Chapter 37

CHAPTER XIV.

✦

GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE SYMBOLICAL TAROT.
THEOGONY — ANDROGONY — COSMOGONY.

Involution and Evolution. Theogouy — The Absolute according to
Wronski, Lacuria, and the Tarot — Theogony of divers Religions
identical with that of the Tarot — Summary. Androgony —
Cosmogony.

Figure containing the Symbolism of all the Major Arcana, enabling
the Signification of each Card to be defined immediately.

General Summary of the Symbolism of the Major

Arcana.

theogony — androgony — cosmogony.

Having completed our study of the twenty-two major
arcana, considered separately, we will now review as clearly
as possible the knowledge which may be gathered from
the preceding explanations.

We have already established from the study of the
first card, that three primary principles are considered
throughout their evolution : the Universe, Man, and God.

We need only recall grosso modo the sense of each card
of the Tarot to prove the existence of a well-established
progression, which starts from God the Holy Ghost to end
in Matter, while passing through a number of varying

194 THE TAROT.

modalities. Another gradation leads from Matter to God,
the primitive origin of all things.

This double current of the progressive Materialization
of the Divine, or Involution, and of the Progressive
Divinization of the Material, or Evolution, has been too
well studied by our eminent friend Ch. Barlet, for us
intentionally to vary from him in any way ; we shall
therefore quote his interesting work in extenso,1 and thus
enable the reader to see that our conclusions are abso-
lutely identical, although we have been led to them by
very different paths.

But our present object is to review as clearly as possible
the meanings of the major arcana of the Tarot, regarded
from a synthetic point of view. From the preceding
chapters it will be seen that this study is really a Cosmo-
gony, or study of the creation of the Universe, crowned
by an Androgony, or study of the creation of Man, and
even by an essay on Theogony, or study of the innate
creation of God.

THEOGONY.

The Tarot places at the origin of all things the Absolute
undetermined, undeterminable, the One, both knowing
and unknowing, affirmative and negative, force and matter;
unnamable, incomprehensible to man.2

The Unity manifests itself to itself by three terms, the
highest and most general terms which the human com-
prehension can grasp ; terms which form the basis of all
théogonies, and which designate the same principles under
a multitude of varying names.

1 See p. 253. 2 Ch. Barlet, Initiation, p. 10.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 195

1. The first of these terms symbolizes Absolute activity
in all its acceptations, the origin of all movement, of all
masculine creative force.

God the Father : Osiris — Brahma — Jupiter.

2. The second of these terms symbolizes Absolute
passivity in all its acceptations, the origin of all repose, of
all feminine preserving force. It is the humid principle
of nature, even as the first is the igneous principle.

God the Son : Isis — Vishnu — Juno.

The third of these terms is the most important to us.
Synthetically it blends the two preceding terms in one
Unity; all study should be commenced by it, for no being
is conceivable unless it be considered synthetically, and the
third term is the origin of all synthesis. It is Absolute
Union .in all its acceptations, the origin of all reality, of
all equilibrium, of all equilibrist transforming force. It
is the mercurial principle in nature balancing the two
first.

God the Holy Ghost: Horus — Siva — Vulcan.

It is necessary to give a few explanations before we
proceed further, in order that the deductions which follow
may be intelligible to our readers.

We have said that no being is conceivable unless it
be considered synthetically : we must now explain this
sentence.

Let us take Man for our example, and fullow the advice
of Claude de Saint-Martin : " We must explain nature
by man, and not man by nature."

196 THE TABOT.

Man, regarded synthetically, is composed of an acting,
animated body.

If we would think of the being man as a bod}7 only,
without reference to its animation or to its faculty of
acting, its reality immediately disappears, it is no longer
a man ; we are considering but a phantom created by our
spirit, a phantom which we can analyze, study in all its
subdivisions, but which, since it conveys no synthetic idea,
does not really exist.

If in the same way we wish to imagine by itself the
principle which animates this body, which makes it live,
the reality at once disappears. It is impossible for us
to separate the life from the idea of the body, to con-
ceive what this thing may be which is called the human
Life, if we wish to see in it a kind of metaphysical
being. It is on this point that materialistic savants find
the most power in their arguments against exclusively
idealist thinkers.

