| CHAPTER XVII THE INITIATIVE TAROT THE INITIATIVE TAROT APPLICATION` OF THE TAROT TO THE THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL DOCTRINES OF INITIATION |
OUR friend F. Ch. Barlet has written a very interesting article upon this subject, which we will quote in extenso. Our
readers will then see the exactitude with which his conclusions harmonize with our own.
readers will then see the exactitude with which his conclusions harmonize with our own.
| Initiation |
Amongst the ancients the scientific men were also the sages, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle; in modern times, on
the contrary, science and wisdom are unsuccessfully seeking for each other, or struggling in mortal conflict over the
religious question. That such a separation is against nature is easily seen by the study of those Positivist philosophers
whose extensive learning and admirable efforts to build up a synthesis of scientific wisdom merit high rank in the
modern intellectual world. Whilst their fundamental aphorism is that nothing is attainable by man beyond the world of
phenomena, their works display an increasing though unintentional tendency to cross the limits which they seek to
impose upon themselves, for they axe led by that nature which they love, and which in its final manifestations they
know better than any one else. We may compare them to insects imprisoned behind a window; in despair they beat
themselves against the glass, clearly seeing the sunbeam which should lead them to the source of all light, yet unable
to follow it beyond the invisible wall of their prison. On the other hand, the Spiritualists are outside, free, and as it were
lost in the luminous ocean, wandering without a compass, unable to find the guiding sunbeam which is the despair of
the Positivists.
However, one school exists which promises to guide the one, to free the other, and to direct each student towards the
centre of Truth so ardently desired; an unknown school, little frequented, like every transcendent degree, although its
masters have always given proofs of considerable learning-the school of Theosophy, a positive spiritualism preserved
for ages in the ancient mysteries, transmitted with more or less purity by the Kabbalists, Mystics, Templars,
Rosicrucians, and Freemasons, often degenerate, like every other doctrine prematurely divulged, yet hidden at the
root of every religion, and carefully perpetuated in a few unknown sanctuaries, chiefly situated in India.
The secret of Theosophy, in the, reconciliation between science and metaphysics, lies in a certain practical
development of those human faculties which are best fitted to extend the limits of reliable knowledge. Let us first try to
understand this possibility.
An attentive examination of any scientific method, however positive it may be, proves that there is no evidence or
certainty save in axioms, and that the fragile and changeable scaffolding of our sciences, built upon this immovable
basis, is entirely due to intuition, of which observation and experience are only instruments.
But the field of direct perception in which intuition exerts itself is capable of extension; this fact is now demonstrated by
the phenomena of hypnotism and magnetism, the torments of our modern sciences; for by them the limits of opaque
matter, of space and time, are suppressed in variable but incontestable degrees.
But still, in this realm of transcendental faculties the perception is not always so reliable as the unvarying certainty
which characterizes an axiom; for amongst the hypnotizable or magnetizable subjects, the material lucidity presents a
number of gradations which are reproduced in the intellectual order, and which vary between the fancies of a
disordered imagination and the sublime revelations of healthily inspired genius.
We do not therefore exceed the possibilities given by the reliable evidence of observation and experience, when we
assert that the physical or intellectual perception of the human being is capable of extending beyond the limits of
ordinary judgments and sensations; and that in the transcendental regions which it can attain it is susceptible of more
or less certitude in its impressions. This assertion opens new fields for human knowledge, an hierarchy of new
immediate causes, and the prospect of an indefinite progress in science.
Now Theosophy inspires man with the enthusiasm which enables him to draw near to these transcendent regions of
perception, whilst it guards him from illusion, through the forces and the new beings which he will meet there: it is this
instruction which constitutes Initiation.
The slight sketch which will now follow will at least give some idea of the principles by which Religion and Philosophy,
Wisdom and Science, are united in Theosophy. Any defects which the reader way find in it must be attributed to want
of skill on the part of the student who has undertaken it.
*
* *
Initiation comprises two different but united sections. The Theory of the resources and necessities of his enterprise,
which the neophyte always receives as an inheritance which leaves him absolute liberty of thought-and the Practice in
which he exercises, under the direction of his masters, the physical, intellectual, and moral self-control which will
render him an Initiate.
The Theory, the primary instruction of Theosophy, is a preliminary definition, consisting almost exclusively of the
contents of the Theosophical publications; but a student should not fancy himself one of the Initiate because he
possesses these public works; the knowledge of them is an excellent preparation, but nothing more.
This theory is found scattered throughout a number of more or less well-known and accessible books; but there are
very few of them which explain it as a whole, simply and methodically enough to satisfy a beginner. This first difficulty,
chiefly due to the actual state of many minds, which will not admit regular instruction, also corresponds to the
numerous varieties of intelligence which examine them. Some, previously opened to theosophical doctrines, approach
every detail with equal profit to themselves; others, on the contrary, who cannot at first accept them as a whole,
willingly examine them by means of a secondary door which especially suits them, but which often forces them to make
enormous digressions through our sciences and philosophies. The first steps are consequently very varied, and they
require guidance from some more advanced brother, who is capable of discerning the intellectual and moral state of
the neophyte.
This is why no work on the subject can be especially recommended here. An excellent bibliography of theosophic
works will be found in the Traité Élémentaire de Science Occulte, by Papus. We now add to it an excellent list of a
series of studies, long but reliable, which will form a gradual transition from Positivism to Theosophy:
For facts. Study: Richet, d'Assier, Liebault, Philipps, Dupotet, Reichenbach, Mesmer, &c.
Hypothesis of the whole: Comte, Stuart Mill, Bain, Ribot, Spencer, Taine, &c.
Philosophers: Du Prel, Hartmann, Schopenhauer, Hegel. Great profit can then be derived from older works: Spinoza,
Leibnitz, and even from the ancients: Aristotle, Plato, the Neoplatonists, the Pythagorists; then the modern mystic
scientists: Wronski, Fabre d'Olivet, Lucas, &c.
The student will then fully understand Theosophy.
This series will, however, require further modifications, according to the character and the scientific aptitudes of the
student. We must also point out some features of the theory, which are necessary for the comprehension of our
principal subject; the reader must only remember that this explanation is entirely due to the author of this article, and
he must not impute any of its errors to Theosophy itself.
*
* *
Our positive sciences give the last formula of the visible world in the following words-
There is no matter without force: no force without matter.
An indisputable but incomplete formula, unless the following commentary be added to it-
1. The combination of what we call Force and Matter present, itself in various proportions, from that which is called
materialized Force (rocks, minerals, simple chemical bodies), to subtilized Matter or Matter-Force (a grain of pollen,
spermatozoid, the electric atom). Matter and Force, although we cannot isolate them, therefore present themselves as
the extreme and opposing mathematical limits (or contrary signs) of a series of which we see only a few medium terms,
abstract but indubitable.
2. The terms of this series, that is to say, the substances of nature, are never stable; Force, which is characterized by
infinite mobility, sways essentially inert matter from one pole to the other, as though it were drawn by a continual
current, while it retorts by a counter-current, which leads it back to its inert condition. For instance, an atom of
phosphorus borrowed by a vegetable from the mineral phosphates, becomes the element of a human cerebral cellule
(subtilized matter), then through disintegration falls back into the inert mineral kingdom.
3. The movement resulting from this unstable equilibrium is not disorganized; it presents a series of chained harmonies
which we call Laws, and which are synthetized in our eyes in the supreme law of Evolution.
One conclusion is forced upon us: This harmonious synthesis of phenomena is the eminent manifestation of what we
call a will.
Therefore, according to positive science, the visible world is the expression of a will which manifests itself by the
unstable but progressive equilibrium of Force and Matter.
It is represented by this quaternary-
I. WILL (simple origin).
II. MATTER.
III. FORCE (Elements of this polarized Will).
IV. THE VISIBLE WORLD.
(The result of their unstable, dynamic equilibrium)
The positive method will not allow us to pause there, we must analyze the Will in its turn. We will abridge this analysis
here, for the reader will easily master it with the aid of the treatises on psychology; it leads through the two opposing
terms of affirmation and negation to a new superior, apparently simple cause, the Idea, which analysis again
decomposes into consciousness and unconsciousness, gradually remounting to its furthest limit, the absolute term, the
One, both conscious and unconscious, affirmative and negative, force and matter, nameless, incomprehensible to man.
Let us designate this supreme term by Α, and the material atom by Ω, we shall then have, according to our analysis,
the following series of hierarchized quaternaries as a representation of the Universe.
the contrary, science and wisdom are unsuccessfully seeking for each other, or struggling in mortal conflict over the
religious question. That such a separation is against nature is easily seen by the study of those Positivist philosophers
whose extensive learning and admirable efforts to build up a synthesis of scientific wisdom merit high rank in the
modern intellectual world. Whilst their fundamental aphorism is that nothing is attainable by man beyond the world of
phenomena, their works display an increasing though unintentional tendency to cross the limits which they seek to
impose upon themselves, for they axe led by that nature which they love, and which in its final manifestations they
know better than any one else. We may compare them to insects imprisoned behind a window; in despair they beat
themselves against the glass, clearly seeing the sunbeam which should lead them to the source of all light, yet unable
to follow it beyond the invisible wall of their prison. On the other hand, the Spiritualists are outside, free, and as it were
lost in the luminous ocean, wandering without a compass, unable to find the guiding sunbeam which is the despair of
the Positivists.
However, one school exists which promises to guide the one, to free the other, and to direct each student towards the
centre of Truth so ardently desired; an unknown school, little frequented, like every transcendent degree, although its
masters have always given proofs of considerable learning-the school of Theosophy, a positive spiritualism preserved
for ages in the ancient mysteries, transmitted with more or less purity by the Kabbalists, Mystics, Templars,
Rosicrucians, and Freemasons, often degenerate, like every other doctrine prematurely divulged, yet hidden at the
root of every religion, and carefully perpetuated in a few unknown sanctuaries, chiefly situated in India.
The secret of Theosophy, in the, reconciliation between science and metaphysics, lies in a certain practical
development of those human faculties which are best fitted to extend the limits of reliable knowledge. Let us first try to
understand this possibility.
An attentive examination of any scientific method, however positive it may be, proves that there is no evidence or
certainty save in axioms, and that the fragile and changeable scaffolding of our sciences, built upon this immovable
basis, is entirely due to intuition, of which observation and experience are only instruments.
But the field of direct perception in which intuition exerts itself is capable of extension; this fact is now demonstrated by
the phenomena of hypnotism and magnetism, the torments of our modern sciences; for by them the limits of opaque
matter, of space and time, are suppressed in variable but incontestable degrees.
But still, in this realm of transcendental faculties the perception is not always so reliable as the unvarying certainty
which characterizes an axiom; for amongst the hypnotizable or magnetizable subjects, the material lucidity presents a
number of gradations which are reproduced in the intellectual order, and which vary between the fancies of a
disordered imagination and the sublime revelations of healthily inspired genius.
