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Journal of the Western Mystery TraditionNo. 17, Vol. 2. Autumnal Equinox 2009
The Tarot of the Golden Dawn
by Joseph Gurney
Introduction
The pseudonymous “Fraulein Sprengel,” supposed author of the
Cipher Manuscripts, clearly thought that the Tarot was an
immensely important subject for the Golden Dawn. Six folios –
ten percent of the total number – concern a lecture on the Tarot
which was delivered to members of the grade of 3=8
Practicus.[1]
The Tarot is referred to with progressive frequency
in the Golden Dawn teachings as one advances up the grades to
Adeptus Minor and beyond.
What is fundamental to remember about the Tarot of the
Golden Dawn is that it is most definitely not just a system of
Divination. If one were to join the Golden Dawn, having
absolutely no prior knowledge of the Tarot or what it is meant
to be, one would glean the following from the way that the
order teaches the subject –
Firstly: the Tarot Trumps are visual symbols of the initiate’s
progress on the Tree of Life, and through the Order itself.
Secondly: the Tarot generally is a method of uniting Astrology
and the Qabalah, in particular the attributions of the Hebrew
alphabet, and teachings on the Sephiroth, the Partzufim, and the
Tree of Life generally.
Thirdly: the Tarot is an essential part of a highly sophisticated
theory of the human Aura, Astrology, Ceremonial Magic, and
the convoluted interplay of energies between the four worlds of
the Qabalah.
Fourthly: yes, the Tarot can be used for divination. But even in
this it is not mere fortune telling. The teachings given to Golden
Dawn initiates say that one should approach a Tarot Divination
with as much care as one would a full ceremonial magic
operation – literally in fact. The recommended method of Tarot
divination in the Golden Dawn is in fact a synthesis of
cartomantic practice, ceremonial magic, and clairvoyance.
Fifthly, the Tarot was incorporated directly into the ceremonial
magic of the Golden Dawn – most obviously through its
inclusion in the Enochian system. The peculiar attributions of
the individual squares of the Enochian tablets as specified by
the Golden Dawn require one to know the Tarot in order to
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appreciate all of the various forces which are at work.
There were yet further applications for the Tarot devised by
members of the Golden Dawn, but which were not fully
developed before the original Order closed in 1903. However,
successor groups to the Golden Dawn developed them to a high
degree. The most famous of these other Tarot applications as far
as modern day occultists are concerned is the practice of
Pathworking on the Tree of Life, in which the Tarot trumps arefocal points for clairvoyant excursions along the paths which
link the various Sephiroth. The earliest reference I can find to
“Pathworking” as an actual practice appears to have been
authored by J W Brodie-Innes.[2] This now appears to be a
widespread practice, described by occult authors such as Chic
& Tabatha Cicero[3]
; Osbourne Phillips[4]
; and Nick Farrell[5]
;
to name but a few.
A more obscure application of the Tarot was mentioned in a
document written for the original order by Macgregor Mathers,in the context of the curriculum of “Theoricus Adeptus Minor.”
This was a practice referred to as “Tarot Divination translated
into Magical Action.”[6] This has never been published:
although as other papers of the Theoricus Adeptus Minor have
surfaced over the years, there is every possibility that it was
actually written, and perhaps a copy lies in some unknown
archive somewhere.
In short, we should remember that the order intended the Tarot
to be an important key to unlock the full potentiality of the
Golden Dawn system. When one considers that the aim of theGolden Dawn system is to access the Tree of Life in all its many
subtleties, one can appreciate that the Tarot is a powerful
theurgical tool.
A Brief History of the Tarot prior to the Golden Dawn
In order to understand how important the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn was to Tarot, it is first necessary to appreciate
what state the subject was in prior to the foundation of that
society. The first definitive evidence of a seventy-eight card
tarot deck occurs in the late fifteenth century – the “Sola-
Buschi Tarocchi” which is dated to 1491. There are earlierdecks, such as the Visconti decks which date from circa 1442 to
1447, however these are either incomplete or else they were
deliberately not made with the full seventy-eight cards as we
know them today. Note that the so-called “Visconti-Sforza”
deck which is nowadays available is only a modern
approximation of the original Visconti decks, as there is no
historical record that any of the originals had either a “Devil” or
“Tower” card. The earliest evidence for playing cards in Europe
generally is from 1367, when they were banned in Bern,
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Switzerland, implying they had been in existence at least from
some time in the mid-fourteenth century.
