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the secret teachings of all ages
An Analysis Of Tarot
Cards
CHAPTER xxv
manly p. hall
OPINIONS of authorities differ
widely concerning the origin of playing cards, the purpose for which
they were intended, and the time of their introduction into Europe. In
his Researches into the History of Playing Cards, Samuel Weller Singer
advances the opinion that cards reached Southern Europe from India by
way of Arabia. It is probable that the Tarot cards were part of the
magical and philosophical lore secured by the Knights Templars from the
Saracens or one of the mystical sects then flourishing in Syria.
Returning to Europe, the Templars, to avoid persecution, concealed the
arcane meaning of the symbols by introducing the leaves of their magical
book ostensibly as a device for amusement and gambling. In support of
this contention, Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer states:
"That cards were brought by the
home-returning warriors, who imported many of the newly acquired customs
and habits of the Orient to their own countries, seems to be a
well-established fact; and it does not contradict the statement made by
some writers who declared that the gypsies--who about that time began to
wander over Europe--brought with them and introduced cards, which they
used, as they do at the present day, for divining the future." (See
The Devil's Picture Books.)
Through the Gypsies the Tarot
cards may be traced back to the religious symbolism of the ancient
Egyptians. In his remarkable work, The Gypsies, Samuel Roberts
presents ample proof of their Egyptian origin. In one place he writes:
"When Gypsies originally arrived in England is very uncertain. They are
first noticed in our laws, by several statutes against them in the reign
of Henry VIII.; in which they are described as 'an outlandish people,
calling themselves Egyptians,--who do not profess any craft or trade,
but go about in great numbers, * * *.'" A curious legend relates that
after the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria, the large body of
attendant priests banded themselves together to preserve the secrets of
the rites of Serapis. Their descendants (Gypsies) carrying with them the
most precious of the volumes saved from the burning library--the Book of
Enoch, or Thoth (the Tarot)--became wanderers upon the face of the
earth, remaining a people apart with an ancient language and a
birthright of magic and mystery.
Court de Gébelin believed the
word Tarot itself to be derived from two Egyptian words, Tar,
meaning "road," and Ro, meaning "royal." Thus the Tarot
constitutes the royal road to wisdom. (See Le Monde
Primitif.) In his History of Magic, P. Christian, the
mouthpiece of a certain French secret society, presents a fantastic
account of a purported initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries wherein
the 22 major Tarots assume the proportions of trestleboards of immense
size and line a great gallery. Stopping before each card in turn, the
initiator described its symbolism to the candidate. Edouard Schuré,
whose source of information was similar to that of Christian's, hints at
the same ceremony in his chapter on initiation into the Hermetic
Mysteries. (See The Great Initiates.) While the Egyptians may
well have employed the Tarot cards in their rituals, these French
mystics present no evidence other than their own assertions to support
this theory. The validity also of the so-called Egyptian Tarots now in
circulation has never been satisfactorily established. The drawings are
not only quite modem but the symbolism itself savors of French rather
than Egyptian influence.
The Tarot is undoubtedly a
vital element in Rosicrucian symbolism, possibly the very book of
universal knowledge which the members of the order claimed to possess.
The Rota Mundi is a term frequently occurring in the early
manifestoes of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross. The word Rota by
a rearrangement of its letters becomes Taro, the ancient name of
these mysterious cards. W. F. C. Wigston has discovered evidence that
Sir Francis Bacon employed the Tarot symbolism in his ciphers. The
numbers 21, 56, and 78, which are all directly related to the divisions
of the Tarot deck, are frequently involved in Bacon's cryptograms. In
the great Shakespearian Folio of 1623 the Christian name of Lord Bacon
appears 21 times on page 56 of the Histories. (See The Columbus of
Literature.)
Many symbols appearing upon the
Tarot cards have definite Masonic interest. The Pythagorean numerologist
will also find an important relationship to exist between the numbers on
the cards and the designs accompanying the numbers. The Qabbalist will
be immediately impressed by the significant sequence of the cards, and
the alchemist will discover certain emblems meaningless save to one
versed in the divine chemistry of transmutation and regeneration.' As
the Greeks placed the letters of their alphabet--with their
corresponding numbers--upon the various parts of the body of their
humanly represented Logos, so the Tarot cards have an analogy not
only in the parts and members of the universe but also in the divisions
of the human body.. They are in fact the key to the magical constitution
of man.
The Tarot cards must be
considered (1) as separate and complete hieroglyphs, each representing a
distinct principle, law, power, or element in Nature; (2) in relation to
each other as the effect of one agent operating upon another; and (3) as
vowels and consonants of a philosophic alphabet. The laws governing all
phenomena are represented by the symbols upon the Tarot cards, whose
numerical values are equal to the numerical equivalents of the
phenomena. As every structure consists of certain elemental parts, so
the Tarot cards represent the components of the structure of philosophy.
Irrespective of the science or philosophy with which the student is
working, the Tarot cards can be identified with the essential
constituents of his subject, each card thus being related to a specific
part according to mathematical and philosophical laws. "An imprisoned
person," writes Eliphas Levi, "with no other book than the Tarot, if he
knew how to use it, could in a few years acquire universal knowledge,
and would be able to speak on all subjects with unequalled learning and
inexhaustible eloquence. " (See Transcendental Magic.)