We do not therefore exceed the possibilities given by the reliable evidence of observation and experience, when we
assert that the physical or intellectual perception of the human being is capable of extending beyond the limits of
ordinary judgments and sensations; and that in the transcendental regions which it can attain it is susceptible of more
or less certitude in its impressions. This assertion opens new fields for human knowledge, an hierarchy of new
immediate causes, and the prospect of an indefinite progress in science.
Now Theosophy inspires man with the enthusiasm which enables him to draw near to these transcendent regions of
perception, whilst it guards him from illusion, through the forces and the new beings which he will meet there: it is this
instruction which constitutes Initiation.
The slight sketch which will now follow will at least give some idea of the principles by which Religion and Philosophy,
Wisdom and Science, are united in Theosophy. Any defects which the reader way find in it must be attributed to want
of skill on the part of the student who has undertaken it.
*
* *
Initiation comprises two different but united sections. The Theory of the resources and necessities of his enterprise,
which the neophyte always receives as an inheritance which leaves him absolute liberty of thought-and the Practice in
which he exercises, under the direction of his masters, the physical, intellectual, and moral self-control which will
render him an Initiate.
The Theory, the primary instruction of Theosophy, is a preliminary definition, consisting almost exclusively of the
contents of the Theosophical publications; but a student should not fancy himself one of the Initiate because he
possesses these public works; the knowledge of them is an excellent preparation, but nothing more.
This theory is found scattered throughout a number of more or less well-known and accessible books; but there are
very few of them which explain it as a whole, simply and methodically enough to satisfy a beginner. This first difficulty,
chiefly due to the actual state of many minds, which will not admit regular instruction, also corresponds to the
numerous varieties of intelligence which examine them. Some, previously opened to theosophical doctrines, approach
every detail with equal profit to themselves; others, on the contrary, who cannot at first accept them as a whole,
willingly examine them by means of a secondary door which especially suits them, but which often forces them to make
enormous digressions through our sciences and philosophies. The first steps are consequently very varied, and they
require guidance from some more advanced brother, who is capable of discerning the intellectual and moral state of
the neophyte.
This is why no work on the subject can be especially recommended here. An excellent bibliography of theosophic
works will be found in the Traité Élémentaire de Science Occulte, by Papus. We now add to it an excellent list of a
series of studies, long but reliable, which will form a gradual transition from Positivism to Theosophy:
For facts. Study: Richet, d'Assier, Liebault, Philipps, Dupotet, Reichenbach, Mesmer, &c.
Hypothesis of the whole: Comte, Stuart Mill, Bain, Ribot, Spencer, Taine, &c.
Philosophers: Du Prel, Hartmann, Schopenhauer, Hegel. Great profit can then be derived from older works: Spinoza,
Leibnitz, and even from the ancients: Aristotle, Plato, the Neoplatonists, the Pythagorists; then the modern mystic
scientists: Wronski, Fabre d'Olivet, Lucas, &c.
The student will then fully understand Theosophy.
This series will, however, require further modifications, according to the character and the scientific aptitudes of the
student. We must also point out some features of the theory, which are necessary for the comprehension of our
principal subject; the reader must only remember that this explanation is entirely due to the author of this article, and
he must not impute any of its errors to Theosophy itself.
*
* *
Our positive sciences give the last formula of the visible world in the following words-
There is no matter without force: no force without matter.
An indisputable but incomplete formula, unless the following commentary be added to it-
1. The combination of what we call Force and Matter present, itself in various proportions, from that which is called
materialized Force (rocks, minerals, simple chemical bodies), to subtilized Matter or Matter-Force (a grain of pollen,
spermatozoid, the electric atom). Matter and Force, although we cannot isolate them, therefore present themselves as
the extreme and opposing mathematical limits (or contrary signs) of a series of which we see only a few medium terms,
abstract but indubitable.
2. The terms of this series, that is to say, the substances of nature, are never stable; Force, which is characterized by
infinite mobility, sways essentially inert matter from one pole to the other, as though it were drawn by a continual
current, while it retorts by a counter-current, which leads it back to its inert condition. For instance, an atom of
phosphorus borrowed by a vegetable from the mineral phosphates, becomes the element of a human cerebral cellule
(subtilized matter), then through disintegration falls back into the inert mineral kingdom.
3. The movement resulting from this unstable equilibrium is not disorganized; it presents a series of chained harmonies
which we call Laws, and which are synthetized in our eyes in the supreme law of Evolution.
One conclusion is forced upon us: This harmonious synthesis of phenomena is the eminent manifestation of what we
call a will.
Therefore, according to positive science, the visible world is the expression of a will which manifests itself by the
unstable but progressive equilibrium of Force and Matter.
It is represented by this quaternary-
I. WILL (simple origin).
II. MATTER.
III. FORCE (Elements of this polarized Will).
IV. THE VISIBLE WORLD.
(The result of their unstable, dynamic equilibrium)
The positive method will not allow us to pause there, we must analyze the Will in its turn. We will abridge this analysis
here, for the reader will easily master it with the aid of the treatises on psychology; it leads through the two opposing
terms of affirmation and negation to a new superior, apparently simple cause, the Idea, which analysis again
decomposes into consciousness and unconsciousness, gradually remounting to its furthest limit, the absolute term, the
One, both conscious and unconscious, affirmative and negative, force and matter, nameless, incomprehensible to man.
Let us designate this supreme term by Α, and the material atom by Ω, we shall then have, according to our analysis,
the following series of hierarchized quaternaries as a representation of the Universe.
The extreme terms, α and ω, Spirit and Matter, equally incomprehensible to human intelligence in their infinite grandeur
and infinite littleness, are not only linked together by invariable intermediate chains, but they also make an incessantly
descending movement from one to the other, in which the Spirit becomes Matter by the successive disintegrations which
express the Idea, the Will, and Kosmos. This constitutes the creation.
But since, as our sciences prove to us, the Kosmos itself is in a state of evolutive movement, and since according to
their teachings this movement clearly inclines towards a progressive synthesis, which spiritualizes the living being by
entering more and more into its composition, the preceding scheme expresses but one half of the Universe, the one
which descends. We must now add to it a second half, which restores the atom, ω, to its opposing principle α, through
the progressive synthesis of individual lives. This is Progress, the sequence of Creation.
Thus the Universe appears to us like a circular current, in which the flow is necessarily inverse in the two opposing arcs:
from the positive pole a to the negative pole w the current descends-this is Involution, the descent of the Spirit into
Matter; from the negative pole ω to the positive pole α the current re-ascends-this is Evolution, the spiritualization of
Matter. We shall describe it presently.
*
* *
Let us then infer for man-
The evidence of our sciences shows him to be upon the ascending arc, already far from the negative pole, since he is at
the head of the three kingdoms of the terrestrial world. He thus belongs to the visible world of the Universe; the imposing
monument of science is a proof of the position which he also occupies in the intellectual world; but at the same time his
errors, his doubts, the enormous deficiencies in his knowledge, and his passions, sufficiently prove that he is no longer
master in this sphere, as he is in the inferior world. As to the divine world, he conceives it, presses towards it; but if be
attain it, it will be by faith rather than by science.
Man is then a being who in his re-ascension has reached the middle region, and even the centre of that region; his
place is in the centre of the ascending are, between the superior and the inferior beings of creation, ruling the one,
ruled by the others, midway between the Angel and the Beast. A situation inevitably painful through the equality of the
two opposing forces, which retard his ascension; he has come to a dead stop, which must be overcome by a special
effort.
At the present time Initiation is the instrument which facilitates the development of the human butterfly. We shall soon
understand of what it consists.
*
* *
The Ancients, with the usual force of their synthetic genius, have symbolized the whole of Involution and Evolution by a
sequence of twenty-two figures, full of hidden significations, which the occultists name the Twenty-two Great Arcana.
Taking the ten first as a description of Involution, we find in the others the successive phases of Initiation, such as they
are depicted in the twelve hours (or sentences) which form the Nuctemeron attributed to Apollonius of Tyana. These we
shall now enumerate.
To be perfectly clear we must first return to Evolution for one moment.
In fact its analysis is not completed by the ten terms which have led us to the Kosmos, the dynamic equilibrium of Force
and Matter. This Kosmos can be analyzed in its turn as two principles which, according to all the sciences, are conflicting
in every movement of matter: the Active and Passive (male and female of organizations, acid and basis of chemistry, the
opposing poles of electricity, &c.). Completely inert matter is only found in their absolute equilibrium in the unsiezable
pole exactly opposed to the α-the ω of the Universe.
The occultists have represented this 4th tetractys, of which the Kosmos is the first term (the tetractys of the inferior
world, infera, hell), by the 11th, 12th, and 13th arcana, the Kosmos being its first term. The arcanum which bears the
generally dreaded number 13 requires further notice. It is called DEATH and RESURRECTION, and it represents
absolute Inertia, only found in Death; but here Involution stops and Evolution commences, for the equilibrium of the two
principles, active and passive, is never prolonged.
This would seem to contradict the preceding remark that the description of Initiation, that is to say, of the re-ascension,
opens with the 10th arcanum, and not with the 14th. This however is not so, because in Involution the being should
retrace in an inverse sense, to complete the synthesis, every stage by which the α has been disintegrated in the course
of its Involution. Man is the actual result of a work of this kind anterior to his present state, but of this work which has
raised him from the ω to the stage of Will he is quite unconscious; at first he was subjected to it under the fatal pressure
of pure Force only, then of instinct, desires, and passions; his previous evolution is therefore unknown to him, and yet
how can he master any of these worlds without knowing them all? His first work in Initiation must therefore be to re-
descend to his first steps in Evolution, to become acquainted with all the degrees, all the forces, and all the beings that
he has passed through, to penetrate the roots of life to death itself, and to learn to dominate them all.
We shall see presently that this is not a figurative assertion; the Neophyte cannot attain any reliable voluntary exercise
of the transcendental faculties without first obtaining the mastery, over the forces which would produce illusion, which
would threaten his life itself; without reaching Inertia and conquering it. Like the Christ, the model of regenerate man, he
must expire upon the cross and rise again the third day; that is to say, after descending, the three last steps
represented by the 11th, 12th, and 13th arcana, into the depths of hell, there to discover Death and to overcome him.
This fully understood, we will describe the twelve hours or phases of Initiation.
*
* *
The 10th arcanum, the first hour of the series, corresponds with the stage which man has reached at the present time.
The symbol of this arcanum is the Sphinx, which guarded the entrance to the Egyptian world; the Neophyte descended
between its paws into the tunnel which led to the sanctuary, through a series of tests, the image and noviciate of the
descent which we have just mentioned.
This is then the hour of preparation; it separates the common life from the transcendental life; in it the student learns the
work that he must undertake, and prepares himself for it. Let us see in what way.
The human head of the Sphinx, the centre of the intelligence, says to the Neophyte: "First acquire the Knowledge which
shows the goal, and lights the way to it." This is the theoretic instruction mentioned above.
Its bull's thighs, the image of the rough, persevering labour of the agriculturist, say to him: "Be strong and patient in thy
work."
Its lion's paws say to him: "Thou must brave all, and defend thyself against every inferior force."
Its eagle's wings say to him: "Thou must will to raise thyself towards the transcendent regions, which thy soul already
approaches."
