{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_43548/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_43548","id":"gutenberg_43548","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43548","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Fortune-telling by cards","Tarot"],"text":"The Illustrated Key\n                              To The Tarot\n\n                         THE VEIL OF DIVINATION\n\n               Illustrating The Greater And Lesser Arcana\n\n                               EMBRACING\n\n                       THE VEIL AND ITS SYMBOLS.\n             SECRET TRADITION UNDER THE VEIL OF DIVINATION.\n                       ART OF TAROT DIVINATION.\n                     OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES.\n                         THE TAROT IN HISTORY.\n                           INNER SYMBOLISM.\n                           THE GREATER KEYS.\n\n                                  _By_\n\n                          _L. W. de Laurence_\n\n            AUTHOR OF, THE MASTER KEY. THE IMMANENCE OF GOD,\n            KNOW THYSELF. GOD, THE BIBL, TRUTH AND CHRISTIAN\n           THEOLOGY. MEDICAL HYPNOSIS AND MAGNETIC HYPNOTISM.\n            MANUAL OF DISEASE AND MODERN MEDICINE. VALMONDI:\n           THE OLD BOOK OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES. THE DEAD MAN'S\n             HOME. SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IN PUBLIC. THE GREAT\n            BOOK OF MAGICAL ART, HINDU MAGIC AND EAST INDIAN\n            OCCULTISM, A SELF GUIDE FOR ALL MEN, ETC., ETC.\n\n                        The de Laurence Company\n\n                        Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.\n\n\n                           _Copyright, 1918_\n\n                                  _By_\n\n                        de LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO.\n\n\nSPECIAL NOTICE\n\nThe illustrations, cover design and contents of this Volume are\nprotected by copyright, and must not be reproduced or copied without\nwritten permission from the Publishers.\n\nDisregard of this warning will subject the offender to the penalty\nprovided by law.\n\nThis book is manufactured in strict conformity with Government\nregulations for saving paper.\n\n\nPrinted in U.S.A.\n\n\n\n\n                        _THE ILLUSTRATED KEY TO\n                               THE TAROT_\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\n\nIt seems rather of necessity than predilection in the sense of\n_apologia_ that I should put on record in the first place a plain\nstatement of my personal position, as one who for many years of literary\nlife has been, subject to his spiritual and other limitations, an\nexponent of the higher mystic schools. It will be thought that I am\nacting strangely in concerning myself at this day with what appears at\nfirst sight and simply a well-known method of fortune-telling. Now, the\nopinions of some, even in the literary reviews, are of no importance\nunless they happen to agree with our own, but in order to sanctify this\ndoctrine we must take care that our opinions, and the subjects out of\nwhich they arise, are concerned only with the highest. Yet it is just\nthis which may seem doubtful, in the present instance, not only to\nthose, whom I respect within the proper measures of detachment, but to\nsome of more real consequence, seeing that their dedications are mine.\nTo these and to any I would say that after the most illuminated Frater\nChristian Rosy Cross had beheld the Chemical Marriage in the Secret\nPalace of Transmutation, his story breaks off abruptly, with an\nintimation that he expected next morning to be door-keeper. After the\nsame manner, it happens more often than might seem likely that those who\nhave seen the _Occult Powers_ of Nature through the most clearest veils\nof the sacraments are those who assume thereafter the humblest offices\nof all about the House of Wisdom. By such simple devices also are the\n_Adepts_ and _Great Masters_ in the secret orders distinguished from the\ncohort of Neophytes as _servi servorum mysterii_. So also, or in a way\nwhich is not entirely unlike, we meet with the Tarot cards at the\noutermost gates--amidst the fritterings and d\u00e9bris of the so called\n_occult_ arts, about which no one in their senses has suffered the\nsmallest deception; and yet these cards belong in themselves to another\nregion, for they contain a very high symbolism, which is interpreted\naccording to the Laws of Grace rather than by the pretexts and\nintuitions of that which passes for divination. The fact that the wisdom\nof God (Nature) is foolishness with men does not create a presumption\nthat the foolishness of this world makes in any sense for Divine Wisdom;\nso neither the scholars in the ordinary classes nor the pedagogues in\nthe seats of the mighty will be quick to perceive the likelihood or even\nthe possibility of this proposition. The subject has been in the hands\nof cartomancists as part of the stock-in-trade of their industry; I do\nnot seek to persuade any one outside my own circles that this is of much\nor of no consequence; but on the historical and interpretative sides it\nhas not fared better; it has been there in the hands of exponents who\nhave brought it into utter contempt for those people who possess\nphilosophical insight or faculties for the appreciation of evidence. It\nis time that it should be rescued, and this I propose to undertake once\nand for all, that I may have done with the side issues which distract\nfrom the term. As poetry is the most beautiful expression of the things\nthat are of all most beautiful, so is symbolism the most catholic\nexpression in concealment of things that are most profound in the\nSanctuary and that have not been declared outside it with the same\nfullness by means of the spoken word. The justification of the rule of\nsilence is no part of my present concern, but I have put on record\nelsewhere, and quite recently, what it is possible to say on this\nsubject.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe little treatise which follows is divided into three parts, in the\nfirst of which I have dealt with the antiquities of the subject and a\nfew things that arise from and connect therewith. It should be\nunderstood that it is not put forward as a contribution to the history\nof playing cards, about which I know and care nothing; it is a\nconsideration dedicated and addressed to a certain school of occultism,\nmore especially in France, as to the source and center of all the\nphantasmagoria which has entered into expression during the last fifty\nyears under the pretense of considering Tarot cards historically. In the\nsecond part, I have dealt with the symbolism according to some of its\nhigher aspects, and this also serves to introduce the complete and\nrectified Tarot, which is available separately, in the form of colored\ncards, the designs of which are added to the present text in black and\nwhite. They have been prepared under my supervision--in respect of the\nattributions and meanings--by a lady who has high claims as an artist.\nRegarding the divinatory part, by which my thesis is terminated, I\nconsider it personally as a fact in the history of the _Tarot_; as such,\nI have drawn, from all published sources, a harmony of the meanings\nwhich have been attached to the various cards, and I have given\nprominence to one method of working that has not been published\npreviously; having the merit of simplicity, while it is also of\nuniversal application, it may be held to replace the cumbrous and\ninvolved systems of the larger hand-books.\n\n\n\n\n                               _CONTENTS_\n\n\n                                                          PAGE\n\n  PREFACE                                                    3\n\n  An explanation of the personal kind--An illustration from\n  mystic literature--A subject which calls to be rescued--\n  Limits and intention of the work.\n\n\n  PART I\n  THE VEIL AND ITS SYMBOLS                                   7\n\n  \u00a7 1.--Introductory And General.\n  \u00a7 2.--Class I. The Trumps Major, Otherwise Greater Arcana.\n  \u00a7 3.--Class II. The Four Suits, Otherwise Lesser Arcana.\n  \u00a7 4.--The Tarot In History.\n\n\n  PART II\n  THE DOCTRINE BEHIND THE VEIL                              33\n\n  \u00a7 1.--The Tarot And Secret Tradition.\n  \u00a7 2.--The Trumps Major And Their Inner Symbolism.\n  \u00a7 3.--Conclusion As To The Greater Keys.\n\n\n  PART III\n  THE OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES                           85\n\n  \u00a7 1.--Distinction Between The Greater And Lesser Arcana.\n  \u00a7 2.--The Lesser Arcana, Otherwise, The Four Suits Of Tarot Cards.\n    The Suit Of Wands.\n    The Suit Of Cups.\n    The Suit Of Swords.\n    The Suit Of Pentacles.\n  \u00a7 3.--The Greater Arcana And Their Divinatory Meanings.\n  \u00a7 4.--Some Additional Meanings Of The Lesser Arcana.\n  \u00a7 5.--The Recurrence Of Cards In Dealing.\n  \u00a7 6.--The Art Of Tarot Divination.\n  \u00a7 7.--An Ancient Celtic Method Of Divination.\n  \u00a7 8.--An Alternative Method Of Reading The Tarot Cards.\n  \u00a7 9.--The Method Of Reading By Means Of Thirty-five Cards.\n\n\n  BIBLIOGRAPHY\n  A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CHIEF WORKS DEALING\n  WITH THE TAROT AND ITS CONNECTIONS                           164\n\n\n\n\n                    The Illustrated Key To The Tarot\n\n\n\n\n                                Part One\n                        THE VEIL AND ITS SYMBOLS\n\n\n                               Section I\n                        INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL\n\nThe pathology of the poet says that \"_the undevout astronomer is mad_\";\nthe pathology of the very plain man says that \"_the genius is mad_\"; and\nbetween these extremes, which stand for ten thousand analogous excesses,\nthe sovereign reason takes the part of a moderator and does what it can.\nI do not think that there is a pathology of the _occult_ dedications,\nbut about their extravagances no one can question, and it is not less\ndifficult than thankless to act as a moderator regarding them. Moreover,\nthe pathology, if it existed, would probably be an empiricism rather\nthan a diagnosis, and would offer no criterion. Now, _occultism_ is not\nlike mystic faculty, and it very seldom works in harmony either with\nbusiness aptitude in the things of ordinary life or with a knowledge of\nthe canons of evidence in its own sphere. I know that for the high art\nof ribaldry there are few things more dull than the criticism which\nmaintains that a thesis is untrue, and cannot understand that it is\ndecorative. I know also that after long dealing with doubtful doctrine\nor with difficult research it is always refreshing, in the domain of\nthis art, to meet with what is obviously of fraud or at least of\ncomplete unreason. But the aspects of history, as seen through the lens\nof occultism, are not as a rule decorative, and have few gifts of\nrefreshment to heal the lacerations which they inflict on the logical\nunderstanding. It almost requires a _Frater Sapiens dominabitur astris_\nin the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross to have the patience which is not\nlost amidst clouds of folly when the consideration of the Tarot is\nundertaken in accordance with the higher law of symbolism. The true\nTarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other\nsigns. Given the inward meaning of its emblems, they do become a kind of\nalphabet which is capable of indefinite combinations and makes true\nsense in all. On the highest plane it offers a _\"Key\" To The\nMysteries_, in a manner which is not arbitrary and has not been read in.\nBut the wrong symbolical stories have been told concerning it, and the\nwrong history has been given in every published work which so far has\ndealt with the subject. It has been intimated by two or three writers\nthat, at least in respect of the meanings, this is unavoidably the case,\nbecause few are acquainted with them, while these few hold by\ntransmission under pledges and cannot betray their trust. The suggestion\nis fantastic on the surface, for there seems a certain anti-climax in\nthe proposition that a particular interpretation of\nfortune-telling--_l'art de tirer les cartes_--can be reserved for Sons\nof the Doctrine. The fact remains, notwithstanding, that a _Secret\nTradition_ exists regarding the _Tarot_, and as there is always the\npossibility that some minor arcana of the Mysteries may be made public\nwith a flourish of trumpets, it will be as well to go before the event\nand to warn those who are curious in such matters that any revelation\nwill contain only a third part of the earth and sea and a third part of\nthe stars of heaven in respect of the symbolism. This is for the simple\nreason that neither in root-matter nor in development has more been put\ninto writing, so that much will remain to be said after any pretended\nunveiling. The guardians of certain temples of initiation who keep watch\nover mysteries of this order have therefore no cause for alarm.\n\nIn my preface to _The Tarot Of The Bohemians_, which, rather by an\naccident of things, has recently come to be re-issued after a long\nperiod, I have said what was then possible or seemed most necessary. The\npresent work is designed more especially--as I have intimated--to\nintroduce a rectified set of the cards themselves and to tell the\nunadorned truth concerning them, so far as this is possible in the outer\ncircles. As regards the sequence of greater symbols, their ultimate and\nhighest meaning lies deeper than the common language of picture or\nhieroglyph. This will be understood by those who have received some part\nof the _Secret Tradition_. As regards the verbal meanings allocated here\nto the more important Trump Cards, they are designed to set aside the\nfollies and impostures of past attributions, to put those who have the\ngift of insight on the right track, and to take care, within the limits\nof my possibilities, that they are the truth so far as they go.\n\nIt is regrettable in several respects that I must confess to certain\nreservations, but there is a question of honor at issue. Furthermore,\nbetween the follies on the one side of those who know nothing of the\ntradition, yet are in their own opinion the exponents of something\ncalled occult science and philosophy, and on the other side between the\nmake-believe of a few writers who have received part of the tradition\nand think that it constitutes a legal title to scatter dust in the eyes\nof the world without, I feel that the time has come to say what it is\npossible to say, so that the effect of current charlatanism and\nunintelligence may be reduced to a minimum.\n\nWe shall see in due course that the history of Tarot cards is largely of\nthe negative kind, and that, when the issues are cleared by the\ndissipation of reveries and gratuitous speculations expressed in the\nterms of certitude, there is in fact no history prior to the fourteenth\ncentury. The deception and self-deception regarding their origin in\n_Egypt_, _India_ or _China_ put a lying spirit into the mouths of the\nfirst expositors, and the later occult writers have done little more\nthan reproduce the first false testimony in the good faith of an\nintelligence unawakened to the issues of research. As it so happens, all\nexpositions have worked within a very narrow range, and owe,\ncomparatively speaking, little to the inventive faculty. One brilliant\nopportunity has at least been missed, for it has not so far occurred to\nany one that the Tarot might perhaps have done duty and even originated\nas a secret symbolical language of the Albigensian sects. I commend this\nsuggestion to the lineal descendants in the spirit of Gabriele Rossetti\nand Eug\u00e8ne Aroux, to Mr. Harold Bayley as another _New Light On The\nRenaissance_, and as a taper at least in the darkness which, with great\nrespect, might be serviceable to the zealous and all-searching mind of\nMrs. Cooper-Oakley. Think only what the supposed testimony of watermarks\non paper might gain from the _Tarot Card_ of the Pope or Hierophant, in\nconnection with the notion of a secret Albigensian patriarch, of which\nMr. Bayley has found in these same watermarks so much material to his\npurpose. Think only for a moment about the card of the High Priestess as\nrepresenting the Albigensian church itself; and think of the Tower\nstruck by Lightning as typifying the desired destruction of Papal Rome,\nthe city on the seven hills, with the pontiff and his temporal power\ncast down from the spiritual edifice when it is riven by the wrath of\nGod (Nature). The possibilities are so numerous and persuasive that they\nalmost deceive in their expression one of the elect who has invented\nthem. But there is more even than this, though I scarcely dare to cite\nit. When the time came for the Tarot cards to be the subject of their\nfirst formal explanation, the arch\u00e6ologist Court de Gebelin reproduced\nsome of their most important emblems, and--if I may so term it--the\ncodex which he used has served--by means of his engraved plates--as a\nbasis of reference for many sets that have been issued subsequently. The\nfigures are very primitive and differ as such from the cards of\nEtteilla, the Marseilles Tarot, and others still current in France. I am\nnot a good judge in such matters, but the fact that every one of the\nTrumps Major might have answered for watermark purposes is shown by the\ncases which I have quoted and by one most remarkable example of the Ace\nof Cups.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI should call it an eucharistic emblem after the manner of a ciborium,\nbut this does not signify at the moment. The point is that Mr. Harold\nBayley gives six analogous devices in his _New Light On The\nRenaissance_, being watermarks on paper of the seventeenth century,\nwhich he claims to be of Albigensian origin and to represent sacramental\nand Graal emblems. Had he only heard of the Tarot, had he known that\nthese cards of divination, cards of fortune, cards of all vagrant arts,\nwere perhaps current at the period in the South of France, I think that\nhis enchanting but all too fantastic hypothesis might have dilated still\nmore largely in the atmosphere of his dream. We should no doubt have had\na vision of Christian Gnosticism, Manich\u00e6anism, and all that he\nunderstands by pure primitive Gospel, shining behind the pictures.\n\nI do not look through such glasses, and I can only commend the subject\nto his attention at a later period; it is mentioned here that I may\nintroduce with an unheard-of wonder the marvels of arbitrary speculation\nas to the history of the cards.\n\nWith reference to their form and number, it should scarcely be necessary\nto enumerate them, for they must be almost commonly familiar, but as it\nis precarious to assume anything, and as there are also other reasons, I\nwill tabulate them briefly as follows:--\n\n\n                                CLASS I\n                               SECTION 2\n                              TRUMPS MAJOR\n                       OTHERWISE, GREATER ARCANA\n\n1. _The Magus, Magician, or Juggler_, the caster of the dice and\nmountebank, in the world of vulgar trickery. This is the _colportage_\ninterpretation, and it has the same correspondence with the real\nsymbolical meaning that the use of the Tarot in fortune-telling has with\nits mystic construction according to the secret science of symbolism. I\nshould add that many independent students of the subject, following\ntheir own lights, have produced individual sequences of meaning in\nrespect of the Trumps Major, and their lights are sometimes suggestive,\nbut they are not the true lights. For example, Eliphas L\u00e9vi says that\nthe Magus signifies that unity which is the mother of numbers; others\nsay that it is the Divine Unity; and one of the latest French\ncommentators considers that in its general sense it is the will.\n\n2. _The High Priestess, the Pope Joan_, or Female Pontiff; early\nexpositors have sought to term this card the Mother, or Pope's Wife,\nwhich is opposed to the symbolism. It is sometimes held to represent the\nDivine Law and the Gnosis, in which case the Priestess corresponds to\nthe idea of the _Shekinah_. She is the Secret Tradition and the higher\nsense of the instituted Mysteries.\n\n3. _The Empress_, who is sometimes represented with full face, while her\ncorrespondence, the Emperor, is in profile. As there has been some\ntendency to ascribe a symbolical significance to this distinction, it\nseems desirable to say that it carries no inner meaning. The _Empress_\nhas been connected with the ideas of universal fecundity and in a\ngeneral sense with activity.\n\n4. _The Emperor_, by imputation the spouse of the former. He is\noccasionally represented as wearing, in addition to his personal\ninsignia, the stars or ribbons of some order of chivalry. I mention this\nto show that the cards are a medley of old and new emblems. Those who\ninsist upon the evidence of the one may deal, if they can, with the\nother. No effectual argument for the antiquity of a particular design\ncan be drawn from the fact that it incorporates old material; but there\nis also none which can be based on sporadic novelties, the intervention\nof which may signify only the unintelligent hand of an editor or of a\nlate draughtsman.\n\n5. _The High Priest or Hierophant_, called also Spiritual Father, and\nmore commonly and obviously the Pope. It seems even to have been named\nthe Abbot, and then its correspondence, the High Priestess, was the\nAbbess or Mother of the Convent. Both are arbitrary names. The insignia\nof the figures are papal, and in such case the High Priestess is and can\nbe only the Church, to whom Pope and priests are married by the\nspiritual rite of ordination. I think, however, that in its primitive\nform this card did not represent the Roman Pontiff.\n\n6. _The Lovers or Marriage._ This symbol has undergone many variations,\nas might be expected from its subject. In the eighteenth century form,\nby which it first became known to the world of arch\u00e6ological research,\nit is really a card of married life, showing father and mother, with\ntheir child placed between them; and the pagan Cupid above, in the act\nof flying his shaft, is, of course, a misapplied emblem. The Cupid is of\nlove beginning rather than of love in its fulness, guarding the fruit\nthereof. The card is said to have been entitled _Simulacrum fidei_, the\nsymbol of conjugal faith, for which the rainbow as a sign of the\ncovenant would have been a more appropriate concomitant. The figures are\nalso held to have signified Truth, Honor and Love, but I suspect that\nthis was, so to speak, the gloss of a commentator moralizing. It has\nthese, but it has other and higher aspects.\n\n7. _The Chariot._ This is represented in some extant codices as being\ndrawn by two sphinxes, and the device is in consonance with the\nsymbolism, but it must not be supposed that such was its original form;\nthe variation was invented to support a particular historical\nhypothesis. In the eighteenth century white horses were yoked to the\ncar. As regards its usual name, the lesser stands for the greater; it is\nreally the King in his triumph, typifying, however, the victory which\ncreates kingship as its natural consequence and not the vested royalty\nof the fourth card. M. Court de Gebelin said that it was Osiris\nTriumphing, the conquering sun in spring-time having vanquished the\nobstacles of winter. We know now that Osiris rising from the dead is\nnot represented by such obvious symbolism. Other animals than horses\nhave also been used to draw the _currus triumphalis_, as, for example, a\nlion and a leopard.\n\n8. _Fortitude._ This is one of the cardinal virtues, of which I shall\nspeak later. The female figure is usually represented as closing the\nmouth of a lion. In the earlier form which is printed by Court de\nGebelin, she is obviously opening it. The first alternative is better\nsymbolically, but either is an instance of strength in its conventional\nunderstanding, and conveys the idea of mastery. It has been said that\nthe figure represents organic force, moral force and the principle of\nall force.\n\n9. _The Hermit_, as he is termed in common parlance, stands next on the\nlist; he is also the Capuchin, and in more philosophical language the\nSage. He is said to be in search of that Truth which is located far off\nin the sequence, and of Justice which has preceded him on the way. But\nthis is a card of attainment, as we shall see later, rather than a card\nof quest. It is said also that his lantern contains the Light of Occult\nScience and that his staff is a Magic Wand. These interpretations are\ncomparable in every respect to the divinatory and fortune-telling\nmeanings with which I shall have to deal in their turn. The diabolism of\nboth is that they are true after their own manner, but that they miss\nall the high things to which the Greater Arcana should be allocated. It\nis as if a man who knows in his heart that all roads lead to the\nheights, and that God (Nature) is at the great height of all, should\nchoose the way of perdition or the way of folly as the path of his own\nattainment. Eliphas L\u00e9vi has allocated this card to Prudence, but in so\ndoing he has been actuated by the wish to fill a gap which would\notherwise occur in the symbolism. The four cardinal virtues are\nnecessary to an idealogical sequence like the Trumps Major, but they\nmust not be taken only in that first sense which exists for the use and\nconsolation of him who in these days of halfpenny journalism is called\nthe man in the street. In their proper understanding they are the\ncorrelatives of the counsels of perfection when these have been\nsimilarly re-expressed, and they read as follows: (_a_) Transcendental\nJustice, the counter-equilibrium of the scales, when they have been\nover-weighted so that they dip heavily on the side of God (Nature). The\ncorresponding counsel is to use loaded dice when you play for high\nstakes with _Diabolus_. The axiom is _Aut Deus, aut nihil_. (_b_) Divine\nEcstasy, as a counterpoise to something called Temperance, the sign of\nwhich is, I believe, the extinction of lights in the tavern. The\ncorresponding counsel is to drink only of new wine in the Kingdom of\nthe Father, because God (Nature) is all in all. The axiom is that man\nbeing a reasonable being must get intoxicated with God (Nature); the\nimputed case in point is Spinoza. (_c_) The state of Royal Fortitude,\nwhich is the state of a Tower of Ivory and a House of Gold, but it is\nGod (Nature) and not the man who has become _Turris fortitudinis a facie\ninimici_, and out of that House the enemy has been cast. The\ncorresponding counsel is that a man must not spare himself even in the\npresence of death, but he must be certain that his sacrifice shall\nbe--of any open course--the best that will ensure his end. The axiom is\nthat the strength which is raised to such a degree that a man dares lose\nhimself shall show him how Nature (God) is found, and as to such\nrefuge--dare therefore and learn. (_d_) Prudence is the economy which\nfollows the line of least resistance, that the soul may get back whence\nit came. It is a doctrine of divine parsimony and conservation of energy\nbecause of the stress, the terror and the manifest impertinences of this\nlife. The corresponding counsel is that true prudence is concerned with\nthe one thing needful, and the axiom is: Waste not, want not. The\nconclusion of the whole matter is a business proposition founded on the\nlaw of exchange: You cannot help getting what you seek in respect of the\nthings that are Divine: it is the law of supply and demand. I have\nmentioned these few matters at this point for two simple reasons: (_a_)\nbecause in proportion to the impartiality of the mind it seems sometimes\nmore difficult to determine whether it is vice or vulgarity which lays\nwaste the present world more piteously; (_b_) because in order to remedy\nthe imperfections of the old notions it is highly needful, on occasion,\nto empty terms and phrases of their accepted significance, that they may\nreceive a new and more adequate meaning.