The allocation of the Tarot Trumps Major to the Paths of the Tree of Life is obviously the next step, and attempts have been made in this direction by blundering symbolists, but they have forgotten that in the Mystical Tree the Sephiroth are also Paths, making thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, from which it follows that in the logic of things there ought to be thirty-two Trumps.
The Great Symbols of the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite
Published in The Occult Review January 1926
Waite wrote in the same article:
quote:
Now, there are twenty-two Trumps Major arranged more or
less in a sequence but subject to certain variations as the
packs differ respecting time and place of origin. There are
also twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and it
occurred to Eliphas Lיvi that it was desirable to effect a
marriage between the letters and the cards. It seems
impossible to make a combination of this kind, however
arbitrary, and not find some accidents in its favour, and there
is better authority in Kabalism than Eliphas Lיvi ever
produced in writing to connect the Hebrew letter Beth with
the so-called Pope Joan or Sovereign Priestess of the Tarot.
But he was concerned very little with any root in analogy, or
he might have redistributed the Trumps Major, seeing that
their sequence is - as I have said - subject to variation in
different sets and that there seems no particular reason to
suppose that any arrangement of the past had a conscious
purpose in view. In this manner he might have found some
curious points by taking the old Yetziratic classification of the
Hebrew letters and placing those cards against them which
corresponded to their conventional allocations.
end quote
This suggests to me that Waite considers any correspondence between Hebrew letters (and hence to the paths of the ToL) should be based upon analogy between the symbolism of the cards and the letters
divorced from considerations of their purely numerical sequence (which varies among historical tarot decks anyway).
Thus it would not surprise me if any revised attributions Waite made did
not follow in a one-to-one correspondence based upon sequence - or which otherwise
varied (or redistributed as he put it) the sequence of the tarot cards. It might be relevant therefore that in his
The Greater Trumps author Charles Williams, who was a member of the FRC, gave a variant ordering to the trumps:
"Number three hundred and forty-one," Sybil said.
"'Most rare'," Mr. Coningsby read. "'Very early pack of Tarot cards. I
have not been able to trace the origin of these; they have some
resemblances to a fifteenth-century pack now in the Louvre, but would
seem to be even earlier. The material of which they are made is
unusual-? papyrus. The four suits are, as usual, sceptres, swords, cups,
and coins; the Greater Trumps are in the following order (numbered at
the foot in Roman): (i) The juggler, (ii) The Empress, (iii) The High
Priestess, or Woman Pope-'"
"The what?" Nancy exclaimed. "What! Pope Joan? Sorry, father, I didn't
mean to interrupt."
"'(iv) The Pope--or Hierophant, (v) The Emperor--or Ruler, (vi) The
Chariot, (vii) The Lovers, (viii) The Hermit, (ix) Temperance, (x)
Fortitude, (xi) Justice, (xii) The Wheel of Fortune, (xiii) The Hanged
Man."'
"Jolly game of bridge we could have with these," Ralph remarked. "I lead
the Hanged Man."
There was a tremendous pause. "Ralph, if you can only make fun-" Mr.
Coningsby began, and stopped.
"Do go on," Sybil Coningsby's voice implored. "I should have had to say
something silly if Ralph hadn't. It's so exciting."
Mr. Coningsby gave a suppressed grunt, fortunately missed Nancy's
low-breathed comment on it "The Hanged Man!"--and proceeded.
"'(xiv) Death, (xv) The Devil, (xvi) The Falling Tower, (xvii) The Star,
(xviii) The Moon, (xix) The Sun, (xx) The Last judgement-'"
Mr. Coningsby paused to shift his eyeglasses; in a perfect silence the
others waited.
"'(xxi) The Universe, (o) The Fool.'"
"Nought usually comes at the beginning," Ralph said.
"Not necessarily," said Sybil. "It might come anywhere. Nought isn't a
number at all. It's the opposite of number.
(i) The Juggler.
(ii) The Empress.
(iii) The High Priestess.
(iv) The Hierophant.
(v) The Emperor.
(vi) The Chariot.
(vii) The Lovers.
(viii) The Hermit.
(ix) Temperance.
(x) Fortitude.
(xi) Justice.
(xii) The Wheel of Fortune.
(xiii) The Hanged Man.
(xiv) Death.
(xv) The Devil.
(xvi) The Falling Tower.
(xvii) The Star.
(xviii) The Moon.
(xix) The Sun.
(xx) The Last Judgment.
(xxi) The Universe.
(o) The Fool.
I am not saying this is the order that the FRC under Waite used, as Charles may have felt under some obligation not to reveal such; merely that I would not be surprised if Waite's revised attributions very well may include some such variation in the distribution of the trumps.
I can't find out if the FRC have truly existed all this time, or if they are another one of these groups were a random person decided to revive it, but I would suspect the latter, and if this is the case then they have no right at all to "condemn" the release of the information and images.
It may well have been in abeyance at some point, I don't know: whatever the means of succession may be, reports do claim that they (or their 'mason's only' inner order
Ordo Sanctissimus Rosæ et Aureæ Crucis)possess originals of the Symbols of the Paths. In his biography of Waite, Gilbert notes:
quote
1. In deference to the wishes of the surviving relatives of members of the F:.R:.C:.
I have refrained from identifying more than a small proportion of the membership.
In like manner I have given only a cursory indication of the nature and content
of the rituals themselves; the Fellowship still survives, albeit in a somewhat reduced
and altered form, and I do not intend to cause distress to its members by publishing
the texts of rituals* which they perceive as sacred.
Gilbert himself was in possession of plates of the Symbols of the Paths (presumably from the FRC), and gave a slide presentation on them at the 1998 International Golden Dawn Conference in Bayonne, NJ.
Kwaw
*note: as referenced in a previous post - the texts have now been published:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rosicrucian-Initiations-Fellowship-Founder/dp/0973593172
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rosicrucian-Ceremonies-Fellowship-Founder-Golden/dp/0978388348