Even if the SY orders are considered consistent, the Golden Dawn did not follow them...nor the order of the Zohar. I think it's interesting to establish that, to demonstrate that "occult" orderings based on assigning cards to the Hebrew Alphabet are arbritrary and not derived from jewish mysticism.
Ah,. My bad, that's Levi's ordering, which was the ordering used by Mathers before reordering:
http://www.esotericgoldendawn.com/mysteries_tarot_tarotmathers.htm
Here is a more detailed description of the Golden Dawn reordering, and a hypothesis of a possible source:
http://www.psyche.com/psyche/tarot/RevivedTarot/traditionaltarot.html
"It appears that Mathers may have imported four planetary attributions from a non-Western (Hindu) system into the "secret" Golden Dawn attributions and then shuffled the remaining three (Sun, Jupiter and Mars) from the same system.
Nineteenth Century western occult researchers realized that the Strength/Justice transposition is not the only "obvious" symbolic problem in the Tarot Major Trumps. The Magician, with its Hermetic connections, the High Priestess with the Moon at her feet, the Empress with Venus on her shield, the Sun and the Tower all convey specific astrological connotations that presented problems equal to the scales and the lion. When presented with the problem of changing the order of the cards or changing the meaning of the source text, Mathers and the Golden Dawn followers chose the latter and re-assigned seven planets from their actual positions (as specified in the Sepher Yetsira).
Hulse's and Heidrick's view, rationalizing changing the Hebrew and classical planetary assignments:
The seven double letters, assigned to the seven planets, are analyzed next. This symbol set is the most blinded of all attributes in the Sepher Yetsira. Mathers felt that the Tarot offered the pictorial key to clarify which planet should be governed by each of the seven double letters. Hulse, 1996, p.19 .
"These applications of the planets to the double letters are the most highly corrupted matter in existing manuscripts of the "Sepher Yetzirah", as is noted further below. No definitive text exists in this matter." -- Heidrick
This was true in the case of the Double letters, where one of several natural methods of assignment in the "Yetzirah" was passed over to provide a better match between the Double Letters and the planets to work with Tarot Trumps. The other methods do not work as well with the G.'. D.'. Tarot-Astrological system, and they are therefore excluded from "Liber 777". Heidrick
Here we have the traditional Hebrew assignments of the Sepher Yetsira "passed over" in favor the Golden-Dawn system because they "do not work as well" with the traditional tarot placements rationalized by the "G.'. D.'. Tarot-Astrological system."
It is false that "no definitive texts exists in this matter." In fact, there is total agreement on the planetary attributions of the seven doubles until the late Lurianic-influenced 18th century "Gra" version.
The previous change, Strength/Justice, restored the Yetziratic attributions to the primary symbols, scales/Libra, lion/Leo. Why decide now that it is the source, the Sepher Yetsira, that is blinded, and not the Tarot cards, or their interpreters?
The only cards that don't iconically carry their astrological symbolism, the Fool, the World and the Wheel, use equally obvious symbolism for their true numerical positions, one, two and three in the sequence of initial structuration.
The Golden Dawn could have used Westcott's or Stenring's Gra translation, but they would have had to move seven trumps, and apparently the challenge made them opt for telling the Jews their Sepher Yetsira was incorrect about its own alphabetical/astrological correspondences. "
I put Filipas ordering up for the sake of comparison.
