Tarot: A Rosicrucian Perspective: RCCNYC August 2014 Tarot: A Rosicrucian Perspective Illustrations: 1909 Deck created by Pamela Coleman Smith according to the instructions of A.E. Waite.

The Path to Unity KETHER Crown CHOKMAH Wisdom CHESED Mercy NETZACH Victory TIPHERETH Beauty BINAH Intelligence GEBURAH Strength HOD Splendor YESOD Foundation MALKUTH Kingdom

Journey to Reintegration

Welcome and Introductions Please briefly  Share what brought you to Workshop  What Deck you have brought  What Tarot Book you find helpful  Your experiences with Tarot

Rosicrucian Principles for Tarot  As Above, So Below: Correspondences  Concentration & Attention  Personal Experimentation to learn for one’s self what is True: Develop a Personal Numerology. Free Association  What we focus on, Manifests

The Great Dance  The Tarot is based on Correspondences (The Great Dance -- Perichoresis)  As Above, So Below  Hierophantic Nature

The Great Dance  Tarot is the Wheel, ROTA, corresponding to the Kabbalah in its 10 Sephiroth, 22 Paths and Four Worlds (The Divine Name)

Concentration Exercise: Part 1  Pair up with a discussion partner for part 2 Part 1:  Choose a card from the Greater Trumps (Major Arcana)  Send the intention to learn more about your Inner Nature into the Cosmic  Conduct Overall Exercise  Concentrate on Card, mentally memorize every element, from top to bottom, right to left. 5 minutes  Become receptive, simply gazing at the Card. 5 minutes  Write down in your notes any insights that come

Concentration Exercise: Part 2  Show your card to your discussion partner and describe with as much detail as possible the card you concentrated on  Switch roles and listen to your discussion partner ’ s description.  Voluntary Feedback from the group  This exercise can be done with all 78 cards.

Structure of Tarot  4 Suits of 10 Cards + Court Cards each  22 Major Arcana (0+21)

The Four Suits The Images are mnemonic devices, not mandatory.

The Great Dance: Divine Correspondences: Court Iod KnightFocus of Energy WillEmmanation Divine Soul manifested as individual Heh QueenLife-Force Emotion Creation Vav King Mind-StuffIntellect Formation Heh Page Physical BodySenses Manifestation

The Great Dance of Involution and Evolution KETHER Crown CHOKMAH Wisdom CHESED Mercy NETZACH Victory TIPHERETH Beauty BINAH Intelligence GEBURAH Strength HOD Splendor YESOD Foundation MALKUTH Kingdom Iod: World of Archetypes Knight Heh: World of Creation King Vav: World of Formation Queen Heh:World of Manifestation Page The 10 Sephiroth (Minor Arcana) The 22 Paths (Major Arcana) Court Cards:

The Great Dance: Divine Correspondences: Suits Iod AirSwords SpiritEast SpringEmmanation HehFireStaffsSoul South Summer Creation VavWaterCupsEmotion West AutumnFormation Heh EarthPentacles Physical North Winter Manifestation Body

The Great Dance of Involution and Evolution KETHER Crown CHOKMAH Wisdom CHESED Mercy NETZACH Victory TIPHERETH Beauty BINAH Intelligence GEBURAH Strength HOD Splendor YESOD Foundation MALKUTH Kingdom Iod: World of Archetypes Swords Heh: World of Creation Staffs Vav: World of Formation Cups Heh:World of Manifestation Pentacles The 10 Sephiroth (Minor Arcana) The 22 Paths (Major Arcana) Suits:

Court Cards and the Zodiac Aries – Queen of Wands Taurus – King of Pentacles Gemini – Knight of Swords Cancer – Queen of Cups Leo – King of Wands Virgo – Knight of Pentacles Libra – Queen of Swords Scorpio – King of Cups Sagittarius – Knight of Wands Capricorn – Queen of Pentacles Aquarius – King of Swords Pisces – Knight of Cups

The Great Dance in Combination Consider the permutations. For Example:  All the meanings of Queen (Heh) affect:  All the meanings of Pentacles (2 nd Heh)  (And there are many more correspondences, e.g. Astrological)  Here: Emotion affecting, directing, transmuting Senses, etc.

The Great Dance: Counting to Ten  Pygthagoras: Wisdom is knowing how to count 10.  For Tarot  Begin with Sephiroth and work inward.  Personal Numerology: what do 0-10 mean for you?