The diverse opinions of eminent
authorities on the Tarot symbolism are quite irreconcilable. The
conclusions of the scholarly Court de Gébelin and the bizarre Grand
Etteila--the first authorities on the subject--not only are at radical
variance but both are equally discredited by Levi, whose arrangement of
the Tarot trumps was rejected in turn by Arthur Edward Waite and Paul
Case as being an effort to mislead students. The followers of
Levi--especially Papus, Christian, Westcott, and Schuré-are regarded by
the "reformed Tarotists" as honest but benighted individuals who
wandered in darkness for lack of Pamela Coleman Smith's new deck of
Tarot cards with revisions by Mr. Waite.
Most writers on the Tarot (Mr.
Waite a notable exception) have proceeded upon the hypothesis that the
22 major trumps represent the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This
supposition is based upon nothing more substantial than the coincidence
that both consist of 22 parts. That Postel, St. Martin, and Levi all
wrote books divided into sections corresponding to the major Tarots is
an interesting sidelight on the subject. The major trump cards portray
incidents from the Book of Revelation; and the Apocalypse of St. John is
also divided into 22 chapters. Assuming the Qabbalah to hold the
solution to the Tarot riddle, seekers have often ignored other possible
lines of research. The task, however, of discovering the proper
relationship sustained by the Tarot trumps to the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet and the Paths of Wisdom thus far has not met with any
great measure of success. The major
trumps of the Tarot and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet cannot be
synchronized without first fixing the correct place of the unnumbered,
or zero, card--Le Mat, the Fool. Levi places this card between
the 20th and 21st Tarots, assigning to it the Hebrew letter Shin (ש).
The same order is followed by Papus, Christian, and Waite, the last,
however, declaring this arrangement to be incorrect. Westcott makes the
zero card the 22nd of the Tarot major trumps. On the other hand, both
Court de Gébelin and Paul Case place the unnumbered card before the
first numbered card of the major trumps, for if the natural order of the
numbers (according to either the Pythagorean or Qabbalistic system) be
adhered to, the zero card must naturally precede the number
1.
This does not dispose of the
problem, however, for efforts to assign a Hebrew letter to each Tarot
trump in sequence produce an effect far from convincing. Mr. Waite, who
reedited the Tarot, expresses himself thus: "I am not to be included
among those who are satisfied that there is a valid correspondence
between Hebrew letters and Tarot Trump symbols." (See introduction to
The Book of Formation by Knut Stenring.) The real explanation may
be that the major Tarots no longer are in the same sequence as when they
formed the leaves of Hermes' sacred book, for the Egyptians--or even
their Arabian successors--could have purposely confused the cards so
that their secrets might be better preserved. Mr. Case has developed a
system which, while superior to most, depends largely upon two debatable
points, namely, the accuracy of Mr. Waite's revised Tarot and the
justification for assigning the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet to
the unnumbered, or zero, card. Since Aleph (the first Hebrew
letter) has the numerical value of 1, its assignment to the zero card is
equivalent to the statement that zero is equal to the letter
Aleph and therefore synonymous with the number 1.
With rare insight, Court de
Gébelin assigned the zero card to AIN SOPH, the Unknowable First Cause.
As the central panel of the Bembine Table represents the Creative Power
surrounded by seven triads of manifesting divinities, so may the zero
card represent that Eternal Power of which the 21 surrounding or
manifesting aspects are but limited expressions. If the 21 major trumps
be considered as limited forms existing in the abstract substance of the
zero card, it then becomes their common denominator. Which letter, then,
of the Hebrew alphabet is the origin of all the remaining letters? The
answer is apparent: Yod. In the presence of so many speculations, one
more may not offend. The zero card--Le Mat, the Fool--has been
likened to the material universe because the mortal sphere is the world
of unreality. The lower universe, like the mortal body of man, is but a
garment, a motley costume, well likened to cap and bells. Beneath the
garments of the fool is the divine substance, however, of which the
jester is but a shadow; this world is a Mardi Gras--a pageantry of
divine sparks masked in the garb of fools. Was not this zero card (the
Fool) placed in the Tarot deck to deceive all who could not pierce the
veil of illusion?
The Tarot cards were entrusted
by the illumined hierophants of the Mysteries into the keeping of the
foolish and the ignorant, thus becoming playthings--in many instances
even instruments of vice. Man's evil habits therefore actually became
the unconscious perpetuators of his philosophical precepts. "We must
admire the wisdom of the Initiates," writes Papus, "who utilized vice
and made it produce more beneficial results than virtue." Does not this
act of the ancient priests itself afford proof that the entire mystery
of the Tarot is wrapped up in the symbolism of its zero card? If
knowledge was thus entrusted to fools, should it not be sought for in
this card?