\n\n10. _The Wheel of Fortune._ There is a current _Manual of Cartomancy_\nwhich has obtained a considerable vogue in England, and amidst a great\nscattermeal of curious things to no purpose has intersected a few\nserious subjects. In its last and largest edition it treats in one\nsection of the Tarot; which--if I interpret the author rightly--it\nregards from beginning to end as the Wheel of Fortune, this expression\nbeing understood in my own sense. I have no objection to such an\ninclusive though conventional description; it obtains in all the worlds,\nand I wonder that it has not been adopted previously as the most\nappropriate name on the side of common fortune-telling. It is also the\ntitle of one of the Trumps Major--that indeed of our concern at the\nmoment, as my sub-title shows. Of recent years this has suffered many\nfantastic presentations and one hypothetical reconstruction which is\nsuggestive in its symbolism. The wheel has seven radii; in the\neighteenth century the ascending and descending animals were really of\nnondescript character, one of them having a human head. At the summit\nwas another monster with the body of an indeterminate beast, wings on\nshoulders and a crown on head. It carried two wands in its claws. These\nare replaced in the reconstruction by a Hermanubis rising with the\nwheel, a _Sphinx_ couchant at the summit and a Typhon on the descending\nside. Here is another instance of an invention in support of a\nhypothesis; but if the latter be set aside the grouping is symbolically\ncorrect and can pass as such.\n\n11. _Justice._ That the _Tarot_, though it is of all reasonable\nantiquity, is not of time immemorial, is shown by this card, which could\nhave been presented in a much more archaic manner. Those, however, who\nhave gifts of discernment in matters of this kind will not need to be\ntold that age is in no sense of the essence of the consideration; the\nRite of Closing the Lodge in the Third Craft Grade of Masonry may belong\nto the late eighteenth century, but the fact signifies nothing; it is\nstill the summary of all the instituted and official Mysteries. The\nfemale figure of the eleventh card is said to be Astr\u00e6a, who personified\nthe same virtue and is represented by the same symbols. This goddess\nnotwithstanding, and notwithstanding the vulgarian Cupid, the Tarot is\nnot of Roman mythology, or of Greek either. Its presentation of Justice\nis supposed to be one of the four cardinal virtues included in the\nsequence of Greater Arcana; but, as it so happens, fourth emblem is\nwanting, and it became necessary for the commentators to discover it at\nall costs. They did what it was possible to do, and yet the laws of\nresearch have never succeeded in extricating the missing Persephone\nunder the form of Prudence. Court de Gebelin attempted to solve the\ndifficulty by a _tour de force_, and believed that he had extracted what\nhe wanted from the symbol of the Hanged Man--wherein he deceived\nhimself. The Tarot has, therefore, its Justice, its Temperance also and\nits Fortitude, but--owing to a curious omission--it does not offer us\nany type of Prudence, though it may be admitted that, in some respects,\nthe isolation of the Hermit, pursuing a solitary path by the light of\nhis own lamp, gives, to those who can receive it, a certain high counsel\nin respect of the _via prudenti\u00e6_.\n\n12. _The Hanged Man._ This is the symbol which is supposed to represent\nPrudence, and Eliphas L\u00e9vi says, in his most shallow and plausible\nmanner, that it is the adept bound by his engagements. The figure of a\nman is suspended head-downwards from a gibbet, to which he is attached\nby a rope about one of his ankles. The arms are bound behind him and\none leg is crossed over the other. According to another, and indeed the\nprevailing interpretation, he signifies sacrifice, but all current\nmeanings attributed to this card are cartomancists' intuitions, apart\nfrom any real value, on the symbolical side. The fortune-tellers of the\neighteenth century who circulated Tarots, depict a semi-feminine youth\nin jerkin, poised erect on one foot and loosely attached to a short\nstake driven into the ground.\n\n13. _Death._ The method of presentation is almost invariable, and\nembodies a bourgeois form of symbolism. The scene is the field of life,\nand amidst ordinary rank vegetation there are living arms and heads\nprotruding from the ground. One of the heads is crowned, and a skeleton\nwith a great scythe is in the act of mowing it. The transparent and\nunescapable meaning is death, but the alternatives allocated to the\nsymbol are change and transformation. Other heads have been swept from\ntheir place previously, but it is, in its current and patent meaning,\nmore especially a card of the death of Kings. In the exotic sense it has\nbeen said to signify the ascent of the spirit in the divine spheres,\ncreation and destruction, perpetual movement, and so forth.\n\n14. _Temperance._ The winged figure of a female--who, in opposition to\nall doctrine concerning the hierarchy of angels, is usually allocated to\nthis order of ministering spirits--is pouring liquid from one pitcher to\nanother. In his last work on the Tarot, Dr. Papus abandons the\ntraditional form and depicts a woman wearing an _Egyptian_ head-dress.\nThe first thing which seems clear on the surface is that the entire\nsymbol has no especial connection with Temperance, and the fact that\nthis designation has always obtained for the card offers a very obvious\ninstance of a meaning behind meaning, which is the title in chief to\nconsideration in respect of the Tarot as a whole.\n\n15. _The Devil._ In the eighteenth century this card seems to have been\nrather a symbol of merely animal impudicity. Except for a fantastic\nhead-dress, the chief figure is entirely naked; it has bat-like wings,\nand the hands and feet are represented by the claws of a bird. In the\nright hand there is a scepter terminating in a sign which has been\nthought to represent fire. The figure as a whole is not particularly\nevil; it has no tail, and the commentators who have said that the claws\nare those of a harpy have spoken at random. There is no better ground\nfor the alternative suggestion that they are eagle's claws. Attached, by\na cord depending from their collars, to the pedestal on which the figure\nis mounted, are two small demons, presumably male and female. These are\ntailed but not winged. Since 1856 the influence of Eliphas L\u00e9vi and his\ndoctrine of occultism has changed the face of this card, and it now\nappears as a pseudo-Baphometic figure with the head of a goat and a\ngreat torch between the horns; it is seated instead of erect, and in\nplace of the generative organs there is the Hermetic caduceus. In _Le\nTarot Divinatoire_ of Papus the small demons are replaced by naked human\nbeings, male and female, who are yoked only to each other. The author\nmay be felicitated on this improved symbolism.\n\n16. _The Tower struck by Lightning._ Its alternative titles are: Castle\nof Plutus, God's (Nature's) House and the Tower of Babel. In the last\ncase, the figures falling therefrom are held to be Nimrod and his\nminister. It is assuredly a card of confusion, and the design\ncorresponds, broadly speaking, to any of the designations except _Maison\nDieu_, unless we are to understand that the House of God (Nature) has\nbeen abandoned and the veil of the temple rent. It is a little\nsurprising that the device has not so far been allocated to the\ndestruction of Solomon's Temple, when the lightning would symbolize the\nfire and sword with which that edifice was visited by the King of the\nChaldees.\n\n17. _The Star_, Dog-Star, or Sirius, also called fantastically the Star\nof the Magi. Grouped about it are seven minor luminaries, and beneath it\nis a naked female figure, with her left knee upon the earth and her\nright foot upon the water. She is in the act of pouring fluids from two\nvessels. A bird is perched on a tree near her; for this a butterfly on a\nrose has been substituted in some later cards. So also the Star has been\ncalled that of Hope. This is one of the cards which Court de Gebelin\ndescribes as wholly Egyptian--that is to say, in his own reverie.\n\n18. _The Moon._ Some eighteenth-century cards show the luminary on its\nwaning side; in the debased edition of Etteilla, it is the moon at night\nin her plenitude, set in a heaven of stars; of recent years the moon is\nshown on the side of her increase. In nearly all presentations she is\nshining brightly and shedding the moisture of fertilizing dew in great\ndrops. Beneath there are two towers, between which a path winds to the\nverge of the horizon. Two dogs, or alternatively a wolf and dog, are\nbaying at the moon, and in the foreground there is water, through which\na crayfish moves towards the land.\n\n19. _The Sun._ The luminary is distinguished in older cards by chief\nrays that are waved and salient alternately and by secondary salient\nrays. It appears to shed its influence on earth not only by light and\nheat, but--like the moon--by drops of dew. Court de Gebelin termed these\ntears of gold and of pearl just as he identified the lunar dew with the\ntears of _Isis_. Beneath the dog-star there is a wall suggesting an\nenclosure--as it might be, a walled garden--wherein are two children,\neither naked or lightly clothed, facing a water, and gambolling, or\nrunning hand in hand. Eliphas L\u00e9vi says that these are sometimes\nreplaced by a spinner unwinding destinies, and otherwise by a much\nbetter symbol--a naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a\nscarlet standard.\n\n20. _The Last Judgment._ I have spoken of this symbol already, the form\nof which is essentially invariable, even in the Etteilla set. An angel\nsounds his trumpet _per sepulchra regionum_, and the dead arise. It\nmatters little that Etteilla omits the angel, or that Dr. Papus\nsubstitutes a ridiculous figure, which is, however, in consonance with\nthe general motive of that Tarot set which accompanies his latest work.\nBefore rejecting the transparent interpretation of the symbolism which\nis conveyed by the name of the card and by the picture which it presents\nto the eye, we should feel very sure of our ground. On the surface, at\nleast, it is and can be only the resurrection of that triad--father,\nmother, child--whom we have met with already in the eighth card. M.\nBourgeat hazards the suggestion that esoterically it is the symbol of\nevolution--of which it carries none of the signs. Others say that it\nsignifies renewal, which is obvious enough; that it is the triad of\nhuman life; that it is the \"generative force of the earth ... and\neternal life.\" Court de Gebelin makes himself impossible as usual, and\npoints out that if the grave-stones were removed it could be accepted as\na symbol of creation.\n\n21--which, however, in most of the arrangements is the cipher card,\nnumber nothing--_The Fool, Mate, or Unwise Man_. Court de Gebelin places\nit at the head of the whole series as the zero or negative which is\npre-supposed by numeration, and as this is a simpler so also it is a\nbetter arrangement. It has been abandoned because in later times the\ncards have been attributed to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and\nthere has been apparently some difficulty about allocating the zero\nsymbol satisfactorily in a sequence of letters all of which signify\nnumbers. In the present reference of the card to the letter _Shin_,\nwhich corresponds to 200, the difficulty or the unreason remains. The\ntruth is that the real arrangement of the cards has never transpired.\nThe Fool carries a wallet; he is looking over his shoulder and does not\nknow that he is on the brink of a precipice; but a dog or other\nanimal--some call it a tiger--is attacking him from behind, and he is\nhurried to his destruction unawares. Etteilla has given a justifiable\nvariation of this card--as generally understood--in the form of a court\njester, with cap, bells and motley garb. The other descriptions say that\nthe wallet contains the bearer's follies and vices, which seems\nbourgeois and arbitrary.\n\n22. _The World, the Universe, or Time._ The four living creatures of the\nApocalypse and Ezekiel's vision, attributed to the evangelists in\nChristian symbolism, are grouped about an elliptic garland, as if it\nwere a chain of flowers intended to symbolize all sensible things;\nwithin this garland there is the figure of a woman, whom the wind has\ngirt about the loins with a light scarf, and this is all her vesture.\nShe is in the act of dancing, and has a wand in either hand. It is\neloquent as an image of the swirl of the sensitive life, of joy attained\nin the body, of the soul's intoxication in the earthly paradise, but\nstill guarded by the Divine Watchers, as if by the powers and the graces\nof the Holy Name, Tetragammaton,--those four ineffable letters which are\nsometimes attributed to the mystical beasts. Eliphas L\u00e9vi calls the\ngarland a crown, and reports that the figure represents Truth. Dr. Papus\nconnects it with the Absolute and the realization of the Great Work; for\nyet others it is a symbol of humanity and the eternal reward of a life\nthat has been spent well. It should be noted that in the four quarters\nof the garland there are four flowers distinctively marked. According to\nP. Christian, the garland should be formed of roses, and this is the\nkind of chain which Eliphas L\u00e9vi says is less easily broken than a chain\nof iron. Perhaps by antithesis, but for the same reason, the iron crown\nof Peter may lie more lightly on the heads of sovereign pontiffs than\nthe crown of gold on kings.\n\n\n                                CLASS II\n                               SECTION 3\n                             THE FOUR SUITS\n                        OTHERWISE, LESSER ARCANA\n\nThe resources of interpretation have been lavished, if not exhausted, on\nthe twenty-two Trumps Major, the symbolism of which is unquestionable.\nThere remain the four suits, being Wands or Scepters--_ex hypothesi_, in\nthe arch\u00e6ology of the subject, the antecedents of Diamonds in modern\ncards: Cups, corresponding to Hearts; Swords, which answer to Clubs, as\nthe weapon of chivalry is in relation to the peasant's quarter-staff or\nthe Alsatian bludgeon; and, finally, Pentacles--called also Deniers and\nMoney--which are the prototypes of Spades. In the old as in the new\nsuits, there are ten numbered cards, but in the Tarot there are four\nCourt Cards allocated to each suit, or a Knight in addition to King,\nQueen and Knave. The Knave is a page, valet, or _damoiseau_; most\ncorrectly, he is an esquire, presumably in the service of the Knight;\nbut there are certain rare sets in which the page becomes a maid of\nhonor, thus pairing the sexes in the tetrad of the court cards. There\nare naturally distinctive features in respect of the several pictures,\nby which I mean that the King of Wands is not exactly the same personage\nas the King of Cups, even after allowance has been made for the\ndifferent emblems that they bear; but the symbolism resides in their\nrank and in the suit to which they belong. So also the smaller cards,\nwhich--until now--have never been issued pictorially in these our modern\ndays, depend on the particular meaning attaching to their numbers in\nconnection with the particular suit. I reserve, therefore, the details\nof the Lesser Arcana, till I come to speak in the second part of the\nrectified and perfected Tarot which accompanies this work. The consensus\nof divinatory meanings attached both to the greater and lesser symbols\nbelongs to the third part.\n\n\n                               SECTION 4\n                          THE TAROT IN HISTORY\n\nOur immediate next concern is to speak of the cards in their history, so\nthat the speculations and reveries, which have been perpetuated and\nmultiplied in the schools of occult research may be disposed of once and\nfor all, as intimated in the preface hereto.\n\nLet it be understood at the beginning of this point that there are\nseveral sets or sequences of ancient cards which are only in part of our\nconcern. _The Tarot Of The Bohemians_, by Papus, which I have recently\ncarried through the press, revising the imperfect rendering, has some\nuseful information in this connection, and, except for the omission of\ndates and other evidences of the arch\u00e6ological sense, it will serve the\npurpose of the general reader. I do not propose to extend it in the\npresent place in any manner that can be called considerable, but certain\nadditions are desirable and so also is a distinct mode of presentation.\n\nAmong ancient cards which are mentioned in connection with the Tarot,\nthere are firstly those of Baldini, which are the celebrated set\nattributed by tradition to Andrea Mantegna, though this view is now\ngenerally rejected. Their date is supposed to be about 1470, and it is\nthought that there are not more than four collections extant in Europe.\nA copy or reproduction referred to 1485 is perhaps equally rare. A\ncomplete set contains fifty numbers, divided into five denaries or\nsequences of ten cards each. There seems to be no record that they were\nused for the purposes of a game, whether of chance or skill; they could\nscarcely have lent themselves to divination or any form of\nfortune-telling; while it would be more than idle to impute a profound\nsymbolical meaning to their obvious emblematic designs. The first denary\nembodies Conditions of Life, as follows: (1) The Beggar, (2) the Knave,\n(3) the Artisan, (4) the Merchant, (5) the Noble, (6) the Knight, (7)\nthe Doge, (8) the King, (9) the Emperor, (10) the Pope. The second\ncontains the Muses and their Divine Leader: (11) Calliope, (12) Urania,\n(13) Terpsichore, (14) Erato, (15) Polyhymnia, (16) Thalia, (17)\nMelpomene, (18) Euterpe, (19) Clio, (20) Apollo. The third combines part\nof the Liberal Arts and Sciences with other departments of human\nlearning, as follows: (21) Grammar, (22) Logic, (23) Rhetoric, (24)\nGeometry, (25) Arithmetic, (26) Music, (27) Poetry, (28) Philosophy,\n(29) Astrology, (30) Theology. The fourth denary completes the Liberal\nArts and enumerates the Virtues: (31) Astronomy, (32) Chronology, (33)\nCosmology, (34) Temperance, (35) Prudence, (36) Strength, (37) Justice,\n(38) Charity, (39) Hope, (40) Faith. The fifth and last denary presents\nthe System of the Heavens: (41) Moon, (42) Mercury, (43) Venus, (44)\nSun, (45) Mars, (46) Jupiter, (47) Saturn, (48) Eighth Sphere, (49)\n_Primum Mobile_, (50) First Cause.\n\nWe must set aside the fantastic attempts to extract complete Tarot\nsequences out of these denaries; we must forbear from saying, for\nexample, that the Conditions of Life correspond to the Trumps Major, the\nMuses to Pentacles, the Arts and Sciences to Cups, the Virtues, etc., to\nScepters, and the conditions of life to Swords. This kind of thing can\nbe done by a process of mental contortion, but it has no place in\nreality. At the same time, it is hardly possible that individual cards\nshould not exhibit certain, and even striking, analogies. The Baldini\nKing, Knight and Knave suggest the corresponding court cards of the\nMinor Arcana. The Emperor, Pope, Temperance, Strength, Justice, Moon and\nSun are common to the Mantegna and Trumps Major of any Tarot pack.\nPredisposition has also connected the Beggar and Fool, Venus and the\nStar, Mars and the Chariot, Saturn and the Hermit, even Jupiter, or\nalternatively the First Cause, with the Tarot card of the world.[1]But\nthe most salient features of the Trumps Major are wanting in the\nMantegna set, and I do not believe that the ordered sequence in the\nlatter case gave birth, as it has been suggested, to the others. Romain\nMerlin maintained this view, and positively assigned the Baldini cards\nto the end of the fourteenth century.\n\n     [1] The beggar is practically naked, and the analogy is constituted\n     by the presence of two dogs, one of which seems to be flying at his\n     legs. The Mars card depicts a sword-bearing warrior in a canopied\n     chariot, to which, however, no horses are attached. Of course, if\n     the Baldini cards belong to the close of the fifteenth century,\n     there is no question at issue, as the Tarot was known in Europe\n     long before that period.\n\nIf it be agreed that, except accidentally and sporadically, the Baldini\nemblematic or allegorical pictures have only a shadowy and occasional\nconnection with Tarot cards, and, whatever their most probable date,\nthat they can have supplied no originating motive, it follows that we\nare still seeking not only an origin in place and time for the symbols\nwith which we are concerned, but a specific case of their manifestation\non the continent of Europe to serve as a point of departure, whether\nbackward or forward. Now it is well known that in the year 1393 the\npainter Charles Gringonneur--who for no reason that I can trace has been\ntermed an occultist and kabalist by one indifferent English\nwriter--designed and illuminated some kind of cards for the diversion of\nCharles VI of France when he was in mental ill-health, and the question\narises whether anything can be ascertained of their nature. The only\navailable answer is that at Paris, in the Biblioth\u00e8que du Roi, there are\nseventeen cards drawn and illuminated on paper. They are very beautiful,\nantique and priceless; the figures have a background of gold, and are\nframed in a silver border; but they are accompanied by no inscription\nand no number.\n\nIt is certain, however, that they include Tarot Trumps Major, the list\nof which is as follows: Fool, Emperor, Pope, Lovers, Wheel of Fortune,\nTemperance, Fortitude, Justice, Moon, Sun, Chariot, Hermit, Hanged Man,\nDeath, Tower and Last Judgment. There are also four Tarot Cards at the\nMus\u00e9e Carrer, Venice, and five others elsewhere, making nine in all.\nThey include two pages or Knaves, three Kings and two Queens, thus\nillustrating the Minor Arcana. These collections have all been\nidentified with the set produced by Gringonneur, but the ascription was\ndisputed so far back as the year 1848, and it is not apparently put\nforward at the present day, even by those who are anxious to make\nevident the antiquity of the Tarot. It is held that they are all of\nItalian and some at least certainly of Venetian origin. We have in this\nmanner our requisite point of departure in respect of place at least. It\nhas further been stated with authority that Venetian Tarots are the old\nand true form, which is the parent of all others; but I infer that\ncomplete sets of the Major and Minor Arcana belong to much later\nperiods. The pack is thought to have consisted of seventy-eight cards.\n\nNotwithstanding, however, the preference shown towards the Venetian\nTarot, it is acknowledged that some portions of a Minchiate or\nFlorentine set must be allocated to the period between 1413 and 1418.\nThese were once in the possession of Countess Gonzaga, at Milan. A\ncomplete Minchiate pack contained ninety-seven cards, and in spite of\nthese vestiges it is regarded, speaking generally, as a later\ndevelopment. There were forty-one Trumps Major, the additional numbers\nbeing borrowed or reflected from the Baldini emblematic set. In the\ncourt cards of the Minor Arcana, the Knights were monsters of the\ncentaur type, while the Knaves were sometimes warriors and sometimes\nserving-men. Another distinction dwelt upon is the prevalence of\nChristian medi\u00e6val ideas and the utter absence of any Oriental\nsuggestion. The question, however, remains whether there are Eastern\ntraces in any Tarot cards.\n\nWe come, in fine, to the Bolognese Tarot, sometimes referred to as that\nof Venice and having the Trumps Major complete, but numbers 20 and 21\nare transposed. In the Minor Arcana the 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the small cards\nare omitted, with the result that there are sixty-two cards in all. The\ntermination of the Trumps Major in the representation of the Last\nJudgment is curious, and a little arresting as a point of symbolism; but\nthis is all that it seems necessary to remark about the pack of Bologna,\nexcept that it is said to have been invented--or, as a Tarot, more\ncorrectly, modified--about the beginning of the fifteenth century by an\nexiled Prince of Pisa resident in the city. The purpose for which they\nwere used is made tolerably evident by the fact that, in 1423, St.\nBernardin of Sienna preached against playing cards and other forms of\ngambling. Forty years later the importation of cards into England was\nforbidden, the time being that of King Edward IV. This is the first\ncertain record of the subject in our country.\n\nIt is difficult to consult perfect examples of the sets enumerated\nabove, but it is not difficult to meet with detailed and illustrated\ndescriptions--I should add, provided always that the writer is not an\noccultist, for accounts emanating from that source are usually\nimperfect, vague and preoccupied by considerations which cloud the\ncritical issues. An instance in point is offered by certain views which\nhave been expressed on the Mantegna codex--if I may continue to dignify\ncard sequences with a title of this kind. It has been ruled--as we have\nseen--in occult reverie that Apollo and the Nine Muses are in\ncorrespondence with Pentacles, but the analogy does not obtain in a\nworking state of research; and reverie must border on nightmare before\nwe can identify Astronomy, Chronology and Cosmology with the suit of\nCups. The Baldini figures which represent these subjects are emblems of\ntheir period and not symbols, like the Tarot.\n\nIn conclusion as to this part, I observe that there has been a\ndisposition among experts to think that the Trumps Major were not\noriginally connected with the numbered suits. I do not wish to offer a\npersonal view; I am not an expert in the history of games of chance, and\nI hate the _profanum vulgus_ of divinatory devices; but I venture, under\nall reserves, to intimate that if later research should justify such a\nleaning, then--except for the good old art of fortune-telling and its\ntamperings with so-called destiny--it will be so much the better for the\nGreater Arcana.\n\nSo far as regards what is indispensable as preliminaries to the\nhistorical aspects of Tarot cards, and I will now take up the\nspeculative side of the subject and produce its test of value. In my\npreface to _The Tarot Of The Bohemians_ I have mentioned that the first\nwriter who made known the fact of the cards was the arch\u00e6ologist Court\nde Gebelin, who, just prior to the French Revolution, occupied several\nyears in the publication of his _Monde Primitif_, which extended to nine\nquarto volumes. He was a learned man of his epoch, a high-grade Mason, a\nmember of the historical Lodge of the Philalethes, and a _virtuoso_ with\na profound and lifelong interest in the debate on universal antiquities\nbefore a science of the subject existed. Even at this day, his memorials\nand dissertations, collected under the title which I have quoted, are\nworth possessing. By an accident of things, he became acquainted with\nthe Tarot when it was quite unknown in Paris, and at once conceived that\nit was the remnants of an Egyptian book. He made inquiries concerning it\nand ascertained that it was in circulation over a considerable part of\nEurope--Spain, Italy, Germany and the South of France. It was in use as\na game of chance or skill, after the ordinary manner of playing-cards;\nand he ascertained further how the game was played. But it was in use\nalso for the higher purpose of divination or fortune-telling, and with\nthe help of a learned friend he discovered the significance attributed\nto the cards, together with the method of arrangement adopted for this\npurpose. In a word, he made a distinct contribution to our knowledge,\nand he is still a source of reference--but it is on the question of fact\nonly, and not on the beloved hypothesis that the Tarot contains pure\nEgyptian doctrine. However, he set the opinion which is prevalent to\nthis day throughout the occult schools that in the mystery and wonder,\nthe strange night of the gods, the unknown tongue and the undeciphered\nhieroglyphics which symbolized Egypt at the end of the eighteenth\ncentury, the origin of the cards was lost. So dreamed one of the\ncharacteristic _literati_ of France, and one can almost understand and\nsympathize, for the country about the Delta and the Nile was beginning\nto loom largely in the preoccupation of learned thought, and _omne\nignotum pro \u00c6gyptiaco_ was the way the delusion to which many minds\ntended. It was excusable enough then, but that the madness was continued\nand, within the charmed circle of the occult sciences, still passes from\nmouth to mouth--there is no excuse for this. Let us see, therefore, the\nevidence produced by M. Court de Gebelin in support of his thesis, and,\nthat I may deal justly, it shall be summarized as far as possible in his\nown words.