The Great Dance in Combination Consider the permutations. For Example:  All the meanings of Cups (Heh)  All the meanings of 8 (Hod – Splendor)  (And there are many more correspondences, e.g. Astrological)

The Journey of the Fool   The 0 and the 21   The feint of 8 and 11   The Position and Numbering of the Fool   The 22 Paths of Involution and Evolution   The Journey of the Fool (0 – Aleph): 1-7 Magician - Chariot Involution/Manifestation Powers/Potencies 8-14 Strength - Temperance Inner Growth Laws/Agencies/Process Devil - World Mastership Conditions/Modified/Result/Effect   Each of the Trumps is the Antithesis of the one before it.

Consciously entering The Great Dance Purposes of Tarot:  Becoming a Conscious participant in the Great Dance: Know Thyself  Experiencing everything as correspondences: As Above, So Below (Hierophantic Nature)  Combined with the Prayer of the Heart, very powerful tool for Inner Self to unite to the Divine Cosmic Rhythm  As a conscious participant in the Great Dance, become a worker for the Reintegration (Tikun Olam, Apocatastasis, Cooling of the Fire) which is its goal.

Brief History of Tarot  1 st – 3 rd centuries CE: in Alexandria, Kabbalah emerges from Jewish / Neo- Platonic / Hermetic / Gnostic Milieu. Basis of Tarot  1200s CE: According to Fama Adepts of all lands meet in “ Fez ” and share wisdom. Tarot may have been developed as an international symbol set to convey wisdom to the West.

Brief History of Tarot  1367: Use of Tarot Cards banned in Bern, Switzerland  1392: Jaccquemin Grigonneur makes 3 packs of Tarot for Charles VI of France  1450: Visconti-Sforza Tarot in Milan. Earliest surviving models for 78 card deck.  1500s: Earliest list of Major Arcana and first mention of use in Divination.

Brief History of Tarot  : The Fama & Confessio mention that the Rosicrucians have “ a device ” called “ Rota ” which is consulted for information about past, present and future.  1781: Court de Gebelin equates Tarot with the ancient Book of Thoth. Ettella amplifies this.

Brief History of Tarot  1856: Eliphas Levi first to link (in print) Kabbalah and Tarot, however, he encodes blinds and feints into the text.  1887: Golden Dawn established. S.L. MacGregor Mathers records his insights into Tarot in the unpublished Book T. British school specializes in the Esoteric Tarot.  1889: Papus published Tarot of the Bohemians, containing same blinds and feints as Levi. French schools continues the Exoteric Tarot.  1900s: Golden Dawn corrected Tarot order and attributions published by A.E. Waite, Crowley, Regardie, Case, Hulse, et al.  1930s: H.S. Lewis re-publishes Rosicrucian Egyptian Tarot Major Arcana as a tribute to Tarot ’ s Egyptian roots.  21 st Century: Hundreds of Tarot Deck Designs in circulation. This timeline is greatly indebted to the work of David Allen Hulse, The Western Mysteries.

Simple Celtic Cross Layout a. There are no reversed meanings a. There are no reversed meanings b. There are no evil cards or suits b. There are no evil cards or suits c. the cards near a card modify and c. the cards near a card modify and condition a card ’ s meaning condition a card ’ s meaning d. No set time can be established Also look over the spread for Suits, Court Cards, Major Arcana, etc.

The Journey Continues  Tarot works because it is a book to reveal the Great Dance within and around us. The Magic is not in the Cards, it is in us.  The Secret is in the Fool: 0 (The Fool) = Aleph (1) ∴ 0=1 (The Source is in its manifestation, solving the One and the Many.)

The Journey Continues  If you would become a serious student of Tarot, here are some suggestions * :  Study each card of the Tarot using the Concentration Exercise we have done.  Establish for yourself your Kabbalistic understanding of the numbers 0-10, so that the associations are automatic.  Obtain a traditional Deck, and an alternate Deck  Create two original decks, one with only names and numbers, and one your draw yourself. * Thanks to David Allen Hulse for some of these!

The Journey Continues  Using the names/numbers blank deck, test your knowledge of the cards until you can use it as easily as with a printed deck.  Draw your own deck, no matter your skill in art  Meditate on the Tarot daily, in any pattern directed by the Master Within, singly or in sets. If you wish, combine this with the Prayer of the Heart  In your study notebook, relate the symbols, colors, astrological meanings, sounds, etc., of each card and elements of the cards, as these come to you in meditation.