5 year Humanities self study course

Year 1: Foundations & Ancient Origins
Focus: Building the "Grammar" of your subjects. Learning how to read the languages and the basic symbols of art and tarot.

• Egyptian Studies: Introduction to Old Kingdom history. Start learning the Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Collier & Manley’s How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs).
• Latin: Focus on the basics of declensions and conjugations using the Ørberg method (Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata).
• Art History: Prehistoric art through Ancient Greece. Focus on the transition from Egyptian "frontal" style to Greek "naturalism."
• Tarot: The Major Arcana. Study the Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) system as a baseline. Memorize the 22 cards and their archetypal meanings.
• English Literature: Epic foundations. Read Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue), and the King James Bible (as a literary text).

Year 2: Empires and Allegory
Focus: Developing fluency and understanding how cultures influence one another.

• Egyptian Studies: Middle Kingdom history and the "Golden Age" of literature. Study the Tale of Sinuhe in translation.
• Latin: Completing basic grammar and moving into the Vulgate Bible and simple prose (Caesar).
• Art History: Roman Art to the Gothic period. Study the development of the arch, the dome, and the spiritual "light" of Gothic cathedrals.
• Tarot: The Minor Arcana. Study the four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles) and their elemental correspondences (Fire, Water, Air, Earth).
• English Literature: The Renaissance. Study Shakespeare (one tragedy, one comedy), Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Elizabethan sonnets.

Year 3: The Enlightenment and the Occult
Focus: Complex synthesis. This is where your subjects start to overlap (e.g., how Latin influenced English Literature).

• Egyptian Studies: New Kingdom (Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Ramesses II). Study the Book of the Dead and funerary rites.
• Latin: Reading the "Greats." Focus on Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses.
• Art History: The Renaissance and Baroque. Focus on Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and the use of perspective and chiaroscuro.
• Tarot: Intermediate Reading Techniques. Study spreads (The Celtic Cross) and the Thoth Deck (Aleister Crowley) to see how it differs from RWS.
• English Literature: The Romantics and Gothicism. Read Mary Shelley, Wordsworth, and Keats. Focus on the "Sublime."

Year 4: The Modern Turn
Focus: Deconstruction. How ancient ideas were broken and rebuilt in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Egyptian Studies: Late Period and Greco-Roman Egypt. Study the "Rosetta Stone" story and the cult of Isis in the Roman Empire.
• Latin: Medieval and Renaissance Latin. Study Petrarch or Erasmus to see how the language evolved after the fall of Rome.
• Art History: Impressionism to Surrealism. Study how photography changed art and the rise of abstract expressionism.
• Tarot: Comparative Tarot. Study the Marseille deck and the history of playing cards. Begin integrating Jungian psychology (Archetypes) into your readings.
• English Literature: The Victorians and Early Modernism. Read Dickens, George Eliot, and the transition into T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land.

Year 5: Mastery & Synthesis
Focus: Deep research. Using your 4 years of knowledge to form original opinions.

• Egyptian Studies: Coptic Egypt and the "Afterlife" of Egypt in the Western imagination (Egyptomania).
• Latin: Reading philosophical texts. Focus on Seneca or Cicero.
• Art History: Contemporary Art (1950–Present). Study Post-modernism, Performance Art, and Digital Art.
• Tarot: The "Qabalistic" Tarot. Study the Tree of Life and how the Tarot maps onto Western Esotericism.
• English Literature: Post-Modernism and Post-Colonial Literature. Read Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, and Margaret Atwood.

Sample Weekly Study Schedule (10–12 Hours)
Monday Latin2 hrs Grammar Exercises & Drills 
Tuesday English Lit2 hrs Reading & Analytical Journaling 
Wednesday Egyptian2 hrs Hieroglyph practice & History reading
Thursday Art History2 hrs Visual analysis & Artist biographies
Friday Tarot 1hr Card study &  Daily meditation
Weekend Synthesis2  hrs Interdisciplinary reading (e.g., "Latin roots in English")

Suggested Tools & Resources

1. Egyptian: The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw.
2. Latin: The Lingua Latina series and the "Duenas" YouTube channel.
3. Art History: Gombrich's The Story of Art (The "Bible" of art history).
4. English Lit: The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
5. Tarot: 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack.

1.Interdisciplinary Themes (The "Cross-Pollination")
As you study, look for these specific intersections to deepen your understanding:

• The Latin-English Link: Track how Latin vocabulary and syntax shaped the "High Style" of English writers like Milton and Johnson.
• The "Egyptomania" in Art & Lit: See how the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb influenced Art Deco and 1920s literature.
• Tarot as Visual Art History: Treat Tarot cards as miniature art pieces. Study how the Renaissance Visconti-Sforza deck reflects the fashion and social hierarchy of 15th-century Italy.
• The Hermetic Tradition: This is the ultimate bridge. It links Egyptian myth (Thoth), Latin translations of Greek philosophy (Hermes Trismegistus), and the symbolic language used in Tarot.

2.The"Scholar’s Toolkit" (Skills to Build)
Don’t just read; produce. To make this a "curriculum," you need outputs:

• The Commonplace Book: Keep a single, high-quality notebook where you transcribe beautiful sentences from your English Lit readings, sketch Egyptian motifs, and glue in Latin idioms.
• Visual Analysis Papers: Once a month, choose a painting from your Art History era and write a 500-word analysis using the formal terms you’ve learned (composition, value, iconography).
• The Translation Journal: Dedicate a notebook to Latin-to-English translations. As you progress, try translating a short English poem into Latin.
• Tarot Case Studies: Instead of just "reading" cards, write an essay on a single card every two weeks, connecting its imagery to Art History and its archetypal meaning to a character in your English Literature readings.

