The Operations

First Operation

  1. Select a single card which is the Significator.
  2. If possible, have the Querent shuffle and cut the deck while thinking intently about the question being asked. If this is not possible, the Diviner may do so.
  3. The person manipulating the deck should now place it in front of them and slightly to the right.
  4. Cut the deck as nearly to the middle as the eye can judge (not any arbitrary cut, like intentionally cutting the deck 3/4 of the way through) and place the top half to the left.
  5. Now cut each of those two stacks to its left, so that you have four stacks. These correspond to the four elements and the letters of the Tetragrammaton.

Now without changing the order or orientation of the cards in each stack, find the stack which contains the Significator. The other three stacks may be set aside; they will not be used any further in this Operation.

In the Golden Dawn’s system, which stack contains the significator is a clue to the energy involved in the situation, and is used in considering the elemental dignity of the cards. In Crowley’s system, you should decide if the elemental nature of the stack corresponds to the nature of the question (e.g. Earth for business/money), and if it does not, you should abandon the divination altogether, at least for the time being. Judge for yourself what makes sense.

The Counting Phase

Now take the pack that contains the Significator and go through the counting procedure to form a story. In interpreting every card, consider its elemental dignity. The cards to either side of a given card may not themselves be part of the counted story; however, they do influence its dignity. For example:

If the Significator is the Queen of Cups and faces left (as given in the example on the Counting page), then the counted cards will only be: Queen of Cups, Five of Pentacles, and Six of Cups. However, in reading their dignities, the Five of Pentacles is influenced by the Two of Pentacles and the Moon, and the Six of Cups is influenced by the Ace of Wands and The Fool.

The Pairing Phase

Now apply the pairing procedure to the pack. Again, for each card, you can consider its neighbors for elemental dignity.

When you have applied both the counting and pairing procedures to create a narrative, the First Operation is finished. If you wish to further refine the divination, proceed to the Second Operation.

Second Operation

  1. Shuffle the entire deck as before.
  2. Deal out the entire deck into twelve stacks, one card at a time. These stacks represent the astrological Houses; the first stack to receive a card is for the 1st House, the second the 2nd House, etc.
  3. Find the stack with the Significator; then count, pair, and interpret the stack in light of the House the stack represented; so for example, if in the seventh stack, the story would pertain to partnership, marriage, etc.

In Crowley’s method, the Diviner should select which house they think the Significator will be in (based on the question); if they are wrong, they should make a second try, but after two failures, it’s time to abandon the divination.

Third Operation

  1. Shuffle the entire deck as before.
  2. Deal out the entire deck into twelve stacks, one card at a time. These stacks represent the astrological Signs; the first stack to receive a card is for Aries, the second Taurus, etc.
  3. Find the stack with the Significator; then count, pair, and interpret the stack in light of the Sign the stack represented.
  4. Additionally, consider the trump card which corresponds to that Sign; so e.g. for the fifth stack (Leo), the card would be Strength. If that card should happen to be in the stack with the Significator, it would be considered highly influential.

In Crowley’s method, as with the Second Operation, the Diviner should make up to two selections as to which Signs are relevant, and if both fail, abandon the divination.

Fourth Operation

  1. Shuffle the entire deck as before.
  2. Turn it face-up and find the Significator.
  3. Take all the cards which are on top of the Significator and place them underneath the other cards, so that the full 78 cards form a stack with the Significator face up on top. Do this without reordering either half of the deck. (See diagram.)
  4. Deal the Significator face-up in the middle of the table. Then deal the next 36 cards counterclockwise in a circle around the Significator, face-up. These represent the Decans of the Zodiac. The remaining cards are not used in this Operation.
  5. Count and pair the cards, but since the Significator is not part of the circle, the counting should begin with the first decan card dealt, and proceed in the direction of dealing (counterclockwise). The pairing should begin with the 1st and 36th cards, then the 2nd and 35th, etc.
How to cut and restack the deck for the Fourth Operation.

Fifth Operation

  1. Shuffle the entire deck as before.
  2. Deal it into ten packets, one card at a time, in the pattern of the Sephiroth on the Tree of Life.
  3. The packet containing the Significator is identified, counted, paired, and interpreted in light of the Sephirah to which the packet corresponded.
Fifth Operation dealing order.

This Operation completes the entire divination.