If Le Mat be placed
before the first card of the Tarot deck and the others laid out in a
horizontal line in sequence from left to right, it will be found that
the Fool is walking toward the other trumps as though about to pass
through the various cards. Like the spiritually hoodwinked and bound
neophyte, Le Mat is about to enter upon the supreme
adventure--that of passage through the gates of the Divine Wisdom. If
the zero card be considered as extraneous to the major trumps, this
destroys the numerical analogy between these cards and the Hebrew
letters by leaving one letter without a Tarot correspondent. In this
event it will be necessary to assign the missing letter to a
hypothetical Tarot card called the elements, assumed to have been broken
up to form the 56 cards of the minor trumps. It is possible that each of
the major trumps may be subject to a similar division.
The first numbered major trump
is called Le Bateleur, the juggler, and according to Court de
Gébelin, indicates the entire fabric of creation to be but a dream,
existence a juggling of divine elements, and life a perpetual game of
hazard. The seeming miracles of Nature are but feats of cosmic
legerdemain. Man is like the little ball in the hands of the juggler,
who waves his wand and, presto! the ball vanishes. The world looking on
does not realize that the vanished article is still cleverly concealed
by the juggler in the hollow of his hand. This is also the Adept whom
Omar Khayyám calls "the master of the show." His message is that the
wise direct the phenomena of Nature and are never deceived
thereby.
The magician stands behind a
table on which are spread out a number of objects, prominent among them
a cup--the Holy Grail and the cup placed by Joseph in Benjamin's sack; a
coin--the tribute money and the wages of a Master Builder, and a sword,
that of Goliath and also the mystic blade of the philosopher which
divides the false from the true. The magician's hat is in the form of
the cosmic lemniscate, signifying the first motion of creation. His
right hand points to the earth, his left holds aloft the rod of Jacob
and also the staff that budded--the human spine crowned with the globe
of creative intelligence. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the magician
wears an uræus or golden band around his forehead, the table
before him is in the form of a perfect cube, and his girdle is the
serpent of eternity devouring its own tail.
The second numbered major trump
is called La Papesse, the Female Pope, and has been associated
with a curious legend of the only woman who ever sat in the pontifical
chair. Pope Joan is supposed to have accomplished this by masquerading
in malt attire, and was stoned to death when her subterfuge was
discovered. This card portrays a seated woman crowned with a tiara
surmounted by a lunar crescent. In her lap is the Tora, or book
of the Law (usually partly closed), and in her left hand are the keys to
the secret doctrine, one gold and the other silver. Behind her rise two
pillars (Jachin and Boaz) with a multicolored veil stretched between.
Her throne stands upon a checker-hoard floor. A figure called Juno is
occasionally substituted for La Papesse. like the female hierophant of
the Mysteries of Cybele, this symbolic figure personifies the Shekinah,
or Divine Wisdom. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the priestess is veiled,
a reminder that the full countenance truth is not revealed to
uninitiated man. A veil also covers one-half of her book, thus
intimating that but one-half of the mystery of being can be
comprehended.
The third numbered major trump
is called L'Impératrice, the Empress, and has been likened to the
"woman clothed with the sun" described in the Apocalypse. On this card
appears the winged figure of a woman seated upon a throne, supporting
with her right hand a shield emblazoned with a phœnix and holding in her
left a scepter surmounted by an orb or trifoliate flower. Beneath her
left foot is sometimes shown the crescent. Either the Empress is crowned
or her head is surrounded by a diadem of stars; sometimes both. She is
called Generation, and represents the threefold spiritual world
out of which proceeds the fourfold material world. To the graduate of
the College of the Mysteries she is the Alma Mater out of whose
body the initiate has "born again." In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the
Empress is shown seated upon a cube filled with eyes and a bird is
balanced upon the forefinger other left hand. The upper part of her body
is surrounded by a radiant golden nimbus. Being emblematic of the power
from which emanates the entire tangible universe, L'Impératrice
is frequently symbolized as pregnant.
The fourth numbered major trump
is called L'Empereur, the Emperor, and by its numerical value is
directly associated with the great Deity revered by the Pythagoreans
under the form of the tetrad. His symbols declare the Emperor to be the
Demiurgus, the Great King of the inferior world. The Emperor is dressed
in armor and his throne is a cube stone, upon which a phœnix is also
clearly visible. The king has his legs crossed in a most significant
manner and carries either a scepter surmounted by an orb or a scepter in
his right hand and an orb n his left. The orb itself is evidence that he
is supreme ruler of the world. Upon his right and left breasts
respectively appear the symbols of the sun and moon, which in symbolism
are referred to as the eyes of the Great King. The position of the body
and legs forms the symbol of sulphur, the sign of the ancient alchemical
monarch. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the figure is in profile. He wears
a Masonic apron and the skirt forms s right-angled triangle. Upon his
head is the Crown of the North and his forehead is adorned wit the
coiled uræus.
The fifth numbered major trump
is called Le Pape, the Pope, and represents the high priest of a
pagan or Christian Mystery school. In this card the hierophant wears the
tiara and carries in his left hand the triple cross surmounting the
globe of the world. His right hand, bearing upon its back the stigmata,
makes "the ecclesiastic sign of esotericism," and before him kneel two
suppliants or acolytes. The back of the papal throne is in the form of a
celestial and a terrestrial column. This card signifies the initiate or
master of the mystery of life and according to the Pythagoreans, the
spiritual physician. The illusionary universe in the form of the two
figures (polarity) kneels before the throne upon which sits the initiate
who has elevated his consciousness to the plane of spiritual
understanding and reality. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Master wears
the uræus. A white and a black figure--life and death, light and
darkness, good and evil--kneel before him. The initiate's mastery over
unreality is indicated by the tiara and the triple cross, emblems of
rulership over the three worlds which have issued from the Unknowable
First Cause.
