Rose Lalonde
I know the 'pips as trumps' method is more central to how Marie White structures her tarot, but since she specifically states where some majors sit on the Qabalistic Tree of Life in her book and blog, I was trying to understand what her system was. If I've missed somewhere she wrote more about the Tree of Life, I'd be happy to know, but this is what I've come up with so far, along with questions...
I'm comparing her approach to that of the Golden Dawn, Thoth, and RWS, which placed the minors at the 10 sephiroth of the Tree, and the majors on the 22 paths between them.(Example)
In the Mary-el, the Majors I - X and courts are placed on the 10 sephiroth.
Pillar: Severity ------------- Pillar: Mildness ---------- Pillar: Mercy
--------------------------------1 Kether ------------------------------
---------------------- Magician & Pages & Wands* -----------------
--3 Binah -------------------------------------------- 2 Chokmah--
Empress & Queens & Cups* ---- H. Priestess & Knights & Swords*
------------------------------ [Abyss] --------------------------------
--5 Geburah ---------------------------------------- 4 Chesed -------
Hierophant ------------------------------- Emperor & Kings & Disks*
----------------------------- 6 Tiphareth ------------------------------
----------------------------- The Lovers ------------------------------
--8 Hod ----------------------------------------------7 Netzach------
Justice ------------------------------------------------ Chariot ------
--------------------------------- 9 Yesod ---------------------------------
--------------------------------- Hermit -------------------------------
------------------------------ 10 Malkuth ------------------------------
-------------------------- Wheel of Fortune ---------------------------
* Taken from the book's chart of correspondences (p 145)
She says the Fool is representative of the entire Tree.
MAJORS:
Some questions have come up while I was looking at the majors as they related to the Tree of Life:
In her entry about Strength, she says 11 equates to 1 and the start of the cycle again, but with more knowledge of oneself. But I haven't seen majors beyond X specifically associated with the sephiroth, so I'm guessing only I - X are?
About Justice, she says "[VIII] Justice and [VII] Chariot are Netzach [7] and Hod [8]," (numbers added by me) but I assume she just means "the Chariot and Justice are Netzach and Hod".
She refers to the "dark and remote" H. Priestess and the nurturing Empress as sitting atop their pillars of Mercy and Severity. Is she referring to the merciful/unconstrained aspects of the Priestess, which is on the pillar of mercy, and the severe/organizing aspects of the Empress which she has at Binah on the pillar of severity?
MINORS:
I haven't seen an instance where she equates a specific minor with a sephira, except possibly the 9s. For the 9 of Wands, she says it goes to the right pillar, though Wands as a suit are attributed to the center pillar. IX the Hermit is on the middle pillar, so I'm not sure why it would be the right pillar for the 9 of Wands? She also says in that same entry (for the 9 of Swords) that the 9 of Disks is at Malkuth.
Does she mean for there to be a Qabalistic system to the minors? Or am I trying to find a Qabalistic system when I'm meant to stick to pips as trumps?
-
Phew. Typos probably abound, but I'm stopping here. Thanks for any thoughts if you waded through all that.
I'm comparing her approach to that of the Golden Dawn, Thoth, and RWS, which placed the minors at the 10 sephiroth of the Tree, and the majors on the 22 paths between them.(Example)
In the Mary-el, the Majors I - X and courts are placed on the 10 sephiroth.
Pillar: Severity ------------- Pillar: Mildness ---------- Pillar: Mercy
--------------------------------1 Kether ------------------------------
---------------------- Magician & Pages & Wands* -----------------
--3 Binah -------------------------------------------- 2 Chokmah--
Empress & Queens & Cups* ---- H. Priestess & Knights & Swords*
------------------------------ [Abyss] --------------------------------
--5 Geburah ---------------------------------------- 4 Chesed -------
Hierophant ------------------------------- Emperor & Kings & Disks*
----------------------------- 6 Tiphareth ------------------------------
----------------------------- The Lovers ------------------------------
--8 Hod ----------------------------------------------7 Netzach------
Justice ------------------------------------------------ Chariot ------
--------------------------------- 9 Yesod ---------------------------------
--------------------------------- Hermit -------------------------------
------------------------------ 10 Malkuth ------------------------------
-------------------------- Wheel of Fortune ---------------------------
* Taken from the book's chart of correspondences (p 145)
She says the Fool is representative of the entire Tree.
MAJORS:
Some questions have come up while I was looking at the majors as they related to the Tree of Life:
In her entry about Strength, she says 11 equates to 1 and the start of the cycle again, but with more knowledge of oneself. But I haven't seen majors beyond X specifically associated with the sephiroth, so I'm guessing only I - X are?
About Justice, she says "[VIII] Justice and [VII] Chariot are Netzach [7] and Hod [8]," (numbers added by me) but I assume she just means "the Chariot and Justice are Netzach and Hod".
She refers to the "dark and remote" H. Priestess and the nurturing Empress as sitting atop their pillars of Mercy and Severity. Is she referring to the merciful/unconstrained aspects of the Priestess, which is on the pillar of mercy, and the severe/organizing aspects of the Empress which she has at Binah on the pillar of severity?
MINORS:
I haven't seen an instance where she equates a specific minor with a sephira, except possibly the 9s. For the 9 of Wands, she says it goes to the right pillar, though Wands as a suit are attributed to the center pillar. IX the Hermit is on the middle pillar, so I'm not sure why it would be the right pillar for the 9 of Wands? She also says in that same entry (for the 9 of Swords) that the 9 of Disks is at Malkuth.
Does she mean for there to be a Qabalistic system to the minors? Or am I trying to find a Qabalistic system when I'm meant to stick to pips as trumps?
-
Phew. Typos probably abound, but I'm stopping here. Thanks for any thoughts if you waded through all that.