CONTENTS AND PART ONE partly linked, mostly proofread
Originally published in an edition limited to 200 numbered and signed copies, 1944 Reprinted by Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1969 First Weiser paperback edition, 1974 This printing, 1995
Samuel Weiser, Inc. Box 612 York Beach, Maine 03910
Library of Congress Card Number: 79-16399
ISBN 0-87728-268-4 ISSN 1050-2904 MG
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984
WHEEL AND---WHOA!
The Great Wheel of Samsara.
The \Vheel of the Law. (Dhamma.)
The Wheel of the Taro.
The Wheel of the Heavens.
The Wheel of Life.
Ail these Wheels be one; yet of all these the Wheel of the TARO alone avails thee consciously.
Meditate long and broad and deep, 0 man, upon this Wheel, revolvmg it in thy mind!
Be this thy task, to see how each card springs necessarily from each other card, even in due order from The Fool unto The Ten of Coins.
Then, when thou know'st the Wheel of Destiny complete, may'st thou perceive THAT Will which moved it first. [There is no first or last.]
And lo! thou art past through the Abyss.
The Book of Lies KEF.OH.
p.vii
CONTENTS
PART ONE: THE THEORY OF THE TAROT pages 3-48
I, The Contents of the Tarot; The Origin of the Tarot; The Theory of the correspondences of the Tarot; The Evidence for the Initiated Tradition of the Tarot; I. Eliphaz Levi and the Tarot; 2. The Tarot in the Cipher Manuscripts; 3. The Tarot and the "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn"; 4. The Nature of the Evidence; Summary of the Questions Hitherto Discussed.
II. The Tarot and the Holy Qabalah; The Naples Arrangement; The Tarot and the Formula of Tetragrammaton; The Tarot and the Elements; The Twenty-two Keys, Atu, or Trumps of the Tarot.
III. The Tarot and the Universe; Theories of the Ancients; The Tree of Life; The Naples Arrangement; The Tarot and the Tree of Life; The Atu of Tahuti; The Roman Numbers of the Trumps; The Tarot and Magick; The Shemhamphorasch and the Tarot; The Tarot and Ceremonial Magick; The Tarot and Animism; The Cards of the Tarot as Living Beings.
PART TWO: THE ATU (KEYS OR TRUMPS) 53-144
0. The Fool. The Formula of Tetragrammaton; The "Green Man" of the Spring Festival. "April Fool"; The Holy Ghost; The "Great Fool" of the Celts (Dalua); "The Rich Fisherman"; Percivale; The Crocodile (Mako, Son of Set, or Sebek); Hoor-Pa-Kraat; Zeus Arrhenotheleus; Dionysus Zagreus; Bacchus Diphues; Baphomet; Summary.
I. to XXI. The Juggler; The High Priestess; The Empress; The Emperor; The Hierophant; The Lovers (or, The Brothers); The Chariot; Adjustment; The Hermit; Fortune; Lust; The Hanged Man; Death; Art; The Devil; The Tower (or, War); The Star; The Moon; The Sun; The Aeon; The Universe.
Appendix. The Fool---i. Silence; ii. De Sapientia et Stultitia; De Oraculo Summo; iii. De Herba Sanctissima Arabia; De Quibusdam Mysteriis, Quae Vidi; De Quodam Modo Meditationis; Sequitur De Hac Re; Conclusio De Hoc Modo Sanctitatis; De Via Sola Solis. The Magus--- i. De Mercuno; ii. The Lord of Illusion; Fortune, R.O.T.A. The Wheel; Lust, Babalon; Art, The Arrow; The Universe. The Virgin Universe.
p.viii
CONTENT---Continued
PART THREE: THE COURT CARDS 149-171
General Remarks; General Characteristics of the Four Dignitaries; Summarized description of the Sixteen Court Cards; Knight 0f Wands; Queen of Wands; Prince of Wands; Princess of Wands; Knight of Cups; Queen of Cups; Prince of Cups; Princess of Cups; Knight of Swords; Queen of Swords; Prince of Swords; Princess of Swords; Knight of Disks; Queen of Disks; Prince of Disks; Princess of Disks.
PART IV. THE SMALL CARDS 177-218
The Four Aces; The Four Twos; The Four Threes; The Four Fours; The Four Fives; The Four Sixes; The Four Sevens; The Four Eights; The Four Nines; The Four Tens. The Root of the Powers of Fire Ace of Wands; Dominion-Two of Wands; Virtue-Three of Wands; Completion-Four of Wands; Strife-Five of Wands; Victory-Six of Wands; Valour-Seven of Wands; Swiftness-Eight of Wands; Strength-Nine of Wands; Oppression-Ten of Wands. The Root of the Powers of Water-Ace of Cups; Love-Two of Cups; Abundance-Three of Cups; Luxury-Four of Cups; Disappointment-Five of Cups; Pleasure-Six of Cups; Debauch-Seven of Cups; Indolence-Eight of Cups; Happiness-Nine of Cups; Satiety-Ten of Cups. Ace of Swords; Peace-Two of Swords; Sorrow-Three of Swords; Truce-Four of Swords; Defeat-Five of Swords; Science-Six of Swords; Futility-Seven of Swords; Interference-Eight of Swords; Cruelty-Nine of Swords; Ruin-Ten of Swords. Ace of Disks; Change -Two of Disks; Work-Three of Disks; Power-Four of Disks; Worry -Five of Disks; Success-Six of Disks; Failure-Seven of Disks; Prudence-Eight of Disks; Gain-Nine of Disks; Wealth-Ten of Disks.
INVOCATION AND MNEMONICS 218-220
APPENDIX A 249-260
The Behaviour of the Tarot; The Significator; First Operation; Second Operation--Development of the Question; Third Operation-Further Development of the Question; Fourth Operation--Penultimate Aspects of the Question; Fifth Operation--Final Result. General Characters of the Trumps as they appear in Use.
p.ix
CONTENTS---Continued
APPENDIX B pages 265-287
Correspondences; The Key Scale; The General Attributions of the Tarot; The Chinese Cosmos; The Caduceus; The Numbers of the Planets; The Elements and their Symbols; The Sphinx; Tables of Correspond ence; The Four Scales of Colour; Attributions of the Court Cards; Attributions of the Small Cards; The Essential Dignities of the Planets; The Triple Trinity of the Planets; The Triplicities of the Zodiac; The Vital Triads. pages 265-287
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
page
The Double Loop in the Zodiac; The Unicursal Hexagram; Days of the Week | 11 |
The Caduceus | 273 |
The Essential Dignities of the Planets | 277 |
PLATES
The Hierophant
I Lust 50
II Ace of Swords 146
III Ace of Disks 174
IV The Lovers 222
V TRUMPS-The Fool; The Magus; The Priestess; The Empress 225
VI TRUMPS-The Emperor; The Hierophant; The Lovers; The Chariot 226
VII TRUMPS-Adjustment; The Hermit; Fortune; Lust 227
VIII TRUMPS-The Hanged Man; Death; Art; The Devil 228
IX TRUMPS-The Tower; The Star; The Moon; The Sun 229
X TRUMPS-The Aeon; The Universe 230
XI COURT CARDS---Wands: Knight; Queen; Prince; Princess 231
XII COURT CARDS---Cups: Knight; Queen; Prince; Princess 232
p.x
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS---Continued
XIII COURT CARDS-Swords: Knight; Queen; Prince; Princess 233
XIV COURT CARDs-Disks: Knight; Queen; Prince; Princess 234
XV SMALL CARDS-Wands: Ace of Wands; Dominion; Virtue; Completion 235
XVI SMALL CARDS-Wands: Strife; Victory; Valour; Swiftness 236
XVII SMALL CARDS-Wands: Strength; Oppression. Cups: Ace of Cups; Love 237
XVIII SMALL CARDS-Cups: Abundance; Luxury; Disappointment; Pleasure 238
XIX SMALL CARDS-Cups: Debauch; Indolence; Happiness; Satiety 239
XX SMALL CARDS-Swords: Ace of Swords; Peace; Sorrow; Truce 240
XXI SMALL CARDS-Swords: Defeat; Science; Futility; Interference 241
XXII SMALL CARDS-Swords: Cruelty; Ruin. Disks: Ace of Disks; Change
242
XXIII SMALL CARDS-Disks: Works; Power; Worry; Success 243
XXIV SMALL CARDS-Disks: Failure; Prudence; Gain; Wealth 244
XXV The Sun 246
XXVI The Universe 262
XXVII The Key Scale 266
XXVIII General Attribution 268
XXIX The Chinese Cosmos 270
XXX The Rose and the Cross 272
XXXI The Numbers of the Planets; The Elements and their Symbols; The Elemental
Weapons; The Sphinx 275
p.xi
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
On 18th November, 1898 e.v., Aleister
Crowley was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; he took
the motto "Perdurabo' '---"I shall endure to the end"1
In February of the year following,
he attained the grade of Practicus, and was accordingly entrusted with
the secret attributions of the Tarot, especially those of the Atu. (See
pp.5-10).
He worked daily on these MSS., for the most
part under the personal instruction of G.H. Frater 7º=4º, D.D.C.F.
(S. Liddell Matters) and V.H. Fratres 5º=6º Iehi Aour (Allan
Bennett, later Sayadaw Ananda Metteya) and Volo Noscere (George Cecil Jones)
as host or guest of one of these Adepts.
He continued these studies alone during his
first Voyage around the earth in search Of the Hidden Wisdom.
On 8th, 9th and 10th April, 1904 e,v., he
received the Book of the Law. Chosen bv the Masters to carry out Their
sublime plan, he began to prepare the way for the establishment of the
New Aeon, as They instructed him. (See The Equinox of the Gods for a very
full and detailed account of this, the most important event in his career).
He accordingly published the previously secret attributions of the Tarot
in the Book 777
vel
Prolegomena symbolica ad systemam Sceptico-mysticae viae explicandae,
fundamentum hieroglyphicum sanctissimorum scientiae summae.
Following the tradition of Eliphaz Levi, much of his magical writing is modelled on, or adorned by references to, the Tarot. Notable in this connexion are:
Ambrosii Magi Hortus Rosarum (The Sword of Song, 1904 e.v.).
The Wake-World (Konx Om Pax, 1907 e.v.).
Liber XXX Aerum vel Saeculi sub figura CCCCXVIII:being of the Angels of
the 30 Aethyrs the Vision and the Voice (1911 e.v.).
The Book of Lies (1913 e.v.).
Magick in Theory and Practice (Book 4, Part III) 1929 e.v.
He published a full account of the Tarot, according to the MSS. of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in The Equinox, Vol.1, Nos. 7 and 8 (1912
e.v.).
During all this time the Tarot was his daily companion, guide, and object
of research. He succeeded in uniting under the Schema of the Holy Qabalah,
of which the Tarot is the greatest single element, all philosophical and
magical systems soever, including that of the Chinese. This, and his "Naples
Arrangement" are with little doubt his greatest achievements in scholarship.
1To trace his progress in the Order will assist
the reader to follow his work. He attained the grade of Adeptus Minor 5º=6º
(Era: R.R. et A.C.) in January, 1900 e.v. That of Adeptus Major 6º=5º,
taking the motto "OL SONUF VAORESAJI", in April, 1904 e.v. That
of Adeptus Exemptus 7º=4º, taking the motto OY MH, in 1909 e.v.
(Fra: A.: A. That of Magister Templi 8º=3ºon 3rd December, 1910
e.v. accepting the motto previously (Oct., 1906 e.v.) bestowed upon him,
Vi Veri Voiversum Vivus Vici. See Liber 418pp. 73-76 et al. That of Magus
9º=2ºtaking the motto TO MEGA QHRION
on October 12,
1915 e.v.
p.xii
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE-Continued
For many years he had deplored the absence
of any authentic Text of the Tarot. The mediaeval packs are hopelessly
corrupt, compiled by partisans of existing political systems, or otherwise
far from presenting the Ancient Truth of the Book in a coherent system,
or a shape of lucid beauty.