The riddle attributed to the Greek Sphinx, and the answer required for it, are an equally expressive image of man, and
his aim. He is the animal that in the morning (that is to say, in the infancy of humanity) goes on four feet (4 being the
number of realization, expresses matter and its instincts, the visible world); at noon (that is to say, in the maturity of his
humanity) he walks upon two feet (2, the number of opposition, the image of science, of its contradictions, its doubts,
and of the intelligible world); and in the evening (when the day is nearly over) walks upon three feet (3, the number of
the divine world, in which the Trinity gives the solution of all the oppositions, of all the antinomies, by the superior term,
the harmonious synthesis of the two adverse terms).
Apollonius describes the same hour in these words: "Here the Neophyte praises God, utters no injurious words, inflicts
no more pain," which means that his theoretic knowledge of the Creation is increased, and that he practises self-control.
We will now pause and examine the consistency of these various prescriptions.
We have seen that man, having reached the ascending are, has become the object of dispute between the inferior
forces of inertia, which he has traversed under the impulse of instinct, and those active forces which draw him upwards;
we have noticed that the struggle must now be decided by the intervention of the Will, sufficiently developed by
Evolution, and sufficiently free too exert its influence on one side or on the other: man can therefore decide either for
the inferior forces of disintegration, or for the superior ones of synthesis, under the names of Good and Evil. And truly
evil for him if he redescend, for he will meet the terrors of decomposition, of Death. Good, on the other hand, if be
ascend, for he will enjoy the realization of his natural aspirations, the knowledge of the Creation and dominion over it.
Now where is the index of the forces of inertia in the human organization?-In instinct, in the passions. Where, on the
other hand, is the index of the active forces?-In moral energy, in Virtue.
Where is the index of the forces of disintegration, which lead to inertia in the human organization?-In the tendency to
isolation, in egoism. Where, on the other hand, is the index of the integrant forces?-In the tendency to joint
responsibility, to altruism, in Fraternity.
The transcendent world is therefore open to whoever has sufficient Will (or even artificial impulsion) to triumph over the
forces which guard it; but woe to that man who approaches it with a passionate and selfish heart; with lowered head he
will fall back into the current of decomposition, where he will be dissolved. Nature destroys all Evil; it is the law of
selection!
Only the man whose heart is full of charity can raise himself to the true destination of the human being in the region of
Principles.
This is why the Sphinx prescribes, with the persevering will of the Bull, the courage of the Lion against the forces of the
passions; and why Apollonius commands reserve and fraternity, with the Gospels which place self-control at the
foundation of all Law.
*
* *
Such then, with the aid of knowledge, is the preparation for Initiation; we shall soon see the importance of these
precepts.
The Neophyte, sufficiently exercised in these preliminaries of the first hour, then descends the three lower steps as
follows-
ARCANUM XI: Strength.
Second hour of Apollonius: "The abyss of fire-the virtues of the stars close as a crown through the dragons and the,
fire" (the magnetic chain).
The Neophyte learns to distinguish universal Force and its double current, positive and negative, in his own
organization. The application of this knowledge will be found in the two following hours-
ARCANUM XII: The Great Work.
Third hour of Apollonius: "The serpents, the dogs, and fire."
The first manifestation of force applied externally to inert matter for affecting transmutations; this is Alchemy. The
Neophyte having attained this step in practice must be ready morally to make a complete sacrifice of his personality; in
the language of the alchemists, he must have destroyed his fixed nature by fire so as to, volatilize it.
ARCANUM XIII: Death.
Fourth hour of Apollonius: "The Neophyte wanders in the sepulchres, and it will injure him; he will experience horror and
fear of visions; he should devote himself to magic and to géotie* ".
* The magic which evokes the evil genii who injure man--A.P.M.
This is Necromancy, the application of Force to the domination of inferior living beings: Elemental, or organisms ready to
synthetize themselves, and Elementary, remains of the dead, on the way to disorganization.
Morally, the Neophyte should die to ordinary life, to enter the spiritual life; the celestial man will he born from the corpse
of the terrestrial man.
The foundations of the Universe are now reached; the Neophyte touches the extremity of the terrestrial aura, the
sublunar atmosphere which surrounds every planet, like the reservoir of the elements of its life; he has now reached a
terrible moment, when he must lose the earth to launch out into the ocean of space; a formidable crisis, to which two
periods are consecrated.
The first is transitory.
ARCANUM XIV: The two Urns (the terrestrial and celestial fluids).
Fifth hour of Apollonius: "The waters above the heavens."
Here the Neophyte learns the flow of the astral currents in the planetary aura, just as in the second hour he acquired a
preliminary knowledge of Force, before exposing himself to it in the following hour.
ARCANUM XV: Typhon (the electric whirlwind).
Sixth hour of Apollonius: "Here one must remain quiet, immovable through fear."
Unprotected the Neophyte exposes himself to the double and formidable fluid-current of celestial space, by which the
ignorant or imprudent is carried away without mercy, but which raises the strong man who has purified himself. Silence,
prudence, courage!
According to your deserts you will be enraptured like St. Paul, or you will expose yourself either to madness, to the
spiritualization of evil, or to sorcery. This is the Sabbat or the Ecstasy!
The reader cannot pay too much attention to this solemn monument of practical occultism, so well described in Lytton's
novel Zanoni under the name of the Dragon of the Threshold; it is the formidable danger which necessitates so many
secrets. This threshold is reached by many artificial paths: the hachich, narcotics, hypnotics of every kind, the practices
of spiritual mediums; but woe to him who attempts to pass it before he has triumphed in the long and laborious
preliminary preparation! His fate is foretold in the next arcanum.
ARCANUM XVI: The Lightning-struck Tower.
Seventh hour of Apollonius: "Fire comforts every living creature, and if some priest, himself a pure man, purloin and use,
it, if he blend it with holy oil, consecrate it, and then anoint some ailing limb, with it, the malady will be cured."
The irresistible current has touched the man who exposed himself to its vortex on the terrestrial heights; if he The
impure be is threatened with disorganization more or less complete, according to his intellectual or moral unworthiness,
and his energy (incoherent mysticism, folly, death, or complete disintegration, represented by the genius of evil, the
Devil)!
If, on the contrary, he be worthy of the higher regions, this baptism of fire renders him one of the Magi; the sources of
terrestrial life are at his disposition; he becomes a Therapeut.
Having reached this point, he will then learn to know the celestial spheres progressively as he knows the terrestrial one,
and to dominate them; three hours are consecrated to this exploration-
ARCANUM XVII: The Star of the Magi.
Eighth hour of Apollonius: "The astral virtues of the elements, of seed of every kind."
This is the region of the principles of the solar system: in it life becomes clear; its distribution from the solar centre to all
the planets, and their reciprocal influences, are understood in all their details, in what the occultists name the
Correspondences. The Initiate is then master of Astrology in every branch of the science, in the widest meaning, of its
acceptation.
ARCANUM XVIII: The Twilight.
Ninth hour of Apollonius: "Nothing is finished here."
The Initiate now extends his perceptions beyond our solar system, "beyond the Zodiac"; he is in sight of the Infinite; he
touches the limits of the intelligible world; the divine light commences to show itself, the object of new terror and danger.
ARCANUM XIX: The Resplendent Light.
Tenth hour of Apollonius: "The gates of heaven are open, and man is born again, docile in the lethargic sleep."
The Idea appears to the regenerate soul of the Initiate, or, in the language of the Occultist, the spiritual sun will rise for
him; he will by a new regeneration enter the Divine World, in which man dies no more.
Two steps remain before the highest human destinies can be accomplished-
ARCANUM XX: The Awakening of the Dead.
Eleventh hour of Apollonius: "The Angels, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim fly with rustling wings; there is joy in heaven,
the earth rises, and the Sun, which issues from Adam."
This is the hierarchy of the Divine world, which appears upon new earths and new heavens. The Initiate will not pass
through death again; henceforth he will live eternally.
ARCANUM XXII: The Crown of the Magi.
Twelfth hour of Apollonius: "The cohorts of fire rest."
Nirvana! Complete return to α.
Let us recapitulate these twelve hours of the initiation.
and infinite littleness, are not only linked together by invariable intermediate chains, but they also make an incessantly
descending movement from one to the other, in which the Spirit becomes Matter by the successive disintegrations which
express the Idea, the Will, and Kosmos. This constitutes the creation.
But since, as our sciences prove to us, the Kosmos itself is in a state of evolutive movement, and since according to
their teachings this movement clearly inclines towards a progressive synthesis, which spiritualizes the living being by
entering more and more into its composition, the preceding scheme expresses but one half of the Universe, the one
which descends. We must now add to it a second half, which restores the atom, ω, to its opposing principle α, through
the progressive synthesis of individual lives. This is Progress, the sequence of Creation.
Thus the Universe appears to us like a circular current, in which the flow is necessarily inverse in the two opposing arcs:
from the positive pole a to the negative pole w the current descends-this is Involution, the descent of the Spirit into
Matter; from the negative pole ω to the positive pole α the current re-ascends-this is Evolution, the spiritualization of
Matter. We shall describe it presently.
*
* *
Let us then infer for man-
The evidence of our sciences shows him to be upon the ascending arc, already far from the negative pole, since he is at
the head of the three kingdoms of the terrestrial world. He thus belongs to the visible world of the Universe; the imposing
monument of science is a proof of the position which he also occupies in the intellectual world; but at the same time his
errors, his doubts, the enormous deficiencies in his knowledge, and his passions, sufficiently prove that he is no longer
master in this sphere, as he is in the inferior world. As to the divine world, he conceives it, presses towards it; but if be
attain it, it will be by faith rather than by science.
Man is then a being who in his re-ascension has reached the middle region, and even the centre of that region; his
place is in the centre of the ascending are, between the superior and the inferior beings of creation, ruling the one,
ruled by the others, midway between the Angel and the Beast. A situation inevitably painful through the equality of the
two opposing forces, which retard his ascension; he has come to a dead stop, which must be overcome by a special
effort.
At the present time Initiation is the instrument which facilitates the development of the human butterfly. We shall soon
understand of what it consists.
*
* *
The Ancients, with the usual force of their synthetic genius, have symbolized the whole of Involution and Evolution by a
sequence of twenty-two figures, full of hidden significations, which the occultists name the Twenty-two Great Arcana.
Taking the ten first as a description of Involution, we find in the others the successive phases of Initiation, such as they
are depicted in the twelve hours (or sentences) which form the Nuctemeron attributed to Apollonius of Tyana. These we
shall now enumerate.
To be perfectly clear we must first return to Evolution for one moment.
In fact its analysis is not completed by the ten terms which have led us to the Kosmos, the dynamic equilibrium of Force
and Matter. This Kosmos can be analyzed in its turn as two principles which, according to all the sciences, are conflicting
in every movement of matter: the Active and Passive (male and female of organizations, acid and basis of chemistry, the
opposing poles of electricity, &c.). Completely inert matter is only found in their absolute equilibrium in the unsiezable
pole exactly opposed to the α-the ω of the Universe.