The difficulty increases considerably if it be a question
of the principle which causes this body to act — of the Will,
of the Soul. Analysis here, as elsewhere, can be brought
into use, but we cannot possibly conceive what the soul
can be like unclothed in a form, that is to say, in a
principle that differs from itself. We picture to ourselves
a small sphere, a winged head, in fact anj^thing, according
to individual fancy, but never the soul considered
individually.

On the other hand, the moment we say A MAN, these
three terms, thus synthetised, assume consistence and
become the expression of a reality, and a being, formed
of a body, a life and a will, defines itself quite clearly.

This synthetic action, the source of all existence and
of all reality, is the innate property of the third term in

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 197

our Trinity of principles. This is why the study of all
realities should be commenced by this third term. Henri
Wronski has always adopted this method ; he names this
principle the Neuter Element, and places it at the
commencement of all his studies.

* *

Consequently, the Trinity, composed of the three terms
which we have specified, should be considered under two
aspects.

1. We should first look at the synthesis of this trinity,
the cause of its reality. The third term (God the Holy
Spirit) contains these conditions in itself.

2. We should then analyze this synthesis by dividing
it into its three constituent terms, and by determining
the existence of the two opposite terms, active and passive,
positive and negative. We must not forget that during
this analysis we destroy the reality of the being thus
divided into fractions.

Every reality, of whatever kind it may be, is therefore
composed of three terms, and these three terms are con-
tained in one sole whole. This truth is quite as applicable
to physics as to metaphysics ; the works of Louis Lucas
upon physics and chemistry,1 and of Wronski in mathe-
matics,2 are an irresistible argument against those who
think that a philosophical principle is a foolish idea,
without any practical import.

The third term of our théogonie series, or God the Holy
Ghost, therefore represents the whole body of God, who
can be analyzed in this way —

1 Louis Lucas, Lou Chimie Nouvelle, Paris, 1854. 18mo.

2 Wronski, Messianisme, 1825, fol. ; and above all Apoclictique
Messianique, 1876, fol.

198

THE TAEOT.

God the Holy Spirit

Synthesis
3

God the Son

Antithesis

God the Father

Thesis
1

To sum up all that we have studied so far, we will say
that we have discovered, first of all —

1. An indéterminable and unnamable principle, of which
we are content to assert the existence only —

2. This synthetic principle, when analyzed, is found to
consist of a Trinity thus constituted —

Neuter
Synthetic Principle

Negative

Principle

Positive

+
Positive

Principle

If we would use a common but very suggestive image,
we should say — ,

The constitution of God is thus defined by the Tarot —

The Spirit of God, or God the Father.

The Soul of God, or God the Son.

The Body of God, or God the Holy Spirit.1

1 Spirit is here taken in the sense of the superior and creative
principle: soul in the sense of median and animator. Since many
writers use these words in a different sens°, it is useful to explain
what is our meaning in this case.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 199

We must now prove that the conclusions which we have
reached through the Tarot agree in all points with those
of every author who has treated the question on a higher
level and with all the superior théogonies of antiquity.

1. THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORS WHO HAVE STUDIED THIS

QUESTION.

We have chosen from amongst the authors who have
studied this question of first principles, two writers who,
starting from different points of view, support the
conclusions of the Tarot : Lacuria and Wronski.

F. G. Lacuria.

This eminent writer, in his book on the Harmonies of the
Being expressed by Numbers, starts in his deductions from
the three words used by St. John : Vitay Verbum, Lux.
He analyzes each of these words, establishes the connec-
tion that exists between it and the Christian Trinity, and
defines each of the elements in this trinity —

"Here is the Trinity: the Father, who is life or im-
mensity ; the Son, who is word or form, and distinction or
variety ; the Holy Spirit, who is light and love, or unity.
And these three persons are only one God. Their unity is
not only in the external fact of their existence, but in the
essence of things, for they are inseparable in the thought of
man ; no one can imagine one without the others " (p. 43).

" In the commencement was the BEING, the being is not
undetermined, but it is distinct from the NON-BEING ; it sees
that it is the being, and these two points of view, partici-
pating in the unity of the substance wrhich they affect,
produce by their union THE CONSCIENCE, which is also light
or harmony" (vol. ii. p. 333).

200 THE TAROT.

+ —

The Being The Non-Being

The Father The Son

The Life The Word

The Conscience

The Holy Spirit

The Light

First principles of Lacuria.