\n\n(1) The figures and arrangement of the game are manifestly allegorical;\n(2) the allegories are in conformity with the civil, philosophical and\nreligious doctrine of ancient Egypt; (3) if the cards were modern, no\nHigh Priestess would be included among the Greater Arcana; (4) the\nfigure in question bears the horns of Isis; (5) the card which is called\nthe Emperor has a scepter terminating in a triple cross; (6) the card\nentitled the Moon, who is Isis, shows drops of rain or dew in the act of\nbeing shed by the luminary and these--as we have seen--are the tears of\nIsis, which swelled the waters of the Nile and fertilized the fields of\nEgypt; (7) the seventeenth card, or Star, is the dog-star, Sirius which\nwas consecrated to Isis and symbolized the opening of the year; (8) the\ngame played with the Tarot is founded on the sacred number seven, which\nwas of great importance in Egypt; (9) the word Tarot is pure Egyptian,\nin which language Tar = way or road, and Ro = king or royal--it\nsignifies therefore the Royal Road of Life; (10) alternatively, it is\nderived from A = doctrine; Rosh = Mercury = Thoth, and the article T; in\nsum, _Tarosh_; and therefore the Tarot is the _Book Of Thoth_, or the\n_Table Of The Doctrine Of Mercury_.\n\nSuch is the testimony, it being understood that I have set aside several\ncasual statements, for which no kind of justification is produced.\nThese, therefore, are ten pillars which support the edifice of the\nthesis, and the same are pillars of sand. The Tarot is, of course,\nallegorical--that is to say, it is symbolism--but allegory and symbol\nare catholic--of all countries, nations and times; they are not more\nEgyptian than Mexican; they are of Europe and Cathay, of Tibet beyond\nthe Himalayas and of the London gutters. As allegory and symbol, the\ncards correspond to many types of ideas and things; they are universal\nand not particular; and the fact that they do not especially and\npeculiarly respond to Egyptian doctrine--religious, philosophical or\ncivil--is clear from the failure of Court de Gebelin to go further than\nthe affirmation. The presence of a High Priestess among the Trumps Major\nis more easily explained as the memorial of some popular\nsuperstition--that worship of Diana, for example, the persistence of\nwhich in modern Italy has been traced with such striking results by\nLeland. We have also to remember the universality of horns in every\ncultus, not excepting that of Tibet. The triple cross is preposterous as\nan instance of Egyptian symbolism; it is the cross of the patriarchal\nsee, both Greek and Latin--of Venice, of Jerusalem, for example--and it\nis the form of signing used to this day by the priests and laity of the\nOrthodox Rite. I pass over the idle allusion to the tears of Isis,\nbecause other occult writers have told us that they are Hebrew _Jods_;\nas regards the seventeenth card, it is the star Sirius or another, as\npredisposition pleases; the number seven was certainly important in\nEgypt and any treatise on numerical mysticism will show that the same\nstatement applies everywhere, even if we elect to ignore the seven\nChristian Sacraments and the Gifts of the Divine Spirit. Finally, as\nregards the etymology of the word Tarot, it is sufficient to observe\nthat it was offered before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and when\nthere was no knowledge of the Egyptian language.\n\nThe thesis of Court de Gebelin was not suffered to repose undisturbed in\nthe mind of the age, appealing to the learned exclusively by means of a\nquarto volume. It created the opportunity of Tarot cards in Paris, as\nthe center of France and all things French in the universe. The\nsuggestion that divination by cards had behind it the unexpected\nwarrants of ancient hidden science, and that the root of the whole\nsubject was in the wonder and mystery of Egypt, reflected thereon almost\na divine dignity; out of the purlieus of occult practices cartomancy\nemerged into fashion and assumed for the moment almost pontifical\nvestures. The first to undertake the role of _bateleur_, magician and\njuggler, was the illiterate but zealous adventurer, Alliette; the\nsecond, as a kind of High Priestess, full of intuitions and revelations,\nwas Mlle. Lenormand--but she belongs to a later period; while lastly\ncame Julia Orsini, who is referable to a Queen of Cups rather in the\ntatters of clairvoyance. I am not concerned with these people as tellers\nof fortune, when destiny itself was shuffling and cutting cards for the\ngame of universal revolution, or for such courts and courtiers as were\nthose of Louis XVIII, Charles IX and Louis Philippe. But under the\noccult designation of Etteilla, the transliteration of his name,\nAlliette, that _perruquier_ took himself with high seriousness and posed\nrather as a priest of the occult sciences than as an ordinary adept in\n_l'art de tirer les cartes_. Even at this day there are people, like Dr.\nPapus, who have sought to save some part of his bizarre system from\noblivion.\n\nThe long and heterogeneous story of _Le Monde Primitif_ had come to the\nend of its telling in 1782, and in 1783 the tracts of Etteilla had begun\npouring from the press, testifying that already he had spent thirty,\nnay, almost forty years in the study of Egyptian magic, and that he had\nfound the final keys. They were, in fact, the Keys of the Tarot, which\nwas a book of philosophy and the _Book Of Thoth_, but at the same time\nit was actually written by seventeen Magi in a Temple of Fire, on the\nborders of the Levant, some three leagues from Memphis. It contained\nthe science of the universe, and the cartomancist proceeded to apply it\nto Astrology, Alchemy, and fortune-telling, without the slightest\ndiffidence or reserve as to the fact that he was driving a trade. I have\nreally little doubt that he considered it genuine as a _m\u00e9tier_, and\nthat he himself was the first person whom he convinced concerning his\nsystem. But the point which we have to notice is that in this manner was\nthe antiquity of the Tarot generally trumpeted forth. The little books\nof Etteilla are proof positive that he did not know even his own\nlanguage; when in the course of time he produced a reformed Tarot, even\nthose who think of him tenderly admit that he spoiled its symbolism; and\nin respect of antiquities he had only Court de Gebelin as his universal\nauthority.\n\nThe cartomancists succeeded one another in the manner which I have\nmentioned, and of course there were rival adepts of these less than\nleast mysteries; but the scholarship of the subject, if it can be said\nto have come into existence, reposed after all in the quarto of Court de\nGebelin for something more than sixty years. On his authority, there is\nvery little doubt that every one who became acquainted, by theory or\npractice, by casual or special concern, with the question of Tarot\ncards, accepted their Egyptian character. It is said that people are\ntaken commonly at their own valuation, and--following as it does the\nline of least resistance--the unsolicitous general mind assuredly\naccepts arch\u00e6ological pretensions in the sense of their own daring and\nof those who put them forward. The first who appeared to reconsider the\nsubject with some presumptive titles to a hearing was the French writer\nDuchesne, but I am compelled to pass him over with a mere reference, and\nso also some interesting researches on the general subject of\nplaying-cards by Singer in England. The latter believed that the old\nVenetian game called Trappola was the earliest European form of\ncard-playing, that it was of Arabian origin, and that the fifty-two\ncards used for the purpose derived from that region. I do not gather\nthat any importance was ever attached to this view.\n\nDuchesne and Singer were followed by another English writer, W. A.\nChatto, who reviewed the available facts and the cloud of speculations\nwhich had already arisen on the subject. This was in 1848, and his work\nhas still a kind of standard authority, but--after every allowance for a\ncertain righteousness attributable to the independent mind--it remains\nan indifferent and even a poor performance. It was, however,\ncharacteristic in its way of the approaching middle night of the\nnineteenth century. Chatto rejected the Egyptian hypothesis, but as he\nwas at very little pains concerning it, he would scarcely be held to\ndisplace Court de Gebelin if the latter had any firm ground beneath his\nhypothesis. In 1854 another French writer, Boiteau, took up the general\nquestion, maintaining the oriental origin of Tarot cards, though without\nattempting to prove it. I am not certain, but I think that he is the\nfirst writer who definitely identified them with the Gipsies; for him,\nhowever, the original Gipsy home was in India, and Egypt did not\ntherefore enter into his calculation.\n\nIn 1860 there arose Eliphas L\u00e9vi, a brilliant and profound _illumin\u00e9_\nwhom it is impossible to accept, and with whom it is even more\nimpossible to dispense. There was never a mouth declaring such great\nthings, of all the western voices which have proclaimed or interpreted\nthe science called occult and the doctrine called magical. I suppose\nthat, fundamentally speaking, he cared as much and as little as I do for\nthe phenomenal part, but he explained the phenomena with the assurance\nof one who openly regarded charlatanry as a great means to an end, if\nused in a right cause. He came unto his own and his own received him,\nalso at his proper valuation, as a man of great learning--which he never\nwas--and as a revealer of all mysteries without having been received\ninto any. I do not think that there was ever an instance of a writer\nwith greater gifts, after their particular kind, who put them to such\nindifferent uses. After all, he was only Etteilla a second time in the\nflesh, endowed in his transmutation with a mouth of gold and a wider\ncasual knowledge. This notwithstanding, he has written the most\ncomprehensive, brilliant, enchanting _History Of Magic_ which has ever\nbeen drawn into writing in any language. The Tarot and the de Gebelin\nhypothesis he took into his heart of hearts, and all occult France and\nall esoteric Britain, Martinists, half-instructed Kabalists, schools of\n_soi disant_ theosophy--there, here and everywhere--have accepted his\njudgment about it with the same confidence as his interpretations of\nthose great classics of Kabalism which he had skimmed rather than read.\nThe Tarot for him was not only the most perfect instrument of divination\nand the keystone of occult science, but it was the primitive book, the\nsole book of the ancient Magi, the miraculous volume which inspired all\nthe sacred writings of antiquity. In his first work L\u00e9vi was content,\nhowever, with accepting the construction of Court de Gebelin and\nreproducing the seventh Trump Major with a few Egyptian characteristics.\nThe question of Tarot transmission through the Gipsies did not occupy\nhim, till J. A. Vaillant, a bizarre writer with great knowledge of the\nRomany people, suggested it in his work on those wandering tribes. The\ntwo authors were almost coincident and reflected one another thereafter.\nIt remained for Romain Merlin, in 1869, to point out what should have\nbeen obvious, namely, that cards of some kind were known in Europe prior\nto the arrival of the Gipsies in or about 1417. But as this was their\narrival at L\u00fcneburg, and as their presence can be traced antecedently,\nthe correction loses a considerable part of its force; it is safer,\ntherefore, to say that the evidence for the use of the Tarot by Romany\ntribes was not suggested till after the year 1840; the fact that some\nGipsies before this period were found using cards is quite explicable on\nthe hypothesis not that they brought them into Europe but found them\nthere already and added them to their stock in trade.\n\nWe have now seen that there is no particle of evidence for the Egyptian\norigin of Tarot cards. Looking in other directions, it was once advanced\non native authority that cards of some kind were invented in China about\nthe year A. D. 1120. Court de Gebelin believed in his zeal that he had\ntraced them to a Chinese inscription of great imputed antiquity which\nwas said to refer to the subsidence of the waters of the Deluge. The\ncharacters of this inscription were contained in seventy-seven\ncompartments, and this constitutes the analogy. India had also its\ntablets, whether cards or otherwise, and these have suggested similar\nslender similitudes. But the existence, for example, of ten suits or\nstyles, of twelve numbers each, and representing the avatars of Vishnu,\nas a fish, tortoise, boar, lion, monkey, hatchet, umbrella, or bow, as a\ngoat, a boodh and as a horse in fine, are not going to help us towards\nthe origin of our own Trumps Major, nor do crowns and harps--nor even\nthe presence of possible coins as a synonym of deniers and perhaps as an\nequivalent of pentacles--do much to elucidate the Lesser Arcana. If\nevery tongue and people and clime and period possessed their cards--if\nwith these also they philosophized, divined and gambled--the fact would\nbe interesting enough, but unless they were Tarot cards, they would\nillustrate only the universal tendency of man to be pursuing the same\nthings in more or less the same way.\n\nI end, therefore, the history of this subject by repeating that it has\nno history prior to the fourteenth century, when the first rumors were\nheard concerning cards. They may have existed for centuries, but this\nperiod would be early enough, if they were only intended for people to\ntry their luck at gambling or their luck at seeing the future; on the\nother hand, if they contain the deep intimations of Secret Doctrine,\nthen the fourteenth century is again early enough, or at least in this\nrespect we are getting as much as we can.\n\n\n\n\n                                Part Two\n                      THE DOCTRINE BEHIND THE VEIL\n\n\n                               SECTION I.\n                     THE TAROT AND SECRET TRADITION\n\nThe Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas, behind\nwhich lie all the implicits of the human mind, and it is in this sense\nthat they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few\nof truths imbedded in the consciousness of all, though they have not\npassed into express recognition by ordinary men. The theory is that this\ndoctrine has always existed--that is to say, has been excogitated in the\nconsciousness of an elect minority; that it has been perpetuated in\nsecrecy from one to another and has been recorded in secret literatures,\nlike those of Alchemy and Kabalism; that it is contained also in those\nInstituted Mysteries of which Rosicrucianism offers an example near to\nour hand in the past, and Craft Masonry a living summary, or general\nmemorial, for those who can interpret its real meaning. Behind the\nSecret Doctrine it is held that there is an experience or practice by\nwhich the Doctrine is justified. It is obvious that in a handbook like\nthe present I can do little more than state the claims, which, however,\nhave been discussed at length in several of my other writings, while it\nis designed to treat two of its more important phases in books devoted\nto the Secret Tradition in Freemasonry and in Hermetic literature. As\nregards Tarot claims, it should be remembered that some considerable\npart of the imputed Secret Doctrine has been presented in the pictorial\nemblems of Alchemy, so that the imputed _Book Of Thoth_ is in no sense a\nsolitary device of this emblematic kind. Now, Alchemy had two branches,\nas I have explained fully elsewhere, and the pictorial emblems which I\nhave mentioned are common to both divisions. Its material side is\nrepresented in the strange symbolism of the _Mutus Liber_, printed in\nthe great folios of Mangetus. There the process for the performance of\nthe great work of transmutation is depicted in fourteen copper-plate\nengravings, which exhibit the different stages of the matter in the\nvarious chemical vessels. Above these vessels there are mythological,\nplanetary, solar and lunar symbols, as if the powers and virtues\nwhich--according to Hermetic teaching--preside over the development and\nperfection of the metallic kingdom were intervening actively to assist\nthe two operators who are toiling below. The operators--curiously\nenough--are male and female. The spiritual side of Alchemy is set forth\nin the much stranger emblems of the _Book Of Lambspring_, and of this I\nhave already given a preliminary interpretation, to which the reader may\nbe referred.[2] The tract contains the mystery of what is called the\nmystical or arch-natural elixir, being the marriage of the soul and the\nspirit in the body of the adept philosopher and the transmutation of the\nbody as the physical result of this marriage. I have never met with more\ncurious intimations than in this one little work. It may be mentioned as\na point of fact that both tracts are very much later in time than the\nlatest date that could be assigned to the general distribution of Tarot\ncards in Europe by the most drastic form of criticism. They belong\nrespectively to the end of the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries. As I\nam not drawing here on the font of imagination to refresh that of fact\nand experience, I do not suggest that the Tarot set the example of\nexpressing Secret Doctrine in pictures and that it was followed by\nHermetic writers; but it is noticeable that it is perhaps the earliest\nexample of this art. It is also the most catholic, because it is not, by\nattribution or otherwise, a derivative of any one school or literature\nof occultism; it is not of Alchemy or Kabalism or Astrology or\nCeremonial Magic; but, as I have said, it is the presentation of\nuniversal ideas by means of universal types, and it is in the\ncombination of these types--if anywhere--that it presents Secret\nDoctrine.\n\n     [2] See the _Occult Review_, vol. viii, 1908.\n\nThat combination may, _ex hypothesi_, reside in the numbered sequence of\nits series or in their fortuitous assemblage by shuffling, cutting and\ndealing, as in ordinary games of chance played with cards. Two writers\nhave adopted the first view without prejudice to the second, and I shall\ndo well, perhaps, to dispose at once of what they have said. Mr.\nMacGregor Mathers, who once published a pamphlet on the Tarot, which was\nin the main devoted to fortune-telling, suggested that the twenty-two\nTrumps Major could be constructed, following their numerical order,\ninto what he called a \"connected sentence.\" It was, in fact, the heads\nof a moral thesis on the human will, its enlightenment by science,\nrepresented by the Magician, its manifestation by action--a significance\nattributed to the High Priestess--its realization (the Empress) in deeds\nof mercy and beneficence, which qualities were allocated to the Emperor.\nHe spoke also in the familiar conventional manner of prudence,\nfortitude, sacrifice, hope and ultimate happiness. But if this were the\nmessage of the cards, it is certain that there would be no excuse for\npublishing them at this day or taking the pains to elucidate them at\nsome length. In his _Tarot Of The Bohemians_, a work written with zeal\nand enthusiasm, sparing no pains of thought or research within its\nparticular lines--but unfortunately without real insight--Dr. Papus has\ngiven a singularly elaborate scheme of the Trumps Major. It depends,\nlike that of Mr. Mathers, from their numerical sequence, but exhibits\ntheir interrelation in the Divine World, the Macrocosm and Microcosm. In\nthis manner we get, as it were, a spiritual history of man, or of the\nsoul coming out from the Eternal, passing into the darkness of the\nmaterial body, and returning to the height. I think that the author is\nhere within a measurable distance of the right track, and his views are\nto this extent informing, but his method--in some respects--confuses the\nissues and the modes and planes of being.\n\nThe Trumps Major have also been treated in the alternative method which\nI have mentioned, and Grand Orient, in his _Manual Of Cartomancy_, under\nthe guise of a mode of transcendental divination, has really offered the\nresult of certain illustrative readings of the cards when arranged as\nthe result of a fortuitous combination by means of shuffling and\ndealing. The use of divinatory methods, with whatsoever intention and\nfor whatever purpose, carries with it two suggestions. It may be thought\nthat the deeper meanings are imputed rather than real, but this is\ndisposed of by the fact of certain cards, like the Magician, the High\nPriestess, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, the Tower or _Maison\nDieu_, and several others, which do not correspond to Conditions of\nLife, Arts, Sciences, Virtues, or the other subjects contained in the\ndenaries of the Baldini emblematic figures. They are also proof positive\nthat obvious and natural moralities cannot explain the sequence. Such\ncards testify concerning themselves after another manner; and although\nthe state in which I have left the Tarot in respect of its historical\nside is so much the more difficult as it is so much the more open, they\nindicate the real subject matter with which we are concerned. The\nmethods show also that the Trumps Major at least have been adapted to\nfortune-telling rather than belong thereto. The common divinatory\nmeanings which will be given in the third part are largely arbitrary\nattributions, or the product of secondary and uninstructed intuition;\nor, at the very most, they belong to the subject on a lower plane, apart\nfrom the original intention. If the Tarot were of fortune-telling in the\nroot-matter thereof, we should have to look in very strange places for\nthe motive which devised it--to Witchcraft and the Black Sabbath, rather\nthan any Secret Doctrine.\n\nThe two classes of significance which are attached to the Tarot in the\nsuperior and inferior worlds, and the fact that no occult or other\nwriter has attempted to assign anything but a divinatory meaning to the\nMinor Arcana, justify in yet another manner the hypothesis that the two\nseries do not belong to one another. It is possible that their marriage\nwas effected first in the Tarot of Bologna by that Prince of Pisa whom I\nhave mentioned in the first part. It is said that his device obtained\nfor him public recognition and reward from the city of his adoption,\nwhich would scarcely have been possible, even in those fantastic days,\nfor the production of a Tarot which only omitted a few of the small\ncards; but as we are dealing with a question of fact which has to be\naccounted for somehow, it is conceivable that a sensation might have\nbeen created by a combination of the minor and gambling cards with the\nphilosophical set, and by the adaptation of both to a game of chance.\nAfterwards it would have been further adapted to that other game of\nchance which is called fortune-telling. It should be understood here\nthat I am not denying the possibility of divination, but I take\nexception as a mystic to the dedications which bring people into these\npaths, as if they had any relation to the Mystic Quest.\n\nThe Tarot cards which are issued with the small edition of the present\nwork, that is to say, with the _Key To The Tarot_, have been drawn and\ncolored by Miss Pamela Colman Smith, and will, I think, be regarded as\nvery striking and beautiful, in their design alike and execution. They\nare reproduced in the present enlarged edition of the Key as a means of\nreference to the text. They differ in many important respects from the\nconventional archaisms of the past and from the wretched products of\ncolportage which now reach us from Italy, and it remains for me to\njustify their variations so far as the symbolism is concerned. That for\nonce in modern times I present a pack which is the work of an artist\ndoes not, I presume, call for apology, even to the people--if any remain\namong us--who used to be described and to call themselves \"very occult.\"\nIf any one will look at the gorgeous Tarot valet or knave who is\nemblazoned on one of the page plates of Chatto's _Facts And Speculations\nConcerning The History Of Playing Cards_, he will know that Italy in the\nold days produced some splendid packs. I could only wish that it had\nbeen possible to issue the restored and rectified cards in the same\nstyle and size; such a course would have done fuller justice to the\ndesigns, but the result would have proved unmanageable for those\npractical purposes which are connected with cards, and for which\nallowance must be made, whatever my views thereon. For the variations in\nthe symbolism by which the designs have been affected, I alone am\nresponsible. In respect of the Major Arcana, they are sure to occasion\ncriticism among students, actual and imputed. I wish therefore to say,\nwithin the reserves of courtesy and _la haute convenance_ belonging to\nthe fellowship of research, that I care nothing utterly for any view\nthat may find expression. There is a Secret Tradition concerning the\nTarot, as well as a _Secret Doctrine_ contained therein; I have followed\nsome part of it without exceeding the limits which are drawn about\nmatters of this kind and belong to the laws of honor. This tradition has\ntwo parts, and as one of them has passed into writing it seems to follow\nthat it may be betrayed at any moment, which will not signify, because\nthe second, as I have intimated, has not so passed at present and is\nheld by very few indeed. The purveyors of spurious copy and the\ntraffickers in stolen goods may take note of this point, if they please.\nI ask, moreover, to be distinguished from two or three writers in recent\ntimes who have thought fit to hint that they could say a good deal more\nif they liked, for we do not speak the same language; but, also from any\none who, now or hereafter, may say that she or he will tell all, because\nthey have only the accidents and not the essentials necessary for such\ndisclosure. If I have followed on my part the counsel of Robert Burns,\nby keeping something to myself which I \"scarcely tell to any,\" I have\nstill said as much as I can; it is the truth after its own manner, and\nas much as may be expected or required in those outer circles where the\nqualifications of special research cannot be expected.