Despite the historical evidence that Tarot decks first came into
existence sometime between the mid fourteenth and late
fifteenth centuries, the first evidence that they were used for
divinatory purposes is not until the late eighteenth century, at
least three hundred years later. It was at this time that Antoine
Court de Gebelin first alleged that the Tarot was in fact the“Book of Thoth” – a repository of the ancient mysteries of
Egypt, which had been brought to Europe by the Gypsies.[7]
De
Gebelin also first alleged that the twenty two trumps were
associated with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but did not
give the attributions.[8]
One of de Gebelin’s contemporaries,
however, was more explicit, by stating that the trump cards
should actually be read as if “The Fool” were attributed to Tau,
and the rest in reverse of the order established by Lévi some
seventy years later (vide infra).[9]
This arrangement is at odds with modern attributions, but there
are three points worth noting. Firstly: both de Gebelin and his
contemporary, de Mellet, put “The Fool” at the head of the
Tarot trumps ahead of the so-called “Game of Cups” or
“Juggler” – which is the old title for the “Magician.” Secondly:
they associated the suits of the Tarot to the suits of common
playing cards in the following manner – Spades, Swords, Hearts,
Cups, Diamonds, Batons (i.e. Wands), and Clubs, Coins (i.e.
Pentacles). Some cartomancers have found this somewhat
counter-intuitive, and instead attribute Diamonds to Coins and
Clubs to Batons as did Papus,[10] although quite inconsistently
he switched from his own attribution back to De Gebelin’s
part-way through his book.[11]
Thirdly: by using de Mellet’s Trump / Hebrew letter attribution,
the letter Tzaddi is attributed to “The King” (an old title for
“The Emperor”) – a fact which a certain Aleister Crowley made
use of in the twentieth century.
We should also remember that when de Gebelin and de Mellet
were writing, the Rosetta Stone had not yet been translated, sotheir speculations as to an ancient Egyptian derivation for the
word “Tarot” have no basis in reality. Indeed, there is no
historical basis for claiming that the Tarot originated in Egypt at
all: the idea of the “Book of Thoth” being one of a number of
myths which tend to crop up from time to time in the Western
Mysteries.
Yet, like all good myths, it continued to have an influential hold
on people’s imaginations. Thus it was that Eliphas Lévi
confidently asserted the relation of the Hebrew letters to the
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How Tarot was taught in the Golden Dawn
An initiate of the Golden Dawn first encountered mention of the
Tarot in the grade of Zelator, i.e. the second grade,[14]
when he
or she was told to memorise the names of the twenty-two
trumps, and the four suits.[15]
At this stage only memorisation,
and not analysis was necessary.
Assuming that the initiate successfully passed the Zelator exam,
he or she was entitled to be advanced to higher grades in which
they were exposed to progressively more Tarot imagery. In the
next grade, that of Theoricus, the first part of the ceremony
features a large reproduction of the Tarot trump “The Universe”
prominently displayed on the central altar. The next grade
ceremony of Practicus was in three parts: in the first two the
initiate was shown the trumps of “Judgment” and “The Sun”
respectively. In the fifth grade ceremony, that of Philosophus,
the candidate was shown three trumps: “The Moon,” “The Star”
and “The Tower.” In each case the various ceremonies followthe initiatory rationale of the Golden Dawn: as a Candidate is
advanced to a new grade, they are initiated in the mysteries of a
Sephirah of the Tree of Life, and in those of all the paths
leading up to the Sephirah. Hence:
Number Name of the
grade
The candidate is initiated in…
0º=0 Neophyte -
1º=10 Zelator Malkuth
2º=9 Theoricus The Path of Tav (“The Universe”);
Yesod.3º=8 Practicus The Paths of Shin (“Judgment”)
and Resh (“The Sun”);
Hod.
