CHAPTER XV.

GENERAL KEY TO THE APPLICATIONS OF THE TAROT.

The Principle and the Forms — The Twenty-first Card of the Tarot is
a Figure-principle — The Tarot — The Year — The Month — The
Da}' — The Human Life.

General Key to the Applications of the Tarot.

We have already stated that the twenty-first card gives
the key to the construction of the Tarot. The utility of
this arcanum does not end here ; we shall now see that it
is the hey to every application of the Tarot.

Some explanation may be necessary as to the manner
in which a symbolical figure can be applied to conceptions
of very different orders, without undergoing the least
transformation.

Let us take one very simple example, chosen in the
realm of experimental science, by applying the analogical
method to its study. Let us represent the well-known
phenomenon of the decomposition of the white light by
the prism.

We place the prism, indicated by a triangular figure, in
the centre ; the white light, represented by parallel lines,
enters it on one side : from the other the colours issue.

Q

22G THE TAKOT.

They are represented by the refracted and more or less
oblique lines.

The words Prism, White Light, and Colours, indicate
all the phases of the phenomenon.

If, however, we reflect that after all it is only a general
force (the white light) which undergoes various changes,
according to the quantity of matter with which it comes
in contact (the different thicknesses of the prism),1 we
shalleasily grasp another aspect of the figure.

In fact the work of Louis Lucas, unconsciously continued
by contemporary scientific men, proves by evidence the
unity of force in action throughout Nature. The different
physical forces, heat, light, or electricity, are only repre-
sentations of this unique force differently modified, accord-
ing to the quantity of matter with which it comes in
contact.

Thus the white light in contact with the large amount
of matter at the base of the prism becomes violet : in the
same way the unique force coming in contact with much
matter becomes heat, or placed in contact with little
matter becomes light or electricity.

We can therefore represent this new phenomenon without

1 See Louis Lucas, Chimie Nouvelle, chapter upon " Angulaison."

GENERAL KEY TO APPLICATIONS OF TAROT. 227

changing the form of our figure in any way ; only the words
need vary —

Here the different quantities of matter are represented
by the different thicknesses of the prism, the unique force
corresponding with the white light by the parallel lines,
the various physical forces responding to the various
colours by the refracted lines.

If any one should consider that these two examples
belong to the realm of physics, and are therefore insuffi-
cient to generalize a phenomenon to this point, we can
answer by another instance quoted from physiology.

Physiology teaches us that all the organs in man act
under the influence of the blood. Thus the latter, acting
upon the salivary glands, produces the saliva, acting upon
the stomach the gastric juice is secreted, upon the liver
in certain cases it produces bile, etc., etc.

In short, this physiological phenomenon reduces itself to
one unique agent (the blood), acting upon the different
organs (the salivary glands, stomach, liver), and producing
secretions of equally different natures (saliva, gastric juices,
bile).

Can we not therefore represent the different organs
by the different thickness of the piism, the different

228

THE TAROT.

transformations of the unique force by the refracted rays,
and the unique force itself by the parallel lines ?

The correspondence is exact on all points, and the same

figure can be used once more —

Thus the figure has never changed : only the words
applied to its different parts have varied. The basis of
all occult science and of the analogical method resembles
this example : one fixed and invariable figure, which is
always the same (Ex. : the figure), to which various orders
of phenomena can be successively applied.

The twenty-first card of the Tarot is a figure-principle
of the same nature as the prism which we have just
studied, and a few examples of the various methods in
which it can be applied will fully enlighten us upon this
point.

We have seen that the four figures in the corners of the
twenty-first card represent the four animals of the Evan-
gelist. In the centre stands a woman, the ima^e of
Humanity, and between the two symbols is a crown of
elliptic form. •

This shows us that there will always be four fixed
principles in every application of this card (since the
symbols placed at the four corners of the square do not
move), and a certain number of mobile principles repre-

GENERAL KEY TO APPLICATIONS OF TAROT. 229

sented by the wheel, rota, which occupies the centre of the
symbols.

This figure can never change, since it is a figure-
principle : the words alone that may be applied to it can
vary.

Thus we have seen the four following symbols —

Man

Bull

become

Ea^le

Pentacles

Lion

Sword

Sceptre Cup

We see that none of the symbols have changed, but the
words only.

230

THE TAROT.

The same rule applies to every application of the Tarot.
Thus if we take astronomy, the four figures will be the four
seasons, the crown is the zodiac, and the nude figure (Eve)
the animating system of the zodiac, the planets; thus —

Winter

Autumn

Spr

incr

Summer

This shows us the progress of the sun, as it gives birtli
to the year. If we wish to know that of the moon as it
produces the month, the four seasons would become the
four lunar phases, the zodiac would be the twenty-eight
houses of the moon, and the centre the sun, which animates
the moon ; thus —

New Moon Last Quarter

First Quarter

Fall Moon

GENERAL KEY TO APPLICATIONS OF TAROT. 231

If we wish for the horoscope of a single day we find it
• figun

Niskt

in the following figure—

Evening

Dawn

Noon

Here the earth occupies the position of the moon in the
moitth and of the sun in the year.

If these astronomical data weary us, we can study the
circle of the Human Life, and the figure will assume a
new aspect.

OKI Age

Maturity

Childhood

You tli

A profound symbol, which indicates that the Human
Will creates the fatality in which man moves, under the

232

THE TAROT.

influence of the providential cycle of the four ages of the
human life. If we know that Providence (the outer circle)
acts upon the Future, Fatality (the intermediate circle)
upon the Past, and the Human Will (centre circle) upon
the Present, we shall see the basis of the divining Tarot.

We think that these examples are sufficiently clear to
enable us to proceed, and we shall now study some appli-
cations of the Tarot, leaving to the student the work of
discovering a larger number.

NET SA H

il-

The keg t« the great arcammi.

_^_.._J