\n\nIn regard to the Minor Arcana, they are the first in modern but not in\nall times to be accompanied by pictures, in addition to what is called\nthe \"pips\"--that is to say, the devices belonging to the numbers of the\nvarious suits. These pictures respond to the divinatory meanings, which\nhave been drawn from many sources. To sum up, therefore, the present\ndivision of this key is devoted to the Trumps Major; it elucidates their\nsymbols in respect of the higher intention and with reference to the\ndesigns in the pack. The third division will give the divinatory\nsignificance in respect of the seventy-eight Tarot cards, and with\nparticular reference to the designs of the Minor Arcana. It will give,\nin fine, some modes of use for those who require them, and in the sense\nof the reason which I have already explained in the preface. That which\nhereinafter follows should be taken, for the purposes of comparison, in\nconnection with the general description of the old Tarot Trumps in the\nfirst part. There it will be seen that the zero card of the Fool is\nallocated, as it always is, to the place which makes it equivalent to\nthe number twenty-one. The arrangement is ridiculous on the surface,\nwhich does not much signify, but it is also wrong on the symbolism, nor\ndoes this fare better when it is made to replace the twenty-second point\nof the sequence. Etteilla recognized the difficulties of both\nattributions, but he only made bad worse by allocating the Fool to the\nplace which is usually occupied by the Ace of Pentacles as the last of\nthe whole Tarot series. This rearrangement has been followed by Papus\nrecently in _Le Tarot Divinatoire_, where the confusion is of no\nconsequence, as the findings of fortune-telling depend upon fortuitous\npositions and not upon essential place in the general sequence of cards.\nI have seen yet another allocation of the zero symbol, which no doubt\nobtains in certain cases, but it fails on the highest planes and for our\npresent requirements it would be idle to carry the examination further.\n\n\n                               SECTION 2\n               THE TRUMPS MAJOR AND THEIR INNER SYMBOLISM\n\nONE. THE MAGICIAN\n\nA youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of\ndivine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes. Above his head\nis the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an\nendless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position [Symbol:\nInfinity]. About his waist is a serpent-cincture, the serpent appearing\nto devour its own tail. This is familiar to most as a conventional\nsymbol of eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity\nof attainment in the spirit. In the Magician's right hand is a wand\nraised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth.\nThis dual sign is known in very high grades of the Instituted Mysteries;\nit shows the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above\nand derived to things below. The suggestion throughout is therefore the\npossession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit. On\nthe table in front of the Magician are the symbols of the four Tarot\nsuits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters\nbefore the adept, and he adapts them as he wills. Beneath are roses and\nlilies, the _flos campi_ and _lilium convallium_, changed into garden\nflowers, to show the culture of aspiration. This card signifies the\ndivine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its\nunion with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being\non all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation\nthereof. With further reference to what I have called the sign of life\nand its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that\nChristian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change \"unto the\nOgdoad.\" The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing\nwith Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According\nto Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ.\n\n[Illustration: THE MAGICIAN.]\n\nTWO. THE HIGH PRIESTESS\n\nShe has the lunar crescent at her feet, a horned diadem on her head,\nwith a globe in the middle place, and a large solar cross on her breast.\nThe scroll in her hands is inscribed with the word _Tora_, signifying\nthe Greater Law, the Secret Law and the second sense of the Word. It is\npartly covered by her mantle, to show that some things are implied and\nsome spoken. She is seated between the white and black pillars--J. and\nB.--of the mystic Temple and the veil of the Temple is behind her: it is\nembroidered with palms and pomegranates. The vestments are flowing and\ngauzy, and the mantle suggests light--a shimmering radiance. She has\nbeen called Occult Science on the threshhold of the Sanctuary of Isis,\nbut she is really the Secret Church, the House which is of God (Nature)\nand man. She represents also the Second Marriage of the Prince who is no\nlonger of this world; she is the spiritual Bride and Mother, the\ndaughter of the stars and the Higher Garden of Eden. She is, in fine,\nthe Queen of the borrowed light, but this is the light of all. She is\nthe Moon nourished by the milk of the Supernal Mother.\n\nIn a manner, she is also the Supernal Mother herself--that is to say,\nshe is the bright reflection. It is in this sense of reflection that her\ntruest and highest name in bolism is _Shekinah_--the co-habiting glory.\nAccording to Kabalism, there is a _Shekinah_ both above and below. In\nthe superior world it is called _Binah_, the Supernal Understanding\nwhich reflects to the emanations that are beneath. In the lower world it\nis _Malkuth_--that world being, for this purpose, understood as a\nblessed Kingdom--that with which it is made blessed being the Indwelling\nGlory. Mystically speaking, the _Shekinah_ is the Spiritual Bride of the\njust man, and when he reads the Law she gives the Divine meaning. There\nare some respects in which this card is the highest and holiest of the\nGreater Arcana.\n\n[Illustration: THE HIGH PRIESTESS]\n\nTHREE. THE EMPRESS\n\nA stately figure, seated, having rich vestments and royal aspect, as of\na daughter of heaven and earth. Her diadem is of twelve stars, gathered\nin a cluster. The symbol of Venus is on the shield which rests near her.\nA field of corn is ripening in front of her, and beyond there is a fall\nof water. The scepter which she bears is surmounted by the globe of this\nworld. She is the inferior Garden of Eden, the Earthly Paradise, all\nthat is symbolized by the visible house of man. She is not _Regina\ncoeli_, but she is still _refugium peccatorum_, the fruitful mother of\nthousands. There are also certain aspects in which she has been\ncorrectly described as desire and the wings thereof, as the woman\nclothed with the sun, as _Gloria Mundi_ and the veil of the _Sanctum\nSanctorum_; but she is not, I may add, the soul that has attained wings,\nunless all the symbolism is counted up another and unusual way. She is\nabove all things universal fecundity and the outer sense of the Word.\nThis is obvious, because there is no direct message which has been given\nto man like that which is borne by woman; but she does not herself carry\nits interpretation.\n\nIn another order of ideas, the card of the Empress signifies the door or\ngate by which an entrance is obtained into this life, as into the Garden\nof Venus; and then the way which leads out therefrom, into that which is\nbeyond, is the secret known to the High Priestess: it is communicated by\nher to the elect. Most old attributions of this card are completely\nwrong on the symbolism--as, for example, its identification with the\nWord, Divine Nature, the Triad, and so forth.\n\n[Illustration: THE EMPRESS.]\n\nFOUR. THE EMPEROR\n\nHe has a form of the _Crux ansata_ for his scepter and a globe in his\nleft hand. He is crowned monarch--commanding, stately, seated on a\nthrone, the arms of which are fronted by rams' heads. He is executive\nand realization, the power of this world, here clothed with the highest\nof its natural attributes. He is occasionally represented as seated on a\ncubic stone, which, however, confuses some of the issues. He is the\nvirile power, to which the Empress responds, and in this sense is he who\nseeks to remove the Veil of Isis; yet she remains _virgo intacta_.\n\nIt should be understood that this card and that of the Empress do not\nprecisely represent the condition of married life, though this state is\nimplied. On the surface, as I have indicated, they stand for mundane\nroyalty, uplifted on the seats of the mighty; but above this there is\nthe suggestion of another presence. They signify, also--and the male\nfigure especially--the higher kingship, occupying the intellectual\nthrone. Hereof is the lordship of thought rather than of the animal\nworld. Both personalities, after their own manner, are \"full of strange\nexperience,\" but theirs is not consciously the wisdom which draws from a\nhigher world. The Emperor has been described as (_a_) will in its\nembodied form, but this is only one of its applications, and (_b_) as an\nexpression of virtualities contained in the Absolute Being--but this is\nfantasy.\n\n[Illustration: THE EMPEROR.]\n\nFIVE. THE HIEROPHANT\n\nHe wears the triple crown and is seated between two pillars, but they\nare not those of the Temple which is guarded by the High Priestess. In\nhis left hand he holds a scepter terminating in the triple cross, and\nwith his right hand he gives the well-known ecclesiastical sign which is\ncalled that of esotericism, distinguishing between the manifest and\nconcealed part of doctrine. It is noticeable in this connection that the\nHigh Priestess makes no sign. At his feet are the crossed keys, and two\npriestly ministers in albs kneel before him. He has been usually called\nthe Pope, which is a particular application of the more general office\nthat he symbolizes. He is the ruling power of external religion, as the\nHigh Priestess is the prevailing genius of the esoteric, withdrawn\npower. The proper meanings of this card have suffered woeful admixture\nfrom nearly all hands. _Grand Orient_ says truly that the Hierophant is\nthe power of the keys, exoteric orthodox doctrine, and the outer side of\nthe life which leads to the doctrine; but he is certainly not the prince\nof occult doctrine, as another commentator has suggested.\n\nHe is rather the _summa totius theologi\u00e6_, when it has passed into the\nutmost rigidity of expression; but he symbolizes also all things that\nare righteous and sacred on the manifest side. As such, he is the\nchannel of grace belonging to the world of institution as distinct from\nthat of Nature, and he is the leader of salvation for the human race at\nlarge. He is the order and the head of the recognized hierarchy, which\nis the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order; but it may so\nhappen that the pontiff forgets the significance of this his symbolic\nstate and acts as if he contained within his proper measures all that\nhis sign signifies or his symbol seeks to show forth. He is not, as it\nhas been thought, philosophy--except on the theological side; he is not\ninspiration; and he is not religion, although he is a mode of its\nexpression.\n\n[Illustration: THE HIEROPHANT]\n\nSIX. THE LOVERS\n\nThe sun shines in the zenith, and beneath is a great winged figure with\narms extended, pouring down influences. In the foreground are two human\nfigures, male and female, unveiled before each other, as if Adam and Eve\nwhen they first occupied the paradise of the earthly body. Behind the\nman is the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits, and the Tree of the\nKnowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman; the serpent is twining\nround it. The figures suggest youth, virginity, innocence and love\nbefore it is contaminated by gross material desire. This is in all\nsimplicity the card of human love, here exhibited as part of the way,\nthe truth and the life. It replaces, by recourse to first principles,\nthe old card of marriage, which I have described previously, and the\nlater follies which depicted man between vice and virtue. In a very high\nsense, the card is a mystery of the Covenant and Sabbath.\n\nThe suggestion in respect of the woman is that she signifies that\nattraction towards the sensitive life which carries within it the idea\nof the Fall of Man, but she is rather the working of a Secret Law of\nProvidence than a willing and conscious temptress. It is through her\nimputed lapse that man shall arise ultimately, and only by her can he\ncomplete himself. The card is therefore in its way another intimation\nconcerning the great mystery of womanhood. The old meanings fall to\npieces of necessity with the old pictures, but even as interpretations\nof the latter, some of them were of the order of commonplace and others\nwere false in symbolism.\n\n[Illustration: THE LOVERS.]\n\nSEVEN. THE CHARIOT\n\nAn erect and princely figure carrying a drawn sword and corresponding,\nbroadly speaking, to the traditional description which I have given in\nthe first part. On the shoulders of the victorious hero are supposed to\nbe the _Urim_ and _Thummim_. He has led captivity captive; he is\nconquest on all planes--in the mind, in science, in progress, in certain\ntrials of initiation. He has thus replied to the _Sphinx_, and it is on\nthis account that I have accepted the variation of Eliphas L\u00e9vi; two\nsphinxes thus draw his chariot. He is above all things triumph in the\nmind.\n\nIt is to be understood for this reason (_a_) that the question of the\nsphinx is concerned with a Mystery of Nature and not of the world of\nGrace, to which the charioteer could offer no answer; (_b_) that the\nplanes of his conquest are manifest or external and not within himself;\n(_c_) that the liberation which he effects may leave himself in the\nbondage of the logical understanding; (_d_) that the tests of initiation\nthrough which he has passed in triumph are to be understood physically\nor rationally and (_e_) that if he came to the pillars of that Temple\nbetween which the High Priestess is seated, he could not open the scroll\ncalled _Tora_, nor if she questioned him could he answer. He is not\nhereditary royalty and he is not priesthood.\n\n[Illustration: THE CHARIOT.]\n\nEIGHT. STRENGTH, OR FORTITUDE\n\nA woman, over whose head there broods the same symbol of life which we\nhave seen in the card of the Hierophant, is closing the jaws of a lion.\nThe only point in which this design differs from the conventional\npresentations is that her beneficent fortitude has already subdued the\nlion, which is being led by a chain of flowers. For reasons which\nsatisfy myself, this card has been interchanged with that of Justice,\nwhich is usually numbered eight. As the variation carries nothing with\nit which will signify to the reader, there is no cause for explanation.\nFortitude, in one of its most exalted aspects, is connected with the\nDivine Mystery of Union; the virtue, of course, operates in all planes,\nand hence draws on all in its symbolism. It connects also with\n_innocentia inviolata_, and with the strength which resides in\ncontemplation.\n\nThese higher meanings are, however, matters of inference, and I do not\nsuggest that they are transparent on the surface of the card. They are\nintimated in a concealed manner by the chain of flowers, which\nsignifies, among many other things, the sweet yoke and the light burden\nof Divine Law, when it has been taken into the heart of hearts. The card\nhas nothing to do with self-confidence in the ordinary sense, though\nthis has been suggested--but it concerns the confidence of those whose\nstrength is God (Nature), who have found their refuge in Him. There is\none aspect in which the lion signifies the passions, and she who is\ncalled Strength is the higher nature in its liberation. It has walked\nupon the asp and the basilisk and has trodden down the lion and the\ndragon.\n\n[Illustration: STRENGTH.]\n\nNINE. THE HERMIT\n\nThe variation from the conventional models in this card is only that the\nlamp is not enveloped partially in the mantle of its bearer, who blends\nthe idea of the Ancient of Days with the Light of the World. It is a\nstar which shines in the lantern. I have said that this is a card of\nattainment, and to extend this conception the figure is seen holding up\nhis beacon on an eminence. Therefore the Hermit is not, as Court de\nGebelin explained, a wise man in search of truth and justice; nor is he,\nas a later explanation proposes, an especial example of experience. His\nbeacon intimates that \"where I am, you also may be.\"\n\nIt is further a card which is understood quite incorrectly when it is\nconnected with the idea of occult isolation, as the protection of\npersonal magnetism against admixture. This is one of the frivolous\nrenderings which we owe to Eliphas L\u00e9vi. It has been adopted by the\nFrench Order of Martinism and some of us have heard a great deal of the\nSilent and Unknown Philosophy enveloped by his mantle from the knowledge\nof the profane. In true Martinism, the significance of the term\n_Philosophe inconnu_ was of another order. It did not refer to the\nintended concealment of the Instituted Mysteries, much less of their\nsubstitutes, but--like the card itself--to the truth that the Divine\nMysteries secure their own protection from those who are unprepared.\n\n[Illustration: THE HERMIT.]\n\nTEN. WHEEL OF FORTUNE\n\nIn this symbol I have again followed the reconstruction of Eliphas L\u00e9vi,\nwho has furnished several variants. It is legitimate--as I have\nintimated--to use Egyptian symbolism when this serves our purpose,\nprovided that no theory of origin is implied therein. I have, however,\npresented Typhon in his serpent form. The symbolism is, of course, not\nexclusively Egyptian, as the four Living Creatures of Ezekiel occupy the\nangles of the card, and the wheel itself follows other indications of\nL\u00e9vi in respect of Ezekiel's vision, as illustrative of the particular\nTarot Key. With the French occultist, and in the design itself, the\nsymbolic picture stands for the perpetual motion of a fluidic universe\nand for the flux of human life. The Sphinx is the equilibrium therein.\nThe transliteration of _Taro_ as _Rota_ is inscribed on the wheel,\ncounterchanged with the letters of the Divine Name--to show that\nProvidence is implied through all. But this is the Divine intention\nwithin, and the similar intention without is exemplified by the four\nLiving Creatures. Sometimes the sphinx is represented couchant on a\npedestal above, which defrauds the symbolism by stultifying the\nessential idea of stability amidst movement.\n\nBehind the general notion expressed in the symbol there lies the denial\nof chance and the fatality which is implied therein. It may be added\nthat, from the days of L\u00e9vi onward, the occult explanations of this card\nare--even for occultism itself--of a singularly fatuous kind. It has\nbeen said to mean principle, fecundity, virile honor, ruling authority,\netc. The findings of common fortune-telling are better than this on\ntheir own plane.\n\n[Illustration: WHEEL of FORTUNE.]\n\nELEVEN. JUSTICE\n\nAs this card follows the traditional symbolism and carries above all its\nobvious meanings, there is little to say regarding it outside the few\nconsiderations collected in the first part, to which the reader is\nreferred.\n\nIt will be seen, however, that the figure is seated between pillars,\nlike the High Priestess, and on this account it seems desirable to\nindicate that the moral principle which deals unto every man according\nto his works--while, of course, it is in strict analogy with higher\nthings--differs in its essence from the spiritual justice which is\ninvolved in the idea of election. The latter belongs to a mysterious\norder of Providence, in virtue of which it is possible for certain men\nto conceive the idea of dedication to the highest things. The operation\nof this is like the breathing of the Spirit where it wills, and we have\nno canon of criticism or ground of explanation concerning it. It is\nanalogous to the possession of the fairy gifts and the high gifts and\nthe gracious gifts of the poet: we have them or have not, and their\npresence is as much a mystery as their absence. The law of Justice is\nnot, however, involved by either alternative. In conclusion, the pillars\nof Justice open into one world and the pillars of the High Priestess\ninto another.\n\n[Illustration: JUSTICE.]\n\nTWELVE. THE HANGED MAN\n\nThe gallows from which he is suspended forms a _Tau_ cross, while the\nfigure--from the position of the legs--forms a fylfot cross. There is a\nnimbus about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted (1) that\nthe tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon; (2) that the\nface expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as\na whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death. It is a\ncard of profound significance, but all the significance is veiled. One\nof his editors suggests that Eliphas L\u00e9vi did not know the meaning,\nwhich is unquestionable--nor did the editor himself. It has been called\nfalsely a card of martyrdom, a card of prudence, a card of the Great\nWork, a card of duty; but we may exhaust all published interpretations\nand find only vanity. I will say very simply on my own part that it\nexpresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and\nthe Universe.\n\nHe who can understand that the story of his higher nature is imbedded in\nthis symbolism will receive intimations concerning a great awakening\nthat is possible, and will know that after the sacred _Mystery Of Death_\nthere is a glorious _Mystery Of Resurrection_.\n\n[Illustration: THE HANGED MAN.]\n\nTHIRTEEN. DEATH\n\nThe veil or mask of life is perpetuated in change, transformation and\npassage from lower to higher, and this is more fitly represented in the\nrectified Tarot by one of the apocalyptic visions than by the crude\nnotion of the reaping skeleton. Behind it lies the whole world of ascent\nin the spirit. The mysterious horseman moves slowly, bearing a black\nbanner emblazoned with the Mystic Rose, which signifies life. Between\ntwo pillars on the verge of the horizon there shines the sun of\nimmortality. The horseman carries no visible weapon, but king and child\nand maiden fall before him, while a prelate with clasped hands awaits\nhis end.\n\nThere should be no need to point out that the suggestion of death which\nI have made in connection with the previous card is, of course, to be\nunderstood mystically, but this is not the case in the present instance.\nThe natural transit of man to the next stage of his being either is or\nmay be one form of his progress, but the exotic and almost unknown\nentrance, while still in this life, into the state of mystical death is\na change in the form of consciousness and the passage into a state to\nwhich ordinary death is neither the path nor gate. The existing occult\nexplanations of the 13th card are, on the whole, better than usual,\nrebirth, creation, destination, renewal, and the rest.\n\n[Illustration: DEATH.]\n\nFOURTEEN. TEMPERANCE\n\nA winged angel, with the sign of the sun upon his forehead and on his\nbreast the square and triangle of the septenary. I speak of him in the\nmasculine sense, but the figure is neither male nor female. It is held\nto be pouring the essences of life from chalice to chalice. It has one\nfoot upon the earth and one upon waters, thus illustrating the nature of\nthe essences. A direct path goes up to certain heights on the verge of\nthe horizon, and above there is a great light, through which a crown is\nseen vaguely. Hereof is some part of the Secret of Eternal Life, as it\nis possible to man in his incarnation. All the conventional emblems are\nrenounced herein.\n\nSo also are the conventional meanings, which refer to changes in the\nseasons, perpetual movement of life, and even the combination of ideas.\nIt is, moreover, untrue to say that the figure symbolizes the genius of\nthe sun, though it is the analogy of solar light, realized in the third\npart of our human triplicity. It is called Temperance, fantastically,\nbecause, when the rule of it obtains in our consciousness, it tempers,\ncombines and harmonizes the psychic and material natures. Under that\nrule we know in our rational part something of whence we came and\nwhither we are going.\n\n[Illustration: TEMPERANCE.]\n\nFIFTEEN. THE DEVIL\n\nThe design is an accommodation, mean or harmony, between several motives\nmentioned in the first part. The Horned Goat of Mendes, with wings like\nthose of a bat, is standing on an altar. At the pit of the stomach there\nis the sign of Mercury. The right hand is upraised and extended, being\nthe reverse of that benediction which is given by the Hierophant in the\nfifth card. In the left hand there is a great flaming torch, inverted\ntowards the earth. A reversed pentagram is on the forehead. There is a\nring in front of the altar, from which two chains are carried to the\nnecks of two figures, male and female. These are analogous with those of\nthe fifth card, as if Adam and Eve after the Fall. Hereof is the chain\nand fatality of the material life.\n\nThe figures are tailed, to signify the animal nature, but there is human\nintelligence in the faces, and he who is exalted above them is not to be\ntheir master for ever. Even now, he is also a bondsman, sustained by the\nevil that is in him and blind to the liberty of service. With more than\nhis usual derision for the arts which he pretended to respect and\ninterpret as a master therein, Eliphas L\u00e9vi affirms that the Baphometic\nfigure is occult science and magic. Another commentator says that in the\nDivine world it signifies predestination, but there is no correspondence\nin that world with the things which below are of the brute. What it does\nsignify is the Dweller on the Threshold without the Mystical Garden when\nthose are driven forth therefrom who have eaten the forbidden fruit.\n\n[Illustration: THE DEVIL.]\n\nSIXTEEN. THE TOWER\n\nOccult explanations attached to this card are meager and mostly\ndisconcerting. It is idle to indicate that it depicts ruin in all its\naspects, because it bears this evidence on the surface. It is said\nfurther that it contains the first allusion to a material building, but\nI do not conceive that the Tower is more or less material than the\npillars which we have met with in three previous cases. I see nothing to\nwarrant Papus in supposing that it is literally the fall of Adam, but\nthere is more in favor of his alternative--that it signifies the\nmaterialization of the spiritual word. The bibliographer Christian\nimagines that it is the downfall of the mind, seeking to penetrate the\nmystery of God (Nature). I agree rather with Grand Orient that it is the\nruin of the House of Life, when evil has prevailed therein, and above\nall that it is the rending of a House of Doctrine. I understand that the\nreference is, however, to a House of Falsehood. It illustrates also in\nthe most comprehensive way the old truth that \"except the Lord build the\nhouse, they labor in vain that build it.\"\n\nThere is a sense in which the catastrophe is a reflection from the\nprevious card, but not on the side of the symbolism which I have tried\nto indicate therein. It is more correctly a question of analogy; one is\nconcerned with the fall into the material and animal state, while the\nother signifies destruction on the intellectual side. The Tower has been\nspoken of as the chastisement of pride and the intellect overwhelmed in\nthe attempt to penetrate the Mystery of God (Nature); but in neither\ncase do these explanations account for the two persons who are the\nliving sufferers. The one is the literal word made void and the other\nits false interpretation. In yet a deeper sense, it may signify also the\nend of a dispensation, but there is no possibility here for the\nconsideration of this involved question.\n\n[Illustration: THE TOWER.]\n\nSEVENTEEN. THE STAR\n\nA great, radiant star of eight rays, surrounded by seven lesser\nstars--also of eight rays. The female figure in the foreground is\nentirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot upon the\nwater. She pours Water of Life from two great ewers, irrigating sea and\nland. Behind her is rising ground and on the right a shrub or tree,\nwhereon a bird alights. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty.\nThe star is _l'\u00e9toile flamboyante_, which appears in Masonic symbolism,\nbut has been confused therein. That which the figure communicates to the\nliving scene is the substance of the heavens and the elements. It has\nbeen said truly that the mottoes of this card are \"Waters of Life\nfreely\" and \"Gifts of the Spirit.\"\n\nThe summary of several tawdry explanations says that it is a card of\nhope. On other planes it has been certified as immortality and interior\nlight. For the majority of prepared minds, the figure will appear as the\ntype of Truth unveiled, glorious in undying beauty, pouring on the\nwaters of the soul some part and measure of her priceless possession.\nBut she is in reality the _Great Mother_ in the _Kabalistic Sephira\nBinah_, which is supernal Understanding, who communicates to the\n_Sephiroth_ that are below in the measure that they can receive her\ninflux.\n\n[Illustration: THE STAR.]\n\nEIGHTEEN. THE MOON\n\nThe distinction between this card and some of the conventional types is\nthat the moon is increasing on what is called the side of mercy, to the\nright of the observer. It has sixteen chief and sixteen secondary rays.\nThe card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the\nspirit. The path between the towers is the issue into the unknown. The\ndog and the wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of\nthat place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it.\n\nThe last reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The\nintellectual light is a reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery\nwhich it cannot show forth. It illuminates our animal nature, types of\nwhich are represented below--the dog, the wolf and that which comes up\nout of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is lower than\nthe savage beast. It strives to attain manifestation, symbolized by\ncrawling from the abyss of water to the land, but as a rule it sinks\nback whence it came. The face of the mind directs a calm gaze upon the\nunrest below; the dew of thought falls; the message is: Peace, be still;\nand it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature, while\nthe abyss beneath shall cease from giving up a form.\n\n[Illustration: THE MOON.]\n\nNINETEEN. THE SUN\n\nThe naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a red standard\nhas been mentioned already as the better symbolism connected with this\ncard. It is the destiny of the Supernatural East and the great and holy\nlight which goes before the endless procession of humanity, coming out\nfrom the walled garden of the sensitive life and passing on the journey\nhome. The card signifies, therefore, the transit from the manifest light\nof this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth, to the light of\nthe world to come, which goes before aspiration and is typified by the\nheart of a child.\n\nBut the last allusion is again the key to a different form or aspect of\nthe symbolism. The sun is that of consciousness in the spirit--the\ndirect as the antithesis of the reflected light. The characteristic type\nof humanity has become a little child therein--a child in the sense of\nsimplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom. In that simplicity, he\nbears the seal of Nature and of Art; in that innocence, he signifies the\nrestored world. When the self-knowing spirit has dawned in the\nconsciousness above the natural mind, that mind in its renewal leads\nforth the animal nature in a state of perfect conformity.\n\n[Illustration: THE SUN.]\n\nTWENTY. THE LAST JUDGMENT\n\nI have said that this symbol is essentially invariable in all Tarot\nsets, or at least the variations do not alter its character. The great\nangel is here encompassed by clouds, but he blows his bannered trumpet,\nand the cross as usual is displayed on the banner. The dead are rising\nfrom their tombs--a woman on the right, a man on the left hand, and\nbetween them their child, whose back is turned. But in this card there\nare more than three who are restored, and it has been thought worth\nwhile to make this variation as illustrating the insufficiency of\ncurrent explanations. It should be noted that all the figures are as one\nin the wonder, adoration and ecstasy expressed by their attitudes. It is\nthe card which registers the accomplishment of the great work of\ntransformation in answer to the summons of the Supernal--which summons\nis heard and answered from within.\n\nHerein is the intimation of a significance which cannot well be carried\nfurther in the present place. What is that within us which does sound a\ntrumpet and all that is lower in our nature rises in response--almost in\na moment, almost in the twinkling of an eye? Let the card continue to\ndepict, for those who can see no further, the Last Judgment and the\nresurrection in the natural body; but let those who have inward eyes\nlook and discover therewith. They will understand that it has been\ncalled truly in the past a card of eternal life, and for this reason it\nmay be compared with that which passes under the name of Temperance.\n\n[Illustration: JUDGEMENT.]\n\nZERO. THE FOOL\n\nWith light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to\nrestrain him, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a\nprecipice among the great heights of the world; he surveys the blue\ndistance before him--its expanse of sky rather than the prospect below.\nHis act of eager walking is still indicated, though he is stationary at\nthe given moment; his dog is still bounding. The edge which opens on the\ndepth has no terror; it is as if angels were waiting to uphold him, if\nit came about that he leaped from the height. His countenance is full of\nintelligence and expectant dream. He has a rose in one hand and in the\nother a costly wand, from which depends over his right shoulder a wallet\ncuriously embroidered. He is a prince of the other world on his travels\nthrough this one--all amidst the morning glory, in the keen air. The\nsun, which shines behind him, knows whence he came, whither he is going,\nand how he will return by another path after many days. He is the spirit\nin search of experience. Many symbols of the Instituted Mysteries are\nsummarized in this card, which reverses, under high warrants, all the\nconfusions that have preceded it.\n\nIn his _Manual Of Cartomancy_, Grand Orient has a curious suggestion of\nthe office of Mystic Fool, as a part of his process in higher\ndivination; but it might call for more than ordinary gifts to put it\ninto operation. We shall see how the card fares according to the common\narts of fortune-telling, and it will be an example, to those who can\ndiscern, of the fact, otherwise so evident, that the Trumps Major had no\nplace originally in the arts of psychic gambling, when cards are used as\nthe counters and pretexts. Of the circumstances under which this art\narose we know, however, very little. The conventional explanations say\nthat the Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, and by a peculiar\nsatire its subsidiary name was at one time the alchemist, as depicting\nfolly at the most insensate stage.\n\n[Illustration: THE FOOL.]\n\nTWENTY-ONE. THE WORLD\n\nAs this final message of the Major Trumps is unchanged--and indeed\nunchangeable--in respect of its design, it has been partly described\nalready regarding its deeper sense. It represents also the perfection\nand end of the Cosmos, the secret which is within it, the rapture of the\nuniverse when it understands itself in God (Nature). It is further the\nstate of the soul in the consciousness of Divine Vision, reflected from\nthe self-knowing spirit. But these meanings are without prejudice to\nthat which I have said concerning it on the material side.\n\nIt has more than one message on the macrocosmic side and is, for\nexample, the state of the restored world when the law of manifestation\nshall have been carried to the highest degree of natural perfection. But\nit is perhaps more especially a story of the past, referring to that day\nwhen all was declared to be good, when the morning stars sang together\nand all the Sons of God (Nature) shouted for joy. One of the worst\nexplanations concerning it is that the figure symbolizes the Magus when\nhe has reached the highest degree of initiation; another account says\nthat it represents the absolute, which is ridiculous. The figure has\nbeen said to stand for Truth, which is, however, more properly allocated\nto the seventeenth card. Lastly, it has been called the Crown of the\nMagi.\n\n[Illustration: THE WORLD.]\n\n\n                               SECTION 3\n                   CONCLUSION AS TO THE GREATER KEYS\n\nThere has been no attempt in the previous tabulation to present the\nsymbolism in what is called the three worlds--that of Divinity, of the\nMacrocosm and the Microcosm. A large volume would be required for\ndevelopments of this kind. I have taken the cards on the high plane of\ntheir more direct significance to man, who--in material life--is on the\nquest of eternal things. The compiler of the _Manual Of Cartomancy_ has\ntreated them under three headings: the World of Human Prudence, which\ndoes not differ from divination on its more serious side; the World of\nConformity, being the life of religious devotion; and the World of\nAttainment, which is that of \"the soul's progress towards the term of\nits research.\" He gives also a triple process of consultation, according\nto these divisions, to which the reader is referred. I have no such\nprocess to offer, as I think that more may be gained by individual\nreflection on each of the Trumps Major. I have also not adopted the\nprevailing attribution of the cards of the Hebrew alphabet--firstly,\nbecause it would serve no purpose in an elementary handbook; secondly,\nbecause nearly every attribution is wrong. Finally, I have not attempted\nto rectify the position of the cards in their relation to one another;\nthe Zero therefore appears after No. 20, but I have taken care not to\nnumber the World or Universe otherwise than as 21. Wherever it ought to\nbe put, the Zero is an unnumbered card.\n\nIn conclusion as to this part, I will give these further indications\nregarding the Fool, which is the most speaking of all the symbols. He\nsignifies the journey outward, the state of the first emanation, the\ngraces and passivity of the spirit. His wallet is inscribed with dim\nsigns, to show that many sub-conscious memories are stored up in the\nsoul.\n\n\n\n\n                               Part Three\n                    THE OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES\n\n\n                               SECTION 1\n           DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE GREATER AND LESSER ARCANA\n\nIn respect of their usual presentation, the bridge between the Greater\nand Lesser Arcana is supplied by the court cards--King, Queen, Knight\nand Squire or Page; but their utter distinction from the Trumps Major is\nshown by their conventional character. Let the reader compare them with\nsymbols like the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, or--almost\nwithout exception--with any in the previous sequence, and he will\ndiscern my meaning. There is no especial idea connected on the surface\nwith the ordinary court cards; they are a bridge of conventions, which\nform a transition to the simple pretexts of the counters and denaries of\nthe numbers following. We seem to have passed away utterly from the\nregion of higher meanings illustrated by living pictures. There was a\nperiod, however, when the numbered cards were also pictures, but such\ndevices were sporadic inventions of particular artists and were either\nconventional designs of the typical or allegorical kind, distinct from\nwhat is understood by symbolism, or they were illustrations--shall we\nsay?--of manners, customs and periods. They were, in a word, adornments,\nand as such they did nothing to raise the significance of the Lesser\nArcana to the plane of the Trumps Major; moreover, such variations are\nexceedingly few. This notwithstanding, there are vague rumors concerning\na higher meaning in the minor cards, but nothing has so far transpired,\neven within the sphere of prudence which belongs to the most occult\ncircles; these, it is true, have certain variants in respect of\ndivinatory values, but I have not heard that in practice they offer\nbetter results. Efforts like those of Papus in _The Tarot Of The\nBohemians_ are strenuous and deserving after their own kind; he, in\nparticular, recognizes the elements of the Divine Immanence in the\nTrumps Major, and he seeks to follow them through the long series of the\nlesser cards, as if these represented filtrations of the World of Grace\nthrough the World of Fortune; but he only produces an arbitrary scheme\nof division which he can carry no further, and he has recourse, of\nnecessity, in the end to a common scheme of divination as the substitute\nfor a title to existence on the part of the Lesser Arcana. Now, I am\npractically in the same position; but I shall make no attempt here to\nsave the situation by drawing on the mystical properties of numbers, as\nhe and others have attempted. I shall recognize at once that the Trumps\nMajor belong to the divine dealings of philosophy, but all that follows\nto fortune-telling, since it has never yet been translated into another\nlanguage; the course thus adopted will render to divination, and at need\neven to gambling, the things that belong to this particular world of\nskill, and it will set apart for their proper business those matters\nthat are of another order. In this free introduction to the subject in\nhand, it is only necessary to add that the difference between the\nfifty-six Lesser Arcana and the ordinary playing-cards is not only\nessentially slight, because the substitution of Cups for Hearts, and so\nforth, constitutes an accidental variation, but because the presence of\na Knight in each of the four suits was characteristic at one time of\nmany ordinary packs, when this personage usually replaced the Queen. In\nthe rectified Tarot which illustrates the present handbook, all numbered\ncards of the Lesser Arcana--the Aces only excepted--are furnished with\nfigures or pictures to illustrate--but without exhausting--the\ndivinatory meanings attached thereto.\n\nSome who are gifted with reflective and discerning faculties in more\nthan the ordinary sense--and I am not speaking of clairvoyance--may\nobserve that in many of the Lesser Arcana there are vague intimations\nconveyed by the designs which seem to exceed the stated divinatory\nvalues. It is desirable to avoid misconception by specifying definitely\nthat, except in rare instances--and then only by accident--the\nvariations are not to be regarded as suggestions of higher and\nextra-divinatory symbolism. I have said that these Lesser Arcana have\nnot been translated into a language which transcends that of\nfortune-telling. I should not indeed be disposed to regard them as\nbelonging in their existing forms to another realm than this; but the\nfield of divinatory possibilities is inexhaustible, by the hypothesis of\nthe art, and the combined systems of cartomancy have indicated only the\nbare heads of significance attaching to the emblems in use. When the\npictures in the present case go beyond the conventional meanings they\nshould be taken as hints of possible developments along the same lines;\nand this is one of the reasons why the pictorial devices here attached\nto the four denaries will prove a great help to intuition. The mere\nnumerical powers and bare words of the meanings are insufficient by\nthemselves; but the pictures are like doors which open into unexpected\nchambers or like a turn in the open road with a wide prospect beyond.\n\n\n                               SECTION 2\n                           THE LESSER ARCANA\n\n_Otherwise, the Four Suits of Tarot Cards_, will now be described\naccording to their respective classes by the pictures to each belonging,\nand a harmony of their meanings will be provided from all sources.\n\nSuch are the intimations of the Lesser Arcana in respect of divinatory\nart, the veridic nature of which seems to depend on an alternative that\nit may be serviceable to express briefly. The records of the art are _ex\nhypothesi_ the records of findings in the past based upon experience; as\nsuch, they are a guide to memory, and those who can master the elements\nmay--still _ex hypothesi_--give interpretations on their basis. It is\nan official and automatic working. On the other hand, those who have\ngifts of intuition, of second sight, of clairvoyance--call it as we\nchoose and may--will supplement the experience of the past by the\nfindings of their own faculty, and will speak of that which they have\nseen in the pretexts of the oracles. It remains to give, also briefly,\nthe divinatory significance allocated by the same art to the Trumps\nMajor.\n\n[Illustration: KING of WANDS]\n\nTHE SUIT OF WANDS. KING.\n\nThe physical and emotional nature to which this card is attributed is\ndark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a\nflowering wand, and wears, like his three correspondences in the\nremaining suits, what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown.\nHe connects with the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back\nof his throne. _Divinatory Meanings_: Dark man, friendly, countryman,\ngenerally married, honest and conscientious. The card always signifies\nhonesty, and may mean news concerning an unexpected heritage to fall in\nbefore very long. _Reversed_: Good, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.\n\n[Illustration: QUEEN of WANDS]\n\nWANDS. QUEEN.\n\nThe Wands throughout this suit are always in leaf, as it is a suit of\nlife and animation. Emotionally and otherwise, the Queen's personality\ncorresponds to that of the King, but is more magnetic. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: A dark woman, country-woman, friendly, chaste, loving,\nhonorable. If the card beside her signifies a man, she is well disposed\ntowards him; if a woman, she is interested in the Querent. Also, love of\nmoney, or a certain success in business. _Reversed_: Good, economical,\nobliging, serviceable. Signifies also--but in certain positions and in\nthe neighborhood of other cards tending in such directions--opposition,\njealousy, even deceit and infidelity.\n\n[Illustration: KNIGHT of WANDS.]\n\nWANDS. KNIGHT.\n\nHe is shown as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although\nmailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The\nmotion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests\nthe precipitate mood, or things connected therewith. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man,\nfriendly. Change of residence. _Reversed_: Rupture, division,\ninterruption, discord.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. PAGE.\n\nIn a scene similar to the former, a young man stands in the act of\nproclamation. He is unknown but faithful, and his tidings are strange.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Dark young man, faithful, a lover, an envoy, a\npostman. Beside a man, he will bear favorable testimony concerning him.\nA dangerous rival, if followed by the Page of Cups. Has the chief\nqualities of his suit. He may signify family intelligence. _Reversed_:\nAnecdotes, announcements, evil news. Also indecision and the instability\nwhich accompanies it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. TEN.\n\nA man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: A card of many significances, and some of the\nreadings cannot be harmonized. I set aside that which connects it with\nhonor and good faith. The chief meaning is oppression simply, but it is\nalso fortune, gain, any kind of success, and then it is the oppression\nof these things. It is also a card of false-seeming, disguise, perfidy.\nThe place which the figure is approaching may suffer from the rods that\nhe carries. Success is stultified if the Nine of Swords follows, and if\nit is a question of a lawsuit, there will be certain loss. _Reversed_:\nContrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. NINE.\n\nThe figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if\nawaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves--erect, in orderly\ndisposition, like a palisade. _Divinatory Meanings_: The card signifies\nstrength in opposition. If attacked, the person will meet an onslaught\nboldly; and his build shows that he may prove a formidable antagonist.\nWith this main significance there are all its possible adjuncts--delay,\nsuspension, adjournment. _Reversed_: Obstacles, adversity, calamity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. EIGHT.\n\nThe card represents motion through the immovable--a flight of wands\nthrough an open country; but they draw to the term of their course. That\nwhich they signify is at hand; it may be even on the threshold.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Activity in undertakings, the path of such\nactivity, swiftness, as that of an express messenger; great haste, great\nhope, speed towards an end which promises assured felicity; generally,\nthat which is on the move; also the arrows of love. _Reversed_: Arrows\nof jealousy, internal dispute, stingings of conscience, quarrels; and\ndomestic disputes for persons who are married.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. SEVEN.\n\nA young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves\nare raised towards him from below. _Divinatory Meanings_: It is a card\nof valor, for, on the surface, six are attacking one, who has, however,\nthe vantage position. On the intellectual plane, it signifies\ndiscussion, wordy strife; in business--negotiations, war of trade,\nbarter, competition. It is further a card of success, for the combatant\nis on the top and his enemies may be unable to reach him. _Reversed_:\nPerplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against\nindecision.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. SIX.\n\nA laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown;\nfootmen with staves are at his side. _Divinatory Meanings_: The card has\nbeen so designed that it can cover several significations; on the\nsurface, it is a victor triumphing, but it is also great news, such as\nmight be carried in state by the King's courier; it is expectation\ncrowned with its own desire, the crown of hope, and so forth.\n_Reversed_: Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate;\ntreachery, disloyalty, as of gates being opened to the enemy; also\nindefinite delay.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. FIVE.\n\nA posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife.\nIt is mimic warfare, and hereto correspond the _Divinatory Meanings_:\nImitation, as, for example, sham fight, but also the strenuous\ncompetition and struggle of the search after riches and fortune. In this\nsense it connects with the battle of life. Hence some attributions say\nthat it is a card of gold, gain, opulence. _Reversed_: Litigation,\ndisputes, trickery, contradiction.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. FOUR.\n\nFrom the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great\ngarland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is\na bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: They are for once almost on the surface--country life, haven\nof refuge, a species of domestic harvest-home, repose, concord, harmony,\nprosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these. _Reversed_: The\nmeaning remains unaltered; it is prosperity, increase, felicity, beauty,\nembellishment.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. THREE.\n\nA calm, stately personage, with his back turned, looking from a cliff's\nedge at ships passing over the sea. Three staves are planted in the\nground, and he leans slightly on one of them. _Divinatory Meanings_: He\nsymbolizes established strength, enterprise, effort, trade, commerce,\ndiscovery; those are his ships, bearing his merchandise, which are\nsailing over the sea. The card also signifies able co-operation in\nbusiness, as if the successful merchant prince were looking from his\nside towards yours with a view to help you. _Reversed_: The end of\ntroubles, suspension or cessation of adversity, toil and\ndisappointment.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. TWO.\n\nA tall man looks from a battlemented roof over sea and shore; he holds a\nglobe in his right hand, while a staff in his left rests on the\nbattlement; another is fixed in a ring. The Rose and Cross and Lily\nshould be noticed on the left side. _Divinatory Meanings_: Between the\nalternative readings there is no marriage possible; on the one hand,\nriches, fortune, magnificence; on the other, physical suffering,\ndisease, chagrin, sadness, mortification. The design gives one\nsuggestion; here is a lord overlooking his dominion and alternately\ncontemplating a globe; it looks like the malady, the mortification, the\nsadness of Alexander amidst the grandeur of this world's wealth.\n_Reversed_: Surprise, wonder, enchantment, emotion, trouble, fear.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWANDS. ACE.\n\nA hand issuing from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in\nthese; principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin, and in a\nsense the virility which is behind them; the starting point of\nenterprises; according to another account, money, fortune, inheritance.\n_Reversed_: Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish; also a certain\nclouded joy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SUIT OF CUPS. KING.\n\nHe holds a short scepter in his left hand and a great cup in his right;\nhis throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the\nother a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the Sign of the Cup\nnaturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Fair man, man of business, law, or divinity;\nresponsible, disposed to oblige the Querent; also equity, art and\nscience, including those who profess science, law and art; creative\nintelligence. _Reversed_: Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery,\nexaction, injustice, vice, scandal, pillage, considerable loss.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. QUEEN.\n\nBeautiful, fair, dreamy--as one who sees visions in a cup. This is,\nhowever, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her\nactivity feeds her dream. _Divinatory Meanings_: Good, fair woman;\nhonest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving\nintelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness,\npleasure; also wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother.\n_Reversed_: The accounts vary; good woman; otherwise, distinguished\nwoman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonor,\ndepravity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. KNIGHT.\n\nGraceful, but not warlike; riding quietly, wearing a winged helmet,\nreferring to those higher graces of the imagination which sometimes\ncharacterize this card. He too is a dreamer, but the images of the side\nof sense haunt him in his vision. _Divinatory Meanings_: Arrival,\napproach--sometimes that of a messenger; advances, proposition,\ndemeanor, invitation, incitement. _Reversed_: Trickery, artifice,\nsubtlety, swindling, duplicity, fraud.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. PAGE.\n\nA fair, pleasing, somewhat effeminate page, of studious and intent\naspect, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him. It is the\npictures of the mind taking form. _Divinatory Meanings_: Fair young man,\none impelled to render service and with whom the Querent will be\nconnected; a studious youth; news, message; application, reflection,\nmeditation; also these things directed to business. _Reversed_: Taste,\ninclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. TEN.