Henri Wronski.

This author interests us doubly, for his conclusions not
only agree with the data given by the Tarot, but they also
throw great light upon them. Let us therefore listen to
him (Apodictique, p. 5) —

" Thus the reality of the absolute, Reality in itself or
reality in general, is unquestionably the first determin-
ation of the very essence of the absolute, and conse-
quently the first principle of reason. Without it as an
indispensable condition, as we have just admitted it to be,
every assertion made by reason would be valueless. And
it is upon this fundamental principle of reason, upon this
indestructible and in every way indispensable condition,
that we shall now establish absolute philosophy itself with
the same infallibility.

"In the first place this reality of the absolute, which we
now recognize so profoundly, produces or creates itself; for,
as we have already irrevocably concluded, the absolute, this
indispensable term of reason, is that which is BY itself.
Thus this innate generation, this autogeny of the reality
of the absolute, this creation by itself, is manifestly a second

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 201

determination of the very essence of the absolute ; and the
condition by which alone this determination' can take place
constitutes quite as manifestly, and in ail its primitive
purity, the faculty which is designated by the name of
Wisdom (Aoyos, das Wissen).

" We therefore discover wisdom as the second essential
attribute of the absolute ; this primordial faculty which
is the condition of all creation, or rather which is the
creative faculty itself in its loftiest puissance, as we
have now discerned it, is, if we may thus express it, the
instrument of autogeny, that is to say, the faculty of the
creation by itself. And consequently we discover in
Wisdom, shown in this highest creative power, the second
principle of reason, quite as infallible as the absolute
itself, from which we have now deduced it.

" Moreover, in the reality of the absolute, the necessary
result of its wisdom or of its innate creation is permanent
stability, because, precisely through being what it is by
itself, the absolute could not be other than itself. We can
therefore understand that this permanent stability in the
reality of the absolute, which is properly its autothesis,
constitutes a third determination of the very essence of the
absolute, and we shall easily recognize that this stability,
this permanent unchangeableness, this innate unaltcr ability ,
is only that condition of the reality which we name Being
(&v, das Seyn).

" Thus, we discover as the third essential attribute of the
absolute, the Being, the condition of stability in reality,
and therefore of its force or innate unalterability , which in
the absolute constitutes its autothesis itself. And conse-
quently we find in the Being, considered almost in its auto-
thetic origin, the third principle of reason, as infallible as
the absolute itself, from which we have deduced it.

202 THE TAROT.

" We therefore already possess the three first principles
of reason, which, as we have just seen, are the three first
determinations of the very essence of the absolute. More-
over, if we notice on the one hand that Wisdom and the
Being, taking them in all their generality, are opposed to
each other, just as autogeny and antithesis — of which they
form the conditions — are opposed, or spontaneity and inertia,
which form their characters ; and if on the other hand we
notice that Wisdom and the Being, these antagonistic con-
ditions, are neutralized in all reality in general, this
reality — according to the deductions which we have given
— being the fundamental principle of reason, its primitive
basis, we shall understand that the three principles which
we have discovered in the determinations of the essence
itself of the absolute, are really the three primitive principles
of the supreme Wisdom, or of Philosophy."

+ —

Wisdom The Being

Autogeny Autothesis

Principle of Motion Principle of Stability

Eeality

Principle of Existence

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF WRONSKI.

2. THEOGONIES OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.

We have now shown the identity of the three first
principles of the Tarot with the philosophical discoveries
of some modern authors. We need only revert to the
study of the first arcanum to see the conclusions which
Fabre d'Olivet and Claude de Saint-Martin have come
to upon the same subject; and we will now say a few

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 203

words upon the identity of the deductions of the Tarot
with the religious ideas of various nations.

EGYPTIAN THEOGONY.

Osiris is an emanation of the Great Being ; he reveals
himself in three persons —

Amen, who brings forth the hidden forms of things,
is Power.

Ptah the demi-urgus, the eternal workman, embodying
the primitive ideas, is Wisdom.

Osiris, the author of being, the source of all life, is
Goodness.

" The Egyptian god is called Amen when he is
regarded as the hidden force which brings all things to
the light; he is Ptah when he accomplishes all things
with skill and truth ; lastly, when he is the good and
beneficent god, he is named Osiris." — Jamblique.

