All Numbers and Letters: The way in which we relate to the universe through language and pattern.
Divine: The patterns that arise in the way in which we experience the universe.
God: The universe.
Kabbalah: A way of looking at the universe.
Sephiroth: Aspects of the universe.
Tarot: Illustrations of significant landmarks and signposts on the map.
Tree of Life: A map of one way of looking at the universe.
Whilst this is somewhat of a simplistic key, it may assist the casual reader to see the Kabbalah as a model with some relevance to their experience. All use of Gematria and Correspondence throughout the following book can be seen in this light as simply ‘mental exercises to see the universe in lots of different ways’ and safely ignored unless they serve this purpose.
We will now look further at the history and connections of tarot and Kabbalah, particularly with regard to the Hebrew letters.
The Tarot, Ancient Egypt & Kabbalah
We must first look to the work of Comte de Mellet in Le Monde Primitif to appreciate the earliest roots of the correspondence of tarot and Kabbalah. I have in the text below referenced the original volume of Le Monde Primitif which can be viewed at Gallica (Bibliothèque nationale de France), both the two existing English translations and a French typescript.[8]
The main proposal of the work was that the twenty-two Major Arcana of the tarot cards were letters, or tableaux, which together could be arranged to form sentences and language, as it was seen that the hieroglyphs were similar; pictures instead of letters. There was a mere footnote that “the Hebrew language has 22 letters” whilst the main text focused on the alleged Egyptian connection.
Already though, the twenty-two Arcana were seen as a progressive narrative, in this early instance as a grand story of the Ages – a theme that would later be reflected in the work of both Levi and Crowley.[9]
In brief, the Major Arcana were seen as telling the story of the three Ages of Gold, Silver and Bronze (or Iron), in three series of seven cards, as follows:
Gold: The Universe (World) gives birth to mankind (Judgement) and then are created the Sun (Sun), Moon (Moon), Stars and fish (Star, corresponding to Aquarius). There is a fall from heaven (Tower) and the Devil (Devil) comes to end the Golden Age.
Silver: We are led by an Angel (Temperance) who teaches us to live and try and avoid death (Death) and accident (Hanged Man) now we are no longer in the Golden Age. We are assisted in this by our strength to cultivate ourselves and resist our own wildness (Strength). In coming to realise we now live in an inconstant and changing world (Wheel) we seek (Hermit) Justice (Justice).
Bronze/Iron: In the wars that follow (Chariot) we are caught between vice and virtue, no longer led by reason (Lovers). We raise religions and rules (Hierophant) and set Kings (Emperor) and Queens (Empress) upon the earth. This leads the people to pride, idolatry [High Priestess as Junon and the Peacock] and deception (Magician).
This leads to the eventual madness of our race, which is seen as the Fool card, where the tiger biting his legs is viewed as “remorse” trying to delay our inevitable march towards folly and crimes.
The four Suits were seen as representing four forms of divination, as to prove the utilisation of tarot for fortune-telling and divinatory means:
Wands: The wands of magicians, the casting of lots.
Cups: Divination by cups, bowls and reflections.
Swords: The divination of the future by the fall of a sword, arrows or axe.
Pentacles: The use of talismans and engravings.
The essay provides us only a few explicit correspondences of the Hebrew letters to the tarot, but enough to see that the 22 letters were assigned in order to the sequence of tarot starting with the World and ending with the Magician, with the Fool card as the final letter Tau. This sequence follows the same ordering as in the story given by Comte de Mellet.