\n\nAppearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and\necstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right\narm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm.\nThe two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are\nhappy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of\nthat state; also perfection of human love and friendship; if with\nseveral picture-cards, a person who is taking charge of the Querent's\ninterests; also the town, village or country inhabited by the Querent.\n_Reversed_: Repose of the false heart, indignation, violence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. NINE.\n\nA goodly personage has feasted to his heart's content, and abundant\nrefreshment of wine is on the arched counter behind him, seeming to\nindicate that the future is also assured. The picture offers the\nmaterial side only, but there are other aspects. _Divinatory Meanings_:\nConcord, contentment, physical _bien-\u00eatre_; also victory, success,\nadvantage; satisfaction for the Querent or person for whom the\nconsultation is made. _Reversed_: Truth, loyalty, liberty; but the\nreadings vary and include mistakes, imperfections, etc.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. EIGHT.\n\nA man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity,\nenterprise, undertaking or previous concern. _Divinatory Meanings_: The\ncard speaks for itself on the surface, but other readings are entirely\nantithetical--giving joy, mildness, timidity, honor, modesty. In\npractice, it is usually found that the card shows the decline of a\nmatter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is\nreally of slight consequence--either for good or evil. _Reversed_: Great\njoy, happiness, feasting.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. SEVEN.\n\nStrange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of\nthe fantastic spirit. _Divinatory Meanings_: Fairy favors, images of\nreflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of\ncontemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent\nor substantial is suggested. _Reversed_: Desire, will, determination,\nproject.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. SIX.\n\nChildren in an old garden, their cups filled with flowers. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: A card of the past and of memories, looking back, as--for\nexample--on childhood; happiness, enjoyment, but coming rather from the\npast; things that have vanished. Another reading reverses this, giving\nnew relations, new knowledge, new environment, and then the children are\ndisporting in an unfamiliar precinct. _Reversed_: The future, renewal,\nthat which will come to pass presently.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. FIVE.\n\nA dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups; two others\nstand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a\nsmall keep or holding. _Divinatory Meanings_: It is a card of loss, but\nsomething remains over; three have been taken, but two are left; it is a\ncard of inheritance, patrimony, transmission, but not corresponding to\nexpectations; with some interpreters it is a card of marriage, but not\nwithout bitterness or frustration. _Reversed_: News, alliances,\naffinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. FOUR.\n\nA young man is seated under a tree and contemplates three cups set on\nthe grass before him; an arm issuing from a cloud offers him another\ncup. His expression notwithstanding is one of discontent with his\nenvironment. _Divinatory Meanings_: Weariness, disgust, aversion,\nimaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety\nonly; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but\nhe sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure.\n_Reversed_: Novelty, presage, new instruction, new relations.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. THREE.\n\nMaidens in a garden-ground with cups uplifted, as if pledging one\nanother. _Divinatory Meanings_: The conclusion of any matter in plenty,\nperfection and merriment; happy issue, victory, fulfilment, solace,\nhealing. _Reversed_: Expedition, dispatch, achievement, end. It\nsignifies also the side of excess in physical enjoyment, and the\npleasures of the senses.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. TWO.\n\nA youth and maiden are pledging one another, and above their cups rises\nthe Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a\nlion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old\nexamples of this card. Some curious emblematical meanings are attached\nto it, but they do not concern us in this place. _Divinatory Meanings_:\nLove, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the\ninter-relation of the sexes, and--as a suggestion apart from all offices\nof divination--that desire which is not in Nature, but by which Nature\nis sanctified.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCUPS. ACE.\n\nThe waters are beneath, and thereon are water-lilies; the hand issues\nfrom the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are\npouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to\nplace the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides. It\nis an intimation of that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: House of the true heart, joy, content, abode,\nnourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof.\n_Reversed_: House of the false heart, mutation, instability,\nrevolution.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SUIT OF SWORDS. KING.\n\nHe sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He\nrecalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of Justice in the Trumps\nMajor, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of\nlife and death, in virtue of his office. _Divinatory Meanings_:\nWhatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its\nconnections--power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law,\noffices of the crown, and so forth. _Reversed_: Cruelty, perversity,\nbarbarity, perfidy, evil intention.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. QUEEN.\n\nHer right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm\nof her royal chair; the left hand is extended, the arm raised; her\ncountenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with\nsorrow. It does not represent mercy, and, her sword notwithstanding, she\nis scarcely a symbol of power. _Divinatory Meanings_: Widowhood, female\nsadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation,\nseparation. _Reversed_: Malice, bigotry, artifice, prudery, bale,\ndeceit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. KNIGHT.\n\nHe is riding in full course, as if scattering his enemies. In the design\nhe is really a proto-typical hero of romantic chivalry. He might almost\nbe Galahad, whose sword is swift and sure because he is clean of heart.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Skill, bravery, capacity, defense, address,\nenmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin. There is\ntherefore a sense in which the card signifies death, but it carries this\nmeaning only in its proximity to other cards of fatality. _Reversed_:\nImprudence, incapacity, extravagance.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. PAGE.\n\nA lithe, active figure holds a sword upright in both hands, while in the\nact of swift walking. He is passing over rugged land, and about his way\nthe clouds are collocated wildly. He is alert and lithe, looking this\nway and that, as if an expected enemy might appear at any moment.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Authority, overseeing, secret service, vigilance,\nspying, examination, and the qualities thereto belonging. _Reversed_:\nMore evil side of these qualities; what is unforeseen, unprepared state;\nsickness is also intimated.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. TEN.\n\nA prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain,\naffliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of\nviolent death. _Reversed_: Advantage, profit, success, favor, but none\nof these are permanent; also power and authority.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. NINE.\n\nOne seated on her couch in lamentation, with the swords over her. She is\nas one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers. It is a card of\nutter desolation. _Divinatory Meanings_: Death, failure, miscarriage,\ndelay, deception, disappointment, despair. _Reversed_: Imprisonment,\nsuspicion, doubt, reasonable fear, shame.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. EIGHT.\n\nA woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her.\nYet it is rather a card of temporary durance than of irretrievable\nbondage. _Divinatory Meanings_: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis,\ncensure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny; also sickness.\n_Reversed_: Disquiet, difficulty, opposition, accident, treachery; what\nis unforeseen; fatality.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. SEVEN.\n\nA man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of\nthe card remain stuck in the ground. A camp, is close at hand.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also\nquarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in\nits import, because the significations are widely at variance with each\nother. _Reversed_: Good advice, counsel, instruction, slander,\nbabbling.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. SIX.\n\nA ferryman carrying passengers in his punt to the further shore. The\ncourse is smooth, and seeing that the freight is light, it may be noted\nthat the work is not beyond his strength. _Divinatory Meanings_: Journey\nby water, route, way, envoy, commissionary, expedient. _Reversed_:\nDeclaration, confession, publicity; one account says that it is a\nproposal of love.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. FIVE.\n\nA disdainful man looks after two retreating and dejected figures. Their\nswords lie upon the ground. He carries two others on his left shoulder,\nand a third sword is in his right hand, point to earth. He is the master\nin possession of the field. _Divinatory Meanings_: Degradation,\ndestruction, revocation, infamy, dishonor, loss, with the variants and\nanalogues of these. _Reversed_: The same; burial and obsequies.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. FOUR.\n\nThe effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon\nhis tomb. _Divinatory Meanings_: Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's\nrepose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the\ndesign. _Reversed_: Wise administration, circumspection, economy,\navarice, precaution, testament.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. THREE.\n\nThree swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and\nall that the design signifies naturally, being too simple and obvious to\ncall for specific enumeration. _Reversed_: Mental alienation, error,\nloss, distraction, disorder, confusion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. TWO.\n\nA hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests,\ncourage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives\ntenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other\nfavorable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords\ngenerally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.\n_Reversed_: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSWORDS. ACE.\n\nA hand issues from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is\nencircled by a crown. _Divinatory Meanings_: Triumph, the excessive\ndegree in everything, conquest, triumph of force. It is a card of great\nforce, in love as well as in hatred. The crown may carry a much higher\nsignificance than comes usually within the sphere of fortune-telling.\n_Reversed_: The same, but the results are disastrous; another account\nsays--conception--childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SUIT OF PENTACLES. KING.\n\nThe face of this figure is dark, suggesting courage, and the bull's head\nshould be noted as a recurrent symbol on the throne. The sign of this\nsuit is represented throughout as engraved with the pentigram, typifying\nthe correspondence of the four elements in human nature and that by\nwhich they may be governed. In old Tarot packs this suit represented\nmoney. The consensus of divinatory meanings is on the side of change, as\nthe cards do not deal especially with questions of money. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Valor, intelligence, business, mathematical gifts, and\nsuccess in these paths. _Reversed_: Vice, weakness, perversity, peril.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. QUEEN.\n\nThe face suggests that of a dark woman, whose qualities might be summed\nup in the idea of greatness of soul; she has also the serious cast of\nintelligence; she contemplates her symbol and may see worlds therein.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Opulence, generosity, magnificence, security,\nliberty. _Reversed_: Evil, suspicion, suspense, fear, mistrust.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. KNIGHT.\n\nHe rides a slow, enduring, heavy horse, to which his own aspect\ncorresponds. He exhibits his symbol, but does not look therein.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Utility, serviceableness, interest,\nresponsibility, rectitude--all on the normal and external plane.\n_Reversed_: Inertia, idleness, repose of that kind, stagnation; also\nplacidity, discouragement, carelessness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. PAGE.\n\nA youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over\nhis raised hands. He moves slowly, insensible of that which is about\nhim. _Divinatory Meanings_: Application, study, scholarship, reflection;\nanother reading says news, messages and the bringer thereof; also rule,\nmanagement. _Reversed_: Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury,\nunfavorable news.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. TEN.\n\nA man and woman beneath an archway which gives entrance to a house and\ndomain. They are accompanied by a child, who looks curiously at two dogs\naccosting an ancient personage seated in the foreground. The child's\nhand is on one of them. _Divinatory Meanings_: Gain, riches; family\nmatters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family. _Reversed_:\nChance, fatality, loss, robbery, games of hazard; sometimes gift, dowry,\npension.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. NINE.\n\nA woman, with a bird upon her wrist, stands amidst a great abundance of\ngrape-vines in the garden of a manorial house. It is a wide domain,\nsuggesting plenty in all things. Possibly it is her own possession and\ntestifies to material well-being. _Divinatory Meanings_: Prudence,\nsafety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment. _Reversed_:\nRoguery, deception, voided project, bad faith.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. EIGHT.\n\nAn artist in stone at his work, which he exhibits in the form of\ntrophies. _Divinatory Meanings_: Work, employment, commission,\ncraftsmanship, skill in craft and business, perhaps in the preparatory\nstage. _Reversed_: Voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury.\nIt may also signify the possession of skill, in the sense of the\ningenious mind turned to cunning and intrigue.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. SEVEN.\n\nA young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles\nattached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these\nwere his treasures and that his heart was there. _Divinatory Meanings_:\nThese are exceedingly contradictory; in the main, it is a card of money,\nbusiness, barter; but one reading gives altercation, quarrel--and\nanother innocence, ingenuity, purgation. _Reversed_: Cause for anxiety\nregarding money which it may be proposed to lend.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. SIX.\n\nA person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and\ndistributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own\nsuccess in life, as well as his goodness of heart. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: Presents, gifts, gratification; another account says\nattention, vigilance; now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.\n_Reversed_: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. FIVE.\n\nTwo mendicants in a snowstorm pass a lighted casement. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: The card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the\nform illustrated--that is, destitution--or otherwise. For some\ncartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers--wife, husband, friend,\nmistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be\nharmonized. _Reversed_: Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. FOUR.\n\nA crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with\nhands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He holds to that which\nhe has. _Divinatory Meanings_: The surety of possessions, cleaving to\nthat which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance. _Reversed_: Suspense,\ndelay, opposition\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. THREE.\n\nA sculptor at his work in a monastery. Compare the design which\nillustrates the Eight of Pentacles. The apprentice or amateur therein\nhas received his reward and is now at work in earnest. _Divinatory\nMeanings_: _M\u00e9tier_, trade, skilled labor; usually, however, regarded as\na card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory. _Reversed_: Mediocrity,\nin work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. TWO.\n\nA young man, in the act of dancing, has a pentacle in either hand, and\nthey are joined by that endless cord which is like the number 8\nreversed. _Divinatory Meanings_: On the one hand it is represented as a\ncard of gaiety, recreation and its connections, which is the subject of\nthe design; but it is read also as news and messages in writing, as\nobstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment. _Reversed_: Enforced gaiety,\nsimulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of\nexchange.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPENTACLES. ACE.\n\nA hand--issuing, as usual, from a cloud--holds up a pentacle.\n_Divinatory Meanings_: Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy; also\nspeedy intelligence; gold. _Reversed_: The evil side of wealth, bad\nintelligence; also great riches. In any case it shows prosperity,\ncomfortable material conditions, but whether these are of advantage to\nthe possessor will depend on whether the card is reversed or not.\n\n\n                               SECTION 3\n            THE GREATER ARCANA AND THEIR DIVINATORY MEANINGS\n\n     1. _The Magician._--Skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety; sickness,\n     pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies; self-confidence, will; the\n     Querent, if male. _Reversed_: Physician, Magus, mental disease,\n     disgrace, disquiet.\n\n     2. _The High Priestess._--Secrets, mystery, the future as yet\n     unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the\n     Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom,\n     science. _Reversed_: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit,\n     surface knowledge.\n\n     3. _The Empress._--Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of\n     days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance.\n     _Reversed_: Light, truth, the unravelling of involved matters,\n     public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.\n\n     4. _The Emperor._--Stability, power, protection, realization; a\n     great person; aid, reason, conviction; also authority and will.\n     _Reversed_: Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to\n     enemies, obstruction, immaturity.\n\n     5. _The Hierophant._--Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by\n     another account, mercy and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom\n     the Querent has recourse. _Reversed_: Society, good understanding,\n     concord, over-kindness, weakness.\n\n     6. _The Lovers._--Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome.\n     _Reversed_: Failure, foolish designs. Another account speaks of\n     marriage frustrated and contrarieties of all kinds.\n\n     7. _The Chariot._--Succor, providence; also war, triumph,\n     presumption, vengeance, trouble. _Reversed_: Riot, quarrel,\n     dispute, litigation, defeat.\n\n     8. _Fortitude._--Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also\n     complete success and honors. _Reversed_: Despotism, abuse of power,\n     weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.\n\n     9. _The Hermit._--Prudence, circumspection; also and especially\n     treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. _Reversed_:\n     Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.\n\n     10. _Wheel of Fortune._--Destiny, fortune, success, elevation,\n     luck, felicity. _Reversed_: Increase, abundance, superfluity.\n\n     11. _Justice._--Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of\n     the deserving side in law. _Reversed_: Law in all its departments,\n     legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.\n\n     12. _The Hanged Man._--Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials,\n     sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. _Reversed_:\n     Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.\n\n     13. _Death._--End, mortality, destruction, corruption; also, for a\n     man, the loss of a benefactor; for a woman, many contrarieties; for\n     a maid, failure of marriage projects. _Reversed_: Inertia, sleep,\n     lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism; hope destroyed.\n\n     14. _Temperance._--Economy, moderation, frugality, management,\n     accommodation. _Reversed_: Things connected with churches,\n     religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even the priest who\n     will marry the Querent; also disunion, unfortunate combinations,\n     competing interests.\n\n     15. _The Devil._--Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary\n     efforts, force, fatality; that which is predestined but is not for\n     this reason evil. _Reversed_: Evil fatality, weakness, pettiness,\n     blindness.\n\n     16. _The Tower._--Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity,\n     disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen\n     catastrophe. _Reversed_: According to one account, the same in a\n     lesser degree; also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.\n\n     17. _The Star._--Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another\n     reading says--hope and bright prospects. _Reversed_: Arrogance,\n     haughtiness, impotence.\n\n     18. _The Moon._--Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror,\n     deception, occult forces, error. _Reversed_: Instability,\n     inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.\n\n     19. _The Sun._--Material happiness, fortunate marriage,\n     contentment. _Reversed_: The same in a lesser sense.\n\n     20. _The Last Judgment._--Change of position, renewal, outcome.\n     Another account specifies total loss through lawsuit. _Reversed_:\n     Weakness, pusillanimity, simplicity; also deliberation, decision,\n     sentence.\n\n     _Zero._ _The Fool._--Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication,\n     delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. _Reversed_: Negligence, absence,\n     distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.\n\n     21. _The World._--Assured success, recompense, voyage, route,\n     emigration, flight, change of place. _Reversed_: Inertia, fixity,\n     stagnation, permanence.\n\nIt will be seen that, except where there is an irresistible suggestion\nconveyed by the surface meaning, that which is extracted from the Trumps\nMajor by the divinatory art is at once artificial and arbitrary, as it\nseems to me, in the highest degree. But of one order are the mysteries\nof light and of another are those of fantasy. The allocation of a\nfortune-telling aspect to these cards is the story of a prolonged\nimpertinence.\n\n\n                               SECTION 4\n             SOME ADDITIONAL MEANINGS OF THE LESSER ARCANA\n\n     WANDS.\n\n     _King._--Generally favorable; may signify a good marriage.\n     _Reversed_: Advice that should be followed.\n\n     _Queen._--A good harvest, which may be taken in several senses.\n     _Reversed_: Good-will towards the Querent, but without the\n     opportunity to exercise it.\n\n     _Knight._--A bad card; according to some readings, alienation.\n     _Reversed_: For a woman, marriage, but probably frustrated.\n\n     _Page._--Young man of family in search of young lady.\n     _Reversed_: Bad news.\n\n     _Ten._--Difficulties and contradictions, if near a good card.\n\n     _Nine._--Generally speaking, a bad card.\n\n     _Eight._--Domestic disputes for a married person.\n\n     _Seven._--A dark child.\n\n     _Six._--Servants may lose the confidence of their masters; a young\n     lady may be betrayed by a friend.\n     _Reversed_: Fulfilment of deferred hope.\n\n     _Five._--Success in financial speculation.\n     _Reversed_: Quarrels may be turned to advantage.\n\n     _Four._--Unexpected good fortune.\n     _Reversed_: A married woman will have beautiful children.\n\n     _Three._--A very good card; collaboration will favor enterprise.\n\n     _Two._--A young lady may expect trivial disappointments.\n\n     _Ace._--Calamities of all kinds.\n     _Reversed_: A sign of birth.\n\n     CUPS.\n\n     _King._--Beware of ill-will on the part of a man of position,\n     and of hypocrisy pretending to help.\n\n     _Reversed_: Loss.\n\n     _Queen._--Sometimes denotes a woman of equivocal character.\n     _Reversed_: A rich marriage for a man and a distinguished one for a\n     woman.\n\n     _Knight._--A visit from a friend, who will bring unexpected money\n     to the Querent.\n     _Reversed_: Irregularity.\n\n     _Page._--Good augury; also a young man who is unfortunate in love.\n     _Reversed_: Obstacles of all kinds.\n\n     _Ten._--For a male Querent, a good marriage and one beyond his\n     expectations.\n     _Reversed_: Sorrow; also a serious quarrel.\n\n     _Nine._--Of good augury for military men.\n     _Reversed_: Good business.\n\n     _Eight._--Marriage with a fair woman.\n     _Reversed_: Perfect satisfaction.\n\n     _Seven._--Fair child; idea, design, resolve, movement.\n     _Reversed_: Success, if accompanied by the Three of Cups.\n\n     _Six._--Pleasant memories.\n     _Reversed_: Inheritance to fall in quickly.\n\n     _Five._--Generally favorable; a happy marriage; also patrimony,\n     legacies, gifts, success in enterprise.\n     _Reversed_: Return of some relative who has not been seen for long.\n\n     _Four._--Contrarieties.\n     _Reversed_: Presentiment.\n\n     _Three._--Unexpected advancement for a military man.\n     _Reversed_: Consolation, cure, end of the business.\n\n     _Two._--Favorable in things of pleasure and business, as well as in\n     love; also wealth and honor.\n     _Reversed_: Passion.\n\n     _Ace._--Inflexible will, unalterable law.\n     _Reversed_: Unexpected change of position.\n\n     SWORDS.\n\n     _King._--A lawyer, senator, doctor.\n     _Reversed_: A bad man; also a caution to put an end to a ruinous\n     lawsuit.\n\n     _Queen._--A widow.\n     _Reversed_: A bad woman, with ill-will towards the Querent.\n\n     _Knight._--A soldier, man of arms, satellite, stipendiary; heroic\n     action predicted for soldier.\n     _Reversed_: Dispute with an imbecile person; for a woman, struggle with\n     a rival, who will be conquered.