The occultists have represented this 4th tetractys, of which the Kosmos is the first term (the tetractys of the inferior
world, infera, hell), by the 11th, 12th, and 13th arcana, the Kosmos being its first term. The arcanum which bears the
generally dreaded number 13 requires further notice. It is called DEATH and RESURRECTION, and it represents
absolute Inertia, only found in Death; but here Involution stops and Evolution commences, for the equilibrium of the two
principles, active and passive, is never prolonged.
This would seem to contradict the preceding remark that the description of Initiation, that is to say, of the re-ascension,
opens with the 10th arcanum, and not with the 14th. This however is not so, because in Involution the being should
retrace in an inverse sense, to complete the synthesis, every stage by which the α has been disintegrated in the course
of its Involution. Man is the actual result of a work of this kind anterior to his present state, but of this work which has
raised him from the ω to the stage of Will he is quite unconscious; at first he was subjected to it under the fatal pressure
of pure Force only, then of instinct, desires, and passions; his previous evolution is therefore unknown to him, and yet
how can he master any of these worlds without knowing them all? His first work in Initiation must therefore be to re-
descend to his first steps in Evolution, to become acquainted with all the degrees, all the forces, and all the beings that
he has passed through, to penetrate the roots of life to death itself, and to learn to dominate them all.
We shall see presently that this is not a figurative assertion; the Neophyte cannot attain any reliable voluntary exercise
of the transcendental faculties without first obtaining the mastery, over the forces which would produce illusion, which
would threaten his life itself; without reaching Inertia and conquering it. Like the Christ, the model of regenerate man, he
must expire upon the cross and rise again the third day; that is to say, after descending, the three last steps
represented by the 11th, 12th, and 13th arcana, into the depths of hell, there to discover Death and to overcome him.
This fully understood, we will describe the twelve hours or phases of Initiation.
*
* *
The 10th arcanum, the first hour of the series, corresponds with the stage which man has reached at the present time.
The symbol of this arcanum is the Sphinx, which guarded the entrance to the Egyptian world; the Neophyte descended
between its paws into the tunnel which led to the sanctuary, through a series of tests, the image and noviciate of the
descent which we have just mentioned.
This is then the hour of preparation; it separates the common life from the transcendental life; in it the student learns the
work that he must undertake, and prepares himself for it. Let us see in what way.
The human head of the Sphinx, the centre of the intelligence, says to the Neophyte: "First acquire the Knowledge which
shows the goal, and lights the way to it." This is the theoretic instruction mentioned above.
Its bull's thighs, the image of the rough, persevering labour of the agriculturist, say to him: "Be strong and patient in thy
work."
Its lion's paws say to him: "Thou must brave all, and defend thyself against every inferior force."
Its eagle's wings say to him: "Thou must will to raise thyself towards the transcendent regions, which thy soul already
approaches."
The riddle attributed to the Greek Sphinx, and the answer required for it, are an equally expressive image of man, and
his aim. He is the animal that in the morning (that is to say, in the infancy of humanity) goes on four feet (4 being the
number of realization, expresses matter and its instincts, the visible world); at noon (that is to say, in the maturity of his
humanity) he walks upon two feet (2, the number of opposition, the image of science, of its contradictions, its doubts,
and of the intelligible world); and in the evening (when the day is nearly over) walks upon three feet (3, the number of
the divine world, in which the Trinity gives the solution of all the oppositions, of all the antinomies, by the superior term,
the harmonious synthesis of the two adverse terms).
Apollonius describes the same hour in these words: "Here the Neophyte praises God, utters no injurious words, inflicts
no more pain," which means that his theoretic knowledge of the Creation is increased, and that he practises self-control.
We will now pause and examine the consistency of these various prescriptions.
We have seen that man, having reached the ascending are, has become the object of dispute between the inferior
forces of inertia, which he has traversed under the impulse of instinct, and those active forces which draw him upwards;
we have noticed that the struggle must now be decided by the intervention of the Will, sufficiently developed by
Evolution, and sufficiently free too exert its influence on one side or on the other: man can therefore decide either for
the inferior forces of disintegration, or for the superior ones of synthesis, under the names of Good and Evil. And truly
evil for him if he redescend, for he will meet the terrors of decomposition, of Death. Good, on the other hand, if be
ascend, for he will enjoy the realization of his natural aspirations, the knowledge of the Creation and dominion over it.
Now where is the index of the forces of inertia in the human organization?-In instinct, in the passions. Where, on the
other hand, is the index of the active forces?-In moral energy, in Virtue.
Where is the index of the forces of disintegration, which lead to inertia in the human organization?-In the tendency to
isolation, in egoism. Where, on the other hand, is the index of the integrant forces?-In the tendency to joint
responsibility, to altruism, in Fraternity.
The transcendent world is therefore open to whoever has sufficient Will (or even artificial impulsion) to triumph over the
forces which guard it; but woe to that man who approaches it with a passionate and selfish heart; with lowered head he
will fall back into the current of decomposition, where he will be dissolved. Nature destroys all Evil; it is the law of
selection!
Only the man whose heart is full of charity can raise himself to the true destination of the human being in the region of
Principles.
This is why the Sphinx prescribes, with the persevering will of the Bull, the courage of the Lion against the forces of the
passions; and why Apollonius commands reserve and fraternity, with the Gospels which place self-control at the
foundation of all Law.
*
* *
Such then, with the aid of knowledge, is the preparation for Initiation; we shall soon see the importance of these
precepts.
The Neophyte, sufficiently exercised in these preliminaries of the first hour, then descends the three lower steps as
follows-
ARCANUM XI: Strength.
Second hour of Apollonius: "The abyss of fire-the virtues of the stars close as a crown through the dragons and the,
fire" (the magnetic chain).
The Neophyte learns to distinguish universal Force and its double current, positive and negative, in his own
organization. The application of this knowledge will be found in the two following hours-
ARCANUM XII: The Great Work.
Third hour of Apollonius: "The serpents, the dogs, and fire."
The first manifestation of force applied externally to inert matter for affecting transmutations; this is Alchemy. The
Neophyte having attained this step in practice must be ready morally to make a complete sacrifice of his personality; in
the language of the alchemists, he must have destroyed his fixed nature by fire so as to, volatilize it.
ARCANUM XIII: Death.
Fourth hour of Apollonius: "The Neophyte wanders in the sepulchres, and it will injure him; he will experience horror and
fear of visions; he should devote himself to magic and to géotie* ".
* The magic which evokes the evil genii who injure man--A.P.M.
This is Necromancy, the application of Force to the domination of inferior living beings: Elemental, or organisms ready to
synthetize themselves, and Elementary, remains of the dead, on the way to disorganization.
Morally, the Neophyte should die to ordinary life, to enter the spiritual life; the celestial man will he born from the corpse
of the terrestrial man.
The foundations of the Universe are now reached; the Neophyte touches the extremity of the terrestrial aura, the
sublunar atmosphere which surrounds every planet, like the reservoir of the elements of its life; he has now reached a
terrible moment, when he must lose the earth to launch out into the ocean of space; a formidable crisis, to which two
periods are consecrated.
The first is transitory.
ARCANUM XIV: The two Urns (the terrestrial and celestial fluids).
Fifth hour of Apollonius: "The waters above the heavens."
Here the Neophyte learns the flow of the astral currents in the planetary aura, just as in the second hour he acquired a
preliminary knowledge of Force, before exposing himself to it in the following hour.
ARCANUM XV: Typhon (the electric whirlwind).
Sixth hour of Apollonius: "Here one must remain quiet, immovable through fear."
Unprotected the Neophyte exposes himself to the double and formidable fluid-current of celestial space, by which the
ignorant or imprudent is carried away without mercy, but which raises the strong man who has purified himself. Silence,
prudence, courage!
According to your deserts you will be enraptured like St. Paul, or you will expose yourself either to madness, to the
spiritualization of evil, or to sorcery. This is the Sabbat or the Ecstasy!
The reader cannot pay too much attention to this solemn monument of practical occultism, so well described in Lytton's
novel Zanoni under the name of the Dragon of the Threshold; it is the formidable danger which necessitates so many
secrets. This threshold is reached by many artificial paths: the hachich, narcotics, hypnotics of every kind, the practices
of spiritual mediums; but woe to him who attempts to pass it before he has triumphed in the long and laborious
preliminary preparation! His fate is foretold in the next arcanum.
ARCANUM XVI: The Lightning-struck Tower.
Seventh hour of Apollonius: "Fire comforts every living creature, and if some priest, himself a pure man, purloin and use,
it, if he blend it with holy oil, consecrate it, and then anoint some ailing limb, with it, the malady will be cured."
The irresistible current has touched the man who exposed himself to its vortex on the terrestrial heights; if he The
impure be is threatened with disorganization more or less complete, according to his intellectual or moral unworthiness,
and his energy (incoherent mysticism, folly, death, or complete disintegration, represented by the genius of evil, the
Devil)!
If, on the contrary, he be worthy of the higher regions, this baptism of fire renders him one of the Magi; the sources of
terrestrial life are at his disposition; he becomes a Therapeut.
Having reached this point, he will then learn to know the celestial spheres progressively as he knows the terrestrial one,
and to dominate them; three hours are consecrated to this exploration-
ARCANUM XVII: The Star of the Magi.
Eighth hour of Apollonius: "The astral virtues of the elements, of seed of every kind."
This is the region of the principles of the solar system: in it life becomes clear; its distribution from the solar centre to all
the planets, and their reciprocal influences, are understood in all their details, in what the occultists name the
Correspondences. The Initiate is then master of Astrology in every branch of the science, in the widest meaning, of its
acceptation.
ARCANUM XVIII: The Twilight.
Ninth hour of Apollonius: "Nothing is finished here."
The Initiate now extends his perceptions beyond our solar system, "beyond the Zodiac"; he is in sight of the Infinite; he
touches the limits of the intelligible world; the divine light commences to show itself, the object of new terror and danger.
ARCANUM XIX: The Resplendent Light.
Tenth hour of Apollonius: "The gates of heaven are open, and man is born again, docile in the lethargic sleep."
The Idea appears to the regenerate soul of the Initiate, or, in the language of the Occultist, the spiritual sun will rise for
him; he will by a new regeneration enter the Divine World, in which man dies no more.
Two steps remain before the highest human destinies can be accomplished-
ARCANUM XX: The Awakening of the Dead.
Eleventh hour of Apollonius: "The Angels, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim fly with rustling wings; there is joy in heaven,
the earth rises, and the Sun, which issues from Adam."
This is the hierarchy of the Divine world, which appears upon new earths and new heavens. The Initiate will not pass
through death again; henceforth he will live eternally.
ARCANUM XXII: The Crown of the Magi.
Twelfth hour of Apollonius: "The cohorts of fire rest."
Nirvana! Complete return to α.
Let us recapitulate these twelve hours of the initiation.
Need we add how much effort and time (years, lives, often centuries) are required for each of these hours, how few
there are who pass even the first steps?
And what can we expect from their knowledge? The hope of indefinite progress towards the realization of our most
radiant hopes, the desire to attain at least those first realizations, so that we may derive from them the assurance of the
others; confidence in the instruction of those whom we recognize for masters already far advanced; lastly, the certainty
that in these fruitful doctrines we shall find the salvation of our suffering societies, as well as the most longed-for
individual happiness. And these desires, this confidence, are felt after the first preliminary studies.
