditional minor arcana. As with the archetypes, though, nuances differ.

What does the Tenebrous divination system have in common with runes? That all of the above are represented via combinations of glyphs and numbers. Any practitioner can thus make their own set by acquiring wooden tokens etc. and marking them with the appropriate symbols.

At the same time, the system maintains tarot’s rich symbolism, by grouping the omens together into groups of three and representing each grouping with a vision (see Nine Keys for detailed descriptions) whose imagery combines those three omens’ meanings. Meditating upon these visions is recommended to deepen personal engagement with the system.

The current entry

The current entry will focus on a subset of the tropes of the runic-tarot: the fives. When summarizing the fives in general, my book states:

Fives… deal with the catastrophic eruption of energy and the challenge of responding constructively… Such adversity is suggestive of the qualities of Mars.

(Because of the way the system associates certain omens with others, Nine Keys discusses fives and witches – my equivalent of queens – together. The ellipses in the quote are where info about witches has been omitted to streamline things for current purposes.)

If fours are numerologically-associated with stability, fives upset this stagnancy – and are particularly associated with acausal incursion. The Order of Nine Angles (ONA/O9A) uses four to designate the causal realm (three dimensions of space plus one of time) and five to designate the acausal (more than four dimensions, i.e., at least five). This bringing-together of causal four and acausal five is how we get “nine angles”.

Similar connotations can be found in other spiritual contexts: the pentacle’s five points representing four traditional elements plus spirit; five books of Torah at the Abrahamic core; five pillars of Islam; etc. One here notices a recurring theme of spirit descending into flesh to birth a new vision of a higher order. Yes, in many examples, they call their spirit “Light” and we call ours “Darkness”. Nonetheless, the connotation of incursion is still shared.

With the fives, one thus faces a similar challenge as with the ones: their shared core’s obviousness – with the ones, beginnings, vs. with the fives, adversity – can cause these omens to seem “samey” at a beginner’s glance. How are the fives nonetheless distinct from one another? An answer is implicit in my book’s descriptions, but this entry’s side-by-side comparison aims at offering further clarity.

5 Attainment

In Nine Keys

Title: Frustration

Representation: An image split into three: in the center, a dragon accompanied by a beautiful older woman in green who bears a cornucopia; toward the left, a cloaked man kneels in a snowy waste, on the verge of collapse; toward the right, a woman and child desperately search a desert landscape for water. The distressed figures on the peripheries are the part of the vision pertaining to 5 Attainment.

Connotations: It is part of the natural way of the world for all living beings to suffer seasons of ill fortune. This may manifest via financial difficulties, health problems, or other mundane inconveniences. Realize, though, that there is no malicious culprit behind the arising of such circumstances other than an uncaring universe.

Tarot equivalent: 5 of Discs

Element: Fire (contra earth in traditional tarot – see here for info about my elemental associations)

Elaboration

If 4 Attainment alludes to contained fire, 5 Attainment indirectly suggests uncontained fire: it’s no stretch to surmise from its vision that the wanderers are homeless because the dragon has destroyed their homes. Such is the double-edged sword of material existence. Nature gives, but also takes away. Spirit, for all its ambition, does not experience itself as omnipotent upon descending into physicality. Circumstances will at times defeat it. And at such times, one must face such defeat head-on, without the evasion or resentment that breed Dogmagianism.

The need to resist the temptation of resentment is a strong recurring theme among the fives. In 5 Attainment’s case, we see a mixed image: the vision depicts the man crying out in anguish; the woman and child, however, merely press on in their difficult business. Here then are two alternatives: to succumb to unproductive despair, or practice the Tenebrous virtue of perseverance. The latter choice does not guarantee success in life. It is, however, the choice more true to spirit’s fundamental nature as “that which seeks to do ever more through the medium of flesh, despite the limitations inherent to that medium” and therefore “strives always toward complacency’s overthrow” (see the First Key for context of these quotes). It’s thus in keeping with a Satanist’s dignity to seek constructive action even amid circumstances where little may seem possible.

It should be noted, in connection, that 5 Attainment is an omen of material difficulties which “just happen”. Screaming in momentary frustration at such things is understandable, but they call for pragmatic responses, not blame-fixation. Relatedly, I’ve seen the runic-tarot use this omen to say, “no magickal or mundane enemy is at work here; it’s just random inconvenient life bullshit”. Such an omen can offer a grounding antidote to paranoia.