The sixth numbered major trump
is called L'Amoureux, the Lovers. There are two distinct forms of
this Tarot. One shows a marriage ceremony in which a priest is uniting a
youth and a maiden (Adam and Eve?) in holy wedlock. Sometimes a winged
figure above transfixes the lovers with his dart. The second form of the
card portrays a youth with a female figure on either side. One of these
figures wears a golden crown and is winged, while the other is attired
in the flowing robes of the bacchante and on her head is a wreath of
vine leaves. The maidens represent the twofold soul of man (spiritual
and animal), the first his guardian angel and the second his
ever-present demon. The youth stands at the beginning of mature life,
"the Parting of the Ways," where he must choose between virtue and vice,
the eternal and the temporal. Above, in a halo of light, is the genius
of Fate (his star), mistaken for Cupid by the uninformed. If youth
chooses unwisely, the arrow of blindfolded Fate will transfix him. In
the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the arrow of the genius points directly to the
figure of vice, thereby signifying that the end of her path is
destruction. This card reminds man that the price of free will--or, more
correctly, the power of choice--is responsibility.
The seventh numbered major
trump is called Le Chariot, the Chariot, and portrays a
victorious warrior crowned and riding in a chariot drawn by black and
white sphinxes or horses. The starry canopy of the chariot is upheld by
four columns. This card signifies the Exalted One who rides in the
chariot of creation. The vehicle of the solar energy being numbered
seven reveals the arcane truth that the seven planers are the chariots
of the solar power which rides victorious in their midst. The four
columns supporting the canopy represent the four Mighty Ones who uphold
the worlds represented by the star-strewn drapery. The figure carries
the scepter of the solar energy and its shoulders are ornamented with
lunar crescents--the Urim. and Thummim. The sphinxes drawing the chariot
resent the secret and unknown power by which the victorious ruler is
moved continuously through the various parts of his universe. In certain
Tarot decks the victor signifies the regenerated man, for the body of
the chariot is a cubic stone. The man in armor is not standing in the
chariot but is rising out of the cube, thus typifying the ascension of
the 3 out of the 4--the turning upward of the flap of the Master Mason's
apron. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the warrior carries the curved sword
of Luna, is bearded to signify maturity, and wears the collar of the
planetary orbits. His scepter (emblematic of the threefold universe) is
crowned with a square upon which is a circle surmounted by a
triangle.
The eighth numbered major trump
is called La Justice, Justice, and portrays a seated figure upon
a throne, the back of which rises in the form of two columns. Justice is
crowned and carries in her right hand a sword and in her left a pair of
scales. This card is a reminder of the judgment of the soul in the hall
of Osiris. It teaches that only balanced forces can endure and that
eternal justice destroys with the sword that which is unbalanced.
Sometimes justice is depicted with a braid of her own hair twisted
around her neck in a manner resembling a hangman's knot. This may subtly
imply that man is the cause of his own undoing, his actions (symbolized
by his hair) being the instrument of his annihilation. In the
pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the figure of Justice is raised upon a dais of
three steps, for justice can be fully administered only by such as have
been elevated to the third degree. Justice is blindfolded, that the
visible shall in no way influence its decision. (For reasons he
considers beyond his readers' intelligence, Mr. Waite reversed the
eighth and eleventh major trumps.)
The ninth numbered major trump
is called L'Hermite, the Hermit, and portrays an aged man, robed
in a monkish habit and cowl, leaning on a staff. This card was popularly
supposed to represent Diogenes in his quest for an honest man. In his
right hand the recluse carries a lamp which he partly conceals within
the folds of his cape. The hermit thereby personifies the secret
organizations which for uncounted centuries have carefully concealed the
light of the Ancient Wisdom from the profane. The staff of the hermit is
knowledge, which is man's main and only enduring support. Sometimes the
mystic rod is divided by knobs into seven sections, a subtle reference
to the mystery of the seven sacred centers along the human spine. In the
pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the hermit shields the lamp behind a rectangular
cape to emphasize the philosophic truth that wisdom, if exposed to the
fury of ignorance, would be destroyed like the tiny flame of a lamp
unprotected from the storm. Man's bodies form a cloak through which his
divine nature is faintly visible like the flame of the partly covered
lantern. Through renunciation--the Hermetic life--man attains depth of
character and tranquility of spirit.
The tenth numbered major trump
is called La Roue de Fortune, the Wheel of Fortune, and portrays
a mysterious wheel with eight spokes--the familiar Buddhist symbol of
the Cycle of Necessity. To its rim cling Anubis and Typhon--the
principles of good and evil. Above sits the immobile sphinx, carrying
the sword of Justice and signifying the perfect equilibrium of Universal
Wisdom. Anubis is shown rising and Typhon descending; but when Typhon
reaches the bottom, evil ascends again, and when Anubis reaches the top
good wanes once more. The Wheel of Fortune represents the lower universe
as a whole with Divine Wisdom (the sphinx) as the eternal arbiter
between good and evil. In India, the chakra, or wheel, is
associated with the life centers either of a world or of an individual.