To succeed, we need undertake but one work at first, that which the Sphinx depicts to us: moral and intellectual
preparations. But only the man who seriously undertakes them can know what immense and persevering efforts they
exact! May this rough glimpse of them inspire the reader with the desire and the courage to devote himself to them with
all the ardour of Hope!
F. CH. BARLET
there are who pass even the first steps?
And what can we expect from their knowledge? The hope of indefinite progress towards the realization of our most
radiant hopes, the desire to attain at least those first realizations, so that we may derive from them the assurance of the
others; confidence in the instruction of those whom we recognize for masters already far advanced; lastly, the certainty
that in these fruitful doctrines we shall find the salvation of our suffering societies, as well as the most longed-for
individual happiness. And these desires, this confidence, are felt after the first preliminary studies.
To succeed, we need undertake but one work at first, that which the Sphinx depicts to us: moral and intellectual
preparations. But only the man who seriously undertakes them can know what immense and persevering efforts they
exact! May this rough glimpse of them inspire the reader with the desire and the courage to devote himself to them with
all the ardour of Hope!
F. CH. BARLET
| THE DIVINE NAME IN THE TAROT By C.A. BARLET |
The totality of the symbols which form the Tarot is distributed through a series of 78 plates or cards, instead of being
presented in a single figure; the reason for this is, that the signification of this totality is very multiple; for it is at the same
time theologic, cosmologic, psychologic, and divining, and this variety is the result of the different combinations which
can be produced by the arrangement and comparison of these 78 cards. This variety is not one of the lesser beauties
of this unique masterpiece, in the sense that it adds movement and consequently life to the usual immobility of every
written representation, without counting the diversity of its appliances, which include numbers, words, form, and colour.
The Tarot can therefore be made to speak when one of its innumerable combinations has been found; that is to say,
when the student knows how to arrange the whole or part of his cards upon the table, in the order necessary to discover
the answer which he seeks.
We ask him: What is the Creation from man's point of view, that is to say, what is the life of the Great All, and how can or
should man participate in it? The whole Tarot, with its 22 great arcana and 56 minor arcana, will answer us, as we shall
show by quoting only a few of the profound interpretations which it provides.
To obtain this information we must remember that the three first cards which express the Trinity form at the same time
the key to the 22 great arcana, which, when the 0 is abstracted, are only seven repetitions of this Trinity. We must also
notice that the card M, the fourth term of the divine tetractys, is both the realization of the Trinity restored to the unity,
and the first term of the following Trinity. The four first cards thus represent the divine name of 4 letters, IEVE (יהוה) so
that if we repeat the Trinity seven times, to obtain the sequence of the 21 great arcana, the numbers will correspond to
the four letters as follows-
presented in a single figure; the reason for this is, that the signification of this totality is very multiple; for it is at the same
time theologic, cosmologic, psychologic, and divining, and this variety is the result of the different combinations which
can be produced by the arrangement and comparison of these 78 cards. This variety is not one of the lesser beauties
of this unique masterpiece, in the sense that it adds movement and consequently life to the usual immobility of every
written representation, without counting the diversity of its appliances, which include numbers, words, form, and colour.
The Tarot can therefore be made to speak when one of its innumerable combinations has been found; that is to say,
when the student knows how to arrange the whole or part of his cards upon the table, in the order necessary to discover
the answer which he seeks.
We ask him: What is the Creation from man's point of view, that is to say, what is the life of the Great All, and how can or
should man participate in it? The whole Tarot, with its 22 great arcana and 56 minor arcana, will answer us, as we shall
show by quoting only a few of the profound interpretations which it provides.
To obtain this information we must remember that the three first cards which express the Trinity form at the same time
the key to the 22 great arcana, which, when the 0 is abstracted, are only seven repetitions of this Trinity. We must also
notice that the card M, the fourth term of the divine tetractys, is both the realization of the Trinity restored to the unity,
and the first term of the following Trinity. The four first cards thus represent the divine name of 4 letters, IEVE (יהוה) so
that if we repeat the Trinity seven times, to obtain the sequence of the 21 great arcana, the numbers will correspond to
the four letters as follows-
We will assume that these letters are thus attached to the corresponding arcana, and this remark will be the first key to
the arrangement which we are looking for. '
To find a second key, we must redeal our cards in a. given space; at first only their place in the plane will appear; then it
will be clearly defined. We know that the Kosmos is conceived as the final expansion of the mathematical point, that is to
say, of the Absolute, which before this expansion included all force or potentiality in its nothingness. Let us draw this
sphere (see figure 1). The centre of it will be represented by one of the cards, 0, the Foolish Man or Crocodile, which is
the pivot of the whole pack, at the same time that it participates in all the other cards, for they include all the properties
of our universe. From some point of the sphere, a point which becomes our north pole, the movement will start, by which
the creation will appear on its surface.
the arrangement which we are looking for. '
To find a second key, we must redeal our cards in a. given space; at first only their place in the plane will appear; then it
will be clearly defined. We know that the Kosmos is conceived as the final expansion of the mathematical point, that is to
say, of the Absolute, which before this expansion included all force or potentiality in its nothingness. Let us draw this
sphere (see figure 1). The centre of it will be represented by one of the cards, 0, the Foolish Man or Crocodile, which is
the pivot of the whole pack, at the same time that it participates in all the other cards, for they include all the properties
of our universe. From some point of the sphere, a point which becomes our north pole, the movement will start, by which
the creation will appear on its surface.
The fiery trigon, corresponding with the Sceptre and the letters יוי, is swayed by the spiritual
element.
element.
The earthy trigon, corresponding to the Cup and to the letters ההה namely, two E's of the
name of 3 letters, and the final E of the name of 4 letters-an essentially feminine character,
substantial, but of superior order
name of 3 letters, and the final E of the name of 4 letters-an essentially feminine character,
substantial, but of superior order
The airy trigon, corresponding to the Sword and the letters והה swayed by the masculine
element of the second order.
element of the second order.
The watery trigon, corresponding to the Pentacle and to the letters ההה, comprising, this time,
the final E of the name of 4 letters twice repeated, and the E of the name of 3 letters-the
dominant character, the inferior feminine.
the final E of the name of 4 letters twice repeated, and the E of the name of 3 letters-the
dominant character, the inferior feminine.
But we must leave the minor arcana to the investigations of the reader-they would lead us too far-and return to some
further notice of the great arcana.
Let us first notice how the three chief sectors preserve and reproduce their innate characters in all their divisions.
We find, in the first, that of the letter Yod (י), the Spirit, the numbers of the unity, I., IV., VII., X. (repeated in the minor
arcana); as figure, the Kings; as colour, the Sceptre; in the Zodiac, the lines of the ascension of the sun above the
Equator from the spring to the solstice.
In the second sector (ה) the substantial principle is the feminine numbers II., V., VIII., XI. (repeated in the minor arcana);
as figure, the Queens; as colour, the Cup; in the Zodiac, the four signs of the descent of the sun towards the Equator;
the season of harvests and vintages, fecundity in all its forms.
further notice of the great arcana.
Let us first notice how the three chief sectors preserve and reproduce their innate characters in all their divisions.
We find, in the first, that of the letter Yod (י), the Spirit, the numbers of the unity, I., IV., VII., X. (repeated in the minor
arcana); as figure, the Kings; as colour, the Sceptre; in the Zodiac, the lines of the ascension of the sun above the
Equator from the spring to the solstice.
In the second sector (ה) the substantial principle is the feminine numbers II., V., VIII., XI. (repeated in the minor arcana);
as figure, the Queens; as colour, the Cup; in the Zodiac, the four signs of the descent of the sun towards the Equator;
the season of harvests and vintages, fecundity in all its forms.
In the third sector (ו), the Son, the Element, are the sacred numbers which participate in the two preceding orders, III.,
VI., IX.; as figure, the Knight; as colour, the Pentacle of the practical world, and the Sword also, which close the
preceding sector; in the Zodiac, the signs through which the sun passes in the southern hemisphere; our winter, the
season for the consumption of the produce of the earth, of renovation for the cycle which follows: Christmas is in the
centre; the new birth in the winter of death; the time when the Son was born into an inferior world to reanimate it.
The divine Name יהוה is not only written in the series of concentric circles, it is also found upon the lines belonging to
those circles, either in descending or in remounting.
The first sector gives it without transposition, as we see in figure 2.
In the second sector the divine Name is preceded by the feminine letter E, the Mother, and finally pauses at it: E, IEVE,
IE. (See the figure)
In the third, it commences by the letter of the Son and ends by that of the Father, to which he returns: VE, IEVE, I.
We shall now inquire from the symbols of the cards the different ways of pronouncing the divine Name, and also the
various manifestations in the Kosmos of each of these four letters. Let us question even the spirit of these symbols,
instead of their number, colour, or form, which have chiefly occupied us at present.
By first following the regular order of our arrangement we shall find-
In the divine world: the arcana I., II., III., IV., the divine Tetractys, comprising: (1) the Absolute Being; (2) the
Consciousness of the Absolute; (3) Love or the power of fecundity; (4) the realization of the virtualities of the Absolute.
In the world of laws: arcanum V., the laws of the relation of the Created with the Uncreate (the Initiator, Fear also* ). VI.
(Liberty, Beauty); knowledge of good and evil; knowledge of the Law. VII. (Glory); rule of the Spirit over Matter, the fertile
power of the Law; and VIII. (absolute Justice, Victory), realization of the Law.
*Consult for the generation and signification of numbers the Traité Élémentaire de Science Occulte, by Papus, a learned
author, whose good counsels have produced the best part of this article.
In the physical world: arcana IX. (the veiled Lamp), the light extinguished in the darkness of the substance, the spirit
imprisoned in the material world, Yesod. X. (Wheel of Fortune), which raises the fallen spirit to lead it back, with the
nature which it has spiritualized, to all its power, by Strength (arcana XI.), and by Sacrifice (arcana XII.).
The phases of spiritualization then follow. XIII.: First phase: (Death) to the physical world. XIV. (the two Urns) combination
of the movements of life. XV. (Typhon). Magic. XVI. (the Lightning-struck Tower); the interplanetary force.
Second phase: XVII. (the flaming Star), the internal light. XVIII. (the Twilight), the aurora of the divine sun. XIX. (the Sun),
central; and XX. (the Judgment), after which the supreme realization is obtained, the Crown of the Magi.
We have said that the divine Name is again enunciated in following the three sectors.
In the first are the arcana I., IV., VII., X. The absolute, the realization of its virtualities, the dominion of Spirit over Matter,
and the animating principle of beings. Then, in return, XIII., XVI., XIX. and I. Death (Inertia), the astral light, the central
sun, and the Unspeakable himself.
This is the account, by the principles, of the differentiation and integration of the Absolute.
In the second sector, the one which corresponds to the consciousness of the Absolute or faith, we have the series, V.,
VIII., XI., XIV.: the Hierophant, or religion; Justice, Force, and the combination of the movements of life; the image of the
Saints; the Mystics of all religions, who by absolute Faith and Justice, receptive, feminine virtues, acquire, without
seeking for it, the power of working prodigies.
