Tarot and the Gates of Light

by Mark Horn

  The Zohar is a pseudepigraphon, written by Rabbi Moses de León, another Spanish Kabbalist of the thirteenth century. He claimed he was merely copying a text written by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, a great sage of the first century CE. This claim gave the Zohar an ancient authenticity that conferred authority to its teachings. However, from the very start, there were people who did not believe the text was ancient, as it was filled with linguistic anachronisms. Nevertheless, de Léon’s contemporaries did believe that the content—the teachings—were ancient and that they represented authentic wisdom from the oral tradition. But there were, and still are, people who believed the Zohar was an ancient text.

  Almost from the beginning, Christians were interested in the teachings in the Zohar. While it was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, many learned Renaissance scholars had studied these languages, and there were also apostate Jews who were willing to help in the translation. Passages of the Zohar were first translated into Latin in the fifteenth century.11 This led to the development of a Christian Cabala tradition that, while its origin was in Judaism, grew into a tradition of its own that diverged in a very important way from the original Jewish tradition. Just as Christians had reinterpreted the Torah as evidence that Christ was the messiah, so too the Zohar was appropriated to provide evidence of Christ’s divinity. By the late sixteenth century, the Christian tradition of Cabala gave birth to another offshoot when occultists, of what is now known as the Western Hermetic tradition, integrated Qabalah into a system of Western mystical traditions, including alchemy, magic, and astrology.

  What’s up with all these different spellings? Because these teachings diverged in three different traditions, some people have come to adopt a unique spelling for each so it’s clear which tradition the writer is referring to. Generally speaking, the original Jewish tradition is Kabbalah with a K; Christian Cabala is spelled differently and starts with a C, while the Western Hermetic tradition spells Qabalah with a Q. Confused? Don’t worry about it; I’m sticking to the traditional Jewish spelling, since most of my orientation is from the Jewish tradition, though I do make some adjustments for the Western Hermetic tradition.12

  By the nineteenth century, European occultists included tarot cards in this integrated Western Hermetic tradition, even though there is no evidence that there was a direct connection between the creation of the tarot and the original Jewish tradition of Kabbalah.13 Nevertheless, there is a surprising convergence between the structure of the tarot deck, early interpretations of the cards, and Kabbalist teachings about the Tree of Life and the Sephirot. Applying knowledge of these Kabbalistic concepts to the tarot reveals deep layers of meaning. Similarly, the cards throw new light on the interactions of the Sephirot.

  Of course, historically the daily Sephirotic meditations used in the Counting of the Omer were completely unknown outside of a small group of Jewish Kabbalists, so Western occultists knew nothing of this practice. However, in recent years, as Kabbalah has been popularized, some of its key concepts and practices have become more widely known. In the last decade, books that serve as guides to the Omer practice have become available in English for the first time, though the intended readership is observant Jews.

  Before you can do the Omer practice or work with the tarot deck to experience the Sephirotic energies available on each of the forty-nine days, you need a grounded and practical understanding of Sephirot. Obviously, there are people who have devoted their lives to the study of Kabbalah. This brief introduction can only scratch the surface of the teachings in this tradition, but it will give you enough of an understanding of these concepts to use them in your own practice.

  The Tree of Life

  THE TREE OF LIFE IS THE CENTRAL SYMBOL in Kabbalah study. In fact, the very name is a symbol, since there’s no real tree anywhere. This “Tree” is made up of ten Sephirot—emanations from the Source, vessels that create a channel through which the Divine can pour Its energy into creation. As you can see in figure 1, the ten Sephirot are arranged in three pillars with twenty-two pathways between them. Together, these are the thirty-two mystical pathways mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah.