4º=7 Philosophus The Paths of Qoph (“The Moon”),
Tzaddi (“The Star”), and Peh (“The
Tower”);
Netzach
The grade of Practicus was the most interesting as far as the
Tarot is concerned, for it was in this grade the initiate was given
detailed information about the attributions of the Tarot trumps.In the original Practicus ceremony, the new 3=8 is shown a
diagram of trumps / letters of the Hebrew alphabet whilst
traversing the path of Resh. One of the officers, the Hegemon,
pointed out the diagram to the candidate, saying:
This shows the true and genuine attribution of the
Tarot trumps to the Hebrew alphabet which has
long been a secret among the Initiates and which
should be carefully concealed from the outer
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world.[16]
The showing of this particular diagram to the candidate during
the Practicus ceremony is specified in the Cipher
Manuscript.[17]
However, in the version of the same ritual which Israel Regardie
published in 1937, this particular part was omitted, indicatingthat some temples at least had adopted the practice of chopping
parts out of the rituals.[18]
However, in both the early and later temples, the new Practicus
was given an instruction paper on the Tarot trumps as part of
the Knowledge lecture for that grade. Here we have another
curiosity: the lecture on the Tarot which appears to have been
given out to Practici differs substantially from that specified in
the Cipher Manuscript, the former being an original composition
by Macgregor Mathers.
The version in the Cipher manuscript essentially amounts to an
explanation as to why the Golden Dawn’s astrological and
Qabalistic attributions of the Trumps differ from those already
published. For example, as to why “The Juggler” is associated
with Beth, a letter which should correspond to a planet, and not
Aleph, which corresponds to Air, the Cipher Manuscript says
this:
The Juggler is the natural symbol of Mercury the
god of tricksters and also the deeper knowledge.[19]
Mathers’ version takes a different approach. According to him,
each Tarot trump is to be thought of as the combined product of
the Sephirah at the upper end of the path in question, the
astrological significance of the path itself, and the Sephirah at
the lower end of the path. So to take the example of “The
Juggler” again, Mathers says:
1. The Juggler=The Crown of Understanding, the
beginning of material production, the Primum
Mobile acting through the Philosophic Mercury on
Saturn.[20]
That is to say: “The Juggler” is attributed to the path of Beth. At
the top of the path is Kether, which is the Crown, and also
represents the Primum Mobile, and the idea of “beginning.”
Beth itself is attributed by the Golden Dawn to the planet of
Mercury. At the bottom of the path is Binah, which is
Understanding, and also represents Saturn and the general idea
of motherhood, giving birth, i.e. “material production.” In like
manner, each of the descriptions of Tarot trumps given by
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Mathers can clearly be seen to be syntheses of the respective
parts of the Tree of Life.
Both lectures on the Tarot go someway to giving a brief
explanation of the Minor Arcana as well. In the Cipher
Manuscript this is very brief:
Cards of each suit: The 4 suits are the 4 worlds. The
16 cards are the lower fold Tetragrammaton.[21]
In other words: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles
respectively represent Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah,
whilst the King, Queen, Prince and Princess respectively
represent Yod, Heh, Vav and Heh on their respective planes.
Mathers on the other hand refers to the Minor Arcana thus:
The King and the Queen are the correlations of the
Abba and the Aima in that suit; the Knight or
Prince answers to Microprosopus, and the Knave or
Princess which was anciently a female figure, is
referred to the Bride, Kallah or Malkah.[22]
This expands on the idea of the Court Cards representing the
Tetragrammaton, and also indicate how the Qabalistic teaching
of the “Partzufim” may be incorporated into both the Tarot and
the Tree of Life.
All I have described up to now was the sum extent of
instruction on the Tarot given to members of the Outer Order. It
was all theoretical knowledge to be memorised: initiates were
not expected to do practical work or divination, and
consequently the divinatory meanings of the Tarot cards were
not touched upon.
How the Tarot was taught in the “Inner Order”
After spending a minimum of seven months in the grade of
Philosophus and passing the required examination, the initiate
was entitled to be advanced to the grade of “Portal of the Paths
of the Vault of the Adepti.” This grade does not have a direct
equivalent in other Rosicrucian orders, such as the SRIA.
According to the Golden Dawn idiom it represented the outer or
lower half of Tiphereth. It was created by the founders of theGolden Dawn to complete the symbolism of the outer order
which was otherwise left unresolved by the Adeptus Minor
ceremony.
