The Tarot of the Bohemians
Papus
Chapter 10
The Symbolical Tarot
The First Septenary, 1st to 7th Arcana. Theogony.
Scheme of Work - Key to the 1st Septenary - The 1st Card of the Tarot the Origin of all the others - The three principles of the Absolute - The Trinity - Figure of the first Card and its Affinities - The High Preistess and the Beth - The Gimel and the Empress - The Daleth and the Emperor - The He and the Pope - The Vau, the Lovers - Summary of the 1st Septenary - Constitution of God.
Study of Each of the 22 Major Arcana.
Scheme of Work
We shall now apply this general law of symbolism to each of the twenty-two major arcana.
We must here beg for the reader's careful attention in spite of the length of the subject under consideration. We shall make every effort to be as clear as possible, and therefore we shall first explain the scheme which we have adopted in the study of each of the cards of the Tarot.
(1st) We shall always start from the hieroglyphic sign which has given birth to the Hebrew letter. Court de Gebelin is the author whom we shall consult chiefly upon this subject.
(2nd) We shall explain from the hieroglyphic character all the ideas that can be progressively deduced from it and which characterize the Hebrew letter considered as a sign. Kircher and Fabre d'Olivet are our authorities in this work.
(3rd) When we have once defined the ideas signified by the Hebrew letter, we shall search for the application of these ideas in the symbolic figure of the Tarot.
Eliphas Levi1, Christian2, and Barrois3 will aid us in our inquiries.
(4th) Lastly, we shall determine the meaning which must be attributed to the card of the Tarot, according to its numerical and symbolical affinities with all the others, in applying to it the general law of symbolism. This portion of our work is strictly personal.
(5th) We shall end the study upon each of the cards by a figure showing all that we have said.
We must warn the reader that the persual of recapitulation only will be of no use as a means of understanding the card of the Tarot, and that the best way will be to carefully follow the successive explanations of each card, with the Tarot before him.
We cannot end this opening chapter without alluding to the basis upon which we have established the astronomical relations of each card of the Tarot.
One of the most ancient books of the Kabbalah which we possess, the Sepher Yetzirah4, says that the three mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet correspond with the three worlds, the seven doubles with the seven planets, and the twelve simple with the twelve signs of the zodiac5.
Now in studying the astrological manuscript published by Christian, we have discovered that the numbers attributed to the planets by the author of this manuscript exactly correspond with the double Hebrew letters. The numbers attributed to the twelve signs of the zodiac exactly correspond with the simple letters.
We considered that this absolute agreement between two documents of such different origin deserved our serious attention, and we have therefore given with each letter its astronomical correspondence.
Key Of The First Septenary.
Arrangement of the Figures For Study.
Character Of The Figures.
The First Card Of The Tarot.
Origin Of The Signification Of All The Others.
We see from our preceding work that if we know the exact meaning of the first card of the Tarot we can, from that, discover the signification of all the others.
We cannot approach this subject without great hesitation. The hope of ascertaining the truth is, in fact, troubled by the possibility of making a mistake which might have very serious results.
The work which we have already accomplished will, however enable us to decipher the meaning of the symbolism of the first card f the Tarot almost mathematically, but the general meaning only; whilst we know that each card must have not one but three meanings.
We must discover three sufficiently general principals to be applied to every order of human knowledge; for thi should be the object of the Tarot.
In this case we will, as usual, resert to those eminent authors who have treated these questions from the different points of view, and the agreement between their teachings will give us new light to illuminate our path.
The Pole Hoene Wronski6, who died of hunger in the suburbs of Paris, was perhaps one of the most powerful intellects produced by the 19th century. He asserted that he had discovered the formula of the absolute, and his works are unquestionably a summary of one of the most elevated synthesis that we have ever seen. We need not discuss the doctrines of Wronski, but will only say a few words upon the three primitive elements which enter into his law of creation.
Wronski places at the origin of all creation three elements, which he designates by the names-
- Of Neuter Element (E. N.)
- Of Element of Being (E.B.)
- Of Element of Wisdom (E. W.)
The Element of Wisdom represents the Creative Faculty with its especial characteristics , autogeny and spontaneity.