It had from the beginning of his study been
his fervent wish to construct a worthy Text.
Eliphaz Levi had himself wished to execute
a similar task, but succeeded only in leaving us two of the Atu, "The
Chariot" and "The Devil". Many others have attempted the
work, but without even the knowledge of the true Attributions. Their attempts
have been gross, senseless, pitifully grotesque.
But the Masters who had watched, guided,
and chastised the author of this present volume, had in store the reward
of his labours. They introduced to him a skilled artist, Frieda Harris,
who, though she had little or no previous knowledge of the Tarot, possessed
in her own right the Essential Spirit of the book.
Together they bent their energies to the
formidable task of preparing the 78 cards of the Book of Thoth.
His original idea had been to execute a pack
after the tradition of the Mediaeval Editors, corrected in the light of
the descriptions given in The Equinox I, vii and viii. But she found technical
difficulties, such as introducing "10rayed Angelic hands" all
over the place, producing a grotesque effect;and she also observed that
his teaching, in the course of his explanations went far higher and deeper
than any-thing in any accessible models. She accordingly forced him---the
laziest man in three continents!---to undertake what is to all intent an
original work, including the latest discoveries in modern science, mathematics,
philosophy, and anthropology; in a word, to reproduce the whole of his
Magical Mind pictorially on the skeleton of the ancient Qabalistic tradition.
He accepted this colossal burden; it renewed his energy and his enthusiasm.
Yet the burden was sore: the anticipated
three months' work extended to five years. Her success as his interpreter
surpasses belief. She had to work from his very rough sketches, often from
mere descriptions, or from reading between the lines of the old packs.
She devoted her genius to the Work. With incredible rapidity she picked
up the rhythm, and with inexhaustible patience submitted to the corrections
of the fanatical slave-driver that she had invoked, often painting the
same card as many as eight times until it measured up to his Vanadium Steel
yardstick!
May the passionate "love under will"
which she has stored in this Treasury of Truth and Beauty flow forth from
the Splendour and Strength of her work to enlighten the world; may this
Tarot serve as a chart for the bold seamen of the New Aeon, to guide them
across the Great Sea of Understanding to the City of the Pyramids!
The accompanying booklet was dashed off by
Aleister Crowley, without help from parents. Its perusal may be omitted
with advantage. S. H. Soror I.W.E. 8º=3ºA.'. A.'.
PART ONE
THE THEORY OF THE TAROT
1
THE CONTENTS OF THE TAROT
THE TAROT is a pack of seventy-eight cards. There are four suits, as in modern playing cards, tvhich are derived from it. But the Court cards number four instead of three. In addition, there are twenty-two cards called "Trumps", each of which is a symbolic picture with a title itself. At first sight one would suppose this arrangement to be arbitrary, but it is not. It is necessitated, as will appear later, by the structure of the universe, and in particular of the Solar System, as symbolized by the Holy Qabalah. This will be explained in due course.
THE ORIGIN OF THE TAROT
The origin of this pack of cards is very obscure. Some authorities seek to put it back as far as the ancient Egyptian Mysteries; others try to bring it forward as late as the fifteenth or even the sixteenth century. But the Tarot certainly existed, in what may be called the classical form, as early as the fourteenth century; for packs of that date are extant, and the form has not varied in any notable respect since that time. In the Middle Ages, these cards were much used for fortune telling, especially by gypsies, so that it was customary to speak of the "Tarot of the Bohemians", or "Egyptians". When it was found that the gypsies, despite the etymology, were of Asiatic origin, some people tried to find its source in Indian art and literature. There is here no need to enter into any discussion of these disputed points. 1
THE THEORY OF THE CORRESPONDENCES OF THE TAROT
Unimportant to the present purpose are tradition and authority. Einstein's Theory of Relativity does not rest on the fact that, when
1It is supposed by some scholars that the R.O.T.A. (Rota, a wheel) consulted in the Collegium ad Spiritum Sanctum--see the Manifesto "Fama Fraternitatis" of the Brothers of the Rosy Cross--was the Tarot.
p.4
his theory was put to the test, it was confirmed. The only theory of
ultimate interest about the Tarot is that it is an admirable symbolic picture
of the Universe, based on the data of the Holy Qabalah. It will be proper,
later in this essay, to describe the Holy Qabalah somewhat fully, and to
discuss relevant details. The part of it which is here relevant is called
Gematria, a science in which the numerical value of a Hebrew word, each
letter being also a number, links that word with others of the same value,
or a multiple thereof. For example, AChD unity (1+8 +4) =13; and AHBH love
(1+5+2+5)=13. This fact is held to indicate "The nature of Unity is
Love". Then IHVH Jehovah (10 +5+6+5) =26=2 X 13. Therefore: "Jehovah
is Unity manifested in Duality." And so forth. One important interpretation
of Tarot is that it is a Notariqon of the Hebrew Torah, the Law; also of
ThROA, the Gate. Now, by the Yetziratic attributions---see table at end---this
word may be read The Universe---the new-born Sun---Zero. This is the true
Magical Doctrine of Thelema: Zero equals Two. Also, by Gematria, the numerical
value of ThROA is 671 =61 x 11. Now 61 is AIN, Nothing or Zero; and 11is
the number of Magical Expansion; in this way also, therefore, ThROA announces
that same dogma, the only satisfactory philosophical explanation of the
Cosmos, its origin, mode, and object. Complete mystery surrounds the question
of the origin of this system; any theory which satisfies the facts demands
assumptions which are completely absurd. To explain it at all, one has
to postulate in the obscure past a fantastic assembly of learned rabbins,
who solemnly calculated all sorts of combinations of letters and numbers,
and created the Hebrew language on this series of manipulations. This theory
is plainly contrary, not only to common sense, but to the facts of history,
and to all that we know about the formation of language. Nevertheless,
the evidence is equally strong that there is something, not a little of
something but a great deal of something, a something which excludes all
reasonable theories of coincidence, in the correspondence between words
and numbers.
It is an undeniable fact that any given number
is not merely one more than the previous number and one less than the subsequent
number, but is an independent individual idea, a thing in itself; a
p.5
spiritual, moral and intellectual substance, not only as much as, but a great deal more than, any human being. Its merely mathematical relations are indeed the laws of its being, but they do not constitute the number, any more than the chemical and physical laws of reaction in the human anatomy give a complete picture of a man.
THE EVIDENCE FOR THE INITIATED TRADITION OF THE TAROT
I. Eliphaz Levi and the Taro.
Although the origins of the Tarot are
perfectly obscure, there is a very interesting piece of quite modern history,
history well within the memory of living man, which is extremely significant,
and will be found, as the thesis develops, to sustain it in a very remarkable
wav. In the middle of the nineteenth century, there arose a very great
Qabalist and scholar, who still annoys dull people by his habit of diverting
himself at their expense by making fools of them posthumously. His name
was Alphonse Louis Constant, and he was an Abbe' of the Roman Church. For
his "nom-de-guerre" he translated his name into Hebrew-Eliphas
Levi Zahed, and he is very generally known as Eliphas Levi. Eliphas Levi
was a philosopher and an artist, besides being a supreme literary stylist
and a practical joker of the variety called "Pince sans rire";
and, being an artist and a profound symbolist, he was immensely attracted
by the Tarot. While in England, he proposed to Kenneth Mackenzie, a famous
occult scholar and high-grade Freemason, to reconstitute and issue a scientifically-designed
pack. In his works are new presentations by him of the trumps called Tile
Chariot and The Devil. He seems to have understood that the Tarot was actually
a pictorial form of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, which is the basis of
the whole Qabalah, so much so that he composed his works on this basis.
He wished to write a complete treatise on Magick. He divided his subject
into two parts---Theory and Practice which he called Dogma and Ritual.
Each part has twenty-two chapters, one for each of the twenty-two trumps;
and each chapter
p.6
deals with the subject represented by the picture displayed by the trump. The importance of the accuracy of the correspondence will appear in due course. Here we come to a slight complication. The chapters correspond, but they correspond wrongly; and this is only to be explained by the fact that Levi felt himself bound by his original oath of secrecy to the Order of Initiates which had given him the secrets of the Tarot.
2. The Tarot in the Cipher Manuscripts
At the time of the French Renaissance
of the eighteen-fifties, a similar movement took place in England. Its
interest centred in ancient religions, and their traditions of initiation
and thaumaturgy. Learned societies, some secret or semi-secret, were founded
or revived. Among the members of one such group, the Quatuor Coronati Lodge
of Freemasonry, were three men: one, Dr. Wynn Westcott, a London coroner;
a Dr. Woodford, and a Dr. Woodman. There is a little dispute as to which
of these men went to the Farringdon Road, or whether it was the Farringdon
Road to which they went; but there is no doubt whatever that one of them
bought an old book, either from an obscure bookseller, or off a barrow,
or found it in a library. This happened about 1884 or 1885. There is no
dispute that in this book were some loose papers; that these papers turned
out to be written in cipher; that these cipher manuscripts contained the
material for the foundation of a secret society purporting to confer initiation
by means of ritual; and that among these manuscripts was an attribution
of the trumps of the Tarot to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When
this matter is examined, it becomes quite clear that Levi's wrong attribution
of the letters was deliberate; that he knew the right attribution, and
considered it his duty to conceal it. (It made much trouble for him to
camouflage his chapters!)
The cipher manuscripts were alleged to date
from the earliest years of the nineteenth century; and there is a note
to one page which seems to be in the writing of Eliphas Levi. It appears
extremely probable that he had access to this manuscript on his visit to
Bulwer Lytton, in England. In any case, as previously observed, Levi shows
constantly that he knew the correct attributions (with the exception, of
course, of Tzaddi---why, will be seen later) and tried to use them, without
improperly revealing any secrets which he was sworn not to disclose.
As soon as one possesses the true attributions
of these trumps, the Tarot leaps into life. One is intellectually knocked
down by the rightness of it. All the difficulties created by the traditional
attributions as understood by the ordinary scholar, disappear in a flash.
For this reason, one is inclined to credit the claim for the promulgators
of the cipher manuscript, that they were guardians of a tradition of Truth.
3. The Tarot and the Heremetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
One must now digress into the history
of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the society reconstituted by
Dr. Westcott and his colleagues, in order to show further evidence as to
the authenticity of the claim of the promulgators of the cipher manuscript.
Among these papers, besides the attribution
of the Tarot, were certain skeleton rituals, which purported to contain
the secrets of initiation; the name (with an address in Germany) of a Fraülein
Sprengel was mentioned as the issuing authority. Dr. Westcott wrote to
her; and, with her permission, the Order of the Golden Dawn was founded
in 1886.
(The G .'. D .'. is merely a name for the
Outer or Preliminary Order of the R.R. et A.C., which is in its turn an
external manifestation of the A .'. A.'. which is the true Order of Masters1---See
Magick, pp.229-244.) The genius who made this possible was a man named
Samuel Liddell Mathers. After a time, Frl. Sprengel died; a letter written
to her, asking for more advanced knowledge, elicited a reply from one of
her colleagues. This letter informed Dr. Westcott of her death, adding
that the writer and his associates had never approved of Frl. Sprengel's
action in authorising any form of group working, but, in view of the great
reverence and esteem in which she was held, had refrained from open opposition.
He went on to say that "this correspondence must now cease",
but that if they wanted more advanced knowledge they could perfectly well
get it by using in the proper
1An impudent mushroom swindle, calling itself "Order of Hidden Masters", has recently appeared---and disappeared.
p.8
manner the knowledge which they already possessed. In other words, they
must utilize their magical powers to make contact with the Secret Chiefs
of the Order. (This, incidentally, is a quite normal and traditional mode
of procedure.)