Indeterminable Principle

Divine Trinity :

+ —

Amen Ptah

Osiris

204 THE TAROT.

HINDU THEOGONY.

Indeterminable Principle

PARABRAHM :

—

Brahma

Vishnu

Creator

Siva
Transformer

Preserver

Here is an analysis of this conception applied to
Cosmogony : —

PRIMITIVE HINDU COSMOGONY, ACCORDING TO THE

RIG-VEDA.

There was neither being nor no-being, nor ether, nor the
roof of the heavens; nothing enveloping nor enveloped.
There was neither death nor immortality ; nothing
separated the darkness of night from the light of day.

But That One, the He, breathed alone with Her, whose
life was sustained in his breast. Of all those who have
existed since that time, no other then existed. The
darkness covered them like an ocean, which cannot be
lightened. This universe was indistinct, like the fluids
mingled with the waters ; but this mass, which was
covered by a crust, was at last organized by the power
of contemplation.

The first wish was formed in its intelligence, and it
became the original productive seed. This productive
seed became Providence or sensitive souls; and Matter or
Elements, She who was supported in his breast was the
inferior part, and He who observes was the superior part.
Who can know exactly, and who in this world can assert,
from whom or how this creation took place ? The gods
are posterior to this creation of the world.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 205

KABBALISTTC THEOGONY.

Indeterminable Princ iple

EX SOPH

The Absolute

Divine Trinity :

+ —

Chocmah Binah

Absolute Wisdom Absolute Intelligence

Kether
Absolute Equilibrist Power

We might carry these comparisons much further ; but
it is useless to prolong our studies unreasonably. The
curious reader can refer to the works on the ancient
théogonies,1 and see the universal harmony that exists in
the primitive principles of all religions.

It will be sufficient if we determine the universality
of the three first principles, which we name, like the
Christians, in order to be clearly understood —

+ —

God the Father God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

These principles once denned, we shall see them in
action throughout creation.

The first principle had manifested its existence to
itself in the second principle named by Christians :

1 See particularly P. Renand, Nouvelle Symbolique, Paris, 1877.
8vo.

206 THE TAROT.

the Son. Lastly, these two principles had embodied
themselves in the third, which gave them substance.
This is why we have named the Holy Spirit the body
of God.

Now the same law of creation acting in the affinities
of the first principle with the second, will manifest itself
in the action of the first ternary upon itself, to give birth
to the following Trinitv : —

God the Father, the principle of Will, is entirely self-
reflected in the rough Adam, the principle of Power ; God
the Son, the principle of Intelligence, is self-reflected in
the gentle Eve, the principle of Authority. Lastly, God as
a whole, or God the Holy Spirit, clothed these two mystical
unities in a body, and made a realit}7 of them in the
balanced creation of Adam-Eve, or of Humanity.

Humanity, the image of Love, also contains in itself a
rough, astringent principle (see Jacob Boëhm1), and a
gentle, insinuating principle (Jacob Boëhm). The first of
these principles, symbolized by Adam, is the origin of brute
Force, of Power in all its manifestations. The second,
symbolized by Eve, is the origin of feminine Grace, of
Authority. We have seen that Power and Authority find
their equilibrium in Love.

Each man. a reflected molecule of humanity made in
its image, contains in himself an Adam, the source of the
Will — this is the Brain ; an Eve, source of the intelligence
— the heart ; and he should balance the heart by the brain,
and the brain by the heart, to become a centre of divine
love.

It is the same with man and woman, represented by
Adam and Eve (mn Eve, the life).

1 Jacob Boëhm, The Three Principles.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 207

But just as the Father and the Son have become
realities in the Holy Spirit, as Adam and Eve are
embodied in Humanity, so the third ternary will take
rise in the reciprocal action of the other two.

Natura naturans, or creating, will take her birth
under the action and the reciprocal reaction of God the
Father and of Adam, the two active and passive creative
principles. Thus also appears the Universal creative Fluid,
balancing and realizing in itself both will and power.

From this again will be born Natura naturata, or
preserving, realizing the union of God the Son and of
Eve, at the same time that the Universal preserving Fluid,
or Universal Life, will appear, balancing and realizing the
Intelligence and Authority which define its innate qualities.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit and Humanity, the divine and
the human bodies, unite and manifest themselves eternally
in the Living Universe, the source of Universal Attraction.