In the Portal ceremony itself, the candidate is again presented
with three more Tarot trumps: “Death,” “The Devil” and
“Temperance,” representing the Paths leading up to Tiphereth
from Netzach, Hod and Yesod respectively. Interestingly, two
versions of the “Temperance” card are used – a modern
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version, and what purports to be a more ancient version.
In the later and more modern temples of the Golden Dawn, the
tendency is to encourage initiates to practice Tarot divination in
the grade of Portal, and even from the grade of Practicus
onwards. However, it is only when the initiate reaches the grade
of Adeptus Minor that the full genius of the order’s teachings on
the Tarot is fully revealed. Most of the Inner Order’s teachings
on the Tarot were composed by Macgregor Mathers, no doubtassisted by his wife Moina and, if legends are to be believed, by
the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. What can be said for
definite though is that there is no point of reference for the inner
order teachings in the Cipher Manuscript, so presumably the
Mathers were relying on their own genius.
One of the most important inner order documents is the
so-called “Book T.” This contains a full description of the
divinatory meanings of the Tarot trumps and the Minor Arcana.
It also gives a method of attributing the Minor Arcana to the
various decans of the Zodiac. One of Mathers’ boldest claimswas that this Tarot document was in fact the very same “Book
T” which was said to be found in the hand of Frater CRC when
his tomb was discovered by Frater NN, and of which is said:
… [N]ext unto the Bible [it] is our greatest
treasure, which ought to be delivered to the censure
of the world.[23]
Mathers also went on to claim that it was called “Book T”
because it stood for the “Book of Thoth” – hence “proving” not
only an ancient Egyptian but also a Rosicrucian origin for the
Tarot! Unfortunately as far as scholarship is concerned, it
proves nothing of the sort. One must assume that the Secret
Chiefs delivered a copy of the Rosicrucian manifestos to
Mathers which is different from the published versions, which
usually name the parchment in Frater CRC’s hand as being
called “I” instead of “T.”[24]
However, Mathers goes further with his teachings on the Tarot.
In addition to the so-called “Book T” there are also:
A full-blown method of actual Tarot divination;
A manuscript which gives in a detailed manner a method
to plot the entire cards of the Tarot deck not just to the
parts of the Zodiac, but also to the whole of the starry
heavens themselves;
A further manuscript which describes how the Tarot cards
not only relate to all the major constellations, but to a
very recondite manner of the interchange of Divine
influence down through the four Qabalistic worlds.
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This last mentioned manuscript is quite difficult to understand,
as its practical application is not immediately obvious. However
from documents that have now become public there are
indications that it was meant to be the first part of some very
advanced teachings regarding the Aura, which were developed
in an order called “The Holy Order of the Sun.”[25]
An Adeptus Minor was expected to be able to not only divine
by use of the Tarot, but also by Astrology and Geomancy as
well. Moreover, an initiate would have to know the meanings of
the various Tarot cards in connection with the order’s teachings
on Enochian Magic. For those that were talented enough to pass
the first two stages – the so-called sub-grades of Neophyte- and
Zelator Adeptus Minor – there was said to be further Tarot
teachings entitled “Tarot Divination translated into Magical
Action,” as mentioned previously.
Divinatory Meanings of the Cards, according to the Golden Dawn
When it comes to using the cards for Divinations, theirmeanings derive partly from cartomantic tradition, but also
partly from the particular astrological and Qabalistic
associations given to them by the Golden Dawn.
With regards to the Major Arcana, several writers have argued
that the astrological and Qabalistic assignments of the Major
Arcana can be rationally justified, by reference to the twelve
signs of the Zodiac, the twelve houses with which those signs
are related, the traditional divinatory meanings of the cards, and
quite simply by the imagery of the cards themselves.
[26]
[27]
So for example: the assignment of “Justice” to Libra is justified
by the imagery of the “scales of Justice”; likewise the
assignment of “Strength” to Leo is justified by the fact that
strength is a quality associated with Leo, and also by the simple
fact that a Lion is depicted on the face of the card.
Again: the association of “The Emperor” with Aries is justified
on the basis that the divinatory meaning of the card is generally
in harmony with the sign of Aries, cardinal Fire ruled by Mars
(and in which the Sun is exalted).
