{"collection":"Tarot","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tarot/tob/tob12.htm","path":"tarot/tob/tob12.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tarot/tob/tob12.htm","text":"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 Priestess and the Beth--The Gimel and the Empress--The Daleth and the Emperor--The He and the Pope--The Van, the Lovers--Summary of the 1st Septenary--Constitution of God.\nSTUDY OF EACH OF THE 22 MAJOR ARCANA.\nScheme of Work.\nWE shall now apply this general law of symbolism to each of the twenty-two major arcana.\nWe 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.\n(1st) We shall always start from the hieroglyphic sign which has given birth to the Hebrew letter. Court de G\u00e9belin is the author whom we shall consult chiefly upon this subject.\n(2nd) We shall explain from the hieroglyphic character\nall 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.\n(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.\nEliphas Levi, 1 Christian 2 and Barrois 3 will aid us in our inquiries.\n(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.\n(5th) We shall end the study upon each of the cards by a figure showing all that we have said.\nWe must warn the reader that the perusal of the recapitulations 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.\nWe cannot end this opening chapter without alluding to the basis upon which we have established the astronomical relations of each card of the Tarot.\nOne of the most ancient books of the Kabbalah which we possess, the Sepher Yetzirah, 4 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 zodiac. 5\nNow 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.\nWe 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.\nKEY OF THE FIRST SEPTENARY.\nARRANGEMENT OF THE FIGURES FOR STUDY.\nCHARACTER OF THE FIGURES.\n97:1 Rituel de la Haute Magie.\n97:2 Histoire de la Magie.\n97:3 Dactylologie ou Langage Primitif.\n97:4 Translated into French by Papus.\n97:5 See Franck, The Kabbala, Paris, 8vo.","title":"Tarot of the Bohemians: Chapter X. The Symbolical Tarot: Scheme of Work","type":"page"}