The Numerology of Tarot

[Barleywine]

I have the feeling Crowley subtitled it "Egyptian Tarot" because so much of it is informed and inspired by The Book of the Law, which was channeled to him in Cairo in 1904. That work is infused with what I irreverently call exalted "faux-Egyptian window dressing," while at the same time admiring the message it contains. He refers to its content in a number of places in the BoT.

Most of the "number theory" of the BoT is contained in the front of Section IV, "The Small Cards," where he runs through his take on the numbers 1 through 10 as related to the four suits. It's a detailed extension of an earlier and much briefer synopsis in "The Tarot and the Tree of Life."

 

[foolMoon]

Yes I know. But I repeat the question (it was rhetorical).
If an originator chooses a name that's their inspiration -
So what? (you can see that I'm not really a stickler for this sort of detail).

Yes I suppose the originator can choose whatever name they wish to choose for their creation, but it would be either inappropriate name for the content or misleading content for the name, if they are not straight. "O Tarot's heart wrapped in a Thoth's hide !"

 

[kalliope]

This may be too unrelated since it's not specifically about tarot, but more about playing cards, but I figure you guys know much more numerology than I do and may have some insight.

Does anyone know the origin of the negative seven as in the "7 as sorrows & tears" meanings that are relatively common in PC systems? Was that something co-opted from Crowley and GD thought? Or was it unrelated folk invention/tradition? Or are sevens seen as negative in some other numerological system?

Hope I'm not asking a dumb question that should be obvious!

 

[Barleywine]

This may be too unrelated since it's not specifically about tarot, but more about playing cards, but I figure you guys know much more numerology than I do and may have some insight.

Does anyone know the origin of the negative seven as in the "7 as sorrows & tears" meanings that are relatively common in PC systems? Was that something co-opted from Crowley and GD thought? Or was it unrelated folk invention/tradition? Or are sevens seen as negative in some other numerological system?

Hope I'm not asking a dumb question that should be obvious!

I'm going through the hedge-witchery playing-card material on-line now, and the 7's are negative there as well. The writer implies that playing cards were derived from "their mother," the tarot, but my investigation a while back showed that they originated in China and came to the Mediterranean area through Arabia. No mention of where the divinational meanings came from, though. My grandmother was a playing card reader back in the early 20th century and she had no clue about tarot, so maybe it's folkloric in origin. Qabalistically the 7's are negative because they're unbalanced (off the middle pillar) and low on the Tree of Life, at least in Crowley's version.

 

[kalliope]

I'm going through the hedge-witchery playing-card material on-line now, and the 7's are negative there as well. The writer implies that playing cards were derived from "their mother," the tarot, but my investigation a while back showed that they originated in China and came to the Mediterranean area through Arabia. No mention of where the divinational meanings came from, though. My grandmother was a playing card reader back in the early 20th century and she had no clue about tarot, so maybe it's folkloric in origin. Qabalistically the 7's are negative because they're unbalanced (off the middle pillar) and low on the Tree of Life, at least in Crowley's version.

Yes, the Hedgewytchery system was my first exposure to the negative sevens, too. (By the way, I have all of the missing images of card spreads and examples from her site. Let me know if you'd like them!)

I just always wondered if there was an alternative system to Pythagorean numerology that this could have come from. Maybe it made it's way from Crowley's writings, like you say. Am I correct that "eight is the traditional number of the mind" probably comes from the Qabalists and the ToL: Hod, Mercury, etc?

But regardless, even without a unifying philosophy behind it, if one sees the sixes as a path (which may be simply a visual thing from looking at the arrangement of the card), then it's quite easy to see the sevens as troublesome obstacles on that path.

 

[Barleywine]

Yes, the Hedgewytchery system was my first exposure to the negative sevens, too. (By the way, I have all of the missing images of card spreads and examples from her site. Let me know if you'd like them!)

I just always wondered if there was an alternative system to Pythagorean numerology that this could have come from. Maybe it made it's way from Crowley's writings, like you say. Am I correct that "eight is the traditional number of the mind" probably comes from the Qabalists and the ToL: Hod, Mercury, etc?

But regardless, even without a unifying philosophy behind it, if one sees the sixes as a path (which may be simply a visual thing from looking at the arrangement of the card), then it's quite easy to see the sevens as troublesome obstacles on that path.

Yes, as soon as I saw the 8's as mind I thought of Hod and Mercury; also the 9's as change and the Moon (Yesod). The 7's as negative meets Crowley's definition of Netzach being unbalanced and largely exhausted of virtue, but doesn't square well with the positive astrological idea of Venus, the "lesser fortune." Plus, in more than one system of thought, 7 is a "holy" number. I still have to get the Iamblichus book The Theology of Arithmetic to see how much - if any - it extends the Pythagorean model. Agrippa goes into voluminous detail about the number 7, most of it biblical; the only remotely negative thing he says is that it's related to Saturn, the seventh planet and the "greater malefic." I presently discount the modern numerological elaborations because I have yet to see their basis in philosophy.

http://www.amazon.com/Theology-Arithmetic-Iambilichus/dp/0933999720

 

[Farzon]

I have the feeling Crowley subtitled it "Egyptian Tarot" because so much of it is informed and inspired by The Book of the Law, which was channeled to him in Cairo in 1904. That work is infused with what I irreverently call exalted "faux-Egyptian window dressing," while at the same time admiring the message it contains. He refers to its content in a number of places in the BoT.