\n\n     _Page._--An indiscreet person will pry into the Querent's secrets.\n     _Reversed_: Astonishing news.\n\n     _Ten._--Followed by Ace and King, imprisonment; for girl or wife,\n     treason on the part of friends.\n     _Reversed_: Victory and consequent fortune for a soldier in war.\n\n     _Nine._--An ecclesiastic, a priest; generally, a card of bad omen.\n     _Reversed_: Good ground for suspicion against a doubtful person.\n\n     _Eight._--For a woman, scandal spread in her respect.\n     _Reversed_: Departure of a relative.\n\n     _Seven._--Dark girl; a good card; it promises a country life after\n     a competence has been secured.\n     _Reversed_: Good advice, probably neglected.\n\n     _Six._--The voyage will be pleasant.\n     _Reversed_: Unfavorable issue of lawsuit.\n\n     _Five._--An attack on the fortune of the Querent.\n     _Reversed_: A sign of sorrow and mourning.\n\n     _Four._--A bad card, but if reversed a qualified success may be\n     expected by wise administration of affairs.\n     _Reversed_: A certain success following wise administration.\n\n     _Three._--For a woman, the flight of her lover.\n     _Reversed_: A meeting with one whom the Querent has compromised;\n     also a nun.\n\n     _Two._--Gifts for a lady, influential protection for a man in\n     search of help.\n     _Reversed_: Dealings with rogues.\n\n     _Ace._--Great prosperity or great misery.\n     _Reversed_: Marriage broken off, for a woman, through her own\n     imprudence.\n\n     PENTACLES.\n\n     _King._--A rather dark man, a merchant, master, professor.\n     _Reversed_: An old and vicious man.\n\n     _Queen._--Dark woman; presents from a rich relative; rich and happy\n     marriage for a young man.\n     _Reversed_: An illness.\n\n     _Knight._--A useful man; useful discoveries.\n     _Reversed_: A brave man out of employment.\n\n     _Page._--A dark youth; a young officer or soldier; a child.\n     _Reversed_: Sometimes degradation and sometimes pillage.\n\n     _Ten._--Represents house or dwelling, and derives its value from\n     other cards.\n     _Reversed_: An occasion which may be fortunate or otherwise.\n\n     _Nine._--Prompt fulfilment of what is presaged by neighboring\n     cards.\n     _Reversed_: Vain hopes.\n\n     _Eight._--A young man in business who has relations with the\n     Querent; a dark girl.\n     _Reversed_: The Querent will be compromised in a matter of\n     money-lending.\n\n     _Seven._--Improved position for a lady's future husband.\n     _Reversed_: Impatience, apprehension, suspicion.\n\n     _Six._--The present must not be relied on.\n     _Reversed_: A check on the Querent's ambition.\n\n     _Five._--Conquest of fortune by reason.\n     _Reversed_: Troubles in love.\n\n     _Four._--For a bachelor, pleasant news from a lady.\n     _Reversed_: Observation, hindrances.\n\n     _Three._--If for a man, celebrity for his eldest son.\n     _Reversed_: Depends on neighboring cards.\n\n     _Two._--Troubles are more imaginary than real.\n     _Reversed_: Bad omen, ignorance, injustice.\n\n     _Ace._--The most favorable of all cards.\n     _Reversed_: A share in the finding of treasure.\n\nIt will be observed (1) that these _additamenta_ have little connection\nwith the pictorial designs of the cards to which they refer, as these\ncorrespond with the more important speculative values; (2) and further\nthat the additional meanings are very often in disagreement with those\npreviously given. All meanings are largely independent of one another\nand all are reduced, accentuated or subject to modification and\nsometimes almost reversal by their place in a sequence. There is\nscarcely any canon of criticism in matters of this kind. I suppose that\nin proportion as any system descends from generalities to details it\nbecomes naturally the more precarious; and in the records of\nprofessional fortune-telling, it offers more of the dregs and lees of\nthe subject. At the same time, divinations based on intuition and second\nsight are of little practical value unless they come down from the\nregion of universals to that of particulars; but in proportion as this\ngift is present in a particular case, the specific meanings recorded by\npast cartomancists will be disregarded in favor of the personal\nappreciation of card values.\n\nThis has been intimated already. It seems necessary to add the following\nspeculative readings.\n\n\n                               SECTION 5\n       THE RECURRENCE OF CARDS IN DEALING IN THE NATURAL POSITION\n\n4 Kings = great honor; 3 Kings = consultation; 2 Kings = minor counsel.\n\n4 Queens = great debate; 3 Queens = deception by women; 2 Queens =\nsincere friends.\n\n4 Knights = serious matters; 3 Knights = lively debate; 2 Knights =\nintimacy.\n\n4 Pages = dangerous illness; 3 Pages = dispute; 2 Pages = disquiet.\n\n4 Tens = condemnation; 3 Tens = new condition; 2 Tens = change.\n\n4 Nines = a good friend; 3 Nines = success; 2 Nines = receipt.\n\n4 Eights = reverse; 3 Eights = marriage; 2 Eights = new knowledge.\n\n4 Sevens = intrigue; 3 Sevens = infirmity; 2 Sevens = news.\n\n4 Sixes = abundance; 3 Sixes = success; 2 Sixes = irritability.\n\n4 Fives = regularity; 3 Fives = determination; 2 Fives = vigils.\n\n4 Fours = journey near at hand; 3 Fours = a subject of reflection; 2\nFours = insomnia.\n\n4 Threes = progress; 3 Threes = unity; 2 Threes = calm.\n\n4 Twos = contention; 3 twos = security; 2 Twos = accord.\n\n4 Aces = favorable chance; 3 Aces = small success; 2 Aces = trickery.\n\nREVERSED\n\n4 Kings = celerity; 3 Kings = commerce; 2 Kings = projects.\n\n4 Queens = bad company; 3 Queens = gluttony; 2 Queens = work.\n\n4 Knights = alliance; 3 Knights = a duel, or personal encounter; 2\nKnights = susceptibility.\n\n4 Pages = privation; 3 Pages = idleness; 2 Pages = society.\n\n4 Tens = event, happening; 3 Tens = disappointment; 2 Tens = expectation\njustified.\n\n4 Nines = usury; 3 Nines = imprudence; 2 Nines = small profit.\n\n4 Eights = error; 3 Eights = a spectacle; 2 Eights = misfortune.\n\n4 Sevens = quarrellers; 3 Sevens = joy; 2 Sevens = women of no repute.\n\n4 Sixes = care; 3 Sixes = satisfaction; 2 Sixes = downfall.\n\n4 Fives = order; 3 Fives = hesitation; 2 Fives = reverse.\n\n4 Fours = walks abroad; 3 Fours = disquiet; 2 Fours = dispute.\n\n4 Threes = great success; 3 Threes = serenity; 2 Threes = safety.\n\n4 Twos = reconciliation; 3 Twos = apprehension; 2 Twos = mistrust.\n\n4 Aces = dishonor; 3 Aces = debauchery; 2 Aces = enemies.\n\n\n                               SECTION 6\n                      THE ART OF TAROT DIVINATION\n\nWe come now to the final and practical part of this division of our\nsubject, being the way to consult and obtain oracles by means of Tarot\ncards. The modes of operation are rather numerous, and some of them are\nexceedingly involved. I set aside those last mentioned, because persons\nwho are versed in such questions believe that the way of simplicity is\nthe way of truth. I set aside also the operations which have been\nrepublished recently in that section of _The Tarot Of The Bohemians_\nwhich is entitled \"The Divining Tarot\"; it may be recommended at its\nproper value to readers who wish to go further than the limits of this\nhandbook. I offer in the first place a short process which has been used\nprivately for many years past in England, Scotland and Ireland. I do not\nthink that it has been published--certainly not in connection with Tarot\ncards; I believe that it will serve all purposes, but I will add--by way\nof variation--in the second place what used to be known in France as the\nOracles of Julia Orsini.\n\n\n                               SECTION 7\n                 AN ANCIENT CELTIC METHOD OF DIVINATION\n\nThis mode of divination is the most suitable for obtaining an answer to\na definite question. The Diviner first selects a card to represent the\nperson or matter about which inquiry is made. This card is called the\nSignificator. Should he wish to ascertain something in connection with\nhimself he takes the one which corresponds to his personal description.\nA Knight should be chosen as the Significator if the subject of inquiry\nis a man of forty years old and upward; A King should be chosen for any\nmale who is under that age; a Queen for a woman over forty years; and a\nPage for any female of less age.\n\nThe four Court Cards in Wands represent very fair people, with yellow or\nauburn hair, fair complexion and blue eyes. The Court Cards in Cups\nsignify people with light brown or dull fair hair and grey or blue eyes.\nThose in Swords stand for people having hazel or grey eyes, dark brown\nhair and dull complexion. Lastly, the Court Cards in Pentacles are\nreferred to persons with very dark brown or black hair, dark eyes and\nsallow or swarthy complexions. These allocations are subject, however,\nto the following reserve, which will prevent them being taken too\nconventionally. You can be guided on occasion by the known temperament\nof a person; one who is exceedingly dark may be very energetic, and\nwould be better represented by a Sword card than a Pentacle. On the\nother hand, a very fair subject who is indolent and lethargic should be\nreferred to Cups rather than to Wands.\n\nIf it is more convenient for the purpose of a divination to take as the\nSignificator the matter about which inquiry is to be made, that Trump or\nsmall card should be selected which has a meaning corresponding to the\nmatter. Let it be supposed that the question is: Will a lawsuit be\nnecessary? In this case, take the Trump No. 11, or Justice, as the\nSignificator. This has reference to legal affairs. But if the question\nis: Shall I be successful in my lawsuit? one of the Court Cards must be\nchosen as the Significator. Subsequently, consecutive divinations may be\nperformed to ascertain the course of the process itself and its result\nto each of the parties concerned.\n\nHaving selected the Significator, place it on the table, face upwards.\nThen shuffle and cut the rest of the pack three times, keeping the faces\nof the cards downwards.\n\nTurn up the top or FIRST CARD of the pack; cover the Significator with\nit, and say: This covers him. This card gives the influence which is\naffecting the person or matter of inquiry generally, the atmosphere of\nit in which the other currents work.\n\nTurn up the SECOND CARD and lay it across the FIRST, saying: This\ncrosses him. It shows the nature of the obstacles in the matter. If it\nis a favorable card, the opposing forces will not be serious, or it may\nindicate that something good in itself will not be productive of good in\nthe particular connection.\n\nTurn up the THIRD CARD; place it above the Significator, and say: This\ncrowns him. It represents (_a_) the Querent's aim or ideal in the\nmatter; (_b_) the best that can be achieved under the circumstances, but\nthat which has not yet been made actual.\n\nTurn up the FOURTH CARD; place it below the Significator, and say: This\nis beneath him. It shows the foundation or basis of the matter, that\nwhich has already passed into actuality and which the Significator has\nmade his own.\n\nTurn up the FIFTH CARD; place it on the side of the Significator from\nwhich he is looking, and say: This is behind him. It gives the influence\nthat is just passed, or is now passing away.\n\n_N. B._--If the Significator is a Trump or any small card that cannot be\nsaid to face either way, the Diviner must decide before beginning the\noperation which side he will take it as facing.\n\nTurn up the SIXTH CARD; place it on the side that the Significator is\nfacing, and say: This is before him. It shows the influence that is\ncoming into action and will operate in the near future.\n\nThe cards are now disposed in the form of a cross, the\nSignificator--covered by the First Card--being in the center.\n\nThe next four cards are turned up in succession and placed one above the\nother in a line, on the right hand side of the cross.\n\nThe first of these, or the SEVENTH CARD of the operation, signifies\nhimself--that is, the Significator--whether person or thing--and shows\nits position or attitude in the circumstances.\n\nThe EIGHTH CARD signifies his house, that is, his environment and the\ntendencies at work therein which have an effect on the matter--for\ninstance, his position in life, the influence of immediate friends, and\nso forth.\n\nThe NINTH CARD gives his hopes or fears in the matter.\n\nThe TENTH is what will come, the final result, the culmination which is\nbrought about by the influences shown by the other cards that have been\nturned up in the divination.\n\nIt is on this card that the Diviner should especially concentrate his\nintuitive faculties and his memory in respect of the official divinatory\nmeanings attached thereto. It should embody whatsoever you may have\ndivined from the other cards on the table, including the Significator\nitself and concerning him or it, not excepting such lights upon higher\nsignificance as might fall like sparks from heaven if the card which\nserves for the oracle, the card for reading, should happen to be a Trump\nMajor.\n\nThe operation is now completed; but should it happen that the last card\nis of a dubious nature, from which no final decision can be drawn, or\nwhich does not appear to indicate the ultimate conclusion of the affair,\nit may be well to repeat the operation, taking in this case the Tenth\nCard as the Significator, instead of the one previously used. The pack\nmust be again shuffled and cut three times and the first ten cards laid\nout as before. By this a more detailed account of \"What will come\" may\nbe obtained.\n\nIf in any divination the Tenth Card should be a Court Card, it shows\nthat the subject of the divination falls ultimately into the hands of a\nperson represented by that card, and its end depends mainly on him. In\nthis event also it is useful to take the Court Card in question as the\nSignificator in a fresh operation, and discover what is the nature of\nhis influence in the matter and to what issue he will bring it.\n\nGreat facility may be obtained by this method in a comparatively short\ntime, allowance being always made for the gifts of the operator--that is\nto say, his faculty of insight, latent or developed--and it has the\nspecial advantage of being free from all complications.\n\n\nDIAGRAM\n\nI here append a diagram of the cards as laid out in this mode of\ndivination. The Significator is here facing to the left.\n\n\n          +---+                 +---+\n          |   |                 |   |\n          | 3 |                 |10 |\n          |   |                 |   |\n          +---+                 +---+\n                                +---+\n                                |   |\n                                | 9 |\n                                |   |\n        Significator            +---+\n          +----+\n+---+     |    |     +---+\n|   |    +------+    |   |\n| 6 |    |  2   |    | 5 |\n|   |    +------+    |   |\n+---+     |    |     +---+\n          +----+\n        and No. 1.              +---+\n                                |   |\n                                | 8 |\n                                |   |\n                                +---+\n          +---+                 +---+\n          |   |                 |   |\n          | 4 |                 | 7 |\n          |   |                 |   |\n          +---+                 +---+\n\n{The Significator.\n{1. What covers him.\n2. What crosses him.\n3. What crowns him.\n4. What is beneath him.\n5. What is behind him.\n6. What is before him.\n7. Himself.\n8. His house.\n9. His hopes or fears.\n10. What will come.\n\n\n                               SECTION 8\n            AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF READING THE TAROT CARDS\n\nShuffle the entire pack and turn some of the cards round, so as to\ninvert their tops.\n\nLet them be cut by the Querent with his left hand.\n\nDeal out the first forty-two cards in six packets of seven cards each,\nface upwards, so that the first seven cards form the first packet, the\nfollowing seven the second, so on--as in the following diagram:--\n\n+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+\n|      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      |\n| 6th  | | 5th  | | 4th  | | 3rd  | | 2nd  | | 1st  |\n|packet| |packet| |packet| |packet| |packet| |packet|\n|      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      |\n+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+\n\nTake up the first packet; lay out the cards on the table in a row, from\nright to left; place the cards of the second packet upon them and then\nthe packets which remain. You will thus have seven new packets of six\ncards each, arranged as follows--\n\n+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+\n|      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      |\n| 7th  | | 6th  | | 5th  | | 4th  | | 3rd  | | 2nd  | | 1st  |\n|packet| |packet| |packet| |packet| |packet| |packet| |packet|\n|      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      | |      |\n+------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+ +------+\n\nTake the top card of each packet, shuffle them and lay out from right to\nleft, making a line of seven cards.\n\nThen take up the two next cards from each packet, shuffle and lay them\nout in two lines under the first line.\n\nTake up the remaining twenty-one cards of the packets, shuffle and lay\nthem out in three lines below the others.\n\nYou will thus have six horizontal lines of seven cards each, arranged\nafter the following manner.\n\n1st line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\n2nd line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\n3rd line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\n4th line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\n5th line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\n6th line.\n\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n| 7 | | 6 | | 5 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 1 |\n|   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   | |   |\n+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+\n\nIn this method, the Querent--if of the male sex--is represented by the\nMagician, and if female by the High Priestess; but the card, in either\ncase, is not taken from the pack until the forty-two cards have been\nlaid out, as above directed. If the required card is not found among\nthose placed upon the table, it must be sought among the remaining\nthirty-six cards, which have not been dealt, and should be placed a\nlittle distance to the right of the first horizontal line. On the other\nhand, if it is among them, it is also taken out, placed as stated, and a\ncard is drawn haphazard from the thirty-six cards undealt to fill the\nvacant position, so that there are still forty-two cards laid out on the\ntable.\n\nThe cards are then read in succession, from right to left throughout,\nbeginning at card No. 1 of the topline, the last to be read being that\non the extreme left, or No. 7, of the bottom line.\n\nThis method is recommended when no definite question is asked--that is,\nwhen the Querent wishes to learn generally concerning the course of his\nlife and destiny. If he wishes to know what may befall within a certain\ntime, this time should be clearly specified before the cards are\nshuffled.\n\nWith further reference to the reading, it should be remembered that the\ncards must be interpreted relatively to the subject, which means that\nall official and conventional meanings of the cards may and should be\nadapted to harmonize with the conditions of this particular case in\nquestion--the position, time of life and sex of the Querent, or person\nfor whom the consultation is made.\n\nThus, the Fool may indicate the whole range of mental phases between\nmere excitement and madness, but the particular phase in each divination\nmust be judged by considering the general trend of the cards, and in\nthis naturally the intuitive faculty plays an important part.\n\nIt is well at the beginning of a reading, to run through the cards\nquickly, so that the mind may receive a general impression of the\nsubject--the trend of the destiny--and afterwards to start\nagain--reading them one by one and interpreting in detail.\n\nIt should be remembered that the Trumps represent more powerful and\ncompelling forces--by the Tarot hypothesis--than are referable to the\nsmall cards.\n\nThe value of intuitive and clairvoyant faculties is of course assumed in\ndivination. Where these are naturally present or have been developed by\nthe Diviner, the fortuitous arrangement of cards forms a link between\nhis mind and the atmosphere of the subject of divination, and then the\nrest is simple. Where intuition fails, or is absent, concentration,\nintellectual observation and deduction must be used to the fullest\nextent to obtain a satisfactory result. But intuition, even if\napparently dormant, may be cultivated by practice in these divinatory\nprocesses. If in doubt as to the exact meaning of a card in a particular\nconnection, the Diviner is recommended, by those who are versed in the\nmatter, to place his hand on it, try to refrain from thinking of what\nit ought to be, and note the impressions that arise in his mind. At the\nbeginning this will probably resolve itself into mere guessing and may\nprove incorrect, but it becomes possible with practice to distinguish\nbetween a guess of the conscious mind and an impression arising from the\nmind which is sub-conscious.\n\nIt is not within my province to offer either theoretical or practical\nsuggestions on this subject, in which I have no part, but the following\n_additamenta_ have been contributed by one who has more titles to speak\nthan all the cartomancists of Europe, if they could shuffle with a\nsingle pair of hands and divine with one tongue.\n\n                  NOTES ON THE PRACTICE OF DIVINATION\n\n     1. Before beginning the operation, formulate your question\n     definitely, and repeat it aloud.\n\n     2. Make your mind as blank as possible while shuffling the cards.\n\n     3. Put out of the mind personal bias and preconceived ideas as far\n     as possible, or your judgment will be tinctured thereby.\n\n     4. On this account it is more easy to divine correctly for a\n     stranger than for yourself or a friend.\n\n\n                               SECTION 9\n          THE METHOD OF READING BY MEANS OF THIRTY-FIVE CARDS\n\nWhen the reading is over, according to the scheme set forth in the last\nmethod, it may happen--as in the previous case--that something remains\ndoubtful, or it may be desired to carry the question further, which is\ndone as follows:\n\nTake up the undealt cards which remain over, not having been used in the\nfirst operation with 42 cards. The latter are set aside in a heap, with\nthe Querent, face upwards, on the top. The thirty-five cards, being\nshuffled and cut as before, are divided by dealing into six packets\nthus:--\n\n_Packet I_ consists of the first SEVEN CARDS; _Packet II_ consists of\nthe SIX CARDS next following in order; _Packet III_ consists of the FIVE\nCARDS following; _Packet IV_ contains the next FOUR CARDS; _Packet V_\ncontains TWO CARDS; and _Packet VI_ contains the last ELEVEN CARDS. The\narrangement will then be as follows:--\n\nPacket   Packet   Packet   Packet   Packet   Packet\n  VI.      V.       IV.     III.      II.      I.\n\n+-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+\n|     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |\n| 11  |  |  2  |  |  4  |  |  5  |  |  6  |  |  7  |\n|cards|  |cards|  |cards|  |cards|  |cards|  |cards|\n|     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |\n+-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+  +-----+\n\nTake up these packets successively; deal out the cards which they\ncontain in six lines, which will be necessarily of unequal length.\n\nTHE FIRST LINE stands for the house, the environment and so forth.\n\nTHE SECOND LINE stands for the person or subject of the divination.\n\nTHE THIRD LINE stands for what is passing outside, events, persons, etc.\n\nTHE FOURTH LINE stands for a surprise, the unexpected, etc.\n\nTHE FIFTH LINE stands for consolation, and may moderate all that is\nunfavorable in the preceding lines.\n\nTHE SIXTH LINE is that which must be consulted to elucidate the\nenigmatic oracles of the others; apart from them it has no importance.\n\nThese cards should all be read from left to right, beginning with the\nuppermost line.\n\nIt should be stated in conclusion as to this divinatory part that there\nis no method of interpreting Tarot cards which is not applicable to\nordinary playing-cards, but the additional court cards, and above all\nthe Trumps Major, are held to increase the elements and values of the\noracles.\n\nAnd now in conclusion as to the whole matter, I have left for these last\nwords--as if by way of epilogue--one further and final point. It is the\nsense in which I regard the Trumps Major as containing Secret Doctrine.\nI do not here mean that I am acquainted with orders and fraternities in\nwhich such doctrine reposes and is there found to be part of higher\nTarot knowledge. I do not mean that such doctrine, being so preserved\nand transmitted, can be constructed as imbedded independently in the\nTrumps Major. I do not mean that it is something apart from the Tarot.\nAssociations exist which have special knowledge of both kinds; some of\nit is deduced from the Tarot and some of it is apart therefrom; in\neither case, it is the same in the root-matter. But there are also\nthings in reserve which are not in orders or societies, but are\ntransmitted after another manner. Apart from all inheritance of this\nkind, let any one who is a mystic consider separately and in combination\nthe Magician, the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, the Empress,\nthe Emperor, the Hanged Man and the Tower. Let him then consider the\ncard called the Last Judgment. They contain the legend of the soul. The\nother Trumps Major are the details and--as one might say--the accidents.\nPerhaps such a person will begin to understand what lies far behind\nthese symbols, by whomsoever first invented and however preserved. If he\ndoes, he will see also why I have concerned myself with the subject,\neven at the risk of writing about divination by cards.\n\n\n\n\n                             _BIBLIOGRAPHY_\n\nA Concise Bibliography Of The Chief Works Dealing With The Tarot And Its\n                              Connections\n\n\nAs in spite of its modest pretensions, this monograph is, so far as I am\naware, the first attempt to provide in English a complete synoptic\naccount of the Tarot, with its arch\u00e6ological position defined, its\navailable symbolism developed, and--as a matter of curiosity in\noccultism--with its divinatory meanings and modes of operation\nsufficiently exhibited, it is my wish, from the literate standpoint, to\nenumerate those text-books of the subject, and the most important\nincidental references thereto, which have come under my notice. The\nbibliographical particulars that follow lay no claim to completeness, as\nI have cited nothing that I have not seen with my own eyes; but I can\nunderstand that most of my readers will be surprised at the extent of\nthe literature--if I may so term it conventionally--which has grown up\nin the course of the last 120 years. Those who desire to pursue their\ninquiries further will find ample materials herein, though it is not a\ncourse which I am seeking to commend especially, as I deem that enough\nhas been said upon the Tarot in this place to stand for all that has\npreceded it. The bibliography itself is representative after a similar\nmanner. I should add that there is a considerable catalogue of cards and\nworks on card-playing in the British Museum, but I have not had occasion\nto consult it to any extent for the purposes of the present list.\n\n\nI\n\n     _Monde Primitif, analys\u00e9 et compar\u00e9 avec le Monde Moderne._ Par M.\n     Court de Gebelin. Vol. 8, 4to, Paris, 1781.