Rose
I’m glad Vincent posted what he did. I think it’s an important point in understanding this card. For the sake of clarification I’m going to try an give an extremely simplified version of how Qabalah pertains to this card.
Qabalah is essentially a model of creation-- a step-by-step process illuminating the Divine plan as it unfolds itself in our world. Cabalists believe that God/Divine Power created the material world through a series of ten emanations (sephiroth), each one flowing from the next. These sephiroth are usually depicted as spheres connected by twenty-two pathways (each one corresponding to a major arcana card) in a diagram called the Tree of Life. The energy of creation moves from Kether (pure divine energy), sephirah one, down the Tree to Malkuth (our material world), sephirah ten. Part of the idea behind the tarot is that while creation flows down the tree, we can travel back up the tree and reunite with the divine.
Qabalistic theory also depicts the universe as being separated into four different worlds—with each world coming into being from the world before it (in some models this is pictured as an extended tree). The highest of the four Qabalistic worlds is Atziluth which corresponds to fire and the suit of wands. The second highest of the four Qabalistic worlds is Briah which corresponds to water and the suit of cups. The second to the lowest Qabalistic world is Yetzirah, which corresponds to air and the suit of Swords. The lowest (and the last one formed) of the four Qabalistic worlds is Assiah, which corresponds to the element of earth and the suit of pentacles. Each of the four worlds contains the 10 sephiroth (a total of 40 sephiroth), each with its own unique quality determined by the element of the world it’s in. These 40 sephiroth correspond to the 40 numbered cards of the Minor Arcana.
So when you say that the ten of pentacles represents Malkuth in Assiah, you are essentially saying that in the journey on the physical plane you have reached the end of the line. You’re at the lowest sphere (number ten) of the lowest Qabalistic world (Assiah)—you’ve reached the most solid point of physical manifestation. There is no place on the tree to go—except back to the beginning. To reincarnate anew as the fool.
An interesting point is that on the RWS card (not on the recolored versions), the old man’s beard is yellow. I can easily imagine him as the RWS golden haired fool in old age.
This is definitely a card of material plenty, perhaps with a warning that we should not forget the importance of spiritual riches as well as material ones. For me it is also a card dealing with the legacies we leave behind—material as well as spiritual.
Rose
Qabalah is essentially a model of creation-- a step-by-step process illuminating the Divine plan as it unfolds itself in our world. Cabalists believe that God/Divine Power created the material world through a series of ten emanations (sephiroth), each one flowing from the next. These sephiroth are usually depicted as spheres connected by twenty-two pathways (each one corresponding to a major arcana card) in a diagram called the Tree of Life. The energy of creation moves from Kether (pure divine energy), sephirah one, down the Tree to Malkuth (our material world), sephirah ten. Part of the idea behind the tarot is that while creation flows down the tree, we can travel back up the tree and reunite with the divine.
Qabalistic theory also depicts the universe as being separated into four different worlds—with each world coming into being from the world before it (in some models this is pictured as an extended tree). The highest of the four Qabalistic worlds is Atziluth which corresponds to fire and the suit of wands. The second highest of the four Qabalistic worlds is Briah which corresponds to water and the suit of cups. The second to the lowest Qabalistic world is Yetzirah, which corresponds to air and the suit of Swords. The lowest (and the last one formed) of the four Qabalistic worlds is Assiah, which corresponds to the element of earth and the suit of pentacles. Each of the four worlds contains the 10 sephiroth (a total of 40 sephiroth), each with its own unique quality determined by the element of the world it’s in. These 40 sephiroth correspond to the 40 numbered cards of the Minor Arcana.
So when you say that the ten of pentacles represents Malkuth in Assiah, you are essentially saying that in the journey on the physical plane you have reached the end of the line. You’re at the lowest sphere (number ten) of the lowest Qabalistic world (Assiah)—you’ve reached the most solid point of physical manifestation. There is no place on the tree to go—except back to the beginning. To reincarnate anew as the fool.
An interesting point is that on the RWS card (not on the recolored versions), the old man’s beard is yellow. I can easily imagine him as the RWS golden haired fool in old age.
This is definitely a card of material plenty, perhaps with a warning that we should not forget the importance of spiritual riches as well as material ones. For me it is also a card dealing with the legacies we leave behind—material as well as spiritual.
Rose