Shortly afterwards, Mathers, who had manoeuvred
himself into the practical Headship of the Order, announced that he had
made this link; that the Secret Chiefs had authorized him to continue the
work of the Order, as its sole head. There is, however, no evidence that
he was here a witness of truth, because no new knowledge of any particular
importance came to the Order; such as did appear proved to be no more than
Mathers could have acquired by normal means from quite accessible sources,
such as the British Museum. These circumstances, and a great deal of petty
intrigue, led to serious dissatisfaction among the members of the Order.
Frl. Sprengel's judgment, that group-working in an Order of this sort is
possible, was shown in this case to be wrong. In 1900, the Order in its
existing form was destroyed.
The point of these data is simply to show
that, at that time, the main preoccupation of all the serious members of
the Order was to get in touch with the Secret Chiefs themselves. In 1904
success was attained by one of the yourigest members, Frater Perdurabo.
The very fullest details of this occurrence are given in The Equinox of
the Gods.1 It is not here useful to discuss the evidence which goes to
establish the truth of this claim. But it is to be observed that it is
internal evidence. It exists in the manuscript itself. It would make no
difference if the statement of any of the persons concerned turned out
to be false.
4.The Nature of the Evidence
These historical digressions have been
essential to the under-standing of the conditions of this enquiry. It is
now proper to con-
1 Consult especially pp. 61 to 119. The message of the Secret Chiefs is even in the Book of the Law which has been published privately for initiates, and publicly in The Equinox, Vol. I, No.7 and No.10; also, with full details, in The Equinox of the Gods, pp.13 to 38. In a pocket at the end of that volume is a photolithographic reproduction of the manuscript. There is also a cheap pocket edition of the text of the Book by itself. There are also American Editions of the text.
p.9
sider the peculiar numbering of the Trumps. It appears natural to a
mathematician to begin the series of natural numbers with Zero; but it
is very disturbing to the non-mathematically trained mind. In the traditional
essays and books on the Tarot, the card numbered "0" was supposed
to lie between the cards XX and XXI. The secret of the initiated interpretation,
which makes the whole meaning ol the Trumps luminous, is simply to put
this card marked "0" in its natural place, where any mathematician
would have put it, in front of the number One. But there is still one peculiarity,
one disturbance in the natural sequence. This is that the cards VIII and
XI have to be counterchanged, in order to preserve the attribution. For
the card XI is called "Strength"; on it appears a Lion, and it
quite evidently refers to the zodiaca1 sign Leo, whereas the card VIII
is called "Justice", and represents the conventional symbolir.
figure, throned, with sword and balances, thus obviously referring to tile
zodiacal sign of Libra, the Balance.
Frater Perdurabo had made a very profound
study of the Tarot since his initiation to the Order on 18th November,
1898; for, three months later, he had attained the grade of Practicus;
as such, he became entitled to know the Secret Attribution. He constantly
studied this and the accompanying explanatory manuscripts. He checked up
on all these attributes of the numbers to the forms of nature, and found
nothing incongruous. But when (8th April, 1904 e.v.) he was writing down
the Book of the Law from the dictation of the messenger of the Secret Chiefs,
he seems to have put a mental question, suggested by the words in Chapter
I, verse 57: "the law of the Fortress, and the great mystery of the
House of God" ("The House of God" is one name of the Tarot
Trump numbered XVI) to this effect: "Have I got these attributions
right?" For there came an interpolated answer, "All these old
letters of my book are aright; but x is not
the Star. This also is secret; my prophet shall reveal it to the wise".
This was exceedingly annoying. If Tzaddi was not "the Star",
what was? And what was Tzaddi? He tried for years to counter-change this
card, "The Star", which is numbered XVII, with some other. He
had no success. It was many years later that the solution came to him.
Tzaddi is "The Emperor"; and therefore the positions
p.10
of XVII and IV must be counterchanged. This attribution is very satisfactory.
Yes, but it
is something a great deal more than satisfactory; it is, to clear thought,
the most convincing evidence possible that the Book of 'he Law is a genuine
message from the Secret Chiefs.
For "The Star" is referred to Aquarius
in the Zodiac, and "The Emperor' to Anes. Now Aries and Aquarius are
on each side of Pisces, just as Leo and Libra are on eadi side of Virgo;
that is to say, the correction in the Book of the Law gives a perfect symmetry
in the zodiacal attribution, just as if a loop were formed at one end of
the ellipse to correspond exactly with the existing loop at the other end.
These matters sound rather technical; in fact, they are; but the more one
studies the Tarot, the more one perceives the admirable symmetry and perfection
of the symbolism. Yet, even to the layman, it ought to be evident that
balance and fitness are essential to any perfection, and the elucidation
of these two tangles in the last 150 years is undoubtedly a very remarkable
phenomenon.
SUMMARY OF THE QUESTIONS HITHERTO DISCUSSED
I. The origin of the Tarot is quite irrelevant,
even if it were certain, It must stand or fall as a system on its own merits.
2. It is beyond doubt a deliberate attempt
to represent, in pictorial form, the doctrines of the Qabalah.
3. The evidence for this is very much like
the evidence brought forward by a person doing a crossword puzzle. He knows
from the "Across" clues that his word is "SCRUN blank H";
so it is certain, beyond error, that the blank must be a "C"
4. These attributions are in one sense a
conventional, symboh'c map; such could be invented by some person or persons
of great artistic imagination and ingenuity combined with almost unthinkably
great scholarship and philosophical clarity.
5. Such persons, however eminent we may suppose
them to have been, are not quite capable of making a system so abstruse
in its entirety without the assistance of superiors whose mental processes
were) or are, pertaining to a higher Dimension.
p.12
One might take, by way of an analogy,
the game of chess. Chess has developed from very simple beginnings. It
was a mimic battle for tired warriors; but the subtleties of the modern
game-which have now, thanks to Richard Reti, gone quite beyond calculation
into the world of aesthetic creation-were latent in the original design.
The originators of the game were "building better than they knew"
It is of course possible to argue that these subtleties have arisen in
the course of the development of the game; and indeed it is quite clear,
historically, that the early players whose games are on record had no conscious
conception of anything beyond a variety of rather crude and elementary
stratagems. It is quite possible to argue that the game of chess is merely
one of a number of games which has developed while other games died out,
because of some accident. One can argue that it is merely by chance that
modern chess was latent in the original game.
The theory of inspiration is really very
much simpler, and it accounts for the facts without violation of the law
of parsimony.
II
THE TAROT AND THE HOLY QABALAH
THE NEXT issue is the Holy Qabalah. This
is a very simple subject, and presents no difficulties to the ordinary
intelligent mind. There are ten numbers in the decimal system; and there
is a genuine reason why there should be ten numbers, and only ten, in a
numerical system which is not merely mathematical, but philosophical. It
is necessary, at this point, to introduce the "Naples Arrangement".
But first of all, one must understand the pictorial representation of the
Universe given by the Holy Qabalah. (See diagram.)
This picture represents the Tree of Life,
which is a map of the Universe. One must begin, as a mathematician would,
with the idea of Zero, Absolute Zero, which turns out on examination to
mean any quantity that one may choose, but not, as the layman
p.13
may at first suppose, Nothing, in the "absence-of-anything" vulgar sense of the word. (See "Berashith", Paris, 1902).
"THE NAPLES ARRANGEMENT"
The Qabalists expanded this idea of Nothing,
and got a second kind of Nothing which they called "Ain Soph"-"Without
Limit". (This idea seems not unlike that of Space.) They then decided
that in order to interpret this mere absence of any means of definition,
it was necessary to postulate the Ain Soph Aur-"Limitless Light".
By this they seem to have meant very much what the late Victorian men of
science meant, or thought that they meant, by the Luminiferous Ether. (The
Space-Time Continuum?) All this is evidently
without form and void; these are abstract conditions, not positive ideas.
The next step must be the idea of Position. One must formulate this thesis:
If there is anything except Nothing, it must exist within this Boundless
Light; within this Space; within this inconceivable Nothingness, which
cannot exist as Nothing-ness, but has to be conceived of as a Nothingness
composed of the annihilation of two imaginary opposites. Thus appears The
Point, which has "neither parts nor magnitude, but only position".
But position does not mean anything at all
unless there is something else, some other position with which it can be
compared. One has to describe it. The only way to do this is to have another
Point, and that means that one must invent the number Two, making possible
The Line.
But this Line does not really mean very much,
because there is yet no measure of length. The limit of knowledge at this
stage is that there are two things, in order to be able to talk about them
at all. But one cannot say that they are near each other, or that they
are far apart; one can only say that they are distant. In order to discriminate
between them at all, there must be a third thing. We must have another
point. One must invent The Surface; one must in~7ent The Triangle. In doing
this, incidentally, appears the whole of Plane Geometry. One can now say,
"A is nearer to B than A is to C".
But, so far, there is no subsiance in any
of these ideas. In fact
p. 14
there are no ideas at all) except the idea of Distance and perhaps the
idea of Between-ness, and of Angular Measurement; so that plane Geometry,
which now exists in theory, is after all completely inchoate and incoherent..
There has been no approach at all to the conception of a really existing
thing. No more has been done than to niake definitions, all in a purely
ideal and imaginary world.
Now then comes The Abyss. One cannot
go any further into the ideal. The next step must be the Actual---at least,
an approach to the Actual. There are three points, but there is no idea
of where any one of them. is. A fourth point is essential, and this formulates
the idea of matter.
The Point, the Line, the Plane. The fourth
point, unless it should happen to lie in the plane, gives The Solid.
If one wants to know the position of any point, one must define it by the
use of three co-ordinate axes. It is so many feet from the North wall,
and so many feet from the East wall, and so many feet from tbe floor.
Thus there has been developed from Nothingness
a Something which can be said to exist. One has arrived at the idea of
Matter. But this existence is exceedingly tenuous, for the only
property of any given point is its position in relation to certain other
points; no change is possible; nothing can happen. One is therefore cotnpelled,
in the analysis of known Reality, to postulate a fifth positive idea, which
is that of Motion.
This implies the idea of Time, for
only through Motion, and in Time, can any event happen. Without this change
and sequence, nothing can be the object of sense. (It is to be noticed
that this No.5 is the number of the letter He' in the Hebrew alphabet.
This is thE letter traditionally consecrated to the Great Mother. It is
the womb in which the Great Father, who is represented by the letter Yod
which is pictorially the representation of an ultimate Point, moves and
begets active existence).
There is now possible a concrete idea of
the Point; and, at last it is a point which can be self-conscious, because
it can have a Past, Present and Future. It is able to define itself in
terms of the previous ideas. Here is the number Six, the centre of the
system: self-conscious, capable of experience.
At this stage it is convenient to turn away
for a moment from
p.15
the strictly Qabalistic symbolism. The doctrine of the next three numbers
(to some m~nds at least) is not very clearly expressed. One must look to
the Vedanta system for a more lucid interpretation of the numbers 7, 8
and 9 although they correspond very closely with the Qabalistic ideas.
In the Hindu analysis of existence the Rishis (sages) postulate three qualities:
Sat, the Essence of Being itself; Chit, Thought, or Intellection; and Ananda
(usually translated Bliss), the pleasure experienced by Being in the course
of events. This ecstasy is evidently the exciting cause of the mobility
of existence. It explains the assumption of imperfection on the part of
Perfection. The Absolute would be Nothing, would remain in the condition
of Nothingness; therefore, in order to be conscious of its possibilities
and to enjoy them, it must explore these possibilities. One may here insert
a parallel statement of this doctrine from the document called The Book
of the Great Auk to enable the student to consider the position from
the standpoint of two different minds.