The Element of Beign represents the Permanent Faculty with its characteristics, autothesis and inertia.
- Principle of the Creation or Element of Wisdom.
- Principle of Preservation or Element of Being.
- Principle of Neutralization or Neuter Element.
These are the three terms upon which wronski establishes the foundations of Reality, and, consequently, of all the systems of creation. We must remember these conclusions.
Fabre d'Olivet, in his researches upon the first principles which direct everything7, determines the existence of three elements, which he names Providence, Destiny, Human Will.
Providence is the principle of Absolute Liberty, of the creation of beings and things.
Destiny is the principle of Absolute Necessity, of the preservation of beings and things.
Lastly, the Human Will is a neuter principle intermediate between the two: the principle of mobiliy and Change in all their forms. Now it is not necessary to be very learned to perceive the absolute agreement which exists between the two authors; one, Wronski, reached his conclusions by mathematics, the other, d'Olivet, attained his profound study of antiquity and its mysteries. The words used may vary, but the idea is fundamentally the same.
Wronski's Element of Wisdom (E. W.) the principle of the creation, is the same thing as the Providence of d'Olivet, who thus places it as the principle of the creation.
Wronski's Element of Being (E. B.), the principle of the permanent faculty, exactly represents what d'Olivet calls Destiny, and which he concludes to be the principle of preservation.
Lastly, d'Olivet's human Will corresponds in all points with Wronski's Neuter Element.
Here then are two very different systems, which lead to the same signification. But our conclusions do not stop here.
If we study these three primitive principles more attentively we shall find in the first: Providence or the element of Widsom, represented in philosophy by the word of God.
Destiny or Being shows us its identity with the immutable laws which govern the Universe.
Lastly, it does not require much study to prove to us that the human Will responds to Man.
God, Man, And The Universe.
This is the basis of all the esoteric philosophy of the ancients, and not only Wronski and Fabre d'Olivet agree in their conclusions respecting this mysterious ternary; occult science itself proclaims its identity with these principles by the mouth of all its disciples. Hermes Trismegistus, the Holy Kabbalah, Neo-Platonicism and the Alchemists through Pythagorasand all the Greek philosophers assert the division of the Great All into Three Entities Or Worlds.
In less remote ages Guillaume Postel8 gives the key of the Tarot without explaining it, and the basis of this key is formed by this mysterious entity-
Deus, Homo, Rota.
Trithemie and his pupil Cornelius Agrippa9 also give us this fecund and sublime trinity in all their analogical figures.
The Jesuit Kircher10 describes this division into three worlds as the basis of the Egyptian mysteries.
Lastly, Claude de Saint-Martin has written a book entirely based upon the keys of the Tarot, and it is entitled- Tableau Naturel des rapports qui unissent Dieu, l'Homme, Et l'Univers.
Let us question India upon the law of hte absolute, she replies-
Trimurti: Brahma, Siva, Vishnu.
Let us ask China for the great secret of her philosophy, and she will give us the Tri-grams of Fo-Hi.
Address ourselves to one of the initiated Egyptians, he will tell us-
Osiris, Isis, Horus.
The founder of Greek Cosmogony, the disciple of the science of Egypt, Hesiod, also transmits this law to us, and they all confirm Louis Lucas when he states11: "I feel that hidden beneat this mystical formula of the trinity is one of the most important scientific laws that man has ever discovered."
God, Man and the Universe, these are the most general principles that we can attain, and they constitute the three meanings of the first card of the Tarot.
It remains for us to ascertain first, wheter these meanings respond to the primitive hieroglyphic, and then to determine how far they extend through the whole Tarot.
1. Rituel de la Haute Magie.
2. Histoire de la Magie.
3. Dactylologie ou Langage Prmitif.
4. Translated into French by Papus.
5. See Franck, The Kabbala, Paris, 8vo.
6. See l'Occultisme Contemporain (M. Carre)
7. See The Golden Verses of Pythagoras, and the Histoire Philosophique du genre Humain.
8. Clavis.
9. La Philosophie Occulte (La Haye).
10. Oedipus Aegyptiacus.
11. See Le Roman Alchimique.