Chapter 63
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.
Having reached the end of our journey we must cast
one rapid glance over the road we have followed, in order
to give some account of the scope of our work.
Seeing that materialistic science was giving way, in
spite of the desperate efforts of its partisans, under the
irresistible pressure of the new era, the impotence of
purely analytical methods forced itself upon us, and we
were led to search for the possible basis of a synthesis
which each day renders more indispensable.
At this moment, the ancient wisdom revealed itself
to our investigations, and we find that it contains this
synthetic method as the immutable basis of all its
scientific, religious, and social discoveries.
The secret societies entrusted with the transmission of
this sacred deposit have lost its key as well as its ritual ;
the nomad Gypsies and the Jews only have guarded their
Bibles intact throughout the centuries : the latter had the
Sepher of Moses, the former the Tarot attributed to Thoth
Hermes Trismegistus, the triple hierarchic University of
ancient Egypt.1
1 Consult Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, Mission des Juifs.
344 THE TAROT.
The Tarot appeared to us as the Egyptian translation of
the book of initiation, starting as the now missing key
to Freemasonry and the whole occult science.
How could we decipher this series of hieroglyphics ?
How discover the mysterious grouping of these plates,
now become the accessory of gamblers ?
Wronski teaches us that the faculty to conceive implies
the faculty to execute. Strong in this truth, we have
questioned antiquity. Its Sphinxes, dumb to the profane,
have spoken, its old temples have unveiled their mysteries,
its Initiates have re-awakened in answer to our call : four
mysterious letters have been revealed to us —
Yod He Vau He
The sacred word, which shines above every initiation, the
object of the veneration and respect of all the sages.
The study of the Tarot has shown us that it only
expresses the combinations of IEVE. However, since we
must in these questions guard ourselves above all things
from leaving too much scope to the imagination, we have
chosen as the starting-point for our studies a fixed
principle, as basis to these immutable combinations, the
sole guarantee against all possible error : the number.
We then approached the symbol, and there we again
encountered new difficulties. The history of the Tarot
has shown us that its figures have often changed in pass-
ing through the hands of various peoples, and through
different epochs, although its meaning has been preserved
in all times and in all places.
It was therefore necessary to find for the symbols a
principle as fixed and immutable in its combinations as
the number. The study of the origin of the letters used
CONCLUSION. 345
to inscribe human languages led us back to the determin-
ation of the sixteen primitive hieroglyphic signs, the
source of the first alphabets. The 22 Hebrew letters
immediately derived from these signs furnished us with
this indispensable basis to all serious researches, as
definitely fixed for the symbol, as the numbers were for
the whole Tarot. We thus had a sure guide, which
rendered error still more unlikely.
Thanks to the application of these principles, exact,
although very general, information was furnished to us
upon Theogony, Androgony, and Cosmogony, and we could
at last recapitulate the symbolism of the Tarot in a very
interesting tableau.
We then wished to show that the Tarot was really the
general key which we had pronounced it to be. A few
applications proved the fact. Astronomy is unquestion-
ably the most important amongst them through its fixed
principles. Therefore, when we wish to discover how an
evolution can advance, and we wander in the labyrinth
of inexactitude, Astronomy shows us how the evolution
of the sun progresses, and that knowledge gives us the
key to every possible evolution.
The gigantic labours of Dupuis were fruitless, because
he did not understand that the solar Myth was only a
representation of the general law of evolution, and not
that of the especial evolution of the sun. The method
of occult science is neither induction nor deduction, but
analogy, an unknown method at the present date which
the Tarot reveals to us in all its splendour.
Afterwards we have made other applications of it, and
could have made still more ; shown the key of Philosophy,
of the Holy Kabbalah, of Theosophy, of the Physiology
of Man and of the Universe in the Tarot ; but we have
346 THE TAROT.
restricted ourselves to giving the key, and to showing the
way to use it by some examples.
We were unwilling to exceed the strict limits of our
engagement.
Such as it is, our work still contains some imperfections
which we would willingly efface. We are under no
illusions on this point, and time alone can remedy it.
But we would draw attention to the aim which is visible
throughout its pages ; the application of the most exact
methods possible to occult science.