Aleph: World
Beth: Judgement
Gimel: Sun
Daleth: Moon
Heh: Star
Vau: Tower
Zayin: Devil (Typhon)
Cheth: Temperance
Teth: Death
Yod: Hermit (Prudence)
Kaph: Strength
Lamed: Wheel of Fortune
Mem: Hermit
Nun: Justice
Samekh: Chariot
Ayin: Lovers
Peh: Hierophant
Tzaddi: Emperor
Qoph: Empress
Resh: High Priestess
Shin: Magician
Tau: Fool
We have presently no evidence that these correspondences were in circulation prior to Comte de Mellet presenting them in Court de Gébelin’s work although it is difficult to concede they were created ex nihilo without some prior consideration. If they were developed in Freemasonic circles prior to this publication, they were kept secret and have not yet been recovered. Whatever their genesis, the correspondence of the two systems would not have been much earlier than this publication in 1781.
There are a few examples in the text to suggest some consideration of the correspondences, for example, the un-numbered Fool is seen as not signifying anything other than itself, and so is a Tau or ‘sign’ in its simplicity. This is a literal meaning of the Hebrew letter, which have values and meanings – and also spellings, beyond being simply a letter. The letter Lamed, for example, means also ‘ox-goad’ and is seen by Comte de Mellet as representing the severe rule of fate corresponding to the Wheel of Fortune. However, the letter Teth corresponding to Death is seen as a symbol for ‘reaping’, whereas the letter means ‘snake’. It appears as if the correspondences have been constructed by their simple ordering to the sequence of tarot as given by the authors, and then explained on the shape of the letters themselves, rather than on their positions on the Tree of Life, their literal meaning, or any other more complex reasoning.
We should also note that hidden inside this sequence of correspondences is something rather interesting that would not surface again for another century or so; when in 1904, Aleister Crowley ‘received’ his Book of the Law in which was written “Tzaddi is not the Star”. When Crowley re-worked the correspondences and made the switch of Tzaddi and Heh to correspond with the Emperor and the Star, he returned those two letters to their respective positions given in the original 1781 system by Comte de Mellet.
Here are the Hebrew letters, values and their most common meanings.
Value
Letter
Name
Letter
Pictograph
Letter in full
Value in full
Translations
1
Aleph
A
An Ox
ALPh
111
Ox, to create thousands, domesticate, one, thousand, clan, cattle, to learn, train, tame, teach, community, family
2
Beth
A House
BYTh
412
House, temple, daughter, tribe, tent, stanza, palace, dwelling place, receptacle, interior, place where things are found
3
Gimel
G
A Camel
GML (GYML)
73
(83)
Camel, camel driver, maturity, to wean, ripen, deal with, to do, perform, accomplish, to requite
4
Daleth
D
A Door
DLTh
434
Folding door, portal, gate, opening, page(scroll), first half of verse
5
Heh
H
A Man with raised arms
HA
6
Air hole, lattice window, existence, to be, Lo!, behold, this, the
6
Vau
V/W
A Hook
VV
12
Nail, pin, hoo
k, fastening, peg
7
Zain
Z
A Weapon
ZYN
717
Sword, armour, spear, weapon, to equip, arm
8
Cheth
Ch
A Twisted hank
ChYTh
418
Fence, barrier, enclosure, awe, fear, cord
9
Teth
T
A Sign
TYTh
419
Snake, coiling, twisting, winding, leather bottle, sketch, draft, clay
10
Yod
T/Y/J
A Hand
YVD
20
Hand, clenched fist, power, strength, assistance, axle, tenon, side
20,500
Kaph
K
The Palm of a Hand
KPh
820
Palm of hand, bent hand, fist, weigh in hand, sole of foot, spoon, pan, dish, handle, twig, branch, hollow cave, cave, vault
30
Lamed
L
Spur or Goad
LMD
74
Ox Goad, learn by rote, study, practice, teach, train, instruct, studied, deduced, defined
40,600
Mem
M
Water
MYM
650
Water
50,700
Nun
N
A Serpent
NVN
756
Fish, flower, decay, waste away, deteriorate, to sprout, spread, flourish
60
Samekh
S
A Fish
SMKh
600
Prop, support, lean, assist
70
Ayin
A’a
An Eye
AYN
711
Eye, eye of mind, to study, source, spring, fountain, ring, hole, sight, face, look, appearance, surface, sparkling or bead of wine
80,800
Peh
P/Ph
A Mouth
PA, PY or PH
81, 90 or 85
Mouth
90,900
Tzaddi
Tz
An Arrow
TzDY
104
Fish hook, righteousness
100
Qoph
Q
A Needle-eye
QVPh
906
Back of head, ear, monkey, ape, eye of needle, bow
200
Resh
R
A Head
RYSh
510
Head, poverty
300
Shin
Sh
A Tooth
ShYN
1010
Tooth, molar
400
Tau
T
A Sign
TV
15
Cross, mark, sign, musical note
When using this table, you can refer to any Hebrew word and find its letters, so that a word spelt (and pronounced) as ‘Kabbalah’ is the English from the transliterated letters QBLH, Qoph + Beth + Lamed + Heh (which means ‘receiving’ or ‘tradition’). Whilst Hebrew is written and read from right to left, we transliterate and represent the letters left to right in English, so we would not write HLBQ when showing the transliteration of Kabbalah.