Most of the "number theory" of the BoT is contained in the front of Section IV, "The Small Cards," where he runs through his take on the numbers 1 through 10 as related to the four suits. It's a detailed extension of an earlier and much briefer synopsis in "The Tarot and the Tree of Life."

Or simply because Egypt was simply en vogue in esoteric movements back then?
Back to topic: I too have my problem with the sevens: why should they be negative in Kaballah when Netzach translates "victory"? (As far as I know)

 

[Barleywine]

I too have my problem with the sevens: why should they be negative in Kaballah when Netzach translates "victory"? (As far as I know)

Dion Fortune has a pretty good explanation for it in the Netzach section of The Mystical Qabalah. She mentions that all of the 7 cards in tarot contain the idea of battle, and that all are cards of ill-fortune except the 7 of Wands, "which well describes the dynamic and vitalising influence she (Venus) exerts when her spiritual influence is understood and employed."

She closes with:

"Very interestingly do the four Tarot cards assigned to Netzach reveal the nature of the Venusian influence as it comes down the planes. They teach us a very important lesson, for they show how essentially unstable this force is unless it is rooted in spiritual principle. The lower forms of love are of the emotions, and essentially unreliable; but the higher love is dynamic and energising."

Elsewhere, she mentions that Netzach and Hod inhabit the Plane of Illusion, itself a degradation of the original spiritual impulse. In a nutshell, I always thought the negativity was because Netzach has escaped the equilibrium of the middle pillar and departed the temporary perfection of Tiphareth, hence Crowley's comment about the 7's being "doubly unbalanced; off the middle pillar and very low down on the Tree."

 

[Zephyros]

Or simply because Egypt was simply en vogue in esoteric movements back then?
Back to topic: I too have my problem with the sevens: why should they be negative in Kaballah when Netzach translates "victory"? (As far as I know)

Question is, Victory of what? Not of the individual, but of God. What does God want? To give. Thus Dion Fortune characterized Netzach as "an act of Chesed meant to cause suffering." It is a Sephirah that relates to God's disciplinary hand, or the act of hubris, striving against the inevitable.

One can see this area of the Tree as the story of Eden. Adam and Eve strove against God to become "as gods" themselves, and they got their wish, after a fashion. They could now create, but for Adam it meant hard work and Death, as shown by the path of Nun; Eve got birth pains and yearnings for her husband. Both Hod and Netzach, being directly below Tiphareth, show a less than ideal perception of the ideal. Brutish Adam wants nothing more than to be united with Eve (Venus) while Eve yearns for Adam's sperm (Mercury) so that her creative powers manifest.

 

[Farzon]

Dion Fortune has a pretty good explanation for it in the Netzach section of The Mystical Qabalah. She mentions that all of the 7 cards in tarot contain the idea of battle, and that all are cards of ill-fortune except the 7 of Wands, "which well describes the dynamic and vitalising influence she (Venus) exerts when her spiritual influence is understood and employed."

She closes with:

"Very interestingly do the four Tarot cards assigned to Netzach reveal the nature of the Venusian influence as it comes down the planes. They teach us a very important lesson, for they show how essentially unstable this force is unless it is rooted in spiritual principle. The lower forms of love are of the emotions, and essentially unreliable; but the higher love is dynamic and energising."

Elsewhere, she mentions that Netzach and Hod inhabit the Plane of Illusion, itself a degradation of the original spiritual impulse. In a nutshell, I always thought the negativity was because Netzach has escaped the equilibrium of the middle pillar and departed the temporary perfection of Tiphareth, hence Crowley's comment about the 7's being "doubly unbalanced; off the middle pillar and very low down on the Tree."

Thank you both for your comments, you pretty much cleared things up for me!

Question is, Victory of what? Not of the individual, but of God. What does God want? To give. Thus Dion Fortune characterized Netzach as "an act of Chesed meant to cause suffering." It is a Sephirah that relates to God's disciplinary hand, or the act of hubris, striving against the inevitable.

One can see this area of the Tree as the story of Eden. Adam and Eve strove against God to become "as gods" themselves, and they got their wish, after a fashion. They could now create, but for Adam it meant hard work and Death, as shown by the path of Nun; Eve got birth pains and yearnings for her husband. Both Hod and Netzach, being directly below Tiphareth, show a less than ideal perception of the ideal. Brutish Adam wants nothing more than to be united with Eve (Venus) while Eve yearns for Adam's sperm (Mercury) so that her creative powers manifest.

I always forget we're not talking about the dear Godfather here but the old one, the punishing God. I've never seen it that way, but that of course, clears up a lot even beyond my question. Thanks!