Through the modern exact sciences we have reached
the study of occultism, and starting ourselves from
materialism, of which we were one of the most ardent
disciples, we felt the necessity of advancing further. But
we had retained one trace of our early affections, the
taste for method, and it is the absence of this method
which spoils occult science. Louis Lucas had clearly
seen that physics must advance by the side of meta-
physics to serve as its basis : in the same way we have
endeavoured to place fixed principles, such as numbers
and the Hebrew letters, side by side with the metaphysical
data, like the symbols or abstract conceptions.
Occultists as a rule are lost through this lack of pre-
cision. We have made every effort to avoid this stumbling-
block, without however asserting that we have succeeded.
An author is not qualified to judge his own work.
Be this as it may, we have been frequently obliged to
speak of occult science without the leisure to enter into
these explanatory details — this is the reason we addressed
our book
To Initiates.
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CONCLUSION. 347
An Initiate is one who possesses the elements of
occultism, and who is therefore familiar with a whole
vocabulary, which may well alarm a man of the world ;
this is our excuse for words which may sound pretentious
to some minds, and this is why we were anxious to express
our ideas quite clearly.
Still, since it is customary for the Tarot to be used for
fortune-telling, we have touched upon this subject, and
rendered it as attractive as possible. We have tried
to simplify the systems used, so that a woman of even
little intelligence can easily and with little exercise of
memory amuse herself with this art.
But since our own system may not please all the
partisans of Cartomancy, we have summed up the process
of the great master Mteila, so that, even in this purely
empiric region, we have tried to introduce as much
scientific exactitude as possible.
We hope that this recapitulation of the efforts of
several years may prove useful to occultism, and to its
revival, which becomes daily more pronounced. This is
the aim which we have kept in. view. May the social
disorders which are preparing give rise to an era of peace
and harmony amongst the now divided nations, and may
the knowledge of these mysteries overthrow European
Ceesarism in all its forms ! This should be your aim,
Kabbalists, Theosophists, Martinists, Rosicrucians, and
Freemasons ! On this point believe the humble disciple
of your doctrines, who will be only too happy if his work
has retained one feeble ray of the Eternal and Holy
Truth.
!
!
INDEX.
Adam, 111, 294
Addition, theosophic, 27
Air, 189
Alchemists, 5
Aleph, 105
Alphabet, Hebrew, 93 — 5
Amen, 203
Androgony, 210
Animal. 187
Arabs, 5
Arcana, major, 51—60, 61—67, 316
Arcana, minor, 35—50, 61—67, 307
Astronomical Tarot, 233
Atlantides, 8
Attraction, universal, 131
Authority, 125, 126
Authors who have spoken of the
Tarot, 297
Axe, hieroglyphic, 181
Balance, sign of the Zodiac, 152
Barlet, C. , 253
Beauty, 131
Beth, 112
Bible, Christian, 7
— Freemason, 7
— Greek, 7
— Hindu, 7
— Jewish, 7
■ — Roman, 7
Binah, 118, 205
Blood, 228
Body, 180
Body, material, 176, 177
Bologna, Tarot of, 85
Brahma, 75, 146, 195, 204
Cards, fortune-telling by, 305
Chaos, 176
Chariot, the, 135
Charity, 131, 153
China, 103
Chinese Tarot, 87
Chocmah, 114, 205
Clubs, 36
Colours, 44
Conclusion, 343
Cosmogony, 216
Courage, 150
Creator, 74, 109
Creeds, 6
Cross, symbol of the, 34, 44
■ — episcopal, 44
Cups, 36, 44, 312
Daleth, 119
Day, 231
Death, 158, 159
Decan, 236
Destiny, 101
Devil, 164, 165
Diamonds, 36
Divine world, 41
Divining Tarot, 301
Earth, 189
Elements, the, 180, 181
Element, Being, 101, 102
— Neuter, 101, 102
— Wisdom, 101, 102
Emperor, 120
Empress, 116
En Soph, 205
Epagomene, 235
Esoterism, 26
Etteila, 88, 291, 327
Eve, 114, 240
Existence, elementary, 140, 141
Experience, 153, 154
Eye, 127, 131
Faith, 126
Fall, the, 169, 170
Fatality, 166, 167
Father, 75, 136, 137
Figuration of the sacred word, 23
Figures, 37—41
Fire, 189
Fo-hi, trigram of, 103
Foolish man, the, 185, 186
Force, 153, 154, 160
Forces, the physical, 227
350
INDEX.