Lastly, in the third Sector, that of Love or power of fecundity, we have the series: IX., Wisdom and Prudence; XII., the
Sacrifice; XV., self-abandonment to the astral forces; and XVIII., the attainment of the Infinite. The essence of this series
of efforts, both active and passive, constitutes Initiation, the Redemption.
Let us once more seek for the divine Name, through the three divisions at once. We shall find, for instance, the arcana
L, II., III., VI., which demonstrate the divine Trinity, manifesting itself by Beauty and Liberty in the Intellectual world: it is
the passage of the Father (י) to the Son (ו).
Or again, I., VI., IX., X.: The descent of the Father (י) into the physical world (X.) by the Son (VI.) and by Yesod (IX.); the
Word made flesh. This is the Redemption, the series which in the Sepher Yetzirah represents the Column of the
Sephiroth (Kether-Tiphereth-Yesod and Malchut* ).
*The signification of the cards is borrowed from Fabre d'Olivet, Wronski, E. Levi, Christian, and the Sepher Yetzirah
(translation by Papus).
But we must limit these examples, which the reader will easily multiply for himself. Let us only add a few more words upon
our second problem: the different manifestations of each of the three persons of the divine Trinity.
The Yod is found in the arcana I., V., IX., XII. and XIII.; in Keter, in the Hierophant, in the Wise Old Man; then it presides
over death, which will bring the world from the depths of gloomy Inertia to the resplendent crown of the Magi, by the
internal light.
It will be noticed, at the same time, that the Yod is the only one of the four letters which, by its various positions, forms a
complete spiral round the sphere, from the north to the south poles; a symbol which may appear very remarkable to any
one acquainted with the mysteries of the life of a planet.
The first E, the celestial Mother (arcana II.), is found in the arcana VI., X., XIV. and XVIII., that is to say, Beauty, Form, the
Angel of Temperance, which balances the movements of life, and the aurora of the divine Sun; Diana the Moon.
The V, the Son, is characterized upon the various planes by the arcana III., VII., XI., XV. and XIX.; Love, the fertile power;
the Ruler over Matter, Force; then Typhon, the mysterious Baphomet of the Templars, which collects the superior forces
to spread them over the Earth; and lastly, the central Sun. In a word, the Christ of the Gospel, the Spirit of Love, the
Master of the Elements, the Word made flesh to spiritualize the flesh; the divine reflex of the Universal Sun.
Lastly, the second E; the terrestrial Mother is seen in the arcana IV., VIII., XII., XVI. and XX. The realization of the divine
virtualities, and also Mercy, absolute Justice, Sacrifice, the overwhelmed and suffering Spirit, and finally Resurrection;
the head of the Serpent crushed beneath the woman's heel, by the force of abnegation and resigned faith.
We need only follow these various arcana upon the sphere, to see once more that the Yod has 3 superior arcana
(northern hemisphere), and 2 inferior;
That the V (ו) has only 2 superior and 1 medium (upon the Equator);
And that the E has 4 superior, 2 inferior, and 2 medium.
Let us close these remarks, already too lengthy, by a simple observation upon the general effect of our arrangement.
The three worlds, Divine, Intelligible, and Physical, are found not only in the three zones of the sphere, but they are
again reproduced in the whole arrangement; the Divine is in the centre, through the Foolish Man of the Tarot, and the
cross of four colours; this we have already pointed out.
The Intelligible and its developments are provided by the sphere (figure 1), or the circular distribution of the 21 great
arcana (figure 2).
The physical is seen in the external plane of the Equator (figure 1), with the distribution of the 56 minor arcana,
representing the Zodiac and the various degrees of the multiplicity of Force through substance to the extreme pole, the
negative unity 10.
Moreover, the whole (figure 1) reproduces the form of the planet Saturn, with its ring, a form which in itself, according to
the theories of our positive sciences, is the clearest manifestation, the demonstration of the great laws of the formation
of the Universe; namely, the concentration of the substance in a radiant state around a point of attraction, producing
with a progressive condensation a rotatory movement, particularly accentuated at the Equator, and giving birth to the
stars, planets, and satellites, thus descending from the ethereal nébuleuse to the atom, to the solid ultimate; from living
nothingness to inert nothingness, from the unit to an infinite multiplicity.
Thus the Tarot, the secular fruit of the genius of our ancestors, can represent not only the creation in its actual state,
but its history even in details, and its future. with that of the human creature, even to their principles; yet avoiding, by the
combination of its analogical symbols, borrowed from natural life, the rock upon which all philosophy breaks-namely, the
definition of words, the clear, full expression of the Word in the sublunar world.
VI., IX.; as figure, the Knight; as colour, the Pentacle of the practical world, and the Sword also, which close the
preceding sector; in the Zodiac, the signs through which the sun passes in the southern hemisphere; our winter, the
season for the consumption of the produce of the earth, of renovation for the cycle which follows: Christmas is in the
centre; the new birth in the winter of death; the time when the Son was born into an inferior world to reanimate it.
The divine Name יהוה is not only written in the series of concentric circles, it is also found upon the lines belonging to
those circles, either in descending or in remounting.
The first sector gives it without transposition, as we see in figure 2.
In the second sector the divine Name is preceded by the feminine letter E, the Mother, and finally pauses at it: E, IEVE,
IE. (See the figure)
In the third, it commences by the letter of the Son and ends by that of the Father, to which he returns: VE, IEVE, I.
We shall now inquire from the symbols of the cards the different ways of pronouncing the divine Name, and also the
various manifestations in the Kosmos of each of these four letters. Let us question even the spirit of these symbols,
instead of their number, colour, or form, which have chiefly occupied us at present.
By first following the regular order of our arrangement we shall find-
In the divine world: the arcana I., II., III., IV., the divine Tetractys, comprising: (1) the Absolute Being; (2) the
Consciousness of the Absolute; (3) Love or the power of fecundity; (4) the realization of the virtualities of the Absolute.
In the world of laws: arcanum V., the laws of the relation of the Created with the Uncreate (the Initiator, Fear also* ). VI.
(Liberty, Beauty); knowledge of good and evil; knowledge of the Law. VII. (Glory); rule of the Spirit over Matter, the fertile
power of the Law; and VIII. (absolute Justice, Victory), realization of the Law.
*Consult for the generation and signification of numbers the Traité Élémentaire de Science Occulte, by Papus, a learned
author, whose good counsels have produced the best part of this article.
In the physical world: arcana IX. (the veiled Lamp), the light extinguished in the darkness of the substance, the spirit
imprisoned in the material world, Yesod. X. (Wheel of Fortune), which raises the fallen spirit to lead it back, with the
nature which it has spiritualized, to all its power, by Strength (arcana XI.), and by Sacrifice (arcana XII.).
The phases of spiritualization then follow. XIII.: First phase: (Death) to the physical world. XIV. (the two Urns) combination
of the movements of life. XV. (Typhon). Magic. XVI. (the Lightning-struck Tower); the interplanetary force.
Second phase: XVII. (the flaming Star), the internal light. XVIII. (the Twilight), the aurora of the divine sun. XIX. (the Sun),
central; and XX. (the Judgment), after which the supreme realization is obtained, the Crown of the Magi.
We have said that the divine Name is again enunciated in following the three sectors.
In the first are the arcana I., IV., VII., X. The absolute, the realization of its virtualities, the dominion of Spirit over Matter,
and the animating principle of beings. Then, in return, XIII., XVI., XIX. and I. Death (Inertia), the astral light, the central
sun, and the Unspeakable himself.
This is the account, by the principles, of the differentiation and integration of the Absolute.
In the second sector, the one which corresponds to the consciousness of the Absolute or faith, we have the series, V.,
VIII., XI., XIV.: the Hierophant, or religion; Justice, Force, and the combination of the movements of life; the image of the
Saints; the Mystics of all religions, who by absolute Faith and Justice, receptive, feminine virtues, acquire, without
seeking for it, the power of working prodigies.
Lastly, in the third Sector, that of Love or power of fecundity, we have the series: IX., Wisdom and Prudence; XII., the
Sacrifice; XV., self-abandonment to the astral forces; and XVIII., the attainment of the Infinite. The essence of this series
of efforts, both active and passive, constitutes Initiation, the Redemption.
Let us once more seek for the divine Name, through the three divisions at once. We shall find, for instance, the arcana
L, II., III., VI., which demonstrate the divine Trinity, manifesting itself by Beauty and Liberty in the Intellectual world: it is
the passage of the Father (י) to the Son (ו).
Or again, I., VI., IX., X.: The descent of the Father (י) into the physical world (X.) by the Son (VI.) and by Yesod (IX.); the
Word made flesh. This is the Redemption, the series which in the Sepher Yetzirah represents the Column of the
Sephiroth (Kether-Tiphereth-Yesod and Malchut* ).
*The signification of the cards is borrowed from Fabre d'Olivet, Wronski, E. Levi, Christian, and the Sepher Yetzirah
(translation by Papus).
But we must limit these examples, which the reader will easily multiply for himself. Let us only add a few more words upon
our second problem: the different manifestations of each of the three persons of the divine Trinity.
The Yod is found in the arcana I., V., IX., XII. and XIII.; in Keter, in the Hierophant, in the Wise Old Man; then it presides
over death, which will bring the world from the depths of gloomy Inertia to the resplendent crown of the Magi, by the
internal light.
It will be noticed, at the same time, that the Yod is the only one of the four letters which, by its various positions, forms a
complete spiral round the sphere, from the north to the south poles; a symbol which may appear very remarkable to any
one acquainted with the mysteries of the life of a planet.
The first E, the celestial Mother (arcana II.), is found in the arcana VI., X., XIV. and XVIII., that is to say, Beauty, Form, the
Angel of Temperance, which balances the movements of life, and the aurora of the divine Sun; Diana the Moon.
The V, the Son, is characterized upon the various planes by the arcana III., VII., XI., XV. and XIX.; Love, the fertile power;
the Ruler over Matter, Force; then Typhon, the mysterious Baphomet of the Templars, which collects the superior forces
to spread them over the Earth; and lastly, the central Sun. In a word, the Christ of the Gospel, the Spirit of Love, the
Master of the Elements, the Word made flesh to spiritualize the flesh; the divine reflex of the Universal Sun.
Lastly, the second E; the terrestrial Mother is seen in the arcana IV., VIII., XII., XVI. and XX. The realization of the divine
virtualities, and also Mercy, absolute Justice, Sacrifice, the overwhelmed and suffering Spirit, and finally Resurrection;
the head of the Serpent crushed beneath the woman's heel, by the force of abnegation and resigned faith.
We need only follow these various arcana upon the sphere, to see once more that the Yod has 3 superior arcana
(northern hemisphere), and 2 inferior;
That the V (ו) has only 2 superior and 1 medium (upon the Equator);
And that the E has 4 superior, 2 inferior, and 2 medium.
Let us close these remarks, already too lengthy, by a simple observation upon the general effect of our arrangement.