3. Year 1:Detailed Resource & Reading List
If you are starting tomorrow, these are the specific "textbooks" and primary sources I recommend:
Egyptian Studies

• Textbook: How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Mark Collier and Bill Manley.
• History: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson.
• Primary Source: The Pyramid Texts (Start with the Unas sequence).

Latin

• Primary Method: Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata: Familia Romana by Hans Ørberg. (This is the "gold standard" for self-study).
• Supplement: Latina: A College Course by Wheelock (if you prefer a more math-like, grammar-heavy approach).

Art History

• The "Bible": The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich.
• Digital: Use the SmartHistory (Khan Academy) video series—it is arguably better than most university lectures.
• Focus: Year 1 should be obsessed with Proportion. Compare the Egyptian "Canon of Proportions" to the Greek "Golden Ratio."

Tarot

• The Foundation: 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack.
• History: The Tarot: A History by Helen Farley.
• Practice: Keep a "Card of the Day" log, but focus strictly on the visual symbols (e.g., "Why is there a dog in the 0. The Fool card?").

English Literature

• Anthology: The Norton Anthology of English Literature (Vol 1).
• Ancient Context: Read The Odyssey (Homer) alongside your Year 1 studies, as it provides the foundation for almost all English Lit.
• Old English: Beowulf (The Seamus Heaney translation is the most accessible and poetic).

4. The "Capstone" Project Idea
To keep yourself motivated over 5 years, aim for a Year 5 Capstone:
Example: Design your own 78-card Tarot deck.

• The Art will reflect your 5 years of Art History study.
• The Titles will be in Latin.
• The Symbolism will be rooted in Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
• The Guidebook will be written in the style of the English Literary masters you've studied.

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More Lesson ideas to help 

1.Egyptian Studies: The Geometry of the Afterlife
Objective: Understand the "Canon of Proportions" and basic Hieroglyphic sentence structure.

• The Lecture: Study how Egyptians used a grid system to draw the human body. Unlike Western art, Egyptian art wasn't about "realism" but about "completeness." *
• The Hieroglyph Lesson: Learn the Monoliterals (signs that represent a single sound, like our alphabet).
  • Exercise: Practice writing your name phonetically in hieroglyphs using the "Alphabet" chart in Collier & Manley.
• Primary Source: Read the Victory Stela of Piye. Look for how the King is described as a physical manifestation of a god.

2. Latin: The Architecture of Language
Objective: Mastery of the First Declension (Nouns ending in -a) and the concept of "Case."

• The Concept: In English, word order tells us who did what ("The dog bites the man"). In Latin, the ending of the word tells us.
• The Drills: * Learn the five cases: Nominative (Subject), Genitive (Possession), Dative (Indirect Object), Accusative (Direct Object), and Ablative (Prepositional).
  • Exercise: Decline the word Puella (Girl) and Insula (Island).
• The Reading: Open Familia Romana (Ørberg) Chapter 1. Read aloud. Do not translate into English; try to understand the pictures and context directly.

3. Art History: The Birth of the Image
Objective: Compare the Paleolithic Venus of Willendorf to the Neolithic Stonehenge.

• The Analysis: How did humans move from portable art (small statues) to permanent architecture? *
• Visual Literacy Lab: Look at a photo of a cave painting from Lascaux.
  • Ask: Is the artist using "Naturalism" (trying to make it look real) or "Abstraction" (symbolic)?
  • Key Term: Twisted Perspective (where a body is profile but horns/eyes are frontal).
• Writing Task: Write one paragraph on why a nomadic society would prioritize small, female figurines over large temples.

4. Tarot: The Fool’s Journey (Card 0)
Objective: Deconstructing the iconography of the first card of the Major Arcana.

• Symbolic Breakdown: * The Cliff: Represents a leap of faith or a lack of groundedness.
  • The Dog: Represents the animal instinct or the "ego" warning of danger.
  • The White Rose: Purity of intent.
• Historical Context: Look at the "Il Matto" card from the 15th-century Visconti-Sforza deck. *
  • Note: The original Fool was often depicted as a beggar or a "madman," not a bright traveler.
• Practical: Perform a "Single Card Pull" every morning for a week. Instead of looking up the meaning, describe only the colors and weather shown in the card.

5. English Literature: The Oral Epic
Objective: Understanding Alliteration and Kenning in Beowulf.

• The Concept: Anglo-Saxon poetry didn't use rhyme. It used Alliteration (repetition of initial sounds) and Kennings (metaphorical compound words).
  • Example of a Kenning: "Whale-road" = The Sea; "Bone-house" = The Body.
• The Reading: Read the first 100 lines of Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation).
• Creative Task: Create three of your own "Kennings" for modern objects (e.g., "Screen-thief" for a Smartphone) and use them in a short paragraph about your day.

Your "Homework" Routine
To keep these lessons moving, I suggest a Friday Review:

1. Synthesize: Can you find a "Kenning" in an Egyptian hymn?
2. Translate: Can you translate a simple sentence from Beowulf into basic Latin?
3. Visualize: Draw a Tarot card (The Magician) using the Egyptian "Canon of Proportions" you learned in Lesson 1.

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