  The Kabbalistic creation story of Rabbi Isaac Luria explains that the first time the Source emanated these energies, the Sephirot were arranged in a straight line that was too rigid to hold the Divine energy. The vessels shattered, and sparks of Divine light were scattered throughout all creation. (Some people connect this myth to the theory of the big bang.) After the sparks were scattered, the Source began the creation process again, but this time with the Sephirot in the relationships you see in the diagram of the Tree, enabling the Sephirot to exist in a relationship of dynamic balance that is capable of holding and directing the Divine flow. Because these scattered sparks of Divine light exist throughout the entirety of creation, Judaism does not see the world as an illusion to be transcended; rather, the world is of profound importance. The goal of each individual’s spiritual journey in Kabbalistic Judaism is to make oneself a pure vessel that can see, raise, and return these sparks to the Source (as if they were ever really separate). Or as Rav Abraham Isaac Kook described it, “Hear the voice of God in everything.”

  Figure 1. The ten Sephirot and their corresponding numeric Minor Arcana cards in the four tarot suits

  The Sephirot are not the Source; they serve as intermediaries between the Source and the world. Think of each Sephira as a container of the Source’s light (remember, it’s all metaphor), each a bounded infinity of a particular quality of God essence.*3 Each Sephira veils this light, with successively greater veiling as we move down the Tree. To use a concrete metaphor within our experience to describe this abstract spiritual metaphor, it’s as though a series of filters are placed over a spotlight, so that the intensity and color of the light changes. When we encounter this light, these filters guarantee it doesn’t blind or overwhelm us. The Sephirot are ubiquitous and always accessible, so that we can access them as a channel to consciously connect to the Source without being overwhelmed.

  Like a holographic piece of the Source, each Sephira contains an entire Tree within it, so that to access any one of them is to access all of them on multiple levels—and in multiple worlds.

  In the Omer meditation, you will always work with a pair of Sephirot, never one by itself. This work is about reestablishing a full relationship and connection between the Sephirot within you (because you’re not separate from any of this; it all exists in you) so that any spiritual blockages are removed. Think of this work as a sacred workout, making you strong enough to feel the outpouring of Divine energy throughout your entire being.

  Anxiety is intrinsic to this process, but to be in this process, you will learn to observe and hold your anxiety, surrounding it with Divine light so that you will be able to let the small cup of your ego rest in the larger cup of the Source. Remember, the ego fears the inability to be in control, and there’s nothing more uncontrollable than Divine energy.

  While descriptions of each of the individual Sephirot follow, they really don’t exist separately; they exist only in relationship. Just as none of us really exist separately—that is an illusion—we only exist in relationship. And because this is a path of nonduality (which includes duality), the Sephirot are always in a dynamic process and are always unchanging.

  The emanation of the Sephirot is described as being created in an order, but they were created outside of time, so descriptions of such an order don’t really apply. From my “heretical” Buddhist point of view, they are mutually co-arising in nonlinear causality. However, because we are limited beings living within the dimension of time and using the limited tool of language, we are only capable of describing them separately and in an order.*4

  Of these ten emanations, the top three are considered by some to be beyond the experience of our embodied sensorium. This leaves the lower seven Sephirotic energies that we can encounter and experience as living human beings. And this is where the Omer meditations begin. Because, as it happens, the forty-nine-day peri
od of Counting the Omer is seven weeks of seven days each. So the Kabbalists created a practice where each week represented an opportunity to work with one of the lower seven Sephirot. And because each individual Sephira contains an entire Tree within it in a kind of holographic reality, each day was an opportunity to meditate on how that week’s Sephira was expressed in relationship to the energy of each day’s Sephira. This gives us forty-nine permutations that explore every possible relationship between these Sephirot, one relationship per day.

  Thus, the first day of the first week, the Omer count’s Sephirotic meditation is “Chesed of Chesed,” the second day is “Gevurah of Chesed,” the third day is “Tiferet of Chesed,” and so on until the last day of the first week, “Malchut of Chesed.” You can use the Omer calendar in figure 2 to keep track of the combinations each day. Each of these forty-nine combinations provides an opportunity to reflect deeply on these energies and feel how they are at work in your life, and how best to be in a conscious relationship with them so that every moment is a chance to open to the Source.

