The Mirror of the Moment

by Richard Palmer

  viable alternative then keep your prices modest and within the

  range of all. Such an action communicates the inherent beneficence

  and compassion that is the essence of the Higher Intelligence,

  which is revealed through all true methods of divination.

  The Meaning of Tarot

  “Tarot” may be generally defined as any deck of 78 illustrated

  cards whose imagery is said to reflect metaphysical, esoteric or

  mystical symbolism that purports to relate to or represent occult

  knowledge - knowledge that is not generally known by every day

  Individuals or is deliberately kept secret or hidden from the

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  majority of people due to a lack of correct understanding of this

  knowledge and the human tendency to paint what is unknown to

  them with a broad brush stroke of fear and superstition. Before any

  discussion of the correct approach to reading and interpreting the

  Tarot can be valid, the meaning and context of the word “Tarot”

  from its historical inception to its present evolutionary status must

  first be clearly understood so as no confusion can exist in the mind

  of anyone who chooses to utilize Tarot practice as a method for

  accelerated

  self

  evolution

  or

  practical

  divination.

  Despite

  vainglorious claims to the contrary, the historical birth place or

  point in time at which Tarot was created or who its author’

  s

  actually were cannot be accurately established. The most intriguing

  explanation is an anecdotal story related by Paul Foster Case in

  which he place great credence. According to what was passed

  down to him, the Tarot originated in Pez, Morocco in the 12th

  century as was the work of a group of Adepts who met there on a

  yearly basis as Pez was a highly regarded intellectual and cultural

  center at this time in history. Their motivation was to preserve their

  knowledge and spiritual practices in the face of an increasing tide

  of hostility and persecution from those who wished to erase the

  past and substitute their viewpoint as the one and only truth. In

  their wisdom they perceived the vulnerability of the written word

  so they concealed this knowledge and spiritual practice in the

  images illustrating a deck of common cards so as to insure its safe

  transmission to other epochs and grant access to all who sought to

  decode and understand its images. In European civilization, most

  of what we actually know in this matter comes from the historical

  records of earlier ages. As the story goes, a French writer, named

  Court de Gebelin, was preparing a manuscript contrasting

  primitive and modern societies. While attending a party one night

  he observed a group of people playing a game of cards. He walked

  over the table where the game was being played and observed that

  the game was being conducted with cards upon which were drawn

  very strange symbols and images. Upon closer examination his

  immediate intuition was that the symbols and images painted on

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  the cards were of ancient Egyptian origin and constituted the occult

  knowledge of the priest kings of Thoth - the Egyptian God of

  magic, science and learning - and thus were a repository of ancient

  wisdom sent forward to us by this ancient and highly religious

  civilization. When he published his observations and conclusions

  the Tarot entered written history and from this time forward

  became a subject of the most intense interest and study

  to

  individuals of

  the highest intellectual and moral character as

  well as being used by many in an attempt to understand their

  present circumstances or to pierce the veil of time and gain

  knowledge of the future. Within two years after its historical

  “coming out” another individual named Jean-Baptiste Alliette

  (often referred to as “Etteilla”) published a manuscript in which he

  outlined a practice for reading the Tarot utilizing the techniques of

  cartomancy, (fortune telling through using a deck of cards) a

  practice which was prevalent at the time and to which he adapted

  the Tarot. In 1791, he even issued his own Tarot deck specifically

  for use in divination and other occult purposes. Tarot decks had

  also become popular among the aristocracy and many were

  produced on commission by individual artists and were illustrated

  with exquisite and beautiful symbolism. These commissioned

  decks were used in card games played for amusement and

  wagering. It is interesting to note that our modern deck of 52

  playing cards is derived from these earlier Tarot decks.

  After several hundred years of diversification and usage the Tarot

  entered the spiritual current known as the Golden Dawn, an

  English fraternity of mystics and occultists who practiced the arts

  of ceremonial magic, divination, alchemy and astrology. From this

  spiritual nexus emerged three Tarot decks: The Rider-Waite-Smith

  Tarot (supervised by Dr. Arthur Edward Waite and drawn by

  Pamela Coleman Smith); The Thoth Tarot (supervised by Aleister

  Crowley and drawn by Lady Frieda Harris) and the BOTA

  (Builders of the Adytum) deck (supervised by Paul Foster Case).