In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the Sphinx is armed with a javelin, and
Typhon is being thrown from the wheel. The vertical columns, supporting
the wheel and so placed that but one is visible, represent the axis of
the world with the inscrutable sphinx upon its northern pole. Sometimes
the wheel with its supports is in a boat upon the water. The water is
the Ocean of Illusion, which is the sole foundation of the Cycle of
Necessity.
The eleventh numbered major
trump is called La Force, Strength, and portrays a girl wearing a hat in
the form of a lemniscate, with her hands upon the mouth of an apparently
ferocious lion. Considerable controversy exists as to whether the maid
is dosing or opening the lion's mouth. Most writers declare her to be
closing the jaws of the beast, but a critical inspection conveys the
opposite impression. The young woman symbolizes spiritual strength and
the lion either the animal world which the girl is mastering or the
Secret Wisdom over which she is mistress. The lion also signifies the
summer solstice and the girl, Virgo, for when the sun enters this
constellation, the Virgin robs the lion of his strength. King Solomon's
throne was ornamented with lions and he himself was likened to the king
of beasts with the key of wisdom between its teeth. In this sense, the
girl may be opening the lion's mouth to find the key contained therein
for courage is a prerequisite to the attainment of knowledge. In the
pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the symbolism is the same except that the maiden
is represented as a priestess wearing an elaborate crown in the form of
a bird surmounted by serpents and an ibis.
The twelfth numbered major
trump is called Le Pendu, the Hanged Man, an portrays a young man
hanging by his left leg from a horizontal beam, the latter supported by
two tree trunks from each of which six branches have been removed. The
right leg of the youth is crossed in back of the left and his arms are
folded behind his back in such a way as to form a cross surmounting a
downward pointing triangle. The figure thus forms an inverted symbol of
sulphur and, according to Levi, signifies the accomplishment of the
magnum opus. In some decks the figure carries under each arm a
money bag from which coins are escaping. Popular tradition associates
this card with Judas Iscariot, who is said to have gone forth and hanged
himself, the money bags representing the payment he received for his
crime.
Levi likens the hanged man to
Prometheus, the Eternal Sufferer, further declaring that the upturned
feet signify the spiritualization of the lower nature. It is also
possible that the inverted figure denotes the loss of the spiritual
faculties, for the head is below the level of the body. The stumps of
the twelve branches are the signs of the zodiac divided into two
groups--positive and negative. The picture therefore depicts polarity
temporarily triumphant over the spiritual principle of equilibrium. To
attain the heights of philosophy, therefore, man must reverse (or
invert) the order of his life. He then loses his sense of personal
possession because he renounces the rule of gold in favor of the golden
rule. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the hanged man is suspended between
two palm trees and signifies the Sun God who dies perennially for his
world.
The thirteenth numbered major
trump is called La Mort, Death, and portrays a reaping skeleton
with a great scythe cutting off the heads, hands, and feet rising out of
the earth about it. In the course of its labors the skeleton has
apparently cut off one of its own feet. Not all Tarot decks show this
peculiarity, but this point well emphasizes the philosophic truth that
unbalance and destructiveness are synonymous. The skeleton is the proper
emblem of the first and supreme Deity because it is the foundation of
the body, as the Absolute is the foundation of creation. The reaping
skeleton physically signifies death but philosophically that
irresistible impulse in Nature which causes every being to be ultimately
absorbed into the divine condition in which it existed before the
illusionary universe had been manifested. The blade of the scythe is the
moon with its crystallizing power. The field in which death reaps is the
universe, and the card discloses that all things growing out of the
earth shall be cut down and return to earth again.
Kings, Queens, courtesans, and
knaves are alike to death, the master of the visible and a parent parts
of all creatures. In some Tarot decks death is symbolized as a figure in
armor mounted on a white horse which tramples under foot old and young
alike. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot a rainbow is seen behind the figure
of death, thus signifying that the mortality of the body of itself
achieves the immortality of the spirit. Death, though it destroys form,
can never destroy life, which continually renews itself. This card is
the symbol of the constant renovation of the universe--disintegration
that reintegration may follow upon a higher level of
expression.
The fourteenth numbered major
trump is called La Temperance, Temperance, and portrays an
angelic figure with the sun upon her forehead. She carries two urns, one
empty and the other full, and continually pours the contents of the
upper into the lower, In some Tarot decks the flowing water takes the
form of the symbol of Aquarius. Not one drop, however, of the living
water is lost in this endless transference between the superior vessel
and the inferior. When the lower urn is filled the vases are reversed,
thus signifying that life pours first from the invisible into the
visible, then from the visible back into the invisible. The spirit
controlling this flow is an emissary of the great Jehovah, Demiurgus of
the world. The sun, or light cluster, upon the woman's forehead controls
the flow of water, which, being drawn upward into the air by the solar
rays, descends upon the earth as rain, to drawn up and fall again ad
infinitum. Herein is also shown the passage of the human life forces
back and forth between positive and negative poles of the creative
system. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the symbolism is the same, except
that the winged figure is male instead of female. It is surrounded by a
solar nimbus and pours water from a golden urn into a silver one,
typifying the descent of celestial forces into the sublunary
spheres.