Some Trumps appear to cause difficulty at first, but may be
resolved by looking at the divinatory meanings of the cards and
comparing them to astrological houses. One question that
sometimes perplexes beginners is why “The Moon” is
associated with Pisces, and not with Luna as the name suggests.
The answer is that the divinatory meaning of “The Moon” -
glamour, deceit, treachery – corresponds to the twelfth
astrological house (enemies in secret), which itself is associated
with the twelfth sign of the Zodiac, i.e. Pisces. By rationalising
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it in this way, an elegant solution is provided which does not
cause the natural ordering of the Tarot trumps to be upset too
much.
In a similar manner, the association of “The Chariot” with
Cancer is difficult to explain until one remembers that in Horary
astrology, one of the meanings of the fourth astrological house
is “the end of the matter.” Thus it is appropriate to link “The
Chariot” (which means triumph – i.e. bringing things to asuccessful conclusion) with the fourth astrological house –
which happens to be itself associated with the fourth sign of the
Zodiac, i.e. Cancer.
The Minor Arcana are a somewhat more complex issue. The
meaning of any given card in the Minor Arcana is subject to the
following influences:
The Sephirah of the Tree of Life corresponding to the
“pip-number” of the card (e.g. Ace = Kether, Two =
Chokmah, Three = Binah, etc) or , in the case of the Courtcards, the letter of the Tetragrammaton associated with
the card (e.g. King = Yod, Queen = Heh, Prince = Vav,
Princess = Heh sophit);
The element with which the suit is associated (e.g. Wands
= Fire, Cups = Water, Swords = Air, Pentacles = Earth);
Traditional cartomantic ascriptions to the suits and the
ranks of the cards generally, and to individual cards in
particular; and
The influence of a particular decan of the Zodiac to
which the card is assigned, together with the influence of
the planet with which that decan is associated.
I want to devote some space to explaining the last of the
aforementioned, as it is this which is the point of widest
divergence between the Tarot of the Golden Dawn, and other
divinatory systems, such as that proposed by Papus. Firstly: the
Golden Dawn had an idiosyncratic method of assigning planets
to decans of the zodiac which does not correspond to
conventional astrology. In conventional astrology, the decans of
a sign are all ruled by the planetary rulers of the signs of the
same triplicity. However , in the Golden Dawn, starting from the
first decan of Leo, planets are assigned in the order they appearin classical astrology, with the proviso that Mars is duplicated at
the end of Pisces and at the beginning of Aries.
So for example: in conventional astrology, the decans of
Sagittarius would be ruled by Jupiter (ruler of Sagittarius itself),
Mars (ruler of Aries) and Sol (ruler of Leo). However, in the
Golden Dawn, they are ruled by Mercury, Luna, and Saturn. If
one were to work out the whole system one would see that the
Golden Dawn and the conventional astrological method only
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agree 25% of the time (i.e. nine decans out of thirty-six).
Secondly: the Golden Dawn had its own method of assigning
the Minor Arcana to the decans, which is completely different
to that of Papus. In the Golden Dawn system, the Aces are not
assigned to the Zodiac itself: only the cards two through nine of
a suit and the Court Cards are. Regarding the pip-cards, they are
all assigned to Signs of the Triplicity associated with their own
suit. So for example, the cards assigned to the first twelvedecans – i.e. the first four signs of the Zodiac – are: (Aries) 2 of
Wands, 3 of Wands, 4 of Wands; (Taurus) 5 of Pentacles, 6 of
Pentacles, 7 of Pentacles; (Gemini) 8 of Swords, 9 of Swords,
10 of Swords; and Cancer starts the cycle again with 2 of Cups,
3 of Cups and 4 of Cups.
The Golden Dawn’s method of assigning the Court Cards is
idiosyncratic yet again. Briefly: the Kings rule the mutable sign
of the element associated with their own suit. Likewise, the
Queens rule the cardinal sign, and the Princes rule the fixed sign
– the Princesses not playing a part in the scheme, as, like theAces, they are assigned to different parts of the heavens
entirely. However : no Court Card rules over all thirty degrees of
its corresponding sign. Instead, it rules over the first 20 degrees
only, as well as the last ten degrees of the preceding sign. So for
example, the King of Wands rules from 21 degrees of Libra to
20 degrees of Sagittarius; the Queen of Pentacles rules from 21
degrees of Sagittarius to 20 degrees of Capricorn; and the
Prince of Swords rules from 21 degrees of Capricorn to 20
degrees of Aquarius.
