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