"All elements must at one time have
been separate.---That would be the case with great heat.---Now, when the
atoms get to the Sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the elements
are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses
the memory of all his adventures in combination. By the way, that atom,
fortified with memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it
has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by the
lapse of time and by virtue of memory, a thing could become something more
than itself; thus, a real development ispossible. One can then see a reason
for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations, because
so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory which he
has during these incarnations, because he knows he will come through unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and
equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestructible. This
is also the only explanation of how a Being could create a world in which
War, Evil, etc., exist. Evil is only an appearance, because (like "Good")
it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multiply its combinations.
This is something the same as Mystic Monotheism; but the objection to that
theory is that God has to
p.16
create things which are all parts ot himself, so that their interplay
is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural."
These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss constitute
the minimum possible qualities which a Point must possess if it is to have
a real sensible experience of itself. These correspond to the numbers 9,
8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore
to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive
developments from Zero. Here then at last is the number Ten.
In other words, to describe Reality in the
form of Knowledge, one must postulate these ten successive idea~s. In the
Qabalah, they are called "Sephiroth", which means "Numbers".
As will be seen later, each number has a significance of its own; each
corresponds with all phenomena in such a way that their arrangement in
the Tree of Life, as shown in the diagrams (pp.266, 268, 270), is a map
of the Universe. These ten numbers are represented in the Tarot by the
forty small cards.
THE TAROT AND THE FORMULA OF TETRAGRAMMATON
What, then, are the Court Cards? This
question involves another aspect of the system of development. What was
the first mental process? Obliged to describe Nothing, the only way to
do so without destroying its integrity was to represent it as the union
of a Plus Something with an equivalent Minus Something. One may call these
two ideas, the Active and Passive, the Father and Mother. But although
the Father and Mother can make a perfect union, thereby returning to Zero,
which is a retrogression, they can also go forward into Matter, so that
their union produces a Son and a Daughter. The idea works out in practice
as a method of describing how the union of any two things produces a third
thing which is neither of them.
The simplest illustration is in Chemistry.
If we take hydrogen gas and chlorine gas, and pass an electric spark through
them, an explosion takes place, and hydrochloric acid is produced. Here
we have a positive substance, which may be called the Son of the marriage
of these elements, and is an advance into Matter. But also, in
p.17
the ecstasy of the union, Light and Heat are disengaged; these phenomena
are not material in the same sense as the hydrochloric acid is material;
this product of the union is therefore of a spiritual nature, and corresponds
to the Daughter.
In the language of the alchemists, these
phenomena were classified for convenience under the figure of four "elements".
Fire, the purest and most active, corresponds to the Father; Water, still
pure but passive, is the Mother; their union results in an element partaking
of both natures, yet distinct from either, and this they called 'Air".
One must constantly remember that the terms
used by ancient and medieval philosophers do not mean at all what they
mean nowadays. "Water" does not mean to them the chemical compound
H2O; it is an intensely abstract idea,
and exists everywhere. The ductability of iron is a watery quality.1
The word "element" does not mean a chemical element; it means
a set of ideas; it summarises certain qualities or properties.
It seems hardly possible to define these
terms in such a way as to make their meaning clear to the student. He must
discover for himself by constant practice what they mean to him. It does
not even follow that he will arrive at the same ideas. This will not mean
~ that one mind is right and the other wrong, because each one of us has
his own universe all to himself, and it is not the same as anybody else's
universe. The moon that A. sees is not the moon that B., standing by him,
sees. In this case, the difference is so infinitesimal that it does not
exist in practice; yet there is a difference. But if A. and B look at a
picture in a gallery, it is very much not the same picture to both, because
A's mind has been trained to observe it by his experience of thousands
of other pictures; B. has probably seen an entirely different set of pictures.
Their experience will coincide only in the matter of a few well-known pictures.
Besides this, their minds are essentially different in many other ways.
So, if A. dislikes Van Gogh, B. pities him; if C. admires Bougereau, D.
shrugs his shoulders. There is no right or wrong about any matter whatsoever.
1Its magnetic virtue (similarly) is fiery, its conductivity airy, and its weight and hardness earthy. Yet, weight is but a function of the curvature of the "space.time Continuum": "Earth is the Throne of Spirit."
p.18
This is true, even in matters of the strictest science. The scientific description of an object is universally true; and yet it is not completely true for any single observer. The phenomenon called the Daughter is ambiguous. It has been explained above as the spiritual ingredient in the result of the marriage of the Father and the Mother; but this is only one interpretation.
THE TAROT AND THE ELEMENTS
The Ancients conceived of Fire; Water
and Air as pure elements. They were connected with the three qualities
of Being, Knowledge and Bliss, previously mentioned. They also correspond
with what the Hindus called the Three Gunas-Sattvas, Rajas and Tamas, which
may be translated roughly as "Calm", "Activity", and
"Slothful Darkness". The alchemists had three similar principles
of energy, of which all existing phenomena are composed: Sulphur, Mercury
and Salt. This Sulphur is Activity, Energy, Desire; Mercury is Fluidity,
Intelligence, the power of Transmission; Salt is the vehicle of these two
forms of energy, but itself possesses qualities which react on them.
The student must keep in his mind all these
tripartite classifications. In some cases, one set will be more useful
than otheis. For the moment, concentrate on the Fire, Water, Air series.
These elements are represented in the Hebrew alphabet by the letters Shin,
Mem and Aleph. The Qabalists call them the Three Mother Letters. In this
particular group, the three elements concerned are completely spiritual
forms of pure energy; they can only manifest in sensible experience by
impinging upon the senses, crystallising out in a fourth element which
they call "Earth", represented by the last letter of the alphabet,
Tau. This, then, is another quite different interpretation of the idea
of the Daughter, which is here considered as a pendant to the Triangle.
It is the number Ten suspended from the 7, 8, 9 in the diagram.
These two interpretations must be kept in
mind simultaneously. The Qabalists, devising the Tarot, then proceeded
to make pictures of these extremely abstract ideas of Father, Mother, Son
and Daughter, and they called them King, Queen, Prince and Princess. It
is confusing, but they were also called Knight, Queen, King and
p.19
Princess. Sometimes, too, the Prince and Princess are called "Emperor"
and "Empress".
The reason for this confusion is connected
with the doctrine of the Fool of the Tarot, the legendary Wanderer, who
wins the King's daughter, a legend which is connected with the old and
exceedingly wise plan of choosing the successor to a king by his ability
to win the princess from all competitors. (Frazer's Golden Bough is the
authority on this subject.)
It has been thought better, for the present
pack, to adopt the term "Knight", "Queen", "Prince"
and "Princess", to represent the series Father, Mother, Son,
Daughter, because the doctrine involved, which is extraordinarily complex
and difficult, demands it. The Father is "Knight" because he
is represented as riding on a borse. It may make it more clear to describe
the two main systems, the Hebrew and the Pagan, as if they were (and had
always been) concrete and separate.
The Hebrew system is straightforward and
irreversible; it postulates Father and Mother from whose union issue Son
and Daughter. There an end. It is only later philosophical speculation
to derive the Father-Mother Dyad from a Unity manifest, and later still
to seek the source of that Unity in Nothing. This is a concrete and limited
scheme, crude, with its causeless Beginning and its sterile End.
The Pagan system is circular, self-generated,
self-nourished, self-renewed. It is a wheel on whose rim are Father-Mother-Son-Daughter;
they move about the motionless axis of Zero; they unite at will; they transform
one into another; there is neither Beginning nor End to the Orbit; none
is higher or lower than another. The Equation "Naught=Many =Two= One=
All= Naught" is implicit in every mode of the being of the System.
Difficult as this is, at least one very desirable
result has been attained: to explain why the Tarot has four Court cards,
not three. It also explains why there are four suits. The four suits are
named as follows: "Wands", attributed to Fire; "Cups",
to Water; "Swords", to Air; and "Disks" ("Coins",
or "Pantacles"), to Earth. The student Wili notice this interplay
and counterchange of the number 4. It is also important for him to notice
that even in the tenfold arrangement,
p.20
the number 4 takes its part. The Tree of Life can be divided into four
planes: the number I corresponds to Fire; numbers 2 and 3, to Water; numbers
4 to 9, to Air; and the number 10 to Earth. This division corresponds to
the analysis of Man. The number I is his spiritual essence, without quality
or quantity; the numbers 2 and 3 represent his creative and trausmissive
powers, his virility and his intelligence; the numbers 4 to 9 describe
his mental and moral qualities as concentrated in his human personality;
the number 6, so to speak, is a concrete elaboration of the number I; and
the number 10 corresponds to Earth, which is the physical vehicle of the
previous nine numbers. The names of these parts of the soul are: I, Jechidah;
2 and 3, Chiah and Neschamah; 4 to 9, Ruach; and lastly io; Nephesch.
These four planes correspond once more to
the so-called "Four Worlds", to understand the nature of which
one should refer, with all due reservations, to the Platonic system. The
number I is Atziluth, the Archetypal World; but the number 2, as being
the dynamic aspect of the number I, is the Practical attribution. The number
3 is Briah, the Creative World in which the Will of the Father takes shape
through the Conception of the Mother, just as the spermatozoon, by fertilizing
the ovum, makes possible the production of an image of its parents. The
numbers 4 to 9 include Yetzirah, the Formative World, in which an intellectual
image, an appreciable form of the idea, is produced; and this mental image
becomes real and sensible in the number 10, Assiah, the Material World.
It is by going through all these confusing
(and sometimes seemingly contradictory) attributions, with unwearying patience
and persistent energy, that one comes at the end to a lucid understanding,
to an understanding which is infinitely clearer than any intellectual interpretation
could possibly be. This is a fundamental exercise in the way to initiation.
If one were a shallow rationalist, it would be quite easy to pick holes
in all these attributions and semi-philosophical hypotheses, or near-hypotheses;
but it is also quite simple to prove by mathematics that it is impossible
to hit a golf ball.
Hitherto, the main theme of this essay has
been the Tree of Life, in its essence the Sephiroth. It is now proper to
consider the relations of the Sephiroth with each other. (See diagram,
p.268.) It
p.21
will be noticed that twenty-two lines are employed to complete the structure
of the Tree of Life. It will be explained in due course how it is that
these correspond to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It will be remarked
that in some respects the way in which these are joined up appears arbitrary.
Notably, there is an equilateral triangle, which one would think would
be a natural basis for the Operations of Philosophy, consisting of the
numbers 1,4 and 5. But there are no lines joining 1and 4, or 1and 5. This
is not an accident. Nowhere in the figure is there an erect equilateral
triangle, although there are three equilateral triangles with the apex
downwards. This is because of the original formula "Father, Mother,
Son", which is three times repeated in a descending scale of simplicity
and spirituality. The number 1is above these triangles, because it is an
integration of Zero and depends from the triple veil of the Negative.
Now the Sephiroth, which are emanations of
the number 1, as already shown, are things-in-themselves, in almost the
Kantian sense. The lines joining them are Forces of Nature, of a much less
complete type; they are less abstruse, less abstract.
THE TWENTY-TWO KEYS, ATU, OR TRUMPS OF THE TAROT
Here now is an excellent example of the
all-pervading doctrine of Equilibrium. The equation always reads ax2+bx
+x=0. If it does not equal 0, it is not an equation. And so, whenever any
symbol loses importance in one place in the Qabalah, it gains in another.
The Court cards and small cards form the skeletal structure of the Tarot
in its principal function as a map of the Universe. But, for the special
significance of the pack as a Key to magical formul~, the twenty-two trumps
acquire a peculiar importance.