For even as the Holy Spirit was the body of God, the
Son his soul, and the Father his Spirit, even as Humanity
was the body of Adam, Eve his life or soul, and Adam
his Spirit; so also —

The Universe is the body of God ;
Humanity is the soul of God ;
God Himself is the Spirit of God.

From this we recognize the truth of the opinion of the
Pantheists, who declared that God was the Universe ; but
we also see their error, when they refuse to acknowledge in
him any innate consciousness. For as the consciousness of
man is independent of the millions of cells which compose
his body, so the consciousness of God is independent
of the molecules of the Universe and of man which
form its body and its soul. We might partly destroy the

208 THE TAROT.

Universe without in any way diminishing the Divine
Personality, even as the four limbs can he cut off a
man without his losing the consciousness of the integrity
of his personality. This is why the conclusions of
Schopenhauer and Hartmann are partly erroneous.

Before leaving this study, we must once more express
our admiration for this wonderful book, this symbolical
Tarot, which thus defines God —

God is the Absolute, the essence of which is impene-
trable, formed of the Universe as body, of Humanity as
soul, and of himself as Spirit.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 209

THEOGONY.

The Spirit
of God

The Soul
of God

The Body
of God

UNKNOWN GOD

God the Father

Adam

Natura
Naturans

God the Holy Spirit

Adam-Eve
Humanity

The Universe

God the Son

Eve

Natura
Naturata

Will

Power

Universal Creative
Fluid

Beauty

Love

Intelligence or
Intuition

Authority

Universal preserving
Fluid or
Universal Universal Life
Attraction

210 THE TAROT.

ANDROGONY.

Each man contains in himself an Adam, source of the
Will, i. e. the Brain ; an Eve, source of the Intelligence,1
i. e. the Heart, and he should balance the heart by the
brain, and the brain by the heart, if he would become a
centre of divine love.

In Humanity, the passive Realistic principle of God
Himself, the Father and the Divine Son, are represented
by Man.

Man accomplishing the functions of God the creator is
the Father ; the woman accomplishing the work of God
the preserver is the Mother ; lastly, Human Love
realizes the whole Divinity in Humanity.

The human family is therefore the representation of
the Divinity upon earth. The Tarot also teaches us this
fact by its minor arcana (king or father, queen or mother,
knight or young man, knave or child) ; and it was so
thoroughly understood by ancient science, that the whole
social organization was based upon the family, instead of
upon the individual, as it is in modern times.2 That
the social organization of China has been maintained for
so many centuries, is solely due to the principle of basing
everything upon the family.3

The characteristics of the human Ternary are : Adam,
Necessity, the image and reflection of Will and Power;
Eve, Liberty, the image and reflection of Intelligence
and Authority; and Adam and Eve, Charity, the image

1 Intelligence is here taken in the sense of Intuition, and not in the
sense usually attributed to it by the Philosophy of the Universities.

2 See Saint- Yves d'Alveydre, Mission des Juifs, 1884.

3 See Simon, La Cité Chinoise, 1886. 8vo.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 211

and reflection of Love and Beauty given by the constituent
terms.

Realization and Justice, balanced by Prudence,

indicate the moral constitution of Man, whilst the
Positive Astral Light (or OD), the Negative Astral
Light (or OB), and the Equilibrate Astral Fluid (or
AOUR), demonstrate the origin of his physical constitution.

Magic Power, Courage, and Hope manifest the moral
qualities of man, whilst Force potential in its manifest-
ation, reflected Life, and Force balancing the two preceding
qualities, indicate the influence of the Universe in him.

Thus, the law which governs all these manifestations of
God in the series of his creations is Emanation.

From the unique but fathomless centre emanates, in
the first place, a Trinity of absolute principles which
serves as a model for all the posterior emanations of the
Being principle itself. Each element of this Trinity
manifests itself in two great principles, of which it is the
source : from the first principle, or the Father, emanate
successively Adam and Nature creating, naturans, accord-
ing to Spinoza ; from the second principle, or the Son,
emanate Eve and Nature naturata, or recipient ; lastly,
the third principle, or the Holy Spirit, serves as a model
to the similar constitution of Adam-Eve, or Humanity and
the Universe.

In this way also the Ternary, emanated from the
mysterious Unity, soon constitutes a Septenary formed by
the various emanations of these three Principles, like the
seven colours of the scale of light formed by the combination
of three simple colours, themselves emanated from one
single light ; or like the seven notes of the musical scale,
formed by the fundamental trinity of sounds.