The three worlds, Divine, Intelligible, and Physical, are found not only in the three zones of the sphere, but they are
again reproduced in the whole arrangement; the Divine is in the centre, through the Foolish Man of the Tarot, and the
cross of four colours; this we have already pointed out.
The Intelligible and its developments are provided by the sphere (figure 1), or the circular distribution of the 21 great
arcana (figure 2).
The physical is seen in the external plane of the Equator (figure 1), with the distribution of the 56 minor arcana,
representing the Zodiac and the various degrees of the multiplicity of Force through substance to the extreme pole, the
negative unity 10.
Moreover, the whole (figure 1) reproduces the form of the planet Saturn, with its ring, a form which in itself, according to
the theories of our positive sciences, is the clearest manifestation, the demonstration of the great laws of the formation
of the Universe; namely, the concentration of the substance in a radiant state around a point of attraction, producing
with a progressive condensation a rotatory movement, particularly accentuated at the Equator, and giving birth to the
stars, planets, and satellites, thus descending from the ethereal nébuleuse to the atom, to the solid ultimate; from living
nothingness to inert nothingness, from the unit to an infinite multiplicity.
Thus the Tarot, the secular fruit of the genius of our ancestors, can represent not only the creation in its actual state,
but its history even in details, and its future. with that of the human creature, even to their principles; yet avoiding, by the
combination of its analogical symbols, borrowed from natural life, the rock upon which all philosophy breaks-namely, the
definition of words, the clear, full expression of the Word in the sublunar world.
Around this point upon the sphere, the reflex of the centre, we will place the cards of our 3 first arcana: I. (the Mage, the
Spirit, י); II. (Knowledge, Substance, ה); III. (Love, the fertile Power, the Being, ו); and in order that this Trinity may be
repeated in the whole septenary of our distribution we will make it the root of 3 great divisions, representing the 3 terms
of the Trinity, which will divide the surface of our sphere by 3 meridians.
We can then continue the distribution of our cards upon this surface in the following way. The head of each partial
Trinity will be in division 1; each second term will be in division 2; each third term in division 3. Consequently our IV. card
(the Emperor, ה) will be in the L; the V. card (the Pope, ו) will be in II.; the VI. card (Liberty, ה) will be in III., and this
second sequence will form a new zone upon the sphere. A third, a little inferior, will be formed by cards VII., VIII. and IX.,
cards XI., X. and XII. will occupy the Equator, and the 9 cards from XIII. to XXI. will be distributed like the 9 first, in 3 bands
placed upon the lower hemisphere as shown in figure 1.
Now our 22 great arcana are placed; let us pause and look at their significations. Above the Equator we see an ever-
increasing expansion of the North Pole, represented by the 3 upper triangles, then by the 6 trapezes which follow, each
larger than the one before. Here are the three planes of the Creation: The Divine, metaphysic (I., II., III.), the Intelligible,
moral (IV., V., VI.), and the physical, that of the generative attributes or elements (VII., VIII., and M).
The creation is realized upon the equatorial line (X., XI., XII.), in which the first term, with the preceding cards, represents
the 10 sephiroth of the Kabbalah.
Below the Equator, in the world of material realization, which is quitted by Death (XIII.), this expansion is retracted and
synthetized by an inverse and symmetrical movement of the above. The arcana which follow represent Initiation carried
to its extreme limits, the path by which the creature (X.) returns from its multiplicity to the unity of the spirit, goes back to
the point-the southern pole-a new reflex of the Absolute, towards which it reascends by the vertical axis of the sphere*.
*The details which justify, this assertion will be found in the first part of this chapter
The Neophyte, after his preparation (positive science, magnetism and alchemy, X., XI., XII.), travels through the sublunar
world (XIII., XIV., XV.), then through the solar system (XVI., XVII. and XVIII.), and escapes by the sun in the abyss of the
Infinite (XIX., XX., XXI.).
We may now end this short explanation of the practical distribution of our 22 arcana upon a plane (the reader will do well
to imitate it upon a table with a pack of Tarot cards). The student should imagine that our sphere is seen from a
considerable distance, vertical upon its axis; for instance, at the distance of the earth from the sun, the upper
hemisphere only will appear, the other being seen but transparently; and it will look like a circle, with the Equator for its
circumference. The limits of the 3 superposed zones appear like 3 concentric circles; the meridional planes, seen by
their dividing lines, only look like 3 equally divided radii, making of the 3 sectors 3 equal axes. This representation, which
geometricians name projection upon the plane of the Equator, gives the second figure (the 4 circles of the centre only);
to it, for the sake of clearness in the symbols, has been added an equilateral triangle inscribed in the inner circle, with
the points posed upon the 3 meridians. The Roman figures inscribed in the circles represent the numbers of the cards
placed m we have said, and, consequently, also indicate their place upon the table. The arcana of the lower hemisphere
are indicated upon the figure in dotted letters, in the same circles as the preceding; since the lower zones, seen only
transparently, might be confused with the upper, through their mutual symmetry.
Here, in its great features, is already an answer to our questions: the Spirit descends by three trinities from the Absolute
into Matter (upper hemisphere). It is realized by the trinity X. (Malchut), XI. and XII. (the Equator), and it returns to the
Absolute by a trinity of growing synthesis, which constitutes human progress (lower hemisphere).
We will presently explain some of the philosophic interpretations which this distribution furnishes; let us first complete it
by our 55 minor arcana. They especially represent our solar world.
Since we are now in the world of realization, 4 is its number, its fundamental basis; it is the Trinity realized; the divine
name of 4 letters IEVE (יהוה). Our cards will be divided into 4 sections: the 4 colours of the pack, spades, hearts, clubs,
and diamonds, with their hieroglyphic and far more significant names: the Sceptres, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
Everything is dual in this world, where the equilibrium is unstable, unable to find any rest, except in the return to the
Trinity, from which it proceeds. Thus these 4 fundamental divisions will divide into 2 duads: the one spiritual, the other
material, each composed of a masculine and feminine principle, namely-
Spiritual duad, the Sceptre (spades, a full triangle, masculine); the Cup (heart, an open triangle, feminine); religious
attributes;
Material duad: the Sword (club, a lobed triangle,), and the Pentacle (diamond, double triangle); the attributes of the
warrior and of the artisan.
Four other divisions correspond to these 4 colours, those of the figures which also form 4 duads, namely-
King and Queen;
Knight or Warrior, and Knave
As to the numbers which follow these figures, they lead us to another consideration, which is also essential to the
distribution of our cards-
If 4 is the fundamental number of these minor arcana, the symbols of our world, we must not forget that it is also
connected with the Trinity, from which it emanates; that it realizes it, and returns to it. We must then also find the ternary
element in it: after the colours and the figures, which have provided the basis of our word, the numbers, which are, as it
were, the essence of it, will reflect the sephiroth in it, and by them the act of creation. They pause, in fact, at 10,
including 3 trinities besides the tenth, Malchut, which unites them.
Our distribution must also take the two numbers 3 and 4 into account, by combining them so as to utilize all the elements
which we have just enumerated. This is how we can do this (follow figure 1 upon the plane of the Equator, represented
as a ring. outside the sphere)-
We will first separate some of the cards: the Knave of each of the 4 colours (ה), which, as the realization of the Trinity,
King (י), Queen (ה), Knight (ו), serves as the transition from the quaternary to the ternary; and the 10 of each colour, the
unity of complete realization, the multiple unity 1 and 0-Malchut.
The Knaves, by their participation in the quaternary and ternary, and their return to the Unity by the Trinity, have a
universality which connects them with the unnumbered card 0 of the great arcana; we will therefore place them round
this card, as a cross, in the centre of our equatorial circle. In this way the centre will express: By the card 0, the original
unity, the source and aim of creation; by its triangle, the primitive Trinity; by its 4 colours, the quaternary in which it is
realized; by the character of the 4 Knaves, the return of this quaternary to the ternary; in short, the whole creation
assembled in one point, in potentiality, which is the characteristic of the Spirit.
On the other hand the four 10 will be placed at the extremities of the cross formed by the Knaves, outside all our circles,
as the expression of the Unity multiple, in its last term of differentiation.
As to the other cards, they include first 3 kinds of figures, which correspond with the 3 terms of the Trinity; it is quite
simple to distribute them in the 3 parts of our external equatorial plane, corresponding with the 3 divisions of the sphere-
The Kings opposite to division I (י);
The Queens opposite to division E (ה);
The Knights opposite to division V (ו);
and, since there are 4 colours for each of them, 4 subdivisions are naturally produced in each of our 3 principal
divisions; these 4 subdivisions, corresponding to the Sceptre (י), the Cup (ה), the Sword (ו), and the Pentacle (ה), also
repeat the Divine name of 4 letters (IEVE) (יהוה), and form the passage from the ternary to the quaternary.
Now only the numbers remain to be placed; and we have only to make them correspond with the terms of the Trinity-
The four 1 behind the Kings;
The four 2 behind the Queens;
The four 3 behind the Knights.
Then, in a still more external circle-
The four 4 outside the Kings and the 1;
The four 5 outside the Queens and the 2;
The four 6 outside the Knights and the 3.
Finally, an outlying circle will include the four 7, 8 and 9 in the same order. As to the four 10, they are placed quite
outside, as we have already said.
We thus obtain the distribution represented by the figures 1 and 2.
Let us now consider their signification.
The living atom descended upon the sphere has reached the point represented by arcanum X., the wheel of Ezekiel,
which raises man and lowers the elemental. From this, the atom falls, so to speak, through the material world, which he
has just entered. He first descends through the spiritual decade (Sceptre and Cup) (see the figure), traversing numbers
of increasing complexity: King, 1, 4, 7, then 10 By this 10, the multiple unity, limit of materialization, which unites the two
portions of the decade Sceptre-Cup, he resumes in an inverse sense, as though by a reascending are, the road which
will lead him back to plate X., remounting the 4, 7, 10, and King of Cups and Swords, the substantial duad.
This is only one-third of the voyage which the living atom must accomplish in the real world; and, in this first excursion
through matter, he has still retained the spiritual character which he received from Yod (י), the characteristic of plate X.;
he must now lose this character for that of the following E (ה). To this end, he passes from plate X., which he has just re-
entered, to plate XI. (ה), the Hermit, the veiled Lamp, to pass in the same way as he has already done through the dual
series of the Sceptre-Cup, through the Queens, the 2, 5, and 8, passing by the 10 of Cups, and remounting by it
through the second series, Sword-Pentacles, to the arcanum XI., the starting-point of this second excursion.
Finally, from this last arcanum he passes to number XII. (י), the Sacrifice, descends the neuter series of the Knight, 3, 6,
9 of Sceptres and Cups, crosses the 10 of Swords and the 10 of Pentacles, and remounts by the dual Swords and
Pentacles to the intelligible world.
His journey across the material world is completed; he has travelled over the Zodiac; he will now die; the arcanum XIII. is
ready for him, and will give him access to the spiritual world, to the Redemption.
We will now explain some other features of this distribution.