The fifteenth numbered major
trump is called Le Diable, the Devil, and portrays a creature
resembling Pan with the horns of a ram or deer, the arms and body of a
man, and the legs and feet of a goat or dragon. The figure stands upon a
cubic stone, to a ring in the front of which are chained two satyrs. For
a scepter this so-called demon carries a lighted torch or candle. The
entire figure is symbolic of the magic powers of the astral light, or
universal mirror, in which the divine forces are reflected in an
inverted, or infernal, state. The demon is winged like a bar, showing
that it pertains to the nocturnal, or shadow inferior sphere. The animal
natures of man, in the form of a male and a female elemental, are
chained to its footstool. The torch is the false light which guides
unillumined souls to their own undoing. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot
appears Typhon--a winged creature composed of a hog, a man, a bat, a
crocodile, and a hippopotamus--standing in the midst of its own
destructiveness and holding aloft the firebrand of the incendiary.
Typhon is created by man's own misdeeds, which, turning upon their
maker, destroy him.
The sixteenth numbered major
trump is called Le Feu du Ciel, the Fire of Heaven, and portrays
a tower the battlements of which, in the form of a crown, are being
destroyed by a bolt of lightning issuing from the sun. The crown,
being considerably smaller than the tower which it surmounts, possibly
indicates that its destruction resulted from its insufficiency. The
lighting bolt sometimes takes the form of the zodiacal sign of Scorpio,
and the tower may be considered a phallic emblem. Two figures are
failing from the tower, one in front and the other behind. This Tarot
card is popularly associated with the traditional fall of man. The
divine nature of humanity is depicted as a tower. When his crown is
destroyed, man falls into the lower world and takes upon himself the
illusion of materiality. Here also is a key to the mystery of sex. The
tower is supposedly filled with gold coins which, showering out in great
numbers from the rent made by the lightning bolt, suggesting potential
powers. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the tower is a pyramid, its apex
shattered by a lightning bolt. Here is a reference to the missing
capstone of the Universal House. In support of Levi's contention that
this card is connected with the Hebrew letter Ayin, the failing
figure in the foreground is similar in general appearance to the
sixteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
The seventeenth numbered major
trump is called Les Etoiles, the Stars, and portrays a young girl
kneeling with one foot in water and the other on and, her body somewhat
suggesting the swastika. She has two urns, the contents of which she
pours upon the land and sea. Above the girl's head are eight stars, one
of which is exceptionally large and bright. Count de Gébelin considers
the great star to be Sothis or Sirius; the other seven are the sacred
planets of the ancients. He believes the female figure to be Isis in the
act of causing the inundations of the Nile which accompanied the rising
of the Dog Star. The unclothed figure of Isis may well signify that
Nature does not receive her garment of verdure until the rising of the
Nile waters releases the germinal life of plants and flowers. The bush
and bird (or butterfly) signify the growth and resurrection which
accompany the rising of the waters. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the
great star contains a diamond composed of a black and white triangle,
and the flowering bush is a tall plant with a trifoliate head upon which
a butterfly alights. Here Isis is in the form of an upright triangle and
the vases have become shallow cups. The elements of water and earth
under her feet represent the opposites of Nature sharing impartially in
the divine abundance.
The eighteenth numbered major
trump is called La Lune, the Moon, and portrays Luna rising
between two towers--one light and the other dark. A dog and a wolf are
baying at the rising moon, and in the foreground is a pool of water from
which emerges a crawfish. Between the towers a path winds, vanishing in the extreme
background. Court de Gébelin sees in this card another reference to the
rising of the Nile and states on the authority of Pausanius that the
Egyptians believed the inundations of the Nile to result from the tears
of the moon goddess which, falling into the river, swelled its flow.
These tears are seen dropping from the lunar face. Court de Gébelin also
relates the towers to the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which, according
to the Egyptians, the luminaries never passed. He notes also that the
Egyptians represented the tropics as dogs who as faithful doorkeepers
prevented the sun and moon from penetrating too near the poles. The crab
or crawfish signifies the retrograde motion of the moon.
A CARD FROM THE MANTEGNA
PACK.
From Taylor's The History of
Playing Cards.
Among the more curious examples
of playing cards are those of the Mantegna deck. In 1820, a perfect deck
of fifty cards brought the then amazing price of eighty pounds. The
fifty subjects composing the Mantegna deck, each of which is represented
by an appropriate figure, are: (1) A beggar; (2) A page; (3) A
goldsmith; (4) A merchant; (5) A gentleman; (6) A knight; (7) The Doge;
(8) A king; (9) An emperor, (10) The Pope; (11) Calliope; (12) Urania;
(13) Terpsichore; (14) Erato; (15) Polyhymnia; (16) Thalia; (17)
Melpomene; (18) Euterpe; (19) Clio; (20) Apollo; (21) Grammar, (22)
Logic; (23) Rhetoric; (24) Geometry; (25) Arithmetic; (26) Music, (27)
Poetry; (28) Philosophy; (29) Astrology; (30) Theology; (31) Astronomy;
(32) Chronology (33) Cosmogony; (34) Temperance; (35) Prudence; (36)
Fortitude; (37) Justice; (38) Charity; (39) Fortitude, (40) Faith; (41)
the Moon; (42) Mercury; (43) Venus; (45) the Sun; (45) Mars; (46)
Jupiter; (47) Saturn; (48) the eighth Sphere; (49) the Primum Mobile;
(50) the First Cause. The Qabbalistic significance of these cards is
apparent, and it is possible that they have a direct analogy to the
fifty gates of light referred to in Qabbalistic writings.