To what symbols are they attributed? They
cannot be related identically with any of the essential ideas, because
that place is taken by the cards from I to 10. They cannot represent primarily
the Father, Mother, Son, Daughter complex in its fulness, because the Court
cards have already taken that position. They are attributed as follows:
the three Mother letters, Shin, Mem and Aleph, represent the three active
elements; the seven so-called double letters, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kapli,
Pe', Resh and Tau, represent the seven sacred
p.22
planets. The remaining twelve letters He', Van, Zain, Cheth, Teth, Yod,
Lamed, Nun, Samekh, A'ain, Tzaddi and Qoph represent the Signs of the Zodiac.
There is a slight clotting or overlapping
in this arrangement. The letter Shin has to do duty for both Fire and Spirit,
in very much the same way as the number 2 partakes of the nature of the
number I; and the letter Tau represents both Saturn and the element of
Earth. In these difficulties there is a doctrine.
But one cannot dismiss these twenty-two letters
thus casually. The stone that the builders rejected becomes the head of
the corner. These twenty-two cards acquire a personality of their own:
a very curious personality. It would be quite wrong to say that they represent
a complete universe. They seem to represent certain rather curious phases
of the universe. They do not seem essential factors in the structure of
the universe. They change from time to time in their relation to current
events. A glance at the list of their titles seems to show no longer the
strictly philosophical and scientific spirit of austere classification
that is found in the other cards. There leaps at us the language of the
Artist. These names are, the Fool, the Juggler, the High Priestess, the
Empress, the Emperor, the Hierophant, the Lovers, the Chariot, Lust, the
Wheel of Fortune, Adjustment, the Hanged Man, Death, Art, the Devil, the
House of God, the Star, the Moon, the Sun, the Aeon, the Universe. Obviously
these are not plain, straightforward symbolic representations of the signs,
elements and planets concerned. They are rather hieroglyphs of peculiar
mysteries connected with each. One may begin to suspect that the Tarot
is not a mere straightforward representation of the Universe in the impersonal
way of the system of the Yi King. The Tarot is beginning to look like Propaganda.
It is as if the Secret Chiefs of the Great Order, which is the guardian
of the destinies of the human race, had wished to put forward certain particular
aspects of the Universe; to establish certain especial doctrines; to declare
certain modes of working, proper to the existing political situations.
They differ; somewhat as a literary composition differs from a dictionary.
It has been very unfortunate, but quite unavoidable,
to be
p.23
obliged to go so far into argument, and that this argument has involved
so many digressions as a preliminary to a straightforward description of
the pack. It may make it simpler to proceed to summarize the above statements.
Here is a simple statement of the plan of
the Tree of Life. The numbers, or Things-in-Themselves, are ten, successive
emanations from the triple veil of the Negative. The small cards numbered
I to 10 correspond to the Sephiroth. These cards are shown in fourfold
form, because they are not the pure abstract numbers, but particular symbols
of those numbers in the universe of manifestation, which is, for convenience,
classified under the figure of four elements. The Court cards represent
the elements themselves, each element divided into four sub-elements. For
convenience, here follows a list of these cards: Knight of Wands, Fire
of Fire Queen of Wands, Water of Fire Prince of Wands, Air of Fire Princess
of Wands, Earth of Fire
Knight of Cups, Fire of Water
Queen of Cups, Water of Water
Prince of Cups, Air of Water
Princess of Cups, Earth of Water
Knight of Swords, Fire of Air
Queen of Swords, Water of Air
Prince of Swords, Air of Air
Princess of Swords, Earth of Air
Knight of Disks, Fire of Earth
Queen of Disks, Water of Earth
Prince of Disks, Air of Earth
Princess of Disks, Earth of Earth
The Tarot trumps are twenty-two in number; they represent the elements between the Sephiroth or Things-in-Themselves, so that their position on the Tree of Life is significant. Here are one or two examples. The card called "The Lovers", whose secret title is "The Children of the Voice, the Oracle of the Mighty Gods", leads from
p.24
the number 3 to the number 6. The number 6 is the human personality
of a man; the number 3 is his spiritual intuition. Therefore, it is natural
and significant that the influence of the 3 upon the 6 is that of the intuitional
or inspirational voice. It is the illumination of the mind and the heart
by the Great Mother.
Consider again the card joining the number
I to the number 6. This card is called "The High Priestess",
and is attributed to the Moon. The card represents the Heavenly Isis. It
is a symbol of complete spiritual purity; it is initiation in its most
secret and intimate form, descending upon the human consciousness from
the ultimate divine consciousness. Looked at from below, it is the pure
and unwavering aspiration of the man to the Godhead, his source. It will
be proper to enter more fully into these matters when dealing separately
with the cards in turn.
From the foregoing it will be clear that the Tarot illustrates, first of all, the Tree of Life in its universal aspect, and secondly, the particular comment illustrating that phase of the Tree of Life which is of peculiar interest to those persons charged with the guardianship of the human race at the particular moment of the production of any given authorised pack. It is therefore proper for those guardians to modify the aspect of the pack when it seems to them good to do so. The traditional pack has itself been subjected to numerous modifications, adopted for convenience. For instance: the Emperor and the Empress, in the medieval packs, were referred quite definitely to the Holy Roman Emperor and his Consort. The card originally called "The Hierophant", representing Osiris (as is shown by the shape of the tiara) became, in the Renaissance period, the Pope. The High Priestess came to be called "Pope Joan", representing a certain symbolic legend which circulated among initiates, and became vulgarised in the fable of a Female Pope. More important still, "The Angel", or "The Last Judgment", represented the destruction of the world by fire. Its hieroglyph is, in a way, prophetic, for when the world was destroyed by fire on 21st March, 1904,1 one's attention was inevitably called to the similarity of this card to the Stele' of Revealing. This being the beginning of the New Aeon, it has seemed
See The Equinox of the Gods, loc. cit.
p.25
more fitting to show the beginning of the Aeon; for all that is known about the next Aeon, due in 2,000 years' time, is that its symbol is the double-wanded one.' But the new Aeon has produced such fantastic changes in the settled order of things that it would be evidently absurd to attempt to carry on the outworn traditions, "the rituals of the old time are black." It has consequently been the endeavour of the present Scribe to preserve those essential features of the Tarot which are independent of the periodic changes of Aeon, while bringing up to date those dogmatic and artistic features of the Tarot which have become unintelligible. The art of progress is to keep intact the Eternal; yet to adopt an advance-guard, perhaps m some cases almost revolutionary, position in respect of such accidents as are subject to the empire of Time.
III
THE TAROT AND THE UNIVERSE
WE TAROT is a Pictorial representation of the Forces of Nature as conceived by the Ancients according to a conventional symbolism.
The Sun is a star. Around him revolve a number of bodies called <Hanets, including the Moon, a satellite of the Earth. These bodies revolve in one direction only. The Solar system ~ not a sphere, but a wheel. The planets do not remain in exact ~ but swing to a certain (comparatively small) extent from one side of the true plane to the other. Their orbits are elliptical. The Ancients imagined this wheel very much more clearly than modern minds are wont to do. They paid particular attention to the imaginary rim. Within the limits of this rim, they conceived that the Fixed Stars beyond were in a special way connected with the apparent motion of the Sun. This rim or belt of the wheel they called the Zodiac. The constellations outside this belt did not seem to
See AL III, 34. The reference is to Maat, Themis, Lady of the Balance.
p.26
them to matter so much to mankind, because they were not in the direct line of the great whirling force of the wheel. (T.A.R.O. R.O.T.A. = wheel.)
THEORIES OF THE ANCIENTS
I. In old times, it was supposed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe. The Heavens being above the Earth-they did not realise them as being equally below it-they were accounted as of the Divine Nature. And as they recognised imperfections and irregularity in mundane affairs, they thought that the movements of the Heavenly Bodies, which they observed to be regular, must be perfect. They then started some & pYiori thinking. Their mathematicians had the idea that a Circle was a perfec~ figure; therefore (they said, with characteristic theological reasoning) all heavenly bodies must move in circles.1 This religious assumption caused great trouble to the astronomers. As their measurements became more extended and accurate, they found it increasingly difficult to reconcile observation with theory, at least to do so without putting themselves to vast inconvenience in their calculations. So they invented "cycles" and "epicycles" to explain the observed movements. Ultimately Copernicus was goaded by this annoyance to suggest that it would really be very much more convenient (if only the idea were not so wicked) to imagine that the Sun, and not the Earth, was the centre of the System. In mathematics there are no fixed facts. Bertrand Russell says that in this subject "nobody knows what he is talking about, and it matters to nobody whether he is right or wrong". For example: Begin with the assumption that the Moon is the immovable centre of the Universe. Nobody can contradict it; one simply switches the calculations over to suit. The practical objection to this is that it would not facilitate the work of navigators. It is important to have this idea in one's mind, because otherwise one fails to grasp the whole spirit of modern Science-Philosophy. It does not aim at Truth; it does not conceive of Truth (in any ordinary sense of the word) as possible; it aims at maximum convenience. They did not understand that the Circle is only one case of the Ellipse: that in which the foci coincide.
p.27
2. To return to the picture of the Solar
System. The Sun is the Hub of the Wheel; the outermost Planet is on its
rim; and beyond, but laterally within that rim, are the Twelve Constellations
of the Zodiac. Why twelve? The first rough division of the circle is into
four, according to the observed seasons. This choice may also have been
influenced by the division of the Elements into Four-Fire, Air, Water,
Earth. (These do not mean the objects now understood by these words, as
explained above.)
Perhaps because they thought it necessary
to introduce so sacred a number as Three into everything heavenly, or else
because the observed constellations happened to be naturally divided into
twelve groups, they divided the Zodiac into twelve signs, three to each
Season.
The Influence of the Sun upon the Earth was
observed to change as He passed through the Signs. So did quite simple
things like the measure of time between Sunrise and Sunset.
When one says that the Sun enters the Sign
of Aries, one means that if a straight line were drawn from the Earth to
the Sun and pro-longed to the Stars, that line would pass through the beginning
of that Constellation. Suppose, for instance, that one observes the Full
Moon on the first day of Spring, one will be able to see, behind her, the
stars of the beginning of Libra, the sign opposite to Aries.
It was observed that the Moon took approximately
twenty-eight days to pass from Full to Full; and to each day was assigned
~w hat was called a Mansion. Her mysterious influence was supposed to change
in each Mansion. This theory does not enter directly into the Tarot, but
it must be mentioned to help to clear up a certain confusion which is about
to complicate the question.
3. Early astronomers calculated that the Sun took 360 days to go round the Zodiac. This was a closely guarded secret of the learned; so they concealed it in the divine name Mithras, which adds up, according to the Greek Convention (M 40---I 10---Th. 9---R 100---A 1---S 200) to 360. Better observation showed 365 days to be more accurate; so they decided to call it "Abraxas" (A 1---B 2---R 100---A 1---X 6o---A 1---S 200). When the others found this out they
p.28
put themselves right by altering the spelling of Mithras to Meithras,
which adds (like Abraxas) to 365. In this there is still an error of not
quite six hours; so that, in the course of centuries, the Calendar kept
slipping. It did not assume its present form until the time of Pope Gregory.
The Point of all this, that they divided
the Circle of the Zodiac into 360 degrees, is that this is a convenient
basis for calculation.
Each angular measure of 10 degrees was called
a Decanate. Of these there are thus thirty-six, dividing each Sign of the
Zodiac into three sections. It was supposed that the influence of the Sign
was very swift and fierce in the first Decan, powerful and balanced in
the second, spiritualised and deciduous in the third.
A short digression. One of the most important
doctrines of the Ancients was that of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm.
Man is himself a little Universe; he is a minute copy of the big Universe.
This argument was, of course, worked backwards; so the characteristics
above given of the qualities of the Three Decans in the sign were probably
due to an analogy with the course of a man's life.
4. The above remarks constitute a fairly
complete idea of the arbitrary, or mostly arbitrary, presentation of the
Cosmos by the Ancients. First of all, the division into Four Elements.