5 Communion

In Nine Keys

Title: Disillusionment

Representation: In a lonely tower by the sea, a miser sits amid his piled gold with a chain-bound chest by his side. He inspects a series of jewels, tossing them away one by one in response to flaws thinks he glimpses. At the tower’s rocky base, a mermaid gazes longingly into a hand-mirror, in which she sees the face of the miser as a younger man reflected. The miser’s cynical jewel-inspection is the part of the vision that corresponds to 5 Communion.

Connotations: This omen acknowledges that one has had legitimately negative past experiences that justify closing oneself off. It simultaneously warns, however, against casting away seemingly-comparable things that may yet have some value. Often a warning against allowing one’s “baggage” to ruin other relationships.

Tarot equivalent: 5 of Cups

Element: Air (contra water in traditional tarot)

Elaboration

Although both figures in this scene have their issues, their differences are worth highlighting. The man confines himself to a stagnant space, dwelling on things that have little value without other people present. (e.g., no one he could use the gold to buy things from, or show his jewels to, etc.) The woman, by contrast, enjoys the outside air, and her heart remains open to someone, albeit one unreachable at present. Both are haunted by dysfunction. But whereas mere sentimentality hinders the woman, the man seems more thoroughly hemmed in and limited by his previous investments.

5 Communion differs from 5 Attainment insofar as its arena of adversity is interpersonal rather than material. One might also observe how the dynamics of resentment in the current case differ from those of the previous. In 5 Attainment’s scenario, one resents the unfairness and difficulties of the situation that one has been unexpectedly thrust into. Vs. in 5 Communion’s scenario, one resents a larger pattern for both its negativity and its alleged inescapability. Such patterns are hard to argue a person out of insofar as real disappointments are built into their construction. Too often, though, their constructors do not realize what they’re doing: choosing to fixate on select data points, from which they build a cage ultimately of their own making.

5 Communion thus depicts a delusional state that many fail to realize they have fallen into: they fixate on all the ways in which the problem is other people, to the point that they fail to notice how they don’t even actually engage with other people anymore. Their engagement is instead only with their Truth that nothing will ever be worthwhile. Such people aptly illustrate how one can fall into Dogmagian toxicity even without some grand ideology as inspiration.

5 Strife

In Nine Keys

Title: Defeat

Representation: The sorcerer from 2 Innovation hangs upside-down from scaffolding, his belly slit open by his own hand. But whereas he is still alive, the same cannot be said for the four men – rich, poor, old, young – impaled by swords at his feet. Atop the scaffold perches a bird whose head is that of a woman: the mask-wearer, also from 2 Innovation. The four dead men on the ground are the part of the vision corresponding to 5 Strife.

Connotations: A once cohesive and amicable group of people, now divided by competition, misunderstanding, and/or other forces of division. The exchange of sharp words whose artifice conceals hard feelings. Careful handling can conclude the conflict in the present, whilst evasion would merely drag out the inevitable and make it worse.

Tarot equivalent: 5 of Swords

Element: Earth (contra air in traditional tarot)

Elaboration

2 Innovation depicted a covenant between masked woman and sorcerer, and 5 Strife suggests this covenant’s consequences. As a promoter of creative strife, the sorcerer’s magick moves mundane obstructors (the now-dead men) to destroy one another. This is not, however, cost-free for the sorcerer. The saying “the blood of the living provides good fertilizer for the seeds of the new” is but one of O9A’s XXI Satanic points this image evokes.

How might such considerations bear upon this omen’s arising in not-so-grandiose contexts, though? 5 Strife reminds the dedicated walker of the Sinister Path to never dismiss the possibility of acausal influence. One should definitely not assume it is present in every trivial event, for that way lies madness. On the other hand, though, recall that the forces that we work with are inherently manifestations of adversity. We should not then be surprised if, amid our most unpleasant disappointments and betrayals, they have something to teach us. I myself, for example, have experienced prolonged conflicts in the last few years that have forced me to overcome longstanding weaknesses in my personality via approaches that formerly did not come naturally to me. To a dedicated Satanist, lost relationships are a small price to pay for this kind of personal growth.