This card also refers to the
path of wisdom. Man in his quest of reality emerges from the pool of
illusion. After mastering the guardians of the gates of wisdom he passes
between the fortresses of science and theology and follows the winding
path leading to spiritual liberation. His way is faintly lighted by
human reason (the moon), which is but a reflection of divine wisdom. In
the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the towers are pyramids, the dogs are black
and white respectively, and the moon is partly obscured by clouds. The
entire scene suggests the dreary and desolate place in which the Mystery
dramas of the Lesser Rites were enacted.
The nineteenth numbered major
trump is called Le Soleil, the Sun, and portrays two
children--probably Gemini, the Twins--standing together in a garden
surrounded by a magic ring of flowers. One of these children should be
shown as male and the other female. Behind them is a brick wall
apparently enclosing the garden. Above the wall the sun is rising, its
rays alternately straight and curved. Thirteen teardrops are falling
from the solar face Levi, seeing in the two children Faith and Reason,
which must coexist as long as the temporal universe endures, writes:
"Human equilibrium requires two feet, the worlds gravitate by means of
two forces, generation needs two sexes. Such is the meaning of the
arcanum of Solomon, represented by the two pillars of the temple, Jakin
and Bohas." (See Transcendental Magic.) The sun of Truth is
shining into the garden of the world over which these two children, as
personifications of eternal powers reside. The harmony of the world
depends upon the coordination of two qualities symbolized throughout the
ages as the mind and the heart. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot the
children give place to a youth and a maiden. Above them in a solar
nimbus is the phallic emblem of generation--a line piercing a circle.
Gemini is ruled by Mercury and the two children personify the serpents
entwined around the caduceus.
The twentieth numbered major
trump is called Le Jugement, the judgment, and portrays three
figures rising apparently from their tombs, though but one coffin is
visible. Above them in a blaze of glory is a winged figure (presumably
the Angel Gabriel) blowing a trumpet. This Tarot represents the
liberation of man's threefold spiritual nature from the sepulcher of his
material constitution. Since but one-third of the spirit actually enters
the physical body, the other two-thirds constituting the Hermetic
anthropos or overman, only one of the three figures is
actually rising from the tomb. Court de Gébelin believes that the coffin
may have been an afterthought of the card makers and that the scene
actually represents creation rather than resurrection, In philosophy
these two words are practically synonymous. The blast of the trumpet
represents the Creative Word, by the intoning of which man is liberated
from his terrestrial limitations. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot it is
evident that the three figures signify the parts of a single being, for
three mummies are shown emerging from one mummy case.
The twenty-first numbered major
trump is called Le Monde, the World, and portrays a female figure
draped with a scarf which the wind blows into the form of the Hebrew
letter Kaph. Her extended hands--each of which holds a wand--and her
left leg, which crosses behind the right, cause the figure to assume the
form of the alchemical symbol of sulphur. The central figure is
surrounded by a wreath in the form of a vesica piscis which Levi
likens to the Qabbalistic crown Kether. The Cherubim of Ezekiel's
vision occupy the corners of the card. This Tarot is called the
Microcosm and the Macrocosm because in it are summed up every agency
contributing to the structure of creation. The figure in the form Of the
emblem of sulphur represents the divine fire and the heart of the Great
Mystery. The wreath is Nature, which surrounds the fiery center. The
Cherubim represent the elements, worlds, forces, and planes issuing out
of the divine fiery center of life. The wreath signifies the crown of
the initiate which is given to those who master the four guardians and
enter into the presence of unveiled Truth. In the pseudo-Egyptian Tarot
the Cherubim surround a wreath composed of twelve trifoliate
flowers--the decanates of the zodiac. A human figure kneels below this
wreath, playing upon a harp of three strings, for the spirit must create
harmony in the triple constitution of its inferior nature before it can
gain for itself the solar crown of immortality.
The four suits of the minor
trumps are considered as analogous to the four elements, the four
corners of creation, and the four worlds of Qabbalism. The key to the
lesser Tarots is presumably the Tetragrammaton, or the
four-letter name of Jehovah, IHVH. The four suits of the minor trumps
represent also the major divisions of society: cups are the
priesthood, swords the military, coins the tradesmen, and
rods the farming class. From the standpoint of what Court de
Gébelin calls "political geography," cups represent the northern
countries, swords the Orient, coins the Occident, and
rods the southern countries. The ten pip cards of each suit
represent the nations composing each of these grand divisions. The
kings are their governments, the queens their religions,
the knights their histories and national characteristics, and the
pages their arts and sciences. Elaborate treatises have been
written concerning the use of the Tarot cards in divination, but as this
practice is contrary to the primary purpose of the Tarot no profit can
result from its discussion.
