The Tarot of the Bohemians
Papus
Chapter 12
13th Hebrew letter (Mem).
Origin Of The Symbolism Of The Thirteenth Card Of The Tarot.
The hieroglyphic meaning of the Mem is a woman, the companion of man, it therefore give rise to ideas of fertility and formation. It is pre-eminently the maternal and female, the local and plastic sign, the image of external and passive action. Employed at the end of words, this letter becomes a collective sign ם (final Mem). In this case it developes the being in unlimited space.
Creation necessitates equal destruction in a contrary sense, and therefore the Mem designates all the regenerations that have sprung from the previous destruction, all transformations, and consequently death, regarded as the passage from one world to the other.
The Mem is one of the three Mother letters.
Thirteenth Card Of The Tarot.
Death, or the Skeleton Mower.
The ideas expressed by this arcanum are those of destruction preceding or following regeneration.
A skeleton mows down heads in a field, from which hands and feet spring up on all sides, as the scythe persues its work.
The works of the head (conception) becomes immortal as soon as they are realized (heads and feet).
The 13th arcanum is explained by the 10th (Fortune) and by he 16th (Destruction), between which it stands.
10+16=26 26/2=13.
13 is therefore the center between the Yod (Principle of the creation) and the Ayin (16), Principal of destruction.
The 13th arcanum is completed by the 18th, its complementary, as the fifth was of the second, and the twelfth of the seventh. (See the 8th and the 5th arcana.)
| 13 Death | is completed by 13+18=31 31=4=10=1 | 18 The Moon |
| 14 Temperance | is completed by 14+17=31 | 17 The Stars |
| 15 The Devil | is completed by 15+16=31 | 16 Destruction |
The thirteenth card of the Tarot is placed between the invisible and the visible worlds. It is the universal link in nature, the means by which all the influences react from one world to the other. It signifies-
1. God the transformer-
- The Universal Transforming Principle.
- Destructive and creative.
2. The negative of realization-
- Death.
3. The Astral light accomplishing the function of the Creator-
- The Universal Plastic Force.
- Balancing death and the transforming force.)