Fortune, wheel of, 145
Four, 32, 37
Freemasons, 5
Friday, 118
Game, royal, of human life, 335
Games, unity of, 338
Generation, 116
German Tarot, 89
Gimel, 115
Gnostics, 5
God, 102, 109, 111
Guaita (Stanislas de), the kabbalistic
Tarot, 299
Gypsies, 8, 239
Hanged man, 151
He, 21, 38, 66, 123
He, second, 22, 24 note, 38
Hearts, 36
Hermit, 142
Hesiod, 104
Hieroglyphics, 91
Hindu Tarots, 86
Hiram, legend of, 7, 10
— - heart of, 11
— tomb of, 10
Holy Spirit, 75, 117, 118
Hope, 173
Horns, 75, 117, 195
Host, 44
Human world, 41, 48, 118
Immortality, 173
Initiates, 4, 6, 124
Initiative Tarot, 253
Innervation, 186, 187
Inri, 10, 11
Instinct, 186, 187
Intellectuality, 41
Intelligence, 125, 126
Inventors. 107
Isis, 75, 113, 114, 195
Jakin, 106
January, 176
Judgment, 184
Juggler, 106
Juno, 195
Jupiter, 120, 121, 195
Justice, 138—141
Kabbalah, 17, 32, 144
Kadosh, 10
Kaph, 148
Karma of the Hindus, 147
Kether, 111, 205
King, 37
Kingdoms (animal, vegetable,
mineral), 192
Knave, 37
Knight, 37
Kosmos, 118
Lamed, 151
Liberty, 150
Life, 123—126, 150, 163, 180, 231
Light, astral, 136, 137
Lightning-struck tower, 168
Lingam, 124
Love, 130, 131
Lovers, 128
Macrocosm, 108
Man, 102, 103, 105, 111, 113, 155
Mantegna pack, 84
Materialism (approaching end), 3
Material world, 43, 48
Matter, 215, 227
Mem, 158
Mercury, 171
Microcosm, 105, 108
Mineral kingdom, 180, 181
Monday, 114
Months, 233, 235
Moon, 114, 175
Moses, 7, 8
Mother, 140, 141
Motion, innate, 184
Motion, of relative duration, 186,
187
Mysteries, 4
Nahash, 166, 167
Natura naturans, 111, 206
Natura naturata, 114, 207
Nature balanced, 117
Nizah, 141
Numbers, 26
— law of the evolution of, 29
— - signification of, 30
— affinities of, 33
Numbers (of the minor arcana), 38
Nun, 161
Nutrition, 180, 181
INDEX.
351
Occult science, 4
Operations upon numbers, 18, 20
Osiris, 75, 114, 116, 195, 203
Parabrahm, 204
Pe, 171
Pechad, 126;
Pentacles, 36, 47—49, 52, 251, 314
People, the, 8, 107
Planets, 238
Pope, 125
Power, 122
Power, magic, 147
Priestess, High, 112
Prism, 226
Providence, 101
Prudence, 144
Ptah, 203
Pythagoras, tetractys of, 33
Queen, 37
Ra, 203
Reduction, theosophic, 27
Religion, 126
Reproduction, 41, 192
Resh, 182
Respiration, 183, 184
Roof, 176
Rosicrucians, 5, 10, 298
Rota, 9
Samedi, 164
Saturn, 184
Savants, 107
Sceptres, 36, 311
Sepher Bereschit, 7
Septenaries, 54 — 58, 61 — 65, 75,
99, 132, 133
Shin, 185
Signs, primitive, 91
Siva, 75, 146, 195, 203
Societies, secret, 4
Son, 75
Soul of the Universe, 122
Spades, 36
Speech, 112, 171
Star, seventeenth card, 171
Stars of Solomon, 162
Sun, 179
Swords, 36, 44, 107, 313
Symbols, 11
Synthesis, 3
Table of the twelve hours of the
Initiation, by Barlet, 273
Table indicating the meaning of
the twenty-two major arcana, 76,
220, 221
Tarot of Florence, 85
Tau, 188
Temperance, 162, 163
Templars, 5
Ten, 38
Ternaries, 53
Teth, 142
Tetractys of Pythagoras, 33
Theogony, 194
Theosophite Society, 5
Thoth, book of,V9, 292
Three, 30, 38
Throat,
Thummim, 136
Thursday, 122
Tipheroth, 131
Transformer, 72
Tuesday, 150
Two, 30, 38
Tzaddi, 174
Universe, 102, 111, 177
Urim, 136
Vau, 21, 66, 127
Vegetable kingdom, 184
Venetian Tarot, 85
Venus Urania, 116, 175
Virgin, 146
Vishnu, 75, 146, 195, 204
Vital force, 41
Vulcan, 195
Watillaux, 89
Wednesday, 173
Will, 102
Wirth, 89, 90, 242—251, 299
Womb, 119, 188
Word, 32
World, visible, 103, 169, 170
Worlds, 43, 48
Zain, 135, 168
ALPHABETIC TABLE
OF THE
AUTHORS AND PEINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED.