  Figure 2. The Omer calendar

  THE SEPHIROT

  To do the Omer practice, you need an understanding of the meaning of each of the Sephirot, including the top three, even though you won’t be working with these three directly. Traditionally, Jews work with the Sephirot without the mediation of an image (since of course that would be in violation of the Second Commandment). But because we’ll be using tarot cards, with the description of each Sephira below I will note the corresponding cards. Don’t feel that you must memorize the full descriptions of the Sephirot, since each day there will be some discussion of the meanings. Following the descriptions of each of the lower seven Sephirot, there will also be a list of key words associated with that Sephira. You can use those key words to understand and consider the different shades of meaning for each day’s pairing and determine which combination of key words speaks most directly to you and where you are now.

  Because the Sephirot are bounded infinities, trying to describe each one of them is a challenge, to say the least. But based on how they’ve been explained over the centuries (and how I have experienced them in my own study and practice), what follows is my attempt to capture the constellation of meanings that orbit these essential energies.

  1. Keter: Translated as “Crown,” it is the Sephira that is considered closest to the Unknowable. Because it’s described as the first emanation, it is often considered to be the first expression of Divine Will, and thus connected to the first expression of that will in the Torah: “Let there be light.” As humans, we experience light as devoid of materiality, so Keter is also connected to the concept of emptiness. Keter is only the slightest separation from Ein Sof, the Kabbalists’ nondescriptive description of God as that which is beyond language, thought, concept;*5 that which can only be described negatively—as in, It’s not that. Thus, the concept of Ein Sof in some ways resembles the Buddhist description of Nirvana or what the Christians refer to as the Via Negativa. This isn’t such a farfetched comparison when you consider Keter has been called “the annihilation of thought,” where human consciousness dissolves into infinity. Keter is barely differentiated from Ein Sof—it’s just enough to be different, but not enough of something to be a thing other than Will and light. Because the Kabbalists also believed that humans were embodiments of the Sephirot (since, after all, we were created in the image of the Divine), each Sephira is associated with a part of the body. And no surprise, Keter is at the Crown of the head. As you might imagine, some people also find correspondences between the Sephirot and the chakras of the Hindu tradition, although the two systems are not entirely congruent. However, if you find linking them helpful when appropriate, I am certainly not one to turn up my nose at that kind of unorthodox exploration! They are simply different maps of the same territory.

  Correspondences:

  Minor Arcana: The aces of each suit.

  Body Map: The crown of the head.

  Divine Name: Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh

  Keter Key Words: Crown, Will.

  2. Chokhmah: Translated as “Wisdom,” it is the transitional state from nothingness to something. As Keter is too close to Ein Sof to even be a location, Chokhmah is the primordial point of beginning. Because it is the wisdom that permeates all Creation, it is associated with the primordial Torah, the blueprint of all the universes and all they contain. As a blueprint, it is still just an idea, a plan not of any material reality.

  Correspondences:

  Minor Arcana: The twos of each suit.

  Body Map: The right eye and/or right brain.

  Divine Name: YHVH.

  Chokhmah Key Words: Wisdom, Potential, Inspiration, Fear, Selflessness.

  3. Binah: Most often translated as “Understanding,” it is the uppermost level of discernment and insight. Rabbi Jay Michaelson refers to Binah as the “ground of space and time—not yet expanded, not yet contracted, but the principle of spatiality and temporality itself, ready to give birth to the world.”1 And in this way, I think about Binah as the Divine manifesting itself as the quantum foam, the foundational fabric of the universe(s) that is space-time at the most infinitesimal scale, yet the place at which materiality at its smallest subatomic level winks into (and out of) existence. Binah is the place from which all else is born. Binah is also called the “Divine Womb” or Illa Ima’ah, the Supernal or Higher Mother.

  Correspondences:

  Minor Arcana: The threes in each suit.

  Body Map: The left eye and/or left brain.

  Divine Name: YHVH Elohim.

  Binah Key Words: Understanding, Divine Womb, Reason.