In Gematria, the system of numerology we will look at later in this book, some letters have a different value if they appear within a word or at the end of the word, such as Tzaddi. If that letter is at the end of a word it has the value 900. The characters of these letters are also represented differently in their Hebrew character.
Having surveyed this historic origin of the connection between Kabbalah and tarot (and introduced the Hebrew letters) we will now turn to the Golden Dawn who then went on to create a staggering synthesis of systems which incorporated this correspondence. In doing so they further consolidated the connection of tarot and Kabbalah in popular awareness.
The Tarot in the Golden Dawn
The Golden Dawn placed particular emphasis on the 22 Major Arcana cards of the tarot. They also had a specific symbolism in the cards which was used to illustrate the initiatory journey up the Tree of Life. The cards were shown to initiates, often for the first time, during elaborate rituals and presented with accompanying teaching as to their significance.
In the previously unpublished original papers of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, is a series of typescript documents which list tarot descriptions and conclude with a note by one of its three founders, S. L. Macgregor Mathers. It is possible these descriptions are the foundation of Waite’s knowledge of tarot both for the Waite-Smith Tarot and the Waite-Trinick Tarot.
Whilst we cover the specific details of the Golden Dawn original material in A New Dawn for Tarot (Forge Press, 2014) with illustrations of the cards from the archives and Tarot of the Secret Dawn (a 22-Major Arcana deck based on the scrying of a Golden Dawn adept, with accompanying booklet) we produce here the first publication of these Golden Dawn descriptions.[10]
TAROT TRUMPS
“Spirit of Ether”
0 [Aleph] FOOL: Man like the Greek Mercury – bounding up from the earth – the animal from behind him dragging him down. Caduceus of [missing symbol, probably Mercury] over his shoulder - represents spiritual power restrained by material conditions.
(Animal has him by the Heel)
“Magus of Power”
1 [Beth] MAGICIAN: Magician with Altar and Z-A-M [Zelator Adeptus Minor] lesser implements before him – invoking.
2 [Gimel] HIGH PRIESTESS: Priestess – between two G.D. Pillars like Hegemone (Red Black Lamen and Collar)
“Priestess of the Silver Star”
3 [Daleth] EMPRESS: Seated – Winged Empress with Dove – (7 Pointed Crown and Heptagram on Sceptre)
“Daughter of the Mighty Ones”
4 [Heh] EMPEROR Crowned Warrior – Lightening on Shield. Thunder Cloud beneath feet.
“Son of the Morning Chief among the Mighty”
5 [Vau] HIEROPHANT: Osiris between two columns 2 or 4 Kneeling figures and an altar before him. (Bull, Apis, Sign of OSIRIS) (Nevis of RA) A Triple barred [symbol missing] like that on which Nehushtan is twined. 4 figures (4 Letters of Name – King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Osiris – in middle above).
