Phoenician letter correspondences & Astrological considerations

Stephen Franklin's book

I've just come to this thread, but a search doesn't show any reference so far to a book published in 1988, so I thought I'd mention it, because its all about the Phoenician letters and Franklin's correspondences between them and the tarot and the lunar mansions - he includes reference to the planets.

I must say I hadn't heard of his book until someone asked if I based my own work on his (this in 2002, long after mine was finished)

In fact there is next-to-nothing about his ideas that I can agree with, except that Pennick's "Games of the Gods" and Kelley's book on the Phoenician alphabet is relevant.

Anyway:

Franklin, Stephen E., Origins of the Tarot Deck: a study of the astronomical substructure of game and divining boards, Jefferson: McFarland, 1988.

On the issue of alphabets... the Byblos syllabry is also worth considering.

And Kwaw has mentioned elsewhere the relevance of the Shay Lamora, the so-called Judeo-Arabic dialect used in North Africa.

DianeOD said:

In fact there is next-to-nothing about his ideas that I can agree with, except that Pennick's "Games of the Gods" and Kelley's book on the Phoenician alphabet is relevant.

Click to expand...

I would love to know the name of "Kelly's book on the Phoenician alphabet" (I have a hard time finding anything out there on alphabets).

venicebard said:

I would love to know the name of "Kelly's book on the Phoenician alphabet"

Click to expand...

The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs by Hugh A. Moran, David H. Kelley? (2nd edition)

Thanks kwaw

yes. Wish I weren't such a lousy typist - thaks - I mean thanks.

you'll see its in two parts. The first I think has more to offer, but the whole is flawed by its attempts to connect the near-eastern and Indian systems of lunar mansions with the Chinese ones.

Jospeh Needham is of the opinion - and who would then dare dispute - that the Chinese developed their lunar mansions system for themselves, quite deliberately, and went about it scientifically.

On the other hand the *idea* of a lunar mansions system seems perhaps to have come earlier to them, and from elsewhere. Needham refers to this necessarily delicate issue obliquely, and by means of occasional comments scattered throughout Science and Civ.

For example, in one place he says that he believes Harran to have been the centre of east-west exchange "for some time" before the rise of Islam.

In another he meticulously reports the circumstances around our record of a book - don't want to misquote, or stop and hunt now so this is approximate. "A geographical astrology of the 28 lunar mansions. A sea-people's Almanac" - something like that.

The Cairo geniza material, and an object described by - oh, who was it - one of the early Egyptologists.. did lots of work on tools and things.. name's gone for the second. Anyway, he describes an almanac-calendar from Egypt, and of course we also have the Babylonian sort.

It was the mention by Tawaddud in the Nights of the 'Almanc-makers signs and tokens' which recalled Needhams's earlier reference, as well as the Phoenician-letters one, and thus suggested a possible basis - in the older lunar calendar-Almanac systems - for a common origin underlying the Chinese, persian and western card-sets and so forth.. Closer investigation added weight to that possibility, but Ithat's as strongly as I'd put it.

On the Phoenician letters - as possibly based on the lunar mansion figures - well, its surely possible. They are definitely a critical series, essential to the old ways of travel, calendars and so forth. But don't agree, as you see, with the efforts to extend that argument to include the Chinese asterisms, even though it might apply to the names given them by the Chinese.

Please tell me if I have been too concise, or if you would like Bibliog. refs.

Judge for Yourself

DianeOD said:

I've just come to this thread, but a search doesn't show any reference so far to a book published in 1988, so I thought I'd mention it, because its all about the Phoenician letters and Franklin's correspondences between them and the tarot and the lunar mansions - he includes reference to the planets.

I must say I hadn't heard of his book until someone asked if I based my own work on his (this in 2002, long after mine was finished)

In fact there is next-to-nothing about his ideas that I can agree with, except that Pennick's "Games of the Gods" and Kelley's book on the Phoenician alphabet is relevant.

Anyway:

Franklin, Stephen E., Origins of the Tarot Deck: a study of the astronomical substructure of game and divining boards, Jefferson: McFarland, 1988.

On the issue of alphabets... the Byblos syllabry is also worth considering.

And Kwaw has mentioned elsewhere the relevance of the Shay Lamora, the so-called Judeo-Arabic dialect used in North Africa.

Click to expand...

You can judge for yourself whether you agree with any of my ideas here: http://neros.lordbalto.com/AppendixC.htm

I must say that after spending three years researching and writing this book, all the while having to cut through the mystical nonsense that has encrusted it in the last few centuries, I find this kind of offhand dismissal to be a bit disingenuous.

The Alphabet and the Tarot

kwaw said:

The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs by Hugh A. Moran, David H. Kelley? (2nd edition)

Click to expand...

