The Roots of Tarot and the Great Arcanum

My readers know by now that I separate divination from fortune telling.  As a divination tool the Majors speak of phenomena, the Royals  of psychological concepts and the Minors of energies. The Tarot is used for divination as it contains  3 parts which are analogous to those of the Great Arcanum of the Hermetic mystery system.  In fact the words TARO and ROTA form part of the formula of the Great Arcanum according to Eliphas Levi in Transcendental Magic.

Tarot in an esoteric sense functions as a language of the Great Work. Language of course is symbolic and when combined with the  imagery becomes a treasure map. The words cartomancy and cartography share the root cart  from Greek χάρτης chartēs, “papyrus, sheet of paper, map;” which  becomes in our modern English card.

The Tarot was introduced  and produced in the time of the Moors in the cities of  Cordoba and Toledo during Spain’s Golden Age.  Cabala with a C refers to  Horsemen,  Knights or Crusaders those who traveled.  In those times one traveled to learn any Occult Art.

The Tarot  as used by  the Travelers, i.e.  chivalric orders of Adepts were landmarks on the territory of both exterior and interior maps,  well before the influence of philosophy and religion which colors Hebrew Kabbalah became the more dominant theme. The language of the earlier Cabala is extant in the Coats of Arms used by the Royal Families of Europe who in Tarot parlance are the Court Cards.

Hence, Spanish Cabala is functionally a geometric or graphic approach much akin to a chess game while Jewish Kabbalah is more the mathematical perspective as evidenced by its Gematria. The African influence on Tarot according to Mouni Sadhu by way of  Professor G.O.B. Mebes of Russia  resides in its color coding.

Hence the three parts of the Great Arcanum are present in the very construction of the Marseilles deck in  the graphic scenarios of the Majors;  the bright coloring of the Honors or Royal Court and the numbering of the Pips or Minor Arcana.

Occult and esoteric correspondences or links are connected to Tarot cards as mnemonic devices  which allow them to pass on pieces of occult knowledge according to the school or group one is associated with from one generation to another.