All that said, note that this omen positions its subject not as the sorcerer (Manoth), nor the harpy (Witch of Strife) but as the dead men. The associated message is that sometimes, you are just collateral damage in someone else’s scheme. In such instances, there is no point in taking things personally. Do so, and you risk behaving in a way that turns a passing clash of conflicting priorities into an extended war with an actual malefactor. 5 Strife thus joins the chorus of the other fives in discouraging resentment.

5 Innovation

In Nine Keys

Title: Tribulation

Representation: An idyllic scene of flower-strewn meadow, clear stream, and distant mountains. Leftward crouches a white rabbit, to the right a lamb, and in the center, the couple from 2 Communion. One assists the other to their feet, as if they’ve endured a great ordeal together, but the smiling feminine face of the Sun above offers assurance that no danger menaces them at present. The part of this vision corresponding to 5 Innovation is the reconciled couple.

Connotations: Passage through the kinds of challenges that are stressful at the time, but with justified anticipation of a worthwhile payoff. As such, this omen often refers to such circumstances as examinations, consideration for promotion, or difficult-but-necessary conversations. If ill-dignified in a reading, however, it may warn against handling a conflict in an unrealistically-optimistic fashion.

Tarot equivalent: 5 of Wands

Element: Water (contra fire in traditional tarot)

Elaboration

5 Innovation’s scenario is not quite so individualistic as the other fives’ sketches of adversity. It may be that the couple is making up after an argument. But it may also be that they are catching their breath after passing through their adventures together as a team. Either way, 5 Innovation hints at an element of renewed unity that the other fives do not. It thus tends to be the “sunniest” of the fives. Difficulties will ease, or perhaps even transform into opportunities. Either that, or they will soon be “water under the bridge”.

Having long taken this omen as the most positive five, I now think Nine Keys’ discussion somewhat neglects its potential negative implications. This is particularly on my mind currently, due to my Sun initiation (see the Ninth Key) divination framing 5 Innovation as a recurrent problem for me. What does this omen mean in such a context? In my case, I believe it points to such tendencies as:

• Overestimating the extent to which those I have rapport with actually understand me and support my core goals.
• Expressing love via seeking to understand the other + help them resolve things they have not previously been able to resolve. This leads to energy drain if said other has unresolvable contradictions entrenched in their self-understanding and prefers familiar dysfunction to the admission and resolution of problems.
• Being too optimistic re: “any problem can be resolved via a sufficiently-reasonable conversation”.

Such themes suggest that, unlike other fives warning against resentment, 5 Innovation points to the dangers of the opposite mindset. A point exists past which open-mindedness and doubt-benefit-granting prolong engagement with irreparably broken people harmful to oneself. 5 Innovation can thus warn of too-weak boundaries, contra the other fives warning of boundaries that are too strong.

Concluding thoughts

As mentioned, adversity is a recurrent theme among all the fives:

• For 5 Attainment, this is adversity inherent to spirit’s Adventure in the often-frustrating realm of the flesh. Coping with such adversity effectively requires practicality and resourcefulness. Resentment in such circumstances wastes energy, accomplishing nothing.
• 5 Communion points to a second-order adversity beyond this, aggravated by one’s over-investment in pattern-articulation. It urges one to beware of shutting out new people, experiences, etc. lest one entrap oneself in an ever-tighter spiral of isolated misery. Yes, your past pain is real, but you gain nothing by perpetually re-treading its ground and re-imposing its pattern on new-things-that-are-not-it.
• 5 Strife draws our gaze to the kind of adversity that is inherent to walking the Sinister Path: alienation from one’s fellows. Challenges of such conflicts include accepting that people just are unfair sometimes, knowing when to walk away, and learning regardless. It is, conversely, unskillful to bear grudges that blow things up into even bigger problems later. Particularly foolhardy is the sorcerer who turns against his acausal allies, whining about the trials of Job instead of reflecting upon how our patrons/matrons may be wiser than we are regarding what kind of adversity may best spur our self-evolution – if only we grapple with it constructively.
• Finally, whereas 5 Strife provokes reflection on how even thoroughly-negative events can lead to constructive developments, 5 Innovation cautions optimists against going overboard in the other direction. Resolution is not a bad thing to seek or to find. Nevertheless, a Satanist is not well-served by fantasies that resolution always comes if one works hard enough for it. An obvious insight to others, perhaps, but I did not understand its applicability to me until recently.

Thoughts? Let me know in the comments.