Many interesting examples of
early playing cards are found in the museums of Europe, and there are
also noteworthy specimens in the cabinets of various private collectors.
A few hand-painted decks exist which are extremely artistic. These
depict various important personages contemporary with the artists. In
some instances, the court cards are portraitures of the reigning monarch
and his family. In England engraved cards became popular, and in the
British Museum are also to be seen some extremely quaint stenciled
cards. Heraldic devices were employed; and Chatto, in his Origin and
History of Playing Cards, reproduces four heraldic cards in which
the arms of Pope Clement IX adorn the king of clubs. There have been
philosophical decks with emblems chosen from Greek and Roman mythology,
also educational decks ornamented with maps or pictorial representations
of famous historic places and incidents. Many rare examples of
playing-cards have been found bound into the covers of early books. In
Japan there are card games the successful playing of which requires
familiarity with nearly all the literary masterpieces of that nation. In
India there are circular decks depicting episodes from Oriental myths.
There are also cards which in one sense of the word are not cards, for
the designs are on wood, ivory, and even metal. There are comic cards
caricaturing disliked persons and places, and there are cards
commemorating various human achievements. During the American Civil War
a patriotic deck was circulated in which stars, eagles, anchors, and
American flags were substituted for the suits and the court cards were
famous generals.
Modern playing cards are the
minor trumps of the Tarot, from each suit of which the page, or
valet, has been eliminated, leaving 13 cards. Even in its
abridged form, however, the modern deck is of profound symbolic
importance, for its arrangement is apparently in accord with the
divisions of the year. The two colors, red and black, represent the two
grand divisions of the year--that during which the sun is north of the
equator and that during which it is south of the equator. The four suits
represent the seasons, the ages of the ancient Greeks, and the
Yugas of the Hindus. The twelve court cards are the signs of the
zodiac arranged in triads of a Father, a Power, and a Mind according to
the upper section of the Bembine Table. The ten pip cards of each suit
represent the Sephirothic trees existing in each of the four worlds (the
suits). The 13 cards of each suit are the 13 lunar months in each year,
and the 52 cards of the deck are the 52 weeks in the year. Counting the
number of pips and reckoning the jacks, queens, and kings as 11, 12, and
13 respectively, the sum for the 52 cards is 364. If the joker be
considered as one point, the result is 365, or the number of days in the
year. Milton Pottenger believed that the United States of America was
laid out according to the conventional deck of playing cards, and that
the government will ultimately consist of 52 States administered by a
53rd undenominated division, the District of Columbia.
The court cards contain a
number of important Masonic symbols. Nine are full face and three are
profile. Here is the broken "Wheel of the Law," signifying the nine
months of the prenatal epoch and the three degrees of spiritual
unfoldment necessary to produce the perfect man. The four armed kings
are the Egyptian Ammonian Architects who gouged out the universe with
knives. They are also the cardinal signs of the zodiac. The four queens,
carrying eight-petaled flowers symbolic of the Christ, are the fixed
signs of the zodiac. The four jacks, two of whom bear acacia sprigs--the
jack of hearts in his hand, the jack of clubs in his hat-are the four
common signs of the zodiac. It should be noted also that the court cards
of the spade suit will not look upon the pip in the corner of the card
but face away from it as though fearing this emblem of death. The Grand
Master of the Order of the Cards is the king of clubs, who carries the
orb as emblematic of his dignity.
In its symbolism chess is the
most significant of all games. It has been called "the royal game"--the
pastime of kings. Like the Tarot cards, the chessmen represent the
elements of life and philosophy. The game was played in India and China
long before its introduction into Europe. East Indian princes were wont
to sit on the balconies of their palaces and play chess with living men
standing upon a checkerboard pavement of black and white marble in the
courtyard below. It is popularly believed that the Egyptian Pharaohs
played chess, but an examination of their sculpture and illuminations
has led to the conclusion that the Egyptian game was a form of draughts.
In China, chessmen are often carved to represent warring dynasties, as
the Manchu and the Ming. The chessboard consists of 64 squares
alternately black and white and symbolizes the floor of the House of the
Mysteries. Upon this field of existence or thought move a number of
strangely carved figures, each according to fixed law. The white king is
Ormuzd; the black king, Ahriman; and upon the plains of Cosmos the great
war between Light and Darkness is fought through all the ages. Of the
philosophical constitution of man, the kings represent the spirit; the
queens the mind; the bishops the emotions; the knights the vitality; the
castles, or rooks, the physical body. The pieces upon the kings' side
are positive; those upon the queens' side, negative. The pawns are the
sensory impulses and perceptive faculties--the eight parts of the soul.
The white king and his suite symbolize the Self and its vehicles; the
black king and his retinue, the not-self--the false Ego and its legion.
The game of chess thus sets forth the eternal struggle of each part of
man's compound nature against the shadow of itself. The nature of each
of the chessmen is revealed by the way in which it moves; geometry is
the key to their interpretation. For example: The castle (the body)
moves on the square; the bishop (the emotions) moves on the slant; the
king, being the spirit, cannot be captured, but loses the battle when so
surrounded that it cannot escape.
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