Agrippa. — La Philosophic Occulte, La Haye, 1727. 2 vols. 8vo.
(Bib. Nat., Z. 1983, A.2)
Apocalypse ... ... ... ... ... ... 7
Amaravella. — A theosophic writer known by his fine works in Le
Lotus, and in the Revue Tlxéosophiquc.
Apollonius of Tyana.— A great initiate and thaumaturge, con-
temporary with Christ ... ... ... ... ... 265, sqq.
Arnould (Arthur). — President of the Theosophite Society Hermes,
the French branch of the Theosophite Society of Adyar (Madras).
Abbema (Louise).
Adam (Mme. Juliette).
Adhémar, D' (Countess Gaston).
Barrois. — Dactylologie oit Langage Primitif, Paris, 1850, 4to.
(Bib. Nat., X. 4,679.)
— Eléments Carlovingiens, Paris, 1854, 4to. (Bib. Nat., Z.)
Blavatsky (EL P.)— Isis Unveiled, New York, 1884 300
Boiteau. — Les Cartes à jouer et la Cartomancie, Paris, 1854, 4to.
Boehme (Jacob). — Les Trois Principes, translated by Claude de
Saint-Martin.
Bertrand (le F . • .). — Venerable de la L . * . La Renaissance, a con-
ference in defence of occult symbolism in the F . * . M . * .
Barlet (Ch.). — Editor of the Lnitiation. The author of the most
learned works that France possesses upon Occult Science 15, 299
Court de Gébélin. — Le Monde Primitif, 9 vols., 4to., 1773 — 1783.
Caillié (René). — Dieu et la Création, Paris (Carré), 3 vols., 8vo.,
1886.
Chatto. — Facts and Speculations upon the Origin and History of
Playing Cards in Europe, London, 1848, 8vo.
Dée (Jean). — Monas Hieroglyphica (in Thcatrum Chcmimum), 1560.
Ely Star (2>s Mystères de I Horoscope, 18mo., Dentu, 1884 ... 300
Etteila. — Works by.
Franck (A.) — La Kabbalah, Paris, Hachette, 1889, 8vo.
Fabre d'Olivet. — Les Vers dorés de Pythagore, Paris, 8vo., 1816 ;
La Langue Hébraïque restituée, 1825, 4to., Paris. (Fundamental
works of one of the greatest contemporary masters of occult
science. )
Guaita (Stanilas de). — Au seuil du Mystère, Paris, 1886, 8vo., 2nd
enlarged edition, 1889 294
354 AUTHORS AND PRINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED.
PAGE
Gary (See Polti).
Goyard (Dr.). — Former President of the Vegetarian Society, author
of several works upon occultism.
Goudeau (Emile).
Hartmann. — Works by.
Hermes Trismegistus ... ... ... ... 9
Holmes (Augusta).
Homer. — The Odyssey ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7
Hesiod. — Op. et Dies ... ... ... ... ... 104
Kircher (the R. F. Jesuit). — Œdipus ^Egyptiacus, 3 vols., fol.,
Rome, 1622.
Kabbala Denud ata.— Frankfort, 1764. 2 vols., 4to., (Bib. Nat.,
A. 969).
Koran, the.
Levi (Eliphas, pseudonym of the Abbé Constant). — Dogme et Rituel
de la Haute Magie, Paris, 2 vols., 8vo. ; Histoire de la Magie,
8vo., Paris ; La Clef des grands Mystères, 8vo., Paris (Funda-
mental works) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 299
Lena in. — La Science Kabbalistique, Amiens, 1823, 8vo. (A good
summary. )
Lacuria (P. F. G. ). — Harmonies de l'Être exprimées par les nombres,
Paris, 1847, 8vo. , 2 vols. (Fundamental work.)