The Septenary formed of " two Ternaries in the midst of

212 THE TAROT.

which the Unity upholds itself," l is therefore the expression
of a being completely constituted. This is now confirmed
by the recent data given by Hindu Theosophy upon the
seven principles of Man, and upon the seven principles of
the Universe?

We could apply the Tarot to the explanation of these
data; but we feel sure that it will soon be done, and
we consider it useless to lengthen our work too much.

We will therefore conclude our study upon man by
pointing out his constitution as given by the Tarot, which
teaches that his body comes from the Universe, his soul
from the Astral plane, whilst his Spirit is a direct
emanation from God.3

1 Sepher Yetzirah (trans. Papus), chap. vi.

2 See Sinnet, Esoteric Buddhism ; H. P. Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine ;
and all the publications of the Theosophical Society.

3 See for further developments the works of Paracelsus and Van
Helmont.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 213

AND&OGONY.

The Spirit
of Man

(intellectual)

Adam Creator
the Father

The Soul
of Man

(moral)

The Body
of Man

now materialized
(physical)

Realization

Astral Light

(or)

Necessity

Magic Power
(to will)

Potential
Manifestation

Love

Prudence

Astral Fluid
(aour)

Charity

Hope

Eve Preserver
the Mother

Justice

Elementary
Existence

(OB)

Liberty

Courage
(to dare)

Reflected
Transitory Life

Equilibrist Force

214 THE TAROT.

COSMOGONY.

As we descend the ladder of the emanations of the
Absolute Being, the principles become more material and
less metaphysical. The Tarot teaches us that the
Universe results from the participation of the Human in
the creative actions of the Divine, a profound mystery,
which can throw much light upon the theological theories
of the Fall. Jacob Boëhm, the sublime visionary shoe-
maker, and Claude de Saint-Martin, his admirer and
disciple, give upon this subject some explanations which
may be easily understood with the Tarot, and to which
we refer curious inquirers.

God manifests himself in the Universe by his third
trinitarian manifestation : Natura naturans, realized in
the Universal Transforming Principle, Natura
naturata, in Involution ; and lastly in the mysterious
cyclic force which we have analyzed, in reference to the
15th arcanum, and which we name the Fatal Force
of Destiny. This is the God adored by materialist
science, and we see that unconsciously its homage is
offered to the Divinity itself under its most material
form, even whilst it foolishly boasts of Atheism.

Death, Corporeal Life, and the Destiny which
rules their mutual connection, constitute the preserving
principles of the Universe; lastly, Plastic Force,
Individual Life, and the Astral Light in circulation,
show us the means of Transformation and of Realization
used by the Cosmos.

But these are abstract principles; if we wish to see
them in action we must consider the following ternary.
The Universal Transforming Principle marks its existence

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 215

by the Destruction of beings and of things; but the
Opposing Principle, Involution, at once immortalizes
Destruction by the influx of new divine currents into
Chaos.

Adam materialized his nature by the FALL of his spirit
into matter, the source of Death ; but the Corporeal Life,
the source of Hope, arises and provides the means of
redeeming the fault, by suffering in the Material Body.

Lastly Matter itself appears, the final term of invo-
lution, after which recommences the grand Evolution
towards the primitive centre.

It is unnecessary to say that we only wished to give a
rapid sketch of the evidence of the Tarot upon Theogony,
Androgony, and Cosmogony, without entering into detail.
In fact these are very serious questions, which require
whole volumes to themselves, and we had not the least
intention of discussing them in a few pages.

216

THE TAROT.

The Spirit of
the Universe

The Soul of
the Universe

COSMOGONY.

Natura naturans

in action
The Universal
transforming
Principle \

Natura naturata
in action

Involution

Death

The Body of The Plastic
the Universe Force

The Universe
in action
The fatal force of
Destiny

The Corporeal Life

Destiny

The Individual
Life

The Astral Light
in circulation
Nah ash

Destruction

The Fall of Adam

The Visible
World

Chaos

The Material Body

Matter

Immortality

Hope

The Physical
Forces

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 217

Let us now recapitulate a little, so that we may
definitely end the involution of the three grand principles :

From God the Father have emanated successively —

Adam Will

Natura Naturans Power

Then their form The Universal Creative Fluid.