It divides the external circle of the Equator into 3 arcs, subdivided into 4 portions; in all 12 divisions of different
characters. These are the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The first is naturally ranked with the first card of the minor arcana in
the spiritual sector, i. e. the King of Sceptres (Spades); the second corresponds with the King of Cups, and so on to the
twelfth.
One observation will suffice to justify the connection between the zodiac and our cards. We must note the 12 divisions of
the circle into the triple repetition of the 4 letters of the Sacred Name; an operation legitimized by the remark already
made, that these 4 colours correspond with these letters (see figure 2, in the intermediate circle, where the signs of the
Zodiac are written). We at once recognize the 4 trigons of the Zodiac, corresponding with the elements which the 4
colours also represent, and these trigons are characterized as well as designated.
Spirit, י); II. (Knowledge, Substance, ה); III. (Love, the fertile Power, the Being, ו); and in order that this Trinity may be
repeated in the whole septenary of our distribution we will make it the root of 3 great divisions, representing the 3 terms
of the Trinity, which will divide the surface of our sphere by 3 meridians.
We can then continue the distribution of our cards upon this surface in the following way. The head of each partial
Trinity will be in division 1; each second term will be in division 2; each third term in division 3. Consequently our IV. card
(the Emperor, ה) will be in the L; the V. card (the Pope, ו) will be in II.; the VI. card (Liberty, ה) will be in III., and this
second sequence will form a new zone upon the sphere. A third, a little inferior, will be formed by cards VII., VIII. and IX.,
cards XI., X. and XII. will occupy the Equator, and the 9 cards from XIII. to XXI. will be distributed like the 9 first, in 3 bands
placed upon the lower hemisphere as shown in figure 1.
Now our 22 great arcana are placed; let us pause and look at their significations. Above the Equator we see an ever-
increasing expansion of the North Pole, represented by the 3 upper triangles, then by the 6 trapezes which follow, each
larger than the one before. Here are the three planes of the Creation: The Divine, metaphysic (I., II., III.), the Intelligible,
moral (IV., V., VI.), and the physical, that of the generative attributes or elements (VII., VIII., and M).
The creation is realized upon the equatorial line (X., XI., XII.), in which the first term, with the preceding cards, represents
the 10 sephiroth of the Kabbalah.
Below the Equator, in the world of material realization, which is quitted by Death (XIII.), this expansion is retracted and
synthetized by an inverse and symmetrical movement of the above. The arcana which follow represent Initiation carried
to its extreme limits, the path by which the creature (X.) returns from its multiplicity to the unity of the spirit, goes back to
the point-the southern pole-a new reflex of the Absolute, towards which it reascends by the vertical axis of the sphere*.
*The details which justify, this assertion will be found in the first part of this chapter
The Neophyte, after his preparation (positive science, magnetism and alchemy, X., XI., XII.), travels through the sublunar
world (XIII., XIV., XV.), then through the solar system (XVI., XVII. and XVIII.), and escapes by the sun in the abyss of the
Infinite (XIX., XX., XXI.).
We may now end this short explanation of the practical distribution of our 22 arcana upon a plane (the reader will do well
to imitate it upon a table with a pack of Tarot cards). The student should imagine that our sphere is seen from a
considerable distance, vertical upon its axis; for instance, at the distance of the earth from the sun, the upper
hemisphere only will appear, the other being seen but transparently; and it will look like a circle, with the Equator for its
circumference. The limits of the 3 superposed zones appear like 3 concentric circles; the meridional planes, seen by
their dividing lines, only look like 3 equally divided radii, making of the 3 sectors 3 equal axes. This representation, which
geometricians name projection upon the plane of the Equator, gives the second figure (the 4 circles of the centre only);
to it, for the sake of clearness in the symbols, has been added an equilateral triangle inscribed in the inner circle, with
the points posed upon the 3 meridians. The Roman figures inscribed in the circles represent the numbers of the cards
placed m we have said, and, consequently, also indicate their place upon the table. The arcana of the lower hemisphere
are indicated upon the figure in dotted letters, in the same circles as the preceding; since the lower zones, seen only
transparently, might be confused with the upper, through their mutual symmetry.
Here, in its great features, is already an answer to our questions: the Spirit descends by three trinities from the Absolute
into Matter (upper hemisphere). It is realized by the trinity X. (Malchut), XI. and XII. (the Equator), and it returns to the
Absolute by a trinity of growing synthesis, which constitutes human progress (lower hemisphere).
We will presently explain some of the philosophic interpretations which this distribution furnishes; let us first complete it
by our 55 minor arcana. They especially represent our solar world.
Since we are now in the world of realization, 4 is its number, its fundamental basis; it is the Trinity realized; the divine
name of 4 letters IEVE (יהוה). Our cards will be divided into 4 sections: the 4 colours of the pack, spades, hearts, clubs,
and diamonds, with their hieroglyphic and far more significant names: the Sceptres, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
Everything is dual in this world, where the equilibrium is unstable, unable to find any rest, except in the return to the
Trinity, from which it proceeds. Thus these 4 fundamental divisions will divide into 2 duads: the one spiritual, the other
material, each composed of a masculine and feminine principle, namely-
Spiritual duad, the Sceptre (spades, a full triangle, masculine); the Cup (heart, an open triangle, feminine); religious
attributes;
Material duad: the Sword (club, a lobed triangle,), and the Pentacle (diamond, double triangle); the attributes of the
warrior and of the artisan.
Four other divisions correspond to these 4 colours, those of the figures which also form 4 duads, namely-
King and Queen;
Knight or Warrior, and Knave
As to the numbers which follow these figures, they lead us to another consideration, which is also essential to the
distribution of our cards-
If 4 is the fundamental number of these minor arcana, the symbols of our world, we must not forget that it is also
connected with the Trinity, from which it emanates; that it realizes it, and returns to it. We must then also find the ternary
element in it: after the colours and the figures, which have provided the basis of our word, the numbers, which are, as it
were, the essence of it, will reflect the sephiroth in it, and by them the act of creation. They pause, in fact, at 10,
including 3 trinities besides the tenth, Malchut, which unites them.
Our distribution must also take the two numbers 3 and 4 into account, by combining them so as to utilize all the elements
which we have just enumerated. This is how we can do this (follow figure 1 upon the plane of the Equator, represented
as a ring. outside the sphere)-
We will first separate some of the cards: the Knave of each of the 4 colours (ה), which, as the realization of the Trinity,
King (י), Queen (ה), Knight (ו), serves as the transition from the quaternary to the ternary; and the 10 of each colour, the
unity of complete realization, the multiple unity 1 and 0-Malchut.
The Knaves, by their participation in the quaternary and ternary, and their return to the Unity by the Trinity, have a
universality which connects them with the unnumbered card 0 of the great arcana; we will therefore place them round
this card, as a cross, in the centre of our equatorial circle. In this way the centre will express: By the card 0, the original
unity, the source and aim of creation; by its triangle, the primitive Trinity; by its 4 colours, the quaternary in which it is
realized; by the character of the 4 Knaves, the return of this quaternary to the ternary; in short, the whole creation
assembled in one point, in potentiality, which is the characteristic of the Spirit.
On the other hand the four 10 will be placed at the extremities of the cross formed by the Knaves, outside all our circles,
as the expression of the Unity multiple, in its last term of differentiation.
As to the other cards, they include first 3 kinds of figures, which correspond with the 3 terms of the Trinity; it is quite
simple to distribute them in the 3 parts of our external equatorial plane, corresponding with the 3 divisions of the sphere-
The Kings opposite to division I (י);
The Queens opposite to division E (ה);
The Knights opposite to division V (ו);
and, since there are 4 colours for each of them, 4 subdivisions are naturally produced in each of our 3 principal
divisions; these 4 subdivisions, corresponding to the Sceptre (י), the Cup (ה), the Sword (ו), and the Pentacle (ה), also
repeat the Divine name of 4 letters (IEVE) (יהוה), and form the passage from the ternary to the quaternary.
Now only the numbers remain to be placed; and we have only to make them correspond with the terms of the Trinity-
The four 1 behind the Kings;
The four 2 behind the Queens;
The four 3 behind the Knights.
Then, in a still more external circle-
The four 4 outside the Kings and the 1;
The four 5 outside the Queens and the 2;
The four 6 outside the Knights and the 3.
Finally, an outlying circle will include the four 7, 8 and 9 in the same order. As to the four 10, they are placed quite
outside, as we have already said.
We thus obtain the distribution represented by the figures 1 and 2.
Let us now consider their signification.
The living atom descended upon the sphere has reached the point represented by arcanum X., the wheel of Ezekiel,
which raises man and lowers the elemental. From this, the atom falls, so to speak, through the material world, which he
has just entered. He first descends through the spiritual decade (Sceptre and Cup) (see the figure), traversing numbers
of increasing complexity: King, 1, 4, 7, then 10 By this 10, the multiple unity, limit of materialization, which unites the two
portions of the decade Sceptre-Cup, he resumes in an inverse sense, as though by a reascending are, the road which
will lead him back to plate X., remounting the 4, 7, 10, and King of Cups and Swords, the substantial duad.
This is only one-third of the voyage which the living atom must accomplish in the real world; and, in this first excursion
through matter, he has still retained the spiritual character which he received from Yod (י), the characteristic of plate X.;
he must now lose this character for that of the following E (ה). To this end, he passes from plate X., which he has just re-
entered, to plate XI. (ה), the Hermit, the veiled Lamp, to pass in the same way as he has already done through the dual
series of the Sceptre-Cup, through the Queens, the 2, 5, and 8, passing by the 10 of Cups, and remounting by it
through the second series, Sword-Pentacles, to the arcanum XI., the starting-point of this second excursion.
Finally, from this last arcanum he passes to number XII. (י), the Sacrifice, descends the neuter series of the Knight, 3, 6,
9 of Sceptres and Cups, crosses the 10 of Swords and the 10 of Pentacles, and remounts by the dual Swords and
Pentacles to the intelligible world.
His journey across the material world is completed; he has travelled over the Zodiac; he will now die; the arcanum XIII. is
ready for him, and will give him access to the spiritual world, to the Redemption.
We will now explain some other features of this distribution.
It divides the external circle of the Equator into 3 arcs, subdivided into 4 portions; in all 12 divisions of different
characters. These are the 12 signs of the Zodiac. The first is naturally ranked with the first card of the minor arcana in
the spiritual sector, i. e. the King of Sceptres (Spades); the second corresponds with the King of Cups, and so on to the
twelfth.
One observation will suffice to justify the connection between the zodiac and our cards. We must note the 12 divisions of
the circle into the triple repetition of the 4 letters of the Sacred Name; an operation legitimized by the remark already
made, that these 4 colours correspond with these letters (see figure 2, in the intermediate circle, where the signs of the
Zodiac are written). We at once recognize the 4 trigons of the Zodiac, corresponding with the elements which the 4
colours also represent, and these trigons are characterized as well as designated.
| GET YOUR OWN beautiful PDF COPY OF all 5 tarot eBOOKs NOW! ONLY $3.99 !!Instant DOWNLOAD!! after your paypal payment complete To get these ebooks USE Buy It now button Below |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Tarot Of The Bohemians: Chapter 17