“Magus of the Eternal Gods”
6 [Zain] THE LOVERS: Angel sends down radiant light upon two figures which balance on either side - the two figures partly light partly dark varying – mediumship of a central figure – oracle of the mighty Gods (the Good and Evil woman, man between)
“Children of the Voice Divine, the Oracles of the Mighty Gods”
7 [Cheth] CHARIOT: Sea horses of Neptune – Triumphal figure (not Neptune) (Solar figure).
“Child of the Powers of the Waters Lord of the Triumph of Life”
8 [Teth] STRENGTH: Winged head dress – queenly figure seated - Hand resting on a lion – coercing it. (Holding lion by Chain Collar Lion dragging away)
“Daughter of the Flaming Sword Leader of the Lion”
9 [Yod] HERMIT: White head - light streaming on to it like a tonsure. Holds Globular Lantern. (Sphere of Tiphareth)
“Magus of the Voice of Light, the Prophet of the Gods”
10 [Lamed] JUSTICE: Like the Card in use “Justice”.[11]
“Daughter of the Lords of truth, the holder of the Balance”
11 [Kaph] WHEEL OF FORTUNE
[Pencil sketch of Wheel with spokes, and signs of zodiac and Ashtaroth written below]
Wheel of 12 - Spokes - 4 Sphinxes made of Signs of Zodiac.
At Top – Woman-headed, Lion-bodied Sphinx holding Scales.
Descending - Goat headed centaur with Scorpion tail (or a Scorpion man or horse as has been found on Assyrian boundary st
ones)
At foot - Virgin’s head with fish’s body - Clothed in leopard skin (woman to the waist)
Ascending - Human headed bull of Assyria tail like a bird
Behind the Wheel a shadowy Angel figure affirming the Higher – Ashtaroth written below on the lowest part of the wheel.
“Lord of the Forces of Life”
12 [Mem] HANGED MAN: A drowned giant in the shape of [pencil sketch of figure lying on side with legs in swastica position] Swastica Cross - Between the rocky bed of the ocean and the bottom of Ark - full face, legs crossed, - rainbow at feet (Should be held sideways)
[Sketch of figure on side with rudimentary rainbow at feet].
“Spirit of the Mighty Waters”
13 [Nun] DEATH: Skeleton reaping fresh Vegetation coming from corrupted bodies. Extremities are 4 elements and [symbol of circle with eight spokes for spirit] two Heads - is crowned [symbol of Tau cross although ‘cross of life’ would refer to Ankh] form top of scythe - Cross of Life. Seed behind skeleton - unborn – nameless one.
In front Scorpion - ruthless destruction Snake - deception. Good and Evil. Eagle - Divine nature receiving life (Harmony from Chaos).
“Child of the Great Transformers Lord of the Gates of Death”
14 [Samekh] TEMPERANCE: Angel. 5 Star crown and Halo of Light - Wings Pours together fiery water and watery fire.
“Daughter of the Reconcilers, the Bringers forth of Life”
15 [Ayin] DEVIL: Goat headed demon stands on Cube left hand down Torch [symbols of Sun & Capricorn] Circle in centre of Cube 2 small demons male under Torch Female under Horn of Water hold cords attached to Circle in their hands. bat wings – hairy body. Sexual. Pentagram of light over head two Pents. Under feet invern pent on Face.
“Lord of the Gates of Matter, Child of the forces of time.”
16 [Samekh] TOWER: the Power of the tread [likely ‘triad’] destroying the columns of darkness. establishes itself in the 3 holes rent in the wall. The Kings of Edom fall out as crowned men. Right hand – Light. Left hand - Darkness.
“Lord of the Hosts of the Mighty”
17 [Tzaddi] THE STAR: Star has 7 and 14 Rays - Heptad multiplied by Triad – 21 – Eheich Sirius - Star of ISIS – SOTHIS