Etteilla & Kabbalah

Richard

......Of course to someone that prefers the "most available" golden dawn tradition, of course Papus is like a "enemy of the state" . Im not concerned with Papus, Levi, Wirth , Sadhu being figures that need to be "strained like gnats", that is time consuming and counterproductive to me. Another quick reference to tarot would be Louis Claude de Saint Martin, but of course that is not palatable here.

C'est la vie
GTC, why do you insist on telling others what they think and what is or is not palatable to them?
 

kwaw

Mellet's Alef with trump XXI 'The World'

I have added Mellet's attributions (currently the oldest attritutions known between the hebrew alphabet and trumps) to my ascending/descending pips table - together with the truly oldest extent Sefer Yetzirah hebrew alphabet attributions.

See pdf attachment (corrections, amendments, suggestions welcomed) :

We may also note that the four fixed signs associated with the four holy animals of Ezekiel's chariot in the four corners of the World card =
Taurus / 2; Leo /5; Scorpio 8 and Aquarius / 11 = 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 = 26 = YHVH and also Alef (when considered as being formed of two yods and a vau).

Kwaw

note: reposted from thread here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=28422
 

Ruby Jewel

Papus

Papus' "Tarot of the Bohemians" starts with the Magician as Aleph. Paul Case differed with him and assigned Aleph to the Fool. Frankly, the Papus system works extremely well with numerology whereas the "Tree of Life" works with astrology. I'm presently trying to do a comparative analysis, but I still have a lot to learn about the "Tree". I really enjoy the Papus layout and don't see myself abandoning it for the "Tree of Life", at least at this time. I'm fairly adept at astrology, and know very little about numerology, but I can already see that the Papus system has a logic that is uncanny and "right on".
 

Richard

Papus' "Tarot of the Bohemians" starts with the Magician as Aleph. Paul Case differed with him and assigned Aleph to the Fool. Frankly, the Papus system works extremely well with numerology whereas the "Tree of Life" works with astrology. I'm presently trying to do a comparative analysis, but I still have a lot to learn about the "Tree". I really enjoy the Papus layout and don't see myself abandoning it for the "Tree of Life", at least at this time. I'm fairly adept at astrology, and know very little about numerology, but I can already see that the Papus system has a logic that is uncanny and "right on".
Some people are on a spiritual path which utilizes the Kircher Tree. The fact that it correlates well with the Tarot structure is useful, but Tarot, while it is an important adjunct, is not really the primary consideration. If one is mainly interested in Tarot as a divinatory tool rather than a specific spiritual path, then a different Tree model may be more congenial. If the primary motivation is Tarot divination, the one should utilize whatever model is most compatible with personal preference. From my perspective, Levi's Hebrew letter correlations are inconsequential, but we are talking about a pack of cards here. I can't really get worked up about what letter goes where, since different considerations abound among Tarot users. I do think that Levi was wrong, but I have little interest in convincing anyone that I'm right and they're wrong
.
 

Richard

I'm intrigued. What are the beliefs to which you allude?
Believing that tarot cards are sentient.
Believing that there are entities milling about called spirit guides, which are new age versions of angels (I suppose).
Believing that the future is predictable, but at the same time believing that people have free will, and believing that people's actions are not dictated by fate.
Believing that science is deluded, because it is constantly correcting and improving its theories.
Believing that if you don't believe in life after death, then it is because you are a scientist, and there are no funds allocated to research life after death.
Believing that the Rider-Waite deck has nothing to do with esotericism.
Believing that tarot had its origins in the Cathar movement.
Etc.
 

kwaw

And also, how creative the occultists might have been (and might still be able to be) if they recognized the traditional inversion of the ranking of the pips in Cups and Deniers.

The Russian school of Martinists may have tried to apply something along the line to an extent, though it isn't that much in accordance and differently to how I would do so. According to fellow member quadibloc's home page, in his course on the minors, Medes applies the cups and coins to the sefiroth in usual order, but the swords are applied in reverse, and the clubs is applied in both directions.

Mede's text on the minors has been published in Brazil in Portuguese: "Os Arcanos Menores do Tarô - Seu simbolismo, suas iniciações e seus passos para a realização espiritual", published by 'Editora Pensamento'.