  Each of these decks incorporated to a greater or lesser degree

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  symbolism from the primary spiritual currents influencing the

  Golden Dawn and formed the foundation for Tarot usage prior to

  the computer age and the development of modern graphic and

  communication technology. With the emergence of computers that

  could calculate complex mathematical formulas and quickly create

  on a screen what have taken many weeks for an individual artist to

  accomplish by hand in prior centuries there emerged an explosion

  of new and ornate decks all of which reside under the general

  umbrella of “Tarot”. While some of these decks are faithful to the

  Golden Dawn tradition in a greater or lesser degree, many are

  solely the creations of the imaginations of

  individual authors

  whose illustrations along with whatever instructions or viewpoint

  underlies their images represent their individual point or view on

  the meaning and application of esoteric or occult knowledge. Many

  of these decks are of exquisite beauty and rise to the level of

  genius in the quality of their illustrations but these decks are not

  the focus of our study, which will reserve itself to Tarot decks that

  in a greater degree reflect the Golden Dawn spiritual current and

  the influences that were acting upon it. The images of the Rider –

  Waite –Smith Tarot will be used in this work as these images

  provide the greatest clarity when discussing the Tarot spiritual

  philosophy and the various correspondences (such as Astrology

  and Numerology) that are associated with the symbols and images

  on the individual Tarot cards.

  THE PRINCIPAL SPIRITUAL CURRENTS

  We will first examine the historical spi
ritual influences that acted

  upon the Golden Dawn and in whose fires were forged the Tarot

  decks that emerged from their work and came forward in time to

  our epoch. A broad diversity of spiritual influences and practices

  influenced the work of the Golden Dawn and contributed to the

  Tarot decks that emerged from their society and an understanding

  of them is crucial to forming a solid foundation upon which greater

  knowledge and proficiency can be acquired by the individual who

  wishes to study and utilize the Tarot in evolving their own life or

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  to aid other human individuals with problems encountered along

  the path of their own personal spiritual evolution.

  Ceremonial Magic

  The ancestral practice of divination began as an act of spiritual

  magic – a means of entering into a relationship with an unseen

  world whose forces influenced the destinies of human individuals

  and which was regarded as being as real as the natural world even

  though it could only be perceived by those individuals who had

  developed their psychic senses and entered into a personal

  relationship with it. Since a relationship with this unseen

  dimension of existence was vital to their survival, following the

  most fundamental law of Nature, the law of self preservation,

  primitive and traditional societies evolved rituals surrounding

  contact with this spiritual dimension of being. These unseen

  dimensions were considered to be of the “Holy”and formed the

  one of the foundations of primitive and traditional spiritual

  practices. So to in the spiritual practices of the Golden Dawn

  magical practice empowered and sanctified the ritual of divination

  which was considered to be a method of attaining contact with a

  spiritual dimension of the Universe or, from another point of view,

  with the Root Intelligence or its Intermediaries (such as Angels).

  The Ancient Mystery Traditions

  The essential difference between ancient and modern spiritual

  practice was that ancient practice was based on the experience of

  the “Holy” and modern practice is a faith based belief of the

  existence of the “Holy.” The ancient spiritual practices led the

  individual to a direct experience of the Divine. This experience

  instilled a certainty within the individual that could not be

  contradicted by any rational argument. As a practical example

  most individuals would consider the act of eating good food to be

  pleasurable. If someone attempted to convince them that the act of

  eating good food was not pleasurable they would reject this

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  argument based on their direct experience of the pleasurable nature

  of eating good food. The same principal applies to the experience

  of the “Holy” in the mystery tradition. The “Holy” was the

  Mystery and once directly experienced was accepted as profoundly

  real – as real as any natural experience of the five senses. In the

  ancient tradition both the psychic, spiritual and the material were

  considered equally real and necessary for life. Unlike our current

  culture, whose purpose often seems to be, in the words of Bill

  Butler, author of “The Dictionary of the Tarot” “The endless

  acquisition of material things far beyond any necessity of survival”

  they did not attempt to devalue and undermine the spiritual in the

  name of the material but rather revered and valued the spiritual in

  its own right and in all its manifestations. There was a suitable

  place for both dimensions of being in natural life.