Adam realized in the Father has produced Realization
and the Astral Light ; whilst the Will was realized in
Necessity, Supreme Power is shown in Magic Power, and
the universal creative Fluid in Force potential in its
manifestation.

ÎNatura naturans realized in the Universal Transforming
Principle has produced Death, and the Universal Plastic
Force, with their forms, Destruction, the Fall of Adam,
and the visible world.

These are all the principles that have successively
emanated from the Father, and which represent him. We
have reproduced them in a tableau —

GOD THE FATHER

Positive Emanations

ADAM

the Father

NATURE

Realization

Astral
Light

Death

Plastic
Force

Necessity

Negative Emanations

CREATIVE FLUID

Manifest
Force

Destruction

Fall of
Adam

Visible

World

The two following figures arranged upon the same plan
as this one, give the emanations of the two other principles
of the first ternary.

218

THE TAROT.

GOD THE SON

EVE

the Mother

NATURE

Involution

Justice Elementary Corporeal

Existence Life

INTELLIGENCE AUTHORITY UNIVERSAL LIFE

Courage

Liberty Immortality J Reflected and.

Transitory Life

Individual
Life

Hope

Physical
Forces

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

ADAM-EVE

Humanity
Love

KOSMOS

Fate

BEAUTY

UNIVERSAL ATTRACTION

Destiny ( Charity

Prudence Astral Fluid Nahash
(aour)

Hope

Equilibrist
Force

Chaos

Material
Body

Matter

In our Introduction to the study of symbolism we have
given a numbered figure which enables us to determine
immediately the meaning of any card in the Tarot.

If we now apply all that we have said upon the
symbolism of each of our cards to this subject, we can
condense the whole symbolism of the major arcana in
one figure.

The new tableau thus formed will give us the sense
of all our principles, whatever their number may be, and
this is how we obtain this meaning —

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SYMBOLICAL TAROT. 219

USE OF THE TABLEAU.

1. Seek in the horizontal column, to the left of the principle
under consideration, the sense written there.

2. Having ascertained this meaning, return to your principle
and search in the vertical column at the bottom the great principle
(God, Man, or the Universe) which is written there.

3. Combine the meaning first obtained with the name placed
in the vertical column, adding to it the word (itself or manifest)
written in the vertical column which contains the principle of
which you are seeking the meaning.

An example will explain this better.

Let us ascertain the meaning of the Mother — ■

The first term of the 8th arcanum.

1. I look in the horizontal column containing the word Mother
and I find at the end, to the left, the following meaning —

Active preserving Principle.

The Mother is the Active preserving Principle. Of what?

2. In order to know, I seek in the vertical column containing
the word Mother, and at the bottom I find Man or Humanity.

The Mother is the Active preserving Principle of Humanity.

3. I add to the word Humanity the word placed in the small
vertical column which contains the word Mother. This word
is Himself if relating to man, or itself if we take the sense of
Humanity. We should say — ■

The Mother is the Active preserving Principle of Man himself
or of Humanity itself.

This example clearly indicates how this tableau should
be used.

TAB

Recapitulating the Symbolism of all the Major
Arcana to be immediately de-

L E A U

! Arcana, enabling the definition of any one of thes

termined. (S 219.)

CREATIVE
PRINCIPLE

• Active

CREATIVE
PRINCIPLE

PRESERVING
PRINCIPLE

n, iotfvi

PRESERVING
PRINCIPLE

her ' Will

1 4

2 5

Authority

God the Holy

Spirit

Humanity

Himself O M u

+ —

GOD (21)

IlI'MA

Magic Tower

B
bliuitory Life

(WUDO»]

E.iuilil.rUt Fore?

Involution
14

Corporeal Life
[ndividnal Life

Destruction

16
The Fall of Adu

The Visible World

Manifested

N (21)

XITY

rïahatD

Astral Light
in circulation

Hope

The Material
Body

Itself (1) ManifaatBd
+ —

UNIVERSE (21)

Kingdom

20
Bespiratfon

Kingdom

Return (n)

the Unity

222

THE TAROT.

Tableau indicating the revolutions yod-he-vau-lie in numbers
(positive arcana) : (yod=l, he = 2, vau = 3, 2nd he = 4).
(Key to the preceding Tableau.)

12 3 4