In regard to "The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs", the first edition was written by Hugh A. Moran and the theories of David H. Kelly were appended in the second edition.
I personally studied decipherment with Dr. Moran with the intention of learning how the alphabet and the tarot were related. Since that time in the mid-1970s there have been discoveries in Egypt that show that the Proto-Sinaitic, also known as Proto-Canaanite, was the first consonantal alphabet. One of the best books on the subject is "The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts" by Gordon J. Hamilton.

Here is my correspondence between the Tarot Major Arcana and the Hebrew alphabet:

The Tarot and Hebrew Alphabet
# =Tarot Card =Hebrew =Hebrew Letter Meaning
1 Magician =Aleph =Ox, A Bull, Cattle, Bull’s Head
2 Priestess =Beth =House, Temple, Daughter, Woman
3 Empress =Gimel =Camel, Throw Stick
4 Emperor =Daleth =Door, (Dal=bucket, Draw Water)
5 Hierophant =He =Lo!, The, Window
6 Lovers =Vaw =Peg, Hook, Pin, and, therefore
7 Chariot =Zayin =Weapon, Olive, to Move, Rise
8 Strength =Heth =H', Fence, (To Destroy)
9 Hermit =Teth ='t', Serpent, Cross In Circle
10 Wheel =Yod =Hand, Strength, Power, a Sign
11 Justice =Kaf =Palm Of Hand, (A Measure, Double)
12 Hanged Man =Lamed =Goad, Ox-goad, (To Learn)
13 Death =Mem =Water
14 Temperance =Nun =Fish
15 Devil =Samech =Prop, Fish
16 Tower =Ayin =Eye, Well, Spring Of Water
17 Star =Peh =Mouth
18 Sun =Tzade =Fish-hook
19 Moon =Kof =Back of Head, Monkey, Circuit
20 Judgement =Resh =Head, Face, First, Chief
21 World =Shin =Tooth, Teeth
22 Fool =Tav =Wild Ox, Mark, To, End

There are spelling variations of the Hebrew alphabet and additional meanings attributed to the meanings of the Hebrew letters. The theory is that the Hebrew letters are derived from the Phoenician with an earlier version being the Proto-Sinaitic, also known as Proto-Canaanite. The connection to the Egyptian is interesting, but even that connection suggests that there was a pre-existing alphabet or system that the Proto-Canaanite was based on, and it is possible that the early runes were connected somehow.

My research found that the early Proto-Canaanite letters were based on existing Egyptian forms and hieroglyph meanings, but were also based on a calendar system that used constellations. What is interesting is that the Chinese calendar is involved and the Mayan Day Names are also based on the same constellations that the Tarot Major Arcana is based upon. In essence, the tarot Major Arcana is a direct descendant of ancient calendar systems used around the world.

The Major Arcana Constellations:
# =Major Arcana =Constellations Pictured
1 Magician =Lyra
2 Priestess =Ursa Minor
3 Empress =Cassiopeia
4 Emperor =Cepheus
5 Hierophant =Bootes (Ursa Major *)
6 Lovers =Perseus and Andromeda
7 Chariot =Auriga
8 Strength =Hercules
9 Hermit =Ophiuchius
10 Wheel =Polar Constellations
11 Justice =Libra
12 Hanged Man =Cygnus
13 Death =Sagittarius
14 Temperance =Draco
15 Devil =Capricorn
16 Tower =Corona Borealis
17 Star =Canis Major
18 Sun =Leo
19 Moon =Cancer
20 Judgement =Delphinus
21 World =Virgo
22 Fool =Bootes

* Due to a spelling error by Saint Jerome, Bootes was substituted for Ursa Major.
-Lance C.

Wow! I received notification and nearly fell off my computer chair.
Thank you Lance for this.
I only got as far as card 8 in my Hebrew/Phoenician alphabet deck. It is around here somehere in the archives. I have always got stuck on Peh for the Star.
As to the constellations I only have one question. Why Delphinus for Judgement?
Thanks again. Interesting that there may have been a connection with early Runes. Venicebard has been trying to explain this for yonks. I am off to eat my hat.
~Rosanne

Rosanne said:

Wow! I received notification and nearly fell off my computer chair.
Thank you Lance for this.
I only got as far as card 8 in my Hebrew/Phoenician alphabet deck. It is around here somehere in the archives. I have always got stuck on Peh for the Star.
As to the constellations I only have one question. Why Delphinus for Judgement?
Thanks again. Interesting that there may have been a connection with early Runes. Venicebard has been trying to explain this for yonks. I am off to eat my hat.
~Rosanne

Click to expand...

