Chapter 28

CHAPTER VIL

✦

CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MAJOR AND MINOR ARCANA.
GENERAL AFFINITIES.

KEY OF THE TAROT.

Domination of the 1st Septenary— Affinities of the 2nd Septenary in
the Tarot, Card by Card — Ditto of the 3rd Septenary — General
Affinities — Affinities of Yod, He, Van, and of the 2nd He.
General figure giving the Key to the Tarot.

Connection between the Major and Minor Arcana.

The Pentacles on one side, the Ternary of transition on
the other, establish the connection between the major and
minor arcana.

This connection is found in the general affinities of the
four letters of the tetragrammaton.

The 1st septenary, which corresponds to yocl, governs all
the correspondents of yod in the minor series, that is to
say —

The 4 Kings.

The 4 Aces.

The 4 Fours.

The 4 Sevens.

THE TAROT.

Each element of the septenary governs different terms,
thus —

1st Septenary.

The arcana 1 and 4 govern King-1A.7 of Sceptres.

— ■ 2 and 5 — — of Cups.

— 3 and 6 — — of Swords.

The arcanum 7 — — of Pentacles.

Moreover—

The 1st arcanum especially governs the positive terms
of the series, i. c. —

Arcanum | The King of Yod or of Sceptres ( + ).1
1 ( + ) I The King of Vau or of Swords ( — ).

The 4th arcanum especially governs the negative terms
of the series —

Arcanum

The King of He ... Cups( + ).

The King of the 2nd He + Pentacles ( — ).

By applying the same law to the other arcana we find —

Arcanum
( + )2

Arcanum
(-)B

Ace of Yod ( + ) Sceptres.
Ace of Vau ( — ) Swords.

Ace of He ( + ) Cups.
Ace of He ( — ) Pentacles.

Arcanum 3

(+)

Arcanum 6

(-)

Arcanum 7

(00 )

4 of Sceptres ( + ).
4 of Swords ( — ).

4 of Cups ( + ).

4 of Pentacles ( — ).

All the transitional terms

1 The signs -\-, — , <x> indicate : the sign + the positive terms, the
sign — the negative terms, the sign oo the neuter terms.

THE MAJOR AND MINOR ARCANA.

Second septenary. — The second septenary, correspond-
ing to He, governs all the correspondents of the first He, in
the minor series, that is to say —

The 4 Queens.
The 4 Twos.
The 4 Fives.
The 4 Eights.

Each element of the second septenary has the following-
dominations —

Queen of Sceptres,
Arcanum 7! ( + )

( + ) I Queen of Swords,

(-)

Arcanum
10

(~)

Queen of Cups,

(+)

Queen of Pentacles,

(-)

Arcanum 8

rTwo of Sceptres,

(+)

Arcanum

(-)

rTwo of Cups,

(+)

Two of Swords,

Two of Pentacles,

1 (-)

(-)

Arcanum 9

'Five of Sceptres,

(■+)

Arcanum
1 '2

'Five of Cups,

(+)

Five of Swords,

1 (-)

J. —i

(-)

Five of Pentacles,

Arcana 13

' All the 8,

(») '

, (oo)

Third septenary. — The third septenary corresponds
to Van, and rules over —

The 4 Knights.
The 4 Threes.
The 4 Sixes.
The 4 Nines.

64 THE TAROT.

Each element of this septenary thus rules over —

Knight of Sceptres,

(+)

Knight of Swords,

(-)

'Three of Sceptres,

(+)

Three of Swords,

(-)

. f Six of Sceptres,

Arcanum . *

15 \ ( + )

Six of Swords,

(-)

Arcanum
14

( + )

Arcanum
16

(-)
Arcanum

(

Arcanum
18

(-)

'Knight of Cups,

(+)

Knight of Pentacles,

(-)

( Three of Cups,
anum , s

17 ( + )

Three of Pentacles,

_) l (-)

Six of Cups,

(+)

Six of Pentacles,

(-)

Arcanum 19 f All the nines,
(oo) J (oo)

Ternary of transition. — The ternary of transition
rules over —

The 4 Knaves.
The 4 Tens.

Each of its elements thus rules over —

Arcanum

(oo)

Knave of Sceptres,

(+)

Knave of Swords,

(-)

Arcanum

(»)

(-)

Knave of Cups,

(+)

Knave of Pentacles,

(-)

Arcanum 21 J All the 10,
(+) I (»)

Value of the signs + , — , and oo .

The signs which follow each card in the preceding lists
define the exact value of the card. One example will
suffice to make this clearly understood.

THE MAJOR AND MINOR ARCANA. 65

Each term can be taken in two principal acceptations :
in the positive ( + ) or in the negative ( — ). The same rule
applies to the sub-divisions of these terms.

For instance, the correspondents of the first septenary
are 1 and 4.

1 is the positive ( + ).
4 is the negative ( — ).

1 governs two minor arcana : the King of Sceptres and
the King of Swords.

The King of Sceptres is positive.
The King of Swords is negative.

The definite value of these terms would therefore be —
1st King of Sceptres.

Positive ( + ) of the positive ( + ) ;
or
King of Sceptres
+ +

2nd King of Swords.

Negative ( — ) of the Positive ( + ) ;
or more simply
King of Swords

+ —

The same rule applies to the other terms in combining
the sign which follows the major arcanum with that which
follows the term under consideration.

The value of each of the 78 cards of the Tarot is thus
defined.

THE TAROT.

Major
Arcana

Minor

Arcana

Major
Arcana

Minor
Arcana

Major
Arcana

GENERAL AFFINITIES.

AFFINITIES TO Yod.

Positive.
Arcanum 1

— 7

— 13

King of Sceptres

Ace

King of Swords

Ace

Negative.
Arcanum 4
10
— 16

King of Cups
Ace —
4 —

7 —

King of Pentacles

Ace —
4

7 —

AFFINITIES TO THE 1ST He.

Positive.
Arcanum 2

— 8

— 14

Queen of Sceptres
Two —

Five —

Eight —
Queen of Swords
Two —

Five —

Eisht —

Negative.
Arcanum 5

— 11

— 17
Queen of Cups
Two —
Five —
Eight ■ — ■
Queen of Pentacles
Two —

Five —

Eisrht

AFFINITIES TO Vail.
Positive. Negative.

Arcanum 3

— 9

— 15

Arcanum 6

— 12

— 18

THE MAJOR AND MINOR ARCANA.

/ Knight of Sceptres Knight of Cups

Three — Three —

Six — Six —

Minor

Nine — Nine — -

Arcana

Knight of Swords Knight of Pentacles.

Three — Three —

Six — Six —

\Nine — Nine —

AFFINITIES TO THE 2ND He.

Positive. Negative.

Arcanum 19 Arcanum 20

Knave of Sceptres Knave of Cups

— of Swords — of Pentacles

Equilibrium.

Arcana 21 — 22

Ten of Sceptres

— of Swords

— of Cups

— of Pentacles

GENERAL FIGURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TAROT,
SHOWING ALL THE AFFINITIES.

The absolute law.

Yod He Vau He

is in the centre of the figure.

Each of the letters of the tetragrammaton governs one
quarter of the circle which contains its affinities.

The different colours indicate the especial dominion of
each arcanum.

THE TAROT.

>nN

>$y

T/<«

/\C£

K/Nç

CO
Q.

1 °

\ 81

\ 5

\ 2

i ^

a:
c

A \ *

'C.

grand general FIGURE of the tarot. — Arrangement of Series.