These Elements pervade everything. They would argue something like this
about the Sun. They would say that he was principally Fire, for obvious
reasons; but he would have also in him the Airy quality of Mobility. The
Watery part would be shown by his power to create Images; and the Earthy
part, his immense Stability.
Similarly, of a Serpent, they would call
his power of Death fiery; his Swiftness, airy; his undulatory motion, Watery;
and his habit of life, Earthy.
These descriptions are obviously quite inadequate;
they have td be filled up by attributing planetary qualities and zodiacal
qualities to all objects. Thus, the Bull in the Zodiac is an Earthy sign,
and this is the central sign of the three through which the Sun passes
during Spring. But the bovine nature is also gentle; wherefore they said
that Venus rules the Sign of Taurus. The Cow, moreover, is the principal
milk-giving animal, so they made her the Great Mother-
p.29
Goddess, thus identifying her with the Moon, the Mother of Heaven as the Sun is the Father. They represented this idea by saying that the Moon is "exalted" in Taurus-that is, that she exerts the most beneficent aspect of her influence when she is in that sign.
5. It is confusing at first, but most
instructive and illuminating when the principle is thoroughly assimilated,
to note how all these Elements subdivide and coalesce. One can only reach
the comprehension of any one of these Symbols by making a composite picture
of it, one composed of all the others in varying proportion. Thus each
of the planets gives a certain portion of its influence to any object.
This habit of thought leads to an understanding of the Unity of Nature
(with its proper and spiritual exaltation) which could bardly be attained
in any other way; it produces an internal harmony which ends in an acceptance
of Life and of Nature.
It is now almost time to analyse and define
the traditional characteristics of these symbols; but perhaps it would
be better, first of all, to build on a sure foundation by consideration
of the number Two, which hitherto has not been taken into account.
There are only two operations possible in
the Universe, Analysis and Synthesis. To divide, and to unite. Solve
et coagula: said the Alchemists.
If anything is to be changed, either one
must divide one object into two parts, or add another unit to it. This
principle lies at the basis of all scientific thought and work.
The first thought of the man of science is
Classification, Measurement. He says, "This oak-leaf is like that
oak-leaf; this oak-leaf is unlike this beech-leaf". Until one has
grasped this fact, one has not begun to understand Scientific Method.
The Ancients were fully cognisant of this
idea; The Chinese, in particular, based their whole philosophy on this
primary division of the original Nothing. One must begin with Nothing;
otherwise the question would arise, Whence came this postulated Something?
So they wrote the equation---Zero equals plus one plus minus one
0=(+1)+(-1).
"Plus One" they called the Yang,
or Male Principle; "Minus One", the Yin or Female Principle.
These then combine in varying
p.30
proportion, giving the idea of Heaven and Earth in perfect balance, the Sun and the Moon in imperfect balance, and the Four Elements in unbalanced form. (See diagram: The Chinese Cosmos.) This Chinese arrangement is thus tenfold, and has been shown to be admirably equivalent to the System which has been here examined.
6. The ancient scheme of the Elements,
Planets and Zodiacal Signs, was summarised by the Qabalists in their Tree
of Life.
This identity between the two systems was
masked, until quite recently1, by the fact
that the Chinese continued with their doubling-up system, and so turned
their eight trigrams into sixty-four hexagrams, while the scholars of Western
Asia joined together their ten numbers on the Tree of Life by twenty-two
Paths.
The Chinese have thus sixty-four principal
symbols as against the thirty-two of the Tree; but the Qabalists have a
concatenation of symbols which is capable of very subtle interpretation
and handling. It is also better fitted to describe the internal relations
of its Elements. Moreover, each can be multiplied or subdivided at will.
as convenience may require.
THE TREE OF LIFE
I. This figure must be studied very carefully, for it is the basis of
the whole system on which the Tarot is based. It is quite impossible to
give a complete explanation of this figure, because (for one thing) it
is quite universal. Therefore it cannot mean the same to any one person
as to any other. A's universe is not B's universe. If A and B are sitting
opposite each other at table, A sees the right side of the lobster, and
B the left. If they stand side by side and look at a star, the angle is
different; although this difference is infinitesimal, it exists. But the
Tarot is the same for all in the same way in which any scientific fact
or formula is the same for all. It is most important to remember that the
facts of science, though universally true in the abstract, are still not
precisely true for any one observer, because even if the observation of
any common object is made by two people
1 The present author discovered
this fact during his study-still incomplete-of the Yi King.
p.31
of identical sensory reactions from the same spot, it cannot be done
directly at the same time; and even the smallest fraction of a second is
sufficient to move both object and observer in space.
This fact is to be emphasised, because one
must not take the Tree of Life as a dead fixed formula. It is in a sense
an eternal pattern of the Universe, just because it is infinitely elastic;
and it is to be used as an instrument in one's researches into Nature and
her forces. It is not to be made an excuse for Dogmatism. The Tarot should
be learnt as early in life as possible; a fulcrum for memory and a schema
for mind. It should be studied constantly, a daily exercise; for it is
universa]ly elastic and grows in proportion to the use inteHigently made
of it. Thus it becomes a most ingenious and excellent method of appreciating
the whole of Existence.
2. It seems probable that the Qabalists
who invented the Tree of Life were inspired by Pythagoras, or that both
he and they derived their knowledge from a common source in higher antiquity.
In any case, both schools agree upon one fundamental postulate, which is
as follows: Ultimate Reality is best described by Numbers and their interplay.
It is interesting to note that modern Mathematical Physics has been finally
driven to some similar assumption. Further, the attempt to describe Reality
by a single definite terin has been abandoned. Modern thought conceives
Reality under the image of a ring of ten ideas, such as Potential, Matter,
and so on. Each term has no meaning in itself; it can only be understood
in terms of the others. This is exactly the conclusion which appears earlier
in this essay, with regard to the way in which the planets, elements and
signs were all dependent on each other, and composed of each other.
But the further attempt to reach Reality
led the Qabalists to sum up the qualities of these rather vague and literary
ideas by referring them all to the numbers of the decimal scale.
Numbers, then, are the nearest approach to
Reality which is shown in this system. The number 4, for instance, is not
so specially the result of adding one to three, or squaring two, or halving
eight. It is a thing in itself, with all sorts of moral, sensible, and
intellectual qualities. It symbolises such ideas as Law, Restraint, Power,
Protection and Stability.
p.32
In the Qabalistic system the original
idea is Zero,1 which appears under three
forms, rather as (in Chinese philosophy) the Tao becomes manifested little
by little through the Teh, or as (in the best of the Hindu systems) the
god of Destruction and Annihilation, Shiva, becomes manifested through
the Infinite Energy, Sakti. The system begins therefore with Am-Nothing,
Am Soph-Without Limit, and Am Soph Aur-the Limitless Light.
One may now proceed to imagine any point
in this "light", to select it for observation; the fact of doing
so makes it Positive. This gives the number I, which is called Kether,
the Crown. The other numbers arise by reason of the necessity of thought)
as explained in the following table:
THE NAPLES ARRANGEMENT2
61=0.
61 +146=0 as Undefined (Space).
61 +146+207=0 as basis of Possible Vibration.
I. The Point: Positive yet indefinable,
2. ,, ,, Distinguishable from I other.
3. ,, ,, Defined by relation to 2 others. The Abyss-between
Ideal and Actual. 4. The Point: Defined by 3 co-ordinates:
Matter.
5. Motion (time)---He', the Womb; for only through Motion and
in Time can events occur.
6. The Point: now self-conscious, because able to define itself
in terms of above.
7. The Point's Idea of Bliss (Ananda).
8. ,, ,, ,, ,,Thought (Chit).
9. ,, ,, ,, ,, Being (Sat).
10. ,, ,, ,, ,, Itself fulfilled in its complement, as determined by 7,
8 and 9.
It will be seen from the above that by means of these ten positive
1 It is intentionai to repeat here, in other language, the
ideas explained already in this essay.
2So called because first worked out in that city.
p.32
numbers, but not by any lesser number, one can arrive at a positive
description of any given object or idea.
So far, the argument has been erected on
a rigid, mathematical basis, with only the slightest tincture of philosophy
to give it form. But it is at this point that, for the purpose of describing
the objects Thought and Sense, one is compelled to join hands with the
trologers. The problem now is: to assign to Pure Number the moral ~as which
go with it. This is partly a matter of experience, partly tradition derived
from older experience. It would be unwise to discard tradition with complete
contempt, because all thinking is bound by the laws of the mind itself,
and Mind has been formed rough thousands of years of evolution in each
man by the thoughts of his ancestors. The cells of all living brains are
just as much the children of the great thinkers of the past as the development
of the organs and limbs.
There are very few people today who have
heard of Plato and Aristotle. Not one in a thousand, perhaps ten thousand,
of those have ever read either of them, even in translations. But there
are also very few people whose thinking, such as it is, is not conditioned
by the ideas of those two men.
In the Tree of Life, therefore, is found
the first attempt to conct the Ideal with the Actual. The Qabalists say,
for example, that the number 7 contains the idea of Venus, and the number
8 that of Mercury, that the connecting path between I and 6 refers to the
moon, and that between 3 and 6 to the Sign of Gemini.
Then what is the true meaning, in the category
of the Real, of these planets and signs? Here again one is faced with the
impossibility exact definition, because the possibilities of research are
infinite; also, at any moment in any research, the one idea merges into
the her and clouds the exact definition of the images. But this, of urse,
is the objective. These are all blind steps on the way to the reat Light:
when the Universe is perceived as one, yet with all its Lrts, each necessary
and each distinct.
The beginning of this work is, however, easy
enough. One reuires no more than elementary classical knowledge. Roughly
taking, for a start, the natures of the planets are described by those
of the gods after whom the actual bodies in heaven were named,
p.34
according to the old astrological ideas of their influence on the affairs of men. The same is true, to a less extent, of the Signs of the Zodiac. There is not so much information available about their natures; but it is helpful to note which planet rules which sign, and in which sign which planets are exalted. The individual Fixed Stars do not enter into the system of the Tarot.
THE TAROT AND THE TREE OF LIFE
The Tarot, while based on these theoretical
attributions, was designed as a practical instrument for Qabalistic calculations
and for divination. In it is little place for abstract ideas. The subject
of the book-the Tarot is called The Book of Thoth or Tahuti-is the influence
of the Ten Numbers and the Twenty-two Letters on man, and his best methods
of manipulating their forces. There is there fore no mention of the Three
Veils of the Negative, which was dis cussed in the description of the Tree
of Life. The description begins with the "small cards", numbered
I to 10. These are divided into four suits according to the four elements.
Thus the Ace of Wands is called the Root
of the Forces of Fire. It pertains to Kether, and purports to represent
the first positive manifestation of the idea of Fire.
The 2 pertains to Chokmah. But here is already
no more the simplicity of the idea of fire. An Idea in action or in manifestation
is no more the pure Idea.
This card is attributed to the first Decan
of the fiery sign Aries, which is ruled by Mars; this, then, gives the
idea of a violent and aggressive force. The card is therefore called the
Lord of Dominion. This progressive degradation of the idea of Fife goes
on increasing through the suit. Each successive card becomes less ideal
and more actual, increasingly so until, with the number 6 which corresponds
to the Sun, the centre of the whole system, the fiery idea resurges, balanced;
hence pure, although complex. Beyond this, the force is beginning to expend
itself, or to spiritualise itself, in the cards of the Decan of Sagittarius.
But the best fixation of the fiery force is found in the 9, which number
is the foundation of the structure of the Tree of life. Thus the card is
called The Lord of Strength. The fire
p.35
has been purified, etherealised and balanced. But in the 10, showing
complete materialisation and nimiety, the effect of fire is pushed to its
extreme limit. Its death is impending, but it reacts against this as best
it can by appearing as the Lord of Oppression, formidable on the surface,
but with the seeds of decay already sprouting. The above summary can easily
be applied by the student to the other suits.