The Golden Dawn attaches significance not merely to the beltof the Zodiac, but to the whole of the sphere of the heavens.
The north-pole of the ecliptic – which happens to lie in the
constellation of Draco – is associated with Kether, and thus with
the four Aces: whilst the Princesses are interpreted as being the
“thrones” of the Aces.
Divination
A point of divergence between the Golden Dawn tarot and
other tarot decks is that rather than having “upright” and
“reversed” meanings, the cards are either said to be “well-
dignified” or “ill-dignified.” The Golden Dawn makes use of tarot-spreads in which the meanings of individual cards are
judged according to the influence of other cards which are in
close proximity. Hence, a card which is surrounded by other
cards of generally harmonious nature is said to be “well-
dignified,” whilst one that is surrounded by inharmonious cards
is “ill-dignified.” The precise meaning of a card may also be
more specifically attenuated by the surrounding cards.
So for example, the Five of Pentacles may mean either financial
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being Wands; the Sword being Swords obviously; and the Dish
or platter being Pentacles.[31]
Mary K Greer has argued that the
artwork to the Minor Arcana are meant to depict the various
incidents in the Grail Legend.[32]
Waite is also famous for his book The Pictorial Key to the
Tarot ,[33] in which he further follows the Golden Dawn
attributions – though painstakingly avoiding saying where he gotthem from. Waite incidentally also makes passing reference to
the Knight of Swords being Sir Galahad,[34] leading one to
speculate that the characters depicted in the deck are character
are meant to be characters from Arthurian or Grail legend.
Crowley
Aleister Crowley (1875 – 1947) being perhaps the most famous
occultist of the twentieth century, it is not surprising that his
“Thoth Tarot” is an exceedingly popular Tarot deck. Crowley
and artist Lady Frieda Harris (1877 – 1962) worked on creating
the deck between 1938 and 1943, although it was only first
published in 1969.
Crowley joined the Golden Dawn in 1898 but distanced himself
from it after the Horos scandal, finally breaking with Mathers
altogether in 1906. Whilst he was still within the pale of the
Golden Dawn he was advanced to the grade of Adeptus Minor:
he also acquired all of Allan Bennett’s magical papers –
including Golden Dawn documents and incunabula – when the
latter emigrated to India in 1900.
The artwork of the Crowley Thoth deck, which is exceedingly
intricate in its design, displays a number of influences,
including:
The tarot, astrological and colour attributions of the
Golden Dawn;
Revelations which came to Crowley in regard to his own
Liber Al Vel Legis and his Enochian work as described in
The Vision and The Voice;
A miscellaneous number of Crowley’s pet subjects, such
as Sexual magick and Alchemy; and
The projective synthetic geometry of Jakob Steiner (1796
– 1863).[35]
Generally speaking the Crowley deck follows the Golden Dawn
system well, except in a few noted instances. As part of Liber
Al Vel Legis Crowley received the following cryptic message:
All these old letters of my Book are aright; but
[Tzaddi] is not the Star.[36]
Crowley himself was puzzled for many years as to what Tzaddi
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should be if not “The Star,” and many of his major works are
based on using the traditional Golden Dawn attributions.
However he eventually decided that it was not “The Star” but
“The Tsar” i.e. “the Emperor,” thereby swapping round the
letters Tzaddi and Heh (coincidentally de Mellet gives “the
Emperor” as Tzaddi as well).[37]
Another notable departure from the Golden Dawn is that theJudgement card is replaced by “The Aeon.” Crowley came to
believe that the Last Judgement had happened when he had
received the Book of the Law: therefore it was now more
appropriate to look forward to the so-called Aeon of Horus of
which he claimed to be the prophet.[38]
Aside from the deck itself, Crowley was also the author of The
Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot), the text which explains the
cards. Whilst the descriptions of the cards therein clearly
demonstrate Crowley’s originality of thought, the method of
divination proposed is nothing other than the Golden Dawn’sown “Opening of the Key,” [39] which Crowley had originally
published without attribution in The Equinox some thirty years
prior to the Book of Thoth.[40]
Crowley referred to the Tarot
throughout his written works, so a thorough knowledge of the
subject is essential to understanding “Thelema” and his
magickal philosophy generally.