Lejay (Julien). — Editor of the Initiation. Has made an application
of occult synthesis to Sociology.
Lacour. — Les Œloïm ou dieux de Moise, Paris, 1825, 8vo., 2 vols.
Louis Lucas. — La Chimie Nouvelle, 1854, 8vo. ; La Médecine
Nouvelle, 1863, 2 vols., 8vo. ; Le Roman Alchimique, 1853, 8vo.
(Fundamental works) ... ... ... ... . . ... 226
Monti ère (George). — Chief Editor of the Revue V Initiation.
Moses. — Le Sepher Bereschit (Genesis).
Merlin. — Origine des cartes a jouer, recherches nouvelles sur les
na'ibis, les tarots et sur les autres espèces de cartes, Paris, 4to.,
1869.
Manoel de Grandfort.
Morsier (Emilie de).
Nus (Eugène) — Philosopher, the author of several works upon
Spiritualism. Les Grands Mystères, Paris, librarie des Sciences,
psychologiques, 8vo.
Olcott (Colonel). — President of the Theosophite Society of Adyar,
which now includes more than 175 branches in different parts
of the world.
Papus. — Traité Elémentaire de Science Occulte, Paris, 1887, 18mo.
(4th edit.).
Paracelsus. — Works by.
Postel (Guillaume). — La Clef des Choses Cachées (Latin), 12mo. ... 297
Polti and Gary. — La Tltéorie des Tempéraments, 1889, 18mo.
(Carré, publisher.)
Péladan (Joséphin).— La décadence Latine, Ethopœia, in 7 vols.
(Edinger, Paris) ' 299
Poirel, E. — Occultist, editor of the Tarot de ÎVirth, and of several
other reproductions deduced from occult science ... ... 300
Rabelais (epigraph) ... 3
AUTHORS AND PRINCIPAL WORKS QUOTED. 355
PAGE
Ragon. — Orthodoxie Maçonnique, followed by Maçonnerie Occulte
and the Initiation Hermitique.
— Maçonnerie Occulte, with a Treatise on the Planets, 8vo.
— La Messe et ses Mystères, 18mo., Paris, 1863.
Roca (Abbé). — Le Monde Nouveau, 1889, 8vo., Paris.
Rouxel. — The author of important works upon Magnetism, published
in the Initiation.
Saint Martin (Louis Claude de). — Tableau naturel des Rapports
qui existent entre Dieu, V Homme et V Univers, 2 vols., 8vo. ,
Edinburgh, 1782 298
Sepher Yetzirah, the (translation by Papus), Paris, 1888, 8vo.
(Carré).
Schopenhauer. — First principles.
Schuré. — Editor of the Revue des Deux Mondes. Has just published
a fine study upon esoterism, Les grands Initiés (Perrin, editor).
Simon.- — La Cité Chinoise, 18mo., 1884.
Sivry (Ch.de) 300
Sinnet. — Esoteric Buddhism, 1884, 18mo.
Trithemus (1462 — 1516). — A remarkably learned man, the master
of Cornelius Agrippa.
Vaillant (J. A.) — Les Rames, histoire vraie da vrais Bohémiens,
Paris, 1850, 8vo 298
Viegil.— The JEneid 7
Vedas, the.
Van Helmont (Mercure). — Principia Philosophiœ antiquissimœ et
recentissimœ, Amsterdam, 1690. Mercury Van Helmont is
reputed to have initiated Leibnitz.
"Weber (Louis Zenon). — Author of important philosophical works
published in the Initiation ... ... ... ... ... ... 178
"Wirth (Oswald). — The Astronomical Tarot (in the course of work).
See Index.
"Wronski (Hoené).— Le Messianism ou Réforme Absolue du Savoir
Humain, Paris, 1825, 3 vols., small folio. See the complementary
list of his numerous works in Occultism Contemporain by Papus.
Wolska (A. de).
Yves d'Alveydre (Saint).— La Mission des Juifs, Paris, 1884, large
8vo. of more than 1000 pp. Alcan Levy, publisher. (Funda-
mental work. )
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
London & Bung a v.
PAPUS
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