The Court cards are sixteen in number, four
to each suit. There is thus a subdivision of each element into its own
system. The Knights represent the element of Fire, so that the Knight of
Wands represents the fiery part of Fire, the Knight of Cups, the fiery
part of Water. Similarly the Princesses or Empresses represent Earth, so
that the Empress of Disks (Coins, or Pantacles) represents the earthy part
of Earth.
These cards have many manifestations in natural
phenomena. Thus, the Knight of Wands has the attribution of Aries, and
represents swift violence of onset, the lightning flash. But the airy part
of Fire is sympathetic with Leo, the steady force of energy, the Sun. I,astly,
in the watery part of Fire, the harmony is with Sagittarius, which shows
the fading, spiritualised reflection or translucence of the image of Fire,
and this suggests the Rainbow. (See table of the Triplicities of the Zodiac).
THE ATU OF TAHUTI1
Or: The Twenty-two Houses of Wisdom,
Or: The Twenty-two Trumps of the Tarot.
Twenty-two is the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the number of the Paths of the Sepher Yetzirah. These paths are the paths which join the ten numbers on the figure called the Tree of Life.
Why are there twenty-two of them? Because that is the number of the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and one letter goes to each path.
1 Atu: House or Key, in Ancient Egyptian. Tahuti:
Egyptian God of Wisdom, magick, Science, also Illusion. In Coptic, Thoth:
in Greek, Hermes: in Latin, Mcrcury. The Hindu and Scandinavian Gods corresponding
are debased forms.
p.36
Why should this be so? Why should these
paths be arranged on the Tree in the way that the diagram shows? Why should
there not be paths connecting the numbers 2 and 5 and the numbers 3 and
4?
One cannot answer any of these questions.
Who knows "How A got leave an ox to be, No camel, quoth the Jews,
like G". (Brownmg)? One knows only that this was the conventional
arrangement adopted by whoever it was that devised the Tarot.
What is worse, it seems very confusing, very
annoying; it shakes one's faith in these great sages. But at least there
is no doubt that this is so.
The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are twenty-two.
There are three " Mother" Letters for the Elements, seven "Double
Letters" for the Planets, and twelve "Single" Letters for
the Signs of the Zodiac.
But there are four Elements, not three. Or,
including the element of Spirit (an important matter to initiates), there
are five.
There are therefore two letters of the alphabet
which have to do double duty. The element of Fire is very close kin to
the idea of Spirit; so the letter Shin, belonging to Fire, may be taken
to mean Spirit as well. There is a special reason why this should be so,
although it only applies in later ages, since the introduction of the dognia
that Spirit rules the four elements, and the formation of the "Pentagram
of Salvation" connected with the Hebrew word IHShVH, Yeheshuah.
With regard to Earth, it was considered adequate
to make the letter Tau, belonging to Saturn, correspond also to Earth.
These additions are clear evidence that the Tarot took definite and arbitrary
steps to assert the new discovery in Magick some two thousand years ago;
for no system is more rigid than a Hebrew system. And the system of the
Sepher Yetzirah is the deepest rooted of all the elements of the Hebrew
system, the most dogmatic of them all.
The Tarot is justified not by faith, but
by works. The departures from the original bone-dry Qabalah have been justified
by experience. The point (raised above) about the way in which the paths
are selected to join certain numbers and not others, is found to express
important doctrines connected with the facts of initiation. It must always
be
p.37
borne in mind that the Tarot is not only an atlas for recording facts,
but a guide-book showing one how to travel through these countries previously
unknown.
Travellers in China are somewhat bewildered
at first when they are told that it is 100 li from Yung Chang to Pu Peng,
but only 40 li from Pu Peng to Yung Chang. The answer is that the li is
a measure of the time of marching, not of miles. The difference of calculation
jnforms one that Pu Peng is a long way up the hill.
It is very much the same with the Tarot.
The 6 of Wands is referred to Jupiter in Leo, and called the Lord of Victory.
This dicates not only what victory is like, but also the conditions to
be fufilled in order to obtain victory. There is need of the fiery energy
of the suit of Wands, the balance of the number 6, the stubborn courage
of Leo, and also the influence of Jupiter, the little bit of luck that
tips the scale.
These considerations are particularly important
in dealing with the Atu, or Trumps. The Planets are already represented
in the numbers or Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. But they have also attributions
to certain of the Paths.
Some etymologists of a singularly idle disposition
have tried to derive the French word "atout" from the ATU meaning
House. It may seem simpler to suggest that "atout" is short for
"bon atout", meaning "good for anything", because a
Trump will take any card of any suit.
The Atu of Tahuti, who is the Lord of Wisdom,
are also called Keys. They are guides to conduct. They give you the map
of the Kingdom of Heaven, and also the best way to take it by force. A
complete understanding of any magical problem is necessary before i't can
be solved. Study from outside, and action from outside, are ways abortive.
It is of the utmost importance to understand
this extremely specialised character of the Trumps.
To say that the Trump numbered III, called
The Empress, represents Venus, means something much less and also much
more 'than appears if Venus be studied from a strictly astrological standpoint.
One abandons the contemplation of the whole in order to take
p.38
practical advantage of a part. Just so Tactics differs from Strategy.
A great general does not think of war in the abstract, but confines his
attention to a minute part of his perhaps vast knowledge of the subject
by considering the disposition of his forces at a given place and hme,
and how best to employ them against his adversary. Thi5 is of course true
not only of the Trumps, but of all the other cards; and it must be true
of any specialised studies. If one goes into a shop and asks for a map
of a certain country, one cannot get a complete map, because any such map
would necessarily merge into the Universe as it approached completeness,
for a country's character is modified by the adjacent countries, and so
on for ever. Nor would even any useful map be complete in the most vulgar
practical way without leading to confusion. The shopman would want to know
whether his customer wanted a geological map, an orographical map, a commercial
map, a map showing the distribution of population, or a strategic map;
and so on for ever.
The student of the Tarot must not therefore
expect to find anything beyond a careful selection of the facts about any
given card, a selection made for a quite definite magical purpose.
However, the Tarot does try to resume, in
a single pictorial symbol, as many as possible of the useful aspects of
the idea. In studying any card, one ought not to neglect any of the attributions,
because each class of attribution does modify the form and colour of the
card, and its use. This essay will endeavour, in the section describing
each card in turn, to include as many of the correspondences as possible.
THE ROMAN NUMBERS OF THE TRUMPS1
The Trumps are numbered in Roman figures
in order to avoid confusion with the Arabic numbers of the Sephiroth. It
has puzzled the traditional writers on the Tarot that these numbers should
run from 0 to XXI. They seem to have thought that it would be proper to
assume that 0 was the Fool, because he was a cipher, a good-for-nothing.
They made this assumption simply because they did not
1 Some paragraphs of this section repcat, in slightly
different phrases, statements already made in earlier pages. This is intended.
p.39
know the secret doctrine of the Qabalistic Zero. They did not know elementary
Mathematics. They did not know that mathematicians begin the decimal scale
with Zero.
To make it quite clear to initiates that
they did not understand the meaning of the card called The Fool, they put
him down between Ahe cards XX and XXI, for what reason .it baffles the
human imaginaton to conceive. fhey then attributed the card number I, the
Juggler, to the letter Aleph. In this simple yet ingenious manner they
the attribution of every card, except The Universe, XXI, wrong.
Meanwhile, the true attribution was well
guarded in the Sanctuary; it only became public when the secret lection
issued to members of the Grade of Practicus of the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn was published as a result of the catastrophe attending the
$nglish branch of the Order in 1899 and 1900, e.v., and the recon~truction
of the whole Order in March and April, 1904, e.v. By putting the card marked
0 in its proper place, where any mathematician would have put it, the attributions
fall into a natural order which is confirmed by every investigation.
There was, however, one kink in the rope.
The card called adjustment is marked VIII. The card called Lust is marked
XI. to maintain the natural sequence, Lust must be attributed to Libra,
and Adjustment to Leo.1 This is evidently wrong, because the
card called Adjustment actually shows a woman with sword and scales, while
the card called Lust shows a woman and a lion.
It was quite impossible to understand why
this reversal should have taken place until the events of March and April,
1904, which are recounted in detail in "The Equinox of the Gods".
One need here give only one quotation: "All these old letters of my
Book are aright; but x is not the Star".
(AL. 1.57.) This was making darkness eeper. It was clear that the attribution
of "The Star" to the letter tzaddi was unsatisfactory; and the
question arose, how to find another card which would take its place. An
incredible amount of work was done on this; in vain. After nearly twenty
years the solution appeared.
The Star represents Nuit, the starry heavens. "I am Infinite Space,
and the Infinite Stars thereof." (AL. 1.22.) She is represented
1 The old titles of these cards werc respectively
"Strength" an(l "Justice": they are inadequate or misleading.
p.40
with two vases, one pouring water, a symbol of Light, upon herself,
the other upon the earth. This is a glyph of the Economy of the Universe.
It continually pours forth energy and continually reabsorbs it. It is the
realisation of Perpetual Motion, which is never true of any part) but necessarily
true of the whole. For, if it were not so, there would be something disappearing
into nothing, which is mathematically absurd. The principle of Carnot (the
Second Law of Thermodynamics) is only true in finite Equations.
The card which must be exchanged for "The
Star" is "The Emperor", who bears the number IV, which signifies
Power, Authority, Law, and is attributed to the sign Aries. This proves
very satisfactory. But it became infinitely more so as soon as it was seen
that this substitution cleared up the other mystery about Strength and
Justice. For Leo and Libra are, by this exchange, shown as revolved about
Virgo, the sixth sigu of the Zodiac, which balances the revolution of Aries
and Aquarius about Pisces, the twelfth sign. This is a reference to a peculiar
secret of the ancients which was very deeply studied by Godfrey Higgins
and others of his school. It is useless to go far into the matter here.
But the position is made clear enougli by the accompanying diagram. It
will be seen at a glance that now, for the first time, is a perfect symmetry
established in the Tarot.
The justice of the exchange is evident when
one considers Etymology. It is natural that the Great Mother should be
attributed to He', which is her letter in the Tetragrammaton, while the
letter Tzaddi is the natural letter of the Emperor in the original phonetic
system, as shown in the words Tsar, Czar, Kaiser, Cæsar, Senior,
Seigueur, Seflor, Signor, Sir.
THE TAROT AND MAGICK
Magick is the scince and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will. In other words, it is Science, Pure and Applied. This thesis has been worked out at great length by Dr. Sir J. G. Frazer. But in common parlance the word Magic has been used to niean the kind of science which ordinary people do not understand. It is in this restricted sense, for the most part, that the word will be used ill this essay.
p.41
The business of Science is to explore
Nature. It's first questions are, What is this? How did it come to be?
What are its relations with any other object? The knowledge acquired may
then be used in Applied Science, which asks: How can we best employ such-and-such
a thing or idea for the purpose that, to us, seems fit? An example may
make this clear.
The Greeks of old were aware that by rubbing
amber (which they called Electron) upon silk, the amber acquired the power
of attractmg to itself light objects such as small pieces of paper. But
there they stopped. Their science was hoodwinked by theological ~ and philosophical
theories of the a' priori type. It was well over 2,000 years before
this phenomenon was correlated with other electrical phenomena. The idea
of Measurement was hardly known to anyone but mathematicians like Archimedes,
and astronomers. The founda'tions of Science, as it is understood to-day,
were hardly laid at all 200 years ago. There was an immense amount of knowledge;
but it was nearly all qualitative. The classification of phenomena depended
chieflv upon poetic analogies. The doctrines of "correspondences"
and signatures" were based upon fanciful resemblances. Cornelius Agrippa
wrote of the "antipathy" between a Dolphin and a Whirlpool If
a meretrix sat under an olive tree, it would bear no more fruit. If anything
looked like something else, it partook in some mysterious way of its qualities.