Case
Paul Foster Case (1884 – 1954) was the founder of the
“Builders of the Adytum” (BOTA) and the designer of its
eponymous tarot deck. Case was a former member of the
“Alpha Et Omega,” one of the schismatic factions into which
the original Golden Dawn split. Most significantly, it was as a
scholar of the Tarot that Case first became involved in the
occult generally, and the Golden Dawn tradition in particular.
The BOTA Tarot deck is similar in design to Waite’s. One of
the main differences is that the pictures are black and white line
drawings: the idea being that as part of their occult training,
BOTA members would make use of their knowledge of occult
colour attributions to colour them in.
As a scholar, his work on the Tarot is solidly in the Golden
Dawn milieu. Case himself claimed that he worked out the
“correct” (i.e. the Golden Dawn’s) ordering of the Tarot trumps
before it was ever published.[41] However it is as an occultist
that Case produced his most original work on the Tarot, as
opposed to merely going over the Golden Dawn’s material: this
was the Book of Tokens, which he and his Alpha Et Omega
colleague Michael Whitty channelled circa 1919. This is a book
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of twenty-two “meditations” or free-verse poems.[42]
Others/strong>
There are now a number of “Golden Dawn” tarot decks
which are officially published. These include versions byRobert Wang, Tabatha Cicero, Richard Dudschus and
Patrizio Evangelisti, whilst others are in the pipeline at thetime of writing. In addition, Chic and Tabatha Cicero in an
attempt to recreate the obscure Golden Dawn teaching of “Tarot Divination translated into Magical Action” havepublished their own system of Tarot magic which is
nevertheless harmonious with the order’s teachings.[43]
Although there are only about half a dozen tarot decks
published which are specifically “Golden Dawn,” thenumber of Tarot decks which the Golden Dawn has inspiredis very large indeed and appears to grow exponentially. This
is principally because the Golden Dawn teachings inspiredtwo of the most influential decks in their own right (those of
Waite and Crowley), which themselves have inspirednumerous others. Many of these are essentially clone-decks,
although there is a significant number designed bypractising occultists which manage to display both the
creators’ original thought and the influences of either Waiteor Crowley. When one considers that these tarot decks
themselves have inspired works not merely on divination buton the use of the Tarot for spiritual, meditative and magical
practices, one can appreciate the influence of the GoldenDawn at the heart of modern Tarot practice is very
pervasive indeed.
Index
Appendix One
Attribution of the Tarot trumps to the Hebrew alphabet, with
partial Qabalistic correspondences, according to Lévi.
Hebrew Letter
Name of TarotTrump
Qabalisticcorrespondence
Aleph The Juggler Air
Beth The Female Pope Luna
Gimel The Empress VenusDaleth The Emperor ?
He The Pope Aries
Vau Vice & Virtue Taurus
Zayin The Cubic Chariot Gemini
Cheth Justice Cancer
Teth The Hermit Leo
Yod The Wheel of
Fortune
Virgo
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Shin 20 31 Judgment Fire
Tau 21 32 The Universe Saturn
Index
Bibliography
Anonymous, [n.d.], Fama Fraternitatis,
http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/fama.html , accessed
2009-06-04.
Anonymous, Kupperman, J S (transcriber / translator), [n.d.],
The Cipher Manuscript, http://www.hermetic.com/gdlibrary/cipher/index.html et seq., accessed 2009-05-21.
Case, P F, 1933, The Oracle of the Tarot, http://tarot.org.il/Library/PFCase/Oracle%20of%20the%20Tarot.pdf ,accessed 2009-06-24.
Case, P F, 1968, The Book of Tokens, fourth edition, Builders of
the Adytum, Los Angeles.
Cicero, C, Cicero, S T, 2006, Tarot Talismans: Invoke the
Angels of the Tarot, Llewellyn, St Pauls, Minnesota.