Hi Rosanne,
The constellational correspondences to the ancient alphabets are older than the tarot, but one could conclude that the tarot continues a long tradition. Dr. Hugh Moran found that the Chinese lunar signs had a name correspondence to the Hebrew alphabet:

Hebrew to Chinese Lunar Signs
# =Hebrew =Lunar Chinese Lunar Sign = Lunar Sign Meaning
1 =Aleph =Niu =Ox
2 =Beth =Lu =Woman, Female, House, Place
3 =Gimel =Hsu =Empty
4 =Daleth =Wei =Perilous
5 =He =Chih =Stop, House, Next
6 =Vaw =Pi =Wall, Prince, Princess
7 =Zayin =K'uei =Jade Scepter
8 =Heth =Lou =Woman Confined, Trail Along
9 =Teth =Wei =Abdomen, Rice In Stomach
10 =Yod =Mao =Strength, Power, Delegate Power
11 =Kaf =Pi =Finished, Ended
12 =Lamed =Tsui =Walk, Sky
13 =Mem =San =Private, Firmament, Man, Free
14 =Nun =Ching =A Well, Virginity
15 =Samech =Kuei =A Ghost, A Devil
16 =Ayin =Liu =A Willow Tree
17 =Peh =Hsing =Star, Constellation
18 =Tzade =Chang =To Shoot An Arrow
19 =Kof =I =The Wings Of A Bird
20 =Resh =Chen =A Carriage, A Cart
21 =Shin =Chiao =A Horn, Crescent
22 =Tav =Yuan =Head, Source, Original

Notice how according to Dr. Moran #17 Peh in Hebrew corresponds to Hsing in the Chinese lunar calendar, which means star and constellation.
Other correspondences between the tarot and the Chinese lunar calendar include:
High Priestess= Hebrew Beth= Chinese lunar sign Lu, which means Woman, Female, House, Place.
Another correspondence is the Lovers card, which represent Perseus and Andromeda and correspond to the Hebrew letter Vaw, and corresponds to the Chinese lunar sign Pi, which means Wall, Prince, Prince. There are other correspondences, but they require more explanation.

In regard to Delphinus as the Judgement card, it is necessary to look at the history of Delphinus in the Christian tradition for: "A popular name for this constellation (Delphinus) is Job's Coffin, and in Christianity a dolphin is symbolic of resurrection and salvation, indeed it is an aspect of Christ the Savior" - p 167 "Outer Space: Myths Name Meanings Calendars From the Emergence of History to the Present Day" by Gertrude and James Jobes.

The tarot links ancient world myths, calendars, and alphabets together.
-Lance C.

Cartomancer said:

Since that time in the mid-1970s there have been discoveries in Egypt that show that the Proto-Sinaitic, also known as Proto-Canaanite, was the first consonantal alphabet. One of the best books on the subject is "The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts" by Gordon J. Hamilton.

Click to expand...

Thank you for this book recommendation, as everything I have seen on the supposed Proto-Sinaitic origin of the north Semitic alef-bet fails the smell test. (I start with the 19th-century theory of Egyptian hieratic origin posed by Taylor and others and refine the theory with considerations from the underlying bardic strata of which those 19th-century scholars were unaware: since the majority, however, are so close in both shape and sound, the Proto-Sinaitic theory would have to have improved 500% in the last decade or so to even be in the running.)

I must say I am extremely wary of statements like 'show that such-and-such was the first consonantal alphabet' when epigraphy amongst academics completely ignores the work of Barry Fell and the American Epigraphic Society, including all the evidence collected by him showing use of both ogam consaine and Tifinag in early bronze age Scandinavia (not to mention the inscription near Peterborough, Canada, by the trading prince Woden-Lithi, who left a colony to trade for copper mined on the north shores of Lake Superior). Indeed Tifinag has even been found in the context of pre-historic cave paintings (though admittedly it is uncertain if it was coeval). Besides: you seem to be completely ignoring the Egyptian hieroglyphic consonantal alphabet (which predates Proto-Sinaitic, north Semitic, and Nordic Tifinag).

Cartomancer said:

One of the best books on the subject is "The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian Scripts" by Gordon J. Hamilton.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot! Amazon has "2 Used from $3,999.00". I wonder that a theory that is supposed so viable as to preclude the necessity of even considering the more rational 19th-century approach should be so difficult to track down the justification for. (But, who knows, I may win the lottery soon and order it anyway.)

It's funny: Martin Bernal, in his book Cadmean Letters, seems to dismiss the Proto-Sinaitic origin as unworthy even of discussion, in spite of his being the grandson of Sir Alan Gardiner himself, the great Egyptologist who dreamed up the theory in the first place (whose Egyptian Grammar I have and consider the definitive source for hieroglyphics).