This sounds to-day to many people mere superstitious
ignorance and nonsense; but it is not altogether so. The old system of
classification was sometimes good and sometimes bad, as far as it went.
But in no case did it go very far. The natural ingenuity of their natural
philosophers did compensate very largely for the weakness of their theory;
and it did ultimately lead them (especially through Alchemy, where they
were forced by the nature of the work to add real to their ideal observation)
to introduce the idea of Measure. Modern Science, intoxicated by the practical
success which attended this innovation, has simply shut the door on anything
that cannot be measured. The Old Guard refuses to discuss it. But the loss
is immense. Obsession with strictly physical qualities has blocked out
all real human values.
The science of the Tarot is entirely based
upon this older system. The calculatious involved are very precise; but
they never lose sight
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of the Incommensurable and the Imponderable.
The theory of Animism was always present
in the minds of the mediaeval masters. Any natural object possessed not
only its material characteristics, but was a manifestation of a more or
less tangible idea on which it depended. The Pool was a pool, true; but
also there was a nymph whose home it was. In her turn, she was dependent
on a superior kind of nymph, who was much less closely attached to any
given pool, but more to pools in general; and so on, up to the supreme
Lady of Water, who exercised a general supervision over her whole dominion.
She, of course, was subject to the General Ruler of all the Four Elements.
It was exactly the same idea as in the case of the police constable, who
has his sergeant, inspector, superintendent, commissioner, always getting
more cloudy and remote until you reach the shadowy Home Secretary, who
is, himself, the servant of a completely intangible and incalculable phantom
called The Will of the People.
We may doubt how far the personification
of these entities was conceived as real by the ancients; but the theory
was that while anyone with a pair of eyes could see the pool, he could
not see the nymph except by some accident. But they thought that a superior
type of person, by dint of searching, study and experiment, might acquire
this general power. A person still more advanced in this science could
get into real connection with the superior, because subtler, forms of Life.
He could perhaps cause them to manifest themselves to him in material shape.
A good deal of this rests upon the Platonic
ideology, which maintained that any material object was an impure and imperfect
copy of some ideal perfection. So men who wished to advance in spiritual
science and philosophy strove always to formulate for themselves the pure
idea. They tried to proceed from the Particular to the General; and this
principle has been of the greatest service to ordinary science. The mathematics
of 6+5=11, and 12+3=15, was all in bits. Advance only came when they wrote
down their equations in general terms. X2Y2=(X +Y)
(X-Y) covers all possible cases of subtracting the square of one number
from the square of another. So the Meaningless and Abstract, when understood,
has far more meaning than the Intelligible and Concrete.
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These considerations apply to the cards
taken from the Tarot. What is the meaning of the Five of Wands? This card
is subject to the Lord of Fire, because it is a Wand, and to the Sephira
Geburah because it is a Five. It is also subject to the sign Leo, and to
the planet Saturn, because this planet and sign determine the nature of
the card. This is no more than saying that a Dry Martini has got some juniper
in it, and some alcohol, and some white wine and herbs, and a bit of lemon
peel, and some ice. It is a harmonious composition of various elements;
once mixed, it forms a single compound from which it would be very difficult
to separate the ingredients; yet each element is necessary to the composition.
The Five of Wands is therefore a personality;
the nature of this is summed up in the Tarot by calling it "Strife".
This means that, if used passively in divination, one says, when it turns
up, "There is going to be a fight". If used actively, it means
that the proper course of conduct is to contend. But there is a further
point about this card. It is governed from the angelic world by two Beings,
one during the hours of Light, the other during the hours of Darkness.
Therefore, in order to use the properties of this card, one way is to get
into communication with the Intelligence concerned, and to induce him to
execute his function. There are thus seventy-two "Angels" set
over the thirty-six small cards; these are derived from the "Great
Name of God" of seventy-two letters, called Shemhamphorasch.
THE SHEMHAMPHORASCH AND THE TAROT
This word means the Divided Name. The "Name" is Tetragrammaton: I.H.V.H., commonly called Jehovah. He is the Supreme Lord of the Four Elements which compose fundamentally the whole · Universe. There are three verses in Exodus (xiv, 19, 20, 21) each containing seventy-two letters. By writing down the first of these, and underneath this the next verse backwards, and under this again the last ~ verse forwards, seventy-two columns of three letters each are obtained. These are read downwards, and the terminations AL or AH according as they are male or female, appended. There is also an
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attribution of these Intelligences, one to each of the quinaries or segments of five degrees of the Zodiac; but there are also innumerable other angels, demons, magical images, lords of triplicities, lesser assistant angels and so on, with demons to correspond. It is quite useless to study all these attributions. They could only be wanted in case of wishing to get into actual communication with one of these for some special purpose. These matters are here mentioned for the sake of completeness; but the Tarot will lose all its vitality for one who allows himself to be side-tracked by its pedantry.
THE TAROT AND CEREMONIAL MAGICK
The Tarot is, thus, intimately bound up with the purely magical Arts
of Invocation and Evocation. By Invocation is meant the aspiration to the
highest, the purest form of the part of oneself that one wishes to put
into action.
Evocation is much more objective. It does not imply perfect sympathy. One's
attitude to the Being evoked may even be, at least superficially, hostile.
Then, of course, the further advanced one is in initiation, the less the
idea of hostility enters one's mind. "Tout comprendre, c'est tout
pardonner." Thus, in order to understand any given card, one must
identify oneself with it completely for the moment; and one way of doing
this is to induce or compel the Intelligence ruling the card to manifest
to the senses. For, as explained above, the ancient theory of the Universe
included the thesis that every object in Nature possessed a spiritual guardian.
Roughly speaking, this did not apply so much to manufactured objects, though
there are exceptions to this, as in the case of the Gods of the Hearth,
the Lintel, and the like; or of angels or spirits as supposed to be interested
in one's sword or one's spear. A particularly powerful weapon was likely
to get the reputation of not having been manufactured at all by human hands,
but forged in volcanoes or in fairy-land, and thus imbued with preternatural
powers. Some famous swords had names, and were regarded as living beings;
they were liable to fly out of the window if the owner played about too
much, instead of killing people as is proper.
THE TAROT AND ANIMISM
It is only natural, therefore, that at
a time when pictorial or written representations of ideas were beyond the
comprehension of any but a very few people, when Writing itself was considered
magical, and Printing (as it is) an invention of the Devil, people should
regard hieroglyphs (whether written or pictured) as living things having
power in themselves. It may be that, even to-day, there are houses in darkest
Shropshire where anyone who put another book on the top of the Family Bible
would be told never to darken those doors again. Automatic action is everywhere
ascribed to inanimate objects; for instance, Horseshoes on doors. There
is an entire class of such superstitions. The problem of how any given
superstition arose has not always been satisfactorily solved. One can (ignorantly)
derive the Sitting-down-Thirteen-at-Table nonsense from the legend of the
Last Supper. (Incidentally, it can hardly have been the first time that
those thirteen sat down to table.)
But the really primitive superstitions cannot
be explained so simply. It seems more probable that they arose from the
unscientific habit (extremely common among men of science) of generalising
from too few facts. It might happen by chance that on half a dozen occasions
within a short period, a hunter, setting out at Full Moon, was killed.
The old fallacy of Post hoc propter hoc would come in; and the village
would say, "It is unlucky to go out hunting at Full Moon". This
would gather force, as it was repeated through the generations, by virtue
of mental indolence; and it would not be disturbed, because Tabu would
render the original coincidence unlikely to recur. If, however, something
similar came off at the New Moon, there would be a new superstition; and
presently there would be a complete nexus of Tabu about the Moon. A recent
case. The late Mr. S. L. Mathers published, in 1898-9, the translation
of a manuscript called The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage in
a small private edition. Some hundreds of people bought it. One special
group of purchasers under his personal observation
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were all, or nearly all, hit by misfortune. Within a year, people were
saying that it was terribly dangerous to have the book on one's shelves.
Would this theory have resisted statistical
examination? Who can say? But, curiously enough, in 1938 e.v., a neglected
copy was taken from its hiding-place on an obscure shelf. Immediately,
disasters occurred to most of the people concerned, and to those with whom
they were in close relationship. Post hoc propter hoc. But who can
be sure?
THE CARDS OF THE TAROT AS LIVING BEINGS
Victorian science, flushed with its victory
over Supernaturalism, was quite right to declare the Immeasurable "Out
of Bounds". It had a right to do so on technical grounds, and it was
a strategical necessity of its offensive; but it hampered itself by limiting
its scope. It laid itself open to the deadliest attacks from Philosophy.
Then, especially from the angle of Mathematical Physics, its own generals
betrayed its dogmatism. The essence of Science to-day is far more mysterious
than the cloudiest speculations of Leibnitz, Spinoza or Hegel; the modern
definition of Matter reminds one irresistibly of the definition of Spirit
given by such mystics as Ruysbroek, Boehme and Molinos. The idea of the
Universe in the mind of a modern mathematician is singularly reminiscent
of the ravings of William Blake.
But the mystics were all wrong when they
were pious, and held that their mysteries were too sacred to analyse. They
ought to have brought in the idea of Measure. This is exactly what was
done by the magicians and Qabalists. The difficulty has been that the units
of measurement have themselves been somewhat elastic; they even tend to
be literary. Their definitions were as circular as, but not more fugitive
than, the definitions of the physicists of to-day. Their methods were empirical,
though they strove to make them accurate, as well as lack of precise measures
and standard apparatus permitted, because they had not yet formulated any
true scientific theory. But their successes were numerous. All depended
on individual
p.47
skill. One would rather trust oneself in illness to the born physician
than to the laboratory experts of Battle Creek.
One of the great differences between ancient
and modern Chemistry is the idea of the Alchemists that substance in its
natural state is, in some way or other, a living thing. The modern tendency
is to insist on the measurable. One can go into a museum and see rows of
glass globes and bottles which contain the chemical substances which go
to make up the human body; but the collection is very far from being a
man. Still less does it explain the difference between Lord Tomnoddy and
Bill Sykes. Nineteenth century chemists were at great pains. to analyse
opium and isolate its alkaloids, rather like a child pulling a watch to
pieces to see what makes it go. They succeeded, but the results were not
altogether wholesome. Morphine has much more direct hypnotic effect than
opium; its action is speedier and more violent; but it is also a very dangerous
drug, and its effects are often disastrous. The action of morphine is sensibly
modified by the other twenty odd alkaloids which exist in opium. The intoxicating
effect of alcohol differs according to whether one absorbs it in Richebourg
'29 or in synthetic gin. An even more startling example comes from Venezuela,
where running messengers chew coco leaves, cover their hundred miles a
day, and sleep till they are rested. They have no bad reaction, and they
do not acquire the habit. Cocaine is a different story. The adepts of the
Tarot would say, quite simply, "We are alive and the plant is alive,
so we can make friends. If you kill the plant first, you are asking for
trouble."
All this is here written in defence of the
system of the makers and users of the Tarot, of their methods of dealing
with Nature, of making ~experiments without undue attention to the wish
to get things done quickly. They would expose a mixture to the rays of
the sun or moon for weeks or months, thinking that everything would be
spoilt if they boiled it up violently. The processes of Nature (they would
say) are slow and temperate; let us copy them! There may have been good
grounds for these views. Experience leads to that conclusion. This is by
way of Introduction to a thesis most necessary to the understanding of
the Tarot. Each card is, in a sense, a living being;
p.48
and its relations with its neighbours are what one might call diplomatic. It is for the student to build these living stones into his living Temple.