Le Comte de Mellet, Tyson, D (translator), 1781, “Recherches
sur les Tarots, et sur la Divination par les Cartes des Tarots,”
published in Le Monde Primitif, analysé et compare avec le
monde moderne, Volume 8, http://www.donaldtyson.com/gebelin.html, accessed 2009-05-21.
Crowley, A, 1904, The Book of the Law Liber AL vel Legis subfigura CCXX as delivered by XCIII = 418 to DCLXVI ,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/engccxx.htm accessed2009-08-03.
Crowley, A, 1912, The Equinox, Volume 1 number 8, Wieland
& Co, London.
Crowley, A, 1995, The Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot),
Weiser, Boston MA.
De Gebelin, A C, Tyson, D (translator), 1781, “Du Jeu Des
Tarots,” published in Le Monde Primitif, analysé et compare
avec le monde moderne, Volume 8,
http://www.donaldtyson.com/gebelin.html, accessed
2009-05-21.
Phillips, O, 2001, Aurum Solis Initiation Ceremonies and Inner
Magical Techniques, Thoth Publications, Leicester.
Duquette, L M, 2003, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth
Tarot, Red Wheel / Weiser, Boston MA.
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Farrell, N, 2003, Magical Pathworkings: Techniques of Active
Imagination, Llewellyn, St Pauls Minnesota.
“G H Frater DDCF, 7=4” (Macgregor Mathers, S L), 1898,
General Orders, http://www.angelfire.com/ab6/imuhtuk/gdmans/general.htm , accessed 2009-06-04.
Greer, M K, 2006, Llewellyn’s Tarot Reader 2006 , Llewellyn,St Pauls Minnesota.
Lévi, E, Waite, A E (translator), 1896, Transcendental Magic:
its doctrine and ritual, Rider & Company, London.
Papus, Morton, A P (translator), 1892, The Tarot of the
Bohemians, http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/tob/index.htm, accessed 2009-05-22.
Regardie, I, 1989, The Golden Dawn, 6th edition, Llewellyn, St
Pauls, Minnesota.
Regardie, I, Cicero, C (editor), Cicero, S T (editor), 2002, A
Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life , 3rd
edition, Llewellyn, St Pauls, Minnesota.
“Shemesh,” [n.d.], XXIII Aura Teachings (2nd Series)
Concerning Sex On The Aura,
http://magicoftheordinary.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/aura-23-complete.pdf , accessed 2009-07-31.
“V.N.”, 1910, “The Truth About the Tarot Trumps,” reprinted
in Waite, A E, Kuntz, D (editor), 1996, The Golden Dawn
Tarot , Holmes Publishing Group, Edmonton WA.
Waite, A E, 1909, The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal,
Rebman Limited, London.
Waite, A E, 1909, “The Tarot: A Wheel of Fortune,” The
Occult Review, Volume X: No. 12, London.
Waite, A E, 1911, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Rider,
London.
Waite, A E, Kuntz, D (editor), 1996, The Golden Dawn Tarot ,
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Index
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Notes
[1] Cipher Manuscript , folios 51 to 56.
[2] Described in Regardie (1989), pp 463 – 464.
[3] Regardie, Cicero, Cicero (2002).
[4] Phillips (2001), p19.
[5] Farrell (2003)
[6] DDCF (1898).
[7] De Gebelin (1781)
[8] Ibid. “The whole of the 21 or 22 atouts, the 22 letters of the
Egyptian alphabet common to the Hebrews and to the East, and
which were also used as numbers, are necessary to keep an
account of so many regions.”
[9] De Mellet (1781).
[10] Papus (1892), p36.
[11] Ibid. p322.
[12] Lévi (1896), book two, chapter XXII.
[13] Westcott (1912)
[14] NB: This paper was originally written for the benefit of
members of the SRIA, who have a similar though slightly
different grade structure to the Golden Dawn.
[15] The Cipher Mss (Anonymous (n.d.), folio 15) specified the
22 Trumps only: the original Zelator ceremony added the
qualification of the four suits.
[16] Regardie (…)
[17] Op cit, folio 25.
[18] Regardie (1989).
[19] Op cit, folios 55 and 56.
[20] Regardie (1989), …
[21] Op cit folio 51.
[22] Regardie (1989), …
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