  Hermeticism

  Some sources trace the origin of Hermetic spirituality back to the

  priest kings of the ancient Egyptians while others place its origin in

  a semi mythological figure honored as Hermes Trismegistus

  (Hermes the Thrice Great) who lived in early Greece. Hermeticism

  may be viewed as a natural religion or spiritual path that reflects

  living in accord with the principals instilled by the Creator into the

  Universe itself and whose principals form the foundation of this

  spiritual tradition. A creation story is told by the Divine

  Intelligence to Hermes (the mythical founder of Hermeticism) in

  the first book of the Corpus Hermeticum. It begins when the

  Divine Intelligence, by an act of will, creates out of Itself the

  primary matter that was to constitute the cosmos. From primary

  matter the Divine Intelligence then separated the four elements of

  Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The Divine Intelligence then ordered

  the elements into the seven heavens - often held to be the

  symbolized by the spheres of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,

  Saturn, the Sun and the Moon - which govern consciousness

  and astrological destiny. The Hermetic tradition is both a moderate

  and flexible path offering a tolerant philosophical viewpoint, an

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  omnipresent, omnipotent and Beneficent Divine Intelligence and a

  purified perception of the Spirit, the Cosmos and the Self.

  The Rosicrucian Philosophy

  Rosicrucianism is a religious philosophy whose origin is traced

  from the legend of a German doctor and mystic philosopher

  referred to as Christian Rosenkruez or "Rose-Cross" The year 1378

  is considered to be the date of his birth and he is reputed to have

  lived 106 years. According to legend, he studied in the Middle East

  under various masters possibly adhering to Sufism but was unable

  to spread the knowledge he had acquired to any prominent

  European figures. Instead, he gathered around him a small circle of

  friends and disciples and founded the Rosicrucian Order around

  the year 1407. During Rosenkreuz's lifetime, the Order was said to

  consist of no more than eight members, each a doctor and a

  sworn bachelor. Each member undertook an oath to heal the sick

  without payment, to maintain a secret fellowship and to find a

  replacement before he died. The principal influence of Rosicrucian

  philosophy on the Tarot was the contribution of its rich symbolism

  to the Major Cards. The Order is symbolized by the rose (the soul)

  and the cross (the body). The unfolding rose represents the human

  soul acquiring greater consciousness while living in a body (the

  cross) on the material plane.

  Angels

  “Reality,” in the scientific sense prevalent in the modern world,

  could be loosely defined by the statement:”That which cannot be

  perceived or experienced by the senses or detected by instruments

  (sense extensions) does not exist.”Although this viewpoint forms

  the basis of modern science when we really examine it more

  closely the utter absurdity of such a statement becomes clear given

  the infinite scope and complexity of Nature manifested as the

  Universe. It is more conceivable that the Consciousness Principal

  itself is empirical and inherent in the Universe and embodies itself

  in other forms of life which do not meet our narrow “scientific”

  definition of reality, consciousness or of life itself.

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  The Mirror of the Moment

  Astrology

  Astrology is one of the first spiritual expressions through which

  man attempted to discover the meaning of his existence and his

  place in the universe and how to relate to the higher dimension of

  consciousness that he intuitively knew to exist. The goal of

  Astrology is to establish the link between man and this Cosmic

  Consciousness through divination based on Natal Charts. It opens

  up a channel of communication through which the Cosmic Soul (or

  whatever name that might be appended to the living reality of the

  Divine Intelligence) so that it can communicate with its own

  creations.

  Numerology

  To the ancients, numbers had a greater meaning than in the strict

  mathematical sense and were held to express truths of the

  underlying framework and principals which constituted life and

  determined its course and outcome. Numbers are very important in

  the act of Tarot divination and an exploration of the meanings

  associated with each number precedes every numerical division of

  the deck within the main body of this work.

  The Four Elements

  In the study and practical usage of the Tarot many references will

  be encountered to the four elements of the ancient world – Fire,

  Water, Air and Earth. These elements have several levels of

  meaning in their application to the correct usage of the Tarot and a

  correct understanding of its spiritual philosophy.

  It is therefore

  necessary to gain a correct understanding of what is meant by the

  “four elements” as the correct application of this understanding

  greatly enhances the effective usage of the Tarot in practical

  divination. When we speak of the “four elements” we are not

  referring to the physical manifestations in Nature - of the active

  oxidation of fire; the fluidic wetness of water; the air of the

  planetary atmosphere or the earth beneath our feet. Rather, these

  terms relate to aspects of our human consciousness in its four fold

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  nature – Fire being a metaphor for the Will; Water standing for the

  emotions and imagination; Air representing the process of thought