\n\nThe articles on the _Jeu des Tarots_ will be found at pp. 365 to 410.\nThe plates at the end show the Trumps Major and the Aces of each suit.\nThese are valuable as indications of the cards at the close of the\neighteenth century. They were presumably then in circulation in the\nSouth of France, as it is said that at the period in question they were\npractically unknown at Paris. I have dealt with the claims of the papers\nin the body of the present work. Their speculations were tolerable\nenough for their mazy period; but that they are suffered still, and\naccepted indeed without question, by French occult writers is the most\nconvincing testimony that one can need to the qualifications of the\nlatter for dealing with any question of historical research.\n\n\nII\n\n     The Works of Etteilla. _Les Septs Nuances de l'[oe]uvre philosophique\n     Herm\u00e9tique_; _Mani\u00e9re de se r\u00e9cr\u00e9er avec le Jeu de Cartes, nomm\u00e9es\n     Tarots_; _Fragments sur les Hautes Sciences_; _Philosophie des\n     Hautes Sciences_; _Jeu des Tarots, ou le Livre de Thoth_; _Le\u00e7ons\n     Th\u00e9oriques et Pratiques du Livre de Thoth_--all published between\n     1783 and 1787.\n\nThese are exceedingly rare and were frankly among the works of\n_colportage_ of their particular period. They contain the most curious\nfragments on matters within and without the main issue, lucubrations on\ngenii, magic, astrology, talismans, dreams, etc. I have spoken\nsufficiently in the text on the author's views on the Tarot and his\nplace in its modern history. He regarded it as a work of speaking\nhieroglyphics, but to translate it was not easy. He, however,\naccomplished the task--that is to say, in his own opinion.\n\n\nIII\n\n     _An Inquiry into the Ancient Greek Game, supposed to have been\n     invented by Palamedes._ (By James Christie.) London: 4to, 1801.\n\nI mention this collection of curious dissertations because it has been\ncited by writers on the Tarot. It seeks to establish a close connection\nbetween early games of antiquity and modern chess. It is suggested that\nthe invention attributed to Palamedes, prior to the Siege of Troy, was\nknown in China from a more remote period of antiquity. The work has no\nreference to cards of any kind whatsoever.\n\n\nIV\n\n     _Researches into the History of Playing Cards._ By Samuel Weller\n     Singer. 4to, London, 1816.\n\nThe Tarot is probably of Eastern origin and high antiquity, but the rest\nof Court de Gebelin's theory is vague and unfounded. Cards were known\nin Europe prior to the appearance of the Egyptians. The work has a good\ndeal of curious information and the appendices are valuable, but the\nTarot occupies comparatively little of the text and the period is too\nearly for a tangible criticism of its claims. There are excellent\nreproductions of early specimen designs. Those of Court de Gebelin are\nalso given _in extenso_.\n\n\nV\n\n     _Facts and Speculations on Playing Cards._ By W. A. Chatto. 8vo,\n     London, 1848.\n\nThe author suggested that the Trumps Major and the numeral cards were\nonce separate, but were afterwards combined. The oldest specimens of\nTarot cards are not later than 1440. But the claims and value of the\nvolume have been sufficiently described in the text.\n\n\nVI\n\n     _Les Cartes \u00e0 Jouer et la Cartomancie._ Par D. R. P. Boiteau\n     d'Ambly. 4to, Paris, 1854.\n\nThere are some interesting illustrations of early Tarot cards, which are\nsaid to be of Oriental origin; but they are not referred to Egypt. The\nearly gipsy connection is affirmed, but there is no evidence produced.\nThe cards came with the gipsies from India, where they were designed to\nshow forth the intentions of \"the unknown divinity\" rather than to be\nthe servants of profane amusement.\n\n\nVII\n\n     _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie._ Par Eliphas L\u00e9vi, 2 vols.,\n     demy 8vo, Paris, 1854.\n\nThis is the first publication of Alphonse Louis Constant on occult\nphilosophy, and it is also his _magnum opus_. It is constructed in both\nvolumes on the major Keys of the Tarot and has been therefore understood\nas a kind of development of their implicits, in the way that these were\npresented to the mind of the author. To supplement what has been said of\nthis work in the text of the present monograph, I need only add that the\nsection on transmutations in the second volume contains what is termed\nthe _Key of Thoth_. The inner circle depicts a triple _Tau_, with a\nhexagram where the bases join, and beneath is the Ace of Cups. Within\nthe external circle are the letters TARO, and about this figure as a\nwhole are grouped the symbols of the Four Living Creatures, the Ace of\nWands, Ace of Swords, the letter _Shin_, and a magician's candle, which\nis identical, according to L\u00e9vi, with the lights used in the Goetic\nCircle of Black Evocations and Pacts. The triple _Tau_ may be taken to\nrepresent the Ace of Pentacles. The only Tarot card given in the volumes\nis the Chariot, which is drawn by two sphinxes; the fashion thus set has\nbeen followed in later days. Those who interpret the work as a kind of\ncommentary on the Trumps Major are the conventional occult students and\nthose who follow them will have only the pains of fools.\n\n\nVIII\n\n     _Les R\u00f4mes._ Par J. A. Vaillant. Demy 8vo, Paris, 1857.\n\nThe author tells us how he met with the cards, but the account is in a\nchapter of anecdotes. The Tarot is the sidereal book of Enoch, modelled\non the astral wheel of Athor. There is a description of the Trumps\nMajor, which are evidently regarded as an heirloom, brought by the\ngipsies from Indo-Tartary. The publication of L\u00e9vi's _Dogme et Rituel_\nmust, I think, have impressed Vaillant very much, and although in this,\nwhich was the writer's most important work, the anecdote that I have\nmentioned is practically his only Tarot reference, he seems to have gone\nmuch further in a later publication--_Clef Magique de la Fiction et du\nFait_, but I have not been able to see it, nor do I think, from the\nreports concerning it, that I have sustained a loss.\n\n\nIX\n\n     _Historie de la Magie._ Par Eliphas L\u00e9vi. 8vo, Paris, 1860.\n\nThe references to the Tarot are few in this brilliant work, which will\nbe available shortly in English. It gives the 21st Trump Major, commonly\ncalled the Universe, or World, under the title of _Yinx Pantomorphe_--a\nseated figure wearing the crown of Isis. This has been reproduced by\nPapus in _Le Tarot Divinatoire_. The author explains that the extant\nTarot has come down to us through the Jews, but it passed somehow into\nthe hands of the gipsies, who brought it with them when they first\nentered France in the early part of the fifteenth century. The authority\nhere is Vaillant.\n\n\nX\n\n     _La Clef des Grands Myst\u00e8res._ Par Eliphas L\u00e9vi, 8vo, Paris, 1861.\n\nThe frontispiece to this work represents the absolute Key of the occult\nsciences, given by William Postel and completed by the writer. It is\nreproduced in _The Tarot Of The Bohemians_, and in the preface which I\nhave prefixed thereto, as indeed elsewhere, I have explained that Postel\nnever constructed a hieroglyphical key. Eliphas L\u00e9vi identifies the\nTarot as that sacred alphabet which has been variously referred to\nEnoch, Thoth, Cadmus and Palamedes. It consists of absolute ideas\nattached to signs and numbers. In respect of the latter, there is an\nextended commentary on these as far as the number 19, the series being\ninterpreted as the Keys of Occult Theology. The remaining three numerals\nwhich complete the Hebrew alphabet are called the Keys of Nature. The\nTarot is said to be the original of Chess, as it is also of the Royal\nGame of Goose. This volume contains the author's hypothetical\nreconstruction of the tenth Trump Major, showing Egyptian figures on the\nWheel of Fortune.\n\n\nXI\n\n     _L'Homme Rouge des Tuileries._ Par P. Christian. Fcap. 8vo, Paris,\n     1863.\n\nThe work is exceedingly rare, is much sought and was once highly prized\nin France; but Dr. Papus has awakened to the fact that it is really of\nslender value, and the statement might be extended. It is interesting,\nhowever, as containing the writer's first reveries on the Tarot. He was\na follower and imitator of L\u00e9vi. In the present work, he provides a\ncommentary on the Trumps Major and thereafter the designs and meanings\nof all the Minor Arcana. There are many and curious astrological\nattributions. The work does not seem to mention the Tarot by name. A\nlater _Histoire de la Magie_ does little more than reproduce and extend\nthe account of the Trumps Major given herein.\n\n\nXII\n\n     _The History of Playing Cards._ By E. S. Taylor. Cr. 8vo. London,\n     1865.\n\nThis was published posthumously and is practically a translation of\nBoiteau. It therefore calls for little remark on my part. The opinion is\nthat cards were imported by the gipsies from India. There are also\nreferences to the so-called Chinese Tarot, which was mentioned by Court\nde Gebelin.\n\n\nXIII\n\n     _Origine des Cartes \u00e0 Jouer._ Par Romain Merlin. 4to, Paris, 1869.\n\nThere is no basis for the Egyptian origin of the Tarot, except in the\nimagination of Court de Gebelin. I have mentioned otherwise that the\nwriter disposes to his personal satisfaction, of the gipsy hypothesis,\nand he does the same in respect of the imputed connection with India; he\nsays that cards were known in Europe before communication was opened\ngenerally with that world about 1494. But if the gipsies were a Pariah\ntribe already dwelling in the West, and if the cards were a part of\ntheir baggage, there is nothing in this contention. The whole question\nis essentially one of speculation.\n\n\nXIV\n\n     _The Platonist._ Vol. II, pp. 126-8. Published at St. Louis, Mo.,\n     U.S.A., 1884-5. Royal 4to.\n\nThis periodical, the suspension of which must have been regretted by\nmany admirers of an unselfish and laborious effort, contained one\nanonymous article on the Tarot by a writer with theosophical tendencies,\nand considerable pretensions to knowledge. It has, however, by its own\nevidence, strong titles to negligence, and is indeed a ridiculous\nperformance. The word Tarot is the Latin _Rota_ = wheel, transposed. The\nsystem was invented at a remote period in India, presumably--for the\nwriter is vague--about B. C. 300. The Fool represents the primordial\nchaos. The Tarot is now used by Rosicrucian adepts, but in spite of the\ninference that it may have come down to them from their German\nprogenitors in the early seventeenth century, and notwithstanding the\nsource in India, the twenty-two keys were pictured on the walls of\nEgyptian temples dedicated to the mysteries of initiation. Some of this\nrubbish is derived from P. Christian, but the following statement is\npeculiar, I think, to the writer: \"It is known to adepts that there\nshould be twenty-two esoteric keys, which would make the total number up\nto 100.\" Persons who reach a certain stage of lucidity have only to\nprovide blank pasteboards of the required number and the missing designs\nwill be furnished by superior intelligences. Meanwhile, America is\nstill awaiting the fulfilment of the concluding forecast, that some few\nwill ere long have so far developed in that country \"as to be able to\nread perfectly ... in that perfect and divine sybilline work, the Taro.\"\nPerhaps the cards which accompany the present volume will give the\nopportunity and the impulse!\n\n\nXV\n\n     _Lo Joch de Naips._ Per Joseph Brunet y Bellet. Cr. 8vo, Barcelona,\n     1886.\n\nWith reference to the dream of Egyptian origin, the author quotes E.\nGarth Wilkinson's _Manners and Customs of the Egyptians_ as negative\nevidence at least that cards were unknown in the old cities of the\nDelta. The history of the subject is sketched, following the chief\nauthorities, but without reference to exponents of the occult schools.\nThe mainstay throughout is Chatto. There are some interesting\nparticulars about the prohibition of cards in Spain, and the appendices\ninclude a few valuable documents, by one of which it appears, as already\nmentioned, that St. Bernardin of Sienna preached against games in\ngeneral, and cards in particular, so far back as 1423. There are\nillustrations of rude Tarots, including a curious example of an Ace of\nCups, with a phoenix rising therefrom, and a Queen of Cups, from whose\nvessel issues a flower.\n\n\nXVI\n\n     _The Tarot: Its Occult Significance, Use in Fortune-Telling, and\n     Method of Play._ By S. L. MacGregor Mathers. Sq. 16mo, London,\n     1888.\n\nThis booklet was designed to accompany a set of Tarot cards, and the\ncurrent packs of the period were imported from abroad for the purpose.\nThere is no pretense of original research, and the only personal opinion\nexpressed by the writer or calling for notice here states that the\nTrumps Major are hieroglyphic symbols corresponding to the occult\nmeanings of the Hebrew alphabet. Here the authority is L\u00e9vi, from whom\nis also derived the brief symbolism allocated to the twenty-two Keys.\nThe divinatory meanings follow, and then the modes of operation. It is a\nmere sketch written in a pretentious manner and is negligible in all\nrespects.\n\n\nXVII\n\n     _Trait\u00e9 M\u00e9thodique de Science Occulte._ Par Papus. 8vo, Paris,\n     1891.\n\nThe rectified Tarot published by Oswald Wirth after the indications of\nEliphas L\u00e9vi is reproduced in this work, which--it may be\nmentioned--extends to nearly 1,100 pages. There is a section on the\ngipsies, considered as the importers of esoteric tradition into Europe\nby means of the cards. The Tarot is a combination of numbers and ideas,\nwhence its correspondence with the Hebrew alphabet. Unfortunately, the\nHebrew citations are rendered almost unintelligible by innumerable\ntypographical errors.\n\n\nXVIII\n\n     _Eliphas L\u00e9vi: Le Livre des Splendeurs._ Demy 8vo, Paris, 1894.\n\nA section on the _Elements of the Kabalah_ affirms (_a_) That the Tarot\ncontains in the several cards of the four suits a fourfold explanation\nof the numbers 1 to 10; (_b_) that the symbols which we now have only in\nthe form of cards were at first medals and then afterwards became\ntalismans; (_c_) that the Tarot is the hieroglyphical book of the\nThirty-two Paths of Kabalistic theosophy, and that its summary\nexplanation is in the _Sepher Yetzirah_; (_d_) that it is the\ninspiration of all religious theories and symbols; (_e_) that its\nemblems are found on the ancient monuments of Egypt. With the historical\nvalue of these pretensions I have dealt in the text.\n\n\nXIX\n\n     _Clefs Magiques et Clavicules de Salomon._ Par Eliphas L\u00e9vi. Sq.\n     12mo, Paris, 1895.\n\nThe Keys in question are said to have been restored in 1860, in their\nprimitive purity, by means of hieroglyphical signs and numbers, without\nany admixture of Samaritan or Egyptian images. There are rude designs of\nthe Hebrew letters attributed to the Trumps Major, with meanings--most\nof which are to be found in other works by the same writer. There are\nalso combinations of the letters which enter into the Divine Name; these\ncombinations are attributed to the court cards of the Lesser Arcana.\nCertain talismans of spirits are in fine furnished with Tarot\nattributions; the Ace of Clubs corresponds to the _Deus Absconditus_,\nthe First Principle. The little book was issued at a high price and as\nsomething that should be reserved to adepts, or those on the path of\nadeptship, but it is really without value--symbolical or otherwise.\n\n\nXX\n\n     _Les xxii Lames Herm\u00e9tiques du Tarot Divinatoire._ Par R.\n     Falconnier. Demy 8vo, Paris, 1896.\n\nThe word Tarot comes from the Sanskrit and means \"fixed star,\" which in\nits turn signifies immutable tradition, theosophical synthesis,\nsymbolism of primitive dogma, etc. Graven on golden plates, the designs\nwere used by Hermes Trismegistus and their mysteries were only revealed\nto the highest grades of the priesthood of Isis. It is unnecessary\ntherefore to say that the Tarot is of Egyptian origin and the work of M.\nFalconnier has been to reconstruct its primitive form, which he does by\nreference to the monuments--that is to say, after the fashion of Eliphas\nL\u00e9vi, he draws the designs of the Trumps Major in imitation of Egyptian\nart. This production has been hailed by French occultists as presenting\nthe Tarot in its perfection, but the same has been said of the designs\nof Oswald Wirth, which are quite unlike and not Egyptian at all. To be\nfrank, these kinds of foolery may be as much as can be expected from the\nSanctuary of the Com\u00e9die-Fran\u00e7aise, to which the author belongs, and it\nshould be reserved thereto.\n\n\nXXI\n\n     _The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum, interpreted by the Tarot\n     Trumps._ Translated from the MSS. of Eliphas L\u00e9vi and edited by W.\n     Wynn Westcott, M.B. Fcap, 8vo, London, 1896.\n\nIt is necessary to say that the interest of this memorial rests rather\nin the fact of its existence than in its intrinsic importance. There is\na kind of informal commentary on the Trumps Major, or rather there are\nconsiderations which presumably had arisen therefrom in the mind of the\nFrench author. For example, the card called Fortitude is an opportunity\nfor expatiation on will as the secret of strength. The Hanged Man is\nsaid to represent the completion of the Great Work. Death suggests a\ndiatribe against Necromancy and Go\u00ebtia; but such phantoms have no\nexistence in \"_the Sanctum Regnum_\" of life. Temperance produces only a\nfew vapid commonplaces, and the Devil, which is blind force, is the\noccasion for repetition of much that has been said already in the\nearlier works of L\u00e9vi. The Tower represents the betrayal of the Great\nArcanum, and this it was which caused the sword of Samael to be\nstretched over the Garden of Delight. Amongst the plates there is a\nmonogram of the Gnosis, which is also that of the Tarot. The editor has\nthoughtfully appended some information on the Trump Cards taken from the\nearly works of L\u00e9vi and from the commentaries of P. Christian.\n\n\nXXII\n\n     _Comment on devient Alchimiste._ Par F. Jolivet de Castellot. Sq.\n     8vo, Paris, 1897.\n\nHerein is a summary of the Alchemical Tarot, which--with all my respect\nfor innovations and inventions--seems to be high fantasy; but Etteilla\nhad reveries of this kind, and if it should ever be warrantable to\nproduce a Key Major in place of the present Key Minor, it might be worth\nwhile to tabulate the analogies of these strange dreams. At the moment\nit will be sufficient to say that there is given a schedule of the\nalchemical correspondences to the Trumps Major, by which it appears that\nthe Juggler or Magician symbolizes attractive force; the High Priestess\nis inert matter, than which nothing is more false; the Pope is the\nQuintessence, which--if he were only acquainted with Shakespeare--might\ntempt the present successor of St. Peter to repeat that \"there are more\nthings in heaven and earth, Horatio.\" The Devil, on the other hand, is\nthe matter of philosophy at the black stage; the Last Judgment is the\nred stage of the Stone; the Fool is its fermentation; and, in fine, the\nlast card, or the World, is the Alchemical Absolute--the Stone itself.\nIf this should encourage my readers, they may note further that the\nparticulars of various chemical combinations can be developed by means\nof the Lesser Arcana, if these are laid out for the purpose.\nSpecifically, the King of Wands = Gold; the Pages or Knaves represent\nanimal substances; the King of Cups = Silver; and so forth.\n\n\nXXIII\n\n     _Le Grand Arcane, ou l'occultisme d\u00e9voil\u00e9._ Par Eliphas L\u00e9vi. Demy\n     8vo, Paris, 1898.\n\nAfter many years and the long experience of all his concerns in\noccultism, the author at length reduces his message to one formula in\nthis work. I speak, of course, only in respect of the Tarot: he says\nthat the cards of Etteilla produce a kind of hypnotism in the seer or\nseeress who divines thereby. The folly of the psychic reads in the\nfolly of the querent. Did he counsel honesty, it is suggested that he\nwould lose his clients. I have written severe criticisms on occult arts\nand sciences, but this is astonishing from one of their past professors\nand, moreover, I think that the psychic occasionally is a psychic and\nsees in a manner as such.\n\n\nXXIV\n\n     _Le Serpent de la Gen\u00ease--Livre II; La Clef de la Magie Noire._ Par\n     Stanislas de Guaita. 8vo, Paris, 1902.\n\nIt is a vast commentary on the second septenary of the Trumps Major.\nJustice signifies equilibrium and its agent; the Hermit typifies the\nmysteries of solitude; the Wheel of Fortune is the _circulus_ of\nbecoming or attaining; Fortitude signifies the power resident in will;\nthe Hanged Man is magical bondage, which speaks volumes for the clouded\nand inverted insight of this fantasiast in occultism; Death is, of\ncourse, that which its name signifies, but with reversion to the second\ndeath; Temperance means the magic of transformations, and therefore\nsuggests excess rather than abstinence. There is more of the same kind\nof thing--I believe--in the first book, but this will serve as a\nspecimen. The demise of Stanislas de Guaita put an end to his scheme of\ninterpreting the Tarot Trumps, but it should be understood that the\nconnection is shadowy and that actual references could be reduced to a\nvery few pages.\n\n\nXXV\n\n     _Le Tarot: Aper\u00e7u historique._ Par. J. J. Bourgeat. Sq. 12mo,\n     Paris, 1906.\n\nThe author has illustrated his work by purely fantastic designs of\ncertain Trumps Major, as, for example, the Wheel of Fortune, Death and\nthe Devil. They have no connection with symbolism. The Tarot is said to\nhave originated in India, whence it passed to Egypt. Eliphas L\u00e9vi, P.\nChristian, and J. A. Vaillant are cited in support of statements and\npoints of view. The mode of divination adopted is fully and carefully\nset out.\n\n\nXXVI\n\n     _L'Art de tirer les Cartes._ Par Antonio Magus. Cr. 8vo, Paris,\n     n.d. (about 1908).\n\nThis is not a work of any especial pretension, nor has it any title to\nconsideration on account of its modesty. Frankly, it is little--if\nany--better than a bookseller's experiment. There is a summary account\nof the chief methods of divination, derived from familiar sources; there\nis a history of cartomancy in France; and there are indifferent\nreproductions of Etteilla Tarot cards, with his meanings and the\nwell-known mode of operation. Finally, there is a section on common\nfortune-telling by a piquet set of ordinary cards: this seems to lack\nthe only merit that it might have possessed, namely, perspicuity; but I\nspeak with reserve, as I am not perhaps a judge possessing ideal\nqualifications in matters of this kind. In any case, the question\nsignifies nothing. It is just to add that the concealed author maintains\nwhat he terms the Egyptian tradition of the Tarot, which is the Great\n_Book of Thoth_. But there is a light accent throughout his thesis, and\nit does not follow that he took the claim seriously.\n\n\nXXVII\n\n     _Le Tarot Divinatoire: Clef du tirage des cartes et des sorts._ Par\n     le Dr. Papus. Demy. 8vo, Paris, 1909.\n\nThe text is accompanied by what is termed a complete reconstitution of\nall the symbols, which means that in this manner we have yet another\nTarot. The Trumps Major follow the traditional lines, with various\nexplanations and attributions on the margins, and this plan obtains\nthroughout the series. From the draughtsman's point of view, it must be\nsaid that the designs are indifferently done, and the reproductions seem\nworse than the designs. This is probably of no especial importance to\nthe class of readers addressed. Dr. Papus also presents, by way of\ncurious memorials, the evidential value of which he seems to accept\nimplicitly, certain unpublished designs of Eliphas L\u00e9vi; they are\ncertainly interesting as examples of the manner in which the great\noccultist manufactured the arch\u00e6ology of the Tarot to bear out his\npersonal views. We have (_a_) Trump Major, No. 5, being Horus as the\nGrand Hierophant; drawn after the monuments; (_b_) Trump Major No. 2,\nbeing the High Priestess as Isis, also after the monuments; and (_c_)\nfive imaginary specimens of an Indian Tarot. This is how _la haute\nscience_ in France contributes to the illustration of that work which\nDr. Papus terms _livre de la science \u00e9ternelle_; it would be called by\nrougher names in English criticism. The editor himself takes his usual\npains and believes that he has discovered the time attributed to each\ncard by ancient Egypt. He applies it to the purpose of divination, so\nthat the skilful fortune-teller can now predict the hour and the day\nwhen the dark young man will meet with the fair widow, and so forth.\n\n\nXXVIII\n\n     _Le Tarot des Boh\u00e9miens._ Par Papus. 8vo, Paris, 1889. English\n     Translation, second edition, 1910.\n\nAn exceedingly complex work, which claims to present an absolute key to\noccult science. It was translated into English by Mr. A. P. Morton in\n1896, and this version has been re-issued recently under my own\nsupervision. The preface which I have prefixed thereto contains all that\nit is necessary to say regarding its claims, and it should be certainly\nconsulted by readers of the present _Pictorial Key to the Tarot_. The\nfact that Papus regards the great sheaf of hieroglyphics as \"the most\nancient book in the world,\" as \"the Bible of Bibles,\" and therefore as\n\"the primitive revelation,\" does not detract from the claim of his\ngeneral study, which--it should be added--is accompanied by numerous\nvaluable plates, exhibiting Tarot codices, old and new, and diagrams\nsummarizing the personal thesis of the writer and of some others who\npreceded him. _The Tarot of the Bohemians_ is published at 6_s._ by\nWilliam Rider & Son, Ltd.\n\n\nXXIX\n\n     _Manuel Synth\u00e9tique et Pratique du Tarot._ Par Eudes Picard. 8vo,\n     Paris, 1909.\n\nHere is yet one more handbook of the subject presenting in a series of\nrough plates a complete sequence of the cards. The Trumps Major are\nthose of Court de Gebelin and for the Lesser Arcana the writer has had\nrecourse to his imagination; it can be said that some of them are\ncurious, a very few thinly suggestive and the rest bad. The explanations\nembody neither research nor thought at first hand; they are bald\nsummaries of the occult authorities in France, followed by a brief\ngeneral sense drawn out as a harmony of the whole. The method of use is\nconfined to four pages and recommends that divination should be\nperformed in a fasting state. On the history of the Tarot, M. Picard\nsays (_a_) that it is confused; (_b_) that we do not know precisely\nwhence it comes; (_c_) that, this notwithstanding, its introduction is\ndue to the Gipsies. He says finally that its interpretation is an art.\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nVariations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained\nexcept in obvious cases of typographical error:\n     \"...suggestion to the lineal (decendants -->) descendants in\n     the...\"\n     \"...the moon at night in her (plentitude -->) plenitude...\"\n     \"...theory is that this (dectrine -->) doctrine...\"\n     \"...and in this sense is he who (seeeks -->) seeks...\"\n     \"...can master the elements may--still _ex (hyphothesi -->)\n     hypothesi_...\"\n     \"That which they (signifiy -->) signify is at hand;\"\n     \"The (biliographical -->) bibliographical particulars that follow\n     lay no claim to completeness,...\"\n     \"...L\u00e9vi (indentifies -->) identifies the Tarot as...\"\n     \"...Trumps Major are (hierogylphic -->) hieroglyphic symbols...\"\n\n\"\u00c9liphas\", \"\u00c8liphas\" and \"Eliphas\" were used interchangeably and have\nbeen standardized to \"Eliphas\".","title":"The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":36324}