  4. Chesed: This is the first (and the “highest”) of the Sephirot that we have direct access to experientially. Some words used to define its qualities include Loving-kindness, Love, Mercy, and Flow. This is not transactional love with give and take, but an endless outpouring without expectation of return. It is the nonstop showering of blessings on all Creation without measure or limit. Other words that capture its qualities include “boundary-lessness,” unconditional giving, and expansion. Because there is a negative, shadow side to each of the Sephirot, here we can understand the negative in terms of human experience; for example, someone with a lack of boundaries, someone with an inability to say no, or someone whose messiness seems to be uncontrollable. These are people whose expression of Chesed is out of alignment or relationship with the other Sephirot. Another of its negative manifestations is in smother-love that doesn’t allow for separation—because Chesed doesn’t allow for differences. Think of it as the hot lava of love pouring out of the Divine Source: nothing can stand in its way. It flows over everything, unimpeded without end. Feeling a scintilla of pure Chesed anywhere in your body calls forth a response of love for the Creator and for all Creation that will flood through your entire body, if only for a millisecond. A gentler version of the lava metaphor associates Chesed with water. Another name for Chesed is Gedulah, meaning “Greatness.”

  Correspondences:

  Minor Arcana: The fours of each suit.

  Body Map: The right shoulder and arm.

  Divine Name: El.

  Chesed Key Words: Love, Loving-kindness, Endless Flow, Unconditional Love, Giving, Mercy, Grace, Nurturance, Boundless Love, Benevolence, Expansion, Goodness, Kindness, Generosity, Greatness.

  5. Gevurah: Because it acts as the balance, the container for the limitless outpouring of Chesed, Gevurah is associated with Strength, Constriction, Structure, Boundaries, Law, Justice, Judgment, Focus, Restraint, Discipline, Severity, Discernment, and Limitation. When you consider the relationship of Chesed and Gevurah, another metaphor for understanding the Sephirot comes to mind: imagine a series of dams containing the flow of water and then directing it so that it doesn’t cause a flood. Because Gevurah is the container that holds judgment and sets limits, the experience of this Sephirot includes awe—the fear of God as opposed to love. In fact, other names for Gevurah are Pachad, meaning “Fear,” and Din, me
aning “Judgment.” Gevurah gets a bad rap because of this. In some New Age thinking, Gevurah comes off as negative. But without the container of Gevurah, there is no separate existence from the Divine: we are all subsumed by Chesed. A good way to think of Gevurah is as the mother who restrains her child when it wants to put its hand in the fire; this is setting boundaries out of love.

  Of course, as with all the Sephirot, there is a negative side to Gevurah. When it is out of relationship with Chesed, it is judgment that isn’t tempered by love. And that’s severity. It can become the setting of limits for the sake of power. On the human side, we can see the negative side of Gevurah at work in people who are overly self-critical or judgmental, or in those who are power-hungry authoritarians or strict disciplinarians. When Chesed is in harmony with Gevurah, love has a location, giving it both boundaries and a direction. When Gevurah is in harmony with Chesed, judgment is expressed with compassion.

  Correspondences:

  Minor Arcana: The fives in each suit.

  Body Map: The left shoulder and arm.

  Divine Name: Elohim Gibor.

  Gevurah Key Words: Strength, Constriction, Structure, Boundaries, Limits, Law, Justice, Restraint, Discipline, Severity, Discernment, Limitation, Awe, Judgment, Constraint, Might, Power, Organization, Harshness, Courage, Power, Control.

  6. Tiferet: I think the poet John Keats best expresses the meaning of this Sephira: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” Both Beauty and Truth are synonymous in Tiferet. It is Harmony and Balance—an aesthetic balance you resonate with. In the Tree, it is placed between Chesed and Gevurah, balancing both energies in a way that creates harmony to reveal the higher truth. It is the first Sephira on the central pillar that we can encounter, which means it is a place that holds all the higher energies and directs them, so it is a place of great strength, and in the physical body it is associated with one of our strongest muscles: the Heart. And like the heart, Tiferet is able to hold love and pain together. Traditionally in Jewish belief, this is the Sephira that represents the messiah, because it is a transition point between the upper and lower worlds, between the Divine and the human. So it should be no surprise that in the Christian tradition, this Sephira is often associated with the Sacred Heart of Jesus—the open wound that bears all pain and pours forth love. I like to think of Tiferet as the realm of the bodhisattvas in the Buddhist tradition. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who takes a vow to remain in the world of Samsara to help all other beings on the path to enlightenment.